Today was going to be a good day.
For once, she had gotten up in time – she was going to make it to school with time to spare. And once she got there, she would invite both Syaoran and Meiling, and along with Yukito, enjoy the best White Day ever… she felt so excited, she felt she could fly…
Of course, it's one thing to dream about flying; it's quite another to have it become reality. And when it happens while rollerblading at breakneck speed – that wouldn't be too good, would it?
Fortunately Sakura managed to break her fall. She'd have to get her school uniform washed when she got home, and remove some gravel pits from her hands – but that was all. She had been lucky. On the other hand... "You're such a clutz, Sakura! One of these days, you should actually learn how to rollerblade." Argh… her brother could be so irritating, even when he wasn't there.
Forget about that. Today was going to be a good day, right? See? She had made it to school on time, a good fifteen minutes before class started. And Syaoran was right there – but where was Meiling? That was strange. Those two usually stuck to each other like glue; it was hard to see one without the other. Oh well. She might as well talk Syaoran now, and look for Meiling later.
She waved her hand at Syaoran, and walked up to him – and he likewise approached her. They got a little too close, though, so she nervously backed up a step, before asking,
"Li-kun? Uh… there's something important I wanted to talk you about…" Sakura said hesitantly, while playing with her hat.
"What." Syaoran responded with a disinterested tone.
"Well, you see, uh… I …" She was finding it difficult to continue, and it didn't help that Syaoran decided to lean just a little closer right at that moment. She was starting to sweat, her face became flushed, and she started to tremble… and Syaoran was about to place his hand on her arm to comfort her, when…
Click! The sound of a picture being taken could be heard, soon followed by a blinding flash. "Hoeeee! Why did you do that for!" Sakura yelled in frustration.
"Hey, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo greeted her with bright smile.
"Tomoyo, why did you do that! I was about to ask him something very important…"
"Aren't you glad I was here to capture the moment? You look so cute today, Sakura-chan!"
"Tomoyo…" she pleaded.
"Aw, what a romantic moment! This one is definitely going into my photo collection!"
"Tomoyo, you can't!" she squealed, as she jumped on Tomoyo in a futile attempt to recover the camera. In the meantime, Syaoran walked away, wearing a funny expression on his face – there went her chance. Urr, wasn't today supposed to be a good day? Oh, brother… Maybe she'd get another chance to invite him at lunchtime.
School wasn't too bad, for the most part. She did much better in that last math exam than she thought, and even earned a complement from Mizuki-sensei for her improvement. She also had fun doing her writing assignment – which was to write an essay about what you did on White Day last year (or on any other holiday, for those who complained.). Too bad she couldn't finish it, right when she was getting to the good part. So she had embellished a few things here and there (Grr… Touya….) – but hey, it was her story, so she could write whatever she wanted, right?
It looked like the day was turning around, and she was already looking forward to talking to her friends at lunch. Wait. Wasn't she forgetting something? That's right. She was going to invite Syaoran-kun and Meiling-chan to spend White Day with her tomorrow. And there they were, so she could ask them right now… oh no. Not this! It looked like they were fighting, again – when would they ever learn to get along? No time to worry about that now; she might not get another chance to invite them. So she tentatively walked up to them and asked softly, "There's something I want to tell you…"
"Not now, Kinomoto-san!" Meiling snarled. But at that moment Syaoran struggled free from her grasp, and answered, "Oh, it's you, Sakura. What is it?"
"Well, uh… did you know that tomorrow was White Day?"
Syaoran and Meiling didn't seem to know. Maybe there was no such thing as White Day in Hong Kong.
"Err… you see, White Day is a day when… uh…"
"Oh, White Day," someone interrupted. It was Yamazaki Takashi, with his usual impeccable (?) timing. "White Day is a day when boys are supposed give gifts to the entire class, just like Valentine's Day," he said cheerfully.
"Really?" Syaoran asked.
"Yamazaki," Chiharu warned him from behind.
"Well, I guess not every boy does it. But that's just because they don't know how the tradition got started. Do you want to know?"
"Yeah…" was the consensus reply. Maybe Takashi's stories weren't always true, but they were always fun to listen to.
"It happened several centuries ago. A samurai warrior had to go off to war, and promised his lady that he would be back as soon as he could. So she waited for him for years, but he wouldn't come. Finally, the war ended, and all the warriors came back, except for the samurai. She feared for her loved one, and became very sick. Everyone thought she was going to die."
"How sad…" Sakura sobbed.
"One night in early spring, the weather turned unusually cold, and there was a terrible snowstorm. In the middle of the night, she passed out, and the doctor said she wouldn't make it through the night. But by the next morning, she had miraculously recovered. And when she opened her door, she saw her loved one from a distance, running toward her house, battling through the deep snow. Once he came back, he spent the entire first day just waiting on her, doing whatever she asked of him. At the end of the day, he proposed to her… and she kissed him and agreed to marry him. He became so happy that he gave gifts to all of his friends… and that's how the tradition got started."
What a heartwarming story – one she sincerely hoped was true. Takashi continued, "Because of that, they say that if a boy spends the day following the wishes of the girl he really likes, and she kisses him at the end of the day, they will be together forever."
"Really…" Sakura sighed. "I wish someone would do that for me…" and she knew who she was talking about – unfortunately, so did her brother.
"You mean, you actually believe that story, Kinomoto-san?" Meiling snickered, confidently staring at Chiharu. But Chiharu herself was wiping tears from eyes, and could only mutter, "That's so sweet…"
Meiling recovered quickly, though. She took Syaoran's arm and exclaimed, "Syaoran! That means you get to spend all day tomorrow doing whatever I wish! Isn't this great? I knew we were meant to be together forever…"
"I have to go now. Class is about to start," Syaoran blurted out hurriedly, as he tore himself from Meiling and stomped off. Now where did his sense of time go? There was still a good half hour left in the lunch period. Well. That just meant things were pretty much settled, right? It looked like Syaoran and Meiling were going to spend the day together, no matter how much Syaoran wanted to deny it now. And maybe that's the way things should be. Family should come first, after all.