Author's Chapterly Comments:

So friends, I have just released the third chapter to Crossing Roads and still have humbly three more already completed chapters up my sleeve. I had planned on updating Friday, but the suspense got the better of me. Alright some reviewing replies.

So...I know, a bit unrealisitc that Syaoran's sudden trust in this complete stranger but that's how the story is brought out to be. Because he was feeling so horrible about what he did to Meiling, the guilt was so thick that he couldn't bring himself to not aid in someone else' need. So therefore. Voila. Sakura. lol. I know, bad explanation but it'll get better as the story goes on. Meiling's scenerio is still under wraps, but it'll most likely be revealed in the next chapter. hint hint. So without any further ado. Crossing Roads.


Crossing Roads

"Beautiful"

"What are you majoring in? Studies I mean – in Tomoeda?" Sakura asked, pulling at her damp hair.

"It doesn't really matter what I take – my mother wishes for me to inherit the head of our clan," Syaoran shrugged, focusing on the road ahead. The two had laid out on the beach for a while and dried off. Now his car smelled vaguely like sand and salt.

"Oh – well – I'm going in to arts and entertainment – Singing – Dancing – Drawing – anything really." Sakura flicked the water out the window and draped her slim arm across the door, "I can understand why your mother would want you to become the head of your clan but don't you have a choice in it?"

Syaoran was taken aback, "No of course not, I was born in line – there's no one else who can take the place."

Sakura leaned forward, "But what if you did have a choice – would you do something else? Would you run away?"

Syaoran narrowed his eyes, his mind churning at these new thoughts and ideas, "I think my clan is the only place I belong."

"Oh," She pulled herself in to the seat and the car was subdued into peace.

"So…where are we going to stop tonight?" Her voice chimed, turning to him curiously.

Syaoran furrowed his brow and thought heavily as he took another deep breath of thick salty air, "I don't know, whatever comes up."

The two dropped in to a calm serene silence as Syaoran stared up overhead. The sky wasn't exactly the bright blue it used to be.


What was wrong with the weather?

Wasn't it sky blue and everything just a moment ago.

And now it was…

Raining…

Syaoran cursed their bad luck. He could barely see through the thick curtains and buckets of water that flooded the windshield. And the quickly darkening sky wasn't helping much either.

"I think we should stop for the night." Sakura said softly, she was curled in a ball across the seat. Syaoran looked over at the huddled girl. Her cheeks were rosy red and she sniffed loudly.

"Are you cold?"

As a reply, she dutifully sneezed and started shivering.

Syaoran sighed to himself. He had survived a whole good nine hours with this girl. She hadn't talked that much, she seemed a bit more tired after they had lunch and ran around in the sand. She slept for three hours and looked out the window for the rest of the time.

"I have a sweater – in the back – you can get that."

She looked over gratefully at him and reached a small arm out behind her. He watched her as she pulled one of his enormous gray sweaters over her arms and head.

It was really too big for her. Syaoran was pretty sure if she were on her feet, it would reach her knees.

"Thanks," She said quietly, and huddled her self against the seat.

Syaoran shrugged and looked out the window; he had seen blurry lights through the heavy rain.

A hotel. A place to stay, thank god.

"I found a place we could stay for the night," He said to no one in particular.

Sakura didn't say anything.

"Kinomoto?" He asked, frowning. Finally he turned towards her, "Saku – "

She was breathing deeply in to his large hood that was pulled over her head. Her hair tumbled out of all the holes and crannies that it left. And her eyes where closed.

Syaoran smiled quietly as he turned back to the wheel, "Sleeping again…"


Syaoran threw one more glance at the window before leaving his car. The wheels were muddy and soggy from the damp road and water trickled down the curves and contours of the vehicle. Syaoran sighed at the sight and started for the elevator.

A woman was already standing inside, smiling warmly at the tousled expression on Syaoran's face.

"Worried?" She said, her lips spreading as Syaoran entered the hotel and the doors slid shut.

Syaoran gave her a quizzical look. Huh?

"Wasn't that your girlfriend sleeping in your car – " She cut short at the look Syaoran had given her, "Whoops – sorry – did I mean fiancé? No? Wife?"

"I barely know her," Syaoran replied sullenly just as the doors slid open on the lobby floor. He stepped out wordlessly and didn't give the woman another glance.

He nearly stumbled back at the enormous crowds that wandered in the room. This was a crazy amount of people to be staying at such a no man's land for the night. Syaoran crossed the room where the long front desk spread and pulled his elbows on to the countertop catching the attention of an elderly lady.

She waved at him irritably, "Sorry – we're out of rooms." Than she dropped her arm and went back to a stack of papers she had been reading.

What? Out of Rooms? There couldn't have been any more hotels, not for miles.

"What do you mean?" Syaoran demanded, pushing his arms farther on the counter. The lady looked up and scowled.

"It means – we don't have any rooms." The woman said, "Next!"

Syaoran was nearly thrown aside as a pale man slammed a card on to the counter, "I'm checking out!" He nearly shouted, his voice shaking slightly and his fingers trembled.

"Yes of course sir – this late at night – it's pouring." The women chattered as she took the key from him.

"My wife had an emergency." The man breezed, looking panicky.

The woman turned on the fuming Syaoran and said quickly, "Well you're in luck sir – you can have this man's room."

Syaoran frowned slightly, "But I need two rooms."

"Well I'm sorry if we can't throw someone out to accommodate you," She glared at him before swiveling back to the pale man, "you're all checked out sir – thank you for staying and I hope you enjoyed yourself." The woman turned on Syaoran again, "Look – this place is packed with tourists, students like yourself and its raining outside – everyone wants to get out – now we have this one room – nothing's wrong with it – so you either want to stay here – or you don't."

Syaoran snatched the key off the counter and glowered, "I'll remember your hospitality m'am."

"Any time sir – I hope you'll enjoy your stay." She shot him a beaming smile and shoved a pile of papers in his face, "Please fill out our customer satisfaction surveys."

Syaoran was already stalking off twirling the cardkey in his fingers and thinking up ways this could work out.

Maybe Sakura could sleep in the room, and I could take the car.

He reached the elevator just as the metal gates slid open.

"Li!"

Syaoran looked up from his thoughts to see Sakura standing behind the doors, clutching the ends of her shirt and glaring at him, "Why didn't you tell me you left – you didn't have to leave me in the car."

"I didn't want to wake you," Syaoran replied as she walked up to him. Syaoran took a step back as she neared.

Her eyes skewered the room, "It's really crowded…did you manage to get a room?"

She was still wearing her sweater. And it did reach past her knees. She looked ridiculous.

"Yes – one room." He said lifting up the card absentmindedly, "You can take it – I'll sleep in the car."

That jarred her awake, "What! No! You paid for it! No way am I letting you sleep in the car!"

Syaoran caught his tongue. Usually the girls would be begging for the one room or in other cases, begging for him to go with them in to the room. And she wants to sleep in the car?

He sputtered furiously, "Are you crazy? You really expect me to sleep on a bed when you're sleeping in a freezing seat outside in the garage?"

Sakura dragged him away from the door of the elevator and started for the ones that led to the rooms, "And you expect me to do the same?"

"Yes I do as a matter of fact," Syaoran shot back, they stopped in front of the room elevators.

Sakura's face was tinged with pink most likely from the temperature change of the garage to the heated lounge.

"Well – I'll tell you that – " A loud voice interrupted them.

"…I'm tired…let's go upstairs…"

Syaoran froze and snapped his head up.

The hell.

Syaoran cut Sakura's rant off with a sharp gesture and looked in the direction of the very familiar voice.

Meiling.

He had forgotten all about Meiling.

There was no mistaken. Her raven hair, those red ribbons, those piercing eyes. The clothes she was wearing.

how did she get here?

Syaoran nervously moved Sakura farther away from the couple and punched the button.

This is not good, definitely not good. He echoed in his head.

Sakura tugged at his elbow and whispered, "Why can't I talk?"

"Shhhhhhh…!" He hissed, holding her back so she couldn't see anything.

The elevator arrived with a small ding and the doors slid open. A crowd of people hastily emptied out and Syaoran pulled Sakura in with him. Meiling was making her way towards them, her hand linked around the elbow of a strange man Syaoran's never seen before.

Syaoran waited almost anxiously for the elevator to empty and quickly punched in the level they had booked and watched as the girl came closer and closer. And just as the doors were barely closed Syaoran was almost positive that she saw him.

Their eyes locked for a fraction of a second.

And Syaoran witnessed the fury behind those red pupils. He already knew how much trouble he was in.

Only when the door closed with a small oomph did Syaoran breathe.

Sakura was looking frustrated, "You're acting weird."

"On second thought – maybe we'll figure out a way to sleep inside the room – after all – there are two beds." Syaoran said breathlessly. There was no way am I risking walking back down that lobby in to the garage. Not with her standing there.

"Li…what is going on? Tell me!" Sakura said, ignoring his attempt to change the subject.

Syaoran avoided her gaze and stared at the doors. Why was this elevator taking an incredibly long time to move?

"Who was that girl and why didn't you want her to see you?" Sakura said, a strange smile on her lips.

Syaoran froze. How did she figure that out? Damn it.

He looked at her in his large gray sweater, smiling up at him like she'd known him for years. And not simply hours.

"Nothing…I don't know her…"

"You're lying…" She accused like a child, her eyes sparkling at this new discovery, "Is she your ex girlfriend?"

DAMNIT! How does she figure out all of these things?

"She's…" Syaoran groaned loudly and pulled a hand through his sticky hair. It was a constant habit of his. Now he realized how much he needed a nice hot shower, his clothes smelled like salt.

"It's okay – you don't have to tell me." Sakura said suddenly, cutting in to the very heated thoughts that were whirling around Syaoran's head.

Syaoran looked down at her surprised, "I don't?"

"Nope – if you don't want to tell me – I'm not forcing you to." She said cheerfully as the doors miraculously slid open on their level. She jumped outside. Syaoran yawned as he followed her out. Unlike her, he didn't have a good five hours of sleep. But now he considerably relaxed feeling relieved that he didn't have to say anything about Meiling.

Syaoran found himself watching her walk. The way her back was straight and how she would swing her arms slightly out and how her legs would bend the way they would. The way her flip-flops followed after her small feet.

"Li…we're here." She said, gesturing at the door.

809

He handed her the key and she opened the door in one swift motion. Syaoran yawned again as the room revealed two twin beds with matching sheets and two squashy armchairs. One enormous window with the curtains drawn covered the entire opposite wall.

"Wow – it's so beautiful!" Sakura cried out from the window. She had thrown open the curtains and across the darkening sky there were a roll of green and yellow meadows.

Syaoran would've agreed with her if he hadn't found it incredibly difficult to keep his eyes open. He struggled to a chair and threw himself on it, "You can go take a shower…I'll wait."

Sakura stopped gazing out the window and looked over at him, "But Li…I don't have clothes to change in to…"

Syaoran opened his already closing eyes. Right. Their things were still in the garage.

"Uhh…I'll go get your bag – you just go do whatever you girls do in the bathroom." He shut his eyes again.

"Okay," Sakura smiled at him and disappeared behind the restroom door.

Sakura stood in front of the bath and stripped off Syaoran's sweater and her clothes. For safety measure she had locked the door. Though she was pretty sure her companion she had driven with for the past 9 hours wouldn't be the kind of guy to spy on a girl for fun – she couldn't be too sure. Touching the running water she liked the temperature and plugged the bath up.

Running a hotel plastic comb through her hair Sakura frowned at all the tangles and the smudges on her face. The day had been a whole adventure. She had never traveled with a complete stranger before.

And by all means.

If her brother were still here, he would kill her for it.

Sakura smiled, but he was nice. It was lucky for him to stop by and offer me a ride…and it's such a long trip…I must be such a bother for him…he had to buy lunch and pay for this room I'm staying in…

Sakura bent over to take her pants and fold them. When a wrinkled and crumpled five-dollar bill fell out of the pocket.

Her eyes grew wide. Oh right!

Sakura suddenly brightened. She knew the perfect thing to do with this money. I'll buy dinner. She smiled to herself. It was the least she could do to pay him for all the things he was doing for a complete stranger.

Sakura gasped when she realized the bath was still filling and threatening to flood over the brim.

Oops…forgot about that. She hastily grabbed the handles and shut them both off.

Sakura was busy thinking about what Syaoran might want to eat as she stepped out of the bathroom door. She was only wearing his sweater and in one hand she clutched her clothes, in the other, she was drying her hair. She felt beyond than better after her hot bath. Her skin was soft and cleaned and she no longer smelled like a mixture between dirt, sand, and mud.

Now where did he put my bag?

Sakura spotted her large pink bag sitting on one of the beds. Smiling she opened it and inserted the dirty clothes. Fumbling through the different shirts she found her PJ bottoms and a clean shirt to wear in bed.

Turning around aimlessly she said, "Li? I'm going to go change than I'll go buy dinner okay?"

No answer. Sakura looked around the room. Where was he?

"Syaoran?"

She found him sitting in a chair. His head was lolling down on his chest and he was fast asleep. His auburn hair was messily arranged over his eyes and his arms were crossed across his chest as if he was waiting for Sakura to finish taking a shower.

He was exhausted…

Sakura smiled sadly. He looked so much nicer when he was relaxed. And he still got my bag even though he was so tired…

Sakura sighed, "Okay…I'll just buy breakfast instead."


Syaoran woke first. It was the light in his face. He had probably accidentally left the curtains apart. Now he looked painfully in to the bright blue sky of early morning.

He felt something draped heavily across his arms and noticed a large brown hotel blanket hanging loosely over his dirty shirt.

Syaoran peeled it off of him and got up, stretched and yawned.

He wrinkled his nose at how his clothes smelled after night than looked around the brightly lit room.

His back ached horribly.

Syaoran's eyes stopped on the bed in front of him. A light brown haired head poked from out of the covers.

Who?

The events of yesterday tumbled to him like a dream he had forgotten. Sakura. Of course.

Syaoran lifted the corners of his mouth a little. She was still sleeping and the heavy sheets were drawn to her chin. Her back was to him and he could see just the edges of her new shirt.

I'll just take a shower and wake her later…

Syaoran headed for the bathroom.

Taking in the moisture before entering the running shower, Syaoran recapped all the things he had done the other day.

Let's see.

Dumped Meiling.

Helped a girl with a flat tire.

Had lunch with her.

Spent nine hours in a car with her.

Spent a half an hour at the beach with her.

Slept in the same room with her.

Okay, that was good enough. Syaoran forced his thoughts away from the uncomfortable feeling he was getting. It was an absurd thing he had done the other day. Whatever had urged him to offer such an extensive ride to a complete stranger had left his mind drawing blank.

Whatever he was thinking…

After a soothing shower Syaoran dried off his damp hair and pulled on a pair of jeans. Staying in the bathroom for such a long time, he carelessly didn't remember where he was and simply opened the steaming door and stepped outside.

Shirtless.

"Breakfast! – oh." Sakura stopped where she was, a plate of blue berry muffins in her hand and blushed.

"Sa – Sakura!" Syaoran said. Right. How could he forget? Idiot! IDIOT!

He grabbed a nearby shirt and pulled it over his head quickly. Sakura still had her eyes elsewhere but she said rather cheerfully, "I bought breakfast!"

Syaoran looked over at her uneasily and muttered, "Thanks…how did you – "

"I found my lunch money yesterday in my jeans," Sakura answered happily, handing him the plate. She finally looked at him and directed a smile his way, "I waited for you to get up so I could surprise you."

"Oh…well – I'm surprised?" He said rather passively.

Which only made her laugh more. Syaoran frowned, "What's so funny."

"Nothing." She stopped laughing and grinned.

Syaoran shrugged, he walked across the room and sat down on one of the beds than gestured at her, "Aren't you going to eat?" He said picking up a muffin on his plate, examining it.

"I already ate – and it's not poisonous." She smiled and pointed at the food in his hands.

"Hm...Just checking." He said with a funny expression on his face before taking a bite. It wasn't bad…

"Well…I'll go take these bags and check out while you finish that okay?" Sakura said and pointed at her bag already in front of the door.

Syaoran jerked his head up and narrowed his eyes, "The garage is far away – I'll take the – "

Sakura jumped in before he could properly finish, "I can handle my own things."

"So you're just going to have me walking down empty-handed?" Syaoran frowned. In his clan, shared knowledge and equal work was key. Surely such morals wouldn't fail due to the fact of a stubborn girl.

Sakura frowned at him for a moment than flipped her hand at him lazily, "Fine…I'll wait for you at the car?"

"…and leave me here?" Syaoran got to his feet swiftly.

"As I recall – you were about to leave me back at the French diner– so I have my full right." She teased.

Syaoran swallowed the last bit of muffin and dumped his plate on the table; he was in a good mood, which was very rare. He raced to the door, "Bet I can reach the car before you."

"I'll bet not." Sakura smiled, pushing him away from the handle and pulling it open, "You're so…cheerful today."

"It was the muffin," Syaoran explained, he couldn't help but smile a bit. Just a bit. It was probably because he was tired of arguing and scowling in the car all yesterday. Or he had gone completely insane.

"Ready Li? On the count of three – whoever reaches the car first will get to drive."

"Drive! Who ever agreed to – " Syaoran turned on her shocked etched in every shadow of his face. DRIVE!

"One…" Sakura said, laughing, one hand on the doorframe.

" – I'm not letting you drive my car!" Syaoran protested angrily.

"Two…"

"Kinomoto…listen to me! I'm warning you," He scowled as Sakura ignored him, "Fine, I'm not losing to you anyways!" Syaoran shouted, placing a hand in front of her playfully, "Whenever you're ready to lose."

"Three!"

The two pulled themselves through the door.

Syaoran would've made it over first if it hadn't been the bag he was carrying, it lodged itself between him and the door and he tripped over Sakura's feet.

They went flying out the door, lost their balance, and ended up on the hard cold floor.

Sakura was laughing her head off.

Syaoran had the wind knocked out of his lungs and gasped as the ceiling came in view. Oh wow…I can't believe I just did that. He gasped as her voice broke through his consciousness. A voice that sounded like stained glass in the morning sky.

"That was fun Li!" Sakura laughed, putting a hand on his elbow playfully, "But I still bet I can get there before you."

Syaoran had to laugh. He had to. It was as if it had just bubbled up through his chest and out his lips. Simply because of her own laugh. It was contagious. He couldn't stay immune forever, "Get back here."

Sakura had made a move to get up but Syaoran grabbed her wrist and pulled her down again. She fell with a cry and landed sprawled over Syaoran's waist, "Hey!"

But the cry was shorted when she caught his eyes.

He was looking at her. Straight at her. Sakura felt a cold chill run up her spine like ice.

He took in her face. Her soft cheeks and delicate chin. The way her hair fell across the sides of her eyes.

"You're beautiful." He said softly as he simply stared in to those mesmerizing green eyes. She stopped laughing.

The two stayed silent for what seemed an eternity before a cold voice broke in.

"Syaoran?" Someone said darkly, "…Syaoran – is that you?"