Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Visible To You ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 6 )

Kitty Neko: Ha HA! I'm back! And you thought I'd given up on this story, didn't you? Well, I finally got some free time (although I WAS supposed to be working on a project, but I'll do that later) and wrote this chapter!

If you read my author's notes, you also know that I was going through some depression. I'm over it now, so hopefully it won't take me another two months to update again. I'm really sorry about that.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and a special thanks to everyone that tried to encourage me!

Disclaimer: I do not own CardCaptor Sakura

Chapter 5

Monday passed by at a ridiculously slow pace for Syaoran. If being invisible weren't bad enough, having Sakura in a gloomy mood was agony. She couldn't even conjure up enough energy to snap at him! It left him feeling strangely empty.

Still, he hadn't bothered her since she'd just had her heart broken and needed time to heal.

Needless to say, he'd had a lot of free time on his hands. At least the day hadn't been a complete waste; he'd finally thought of something.

"I've been thinking," Syaoran started and then paused to take a bite of his breakfast. He was a little nervous to voice his thoughts aloud; there was a very high possibility she would take it as an insult; as it was becoming a habit of hers lately.

"No! Don't do that! I wouldn't want you to strain yourself!" Sakura quipped, waving her arms around in the air dramatically.

Syaoran only allowed his eyes to narrow a fraction. He told himself to be nice; at least she was back to normal. Of course, `normal' for her was permanent PMS.

But, now he was REALLY scared to say anything. Oh well, it had to be done.

"Actually, I was thinking about my little problem."

"Problem?"

"Yea, you know, being INVISIBLE and all." He spat out `invisible' like it was a dirty word that shouldn't be uttered in public.

"Oh yea," The annoying girl flicked her wrist like it was nothing important, "THAT problem."

"Right." Syaoran ignored the implication that he had other problems worse than being invisible and sighed. She was awfully mean to him considering he had spent the majority of Sunday night comforting her.

"Well?" she drawled rudely.

Fine. If that's the way she was going to be; then he wouldn't be nice either. "I was thinking that maybe I'm not invisible to help myself. MAYBE I'm supposed to help you with your love life." There. He's said it. But because of the look on her face, he wished he'd softened it a bit. "That is to say-"

"Meaning what?!" she snapped, "that I'm so pathetic I need a stupid, clueless, egotistical, inexperienced BOY to give me love advice?!"

"I didn't say that!" It was probably fruitless to defend himself, but he was still going to try!

"You insinuated it!" Because of the way she was gnashing her teeth at him, he almost didn't notice that her eyes were filling with tears again.

Uh oh.

"Th-that's not what I meant at all!"

"Then what did you mean?" It was weird how quickly her voice could go from shrieking to barely audible in two seconds.

Better think fast. "Perhaps, Madam Mirai somehow knew you'd go through a hard time soon and need someone to help you through it since your best friends is part of the problem."

Syaoran replayed the sentence in his head several times before deciding it was acceptable: except for that part about Tomoyo. No doubt that he was going to pay for that one. He winced and awaited his punishment.

"Maybe you're right."

What?!

"What?!"

"Maybe you're right," Sakura said again, completely missing her companion's flabbergasted expression, "We haven't gotten anywhere with the assumption it's YOU with the problem. It could be me."

"Don't think of it that way," Syaoran muttered, feeling like an ass for almost making her cry again, "Everybody has problems."

"Thanks."

They lapsed into silence and picked at their food, only occasionally taking bites. Both were finished by the time Sakura said something.

"Was that it, or did you have a plan as well?"

"Um," open mouth, insert foot, "I kind of have a plan."

And then she asked a question that she would imminently regret. "What did you have in mind?"

*****

"I can't believe I let you drag me back here," Sakura massaged her temples and glared at the relatively crowded mall, "I really AM pathetic."

"Stop saying that!" Syaoran grouched. Truth be told, he wasn't happy about being there either, "Do you want to leave? I'm sure we can catch the bus if we hurry."

"No!" Sakura said quickly, "Stop acting like an adult."

"Only if you stop acting like a child."

Instead of getting angry like Syaoran thought she would, a smile spread across her face.

"Listen to us. Pretty soon we'll be sticking our tongues out and blowing raspberries."

Syaoran smirked. "And then someone would whisk you away to the loony bin for arguing with the air."

"Oh yea! I almost forgot!"

"That I'm invisible?" Syaoran asked incredulously. When she nodded he took a step backwards. "Maybe you really DO need to be locked away."

"Shut up."

Before she could say more, he cut her off. "We're getting off task."

"Darn." Apparently, Sakura wasn't looking forward to the looming events of the day. "What's the plan, Einstein?"

He didn't exactly have a plan but she didn't need to know that. And besides, the best way to do things was to wing it. "Um…" Frantically, he looked at their surroundings and willed his imagination to come up with something. His gaze landed on a long line by the coffee shop. Perfect. "Why don't we get in line for some coffee?"

"My treat?" Sakura guessed.

"Yea, but this is for YOU. Do you see that guy at the end of the line?" he pointed and she turned her head to see a guy standing by himself.

"Yes."

"I want you to show me how you act around guys you're interested in."

"What if I'm not interested in him?"

Syaoran wondered if she was intentionally being difficult. "You don't have to be interested to flirt, do you?"

"Oh," Realization dawned on the girl, "You want to see my flirting techniques. Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

It took a lot of self-control to restrain from rolling his eyes at her. "Just go," he placed a hand on her lower back and pushed her gently in the direction of the coffee shop. A light shade of pink tinged her cheeks from the contact but she walked away before he could notice.

Luckily, no one else had gotten in line so Sakura was right behind the formerly mentioned guy. He smiled at her and said, "Hi."

"Hi." She answered meekly.

Syaoran took a nearby seat so he could observe without actually getting in the way. Eagerly, he awaited more conversing but was sorely disappointed. Five minutes later and all they'd said was `hi'.

Deciding that she literally needed a `shove' in the right direction, he rose to his feet and went to do just that.

Sakura's eyes followed him the whole way and widened considerable when she saw what he was going to do, "Wait!" too late. She stumbled forward and grabbed the stranger's back to balance herself. She let go quickly and stared at the floor. "I'm sorry."

"Quite alright." He mumbled and turned his back to her.

They didn't say anything else the rest of the time and Syaoran thought he was going to cry. It was going to be a long day.

*****

"What do you call that?" Syaoran demanded.

"Flirting?" Sakura offered timidly and took a sip of her frappuccino. Probably not a good idea since it only reminded Syaoran of the fact she forgot to get him something.

"Flirting?! You're kidding, right? All you said was `hi' and `I'm sorry'!"

"What was I supposed to do? Throw myself at him? You did that for me!"

A thought occurred to his dense and invisible skull, "Sakura, have you ever INTENTIONALLY flirted with someone?"

"Not really." Her answer was quiet and he couldn't tell if it was because she didn't want people to think she was talking to herself or if she was embarrassed. "I've never really flirted with anyone on purpose."

He'd had no idea. This made things awkward. "Ok, what do you think are your assets?"

"My assets?" she repeated dully.

"Yea, you know, what makes guys attracted to you?"

Obviously, Sakura's didn't have any problems with rolling her eyes and making him feel like an idiot, "If I knew that, why would I need your help?"

"Point taken." There was no way getting around it, "Well, I guess your assets are… your face and body-"

"Do try to mention things other than my physical appearance."

"Let me finish! There's also your sense of humor, wit, and definitely your smile."

For a second, Sakura was stunned into silence. It wasn't a very long second. "Thanks."

"I'm just being truthful," Syaoran admitted. Now that he thought about it, it was very strange she was still single. Maybe the death glares she gave had something to do with it, but there was no way he'd tell her that.

Sakura pretended that hell hadn't frozen over when Syaoran gave her that huge compliment. "What do I do with my assets?"

"Find a way to incorporate them into flirting."

Sakura blanched, "How?"

"Smile a lot, make jokes, blink deliberately but not ridiculously, and act like you think they're really interesting."

"You know an awful lot about flirting with guys," Sakura commented. Syaoran didn't like the insinuation.

"That's BECAUSE I'm a guy. I know what we like."

"Uh huh."

Oh, what he would have given to tickle her to death and wipe that smug smirk off her face. His common sense told him that would be a bad thing to do in public. Maybe later.

"Let's get started!"

"Ok, but first," he pointed to a department store, "We get you something to wear."

"What's wrong with my clothes?" the brunet asked defensively and picked at the bottom of her unflattering baggy shirt.

"Nothing at all," Syaoran answered without having to lie. He thought she looked good in tight or loose clothes, "But to get you noticed more, you need to wear something else."

"Fine." Sakura sniffed and latched onto her purse protectively, "but nothing too expensive. I'm a little short of cash."

Unfortunately for her, he wasn't listening and had long since started browsing the racks (the CLOTHES racks you perverts). He pointed at certain things, instruction for her to pick them up. One particular shirt with a low cut made her blanch.

"There's no way I'm buying that."

"Who said anything about buying it?" he asked innocently; a little too innocently, "I just want you to try it on for me."

"You're such a pervert." Nevertheless, she grabbed the shirt. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were enjoying this."

"Of course I am!" he paused to point at some shorts, "I get to see you model again. Too bad we're not doing bikinis this time."

"You are SO lucky I don't feel the need to pummel you today." She smiled and Syaoran did as well, only, his smile was a little more evil.

"Oh darn."

"Stop acting masochist."

"Who's acting?"

She knew he was kidding and decided to play along, "Oh goody. I'm a sadist you know."

"Perfect."

This conversation was getting a little too suggestive for Sakura, so she grabbed one last pair of shorts and went for the dressing rooms. At least then she wouldn't have to look at him.

*****

The shirt turned out not to have as low a cut as they originally thought it did (much to Syaoran's disappointment). In fact, it flattered Sakura's figure nicely and she ended up wearing it out of the store along with a new pair of shorts.

Purse considerable lighter, Sakura grumbled the whole way to their destination: a store very popular with teenagers.

"Strut." Syaoran commanded when they were at the entrance of the store.

"Excuse me?" her ears must have been deceiving her.

"Strut," Syaoran repeated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "You know, kind of sway your hips and hold your stomach in. That's not to say you're fat," he said before she could get insulted, "It just makes your breast seem bigger."

"You must be very brave to talk about my breasts that casually. Hi," Sakura smiled and waved at an old lady who was staring at her. Said woman looked at her like she was a diseased rodent and walked away.

"If you don't watch it, we're going to have security following us around." Not like they could do much anyways.

"Shut up." And with that, she entered the store. Of course, she still wasn't alone.

"Who should our first victim be?" Syaoran asked from behind her.

"Don't make it sound like we're going to torture the guy."

"My apologies," he said sarcastically, "Who's the first `lucky' guy?"

Sakura glanced around the store, "I don't know. You tell me."

"Don't you have a mind of your own?"

"Not when it comes to this. I've never picked a guy out of a crowd to flirt with."

"Well, neither have I." Thank goodness. Syaoran looked around uninterestedly. "How about that guy?"

Sakura sighed. "I guess I have to get started somewhere." When she sauntered up to him, Syaoran noticed several male heads turn in her direction. Heh. Now he was positive they had a wide selection and plenty of tries for Sakura to mess up.

Once there, Sakura wondered what to say. She supposed the traditional greeting would do, "hi," she extended her hand and got his attention, "I'm Sakura."

He looked her up and down and gave a cocky smile. "Hi. I'm Setsuna. Are you here alone?"

Something Syaoran said about her wit and sense of humor popped in her mind and she couldn't stop herself from saying, "No, I have an invisible guy following me around."

He looked at her weirdly before walking away without saying another word.

"I thought it was funny." Syaoran said after a minute of uncomfortable silence.

"I'm doomed."

"Yes. Yes, you are."

*****

"Now, THIS TIME, try not to say anything embarrassing." It was funny the first few times but Syaoran was beginning to wonder if he'd ever be visible again, "Go!"

Sakura groaned in protest but went anyways. This was certainly an ego-deflating trip to the mall. The newest guy smiled as she approached and they exchanged the normal greetings. So far, so good; no horrible screw-ups and they were even walking together.

It happened in a matter of seconds. One moment Sakura was turning on the charm and the next, she was tripping over her own feet and waving her arms around in the air comically trying to regain her balance before landing flat on her face.

Her current male companion burst into hysterical laughter and bent down to help her up, "Are you ok?"

"Truthfully?" Sakura asked while moving her nose around to see if it was broken.

"I'd probably be crying if it were me."

"Trust me; I am so close." He laughed again and Sakura wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

"Listen," he said, glancing at his watch, "I have to go now. It was nice meeting you."

"Uh huh."

Both teens watched sadly as he walked away.

"Well, at least you didn't SAY anything," Syaoran attempted to crack a joke. Sakura was not in the mood.

"Gee, thanks."

Seeing how things weren't going great, Syaoran decided it was time for a break. "Why don't you get a large icy for us to split?"

"Sure." Dejectedly, she dragged her feet to a place that sold ices without even griping about having to spend more money.

Armed with a large cherry flavored consolation, she sat at an empty booth and Syaoran plopped down next to her (instead of across) so she could let him drink from her glass without looking suspicious. All she had to do was hold it loosely in her left hand and he would do the rest, which consisted of practically crawling on the table to get above the straw.

"A large all for yourself?"

The voice startled Sakura so bad she almost dumped the icy on Syaoran's lap. THAT would have made him happy.

"Tomoyo?"

"And me too," another voice added.

"Eriol? What are you guys doing here?"

Great, Syaoran thought, this wasn't what they needed at the moment.

"We're on our first date," Tomoyo declared happily and the invisible boy had the sudden urge to clamp his hands over Sakura's ears.

"That's great!" Sakura said, convincingly enough.

"What are you doing here all by yourself?" Eriol asked, polite as always. Still, Syaoran found it rude. The new couple always had a way of making Sakura sound like a little kid who can't take care of herself; and that, she definitely was NOT.

"Um…" she trailed off to stall for time, "I…" Bingo! "I had a huge craving for an icy and, since I have plenty of time to kill, I thought I'd come and get one."

Syaoran found it simply amazing how she could act so normal when she was obviously in pain being in their presences. He really hoped they wouldn't stay long.

"Sounds like you, Sakura."

Syaoran wanted so bad to rip this guy's head off. How dare he assume he knew Sakura?! He had no idea what she was really like and probably never would!

He was startled out of his malicious thoughts when the icy was moved in his vision. Sakura's wasn't looking at him, but he was pretty sure she was aware of what was going on in his mind. This was her way of telling him to calm down without actually saying anything.

He put his mouth over the straw and began drinking rather quickly to let out his frustrations. Still, he watched her out of the corner of his eye and could tell she was upset.

If Tomoyo and Eriol didn't leave in the next five minutes, an invisible force would be making them.

"Maybe we can do something together tomorrow." Tomoyo said, blissfully unaware.

"I think I'm busy tomorrow," Sakura said without missing a beat, "Maybe some other time."

"Yea," Tomoyo sounded a little disappointed but didn't push or pry. Suddenly, her eyes lit up, "You should really get a boyfriend; that way we can double date."

Syaoran sipped faster, trying to keep occupied. He wondered how it was possible for Tomoyo to say something that hurt Sakura every time she opened her mouth, without even realizing it.

"Uh, yea." That time, Sakura didn't even bother pretending to be enthusiastic. Neither of the newcomers noticed.

Feeling frustrated, Sakura pulled the icy away from Syaoran and took a big sip of… nothing.

"You really WERE craving an icy," Eriol commented at the gurgling noise the straw made.

Sakura glared at Syaoran quickly before putting the empty foam cup back on the table, "Yea," she was a woman of few words at the moment.

"Well," Tomoyo glanced at her watch, "We gotta go. I'll call you later."

The girl without a boyfriend plastered a fake smile on her face and waved as her best friend and former crush walked away hand in hand. "Sickening," she muttered.

"Sakura," Syaoran said timidly.

"One more," Sakura whispered, her voice on the verge of cracking, "One more try and I'm done for the day."

It took Syaoran a while to figure out she was talking about their original intention for coming to the mall, "Ok." He was surprised that she was even willing to do that much. If he were her, he would have run the whole way home and never looked back. This time, he would pick the guy out a little more carefully.

His gaze swept over the room and almost missed a guy who was openly staring at Sakura. She was a little busy staring at the tile to notice.

"Him," Syaoran said firmly.

Sakura looked up and made eye contact with the stranger staring at her. Neither looked away. When he stood and moved in their direction, Syaoran couldn't contain his glee.

"Hi. I'm Akira. What's your name?"

Finally! A guy that makes the first move.

"Sakura."

Akira slipped into the seat facing Sakura and flashed his pearly whites, "So, Sakura, are you here alone?" Amazing how all the guys had the same beginning lines.

Sakura has to bite her tongue so she wouldn't make the same mistake. "Yea."

"That's a shame."

"Well, my friends just left, so…" It occurred to her that it probably wasn't a good idea to him know no one else was with her, "I just gotta wait until my brother comes to pick me up." Not a perfect save, but it would do.

"Ah. I couldn't help overhearing your friend say that you need a boyfriend." This guy definitely didn't waste any time.

Sakura just grunted. She was going to beat Tomoyo to a bloody pulp the next time she saw her: possibly Eriol, too. You know, to vent some anger.

"I wish I could keep you company longer, but I need to go." Syaoran started bristling at the fact he'd wasted their time until Akira said, "but if you're not doing anything tomorrow, we could go to the movies or something. If you want to, that is."

"That would be great!" Sakura said and smiled genuinely.

"Ok, how about I meet you here at 6:00 pm tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"See you then," he winked as he walked off and Syaoran really did bristle. He was about to say something tacky, but the words died in his throat when he saw Sakura's happy expression.

He just couldn't bring himself to say it.

*****

"Stop breathing on my feet; it tickles." There was just no pleasing her. In retaliation, Syaoran grabbed her right ankle and started tickling the padding. He'd been waiting to do this all day. It was time for her to suffer!

"Stop!" She gasped out before bursting into another round of hysterical laughter.

"What's the magic word?" Syaoran teased.

"Please, stop!"

He didn't ease up in the slightest, "Wrong magic word."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"Pretty please with sugar on top?"

"No. What makes you think `please' is any part of it?"

The door flew open and the pair on the bed froze.

"What are you doing?" Touya asked, looking at his sister like she was a freak. A lot of people had been looking at her that way lately.

"Nothing?" Sakura said pathetically, barely realizing that Syaoran was holding her foot in the air. She tried to get it free by giving a vicious kick, but no luck.

"Nothing, huh?"

"What? Can't a girl hold her leg in the air and laugh hysterically without being harassed by her older brother?"

It was a little freaky the way both Touya and Syaoran quirked their eyebrows at her. Syaoran slowly ran his thumb down the padding of her foot and Sakura had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. If Touya didn't leave soon, he would be witness to her laughing for no apparent reason… again.

Realizing she had no other choice, she grabbed the pillow from under her head and chucked it at her door with all her might, "Get out!"

On reflex, Touya slammed the door in time and didn't reopen it.

"You're such a jerk!" Sakura screeched at Syaoran in whisper (don't ask me how).

"Just getting back at you. Now, what's the magic word?"

"Grow up."

"Wrong!"

Instead of letting her go, like she'd hoped, he just dropped her foot and attacked her sensitive sides. "NOO!!" she wailed.

"Say it, then."

"Fine! Syaoran is the smartest and cutest guy in the entire world!" Sakura yelled it at the top of her lungs, hoping it would blow his eardrums.

"Close enough," Finally, he let her go and settled back into bed.

Sakura rolled out of the bed to retrieve her pillow and hit Syaoran over the head with it on her way back. "You're lucky I'm too tired to do more."

"Sure."

As she crawled back into the covers, she `accidentally' kicked him. After a little more shuffling around, they both were comfortable and ready to go to sleep.

"Syaoran?"

"What?"

"Thank you."

He smiled into the darkness. "You're welcome." The room became quiet again until Syaoran just had to break it. "What? Nothing else to say?"

"What are you babbling about?" Sakura replied; sleep laced in her voice.

"Well, you always have to have the last word. I was waiting for it."

She rolled her eyes and smirked into her pillow. "Fine. I can't believe I'm still letting a stinky, bad mannered, invisible boy sleep in my bad. Happy?"

Kitty Neko: I tried to make this chapter pretty long to make up for the amount of time it took me to update. Although, if I really tried to make it up, this chapter would be 300 pages long considering the amount of time it took. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Ja! kittyneko@tenchiclub.com

This chapter has been revised. I was reading through it again and noticed A LOT of mistakes that I made and couldn't help but fix them.