Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Locked Wings ❯ Scene Under the Tree ( Chapter 4 )

Locked Wings

 

I'd like to spend a little time on thanking the few sincere people who chose to review my story. Although your little notes take about two minutes to write, they make my day more pleasant at an exponential rate. Thanks!

 

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS (Cardcaptors Sakura)

 

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Chapter 4: Scene Under the Tree

 

“Sakura!” a voice whispered, “Ms. Sakura!”

 

The figure on the couch groaned at the voice and turned away, hugging her pillow against her ears.

 

“Sakura!”

 

The figure, still in her little dreamland, mumbled, “Just five more minutes…”

 

“Wake up!”

 

“Five more minutes…”

 

“SAKURA!”

 

“HUH?” Sakura bolted up from her kitten-like position on the couch with wide eyes and looked around frantically. Seeing nothing wrong, her tensed shoulders eased down and she slumped back onto the couch, resuming her old position.

 

Chiharu stared at her annoyed and yelled for the final time, “WAKE UP!”

 

Sakura groaned at the persistent buzz next to her and submitted grudgingly. She ran her fingers through her hair, expected it to end at about chest high, only to stop short at about shoulder-length. She paused for a second, letting the memories of what had happened the past few days run through her head and process. It was like a dead lightbulb being lit, and just to be rebellious, she flops back onto the couch.

 

Now Chiharu was at the end of her nerves. She pulled Sakura up and shoved her off the couch. Hey. She was the one who wanted to be treated equally and she'll be treated equally alright.

 

“It's 7:45 AM”

 

Sakura's once grim look quickly switched to realization. Her eyelids flew open and she cursed, “Damn!” She quickly got to her feet, staggered a few steps, and raced upstairs to her bathroom. After that argument with Wei, she ended up sleeping straight past dinner and shower. She didn't even change clothes yet! Being a semi-germaphobic, Sakura regarded her body with distaste, wondering how many bacteria and viruses must've attacked her by now. She looked at the clock, ticked off. She had less than 15 minutes. Will she take a shower? Should she take a shower? Will she have enough time?

 

No she won't have enough time but to hell with it. Sakura marched into the bathroom and emerged with 5 minutes to spare. After blow-drying her hair, she had about 4 minutes left until the first bell. Grabbing her new backpack, she practically fell down the stairs and tripped out the door. Out of her pocket, she fished out her new cell phone. It appears that Wei became rather annoyed with being unable to call her and had tossed her the phone after her journey down the stair.

 

“Darn!” cursed Sakura loudly, already starting to run to school. Three minutes left! Ever since she was little, she had long discovered that her body was built like an athletic. By the time she waited for her chauffeur and got into the car, the bell would've already rung so why not just run to school?

 

The streets zipped by as she rushed to school, checking her cell phone still in hand every 5 seconds.

 

One minute left.

 

Sakura skidded into the front of the school and raced up the stairs.

 

30 seconds.

 

Oh god! Where is that classroom!

 

Sakura stood in the center of the hallway, tapping her foot with a frown on her face. She thought back to yesterday and closed her eyes, trying to let the memories flow back to her.

 

15 seconds.

 

Got it! Sakura wheeled off to her right and made several other twists and turns.

 

Why is this place built like a freaken labyrinth?

 

5 seconds.

 

There! Sakura spotted the classroom and picked up her pace. It was a good thing the principle didn't catch her running through the halls, otherwise things would've been worse. She could've been held back for a serious talk! She could've been pulled into his office! But she didn't and she slid the doors open the exact moment the bell blared itself. About 37 pairs of eyes looked in her directions.

 

Panting, Sakura leaned on one side of the door and raised her hand heavily, “Here.” Hoisting her backpack over her shoulder, she stumbled to her row, all the while with students and teacher's eyes staring at her in shock. All but one.

 

Syaoran turned his head away and tried his best to muffle his laughter. It's been years since he's seen her and yet she's still the same. Well, the late part at the very least. Behind him, Sakura flopped into her seat and dropped her backpack onto the marble floor with a resounding thud and gave a small groan. After a few minutes of silence, she began to take note of where the people's attention was feeding. Her.

 

In an attempt to throw them off, she sat up taller and closed her hands in front of her. Hell, you could practically imagine the halo on top of her head. She beamed a smile at the teacher, a continuous and non-faltering one. Terada-sensei stared at her strangely and dragged back onto calling roll.

 

Sakura's smile drooped and her shoulders slumped. She exhaled a held-in breath and seemed to deflate. Rubbing her eyes tiredly, she gave a big yawn and collapsed onto the desk. All the while, Syaoran Li was trying to stifle his laugh, but a small but audible chuckle escaped.

 

Eriol's ears twitched and he slowly rotated his head into the sound of the malicious chuckle. His eyes bulged at where it came from and looked back and forth between Syaoran and Sakura. Then, he gave an eerie smile and fastened his gaze back onto Terada.

 

Tomoyo stared at the two across the room. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something peculiar. Her breath got caught in her throat as she noticed the small glint in Hiiragizawa-san's eyes. She followed his line of gaze just to hit back where she started. Shocked, she tried to think up of things Hiiragizawa might be devising in his mind.

 

She didn't even come close.

 

--

 

“Alright class! Turn around to the person behind you and discuss this chapter.” Terada-sensei gave his commands and returned to his desk where he resumed his game of Solitaire.

 

Perfect. This was the perfect chance for Sakura and Syaoran to interact with each other and let Sakura know more about Syaoran's personality. It was as if Kami himself was helping her.

 

“So,” started Sakura, “what did you think of Miyoshina?”

 

Syaoran seemed perfectly at ease with Sakura right in front of him inches away. “Hmm… I agree with her. Her mother barely takes care of her. What right does she have to be given the title mother?” They were discussing the famous novel Tale of Miyoshina in Japanese class. The story takes place in feudal Japan about a family of four going through the difficulties of that age. Miyoshina, the main character, suffers from lack of attention and hard labor.

 

“But shouldn't she be happy that she even has a mother?” Sakura frowned with contradiction. She related the story to her own life and thought how much better Miyoshina was than her, even though she had the obvious obstacles such as hard labor. Still, she had a mother. Sakura didn't. That made all the difference.

 

“Well I think a mother who doesn't care for her and only gives attention to her little brother is a failure.” Syaoran himself faces the same family issues as Miyoshina. His mother, Yelan, gave all her attention to his four sisters and never cared for him. She hardly spared a glance at him other than complimenting his report card when he got straight A's. Other than that, never. His safety was always in the hands of his bodyguards. There was no need for a mother's security if it had already been hired and bought.

 

Despite herself, Sakura lost herself to the discussion and forgot all about her previous plan to find out more about Syaoran. She became fully intrigued with the conversation and became more and more defensive, as was Syaoran. Both were so heated up that they didn't notice the bell. Their fellow classmates and teacher stared at them with amusement but nothing more. Slowly, they filed one by one out the door, leaving the two alone in the room.

 

“No! I think she should be grateful!”

 

“Well having just some presence doesn't serve the purpose of being grateful at all!”

 

“Yes it does!”

 

“No it doesn't! And besides, if she wasn't capable of working, I doubt she has any reason to stay in that household at all what with all the drama circling around their lives.”

 

True. Yelan has a place in the Li Estate only because she manages his four wild sisters well and because she was in charge of the Li's financial issues, courtesy going to the will of his diseased father. If it wasn't for that signed piece of paper, the Elders would've kicked her out ages ago.

 

“She's still a mother all the same to Miyoshina!”

 

“A useless one.” Syaoran smirked triumphantly.

 

Red faced, Sakura slammed her hands onto the desk and rose up, fury clearly written in her eyes. Sneering, she replied coldly, “Yeah well, at least she has one. But you'll never understand, it's not like you've ever lost your mother.” She pulled her backpack on, never breaking the gaze between him and her. Then, she tore the invisible line and made her way for the door.

 

“Wait!” Syaoran realized his mistake but it was already too late. He stretched his arm out to get a hold of Sakura's sleeves. Sakura stopped, her back still turned to him, but with no attempt to walk away any further. Syaoran dipped his head apologetically and whispered, “I'm sorry.”

 

Sakura snatched her arm away from him. Silently, she walked away, her footsteps echoing off the walls of the quiet classroom. The next class had begun while they were still bickering.

 

Syaoran hadn't expected her to stop again, but she did. She halted at the doorway and said in a low voice, “Why can't you just accept me and stop with the pity?” And this time, she did make her exit, leaving Syaoran dumbstruck and full of guilt.

 

What did I just do…?

 

--

 

The cafeteria bustled with activities as students ran to the lunch lines before chaos started. Tables were filled until the chairs seemed to be fencing the table in. The chatter and the skids of chairs only contributed to the growing din. The cries of numerous lunch ladies could be heard as people started cutting in line and spilling food onto the floor. And average day for Toki High. But the cafeteria isn't the only place students can eat food.

 

The cherry blossom tree above Sakura's head rustled with the wind and scattered petals down onto Sakura's head. She sat alone on the cement and ate her packed lunch quietly, enjoying the silence. She poked at the food with her fork and sighed. She didn't feel like eating. After her mini-bickering with Syaoran, she didn't know how to repair the damage between them. Getting him to fall for her would be even harder. She cursed herself for getting too temperamental and unable to hold her emotions in. If only she had held her tongue in…

 

“Hey.”

 

Sakura snapped out of her trance and looked up at the intruder. His figure blocked out the sun completely so that all she could see was this big black blob. She shielded her eyes with her hand and squinted up to get a good luck at the stranger.

 

“Who are you?”

 

The stranger's blue eyes twinkled in the sunlight and his blonde hair shined a white halo as he reached a hand down at Sakura. “Call me Yukito. And you?”

 

Sakura smiled at him, and reached up to shake his hand. “Sakura Kinomoto. Sakura's fine. Oh!”

 

It was at that moment that Syaoran chose to take a break from the chaos in the cafeteria and went out for a noon stroll. He was just going to walk past the cherry blossom tree, trying his best to avoid his gaze from Sakura who, at that moment was flirting with Yukito.

 

She felt an unexpected pull at her arm and she fell. Right into Yukito's arm.

 

“What are you doing you jerk!” hissed Sakura as she struggled to get out of her cage. She kicked and fisted Yukito but he just smiled and held her tight.

 

Yukito lowered his voice and whispered huskily into Sakura's neck, “You know, you're even cuter when you angry-”

 

“Let her go.”

 

Syaoran stood directly in front of the scene with his hands at his side. His eyes gazed coldly at Yukito, his Li blood kicking in. His mouth was pulled in a straight line and his hands were clenched into tight fists. Sakura gasped at his arrival. This isn't how I want him to see me!

 

Yukito smirked at Syaoran and squeezed Sakura's middle again, as if teasing him. “Make me.” Sakura gasped at where his hands were. She squirmed against his grip but had no effect. His vicelike hands showed no signs of releasing as he steadily held Syaoran's gaze with a smile on his face.

 

Syaoran gave a low growl and clenched his fists tighter and bent his knees slightly, ready to charge at Yukito. He had already planned out how he was going to take him down. Although he had left the Li Clan for 5 years, he hadn't abandoned his martial arts training. Even though the Li Clan had made him do martial arts, he soon grew into it and started picking it up as a hobby. He could picture it all in his head now. He'd lunge forward with his fist aimed at his stupid face. Then when he's busy blocking his rapid attacks at that smirk, he'd swiftly pull Sakura away and put her behind him, thus making him a defender. It worked out so brilliantly in his mind.

 

His eyes glared hatefully at the hands holding onto Sakura. How dare he! He built up the necessary momentum and locked on to his target mentally. Knowing his was ready, he surged forward in offense, roaring in anger as his arm sailed in.

 

“Stop!”

 

Syaoran pulled back just in time and glared at who his intruder was. His eyes widen in surprise but his gaze quickly transferred onto the ground. “Damn!” he cursed, sensing his what luck he's been having.

 

Touya, the principle, looked between the three of them, two with sheepish expressions growing on their faces and one with a quite… happy… and normal look. Normal being Yukito. He crossed his arms behind his head and smiled up at Touya, “Hey.”

 

Touya looked suspiciously at him and demanded, “What's going on?”

 

Yukito gave a flustered look and rose his hands in front of him, “What? We weren't doing anything! What are you talking about Father?”

 

Touya glared daggers at Yukito and loomed over him, “Don't. Call. Me. Father. At. School.”

 

Syaoran and Sakura exchanged shocked glances. Father?!

 

“Don't expect any privileges from me while you're at Toki High, Yukito. You're just the same as any other student here.”

 

“Yes Father. I mean Touya-sama.” Corrected Yukito hastily with a clear smirk on his face.

 

“Well… seeing as how everything seems to be at control, I'll just leave the matter alone. That and it seems that you've drawn quite a crowd,” said Touya.

 

It was true. All around them were students, looking at them with interest. For once, something special had happened at Toki High. The cherry blossom tree the three were in was circled by people, a rare sight. Usually, this tree was abandoned in a little corner of the schoolyard. Among the crowd were also Tomoyo and Eriol, both shocked at who the center of attention was at the moment.

 

Right when Touya was about to turn around and depart from the shade under the cherry blossom tree, a voice called out.

 

“Wait.”

 

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Yay! You continued all the way up to Chapter 4! Again, I've been keeping an eye on the number of hits and I've noticed that the majority of people who chose to read this fic, read all the way until the most recent chapter. I really hope to make my readers enjoy reading my writing more, but I need some critiques so once more, please review. Thank you!