Chapter 9-

Syaoran laid in bed, thinking about the possibilities, or rather, the lack of possibilities that he had regarding what to do about Sakura.

'Maybe for a little while I can deal with being "just friends" with Sakura. Until she realizes that I'm not the horrible person she must think I am,' Syaoran thought, desperately trying to be optimistic. 'After all, all I need is her friendship until she realizes who I am. But then again, even though she said we'd be friends, how am I supposed to keep in contact with her? How am I supposed to approach her and get to know her better?! It's not fair. If I was in my regular body I wouldn't have this problem!'

After a few restless nights of thinking, and days of wandering through the town, Syaoran picked a place close to the high school grounds where he could watch as students would file in and out of the school building.

'I can't just sit around the school, it's to strange since I'm not a student. At the same time, I can't just search for Sakura and follow her wherever she goes…'

"I don't feel like I owe you an apology or anything, but I want to tell you that I've been thinking about the things you've said and I want to tell you straight out that I don't like you and I'm going to try my best to keep my best friend from people like you."

Being so deep in thought, Syaoran did not see anyone walk up to him. Had he been the same person he was as a child, he would have been angry with himself for not being more attentive. As he was now, he was disappointed in so many aspects of his current situation that not realizing he was being approached was just another disappointment to add to the list.

Syaoran looked up to and couldn't help smile at seeing an adamant Tomoyo before him, with her arms on her waist and a determined expression on her face.

"I understand. Under any other circumstance, I would want you to keep her away from people like me. But at the same time, I would do anything if she would just give me a chance. Meaning, I would like you to also give me a chance with her."

Tomoyo frowned. "I don't understand you, and I don't really feel the need that I should understand you. The only impressions that I have from you are from when you were kissing Machi, who happens to be the only person that I really do not like, and when you were lecturing me how to be a friend. From what I can tell, you are not qualified to lecture about friendship."

Syaoran paused, knowing that he would have to choose his words wisely. "When I was really young, I did not think that friends were necessary. I thought friendship was nothing more than a burden and I pushed everyone close to me away because I did not know how to handle those situations. With time, however, those thoughts changed as I met some really amazing people. I could not deny the power of friendship, loyalty, and love. I have not always found friendship necessary, but there are certain relationships that I have treasured and am trying to protect."

Tomoyo nodded, as if trying to understand the value of Syaoran's words, but not fully getting the context. "The words you say are sensitive and moving, but I do not know if I can just believe that is what you think because you say so. I'm sorry if I am cold to you but…"

Syaoran interrupted her, realizing their conversation was not progressing. "Do you believe in magic, Daidouji?"

Stunned, Tomoyo didn't know how to respond at first. "Y-y-yes, but why do you ask?"

"I believe in magic, too. I think that the power of magic makes it so that things aren't always the way they seem. Sometimes, magic makes it so that we are can't see the truth, it's a mask for reality."

"Maybe. I think magic is so much more than that. But I think in your case, 'magic' is just an excuse for human error. It's not magic that makes me think you're not a good person. It's your own actions that I've seen that make me think so little of you. It's not magic that made you kiss Machi, or made you smoke with Shizu. I don't see how magic has to do with your situation at all."

"That's true of course. But I'm asking you to keep an open mind for me. What can I do to earn your trust?" Syaoran said, realizing that he would never get close to Sakura if her best friend would have nothing to do with him.

Tomoyo, who had been standing in front of Syaoran, suddenly turned around. After a few moments of silence, she said, "You always sit outside the school. Even though you are trying to give the impression that you are an angry person, why don't you go to school? I don't care to earn your trust, and I would not care if you left and I never saw you again. But if you want my idea of you to change at all, I want to see what kind of person you are in a different setting. Perhaps, if you went to school, it'd be easier to see what kind of person you really are. Although, seeing you more might give me a negative impression of you…"

Syaoran almost wanted to punch himself for not thinking of it sooner. His thoughts were that because he was only in Tomoeda for three months, it meant there was no reason to enter school. But when he thought about Tomoyo's logic, and the fact that Sakura was always at school, he realized what he needed to do…

… until he returned to his room and realized that going to school was going to be a problem. Not that getting into the school would be a problem, he could easily transfer into the school with Wei's help, or even his mother's help if necessary.

"Wei, I can't get this damned thing off!" Syaoran yelled in frustration, pulling at the chain on his throat so roughly that it looked like he was trying to strangle himself.

"Well, yes sir. I thought we had already determined that at the airport," Wei replied coolly.

Stopping his efforts for a moment to glare at Wei, Syaoran responded, "How am I supposed to go to school looking like this?!"

"I don't know, sir. Personally, I would be horrified to even walk out of the apartment looking like you do."

Having grown accustomed to Wei's personality, Syaoran just sighed.

"If you would like, I can get you a uniform, and I can speak with the school."

"Thank you!" Syaoran said, before grumpily heading to his room.

'I never thought I would go back to school in Japan…' Syaoran thought, looking at the ceiling of his room. 'Who knew that things would turn out like this. Maybe I'll even be lucky enough to not only be in the same class as Sakura, but sit behind her like I used to. Things have to get better between us if we are in school together.' Thoughts of Sakura in the school setting were on his mind until he fell asleep.

A/N- Ok, as I post this I have a billion things I wanna say, but I will try to keep it as short as possible. First, this is the first chapter release since… sometime in 2004. I realize that there are probably no readers left, and because of that, finishing this has become something I want to do in order to "move on" to other projects I have always wanted to start, but neglected to do because I want to finish older things first.

Another thing, my writing style has changed a LOT in the past few years. I re-read through my story and had I started now, I would have done SO many things differently. Since beginning this fanfic, I have not only taken Japanese language classes, but am currently living in Japan. I have come to realize that most of the situations in my fanfic would never happen socially. For example, people would not be so casual with names- I refer to Syaoran as Dai by all characters, but no one would refer to him by his first name the way I am making everyone do so. Anyway, I want to complete this fic in a style similar to the way I started, so forgetting all these cultural things and writing issues, if there are any readers, please bare with me as I try to finish this fic in the same style that I started it with.

My third and final confession: I have almost no idea about most of the story of CCS left in my head. I'm holding onto ideas about the characters and vague memories of episodes, but now I am mostly just using my own imagination. I remember using the elders even though I know they don't exist because it was a major part of the fandom many years ago. I'm not including any ideas from Tsubasa though, this is strictly involved from the CCS story. I might try to re-watch some episodes of CCS, but if a lot of things are off or characters are very OOC, I'm sorry!

Since it's already written, next chapter will be out either this Tues/Weds. I would, however, love to hear feedback!