KawaiiQuerida-chan: HAPPY BIRTHDAY SYAORAN-KUN! This is just an extremely short one-shot fanfic I whipped up in honor of my favorite Bishonen ever: Syaoran! Dunno if it's any good.

Project: Party!

Hello! How are—wow, you look absolutely bored. Well, pull up a seat as I tell the tale of a man stubborn, a woman determined, and the one thing they were fighting (whether they were fighting for it, or fighting against it): a birthday party…

July 12, 8:07 PM

"Sakura-chan, I said no."

Sakura groaned. "But why, Syaoran-kun? It's your birthday, you should celebrate it—especially this one. I mean, you're turning 18!"

"No."

"Come on, Syao-koi! Please?"

Syaoran faltered for a split second by Sakura's use of his nickname, but soon regained his ground. "No," he said yet again, taking the time to admire how dirty Sakura can play when she really wanted something. Oh, and get your head out of the gutter, peoples, Sakura doesn't play that dirty.

Sakura sighed in defeat. "Fine. If that's what you want, whatever. I have to go home before Onii-chan blows a gasket anyways." She turned to him when she reached the door and kissed him. "But I'm still getting you a birthday present, no matter what, so don't even try to argue about that."

Syaoran smiled. "I suppose I'll have to give you that much. Koishiteru, Sakura-chan."

"I love you too," she said as she walked out the door.

Syaoran sighed as he heard Sakura's footsteps retreat on the other side. He knew how badly Sakura wanted to surprise him—he knew that it was just one of her many ways of showing how much she loved him—and he didn't want to disappoint her or make her sad, but his birthday just wasn't something he wanted to celebrate.

And it wasn't as if he hated his birthday because he wished he'd never been born or anything—if that were true, he would never have met and fallen in love with Sakura (which would deprive me and all of you readers from the word kawaii, an unspeakable horror), and she was everything to him. It was just that every birthday that he could ever remember had been a let down. He never had any friends to invite, and most of his family seemed to hate him, so it was usually just Meilin, his sisters, and Wei—even his mother had never bothered to come to one.

But in all honesty, his reason was really quite stupid and pitiful (well I think so anyways). He didn't want a party because he didn't want Sakura to see how disliked he truly was (as I said—pitiful).

He could just imagine Sakura so upset when absolutely no one came to his birthday. He could imagine her looking at him with disappointment written clearly on her face. She would realize how nobody—not even her friends—liked him, and dump him on the spot.

So really, it was for the best that he refused, he thought. And look on the bright side, dear guests, he could spend the free time using his overactive imagination (as shown by the Sakura-would-dump-me story above) to write a book.

What is WRONG with him, Sakura asked herself as she drove home and tried to think of reasons why Syaoran would be so dead set against having a birthday party.

I mean, it wasn't as if anything bad had happened on or near his birthday—believe me, Sakura had checked with his mother—or that he was deathly afraid of balloons, clowns, presents, party hats, birthday cake—again, she had checked. So what was it? It was frustrating Sakura to the end of her last nerve. She had tried to give him a party every year since the Sealed Card, but every time he had outright refused. She had even resorted to subterfuge (a.k.a. surprise parties) so she could give him a party, but he always seemed to find out and never showed up at the party's location.

Sakura thought so deeply about what she could do this year, she didn't even bother to concentrate on the road (Don't try that at home, kids). But still, she came up with nada, which means 'nothing' in Spanish…I think. I don't believe it's French, which is the language I take in school.

Anyways, Sakura ended up making it back home with both herself and her car in one piece (don't ask me how she did it with the whole not-concentrating thing, I just write the story). As she was getting out of the car, the Sakura Cards managed to fall out of her purse and onto the street. It was as she was picking them back up that an idea hit her.

Syaoran so far had managed to stop all her parties, but this year would be different. :Insert Sakura's evil maniac-like laughter here:

July 13, 1:45 AM

Syaoran sat straight up in bed, his senses going off, big time. He looked all around for the source of the presence, but couldn't find anybody there. Just when he was about to chock it all up to a dream (he does, as we all now know, have quite the imagination), a woman seemed to come down from the ceiling, getting more and more opaque until she rested on the side of his bed.

Syaoran rubbed his eyes. "Aren't you Sakura's mother?" he asked unbelievingly.

And indeed it was. Her long hair and dress flowing, she wore a smile that shown in Syaoran's direction.

"Yes, Li-san," she replied.

"B-but…how? I can't see ghosts…"

"I chose to reveal myself because I need to talk to you about something that I feel is rather important."

"Is Sakura all right?" Syaoran asked worriedly.

Nadeshiko waved away his question. "She's fine. I'm here to talk about your birthday party. I've sat up there doing nothing long enough, and I think that it's time I took some action. If things keep going the way they're going, Syaoran-kun—if I may call you that—you'll end up marrying my daughter. And I can't let that happen, because it seems as if you don't know her very well at all."

This angered Syaoran greatly, but he was able to keep his anger in check. I mean, dead or not, Nadeshiko would be his mother-in-law, and how would it be if he ticked her off? "I do know her—better than anybody!"

Nadeshiko smirked, "Well if that's true, than you should know that even if your party consisted of just you and Sakura that she would love every minute of it. In fact, she probably would be angry at those she invited for not coming, and might end up loving you all the more—if that's possible, I mean. And I'm not quite sure that it is…" Nadeshiko trailed off thoughtfully, I suppose thinking about the extent of love or something, although I can't be sure. I mean, I'm not a mediator or medium or any other type of person that can talk to the dead, so I've never actually asked Nadeshiko what she was thinking.

Anywho, after Nadeshiko's little speech, Syaoran stared at this comforter, a little embarrassed. He knew that Nadeshiko was right—I mean, hello! She's got that whole I'm-an-all-knowing-ghost thing going on—and knew what an idiot he'd been thinking that Sakura would dump him just because nobody came to his birthday party. Ashamed, Syaoran didn't reply.

Nadeshiko snapped out of her reverie and smiled down on Syaoran. "And besides all of that, birthdays are something that you should cherish greatly, for you never know which one will be your last. Take if from somebody who didn't have nearly enough of them."

And with those final words, she left Syaoran alone with his thoughts.

Meanwhile, in Sakura's bedroom (which was way too dark for my liking, by the way), an evil plan was being concocted.

"So this so that he'll come…this because who knows what state he'll come in, and we can't have him looking like some sort of drunk…this because we'll need—well, duh…ooo and I can have Tomoyo…yes! Oh ya, I've got it, but good. Project Give Syao A Party Even If He Doesn't Want One (a.k.a. Project Party) is a go!"

At this point in time, I would like to ask a question: Is anybody else here very scared? Ok, you too? Just checking.

July 13, 2:50 PM

Syaoran—who hadn't gone to sleep until 7:00 because of all his thoughts—was still sleeping. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't a very restful sleep. He was having a nightmare.

In the Dream, Syaoran looked on as Sakura—with a look of horror on her face—started to plead. "Please, no! I beg of you, anything but that! Kami-sama, help me! Somebody! Syaoran-kun! Make it stop!"

Syaoran sat straight up in bed for a second time, panting. As soon as he collected his thoughts, he raced out of bed and put on anything he could find that would pass for clothes. He'd been trained long enough to know a dream from a vision, and the vision he'd just had led him to believe Sakura was in great danger. He didn't want to think of what would happen to his Cherry Blossom if he didn't get there in time.

And indeed, Sakura was in great trouble. For she was in the rather sharp clutches of the horrible, the unrelenting…Daidoji Tomoyo!

"Please, no! I beg of you, anything but that! Kami-sama, help me! Somebody! Syaoran-kun! Make it stop! Tomoyo-chan, don't make me wear it!"

"But why, Sakura-chan? You look absolutely kawaii when you wear this dress!"

"You call that a dress? A tea cozy covers more skin than that thing does!"

"EXACTLY! Can you imagine Li-kun's face when he—"

They're argument was cut short by the return of the Dream, who had successfully turned Sakura's pleading (something she knew she was wont to do as soon as Tomoyo showed her the dress she designed) into a vision that would appear to foretell danger.

Without another word, Sakura snatched the dress from Tomoyo's hand and went to put it on. Syaoran would be at the house at any moment, so there wasn't any time for arguments.

July 13, 3:05 PM

Syaoran ran faster than he ever had before through the gates and up the steps, barely even noticing that, as he did so, his clothes suddenly changed, his hair and teeth were suddenly brushed, and…well, he actually looked like he was getting ready for some sort of party. When he reached the door, he was greeted with darkness and silence, which was soon extinguished when the lights turned on and many voices shouted "SURPRISE!" as loud as they could.

Sakura walked up to Syaoran in a sparkling emerald green dress that was tight at the bodice, but flowed until the end (which actually about mid-thigh), a dress that made Syaoran blush and Touya glare fiercely.

"Sakura-chan…how…what…you were in trouble. You were begging for it to stop and I…"

Sakura smiled. "Oh, that was just me fighting Tomoyo—I didn't want to wear this dress. Sorry I had to scare you, Syao-koi, but it was the only way that I could think to get you here without raising your suspicions."

"The Dream Card," he stated.

Sakura nodded. "You aren't mad, are you? I know you said that you didn't want a birthday party but I couldn't see any reason why—"

"You're right," he said. "Actually, I was going to call you today to say that I'd changed my mind about my birthday, but it seems that you beat me to the punch."

Sakura cocked her head to the side. "What made you change your mind?"

"Let's just say that I received some motherly advice."

Sakura was confused by his cryptic message, but shrugged it off. After all, if this advice-giver person made Syaoran not mad, who was she to push and risk undoing what had been done? So she just smiled and guided Syaoran to the party, which had all his friends from Tomoeda, Sakura's family, Wei, Meilin, his sisters, his mother—even the Elders had come.

"Sakura, how did you get everybody—especially the Elders—to come on such short notice?"

Sakura smiled secretively as she went to her purse for something. "I just created a card that just happens to specialize in parties. Her specialty just happens to be Surprise Parties, so you can expect to be surprised every year for the rest of your life."

Syaoran took the card and read it out loud. "The Party Card?"

Sakura looked defensive. "Don't criticize its name! It's a step up, after all. I mean, at least this card has a name. The last one we call The Nameless, remember?"

"You're right, Sakura. I'm sorry."

"You're forgiven. Happy Birthday, Syaoran-kun!"

And that is the end of this tale, my dear guests. As you can see, the power of party always wins out in the end. And yes, I'm aware that saying "the power of party" makes me extremely corny and stupid, but that's okay with me. What's not okay is that you leave this page without reviewing this FABULOUS story, even if it is just to tell me how weird I am!

KawaiiQuerida-chan