RECAP: Let’s see...Sakura got transported to Hong Kong...Syaoran was trying to hide her from his family but she got discovered...A hurricane was coming by, cancelling all airport flights so Sakura’s stuck for a while...She found a book Syaoran made when he was little and was hiding it in her bed at the end of the last chapter. They’re getting ready to go to a cast party at Meilin’s house right now.

Chapter 38 - She’s still in Hong Kong

Sakura bounded down the stairs and stopped by Syaoran, slightly out of breath from running around the hall like crazy to get the book hidden again. "Let’s go, then." She said, smiling as best she could.

Syaoran could tell she was up to something, the guilt was on her face. Not able to read out what it was, he figured he would ask her about it later. Right now, at Meilin’s request, they were supposed to rush over so Sakura could find a swimming suit she liked before everyone else arrived. Syaoran slightly doubted Meilin’s motives, but knew better than to contest with her. The whole day had been the dress rehearsal for the next night, and the long ordeal left Syaoran exhausted. He didn’t feel like handling Meilin.

He followed Sakura to the door, where she frowned and looked outside. It was starting to rain, almost a horizontal rain from the power of the wind that blew. She hesitated and looked back to Syaoran. "Is it safe to walk in?" She asked unsurely.

Syaoran looked outside. It would be an awful walk. Had he been alone, he would have thought nothing of it, but this was different. It was a rather long walk, to be honest. A figure was running up the driveway about that moment, head bowed down because of the starting rain. Syaoran tried to think of who it could be. His sisters weren’t due home for another half hour, and Meilin was busy at home preparing. Once the figure was a little closer, Syaoran recognized the red hair and reluctantly opened the door as she came running up.

"Syaoran, sorry to bother you while, well, hello Sakura, but we need help moving the back herd really quick. They’re all border’s horses, we can’t let them get beat up from this storm." She said, pushing her dripping hair back off her face.

Syaoran hated her for putting him in this dilemna and glanced sideways at Sakura. She shouldn’t be out in the rain, she didn’t have to be. "We have to-"

"Can I help?" Sakura asked. She had seen the uncertain glance Syaoran had given her, and she knew what he had in store.

Alexis wiped more rain that was collecting on her forehead and nodded quickly. "If you can ride."

Sakura nodded.

Alexis stepped anxiously. "Let’s go then."

Sakura quickly walked after her. Syaoran shut the door and jogged after Sakura. He grabbed her arm to catch her attention, not looking at her at quite eye level as the rain pelted down. "You don’t have to, we can-"

"Better hurry, Syaoran." Sakura said, pulling her arm from him and hurrying after Alexis. "You’re going to be outrun by a bunch of girls."

Syaoran watched her jog after Alexis for a moment, not quite sure how to sort his feelings, then ran after them stiffly. His leg no longer hurt, rather was stiff. He was thankful for this small act of mercy. Maybe the long horse ride had helped it stretch out.

They jogged and sprinted all the way to the stables, where Alexis quickly pulled her palimino horse Taiyang out of his stall. "Grab two horses and hurry after me." She said, vaulting up bareback and hurrying the horse towards the gate and into the rain yet again. "Take Raion, Syaoran, the horses will listen to him."

Syaoran glared darkly at her back as she hurried to the open gate that channeled the horses into the second large barn that was at the right of the main barn. He looked to Sakura. He was about to remind her she could just wait here, but stopped abruptly at the expression on her face. "You can ride Feng." He said, jogging into the tack room to get bridles for them. Sakura half followed them, then ran after him as he ran out into the rain. He grabbed Feng’s mane from where he was near the fence and slipped the bit into his mouth, then turned to Sakura. He gave her a leg up and she hopped onto Feng, shivering momentarily as she hit the horse’s cold wet back.

"Do I go after Alexis or wait for you?" Sakura asked him, glad to look down as the rain slightly stung her eyes.

Syaoran wasn’t sure. On one hand, he’d rather ride out with her, but on the other hand, he’d rather not have her watching as he attempted to catch Raion, and then tried further to get on without any aid. "Whatever you want." He said.

Sakura chose to wait, and watched Syaoran run out into the starting to pour rain, his figure blurred by the water. He ran out and met a distant black animal, who’s head raised as he approached. Sakura could see he slowed significantly and walked cautiously forward with his hand out. The horse stepped forward to meet him. Syaoran slipped the bridle over Raion’s head, then walked to his side and jumped as high as he could, clambering the rest of the way over. Once on he galloped down to the fence and jumped over it, landing for one stride before jumping over the fence that held the pasture Sakura was in. He slowed down to meet her.

"Is this the horse your sensei said you had trouble with?" Sakura asked, recalling the man saying something about how he didn’t trust Syaoran with ‘Raion’.

Syaoran could help but grin as he nodded. Raion had finally accepted him. He wasn’t going to get beat up any more. Now the stallion seemed so easy to ride, he seemed like a totally different animal. But Syaoran didn’t have time to think about the breakthrough right now, he and Sakura had to go help Alexis. "We should hurry before it rains any harder." Syaoran shouted over the rain, turning Raion in the direction of the back field.

Sakura only nodded and put the huge horse she was on into a canter. She found herself slightly unbalanced because of the horse’s different way of moving, but she grew use to it after a few strides, and slowly let go of the mane as she cantered along with Syaoran. She gave him a furtive glance and looked quickly back through the opening between her horse’s ears. He definitely looked good on his father’s horse. She wondered, though, if pictures bothered him, how did seeing his father’s favorite animal affect him? He didn’t look too bothered by it while he flew over those two fences. But, as she knew, Syaoran was a master at hiding his feelings.

Sakura was starting to get sick of the rain beating her face already. She felt like she had already been in and out of Meilin’s pool, and it had been a bit too cold. Ignoring that fact, she rode the horse up over the hill and found the field down below already flash flooding, a little stream rushing across. Alexis had just crossed it and was trying to collect the large group of horses by herself, though they only scattered as she neared and moved further away. Sakura slowed her horse as she approached the stream and waited to follow Syaoran across it, not used to being leader.

Syaoran froze up. The rain, the flooded stream, his father’s horse; it was just too fimiliar. Vivid pictures raced through his mind, unnerving him more by the second. "Go, Iata, please!" Syaoran tried to reason with himself, after all, it was only a tiny little stream. It was nothing compared to the creek he and Sakura had jumped the other day. But it hadn’t been raining so hard then, and there had been no sudden floodings, the sound hadn’t been drowned out like it was now... Raion snorted nervously, sensing the tension atop him, and pawed aprehensively at the soft dirt and mud.

Sakura frowned and watched Syaoran. no matter how hard he tried he wasn’t going to be able to hide the feelings that were written on his face. She could picture clearly in her mind his dream, the small boy on the pony, kicking and pleading with it to cross the flooding stream as the rain pelted down overhead, drenching them both. Was that why he was hesitating so? It was reminding him of it? Was this the spot in his dream? Sakura glanced at the landscaping. No. It was in the woods. There’s not many trees out here. Syaoran glanced at her, feeling her gaze, and glared for a multitude of reasons.

Sakura, not sue how to handle it, tried her best to help out. "It’s nothing but a little water." She said, smiling weakly, walking her horse through it, then glancing back at him and smiling hopefully.

Syaoran wondered why she had such a sympathetic expression on her face, one so deep as to show she could feel the pain that was built up inside of him. But she had no idea why he was freezing up, she couldn’t, and it must have been coincidence. Syaoran glared to hold himself together and walked through it without looking back, though he felt horribly. Once on the other side he didn’t bother to wait around and let his feelings stir, only got to the task of herding up the horses.

Alexis had been right; The other horses were terribly respectable of Raion-being a stallion- and ran the opposite direction of him. Syaoran easily got them collected and over the stream, not even allowing himself to think about it, and continued to be the driving force to get them to the gate while Sakura and Alexis kept them in on either side. They reached the lane and the horses went right into the next barn without any trouble. Alexis hopped off to shut all the gates, and then they were free to leave. Syaoran, not bothering for the gate, jumped Raion into the arena, where he further dismounted and put him in his lonely stall. Sakura hopped off and lead the large part draft down the stable aisle and into the stall with his name on it. Soon after that Sakura met up with Syaoran to continue on to Meilin’s.

He looked warily at Sakura. "You might as well swim in your clothes, now."

Sakura, making an effort to keep her clothes from sticking dead tight to her body, pulled at the bottom of her (Syaoran’s) shirt. "Yeah, you’re right." She agreed.

Syaoran slowed at the end of the aisle, seeing Iata standing bored in his stall. When the pony spotted Syaoran, he whinnied loudly and rushed to the bars in the front of the stall. Syaoran couldn’t help but stop and pet the pony’s nose.

Sakura blinked her eyes open a little wider. It was definitely the same pony, the one from Syaoran’s dream. It was so odd, seeing things from the subconscious come to life. "Hi, Iata." She said softly, smiling at the pony’s eagerness and petting him on his soft muzzle.

Syaoran, after a moment’s pause, frowned and looked at Sakura. "Iata?" He asked questioningly.

Sakura paled. "Oh, ah....-"

"How do you know his name?" Syaoran asked demandingly.

"Well, Di-didn’t you just say that a second ago?" How had she let that slip?

"I didn’t say anything." Syaoran said bitterly, annoyed with her for lying.

"J-just now, someone said it, I thought-"

"Stop lying." Syaoran said in a more agrivated tone. He hated it when people lied, especially when they lied to him.

Sakura flushed and looked at the ground. She wasn’t going to get out of this one. She looked back up, meeting his eyes earnestly. "You can’t get mad. You already yelled at me about it."

Syaoran only watched her in response.

Sakura looked back to the ground. "Remember when...when I used that spell, and I saw your dreams?"

"You saw..." Syaoran’s voice trailed off, seeing how wrong this could’ve gone.

Sakura could see Syaoran’s glare go from dark to darker. He was going to get mad. "I...I didn’t mean to invade, you’ve got to understand, I was just trying to talk to you at the time,-"

"What else did you see?" Syaoran asked, his voice so suppressed it was almost shakey, as if he was holding in a great deal of fury. Sakura prayed that he’d be able to keep it suppressed.

"N-nothing-"

"Quit lying!" Syaoran said in a tone that would have been a shout had it had the volume. "You can’t just invade my private thoughts like that, it’s not...!" Syaoran was so angry he was at loss for the right words. His past was probably the most hidden thing of his life, and he had never shared it willingly with anyone, not even his own family, though, given, they knew more of it than outsiders did, but still some parts remained mysterious at Syaoran’s request. But here, without even asking, Sakura already knew. When Sakura had told him she had seen his dreams, he hadn’t imagined she had seen something as personal as this.

"I’m just trying to understand you, but I can’t! You keep yourself so closed, how am I ever supposed to be able to?" Sakura stated her opinion in exasperation.

"Maybe you should quit trying." Syaoran said coldly, swiftly turning from the fury into his more reserved bitterness.

Sakura looked at the cement aisle way, because she was afraid if she looked up there might be a teary glaze starting on her eyes, and she did not want him to see that. Just as she opened her mouth to respond, another voice came by instead.

"You guys better hurry if you’re going to Meilin’s. You can ride with Lexi if you want, she said she wasn’t going to walk in this ___(An english word, presumably a curse word) weather." Teller announced. He slowed to a stop in front of them and quickly softened expression. "Sorry, am I interrupting?" He glanced at Sakura with a big child like smile.

Sakura smiled weakly back. "No, ah, I think a ride would be great." She said, glancing at Syaoran for any protests as she said it. He was only watching Telller, suprisingly emotionless.

"’kay, hurry, she’s out wherever the gator is parked." He said. Teller continued on his way. Sakura and Syaoran both wondered why he wasn’t coming along, but said nothing and walked single file out into the rain to find Alexis pulling up in the unsheltered barn vehichle. Syaoran would have taken the back, but Sakura quickly hopped in it, letting Syaoran sit up front.

"Teller sent you two wet dogs, great. Now you’re getting the seats all wet." She said jokingly, as the uncovered seats were already soaked through and through.

Sakura hung on loosely to the side of the back of the box. She couldn’t beleive how incredibly cold Syaoran had just been. He didn’t mean it. He was just upset, and his automatic defense is to fight it. He’s just very protective of his memories, that’s all. He was just angry. But... they say some of your inward feelings come out in heated moments. He wants me to stop trying to be his friend? That hit her as number one in the book of ‘Mean Things Syaoran Said’. That’s ridiculous. But... it is what he said. So I’ll just try to ignore it.

Syaoran jumped out of the gator at Meilin’s house, where some people were already gathering, all members of the cast from the play. Syaoran had seen enough of them that day, endured enough lines of poetry that Yundi and Jin had come up with. But here he was again. Syaoran walked leisurely to the door, stealthly glancing at Sakura before opening it. She was having a hard time fixing her feelings, Syaoran could tell. But how much did she see? Dark things, things even Syaoran blocked from himself, things that exhausted him because he tried so hard to keep them hidden, came through in his dreams.

Meilin rushed over to Sakura, her eyes widening as she saw how wet they were. "What did you idiots do? Jump in my pool before I showed you where those suits were?"

Sakura tried to laugh, though it sounded fake to herself. She couldn’t get herself to feel light now that Syaoran’s words were on her like a lead weight. "Where are those suits, Meilin-chan?"

Meilin spun and led Sakura away. Sakura was glad for the time to get away. She was going to take a long time by herself trying on these swim suits. "I know you probably prefer something more sporty, but I don’t have any one peices inside this house."

Sakura was more than a little dismayed at that. "I’ll manage. I don’t know any of these people, it’s not like I’ll be impressing anyone."

"Maybe someone!" Meilin said in a teasing voice. They stopped in her room, where she laid out several different pairs of bathing suits. To Sakura’s great amusement, they were all green, or at least had large portions of green on top of another color. Her smile faded as she saw most of them were total bikinis. In her moment of panic she found releif as she spotted a more normal solid sparkly greenish plastic looking thing that at least had normal straps that did not tie, and did not divide in the center. She quickly picked it up.

"This’ll do, hopefully." Sakura said, meaning hopefully it fits.

Meilin shrugged. "You can keep it if it fits. I never wear it." She left Sakura alone to change, and Sakura found herself enshrouded in loneliness, it harder than ever to block out her feelings. With alot of effort, Sakura managed to keep herself numb for the moment. She got the bathing suit on and then searched the room for a mirror. Glad to see a full length one on the side wall, Sakura walked over to see how she looked.

The bathing suit was very becoming, Sakura thought. She would have been too scared to buy this at home, but here where she had no other option, she kind of enjoyed the girliness for a change. As Meilin probably bought it for, it did its job in showing off her slim figure. The only thing Sakura was sad about was that since the bathing suit covered less parts, it just showed even more skin that was dying for a tan. At least it’s all an even color. Some models go for the pale look. I’d definitely fit in. Sakura couldn’t help but think she looked better with a tan. Oh well. It’s really not like I have anyone to impress.

Sakura sat at the edge of Meilin’s be, pushing the bikinis aside. She would much rather sit here by herself, then go back into the crowd. But the one person she really didn’t want to see right now was her only way home. There it is again. Cruel irony. When will I get a break? Forcing herself to brave up, she reluctantly pulled her wet cold clothes on back over her suit for some modesty, mourning even more as she was reminded that the clothes were Syaoran’s, and continued through the house.

Sakura felt totally alienated as she didn’t know any of the people there, aside from a very small few, and she had no idea where Meilin or Syaoran were. Instead, she saw Alexis, and walked over to her. Alexis smiled and parted from her conversation. "Left to wander the wilderness alone, I see."

Sakura smiled weakly. "I don’t know anyone here." She admitted.

"Well do you want to find Syaoran and Meilin? I think most of everyone is by the pool now, with all the food, those hogs." Alexis said. She linked arms with Sakura. "Let’s go crash the party, shall we?"

Sakura found herself being dragged through. At least Alexis made her feel included, Sakura noted. She found herself stepping into huge room with glass walls and a glass ceiling, in which all sound bounced to and fro. Sakura saw the size of the pool and her eyes widened. "This is amazing!" She remarked to Alexis.

"Yeah, I think this used to be a clubhouse or something, but it got restored and then Meilin’s family bought it. That’s what I heard, anyway."

Why did Meilin ever want to visit Japan? Sakura wondered.

"Blah, you’re sopping wet. Well, I probably am too." Alexis said, taking her arm back. "Might as well swim, I suppose. Ah, look, there’s the rude host lounging about as the lazy chum he is."

Sakura wanted to avoid looking at Syaoran if she could. She didn’t know if he was mad at her still, but she got those vibes, and was trying to self preserve. She didn’t want to get hurt any more. She had to convince Alexis to swim right now, so she wouldn’t have to avoid Syaoran anymore. It would be such an easy affair once in the water. "Let’s swim then." Sakura said.

Alexis needed no further coaxing. She was quickly stripped to her bathing suit, a bikini that would have made Meilin proud, and jumped into the water. Sakura, slightly slower, quickly threw off the rest of her stuff and jumped in. She didn’t want to spend much time out of the water in this so people could examine her, so she was quickly in the water after Alexis. She swam around a little bit, then resorted to floating on her back to gaze up at the ceiling. The rain was pelting down harder than ever, and nightfall was coming fast, even though it was only early evening. Large gusts of wind were blowing trees around like crazy over the roof top, making Sakura slightly nervous. She stepped back on her feet in the water. Now not looking at the ceiling, she could hardly tell there was a storm going on, as the noise level was so loud and cheerful in this room that it totally drowned out the possibility of a storm.

Alexis was looking out the window curiously.

"It’s really storming, isn’t it?" Sakura said.

Alexis nodded. "Yeah." She said. It didn’t seem to concern her much, though, because she was soon swimming around again.

Sakura caught a few glances in Syaoran’s direction. He was standing with a few other boys; all of which were talking enthusiastically about one thing or another; and then two girls; Meilin and another quite attractive girl Sakura didn’t know, who batted her eyelashes in Syaoran’s direction far too many times for Sakura’s taste. She tried to swallow down the hurt. He didn’t mean it. Honestly. You get too upset about the littlest things. But then, he is being a jerk right now. He could at least introduce you to some of these people, instead of ditching out on you to some of his ‘friends’.

Syaoran was glad to see at least Alexis had picked up Sakura. He had felt slightly guilty as he left her to fend for herself. Still, his anger wasn’t easily cooled, and he still held remorse. An elbow in the side caught his attention.

"Hello? You’re always spacing out." Yundi complained.

"We’re going in after Alexis, want to come?" Jin asked.

"You guys are obsessed, for pity’s sake." Meilin said with annoyance, flipping her long black hair over her shoulders.

"We’re obsessed? Who’s the girl walking around saying nothing but ‘Syaoran wrote me a poem, Syaoran wrote me a poem!’?" Yundi pointed out.

Meilin’s cheeks redenned, and she glared angrily.

"Who’s the chick with her?" Ryoto asked.

"She’s not part of our cast." Mandu said with irritation in her wispy voice.

"That’s Syaoran’s friend." Meilin said, leaning on Syaoran and smiling evilly. Syaoran pushed her off.

"Haha, Syaoran’s girlfriend? At last we see her. She’s alright, kind of cute, but you could do better, don’t you think?" Yundi said.

"She’s not my girlfriend, she’s visiting my family from Japan." He said, adding a glare at Meilin.

"I can see the next poem: Your hair is the very color of chesnuts that roast by the fire on Christmas eve." Yundi said, grinning.

Syaoran forcefully took his arm and threw him in the pool. Yundi landed with a splash and emerged, slightly irritated. Ryoto and Jin were both laughign hysterically. Another laugh from behind Yundi made him turn. Alexis was laughing and swimming over. "Is Syaoran beating you up, Yundi?"

Yundi immediately turned to a face of horrible depression. "He’s so mean, just threw me in for no reason, got my clothes soaking wet." He said, holding in a fake sob.

Alexis smiled sympathetically. "Poor baby, come here."

Yundi quickly hurried over, expecting a nice hug. Instead, Alexis took him in then dunked him cruely underwater. She looked back up to Syaoran. "Are you guys going to swim?"

Syaoran looked at Alexis, unintentionally meeting Sakura’s eyes for one horrible second. He shrugged.

Yundi jumped after Alexis. "Don’t think just because you’re a girl I’ll go easy on you!" He bellowed, chasing her down the whole pool length.

Sakura laughed a little, watching the boy chase Alexis around, but wasn’t really watching. She lost her only friend to a chase, now she had to find something else to keep her preoccupied. Where’s Teller? She glanced around the pool, being sure to avoid a certain spot. She frowned, not seeing him. An arm around her shoulder made her hop sideways. She found herself facing Alexis with the boy that she had been chasing standing next to her.

"Please, Alexis, would you just leave me and..." He looked at Sakura.

"Uh, Kinomoto Sakura." She said.

"Leave me and Kinomoto-sama be? All we ask for is some peace and quiet, sheesh."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "Watch out for that one, Sakura, he pulls this kind of crap all the time."

Sakura smiled, actually forgetting herself for a little while. Alexis left them, and Yundi took his arm off her shoulder. He held his arm out of the water. "I’m Tiyaing Yundi, Syaoran’s third cousin, I think anyway."
Sakura grinned. Syaoran’s friends weren’t half as mean as he was. "You already know my name." She said, shaking his hand.

"So let me get this straight." He said, glancing quickly at Syaoran before looking to Sakura. "As Syaoran says, your visiting his family? He’s not going to beat me up for talking to you?"

Sakura looked down at the water in front of her. So that was what he said to his friends? She was just a friend of his family. Determined not to let it get to her, she looked back up.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t mean..." Yundi said uncertainly, seeing Sakura’s downcast face.

She quickly smiled. "No, I, uh, I just remembered something. No, he won’t beat you up." She said.

Yundi smiled back. "Cool." He looked over to where Meilin, the girl Sakura didn’t know, and another unfimiliar boy were in the water. "I’m going to bother them, do you want to come?"

Sakura had just spotted Teller. "Ah, in a second, I’m going to talk to Teller." She said, adding an appreciative smile to Yundi for being so nice.

"Alright, see you around." He agreed, already swimming away, his clothes floating around him as he did. Sakura grinned slightly, it was just like Syaoran to throw some innocent boy into a pool with his clothes still on.

"Sakura!" Teller shouted excitedly, hurrying down the side of the pool. Sakura smiled and looked up. At least someone liked to see her.

"Hey, Teller." She said. She couldn’t help but notice that Syaoran was no longer where he had been. She wondered if he was in the pool behind her. She wasn’t going to bother to look.

"Look, I brought Benny and his surfboard!" He said. About that same time Sakura noticed the poor hamster hanging onto his shoulder.

Sakura tried not to burst out laughing. "Awesome!" She said, walking through the water to meet him.

"Shall we see him go?" He asked, carefully taking the hamster off his shoulder and holding him in his right hand, the little hand painted surfboard in his left hand.

Sakura nodded and helped by taking the surfboard from his hand and setting it carefully in the wavey water. Teller set the hamster down carefully, where he kept his hands out as a gaurd for a few moments before he let the hamster balance on his own. The water was pretty choppy for the little guy, from all the swimmers, but the hamster hung on and balanced. Sakura grinned broadly with triumph.

"He’s so good at that, that’s so cool!"

Teller smiled with stars in his eyes for Sakura. "D’you think so?"

Sakura nodded, not noticing the boy’s adoration. "Yeah, you should give a demonstration or something."

Teller smiled and picked Benny up, then grabbed the surfboard. "I’m going to go set him down for a rest, I’ll be back." Teller said, heading to the stairs out of the pool.

Sakura smiled at the boy’s young enthusiasm about life, then leaned on the side of the pool. She glanced around for Syaoran, scanning the whole pool. Yundi, Meilin, and several other people were all playing in a group at the opposite end of the pool. Syaoran wasn’t with them. She looked around at the chairs on the pool side, but he was in none of them. Then she spotted the back of a fimiliar amber haired head going out the door of the pool room and into the house. She frowned and wondered where he was going. Seeing no leads, Sakura climbed out of the pool, then made a panicked search for a towel, not wanting to walk around in just her swim suit. She found a stack of towels and grabbed on off the top, wrapping herself in it. She hurried off in the direction he had gone, wondering if she was being an idiot for following him like this.

She found the noise level decreased dramatically as she entered Meilin’s house. No longer where there lots of kids yelling and shouting, but instead there was a loud drone of wind pushing at the walls of the house, making creaks every so often. Sakura shuddered slightly, she had never been in a hurricane before, and this was very frightening. There were a few kids sitting around the house, but most of it was empty. She still had seen no trace of Syaoran. She looked around for a second, afraid he was going to catch her off guard. Then she saw him heading to the front door.

"Li-san?" She said cautiously, afraid of what reaction she’d get.

Syaoran turned, slightly glaring. "What?"

Sakura looked to her feet. "Are you leaving?" She asked.

"I was going to see my mother." He said. "You can stay here, Meilin was going to take you home."

Sakura was starting to get sick of how rude Syaoran was being. He was just going to leave her at a party with a bunch of people she didn’t know? That was so selfish. But then, when he said his mother, Sakura was reminded, she had forgotten totally about his sick mother, the whole reason he was in Japan. That gave her pity. "How...how is she?" She asked.

Syaoran shrugged. He hadn’t meant for Sakura to see him leaving. Now she was going to ask if she could come along. "The same, but I haven’t seen her for a while."

Sakura knew he didn’t want her to come, but she did. "You don’t want me to come, do you?"

Syaoran met her eyes for a second, then looked at the door. He didn’t want to answer that.

"Well as a friend of your family, will you let me see her?" She asked, not bothering to keep the bitterness out of her words.

Syaoran blinked unsurely. She seemed angry with him. He was supposed to be the one angry at her. "We’ve got to walk in this all the way to my house." He offered as another excuse.

"I’ll get your clothes." Sakura said, referring to the clothes she had been wearing before she went swimming. She paused to say ‘don’t leave without me’, but she figured, if he was cold enough to do that, she didn’t want to go anyway.

Sakura headed back to the pool angry with herself. No wonder he can hurt me, I get myself right into these situations. But a real friend wouldn’t fall apart here, this is probably difficult for Syaoran as well, and he doesn’t know how to handle it. I’d be the same as he if I retorted with anger. She walked down the side of the pool and looked when she heard a girl’s high pitched shreik.

The pretty girl that had been batting her eye lashes at Syaoran was now looking at Teller with the utmost repulsion. "Get away!"

Yundi was laughing. "Your hamster may not be the best way to get babes, Teller."

Teller looked depressed from the rejection. "Sakura liked it." He muttered.

Sakura grabbed her clothes and tried to get away without being noticed, but was spotted as she hurried to the door.

"Are you leaving, Kinomoto?" Meilin called.

Sakura turned and nodded. "Yeah."

"Are you going to the play tommorrow night?" Yundi asked.

Sakura shrugged. "Might be."

"You can come and hang out with us in the lighting booth." He said, smiling innocently. Two boys next to him were smiling as well.

Sakura blushed slightly. "I’ll remember that." She said, turning and continuing out. He better not have left without me.

Sakura walked around the living room and found Syaoran leaning against the wall. He does have a heart. Syaoran straightened up as she appraoched. "We have to hurry, now." Somewhere in there. Sakura kept herself sane with such thoughts. She draped the damp clothes over her arm and pulled the towel tight around her. Soon it’d be soaked as well. Sakura ignored it and followed Syaoran outside into the dark rain.

The wind was blowing so hard Sakura actually had to make an effort to push against it as she followed him through the rain. It was hard to see anything, as the water pelting down stung her eyes and made her eyes water even more. She tried to resist it and pressed on after him. I hope it isn’t much farther.

Soon Sakura recognized where they were, and the sidewalk ran right to his house. She and Syaoran jogged the rest of the way and jumped into the house, shutting the door gratefully behind them. They leaned on the wall, breathless for a while, when Syaoran’s second to youngest sister walked up. Sakura hadn’t seen much of her at all, and didn’t recall hearing her name.

"You guys better hurry and change. Visitings hours end soon." She said. Her voice was in an emotionless state that reminded Sakura of Syaoran. This was the first of any of his siblings that acted like him at all.

Syaoran headed up the stairs, Sakura following him closely. She didn’t have any clothes to change into, she hoped Syaoran hadn’t forgotten that.

Syaoran looked crossly at Sakura. She was totally dripping wet, shivering, holding the towel around her in vain as it too was dripping. Why did she even bother? He hadn’t been anything but cold to her, but yet she tried so hard. She’s always trying her hardest for other people. Syaoran couldn’t understand her logic. She always trusted she’d get something in return in the end. She’s going to get really hurt for that. Syaoran walked to his room and turned to her. "You want new clothes, right?"

Sakura nodded. She wondered why he had been looking at her like he had been. She walked into his room and leaned on the wall, waiting for him to gather up her next oversized outfit. "How come that sister isn’t home often?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran tossed out another pair of shorts and went to look for a shirt. "She works alot." He said simply. The truth was, Tyung was his most favored sister, because of her likeness in attitude. She never bothered him like the other three, instead remained quiet and when she spoke very straightforward.

"Oh." Sakura said. Syaoran tossed her a shirt and she was ready to go. She left the room and went to the quest room to change quickly. "Arigato!" She called over her shoulder.

Sakura put on the clothes, now a pair of long silky pants. He must like silk. They fit well enough, and Sakura was glad to have pants instead of shorts, she had gotten a chill from the rain. She wondered if Syaoran knew this. She emerged out of her room and was slightly annoyed to see Syaoran was already downstairs waiting with his sister, both of them off in other worlds scowling in different directions. He looked up at Sakura as she went down the stairs, then they continued silently outside.

"Tyung, hey, wait!" Another girl’s voice called from inside. Rana came running from behind the stairs, probably having been in the den. "I’m coming along!" She announced. No one said anything, only continued to the car.

His sister had a nice sports car that was sleek from the rain washing over it, but it also looked on the small side for room. Tyung opened the driver’s side door and pushed the seat up, letting Syaoran crawl in, then Sakura. Once the seat was pushed back, there wasn’t much space left for foot room, so Sakura was forced to put her knees to one side, finding herself looking out the window and leaning away from Syaoran. It seemed he did the same, so she didn’t feel bad for turning her shoulder from him.

Tyung started the car and set the windshield wipers on their fastest, then turned out of the driveway onto the paved road. She turned her headlights on, then, because the rain was clouding their veiw, set the fog lamps on as well.

"All I can say is mother better be happy to see us." Rana said, leaning back in the passenger’s chair. Syaoran pushed the back of the chair with his knee, annoyed to lose any more of his small area of footroom.

Tyung said nothing, only drove slightly too fast along the country roads to the highway. "God, this wind..."She commented, constantly jerking the steering wheel to keep them in a lane.

"No one’s driving tonight, at least."

"That’s because we’re the only ones with a death wish."

The rest of it went quietly. The radio was playing softly, some songs Sakura didn’t know, some she did. She wished she and Syaoran were on better terms, else she’d be talking to him. There were so many ignored problems about her cards and magic that needed a resolution, but no one was making any steps to fix it. At least it’s dark out, and we don’t have to see each other. They drove into town, where the landscape lit with many street lamps and such things.

They drove into a parking lot that was fairly deserted, then Tyung parked the car. She opened her door and let Sakura out, while Rana let Syaoran out on the other side. They all hurried across the pavement, blocking the rain out of their eyes with their arms, and gratefully walked into the lobby of the hospital. Sakura followed behind the rest of the family, feeling a little of place. She had at one point been friends with Syaoran’s mother, but now, she felt so funny trailing behind Syaoran like this. Things had changed so much. So much more complicated.

They walked down the halls, obviously knowing their ways. They stopped at the elevator, where there was repair crew working on something or another.

"Is the elevator out of service?" Rana asked one of the workers.

The man turned and shook his head. "The storm’s done something to the back up generators. We’re trying to work out the bug. Sorry miss, the elevator in hall B is working."

"Oh, it’s alright." Rana said politely. They headed instead for the stairs and walked up a short one floor. They only walked down the wide tiled hallway for a few doors before stopping at a door and stepping in.

Sakura held her breath, expecting the worst, but was glad to see it wasn’t half horrible. Yelan was sleeping, looking quite peaceful, really, an IV and a monitor at the bed side, other than that, looking healthy. Rana and Tyung walked to the side of the bed. "Sleeping again." Tyung said with dismay.

Rana smiled anyway. "Well mother, we were stopping by as our daughterly duty. You should be glad to see us, as we drove through a hurricane just to visit." She looked up at Syaoran, then looked back to her mother and grinned. "Though he isn’t speaking, Syaoran’s here also. With the cherry girl you always talked about."

Sakura blushed slightly.

Tyung sighed and leaned against a chair, bored out. Rana did the same.

Sakura stole a glance at Syaoran. He was taking it alright. But, Sakura knew, he had been here to see her many times, so seeing her like this was no surprise to him. Still, she knew there must be more to his feelings than what was revealed on the surface. She slightly wished that his sisters would leave, but knew it probably wouldn’t happen. Luck was never on her side.

"Do you guys want to go to the food court?" Rana asked.

Syaoran shook his head. He saw that Sakura was watching him. "You can go if you want."

Sakura knew this was probably an invitation to leave, but she wouldn’t take it. "No, I’m fine." She said. That was much a lie, as her stomach died for food.

"Don’t expect us to cook anything at home." Tyung said, heading out the door. Sakura watched them both go, amazed how quickly her thoughts had been acted out. She looked at Syaoran, then back to his mother, not sure what to say.

"Does she always sleep?" Sakura asked, trying to fix the horrible silence.

"No, she wakes up every now and then." Syaoran said.

"Oh." Sakura said. She stood quiet for a while, as Syaoran wasn’t bothering to keep up his side of the conversation. She watched her breath, looked out the window and watched the rain come down, watched the monitors beep and the lines move. It must be so hard for him. She’s the only parent he has left, and he has to take care of her. She glanced at Syaoran. Still that same emotionless glare. Sakura swallowed hard, then took his hand softly and pulled on his arm to get him to follow her. She stopped by the door and faced him. Syaoran was looking slightly bewildered, and dropped his hand to his side uncertainly as Sakura let go. "Can she hear us?" Sakura asked in a hushed voice.

"No. Not as long as she’s asleep." Syaoran answered, wondering what was going through Sakura’s head at that point of time.

"Is she...in pain?" She asked.

Syaoran shook his head. "No. They’re still not even sure what it is."

Sakura felt horrible for Syaoran’s sake. She couldn’t imagine it. "I’m sorry."

"Huh?" Syaoran thought that could have meant numerous things.

"I’m sorry, giving you a hard time in Japan, it must have been hard enough for you, and I kept bugging about staying." She explained.

Syaoran looked at the floor. He hated it when she did this. It was impossible to stay angry with her.

Sakura watched him look down, his long eyelashes shading over his eyes, his hair falling into his face, and couldn’t help but think crossly. He looked back up, making her startle slightly, as she hoped she hadn’t been gaping or anything horribly embaressing.

He opened his mouth to say something, but a sleepy voice made them both jump.

"Cherry blossom, what are you doing here?" Yelan asked groggily.

Sakura glanced at Syaoran, then walked over to the bedside. "Just visiting." She said as cheerfully as she could manage.

"Syaoran hasn’t given you any hassles, has he?"

Sakura grinned. "It isn’t exciting without them." She agreed.

"Have you still not learned to be a gentlemen, little wolf?"

Syaoran was slightly lifted to see how easily Sakura was talking with his mother. There was no hesitation, nothing, she was talking on the same level. "I’m sorry, oka-san."

She slightly chuckled, then yawned.

"You don’t have to stay awake for us, mother." Syaoran said.

"Yes, don’t tire yourself out for us." Sakura agreed.

Yelan smiled and shook her head, though it was slow and weak. "No, no, I’m glad to see the two of you together." (Syaoran and Sakura both flush red) "Has the elders given you any guidance on your card problems?"

Sakura was slightly startled. "You know about that?" She asked. She knew that Syaoran’s family all held power, but she was slightly fearful that she could see Sakura’s problems.

"No, Syaoran has told me about them." She said.

"Oh." Sakura answered. She glanced at Syaoran, who looked slightly irritated all of this was getting out.

"How are your sisters, are you taking care of them?"

Syaoran nodded. "Of course."

"That’s good." She said, though she blinked and held her eyes closed for a moment. It looked like she was fading.

"Say hi to everyone, then." She said, her eyes shut, going back into sleep.

For a second Sakura thought she saw a flash of pain in Syaoran’s expression, but he quickly covered it, so that she wasn’t sure if she had seen it at all. How does he hold himself together by himself? How can he not be horribly lonely living like he is? "Syaoran?"

"What?" He asked, his eyes still on his mother.

"Why-"

"Hey guys, anything exciting happen while we were getting our four star coffees?" Rana asked loudly, walking into the room.

"She was awake for a little while." Syaoran said.

"Damn. Figures." Tyung said, sipping her coffee.

"Should we go? Syaoran probably need sleep for the big play night tommorrow."

Syaoran cringed. He had just been feeling alright, now she had to ruin it. Stupid Rana.

"I’m afraid it’s going to get windier if we hang around much longer." Tyung said.

"Let’s go, then." Rana said.

"Good night mother!" Tyung called.

"Yeah, ‘night!"

Syaoran walked beside Sakura quietly, wishing he could ask her what she was going to say. It had sounded like a serious deal, and it started with why. He tried to think of what it could be. ‘why’ does she fall asleep like that? ‘why’ do I have to deal with the Clow cards? ‘why’ are you such a mean person? ‘why’ do you keep hurting me like you do? ‘why’ do you always say such harsh things, when it’s really not how you feel? Syaoran sighed. Sakura had every right to hate him, really. What had his words been exactly? Maybe you should stop trying to understand me. That sounds like a death threat. It’s a wonder she’s even talking to me. But she went into my dreams! She could have seen... But she has every right to see it. She probably thinks I know everything about her, and she knows so little about me. She’s realizing it isn’t a fair deal.

They all jogged to the car, quickly jumping in out of the rain. Sakura dared to put her knees on the opposite side of the seat in front of her, so she could talk to Syaoran. She waited until the car started before talking. "All the flights out are cancelled until late tommorrow night, so I figured I’ll probably get one Saturday evening out."

"Your parents are letting you fly alone?" Rana asked skeptically from the passenger’s seat.

"Y-yeah." Sakura answered.

Syaoran was looking at her now. "Did you already book a flight?"

Sakura shook her head. "Iie, I was too scared I’d screw up and lose a bunch of money." She admitted.

Syaoran looked out the window. "We can buy one tonight, then." He said, his voice adverse. Syaoran didn’t really want her to leave.

"Well I’ll be able to see you act then." Sakura said.

"What?" Syaoran asked, confused, his mind on a totally different plane.

"In the play, tommorrow."

Syaoran paled. He looked dimly out the window again. "Oh." He wished he knew something Sakura was allergic to, because he’d give her a healthy dose of it just before the production. "It’s a stupid play." Syaoran said, hoping that would help her deal if, in fact, Meilin had been right about scene seventeen.

Sakura smiled. "You seem to think that about every play."

Not the one I was in with you. "This one is just, I don’t know, it’s dumb."

Sakura grinned and looked out the window on her side, looking out into the dark void. She could feel the car slightly jerk every so often as the wind tossed them around; the light car they were riding in. The rain pounding on the roof made her tired, the blackness making her eyes long to close. She fought vainly to stay awake, then slowly drifted into sleep.

Syaoran glanced over at the slight weight pressing on his shoulder, then softened as he saw Sakura’s eyes closed peacefully. How she could fall asleep so easily was beyond him. She was so trusting, so forgiving. He couldn’t understand it. How does she forget what I said? Does she lose all of my words so easily? He watched her for some time, her quiet and gentle expression doing its part to even calm him down.

"I wish I could fall asleep so easily." Rana remarked, glancing back.

Syaoran was grateful they didn’t tease him. He wondered why, but ignored it, and looked out the window beside him, going into a day dreamy state for the rest of the ride home. As they pulled in to the driveway Syaoran carefully shook her shoulder. Sakura blinked her eyes open, looking with wide eyes at him, then quickly looked away, blushing beat red. "I’m sorry, I didn’t know..." How could she have fallen asleep so easily, and on his shoulder? And why did he let it go on?

Syaoran didn’t say anything, only climbed out of the car back into the rain. Tyung locked the car and they rushed into the house. They stood in the entry way for a little bit, then Syaoran turned to Sakura. "You want to buy those tickets, right?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah."

She followed him up the stairs before continuing. "Tomoyo told Touya I was going on a trip with her, and then I called him to confirm it, but I know he’s suspicious. Hopefully he hasn’t seen Tomoyo walking around in Japan."

"That’s good." Syaoran said, though he didn’t really have an opinion one way or another. He walked into his room and turned on the computer, then sat back in the chair.

She got the papers with Tomoyo’s money information and handed it to him, then sat down in another chair on the other side of the desk. "Who was that girl with short black hair at the pool?" Sakura asked.

"Uh..." Syaoran was looking at the computer screen for a moment, connecting to the internet. "Chang Mandu, I think. Was she hanging around with Meilin?"

"Yeah." Sakura confirmed.

"Why?" Syaoran asked, going onto the website.

Sakura spun around in the rolly chair. "Teller was making Benny surf around her. She was screaming about it." She said.

"Sounds like them." Syaoran said absently, typing with lightening fast fingers in the flight schedule he wanted.

Sakura leaned back in the chair boredly, feeling tired again. It was only nine thirty, but she was exhausted. Maybe the lack of sleep was finally hitting her.

Syaoran was half reading the flight information, half trying to figure out if he wanted to say what was on his mind or not. "You know..."

"What?"

"Uh, when...earlier, I didn’t mean to be so harsh, I didn’t say the right things-"

"I know." Sakura cut in.

Syaoran turned from the monitor. "You know?" He asked.

Sakura spun the chair to face him. "It must be really hard for you, and you keep it all locked up, so to have someone just invade in, its...its...just unthinkable. You were right, I didn’t have any right to do that." I just wish you would have taken my apology more seriously.

Syaoran blinked with surprise. How had she gotten all that summed up so quickly? But you do have the right to know. That’s what I’m trying to say. Instead, he couldn’t find the right wording, so he just turned back to the computer. "Okay, then." He muttered.

Sakura wondered if she should have heard him out, but hoped she did the right thing. It wasn’t fair to torture poor Syaoran by dragging it out. Then again, he did say some pretty mean things...Oh well. I already said it.

Syaoran printed out the electronic ticket they’d use at check in, stacked the papers, then set them on the desk. "You’re flight’s Saturday at nine PM. Are you going to be able to get a ride from the airport?"

Sakura nodded. "I’ll take a bus to Tomoyo’s house, probably."

Syaoran sighed and shut off the computer. "Well, I’ll see you tommorrow, sometime, then."

Sakura got up from the rolly chair. "Alright. Are you getting up at four thirty?"

Syaoran shook his head. "Not if it’s like this."

"’kay." She said. She looked hesitantly to the door, then forced her feet along.

"Oyasumi." Syaoran said.

Sakura was startled but pleased that he had even thought of saying it without any prompting. "Oyasumi gozaimasu." Sakura said cheerfully, leaving more happily. She softly shut the door to his room, then headed quietly to the guest room at the end of the hall.

She didn’t even have time to think about the book hidden under her pillow, nor all the events of the day, only instead fell asleep as she laid down.

_______________________________________________

Sakura didn’t sleep very well all night. The wind outside had grown louder, and though Sakura knew the storm must be almost passed over, it didn’t help to ease her fears of its power. So, after awaking from her dream, she had a hard time falling back asleep. Part of it was, as Sakura suspected, she was afraid she’d have the same dream again.

Nothing in it was horribly noticeable. She was standing in front of Syaoran, her eyes teary, in the dark, somewhere. His eyes seemed to peirce into her own, looking to the depths of her soul as he spoke. But it wasn’t words she could hear. It was only the same intense emotions she had felt the last time she had seen this dream. She longed to hear what he was saying more than anything, a longing so deep that it hurt the pit of her stomach, but then, just as strongly she wished he would not say it. The conflicting emotions perplexed her.

Then there was the bow and arrow, taut and aimed right to Syaoran’s temple. Why didn’t he notice it? But Sakura couldn’t say anything, it would shoot for sure. But, she wanted to return something to Syaoran. But she couldn’t. It should shoot then too. Better to stop him from speaking.

Sakura looked at the clock and saw it was only five in the morning, but figured it was early enough to go downstairs and sit around. She got up as quietly as she could and slid the door open, then tip toed down the dark hallway. The stairs were some sort of marble, and felt chilly under her bare feet, but it was good for stealth, and she continued to the bottom silently. Looking around by the light of a nightlight, she decided to walk over to the leather couches and sit down, where she had a good veiw of a large window, which showed the leaves blowing outside in the wind’s ferocity. She made a quiet gasp, seeing that Syaoran was already sitting on one of the couches, looking blankly outside. He glanced up at Sakura.

"How is it our sleeping schedules are so evenly matched?" Sakura grumbled, walking over sleepily to the couch and plopping next to him. She put her knees against her chest and hugged them, cold to be out of the warmth in her bed.

"Fate, I guess." Syaoran said, still looking outside. Really, he hadn’t been able to sleep because he had been dreading the play since the previous night. Sakura yawned loudly. "Why are you up, anyway?" He asked.

"I had a bad dream." Sakura said. leaning against the arm rest on her side of the soft leather couch.

"A prophetic dream?" Syaoran asked.

"N-no. Just a dream." She said. She hoped that’s all it was, though the chances of her having the same dream so many times in a row was doubtfully just coincidence. "I wonder why the ghost hasn’t been bothering me?"

"Maybe since it figured out you’re not Aruka, she decided to leave you alone."

"I don’t think so. She still hates my family. Remember, when I tried to bargain an alliance with her..." Sakura pulled the sleeve of her shirt up to show the still healing scar on her arm.

"Right." Syaoran remembered. He wished Sakura hadn’t reminded him of another time he had failed to be there to protect her. He had already been violently debating this in his own mind.

"Did you really ask your elders about my cards?" Sakura asked, remembering what Yelan had said last night.

"Of course." Syaoran said. Why wouldn’t he? He had told her he’d try to help.

"But they didn’t help, either?" Sakura asked, leaning on her elbow and still looking out the window.

"They are a bunch of power crazed lunatics. They are ignorant to the problems of others."

Sakura grinned and looked at Syaoran. "So that’s where you got it from."

Syaoran turned and met her eyes for a second, then looked back out the window. "The thing they don’t understand is this could become their problem. It could become the whole world’s problem if we let this, those cards are no joke."

Sakura sighed distraughtly. Syaoran wasn’t doing anything for her already dismal outlook.

"I didn’t mean-...I just was saying that they are very strong, no offense to you. I wouldn’t want any person other than you to have the situation resting on."

Sakura leaned on the armrest again in effort to hide her blush. Syaoran never gave her open compliments. She couldn’t think of any response other than ‘thanks’, which seemed too lame to her, so she chose silence and then switched subjects. "Are you nervous about your play?"

Syaoran squirmed. The play. The doom to the seemingly smooth spot their relationship had hit. "Not really. It’s stupid, like I said. You shouldn’t even bother going to it." He knew that wasn’t convincing, but he had to give it a try.

"I wouldn’t miss it for the world." Sakura said. She wondered why Syaoran was so uptight about this. He had called it stupid more times than she could count.

Syaoran sighed. "Just...just understand, I didn’t really....I mean...donn’t really want to, it’s....-"

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked, looking with concern. Syaoran seemed more jittery than normal, and seemed to be having difficulty with his speech.

"I’m fine," Syaoran said defensively. "I just don’t want you to be mad."

Sakura frowned. "What?" She asked, thoroughly confused.

Syaoran got up. "N-nothing. Nevermind. I’m, ah, going to finish my mouth-math! Math homework! I’ll see you later."

Sakura didn’t respond as he flew past her to the stairs, only watched him with a clueless blink. "Later then." She said, though he had already reached the top of the stairs. He is so odd sometimes. Oh well. Might as well try and sleep a little more, I guess. Another boring day alone. She trodded up the stairs, giving a long hard stare at Syaoran’s shut door as she walked by. Mouth homework, what on earth was he thinking about? She continued off to the guest room.

I’ll get to read his book in peace, later, anyway. That’ll be fun.

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

Sakura reached over and grabbed the Chinese kanji dictionary next to her and looked up a letter. She grinned as she found the word that matched. ‘Belated’. What five year old knew the word belated, let alone knew how to write it? Only Syaoran was capable of such young intelligence. She continued reading.

So far, the lead Samurai of the story, Junshogai, was a maverick, rebelling against the region’s lead samurai because of moral differences. Junshogai had run away from his home, which were arranging him to marry one of the samurai woman in their plan. From what Sakura could figure of his thoughts that Syaoran wrote out, he thought she was a snob, or something of that sort. She paused to eat some of her evening food, then looked to the clock. Syaoran was going to be home any time. She reluctantly got up to put the book away, but jumped sideways as the door opened. Home earlier than she thought.

Sakura quickly shoved the book under one of the cushions and smiled at Syaoran. "How long do you have until you have to go?" She asked.

"Hour and a half." Syaoran muttered, throwing his bookbag off his shoulder. "I’m, uh, I’m going to change and stuff." That wasn’t really part of his plans. He was thinking more along the lines of ‘I’m going to try and scheme a way to keep you guys from coming to watch this play’.

"Alright." Sakura agreed. She grabbed her glass of water and drank it convincingly. She wasn’t up to anything at all. Syaoran didn’t even give her a second glance, only walked glumly up the stairs.

Sakura watched him until he shut the door, waited a few moments, then went back to reading. She kept an ear out for any footsteps, and continued on, dictionary in hand. A few times she dropped everything thinking she heard someone, but each time she was wrong.

Syaoran pined on his bed. What could he do? Nothing, except maybe skip the play, which would flunk him, and which would get him in deep trouble with the elders. He sighed. Nothing seemed to be in his favor. Syaoran changed into better clothes and looked outside sadly. The rain was stopping, sure enough, and a constant breeze was the only thing to remind everyone of the storm that had passed through.

He walked to his door and slipped out into the hallway. He glanced down the hall to see if Sakura was in her room, but then saw that she was downstairs on the couch, looking intently at a book. At second glance Syaoran could see some colors on one of the pages that formed a very horribly fimiliar picture. Syaoran squinted to see if it was what he thought it was. It was. He snuck closer to the stairs, then walked down them silently.

He reached the back of the couch without her ever looking up from the book.

Sakura was getting slightly frustrated with all this kanji she had to keep looking up. She reached over for the dictionary, then jumped up from her seat so abruptly she banged her knee on the table across from her. That was the least of her worries. "S-syaoran!" She said, her eyes wide. How had he snuck up so quietly? He was glowering so darkly she wanted to run and hide. His eyes were glued to the papers she held tightly in her hands. She glanced down, then up. "Wa-watashi...ano...w-watashi..." She couldn’t think of anything brilliant. At the end of her ideas, she unwisely took off at a run.

Syaoran was glad his leg no longer bothered him, because he was able to run right after Sakura’s sprint.

Sakura had never had Syaoran chasing her before, only running with her, and that had a totally different feeling. She was totally terrified. She knew he must be a faster runner than she, but then why was he staying behind her? She tore around the corner of the stairs, having no idea where she was hoping to go. "Syaoran be reasonable!" She shouted out of breath.

She ran back through the living room through the conjoining hallway and ran through the kitchen, desperately throwing a chair behind her to slow him down. Maybe if she made it to the bathroom she could lock him out.

Syaoran narrowly managed to jump over the chair in his way, and dodged around the counter of the island to follow after her. Sakura was fast, alot faster than he gave her credit for. She must of never felt inspired enough to run her hardest. She tore up the stairs, and Syaoran followed with her. Now she had done it, she was on a long straightaway. The end of the hallway was a dead end. He wondered what room she was planning to dodge into. She saw the corner of her eyes look towards the bathroom. So that was her plan- dodge in, lock the door.

Just as she went to turn in, Syaoran jumped forward and blocked the doorway, catching her in midrun. Sakura stepped back quickly with frustration, but Syaoran tripped her. Just as she was falling, he caught her again, this time getting the book from her other hand.

Sakura looked up frightfully at Syaoran’s eyes. She had no idea what had happened just then. She had tried to dodge into the bathroom, then she had been falling, and now she was way too close to Syaoran. She stepped back with irritation.

"I told you not to read it." He said darkly, clutching the papers in his hand.

Sakura let her anger lead her actions, and, gathering all her courage and remembering all she had learned from judo class, knocked Syaoran’s feet right out from under him with one clean footswipe on her part.

Syaoran landed painfully on the ground on his stomach, and was about to get up, but she was already walking past him. She wasn’t going to get away with it that easily. He grabbed her ankle with his free hand and sent her sprawled out on the floor.

Sakura pounded the ground with her fist. She quickly got to her knees and pushed Syaoran over just as he was getting up. "Leave me alone!" She practically shouted.

"Why don’t you leave my stuff alone?" He asked, agitated, getting up for the third time.

Sakura banged his foot as hard as she could with her fist. He collapsed, but unfortunately, was half on top of her. Sakura whacked him with her fist and her elbow. "Get off!"

Syaoran, still slightly disoriented, tried desperately to get away from Sakura’s large scale attack. He had no idea she was this violent proned. "You kicked me!" He pointed out. She nailed him in the stomach with something sharp- probably her elbow, right now they were still tangled. Syaoran made an ‘oof’ noise that let Sakura know she hit him.

"Because you chased me and tripped me, idiot!" She said. He accidentally got her with his knee as he was trying so vainly to roll away, and Sakura savagely attacked him for that.

"Quit being so temperamental!" Syaoran groaned, getting shoved down to the floor by who knows what. He didn’t know up from down anymore.

"Quit being a jerk!" Sakura retorted. She found herself getting pinned, so she struck out with her fist, glad to see it hit something solid.

Syaoran never imagine he could get so many bruises from little innocent Sakura. He had been trying to avoid fighting back, but it looked like that was going to be required. He pinned her to the ground, holding her arms down.

Sakura felt a chill of fear go down her spine. She knew Syaoran was stronger than her, what was she thinking? Somehow this situation just brought back vivid memories of her and Mark’s little affair. She very well recognized the feeling of being overpowered. She prayed tears would stay off her eyes. Syaoran wasn’t going to get the best of her. She threw her weight over him and struggled to get up, now him only being at her side.

"Since when did you learn judo?"

"Since..." Sakura tried to get up. "Since I realized I had to defend myself against people like you." She said bitterly, reaching for the papers that had gotten tossed to the side somewhere in their wrestling match.

Syaoran didn’t have time to feel hurt, because she was grabbing the book again. He quickly caught her arm behind her back and twisted it ever so slightly. "God, all I said was not to read the book. Don’t you listen? Do you care about anything I say?"

Sakura bit her lip, pain shooting from her wrist up her arm. She couldn’t move, else she was sure it would hurt more. Her eyes were tearing over now, there was nothing she could do about it. "I was just trying to understand you, but..." She swallowed down whatever was collecting in her throat. "I guess you already pointed out you don’t want my friendship."

Syaoran frowned, loosening his grip on her forearm. Her voice was going unstable. She must have tears in her eyes. He let go of her arm completly to let her turn and face him. Sakura got to her feet, ignoring the accumulating tears, and faced him. She flung the book at him with her free hand, then held her stinging wrist. "I’m sorry I even bothered. If you want to stay a closed up jerk, that’s fine. I give up." She brushed past him, swatting the tears off the back of her hand.

Syaoran clenched his teeth. He grabbed her wrist. "Sakura-"

Sakura jerked her hand away and continued down the hall to her room. "Quit following me." She said with annoyance, knowing he was behind her.

Syaoran hesitated but followed her. "Sakura, I didn’t mean that, I told you!" He said. Sakura only showed her appreciation by slamming the door in his face. Syaoran sighed. "I always wanted you to-, you know I couldn’t have meant that, I say stupid stuff when I’m angry..." He leaned against the door.

Sakura just stayed sprawled out on her bed, holding her arm and crying to herself. Syaoran had actually hurt her. He had never done anything but defend her, but here her arm throbbed with pain, still disagreeing with the way it had been twisted. His words went right over her head, she was sick of his rash decisions. He seemed to being doing this alot lately- messing up, apologizing. Everyone messes up. Sakura reminded herself. But Syaoran did it so repetitively, he couldn’t be truly sorry, or he’d make more effort to keep to his apology. He went silent, but Sakura couldn’t tell if he was still there or not.

Syaoran sunk to the floor, laying his legs out in front of him. He’d done it, he’d made her cry, totally because of him and his stupidity. Syaoran didn’t know what else to say except sorry, but that wasn’t seeming to work. What else could he do? He leaned against the wall and waited, then waited, then waited some more, but it seemed all movement had stopped in that room.

Time wasted away, fifteen minutes into a half hour, a half hour into an hour, still things remained the same. Syaoran reluctantly looked at his watch and saw that it was time for them to get ready to go. Rana and Lai would be home any time now, and then they’d pick Meilin up and head for the school. Syaoran got up hesitantly. "Sakura, we’ve uh, got to leave soon. You can stay here if you want, but, um, I’m leaving in like ten minutes." Syaoran said. He waited hopefully for a response, then left and headed to his own room.

Syaoran heard his sister’s arrival, and hurried to get the rest of his outfits together for the play (Mostly stupid clothes required for playing the nerd part), and headed down the stairs. To his surprise and dismay, Sakura was already standing with his sisters, looking out the window blankly. They all herded out to Lai’s full sized car and got in, Sakura facing out the window from the start. Lai and Rana were talking about something in the front seat to themselves, which left Sakura and Syaoran to sit quiet and look out each window with boredom. They pulled into Meilin’s house and waited only a second before Meilin came running out of her door. She opened Syaoran’s doorside and smiled. "Hi guys!"

Syaoran and Sakura both remained unresponsive. Syaoran reluctantly moved over to the middle so Meilin could sit down, awkwardly brushing knees with Sakura every now and then. Hopefully she doesn’t punch me for it.

"So are you excited Syaoran? The big night, finally..." Meilin chattered.

"No." Syaoran said, his voice unusually quiet.

Meilin frowned and snuck glances at both of them. Both glaring seperate directions. They must be fighting. Those two fight way more than normal. I wonder who started it this time?

They all piled out at the school. Sakura looked around curiously. It was alot like the school in Tomoeda, except for a more tropical landscape. They walked into the school and found that alot of the students were already there. Sakura recognized some of the kids from Meilin’s pool party.

"Kinomoto-san, what is it this time?" Meilin demanded, walking next to Sakura.

Sakura frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"It’s obviously you two are mad at one another, what’s the stupid reason this time?"

Sakura quickly darkened. "Nothing."

"Please, you know, I can’t beleive you guys sometimes..."

"Sakura!" A younger boy’s voice exclaimed. Teller came running over. "Hello, Syaoran." He muttered as he walked past. "Sakura do you want to sit with me?"

Sakura couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm. "I don’t know, I was going to sit with them." She said, nodding at Lai and Rana.

"Oh. Can I sit there as well? It’s better than my parents."

"Sure." Sakura agreed.

They walked into the auditorium, where a small crowd was spread out across the chairs, mostly just parents that had had to bring their children early to set up. Syaoran walked heavily, listening to Sakura talk behind him. Once his sisters found the row they wanted to sit in, he turned to Sakura, who did anything but look directly at him. "We have to go backstage, so I, um, I’ll see you after I guess."

Sakura only nodded in response.

Syaoran and Meilin walked down the aisle quietly, then Meilin finally spoke, once out of earshot. "What did you do?" She asked.

"I’m an idiot." Syaoran admitted.

Meilin was surprised Syaoran actually said that. The things Sakura could do to him. "What did you do?" She asked.

"Nothing, I mean, it’s a long story. I just can’t stand it, though."

"You mean your conscience is actually working?"

Syaoran didn’t answer that. "How am I going to get her to forgive me if she won’t listen to my apologies?"

"Wow, you really screwed up. You’re apologizing and she’s still ignoring you? I didn’t think Kinomoto had that kind of bitterness in her."

"Too much time around me." Syaoran muttered. They walked backstage, where people frantically ran around with costumes and props. Syaoran stopped behind one of the thick curtains. "But what do I do, Meilin? She’s leaving tommorrow, it’s not like there’s time for this to simmer over."

Meilin hated the conflict deep inside her. Why couldn’t she just forget this feeling? But if Syaoran needed her help, she had to give it to him, it wasn’t as if she could ignore him. She had to forget about this for now and concentrate on Syaoran. "You’re going to have to plead with her and plead and not leave her alone until she gives in." Meilin said.

Syaoran cringed. That sounded horrible.

Alexis popped out of no where, threw her arms around Syaoran’s neck, and planted a wet kiss on his cheek. "Bonjour mon ami!"

Syaoran looked desperately at Meilin, pushing Alexis away and wiping his cheek thoroughly. "But what will she do after...after...that part?"

Meilin could see the struggle in Syaoran’s mind. He didn’t want Sakura going any more jealous than she had to be. "I’ve got an idea!" Meilin exclaimed. She rushed away from Syaoran and Alexis and headed back out into the auditorium.

She hurried down the aisle as more people came to find seats and found Teller talking excitedly to Sakura about something. "Teller, your sister wants you for a second." Meilin said.

Teller looked at Meilin with slight annoyance. "Can you tell her to hang on a second?"

Meilin shook her head. "She needs you right now." She said.

Teller sighed with irritation and got up. He gave Sakura a smile. "Be back, then." Sakura smiled and nodded good naturedly and let him go.

Teller walked down the aisle with Meilin in a rather bad mood. "Honestly, I just try to talk to one girl for a second and ..."

Meilin stopped Teller outside the auditorium. "Teller I need you to do both Sakura and Syaoran a favor."

Teller frowned. "What is it?"

"Well, you know that Syaoran and Sakura are good friends, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"And you know that part in the play where Syaoran has to kiss Alexis?"

"Yeah, that’s all Alexis was talking about earlier, all the way here-"

"Well," Meilin started, "I don’t suppose you could create a little diversion- like, ask Sakura to come get some concessions with you around that part of the play, could you?"

Teller frowned. "Wait a minute. Is this some jealousy thing? Is Sakura Syaoran’s girlfriend?"

"No, not really, but, it would be for the best, you see, if she didn’t see it. Do you understand?"

"I...I guess." Teller said.

"So, will you?" Meilin asked hopefully.

"Sure." Teller agreed. He turned to head back into the auditorium.

"And Teller, make sure you don’t say any of this to Sakura, alright? She can’t know."

Teller shrugged and continued on. Meilin crossed her fingers and headed back behind the stage to get her Americanized outfit on. She hoped this would work.

___________________________________________________________

"I’m leaving." Syaoran announced as part of the script, stalking off the stage. He relaxed as he was behind the curtain. He hated the part he was stuck with. Someone who comes up with as poor comments as that idiot character deserve to be made fun of.

"Hey Li-san, good job out there." Mandu said, smiling that way she did at him.

Syaoran only looked in general direction to let her know he had heard her. He couldn’t help but notice the cheerleading skirt on her costume was a certain amount shorter than he remembered them being, but he said nothing. He continued across the backstage, looking for somewhere quiet to stand around until the next scene he was in, which wasn’t for a while. Alexis was about to be introduced, and her along with the rest of the cheerleading squad were gathering at the curtain. Syaoran almost grinned when he saw how much Alexis did seem to stand out with the rest of the girls. Most of them had snobby looks on their face, all hating to see Alexis get all the attention.

She deserves it, if she’s so willing to stand out like that. She’s brave, I’ve got to hand it to her. Her red hair was bright enough, so it was extra funny that she was a good five or six inches taller than the other girls, and not quite as tiny built. Syaoran continued down the hall and found a dark spot on the stage. He leaned against the stage and looked into space. I hope Meilin’s idea is going to work. Meilin had informed him about the diversion Teller was going to try.

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

Sakura couldn’t help but grin to herself. No matter how nerdy the script was, or how much of a moron they tried to make him, Syaoran just couldn’t play the role of a nerdy kid. It came across more like a cool shyness than anything. She was still impressed with Syaoran’s acting skills. He really looked like he belonged in the set, and never mumbled his lines as the other boys would.

The scene switched to a bunch of cheerleaders, along with one not-so-handsome but made to be handsome boy, probably a football player or something of the sort, judging by his uniform. He and Alexis were being publicly affectionate, talking over some game they had just been at. She got up and said she was going to get some drinks, and left the boy behind to talk with the rest of the cheerleaders.

Now the plot was supposedly thickening, though Sakura found it boring and predictable. Maybe Syaoran had been right when he had said the play was stupid. The football player was now flirting obviously with Meilin, who seemed perfect for the part, flipping her hair over her shoulders and giggling with the jokes the boy made. Now the lights switched to a spotlight that shone on Alexis, who stood on the side, a vrey depressed look on her face as she noticed where her date was.

The scene faded again, and the auditorium was black for a little while as the stage set was changed. Teller moved beside her and she glanced over, startled to see Yundi grinning at her. Teller was looking dark, being pushed out of the picture.

"Were you going to ignore us through the whole production?" Yundi asked.

Sakura grinned, she had forgotten all about that. She hadn’t thought they had really cared one way or another. She quickly got up while it was still dark and walked around Teller, then turned to him. "Are you coming?" She asked.

"I don’t want to bother you-"

"Nonsense, hurry before the next scene starts."

Teller hurried to his feet and they all walked down the aisle to the back of the auditorium. Sakura followed Yundi into a little room with all the lighting boards and the little sound system that another boy was running. They all looked up at Sakura and Teller’s entrance.

"Ugh, it’s hot." She said, shutting the door behind Teller quietly.

The boy behind the light board smiled. "It must be us hotties back here. I better watch it, the windows may start fogging."

Yundi rolled his eyes and sat down in a rolly chair, spinning it around a few times. "Then people would be wondering what really goes on back here."

"Hey it’s poet junior!" The third boy said, looking at Teller. Teller flushed.

Yundi grinned and looked at Sakura. "Did Syaoran ever write you a poem?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head, smiling with amusement. She found it very hard to beleive that Syaoran wrote anyone a poem.

"Well someone wrote Meilin a poem. Or maybe it was Mandu." Yundi looked at Teller. "You wouldn’t happen to know, Teller, would you? Who Syaoran meant to give it to?"

Teller squirmed. "I don’t know." He muttered.

"So Kinomoto-san." One of the boys said. She turned and looked at him. "Was Syaoran this cold and better when he was in Japan for all of that time?"

Sakura glanced out at the stage where just Alexis and Syaoran were talking. Alexis went running off the stage, ending her curiosity. "He used to be worse, really." She said.

"How did you stand it? I’d run away and hide." Yundi said.

Sakura grinned and looked at the floor. She wasn’t really sure why she did put up with it. Why did she tolerate being hurt so many times?

"Oh...I understand. You like him too, don’t you." Yundi stated as a fact.

Sakura looked up and shook her head. "No, I mean, we’re just friends I guess. Syaoran’s not too bad, once you know him enough."

Yundi and the other two just looked back to the stage.

Sakura and Teller leaned uncomfortably against the wall, starting to feel hot from the room’s clastrophobic atmosphere. They watched the play through the window of the room and heard the voices through the headphones. Sakura finally got bored and decided she’d rather go to her seat. "I think I’m going to get some air." She said, quietly opening the door.

"See you, then." Yundi said.

Teller followed Sakura out of the room, then hesitantly grabbed her wrist. That scene was up soon, Teller was sure of it. "Hey, do you want to get some food, or something?" He asked.

Sakura shook her head. The scenes were inbetween switching, and she wanted to watch some more of the ones with Syaoran in them. "No I’m fine."

Teller wasn’t sure what to do. He couldn’t fail. "It’s on me, come on, I’m sure they have some good stuff."

Sakura glanced at the stage where lights went on and saw that Syaoran was on the stage now along with several other people mingling around. She turned and smiled politely at Teller. "No, I’m alright." She said. She turned and headed to her seat, then found Teller was still following her. "Aren’t you going to get some food?"

Teller hesitated, knowing it would beat the whole purpose to go alone. Then again- he might as well go look for a good hiding spot now, before Meilin’s fury on his failed mission was released. He turned and headed out of the auditorium.

Sakura sat down next to Lai, smiling politely as they met eyes and then looking back up to the stage. Syaoran walked over to Alexis, who was preoccupied talking to another girl, still looking distraught about her boyfriend’s affair.

"Excuse me," Syaoran said, tapping her on the shoulder as if he was afraid to speak with her.

Alexis turned and looked at him with dismay.

"Can I talk to you?" He asked.

Alexis sighed so loudly everyone in the audience could see and hear it. She turned to the girl and said, "I’ll be back in a second," then walked after Syaoran.

The scene darkened and people cleared off the stage. Now the lights went back on, and Syaoran and Alexis were alone on the stage again. "I meant what I said to you earlier, Mandy." He said. Sakura frowned. Was it just her imagination or was he mumbling ever so slightly?

"Please, I know it must be difficult for you, but you have to understand, we are not the same. You- you’re the kind of kid that should like smart girls, not...not someone like me." She said.

"Just because we’re different doesn’t mean we can’t like each other." Syaoran said. He seemed to mutter this even more. What was going on?

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

Syaoran cast a furtive glance at the audience. Sakura was still there. Where was Teller? There was an empty seat beside her, but she was still there. Alexis was waiting for his next line. "He didn’t even deserve you..." What was he going to do? He could just not do it, but then the sensei would be hounding on him that he ruined the play. He contemplated doing it anyway, seeing Sakura as higher priority, but then checked his thoughts. If she’s actually my friend, she’ll deal with it, right? But she said she gave up trying to be my friend. Why does everything have to be so screwy?

"But I do." He continued. She can’t see this! But it’s not my fault if she’s jealous, that’s her problem, right? Syaoran sighed, and Alexis gave him a questioning look as she continued through her lines about her real feelings. Any second she’d say ‘I think I like you’, that’s when the script called for actions Syaoran just didn’t feel like carrying through. But he didn’t have much of a choice. He glanced back to Sakura’s chair, where she was watching them intently.

"...I think I like you." Alexis said finally. She watched Syaoran, trying to figure out what he was going to do. Syaoran hesitated. Picture something happy! Syaoran remembered Meilin’s words. She had basically told him to pretend it was Sakura he was kissing, but reality had a way of making itself clear to Syaoran.

Alexis was getting sick of the long silence, and was about to go about everything her own way, but Syaoran admitted defeat. He kept the picture of Sakura in his head, put his arms around Alexis’s shoulders and kissed her; awkwardly at first, then with increasing passion. Alexis had no trouble returning it. Syaoran remembered the sensei’s words before they had gone out on stage: ‘You’re going to kiss with passion and are going to keep kissing until the lights fade’. Syaoran unhappily waited for the lights to go, which seemed like a very very very long time to him, and quickly stepped away the second it was dark.

"That was wonderful!" Alexis squeaked, walking with him to the backstage. "Why didn’t you ever do that in practice?"

Syaoran continued to rub off whatever crap Alexis had had on off his lips. "What were you wearing?" He asked, switching back hands to get it off.

"Strawberry Kiwi stuff!" She said happily.

"God how much crap did you put on?" He asked, trying to get every trace of it off.

"Geez, sorry, most guys like some flavored chapstick." She complained.

Syaoran continued to stalk, looking for Meilin. He finally spotted her standing with Mandu. He stopped with fury. "What happened, Meilin!?" He demanded.

"Wha...?" Meilin said unsurely.

"She was still there. Saw it all!" Syaoran complained, ignoring Mandu’s confused expression.

"I-I don’t know! Ask Teller, it was his job!" She complained.

Syaoran grit his teeth. He wished he had time to run out into the audience and plead to Sakura that he hadn’t wanted any part of it, but he was in the next scene, the second to last one. Maybe she won’t be that upset. She’s smart, she knows it’s all acting.

_____________________________________

Sakura was glad that Teller wasn’t sitting next to her anymore, because she was gripping the arm rest next to her and digging her nails into it. She had been slightly thrown off that Syaoran had seemed to look her way in the audience several times in the last scene, but then was totally gone when he kissed Alexis. Kissed her, of all things! Some nerve he had, after what they had been fighting about, then he goes and does this.

She felt horribly hurt, after all, because she had started to take his apology into consideration, until now. She had wanted to beleive him more than anything, but yet again he threw her a mixed signal. Totally confused, she half longed-half dreaded the end of the play. She wanted to go home, so she could fly to Japan and try and forget about everything, but then again, she didn’t not want to ride in a car with Syaoran, nor stay in the same house as he. She leaned on her hand, ignoring the last few scenes where the play was concluded, just waiting to leave.

The lights went out for a while, and it seemed the cast was collecting behind the curtain. Soon after, the whole cast was spreading across the stage. The lights went up, and kids began taking their bows. Sakura glared through all of it, trying to figure her feelings out. Why should I bother being mad at him? That just traps me. He didn’t do anything wrong, he’s just following script. I shouldn’t hold any remorse. Syaoran and Alexis both took the last bow, walking forward and bowing together. The audience clapped, Sakura along with them. She couldn’t help but notice that Syaoran seemed to be avoiding looking at her. Oh well, it was his problem.

The lights on the stage went down and the lights on the auditorium went back on. Sakura got up with Lai and Rana, all stretching their stiff limbs.

"I didn’t know Syaoran had it in him." Lai said, yawning then heading towards the aisle.

"Of course he could do it." Rana said, following Sakura in the sea of people.

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

"Oh Syaoran just grow up. Tell her how you feel." Meilin said with exasperation.

"She probably won’t even talk to me." Syaoran said.

"I think you a little overestimating this." She said, following him down the hallway to the apartment.

"I can’t tell her, I mean, she’s leaving tommorrow..."

"All the more reason." Meilin said.

Syaoran sighed. Arguing with Meilin was like beating a dead horse. "What do I do, just strike up the conversation?"

"I know you can do it, just do it." Meilin said, annoyed with trying to reason with him anymore. He was such a chicken. She pushed the door open and they walked across the parking lot towards where Lai’s car was parked. As they approached Syaoran saw Sakura was already sitting in the backseat. He didn’t want to have to sit by her again...

Syaoran walked to the back door and opened it, trying to let Meilin in first. Meilin grabbed his arm and pulled him. "I get dropped off first, you sit in the middle." She said.

Syaoran reluctantly sat down, not even bothering to look at Sakura because she was already staring out the window. Meilin sat down and shut the door.

"Good job, both of you." Sakura said, trying her best to throw away old feelings and stay neutral.

Meilin elbowed Syaoran. He glared at her, then muttered "Thanks."

The rest of the ride was quiet. They dropped Meilin off, then Syaoran moved to his own side. The short way back to their house Rana was blasting the radio, so there was no need to try and talk. Sakura gladly got out of the car and went inside after Rana, not bothering to wait for Syaoran. He wondered exactly what mood she was in. She had seemed personable enough when she had compliments their acting, but it was so superficial, he couldn’t tell what was behind it.

Rana and Lai headed over to the television, leaving Syaoran and Sakura to do as they chose. Syaoran turned and tried to ignore the fact that she wouldn’t look at him. "So..." He started. "Um, we can do whatever. I don’t know what they’re watching, but we can, uh, it’s still early, we can go to the movies, or horseride, or something." He said.

Sakura tried to figure out if he was sincere or not. "No, it’s alright. I’ll just go and, and get ready for tommorrow." She said.

Syaoran was about to protest, but Sakura was already walking up the stairs to her room. He sighed and leaned on the island in the kitchen. He noticed a chair in disaray, probably the one thrown to the side in their chase. He fixed it, then looked towards the stairs with new determination. He walked across the kitchen, past the living room where his sisters were blasting some horror movie, and charged up the stairs. He headed down the hall and stopped at her door, almost barging in but remembering his manners, he stopped and knocked on the door.

"Yeah?" Sakura’s voice asked politely from inside.

Syaoran took the liberty and opened the door. He leaned on the doorway.

Sakura waited for him to say something, then gave up and turned to totally face him. "Yes?" She repeated.

"I’m not leaving until you forgive me." He said bluntly.

Sakura frowned and went back to the tickets she was sorting through. "That’s an affective apology." She muttered.

Syaoran didn’t say anything, only leaned against the doorway and waited. After about a minute of untolerable silence, Sakura was fed up. "Who says I am mad at you, anyway?" She asked.

Syaoran thought about that. She wasn’t acting hostile, but she just didn’t seem as sweet as she could be. "Because you were earlier." He said. Sakura wouldn’t be able to deny that.

Sakura sighed and looked up. "Honestly, you don’t need to apologize. I understand."

"I don’t think you do." Syaoran said, feeling a little hurt that she would think that lowly of him. Sakura waited for him to elaborate. "Will you walk with me?"

Sakura frowned. "What, I mean, uh, where?" She asked, not liking how uncomfortable she was making him.

"Um...." Syaoran hadn’t had a place in mind. He would just like to get out of this house and away from people. He thought through the places he had ever walked by. "There’s an ice cream place down the road." He said. It was kind of far off, but he wanted a long time to talk to her.

"It’s going to be dark..." Sakura hesitated, trying to find a good excuse.

"The streets are lit." Syaoran said back.

Sakura didn’t want to trust him again. But what was the harm in going to get ice cream? At least she could spend her last night here outside instead of couped up in her room. Walking to an ice cream store didn’t require her to trust Syaoran at all, except for directions. She reluctantly walked to the door, ignoring the smile he had on his face, and shut off the lights.

Syaoran walked down the hall, feeling pleased with himself. He had gotten her over, a little ways anyway. But the next part would be hard. He couldn’t just tell her how he felt, that was crazy. But then again, so was letting her leave without at least saying something. He jogged down the stairs, easily passing unnoticed by his sisters, who were too involved in their loud movie. Syaoran went to the kitchen drawer and grabbed a handful of money and shoved it in his pocket, then joined up with Sakura and quietly left his house. Once outside he breathed in deep the air and walked quietly for a while, trying to figure out what he was going to say.

Sakura glanced stealthily at Syaoran. He was walking with his hands jammed in his pockets, glaring hard at the ground as he walked. No doubt about it, he was definitely thinking hard about something. Sakura hoped it wasn’t something about her. She decided to try and talk to make him lose his train of thought. "Do the elders send you on missions often?" She asked.

Syaoran shook his head. "They’ll get me to do little stuff, but not alot of hard things. I haven’t done anything as large scale as the Clow Cards."

"Oh." Sakura said.

"Hopefully they’ll lay off and let me visit Japan sometime again." Syaoran said.

Sakura didn’t answer. She didn’t know what to say.

Syaoran sighed. She wasn’t making this easy. "Have you tried to talk to Eriol yet?" He asked. Though he didn’t like the thought of Sakura talking to Eriol, some things had to be sacrificed.

"Yes, but it seems he’s moved." She said. "I don’t quite understand it, but I figured he’ll call sometime, anyway."

"Yeah..." Syaoran said. "How are things in Japan, anyway?"

Sakura hated him for asking such questions. "Like normal." She answered.

"I see." Syaoran tried to think about how he was going to get to what he wanted to say. There was an awkward silence, then Syaoran spoke. "I’m-"

"How-" Sakura said about the same time.

"What?"

"Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt you." Sakura said.

"No, it’s alright. Go ahead."

"I was just asking how far it is until we get there." She said.

"Oh. Ah...ten minutes, maybe." He said.

"Oh." Sakura answered. She waited for Syaoran to say something, but he didn’t. "What were you going to say?"

"N-nothing." Syaoran said. "Nevermind."

They walked silently for a long while, both only looking at the ground in front of them. Sakura was annoyed to see that her opinion was starting to sway, that she felt like trusting him again, but she kept reminding herself of the hurt and pain she had felt, and kept firm. Soon she could see the ice cream shop ahead, its lights bright against the twilight sky.

Their minds switched to deciding what they wanted to order, and nothing was said for a while. Syaoran went up to the counter and ordered. "Small twist cone and..." He looked to Sakura, waiting for her to order.

"Chocolate in a cup." Sakura said quietly.

"That’s it?" Syaoran asked.

She shrugged.

Syaoran turned to the worker. "Chocolate with marshmellow and...ah...sprinkles." He said. The worker looked slightly confused, then turned silently and went to make the ice cream. Syaoran leaned on the counter and looked around at the people sititng at the tables outside.

"What if I like just plain chocolate?" Sakura demanded.

Syaoran grinned lopsidedly. "You’ll like it, I swear."

"What if I don’t?" She grumbled to herself.

"I’ll buy you two plain chocolates and finish your other one." Syaoran answered.

Sakura was slightly startled, she hadn’t meant for him to hear that. But he did. He must be trying really hard. She sighed instead of trying to come up with a response.

The worker came back with their ice cream and Syaoran paid him, then they walked off with their ice cream to a table and sat down. Sakura knew Syaoran was watching her to see her response, which slightly irritated her. But he seemed to read her mind, and soon was watching other things.

Sakura tried it and found that it was incredibly good. Very sweet, but it seemed to make the ice cream perfect. She sighed and looked up. "You’re right." She admitted.

"Huh?" Syaoran asked, looking from where he had been watching a family back to Sakura.

"This ice cream, it’s really good." She said.

Syaoran smirked.

"I’ve had better." She said indignantly. She looked at her ice cream and took another healthy spoonful and then looked back up. She saw Syaoran was smiling with amusement at her. Sakura rolled her eyes and laughed. "Fine, I haven’t."

Syaoran smiled broadly with triumph.

Sakura’s eyes softened. Syaoran really looked perfect when he smiled. Those eyes, that hair, the face... "You should smile more." She remarked quietly, looking back at her ice cream and taking some more before her mouth got her into any more trouble. She was letting him win her over.

Syaoran frowned and looked at his ice cream. He had to tell her, it wasn’t fair not to. He opened his mouth to talk, but Sakura beat him to it.

"Why don’t you want anyone to read that book?" She dared to ask.

Syaoran was slightly taken aback, but figured, it he really wanted her forgiveness, she was going to need some answers. "Well, ah..." He tried to figure out what to say. "Well when I was little, my...my father liked teaching me things, and, uh, he just liked writing things. I don’t like that story, it’s embaressing."

Sakura grinned. "Is that the only reason?"

"Yes." He said. Seeing the unconvinced look Sakura was giving him, he sighed. "No. It’s just....alot of the ideas were based on my father. Like...like the main name, Junshogai."

Sakura was quiet for a second, watching the obviously difficulty. "That’s your father’s name?" She guessed.

Syaoran nodded, not bothering to talk as he was chewing on part of the ice cream cone. He finished it and wiped his fingers on the napkin, then looked up at Sakura, not sure how to address her. "Did you know your mother?" He asked.

Sakura was surprised to be asked that. "Not really." She said, much more comfortable with this. "I had just turned three when she died, so I didn’t even know what happened. But even still, my dad made sure me and Touya kept in touch."

Syaoran nodded and looked down. He looked back up. "Do you miss them?"

"Them?" Sakura asked, confused.

"Since you got stuck in Hong Kong?"

"Oh, well, not really, I mean, your sisters really try and make someone feel welcomed." She said.

"You can have my sisters." He said, half joking, though his voice implied something differently. Sakura didn’t notice it.

"Should we be getting back?" Sakura asked, standing up and picking up the clean bowl off the table.

Syaoran reluctantly got up, sad to see she still wanted to leave. He followed her to the trash can, then they were walking back home. At least they were on better terms. "So you really want to go back home?"

Sakura walked beside him, noticing he seemed to walk very slowly. "I guess." She said. But did she really?

Syaoran stopped to turn and face her. "You....you wouldn’t want to stay one more day, would you?"

Sakura watched him, slightly fearful, but more sad. "I..." She looked at the ground. She had heard about more storms on the latter part of the weekend. She couldn’t risk it. Tomoyo kept reminding her to beware of Syaoran, Kero was going crazy and threatening to come out and keep an eye on them, and Bob, who knew if Bob was even alive? "I can’t, Syaoran. I’ve...I’ve got to get back, everyone’s getting suspicious..."

Syaoran looked into her eyes for a moment, both locked on each other, then her turned and continued walking. "Of course not." He mumbled.

"What’s that supposed to mean?" Sakura asked, rushing to catch up with him.

He glanced sideways at her. "Have you forgiven me yet?" He asked, a hopeful kind of eager spark in his eyes.

Sakura looked back down from his eyes. "Syaoran..." She started. She slowed to a stop and looked at him gravely serious. This walk wasn’t getting them very far, as they kept stopping. "I don’t...I’m not sure if I should. I just don’t know, you, you do this so much, I’m afraid that..." She hated how quickly her eyes seemed to glaze over. She couldn’t stand it. She started off.

Syaoran frowned and grabbed her wrists. "What-"

Sakura cringed. "Please don’t." She said, tensing up as she felt that sudden panick again.

Syaoran frowned slightly with confusion, then gently let her hands go. "Why are you so afraid-"

"Because I’ve been hurt, alright?" She swatted the tears from under her eyes. "I know what the pain feels like, and I don’t want to let myself take it again." She met his eyes and looked into them. "The more I know you, the more I see I don’t know anything about you. How am I supposed to know you aren’t going to build me up and let me down again, to get into a pattern..."

Syaoran frowned, pain building up inside himself. How could Sakura ever think he would try to intentionally hurt her? He put his arms around her shoulders and pulled her into a hug. "Sakura I’d never ever try to hurt you. Ever! I know I screwed up, I...I was angry, my father’s....I was afraid too, that...that if you’d see what I did..."

Sakura sobbed into his shirt. In that moment it seemed so farfetched to beleive Syaoran would ever try to hurt her. He was...so...so kind, holding her like this. She had forgotten how warm his arms were, or the intense feelings that seemed to tingle through her body as she leaned so close to him. "What did you do?" She asked.

"N-nothing, don’t...just...forget about it..." Syaoran said, swallowing hard and holding Sakura tight, ignoring everything else.

Sakura stepped back slowly as he allowed, still leaving her arms around his stomach, looking into his eyes. "Why do you do this to youself? Why can’t you just let it go? What happened?"

Syaoran frowned hard, looking to the side of her, the only way to avoid her eyes. "You didn’t see it?" He asked her.

"No, all I saw was you trying to make Iata cross a stream, why were you trying so hard?"

"I...I can’t..."

Sakura frowned. "Don’t you trust me, Syaoran?"

"Of course I do." He said, looking into her eyes earnestly. "I have more trust in you than...than anyone."

"Then...I don’t understand." Sakura said, dropping her arms to her sides. Syaoran did the same.

"No ones does." Syaoran agreed.

"Because you don’t let them." She retorted. Her eyes stung with dryness, finally the tears gone. She hoped she didn’t look as horrible as she felt, sniffling, red eyed...

Syaoran could only look back with a pained expression. He just couldn’t. She had to understand. "Then try to understand me now and see that I just can’t tell you yet."

Sakura and Syaoran stared each other down for a second, but Sakura looked away and shrugged. "Alright." She started walking, and was quickly joined by Syaoran. "So was this your plan? Drag me out here, make me break down and cry...?" She asked, though she was joking, a smile on her face.

"I wasn’t sure if I could do it, you left some mean bruises earlier." Syaoran said, grinning.

"I didn’t leave bruises," Sakura said, grinning. When she considered it, though, she felt horrible. "Did I?" She asked more urgently.

Syaoran turned. "You misjudge your own strength." He said. He pulled the shoulder of his shirt down to show her his skin was already turning slightly green, noticeable enough to be seen in the twilight’s dim glow.

Sakura put her hands to her mouth. "I’m so sorry..." She said. She looked down with guilt. "I just kept thinking about...about when Mark...." She stopped. Syaoran was glowering. "Don’t get mad! I just meant....like....nevermind. I wasn’t comparing you." She said, smiling convincingly.

Syaoran continued on. They walked quietly for a while, enjoying the clearer night time air as the sun’s glow left and the dim street lights turned on far and between. "So...so you’re not mad anymore? About the play or anything?"

Sakura frowned. "Why would I be mad about the play?" She asked defensively, though she knew exactly why, and she still felt jealousy burning inside.

"I don’t know..." Syaoran said quietly. "Wishful thinking, I guess...." He mumbled. But Sakura still heard it.

She stopped him with a funny smile on her face, touching his arm. "What?"

Syaoran shuffled uncomfortably. "Just...I didn’t want you to go to the play, I didn’t want you to be mad, I was afraid you wouldn’t understand...I didn’t want to do it at all..." Syaoran stammered.

Sakura frowned as she looked at him, trying to figure out what was in his eyes, her own eyes threatning to shut as he ran his hand over her cheek, his smooth quiet touch disorienting her.

"That’s not how I feel about you at all." Syaoran said, tilting her chin up to him.

Sakura opened her eyes wide. This was heading wildly fast down a path she was a little too shy to take. Did Syaoran mean what she thought he meant? Of course he did, there was no other explanation for those words. Sakura tried to will herself still, but she couldn’t Hating herself as she did it, she turned away from him, slipping out of his hand.

Syaoran carefully let out a sigh of slight frustration, but ignored that feeling. Sakura wasn’t trying to make him mad, she was just scared. He should respect that. Still, he was more than slightly bothered to think Mark had gotten more from her than he. It’s not the same! Don’t even compare it. "We should probably get home, you’re right, Tyung will notice we’re not around..."

Sakura was very grateful for how understanding he was trying to be. He wasn’t making her feel stupid at all, even though she had been a coward. Already she was asking herself why she had run away like that. "You won’t get in trouble, will you?" She asked.

"No, they’re used to me leaving alot." He said.

"For the elders?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah, training and stuff like that." Syaoran said.

Sakura was glad to have this conversation to get her mind off her embaressment to herself. "Don’t you get sick of living for them?" She asked.

"Yes." Syaoran said, and Sakura could tell it was through his teeth. "But they’re paying for my mother’s hospital bills."

"Oh." Sakura answered.

"Does Tomoyo still hate me?" Syaoran asked.

"Yes." Sakura said, giggling. "I don’t know, but...I still have those dreams, where...I keep hearing those voices, they’re so fimiliar, but I don’t know who they are, talking about like ‘he left’, ‘he won’t help her anymore’...."

"Sounds like you’re hearing something you shouldn’t be hearing." Syaoran said.

"I know...but that doesn’t make sense. I didn’t try any spells or anything..."

"Maybe someone’s trying to help you." Syaoran guessed.

Sakura gasped. "You aren’t doing this, are you?"

Syaoran grinned. "No...I wish I was that smart, I didn’t try it."

"Oh." Sakura said. She sighed, figuring she’d never hear the answer to it.

Sakura saw the dark sillhouette of the Li’s large house in the distance. They were almost back. What drama had occured on this walk!

"What times does you flight leave tommorrow?" Syaoran asked.

"Nine." Sakura answered, starting to feel glum about leaving.

"So what do you want to do all day?" Syaoran asked.

"Um...Don’t you have training and things?" She asked.

"Nah. I’ll skip," Syaoran answered.

"Oh." Sakura said. "You don’t have to do anything special, I mean, I didn’t do anything when you left back home, honestly."

"Alright..." He said, though his mind was already trying to work out what they could do. Something good, something quiet, not involving any other people, a place with a good atmosphere where he could talk freely.

They walked quietly the rest of the way to his house and remained so up the porch steps to the door. Sakura hurried in, knowing she was being way too flightly, but did it all the same. She turned and saw that now all four sisters were sitting around the couches, watching the television at a loud volume.

Syaoran shut the door behind himself and walked in, stopping next to Sakura. "Are you going to sleep?" He asked, having to talk a little loudly over the sound.

"I’m not really tired." Sakura said, shrugging.

"You want to look through some more books?" Syaoran asked.

"Sure." Sakura agreed, not seeing the harm in it.

Syaoran led her into the den, then unlatched the sliding doors and pulled them across, attempting to make it quieter in the library type room. Sakura was already looking through bookshelves. "Is there a certain place to look?" She asked.

Syaoran walked past her and grabbed another stack of books that were set loose from a top bookshelf. "I set these out a month or so ago, I just never got around to looking at them." He said.

Sakura looked wide-eyed at the huge stack of books. He had really looked into all of this card stuff. "You really looked hard, didn’t you?"

Syaoran didn’t answer, only set the stack carefully down on a coffee table. He brushed his hands on the side of his pants and turned to her. "Your cards are really powerful, you know, and this problem should really be solved."

Sakura nodded. She dreaded to think of going back to Japan to fight those cards by herself. It seemed like she had been in Hong Kong forever, even though it had only been a few days. "I’ll search around on the internet for Eriol’s number. I guess I’ve been lazy about it."

Syaoran picked up some books and walked over to her, putting them in her arms as she was ready to take them. Sakura walked back with the books over to the couch type seat and sat down, settling the books on her lap and starting to look through the first one. Syaoran plopped down next to her with his own stack of books, leaning against the armrest and setting the books beside him.

Sakura started leafing through and found all sorts of things about the history of magic that she had no clue on. She had never heard anything of this sort, if she had been educated in this she bet she might be as smart as Syaoran when it came to battling magic beasts. She found the pages on Clow Reed and began to look through. It gave a very vague and sketchy outlook on how he grew up, and, like most books, started to actually describe him when he created the Clow Cards, sealing away havocing forces from the earth. It said nothing of Egypt or romance, nothing about balls and a planned marraige. The only thing new Sakura saw was that he lived unnaturally long by his own induced spells. Sakura sighed and flipped through the rest of the book to make sure she didn’t skip over anything, then went to the next book.

She glanced at Syaoran as she set the read book on the floor. An almost wistful feeling held her, watching him read with that intense scowl, hair falling in around the eyes... She quickly looked to her book, feeling her emotions slip, and began furiously turning the pages. Why did I run away, anyway? Why am I so scared? Because it’s such a big deal? I mean, I suppose...once that happens...it definitely crosses the line between friends and something more...But it wouldn’t be that bad, really, from the audience it looked pretty good... She continued to go through the pages of the boring book. Her eyelids weighed slightly as she read, feeling herself become tired, but she ignored it and kept on going.

Third strike. How does this always happen? But when...in Hyrule, she didn’t turn...or after Chindra erased, we had been so close...why does she run away now? A second voice entered his arguement. Because you hurt her too many times, you dumbass. She said so herself. She’s too afraid that your stupidity will get in the way that she won’t let herself go there anymore. So what do I do now? Forget about it? No, though she doesn’t show it...she needs assurance. Or security. Something. But I don’t even know what security is, my whole life is unstable...

Sakura yawned and switched sitting positions, shivering a little under the fan’s constant breeze.

"’You cold?" Syaoran asked with disbeleif. If anything the room was a little hot for his taste.

Sakura looked up from her book, amazed Syaoran could pick up on things so quickly. "Well, ah, it’s just that fan..." She said.

Syaoran reached behind himself and pulled the knit quilt from behind him. He tossed it to her. "It’s like ninety degrees in here..." He mumbled to himself, looking back to his book.

Sakura knew it was probably hot, but she was getting tired, and as she got tired she wanted more heat, and the cold breeze off the fan hadn’t helped that. She wrapped it around herself comfortably and started reading through again. The material began to get slightly boring, and she found herself gazing around at the room again. She noticed that she had overlooked an expensive looking piano on the far wall of the room, pushed against the wall and the key’s cover shut. She then looked to the left and saw a guitar case.

"How come you never play?" She asked.

Syaoran looked up from his book. "What?"

"The guitar. How come you never played until whenever Shiro Ame came?" She asked.

Syaoran glared at the guitar case in the far corner of the room. "I just didn’t like to." He muttered.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I’m sure you didn’t, you were just forced to learn how to play that well." She glanced to see if Syaoran was responding to that. He wasn’t, he was only reading his book. She sat on her knees and faced him. "Will you play for me?" She asked, giving him her best puppy eyes.

Syaoran sideglanced at her, sighing as he saw that look on her face. It wasn’t fair for her to use those methods to win him over, she knew it’d work. "Maybe later." He mumbled.

Sakura figured that was good enough, and resumed looking over the pages. She found, though, five pages later, that she hadn’t actually read anything, only let her eyes move over the words. She went back the few pages and tried over again, but she found she just couldn’t focus. She was tired out.

Syaoran yawned and dropped his book to get another one. He glanced at Sakura to see she was looking at the book with glazed over eyes. She didn’t look like she was getting any research done. Syaoran looked around the room. There was still a faint sound coming through from under the door of his sister’s movie, but it had quieted from what it had been. Asides from the occasional rumble of bass off the subwoofer the swirl of the fan was the only constant noise in the room.

I really would tell her Syaoran promised himself. But not when she’s so tired. He glanced at her and saw she had conked out, her head leaning on her own shoulder with her eyes closed peacefully. Syaoran felt himself smile, but he looked back to his book. Tommorrow. She’ll be gone again, and unless she screws up another transporting spell, who knows how long it will be until we see each other again.

Syaoran looked through the page about the crystals and cards, pausing to eye the crystal hanging on the necklace on Sakura’s neck, then went back to looking through the pictures. There was nothing new on this page about those things. He yawned again and looked at his watch. It was only nine eleven. A little less than twelve hours before Sakura would be boarding the airplane to fly out.

Syaoran stood up and stretched, glancing at Sakura as he did so. She was out like a light. Yet again Syaoran was amazed how easily she fell asleep, and slightly jealous. He knelt in front of her and carefully shook her shoulder. Nothing, she was still asleep. Syaoran, not really bothered by this at all, carefully slipped his arms around her shoulders and under her knees, then picked her up, throwing her arms over his shoulders.

Sakura stirred. She hadn’t remembered falling asleep, but suddenly she was so tired...and now she was horribly groggy. But she was moving. She wasn’t moving her muscles, was she? No, she was being carried. She just barely opened her eyes and found herself looking into a soft green shirt. One deep breath confirmed her thoughts. She considered waking herself up more and yelling her lungs out about how he shouldn’t take advantage of her when she was asleep- but he wasn’t, and she wasn’t really horribly set against this.

Syaoran kicked the sliding door over and walked carefully around the stairs, trying desperately to get past his sisters in the living room. He had just set his foot on the first step when he heard a squeak.

"That’s adorable!" Rana squeaked excitedly.

Syaoran rolled his eyes and continued away.

"They look like a married couple, quick, Tyung, do you have your camera?" Daikal asked.

"No." Tyung answered.

"What have you guys been doing?" Lai asked, having to shout as Syaoran had gotten to the top of the stairs.

Syaoran was glad to get upstairs where it was quiet, and walked gladly down the hall. He looked down at Sakura and saw that she had her eyes tightly shut- a little too tightly shut to actually be sleeping. He grinned to himself and walked into her room, flicking the light switch with his elbow.

Syaoran walked to the side of her bed and carefully laid her down. Syaoran stood up and grinned, seeing the effort in her expression as she tried to stay asleep. He put his finger to his lips and then put it to her forehead. "Sweet dreams, Sakura." Syaoran turned and left, flicking the light off and quietly shutting her door, then heading to his own room.

Sakura opened her eyes wide and sat up. Her forehead still tingled with warmth from where he had touched her. But why had he touched her forehead with his fingers? Just an impulse? It was a strange one, then. But his words; sweet dreams. That sounded very nice. But he sounded almost like he was joking. He probably was, he didn’t mean that... But she couldn’t deny he meant what he had said earlier. ‘That’s not how I feel about you at all’ what was that supposed to mean? Probably exactly what it says. He...he wanted to kiss me. And...and I did too, didn’t I? Why then, why did I run away like that? She sighed and laid back down, rolling onto her side. If he...if he still feels the same way, I mean...it can’t be that hard, can it? We’ve...almost done it- three times, but... but now... we can still do it, I’m sure we have time...I mean...if the opportunity comes up... Maybe I will... She let herself drift off into sweet dreams that Syaoran had willed her to go into.

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

Darn isn’t that frustrating!? I’m not going to make the audience wait anymore, my special writing advisor (and only person that reads this story to my knowledge) and I agreed that three times was just horribly unreasonable. So you know, I might decide to... I dunno. Anyway school started so writing moves slower, stupid stupid stupid school.

Well I think I’ll get a head start on the next chapter before I go to bed in my awful sleeping schedule of work and school.

Desperate for any notes of encouragement! [email protected]

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-Syaoran Fan