Summary: What if you have a chance to go back to your past and change your life? What if you can live your life differently, make new choices? Will it make a difference? Or will making a different choice still take you down the same route? What if your decision changes the rest of your life and everything is different from what it is supposed to be? What would happen if you make the wrong choice?
Syaoran didn't even look at Sakura. He walked straight past her and headed for Eriol. The look he was giving Eriol was chilling and it promised retribution. Eriol didn't even flinch at the forbidding expression on Syaoran's face. He had had enough. He wanted this resolved and he wanted it resolve now. Four years of suppressed emotions were four years too long.
"You want to take another swing at me, Syaoran," he said deliberately, "go ahead. But don't expect me to take the insult passively now."
The chill was gone now in Syaoran's eyes and replaced with the fires of hell. Eriol kept his gaze steady on his friend as he advanced on him.
"There will be no fighting tonight," Tomoyo said firmly as she effectively blocked Syaoran's path. She planted herself right in front of her boyfriend and glared at both of them. "I want my husband functioning properly on my wedding night."
Syaoran was a hairsbreadth from Tomoyo, "Please get out of my way, Tomoyo. I don't want to have hurt you. As for the wedding night, you just have to postpone it."
"No," the quiet protest came from behind Syaoran. There was no indication that Syaoran heard her except for the slight stiffing in Syaoran's stance. "I'm the one you're angry with, not Eriol. Leave him out of this. If you want to vent your anger at someone, then do it at me." Sakura was looking up at Syaoran, her eyes boring into Syaoran's back, willing Syaoran to turn around and face her. This confrontation between them was long overdue.
Syaoran refused to turn around to face the petite figure. He knew that if he looked at her, his carefully erected armor would lay in shreds around him soon. No matter how much he wanted to deny it, Syaoran knew that she still possessed that kind of power over him even now, after four long years.
The longer Syaoran took to react, the faster and harder Sakura's heart pounded until it seemed to her as if her heart were going to beat right out of her chest. The silence between the four of them were deafening, with everyone staring at Syaoran expectantly and Syaoran stubbornly refusing to look at any one of them.
"Coward!" Eriol muttered angrily under his breath, utterly disgusted by his friend's weak behavior. He grabbed hold of Tomoyo's hand and tugged her into the living room, leaving Sakura and Syaoran alone in the small alcove. He gently pushed Tomoyo through the doorway first and before he disappeared into the living room, he turned back to Syaoran.
"Do me a favor, Syaoran, and face this like a man. Enough is enough; stop behaving like you are the only one in this world suffering. So you've had a bad childhood and your girlfriend ran out on you; worse things could have happened. And now that she's back, either you turn her away and live out the rest of your cold, lonely life never knowing why she ran from you, or you could listen to her explanation and then walk out of here, knowing that the ghosts that have been following you around for 4 years have been exorcised. Take your pick and stop dwindling." That said, Eriol disappeared through the doorway. Syaoran stared after his friend, wanting to strangle his friend, and yet found himself pondering about his words.
Had he been hiding all these years from emotions he didn't know he still possessed? Was he still bitter about his parents despite his claims on the opposite?
Suddenly to Sakura, the distance between her and Syaoran seemed unbearably long. There was a chasm between them and Sakura didn't know how to reach out to him. She stared at him, racking her brain for something, anything to say to him, but came up with nothing. She had given him the olive branch and it was up to Syaoran to react next. If he walked out of here, Sakura knew that all would be lost. She would have been dead to him. She was counting on some explosive reaction, any indication to show that she still matter enough for a reaction.
Syaoran turned and faced her abruptly, his face devoid of emotions and his eyes, those brown eyes of his, were masked, unreadable. Unable to help herself, Sakura took a step forward, bringing herself closer to Syaoran. Syaoran didn't retreat; surely that was a good sign?
The silence stretched on as both parties surveyed each other, noting the years etched in each other's faces. Sakura thought that the faint lines fanning out from Syaoran's eyes were charming, but his eyes looked too lost, like he was missing something in his life, something that he'd lost and found, only to lose it again. Age had given him an air of experience and astuteness. His jaded view of this world was reflected in the slight twist of his sensual mouth – the sneer that so many teenage girls found so irresistable. Sakura wanted to reach up and smooth away the sneer from his handsome face. She wanted to see him smiling at her again. She would give her right arm and leg to see him smiling, genuinely smiling again.
Syaoran thought Sakura looked exhausted, like she's been through so much that she was ready to lie down and sleep forever. Her eyes looked so worn and old, wary. Where was the shine and enthusiasm he always saw in her eyes before? What had she done to make herself look so haggard?
"Where were you?" his voice seemed harsh after such long silence. For a while, Sakura could just stare at him, savoring the fact that he was speaking to her again. Sakura took a breath to steady herself.
"I was in Japan. Tokyo, Japan. I finished med school there and I'm a practicing doctor now," Sakura's voice turned husky and vibrated with emotions, "I've missed you, Syaoran."
Syaoran expelled a breath along with a string of vulgarities. "The Syaoran you know is dead; the boy I was is no longer existent. He died when you left. I'm a different Syaoran now. And do not," Syaoran's voice turned silky soft, "lie to me."
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Author's Note: What do you think of this chapter? Thanks for the reviews everyone, I really appreciate them. Remember to do the same for this chapter too, ok? *grins* Thanks... Alright, that's all for now!