Love For So Long

Disclaimers: I don't own CCS, CLAMP does..... you wouldn't be able to sue me anyways... *looks at
empty pockets*.......

Author's Notes:
Obviously, people aren't reading the summary @_@;;; .... don't hate me for this, please! o_x;;
just bear with me for now. You'll see how things will turn out. Just.... read (I can't give
away any more spoilers than the summary cuz.. cuz then it just won't be right!).... I know, I
have a few spelling mistakes in the first chapter, but I'll fix that. Sooner or later. *grins*
It makes me happy to have someone mention Tasuki in their review :P~~~ (whoever you are, Aya.)
Altho I've never heard Tasuki's reaaally slow song... IT STILL SOUNDS SO SAD!!! ^_^;;; anyways,
enough with the elaborating. Daisuki Tasuki ^__^
Biiiiiig thanks to Bailey for editing :D

Syaoran is finally coming back to Japan, but his joy soon turns to depression when he meets
Sakura for the first time in over five years. But then.. someone begins stalking Sakura, and word
goes around that someone wants Sakura killed. Can Syaoran save Sakura before she herself is dead?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 2 - A Party Not Forgotten
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura proceeded to pick up the phone. As soon as her fingers brushed against the solid
plastic, she drew her hand away. There was no way she could do this. Not only did it take a lot
of courage; guilt was also pulling her away.

"I shouldn't be guilty," Sakura scolded herself. "This is for the best."

Sakura, once again, advanced towards the phone, this time holding it in her grasp. She slowly
brought the phone up to her ear. Then she went on to dial the number. She waited. One ring. Two
rings. Three.

"Hello? Hi, Jonathan.. huh? Yeah, I'm fine. You? That's good."

A smile curled on Sakura's face. She hardly got a chance to talk with him lately, him being a
foreigner and all. He probably was really busy. But as she was talking with him, her smile
turned upside down.

"You can't Saturday? .... why not? Oh... sometime this week? ... I can't do that either.... huh?
Oh, because a really old friend from my grade 6 class came back to Japan... so we made all these
plans to hang out while he's still here.... yeah... Why don't you come?"

Sakura was really hoping that Jonathan could join in. It would add to the fun. She could
finally introduce him to Tomoyo, and they would have a blast on the waterslides and eating cake.
And then she could also introduce him to...

Wait, no. That wasn't a really good idea. She couldn't introduce him to Syaoran. Not after the
way he reacted last night. She didn't even see him after she left. She was really hoping he still
wasn't mad...

"You can't? That's too bad..."

That was a relief. Now she didn't have to go through the trouble of having him around while
Syaoran was there. She already hurt her friend far enough. She obviously didn't think of the
consequences. But if she never told him....

"Yeah, I'd better go too and finish up my chores." Sakura added. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, ok?"

After saying that, Sakura's cheeks flushed a deep pink. Did he really say it? Was she hearing
things? No, he really did say it. He... he really did.

"O--oh...! N-no! Of course I'm not offended! Why would I be? You know what?" Sakura stammered.

She took a deep breath before speaking into the phone.

"I love you too."

Having completed this first step... it may have been going too quickly, but Sakura saw that as
a good thing. She smiled. This was nothing like when she was with Syaoran. Jonathan was really
romantic, and really nice. Not only that... she heard rumours that he was a really good kisser.
Sakura's stomach turned at this thought.

"Bye..."

Sakura hung up the phone, and turned around, hoping to get some chores done. But before she
could move anywhere, the phone rang again. Sakura sighed and marched back to the phone.

"Hello?"

Sakura held the phone away from her ear, then carefully placed it back.

"Tomoyo! What are you doing? You're gonna make me deaf!!?!" Sakura yelled. "Huh? Of course I'm
coming! I have to do the dishes first! What? I was using the phone, why? You've been trying to
get a hold of me for 10 minutes? ....... It's 5:00 already?"

Sakura freaked out and looked around the room.

"Tell you what. I'll leave a note for my dad and I'll go dress up and I'll be over in about 15
minutes, you hear? Tell them to wait! Don't start without me!"

Sakura quickly hung up the phone and ran upstairs. She came tumbling down with a brush in
hand, trying to brush her hair as she put on her shoes. Then the door opened.

"Sakura?"

Sakura looked up. "Daddy!"

Fujitaka greeted his daughter with a grin. He nodded at her. Sakura put her brush down and
decided that doing one thing at a time was a better idea. She tied up her shoes.

"Where are you off to, Sakura?"

"Tomoyo-chan's. We're holding a party for Syaoran-kun. I didn't get to do the dishes but I
promise I'll do them later," Sakura added.

"But Sakura.. I asked you.."

"I know, Daddy... but... I slept in and... then Tomoyo called.. and then... I can't really be
late for this because they can't start without me!" Sakura insisted.

Fujitaka sighed. "I'll let you go, but you have to come home early so you can finish doing the
dishes..."

Sakura nodded vividly. "I promise. What time?"

Fujitaka thought for a while. "Around 8-9:00..."

Sakura nodded again, and gave her dad a hug. "Love you, Daddy! I have to go now! I'll see you
later, okay?"

Sakura stepped out of the house and ran at an outstanding speed. Fujitaka watched her run into
the distance. He sighed and walked inside the house. As he walked through, he stopped in front
of all the pictures of the family. Him, Nadeshiko, Touya, and Sakura.

Fujitaka had already lost Nadeshiko and Touya. Not that Touya was dead, he just didn't know
how he was doing. After Touya had left for college, both he and Sakura had lost contact with him,
and they haven't talked ever since. Fujitaka was afraid that it was time for Sakura to leave home
too, and soon he would lose contact with her as well. The years went by so fast, he still had to
catch up with what was going on. He knew that Sakura was going to have a fine job, and hopefully
stay in contact with him. Sakura is the type of person that would never forget anyone. But,
Sakura had changed so much since she was a little kid. She was so much busier, she didn't seem to
have time for her dad anymore.

Fujitaka shook his head and went into the kitchen. But as he entered, for some reason, he
started thinking of all these things. He had flashbacks of him and Sakura; she was telling him
about the book of Clow. Then there was that time when Sakura had to seal away the book of Clow
She was never to see Kerberos, or Yue, ever again. It upset Touya so much, but their presence
was becoming widely known, and it was dangerous. The book of Clow was sitting in the
basement again. Sakura probably forgot about it.

Then, Fujitaka had a horrible feeling about Sakura. He felt as if he would lose her just as
quickly as he did with Nadeshiko. He shook his head and brushed off the feeling. Sakura was a
cautious girl. He trusted her. Nothing would happen to her. After reflecting on these thoughts,
he opened the refrigerator door to prepare dinner.

********

Sakura arrived at the party, minutes after it started. Tomoyo greeted Sakura, first being
angry, but apologizing later. Sakura apologized for what happened, because she lost track of
time. Eriol started teasing Sakura about hiding something 'secret', but that only earned him
the millionth hit on the head.

Sakura proceeded to the food on the table; it was the first thing she thought of. She never
had lunch, so she was really hungry. Ignoring the fact that Tomoyo started the party without her,
Sakura grabbed a plate, and started grabbing all the cookies and sweets she could find on the
table. But as she proceeded to grab the chinese rice crackers, her hand brushed against someone
elses. She looked up.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura beamed. She didn't think he would be there yet. She gave him the sweetest
smile she could ever give him, hoping he would accept it as an apology from last night.

Syaoran didn't reply.

He merely glanced at Sakura, and took a cracker, and then went to get something else. Sakura
was left wide eyed, but followed him.

"Syaoran-kun?"

Syaoran grabbed a couple more cookies, and left. Sakura tried to follow him, but he already
disappeared into the crowd. Sakura was left standing at the rim of the gathering. Did Syaoran
really do that? Did he actually ignore her? No. Maybe he was just in a bad mood from yesterday.
Sakura found a chair and ate silently. Then the microphone was adjusted, and everyone payed
attention to the front.

"Attention," Said a familiar voice. Sakura stood on the chair to see who was speaking.

Yamazaki.

"I'd just like to say a couple of things. It's great to have our good old friend, Li-kun, back in
Japan, and this party is to honour his return for the couple of weeks that he's here." He paused.
"I'm sure he just came here to check out all the hot girls that have been hanging around
recently!"

Everyone laughed at Yamazaki's remark. There was no mention of Sakura whatsoever. She felt
left out. The microphone was handed to Tomoyo, and Tomoyo spoke.

"We will now dance for the rest of the day! The first song is called Lost. You all know; that
popular song that plays when the boy misses his long lost love. So, why don't you all grab a
partner, and we'll get dancing?"

Sakura shoved her half eaten food in the garbage, hoping for a chance to get noticed. She
wanted to dance with Syaoran-kun. She pushed her way through the crowd, but as she got closer to
the front, she saw that Syaoran-kun was dancing with someone. He was dancing with.... Naoko?

Sakura shook her head. There's no way Syaoran would dance with her. He would only be willing
to go on a slow dance with her. She rubbed her eyes, and looked at the situation again. There he
was, wrapping his arms around Naoko, and hers around his. Not being able to stand the moment,
Sakura pushed her way back through the crowd and back to the food table. She stood there for a
while, trying not to shed any tears.

"I'm not in love with him," Sakura reminded herself. "But he's my old friend, dammit. And all he
could do was ignore me. I told him how I felt so I could avoid making him feel worse..."

Sakura, seeing that no one was talking to her, and no one else was left out but her, she
proceeded to the door and sat down to put on her shoes. As she did, footsteps could be heard
faintly behind her.

"You're going already? It's only 5:45..." the voice said. Sakura finished tying her shoes and
looked up, straight into Tomoyo's eyes.

"Yeah. I promised my Dad I'd do the dishes."

Sakura immediately got up, opened the door, and left, not even giving Tomoyo time to finish
what she was saying. Eriol showed up behind Tomoyo, and shook his head.

"I knew this was going to create problems." he commented.

"We shouldn't butt in on their problem." Tomoyo reminded. "This is for them to solve."

Eriol looked down. "I still think Li-san is being a little bit too rude. I'll talk to him later."

Tomoyo nodded. "I agree. But.. I should've talked to Sakura about this earlier. Look at what she
did to herself.."

Eriol put his arm around Tomoyo's waist. "Let's not worry for now. Things will sort out in time.
They always do. In the meanwhile..."

"In the meanwhile?"

Eriol pulled Tomoyo closer to him, and put his face close to hers. Then he gave his famous
chesire cat grin of his. "In the meanwhile, why don't we fool around?"

Tomoyo glared at Eriol, wide-eyed, about to hit him. Then he gave her a short kiss. She giggled
and hit him lightly on the shoulder. "You're so mean!"

Eriol grinned at Tomoyo and nodded. "I know I am." Then he led her back to the dance floor.

*********

Sakura opened her front door and dragged her feet back in. Her dad was sitting in the living
room, reading the newspaper. He didn't really notice until she appeared and walked towards the
kitchen.

"Back already? I thought you'd stay well over the time I told you to come home..!"

Sakura looked at her dad and gave him a sad smile. "I said I'd do the dishes. I'm keeping my
promise."

Fujitaka could only stare at his daughter as she glumly made her way towards the kitchen. He
took a close look. He wasn't sure, but he thought he saw a tear roll down her cheek. This
definitely wasn't like her. She was all excited to go to the party, but came home depressed. He
sighed. He should leave her alone and let her sort this out herself. He didn't want to intrude
on her private life, unless she got to the point where she would be considering suicide. He came
out of his thoughts and continued to read the paper.

"Oh, by the way, Sakura." Fujitaka added.

"Yeah?"

"You got a letter today. There wasn't a name on it, but I put it on your bed, so you would
notice it."

"Okay.." Sakura softly replied. She didn't know who the letter would be from, since she didn't
know who would be writing her at a time like this. She decided to think about it later, after
she'd finished the dishes. Besides, there were far more important things she had to think about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Like? Please review. No like..? ...... I might as well let you flame (a lot of you are already
doing that already anyways )
Well, how was that for 2nd chapter? Gomen nasai, it's a bit boring, but bear with me o.o;;
Besides. Ooooooo, Syaoran's ignoring her now. She just made things worse. Oooooooo. What now?
OOoooooooo. What's with the letter? Oooooo, how'd Tomoyo and Eriol find out?
............. ¬_¬ I told you not to ask me. I have no idea. *ahem* anyways... I guess I didn't
take a week to do this. I had like... all day last night so I'm like.... Pfeh, why not. I might
as well work on it, seeing I have nothing else to do. I had to do something about all that
complaining anyways ;p
next chapter will be out as soon as I'm done with it.
Ja mata~~

~*AngelSakura*~