A belated Valentine's fanfiction… even though I already wrote a different one. The idea just kind of crept over me, and I couldn't help myself. P

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To Burn or Not to Burn

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Sakura glared furiously at the pile of pink, red, and chocolate her boyfriend had amassed in his apartment. Everywhere! They were everywhere! They'd been in his shoe locker that morning, all over his table during lessons, in the arms of the several millions of girls that had already bombarded him with confetti-filled bags of love that day, and now they were in his apartment?! How in Clow's name did those girls even find out where he lived?!?!?!?!

She was seriously debating whether or not it was worth risking getting Syaoran mad to toss all of his Valentines into the fireplace and let them burn. Or maybe using Fiery would be faster? But then she would be forced to sit through another one of Kero's lectures about misusing her Sakura Cards. No, it would be better to do it the old fashioned way… nice, slow, and crackly. Using magic just wouldn't give her the same satisfaction.

Why did he have to be so darn popular in the first place? He'd gone and disappeared to God-knows-where in China for nearly four years, and as soon as he came back he was somehow nominated most sought-after male in school? He wasn't even available! How exactly did this kind of reasoning work?!

Sure, she'd taken it all very nicely at first, and had even felt flattered that her boyfriend was such a catch… her sudden fit of bitterness had nothing to do with the fact that their Valentine's Day date was ruined because he'd suddenly been called back to the high school to be severely questioned about why the words "I WANT TO HAVE LI SYAORAN'S BABIES" were graffiti-ed in bright pink across the outer gymnasium walls. Nope, there was no correlation whatsoever.

Her sudden, vengeful dislike for her formerly favorite color, pink, had nothing to do with the fact that it had accompanied every single confession of love almost every other girl in the entire school had made to him that day either. And no, she was not seeing red because that damned second year girl had had the nerve to actually kiss Syaoran on the cheek while his defensive reflexes were hampered due to the several hundred pounds of chocolate and pink fluff he was forced to carry around all day.

And yet, red reminded her of fire, and speaking of fire, Sakura wondered where she had put those matches…

Twenty minutes later, Li Syaoran, twice nominated Most Handsome Face In Tomoeda and this year's Japan's favorite to win Sexiest High School Junior in the Nation, returned to his apartment, shocked to see his girlfriend sitting cross-legged on a large hill of Valentine cards, doing her utmost to light the matchstick in her hand.

"Sakura…" he asked hesitantly, walking cautiously over to the emerald-eyed female. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to set the Devil's evil minions on fire," she answered promptly, never looking up from her absorbing task.

"The… Devil's evil minions?" Syaoran repeated slowly, not sure that he had heard correctly. "That huge pile of Valentines?"

"Yes."

Syaoran groaned. "Sakura… honey? You do realize that you're sitting on that pile of pink paper-"

"Don't call them that! They're the Devil's minions!" she interrupted.

"Yes, yes," her boyfriend agreed quickly, continuing. "Do you realizing that you're sitting on the um… Devil's minions that you're about to burn? And that they also happen to be in my apartment?"

Sakura smiled prettily up at him. "Don't worry, Syaoran-kun. I'll be careful." She returned to trying to light the match.

Syaoran thanked God for two things. One, that he had gotten home in time to stop his girlfriend's hormonal insanity, and two, that she was too caught up in trying to swipe the little wooden stick against the edge of the matchbox to realize that she was holding it upside down.

"Sakura stop it. Come here," he said sternly, reaching his hand up towards her. "It's dangerous."

"I said that I'll be careful!" she protested irately, puffing her cheeks out in annoyance.

Japan's Sexiest High School Junior resisted the urge to slam his head against a wall. It was time to pull out the trump card. "Sakura," he said in a deep, threatening tone of voice.

"What?" she looked hesitantly down at him.

"Don't make me call Touya."

Sakura was down from the pile of Valentines faster than the time she had whipped Windy out to save their soon-to-be-extremely-sorry-asses falling several hundred feet from the top of a Ferris wheel last spring.

"You're playing dirty, Syaoran-kun," she glared at him.

Sighing, Syaoran wrapped his arms around his petite little Cherry Blossom's waist and pulled her into his chest, burying his face into her silky auburn tresses and breathing in the sweet softness that was Sakura. "You know none of these millions of Valentines mean anything to me, koi," he murmured gently into her hair. "I realize you're upset, but trying to burn them isn't a very good idea."

"Am I allowed to tell Mei Ling-chan that you thought her Valentine was worthless?" Sakura mumbled into his beige shirt, the pout still on her face.

"Only if you want to risk her flying down here and joining us for the rest of our Valentine's Day," he answered, chuckling when his words elicited a loud groan from Sakura.

"Mm… I'm sorry for acting so stupidly, Syaoran-kun," she said finally, snuggling into his chest. "Onii-chan was right when he called me a kaijuu."

"No, no… well, maybe a little bit right," Syaoran teased.

His girlfriend immediately began to emanate dangerous waves of feminine fury, but he merely grinned and swept her up into his arms and carried her over to the living room couch, which was, thankfully, free of pink and white bits of paper.

Syaoran let her settle into his lap as they both sat down and leaned against the back of the comfy sofa. "So?" he said, smiling down at her. "Do I finally get my Valentine now?"

"You've gotten plenty of those from other girls already," Sakura muttered darkly, but already a light, pink stain had begun to spread across her cheeks. "And don't call them Valentines… they're the Devil's minions."

"Your Valentine isn't a minion from hell though, is it?" he teased, tilting her chin up and planting a soft kiss on her rosy lips.

Sakura pouted, blushing heavily now and pushed him away gently. "Mou… Syaoran-kun…"

"Well?" he prompted again, playing with the strands of hair framing her face.

"It's… not as fancy as everyone else's," she muttered quietly.

"This is the only Valentine I'm getting this year, so it'll be special no matter what. Everything else was just 'Devil's minions', right?"

Sakura smiled softly up at him. "Arigatou, Syaoran-kun. Here," she handed him a small package wrapped in light pink and green tissue paper, and pecked him on the lips. "Happy Valentine's Day."

Syaoran returned the kiss a bit more aggressively, earning a small moan from his beautiful Cherry Blossom. "Mou, Syaoran-kun! Open it already," she whispered, breathless from his kiss.

He smirked good-humouredly at her before turning to his present. "Open it now?" he asked.

"No," she answered sarcastically. "Next year, when I'm not on my period and itching to set your apartment on fire."

Underneath the tissue paper was a flat, rectangular white box, and when he opened it, Syaoran felt his heart grow warm at the sight of a homemade piece of chocolate, about the size of Sakura's palm, in the shape of a heart, and with the words "Aishiteru yo, Syaoran-kun" written across the dark brown surface in white icing.

"It… might be a little burnt," Sakura admitted nervously. "This was the first year that I made chocolate by myself without Otou-san's help…"

Syaoran picked the piece of chocolate up and took a bite out of it. "MMmmm… it's delicious," he said, a huge grin on his face. "Not burnt at all."

"Really?" Sakura asked, suspiciously, but already a smile was spreading across her own face as well. "I don't believe you."

"Here, try some." Syaoran broke a piece of the chocolate off and fed it to her.

"See?" he said, taking another bite out of the sticky-sweet heart. "It's not burnt at all."

"Mmm…" his girlfriend eyed the chocolate mischievously. "I couldn't tell… maybe another bite…"

"Nope!" Syaoran laughed, popping the last bit of it into his mouth. "No more!"

"Aww… Syaoran-kun!" Sakura pouted. He merely continued to laugh, savoring the sweet taste of Sakura's handmade Valentine melting on his tongue.

"Syaoran-kun…" Sakura's face advanced on him dangerously.

"S-Sakura, what are you doing?" he stuttered, backing away a bit from her.

She grinned wickedly up at him. "I said that I wanted more!" With that, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his. The two of them shared a chocolate-flavored kiss, both of them relishing in the deliriously happy feeling settling over them both.

"Aishiteru yo, Syaoran-kun," Sakura whispered once they broke apart, her emerald eyes still locked with his amber pupils.

"I love you too, Sakura," he answered softly, pressing a kiss against the upper right corner of her lips. They cuddled together contentedly.

"So no more burning Devil's minions, okay?" he reminded her, a tranquil grin on his face.

Sakura bit her lip nervously and batted her eyelashes up at him. "Um… Syaoran-kun… would now be the time to tell you that I already chucked thirty of them into the oven?"

As the smell of smoke began to spread through the apartment, Syaoran merely sighed heavily and pulled his precious girlfriend even closer to him so that he could lean his chin on top of her forehead. The fire alarm went off.

Oh they were so in love.

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Owari

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Hahaha… Happy Very-Belated-Valentine's Day!!!! Hormonal and pyromaniac Sakura is really so rare, isn't it? I figured the world could use a bit more fiery passion.

Lots of love,

silver raindrops260

koi – short for "koibito", which means "love" or "lover"

onii-chan – big brother (Touya)

kaijuu - monster

mou – geez

arigatou – thank you

aishiteru yo – I love you

otou-san – dad (Fujitaka)