He had no idea how she did it, but Tomoyo had managed to make him buy a total of seven bras, and the matching panties with it. She managed to choose sets with firm cotton panties, so he'd have no excuse refusing them other than his long ignored protest in general. She had even found him a cute pair of panties with baby blue flowers and bows on the highly cut sides, matching the bra she had made him wear the entire week a bit too perfectly.

In the next shop she had made him wear a large selection of skirts, ranging from just above his knees to barely covering his ass. He had protested against the shortest of them vehemently – more vehemently than to the longer ones, that is – and managed to persuade Tomoyo not to bring any more of those to the changing room. He had absolutely no desire to seduce anyone to look underneath, even with everything hidden away securely.

She made him change into the panties matching his current bra while he was in there too.

As he was testing skirts and matching shirts and blouses in this shop, Tomoyo didn't feel guilty at all for pulling Sakura along to give his outfits a critical look. The way she frowned in deep thought was way too cute, trying to give valuable input Tomoyo hadn't thought of herself yet. He was grateful Sakura chose his side when he protested against anything pink, leaving Tomoyo not much choice but to relent and stick to other colours.

Noting his distress, Sakura had given him one of her blinding beautiful smiles, and treated them all to ice cream when they were done.

So here he was, with a classy bag from a lingerie shop filled to the brim with bras, panties and a couple of frilly nightgowns and another bag filled with skirts, blouses and shirts dangling from his arm, slowly suckling on a cone of hazelnut ice cream – because Sakura thought that flavour fitted him so well. He couldn't say she wasn't right though.

"Don't worry Sharon, we're almost done," she told him, "right Tomoyo?"

"Yes, and the last bit won't be as bad for you," it seemed like Tomoyo had finally taken some pity on him, "all I need now is get fabric, so there will be no more fitting today."

He sighed in relief. "Finally. I was fearing I'd spend the entire day in fitting rooms."

"Not at all, or we wouldn't be able to see you in this cute dress anymore." Tomoyo smiled brightly and angled her camera. "Why don't you two scoot a little closer? You look adorable together!"

Syaoron blushed dark red, wondering why Tomoyo felt the need to point that out. Sakura had no idea he was a guy, and didn't see any fault in her friend's choice of words. Syaoron on the other hand felt a pang of guilt as he knew he was betraying his brother in his mind already.

He had thought it ridiculous Syaoran had fallen in love with a girl at first sight, and going as far as lying to even him and following after her to a different school. Now she was pressed against his side, licking at her ice cream delicately with hooded eyes, he couldn't blame his brother for falling so hard and fast at all anymore. It only took him a small week and half a day of shopping too, after all.

He couldn't forgive him for keeping it a secret though.

"There's really no need to be so shy with us." He started at the large green eyes blinking up at him.

"I, uhm..." he looked away, quickly biting in his ice cream to divert his thoughts.

She pouted, nudging Syaoron with her elbow. "Stop it. Really, I'm going to give your brother a beating when we meet them in the park. How can he make his own sister to become so uncomfortable with girls? Didn't you have friends in your previous school?"

"I hung out with Syao, most of the time," he muttered, "and some guys. No girls, really."

She pouted even harder. "Well, I'm determined to get you out of this shyness! We should take a bath together this evening!"

"N-no!" He quickly shook his head, stumbling a step away from her, "I really don't want to!"

"Why?"

"B-because... Just because!"

"Promise we'll all have a bath together someday soon!"

"I'd rather not..."

"Sharon! Promise me!" He had no idea why, but she looked near-tears. What was this about?

But he couldn't deny her, looking like that.

"One day," he muttered, "I'll tell you something. And if you still want to then, I will."

"Of course I'll still want to! You're my friend Sharon, there's nothing you can do to make me change my mind about this!"

He stared at his shoes. He was such a lying bastard.

"Let's start walking to the shop," Tomoyo suddenly said, sounding cheerful. A soft comforting pat on his shoulder proved she had seen he was no longer just embarrassed, but sad and guilty. She hooked an arm around his and pulled him along, remaining blissfully silent for a little while.

...

Buying fabrics didn't take as long as he expected at all. Tomoyo seemed to know exactly what she wanted, and plundered the shop in no time. She stopped to hold a fabric in next to Syaoron's or Sakura's face several times, but she was done quickly.

They left the store with several new heavy bags.

"The park they were going to is that way," Sakura pointed, "we can be there in fifteen minutes or so."

Syaoron glanced over at Tomoyo with the heavy bags. With her physical strength, she was never going to make it that far. Refusing to look her in the face, he snatched one of her bags and added it to his own on his arm.

He could practically feel the brilliant smile radiating from her face in gratitude, and he looked away purposely.

As they rounded the park, Syaoron felt impressed. It was looking good. The park was almost like a small forest, thick and dense trees and shrubs. But as they entered, the path was neatly paved and clean. A little further in the path was joined by a small stream, and a little further still the path split.

"I suppose they'd be at the large field," Sakura muttered, moving first into one of the paths.

"Can we get lost here?" Syaoron asked curiously.

"We know the way," Sakura smiled back, "don't worry."

"I wasn't really worrying though," he looked around entranced.

They passed several more splits in the path and a few small bridges until the trees suddenly parted, revealing a small lake and an enormous field next to it. Halfway on the field he spotted their friends, clearly having a picnic on a blanket.

No doubt Watanuki's idea.

Watanuki was all over Himawari, Doumeki was eating from the boxed lunch Watanuki most likely made, and Syaoran and Ryuuoh were in an animated conversation about some thing or another. Looked like the usual lunch set-up.

As they approached the group, Ryuuoh spotted them first. He sat up straight, waving at them.

"Miss Li!"

Syaoran turned around to see them coming, and flushed first as he caught the sight of Sakura. He then focused on Syaoron, and his expression darkened.

Yeah, he knew his brother wouldn't appreciate the matching dresses.

He just watched them approach, only muttering out a greeting when they stopped at the edge of the blanket. With Syaoron starting to get some insight in the brains of girls, he finally realised why Syaoran was so popular. In his shyness for Sakura, he outwardly looked like cool and aloof, but he still had a tendency to help out immediately when someone needed it. Not that he wasn't seeing straight through his brother, but the girls in the school weren't that used to him yet.

"Sit down, have some food," Watanuki smiled warmly, pulling the wrappers of his lunch boxes aside to make more space for them on the blanket.

Syaoron hesitated, waiting for Tomoyo and Sakura to sit first. Not only didn't he have a clue what place would be logical for him to choose, he had no idea about how to sit down either. Not like he normally did – with crossed legs – obviously.

"Miss Li," Ryuuoh patted the blanket beside him when he noticed Syaoron hesitating.

"So, have you been having fun yet," he asked, trying to distract from his hesitation.

"Lots of fun," the brunette answered, "and Watanuki made us some great food again. But it's always better to have cute girls around. Did you have fun shopping?"

Syaoron suppressed his scowl and smiled, "I've bought a lot."

"Really?" Syaoran looked up, showing with his face he'd agree on a truce for now, "what kind of things?"

"All kinds of things I didn't buy before," he answered cryptically, sending his brother a warning glare.

Noting how Tomoyo sat, he slipped off his shoes to step on the blanket.

"We went to buy all sorts of girl's stuff, so don't bother," Tomoyo entrusted the two guys, turning to them. She replaced her hand as she shifted her weight, at the same time Syaoron hopped onto the blanket on one leg, his other shoe refusing to get off.

"Tomoyo," he called out in warning, his foot twisting away from her hand last minute and making him topple back.

"Sharon!" She turned quickly, a vain attempt to catch him as she only got hold of his ankle. He managed to break his fall on his back somewhat by catching himself on his hands, his ass still hitting the ground painfully.

"Ow," he whined.

"Sharon," Tomoyo hissed urgently. He opened his eyes to see everyone staring, apart from Tomoyo all with a heavy blush. He looked down and squeaked indignantly, shoving his dress down his thighs to cover up. His face turned dark red, and he straightened up, pressing both hands to the ground between his knees, making sure that the skirt couldn't possibly fly up again in any way.

"I... I'm impressed," Syaoran finally noted.

Syaoron glared darkly.

"Well, at least you have your answer now," Tomoyo laughed awkwardly.

"Yes, thanks Tomoyo, that's not helping," Syaoron rolled his eyes.

"No really, I've never seen Sharon so girly before," Syaoran managed to magic a smile to his face, forcing out a teasing tone to lighten the mood again. Syaoron was not amused, as he was perfectly aware his brother just commented on both the hideous panties he should never have worn and his tucking.

"That's something we were going to give you a beating on," Sakura quickly said, "we think it's horrid of you to force your sister to live like a boy so long! She has never even been in a lingerie shop before!"

Syaoran's face re-adopted it's dark red hue.

"It's a good thing you're taking care of Miss Li now," Ryuuoh folded his hand over his face as if to hide his blush, "the dress looks beautiful on you, by the way. Both of you! You should be proud, Miss Daidouji."

"I know," she beamed at him, "both Sakura and Sharon look so cute like this!" She turned to Sakura, lowering her voice to an urgent whisper, "don't talk about Sharon's underwear to her brother Sakura, she's embarrassed enough as it is and I don't think either wants to know."

"You have such cute panties though, I hadn't expected that from Sharon!" Himawari beamed brightly, and Syaoron wished very hard for a hole to appear in the ground beneath him. For once Watanuki didn't start gushing at Himawari's smile, and looked rather awkward with his blush instead.

Doumeki was the only one looking like the incident hadn't affected him at all, continuing to eat like nothing happened.

"I know, how about we play a game!" Sakura clapped her hands excitedly. Syaoron sighed in relief, the sweet girl saving his ass once again today.

"What sort of game?" Ryuuoh inquired enthusiastically.

"Uhmm," Sakura put a finger to her lip.

"How about truth or dare," Himawari asked.

Syaoron froze in place, feeling even more pathetic now.

"Ah, but you girls haven't eaten anything yet!" Watanuki shoved some of the boxes towards them, "you can't play a game on an empty stomach!"

"True!" Syaoron laughed awkwardly, pulling one of the boxes towards him, "and I'm absolutely starving! We should play this game some other time!"

"I agree," Tomoyo decided to help him, "let's play that another time. I'm feeling quite hungry myself. Don't you mind if we eat, Watanuki?"

"Not at all, not at all! Please do! That's what I made it for!"

"This looks delicious!" Syaoron forced himself to squeal out as he opened a box. His brother opposite of him lowered his face, hiding beneath his bangs and obviously hiding his laughter.

"It is delicious," Ryuuoh entrusted him, "you should try it. Watanuki is so good at these things!"

Syaoron picked up some chopsticks, holding the box in front of Tomoyo for her to get some.

"I'd love to try some of your home made food too."

He looked aside in surprise, not understanding what Ryuuoh meant. "But I haven't made any."

"Then, some other time!" Ryuuoh laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head and leaning back.

Syaoron blinked in confusion. He gave his brother a questioning look, who merely shrugged. Ryuuoh seemed to be a strange one at most times, Syaoron decided for himself.