Chapter 16: My Heart
A/N: I hope you like this.
Start POV Sequence:
Sakura: For most of the day, I slept away. The trip drained me physically and mentally, you know? Every so often, I would be plagued with a pleasant dream of Syaoran placing his lips upon mine. (squeal) I shriek just at the thought of it. But because I slept away the day, I never had a chance to ask my father the questions I wanted to. In fact, I was surprised to wake up Touya telling me that if I didn't get ready for our dinner date with the Li family, I would make everyone late.
The thought of seeing Syaoran again caused my heart to flip.
Mei-Lin: As soon as I got home, I got a strict talking to by my mother. I always get one of these when I come back home. Like when we came back from Japan last time, my mother growled and said that I better step it up if I want to be Syaoran's bride. But that isn't the only thing in my life now, is it?
Syaoran: I took a shower, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, tripped over my chair, brushed my hair again, put on my clothes and looked myself over in the mirror at breakneck speed. It's not because we're late or anything. No, the Li's are known for not being late for anything. It was the fact that I wanted to make sure that I looked my absolute best and had enough time to fix everything. Xiefa even came in and said: "If you don't stop brushing your hair, it'll all fall out." And, well... I stopped. I wanted everything to be perfect for Sakura.
Kero: There is something that irks me about the way both Miko and Ms. Mitsuki act and smell. I mean, Miko is obviously a baby but what if she was something else as well....
End POV Sequence
Start Story Mode.
7:00pm
"We got in just before it started to snow heavily." Sakura smiled, her white pea coat covered with snowflakes. They were also in Yukito's hair which caused it to shimmer even more than usual.
The Kinomotos plus Yukito were walking into the restaurant. Fujisaki had gone up to request where the Li family was. They walked over to the table and were greeted by the family. Most of the family sat together. Sanori was at the table head. In the place of honor at her right was Manoa. Mei-Lin sat next to her mother. Syaoran was forced to sit next to her. Then, Tomoyo and Eriol were together. On Sanori's other side sat Fuutie, Fanren and Feimei. Sakura chose the set next to Feimei and Yukito sat next to her. Finally, Touya sat next to him and Fujisaki sat at the other end of the table.
"Let me help you." Syaoran, being the perfect little gentleman, got up and gently took off Sakura's coat, slowly sliding it off her shoulders and down her arms.
There were many gasps of approval for her dress.
"Where did you get that dress, Sakura?" Yukito asked. "It's wonderful."
Tomoyo beamed proudly. "I made it for her. I must say, it's one of my best works." She made a gesture towards Sakura with her hand. "Well, show it off. Turn around in it. Sakura blushed. Not only was the whole table including his seething brother there watching him but Sakura could feel Syaoran's eyes watching her from behind. "Is this really the time to be showing off your creations, Tomoyo- chan?" "Yes. We are here because we are going over what we did so far in college and I made that this year, so you will turn around in it." She folded her arms. "Case closed." Sakura shrugged. "Okay." She said, turning around in it. It was a strappy white dress that reached a little above the knee with a gold line that spiraled around unevenly. There were two slits about two inches on each side of the dress. The back was cut out and had gold strings that zigzagged through it. "You look lovely." Syaoran said with a smile. Actually, lovely wasn't the only word to describe her but hopefully she would get the hint. She did. She blushed again at the word love
When she got all the way around again, she looked at her brother amidst the mumbles of satisfaction and sighed. "Touya, I'm fine."
"Aren't you sure that you aren't a little cold, Sakura?"
"She said she's fine, To-ya." Yukito said, playfully.
"You look cute, I guess." Touya said, begrudgingly. The fact that his little sister was growing up into such a beautiful girl scared him especially since the gaki hadn't stopped looking at her in awe.
Syaoran placed the coat on the back of her seat and waited for Sakura to sit down. Then, he pushed her seat in, letting his fingers linger across her skin. He smiled a little as he smelled a slight scent of strawberry and realized that it was probably from her lip-gloss.
Sakura flushed. "Thank you, Syaoran."
"Anytime." He went back to his own seat across from hers.
Sanori beamed at Syaoran, approving his choice for using his manners that had been drilled into him since birth. Manoa only scowled because he hadn't looked that way to Mei-Lin when he pushed her seat in.
"Well, everyone's here. Shall we order?" Yukito asked, because his stomach was growling yet again.
"Indeed." Sanori brought along the menus and for a while no one said anything.
Sakura gasped a little.
"Oh, sorry Syaoran. I thought you were the pole under the table."
"That's okay." He poked her under the table with his foot and smiled. She poked him back. By the time they had finished ordering, there was a full-fledged foot war under the table that no one knew about. What they did notice was Sakura and Syaoran silently giggly and smiling at each other.
"So Sakura," Fuutie asked suddenly, sensing that Manoa was about to explode. "How are you and that boy that you were going out with... what was his name?"
"Jusenori." Syaoran stopped the foot war and stared at her. "Well, Jusenori... he... um..."
"Jusenori and Kawaii left the campus." Syaoran picked up for her. He looked at Mei-Lin, who had been quiet for the past twenty minutes that they were here. She caught his eye and nodded.
"Oh," Mei-Lin nodded in agreement. "Yes, they decided to transfer to another school."
"And long distance relationships are super hard." Tomoyo added.
To a person who didn't know Sakura, such as Fuutie, they would believe the story to be true. But under closer inspection, Sakura hadn't said a word of it. Sanori noted this and how protective everyone was of the young Mistress of the Cards.
"Wait, you were going out with him?" Touya asked.
"No, not really. I mean, we went on a date once, but nothing was really official. We were just friends."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow but said nothing of the topic.
"Why, I thought you picked up on any boy who liked your sister, Touya." Eriol said, playfully.
"Well... he didn't seem so much of a threat to me or her, so I didn't know." Touya answered.
"A threat?" Yukito asked. "They were very close together at the dinner table on Parent's weekend."
"Yeah, I know. But I just.... didn't sense anything, you know?" Touya shook his head. "The waiters are here."
Their food was brought to their table and everyone started to munch away. Sanori cleared her throat and turned her head to Sakura. "Do you believe that there is a reason for which you never became close to him?"
"To Jusenori-kun? Well, I mean we were just friends, you know and Touya would have pummeled him."
Everyone laughed, including Sanori.
"You miss understand me. Why didn't you become more than friends? Do you know?"
She frowned for a moment, not understanding, and then it hit her like a thunderbolt. 'She knows about me and Syaoran!'
Sakura cleared her throat. "Perhaps because..." she closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that anything she said had to be some form of the truth. "Events change and so do people. Besides, I like the 'Knight in Shining Armor' type."
Sanori smiled wistfully. "I see."
"Perhaps we shouldn't talk about Ju-kun and Ka-chan. When they left us was a devastating blow to our hearts, you know?" Tomoyo interjected. She caught Sakura's eye, which thanked her for the change of topic.
"I think we should move on to something different." Eriol cleared his throat. "Unmei-san, our home economics teacher, just assigned us a project involving being married and things like that."
"Oh, how wonderful." Manoa said. "So, how is it done?"
"Well, it's for next semester, but we started to get ready now, to prepare for it. Tomoyo said brightly.
Slowly, almost unnoticed to the normal eye, Sakura and Syaoran were sinking lower and lower into their seats.
"Everyone is paired off in mock matrimony." Tomoyo continued. "He's really good at being a matchmaker, you see. He's known for it all over the school and most of the time he's right and the people fall in love and are happy forever together."
"I see." Manoa looked somewhat menacing with the cutlery in her hands. "Mei-Lin, are you in this class?"
"No, Momma. I chose not to take it."
"And the rest of your friends are?" Manoa looked around the table.
Xiefa raised an eyebrow. "So let me guess. The four of you were paired off, right?"
Sakura had sunk to the point where her eyes were level with the edge of the table. Syaoran was halfway to the floor.
"Right." Eriol said, smirking.
Touya looked at his sister and the gaki, brows furrowed. "So, are you and Tomoyo-chan a couple in this project?"
"Oh, not just in this project." Eriol said, grasping Tomoyo's hand on the table. "We are a couple in life as well."
"How wonderful." Fujisaki said, beaming at the two of them. "I didn't know. You two make an adorable couple."
"They truly do." Sanori added.
Others nodded at their approval. Tomoyo blushed, firmly holding her boyfriend's hand.
"Wait, has everyone forgotten?" Touya asked.
Yukito looked over at his lover. "Not now, Touya..."
"This means," Sanori said slowly, "That Sakura and Syaoran are partners in this project of marriage, am I correct?"
....
And there was silence....
And more silence...
And if it couldn't get anymore silent around the table, it did....
What happened next was expected. Total chaos...
"WHAT!" Touya yelled.
Manoa screeched from the other side of the table. "This is an outrage!"
"Mother, please calm down." Mei-Lin whispered, sipping her drink.
"I will not-"
"Yes, you will." Sanori said, squaring her jaw. "Because this is supposed to be a happy event and I refuse for anyone to lose their temper over something as silly as a school project." She cleared her throat. "Do I make myself clear to everyone?"
Xiefa chuckled as she watched her brother peek his eyes over the table. "I believe Syaoran agrees, mother."
"Thank you, Xiefa." Sanori said. She smiled at her guest again. "Now, have there been any scuffles the past half year, children? Anything that we should know about?"
Manoa looked around the table menacingly. Everyone else looked around at each other, none finding a problem that their parents should know about.
"Oh Sakura," Fujisaki looked to his daughter. "Since Kawaii is not part of the school anymore, who are you rooming with?"
"Ah..." she blinked for a moment. "Tomoyo-chan is my roommate currently."
"When you say currently, you sound as if you are going to move," Yukito chuckled. "Or as if someone is going to move in. But that isn't likely now is it?" He laughed. However, there were those at the table who were not laughing with him, such as Touya and Manoa.
Tomoyo nudged her tomodachi. "Well, the living constraints make it hard for us to work on the project. I may be moving into Eriol's room for the remainder of the year."
"Well if you are going to move in with Eriol, why doesn't Sakura live with Syaoran?"
'And the silence makes it's comeback...' Syaoran thought bitterly.
"That," Manoa said as calmly as she could. "would be absurd."
"Not so much so if their school work calls for it." Sanori said with the same dangerous serenity Manoa had just used.
Meanwhile, Fuutie, Fanren and Feimei (sound like different candies of the same company, don't they?) were cooing over the fact that the Card Mistress and a Li were living together again.
"I wonder if they will be a couple..." Fuutie asked her sisters.
Fanren sighed. "Perhaps the most adorable couple there is!"
"She is so pretty and he is so handsome." Feimei pondered for a moment. "They could have beautiful babies together!"
At once, everyone spit their drinks except for Tomoyo and Eriol.
"Children together...." Mei-Lin blinked at the idea. For the longest time, she had been in a complete daze, thinking about what everyone was saying. "Didn't Syaoran and Sakura have a child?"
"WHAT!" Touya stood up so fast his chair fell over.
"Touya!" Yukito sweatdropped. "You're going to get us in trouble!" He turned around and assured the people near them that Touya forgot to take his happy purple pills.
"I don't care, Sakura's having babies!" he cursed. "I thought you listened to the Ten Commandments of Touya!"
"You actually wrote out Ten Commandments for Sakura-chan to follow?" Yukito asked, ludicrously.
"How melodramatic and soap operatic!" Xiefa exclaimed. "So, where is the bundle of joy?"
"Sakura, if you were pregnant, you should have told me." Fujisaki said, calmly. "I would have liked to have met my new grandchild."
"Likewise, Syaoran." Sanori nodded. "I am very hurt that you wouldn't share this wonderful news with me."
"Do you hear yourselves?" Manoa yelled. "The Li family will be shamed forever!"
"It wasn't like that!" Sakura finally spoke up considering the fact that Syaoran had facevaulted so fast, he may have actually hurt himself. "We were baby-sitting!"
"Oh!" Sanori actually laughed. It reminded Sakura of wind chimes. "How silly of me!"
Yukito picked up the fallen chair and pulled Touya down into it. He took his hand, trying to calm him down.
Syaoran appeared from the floor, breathing heavily. "It seems as if we dodged the bullet."
Sakura sighed, nodding her head. "For now, at least."
"So, whose baby?" Touya asked.
"It was a teacher's, Ms. Mitsuki. She was going out of town and Mr. Unmei played a bit of a practical joke/pop quiz on us." Syaoran explained.
"So, you took care of a baby overnight with the two of you alone in an apartment on your college campus?"
'Hearing it said that way make it seem so scandalous.' Sakura thought. 'It's not as if we did anything.' Her thoughts brought her to early yesterday morning and the plane ride to Japan. She blushed. 'So maybe it wasn't as innocent as I first made it, but still.
All eyes were on Syaoran and Sakura with her reddening face.
"Admit it, Syaoran." Feimei said. "You did something, didn't you?"
"Everyone does something, Feimei." Was his only reply.
"Well," Sanori said, digging into the third course that was being brought to them. "This sure is interesting."
"Nothing happened. Syaoran and I have lived together before this on campus and nothing happened then either!"
"Ah," Fanren said, gleefully. "But you both were living with Mei-Lin then. Now you guys were free to do what you wanted without getting caught, now weren't you?"
Syaoran sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hands. "It was nothing like that."
"Even so," Fujisaki interjected. "Love is a very beautiful thing."
"What are you saying, Tou-san?" Touya asked his father.
"Well everyone should fall in love, right? No matter what happens, our hearts always yearn to be in love and that is true bliss." He looked at Touya with his eyebrow raised. "Even our darling little Sakura has the right to fall in love too."
"Wait, but you've got it all wrong!" Syaoran yelled. "It was nothing like that."
Tomoyo looked to Sakura, who had her hand on her mouth. "Sakura, are you okay?"
She nodded. "I just need some fresh air, that's all." She smiled. "I'll just be around the corner if anyone needs me."
"Look, we scared her off." Feimei said, pouting her lips towards her sisters.
"And she was so cute!" Fuutie added.
Sakura put on her jacket and smiled, walking out the door to think.
All eyes turned to Syaoran.
"What?" he frowned.
"Go and follow her!" Xiefa glared at him. "What kind of caring friend are you?"
"I agree!" Tomoyo added. "You should chase after her."
Syaoran looked to Sanori. "Mother-"
"Do as you will, Syaoran."
He stared at her for a moment and nodded, taking his jacket and following Sakura out the door.
Sakura kicked the snow with the edge of her foot, tears streaming down her eyes. If she had thought for one moment that the majority of her questions would be answered in such a wacky setting, then she had obviously thought wrong.
"Sakura-chan!" Syaoran called, running up to her. She brushed the tears off of her face, trying to conceal her crying.
"Hello." She smiled. "I just need to get out of there."
"I know what you mean."
They began walking together in silence for a moment.
"I didn't know so much of our lives could be spilt out into such a short period of time."
"And Tomoyo-chan just kept instigating it." Sakura wasn't mad. On the contrary, she seemed pleased with her best friend.
"I've never been so embarrassed in all of my life." Syaoran laughed and Sakura joined him. It was better to laugh at yourselves than hold grudges against those who brought everything out into the open.
Syaoran looked over to Sakura, who now had tears in her eyes. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"
"I-"She was going to say that she had laughed herself to tears but she couldn't bring herself to lie to Syaoran. "No... well..."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he pointed to a bench that looked half frozen over from the cold, but Sakura would take anything. They sat down and Syaoran put an arm around her.
"I was thinking about what my dad said just before I left. He said that everyone deserved to love someone, you know, including me."
"But why would that make you so unhappy?"
"I'm not sure," she touched her chest. "I just think I need to talk to him some more but my heart says that I-"
"That you... should what?"
She tilted her head up to his. "That I should be with you."
"Sakura." He said, simply. No suffix of –chan or –san after it.
She pointed upwards and smiled. "Look Syaoran, it's snowing." She stood up, taking his hand in hers. "I love it when it snows."
A snowflake fell on her nose. He bent over and kissed it off, his eyelashes tickling her face. She giggled and spun around in a circle until he grabbed her waist.
"Syaoran, I-"He leaned down to kiss her, the smell of strawberry dizzying his senses. Suddenly, he stopped. Someone or some people were whispering near them.
"Come on and kiss her already..." Tomoyo cursed.
"I didn't think that they were this serious." Fuutie added.
"You'd better believe it. Aren't they cute?" Xiefa told her sister.
"All of you, shut up or else we'll get busted."
Syaoran put his finger to his lips and pointed behind them. Sakura nodded and they both looked down behind the bench. All of their friends and siblings, minus Mei-Lin, Touya and Yukito, were hidden behind the bench that they had just sat in moments ago.
"What are you doing, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, exasperatedly.
"Eavesdropping, what else?" she smiled as she pulled out her camera again. "We've been watching you two since you sat down."
"We were told to find you guys and make sure that you were okay." Xiefa explained. "Then these boneheads found out that we could spy on you as well."
"Mom's gonna have a fit." Fanren added.
"Not really, more like Manoa." Feimei corrected. "She's gonna be in a right state if she finds this video."
"Which Tomoyo-chan will burn, right?" Syaoran decided.
"Not on your life." She answered. They all stood up and brushed themselves off.
Sakura sighed. 'I have the nosiest friends in the world.'
They all traipsed back to the restaurant and sat back in their respectable seats. Mei-Lin watched Syaoran's face, which held a secret smile. That same attribute went to Sakura.
"Hn, what are you smiling about, kaijuu?"
"Oi! I'm not a monster, Touya!"
"Well, what are you smiling about?"
Sakura blushed a bit, but managed to control it. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
End Story Mode
Start POV Sequence (ooh, I feel like Melfina! All systems: GREEN!)
Mei-Lin: Sakura and Syaoran have always been close but this closeness has gone to far. In the name of the Li clan and my mother, this will be corrected.
Tomoyo: Ah, they were so cute. I can't believe that I was able to witness such an adorable feat.
Eriol: I'm sensing something.... different. Something is happening to the magic in the world, is it not?
Syaoran: She's passionate and adorable. Her smile brightens everyone's day. Her kisses are amazingly cute. I just want this moment to last forever.
Sakura: Syaoran almost kissed me again. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't hoping it wouldn't happen.
End POV Sequence.
A/N: It's Christmas time and everyone has been invited to the Li mansion for the six days between Christmas and New Year's Day. It's a surprise that leads to the climax of semester one of Heavenly Hearts!
A/N: I hope you like this.
Start POV Sequence:
Sakura: For most of the day, I slept away. The trip drained me physically and mentally, you know? Every so often, I would be plagued with a pleasant dream of Syaoran placing his lips upon mine. (squeal) I shriek just at the thought of it. But because I slept away the day, I never had a chance to ask my father the questions I wanted to. In fact, I was surprised to wake up Touya telling me that if I didn't get ready for our dinner date with the Li family, I would make everyone late.
The thought of seeing Syaoran again caused my heart to flip.
Mei-Lin: As soon as I got home, I got a strict talking to by my mother. I always get one of these when I come back home. Like when we came back from Japan last time, my mother growled and said that I better step it up if I want to be Syaoran's bride. But that isn't the only thing in my life now, is it?
Syaoran: I took a shower, brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, tripped over my chair, brushed my hair again, put on my clothes and looked myself over in the mirror at breakneck speed. It's not because we're late or anything. No, the Li's are known for not being late for anything. It was the fact that I wanted to make sure that I looked my absolute best and had enough time to fix everything. Xiefa even came in and said: "If you don't stop brushing your hair, it'll all fall out." And, well... I stopped. I wanted everything to be perfect for Sakura.
Kero: There is something that irks me about the way both Miko and Ms. Mitsuki act and smell. I mean, Miko is obviously a baby but what if she was something else as well....
End POV Sequence
Start Story Mode.
7:00pm
"We got in just before it started to snow heavily." Sakura smiled, her white pea coat covered with snowflakes. They were also in Yukito's hair which caused it to shimmer even more than usual.
The Kinomotos plus Yukito were walking into the restaurant. Fujisaki had gone up to request where the Li family was. They walked over to the table and were greeted by the family. Most of the family sat together. Sanori was at the table head. In the place of honor at her right was Manoa. Mei-Lin sat next to her mother. Syaoran was forced to sit next to her. Then, Tomoyo and Eriol were together. On Sanori's other side sat Fuutie, Fanren and Feimei. Sakura chose the set next to Feimei and Yukito sat next to her. Finally, Touya sat next to him and Fujisaki sat at the other end of the table.
"Let me help you." Syaoran, being the perfect little gentleman, got up and gently took off Sakura's coat, slowly sliding it off her shoulders and down her arms.
There were many gasps of approval for her dress.
"Where did you get that dress, Sakura?" Yukito asked. "It's wonderful."
Tomoyo beamed proudly. "I made it for her. I must say, it's one of my best works." She made a gesture towards Sakura with her hand. "Well, show it off. Turn around in it. Sakura blushed. Not only was the whole table including his seething brother there watching him but Sakura could feel Syaoran's eyes watching her from behind. "Is this really the time to be showing off your creations, Tomoyo- chan?" "Yes. We are here because we are going over what we did so far in college and I made that this year, so you will turn around in it." She folded her arms. "Case closed." Sakura shrugged. "Okay." She said, turning around in it. It was a strappy white dress that reached a little above the knee with a gold line that spiraled around unevenly. There were two slits about two inches on each side of the dress. The back was cut out and had gold strings that zigzagged through it. "You look lovely." Syaoran said with a smile. Actually, lovely wasn't the only word to describe her but hopefully she would get the hint. She did. She blushed again at the word love
When she got all the way around again, she looked at her brother amidst the mumbles of satisfaction and sighed. "Touya, I'm fine."
"Aren't you sure that you aren't a little cold, Sakura?"
"She said she's fine, To-ya." Yukito said, playfully.
"You look cute, I guess." Touya said, begrudgingly. The fact that his little sister was growing up into such a beautiful girl scared him especially since the gaki hadn't stopped looking at her in awe.
Syaoran placed the coat on the back of her seat and waited for Sakura to sit down. Then, he pushed her seat in, letting his fingers linger across her skin. He smiled a little as he smelled a slight scent of strawberry and realized that it was probably from her lip-gloss.
Sakura flushed. "Thank you, Syaoran."
"Anytime." He went back to his own seat across from hers.
Sanori beamed at Syaoran, approving his choice for using his manners that had been drilled into him since birth. Manoa only scowled because he hadn't looked that way to Mei-Lin when he pushed her seat in.
"Well, everyone's here. Shall we order?" Yukito asked, because his stomach was growling yet again.
"Indeed." Sanori brought along the menus and for a while no one said anything.
Sakura gasped a little.
"Oh, sorry Syaoran. I thought you were the pole under the table."
"That's okay." He poked her under the table with his foot and smiled. She poked him back. By the time they had finished ordering, there was a full-fledged foot war under the table that no one knew about. What they did notice was Sakura and Syaoran silently giggly and smiling at each other.
"So Sakura," Fuutie asked suddenly, sensing that Manoa was about to explode. "How are you and that boy that you were going out with... what was his name?"
"Jusenori." Syaoran stopped the foot war and stared at her. "Well, Jusenori... he... um..."
"Jusenori and Kawaii left the campus." Syaoran picked up for her. He looked at Mei-Lin, who had been quiet for the past twenty minutes that they were here. She caught his eye and nodded.
"Oh," Mei-Lin nodded in agreement. "Yes, they decided to transfer to another school."
"And long distance relationships are super hard." Tomoyo added.
To a person who didn't know Sakura, such as Fuutie, they would believe the story to be true. But under closer inspection, Sakura hadn't said a word of it. Sanori noted this and how protective everyone was of the young Mistress of the Cards.
"Wait, you were going out with him?" Touya asked.
"No, not really. I mean, we went on a date once, but nothing was really official. We were just friends."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow but said nothing of the topic.
"Why, I thought you picked up on any boy who liked your sister, Touya." Eriol said, playfully.
"Well... he didn't seem so much of a threat to me or her, so I didn't know." Touya answered.
"A threat?" Yukito asked. "They were very close together at the dinner table on Parent's weekend."
"Yeah, I know. But I just.... didn't sense anything, you know?" Touya shook his head. "The waiters are here."
Their food was brought to their table and everyone started to munch away. Sanori cleared her throat and turned her head to Sakura. "Do you believe that there is a reason for which you never became close to him?"
"To Jusenori-kun? Well, I mean we were just friends, you know and Touya would have pummeled him."
Everyone laughed, including Sanori.
"You miss understand me. Why didn't you become more than friends? Do you know?"
She frowned for a moment, not understanding, and then it hit her like a thunderbolt. 'She knows about me and Syaoran!'
Sakura cleared her throat. "Perhaps because..." she closed her eyes for a moment, knowing that anything she said had to be some form of the truth. "Events change and so do people. Besides, I like the 'Knight in Shining Armor' type."
Sanori smiled wistfully. "I see."
"Perhaps we shouldn't talk about Ju-kun and Ka-chan. When they left us was a devastating blow to our hearts, you know?" Tomoyo interjected. She caught Sakura's eye, which thanked her for the change of topic.
"I think we should move on to something different." Eriol cleared his throat. "Unmei-san, our home economics teacher, just assigned us a project involving being married and things like that."
"Oh, how wonderful." Manoa said. "So, how is it done?"
"Well, it's for next semester, but we started to get ready now, to prepare for it. Tomoyo said brightly.
Slowly, almost unnoticed to the normal eye, Sakura and Syaoran were sinking lower and lower into their seats.
"Everyone is paired off in mock matrimony." Tomoyo continued. "He's really good at being a matchmaker, you see. He's known for it all over the school and most of the time he's right and the people fall in love and are happy forever together."
"I see." Manoa looked somewhat menacing with the cutlery in her hands. "Mei-Lin, are you in this class?"
"No, Momma. I chose not to take it."
"And the rest of your friends are?" Manoa looked around the table.
Xiefa raised an eyebrow. "So let me guess. The four of you were paired off, right?"
Sakura had sunk to the point where her eyes were level with the edge of the table. Syaoran was halfway to the floor.
"Right." Eriol said, smirking.
Touya looked at his sister and the gaki, brows furrowed. "So, are you and Tomoyo-chan a couple in this project?"
"Oh, not just in this project." Eriol said, grasping Tomoyo's hand on the table. "We are a couple in life as well."
"How wonderful." Fujisaki said, beaming at the two of them. "I didn't know. You two make an adorable couple."
"They truly do." Sanori added.
Others nodded at their approval. Tomoyo blushed, firmly holding her boyfriend's hand.
"Wait, has everyone forgotten?" Touya asked.
Yukito looked over at his lover. "Not now, Touya..."
"This means," Sanori said slowly, "That Sakura and Syaoran are partners in this project of marriage, am I correct?"
....
And there was silence....
And more silence...
And if it couldn't get anymore silent around the table, it did....
What happened next was expected. Total chaos...
"WHAT!" Touya yelled.
Manoa screeched from the other side of the table. "This is an outrage!"
"Mother, please calm down." Mei-Lin whispered, sipping her drink.
"I will not-"
"Yes, you will." Sanori said, squaring her jaw. "Because this is supposed to be a happy event and I refuse for anyone to lose their temper over something as silly as a school project." She cleared her throat. "Do I make myself clear to everyone?"
Xiefa chuckled as she watched her brother peek his eyes over the table. "I believe Syaoran agrees, mother."
"Thank you, Xiefa." Sanori said. She smiled at her guest again. "Now, have there been any scuffles the past half year, children? Anything that we should know about?"
Manoa looked around the table menacingly. Everyone else looked around at each other, none finding a problem that their parents should know about.
"Oh Sakura," Fujisaki looked to his daughter. "Since Kawaii is not part of the school anymore, who are you rooming with?"
"Ah..." she blinked for a moment. "Tomoyo-chan is my roommate currently."
"When you say currently, you sound as if you are going to move," Yukito chuckled. "Or as if someone is going to move in. But that isn't likely now is it?" He laughed. However, there were those at the table who were not laughing with him, such as Touya and Manoa.
Tomoyo nudged her tomodachi. "Well, the living constraints make it hard for us to work on the project. I may be moving into Eriol's room for the remainder of the year."
"Well if you are going to move in with Eriol, why doesn't Sakura live with Syaoran?"
'And the silence makes it's comeback...' Syaoran thought bitterly.
"That," Manoa said as calmly as she could. "would be absurd."
"Not so much so if their school work calls for it." Sanori said with the same dangerous serenity Manoa had just used.
Meanwhile, Fuutie, Fanren and Feimei (sound like different candies of the same company, don't they?) were cooing over the fact that the Card Mistress and a Li were living together again.
"I wonder if they will be a couple..." Fuutie asked her sisters.
Fanren sighed. "Perhaps the most adorable couple there is!"
"She is so pretty and he is so handsome." Feimei pondered for a moment. "They could have beautiful babies together!"
At once, everyone spit their drinks except for Tomoyo and Eriol.
"Children together...." Mei-Lin blinked at the idea. For the longest time, she had been in a complete daze, thinking about what everyone was saying. "Didn't Syaoran and Sakura have a child?"
"WHAT!" Touya stood up so fast his chair fell over.
"Touya!" Yukito sweatdropped. "You're going to get us in trouble!" He turned around and assured the people near them that Touya forgot to take his happy purple pills.
"I don't care, Sakura's having babies!" he cursed. "I thought you listened to the Ten Commandments of Touya!"
"You actually wrote out Ten Commandments for Sakura-chan to follow?" Yukito asked, ludicrously.
"How melodramatic and soap operatic!" Xiefa exclaimed. "So, where is the bundle of joy?"
"Sakura, if you were pregnant, you should have told me." Fujisaki said, calmly. "I would have liked to have met my new grandchild."
"Likewise, Syaoran." Sanori nodded. "I am very hurt that you wouldn't share this wonderful news with me."
"Do you hear yourselves?" Manoa yelled. "The Li family will be shamed forever!"
"It wasn't like that!" Sakura finally spoke up considering the fact that Syaoran had facevaulted so fast, he may have actually hurt himself. "We were baby-sitting!"
"Oh!" Sanori actually laughed. It reminded Sakura of wind chimes. "How silly of me!"
Yukito picked up the fallen chair and pulled Touya down into it. He took his hand, trying to calm him down.
Syaoran appeared from the floor, breathing heavily. "It seems as if we dodged the bullet."
Sakura sighed, nodding her head. "For now, at least."
"So, whose baby?" Touya asked.
"It was a teacher's, Ms. Mitsuki. She was going out of town and Mr. Unmei played a bit of a practical joke/pop quiz on us." Syaoran explained.
"So, you took care of a baby overnight with the two of you alone in an apartment on your college campus?"
'Hearing it said that way make it seem so scandalous.' Sakura thought. 'It's not as if we did anything.' Her thoughts brought her to early yesterday morning and the plane ride to Japan. She blushed. 'So maybe it wasn't as innocent as I first made it, but still.
All eyes were on Syaoran and Sakura with her reddening face.
"Admit it, Syaoran." Feimei said. "You did something, didn't you?"
"Everyone does something, Feimei." Was his only reply.
"Well," Sanori said, digging into the third course that was being brought to them. "This sure is interesting."
"Nothing happened. Syaoran and I have lived together before this on campus and nothing happened then either!"
"Ah," Fanren said, gleefully. "But you both were living with Mei-Lin then. Now you guys were free to do what you wanted without getting caught, now weren't you?"
Syaoran sighed and rubbed his forehead with his hands. "It was nothing like that."
"Even so," Fujisaki interjected. "Love is a very beautiful thing."
"What are you saying, Tou-san?" Touya asked his father.
"Well everyone should fall in love, right? No matter what happens, our hearts always yearn to be in love and that is true bliss." He looked at Touya with his eyebrow raised. "Even our darling little Sakura has the right to fall in love too."
"Wait, but you've got it all wrong!" Syaoran yelled. "It was nothing like that."
Tomoyo looked to Sakura, who had her hand on her mouth. "Sakura, are you okay?"
She nodded. "I just need some fresh air, that's all." She smiled. "I'll just be around the corner if anyone needs me."
"Look, we scared her off." Feimei said, pouting her lips towards her sisters.
"And she was so cute!" Fuutie added.
Sakura put on her jacket and smiled, walking out the door to think.
All eyes turned to Syaoran.
"What?" he frowned.
"Go and follow her!" Xiefa glared at him. "What kind of caring friend are you?"
"I agree!" Tomoyo added. "You should chase after her."
Syaoran looked to Sanori. "Mother-"
"Do as you will, Syaoran."
He stared at her for a moment and nodded, taking his jacket and following Sakura out the door.
Sakura kicked the snow with the edge of her foot, tears streaming down her eyes. If she had thought for one moment that the majority of her questions would be answered in such a wacky setting, then she had obviously thought wrong.
"Sakura-chan!" Syaoran called, running up to her. She brushed the tears off of her face, trying to conceal her crying.
"Hello." She smiled. "I just need to get out of there."
"I know what you mean."
They began walking together in silence for a moment.
"I didn't know so much of our lives could be spilt out into such a short period of time."
"And Tomoyo-chan just kept instigating it." Sakura wasn't mad. On the contrary, she seemed pleased with her best friend.
"I've never been so embarrassed in all of my life." Syaoran laughed and Sakura joined him. It was better to laugh at yourselves than hold grudges against those who brought everything out into the open.
Syaoran looked over to Sakura, who now had tears in her eyes. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"
"I-"She was going to say that she had laughed herself to tears but she couldn't bring herself to lie to Syaoran. "No... well..."
"Do you want to talk about it?" he pointed to a bench that looked half frozen over from the cold, but Sakura would take anything. They sat down and Syaoran put an arm around her.
"I was thinking about what my dad said just before I left. He said that everyone deserved to love someone, you know, including me."
"But why would that make you so unhappy?"
"I'm not sure," she touched her chest. "I just think I need to talk to him some more but my heart says that I-"
"That you... should what?"
She tilted her head up to his. "That I should be with you."
"Sakura." He said, simply. No suffix of –chan or –san after it.
She pointed upwards and smiled. "Look Syaoran, it's snowing." She stood up, taking his hand in hers. "I love it when it snows."
A snowflake fell on her nose. He bent over and kissed it off, his eyelashes tickling her face. She giggled and spun around in a circle until he grabbed her waist.
"Syaoran, I-"He leaned down to kiss her, the smell of strawberry dizzying his senses. Suddenly, he stopped. Someone or some people were whispering near them.
"Come on and kiss her already..." Tomoyo cursed.
"I didn't think that they were this serious." Fuutie added.
"You'd better believe it. Aren't they cute?" Xiefa told her sister.
"All of you, shut up or else we'll get busted."
Syaoran put his finger to his lips and pointed behind them. Sakura nodded and they both looked down behind the bench. All of their friends and siblings, minus Mei-Lin, Touya and Yukito, were hidden behind the bench that they had just sat in moments ago.
"What are you doing, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, exasperatedly.
"Eavesdropping, what else?" she smiled as she pulled out her camera again. "We've been watching you two since you sat down."
"We were told to find you guys and make sure that you were okay." Xiefa explained. "Then these boneheads found out that we could spy on you as well."
"Mom's gonna have a fit." Fanren added.
"Not really, more like Manoa." Feimei corrected. "She's gonna be in a right state if she finds this video."
"Which Tomoyo-chan will burn, right?" Syaoran decided.
"Not on your life." She answered. They all stood up and brushed themselves off.
Sakura sighed. 'I have the nosiest friends in the world.'
They all traipsed back to the restaurant and sat back in their respectable seats. Mei-Lin watched Syaoran's face, which held a secret smile. That same attribute went to Sakura.
"Hn, what are you smiling about, kaijuu?"
"Oi! I'm not a monster, Touya!"
"Well, what are you smiling about?"
Sakura blushed a bit, but managed to control it. "Nothing out of the ordinary."
End Story Mode
Start POV Sequence (ooh, I feel like Melfina! All systems: GREEN!)
Mei-Lin: Sakura and Syaoran have always been close but this closeness has gone to far. In the name of the Li clan and my mother, this will be corrected.
Tomoyo: Ah, they were so cute. I can't believe that I was able to witness such an adorable feat.
Eriol: I'm sensing something.... different. Something is happening to the magic in the world, is it not?
Syaoran: She's passionate and adorable. Her smile brightens everyone's day. Her kisses are amazingly cute. I just want this moment to last forever.
Sakura: Syaoran almost kissed me again. I'm not going to lie and say I wasn't hoping it wouldn't happen.
End POV Sequence.
A/N: It's Christmas time and everyone has been invited to the Li mansion for the six days between Christmas and New Year's Day. It's a surprise that leads to the climax of semester one of Heavenly Hearts!