Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Visible To You ❯ Chapter 7 ( Chapter 8 )

Author's Notes: Yes, I updated. Please don't die of shock. I told you I hadn't given up on this story.

 

There are a million reasons why this took about a year and a half, but I'll summarize with the main points. I recently started a new story and felt that I needed to end this one. I thought I had the ending all planned out in my mind, but when I sat down to write it, it seem blah. I didn't want to slop out and ending, so I took my time. I'm pretty sure I like the way I'm going to end it in the next chapter, so I hope you enjoy. This chapter was written little by little over a long period of time so a lot of detail has been added and I think it may be my favorite chapter. I won't go into the rest, because I hate writing really long author's notes, so on to the story!

 

The first thing that Sakura felt when she rejoined the land of consciousness was a warm arm loosely draped over her body. A goofy grin - completely out of her control - spread across her face so far it hurt.

 

“You probably shouldn't do that, you know,” Syaoran murmured in her ear, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, “Your face might get stuck like that.”

 

Her eyes lazily opened and she flipped over to her other side so that they were face to face. She tried to think of a witty comeback, but her brain felt muddled and the only thing that came out was, “Hi.”

 

The deliciously good-looking boy arched a not-so-delicious eyebrow and mimicked her greeting, only more breathy. “Hiiiiiii.”

 

The mood was shattered.

 

Sakura pulled back, pushing against his abdomen with her legs until she was on the edge of the bed, and wrinkled the bridge of her nose. “Ew! Morning breath! Get away! Get away!” Discovering his `inner' child, Syaoran sucked in a deep breath and blew it in her face. “Nasty!” she shrieked.

 

“Yea, well, you don't smell like no pixie yourself.”

 

Deciding to totally gross out her companion, Sakura lifted her arm above her head and sniffed her armpit. “You're right. I think we both need to brush our teeth and take a shower.”

 

“Together, by any chance?” Syaoran batted his eyelashes playfully.

 

“Sure!”

 

“Really?”

 

“No.”

 

Syaoran frowned and, as punishment for teasing him like that, pushed her the rest of the way off the bed. “You first, stinky.”

 

“The term is `ladies' first. You go ahead,” Sakura muttered, rubbing her side that she had landed on.

 

“Har har har.” Syaoran swung his legs over the side of the bed, resting his feet on her butt.

 

“Get your shoes off of me!” she cried before the oddity of the statement caught up to her, “Shoes?” Both pairs of eyes went downwards.

 

“It would appear,” Syaoran started wryly, “that we were too tired last night to change out of our clothes or even bother to take off our shoes.”

 

“Or just lazy,” Sakura narrowed her eyes, hoisting herself to her knees and inspecting her covers, “Great. Now I'm going to have to wash everything.” Frustrated, she blew a stray hair away from her face. “You. I want you out of my bed right this second.”

 

Syaoran gathered up the blankets in a fist and brought them up to his face, chin quivering. “I-I knew it,” he choked out. “It meant nothing to you. You were just trying to get into my pants!” And with that, his entire frame collapsed on the bed and shook with fake tears.

 

Sakura ripped the covers away from him and stood with her arms akimbo. “That's right,” she pointed at the door. “Get out.”

 

“I knew you wouldn't respect me afterwards!” Syaoran wailed, dragging himself to his feet.

 

“I didn't respect you from the beginning.”

 

“WAH!”

 

The girl rolled her eyes. “Knock it off, Syaoran. I'm hungry. Let's go get breakfast.”

 

Syaoran's antics ceased at the mention of food. “Breakfast? What are we having?”

 

Not bothering to answer, Sakura opened her door and walked towards the kitchen. As she got closer, a delicious smell made itself known.

 

“Real breakfast!” She cried upon seeing her brother at the table, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper like an old man. “You didn't make it, did you?” Better to ask now than to find out the hard way.

 

“No, dad did before he went to go get light bulbs. The pantry light went out again,” He put the paper down and took a good look at her, “You look like crap. What happened?”

 

Sakura's hand automatically went up to feel her hair and was dismayed to find it a total mess. “I was really tired when I got home last night. I fell asleep in my clothes and everything,” She shut her eyes, gave him a big smile that said `I'm so dumb', and waited for his reaction that would be coming any second now.

 

Any second now...

 

Confused, she reopened her eyes and let them adjust to his form. She was expecting him to be reading his paper again, staring at her, laughing at her silently - ANYTHING but what he was doing: staring at something behind her. Slowly, she peeked over her shoulder. Syaoran was standing a few feet behind her, unmoving and looking at her brother right in the eyes.

 

Time seemed to stand still for one agonizing moment before it was broken by the sound of Touya's chair scraping against the tile as he jumped to his feet, “What the hell?!”

 

“Oh shit.”

 

It might have been her or Syaoran who said it, neither of them was sure. It didn't matter. The point was that it was a lovely little summary of their current situation.

 

Without thinking, Sakura spun on her heel and ran towards the front door, grabbing Syaoran's wrist and dragging him with her, leaving her brother frozen to the spot.

 

Sakura yanked the door open with surprising strength and ran headlong into another person. She tipped over backwards from the force of the impact and was caught by Syaoran. The other person wasn't so lucky.

 

Tomoyo landed with a thud on her bum and stared up at her friend with an extremely confused expression on her face. “Sakura? What's going on?”

 

“I-“ The girl in question was cut off by a loud yell (almost a war cry) coming from directly behind her. Apparently, Touya had relearned to use his legs. Sakura glanced back momentarily to see that he already had a hold of Syaoran and tried to bolt like a frightened rabbit. The only problem was that Syaoran's hands had tightened on her shoulders and there was no way she could leave.

 

“If I'm going down you're going down with me,” he said by way of explanation.

 

“I love you too,” Sakura growled.

 

*****

 

Sakura and Syaoran sat on opposite ends of the couch where Touya had placed them before he began pacing. He muttered incoherently to himself while burning a hole in the carpet, occasionally stopping in front of one of them to open his mouth and try to force something out. If they attempted to say anything, he would hold his hand up to silence them.

 

It was at the same moment Sakura yawned that he stopped in between them, opened his mouth, and finally said something, “Y-you… an-and hi-“ he broke off, his face turning purple. It took a few more minutes for him to better compose himself and the odd purple color to gradually fade away. “You and him sl-slept,” a vein throbbed on his forehead, threatening to burst, “together?”

 

“Yes,” Syaoran answered without thinking.

 

There was a loud gasp from the forgotten Tomoyo and Touya looked like he was about to spontaneously combust.

 

“Syaoran!” Sakura shrieked and threw a pillow at his face. “You're not helping things!” Addressing her big brother and best friend she said, “We didn't SLEEP together. We just… slept together.” She finished weakly. Why did she have to go illiterate at a time like this?

 

“Like that helped,” Syaoran stated the obvious at Tomoyo and Touya's stricken appearances.

 

Not completely deterred, she tried again, “He just shared my bed.” A cold sweat broke out on the back of her neck from the intense stares she was receiving. “How do I explain this?” she voiced her thoughts out loud, “He just laid me.”

 

Syaoran convulsed with suppressed laughter while Touya convulsed with suppressed murder intentions.

 

“He laid next to me! I meant he laid NEXT to me!”

 

Too late.

 

Touya lunged at the other boy and, because he was laughing too hard, Syaoran couldn't dodge or fend him off.

 

“Aren't you going to do something?” Tomoyo asked after a while.

 

“No,” Sakura answered. She was going to help Syaoran - she really was - but she was a little ticked at him for laughing and decided that he deserved some pain.

 

Tomoyo rolled her eyes and walked over to the boys before trying to pry them apart. Unfortunately for her (and Syaoran), she was no match for Touya's strength.

 

Sakura watched with morbid fascination before deciding that she didn't feel like being a murder witness. Positioning herself directly next to her brother's ear, she took a deep breath and shrieked at the top of her lungs, “WE DIDN'T HAVE SEX!” blunt, but effective.

 

Almost immediately, Touya opted to drop Syaoran in favor of covering his ringing ears. His little sister carelessly pushed him in the general direction of the sofa.

 

Hands firmly planted on her hips, a clearly ticked Sakura turned to Tomoyo, “Sit.”

 

And so, she sat.

 

“I meant on the sofa.” Sakura specified and Tomoyo got up off the floor.

 

Now she had the power! “Touya, Tomoyo, this is Syaoran.” She paused for dramatics. “Any questions?”

 

“Who the hell is he?!” Touya spluttered.

 

Sakura arched an eyebrow, imitating one of her least favorite teachers, “I believe I already answered that question. Besides that, you didn't raise you hand. Anybody else?”

Tomoyo's hand shot up, “Yes, Miss Daidouji?”

 

“Who is he? And why wasn't I informed the minute you met him?”

 

“Actually, you were.” Sakura answered truthfully.

 

Tomoyo was clearly confused. “Come again?”

 

“Think back to Friday,” Sakura watched as Tomoyo's eyes rose to the ceiling while she attempted to remember vital information, “Remember when I told you about some guy I met in the park?”

 

A light bulb clicked over the raven-haired girl's head. “Oh! The idiot guy who was following you? This is him?” Tomoyo's eyes wandered over to the stranger on the couch. Touya's eyes did the same, but were in menacing slits.

 

“You're a stalker?” he growled.

 

“It's not what it sounds like.” Syaoran defended.

 

“Believe me when I say that you just keep going higher and higher on my hit list with every word that comes out of your mouth.”

 

“Believe me when I say I believe you.” Syaoran retorted.

 

“Little boys on the sofa,” Sakura called out in a singsong voice, “kindly shut the hell up.” And since she was close to the fireplace - and therefore close to the log poker - they both obeyed.

 

“Ok, I have another question,” the once-again-forgotten Tomoyo said, “Why didn't you tell me about him after that?”

 

“There wasn't much to tell,” The lie sounded pathetic even to her own ears.

 

Tomoyo quirked an eyebrow, “Oh really?” The way she said it made Sakura bristle.

 

“Really.”

 

“Oh? Well, forgive me for saying so, but obviously SOMETHING had to happen or you wouldn't have ended up sleeping in the same bed as him.” Tomoyo challenged. The air suddenly felt a lot thicker and hotter than it had moments before.

 

Sakura was never one to back down from a challenge.

 

“So we met up again, spent some time together, blah, blah, blah. What's the big deal?” She knew that she wasn't acting completely like herself, but she couldn't help it. There was still a part of her that was a little ticked at her best friend for not telling her that she liked Eriol. “It's not like YOU tell ME everything.”

 

Whoops.

 

She hadn't meant for that last part to slip out.

 

“What was that?” Tomoyo asked when she was finally through being stunned, “What have I ever kept from you?”

 

Sakura dipped her head and let her hair cover her face. “Forget it. It's nothing.”

 

“It's obviously not nothing,” Tomoyo pressed, “for you to bring it out of the blue like this. If you have something you want to say, say it.”

 

Sakura let out a long-suffering sigh. “Some things are better left unsaid.”

 

Tomoyo rolled her eyes. “Don't give me that. Just say it.”

 

On the sofa, Syaoran grabbed a large pillow and attempted to hide behind it. “You might want to do the same.” He said to the only one who was listening to him.

 

“Why?” Touya asked, momentarily forgetting the loathing he had for the younger boy.

 

“Because the shit is about to hit the fan.”

 

Sakura unclenched her teeth. “You didn't tell me that you liked Eriol until he asked you out.”

 

Tomoyo blinked a couple of times. She obviously wasn't expecting that. “Well, yea, but I did tell you when we started going out.”

 

“Yea. When you started going out, when you went on dates, what you did on dates, what you wore, what HE wore, etcetera, etcetera,” There was no stopping it now. She was on a roll, “All a bunch of crap I didn't want to know about.”

 

Tomoyo face was slightly ashen and pained. “We're-“ her voice faltered and she tried again, “We're best friends. I thought you would want to know.”

 

“Well, ordinarily, I would.” Sakura muttered.

 

“What made this different?”

 

“The fact that I liked Eriol too!” All of the adrenaline reached its peak with the end of this sentence and rapidly dissipated, leaving Sakura limp and regretting her loss of control. “Tomoyo, I-“ she trailed off, not knowing what to say.

 

Tomoyo's face was frozen in shock. Her mouth was open slightly (inviting the flies in) and her body was stiff. “Oh.” She finally said after a long and uncomfortable silence. She closed her mouth, swallowed, and cleared her throat. “Oh.” She said again and walked to the front door. It closed with a soft click behind her.

 

The remaining three stared at the closed door long after she was gone. No one said a word for a long time.

 

A rumbling in the background made Touya aware that the garage door was opening. He stared at his little sister. Her countenance was almost unreadable except for the pools of salt water that were gathering in her eyes. He sighed. He couldn't believe he was going to do this.

 

“Dad's home.” No response. It appeared that he would have to spell it out for them. “That means that you guys are in a shit load of trouble.” No response from Sakura but Syaoran twitched. Still, he didn't make a move for the door. Touya was slightly impressed.

 

He took a deep breath to steel himself for what he was about to say, “You guys might want to scamper out the back door before he comes inside. I won't say anything about this… for now.”

 

If he had been standing, Syaoran would have fallen over from the shock. “Thanks.” He said, rising to his feet.

 

“Yea, yea, thank me and kiss my ass later.” Touya smirked and pointed to the back door. “For now, grab Sakura and get the hell out of here.”

 

No need to tell him twice.

 

*****

 

The duo walked on autopilot in silence, neither of them mentioning the confrontation with Sakura's brother or the fight with Tomoyo.

 

“Now what?” Syaoran asked, collapsing on a park bench. Actually, to be more specific, it was THE park bench. As in, THE park bench where they first met.

 

“I have no idea.” Sakura sighed and tried to run her hand through her hair to let out some frustration. I say `tried' because there was still the little problem that she hadn't been able to brush her hair yet. Her hand got stuck halfway through and refused to come out for almost a full minute.

 

Syaoran knew that to laugh would ensure a slow and painful death. Nevertheless, Sakura noticed the constipated look that came on his face from trying to hold back his chuckles.

 

“Yea, well, you don't look much better yourself,” she muttered and - as if to prove her right - a little boy ran up to them, dropped a quarter at their feet, and ran back to his group of friends to laugh it up.

 

Both teens stared at the little silver coin silently.

 

“We don't really look homeless, do we?” Sakura spluttered indignantly, “I mean, just because our clothes are wrinkled and our hair isn't brushed…”

 

“You know, if I was still invisible, I could go over there and teach them a lesson,” Syaoran said wistfully with a hint of sadism.

 

Sakura started to nod but froze midway. The reality finally hit them. Time was at a standstill until Syaoran jumped to his feet, lifted his arms in the air, and yelled at the top of his lungs, “I'M NOT INVISIBLE ANYMORE!”

 

Overcome with joy, he dragged Sakura to her feet and enveloped her in a bone crushing bear hug. Just when she thought he was done, he lifted her off her feet and began to swing her around in circles.

 

“This is fun and all,” Sakura struggled to spit out, “but I really would like to breathe.”

 

“Aw, you don't need to breathe,” Syaoran whined and swung her one more time for good measure before setting her back on her feet.

 

They stood facing each other and grinning like Cheshire cats until Syaoran couldn't contain himself anymore and gave her another hug, along with a peck on the cheek.

 

“Eww, cooties,” Sakura joked and swatted him away.

 

“I swear right here and now that I will never piss off another psychic as long as I live,” Syaoran stated with his hand over his heart.

 

“What about after you die?”

 

“That's another story.”

 

Sakura chose that moment to glance over Syaoran's shoulder at the little brats staring at them. “RAHR!” she yelled and took a giant step towards them. They scattered like flies. “That takes care of that,” she said dismissively and brushed her hands off.

 

“Yes, but now we're back to our original question.”

 

“Which is?”

 

“What do we do now?” Syaoran reminded.

 

“That's a good question,” The female brunette said, scratching the back of her head.

 

“Why is it that good questions never have good answers?”

 

Sakura grinned wide, “That's a good question.”

 

Unable to think of a decent retort, Syaoran muttered, “Stop changing the sub-,” he paused as he remembered something important, “Quick, what's today?”

 

“Um, Thursday, I think. Why?”

 

“My family's supposed to come back today! I'll finally be able to get in my house and change into some different clothes,” he couldn't believe that they were actually getting a break for once, “Let's go.”

 

They made it about two steps before Sakura stopped and cried, “Wait!”

 

“What now?” Syaoran asked, anxious to be on their way.

 

Without answering, she scurried over to the bench, stooped over, and snatched up the quarter before returning to his side.

 

“What?” she asked at his incredulous expression.

 

*****

 

“DAMMIT! WHY DOES THE WHOLE WORLD HAVE TO BE AGAINST ME WHEN I'M TRYING TO BE GOOD?! STUPID 50-POUND BAG! IT'S NOT EVEN MINE!”

 

Sakura and Syaoran could hear the screaming from outside. “Do I really want to go in there?” Sakura asked, backing away slowly.

 

“Of course you do,” Syaoran opened the door and latched onto her wrist, dragging her forward. They were greeted by the sight of a petite girl with black pigtails trying to push a bag half her size up the stairs.

 

“What the hell are you doing, Meiling?” Syaoran asked.

 

“Trying to get one of your damn sister's bag to her room, Syaoran,” there was a short pause of silence, “Syaoran? Syaoran!” Meiling's head shot up before she let go of the bag and it went sailing down the stairs. Meiling watched it expressionless as it gained momentum and knocked over a lamp before, “Dammit! Syaoran, look what you made me do!”

 

“I didn't make you do anything,” Syaoran defended himself and tried to hide behind Sakura, bringing Meiling's attention to the girl.

 

“Well, well, well,” Meiling drawled. All traces off annoyance gone, she was the perfect picture of composure, “Who's this?”

 

“This is Sakura. We met last week. Sakura, meet my cousin Meiling.” Syaoran, the perfect gentleman, introduced with a flourish.

 

“Hi,” Sakura said.

 

“Hi,” Meiling smiled, “Let me guess; he saw you and then wouldn't leave you alone.”

 

“As a matter of fact…” Sakura could tell she was going to like this girl.

 

“So, how was the trip?” Syaoran interrupted and changed the subject, not liking the direction this conversation was going.

 

Meiling's eyes lit up. It seemed like he chose a good topic, “It was great! But you want to know the best part? Remember that psychic we went to go visit before I left?”

 

Syaoran exchanged glances with Sakura. There was no way he'd be able to forget, no matter how hard he tried, “Kinda.”

 

“Remember how she said I'll meet someone and he'll `have hair the color of cornflower and eyes the color of the ocean. When you meet him, you will not be at your best. You'll be drenched and unhappy'?” Meiling was so excited at this point that Syaoran thought she was going to wet herself. He was going to respond, but she didn't give him enough time, “Well, she was right! I guess she's not such a `crack pot psychic' like you said.”

 

“Indeed,” Sakura answered for him, smirking.

 

“No need to rub it in my face,” Syaoran muttered.

 

“Let me finish!” Meiling reprimanded her cousin, “Anyways, I was walking by the pool and slipped and fell in the water. A boy with blonde hair and blue eyes helped me out while your stupid sisters just laughed and-“

 

Syaoran cut her off, “Speaking of my sisters; where are they?”

 

Meiling sobered quickly, her eyes darkening, “Those little turds bailed on me as soon as your mother gave them the chance. They didn't want to unpack and decided to go grocery shopping instead. I swear when I get my hands on them…” Meiling caught herself just in time and coughed, “I think I may have had a little too much chocolate, I can't seem to calm down.”

 

“Or shut up either,” Syaoran added.

 

“Do you have a death wish already?” Meiling threatened, getting up in his face.

 

“Excuse me,” Sakura interrupted, “but would you happen to have a brush I could borrow?” she asked, fingering a dreadlock.

 

“You can use mine,” Syaoran said quickly and pulled her up the stairs.

 

“Don't stay in there too long,” Meiling called after them, “Your mom and sisters will be home and I can pretty much guarantee they're going to put you to work!”

 

Syaoran shut his bedroom door and blocked out anything else his cousin might be saying. “They're a bunch of freaking sadists, I swear,” He turned around to look at Sakura and saw she was already attacking her hair with a comb, “Let me,” he offered and motioned for her to sit on his bed.

 

Sakura smiled suggestively, “You're not getting fresh with me, are you?”

 

“Of course not, you perv,” Syaoran smirked as he worked on one side of her hair, “Don't get any ideas.”

 

Sakura sighed and leaned against him, “Now what?”

 

“Not that question again,” Syaoran sighed and pressed his lips against the base of her neck, “Why do you feel like we need to be doing something?”

 

Sakura shrugged, “I don't know. It just seems so unfinished; like it ended too easily.”

 

“Easily?” Syaoran's spine straightened, “Are you kidding?”

 

Sakura laughed and pulled his head back to her neck, “I didn't mean it like that.”

 

“I'm beginning to think I'm only good for one thing,” Syaoran grouched, but left a trail of kisses anyways.

 

Sakura ignored him, “I'm meaning that it feels like we need to do something else. I feel restless.”

 

Syaoran was pretty sure he knew what was bothering her, but didn't voice it aloud. She was probably upset about the whole Tomoyo thing.

 

“I'll tell you what,” Syaoran placed his hands on her shoulders and spun her around to face him, “Tomorrow, we'll go back to the psychic house one last time and talk to Madam Mirai. Will that make you feel better?”

 

“I guess,” Sakura mumbled, “but what will we talk to her about?”

 

“Oh, I don't know,” Syaoran scratched his head in thought, “Maybe we can have your fortune read, just don't piss her off or you may end up wearing the same clothes for a week.”

 

Sakura giggled, but Syaoran could tell her heart wasn't in it. “How about we meet at the mall before we go?”

 

Sakura looked at him oddly, “Why at the mall?”

 

Syaoran didn't look her in the eyes as he said, “Well, I certainly can't pick you up at your house for fear of being castrated by your brother and you probably don't want to come here when my sisters are home, trust me. Besides, we can get some lunch or something before we go.”

 

Feeling suspicious and not knowing why, Sakura decided to ask, “Why don't we just go to the psychic house right now?”

 

Either because he was a fast thinker or a good liar, Syaoran said, “Like Meiling said, my mom is probably going to work me like a mule as soon as she gets home and, besides, you probably shouldn't leave your brother alone with your dad. No telling when he'll decide to tell him what happened this morning.”

 

“You have a good point,” even though Sakura couldn't shake the feeling that she was being duped, she had no evidence and couldn't do anything about it, “I guess I'll go home now. Walk me to the door?”

 

Syaoran nodded and was about to lead the way when Sakura said, “But I want you to know I know you're up to something,” at this point, it was almost impossible for her to keep a straight face, “I can see right through you.”

 

Kitty Neko: One chapter left to go. I give a special thanks to everyone who read this story a long time ago and have still stuck with it. I will get to work with the ending as soon as possible. See ya soon. Ja!