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"Sugio!!" smiled Sakura, "Mia, look at the huge noses the elephants have!!"
"Wanna go feed him a peanut?" Mia asked, smiling widely.
"Un!" She nodded and ran closer to the elephant cage followed by Mia.
"How childish," mumbled Syaoran, frowning. Why did they have to go to the zoo? What were they supposed to learn from this school excursion? How to annoy a chinese boy? Syaoran left they two girls at the cage, he wanted to be alone again.
"HOE! Li-" Sakura blinked and looked around, "Huh? Where did Li-san go?"
"Nani?" smiled Mia as she looked at Sakura confused, "Eh?"
"Li-san, he's gone."
Mia stood up and looked around, she let out a groan, "Not this again!"
"Nani?"
She sighed frustratingly, "Arggh, he probably thinks we're being childish again." Mia took Sakura's arm and started dragging him away, "We better find him."
"Okay. ."
"SYAORAN-KUN!! SYAORAN!!" Mia started yelling out.
Sakura sweatdropped noticing the strange looks they've been receiving.
"SYAORAN!!!!" Suddenly Mia ran into someone, not noticing from yelling. She looked up, "There you are!"
"You didn't have to keep yelling my name," replied Syaoran, "I'm not deaf."
"We wanted to find you," explained Mia.
Syaoran eyed Sakura, "I don't understand why you keep dragging her around. She has other friends."
"Syaoran!" frowned Mia, "Too bad, you're going to have to get used to having her prescence around more because she is my new friend! I don't understand why you've been so rude to her. All she's been doing so far was being nice."
"If you only knew. . ." mumbled Syaoran.
"Nani?" replied Mia.
"Nothing. Listen, I just want to be alone. Don't bother to find me, I'll find you," He disappeared in the crowd.
"Sometimes I don't even why I bother with him," mumbled Mia angrily as she turns away to find some other attractions.
Sakura just stood there still looking at the same spot where Syaoran disappeared from. Her eyes showed sadness because she heard his last comment about her. she thought.
"Sakura-chan are you coming?!" called out Mia.
"Oh-yeah, gomen, I'm coming," Sakura ran over to Mia.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Oh yeah! I can't be better!" Sakura smiled.
"If you say so. . ." Mia turned and smiled, "Lets go there!!" She grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her.
"Hoe. . ."
There were some far distance sniffling.
"Hey, sounds like someone is crying," Syaoran said to himself. He started following the cry. Syaoran slowly found a girl crying. He wondered why such a person would cry so much.
"Jack. . . .please stop," she cried, "I don't want you to hurt me any more."
A guy ran up to her, "Listen woman! I don't care what you want!" He raised his hand and swung it across her face.
SLAP
Flashbacks of old memories came to his mind. No one deserved this kind of treatment. Syaoran, with no thought. ran up to the guy and stood protectively in front of the girl, "Don't you dare touch her again!"
"Huh? Who are you?" the guy asked, totally confused at the whole situation, "Umm. . .what are you doing. . ?"
"What am I doing?! I won't allow you to abuse her like that!" Syaoran yelled, totally in rage.
The guy looked at the girl question. The girl shrugged, she didn't know what this guy was doing either.
"Hey you must be in the wrong place or something-"
Syaoran punched him in stomach making him pass out, "You'll learn not to do that again."
The girl's eyes widened, "Jack?" She was going to run to see if he was alright but then the mysterious guy turned and face her, "Oh my god! What did you do-----"
"Are you okay?" asked Syaoran.
The girl was amazed, his eyes were so entrancing, "Ye-Yeah. . .thanks. ."
Syaoran examined her face, "Luckily, you didn't get a mark."
"Mark?"
"When he slapped you."
"Right! Yeah, what can you say, I guess I just have tough skin."
Syaoran looked deep into her eyes, her beautiful shimmering emerald eyes, "I'm Li Syaoran."
"Mei, Ying Hua."
"Ying Hua?" Syaoran's eyes widened. Wasn't Ying Hua another way to spell Cherry Blossom in different chinese characters? He smiled, he finally found her, "Umm, are you famished? I was just going to get something to eat."
"Sure, yeah. . ." A shy smile tugged on her lips.
Syaoran held out his arm for her, "My lady?"
Ying Hua grately accepted and followed Syaoran. She turned back to see Jack still unconsious on the ground, I
Suddenly another girl ran up to Jack's body, she looked at Ying Hua and gestured where was she going.
'He is so fine!!' mouthed Ying Hua at the girl, then mouthed again, 'I'll be back!'. Then turned back to face the front.
Syaoran led Ying Hua to a near by fast food restaurant. They ordered their foods and sat at the table with their orders.
"So tell me about yourself," said Syaoran.
"Well, I'm Chinese and lived in Hong Kong until I was about four. Then I moved here to Japan," she explained giving a mini summary of her life.
"I see," Syaoran looked at her pinky finger. A smile formed, "Made any promises when you were little?"
"Huh? I don't know. . .maybe a couple. . . .I don't think I remember all of them. It was really a long time ago."
"True."
"How about you? Did you make any promises with anyone?"
"Umm. . .kinda. ." His smile grew, ". . .a special one. ."
"Cool," Ying Hua sighed, she was so lucky meeting such a hot guy in an unsanitary place such as the zoo!
Syaoran eyed her as she ate her fries. There was something different about her. Her hair was still the same middle length dark brown color, her eyes green. She seemed the same, but what was the difference? He couldn't point it out but he knew it was there.
"Finally! I'm so hungry I could really eat one of those animals!" said Mia as she ordered her food.
"Me too," Sakura replied after she fiinshed ordering her meal.
"Hey there's Syaoran-kun! Let's sit with him."
"Okay."
The two girls went up to Syaoran's table, noticing he was sitting with another girl.
"Hey Syaoran-kun," Mia sat beside him.
"Ohayou," Sakura greeted sitting on the other side of Syaoran.
Syaoran semi-frowned seeing Sakura was here also. No! He would not let her get in the way of reuniting with a girl he dreamed to meet again, "Mia, Kinomoto, this is Mei, Ying Hua.Ying Hua this is Takako, Mia and Kinomoto. . . .something. . .but you don't really need to know her name. She's kind of like a third wheel when we have no one else to ask to go somewhere."
Sakura drooped her shoulders, she did not need this. Why does he have to be such a jerk?! What did she do to deserve this?! "Hi, My name is Kinomoto Sakura."
Ying Hua smirked, liking the way Syaoran talked about Sakura, "Pleasure." She turned to Syaoran, "Hey, I have to go. Thanks for buying lunch." She stood up and was about to leave.
Syaoran's eyes widened, NO! She was leaving, he lost her once, but not a second! He will not let this opportunity pass, "Wait! Can I meet you again?"
A huge smile formed on Ying Hua's face, "Of course! When?"
"Tomorrow night, at seven at the El Greco restaurant."
"Greek food? Aren't they expensive though?"
"Don't worry about the money, I'll take care of that. You just get ready and be there."
"Okay, it's a date," Ying Hua smiled, "Till tomorrow." And then she left.
"Syaoran! What are you doing?!" Mia practically screamed. She felt like someone tore up her heart, "We had plans to go there tonight! I was the one who finally convinced you to go to such a 'fancy' restaurant!"
"Sorry Mia but we have to postpone that friendship dinner thing, This is really important to me," said Syaoran. He noticed Mia's depressed face, "Don't worry we can go the night after that. I promise."
"Yeah, sure. . ." replied Mia with a half smile.
"That's my friend I know," Then Syaoran smiled and left, "I'll see you later." His day seemed so bright.
"He should've have cancelled that dinner without talking to you first," Sakura said.
"No it doesn't matter. We're not going out or anything."
"Still, he made a dinner date with you that evening, so you should have that dinner."
"Oh well."
"It's okay, I'm sure he'll come around." Sakura gently patted her back.
"I can't believe he just cancelled on me like that. That dinner meant the world for me. I even bought a new dress on the first day we were in Japan because he'd promise he'd take me."
"You really like him, don't you?"
"Well, only friend wise. . .I think. . .But what burns me up is that he just cancelled out with a girl he only met, for how long? An hour? Probably not even! And I've known him for mostly half of his life!"
~
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~
"Is he awake yet?" asked Ying Hua as she walked up to her friend.
"It was nice of you to leave him there."
"Hey! It's not everyday you meet a fine guy in the zoo!" Ying Hua said defensively.
"It's not everyday your boyfriend gets knocked out in the zoo either."
"Aw, Michi-chan, you are such a worry wart!"
"It's not right what you're doing to Jack," frowned Michi.
"Whatever. He'll get over it."
"Ying, he's your boyfriend."
Slowly the unconcious body slowly started showing life. His eyes opened dreary, "Did you get the liscence plate number on that truck?" Jack rubbed his gut, "God, that was some punch he threw." Suddenly his eyes widened, "Ying Hua! Is she okay?!" He quickly turned finding his girlfriend beside him, "Did he hurt you?"
"No, I scared him off."
"That's good."
Michi sighed, "There goes our plan of making a soap movie."
Jack smiled, "That was some pretty good acting skills, as I do say so myself and Ying, you had perfect timing for the fake slap scene."
"I know, I'm a natural."
"Right, and your mine. ." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"Umm, please Jack, give me space okay?" She said pushing away from him. She suddenly didn't like the feeling when he hugged her.
"Okay. . ?" he let go of her.
"Lately I've been thinking about us. . ." She said, getting down to the point.
"What about us?"
"Well, let's just say our relationship hasn't been going far."
"Hasn't been going far? What are you talking about? I just took you out to that expensive English restaurant last night. Then, I went shopping with you and bought clothes that you wanted. We went to the movies, amusant parks, pools, restaurants-"
"Yes, Jack! But you're missing the point."
"What? I don't understand what's wrong with our relationship?"
Michi thought, already knowing what Ying Hua's going to say.
"You see. . . there isn't any romance in it."
Michi rolled her eyes,
"No romance in it?! We took my fathers yacht to be alone for our anniversary! AND you don't think it's not romantic enough?"
Ying Hua sighed, how was she going to get out of this one? "Hey, yachts under a moonlight aren't as romantic as they used to be."
"Ying! I can't believe you'll just end it like that!"
"What can you do? . . .I'm just not feeling the love anymore."
Jack frustratedly stood up. He couldn't believe this! The one girl he gave his heart to was just leaving him . . ? Because she thought the relationship was not romantic enough? He turned to her, "What do you want?"
"Whatever do you mean?" She replied innocently.
"This has to be a joke. You're just probably mad that I didn't buy you that dress you wanted."
"No, but now that I think of it. I still think you should have bought it for me."
"Fine, you want that? I'll buy it!" He started to leave.
"Loser! I don't want the dress anymore!"
He turned back at her, "Then what do you want from me?"
"Our relationship is OVER!"
Jack couldn't believe his ears. She really didn't want him anymore, why? Suddenly, a thought came to his mind, "It's him!"
"Who?"
"That guy who knocked me out!"
"His name is Li Syaoran, and what about him?"
"You're ending everything because of him aren't you?! You're ending US?!"
"Jack! There was never an US! You had money and looks. And you just happened to be there when I was boyfriendless. Get it through your head! WE. ARE. OVER!"
"You just wanted me, because of my money?"
"What else are you good for?"
He stared at her, disbelievingly. There was a silent pause, "So I was just you're bank? You're source of money?"
"Most likely, yes."
He shook his head in denial, "I can't believe this is happening."
"Well, it happened, suck it up and be a man, life goes on."
"I got to get out of here," He depressingly headed to his car.
"That was a good one Ying," Michi replied sarcastically, witnessed everything, "Very original."
"It had to be done. After all, I may be a heartbreaker, but I am definitely not a player. After all, Syaoran is no doubt a finer catch than Jack will ever be." She fixed up her lipstick as she looked at her reflection in her little compact mirror, "Get ready Little Wolf, your Cherry Blossom is coming. . ."
~
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~
Sakura stopped, finally finding the person she was looking for. She walked up to him.
"What do you want?" He said in a bored expression, "I'm trying to be alone with my thoughts. You don't seem to be helping."
"Too bad Li-san," replied Sakura as she stood in front of him, "How dare you?"
"How dare I what?"
"You had already promised a dinner with Mia and you break it off, for some girl you met in less that an hour?!"
"This was important."
"Tell me, do you often break promises? Or does it come naturally that you're a jerk." Sakura crossed her arms, frowning.
Syaoran stood up, intensively looking in her eyes, "Li's always keep there word no matter what!"
"Well you seemed to have forgotten that statement when you just broke one a few minutes ago."
"I never broke it, I postponed it."
"For how long? Till next month? Next year? Till whenever you feel like it?!"
"I don't know how long it'll be but I'll keep that promise to her! She was the first friend I met that accepted me for who I was!"
"And who are you now Li-san?!"
"I don't need to tell you anything."
"If you're not going to tell me who you are then I'm going to!"
"You think you own me Kinomoto? You can't go around and tell people who they are by your perspective! You don't even know what had happened in their life!"
"You maybe right on that Li-san. But all I know is that you are a baka jerk with no self respect for others." She started to leave but Syaoran grabbed her wrist.
"Don't you dare tell me that I have no respect for others! You don't know me, you weren't there when I made an accomplishment! You weren't there when I was in need! And you weren't sure in hell, know what I've been through!"
"And you don't know what you're friend's going through! You could at least inform her you have to postpone your dinner a little sooner! You don't know how much you hurt her! Oops, sorry, you don't have any respect for others piorities."
"Don't push it Kinomoto. . ."
"What are you going to do Li?" She jerked her wrist away from him, "You don't know anything about anyone because you're too afriad to open up and let people get to know you! Maybe you should try it, it'll be healthy." Sakura looked at him for a while, hoping he heard some of the things she said to him.
"That's Li-SAN."
Sakura looked at him disbelievingly, "No, I meant Li, I don't feel as I should give you as much respect from the way you've been treating others. Remember 'True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island. . . .to find one real friend in a lifetime is good forture; to keep him or her is a blessing'. I just hope you know what your doing. " She left and disappeared back into the crowd.
Syaoran watched her disappear, sometimes he didn't know what to think of her. He sighed, confused on what to do as he sat back down. She made his life go upside again, atleast life wasn't as hard as it was in the past. He layed down and looked up at the clouds above him.
~
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~Flashback~
"L-L-Leave m-me al-alone. .!" Little Syaoran tried to say from all the punches the older kids were giving him.
"Trying to hit on my little sister, huh?!" demanded a black haired boy who was giving Little Syaoran hard punches, "Geeks like you should never be able to go to any public schools! My sister could be a retard like you now, if I hadn't came and checked up on her!"
"P-P-Please. . .I di-di-didn't do a-a-a-anything. . ." replied Little Syaoran trying to hold back his tears and defend himself, simultaneously.
The boys didn't listen. Who would listen? Who would WANT to listen? This is a retarded kid, he didn't deserve to be respected.
"Come on loser! Fight back! Are you a chicken?" said a light brown haired boy as he started imitating chicken noises, "Bawk! Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!" His friends laughed at this joke.
Little Syaoran, however, did not find this amusing. There he was sitting on the ground, defenseless with bruises, marks and a traces of blood on his lips. He felt sore, why couldn't they leave him alone?
Again, the raging punches resumed. All the older kids were having a great laugh.
"STOP THAT!" yelled a girl, around the same age as Little Syaoran which was about four. She pushed her way through the mini crowd of big kids, "Leave him alone!"
"Are you blind little girl? He's a retard! He's a loser! We need to beat him up for coming into this world," said a blonde hair boy.
"People like him should never walk in public places," replied the black- haired boy.
"Leave him alone! He didn't do anything to you!" said the angry little girl.
"Yes, by showing his presence to this society!" said another boy.
"Step down, little girl. We still have some business to take care of." The boys grew impatient.
"Well, I think your talk to over! So please leave," said the little girl.
"Listen if you don't move, I'll punch you!"
"Go ahead!"
The boy raised his fist, his eyes looking deep into the girl's determined ones. He just couldn't do it, he put his fist down. He had been in a lot of fights, but never did he punched a girl, "You're a waste of my time. Come on fellas lets go." The boy left, followed by his companions.
The little girl looked at the retreating forms and then at Little Syaoran, "Hey, you okay?"
"Y-Y-Yeah. . ." mumbled Little Syaoran, embarrassed that he was saved by a girl.
"That's good," she smiled, "I saw how they were treating you. They weren't very gentle were they?"
Little Syaoran shook his head.
"I'm Takako Mia. You seemed pretty roughed up."
"I-I-I'm ok-ok-okay. . ." he replied.
The little girl cocked her head, "What's wrong? How come you can't speak normally?"
Little Syaoran eye's widened. No! We wouldn't tell her, he didn't want to be laughed at again. He quickly stood up and ran off.
"Eh? Hey, where you going?"
~
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~Present~
Syaoran sighed, she was the first person who he asked to play with after he got his speaking problem fixed. He groaned frustratedly, "I don't know which is real anymore." When he had 'problems' he could tell which girls to stay away from and which were okay to be with. Sakura's words sudddenly ran through his head, 'True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island. . . .to find one real friend in a lifetime is good forture; to keep him or her is a blessing'. Even though he hated to admit she was right, he knew he had to do the right choice, "Goddamnit, why does she have to be right?"
A loud beeping noise broke the silent air. It was the sign to go back to the school buses because the trip was over. Syaoran stood up and headed back to where everyone was. Once he arrived he found Mia at their bus, "Umm, hey."
"Hey," she replied, a tinge of sadness in her voice.
Syaoran didn't know what else to say, so just boarded the bus. Sakura and Mia followed.
Sakura saw he sat at the same spot, beside the window on the right side of the bus. She sat beside him knowing Mia wouldn't want to sit near him. After everyone was loaded they started the bus and headed to the school. A silent tension filled the air between Syaoran and Mia. Unfortunately for Sakura, this made her feel very uncomfortable. I'd wish the say something. . . this silence is killing me. . . She turned to Syaoran, "So, how were the attractions?"
"Didn't really see any," he replied.
"I see. . ." It began quiet again. She turned to Mia, "So how was your day?" She mentally kicked herself,
"Good, I guess," Mia mumbled and again everything was silent between them.
A few blocks from the school and Sakura couldn't take it anymore, "Okay! You guys haven't been talking for the whole trip! The silence is killing me, so please, anyone, just say something!" She waited for any of them so say anything but they just stared back at her, eyebrows raised. She sighed, "Listen sooner or later you guys will have to speak to each other. Lets just hope it's soon, 'Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you can learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.' People do make mistakes, we just have to learn to cope with them." As if on cue the bus stopped and everyone started to unloade themselves off the bus. Sakura left the two to think I
"Hey are you two kids going to stay there?" asked the bus driver.
"One second, we'll be out in a minute," replied Syaoran.
"Okay," the bus driver left to have a smoke and some coffee.
It was seriously quiet, the tension was unbareable.
". . .You know, I don't mind that you go out to dinner with that other girl," Mia replied.
"Really? Are you sure you don't mind? . . .you did seem a bit sad."
"No, really I'm sure. Sakura even offered to take me to dinner tonight too, you know, have a girl talk. ."
"Okay, that is if you don't mind?"
"Sure, go ahead, I'm fine."
"Alright, thanks," Syaoran stood up and started leaving, "I'll see you at the apartment."
"Yeah. . .I'll see you. ." replied Mia, she waited a bit before following him out of the bus.
Sakura ran up to Mia when she found her, "So, did my words of wisedom reached the almighty Li?"
"You could say that. . ."
Sakura smiled, "Good, so the dinner is still on between you too?"
"Nah, we made an agreement to let this pass. It'll be okay."
"Funny, I was sure I'd make him convince to take you out to dinner again. . ." Sakura sighed, "He's just too stubborn."
"Hey, I'll see you later, I need to get to my class."
"Sure, bye!"
Mia walked to her class.
"How was the trip class? Did you learn a lot about the many wild animals?" Mitzuki looked at the unenthusiastic class, "I'm glad you guys are so energetic, because we have a surprise quiz!"
About 75% of the class eye's widened. NO! A SURPRISE QUIZ?! They all groaned.
Mitzuki laughed, "Glad that I have your attention! Don't worry class, I'm just joking."
They sighed in relief.
"We are going from row to row and I want you to tell me how was your trip?" She started at the boy from the beginning of the last row farthest to the left.
"I went to feed the elephants and saw. . ."
Mia learned her head on her arms. She didn't really feel like paying attention.
~
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Mia opened her apartment door, "Ohayou." And dropped her bag at the door.
"Hey," replied Syaoran, "Where were you?"
"I just took a walk," Mia sat on the couch and turned the TV on, flicking through channels, "So, when's the date?"
"I was thinking at six, what do you think?"
"I don't know, it's not my date."
"True, I just want to know what you think."
"Personally, I don't think it'll be enough time for her to get ready. You know us women, needs to beautify themselves before we go out in public."
"Really? No wonder you're always making me wait when he go out somewhere."
Mia just nodded.
". . .So what time do you think is more appropriate?"
"At least seven the earliest."
"Okay, I guess I should phone her," Syaoran headed to the phone.
Mia thought.
Suddenly her cell phone started ringing, she sighed. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now so she decided to wait until the caller would hang up. After a few minutes she realized the caller wouldn't hang up any time soon so she picked up her phone, "Hello?"
(A/N: yes I know after a while the director person would tell you 'The person your trying to call is away from his or her phone. Please hang up and try your call again.' But I just wanted it to be like that in my story.)
"May I assist this lovely young lady to a wonderful dinner under the moonlight?"
Mia furrowed her eyebrows, "Who is this?"
". . .just a really baka person who is begging for your forgiveness."
Mia smiled slightly, she turned to the kitchen where Syaoran was looking straight back to her, a phone near his ear, "Your forgiven."
The two both hung up the phones, "Thank you Syaoran."
"Hey what are friends for? Get ready, I give you until seven."
Mia looked at the kitchen clock. Her eyes bulged out of her sockets, "SYAORAN! I have only 30 minutes to get ready!"
"Well you better get going."
She quickly scrambled to her bedroom. , "Where are we going!?" she yelled from her room.
"It's a surprise!" Syaoran yelled back.
After 45 minutes Mia came out, her light brown hair flowed down her shoulders. Her eyes shimmering with happiness, "Okay lets go." She had a purple-maroonish Chinese dress with golden lining.
"You're fifteen minutes late, I don't think we should go anymore, ESPECIALLY when it's a school night." He was wearing black khaki pants and a forest green shirt.
"Syaoran!"
"Kidding," He smiled, "Let's go."
"How are we going to get there?"
"Walk, it's not that far."
"Okay."
They put on their jackets and headed towards the 'restaurant'. After a while Mia looked at her surroundings.
"Umm. . .Syaoran, I think we made a wrong turn. We are in a neighbourhood."
"No, we're going the right way."
"If you say so. . ."
They kept walking until Syaoran stopped at a big yellow house, "We're here."
"But this is a person's house."
Syaoran pointed at a sign, that looked like it was done in a hurry.
"Nadeshiko Plaza. . ." She read out loud, "I have never heard of this restaurant before."
"Neither have I. .." Syaoran mumbled under his breath.
"Huh?"
"Oh-Nothing, let's go inside." Syaoran led Mia into the house.
The door opened, "Welcome!" An auburn haired beauty opened the door, emeralds shimmering at the two people, "Please come in."
"Sakura?" said Mia surprised, "What are you doing here?"
"You must be mistaken me with someone else. My name is Tagawura, Mika. I'll be your waitress for tonight. Table for two? Please follow me." Sakura led them through the house and on a balcony, where one table, two chairs and silverware were placed. She waited until the two seated, "Our special for tonight are Soba noodles, sushi, or the American surprise!"
"Umm. . .I'll just take the soba noodles," Mia turned to Syaoran, "I heard their noodles are good in Japan."
Syaoran nodded, "And I would like the American surprise."
"Okay," Sakura wrote everything down on her notepad, "Anything to drink? We have soft drinks, water, juice, and soft cidar."
"We'll both have the cranberry soft cidar," replied Syaoran.
"Of course sir," Sakura then left to the kitchen.
". . .but doesn't cidar have alcohol in it?" asked Mia.
"Yes, but only 0.5. It'll take about 30 of those to get drunk."
"Oh. . ." she replied sheepishly, "What is this? What is Sakura doing?"
"This is my little surprise. Sakura came up to me today and gave me the guilt lecture, so this is my way. . .well, more like Sakura's plan to make me everything up to you."
She smiled, Sakura was probably a good friend anyone would want.
Sakura came back with the cidars, "Here you are. You'll meal is almost ready."
"Thank you kind waitress," smiled Mia.
Sakura bowed and left.
"This is probably the nicest thing anyone has done for me," smiled Mia, "I want to thank both of you."
"No problem." Syaoran eyes drifted to Sakura through the kitchen window. She was dressed in a cute little waitress outfit. He smirked, she did look adorable in that suit.
Mia on the other hand caught this stare and looked at Syaoran's direction,
He didn't know how it happened but Sakura managed to get him to slowly respect her little by little. Syaoran admired her courage and bravery to stand up against him.
Suddenly Sakura looked up, feeling a pair of eyes looking at her. Emerald met his, for the first time Syaoran didn't feel like judging her. Sakura smiled at him, he was finally accepting her. Syaoran just made a small smile, that wasn't very noticeable but Sakura knew he had approved of her.
"So Syaoran," said Mia interrupting his stare, "Did we have homework? I wasn't listening in class."
"I don't think so. . ."
Sakura walked up to them, "Sorry to keep you waiting." She placed the food in front of them, "Japanese Cuisine for Mia-san, and the American Special for Li-san."
"Arigatou," they both replied.
Sakura nodded and left.
The two at in a comfortable silence.
"Wow, did she cooked this? Hmm. . .it's so good," smiled Mia.
"Yeah. ." agreed Syaoran a flashback came to his mind.
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~Flashback~
"What are you going to do?" asked Syaoran, "I feel terrible I really want to make it up to her."
"You should feel horrible," Sakura smiled triumphly, "Don't worry, just go to my house and I'll take care of everything!"
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry, as long as I can help. I'll do anything!"
"What are you planning?"
"Trick her into asking what time should you go to your other date. Assuming she's a type of girl who likes to get fancied up for a date, probably seven earliest. Apologize to her and then take her out to my house. I'll have the dinner half way done by then. But, don't tell her you're going to my house."
"Okay."
"Great! I'll meet you tonight!" Sakura started to leave, but stopped when Syaoran asked her a question.
"Why are you doing this?"
She turned and looked at him, "Why am I doing what?"
"Being nice! Trying to help with my friendship!"
"Why not?"
"After the way I've been treating you? I thought you'd take a hint. ."
"Li-san, you probably had a hard life in your childhood, so that's probably why you don't trust very easily. But that doesn't matter, true friendship is hard to find, and once found, it is harder to keep. I don't want anyone losing such an important thing."
"You're stronger than I thought you'd be."
"That's where you made your mistake. You should never underestimate your opponent." She smiled and walked off.
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~Present~
Yes, that Kinomoto was really different. Syaoran finished off his last fork full of his meal and washed it down with some water. He layed back and relaxed, "That was good."
"Quite delicious."
Sakura came back, "I hope you two enjoyed your meal."
"It was wonderful! Please tell me who's the chief?" asked Mia.
"It's a secret," replied Sakura.
"It was extremely good," said Syaoran.
"Thank you," Sakura grabbed the dirty dishes and then came back.
"How much is the bill?" asked Syaoran,
"Oh, complimentry on the house," smiled Sakura.
"But we must pay something. At least let us offer you a tip," said Mia.
"That won't be necessary. Please this is a non-pay meal," replied Sakura.
"If you say so," Mia stood up, "I had a lovely time, and definitly would recommand this restaurant to others."
"Thank you."
Syaoran and Mia headed to the front door. They put their jackets and shoes on, "We'll see you later."
"Of course," replied Sakura and waved bye to them. Once they were gone she went back to the table, it was a huge success. A smile formed on her lips again as she started to clean some more. Suddenly she found a hundred yen bill attached to a note:
Thank you for what you did. I really appreciate it. Maybe your not such a bad girl after all.
Li Syaoran
She looked at the bill, this was so much for such a little thing. Sakura put it in her pocket, she'll have to talk to him about that tomorrow. She couldn't accept such generousity.
"Kaijuu? What are you doing?" mumbled her brother.
"I'm just cleaning the table."
"I saw a boy walk out of the house. You invited him when you know that no boys are allowed in the house when dad and I are not here?"
"Baka oniichan, I was helping him and Mia fix up their friendship! Two girls and one guy, plus otousan knows about it."
"And you don't bother to tell me?"
Sakura walked passed him, making sure to stomp on his foot, "No, you just weren't there when I was asking." She blew a raspberry, "Sakura is not a kaijuu!"
"Iitai. . ."
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"Sakura!" yelled Tomoyo as she ran up to her, "How was the dinner?"
"Complete success!"
"Good, hey, I hope you studied."
"NANI?! STUDY? For what??"
"Oh, remember? We have a math test."
"HOOOOEEEEEEE!!!" Anime tears ran down her cheeks, "I didn't know. . ." She ran into the classroom, "I've got to study before class starts!!"
DING DING
"NO!!" Swirly eyes formed, ". . .I'm going to fail, hoee. ."
Tomoyo sweatdropped, "Poor Sakura. . ."
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After a couple of hours the lunch bell rang. Hungry students stampeded to their lunches, Sakura dragging behind.
"Hooee. . .I think I really failed. . ."
"Don't worry Sakura, I'm sure you got a passing mark," said Tomoyo trying to bright her up.
"I hope so." Sakura suddenly spotted Mia and Syaoran.
"Come on Tomoyo!" She dragged Tomoyo to the two people sitting under a tree, "Ohayou!"
"Hey, Sakura, Tomoyo," greeted Mia.
"Hello Takako, Li," Tomoyo greeted back.
"OH NO!! I just remember they were selling donuts at the café!" cried Mia, "I love donuts, let's go Sakura!" She grabbed Sakura with out warning and ran towards the cafeteria.
Syaoran watched as Sakura was being dragged away. A playful smirk appeared on his face, she was pretty silly.
"So Li. . ." started Tomoyo noticing the stare, "What do you think about Sakura?"
Syaoran snapped out of his gaze, "What about her?"
"Do you like her?"
"As a friend, she's not a bad girl. ."
"Is that all?" She edged closer to him.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" She edged even closer.
Syaoran started backing away a bit, but noticed that he couldn't because of the tree, "Yes. ."
Tomoyo was only a couple of cetimeters from his face. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Are you positive??"
Syaoran felt a bit nervous, couldn't she take a hint? He answered her question already so why didn't she just back off? God, she was way too close for his comfort, "Y-Y-Yeah I-I su-su-su-sure. . ."
"Okay then!" Tomoyo backed off, "If you say so."
Sakura stared at Syaoran, wide eyed. Mia got her donut and bought Sakura one too. When they were coming back, Sakura saw they were talking about something. She could tell Syaoran was feeling very uneasy with Tomoyo. When they were in hearing range Sakura heard him his last response, which cause her into shock,
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A/N: There! It's done! And it's LONGER!! ^.^ I hope this is long enough! Aighty, later and happy future spring break!! (It's snowing!!) I like spring break :P because my bday is coming up!! ^.^
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"Sugio!!" smiled Sakura, "Mia, look at the huge noses the elephants have!!"
"Wanna go feed him a peanut?" Mia asked, smiling widely.
"Un!" She nodded and ran closer to the elephant cage followed by Mia.
"How childish," mumbled Syaoran, frowning. Why did they have to go to the zoo? What were they supposed to learn from this school excursion? How to annoy a chinese boy? Syaoran left they two girls at the cage, he wanted to be alone again.
"HOE! Li-" Sakura blinked and looked around, "Huh? Where did Li-san go?"
"Nani?" smiled Mia as she looked at Sakura confused, "Eh?"
"Li-san, he's gone."
Mia stood up and looked around, she let out a groan, "Not this again!"
"Nani?"
She sighed frustratingly, "Arggh, he probably thinks we're being childish again." Mia took Sakura's arm and started dragging him away, "We better find him."
"Okay. ."
"SYAORAN-KUN!! SYAORAN!!" Mia started yelling out.
Sakura sweatdropped noticing the strange looks they've been receiving.
"SYAORAN!!!!" Suddenly Mia ran into someone, not noticing from yelling. She looked up, "There you are!"
"You didn't have to keep yelling my name," replied Syaoran, "I'm not deaf."
"We wanted to find you," explained Mia.
Syaoran eyed Sakura, "I don't understand why you keep dragging her around. She has other friends."
"Syaoran!" frowned Mia, "Too bad, you're going to have to get used to having her prescence around more because she is my new friend! I don't understand why you've been so rude to her. All she's been doing so far was being nice."
"If you only knew. . ." mumbled Syaoran.
"Nani?" replied Mia.
"Nothing. Listen, I just want to be alone. Don't bother to find me, I'll find you," He disappeared in the crowd.
"Sometimes I don't even why I bother with him," mumbled Mia angrily as she turns away to find some other attractions.
Sakura just stood there still looking at the same spot where Syaoran disappeared from. Her eyes showed sadness because she heard his last comment about her. she thought.
"Sakura-chan are you coming?!" called out Mia.
"Oh-yeah, gomen, I'm coming," Sakura ran over to Mia.
"Hey, you okay?"
"Oh yeah! I can't be better!" Sakura smiled.
"If you say so. . ." Mia turned and smiled, "Lets go there!!" She grabbed Sakura's hand and dragged her.
"Hoe. . ."
There were some far distance sniffling.
"Hey, sounds like someone is crying," Syaoran said to himself. He started following the cry. Syaoran slowly found a girl crying. He wondered why such a person would cry so much.
"Jack. . . .please stop," she cried, "I don't want you to hurt me any more."
A guy ran up to her, "Listen woman! I don't care what you want!" He raised his hand and swung it across her face.
SLAP
Flashbacks of old memories came to his mind. No one deserved this kind of treatment. Syaoran, with no thought. ran up to the guy and stood protectively in front of the girl, "Don't you dare touch her again!"
"Huh? Who are you?" the guy asked, totally confused at the whole situation, "Umm. . .what are you doing. . ?"
"What am I doing?! I won't allow you to abuse her like that!" Syaoran yelled, totally in rage.
The guy looked at the girl question. The girl shrugged, she didn't know what this guy was doing either.
"Hey you must be in the wrong place or something-"
Syaoran punched him in stomach making him pass out, "You'll learn not to do that again."
The girl's eyes widened, "Jack?" She was going to run to see if he was alright but then the mysterious guy turned and face her, "Oh my god! What did you do-----"
"Are you okay?" asked Syaoran.
The girl was amazed, his eyes were so entrancing, "Ye-Yeah. . .thanks. ."
Syaoran examined her face, "Luckily, you didn't get a mark."
"Mark?"
"When he slapped you."
"Right! Yeah, what can you say, I guess I just have tough skin."
Syaoran looked deep into her eyes, her beautiful shimmering emerald eyes, "I'm Li Syaoran."
"Mei, Ying Hua."
"Ying Hua?" Syaoran's eyes widened. Wasn't Ying Hua another way to spell Cherry Blossom in different chinese characters? He smiled, he finally found her, "Umm, are you famished? I was just going to get something to eat."
"Sure, yeah. . ." A shy smile tugged on her lips.
Syaoran held out his arm for her, "My lady?"
Ying Hua grately accepted and followed Syaoran. She turned back to see Jack still unconsious on the ground, I
Suddenly another girl ran up to Jack's body, she looked at Ying Hua and gestured where was she going.
'He is so fine!!' mouthed Ying Hua at the girl, then mouthed again, 'I'll be back!'. Then turned back to face the front.
Syaoran led Ying Hua to a near by fast food restaurant. They ordered their foods and sat at the table with their orders.
"So tell me about yourself," said Syaoran.
"Well, I'm Chinese and lived in Hong Kong until I was about four. Then I moved here to Japan," she explained giving a mini summary of her life.
"I see," Syaoran looked at her pinky finger. A smile formed, "Made any promises when you were little?"
"Huh? I don't know. . .maybe a couple. . . .I don't think I remember all of them. It was really a long time ago."
"True."
"How about you? Did you make any promises with anyone?"
"Umm. . .kinda. ." His smile grew, ". . .a special one. ."
"Cool," Ying Hua sighed, she was so lucky meeting such a hot guy in an unsanitary place such as the zoo!
Syaoran eyed her as she ate her fries. There was something different about her. Her hair was still the same middle length dark brown color, her eyes green. She seemed the same, but what was the difference? He couldn't point it out but he knew it was there.
"Finally! I'm so hungry I could really eat one of those animals!" said Mia as she ordered her food.
"Me too," Sakura replied after she fiinshed ordering her meal.
"Hey there's Syaoran-kun! Let's sit with him."
"Okay."
The two girls went up to Syaoran's table, noticing he was sitting with another girl.
"Hey Syaoran-kun," Mia sat beside him.
"Ohayou," Sakura greeted sitting on the other side of Syaoran.
Syaoran semi-frowned seeing Sakura was here also. No! He would not let her get in the way of reuniting with a girl he dreamed to meet again, "Mia, Kinomoto, this is Mei, Ying Hua.Ying Hua this is Takako, Mia and Kinomoto. . . .something. . .but you don't really need to know her name. She's kind of like a third wheel when we have no one else to ask to go somewhere."
Sakura drooped her shoulders, she did not need this. Why does he have to be such a jerk?! What did she do to deserve this?! "Hi, My name is Kinomoto Sakura."
Ying Hua smirked, liking the way Syaoran talked about Sakura, "Pleasure." She turned to Syaoran, "Hey, I have to go. Thanks for buying lunch." She stood up and was about to leave.
Syaoran's eyes widened, NO! She was leaving, he lost her once, but not a second! He will not let this opportunity pass, "Wait! Can I meet you again?"
A huge smile formed on Ying Hua's face, "Of course! When?"
"Tomorrow night, at seven at the El Greco restaurant."
"Greek food? Aren't they expensive though?"
"Don't worry about the money, I'll take care of that. You just get ready and be there."
"Okay, it's a date," Ying Hua smiled, "Till tomorrow." And then she left.
"Syaoran! What are you doing?!" Mia practically screamed. She felt like someone tore up her heart, "We had plans to go there tonight! I was the one who finally convinced you to go to such a 'fancy' restaurant!"
"Sorry Mia but we have to postpone that friendship dinner thing, This is really important to me," said Syaoran. He noticed Mia's depressed face, "Don't worry we can go the night after that. I promise."
"Yeah, sure. . ." replied Mia with a half smile.
"That's my friend I know," Then Syaoran smiled and left, "I'll see you later." His day seemed so bright.
"He should've have cancelled that dinner without talking to you first," Sakura said.
"No it doesn't matter. We're not going out or anything."
"Still, he made a dinner date with you that evening, so you should have that dinner."
"Oh well."
"It's okay, I'm sure he'll come around." Sakura gently patted her back.
"I can't believe he just cancelled on me like that. That dinner meant the world for me. I even bought a new dress on the first day we were in Japan because he'd promise he'd take me."
"You really like him, don't you?"
"Well, only friend wise. . .I think. . .But what burns me up is that he just cancelled out with a girl he only met, for how long? An hour? Probably not even! And I've known him for mostly half of his life!"
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"Is he awake yet?" asked Ying Hua as she walked up to her friend.
"It was nice of you to leave him there."
"Hey! It's not everyday you meet a fine guy in the zoo!" Ying Hua said defensively.
"It's not everyday your boyfriend gets knocked out in the zoo either."
"Aw, Michi-chan, you are such a worry wart!"
"It's not right what you're doing to Jack," frowned Michi.
"Whatever. He'll get over it."
"Ying, he's your boyfriend."
Slowly the unconcious body slowly started showing life. His eyes opened dreary, "Did you get the liscence plate number on that truck?" Jack rubbed his gut, "God, that was some punch he threw." Suddenly his eyes widened, "Ying Hua! Is she okay?!" He quickly turned finding his girlfriend beside him, "Did he hurt you?"
"No, I scared him off."
"That's good."
Michi sighed, "There goes our plan of making a soap movie."
Jack smiled, "That was some pretty good acting skills, as I do say so myself and Ying, you had perfect timing for the fake slap scene."
"I know, I'm a natural."
"Right, and your mine. ." He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"Umm, please Jack, give me space okay?" She said pushing away from him. She suddenly didn't like the feeling when he hugged her.
"Okay. . ?" he let go of her.
"Lately I've been thinking about us. . ." She said, getting down to the point.
"What about us?"
"Well, let's just say our relationship hasn't been going far."
"Hasn't been going far? What are you talking about? I just took you out to that expensive English restaurant last night. Then, I went shopping with you and bought clothes that you wanted. We went to the movies, amusant parks, pools, restaurants-"
"Yes, Jack! But you're missing the point."
"What? I don't understand what's wrong with our relationship?"
Michi thought, already knowing what Ying Hua's going to say.
"You see. . . there isn't any romance in it."
Michi rolled her eyes,
"No romance in it?! We took my fathers yacht to be alone for our anniversary! AND you don't think it's not romantic enough?"
Ying Hua sighed, how was she going to get out of this one? "Hey, yachts under a moonlight aren't as romantic as they used to be."
"Ying! I can't believe you'll just end it like that!"
"What can you do? . . .I'm just not feeling the love anymore."
Jack frustratedly stood up. He couldn't believe this! The one girl he gave his heart to was just leaving him . . ? Because she thought the relationship was not romantic enough? He turned to her, "What do you want?"
"Whatever do you mean?" She replied innocently.
"This has to be a joke. You're just probably mad that I didn't buy you that dress you wanted."
"No, but now that I think of it. I still think you should have bought it for me."
"Fine, you want that? I'll buy it!" He started to leave.
"Loser! I don't want the dress anymore!"
He turned back at her, "Then what do you want from me?"
"Our relationship is OVER!"
Jack couldn't believe his ears. She really didn't want him anymore, why? Suddenly, a thought came to his mind, "It's him!"
"Who?"
"That guy who knocked me out!"
"His name is Li Syaoran, and what about him?"
"You're ending everything because of him aren't you?! You're ending US?!"
"Jack! There was never an US! You had money and looks. And you just happened to be there when I was boyfriendless. Get it through your head! WE. ARE. OVER!"
"You just wanted me, because of my money?"
"What else are you good for?"
He stared at her, disbelievingly. There was a silent pause, "So I was just you're bank? You're source of money?"
"Most likely, yes."
He shook his head in denial, "I can't believe this is happening."
"Well, it happened, suck it up and be a man, life goes on."
"I got to get out of here," He depressingly headed to his car.
"That was a good one Ying," Michi replied sarcastically, witnessed everything, "Very original."
"It had to be done. After all, I may be a heartbreaker, but I am definitely not a player. After all, Syaoran is no doubt a finer catch than Jack will ever be." She fixed up her lipstick as she looked at her reflection in her little compact mirror, "Get ready Little Wolf, your Cherry Blossom is coming. . ."
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Sakura stopped, finally finding the person she was looking for. She walked up to him.
"What do you want?" He said in a bored expression, "I'm trying to be alone with my thoughts. You don't seem to be helping."
"Too bad Li-san," replied Sakura as she stood in front of him, "How dare you?"
"How dare I what?"
"You had already promised a dinner with Mia and you break it off, for some girl you met in less that an hour?!"
"This was important."
"Tell me, do you often break promises? Or does it come naturally that you're a jerk." Sakura crossed her arms, frowning.
Syaoran stood up, intensively looking in her eyes, "Li's always keep there word no matter what!"
"Well you seemed to have forgotten that statement when you just broke one a few minutes ago."
"I never broke it, I postponed it."
"For how long? Till next month? Next year? Till whenever you feel like it?!"
"I don't know how long it'll be but I'll keep that promise to her! She was the first friend I met that accepted me for who I was!"
"And who are you now Li-san?!"
"I don't need to tell you anything."
"If you're not going to tell me who you are then I'm going to!"
"You think you own me Kinomoto? You can't go around and tell people who they are by your perspective! You don't even know what had happened in their life!"
"You maybe right on that Li-san. But all I know is that you are a baka jerk with no self respect for others." She started to leave but Syaoran grabbed her wrist.
"Don't you dare tell me that I have no respect for others! You don't know me, you weren't there when I made an accomplishment! You weren't there when I was in need! And you weren't sure in hell, know what I've been through!"
"And you don't know what you're friend's going through! You could at least inform her you have to postpone your dinner a little sooner! You don't know how much you hurt her! Oops, sorry, you don't have any respect for others piorities."
"Don't push it Kinomoto. . ."
"What are you going to do Li?" She jerked her wrist away from him, "You don't know anything about anyone because you're too afriad to open up and let people get to know you! Maybe you should try it, it'll be healthy." Sakura looked at him for a while, hoping he heard some of the things she said to him.
"That's Li-SAN."
Sakura looked at him disbelievingly, "No, I meant Li, I don't feel as I should give you as much respect from the way you've been treating others. Remember 'True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island. . . .to find one real friend in a lifetime is good forture; to keep him or her is a blessing'. I just hope you know what your doing. " She left and disappeared back into the crowd.
Syaoran watched her disappear, sometimes he didn't know what to think of her. He sighed, confused on what to do as he sat back down. She made his life go upside again, atleast life wasn't as hard as it was in the past. He layed down and looked up at the clouds above him.
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~Flashback~
"L-L-Leave m-me al-alone. .!" Little Syaoran tried to say from all the punches the older kids were giving him.
"Trying to hit on my little sister, huh?!" demanded a black haired boy who was giving Little Syaoran hard punches, "Geeks like you should never be able to go to any public schools! My sister could be a retard like you now, if I hadn't came and checked up on her!"
"P-P-Please. . .I di-di-didn't do a-a-a-anything. . ." replied Little Syaoran trying to hold back his tears and defend himself, simultaneously.
The boys didn't listen. Who would listen? Who would WANT to listen? This is a retarded kid, he didn't deserve to be respected.
"Come on loser! Fight back! Are you a chicken?" said a light brown haired boy as he started imitating chicken noises, "Bawk! Bawk! Bawk! Bawk!" His friends laughed at this joke.
Little Syaoran, however, did not find this amusing. There he was sitting on the ground, defenseless with bruises, marks and a traces of blood on his lips. He felt sore, why couldn't they leave him alone?
Again, the raging punches resumed. All the older kids were having a great laugh.
"STOP THAT!" yelled a girl, around the same age as Little Syaoran which was about four. She pushed her way through the mini crowd of big kids, "Leave him alone!"
"Are you blind little girl? He's a retard! He's a loser! We need to beat him up for coming into this world," said a blonde hair boy.
"People like him should never walk in public places," replied the black- haired boy.
"Leave him alone! He didn't do anything to you!" said the angry little girl.
"Yes, by showing his presence to this society!" said another boy.
"Step down, little girl. We still have some business to take care of." The boys grew impatient.
"Well, I think your talk to over! So please leave," said the little girl.
"Listen if you don't move, I'll punch you!"
"Go ahead!"
The boy raised his fist, his eyes looking deep into the girl's determined ones. He just couldn't do it, he put his fist down. He had been in a lot of fights, but never did he punched a girl, "You're a waste of my time. Come on fellas lets go." The boy left, followed by his companions.
The little girl looked at the retreating forms and then at Little Syaoran, "Hey, you okay?"
"Y-Y-Yeah. . ." mumbled Little Syaoran, embarrassed that he was saved by a girl.
"That's good," she smiled, "I saw how they were treating you. They weren't very gentle were they?"
Little Syaoran shook his head.
"I'm Takako Mia. You seemed pretty roughed up."
"I-I-I'm ok-ok-okay. . ." he replied.
The little girl cocked her head, "What's wrong? How come you can't speak normally?"
Little Syaoran eye's widened. No! We wouldn't tell her, he didn't want to be laughed at again. He quickly stood up and ran off.
"Eh? Hey, where you going?"
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~Present~
Syaoran sighed, she was the first person who he asked to play with after he got his speaking problem fixed. He groaned frustratedly, "I don't know which is real anymore." When he had 'problems' he could tell which girls to stay away from and which were okay to be with. Sakura's words sudddenly ran through his head, 'True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island. . . .to find one real friend in a lifetime is good forture; to keep him or her is a blessing'. Even though he hated to admit she was right, he knew he had to do the right choice, "Goddamnit, why does she have to be right?"
A loud beeping noise broke the silent air. It was the sign to go back to the school buses because the trip was over. Syaoran stood up and headed back to where everyone was. Once he arrived he found Mia at their bus, "Umm, hey."
"Hey," she replied, a tinge of sadness in her voice.
Syaoran didn't know what else to say, so just boarded the bus. Sakura and Mia followed.
Sakura saw he sat at the same spot, beside the window on the right side of the bus. She sat beside him knowing Mia wouldn't want to sit near him. After everyone was loaded they started the bus and headed to the school. A silent tension filled the air between Syaoran and Mia. Unfortunately for Sakura, this made her feel very uncomfortable. I'd wish the say something. . . this silence is killing me. . . She turned to Syaoran, "So, how were the attractions?"
"Didn't really see any," he replied.
"I see. . ." It began quiet again. She turned to Mia, "So how was your day?" She mentally kicked herself,
"Good, I guess," Mia mumbled and again everything was silent between them.
A few blocks from the school and Sakura couldn't take it anymore, "Okay! You guys haven't been talking for the whole trip! The silence is killing me, so please, anyone, just say something!" She waited for any of them so say anything but they just stared back at her, eyebrows raised. She sighed, "Listen sooner or later you guys will have to speak to each other. Lets just hope it's soon, 'Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you can learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything.' People do make mistakes, we just have to learn to cope with them." As if on cue the bus stopped and everyone started to unloade themselves off the bus. Sakura left the two to think I
"Hey are you two kids going to stay there?" asked the bus driver.
"One second, we'll be out in a minute," replied Syaoran.
"Okay," the bus driver left to have a smoke and some coffee.
It was seriously quiet, the tension was unbareable.
". . .You know, I don't mind that you go out to dinner with that other girl," Mia replied.
"Really? Are you sure you don't mind? . . .you did seem a bit sad."
"No, really I'm sure. Sakura even offered to take me to dinner tonight too, you know, have a girl talk. ."
"Okay, that is if you don't mind?"
"Sure, go ahead, I'm fine."
"Alright, thanks," Syaoran stood up and started leaving, "I'll see you at the apartment."
"Yeah. . .I'll see you. ." replied Mia, she waited a bit before following him out of the bus.
Sakura ran up to Mia when she found her, "So, did my words of wisedom reached the almighty Li?"
"You could say that. . ."
Sakura smiled, "Good, so the dinner is still on between you too?"
"Nah, we made an agreement to let this pass. It'll be okay."
"Funny, I was sure I'd make him convince to take you out to dinner again. . ." Sakura sighed, "He's just too stubborn."
"Hey, I'll see you later, I need to get to my class."
"Sure, bye!"
Mia walked to her class.
"How was the trip class? Did you learn a lot about the many wild animals?" Mitzuki looked at the unenthusiastic class, "I'm glad you guys are so energetic, because we have a surprise quiz!"
About 75% of the class eye's widened. NO! A SURPRISE QUIZ?! They all groaned.
Mitzuki laughed, "Glad that I have your attention! Don't worry class, I'm just joking."
They sighed in relief.
"We are going from row to row and I want you to tell me how was your trip?" She started at the boy from the beginning of the last row farthest to the left.
"I went to feed the elephants and saw. . ."
Mia learned her head on her arms. She didn't really feel like paying attention.
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Mia opened her apartment door, "Ohayou." And dropped her bag at the door.
"Hey," replied Syaoran, "Where were you?"
"I just took a walk," Mia sat on the couch and turned the TV on, flicking through channels, "So, when's the date?"
"I was thinking at six, what do you think?"
"I don't know, it's not my date."
"True, I just want to know what you think."
"Personally, I don't think it'll be enough time for her to get ready. You know us women, needs to beautify themselves before we go out in public."
"Really? No wonder you're always making me wait when he go out somewhere."
Mia just nodded.
". . .So what time do you think is more appropriate?"
"At least seven the earliest."
"Okay, I guess I should phone her," Syaoran headed to the phone.
Mia thought.
Suddenly her cell phone started ringing, she sighed. She really didn't want to talk to anyone right now so she decided to wait until the caller would hang up. After a few minutes she realized the caller wouldn't hang up any time soon so she picked up her phone, "Hello?"
(A/N: yes I know after a while the director person would tell you 'The person your trying to call is away from his or her phone. Please hang up and try your call again.' But I just wanted it to be like that in my story.)
"May I assist this lovely young lady to a wonderful dinner under the moonlight?"
Mia furrowed her eyebrows, "Who is this?"
". . .just a really baka person who is begging for your forgiveness."
Mia smiled slightly, she turned to the kitchen where Syaoran was looking straight back to her, a phone near his ear, "Your forgiven."
The two both hung up the phones, "Thank you Syaoran."
"Hey what are friends for? Get ready, I give you until seven."
Mia looked at the kitchen clock. Her eyes bulged out of her sockets, "SYAORAN! I have only 30 minutes to get ready!"
"Well you better get going."
She quickly scrambled to her bedroom. , "Where are we going!?" she yelled from her room.
"It's a surprise!" Syaoran yelled back.
After 45 minutes Mia came out, her light brown hair flowed down her shoulders. Her eyes shimmering with happiness, "Okay lets go." She had a purple-maroonish Chinese dress with golden lining.
"You're fifteen minutes late, I don't think we should go anymore, ESPECIALLY when it's a school night." He was wearing black khaki pants and a forest green shirt.
"Syaoran!"
"Kidding," He smiled, "Let's go."
"How are we going to get there?"
"Walk, it's not that far."
"Okay."
They put on their jackets and headed towards the 'restaurant'. After a while Mia looked at her surroundings.
"Umm. . .Syaoran, I think we made a wrong turn. We are in a neighbourhood."
"No, we're going the right way."
"If you say so. . ."
They kept walking until Syaoran stopped at a big yellow house, "We're here."
"But this is a person's house."
Syaoran pointed at a sign, that looked like it was done in a hurry.
"Nadeshiko Plaza. . ." She read out loud, "I have never heard of this restaurant before."
"Neither have I. .." Syaoran mumbled under his breath.
"Huh?"
"Oh-Nothing, let's go inside." Syaoran led Mia into the house.
The door opened, "Welcome!" An auburn haired beauty opened the door, emeralds shimmering at the two people, "Please come in."
"Sakura?" said Mia surprised, "What are you doing here?"
"You must be mistaken me with someone else. My name is Tagawura, Mika. I'll be your waitress for tonight. Table for two? Please follow me." Sakura led them through the house and on a balcony, where one table, two chairs and silverware were placed. She waited until the two seated, "Our special for tonight are Soba noodles, sushi, or the American surprise!"
"Umm. . .I'll just take the soba noodles," Mia turned to Syaoran, "I heard their noodles are good in Japan."
Syaoran nodded, "And I would like the American surprise."
"Okay," Sakura wrote everything down on her notepad, "Anything to drink? We have soft drinks, water, juice, and soft cidar."
"We'll both have the cranberry soft cidar," replied Syaoran.
"Of course sir," Sakura then left to the kitchen.
". . .but doesn't cidar have alcohol in it?" asked Mia.
"Yes, but only 0.5. It'll take about 30 of those to get drunk."
"Oh. . ." she replied sheepishly, "What is this? What is Sakura doing?"
"This is my little surprise. Sakura came up to me today and gave me the guilt lecture, so this is my way. . .well, more like Sakura's plan to make me everything up to you."
She smiled, Sakura was probably a good friend anyone would want.
Sakura came back with the cidars, "Here you are. You'll meal is almost ready."
"Thank you kind waitress," smiled Mia.
Sakura bowed and left.
"This is probably the nicest thing anyone has done for me," smiled Mia, "I want to thank both of you."
"No problem." Syaoran eyes drifted to Sakura through the kitchen window. She was dressed in a cute little waitress outfit. He smirked, she did look adorable in that suit.
Mia on the other hand caught this stare and looked at Syaoran's direction,
He didn't know how it happened but Sakura managed to get him to slowly respect her little by little. Syaoran admired her courage and bravery to stand up against him.
Suddenly Sakura looked up, feeling a pair of eyes looking at her. Emerald met his, for the first time Syaoran didn't feel like judging her. Sakura smiled at him, he was finally accepting her. Syaoran just made a small smile, that wasn't very noticeable but Sakura knew he had approved of her.
"So Syaoran," said Mia interrupting his stare, "Did we have homework? I wasn't listening in class."
"I don't think so. . ."
Sakura walked up to them, "Sorry to keep you waiting." She placed the food in front of them, "Japanese Cuisine for Mia-san, and the American Special for Li-san."
"Arigatou," they both replied.
Sakura nodded and left.
The two at in a comfortable silence.
"Wow, did she cooked this? Hmm. . .it's so good," smiled Mia.
"Yeah. ." agreed Syaoran a flashback came to his mind.
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~Flashback~
"What are you going to do?" asked Syaoran, "I feel terrible I really want to make it up to her."
"You should feel horrible," Sakura smiled triumphly, "Don't worry, just go to my house and I'll take care of everything!"
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry, as long as I can help. I'll do anything!"
"What are you planning?"
"Trick her into asking what time should you go to your other date. Assuming she's a type of girl who likes to get fancied up for a date, probably seven earliest. Apologize to her and then take her out to my house. I'll have the dinner half way done by then. But, don't tell her you're going to my house."
"Okay."
"Great! I'll meet you tonight!" Sakura started to leave, but stopped when Syaoran asked her a question.
"Why are you doing this?"
She turned and looked at him, "Why am I doing what?"
"Being nice! Trying to help with my friendship!"
"Why not?"
"After the way I've been treating you? I thought you'd take a hint. ."
"Li-san, you probably had a hard life in your childhood, so that's probably why you don't trust very easily. But that doesn't matter, true friendship is hard to find, and once found, it is harder to keep. I don't want anyone losing such an important thing."
"You're stronger than I thought you'd be."
"That's where you made your mistake. You should never underestimate your opponent." She smiled and walked off.
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~Present~
Yes, that Kinomoto was really different. Syaoran finished off his last fork full of his meal and washed it down with some water. He layed back and relaxed, "That was good."
"Quite delicious."
Sakura came back, "I hope you two enjoyed your meal."
"It was wonderful! Please tell me who's the chief?" asked Mia.
"It's a secret," replied Sakura.
"It was extremely good," said Syaoran.
"Thank you," Sakura grabbed the dirty dishes and then came back.
"How much is the bill?" asked Syaoran,
"Oh, complimentry on the house," smiled Sakura.
"But we must pay something. At least let us offer you a tip," said Mia.
"That won't be necessary. Please this is a non-pay meal," replied Sakura.
"If you say so," Mia stood up, "I had a lovely time, and definitly would recommand this restaurant to others."
"Thank you."
Syaoran and Mia headed to the front door. They put their jackets and shoes on, "We'll see you later."
"Of course," replied Sakura and waved bye to them. Once they were gone she went back to the table, it was a huge success. A smile formed on her lips again as she started to clean some more. Suddenly she found a hundred yen bill attached to a note:
Thank you for what you did. I really appreciate it. Maybe your not such a bad girl after all.
Li Syaoran
She looked at the bill, this was so much for such a little thing. Sakura put it in her pocket, she'll have to talk to him about that tomorrow. She couldn't accept such generousity.
"Kaijuu? What are you doing?" mumbled her brother.
"I'm just cleaning the table."
"I saw a boy walk out of the house. You invited him when you know that no boys are allowed in the house when dad and I are not here?"
"Baka oniichan, I was helping him and Mia fix up their friendship! Two girls and one guy, plus otousan knows about it."
"And you don't bother to tell me?"
Sakura walked passed him, making sure to stomp on his foot, "No, you just weren't there when I was asking." She blew a raspberry, "Sakura is not a kaijuu!"
"Iitai. . ."
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"Sakura!" yelled Tomoyo as she ran up to her, "How was the dinner?"
"Complete success!"
"Good, hey, I hope you studied."
"NANI?! STUDY? For what??"
"Oh, remember? We have a math test."
"HOOOOEEEEEEE!!!" Anime tears ran down her cheeks, "I didn't know. . ." She ran into the classroom, "I've got to study before class starts!!"
DING DING
"NO!!" Swirly eyes formed, ". . .I'm going to fail, hoee. ."
Tomoyo sweatdropped, "Poor Sakura. . ."
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After a couple of hours the lunch bell rang. Hungry students stampeded to their lunches, Sakura dragging behind.
"Hooee. . .I think I really failed. . ."
"Don't worry Sakura, I'm sure you got a passing mark," said Tomoyo trying to bright her up.
"I hope so." Sakura suddenly spotted Mia and Syaoran.
"Come on Tomoyo!" She dragged Tomoyo to the two people sitting under a tree, "Ohayou!"
"Hey, Sakura, Tomoyo," greeted Mia.
"Hello Takako, Li," Tomoyo greeted back.
"OH NO!! I just remember they were selling donuts at the café!" cried Mia, "I love donuts, let's go Sakura!" She grabbed Sakura with out warning and ran towards the cafeteria.
Syaoran watched as Sakura was being dragged away. A playful smirk appeared on his face, she was pretty silly.
"So Li. . ." started Tomoyo noticing the stare, "What do you think about Sakura?"
Syaoran snapped out of his gaze, "What about her?"
"Do you like her?"
"As a friend, she's not a bad girl. ."
"Is that all?" She edged closer to him.
"Yes."
"Are you sure?" She edged even closer.
Syaoran started backing away a bit, but noticed that he couldn't because of the tree, "Yes. ."
Tomoyo was only a couple of cetimeters from his face. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Are you positive??"
Syaoran felt a bit nervous, couldn't she take a hint? He answered her question already so why didn't she just back off? God, she was way too close for his comfort, "Y-Y-Yeah I-I su-su-su-sure. . ."
"Okay then!" Tomoyo backed off, "If you say so."
Sakura stared at Syaoran, wide eyed. Mia got her donut and bought Sakura one too. When they were coming back, Sakura saw they were talking about something. She could tell Syaoran was feeling very uneasy with Tomoyo. When they were in hearing range Sakura heard him his last response, which cause her into shock,
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A/N: There! It's done! And it's LONGER!! ^.^ I hope this is long enough! Aighty, later and happy future spring break!! (It's snowing!!) I like spring break :P because my bday is coming up!! ^.^
