RECAP: Last chapter Sakura confronted Syaoran, got mad, tried to make him jealous, got herself in a mess, etc...They made up in the end anyway. Now Syaoran’s got a week left in Japan before he’s gotta get back.

Chapter 35 - End of Visit

Sakura hopped across the smooth stones that lay in a path across the clear and swift moving water. She could hear the spider after her, feel the reeking wind that it brought, polluting the clear air she was running through. The long flowing gown Sakura was wearing did not help her purpose as she tried to outrun the large beast, but she was supposed to be in it. It was a dream, anyway.

"ANGEL-CHAN!" The sharp high pitched shreik pulled Sakura out of her dream. She jumped halfway out of bed and then saw that Bob was trying to hide behind her half awake body.

Sakura angrily collapsed down on her bed. "Even in my dreams. Can’t you guys just leave me alone? Let me sleep!"

Kero was sulking very obviously at the foot of Sakura’s bed, glaring at Bob with electricity shooting out. "Bob is being so annoying!"

Sakura sighed loudly, then kicked the blanket off, sending Kero into the air and Bob flung behind her. She stood up unbalanced and stretched sloppily, then looked at the clock with squinting eyes, the sunlight coming through the window hurting her sleepy sensitive eyes. It was almost eleven thirty. Maybe it was a good thing Kero and Bob woke her up. "Fly to England again, then, Kero." Sakura mumbled, searching through the clothes in her drawer for a pair of jean shorts. "I’m sure Eriol would appreciate the company."

"Nani?" Kero asked.

"Nothing. Bob have you seen my jean shorts? You know, the ones with the green stitching?" Sakura asked.

Bob flew out of his hiding. "Burn pile. Many new things hide within."

Sakura turned with a glare at Kero, hands angrily on her hips. "Kero? Have you been transforming in my room again?"

Kero hung his head. "Listen, it wasn’t my fault! It’s not me, it’s Bob! He starts everything!"

Sakura was already ignoring him. She walked over to her closet and searched through the blackened and partially singed things and discovered her horribly scorched shorts, hard as a peice of wood. She sighed and shut the closet door, then headed back to her dresser drawers, seeking out a switch in outfit plans.

I wanted to wear those shorts. She was hoping to see Syaoran today. She knew he only had a couple days before he was off to Hong Kong again, and she wanted to make the most of them. So many of his words from yesterday blurred together. No one had ever been so nice to her, had they? It’s so strange to think we use to be rivals. But who says he will stay like this long? He always goes back to being distant and cold, why can’t we stay like this? Why does he have to leave again and mess everything up?

"...Earth to Sakura? Hello!"

Sakura blinked and looked up from the drawer where she had been dreaming off. "What?"

"Honestly, you sleep for practically twelve hours and you’re still day dreaming...I said have you called Tomoyo back? She called several times this morning." Kero reiterated.

Sakura shook her head, sighing, and went back to searching for a shirt, now that she had gotten another pair of shorts out. "Yeah, I’ll call her later." Sakura said absently. She really didn’t have any intentions of talking to her friend, because Tomoyo would probably just rant on and on about Shiro Ame’s visit, and then go on to talk about all of Syaoran’s flaws. No, she would rather see what Meilin and Syaoran were up to.

Should I call? No, I can’t do that. But I’m being stupid. Why am I so shy about calling him? I see him all the time for heaven’s sake, it’s not like it’s a big deal. It’s just the same as talking to him in person. But... Sakura was still nervous. She glanced over at the house phone she had left on her desk since the previous night when she had been talking with Rika, and then looked back to her shirt search. I should just do it. It’s not a big deal. I’m being stupid...

Sakura took her clothes and then grabbed the phone. Kero saw her move so quickly and frowned suspiciously. "Who are you calling?" He asked.

"Tomoyo." Sakura lied, heading out the door with her clothes and hidden phone.

"But you just said you were calling later-"

Sakura ignored him and shut the door behind her, then headed into the bathroom to change. It was a pain trying to switch clothes with Bob in the room shreiking about averting his eyes, or worse- when he didn’t, and he stared. Sakura got into the cool summer clothes, pausing momentarily as she walked down the hall to throw her pajamas into the room, then continued down the hall. Just dial the number. Then you’ll have to talk to him.

Sakura took a deep breath and leaned on the wall at the head of the stairs. She bit her lip as she pressed the phone on, then forced her fingers over the numbers. She held the phone up to her ear and tried to exhale out her stupid worry. What was a phone call, anyway? If she and Syaoran had practically been through everything together, why was a phone call so difficult? Possibly because it is so difficult to talk to him on the phone. But I am over that now. Hopefully he is too.

"Moshi moshi?" Meilin’s voice answered, her voice sounding hopeful.

"Ah, hello Meilin, is Li-kun there?"

"Oh. It’s you." She said, her hope deflating.

"Who were you hoping for?" Sakura asked curiously.

She sighed at the other end of the line. "It’s sad. I was hoping Komai might call."

Sakura grinned to herself. She never thought she’d see the day Meilin obsessed over another boy more than Syaoran. But Meilin seemed to have moved on. "I’m very sorry, but, if it’s any consolation, I imagine he will probably be calling you. He seemed to really like you."

"He’s probably already making another girlfriend wherever he is. I’m being foolish to think he could possibly still remember me."

Sakura held back from pointing out that Komai had only been away for three days, and she very much doubted even someone with the worst memory could forget someone that quickly. "I really doubt it. He seemed to have special interest in you. Beleive me. I was jealous."

"You? Kinomoto? Jealous of me, Li Meilin?"

Sakura laughed unsurely. "Is that so hard to beleive?"

Meilin laughed on the other end. "No, no, nevermind, you said you wanted Syaoran? Here he is." She said.

The phone was passed over and Sakura shifted nervously, wanting to pace. At least Meilin’s little chat had lightened things up a bit.

"Hai?" Syaoran answered.

"Hi, it’s Sakura." She said.

"What were you saying to Meilin? She seemed to be walking on air just now, with some self satisfied smirk that I’m afraid to know the source of." Syaoran said, launching right into conversation. Sakura couldn’t beleive it at first. Was Syaoran actually making an effort to start a conversation?

"Heheh, I just said I was a bit jealous of her, and I guess she found that funny or something." Sakura said.

"You will be living that down for a while, she won’t let you forget your own words."

Sakura smiled and began walking down the stairs. "I had no idea." She said jokingly.

There was only a breif silence in which Syaoran surprised her by yet filling it in again. "So did you want something?" He asked.

There. That was more Syaoran-typical. Sakura was unbothered by it, though, and continued into the kitchen while keeping an eye on Touya warily. He was making some type of egg dish, and she hoped he wouldn’t be suspicious of her phone conversation while she tried to make a sandwhich. "I was just wondering what you and Meilin’s plans are for the rest of the week." Sakura said, taking out the bread and hoping she hadn’t sounded too suspicious.

"Did you have something in mind?" Syaoran replied with another question.

"Well...not really." Sakura answered truthfully, setting out two peices of the bread and then closing the bag back up, almost losing the phone off her shoulder as she had to use both her hands in tying up the bag.

"I brought some books from our clan’s library, they might help a little in figuring out the whole Clow Reed thing. I’m not sure how much of the Chinese kanji you can read, but..."

"As long as your or Meilin can help me translate, I’m sure it’d be fine." Sakura said. Touya walked around her to get some bread for himself, and Sakura scurried away, not wanting him to hear anything of the other line.

"Well we aren’t doing anything today-"

"That’s not true!" Meilin’s voice countered strongly in the backround.

Syaoran sighed. "For most of the day." He reworded. "So you could come and look through them."

Sakura blinked and leaned against the kitchen counter. Had Syaoran just invited her over? He really was changing. She tried not to burst with happiness. "Sure, that sounds great. I’ll come over in a little bit, as long as that’s alright."
There was a pause on the other side, then Syaoran realized he was supposed to answer. "Yes."

"Alright, then, I’ll be there around one." She said. "Bye."

"Bye." Syaoran responded, clicking the phone off before any other possible words could be fit in. Sakura ignored that and shut her phone off, then walked back over to her sandwhich.

She walked over and found Touya giving her a glare. "What?" She asked, shoving past and continuing to spread jam across it.

"You just stroll off as you please now?" Touya asked.

"Huh?"

"Well it might have been courteous to at least ask permission before making these exciting plans." He continued.

"You don’t seem to ask before you drive off somewhere." Sakura pointed out.

"I’m not a fourteen year old girl. Where are you going ‘around one’ anyway?"

Sakura sighed heavily as she put the knife in the sink. "To Meilin’s house." She answered, figuring that was a safe answer.

"Who is Meilin?" Touya inquired.

"A girl. From my school. Who has come to our house on several different occasions." She said. She almost pointed out that Meilin had let Touya, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Nataly stay in her apartment (her and Syaoran’s apartment) when a bad storm had sprung up almost a year ago, but she left that alone, figuring that Touya might remember Syaoran lived there also. "So is that sufficient enough for you?"

"I don’t think Otto-san is going to like this new attitude." Touya said, going back over the pan where he made his lunch.

Sakura rolled her eyes and continued out of the room. Onni-chan’s such a brat these days. Why doesn’t he say something nice for a change? She bit into her sandwhich and slipped into her room, where Kero and Bob were having flying matches along the ceiling. She ducked as Bob was pushed by Kero, then sat on the edge of her bed, looking across the room to see how her appearance was. I could use a shower. I’ll go take one after I’m done eating, then I should be ready to go.

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

Syaoran slammed the spatula down onto the pan. "Fine, Meilin! If you don’t want yaki you make something to eat!"

Meilin sighed and wondered into the kitchen. "Fine. I will." She walked along the counter and gathered a pot along with some other kitchen instruments, then began with her own food concotion. She looked sideways at her cousin, who was dressed slightly better than usual. She was use to Syaoran’s perfect dressing skills, but this seemed a little more than coincidental. "Hmm, you look very nice today."

Syaoran grumpily continued rationing his ingredients for one person now. "What are you talking about?"

"It seems odd, don’t you think, that you changed outfits after talking to Sakura on the phone." Meilin continued on, enjoying her play with fire.

Syaoran stopped to glare and was about to comeback with something when he realized she had stolen the pot he needed. Since they were only visiting, they had very few kitchen things, and that pot was the only thing food could be cooked in. "You stole that!" Syaoran claimed, reaching for the empty pot.

Meilin dodged away. "One for one, loser, you weren’t paying attention a little too long." She said, trotting a safe distance away before turning to see if Syaoran was going to continue the race.

"Why did you have to come here to torture me, Meilin?" Syaoran asked, sighing forlornly.

Meilin laughed. "Someone’s got to keep you in line. Else you’d spend all your time stumbling around and talking to yourself about Sakura."

Syaoran darkened, and he jumped after her, chasing her right down the hall. Syaoran thought about using a bind spell, but it seemed his magic had gone low again since he was in Japan, and that would only enfuriate Meilin. He almost gained possession of the pot at the end of the hall, but she managed to push around him and flee back towards the kitchen. Syaoran ran after her, sighing. How will we ever get any lunch made now? He almost cornered her at the door, but she had heard something he hadn’t, and flung the door open, smiling breathlessly.

"Ah, Kinomoto-san, so nice of you to join us." She said.

Sakura smiled in return, though she wasn’t sure exactly what was going on. It seemed things were never quiet in the Li apartment. She stepped inside and found Meilin was holding a pot behind her back, despite the evil glare Syaoran was giving her.

"Have you eaten already?" Meilin asked.

"Yes, I just did." Sakura said, nervously fingering through her showered hair.

"Too bad, you won’t get to have my wonderful terriyaki."

"No, Meilin, we don’t have half the things to make it!" Syaoran said, annoyed. Why couldn’t they settle on yaki?

"You are just being a spoiler. I"ll go to the store if I have to." Meilin said.

Syaoran made sure he held a glare against hers for at least five seconds, then switched to Sakura, loosening up. "I’ll go get those books." He said, then dismissed himself from the room.

Sakura nodded then looked around their apartment, noticing the big difference of hardly any furniture. Syaoran had taken most everything back when he left in the spring, now hardly anything remained. "Wow, everything looks so different." She said to Meilin.

Meilin nodded and walked over with the pot to the stove. "Yes, it sucks not to have any television."

"Where do you sleep?" She asked curiously.

"Sleeping bags. On the awful floor." Meilin said, obviously annoyed.

"That sounds horrible." Sakura said. "I’d let you stay at my house, but..."

"But what?" Meilin asked, turning from the stove to see her.

"But Touya’s not very fond of Syaoran." Sakura finished, shrugging.

Syaoran came into that room about that very moment, looking annoyed from what she had just said, and let the books down a bit loudly.

"Didn’t you stay in the guesthouse at Tomoyo’s house during Shiro Ame’s visit?" Sakura asked.

"Well yes, but Syaoran has something against staying there, so I have been forced to stay here and suffer with him." Meilin explained, giving Syaoran a glare.

"I told you you could stay there if you want." Syaoran muttered, unstacking some of the thick books.

Sakura walked over and looked at them. "Why is most magic Chinese?" She asked.

Syaoran held in a sneeze from getting some of the loose dust up his nose, then answered. "No one’s really sure if Clow Reed was part chinese or not, his ethnicity is still a mystery, it seemed he travelled alot, but he had a fascination with China, and he had a spiritual connection with the land. That’s what legend says, anyway."

"Oh." Sakura said, taking a book and beginning to skim through it. She could understand some of the kanji, but some symbols were alien to her. "Is this like a history book?" She asked.

"Sort of-"

Meilin’s loud laugh from the kitchen interrupted him. "You’re not going to find any school books on Clow Reed, honestly..."

Sakura blinked cluelessly at Meilin for a moment then cleared her throat and continued to look through the book. She looked up to see what Syaoran was doing, and saw he was yawning as he looked intently at a page. "Hard to get enough sleep in a sleeping bag?"

Syaoran realized he was being spoken to and looked up. "Not really, it’s just..." His voice trailed off.

"Just that something’s draining your magic again?" Sakura guessed.

Syaoran nodded. "I’m pretty sure that’s what it is. But when I was in Hong Kong, I was fine, and there were still cards escaping here."

Sakura frowned. "That is odd." She agreed.

Meilin left her pot boiling and walked over to the counter where the books were spread out. "It’s a shame the elders are so hard nosed, they’d probably know exactly what was going on, if they’d bother to listen."

"My mother said that this may be over their heads."

Meilin raised her eyebrows. "That’s kind of scary. You think this is that big of a deal?"

Sakura kept quiet, though she was very annoyed. Giant spiders are a VERY big deal, Meilin. Though, of course, you could easily beat one up within seconds, what am I thinking? "How is your mother doing, anyway?" She asked, realizing she had been so dense as to not even remember that major fact.

Syaoran half grinned. "Much better." He said, liking the true concern in Sakura’s voice.

"Well Yelan-san is probably smarter than all the elders put together. And she didn’t know anything about this, right? You’re in deep." She said to Sakura, who nodded grimly in agreement.

Syaoran went silent for a while and turned pages rapidly, having found some valuable information. A section in this book was on Clow Cards, and in it included a breif history lesson on them. He looked over it quickly, able to read the Chinese kanji quickly. The Clow created two guardians, each possessing his own strength, and were made to always be completly faithful to their master, despite obstacles. Each of the guardians were designed as masters of magic, and learned further skills from the Clow himself. These guardians would protect the cards until the other master is chosen, and then would aid this other master as the Clow had ordered. Syaoran looked up and frowned. The wording in this story seemed slightly suspicious. For instance, why did they use the term ‘other master’ instead of ‘new master’, as if referring Clow Reed was still in existence? And faithful to their old master, despite obstacles- did that include death?

"Did you find something?" Sakura asked, already walking around and standing slightly too close as she did, trying to see the book he was looking at.

Syaoran didn’t bother to step away and instead pointed out what he had been reading. "The wording on this just sounds odd."

Sakura read through it, not catching many words, then looked up. "It’s just talking about Kero and Yue." She said, not sure why it would have been something to be suspicious about.

Syaoran should have figured Sakura wouldn’t have caught the odd wording, it not being in her exact language. "Yeah, uh, it’s probably nothing." He agreed.

Meilin was boredly tossing the pages over in a particularly large book. "I don’t get it. If these historians were such geniuses, why didn’t they bother to put in an index or table of contents or something?"

Syaoran sighed, though he agreed. "What we’re looking for is around the Yuan dynasty." He said, looking back to the book in front of him.

"Yuan, Yuan, Yuan..." Sakura sang to herself, flipping through another book.

Meilin looked up from the pages she had been looking at and gave a bewildered smile at Syaoran, who only grinned and continued looking through his book. Sakura noticed Meilin was watching her and looked up, her face flushing. "What?"

Meilin shrugged. "Do you always sing to yourself?" She asked.

Sakura’s cheeks felt hot. "O-only when I’m excited." She said, looking back to her book with embaressment.

Syaoran shut his book loudly and smiled at Sakura. "The Yuan dynasty isn’t very exciting, beleive me."

Meilin made a gagging coughing noise, which Syaoran watched with skepticsm. When he continued to glare at her and wait for an explanation for her actions, Meilin finally spoke. "How come when I do something stupid you don’t smile like that?" She asked.

Sakura could see where this was going, and tried to take sudden interest in her book. If Meilin was going to say something humiliating, Sakura figured she could pretend like she hadn’t heard it.

Syaoran just glared at her. "When you do something stupid," He said calmly, "The consequences are usually hell to pay."

Meilin put her fists down on the counter, frowning at the accusation. "When have I ever done anything like-"

"You stole magic, God knows how, said a spell you had no idea how to control, and sent us all on a little road trip through a video game. Remember that?"

Meilin went silent, and looked down at a book with annoyance, mumbling something about how it wasn’t her fault and that he was too hard on her as she leafed through the pages.

Sakura smiled at their sibling like squabble and shifted her weight, getting tired of standing. "I was just thinking about Hyrule the other day, I wonder if there’s any transporting spells strong enough to use, I’d love to visit there again."

"Didn’t seem like those consequences were hell to me." Meilin muttered.

Syaoran shot her a glare to keep her from saying any more, then looked with distress at Sakura. "You don’t really want to go there, do you? Remember that dragon, and that hand thing that chased you around?"

Sakura winced involuntarily, thinking of how Syaoran had relocated her ankle after she had fallen. Her ankle throbbed just thinking about it. She pushed that out of her mind. "But there was that really nice town, and that nice horse farm..." She let her voice trail off, as Syaoran was going back to reading his book while rolling his eyes. Sakura looked blankly at the many words she didn’t know, then looked forlornly towards the window. It was hot outside, a great beach day, but she wasn’t going to get to go to the beach today. Why was she complaining, anyway? She was getting to be with Syaoran, and, and...And we are reading books. How exciting. Maybe I should just leave and go see Moondust, or at least go to the pool. Maybe they’d come with me? No, probably not. The antisocial people they are. Or he is, I guess.

Meilin shut her book and headed over to the stove where her pot of water was boiling. "I don’t see why you guys bother looking through those books. All you’re going to get out of it is a headache."

Syaoran inwardly agreed. He didn’t know why he was bothering to look through these. Because it’s helping Sakura. And if these cards do something in an alliance again, we need to be prepared for it. They could ruin the whole world if set loose. He glanced over his shoulder at the porch’s sliding glass door, where even the hot outdoors looked inviting. The heat here was hardly anything compared to Hong Kong, though he had hardly spent any time outside. Maybe he would go visit Moondust today. No, Meilin already said I have to take her to see Moondust, which will mean I won’t get to do anything but stand around and watch her tear around.

Sakura wondered how she could change subjects to bring up the beach or the pool. The night before when she had been talking to Rika, she had invited Sakura over to play with her, Chihura, Tamakazi, and Trent in a big water fight, but Sakura had declined on the basis that she had some catching up to do the next day. It looked the only catching up she was getting was on Chinese kanji. "Are you two planning to visit the ocean?" She asked, hoping this intro wasn’t as lame as it sounded to herself.

"I hate the ocean." Meilin said haughtily, not turning from her pot.

Sakura looked from Meilin back to her book, then to Syaoran, who was shaking his head. "She is afraid of jellyfish." He explained.

"Well you’re lucky you weren’t the one stung! See how you’d like it!" Meilin said.

Syaoran grinned almost devilishly and leaned across the counter so he could talk more quietly. Sakura smiled unsurely back and ignored her instinct to lean back and waited for whatever her was going to say. "You see, my oldest sister, Nuhua, said the best cure for a jellyfish sting was urine, so, Meilin, only being about eight at the time-"

Meilin had heard the latter part of it and jumped over the counter and tackled him to the ground, clasping a hand over his mouth. Syaoran laughed anyway, making Meilin even more angry, so she punched him in the shoulder and got up roughly glaring at him. Sakura was smiling broadly, finding it all very entertaining, and it very nice to see Syaoran laugh. He never laughed.

"You are worse than me and Touya." Sakura remarked.

Syaoran, still laughing a bit to himself, sat up from the floor and looked after Meilin, who was walking over to the stove angrily. "Come on, Meilin, you don’t have to be so sour about it." He called, grinning at Sakura with his sparkling eyes, making her smile again.

Meilin was silent for a second, then turned around swiftly, sending an egg into the air, which hit Syaoran’s arm with a crack. He glanced at the smearing egg, then up at Meilin, his smile turning into a glare. Meilin only glared back challengingly. Syaoran glanced around himself for any weapon, then, grabbing the glass half full of orange juice on the tiny fold out stool beside him, took off at a sprint, quickly flinging the orange juice in such a perfect manner that every drop of its contents hit Meilin, and the floor was saved from any mess. Meilin, who had tried to flee but to no avail, had the sink on in no time and was filling a glass of her own, and easily doused Syaoran, who had been standing nearby, and also sprinkling Sakura, who had been trying to stay out of harm’s way.

"Li Syaoran, where are your manners? You never throw orange juice at a girl."

Syaoran only glared, unconvinced, dripping with egg yolk on one arm and the rest of the water coating the rest of his shirt. Sakura shivered to herself, amazed that Meilin wasn’t terrified of what he was planning to do in revenge. Syaoran could be very mean, very forceful, and he didn’t seem to stop at the line of gender. With all the speed and skill of eight years of intense training, Syaoran had shouted and commanded a very large stream of water to hit Meilin. She was half knocked to the ground, and as she straightened, completly drenched, she had a glare that rivaled her cousin’s.

Syaoran knew not to use magic around Meilin unless he didn’t mind her shouting and ranting. So he was totally prepared for the amount of water she started hurling at him with the cup, then darted away as she picked up the pot of boiling water and steaming meat threateningly. Syaoran jumped back behind Sakura, holding onto her arms and jokingly using her as a shield. Sakura grinned and tried to get away, knowing Meilin wouldn’t bother avoiding Sakura to get to Syaoran, only plow through her. Sakura got a brilliant idea and called out her staff, then brought out a spell that covered both her and Syaoran.

Syaoran grinned at Sakura’s brilliance and slid around her, leaving his arm carefully around her shoulder and smiling tauntingly at Meilin, who was glowering darkly at them. Sakura tried to shake it off as nothing, but she still was worried about being this close to anyone, even though she knew Syaoran had nothing but the best intentions. She glanced sideways at him and found he was smiling, and he met her eye directly. Sakura blushed and looked away, though she couldn’t run away, because he still held on to her.

"You just have to go and ruin all my good old fashioned fun. There you go again, putting magic into it." Meilin complained.

Syaoran saw that Sakura was uncomfortable, and took his arm off her shoulder, walking slyly out of the shield. "There. I’m being fair." He said, keeping an eye on the pot of still scaulding hot water in her hands.

Sakura took the shield down and stepped forward cautiously. "You know, Rika is having a waterfight at her house today, and I’m sure she’d love some extra players."

"Ah yes, Tamakazi called about that earlier, whining that Trent spent all his time with Rika and that he’d have no men to have a good time with." Meilin said sarcastically.

"Then we’d better not bring Syaoran." Sakura said, grinning, not daring to take her eyes off Meilin.

Syaoran glared, though he wasn’t actually mad. "Well anything would be better than having Meilin pour scaulding hot water on you." He said.

Sakura smiled broadly. "They’ll be happy to see you! Have you visited them since you’ve been here?" Sakura asked. It had been about four months since he had seen them, and Sakura was sure he was alot taller.

"Not yet." Syaoran said, shrugging. He just hadn’t gotten to seeing them- visiting with Tamakazi was a lower priority on his list.

Sakura was surprised, because she had been convinced the few days she hadn’t seen Syaoran just after his arrival that he would have visited, but she found she was wrong. "I see. Well, you’ll want to change, right?" Sakura said, looking skeptically at Syaoran’s egg stained shirt.

"Yeah, I guess I’m forced to change." Meilin said loudly from where she was, holding the sticky orange-juice-wettened shirt off her skin.

"I’ll wait here, and we can walk there together." Sakura decided, glad that Meilin was in the room. She made speaking with Syaoran much easier. But lately, he seemed so laid back and easy to talk to, she wasn’t sure where his old personality had gone. He hadn’t lost it, for sure, because he still seemed to have a temper with Mark, but still, he seemed almost...content? She watched him walk out of the room with intriguement.

This water fight will be fun. With two martial experts and one judo beginner, how could it not be?

___________________________________________________________________

Sakura pumped her water gun once more to be assured that her next shot would be a good one. She stayed flat against the wall and glanced sideways at Chihura, who was her fellow teamate, aiding her in this trap. Chihura grinned devilishly to Sakura, agreeing with the signal to move forward. Sakura sidled along the outter wall of Rika’s house, her eyes and ears sharp for any sound of intruders. She held her gun in front of her, ready to shoot after she’d turn the corner of the wall.

A second too late she heard footsteps behind her, and before she knew it, in one swift motion her arms were pinned to her back, and she was being held in front of the captor. She felt the wet end of the gun on her temple, threatening to shoot. In an instant she was turned around and saw that Chihura was pinned by Tamakazi, giggling girlishly. "You let me go!" She cried, though laughing all the way.

That left Trent or Syaoran to be holding her, and by the way his hands were holding her back, she knew it was Syaoran. Sakura tried vainly to kick behind her, but Syaoran easily keep out of her feet’s way. "Where are the others?" He asked, tightening his grip on her arms.

Sakura laughed. "I won’t tell you anything!" She shouted foolishly, playing along with his game.

"You don’t want to watch your friend get shot, do you?" Syaoran asked, grinning as he looked over her hair to Tamakazi to make sure his friend was faring well with his prisoner. It seemed Chihura wasn’t resisting much.

Chihura spit on the ground in front of her. "I’d rather die." She said spitefully.

Sakura laughed to herself and struggled once more to get out of Syaoran’s grasp. She knew she could pull away if she really had to, but the fact was, she didn’t mind it all that much. She lightly banged his elbow with her watergun, but didn’t have the hold on it to shoot. Syaoran mumbled ‘ow’ jokingly, but didn’t falter.

Syaoran leaned forward to speak into her ear. "You could become a double agent, join our side." He whispered.

Sakura grinned widely to herself, feeling a bit giddy from all the attention she was getting from him, but reminded herself to keep strong to her side. Though her knees did feel a little weak from feeling his breath on her ear. She collected in her mind her plan of action, knowing that if she failed to carry out this judo footswipe she would look like an idiot, then swung her right leg around and back, taking out his footing and nailing him in the back of the knees.

His moment of surprise and unbalance gave Sakura the chance to run away, and she considered fleeing the scene, but then, remembering her teamate Chihura was being held not-so-against-her-will by Tamakazi, and quickly turned around and pointed her gun at Syaoran’s forehead, who had been pulled to his knees on the ground. He grinned and met her eyes for a second, then dropped his head in mock shame. "I have disgraced myself and my family. Shoot me now and let me die honorably."

Sakura smiled, then looked over to Tamakazi. "A bargain- the girl for this...boy." She said, saying ‘boy’ with fake disgust.

Tamakazi bit his lip, considering. "Perhaps another bargain could be made? An alliance?"

Chihura spit on the ground again. "Never!"

Sakura looked back to Syaoran, taking a step back unconsciously because she was aware he was watching her, then looked to Tamakazi. "Where is Trent and Rika anyway?"

Tamakazi laughed. "Probably doing a little something somewhere."

"Where does that leave poor Meilin-chan?" Chihura asked, not even squirming from Tamakazi’s hold, not even seeming to notice it anymore.

"She’s planning some large attack, probably." Syaoran said, shifting weight on his knees.

Sakura chewed on the inside of her lip, then looked up. "It sounds like Trent may be a traitor on their side, anyway, Chihura. Maybe we should join them?" Sakura asked, wanting nothing more than to be teamates with these certain people.

Chihura shrugged. "I think they just want your awesome footswipe on their side, but, whatever."

Tamakazi let go of Chihura and stepped back. "Alright then."

Syaoran looked at Sakura and met his eyes until she realized he wanted her to put her gun down. Sakura quickly lowered it then offered him a hand up. Syaoran grinned and took it, standing up. "When did you learn that?" He asked.

Sakura blushed. "I just..." She left it wordless, not bothering to try and answer.

Syaoran looked around, then spotted a tree, and jogged over to it, quickly and effortlessly climbing up on it. Sakura, Chihura, and Tamakazi all strolled over and watched him climb up. "If I know Meilin..." He said, struggling as he swung around upsidedown on an impossible set of branches, "She’ll be waiting somewhere high."

Chihura’s eyes widened. "That branch doesn’t look...stable." She said, her words already lost as he climbed over the unstable branch and reached the crown of the tree.

"Can you see her?" Tamakazi called.

Syaoran searched around, then shook his head. "Nothing."

Syaoran, not thinking about what he was doing and flipped down off the tree, landed solidly on his feet on the grassy ground. He stood up and then realized Chihura and Tamakazi were gawking at him. "I, uh, use to do alot of gymnastics, when I was little." Syaoran said, hoping it was an alright explanation.

Chihura was watching him with starstruck eyes. "That was amazing. Can you do flips off the ground?"

Syaoran scratched the back of his head nervously. "Well, I, uh-"

"You know the story about how the Persians use to perform acrobatics?" Tamakazi started.

Chihura clapped her hand over his mouth, looking iritated. "Not now, Tamakazi, we have a mission to fulfill."

Sakura was looking over her shoulder, where she thought she had seen something. She ignored Chihura and Tamakazi’s bickering and tried to listen for any footsteps. Meilin was just as elusive as Syaoran, and if she didn’t want to be heard, she wouldn’t be. Syaoran had turned and was looking as well. Without any forewarning, he pumped his gun and shot it at seemingly nothing. Sakura frowned and looked where his water hit, and saw Meilin was jumping off a low tree branch, trying to get away from Syaoran’s relentless shots. She finally stopped running and turned, glaring as her long black hair dripped into her face.

"You traitors! Backstabbers! Why are you conversing with the enemies?" Meilin called.

Sakura felt a little guilty for doublecrossing, but it was only a watergun fight, she couldn’t feel that bad. "We’re distracting them!" She called.

Syaoran glanced sideways at her while keeping an eye on Meilin. "Are you now?" He asked.

Sakura grinned. "Not really." She admitted.

"You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, sucker!" Chihura called, shooting her gun at Meilin as well.

Meilin dodged under the stream of water and then tossed a water balloon at them. It hit Tamakazi in the leg. He glanced down then looked back up, unbothered. "You know balloons were often used as-"

He was interrupted by a large jet of water that was shot into his mouth by Chihura. He spit out the water and glared at her. He opened his mouth to respond, then shut it, watching Meilin approach them at a jog.

"You guys are no fun, see if I ever have a water fight with you again."

"Is our fighting skill not good enough?" Sakura asked.

"It’s not that, it’s that you guys don’t even retaliate." She said, her hands on her hips.

"Hey you guys!" Rika called, approaching from behind them. They all turned to face her. "Do you wanna go inside and get something to drink and watch a movie or something?"

Tamakazi grinned. "Or watch those two make out on the couch-" Tamakazi said in a lowered voice, interrupted by Chihura’s backhand.

"What movie? None of those ones you borrowed from Naoko, those were too scary." Chihura said.

"No, I got some action ones, if you want. Come look, you can pick out whatever." She said.

"Where’s Trent?" Tamakazi called after her as she was starting to turn back.

"What?" She shouted.

"I said, where’s Trent?" Tamakazi shouted a little louder.

"Oh, he’s inside." She replied, then turned and continued on her way.

Tamakazi chuckled a bit skeptically, but no one said anything, obviously wanting to spare her of the embaressment. They began following Rika around the side of her house.

"I hate watching action movies with him." Meilin said to Sakura, pointing at Syoaran’s back.

Sakura glanced at him and saw he was talking to Tamakazi about something or another. "Why?" She asked Meilin, falling in step beside her.

"Because, it’s always ‘I can do this’, or ‘I’ve done that move before’..."

Sakura half smiled, imagining this. It was probably true, Syaoran was very good at those acrobatic stunts they did in the films, though she still doubted some of what Meilin was saying. "Really? I never pictured Li-kun as the boasting kind."

Meilin shrugged. "Well, no, but you can tell that’s what he’s thinking. That bored glare he gets whenever he is watching television..."

Sakura smiled. She could understand him completly. She rarely watched television anymore herself, finding it boring. They had gone through terrifying and life threatening events just as exciting if not more as those action films, and why would you want to waste time sitting in front of a box? Yes, she decided, Syaoran had the right to boast watching those action movies, because it was the truth. She just laughed in reply to Meilin and walked into the nicely cool air conditioned house.

Meilin’s shoulders shivered. "Brr, this is cold. Hong Kong is a thousand times hotter than this." She declared.

"It’s not cold, I’m still dying of heat." Sakura said, fanning herself with her free hand.

"You want a cool down?" Meilin offered, pointing her water gun in Sakura’s face.

"Not in the house!" Rika cried, looking over.

Meilin sourly put her gun back at her side, muttering, "I wasn’t really going to shoot it, goodness."

Sakura smiled, not minding Meilin at all. In fact, she had missed Syaoran’s cousin, having not seen her since her abrupt leave just before Syaoran left in the spring. She hadn’t changed much, asides from being a little taller and a more girlish figure. Sakura looked to the collection of videos everyone was looking through. None of them really caught her attention. She didn’t really want to watch a movie, really, but since she was with such a large group of friends, she figured their commentaries would keep it entertaining. She looked up to see what Syaoran was doing. He glanced sideways and smiled at her, and she quickly blushed, smiled, and looked back to the videos. How does he do that? Her thoughts went after this, but were interrupted suddenly by something else, something that warned the deepest part of her mind like a set of sharp sparks cautioning her from going forward.

Sakura frowned, quickly recognizing this as the aura of another escaping card. She tried to determine how much, where, and when, but it was weak yet, just strong enough to disrupt her from waving it away. She glanced over her shoulder, then looked back to the movies, trying to wipe away her frown so she didn’t look so suspicious. She found that Syaoran was looking at her with a frown, as if questioning her sudden change in behavior. Sakura straightened up and looked out the window, then around, knowing she now had his attention. She tried to sense what card, but she couldn’t. She bit her lip, then decided she should leave now while she could. "Ah, guys, I’ve got to get going, I forgot about the time. I’ll see you later, ‘kay?"

Rika was the first to even acknowledge she had spoken. "Oh, alright." She said, smiling. "See you."

"Bye." Chihura mumbled, reading the back to one of the tape covers.

Sakura turned and began walking out, making sure she caught Syaoran’s eye. To her dismay, Meilin was watching them, and she wasn’t able to mouth anything. Instead she was forced to walk on, to go by herself. He’ll come after you. He always helps, doesn’t he? Sakura quietly slipped out the back screen door and began walking a little more quickly on the sidewalk, her mind pulsing with the caution alerting it. She looked over her shoulder at Rika’s house that slowly was blocked by other houses and trees. She sighed and hurried a little faster, knowing she shouldn’t wait up for Syaoran, he was sure to catch up easily. She felt the card’s presence starting to pulse a little faster and she moved more quickly for it.

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

"I haven’t watched this in ages." Chihura said, sitting on her knees on the couch as they sat down in front of Rika’s television.

Syaoran shifted in his seat, absently pushing Meilin off of him. He didn’t wanted to cause suspicions to arise by leaving directly after Sakura, but he was starting to get impatient. He could sense the cards, though not very strongly, because he suspected his magic was being stolen from him again. Still, if he sensed anything at all, he definitely wanted to be where the action was. Sakura had fought enough by herself.

He sighed and looked at the clock on the VCR. Ten minutes. She could be fighting the card by now. I should just leave, who cares what they think. "I’ve got to leave, Meilin." Syaoran said in a lowered voice.

Meilin frowned at him. "Is it a..."

Syaoran studied her for a second. Why lie to her? He nodded his head.

Meilin squeaked. "Syaoran and I have got to get going. Thanks for having us." She announced loudly.

Syaoran cringed. This is why he lied to Meilin. Now she’d be following him around the whole card fight. How was he going to get rid of her? Syaoran got up from the couch and walked as inconspicuously to the door as possible, then slipped outside, Meilin right on his tail. Once outside he went into a full sprint in the direction of the power source.

Meilin was right beside him, breathing heavily to keep up. "What..do you think...it is?" She asked, almost running into him as he took a sharp corner on the sidewalk.

"Hard to tell." Syaoran said. "But you shouldn’t go." It was worth a try.

Meilin gave him the worst face ever. "Of course I’m coming!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "Meilin you know this is over your head. Don’t risk danger for the rest of us."

Meilin pouted. "I’ll stay out of the way." She muttered.

Syaoran slowed down. The magic seemed to be moving, changing directions. Because it’s chasing Sakura around now. Syaoran quickly racked his brain for a plan to get there more quickly. A bus was slowing to a stop ahead. Syaoran quickly shot into a run and got to the door just as it was closing. He hurried into a seat, Meilin trailing behind him, then quickly focused on where to get off. As they drove out of the suburbs and into a more country scene, Syaoran realized where Sakura probably was. She must have decided to ride Moondust around. She’s catching on.

When the bus stopped at the hardly designated spot, Syaoran (followed by Meilin) quickly lept down out of the bus and across the ditch in the road to the field on the other side. In the far distance he thought he saw some movement, but it dissapeared under the hill. Syaoran called out his sword as he ran and headed up the hill, trying to increase his speed into losing Meilin off his trail.

As he emerged over the hill, Syaoran easily spotted Sakura, who was galloping with much skill atop Moondust. The horse was completly stretched out as she ran rapidly away from the icy form of the Freeze. She looked over her shoulder, then let go of Moondust’s mane with her hands and clutched her staff, pointing it at the freeze. At the distance Syaoran was watching her from, he couldn’t hear the words she spoke, but he saw her shout something, and instantly an impressively powerful spin of fire grazed the Freeze’s side as it tried to dodge.

Syaoran decided to help out. He gripped his sword and followed through the movements to the same attack he had been working on perfecting, then sent the ball of raw energy charging across the field, burning the grass over which it traveled. It squarely hit the Freeze with an incredible crash, making a crackling sound that Syaoran had to cover his ears from. He couldn’t see for a while from the blinding light he had created, but once all the little flickers settled down, he saw that the Freeze wore a shield, and was still after Sakura. Syaoran glared narrowly. This attack was capable of going through any shields- why hadn’t this worked? Was it because his attack was still too weak?

Sakura, having seen Syaoran by now, was galloping up to him while the Freeze was not chasing her. She hopped off Moondust’s back as they were still trotting and ran over. "It seems only fire can get through." She said.

"I’m sure we could have figured that out." Meilin said indignantly, stopping beside Syaoran after her exhausting run.

Sakura blinked with slight frustration at Meilin for coming, then addressed Syaoran. "I tried other attacks, but the shield catches it. Do your ward cards work?"

Syaoran frowned, thinking. That last attack, as weak as it had been, seemed to have drained most of his energy. "I’m not sure...I think-"

Sakura interrupted by looking over her shoulder at the fast approaching Freeze card. "Mamoru!" A shield came up quickly over all three of them, just as sharp daggers of ice shot out. Sakura looked quickly to Syaoran. "It will freeze my shield any second." She shouted over the clashing noise.

"I don’t have any magic!" Syaoran replied, admitting the truth.

"Oh." Sakura replied, looking with fear at the starting to brittle shield barrier. "Then..." She tried to think quickly. Sakura wished she could stay calm through these situations. She admitted, she had gotten better, but she still had a tendency to panic, as most would. "Take some!" She said, grabbing his arm, then trying vainly to concentrate.

It had been a while since Sakura ‘lent’ some of her magic to him, and Syaoran forgot how good it felt to have her strong magic flowing through him, mixing with the last traces of his own.

Meilin, however, found no comfort from this situation, and looked with bewildered eyes at the two in front of her, standing perfectly still. She looked up at the shield that was keeping them from freezing and watched as cracks were starting to develope from the constant banging of the icicle daggers. "You guys..." She said, watching unsurely. When no one responded, she jumped forward and shook both of them violently. "You guys!"

The second both of their eyes opened, Syaoran had slammed down his sword, as Sakrua slammed her staf down, and almost in unison they had called out a fire attack, one that crashed through their shield, then through the Freeze’s own, and caught it completly off guard, nailing the Freeze. Sakura put her staff at it. "I command you to return to your sealed form! Freeze!"

The Freeze sealed into a distorted card, but was sealed all the same. Sakura breathed a sigh of releif and took the card out of the air.

Meilin danced nervously, jumping out of the shield that was breaking apart into sharp chards. Any second the roof of the shield would fall down like little knives, nailing Sakura and Syaoran in the head. "Watch out!" She shrieked, the crack over the shield just starting to give way.

Syaoran looked up just in time to see what she was talking about, then grabbed Sakura and pulled her down and out of the shield just as the ice started to fall. Syaoran breathed a sigh of releif and he lay safely in the grass, then looked sideways where Sakura was laying flat on her back. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Sakura turned her head and smiled. "Well I was until you pushed me into the grass."She said.

Syaoran sat up. "Hey, it was the grass or a peice of ice through your head."

"Yes, well, I’m alright." Meilin announced loudly with annoyance.

Sakura sighed forlornly as she stood up. Had Meilin not been here, Sakura might have had a few things to say, but now...She just smiled good naturedly. "Thanks for helping, I’d still be running around right now."

Meilin rolled her eyes at the sweet smile her cousin was giving Sakura. It’s so obvious these two are in love with each other. Am I the only one that sees this? I could choke on all the affection in the air. Meilin decided she was going to confront her cousin when they got home. "We should get going, it’s getting into the evening." She said. Meilin had to bite her lip from saying anything as she noticed both the looks of dismay on each their faces.

_____________________________________________________________________

"So when are you going to ask her out?" Meilin started, working on supper in the kitchen. She figured that if Syaoran was to get really mad, she had a pot of boiling water for her aid.

"What are you talking about?" Syaoran mumbled, half tranced as he watched a game of soccer on the television.

"Sakura, duh, it’s obvious that you guys are in love with each other." Meilin said, glancing up to see if she had caught his attention yet.

Syaoran was about to shout some retaliation, but he decided to be more mature about. After all, he couldn’t deny his own hopes. "We’re leaving in a week." Syaoran pointed out.

"All the more reason."

Syaoran sighed and dared to take his eyes of the TV. "What are you suggesting?"

Meilin grinned. She had gotten her cousin hooked. "You should go over to her house, invite her somewhere really nice. Like a restaraunt or something. And you have to show up with some flowers, that’s always really romantic, maybe a single flower- do you know what her favorite flower is? Anyway, get a song dedicated or something, that’s really sweet,oh what if you played it and sang it yourself!?-"

"I get the point." Syaoran said with annoyance.

"So what are you waiting for?" Meilin asked.

"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked, playing dumb.

"I mean get the phone and get this underway!"

Syaoran sighed. "You don’t actually beleive I’d-"

"Syaoran you are such a baby! For heaven’s sake, I don’t see what the big deal is-"

"We’re just friends!" Syaoran defended himself, giving up on the dumb act.

"Uhuh, right, so if you’re just friends, call her up and invite her for a casual dinner!"

"But I-"

"Are you scared or something?" Meilin challenged. Once she had said this, she was convinced she had gotten him hooked.

"Fine!" Syaoran shouted, getting up from the couch and stalking over to the phone. He hastily picked it up and dialed out Sakura’s number. Meilin ran over to the cordless phone and picked it up, turning it on.

"What are you doing!?" Syaoran whispered harshly, beginning to feel nervous as the phone rang.

"I’ve got to make sure you’re actually calling her."

"But you can’t just listen in-"

"You’re afraid I’ll hear something?" Meilin asked, grinning.

Syaoran just breathed out shortly and glared.

"Moshi moshi?" Touya’s voice answered.

Syaoran panicked. He couldn’t answer this, it would be definite chaos. He was frozen for one second, then quickly looked to Meilin and waved his arms at her, trying to get her to talk. Meilin frowned with confusion, then slowly agreed. "I-is Sakura there?" She asked, looking to Syaoran with still confused eyes.

"Who is this?" Touya asked suspiciously.

"Meilin."

There was silence on the other end of the line, then some movement, then finally Sakura answered. "Hi Meilin!"

Meilin didn’t answer, but only glared over at Syaoran and waited for him to speak. With a long sigh, Syaoran spoke. "It’s not really Meilin."

With a slight pause, Sakura replied. "Oh, I see. Good move, Touya’s waiting for this girl to call him back and he’s extra cranky."

"Yeah..." Syaoran answered. Now he was wordless. He wished Meilin wasn’t on the line, else he might have been able to talk more freely, but she was there, waiting with satisfaction for the thick silence to end. "Listen, I was wondering..." What had his competitive spirit gotten him into?

Meilin sighed loudly, which was heard in the phone.

"Are you alright?" Sakura asked unsurely, wondering why Syaoran was acting so odd, and most of all; why he was calling her in the first place.

"Yeah, do you have any plans tommorrow night?" Syaoran said quickly, cringing as he said it.

Sakura froze where she was walking in the hall. Was Syaoran asking her out somewhere? She had judo classes tommorrow. "Not really..." She answered slowly. Sakura wondered into her room, ducking absently under a stuffed animal Kero sent flying across the room.

"Angel-chan!" Bob exclaimed, buzzing right behind her head.

"Cut it out, guys, I’m on the phone!" Sakura ordered.

Kero sent a Binding spell right at Bob. Instead of getting hit, Bob put up at shield and deflected it, but unfortunately it hit Sakura squarely, binding her motionless. Kero stared with horror, then shouted a reverse, cowering as Sakura regained use of her limbs. "KERO! BAKA! I’m ON THE PHONE!"

Kero hung his head with shame. "Bob was sprinkling dust in my eyes, it was stinging really bad-"

"I don’t care WHAT Bob did, if you ever use magic in my room again I’ll kick you out!"

"Sakura-chan!" Kero cried with terror. "You can’t do that! I’m-"

"It’s MY room, I can do whatever I want! It’s not like you’re a very helpful gaurdian beast anyway..." Sakura shook her head and brought the phone back to her ear. "Sorry, really, they’re really getting on my nerves."

Meilin was staring at Syaoran with disbeleif and confusion, totally thrown off by Sakura’s odd side of the conversation. She had had to hold the phone away from her ear through Sakura’s shouting. "It’s alright." Syaoran answered slowly, finding the break a releif from his horrible pick up line.

"Well anyway, listen, I was thinking that since my father and brother are going to be out tommorrow evening, maybe you and Meilin could come over for supper?" Sakura offered.

"Oh- ah..." Syaoran glanced unsurely to Meilin who was shaking her head rapidly in protest. She then pointed at him and mouthed ‘you take her out’! Syaoran half grinned and looked away from her. "Yeah, that’d be good. Meilin’s been whining about the little kitchen equipment we have here anyway." Syaoran had to stifle a satisfied laugh as Meilin was waving her arms in protest.

"Oh, good then." Sakura said. She paused a second to make sure Syaoran had nothing to say- seeing as he had been the one that called- then went ahead with the goodbyes. "Well you can come around four then, if that’s alright."

"Y-yeah, that’s fine. I’ll see you then."

"Bye."

Syaoran hung up the phone, completely releived by Sakura’s suggestion. Meilin was already charging over.

"No way are you getting out of this."

"Well it seems you’re stuck going too, Meilin." Syaoran said, smiling smugly.

Meilin narrowed her eyes, threating to push him. "I think I may just suddenly come up with a twenty four hour bug, wouldn’t it be horrible if I was too sick to go-"

"But you can’t bale! It wouldn’t be right if I just showed up by myself!" Syaoran said defensively.

"Well I’m not going to let you get away with this!" Meilin declared, brushing past him and heading for her room.

Syaoran sighed and began contemplating how he was going to get away with this.

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

"Jenjyu, you two should get inside, another storms approaching." Yelan’s voice carried with the wind, calling in her husband and son.

Syaoran sat up with a jolt. He blinked his eyes a few times, looking around his room. What had woken him up so suddenly? Another shrill ring from the telephone made him jump, making him overwork his muscles in their sleepy state. He irritably threw the covers off him and headed out of his room, shivering and crossing his arms over his bare chest. He yawned largely and found the phone laying on the counter, wincing as it rang again and hurt his still sleepy sensitive ears.

"Hai?" He said sleepily, rubbing his eyes with one hand.

"Syaoran? This is Rana." She paused, waiting for him to respond, but he didn’t. "Are you there?"

"Yeah." Syaoran said, starting to feel awake.

"Listen, mom has had a relapse, just after she got out of rehab, the doctors aren’t sure about her condition and she looked horrible when we visited- are you still there?"

"Yeah." Syaoran answered hastily.

"So we need you back, okay? You’ve got to come home right now."

"Wait, wait a second- are you sure-" Syaoran was frustrated with his sleepy mind, it would not work. "Are you sure you’re not exaggerating?"

"Of course I’m sure!"

"Well....I dunno. I’m only here for like five more days anyway."

"Can’t you just come back tommorrow?"

"What’s all this about?" Meilin demanded, stumbling into the kitchen in her pajamas.

"MEILIN! TALK SOME SENSE-" Syaoran held the phone from his ear as his sister tried to shout to Meilin. He handed it to her and left her with it, heading back into his room so he could think.

"Just this week?" Meilin was saying.

Syaoran shut the door to his room, walked to his bed and collapsed. He was exhausted for no apparent reason- he had forgotten how much he hated the magic induced sleepiness from having your energy stolen.

Mother’s sick again? Syaoran found that hard to beleive- she had seemed well on her way to recovery when he’d last seen her. Can’t they just leave me alone? Two weeks, that’s all I ask- two weeks of vacation, and they manage to ruin that. Syaoran rolled onto his side and looked towards the sliding glass door, looking out into the moonlit night. He hadn’t got to enjoy summer nights this season, nor any time of year for that matter. Syaoran sighed and looked back up at the ceiling, knowing that he was going to have to face the truth. I’ll need at least a day to get everything packed, and... But I can’t ignore them. I’ve got to leave. Day after next.

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

"We should both go. I’m sure we can get all of this packed in time." Meilin said.

"You go ahead, I’ll get everything packed for a night flight, don’t worry." Syaoran said. Pleading that Meilin would read between the lines and see that he wanted some time to himself didn’t work out very well.

"Syaoran, we’re wasting time right now! Hurry up and pack your stuff!"

"Meilin!" Syaoran said, looking her straight in the eye. "I still need to get stuff done here, okay?" He said, his eyes begging for understanding.

Meilin was silent for a moment before seeing. "Oh, I see." She smiled, then with her unsensible speed she hugged him tightly. Syaoran quickly squirmed out of it, glaring at her for an explanation. "My favorite cousin is finally facing up to those harbored feelings inside! I get it, I’ll leave. But don’t disappoint me."

Syaoran sighed slowly. "Meilin...-"

"No, no, don’t let me stop you. Don’t worry about anything, I know she feels the same way for you. I’m a girl, I can tell these things."

"Meilin-"

"If I hurry I can make the eight O’clock flight." She quickly grabbed her small suitcase of things she had packed the night before after getting off the phone with Rana. "Remember, don’t disappoint me."

Syaoran rolled his eyes inwardly but said nothing. "See you in Hong Kong, Meilin."

"Yes, thanks for wishing me a safe trip alone. I sure hope no one tries to jump me or tries to bomb the plane I’m in..." Meilin’s voice disappeared as she shut the door behind her and headed down the hallway.

Syaoran watched the door to be sure she was gone, then walked over to the kitchen counter. Though it was only six in the morning, he was wide awake and developing an appetite.

_______________________________________________________________________

Sakura found herself searching her closet for a good outfit, then after a good fifteen minutes, she decided she was being ridiculous. "It’s not anything special." Sakura said outloud.

"Angel-chan needs to wear nice clothes? Trying to impress someone?" Bob asked, flying over.

Sakura sighed. "Stupid, huh?"

Kero fluttered over. "You’re having someone over?" He asked.

"Person you like you should not have to try to impress." Bob said wisely.

Sakura bit her lip, thinking about that. It seemed all her attempts to impress Syaoran failed, so she shouldn’t even try. But then, if Bob was right, none of that even mattered. "You’re right."

"You’re having someone over?" Kero repeated more loudly.

Sakura pulled out a nice shirt anyway. "Yes, as a matter of fact I am."

"Who?"

"None of your business." Sakura said haughtily, picking up the laid out outfit from the bed and heading for her door. She turned before she shut it and addressed Kero and Bob. "Remember, not alot of noise. Touya’s studying for some exams and father’s working on the computer."

"We know." Bob and Kero said in unison. This act made them both turn and immediatly glare at each other.

"That means no fighting!" Sakura said.

"Talking to yourself again, kiddo?" Touya asked as he passed by in the hallway.

Sakura quickly shut the door to her bedroom. "Just making sure the clothes behave themselves." She answered just as smartly, already heading to the bathroom to change.

After changing into her clothes she headed downstairs and found that Yukito had come over to study as well, and both he and Touya had their books sprawled across the table. "Ah, Sakura-san, you look lovely today."

Sakura blushed. "Hi Yukito." She mumbled, quickly turning in to the kitchen. She quietly listened to their conversation as she began to fix herself an early lunch.

"Can you beleive the condition they expect these bindings to be in?" Touya grumbled, picking up one of his books and looking at the numberous wear and tears on it.

"Yes, I have several completly out of their binding." Yukito said, showing one book.

"Oh, me too- see this one-" Touya held one book up and all the pages fell out. Touya glared, then held his pencil with his teeth and began picking up the papers off the floor. About the same instant the phone rang. Yukito sat questioningly for a second- the phone being on their table and far from Sakura, then looked to Touya.

"Can you answer that, Yuki?" Touya said, though his words were slurred by the pencil in his teeth.

Yukito picked up the phone and answered cheerfully. "Moshi moshi?" He was quiet as the other line answered, then looked over to Sakura. "Sakura-chan it’s for you."

Sakura set down the milk carton then headed over to take the phone out of Yukito’s hands, saying ‘arigato’ as she took it. She put the phone to her own ear and answered. "Moshi moshi?"

"Hi Sakura, it’s me." Syaoran’s voice answered, sounding slightly dejected.

Sakura bit her lip as she felt what his tone of voice was bringing, then figured she should face the facts. "You can’t come tonight, can you?" She asked, walking up the stairs to her room so she could talk without Touya bothering her.

Their was a sigh on the other line. "How did you know?"

Sakura was sad to see her suspicions confirmed, even a little agitated with him. "Because heaven forbid we should have some normal time..." She left the rest of the sentence unsaid, finding it awkward to say ‘together’.

"I’m sorry, really I am, but...my mother’s sick again, I’ve got to go back."

Sakura felt a little bad, feeling that she was being over dramatic. "No, of course, it’s alright." She said. She then thought about what he meant. "So....so you’re leaving again?"

The way she sounded totally deflated Syaoran’s remotely undepressed mood. "Y-yeah. I’m gonna have to go back for a little while."

Sakura felt hints of her own selfishness seeping in. She remembered how she had felt when he had just gotten here- her anger that he even dare show up after leaving her to fight all alone for that long. "Well, I..." She couldn’t say ‘I’ll see you later’, in fact she couldn’t find any closing to use. "When do you think you’re going to get to visit again?" She asked a bit spitefully.

Syaoran cringed at her choice of wording. Sometime since he’d been gone she’d realized that he had moved to Hong Kong, not just visited long term. "I-I dunno. As soon as I can I will." He said, trying to sound hopeful.

Sakura leaned on her door, not wanting to beleive. She had known he was only vising Japan for two weeks, why had she let her hopes rise? "Well..." She tried to think of what she could say to be helpful. "Do you know what’s wrong?"

"What?"

"With your mother. Do you know what’s wrong?"

"Oh, uh, I’m not really sure- what’s from this relapse, she was sick with something comparable to really bad mono, but I don’t know any technical names."

"I hope she’s alright." Sakura immediatly felt stupid for saying that so superficially.

"Me too." Syaoran agreed. There was a silent pause, then Syaoran broke it. "I’ve got to get going. I still have stuff to pack."

"Oh. Do you need help?"

"No."

"What time’s your flight?"

Syaoran fidgeted, wanting the conversation to end. "Um, six fourty."

"Oh." Sakura answered. She knew that he was sick of her questions, so she figured she might as well end the conversation. It didn’t seem to mean that much to Syaoran, anyway. "Well I will see you sometime, I guess."

"Yeah, bye." Syaoran hung up the phone and exhaled, realizing that he had been holding his breath. How could I be such a jerk. He leaned his head on the back of the chair and looked at the ceiling. It’s not like I can apologize now. I’m going back to Hong Kong, I won’t need to come back here again...

Sakura hung up the phone once she heard the dial tone, then headed to the study room (previously Chindra’s room) and collapsed in the large desk chair. Her father had the computer running for some work, but she minimized those programs and got on a downloading program. She could use some depressing songs right about now. She knew her father would come back in a little while and want the computer back, but right now it seemed the only quiet place in the house.

Just like that, he leaves again. Back to Hong Kong. Who knows when I’ll see him again. Maybe after second term, maybe after third, maybe before my college exams... Sakura leaned back in her chair. I am overreacting again. He has to deal with his mother and only care taker being sick, and here I am boohooing about losing a friend. Where’s my self pride?

If I was mature I’d work this all out. Why don’t I just tell him how I feel about him leaving? Because he said he doesn’t need help packing, so there’s no reason to be there or anything... Sakura sighed and cleared her mind. She looked to the computer and played the song she was halfway done downloading, then left the computer and headed to her room. Maybe some nintendo would keep her mind occupied.

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

Around six Sakura could hardly keep her mind from wandering off. She had numerous times thought about showing up at his apartment, but either reasoning or fear kept her from doing so. Now he was probably at the airport, sitting in the gate and waiting for his plane to be boarded. No one was home to help guide Sakura, which left her alone to make her decision. Sakura looked over at the clock again, seeing that it was just six now. She looked down from the clock to the book she was trying to read. The words all blurred together, and it was impossible to focus.

Sakura, fed up, slammed the book shut. "This is ridiculous."

"You alright, Sakura?" Kero asked.

"I’m going to the airport. I’ll be back in an hour." Sakura announced, heading to her door.

"Angel-chan want company?" Bob asked.

"No, I’m going alone. You guys behave, alright?" Sakura turned to make sure they both nodded, then hurried out of her room to the back door. She didn’t have much time.

Once she was outside she had to stop and remember what bus stop went to downtown Tomoeda where the shuttle to the airport was. After remembering, she jogged down the sidewalk, not wanting to slow down and lose her inspiration. If she let herself stop and think, reason would have its way of calling her back to sit and do nothing. She frowned it away and got onto the bus, staring out the window to try and keep her mind from working.

As she got off this bus to find the shuttle, reason was starting to creep in. What did she really plan to do, anyway? Beg him to stay? He wouldn’t. Why was she even bothering? I’ll wish him a goodbye. Sakura nodded at this decision and boarded the smaller bus to the airport, feeling slightly out of place amongst the travelers with their suitcases. She glanced down at her watch and found that it was a quarter after six. They’re going to start boarding the plane soon! Sakura jigged in place with anxiousness, but soon after the bus came to a halt.

Sakura quickly exited and hurried to the airport, jogging and trying not to be haphazard to all the other people making their way in and out. Once inside the airport in and the freezing cold air condition, Sakura had to slow down. She looked around at signs and realized she had no idea what flight he was on- thus no idea which gate he’d be in. She hurried over to an official looking person and stood in front of them to get their attention. "Excuse me, which flights go to Hong Kong?"

"Ahh, I’m not sure, their’s several."

"Which gates would I be likely to find one?" Sakura persisted.

"The left wing I suppose, most of the flights are on that side."

"Arigato." Sakura said, though he might not have heard it since she was already speedwalking towards the left gates.

She forced herself to stop hurrying as she reached security, for if they found her suspicious she could get caught wasting alot of time there. Once she was through, she found herself in the busy gate section, where anxious travelers waited to board their plane, or families waited to find loved ones unboarding and welcome them home. Sakura realized that she hardly had a chance at finding him here- there were thousands of people, and to Sakura’s panicked mind, they all seemed to look the same.

Look for his aura, not him. Sakura tried to concentrate, though she found it hard in this busy place, and began walking forward. She thought she could sense it- yes she definitely sensed it now. I hope he hasn’t boarded yet. Over the loud intercom a flight attendant answered her question.

"Children or assisted passengers now boarding flight 629 to Hong Kong, Children or assisted passengers..."

Sakura forced herself to hurry. She knew he was very closeby now, his aura was very strong. She looked with her eyes now, sweeping the chairs around her. Then she spotted him. He was sitting with his head bowed and looked very tired, probably from having to pack so much, but it was definitely him. Something caught his attention and he glanced up, his eyes just flitting over Sakura. He then checked what he saw and looked back more carefully again, frowning as his eyes rested on Sakura. Recognizing her, his frown left and he stood up from the airport chair.

Sakura bit her lip. She should have predicted that this would happen. Her emotions had a tendency to go a little wild if she was seeing someone in person. She fought the tears in her eyes, but couldn’t hold everything back, so she ran to him and hugged him tightly.

Syaoran swallowed hard, lightly hugging her back. Sakura was going to make this difficult. She was trying to play her last card to keep him from going, but Syaoran couldn’t give in. Meilin’s words from this morning still bothered him as well, haunting his ears and reminding him ‘don’t disappoint me’. "Sakura..."

"Do you have to leave again, Syaoran? I won’t pretend anymore, I promise. I won’t pretend I don’t want your help because I do! Really, I do! I hate fighting by myself, every second, please don’t leave again!"

Syaoran didn’t care that they were making a scene now, or that people were watching them skeptically. Sakura was being totally unselfish to him, and now maybe it seemed Meilin could have been right in saying ‘she feels the same way for you’, because it definitely seemed to Syaoran that their was some general affection coming from her side too. He stepped back slightly, forcing a small smile. "I’m just getting in the way now. You’re strong now, you don’t even need my help."

Sakura still looked on the brink of tears, and she just frowned at him with disbeleif.

"I don’t want to leave, alright. Beleive me, that’s the last thing I want to do. Remember that, alright?" He started to pull away, but Sakura’s grip tightened.

"What do you mean ‘remember’? You-you’re not leaving for good are you?" She asked in a slightly shaky voice.

Syaoran slowly shook his head.

Sakura sighed deeply, finally getting ahold of herself. Or maybe it was the anger that helped her not be so emotional. Either way, she let go of him abruptly.

Syaoran’s insides hurt from the swift change of emotion he saw in her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry anymore tears for him, he could tell. Now she was resenting him. He couldn’t blame her. But what fault was it of his that he had to help his family? Sakura never had to leave her family. This reasoning didn’t help him, he still found himself hurt. Why would something so hard to see as the disappearance of tears affect him so much? Syaoran had to look down from her eyes and found himself looking at his shoes. "I wanted to tell you..." Why was this so hard?

"You’re boarding now." Sakura said just ever so coldly. Syaoran looked back up and saw she was giving him a polite smile. That stung worse than just hate. Now she was politely letting go.

But what could he do to change that? Was it wrong to want her to be sad? It wasn’t wrong to not want her to be angry. What other choice did that leave? Happy? Syaoran doubted he could leave and have her be happy. He licked his dry lips and tried to come up with some good to say, but came up wordless. "See you later, then."

Sakura nodded, holding a small smile.

Syaoran looked at her for another moment, knowing that it was wrong to leave like this. She was still close, he could still...No it wouldn’t be right. I should just go before I hurt her more. He turned, grabbed his carry-on bag, then headed into the terminal.

With his back to her she let her smile fade into the unsure glare that best summed up her emotions. She watched him disappear, then walked over to a chair near the window and sat down, looking at the large jumbo jet that would be soon flying over the sea to Hong Kong. She contemplated whether she should watch the plane take off, then decided she should start letting go. Sakura forced herself up off the chair and walked slowly back through the gates and the security and back into the darkening sky. She should hurry, her father and brother were going to be home soon.

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

Wow sorry I took so long finishing this but I’ve been busy for a change. My story is getting a little repititious, but hey, oh well. It’ll start changing actually, I just had to get this crap over and done with.

Well comments at [email protected]

My AOL sn is SyaoranChic

Visit my site at geocities.com/KeanusHorseChic where I post up my chapters first

--Syaoran Fan 4 Eva--