Disclaimer: I do not own, or even pretend to own, the characters of Cardcaptor Sakura. So please do not sue me. That would be very bad. Much obliged. :D


Winning You Over

Syaoran couldn't help but look every time he heard the door that lead into the bright classroom open and close. He didn't know when the habit had started, but he knew why. Ever since he had first met her back in the fourth grade, he had always watched for her. He sighed as he looked back at the paperwork sitting on his desk in front of him. He wasn't particularly in the mood to fill it out, but it had to be done eventually. He had just finished writing his name and birthday on the paper when he heard the door open. Hoping for the best, he quickly raised his head to see who arrived. He watched as a petite, bright looking girl with short brown hair entered the room, books in her arms. This was the girl he had been waiting for. He chuckled softly as she struggled to her desk, her books probably weighing more than she did. He jumped up from his desk at in the back of the room. "Want some help with those?" He smiled as he grabbed a few books from the top of the girl's massive pile.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

Sakura looked up, emerald eyes wide at the sound of her childhood friend. He had this way of sneaking up on her, even when she knew he was coming. She quickly shook her head, trying to regain her composure. After 8 years of being best friends, you'd think that she would learn to sense him or something!

"So you don't want my help? Are you sure? You look like you're about to fall over," Syaoran studied her for a moment before shrugging. He started putting the books back onto the top of the pile. "Oh, well. More entertaining for me!"

"Dang it, Syaoran!" Sakura stumbled after the sudden addition of weight. "You grab those and help me carry them up to the front!" She glared at him playfully as she tried to regain her balance.

"Is that really anyway to ask for a favor?" He said as he crossed his arms and leaned on the desk behind him. Sakura blew at the hair that had fallen into her eyes and watched, frustrated, as it drifted up two inches and then floated slowly back down to the exact position it had been in moments before. She had carried this far on her own, right? How much damage could she do just carrying the books through the aisle of desks to the front? Sakura frowned at her own thoughts of the destruction that would ensue. She knew that the only reason she had made it down the long hallway from the staff room to the classroom was because there were no obstacles. She would destroy the entire classroom if left alone! With a final glance between her best friend and the front desk, Sakura sighed and hefted the books into a bit of a better grip.

"No. I'm sorry. Oh, your Almighty Highness, will you please help this poor servant with her unsightly chores, as it seems she is too helpless to complete them on her own." Sakura monotonously drew out. She could honestly say that this boy was probably the most immodest boy on the planet. Why she had fallen for him, she had no idea.

"That was a bit better, still a bit lacking in the actual EMOTION bit, but we'll work on it." His own eyes showing more emotion than his face, he re-grabbed the books, this time taking a few more, and turned to go to the front of the classroom. "You coming?" He tossed over his shoulder with a quick smile.

"Oh, hush! I'm right behind you!" It was a good thing that he wasn't paying any attention to her, Sakura thought to herself. She wouldn't want him to notice this blush.

To make a long story short, Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li had been best friends for 8 years. For 5 of those 8, Sakura had secretly been in love with Syaoran. And for 3 of those 5, Sakura had actually started hiding her feelings. She wouldn't want anything to mess with a friendship of this caliber, after all. Besides, with his personality, she wasn't sure if he would make a very good boyfriend in the first place.

Sakura let out a loud huff as she placed the books on the front desk. She watched as Syaoran took the first couple of books and put the names of the owners up on the board, knowing that that was what the teacher had asked Sakura to do. Who was she kidding? She knew better than anyone what a great guy Syaoran actually was. She knew better than anyone what a perfect boyfriend he would be. Why couldn't he just get some super-gorgeous girlfriend and put her out of her misery! It wasn't like he was ever going to have the feelings that she wanted him to have.

"Hey! Li-kun! We missed you the other day at the soccer game!" Sakura's thoughts were broken as a familiar voice entered from the doorway to the classroom. Syaoran's guy best friends, Yamazaki and Eriol joined the two, both looking like they had had to run from their club to the classroom. Sakura looked past them to see if she could find the familiar head of black hair.

"Eriol-kun, is Tomoyo here yet?" Asking was probably going to get the girl found sooner than just blindly looking around for her. For all Sakura knew, Tomoyo could be running late today. If she was, Eriol would be the one that would know.

"Of course I'm here!" Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's arm and spun her around to face her, giving her a huge hug when she finally had her facing the correct direction. "Oh Sakura-chan! It's been WAY too long since the last time I saw you!"

"Tomoyo! You just saw me 2 days ago! I don't know what you're talking about!" Sakura's look of shock melted into a smile as she returned the beautiful girl's hug. A lot of things had happened over the course of their adolescent lives, but Tomoyo was one of the most consistent people Sakura knew. She was always beautiful, she was always top of the class, and she was always the person that Sakura trusted the most. Nothing would ever change that.

"Sakura, I don't think you realize just how long 2 days feels like in teenage days! I was so BORED without you!" Tomoyo pulled away from the embrace and looked Sakura straight in the eyes, obviously trying to make a point. Tomoyo and Sakura had long figured out how to communicate with each other without actually saying anything. When you have male best friends, there are points when you know that a certain piece of information is just beyond their tolerance level. That was when that sort of thing was useful. As Sakura locked glances with her best friend, she knew that she was trying to tell her to meet her in the hallway. Immediately.

Tomoyo was the first to break eye contact. She looked over at her bespectacled boyfriend and gave him a sweet smile. "You know what sweetie; I think I left some stuff in the clubroom. I'll go get it and be right back." She gave him a quick peck on the cheek right as she was leaving, offering no room for conversation. There was a silence that lasted for about three seconds as everyone watched as Tomoyo left the room, not even glancing back once.

"That's some girl you got there, Eriol." Syaoran's voice was the one that finally broke the moment. "You can tell who wears the pants in that relationship." He smiled brightly at his best friend and continued writing names on the board.

"Okay, first off…I'm obviously the one wearing pants. She was wearing a skirt. And secondly, I'm completely aware of the fact that Tomoyo is the dominant member of our relationship." Eriol sat back onto the desk behind him, putting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands. "I really don't think that I would be happier if I was the dominant member."

Syaoran dropped the marker that he was writing with. Yamazaki's jaw dropped as he looked at his best friend in disbelief. Sakura slowly started to slink her way out to the doorway. She knew that Eriol was only doing this to help. The peck on the cheek had been Tomoyo's sign that she needed a moment alone with Sakura. So Eriol was going to do whatever he could to distract the boys. Not because it mattered if they knew that they left together, but only because they didn't want the drama of them asking questions later. If things went like this, Sakura would just be able to say that she had to go pee or something.

Sakura was closing the door as she heard the boys regain composure. The last thing she heard was the strong, clear voice of Syaoran. A voice she knew that would be forever ingrained into her memory. "Look man, I didn't mean for the conversation to get all serious! I was honestly just…" Sakura turned down the hallway and started walking towards the music room, the meeting place that Tomoyo and Sakura had used since elementary school. It wasn't the SAME music room, but it was always at THE music room.

The brunette sighed as she looked at the poster-filled door that led to the music room. She had a feeling that she knew what this was about. They had had the same fight last week and the week before that. At least she was sure that this was most likely the LAST time that they would be having this fight. Sakura straightened her shoulders and raised her chin before confidently opening the door.

One look at Tomoyo and Sakura could feel herself physically deflate. What had happened? She had prepared for this merely seconds ago! "Tomoyo…" she started

"Come look at this." Tomoyo interrupted. That, Sakura hadn't expected. Tomoyo wasn't wearing the determined face that she had gotten so accustomed to seeing recently. She was staring at what looked like a flyer while leaning on the piano, her face the portrait for curiosity.

"Alright." Sakura cautiously walked over the piano as well to get a look at the paper. Tomoyo gave her a quick glance before turning her attention back to the paper. She slanted the paper slightly so that Sakura could view it at the same time. With the black paper and a few thin lines of fancy gold script, the paper suspiciously looked like an invitation to some high-end banquet. "Where did you get this?" Sakura asked her best friend curiously.

"I found it in my locker this morning. It didn't have a sender name or anything. It just had my name on it. Listen to what it says," Tomoyo began reading the letter aloud.

Dear Reader,

You are cordially invited to this years Winter Ball. As a matter of tradition, we

would like to take the pleasure in seeing all of you in your most formal attire.

Please join us at 8 o'clock at the Vandoor Ballroom on Saturday of this week..

Yours truly,

The Galladian Society

Tomoyo's unused hand slowly started curling into a fist. "This is weird." She said bluntly. There wasn't really anything else she could say. There wasn't really anything else needed. Sakura reached to grab the paper from her friend. Once she had it within her grasp, she flipped it over to see if anything was written on the back. Nothing. She frowned and looked at the letter again. She shrugged and passed the letter back to her friend.

"Maybe it's just an invitation that your mom told someone to give you. Have you asked her about it? 'Cuz that happens sometimes." Sakura could admit that it was a little strange to be getting an invitation that formal in your locker at school, but there were plenty of reasonable explanations for that letter. Like, just for example, it could be a prank. Sakura wouldn't put it past Yamazaki. Or maybe it was some club within the school. She actually figured that that was what it was. Considering the name of the group that sent it, they were probably some kind of young ladies club that noticed how perfect Tomoyo was.

"It's not. I already checked with her. And since it wasn't from her, I went ahead and asked her to look up this 'Galladian Rose Society'…We got nothing. It's like they don't exist." Tomoyo looked nonplussed as she focused on the clock that sat on top of the door. Sakura knew she wasn't really reading it, but she also knew that it was probably in her best interest to just let her zone out for a minute. She would be less violent if she came out of it herself. "Anyway, it's probably just some young ladies club." Tomoyo sighed as she came back from her thoughts.

"That's my thinking. I don't think you should let it bother you too much. We wouldn't want you to get worry wrinkles or anything." Sakura smiled as she poked her friends face, mockingly pointing out the supposed 'wrinkles'. "Now let's get back to class. We don't want to be late." She said, struggling to hold in her laughter as Tomoyo slapped her hand away from her face.

"What wrinkles?" Tomoyo shoved the paper into the pocket of her blazer and hurried to catch up to the fading silhouette of Sakura in the hallway.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

For the rest of the day, nothing of interest really occurred. English, PE, and art were fun. Math and science were horrid. Normal stuff for Sakura. Actually, to be completely honest, Sakura spent most of the class staring at Syaoran. She had reached that level of love where you ready to do anything to watch all the other people's expressions. In her particular case, it wasn't that bad. Just embarrassing if he found out and wasn't going to happen. She pretended to look out the window while in actuality she was gazing at his reflection in the glass. She laughed at the fact that she thought sneaking glances at her best friend was more interesting than the lesson. He'd only actually turned around to talk to her once and it had been about something that had to do with their movie night that they always had on Saturdays. As far as Sakura was concerned, Syaoran was absolutely unaware of the fact that Sakura had stared at him almost all day.

Finally, the bell chimed, marking the end of the day. Sakura took that as her cue to look back at the man. She grabbed her bag and put it in her lap, quickly putting up everything that they had used that day. "Hey Syaoran…" Sakura broke off as she looked up. How had he managed to get surrounded so quickly? Sakura released the breath that she hadn't known she was holding. Over the past 2 years, Syaoran had become more than just the best friend that Sakura was in love with. He had become that one guy that everyone who knew him loved. He constantly had all sorts of different girls around him and he had male friends from every social set. She couldn't even really blame them. Thanks to all the soccer that Syaoran played, he had grown into a very nicely toned body. That combined with his natural good looks and broad shoulders made him the type of guy that girls couldn't help but drool over and guys couldn't help but respect. Sakura took stock of the girls that had crowded around his desk today. There were less than usual. She knew most of them by name, but sometimes there were new girls that joined. It looked like the regulars today. Sakura saw the bouncy curly hair of Nanami, the beautiful blue eyes of the half-foreign Akina-chan, and the constant smile of the Yuniko. She took a deep breath and began again. They all knew that she was in the friend zone with Syaoran. She wasn't a threat to them, so they let her be. The fact that Syaoran would dump them for Sakura in a heartbeat might have had something to do with it too though. "Syaoran!" Sakura slammed her hand on his desk.

Syaoran jolted at the sound, but quickly recovered and turned to look at her with an affectionate smile. "What's up, girlie?"

"About movie night…" Sakura pulled her hand back from his desk and quickly began shuffling ineffectively in her bag. The 'Syaoran love' girls were watching her, so a blush might not be the best idea. She glanced up quickly, not really getting a good look at anything before she turned her attention back to the bag. "Which movies do you want to see?"

"I told you during lunch, didn't I? I'm not going to be able to come this week." Syaoran looked at her for a second, almost as if he was gauging her reaction.

"Oh, right! I remember you saying that now," No, she didn't really, but she didn't want to tell him that she had been too busy drowning in his presence. That could end with disastrous results. "Would you mind telling me why again? I didn't really catch it last time." She smiled sweetly at her best friend, hoping to distract him from her words.

"You didn't catch it? Oh god, Sakura. You really are dense, aren't you? You weren't listening at all when I told you, were you?" Syaoran's eyes flared for a second before he regained his usual calm composure.

Sakura flinched at the expression she was sure that she saw. That couldn't be a great sign. Backtrack, Sakura, BACKTRACK! "Sorry! I was focused on something else!" She smiled sheepishly. She wouldn't know what to say if he asked her what though. 10 bucks said that was his next question.

"Which was?" Sakura officially owed herself 10 dollars. She smiled to herself and got to work thinking of a good excuse. Sakura's brain was working with such speed; you could almost smell the smoke that was radiating from her head.

"Um… Tomoyo! Tomoyo got a really strange letter this morning! I was thinking about that." She smiled confidently for a brief moment before she realized that she needed to at least attempt to be sneaky. She was attempting to lie to her best friend. You'd think that after 3 years of this, she would be better at it. It was a miracle that Syaoran had never found out about her feelings. She was just too honest!

"Okay. I'm going to pretend that I believe that, just because I don't want your head to explode." He smiled jokingly and Sakura knew that she was off the hook. Once he started making fun of her intelligence, she knew all was well.

"So, seriously, what are you up too that detains you from joining us on our sacred day of the week?" She grinned as she put her chin on her crossed arms and laid them on his desk.

"I'm going to visit some relatives this weekend. I won't even be able to call you or anything. I'm really sorry." He grabbed a piece of her short brown bangs and started twirling it in his fingers. Sakura breath caught at the affectionate gesture. The long fingers that touched her hair were beautiful and fluid, never once hesitating in their actions. She glanced up at the man that those fingers belonged too and blushed as she realized that she made eye contact. She jumped away from those amber eyes that seemed like they could just see right through her.

"It's fine! That's cool!" She tried to smile convincingly as she practically leaped from her seat with her bag. "It's going to be a little weird to not to talk to you for an entire weekend, but I'll see you on Monday, right?" The only time that they didn't talk almost every day was when he went to visit his family and honestly, she couldn't say that it didn't bother her. But she understood, so she didn't ever fight it. "Oh crap! I forgot about dinner tonight!" She spun around quickly. Sakura had been living alone for about a year now and she still wasn't used to the fact that she actually had to make sure there was food in the house everyday. "Bye Syaoran! I'll talk to you later!" She called over her shoulder with a quick wave.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxox

About an hour and thirty minutes later, Sakura had finally reached her house – grocery bags in hand. "I'm home!" She called, knowing that no one would reply. It wasn't like she was lonely though. She had chosen to be alone. When her father got the offer from the college to go to America become part of a major archeology crew, she knew that she would end up alone. She wasn't going to let her father pass up the opportunity, but she wasn't about to go with him either. It had taken a good couple months of fighting and a bit of convincing, but she had finally gotten her father to agree to leave her here. He visited on the holidays and called every Wednesday, so it didn't really even feel like he had left. Except for at dinner. Dinner was always almost unbearably lonely. Sakura figured that she would get used to it eventually, but even after a year, she still didn't like dinner time.

After she finished eating and cleaning up, she got her school bag and went up to her room to do her homework. She figured that she could at least attempt to do some of it. Her room hadn't changed much, even if it was in a different house. Really, the only thing that was different from her old room was that the pictures on the walls were all current. Well, except for one. She smiled and looked at

the picture sitting on her desk. It was a picture from back when she and Syaoran were in 6th or 7th grade. The crew had all gone to the beach, so it was a group picture. The reason she kept it was because it was from the day she realized that she had fallen in love with Syaoran. She had been stupid as usual and had sprained her ankle after tripping on something and hadn't been able to participate in the merriment. Syaoran spent the entire day with her, telling her stupid jokes and things that would make her laugh. At the end of the day, she wasn't feeling so bad about missing the entire fun day.

Sakura grabbed her homework from her bag and set it on the desk. As she pulled out all the appropriate books, she noticed something square and black fall out from between the pages of her book. It landed on the floor and Sakura looked at the familiar fancy gold script.

To Sakura Kinomoto


Author's Note: Alright! I know! I told you I would try to be quick and in reality I was the farthest thing from it! Then I didn't even update! I just decided to start a new one! OH THE INHUMANITY! It'll be fine. I promise. I'm almost done with the next chapter for CoS. I'll probably have it up by the end of the weekend. XD

Okay, so I know this one is a little long… My bad! But I just couldn't find a good place to stop it! So I just kept going. And going. And going. But I think this one has a bit of potential, so I hope you enjoy it! Please rate and review!