Title: An Irreplaceable Lotus

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Chapter Two

Unbelievable! This was straight out of a soap opera.

Even as one of the star members of her sophomore track team, Sakura's leg muscles could not carry her fast enough. Her calves were aching from the lack of warming up but she chose to ignore it.

Jerk! The word sprang angrily into Sakura's mind, and she was unable to think about anything else. It was painful—but mostly humiliating—to think back and recall the smug look on Gwen's face when she embraced Syoaran. He didn't even pull back.

How did this even happen? Syoaran and Sakura were so happy, the power couple of Tomoeda High School until Gwen came into the picture. Was their relationship really that fragile from the beginning?

Just whose boyfriend was he supposed to be? Ending things with Sakura before sucking face with the next girl who came along was the very least he could have done. Fresh tears brimmed in her eyes as she burst into her home. After reaching her sanctuary at last, the tears broke free like a floodgate.

She was about to storm up the stairs into her room when Touya caught her wrist. "Whoa! Sakura, what the hell happened?"

"I just need to be left alone!" Sakura broke free from his grasp and ran up the staircase. Somehow, when she felt the soft click of her bedroom door lock behind her, she felt even more miserable than a half minute ago. How could she have possible ignored Touya that way when he was only worried about her?

Her laptop made a gentle beep, the sound it made when she received a new e-mail. Rolling onto her stomach on her bed, she opened her inbox.

Syoaranli :

Sakura, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry? Was that all he could say? It was as if he had regressed to the monosyllabic bastard she had thought him to be when they first met.

Well, it didn't matter. No matter what he said, she knew he had definitely enjoyed that kiss. She normally hated the high school petty drama, but this was Syoaran and Sakura at stake. The nominated married high school sweethearts duo in the yearbook. This was different.

Shaking the memory from her mind, she opened a Microsoft Word document and began typing out a journal entry to herself so she could organize her thoughts and hopefully clear her head by venting out some of the anger. As a second thought, she copied the entry to Touya's e-mail address so that he could understand what she was going through.

She couldn't trust herself to speak to him just yet without her throat closing in around her voice and making her sound like a raving lunatic.

Sakura didn't know exactly what she was trying to accomplish by writing to Touya about her problems, particularly this one. Touya had never taken the liberty to warm up to Syoaran, and on the contrary hated his guts on about every facet of his being. Telling him about Syoaran's blatant dumbassery and display of disrespect would be like tossing a fish to a cat and wondering if the cat would eat it. Touya would squash Syoaran like the pathetic insect he was. And as much as that brought joy to at least some part of her heart, she couldn't let that happen.

But did he really believe that he could have them both? Just thinking about it made her feel ill. Sakura yelled out in frustration and she pressed her face against the pillow to let out a strangled cry. She sent the e-mail, feeling extra irritable and looked at the deck of cards on her desk. The one on the top of the Sealed Card—the youthful, pure angel embracing a heart smiled contently back at her.

This card was made from the relationship between Syoaran and her. How could a mystical binding entity be just as wrong about their stability as Sakura had been?

I guess some things just were not meant to happen.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Syoaran looked down at his hands. They were hovering over his keyboard, prepared to type. But no words came to mind. The address bar to whom the e-mail was addressed to kinomotosakura , but that had been as far as he'd gotten. He had been prepared to write a long, sentimental apology highlighting his flaws and his misjudgment and just about anything that would make her loving him okay again. However, something made him hesitant.

His head dropped and nearly smacked against the hard surface of his glass desk. Needless to say, he was in dire need of Advil. Tylenol. Aspirin. Anything to aid the incessant pounding in his head. He knew that kissing Gwen was wrong—he knew it had been wrong before it had even happened. And while he and Gwen had always shared a certain chemistry together, he and Sakura had shared a far more recent, important history. Recent memories of his relationship with Sakura began to bubble in his mind, making the guilt wash over him like waves in the ocean.

Still, that kiss with Gwen—despite being incredibly confusing—was amazing. He was fairly certain that as long as Gwen was still in Japan and attracted to him, that he could not in some way reciprocate that attraction and remain a hundred percent loyal to Sakura.

It didn't take a genius to figure out that Gwen still wanted him, an emotion even more magnified from her feelings all those years ago. And Gwen was never the type to be denied something that she wanted. She was the wealthy heiress of a vast fortune, well-endowed in good looks and physique, athletic, and highly intelligent. To be fair, she was also a facile, garrulous spoiled brat of a girl now and then, and would do what she needed to get her way.

That was his Gwen, the epitome of self-confidence tinged with manipulation and ploys.

On the other hand, there was Sakura, her polar opposite. Sakura was easily the prettiest girl in school, even without the need to cake on layers of make-up or with taking hours to style her hair. And her personality—easygoing, low-maintenance, and kind-hearted—made her the most sought-after as well. She was also one of the best athletes on the track team, loved by her teachers for her competence in physical education and core school subjects, with an entourage of close friends. Gwen was always popular, but there was always a coldness to her where she would not let people in easily. Syoaran and her brother were two very rare exceptions, and he took this privilege humbly. Still, guys already hit on Sakura left and right even when Syoaran was standing right beside her. What was to stop them from them asking her out—and her saying yes—if she was single? If they were out of each other's minds?

If he was out of her mind?

The thought was selfish, but it made his stomach turn. It drove him crazy just thinking about seeing Sakura in somebody else's embrace. If that were the situation then, how had Sakura felt seeing Gwen and him together? He knew he wouldn't have been able to handle seeing Sakura kiss another guy—especially if they were still a couple. He would rip the guy's heart out and feed it to him first.

Sakura was always modest and, diplomatically-put, extremely dense. She didn't read other peoples' hints or catch their interested looks very often. Their attempts to catch her attention were usually lost on her, which he had taken comfort in knowing that she had eyes for him only. Even his best friend, Yamasaki, had confessed to Syoaran long ago about how he had feelings for the girl—even though he promised he would never think to act on the emotion. It had always been in the back of Syoaran's mind. Yamasaki was honest, smart, rich, and quite good-looking. What about him would Sakursa say no to?

"Help, my life is so hard, two gorgeous women are fighting for my affection!" Meiling fawned melodramatically over the telephone, doing an unfair imitation of his woes. "You've certainly gotten yourself in a splendid mess. Are you sure you don't want me to dig your grave?"

Syoaran jolted for a moment. He had completely forgotten why he was even on this train of thought to begin with. Since Meiling knew both Gwen and Sakura, he consulted her on her advice.

"No kidding. I'm so screwed. Any thoughts?" Syoaran asked, closing the e-mail composition.

"Well. You know Li, what's in the past… should stay in the past. I mean if you were single, this would be a nonissue. But you're not. And Sakura's not just some random classmate that you thought was so hot that you would ask her out. You've got history. One that may not be as long as Gwen's, but just as important. And no matter how cute Gwen's gotten in the past couple of years, that's no reason for you to lose Sakura over. You don't even know her anymore. It's superficial, and frankly quite stupid."

That was probably true—he really didn't know Gwen anymore after all these years. But him being completely knocked off balance by seeing her again was not solely because of her looks. It was because the time they had spent together when they were younger was incredible. They were inseparable. And he'd always felt in some way that it was his duty to protect her, as her future husband.

"You're right. But I can't help but think… even if I do manage to mend things with Sakura—and that is one huge 'if'—how can I guarantee that this won't happen again? If Gwen interferes, I cannot guarantee that I won't appreciate her attention. This whole situation could escalate beyond repair."

"Jesus, Syoaran." Meiling said unhappily. "I love Gwen, but if you even have to think about whether or not you want to stay with Sakura—and are that concerned about your inability to keep it in your pants, then you really don't deserveher."

"I didn't mean that. I—"

"Listen to me. If it's

"I didn't mean that. I—"

"Listen to me. Just stay with Sakura for now. It makes sense, the girl's your girlfriend. At least, so long as she still wants you. If you apologize to her and she blows you off, you're a free ball in Gwen's court. It may sound bastardly, but either way you get one of them. Only after you do, don't you dare think about changing your mind."

Syoaran blinked. "Bastardly? Damn, I am a bastard. Why didn't I see this coming? I should've sent Gwen a letter or something long ago saying it was over."

"You forgot about her?"

"No. She was always in the back of my mind." Syoaran massaged his aching temples with his thumbs. "What'll I do, Meiling? I want Sakura, but Gwen's just going to find some way to weasel her way between us again." Taking the phone off of his shoulder since his neck was starting to kill him, he drummed his fingers lightly on his table. "Meiling, this may sound completely unrealistic, but—"

"Let me guess," Meiling interrupted, "you want me to fly to Tokyo."

There was a pause from Syoaran's end of the line. "How'd you know?"

"I haven't known you all my life for nothing. I'll come. If Renato books the tickets now in my name, I should get there by midnight." There was another short pause. "And speak of the devil. Sakura's calling on the other line, so I'm going to drop you to talk to her before I start packing."

Syoaran smiled, feeling somewhat relieved that Meiling was so willing to ship herself over to Japan for his sake. "Thanks, Meiling. I owe you one. Good night." He hung up the phone, before looking back at the icons on his wallpaper. He clicked on Internet Explorer and was about to tr composing an email again when he stopped and closed it again. What was the point? What was Meiling going to talk to Sakura about? Was she going to tell her that he was sorry? Or put every detail into the fact that he might actually go back to Gwen like a wounded puppy?

Shaking his head, Syoaran just pressed a hand against his pounding forehead. At this point, he just wanted to keel over and die. Merely melt into a puddle onto the ground. He really couldn't care less. Meiling was coming to stay at his house, of course, as she always did when she visited, so he'd need to get Greg to prepare one of the guestrooms for her.

Sakura trusted Meiling. She trusted Syoaran, too. At least, she had.

He did kiss Gwen back in the park. They did embrace. And he did feel a spark between the two of them ignite. Sakura- how hurt did she feel? How betrayed? He wanted to visit her. Lifting himself up from his chair, he looked out of his window.

Sakura's house isn't too far from here. I'll walk.

.-.-.-.-.-.-

The atmosphere.

The setting. The gentle lighting. The audience.

In her dimly-lit, gothic-themed bedroom, spread out unperturbed on her spacious twin-sized bed—which was actually quite large compared to the sticklike average figure of a Japanese girl—Gwen lay stomach-down on her bedspread, swinging her legs in midair as she finished yet another entry in her diary, replaying the memory of the park in her head for the thirtieth time that day. It was entirely perfect. There had not been a single flaw in the happenings of that particular event, and hopefully none in any more to come.

Laughing, she rolled over on her black satin sheets before giving a giddily excited squeal of content at the thought, relishing the idea of seeing Sakura Kinomoto crushed like a bug beneath her foot. It was so glaringly obvious that she were the one that Syoaran cared for. She had no doubts that he was at home, mulling his options over.

Although at this point, she wouldn't be surprised if he chose Sakura. In fact, she nearly expected it. But it didn't matter—because every time he closed his eyes, or kissed Sakura, or even looked at anything remotely related or even of no correlation to Gwen, he'd think about her regardless. And his heart would see that soon enough. She almost guaranteed it. Except this time, there would be no abrupt move. She wasn't going to go anywhere. And neither was he.

Just recently, Gwen had called Syoaran's mother—who acted like a godmother to her—to update her, as promised, on how she and her son had been doing. What had come to a surprise to her, however, was this new knowledge that Meiling would be arriving to Tokyo later on tonight. How perfect! So Syoaran had gone to her for help. No matter, soon she would be able to see for herself how much more perfect a match she was with Syoaran than that dreaded scepter-swinging goody-goody.

Sitting up, she got to her feet and looked into the mirror. A pair of exotically-rimmed eyes stared back at her, the same glittery and shining grey in color that her mothers' had. Accompanying those gorgeous irises was a blemish-free oval face, and attached to that was a long and slender, perfectly proportioned body.

Normal people would have to squint or sit until their eyes adjusted to be able to see in the darkness of her room, but she was used to it enough. Making her way to her closet, she pulled it open and looked thoughtfully at the large array of clothes she had as a wardrobe. Sakura's was nowhere near this large, to be sure.

Decisively taking out a seductive red blouse and short, white skirt that was sure to accentuate all the right curves, Gwen set them on her bed. Well, she figured they were curve-hugging and sexy. At least, the groups of boys she'd passed at the theater on movie night with the girls last weekend certainly thought so. But Hong Kong boys were so much more different than Japanese ones.

Then again, she was trying to impress Syoaran here. She knew his tastes inside and out. He always was a sucker for red.

Meiling's arrival to Tokyo gave her the perfect excuse to see Syoaran that night—and imprint her image into his mind for the rest of the evening. After slipping on the clothes and accessories she'd circumspectly chosen, she went down to the foyer to choose a pair of shoes to match.

Looks just about right. It's time to pay Syoaran a little visit.

And if one Sakura Kinomoto gets hurt in the process, that's none of my fault, is it?

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Feeling strangely out of breath for a member of the male Top 10 physical education course, Syoaran closed one clammy hand in a fist and rapped incessantly on Sakura's door, feeling the built-up stress compounding inside of him per second. He was slightly taken aback to see Touya answer the door, when it was Sakura he'd imagine opening it and possibly slamming in his face. Touya always did take the role of Sakura's guardian, so why didn't he expect him to be the one greeting him? As much of a greeting, "What do you want?" was.

"I've… I need to see her." Syoaran said determinedly, forcing himself to at least appear unfazed by Touya's intimidating facial expression.

"No."

Syoaran's left eye twitched involuntarily. Touya never had liked him, but he'd never gotten in the way and refused a request for him to see his sister before. Why not? Especially when it was so urgent. Closing his eyes, Syoaran took in a deep breath. "Listen, I know stuff's happened, and I don't know what she's told you—but I need to talk to her. I love her, and you know it."

Suddenly a scoffing snarl—or maybe half-smile—spread across Touya's surprisingly pretty visage. "Heh. Yeah, well, looks like the feeling certainly isn't mutual, buddy." Touya leaned against the door, blocking his way should he try to shove his way through. "If you hurt her anymore, I'm going to knock your freaking lights out. With or without your bullshit powers."

Syoaran flinched, before angrily stuffing his hands in his pockets, feeling his neck heat up from beneath his collar. "Look, I'm not twelve anymore. Quit acting like I can't take care of my girlfriend."

Okay, so maybe not the best statement in the world.

Touya raised an eyebrow and allowed another surprised smile, his head moving backwards a bit, as if taken by surprise. "'I'm not twelve anymore?' Judging by the way you treat your girl like shit, I'd suspect you were two. Making out with some random chick from China you knew way back when and having my sister witness it is possibly the most mature thing I've heard of in months." The hatred in his tone was extremely apparent, especially tonight. Even Syoaran felt shrunk down in size, something he'd never admitted before.

Touya seemed to imply that Sakura was upset. So was she crying, or wasn't she? She was a terrifyingly strong girl; she would never start bawling in front of her brother. All he wanted to do was apologize to her for all of this mess and clear up this misunderstanding, but this big oaf wouldn't let him.

His body felt a bit numb, but all he could think of was how angry he was at Touya's insensitivity, despite the display of his own earlier on that day.

"To hell with you. I don't care about what you think, and I came here to see her so I can apologize, so fuck what you think." Syoaran hardened his tone and glared back at Sakura's brother with a scowl that gave even Touya's a run for his money.

Without another word, Touya shifted out of the doorway.

Then promptly slammed the door right in Syoaran's face.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sakura's entire body took a violent jolt when her cellular phone unexpectedly started ringing its familiar tune from the cabinet beside her. Lifting her head groggily from the pillow, she reached over to pick it up, but only succeeded in miscalculating where it lay and knocking it clean off of her table and onto the ground.

Forced with no other option than to get up, she reached over with a manly grunt and swooped the phone up before answering it absently. "Kinomoto Sakura?"

"Saku! It's me, Meiling."

Suddenly a burst of energy shot through Sakura, and her eyes were able to open fully as she got up and began to run her fingers through her hair as she looked across the room at the full-length mirror to make it less of a nightmare. "Oh! Hey! Where are you calling from?"

"Sorry to call so late. I'm at Tokyo airport right now. I arrived fifteen minutes ago and got my luggage and all that. If I take a taxi from here to Murasaki Plaza, it'll take about twenty minutes. That includes the time it takes me to walk to Syoaran's house from there."

"Yeah, okay," Sakura said, her smile brightening as she began to hobble around for clothes suitable for casual walking purposes. "I'll see you there in twenty, then."

"You got it. I don't think he's expecting you, though. It'd be like—a pleasant surprise for him. I know he's been worried about you."

"It shows," Sakura replied sarcastically before picking up her cards and putting them into her back pocket. "Okay! Talk to you soon."

"Ciao."

Hanging up her phone with one hand, she tossed her cell phone onto her bed and shrugged on a top. So she was going to see Meiling tonight, and she and Syoaran would have the opportunity to talk.

This is so perfect something's bound to go wrong, she thought bitterly as she looked around for her exit strategy.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

In dull and dampened spirits, Syoaran arrived back at his mansion a lousy fifteen minutes later, a major time difference from the three and a half minutes it took him to sprint to Sakura's house. He was about to turn in when he saw Gwen come down from his driveway, waving.

Oh, dear God. Must I tell her now? Syoaran shook his head. Please tell me I don't have to do this tonight.

"Giu-" he began, when Gwen reached out and jumped him with a hug. "Hey, you! Where were you? Thomas told me you went out in a mad hurry. I was almost afraid you'd be trying to reach me at my house when I came to yours!"

Syoaran was relieved he didn't have to tell her about his whereabouts because as if on cue a taxi pulled up and Meiling jumped out with a single bag of luggage. "Syoaran! Gwen!" Meiling called out, and she caught sight of the two of them in their embrace and rolled her eyes to herself. "Not interrupting anything, I hope. Where's Sakura?"

"Sakura? You mean she's supposed to come here?" Syoaran inquired, when Gwen spotted the wretched third party of their relationship coming down the sidewalk wearing ridiculously form-fitting clothes that almost looked gorgeous.

Almost.

Gwen would rather die than admit it.

"I'm really unsure about Miss Kinomoto, but Meiling! It's so nice to see you again." Gwen smiled. "It's great that you're here. Let me guess, Syoaran already told you we're getting back together again? It's just like old times, isn't it?" An evil smile spread on her lips, and she gave Syoaran a quick kiss before hugging Meiling. "It's been ages. You've gotten so pretty."

Sakura, who had been coming down the roadway, stopped in her tracks. Okay, so Meiling had failed to tell her that Gwen would be there tonight. Did she have to handle this? On top of that—Syoaran's kiss count had been on the rise as of late. How many more of those from that horrendous girl did she have to witness? Watching the three of them converse made Sakura tense up. This was their childhood over again. She had no place in their happy little trio.

Suddenly, a flash of doubt and horror sunk in.

"Sakura, I'm sorry."

That e-mail.

Sorry for what, exactly? New doubts invaded her. Was he sorry for kissing Gwen? Or sorry that they couldn't hold up a relationship? She held her head. "I'm so sorry, Meiling." Sakura whispered. "I'll see you tomorrow." Turning, she began to run back towards her house. She had snuck out of her window, and had hoped Touya wouldn't have found out.

Meiling wrestled free from Gwen's death hug just in time to see Sakura's retreating back. Fear flooded her.

She saw, she thought miserably. She saw that kiss.