Disclaimer: No more of this. I don't. own. it.

- Scene Change -

'thoughts.'

-.-.-.-.-

"Life without love is like eating the French fries without the ketchup."

-.-.-.-.-

After the restaurant closed, she decided to walk her dog, Kero, which she always did after her work ended for the day. Now Kero was indeed a unique dog. She grabbed a leash in her room from the floor but instead of calling for Kero to come, she tied a collar she had to the leash.

"C'mon, Kero! Let's go!" Sakura chirped.

Kero was an imaginary dog. But of course that made him very special. It also made Sakura look crazy as she was strolling down the streets holding up a leash and walking an invisible dog. But she never cared, as long as she was happy with what she was doing at the moment.

"People do crazy things when they're in love, ne Kero?" Sakura then sighed. "Ichiro still hasn't called me. But then...he just got dumped in front of all his friends. Guess I can't exactly blame him. Hmm, no one should. That must have been pretty hard for him."

A taxi cab came to a halt at the street across from Sakura. She saw the back door of the car that was facing her open and Syaoran came out. The air-hostess she had seen earlier was grabbing his arm and saying something. Her brown-red hair was blown around her golden eyes as the wind howled. When Syaoran strangled out of her grasp, he walked across the street and was nearing Sakura. The air-hostess left the door open and was about to get out when the taxi driver asked, "Are you going in or out?"

"Oh, ano...in, sir," She answered and got back into the car with the door closing behind her.

Syaoran was strolling lazily and was about to walk right pass Sakura when he suddenly noticed her there.

"Funny running into you," Syaoran said.

"Unfortunate for me." Sakura glared at him.

"What is it with you? Why do you hate me so?" Syaoran asked, glaring back. (A/N: I think the word "glare" is really overused...I'm finding as many substitutes as possible. XP If only I wasn't lazy.)

"Che, funny you should ask," Sakura snorted. "You're that type of guy who think they can get any girl they want because of your good looks. I can just see that."

"Ahh, typical girl."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean!" Sakura asked, her right eyebrow raised, hands on her hips as she leaned over and inspected Syaoran carefully.

"You see what you want to see."

"Whatever, how would you know what I wanted to see?" Sakura said rolling her eyes. "Go bite him, Kero!"

She thrust her leash in front of her so that the dog would be jumping on Syaoran if he was real. Upon hearing "bite him," Syaoran knocked into the floor as Sakura's leash was thrust toward him.

Squirming around on the sidewalk, he was shouting with his eyes tightly shut: "Argh, what are you doing! Get him off me! Help! Someone!"

He heard Sakura laughing. Something about that laugh was weird... So he stopped squirming and looked up. There was no dog. Just a leash attached to the collar. No wonder she wasn't laughing that evilly. He got up quickly, rolled his eyes, "hmph"-ed, and walked away fixing his jacket.

"Oh, good job, Kero!" Sakura patted her invisible dog. "You deserve and extra treat when we get home."

After walking her dog, Sakura decided to go see her best friend Rika. Rika had short brown hair and matching eyes and was pregnant. Sakura was the incoming baby's godmother.

Safely in Rika's house, she poured her some tea and they both sat down on the couch to talk. Sakura kept checking her phone every now and then in case Ichiro messaged her. Rika stared at her for a longer time as she did this for about the umpteenth time.

"Sakura...it's not gonna do any good to just keep looking at it," Rika said.

"I know...I'm just checking for messages." Sakura frowned.

"In Japan, there's a couple thousand messages sent every minute...if you didn't get one, he's not thinking about you, so please stop checking it every freaking second!"

"Well...I suppose. I mean, he just got dumped in front of all his friends. Wouldn't you be sad if that happened to you?" Sakura looked at Rika with sad eyes.

"Aiyah, honey," Rika said looking at and rubbing her stomach, "Your Godmother is crazy!"

"Rika..." Sakura frowned at her.

"Okay, he went out with Mamoru for five years and look how things ended up! What does that tell you?"

"Nothing..."

"So you're his girlfriend, right?"

"Of course," Sakura said, wide-eyed.

"But, nobody knows, right?"

"Well, that's the understanding I have with Ichiro. I'm also the only one who understands how much he values privacy. Thus, he gave me a set of his house keys. Hmm, I'm gonna go right now to drop of this cake I made. See you later, Rika!"

Sakura jumped up from the couch and left the room.

"Where's the Sakura I love?" Rika sighed.

- Ichiro's house -

Sakura fitted her spare of the keys into the lock and turned it with a click. She opened the door to find it completely deserted. The first thing she wanted to do was to retrieve her Hello Kitty toothbrush.

She stepped into the restroom and opened a cupboard above the sink.

"Hoe? Where's my Hello Kitty?" Sakura frowned. "Eh, I'll just ask Ichiro about it later."

Sakura walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. She opened the refrigerator and stuffed a box inside it. She'd call Ichiro about what she did tonight later.

- The Next Day -

Sakura woke up early the following day—early as in 5:00 AM—and hurried to the restaurant after quickly throwing on some clothes and brushing her teeth as if she was a crazy machine malfunctioning. She had almost forgotten about the meeting and was running late.

"Hoe! I'm the manager! I can't be late!" She yelled to herself as she ran down the sidewalk like there was no tomorrow. When she entered the sliding doors of the restaurant, she leaned against the wall for support and was panting hard.

"I'm...here!" Sakura breathed, gasping for air.

"Finally, Sakura!" A cook named Naoko said.

"Eheheh...sorry to keep you guys waiting!" Sakura smiled sheepishly. She walked to where her seat was—at the front of the table—and sat down. "So, what did I miss?"

"You didn't miss much. Errmm, nothing that you would have protested against anyways," Takashi said. "So yeah, let's continue. Syaoran was about to say something before you arrived."

Sakura seemed pleased with herself for interrupting him. "Well, go on now."

"I was asking how many people actually order the rice with duck blood because if not, I'm sure we can take that off the menu." Syaoran looked at those words with disgust as he held up the menu. But who could blame him? It wasn't a popular meal, obviously...though all the other cooks' eyes widened at his request. They looked extremely scared and shot their eyes at Sakura, as if expecting her to explode.

"Rice with duck blood...those who have taste love it though! An—and those who don't...well TOO BAD FOR THEM!" Sakura suddenly shouted, glaring at Syaoran. She was no doubt furious at him for bringing up such an idea. "Well, if there's no more complaints, this meeting's over. I'm going to make myself a cup of coffee."

Sakura got up from her seat angrily and stormed into the kitchen.

"What's she so angry about? It's not a popular meal..." Syaoran started to say.

"It's because that dish is the only reason her boyfriend ever comes," Eriol answered.

"I can't believe you asked to take it off the menu!" Chiharu's eyes were still wide with shock.

- Kitchen -

Sakura was making a cup of coffee for herself like she said she would since there was still about two hours before the restaurant actually opened to customers. She heard voices talking excitedly outside and couldn't help but see what everyone was doing.

When she stuck her head out of the kitchen door, she saw something that made her infuriated. She was absolutely fuming. The room looked totally different and Syaoran was putting picture frames all over the place. Everyone else was rearranging the tables.

She rushed up to Eriol and whispered: "Tell him and everyone to arrange this place back to what it was!"

"Why? This is great! I think we can manage to fit two more tables this way," Eriol replied. "There's nothing wrong with extra tables. More room for customers. We'll be having more people, hopefully."

"Pah, hopefully. As if. Ugh, make them stop! This is a restaurant not a photo booth," Sakura pleaded as Syaoran was taking pictures of them. The cooks were posing in front of his camera with bright grins on their faces.

"Why? He loves taking pictures." Eriol's voice sounded amused as he observed Syaoran walking around with a camera and the rest of the cooks searching for the funniest pose they could find. "This tiramisu is kind of...hard..." Eriol said as he took a bite out of the treat.

"So if he likes taking showers, would you put a bathtub in here?" Sakura angrily asked, her hands on her hips as she rounded on Eriol, glowering at him like mad.

"Hey, not a bad idea, Sakura," Eriol chuckled. "I should ask him about that."

"You—" Sakura started, but Eriol did not find out what he was for her cell phone started to ring.

"Oh!" Sakura jumped as her phone vibrated in her pocket. She quickly took it out and flipped it open (it was a flip phone) and ran over to an empty corner.

"Hello?" Sakura said awkwardly.

"Sakura? Did you drop by my house yesterday?"

"Oh! I forgot to tell you. Um, yeah, I didn't do anything...just left a cake there. HEY! Where's my new toothbrush!"

"I really don't have time to look for it now. What did you put in the cake?" Ichiro's voice sounded quite angry.

"Just the usual..."

"Any nuts? Or something like that?"

"Wow! How'd you know? Yeah...it's kind of my new recipe." Sakura giggled and added, "I put peanut butter."

"Peanut butter! Argh, did you ever think that some people are allergic? Well, bye. I have to take Yuuhi to the hospital."

Sakura was frozen to the spot as she heard the click and then the dial tone as Ichiro hung up. She flipped her phone shut and bit her lip. She let her head drop into her hands and she cried out. 'Oh no, Yuuhi's allergic to peanut butter! She never told me that before...'

Eriol came up to her looking pleased. "Hey, thanks for the idea, Sakura! Tiramisu tastes great with peanut butter! You should try it next time."

- Evening; Restaurant -

Sakura walked out of the kitchen holding a large bottle filled with champagne. She strode over to a small table and was ready to open it when she overheard the next table's words.

"Yuuhi can't come tonight," a woman in a long red dress said as Sakura edged closer to them.

"Why not?" a man asked.

"Oh, her boyfriend fed her a cake with peanut butter in it," the woman said, stifling her giggle. "She's allergic."

'Boyfriend! Meaning Ichiro! W-what? When was this?' Sakura thought as her eyes widened. She was brought out of her reverie as the bottle cap of the champagne she was holding suddenly popped out and the liquid was overflowing. 'Oh crap.'

"Uhh, sorry!" Sakura said to the table talking about Yuuhi while smiling sheepishly. She looked around at the other table she was supposed to serve the champagne to, "Umm, uh, Happy Birthday!"

- Few minutes before the restaurant closed -

"How do you like the new furniture arrangement, Sakura?" Syaoran asked her as they peered around the room of what seemed like a new place to poor Sakura.

"Grr, don't even ask me about it!" Sakura hissed, scowling, "Why are you going to take Eriol's place? Why you? Of all people he could have chosen! He picked you!"

"He made me promise—"

"Nevermind, I'm going to make coffee!" Sakura announced as she threw her hands up in frustration and walked back into the kitchen. Syaoran looked confused and offended as he stared fiercely at the kitchen door.

"Sakura really is a strange one," Eriol said coming up to Syaoran. "Not that you haven't noticed...but when she gets really angry, she tries not to take it out on others. Instead, she releases her anger by making coffee. Interesting but silly girl, ne?"

"Uh, sure..." Syaoran said with one eyebrow raised. 'That explains a lot. No wonder she's always making coffee these days. Angry at me and broken-hearted by her boyfriend, I suppose.'

"Sakura," Eriol called as Sakura reappeared outside the kitchen door holding two cups. "I hope one of them is for me." Eriol beamed at her.

"Oh, sure, take one." Sakura set both cups down on a table and was going back into the kitchen. "I already drank the one I made earlier."

Eriol offered the second cup to Syaoran and they both drank. "The taste might be a bit surprising." Suddenly, they shivered and Syaoran flinched.

"You're right--It's bitter," Syaoran winced.

"That's how she makes her coffee," Eriol explained, "But I guess I'm kind of used to it now. I've been trying to figure out how to drink it so that the taste is at least more appealing. It's supposed to be her secret."

- Walking the "dog" -

Sakura stopped a way down from her house before the first street light. She saw two couples in the middle of the street. Happy. Hand in hand. They were talking and pointing at different directions, as if deciding where to go on their date. Sakura looked at them wistfully, jealous of the girl for finding the perfect guy for her. At least who seemed the perfect guy for her. She frowned and looked down as they were deciding. When they finally left she looked up again at the area in which they were standing. She soon saw that another man was standing on the other side of the street: Syaoran Li.

He was also looking forlornly after them as they left and did not notice Sakura until they were out of sight. When he turned his head and saw Sakura, he yelped with surprise—so did Sakura.

"Luck is really against me...I've ran into you two times in two days while walking my dog. Goodbye," Sakura called out to him and she walked ahead, still fixing her fierce emerald eyes on him. Suddenly, a sudden throbbing surged from her forehead down to her very toes and she yelped again, but in pain. She held her hand to her forehead and cursed the metal pole she ran into.

"Itai..."

"Are you okay?" Syaoran asked running up to her.

"Eheheh, yeah, I'm fine."

"Wait... did you just say you were walking your dog?" Syaoran gave her a puzzled look. His eyes glanced at the collar, which was around nothing. "Very funny, Sakura."

"Don't look at Kero that way!" Sakura said and held her leash away from Syaoran's view. "Poor Kero, are you alright?"

"Aww, it's an imaginary puppy! How cute! I've never seen one before," Syaoran teased and he bent down to pet the invisible dog. "I really don't think I'm the only one who looks at him that way..."

"Get away! He doesn't like you!" Sakura snapped.

"Oh no, I think he does," Syaoran said happily. "Good boy, he's really tamed, hm? I bet he can smell who is broken-hearted too."

"Get away!" Sakura tried to pull the leash away but Syaoran kept his grasp.

"Oh, come on. See? He's wagging his tail!" Syaoran exclaimed.

"Why you..."

Suddenly a man from the distance was running to them shouting "Ms. Kinomoto! Ms. Kinomoto!" He seemed to be coming from the direction of her house. Sakura broke out of her trance and looked at the man running towards them. She recognized him immediately as her next door neighbor. He was catching his breath when he caught up to Sakura and was trying hard to speak through his gasping for air.

"What is it?" Sakura asked urgently, seeing his worried face. Her emerald eyes also turned to worry and her eyebrows furrowed. "Did something happen?"

"Y-your house...your mom signaled me to call for you...Oh, Sakura! Just come!"

-.-.-.-.-

Sorry if it's short. x)

You know what I'm craving! Beef noodle soup:( The one in Taiwan is absolutely delicious...wish I had some now... :(

Or you could just review...that would make me a bit happier. :) I'd be much obliged, m'dears. :)