Cold. Cold and cloudy. It was a day in mid December. The busy shopping district Syaoran was standing in the middle of was decked out in Christmas decorations, street performers, and happy looking shoppers.

Leaning against a wall, Syaoran looked at his phone and checked the time, sighed, and put the phone back in his peacoat pocket. 'She's late, again.' he thought. He looked up and looked around at all the shoppers. Families spending the day together, couples taking in the sights, teenagers laughing and playing around, and there was Syaoran; presumably alone, until Sakura came running towards him.

"SYAORAN!" she yelled, running from down the street. Syaoran looked up and saw her.

"Finally." he mumbled to himself. Significantly taller, Syaoran looked down at Sakura, now standing in front of him. "You need to learn to leave earlier." He realized how nice she looked as soon as he said that. So that's why…

She wore a light pink tunic over a short black skirt, dark grey tights, and dark brown combat style boots with long socks under them. Over that she wore her oversized black peacoat and blood red wool scarf. He noticed she had made the effort to put eyeliner and blush on.

Sakura blushed and smiled. "I took a while to get ready." she bashfully said.

"What did you want to come down here so badly for anyway?" He asked. She smiled. God that smile. He thought, before that thought got cut off by her speaking again.

"Some holiday shopping. I just wanted some company." she said. "Shall we go?"

"Uh, sure."

They walked down the very old looking street. White strings of lights strung between street lights glowed over their heads, they found themselves sometimes bobbing in and out of people trying to walk forward. Sakura did this so gracefully and effortlessly, while humming along to whatever was going on in her head. Syaoran watched her and smiled a little. He didn't think it was possible for anyone to be this adorable, but there was Sakura, proving him wrong, again.

A few shops, some conversations, and a lot of money spent later, Sakura suggested sitting down to refuel at a cafe. At the small table meant for just two, she stared out the window at the city around them. Syaoran felt awkward sitting there watching her do this, and attempted to bring up any kind of conversation.

"Uh, did you get all of your shopping done yet?" he awkwardly asked. Sakura snapped out of her trance and looked up at him.

"Well, no. I haven't figured out what to get Touya, or my dad, or really anyone male in my life... boys are so hard to shop for." she admitted.

"How did you even afford all of this?" he asked. "I feel like I just watched you drop about ten thousand yen." She laughed.

"It's not nearly that much. Don't worry. But I have been working as many extra hours at the restaurant as I can..." she responded. Syaoran looked surprised, and took another sip of his tea in a half assed attempt to hide his smiling at her again.

"Isn't it tough?" he asked, putting his cup down.

"Hey. It's money. I'll do whatever I can. I can't sit around and mooch off of my dad. He works too hard for that." she said. She took a sip of the sugary white mocha she had decided to overindulge in, looked out the window again, and gasped in excitement at the snow starting to fall.

Syaoran had always been infatuated with Sakura. He came into her class in the 4th grade and after a bit of trouble, they made friends with each other. In the awkward beginning stages of puberty in middle school, he saw what a pretty young lady she was becoming, and quickly developed what he brushed off as a little crush. As the years passed, they grew even closer. They were always together. In high school they had homeroom together every year, so they spent time together every day. They both went through various relationships and friendships, but still stuck together at the end of the day.

Syaoran couldn't imagine his life without her. She had grown to be so much more than his best friend and so much more than a girl he had feelings for. She was everything to him. His safety net, as well as the person he needed to protect. She was sweet, and snarky, and funny, and caring and kind and quiet and deep and loud and boisterous all at the same time. Syaoran felt so one dimensional compared to her. She was talented and kind and maybe not so good at school, but she was smart- she had a good head on her shoulders. There was no doubt about that.

But he never told her any of this. She had so much on her plate. He didn't want to stress her out. She was a junior college student working her way into a good university, while working as many hours as she could as a waitress at a fancy restaurant. He worked too, and always tried to pay when they went out, even if he didn't do nearly as much or make nearly as much money. He did it because he felt like he had an obligation to Sakura- to make sure she was always well and happy.

And for the most part, she was.

But he'd also seen her at her worst. He was there during spats with horrible guys she'd been with. He was there when her mother passed away. He was there when she didn't get into the university she wanted to go to so badly. He was always there.

Sakura knew it.

She'd always loved being around Syaoran. He was so special to her. She remembered how cute and scrawny he was when they were in middle school, and now nicely he'd filled out as they got older. He wasn't very muscular, but he wasn't a stick- he had some meat on him at least. She liked his shaggy brown hair and his bright amber eyes.

She was always jealous of how smart he was, but never said anything about it. She admired how soft spoken and stoic he was, and how calm and collected he was not only everyday, but in dire situations as well. She constantly made fun of his infatuation with sports, especially fantasy teams, but secretly loved watching him play soccer for his university team.

He was someone she'd always really looked up to. He was her safety net and the person she knew she could go to if anything was wrong. He would drive her home if it got too late and he would pay for her meal if she didn't have the money. He consoled her when the world around her got too rough and he made her feel like she was worth something again breakup after breakup.

But right now, all she could focus on was the snow falling outside.

Back to reality.

"It's so pretty! Oh can we please hurry up and eat so we can go outside in it?" she exclaimed, overly excited.

Syaoran was shocked by her sudden outburst. He looked outside and saw how pretty it was. He looked over again and blushed at how cute Sakura looked when she was excited. He sighed, finished his tea and soup, refused Sakura's money when she offered to pay, signed off on the receipt, and slowly followed behind Sakura's rushing outside.

He watched her twirl around in it, happy as can be. Her hair flipped around her face, and finally she stopped and just stared up in the sky in total awe. Her cheeks were flushed red from the cold, and her face and eyes were lit up from the streetlights, now illuminated in the evening. She looked so cute, or actually, beautiful, to say the least.

Syaoran realized something in that moment. He was in love with Sakura.

No doubt about it. One hundred percent, no, one hundred and ten percent, absolutely, positively, no holds barred in love with Sakura. He'd always liked her and he'd always thought the idea of being with her would be nice, but he never realized this. He didn't know why it had to be now, of all times, but he didn't question it. But could he say anything? Sakura looked over to him.

"What's wrong Syaoran? What the heck are you looking at?" she asked. Syaoran panicked. He had to come up with something to say.

"Y-You just...you look so goofy dancing around like that." he finally spat out.

Nailed it.

"So? I'm just so excited! I love snow! And I love Christmas and winter, and..." she looked up at him, and said calmly, "...I'm just so happy you came here to enjoy it with me today. Oh! I got you something. I was gonna wait until the 25th to head over and give it to you, but it's cold and snowy today so it might be more fitting now." she said in a whirlwind of words. Syaoran took all of it in to process for a moment, but didn't get very far before she dug through one of her shopping bags and pulled out a nice looking white box.

"This is for you." she said, and handed it to him. His name had already been written on it. 'Where did she find time to do this today?' is all he could think.

"Um. Thank you." he mustered. What's this all of the sudden?

"Open it!" she nearly yelled.

"Okay, okay...Jesus Sakura." he responded. He searched for the nearest thing to sit on, chose a nearby bench, put the box on his lap and opened the lid. Sakura sat down next to him and watched him open it. Inside was an envelope addressed to him and something soft wrapped in red tissue paper.

"Open the envelope first!" she said before Syaoran could make another move. He opened it up and pulled what seemed like a photograph out.

Actually, it was a photograph. One the two of them had taken together during the holidays last year. Syaoran blushed, not even thinking about hiding it, and looked up at Sakura.

"Wh...What's this?" he asked, even though he already knew. She blushed too.

"It's the photo Tomoyo took of us during her mother's holiday party last year, when we were all still in high school." she said, bashfully. "Look! There's another one behind it." she pointed out.

Syaoran pulled another photograph out from behind that one. It was a group shot Tomoyo's mother had taken of the two, plus Tomoyo, Meiling, and Eriol. Syaoran looked over it. He remembered what a fun day that was, how pretty the girls looked, how good the food was, all the fun he had goofing off with Eriol…

"I just noticed you didn't have a lot of pictures up in your new dorm room, is all. So I wanted to get a couple printed for you." said Sakura. Syaoran loved her sincerity.

"Open the rest of it!" she said excitedly. He ripped open the tissue paper and picked up the forest green yarn mass and unfolded it. It was a scarf.

"I'm not very crafty like Tomoyo, so it's store bought. But it's still handmade." she explained. "I really hope you like it. I mean there's a gift receipt if you don't really li-"

"I love it." he said, cutting her off. He looked her in the eyes. "I really do." he said. He tied it around his neck and put the photos back in the envelope, and handed them back to Sakura.

"Here. Keep these somewhere safe so they don't get bent." he said. "Thank you. Really, honestly, thank you. I wish I had something for you now, but I don't."

"Don't worry about it, Syaoran." she responded.

They both got up and walked down the street again. A comfortable silence fell between them. Sakura had a few more stores to stop at, and Syaoran was happy to tag along. He watched her pick out more jewelry and candies and such for gifts for people, and watched her finally check off the last name on her list.

"Do you want me to take you home, Sakura?" he asked.

"I mean... I guess but.." she managed to say before she got cut off.

"You just have a lot of bags. I feel bad sending you home on the train like this. My car is at my school which isn't too far, you know." he said. She smiled at him, and gave him a simple "thanks".

They boarded the crowded subway train and took it a couple of stops to his university. There was this sudden peace between the two of them that just kept them both smiling, regardless of being pushed in between people for a few minutes.

They arrived where Syaoran kept his trusty little coupe; the student parking lot under the train tracks. Sakura put her bags in the back seat while Syaoran started to brush the snow off of the windshield. They got in and Syaoran turned the ignition. They sat in there, waiting for the engine to warm up for a few minutes, before heading down the street, across town where Sakura lived.

Between traffic lights and soft sports radio playing in the background, Sakura realized something, and before she could even think about it, grabbed Syaoran's hand, which was resting on the compartment in between the seats. Syaoran's face heated up and his heart started racing, but his only response was to grab hers back and give it a slight squeeze. He smiled, she smiled, everything had suddenly changed.

Around 20 comfortably silent minutes later, Syaoran pulled up in front of her house. Sakura sighed at the idea of having to let go of Syaoran for the rest of the night, but had to ask him one last thing.

"Syaoran." she started, "How do you feel about me?" she asked.

"What?" he looked at her, his heart racing, not sure how to answer. He clumsily put the car in park, and turned the engine off, knowing he might be here for a while.

"What are your feelings for me. Because, I think I have feelings for you. No, I know I do, but I'm not sure about you, and you didn't let go of my hand the whole time, and I just really admire you and I just trust you way more than I've ever trusted any of those guys before and...I guess I shouldn't have told you all this." she admitted to him. He looked at her, trying to hide his surprise and excitement.

"Why?" he asked. She looked up, her eyes looking watery.

"Why what?"

"Why shouldn't you have told me all of this?" he asked.

"Because... I don't think you feel the same way. Sorr-" she got cut off by his hand bringing her face to his. He looked her in the eyes.

"Sakura. I'm in love with you. I...think, no, I know I always have been. You're the most important person to me." he admitted to her, finally, after all of this time.

The words were out in the air. Open and fresh. He looked her in the eyes again, brought his lips closer to hers, hovered over them for a second, and finally, after what seemed like forever for both of them, he made contact. He kissed her. Finally. After all of these years, he was kissing his best friend, everything he wanted to protect in the world, his everything, it all happened.

His hands ran through her hair, and her hands made their way around his neck, and they stayed like this for a few seconds before they broke away, and Syaoran put her into his arms the best he could with them still sitting in the car. They both started laughing.

"I can't believe I just kissed my best friend." Sakura finally managed to say.

"I didn't mind it." said Syaoran.

"Neither did I." she said. The mood had lightened up significantly.

"Syaoran?"

"Yeah?"

"Can we just...drive around a little bit longer?"