A New Semester of Love
Chapter 2: A Transfer Student
"Well, that was an incredibly good dinner, Sakura-san," Eriol commented as he put down his fork. They had all just finished some nice cake that Sakura had prepared earlier that day before Tomoyo had arrived.
"Thank you. Tomoyo-chan did help with the meal too," Sakura told him, smiling.
"Oh? Well, thank you too then, Tomoyo-san. It was very nice," Eriol said smiling at her.
She blushed a little. "But I really didn't do much. I was just watching Sakura-chan most of the time."
"Yeah…filming her like always," Syaoran added teasingly. They all laughed.
"So, how did last semester end up for all of you?" Eriol asked, looking slightly over at Sakura concerned. "I didn't really hear from you since the last time I visited, although I do know now that my little descendent here and Sakura-san are finally together."
Syaoran glared at him a little upon hearing himself called 'a little descendent' but shrugged the comment away. "Since the end of the semester things have been better."
"Grades ended up being okay though for all of us, I think," Tomoyo added. "Maybe a little lower than normal, but not bad. I think we were all just worried about Sakura-chan more than anything. And she got really sick because she wasn't really taking good care of herself. But now everything seems fine again."
They were all now looking toward Sakura who smiled at them a little weakly and turned her face away, a little embarrassed at the attention and the words being spoken about her. I hate remembering that time…
"How about you, Eriol-kun?" Sakura asked, trying to take the attention away from herself. "How did last semester go for you?"
He smiled at her. "It went pretty okay. But," he began, smiling even more and glancing around at all of them, "I decided that university wasn't the place for me. I felt too distanced there from all of you. I really felt that when I visited last time…I wished then that I could have been closer and that I could have stayed for much longer instead of worrying about having to get back to classes in England. So I realized then that, although England is where I grew up, it's not the place for me. I'd rather be here where I have more connections."
Sakura and Tomoyo stared at him, just waiting for him to continue. Syaoran was smiling, having already heard all this before.
"Having realized all this, I applied as a transfer student to Tokyo University and was accepted. So, I'll be coming to school with you now for our second year."
"Really? Are you serious?" Tomoyo asked, her eyes taking on a hopeful glint.
"Of course," Eriol replied, his smile growing even wider.
"That's wonderful!" she exclaimed.
"I agree," Sakura said happily. "I really hope you like it here too. The university is pretty nice."
"I'm sure I will like it better here," Eriol told them. "I'll be staying with Li the rest of the summer until we move into the dorms."
Sakura looked at Syaoran, trying to see how he felt about Eriol staying with him. They had never really gotten a long well. He was looking right back at her, smiling a little. "It'll be okay," he mouthed. She smiled back at him and then looked back toward Tomoyo who was still smiling excitedly. Sakura smiled even more. This is definitely going to be a good thing for those two…
***
"Well, I guess we better be going," Syaoran said, looking at the clock. It was already nearing eleven. Fujitaka had already returned and left the group alone, going up to his own room to read a little.
"Yeah, it is getting a little late," Eriol agreed, stretching in his position beside Tomoyo on the couch. They had just finished watching an old movie and were now just lounging around in Sakura's living room. Sakura and Syaoran were sitting together on the floor in front of the TV.
Syaoran quickly leaned over and kissed Sakura on the cheek as he stood. "We'll see you soon." Eriol also stood up and began to follow Syaoran as he made his way to the front door. Tomoyo and Sakura started to stand as well. "It's okay. You girls don't have to get up. We can make it out on our own."
"Goodnight, Tomoyo-san, Sakura-san," Eriol called back to them as he left the room. The two girls smiled at each other silently as they listened to the two guys put on their shoes and leave the house, gently closing the front door behind them.
"Where has Kero-chan been all this time," Tomoyo asked suddenly, looking around, expecting for some reason for the little yellow guardian to come flying out from nowhere.
"Upstairs playing a video game, I think. I was surprised that he didn't come down when we started to eat the cake, but maybe he fell asleep or something. We can go check up on him, I suppose," she said, standing up and putting the pillows she and Syaoran had been using back to their place on the couch.
"You can go take a bath if you like," Sakura told Tomoyo. "I still have to clean up things in the kitchen a little."
"I can take one in the morning," Tomoyo said. "Let me help you clean up."
"You don't have to though."
"I know, but I want to." Sakura smiled at her as she led the way back in to the kitchen.
With Tomoyo washing the dishes and Sakura drying and putting them away, they quickly finished cleaning up and made their way up the stairs to Sakura's room.
They walked in to find Kero lying asleep on the floor, a game controller by his tiny head, and the words GAME OVER flashing on the screen.
Sakura and Tomoyo smiled at the little creature and at each other, trying not to giggle at the cute scene before them. "What a powerful guardian of the cards, ne?" Sakura whispered, causing Tomoyo to laugh. She quickly covered her mouth trying to soften the sound. Sakura grinned.
"I'll be right back. I need to go get a futon from the closet," Sakura said quietly leaving the room and quietly returning less than a minute later. She easily lied the futon on the floor beside her bed and covered it with a soft blanket, putting a pillow down at the head of the whole set. Meanwhile, Tomoyo had changed into her pajamas and had been sitting by Kero turning off the game.
"Would you rather sleep on the bed or the futon?" Sakura asked as she changed into her pajamas.
"I'll be fine on the futon," Tomoyo answered.
"You sure? The bed is more comfortable."
"It's fine. I like sleeping on the floor every once in a while," Tomoyo told her. Sakura smiled, nodding her head in agreement. She walked over to her desk, pulling open the small drawer that was Kero's room and took a small blanket from inside, covering her yellow friend gently with it.
"Goodnight Kero-chan," she whispered, before climbing into her own bed. Tomoyo had already snuggled under the blanket on the futon after turning off the lights in the room.
"So, it was nice to see Eriol-kun again, wasn't it?" Sakura asked.
Tomoyo smiled. "Yes, it definitely was," she replied, starting to blush, happy that the darkness of the room helped to hide the growing redness on her cheeks. "I'm glad he's transferring here too."
"Yeah me too," Sakura agreed. "I do hope that he and Syaoran-kun will be okay living together for the next week. Wei-san isn't there anymore I don't think. So they'll be alone."
Tomoyo giggled a little. "That is interesting, isn't it? Li-kun really seemed to hate him a long time ago when you were changing the cards into star cards. I'm sure he thought Eriol-kun was competition for him."
Sakura smiled, blushing a little, remembering the times that she had seen Syaoran give Eriol incredibly mean looks and how she hadn't understood then. But everything makes sense now.
"But things definitely seem to be calmer between them now. Maybe because Eriol-kun has been gone for so long and because Li-kun shouldn't have to fight for you anymore," Tomoyo continued.
Sakura's smile grew. It had been so wonderful when Syaoran told me he loved me. Even if everything else surrounding that time had been horrible, he made it all so much better. He made me so happy then…he still does…
"You know," Sakura began, grinning a little slyly, "Eriol-kun seemed to be smiling at you a lot tonight."
Tomoyo looked toward Sakura sharply, then looked away, blushing even more than she had been before. "He was smiling at everyone, not just me. I'm sure he was glad to see all of us, so of course he was smiling."
"Yes that's true, but he seemed to be happiest when he was talking with you," Sakura said. "He was definitely smiling the most then."
Tomoyo blushed even more, taking the blanket and covering her face with it. "I think you were imagining things." He was smiling a lot at me, but that wasn't anything special. He's always so nice to everyone. He was probably just paying more attention to me because Sakura-chan and Li-kun have each other. But it was nice to see him smile…
Sakura laughed a little. "Sure I wasn't."
Tomoyo groaned playfully. "I think your eyes were messing with you. I think they've been influenced by your brain that's full of mushy thoughts about Li-kun, so you automatically think there's something different in how Eriol-kun treats me."
Sakura laughed a little more. "Hey! That's not true. Maybe I am thinking about Syaoran-kun a lot, but that doesn't make it impossible for me to see how things are going between you and Eriol-kun."
"Sure, sure," Tomoyo said. "Your love for Li-kun is just making you blind about everything."
"It is not!" Sakura said back, taking the pillow from under her head and softly hitting Tomoyo with it.
"Well now you've done it," Tomoyo muttered, taking her own pillow and smacking Sakura back, laughing the whole time. There innocent pillow fight grew into a much larger one quickly. They began throwing stuffed animals at each other and blankets on top of each other as well as continuing to hit each other with their pillows. They were laughing crazily the whole time.
"Do you two mind?" a sleepy voice broke in, stopping them both in their childlike play.
They looked over to see an awakened Kero staring at them with eyes still half closed and mouth yawning.
The two girls quickly both got sheepish looks on their faces and looked at each other and then back at Kero, who was still staring at them, but was now rubbing his eyes. They giggled a little.
"I'm sorry Kero-chan," Sakura apologized.
"Me too," Tomoyo added in.
"Yeah, yeah," Kero mumbled, lying back down on his stomach. The two girls followed his lead and remade their beds enough to sleep on and lied down.
"Goodnight Kero-chan. Goodnight Tomoyo-chan," Sakura called out quietly.
"Goodnight Sakura-chan, Kero-chan," Tomoyo called back, snuggling deeper under her blanket, looking out through the half open curtains into the clear night. She could see a few stars randomly scattered in the sky. She couldn't see the moon. The moon always reminds me of Eriol…I wish I could see the moon tonight… Her thoughts of the moon faded slowly away as she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
***
End of Chapter 2
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Thank you to those of you are reading, and a special thank you to those who have reviewed!! ^_^ I hope you keep reading!