Disclaimer: I don't own CCS obviously…

At Your Side by Anynn

A/N: Wow! I never though I'd reach e no. 40 mark and pass it… but I have! It makes me jump around madly…haha! Lotsa thanks to: Hana no Tenshi, love-card, Hannah, S&S Forever, steph, Kewl Kat, Astarya, SweetBabyGurl, Crystal-Chan (you really write long reviews! There's no problem though =), alflirtbabe n others (if there are!) of whom I can't remember =P Sorry! And another gomen that I didn't update faster… overwhelmed with reading new great fics and my new fic… and I've been working at Xanga's!

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Chapter 12: Remembering the Forgotten

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.:||Auditorium||:.

Sakura tried to make a bolt for it. But several boys had climbed up the stairs, they had blocked both her exits. "Who're you?" the teacher was coming up. The girl panicked, she hadn't anticipated this. And where were her powers now?

"Sakura-Chan!" the longhaired girl was approaching. Her eyes were pooling up with tears. "You came back!"

Sakura widened her eyes, obviously shocked. How did this girl, whom she couldn't remember, know her real name?

.:||Flashbacks||:.

"Sakura-Chan! Anata kawaii-ne!" the girl's voice was sweet and melodious. But Sakura looked embarrassed at the way she was taping her with such craziness. The girl was practically filming from all available angles (A/N: NO illegal angles, please) around her in the school hallway. "_____-Chan! Please stop, it's the first day of school, what will every body think?" Sakura said self-conscious of all the stares they were receiving from their fellow schoolmates. It was their first year in high school…

.:||~*~||:.

"Look at that boy Sakura-Chan! He's so cute!" ____ was saying. She flipped a single long lock over her white shoulders. They were at a Christmas Eve party, probably in their second year since they looked a little older. ____ was wearing a lavender dress, the straps were translucent. Sakura looked around uncomfortably. Almost everybody was staring at them as they made their entrance. There was one main reason to explain this, they were two of the most well liked girls in their school.

The lights dimmed, a slow dance began. Everybody paired up, twirling around slightly to the music. ______ grabbed the chance to get with a school crush of hers. Sakura hung around, still uncomfortable with everything, her dress was outrageously short due to ______'s alteration to the original piece, the 'extra' people were eying her, not believing that she hadn't got a partner yet. Suddenly, her other best friend (a boy), Kai, came up, blushing deeply and offered her the dance. Soon, they were floating around the dance floor, later drinking the punch…

.:||~*~||:.

"Tell her! Tell her you like her!" Sakura told the blushing boy. Kai looked away, "I don't know…she's so popular…" (A/N: He's another Syaoran case XD_) "And so are you!" Sakura shot back at him. "But she had all those guys revolving around her," Kai replied quietly. Sakura drew a strangled breath, she was feeling the pain of losing this boy, but only for his happiness, "And you have bishoujos(A/N: Sp?)! Praying to the very ground you walk!" _______ came up, "What're you guys talking about?" Kai blushed even harder.

"He wants to tell Rina he likes her but he's scared," Sakura told her. (A/N: Bet you guys thought it was Tomoyo didn't you?=) "Thanks Sakura, now you can broadcast it to everyone in the news," Kai muttered. He looked at the sky, the fluffy clouds were passing by like cotton shreds. "How to tell her?" he wondered aloud. Sakura and ______ looked at each other knowingly. "Here she comes," ______ said, pointing at a black-haired girl advancing on them. "And she's alone," Sakura nudged Kai playfully…

.:||~*~||:.

"Sakura, we'll miss you," the dark-haired, blue-eyed boy told her sadly. "Yeah," Rina murmured softly. Sakura looked at them both. She remembered the crush she had on Kai. It felt as though it was all over ages ago. But whenever she looked at the couple, her heart felt stabbed yet again. Rijana had grown to be a rather good friend among ______, Kai and herself. She didn't want to make any sticky mess by confessing what she felt a long time ago.

"Sakura come on!" ______ shouted to her. She was at the gate already. The plane was leaving shortly. "Matte ______!" Sakura yelled back, a smile plastered on her face. "Can I have a moment with Kai please?" Sakura told Rina. The girl nodded and moved away.

"Well, seems like a very short time isn't it?" Sakura breathed deeply. Kai grinned, "Yup, I still remember first grade, I though ______ was a snobbish rich daddy's girl and you were... um…" "I was what? And you better not tell her what your first impression of her was," Sakura smirked. (A/N: Possible you think?) "Truth be told, Sakura, I had a crush on you ever since I saw you," Kai blushed lightly.

"Oh," Sakura felt like crying. 'Why didn't I confess?' Sakura thought bitterly. "Then I wondered what the chances of a beautiful girl like you to like someone like me?" Kai muttered. "SAKURA!!!" ______ shrieked. "The plane is leaving!" Sakura gave a quick short hug on Kai. Then she turned to Rina and while they embraced she whispered fiercely, "You'd better take care of him because if I find you hurting that weak heart of his, beware of me." Rina smiled, "I take your word, Sakura." "Chotto ______!" Sakura ran on quickly to catch up…

.:||~*~||:.

"Stay of my trail you dumb pervert!" Sakura screamed into his face. The blond shrank away. All of a sudden his brazenness disappeared. Everyone stared at the freshman and the senior. They never thought a junior would confront a senior. _______ came up looking shocked.

"If I ever find you after me again, you have my brother to answer to!" Sakura warned softly but loud enough for everyone in the silent hallway to hear. She stomped off with ______ . When she left, the whole corridor burst into a roar of mix laughter and applause. The humiliated boy ran off to hide his tomato-red face.

.:||~*~||:.

Sakura was sitting in her room, writing her diary.

'Dear Diary,

Loneliness is a two-faced emotion. At times you feel glad of having the privacy for yourself. And other times, when you see others in the company of someone special, your heart goes to pieces. I see many others in pair and me in none at all. Is it correct for me to isolate myself? To snapped at every hopeful boy coming up to me. Yet I feel so afraid thinking of my freedom disturbed and restricted if I find someone.

Tomoyo goes with a different guy every week. She can be very picky at certain times and at others, anyone just go. It's amazing that the campus doesn't run out of males. Or I have this strong gut feeling that the opposite sex changes their looks so that Tomoyo doesn't notice she was going with a same guy.

The Mirror comforts me a lot with my single life. Because she's a case like me too. I think she loves Touya but she's a card and what are the possibilities of that…

Sakura paused then she remembered Kai's words, *Then I wondered what the chances of a beautiful girl like you to like someone like me?* In an act of anger, she tore that page of her diary and threw it into the paper basket. "Stupid," she cursed picking up the pencil that rolled off. (A/N: Okay, so the real Sakura doesn't act like this…she's just angry)

.:||~*~||:. (A/N: The flashbacks are getting recent…)

"Tell me again why they have to be boys?" Sakura groaned while she set the table. Tomoyo rolled her eyes and replied, "They applied for the room before we transferred into this apartment. Actually many applied for it all we had to do was ballot if you remembered correctly." Sakura heaved in impatiently and asked, "So why do we have to have dinner with them? I've got a lot of homework you know, from Mr. Walter."
"You can't trick me Sakura, you did the homework this afternoon in class. You advance math teacher took of a medical leave or something," Tomoyo said. She had put the final Japanese dish on the table. Sakura stared at the sushi and raised an eyebrow. "Sushi? What're their names?" Sakura seemed curious all of a sudden. "It's on the coffee table, the confirmation slip," Tomoyo said, proceeding to her room to brush up her hair.
Sakura leaned over to he coffee table and picked up the piece of paper. She scanned the 'Name' section. 'Li Syoaran or Li Xiao Lang; Little Wolf' Sakura translated using the basic knowledge of Mandarin. 'We'll see if I can reduce the 'little' to 'tiny' after I deal with him. And the other is Eriol Hiiragizawa. A Japanese. So that's why there is sushi. I think I can trust myself to lower my dignity and play a little prank'

.:||~*~||:.

"D…Do you always g…go up he…here, Kinomoto?" Li asked sitting quite uncomfortably in the cold and on the roof tiles, beside Sakura. "When I feel lonely, I guess," Sakura replied looking dreamily at the stars in the sky. There was a silence in between them before Sakura decided to break it by asking a question, "Do you think of your Dad sometimes?"
Li stared at her for a moment. He wondered what could possibly made her ask the question. Then he replied, "I don't know. I don't have much time to myself with all the things I need to do. But sometimes I remember him and I wonder whether he remembers me." He looked so downcast that Sakura felt pitiful. "My dad told me once that lost loved ones never forget who they loved. So if your Dad loved you then he will remember you at watch over you," Sakura said simply.

.:||~*~||:.

While they were washing the dishes, Sakura and Syaoran brushed each other's hands while they reached for the soap at the same time. They pulled away at the exact second and stammered while blushing furiously, "You—you take it."

Then they laughed when they saw the funny thing about doing the same thing at the same time. In the midst of laughing, Syaoran pulled Sakura towards him and kissed her on the lips. Sakura felt his tongue wrestled with hers and her tensed body relaxed.

When they separated, they were both speechless. Sakura left the kitchen immediately and ran to her room, leaving Syaoran still red…

.:||~*~||:.

The telephone was ringing. Sakura ran out of her room, still in a daze from the incident. She picked up the receiver, "Moshi moshi, Sakura speaking."

"Hello, this is Meiling, Xiao Lang's cousin. Sorry for intruding but he has some business revolving around his fiancée. Can you please put him on the line?"

Sakura froze. The girl on the other end kept wait patiently until it several moments too long.

"Hello? Can you please hurry up?! Overseas calls are important you know??!" As if in a  trance, Sakura sleepwalked to the boy's room. When she knocked, there was no answer. She was about to hang up when she heard voices from Eriol's room.

As patiently as she could, she knocked on the door.

"Li-san, you fiancée called," Sakura's voice shook while she trust out the phone. Syaoran froze. 'Fiancée?' he was totally bewildered. He took the telephone uncertainly. Sakura banged the door shut while she left.

.:||~*~||:.

Sakura was on her bed. Sobbing. Confused. Feeling Betrayed. Didn't he kiss her? She had heard of boys like this but he never seemed like one. He was serious, responsible and was the most unlikely of all the male gender, so it seems. Looks can be so deceiving.

.:||~*~||:.

"FLY!" Sakura shouted, half-turning back at the Chinese boy chasing after her. She felt the light feathers on her back. Taking a deep breath, she took off and left into the cold night…

.:||~*~||:.

The night air pricked her skin. Sakura wondered whether it was tinged blue to numbness. She was already cold enough to release her grip. And even though she had been flying for one half hour, she still refused to land.

Her mind switched back to the jerk. The gaki, the brat, Chinese Brat. He dared to come up to her  roof? The scared place she had kept secret that even her best friend hadn't know. The nerve of him and that stupid friend of him. Their troubles had started because of them. Who would have thought that two mere boys caused emotions to run high?

Sakura wondered how Tomoyo was now. She had heard sobbing from her room. But she still locked the door. Cool Tomoyo crying? That was weird.

The bitter wintry air was really getting into her. She made a u- turn back. But it was only a building away before she was engulfed in choking frosty air. Her hand was torn apart from the handle. The last thing she saw was the red beam turning back into a key before disappearing into the night… then darkness took over…

.:||~*~||:.

The sunrise reminded Sakura of fire. It was familiar, fire. She recalled knowing an animal of fire… then she noticed that her pants caught fire. She slapped on it frantically. A jet of water gushed out of her left palm, extinguishing the fire immediately. She froze. What was she really?? A mutant? What a way to start the morning. She found out her right hand could start a fire and the left shoot out water! Discoveries of the century! Great!

.:||~*~||:.

"Oh wow! Daddy, it's a white falcon! It's so beautiful," a young Sakura said in an awed voice. On her shoulder perched the graceful bird of prey. It was nibbling gently on the tiny ponytail the girl had carelessly tied that morning. Aiden looked at her above the pair of spectacles resting on the bridge of his nose. His clear brown eyes shone behind the glass lenses, he was a spitting image of a short-, brown-haired Clow Reed.

"It's as free as when the wind blows, let it go Sakura-Chan," Aiden said gently. The mountainous terrain was peaceful and panoramic. Even though she was a mere five years, Sakura knew how dangerous it could be. It seemed that Skye, the name of the bird, wasn't fit for it. So she protested, "But Okaa-san, Skye won't ever survive out there." "It was made to survive," Aiden said again. Sakura reluctantly stood at the ridge. Skye took off, disappearing at the distance, "As free as the Wind that's how I want to be… one day," Sakura whispered.

.:||~End of all the Flashbacks~||:.

.:||Sakura's POV (Her Words)||:.

Tomoyo! That was her name. My best friend and third cousin. Now I remembered. Everything was rushing back into my head. It felt like I had taken a step off the highest cliff and I was seeing everything going past me, re-realizing.

"Tomoyo?" I tried to say softly. But nothing was coming out of my throat! I opened my eyes immediately. "Sakura-Chan!" her face was looming over mine. I sat up, I was in the apartment, my room, on my bed. I looked around, there was Tomoyo beside me, looking anxious, Eriol, the gaki and two Chinese girls I didn't  recognize.

I clutched my throat. It felt weird, empty as though. I tried again. Tomoyo looked at me strangely, wondering what I was doing. I must have looked as though I was about to barf since she grabbed a paper bag and shoved into around my mouth area. I pushed her away and tried to tell her I couldn't talk.

"I think, that's the payment," Eriol said sadly. "What?" Tomoyo snapped. "We brought her back to us, she lost her ability to talk," Eriol explain. I heard a smothered giggle from one of the two strangers. I flicked my head in their direction. The blue-eyed one was suppressing a smile. I got up from the bed and boxed her right in the eye.

She shrieked wildly. "GET OUT OF THIS HOUSE!!" Tomoyo yelled angrily at her. She looked stunned. I smiled grimly. If I had my voice, she'll be in for a lot of strange words. The gaki ushered her out. She was whining at him, "Syao—" but he whispered something to her and she gave him a peck on his cheek.

My heart crashed. She was the fiancée that called him that night. I remembered the roof. Without warning, I leapt onto my bed, unlocked the trapdoor and crept into the attic room. I slammed the opening shut it as quickly as I could. I heard Tomoyo crying out for me and Eriol was probably trying to open the lock with some spell of his. Summoning up my powers to call upon the Shield, it held tight after some great hullabaloo underneath it. I went onto the roof…the cold night air was again beckoning strongly…

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A/N: I brought her memories back =) maybe I shouldn't hmm… oh well…seems like there's more to write about…I didn't realize that…anything you want to clarify with me or suggestions perhaps? Tell me in you REVIEWS!!! Look at that blue button it sure look tempting ain't it? Well click it and you can type in your thoughts about this chapter! Amazing right? What are you waiting for? Click IT!!!

-Anynn- www.xanga.com/Anynn