"Reconciliation"

Staring at the blonde haired woman in front of her, Sakura could not believe that she had just witnessed her and her potential boyfriend arguing.

She never liked to have the image as that couple to anyone. Granted, couples argued, but she never wanted anyone to witness it. Especially one of her patients.

She could not understand how Syaoran had found this, of all things, out. She had purposely left this information out because she knew he would react this way.

Obviously, she still believes he had no excuse, because their little once upon a time potential relationship was very short-lived. She knew she could not tell him that; he would not feel comfortable with her still being friends with Akinari anymore.

Akinari would be the reason their relationship worked out in the end though. Akinari—

She stopped thinking as realization dawned on her at the constant thoughts of her best friend.

He had done this.

He had been the one to tell Syaoran about this. She knew he had been angry and upset with her, but to stoop this low and tell Syaoran that they were once upon a time was so low that it disgusted her. She hated him. She hated him with all her heart right now and wanted him to know that.

But first, she had to get things settled here.

She forced a smile on her face, staring at the blue-eyed woman. "I'm…so sorry. I...got a surprise visit, if that isn't obvious," she said, stepping on the side of Syaoran.

Get it together, Sakura!

"Are you okay, Kinomoto-san?" she asked worriedly, her eyes glancing over at Syaoran's back a few times.

Sakura's eyes widened, realizing what the woman is referring to. "Oh, of course I am. Syaoran would never do anything like that," she said, just to reassure her that no lines had been crossed today.

"Okay...I can come back another time if I need to," she said cautiously. "I just got a little worried because I wasn't aware that you'd have another person here since we have a session at this time and it's very unlikely that a ruckus would be going on here."

Sakura really hated to do this, but she knew that she had to do something about Syaoran. He somehow found out—well, Akinari, the man she had once thought was her best friend, had betrayed her and told the man she wanted to be with something that could jeopardize her relationship with him.

That asshole!

She swallowed, shaking her head slowly. She could not do this to Akiho though. Her patients came first, not her personal life.

Sakura turned to Syaoran slowly, not sure how to tell him to leave after what had just happened. And his mom tries to get in contact with him of all the times she could have.

"Syaoran," she called, putting her big girl panties on. She was not scared of him one bit and she wanted him and Akiho to know that. Just in case Akiho got any ideas in that head of hers.

Syaoran may be a lot of things, but she knew that he would never intentionally hurt her. She had had a flashback of her past when she saw him approaching her while he was upset. She knew he would not do anything like that though. He had too many opportunities to do so, even with him being more upset about other things.

Syaoran had hated her in the beginning, yet he still never put her life in danger. He had never been that man, so she knew he is not now.

He turned to her with so many different emotions in his eyes... anger, sadness, pain...

She could not do anything about that right now though.

"I have a patient...either you can...leave and go back to work...or wait outside until we're done so we can further continue this conversation," she said hesitantly.

He was quiet for a while, making her wonder if he would be stubborn and say he would stay.

That's why the next thing he did surprised her; he grabbed her gently towards him and kissed her as if no one else had been around.

Before she could even retaliate, he had already released her and walked out of her practice, leaving his phone behind on her desk.

When the door of her office closed, a silence filled the room, making the anticipation rise in her chest. She could not tell what Akiho would say about it.

"So...the rumors are true, huh..." she said softly; the last thing Sakura wanted to hear from anyone.

She let out a soft sigh, shaking her head. "I..."

"I won't tell anyone about it," she said, to Sakura's relief. "You've done enough for me to give you my word, at least. I owe you a ton..."

Sakura turned to her with a soft look in her eyes. "You don't owe me anything. I'm choosing to do this because I want to," she said softly.

Akiho giggled, walking over to the couch so she could sit down, making Sakura follow suit. "I know. I'm just letting you know that you don't have to worry," she said.

"Thank you... it would really mean a lot to me," Sakura said gratefully.

She knew that Akiho would never say anything to anyone, even before the woman had made the promise.

"So...want to tell me what that was about? I thought a cat and dog were in here fighting," she said with a smile on her face. The look on her face was very sincere and worried, so Sakura knew she had no choice.

Sakura sighed, shaking her head. "It's nothing that we haven't fought about before," she said, feeling a little comfortable to talk about this with the woman. After all, she did just find out about her relationship with Syaoran. The least she could do was give an explanation to reduce any possibilities of her telling anyone about it.

"Oh?"

"I...sort of kind of left out some truth when I told him about a guy who's been my best friend for about a decade now," she said quietly.

"Ahhh...omission of the truth," Akiho said, nodding her head slowly. "Still lying though."

Sakura smiled sadly. "I know, I know what it is. I couldn't tell him that we'd tried to have a relationship prior to us deciding to just be friends though. He already doesn't like the man or trust him, so telling him that would have just driven a wedge between what we already have going on right now. Plus, he had just started to get comfortable with the idea of me having him in my life so closely," Sakura explained.

"So you have a best friend that you once dated and...you guys are still best friends and Dr. Li doesn't feel comfortable with it?"

"Well...we didn't date date...more like just went on one date, shared a kiss before we decided that we just weren't feeling it," Sakura explained.

"Ohh, that's fair. I mean...men are very territorial when it comes to their woman. I don't know a guy who would be comfortable with his woman still being really close to a guy she once had something with," Akiho explained.

"It wasn't something that we had...it was just a date. One date," Sakura said.

"I know, but it's like... what led up to that one date? Did you guys start to look at each other romantically and decide that you wanted to try something because you saw potential in each other? Did you guys like each other for a brief moment and wanted to pursue something together? Was there an attraction? I think it was more than just a date and kiss to Dr. Li," Akiho explained.

Sakura thought about it for a moment, remembering what Syaoran had said. "You did fuck that son of a bitch."

Maybe he was thinking that their relationship had been something far deeper than that. And maybe it was at the time that led up to the first date and kiss, but it did not progress to that point. It may have just been because she was vulnerable at that time, wanting to get over Eichii, but they both still knew that there was truly nothing between them.

"Men can be monsters sometimes. They're wolves, fighting to claim what they think is theirs as if we're property. It's pretty trashy, but they can't help it," Akiho said, shrugging her shoulders nonchalantly.

Sakura smiled sadly, nodding her head. She already knew how it worked. "How about we talk about why you're here today?"

"Actually, I just remembered that something came up at the office today, so we may have to postpone our session to another day," she said, standing from the couch as she winked at Sakura.

Sakura knew exactly what she meant by that. "Are you sure?" she asked, wanting to reassure her that she did not have to cancel her session.

"Of course, of course! How about I come in on the day he normally comes in, yeah?" she suggested.

Sakura smiled at her gratefully. "That'll work."

They walked to the door together as Sakura led her out. "I'll see you on Thursday, then? The same time?" Sakura asked, opening the door for her.

"Perfect," Akiho said, walking out of the door.

Sakura could see Syaoran's car still outside, which meant that he waited around for her.

She saw him get out of the car, heading towards her now.

She could have sworn she heard Akiho murmur something about him not doing something stupid as she walked past him but highly doubt she would do something like that.

She sighed, letting him walk through the doors before shutting it behind him.

"Sakura," he called, walking towards her again, but she stopped him by holding up a hand.

"You're such an asshole," she hissed, thinking about him purposely kissing her in front of Akiho like that to prove a point.

"I'm the asshole? What are you then for keeping that you've had something with your best friend and not telling me?" he asked.

She wanted to ask him how he found out, but knew it was not the time to do that. It would only add fuel to the fire and look as though she had been trying to keep it from him, which, in fact, she was. He did not have to know that though.

She swallowed, folding her arms over her chest tightly to stand her ground, even though she had been the one wrong in this. "I have no obligations to tell you anything, so don't you dare come at me like you've been honest from the start of our relationship," she said defensively, even though she knew she was wrong.

She would not let him think he could run all over her.

And then it hit her; she had just done the same thing that Akinari had done to her back at the hospital—trying to switch it around on the other person. She had gotten mad at him for the very thing she just did.

"Sakura...I've...told you everything you've wanted to know, since the beginning. I even...told you about that woman. I will tell you anything you want to know and not leave out the truth. I'm sorry for not being comfortable enough to talk about my childhood with you in the beginning. I'm really sorry about that, but I didn't think you would get me back by not telling me that you once dated your best friend who you seem to be so inseparable from," he said, starting to sound irritated at the end of that sentence.

She sighed, knowing she is the reason for him feeling guilty right now. "Look...I didn't mean it like that. I just meant...I didn't tell you this because I knew how you would feel about it," she said quietly, not looking at him.

"I didn't think we still did this though. I thought we were honest with each other now," he said sadly.

"You never asked..." she said, regretting it the moment it came out.

"You knew what I meant when I said I didn't trust him. You said he was just a friend and that's all it had ever been, Sakura. I believed you when you said—"

"And he is just a friend..."

"That you happened to have had something with," he said in a frustrated tone. "I knew I didn't trust him for a reason."

"We aren't like that anymore and we haven't been for years. It was something small...we thought since we had been friends for so long that maybe we could try something...and when we tried that something, it didn't feel right. Neither of us saw each other that way so we called quits before anything could even begin. I promise that's all that happened between us," she explained, hoping he would believe her.

He sighed, being quiet for a moment as he ran a hand down his face. "I believe you, Sakura without any doubts. I just can't see why you felt the need to keep this from me so I didn't think I was crazy about that gut feeling. Now, you want me to accept him as still being your best friend?" he asked.

She was quiet for a moment, not sure what she wanted to tell him. Her and Akinari were not even friends right now. Especially after him telling Syaoran this to jeopardize their relationship.

"Me and Aki aren't even talking right now..." she said quietly.

He sighed, running a hand through his hair. "No more lies, Sakura. If we want to trust each other, we have to be completely honest with each other. When I said I trust you, I meant that whole-heartedly, but then I hear others saying otherwise...and I just...I can't help but feel this way. I'm sorry that I'm like this," he said. "I feel like a monster every time I feel this way."

"There's no way to trust me if you're just going to believe the next thing someone says before listening to me. Speaking of that, who..." she stopped, wondering if she should ask this, even though she already knew the answer. It was all about being honest right now though. She just wanted confirmation. "Who told you about it?"

"Everyone at the hospital knows about it apparently, except for me," he said, sounding bitter about that.

"It was Aki, wasn't it?" she asked, feeling her hatred towards him grow by the second.

"One of the other doctors overheard your conversation with him that day in the hospital," he said quietly.

"What?" she asked, feeling like a huge blow had been thrown at her.

She looked down, trying to figure out why anyone would go back and tell Syaoran that. She frowned when she could not come up with a solution. "Why was this so important to tell you though?" she asked.

Syaoran sighed, making her look up at him. "I don't know, Sakura. The doctor who told me said something about..."

"Oh, let me guess, that doctor just happened to be a woman you've slept with before, wasn't it?" she asked, feeling even more irritated with the whole situation now.

"Of course not. I told you that I wouldn't work with any woman I've slept with," he said.

She looked in his eyes, looking for something—anything that would give away the lie. "Why did she feel the need to tell you then?" she asked testily once she did not see anything.

"I...don't know, Sakura. I don't see why this matters—"

"This matters because clearly—" she stopped, closing her eyes to calm herself down. "So now you're telling me that one of the women who works at your hospital...is out to make me look bad to you?"

His brows scrunched together as he looked confused. "What? What does this have to do with anything, Sakura?" he asked.

"Are you just going to believe everything everyone tells you?" she asked, pursing her lips.

"No, that's not the point. I don't believe everyone else over you—"

"Yet you came here ready to attack me," she said, even though she knew she had been caught in her lie. Perhaps that was the sole reason for her feeling this upset right now. It was not the fact that there were rumors going on at the hospital, but that she had gotten caught.

"I know that you're thinking that I'd side with anyone who has anything to say about you, but that's not true. I've just never liked that bastard from the start because I knew, Sakura. I knew something was there between you guys. I knew something had happened there," he said, clenching his fist. "Hearing that was only confirmation for me."

"Something is there because Aki helped me through something that no one else did. He helped me see light in a dark time of my life where I could see none...I know you don't want to hear that, but that's just how it is. Aki's done a lot of wrong, I'll admit...but I won't ever discredit him because he's been there for me in more ways than one. It's hard listening to this, but I just want you to understand that Aki is never going anywhere. Yes, we're in a fight right now and quite frankly, I'm not surprised that you don't want him in my life—especially after finding that out, but he's not going anywhere. I'm sorry for keeping that information from you, but if we're being honest, I would never throw my best friend who's been here from the start of everything in my life for a relationship no matter how much I feel about that person. I'm sorry..." Sakura explained, letting him know now so he knew what he was getting himself into.

A flood of different emotions flashed in his face, making her feel a little bad for springing this on him like that. He had to know though. She would not give him any false hope that she would get rid of Akinari for him as much as it hurt both of them.

"I...understand that," he said sadly.

"Then...why..."

"I just can't understand why this always happens to me," he said brokenly.

She swallowed, not knowing what to tell him. She had never chosen anyone else over him before, so she did not know what he meant by that.

"I'm not choosing him over you, Syaoran. I don't want to be with him...not how I want to be with you," she said, moving over to him.

"You are, even though I didn't even ask you to begin with. I didn't give you an ultimatum because I'm not going anywhere, no matter what. It doesn't matter what you do, I'm not leaving, yet you..." he stopped, closing his eyes.

Sakura regretted saying it, knowing there was more to this than what he just said. "I just want you to understand that he's not going anywhere and if you don't want me to go anywhere...you hear me out before believing anything or what anyone else says about me. This may have been true what you heard about me, but what if something else is said about me? Will you believe that too?" she asked testily, feeling infuriated with the person behind all of this.

"I know, baby. I know...I just...I really didn't believe that it was true because everyone else had said it was true. I believed it was true because I knew there was something there before. That bastard always throws it in my face every opportunity he gets. He purposely spites me...brags how he has some type of claim over you with every look...every touch...when he can and I just...that was only confirmation for me. I came to you, didn't I? I came to you to get the answers before even thinking of calling this off between us. I just...I'm tired..." he said quietly.

"Of what?" she asked, wondering what he is referring to.

"Why can't I be first for a change? No one ever puts me before other people," he said, looking at her desperately.

"Aki is not first or before you, Syaoran. That is not what I meant," she explained.

"What is it then?"

"He's just not going anywhere, so there is no point in having this conversation," she said in a finalizing tone to end the conversation.

His eyes watered before he looked away from her. "Okay..." he said quietly.

"I'm sorry, Syaoran," she apologized.

"I can't even be first in the woman's life I want to be with..."

She closed her eyes, shaking her head. "Okay, stop," she said, not wanting to fall down this hole again. "I don't know where this stems from, but I highly doubt this is out of arrogance, so let's talk about it."

"What?"

"Did Mrs. Li put someone else before you?" she asked to clarify what she meant.

He was quiet for a moment, making her wonder if he would answer the question. She did just bring his mother up as if it were nothing.

He frowned. "Everyone..."

"Who, specifically, did she put before you?"

"My unborn twin brother...Meilin...my sisters...her friends..."

And it suddenly hit her. That was the reason Syaoran had been so angry and bitter towards Meilin. The poor woman probably had no clue either.

"Meilin?" she questioned. She could understand his brother and sisters, but not his cousin.

He looked away, appearing ashamed of his next response. "Meilin lived with us for a brief moment in my life and she wasn't...the most honest person around," he said quietly. "She would purposely do things to get me in trouble...and...my...that woman never believed me. She chose Meilin over me in a heartbeat for everything. She wanted her to be her child and she expressed that so many times and I…now it feels like you're doing the same thing…"

Sakura sighed silently, closing her eyes the more she heard. It hurt her heart hearing him talk about this. "Syaoran, listen to me," she said, making him look up at her with the tears in his eyes. "I would never throw you away for anyone, okay? I made the promise to try with you. I mean that with all of my heart. If anyone else wanted to be with me right now, I would tell them no because I want you. There is no one else in this world who makes me as happy as you do right now. It really was just a short-lived moment of a mistake that both me and Aki agreed should never be brought up. He stays, but you stay too...if you're willing to stick around with that idea..." she said softly.

"Of course I am," he said brokenly. "I'm not going anywhere, Sakura even if I don't like the idea of him."

She moved closer to him, wrapping her arms around him, hugging his body tightly. "I'm sorry for keeping something like this from you," she said into his chest.

Her heart warmed, feeling his arms wrap around her tightly. "I won't ever make you feel like I believe anything or anyone else over you again," he promised.

She felt grateful for that, even though what he had heard was the truth. She had no choice but to contain her anger right now at the person who did this. Their relationship was still rocky, so anything could set either of them off right now. She had just been accusing him of something the other day too.

She had been in the wrong, but the fact that that woman told Syaoran this to bring conflict in their relationship made her want to put an end to all of this by making her claim on him in front of all of them.

She did not want to make a battle between women over a man because she certainly is not that type of woman though. She just needed Syaoran to show that he truly trusts her.

He pulled back from the hug, leaning down to close the gap between their lips, but she turned away as she pulled away so she could look him in the eyes seriously. "I'm going to go see Aki," she said.

"Already?" he said, looking disappointed.

"I'm going to see Aki and make amends with him. I thought he had told you about our past, but it was some woman at your hospital who obviously wanted this to happen between us today," she said, feeling the anger rise in her chest, though she partly did not have a right to feel right now.

It was not a lie though.

She wanted to punch her conscious in the face for trying to interfere with this situation. She had already acknowledged that she was wrong and had been caught. The way and intentions behind it is what made her upset about this.

"Sakura, baby, it really wasn't like that. I didn't believe what she said because she said it. I believed it because I had already felt deep down inside that you guys had something, whether it was past or present. It wasn't because of what that wench said," Syaoran explained again.

She shook her head. "Even if that's the case, you still can't tell me why she did it," she said, pulling back from him so she could cross her arms over her chest.

"Because..." he stopped. "I really don't know."

"Exactly. I-I'm not going to do this, Syaoran. I'm not going to be that woman who fights over a man with another woman. You need to fix this because I won't. If another incident like this happens, I'm out. I'm not one to give up easily, but I refuse to fight over a man with another woman," she said sternly to get her point across.

Syaoran nodded. "I swear I'll handle it."

She took a deep breath before nodding her head. "I'm going to try and get in contact with Aki," she said, looking at him to gauge his response.

He swallowed, nodding his head stiffly. "Okay..."

She sighed. "And your phone..." she said, hating to remind him of that, but they had to address it. "You have to do it."

He let out a shaky breath, nodding again. "You're right. I'm really sorry, Sakura..." he apologized, looking at her guiltily.

She shook her head again. "I don't want to hear it. Don't apologize until you settle the bullshit that goes on at your hospital," she dismissed the conversation. She did not want to continue talking about it or she would start to feel things she had no business feeling. She would not be the understanding and caring person she always is.

She walked over to the desk, handing him the phone so he could do the honors.

He took it from her with shaky hands, turning the phone on to go to the text app. He stared at his phone for a while, making the anticipation rise in her chest. She wanted to know what the text had said, but did not want to push him.

The expression on his face was blank, so she could not tell what he was thinking. Instead, she just walked over to his side, looking down at his phone to see the text herself.

'I'm delighted to hear from you. Your absence has affected us all.'

Sakura saw his knuckles turning white as he clenched the phone tighter the longer he stared at the phone. "Syaoran," she called to snap him out of it. "Tell me what you're thinking, baby."

"How could she...just send a text like this as if...none of that happened? As if she has been this nice to me my entire life?" he asked brokenly.

She looked at him sympathetically, hearing and seeing the tears in his eyes.

"Was it all just a dream? Did I just...imagine all of that happening?"

His pager went off in his pocket before she could even answer those questions, snapping him out of it.

When a tear dropped down his cheek, he wiped the tear away quickly, switching his phone off. He took a deep breath and let it out. "I have to get back to the hospital. It must be an emergency if I'm being paged," he said confidently.

Sakura gave him a sad smile, nodding her head. She hated that she could not do anything for him right now. She hated that he had to be strong right now and take care of business.

She nodded.

He leaned down and kissed her lips briefly before pulling away. "I'll text you when I get there. Are we still on for Saturday?" he asked.

She went quiet for a moment, wanting to tell him yes to make him feel better, but she knew he had to do that thing first. "Once you fix and settle what I've told you to fix at the hospital...then I'll give you an answer to that," she said softly, not wanting to get his hopes high.

He sighed softly, nodding his head. "I understand and respect that… I deserve it. I'll give you a text when it is then," he said quietly.

When he tried to give her another kiss, she moved away, smiling at him sadly. They bid each other goodbye once he said he deserved the rejection.

Now she had to get things settled with her best friend. She felt a little guilty for doubting him and thinking he would stoop this low to hurt her.

She had to make things right with him.

Sakura sat at the table in the cafe alone, waiting for her best friend to arrive. It had been two days since Syaoran had come to her practice. She had not gotten around to texting and asking Akinari to meet up, so she had been surprised when he texted her, telling her that they needed to talk.

She had agreed, since it had been her plan all along to anyway.

She and Syaoran had not been talking much lately, aside from some texts here and there, but he had not told her that he had fixed the issue yet. She knew he had been busy, as one of his patients had ended up responding negatively to the medicine they had given him. He had not been able to tell her all the details, but she knew it had to be something serious since he had not been able to talk much.

She did not stress it one bit, not minding that their date being pushed to another day, as she still felt a bit upset with the idea of his workers trying to come between them and he almost let them.

You almost let them by not being honest with him from the start...

Sakura wanted to strangle her conscious. It kept reminding her of her mistakes.

"Thinking about my boss again?" a voice interrupted her turmoil.

Sakura looked in the direction of the voice, pursing her lips at the man standing by the table. "Don't you dare joke with me, you asshole," she said calmly.

She would behave herself today, as they were in public at a cafe.

Akinari chuckled, leaning down to kiss her forehead before he sat in the seat across from her. "You're right. I wanted to apologize for being an asshole. Clearly, I was talking out of spite and anger," he said nonchalantly.

Sakura frowned, not liking his attitude towards all of this. "Is that supposed to be a sincere apology?" she asked.

He let out a sigh, looking at her guiltily. "I know...I'm sorry, okay? What I did...and said was very...asshole-ish and out of character for me. You know I didn't mean what I said," he said sincerely.

Sakura looked at him, studying his face before she sighed. "It was very...asshole-ish, but I forgive you. I'm sorry for saying some things I had no business saying..."

"You have every reason to have said what you said to me. I had no business keeping something like that from you. I just...once it had gotten past a certain point...I didn't even know how I would tell you anymore. And I was really scared for your health," he said apologetically.

"I understand. I knew all of that before I'd gone to see you, but I...I don't know. I just let my emotions get the best of me, I guess, so...I snapped. I'm really sorry about that," she said.

He smiled at her, shaking his head. "No hard feelings, babe."

She returned the smile, nodding her head. "And I'm sorry...for liking your boss, I guess. That seems to really piss you off," she said quietly.

He chuckled. "It doesn't piss me off. I was just playing the victim card when I said that. I mean...it's pretty unfortunate that you like my boss, especially since he knows our relationship, but I highly doubt he'd fire me for anything you do," he said.

"Hmm...Syaoran does a lot of questionable things, but you're right, he wouldn't do anything like that," she said. "He knows we tried to date and about the kiss."

Akinari cringed as if he were thinking about it. "How'd he find that out?" he asked.

"Something about one of the workers overhearing our conversation," she said, rolling her eyes. "You guys are so pitiful at that hospital with all the gossiping."

Akinari held up his hand defensively. "Oh yeah...I do remember something about that floating around the hospital the last few days. That has nothing to do with me though. I don't open my mouth about anything in that hospital. I guess it is a small town, so everyone knows each other, so it's not that uncommon."

"I know, but they aren't in high school anymore," Sakura said in a disappointing tone.

Akinari chuckled, shaking his head. "You're right. It is ridiculous."

"Who was it? That overheard our conversation?" she asked, hoping if she could get some answers out of him, even though she already figured it was one of the women he had slept with in the past.

Only one woman came to mind, but she wanted to be sure of this.

"Uhhh...I'm not sure. I don't know all the doctors, nurses or interns. I work closely with a lot of them in regards to some of the patients who are there because of their mental health, but not all of them. I'd only heard about it through the great vine," he said, to her disappointment.

"And who's that?" she asked.

"Dr. Hanaka. Apparently, he had caught you guys canoodling at the ball when you were supposed to be my date," he said teasingly.

Her cheeks warmed, not believing she had been caught. "I-I...that was not my doings. I had not even talked to him in weeks," she said in her defense.

"I know. Don't worry, he'd only come to me about it," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "He was actually really nice about it. He had been looking out for me, just in case we had been together foreal."

Sakura smiled, shaking her head. "I hope so. I just..." she started, not sure how to say this. "Syaoran's been with...so many of those women there...and I know you don't want to hear about this because you told me so and—"

"Actually, I've heard a bit of gossip at the hospital about how hot-headed the women he's slept with have been about his absence of warming their bed," he said, chuckling at the statement.

The smile slowly dropped from her face, turning downward. "Elaborate."

"Let's just say...Li-kun hasn't been warming their beds anymore, so they're pretty upset about the news of him actually finding someone he wants to settle down with. They'd been assuming that he was just busy and that was the reason he had not been sleeping with them, but turns out, he's actually probably seeing someone seriously," he explained.

"Hmm...so you're saying that they actually thought there was a potential relationship with them?" Sakura asked. She hated to pry, but she had no choice here. She needed to know what she was in for now.

"Most definitely. I've actually talked to Akari about it in regards to the other women. She...actually surprised me when she said that she had no interest in being in a relationship," Akinari said.

Sakura raised a brow, not believing that one bit. "Oh, really?"

"She's actually not a malicious woman. She was my patient for a while after her husband had passed. She never blatantly said she slept with Li-kun, but she did tell me that she had been sleeping with a man to fill the void in her life of her lost husband," he said quietly. "I'm not one to tell my friends about my patients, but I just want you to know that I highly doubt she's the threat in any of this. Li's not even her type."

"But she slept with him," she said, feeling a bit irritated with it being said out loud.

"It was just sex, just like it was just sex to Li-kun. You trust him, don't you?" he asked, making her look down.

"I do, but..."

"Sakura," Akinari called, making her look at him. "I truly believe that Li-kun has changed and is not sleeping around anymore. I would've heard it by now and you know I would've already came to you and said...?"

"'I told you so,' I know. I don't think he's sleeping around or would do that anymore either. I wouldn't want to try something with him if I believed that," she said.

"Yeah, I know. I just wanted to confirm things for you a bit and..."

When he did not continue, Sakura looked up at him again, seeing him stare at her with a warm smile on his face. Her cheeks warmed at the attention. "W-what?"

"I just missed you, is all," he said.

She looked away, letting out an awkward laugh. "I missed you too, but why do you have to make it so weird?" she said quietly.

"I'm not. I'm just being honest," he said. "It feels like we haven't really seen each other since that Christmas ball, which just happened to be a disaster since my boss stole my date," he said teasingly.

She rolled her eyes at his comment. "If you're going to remind me every couple of minutes that your boss is interested in me—"

"—and you in him—"

"I don't think there's a point in conversation if we're going to be repetitive," she said, smiling at him.

He chuckled, shaking his head slowly. "Would you feel more comfortable of me reminding you that he's your patient?"

Sakura glared at him playfully. "Why are you such an asshole?" she hissed.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "I'm joking. Speaking of that, what are you planning to do about it?" he asked, looking at her as soon as he finished asking the question.

She could not be more than happy about him bringing this up now.

"Actually, I had a very...very, very, very—"

"Okay, I get it," he said, smiling at her.

"— huge favor that I needed to ask of you."

"Oh gosh...why do I know where this is going?" he asked.

Sakura did not say anything, waiting for him to respond to her request.

He sighed with a smile on his face. "What is it?"

"I want to hand Syaoran's charts to you..." she said softly.

"Woah, slow down. What?"

"I know, I know...it sounds like a terrible idea, but...I want to be with Syaoran and...I can't be with him if I'm his therapist too, so I..."

"You want me to be his therapist," he concluded for her.

She sighed, nodding her head. "Yes...I was thinking we could pretend that you've been his therapist this entire time, so that way I won't get in trouble or anything like that," she said.

Akinari nodded slowly. "I don't know if that's a great idea," he said.

"I know, I know. It's a disaster in motion already, but...I don't trust anyone else with that information."

"And how does Li feel about this?" he asked, looking at her with a raised brow.

"Uhh...I really don't know now that he's found out about our date and kiss," she said uncertainly.

She did not even know why she brought this up after what happened.

Akinari sighed. "Well, how about you talk with him about it first and then we can talk about doing this favor you're asking me to do," he said confidently.

Her heart warmed in her chest, hearing him say that. She knew she could count on him to do this for her.

"This is why I love you," she said, wanting to jump across the table and hug him right now.

"I know, I know. I'm a great friend who loves you more than I should," he said, rolling his eyes playfully.

She giggled. "I mean it. You're the best," she said.

"Well, there is something else that I want you to know about before it gets out of hand," he said.

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure how else I'd be able to say this, but...Eichii's decided that he wants to discharge himself from the hospital," he said, making Sakura look at him.

"What?" she whispered, not believing her ears.

"It has nothing to do with you, because he had been planning to leave before you came to visit," he explained.

She could not believe her ears right now. Quite frankly, she did not know how to feel about it.

But more importantly, she did not know if she should feel anything right now.

She just wanted to get a break, but it seemed like the new year would not be willing to do that for her.

A/N: Ahh! I feel like I have not updated a chapter this fast in ages! I actually had this chapter done on the 31st, but decided to hold off on editing until now. It feels so great to have a lot more time to write now.

But anyway, what did you guys think of this chapter? A lot of you guys were fired up about Syaoran's confrontation last chapter, as I expected you to be :P. Clearly, it was just to show you guys that Syaoran still has some issues of his own...I don't want you guys to think he's this perfect guy who knows how to do everything right, because he still has some straightening up to do too even though he's progressing and doing a lot better these days. He still needs to work on his feelings of insecurity, because his jealousy clearly stems from that.
Most times, people get jealous in relationships because they don't feel secure enough in the relationship(or with themselves because they think they may lose that person so they feel threatened by anything that could take that thing or person away from them), correct me if I'm wrong though :). Syaoran's case is really bad here, considering he's not only scared that he'll be mistreated by another important woman in his life, but that she'd pick another person over him because he's had this throughout his entire life, so he still has a lot of work to do with himself by learning to fully trust Sakura. It's only been like 5 months since they've met, so there's no way to know if you can fully trust a person with everything in that short amount of time. Sakura needs to do more growing and work on herself as well. She's not this perfect woman who's been doing everything right, because clearly she has some things slid under the rug too, so if we're going to give Syaoran hell, we must give the same to Sakura as well here :P.

Oh, and a comment that I got a lot from last chapter was how Syaoran never goes off or gets angry at the other women in the story(this case was a bit different since it had something to do with drama amongst women too), I know that's an automatic feeling for you guys to feel, but think about it like this. Syaoran doesn't respond hardly to any of the women any type of way because he just doesn't care to, nor does he care about them. The only women he's responded negatively to is his mom, Meilin, and his sisters(hardly that though). So, to people who are most close to him in a sense, though they have a rocky past, Let's just say it's an unconscious thing because it's family. This wasn't presented in a way to make Syaoran seem softer towards other women. He just doesn't care. I think you guys would be a bit more upset if Syaoran showed how other women could affect him though. He didn't want answers from the doctor who presented the information to him because he didn't care to hear it from her, so that was the sole reason he went to Sakura instead to talk with her about it. Granted, he was an asshole because of the way he went about it. But still, this shows he still needs some work done on himself.

Aside from that, Eichii's getting out of the hospital, since he is clearly sane now and had some motivation to get his life together now! How do you guys think that will go? Will he think to pay a visit to Tomoeda? Will Sakura see him again? Oh, and how will Sakura bring up the idea about Akinari being Syaoran's therapist now? Will Syaoran accept it? How will our Syaoran put everyone in their place at the hospital about these never-ending rumors? And is Yelan getting closer or is she getting closer?

I think we're all curious about these things, so I'll end the note here so I can get to answering some of these questions :P.

Ja ne!

P.S, sorry for the long note. I just decided to respond to everyone as a whole, rather than individually when I saw some of the reviews were similar :). Oh! And, thank you to the ones who pointed out me mixing Hiroshi up with Watanabe. I changed it xD.