“Nades?”
“Yeah, it’s me.” She rolled her eyes rudely. “Obviously.”
“I-I wanted to…apologize. Nades, I’m so sorry. I was…I was wrong.”
“Imotou-san, I love you but no, I can’t forgive or respect you. Stuff like that takes time.”
“Well well well. Isn’t this a happy reunion?”
“Mia! I’m so sorry to you as well. I shouldn’t have…taken him from you. Although, if you think about it I did you a favor.” She added jokingly.
“It’s alright little sister.” Mia smiled faintly. “It just hurts that’s all. What Nades just said the same goes for me huh?”
“Hai, sister.” She bowed her head in a humble manner. “I’m sorry, to all of you.” She spoke to her sisters and Sakura before encompassing them in a huge hug that rent her head wide with pain but she didn’t even notice because the love in her heart and the weight off her shoulders drowned it all out. “I love you guys.” They all said at the same time and broke off into giggles. After a moment, Jade announced that her head felt like it was shattering and they all agreed to leave her to rest. “Sakura my dear, we have much to talk about.” Nades said, pulling her off to one side. They looked at Miashiiko who nodded, silently agreeing to watch over their sister while they left.
“Yes…mom.” That one word lifted her spirits and she felt great pleasure in saying it.
She led them to a quiet café on the corner of the street where the hospital was located. They ordered a bowl of ramen noodles and settled into an uncomfortable silence which was injected with hungry slurping noises.
“So, tell me about your life so far.” Nades said to Sakura.
At first, Sakura was reluctant to talk about herself as it seemed kind of selfish of her but after a while she opened up and soon her whole life story was pouring out of her. She told Nades everything. She told her about her friends and her feelings for Syaoran and how she was worried that maybe he might reject her. In turn, Nades gave her proper motherly advice and told her that she was supporting her and that she’d always be there for her if she wanted to talk. All this took a grand total of five hours and they decided that they really enjoyed each other’s company. Nades also remembered something very important.
“Sakura,” The young girl looked up from her cold bowl of noodles, which she was stirring intently, thinking about Syaoran.
“Hai, Mom?”
“Happy eighteenth, sweetheart.” Nades pulled out a small silver box from her purse. Sakura opened it slowly and gasped. Inside was a cherry blossom pendant, it was medium sized and extremely beautiful. In the middle was a cluster of pure diamonds which gradually faded to a light pink color. On the border of it was a line of the prettiest cut pink opals. Sakura put it on and it brought out the green of her eyes.
“Mom…I don’t know what to say except…thank you. But, it’s not my birthday today.” Nades frowned.
“Yes, it is. November the 21st. That’s your birthday isn’t it?”
“It is…then why didn’t…my friends…” She sighed sadly.
“Which reminds me, sweetheart. I want to take you to this fabulous new club downtown. Don’t cry sweetheart. I’m sure they didn’t forget. They probably wanted you to get some rest. C’mon, let’s go.”
Ten minutes later they were pulling the parking into the new club ‘Bluegrass’ it was called. Sakura was still feeling very sad that her friends had forgotten her birthday. “Sakura? Come one.” Nades led them to the bar. “Two martinis jack.” She said, addressing the bartender.
“I’m underage.” Sakura protested.
“Are you now?” Nades smiled at her skeptically. Sakura blushed; embarrassedly she had already forgotten she was eighteen. She sipped her drink cautiously and, upon discovering she liked it, she gulped it all down, savoring the yummy taste. Nades took her by the hand and led to the VIP room. “Close your eyes, Sakura.” She did as she was told. She heard the door being opened. “Now open them.”
“Happy Birthday, Sakura!” She gasped in surprise. All her friends were there, raising their drinks in a less than sober fashion, toasting to her good health etc., etc. Tomoyo and Mei Lin stumbled forward and wrapped their arms around her. “How does it feel to be old?” Mei Lin joked. Tomoyo just laughed and handed her a bottle of Sake (I think that’s Japanese rice beer or something). They led her into the crowd, helping her greet the people they had invited for her surprise party. “Rika, Chiharu!” She stopped to hug her best friends from elementary school. “I haven’t seen you in sooo long!” Tomoyo slurred at her friends. She and Mei Lin wandered away in search of more alcohol. Having spent a year at college alone with Mei Lin, she sort of picked up on her party animal habits. Sakura smiled bemusedly at her friends as they walked away. “So what’s been up guys?”
“Well……” She seemed to be thoughtful for a moment. “Takashi proposed!” Chiharu squealed, showing off her ring finger to Sakura who gasped. The diamond was huge. It looked like the ‘Hope Diamond’… it probably was. (When Takashi and Chiharu realized that they really loved each other, she asked him to please stop making up stupid stories. In the end, he realized she was more important and put his imagination to more…productive outlets. Basically he wrote stories and was filthy rich.)
“It’s beautiful, Chiharu! That’s awesome!” Sakura exclaimed. She hugged her friend in congratulations. “What about you, Rika?” She began, turning toward the other girl.
“Well, I’m kind of going out with Terada.” She said, shyly and pushing up her glasses.
“Nice one…” She said nicely. “Well, I’ll see you guys later. Come over to my house next time okay?” She said, starting to walk away.
“We will!” They promised to her retreating back. Sakura circled the huge party room twice looking for a certain person. She looked for his sister; she was surely around here somewhere. She found them sitting on a couch in the corner drinking like fishes. She approached them cautiously; they were extremely drunk and shouting pickup lines to any random guy that happened to pass by. She smiled at them absentmindedly.
“Um, Mei Mei?” She said carefully. “Where’s…Syaoran?”
She seemed to sober up for a moment and her eyes turned angry. Sakura edged away a bit. But her eyes glazed over a little and returned to their original state. “He said…” She seemed thoughtful for a moment. “Something about…Jet’s birthday party… stupid little brother… he got all defensive and said… ‘so what if I love her, if she really cared about me, Saki will understand…I tried to talk him out of it but…he wouldn’t listen…I’m sorry, kid I really am… how ya doin’ good-lookin’?” She yelled at a passing stranger. Sakura barely noticed, though all that could run through her mind was, ‘Syao ditched me for…Jet! What the hell is going on!’ After the initial skepticism she realized that Mei Lin had been drinking too much that she couldn’t exercise discretion with what she said. What ever came out of her mouth was the complete and totally blunt truth. A sudden wave of sadness hit her repeatedly, until the sadness in her heart was too much to bear. She had begun to wonder where they were getting their beer from because they seemed to always have a full bottle in their hands without ever getting up. She looked around and realized that they were sitting right beside the two of the coolers that contained beer. She plopped herself down beside the cooler and leaned her head on Tomoyo’s thigh, who patted her head as sympathetically as a drunk person could. Sakura opened a bottle and drank it all down with one gulp. She cringed at the bitter taste but proceeded to open up another bottle. ‘If it worked to Mama Jade, it’ll work for me.’ She thought bitterly to herself, forgetting the consequences. She opened bottle after bottle until she was totally wasted. However, not even that wasn’t enough to quell the pain in her heart. ‘I love you, Syaoran. Why can’t you see?’ Was the last thought she had in her mind before she passed out.
The Next Day
“Sakura? Sakura?” She awoke to the sound of someone calling her name. She groaned. The pain feeling she had once had in her heart was now replaced by the awful throbbing of her hangover. She had completely forgotten about Syaoran ditching her.
She opened her eyes wide and quickly shut them tight against the bright light. She groaned and rolled over. “Well that’s what you get for drinking too much, young lady.” The disembodied voice scolded. It sighed. “I’ve been a mother for only a day and already my daughter is getting drunk irresponsibly.”
“M-mom…?” She groaned and blinked rapidly, trying to get the sleep from her eyes. Suddenly the voice was right in front of her. The light seemed to be a lamp that was hanging just above whatever piece of furniture she lay on.
“Did I do that right? Did I sound strict enough?” Nadeshiiko asked, earnestly. She noticed Sakura struggling to open her eyes with the light and hurriedly switched it off.
“Um…yeah you said it fine, very convincing.” She half slurred half mumbled.
“Really? Thank you. Happy birthday again.” Her voice moved to the other side of the room and returned with the smell of bacon. Sakura followed her nose and opened her eyes. Her mother was standing over her with a plate full of sizzling food. Her stomach grumbled hungrily. Her mother looked at her a bit sternly. “I’m serious though sweetheart. You shouldn’t consume too much alcohol. You could develop an addiction.”
“I don’t actually do stuff like that mom. Gomen, I guess I got a bit carried away huh?” She said apologetically.
“You did. But, no matter, just don’t do it again okay?”
“Hai mom.” She said, glad to be let off the hook so easily.
“Promise?” Nades said suspiciously.
“Promise.” Sakura said sincerely.
“Now have some breakfast.” Nades said, offering Sakura the plate of food she was carrying. She gobbled the food down like Kero and asked for seconds, thirds and fourths until she was so full she felt like she was about to burst. As she sat back, groaning and holding her stomach, Nades said, “Yup, a hangover will do that to you. Feel better now?” Sakura nodded and chewed slowly, she looked like a chipmunk with a mouth full of food. “Good. Now get some sleep, you need your rest. It’s already 9 PM and you’re going to school tomorrow.” Sakura groaned and rolled her head back, resting it on the back of the couch.
She brought her head back up and surveyed the room she was in. She was sitting on a worn but comfortable green and blue striped couch. Across from her was the kitchen area and beside the stove was a sink filled with dirty dishes. In between the sink and the couch she was sitting on there was a small wooden table with two mismatched chairs seated at it. Off to the side was another couch that was really weird looking. It seemed to piece a piece of what could politely be called ‘modern art’. Basically, it was deformed in every sense of the word. Suddenly a thought struck Sakura. She had never seen this place before… where the hell was she?
“Mom?” She called out to the hallway where her mother had disappeared to. “Where are you?” ‘Where am I?’ she thought.
“I’m coming.” She called back in a singsong voice. She emerged, looking really nice. Nades had on a sleeveless red dress that went to just above her knees. It was red and maroon which might not have looked good usually but did. The V-shaped neckline was accentuated by the various multiple red and black necklaces she wore. She had chandelier diamond earrings in her earlobe and a giant ruby stud in her ear cartiledge. Her smooth auburn hair was pulled into a high ponytail and shone even in the dim light. Her black kitten-heeled shoes (a/n for any guy reading this which I doubt kitten heels are shoes on which the heels are curved slightly in the middle and tend to be quite short.) had pretty sequins and made them look like a black version of Dorothy’s. (Wizard of Oz reference.) She twirled in front of her daughter, her hair flying around her shoulders. “Well, what do you think?” She asked, looking at her daughter expectantly.
“Wow, mom you look really nice. Got a hot date tonight or something?” Sakura asked playfully.
“Aw, nice? I was going for beautiful and hot. And yes, I do have a date, thank you very much.” She replied proudly.
“Fine, fine.” Sakura corrected. “You look amazingly hot.”
Nades mock curtsied. “Thank you darling.” She said with an English accent.
“So who’s your hot date Mom?” Sakura raised her eyebrows expectantly.
Nades laughed heartily. “His name is Lini Fujitaka. I work with him. We’ve been dating for a while now. He’s really nice, I like him. Although… would you like me to stay with you or is your head still hurting?” She was genuinely concerned but Sakura could tell that she really wanted to go on her date.
“I’m fine, mom. Just one thing, do you have any cinnamon popsicles?” (A/n Thank you psycho-pyro-shrink!) Sakura asked wearily.
“Cinnamon popsicles? Why?” Nades had a small smile on her face and her head was cocked to the side slightly.
“Oh, well it’s okay if you don’t have them. It’s not a really common thing to buy at the store or whatever. It’s just that they’re my favorite kind of food and if anything can make me feel better it’s that.”
“Actually,” Nades smiled. “They’re my favorite too. I just bought a jumbo-sized box at the store the day before yesterday. They always make me feel better too.” She walked to the freezer and pulled out two amber colored popsicles. She unwrapped both and threw the plastic in the garbage can. Nades stuck one in her mouth and handed the other to Sakura who chewed on it delightedly. Nades stared at her daughter with an amusement on her face. Within seconds the Popsicle was gone. Sakura smiled and leaned her head back on the sofa again.
“Brain freeze?” Nades asked.
“Yeah,” Sakura sighed and put a hand to her forehead. “But my headache feels a lot better. Do you have any more?”
“Sure.” Nades walked back to the freezer and opened the door. “How many can you finish, sweetheart?”
“Um, about five.” Sakura replied. Nades nodded and retrieved five more popsicles from the freezer. She threw them all to Sakura at the same time. Sakura caught them all easily without looking.
“Impressive.” Nades said, sitting beside Sakura on the couch. “So how long were you in China training for?”
“Um, about a year.” Sakura responded, starting to eat the Popsicle more slowly.
“Was it really difficult?”
“Well-“ Her description of her days in China was cut short by the doorbell. Nades jumped up instantly.
“Oh, that’ll be Fujitaka now. Take care, sweetheart.” And with that she went into the hallway. Sakura heard the door open and sounds of greeting, then the door closed and there was silence in the apartment. ‘Might as well sleep, then. Goodnight mom.’ She thought and drifted to sleep just as her thoughts turned to Syaoran. ‘ I’m gonna tell him tomorrow.’ She assured her restless mind.
The Next Day.
It was Monday and Sakura walked with a bounce in her step. Just near the school Mei Lin and Tomoyo had showed up and given her a pep talk, assuring her that Syaoran definitely loved her more and that if she made him choose between her and Jet, Syaoran would definitely choose her. So she walked, smiling and walking confidently to where she saw Syaoran standing. “Hey Sakura!” Mei Lin called behind her. She whirled around to see her friends running toward her. “Take this for good luck.” She said and put a Chinese good luck charm around her neck. Sakura was touched. “Aww thanks Mei Mei and Moyo.”
“Knock ‘em dead Saku.” Tomoyo smiled. Sakura returned the gesture and began to walk towards Syaoran. But when she got there, he was gone. Instead there was Jet, smiling at her cockily.
“No use trying, little girl. He’s mine. So you just go back to your little dolls and let the big people alone okay?” Jet said condescendingly.
“Fuck off, Jet. If he had to choose he would pick me.” Sakura replied acidly.
“Are you sure about that? Then how come her came to my birthday party and not yours?” Sakura could find no answer as she vaguely remembered her conversation to Mei Lin about Syaoran’s whereabouts. She felt the pain in her chest again and for a second there she forgot to breathe. But the pain was soon replaced by a familiar, bubbling rage. She felt her face flush and moved as if she was in water. Jet was still insulting her and proving that Syaoran loved her more. Sakura could tell by the way Jet was standing with her weight to one side and checking off points on her fingers. She heard none of it. “You.” She hissed through clenched teeth. “Poisoned his mind and you’re gonna pay.” And with that she lunged at Jet and began slapping her and scratching her porcelain face. The rich girl screamed and began clawing back at Sakura. They rolled around, a tangled mass of limbs and shiny hair. People and gathered around them, cheering them on. They paid no attention to them, however. They just rolled on top of each other. Sakura couldn’t seem to remember how to punch properly all she could do was spit and claw and pull hair. So they were evenly matched as Jet had been enough catfights in her time. Sakura knew she had to stand back and let her emotions not affect her judgment but she just couldn’t. She vaguely remembered her sensei telling her that she needed to train more because her feelings affected her too much. Which was why she couldn’t punch properly. She was feeling like a bitch and therefore she was acting like a bitch. They rolled around in the parking lot for a while and Sakura maintained her self-control somewhat. She took a deep breath, summoning her chi. then she picked up the screaming, flailing girl and threw her into her own Ferrari, cracking the wind shield. Jet was still and didn’t move but Sakura knew she wasn’t dead, Sakura had calculated her strength correctly, and Jet stirred and sat up slowly, as if the very movement pained her severely.
“What the fuck!” Syaoran’s voice came from behind them.
Jet simple glared at Sakura and stared sadly at her boyfriend. “You can’t have us both, baby. You have to choose. Who do care about more, me or her?” She indicated Sakura, who was gazing hopefully at Syaoran. At least she wasn’t the one to tell him to choose.
“But I love you equally-“
“Choose.” Jet interjected forcefully.
Syaoran looked confusedly between Sakura and Jet. He took one step towards Jet. “I love you Syao.” Syaoran snapped his head up. Sakura had never told anyone that ever. Well, with the exception of Jade and Nades. The question running through his mind was Does she love me for real or just as a friend? He took a step towards Sakura.
“That’s so garbage, why are you going to her just because she’s said ‘I love you’ once! I’ve told you that a thousand times!” Jet intervened frustrated. And something inside of Syaoran withered and he knew who he was going to choose. He looked at the girl whose heart he was sure to break and tried to convey a look of apology. She took one look at his smoldering ambers and felt the hot tears rush to her eyes. This was so wrong, he was supposed to pick her, he should always choose her; she was his best friend. The other girl was still waiting for a reply, she obviously hadn’t interpreted Syaoran’s transparent look of guilt and apology towards Sakura. She just didn’t understand. It was so unfair. Syaoran cleared his throat.
Syaoran’s thoughts
If you choose Jet, you’ll break Saki’s heart! The one and only time she tells you that she loves you and you hurt her! What’s wrong with you? We both know that you love her!
That’s a lie, if you choose Jet, Sakura will understand right? That’s what best friends are for. Plus, Jet is your girlfriend. You are always supposed to pick your girl over your friends. You of all people should know that.
Normal POV
He took a deep breath and concurred with the latter. “I choose Jet.”
No comments:
Post a Comment