Rose Petal Love Story

Disclaimer: CLAMP and Kodansha own Card Captor Sakura and all the characters portrayed in it. Chiharu and Yamazaki are Circe's Dandelions anyway.

Dedication: Tsuin Circe, as usual.

Notes: Fluff. Nothing but. Well, maybe some sap, too. I had to do something so that it wouldn't just float away. Oh, and Yamazaki-kun isn't lying, for once. ^_~

Circe's Notes: All Chelle's bases are belong to CLAMP.

A Rose Petal Love Story

Chiharu was pretty sure it wasn't true. She'd heard rumor of Daidouji Sonomi, had seen her only once, but she was almost certain that Tomoyo-chan's mother was not the type of woman who suddenly professed her love for all the world to hear in the middle of a crowded festival. Certainly not to Sakura-chan's father, anyway. According to Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan's mother was rather strange, a little temperamental, and definitely did not like Kinomoto-sensei as anything more than a fellow human being. If that. But Yamazaki was five minutes into a story that had Daidouji-san shouting "Because I'm in love with you, you jackass!" while Kinomoto-sensei laughed. It was bullshit, and it was time to remind Yamazaki of that. Lord only knew what those female bodyguards would do to him if they heard what he was saying.

"Then he just leaned forward and…oh! Rose petals!" Small miracles, Chiharu thought. He'd managed to cut himself off in the middle of a story. She watched in amusement as he bounded forward a few steps and caught the red petals while they were still in midair. Smiling happily, he came back to her side and settled into step with her once more. She saw one finger tick up and decided to speak while she had the chance.

"You like red spider lilies, Yamazaki. Why are you so excited about rose petals? They're all over this time of year, anyway." She fished the petals out of his hand and brought them up to her face. They still had a sweet scent clinging to them.

"Because I saw only two of them yesterday. They were dancing together at the corner where I waited to meet you so we could go to Café Piffle Princess." He smiled sweetly and fell silent, apparently deciding that she didn't want to know what he was going to say after all. They walked on in silence for a minute before Chiharu caved.

"And?" She sighed deeply, as though already regretting it.

"And they talked to me while I waited for you." He shrugged and pulled the petals Chiharu still held out of her hands, cupping them in his own so he could look at them.

"They spoke to you? Are you sure you're feeling all right?"

He raised one eyebrow, then said loftily "Of course I'm all right. I'm just fine. In fact, I'm better than fine. Hiiragizawa-kun knows a lot about magic, and he was teaching me to read fortunes in everyday things. But some things can't tell you the future, so they just tell you about things they know about." He slanted a quick glance down at her, then looked back at the rose petals he held.

"Hiiragizawa-kun has been teaching you magic?" For a moment Chiharu considered trying to find out just how their quiet, English classmate knew magic, or how he was teaching her boyfriend to read signs, or if this was just a joke between the two of them. Then realized that the headache wasn't worth it. "And the rose petals you saw yesterday talked to you?"

"Hai." He smiled at her again, almost glowing with happiness about something.

"So what did they say?"

"What?"

"The flower petals you saw. What did they talk to you about? You said that they tell you things that they know about. I want to know what flowers talk about when they talk to people." She smiled back in the face of his surprise.

"Well." He blinked several times, looking bewildered. "They talked about you, actually. Because I told them I was waiting for you." He smiled again, looking…wonder-struck. "They knew you, I think, because they seemed to know a lot about you."

"Really?" Chiharu didn't bother to hide her skepticism.

"Yes, really. Your neighbor has rose trellises, maybe that's where they were from. I didn't think to ask." Yamazaki shrugged. "But I think they must have, because they said all kinds of things that I know are true."

"The rose petals were gossiping about me?"

"No, they were just telling me about you, because that's what they knew about, and I like to talk about you anyway, so why not?"

"So what did they say about me?"

Yamazaki grinned in earnest. "They said that you aren't afraid to fish for compliments." He dodged her playful swing at his head and took her hand. "No, really, they said that you're very outspoken, but you're always very nice, too. And even though you're a really nice person, you don't let anyone push you around. Especially not your brothers - they knew that you had a lot, but not six. They said that people tend to look a lot alike to flowers, so they don't pay much attention unless it's someone special. And you're very special." He turned into King Penguin Park and sat down to think on one of the smaller statues. "Hmmm…they said that you like roses, but freesias must be your favorite flowers because you're always fussing over them, your favorite color is "like the sun" they said, and you scream out loud when you're doing your Math homework. Really, really loud. Then they said that you should just call me when you have a problem with the math, because you don't scream as much when I help you. And they said that you hate it when I tell my stories. So I think they really did know you."

Chiharu looked at him for a long, quiet moment. He was smiling up at her, the late afternoon sunlight turning him golden. God, he was special. With a shrug, she sat on the ground near his feet. "I think they were lying to you."

"That's a mean thing to say. You didn't even talk to them." He still looked startled, as though he wasn't sure they were having this conversation.

"Well, maybe not lying, then. But they certainly don't know me as well as they told you they did."

"But you do like freesias best, and yellow is your favorite color, and even your brothers say that you yell when you get frustrated. The also said that you're the prettiest girl on your street, and I know that's right."

She pushed his leg slightly, embarrassed that his compliments could still make her blush. "But they don't know me. They just know what I'm like out loud, if that makes any sense." He nodded, as she knew he would. He always understood what she was trying to say. "So I don't think that you should talk to anymore flowers about me, if they're going to tell you lies like that. Not unless Hiiragizawa-kun is going to teach you how to tell when they're lying. Otherwise, you'll be just like Li-kun, only I don't think even Li-kun and Sakura-chan would believe everything flowers told them."

"They didn't say anything untrue, though." He persisted, looking wounded. Probably because Li Syaoran and Kinomoto Sakura were the two most gullible people he'd ever found, and though he loved them both, he wasn't keen on the idea of being just like them when it came to people just like him.

"Sure they did. They said that I don't like it when you tell your stories. That's not true. That means they lied to you. Maybe not on purpose, but I don't think that's my fault." She glanced up from the pattern she'd been making in the sand to see him staring at her as though she'd just announced she was from Mars.

"But you do!"

"No, I don't."

"But you never let me finish! You throttle me! You hate them!"

"I only throttle you when you get people to believe you, Yamazaki. I let you finish sometimes, too. I just drag you off so that I'm the only one who hears it. I even make you finish them sometimes!"

"So you don't hate my stories?"

Chiharu sighed deeply. "Yamazaki. Did the flowers tell you that I love you?"

"Of course. That's something important about you. I already knew that, though." Yamazaki smiled happily and took her hand again.

"Well, if you knew that, you'd know that I like it when you tell your stories. You just light up inside when you start, and you have so much fun. How could I hate something that makes you so happy?" She shook her head. "Yamazaki no baka. I have to get home soon. The Brothers will go on a rampage if I'm not back when I said I would be."

Yamazaki helped her to her feet, staring at her. "I love you, Chiharu." He sounded amazed by the fact. Chiharu knew the feeling; there were times when she couldn't believe how love felt, either.

"Well, since the petals in your hand aren't telling you, I guess I'll have to do it myself. I love you Takashi Yamazaki, you and all your bullshit." She led the way out of the park, the rose petals warm between their hands.

"Did you know…."

"Don't start."

"But you love my stories!"

"I knew I'd regret telling you that. So, what else happened between Daidouji-san and Kinomoto-sensei?"