RECAP: Sakura was getting tired of fighting cards so she decided to take a trip to Hyrule. After some discussing, she decided to take Link back with her on a tour of Japan. Syaoran got in a major fight with the elders and is now trying to run away before anyone else finds out.

Chapter 43 -

Syaoran stepped back. Everything he could manage to pack was packed; including furniture that he was having shipped. His room looked quiet and dead, as if death had taken its occupant. But in a way it had. His life didn’t mean a whole lot to his remaining family anymore, except for being a source of strife. He was doing them all a favor by leaving.

Of course, this was all his reasoning. No one had any idea of his plans, for he had evaded Meilin all the previous night, and never even saw his sisters. After shipping Raion and Iata to his great uncle’s, he had set to work. It was much easier to leave if he kept the thought that no one wanted him there.

Assured that he had packed all the things he needed, Syaoran glanced at the clock. An hour before he would meet the bus to go to the airport. He should start writing.

_________________________________________________________________

Sakura shuffled around her room bored as Kero continued to chew her out.

"...You never use a transporting spell to go into different dimensions! A video game, for pete’s sake! Next time at least bring me along so I can balance things out!"

"I think you’re just jealous because you wanted to go," Sakura said, grinning.

Kero crossed his arms. "What kind of a guardian would I be..."

Kero stopped his speech as Sakura was ignoring him. She had turned to see Link enter her room, newly clad in some of Touya’s old clothes. She hadn’t seen him in street clothes before. Now out of his skirt he definitely looked cute. "Adorable!" She proclaimed, clasping her hands. Maybe this was how Tomoyo felt dressing Sakura up.

Link looked at her unsurely, then looked down at his clothes. "And everyone wears this?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "Yep. You’ll fit right in. Except...." His ears. Elf ears were slightly noticeable. What could she do to hide that?

Link looked expectently at her.

Sakura snapped her fingers. "I’ve got it." She said, hurrying over to her closet. She got on her tiptoes and pulled a box down from the top rack in her closet. She set it down and began looking through it. Pink, purple, baby blue... "This should work!" She said, pulling out a black head band.

She walked over and handed it to him. "Put this around your ears. It’ll be kind of hot, but it’s cold outside anyway."

Link looked the thing over and attempted to put it on, but had no idea how. "umm... how does this fit?"

Sakura smiled and took it from him. "Here....like..." She carefully pushed his hair aside, then set it in place, slightly wary that he was watching her from such close range. "There. And if anyone asks, you have an ear infection, you can’t let cold air in or something."

"An ear infection..." He repeated.

Sakura nodded. "Right."

Link smiled.

Sakura’s eyes widened slightly as she saw how close she was standing. ahhh! She stepped back awkwardly, quickly turning and scratching her head nervously. "Well let’s go sightseeing, then." She continued out the door, hoping he was behind her.

Soon that was forgotten and they were outside in the wonderful fresh air. The fall air was starting to get chilly and Sakura could no longer get by without a coat. Link didn’t seem to mind, however, and was too busy caught up looking around.

"I saw alot of this last time I was here. I don’t remember seeing any horses, though. Where are they?"
"We don’t use horses to get around anymore, like, remember seeing those fast shiny things go by on the road? They’re called cars. We ride in those instead of on horses. It’s faster."

"So there are no horses here? How do you know how to ride so well?"

"Oh, we have horses here, but they’re more of a hobby, like a sport. I have a horse. She’s very cool."

Link smiled. "I’d love to see her sometime."

"Sure!" Sakura looked down the road. They were meeting Tomoyo, then continuing to the mall. That was a classic part of the twenty-first century, right? She decided to tell Link about her plans. "So we’re meeting my friend, then heading to the mall. It’s this really big place- kind of like one of your towns where everyone bargains for things-but it’s all indoors. And lots of people are there. People go there just to hang out and look at new stuff they want to buy, as well as try to meet new people. We can eat there. Then we’ll have to go back to Tomoyo’s house because my parents don’t like me being out late."

Link smiled good naturedly. "Sounds excellent."

"If you get tired or bored or anything just tell me. We can find lots of stuff to do."

Link shrugged. "Will I get to meet your family?"

"Sure, if you want. My older brother’s mean, though." She was quiet for a while as they walked down the sidewalk, sneaking furtive glances at Link. No matter how hard he tried, the air about him didn’t fit in very well. It was for that very reason Sakura admired him. His good looks went far deeper than his skin. "Did you ever know your family?" She dared to inquire.

Link shook his head. "I just know that my mother saved me from the dark that went over the land by bringing me to the forest. I’ve never heard of my father."

"Doesn’t it bother you?" She asked.

"Not really. The Deku tree oversaw me, and..."

"But you didn’t have very many friends when you were little without a fairy," she reminded him.

Link looked a little fallen with that fact. "It wasn’t that horrible. Besides, I was granted such an opportunity to prove myself. I can’t complain. What about your family? I imagine your mother would be very beautiful."

Sakura blushed. "Yes, she was. She used to model." She noticed the blank look Link was giving her. "Modeling- it’s like a job. Beautiful people get their pictures taken to help advertise things..." He didn’t look totally certain. "You’ll see what I mean at the mall. Lots of ads. Anyway, my mother died when I was young also."

"Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to depress you."

Sakura shook her head, still smiling that Sakura-smile. "It’s fine. I asked you anyway." She looked at him. "You know, it’s really nice to talk to someone so openly."

Link smiled crossedly. "How do you mean?"

"It’s just....some other people. Most people, really. Everyone nowdays seem to stay so closed up, I don’t get it. Sometimes I think I don’t fit in." often, really.

"That’s what you meant by people being so wrapped up in their own problems." Link said.

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

They walked a while before Link spoke again.

"Where is that other boy? The one with the sword? I forget his name."

"Oh, Syaoran? He’s in Hong Kong- um, it’s far away. Thousands of miles. But that’s where his family lives; his mother was sick, so he went to take care of her."

"But his father lives here...?" Link said, trying to figure out for himself why Syaoran had been here.

"No, ah, his father died when he was six or so. He doesn’t talk about it much, I tried to ask him a couple times...Anyway, he was in Japan because of the magic cards I had. They were stirring up trouble, like ganandorf in Hyrule."

"So he was helping you fight them?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, he was," she confirmed, though she couldn’t help but have an adverse tone. She saw down the sidewalk a fimiliar figure waving. "There’s Tomoyo! I don’t know if you two met or not, last time."

"THAT WASN’T VERY NICE!" A loud voice from behind them said, making them jump sideways.

Link unwisely jumped onto the street. Sakura, hearing the sound of the car, frantically grabbed his arm and yanked him away. Link watched the car continue by with wide eyes and pale skin.

Sakura caught her breath, then turned and faced Kero. "See what almost happened? You could have been the end of Hyrule!"

Kero looked apologetically to Link. "Sorry, kiddo, I didn’t mean to scare you guys like that."

"Now what’s the big deal? It better be big, if you’re out here flying around in broad daylight."

"Well ah..." He resumed his grumpy frown. "You were going to lie to me and make me think you’re just going out? Well Bob told me all about how you were going to Tomoyo’s. You were just going to leave me alone all night?"

"Bob didn’t tell you that, Bob doesn’t tell you anything. What did you do to him?" Sakura asked.

Kero frowned. "Sheesh, you’ve been mean lately. We finally start getting along and you think something suspicious is afoot. I see how much faith you had in me and Bob."

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned to see Tomoyo. "Hey!" She said cordially.

"Hello!" Tomoyo addressed Link. "Wow, I couldn’t have missed you. Same bright blue eyes. I’m Tomoyo." She held out her hand.

Link shook it. "Uh, thank you." He said, smiling.

Sakura looked back to Kero. "Stay with Tomoyo. I can’t beleive you managed to..." She sighed.

They went off as three now, Kero hiding in Tomoyo’s pocket. Link kept looking warily at the road, and every time a car would drive by, he would move noticeably sideways. Sakura hoped he could better adjust because soon they would be at the mall; center of many exciting and innovative electronics.

"So how long are you planning on staying, Link?" Tomoyo asked as they were walking the sidewalk next to the mall.

"I’m not quite sure..." He said, slightly preoccupied at looking around at all the people and cars around the mall.

"Is he visiting school tommorrow?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura looked to Link, who turned from his veiwing and met Sakura with his bright blue eyes. "School? We have that in Hyrule, it’s education. But ours ends when children are very young. You are still required to take courses?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, our school lasts until we are in our young twenties, if you go through college anyway."

"Twenty?" He repeated. "That is a large portion of a life span."

"In Japan most people live to their eighties. Is it shorter in Hyrule?"

Link nodded. "Yes, much shorter, for woman it seems. Childbirth carries many difficulties."

"Oh, our world had the same problem, but our technology has advanced and we were able to solve many of those problems."

"Sounds like a wonderful world." Link said.

"So anyway, do you want to come with me to school tommorrow?" She asked.

"Everyone at our school would love to meet you!" Tomoyo added.

"That would be wonderful." Link agreed.

They walked through the doors to the mall.

"Maybe you can figure out what to do about his ears." Sakura said to Tomoyo while Link was preoccupied looking around.

"He’s got alot of nice hair to work with. I’ll see what I can do."

"What is that moving contraption?" Link asked, putting his hand on Sakura’s shoulder to get her attention and pointing to his interest.

"The uh..." Sakura saw what he meant. "Oh, escalators. They’re moving steps- like a staircase that move so you don’t have to walk. You wanna try them?" Sakura asked.

"Alright." He agreed, though he looked slightly nervous to Sakura.

"Come on!" She said enthusiastically, rushing away. Luckily, Link was unbothered by Sakura’s often exaggerated optimism and more or less joined in.

Sakura slowed as they reached the steps and looked to Link, ignoring the camera Tomoyo held to capture ‘Link’s first escalator ride’. "You just step on and hold on to the side rails. Look- like this." Sakura stepped on easily, just as the step rose out of the ground.

Link was looking at the moving steps with a kind of awe and wonder a normal person shouldn’t have in their eyes. "Are they magic?" He asked.

Sakura flushed as someone within ear shot gave them a criticizing look. "No, electricity. I suppose it’s like magic in a way..."

Link took a deep breath and launched himself on, clearing the first three steps before he landed. Sakura smiled weakly at the onlookers and willed them to go away. "Not so bad, is it?" She asked him.

Link looked around as they inched up the level. "No..." He said absently, though it was clear his mind was wandering somewhere else.

Soon they were approaching the top, where Sakura forsaw more difficulty. "Watch your feet here, it sinks in kind of fast...." She stepped over quickly, immediately turning ready for anything Link would do.

He looked at the ground and then tried to step across calmly, but the sudden change in movement had been too much for his previously innactive inner ear. Just as he was about to go over Sakura had hold of his arms and steadied him. Link looked at her appreciatively as he was standing solidly. "Thank you."

Sakura smiled and stood back, then rolled her eyes at Tomoyo’s camera and shook her head.

"What does that do?" Link asked.

Sakura faced him. "It records pictures and sound, so like, we’ll be able to watch what we just did years from now."

"Amazing..." Link said, scoping out the camera.

Sakura grinned, then looked around the level they were on. The cinema, the main shops, and the food court were all downstairs. "Well do you want to go and look around at the shops up here?"

"It’s fine, anywhere you’re going is fine with me." Link agreed.

Tomoyo shot Sakura a look she didn’t quite understand as it was very different.

"Maybe we can go through the arcade and the virtual reality stuff while we’re up here." Sakura suggested.

"Yeah!" A voice from within Tomoyo’s pocket exclaimed.

"Kero, keep it down!" Sakura reprimanded.

They began walking through the large broad halls, explaining odd outfits or accesessories to Link as many people walked by. They stopped at a gun and knives shop for Link and let him look around, but he surprisingly didn’t find it too interesting, so they continued on down the hall.

"Oh, this shop has great clothes!" Tomoyo exclaimed as they passed through a store with a long set of windows set to the hall.

Sakura glanced at Link who had stopped politely with them and was looking curiously back at her. All of that blonde hair, those blue eyes...he was too cute not to dress up! "We should get you some clothes so you don’t have to wear Touya’s old ones. Come on!" She grabbed one of his arms as did Tomoyo the other and they rushed into the store.

Sakura had never dressed anyone up asides herself (which often she lost that priviledge as well), and was almost overwhelmed as she looked at the huge selection of guys clothing they had to choose from. "What size do you think he wears, Tomoyo?"

Tomoyo was already measuring. "I’d say...11/12...medium for sure..."

Link stood clueless.

"Alright," Sakura mumbled to herself, diving through the rack of fall sweaters for something that would look nice. She retreived a dark blue one and showed it to Tomoyo. "Set out his eyes...?"

"Yeah, that’ll work. With, ah....these pants." She held out some khaki pants with cargo pockets down the sides.

They saw that the dressing rooms were just beside them, so they handed the clothes to Link and ushered him in. When he was frowning with confusion at them, Sakura quickly explained. "You change into those clothes in that room."

"What?" Link asked. "Before I’ve paid for them?"

Sakura nodded. "You try them on to see if they’ll fit before you pay. Don’t rip any of the paper tags on the clothes."

Link nodded unsurely, but Tomoyo pulled the door shut, leaving him to change.

She looked to Sakura. "He’s pretty cute."

"Yeah, and pretty nice. He gave me some of the jello you gave him at home." Kero said, peering out of the pocket. No one was around, so Sakura had no excuse.

"Yeah, he’s pretty cool," Sakura agreed, missing the implication.

They were quiet as he fought with the door to get it open. Finally they heard the latch click, and he stepped out.

"I don’t know, these are a little-"

"Short!" Tomoyo cut in, though that might have not been what he was going to say. "I thought that might happen, you might have needed a long pair, here." She whipped out identical pants. "Now try those."

"And put the sweater on!" Sakura added, smiling largely.

Link returned a confused smile, as if trying to catch the excitement, then disappeared again.

"I had no idea dressing me up was such fun, Tomoyo. We should dress other people up more often."

"Yeah, we’d make a good team! And with such a good base model to work with, one with an agreeable attitude and complacency..."

"Tomoyo’s dream!" Sakura said, giggling.

Tomoyo smiled, then sighed. "I just think it’s great you’re finally getting yourself over him, Sakura-chan. The way you use to mope about it...I’m just so happy to see you happy again! Not to mention you two are the most adorable couple!"

Sakura hardly had to think to see that by ‘him’, Tomoyo was meaning Syaoran. She tried to be laid back about it, but Tomoyo made her very uptight. "Oh, come on, Tomoyo. He’s a nintendo character for heaven’s sake."

"I know, but I can’t help it. The contrast in your brown and blonde hair...."

Sakura rolled her eyes and was about to retort when Link emerged from the dressing room, pulling at his sweater uncomfortably. He looked up unsurely.

"Adorable!" Tomoyo exclaimed.

Sakura grinned happily, seeing that the outfit definitely fit him. But she noticed that the head band that he had been wearing had slipped and now his very cute elf ears were in very bad open veiw. Sakura glanced wide-eyed to each side, then, seeing there was a boy about their age looking through T-shirts, quickly ran and pushed Link back into the dressing room. The boy looked up and watched them hurry in suspiciously.

Sakura locked the door and faced Link, very aware of the uncomfortable tightness of space the stall provided. "Your ears were showing." She said.

"What?" He asked, preoccupied noticing that they were standing so awkwardly. "Oh, oh right. Sorry." He grabbed it off his shoulders and pulled it up. "Must have slipped when I pulled this on."

Sakura shook her head, taking the band from him and helping him set it right. "No, it’s fine, I’m sorry we have to keep this on." She could tell that he had been sweating from the smothered heat of the band and felt slightly guilty. But here with a wall on every side in a space conservent stall, she wasn’t too worried about it. She quickly emerged, blushing from the look the boy was giving her from a few racks down.

"That was close," Sakura muttered to Tomoyo, trying to keep her friend from suggesting anything.

"That outfit is so cool!" Tomoyo said.

Sakura tilted her head as she looked it over. "Yeah, very. Makes him look suave."

Tomoyo nodded. "Definitely, formal casual wear. His eyes look so bright with that sweater, he looks like someone from a movie."

Sakura was about to point out that he was, but she said nothing.

"You think so?" Link asked, looking down with an odd spark of hope.

"Definitely! You’d be the heart throb of our entire school." Sakura agreed.

Link grinned happily, looking up. "Do...do you think...maybe I can wear something green? I like that color. This blue is nice as well..."

Sakura and Tomoyo exchanged thrilled glances. Not only was he willing to wear the clothes they dressed him up in, he was enjoying it as well! "Of course! Come on, let’s pick out a bunch of stuff!"

Sakura, Link, Tomoyo, and a hidden Kero went around the different racks of clothing, picking out outfit after outfit. The boy had witnessed Sakura and Link’s little ear incident had gotten too weirded out and left the store, giving many glances over his shoulder. No one paid heed, only watched and critiqued how each different outfit looked on him. After buying seven different outfits by Tomoyo’s credit card, they were played out. As they were leaving the store, Link stopped.

He fingered the fabric of a sheer sleeve on a medieval looking shirt. He glanced up at Sakura. "You would look really nice in this." He said.

Tomoyo took one look at the green shaded shirt, then pulled out a nice velvety skit that went above the knees. "With this!" She said.

Link nodded in agreement.

Sakura blushed and looked unsurely at the shirt. She wasn’t use to guys attention as well. "You think?"

Tomoyo clasped her hands. "With that sweater outfit- the grey one! Yes! It’s adorable! Try these on!" She handed Sakura the skirt, then took the shirt from Link and gave it to Sakura.

Sakura gave them a slightly wary look, then headed off to the dressing room. "If you say so..."

Sakura latched the door, then started to change. I wish Tomoyo wasn’t always like this. I can’t like Syaoran, but I should love this boy from the video game. She pulled on the outfit and looked unsurely in the mirror. The skirt fit very nicely, shining when it caught the light, and the shirt was, Sakura had to admit, awesome. The sleeves loosened down into bells, draping at her sides. It was a nice outfit, despite what Tomoyo may have been using it for. She peered out of the dressing room and, with Tomoyo’s impatient wave, stepped out.

"Gorgeous!"
Sakura didn’t need to hear Link’s opinion to know how he felt. The look in his eyes made her nervous and she quickly hurried into the stall to change back into her old clothes.

They paid for the clothing, then left the store. Tomoyo insisted they needed to change into the matching outfits, so, by her persistence, they headed towards the nearest restrooms.

"You have public restrooms in Hyrule, right?" Sakura asked, not certain.

Link nodded. "Yes, though I’m sure they are much different than yours."

Sakura sighed and launched into her ‘bathroom f.y.i.’ speech. "The stalls are like the ones in the dressing room, with the latch. There’s a little handle on the toilet and you pull it down and this rushing sound will come out and the water will swirl down and away, then fill up. The sinks have little handles you twist and water comes out. Just watch the other guys, you’ll get it. But- I mean, not watch-watch them, that’ll get you into trouble, ah, just go ahead."

Sakura decided to head to her own bathroom before her mouth went on, and they diverged. She found an empty stall and quickly changed into her outfit, then checked her appearance in the little mirror. Satisfied, she went back out and found Tomoyo waiting. She grinned and was about to say something when Link came rushing out of the bathroom, holding his hands to the side of his head. He quickly rushed over.

"I wasn’t paying attention, the band came right off-"

Sakura bit her lip and looked around. Lots of people, everywhere. She looked ahead and saw an exit sign not too far down. Grabbing the side of Link’s sweater, she walked him towards it. People looked curiously at him, the boy with the stunning appearance that seemed to be holding his head together, and Sakura muttered to them, "Ear infection acting up," and things of the sort.

They reached the door and hurried outside, leaning on the tall brick wall. The parking lot clear for now, Link took his hands off his ears. "Sorry, really."

Sakura took the band from him and began adjusting it. "You couldn’t help it. Don’t worry." She set some of his bangs over it and stepped back.

Tomoyo nodded with approval. "Getting good at that."

Sakura shrugged. "One of those life skills."

Link didn’t get the sarcasm and stood waiting to do something.

"Well....where do we go next?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura shook her head. "I don’t know. The food court and then the virtual reality stuff? Or no, probably vica versa."

"To the arcades, then." Tomoyo declared, bringing her video camera up again.

"Yay!" Kero shouted from the pocket.

Sakura rolled her eyes as they headed back inside. "I don’t know why you’re so excited Kero. It’s not like you can play anything."

There was no response, so they continued on in peace.

Sakura wasn’t quite sure at the location, so she fell in step with Link as she looked around. "You’re probably bored of all this walking," Sakura remarked, knowing that in the game he spent alot of his time running.

"Walking is fine." He sighed. "One grows tired of jogging all of the time."

Sakura laughed. "I’d imagine. I can hardly run the mile for gym class without wanting to take a break."

"Hey, you two!" Tomoyo said from behind.

Link and Sakura turned to face her.

The camera was up again. "Lookin’ good! I just can’t get over you two!"

Sakura laughed weakly and turned to walk again. Link had a confused expression on his face.

"Don’t mind her, she’s just a little...obsessive." Sakura said in a hushed tone to Link, blocking Tomoyo’s veiw with her hand.

"Sharing secrets now! This relationship is moving faster than I expected!" Tomoyo said from behind.

Sakura sighed.

"What is she meaning? I don’t quite understand her thinking." Link said.

Sakura shook her head. "No one does. Just ignore that stuff."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The trip to the virtual reality hadn’t gone so well. Sakura had neglected to think that Link’s mind might have not been ready for that kind of vicarious activity. The fake visual effects had caused quite an outburst in which the security standing by had to take off the helmet and sensor pads while Link was still trying to fight the dinosaur from the game. Now they sat quietly at a table, waiting for their pizza to finish cooking.

"I really thought I was still in that game." Link said again, shaking his head. The traumatic experience was going to take a while to wear off.

"It’s not a big deal. I never go there, anyway." Sakura assured him.

"I can’t beleive they’d just kick us out permanently. It’s not like we broke anything." Tomoyo said.

Sakura sighed. Thinking about it, it was actually kind of funny. The guards had been wary of Link’s ability to fight empty handed, and had almost gotten some black eyes as they tried to pull the mask off. She started laughing, and from there, she was laughing hysterically. Sakura buried her head in her arms to hide her reddening face. "Did... did you guys see the look on that guy’s face..."

Link couldn’t help but grin in agreement, and laughed a little to himself as well.

"Got it all on tape." Tomoyo said, laughing as well.

"So..." Link got a handle on his laughter, as did Sakura. "...So is that what it is like when you play our Hyrule game?"

"Yeah, Zelda’s like that, only not as life-like."

"That was amazing." Link said again.

A bell at the distant counter dinged and they all sprung up. "I’ll pay for this, Tomoyo, you’ve paid for everything else."

Tomoyo shook her head. "Nonsense, you know my mother loves to spoil you."

Sakura took the pizza from the counter and reluctantly allowed Tomoyo to pay, then turned to walk with Link back to the table.

"This stuff is really good. I’m sure you’ll love it."

"It smells interesting," Link agreed.

They sat down and opened the pizza up, not bothering to wait for Tomoyo. She’ll probably just sit back and tape the whole thing, anyway. "It’s kind of hot, but it’s really good. This stuff on top, it’s melted cheese, it’s really stringy." Sakura pulled out a peice and demonstrated, taking a large bite off the end.

Link was starting to get excited about all of these new experiences, and took a peice with enthusiasm. He gingerly brought it to his mouth, cringing as the heat was almost too much for his mouth to take. He chewed thoughtfully, then swallowed and smiled. "This is delicious!"

Sakura grinned and nodded. It was great to give someone their first peice of pizza.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Bringing Link to school was quite an event. Within a few minutes, thousands of girls were swooning over him. Maybe not litterally, but it sure seemed to Sakura that strangers were being very friendly to her. Sakura didn’t get it. People were so stuck on appearance. Finally the excitement had subsided as their home room teacher (aka social studies) forced everyone to sit down. Sakura had no doubt the teacher now held a grudge for her causing all the ruckus.

Link sat quietly beside her, pulling at the sleeves of his new sweater. Sakura glanced at him, accidentally catching his eye. Link smiled little boyishly and sent Sakura looking back to the teacher, a wary return of a smile curling her lips. He was so cute.

Tomoyo sat beside them, secretly holding a microcamera under her desk and tilting it to catch the adorable display of childish flirtation going on her left side. The night before they had all wasted the evening away with silly board games in front of the fire place. What a classic. She and Kero had done their best, but no matter what, they just couldn’t get those two past the curb of ‘just friends’. They seemed very content just talking and joking and sharing helpful battle tips... Tomoyo sighed. Life trying to work with Sakura could get so difficult sometimes. That was what made it exciting.

Finally Sakura thought as the teacher finally finished her lecture. She didn’t like being in high school one bit. The work got harder, the teachers were meaner, and time got shorter. When the class resumed its chaotic order of divided cliques, Sakura turned back to Link. "I know that’s boring, sorry."

Link shook his head. "Good observing time. I think I am starting to understand your world."

Sakura laughed weakly. "Try not to say those kinds of things around other people, remember?"

"Right," Link said, looking guilty.

"Lunch is the exciting part of our day. We may not have the best food, but it’s fun just to sit and talk around."

Chihura sat in the chair in front of Link. She turned and smiled. "So where are you from, anyway? Link sounds like a kind of slavic name, but I’m probably way off."

Link opened his mouth to speak, but Sakura beat him. "Finland."

Chihura smiled broadly. "That’s so cool! What language do they speak there?"

"Latvian."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Sakura said convincingly.

It didn’t take much to convince Chihura. She wasn’t out to argue. "Can you say.... ‘hi, my name is Chihura. I like horse riding lessons.’ ?"

Link looked like a deer in headlights. Better answer for him again. "He doesn’t really like to think about Finland, bad family life I think." Sakura said in a hushed tone.

Chihura nodded understandingly. "Got it. So anyway, where all have you visited in Japan?"

Link could answer this one. Sakura let him take it. "Well I went to the mall yesterday, we’ve been by the park...that’s it really."

"Those are the main attractions. There’s not a whole lot to Tomoeda. Tsukumine shrine maybe, asides from that..."

"Yeah. I don’t know what else to tour."

Chihura shrugged. She turned to Link. "Have you ever horse ridden?"

Link nodded. "Yes, we have alot of horses in, uh, in Finland. I have a mare that I ride much to get to places."

Chihura smiled dreamily. "That’s so cool! The only place I get to ride is in the little ring where I take lessons. I’m hoping one day I’ll be good enough to go trailriding... How about you, Sakura, how’s Syaoran’s horse doing?"

Sakura smiled with a sort of wistful expression. "She’s good. You should come ride her sometime. I don’t have a ring, but you can ride in the pasture."

Chihura lit up. "Really?"

Sakura smiled and nodded. "I don’t mind, and Syaoran wouldn’t care even if he was here. She’s basically...mine I guess." Sakura neglected to say Syaoran had actually given the mare to her for her birthday. A present of that magnitude rose questions.

"Well we’ll have to travel out there together before Link goes back home-" Chihura pauses as the bell rings. "I’ll see you guys at lunch!"

Sakura nodded and gathered her books. Link looked around suspiciously for where that bell noise had come from.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Since it was fall, the weather was right for soccer. So that was what gym class was doing now. Run down the field, kick the ball, try to get it around the poor soul stuck as goalie (usually the more accident-proned kids in the bunch), then chase it back as some defender got it away from you. Sakura enjoyed soccer, the tackle kind where no rules were involved and you were able to combine it with every other sport you knew. But here with the nazi gym teacher, she just couldn’t take it. He seemed very chauvinist to Sakura, which, though it annoyed even herself, made Sakura be even more competitive. It must have shown because midway in the game Tamakazi had deemed her ‘vicious’.

Link found the game fascinating. Sakura could see it in his eyes. Those large amazed eyes followed the movements in careful observation. Sakura wondered that if she didn’t have the ball so much, would he still lock his blue eyes on her? She didn’t pursue the thought. She was too busy grumbling inwardly about how many credits in physical education they were forced to endure. Since when have I had such a thing against gym? I used to love it!

The game ended and Sakura’s side won, probably because the other side was very indifferent about the whole affair. Still, Sakura soaked up every bit of excitement that she was able to. She walked over to the sidelines to give Link his security again.

"You’ve very good at that," He commented.

Sakura could tell by his tone he meant nothing more. "Thanks! I like sports, I guess. We can play it sometime before you go back."

"That would be wonderful," Link agreed.

Sakura pushed her hair behind her ears as the wind blew it around. Why had she neglected to bring a pony tail holder? Sakura bit her bottom lip, then glanced at Link. She should have thought of that before! Tomoyo’s carefully plotted hair had come undone with the breeze over the soccer field. This left Link’s ears exposed. He walked unaware. Sakura quickly looked around to see if anyone was staring, and, nonchalantly, tried to turn back. Chihura and Tamakazi both were gawking.

Sakura thought fast and quickly grabbed his arm. "Link, I can’t beleive you! I told you halloween isn’t for another two weeks..." She rolled her eyes, hoping inwardly he would understand, then dragged him by Chihura and Tamakazi. "He loved the elf ears at the party store. Apparently there’s not many of those in Finland...." She addressed Link. "Let’s go get those off before you embaress yourself."

Sakura hurriedly dragged him along, ignoring the other kids or the gym teacher that were trooping back inside the school. She hurried past them, then dragged him down the hall toward the bathroom. The halls were quiet because classes were still in session, so she had no trouble getting around. Sakura almost dragged him into the girl’s bathroom thinking he wouldn’t see the shame in it but checked herself as she realized that class was likely to end any second now and the preppy girls would be swarming anywhere there was a mirror. Better to try somewhere quiet. The janitor’s closet.

Sakura dragged him in and shut the door, then quickly groped the walls for the light switch. Quickly she found it. "Sorry, I didn’t mean to talk like that, but best they think that then...try to understand."

Link smiled as his laid back personality allowed. "I did not even think of the wind as a factor."

Sakura saw that they were inhabitting a tightly packed closet, and they should hurry and finish their goal. Sakura reached up and fiddled with his hair, trying to get it over his ears. It wasn’t working. Whatever Tomoyo had put in his hair was now dead due to the wear of the wind. She bit her bottom lip again. "I can’t get it..."

Link looked up in effort to see but was unable. "I do not know..."

"Maybe I could get-"

The door opened. The worst possible thing that could have happened. Sakura hadn’t even thought of that bad luck when she threw the poor foreigner into the closet in the first place. It wasn’t like they could hide. Even if Sakura could manage to stay hidden behind the little mop, there was only one. Too late for plans, they were busted.

A janitor, one of the eccentrics on the school staff, opened the door and looked with skepticism at the scene. Her lips tightened. Wordlessly she grabbed Sakura’s arm and pulled her out, then did the same with Link. Poor Link, he looked so clueless.

She opened her mouth to speak but the bell rang. Kids poured into the hall, and Sakura was torn between two decisions. She didn’t really want to stick around for the horrible punishment that was sure to be given. But if she fled into the crowd, she was sure to be tracked down. Maybe the janitor won’t remember what I look like.

Too late, she had already noticed the ears. If she didn’t remember Sakura, she would surely remember poor Link, the innocent, the deer frozen by strange headlights, the boy with large ears that wasn’t wearing school uniform.

"Shall I escort you to the office, or can I trust you two will get their on your own?"

Sakura knew that ‘trust’ meant that she would spy from a distance until she was sure harsher punishment was not a necessity. "W-we’ll go." She said, trying to keep a handle on herself. She couldn’t break down. Link still had no idea of the situation.

Trying to keep a hold of herself, Sakura tugged on the sleeve of Link’s sweater and turned to head down the hall.

Link looked around the hall, as if realizing the climax of the situation by the way Sakura had gone gravely quiet. "Where are we going?" He asked.

Sakura wished that at times like these Link knew a little more about daily life in school. But how could she hold him responsible? "The principal’s office. Like head authority."

"It’s customary to go there after being found in a closet?" He asked.

"No, just, we weren’t s’pose to be in there. I was supposed to be in class. It’s not your fault, don’t worry about it."

"O-oh," Link replied, though it seemed he was saying this more for Sakura’s sake than real understanding on his part.

Sakura chewed on her bottom lip as she walked stiffly towards the principal’s office. She had never been in there before, well once, but she was only getting a schedule switch. Never for trouble! What was going to happen to her? What if he family found out? Horrible rumors were going to be flying. That combined with Mark’s last efforts to ruin her reputation...she wasn’t going to be able to show her face in school again! Maybe I’m overreacting a little bit. I’ll just have him hear me out. But...but I can’t! What else could we have possibly been doing in there? It’s not like we were trying to smuggle mops out of the school. Either we were dealing drugs or making out, which one’s more beleivable? No one would think I do drugs, that’s stupid. But...

She tried to unfocus in order to self-preserve, then looked towards the door with determination. She would just keep calm. She knew what really happened, and that was all that mattered. Tomoyo would beleive her. And who cared if the other kids thought she did that. Maybe it would help boost her away from everyone’s beleif that she was clueless on those types of things. With this in mind, she reached out for the knob and opened the door. Gulping down her fear, she led Link through the hall past the student services desk and into the office where chairs were set in front of the large desk. No one was in yet.

Sakura took it as a favor and sat down. Link sat down as well, admiring the soft material and stuffing that was inside of these modern creations. Sakura sighed warily and tried to keep her jittery leg from shaking.

"Are you alright?" Link asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Yeah, why?"

"You’re shaking. Asides, I have the feeling that you’re very aprehensive. Are we in some kind of trouble?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah." This was tough, how would she explain this to him? "Well, they jump to conclusions. They think we were doing something that, um (she clears her throat) we shouldn’t have been doing. So now I’m suffering the consequences by having a chat with the principal."

"Sounds unfair." Link said.

Sakura agreed, but figured it was useless. The authorities didn’t see the kids cries of unjustice as high priority. "Nothing about the ears or where you came from, alright? Just agree with what I say."

"Alright."

She sat silent for a moment before she heard the dreaded footsteps coming up the hall behind her. Sakura’s grip tightened on the armchairs, her face paled....She was in for it.

"Kinomoto-san..." The principal said before he was even standing in front of them. His voice had that disappointed tone that he would use when disciplining a puppy. "I never thought something like this would come about from you."

Sakura was unsure on how to beg for reppentance. She couldn’t exactly say ‘I’m sorry’, that was a weird way to respond to having been busted for making out in the janitor’s closet (which we weren’t!). "I’m sorry, sir." She said, her voice sounding very meager. Sakura felt very small.

"I’m a bit disappointed that with this decision you also have dampered our schools reputation with this young man, who came along to survey, am I right?"

"I should have thought about it more, sensei."

"Yes, you should have. If only you young people were smart enough to always think things through before diving in. Enough of that. I’m not going to interrogate you with embaressing questions. You’ll be spending the next three days in In School Suspension. Is that clear?"

Sakura swallowed as she went through all of the different tests she would be automatically flunking if she was forced through I.S.S. the next three days. "Yes, sir." She agreed weakly.

"This day isn’t going to count, obviously, as it’s last hour now. Go ahead, they’re already expecting you."

Sakura tried to reason that it was an easy punishment. Her father wouldn’t have to hear about this, it was safe from Touya, and she was still going to school. She should be grateful. Asides the overall trauma of being in trouble for such an act, she didn’t feel too nervous anymore. She stood up from her chair, as did Link, and offered a polite smile to the sensei before turning and heading back out of the office.

Once in the clear halls Sakura let out her breath. "Phew! That wasn’t so bad."

"What does all that mean?" Link asked.

She had to smile at the way his speech was loosening up. "It means that I have to sit in this boring room for three days while all the classes I’m missing give me zeros for the assignments of that day. But it’s alright. It could have been alot worse."

Link nodded, digesting all of this. "I see. What exactly did you do to get such a punishement?"

"We were in the closet. And we shouldn’t have been. But it’s alright, let’s forget about it."

Sakura walked around the symmetrical hallways, not exactly sure where the I.S.S. room was since she had never had to be in there, but she eventually found it. Before going in, Sakura turned to Link. "We can’t talk in here. At all. It’s big trouble."

Link nodded.

Sakura opened the door and let herself in. The few kids in the room looked up to see who the newcomer was, then went back to looking around in space. Most of them looked like the trouble that sent them there. She felt horribly out of place. Her and her friend from Finland. She sat down in the only two available seats (since there wasn’t many chairs in the room to start with) in the front row. Luckily the day was almost over. She would escape from here before it was really boring.

________________________________________

Syaoran wiped his bleary eyes. He hadn’t slept since two nights before. All of the packing, shipping, and airport travel had kept him up. Now his eyelids felt like weights and everything about him seemed to spin unnaturally. He reminded himself to focus as the lady behind the desk in front of him was explaining the shipment of the furniture he had managed to bring.

They probably found my letter by now. There’s no way I can go back now. I’ve burnt that bridge to ashes. He found himself leaning heavily on the counter, and next thing he knew the attendant was snapping her fingers in front of his face.

"Sir, sir are you alright?"

Syaoran was too tired to be embaressed. "Yeah, go on. About the titles on the stuff..."

She gave him an uncertain look before continuing about the things.

Syaoran let himself fade out again. He able to feel her aura even from the airport. At least someone needed him. There was someone’s life he hadn’t completely demolished. But if I am coming here, will I destroy her life as well? Syaoran hated himself for the logic his mind automatically used. He didn’t want to think about that right now. All he wanted to think on was that someone actually cared and wanted to understand him. They weren’t going to try and manipulate him, use him, or take him for granted. As long as he could keep himself in the same check, he would be alright.

I wonder if she feels me here too? Would she even care? Syaoran heard a few sentences that went into the woman’s closing statement, so he took the papers, signed her copies, then headed wearily towards the door. He had his suitcases lugged on one arm and any loose items held by the other. Syaoran stepped out into the sidewalk and shivered. It was very cold in Japan. Too cold. No matter his efforts, it seemed his body temperature insisted on staying cold.

He looked down the busy pick up roads. Several buses hurried their ways down the pavement, letting out gas fumes and smog for any who stood in their way. Syaoran did not want to ride a bus. He would get a taxi. His eyes focused out of their dormancy and looked about until he spotted a sitting car. Gesturing to them, he dragged his things to the curb, then piled in. It was going to be good to get some sleep.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Syaoran looked out the window and fidgeted. He wanted to go see her. But how was going to? He couldn’t just show up at her house. That was stupid. He could just surprise her at school, which, reminded him, he still needed to call and enroll. But that was so sudden, and the reunition would be toned down by all the other people there. Better to keep it personal. I can call her. Then I can see her. That’s a good idea.

Syaoran decided on that and went to the counter to get his phone. I hope she got a new handphone. I don’t want to have to try and call her house. Syaoran dialed her number and then turned and leaned on the counter. He was releived to see that it rang. He walked around absently, hoping with all his might that she would answer.

"Moshi moshi?" She finally answered, her voice bright as ever.

"Hi," Syaoran said, not able to come up with anything else.

"S-Syaoran! Hi! How are you?"

"I’m alright, you?"

"Fine! I tried a transport spell and got myself to Hyrule. It was so awesome! You’d never guess what I brought back to Japan!"

"A dragon?" He asked dryly.

"No, well, I’d show you, but-"

"I’m in Japan."

There was a short moment of silence. "You are?"

"Yeah," he replied. Where was the enthusiasm?

"That’s awesome! Why? I mean, are you visiting or what?"

"Not really, I’ll be at school tommorrow, I can tell you there."

Sakura coughed on the other side of the line. "O-oh. Alright. Are you in Tomoeda right now?"

"Yeah."

"Cool! I can’t wait!"

"I’ll see you, then," Syaoran said, not trying to hide the glumness from his voice.

"Bye," Sakura said, her voice still light and happy.

Syaoran hung up the phone and let out his breath. It was going to be hard to talk to her. But it was going to be perfect. It was going to be the start of the end of his depression. Definitely.

________________

Sakura hung up the phone and sighed. Too much of her life was complete irony. Tommorrow, school, I.S.S., Syaoran coming to visit...She forced herself to breath and turned back to face Tomoyo and Link. They were both sprawled out across the floor in front of a warm fire, working on a puzzle. Link was especially good at these, and was enjoying it emmensely. After flying through a fifty peice puzzle, they were now about halfway through a five hundred peice jigsaw.

"What did he want?" Tomoyo asked casually as Sakura slid down to her spot.

"He’s in Japan." Sakura said.

"He going to school tommorrow?" She asked.

"Yeah," Sakura answered, trying to keep her voice unreadable so Tomoyo wouldn’t go off on a lecture in front of Link.

"The swordsman that was here before?" Link asked, setting a big chunk of connected peices on the corner of the puzzle.

"Yeah. Li-kun."

"I hope we will better get along now. Last time we met we started off on the wrong foot."

"Li-kun doesn’t get along with anyone. He’s a grouch," Tomoyo said.

Sakura gave Tomoyo a sour look. She knew very well that Syaoran was capable of being incredibly sweet. "Syaoran is just misunderstood. You have to overlook some things to get along."

Link smiled. "He got along with you very well,"

Sakura blushed and went back to working on her section of the puzzle. "I’ve known him for a while. I don’t know how much we’ll see of him tommorrow, since I’m stuck in that stupid room all day."

Tomoyo giggled again. She found this whole ordeal as ‘very hilarious’ and ‘cute’.

Sakura decided to switch subjects. "I thought maybe tommorrow we can take Link to those suspension bridges down south."

Tomoyo smiled. "Good idea! I can get us a drive there."

"What is that? Bridges with suspension?" Link looked confused.

"Yeah, you’ll see. They’re really neat." Sakura sat up and walked over to the fireside to warm up a little.

"I should tell the stores in Hyrule about these puzzles." Link said, setting another large portion of the puzzle in place.

"I’m sure they’ll make a fortune off it, if everyone in Hyrule are as good at them as you." Tomoyo said.

Link got to his feet and walked over the fireplace, wanting to sit down as well. Sakura moved over on the little stone slab and gave him a spot. He sat, though it was tight and their sides were touching. Sakura rolled her eyes at Tomoyo’s awestruck look and tried to move over a little. It didn’t seem to bother Link. He was content sitting wherever, and he didn’t think like the rest of the teenagers there did. To him, it was just as it was, no hidden meanings. Sakura was jealous, she wanted that mindset too.

Link picked up her hand and for a second she thought her previous thoughts were wrong. But Link was only examining her fingernail polish.

"Is that paint?" He asked, holding her fingers a little too close to his eyes. Sakura tried to keep from laughing as his breath tickled her hand.

"Kind of. But it’s made for fingernails." Seeing the amazed look on Link’s face, she figured she better let him in on the facts. "Guys don’t wear it though, it’s a girl thing. They have all kinds of paint, some your wear on your face, some you dye your hair with..."

"Amazing!" Link said, letting her hand go and facing her.

Sakura glared at Tomoyo, who was taping this whole affair. She looked back to Link. "We should probably get some sleep. It’s pretty late, and we have to get up early."

Link nodded in agreement. "That’s fine. I’m adjusting to your time easily enough."

Sakura realized this was true. He hadn’t seemed half as tired as she might have expected. She stood up, stretching and letting out invisible nerves, then looked down at the puzzle. It was finished. Amazing. She had never once finished a puzzle in her life, asides from the little kiddie ones, even if she spent weeks on it. Eventually it would be forgotten, torn apart, then put away.

"Well I’m going to go to bed." She said to Tomoyo.

Tomoyo stood up, shutting off her camera. "See you in the morning, Link."

Link got up from the fireplace. "Goodnight," he said, smiling at both of them.

Sakura turned and headed out of the room towards Tomoyo’s room. She couldn’t help it, his smile was starting to get to her. But she didn’t understand him. Did he like her or what? Was he even capable of liking anyone, except maybe princess Zelda? Tomoyo was watching all these thoughts go through her head.

But Syaoran’s here! How cool is that? But what if he hears about this Link thing... Oh no...I’ve got to make sure he understands! Maybe no one will know about it... not likely. Rumors spread faster than wildfire. But he knows I wouldn’t do that, right? It just figures I can’t enjoy this. Something has to screw this up. Well I won’t let it. What am I going to do with my hair tommorrow?

Syaoran crossed his arms as he looked at the school building. He was in the high school now. It wouldn’t be any different. He had to go in to guidance counselor, so he left early with the hope that he could get his scheduling out of the way before anyone arrived. Taking a deep breath of the freezing air, he stepped forward again. The cold chilled his lungs, but he didn’t mind. It was good to have the weather matching his inward feelings. His breath came out in visible steam, quickly disappearing as he stepped through it. He looked around at the colorful trees, admiring the vibrant oranges and reds that spotted the trees around the school. Maybe this wouldn’t be that horrible.

Syaoran walked down the hall, looking around at the empty rooms. Not many students arrived this early, asides ones seeking tutoring, and he was able to go unnoticed. Syaoran headed straight to the office, then didn’t hesitate to approach the counselor.

"Oh, hello, can I help you?"

Syaoran looked around the room. It was much more welcoming than any of the rooms in the school at Hong Kong. "I’m transfering back here. Li Syaoran. Did you get my transcripts?"

"Ah yes, very hard schedule, huh?"

Syaoran didn’t respond.

"Well, I figured you’d want to continue your higher level math, so I stuck you in that class, as well as the history and chemistry classes."

Syaoran nodded.

"You can figure out the rest of your electives. Here’s a list." She walked around her desk and handed him a paper.

Syaoran looked it over. Art, that was alright. He took that, an earth science class, the basic social studies and english classes, then handed it back over. The counselor looked it over and nodded. "Alright. I’ll go type something up and be back with your combinations and schedule. You can sit here if you’d like."

Syaoran wordlessly sat down, dropping his bookbag to the floor. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked around at the different pictures and plaques hung on the wall. After a while, he yawned and leaned on his hand, letting himself be subdued in his thoughts. It was about time for all the other students to be coming to school. Sakura would be there in a little while. Why was he so nervous to see her?

Because I’m here permanently. This isn’t a game anymore.

The counselor came back in and handed him papers and locks. Syaoran took them and said thank you, then headed out of the office. He looked down at the paper. He had to take phys. ed this year. That was one of the better things about the schools in Hong Kong. But no training here. Nothing that makes me collapse with exhaustion. He twirled his gym locker around his finger as he headed down the hall.

A few kids were at school by now. He was walking through the hall of the older kids, and most of them didn’t recognize them, or, if they did, hadn’t noticed he had been gone in the first place. He looked back down at his paper to see where his locker was. 191. He headed down to his left, following the numbers. Now he was seeing more kids he knew. Some gave him looks that said ‘you’re here’, but he just kept glaring around, intimidating anyone out of approaching him. He found his locker and headed over to it. He went through his combination to be sure it worked, then tossed his gym lock in. Keeping the paper with his schedule and combination, he shut the locker and headed towards his first class.

As he turned from his locker, he saw her. Bright green eyes, feathery brown hair, exuberant girl. She hadn’t seen him yet. Couldn’t she feel his aura? Was she ignoring her powers or what? That kind of annoyed him. He had been concentrating on hers since he’d gotten off the airplane. How was he supposed to get her attention? He wasn’t just going to walk past her. He wasn’t going to walk up to her and say ‘look, I’m here’. He hoped she’d notice him. He quit staring at her and glanced at the number on the door beside him to give him an idea of how far he’d have to travel to get to his first class.

Syaoran headed towards it. But he slowed as he heard Sakura talking. She was talking to a boy beside her, one that was very fimiliar. Same blue eyes and ridiculous blonde hair. Syaoran clenched his teeth. So that was what she had been talking about over the phone.

Not even a month and she was finding replacements. She may have chosen a good swordsman, but it was a little suspicious that she chose one with such cute eyes, a soft face, and a good body. Syaoran’s eyes narrowed. What did that boy think he was doing anyway? But it wasn’t him that was at fault. It was probably Sakura. Because she was doing just fine without Syaoran, she didn’t need his help. It didn’t matter whether he was here or not. He should just go back to Hong Kong and face his punishment. Take the pain caused by his ignorant mistakes, then return to being their slave. At least it didn’t hurt as much when they used him.

They walked past him. Syaoran couldn’t beleive it. Just right past, not even a sideways glance. Completely blew him off. Syaoran grit his teeth again. He should just leave. Why had he expected so much out of this anyway? He had only asked for this kind of downfall of hope by making himself so vulnerable. Gaining back his cold obstinance, he looked the other direction. He headed down the hall, not sure where he was going or where he was wanting to end up but heading there all the same.

But as Sakura and Link had stopped at Sakura’s locker, Link noticed the fimiliar back of a boy walking away. After informing Sakura, she left her locker open and sprinted down the hallway. "Syaoran!" She shouted, ignoring that anyone may be watching. She wanted to throw her arms around his neck or something dramatic, but there were so many people around...

Syaoran turned around, though reluctantly. So she had decided to notice him. Great. He couldn’t force even the weakest smile, so only looked blankly at her.

"Hi! You are here! On the phone, it’s just hard to think you could be here..."

Syaoran was looking over her shoulder at the boy down the hall watching them innocently. His eyes burned. He hated skirtboy. "Yeah, well, I am." He said, returning his eyes back to hers midway through the sentence.

Sakura looked back at him, her smile falling. "Are...are you alright?" She asked.

Syaoran sighed heavily, as if he was impatient to be somewhere. "Yeah, why?"

She shook her head, an innocent smile on her face. "No reason. But ah...so..." She looked him over and realized what he was wearing. School uniform. "Are you...are you enrolling again?!"She asked, her voice ecstatic.

Syaoran shrugged and nodded.

Sakura knew something was definitely up. How had he failed to mention this on the phone? "Well, like how long are you going here? Are you actually going to stay a couple of months?"

"I don’t know," Syaoran mumbled, glaring at skirt boy who was hanging around at Sakura’s open locker. When he finally noticed the silence after his answer, he looked back to Sakura. "I might stay here for a while, I don’t know. Anyway, you should go assist kid over there. Looks like he got into trouble." Syaoran turned and continued down the hall, glancing at door numbers and not looking back.

Sakura bit her lip as she stood dumbfounded. Definitely not what she had been picturing for their reuniting moment. But Syaoran was already down the hall, not looking like he was planning on heading back anytime soon. What was wrong with him? And why was he going to school in Japan so suddenly? Sakura glanced over her shoulder and saw that Mark had decided to pick a fight with Link. Glaring at him and his minions, she grabbed Link’s wrist, shut her locker, and headed for the I.S.S. room. She would have tons of time to ponder this over.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Syaoran stood miserably in the cafeteria, looking at the food offered. He may have felt a breif moment of satisfaction after retaliating at Sakura, but since the beginning of the first class, guilt started eating away at him.

I show up and I don’t even ask her how she’s been? My first sentence was ‘yeah, well, I’m here’? How idiotic can you get? But it’s not my fault. She’s been cruising around with skirt boy for who knows how long... Great. But what can I expect?I should just deal with it.

Tamakazi and the rest of the boys soccer team were thrilled at Syaoran’s unexpected return. Unfortunately, as their coach informed them, it was too late in the season to be adding players, even Syaoran. This did not deter their enthusiasm, for soon they were trying to draft him onto the basketball team. Currently Syaoran had gotten away with a lame excuse like ‘I don’t like basketball’, but he was sure their persistence still had a few more tricks to try before surrender.

Tamakazi stood out of Syaoran’s hearing range and surveyed him. He turned to Chihura. "It seems our friend is glummer than usual."

Chihura looked up from her tray she was stocking full and glanced around to see who he was talking about. "Who? Oh, yeah. Can’t blame him, a kid that switches homes so often has got to have some serious psychological problems."

"I think Tamakazi’s right. He’s more depressed than I remember. He was actually starting to be sociable when he left." Rika said.

"That’s right, remember that water fight when he visited for a week in the summer? I swore him and Sakura had a thing going there." Chihura said.

Rika lit up. "Maybe that’s why he’s so down! Sakura’s been walking around here with Link...."

"Yeah, Link’s some competition to beat..." Chihura agreed.

"What are you guys talking about that’s gotten you so enthusiastic?" Tomoyo asked, approaching from behind.

"Well I was in the middle of telling Chihura this story about a turkish-" Tamakazi started.

"We’re plotting to hook up Syaoran and Sakura, or at least give it a boost in the right direction." Rika said, grinning.

"I don’t know, I think Sakura went off that path a long time ago." Tomoyo said quietly, looking through the foods.

Rika and Chihura listened with enthusiasm.

"I was glad to see her finally get over it and befriend someone like Link. Those two are adorable together, don’t you think?"

Chihura grinned and nodded. "Yeah. They’re both clueless and selfless. And then the whole closet incident..."

"I can’t beleive that Sakura-chan would do something like that! It’s so funny!" Naoko said, joining into the conversation.

"A janitor’s closet..." Tamakazi said, shaking his head and laughing.

Syaoran walked by them, completly ignorant of their conversation and too self involved to notice their watching eyes.

Rika a shook her head as she watched him walk to the far end of the cafeteria and go outside to the courtyard. "Someone’s going to have to tame that boy someday."

"Feel free to set me up with him," Chihura said, giggling. She laughed all the more at the sour look Tamakazi had on his face.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sakura sighed and doodled on the edge of the paper in front of her. Remembering who it was too, she hastily erased the swirls and refocused. Syaoran wasn’t going to appreciate swirls on the side of his paper.

Syaoran I know there are alot of reasons for you being here that you’re not telling me. No, too pushy. Why are you visiting, anyway? Too stupid. Maybe I should just give up trying to ask him in the letter and see if I can talk to him in person. But when? This stupid school day’s taken. He’s probably heard the whole story today in lunch. And he’s never going to mention it. He’s just going to go on assuming. When nothing really happened at all!

Sakura seemed to forget she wasn’t really guilty at times, because she had accepted the lie to get her out of a deeper mess. She was worried that her conscience would take it so lightly. Looking back down at the rudimentary sentences she had started out her note with, she tightened her jaw. She hated being stuck in this stupid little room. Link wasn’t looking too thrilled either. He had resorted to counting tiles and spots in the room. Sakura wasn’t too far behind. She forced her eyes back to the paper. I wish you would trust me. Why can you risk your life to protect me but not tell me what has happened to you? You should stop fearing the truth. We have a serious problem if you can’t tell me what’s wrong. Sakura sighed. If only she could convince her pencil to write that.

The door clicking open made Sakura look up. The highlight of her day! Even the supervisor looked up from her book to see what trouble maker was being thrown in prison. Sakura froze. Mark strolled in, not looking too perturbed. He flashed a smile at Sakura, then gave his slip of pink paper to the supervisor. She read it with her discerning eyes, then went back to reading her book. That was a signal enough to Mark that he was allowed to sit down.

Link had snapped to attention at the new arrival as well. He had a newfound dislike for Mark, and, though he was better at hiding it than Syaoran, his dislike showed through. He was staring at Mark, probably some type of old world challenging thing. Mark noticed as he walked down to his seat and gave Link a mean look before sitting down beside Sakura.

She squirmed. If I.S.S. could have gotten any worse, it had. Now she watched out of the corner of her eye as Mark glance at her frequently. Sakura did her best to ignore it, but it was getting a little on the irritating side. Finally she gave him an exasperated look.

Mark only grinned and made obscene gestures referring to Link and her and what they had been doing to get their in-school-suspension. Sakura propped her head up by her elbow and looked the other way, an annoyed glare on her face. Only when the teacher was too invovled in her book to be watching did Mark dare lean over and blow in Sakura’s ear. Her eyes widened and she accidentally slammed her arm down on her desk, looking violated. The supervisor glanced up from her book and then returned to her reading. Sakura glared at Mark as he laughed at himself. Her ability to write this serious note had lost all hope.

- - - - - - - -

Sakura had moved her chair halfway across the aisle towards Link through the progression of the day. Mark had been too encrouching and had scared her away. She was incredibly happy to see that the bell was going to ring any second. Sakura jittered in her seat, dying to get out. Link sensed the anxiousness and was ready to leave as well. The second the bell rang, Sakura sprung to her feet. She made sure Link was beside her and hurried out of the room, evading Mark.

She looked down the hall. Syaoran wasn’t in sight, but the high school was pretty big. She hurried along, making sure Link kept up, towards her locker. That was where she had seen him last. She had to talk to him before he left school. The note idea just wasn’t going to work.

"Are you looking for your friend?" Link asked.

Sakura was quiet for a second before she answered. "Yeah. We didn’t get off to a very good start. See, he’s been gone for the past couple months and I wasn’t expecting him to all the sudden move here."

"I don’t think he likes me very much. Neither does that other friend of yours, the one that sat next to you."

"Mark’s not my friend. We had a little...uh...misgiving a while ago. Syaoran is like this with everyone, don’t take it personally. But I know something is up..." She slowed her speech and reminded herself that she should be able to find his aura. And she could. She sensed it not too far away.

"Syaoran!" She exclaimed, ecstatic to see him not very far away. She couldn’t help but feel a bit giddy as she met his eyes but ignored the feeling and rushed over to him, making sure Link stayed behind as she dodged the crowd. She slowed beside him, smiling happily and trying to start off on a good note this time. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Syaoran mumbled, stopping at his locker and putting his combination in.

"So what are you doing after school?" She asked, forcing her smile to stay firm.

"I, uh," He glanced at Link before directing his attention to the books he was putting in his locker. "I have to unpack."

"Oh," Sakura said. She had failed to consider this. She had another idea. She hoped Link wouldn’t mind her sacrificing their field trip for Syaoran’s sake. "Do you want help?"

Syaoran shoved the last of his books in and turned to face her. "No. Why? I mean, what are you doing?"

"Oh, ah, we were going to go on that bridge on the south coast. It probably wouldn’t be very exciting, but you could come if you wanted to," Sakura said.

Syaoran evaluated her. The last time she had seen him, he had been nicer than ever, then they had kissed at the airport. So what, that doesn’t mean anything. But it wasn’t fair to her that he suddenly change without any forewarning for her. And if he did go, he could keep an eye on Link. Who knows what they had done all day. Syaoran clenched his teeth at those thoughts. Sakura had much more discretion than that. "I’ll go."

Sakura blinked for a second before his words soaked through. "Awesome! You can walk with us back to my house if you want. But you probably want to change, right? So...you can go to your apartment, then we can all meet at Tomoyo’s. Is that alright?" Sakura’s speech had increased in speed as she let the excitement show through.

Syaoran hated the thought of her being with skirt boy blue eyes but was softened enough by her sincere smile and honest enthusiasm to comply. "Yeah, fine."

Sakura smiled happily at Link, who returned an unsure smile, not quite sure what he was excited about. "Great! We’ll see you in fifteen minutes or so!"

Syaoran nodded as he turned back to his locker to get his bookbag. Three hours of driving around in a car with skirtboy? What have I gotten myself into? All I wanted was to talk to her, but he’s following her around like a dog!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sakura looked at her watch, then glanced down the sidewalk. She saw a faraway figure walking towards them. That must be him. She looked back to Tomoyo and Link. "This is so cool! I love limos!"

Link looked a little wary of riding in any sort of vehicle since his brush with death on the sidewalk a few days ago. "You’re sure this are safe?" He asked Sakura.

She grinned and nodded. "This will be fun! Just wait! It’s like being in a small room, expect the stuff outside the windows are moving. It won’t be scary at all."

Kero, who was not doing a very good job at being hidden, looked totally at rage. "I can’t beleive you invited that kid! What’s he think he’s doing in Japan, anyway? Why not go back where people actually care?"

Sakura swatted at him. "Kero, be nice! He seems down, he’s hardly talked to me at all (Kero makes a grunt of satisfaction) and I think he could use some friendly compassion."

Tomoyo had her arms crossed. Though she tried to look excited about their little outing, it was clear she was displeased. Hearing Syaoran was back was the worst news ever for her, apparently. "We need to get going. He should hurry."

Sakura could tell it was him. He had a downcast look on his face and was walking with his hands in his pockets. She decided to go and greet him. Sakura jogged away from Tomoyo, Link, and Kero until she reached Syaoran. Last time we talked we were on good standings. There’s no reason to be so shy and secretive. "Hey."

"Hey," Syaoran responded, though he hardly lifted his eyes as he said it.

Sakura frowned. She was sick of this glum and depressed attitude. What was wrong with him? "Syaoran, why are you being like this?" She asked.

Syaoran glanced at her. Then he saw that Link was jogging up. He didn’t bother to answer, as bright and cheery skirt boy talked for him.

"Hello! I’m afraid we didn’t really get off on the right foot earlier. It’s nice seeing you again." Link said, his blue eyes sincere and light.

Syaoran made a fake expression Sakura could easily see through. She suspected Link was a little too naive to notice. "Yeah, great."

Sakura glared at Syaoran. Why did he have to be like this? She had thought he was way over this antisocial ‘I hate the world’ thing. She needed a few minutes alone with him to scream some sense into his stubborn head. But, with the limosine ready to drive all four (five counting Kero) to the bridge, it didn’t seem the opportunity would show itself. Sakura walked impatiently beside Syaoran, at least finding a little enjoyment of walking beside him. They stopped at the limo, where Tomoyo gave Syaoran a less than polite smile of welcome. "Well, go ahead in." She said, broadening her smile as she looked approvingly to Link and Sakura.

They clambered into the car, and Sakura was glad to find herself sat in between Link and Syaoran. At least some conversation could be established here. The chauffeur shut the door, then headed to the front. There was a breif moment of silence as they were all settled, then Tomoyo clasped her hands to her knees. "Well, who wants a drink?"

Sakura’s eyes widened as she looked at the fridge Tomoyo was sitting next to. "How cool! Touya doesn’t even let me drink anything in his car!"

Tomoyo grinned and opened the minifridge which was well stocked with all kinds of sodas. She took everyone’s orders and handed them out, then leaned back in her chair, relaxed. Sakura helped Link with the tab on his can, then directed her attention to the open atmosphere. She half turned to Syaoran, of whom she noticed was staring at the soda can in his lap.

"So, Syaoran, really, you have no idea how long you are staying here?" She asked.

Syaoran looked up slightly disturbed and shrugged. "I don’t know. As long as I want, I guess."

Sakura didn’t understand him. Shouldn’t he be incredibly happy? He could be here as long as he wanted and he wasn’t ecstatic about it? She was missing something very vital here. But he wasn’t about to give her any hints. "So...so everything’s worked out in Hong Kong? Or are they sending you for some kind of mission in Japan?"

Syaoran shook his head. "No. I’m done there."

"Oh," Sakura said. She glanced awkwardly at Link, knowing that she was keeping him out of the conversation. It was very hard to play medium between these two. But Link, she noticed, was staring out the windows in a trance, looking slightly queasy. "You probably shouldn’t look out as much as that."

Link turned abruptly, startled, and gave a weak smile. "Does it make you feel funny as well?"

Sakura shook her head. "My inner ear must be used to it. Just don’t look out there."

There was more silence. This was horrible. She had the most inexperienced innocent boy at her left and the most antisocial kid in the world to her right. Tomoyo was only sitting quietly, very unlike her. Kero had occupied himself with so much food that Sakura had forgotten he was there.

Finally Tomoyo spoke up. "So, how was school for you, Syaoran?"

Syaoran didn’t look too impressed with Tomoyo, more suspicious. "Fine," He replied, though his voice was still distant. Sakura chewed on her bottom lip as she surveyed him.

"Sakura and Link have to be in the I.S.S. room for the next couple days."

It took Sakura a second before she digested what horror Tomoyo was trying to release. Syaoran looked at Sakura questioningly.

"Why?" He asked.

"They got caught-"

Sakura quickly interruped Tomoyo. "Link was outside with us during gym class. His hair got all messed up and everyone could see his ears. So I like dragged him into some closet and tried to fix it before the next class started. Unfortunately, a janitor came by and, uh, and jumped to conclusions. But it’s alright. At least no one knows about him." She said, shrugging.

Syaoran sighed inwardly with relief. He should have known better than to let himself beleive those silly rumors going around. Of course there was a logical- or not-so-logical- explanation for the closet bust. He couldn’t help himself, he had to ask. "Why is he in Japan, anyway?"

Sakura was a little alarmed at this question and didn’t know how to answer. It seemed Syaoran was testing her somehow. Which way should she answer? "Well, I just figured he could...help out. And he might as well get a tour of Japan, since we saw so much of Hyrule." She said.

"You’ve got to be careful with those spells, Sakura, you could end up hurting both of you." Syaoran said, looking out the window.

Sakura bit her lip. He could have said worse. At least he was sounding like he cared a little bit. She turned to Link to make easier smalltalk rather than struggle with Syaoran. "So how do you like it in Japan, anyway?"

Link smiled politely, though she could tell he was trying to figure out Syaoran in the process. "It’s wonderful. You have all of this new technology here that I can hardly grasp the concept of. I’m sure this bridge is going to have something amazing about it."

Sakura smiled. "Well, you’ll see. It’s huge, it’s over part of the ocean, and it’s suspended. I think the bridge near the Gerudo territory is like that."

Link nodded. "It swings with lots of wind. I don’t like that one too well."

Tomoyo smiled. "This one’s so heavy it would take an incredible amount of wind to move it. It’s built like it is to sustain through earthquakes. You have earthquakes in Hyrule, right?"

Link nodded slowly. "I think I remember one such event being called an earthquake." He said. "So they make the bridge so it can swing...."

"And not crumble away at the foundation when it’s being shaken." Sakura finished.

"That’s amazing. Maybe I will become an inventor after being here. No one in Hyrule has ever heard of any of these things." Link said.

Sakura smiled in agreement. Inwardly she wondered if she was wrecking Hyrule. If they had a sudden jump of technology it wouldn’t be good to visit anymore. But Link looked so enthusiastic and caught up in his idea she decided not to rain on it. She shifted positions in the soft leather seat and returned to her tunneled vision. With a boy on each side it was difficult to look out the window without them thinking she was staring at them. But Syaoran what on earth is wrong? I hate it when you do this. Don’t you remember how we were when I was in Hong Kong? I’m sick of fighting with you, I thought we got over that.

It was painfully silent for a while before Kero, who had been too busy eating food to say anything, started his interrogation. "So kid. What are you doing in Japan? We don’t need your help anymore, you know. Sakura can deal with these card problems on her own."

Syaoran glared at Kero. She should really ditch Kero someday. "Why shouldn’t I be here?" He countered. Only Sakura noticed his voice was lower and darker than she remembered.

"Because you’re always bothering us, that’s why." Kero retorted, his little yellow arms crossed indignantly over his chest.

"I don’t remember seeing you ever help out. I only helps when she asks for it (he points at Sakura). If you could understand any kind of loyalty you’d see I wasn’t bothering anyone-"

"Loyalty! Don’t give me that! I’ve been more loyal to Clow Reed than anyone, you couldn’t possibly understand the sacrifices I make! So don’t try that!"

Syaoran clenched his teeth and was about to shout again but Sakura lightly elbowed him. Instead of turning to see what she had to say he scowled and looked back out the window, still recovering his quickened breath.

Sakura bit her lip, then glared at Kero reprehensibly. She mouthed ‘quit it’ to him, then sighed and sunk in her seat. She glanced at Link and saw he sat with a puzzled expression. He wasn’t sure what was up with this high tempered boy.

The silence hung thickly in the limo. Sakura squirmed a little bit under the weight. She met Tomoyo’s dark look, which of course, was directed at Syaoran. She saw Kero’s continuing scowl fest and tried to hold in another sigh. "Does this thing have a radio?"

Tomoyo nodded, then turned to some dials beside her. She switched it on and found a nice light rock station. Sakura felt a little bit of weight lifted off her shoulders as the music did a good enough job to cover up the uncomfortable silence. Stupid Kero. Ugh! Why does he have to be like that and totally ruin Syaoran? He was starting to talk a little bit! Well....ugh. Maybe I can talk to him when...when? Link’s going to be everywhere I am. Maybe I should start thinking about sending Link back? But that isn’t fair! Link’s visiting, Syaoran’s staying, why should I have to rearrange my schedule?

"Hey look, there’s the coast! We’re not very far, now," Tomoyo said, looking out the window.

Link looked out his window despite the queasy feeling in his stomach. "How can a bridge stay over that body of water?"

Sakura peered around him to get a good look out the window. "That’s what’s so amazing about it. You can’t even see the island it’s connecting to. Is that guy going to stop so we can look off one of those tourist spots?"

Tomoyo nodded. "I asked him if he would stop at the first point. We should be coming up on it soon, actually. It’s just before you turn onto the bridge. There’s some higher elevation spots where you can take pictures of the bridge from far away."

"Awesome!" Sakura agreed excitedly. Getting out of the limo sounded wonderful to her at that moment. She cast a furtive glance at Syaoran and saw he was still looking darkly out the window. Maybe some fresh air will clear some of this up?

They drove for a while before Sakura saw happily that the limo slowed down. They pulled onto a small outlet and then came to a complete stop. Syaoran opened the door as soon as possible. It seemed he wanted to jump out as well. Sakura followed quickly after him, but soon Link was at her side, gawking at the large traffic that rolled across the highway. The bridge looked incredible, the largest suspended structure in the world. Sakura admired it for a second before directing her attention to Syaoran. But when she turned to her right, he was not there. She looked around and saw that he was leaning against the edge of the fence, looking down to the depths of the sea below.

Sakura’s eyes widened; he seemed to be putting an awful lot of weight on that fence. Good thing it was made for lots of weight. She walked over with Link quickly trailing her.

"That’s amazing! It looks like something out of a dream!" Link said, his eyes glued to the bridge.

Sakura smiled and nodded. "I suppose. It’s really big, that’s for sure. I bet it’s really neat looking from the middle cause you would hardly be able to see the mainland. Too bad there’s no pull-overs there."

She stood herself next to Syaoran and smiled at him before looking off to the sea below. "That’s a pretty big drop," She remarked.

"Mmm." Syaoran agreed indifferently. He wasn’t going to be helping this conversation.

She glanced at her feet for some rocks and bent down. She grabbed a handful of the chipped cement and threw a peice as far as she could. The strong ocean wind that blew against it limited the rock in its distance and her rock didn’t go hardly anywhere but down.

Link smiled and took a rock from her hand. After squinting to find his desired goal, he threw the rock hard. The little stone flew for a while before disappearing into the white caps a good distance away. Sakura gave him a look of impression. She bit her lip, then turned to Syaoran. "Care to try?"

He glanced sideways at her, then, his eyes meeting Link’s, he took a rock. Taking a step away from Sakura he threw the little stone for all it was worth and set it careening away. The rock landed almost exactly where Link’s had. Sakura bit her lip to keep from laughing. Leave it to Syaoran to turn an admiration of the sea to a rock throwing competition.

"Good arm," Link said, looking towards where the rocks had fallen.

Syaoran only smirked and turned around, leaning his back on the fence and looking towards the highway.

Sakura watched him carefully. She would love to ask him about everything here. But it figured. Link had to be there. And it wasn’t his fault. She had invited him to come to Japan. Sakura sighed. Syaoran was never going to get along with Link. And that wasn’t fair. Link was a good person, why couldn’t Syaoran just get over himself to see that?

Tomoyo was taping everything diligently. Sakura hadn’t noticed the camera until that moment. Which meant Tomoyo had probably managed to capture all of Sakura’s expressions. Sakura glared at her goodnaturedly, then watched as Tomoyo shut it off and lowered it. "We should go across the bridge. I’m sure we could get some great footage if we rolled the windows down and taped like that."

Sakura smiled and shrugged. "Sure," she agreed.

They told Link and Syaoran their plans, then headed for the limo. They piled in the same way they had been sitting earlier, then looked out the windows as the chauffeur pulled out onto the highway again.

Sakura glanced at Syaoran again. He wore a vacant expression. Sunlight was playing off the colors in his eyes and his messy hair seemed to fall perfectly. Why did he have to go and change everything again? I’d have hugged him ten times by now if he wasn’t being so...so...himself. She frowned to herself and looked at her shoes, pivoting her heel with boredom.

She looked up. Something had seemed to alert her. Nothing physical, she realized, as she looked around. She glanced out the window. Nothing. What was she feeling? Magic. It’s magic. Sakura looked at Syaoran. He was looking intently out the window. Did he notice it? She tugged on his sleeve. Syaoran glanced at her. He seemed to be concentrating on something too.

"Is that..." She said in a lowered voice.

Syaoran looked around carefully, scowling once again, this time for concentration purposes. "It’s a card," He agreed, his voice even lower than her own.

Link had failed to notice any of this conversation, while Tomoyo, who was glaring at them for sharing secrets, tried to guess what was wrong. "What is it?" She asked.

Sakura leaned forward and looked around. "Magic. I don’t know what card, but it’s really strong." She undid her seat belt and jumped around Syaoran to look out the window. "I can’t see anything, though."

"Maybe it’s Windy?"

"No, it’s stronger. Earthy maybe. It-" Syaoran was cut off. The limo came to a sudden stop. Sakura’s eyes widened as she knew she was in no place for a car wreck. But they were completely still. She looked out the window. All cars had stopped in chaotic positions. The whole enterance to the bridge was clouded up with cars.

"An earthquake!" Sakura exclaimed, seeing the trees along the road shaking.

Syaoran looked outside and saw she was right. Without any thought he threw open the door and jumped onto the street, the cars around them ceasing motion. He looked to Sakura, who was still peering out of the car, enjoying the safety it provided.

"They’re your cards. You should stop them before anyone gets hurt."

Sakura felt a slight sting from his words. She knew all of this very well. Sakura looked apologetically to Link and Tomoyo and jumped out of the limo. As she planted her feet she almost fell. The vibrations ran right up her legs. But Syaoran was already running, it hadn’t taken him any time to adjust to this situation. Sakura turned to Link, who was just stepping out.

"I have to stop this magic before anyone’s hurt. You can stay, if you’d like."

Link shook his head. "That wouldn’t be right. Come on, we’re losing sight of your friend."

Sakura looked back to where Syaoran had been and saw he had already ran a great distance. She quickly threw her legs into a sprint after him. "Don’t follow us, Tomoyo!" Sakura called over her shoulder. "Earthy’s really dangerous, remember?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

So you’re all thinking - ‘she takes a year to finally finish this chapter and she ends it with a cliffhanger!!!’ well sorry. But I was planning to end it like this anyway. It would be way too long if I didn’t. So how about it. Sorry, really, that it took this long. Lots of band stuff for me, we’ve got like a month to practice our brains out before we are playing as an in house band. Then too much stress from school, people stalking me, etc. It was tough. Add to that a major mind block, I just couldn’t write. But anyway. I’m going to go put this on my site. Email comments at

[email protected]

Site at geocities.com/KeanusHorseChic

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~*Syaoran Fan 4 Life*~