Finally, done! Been working on this baby for three days now. I had to make sure it was perfect. S+S are my favorite coupling! They're too damn cute! Oh--fun fact! Sakura's birthday is April 1st, the day CLAMP was formed. My birthday is April 1st! Eee that makes me feel so spiffy! Um, anyway... gets shot for hgetting distracted

So, sorry all my Kamichama people, I need a break from KxK! Don't hate me! I'll return soon! I wanna write some other ones for a little bit. Next I think will be a Kyohru fic. Second favorite couple! shot once more for distractions

So, this takes place obviously before the series ends and the second movie. Not sure when, but definitely after the elevator episode, hence Sakura referring to Syaoran as Syaoran-kun instead of Li-kun. And definitely after Yukito rejects her. But, this isn't really a lot of romance, but more of the transition stage for Sakura, when she starts to feel a little bit more for Li than just friendship. Syaoran is obviously crushing big time. It's cute, really. Lotsa blushing and awkward moments. I'm proud of it. I wanted to see if I had the ability to not write just mushy fics. So please enjoy! And review please!


Sakura should've known when her alarm didn't go off that today wasn't going to be a good one. But she couldn't have ever realized how bad it would be, though. But as I said, her alarm didn't go off that morning. She was awakened, however, by a furious pounding on her door. She blearily blinked her eyes open and sat up, rubbing them and yawning.

"Oi! Get up, kaijuu! We're gonna be late!" came Touya's booming voice. She was confused at first. Why was he waking her up, her alarm hadn't even gone off yet? How could they be…? And as she thought that, she turned to check her clock.

"Hoeee?!" she cried out, noticing how late it actually was. With another high-pitched squeal, she shot from her bed, running around her room frantically, trying to get dressed.

"Kero, why didn't you wake me up?!" she yelled at her small, yellow familiar as she pulled off her pants and replaced it with her skirt. Kero was sitting up in his bed, yawning.

"I was asleep too, you know!" he said in a matter-of-fact voice. Another shrill shriek came from Sakura, who was now caught on her closet door by the Clow key. She pulled away frantically and yanked her shirt over her head. She grabbed her brush and quickly ran it through her hair and put in her normal pigtails. She shoved her socks on, hopping towards her bag at the same time.

"Bye Kero!!" she shouted as she flung open her door and ran down the stairs at top speed. Kero waved good-bye and sighed, mumbling something about her being such an airhead. Suddenly, something shining in the sunlight caught his eye and he turned to see what it was. Hanging on the closer door was Sakura's Clow key.


Sakura skated into school just as the bell rang. Oops. When she reached her classroom, the teacher was already speaking. She walked in, still panting with her face slightly flushed.

"G-Gomen nasai sensei…I overslept this morning…," she said apologetically. She quickly shuffled over to her seat. Syaoran looked up at her from his seat behind hers and she smiled a slow, uneasy smile at him.

"Ohayo…"she said softly and he muttered it back quickly, cheeks going slightly red. She looked to Tomoyo and saw her smile and wave to her. She returned it with a small smile and a tiny wave. Sakura let out a silent sigh as she sat down and took her things from her book bag. The day surely couldn't get any worse. Oh, how wrong she was. She went to take out her homework form the night before and curiously found that it was not in her bag. She almost screamed when she suddenly remembered it was lying on her desk at home. She had spoken far too soon.


When the bell rang at the end of the day, Sakura immediately flopped over onto her desk, face-first. Honestly, she must be cursed. She had been given an extra-hard make-up assignment for forgetting her homework. Oh, and because she was rushing, she had forgotten her lunch on the kitchen table, so she had to share with poor Tomoyo. She groaned. Today was not turning out so well.

Tomoyo walked over to Sakura's desk and patted her gently on the head. Sakura look up to see her smiling at her.

"Having one of those days, Sakura-chan?" she asked sweetly. Sakura just managed to nod and grumble as she face-planted the desk once more. She felt another hand pat her back from behind and looked up to see who it was. All she managed to see was a red-cheeked Syaoran leave the classroom. She smiled slightly and got up. Tomoyo giggled.

"Tomoyo-chan, why do you always laugh at me like that?" Sakura asked, her voice barely able to keep its cheery tone. Tomoyo replied with her usual response.

"It's because Sakura is so kawaii!" she giggled. Sakura tried to smile for her friend, but her mood was severely dampened. Tomoyo gave her one last smile and waved good-bye, heading out to go to choir. Sakura sighed and gathered her things and headed off to cheer practice. She made a mental note to herself to expect the worst.


Sakura was frowning deeply when she left cheer practice later. She trudged slowly home, on foot. A wheel on her skates had popped out, so now she was stuck with the long walk home. She had thought about using Fly to get home, but had found out that her Clow key was not around her neck as it should've been. She also realized it must've ripped off when she was stuck to her door that morning. Her luck really was terrible today. Cheer had gone all right, but she missed her baton once and it slammed down on her cheek pretty painfully, leaving a large bruise she now had covered up with a band-aid. She let out a deep sigh. What was with today? It was like she was c-

Thunder suddenly cracked overhead and the clouds started to pour rain.

…-ursed. Sakura stopped in her tracks and looked up at the grey sky. Her frown was gone now and it was replaced by utter shock. She looked to her arm and pinched it. She looked around. Nope, still raining. She was definitely not dreaming this. She bit her lip and sighed. She was getting soaked. She couldn't walk home like this, she would definitely get sick. And then Onii-chan would be mad. She looked around to see where she could stay for a little bit. She noticed a familiar building not so far away and hurried off towards it.


Syaoran was just about to call out for food when he heard a knock at his door. He looked at the door curiously. Who could possibly be coming to see him? He headed over and opened the door to see a very wet Sakura standing there, looking up at him with pathetic eyes. Oh yeah, this was probably one of the last things he envisioned when he was thinking of who could be knocking.

"It's raining. Can I come in and wait it out?" Sakura asked quietly. Syaoran blinked and stared for a few seconds before her request registered. Then his face went red.

"Oh! Um-yea, sure…," he said and quickly moved aside. Sakura walked in and stood in the middle of his living room. Her hair dripped water onto her face and her shoes squished when she moved. Syaoran didn't think to ask her much about it, he had seen at school how her day had been going. He disappeared a moment and returned with a sweatshirt and a pair of pants.

"Y-You can wear these for now," he said awkwardly and handed them to her, "Bathroom is over there."

Sakura nodded weakly and disappeared into the bathroom. Syaoran quickly went into the kitchen and put on a pot of water. That much he could do when it came to the kitchen. When he walked back into the living room, Sakura was standing there, fiddling with his pants. They were obviously too big on her tiny body. The legs hid her feet completely and they were about to fall off her hips. The sweatshirt was too big too. The sleeves went well past her hands and the high collar hung around her neck. He noticed she was having difficulty making the pants stay up. He grabbed a belt from one of his drawers and went over to her, looping it and pulling her a tiny bit closer as he buckled it tightly. Both of their cheeks flushed a pale red at their close proximity.

"Arigatou…" she muttered as he let go and stepped back. He nodded and pointed over to the couch as he went back into the kitchen. Sakura sat down and put her hands in between her knees and looked to the floor. Syaoran came back with two cups of tea and handed her one. She smiled slightly and took it, letting it warm her hands. He sat down next to her, but far enough so he wouldn't get flustered. He looked at her a moment and suddenly noticed the band-aid on her cheek.

"What happened?" he asked, and reached up and pulled the band-aid away, despite himself. Sakura flinched slightly and looked at him, a little stunned by his action. She then quickly looked away.

"Oh…um, I got this at cheerleading club…I missed the baton again…," she replied. He looked at the bruise on her cheek. It wasn't big, only the size of maybe a quarter, but it was very purple with a slight yellow lining. He noticed her eyes stayed downcast as she spoke.

Syaoran felt bad for her. She really was having a terrible day. And she looked as if it had really worn her down. That made him even sadder. The Sakura he liked was always smiling and cheery, seemingly unable to let anything bring her down. And one bad day was just eating away at her.

"Why are you so sad? It's just one bad day, isn't it?" he asked quietly, looking away from her. Sakura looked at him for a second, then back down. She watched the steam slowly rise from her cup, silent for a moment.

"I-I'm not sad…," she explained. Syaoran looked at her, obviously not believing her, but then she spoke again.

"I'm annoyed, sure. Today has just been so awful! Right now, though? I'm more embarrassed," she said. He was confused now. Why was she embarrassed? Then he noticed her cheeks were red.

"I-I just didn't want you to see me like this," she added.

Syaoran's cheeks went scarlet.

"M-M-Me?" he spluttered, obviously knocked off-guard. Sakura's cheeks were visibly pink.

"Well, I don't really want to look silly or stupid in front of you Syaoran. I mean, you already think I'm pretty stupid and foolish most of the time. I just didn't want to give you any more reasons to think that…," she replied, her cheeks growing pinker. He blinked at her in shock, trying to register what she said. When he did, though, Syaoran did the most peculiar thing.

He laughed.

Now, Sakura had never seen Syaoran smile really, so the sight of seeing him laughing was very new to her. Not to mention quite odd. Her cheeks stayed pink and she looked away, thinking he was laughing at how dumb she was. He stopped, still slightly chuckling to himself and touched her arm. She turned and looked at him with uneasy eyes.

"I don't think you're stupid at all. Why would you ever think that?" he asked. She was surprised at how he was speaking now. It was out of character for him. Syaoran only ever spoke in very small, stuttered sentences, or with harsh words.

"Well, you were always really mean to me when we first met and you didn't think I was a good Card Captor," she said in a rushed tone.

"But that was when I first met you. We're friends now, right?" he said. She nodded meekly. He smiled a tiny bit at her. She felt her heart race briefly.

Then the two noticed how close they were. Both immediately flinched back, faces going bright red. Then they looked away. Okay…awkward moment. Syaoran was the first to break the silence.

"Besides, what happened to that stupid 'invincible spell' that you're always muttering about?" he asked, still not looking at her. Sakura looked at him, a little amazed he remembered. She slowly let a smile break across her face and the blush faded to tint the apples of her cheeks lightly.

"Arigatou, Syaoran-kun," she said to him, her voice slowly returning to its sweet tone. Syaoran looked over at her and noticed her smile. The blush brightened considerably. She giggled at him and poked one of his cheeks.

"You always blush! How come, Syaoran-kun?" she asked, a naïve smile on her lips. He blinked at her, face refusing to return to its normal color.

"N-None of your business!" he yelled quickly. She cocked her head curiously, but then laughed again. He looked at her laughing and frowned. He pointed quickly to her tea.

"You should drink that before it gets cold," he commented. Sakura looked down and laughed when she realized she was still holding her cup. She smiled at him once more and took a small sip.

But then she quickly spit it back in the cup.

"It's bitter!" she cried, sticking out her tongue. Syaoran looked over at her, looking alarmed. He took a quick sip of his, but then did the same after a moment. Oh God, it was bitter. He hung his head in disappointment, muttering something about how he thought he was getting better at those kinds of things. Sakura smiled and put her cup back on the table. She touched one side of Syaoran's face, pulling it up, and quickly gave him a peck on the cheek. His face heated up immediately.

"Zettai daijōbu da yo, Syaoran-kun!" she said happily and got up, grabbing the cups as she went into his kitchen to make a new batch of tea. Syaoran watched her and let a silly grin cross his face for a second. He looked out his window and noticed it was still pouring. He silently wished it wouldn't stop.