Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is strictly property of CLAMP.

AHEM! AHEMMMMMMMMM! Do I have your attention now? Good.

Ice Queen is not given up on – far from it. Right now school is extremely busy, but I will update as much as I can. Try to bear with me… feel my pain, yah know? -

There's a certain event coming up for Sakura. But… you'll just have to wait to see what that is. Thanks everyone for all the wonderful reviews. I would post personal messages back on here… but… that would take a while… if you want to ask something about this fic or any of my other ones you can e-mail me at Queen

Chapter Twenty-Nine

An irritated sigh emitted from a certain Kinomoto Sakura who was currently sitting at a table, coldly refusing every dance offer given to her. There was no way in hell that she was going to play all nice and dolly… even for Yukito.

"Sakura-chan! Why don't you have some fun? That frown is going to be permanently implanted onto your face. Plus, Touya would be sad if he saw you like this."

Rolling her eyes, Sakura glanced over at the pouting snow bunny standing next to her, "You really look dignified with that pout of yours, Yukito-san… and… you know I'm not like that anymore. And Touya… I think he'd understand."

He grinned and took a seat next to the younger girl, tilting his head over to the side trying one more time to get her to dance, "Just because you don't like to smile anymore doesn't mean you can't enjoy yourself… please? I heard all about how you do enjoy yourself more now… because of Li Syaoran right? Eriol told me-"

She stood up, causing her chair to go clattering to the floor. All the guests stopped talking and stared at her as she stalked away, ignoring all the concerned servants running up to her.

Yukito just stood there watching her retreating figure.

"Sakura-chan…"

"… you're kidding right? We can go… just like that?" Syaoran stood there, dumbfounded by the information Tomoyo had just given him. The three of them… him, Tomoyo, and Eriol… were going to Hokkaido.

"T-Then why… why in a week? Why not sooner? Why are you telling me that I can't see until a certain day?"

Amethyst eyes looked at him sadly, "Syaoran-kun. You have to understand exactly what… what Sakura is right now. She's no longer someone you can just approach in the streets. Yukito has noticed something. That's why we have these invitation… and these tickets. We know why all the flights were book now. They were reserved for all the guests going to the event. Please calm down. We're going to go see Sakura. Just wait."

Syaoran looked slightly guiltily at the tired woman trying to comfort him. "Yes… of course, Tomoyo-san. Sorry."

"Hey! Li-kun!" a girl with light brown pigtails came running over to the boy who was currently eating lunch on the branch of a Sakura tree. "Come eat with us!"

It was Chiharu. She seemed worried about him.

Smiling at her, Syaoran hopped off the tree and nodded, "Sure. But what's the special occasion?"

"Special occasion? You used to eat with us before you did with the Ice Queen- I mean Kinomoto-san." Syaoran was a bit touchy whenever it came to someone saying 'Ice Queen' in a non-well meaning manner.

"Oh… that's right. Hey guys." he sat down, and Yamazaki promptly began shooting off another story about how watermelons were actually used to make houses in southern Somalia.

Syaoran looked away absently, thinking about how he used to talk with these people before Sakura. He preferred Sakura… but just in a different way. They were great friends, but if she was there… something just was no longer complete.

"Li-kun? Daijoubu? You seem… distracted," Rika looked at him concernedly. "Is it about Kinomoto-san? Um… do you… do you miss her?"

He noticed how difficult it was for her to say something even remotely affectionate about Tomoeda High's resident Ice Queen, but merely sighed and gave her a smile, "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

"I don't mean to pry… or to sound rude, but I don't really think you can blame me for asking. Isn't the Ice- I mean, Kinomoto-san kind of well… well… oh I don't know… mean?" they all stared at him, expecting some sort of bizarre answer, but Syaoran merely shrugged.

"Actually… no."

They just continued to stare at him.

"What I mean is, no, she's not really mean. She's even… nice. It just depends on how you treat her, I guess."

"Right…" Naoko pushed up her glasses. "So are you two going out?"

Syaoran gave a sigh of relief when the bell rang. He loved that bell. Gulping as he caught the suspicious glare Chiharu was giving him, he raced towards the school building, praying that she would forget to interrogate him later. Some things were… too… personal.

Idly, he sat in his seat and tuned out the teacher's droning. The only interesting class was Eriol's anyway… but… it struck him as odd. How was it that life could function so normally even though the Ice Queen was gone? Sure… she was a lone wolf, and the only contact students ever made with her were on accident… but no one seemed much happier that she had left. No one seemed very upset either. People talked, gossiped about it… yet…

"Li Syaoran-kun!" a plump woman waddled over to his desk, doing her best to look intimidating. It wasn't working. "Would you care to explain why you weren't paying attention?"

He rolled his eyes, "Don't have a cow woman. If your lectures were worth my time I might listen, but they're obviously not."

Sakura was rubbing off on him. No matter. He always hated this teacher anyway. So mean and ugly a woman.

As the sensei bristled, he hopped to his feet, "I need to do something. Excuse me."

"Kinomoto-sama?" a meek voice could be heard from her door, and Sakura merely groaned in acknowledgement. When the door opened, a gasp could be heard. "Kinomoto-sama! Daijoubu desu ka?"

It was that servant girl… Tsubame… she rushed over and reached toward her forehead to check for any signs of fever, but Sakura swatted the hand away.

"Is it custom here to harass your mistress when she's sleeping?" the irritation in her voice was not meant to be concealed. As Tsubame stepped backwards, profusely apologizing, Sakura groaned again. "Shush. Go away… is it time to eat or something? What did you want?"

"T-The master wishes to see you… Kinomoto-sama… he's waiting in the garden…"

"Yukito-san…? Fine. Go. Run and do chores or something. Leave me alone. Tell him I'll be there."

"H-Hai!"

"I stand by what I said before. You look prettier when you smile," a kind, handsome smile shone from the snow rabbit's face, and he reached up to catch a falling Sakura blossom. "It was warm… like this brilliant, lovely flower right here. Your mother named you after it… you should smile more."

"What do you want?" her arms were crossed, and she leaned against the tree, looking indifferent, though her mind was racing and her heart was wrenching from its usual position in her chest. Though she had long since built an icy wall to shield her heart, there were always words from certain people that could slice through it mercilessly.

Everyone who was near her wanted to melt that ice. They didn't understand that they couldn't melt it. In order to pass through that barrier… they would have to shatter it. It had been shattered… once before. Now it was stronger than ever, and even more painful to break. Words could slice through it at times, but it was only a matter of seconds before she repaired the damage.

"So blunt. Very well, I wanted to see if you are ok, Sakura-chan. You seemed upset last night… more than I expected you to be. All the guests were quite startled. The maid, Tsubame mentioned you looking a little flushed… are you feeling a bit under the weather?" the concern in his voice was genuine, and it made Sakura want to smile. He had been her first crush after all. Granted, she had gotten over him once she reached second grade. Yet all the same, there was something about Yukito that warmed her inside.

Just not enough to melt the ice. Never enough to melt the ice.

It was comfortable here. The wind was blowing, the stream was singing, and the trees were dancing. Auburn hair swayed gently with the breeze and an expression of contentment was screaming to settle itself on her face, but the Ice Queen quickly ended all such thoughts, "Fine. Just peachy. Is that it? If so, I'll be leaving."

"How's a tour of Hokkaido sound?" Yukito grinned and took her hand just like he used to. Only this time, she wasn't blushing like the cute little girl she used to be. "Just you and me. We don't need a car. You want to go on roller blades? I'll grab the bike I used to ride with Touya."

Touya. Even still that name resonated achingly within her heart. If Touya hadn't… well… she wouldn't have had to be like this. Then again, she would still be with Akira…

Yukito was trying hard. It was enough. Sakura gave him a barely noticeable smile and walked alongside of him, not resisting the loose grip he had on her hand, "Sure. Why not."

"Yatta! Let's stop at the ice cream stand first. I'm kind of hungry…"

Sakura rolled her eyes, but on the inside, she was beaming. How long was it since she had had so much fun? It had to be so very… actually… it was… with Syaoran.

The thought dimmed her inner smile, and she resumed the persona of the indifferent teenager.

If Yukito noticed the change, he didn't say anything, but Sakura could have sworn that she noticed his grin dimming just a bit as well. It made her feel guilty. But. She was the Ice Queen. After all.

"Kinomoto-sama! The organizer of the ball needs to know the color of your dress so that it matches…" the servant boy trailed off, noticing the quickly lowering temperature around his master and mistress, and the dark, murderous look on Tsukishiro-sama's normally smiling face. He fled.

"Don't think about that Sakura-chan. Everything will be taken care of. Let's go."

"… it fine. I came back just for that reason anyhow. I have a duty to fulfill. I'll be eighteen soon enough. But I don't see why you cannot continue to be master of this estate. I was never needed here. Even Touya agreed."

Yukito turned and smiled, tilting his head slightly over to the side and said, "You are always needed Sakura-chan. No one can take your place. Least of all me. I'm just here to help make things run smoothly. Talking about smooth things… how's about we get a smoothie after ice cream? There are some…"

Sakura hid a smile as he continued talking about his beloved food. Yukito will always be Yukito after all. There was no changing that. But she couldn't imagine what Touya had been thinking when he made that decision.

Her. Mistress of the entire estate. With Yukito to look after it until she was of age. Then having him find her a husband.

Sometimes she wanted to call Touya back from the dead just to strangle him for making that choice.

He definitely was mad. Absolutely crazy. Her only brother was a nutcase. Even still… she was grateful that he had taken all the pains to find her after they had been separated at their parents' death. The car crash. The adoptions. The inheritance. The heir. His death.

Too many thoughts and emotions were coming at her. Sakura shook it off with a shrug and chose strawberry as her ice cream flavor. Since she had rejected the smoothie idea, they were going to go to an amusement park. Licking her frozen delight calmly, she wondered how her… how Syaoran was doing.

Probably enjoying life as a popular person with lots of friends. She had always known that he had it in him. The looks, the personality, the charm. A happy life. One filled with joy and simplicity.

Man. That thought hurt. Like hell.

To be Continued…

Yep. That's where I leave you guys this chapter. I hope that you are beginning to understand exactly what is going on with Sakura's duty. I know that its kind of cliché, but bear with me. I'm not exactly great at this.

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