Sakura watched as the bus steadily gained distance between her and her true love, Syaoran. Tears had begun to trickle down her cheeks as she caught the last glimpse of Syaoran, who could not help but look back with miserable eyes as he saw her wave frantically, as if she was the one who needed to catch that bus no matter what. Syaoran turned away, since he couldn't bear the sight anymore... and sighed deeply... looking sadly at his new travel companion "Sakura the bear". He knew that she meant it now, it was really him who she loved, so he calmed himself down a little. He picked "Sakura" up starring long and hard at it, as if he were in a dream, only to suddenly awaken to realise the truth: he was leaving her behind, and would not see her again for a long, long time. With this thought still in mind, he hugged the bear tightly, trying to hope that it was her, afterwards smelling it to remember: her sweet perfume, and finally, kissing it softly on the forehead whispering under his breath "Please remember me..."
As the bus gained speed and turned the street corner Sakura stopped waving and stood still...motionless. Her eyes watered more as she felt her chest suddenly tighten, making it even hard to breathe. She tried calling out his name but no sound would come from her mouth. He was gone... she thought, with that she started shaking and to cry quietly... She gripped her black woolly jumper, trying to hold onto his image as hard as she could asking herself how long would it take before Syaoran would come back to her? He said it would be a while but she would wait... because he was the one she loved the most. And with that she fell down onto her knees and sobbed.
Touya having witnessed the whole epic love confession, was stupefied, she really loved him... He couldn't stand it, losing his most special possession to that brat. However, seeing the actual state of his sister he quickly erased the topic from his mind. He didn't like seeing her cry... specially because she was such an energetic girl. He parked his bike and walked slowly towards the heart broken Sakura. He leaned one hand on her shoulder and comforted her; Sakura quickly fell into his arms crying even more...
"Touya... I... Syaoran... I...want him back..."
"I know... he probably wants that too... Now come on, lets get you home...and stop crying ...he...he... wouldn't want that"
Sakura slowly nodded wiping her tears away.
"Thank you onii-chan for bringing me... you are really kind"
Touya looked away quickly as if he didn't hear it, hiding his red face.
They slowly walked back to the bike. Sakura held onto her brother tightly as the bike passed Syaoran's apartment block that was now...empty. Nothing was said between them as the bike returned home zigzagging past the cars on the road. When their destination was met, she hopped out and walked slowly towards her front door, but the pain inside her chest just seemed to worsen every time. Not wanting to explain the situation to Touya and not wanting to face her father she bolted past everyone, heading up the stairs and straight to her room.
Meanwhile Kero was floating about in Sakura's room pondering upon how the relationship ever occurred:
"Stupid brat... how could she ever have liked him...their first encounter wasn't much...he even hurt her when trying to make her to hand him the cards" he mumbled enraged.
Now Kero was angry, starting to snort and rebel while not noticing the obvious.
"Stupid arrogant brat...how the hell could she ever have liked him! Plus he mocked her...and called ME a stuffed animal! ...that should have been enough reason for Sakura to have hated him...but NOOOO she had to..."
He interrupted himself when he saw who had dived past him into the bed. It was Sakura, who in turn had crawled underneath her bed sheets and stuffed her head in the pillow, crying.
"Oh boy" Kero added to himself. "This is not good" he worried since, he had never seen her in this sort of emotional degradation. He flew and shut the door softly, while trying to think of something to say to her.
Sakura curled herself up and held onto her pillow. She couldn't stop crying, she felt so empty inside. It felt as if a part of her had left. For the first time she felt insecure and hopeless but most of all, she felt alone.
Kero tried to gain some more time to come up with something to say, but nothing was clearer in his mind than that it was all for the best, at least for him it would be.
The little guardian corrected himself for thinking for such an incidence in his vengeful mind, while the one who really needed his consolidating words was not under his priority. So since he couldn't come up with anything to say, he thought best if he reminded silent. Sakura was too lost in her own self conscience trying to find answers, that she barely noticed the guardian land on her head and hug her with his small paws, with her tear drawn cheeks covered by his white feathered wings. Sakura closed her eyes, managing to smile a little as she welcomed that moment with all her gratitude. It was better than any helpful word, because in that one gesture, was what (for her) seemed to be the perfect symbol of Kerberus' affection and wisdom all rapped up in one simple expression. It was a pleasurable silence, which lasted much of the morning as the two laid side by side.
Sakura awoke to notice that the colour of the sky from her window had changed from the partly grey clouds to that of red golden ones as the last of the sun's rays beamed through the horizon. She couldn't have imagined that she would have ended up sleeping throughout almost the whole day. However, the sleep had eased her mind making her feel better, she thought as she rubbed her eyes lazily. All thanks to Kero; who had the patience to stand beside her during all those crucial moments, including this one. She thought he deserved a reward, so she would bake a cake with fudge chocolate in his name. "Hoe? Where was he?" she asked herself as she searched her bed hoping she didn't roll on top of him during her sleep. But no sign of him anywhere, until something caught her attention. Hidden under a pile of cushions beside her desk, was an annoyed Kero shacking his fists and muttering curses as he faced the TV playing the video game "Primal Battle". Sakura shook her head disappointedly, taking back the words she just came up with to describe someone, who was obviously anyone but Kero. A frenzy of button hitting noises came forth from Kero, and low comments.
"AH HA! Take that you stupid... here's your final blow, say your prayers, HAHAHA! FISTS OF FURY ATTACK!" he added as the screen showed Kero's opponent being bashed to the ground unmercifully. "HAHAHA!" he smirked as the YOU WIN flashed on and off repeatedly.
Sakura peeped stealthily over Kero-chan's shoulder not wanting to disturb him. Until she noticed that the two played mode was selected without anyone actually controlling the other opponent, to her utter surprise she saw that Kero had changed its name to "the Brat"!
"KERO-CHAN! EXPLAIN YOURSELF!" she demanded at once. Kero jumped a bit from the mixed bellowing, surprise and desperation.
"Sa...Sa...Sakura?! Since when have you been...DID YOU SLEEP WELL?" he innocently grinned at her, while hiding the screen frantically searching for the TV's switch.
"KERO-CHAN! Do not chance the subject and tell me what the meaning of THIS is?" she exclaimed while pointing to an unprotected section of the screen showing part of Kero's opponent's name.
"Sa...Sakura" he stuttered, "It was only a joke... I do it all the time, I even put YOUR name on it too" trying to calm her down by diverting the subject as broadly as he could.
"THAT'S NOT THE POINT! Kero-chan... not you too" she protested as her eyes started to water. "I can not take it anymore...I know how everyone hides that they really dislike the idea of Syaoran and me being together..." she stopped, reflecting for a moment. "And DON'T say YOU DON'T think otherwise because I KNOW YOU DO!"
Kero raised his voice as well "OK, FINE... I DON'T LIKE HIM, he's an arrogant, selfish and spoilt BRAT! Remember when he came and ordered you to hand him back the cards?! OR when he insulted you for being too weak for not being able to catch the cards?! OR when he hurt you in the playground..." Kero felt his blood boil.
"STOP IT!" Sakura yelled covering her ears.
"NO Sakura. Now YOU hear the WHOLE story!" Kero continued on with his argument. "He's probably faking it all, just to get close to you and then when you least expect it he's stolen all the Clow Cards!"
"SHUT UP!!!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.
Kero did so, surprised at his mistress' protective feeling over Syaoran.
"Have you ever stopped to think about how I feel right now, Cerberus?! Yes, I agree that we didn't start out happily, but I know he loves me for me! He was always there for me. Even when I cried over Yukito for saying that he didn't love me back. Syaoran was still there to comfort me! And it's only now that I finally figured out that he's the one who I love most! But now he's left. Now I can not thank him for everything. I can not stay with him. And say to him how I feel safe and wanted by his side. I don't care what people think. Or whether they approve or not, I do not want to know that either. But one thing I know for sure is that I love him and he loves me back. And that I will wait forever if I have to, until he returns to ME!" Sakura said as tears ran down her face.
She left after a sort pause. Sakura avoided making eye contact with Kero by just looking down onto the floor where the tears were still dripping, while Kero studied her face with a pair of serious eyes. Sakura felt now rather uneasy and decided she must get out from her house to set her mind straight without others nagging her. She needed peace so she gathered her bag, went downstairs and through the door. Kero-chan sighed deeply from the tension between them, and watched Sakura leave their house, from her bedroom window; managing to whisper "I just don't want to see you get hurt".
Sakura walked slowly down a tree-lined avenue towards the park. It was getting rather breezy as the late afternoon wind blew her face gently, drying her tears. Sakura noted that she still had the same clothes on since her goodbye with Syaoran. The thought made her chest hurt, but she suppressed it. She also remembered that no one was that home when her fight with Kero took place, since her father must have gone back to the university for the teacher's conference; and that Touya was at his part time job. Oh well; that least she had not to worry about what time she had to head back at. As she strolled she looked at the horizon, catching sight of the first little star to show up on the darkening sky. The atmosphere was so calm and quiet, except for the crunching of the fallen leaves and the occasional couple walking by, hand in hand. Sakura sat down on a park bench and tried to relax and suck some of the tranquillity. She stayed for na hour or so watching the sun set, the swans swimming in the lake and a couple exchanging love oafs. Her mind had calmed down but she really had not put much taught into her current situation. Her fear was that if she did, she would start missing Syaoran too much, making it impossible for her to bear. She decided it best to call Tomoyo, and just ask her to come over so she could open up to her. So with that, Sakura headed home wandering if one day Syaoran and her would do the same things as the couple she observed did.