4. Happy Birthday Syaoran!!

"What did you do that for?" – Eriol asked frowning at Mamoru but making sure that Tomoyo wouldn't hear him.

"Do what?" – Mamoru's innocent smile was all across his face, but thinking - "You asked for it"

It was lunch time, with excellent timing because just then Tomoyo's tummy began to growl, making the two boys at her sides to look at her. It was right then when she remembered she hadn't finished her breakfast. And as everybody else were hungry too they all headed back to the house.

"I had a great morning Sakura-chan, thanks for everything, I'll have to apologize now, I'll go back to grandpa's house for lunch" – Tomoyo said with a little bow.

"What?? You're not staying for lunch?? C'mon, you'll be sleeping there anyway" – Sakura grabbed her cousin's hand and literally dragged her inside their house.

"I guess this summer is almost like those on my books"

She sighted, one of her hands slowly went up to her necklace. She always had it on. It was a small purple heart. Her father had given it to her before leaving for a business trip, from wich he never came back. His plane had some malfunction and crashed. Tomoyo was seven when this happened. She remembered how her father would always take her to the garden sitting on the swing with little her on his lap.

He told her many stories about princesses and princes, about magic and dreams, about hope and love and there was this particular story she always asked for as it was her favourite, but of course every one of them had a little piece of sadness, just as her own story...

"Hey, Daidouji-san? Ore you ok?" – Suddenly she saw the twin waving his hand in front of her.

"Uh?" - She was still holding her necklace – "Ah yes! I'm fine" – she gave him such a spontaneous smile that his heart skipped a beat.

The rest of the afternoon went on really quickly, the amethyst-eyed girl was already back in her grandpa's place and it was already dark outside.

"So, how was your day honey?" –her mother gently asked.

"Did you get along well with Sakura-chan?" –the eldery man inquired.

"Yup, she introduced me to all her friends, then we went for a walk, but then we all felt hungry so we headed back. She invited me to stay for lunch, we all talked while eating, they are all very kind. Then one of the boys said something about someone's birthday. Then we helped Touya-san and Yukito-san with some of the house duties and then it was already night so I came back" –she finished her sentence with a smile as she took air in again.

She finished her dinner and ran upstairs as she thanked for it. Tomoyo entered her room humming for herself after taking a quick bath. She sat on the edge of the bed and began to brush her hair. When she was finished, she stood up and went towards the window and slightly opened it. The wind was blowing hard, really hard. Suddenly a bird crashed against the glass, flying up almost instantly and entering her room it made its way under her bed.

Her amethyst eyes widened at this and quickly ran towards her bed to look for the little bird. She tried to look under it, but it was too dark to see, so she slid her hand under it, tracing the carpet softly with her fingers while searching for the hurt bird. But her hand grabbed something else instead of the creature.

She smiled as she saw what her hands were holding. It was her sketch of a couple. She remembered putting it under the bed last night.

"Now that I look at it again... I think the boy looks kinda familiar... Uhm, probably he fits the description of a prince from a fairy tale I've read, maybe I'll colour it some day"

She suddenly remembered that she was looking for something else and immediately took a lantern to see her way under the bed.

"I've never cheated on a test" –Naoko said as she saw Shigeru, Meiling and Yamazaki standing up trying to get another chair.

As soon as this was said the 'accused' ran to sit down on Meiling's place as the Chinese girl sat down on Yamazaki's chair, and our liar sat on the twin's place, leaving him standing.

"So... this is the third time you're left standing bro" – Mamoru informed laughing at him.

"This means he's getting a punishment" –Rika finished.

"Wich will be..?" –Chiharu added inquisitive.

"Why don't we let the birthday boy decide?" – Eriol proposed.

"Yeah! Go Syaoran!" –Sakura cheered.

"What?!" –There were only two people wich Shigeru feared to get the punishment from, and one was the little wolf.

"Well maybe you'd prefer Hiiragizawa to decide it" –Yamazaki said to keep him shut.

"Ok, Ok! Syaoran will do it" – he said reluctantly.

Syaoran, smiled at him with challenging eyes. Oh, that look on his face! Why have this happened to him? Shigeru felt his grey-bluish eyes widening as he tried to anticipate his punishment, but in the other hand, Syaoran was enjoying the twin's suffering at every second that passed.

"Ok, your punishment..." –he finally said as he caught everyone's attention –"You'll have to grant every one of us a wish"

"What?! You think I'm a genie or something?!" –he looked kinda disappointed as he was already prepared for the worst.

"Oh c'mon its something simple, for example, I say 'I want a glass of soda' so you go inside the house, and bring me back what i wished for"

"Ok, I get it now"- Shigeru went inside, and came back after a couple of minutes with Syaoran's soda –"There, first wish granted, you're next" – he said looking at the birthday boy's right.

"Mmmm, I'd like to have some chocolate ice-cream" –Sakura stated as her emerald-like eyes looked at the punisher.

"Sure"

"Hehehe, this is easier than I expected"

Tomoyo kept quiet until it was her turn, she had been thinking of what to wish for, but she just couldn't think of anything else.

"I..."

"I wish I had a love story of my own... All full of magic like those fairy tales my dad used to tell me..."

"I want you to do a break dance" –she finally stated with a big smile, but little did she know that Shigeru could actually do that.

Following the circle he continued to grant everyone's wishes, until he came upon Meiling.

"I want you to apologise for all you've done to me you evil child!!" – She almost screamed angrily at him.

"Ok, ok don't get mad... I'm sorry for all I've done to you" – he responded calmly.

"Oh don't think it'll be ok just like that! You have to say what it was!" – she was still looking angrily at the younger twin.

"Ok! I'm sorry for hiding your things at school, I'm sorry for bothering you at almost every chance I have, I'm sorry for making you drop your ice-cream on your clothes, I'm sorry for making you fall after trying to chase me, and I'm sorry for making you angry every time I can" –he finished.

"You're still missing something" –the chinese girl pointed folding her arms.

"I'm not sorry for that other thing, you know" – he said coolly.

"W-WHAT?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT?!" – Meiling was obviously shocked by this.

"I mean I'm not sorry for doing that, and I'll do it again if I ever get a chance to"- the younger twin repeated.

"Oh that's enough!!!" –her hands were raised as she stood up and sat between Mamoru and Chiharu, instead of staying between her cousin and Shigeru.

Nobody knew what they were discussing about. Obviously more than one wanted to ask, but knowing Meiling and anticipating her reaction nobody did.

"Truth or dare?" –Yamazaki asked to the girl sitting just in front of him.

"Uhm... Truth" –Rika answered.

"Is it truth that... your parents bakery it's actually an ET base??" –the boy inquired almost opening his eyes, causing everyone to look weird at him.

"Of course not Yamazaki!" –she felt kinda relieved because even though she was the first, she hadn't revealed any of her so dear secrets.

"Yeah, sure! So they say, but I've read that bakeries and candy shops are the way they..."

"Oh shut up Takashi" –Chiharu made him eat a full piece of cake so that he wouldn't be able to talk due to the fact that he had his mouth full.

Rika spinned the bottle again and everybody waited for it to stop.

"So, truth or dare Hiragizawa?" –Meiling asked, as everybody noticed that she was once again sitting between the grey-bluish eyed twin and the master of lies.

"Dare" –he said with self-confidence.

"Mmm, let's see... I dare you to invite a girl to dance, you don't actually have to dance, but it has to be a proper invitation" –she said with a finger on her chin.

Mamoru immediately though that Eriol would invite the raven haired girl sitting to his right. And he wasn't so wrong about it, but as Eriol saw Syaoran from the corner of his eye he decided to tease him, only a little.

"That's an easy one" –he said, smiling at Meiling, who returned the smile as she already knew what Eriol had in mind. But instead of getting angry, she thought it was ok since it might give his cousin some courage. He stood up, looking towards Mamoru with a playful shine in his eyes before changing his direction for completely, thing that left the older twin very surprised. He kneeled in front of certain brown-haired lady with emerald-like eyes, carefully taking her hand and kissing it slightly.

"Would you care to dance with me, Sakura-chan?" –he asked making his voice sound a little deeper than usual, but already knowing what he would get for doing that.

The birthday boy was about to explode when his mind processed what was happening.

"It's only a game" - he kept thinking that but decided he had to do something about it soon, really soon. That Hiiragizawa was surely looking for trouble, and man he knew where to look.

Lots of rounds later Hiiragizawa got his revenge, that wasn't actually one because he didn't get a punishment at all. But he was willing to ask what nobody else would.

"So, Meiling, what would it be, truth or dare?" –a smile crossing his face.

"Truth" –the chinese girl said as she already knew that Hiiragizawa's dares weren't the easy type, even though she was willing to do almost anything to win.

The silence made its move in, and stood there as everybody looked at both of them. Eriol had the kind of smile he usually had when he was planning something, it was risky to ask that kind of question, but everybody wanted to know since the last game and he knew that Meiling wasn't the type of girl that looses easily.

"What were you discussing about with Shigeru earlier?" –he finally said making everyone look at her instantly waiting for her answer.

Meiling bit her lip, was she going to say it or did she preferred to loose? Was she willing to reveal that particular secret? No, she shouldn't do that... But definitely she was not going to loose, especially towards him!

"He kissed me ok!!" –she finally said after a couple of minutes leaving everybody with their mouths full open looking at both of them- "Enough for today, this game is over"

Sakura's eyes were still wide open even after half an hour later, but so were Syaoran's, and almost everybody else's, especially Shigeru's, who didn't though that maybe, just maybe someone would ask about that and that Meiling would answer truthfully.

Anyhow, the chinese girl wasn't around, and suddenly the younger twin wasn't either, but nobody looked for them. Syaoran had decided he had to do something about that other theme, so he asked Sakura to go with him for some soda inside the house, but out of nowhere Sakura's brother appeared, and the little wolf decided he could wait a little longer for that.

Naoko, Rika and Chiharu were talking about nothing in particular in the front garden. Yamazaki was looking for a victim for his lies, but couldn't find Sakura or Syaoran, so he decided to try on the older twin, who was going inside the house for some soda for him and Tomoyo as he had asked her if she wanted some. So that leaves two people outside.

"It has been a long day" -Tomoyo though as she sighted. She was sitting on one of the many chairs left at the backyard. She remembered when Sakura-chan went to her room at 8 o'clock, if it wasn't earlier, and woke her up all excited, telling her that she had to go today to their house, as it was Syaoran's birthday.

"Yeah... that look in her eyes, she surely wasn't excited only for the fact that it was somebody's birthday, but it was his birthday"

Surely Tomoyo and Sakura hadn't been together for a very long time, but the amethyst-eyed girl knew that kind of look and as she was very perceptive she realized it in Sakura's emerald eyes. She sighted once more as her hand slid up to her necklace.

"Wanna see a magic trick?" –Eriol asked taking her out of her thoughts.

"Uh? Oh sure!" –she replied as she smiled. Ryou used to do lots of them for her, but even though she already knew the trick, she pretended not to notice.

Eriol took a coin in his right hand, making it disappear really quickly to then reveal that it was in Tomoyo's ear. She smiled, but his blue eyes caught a bit of disappointment in it.

"So you already know this trick, huh?" –he pretended to be thinking of something with a hand under his chin- "What about this one?"

He took some dirt in his right hand to then let it fall freely into his left one. He closed it tight so that the girl to his side wouldn't know what he was planning. Then he took her hand and placed his own left hand on top of hers opening it to reveal something.

"That's for you, it's a wishing star, like the one Princess Karalee had" –he stated as he let her pale hand go so she could look at it.

"Thanks!" –her voice seemed full of excitement as she realized that this was a trick she couldn't figure out, and also noticing that this wishing star, that was actually a purple pencil with a star on top of it, was from the story her father used to tell her, but not just a story, it was her favourite one.

Next Chapter: Wishing Star