MS

Actually, this takes place on my Time/Adult Supervision timeline so this is a continuation of that Sakura and Syaoran. I can't seem to let them go! Although you don't need to read those stories to understand this one... but it would be nice to do.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the card captor Sakura characters... everything else is mine.

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40 Seconds

Chapter 1: A Little Test

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Her hands were trembling. Sakura shook, her whole body rocking as she numbly stared at the aisle of the Rx store. The boxes were just there. She was looking at them but not really seeing them.

Sakura took a deep breath. And then another, and another. She closed her eyes to the sight, not moving away or it would all start over again. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Still, it was better to know for sure.

She crossed her arms over her chest, in a protective pose as she took a step backwards and brushed against someone.

"I'm sorry," she quickly said to the woman who simply smiled as if commiserating and continued on her way. It wasn't hard to miss the look she sent back. Sakura's cheek flamed at the spectacle she must be making of herself. It was better to be a spectacle only to herself in the privacy of her own home.

She grabbed handfuls of them, not really knowing why but at the same time not caring as long as she moved and got out of there. She dropped them on the basket she had carried in for the other things she had come for before stopping on this particular aisle of the store. Not bothering to register the others around her, she quickly entered an empty register wanting to be gone from the gazes of everyone around her. She didn't know if they were actually looking at her, but it certainly felt like they were.

She swiped her card, entered her PIN number and took her purchases without meeting the cashier's eyes. Time flashed by and the next thing she knew, she was opening the door to Syaoran's apartment. She had meant to go to her house and somehow had wound up at his place.

Sakura only needed to sit down at the moment, her heart still racing at the thought of the boxes she had in the bags she set by the counter of the kitchen. She just stared forward. The next time she looked at the clock, half an hour had gone by and everything was still the same.

She still didn't know.

Bracing herself emotionally with confidence, she stood from her seat and strolled to the bags. With detachment to the items, she emptied them and then started putting away the food. It was a force of habit that had her chuckling when she noticed that it was going to be quite some time before Syaoran had to restock on aspirins and other couple of generic headache pains.

Her father was probably going to get home and wonder where she had stashed the pills he had asked her to buy before realizing that she hadn't actually done it. If she still had half of her brain cells working before going home, then she'd probably take most of them home where they were supposed to go.

She jumped as her phone's ringing and vibrating as she fished it from her pant's pocket. She stared at the screen as her fingers brushed against the boxes she had left on the counter. They toppled over, the sound was sharp and filled the silent apartment.

"What's up?" Tomoyo's low timbre voice reached her with her usual exuberance. She was happy about something alright.

"Nothing really," at that response, Tomoyo clucked her tongue and decided to pass along some of her good cheer. When that didn't work, she decided to use her powers of persuasion to weasel whatever was wrong out of her best friend.

"That's it, just where are you?"

"At Syaoran's place," Sakura finally gave up on trying to get Tomoyo to drop it when she had no chance of stopping that avalanche of energy.

"I'll be right there in a couple of minutes and you better open that door when I knock on it or I'm breaking it down." With that pronouncement, the line went dead and Sakura groaned heavily.

Still, with Tomoyo there, she might actually proceed with what she needed to do and not freeze out like she had for the last hour.

She moved away from the kitchen and the boxes as she waited for her friend. She had plenty to distract her as she looked over Syaoran's bedroom to straighten it. He was a neat guy most of the time, but with the tests he had before midterm break, he was a bit distracted from keeping things in their place.

Maybe with the result of what she suspected, he would be distracted all the more. She stood before his washer with all of the clothing that had piled up on the dirty basket and set to work. If she didn't do this now, he would probably even forget he had the clothing.

"Sakura," the sharp knock and voice pulled her from her reverie as she poured the cleaner and set it.

"So, what's wrong?" Tomoyo slipped inside of the apartment the moment the door was opened. Sakura barely opened her mouth to greet her before closing it and trying to catch up with the hurricane that had just invaded the space and did away with her sanity.

Sometimes it was very good to have a friend like Tomoyo that made you forget most of your worries. What she didn't expect was the silence that came over her as she set her eyes on the things she had left on the counter.

"Sakura?" she only inquired with her name as she took in the sight.

"I don't know."

"That probably explains why you have these here," Tomoyo reasoned out as she walked to her friend and pulled her in for a hug.

"I don't even know what I'm doing and my mind shuts down when I even try to look at the things," Sakura said into her friend's shoulder as Tomoyo patted her on the back and reassured her.

"Does he know of your suspicions?" Tomoyo asked her, trying to get a lay of the situation before she tumbled right ahead into it.

Sakura merely shook her head and laid it once again on her friend's shoulder for support. It felt good to have her to lean on.

"Alright then," Tomoyo finally said when Sakura's heartbeat had calmed down. "Let me just read some of the packages and we can just get this over with."

It didn't take her long to actually get things going and then it was time. "Just do it and then we just have to wait."

"How long?" was Sakura's question as she stared at the wrapped stick Tomoyo handed her.

"Around 40 seconds," she stated before closing the door of the bathroom and ordering her to get it over with.

Sakura opened it soon after, almost dropping the stick as her hands shook extremely. Tomoyo took it carefully from her, not to contaminate it and set it down by the toilet seat and lead Sakura to a surface that she could rest on as they waited.

Sakura's thoughts were running all over the place. She couldn't hold a single thought except to wonder what the hell she would do if her suspicions were proven correct.

How would she tell Syaoran? How would she tell her father? She blanched at the thought of getting the words out to say it to Touya. Her brother was as overprotective of her as he'd always been. This would probably not go well with him.

And what about her? Was she emotionally ready to deal with this? She was only 20 years old. She would be 21 by the time such a thing would progress to its final stage, but it was just a number that said she had lived 360+ days from her previous birthday.

Was she ready to face such a responsibility? Could she take care of another human being that would depend on her completely for the rest of her life?

"What's taking so long?" Sakura growled out as her narrowed eyes focused on Tomoyo who stood beside her with her gaze fixed on her watch. "It has to have been more than a minute already?"

"Nope," was her only response as the seconds ticked by.

The suspense was killing her. It felt like an eternity as each second ticked past. The counting seemed to go eternally as her ears were flooded with the ticking of a clock that just wouldn't stop. Sakura covered them, trying to drown out the sound as Tomoyo moved away and picked up the pregnancy test stick.

Sakura held her breath as Tomoyo compared whatever she had to see to what the box said. Sakura couldn't move as she tried to read Tomoyo's expression for an answer without having to ask the question.

"Well, you are," were her friend's words before Tomoyo picked her up from her seat and embraced her. "These tests aren't 100 definite, but it seems like you're going to be a mommy."

"I am," Sakura rolled out as a bit of lightheadedness set in. She fell faint, but thanks to Tomoyo having her arms around her, she didn't fall to the floor. "I don't even know how it happened?"

"I suspect the usual way of conceiving was used," Tomoyo lightheartedly said while leading her to one of the comfortable chairs by the living room.

"I'm taking birth control pills," Sakura countered as she opened one of her palms and settled it over her flat belly.

"You should probably stop taking them from now on then," Tomoyo suggested. "At least until we actually get this confirmed by a doctor. These tests have been known to do false positives."

"I know, but I'm sure that I am," Sakura lightly brushed her fingers against her middle before taking them away. "I'm more than two months late."

"It had to have been around August then?" Tomoyo tried to count the days and months. "You went with Syaoran and one of his sister's family to one of their private islands, didn't you?"

"It was a wonderful vacation," Sakura grinned as she recalled the two weeks she had spent with Syaoran on the tropical paradise that was only for them. They had also spent a lot of the days lazing up on the beach, making love at any opportunity while the waves had provided the background noise and atmosphere.

"You went at it like bunnies if I recall," Tomoyo's comment brought her out of her reverie. The crude remark did it's job as it flustered her and earned her big coy remarks from her friend. "At least that's what you said to me as soon as we could talk."

"Oh god," Sakura groaned as she hid her flaming face in her hands.

"Are you going to tell him?"

"You mean Syaoran?"

"Who did you think?" Tomoyo smirked as she reached for something to drink from the kitchen. She took the time to put away all of the other home pregnancy tests so that if someone else came in, they wouldn't be easily seen. She was also sure that they spooked Sakura a bit to have them right on the open.

"In the span of half a minute, my life has changed," Sakura pointed out as she watched her friend put away the boxes that had given her such anxiety just an hour before.

"Just forty seconds, right?" she smiled at Tomoyo as life asserted itself in her mind. She was pregnant and life was just getting complicated.

"You probably shouldn't until you know for sure, and how far along you are before springing this on him," Tomoyo's face got this feline qualities that usually showed the signs of some mischief being planned. "He'll probably react like every other guy and faint."

"I don't think I can picture that," Sakura giggled with her best friend at the picture that formed in her mind.

"You have to let me tape it," Tomoyo's eyes gleamed as she rubbed her hands together. "You owe me."

Sakura could only laugh away her nervousness after that pronouncement, knowing that her friend was not joking. She was as serious as ever when it came to catching someone with her intrepid video skills and scheming ways. "Right," she could only placate her with the reassurance even though Sakura was going to try her dam nest not to let it become a reality.

Syaoran could forgive her from keeping her suspicions until she was 100 percent sure, but he'd probably go ballistic if Tomoyo was taping his reaction to getting an announcement to something that was private between them.

"Eriol is going to love this," the muttered sentence finally got Sakura going.

"You cannot tell him!" she shouted at Tomoyo who brought her hands up and nodded at her outburst.

"Fine," Tomoyo just desisted from the idea, or even making the comment out loud. "He can know after. He'll find it just as good info even if Syaoran knows."

"I want to be truly sure," Sakura looked to the clock, knowing that it wouldn't be long before her father would get home and Syaoran would come from his last class of the day.

"I'll set up an appointment with our family gynecologist for as soon as possible Sakura," Tomoyo helped her gather her things and move from the apartment to the car. "She's extremely professional. No one will know until and if you're ready."

"Thank you," Sakura embraced her hastily before opening her car door. "What would I do without you?"

"Probably fall into a pit of despair," Tomoyo answered in a dramatic pose, one of her hands covering her eyes and her expression one that portrayed one of those longsuffering heroines of the old silent films.

"Truth in those words," both friends smiled to each other as their hands offered strength and power as they separated.

"Things are definitely getting interesting again," Tomoyo murmured to herself as she waved to Sakura as she drove off.

"I wonder if it's going to be a boy or a girl," with that, Tomoyo took off to get everything settled. Sakura was going to be a mother and the sooner she got to a doctor, the better. Tomoyo squealed in delight at the thought of a mini Sakura running around her father. Or maybe a little Syaoran that would be pampered by both Sakura's and Syaoran's family.

It was then that she finally understood some of the thoughts that had overtaken Sakura at the thought of being pregnant. Telling Syaoran was probably going to be easy. It was the reaction and explosion from her brother that was most worth to get on tape.

Tomoyo cackled evilly. She wouldn't miss that for the world. That was going to be so much fun.

Personal Disclaimer: I have never used a home pregnancy test, or read the label of one, so please forgive anything that might not agree with what any other person would know. I also do not know how much time you actually have to wait for one of those either but I've estimated from information. Hope you like it... Ok, so this is another idea for a one-shot that's running rampant on me. Well, what do you know. We have another multi-chaptered story on my hands :sighs:

Ok, so here we are. When I post this, it means that my very adult rated Adult Supervision series is finally completed since this is the continuation of that storyline.

MS

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