Chapter 1

Sakura sighed gratefully as she stepped off from the landing on the plane. She was extremely happy to be off from that insufferable piece of metal, especially with the crying children and annoying old women who happened to be sitting around her. It had been one of the most grueling and headache inducing flights that she had ever taken…probably all due to the fact that she had been flying in economy instead of her usual first class seating, all courtesy to her older brother who had booked the flight for her. She had brought her laptop to keep her company but it didn't do anything to drown out the nagging voices of overly nosy old women and a particularly loud whiney six year old. She made a mental note to do some serious damage to Touya when she saw him soon.

She brought herself back to reality and looked around at the crowds in the terminal looking for the tell tale long black-violet hair and cheery smile that was her cousin and long time best friend Tomoyo Dajoudji. She sighed again when she noticed that no one was waiting for her but she wasn't all that surprised since it wouldn't be the first time Tomoyo had either forgotten or gotten so caught up in the middle of something that she was forced to arrive late…or not arrive at all. Hoping the later wasn't the case, Sakura pushed her way over to the nearest chair and fished around in her hand bag for the pink cell phone she usually carried with her. Flipping through the numbers in the contact list the bar lit up on her friend's name and she pressed send. She waited a few minutes until the familiar out of breath voice picked up on the other end.

"Oh god! Sakura…your flights done isn't it?" She laughed at the voice and chirped with an annoyed 'yup' "Wow, I'm soooo sorry Kura, I totally forgot that it was around the time to pick you up…and it's your first day back too. I'm such a horrible best friend aren't I?" She laughed again, "No Moyo its okay, it's not like I'm going to freak out on you for something I figured you would do anyways…besides your wedding is in like… three weeks so I can't complain can I?" She heard the sigh of relief on the other end of the phone, "Thanks so much…you know this is why you're my maid of honor. Now, if you don't mind waiting for like 15 minutes I will have the car sent to pick you up." "Alright, thanks. I'll see you soon then!" Sakura heard the dramatic intake of breath before she had to pull the phone away from her ear as her friend shrieked on the other end, "Oh my gosh Sakura! I can't believe you're finally home! It's been way too long!" Laughing at her friend's excitement, she agreed wholeheartedly and softly told her goodbye before hanging the phone up and throwing it back into her bag on her shoulder.

Sakura slowly brought her heeled boots up to her knee to look at the scuff marks on the leather and groaned silently. The boots had cost her a fortune and this was the first time she had thought to bring them out of her huge closet back at her flat, and already they had marks that shouldn't be on designer shoes. Stupid kid, not realizing that he was stepping on her boots…She grimaced at the memory of the small sneaker pressing painfully on her foot on the ride here and flipped her purse over her shoulder more comfortably to take her mind off from the unfortunate state of her boots. She glanced around and noticed that the packed terminal was slowly thinning out once everyone had already found their rides or gone somewhere else. She was with…like twelve people still sitting there waiting and she blushed at the few stares that were being directed her way. She couldn't go many places without getting those kinds of stares…it wasn't as if she shouldn't be used to them yet. For god's sake she was a model…people stared at her all the time. But somehow it was different now that she was back in Tomeda; it was her home so she didn't want the attention here. Her trip here wasn't just because of Tomoyo's wedding, not that it wasn't one of them main reasons. No, this trip was sort of like a vacation for her, it meant visiting her family and taking a much needed relaxation from her job. Sakura pushed her sunglasses further up on her nose when she caught the look of a group of scraggly teenagers peering at her with their acne marked faces. Oh well, it seems that even here I am going to be recognized. She checked her cell phone to see the time and realized that she had been sitting here for twenty minutes…where was the damn car?"Kinomoto-san?" Broken out of her thoughts, Sakura turned her startled eyes up into the amber orbs of the person kneeling in front of her. The man looked to be about her age (25) with handsome features and tussled, windswept brown hair. He was wearing a simple green tee shirt with a band's logo on the front and faded jeans that showed his muscled physic. All in all he had to be one of the handsomest men she had met…and that was saying something with her career choice. She blushed when she realized she had been staring and nodded to his question. Sakura watched him stand up and grab a couple of her bags in both arms.

"Good I hadn't gotten that good a description from Eriol but I figured it was you anyways." Noticing that she was still sitting, slightly dumbfounded on the terminal chair, she hopped quickly up from her seat and grabbed the remaining bag. She hurried to catch up with him, "Wait…Eriol? I thought Tomoyo was sending a car?" "She did; me." Sakura stared at the man's back for a few seconds before muttering a curse towards her best friend who must be having quite a bit of fun at her little joke. "What I meant by car was, the limo… I hadn't expected to be picked up personally by….umm who are you?" They were already outside by now and were waiting for the car or whatever to be brought up by an attendant. He turned to scowl down at her for a second and shifted his arms under the weight of her bags. "Li." Sakura furrowed her brow, thinking that she had heard that name somewhere. "Li…you mean Eriol's best man?" He didn't say anything but he did nod in her general direction.

She didn't say anything more to him since she figured he wouldn't answer anyways so she waited patiently for his car to pull up in front of them. They didn't have to wait long before a sleek black mustang rolled up and an attendant jumped out and hurriedly gave the keys to Li-san. He grabbed the keys and stuffed the bags into the poor man's arms before opening up the driver's door and folding his body into the car. Sakura hurriedly gave over her bags to be put into the trunk, but stopped and politely thanked the man. She slowly opened the door to her side of the car and sat into the seat. The entire interior of the car was soft black kid leather and was beautifully designed. "Ummm I like your ride." Again he didn't say anything but he acknowledged her words by revving the engine and taking off out of the parking lot and onto the highway.

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The ride to Tomoyo's manor was a quiet one where neither said anything; Sakura because she was feeling horribly uncomfortable with this man, and Li probably just because he didn't have anything to say. When they arrived at the gates, Sakura let out a soft breath of relief and turned over to watch the driver carefully. He still hadn't acknowledged her presence, though he must have known she was there. It was kind of hard to ignore someone who was sitting right next to you, but Sakura figured that if one man could do that it would be this one. He seemed cold and distant as he pulled up to the front door and shut off the engine. But she couldn't really blame him…she wouldn't have been all that happy about having to go out of her way to pick someone up from the airport who she didn't have any clue was. It was as this thought crossed her mind that she noticed that he was staring back at her as if in expectation. She tilted her head to the side and smiled, "Hm?" Li shook his head and got out of the car motioning for her to do so too. Sakura hurriedly pulled the handle out and pushed the door open but she didn't have much time to gain much balance after shutting the door behind her, when she was engulfed in the arms of a screaming woman. "Sakura! Wow I feel like I haven't seen you in like….forever! I can't believe it's really you!" Laughing, Sakura hugged her best friend tighter, "It's definitely me Moyo, I haven't changed that much since last year." The semi crying and laughing Tomoyo crushed her in another tight hug before pulling her arm up the few steps into the house. Sakura protested loudly, pointing to the car and the trunk containing her luggage but her friend didn't seem to hear her since she kept pulling her up stairs and into a long hallway. They stopped outside of a doorway and Tomoyo was pointing to the door and struggling to catch her breath since she had never been as athletically inclined as Sakura.

Sakura, still smiling, opened the door and stepped into the sunlit room gasping at its beauty. The room was a light blue with large, clear windows on both sides of the room. In the middle wall was a clear doorway leading into what Sakura saw was a small patio with a couple of chairs and a table with an umbrella near the edge. Turning from the windows, she looked over at the canopy queen sized bed and was surprised when she saw the beautiful dark blue comforter and the multiple white and blue pillows that engulfed the bed. She then looked over to another door near her left and she walked over to it. Inside was a medium sized walk in closet still filled with many clothes that Tomoyo had created for her years ago…clothes that had spurred her modeling career into action. Sakura noticed that one side was still left bare, probably for the clothes and shoes and what not she had brought with her.

Sighing wistfully at the sight, she wanted to stay in the closet and roam through all the designs but she reluctantly turned back to her friend who was silently gushing with barely suppressed glee. "Oh Tomoyo, its perfect! Exactly how I remembered it, only better!" The twenty eight year old spun around with her arms out taking in what she had done with the room since Sakura had left. "I made a couple of adjustments since most of the stuff was too old to be considered stylish at all but yup! Pretty much the same room as you left it." Sakura smiled and walked over to the patio and opened the door leading out to the platform. "Well, this wasn't here was it?" Tomoyo, who had followed her, shook her head and glanced around. "I remodeled this part of the house once mom left, I thought this would be a good addition to the room and besides it has a perfect view." She was right since the patio looked over the beautiful garden that was Tomoyo's mother's obsession when she owned the manor. Below them was a large deck overlooking the garden with chairs and such placed around it.

Sakura laughed and waved down at the dark haired man sitting in one of those chairs reading the newspaper. "Eriol! How come I greet so special greeting?" She laughed again as he turned astonished azure eyes up at Sakura before jumping to his feet and waving slightly back. "Sorry Sakura, I had no idea you had even stepped foot into this house." He moved his eyes over to his fiancé standing beside her and his mouth formed a small 'o'. "Well that explains why…Moyo grabbed you the first chance she got. She has been dying from excitement ever since last week when you called to tell us your flight time." Sakura laughed at the expression on her friends face and watched as Eriol motioned for them to join his outside. She simply nodded and turned to push the annoyed Tomoyo into the room and out the door. "Umm by the way Tomoyo, who is bringing my luggage up? I really hope you didn't make me leave it to Li-san." Tomoyo turned amused eyes up to Sakura's before shaking her head, "No the maids will get that…it's what they are here for anyways." Her face turned mischievous, "Soooo how did you like Syaoran?" Sakura blushed and removed her sunglasses from her face. "Ummm he is nice I guess…you know Tomoyo I hate it when you send strangers."

She huffed and pushed Tomoyo faster down the stairs they were walking down. "He isn't a stranger…well at least not to me. He is Eriol's best man and so you two should meet since you'll be working together." Sakura blanched and stopped at the last step on the staircase. Nervously she fiddled with her sunglasses, "What do you mean working together?" Tomoyo huffed, "For my wedding of course…I have no idea what else you guys would have in similar." "But…we couldn't even hold a conversation, how are we going to do that?" Her cousin shrugged and tugged forcefully on Sakura's hand, pulling her over into the Kitchen on the other side of the staircase. She grabbed a tray from the cupboard and set it on the island before opening the fridge and shifting around for something. "You don't have to do much, just pick up the rings and such. Nothing you hadn't expected to do anyways. Grab four glasses from that shelf over there, would you?" Sakura bit her lip in irritation while grabbing the aforementioned glasses and setting them on the tray as Tomoyo placed a large pitcher of lemonade near them. "Yeah, but I don't even know the guy… do you see how awkward it's going to be. I don't even think he likes me…"

Tomoyo scoffed at the last comment and hefted the tray into her arms and turned to walk out the double doors leading to where Eriol was still sitting. "Eriol tell Sakura she has nothing to worry about." He looked up and stared at Tomoyo in confusion before turning to Sakura. "Sure, you have nothing to worry about." Sakura puffed her cheeks and took a seat opposite of the two. "Whatever, I still think it's going to be weird." Just as she said the last part, the topic of their discussion walked over to them from some unknown place and sat near her. Syaoran grabbed an empty glass and poured the lemonade into it before tipping the contents into his mouth. Sakura blushed again and quickly did the same for everyone else's cups, sitting down after she was finished. She stole a look over at Li but he seemed to not notice her attention was on him, or he just didn't care. The car ride all over again. Tomoyo giggled at something Eriol said and turned back to the other two and explained what she had planned to do for the week, and in particular what she wanted to do for the day.

Sakura tuned out, thinking back to what her agent had told her before she left. He had said that when she got back she would be a household name…and it was the main reason he hadn't wanted her to leaving in the first place. Yue had yelled at her saying that a break from her work would be the thing that could ruin it for them…Sakura didn't think so. But then again she didn't know the job like he did. "Sakura!" Shaken out of her thoughts she jumped and almost fell from her chair. Adjusting herself so that she didn't look so frazzled, she turned to glare at her cousin who was glaring in return. "What?" "You weren't paying any attention to what I was saying were you?" Sakura shook her head sheepishly and peeped a glance at Eriol who was silently trying to contain his amusement behind a conveniently placed hand. Scowling in his direction, she wiped a hand across her forehead, "Sorry Tomoyo, I don't really feel all that well. Must be lag from the flight." Tomoyo, who smiled instead of glaring, nodded her head in the general direction of her room she had been shown earlier. "I forgot about that…why don't you go ahead and rest and I will call you for dinner when it's ready."

Sakura pushed her chair back and shot a grateful look at Tomoyo, "Thanks, I think I'll take a look at the new bathroom you installed and maybe hit the shower before I take a nap. But if its past 7 and I'm still not up…don't wait up for me to eat dinner with you guys, I will grab something if and when I get up." She smiled at Eriol and Li and hugged her cousin before turning around and making her way back into the house. She felt absolutely exhausted for once and it couldn't all be the blame of the plane…she hadn't had a goodnights rest in days.

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Groaning, Sakura tossed the warm blankets away from her still sleepy form and wiped a hand across her eyes. She had fallen asleep as soon as she hit her pillows after the relaxing shower earlier and had no idea how long she had been sleeping. Rolling to her side she felt around the floor for the purse she had thrown there before she went to bed and grabbed the cloth handles when her hand hit it. Pulling it up she used her other hand to dig around the inside, searching for the cell phone she had thrown in much earlier that day…or yesterday. She flipped it open and groaned when she saw the bright glowing numbers telling her that it was one in the morning. Throwing it across the bed she heard it hit some of the many pillows that were pushed over to that side in the middle of the night. With another groan, Sakura sat up and adjusted the light tank top and short boxer short she had put on after the shower and heard the soft growl of her stomach telling her that it was hungry.

Frowning, she stared around to get a better measure of her whereabouts and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She stepped off and shivered at the coldness of the wood floor before going over to her unpacked luggage and rifling through it until she felt the silky material of her robe. Pulling it over her arms, Sakura headed over to the door and down the long staircase. She had only briefly looked at the house but not much had changed since she was here for Christmas last year so she knew the general area of the kitchen where she had been in with Tomoyo earlier. Rubbing her eyes again to get the lingering sleep out, she hadn't realized that the light was on when she entered the room and stopped her walk. Sitting on a stool near the island was Syaoran Li, eating what looked like ice cream in a large bowl.

She smiled briefly before walking over to the fridge and sticking her head into the contents. "There's sandwich meat in one of those containers." Startled, Sakura jumped and slammed her head onto the shelf on the door. Cursing, she rubbed the sore spot on her head and listened grumpily at the soft laughing behind her. "Thanks." She pulled one of the drawers out, grabbing the turkey and light mayo and slammed the door closed on the fridge. Placing the package on the counter near her, she grabbed the bread from the side and pulled out two slices, then put a little mayo on each side and placed a slice of turkey between them. She put everything back into the fridge and grabbed a plate from the cupboard, before walking over to sit in one of the empty stools across from Li.

Sakura rubbed the growing bump on the back of her head and grimaced as she picked up her sandwich and took a small bite out of it. "You sure you're okay?" She glanced at his smiling face before flashing a smile in return. "I've had worse." They ate in silence until Sakura noticed that he was eating rocky road ice cream and she jumped from her stool, pointing at the frozen dessert. "Where'd you get that?" Li glanced down at his spoon and shrugged, then pointed at the freezer. She yelped happily and pushed her half eaten sandwich away from her and hurried to where he had pointed. Sure enough there was a somewhat empty container of the ice cream inside of the fridge and Sakura grabbed it excitedly while rummaging in the silverware drawer for a spoon. When she found one, she hopped back into her seat and contentedly worked on finishing what was left of the delicious ice cream. "Hey! What if someone wants more of that?" She looked up to see him frowning down at her and she smiled innocently. "Do you want more?" She caught the slightest hint of a blush before he went back to eating what was in his bowl, mumbling an inaudible no.

"Well then if anyone knew I was coming then they wouldn't have left this here if they were saving it for themselves." As she said these words she happily continued putting spoonfuls in her mouth, mimicking a dream like look on her face. "This stuff is amazing, I was never allowed to eat this since it had too many carbs…but Yue isn't standing over me watching what I eat now soooo I can eat whatever I want! Besides it's not like I am going to gain weight…I've always been this small…no matter how much I shove down my throat!" She looked up to see Li staring at her incredulously and she blushed realizing what she had blurted out in her happiness. "Umm that is…" She stopped and stared down at her ice cream until she heard the sharp bark of laughter from the other side of the island. Raising her head, she saw that Syaoran was now holding his hand over his mouth trying to hold back the gasps of laughter spilling forth. Sakura glared good naturedly at the man and returned to eating her treat. "You know Kinomoto-san you are not anything like I expected when Eriol told me the maid of honor was a model."

She lifted head to stare at him and smiled. "Yeah, everyone tells me that when they first meet me…I'm not anything like a model is supposed to be like…I guess it's my natural charm." She flashed him another brilliant smile and put another spoonful of ice cream into her waiting mouth. "Yue hates it sometimes since he has worked with so many models as an agent and he says that I am the only one that drives him up a wall so to speak." Syaoran smiled at her and did the same with his own ice cream. "How long have you been working in that job anyways? If you don't mind me asking." Sakura thought for a moment and answered, "Umm I think it's been almost three years, but I've been in the fashion industry since I was 19. Me and Tomoyo started out with her branch of clothing stores and I helped out modeling exclusively for her for a couple of years.

Then I got scouted and I guess I've been doing it since." He shot her a look of shock, "You mean you're that Sakura Kinomoto?" She laughed and nodded, continuing her contemplation of the chocolate and marshmallow ice cream. "You've heard of me?" He shook his head and grimaced as if recalling a particular unhappy memory, "No. My sisters are obsessed with you; last time I was home they wouldn't shut up about how Kawii Sakura was. I didn't really think much about it since they are always exclaiming about certain artists and what not." "Oh well if you want I can get them an exclusive autograph…" She broke off and stared down at the granite surface of the island.

She didn't really come here for work, she was actually running from it, but it was the least she could do for the man who came to pick her up from the airport when he didn't have to. Syaoran noticed that she had grown quiet and guessed the reason for it but not really why it bothered her so much. "No it's all right; I suspect they already have one. Besides I wouldn't want to hint that I met you since I will never hear the end of it if I do." Sakura glanced up and smiled gratefully at him. She pushed her chair back from her spot and threw her spoon into the waiting sink. "Well Li-san, I think I am ready to go back to bed now!" He didn't say anything, but he watched as she put what was left of her ice cream into the freezer. She spun around and flashed him another smile, "Night! See you tomorrow…well maybe; Tomoyo might just have something weird planned now that I'm home…" She grimaced in thought but shook herself out of it and walked out into the hall way and up the stairs.

~read and review! Tell me if it's good enough to continue!