Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Visible To You ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 9 )

Kitty Neko: Ok, this is it… the ending chapter. I hope you enjoy it. There will be author's notes at the end.

 

Sakura was never one to ignore her instincts, so placing one foot on the bus to the mall had been extremely difficult, almost painful. The most frustrating part was that she couldn't quite place her finger on the problem.

 

What had aroused her suspicion? Syaoran's fidgeting and overall nervous countenance, that's what. Granted, she'd only known him for about a week, so it wasn't like she could read him like a book. But still…

 

The bus lurched to a shop and Sakura, who hadn't been expecting it, jerked forward and smacked into the seat in front of her. Grumbling, she snatched her purse and made her way to the bus' exit. Just as she was taking the last step off the wretched city vehicle, a bug flew in her face and she lost her footing. Instead of scraping her knees, she opted for a bruised bottom and somehow managed to twist her body around.

 

“Are you ok?” The bus driver asked, seeming concerned, but Sakura had the sneaking suspicion that he was trying not to smile at her expense.

 

“I'm fine,” Sakura answered a little gruffly and got to her feet, cursing her stupidity for wearing a skirt, “happens all the time.” Thinking vehemently that she better not have shown her panties, she walked up to the mall's entrance and pulled open the door a little harder than necessary. Just as she did this, a couple of little kids ran past the open doorway, shoving her aside and into the doorframe. A woman followed close behind the little brats, saying a quick “Sorry,” and then was gone.

 

If Sakura were a superstitious person, she would have considered the events of the morning to be a bad omen.

 

“Hey, Sakura, over here!” Sakura's head shot up at Syaoran's familiar voice and she followed him with her eyes as he walked up to her. “Whoa. What happened to you? Bad morning?”

 

“You could say that.”

 

“Well, I know just the thing to fix you up!” Syaoran slung his arm around her and led her in the direction of the food court.

 

Sakura arched an eyebrow, “Food? How simple do you think I am?” She tried to duck out of his grasp, but he held on tight. Why was he being so touchy feely all of a sudden?

 

“It's not about the food,” Syaoran laughed, a hint of nervousness showing through his façade, “It's about the person we're meeting there.”

 

“Oh, really.” So, her feelings that he was up to something weren't unjustified, “Who?”

 

“One of you favorite people.” Syaoran answered simply.

 

“Johnny Depp?” Sakura asked just to see his face fall the way she knew it would.

 

“No,” for a second, it looked like he was going to say more but thought better of it. Sakura narrowed her eyes and scrutinized his face to see if it revealed any secrets. A single bead of sweat trailed down the side of his face.

 

“Well,” she finally said, “I can see you're not going to tell me anything right now, so let's get this over with.”

 

They walked in silence to the food court with Syaoran getting tenser with each step they took. This was extremely obvious to Sakura because he still had his arm around her and was making no move remove it. One thing was for sure; whatever they were headed for, she wasn't going to like it.

 

As soon as they got there, Sakura began to search the crowd for a familiar face, but found none.

 

“Sorry we're late,” Syaoran said and she whipped her head around to see whom he was talking to. Without her realizing it, he had led her to a table with two very familiar people.

 

“It's ok,” Tomoyo answered, her voice a little cold, “We haven't been here that long.”

 

Sakura stood in shocked silence, before trying to pull away but Syaoran's strong arm held fast. So, that's what the whole `arm over her shoulder' had been for: restraints. Sakura felt her face start to flush with anger and hoped that it wasn't too obvious.

 

“What,” she spat out, at last, “is this all about?”

 

“Beats me,” Tomoyo shrugged and jutted her chin out towards Syaoran, “Ask him.”

 

Sakura rounded on Syaoran faster than the naked eye could see. Any passerby could tell that Syaoran really wanted to let go of her, but wouldn't do so until he'd had a say so.

 

“I can explain,” She was giving him that death glare again, “I just thought that, after yesterday's fight, you two needed to, um, talk things out.” He ended the sentence with a yelp since Sakura had subtly dug her nails in his back.

 

“You did, did you?” She questioned and then looked back at the table, where Eriol was looking extremely uncomfortable. “So why did you invite Eriol too? He has nothing to do with this.”

 

“I didn't-“ Syaoran started, but Tomoyo cut him off.

 

“I invited him. I didn't want to come here alone.”

 

“Well, it kind of works out for the best,” Syaoran chuckled, “Since this does have a lot to do with him.” Eriol shot him a confused look, “I mean, since the fight was about him,” when he realized he was just getting a blank stare from the other boy, Syaoran elaborated more, “Because both of you liked him.”

 

It suddenly got very quiet and Syaoran realized that he'd made a mistake. Eriol was looking back and forth between the girls with his mouth open and Sakura was giving him a look that could send a city up in flames.

 

“LikED,” Sakura clarified for Tomoyo's stupefied boyfriend, “As in `not anymore'. And,” She looked back at Syaoran, “if I remember right, the main cause of the fight was YOU.”

 

“Me?” Syaoran asked, his arm sliding off her shoulders, relatively sure that she wouldn't leave with this confrontation unfinished.

 

“Yes, you. Tomoyo got mad because I hadn't told her about you.” She glanced at the dark haired girl who was just watching them, expressionless.

 

“Oh, yea.” Syaoran scratched the back of his head, feeling a little sheepish.

 

“Yes,” Tomoyo said, speaking up, “And then it went on for you to accuse me of not telling you everything either, because I failed to mention that I had a crush on Eriol. Well, excuse me! I didn't think you had to know everything!”

 

“Hypocrite!” Sakura screeched, the hair on the back of her neck starting to rise. “You expect me to tell you everything, but it's ok if you keep secrets? So what if I didn't tell you about Syaoran? You were too busy in your own little world to even notice that there was something happening with me.”

 

“What? Am I supposed to be a mind reader?” Tomoyo countered.

 

“Maybe. Then you might have noticed that you weren't the only one with a crush on Eriol. Or maybe all you'd have to do is pull your head out of your ass and open your eyes!”

 

People were definitely starting to stare. It wasn't that they were talking loud, but the angry tones had caught several passerbies' attention.

 

“What?” Tomoyo demanded, getting to her feet. “Where do you get off talking to me like that? I've always been a good friend-“

 

“You may have always TRIED to be a good friend,” Sakura muttered, her voice much softer now, “but people are human and they make mistakes.”

 

“Well, I'm sorry that Eriol chose me, but that's-“

 

Sakura cut her off again, “This isn't about Eriol anymore.”

 

“Then what is this about?!”

 

“I don't know!” Sakura clamped her mouth shut and then lowered her gaze so she was glaring at the table.

 

“Oh, well that helps,” Tomoyo grumbled and leaned back in her chair, slouching her shoulders.

 

“I guess,” Sakura started, working things out in her mind as she went along, “that I started being mad because of the Eriol thing, but I don't like him more than a friend now. I have Syaoran.” She gave Syaoran her first kind glance of the day and then looked back down at the table, “Maybe my body just isn't ready to be through being mad. Does that make any sense?”

 

“No, not really,” Tomoyo answered.

 

“Well, that's the best I can do right now.” Sakura's eyelevel met Tomoyo's.

 

“Well,” Syaoran said slowly, bringing himself back into the conversation smoothly, “Maybe some of it's misdirected anger.”

 

“Come again?” Sakura questioned.

 

“I'm talking about Eriol. Shouldn't you be a little mad at him?”

 

“Excuse me?” Eriol asked, actually joining the conversation, “What did I do? You can't blame me for asking Tomoyo out and not Sakura.”

 

“I'm not talking about that.” Syaoran said, starting to sound exasperated, “It's the way you talk to Sakura.”

 

“What?”

 

“You're always going `what did I tell you about talking to yourself?' `what are you doing by yourself?'.” Syaoran was waving his hand up and down in a girly fashion as he did his impersonation of Eriol. And as a little extra added bonus, Syaoran made up, “Oh you silly girl, you.”

 

Eriol looked fronted, “Hey, I didn't-“

 

“Yes, actually, you did,” Sakura spoke up. “You do have the tendency to talk to me like that.”

 

“Oh,” Eriol stared at Sakura for a moment, “Um, I'm sorry.”

 

“It's ok.” Sakura smiled slightly.

 

“So,” Tomoyo trailed off, “What do we do about this?”

 

Syaoran sat up straighter and grabbed Sakura's hand under the table so the other two couldn't see, “Nothing right now. Just give it some time and I think everything will work itself out.”

 

“Oh, thank you, wise one,” Syaoran didn't miss the sarcasm in Sakura's voice.

 

“No, I'm serious. Mainly, I just wanted both of you to know that you don't hate each other's guts.” This earned him incredulous looks from both girls, “So, now that I've done that, I say it's time for you to kiss and make up… or hug,” he amended when they started to snarl, “and then we gotta go because we have an appointment.”

 

“Appointment?” Sakura voice rose a notch, “But I didn't eat yet!”

 

“We'll get something to go,” Syaoran said, rolling his eyes.

 

“I don't like to walk and eat at the same time.” Sakura pouted.

 

“What are you talking about? Do you realize how far we'd have to walk? Our destination isn't in the mall. We're going in my car.”

 

“Your… car?” Sakura said, not quite comprehending.

 

“Well, it's not MINE but, for once, I beat my sisters to the family car, so we have it for the day.”

 

“Oh.”

 

“Well,” Syaoran stood up and dragged Sakura with him, “Hug each other, so we can go.”

 

“Now who's talking down to her?” Eriol muttered barely audible. Syaoran, however, chose to ignore it.

 

Sakura looked like she was about to refuse, but at the last second bent over and wrapped her arms around the black haired girl. It took Tomoyo a moment, but she eventually hugged her friend back.

 

 

“No, I can't believe we're back here.” Sakura said, nervously sucking on her soda's straw as she stared up at the neon sign for `Love's Future' psychic house through the car window, “I mean, It's just NOT, ugh, SHE'S not someone I ever really wanted to see again.”

 

“No one understands that more than me,” Syaoran said, grabbing the empty cup out of her hands and throwing it in the backseat.

 

“Hey!” Sakura said indignantly, but he ignored her.

 

“I mean, this is the last thing I want to be doing right now,” Syaoran continued, “And there's no way I'd be here if I didn't have some nagging questions on my mind so get out of the car.”

 

“Make me.”

 

That was the wrong thing to say. Without another word, Syaoran got out of the car and walked over to the passenger's side. Before Sakura realized what he was doing he had swung open the door and was in the process of bodily lifting her out of the car and carrying her into the psychic house.

 

“Syaoran!” she shrieked, “Put me down, right now!”

 

“I will when we get inside.” And he did just that. When he actually set her down, she punched him as hard as she could on the arm and waltzed up to the clerk and realized-

 

“Hey, where's the other girl?”

 

The teenage girl slowly looked up from her magazine, chewed on her gum a couple of seconds, and said, “huh?”

 

“Where's the other girl?” Although the current clerk was a cookie cutter copy of the previous girl's mannerisms, she had a different face.

 

“More than one person works here,” she finally said after piecing together what Sakura had said.

 

“Could have fooled me,” Syaoran said rudely and Sakura squashed his foot with her own.

 

Before the girl could ask if they had an appointment, the door to Madam Mirai's room opened and the devil herself stood there.

 

“Syaoran, Sakura come in. I've been expecting you,” she said mysteriously, bracelets jangling.

 

“Of course you have,” Syaoran couldn't help himself, “All you'd have to do is look at the list of appointments and see `Syaoran Li'.”

 

“No fun as usual, I see,” She quipped, ushering them inside and having them sit on two of the chairs by her crystal ball.

 

Madam Mirai glided over to her own cushiony chair facing them and crossed her arms on the table, “So, what is it you want to know about your future? Love fortune, perhaps?”

 

“Uh, no, not today,” Sakura said tactfully, cutting off Syaoran's no doubt rude remark, “I think that Syaoran just has a few questions for you.”

 

“Oh?” There was an odd whirring sound and the room filled with fog. Madam Mirai sat motionless until some white wisps went up her nose and she coughed. “Stupid machine,” she muttered, “broken again.”

 

“Stop trying to change the subject!” Syaoran interjected.

 

“Very well,” the older woman scratched her forehead and coughed again, “Ask away.”

 

“What exactly did you do to me?”

 

Madam Mirai blinked very slowly, the mascara on her lashes sticking slightly, “I made you invisible to everyone but that young lady over there.” She looked at Sakura briefly

 

“I know that!” Syaoran practically yelled, “But what I don't know is why you picked Sakura.” He stopped, as if unsure of what he was about to say, “Is it because she's my soul mate or something?”

 

Madam Mirai just looked at him for a minute before bursting out into laughter. Her body was shaking very hard and tears of mirth were leaking out of her eyes.

 

“What's so funny?” Syaoran scowled. He didn't like being laughed at.

 

Madam Mirai pulled herself together long enough to say, “Oh, I just think it's amusing that someone who is so against love at first sight believes in soul mates.”

 

“I don't!” Syaoran tried to defend himself, “I just couldn't think of anything else.” And this set off the psychic into another fit of giggles.

 

“So that means there's no such thing as soul mates?” Sakura asked, highly amused.

 

“Uh,” Madam Mirai sat up a little straighter, “Now don't you dare repeat this since I'm supposed to be a `love psychic', but there is no such thing as soul mates. There may be certain people that you're more compatible with, but that doesn't mean you're going to end up together for the rest of your lives because you're `soul mates'. All relationships take work.” She finished with a flourish.

 

“Then, why was I the only one able to see Syaoran? Besides you, of course.” She looked at Syaoran, “Is it because we're compatible?”

 

“Well, yes, there's that, but it's more of,” Madam Mirai tapped her temple, “How to word this… I guess you could say that you were chosen because you would give him the hardest time.”

 

“Are you saying I'm difficult?” Sakura asked, getting prickly.

 

“Yes, yes you are.”

 

Syaoran snorted at that one and then got kicked in the shin. “Ow, that hurt.”

 

Madam Mirai examined her nails and asked, “Any other questions?”

 

“What broke the spell?” Syaoran asked.

 

“Hey, yea!” Sakura added, “Did it just wear off in a week or did he have to… kiss me?”

 

Madam Mirai raised her eyebrows and then chuckled a little again, “I think you two read too many fairytales. What do you think I am? Your fairy godmother?”

 

“Hello no.” Syaoran said, but was ignored once again.

 

“No, Syaoran became visible again because he finally admitted to himself that he could fall in love.” She drummed her long fingernails on the crystal ball.

 

“Like that wasn't just as corny.” Syaoran leaned back on his chair, but both girls in the room could tell that he said it to try and cover his embarrassment.

 

“Oh!” Sakura sat up straight. “I thought of another question: did the clothes Syaoran wore stay visible?”

 

“Goodness no!” Madam Mirai looked at them like they were stupid, “Can't you think of all the trouble that would cause? Floating clothes? No, whatever Syaoran wore would turn invisible as well.”

 

The room got deadly quiet.

 

Syaoran's neck creaked as he turned his head. “So, you mean that I wore my dirty clothes most of the week for nothing?” as he finished, his voice kept getting higher and higher.

 

“I guess you did.” Sakura was laughing hysterically behind her hand.

 

“That's great. Just freakin' fantastic.” Syaoran dragged his hands down his face, pulling on the skin.

 

Madam Mirai glanced at a watch mixed in with all her bracelets. “Your thirty minutes is almost up. Any last questions?”

 

“Hm,” Sakura wracked her brain, “I know there was something else that was bothering me, but I just can't quite remember… OH! It was something that Meiling said that bothered me.”

 

“Meiling?” Syaoran asked.

 

“Syaoran's cousin?” Madam Mirai almost echoed.

 

“Yeah. She said something about you telling her she'd meet a guy with `hair the color of cornflower and eyes the color of the ocean'.”

 

“Yes?” Madam Mirai, “And did she?”

 

“Yeah, she said she'd met some blonde guy with blue eyes when she fell into a pool, but.”

 

“But?”

 

“But aren't cornflowers blue?”

 

Madam Mirai's mouth snapped shut and her face turned slightly pink, “Oops.”

 

Now it was Syaoran's turn to laugh. Standing up, he grabbed Sakura's hand and led her out into the waiting room. The clerk didn't even look up from her magazine this time.

 

“Oh, Syaoran?” Madam Mirai's whimsical voice said from her room.

 

“Yes?” Syaoran asked sweetly.

 

“Just to let you know, we're about to close this place and take up residence at the mall, so we can have more customers. Why don't you drop by some time?”

 

“Sure,” he answered, but when they were safely outside the building, he turned to Sakura and said, “No way in hell.”

 

They both climbed into his car and Syaoran drove off without even looking back at the old psychic house.

 

“Wow,” Sakura pushed her seat back so that she was slightly reclined, “I can't believe it's all over.”

 

“But it's not,” Syaoran turned right and spared a glance at her. “You've got to somehow convince your brother not to spout his mouth off to your father and then there's still the whole Tomoyo thing.”

 

“Ugh, don't remind me.” Sakura wished she had a pillow so she could smash her face into it. “Hey,” she said, suddenly out of the blue, “I was meaning to ask; how did you get Tomoyo's number?”

 

“I, um,” people sure had been tripping over their words today, “I called every Daidouji in the phone book until I got it right. It took a while too. Her mom's name starts with an `S'.”

 

Sakura sat up straight and looked at him, “You did all that?”

 

“It wasn't that much.”

 

“You're so sweet.” Sakura cooed and poked him in the side.

 

“Hey! Not while I'm driving. You want to have a wreck?”

 

“I suppose not,” Sakura moved back to her side of the car and said, “What are we doing next? I don't have to be home for a while.”

 

“We could-”

 

“Make out?” Sakura filled in for him. Syaoran flushed. “You're so transparent.”

 

“Ha ha. But, no, that's not what I was going to say.”

 

“Then what were you going to say?” Sakura teased.

 

“That we could go to the park where we met.” Syaoran said, grasping at straws.

 

“Aww, but the water's not CLEAR.” Sakura started cracking up at her own joke.

 

Syaoran shook his head, “Would you stop with the bad puns already?”

 

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him, “No. I'm just trying to have the last word.”

 

“You ALWAYS get the last word,” Syaoran reminded her, coming to a stop at a red light.

 

“But-“ he pressed his finger to her lips.

 

“It's my turn this time.” And with that, he leaned towards her and pressed his lips against her own. Neither of them noticed that the light turned green until someone honked. Syaoran pulled away looking past Sakura's shoulder and grinned, pleased that he would finally be able to have the last word, “Your brother is in the car beside us.”

 

Kitty Neko: It's over! YAY! Sorry this chapter took a little longer than I thought it would, but I didn't want to half-ass it. I'm just happy that it took me a couple months instead of another year and a half. Argh.

 

Special thanks to kimiko imouto-chan for pointing out that cornflowers are blue. What can I say? Oops.

 

Now, on to something that's been bothering me. It was just by chance, but I came across WolfBlossom's story `Bonded By Heart, Soul and Mind'. The summary caught my attention, because it struck me as familiar. So, I read the chapter she had posted and got very angry. Her first chapter was EXTREMELY similar to `Visible To You'. My sister emailed her and she said she'd give me credit in her second chapter, but the whole thing still has me mad. I just wanted to let everyone know where the idea came from.

 

See you later in my other stories!

 

Kitty Neko