Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Card Captor Sakura. I sadly just own the plot although if the owner wishes to give me Syaoran as a gift I would take him in a heartbeat.

"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, not time outs, no second chances. You just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someone's hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness you can never get back." - Unknown

Chapter 3

Pictures Bring Back Memories

They had come from practice two hours ago but he still felt something was bothering him. It was as if practice had not been enough, so he went over to the hotel gym and ran another forty five minutes on the treadmill before heading towards his room. He got out of the shower and put on his black long loose sporty sweatpants with a white tank and laid on his bed thinking. Immediately after, he heard a knock on his door and grunted. 'I just dropped into my bed.' He stood up and opened the door to find Sakura with a folder on her hand which he guessed was the photo shoot agreement.

"Sakura!" He smirked. "What a lovely surprise." She was wearing long black dressy pants and a white blouse. He could tell she had just gotten out of her office and went straight to the hotel by the look of her appearance.

She noticed the way he was dressed and how a few drops of water dripped from his hair into his tank but didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing her affected by it as she stared at him sternly, "Spare me your sarcastic greeting. Do you think I have enough time on my hands to be losing it on you?"

She was irritated, he could see that much. "Well, I wouldn't call it losing your time unless that's what you think of the agreement. But please, do come in." He said as he offered some space for her to walk into his room.

"I will not." She firmly said. "You're the only one who hasn't signed this agreement yet. Now, why would that be?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

He leaned on the door frame and crossed his arms on his chest as he smiled carelessly, "Well, I didn't saw it professional that an assistant would ask me for my signature. What if she wasn't really your assistant? You know… I have no way of knowing. I've got to be careful these days." He arrogantly answered.

She rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Sign the agreement."

"How have you been all these years?"

"In case you didn't notice, my well being should have stopped being a concern to you since um…" She mockingly made a thoughtful face then quickly answered, "seven years ago. Now, sign the agreement."

"Well, I can see you have grown moody over the years." He muttered.

Being in front of him was beginning to make her feel uneasy. She was losing her patience which was never good for anyone. She remembered what Xiefa had told her and tried to calm down before taking a deep breath and looking into his eyes, "Who do you think you'll be hurting if you don't sign? It won't be me, I assure you. These photo shoots are for promotions and if I remember correctly, you wanted to be the best soccer player in the world. For that, aside from good talent, you also need advertisements. In the end, by not signing, the only one you'd be hurting is yourself. So, sign the papers and I'll see you tomorrow on the photo shoot. Be there at nine, and don't be late." She placed the papers on his chest. Out of shock, he quickly grabbed the papers after feeling the folder pressed to his chest as he watched her turned around and leave without speaking any more words to him.

He playfully smiled as he watched her go into the elevator. There was something he found enticing every time he riled her up something that without a doubt he still loved doing.

~ o ~

Morning came and she had just gotten to the studio where the photo shoot was set to take place dressed in casual but still stylish business attire. Her white dressy pants and blouse was good enough to work but not to impress. Her light pink heals that matched the suit coat could be heard as she walked into the hallway and into the studio. They had been advertising this event for quite some time now using other pictures that were sent to her a couple of months before the exhibition game was to take place but she still wanted to take new pictures for the merchandise to be sold that day. According to her, this would help raise more money to help the communities after all that was the whole point of planning this event in the first place.

They had chosen four guys from Italy, four guys from China, and their coaches to do this photo shoot for the Kahi tournament. She watched the makeup artists work on their Italian athletes quickly so that the photographer could start with the shoot.

As she inspected everyone's work, she saw Syaoran was also in there getting ready for the photo shoot. She remembered speaking on the phone with Suri earlier and he still hadn't shown up back then. So, she had been wondering if he was going to show up or not. I mean, after all she hadn't been as professional as Xiefa had suggested, but she was glad in the end he had decided to come. She saw him flirting with the girl that was doing his hair for the photo shoot and narrowed her eyes. 'Idiot!'

"You should be careful Sakura…" a voice to her left called her attention as she saw Xiefa approaching with a knowingly smile on her face… the kind of smile she usually had when she knew something others didn't. "If anyone were to catch you looking at my brother like that they could think you still have something for him."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes, "You're imagining things."

Xiefa continued smiling, "I do hope so."

Sakura sighed. "Are the Italians ready? We should start this photo shoot."

Xiefa smirked and nodded.

Sakura walked towards the photographer, "Joe, we can start."

He nodded. "Okay people, let's go." As he said this, everyone got in place and he started the photo shoot.

He took pictures of each player individually, others he took with the four players that were representing their team and their coaches, and he also took some pictures of them individually doing an action with the soccer ball. It took him an hour to finish with everyone and finally wrapped it up.

"I'll have the pictures delivered to you this afternoon. That way you can tell me which ones you want in banners and which ones you want in posters." He said to her.

"We recently got a contract with a beverage company to place the pictures on their cans. Do you think you can also do an art of their pictures to digitally send them to the company?"

"As you wish love. Anything for you." The photographer said as he smiled to her.

She smiled back and nodded. "I'll try to answer this week so that we don't delay this any longer."

He nodded and started to put his camera away. "Well, you have my cell phone. Call me whenever you're ready."

She nodded and sighed.

"Sakura!" Xiefa walked towards her. "I just received a call from the field manager telling me that some lights are out. The charity tournament is next weekend. We can't have these types of fallbacks right now. Do you think we can call a repair company right now to have them fixed?"

"We need a quote Xiefa. We can't go over budget on this."

"I think I can convince father. It shouldn't be that hard for him to understand."

"No Xiefa. The budget is already set. I'm pretty sure we can receive a quote by today or tomorrow for the service without going over."

She heard laughing at her side and turned to see him joking around with his friends. The hairdresser from earlier was also there laughing at his jokes. Sakura didn't miss the playful smack she gave him as he said something to her that made her laugh again, leaving no doubt of her interest in him.

Xiefa looked towards the direction her attention switched to and chuckled. "Don't you have a boyfriend?"

"Yes I do." She said before turning her attention to a chart on her iPad.

"Then why do you keep looking at my brother like that?"

She knew Xiefa was only teasing her and she wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of doing so. "You're imagining things again. My Xiefa…" she mockingly looked at her friend, "I didn't know you had such a vivid imagination."

Xiefa cunningly smiled, "From what I hear he hasn't had a steady relationship since you left him."

Sakura looked at the chart on her iPad again and sighed. "Not sure why you're even telling me this."

"I've even heard that girls go crazy for him. His little fan club has increased greatly in these past few years." Xiefa said and chuckled again.

"Along with his many conquests I bet." She muttered still looking at the chart. After analyzing the information she turned towards Xiefa and sighed. "It just feels weird to see him again after seven years."

"Well, I can always get you copies of the magazines he's been in so you can see how he has developed throughout all those seven years."

She rolled her eyes at her so called friend, "You know what I mean. Pictures are never the same as looking at him here."

Xiefa chuckled. "The offer still stands. I'm pretty sure my mother's collection should have all of them since he started playing pro." Then she smirked, "I'm pretty sure you could even catch some pictures of when he was a baby. You know, you actually never told me how you got him to sign the papers."

"Don't ask. Not even I know." she sighed as she started to write some notes down.

On the other side of the room, the guys were joking about some problems Syaoran had gotten into in one of their trips back in Japan.

"Hey, I told you. I'm not the only one who has gotten in trouble for it."

The hairdresser smacked him in the arm. "Oh Li, you're such a bad boy aren't you?"

He smiled at her, "You know… we should definitely go out tonight. What do you guys think?"

"Well, I have no problems. Tomoyo is already here so we should do something."

"I'm game. Meiling would probably want to go for a few minutes. After that I don't promise anything." Kyu jokingly said.

He looked at the hairdresser again, "I'm pretty sure Thiane knows a good place around here were we could all have some fun tonight. What do you say?" He threw her a smile that melted her.

"I sure do." She flirted back.

"Li Syaoran!"

He turned around to see who had called him. "Depends on who is asking." he flirtingly answered.

Suri smiled. "I'm so glad you are in a better mood today than the last time I saw you. I have the 300 soccer balls outside for you. I didn't know you cared so much for these things. It's really nice of you."

The guys all looked at her. Confused, Syaoran started to lose his smile and asked, "I'm sorry... 300 soccer balls?"

She nodded. "Sakura said you love to give back to the community and enjoy spending time with children. It's very nice of you to offer your time to visit these kids who enjoy watching you play and to give them a memorable gift as a signed soccer ball. I bet they will really appreciate and love you for it."

Kyu raised a brow and smirked while Eriol chuckled. Syaoran narrowed his eyes, "Where is your boss?"

"Oh, she's going through the checklist with your sister. But where do you want-"

He didn't let her finish as he quickly stood up and set himself to find her. She let him pass by with a smile on her face before turning towards the hairdresser. "Thiane is it?" She asked.

She looked at Suri and nodded.

"It seems to me like you'll have to discard that invitation. By the looks of it, Li will be pretty busy for the rest of his day." She smirked before walking away.

After looking around he finally found her talking to his sister and headed over towards her.

"Sakura!" She heard her name being called and stopped writing notes on her iPad to look at Syaoran who was rapidly walking towards them with a not too happy face on. 'So, he must have heard.' She thought.

"I'm sorry for interrupting Xiefa," he looked at Sakura. "Can I speak with you for a minute?"

"Sure." she turned toward Xiefa, "Don't worry about the lights I'll take care of it."

Xiefa nodded and left. Sakura followed him to the corner and innocently smiled at him, "Is there anything wrong?"

"Is there...?" he annoyingly laughed, "Is there anything wrong? Perhaps you should tell me. Visiting the community with 300 soccer balls?"

"Oh that! I'm so glad you volunteered for it." She said and smirked.

"When did I volunteer for it, Sakura? I don't have time. I need to train."

"Oh, you know it's funny that you mention you need time to train. As a matter of fact I needed some time to think about who could possibly do this community visiting but... guess what happened with my time...? I had to go to the hotel to ask this jerk to sign some agreement papers because he couldn't sign them when my assistant nicely took the papers to him. So..." she shrugged, "I couldn't come up with a better person for this activity than you."

"Is this some sort of joke? It's hilarious really..." he jokingly said running his hands through his hair not believing she could actually think he would do this.

"Oh no, no, no..." she narrowed her eyes. "I'm very serious."

"Syaoran!" They both turned towards his coach who approached them. "I see you're already talking with Ms. Kinomoto here. I spoke to her this morning and she has a great idea to increase fans for the tournament. I volunteered you to help her with this. You don't mind do you?"

He looked at his coach trying to calm himself down, "We have practice this afternoon coach."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll tell your teammates you'll be doing this charitable work today. You're excused from practice." He turned to Sakura, "There Ms. Kinomoto, I told you there wouldn't be any problem with him. Let me know if you need more guys later on."

She sweetly smiled at the coach, "Thank you so much coach for understanding. I'm sure the kids will love this." She waited for the coach to retreat before turning towards Syaoran with a triumphant smile on her face. She patted his chest and smiled. "Enjoy!" She whispered to him before walking away.

He furiously watched her leave and narrowed his eyes...'That conniving little...'

~ o ~

The weather was perfect outside. It was cold but the cloudless sky made the sun warm anyone walking through the streets of China. The breeze made it a little hard to stay outside but you would definitely not freeze yourself to death. A laugh could be heard from inside the small café down at the corner where four friends sat conversing and joking around.

"So, I guess she hasn't changed much." Tomoyo said after hearing from her boyfriend what Sakura had just done to Syaoran a couple of hours ago.

Meiling kept laughing at Syaoran's predicament. There was nothing he hated more than to miss time from his training.

"Meiling… it's not funny babe. When we get to practice tomorrow we'll probably have to train harder because your cousin will be in a pissed off mood thanks to Sakura."

"Oh baby, what else can I do?" Meiling replied as she wiped the small tears from her eyes. "He should've known better than to provoke her."

"Well yeah… but still, who knows if we'll be able to hangout tomorrow because of him. Everyone knows when he is in a bad mood practices go on forever. It sucks that we have to pay for Sakura's crazy ideas." Kyu said.

"Well, we all know Syaoran can be a little difficult to deal with sometimes." Tomoyo sighed and smiled. "Oh I haven't been into this place in such a long time it's kind of refreshing. We should probably go sightseeing after your tournament. What do you say Eriol?"

"I think we can do something better. We can all go to auntie's house down in the outskirts. It has a beautiful sight and we'll probably be able to relax for a few days until we start practice again for the World Cup." Eriol smiled at Tomoyo.

"Well, that's not a bad idea. We can even go horse riding. I haven't done that in years." Meiling excitedly said. She could already imagine herself staying at the cabin with her boyfriend and her friends enjoying her small vacations before having to travel again for work purposes. "I can ask auntie if she can let us stay for at least a weekend."

"Leave it to you to want to go horse riding in such a cold weather." Kyu jokingly said.

"Oh baby, but it's really nice to go horse riding even in this weather. Wait till you see where the house is located at, then you'll understand why."

"I'd say the first thing we need to do is get your cousin to go along with it. I'm almost certain instead of wanting vacations he'll most likely make us practice instead. Then you can ask your aunt if we can stay Eriol." Kyu said.

The bell chime that was placed on the door of the small café rang announcing that another customer had just entered. Since Eriol was the one facing the door, he was the one that saw her first.

"Xiefa!" he said.

She looked to see her cousin and smiled. She turned towards the store server and ordered, "Two vanilla lattes to go please." After giving her order she walked towards them. She was dressed very professionally in a knee length black dress. On top of it she covered herself with her salmon colored leather coat that matched the color of her heels. "Well, well, well, fancy finding all of you here."

"Well, not all of us. As it is your brother is doing some good for the community." Kyu mockingly said.

She chuckled and smiled all knowingly. "So, I've heard."

Eriol noticed she wasn't moved by the news and asked, "You knew Sakura would do this?"

She nodded.

"And you let her go through with it?" Eriol asked.

She rolled her eyes at him and dismissed his questions with a wave of her hand. "Oh come on, it's not like he's doing something bad or anything."

"He's your brother Xiefa. You know how much he hates missing practice."

She shrugged Eriol's comment. "Sakura is one of the persons in charge of the Kahi tournament as well as the advertisements for both tournaments. Whatever she wants, she'll get."

"I didn't know you were that close to her." Meiling said.

She smiled at Meiling. "We are friends but other than that, both of these tournaments need to be a success. This is why father has entrusted her with this as well as me."

"Well I can see why she would get him to do this but the way she did it… don't you think it was a little harsh?" Kyu asked her.

Meiling looked at him, "Really? You were the one that was complaining about this whole thing in the first place."

"Well yeah babe, but if what Xiefa is saying is right, then Sakura is only taking advantage of Syaoran's popularity. Right…?"

"Two vanilla lattes to go!" the waiter announced.

Xiefa smiled. "I'll just say this… She knows what she's doing and exactly what needs to be done to get the expected results. I'll see you guys later!" She winked at them before turning to get her order, paying for it, and walking out of the coffee place.

Kyu waited for Xiefa to be out of the restaurant before saying, "You know… I'm not sure if finding Sakura again is a good thing after all."

"Why?" Tomoyo asked.

Kyu shrugged, "It's just a hunch."

Meiling sighed, "Baby, you don't think he'll go back to her after what she did?"

"I don't know Meiling. You didn't see him when we saw her the first time in the hotel."

She looked at him quickly, "Don't you know my cousin Kyu? He may have loved her once but he's too proud to go after someone who left him like she did. I mean… she practically cut us all out of her life when she left. What makes you think that he would go back to her?"

Tomoyo shook her head, "Maybe Kyu is right Meiling. After all, Syaoran never told us what happened that day. The only thing he did say was that everything had been his fault."

Meiling scoffed and proudly said, "Syaoran is a Li. There's no way he would go back to her."

Eriol sighed, "Well, as much as I like spending time like this, we should probably go too. Practice starts in two hours. Don't want to be late." He got up from the table and helped Tomoyo to get up as well by grabbing her hand.

Kyu nodded and got up as well with Meiling. The four of them exited the café and headed towards their respective cars. As Eriol approached his white Porsche with Tomoyo in hand, he saw many photographers taking pictures of them as well as pictures of Meiling getting into Kyu's black Maserati. He shook his head and sighed. 'Don't they ever get tired?' he thought before closing Tomoyo's door and getting on the driver's side. After putting on his shades he drove away.

~ o ~

He had just arrived at the community center where he would be offering the signed soccer balls to the kids thanks to a not-so-lovable person for him after all. 'That little minx!' It wasn't that he didn't like kids or doing charity work to help the community, it was just that he felt awkward around kids. What soccer player of his age knew how to handle this...? If given the choice between playing and doing this he would definitely preferred playing. It was so much easier, so much more natural for him.

He looked at the poor developed soccer field in the community from the limousine's window and sighed. It was full of kids already. Some of them were hand in hand with their parents, others he could see were by themselves, but it was needless to say the place was packed. He wasn't even sure there were enough soccer balls for each of the kids.

He opened his door and got out. Kids screaming could be heard and seen through the fence separating the field from the entrance excitedly at his mere presence and pointing at him. He waved and smiled which only increased their excitement. Anxiety started growing inside of him with every step he took and a little claustrophobia as he got nearer the middle of the field but he was already here. A blond lady smiled at him from the middle of the field. He knew he had seen her somewhere before, only he couldn't put his finger on where. He tried to remember but was cut short when she grabbed the microphone and announced the commencement of the community event.

He had been asked to play a little with the kids, which off course he did. They played one game of about thirty minutes which to his surprised he really enjoyed. Then a couple of pictures were taken of everyone that participated in the match with him in the middle. At the end, he was asked to sit in the middle of the field in front of a rectangle wooden table to sign the balls. The kids made a line and he started signing balls and occasionally took pictures with the kids who asked for pictures with him, which we could resume by saying it was all of them.

"Wow Mr. Li! You're my favorite player in the whole world." he saw a short black haired kid about seven years old say to him. Something about this kid's face caught Syaoran's attention. He remembered when he was younger his eyes used to shine like this kids' whenever he saw a soccer game on TV.

He laughed a little embarrassed, "Thanks! You can call me Syaoran, really." He saw the kid smiled all the way excitedly and felt better. "So uh, what's your name?"

"Kenji. I saw your last goal on Japan, it was awesome!"

"Thanks! How old are you? Do you play?"

Kenji nodded. "I'm seven and I'm going to be the best player in the world, just like you!"

"Alright!" He started signing the ball putting the kids name on it. "Are you coming to the cup?"

He saw the kid's smile reduced itself to a sad smile. "Well, I asked father if we could go but he says the tickets are too expensive. But we'll watch it on TV." The kid smiled again at him.

The kid's honest answer made Syaoran not ask anything else. He finished putting the dedication on the ball and gave it to the kid. "Well, here you go."

"Wow!" he looked at Syaoran again and happily said, "Thank you Mr. Li... I mean Syaoran." The kid turned towards his father excitedly. "Daddy quick the picture!"

The kid pose at his side and his father quickly took a picture with his cell phone. Kenji quickly went to see it and smiled excitedly. "Thank you again Mr. Li!"

Syaoran chuckled. "Anytime. Stay out of trouble!"

The kid waved his goodbye to Syaoran and left with his father. 'Well, this isn't so bad.' He thought as he prepared himself to sign the next one.

One by one he signed all the soccer balls. He had been correct about his first assumption, three hundred soccer balls were not enough so he had ordered for some more to be brought on so each kid could take their signed soccer ball today. It was dark already and he was getting ready to leave when he felt a hand grabbed his arm. He looked around to find the event announcer smiling sweetly at him.

"Don't tell me you don't remember me...?" she said.

He casually smiled, "Should I?"

"Syaoran! The boat, some wine glasses, the walk on the beach?"

"Oh! Katherine! I knew I had seen you before."

She provocatively smiled at him and nodded. "You should have stayed till the morning."

He chuckled. "I usually get up early to workout."

"I'm pretty sure you could have workout just fine even after staying." She moved her hands up and down sensually over his arm while battling her eyes at him. "I woke up very cold that morning thanks to you."

"Well, how about I make it up to you. Dinner some time?" he confidently asked already knowing the answer.

She nodded. "I heard you're not allowed to go anywhere outside of the hotel."

He smirked, "News travel fast."

She raise her brow flirtatiously, "You have no idea. So, is tomorrow good for you?"

"I'll check my calendar and let you know." He smiled before turning around and getting into the black limousine that was waiting for him with his manager inside.

He closed the door and waited for it. "She's very pretty, a bombshell no doubt…" His manager sarcastically said before warning him, "She works in the media Syaoran. Don't be stupid about this."

"It was only one night a long time ago. You don't have to worry about that Choi." He rubbed his eyes. For the first time in years he was really tired yet he felt good about it.

"I worry because I know what people like her would do if you give them the chance of being in your life."

He ignored his manager as he look out the window at the houses in the community, "Speak with Sakura. She probably has a list of all the kids that assisted this event. Ask her if she can get World Cup tickets for them and one family member."

Choi stared dumbfounded at him. "What? You've never done this before."

"Just do it Choi." He said tiredly closing his eyes.

~ o ~

The next morning, she had finally found time early in the morning to be in her office. While she was drinking her hot coffee she was going through some of the quotes to repair the field lighting. She had asked Suri the day before to please call places and ask for quotes in order to take care of everything today.

She heard a knock on her door followed by Syaoran entering her office without her permission and closing the door behind him. 'My eyes must be playing tricks on me.' She thought. He was wearing a long sleeve gray t-shirt, which wasn't too tight but you could still see his muscular defined arms with it, blue jeans and a pair of sneakers.

He smiled at her surprised expression, "I saw your Guinea Pig on TV last night... was surprised to see him alone. Very elegant in his suit and everything, right there next to his father..."

"What are you doing here? Get out."

"This is my building, even if I'm not running it... remember?" he arrogantly said as he walked towards her desk and placed a folder in front of her.

She sighed and took the folder. It was the signed release for the photo shoot. He could've simply left it in the front desk with Suri but instead decided to hand them personally to her. She went through the papers to check everything was done correctly. "This is your father's building, and I didn't know you cared at all."

He smiled at her and started walking around her office curiously. Years had indeed influenced some of her style. She had a very modern taste when it came to her office furniture. A lot of dark brown and white pieces adorned it. Nothing like the Sakura he knew back then who used to love a lot of pink. Her office could be defined as someone who took her work very seriously. 'Well, I guess that hasn't changed.' He thought.

"I would have never imagined you liked politics that much. You must have very entertaining conversations with his friends and all..." he sarcastically said.

She watched him stroll around her office looking around it. First he saw the view she had from her office which was in the 47th floor. Since the windows were all glass, he was able to see most of the city through them. Then he saw her glass desk in shape of an L with a full computer on it and an Ipad docked at the side. And finally he saw a wooden bookshelf at his left side full of books. Some of them he could tell were college books. Others were probably books she had bought on the side to read for research purposes.

"Are you done analyzing my office?"

He smirked at her and picked a frame from the bookshelf. She was standing right next to Jun in an elegant emerald dress that reached all the way to the floor. She was about his same height with heels on. "I guess this office suits you. I mean, you did leave everything behind so you could have a better life. I'm assuming that is why you left." He suddenly looked at her. "I must say, Kate did throw us a very good prom by the way, after you stood her up... I mean."

She rolled her eyes at him and walked towards him to take the picture frame back from him but he put it back before she reached him. "If you must know, I did stay in contact with Kate even after leaving. The only difference was that back then I left her in charge and told her that if she needed my help with anything to just give me a call or email me. She must not have told you anything, but I did help her with most of the activities leading to the prom without needing to be there in person. Did you honestly think I could be that irresponsible?"

He smiled at her. "Off course not. Always work before anything else. I guess that still hasn't changed."

She sighed. "Why are you here?"

"I came to apologize for the photo shoot agreement. I honestly didn't mean to make you lose your time."

She looked at his eyes and raised her eyebrow, "You don't apologize."

"I'm not the same person you knew seven years ago. Even if you don't believe it, people can change over time. More so if you give them seven years to do so..." the last part he said in a low voice as an afterthought.

She was able to clearly catch what he said. She could tell he was being honest, but there was still a part of her that didn't trust him. "I accept your apology and now you will leave. I have a lot of stuff I need to take care of and I have less than ten months to do so."

"There is another reason for my visit." He added before allowing her going back to her desk.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Off course there is. Do you need me to offer you a seat?"

"No, not at all. But I do want to call a truce."

She looked at him questioningly. "A truce?"

He nodded. "I'll stop being a jerk, as you called me earlier."

She narrowed her eyes at him, "What's in it for you?"

He smirked, "I want to at least try to be friends again."

She sighed and rolled her eyes before turning her gaze away from him, "Syaoran-"

"I know what you're thinking, but Sakura even before we started dating years ago we could still talk and have fun like friends do. And right now I'll be in China for almost a year, you're working for my father's company, I don't want us to be awkward because of something that happened between us in the past. I mean, we both have grown up. I'm pretty sure there's no problem in us trying to be friends again."

She thought about it quickly. It wasn't that she wasn't willing to do so, but their relationship in the past had never been a peaceful one. They had their fights along with their fiery romantic reconciliations. She wasn't sure if they could be friends again after all that had transpired between them but right now she didn't have time to think clearly about his proposal. "Fine."

"I mean it Sakura."

"I know and I said it was fine. We can try but it will be later. For now, I have a lot of work so... the door is right over there." She pointed at the door.

"I will call you later. The others will probably want to see you as well." He said walking towards the door.

"You don't have my phone number."

He smirked. "You forget my sister is Xiefa." he said all knowingly before opening the door to leave.

"Syaoran!" she called before he got out. She waited for him to turn around and look at her. "His name is Jun, not Guinea Pig."

He smirked and mockingly chuckled. "Off course, how could I forget...? I'll see you around." and with that he closed the door after leaving. She sighed and went back to her desk to finish what she was doing before he showed up.

~ o ~

Instead of practicing only in the afternoon just like they always did, they had practice at eleven in the morning and then continued to their afternoon practice at four. Syaoran had asked the coach to have double practice today since he thought they needed all the practice they could get before the tournament. None of the players were surprised by this considering he had missed yesterday's practice. So after doing their routinely warm up, they started doing the play sequences. The team was divided into four groups. Two of the groups were scrimmaging in one half of the field where Syaoran was placed, while the other group was with Mark on the other side.

He was jogging on the right side of the field while watching the rest of his teammates perform the play from the left. He noticed Kyu, who was playing for his team, was open on the left side to receive the ball and score. Eriol, who was playing against him, was on his right side watching him from getting an opening to score. Xiun received the ball from the left side line and kicked it quickly to the middle where another one of his teammates was waiting for it.

"Stop!" Everyone looked at Syaoran. "Xiun what are you doing? You need to bring the ball inside. Otherwise, the rest of your teammates will have too many guys to be able to make a goal. Your job is to take their defense with you when you come in so that the rest of your team can have a better possibility at scoring. Did you even see Kyu was open in the first place? Kicking the ball straight to the middle is not very smart considering their best defense is there. Find your opponent's weakness and execute. Let's go again." He said.

If looks could kill, Syaoran would be dead by now after the look Xiun gave him before turning around and muttering to himself. "Damn stupid jerk! I'll show him smart…"

Eriol chuckled and looked at Syaoran who was in front of him. "Syaoran, give the poor guy a break."

"He needs to learn Eriol. A mistake like that could cost us the game." He waited for the ball to reach Gee who was in the sideline. Gee took the ball and again passed it to Xiun.

On the sidelines, their coach was watching the whole practice with his hands crossed on his chest and a smile on his face. The assistant coach was at his side writing down some notes on a notepad.

"Are you ever going to talk to Li about his attitude? Some of the guys are complaining about it."

The coach smirked as he watched Xiun receive the ball and ran towards the middle with it. He combined speed with a couple of fake passes to take most of the other team's defense with him leaving Syaoran open on the right side. Instead of passing the ball to Kyu, like Syaoran had suggested, he passed the ball to Syaoran who in turned scored the goal.

"Do you still think I should talk to Li about his attitude?" he chuckled and shook his head while his assistant sighed and shook his head as well. "I thought so."

~ o ~

She had received the pictures from Joe last night just like he had told her she would. He gave her two manila envelopes full of pictures, one for each team. Since she had been too busy to see them last night, she had decided to take them tonight to her apartment where she could peacefully look through them. She poured herself a glass of red wine and started watching the pictures. This was her typical Friday night these days unless her boyfriend was around.

After a couple of minutes she was able to decide which ones she wanted from the Italian team. She set the ones she chose on the side of her glass coffee table and opened the other envelope. She started discarding the ones she immediately knew she didn't wanted and put them back on the envelope. The ones she wanted she started setting them on the coffee table just like she had done for the Italian team.

When she reached China, she picked the picture with Kyu, Eriol, Syaoran, and their coach first. Then she chose the individual pictures for Mark, Kyu, and Eriol without much difficulty. But, when she got to see Syaoran's individual pictures she got stuck. She had to admit she liked almost all of them. He looked good kicking the ball, he looked good doing the serious pose, and he looked good with the ball and smiling. He just looked good in all of them. She kept going through them until she saw the last one. Her heart skipped a beat. Good didn't do justice on this one. He simply looked too hot in it. He was standing with the ball on his hands and flashing his famous smirk. It still troubled her how she still found that smirk so sexy on him. She suddenly remembered when she took the agreement papers to him. He had that same smirk on his face as he reclined himself on the hotel's door frame and although she faked her indifference to him, she couldn't deny she still felt something that night.

She placed the pictures on the coffee table as she rubbed her fingers through her eyes and took another sip of her wine. She needed a break. This was troublesome indeed. She knew she needed to keep a clear head to choose these pictures correctly. Her phone suddenly rang signaling she had just received a text.

*Brunch tomorrow?

She looked at it and re-read it several times before remembering what Syaoran had told her in the morning. 'So Xiefa gave him my phone number after all… That little traitor!' she thought narrowing her eyes. She planned on just ignoring him but then decided against it knowing that if she didn't answer his text he was capable of appearing on her office again tomorrow morning to pick her up.

*Where?

*Asashi's at nine? The girls love that place.

*Okay!

*See you there. Good Night!

She looked at the message but didn't answer back. She wasn't even sure she should have agreed to the whole friend thing in the first place. 'It's only brunch.' She thought. And the girls would be there, right? I mean… what was wrong with that? It wasn't like she was doing something inappropriate or anything. She was just going to spend time with her friends from high school again. She finished her glass of wine and nodded to herself. 'This is only a friendly brunch, nothing else.' She thought before taking the glass to the sink and turning in for the night.

Author's Note: Well, chapter 3 is done. Once again, thank you all of you who reviewed my first and second chapters. It really helps to know how you guys feel about this story. I hope you guys like the third chapter and please read and review so I know what you guys think about this one.