Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, Clamp does. But I do own this story.

Pairings: Syaoran x Sakura, Eriol x Tomoyo

This page is a preview chapter and is not related in any way with the story/characters from Lies and Love.

MENDING MISTAKES

Chapter One

"Little White Lie"

"Ready to order sir?"

The middle-aged man looked up at the finely-dressed waiter and shook his head with a smile.

"I'm still waiting for my daughter," he informed, making him bow and take his leave to serve other customers in the restaurant.

Fujitaka looked around him, the restaurant was fancy. Too fancy in fact. Never in his life would he have imagined that he could afford to dine in such a luxurious place. But then again, a lot has happened in the past years.

'A lot indeed,' he thought to himself with a little smile until a familiar voice at the podium set up near the entrance took his attention.

A young lady, dressed in a sleeveless magenta ruffled blouse, black slacks and a pair of high heels of the same color as her blouse was talking to the man in a suit standing behind the podium.

Fujitaka smiled and raised his arm in the air just as the man pointed in his direction.

The lady smiled a huge smile before thanking the man and headed her way to their table.

"Father!" she said in a cheerful tone before hugging him tightly around the waist.

"It's great to see you again Sakura," Fujitaka whispered, hugging his only daughter, and only child for that matter. "You look even more beautiful now than the last time I've seen you!"

Sakura looked up at him and grinned before pulling back. "And you look even more handsome than the last time I've seen you!" she declared before a frown appeared on her features. "And thinner," she pointed out, "We only saw each other a week ago, aren't you eating well enough lately?"

Fujitaka chuckled lightly before waving off her statement and sitting back down on his chair. "Take a seat and let's order."

As if he's been eavesdropping their entire conversation, the waiter from earlier appeared instantly by their sides, handing them both menus. The father and daughter both ordered what they wanted and watched the waiter disappear to the kitchens before resuming conversation.

"So, how have you been this week?" Fujitaka asked, not wanting to resume their previous conversation.

Sakura smiled brightly at him. "Great! I've just been promoted, well, sort of. My boss told me about it this morning. My services are needed and I'll be working in another department next week, so now I have two jobs, but I was told to prioritize this new one for now. Although it's only temporary, but who knows where this will take me," she told him excitedly. 'And the new boss being too handsome for words isn't bad too,' she added in her thoughts. That wasn't something her father needed to know of course.

"I'm so proud of you," Fujitaka said, enjoying his daughter's happiness immensely.

"How about you? How have you been?"

"You know, same old, same old."

"Still reeling in the cash?" Sakura asked with a raise of a brow and a grin.

Fujitaka laughed at this. "I suppose you can say that. But you know how I am Sakura, I never spend the money I earn needlessly."

"I know," she replied with a small smile. "But I wish you would though. You know, spend a bit for yourself. Like, take a vacation of something. You of all people deserve it dad. You've worked yourself to death for the past years after all."

"I don't need material things to be happy Sakura. At my age, material things don't matter. That's suited more for you younger folks."

"Dad, you're only like, fifty four years old. Although you can't be considered as one of the 'younger folk' as you put it, you aren't that old either," she pointed out.

"I know, but there's only one thing left that would really make me happy," he said although in an unsure voice.

Sakura immediately knew what he was going to say. This was her and her father's routine. They go out for lunch or dinner once every three months. They've done this ever since she moved to Tokyo for work and left him in Tomoeda where he works as a college professor if he wasn't out on his trips overseas for expeditions.

Lately though, her father's been insisting they go out more frequently. Last month, they had dinner twice. And this month, they've had dinner four times already, every Friday night since the first week. And every time they were out, there was a particular topic he always brought up.

She looked up at her father almost awkwardly, expecting him to say it.

"And that is to see you happily married," he said with a smile, making Sakura sigh in exasperation. That was it, his one true wish. The one thing he kept mentioning to her for almost 5 months now. Her marriage.

"Dad," she responded, almost in a whiney tone. "You know I-"

Fujitaka held up a hand to silence her, which she did immediately.

"I know what you're going to say Sakura, you've told me the same thing ever since I started telling you to get married."

Sakura, in spite of herself, smiled as he said this.

"Which is why I've taken matters into my own hands," he added with a grin.

That was something new. Sakura could almost feel her jaw fall and hit the table beneath her, her face holding an expression of pure disbelief.

"What?" she asked, trying not to scream.

"I've already contacted a few of your old classmates," he said, sounding excited. "Some of them didn't agree, but a few of them are willing to see you, to catch up. Of course, I didn't tell them you were going to marry them, but this is a start."

She looked at her father with a horrified look on her face.

"Y-You contacted my old classmates? From Tomoeda? Oh my God!" she cried out loud, earning a few looks from the people seated close to their table.

Fujitaka bowed his head at them and apologized before turning to his daughter. "Keep your voice down, you're getting unwanted attention," he scolded in a whisper.

Leaning forward on the table, Sakura glared at him slightly with a pout on her glossy pink lips. "You're the one who's getting unwanted attention! I can't believe you actually called up my old classmates from Tomoeda!" she hissed.

"I didn't have a choice. You seemed like you weren't at all interested in getting a husband. You're already 26 years old Sakura, it's time to think about settling down," he told her in a serious tone, making her frown. "If you won't find suitable husbands for yourself, then I'll do it for you!"

Sakura moaned, letting her head fall onto her arms on the table. Her father's actually planning to arrange a marriage for her? The era for arranged marriages has long past, these were modern times, modern days. The last time she ever heard of arranged marriages from her family was…well, never.

"Dad, you can't do this to me," Sakura told him with a pleading look on her face. "Arranged marriages always end badly. You've seen it on movies and they say so on the news too. There are reports of unhappy couples resulting in divorce! Or suicide! Or even worse, murder!"

Worry crossed Fujitaka's eyes as she said this, and Sakura saw it. Taking the opportunity, Sakura started working up her defense.

"Do you really want to make me unhappy dad? Do you really want me to end up having a divorce? Or to commit suicide? Or to commit murder?" she pressed, biting the smile threatening to appear on her lips at the ludicrousness of her words.

Fujitaka raised a brow at her. He knew Sakura all too well than to ever commit suicide, let alone commit murder. As for divorce, she was a sweet girl; he knew she'll manage to carry on a decent enough marriage.

"That won't work on me Sakura, you're getting yourself a husband and that's that. Unless you find yourself a respectable husband on your own, then I'll tell your old high school classmates that you'll see them for lunch or dinner sometime next week."

"B-But I do have a respectable husband coming up!" Sakura blurted out without thinking. Just the mere mention of her having to meet and actually talk to her old classmates, and even worse, her high school classmates, was enough to send her to say anything that might stop him.

"You have a respectable husband coming up?" Fujitaka repeated in complete surprise.

Sakura fidgeted in her seat, racking her brain for anything to cover for the straight-forward, thoughtless lie she had just told her father. She sighed and swept her bangs from her face and looked at him determinedly and a fake smile on her lips.

"Yes, I do. I-I didn't want to tell you because you might make a-a big deal out of it, that's all," she said with a firm nod of her head as if she too actually believed it.

"Really now? Who is this man? Where did you meet him?" he asked, very interested.

She laughed awkwardly and gulped. "Err…I met him at work. H-He's a great guy really. You know, nice, hardworking, serious but fun to be with, rich, and handsome of course."

"I'm very happy to hear that Sakura! What's his name? When will I get to meet this fine young man?"

"You can't!" she shouted immediately, surprising her father. "H-He's really busy you see. I mean, you know, work and all. He has a much higher rank than me at work, and I'm busy enough a-as it is. So he's even much, much, much busier than me."

Fujitaka nodded in understanding before smiling at her, looking contented now than he had for all those times they've had dinner together.

"What is his name?" he asked yet again.

This time, Sakura couldn't avoid it. She's avoided it because even she didn't know the name of her supposed-soon-to-be-husband because he doesn't even exist!

"Sakura?" Fujitaka asked, seeing that his daughter was in a mental battle against herself.

"Li!" Sakura blurted out without thinking. She mentally slapped herself as the name sunk into her.

"Li? So he's Chinese then? What's his complete name?" he inquired.

"Uhm…Xiao Lang, Li Xiao Lang," Sakura muttered almost regretfully. "W-We usually call him Syaoran though," she added in a resigned voice, remembering the information written on one of the many profile sheets her current boss had given her earlier that day.

"Li Xiao Lang, huh? Well, I'm happy for you Sakura! So, how serious are you with him? When are you having your wedding?"

"Uhh…before my next birthday I guess. I mean, I told him I didn't want to be twenty seven when I get married to him," she said with a small smile, making her father laugh lightly and nod in agreement.

"That's good, very good. I can't wait! It would be wonderful to have a spring wedding, but then again, that would mean you would get married around March next year, that's too late in my opinion. Although, having a winter wedding really isn't that bad. It could be quite romantic for both of you, with the snow and all. Don't you agree?" he asked.

Sakura could tell that her father was really into it. Now she was guilty.

"Look dad, about that, I-"

"Your order sir and madam," the waiter interrupted with a bow.

Both looked up as the man slowly set up their dishes in front of them and their drinks beside their plates.

"I'm really happy for you Sakura. Really I am," Fujitaka said as the waiter left. "But let's talk about this later. You must be famished from all the work you've done today. Let's eat!"

Sakura sent a small smile to her father before picking up her fork and knife and silently started to cut up her food.

'At least he's happy,' she thought to herself with a glance at her now more cheerful looking father. 'A little white lie shouldn't hurt.'

At that point, she had no idea just how wrong she was.

To Be Continued...

Mending Mistakes is a COMPLETED story currently uploaded here in FFN.

Please head on over to my profile and find it in my list of authored stories for the continuation!

Raeny