This chapter will be...er...a little longer...heheh. Sorry to all those who like it fast paced.
CHAPTER 3

"Daidouji-san, thank you for the ride…will they be alright outside?" Shaoran was referring to her four lady bodyguards waiting behind the door to his apartment.

"Oh, that's no problem…Wei-sama no longer accompanies you?"

"He's retired comfortably with my family - besides, I have to learn how to go about things by myself…" Shaoran grinned as he worried a bit about how he made their tea.

"…er…I see that you still think the same of Sakura…" She said as she carefully set her cup back on the table.

Tomoyo and Shaoran had been conversing over a cup of tea at Shaoran's apartment. His luggage was still standing beside his feet. He had the same firm look in his eyes. His thick eyebrows made him look rougher than he was.

They went to his apartment right after they accompanied Sakura to her home. She was suddenly discharged from the hospital that morning because her fever subsided and nothing wrong was found with her. When they arrived, Touya had gone out to pay the hospital bill and Yukito, still in clothes he wore the day before, was packing up Sakura's things.

"Oh…you both came in a bit too late, she was awake a while ago…I guess she's still a bit exhausted now…" Yukito told them. He held Kerberos by the arm.

Yukito stretched out his arms. "I need a bath…" He muttered as he laughed by himself.

When it was time to leave, Touya gently ruffled her hair. "Kaijou, wake up…it's time to go."

"hrrm…?" She was too weak to get mad. Her back was sore all over.

She rubbed her eyes, moved her head to the side, and smiled when she saw Tomoyo standing in front of the door to her room.

"You were so worried about me, weren't you?" She slowly moved up so that her legs hung from the bed and her feet nearly touched the floor. She was in her white duster (with a bunny print) that now bore the smell of the hospital sheets.

"Everyone was worried about you -- Li-kun has come back from Hong Kong just to see you."

"Hoe?" She muttered softly as her eyes met Shaoran's. He was standing a feet behind Yukito. He was now nearly as tall as the snow-rabbit. "Oto-san?" She remembered, as she looked back at her brother.

"He's at his presentation - he wanted to come."

Touya was about to carry her on his back like he used to. He waited for her arms to cling to his shoulders.

"Onii-chan! I think I'm too old for this…" She blurted out with an embarrassed look. Tomoyo giggled and everyone else followed. Shaoran, on the other hand, was lost in some thought and stayed quiet.

Shaoran came back with a refilled teapot and gently set it on the table. "What makes you say that?"

"While she slept in the car…you still looked at her with those very same kind eyes." Tomoyo replied knowingly. "I'm dropping by later to visit Sakura-chan…do you want to come?" She continued.

"Um…I have something to attend to…this afternoon…" He replied, glancing down at his watch.

"I see…visit her when you have the chance…I'm sure she will find it pleasant to see you again after a long time…"

"Daidouji-san, please don't tell her yet about…"

"Oh, I won't...she'll worry too much if she does...but she'll find out anyway…" Tomoyo stared into the glass sliding door leading to the balcony behind Shaoran. She had more reason to worry now.

- - -

"…house chores, house chores - sweep the floor, water the flowers, change the sheets..." It went in broken notes and trailed off into sounds a block away from the Kinomoto residence.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" Kero flew alongside Sakura. She had just started vacuuming their living room when she realized that, strangely, the task tired her immediately. She decided to move on to sweeping the leaves left forlorn and scattered on their driveway. The cool of the breeze outside will keep her working.

She noticed that their schedule whiteboard was unusually blank, except for a few pentel marks near the bottom corner which did not mean much. She had them rattled didn't she?

On the other hand, the plates and dining utensils were clean. Apparently, nobody ate dinner at home during the past few days.

"…the house is in a mess - what will they do without me?" She said in sarcasm. She continued with an enumeration of various tasks around the house which were left unaccomplished during her absence.

Before she could finish, Kero hopped onto her nose. "That's just so like you! I missed you Sakura-chan!" They forgot altogether that Kerberos was supposedly an inanimate stuffed toy.

Sakura had just squirted Kero with water (she was in "water the flowers" now) when a luxury car purred across their open gate.

Tomoyo got out of the car. "I'm staying."

With no more being said after that, Sakura dropped the spray bottle and embraced her. Some unexpected tears crept up in the window sills of her eyes.

A few months ago, Tomoyo planned to transfer to a different high school outside Tomoeda. She seriously considered taking up fashion design and a good design institution was located there. She thought that it would be practical to start her high school in the same institution for her to easily get into the college course in the future.

"Why?"

"Ah, that we can talk about over some snacks…" Tomoyo replied as she removed her scarf from her neck. She almost had Nadeshiko's tresses now.

"Er, Tomoyo-san - we don't have food in the house right now."

"…then let's have some chilled milk tea at a café?"

"Great! I'll quickly change first…" She replied as she hurried towards their doorway.

Kerberos mounted the spray bottle on his back. Tomoyo took it from him, seeing how it gave him a hard time.

"Thank you for doing that for Sakura." Kero said.

"She is my friend, Kero-chan." She replied quietly with a faint smile on her lips.

Inside her room, Sakura was looking at herself in a plain blue sundress on the closet mirror. She hastily pinned some floating strands of her bangs with a hairclip. She was about to slip into some sandals when she noticed a loose thread sticking out among the piping of the hem of her dress.

She kept a scissor in her topmost drawer. She remembered that she was making Tomoyo wait downstairs.

"I can't -- huh? The cards are not here…" The cards were always inside the topmost drawer.

She pulled open the rest of her drawers.

Note books. Yarn balls. Sets of stationary. No cards. But the cards were always inside the topmost drawer. She felt a tingling dread in her chest.