radio star

xxi. flight

Sakura stifled a yawn even as a barista handed her a large cup of coffee over the counter. "Thank you," she said, and headed over towards the booth where Tomoyo sat with her own cup.

Tomoyo raised her eyebrows. "Tired?"

Sakura nodded. "I was up really late."

"Doing what?" Tomoyo's eyes lit up.

Sakura shook her head. "You've got to tell me your story first," she said, laughing. "Weren't you up late, too? How do you look so much more awake and alive than I do?"

Tomoyo smiled. "That's flattering." She stirred her coffee and stared at the cup. "Eriol stayed over with me last night."

Sakura nearly choked on her coffee. "He what?"

Tomoyo laughed. "I didn't mean for it to turn out that way! He just offered to take me home, and then we ended up talking for a while, and it was already so late... The sun was rising by the time he was about to leave. So, I told him he could stay."

Sakura leaned in. "And?"

Tomoyo shrugged. "He slept on the couch. I slept in my bed."

Sakura laughed. "So what happened then?"

"I think we slept for about two hours before waking up and having breakfast, and then I sent him on his merry way."

"That's it?"

Tomoyo smiled. "I might have given him a kiss first."

"Yes!" Sakura grinned. "I knew it! He's probably over the moon for you, you know. They always are."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, please," Sakura laughed. "Since you were fifteen, it's been this way! Eriol is no different. And he's so cute."

Tomoyo shook her head. "Enough about me! What about you? How was your night? Why were you up so late, hmm?"

Sakura shrugged. "Oh, you know. Syaoran came over." She remembered his note, which she had tucked away in her bag, and the sweet words he had murmured to her the night before.

"Oh?" Tomoyo smiled. "He caused quite a scene outside the ball from what I heard. Maybe he wanted to escape to your place."

"Yeah, he told me there were a lot of paparazzi outside... He looked exhausted," Sakura responded quietly. "He left really early to go do some damage control, I guess."

"Well, I am sure everything is fine," Tomoyo said soothingly. "But it looks like you were the person he felt like he could come to to make him forget about it for a little while. That's a good thing, you know."

Sakura nodded, trying to bite back her smile. She knew she was not dreaming up this situation, but she still felt foolish.

"You know, Sakura, I've been telling you for a while now—months, actually—that I think he has feelings for you. He's not doing a lot to change my mind," Tomoyo added. "In fact, I really am more certain than ever."

Sakura shook her head. "I can't think that way. You know that."

"Why not?"

"There's just a lot at stake," Sakura mumbled. "My feelings, for one."

"Well, when the odds are heavily in favor of your feelings, I don't think the stakes are too high."

"Says one person," Sakura retorted.

"Hey, if I weren't the only one in on this, I bet other people would back me up," Tomoyo laughed. Her brows rose in thought. "Actually, you know, Eriol and I had a conversation about you and Syaoran last night."

"About me?" Sakura said in surprise.

Just then, Sakura's phone vibrated loudly against the tabletop, and she stared down at it. "Speak of the devil—" she looked up at Tomoyo. "Mind if I pick this up?"

"No, not at all," Tomoyo said, raising her coffee mug to her lips.

"Hello?" Sakura said into the phone. She had caught the time just before she had answered—it was just about to be noon. She had no way of knowing if he was done with whatever he had needed to do.

"Hey, Sakura."

"Hi," she responded softly, trying not to meet Tomoyo's eyes, which had crinkled with a grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"How are you?" The question sounded oddly formal coming from him.

Sakura smiled. "I'm doing fine. How about you?"

"I'm okay," he sighed. "Could be better."

He paused, but before Sakura could ask him to elaborate, he continued. "Say, do you have some time today?"

Sakura's eyebrows rose. She had doubted she would see him today, since she assumed he'd be spending the day doing damage control. "Time?"

"Yeah. To hang out. Maybe go out of town for the day."

"Out of town?" Sakura felt like an idiot just parroting everything he said, but she was perplexed at his words.

Tomoyo heard Sakura's last sentence, and her expression quickly became a mirror of Sakura's, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Yeah. Can you? I can explain when I see you—if I can see you," he said, voice sounding strangely agitated.

"Uh—yeah, sure," Sakura said. "I don't have anything on my schedule..."

"Great. I'll pick you up at your place after I leave Meiling's office. It should be in a couple of hours. I won't be driving my car... I'll call you when to come down."

"O-okay," Sakura mumbled. "Syaoran... Is everything all right?"

Sakura could hear Syaoran let out an exhale, and when he spoke again, his voice was softer. "Everything is fine. Don't worry. I'll see you soon, Sakura."

Syaoran hung up, and Sakura put the phone back down on the table, frowning at it. Despite his words, he had sounded, if not upset, at least like something was not right—and almost as if he were in a hurry to fix it.

"Sakura?"

Sakura glanced up from the phone. "Hm?"

Tomoyo's eyes were soft with concern. "Everything okay?"

Sakura began to nod, but then sighed. "I don't know. He sounded awful. Exhausted. And maybe sad."

"Sakura—why don't you tell me a little about what happened last night?" Tomoyo asked gently.

Sakura wasn't sure what to expect when she opened her door and peered out into the parking lot of her apartment complex before heading down the stairs. Somehow, the tone of Syaoran's voice had prepared her for this, and she wasn't surprised—idling in the lot was a very normal, very discreet silver sedan that did not appear to carry anyone of particular importance. And yet, she knew that Syaoran was in that car.

As she made her way down the steps, she did see that the windows were heavily tinted, so there was no confirming her hunch until she walked past the windshield to the passenger door and saw that it was indeed Syaoran sitting in the driver's seat, baseball cap and sunglasses on. Stifling a smile despite the odd seriousness of the situation, Sakura opened the passenger door and slid into the seat.

"Should I have grabbed the pink wig again?" Sakura said, unable to stop her smile.

Much to her relief, Syaoran chuckled. "That wouldn't have been such a bad idea."

He threw the car into drive and made his way out of the parking lot.

Sakura twirled her thumbs around each other, uncertain of how to ask what was happening. She couldn't see Syaoran's eyes, but in the tense way he held himself, in the way that his clenched jaw made its sharpness even more pronounced, she knew that something was wrong. Instead, she chose a different question.

"Where are we going?"

"You know... I'm not really sure. I just—" He paused and turned his head towards her. Sakura wished that he'd take off the sunglasses so that she could see his eyes. "I probably shouldn't hang out in public in town."

"Ah," Sakura said, nodding. She wasn't sure when she should ask exactly what had happened. "Okay."

"Any suggestions?"

Sakura thought to herself. It was an odd proposition. She didn't have anything on her schedule for the day, so leaving town was not a particular burden to her—but she certainly hadn't planned it. She had not had occasion to leave Tokyo in some time. The last time she'd left, however, had been for a destination that she did not think would be particularly intriguing to Syaoran.

Then again, she thought, perhaps he wasn't looking for intrigue.

"Well," Sakura began, lips pursed, "Tomoeda is a little over an hour from here."

"Tomoeda?" Syaoran repeated. "Your hometown?"

Sakura nodded. He had remembered where she was from—something she had to have mentioned only once or twice in their countless conversations. "I know it's not exactly what you were looking for, but no one would suspect you of being there. You'd just need to keep your hat on and maybe a pair of glasses to lie low. Also, we're already on the way, it looks like—you'd just need to get onto the highway at the next turn over there."

Syaoran reached into a compartment in his dashboard and pulled out a pair of black, thick-framed eyeglasses, placing them in his lap, presumably for when they arrived. "Way ahead of you."

Sakura smiled. "Is that a yes?"

Syaoran grinned back. "That's a hell yes."

She laughed. "I've never heard anyone express such enthusiasm for Tomoeda before!"

"Sakura," Syaoran muttered, accelerating as he merged onto the highway, "after a day like today, Tomoeda sounds like a dream come true."

Sakura stared out the window, watching the trees along the highway pass in a blur. She couldn't believe she was going home. Home home. With Syaoran, the country's biggest—and currently most scandalous—celebrity, chauffeuring her there. Through the last few months in which she had become utterly used to Syaoran, his celebrity, and the strangeness of his lifestyle, surreality had become so familiar to her that nothing seemed surreal anymore. But this was totally unheard of—this was surreal.

She glanced over at Syaoran, whose posture had grown more relaxed the farther away they drove from Tokyo. He was bobbing his head and singing absentmindedly along to a radio station that played sugary pop songs from the prior decade. Sakura noted with some amusement that he knew every word of the current song, and she put this observation away to tease him with later.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket, and she pulled it out to see a text message from Tomoyo.

So, it read. Where's he taking you? Someplace super romantic?

Sakura rolled her eyes. She typed a message back: Tomoeda. How's that for romantic?

A text came back within seconds, and Sakura had to try not to laugh. HE'S GOING TO MEET YOUR FATHER? Sakura, that IS romantic!

Sakura frowned. For some reason, she hadn't thought about that. But it would be awfully strange to visit Tomoeda and not stop by her actual home. Still—she didn't want to drag Syaoran along on her personal visits. That wasn't what he needed right now.

No one said anything about meeting my father, she wrote back.

Tomoyo sent back a frowny face, followed by a "why not?"

Before Sakura could concoct a response, Syaoran looked over at her and snorted. She looked comical, the way she was hunched over her phone, her brow furrowed and the corners of her mouth tilted down. "You look a little distraught."

Sakura smiled, shoving the phone back in her pocket. "I'm not."

"What's on your mind?"

"Erm... It's nothing."

"No, really," Syaoran said, reaching over to turn down the radio. "What's up?"

"Ah, well," Sakura stumbled, scratching her head. "I just—I just realized it'd be a little weird to visit my hometown and not actually... You know. Stop in and see my father."

Syaoran's eyebrows rose. His sunglasses made his eyes look blank, and the downward tilt of his mouth made him look utterly unimpressed. "Who said we weren't going to see your father?"

"Eh?" Sakura blurted out.

Syaoran laughed. "When you suggested your hometown, I thought you meant we should go see your family."

"Oh, no, no—I was just suggesting it as a getaway—"

"Well, it is a getaway. At least for me. But as for you, why would you visit your hometown and not visit your family while you're at it? Weirdo."

"Hey! I'm not—" Sakura stopped herself, unable to fight back the grin that was forming on her lips. "Can we really go see my dad?"

Syaoran chuckled at the sudden delight that had spread across her features. "Sure. Of course."

Sakura squealed. "This is great! Oh, Syaoran, he'll love you! And he's just like me in that he doesn't keep up with celebrities, so it's not like he's going to be starstruck or weird or anything like that—he won't even know who you are, probably!"

Syaoran snorted. "Half a year of knowing me and you still don't know how not to wound my ego, do you?"

Sakura laughed as Syaoran reached back over to turn up the radio once more. The next few minutes passed in silence. As her initial excitement wore down some, a realization crept into her mind. Syaoran was going to meet her father. She swallowed, and then it all hit her at once.

She was bringing a boy home—not someone she was dating or even seriously talking to—to meet her father, and on top of that, he was a rock star.

Sakura wasn't sure what could make the situation more surreal, but whatever it was, it certainly wouldn't shock her at this point.

Syaoran kicked his feet in the sand and gently pushed the chains of an empty swing as he walked past. "So this is where you spent your childhood, huh?"

Sakura nodded. "King Penguin Park."

Syaoran glanced over at the large slide, whose tower was shaped like a large penguin wearing a crown, with the slide coming out of the penguin's open beak. Three children screamed with laughter as they took turns climbing up the tower and running down the slide over and over, taking no notice whatsoever of the two adults in the park. "Appropriate."

As they had driven through Tomoeda, Syaoran had passed King Penguin Park near Sakura's house, and Sakura had pointed it out so excitedly that Syaoran had stopped the car.

Sakura sat down on a swing and looked around. "Wow... I really haven't been here in forever. It feels like a lifetime—I've spent so much time in Tokyo now that this place feels like a dream."

Syaoran stood behind her and gently pushed the swing. "I know the feeling."

Sakura turned around to look up at him. "Do you miss Hong Kong?"

Syaoran's eyes were still invisible, but she could see in the way that he held his mouth that he did, even before he nodded to her.

"What's it like?" she asked, rocking gently back and forth, enjoying the push Syaoran gave her each time as she swung back toward him.

"Hong Kong?"

"Mhm."

"Crowded. Bustling. Very much alive."

"Alive?"

"Yeah. It's truly a city that never sleeps. The lights are always on, and if you're awake, no matter what time of the night, you can bet someone else is out there, doing something exciting."

"Wow," Sakura breathed. Especially juxtaposed against Tomoeda, it sounded very different. "Is your mother still there?"

"She is. Still running the family business."

"I bet she misses you."

"Yeah," Syaoran said softly. "I'll be seeing her very soon, though."

"Oh really? When?"

Syaoran stopped pushing, instead pulling the swing to a gentle stop. Sakura turned around once more to look at him in surprise.

"Sakura..." Syaoran glanced around, and when he saw that the only other occupants in the park were the three very distracted young children, he removed his sunglasses. His eyes were soft and sweet, and Sakura felt almost relieved to see them. But they looked very sad, as if he had not recovered from the sadness that had plagued him last night.

"What is it?" she murmured. She wanted to stand up and hug him.

"I talked to Matsura this morning... There's a flurry of bad press awaiting me when I get back to Tokyo. They think it's best to send me overseas for a while till they clean up the mess. So... That's how I'll be seeing my mother soon—I'm stopping to see her on the way."

"Overseas?" Sakura's brows rose. She had not foreseen such a drastic measure. But he was going farther than Hong Kong, it seemed, if he was only seeing his mother on the way...?

Syaoran nodded. He no longer looked at her, choosing instead to focus his eyes on the three children on the slide. "To New York. They're going to tell the press I'm heading over there for some special vocal training."

"Oh." Before Sakura could stop herself, she let the burning question roll out of her mouth. "How long?"

Syaoran's jaw shifted as he appeared to clench and then unclench his teeth. "Two months."

Sakura felt as though a large weight had just plummeted down her stomach. She knew this would be a good time to stand up, but her legs trembled and her hands only tightened their grip on the chains of the swing, as though out of their own accord.

Syaoran read the shock on her face easily, and he formed his mouth into a thin line, his brow furrowing. "I know... It seems like a stupidly long time for some minor PR damage."

Sakura couldn't bring herself to laugh. "When do you go?"

"Tomorrow, in the early evening," he whispered.

The weight continued to move through Sakura's stomach somehow, as if in a continuous freefall. "Oh," she mumbled, staring down at her feet, firmly planted on the ground. She felt a sickly familiar feeling, and she shut her eyes tight, knowing exactly what it was and hating herself for it.

It was a feeling almost identical to the very initial one she had felt when Isamu had broken up with her—before the hurt had hit, just the instant, crushing wave of anticipatory loneliness in knowing that someone very dear to her was going to be gone from her life. But this time, the feeling was also accompanied by self-loathing, because she knew that she was being ridiculous. Syaoran wasn't breaking up with her—he was simply leaving as a part of his job assigned to him by his managers. It was strictly business—something that had always defined her relationship to him in some way or another.

He isn't yours to miss, she chided herself. It's nothing like when Isamu walked out of your life.

"I'm going to miss you."

Sakura frowned. Hadn't she just told herself that he wasn't hers to miss? But then she realized the words hadn't come out of her mouth. She looked back up at him in mild shock. Somehow, he was smiling at her, reminding her of the prior evening, when he'd kissed her hand and told her those impossible words—that he needed her. And somehow, the vision soothed the aching inside of her instantly.

"I'm going to miss you, too," she responded softly. She was allowed to feel that way, she thought, if he felt it, too.

Syaoran observed his surroundings as he followed Sakura through a shopping center nearby her house. Her father wouldn't be home for another few hours, she explained, as he was teaching a late class this semester at the nearby university. After some discussion of what their plans would be for the limited number of hours Syaoran had left before he would have to board the plane, Sakura had suggested dinner and then driving out to the beach, which was about forty-five minutes from Tomoeda. In that moment, Syaoran could not have thought of anything he wanted to do more.

He could see how Tomoeda was Sakura's hometown. Everything here echoed her character—it was cozy, endearingly and refreshingly simple, and seemed to be its own isolated patch of the world, so very different from Tokyo. He was glad he had come. Somehow, it had made his fondness for Sakura grow even more—and in the last few days, he had not thought that possible.

Sakura chattered on about this and that shop, what she used to do in her spare time in school, and while Syaoran listened attentively and responded at the right moments, he was also mildly distracted, lost in his own thoughts. Every time he ran into a problem, it seemed, Sakura had an almost magical healing power that made it disappear, even if only temporarily. And this appeared to be the case no matter how large the issue. Now that they were here, walking in this small town like two very normal people on a very ordinary day, it almost felt as if last night or the morning after had never happened—as if his evening hadn't been distributed all over town in the tabloids and he didn't have hell to pay when he got back.

He wasn't sure how he was going to live without it for two months.

Syaoran felt his phone buzz in his pocket and pulled it out to see that Meiling was calling. "Mind if I get this?" he said to Sakura, waving the phone. "I'll be just a few minutes."

"Oh, sure!" Sakura nodded. "I'll be over by the stationery area!"

Syaoran wandered outside onto the sidewalk and leaned against the wall of the storefront. "Hey, Meiling."

"Hey," she responded, her tone cautious. "How are you doing?"

Syaoran scoffed. "C'mon, don't treat me like I'm glass. I'm fine."

Meiling sighed into the phone—from relief, Syaoran presumed. "Good. Where'd you end up going?"

"I picked up Sakura and we went out to her hometown."

"Oh? Where's that?"

"Tomoeda."

"Never heard of it. That's probably a good thing," Meiling added.

Syaoran chuckled. "Yeah. Probably. How are things over there?"

"I mean, it's chaotic. Everything's a mess." She sighed. "But we were prepared for this to happen, so that's good."

"Yeah," Syaoran murmured. "Meiling—I'm sorry—"

"Don't," Meiling said quickly. Her voice softened. "Seriously. You were just being a good person. It's shitty that the public decides to handle that by going up in arms and making crazy speculations about it all, but that's not your fault."

Syaoran smiled to himself. "Well... Thanks. How's Matsura?"

"Actually, he's handling this like a champ. I'm very surprised, but it's definitely not a bad thing. I think he feels bad for yelling at you this morning."

"It happens. I understand why he did. And I'm over it, anyway."

Meiling laughed. "Good. I don't know why I'm so calm about this, but it seems like you and Matsura are there with me, at least. We must be crazy."

Syaoran laughed, too. "We are. I'm shocked it took you this long to figure that out."

"Well, Syaoran..." she sighed. "We booked your flight for 7:45 PM. You're stopping in Hong Kong for two days, and then you're taking a private plane to New York. Sound good?"

"I guess."

"All right. Well, I don't know how far away Tomoeda is, but since your flight is pretty late tomorrow, you can stand to stay out of town a little longer if you'd like."

"So what you're saying is, 'Please stay out of town for another night,'" Syaoran said, chuckling.

"Exactly."

Syaoran let his eyes wander over the cityscape, its easygoing and happy residents, none of whom seemed to really recognize him—or if they did, they didn't care. Either way, it was nice. "I think I could handle that. As long as it's okay with Sakura."

"Good. If it's not, please try to convince her. I could really stand to have you out of the paparazzi's line of sight for another twelve hours. It'd be a godsend."

"Believe me, Meiling," Syaoran responded. "I'll do my best."

Tomoyo tried not to look especially eager as she made her way out of her apartment building. She had never been so giddy or excited to spend time with someone she had only just met before, and while it felt wonderful, it also made her exceedingly cautious about looking or acting foolish.

Eriol awaited her in the lot, leaning against a silver Benz. Once Tomoyo met his eyes, she felt all of her restraints break loose, and a big smile overtook her features, for Eriol was positively beaming and looked as happy as she felt. And if he wasn't going to hide it, Tomoyo thought, then why should she?

And indeed, he wasn't going to hide it. Eriol strode up to Tomoyo to meet her halfway and pulled her into a hug. "It's nice to see you again," he murmured.

Tomoyo inhaled his scent—clean, with a subtle hint of a sharp cologne. "You, too," she said, trying not to sound dazed. "But you're lucky—I don't give out second dates so easily, and certainly not so soon after a first!"

Eriol laughed. "Last night was a date? We didn't even go to the ball together!"

"Well, we left together, and I think that's the part that matters more."

This time, Eriol roared with laughter. "Okay. You're right, I can't argue with that." He opened the car door for her. "But this time, let's do it right. We'll go together and leave together."

Tomoyo smiled. "That sounds good to me."

"Dad?" Sakura called, peering around the corner of the foyer towards the empty living room.

She shuffled inside, and Syaoran followed her. He took in the family photos framed and hung along the walls. A happy family, he deduced—Sakura had grown up very loved, he thought.

He swallowed, trying to keep quell his increasing nerves. He suddenly realized the implication—the impact—of the situation. He was going to meet Sakura's father. Although he knew this situation was different, his mind wandered back to when he had met Mizuki's father, a veteran actor famed for starring in old Japanese classics. The man had been jovial and lively and happy to meet Syaoran, but Mizuki had explained to him many times that they were somewhat estranged and distant for father and daughter, as he had been away working through most of her childhood. At the time that she had ended her relationship with Syaoran, Mizuki had been working on improving her communications with her father.

Syaoran wondered how that process was going, and remembering the pain in Mizuki's expression the night before, he felt a sudden and sharp jab of guilt in his gut when he realized how much she had probably wanted to tell him—and how little he had inquired into her life since they had met again.

Syaoran shut his eyes, opened them, and let out a long breath. Don't, he told himself, and he tried to remember why he didn't need to feel guilty.

"He might be in his office," Sakura explained, turning briefly to him. Concern lit her eyes when she saw his grimace. "Syaoran?"

Sakura closed the small gap between them, walking a few steps back towards Syaoran, and looked up into his face. "You okay?"

Right. Focus on here. Focus on Sakura. She was so close to him, he realized. And those soft green eyes. She really was beautiful, he found himself thinking again. He felt himself leaning down some, just to be a little bit closer to her, to remember that he was here, in her house, and so very far away from the real world—

"Sakura?"

Syaoran and Sakura both jumped backward, and Syaoran felt something red-hot shoot through his body. Whether it was shame at being caught or maybe the remnants of anticipation of something that had been about to happen, he wasn't sure.

"Dad!" Sakura squeaked, pure joy in her voice as her eyes landed on the figure down the hallway.

Fujitaka Kinomoto stood tall against the background of a dimly lit office, his expression curious and kind and pleasantly shocked. "I wasn't expecting you!" He walked out of his office and met Sakura's embrace. His eyes landed on Syaoran, who froze—but he smiled kindly, and Syaoran felt himself relax instantly.

"Who's this?" Fujitaka asked. "Someone from work?"

Syaoran had to stifle a laugh. Sakura hadn't known who he was, so he certainly didn't expect her father to—and somewhat ironically, "someone from work" wasn't the most inaccurate label.

Sakura smiled and seemed to think likewise. "Kind of... Dad, this is Syaoran Li."

Syaoran bowed deeply. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"It's wonderful to meet you as well, Syaoran. I'm Sakura's father." Fujitaka turned his gaze to Sakura. "But Sakura—what are you doing here?"

"Oh... Well, Syaoran and I were on a road trip for the day, and I wanted to show him Tomoeda—so we thought it'd be nice to stop by and say hi!"

"A road trip! How nice. What's the occasion?"

"Well—my new job doesn't start for a few more days, so I have the day off! And Syaoran does as well," Sakura added hastily.

Fujitaka's expression remained kind, but he was clearly still confused.

"Syaoran is—" Sakura began to explain.

"I'm a friend from Sakura's old job," Syaoran cut in. It wasn't totally a lie, and it was easier than a real explanation.

"Ah, I see," Fujitaka said, smiling once more. "Well, I'm always happy to meet one of Sakura's friends!"

Syaoran met Sakura's eyes, and she stifled a giggle.

Fujitaka, blissfully oblivious, clasped his hands together. "Now, the most pressing question of all—do you two have dinner plans?"

"So, are we ever going to tell my dad who you really are?"

Syaoran snorted. "What do you mean?" He knew perfectly well what Sakura meant.

Having finished dinner with Sakura's father, Syaoran and Sakura had driven through the darkness to the beach on the outskirts of Tomoeda, agreeing to return later that night to her house to spend the night before heading back to the city in the morning. Although it was well into autumn and too cold to do much besides look out at the ocean, it seemed to Syaoran like the perfect thing to do before he left the country for a long while. They had walked a short distance along the beach before deciding that viewing the ocean from the car would be warmer and easier, and they sat in the driver's and passenger's seats wrapped in blankets that Sakura had brought from her home.

"You know. What's he going to do when he finally sees your name in the news and realizes that he had dinner with a rock star and didn't even know it?"

"I don't think he'd really be that affected by that realization," Syaoran responded with a smirk. "And isn't telling him your job, anyway? What's all this 'we'?"

Sakura laughed. "I guess you're right. It just seemed like an awkward thing to bring up at dinner." She fiddled with her phone, unlocking and locking the screen a couple of times before she looked over at Syaoran. "Did you enjoy meeting him?"

Syaoran glanced back at her for a moment before refocusing on the water. "I did," he responded. "He seems a lot like you. Or, I guess, you seem a lot like him."

"Really?" Sakura said happily. "That's so nice to hear. I really look up to him."

Syaoran smiled. "Thanks for letting me meet him."

"Of course." Sakura leaned her head back against the seat and kept her eyes on him. He was leaning forward, chin resting on top of the steering wheel. Light from the full moon shone through the car and illuminated his facial features. It had only just begun to hit her that these were her last few hours with him for some time.

"Syaoran..."

"Hm?" He looked over at her without turning his head.

"It's going to be awfully different without you around." Another way—an easier way, Sakura thought—of saying I'll miss you.

Syaoran gave a rueful smile, his eyes closing. "Yeah."

"We will keep in touch, won't we?"

Syaoran turned towards her now, his expression unreadable. And then, he rolled his eyes. "Of course we will."

Sakura laughed. "I was just making sure."

"Did something give you the impression we wouldn't?"

Sakura shrugged, turning her own gaze back towards the sea. "I don't know. You'll be...really busy, I'd imagine."

Syaoran snorted. "That's never stopped me before."

Sakura smiled to herself, and a warmth spread through her chest. "That's true. But you know, the time difference is also pretty big."

"Listen, Sakura," Syaoran said, his voice serious now, prompting her to look over at him in alarm. "I know I'm going to be gone for a while—but I need you to know that nothing is going to change between us, okay?"

"Okay," Sakura mumbled, nodding. Suddenly, the air between them had turned very solemn.

"And while I'm gone, please take care of yourself. No trips to the hospital, okay?"

Sakura laughed despite the tension. "Okay." She paused before frowning. "Syaoran... You're making this sound scary. Like a permanent goodbye."

Syaoran scoffed. "Don't be silly. It's just..." His eyes met hers. "Two months really is a long time to be gone. And I'll worry about you."

Sakura drew in a breath, trying to process the meaning of his words. He would worry about her? What did that entail? Did he already worry about her when they were in the same city and he wasn't with her?

But the questions died before Sakura could speak them, and instead, she pressed her lips together for a moment before asking a more normal one. "For what?"

Syaoran shrugged. "I don't know. Common criminals. Thugs. Paparazzi."

Sakura laughed. "Well, I'm sure you don't have to be concerned about me there. But I'll try not to make you worry."

Syaoran smiled. "Thanks."

They sat in prolonged silence, Sakura wondering for what felt like the millionth time what she would call this relationship she had with Syaoran. Of course, she knew that she loved him. But what was she to him?

He worried about her—and often, it sounded like. What did that mean?

The waves pulled calmly onto the shore before receding again. In a handful of hours, Syaoran really would be gone. Sakura would have to get used to a routine of which Syaoran would play no part—at least, not physically—for two months. The pang she felt in her heart at the thought made her want to double over and clutch her stomach.

"Oh, by the way," Syaoran said suddenly, and he reached into the console to fish out a CD. He handed it to her. "Here's that demo you sat in on."

"'Today'?" Sakura asked, taking the CD from him.

Syaoran nodded. "You said you liked the song, so I burned a copy for you." He grinned. "This one has your original vocal stylings at the end."

Sakura blushed and laughed. "Oh, thank you! This is wonderful. I loved the song. I'll listen to it every night before I sleep while you're gone. Maybe that'll make me feel like you're still here."

Syaoran smiled at her. "Good. I hope it does."

As Sakura reached over to place the CD in her bag, she became aware that Syaoran was watching her with a soft expression, the tenderness in his eyes so undeniable that she felt compelled to ask.

Syaoran, what am I to you, exactly?

But before Sakura could will the words out, Syaoran opened his own mouth to speak.

"You know, I never said thanks," he said quietly.

"Oh? For what?"

"For today. Just—after all the chaos with the press and Matsura and Mizuki—"

The rest of Syaoran's words turned into a garbled rush as Sakura heard the actress's name. That was right. Syaoran had rejected his ex-girlfriend, who had been the love of his life, not two days ago. And he had been in pain. And even if he had come to her, Sakura, he had still been hurting over Mizuki—someone of his same social caliber, of his status. A current strong and painful crackled through her chest.

Sakura shut her eyes for just a moment. Maybe when he comes back—maybe that will be the time to ask. But even then, she thought, she would still just be her, Sakura. She swallowed and opened her eyes again.

"—and anyway, I just wanted to tell you thanks for taking my mind off of things. I really couldn't have asked for a better day away," Syaoran finished as Sakura tuned back in.

"Of course!" she responded, hoping her enthusiasm didn't sound too forced. "I'm glad I could help." Sakura reluctantly looked at the clock on the dashboard, knowing it was late. She let out a dejected sigh. "On that note, it's past midnight. I think my father will be up waiting."

"Ah," Syaoran said. "Say no more." He turned the key in the ignition, and the engine roared to life.

The car pulled away from the ocean, and Sakura stared out the window, wondering if she would ever find the right time to ask Syaoran her burning questions—and if she would ever feel like she was worth enough to ask them.

Syaoran rolled his eyes as he placed a pair of sunglasses on to avoid the flashes from the cell phone cameras. He and his team had not publicized that he was leaving today, but of course, any fan at the airport could take a photo on a phone and send it out immediately.

Damn technology, he thought to himself. He distinctly heard Sakura's voice in his head telling him he was an old man, and he bit back a grin.

Matsura clapped a hand on Syaoran's shoulder. "I'll see you in two months. You'd better come back with the most beautiful voice of all time with all that vocal training we're giving you out there."

Syaoran laughed. "My voice is already beautiful, Matsura."

Meiling looked up from her phone. "Okay, so your flight is landing in Hong Kong about five hours after you take off, and you're staying there for two days before you head to New York. People from the international branch of the label should be meeting you at the airport to pick you up."

"Got it."

"Well... Don't be a stranger, okay?" Meiling said softly, eyes sad now.

"Like you'd let me be," Syaoran said playfully, but he felt the sadness, too. There had been no period of time where Meiling had not been an active part of his life since he had started in the music business."Take care of yourself," he said, pulling Meiling into a hug.

Meiling scoffed. "You take care of yourself. I'll be coming to visit in a month, so just survive until then for me, would you?"

Syaoran laughed. "I'll try."

"Tell Auntie Yelan I send my best."

"Of course." Syaoran pulled his suitcase as he turned to head to his terminal. He took a few steps, and then stopped and looked at Meiling. "Also, Meiling... Watch out for Sakura, would you?"

Meiling saw the concern in his eyes and couldn't muster a smart comeback. "Of course."

With that, Syaoran walked past the threshold, and within a few seconds, he was gone.

Hi, everyone! Oh, my gosh, I am SO sorry I haven't updated this story in so long. I started law school a couple of days after I posted that last chapter, and it truly turned my life upside down for a long while. Even a year and a half later, I'm still stealing time to write this. But I really wanted to finish this story, and believe it or not, I think about it all the time! I have missed writing tremendously, and I am really happy to be doing it again. I'll be shocked if I still have very many readers left, but I know there are a few of you out there who ask me from time to time if I'm going to update. The answer is yes! I'm going to try to continue updating from here on out. I can't make any promises as to how soon I post each chapter, but I can promise you I'll try not to wait a year and a half to post anything. Thank you so much to those of you who are still reading this. I really love you guys, and I'm just sad that I've probably lost touch with a lot of you over the last couple of years. But your loyalty and enjoyment of my writing mean the world to me.

As for the chapter, I feel like it was a bit...lackluster, which kept me stalling. I tried to perfect it, but I guess not every chapter can be jam-packed with action and fluff and drama and so on. But this chapter is a bridge to bigger things to come, and from here, things are going to get really crazy for Sakura and Syaoran—so I hope you guys are ready!

Please leave a review on your way out, as I'd love to know what you thought about the chapter! And thank you so much for waiting for me! If you guys have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to ask me via review or my tumblr!

Love,

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