Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Visible To You ❯ Chapter 4 ( Chapter 5 )

Kitty Neko: AHHH! Don't kill me! I know it took me forever to finish this chapter! I'm sorry! I just wasn't in the mood to write and didn't want to slop anything out. As an apology, I made this chapter longer than the previous ones.

As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed! (and for those who bared with me and are reading this now) Hopefully, my updates won't take so long, but I can't make any promises because school is starting really soon. Ugh. Anyways, Enjoy the story!

Disclaimer: I do not own CardCaptor Sakura.

"This sucks." Sakura moaned, burying her face in her hands and trying to ignore the tinkling noise.

"Quit your bellyaching. I'm the one having to," Syaoran paused to think of the most appropriate word for this situation, "PEE with you in the same area."

"Oh ho!" Sakura let out a breath of irritation, "MY bellyaching? You're the one that just COULDN'T wait 30 minutes for my dad and brother to both go to work!" She was trying to keep her voice down but Syaoran was really testing her. It was bad enough that she had to stay in the bathroom with him so her family wouldn't get suspicious of the toilet magically filling and flushing on it's own, but now he was blaming it on her.

"Hey!" Syaoran snapped, "I tried! One minute longer and you'd have had a nice large puddle on your carpet."

Sakura still had her hands over her face and her eyes squeezed shut. "I have a solution for this problem." She declared and removed one hand to rest on the side of the tub she was sitting on.

"And what's that?"

Syaoran was slightly curious; maybe she was going to finally say something intelligent. "I'll just have to stop giving you liquids. That way, you'll just get dehydrated and shrivel up." perhaps not. "Aren't you done yet?"

"No. It really was an emergency."

"When will this nightmare end?"

"Sakura? Is everything all right?" Sakura stopped, mid-moan, at her father's voice.

"Everything's just PEACHY." She answered.

He wasn't convinced but didn't continue to pry. "I'm going to work now. Bye."

"Bye." She listened for his footsteps to retreat before relaxing. "One down, one to go." She was stopped from staying more by the sound of the toilet flushing.

"All done." Syaoran declared and watched as she slowly opened her eyes and tried to adjust to the light. She finally focused her attention on him.

"Finally."

"Oh, shut up."

*****

"I thought your brother would never leave."

Sakura laughed dryly. "Knowing him, he probably knows something's up and wants to make things harder for me."

"Sounds like something I would do to one of my sisters."

The scary girl glared at him. "All older brothers should be thrown off a cliff."

"I'm actually a younger brother." Syaoran couldn't help pointing that out.

"And all younger brothers should be tortured before being LED off a cliff." She reached over and pulled a peeling knife off the knife rack and presumed to play with it.

"What's that for?" Syaoran was very proud of himself; his voice had given no indication of his nervousness.

"Peeling."

"Peeling what?"

Sakura hid her evil grin. Messing with this guy's head was so much fun. "Oh, I don't know… things."

Her answer was very ambiguous and he hadn't liked that at all. Not one tiny little bit. Horrible images of several younger brothers being peeled popped up in his mind's eye. Sakura enjoyed the shudder her unspoken words had evoked from him.

"Something wrong?"

"Nope, nothing at all. I was just wondering…" Syaoran racked his brain desperately for something to say. Bingo! "If I could take a shower. I feel really dirty."

Sakura was slightly disappointed he had wiggled his way out of that one and replaced the knife to its proper spot. "Sure, go ahead. Just leave your clothes outside the bathroom door."

"Why?"

Sakura reached for the knife again. "Don't ask questions, just do it."

Syaoran nodded curtly and scampered away.

Sakura watched him go. "What a boring little boy." She quoted from one of her favorite animes and put the knife away.

*****

When Syaoran finished his shower there was clean clothes, including boxers, folded where he had thrown his dirty clothes earlier. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the clothes were too big for him. Obviously Sakura's brother was going to be missing another pair of clothes.

Before changing into them, another thought occurred to him. "Boxers?" They certainly weren't his. He would never own boxers with pink hearts that read `Happy Valentine's Day'. That would mean… "Ew."

Making sure that the towel was secure around his waist he marched into the living room. Sakura was sitting in the living room, leaning against several pillows and reading a book. She glanced up and did a double take, apparently startled by his appearance.

"What is this?" Syaoran asked, lifting up the pair of undergarments.

The brunette sitting on the couch arched an eyebrow at him. "Boxers. I thought you were intelligent enough to know THAT."

"I know what they are. Whose are they?" She certainly was a smart aleck.

"You should have said so the first time." She put a bookmark in her place and shut the novel. "They're my brother's. You didn't think they were mine, did you?"

Syaoran ignored her last question. "That's gross. I'm not going to wear your brother's underwear!"

"Why not?"

"Because it's unsanitary!"

"They're clean." she argued.

"But he's worn them before!"

"No he hasn't." Sakura stood up so she was eyelevel with him.

"How would you know that?" Syaoran challenged.

"Because they were at the bottom of his drawer."

That wasn't enough convincing for him. "Look, where are my clothes?"

Sakura jerked her thumb in the direction where a lot of noise was coming from. "I'm washing them." She continued with her argument about the heart boxers. "I know for a fact that he hasn't worn them before."

"How?"

"Because when my grandma gave them to his a long time ago for Valentine's Day he told me he was never going to wear them. And besides, I've never had to wash them."

"Oh."

"Now," Sakura allowed herself a malicious smile, "I suggest that you put on some clothes. You're a little exposed. Nice chest by the way." She couldn't resist. She'd been dying to get back at him for the locker room incident.

Syaoran had the decency to blush and walked away as fast as his legs would carry him.

*****

"How long have we been sitting here?" Syaoran asked.

"An hour."

"Is that all?" he could barely believe it. "It seems like so much longer."

Sakura massaged her temples. "I know. I did NOT picture spending my Spring Break trying to come up with ways to help some invisible guy."

"This isn't exactly the way I was picturing spending my Break either. The next time my cousin tries to get me to do something, I'm going to scream and run away."

"Just say `no'."

Sakura grinned at Syaoran. He smiled back before getting serious again. "Back to brainstorming."

"Right."

There was silence for almost a full five minutes before the phone rang. Sakura jumped to her feet, relieved. "I'll get it."

"No, I will." Syaoran said sarcastically, but without malice.

"Hello? Oh, hi Tomoyo! What are you doing?" There was a pause in which Sakura frowned. "Um, I don't think I can… ok… I'll talk to you later… bye." She hung up and sighed sadly.

"What was that all about?"

"Tomoyo. She was at the mall and wanted to know if I could come."

"Why did you say you couldn't?"

"I promised that I would help you."

Syaoran was slightly surprised that she cared that much. It actually kind of made him feel bad. "Uh, well, it's not like we're getting very far with this. I don't mind if you go." He finally was able to spit it out. The reward was definitely worth it.

Sakura's smile was huge. It didn't last long though. "But, I don't want to leave you here alone."

"Who said anything about me staying here? I'm going with you. " At her skeptical expression, he continued. "I promise I'll be on my best behavior."

That was obviously good enough for her, because she snatched up the phone and started dialing some numbers. While it was ringing, she said, "Why don't you go get changed back into your clothes? We still don't know if what you're wearing now is invisible."

He didn't bother to respond, her friend had already answered the phone.

*****

"One good thing about being invisible," Syaoran said while stepping off the bus. "I don't have to pay the bus fare."

Sakura coughed from right behind him, "Cheap." She coughed again.

"How clever." Her response was to stick her tongue out.

It didn't take them long to find Tomoyo. She was standing by a smoothie shop and looking at her watch. A large smile appeared on her face when she saw Sakura. "Finally! I was about to kill myself. Being at the mall alone is so boring."

"BEING at the mall is boring." Syaoran said.

The edges of Sakura's mouth twitched upward slightly. "Yea." Her answer was directed at both Syaoran and Tomoyo.

"Come on." Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's arm and dragged her into the nearest store. Syaoran kind of had to jog to keep up; Tomoyo was fast. Sakura, however, was used to this and just let her best friend drag her everywhere.

Tomoyo stopped at several sections in the clothes store and picked up a few items. "I saw this while I was alone and thought it'd be perfect for you." She lifted up the yellow sundress before shoving it into Sakura's arms and grabbing something else for herself.

By the time they made it to the dressing rooms, Sakura was panting slightly and Syaoran was literally gasping for air. Tomoyo's cheeks were flushed an attractive pink and a silly grin was plastered on her face.

"Tomoyo loves to shop." Sakura whispered to Syaoran when Tomoyo wasn't paying attention.

"I didn't notice."

"Sakura." Tomoyo waved a hand in front of her face. "Go change."

"Ok."

The two girls went into dressing rooms right next to each other and Syaoran sat down to watch. He almost fell out of his chair when Sakura opened the door. "This definitely doesn't fit." She growled at Tomoyo, who appeared a second later. It certainly did not. In fact, she hadn't even buttoned it all the way; it was too tight.

Her glare went from Tomoyo to Syaoran when he burst out into laughter. She would have said something, but Tomoyo was still there. Instead, she settled from slamming the changing room door. Tomoyo looked confused but didn't ask.

Several hundred outfits later they emerged from the shop with one dress each and a flabbergasted Syaoran trailing behind them.

"All of that for one stupid dress?!" Now he knew why his sisters were always out for hours when they went clothes shopping. Whatever they bought had to be PERFECT.

"That's why I hate shopping."

"Did you say something?" Tomoyo asked.

"No. What's next?"

"Swimsuits!"

Sakura blanched. "Swimsuits?" She glanced over her shoulder at a smirking Syaoran.

"That's what I said. Ya deaf?" Tomoyo teased and ducked into a different store.

"Great."

"Great!" Syaoran mimicked with more enthusiasm.

Sakura started sweating when she saw what Tomoyo wanted her to try on. "That's NOT a bathing suit!"

"It is too."

"Barely!" She really didn't want Syaoran to see her in something like that.

"Don't be bashful." Syaoran teased. "I've already seen you in you bra, remember?"

"Shut up."

"Why?" Tomoyo asked, clearly confused.

"Never mind."

In the end Tomoyo won, as always.

*****

Sakura sipped her chocolate shake and tried not to let Syaoran see that her face was still bright red. She'd had to endure all of Syaoran's catcalls as Tomoyo handed her more and more bikinis. Of course, Tomoyo had tried on a fair amount, but at least she didn't have to listen to Syaoran's comments. Sakura was now very aware that her best friend was more endowed than her.

"That wont work." Syaoran said slyly. "Hey, is there a bathroom around here?"

The thought of not answering him and letting him suffer was very tempting. Then again, that would just mean he'd stay around and bother her more. Best behavior… puh, she hated to think of his worst.

Discreetly, she pointed to the mall bathrooms. "Thank you." Syaoran said before standing up and walking away.

"Finally." Sakura said when he was out of earshot.

"Finally what?" Tomoyo questioned. When Sakura brushed her off again she said, "I'm really starting to worry about you. You never used to talk to yourself before. Is something wrong?"

"No-" The word had barely left her mouth when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder. Right now, she didn't care if Tomoyo thought she was crazy, she was going to give Syaoran a piece of her mind, "You stupid-"

"Hi, Sakura." The words died in her throat.

"E-Eriol?"

"Yep." He smiled, making the sides of his eyes crinkle. "Now, what were you about to call me? Stupid…?"

Sakura laughed nervously, "Oh, never mind that. I thought you were someone else."

Tomoyo looked at her strangely, probably wondering whom she thought he was. Deciding that it was a question to ask later, she turned to Eriol. "Do you want to sit down?"

"Sure." He gave that smile again and plopped down on the chair that Syaoran had previously been occupying. Sakura chuckled inwardly at that.

"What brings you here?" Tomoyo asked the newest member at their table.

"I was bored and there was nothing else to do."

Sakura couldn't help herself; she was watching his every move like some kind of predator. Tomoyo and Eriol, of course, didn't even notice.

"You're very obvious about your feelings." Syaoran's deep voice in her ear gave her shivers.

"Am not." She muttered.

"Sakura, what did I tell you about talking to yourself?" Eriol said jokingly, but Sakura was barely paying attention. She was watching Syaoran out of her peripheral vision as he sauntered up behind Eriol and stood with his hands on his hips. "Sakura?"

"Um, yea, don't do it?" Both Eriol and Tomoyo chuckled at that. Sakura forced one out but was still watching Syaoran.

"Hey, Buddy, you're in my seat." Although Sakura knew he was teasing, she couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination. "Hmm… doesn't look like he's going to move. What do you think I should do Sakura? Just tilt his chair over perhaps?"

"No!" Sakura cried without even thinking.

"You don't want Eriol to stay and eat with us?" Tomoyo asked, confused once again.

"No, no, no! That's not what I meant! I-"

"That's right, Sakura," Syaoran taunted, "think of an excuse fast."

`Shut up!' was on the tip of her tongue but she instead managed to say, "I must have misunderstood you."

Tomoyo and Eriol accepted that explanation and went back to their conversation.

"I was just kidding you know." Syaoran said and sat down next to her. "I wouldn't do that… since I did promise to be on my best behavior." Despite herself, Sakura smiled. She actually would have been very entertained to see Eriol and Tomoyo's faces.

Syaoran quickly became bored while the other three engaged in pleasant conversation. Sakura was pretty much ignoring him, and it wasn't like he could talk to anyone else. Without much enthusiasm, he watched Sakura, then Tomoyo, and finally Eriol.

What was it exactly that Sakura liked about that guy? Sure, he seemed nice enough and was probably good-looking from a girl's point of view, but there had to be more to it than that, right? An idea slowly crept into his head and he had a hard time concealing his goofy smile.

Standing up, he leaned over the table to put his head between Sakura and the others. As he suspected, she jerked back and almost fell off her chair. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Umm… talking?" Eriol offered. Sakura's face heated up and she stammered an explanation. When Eriol's attention was diverted, she glanced at Syaoran with a scowl on her face. He only smiled as an answer and sat back down.

He repeated this several times, making grotesque faces only inches away from hers. It was taking all her effort not to laugh and became evident that both Tomoyo and Eriol thought she was going insane. That was ok with her. Maybe she was; Syaoran now seemed more amusing than annoying. It was a strange revelation and she ignored her surroundings for a minute to ponder it. So see-through boy wasn't as bad as his first (second, third, etc.) impression had led her to believe.

Syaoran felt a strong rumbling in his stomach and groaned inwardly. It couldn't be helped; his body wouldn't wait any longer. Gently, he tugged at Sakura's shirt to get her attention. "I hate to rain on your parade, but I'm getting really hungry."

Sakura nodded her head a fraction and stood up, getting her friend's attention. "Well, I should probably try to catch the bus home; it's my turn to make dinner tonight."

"Oh," Tomoyo smiled sadly and handed Sakura her bags. "Here you go. I'll call you later. Bye."

"Yea, bye Sakura. Maybe I'll see you later this week." Eriol added.

"Bye." Sakura called over her shoulder and walked towards the mall exit.

"Sorry I made you leave." Syaoran apologized. "But I might have disintegrated before your very eyes."

"That hungry, huh?" Sakura teased. "It's ok. I was thinking about leaving soon anyways." She sighed and shifted the bags to her other arm.

"I can help you carry those, you know."

Sakura smiled and laughed. "I don't think these people," she gestured at everyone around them, "are accustomed to floating bags."

"Oh, that's right." Syaoran said sheepishly. "Guess I forgot. Well, I could…"

"Let's just get to the bus." Sakura cut him off, ending the conversation for the moment.

*****

"Thanks for dinner." Syaoran said and dried the dish Sakura had handed to him.

"You had to eat." She answered with a teasing smile. "Otherwise I just would have made you watch me eat dinner with my family with an empty stomach."

"Speaking of family," Syaoran started drying the last plate, "When do they get home?"

The female brunette glanced at the stove clock, which read 5:00. "About an hour, I guess. Thanks." She added, referring to the dishes.

"You're welcome. I thought I might as well, if I ever wanted you to cook again."

"Finally," Sakura put her hand to her forehead in a gesture of fake lightheadedness, "someone understands. I swear my brother is going to starve one of these days for not helping me." She was spared his response by the phone ringing. Without missing a beat, she bounded over and plucked up the receiver, "Hello?"

Syaoran chuckled at her childishness. She looked like a little girl waiting for a call from her `mommy' or `daddy'. He found it endearing.

It was hard not to eavesdrop. Trying to be polite, Syaoran moved farther away so that he could only hear her side of the conversation.

"Hi Tomoyo!" she chirped with a big smile on her face. Apparently, she was in a very good mood. "Did you have a good time after I left?… Oh really? What is it?… There's no way I'll be able to guess. Just tell me."

Syaoran watched as the smile slowly slid off her face. There was a long pause of silence before she smiled again; but this time her heart wasn't in it. "That's great!"

He was definitely staring now. What was going on? The two continued to talk for a while before finally saying their goodbyes. When Sakura hung the phone up, she let out a deep sigh. Syaoran was almost afraid to ask, so he didn't.

"Ah, I have to go to the bathroom." She glanced up at him quickly. "Be back in a second."

"Okay." And with that, she left.

What was that all about? He didn't really want to ask her about it, because who knew what it could be? It's not like it was any of his business anyways. "Right." He said out loud to himself as reassurance and tried to block it out of his mind.

For about ten minutes he sat there doing nothing. Sakura sure had been in there a long time. He was fighting an inner battle of whether or not to check on her. There was always the embarrassing possibility that she was constipated or something and he wasn't sure he wanted to know if that was the case.

"I'm being stupid." Syaoran finally concluded and headed for the bathroom.

He could see the bathroom light through the crack in the door. Carefully, he rapped the door with his knuckle softly. "Sakura?" No response. He knocked a little louder. "Sakura, are you ok?" Still nothing.

"Sakura, I'm coming in." Slowly, he cracked the door open and pushed a little. When she didn't scream at him for being a pervert, he really started getting worried. "Sakura?" There! He heard something like a gasp for air. Without further thought, he opened the door the rest of the way.

Syaoran saw her before the door had even opened the rest of the way. Her head was resting on her arms, which were crossed over the tub, and she was sitting on her knees. She didn't say anything or even look at him when he put his hand on her shoulder. Everything was still and quiet until he felt her body shake a couple times. Realization hit him and he got down on his knees next to her. "Sakura, what's wrong?"

A sob finally escaped her lips and the shaking got worse. It scared Syaoran that such a small body could be wracked with such violent sobs. She was no longer silent, and was gasping for breath before too long. The effort was almost too much, but she still cried.

Syaoran's hand was still on her shoulder and he had no intentions of moving it. It was his way of letting her know that she could talk to him if she wanted to.

"E-Eriol a-asked Tomoy-yo to be hi-his girlf-friend." She choked out brokenly. It surprised him that she would actually confide something like this to him. "And she said y-yes." The sobs overtook her again and she stopped talking.

For a long time, Syaoran just sat there and let her cry. Tears were still streaming out of her eyes when she raised her head to look up at him. "I don't know why I told you. You wouldn't care about something as stupid as this." Her voice was raspy from the crying and her cheeks and nose were puffy red.

"It's not stupid." He answered her quietly. She bit her lip and, to Syaoran's surprise, buried her face in his chest and resumed sobbing.

When her body went still again, she said, "I really liked him. I've liked him for a long time. I'm really surprised that Tomoyo didn't even realize it. She usually notices those kind of things."

Syaoran wasn't really sure that she wanted him to say anything, but decided to risk it. "My bet is that she liked him too and was too busy trying to impress him that she wasn't paying that much attention to you." She grunted something like an affirmative.

"Probably the reason I didn't notice she liked him either." She muttered into his shirt.

"Probably." In the silence, Syaoran noticed how odd this situation was. A day ago he had thought she hated his guts and now she was crying on his lap. The most likely reason was that he was the only one she could talk to, since it was her best friend that was part of the problem. Luckily for him, he'd had some experience with Meiling and his sisters to sort of know what to do. Right now, Sakura was probably thinking that no guy would ever fall for her. Well, he would have to set her straight.

"There's going to be lots of guys that are going to like you. In fact, I'm pretty sure that there is several that already do. I did spend an entire day following you around your school. I saw the way some of them looked at you."

Sakura snorted. "Can you read my mind? Or am I that pathetically obvious? Well, thanks for trying to make me feel better."

"I'm not lying. You're a very beautiful girl and really nice although you do have some sharp edges. But, I think the edges are fun."

Sakura halfway sat up so she could look at him. Tears were still clinging to her lashes but there was a twinkle of humor in her eyes. "Thanks." She flopped back down on him and breathed deeply. "I'll cry for a while longer but eventually…"

"The pain will go away." He finished for her.

"Right. Because… I really am happy for Tomoyo. She sounded so elated over the phone."

"You're a good friend." Syaoran patted her back.

"So are you."

They sat in comfortable silence until Sakura giggled. "What is it this time?" Syaoran asked.

It took her a moment to answer, but when she did, there was a bit of that teasing air she usually had behind her voice. "I just find it amusing that the only one who can comfort me right now is invisible to the rest of the world."

Kitty Neko: Well, I hope that you liked it! Ja! kittyneko@tenchiclub.com