warning: dialogue overload

-x-

"Syaoran, did you hear?" came Tomoyo's frantic voice. Her voice came so loud through the phone that Syaoran thought he would drop it.

"N-no, what news?" he asked. There had been a few days of silence, and no news had been given about Ichiro's condition at all. Could this be the breakthrough they'd all been waiting for?

"She's awake!"

-x-

The nurses turned their heads to the loud noise of a door being slammed open, only to roll there eyes and continue work when they saw who it was. They'd tried to stop him so many times to the point that they'd decided to give up; he was seriously stubborn.

"ICH-" he started, but immediately clamped his mouth shut as he opened the door. Sure, she was awake, sitting upright on her hospital bed. Her brother was seated near her bed, and narrowed his eyes slightly towards him. He backed off into the hallway, and started to close the door behind him. They were probably busy…

"Syaoran," came a voice. He froze, and closed his eyes. Damn, there went edging away slowly and unnoticed.

He turned around slowly, realizing nobody but Ichiro could have a voice like that. "Yes?" he replied timidly.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

Syaoran sighed, as he decided that he'd been caught. He took a few cautious steps back to her bed, and stood at the foot of it. "Hey," he said awkwardly, hand raised.

Ichiro looked at her brother and gave him a silent, apologetic look. Taking the hint, Toya sighed loudly, as he got up from his seat and stalked past Syaoran.

"One thing wrong and you're dead," he whispered, barely loud enough for the brunette to hear.

Syaoran scoffed, "If I mess this up, I'll gladly let you mess me up."

Toya gave a curious look at the brunette, before going back to his pissed composure.

The door shut, and an eerie silence filled the room. Syaoran sat on the chair next to the hospital bed where Toya had been, looking at Ichiro. Her arm and leg were in plasters, she had plasters across her face, and a bandage cloth running across her head. There were bruises showing up on her now paler skin, but Syaoran thought she looked better than she had this whole visit of his to Japan. Her exuberant, green eyes were still shining brightly as ever, lighting up her whole complexion.

"Hey, how are you doing?" he asked politely.

She gave him a stoic expression, "I'm doing pretty well, I guess. They said they'll discharge me on Monday."

"Ah, that's good."

There was an uncomfortable silence between them, while Syaoran attempted to muster the courage to say what he had intended to say from the start.

"W-well, er, I-"

"I'm sorry!" she cried suddenly, the sound of her outburst echoing across the room. The words made Syaoran shiver, and the two said nothing for an amount of time.

"Y-you go first," Syaoran said awkwardly, looking away.

Sakura fiddled with the edge of the bed sheets, her expression solemn. "No, you should, I-I… I don't want to go first," she mumbled lamely.

Syaoran swallowed, uneasiness growing within him. "Okay well…" he started. "Firstly… I'm sorry. I'm sorry for leaving all those years ago, and … damn, I was such a jerk and…" he trailed.

"That's the past, we should get over it, right?" she said, "n-not that I'm one to talk. Uh, go on," she said hurriedly, swallowing and looking downwards, causing her fringe to hide her face.

"What I'm really trying to say is that I was an idiot for leaving you, but I was an even bigger idiot for coming back. If I left, then what gives me the right to come back and resume everything like it was before? Damn, I was stupid, and I'm sorry for making you have to remember your past. So… I'll leave soon, just pretend I was someone else and not Syaoran Li, okay?"

There was a tense silence, before a loud smash.

"You're a loser! I should have gone first!" screamed Ichiro, throwing her glass at Syaoran's head.

"Ow! Crud, that hurts, you know," he murmured, leaning over to pick up the stray pieces of ceramic from the hospital floor.

"I really should have gone first, I was… you don't mind, right?" she asked, as Syaoran shook his head. "I was going to ask you to come back and stay here…" she swallowed. "I got you involved in all sorts of stuff in the short time you've been back, and it'd… it'd suck if you left already," she said meekly, peeking from between her bangs.

Syaoran was rendered speechless, as his hands clasped tighter, the ceramic shards poking into his skin. "I-Ichi..ro, I don't know if I can, because of my fath-"

"Don't call me that."

He blinked in surprise at the intrusion, and he placed the shards on the nearby bedside table. He stood up and leant towards the bed, and hesitated for a moment as he raised his hand to the brunette.

"Ichiro?"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she repeated, before she raised her hands and began to cry. Syaoran could only stand there dumbfounded, as the cool, calm and composed supermodel Ichiro Akai was sobbing uncontrollably in front of him. "Do you know how much it hurts?" she sniffed, opening her palm, her skin glistening from her tears. "Your childhood love, who rips your heart out indifferently, to come back as a friend only wanting to help so many years later, but he only calls you by your stage name?"

"But… you told me to call you .."

"I thought you wouldn't do it, that you'd be persistent and only call me by my real name, not that stupid stage name given to me by my boss, I thought you'd see that I'm not Ichiro, I only pretend to be her, that…" she swallowed, and shook her head vigorously. "Damn it, Syaoran, you've changed."

Amber eyes darkened, and he pressed his mouth together tightly. "And you haven't? Did you think even for a second, how I felt when you spat at me, wishing that it'd be the last time we spoke? I called you by Ichiro, because you asked me to. I thought I'd do you a favour after hurting you, but I guess we don't think alike at all, do we?" he said lowly, glaring out the window. "You know what? I'll just leave, I'll go back to Hong Kong. I'm sure that's what you want, right? You don't want to see me again, since I've changed so much and you haven't. It's only been eight years, I should be exactly the same, right?" he spat, getting up from the chair and walking to the door.

"Syaoran, no, I… that's not what I meant…" she said quietly.

He paused by the door, fingers around the handle.

"Next Tuesday, six pm at the airport. I'll wait for you as long as I can," he replied, before lowering his gaze to the floor and stepping out of the room.

-x-

"Hey kid, don't just walk out," came Toya's voice.

"What do you want?" asked Syaoran, clearly exasperated.

Toya looked over at the shorter man, a glum expression on his face. "Look. I heard everything."

"Good. I'm leaving anyway, happy?"

He swallowed, before looking away and sighing. "Are you stupid, or…?" he asked.

The brunette blinked and cocked his head to the side. "Excuse me?"

"She doesn't want you to leave, she's probably been anxiously awaiting the day you came back to Japan since the moment you left," he rolled his eyes, "don't tell me you actually like what she's done to herself in the past few years?"

Syaoran bit his lip, furrowing his eyebrows. "No, of course not, what makes you think that?"

"Well if you really don't like her being 'Ichiro Akai' or anyone else she isn't… you leaving isn't going to make it any better."

And with that, he turned around and walked away, but not before Syaoran saw – or thought he saw, a tiny flicker of hope in his eyes.

-x-

Syaoran glanced at his phone. 5:45PM. Oh, how he wished he'd said 5PM instead of 6PM. His flight wasn't until 9, which meant he still had three hours and fifteen minutes before it was scheduled to take off…

He shifted his bag behind him, and kicked his suitcase further under his chair. He hadn't been able to check in because of Ichiro, so he being extra careful to not lose his luggage.

The time passed, the people around him had left at some point or other, and his butt was getting sore. He took out his phone for the umpteenth time, and his heart fell as he saw the time. 6:37PM. Damn, he'd been sitting there for two hours. His laptop was out of battery, and his phone was getting pretty close to dying as well.

As the time neared seven, Syaoran looked lowly at the floor. Ha, who was he kidding? Did he really expect Ichiro to even remember the time and date he said, let alone come and meet up with him? She had only been discharged the day before, so she was probably not in the mood to see him off, to have them leave as friends, or him possibly stay back longer…

He had secretly been hoping the latter would happen, because not that he'd admit it, but if he had the choice, he wouldn't have left Japan.

6:46PM. He put the belongings he'd taken out back into his suitcase.

6:51PM. He locked his bags.

6:57PM, and Syaoran no longer had the heart to glance at the clock.

After three minutes that seemed like far too long, he closed his eyes and accepted it; she wasn't going to come. And he didn't blame her. She probably thought that history would repeat herself, that they'd find themselves in a familiar situation. Him, leaving the country. Her, stuck behind, choking back tears as she called his name…

Him, refusing to look backwards, in fear he'd break the façade, and run back to hug her.

"Excuse me," he murmured, trying to squeeze past someone in front of him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," replied the voice, which made him stop. That sounded like…

"S…" he trailed. Wait, that couldn't be her… Ichiro/Sakura had brown hair and vibrant green eyes, not light brown eyes. As for the hair, he couldn't see under the obnoxiously large sunhat the girl was wearing. But the voice…

The chocolate eyes widened. "Syaoran," she said. "Wha… Where have you been? I've been waiting here since 5:30PM!" she cried, in such shock that she dropped some things she'd been holding.

"Wait, you're… you can't be…"

"What, I can't wear a little bit of UV protection and contacts?" she joked, as she bent over to pick up her phone and wallet.

Syaoran stared at her for a bit. "Well, uh, you're definitely not recognizable, especially with that huge hat and scarf covering half your face," he murmured, smirking slightly.

"Well hello, I'm not exactly a normal citizen, I can't just walk into the airport like I usually am and expect to go unnoticed," she whispered, looking around her just in case. "I haven't dared go back to my house yet, I'm still at one of my secret apartments!" she complained.

"If they were really your fans, they'd still be able to recognize you," he pointed out, to which her face fell.

"Well you didn't recognize me."

He opened his mouth to say something in return, but he couldn't think of any legitimate excuse. 'Now would be a good time to change the subject', he thought, as the two of them sort of stared at each other awkwardly while not quite meeting one another's gaze.

"So how's your leg?" he asked, glancing down at it. She had a long dress on, so he couldn't actually see it.

"Could be better," she laughed darkly. There was another brief moment of silence, "Oh, and," she added quietly, "sorry. About everything."

Syaoran blinked in confusion, and furrowed his eyebrows. "Huh? What are you apologizing for?"

"Well, I… I've been waiting for you to come back here for a while. To tell the truth I kind of hated you when you left me," she frowned, in an effort to make Syaoran feel guilty. "But I got over it, but seeing you again just made me… eh, reminisce?"

She looked really upset, and it was really taking Syaoran everything he had to stop himself from hugging her on the spot. Their childhood romance was long over and done, and although part of him wished they could perhaps start over again – if not now, then sometime in the future, but he wasn't sure if she felt the same way.

Her now brown eyes looked up at Syaoran expectantly, as if she was waiting for him to do something. Syaoran saw this look, but he had absolutely no idea what she was expecting him to do.

"Sakura," he said quietly. Her ears perked up slightly, she missed being called this name by him.

"I can't stay."

Neither of them said a word, as Syaoran's words hung in the air like dead weight surrounding them, making the atmosphere heavy and rather uncomfortable. But this time was different; she didn't cry, she didn't yell, collapse nor make a scene, this time she just stared at him blankly.

"Why not?" she asked softly.

He bit his lip, before frowning slightly. "It's.. well, my father is back in Hong Kong, and he wants me to.. you know, take over the business and stuff."

"And you want to, right?" she asked quietly.

Syaoran swallowed. "Not really," he admitted. "Well I don't really get a choice, do I?" he smirked in spite of himself.

Sakura nodded, "Ah, I get it. I guess that's what happens when you're the only son to a man like him, huh?" she smiled weakly. "Any chance you'll come back?"

The brunette opened his mouth, only to exhale. He looked down, and shrugged his shoulders. "I.. I don't know, Japan isn't my home anymore, and I'll be kind of busy and…" he stopped when he saw Sakura's shocked expression.

"What? No! You can't leave, no, not again, I…" she trailed off.

"You what?"

"I…" she started. "I don't know, I was hoping maybe we could… be friends again…"

Neither of the two looked at each other, but rather at the floor surrounding them. Syaoran had no idea that the past could have such an effect on oneself.

"T-that was stupid to say, wasn't it? I'm an idiot, I'm sorry, you .. you should go, you don't need to stay here, it was dumb of me to suggest it an-"

"Stop," Syaoran said, holding his hand up to Sakura. "Do you want me to stay? If you want me to, just say it, and I will," he said.

"What do you mean? Don't you have to go, and…"

"Don't worry about that, I'll figure it out. But do you want me to stay?"

Sakura closed her eyes, and had Syaoran not been listening, he would have missed the tiny 'yes' she mumbled. She didn't want to say it any louder, because she knew her voice would crack, and that he would look at her and see the tears in her eyes.

"What are your crying for?" he said softly, smiling slightly as he leaned down towards her.

"I'm not," she replied, keeping her voice steady. It was then she felt his arms around her, and she couldn't keep it in anymore.

"You were such a jerk!" she cried, his arms not letting go as she cried into him. "I can't believe you.. you left me, and you didn't even… didn't even…"

"Yeah, I was, wasn't I?" he replied.

"You're the worst, I should be over you, dammit," she said, before suddenly realizing what she had said.

"W-wait, I mean-"

Syaoran leaned back in surprise, "You what?" he exclaimed.

"I-Ignore that last bit, I-"

"You're still into me?"

She opened her mouth, ready to yell at him and deny it, but couldn't find the words.

"So what?" she said quietly. "So what if I am? I'm the stupid one, still after a guy who left me almost a decade ago, any sane girl would had gotten over it, why didn't I?"

"That's good."

It was Sakura's turn to step back, "E-excuse me? Why?"

"Because…"

He stepped forward, their faces dangerously close to one another, "I still like you, kind of," he stumbled, "I don't know, it's been a while, maybe you've changed," he said.

Sakura contemplated this for a bit, before jumping and wrapping her arms around his shoulders, and forcing her lips upon his.

"W-whoa! What the heck, Sakura? Y-You really have changed!" he yelled, as he almost fell backwards in surprise. Sakura laughed, as she threw off her hat and scarf.

"You bet it, Syaoran. But let me warn you, if you dare leave me again like that," she said darkly, "you'll regret you met me. You hear me?" she glared, brown eyes blazing.

He would never admit it to her face, but Syaoran was dead scared of her expression. He gulped, "y-yes, Sakura," he replied.

"Good," she smiled, lacing her fingers around his, and pulling him closer to her. "So are you going to cancel your-"

"Are you Ichiro Akai?" asked someone, tapping her on the shoulder.

"It IS! It's her!"

"Look, is that her boyfriend?"

"So cute!"

She stared in shock, before sighing and burying her expression into Syaoran's confused shoulder. "Damn it, does my disguise really suck that much?"

-x-

[A/N]

I actually forgot how I wanted to end it originally.. so I thought of a new ending? /shot to death] I have never written anything cheesier in my whole life. Abrupt endings ftw!11? Sorry.. I had no idea and I wanted to get this over and done with.

I am a terrible updater OTL; But thank you so much to everyone who's read this story from the very start, all the way last year, or even if you only started it today. It all means so much to me~
Looking back, there's so much I wish I could have written differently, but it's too late now, and it's great for me to see the ways of which I've improved.

Also, if some things don't make sense, that's because the author is a crappy writer who forgets the things she writes. If you find something that's completely off the plot/not answered at all or bugging you to the point you can't sleep at night, review/message me and I'll fix it up/clarify the best I can.

Take care, and leave a review if you are a super duper awesome reader whom I will love! (: