Best Friends - Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I don’t own Card Captor Sakura.

“STOP!” Sakura grabbed his arm, stopping him. Jet and Kai sighed with relief, for neither of them wanted Kai to get beaten up. Especially Kai.

All eyes turned to look at her blankly, but her emeralds were boring into amber. He quickly dropped his gaze, that’s how intense her eyes burned. Like two miniature green suns. He nodded, granting her permission. She nodded and let go of his arm.

Everyone else was still clueless; they really hated it when Syaoran and Sakura had one of their telepathic moments because no one else knew what was going on.

Syaoran looked up and smirked sympathetically at Kai, his arms crossed and standing behind Sakura, giving her moral support. “You’re gonna wish it was me, man.”

Both Kai and Jet looked questioningly at Sakura, whose bangs were covering her face, obscuring her eyes. Suddenly she looked up and the anger was apparent in her beautiful features. She too smirked. But this was different from Syaoran’s; it was actually ‘scary’. Thought Jet, Kai and Ayisha (who was still holding the boy’s ear). The girls quickly skipped out of Sakura’s charge range. Tomoyo gulped, she remembered how Sakura took a year off school to train with Syaoran in the mountains. When they had returned, she was even better than Syaoran, but not by much. She almost felt pity for the poor, cowering boy before her.

Sakura advanced toward her unfaithful boyfriend. He glanced at her uncertainly. She put her arms on his shoulders sympathetically and for a split second he thought that she was going to forgive him. He was proved wrong when she pulled him closer and kneed him in the stomach. He doubled over in pain, and she uppercut him in the face. She kicked the back of his knees, making him trip and kneel on the ground before her. “Fucking loser.” She whispered into his ear. She jumped on top of him, using her knees to pin his arms and pummeled his face into the ground. She jumped off of him, catching her breath. He got up, having had enough; he decided that he should fight back. So when she neared, he threw his fist at her as hard as her could. She simply sidestepped the blow and twisted his arm behind his back so far that it dislocated, which was, of course what she was trying to do. She lifted his chin, which was dripping blood from his mouth. “You told me that you loved me, that we’d be together forever. Consider us broken up, fucking bastard.”

She grabbed his dislocated shoulder, digging her nails in. He yelped in pain.

“Katana, Ayisha” she turned to her friends, who seemed to be incredibly afraid of her. “Yes?” They asked tentatively. “Take this bastard into the hospital.” She commanded, still cold. They jumped up and helped Kai into the hospital.

“Syao, take your girlfriend home.” She ordered. Her friend nodded, knowing what was coming next. Jet stayed as far as physically possible away from Sakura and gave her boyfriend the keys to her sleek black Jaguar.

As soon as they left, she collapsed to the ground, crying and Mei Lin enfolded her in a soothing group hug. She didn't care if she looked weak to them, they would never tease her about crying. She let all that pent-up emotion out, in the form of tears. She was soon bawling on the cold ground. Life was spiralling out of control; being adopted, her mother was dying, her boyfriend was a total and unbelievable jackass. Her world was in turmil and she didn't know what to do. She let it all out, and after a few minutes, she felt alotbetter. Her Bawling reduced to sobs, which bacame sniffles and then just little hiccups.

Soon, she stopped crying. “You alright now Saku?” Asked Tomoyo. “Yeah, I’m now. Thanks Moyo, thanks Mei Mei.”

“No prob, kid.” Mei Lin answered. “It was totally worth it to see you kick his ass. I wish I could watch that over and over again.”

“And you can.” The girls turned to Tomoyo, who had a malicious glint in her eyes. “I taped the whole thing.” She smiled and her friends’ sweat dropped at her. “I’ll make a copy for all of you.”

“Um, you guys?” Came a tiny voice behind them. Sakura leaped up and got into a fighting stance, she was still in her warrior mercenary mode. “I-it’s just us.” And Katana and Ayisha walked out of the darkness, holding each other and obviously really scared of this side of Sakura. She blushed and smiled reassuringly at them.

“Sorry you guys. I’m still inmy ass-kicking frame of mind, I do that when I get tense. It’s a habit I got when I was training in China. Our sensei used to always sneak up on us and only give us a split second warning.” Sakura apologized.

“It’s okay.” They replied, glad that she wasn’t mad at them. No one spoke for a while. Ayisha was silently answering the question of where Sakura had gone for the whole of ninth grade.

“Hey d’you guys wanna come over to my house? I can make us a littledinner there.” Tomoy offered. Everyone agreed and piled into her white Range Rover.

Syaoran and Jet

She looked at her boyfriend, praying he would believe her. “Syaoran?” He didn’t respond. “Baby? I’m sorry I didn’t tell you because I was just so ashamed. Please forgive me.” She said as sincerely as she could. He looked over at her and to her relief; he was smiling warmly at her. “Of course, I love you.” Inside, Jet grinned maliciously. How naive can one person be? She reached for his hand and he took it gladly. “I love you too.”

Daidoujii household

The ‘little dinner’ that Tomoyo promised them turned out to be a huge feast and they all ate till they were stuffed. Then they went to watch a movie in Tomoyo’s room, which somehow turned into a massive pillow fight. In the end, feathers were falling like rain all around them and everyone was out of breath. No one wanted to go home, so Tomoyo suggested they spend the night at her house. She lent them some of the really cute silk pajamas that she had designed last year.

They sat in a circle on the floor to play a game called ‘Truth’. (One person asks another person and that person has to tell the truth, hence the name.) Tomoyo started, as she was the host.

“So, Katana.” She addressed her new friend. “What’s your most embarrassing habit?”

Katana blushed and looked down. “I pick my nose when I’m asleep, that’s what Jet tells me.” Everyone roared with laughter and she blushed even harder.

“Mei Lin-san,’ Katana asked after the laughter died down. “What’s the farthest you’ve ever gone with a boy?”

“I’m not a virgin.” She said casually. Everyone present stared at her, awestruck. Mei Lin cleared her throat uncomfortably. She considered her question carefully.“Sakura, do you have feelings for my little brother?”

Sakura blushed as she tried to think of a loophole in that question. “We’re waiting.” Mei Lin said impatiently.

“Well…” Sakura considered running, but it wouldn’t work, Mei Lin was faster than she was. Ayisha cleared her throat and Sakura blushed even harder, looking red as a tomato. “Define ‘feelings’…”

The girls squealed loud enough to wake the dead. “I knew it!” Ayisha declared triumphantly. “I knew it ever since the first day of school that you liked him! I could tell by the way you acted with him!”

“Kawaii!” Tomoyo screamed, pulling her video camera from its hiding place. Sakura let out a resigned sigh. At least she could trust them.

“You have to tell him, Saku.” Tomoyo advised her friend.

“Yeah, or else he’ll fall in love with Jet and you’ll have missed your chance.” Added Katana, who read romance novels because she’d never had a boyfriend before.

“Or she’ll brainwash him into thinking that he loves her.” Ayisha shuddered, disgusted that she even knew Jet.

“But, I don’t know you guys.” She sighed. “I mean, I can’t wait for them to break up, what if they don’t? I don’t want to share him or be the other girl, I want to be the only girl, y’know?” She sweat dropped at Tomoyo, who was taping every moment of her confession. She was used to it so it didn’t really bother her.

“So break them up.” Suggested Ayisha but Sakura shook her head.

“I couldn’t do that, I mean, she’s really mean and all, but I wouldn’t want them to break up because of something I did or said because then, even if I do get Syao, I’ll spend my whole life wondering if he would’ve actually come to me if I hadn’t manipulated him into doing it.”

“So tell him how you feel.” Katana told her quietly. She wished that someone would love her as much as Sakura loved Syaoran.

Sakura paused, remembering all the times she was around Syaoran, how he had always made her feel good. She wondered how long he’d been able to do that for her and she realized that she had always loved him. Since forever. A thought crossed her mind and it broke her heart from within. Unshed tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Her friends engulfed her in a huge group hug, wondering what was wrong. She barley noticed because in her mind, she was envisioning what would happen if she told him and he didn’t feel the same. The very thought shattered her heart into a million pieces and she just cried while her friends tried to calm her down. Tomoyo sighed sadly, 'ven after all this time, she was still so very fragile. Physically she could kick ass but mentally? She's as fragile as a cherry blossom.'After a while, she stopped crying. “What if he doesn’t feel the same way?” She asked her friends.

“He does, trust me sweetie, he’s my brother.” Mei Lin reassured her, butSakura still looked doubtful. So she tried again.

“Have you ever seen the way he looks at you? With caring, emotion, LOVE. He looks nothing like that when he looks at any of us.” She said, indicating the other girls in the room.

“And Jet?”

“He looks at her with lust darling, but not like how he looks at you. TRUST ME Sakura, he loves you too. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

“Alright, I’ll tell him. But After I find out who my real parents are.”

“Why?” Ayisha asked, puzzled.

“I’m not sure, it just might help me feel better that way.” Sakura yawned. “Well, I’m tired you guys. Good night.”

“Good night.” They replied, turning off the lights.

The Next Day, Hospital.

Sakura sat vigilantly beside her mother in a chair. She was so tired; maybe she could just take a short nap…

Jade Avalon woke up to see Sakura with her head on the bed, snoring softly. She moved her hands from out of her daughters, because Sakura was starting to drool on her. Sakura stirred but did not wake up. Jade felt so guilty, she was so selfish, becoming an alcoholic like that. Still, she had a good reason…

Sakura woke up, snapping Jade out of more painful memories.

“How you doing mom?” She slurred, as she was still half- asleep.

“I good love. How are you? Did you sleep okay? Have you had breakfast?” Over the years she had become Sakura’s mother and felt the need to ask these questions.

“Good, yes and yes.” She answered all the questions easily.

“Then what’s bothering you?”

“Kai cheated on me.”

“I thought you two already broke up?”

“We got back together and broke up again.”

“How did you know he was cheating on you?”

“He did it with Syaoran’s girlfriends and her sister told me.”

“I see.” Jade leaned back on her pillows, Sakura was so young and already she was having her heart broken. She sighed. She didn’t really want to discuss this with her daughter; it might affect her too much. This was something she would’ve discussed with her sister or friends.

If her sister was still talking to she hadfriends. Jade sighed, her life was so empty, so hollow, how could she have ever thought that taking Sakura to raise her was ever a good idea?

“Mom?”

“Yes, Sweetheart?”

“I hope you don’t mind me asking, um, what, I mean, that is, I was wondering…”

“You’re stuttering Sakura.”

“Why did you become and alcoholic?” She blurted out. Jade looked surprised. That’s what she was just going to tell her.

“I mean,” Sakura corrected herself. “You were a famous model, lots of money caring husband,” Jade flinched but Sakura didn’t notice. “A nice house, me, why did you do it? Were you not happy with me?”

“No, baby. Never think it was because of you. It wasn’t. Hmmm, I better start from the beginning. It was about a year ago…

“I doing a photo op in China but we got to go home early and I wanted to surprise your father with a nice big meal.

“I went straight to our room so I could change and not get my good clothes dirty. However when I got there…I” Her voice cracked and she tried so hard to hold back tears that were threatening to fall. Sakura hugged her mother, not knowing what else to do.

“It’s okay let it out.” She consoled her as tears streamed down her face and fell onto the bedspread, soaking it.

“He was doing it with a model that I worked with!" Shegestured wildly, expressing her emotions. "I caught them, in OUR bed, in our house, screwing each other’s brains out.” She cried in angst. “But I just loved him so much I couldn’t bear to let him go. So I turned a blind eye, pretending I couldn’t see, that I didn’t know. I accepted his lie that it was his cousin and he lent him the house so that the girl would think he rich.

“But one day he came home with lipstick smeared all over his clothes, smelling like Chanel” She paused to dry her eyes on the sheet. “And it was the last straw for me. I told him that I knew, that he would have to choose between her and me. And he chose…” She couldn’t continue it was still so heartbreaking for her.

“He chose her.” Sakura quietly finished her sentence for her. ‘So that’s what happened. I wish I could just take away her pain.’

“He doesn’t know what he’s missing, mom. He chose wrong.”

Jade looked gratefully at her daughter. “Thank you, honey.”

“Any time.” Sakura tried to smile for her. ‘How could he leave like this?’ She cursed her ‘father’ everything she could think of.

“So, like I was trying to tell you yesterday,” she licked her chapped lips. “Honey, could you get me some lip gloss? My lips are so dry.” After her lips were soft enough for her satisfaction. “Your real mother, and my sister. Her name is Kin-“

They were once again interrupted by aloud banging at the door. “I’ll get it.” She pulled open the door to reveal…

“Dad,” gasped Sakura.