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Chapter 10

Sakura stared at him in surprise for a second, and then she blushed deeply. "Eriol, I…" She had to stop talking to calm herself down slightly as she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She then saw his red cheeks and it had helped in calming herself down, knowing that she wasn't the only one who was affected by this. She tried again. "I, I like you too and yes, I, I'd love to go out with you." Sakura was aware that her voice was shaking as she said this. She was in disbelief. She had been harbouring feelings for him for so long now, and she couldn't believe that he felt the same way for her too.

Eriol's face broke into a big smile on her answer. "Thank you."

They looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

"You're blushing." Sakura said with a hint of laughter in her voice a few seconds later.

"I am not." He tried to deny it, but even as he said it, he could still feel the slight warmth on his face.

"So, does it mean that we are together now?" Sakura blushed more as she said it.

"If, if you want to." He said, not wanting to push, letting her decide where they were going to go from here.

Sakura nodded. "I guess we are then..." She said shyly as she looked at his face and she could feel warmth spread across her chest. 'Oh my god! This is real!' Sakura thought to herself, still in disbelief.

Eriol himself was in disbelief. He had braced himself for her rejection, telling himself that even if she rejected him, they could still be friends, like Sakura and Syaoran. He told himself he'd be okay. But when she told him she liked him too, he was so happy and relieved and million other feelings, feelings that he had never, ever felt before. He wanted to pull her into his arms, but he held himself back. 'Play it cool, Hiiragizawa. You're going to scare her off.' He told himself.

"I can't believe I have a boyfriend…" Sakura said, more to herself.

"Imagine my surprise." Eriol muttered. "Two lifetimes of no relationship, and now I have a girlfriend. I can assure you, I'm definitely more surprised than you are." Eriol told her. They looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

Once they sobered up, Sakura thought of something and looked at him seriously. "Let's just enjoy it for ourselves for now."

"What do you mean?" Eriol asked curiously.

"Let's not tell anyone else about it just yet. Let it be our own little secret. If people find out, the guardians, Touya, Tomoyo… They'd want to get involved. I mean, look at what Tomoyo is doing right now. I just can't deal with that. And Touya…" Sakura didn't even want to think how her brother would react. "But of course, if you want to tell them, that's okay too. I just thought that since this is all new, even for us, we might want to navigate through it ourselves first, rather than having other people sticking their noses where they don't belong." Sakura didn't want to make it sound like she wanted to hide their relationship. She just didn't want to deal with other people's reaction right now and just wanted to enjoy some peaceful time with him as they navigated through this new relationship.

"It's kind of too late. Nakuru and Spinnel already know about it and I don't think it's a good idea for you to hide it from your guardians either. But I agree about the others. Let's just enjoy it ourselves first before people start to meddle." Eriol agreed.

"You're right. The guardians deserve to know. Since Nakuru and Spinnel already know, that leaves mine. I'm not sure about Yue's reaction, but I think he would keep it a secret if I ask him to. Kero though…" Sakura frowned. Kero sometimes spoke without thinking and he could accidentally spill any secret to anyone that he spoke to, including her Dad, Touya and Tomoyo.

"Kero could be a little impulsive, I agree. But he's loyal to you. Still, if you're not sure, you could always order him not to say anything." Eriol said.

"Order him?" Sakura now looked at him curiously.

"Yes. You know you can order your guardians to do or not to do something, right? They'll have no choice but to obey you." Eriol was surprised because it seemed like she didn't know about this. "They never told you?"

Sakura's eyes narrowed and her hand turned into a fist. "Those two! They never mentioned anything about it!"

"Must've slipped their minds." Eriol chuckled, but then said, "So, we agreed then? Just tell the guardians, but no one else?"

Sakura nodded. "I think that's for the best for now, especially Tomoyo. But we'll have to tolerate her trying to get me and Syaoran together. To be honest, it's getting old. Even Syaoran himself thinks so."

"She wouldn't like it when she finds out about us." Eriol was aware that Daidouji didn't like him and didn't think that it was a good idea for Sakura to get involved with him.

"Honestly, what's her problem?" Sakura wondered, but she wasn't about to let herself dwell on that. Whatever Tomoyo's problem was, as long as she steered clear of her own relationship, Sakura couldn't care less.

Eriol got to his feet and held his hand out to her. Sakura looked up at him, blushed slightly, but took it. Once she got to her feet, instead of letting go, Eriol kept her hand in his grasp. They looked down briefly at their joined hands and then smiled before they started to walk back into the house, holding hands.

They found Kero and Spinnel in the living room. Kero was looking at his phone and Spinnel was reading. The guardians looked up upon their entrance.

"Congratulations?" Spinnel said as he took note of their joined hands.

Kero, however, was a little slow on the uptake. "What do you mean?" He asked in confusion, but then he too, noticed that Sakura and Eriol were holding hands. He flew up to them. "You two?!"

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

Kero narrowed his eyes. "I can't believe this!"

"You're totally overreacting." Sakura told him calmly. "We don't want other people to know just yet, so we'll appreciate it if you can keep this to yourself, Kero." Then she narrowed her eyes. "Or I can order you to."

Kero spluttered and then glared at Eriol. "I can't believe you told her!"

"And I can't believe you didn't tell me!" Sakura scolded her guardian.

"I was…" Kero looked for an excuse. "I must've forgotten." He finally said.

"That's got to be the lamest excuse in the history of excuses." Spinnel commented.

Kero turned to the other guardian. "Shut up, Spinny!"

"Do not call me Spinny!" Spinnel yelled.

Kero turned back to Sakura. "Fine, I won't tell anyone. There's no need to be all dramatic and order me."

Sakura looked at him. "You, Yue and I will have to have a talk about this, Kero. Also, I mean it. Do not tell anyone."

"I get it, I get it. Geeze…" Kero told his Mistress. "Give me some credits, will you?" The other three looked doubtful. "Really?!" Kero yelled.

"Well…" Sakura started. "You could be a little irresponsible sometimes."

"Irresponsible?! Me?!" Kero looked his Mistress in disbelief.

Kero spent the remainder of their visit sulking, much to the others' amusement.

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Yue had looked somewhat embarrassed when his Mistress confronted him about his failure to inform her about her ability to issue them an order. "There's no excuse, Sakura. I'm sorry." He had apologized.

"That's okay, Yue. At least you apologize, unlike this one." Sakura gestured towards Kero who was still sulking. "Now, is there anything else that I need to know, or would I have to find out about them from Eriol too?"

Yue was quiet for a few seconds. "Nothing else, Sakura."

"Okay, now that we've gotten that out of the way, there's another reason why I've called you here." Sakura said. "What I'm about to tell you, Yukito wouldn't know, right?" She wanted to make sure first. Not that she didn't trust Yukito, but no one else had meant no one else other than their guardians.

"No. Our souls are not fused together. Whatever you're telling me, he wouldn't know." Yue, Yukito and Touya had decided that they would just leave this as it was for now.

Sakura thought about how she was going to tell Yue. Unlike Kero, Yue could be a little unpredictable. "Earlier today, Eriol asked me out and now we're officially dating." Sakura started and stopped, wanting to see his reaction first.

The only indication that he was surprised by this was the slight widening of his eyes. "Dating?"

"Yes, like Touya and Yukito?" Sakura frowned. Did he not understand the concept of dating?

"I know what dating is, Sakura. But I just…" Yue was at loss of words. "You and Eriol?"

Sakura nodded. "The reason I'm telling you this is because you're my guardian and you deserve to know, all four of you. But we're not ready for other people to know just yet. So, I would appreciate it if you don't tell anyone else, especially Touya."

The room was silent for a moment. "I understand." Yue finally said. "I will not tell anyone else, not Touya, not Yukito."

Sakura smiled gratefully at him. "Thank you, Yue." Then she turned to Kero. "Come on Kero, I've asked Yukito to buy that chocolate cake that you like on his way here."

No reaction. Sakura sweat-dropped slightly.

"Why is he sulking anyway?" Yue asked curiously.

"I told him he could be a little irresponsible sometimes." Sakura explained.

"Well, you're not wrong." Yue commented.

"You're not helping, Yue." Sakura told him. "C'mon now, Kero. I'll even let you eat two slices and the pudding, how about that, hm?" She sweetened the deal, literally.

Kero turned to look at her suspiciously. "Two slices?" He asked. Sakura nodded. "And the pudding?" He clarified. Sakura nodded again. Kero smiled widely then. "Well, why didn't you say so, Sakura!" He flew over to her and Sakura held him in her arms.

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For the remainder of their spring holiday, Sakura and Eriol hung out together everyday, mostly at his house though since they could be more at ease without having to hide their new relationship. Just like the previous years, on her birthday, Sakura spent her day with her friends and her evening with her family, plus Eriol.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine." Eriol told her as he noted her anxiety on their way to school on their first day back to school.

"Tomoyo could be very observant sometimes. She found out pretty quickly about our arrangement a few years ago because I slipped. I have to be more careful this time." Sakura told him worriedly.

"You don't have to sneak behind her back to see me this time." He pointed out.

"You're right. This should be easier." Sakura nodded. "And if she finds out, she finds out. Not the end of the world. We'll deal with that."

He smiled and nodded.

They arrived at school and went to their new classroom.

"Good morning!" Sakura greeted her friends. 'Act normal, Sakura. Act normal.' Sakura told herself.

Her friends greeted her, and Sakura put her bag on her desk. She glanced over at Eriol, but he was already busy talking to Yamazaki.

"Can't believe we'll be graduating next year!" Naoko said. "Then we'll be in High school!" They were in their third and last year of Junior High now.

Her friends nodded. "Pretty soon, we'll be in University, then get a job… Oh my…"

They continued to chat until the bell rang and they started class.

It had been two weeks since school started and Sakura was pleasantly surprised to find how easy it was to hide her relationship from everyone, Tomoyo included. Nobody seemed to suspect anything because Sakura and Eriol had been close even before they had started dating. As silly as it might be, Sakura felt some level of thrill, knowing that she and Eriol had their own secret that nobody else knew about. It made everything felt more special somehow. But of course, that wasn't the only secret that they had. There were many things that Eriol had told her that she would never tell anyone else, such as his parents, his childhood, his past and his relationship with Clow. Tomoyo also never knew about Sakura's father because Sakura wanted to keep that in the family.

Over the past few years, Sakura realized that her relationship with Tomoyo had changed. They used to share everything, but now, Sakura was keeping secrets from her. From her lessons with Eriol, to her father's secret, to now, her relationship. In the past, Sakura would've been excited to tell Tomoyo about having a boyfriend, but given the circumstances, Sakura was reluctant to tell her. Other than her new relationship, Sakura also started to stop sharing a few other things with her, although she didn't do it on purpose. In the past, whenever Sakura was excited about something new, such as a new book, things that she found cute or pretty, etc., she would share it with Tomoyo, but now, when something exciting happened, Sakura couldn't wait to tell Eriol instead, even before they started dating.

However, there was something that Sakura couldn't hide, even if she tried. It was her happiness. Being with Eriol had made her so happy, and sometimes she couldn't believe how happy she was.

"You've been especially cheerful these days, Sakura." Tomoyo observed.

"Well, it's out final year, Tomoyo. I'm just excited for High school." Sakura said. "Besides, we get to have a class trip this year. It's been forever since we had our last class trip."

Tomoyo frowned slightly. "We still have a whole year ahead of us though. But yes, the class trip is going to be exciting. When was the last time we had it?"

Sakura thought about it. "Uh, that trip to the ski resort in fifth grade, I think. We were supposed to go in sixth grade, but then there was that earthquake." She recalled. They had been disappointed when their class trip was cancelled that time, but they had donated the money to the earthquake victims. At least, it was for a good cause.

"Right, the ski trip." Tomoyo said with a hint of sarcasm. "When you almost died."

"You're exaggerating." Sakura said. "Eriol was there and he wasn't going to let anything happen to me."

"It wouldn't have happened in the first place if it wasn't because of him." Tomoyo pointed out.

"Let's not talk about that anymore, okay?" Sakura put an end to it. She wasn't in the mood to argue with Tomoyo about what had happened during those months.

"Okay." Tomoyo agreed. They then spent the rest of their lunch break talking about the upcoming class trip and where they could be going.

A few days later, Sakura was sitting at her desk, reading, when Tomoyo showed her something. "Sakura, look at this!"

It was a poster for Teddy Bear exhibition the day after.

"I saw that yesterday, Tomoyo. It was in the paper too." Sakura nodded. She and Eriol had planned to go together, but it looked like their plan was going to change.

"We should go together!" Tomoyo said excitedly.

Sakura sighed resignedly. Now, they really had to throw their plan out of the window. Tomoyo knew that Sakura loved Teddy bears and wouldn't have missed this. Besides, even if she managed to come up with some excuses, there was still a possibility that Tomoyo would be going and then she would see her there anyway. "Okay, we'll go."

Tomoyo either didn't notice her lack of enthusiasm or chose to ignore it. "We can ask Li again. I'm sure he'd be happy to go. Oh, and I heard that everyone else is going too. We can all go together."

"Okay." Things were getting worse. If everyone was going, Eriol would spend more time with Yamazaki instead of her. That would suck. 'So much for a date.' Sakura thought sullenly.

"It's settled then! I'll let everyone know!" With that, Tomoyo left and Sakura banged her head on her desk in frustration.

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"She didn't even tell you! She left you out!" Sakura said angrily later on their way home. As Sakura had feared, Eriol had been excluded when Tomoyo said that she was going to tell 'everyone'. He had found out about it from Yamazaki instead.

"Maybe she didn't have the chance to. I didn't talk to her throughout the day." Eriol said patiently.

Sakura sighed and decided to let it go. "Dad will be making dinner tonight so I don't have to go home right away. Let's go to your house." Sakura suggested.

He agreed and they walked to his house together.

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The next day, Sakura met her friends at he train station. She and Eriol had agreed not to go there together in case anyone got suspicious.

"Hey, guys!" Sakura greeted her friends as she reached them. Tomoyo, Chiharu, Yamazaki, Rika and Syaoran were all there.

"Hi, Sakura!" They greeted her.

"Right, we're just waiting for Naoko now." Tomoyo said.

Sakura was about to tell her that no, they were also waiting for Eriol, but Yamazaki beat her to it. "And Hiiragizawa too. I asked him to join us."

Tomoyo looked surprised, but she quickly hid it. Not fast enough though. Sakura saw it and it had confirmed her suspicion that Tomoyo had deliberately left him out and that had made her angrier. Even if Eriol wasn't Sakura's boyfriend, that was very petty of Tomoyo to have done that to any of their friends.

"You didn't tell him, Tomoyo?" Sakura couldn't stop herself. The day hadn't even started yet and now it was already ruined for her.

Tomoyo had the decency to look ashamed, but she said, "Oh, I must've forgotten."

'The lamest excuse in the history of excuses.' Sakura thought of Spinnel's words.

"Good morning everyone." Eriol appeared before she could say anything else.

They greeted him and he and Yamazaki quickly got to talking. He had glanced at her briefly, but he didn't say anything.

Naoko arrived a couple of minutes later and they went inside the station.

They arrived at the exhibition and Sakura's mood hadn't improved much. She had been ignoring Tomoyo throughout the train ride. Fortunately, Tomoyo seemed to have realized that she had done the wrong thing and she had left Sakura alone. Sakura was pretty sure she'd have snapped at her if Tomoyo had tried to talk to her. Unfortunately, she didn't have the chance to be alone with Eriol either seeing that they were part of the group.

"You okay?" Syaoran asked Sakura as they walked to the first exhibition.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Sakura said, but couldn't hide the annoyance in her voice.

"She didn't tell him, did she? Like on purpose." Syaoran said quietly. Syaoran too had noticed the animosity that Tomoyo had displayed towards the young mage and while Syaoran himself wasn't Eriol's biggest fan, even he had thought that it was too much.

"She didn't." Sakura told him shortly.

"Sakura, look!" Naoko had called Sakura, cutting their conversation short.

Sakura went to see what Naoko was showing her, forcing a smile onto her face. It wasn't her other friends' fault that she was in such a bad mood, so Sakura wasn't going to let her friends' day get ruined too.

They spent the first half of the morning looking around and as Sakura had thought, Eriol spent most of his time with Yamazaki, even going as far as giving some questionable facts to unsuspecting patrons, much to Chiharu's exasperation. Sakura watched as he and Yamazaki enthusiastically talked to some other visitors. 'At least he's having fun.' She thought. Despite the strange nature of their friendship, Sakura was glad that Yamazaki had been a good friend for Eriol.

"Lies! Don't listen to them!" Chiharu told the family as she dragged Yamazaki away by his shirt collar, separating him from his partner-in-crime.

Eriol then turned to Sakura and smiled at her. That was when Sakura realized that he'd been trying to cheer her up all morning, despite not being able to talk to her alone. He must've sensed her mood. Sakura smiled back at him, letting him know that she was okay. Sakura had looked forward to this day and she wasn't going to let Tomoyo's pettiness ruin this day for her.

Since then, Sakura's mood had improved greatly, although she was still avoiding Tomoyo. It was a wonder how a simple smile from him had managed to change her mood so drastically.

After lunch, they decided to call it a day. They stopped by the souvenir shop, but Sakura didn't get anything because she saw that the items were quite expensive. Not surprising, considering this was an exhibition.

They rode the train back and had gone their separate ways.

Sakura and Eriol walked together as they were heading to the same direction anyway.

"Are you okay?" He asked after they had gotten a distance away from their friends. He had been wanting to talk to her all day but didn't have the chance.

"I am now." Sakura told him, but then she frowned. "She did in on purpose, you know." She remembered what Tomoyo had done and could feel her anger started to rise again.

"It's okay." He said simply.

"It's not okay, Eriol! That was so petty of her to have done that to you! You're a part of the group too and she has deliberately left you out and for what?! To fulfill her own stupid agenda about getting me and Syaoran together?! Or was it because she was still upset with you because you helped me change my cards years ago?!" Sakura couldn't contain her anger and frustration.

"Easy, Sakura…" Eriol kept his voice calm. There was nobody else around them, but she was getting all worked up now.

Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself down. "She had treated you so badly in the past few year. Why are you defending her?"

"I'm not defending her. She does what she does for reasons that only she knows. If I, if we get angry every time someone does something that we don't like, that would be our loss, not theirs. Getting angry is okay, it's natural, but you also have to know how to choose your battles because not every battle is worth fighting for." He said calmly as they walked. "Yes, she might have treated me badly, but that was on her, not me. What's the point of me getting all riled up because of what she did? It would only prove her point, would it not? We cannot change how people think about us, Sakura, but we can choose how we react to it."

Sakura was silent as she listened to him. "I understand." She said after a few moments as she thought about what he had said. "You're right. I was so angry this morning because of what she did, and I almost ruined my own day even though I had been looking forward to this day. It was my loss, not hers."

"The day is not over yet. It might not be a proper date, but why don't we go to the ice cream place near your house?" Eriol said, trying to cheer her up. "Also, I have something for you." He then reached into his jacket pocket and took out a small clear plastic pouch containing a pair of hair ties with some Teddy bears on them. "Saw them in the gift shop and thought you'll like them." He presented it to her.

Sakura smiled brightly. "I love them! Thank you!" She took it from him and looked at it happily. "But Eriol, those things in the gift shop were so pricey. You shouldn't have spent your money on me."

"You're my girlfriend, Sakura, who else am I going to spend my money on?" He grinned at her widely.

Sakura had blushed at that. She carefully put his gift into her bag. "I really like them. Thank you very much!"

"I'm glad." He said.

They continued to walk and talk until they reached the ice cream shop.