A/N: Part 5 is here

A/N: Part 5 is here!! Hope u enjoy!! I'd like to say Thanks to all the people who reviewed my story so far!! U guys are the best!! ^.~

Disclaimer: I dun own anybody in this fic except for Scott. He's mine! I made him!! So, dun sue me, cuz I got nothin.

Fushy-Wushy!!!

*~* In the Boys' Locker Room *~*

"So what's up with that?" Scott asked with a grin.

"What was what?" Syaoran asked with an innocent look in his eye, but a smile on his face.

"That flirting thing." Takashi said.

"That wasn't flirting. I was getting my Chain back from her." Syaoran replied.

"And tickling her neck was what." Eriol asked.

"That was nothing." He said. The others just grinned.

"Ok. Sure." Scott said.

*~* Outside, By the Field *~*

"You guys waited for us?" Sakura asked Syaoran, Scott, Eriol and Takashi who were by the bleachers with Meilin and Tomoyo. She noticed that Meilin was practically sitting in Scott's lap, who looked like he didn't mind at all.

"Well, actually, we were waiting for Takashi who was waiting for Chiharu, and we were waiting for him. Then we saw these lovely ladies on the bleachers and decided to join them since they were waiting for you also." Eriol stated.

"Oh."

"So, you guys wanna go get ice cream?" Scott suggested. Everyone agreed. All the way to their favourite ice cream parlour Sakura and Syaoran walked beside together, and on occasion, bumped shoulders. When they got there, the guys decided to buy the ice cream for the girls. Or rather, Eriol had volunteered the guys to. Takashi (naturally) bought Chiharu's, Scott bought Meilin's, Eriol bought Tomoyo's and Syaoran bought Sakura's, Rika's and Naoko's [much to Rika and Naoko's insistence that they would buy their own and finally gave in (to Li's rare, irresistible smile)] ice cream. While the guys were off buying, the girls sat down at the designated table.

"Wow. Li sure has changed. The old Li wouldn't have done that. We should all thank Sakura-Chan for that." Tomoyo said.

"Why? I didn't do anything."

"Please. You made him a better person. I mean, if it wasn't for you, he wouldn't have changed at all."

"He would've changed with or without me."

"I doubt that. Meilin, before Li came here, what was he like?"

"Well, he was arrogant, bull-headed, quiet, didn't really have time for anyone, never smiled and was sorta mean."

"And after staying in Japan for a while?"

"Now, he's a little less arrogant, not as bull-headed, doesn't shut-up, has time for his friends, smiles and is nicer."

"See?"

"It's not cuz of me, though. He did it on his own."

"With your help."

"No, not with -Oh! Hey guys!" Sakura said as the guys came up to the table. Syaoran was having a little trouble carrying four ice creams at once. Sakura got up and went to him.

"Here, let me take some from you." She said as she took his ice cream and her own.

"Thanks." He gave her a grin. She was the only one who got those grins. It made her feel kind of special.

"It's ok." They sat beside each other. Once in a while, their arms would bump. When everyone was finished eating, the group left. Takashi walked Rika, Naoko and Chiharu home. Eriol insisted on walking Tomoyo home and Scott declared he would make sure Meilin got home safe.

"So, uh…Do you want me to walk you home or something?" Syaoran asked Sakura as Eriol and Tomoyo were watching them.

"No. It's ok. I'll be fine walking home by myself. You don't need to walk me home."

"Cool. Later." Syaoran said as he started walking, but someone grabbed his arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" Tomoyo hissed at him as Eriol was distracting Sakura.

"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked confused.

"Walk her home!" She hissed at him again.

"But, she said she didn't want me to walk her home." He said in his defence.

"So! Like that means anything! She wants you to walk her home!"

"But she just said-"

"It doesn't matter what she said. What she means is more important!"

"I'm not following you."

"Just because she said she didn't need you to walk her home doesn't mean she doesn't want you to walk her home." Tomoyo explained.

"Oh. So you want me to walk her home?"

"NO! She wants you to walk her home!"

"Ok ok! I'll walk her home!" Syaoran said.

*~* Meanwhile…*~*

"What did you wanna talk about Eriol?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, are you blind!? Syaoran wants to walk you home!"

"He was just being polite. He probably felt bad that since I'm not going out with someone and no one's here to walk me home that he would take it upon himself to be a gentleman."

"Oh Sakura. He wants to walk you home to make sure you get home safe. He doesn't want anything bad to happen to you. Can't you see how much he cares about you?"

"I know he cares for me. I care for him too. That's what friends do. They care about each other."

"You want him to walk you home, don't you?"

"Well, it would be nice, but he doesn't need to. I'll be fine on my own."

"I've heard enough. He's going to walk you home."

*~* So… *~*

"Sakura, I'll walk you home. I mean, I don't mind." Syaoran offered again.

'Don't blow it Sakura. Take the chance!' She told herself. "Kay. Thanks. I'd really appreciate it if you did."

'So, Tomoyo was right, for once in her life.' Syaoran thought to himself. "Ok. Come on or you'll get in trouble for being late, then I'll be in trouble because Touya will find a way to blame me."

She giggled at that. "Kay. See you later Tomoyo, Eriol." Sakura told her friends as Syaoran escorted her to her house.

"See ya." Tomoyo replied with a 'call me later' gesture behind Syaoran's back. Sakura gave a quick nod. The walk was very quiet. Both Syaoran and Sakura were too shy to say anything. Finally he got the courage to take her hand in his. She blushed a very deep shade of red by this action, but did not take her hand away. In fact, she smiled at him and held his hand a little tighter. He gave her one of his rare oh-so-gorgeous smiles in reply. This made her get shivers down her spine. When getting near her block she suddenly asked

"Do you really have to go back to Hong Kong?"

"Huh? Uh, yeah. It's Li Clan business. There's no way I can't go." Answered Syaoran, a little startled by the bluntness of her question.

"Are you sure? I mean, there's no possible way to keep you here?" She asked, knowing that she was looking as if her whole existence depended on it. 'But my whole existence does depend on it.' She thought.

"I'll be gone for only a little while, Kinomoto. It's not like I'm moving back there. Yet." He replied with a sigh as he said the last part. It killed him to see her eyes full of sadness. 'I should not be having this conversation with her. I'll tell her too much. But how can I not tell her? I can't give too much away. What I tell her might hurt her.'

"What do you mean 'a little while'? What do you mean 'yet'?" She asked, her eyes widening and threatened to fill up with tears. 'I can't let him see me cry. He hates it when I cry. And I hate it when he hates it. But he can't leave me. He just can't!'

"Well, I'm assuming that it'll take a few days, maybe even weeks, to plan everything." He explained to her, almost trying to avoid her eyes, knowing that he was going to tell her too much for her own good.

"But you're not even getting married yet. You won't be getting married until…until you're uh…uh…"

"Until we're eight-teen or nine-teen. We also have to discuss that too. When we're getting married and who's going." 'Please let me be over her by then. What am I talking about? I'll never be over her. I love her more than life itself. God, I've been watching waaaaaaaaay too many movies with her. But it's worth it.'

"Oh. You still haven't answered my second question." She said softly, knowing that she wouldn't like what she was about to hear. 'Why do you do this to yourself Sakura? When you know that he doesn't love you and when you know that he will have to go back to Hong Kong some day. He won't stay because of you. You're just his friend.'

"Yeah, that. Kinomoto, did you honestly think that the Clan would let me stay here forever?" He asked her seriously. 'Please say no. If you say no than everything will be ok. If she thought I was going to stay here forever I'd probably break down and tell her everything, right down to my "undying love" for her. I really gotta stop watching those late night movies with her. But why ruin a great thing?'

"Well, no I guess not. But I thought that they would let you decide when you were gonna go back. I guess I just thought you would always be here." She told him sadly. It was the truth. She had always thought that the Clan would let him decide when he was ready to go. That is, when she thought about him leaving. Which wasn't that often, though she had had nightmares of him leaving her.

"I told you before that I didn't want go. I don't want go. But I have too. I have responsibilities back home that need to be taken care of. You of all people should know how pressing responsibilities are." He reminded her. She was the Card Mistress after all.

"Yah. I guess I just think that Japan won't be the same without you here. I've gotten used to you. I just don't want one of my best friends to leave me." She said. 'Yah, that's it. "Best Friends". Why not go on and tell yourself that Santa Claus is real, or that your mother is just on a loooooooooooooooong vacation. "Best Friends" indeed. That's why you sometimes dream about him holding you in his arms, kissing you. Cuz everybody knows that's what "Best Friends" do. Keep on lying to yourself. That's the only way he sees you.'

"Yah. That's what we are Kinomoto. Best Friends." He replied, with a deep, resentful sigh. 'Just accept it! You heard her! We're "Best Friends". That's all. She's nothing more to you than a close buddy. Yah right. That's why you sometimes dream about her in your arms, dream about kissing her. Yah. But unfortunately that's not the way she sees you. She sees you as her buddy. One that will always be there for her and not thinking about her in ways like you do.'

'Oh great. He does think of us as best friends. Tomoyo and Scott are wrong. But I can't fight my feelings for him. One of these days, I'll tell him and then we'll have a big laugh about it. Why do I have to love him so much? Why can't I just get over him? Because he cares for you, and no matter what everybody says about how I can have any guy I want, nothing could compare to how much it means to me that he actually cares for me. There's no way that I could love anyone as much as I love Syaoran. Even if I tried. Even when he gets married, and if and when I get married, there's no way I could delude myself into thinking that I love that person as much as I love Syaoran right now. Why can't I just tell him how I feel!? Oh, wait, that's easy. Cuz then he'd really leave me forever.' She thought to herself. The rest of the walk up to her front door was pretty quiet. He let go of her hand just as Touya opened the door.

"Gaki! What do you think you're doing?" He said, giving Syaoran an evil stare.

"Making sure she got home ok." Syaoran said and with that he nodded to Sakura and left. Sakura gave her brother an evil look and went inside.

"Why do you always do that!? Why can't you just be nice to him for once?" She shouted at her brother.

"I don't trust him!" He shouted back.

"Why not? He's been my friend since forever!" She yelled.

"No, Tomoyo's been your friend since forever. He's been your friend for five years." He yelled back.

"Yah, five years! At least HE makes an effort to be nice! Guess he's a bigger man than you." She said, a little pissed off that her brother could not get along with the person she loved.

"Don't go there Kaijuu. Insulting my manhood just gets both you and the Gaki into trouble. And he only makes an effort to be nice is so he can get close to you. I'm just trying to protect you from all the slime out there." He said to her sincerely.

"Li would never hurt me. We care about each other. He would never do anything bad to me. I know he wouldn't." She told her brother. 'Why can't he just try to get along with him. I guess boys will be boys. At least Yukito understands. Maybe if I get Yukito to talk to Touya…' She thought to herself.

"I don' t like the way that you're grinning Kaijuu. It seems…untrustworthy."

"I am NOT a monster!" She said and with that, went up to her room. Once she got to her room, Kero took one look at her (from Zylon Warriors VII) and got wide-eyed.

"YOU HAD ICE CREAM!" He accused her.

"Shhhhhh. Kero! Not so loud!" She scolded him.

"YOU HAD ICE CREAM WITHOUT ME!!!" He accused her again.

"Shhhhhh! Keep it down! And so what if I did?"

"Gasp So you admit it!"

"Yes, I had ice cream without you. I'm sorry. Look, to make it up to you, tomorrow I'll give you extra sweets. How's that for a deal?" She asked her little "Stuffed Animal" friend. He pretended to think about it.

"You drive a hard bargain Sakura. If it were someone else, I don't think I'd agree. But since it's you, I guess I'm up for it." Kero said with a smile on his face. Sakura did her homework and as soon as she finished, the phone rang.

"Hello, Kinomoto Residence, Sakura speaking."

"Why didn't you call me?!" Asked the voice on the other line.

"Sorry Tomoyo. I got in a little fight with Nii-san. Then I had to promise Kero double desserts."

"So, what happened?"

"Nothing. We just…talked."

"About…?"

"My my my. Aren't we a nosy one?"

"Stop torturing me and just tell me!"

"We just talked about why he had to go home. It wasn't a long conversation. I did find out that he has to go home."

"We all know that Sakura."

"No, I mean that he'll have to leave Japan. He'll have to stay in Hong Kong. Forever."

"When?"

"Not for a while now, I don't think. I hope."

"Trust me. He won't want to leave for a while. Not if it means being without you." Tomoyo stated.

"Yah, right. He thinks of me as his best friend. He said so. You were wrong."

"Was I? I found out some pretty interesting facts while walking home with Eriol."

"What kind of facts? You didn't tell him anything, did you?"

"Nothing he didn't already know."

"What's that suppose to mean?"

"Doesn't matter. Do you wanna know what I found out or not."

"Fine. Tell me."

"Well, I was right. You were wrong."

"Huh?"

"Sakura, he is so desperately in love with you! He tries to hide it, but we all see it except for you! You're too busy trying to hide that you love him that both of you miss all the major signs that say you love each other. He cares for you so much. Why do you think that he offered to walk you home?"

"To make sure I got home safely."

"Exactly. To make sure you got home safely. To make sure you weren't hurt in any way. Right?"

"Yah…"

"Is there something that you aren't telling me?"

"Wha..? NO! I mean, no. I'm not keeping anything from you."

"You know you can't keep lies from me. I always know when you're lying."

"I don't want to tell you. But I don't think I can keep it in either!" Sakura said excitedly.

"What? What!"

"He held my hand!!" She said as she jumped up and down with glee on her bed.

"WHAT!? He did? Oh wow! That is such a big step for him! For both of you!" Tomoyo said, happy for her friend.

"I know. I was startled at first, but I didn't mind at all. I was happy he did it. I felt safer. I always do when I'm with him." She said dreamily.

"Have you told him that?"

"ARE YOU CRAZY?! If I told him that, he might-"

"He might tell you that he loves you! He might tell you that you're the only person he really cares about. That when he's with you, he feels like a person and not a warrior. He might tell you all those things." Tomoyo interrupted her.

"Yah, MIGHT being the key word. He also might leave me forever cuz I scared him. He might laugh in my face. He might stop being my friend. He could do all those things too."

"Sakura, he would never do that to you. He cares about you like I've never seen him care about anything before. Do you honestly think that he would hurt you like that?"

"You're right. He'd be nice about it." She replied sarcastically.

"Ok. I'm going to give you a choice. Either you tell him that you love him before he leaves, or I'll do it for you."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh, you don't think I would do you? Look, I'm tired of you two being the 'unofficial couple'. Everybody calls you guys that you know. I wanna see you be the 'official couple'. I've known you since forever. We met him five years ago. I have seen your love grow for him all these years. And vice versa. I can't take it anymore! I want to see you happy. I know you're happy now, but I know you would be happier with him."

"In case you haven't noticed that he's getting married to one of our best friends. That might dampen the relationship just a little." Sakura said sarcastically.

"But wouldn't it be worth it just to be with him for a short while instead of not being with him at all? What's the old saying? 'Its better to have love and lost, than to have never loved at all.' I think that that applies to you. You go over to his house in the middle of the night. You spend hours at his house at night on the weekends. If that's not love, I don't know what is."

"I go over to his house in the middle of the night cuz I get bad dreams. You know that. And we stay up to watch late night movies together on the weekends. You know that too. And I already told you that I love him." Sakura told her friend.

"Maybe it's time you told him." Tomoyo said.

"Maybe it's time for you to tell Eriol that you love him." Sakura told her. Tomoyo just blushed. "Both of you like each other. And both of you know it."

"Sorta like you and Li, right?"

"No, cuz I'm pretty sure that Li doesn't love me back."

"After all the stuff I told you?"

"You haven't told me anything."

"He blushes whenever he hears your name. Eriol proved it in a test he conducted."

"Oh, poor Li! What did Eriol do to him?"

"I only some of the things that Eriol tested to prove his…our theory that both of you are in love. He asked what Li would do if you had a boyfriend and Li asked if you did, with great interest I might add, and then said that he didn't care what you did as long it made you happy. I also found out that our Li writes songs."

"Oh, I knew that already. He taught me how to play the guitar."

"Oh, so that's where you learned. No wonder you were always so obsessive to get to your lessons."

"I wasn't that bad."

"Actually, yah you were. But that's ok since now we have a band almost as good, maybe even better than Scott, Li and Eriol's. But that doesn't matter. Sakura, I want to see you happy. You have to tell Li that you love him before he leaves."

"Tomoyo, don't you think I've thought about telling him?! If I did tell him, I'd lose him later on. I don't think I could bear losing him afterwards. I would die. I can't even bear thinking that he's leaving. Please, don't make me tell him."

"I think you should. What? Hold on a sec Sakura. What? Oh, ok. Sakura, I gotta go. My mom needs to use the phone. We'll talk tomorrow at the party. Kay?"

"Sure. I should probably get off the phone. See you tomorrow around…seven?"

"Perfect. Later." And with that, the two girls hung up. Sakura took a long shower thinking about her friend and what she had said. She went to sleep still thinking about it and decided that Tomoyo wasn't right. She was just trying to get Sakura to admit to Syaoran her true feelings for him. But deep down, she hoped that it was true.