OMG, finally! I'm updating! Listen my friends; I deeply apologize for not updating this in a year. And as it turns out, I can't quit fan fiction. I love writing this too much to give it up. Hopefully though, I'll have the doujin up soon. Please, I hope you all read it.

Disclaimer: NOT MINE! CLAMP'S!

He burst through the door and almost collapsed on the floor, completely wiped and out of breath. Meiling looked up from her magazine.

"What now, oh great cousin of mine?" She asked, closing the cover and setting it next to her. She saw the box and squealed.

"It's finally here?! Let me see!" She jumped to the floor and literally ripped the cardboard box to shreds. Her eyes sparkled as she saw the contents.

"M-Mei... I...I need to... figure out...." He tried to explain, feeling out of breath as he propped himself against the wall.

"Hm... that is an issue, huh?" She realized what he was trying to say. "Well, don't do the cliché thing, like placing it in a drink. Maybe in the cake?" She began, placing the smaller box on the bed and inviting him to sit. She glanced at his face and rolled her eyes.

"Oh will you please stop with that already?!" She felt like throwing a pillow at his head, but thought better of it. They were in complete silence for a while, devising ways to get Sakura to notice the object in question easier. Then it hit him.

"How about I hide it in a bouquet above her head. Then, when I tell her to, she'll pull the cord, making it rain flowers. Meiling thought about it for a second before opening her mouth.

"What if it falls, and it gets stepped on?

"We attach a parachute of course."

"Wow. How plain. Oh well, it's her party after all." Syaoran glared at her and took the box and the shreds of cardboard away. Meiling just laughed before heading to her closet and pulling out a small box, just slightly bigger than the one Syaoran had. She placed it on her dresser and went back to bed, this time falling asleep. Syaoran had walked back to his room, the box in his pocket.

Tomorrow, it's all or nothing.

Sakura had woken up earlier than ever, at seven. She glanced at her clock and fell back to her pillow, groaning. She didn't know why, but she knew that if she ever woke up early, there was going to be something huge that day. She turned and turned, but instead of going back to sleep, she sat up. She looked at the clock again, which read five past. She could have screamed, but instead she rolled out of bed and made a thudding sound on the floor. The door opened moments later and in popped Touya's head.

"Kaijuu, don't break the floor." She didn't feel up to listening to his jokes that day.

"Sakura no kaijuu baka onii-chan" Her voice was muffled by the floor, but you could still sense that she was drained. Touya was shocked, to say the least that his sister was acting like that. He closed the door and left, leaving her to get up by herself. After a while, she finally woke up and got ready for school. She dragged herself to the closet and donned her uniform before she dragged her tired body downstairs to eat breakfast. She sat at the table before her father placed a bowl of cereal in front of her. She felt her head getting heavier and she had to stop herself before her head hit the bowl.

"Is everything alright, Sakura?" Her father asked, seeing her actions. She blinked and shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm just a bit tired, that's all." She ate her cereal a bit slower than usual and thanked him before leaving.

"Bye dad! Oh, and I'm going straight to Syaoran's after school!" She hopped on her bike and rode to school, feeling happier now that she remembered that it was her birthday today. She got to school and all of her friends greeted her with shock.

"Sakura?! Why are you here so early?!" Chiharu pointed out, eating a box of pocky. Naoko was sitting next to her, reading a mystery novel. Rika wasn't there because she told them earlier that she was going out of the city for a while with her fiancé. Even Tomoyo wasn't even there that early. A few minutes after Sakura began to talk to Chiharu, Syaoran walked in and headed towards his desk. He placed his bag down and smiled at her before she ran over to him and planted a kiss on his lips. He pulled away first.

"And what was that for?" He asked, a playful smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. She smiled and pecked his lips again.

"No reason. I just really wanted to kiss you." She was about to start laughing again when he kissed her back, a bit more forcefully than what she had given him. They both pulled away and he rested his forehead against hers.

"What was that one for, Syaoran?" She asked. He smirked at her.

"No reason. I just wanted to kiss you." He chuckled softly, repeating the exact same thing that she had just told him. She giggled softly and blushed when she felt their eyes on them. Even worse, Tomoyo had come in after the initial kiss it, and she had managed to have recorded the interaction between the two. They quickly dashed apart and went back to their seats, the blush still showing in their cheeks. After a while, they threw each other glances when they thought that their friends weren't looking. But of course, Sakura's friends were watching it all. That is, until the teacher came in. Sakura told them one last comment about the party and then the teacher began her lesson. But I feel really bad for that teacher. No one was paying attention. Well, at least not anyone of our cast.

Sakura was idly drawing on her notes something that seemed to resemble a cake of sorts, only that the figure of the Sweet Card was on top, with what looked like a bunch of flowers. As she was staring out of the window, a note fell onto her desk. She looked around and saw Syaoran pointing to it while keeping his somewhat clear focus to the teacher at the board. She tucked it under her desk and opened it.

Sakura:

I was wondering if you'd like to get lunch with me before we head over to my place to finish with the preparations. That way, at least no one would hear your stomach rumbling during the whole thing.

Sakura frowned at his failed attempt at a joke.

And after, if you want me to take you home, fine.

She sighed and closed her eyes, not wanting to hear his plainness in his writing. But then something caught her eyes at the bottom of the note. It was an origami heart made out of green paper? She looked at the card.

And if everything else fails today, at least I managed to give you $100 to spend.

Happy Birthday,

Syaoran.

Sakura smiled softly at the thoughtfulness of her boyfriend before tucking the origami heart into her wallet. But she shouldn't have done that. The teacher caught her not paying attention.

"Kinomoto-san, please read the next section of the text." Sakura squirmed uncomfortably in her seat as she searched for the text in question. She hated when she spaced out like that during class, but she couldn't help it.

"U-um…" Tomoyo slipped her a scrap of paper that had the page number and the paragraph along with the sentence that she was starting at. She smiled gratefully and began to read aloud the passage, having little difficulty.

"Thank you Kinomoto-san." Sakura sighed and wrote another note to Tomoyo, thanking her for the help. She tucked Syaoran's note into her pocket and paid more attention to the class, not wanting to be caught off-guard again.

After school, Sakura waited patiently for Syaoran, knowing that he was running late. Whenever they had soccer practice, he always did, but she didn't mind it at all. Sure as ever, he came running up to her, smiling.

"S-Sorry about that, Sakura…" He said, panting lightly. She shook her head and pecked his lips.

"I understand." She smiled up at him before he wrapped her in his arms.

"You know, you always make my day much better…" He whispered into her ear before she giggled softly.

"I'm glad you think that Syao-kun." She said as he pulled away and pulled her towards his car. As soon as they got in, he drove off to their favorite snack shop. It was their favorite because they sold Sakura mochi, which is what they ate on their first date. After getting some to go, they left to Syaoran's mansion. They were greeted by Wei before ushered inside by his crazy, hyped-up sisters. The girls then split the couple up. Syoaran was dragged off to finish picking up the flowers for the party, and Sakura…

Well…

She was being fitted for a dress. A few actually. Shiefa giggled and showed her a light pink dress that ended just above the knee. It was strapless, but came with a coat with short sleeves.

"Sakura, you have to wear this for the party!" Meiling smiled softly at her friend, while the girl just blushed.

"I-I can't… I-It's way too pretty…." The girls frowned at her.

"And so are you, so try it on!" They shoved her behind a dark screen and Sakura slowly began to change clothes. When she came back out again, they pushed her onto the couch and began to mess with her hair, trying to figure out how to fix it up. Then they brought out the hair products and began to curl her hair.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (time skip. I don't want to dwell on this.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura groaned and plopped down on Syaoran's bed. She was exhausted by what her friends put her through, her hair still wrapped up in hair curlers and some lipstick smeared around her lips. The girls in question were actually just outside, trying to get in by coaxing her out. She lay down on the bed on her back, and closed her eyes. She was sure that Syaoran wouldn't mind anyway.

After a few moments, she felt the bed shift to her right and when she opened her eyes, a bright blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Hey, my beautiful cherry blossom…" He whispered, his face inches from hers. She blinked and turned her head to the side, trying to rub the lipstick off as he continued to hover above her, using his arms and knees to hold his weight off of her.

"Syaoran, um… c-could you…" She tried to say with a strong voice, but when she saw his deep amber eyes, she couldn't continue her words. He began to take the curlers off of her hair and watched her now curly hair fall beside her head with soft bounces.

"Could I…?" He asked softly, his voice a bit more husky than usual, she noted. As soon as her hair was down completely, he smiled at her.

"Like I said; my beautiful cherry blossom. And she's mine only, right…?" He asked her, leaning closer to her face. She turned a deeper red as her eyes began to close slowly until she could hardly see him. She whispered a soft 'yes' before he began to kiss her, sweetly, as if she were a fragile thing.

After the initial kiss, Sakura wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her while he did the same, but by lifting her hips softly. When they pulled away for a breath of air, he rolled over so that he could pull her into his arms with a gentle tug. She only willingly obliged, pressing her body to his.

"Sakura…"

"Hm…?"

"Stay here with me tonight."

"…Alright Syao…" She whispered softly and sent a quick text to her father and brother, telling them that she was staying over at Meiling's place after the party. She knew that if she told Touya that she was staying with Syaoran, he would go ballistic and try to kill him.

As soon as the message was sent, he pulled her into his arms again, kissing her hair softly.

"Happy birthday Sakura…"

Syaoran was awakened by the kiss of his beloved after a few hours of sleep.

"Sakura…" He smiled softly and pulled her down for a deeper kiss than before, making her moan softly. She pulled away and giggled.

"Did you forget? The party's starting in a few minutes." He groaned a bit and sat up before cupping her cheek.

"I hope you like this." He said in a gentle voice before letting her curled hair fall over her exposed shoulder, "Now go change into a dress they bought you. I want you to look perfect tonight." He smiled and left, leaving her on his bed with a faint blush and a fast-beating heart.

She crawled off of his bed and headed out after him, her curls bouncing as she returned to the sisters to finish.

Downstairs, Wei had begun greeting the guests that were slowly arriving. They thanked him when he took their coats and gifts and then they all made their way into the main hall, where the food and music was.

Sakura and Syaoran were at the center table, smiling and helping the others get settled in to the food or dancing. Of course, they had the occasional people who wanted to go to the bathroom, and others snuck away with a partner for some 'alone' time. It had been about five when the party began, and now, at the middle of it, it was now eight. Syaoran walked over to the DJ and nudged him out of the way in order to get the guests attention.

"HEY! LET'S NOT FORGET WHO THE GUEST OF HONOR IS!" He cheered as Sakura stepped out in the short pink dress from earlier. They all softly pushed her up to the stage that had mysteriously appeared in the room, courtesy of Syaoran and the Create Card.

"T-Thank you all for coming out here for my birthday. It means a lot to me that you all are happy that I'm getting older and thank you all for the lovely presents!" She said in a gentle voice, motioning to the small mountain of presents next to her on the stage. As soon as she began her thank you's, Syaoran took the microphone away from her and began to cheer out again.

"C'mon! Who wants to say a few words about the birthday girl?" He saw that no one wanted to and he grinned.

"THEN KAREOKE IT IS!" They all gasped and ted to get the mic away from him before he chuckled and shook his head. "If no one wants to go, then I'll go first!"

Sakura looked at him with a soft blush on her cheeks and smiled. He smiled back and opened his mouth.

"When I first arrived here in Japan, and met Sakura, I didn't like her. In fact, I hated her." There was a soft murmuring as he admitted his feelings. "But… after we spent more time together, and looked after each other, I found myself liking her more and more with each day."

"At first…" He paused to think up of how to phrase his remarks, "At first, I thought that I simply liked her as a friend and as a fellow classmate. But as hat year continued, I found myself falling deeper and deeper in love with her. Eventually, I told her my feelings, a few days before I was supposed to leave for Hong Kong." Sakura stepped up and stole the mic away from him. Holding it against herself with lidded eyes, she then began.

"When he told me his feelings, I admit I was shocked. I never had a clue that he felt that way about me. I didn't know what to say. When I talked to my dearest friends, they helped me realize that I felt the same way with Syaoran." She stepped to the side and slipped her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. "But it seemed that I realized that much too late. He was going to leave without hearing m answer. But I reached him in time, and told him that he was my number one as well. We parted." She said with a hint of sadness in her voice as she remembered that moment when she felt sorrow from loosing him. Syaoran took the mic from her and spoke again, squeezing her hand back.

"But I returned after a year. A lot changed, but she remained the same sweet, caring, and beautiful girl that I fell for. She matured, became more beautiful, but she still remained my cherry blossom. And now, it's been three years since I returned to Tomoeda, and since then, I have never left Sakura's side."

"Sakura… Sakura is the best girl that anyone could ever ask for. Her father should be proud for raising her; her brother should lay off of me and her going out…" The crowd chuckled at a memory of a time when Touya actually came up to the school from Osaka and picked a fight with him about his sister. "…and I'm glad to have met the woman of my dreams here." He smiled softly at her and kissed her pink lips, earning cheers from the entire crowd. After that speech, her closest friends stepped forward, saying similar things to Syaoran's words, starting with Tomoyo and Eriol, who came up together, and ending with Naoko, who reflected upon another year of accidentally scaring her friend with ghost stories.

Sakura then finished off with stating again her thanks for their coming, and then proceeded with opening the gifts, one by one until all the beautiful things were on the table with the wrappings and bags were on the floor. At the end, Sakura had a sad look on her face.

"What wrong?" Syoaran asked, making sure that Tomoyo had the mic far away from them. Sakura looked up at him.

"Your present isn't here Syaoran…" She blinked when she heard him chuckling.

"That's because my present is right here." He handed her a box and pulled away. Sakura, amidst the eyes of the waiting crowd, opened the box and gasped. She turned to Syaoran and wrapped her arms around him, crying softly.

"I-I will…" She said softly, making him wrap his arms around her waist and into a hug.

"So you'll…" She pulled away and smiled softly.

"Yes. I will marry you." She giggled softly at the look on his face and her friends popped poppers around them, showering them in confetti and streamers.

"CONGRATULATIONS!" Sakura smiled and leaned in for a kiss from her love, imagining their wedding.

WOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FINALLY! Hey, be happy. 3,454 or 5 pages of mush. A little racy in the middle, but nothing too extreme.

Next chapter will be the last, I'm afraid.

Please stay tuned!