I'm on a roll! I hope I can finished before school starts! Eeeeek!

Remember that Sakura is the dense one. Like always. Lol.

Don't you hate it when there's a cliffhanger...and then it turns out that it's something not that important?

Well, my friend once said to do to others whatever annoys yourself. XP Hahahahaha. Just kidding...

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Oh, Sakura! It was a horrible nightmare!"

"Shh, calm down, Rika, it was just a dream," Sakura cooed as the doctors steered her rolling bed into an emergency room.

"In my dream, I woke up and—and... my baby was gone!" Rika sobbed.

"Rika, stop crying! You know it's not true! Look at this belly," Sakura said as she rubbed her friend's stomach. The doctors were still moving Rika rapidly towards a room and Sakura was running to catch up. "Your baby's going to be big and strong like her godmother. See! She's already got my sense of humor! She's teasing you! Don't cry."

"Look at you, Sakura! Why are you so beautiful today? Oh, I'm so butt ugly compared to you!" Rika cried.

"I catered an event today, that's all!" Sakura said. "You are pretty! You're just in a bad mood because of the nightmare!"

"She's right!" said Rika's husband, Terada. "You're extremely pretty! How can a woman with such a beautiful face think she's not? Now stop crying, please."

Sakura stopped running as the doctors turned a corner, steering Rika away. She stared after them and chuckled to herself. 'She'll be alright.'

-.-.-.-.-.-

Grinning from ear to ear, Sakura found herself standing in front of Ichiro's apartment. She took a deep breath and was about to enter when she heard Yuuhi's voice around the corner of the apartment. She quickly ran away and hid behind a tree next to the building. 'They went for a walk! That was so close!'

Ichiro raised his hand up and a taxi pulled over. He opened the door and escorted Yuuhi in. "Good night, honey. See you tomorrow."

Sakura felt her eyes well up in tears and anger as she saw the taxi drive away.

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Mom...why is dating so painful? I don't ever want to see a man again."

A gloomy Sakura was lying down, her head in her mother's lap. Nadeshiko slapped Sakura's shoulder lightly. She signaled, 'What are you talking about?'

'Blood is thicker than water,' Sakura signaled. Nadeshiko pondered for a moment, then gestured, 'I still don't understand what the heck you're trying to say, dear.'

'Your breasts are sagging,' Sakura indicated. Nadeshiko looked at Sakura disapprovingly and tickled Sakura's sides. Sakura shrieked and laughed. "Oww, -breathes and laughs- Mom!"

-.-.-.-.-.-

"Did you hear!" Takashi exclaimed.

"What?" Chiharu asked.

"Arisu left Zen right at the alter!" Takashi cried. "So she could go back to Syaoran!"

"I'm not surprised," Naoko commented. "He's such a charmer."

"But that's not the end of it!" Takashi shouted. "Syaoran dumped her."

Sakura was counting a pile of cash but her pace only quickened at these words. Eriol grabbed the bills out of her hands and threw them back down on the table. "You counted this at least ten times! 170,000 yen!"

"Just checking," Sakura murmured.

"Anyways..." Naoko said. "About your birthday party, Sakura."

"Yes...Um, have you all got everything ready?" Sakura asked.

"Hai," they chorused.

"I was afraid of getting something you didn't like, again," Takashi said. "So instead, I got a certificate. Smart, huh?"

"Not nearly," smirked Eriol. "Ten years ago, I bought ten presents: one for each year. Just for you, Sakura. Besides, how can I forget your birthday? It's the same day as my wedding anniversary to Tomoyo." Everyone laughed.

"I can bake the cake," Syaoran offered, suddenly popping out from the kitchen door.

Everyone looked nervously at eachother. Naoko spoke up. "Um...these things have already been planned a long ago, Syaoran. Before you even came. Gomen-nasai."

"Oh..." Syaoran muttered. He was about to go back into the kitchen when Sakura shouted, "Syaoran!" He turned around to look at her. "Ummm, how did it go the other day?"

Syaoran glanced around. "Uhh...well..." He trailed off and shook his head. "What about you?"

"Hmm...Syaoran? Let's put it this way: Would you like some coffee?"

-.-.-.-.-.-

Syaoran watched Sakura at the coffee counter as she spilled some coffee beans from a bag onto the table. He stared intently as Sakura used a straw to sort out the beans. She kept moving a few to one side and others to another side. Perplexed, he questioned her. "What are you doing?"

"It's my secret recipe. Fifty five beans make the perfect espresso. Fifty five beans. No more, no less," explained Sakura as she continued to count the beans and sort them neatly.

"That sounds like a relationship," Syaoran said. "Both people are equally important. No more, no less."

Sakura sighed. "If only all relationships were like that. Anyways, remember, Syaoran. Fifty five beans. Just don't tell anyone," Sakura joked.

Syaoran watched her look up from her counting and Emerald met Amber, just a few tiny inches apart. He nearly blushed when she smiled at him. "So, I'll see you at my birthday party? You better come by the way!"

Slowly, a smile won over Syaoran's lips. He nodded. "Mmhmm. I'll be there."

-.-.-.-.-.-

- Syaoran's house -

In a rush, Syaoran threw on a black tuxedo outfit and hurried out to the living room. "Hey, Meiling! Do I look overdressed?"

"It's fine," she replied serenely, studying his outfit from her sofa. Her little brother had a little more to say though.

"Are you going to a funeral?" he asked, eyeing his clothes up and down with an eyebrow raised.

"Oh, um...I can change!" Syaoran yelled as he ran back into his room. Meiling slapped her little brother. "Shut up," she whispered. Syaoran ran back out dressed in brown instead of black. "How's this?"

"It's fine, Syaoran!" Meiling sighed exasperately. "You know what you look like! You look like you're dressing up for Tanaka."

"Who's that?" He asked.

Meiling rolled her eyes. "Your first love in high school. Or what you thought was anyways." She smiled mischievously. "Well, congratulations on this second puberty of yours. Say hi to Sakura for me!"

-.-.-.-.-.-

- Restaurant -

Sakura struggled under the weight of just part of her birthday presents as she carried a few of them at a time to safety, away from the dancing guests. After doing so, she returned to the snack table. There were all sorts of dishes and each looked delicious. Sakura didn't know where to start...that is, until Syaoran walked up to her holding a plate of some sort of mini bread rolls.

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"Try one," Syaoran replied. He took one and held it in front of Sakura's mouth. She cautiously took a bite out of it and her eyes widened with surprise and happiness. She jumped with joy, exclaiming, "Mmmmm! It's SO delicious!"

Syaoran chuckled and pulled out his camera. "Hold still, I've got to get a picture of that."

Sakura took another roll and was about to stick it in her mouth for the picture as Syaoran held the camera up when Takashi suddenly shouted and pointed past Sakura's shoulder, "Hey look! It's the forgotten boyfriend!"

Sakura turned around and looked upstairs. There was Ichiro waving a wrapped box at her. He ran downstairs and presented it to her. Sakura cheerfully opened it to see a cake. For some reason, she didn't feel as elated as she thought she would be.

Chiharu popped up behind Sakura and chirped, "A special cake from Ichiro!"

Ichiro said, "I got it from the store Fracois De La Bouche."

Everyone gathered around the cake. The girl's side sighed happily while Takashi and the other guys rolled their eyes. "It looks like crap," Takashi whispered, chuckling.

"I saw this at MTR," Syaoran said. Sakura took off the plastic cover off of the cake and Ichiro placed a candle in the middle of it and lit it. "Make a wish!" everyone shouted.

Sakura closed her eyes and thought. She then opened them and inhaled deeply so that she could blow the candle out. But before she did so, Syaoran quickly blew it out for her, saying, "Great! Let's cut the cake!"

Syaoran picked up a large knife and sloppily chopped it straight down through the center of the cake. Sakura gasped as he accidentally sliced the chocolate surrounding the edges of it. 'What is he doing? He's not even thinking about where to cut!' Syaoran began serving the cake but never allowed Sakura to have a taste of it. Whenever Sakura made to grab the current plates of cake slices Syaoran was holding, he would turn away and give it to someone else.

'What's wrong with Syaoran?' Sakura thought angrily. But before she could think of what, Ichiro pulled her over to the dance floor. They had fun dancing salsa whereas Syaoran wasn't really paying attention to who he was dancing with. He kept dancing with random people and stealing glances over at Sakura and Ichiro. Finally, after what seemed like hours to Syaoran, they stopped dancing. Sakura grabbed another one of those rolls and she smiled at Syaoran. He smiled back. Sakura was trying hard to suppress a large fit of giggles, Syaoran noted. He danced with whomever he was dancing with much slower, trying to find out why. When Sakura left with Ichiro, who had gotten them drinks, Takashi's voice reached his ears.

"Syaoran...stop."

He turned his head forward to find his so-called dance partner at the moment. 'Oops...' Syaoran released his hands from Takashi, who was staring at him weirdly.

"You look..."

"What? A bit...too happy?"

"Nope. I was going for...hmmm, enchanted..." Takashi corrected him, eyeing him suspiciously all the while.

"Er, go find yourself another dance partner," Syaoran said as he searched around for Sakura. 'Darn it, where did they go?'

His cell phone suddenly rang and he quickly picked it up. "Moshi moshi."

"...Seriously! Okay, I'll be there."

- Upstairs -

Sakura stood with Ichiro up above on the second floor, overlooking the party. She smiled at him. "They really enjoyed your cake. Thanks for it, by the way. It was cute."

"I broke up with Yuuhi," Ichiro confessed. Sakura, who was in the middle of downing a cup of water, nearly choked. "What?"

"Are you happy, Sakura?" He asked. She nodded. "I'm extremely happy! ...today."

"I promise you, Sakura...I can make you happy forever," Ichiro said, gazing at her with a soft expression. "Come to Hong Kong with me. It's where you've always wanted to go, right? It's just a trip, but I promise you'll be happy."

"Um..." Sakura suddenly thought about Syaoran and felt reluctant...no—REALLY reluctant to leave him.

"Think about it, please?" Ichiro begged.

"I..." Sakura started to say. Ichiro pulled her close and leaned in to kiss her. Sakura tried to struggle out without making it seem like she was pushing him away. She bit her lip as he came closer...and closer...his lips were only inches from hers when, to her luck, her cell phone rang. 'Thank you, whoever that just called me.'

"Oh, sorry," Sakura apologized as she picked up her phone. "Moshi moshi."

"...Syao—What! Okay, okay, I'll be there as soon as possible," Sakura flipped her phone shut and turned to Ichiro. "Sorry, I have to go somewhere. It's really, really urgent. See you later, Ichiro."

And with that, she ran away from the confused Ichiro, who looked around at the guests below, suspecting that Syaoran interrupted their moment. Sakura, however, had other things on her mind... 'Of course! I can't believe I didn't wonder where he went! He wasn't here at my party and I didn't even notice! Moouuu, what kind of friend am I?'

-.-.-.-.-.-

Grr, it's still so short...

I'll really, really try to update but band camp has started so...we'll see. I just want to finish this story before school starts! Eeeek. x.x

-hint hint- Syaoran does give Sakura a present though. Try guessing what it is. XP By the way Jacqueline, you can't say. XD