Cherry Blossom and Little Werewolf

Chapter 1: Tempers Released

By: Little Werewolf/Little Wolf a.k.a mgbsakura

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own CCS. But this story is mine!

A/N: Hi, this is the 1st chapter of my very first fanfic! I hope you'll like it! Man, is my title ever so corny!

If ever you spot a word which lacks he letter 'T' (e.g. 'his' which is supposed to be 'this'), sorry about that, because our letter 't' in the keyboard is malfunctioning (not really, I guess) so I have to ype real hard.

Anyway, this is set 11 years after the prologue which means Sakura is now 16 years old, and is still the princess of the Kinomoto Kingdom. Another thing, it would make more sense if you read the prologue first.

One last thing, when you see this: 'Sakura' it doesn't mean that it's in Sakura's POV, but it is more focused on her (same works for the others).

Sakura
Sakura walked, grinning from ear to ear. Nothing can compare to her happiness right now. She had just been to see her good friend, Li Syaoran, in the forest, and now she's on her way home.

She caught sight of her best friend and royal advisor, Tomoyo Daidouji. Sure, she'd known Syaoran for 11 years, but Tomoyo had been her best friend ever since she was three, due to the fact that Tomoyo's mother is the cousin of the late queen Nadeshiko, and also happens to be her father's royal advisor.

"Tomoyo-chan!" She cried out happily at the sight of her.

"Princess Sakura! You're back! Did you have a good time? You seem to have come home earlier than usual," Tomoyo greeted. "But then again, that was a silly question to ask especially because of that wide grin on your face," She added.

Sakura giggled. "Can you tell?"

"I want to hear all about it, princess. But right now, we have to take care of some other things first."

"I would have stayed longer with him if it wasn't for this important event-thingy. What is it that's so important?" Sakura asked.

"Well, princess, I'm not exactly sure, either… But the King is arriving soon, come, let's get you ready…"

Syaoran
Syaoran sighed, blushing a bit. He'd been so close to telling her… Only suddenly she realized that it was late and she had to go.

flashback

They stood there under the Cherry Blossom tree. "Sakura, I, um, I have something to tell you…"He began nervously. He watched her gaze wonderingly at him.

"I, uh, I…"

"Oh, no! What time is it? I almost forgot! Oh dear, I might get in trouble! Hoee!" Sakura suddenly cried out.

This took Syaoran entirely by surprise. "Wha — Oh, uh, well then, you'd better get going! I don't want you to get in trouble because of me," he stammered.

"Okay then, but what did you want to tell me?"

"Uh, I, uh… It's of no importance, anyway, I'll tell you another day!" he said hastily.

"Alrighty then! See ya tomorrow!" And with one last hug for Syaoran, she hurried off, waving merrily as she went.

end of flashback

Why am I so stupid?, he asked himself… Just when he was so close… And it wasn't her fault, she gave him a chance to speak, it was him who freaked out at the last second…

He shook his head and told himself firmly, "I'll get another chance. And when I do, I will tell her." Yeah, then you'll get all paranoid again, said another voice in his mind.

He forced himself not to think about it, and decided that he should be getting home. He went over to his horse, which was hidden behind a clump of trees, got on, and headed home.

Tomoyo
Tomoyo sighed as she led the way to the princess' room in the second floor. She had to hurry since the so-called event-thingy (as Sakura called it) was about to start. The only thing she was certain about was that there are going to be some guests, which meant that the princess had to be at her best. And she had just the thing to make the princess look like that.

"Oh, I can't wait to see you in the dress I've got for you, princess! You'll look perfect in it, especially since everything looks good on you!" she exclaimed, thus giving away the surprise. The only response was a sweat-drop from her best-friend.

They barged in through the princess' door, then Tomoyo threw the wardrobe doors open. She found the new dress and with a "Ta-daa!", showed it to Sakura.

Sakura's mouth dropped open. Knowing her royal-advisor, fashion designer and wardrobe expert all-in-one of a best friend, she had expected something really extravagant, complete with frills and ribbons, but not this.

The dress was simple yet elegant, and had a professional touch. The bottom part (from the waist to the end of the dress) was pink, the chest part was white, there were short sleeves which were pink, and under the short sleeves were long sleeves (A/N: if you get my point) that were white.

Tomoyo smiled, taking Sakura's gaping as some kind of complement. "So, what do you think, princess?"

"I—it's beautiful! Where on earth did you get that dress?" Sakura squealed once she got her voice back.

"Well, princess, one of the maidservants found a dress which looked exactly like this the other day and she showed it to me. I thought the design was elegant, so I headed to the royal dress-maker and had her make this new version of the dress."

"Oh, it's so pretty, I just have to wear it tomorrow! Syaoran will love to see me in this dress! I wonder if he'll think I'm pretty in it?"

Tomoyo smiled again. Somehow, she figured that things were getting interesting between her beloved Sakura and that werewolf boy called Li Syaoran.

Syaoran
Prince Li Syaoran had finally arrived at the gigantic Li castle, only to find his fiancé running to give him a welcome-home hug right after he got off his horse.

"SYAORANNNN!" She called in her loud, supposed-to-be-sweet voice which always annoyed Syaoran.

"How are you, my beloved pumpkin, my sweety pie, my cuddly bear? Did you miss me? Of course you did!" She said, nuzzling her cheek against his. She stopped then looked him in the eye.

"Where have you been! I tried to come here extra early to find that you were already gone when I arrived! So I had to wait all day for you, and you know how impatient I am, how I hate waiting! So now you have to repay me for all the hard work I've done!" she finished with a triumphant expression.

"Well, uh, you see, I had some business to take care of, really important business…"

"The same lame excuse! And here I was, thinking you were meeting another girl or something… But then, that was extremely silly of me, don't you think? Especially when we both know we are engaged and all that."

Syaoran can't think of a good reply for this one. He shuffled his feet back and forth as if rather guilty.

Meiling, seeing as her fiancé didn't have any reaction, went on. "Come on, then, Syaoran, let's go spend spend some time together! I haven't seen you for two whole weeks, can you believe that? But I'm gonna make it up to you, 'cause I'll be here for a whole week!" she cried out with an air of her giving Syaoran the treat of a lifetime.

Little did she know that he was feeling the exact opposite.

"Uh, Meiling, I still have to take Cherry (A/N:his horse) to the stables…" he said, this being the best excuse he could think of.

And suddenly, Wei popped up from nowhere.

"Master Syaoran, dear prince, would you like me to take care of that?" he asked graciously.

Syaoran's face fell. There goes his wonderful excuse for an escape.

"Wei! Good timing! You came at the right time! Yes, please do take care of that thing, this way no time will be wasted in spending quality time with Syaoran!" Meiling cried gleefully.

Syaoran didn't even argue with Wei. After all, all hope was lost. That's when Wei noticed his mistake. As soon as Meiling was facing the other way, he bowed his head in apology.

The prince allowed himself to be dragged away by Meiling who was so happy that she would finally be able to spend time with the person she loved after weeks and a day of waiting.

Meiling had managed to drag him to the entrance hall when the voice of a maidservant rang through the hall.

"Princess Meiling, there you are! Your hot bath is ready," she said with a curtsy.

"My hot bath? What hot bath?" Meiling asked.

"Apparently all the excitement of Prince Li's arrival had drove the hot bath that you have asked me to prepare out of your mind," said the girl with a friendly smile. "Weren't you saying that you wanted to smell and look good in front of the prince?"

"Oh… Oh, yes! That's right, I remember now! What's your name again?"

"My name is Chiharu Mihara, dear princess."

"Oh, yes! Thanks for reminding me Chiharu!" She turned to Syaoran. "Now, you wait for me here, okay? I'll be right back!" And with that she hurried off to her room, Chiharu at her heels.

Syaoran let out a great sigh of relief. At least now he has time to hide somewhere where Meiling would never find him.

He climbed up the stairs and made his way to his room, where he was surprised to find someone waiting for him.

"Welcome back, Prince Li." It was his ever so loyal royal advisor Takashi Yamazaki.

"Yamazaki! What are you doing here?" Syaoran cried out in surprise.

"Why, aren't you happy to see me, prince Li? And here I was thinking that you definitely need my help," Yamazaki replied with a pout.

Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "And how would you know that I need advice? What, you've got some kind of prince-in-need-of-advice detector or something?" he added as an afterthought.

"Hai, sou ne, Li-san. Didn't you know that every royal advisor has his/her own royal people-in-need-of-advice detectors? It's a requirement, you see. And if you're wondering why you've never seen me wearing one before, it's because it's a very tiny object. But did you know that in the old days, these detectors used to be really big?"

He paused but before he could say any more, the door suddenly burst open and the maidservant Chiharu barged in, looking furious.

She stomped her way to Yamazaki and stepped on his foot on purpose.

"Iyaaouch!" Yamazaki's eyes popped open, surprising Syaoran even more.

"Yamazaki! Your eyes are open!"

"Of course it's open, dear prince, it's his habit to pop his eyes open whenever I step on his foot," Chiharu snapped as she took her foot off his.

"But why did you step on his foot?" Syaoran inquired.

"He was lying, Li-san! Honestly, what on earth would you do without me? You'll believe everything he says!"

Syaoran looked flustered. "Well, uh, I…. It's kinda hard to tell whether he's lying or not…"

But Chiharu didn't hear him. She was busy shouting angrily at Yamazaki.

"How dare you make up those dumb stories in front of the prince! You're not worthy of being a royal advisor, especially when all you ever say are lies!"

"Hey, Chiharu, calm down, I was only trying to lighten things up! And I wasn't lying!"

"I don't want to hear your stupid explanations! You apologize to the prince now!"

Syaoran had enough. "Will you two please move this fight outside! I only wanted to have a moment's peace!"

This shut them up. Chiharu, flushed by the prince's sudden intervention, began to apologize.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, your highness, I never meant to bother you, I—"

"Please. It's okay. Don't apologize."

"Um, I think I'll go now…" Chiharu left, her head bowed.

"Well, uh, I'll think I'll go, too," Yamazaki said, preparing to leave.

"No! You stay here and keep me company."

Yamazaki sat next to Syaoran, feeling rather awkward. "Hey, uh, Prince Li, sorry about that. It's kinda embarrassing to have a best friend like Chiharu sometimes."

"She's your best friend?" Syaoran asked, astounded.

"Why, doesn't it look like it?"

"No… I thought she was your girlfriend or something."

"What!" Yamazaki exclaimed, his face reddening fairly quickly. "She's not! I mean, she'll never be! She hates me!"

Syaoran laughed. "Hates you? I'd say the opposite. She really seems to care a lot about you. Didn't you see how worried she was? She must've thought I'm going to throw you into jail only because of a made-up story."

Yamazaki blushed even more.

"You know, it's pretty obvious that she likes you. And you probably like her too."

"I—I don't," stammered Yamazaki.

"C'mon, I know you do! Admit it to her face, why don't ya? You'll never know, things could actually work out!"

Syaoran, who was expecting his royal advisor to get all embarrassed again was shocked to find him actually grinning when his face emerged.

"Yeah, you say that, but you're the one with revelation problems here," he teased.

Syaoran felt his own face going red as he muttered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Ha! Don't know what I'm talking about? Don't know what I'm talking about?" Yamazaki repeated incredulously. "I know full well what I'm talking about, thank you!"

He examined the prince up close, and said, "I'm not dumb to not be able to figure things out by myself."

Before Syaoran could even reply, the door flew open once again, then Meiling came running in and threw her arms around Syaoran so forcefully that the two of them toppled backward onto the floor, Meiling on top of Syaoran.

"Oh, Syaoran! Did you miss me? I did! I wasn't able to enjoy my bath because I was busy thinking of you waiting endlessly for me!"

Syaoran couldn't speak; Meiling's weight was only too much. Desperate, he turned his head to Yamazaki, who wasn't even noticed by Meiling, his only hope.

Sweat-dropping uneasily Yamazaki slowly approached the couple and tapped Meiling gently on the shoulder, asking, "Uh, Princess, don't you think you should get off of Prince Li? What I mean to say is, you might be suffocating him," he added hastily as Meiling glared at him, eyes narrowed. Syaoran gasped helplessly for breath for good measure. This was true, he was already turning blue.

Meiling noticed and got off him, scowling and pouting at the same time. (A/N: if that is humanely possible)

Yamazaki extended his hand to help the prince up. "Daijoubu ka, Li-san?"

"Hai, hai," Syaoran replied, clutching a stitch in his chest as Yamazaki pulled him up.

Seeing as Syaoran had already regained his breath, Meiling immediately grabbed his arm again.

"Come on, now Syaoran, let's go for a walk," she said, more forcefully than lovingly.

Fighting the impulse to groan, Syaoran oblidged.

Meiling stirred him out of his room, leaving Yamazaki alone.

She took him outside. "Hmm… Where should we go?" she muttered, more to herself than to Syaoran.

Sakura
Sakura was all ready. She looked at herself in every angle in front of her life-size mirror. "Oh Tomoyo you make me look so good!"

"Um-hum. That's what royal advisors are for, right? To be the princess' personal designer."

"But you're more than that Tomoyo! You're my best friend!"

"I know that princess."

"Please stop calling me princess. Call me Sakura-chan, and I'll call you Tomoyo-chan."

"Alright then, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo glanced at the clock. "Oh no, we're late! Let's go Sakura-chan, and enough dilly-dallying!" She added as she noticed Sakura fidgeting with her choker-style necklace.

"Ok, ok…" Sakura stopped and hurried out of the room at Tomoyo's heels.

They reached the throne room where they were supposed to go. They halted in front of the guard who opened the door to let them in straightaway.

Sakura tried to act her best, careful not to trip. She got in front of her father and curtsied. "Good afternoon, otou-san," she said in a low voice.

King Fujitaka perceived the worry in her voice and gave her a smile to assure that everything was alright and she did nothing to disappoint him.

"Sakura-san, my daughter, princess of the Kinomoto kingdom, I would like you to meet our guest, Prince Hiroku of the Hiroku kingdom."

A welll-dressed boy, or should I say a man, who seemed a couple of years older than Sakura who she hadn't noticed stepped in front of Sakura and bowed. She took her hand and kissed it, saying, "Oh, it is my delight to meet you, Princess."

Sakura, who was still lost in thought about Syaoran didn't even blush. "Hello," she said vaguely.

Prince Hiroku, who had never met a girl in his life who did not swoon at the sight of him, was astonished.

To cover for the moment of silent surprise, the king spoke again.

"Well, Sakura, you will be playing host to our guest today."

Sakura suddenly regained her senses upon hearing her name. "Wh-what?"

Touya suddenly appeared out of nowhere and said, "I'm awfully sorry, Prince Hiroku, but it seems that my dear sister is still in lala land. This happens quite often, I just hope that you'll get used to it in the meantime at least."

"Hey!" Sakura said.

"Well, that certainly proves me wrong." Touya said, rolling his eyes.

"Hmph."

"Now, now, my children, enough of that. As I had said, Sakura will be entertaining our guest today."

"But why me? You can do it!" Sakura complained.

"I'd have loved to, but I have a very, very important meeting to attend." And seeing her mouth open again with her eyes fixed on Touya, he added, "Touya is supposed to attend the meeting too."

Sakura groaned. "Why does it have to be me, of all people," she muttered. She never expected that she would be spending an afternoon with a pampered and spoiled prince.

"Let's go then, shall we?" asked Prince Hiroku. Recognizing defeat, Sakura just nodded and led the way to the entrance hall.

"Okay then, why don't I show you the garden?" she asked, as the only interesting place she could think of came to her mind.

"Um, are you sure? I hoped you could give me a tour of the castle," the prince said.

Sakura snorted. "The castle? Are you sure about that? Don't you think you've seen enough castles to last you a lifetime? Besides, there's nothing at all interesting about this place."

He frowned. "I don't think so. In fact, I have this nagging feeling that you're probably hiding something."

Sakura snorted again. "And what gives you that idea?"

Prince Hiroku raised an eyebrow at her. "Have you heard about the legend of the Kinomoto crown jewels?"

"Kinomoto crown jewels? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Oh, so I see. You don't know anything about it. Unless, of course there is still the possibility you're keeping it a secret from me."

"I already told you, I don't know what you're talking about."

"So you don't believe in the legend?"

"What do you think? Of course not! I've never even heard my father talking about such a thing."

The prince sighed hopelessly and sympathetically. "Poor, poor Sakura. You're father is probably hiding it from you."

Sakura had had enough. "That's it! I've had enough of this. I don't believe in such legends! Undoubtedly you've been listening to the stupid rumors that some people were spreading in the streets! You're the pathetic one here, not me. Imagine a prince hearing a useless rumor, believing in it, and tries to find some crown jewels that don't even exist! Let's go outside!"

The prince had no choice. He followed the princess outside and almost walked into her as she came to a halt.

She turned to face him. "Why don't we go into the forest? It's much more interesting in there, rather than our small garden."

He froze. "Th-the forest? But aren't there werewolves in there?" he said dropping his voice dramatically almost as if afraid someone would hear him and think he was a coward.

Apparently Sakura thought so.

"Here we go again! Not another one of your stupid rumors! So what if there are werewolves? It's not the night of the full moon yet! It's not even night yet! Can't you see the sun?"

"B-but it could still be dangerous!" he cried out, but it was too late. Sakura grabbed his hand and dragged him to the gate. She wouldn't take no for an answer.

They found the large double-door gate closed. Sakura looked around at the guard.

"Hey, you! Can you please open the gates?"

"I'd love to princess, but I can't."

"And why is that?"

"By the King's order, princess."

"What! Come on, please let us out, after all, I am the princess! And aren't you supposed to obey my orders as well? My word is as good as otou-san's!"

"I know that, princess. Unfortunately, the King's word is law. And he ordered me specifically that no one, royal blood or not, will leave or enter the castle until his meeting is finished."

"Darn it," Sakura cursed softly under her breath. She turned on her heel and strode away, noticing all the while the prince's relief. She rounded on him.

"You think you're in luck today, huh? Well, you should know, not all werewolves are bound to eat you, and not all people are afraid of them, got it?"

He snorted. "Don't tell me you're not afraid of those beasts?"

"Why should I be? I know perfectly well that a lot of werewolves are practically harmless."

"How would you know? You wouldn't have a friend of a werewolf."

"What if I do?"

"You don't."

"Well, tell you what. I do have a werewolf for a friend, and I'm not afraid to use him against you. Mind you, he's so nice, would never hurt me for the world and would do anything for me. So be afraid. Be very afraid."

"You're a liar," the prince said, though there was a touch of a quiver in his voice.

It was Sakura's turn to snort. "I never lie. I may keep secrets, but I never lie."

"That's what you say," he muttered.

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. That reminds me, now that we know that we are forbidden to take even a step through the gate, take me for the castle tour instead."

"Are you ordering me around?" Sakura asked indignantly. "And I am not going to let you have your way, never, no matter what."

Prince Hiroku, if you could ever call him that (because I prefer to call him, and Sakura agrees with me, 'the spoiled brat of a big-head'), said, "Hmmph. You're not going to get away with this, Sakura-chan."

"DON'T call me Sakura-chan! You have no right to call me that!"

"Oh, I have every right to call you so."

"You do not! We're not even close! Only my otou-san, onii-chan, Tomoyo-chan and Syaoran-kun can call me that!"

Hiroku suddenly raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I know about your otou-san, onii-chan and your royal advisor, but this 'Syaoran-kun' I have never heard of. He must be quite a close friend…?"

Sakura's cheeks turned pink. She shook them away and said, dignified, "I've had enough of you! Shut up and just leave me alone! And don't you dare talk about my personal life, if you value your life!"

Fortunately (for him), Prince Hiroku knew when to take a hint. Afraid that Sakura is gonna chop his head off, he edged away, and when he sure he was distant enough, ran away almost as fast as Syaoran would if Sakura caught him staring at her.

Sakura shook her head again and sank at the nearest bench. She groaned. Oh, if ever her father finds out that she shouted at a prince of nobility and royalty like that (and he was bound to), she would be in BIG trouble. She just knew it.

Syaoran
"Let's go for a walk in the garden, shall we, Syaoran?" Meiling finally asked. Actually, it sounded more of an order, rather than a suggestion.

"Whatever pleases you," was Syaoran's reply. He wanted to keep her happy for the meantime at least. An angry Meiling was a very scary thing.

Still clutching Syaoran's arm tightly as if her life depended on it, they walked towards the garden. They took a nice long walk round and round, until their feet hurt. That wasn't surprising, given the fact that he Li's garden was HUMONGOUS.

"Syaoran, my feet hurt," Meiling whined.

"Why don't we sit down, then?" Syaoran said, gesturing at the wooden bench nearby.

"No."

"Let's sit, then… Wait, what did you say?"

"I said no. I don't want to sit."

Syaoran slapped himself mentally. Here we go again, he thought. This was just the beginning of Meiling's whole afternoon of pestering him.

Prince Hiroku
Phew, thought the prince. It's good to be away from that absolutely crazy girl. Now he only had to think about more pressing matters. Like if he should tell King Fujitaka about it and how to get to the throne room. Of course, he was sure he should tell on the princess. But he was also sure she'll get into a whole lot of trouble if he does. But then again, he had to get revenge. He just had to.

He looked around and caught sight of a black-haired girl walking in another direction.

"Hey, you! Maidservant!"

The girl blinked then turned to look at him. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Hiroku recognized her as the princess' royal advisor, but he didn't say so. "Yeah, you. How do I get to the throne room?"

"Prince Hiroku, is that you? Why aren't you with the princess?"

"Never mind, long story, now how do I get there?"

"Come along, then, your highness."

He followed her, and was surprised to see that he hadn't been too far from it, considering he had been standing a few feet from the door.

The guards opened the door for them, interrupting the meeting.

"Good afternoon, your majesty, please forgive me for my lateness, as you see, I had to direct people to the right path," Tomoyo curtsied.

"Prince Hiroku? What are you doing here? Where is my daughter?"

For a moment Hiroku considered telling him that they went on a dangerous journey, and that his beloved daughter had been unfortunate enough to feel the mighty dragon's wrath. He thought better of it.

"We had uh… a few minor disagreements, and uh," he tried hard to choose his words carefully. "In the end, she, I mean, I ended up walking away, you know, in case she does something to me."

"And precisely what did she tell you? What did you have arguments about?"

"Well, a lot of things."

"I asked you to be precise," he king said, stressing on the word.

Darn it, why do you have to be so nosy?, Hiroku thought. Besides, what am I doing standing here listening to a nosy old guy when I can be swimming and sunbathing in our pool at home? Why on earth did I ever agree to this meeting?

"I am so sorry, but unfortunately, Kinomoto-san, I am in no place to tell you. I will only get your dear daughter in trouble, though she is already in big trouble with me, I am much too kind to get her in more trouble." He smirked at his brilliancy.

"I appreciate your concern for her, but it will be for the better if you tell me what is wrong, and maybe I will be able to correct her, thus making her a better lady than she already is."

"Alright, I suppose I can tell you as long she doesn't get in trouble." He wagged his index finger at him. Now isn't this great, not only does he think I have sincere concern for his crazy daughter that he'll allow me to take her hand in married once she's calmed down, she'll also get in trouble with him, because no matter what fathers say, they always end up lecturing their children.

"I should be honest in telling you that we did not get along in anything. I simply asked her to take me for a nice tour around the castle, but she wanted to take me for a walk in the garden instead," he said, leaving out the crown jewels out of the story completely. "I had to oblige, it would not be polite for me to argue with her when I didn't know too much about her yet. So she dragged me away."

Everyone listened intently without a word.

"When we got outside, she had an idea to go to he forest. "

"Wait," the king interrupted. "I told the guards not to let anyone out, no mater what, until our meeting is finished."

"Yes, we found out about that," Hiroku nodded (A/N: By now I've gotten tired of yping Prince Hiroku, so Hiroku will have to do.) "But we did not argue about that. It was Sakura who argued with the guards. Anyway, I never agreed to go out into the forest, so it was fine with me."

By this time Touya muttered, "You're only afraid of the so-called werewolves. Ha. Like, it's not even dark out yet."

Unforunately for Touya, King Fujitaka heard him, (even if Touya's target didn't) and frowned at him as if to say, "Don't you dare start with one of our guest. You know that this visit is very important."

Touya shut up at once.

Hiroku went on. "Later on, Sakura got all cranky all of a sudden, got angry at me and made me shut up, go away and leave her alone. I was so surprised(A/N: not to mention afraid), and since I thought I should respect her privacy," he added to make him look good, of course, "I left her alone."

The king sighed. "Tomoyo-san, will you please fetch my daughter and bring her here."

Tomoyo immediately opened her mouth to defend her best friend when he said, rather exasperatedly, "Please, Tomoyo, just get her."

Tomoyo doesn't give in like that. "Onegai, Kinomoto-san, may I please have permission to speak?"

"Alright then," sighed the king, as he finally gave in.

"I am sure that Sakura-chan has a very good reason to act like that. These things rarely happen for her and she never expected that she would be entertaining our guest this afternoon. So please don't get too mad at her. I know that you expect the best from your one and only daughter, but I believe that she has a very good reason to get all cranky like that, because that rarely ever happens, and you don't really stick around too much, your majesty, for you to know that." She spoke without much pausing, and when she was done she inhaled as if she had just run a mile. She was rather nervous, you never know what a king has in mind.

However, King Fujitaka did not get angry. On the contrary, he actually smiled. This surprised Tomoyo quite a bit.

"I understand what you mean. Don't worry, I won't go too hard on her, but I cannot promise that I won't tell her off for a little. And now, Tomoyo-san, please, for the last time, fetch my daughter."

Tomoyo did obey this time, very much relieved.

Sakura
By this time, Sakura had gotten very tense and uneasy and worried and nervous (I know that they all mean just the same, but Sakura is having mixed feelings right now). Thoughts such as I'll never be able to see Syaoran again; If father knowst that he's a werewolf, he's dead for sure; and Otou-san will forbid me from seeing him ran through her mind. She kept on chewing her nails and was close to tears. However, before this could happen, she spotted a figure in the distance and she heard Tomoyo call her in her soft, gentle voice, "Sakura-cahn! There you are! I've been looking for you!"

Sakura immediately stood up and ran to Tomoyo. "Tomoyo-chan! Oh, Tomoyo-chan! Syaoran is in so much trouble! Otou-san knows doesn't he! He knows! That jerk Hiroku told him, didn't he!" she wailed, tears streaming down her front.

"What on earth are you talking about, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo had to half shout in order for Sakura to hear her in between all her wailing. Nevertheless, she hugged her friend and patted her on the back a bit.

Sakura stopped all of a sudden. "What do you mean?" she asked as she wiped her tears. "Of course he knows! I accidentally let Syaoran's name slip in front of Hiroku! Surely he told father all about him! He knows I've been meeting a werewolf almost everyday for 11 years now!"

"Really princess! You shouldn't get a nervous breakdown all because of a stupid assumption! He never said anything about Li-kun, and I know since I've been there the whole time and I was he one who took the prince to the throne room!"

"S-so he doesn't know? Otou-san, I mean."

"Of course not! You only said you let his name slip, but I'm sure that you would never go as far as to tell him that you've known him for 11 years now, that he's a werewolf and that you're in love with him!"

Suddenly, Sakura understood what her best friend meant. "Hey you're right! I didn't! He doesn't know!" Sakura started a dance of celebration with Tomoyo as she thought over what Tomoyo had said once again. "Wait a minute! Did you say… did you say…" Slowly, her cheeks turned pink, then red, then scarlet. "Tomoyo-chan! I am not in love with him!"

Tomoyo giggled at her own joke. "Of course you're not… After all, you only talk about him everytime, and you are always thinking about him!"

Sakura only blushed even more.

"Anyway, we'd better go, the king is waiting."

Sakura wailed again. "Oh no! I'm in so much trouble! Even if he doesn't know about Syaoran, he still knows that I shouted at a prince, doesn't he?"

Tomoyo nodded, she pitied her friend. "I'm afraid he does."

Syaoran
Meiling pulled hard on Syaoran's arm. "I said my feet are tired."

Syaoran gazed a the sky for a moment as if asking God to rescue him from his afternoon of hell. "Then let's sit down. That would be the most sensible thing to do, don't you think?"

"I already told you, I don't want to sit," his fiancé replied, whining still.

Syaoran looked around, when a stroke of inspiration suddenly came to him. "You wanna go horse-back riding?"

Meiling considered that for a moment. Finally, she said, "I guess it would be alright."

They made their way to the stables, Meiling whining about her feet every now and then.

Syaoran stopped walking in front of Cherry's stable. Cherry was his mother's gift for him on his 6th birthday (A/N: I'm not sure if horses can say alive for 10 years, but what the heck, that's all I can think about). He named it Cherry for come reason. (A/N: You can almost see the word SAKURA springing in front of you)

He was about to open the door when Meiling stopped him from doing so. "I don't want to ride on your stinky horse!"

"Meiling, first of all, Cherry is not stinky. In fact, the stable boy over there had her washed just this morning before I left."

"Okey, so maybe she's not stinky! But her name is! Just imagine naming someone 'Cherry'! You should have named her Mei-Mei or Ling instead!"

Syaoran looked at the sky again. Ooh, boy, so now she's jealous of a girl she hasn't even me all because I've named my horse after her!, he thought.

"Look, Meiling, I can't change her name now, she only listens when I call her Cherry! Now, if you don't want to ride on her, why don't we ride on Little Wolf instead?"

"Fine," Meilin huffed.

Syaoran closed Cherry's stable door and opened Little Wolf's. He made to prepare it for a nice ride out, when Meiling called, "Hey stable boy! Come on over here and prepare my horse, you lazy kid!"

The stable by, who was feeding the other horse, hobbled over hastily. He went into Little Wolf's stable to get him ready.

Syaoran looked furious. He glared at Meiling who looked certainly proud of herself. "That, was disgusting. I could have done it fine by myself, why did you have to call the poor boy over when you can clearly see that he was busy?" he said in a soft but dangerous voice, so only Meiling will be able to hear him.

Meiling pouted. "I only wanted to help you," she said in the most loving voice she can muster.

"Look, I don't need your help," Syaoran began, his voice rising with every word. "You have been bugging me ever since I arrived today. Didn't you know that!"

Now Meiling looked rather afraid. She tried pouting again, hoping against hope that he will feel sorry for him.

Syaoran felt the exact opposite.

"DON'T YOU DARE POUT AT ME! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOUR POUTING, YOUR NUZZLING, THE WAY YOU GRIP MY ARM SO HARD I CAN'T FEEL IT ANYMORE, THE WAY YOU CALL MY NAME, THE WAY YOU HATE MY HORSE, THE WAY YOU ACT AS IF YOU OWN ME!" he finished.

For a moment, Meiling was expressionless. Her lower lip trembled, then before she can break down and cry, she looked down and said so quietly that Syaoran can barely hear her, "Then what am I supposed to do to make you happy?"

Syaoran was rather taken aback by that reply. He said, "I need some time alone. I need space. Please leave me alone, even for just a short while." Then he turned on his back on her, boarded Little Wolf and set off.

Meiling couldn't help it. She finally broke down and cried. She ran away, back to the castle, to her room, before anyone can question her.

END OF CHAPTER

A/N:Hiya! If you are reading this, thank you. Really. And if you are wondering why Yamazaki got to be Syaoran's advisor rather than Eriol, well, Eriol has another purpose. I am so sorry for not being able to update for so long. Can you imagine? Christmas and New Year has passed! Hope you enjoyed the fic. I hope I'll update soon.

Hmm… so, I managed to type a 6,258 word-long fic… That's good enough for me, I guess! Oh, and Mini Sweety, if you happen to be reading this (just in case) I want you to know that I did get the idea from you, and I did it because I wanted to monitor my progress.