Destined

Author's Note: Once again, thank you so much for reading and reviewing! It's really appreciated! :) By the way, did any of you notice that this story is under the genre 'Romance/Drama'? Seriously. Why do you guys keep laughing? Hahaha! But I'm already starting to question why I labeled it that in the first place.

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.

Chapter 6

When Tomoyo said she was going to arrange something for the four of them, Eriol was expecting something along the lines of dinner and drinks. So imagine his surprise when Tomoyo came to him and announced that they were spending a few days at her family's vacation home. Yep, she was taking it way too seriously.

"I'll show you to your room, Sakura," Tomoyo stated as she guided the said girl further inside the house. Since they had spent so many summers here before, the three of them already had rooms of their own. Eriol figured that Tomoyo would conveniently place Sakura in the guest bedroom closest to his.

Syaoran and Eriol were lugging the bags inside when Tomoyo and Sakura returned.

"Eriol, could you please bring Sakura's stuff upstairs? The third bedroom on the left wing."

'I knew it,' Eriol almost said out loud. The second one was his, and the first was Syaoran's. Tomoyo's room was on the right wing. "Yeah, sure."

"No, no, I can do it," Sakura instantly objected.

"It's fine. I've got it." Eriol smiled at her before picking up the bags. Sakura looked like she wanted to wrestle it away from him, and she would have if she wasn't so anxious about the situation.

Syaoran grabbed his and Tomoyo's bags. While at it, he raised a brow at Eriol, silently asking him what was up. Tomoyo actually pleaded for days for Syaoran to take some time off work.

Eriol just sighed in return.

It was late in the afternoon were they were finally settled in. Tomoyo suggested having a bonfire down the beach. She took the opportunity to get Eriol and Sakura alone, so she asked them to get some stuff from the kitchen.

When they were finally by themselves, Sakura's fidgeting got more pronounced. Just to keep her hand busy, she reached up to open the cupboard even though she knew that what Tomoyo asked for weren't there.

"So..." Eriol coughed, rummaging through the contents of the refrigerator. "I think you should know... Tomoyo is trying to set us up."

Sakura paused to look at him, then at the door where Tomoyo disappeared, then back at him... and then burst out laughing.

Eriol was certainly not expecting that. He thought that she would get flustered basing on the edginess that she had been showing all day. "Okay..." He let out a deep breath as he straightened himself. "Well... you can stop laughing now or I might get offended." He playfully scowled at her direction.

Sakura immediately stopped. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I swear!" She explained hastily, "It's just that I've been getting that feeling from Tomoyo all day. I don't mean to assume anything but I'm seriously getting paranoid. I mean, when she showed me my room, she practically encouraged me to sneak into yours later tonight!"

He could only look amused. "Really?"

"Yeah. She said that if I couldn't sleep, I could just come to your room and you wouldn't mind keeping me company. She almost gave me a tour of it earlier!"

Eriol laughed. That was such a Tomoyo-thing to do.

"Oh, gosh." Sakura sighed in relief. "At least now I know it isn't just me."

"Hey now, you're starting to wound my ego here."

"No, no – I just, I mean –"

"I'm kidding." He chuckled again. "So... we're good, right?"

"Yeah." Sakura nodded. "I'm just glad it isn't going to be awkward anymore. I mean, you seem nice and all, but I just don't see you as –"

"Whoa. You really have to stop that. I can only take so much," Eriol joked, and her eyes widened. Before she could apologize again, he continued. "It's alright. You're pretty cool so I understand why Tomoyo thought I'll like you. I mean, I do, but..."

"Not that way," Sakura finished for him. She was glad that they felt the same. Even if she hadn't known him long, she already knew that Eriol wasn't the man for her. Not that she was easily dismissing him... she just wasn't drawn to him that way.

No intensity. No... sparks.

Sakura knew that she couldn't offer him anything more than, "Friends?"

"Friends."

Tomoyo was watching Syaoran stroke the fire when she heard the laughter. She looked up in time to see Eriol talking animatedly to a smiling Sakura.

When the unease of matchmaking was out of the way, Sakura was finally able to enjoy Eriol's company. He was easy going and laid-back, and she liked that. She was also appreciative of the fact that Eriol didn't leave her in the dark and told her straight out what was happening.

Tomoyo grinned slyly, thinking that her plan had worked. "Hey, guys!"

Sakura and Eriol exchanged glances before sniggering. They decided to humor her and sat down next to each other. He leaned down so he could whisper, "I think we should tell her the truth soon before she starts planning a double wedding."

"She'd do that?"

At Sakura's horrified face, he chuckled. "What do you think?"

"Oh, man!" She slapped her forehead. Eriol was just telling her some funny stories about Tomoyo's attempt to set him up. Most of it ended in disaster. "Yeah, we better tell her before this trip is over."

"At least I'll get out of this alive since we're both opposed to it." He smirked. "Strongly, in your case."

She groaned. "I promise to buy some verbal filter once we're back in the city." Sakura took a peek at the other woman. She could feel Tomoyo's eyes watching them every now and then. "What do you think she'll say?"

"She'll get over it." Eriol shrugged. "Although, she's starting to get frustrated. She actually prides herself for her matchmaking skills, but she couldn't find anyone for me."

"Ooh... Maybe I'll help her find you someone." Sakura had a glint in her eyes. "Then again, I don't think I can outdo Tomoyo's choices if I join her." She paused, trying to stop the laughter from bubbling out from her. "She sent you on a blind date with a man!"

"It's not funny," Eriol deadpanned.

"Yes, it is!" Sakura giggled. "I still can't believe she did that!"

Eriol ignored her. "But seriously, please tell me you're joking about the matchmaking thing. Tomoyo's bad enough as it is."

"I'm kidding." She grinned some more before turning serious. "I'm not going to be on your case. Besides, you can't just force it, you know."

"I know," Eriol whispered, almost wryly.

"So you haven't found the one yet?"

He just smiled wistfully.

"Me neither," Sakura continued. "But we'll find them. They're just out there."

"Yeah..."

On the other side, Tomoyo found herself trapped in Eriol's intense gaze. However, when Syaoran sat down on the log beside her, the spell was instantly broken. She turned to him, smiling. "What do you think?"

"Huh?"

"Of them?"

Syaoran followed Tomoyo's discreet gesture. It landed on Sakura and Eriol. He quirked an eyebrow and Tomoyo just nodded. He returned his eyes on them – focused on her.

He had no idea why he hadn't noticed it before, but Sakura was beautiful. She was attractive in her own way – without even trying to. The light from the fire perfectly illuminated her form. Her windblown hair, which she didn't bother fixing by the way, her cute little nose... her pouty pink lips... her eyes – her vibrant green eyes.

"They look good together, do they?"

Though Eriol and Sakura were sitting close to each other, they were not touching at all. They seemed, however, to be engaged in a deep conversation. "Yeah, I guess." He shrugged casually.

In the last couple of hours, Syaoran learned more about Sakura. He found it ironic that even with all the time they spent together, they know nothing about each other.

Uh, well... that wasn't entirely true. They knew some of each other's quirks. And they definitely knew how to get on each other's nerve.

But basic details, not so much. It was only now that Syaoran learned that Sakura was almost two years in Hong Kong. Her father traveled a lot. Her brother was in Tokyo. Her mother passed away when she was young. Her favorite color was pink – the only feminine thing about her in his opinion, which earned him a glare. She loved to read. She treasured her friends and she would do anything for them. She knew how to have fun, but she also took pleasure from some quiet time – he snorted at that – at home. Also, they found out that Sakura had never had a serious boyfriend. Syaoran wanted to comment that she was looking for someone nonexistent, but he didn't want rocks to be thrown at him so he kept it shut.

In return, Sakura heard more about their childhood. She enjoyed their stories, and she could feel the connection between the three of them. She felt grateful that they were welcoming her in their close knit group.

"So I hid their toys, thinking that they'll finally play house with me since they had nothing to play with," Tomoyo was telling her some of the pranks the boys used to do on her. "But they still didn't, so I just played with my dolls again. You know what happened the next day?"

Sakura removed her attention from the roasting marshmallow to look at Tomoyo. "What?"

"I came home and all my Princess Barbies were bald!"

Sakura's eyes widened in horror. "They did not!"

"They totally did." Tomoyo glared at the sniggering men. "They actually burned it."

"I'm sure they got into so much trouble for that."

Tomoyo huffed. "You would think. I mean, they even played with fire. But nooo. Syaoran was a dangerous kid."

Sakura looked curious. "Why? What did he do?"

"He seriously produced tears of his own." Tomoyo nodded emphatically at Sakura's incredulous look. "Just imagine a mini-Syaoran sniffing cutely while saying sorry and that he won't make pretty little girls cry again. Then he even went to as far as saying he feels bad for making beautiful women mad at him too." She rolled her eyes. "Of course, that melted the moms... And fine, me too."

"Oh, god!" Sakura laughed out loud before pointing her stick at Syaoran. "You are such a manipulative ass! Even as a kid!"

Syaoran simply shrugged after taking a sip from his beer can. "Hey, it got us off the hook."

Still thoroughly amused, Sakura then turned to Eriol. "And you? What did you do?"

"I followed Syaoran. I cried." Eriol just smiled innocently. "It wasn't hard to start the waterworks when you're a child standing in front of angry moms."

Sakura's mouth dropped open before laughing again. She couldn't believe that these grown men sitting with her used to get out of trouble... by crying.

"Oh man, you guys are impossible!" She now had her hand over her mouth. "But I bet that was adorable."

"Adorable?" Tomoyo piped in. "You should hear about when they dressed up as –"

"Okay, that's enough."

"It's getting late."

Syaoran and Eriol announced at the same time, obviously trying to cut whatever Tomoyo was going to share. They started picking up the trash, and the ladies laughed at them before helping.

Soon after, Tomoyo dragged Sakura away.

"Thanks again for inviting me."

"No need to thank me." Tomoyo took a quick backward look. The guys were still extinguishing the fire. "Eriol is great, right?"

"Yeah, about that. Eriol's nice –"

"See, I told you!" Tomoyo cut in before Sakura could insert the 'but' part. "So are you guys going to stay up to continue the night?" She beamed happily.

"Er, no..."

Tomoyo's smile didn't even falter. "I understand. You're tired from the trip. You can talk to him more tomorrow when you're in better shape." She pondered for a moment. "But hey, you can still drop by his room. I don't know, just to say goodnight maybe?"

"Uh, I don't think so –"

"You'll stop being shy soon enough!" Tomoyo nudged her playfully.

The conversation was forced to end when the guys caught up to them. They soon reached the house, and to Tomoyo's disappointment, Eriol called it a night.

On the other hand, Sakura still wasn't sleepy so she decided to catch some late night movie. Tomoyo opted to join her, but she wanted to wash up first. However, before walking away, she caught Sakura's gaze and winked.

Sakura could only groan in response. Tomoyo was getting the wrong idea.

"Oi, kitten."

Tomoyo paused at the doorway of the entertainment room. Her brows furrowed in confusion. 'Kitten?' However, before she could ask, she heard Sakura respond.

"What?"

She saw Sakura lying down the sofa with a frown on her face. She was obviously not fond of the nickname, but she seemed resigned to it. Tomoyo had to wonder what that was about.

"Will you stop that?" Syaoran demanded from his position on the floor. He was leaning against the couch by her feet. "Just choose a freaking channel already."

Sakura continued to flick mindlessly. "I was actually watching something, but you had to go ahead and bitch about it."

"Seriously?" He snorted. "Disney?" Pft. What the hell happened to the movie?

"There's nothing wrong with that." Sakura defended, which earned her an eye-roll from Syaoran.

Tomoyo was surprised when she saw Sakura kick Syaoran's shoulder. She was more surprised when he grabbed a pillow and threw it at Sakura without missing a beat. She was most surprised when the two acted like the exchange didn't even happen.

"Just give me the damn remote."

"Why should I? I was here first."

"Just give me the remote, or I'll flip the couch with you on it."

Before things could get out of hand, Tomoyo decided to make her presence known. "Hey, what are you watching?"

Sakura sat up. "Nothing. I'm still looking."

Whenever Tomoyo was present, a temporary truce was in place. It was a silent agreement that both Sakura and Syaoran were willing to follow. They were actually surprised that they pulled it off earlier.

"I'm going to turn in," Syaoran announced. Since he wouldn't be able to wrestle the remote away from Sakura, he wasn't going to sit there and let her kill his brain cells with her choice.

"Oh, okay..." Tomoyo looked sad for a moment, but she shook it off. "Good night." She reached up to give him a kiss.

Sakura turned her head away to give them privacy. She couldn't help but notice, though, that Syaoran wasn't as affectionate as Tomoyo. 'He's freaking stiff all the time.' She snorted at the thought.

When Syaoran was finally out of the room, Sakura grinned to herself before turning the television back to Disney channel. Hah.

Tomoyo took the seat next to her before starting, "Um, Sakura..." She wanted to apologize for Syaoran's behavior. She had never seen him talk or act like that before. He was always cool and collected, no matter what. "I just – oh my, what happened?"

"Huh? What?" She followed Tomoyo's gaze to her exposed arm. There was an almost purple-bluish mark on it. "Oh." Sakura frowned at the memory.

Syaoran and she spent a few more days together to finalize the details. He also hired a professional to set the place up. Since everything was almost finished, she had been nagging him to get back at him for his bossy attitude. They were actually together just the other day, and she was egging him more than necessary. She might have had hit him a little too hard, too. Since he couldn't exactly retaliate, he resorted to the one thing he could do. He bit her.

'You're fiancée is a rabid dog,' Sakura thought darkly.

"What was that?"

"Uh..." Shoot! She was thinking out loud again. Without having time to think about it, she blurted out, "Syaoran bit me."

Tomoyo froze in shock. She remembered seeing a similar, but bigger, mark on Sakura's shoulder blade earlier. Her eyes trailed to the said spot but it was covered by Sakura's shirt this time. She became uneasy at the thought of how it got there. She knew she had nothing to worry about, but still, thinking about the process... it didn't exactly make her comfortable.

"I'm okay. It was nothing," Sakura tried to wave it off. She was oblivious to the problem. She thought Tomoyo was worried at the idea that Syaoran had hurt her. Against her will, she defended him to ease Tomoyo. "I'm fine. Didn't really hurt." Much.

At the mention of pain, Tomoyo's attention was instantly redirected. "Are you sure? Are you okay?"

"Yep. Hey, you know what, I'm tired. I think I need to get some sleep now. You should, too." Sakura felt guilty for abruptly ending the night, but she wanted to drop the current discussion. She didn't want Tomoyo asking as to when it happened. As far as Tomoyo was concerned, Sakura only saw him once, and that was about two weeks ago. She would avoid lying if she could.

Sakura rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she headed into the kitchen. She stopped mid-stretch when she spotted Syaoran pouring a cup of coffee. Figures. He was an early riser.

Syaoran felt eyes on him. "What?" He asked curtly. Yeah, they didn't do pleasantries. Hell, they were still trying to pass the stage of co-existing without trying to maim the other.

"Nothing. It's just..." Sakura shrugged nonchalantly. "This is the first time I saw you out of your business suit." She pointed to his gray undershirt and black pajama pants.

"What are you talking about?" He rubbed the side of his face. He wasn't able to shave yet. "I'm wearing casual clothes yesterday."

She nudged him away to get the pot. "Yeah well, I don't exactly check you out every time I see you."

How do you even respond to that? "Uh..." But he could understand where she was coming from. After all, he only started to notice her appearance last night. "Whatever." He walked back to the table and took his seat. His laptop was already open and waiting for him.

"What are you having?"

Syaoran paused before taking a sip. He answered slowly as if he was talking to a little kid, "Coffee."

She rolled her eyes before pushing herself away from the counter. For the next few minutes, all that could be heard was Syaoran's light tapping on the keyboard and Sakura's quiet humming.

"Here."

Syaoran glanced sideways. He was surprised when Sakura placed a plate of food next to him.

She snorted. "What? You expected me to cook only for myself? I'm not that mean, you know."

"You sure it's not poisoned?"

Sakura grabbed his fork and stabbed a portion of his eggs. She chewed and swallowed before gasping sarcastically. "Oh, look, I'm still alive!"

"Thanks," Syaoran muttered. He was about to use his laptop again, but his fingers were almost crushed when Sakura snapped it close. "What the –"

"You can't eat properly if you're working." She quickly snatched the laptop away from him. "Why did you even bring work here? Although short, this is still a vacation. You're supposed to relax."

"Just give it back." He exhaled noisily. "I don't want to miss any important message."

"You're not going to completely miss them. You're just going to get them late," Sakura pointed out before extending her hand. "And while we're at it, give me your phone."

"What? No." He protested, but Sakura just gave him a challenging look. Grudgingly, he handed it over. He knew Sakura would fight for it, and it wasn't such a good idea when she was still holding his laptop. That device had tons of valuable files in it.

Sakura disappeared with his things and came back with her own food. She took the seat across him. "See? That wasn't so hard." The moment she set her plate down, Syaoran reached over and forked a huge chunk of her pancake. "Hey, that's mine!"

He swallowed. "Not anymore."

She leaned forward, but he simply swatted her hand away. After a few maneuvers, she was able to get a strip of his bacon. "Hah!" Sakura held it out smugly. Her smile, however, fell off when Syaoran closed his mouth over her fork. "That's not fair!" She tried again, but this time, Syaoran was also doing the same. For a fraction of a second, the thought of just stabbing his hand crossed her mind.

They were still trying to steal food from each other when Tomoyo walked in. "Um... Good morning?" She looked at them questioningly.

Sakura and Syaoran leaned back guiltily. They almost got caught arguing again.

"Morning, Tomoyo. I made you breakfast, too." Sakura stood up with the intent to get it, but she stopped midway. She was going to leave her food unguarded. And from the smirk on Syaoran's face, he knew it too.

After a moment, Syaoran nodded imperceptibly, letting her know that they were at peace once again. Sakura couldn't help but give him one last warning look before walking away.

With furrowed brows, Tomoyo watched the interaction while taking the seat next to Syaoran.

"Did you sleep well?"

It took a while for Tomoyo to realize that Syaoran had asked her a question. "Oh... oh yeah, I did."

"Here you go." Sakura placed the food in front of her. "What do you want to drink?"

"Oh, no! I'm sorry." Tomoyo couldn't believe that she let Sakura serve her food. With the last couple of minutes shoved at the back of her mind, she stood up. "I'll go get it. Please sit. I'm so sorry."

"It's no big deal." Sakura shrugged it off. She decided to ditch her coffee for an orange juice. She was chugging it down when Eriol walked in.

"Morning," Eriol greeted through his yawn. His plate was already waiting for him. Tomoyo held up the pot of coffee, and he nodded in return. "So... what's the plan?"

"Well..." Tomoyo put the cups down before taking her seat again. "First and foremost, I want to soak up some sun since we didn't get to do that yesterday."

"You want some tan?" Sakura asked conversationally.

"I wish." Tomoyo just sighed. "I don't tan easily. The last time I tried, all I got was sunburns."

Sakura winced. "Then we better douse you with lots of sun block later."

At the pause in conversation, Eriol tried to catch Sakura's attention. "Thanks for this, but do you want some? I don't really eat much in the morning."

"Um, sure."

When Eriol was transferring some of his food to her plate, Sakura kicked Syaoran under the table. He looked up, and she made a discreet gesture to her additional food. Childish, yes, but Sakura still smiled cheekily.

'Pig,' Syaoran mouthed while he kicked back.

Her eyes instantly narrowed. Oh no. He did not just call her that! She was preparing to deliver a hard kick, but Syaoran subtly pulled his chair away from the table. Her leg wouldn't be able to reach him now. It was his turn to smile.

When breakfast was finished, Tomoyo insisted on washing the dishes and Eriol offered to help. Sakura was left with Syaoran, who was cleaning the table. To be perfectly honest, Sakura was not expecting to witness them perform simple household chores.

"Hey..."

Just to spite her, Syaoran asked in a loud voice, "Why are you whisperi – mmf!" His next word was cut off when Sakura clamped a hand over his mouth.

"Are you stupid?" She hissed before letting him go. "When someone whispers, you're supposed to whisper back!"

"You're calling me stupid?" Syaoran shot her an incredulous look before glancing pointedly around them. "There's no one here, and you're the one whispering."

"Yeah, well, I didn't want to risk it." Sakura crossed her arms in front of her. She continued in a hushed tone, "Anyway, do you think Tomoyo noticed anything? We appear polite to each other, right?"

"If she noticed anything about me not treating you 'well' –" He air-quoted the last word, "– then she'll talk to me about it."

"But she hasn't. That's good then."

"Yeah. We should – ow, fuck!" Syaoran almost shouted when he received a nasty blow on his ankle. "What the hell was that for?" He growled low.

"For calling me a pig! You never ever call a woman that!" She huffed before walking out.

"Shit..." Syaoran cursed again before muttering under his breath, "Wasn't aware I was dealing with a woman."

"I heard that!"

AN: Sakura and Eriol... Nah, I have other plans for them. ;) Anyway, the continuation of this little trip will be in the next chapter. Wonder what will happen. LOL. Thanks again for reading! And I promise to reply to your wonderful reviews once the next chapter is done.

Review, review!