Chapter 14: North Star

XOXO

"--branch whipped out of nowhere!"

"Nowhere?! If you were actually listening to me, you would've heard my warning beforehand!"

"Whatever. The point is that the impact was so strong, I almost fell back--"

"But luckily I caught her before she did." Jake finished, grinning.

"You seem to be pretty good at that." Sakura commented lightly, remembering her first experience with him.

Jake chuckled, he too remembering their meeting. "I guess I'm everyone's hero." He said, proudly yet jokingly at the same time.

Tomoyo, who had been retelling the story along with Jake, playfully slapped his arm, before rising to her feet. "Hey, I'm gonna grab some more marshmallows to roast. Any of you want one?"

Both Jake and Sakura shook their heads. Tomoyo skipped off, leaving Sakura and Jake alone, sitting on the grass by the bonfire while bunches of students mingled around them, talking and laughing.

"So, sounds like you guys had fun." Sakura observed, trying not to sound resentful.

"Yeah." Jake said. "Too bad you had detention."

"Mmhm."

He turned his head to face her. "So explain to me how you got detention in the first place again?"

Sakura sighed. "I told you… I was sleepwalking, Li-kun followed me, Hiirigizawa-san followed us, we got caught, we got detention. It's not rocket science."

"And nothing happened?"

"Nothing happened." Sakura clarified.

"It's just that… if either of them laid a hand on you…" His unfinished threat went unsaid.

"Neither of them laid a hand on me." Sakura reassured, smiling up at him.

He smiled back.

Feeling relaxed, Sakura rested her head against his shoulder, and gently closed her eyes.

"Hate to break up this lovely moment between the two of you." A sardonic voice broke in, causing Sakura's eyes to snap open. "But Mizuki-sensei is requesting to see you, Oriley-san."

Jake stood up, a confused expression clearly shown on his face. "Why?"

"How the hell am I supposed to know? Go ask her yourself."

Jake frowned, before shrugging his shoulders and walking off.

Syaoran flopped down in the newly empty space in which Jake had previously occupied.

"Li." Sakura acknowledged courteously, although her eyes remained focused on the blazing flames ahead of her.

Without a word, he held out a hand, offering her a marshmallow, which Sakura accepted, poking it through the end of her stick, before thrusting it nearer to the fire, while Syaoran did the same.

"I'm sorry." Syaoran said, out of nowhere.

Taken by surprise, Sakura looked behind her, checking to see if he was actually talking to her. Realizing he was, she turned to look at him, while his eyes were fixed on the fire.

"About what I said about society and crap." Syaoran explained. "I was wrong."

Sakura remained silent, waiting for him to continue.

Syaoran scoffed. "Trust me when I say, there are people in my life, who are both wealthy and powerful, and yet…" He shook his head.

Sakura continued to peer at him, watching as the shadows danced upon his face.

"Your marshmallow's on fire." He suddenly informed her in a dull tone.

Sakura squealed softly as she hurriedly pulled back her stick, and furiously blew on her marshmallow, putting the fire out. It was burnt to a crisp black.

Syaoran snorted a laugh. Sakura just smiled sheepishly at him.

"Here." Syaoran offered her his stick with the marshmallow roasted perfectly on top. "You want mine?"

Sakura shook her head. She pulled her own burnt marshmallow off of her stick and examined it. "It can't be too bad." She said, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself. She tentatively took a small bite. Her eyes lit up, announcing that it was fine. "Hey… this is pretty good." She exclaimed. "In fact, it's better than any marshmallow I've ever roasted!"

She took another bite, eating half of the marshmallow. "It's just been burnt on the outside, see?" She said showing the half-eaten marshmallow to Syaoran. "The rest of the inside is as good as new."

She chewed on it happily.

"You just need to look past its flaws… and give it a chance. It could be the best thing you've ever tried."

Syaoran stared at her.

"Don't judge a book by its cover, don't you know?" Sakura asked, repeating the words of the young boy she had met earlier that day.

Syaoran looked like he was about to reply, when something seemed to catch his eye. "Ummh… I need to just… go do something." He said before dashing off.

Sakura curiously glanced at where he was heading, and saw that he was going to the toilets which were located right behind an approaching Jake.

She shook her head, laughing slightly.

At that moment, Tomoyo chose to return, occupying the free space beside Sakura with an armful of marshmallows.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

"I like marshmallows, okay? Is that such a crime?" Tomoyo replied defensively. After munching on one, she turned her whole body to face Sakura. "So…?" She asked her, a huge grin plastered on her face.

"So…?" Sakura repeated, not knowing how to reply.

"Dish the dirt!" Tomoyo exclaimed, eagerly.

"Wha-- what… dirt?" Sakura spluttered.

"What exactly is going on between you and Li-san?!" Tomoyo asked her keenly, her eyebrows going out of control. "I mean, I saw the intimate talk you guys just had, so spill!"

Sakura sighed. "There is nothing to 'spill', Tomoyo-chan. We talked. About marshmallows. That's it, okay? There's nothing going on."

Tomoyo sighed disappointingly. "Nothing at all?"

"Nothing at all."

XOXO

"--and when you get that shivery feeling in the bathroom, it is actually the woman -hung upside down, and it's her hair brushing against you."

Sakura gasped audibly. But she wasn't the only one, as small squeals of fright erupted all around the bonfire.

Tereda-sensei stood up. "Thank you Yanagisawa-san for… making us all scared about going to the bathroom alone."

There were a few chuckles here and there.

The girl who told the story, Naoko Yanagisawa, smiled and her glasses flashed against the fire. She made a slight bow before sitting back down.

"Anyone else want to share a story?" Tereda-sensei called out. "It doesn't necessarily have to be a horror story."

When no one volunteered, Tereda-sensei cleared his throat. "In that case, everyone gets an hour of free time, before lights out at ten thirty." At that, everyone scattered.

Sakura, however, remained frozen in her spot, scared out of her wits.

A warm hand rested on her shoulder. She looked up to see Jake, smiling down at her slightly amused.

"It's not real." He told her. "You know that right?"

"Mhhm." She said, her voice strangely high-pitched.

She heard footsteps approaching, and unconsciously tensed.

Jake cleared his throat. "I'm errr… going to find Tomoyo-chan." He informed her before walking off.

She was about to ask if she could follow, when someone kneeled down right in front of her, facing her.

He offered her a hand, encouraging her to stand up.

Sakura eyed the hand rather warily.

He rolled his eyes. "Jeez… I'm not going to rape you or something. It's not good to be so paranoid, ya know?"

She shot him a small glare before reluctantly taking his hand. He instantly pulled her up, but kept a hold of her hand.

"Come on." He said as he tugged her forward.

He started jogging to somewhere specific in the forest, dragging Sakura along with him.

"Where are we going?" She asked him, her voice half whining, half anticipating at the same time.

"You'll see." He replied mysteriously.

After a couple minutes of jogging, Sakura pulled her hand out of his grasp and remained firmly in place. She was panting. He instantly stopped as well. Considering she had no idea where they were or how to get back, she had to rely entirely on him.

She put her hands on her hips. "Okay Li-kun, enough games. Where are you taking me?"

Syaoran looked over his shoulder. "We're almost there."

"That's what you said a minute ago!" Sakura protested.

"This time, we really are close." He told her, sounding sincere. He held out his hand again. "Trust me."

Sakura looked at his hand, then up into his eyes, then back at his hand.

She grasped it firmly.

After a quick smile, he shot off again, yanking her with him.

"It's just in between these trees." He confirmed, a few seconds later.

"What is?" Sakura asked curiously.

"Go ahead and find out." He replied, gesturing to a small gap in between what appeared to be a circle of trees.

She shot him a quick glance, before squeezing through the opening.

"If this is a jok--"

Her breath got caught in her throat, finally catching sight at what he was trying to show her.

She was vaguely aware of Syaoran squeezing through after her and moving to stand next to her, but she still felt lost in a dream.

"Kireii…" She gasped.

Before her were dozens -maybe even hundreds- of fireflies, all alight. While some were nestled in the bushes, others lazily drifted through the air. Together, they illuminated the entire grove like fairy lights.

Sakura slowly twirled in a circle, realizing they were completely surrounded by them.

If you had looked up at the stars and then back at the fireflies… you probably wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. For the fireflies imitated the stars completely, twinkling brightly and dancing joyfully. Equally spectacular and breathtaking.

"You like?" Syaoran's husky voice whispered right into her ear.

Sakura's smile shone as dazzling as the fireflies. She continued to twirl, going faster and faster each time, until eventually she collapsed onto the ground, spread out like when you want to make snow angels during winter.

"It's beautiful." She breathed out.

Syaoran laid down beside her, taking up the same position.

"It certainly is." He sighed. "Aren't you glad you decided to follow me now?"

Sakura didn't bother replying, for they both knew the answer to that question anyway.

After laying there for a while, the fireflies seemed to dim slightly, and the stars became clearer.

"You see over there?" Syaoran said, pointing to three aligning stars. "That's Orion's belt."

Sakura peered, but couldn't see what he was seeing, for on her angle he was pointing somewhere entirely different. She shuffled closer to him.

"Right there, see?" Syaoran told her, pointing it out for her again.

"Uhuh." Sakura confirmed, looking at it through one eye. "You know what else I see?" She pointed at three stars above Orion's belt. "A face. Orion's belt is the mouth, and that one's the nose… and you see those two over there… well they're the eyes." She explained.

"Oh yeah, I see it." Syaoran confirmed "But its eyes are slanted."

"Well," Sakura responded "That's because it's looking at another star… over there… the brightest one."

"Ahhh… that one is the North star." Syaoran told her. "At least, I think it is. They say the North star is always the brightest star in the sky.

"The brightest of the bunch, ey?" Sakura commented, her tone light and playful. "Well then… I guess that's me."

Syaoran snorted. "I know you're not talking in terms of intelligence."

Sakura shoved him on the shoulder. "Hey!" She objected indigently "That was totally uncalled for."

He just chuckled in response.

They faded into silence for a long while.

"It is said, that if you follow the North star… it will always lead you home." Syaoran said softly, turning his head sideways to look at her.

She did the same.

Their eyes met.

A connection was made.

Then, they both turned away.

And conversation ended there…

XOXO

Authors Note: Fluff, fluff and more fluff! Some people commented that I was going too slow with the relationship and others requested mushiness so… tadaa! I did as you asked. Phew… man it was tough to come up with, I'm not quite sure why. So you better review or I will be one unhappy author. Pweeeaze! Also want to know, if you thought that this chapter moved too fast and was too cheesy. Honest opinions! Plus I updated extra early, so shouldn't I get treats? I actually wrote this chapter a couple days ago but I just didn't want to post it until I reached 900 reviews. Hehe… please don't kill me.

Btw, you really can see a face that includes Orion's belt and is looking at the North star.

XOXO