RECAP: Last chapter Sakura fought the Big and Little card. She had just fainted at the end of the chapter after sealing both cards, so that’s where this starts.

Chapter 33 - Interesting Discovery

Sakura felt like she had been hit by a train. She didn’t know where she was, how long she had been there, or how she had gotten there. All she knew was that somewhere in her drift between consciousness, she had felt herself balancing on something moving- Moondust she thought- but she wasn’t sure. That still didn’t explain where she was. She was warm, but her face was cold against the air wherever she was. She was propped up on something, but she didn’t have the strength yet to open her eyes.

Did Syaoran show up? I must have been dreaming. Definitely. So I better wake up, I need to get home before otto-san worries about me. Sakura tried again to open her eyes, but she didn’t have the energy. It felt like she had used a Bind spell on her own eyes. She tried once more, but nothing happened. She gave up and decided to listen with her ears. At least they were working. A soft crunching noise was coming from underneath the flooring Sakura was laying on. She thought for a few moments about what this could be, then realized- duh! Moondust must be eating. Which means I’m in the hayloft. Who fed her? I don’t remember feeding her.

Oh well. The most important thing is that I won. I beat the cards. By myself. Without anyone’s help. Not even Kero! Sakura felt very proud now. So proud she might even be able to open her eyes. She forced her eye lids up and blinked several times, trying to loosen up her stiff eye lashes. She saw that her thinking had been right- and she was indeed laying on a soft bed of hay. But how was she warm? Sakura looked down at the blanket wrapped around her and found it wasn’t even a blanket at all. It was Syaoran’s battle outfit. She was between love and hate now, not sure if she wanted him there. She had, after all, proven herself independent, so what was he doing here? And what nerve to show up at the end of the fight! Sakura looked for him, but he was not here in the hayloft with her. So he wraps me up in his clothes and leaves. What a gentleman.

Sakura irritably rubbed her eyes with her fists and then found she had several spots of crusty bug stuff left on her face, which she quickly wiped off. She looked down at her arms and found that they had several tiny circles of burns, along with alot of dirt and grime, and she suspected they probably smelled alot, though she couldn’t smell it herself. Her knees ached, but they were covered with Syaoran’s thick green battle outfit, so Sakura couldn’t see. She guessed they were probably scratched up from when she had jumped the fence at the park.

A noise to her right caught her attention, and she turned her head just in time to see Syaoran climbing the ladder and stepping onto the hayloft, looking at her. A slight smile of releif came on his face, and he walked over and knelt down to where Sakura was. "So you are awake."

Sakura blinked and looked away, not sure if she was estatically happy he was here or incredibly irritated that he dared to show up. "What time is it?" She asked, her voice sounding very groggy even to herself.

"Two. At night." Syaoran answered.

Sakura was startled by this, and she reacted with a short spurt of energy, tossing his makeshift blanket off and attempting to get to her feet. Syaoran’s eyes widened, but he said nothing, and slowly stood up, as if waiting for her to fall again. Sakura held the bale of hay next to her to steady herself, then slowly let go, though she felt totally unbalanced. "I’ve got to go home." She said, starting to walk shakily to the ladder.

"You shouldn’t..." Syaoran started, but stopped, watching her walk with worry, staying close behind her.

"I’m fine, honestly." Sakura said, about to attempt to kneel down to climb down the ladder. How she was going to make it through this she had no idea.

Syaoran bit his lip for a second, then moved in front of her, blocking the ladder. "You shouldn’t, you’re too weak."

Sakura glared at him. How did he know she was too weak? He hadn’t seen everything she had done by herself the day before. She held her head high, attempting to push around him. But her major mistake was the quick movement she made. Her head was still very light, and her balance seemed to slip right from under her, and she found herself crashing forward. Syaoran quickly caught her quickly and helped her stand up. Sakura only used his shoulders as a crutch for the moment she needed it, then quickly let go. She was annoyed that he still held her up, though she could do nothing about it.

"Unless someone carries you, you have to stay here until you can get your balance back. You need to sleep." Syaoran persisted.

I need a shower. Sakura thought to herself. She was enjoying the thrill of defying him, so she decided to proceed further. "How would you know what I need?" You’ve been gone for the past two months.

Syaoran sighed, whether holding patience or annoyance, then spoke more carefully. "You passed out from exhaustion. You can’t tell me you feel like walking another mile."

Sakura hated how he was right. Of course he was. Syaoran was always right. She glared to her left, making sure he saw she was glaring at his hands that were still on her arms. Syaoran wasn’t stupid, and he took the hint and took his hands back, looking unsurely at the fiery girl in front of him. When had she become so independent? And why did he suddenly feel a certain amount of hatred from her? This was not at all the welcome he had been expecting. Where was the long hug and the tears of joy?

"Now will you please lay down and sleep?" He asked.

Sakura was feeling very light headed now. She did need sleep. She wasn’t sure if she had legs or a body now, they felt so disconnected from her brain. She tried to nod, but her eye lids were starting to shut on her. Then she found herself fainting again.

Syaoran caught her again, then sighed as he gathered her back up in his arms. I hope she isn’t like this the whole time I’m here. So angry, anyway. He set her back down carefully on her bed, watching her peacefully sleep now. She looked just like Syaoran remembered, the pretty, innocent, pure girl he had left. Where had that firebreathing attitude come from, anyway? She’s probably just grouchy from the fight. I wonder how long she had been fighting those cards? Too long. And I showed up too late. Syaoran thanked God that she had made it through alright. He was actually quite impressed. He didn’t know she was as strong as she was. I should have figured. She’s been managing on her own, she’s going to be stronger of course.

Syaoran sighed and watched her a while before tearing himself away to go bother Moondust. He didn’t feel like sleeping, so he had been giving the horse the grooming of her life. Moondust enjoyed it thoroughly. It had taken Syaoran a while to get all of the gross crusty stuff off her hooves and her lower legs, and then a while to clean up all the little burns on the horse, but he had been here for a good couple hours now, keeping an eye on Sakura as he went.

Something was bothering him, though. He had been feeling a weak presence in the barn since he had gotten here. It didn’t feel like it was threatening, but it was there, still, hidden from Syaoran’s sight. Syaoran glanced around once more, then continued brushing down Moon’s silver coat. I wonder how they were getting along? Must have been getting along well enough, if Sakura was riding her in that fight. He glanced up at the hay loft, where Sakura continued to sleep, glowing her peaceful spirit. Syaoran blinked and watched her unconsciously for a second before bringing his eyes back to Moondust in front of him. I hope she doesn’t feel too horrible once she wakes up.

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

Syaoran slept for a restless two hours before he woke with dawn and began ravaging the barn for the fourth presence he felt. It was there somewhere, and Syaoran was going to find it. Where’s a rashin board when you need one? He tried not to make too much noise in the hayloft, as Sakura continued to deeply sleep. Syaoran was glad to see she had slept so long without any interruptions, it meant she was probably finally gaining the rest she deserved. Syaoran pushed a few bales aside and started going through the hay pile.

"What are you doing?" Sakura’s sweet voice crashed through the silence and Syaoran about jumped, not expecting her to speak.

"I’m, uh, I’m looking for something." He mumbled, pausing only momentarily before digging through the large pile of loose hay.

"Oh." Sakura’s voice said, but said nothing more. After another moment of silence, Syaoran figured she’d fallen asleep again. He went back into his furious digging.

Syaoran was getting closer and closer to the hayloft floor, and the presence felt stronger and stronger. He sped up, tossing the hay to the side in his quick attempt to find this presence. Syaoran was almost there...just one more handful... As Syaoran uncovered the last bit, he jumped back and gasped with horror.

Within a multicolor bubble- some sort of magical shield and entrapment- a small and weary soul was trying to fly out, a poor little butterfly by the name of Bob. It’s eyes seemed to enlarge as it saw Syaoran, and it called out. "Sailor! Sailor-kun! Freedom!"

Syaoran, also wide eyed, tossed hay back over it in a desperate attempt to rehide Bob. He let out a shakey breath, hoping he had hidden away the horrible creature.

"What was that?" Sakura asked, peering around the corner of the stacked bales.

Syaoran jumped sideways, seeing her. "Oh, ah, nothing." Syaoran said, though he knew his panicked voice was a dead giveaway for a lie.

"Sailor-kun! Freedom!" A muffled voice continued to break through the hay.

Sakura looked questioningly at Syaoran, who was biting his lip and trying his best to look innocent. She quickly looked to the pile. "Bob!? Bob, is that you!?" She asked, walking in her unbalanced fashion over to the pile and quickly pulling away the hay.

Bob flew quickly against the bubble, plastering himself to the shield and looking up at Sakura with joyful hope. "Angel-chan! Angel-chan! Come to rescue me!"

Sakura was smiling happily also, which totally baffled Syaoran. How could anyone be so happy to see a bug? "Bob, just hang on, we’ll get you out!"

No we won’t!

"Syaoran-kun, will you? I have no magic left." Sakura said, standing up by gripping a bale of hay, blinking her innnocent eyelashes at him.

Syaoran knew it was sad that Sakura had this much of a hold on him. She could practically get him to do anything- as long as she said his name like that at the beginning of an order. "I..." Syaoran sighed with defeat. "...guess." He took out his sword, held it against the shield, and spoke a spell Sakura didn’t know. The bubble broke immediatly, and Bob flew out ecstatically, circling their heads and sprinkling them with blue dust.

"Freedom! It feels wonderful!" Bob sang, maneuvering around. "Food! Be back, I will, Angel-chan!"

Angel-chan. Syaoran glared at the bug with annoyance. Why? Why did I have to find him? He glanced over at Sakura, who was watching the bug with a wide smile. It was the first time she’d smiled since he had gotten there. Syaoran wasn’t sure if he was happy about this or not- she smiled when the bug got there, but she glared at him when he arrived. Syaoran decided not to hold it against her. "Who would have trapped him like that?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura looked to Syaoran, almost having forgotten he was there for a breif second. Her mind was still drifting off into an unofficial sleep every few seconds. "Kero. I cam back from the cruise, and Bob was gone. Kero said he ran off." She said, contempt in her voice.

"Oh." Syaoran said, seeing that the conversation was already over. What to say now?

"I’m going to wash off my hands and arms in the hose." Sakura decided.

"Can you walk?" Syaoran asked, still a bit skeptical.

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I’m fine." She said, though she was lying. She still wasn’t very balanced- whether from sleep or from her sore legs. She walked her way to the ladder and carefully got down- sitting down and easily placing her feet on the ladder before climbing down. Once down, she felt a little more awake. She looked over at Moondust, who seemed to be shining. She wasn’t that clean last night. She couldn’t have been.

Syaoran had just hopped down from the ladder, watching Sakura just to make sure she was alright. She walked over to the indoor hose and negotiated her arms to pull the pump on, then walked over to the hose’s end. The cool water felt good on her burns, but when she began rubbing off the grime she had to wince from the pain of pressure. She hoped Syaoran wasn’t watching her, she didn’t want to look like a sissy.

"Why are you in Japan?" She finally asked.

Syaoran was a bit angered by this question. She was the one who wanted him to come visit. "I sensed magic building up. I was going to try and stop it."

"You were a little late." Sakura said dryly, though she took back the words the moment she said it when she could see the slight hurt look on Syaoran’s face when she had said it. Of course, Syaoran was a master at hiding his feelings, and he was quickly scowling again. He probably tried his hardest to get here to help. To help me. I shouldn’t be mad. He’s probably angry with himself for not getting here in time, anyway. Now how would she make up for it? She looked up at him, intentionally meeting his eyes, and doing her best to smile big. "But thank you for bringing me in to the barn. Had I stayed out there all night, I"d probably have spiders crawling all over me." The mental image crossed Sakura’s mind, and she shuddered, then went back to washing off her arms.

That at least consoled Syaoran a little bit. He had, for a moment, thought that she angry at him, but then- she had been hating him off and on since he had gotten there. He wondered about this for a second, then spoke. "It seems you killed enough spiders to last you a lifetime."

Sakura looked up from scrubbing off her arms, surprised. "You....you saw me?" She asked.

Syaoran shook his head. "I just had trouble scraping that crap off Moon’s legs." Syaoran answered.

"Oh." sorry. Sakura went back to scrubbing her arms. She glanced to her left, where she saw Syaoran had tossed his bags to the side of the ladder. She frowned, then looked up at him. He was pretending to be oblivious to her watching him. "Did you...come here from the airport?"

Syaoran looked from where he had been glueing his eyes to the floor back to Sakura’s awestruck emerald eyes, and slowly nodded.

Sakura looked back down. "Oh." She felt bad now. Syaoran had tried his hardest to get here, then. She was being so short with him. Why was she being like this? Sakura tried to search for the right words to express her gratitude. "I, uh..." Her voice had been so quiet, Syaoran hadn’t heard her, and unintentionally interrupted her.

"I’ve got to get a bag from out by the woods." Syaoran said, standing up from leaning on the stall door and starting to walk away. "You don’t mind, do you? Being alone, I mean- there’s no magic around, now-"

"I’ll be fine." Sakura said, looking up and smiling broadly at him. "But watch out for those spiders."

Syaoran smiled, but he was clueless to what she meant, having arrived too late from the airport to see any of the neat giant spiders Sakura had fought off. He continued out the door wordlessly.

Sakura finished washing off her arms and turned off the hose, then stood up shakily and stumbled over to Moondust’s stall. She stood at the open door, waiting for the horse to notice her. Moondust walked over with a moutful of hay and sniffed Sakura, then, after being convinced Sakura had no food to offer, snorted and walked back over to the hay. Sakura leaned on the door and watched the horse for a little while, then jumped as a peircing ring broke the silence.

Sakura looked around bewildered for a moment, then realized Syaoran’s phone was ringing. She bit her lip, then decided to walk over and see if she could see the number on the screen of the phone. Who, after all, would call here at six in the morning? Sakura ambled over and peered at the phone that was at the top of his bag. It didn’t read the number, only said ‘incoming call’. Sakura bit her lip, unsure what to do. She was dying to know who this was. What if it was important? But she shouldn’t. This was Syaoran’s phone, right? She had no right to answer it.

But then again, he might really need this phone call, and if the person chose to hang up, they’d never get to talk to him. Sakura took a deep breath, then quickly grabbed the phone, her curiosity driving her. She quickly pressed the button to answer, not wanting to lose the breif courage, and held it shakily up to her ear.

"Moshi Moshi?" She answered.

There was a pause on the other end, and Sakura bit her lip for a second, wondering if she had messed up some type of code call, but was quickly reassured. "Ah, hello, is this...Li-kun’s phone?" A girl’s voice on the other side asked unsurely.

Sakura wondered what she had just intercepted, and immediatly started feeling guilty. Oh crap. Syaoran’s going to kill me! "Yes, uh, this is Syaoran’s phone. He’ll be back in a moment, he just had to go get something outside."

"Syaoran? Li Syaoran?" The voice repeated.

Sakura frowned. "Y-yes." She answered.

The girl on the other side made a horrible squeak of joy, then, not doing a very good job at covering the phone, shouted to someone else in the backround "His name’s Syaoran! Syaoran! How adorable!" After the shouting and happy laughing and squealing noises stopped, the voice came back on and addressed Sakura. "Is this Syaoran’s girlfriend?"

"N-no!" Sakura practically shouted with embaressment.

"Why are you answering his phone? Is this his sister? I don’t get it."

Sakura was getting flustered. She tried to calm herself. "No, I, uh, was just around when his phone rang, that’s all." She said.

"And you just took the liberty to answer it?" The girl asked.

"Y-yeah." Sakura answered.

There was another pause. "Are we talking about the same Li? The constantly angry, scowling, anti-social boy?"

Sakura was very curious to who she was talking to. She laughed. "The very one."

The other girl laughed as well. At least she was personable. "Aren’t you afraid for your life? He probably won’t like you answering his phone."

"I know. But I couldn’t help it." Sakura answered.

Syaoran himself entered the barn, looking questioningly at Sakura across the barn before hauling his bookbag over his shoulder and continuing silently. He just figured she had used his phone to call Tomoyo or her father or something, and thought nothing more. But then he noticed the guilty look on her face, and how she had gone palely silent, and then was glaring expectently at her.

"Who are you talking to?" He dared to ask, his voice very low.

Sakura bit her lip and shakily held the phone out for him. She shaded her eyes with her lashes so she didn’t have to see the scowl he was giving her as he snatched the phone away from her.

"Yes?" Syaoran asked, still glaring unsurely at Sakura.

"Syaoran! Yes that’s right. I know it now. Syaoran. Adorable. That girl sounds cute, is that girlfriend potential or what?"

"Kato?" Syaoran asked in a hushed voice, holding the phone closer to his ear, quickly taking his eyes off Sakura.

"The one and only! Listen, buddy, it’s been at least two months, and we are getting restless. Right guys?" She held the phone out for the rest of the band, who all shouted ‘yeah’ enthusiastically, except Syaoran didn’t hear Rii’s voice, not that he was hurt by that.

"No. I’m busy. No way." Syaoran said quickly.

"Syaoran! You SAID! you said you would help us record! Think of the yen!" Kato said, being a very good convincer.

Syaoran sighed. He could use some money. "But...But I’m only here for two weeks."

"Already in Japan? What timing!" Kato said happily.

"Two weeks. Then I’m gone. Not coming back." Syaoran said.

Sakura, who could only hear Syaoran’s half of the conversation, drew in the dirt with her finger, trying to hold back threatening tears. She felt so stupid. Where did her self pride go? But he was saying that so maliciously. ‘two weeks, not coming back...’ Sakura frowned and blinked up, trying to see the expression on Syaoran’s face. He was scowling. What a surprise.

"Listen. We can do it this Friday. How’s that?" Kato asked.

"Where?"

"Um...well where are you?" She asked.

"Tomoeda. North of Tokyo." He said.

"Well...are there any recording studios out there?" She asked.

"Recording studios? I don’t know." Syaoran said, as if it was a stupid question.

Kato sighed loudly, making sure he heard it. "Well I’m going to check out phone listings. There might be some privately owned ones around. I’m sure I’ll find them somewhere. But me or Gatria will call you sometime tommorrow night. Kay?"

Syaoran sighed. "Fine." He said, showing his annoyance.

"Well you and your girlfriend have a nice- wait a second. It’s only like seven there, right?"

"Six." Syaoran said.

"Six? What are you doing with her at six-"

"Goodbye." Syaoran said, hanging up in the middle of her sentence. He let out a long sigh, pondering how he was going to get through this, then quickly remembered the guilty girl sneaking up the hayloft ladder next to him. "Was the phone just calling your name?" He asked.

Sakura froze miday up the ladder, then sighed and let herself down, leaning feebly against the ladder while standing on teh dusty ground. She looked hard at the ground with shame. "I just thought, it might be important- to bring to you outside, you know..." Sakura said.

Syaoran glared, hating to hear the earnest sound in her voice. She had had good intentions, so Syaoran couldn’t exactly hate her. "How long were you talking with her, Kinomoto?"

Sakura’s head hung low. "Not...that long."

Syaoran, annoyed, pushed past her and climbed up the ladder, wanting to get his battle outfit packed up. Now that Sakura was able to walk, there was no reason for them to hang around in the barn anymore. "Great." He said dryly.

Sakura followed him up curiously, ignoring her sore arms. She was dying to know something. "Who was she?" She asked timidly.

Syaoran turned over his shoulder, picking up his battle outfit Sakura had so ignorantly thrown off her. He gave her a glare that could have knocked her down from the ladder, then stood up and walked back over. Sakura hopped down from the ladder and admitted defeat, knowing she wasn’t going to get an answer.

She wished she could still have the independence she had had the night before. Why did she feel like the one on the bottom again? She shouldn’t have to be that one, all the time, should she? "I’m going home, then." She said, deciding that was the independent thing to do.

"Alright." Syaoran said, his voice tone saying he wasn’t bothered at all.

Sakura resented him a little for that. "Where are you staying?" She asked.

"My old apartment." Syaoran said, gathering his bags from the ground.

"Ah." She waited for him to stand up, then smiled at him. "I beleive we are on the same bus?"

Syaoran smiled breifly and followed her, not enjoying their conversation in the least. He was miserable talking so superficially with her, but he was helpless into making it less fake. It seemed the only time they talked openly to each other was in a life or death situation. Why was that? Why did they get along best like that? Syaoran tried not to let his thoughts wander to how nice it would be if they could be like that in normal circumstances.

"Onni-chan is going to be bugging me all day about where I’ve been." Sakura lamented as she forced her weak legs across the pasture to the road.

Syaoran had the sudden urge to punch something. Bob added to the stress, flying over. "Angel-chan! Eaten too much, rest!" Bob landed on Sakura’s shoulder. She opened her pocket and the bug fluttered in, cuddling deeply.

"I’m worried they’d find out I was with you." She continued.

Syaoran tried not to be annoyed. You didn’t seem too worried after we undid the Change card and you fell asleep on my chest Syaoran thought. He didn’t voice any of this, of course, because he didn’t want to embaress Sakura for no purpose. He continued on silently. "Your brother is still the same?" He finally said.

"Worse. Mean, he’s the reason I went outside and ended up going to find the spider, and the Big card, I mean." Sakura said.

"Why, he made you go outside?" Syaoran asked.

"No, he, uh, he just said some things, and I got ticked, so I left." Sakura said.

Syaoran tried not to smile with amusement. It was just that Sakura could be very entertaining when she was ‘ticked’ as she put it, and Syaoran could just picture her storming out of her house. "Good thing you did, else you might of missed the card." Syaoran agreed, climbing over the fence to get to the road.

Sakura nodded but didn’t respond, as she was forced to get over the fence, and her sore limbs took all her concentration to move. Once she was over, she spoke again. "Yeah, you missed quite a show."

______________________________________________________________________

"Can you put it around, like this, Tomoyo?" Sakura asked. She was sitting cross-legged in front of Tomoyo as she tried to request the type of braiding she wanted done, but her design was very demanding. She didn’t admit to Tomoyo that she was just trying to look nice now that Syaoran was in Japan, because for one- Tomoyo didn’t know, nor needed to know, that Syaoran was in Japan. For two, Sakura was trying to convince herself she just wanted her hair out of her way, and she was just happening to finally take Tomoyo up on her hair skills when Syaoran was there.

Tomoyo, seemingly thrilled that ‘Sakura-chan had finally come to her senses, and was wanting to look nice’, quickly tried to fix it like Sakura had said. "Like this?" She asked.

Sakura nodded, then stopped, as she was pulling her hair out of Tomoyo’s hands. "Perfect!" She said.

Tomoyo began braiding across, her fingers working with incredible speed. "What does a big spider web feel like, anyway?" She asked, going back to their previous conversation. Sakura had been telling Tomoyo about her spider escapade, now that a few days had passed, and she was comfortable thinking back to those giant spiders.

Two days had passed since Syaoran had arrived- three if you count the afternoon and night Sakura had been unconscious- and Sakura hadn’t talked to him since they parted on the bus. First she wanted to give him time to settle in, though she was hoping he’d call or something. Then, today, Sakura had reasoned that he was probably busy visiting Tamakazi and his other friends, and she didn’t want to interrupt. So, tommorrow, she had made it her first priority to bug Syaoran, after being dragged to her dentist appointment, that is. She hated her brother for daring to schedule it during the short two weeks Syaoran was there. "I hardly felt it, I burnt it up so fast, but it was like... well it was alot like string, only stronger and stickier." She said.

"That’s so disgusting." Tomoyo said, moving around Sakura so she could continue the braid to the other side.

"Yeah, the most disgusting part was hearing the shell of it crack when-"

Sakura stopped talking as the phone beside them rang shrilly. Tomoyo took Sakura’s hand and put it on the braid’s end. "Hold that, would you?"

Sakura quickly tightened it so it wouldn’t loosen any, then looked to Tomoyo as she answered the phone.

"Moshi moshi?" Tomoyo answered.

"Hello, um, is this Daidijou-san speaking?" A girl’s voice asked.

"Uh, this is Daidijou Tomoyo speaking. You probably want to talk to my mother, Sonomi." Tomoyo said, starting to stand.

"Well, actually, I was just looking for whoever is in charge of the recording studio, the one listed in the phonebook..."

"Really?" Tomoyo sounded overexcited. She quickly gained her composure. "Well I am, I am the one that put that listing in there." She answered.

"Wonderful! Now, if I could just get some information from you..." Tomoyo could hear a paper rustling, then it went silent. "Alright. What’s the name of your sound engineer crew?" She asked.

Tomoyo was a bit dumbfounded. "Well, well I am. I’m the sound crew." She said.

There was a pause. "Oh. Then I suppose it’s silly to ask about all your equipment, I’m sorry to be troubling you, I was just looking through the phone book for recording places, but there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot except for a few private ads."

"Oh, well, don’t get me wrong. I have all the up to date equipment, I hooked in a full multitrack system and have all the channels set perfectly, I just didn’t need much of a sound crew, that’s all. So you actually read our ad and called?"

"Y-yes." Now the girl sounded hesitant. "But really, for the scale of recording we’ll be doing, I don’t want to trouble you."

"No, no, not at all! If you don’t mind my asking, what’s your band’s title, or yourself? Are you a soloist?"

"No, well, I’m with ShiroAme, but that doesn’t-" The girl was rushing her words, though that didn’t stop Tomoyo’s gasp.

"Sh-sh-sh-" It took her a second to get the words out of her mouth. "Shiro Ame? Wants to record? In Tomoeda?" She asked in total disbeleif.

Sakura’s eyes darted right around and she sat tensely, her ears trying vainly to hear the other line.

"Ah, yes, but we don’t want to bother you, honestly, I’m sure we’ll be able to find-"

"You mean you are one of the members? Of the band?" Tomoyo asked, her voice gaining pitch, which was an amazing feat, really, considering how high her voice normally was. She rivaled chip n dale.

"Y-yes." The other girl said, starting to sound depressed. She had been trying to let Tomoyo down easy, trying to say that if Tomoyo was the only working crew, it was a waste of their time, picturing a crappy one microphone hooked into a tape player.

"Oh, you’ve got to come! I can so make accomadations for you! I’ll clean up our guest house, you could stay there, I’m sure I can post a guard out there, if you’re worried, and then we could start recording early in the morning, or late, if you wanted to, go until late..." Tomoyo was rambling on. Sakura had totally forgotten about her braid, and was now bracing herself against her hands on the ground, staring with melon-sized eyes at Tomoyo, jumping quickly to conclusions.

Kato’s courage rose in this girl. Gaurds? Guest house? She must be rich, anyway. Her recording studio can’t be that bad. We just need to get the songs with Syaoran’s fill in, it couldn’t hurt. There was nothing else in Tomoeda, and it’d be biting toenails to get Syaoran to come to Tokyo. "Well are you booked Friday?" She asked.

Tomoyo looked about to hyperventalate. She managed to get out a ‘no’ in a sort of squeak sounding way. She calmed herself down. "No! not at all!"

Kato sighed. "Well, we’ll be in town around noon, if that’s alright."

"Are you going to need more than one day to record? Cause I can really do the guest house and guard thing!" Tomoyo said.

"T-th...at’d be alright, I suppose, if we need another day."

"I’ll have it ready anyway." Tomoyo said.

"Well that sounds good. Friday around noon then. I’ll go by the phonebook directions, so if you get a call around then and I’m lost, don’t be surprised."

"Okay." Tomoyo said, though she desperately wanted to hang up the phone and address Sakura.

"Till then, sayonara."

"Sayonara." Tomoyo said, practically cutting herself off as she hung up so quickly. She beamed at Sakura, who was shaking with excitement to see if what she had jumped to conclusions about was correct.

"ShiroAme’s staying here!" Tomoyo finally said.

Sakura jumped up and screamed. "Shiro Ame? Shiro Ame!" Sakura was running circles in the room, feeling like Bob after being released from his jar, suddenly understanding why he flew in tight circles. It helped releive energy. "But why!?" She asked, turning to Tomoyo.

Tomoyo was hopping up and down, and she stopped. "Who cares!" She said, too excited to be rational. But underneath the excitement they both asked the same question: Why in the world would Shiro Ame want to record in someone’s little tiny private studio (though Tomoyo’s wasn’t tiny at all) when they had all the studios in Tokyo begging for them to come to gain publicity? To cut money on recording fees? Sakura highly doubted it.

After they stopped being jittery, Tomoyo finished up Sakura’s braid- actually restarting because Sakura’s little run and stray of attention from holding the end had loosened it completely. Then they jumped around, then rushed outside through Tomoyo’s huge backyard to the seperate guest house, hurrying to clean it, though it was already spotless.

"Do you think I should put some of my Shiro-Ame posters in here?" Sakura wondered.

"I don’t think so." Tomoyo said, polishing the glass table to a painful shine.

Sakura was still shaking with excitement. "When are they coming?" She asked.

"Tommorrow! Can you beleive it!? At noon!" She said excitedly.

Sakura almost dropped the glassware she was drying from the sink. "Noon? Noon!? But my dentist appointment’s at eleven thirty!" She whined.

Tomoyo looked up sympathetically from the table. "It’s alright. I’m sure they’ll be late. And they are staying for a while, hopefully. Hopefully we’ll talk them into staying a night or two. Don’t worry. You won’t miss anything." Tomoyo said.

Except their entrance. Sakura couldn’t beleive her rotten luck. She knew that there was no way Touya would let her get out of it. She sighed and continued polishing the glass. Seeing Syaoran will just have to wait. No way am I missing this. He’ll understand.

- - - - - - -

"...Friday at eleven thirty or so, can we meet you somewhere? If we get lost on the way to the recording place- make that recording house- at least you’ll be lost with us." Gatria said.

"A bus stop?" Syaoran offered, though dismally.

"That’s original. Think harder."

Syaoran sighed. After a moment of thinking, he spoke. "The mall parkinglot? It’s on the main town road, unless, you don’t want to be mobbed by fans."

"No, that’s alright. We’ll drive our rusty tinted old van, no one’ll recognize it."

"Well, don’t be late. I’m not waiting." Syaoran said, trying to keep his reluctant atitude known.

"Right. Got it. You hate us, even though we’re international superstars, but we’ve just got the most awful personalities, and you don’t even know why you’re helping us out with our pathetic music. We’ll see you then." Gatria said.

Syaoran hung up and sighed. Why? He looked up in alarm as his front door flung open. Funny, he remembered locking it.

"SYAORAN!" Meilin’s awful voice shreiked. There was not enough time in the world for Syaoran to run out of the way before she attacked him with her full out bear hug. "Following you across oceans, what’s next?" She said, squeezing him out of breath.

Syaoran pulled out, having to use some karate tactics to unlease her hands. "What are you doing here, Meilin?" He asked darkly.

She stepped back, hands on her hips. "Your sisters sent me to make sure you get your butt back in exactly two weeks. So, here I am." She said, smiling, diving in for another hug.

Syaoran was able to evade again, and walked irritable to the open door, then grabbed her suitcases from the hall floor. He shut the door behind himself. "Honestly, Meilin. You are only fourteen, you shouldn’t be running off to another country-"

"And you are how old? I forgot, Syaoran, please do remind me."

Syaoran exhaled shortly and stalked towards his room, though he didn’t really feel like being locked up in there. great. Now I not only have to hide this deal with Shiro Ame from Sakura, but now Meilin. She was hurrying after him, ignoring the furniture bare rooms, only focusing on irritating him.

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

"Alexis tells me you also sat next to Sakura in the hottub." Meilin continued on.

She was incredibly annoying this morning, and as Syaoran attempted to make them an early lunch, he was getting to fed up to do anything. "Who cares. Who cares who I was sitting next to! I was sitting next to Alexis too. Oh my God, I’m in love with her." Syaoran practically shouted with annoyance. He rarely used these kind of tactics to shut Meilin up, but by now, he would have said anything to stop her.

Meilin blinked at him, bewildered for a second about where’s her cousin’s sudden tantrum came from, then continued on. "All I’m saying is that, as much as I hate to admit, I think you like her. Maybe more than you care to admit to yourself."

Syaoran slammed the wodden spatula he had been using to stir their stir fry with. "Meilin! Shut up! What business is it, of you guys, always bugging me about this. Can’t I be friends with a girl without someone doing...doing..." He gesticulated wildly with his arms. "...this!? What if I told you I really don’t like her? Would you start saying I like Alexis then? Cause you know, you just have to keep me annoyed, I’m never allowed to live in peace..."

Meilin hoped there was nothing vitally wrong. Syaoran never got this upset about her teasings. She carefully worded her next sentence and promised herself after she got this next question out, she would stop. "Then I would ask why you came all the way to Japan."

Syaoran, now leaning on the stove and giving himself a second to calm down before he started stirring again- else he might accidentally fling some flaming hot vegetables around- glared at Meilin. "I didn’t come here to visit. I sensed something. And I got here too late. And then, I found out Sakura was fighting all by herself, and she was fine."

"And now you feel stupid because you think she doesn’t need your help after all?" Meilin finished for him.

Syaoran studied his cousin, not sure if he wanted to be this honest with her or not, then hesitantly nodded. It was nice to have someone that understood him. "That kind of blows my whole reason for being here, doesn’t it?"

Meilin was glad he wasn’t mad anymore. "If I remember Sakura right, she won’t care whether you’re helping or if you’re in the way. Her eyes light up when she sees you, honestly. I’ve seen it." She sighed. "That’s why I left last time. I got sick of it." She said openly, figuring she’d have to be honest as well, if she expected any kind of openess from Syaoran.

Syaoran rolled his eyes like he thought Meilin was being stupid, though inside he was sparking with hope. He hoped that was true. Syaoran turned back to the stove and resumed fixing the food. She definitely didn’t light up when I brought her to the hayloft. No. The first thing she said was ‘what time is it’, then she wanted to go home. She was really happy about me, I’m sure. Syaoran glanced over at the clock. Quarter after eleven. He had fifteen minutes before he’d have to sneak out without Meilin following him.

I better get this done so I can hurry up and look like I ate. Syaoran finished cooking it and rationed it out, then set his plate down at the counter. Luckily, since Syaoran had forgotten to get any drinks, Meilin had been thoughtful enough to bring some Koolaid mix, which she had poured out for him. Syaoran would have prefered water, but the tap water was gross, and the only type of water he could stand was bottled, at least here in town.

Syaoran scarfed down his food, almost choking numerous times as a result of not chewing his food properly. Meilin picked up on this. "You know, Syaoran, some people go as far as chewing twenty times before they swallow. You should consider it." She said, pointing her fork at him.

Syaoran ignored her and continued through quickly, hurriedly putting his dishes in the sink and rushing to his room. He changed into some semiformal clothes, then came back out, knowing that Meilin was watching him, and dreading the question that was on the tip of her tongue.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Syaoran walked to the door, pulling on his shoes and glancing at the clock. He had five minutes to run to the mall. "Just, uh...some ice." He mumbled absently, not even thinking about the fact that they had an ice tray in their freezer, and there was no ice machine in the apartment complex.

Meilin was standing up, but Syaoran had swiftly hurried into the hall and was jogging down the stairs before she even peered into the hallway.

After some heavy sprinting down the sidewalk, gratefully finding the weather much more tolerable here, Syaoran could see the mall. he glanced at his watch, and found that he’d be eating his own words. He was the late one. Syaoran hated that. He jogged across the parkinglot and found a very conspicuous looking rusty van parked out in a half empty lot. He jogged a little faster, then slowed to a walk as he approached, not wanting to enter their van out of breath.

When no one opened the door for him, Syaoran irritably pulled open the sliding door. They didn’t seem to mind that he was late. Instead, he found Gatria and Komai involved in an arm wrestling contest. Kato was watching with the utmost pleasure, and Rii was looking off with a scowl. He was the first to recognize Syaoran was even there.

"Guys." He mumbled.

Gatria blinked and looked up. Komai slammed her fist down. "Ha! Beat you, pay up!"

She glared at him. "Look, your copy’s here, arm wrestle him." She said, looking to Syaoran.

Kato smiled broadly and hopped up, throwing her arms around Syaoran about as quickly as Meilin did. What was with these girls? Gatria was quick to follow, and Syaoran tried desperately to squirm out.

"Our next lead guitarist!" Gatria said enthusiastically, shooting a threatening glare at Komai before going back to her hugging spree.

"I don’t think so." Komai muttered, but didn’t say anything. He stepped out into the parkinglot, leaning on the van and waiting boredly for them to stop.

Syaoran finally pulled himself free and jumped a few steps back just to be safe.

"How come I never get that kind of greeting?" Komai asked, though he was smiling, not really annoyed.

Kato rolled her eyes and smacked the back of his head. "Because you have enough girl fans to make your head explode."

Komai gave her an unconvinced glare, then looked to Syaoran, his usual friendly expression holding, unperturbed by Syaoran’s scowl. "I brought my old electric, I didn’t know if you’d bring your own or not." He said.

Syaoran nodded but didn’t say anything.

Gatria pushed his shoulders from behind, guiding him to the van. "Come on, guys, we’ll be late, our one recording engineer awaits." She said.

Syaoran sadly found himself in between the two girls, who constantly were conversing right across his lap, not afraid to lean around him. He sighed and looked wistfully out the window as the van started moving. You would think a life in the spotlight would force people to mature, not age backwards. He watched outside the town landscaping turn into the suburbs, then started wondering where they were going. This street was very fimiliar to Syaoran. "Where are we going?" He asked.

Kato shrugged. "Dunno, some privately owned studio."

Rii, not bothering to turn from the front passenger’s seat to make himself heard, spoke. "Kato booked us with some crazed fan that’s going to have us recording in her bedroom on a sad kareoke system."

Gatria rolled her eyes and leaned forward to whack his arm. "Always so pessimistic. This girl had guards and a guest house and everything."

Syaoran looked worriedly out the window. He knew who lived on this street, not like that’d have any connection to where they were going. "What’s the name of the head engineer?" He asked.

"I dunno, Daidi something." Kato said, shrugging.

Syaoran froze, turning awfully pale.

Gatria looked questioningly at him. "What’s wrong with him?" She asked.

Komai leaned up to see Syaoran’s face. He sat back again. "I know that look. That’s the look you get when you’re on a date with a real hottie and you see your ex coming over to say hi."

Kato grinned.

Syaoran just sat, panicking. When we get out, I’ll take off down the street. They’ll never catch me. Especially if I wait until they’ve got all their music stuff on their shoulders...

The van came to a halt, and Syaoran slowly turned his head to see what large house they were stopped in front of. Of course. It’s just my luck. Any second now, Daidi something will be coming out to say hi to them, do lord knows what to me. Syaoran sighed as he filed out of the van, reluctantly taking the guitar case Komai handed him. They set their stuff down on the driveway, then turned as they heard a door open, the front door to the Daidi something’s house.

Without even seeing Tomoyo, Syaoran swiftly turned and was about to run, but Kato caught him by the wrist, looking at him questioningly. "Where do you think you’re going?" She asked in a quiet tone, as the rest of them were turning to meet the hostess.

Tomoyo stood with her hands clasped, beaming and totally glowing in her way too formal dress, as always. "I’m so amazed, I can’ t beleive-" She stopped talking, looking over to the boy with his back turned, whose wrist Kato held. "Li-kun?" She asked, her voice quickly switching tones from ecstasy to confusion.

A slow smile of understanding came across Kato’s face. "Oh...I see..." She forced Syaoran to turn aruond, whispering so only he could hear- "Your girlfriend? Is she the jealous type or should I let go of your wrist and not play games?"

Syaoran only responded by yanking his wrist away from Kato, then glared straight into Tomoyo’s scary grey eyes. "I’m helping them fill in some parts." He mumbled as an answer.

"Oh, I see..." Tomoyo said, blinking as if that would help her understand. She quickly switched again. "Well you guys can bring your stuff into the studio! There’s a door on the side, follow me." She said, smiling at them, then meeting Syaoran’s eyes again with the slightest hint of...what? Syaoran wasn’t sure. But whatever it had been, Syaoran was sure he didn’t like it.

Komai grinned and got a better grip on the snare stand he held in one hand to help Rii out, hanging on to a cymbal and his guitar case in the other. "I sense some tension here." He said to Rii, who only half grinned.

Syaoran followed in the far back with a glare that could have sent a monster running. So this is what normal Komai is like- the unsick one. Komai’s personality was totally opposite to Syaoran’s, and he wasn’t sure if he liked it. Oh well. He was getting paid. And who cared if this was Tomoyo...Syaoran shuddered to think if Sakura decided to show up, this being her best friend’s house. But wait! Why wasn’t Sakura here anyway? She loved Shiro Ame more than Tomoyo and the rest of the world put together. Syaoran thanked God for his luck, and hoped it would last.

What if she does show up? I can’t let them tell me out! And she’ll be wondering why I’m here with them! I can’t let her find out that was me... Syaoran frantically had the urge to chew on his nails. He pulled Kato’s arm, and she turned and slowed to walk next to him as they walked down the hall to the soundproof room they’d be recording in. "You can’t let them know it was me."

"What?" Kato asked, confused.

"Playing Komai. They can’t know."

"Who’s they?"

"That girl. And her friend if she shows up. Anyone, for that matter. They can’t know, alright?" He said, giving a deathly pleading and solemn look at Kato.

"Alright." She said, shrugging, bewildered by the importance of this situation.

"Tell them, then." He said, motioning at the rest of the band.

_____________________________________

After rushing home from the stupid dentist appointment, Sakura made sure her hair still looked nice from the the evening before, quickly changed into the outfit she had laid out on her bed, then began running down the sidewalk, careful not to mess up her hair. She was fourty minutes late to Shiro Ame’s arrival, presuming they arrived on time, and didn’t want to waste a second more. Her stomach was full of butterflies. Part of her wanted to turn back and run home to the safety of her room. She was so used to idolizing these people, she couldn’t comprehend seeing them in...in...well this type of environment. She might actually get to talk to them! Talk to them!

Just thinking of Komai made her almost faint again. She wanted to see him more than any of the other ones put together. What if he doesn’t recognize me? But what if he does? Oh gosh. I’m going to make a complete fool of myself. Maybe I should go back home. What am I thinking? I want this more than anything, why can’t I just take it? She about fell over her own steps down the sidewalk.

"Sakura!" A voice called, one Sakura hadn’t heard in forever.

She turned and saw a girl with streaming black hair running towards her, looking a bit older than Sakura remembered. She quickly smiled, though half her thoughts were still on the house she wanted to get to so badly. "Meilin-chan! Did you come with Syaoran?"

Meilin walked alongside Sakura. "No, I came after, but listen, have you seen him? He ran off."

Sakura shook her head. "No, I haven’t seen him. But listen. You won’t beleive where I’m going!" She didn’t wait for Meilin to respond. "Tomoyo’s house, because ShiroAme is there! At her house! Recording! Can you beleive it?"

Meilin nodded, the name fimiliar. "That’s awesome! Would she mind if I came in and looked for a second?"

"Sure. I’m sure we won’t bug them if we go in the back where Tomoyo is in the sound room, becaues I’m sure they’re awfully busy recording, so we’ll want to stay out of their way."

"Well this is way better than finding Syaoran. Oh my gosh! This is so cool!"

Sakura nodded enthusiastically, now glad she wasn’t alone as she practically fell up the steps to Tomoyo’s house, trembling with anticipation. "Alright..." She said, reaching out for the door. She retracted her hand. "You open it."

Meilin walked up to the door, her arm shaking every bit as much as Sakura’s. "But what if we mess up their recording?"

Sakura nodded. "You’re right." She said. She walked over to the door and put her ear to it to see if she could hear any music. Nothing. Only some banging and some muffled voices. "They’re not playing anything."

Meilin bit her lip. In one quick motion she threw open the door, then shoved Sakura sharply in. Sakura froze with paralysis for a second, then desperately tried to compose herself, waiting for Meilin’s added strength to be at her side. All at once she saw the boy walking by. He noticed their entrance and grinned broadly. The same grin that had made Sakura’s knees collapse on stage. The same grin that was in every picture, the heart melting grin that seemed to entrap every girl in Japan.

"More of the sound crew?" He guessed.

Sakura begged her mouth to work, but it refused, so she resorted to shaking her head, feeling incredibly stupid for not being able to shrink her eyes back to normal size, nor tear them away from him.

"I should have known. Too cute for sound people." He said, grinning lopsided.

Sakura wondered if Meilin could catch her if she fell backwards.

Meilin was dealing with him in her own way, her own haughty way, and, as if sizing him up, pretended like she was offended and threw her head back, charging past him as if he was a bother. Komai watched her walk of with a kind of awestruck look, then looked back to Sakura, who was still gawking at him, though he didn’t seem to mind. "So your name is....?"

Sakura took a deep breath and spoke. "S-sakura." She said, hoping that didn’t sound too stupid. Meilin’s attitude may have been off, but at least she didn’t look like she was about to faint.

He grinned, meeting her eyes again, those chocolate eyes slightly off from what she remembered but still positively absolutely wonderful. "That’s my favorite blossom. Maybe it’s an omen. I’ll have to watch out for you."

Down the hall at the corner of the wall, Syaoran was about turning purple. He couldn’t help it if he had an outrageously jealous disposition, he couldn’t take much more of this.

"If you hold that amp any tighter it’s going to break." Rii muttered, screwing together part of a stand.

Kato looked down the hall. "Komai indulging in fans again? Will he ever get tired of it?"

"He’s not getting the extra monitor any time soon. You’d better get it yourself, Rii." Gatria said.

Rii, openly annoyed, stalked down the hall and pushed past Komai, obviously used to dealing with this type of thing. Kato walked over after plugging her bass in to where Syaoran was wiring some of the monitors in. "After Komai remembers we’re recording, get him to show you the chording for the first song we’re doing. Okay?"

"Look, they have a clavinova!" Gatria said, admiring the piano/keyboard cross.

Kato jumped away from Syaoran to go see. "We could do techno songs!"

Syaoran went back to plugging microphones in now, glancing up frequently to see how Sakura was doing. Komai was just wandering back down the hall, as Sakura, looking like she had been hit by a stun gun, had her eyes glued on him as she walked towards the sound room, paying no attention to where she was walking. Syaoran suspected she might step into a wall, but he just went back to working with the sound equipment.

She’s going to notice me soon. Syaoran took one more glance at her, just as she stepped into the door, blushed, then quickly disappeared into the sound room. Maybe not. She might not notice anyone as long as he’s here. Syaoran glanced up boy who was walking by him. There were many subtle detail differences between their looks, but if they stood together far away from someone, they could be mistaked for the same person. Except Syaoran’s hair was a little more auburn than Komai’s dark brown hair. And, Syaoran noticed with grief, Komai was taller than him. Syaoran clenched his teeth and tried not to think about anything but the yen.

But now she’ll see me playing and wonder....wonder what? Komai had picked up his guitar and was playing a bunch of fast scales, either warming up or showing off. Syaoran reluctantly walked over to him for the chord charts, knowing Sakura and Meilin would both be staring at him. Just before he stepped into their veiw, Gatria shouted and stopped him from stepping.

"Do you guys have any extra monitors in there?" She shouted.

Tomoyo nodded, and she handed some large black sound boxes to Meilin and Sakura to carry out there while she fixed some of the settings on the sound board. Meilin walked in front of her, and Sakura followed in her shadow, nervous to see Komai’s up close again. Too late, there he was.

Flashing his smile, he intercepted Meilin. "Let me take that from you." He said, taking the monitor out of Meilin’s arms. She looked surprised for a moment, then quickly looked the other way like she didn’t care.

Sakura, however, was staring at him with wide eyes and absently following him, like a dog after it’s owner. Syaoran, whom she was yet to notice, was fiddling with a wire on the ground, and narrowly managed to get it out of her way before she would have tripped over it. "Watch it." He muttered, overly annoyed with her stupid behavior.

Sakura froze- immediatly recognizing that hostile voice. She turned, having to completly turn to him so she could see over the large monitor in her hands. "Li-kun?" She asked, total surprise in her voice.

Syaoran realized he had spoke, and quickly hated himself for being so stupid. He panicked for a way to explain himself, but Kato came to the rescue, putting an arm around him and smiling. "We recruited him off the street, you know, for back up and stuff." She said, smiling convincingly.

Sakura looked from Syaoran, the same infamous boy she had seen many times before, to the internationally renowned girl with her arm around his shoulder, who she had only seen in posters or on stage. "O-oh." She managed, though it didn’t make any sense to her. Syaoran hates music. Back up what? He’s not singing is he? Sakura continued on to where the monitor was needed, totally baffled. Komai took her monitor from her once she got to where he was setting them down, but Sakura was sad to see he didn’t say anything to her this time. She walked away, dejected, eyeing Syaoran unsurely. She just didn’t get it.

Syaoran, after finished with the wires, walked back over to try a second time and get the chord charts from Komai. Komai already was setting them out. "Alright, all you have to an offbeat strum- you know what that is, right? Well anyway- those are the chords, here, have a copy."

Syaoran took the paper and looked at it. It was easy. He glanced over at Komai’s paper, seeing with annoyance that he had written out all kinds of difficult runs and scales that would break in the middle of the sign. Figured. But that’s what they wanted me for. Backup. Syaoran took the the paper back to his stand, assuring himself he knew all the chords on the paper. They must have some type of faith in him, if they expected him to play the whole song without ever running through it.

"I don’t suppose you’d fill in harmony?" Kato asked Syaoran.

He glared at her. "I agreed to play. I didn’t say anything about singing."

She sighed and shrugged. "I guess Komai will be soloist again." She turned to Gatria and told her something about a verse, then turned to the rest of them. "Shall we run through the music side of it once? Rii, try siding the snare, unless it sounds stupid. Ready then?"

Syaoran wanted to melt away. He didn’t want to do this. At least, in the concert, no one had known he was Syaoran. Now sitting in a room in front of him, three girls that very much knew who he was, were watching. He told himself he was being ridiculous, and waited for whatever drum into so they could start.

Rii was a very good drummer, Syaoran had to admit, and was surprised that even though it was the first thing he had drummed all day, he managed a perfect roll into the normal rock beat. Gatria played some opening chords, grinning wickedly as the electric sound rushed out of her guitar. The rest came in- bass, lead, other back up, and it fast sounded full. Syaoran did his best to block out his surroundings and play, quickly falling into rhythm. As much as he didn’t want to admit, it had seemed funner when he was Komai himself, not playing with him. Because Sakura LIKES him, that’s why.

They went through the whole song, Kato beginning to sing by the end of it when she was happy enough that they sounded balanced. After it ended, she held up her hand for Komai to stop his irritating chords. "That’s good, but should we try adding another sound? This is kind of...metally. All we have is guitar."

"That’s all you need in a song." Komai protested.

"I’m not writing your part out, don’t freak. I’m just saying, get someone to play just a simple strings part, violin thing, I don’t care. Something."

Gatria nodded. "I agree. Add a different sound."

Kato tapped on the microphone so Tomoyo could hear her idea. Tomoyo quickly turned it on and looked up. "Does any of you know how to play this?" She asked, pointing to the clavinova. "We want an extra part in, but we need all of us playing."

"We could layer it." Gatria suggested.

"That will take all day." Rii complained, twirling his drum sticks around his fingers boredly.

There was some discussion in the sound room, alot of pointing, then, with a depressed look on her face, Sakura was pushed out of the door. She walked up the hall nervously, no self confidence whatsoever. Why are they making me play? Tomoyo’s the piano expert. She should play. Someone else could run the sound. Though she knew that wasn’t true. Sakura tried to look composed, stopping in front of Kato. She breifly shot a glance at Syaoran, totally blown away by seeing him play. She thought he didn’t play any music at all! That explains the guitar we found in his apartment before he moved.

"Alright, this won’t be hard, just a little counter part or something." Kato said, kindly as possible, obviously trying not to intimidate Sakura. Sakura followed her over to the keyboard, where they began chosing sound patches and parts.

Komai strolled over to Syaoran, shooting glances towards the sound room. "Who’s your friend?" He asked.

"Tomoyo?" Syaoran asked back.

"Not the sound girl, the other chic."

"That’s my cousin." He said, glaring over at Meilin breifly, who was, at the moment, staring at Komai, because, at the moment, Komai wasn’t looking at her.

"So the haughtiness does run in the family." Gatria said, grinning.

"Does she have a name?" He asked, turning and flashing a large grin at her, and she looked away at once, annoyed she was caught gawking.

"Meilin." Syaoran said, wishing Komai would stop asking him all these questions.

"Does she have a boyfriend?" He asked.

"Go away, Komai, time to start playing again, we’re gonna try this out." Kato announced, pushing her way back to her stand.

Komai walked back, but was still looking at Syaoran for an answer. Syaoran shook his head sadly, hating to get in the middle of this. They were already starting the song again, so he didn’t have to think about it. He glanced sideways at Sakura as he played, seeing with disgust that as she played the keyboard, she was gazing stupidly up at Komai, who was playing beside her, totally involved in the difficult parts he got to play. Syaoran glared right back at his paper, trying to contain his jealousy. God half the reason she likes him so much was because you- when you were him- took her up on stage like you did. You’re being ridiculous, you’re practically being jealous of yourself.

Syaoran couldn’t even hear what Sakura was playing, but he didn’t worry himself about it. Quickly the song was at an end. Kato smiled at Sakura, happy with the blending of sounds. "That’s great! Should we try and record this?"

Gatria nodded, and was followed by the rest of them. So Kato instructed Tomoyo through the microphone, and production was quickly underway. Once Syaoran felt Sakura’s suspicious eyes on him, but the rest of the time, she was gawking at Komai. And the majority of that time, Komai was watching Meilin. It seemed everyone is in love here. He sighed and shifted his weight, waiting for them to start. What a waist of my vacation. But it’s not like I’m missing Sakura. She’s here, anyway. Staring at him. Syaoran glared at Komai, who started at once with his scales. Syaoran’s grip on the guitar was tight, and he strummed with a stiff right hand.

Kato and Gatria sang through this one on their microphones, their voices blending with natural harmony, only breaking in parts of the verse for Komai’s solos. Syaoran glared at him the whole time he sang, seemingly uncaring to anyone watching him. He hated him for being so overconfident. Syaoran just went back to his playing, finishing the song up without one flaw in the simple chord changes.

The song finished, but both Komai and Kato looked unhappy with the outcome. "I didn’t like the vocals on that."

"Try over?" Komai agreed.

"Yeah, again, Tomoyo." She said. "Good playing, Syaoran."

Syaoran glowered darkly. She didn’t have to mention him. It wasn’t like he even did anything but a few preschool chords that weren’t difficult in the least. Her mention of his name had Sakura looking him over again, curiously eyeing his guitar. The song started again, and Syaoran lost himself in playing for the moment.

After that song ended, they did it again, and again- five more times, in fact- and Syaoran thought if he heard the chorus of that song one more time he’d throw up. Luckily, the fifth time was alright for Kato and Komai’s insane standards. Kato wiped her forehead with the back of her hand and smiled at everyone. Syaoran snuck a glimpse at Sakura and found even she looked weary of the constant melody. "Well, anyone for a break?" She asked.

Everyone immediatly agreed, though Syaoran didn’t vocalize his. Tomoyo and Meilin emerged from the sound room, both looking bored out of their minds, and Tomoyo jumped to playing hostess.

"We can go in the guest house if you’d like, or our parlor, would anyone like a lemonade?"

The answer was overwhelming, so Tomoyo just led them into the parlor and showed them to their seats, having to snap Sakura out of a Komai-staring daze before she left the room. "I’ll be back with some snacks." She said sweetly.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room, one in which Syaoran contemplated running out before any questions were asked about him, but Kato easily broke the silence.

"God I don’t think I’ll be able to hear that song for another ten years." She said, leaning back on the couch.

"I never liked it in the first place." Rii grumbled.

"Oh what do you drummers care? It’s always that same kickbeat every freaking song." Komai said, flashing a meaningful smile at Meilin for a second. Meilin just shyly looked the other way, pretending to have a sudden interest on a painting hanging on the wall.

Rii’s eyes narrowed. "It’s not like you even noticed we played it eight thousand times, you seemed too involved in your scales. What’s that, you call it again, guitar meditation-"

"You did play those awfully well." Kato said. She looked to Syaoran, who was off in his own little corner, sitting by himself, staring off into space. "The next song’s a little more difficult, it’s what we wanted you to fill in for." Kato said.

Syaoran blinked and looked up, realizing he was being spoken to. "Oh, uh, alright." He said, looking up at Kato. On his eye’s way back down to the floor he unintentionally caught Sakura’s eyes. He glared deeply at the floor. Damn it.

"I never knew you played guitar, Li-kun." Sakura said, still looking at him.

"Mhmm." Syaoran muttered, still looking hard at the floor.

Sakura looked up at Kato, daring to speak to them. So far she had been sitting with excitement, watching the band converse like a little child watched an adult conversation. "How did you meet with him, exactly?"

"Yes, how exactly did Syaoran meet with you?" Meilin spoke, her voice more demanding than Sakura’s timid tone.

Komai, anxious to talk to Meilin, immediatly jumped in, looking right at Meilin’s amber Syaoran-like eyes. "See we needed a back up guitarist for me (Gatria rolls her eyes, being the back up guitar), and good guitarists are hard to come by, so one day we saw Li-kun here playing, so we got his number and asked if he’d help us out recording."

Meilin, not intimidated in the least by that charming prince smile, looked right back at him. "Syaoran never plays his guitar in public. In fact, he never plays it at home." She said, unconvinced. Komai was too busy admiring her ignorance that he didn’t bother to respond.

"We met forever ago Meilin, forget about it." Syaoran mumbled, agitated that Sakura was drooling over Komai once more, who sat with his charming expression, flashing smiles in any given direction every random second.

"You mean to tell me you have known this nice group of musicians for years-" Meilin paused to smile at Komai slyly, as if giving him a hidden compliment. "-and you never told me?"
Sakura was confused. She looked at Syaoran. He was scowling at the floor. She sighed and sat back, only looking breifly at Komai out of habit. Syaoran never mentioned anything when I went on and on about Shiro Ame, he sounded like he didn’t even know them. But now he’s acting as if known them forever, like he just said. She frowned and sat shifted in her chair. Something was going on here, she had known that since she had seen Syaoran with a guitar strap over his shoulder. But what was it?...

"Perhaps your cousin was just trying to keep all you for himself." Komai said, grinning at Meilin. Kato and Gatria rolled their eyes simontaneously, and Rii made a coughing noise.

Meilin grinned and blushed, but was saved by Tomoyo’s entrance. She was followed by a house maid, holding a huge tray of food. Komai jumped to his feet, looking eagerly at the food, and was followed by Rii and then the rest of the band. They all took their fill and continued to talk noisily as they ate. Syaoran took nothing but a glass of lemonade, then continued to sit in his corner quietly. Every now and then he’d glance up to see if Sakura was still staring at Komai, then he’d look back down, uninterrested in Komai’s indirect way of flirting.

After they had eaten as much as they could stomach, they left the parlor and went back into the recording studio, rejuvenated. Syaoran had to look over the music a couple times before he was able to find the right rhythm and then practiced dualing with Komai on their scales.

Sakura walked dejectedly over to the keyboard. She knew she was being ridiculous, but she couldn’t help it. Here she had thought Komai would at least recognize her, but he seemed oblivious to anyone but Meilin. She didn’t get it. It seemed that at the concert, his eyes had only been focused on one place. Not that it mattered. But it does. I’m driving myself crazy thinking ‘why, why, why?’ I should just toughen up and ask him. Sakura absently listened to the instructions Kato was giving her, letting her fingers follow mindlessly. Tonight. After they’re done recording. I wonder if they’re even staying tonight? Maybe.

- - - - - - - - - -

Within six more hours of heavy recording, only two songs were finished, one more near done. Syaoran had never known the recording business was so grueling, but he thought he might have rathered fight a Clow card than do this. The band decided to take Tomoyo up on her offer of the guards and guesthouse deal, and were staying the night. Meilin was suspiciously happy of this decision, and Sakura was ecstatic. Syaoran just continued to undo the wiring they couldn’t leave plugged in overnight, working slowly because of his raw finger tips. He hoped he’d be able to play the next day.

Komai, who hadn’t been much help in the deconstruction of the studio, had finally stopped talking to Meilin (they had braved up enough to talk together directly), and was walking back to his guitar so he could put it away for the night. Syaoran glanced up as Sakura approached him, seeing the aprehension and nervousness radiating from her as she held her elbows with her shakey hands and tried to look normal. Syaoran tried not to glare and looked back at the wires.

"Komai?" She said. I said it. Can’t back out now, I said his name.

Komai glanced up and smiled kindly at her, then returned his attention to storing away the music in his case. "What’s up, Cherry blossom?"

Sakura wanted to run away. Why was she doing this again? Oh right, so she would drive herself crazy with the ‘why’ question. "Can I ask you something?" She was surprised in the smoothness of her voice. She thanked the heavens her voice wasn’t as shakey as the rest of her.

"As long as it’s not ‘why did we chose this title for our band’." He said lightly, latching the latches on the guitar case, then straightening up and looking at her.

The chocolate eyes blinked at her, still slightly different from what she remembered, but still the same deep brown color. "I was..." She looked at her foot, digging the toe of her shoe into the floor. "Just wondering..." She looked back up, forcing the intimidation out of her. "Why did you pull me up on stage?" She asked. You did it!

Komai blinked blankly at her, his thoughts racing. Then he noticed that behind Sakura’s back, Syaoran had jumped to his feet, and, looking panick stricken, was pointing at himself. Komai looked back to Sakura, remembering that she was expecting an answer. Then he realized it. "Oh, that was, uh, the concert in North Tokyo?" He asked.

"Yes..." Sakura said unsurely. She had been hoping it was going to be a much more romantic answer than this half minded one he was giving her.

"That wasn’t really-" Komai stopped abruptly, seeing Syaoran practically jumping up and down while furiously shaking his head and moving his hands side to side over themselves in a way that said ‘NO’! "Wasn’t really that abnormal, no offense, I, uh, pull fans on the stage all the time." He said, glancing at Syaoran to see if this answer was alright. Syaoran looked ten thousand times releived.

Kato, standing nearby where she was fixing some amp plugs, was laughing uncontrollably after realizing that, when she had just thought Syaoran pulled a girl on stage because he thought she was cute, had in fact pulled a girl on stage because he knew her- more likely liked her. She turned away so they couldn’t see her laugh, trying desperately to keep quiet, but not doing a good job. She sunk to the ground, holding her knees against her chest and burying her head, still cracking up.

"Oh." Sakura said simply, her face falling.

Komai quickly picked up on this and realized what a crappy answer he had just given her. "But, I only take the really gorgeous ones." He said, tilting her chin up so she could see him smile at her.

Sakura blushed horribly and looked away shyly, trying to stay standing after he had just touched her. "I’ve...gotta get home." She rushed away to a safe distance, then forced some manners out. "See you all tommorrow. See you later, Li-kun." She called.

Syaoran, realizing he was holding his breath, let a long sigh out. "Later." He mumbled, too busy thinking about what a close call that had been to think about responding.

Kato finally managed to stand up, though she still laughed, and her face had turned beat red. "It all makes sense now..." She said, laughing wickedly.

Syaoran could only glower and hope nothing more would come of it.

"Smooth one, slick." She said to Komai, or Syaoran, or both of them.

Komai shook his head. "Sure was." He agreed.

"Syaoran!" Meilin called, jogging up to him. She looked at Komai, then clutched Syaoran’s arm, pretending to be disinterested. "We’ve got to get home too." She said.

"I know." He muttered, tolerating her gripping his arm for now.

She pulled him away. "Have a good night." She called over her shoulder.

"Sweet dreams, Meilin!" Komai called after her, though Meilin pretended not to hear it.

Komai sighed and tossed down a loose cord, glancing up as the door shut behind them. "She is one cold hearted being." He said, whistling.

"Must be a nice change from your other adoring fans." Rii said dryly, walking into the room, waiting for the others so he could get to the guest house and get some sleep.

Komai just grinned. "She’s one hottie, that’s for sure."

"Definitely a strange family." Gatria agreed.

"I thought I was going to die laughing, just now..." Kato started.

- - - - - -

Sakura kicked a rock down the road, thinking about what Komai had just said. Only the gorgeous ones. Gimme a break. You didn’t even remember what I was talking about. And why should you? You have every girl in Japan after you. I’m stupid for thinking you could have liked me any more than the rest. Sakura shivered in the night air, clutching her bare arms. She stopped in place.

"My overshirt," She said aloud, realizing it was still in Tomoyo’s parlor, sitting on the chair Sakura had set it down on.

She sighed heavily and turned back around. At least she had remembered it now, not when she was almost home. She walked up the sidewalk and up to the front door of Tomoyo’s house. She could just get in there and go to the parlor without having to run into anyone and embaressing herself further. She walked quietly through the hall to the parlor. ‘I’ve known them forever’. What a lie. But why’s he’s bothering to say that? I don’t get it. But of course I don’t. Syaoran’s always hiding little things from me. I never knew he had even the faintest idea what a melody was, and here I find out he’s an awesome guitar player. She sighed thinking about watching him play. He resembled Komai alot, only he scowled when he was playing guitar, and wasn’t as enthusaistic.

Sakura walked over to the chair and picked up her grey long sleeved shirt, then pondered shortly about which door to take out. The closest was through the hall that went by the recording studio. Sakura decided that the band had probably filed out by now, and even if they hadn’t, she could get by unnoticed. Sakura quietly opened the door and stepped into the hall.

She heard Kato’s laugh ring loudly, followed by Komai’s continuing story. She would have dismissed it as nothing, but for the words she heard. Sakura froze, then plastered herself to the wall, frowning with confusion as she listened.

"...I’ve never pulled anyone on stage in my life! I was wondering what that moron got me into. See if I ever allow anyone to substitute for me on stage anymore."

"I have never seen anyone look so panicked. It looked like he had just seen someone die!" Kato said between her gasping laughter.

"All this time I just thought he pulled her up trying to fit Komai’s character. And it turns out he actually knew her!" Gatria said.

"I can’t beleive he did that. And now everyone thinks it was me. Now I’m going to have to live up to that at every concert we ever go to." Komai complained.

"Oh come on. Li-kun played a very good you." Kato said jokingly.

Sakura felt like she had been hit by a bus. Or better yet, she had been stepped on by a giant spider. Whatever it was that had hit her, it was hard and awful. Sakura managed to peel herself off the wall and hurry away, not bothering to silence the door as it slammed behind her in her rush out into the air. She was hoping the outdoor air might be more breatheable, but she found that no matter where she stood, the words she had just heard hurt every bit as much.

Substitute? Li-kun? I don’t...I can’t beleive... Despite how much Sakura wanted to wave it off as a lie, all the evidence leading to the truth proved otherwise. She had remembered him looking slightly different. She knew that he had been looking at her differently than the other fans. And exactly how had Syaoran met them? He had never really answered it. But then...He said ‘oh, the concert in nothern Tokyo’. Like there was something different in that concert. Like a SUBSTITUTE!

Sakura stomped down the road, not even seeing where she was going as her thoughts raved on so loudly. How could he DO THIS TO ME? That lying, good for nothing peice of crap. I never thought he would do something as twisted as this...Sakura’s emotions would not let her rest. She immediatly began recalling different times when she had thought Syaoran looked like Komai, or the time she found the guitar in his room, or...He let me ramble on about how much I like him! That sick, twisted...He was just doing it because he knew I was talking about him! He tricked me into giving him compliments, he was just sitting back and smiling the whole time. Well I hope he’s satisfied. I didn’t think he could actually... Sakura was thankful there was no one walking the sidewalk, because she would have plowed over him.

Be more rational, Sakura, you’re jumping to conclusions. Komai was probably talking about something totally different. They didn’t exactly say ‘Syaoran was Komai’s substitue in the Tokyo concert in April’ did they? They might as well. They did. They said it. They said ‘Li-kun played a good you’ and then that ‘he actually knew her’- knew ME! How could he...Sakura wanted to scream, wanted to scream every curse word she had ever heard. Better yet, she would like to put Syaoran in a bind spell and poke at him with some burning iron. But she didn’t do any of that. Sakura’s competitive mind was jumping to how she was going to confront Syaoran about this. And then with confrontation came revengance. And with revengance came the plan that Sakura needed to carefully think out.

That baka-ka will wish he never picked up a guitar.

Man that Sakura, using language now. But who can blame her? I’d be ticked off too. haha so next chapter will be good. Hopefully. I’ll try my hardest.

Still awaiting comments at [email protected] or [email protected] neither of them are 100% positive your email will get to me, but hey.

My aol sn’s switched to SyaoranChic, that’s definitely gonna work.

My site’s at geocities.com/KeanusHorseChic I always get my chapters up there the fastest.

Well gotta go to bed.

Ja mata ne

~*Syaoran Fan 4 Life*~