#5 Ano Sa…

Syaoran couldn't help but blush. How could he not? The one girl he'd loved had just kissed him. Well, not just, at least 8-10 hours had passed since the event, but the moment was still fresh in his mind. The place just over the corner of his mouth still seemed to tingle.

As always, he was the first up in the morning, and in the short period of time between that and Kurogane waking, he thought about Sakura. Granted, he always thought of her, but this morning it was different. He wasn't thinking about Sakura in general, he was thinking about Sakura last night, about how sad and broken she looked. When had she acquired such a look? Such a sad, hopeless, heart breaking look didn't suit her normally cheerful disposition.

Kurogane began to moan and grumble; the first sign that he would be up soon enough, so Syaoran pushed the thought aside for a later moment, not wanting to make Kurogane think he had anything on his mind. The man always knew, somehow…

Soon after Kurogane awoke, Fai was up and cheerful, then finally came Sakura. She had her normal sweet, slightly confused look that she normally did in the morning, but there was just a bit of sadness lingering in her eyes. Syaoran was sure he was the only one to notice it.

Mokona jumped onto Sakura's shoulder.

"Good morning everyone! Mokona has wonderful news!" the creature yelled happily.

"You little rat! Stop yelling so early in the God damned morning!" Kurogane cursed, throwing a pillow at Mokona, who swiftly dodged it by jumping up, causing it to hit Sakura straight in the face. She made a little yelp that sounded faintly like a squeak a mouse might make before falling back onto her bed in surprise.

"Princess!" Syaoran yelled and ran over to her side, "Are you alright!"

Sakura merely laughed a little and looked away from him, "I am fine, Syaoran-kun…"

Syaoran, hurt by her reaction to him, simply nodded and stepped back. Was she mad at him? Had he done something wrong?

"Oooh, Kuro-ryu, you've done it now! Syaoran-kun will have to beat you up!" Fai teased.

"Geh, shut up you stupid wizard! I wasn't aiming for her; it's that stupid meat bun's fault!" Kurogane yelled back, pointing an accusing finger at Mokona, who was now on the floor laughing at them all.

"Um… Mokona… what was the good news you had for us…?" Sakura asked timidly, getting up from her bed again and kneeling down next to the mystical creature.

"Ah, that's right! Mokona has good news! Should Mokona tell everyone now?"

"Just say it so you can be done talking for the day!" Kurogane growled.

"Late last night while everyone was fast asleep I sensed one of Sakura-chan's feathers! And it hasn't moved very far either! Should Mokona lead everyone to it or does Kuro-chan wanna cool off a little?" Mokona had added that last part as a way to piss Kurogane off further, and needless to say, it worked.

"Cool my head! Who says I need to cool my head! Man, let's just go find the feather, beat the shit out of the guy or whoever who has it, and leave already!"

Syaoran nodded, "I agree with Kurogane, we should go. If we're lucky we can move on to another world today." He looked over at Sakura and felt a twinge in his chest to see she was avoiding him. He sighed and went to put his shoes on, "We should leave now…"

He felt Kurogane's gaze dig into his back and chose to ignore it. This wasn't Kurogane's problem, it was his. Even though he knew that the man cared about him and wouldn't think twice about helping him - no matter what he said out loud - Syaoran wouldn't, couldn't let Kurogane fight this battle for him.

"Mokona senses the feather closer and closer every second! We'll be there in no time!" Mokona declared cheerfully, but the atmosphere in their little group was anything but happy. Syaoran didn't know about Fai and Kurogane, but Sakura was anything but fine. She was slowly falling into the back of the group, and looking down at her shoes sadly. What could possibly be wrong? Had he really hurt her that much?

Syaoran took a deep breath and walked over to her - he had made up his mind, he was going to find out what was wrong. He fell back in the group until he was walking beside Sakura, who had chosen not to look at him.

"Princess…" he began.

"Could you…not," she mumbled to her feet.

He blinked at her in mild surprise, "What?"

"Don't… don't call me that…" she looked up at him now, the sadness more eminent than ever.

"Oh…well, okay…" he replied, uncomfortable now. "What do you want me to call you?"

"Sakura… I guess. I just don't like being called Princess…"

Syaoran smiled a little as he remembered all the times she had told, yelled, screamed, and pouted for him to call her Sakura and not Princess. Maybe a little bit of the old Sakura was still present within the girl's heart.

"…Sakura…" he corrected and saw her relax a little. "…Sakura…what's wrong?"

She looked away again. "Nothing, nothing is wrong…"

Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair. He didn't know what to do or how to get her to talk to him. He thought back to the night before and how happy he'd been she'd kissed him. Looking back at her, he found her near to tears.

"…Ano sa… last night, I was happy…"

She looked back at him now, a surprised expression on her face, surprised and hopeful.

"Y…you were…?"

He smiled at her and nodded, "Yeah, really happy, I was really happy you kissed me, if not a bit surprised."

She stared at him a moment, during which Syaoran wasn't sure if he'd said something wrong, before she suddenly stopped walking and collapsed onto the ground in tears.

"Ah!" he cried, startled, running over to and kneeling down next to her.

"I-I'm sorry! Did I say something wrong? I'm so sorry, Sakura!" he cried, hugging her.

She hiccupped and wrapped her arms around his neck, "I'm so happy!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "I thought you were mad at me… I'm so, so happy you aren't!"

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Syaoran brought her close, surprised that she thought he was angry at her. "I could never be angry with you, Sakura…"

And suddenly she was kissing him, a very un-Sakura thing to do. "I love you, Syaoran-kun! I've loved you for so long! I'm so sorry I made you worry!"

His hands were trembling now and he was finding it hard to control his emotions. He tightened his grip around her and buried his face into her hair. His tears mingled with her tan locks and soon he couldn't control himself, full out sobbing into her neck.

"Syaoran-kun?" she asked worriedly, "Syaoran-kun, are you okay? Have I done something wrong?"

He shook his head and between gasps muttered the only words he could think of.

"Thank you… thank you so much…"