Disclaimer: CCS does not belong to me.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm the reason this time I updated so late is… homework. Yep. Homework. -- I hate high school… it's so… busy… xD Maybe it's just because I'm a stupid freshie. You never know… most people think I'm a junior at first glance though… I'm getting old. x

I have so many ideas for new stories… but not the time to write them! I wish that these things would just somehow pop onto paper like a masterpiece.. if that's what you can call my writing… I know it's not very good Hey! If I get a really good tip on ways to either improve my writing or the story in a review, I'll update within a week!

This is my shoutout to you… a sort of freebie. xD Don't forget to review!

Hidden Secrets

Chapter Twenty-One

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There were many rumors flying around that day. For two days already, Kinomoto Sakura and Li Syaoran have not been seen… together in any way.

"Do you think they got into a fight?"

"Oh! I heard that Li-kun cheated on Sakura-chan with-"

"Well, I heard that she-"

"SHH! Here she comes!"

The hall grew silent as the girl in question stepped past everyone to her locker. Her footsteps could be heard reverberating throughout the room, and everyone seemed to hold their breath.

Kinomoto Sakura was perfect. She never got herself involved with rumors, unless of course, they were good ones. The kind about how she saved a kitty stuck on a tree, won the championship for best cheerleading captain, and so forth. What more, she had never confirmed her relationship with the new kid, Li Syaoran. This made the school feel even more curious.

"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo ran over, cutting through the silence with her high-pitched voice. "Will you come over to my house today? I've finished making your dress!"

Immediately, whispers regarding dresses darted through the students. Was Sakura going on a date? Maybe she was invited to a party. All possible connections to the word "dress" were made, and Sakura did her best to ignore it all.

"Arigatou, Tomoyo-chan," she smiled at her best friend. "Let' go to class."

When Tomoyo said nothing in response, but instead fixed her eyes on something just past the emerald-eyed girl, Sakura noted the sudden silence in the hall and summoned up her perfect composure before turning around.

"Ohayo, Li-kun," she smiled placidly before closing her locker loudly and nodding at him before walking away. Within a second, all the student population was in an uproar about the meeting of the two quarreling lovers.

Rolling her eyes, Tomoyo ran to catch up with Sakura, leaving a slightly hurt and confused Syaoran still staring at his partner's locker, the "ohayo" greeting he was about to give her still on the tip of his tongue.

When class began, he passed a note up to her, which read "Hey, how've you been? You left so suddenly the other day… are you okay?"

Since he sat directly behind her, they didn't have to worry about the note being intercepted and read, but the entire class noticed the transaction, each and every one of them waiting to see if Sakura would respond to his note or not.

She didn't. It was crumpled in her hand and deposited in her coat pocket.

At this, Syaoran was even more confused and, being the dense little boy he was, was beginning to get the feeling that maybe he had done something wrong. The rest of the class, of course, was quickly writing notes of their own and passing them hurriedly to each other.

"Sakura!" he whispered, but to no avail. Even if she had heard him, she wasn't going to respond, and he sat through the entire school day, not knowing what was wrong or what he could do to fix it… and that feeling bothered him. Normally, he would have cared… Mei Ling got into one of those "moods" every once in a while, and he never worried. But for some reason, he was upset when he couldn't fix what was bothering his Sakura.

His…?

"And one two three four five six seven and eight! Turn one two three four five six seven and jump!"

"Sakura-chan seems to be very focused today, doesn't she?" Rika smiled as she stopped to take a drink. "Cheerleading is extra vigorous today… not that that's a bad thing, of course."

Chiharu gave her a knowing look, "It's almost as if she's trying to forget about something…?"

"I didn't say anything! Sakura-chan has just become much more focused on her role as the cheerleading captain is all I said," Rika protested.

Naoko popped up behind them, scaring both the girls. "Why don't we just ask her then? It's not as if we're just another group of girls spreading rumors… we're Sakura-chan's friends!"

"You're right," Rika nodded. "We'll just go talk to Sakura-chan and-"

"Talk to her about what?" the three girls jumped nearly five feet when they heard Syaoran's voice echoing from right behind them.

"L-Li-kun! I didn't hear you walk up!" Rika struggled to still her pounding heart and put on the friendliest smile she could muster. "What's wrong, you seem a little distracted?"

Syaoran blinked. He was distracted. There was a very good reason the three girls had been scared half to death. Subconsciously, he had already begun to walk around in his most familiar state… spy mode. They could not possibly have had any indication of his presence until the moment he spoke. But in order for him to do something so unconsciously… he had to be very distracted. Doing something so suspicious was a major taboo when trying to pass for someone "normal".

"I was just… hey… has Sakura been acting a little odd lately?" he ran a hand through his hair and sighed. "I think she might be bothered by something."

Chiharu snorted. "I think you might be bothered by something… but we were just going to ask Sakura-chan about that… you didn't do anything to upset her, did you?"

Did I? Syaoran thought for a moment, but came up with nothing. "Hey… do you know what might upset Sakura, then? … I can't come up with anything…" Then he had a revelation. He remembered the time they had taught students martial arts in the other school. "She isn't on her… well… is it her time of the month?"

A vein formed on Naoko's forehead, but remembering that he was well respected throughout the entire school, she resisted the urge to slap him. "I don't think that's the problem Li-kun."

"I see… I think I'm just going to go ask her then," Syaoran nodded and, satisfied with his decision, he began walking over to where Sakura was standing.

The girls stood there for a moment. "Do you think we should tell him not to go? Sakura-chan will probably kill him."

"No… he can handle it… I think…"

"Li-kun! Wait! I don't think you should-"

"Oh… too late. He's already talking… brace yourselves girls… here comes the… what? She's not slapping him! … let's move in closer so we can hear…" Chiharu led the group over closer to where Sakura and Syaoran were conversing.

"Are you sure nothing is bother you Sakura?" Syaoran frowned, concerned. "You're definitely acting odd."

She smiled back at him serenely… it was a look they all recognized. It was one Sakura used to feign innocence… in this case, ignorance. "Am I really? Hm… maybe I drank too much coffee this morning… I didn't get enough sleep." Which was true, she had spent the night thinking about why she was… hurt, by Syaoran's actions. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." That, on the other hand, was a lie, and even the dense Chinese boy saw through it.

But he decided to leave her be for the time being. "I see… well, Ayumi wanted to ask if you could join us for a movie today… instead of the walk I promised you… can you make it?"

Sakura bit her lip and glanced anxiously at the clock on the gym wall… also something she did when she tried to avoid a subject. "Um… I'm kind of busy right now Syaoran… I'll talk to you later, okay?" She strode away quickly, with a strict command to the cheerleaders to continue practicing until she got back.

For a few seconds, Syaoran merely stared at her retreating back, but afterwards, he merely walked away, a worried look etched onto his face.

"So that's what happened… and that dense Li-kun probably doesn't even realize he broke poor Sakura-chan's heart with that Ayumi girl! And the nerve! He even asked her to join a movie with the two of them," Naoko frowned. "Come on! We have to go talk to Sakura-chan!"

"Chotto! Chotto matte! Sakura-chan!"

Sakura turned around, surprised. "Rika, Chiharu, Naoko-chan… what is it?"

"Ne… we heard what happened between you and Li-kun… we think you should go to the movie!" Rika nodded vigorously. "I mean… put a little bit more pressure on Li-kun… make him understand that he has to choose between you and that Ayumi-san."

"W-What are you talking about?" she laughed nervously. "It's nothing like that… you misunderstood. Ayumi-san is only an old friend of Syaoran's here to visit. Plus, there's nothing going on between the two of us anyway. I don't really feel like watching a movie either…"

Naoko took her hand and stared straight in Sakura's emerald eyes. "Don't lie to us. You like him… and this Ayumi-baka is getting in the way!"

"Look you guys… the truth is, Syaoran kind of reminded my of this guy I once liked… but that's it. I've gotten to know him a little better, and I'm more interested in just being friends." Sakura's mind screamed 'great lie!', and it was right. The trio looked around nervously, not knowing whether or not to trust Sakura on this point.

"Hm… Chiharu-chan, don't forget to work on your pirouettes… they still need a little work," the cheerleading captain giggled before waving at her friends. "I'm going home early today. Tell the squad, okay? Something came up with my brother."

"Bye bye, Sakura-chan…" the girls chimed, still confused. They looked at each other wordlessly and shuffled slowly back to the gym.

"Go there to pressure him into picking one of us? But I was never one of the choices from the very beginning…" Sakura mumbled to herself. "The two of them do make a pretty cute couple… I should just let go." But the image of Syaoran and Ayumi kissing in her mind was still bothering her.

She imagined the two of them, holding hands, watching the latest romantic film… Sakura shook her head. She had to think about other things.

Idly, she began sifting through her closet, looking at all the wonderful things Tomoyo had made for her… there wasn't a single article of her (very colorful and full) closet that wasn't personally designed by her best friend.

"Oh… that's right… Tomoyo-chan wanted me to come over the dress fitting," Suddenly completely sapped of strength, Sakura flopped down onto her bed and picked up her cell phone, dialing Tomoyo's number.

"Moshi moshi? Oh! Yeah, it's me, Sakura… About that kimono… sorry, can't make it today. Other plans? No… I mean… yes… yes of course… Um… I need to reorganize my closet… I noticed how messy it was… okay… sorry… no, nothing is wrong… how messy is it? Well, it's in need of some work… no I don't need help… okay… okay.. bye bye, Tomoyo-chan," by the time she hung up, Sakura was completely out of breath. "Tomoyo-chan sure knows how to talk for a long time."

She looked aimlessly at her closet. It wasn't in need of organizing… nothing in her room was. The very fact that everything had to be ready to go by the time she left for her next mission kept her from being a slob.

"Might as well re-order them by color instead of date then…" As she carefully took down each one of Tomoyo's masterpieces, her eyes caught onto a small pink shirt… Tomoyo's first work of art. It was cute yet brilliantly simple… it was what had caught her mother's designer's eyes in the first place. Tomoyo was now making thousands of designs a year… helping her mother's company along quite well.

It was a very faded pink… almost white, and instead of going on top of the shoulders, it wrapped around the model's arms. It was short, cut right under her bellybutton, and the soft frills lining the edges made it look very sweet. There was a white string strung through the center, right under the chest, and it tied to the side in a bow, so that the middle ruffled up just a little bit, adding texture to the otherwise simple shirt. Tomoyo was a genius.

Laying the shirt quietly aside, Sakura continued sorting through all her clothes, she had gotten through all the colors, she found a pair of old, baggy green jeans. "This has to be the one thing Tomoyo-chan didn't make me… but approved of me wearing… what was it? Wearing a super cutesy top and a pair of boyish, super-baggy jeans clashes, but looks great over all?" Sakura laughed quietly to herself. Tomoyo's fashion tips were becoming more and more interesting by the second. She actually understood why the six-year-old version of her best friend made her wear certain things.

She laid that aside as well and finished putting everything back into her closet.

"Might as well try it on… does it still fit?" Sakura swiftly changed into the outfit she had laid aside and smiled at her reflection in the mirror.

It looked like her. Not cheerleader Sakura, not super-spy Sakura, not that fake Sakura many people knew… but Kinomoto Sakura. What she had been before all those masks were required for both work and life.

"I wonder what Syaoran would say if he saw me like this… would he think 'wow… she's so incredibly normal?'" She mused. "Maybe… 'there's nothing special about her after all'…"

Just the very thought of him made her mind immediately rush to the image of him holding hands with Ayumi… leaning down for the romantic kiss that would seal the date…

"Ugh! Stop thinking about that!" Sakura shook her head firmly, sighing. Her gaze resting lazily on her desk, she noticed the small, white packet at the very side of the table. Picking it up, she heard Tomoyo's "emergency image kit" resound in her head. Laughing, Sakura opened it up, and her eyes widened, seeing how incredible the contents were.

The "kit" had been given to her as a present only a few months ago, but she hadn't had the chance to open it yet… the equipment was amazing.

The shimmering pink-white lip gloss… innocent white eye shadow… nearly-invisible pink glitter… cute Sakura blossom chopstick for her hair… and of course, a small, heart necklace to top the entire outfit off.

Carefully applying all the makeup, pinning up her hair, and fastening the small chain around her neck, Sakura admired the image in the mirror. "Tomoyo-chan… your survival kit does you justice."

"But just putting this on would be a waste… I'll go for a walk then… the walk me and Syaoran should have gone on…" she whispered to herself. Glancing at the clock, she noticed that it was only four. "I guess it's still pretty early…"

Stepping outside of her home, she was immediately hit by a passing cold wind. "I forgot my jacket…" cursing under her breath, she decided not to go back in and instead walked on. "I won't be out long anyway…"

Unfortunately for her, there was absolutely nothing going on in the streets that day. No little kids to watch run around, no music, no nothing. There was nothing to do. Unconsciously, Sakura's feet drew her towards the place her mind was most focused on – the movie theatre. By the time she realized it, she was already standing in front of the ticket booth, looking carelessly at the posters for all the latest movies.

"I'll bet they're watching… that one," Sakura's eyes found a romance film. "The Notebook… sounds so American."

"Sorry, we're not watching the American movie…" Sakura jumped three feet into the air before turning around, her emerald eyes staring straight into two amber orbs. "But I'm glad you could make it after all."

She blinked. "Um… actually I was just passing through… as you can obviously see, I'm kind of dressed to go to a… a get-together… with some…" the disappointed to look on Syaoran's face was almost unbearable. "Oh what the heck. A movie beats the get-together anyway."

"Great!" Sakura turned, behind her was a very giggly Ayumi. "I just bought tickets for the three of us! I hope you don't mind watching The Ring. I know it's old, but it's one of my favorites! They're having a rerun at this theatre for just one week!"

"The Ring? Isn't that a…"

"It's definitely not The Notebook, but hey, both me and Ayumi are horror fanatics," Syaoran grinned, his arm snaking around Sakura's own, as if ensuring that she wouldn't run away. "Come on! Let's go."

There were two prevailing thoughts running through Sakura's head.

One: Syaoran was holding her hand… well, her arm.

Two: Horror movies… she was terrified of horror movies.

The first sent blushes to her face, and she kept stealing looks at Ayumi who was walking casually next to Syaoran, holding his other arm, not seeming to mind at all that he was currently holding Sakura's as well. The latter sent warning signs to her brain, and her entire body screamed for her to stop… but his warm touch seemed to melt her very bones and she followed him wherever he pulled her.

"Popcorn?" he grinned. She nodded. Even in line his grip was firm. There was no way she could run away… not that she was sure why she would want to… making an excuse during the scariest parts would probably take care of the entire movie… plus, Syaoran didn't know she was scared.

The image of Syaoran teasing her endlessly about her secret fear of ghosts was both unbearable and amusing.

"Let's go!" Sakura gave a start as Syaoran dragged her into the theatre room. Commercials had already begun to play. Something about the latest Detective Conan movie… then something about Inuyasha… Card Captor Sakura…

"Syaoran… you can let go of my arm now," Sakura gave him a weak smile as they sat down.

He gave her a wary look, but released her nonetheless.

The three of them sat back and watched as the screen turned black, and the eerie white letters of "The Ring" appeared onto the screen.

Sakura gulped.

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To Be Continued…

Hehehehehe. What do you think? REVIEW!

Baka – idiot

Moshi moshi – telephone equivalent of "hello?"

Arigatou – thank you

Chotto Matte (kudasai) – please wait