Dedicated to Tams.

The Bunny worked! I got lotsa reviews! Thanks for the support everyone, it really does mean

so much to me. And I know what you mean about Biker Sakura. I don't think she necessarily has to be bad. I just think she'd be a lot cooler. She's still the sweet Sakura we know and love! I just think that with a bit of attitude we could make her a really interesting character!

Oh yes, because of my complete lack of originality you may recognise some names. 'Noriko', I took from 'Gunbuster', along with 'Amano'. Leon is from 'Bubblegum Crisis' and 'Motomiya' is from Digimon. Hey, I just do the writing! I'm too busy/lazy to come up with my own names!

Chapter 6: Hakuna Matata

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Hakuna Matata

What a wonderful phrase!

Hakuna Matata

Ain't no passing craze!

It means no worried!

For the rest of your days

It's our problem free Philosophy

Hakuna Matata

* * * * * * * * * * * *

By the time Friday arrived Syaoran could tell something was wrong. For the past three days Sakura had been avoiding him like the plague. At school she sat next to Tomoyo and she rushed home and shut herself in her bedroom to avoid him. But on Friday afternoon, just as they were going home he managed to corner her as she was waiting for Tomoyo.

"Sakura, what the hell's going on?"

"What do you mean?" she said, blushing slightly, avoiding his eye.

"You've been hiding from me for three days now! What did I do?"

"Nothing! I just figure that if we spend less time together, our parents might let you go home."

Syaoran watched her closely.

"Sakura, I know that I've only known you for a week, but even I can tell that you're not telling me the truth. Is it… is it about what happened in the bar?"

"No!" she said, a little quickly. Syaoran folded his arms across his chest.

"Well…maybe a little bit." Sakura admitted. She frowned and looked at him.

"I just felt weird. We're trying to convince our parents we don't want to get married, and we were just standing there, practically hugging."

"And you don't want to hug me?" Syaoran asked, hurt. Sakura glared 

"Syaoran-"      

"No, seriously! I fully intend to get married one day, and if there's something wrong, meaning people don't want to hug me, you should tell me!"

"There's nothing wrong with you. It's me who's got the problem."

"I know what you mean. This whole arranged marriage thing is a nightmare, but we can just be friends, right?"

"Sure, you can never have too many friends."  Sakura agreed as Tomoyo came into view and they started to walk to the bikes.

Unfortunately someone had overheard their conversation. Three guesses who.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

That night, Noriko Amano made a phone call.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Tomoyo, Eriol, Sakura and Syaoran had organised to go to the shopping centre the next day. Touya and Yukito were going too and they organized to meet in the food court at 1:30, leaving ample time for shopping.

The four of them wandered around various shops, examining clothes, computers, jewellery and everything in between. Then Tomoyo giggled and pointed to a wedding dress shop.

"Sakura, you'd look adorable in that!" she squealed. Sakura glanced at the white dress and turned to her best friend.

"Tomoyo, say that again and I will be forced to hurt you."

"Of course… what was I thinking? I'll be designing your dress!" Tomoyo laughed. Syaoran had to hold Sakura back.

"Sakura, Tomoyo was joking." He said. Tomoyo smiled sweetly.

"I'll design you a tuxedo as well, if you want!"

"You are so dead, Daidouji!"

As Tomoyo hid behind Eriol Sakura said,

"It's Touya's birthday next week. I still have to get him a present."

"Don't ask me. Your brother hates me." Syaoran grumbled. Sakura looked at him, big green eyes looking innocent.

"He doesn't hate you. He just intensely dislikes you, that's all."

"Gee, thanks Sakura." He said sarcastically. Tomoyo linked arms with Sakura.

"What about a new shirt?"

"Dad's getting him one. I thought about getting him a watch. He's had that old one for years and I think it's growing mould."

As they examined the various watches in the shop Tomoyo clutched Sakura's arm.

"Look! They still haven't sold your necklace!" Sakura looked along, to where a thin gold chain hung in the window. On the end was a crystal ball, the size of a marble. Inside the ball was a collection of tiny pink gems, bunched together to create the image of a cherry blossom. Sakura grinned and gazed at it adoringly.

"Why don't you buy it?" Syaoran asked. Sakura snorted.

"Have you seen the price? I don't exactly get a lot of money. It'd take me at least two years to save up for that." She sighed wistfully, and then went in to buy Touya's watch.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

By the time they were on their way to meet Yukito and Touya, Sakura was glowing with happiness. She was having the best day! Just hanging around with her friends made her feel great. As they met Touya and Yukito she felt nothing could dampen her mood.

But it did, of course. Otherwise this story would be pretty damn boring, don't you think?

As they sat on stools around a table, munching on burgers and chips,

(a/n: That's me being British again. Chips are the same as French fries. It's pretty weird how similar we all are, and we have silly changes like that in our language! Anyway, back to the fic! ^_^)

, When the unmistakable sound of Noriko reached their ears. She stood next to the table and smirked at Sakura.

"It's not very nice to tell lies, Sakura." They all stopped to look at her and her gang of followers. Sakura swallowed her mouthful and said irritably,

"Amano, I'm trying to eat here. If you've got something vaguely interesting to say, which is very rare, say it and please leave."

"Now, now. I think it's only fair that everyone knows the truth about you and Syaoran."

The colour drained from Sakura's face. She stared at Noriko and hissed,

"What the hell-"

"You see, Sakura hasn't been very honest with us." Noriko told her friends, who obviously didn't know what was going on either. Syaoran got to his feet.

"Noriko-" By this time everyone in the food court was listening to the conversation.

"Syaoran isn't a family friend. He and Sakura here are in an arranged marriage."

There was a long silence, then people started to talk loudly, staring and pointing at them. Sakura stared around in horror and Touya got to his feet.

"Listen to me, Amano. This has got nothing to do with you! Now get out of here!"

"Public place, Kinomoto." Noriko said lightly. Sakura was on her feet, striding towards Noriko with one intention. Syaoran tried to stop her but Sakura screamed,

"I'll kill her! I swear, I'll kill her!"

"Sakura, stop it!" Syaoran said loudly. She ignored him, pulled from his grasp and lifted her fist, wanting to punch Noriko's pretty face in.

But the sound of a voice stopped her. Someone's voice who she had never wanted to hear again. She froze.

"Sakura, still haven't curbed that temper I see." It was as if the whole world had frozen around her. Then, the crowd parted and she was face to face with a tall boy. His blonde hair and blue eyes shone in the light, and his smug smile leered down at her.

"Leon…"

"Sakura, come on. Let's go." Touya said, taking his sister's arm. She didn't move but continued to stare at him. His gaze flicked to Tomoyo and his smile widened.

"Well, hello Tomoyo."

"Go curl up somewhere and die, Motomiya." Tomoyo said coldly.

Syaoran was downright confused. Who was this guy? How was it he could have such an effect on sweet, caring Tomoyo? Touya glared at Leon.

"Get the hell away from my sister and her friends!" But Leon was looking at Syaoran, then back to Sakura.

"You're getting married? Managed to replace me quite quickly, didn't you? Pity. Things could have been great between us."

A strange, strangled gasp escaped Sakura's throat as tears welled up in her eyes. She pulled free from Touya's grip and turned to run. Noriko stuck out a foot and Sakura tripped, landing on her face, but clambered up and ran clumsily. As her friend's ran after her Leon sighed, shook his head and turned to Noriko.

"I can't believe they're still sore about that."

* * * * * * * * * * * *

They caught up with Sakura in the car park. She was fumbling with her helmet, tears still running down her face. Touya grabbed his sister,

"Sakura, come on. It's ok." He was hugging her tightly and she was sobbing into his chest. Tomoyo and Eriol were both looking furious.

"How dare she do that! She had no right!" Tomoyo said, angrily. Eriol put and arm around her.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Sakura, are you alright?"

"Y-yeah." She gulped, wiping her streaming eyes. Syaoran frowned.

"Ok, I'm really confused. Is someone going to explain to me?"

"I will later. Right now, I just wanna go home." Sakura said. Yukito took her helmet.

"You're in no state to ride your bike right now. Syaoran and I will take the bikes home, and Touya can drive the rest of you. Ok?"

Sakura saw sense and nodded.

When they arrived back at the house Fujitaka and Yelan were waiting for them. Apparently Touya had phoned ahead, explaining the situation. Syaoran looked at Sakura as they entered the house.

"Are you ok?"

"Been better. I guess we did kinda bring it on ourselves, talking about it at school."

"I guess so. Cheer up. Hakuna Matata and all that."

"You've seen the Lion King?"

"My older sisters love Disney." He explained. Sakura gave a weak smile.

"Wow. I love Disney."

Fujitaka hugged his daughter as they entered the living room.

"Sakura, honey, are you alright? What happened?"

"Noriko Amano found out about us. And she called Leon." Sakura said, in little more than a whisper. Yelan looked at Fujitaka.

"Who is Leon?" Fujitaka looked at Sakura who said,

"I'll explain." She sat down, Syaoran sitting next to her. Tomoyo and Eriol joined them on the couch while Yukito and Touya went to the kitchen to make some tea. Sakura took a deep breath.

"A couple of years ago I was dating Leon. We were… engaged. Long term, obviously, I was only fifteen. But I broke it off."

"Why?" Syaoran asked. Sakura swallowed and whispered,

"He tried… tried to rape…"

"He tried to rape you?!" Yelan cried in shock. Sakura shook her head. This was obviously very hard for her.

"No… it was… it was…"

"Me." Tomoyo said.

There was silence. Tomoyo continued.

"He had invited me over to his house. He said he wanted hep picking out a ring for Sakura. He grabbed me and I tried to stop him. But he was too strong. Luckily Sakura arrived just then. Leon stopped and said I was trying it on with him. But Sakura is cleverer then that. She saw straight away what was going on."

"We got out of there… and he moved away. I never saw him again until today." Sakura finished.

For a while no one spoke. Eventually Fujitaka said,

"Sakura, why don't you go and ask Touya and Yukito for the tea?"

She stood and walked from the room. Fujitaka turned to the others.

"It's very important that we keep Sakura away from Leon. If this arranged marriage is even going to have a chance of happening we need to make sure there are as few obstructions as possible."

"I want to break the arrangement off." Syaoran said firmly. They all looked at him.

"Syaoran-" Yelan began.

"Mother, Sakura has clearly been hurt badly. Now, more than ever, she is not going to want something like this hanging over her. I suggest that you and I return to China."

"Syaoran, you and Sakura are connecting amazingly. What she needs is someone to turn to, someone who can help her overcome her fear of love." Fujitaka insisted. He looked to Tomoyo for support.

"I think Mr Kinomoto's right, Syaoran. That's why Sakura was avoiding you. She was scared."

"But Sakura doesn't want to get married! She doesn't want me around."

"Not true. She thinks you're great. She just needs some encouragement." Eriol mentioned. Syaoran groaned in despair.

"Does anyone here remember that neither Sakura, nor I want to get married?"

"Syaoran, please. Stay for the three months, and then decide. After all, Sakura's opened up to you more than anyone after Leon." Fujitaka said.

"And if everyone would kindly stop discussing me for five minutes, I'd like to speak to Syaoran alone." Sakura said, standing in the doorway. Everyone jumped and went pink. Tomoyo and Eriol excused themselves, saying they had to get home. Yelan and Fujitaka went to help Touya and Yukito.

Syaoran and Sakura looked at each other until she eventually broke the silence.

"This isn't fair on you. If you want to go back to China now, then I don't mind."

"I'm not leaving you now. Even if we don't get married, we're still friends, remember? And friends don't abandon each other. I don't care about what everyone at school says. I don't care about Leon, and what happened between you two. All I want to do is make sure you're ok."

"I am ok. And if you wanna stay, that's great. Because you're a great person, Syaoran, and I really like you. But I don't think I could ever love someone like that again."

"I'm not asking you to. I just want to be your friend."

"Ditto. Of course, I'd also like it if our that lot stopped spying on us, but perhaps that's just a bit too much to ask."

She kicked the door open and a shamefaced Fujitaka, Yelan, Touya and Yukito came into view. They all muttered apologies and Fujitaka asked,

"Made a decision?"

"I'm going to stay and help Sakura. But 5this does not mean you should start booking the church and picking out a caterer." Syaoran said firmly. Sakura laughed. Syaoran shrugged and grinned.

"Hey, Hakuna Matata."  Touya frowned,

"You like Disney?"

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Another chapter is at an end, and the plot is finally going somewhere. While getting closer, Sakura and Syaoran still don't intend to be more than friends.

Hee hee. I love abusing characters! Please review soon!

Lotsa luv 'n' Huggles.

Katie.