Chapter 1 – 6 Years Later

…6 years later

In Hong Kong

The Li family walked to the dining room at 7 in the evening. After the food had been laid out and everything looked good and well, they sat on their chairs and began to eat. Laughter filled the room as the siblings cut their food in pieces and used chopsticks to feed themselves. Syaoran, almost 29 years old, sat at the head of the table, replacing Yelan's place late after she died, about 4 years before. As usual, the sisters were gossiping and occasionally bringing Syaoran into the conversation.

Most of the time, however, Syaoran pondered in his own world, thinking of his mother, of how the business was doing, and of his arranged marriage. Having been in an arranged marriage all his life, it was a big surprise to him that he only found out minutes before his mother died. But because four long years had already passed since, he'd gotten used to the idea of spending the rest of his life with this mystery woman. Maybe he'd end up falling in love with her…or maybe she would make a good wife and mother.

"Syaoran, Syaoran are you listening??" He heard one of his sisters ask.

He blinked and returned to his food. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, sure…" he managed a grin.

They were all wearing bright smiles. "We've got good news for you!!"

He looked at them with interest and caution. "Yeah?"

"Since I'm getting married soon, my fiancé needs to know how to operate with the business, because he'll be doing my job when we're settled down," Sheifa, being the oldest, said with a smile in her eyes. "After that, Feimei, Fuutie, and Fanren are getting married after me, so our husbands will be replacing each other."

"So what are you saying?" He asked, leaning on the table.

"We're saying that you're getting a 3-month break!" Feimei exclaimed.

"You're kidding," Syaoran replied with a dry tone, pretending as if he didn't know this.

The sisters rolled their eyes. "What we're saying right now is, since you and your bride-to-be won't be getting married until 3 months from now, we're giving you the time to be alone and relax," Fuutie put in.

The other three nodded. "But you're not exactly free of work," Fanren interrupted.

"What does that mean?" He crossed his arms and searched for something in their highly cheerful gazes.

"Remember the branch of our business in Japan?" Sheifa asked again, looking at him intensely.

He nodded slowly, unsure of where this was going.

"For the next three months, your job will be to supervise that business," Feimei said a matter-of-factly.

"Wait, run that by me again?" He asked, straining his ears to hear them right.

"Don't be stupid, little brother," Fuutie muttered. "You're going back to Japan for 3 months and you will be running that business. Of course, a little vacationing won't hurt." She added teasingly.

"What??" His curiosity vanished as soon as he heard the 5-letter-word that haunted his memories.

The four looked at each other, perplexed. "Why are you complaining? We thought you wanted to go back to Japan! After all, that's what you've always wanted, even before mother died," Sheifa said.

He stared at them with a hard stare. "Why are you doing this?" He asked in a cold, confused voice. "Why are you making me go back?"

"It's what you wanted, Syaoran," Fanren used his Japanese name.

"No. All right?" He stood up. "I am not going back to that place. Find someone else to do it," he muttered and began to walk away.

"Xiao-Lang Li, don't you dare walk out on us like you did on Mother and tell us that you don't want to see Ying-fa one more time," the eldest sister, Sheifa, snapped and stood.

His body froze, his heart pounded, and he felt his blood turn immensely hot.

"You owe it to yourself to visit her one last time," Feimei, being the calm one of the group, wrapped an arm around Sheifa. "We know how much you loved her, little brother. Before you spend the rest of your life with someone you've never even met, find the answer to the question you've always asked yourself ever since you came back."

His voice back, even though rough and hoarse, found its way out of his throat. "I don't have a choice here, Feimei. Even if I wanted to, I can't."

"We had a choice," Fuutie interrupted softly. "You deserve one too." She put a hand on Syaoran's arm.

"But-" His mind protested, but his heart was already beating like crazy. His blood pounded hard, his pulse much stronger and faster than before.

"Let's all face it. Mother's dead," that struck a cord in their hearts. "As much as we love her and respect her wishes, we feel that you're being trapped into something that you don't deserve to be in." Fanren bit her lip before adding the next part. "Sakura was a lovely girl. And you both looked like you were very much in love," she murmured.

His gaze dropped. Memories of them together definitely stirred emotions that he hid deep inside him and never let out.

With hesitation, he asked the question that always came to him when he thought of her. "What if she's with someone else?"

"Love always finds its way," Fuutie added with a small, comforting smile.

"If you're meant to be, everything will work out," Sheifa assured.

Feimei looked into his eyes. "But if you're not… then at least you've got your answer."

--- --- ---

In Japan

"I wish our lunch break was longer than this," 28-year-old Sakura muttered in the lunchroom of the elementary school she'd been working at for about 3 years now.

"I never get tired of hearing you whine," another teacher of the school, Ken Sasaki, grinned.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm just saying, I think we deserve a little more than 30 minutes, don't you? I mean, the kids get 45…and we spend more time at school than they do. At least give us an hour, please."

"We've only got a few weeks left of school," he reasoned.

She nodded and threw the rest of her sandwich in the garbage.

"Didn't your dad tell you never to throw food away?" Ken taunted, putting a casual arm around Sakura's slim shoulders. "He took a lot of effort making you that sandwich and you-"

She interrupted with a laugh. "Did we just go back in time here? I haven't lived in my old house since I graduated from high school, so come off it," she brushed him off and pulled away, walking ahead of him.

"Hey, don't get mad now," he caught up with her, but kept his arms to himself. "So any plans tonight?"

Sakura had always known he was interested in her. He always flirted and touched her any way he could. Surprisingly, it irritated her. As nice and good-looking Ken was, she would rather they were friends than couple. Ever since a painful heartbreak several years ago, she never really recovered. Sakura swore off men as soon as she turned 25, but despite all those promises she made to herself, she still thought of him. His name haunted her thoughts, her heart, and her mind. So she decided that when the time came when the sound of his name no longer made her feel, that was when she was ready to move on.

She bit her tongue. "Yeah."

"Mind sharing?" He teased, bumping his shoulder on hers.

She laughed nervously. "Not something you'd be interested in, I can assure you," she honestly didn't even have any plans.

He nodded. "All right, well, I'll talk to you after school. Have fun with your kids," he grinned.

"Thanks," she smiled back, and then they went their separate ways.

--- --- ---

Sakura dropped her things on the living room table as she fell on the couch and squeezed her eyes shut. Seven and eight-year-olds were a handful. She fought back a migraine as she rested her head back on the couch. Ken was right; there were only 2 weeks left of school and then it would be summer. Sakura grinned and envisioned things she would be doing for the summer. Going to the beach, hanging out with friends, maybe do a little bit of working for the next year.

Just as she began thinking of other places to swim, like the pool and this gorgeous lake out by the cabin her family owned, the phone rang. She groaned loudly, obviously taking advantage of her empty home. "Yes?" She asked as soon as she'd placed her mouth on the receiver.

"Hey," a familiar, yet cautious voice greeted.

"Naoko," she sat up and smiled slightly. "Hey."

"Are you busy?"

"Um…" she wanted to take a long, hot bath where there would be no interruptions. "No." She bit back a sigh. As always, she couldn't lie.

"Ok, because I have to tell you something extremely important."

"You sound like this is a life or death situation or something," Sakura replied concernedly.

Naoko let out a small laugh. "No, nothing like that. It's about work."

"Oh. I'm listening."

"You know how I'm working in the Li Corporation, right?"

Sakura froze; hearing the last name that she'd once wished was also hers. "Yes…" she replied guardedly.

"Well…the whole building and factory just got an announcement that…" she hesitated.

"That what?" Sakura urged.

"Syaoran's coming in two weeks to supervise the place," Naoko blurted quickly.

She couldn't breathe. Heart batting its cage, pulse pounding, voice caught in the throat, Sakura was shocked and stunned as hell.

"Sakura?" Naoko asked after a moment.

"What?" She managed a very hoarse answer, but then cleared her throat. "C-could you repeat that, please?"

Naoko gave a small sigh. "Syaoran…he's co-" she answered softly.

"That-that can't be true," she interrupted, her hands already shaking. "You're lying."

"I'm not. I wish I were, Sakura." She let the woman have her silence and then continued. "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to keep your head up. I don't think he'll be going to Tomoeda, though. The workplace is about an hour away, so I don't think he'll be making a trip there," Naoko assured.

Her words only made Sakura's old wounds bleed more. "Mm-hmm."

"I'll call you if I get any more news, ok?" Naoko asked. "Will you be okay?"

"Mm-hmm," she repeated, her mind and heart already completely far away from Naoko.

"Ok. I'll see you later. Bye 'Kura," Naoko murmured.

Sakura put the phone down. She stood up, taking deep breaths. "Ok…calm yourself. Syaoran's not coming back to see you. He's going to a place an hour from here, which means he's not coming here. You won't see him. You'll be fine. It's probably temporary, anyway," she muttered, talking to herself. "Syaoran's not coming back to see you. It's for work. You'll be okay. Just try your hardest not to pass that place whenever you get the chance. Syaoran's not coming back to see you."

Sakura's heart beat painfully harder. The thought of how he looked now, 6 years later, made her bones feel like jelly. Her troubled eyes envisioned an older-looking Syaoran with the same handsome looks and warming smile. "Syaoran's not coming back to see you," she repeated quietly. Though the words seemed comforting and strong in the outside, they pierced her longing heart more times than she could bear.

--- --- ---

Syaoran walked the pale silver floor of Tokyo Narita Airport and made his way to a waiting limousine outside. He looked around the familiar large building, remembering the last time he walked on this floor, smelled the freshly painted scent, and watched both foreigner and citizen pass by. With a duffle bag slung over his shoulder, he walked outside and saw the grand black limo with a chauffer holding a sign that said his name. With a small nod, he walked over and shook the man's hand.

"Sir, would you like to head to your hotel first or at your workplace?" The man asked in Chinese.

"Uh…hotel," Syaoran replied.

He nodded and began to open the door for Syaoran when he shook his head.

"You don't need to do that," he said and opened the door himself.

"As you wish, sir," the chauffer went to his side.

During the drive, Syaoran glanced out his window and saw familiar sights, but definitely different things too. There didn't used to be so many buildings, but now, it seemed like streets were filling with highly elegant glass structures. He opened his window and smelled the fresh breeze. It was summer in Japan, yet the heat wasn't as harsh as in Hong Kong. He was glad for that. Syaoran closed the window again and enjoyed the smooth ride. The last time he'd been in a limousine was the last time he also appeared in the airport with Yelan and his sisters sitting beside him. He remembered hating his mother very much, fighting back angry curses.

Then his heart remembered Sakura. Syaoran's eyes slightly widened at the name entering his mind so quickly. She was crumbling when he left her in her dorm. That last memory of her continued to remain, never going away. It wasn't what he wanted. He didn't want to see her one last time like that; crying because of him. Hell, he didn't want a lot of things that happened, but they did, and he couldn't do anything about it. He learned a long time ago not to dwell in the past. It only ruined the present and future. But being in the past only made it impossible for Syaoran to not think about what happened 6 years ago.

He then reminded himself. 'Tomoeda's hours away from where you'd be…' he thought dejectedly. His sudden change of mood ruined the entire trip for Syaoran. He shut his eyes, growled angrily and angled his face to the passing wind. All he'd ever wanted to forget the memories of his college years, but in his heart, he knew he wanted to preserve them just as much. It was most likely the only time in his life that he was truly happy. He didn't just come here for work after all. His sisters bugged him all the time about it. He had to find out…

--- --- ---

Sakura took a bite of her day-old sandwich in her room as her students talked and laughed in their desks. She couldn't wait until school was over and she wouldn't have to see these 20 kids for 2 months. As much as she enjoyed teaching, she couldn't stand them, in particular. They were the worst class she had, by far, and she knew that she'd either vie for Teacher of Kindergarten or Grade One's next year. She couldn't stand Grade Two's.

"Miss Kinomoto," two girls from the front called.

She glanced up. "Yes?"

"There's a man outside," they replied and pointed at the door.

Her heart leapt from its cage to her throat. Her gaze darted to the window and found no one. With beginning-to-get-cold fingers, she stood from her seat and walked to the door, opening it.

"Hello," a deep voice greeted.

Relief waved over her. She blew out a breath. Just because two weeks had passed didn't mean... "Touya!" Sakura decided to quit talking before she'd think of anything more to add to that thought. "Geez…what are you doing sneaking up on me like this?" She asked with a frown, opening the door further to let him in.

"Nice to see you again too, kaijuu. Who'd you think it was?" Touya grinned and went in, smiling at the kids. "Where's mine?"

She punched him from behind. "No one," she muttered. "Hideki went to the bathroom," Sakura said. "So what else brings you here other than him? I thought the doctor's appointment isn't until an hour from now."

He shrugged. "True. But I wanted to see you too."

"Really?" She grinned. "That's sweet."

"Yeah well, that's me. Sweet big brother," he laughed.

"Daddy!" Seven-year-old Hideki yelled from the back of the class, his backpack and everything else with him.

"Hey buddy," Touya grinned and wrapped his arms around the boy who already jumped into his arms.

Everybody was watching them, some kids looking very jealous. Touya brought him out, followed by Sakura. They stayed just outside the door as Touya and Sakura talked. Hideki squirmed in his arms, but Touya kept his firm grip on the child. Sakura admired the way her big brother could discipline his kid very well. She envied him, because she wanted a child of her own.

"All right, so I'll take Hideki now, if that's ok?" He asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Who would've thought that you'd be asking me for permission??" Sakura shook her head and laughed.

"Not that funny, kaijuu," Touya ruffled her hair.

"Kaijuu!" Hideki echoed, ruffling Sakura's hair as well.

"Hey!" Sakura protested, grabbing his hand. "Only Touya gets to call me that," she narrowed her eyes and winked at the kid.

Hideki, with his bright cheeks, grinned. "Ok, Auntie. Sorry."

"Now what do you do?" Touya continued his scolding.

Hideki leaned and kissed Sakura on the cheek.

Sakura smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

The boy nodded. Touya grinned. "Later, kid."

"Bye," Sakura waved.

Sakura stayed by the door for longer than a moment, but then turned and faced the loud kids jumping up and down the room. She lectured them for a bit, got them to sit back down on their seats, and then she returned to her desk, continuing to eat her rather tasteless lunch. Ironic that being around these kids didn't make her want children…almost made her despise them. But then, a man would come in with a child, their closeness touching her heart, and everything she doubted went away. Sakura was positive she wanted a child of her own. She just wanted a husband more. And after everything she went through, all the men she dated, she knew that she would never have what she truly wanted… because only one man could make that possible, and he didn't exist anymore. At least not to her.

--- --- ---

To be continued…