Disclaimer : Nope still don't own it.

A/N: I'm not going to be home for 5 days as of Sunday so this is next weeks chapter.

Thank you siestachan14, Sakura A, mermain123, AngelEmCuti, the original rubber duckie, and Ihaine07 for reviewing on my last chapter.

A special thank you to mermain123 for expressing you're enjoyment so….plainly. thank you guys, you're the reason I'm writing this story.

Chapter 8

She looked down the street and saw Eriol. What should she do? She looked around hoping to see an escape route. Unfortunately he noticed her before she could find one and waved, which forced her to wave back. She walked toward him and realized that he looked as nervous as she felt.

"Hey Sakura, I was wondering if we could talk a little, you know to try and clear up the thing that happened between us." He rubbed the back of his neck and suddenly found the ground very interesting.

"Sure, would you like to go get some coffee? I know a great café." She asked. She was really trying to be very polite with him, but it was hard. She couldn't exactly forget about everything that he had done, or more like not done, over the last five years. She didn't see how talking about it would make any of it any better, after all she was the only one who had to put up with the heartache when he left. She would humor him because she wanted to hear his reasoning.

"I was hoping we could go some where a little more private. Just in case you feel the need to yell at me or punch me. I know you won't do so in public." Eriol pleaded. He really wanted to talk to him.

Sakura smiled on the inside. At least he still remembered that she did get very violent when she was mad. She had hit him on multiple occasions in the past. There wasn't much she could do about it. She had even tried anger management classes that didn't help at all since she wasn't an angry person to begin with. "Fine, we can go back to my place. Though, don't try anything freaky or else you're out the door quicker then you can blink." Sakura started heading towards her apartment. She really didn't want to bring him there but there wasn't much she could do. She wanted to get this over with.

When they arrived she opened the door and let him in. She left him in the entrance way as she put away the food, after all she didn't want anything to spoil because she was aggravated at a certain someone. She took her time to assure that Eriol got more and more uncomfortable.

She made her way back to the entrance way to find Eriol standing there and looking at a few pictures. "We can continue our conversation in the living room." She led him there and motioned of him to sit on the sofa while she took a wing chair, which she hadn't used since moving here. Syaoran and she always sat on the sofa together. "What did you want to talk about?" Sakura leaned back in the chair imitating a relaxed composure; she really just wanted him to leave. So she could continue with her daily routine.

"About the last 5 years." He leaned his elbows on his knees and stared at his hands. "I know I hurt you but I didn't see any other way at the time. For the last five years, I've been so busy working so I could help Kaho pay for the medical expenses that she accumulated. I knew that if you knew what was going on you would just worry even more and that didn't seem right in my mind."

"So you decided to just cut me out of your life completely for five years and then show up and expect me to welcome you back with open arms?" She crossed her arms and willed herself not to hit him. She silently wished that Syaoran was next door and not at his family's, though that's just selfish he couldn't be here with her every whim. She just really wanted to see him.

"Well, no. I didn't even expect to see you here but I was hoping we could at least being civil and that you would listen to my explanation. I was hoping we could become friends again, because I always did value your friendship, even if it hasn't seemed like that for the last 5 years." He looked up at her with pleading eyes.

"The last five years is filled with too much hurt to just wipe it away and forget about it. I'm not confident that you won't try and do it again once we leave university. So I'll need to think about it." She stood up "Meet me after school tomorrow at 4 at the front gates and I'll tell you my decision." She motioned him to stand and follow her to the door.

Eriol stood and followed her. At least she would give it some thought; that was all he could hope for. He bided her farewell and left the apartment block. Now it was a waiting game for tomorrow.

Sakura closed her door and pressed her forehead into it. She managed to not beat Eriol up for his idiotic decision 5 years ago. Though now she had to decide whether or not to forgive him, around this time she wished she had someone to talk to. She didn't want to interrupt Syaoran's time with his family. She silently wished for a punching bag similar to the one she had at home.

She pushed away from the door and made her way to the kitchen. She'll think about the options and then ask Syaoran his opinion tomorrow morning. She forced herself to relax and started making dinner. She didn't have to deal with it today, but tomorrow is fast to come.

Syaoran was finishing up a little homework when his mother came in. "Syaoran, I don't remember you bringing your clothes home to be washed."

He didn't look up from his paper. "I have enough for three weeks mom. I was thinking of bringing them over every two weeks, that way we don't waste any water." He continued writing. He was absorbed by his homework.

"Alright love." Yelan left her son to her homework. "The car will take you back to the apartment at 8, is that ok?" She saw him nodded and she continued on her way out of the study. It was nice having her son home.

When 7:30 came around Wei came in to get him. "Young master it is time to get ready to leave." Syaoran looked up at Wei and nodded.

He stood and grabbed his things when something came to mind. "Hey Wei, can I tell you something." He saw Wei nodded to him. "I was having a conversation with Sakura earlier this week about how we're both missing parents. She also told me how she saw Sonomi as a surrogate mother." Syaoran turned and leaned on the desk. "She also told me that I should inform you that, since my father died you have been my father. You taught me everything that I know about living life as a gentleman, and I wanted to thank you." He blushed a little; he wasn't use to expressing his feelings.

Wei stood there teary eye and rubbed the corner of his eyes. "Thank you Syaoran-sama. You have honored me with that statement. Though I must mention, that in the two weeks that you've been with Sakura, you've grown even more and are a better man then you were before." He smiled and made his way to the door.

Syaoran smiled and finished picking up his books, and packed them away. Sakura was right he did feel better about telling him. He smiled to himself as he made his way to his room and packed up. Tomorrow morning he was going to see Sakura, he hoped her weekend was as good as his was.

Monday morning came and Sakura was eating breakfast when Syaoran knocked on her door. She opened it and ushered him in. "Have you had breakfast." She asked when she returned to hers. "Because you're early."

"Yeah I did, I just always seem to be early even when I was yonger." He smiled and sat across from her and let her finish her meal. "How was your weekend?"

"Oh it was ok." She sipped her juice. "I met up with Eriol, and he tried to explain away 5 years of heartache with a stupid excuse." She took a few mouthfuls before Syaoran found the words to reply.

"What was his excuse for cutting you out of his life for 5 years?" Syaoran leaned on the table wanting to know what had possessed the man to throw way such a lovely lady; he could never.

"Not wanting to cause me more pain then he already had." She sighed. "I shouldn't be surprised, not many men understand the intensity of a woman's emotion when she's in love." She finished her meal and cleared her dishes.

They made their way to the door. "I hope you don't group me into the category 'most men'" He slipped into his shoes, and picked up his book bag.

"I didn't think you could fall into that category even if you tried. Having four sisters has the effect on you." She smiled as they slipped out of the door and locked the door.

They started to walk to school and she linked arms with him. "I need your advice on what to do with Eriol." She rested her head on his shoulder seeking some comfort. "I told him to meet me after school today so I can tell him the answer to whether or not we can be friends, but I don't know if I can trust him anymore."

Syaoran though about it for a bit; "The only problem I see about forgiving him is that you might fall in love again and he will break your heart all over again. So if you're sure that you're over him then I don't see why you can't be friends with him." He wanted to hold her but she had captured his arm.

"I don't know if I'm over him. I mean, I should be it had been 5 years. Also I think I'm attracted to someone else but I'm not sure." She sighed softly. "It should be ok, I guess, but he'll have to earn my trust." She still didn't know what to do.

Syaoran looked over at her. So she was attracted to someone else how fun. His chances with her were now terribly low. "Do what ever your little heart desires. I'll always be here for you if you fall." He used his best prince impression.

Sakura pulled away from Syaoran when they got onto the school grounds. "Thank you, Syaoran." She kissed his cheek. "I'll see you on the break." She smiled as they parted. She wondered if he was equally as shocked about the kiss as she had been on Friday. She felt a lot better then she had that morning, as she made her way to class.

It took Syaoran a little longer to start moving to class. After all, he had just been on the receiving end of a kiss. He was so confused. If she was attracted to someone else, why was she acting like that around him? Also why was she spending so much time with his instead of perusing the man she likes? He had so man question in his mind.

He slowly made his way to class. His head was spinning with everything going on. Was he going to have to hang out with Eriol now that Sakura will agree to be his friend? He enjoyed having alone time with her. She was just so fun to begin with.

There weren't many people in this city he could relax around, and Sakura was one of them. She was just so natural and he didn't have to question her every move for a motive. It was very relaxing when he was with her he could be himself. Like she had once said 'she wasn't trying to get into his pockets, they were just friends.' Which reminded him; they were just friends. Though no one can foresee a few years down the line and what the future may bring. On one hand though he only had 3 years to find someone to marry. He was silently hoping it would be Sakura.

They both seemed to pass their day in almost in a dazed state. When they were together they were acutely aware of each other basking in each other's presence.

Sakura still dreaded the coming meeting with Eriol and her heart sank when the teacher let her out of her last class of the day. She made her way to the school gates and saw Eriol waiting for her there.

He waved at her and she waved back. "Hello Eriol."

"Hey Sakura, I hope you have thought about everything." He seemed more nervous about this encounter then she did. Well this was the make or break time in their relationship.

"Yes, I thought about it very carefully. I would like to try being your friend again though I don't know if I can trust you. You're going to have to earn that privilege back again. I hope you can understand." She watched Eriol for his reaction, and was surprised to see relief pass over his face. It wasn't what she expected.

"Thank you for giving me a second chance Sakura; I will not betray your trust again." Eriol bowed to her in thanks. "I would walk you home but I live in the opposite direction." He handed her a little white card. "It's my phone number if you ever want to talk. Thank you very much Sakura." They waved goodbye and parted. For some odd reason all she could think was 'he could have walked me home.'

Sakura made her way home in a silent meditative state. When Sakura arrived home she was pleasantly surprised to find Syaoran, in her apartment, cooking. "How did you get in here?" She asked as she slipped off her shoes. There was no trace of anger in her voice.

"The Daidouji's have left me a spare key into the house just in case they lost theirs or forgotten it." He smiled at her and he continued cooking. "So how was your talk with Eriol?" He tried to not look bothered about her meeting with Eriol.

"Alright" she made her way to get a glass of water. "I told him that we had to take it slow and I didn't know if I could trust him anymore. He seemed to have understood." She leaned on the counter next to him watching him. "Now that I know how, why are you here?" She looked at him intently.

"Well I didn't know how well the conversation was going to go, so I thought I would start dinner so you wouldn't have to wait to long before eating." He smiled at her and moved the fried rice around a little and checked on the dinner rolls. "It should be ready in a moment." He glances at her.

Sakura smiled at him and made her way to the cupboard and started setting the table. "How was your day?" she called from the dinning room.

"You know same old, same old. Until I thought I should break into your apartment and cook you a meal. I thought you wouldn't mind." He smiled at her, and started plating the meal. "The sad part is that I haven't started my homework so after dinner I need to go home to work on that."

She nodded. "That would be a good idea. My teachers today didn't actually give me that much homework tonight, so I don't have to worry too much about it." She grabbed the ice tea container from the fridge.

"Well that's nice of them; though don't get use to it. It's rare that that happened." he brought the plates over and put them on the table. "That would be really nice to not have much homework." He pulled out her chair for her and waited.

"Tell me about it." She smiled and sat down. "It's like teachers are against the students having a good time when their young. Didn't they do through school when they were younger?" She tucked into the table with help of Syaoran.

He pushed in her chair and took his seat across from her. Over the last two weeks they always took the same places at both apartments. They had fallen into a nice routine. "I think mother is going to invite you over for supper in the near future. You know to make sure you are getting use to everything." He took a bite and looked across the table at her.

"Oh that's nice of her." She smiled and ate with him. "You will be there to save me from your sisters' right?"

"I can't save myself from them." He smiled and took his bread roll and glanced at her. "Oh, I noticed how nice the apartment was this morning when I was awake enough to appreciate it. I also noticed that you washed my clothes, I wasn't aware that was one of your duties." He took a bite of his roll.

"It's not, but it's not good for the clothes to be dirty for too long. I had to do my laundry anyways so I washed them together." She continued eating like it was nothing; after all she had done laundry for guests at the Daidouji's before.

"I would prefer if you didn't, it's a little disturbing to know that you've seen my under garments." Syaoran blushed, and didn't make eye contact with her.

"Ok then don't leave them here and I won't wash them" She smiled. The rest of dinner was fairly quiet, both of the simply enjoyed the food. Though the time of Syaoran's departure came far too quickly for Sakura. "So I'll see you tomorrow after school right?" she stood in the door way.

"Yup, I'll meet you at the school gates." He smiled softly. They waved farewell and Sakura closed the door. She made her way to her computer. When she booted it up she saw that Tomoyo was on.

She quickly typed a request to call her. She was so terribly confused on how she should act around Syaoran now that Eriol was back in her life. Syaoran had been very supportive the entire time of the confusion she felt when she found out that Eriol was at the university.

Once she received Tomoyo's response that she could call her house; she dialed and waited for her maid to answer.

"Moshi moshi?" Tomoyo answered which was rare in itself, she probably told her maid not to answer it.

"Hey Tomoyo, it's me." She fell back onto her bed and stared at the celieng.

"Oh Sakura how are you?"

"Not so great, I need your advice."

"Shoot."

"Eriol is back. Well he goes to my university, and happened to be in a class with Syaoran." She rocked on her side listening to Tomoyo.

"Oh my. Have you talked to him?"

She covered her face with her arm. "Yeah, I've had no choice. I told him today that I didn't see why we couldn't be friends but I couldn't trust him. The look he gave me makes me think that maybe we can't because I don't think I'm over him yet."

"Come on Sakura it's been five years. Plus you have a heart throb that you spend so much time with already. What about Syaoran I thought you liked him?"

Sakura sighed. "I do but, that's even more complicated."

"No it's not, uncomplicated it. I know that Syaoran probably has it bad for you."

"Right, never. He has a pick of so many girls around here that I'm surprised he even spends any time with me." She rubbed her face.

"Sakura, just take my advice. Look at the person right in front of you and you'll find love."

Sakura and Tomoyo talked for a little while longer and when Sakura went to bed she had more question then she did before she called Tomoyo. She sighed and tried to sleep. Though she didn't think she would get much.

TBC.