Chapter 8

"Happy birthday!" Sakura said to him when he opened the door.

"Thank you, Sakura." Eriol thanked her with a smile and stepped aside to let her in.

Sakura stepped inside and Kero floated up from her bag.

"Happy birthday, Eriol!" He greeted the young mage.

"Thank you, Kero." Eriol thanked him.

They walked along the hallway into the kitchen area with Kero floating alongside them. "I baked you a cake. It's not the best, but I hope you'll like it." Sakura told him.

"I'm sure I will like it." Eriol told her, his smile got bigger.

"Sakura!" Nakuru greeted her from her place near the kitchen counter. "Are you here to celebrate Eriol's birthday? Oh hello, Kero."

"Hi, Nakuru. Yes, I am." Sakura put the box on the counter and turned to greet Spinnel. "Hi, Spinnel."

"Hello, Sakura." Spnnel gave her a small smile in return of her own big smile. The cat-like creature had been warming up to her more and Sakura was very happy.

Soon, they were all sitting around the table, eating cake, and drinking tea, except for Spinnel, of course.

"I can't believe that it's been a year since our battle." Sakura told Eriol later as they sat in the garden. Kero and the other guardians were hanging out somewhere in the house.

"Neither can I. Things have been quite different since then." Eriol nodded. A year ago, he had lost all hopes that Sakura would ever want to talk to him anymore and now, she had declared that he was one of her best friends, something that he certainly had not expected from her, but it was very much welcomed.

"You're right. Things are so different now. We're going to Junior High next week!" Sakura said excitedly.

"Just after your birthday." Eriol pointed out and Sakura giggled.

"Junior High… I wonder how that's going to be like." Sakura wondered aloud. "But at least we're all still going to the same school."

"Yes." Eriol said and then got to his feet. "Seeing that it's the anniversary of our battle, how about a spar?" He grinned.

"You're on!" Sakura jumped to her feet.

On Sakura's birthday, Tomoyo invited her, Kero and Syaoran to her house to celebrate Sakura's birthday together.

"Happy birthday, Sakura!" Tomoyo hugged her friend as Sakura showed up. "Li is already inside. Come on in."

They made their way to Tomoyo's siting room. When they entered, Syaoran stood up from the sofa.

"Happy birthday, Sakura." Syaoran said to Sakura.

"Thank you, Syaoran!" Sakura thanked him with a big smile on her face, making Syaoran blush slightly.

"C'mon, Sakura. Blow the candles!" Tomoyo said as she, Syaoran and Kero sat around the table where the birthday cake was.

Sakura blew the candles and they started to celebrate. They chatted all afternoon happily as they talked about starting Junior High in a few days.

"Thank you very much, Tomoyo!" Sakura thanked her friend as she and Syaoran were getting ready to leave.

"You're welcome, Sakura!" Tomoyo said. She was glad that Sakura and Syaoran seemed to have a good time as they talked and laughed together.

Sakura and Syaoran walked together until they reached the intersection.

"Thank you for celebrating my birthday with me, Syaoran!" Sakura thanked him.

"Ah, of course. I had a great time." Syaoran smiled at her.

"Me too!" Sakura gave him a bright smile.

They parted ways and Sakura headed home to have a birthday dinner at home.

"I'm home!" Sakura announced as she entered her house. She went to the kitchen and found her father and Eriol in the kitchen.

"Oh, hi Sakura! Welcome home!" Fujitaka greeted her happily as he was preparing for dinner. Eriol had come by earlier to help him bake Sakura's birthday cake. By then, Eriol had been a regular guest in the Kinomoto's household, just like she was a regular in his house. So much so that Sakura had given him his own slippers for him to wear when he visited. If he wasn't hanging out with Sakura, he would be spending his time there talking with Fujitaka.

"Happy birthday, Sakura." Eriol greeted her.

"Thanks, Eriol!" Sakura smiled widely at him.

Sakura, Eriol, Kero, Fujitaka, Touya and Yukito sat around the dining table having dinner together and then Fujitaka brought out the cake that he had baked for her. Sakura blew the candles for the second time that day.

"Ah, twelve." Touya said. "You know, that's when monster usually grows a lot on size. I can already see your feet getting bigger, Sakura."

"Touya!" Sakura shook her fists at her brother.

A couple of hours later, Sakura and Eriol stood outside the front door as he was getting ready to go home.

"Thanks for coming." Sakura thanked him sincerely.

"You're welcome." He smiled at her and then waved his hand and there was a single Cherry Blossom flower on his palm. "For you. Happy birthday."

Sakura blushed slightly, but she had a big smile on her face. "Thank you!" She took the flower from his hand and held it gently in her own hands.

"I'll see you on the first day of school. I'll wait for you at the intersection, okay?' Eriol said. Now that Touya had graduated high school and wouldn't be yelling at her to hurry up anymore, Sakura wanted to start waking up early so that she wouldn't be late for school. Eriol had offered to walk with her to school. That way, hopefully she would have more motivation to wake up early because if she were late, then he would be too.

"Are you sure you're okay with that? I mean, you don't have to." Sakura said worriedly.

"Of course." Eriol reassured her.

"Okay then. See you! Please be careful walking home." Sakura said. They bid each other farewell and he left.

"Good morning everyone!" Sakura greeted her friends at the school gate.

"Good morning, Sakura!" Tomoyo greeted her with a big smile, but it faltered slightly when she saw Eriol walking beside Sakura.

Greetings were exchanged and they made their way to the assembly hall for the opening ceremony.

"I hope we're all in the same class together." Rika said afterwards as they walked to their potential classrooms to see which class they'd been assigned to. Much to their delight, everyone was still in the same class together.

"This is great!" Sakura said looking around. They even had similar seating arrangements, the only difference being Rika and Chiharu were seated at the other side of the classroom, away from the rest of the gang. In the last row and corner, Syaoran sat behind Sakura, with Eriol across from him and Tomoyo in front of Eriol, beside Sakura.

"You look so cute in the new uniform, Sakura!" Tomoyo said enthusiastically during lunch as she, Sakura and Syaoran sat together to eat their lunches. "Right, Li?"

Syaoran blushed at Tomoyo's comment. "Uhm, yeah." He mumbled.

"Thank you! You two look great too!" Sakura said with a big smile on her face, making Syaoran blush even more. Tomoyo smiled happily.

They ate lunch and chatted about their new school and how it was different from their elementary school in terms of the teachers, classmates, and the lessons.

A few months later…

"No!" Sakura cried as one of her wings was hit by a blast and she plummeted down to the ground. But instead of hitting the ground, she was caught by a whirlwind of air and was lowered gently on the ground.

"What were you doing? You're distracted." Eriol approached her.

"I'm sorry. I just…" Sakura got to her feet and looked down on the ground. "I'm sorry." She said again.

"Sakura, is everything okay?" Eriol noted her troubled look and was instantly worried about her.

Sakura let her staff turn back into a key. "I, I need to talk to you about something."

Eriol recalled his own staff and gestured towards the chairs and table.

They sat down and Sakura looked down at her clasped hands on her lap as she gathered her thoughts.

"I, it's about Syaoran…" Sakura started. "He, ah, yesterday, he said that he has feelings for me." Sakura finally said. "He said… He said that likes me and asked me to be his girlfriend." She continued. Because Sakura was looking down at her hands, she'd missed the pain that flashed across Eriol's face.

'This is it. He finally told her and she's going to tell me that this would be the last of our sessions.' Eriol thought. The day that he dreaded the most had arrived. He knew this day was coming. He had prepared himself for this day, but nothing could prepare him for the pain that he was feeling right now. Never in his life, or in his previous life, had he ever felt this kind of pain before. But then again, he had never been in love either. 'No wonder Clow had stayed away from love.'

Eriol was fully aware that neither Syaoran nor Daidouji liked the arrangement that he had with Sakura and the moment Sakura became Syaoran's girlfriend, he would do anything to prevent her from seeing Eriol again. As if that wasn't painful enough, he would have to watch from the sidelines as Syaoran would be the one who would make her smile, make her laugh, make her happy. 'As long as she's happy, then I'm content.' He told himself.

The day before…

For weeks now, Tomoyo had been pushing Syaoran to tell Sakura how he felt.

"It's the perfect time, Li! Then you two can spend the summer holiday together!" Tomoyo had said to him before she left for her own summer holiday with her mom and Syaoran had to admit, it would be nice if they could spend the holiday together, as a couple.

"Sakura, can I, can we talk? There's something important that I want to tell you." Syaoran had called her on the phone a week after the start of the summer holiday.

"Of course, Syaoran! Where do you want to meet?" Sakura asked.

"The Penguin Park. Can we meet like, now?" Syaoran had spent the entire day, no, the entire week building up his courage and if he had delayed it further, he was afraid that he would chicken out.

"Sure. I can be there in about ten minutes. See you soon!" Sakura hung up and then left to meet Syaoran.

Ten minutes later, Sakura waved at Syaoran who was sitting on the swing, waiting for her. "Syaoran!" Sakura walked up to him. "Sorry I'm late."

"Oh, it's okay." Syaoran stood up to face her and he could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

"So, what do you want to talk about?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura…" Syaoran started and took a deep breath before continuing, "I, I…"

Sakura looked at him curiously as she waited.

Syaoran tried again. "Sakura, I like you. Will you be my girlfriend?" He finally said it. He had said it in a rush, but Sakura had definitely heard him because she stood there and stared at him in shock.

Present day…

"I understand." Eriol said with a hint of resignation. He understood that it would be difficult for her to tell him that she wouldn't be seeing him again for training sessions. Sakura was kind that way, she wouldn't want to hurt his feelings.

Sakura looked up at him sharply. "You… You do?" She asked, a surprise look across her face.

"Of course. I'm glad that you're happy, Sakura. He's a good guy. He'll take care of you." Eriol forced himself to smile as he said this, but his heart clenched painfully inside his chest.

Sakura's surprise turned into confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"You said he asked you to be his girlfriend? Is that not why you're distracted today?"

"Yes, he did. But that's not why I'm distracted today. I'm distracted because I feel really bad about it." Sakura told him.

"About…?" Eriol prompted. 'What's going on?' Eriol was confused now.

"I feel bad because I think I've hurt him when I rejected him." Sakura said.

Eriol blinked.

The previous day…

"Sakura? Please say something…" Syaoran said after a few seconds.

"I… Syaoran, I… I'm sorry." Sakura finally said after a few moments. "I, you're a great friend and I care about you so much, but I… not in that way. I'm so sorry." Sakura apologized again.

"Is it because of Yukito? That you still like him?" Syaoran didn't even know how he was feeling right now. He had been sure that she had liked him back, even Tomoyo had been sure too.

"No. It's just I don't feel the same way about you. That's all. It has nothing to do with Yukito or anyone else." Sakura tried to explain, but as she said it, an image of a certain blue haired boy appeared in her head.

They had stood there awkwardly before Syaoran finally said, "I understand, Sakura. I'm sorry." And then he had walked away.

Present day…

"You… rejected him?" Eriol asked, not believing what he'd just heard. His ears must be playing tricks on him.

Sakura nodded. "I did. I can't accept his confession because I don't feel the same way about him. It won't be fair for him, and for me too." Sakura paused. "But I think I've hurt him. What should I do, Eriol? Syaoran is a good friend and I care about him a lot, but now I've probably lost a friend."

"I think for now, there's nothing that you can do. Give him some time to think about it. Syaoran cares about you, Sakura. I don't think you've lost a friend. Things might not be easy at first, but you two have been friends for quite some time now, I'm sure it will be okay." Eriol said after a while. He wasn't one to take delight in other's misfortune, but a small part of him couldn't help but feel relieved that Sakura didn't feel the same way about Syaoran. Of course, it didn't mean that he would have a chance with her. For all he knew, Sakura also saw him as a friend and nothing more. But he had a chance now and he'd grasp at it with everything that he got.

Sakura thought about his words. "Yeah, I think you're right. I mean, things would be awkward at first, but I hope that he'll understand. Thank you, Eriol. I'm sorry again for being so distracted today."

"It's okay, Sakura." Eriol told her.

"Well, I suppose training's over for today. I got to go home and cook dinner." Sakura got to her feet and they walked to the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow or the day after, ok?" Sakura said at the door as she slipped on her shoes.

"Okay." Eriol agreed and then bid her farewell.