She Writes His Heart

Summary: Have you ever wished you could live your favorite manga? Not Syaoran Li, who's neck-deep in Clow Cards, freshly developed magic he can't control, and an impossible crush on Kinomoto Sakura.

Premise: What if Sakura and Syaoran met and began capturing the cards and developing magic—as adults? Lots of laughs, I presume. Toss in a Tomoyo with her own design boutique, a mysterious Eriol who admits he's up to no good, and a bossy Mei Ling as Syaoran's boss, and add a mysterious fanfic in which someone chronicles what will happen to Sakura and Syaoran and... we probably have a merry mess on our hands.

Dedicated to parma-violets, who helped me out with this story nearly two years ago!

Chapter 1: Syaoran's Two Little Secrets

Crush

Syaoran sighed and bent down to hide a blush when the new girl came in—and to hide the screen of his browser; he didn't want her seeing what he was reading. She'd been assigned to share the area of his cubicle, and her cheery 'hellos' and smiles always melted his heart.

The thing was, Syaoran had never had a serious girlfriend though he was a very good-looking young man. Most people are disappointed to be born with brown hair and eyes—too boring, they would say. But Syaoran's large eyes were a clear amber, the kind a girl could lose herself in, and his thick hair was colored like rich chocolate. Add a well-built tall body, and you had—you guessed it, a very good-looking guy.

Too bad his expression seemed put-offish and snobbish; people thought he thought he was too good for the common herd. A snob; a player; an arrogant ass: those were the ways he'd heard himself described in the past.

But the truth was that Syaoran was rather awkward around people, and preferred staying quiet to embarrassing himself by stammering or saying something stupid. Which he often did, by the way. He often found himself wishing more people could understand that stringing words and sentences together were so much easier on paper than in his head. Somehow, getting words from his head to his mouth was a dangerous, difficult process, filled with verbal land mines and emotional trenches.

He'd been too shy to approach his crushes in school, preferring to stay near them and helping them out any way he could which would not draw notice. Many a girl he'd drawn close to this way had often fallen for him, then given up when he showed no signs of courting them properly and asking them out—not because he wasn't interested but because he was just so shy.

His friends liked to make fun of him as a result; Eriol Hiiragizawa liked slyly prodding him towards girls, and Takashi Yamazaki enjoyed telling poor, gullible Syaoran tall tales about how love could pass a person by, the end result being that Syaoran was terrified he would end up an old, crotchety bachelor.

But then there was Sakura Kinomoto. Her auburn hair was the first thing he had noticed, then when she turned around, oh those eyes! She was practically his favorite manga character Fa Ying come to life, what with her delightfully tousled and layered auburn hair, eyes like jade, lips and cheeks as pink as the sakura blossoms she was named for, and a delicate chin and nose. He especially liked it when she squeezed her eyes shut when she smiled. She was so cute, when he saw her coming down the corridor towards their part of the office, he felt a thrill.

Just like he did today.

"Good morning, Syaoran-kun!" she greeted him, her fingers touching his shoulder gently. The first time she'd done that, he hadn't washed the shirt for a week, but then the smell offended him so he'd given up and washed it. Of all his crushes, this one on Sakura was the most overwhelming, and he was finding it easier to stay silent than to say something, anything to her.

"Ready for our first audit together?" she chirped as she sat in her chair and placed her bag on the small, low cabinet that divided their shared cubicle.

He found himself wishing she would touch him again; he was rather starved for physical contact as he lived alone, and avoided his sisters, who were prone to hugging him halfway to death when they saw him.

But Sakura was another story; when she touched him, he perked up instantly. He loved it when she got all touchy-feely on him; though it made him blush, he adored it anyway. He always wished he were as suave as Eriol, who could flirt back with women with ease, or as funny as Takashi, who seemed to get away with any silly stunt he pulled because women thought he was cute.

Sakura turned to him as she hung up her jacket, and smiled again (). Syaoran fought the blush that was creeping up his cheeks. She always had that effect on him, and he just knew he was going to say something stupid in three...two...one...

"Ah. Ee-yuh."

Shit.Syaoran was temptedto bang his head on his desk, except she wouldn't just suspect he was a nutjob, she would have confirmation of it.

Against his expectations she giggled, a melodious little trill Syaoran adored, as she squeezed her eyes shut in the way he was really learning to love, and turned to switch her PC on.

Though he was grateful she hadn't given him an odd look (despite the number of times he'd done something dumb in front of her), Syaoran fought the urge to seize the envelope opener and stab himself with it to end his misery. Why, why, why couldn't he eversay something intelligent around Sakura Kinomoto?

She'd first come into his life a month ago. He was secretly working at one of the companies his family owned, and she was hired by their senior audit manager (who was also his cousin) to help serve as a "decoy" auditer and to shore up their bank of young audit report writers for their consulting company. Syaoran had been assigned to the health and wellness division, and Sakura had been hired straight from college to be his partner. He would do the reports, and she would do the testing at the gyms and wellness cafes and spas.

Syaoran admired her easy way with people; barely a month and people adored her, stopping by her cubicle to ask her to lunch and to chitchat with her. Syaoran always ate alone or brought a bento box because he was too shy to join others. It was taken for arrogance on his part (yet again) and he had no idea of how to dispel the misconception. But Sakura had begun including him whenever people ate, and slowly, he was being accepted by the others.

It was a nice feeling.

Kawaii

His crush on Sakura was one of Syaoran's two secrets. The other one was that he was a fan of a romantic magical manga called "Captors" ever since he discovered the main character, a boy named Xiao Long, resembled him in looks. They both had tousled dark brown hair which would never stay flat, large light brown eyes, high cheekbones, and lean, slender bodies.

Though he was older than the Captors' Xiao Long—the character being sixteen and in high school, and him being twenty-two and fresh out of college—the resemblance was uncanny. He'd been invited to cosplay often by friends and the occasional fangirling stranger, but he'd been too embarrassed to do so. Those who read Captors kept telling him he was Xiao Long brought to life.

But it ended there. Syaoran wasn't arrogant as Xiao Long was, but he often wished he could have Xiao Long's snappy patter, sarcasm, wit, and easy way with jokes instead of being shy and tongue-tied around people, and with a tendency to speak abruptly.

So Syaoran liked reading about the cocksure, confident Xiao Long, who had all sorts of adventures. Though Syaoran was athletic, he felt he could never equal Xiao Long, who was a martial artist, swordsman, and magician who had a magical sword he could summon from a pendant, the ability to use air, fire, lightning, and water spells, and the kind of bravery that let him run in front of Fa Ying when she was threatened by some unusual force.

It sounds like heaven to be that confident and brave, Syaoran thought. He'd never had to save a girl or do anything unusual in his life, and so he had no idea if he had it in him to be anything like Xiao Long.

The thing he did share with Xiao Long was that Xiao Long could never get it right when it came to his crush on the beautiful Fa Ying, his constant companion and rival for collecting Reed Cards. Fa Ying was a petite beauty with auburn hair and green eyes, but the complication was that she had a crush on Yuki Kitushiro, her brother's best friend, and was as good as blind to Xiao Long's feelings.

Whenever a new chapter came out, Syaoran often rushed to a manga store to buy the magazine "Kawaii" in which it appeared. And of course he had to hide his addiction. Whoever heard of an adult male addicted to a cutesy manga? He'd never hear the end of it from his four sisters or his cousin. And he dreaded being caught carrying "Kawaii" so much, he would buy any larger magazine to cover it.

Which had not been a good idea last month when he'd accidentally bought a porn magazine to cover "Kawaii," which had had a pink fluffy bunny cover and a feather pen giveaway. He'd just picked up a random magazine at the stand to cover up "Kawaii" and realized too late that he'd picked up "Sexy XXX Girls"—which was a hardcore sex magazine. Some officemates—thankfully not including Sakura—had spotted him, and he'd been ragged half to death about being hentai.

Well, it was better than being thought of as gay, he sighed. Plus, when he gave the feather pen to Sakura, she had been so happy. It still perched on her desk, and his heart warmed whenever he saw it.

Despite all the embarrassment, he enjoyed reading "Captors" which appeared to be ending soon; he had an easier time buying the tankoubon or manga issues collected in a book because he could always say he was buying it for a sister.

"Captors" was a nice romantic world in which all Fa Ying had to worry about was capturing the next Reed card and wearing her best friend Tomo Dadoichi's dress designs and putting up with her older brother Yoya's annoying actions.

The biggest issue in 'Captors' revolved around Xiao Long's inability to confess his love for Fa Ying. Once, Xiao Long had ended up stammering in front of Fa Ying, then choking on his own saliva; the sweet Fa Ying had wound up having to smack his back, causing Xiao Long to blush even further... he'd been lucky not to wind up with a nosebleed, and Syaoran had laughed his head off.

Most recently, Xiao Long had tried to confess on the school grounds, only for them to be interrupted just as he uttered, "I love you," by the loud blaring of the school klaxon. Fa Ying hadn't heard him, and when Xiao Long discovered it was the school prankster Takahashi Yazamaki who'd set the klaxon off, he'd been tempted to use his sword to slice the other guy in half. Syaoran had enjoyed reading that as well; it was much more fun to read about others struggling with life and love than to go through it himself.

Monthly updates weren't enough, so Syaoran also haunted fanfiction sites in hopes of finding good stories about Xiao Long and Fa Ying. Often he had to troll through lousy stories, but there were some which made him smile.

He'd found a story with an interesting premise, written by an author who called him or herself SkyPhenomena: in an alternate universe, Fa Ying had become a reporter for a newspaper, and had been partnered with Xiao Long, who secretly had a crush on her. They shared a cubicle, and Xiao Long had hidden his heritage from Fa Ying and the rest of the office.

The coincidence in basic situations floored him, and he began to read.

Xiao Long Reed, after taking care to check if anyone was looking at him, banged his head on his desk. Fa Ying Yue had done it again and without even knowing it; he'd embarrassed himself in front of her when he'd wound up stuttering when he asked her to have lunch with him.

But she said yes! And she smiled at me! He rejoiced inwardly.

They would be having lunch together for the first time, and he was wondering whether to take her to a nearby café down the avenue or to play it cool and just go to the office cafeteria.

Xiao Long wanted to talk to Fa Ying, though, and chose the cafeteria. It had the advantage of being cheap, and he was more comfortable there.

It proved to be a good choice. She laughed at his jokes, leaned in closer to hear his confidences, and smiled at him so often, he felt his cheeks go permanently pink.

Cafeteria. Syaoran suddenly got an idea.

"Uh... hey?" He was still unused to calling Sakura by her name; she'd insisted on it when they became cubiclemates but he couldn't seem to wrap his tongue around the word "Sakura," for some reason. But he leaned over the small cabinet, and she turned to him, smiling.

"Yeah, Li-kun?" Oh God that smile. Oh God, how she said his name!

"Wa… want to have lunch before we go to the new gi-gym opening?" Stammering is such a turn-off, he thought angrily. I have to stop stammering! Focusing on his stammering, though, prevented him from noticing that he had begun blushing.

Just what I need, Syaoran moaned in his head. Why do I have to act like a dork around her?

"Sure. You paying?" she teased him.

He would always envy her easy ability to laugh, to tease him…to just be herself with him.

"Of course," and he smiled. "I invited you, so…" Damn it why were his ears warm? And why was she coming closer now of all times? She was so close he could smell her perfume, a light and pleasant citrusy scent.

Sakura reached over and brushed some lint off his short-sleeved shirt. "That would be so great, Syaoran-kun. Okay. Twelve-thirty?"

"Um. Yeah," Syaoran replied, and was relieved, casting a grateful glance at the screen with the latest chapter of the fanfiction, and reminding himself to leave a nice review for the author, "SkyPhenomena," when he got the chance.

Thankfully Sakura was called out at that moment by their boss Mei Ling (who was the only one in the office who knew exactly who Syaoran was—being his cousin and former fiancée), and he quickly sneaked a peek at the latest chapter of the fanfiction he was reading.

"You like soba," Xiao Long said to Fa Ying. He'd watched her happily eat the zaru soba at the newspaper's canteen, even getting up to order a second helping. How cute was she when she sipped at the noodles? He even found how she handled her chopsticks fascinating; her fingers were dainty, like slender white candles tipped with healthy pinkish nails. He couldn't help but smile; those kinds of fingers were, after all, considered a sign of desirability among the Chinese, of which he was one.

"That I do," she smiled, happy that he'd noticed something about her. She thought, When, oh when would Xiao Long figure out that I like him? She loved the way he would push out his lower lip when he sighed, the expelled air making his heavy chocolate-brown bangs flutter upwards. She also loved the clean way he smelled, his gentle voice, his rarely-heard laugh.

Aww, Syaoran thought. That's so sweet; they like each other but don't know it!

"Ah." Xiao Long filed the little fact away for future reference, and felt a small thrill of pride go through him; living alone, he was a good cook, and he'd learned his lessons well from Wu, the family manservant who'd stood in the place of his late father.

"I wish I knew how to cook it," Fa Ying sighed. "I mean, I can boil the noodles, no problem, but making the sauce really stumps me."

Xiao Long would never know what inspired him to take the initiative but he was very grateful later that he did.

"You know... I can cook, and maybe... well, if it's not too forward... I... I could teach you," he said.

Under the table, he was fidgeting with his chopsticks, and as he waited for her response, he cringed when he snapped one of them in half.

"Really?" Fa Ying's eyes widened, and she smiled. "You would be willing to teach me?"

"I can go to your house instead, if you're not comfortable going to mine. I can do it anywhere," he said in a rush, realizing as soon as the words left his lips how suggestive his ideas had sounded.

Ah well, if I offend her I can always poke my eyes out with the shards of my chopstick, Xiao Long thought wryly.

"My place is a mess," she said innocently, completely missing the implications of his statement. "If you have a good kitchen, maybe we can trade... I can do your laundry, and you teach me to make soba sauce and a few other things! How about that, Xiao Long-kun? Are you free Saturday evening?"

"Ah... yes ... but..." The thought of Fa Ying doing his laundry horrified him; he didn't want her fingers soiled by his dirty clothes. "Don't worry about it... Y... you..." Why can't I ever say her name? he berated himself. "You can just... don't..."

"I would feel like such a parasite if I didn't do something for you," Fa Ying said, horrified. "Please, Xiao Long-kun?"

"Er," and Xiao Long felt his cheeks go warm, "we can figure something out. How about that?"

"Deal!" Fa Ying smiled and squeezed her eyes affectionately at Xiao Long, who knew it was going to be a very interesting night. He idly toyed with the idea of plastering his cheeks with something to cover the red, then discarded the idea; she might think he was gay, and he didn't want that.

"So we'll buy the ingredients together tomorrow night before going to your place," Fa Ying said, secretly thrilled. This time she would have Xiao Long all to herself... and maybe this time she could find out whether he liked her or not.

Syaoran sighed. His life was boring. He didn't stand a chance of Sakura ever returning his feelings, let alone coming over to his condominium to learn how to make soba sauce.

But at least he got to work with her. He perked up at the thought, and when he saw her coming back from Mei Ling's office, he smiled.

The smile faded when he noticed who was waiting outside their office with a bunch of flowers for Sakura. Oh no, not him again,Syaoran moaned in his mind.

To be continued in chapter 2.

Author's notes: Hi! It's been a long time since I wrote something nice and fluffy and angst-free (well, relatively; I doubt I can write anything without it haha). Not abandoning Addiction; it's just at the heavy stage and is being carefully rewritten and beta'd. So I'd like to ask you to review, to let me know if I should continue this story (because in all honesty it's disheartening to write and not get reviews) and update quickly.

Syaoran here is based on the latter part of Season Two and the entire Season 3. I figured he'll lose the blushy part of him—for the most part—as he ages, but his shyness would manifest as something to be misinterpreted. Don't you find it funny that aside from Sakura, Tomoyo, Yamazaki, and Eriol (when he's pissed haha) in the series (manga and anime) he does not speak to any other classmate? So I sort of exaggerated it here.

Preview of Chapter 2, Sakura's Secret

Sakura tiptoed into her father's basement library, wondering what the strange clattering noise had been. Twenty-two is too old to be afraid of ghosts, she admonished herself, but she clutched her old cheerleading baton tight anyway. Of course it escaped her that a baton would simply pass through a ghost but then when people are scared or stressed, they hang on to anything that can give them support of any kind.

"About time," a small voice said. "What does it take to get your attention?"

"Hoe!" Sakura only let out that childish exclamation when she was startled... which she was, now. She started and tripped over a few boxes and wound up in a heap on top of some old books, which fell over.

One red and gold book glowed as it fell open on the ground, and suddenly, in a blinding flash, things flew out of it. A strong wind blew throughout the basement; mysteriously though it did not disturb the books lined on the shelves, but it did blow a window open. Something rustled through it, and soon the wind died down.

"Ho-e," Sakura breathed when things returned to normal.

"Way to go," someone said dryly. "And I thought things might be easier because you're an adult."

Who was talking? There was no one there, and Sakura gripped the baton even harder when she realized the voice was coming from a tiny gold-colored stuffed tiger which was staring up at her, mouth agape.

"Yaahh!" she yelled as she brought the baton down on its head.