Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura solely belongs to Clamp.

Summary: Five years after Sakura died, Syaoran lived his life to become the next leader of the Li clan. As a challenge for his abilities, he was asked to go in England. But during his stay there, his life turned upside down when a girl who looked so much like the person he used to love crossed his life again.

Brokenshadow23: First of all, I want to say thank you for all those who reviewed and who put this story to their favorites or alerts. I didn't realize that many people commented until I have reread them all again for my replies.

Second, I apologize again for this late chapter. If you want, feel free to bug me if you think that it's about time for me to update. Haha..

I also want to thank sapphire-hime for checking and revising this chapter! :D


One more night

By: Brokenshadow23

Chapter 3: Arms around her


'Why does this have to happen' Syaoran asked himself confusedly, uncertain on what he was suppose to feel right now. Should he feel frustrated? Angry? Or even happy? Shifting to his right side of the bed, his amber eyes fell unexpectedly on the photo frame of him and Meilin on the nightstand. It was taken a few months ago when they were attending a prestigious party, and there, there was only him and his current fiancée…no auburn-haired girl at the picture. Just them.

Calming himself, Syaoran tried to pretend that nothing happened today; that everything went normally like his ordinary days...

…but then, no matter how hard he tried to block this certain afternoon memory, everything still started coming through him—wrong thoughts and emotions. He perfectly knew that he shouldn't be disturbed any longer. He moved on, hasn't he? He believed this to be as the truth since after all these years after Sakura had left him; he had given Meilin his all.

And none of it was a game.

Syaoran sat up and opened the lampshade next to the picture on the nightstand. He didn't know exactly what to do at the moment for he couldn't stop himself from thinking about the girl he saw just hours ago.

Bending down, he let his elbows rest on his thighs. His right hand travelled to his unruly hair, making it messier that the usual. Then he buried his face on his hands, wanting badly to shout his thoughts. 'Damn it, Syaoran. 'He cursed. 'Why are you turning back to the guy you are five years ago? To the guy who don't have a power over his feelings?'

Pausing for a while, his mind drifted on the incident a few hours ago. Some pictures of it even flashed on his eyes like he was again on that moment. 'But those emerald eyes… That fleck, those spark… It's the same which Kinomoto Sakura would only have.'

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

-Flashback-

"Do I know you?" the girl beside him asked with her innocent and lovely voice. She decided to repeat the question for the guysimply was ina dazed the moment her big emerald eyes locked to his intense amber orbs.

Syaoran didn't move. He was still watching her,astonished. It had been a while before he realized that she was talking to him. "Huh?" he muttered like a little child.

The girlgiggled at his reaction. When she saw him turned more confused, she stopped."I'm sorry. It's just that I already repeated the question and you seemed not to hear me."She paused, staring at him. "Will you listen to me now?"

Without second thoughts, he nodded.

"Do I know you?" For the third time, she inquired. There was a small smile playing in her lips while she was patiently waiting for his answer.

Clearing his voice, Syaoran answered. "Umm… I guess not. I just arrived yesterday."

"Oh," the girl said, almost whispering. Her eyes suddenly saddened, making the guy beside her somehowguilty."You are quite familiar. I thought I have seen you somewhere."

"Maybe you have," Syaoran told her and remembered his last vacation on England. "Five years ago I, together with some other friends, spent a summer vacation here."

She shook his head. "I'm not sure about that. I can only remember what happened five years ago, but it was already in the latter part of fall."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I have this amnesia thing. I don't know how it happened but I don't dare to ask the others." She explained to him. "After all, I'm happy with my simple life."

"I see…"

There was a minute of silence. Then the girl went back to her mischievous side once again. "Anyway," she began casually, "are you a tourist?"

Syaoran shook his head in disagreement. Since he met her eyes, he didn't dare to remove it. He was scanning her from head to toe, amazed with her beauty. Her shoulder length auburn hair appeared to be soft and was perfect for her small frame. It swayed along with the wind, but it never covered the unexplainable expression he saw on her eyes. "I came here for business."

"But then why do you have to take photographs?" She gazed at the camera hanging on his neck for a few seconds and back to him. "A hobby?"

"Umm… Perhaps." Syaoran was indeed trying his best to sound normal, but no matter how hard he controlled himself, the trembling of his voice can easily be noticed. "I've been into this stuff for almost five years now."

She raised an eyebrow with a questioning look. "How come?"

Sighing, Syaoran finally looked the other way. He then saw the sun on its half way down. The orange sky was turning to dark blue and some stars were starting to appear. "I decided to appreciate everything around me since the day someone special to me died."

The girl held her breath. She was surprised that she was already hearing those things from him considering that they have only met less than an hour ago. She felt that he had trusted her for already a long time but she knew that it was impossible.

"I'm sorry," she said softly, knowing that it was really beyond her rights to know. His tone changed into something sad so it made her guilty in a way. "I didn't mean to make you remember."

"Don't worry about it," Syaoran assured her, smiling a bit.

After that the two fell into a deep silence. The girl stood up, taking a few steps to have a good view of the sun. Syaoran didn't move on his seat. He merely stared at the horizon, appreciating the view before him.

"But everything would be alright, wouldn't it?" suddenly, she asked him.

Hearing those words, the Chinese guy stared at her. He didn't expect that to come out. Without knowing how it happened, his heart began to pound harder like he was really being with the girl he had treasured so much before.

"And…" The girl continued, turning back to see him. A genuine smile was printed on her face, showing confidence on what she was about to say. "Eventually, I think you will find someone who can give you the happiness you deserved."

That shocked him. Syaoran felt breathless—falling back to the time that those words came out from Sakura's lips. Though it was not the same words, but her tone was like hers, soft as always and that showed interest.

"Why did…" He tried to say something, but stopped himself.

"Hmm…?" The girl responded not knowing what she did wrong once again to make him feel lost. "Is there something wrong?"

Bowing his head, Syaoran felt the pain struck his heart. This girl in front of him reminded him of his best friend and first love. It brought memories back that were mostlyhappy but then painful and lonely the same time.Before tears could even rise up from his eyes, he mumbled. "Umm… I'm so sorry but I have to go."

Without any response from her, he stood up and ran back to the road. He left the unknown girl behind with a confusedlook on her face.

-End of Flashback-

Xoxoxoxoxoxox

Then finally, as the whole incident repeated in his mind, Syaoran felt the tears he had been stopping since earlier. It slowly crept down to his face, then to his hands and arms. There was no use of denying it; he was confused because he couldn't help but admit to himself that nothing had changed for the last five years. Yes, he had to admit that he did miss Sakura's company, but remembering those times they had been together and the fact that they cannot be together anymore gave him nothing but greater agony.

A few minutes more and he heard a small knock coming from his bedroom door. Syaoran kept silent, not wanting to answer, until a soft and warm voice whispered his name.

"Syaoran." It was Meilin.

Registering who it was, Syaoran then stood up. He wiped his tears to remove the evidence that something happened. He hid his camera inside the cabinet of the table in order for Meilin not to see the pictures he had taken. Immediately, he reached for the door and pulled it open. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, surprised that she paid him a little visit.

The raven haired girl shook her head. She entered his room, eyes scanning the place. She saw a bunch of white papers on his table, with his laptop on the side. The room was dark and the lampshade was its only source of light.

"I just wanted to see how you're doing," Meilin reasoned even though she really did have a purpose of being in there. Since Syaoran was back this afternoon, he had been constantly spacing out. Then after dinner, he locked himself in his room without any word from either her or Seifa.

Pushing the door close, Syaoran went back to his bed. He fixed his gaze on her. For some reason, guilt was coming through him but he tried to control himself as much as he could, not wanting to hurt her. 'Meilin shouldn't know. This will only hurt her.'

"You haven't been working, have you?" The Chinese lass simply asked since she noticed that his laptop wasn't opened and the papers were left unmoved.

"No," Syaoran answered her. "I plan to start tomorrow evening."

Looking into his amber eyes, Meilin finally got the chance to find an answer on how he acted earlier. "Then why aren't you asleep yet? Did something happen?"

Syaoran bit his lip, feeling tension on the air. Heaving a sigh, he tried his best to act normally. "I find it hard to sleep since I still can't adopt myself with the time."

"Oh really?" Meilin shot back, suspecting. "You made it sound like you don't travel a lot." After that she smiled, wanting him to be at ease.

Not in his proper self already, he grabbed her by the hand and pulled her body close into his. He fell back to the bed with her, but it didn't matter. Without any word, Syaoran just wrapped his arms around her as he took in her scent.

Shocked on how fast it had happened, Meilin did nothing. She stayed, treasuring the moment. She didn't say a word as seconds passed by. For some reason, she felt in a way different. Syaoran's embrace was not the one he used to give. It has strange emotions that she couldn't identify—there was passion yet coldness took place; there was protection but it felt that it will be the last time; and last, it felt love but also a goodbye.


There. :D Like it? Or not? Share your thoughts and make me happy!

REVIEW please! XD

.brokenshadow23.


Review Replies:

**BenDanFan's, James Birdsong and notthesame… :D thank you for the review.

**aiLi13… wai,. Sorry about that. There are so many things to deal with so… haiz. Anyway, thanks for the review and for liking this story. Hope to hear from you again. :D

**ellabell… hehe.. is it that sad? Oww.. stay tuned. There will be more things to come. ^-^

**Kare4aKiss. Hmm… about your expectations, I still want to hear them. Haha… who knows maybe you have some idea and it will create a big impact on this story. I have planned everything until the end though, but there are still rooms for improvements. Ahaha.. I am really grateful for your comment. The rewriting is done by my beta. I am learning a lot from her so I'll try my best to write better.

**Syaokura lovers… I apologize for the late update. You don't need to get mad ok? Hehe.. I assure you that I'll finish this fic. Haha.. I'll just try to find a way to update faster. Just stay tuned ok?

**humbleblossom-paulina… hehe… it's obvious right? Hope that you enjoyed this chapter.