Chapter 13. The Picture
Syaoran and Eriol stepped inside his house. Syaoran grabbed two cokes out of the refrigerator and followed Eriol upstairs. Eriol flopped onto Syaoran's bed. Syaoran sighed and tossed a coke to Eriol and sat down on the floor and leaned his back against the bedside. Eriol sat up and opened his coke, "Hey Syaoran," Eriol paused to make sure he was listening, "You and Sakura were behind me and Madison on the ride… right?" Eriol asked suspiciously. Syaoran sat up and looked at Eriol, "Yeah, why?" Syaoran asked. "Well, if you guys were behind us, what was Sakura doing under the Cherry Blossom tree… alone?" Eriol asked. Syaoran let out a sigh, "M-Maiiko." Syaoran said her name as if it was a bad word.

"Maiiko?" Eriol asked with a questioned look, "What does she have to do with this?" He asked as he sat down next to Syaoran. Syaoran inhaled deeply then exhaled, "We were about to go on the ride then all of a sudden she appeared and shooed Sakura off, I tried to get Sakura to stay, but all she did was turn around and smile at me." Syaoran said. "So… if you went on the ride with Maiiko, how did you get to Sakura before me and Madison?" Eriol asked sipping his coke. "Well, I didn't ride with Maiiko." Syaoran paused, "I went in the boat first, then she went in and when we entered the 'cave' I jumped out of the boat before she noticed." Syaoran said grinning at his well-worked out plan. "You jumped out?" Eriol asked, "Yeah, I noticed before I went on the ride that there was like another 'sidewalk' thing on the other side of the boat." Syaoran said.

"Then, if you didn't go on the ride, where did you go?" Eriol asked. "Well, aren't you full of questions today." Syaoran said. Eriol shot him a serious look, Syaoran sighed deeply, "I went to look for Sakura," Eriol gave him a "you like her look", "to apologize for what happened, then I saw her under the cherry blossom tree, she seemed like she wanted to be alone so I just sat behind the cherry blossom tree facing her," Eriol had an unreadable expression, "I didn't want to bother her. But when I heard Ken, well, I went over there and well, you know the rest." Syaoran said finishing his story.

Eriol simply nodded and looked at Syaoran's balcony door. He let out a loud sigh… "Huh?" Sakura said as she glanced at the clock, It was 9:45 pm. She looked around, "Where am I?" Sakura said. She walked over to the light switch and turned on the lights. She let out a loud yawn; Madison woke up suddenly and looked at Sakura with a warm smile. "Sakura! You're awake! Wait here! I'll make some hot chocolate!" Madison said rushing into the kitchen. Sakura sat back down on the couch staring at the TV. After 5 minutes, Madison came into the room with a tray of hot chocolate and cookies. Madison set down the tray and handed a cup to Sakura, Sakura smiled and took the cup.

"Madison," Sakura put her hot chocolate on the tray, "What are we doing here?" Sakura asked looking at their mansion. Madison took a sip of her hot chocolate, "You don't remember what happened?" Madison asked with a concerned look on her face. "Well, I remember some stuff but…" "What do you remember?" Madison said interrupting Sakura, "Well, I remember that Maiiko girl coming up to me and Syaoran before we went on the ride, then I left and sat down beneath a Cherry blossom tree, then after than I took out the…" Sakura took out the locket, "the, the locket, and then getting hit with another flashback…" Sakura stopped talking, "Wh-what happened in the flashback Sakura?" Madison said staring at the locket, "The flashback was… me, at the carnival with him… and a boy with black hair was picking on me… and he stuck up for me…" Sakura said staring into space. Madison put her hot chocolate on the table, Sakura faced Madison, "It was the same exact thing that happened when Ken … and Syaoran…" Sakura said.

"I remember now…" Sakura said looking at Madison. "Madison… Syaoran relived all the flashbacks that I had gotten today. The roller coaster, the cherry blossom tree…" Sakura paused remembering what she and Syaoran talked about before Maiiko showed up. "Madison, remember when I told you all I remember about this locket boy was that I went on the Tunnel Of Love ride with him? When I was 7 years old, in America. At the Valentines day festival?" Sakura said. Madison nodded, "Syaoran went on the Tunnel Of Love ride when he was 7 years old---" "But he lives here---" "He lived in America until he was 7 years old, he went to the Valentines Day Festival." Sakura said interrupting Madison. Madison had a look of disbelief.

"Sa- Sakura… This is so weird…" Madison said in a whisper. Sakura nodded and looked out the window. "Madison… I don't know why… but I have a feeling Syaoran and the locket boy has a connection, to each other…" Sakura said clutching the locket. Madison held out her hands, "May I see the locket Sakura?" Madison asked, Sakura took the locket off and placed it in Madison's hands, Madison slowly opened it and looked at the boy's picture, right when she looked at it a picture of Syaoran flashed into her mind. "Brown, messy, hair… Amber brown eyes …" Madison said to herself. Sakura stared at Madison, "Sakura… he somewhat reminds me of Syaoran." Madison said pointing to the picture of the little boy. Sakura took the locket and looked at the boys picture closely, Madison was right.

Syaoran and the locket boy looked oddly familiar. "Hey Syaoran…" Eriol said looking at Syaoran, "What?" Syaoran said as he continued channel surfing. "Do you like Sakura?" Eriol asked with a suspicious tone, "WHAT?" Syaoran said spitting out his coke. "Do. You. Like. Sakura?" Eriol said slowly and loudly. "I heard you the first time knuckled brain." Syaoran said, 'What if I do like Sakura?' Syaoran thought to himself. 'BUT YOU CAN'T!' an imaginary voice said inside him, 'What? Why not?' Syaoran argued back, 'because! What about your childhood lover that you promised to never forget? HM?' the voice shot back, 'But I don't even know who she is!' Syaoran said. "Well, do you?" Eriol said interrupting Syaoran's debating thoughts.

"Ieno." Syaoran said. "Don't tell me you still like that one girl… what was her name again? Cherry? Blossom?" Eriol said with an annoyed tone, Syaoran looked away. "AW COME ON SYAO! You don't even remember her name! And it was what? 13 years ago? She probably grew up man! She probably has a boyfriend! And how can you still possibly like her? You don't know one thing about her! You don't know her name, what she looks like, where she lives, or if she has a boyfriend, or maybe even a HUSBAND!" Eriol said angrily as he squeezed his coke can. Syaoran stared at the wall with all of his interests, trying to block out Eriol's words. Eriol let out a deep sigh, "Syaoran! Every single girl in Tokyo has fell head over heels for you! But you wont open your heart to them because of HER! You need to let go!" Eriol yelled at Syaoran, Syaoran turned around to face Eriol.

His expression was sad. His eyes looked hurt. Eriol stopped yelling and loosened his strong grip on his coke can, "You're right. The only thing stopping me from liking anyone is her. HER. I don't even know why after 13 years. 13 YEARS! I'm still in love with her! Even if the only things I remember about her is her auburn hair! And her mesmerizing eyes, and how SHE was the only one I EVER rode the Tunnel Of Love with. After 13 years I've kept my promise to her! I'm still waiting for her! We promised so many things! Promises I've kept for 13 years Eriol! I never liked anyone after that! I don't know why! All I know is SHE is the thing stopping me from falling in love! 13 YEARS ERIOL! I've been in love with her for 13 years! And SHE might not even know it!" Syaoran grasped for breath, "Don't you think I've thought about it? Don't you realize how much I think about HER? How she might have possibly found someone else? How she probably threw away the locket I gave HER? Don't you realize how much I tried to get over her! Huh ERIOL?" Syaoran said as his last two words turned into a sad whisper.

"Eriol. I've tried. And I do like Sakura. But SHE is stopping me. SHE wont let me forget about her! Do you know the last thing I remember about her?" Eriol nodded his head in the 'no' way, "I remember the day I left her. We were at the park, across the street from were we lived, and the day I had to move here." Syaoran shifted his gaze to the ceiling, trying to stop his tears from falling, "We promised each other that we would meet again" Syaoran paused and looked at his balcony. "And every time I look at Sakura, I tell myself I can't like her. Because that girl is stopping me Eriol…" Syaoran said tears now streaming down his face, Eriol had never seen Syaoran cry. It made him depressed how it was him, Syaoran's best friend, that caused him to cry. 'Why did I bring it up? Why was I so hard on him?' Eriol thought to himself as he put a comforting hand on Syaoran's shoulder. "But Syaoran… how would you two meet again? There are over 78642376487461 million girls in Tokyo, imagine in the whole world. You don't even know where she is, or what her name is. How would you find her?" Eriol asked in a depressed tone.

Syaoran looked at Eriol's face, "I gave her a locket the day I left… It was gold, with my picture on one side with her's on the other… And her name, I wish I could remember, but that day when Maiiko suddenly ambushed me and tried to make me kiss her, my head banged on the grass really hard and all I remember about her name was it had to do something with Cherry… or Blossom. Or maybe even Cherry Blossom." Syaoran said, his tears stopping. "Oh no…" Meiling said from the other end of the door. Syaoran and Eriol thought that the whole family was asleep, but they were wrong. Meiling was listening to their argument. And they didn't even know it. "Hey did you hear that?" Eriol said, Meiling covered her mouth with her hands and silently tiptoed back to her room. She had almost blew her cover.

This wasn't the first time she heard them arguing about her. She turned on her bedroom light, making sure no one was around; she closed her door and lifted up her mattress. There lay an old photograph, she grabbed the photo, and put her mattress back down. She sat down on her bed, and looked at the photo, it was the same exact picture that she had stolen from her brother's room, 13 yeas ago… The picture was a little torn and wrinkled but she could still make it out, the people. Her brother was sitting behind a sand castle with an oddly familiar looked auburn haired girl with beautiful green emerald eyes. 'Should I give this back to Syaoran…?' Meiling thought to herself.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Wow. Wow. What a chappie! Hope you enjoyed it!
Disclaimer: I do not own CCS
;candee