A/N: This took me forever to update, I know, and I'm sorry. But it's all because of my hectic schedule and yes, one of my other fics. Anyway, I'm posting this chapter because I promised Brad Trinity 666 that I would, regardless of the number of reviews I get. I don't resent it; I suppose the pairing isn't all that interesting or fits well, although I'm immensely grateful to all the people who reviewed. Anyway, I wanted to explain what happens at Fanren's funeral. So without further ado, I present to you chapter seven.


Why had they insisted on an open-casket funeral? Okay, so it was customary in the Li clan—no matter how bloody and broken one's body might have been, the only exception would be if there was no body left (and with the Li clan's bloody history, that was actually a pretty common occurrence). It was supposed to make the children in the clan accustomed to the sight of blood.

But this was not blood; Syaoran's skin crawled when he looked at the markings on Fanren's body. It was his fault. It was a sign from the gods, a symbol of what he was. He felt the eyes of the Elders on him, and he suppressed a shudder. The rest of the clan was whispering, curious and accusing.

"Cold-blooded parents, for the sake of a son—"

"Has he no shame, coming here like this?"

"He is, after all, extremely talented, and is supposed to be our next leader—"

"No sense of propriety! His presence here is entirely in bad taste—"

"… He should never have been born to begin with."

He tried to block out the whirlwind of murmurs around him, but they pounded at him incessantly, like a raging torrent unleashing itself on him. Finally he let go, let them flood into his ears as he closed his eyes; he deserved this much punishment at least, for being alive.

He felt a warm hand on his shoulder. "Xiao Lang?"

His eyes snapped open. "Tomoyo?" he breathed, turning around. Sure enough, it was her, dressed appropriately in black, her amethyst eyes as unfathomable as ever. But he caught a flicker of anger when her gaze ticked over to the bystanders, as though she too had heard their comments—and hadn't liked them one bit.

"I didn't want you to be alone," she said softly. "Meiling told me what happened." And she was fuming. Good thing she had come, if his own family treated him this way. Didn't they realize that he had never asked for that to happen? She couldn't pretend that she didn't get why Li Yelan and Syaoran's father might have done so; after all, had her father been able to choose, he would probably have picked a son.

Then again, Daidouji Sonomi preferred to have a strong daughter—preferably one that, oh, happened to look like Nadeshiko? One that would obey her and stay by her side in the way that Nadeshiko never did?

She frowned. Now was not the time to pity herself. Just one look into Syaoran's eyes and all thoughts of her personal burdens vanished.

"I'm glad," he managed to choke out. "I'm glad…"

She shushed him. "I'm sorry I couldn't get here any earlier." She put a comforting hand on his arm. "I…"

His eyes were dark with grief. "They said that she suffered a great deal towards the end," he said, tormented.

"We all suffer," she replied evenly. "You're suffering right now." Her musical voice, though quiet, could be heard by the rest of the eavesdropping Li clan. "Although some people don't seem to realize that."

At that, Syaoran couldn't suppress a soft chuckle when the Li clan members turned bright red, including the Elders. Leave it to Tomoyo to make them feel ashamed! But at the same time, he could see that she had antagonized some of them, despite the fact that her comment had been uttered in such a simple tone, without accusing anyone directly. "Hey, you'd better watch what you say," he said, pulling her away from the rest of them. "They're all skilled fighters and sorcerers, you know." He blinked. "Where are your bodyguards?"

She raised her eyebrows. "I didn't bring them. This is a personal matter, and I don't see any reason why I should bring them along to intrude on a friend's grief."

"That was… that's ridiculous," he said, sputtering in the face of her cool reply. "You're the Daidouji heiress! There are plenty of people out there who would be glad to kidnap you or worse. You need protection!"

"Right now it isn't I who needs protection, Xiao Lang. It's you." She took his hand in hers. "You have to say goodbye. Never mind what the others say. Just go up to her and say it."

He blinked, his mouth going dry. "I don't think I can…"

"Xiao Lang," she said, looking straight into his eyes. "You can."

He released her hand slowly just as Meiling came over to take his place beside Tomoyo. Time seemed to be moving at a snail's pace. It was as though he was moving in slow motion. He could feel the eyes of the Li clan on him—could feel them like daggers burying themselves in his spine—but he was aware of a knot of warmth in his stomach as a thought rushed through his head.

While it was true that there were so many eyes trying to see through him, trying to tell him that he wasn't worthy to have been born in the first place, they were dispelled by another presence.

There was a pair of beautiful violet eyes back there, and they were telling him to live.

"Fanren," he whispered, stopping before his sister's coffin. "I hope that you died without any regrets. I am so sorry for putting you through all this. You have never treated me any differently; you always protected me and showed your love for me, even though I am the cause of your short life. But you are now with the gods—and I hope that they keep you well." He took one marked hand and pressed his lips to the symbols on her palm, ignoring the gasps of those around him.

No one else had dared to touch Fanren so far, in case the marks would have some adverse effect on them. But when he kissed her hand lightly, the markings vanished, and a look of utter peace settled on Fanren's face.

Forgiveness, perhaps? He wanted to think so. Perhaps the gods had meant for him to know that Fanren didn't hold any grudge against him. He sent a quick prayer of thanks to them and asked them to take care of Fanren.

"May you be the brightest star in the heavens," he murmured before withdrawing back to Tomoyo's side.


Hearts from Aries

"Daidouji Tomoyo?" Yelan questioned. At Tomoyo's sweet smile and nod, she turned to Syaoran and added in Chinese, "I approve." His sisters also nodded their assent, grinning mischievously at him.

Syaoran began to choke. "Mother—she can understand Chinese."

Yelan smiled. "Even better, then."

"Have you been teaching her, Xiao Lang?" Fuutie asked.

"Ah… yeah." The sisters smirked. They knew that they were supposed to act solemn at Fanren's funeral, but she had accepted it; they had accepted it as well. They were already used to death, and they had known that it had been coming for a long time.

Besides, they felt that if Fanren had been here, she would have loved teasing Syaoran too.

Tomoyo blushed. "I am so sorry to come here all of the sudden," she said, bowing slightly as she spoke before she straightened, showing off her perfect posture. "I simply thought that Xiao Lang wouldn't want to be alone during a time like this."

"But he is not alone, after all," Yelan said shrewdly. "His family is here."

Tomoyo kept her head held high. "I am afraid that while he does indeed have his family here, not all of them look very kindly on him. Forgive me for saying so; I'm sure that you love Xiao Lang very much. But not all of his relatives seem to think that it was proper for him to be at his own sister's funeral. Why that would be, I do not understand. She was his sister, after all."

Yelan smiled. "Yes, you're right. By the way, where is the Card Mistress?"

"She's still in Japan," Tomoyo explained. "I didn't inform her that I was coming here. I suppose I should have, but I was in a hurry."

"Uh… what about Hiragizawa?" Syaoran asked.

"I told him," she said matter-of-factly, as though she had nothing to hide. "He understood. He actually wanted to come along at first, but I pointed out to him that the two of you…"

"Ah." Syaoran nodded, letting the sentence hang unfinished in the air. "That would explain it."

"Daidouji, of the Daidouji Corporation, if I remember correctly?" Yelan asked thoughtfully. Tomoyo nodded. "We do quite a lot of business with your family. It's a fine company; always delivers on their promises." She smiled. The last time that she had seen Tomoyo, the girl had been entirely eclipsed by the appearance of the Card Mistress and Yelan hadn't taken the time to examine her properly. But now that she saw her, she could tell that Tomoyo was a wonderful young girl. Correction: she wasn't a young girl anymore, was she?

She had developed. She was no longer the cheerful, camera-wielding little girl following the Card Mistress. Without warning, Yelan bent down and took Tomoyo's chin into her hands. The Daidouji heiress bore her scrutiny well as Yelan ignored Syaoran's protests about how impolite it was. Hmm. Her son was getting a bit out of hand, now that she thought about it. He shouldn't be correcting her. Normally he didn't dare to, but he was changing as well.

She looked into Tomoyo's eyes and saw great pain and many secrets. But at the same time, she could see the bravery and kindness in them. "You have great power," she said, releasing her hold on the young woman.

"Thank you," Tomoyo replied steadily. If it had been Sakura, the Cardcaptor would have flinched and blushed.

The young Daidouji was a good match for her son. She might not have had any magical powers, but then again, neither had Meiling—and of course there were the benefits of an alliance with the Daidouji Corporation, which was rapidly growing. "Yes, I approve," she murmured to her son, who turned an angry shade of red.

"Sakura's my girlfriend," he muttered through gritted teeth. "Nothing's changed between us."

Yelan shook her head. "There has already been a great deal of changes, Xiao Lang," she said. "Perhaps only on your part, but there have been changes nevertheless." She patted her son on the head. "You have always been too old for your age. Now is not the time to cling to your childhood."

Syaoran choked. He was relieved that Tomoyo's Chinese still wasn't good enough for her to understand everything that they were saying, but he imagined that she could comprehend most of it—or she would have, if she was listening; she had had the common courtesy to withdraw a little so that she wouldn't hear what she had obviously realized was a private conversation.

"Are you going back to Japan now?" Yelan asked.

"What, you're really not going to put up a fuss about me going back?" Syaoran asked, his expression clearing. He had expected Yelan—or at least his sisters—to put up something of a fight. Barring his immediate family, there was always Meiling to think of. Whenever he came back for a visit, she invariably tried to persuade him to stay.

"No, unless perhaps Tomoyo could be persuaded to stay?" Xiefa asked.

Tomoyo shook her head. "I've already missed two days of school this week," she said, referring to the other day when she had cut classes to check on Syaoran the day he had found out about Fanren's death. "My mother will be furious if she finds out that I skipped any more."

"Then you should go back," Yelan agreed.

Syaoran was relieved, but he had the irritating suspicion that they were trying to set him up with Tomoyo. "Well, I did tell Sakura that I would be back by tomorrow," he said, as though to say, lighten up already, I'm taken.

"And Eriol's expecting me too," Tomoyo added. "If I'm not back at the time I told him I'd return, he'll set Ruby Moon on me."

Meiling cleared her throat. "Auntie, Tomoyo is the girlfriend of Clow Reed's reincarnation, Hiragizawa Eriol."

Yelan looked a little disappointed. "I see. What a pity."

"Mother!" Syaoran said. He had never wanted to punch his own mother before…

His mother's eyes twinkled. "All right, Xiao Lang, I didn't mean to imply anything. Please send my regards to the Card Mistress and Clow Reed. Are you two leaving immediately?"

Tomoyo showed them her plane ticket. "My plane's leaving in an hour."

"I've got my ticket too," Syaoran said.

"The car will take you," Yelan said. She watched the two of them climb into the Li clan limousine and smiled faintly.

"What a pity?" Feimei asked her mother, rolling her eyes. "You should have given them better advice than that, mother."

Yelan frowned. Even her daughters were getting more unruly. But then she broke out into a smile. "Those two will realize it eventually."

Xiefa spoke up. "Mother… she will cause him great pain," she said cautiously. Of the three sisters left, Xiefa had the greatest psychic power. "Pain to last many years, a terrible agony that will afflict the both of them."

"I know. I saw it in her eyes." Yelan's brow furrowed. "I cannot read their destiny fully, but I can see that it will be a time of great confusion for her and overwhelming rage on his part. When that times, I will give her sanctuary. And I must bear with my son's fury and coldness."

"What?" Meiling said. "I don't get it."

"Their love story isn't going to be a happy one," Fuutie translated for her.

"Oh." Meiling shrugged. "I could have told you that if you asked me."


Hearts from Aries

Now that he looked back on it, it all seemed like a really bad soap opera. And predictably enough, the two of them had gotten closer. And it had even gotten to the extent where Eriol started making excuses so that the two of them wouldn't be left alone together—and even Sakura lifted her eyebrows whenever the two of them talked.

Not that their 'significant others' gave any hint of even thinking about something beyond friendship between the two of them. On Sakura's side, she just seemed hurt that Syaoran didn't like talking about whatever it was that he talked about with Tomoyo, preferring to tell her about how the raven-haired girl was progressing in martial arts.

And for Eriol's part, he merely suspected that Tomoyo felt that her secrets were safer with someone who wasn't so close to her. It wounded him, but he couldn't very well say anything to her about it.

It wasn't surprising, really, that Sakura and Eriol felt left out. They sensed that Syaoran and Tomoyo had bonded in a way that they didn't understand, in a way that involved no one but themselves. As though it were just the two of them against the world, united by a common force.

So they tried to divert the two. When Sakura chattered, Syaoran would be watching Tomoyo out of the corner of his eye. When Eriol flirted with her, Tomoyo could simply make a seemingly innocent gesture that communicated her thoughts to Syaoran. Even the way they blinked or coughed conveyed something to the other.

And so they went on with secret signals and meetings in the evening at the dojo. It was only in their training sanctuary that they put their thoughts into words. It was comforting, for them to hear each other's soft, smooth voices, although they could see each other's thoughts so clearly without it that they could easily have done without it. No, their words were a luxury, and they enjoyed it whenever they could.

"Hi," she said, entering and inclining her head in a little bow when she saw him. She chuckled at the serious expression on his face. "Obviously you're doing some pretty deep thinking. Want to share what's on your mind?"

"Just wondering," he murmured. "About everything. About people. Like Sakura. She just… she's still exactly the way she was when we first met." He'd meant it to sound casual, but really, when he said it sounded like there was something wrong with Sakura.

But it was earlier that day. He had gotten so sick of her rambling on and on and on about this 'adorable little store' where she saw this 'cute stuffed animal' and then talked about maybe catching a movie later. Day in, day out. He could have recited her spiel along with her. Annoyed, he had snapped at her when she asked him whether he thought they should watch a romance or a comedy.

Her face had crumpled, scrunching up and going teary. She let her tears flow so easily, so freely, at the tiniest thing, so that he wondered what would happen when something really serious happened; still, he had apologized, and the two of them made up. But that didn't mean that he wasn't still confused about the whole affair.

"Nothing's changed," he said softly. His mother had said that things had changed—even if it was only on his part. Did that mean that he was changing… and leaving Sakura behind as he did? He tried to shake his head to clear the thought out of his mind.

Tomoyo kept her tone light. "Is that such a bad thing?"

"No… I guess not," he agreed, but it sounded forced. "I'm just in a weird mood, I guess. I can't help but feel like we're stuck in a rut somewhere along this road." Do I really want to talk about this with her? She wants Sakura, doesn't she? What if she tells Sakura what I've been thinking…?

She wouldn't.

"Oh, Xiao Lang. Things always change. Sakura has changed, no matter what you say about it," Tomoyo said. "But it's hard to tell when we barely even…" She exhaled slowly. She didn't really want to deal with that issue right now. "In a way, I guess you're right. She hasn't looked anywhere past the small world of Tomoeda. It's all so safe and confined inside her head. In a way I sort of envy her."

"I feel limited. There's nothing that I can talk to her about," he mumbled. "There's… I need something deeper. I do love her, but there's this sort of suffocated feeling that I sometimes get. Does that make me a bad boyfriend or what?"

"No, it makes you another normal guy out there craving for intellectual satisfaction," she said. "And strangely enough, there are actually tons of you out there who want something more. It's maddening, sometimes, when you can't talk to your number one person properly about what you really deem to be 'the deeper things'. Is that how you feel with Sakura?"

"Gods, yes. And I wish to hell that I didn't."

"You can't help the way you are." Neither can I, Xiao Lang. Her eyes were direct on him. "I don't like watching you suffer. And believe me, I have seen you suffering for a long time now. Since we were kids." She flushed at her boldness but stuck to her statement.

That was why she had fallen in love with him in the first place, wasn't it? She had seen his burdens, his obligations. And she had seen herself in him. Though she couldn't love herself for who she was, she could love Syaoran. He was better than her; he bore everything up without complaint, and she knew that compared to him, her troubles were trivial. But he didn't have to run to anyone for help, he didn't cry himself to sleep—he only accepted help when she insisted on giving it to him, when it was a pain that was beyond any human's endurance. He was stronger than she was.

That didn't stop her from wanting to take care of him the way he took care of her. She was frail and painfully powerless, all too aware of her mortality and her lack of magical power, but she would have laid down her life for him had it come to that.

If she had been in Fanren's place, she would have been glad to die.

He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes pointed in the direction of their sparring 'classmates' but not really seeing anything. "There are plenty of guys out there who would love to have a girlfriend like Sakura," he muttered.

"And those guys haven't got an edge over you."

He looked at her, perplexed. "I made a pledge to her, Tomoyo. I already told her that she was my number one. And I think that pretty much means forever."

She just stared back.

"Does that mean that I'm forever bound to Eriol?" she asked him. He flushed; she knew that that issue was still something that the two of them disagreed on, for the most part—with him maintaining that she would only hurt him more in the end, and with her saying that she would force herself to love him for now if she had to and then just ease it along later on. "Feelings change just as people do, Xiao Lang. Perhaps you fell in love with Sakura because you were looking for happiness. And then you found it. But the world isn't just about being happy."

"Then what is it about, Tomoyo? Is it like yours, where everything's about sacrificing yourself for everyone else's happiness?"

"I'm more selfish than you'd care to imagine," she told him matter-of-factly.

"Name an incident, then. When have you ever done something that you wanted?"

Her eyes clouded over. She couldn't tell him the complete truth, so instead she took a deep breath and told part of it. "Eriol."

"What!"

She looked dolefully up at him. "Don't look so surprised. Surely you knew. Surely you understood."

"But you were just sparing Eriol from the pain of getting rejected, right?"

"I…" she looked terribly ashamed of herself and was clearly regretting that she'd said anything at all. "I don't think you'll understand what it's like not being loved, Xiao Lang—because… because it's never happened to you before. I mean, there were always your family, and Meiling, and so on. Even when you had a difficult childhood, there were always people pinning their hopes on you and in a good way. Therefore you'll probably think that what I'm doing is horribly manipulative."

Not being loved… "No, please. Just tell me."

She blushed. "I… It's just…"

"You were saying that it's hard not being loved," he prompted.

"Yes," she burst out. "And then Eriol suddenly started telling me that he loved me when I had no idea—I never even thought of him that way. And then I saw you and Sakura and it just… it was just too much. I wanted someone to be my number one. You and Sakura had each other. I've never been my mother's number one, since all she sees me as is as failed clone of Nadeshiko. And then my father…" She trailed off. "If I had been his number one, he would never have left me there, or he would have at least brought me along or called sometimes." She closed her eyes, avoiding what she knew would be a stunned and pitying expression. She just couldn't bear seeing it. Not from him, of all people. "I'm always just excess baggage. There is no one who cares for me more than anyone else in this world."

His heart broke for her. If it was anyone else, he would have dismissed it as a typical sob story, but when she said it—there was something poignant and tragic about her that he couldn't quite describe. "Tomoyo—"

Good heavens. Surely he didn't… love her?

He closed his eyes. No… this was not happening. He and Sakura were supposed to live happily ever after for several lifetimes, be deliriously happy in a big house with a multitude of children, and have Tomoyo as the maid of honor at their wedding. Sure, he felt that he and Sakura were stuck in a rut, but there was no way that he could actually fall for someone else. He had bound himself to her, heart and soul. "You're not worthless. There are people who care about you. I don't think that you were thinking clearly about this, but I won't call your motives selfish."

"Do you think that you could possibly love someone else?" she whispered, so softly that he didn't hear her. She was relieved; had he heard what she was saying, he might have run away.

Syaoran studied her face. She wasn't crying. Instead, she sat there, frozen against him, as though she were afraid to move away. As though he was anchoring her to something, and he realized that she was anchoring him to something too.

She wished…

He wished…

… that one moment…

… could last forever.

Suddenly he noticed the silence in the dojo; there was no sound of the loud yells and people hitting the mats. Instead, he looked up to see the others staring at him and Tomoyo, and he knew how bad it must have looked to them; there was barely any distance between their heads, and none at all between their shoulders as they sat side by side, her hair brushing gently against his face.

He ignored them. For now, their world was built just around the two of them.


Hearts from Aries

It should have been a sign to them, but they ignored it. They were becoming much better at the whole 'telepathic communication' thing—much more effective than Eriol's, since it didn't need to use it consciously to pick up on whatever the other way saying. Like right now, in the classroom during a free period. To the casual observer, they weren't even aware of each other's presence, but it was actually the complete opposite. They were completely in tune with each other.

She was drumming her fingers idly on the desk, and he gave the very slightest of nods, staring out into space, as though he was merely collecting his thoughts, which caught the glance that those eyes sent in his direction too quickly for anyone to notice, and she smiled to herself. They both knew what they meant to say and understood each other—even if no one else did.

I'm bored.

Yeah, I'm bored too.

But they didn't know what they were anymore. They never spoke of the growing connection between the two of them. It was something that they shrouded in mere gestures, nothing that they put to words.

They couldn't, because if they did, the rest of their world would collapse around them.

"Hey, Tomoyo," Eriol said, jerking her attention back to him. "Spacing out again?" It seemed to be happening more and more frequently.

"Yeah," she said with a laugh. "I was just thinking."

He'd been feeling an odd sense of disquiet about Tomoyo and Syaoran lately. He knew that Syaoran and Sakura were, well, a match; just as he and Tomoyo were. But that didn't mean that he didn't get this prickly feeling that he was missing out on something—and Sakura seemed to have picked up on the same thing.

"So, did you hear about the festival coming up?" he said, effectively changing the subject. "I was hoping that you'd like to go with me."

He tried looking into her eyes to see what she was thinking at the moment and met with amethysts that had facets he couldn't understand. Short of reading her mind, he would never know—dejected, he resigned himself to waiting for her answer. It was kind of pathetic, really.

"Sure."

Sakura, on the other hand, was doing the exact same thing. If she had been an ordinary girl, she would probably have set up a network of her friends so that they could drop hints about the event and prod Syaoran into asking her. But that just wasn't the way she was; she believed in being direct and straight to the point. He glanced up from the book that he held open even though he wasn't reading it.

"Hey, cherry blossom," he said, smiling.

She blushed; she always did when he called her by the English words of her name. He could read her like the back of his hand; maybe better, because if you asked him to name how many times he'd twisted his hand or scarred it during his martial arts training, he wouldn't have been able to answer.

Sometimes he got fed up of it—of knowing everything about her. Because there was nothing left for him to know.

"There's this festival thing coming. Do you want to go together?" she asked. Huh. She hadn't even waited for him to ask her. Then again, he had been sort of-kind of distracted lately.

"Yeah, okay. Is your brother or Hiragizawa going to be there?"

She laughed. "Yes, both of them."

He cringed (and this time he didn't have to pretend; the very thought of Eriol and Touya together horrified him beyond belief… but then again, since when had he had to pretend, when had it become more common for him to put up a farce than to speak honestly?). "Gods, no. One alone is bad enough. Both of them there, though… that would be like getting the measles and having dandruff and watching acid rain fall all over your burning house. And that's after being castrated and undergoing Chinese water torture."

Sakura made a face at him. "Come on, they're not that bad. You've put up with worse than this. I really don't understand why you all hate each other. Okay, Eriol not so much—you're pretty much one-sided with the anger there. And I guess my brother's okay to hate. He's a pain, and—"

He let her ramble on a while, nodding at all the right intervals and adding the occasional chuckle. He glanced over at Tomoyo, who was also clearly doing the same thing to Eriol. All right, it wasn't quite the same thing—where Sakura was predictable, Tomoyo had to keep on her toes when handling her boyfriend. Hiragizawa Eriol wasn't read as easily as Sakura was. HE was a lot sharper than Sakura was, too.

But still, she would reply briefly to the gist of whatever he was saying, leaving the rest of her mind free to wander. And he caught the silent inquiry in her eyes as they met his for a millisecond before immediately switching back to Eriol, making it seem like something had just caught her eye for a moment before she realized that it was nothing.

We're going to the festival.

Yep, we are too

Her eyelashes fluttered, once in Eriol's direction, then at him and Sakura.

Let's all go together.

He tapped his index finger on his lips thoughtfully.

Let me see if I can orchestrate it that way.

Tomoyo gave a tiny eye roll that Eriol didn't notice.

I doubt it'll be all that hard.

Syaoran suppressed a grin, but she caught the corners of his mouth curving up the slightest degree. Too true, wasn't it?

"All right, all right, I can tolerate Hiragizawa or your brother for one evening," he grumbled to Sakura. "If I swear to try to be nice to Hiragizawa and let him and his date come along with us, will you let me beg off on your brother, though?"

"Sure," she said immediately without stopping to think about it. "I'll tell Eriol. I'm sure that they'd love to come along with us anyway. In fact, I kind of was already planning to ask them."

She frowned. Why did she get the funny feeling that something was a little bit off about the way the conversation had turned out? As though it had been manipulated somehow… she brushed the thought out of her head and put a happy smile on her face. What did it matter? Syaoran was going, and so were Eriol and… Tomoyo.

He cleared his throat, and Tomoyo understood.

It's set.

Tomoyo broke out into a winning smile that was directed in his direction just a split second before she flashed it in Eriol's direction, leading her boyfriend to believe that she was grinning at him. Lucky he had just made a joke at that moment.

Hooray!

Syaoran stifled the smile that threatened to break out on his own face. He liked seeing her smile out of genuine pleasure. It was beautiful. His gaze was steady on her for half a second too long, but only she saw it. She knew what it meant.

I like it when you smile. It's pretty.

A light blush tinted her cheeks.

Yeah, they'd love to come along, all right.

Hearts from Aries


A/N: So, looks like it'll be over soon. To be honest, I've been getting a headache over this story. Maybe it's just writer's block, or maybe my interest in it is waning. But I promise not to abandon it and leave you all hanging about what happens.