Author's Note: It's been two months since I start this fanfiction! Until You're Mine reached chapter 10 within these two 's something to be happy about ^^

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura isn't mine.

Until You're Mine

Chapter 10: I've never said that!

Kinomoto Sakura stared at the blank paper, her hands on her hips. She wiggled her mouth as she picked up the black marker pen on the table and wrote something. She stared at the paper and smiled in satisfaction. She marched out from her small office and walked into the kitchen. Then, she picked up a colorful thumbtack, and stuck the paper on the notice board.

"Yes!" Steve exclaimed behind her. "Guys! We're going to have a two day vacation next week!"

"What? Seriously?" the others said.

"Yeap!" Steve nodded excitedly. "Kinomoto-san put the memo on the notice board."

The others gathered around to read the notice. Sure enough, Sakura did put up a memo saying that the bakery is going to be closed for two days next week for inventory and kitchen cleaning. Sakura thought that it would be better to hire a cleaning service company. At least her staff would be able to get some time off and relax after all their hard work.

"Alright," Sakura said as clapped her hands to gain her employee's attention. "You guys can be happy later. Please get back to work. We've got more cupcakes to bake," she said and turned to Eriol. It seemed like he didn't join the others celebration. He was busy topping his cookies n' cream cupcakes with some Oreos.

"Hello!" Steve said, waving his hand in front of Eriol.

Eriol snapped out from his thought and pushed his glasses back with his forefinger. "What?"

"Can I use the piping bag?" Steve said, raising an eyebrow. "If you're not using it, of course."

Eriol stared at the piping bag and nodded. "Sure."

"Are you okay?" Steve asked. "You don't seem happy. Didn't you read the notice?"

"What notice?" Eriol glanced at the notice board and shook his head. "What does it says?"

"The bakery is going to be closed for two days for inventory and kitchen cleaning," Steve explained with a smile. "We're going to have a two day vacation next week! You should be happy!" he said before he walked away with the piping bag.

"What's wrong with you?" Sakura asked. Her eyebrow raised. "You seem absent minded. Is there something bothering you? Are you sick?"

Eriol chuckled at her questions. "I'm fine. Thanks for asking though."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I thought you resolved everything with my cousin. I heard about your confession too," she said whispering the last part.

"I guess she told you, huh?" Eriol replied quietly.

"I'm her best friend. Of course I would know about this." Sakura beamed. "So, what happened? Why are you looking all gloomy?"

Eriol turned to her and sighed. "I think she's avoiding me, Sakura."

"It might be your imagination, Eriol," Sakura said and smiled reassuringly. "Maybe she's not avoiding you. Maybe she just needs some time to think of how she really feels about you."

Before Eriol could respond, Risa walked into the kitchen and nodded to Sakura. "Sakura, someone is here to see you."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "A customer? A supplier?"

Risa shrugged as Sakura walked out from the kitchen. "Sheifa!" Sakura said when she saw her standing behind the cupcake counter. "This is a surprise! What are you doing here?"

Sheifa looked up from the cupcake display and smiled. "Oh, I just thought that I should visit your bakery. I've never been to your bakery before. It looks really nice, right, Aiko?"

"Thank you," Sakura said as she pushed the small swing door that separated the serving area and the small dining area and went to Sheifa. She noticed that a small girl in a blue dress stood beside her. "Hi!" she said as she bended down to Aiko.

"Are you busy?" Sheifa asked.

"Well," Sakura looked up and scanned her bakery's surroundings. The bakery wasn't packed with customers, but the crowd was still there. "Not really," she said with a smile.

"Great!" Sheifa exclaimed as she clapped her hand together. "Let's grab something to eat and go shopping."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "You mean right now?"

"Yeah," Sheifa nodded with a smile on her face. "It's lunchtime. I thought the three of us could hang out together and have some sisterly bonding."

Sakura bit her lips and hesitated. "Alright," she agreed.

xxx

Syaoran grabbed his iPhone from the table and skimmed for any messages. He forked his chicken salads and looked up to his friends, Yamazaki Takashi and Mihara Chiharu.

"We should definitely hang out some time," Chiharu said and drank her bottled water.

"We are," Syaoran said. "What do you think we're doing now? Dancing?"

"No, silly, I was talking about your girlfriend and us. A double date." Chiharu said. She had a sudden urge to hit Syaoran's head like she usually did to Takashi but decided not to. "Were you even listening to this conversation?"

"I'm sorry," Syaoran said apologetically. "I was reading a few messages. I wasn't really listening."

Chiharu sighed and glanced on her boyfriend. "Tell him again, Takashi."

Takashi swallowed a piece of his sandwich. "Chiharu was saying that it's time for you to introduce your girlfriend to us," he said.

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

Chiharu rolled her eyes. "Because we're your friends, that's why. Don't we have a right to get to know your girlfriend? Aren't you going to properly introduce us?" she bombarded him with questions.

"Didn't you meet her when she was admitted to the hospital?" Syaoran said.

"Yes, I did." Chiharu nodded. "But, we weren't properly introduced. And Takashi hasn't met her yet," she reasoned.

"Maybe next time," Syaoran promised halfheartedly. Then, he checked his iPhone when it beeped and sighed.

"What?" Takashi said. "Is there an emergency?"

"Nah," Syaoran shook his head. "It's my mother. She wants me to be home early. My sisters and cousin are coming over for dinner."

"Dinner?" Takashi echoed. He looked up from his sandwich and squinted. "So, you're not going to be there during Kitano-san's surgery this evening?"

"Nope," Syaoran said as he forked into his salad. "Not me. I'm off the case."

xxx

Sakura spooned some of her shrimp pasta and fed it to Aiko. She smiled and grabbed a napkin to wipe the small girl's mouth. Then, she took a spoonful of her pasta and shoved it into her mouth.

"So," Sheifa started. "How is it going between you and my little brother? He doesn't treat you like a jerk, does he?"

Sakura swallowed her pasta and laughed nervously. "It's all good, I guess," she said smiling reassuringly. "Don't worry."

"You're not backing up for him or anything are you?" Sheifa said. "Because I know that he can be a real jerk sometimes," she said before she took a sip from her juice. "And there's the fact that he's dating you because our mother forced him to."

"I understand that," Sakura said nodding. After all, she was in the same situation as he is.

"Of course, he had to comply with our mother's wishes because he didn't want to upset her again," Sheifa blabbered.

"Again?" Sakura repeated. She bit her lip when she realized that she shouldn't be nosy about Syaoran and his affairs.

"Well, our mother was disappointed when he decided to study medicine instead of business management to take over Li's Corporation," Sheifa said and leaned forward. "Syaoran won't ever say it, but we all knew that he wanted Fanren to manage the business to help her."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. She was curious, but wasn't sure if she should say anything.

"Fanren went through so much after her divorce," Sheifa explained. "And managing the company helped her so much to forget about her ex-husband." Sheifa stopped and turned to Sakura. "I'm sorry, I guess, I've been bored you with all these stories."

Sakura shook her head and smiled politely. "No, not at all."

"I hope you could be patient with him," Sheifa said. "He's a real sweetheart when you got to know him a little bit more," she said as she fished through her purse and took out her cell phone when it rang. She stared at the screen, stood up and signaled Sakura that she's going to take the call. "Yes, mother?"

Sakura watched Sheifa disappeared behind the glass door and turned her attention to Aiko. "Your Uncle seems like a really nice person," she said as she patted the little girl's head. She understood a bit why her father wanted her to get to know Syaoran better. And she understood why her mother wasn't so against the whole thing.

After a few minutes, Sheifa walked towards the table with a smile. "Good news!" she announced. "My mother wants you to come over for dinner."

xxx

Syaoran parked his car into the garage and turned off the engine. He walked into the house and headed straight to the kitchen and found his sisters were making some dumplings.

"You're home!" His cousin, Meiling, said with a smile. She wiped her hand on the apron and squeezed him tightly. "I haven't seen you in a while, Syaoran. It's been a year!"

Syaoran smiled. "Eight months," he corrected.

"You should go upstairs and wash yourself," his mother, Yelan, said behind him. "I'll call you when dinner's ready."

Syaoran nodded. "Alright," he answered obediently. He paused when he recognized a familiar face in the kitchen. His pretend-girlfriend was preparing dumplings with his sisters. "You!"

Sakura smiled nervously. "Hi,"

"What are you doing?" he asked with a frown.

Sakura looked at what she was doing. A spoon on one hand and a dumpling skin on the other. Then she looked up to Syaoran. "Making dumplings with your sisters?"

"Syaoran, don't be rude to our guest," Feimei, his third sister, said. She turned to her other siblings and giggled.

"I told you he'd be surprised!" Sheifa said with a smirk on her face. She turned to Fuutie, and winked.

"Excuse me," Syaoran said to his sisters. His eyes were stern. "I need to talk to her for a bit"

Sakura glanced at Fanren and nodded. She washed her hand, and dried them with a paper towel. Then, she untied her apron, hung it neatly on the rack and followed Syaoran to an empty room.

"What are you doing here?" Syaoran asked as he twirled around to face her.

"Sheifa dragged me here," Sakura explained. "She came over my bakery this afternoon and took me to lunch and shopping."

"Shopping?" Syaoran echoed and raised an eyebrow. He remembered that he was forced to accompany Sheifa shopping a few days ago. "That woman has a serious shopping problem," he said as he shook his head in disbelief. He turned his attention back to Sakura. "And you didn't think of warning me?"

Sakura shrugged. "I thought you knew that I was coming over for dinner."

"Well, I didn't." Syaoran scowled. "And you agreed to come over?"

Sakura sighed. "What was I supposed to do? Your sister said that I should get to know your family members. And the last time I should have come over, I had an accident in my bakery."

Syaoran nodded as he remembered the incident.

"Syaoran," Yelan called. "What are you doing? I thought, I told you to wash yourself up?"

Syaoran turned to her mother and nodded. "Alright." He turned back to Sakura. "Just be careful with my sisters."

xxx

Daidouji Tomoyo yelped when she exited her boutique. Her right hand was on her chest. Then, she raised her eyebrow. "Eriol?" she said. "What are you doing here? Were you waiting for me?"

Eriol turned to her and smiled as he pushed his glasses with his forefinger back in place. "Yes." He nodded to confirm. "I need to ask you something."

Tomoyo looked up and caught his eyes. "W-what?" she stuttered.

"Tomoyo," Eriol paused and studied her face. His eyes then trained on hers. "Are you trying to avoid me?"

"What?" Tomoyo's eyes widened. Then, she chuckled. "No. Where did you get that idea? Why would you think that I'm trying to avoid you?"

Eriol's gaze softened on her. "I don't know." He shrugged. "Sakura thinks that you need some time to figure out your feelings. But, I thought that maybe you were burdened by my confession or something like that."

Tomoyo bit her lips. "But, I'm..."

"It tortures me when you avoid me, Tomoyo," he said, cutting her off. "Sometimes, I wish that I hadn't told you how I feel about you. Then maybe, you wouldn't be avoiding me."

"Eriol," Tomoyo called. She looked at the man before her and sighed. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I am trying to avoid you. I was scared. I didn't know what to do, or what to think."

Eriol shifted his eyes and turned his attention to his shoes.

"All I need is some time to think about all this, Eriol." Tomoyo bit her lower lip.

Eriol nodded and turned around.

Tomoyo sighed exasperatedly. "Now, where are you going?"

"You told me that you need some time to think," Eriol said as he turned around. "Obviously, I have to walk away and give you some time to do that."

"So, you're just going to give up?"

Eriol frowned and stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"A few nights ago, you told me that you were going to make me fall in love with you," Tomoyo said with a frown. "So now you want to give up before you even try to do anything? You're going to just give up before you make a move?" She pursed her lips. She couldn't believe what she had said, or what possessed her to have the confidence to say anything like it.

Eriol was stunned. "I thought you didn't like me."

"I've never said that!" Tomoyo retorted.

Eriol stood and watched Tomoyo's face, making a silent assessment. He took a few steps towards her, brushed his fingers against her bare shoulder and trailed down until it reached her hand.

Tomoyo took a step backwards, pulled her hand off his and stroked her arm to produce some heat to her body. She looked up and her eyes met with Eriol's. "Is this how you're going to coax me to fall for you?" she said as she narrowed her eyes a bit.

Eriol chuckled. "Alright then," he paused and took a deep breath. "Daidouji Tomoyo, would you like to have lunch with me tomorrow?"

Tomoyo laughed at his expression. Well, it wasn't funny or anything, but she thought that she needed to laugh to control her nervous. "Okay," she said and nodded.

xxx

Yelan stared at the young couple before her. She decided to have a chat with them after dinner. She sighed and massaged her temple softly. "Four dates within two weeks?" Her eyes widened as she turned to Syaoran.

Syaoran glanced at Sakura and turned back to his mother. He nodded. "Yes."

"What are you two doing?" She frowned. "Shall I talk to the Kinomoto family and suggest to them that the dating period should be extended to two months? Or perhaps I should suggest that you two shall be engaged right away."

"Mother," Fanren said. She decided to join her mother while the other sisters were lounging around the TV with their families. "Give them a chance. Don't forget that Sakura had an accident last week."

"Fair enough." Yelan took a deep breath and turned to her son. "You two need to spend more time to get to know each other."

"Okay," Sakura said softly.

Yelan turned to Fanren. "What do youngsters these days do on their dates?"

Fanren shrugged. "Movies?"

"Done that," Syaoran said with a sigh.

"Movies?" Yelan repeated with a frown on her head, totally ignoring her son comment. "How do you get to know each other without a proper conversation? How does staring at a screen help you to get to know each other?"

Fanren raised an eyebrow. "Well, what did you do on dates during your time?"

"I didn't date," Yelan said. "My marriage was arranged by my parents."

"Well, yeah." Fanren nodded. "But, what did you do to get to know father?"

"We spend lots of quality time together," Yelan said and paused. "Fanren, stop prying."

Fanren rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath. Then, she turned her attention back to her little brother and his girlfriend. The couple seemed uncomfortable. She glanced at the clock and noticed that it was late.

"Like I said, you two need to spend more time together," Yelan continued her speech to the young couple. "Isn't there any way you could meet each other every day?"

"Mother," Syaoran sighed. "We have work every day. It's impossible for us to meet each other every single day."

Yelan frowned, and turned to Sakura. "What about lunch?"

Sakura shrugged. "I can do lunch," she said and glanced at Syaoran. "I'm usually busy during the morning, because that's when I usually prepare my cupcakes. Of course, not if I have any big volume order from customers."

"Perfect!" Yelan beamed.

xxx

"I'm sorry that you had to deal with my mother's ridiculous wishes," Syaoran said as he pulled his car in front of Sakura's house. "And my sisters too. I'm sure they've been giving you lots of trouble."

Sakura shook her head and smiled. "Not at all. In fact, I enjoyed their company," she said.

"I'm sorry that you had to agree to meet me every day," Syaoran said. His eyes were firm. But, Sakura wasn't sure if he was angry or he was just concerned for her.

"That's okay." Sakura laughed. "It's the least we could do to please her. After all, we've been deceiving our parents about this dating thing," she said and her smile faded away.

Syaoran frowned.

"Do you think what we're doing is right?" Sakura said as she studied her shoes. "Deceiving them, I mean."

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? You want to change our plan and pull out from the agreement?"

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. It's just that, I don't feel comfortable with all this."

"Neither do I," Syaoran said and turned to study her face. "Sakura," he called.

Sakura swore that her heart was pounding when she heard him calling out her name. In fact, this was the first time that he called her that. All this time, he had been calling her 'Oi', 'hey', 'you', and occasionally, 'cupcake'.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Nothing," Syaoran shook his head and blinked. "I forgot what I was supposed to tell you."

"All right." Sakura nodded and stepped out from his car. "I'll see you tomorrow, then?"

xxx

Syaoran tossed his key on the table and walked towards the sofa. He closed his eyes and remembered the conversation between him and Sakura. He groaned when he remembered how he was about to suggest to her that they should try and date each other for real.

He wondered what had gotten into him. Perhaps, it was because the moment seemed so right for him to say it. It's not like he had any romantic feelings for her. However, he was sure that something had changed within him – he doesn't dislike her like he first did. There was something about her that changed his opinion about her. He wasn't sure what it was though.

"Something's off, Syaoran,"

"Oh my god!" Syaoran yelped. His eyes widened. He was a bit surprised to see his cousin; Meiling was sitting next to him, with her arms crossing on her chest. "What are you doing here?"

"I don't get it," Meiling said, ignoring his question. She turned to him and frowned. "Why are you dating her? I mean, I know that your mother wants you to date her, but I didn't expect you to be so. . . obedient," she paused and squinted. "What exactly are you planning?"

Syaoran leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes. "I'm not planning anything."

"Really?" Meiling raised an eyebrow. "Well, don't tell me that you're dating her because you're interested in her."

Syaoran shrugged and smirked. "Well, what if that's the case?"

Meiling snickered. "I don't believe you."

Syaoran chuckled. "Yes, I started going out with her because mother forced me to, and vice-versa. But, she's not that bad," Syaoran said. "At least she's not after my family's wealth."

Meiling squinted.

"So, yes, now I'm dating her because my mom wants me to and I'm slightly interested in her," Syaoran blinked his eyes as he realized he had come to that conclusion. He never thought that he would say that. But, he was interested in her.

- End of Chapter 10: I've never said that!-

Author's Note: How'd you like this chapter? Please review ^^