Disclaimer: If I look like a crazily wonderful genius millionaire, then maybe I'm part of CLAMP, but since I'm not… DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK!

So, here's the update… not too late, I don't think. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter! The ever-important ball takes place and… what's this? A special appearance by a certain someone!

Be sure to read Cherry Blossom and the Wolf! It's a joint fic with me and I wub x kodocha! She writes, I edit. XD

Plus, Summer is coming, so you guys can look forward to quicker updates!

Ice Queen

Chapter Thirty-Two

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"Tomoyo… are you sure that I have to wear this?" Sakura stepped out from behind a screen, fully dressed in Tomoyo's "dream outfit".

"Absolutely! You look beautiful! Just look at yourself in the mirror!" the amethyst-haired girl had stars in her eyes. "I'll call it…"

She stopped speaking when Sakura let the comb in her hand fall clattering to the floor.

Alarmed, Tomoyo rushed over to her friend, "Sakura-chan! Is there something wrong? Are you ok? SPEAK TO ME!"

"I…" small, slender fingers gripped onto the silk fabric of the dress. "I look…"

Sakura's emerald eyes widened, staring into her reflection.

She was… amazing. Beautiful…

The dress was pure silk, and was a pale, yet delicate pink, with cherry blossoms scattered all over it, most of them with silver thread outlines the soft petals. From the top to the bottom, it went for nearly invisible pink all the way down to the bottom, where it was a slightly darker shade of pink. It was strapless, and the top had a tiny V cut into the middle. Along the left side of her dress was a slit that reached from right above her knee down. It hugged her body in all the right places and she even had a silk white, see-through jacket she could place over the dress, in case she was cold.

"You look lovely! Now come over here, and let me do you're makeup for you… come on… you'll look even nicer when I'm all done.

"B-But…"

On the other side of the wall, Yukito listened quietly against the door, before slowly pulling away, smile on his face. Leave it to Tomoyo to cheer Sakura up… he had been surprised to find her working in a coffee shop, but after thinking about it he, called the amethyst-eyed girl over to help the young heiress out. After laughing to himself lightly, he strode carelessly down the hall, disappearing into his own room.

"Tomoyo-chan…" Sakura whispered, staring back into the mirror. She was perfectly done up… in every way. The top layer of her hair had been made into a messy, yet stylish bun, while the bottom layer flowed down her neck in luscious curls.

Around her emerald eyes was silver-white glitter, and a dash of the lightest green eye shadow enhanced her mesmerizing pupils. Her lips were painted with a faint, yet glowing, pink lip gloss, while studded, diamond earrings decorated her ears. In short, she did not look like she was the same Ice Queen she had been the day before.

"I don't want to go out there." Her voice trembled slightly. "Tomoyo… chan… don't make me go out there… there was a reason I ran away all those years ago."

"Sakura-chan," Tomoyo put her hands on the younger girl's shoulders, turning her around and staring at her, eye to eye. "You have to learn to let go… Touya, he-"

Sakura threw up her hands, knocking Tomoyo's off her shoulder. Standing up and walking to the other end of the room, she punched the wall… leaving a hole where her fist had made contact with the building. She bit her lip, and kept her back turned towards her best friend, "Tomoyo-chan… I can't do this… won't you help me out again…? Like you did back then? Please… just make up an excuse for me… give me enough time to run away. I won't stay in Japan this time… I'll move to America… by the time they find me, I'll be living there legally and they can't drag me back here."

"You're still feeling guilty, aren't you?" Tomoyo kept her distance from Sakura, knowing that if she went too close, her friend might make a break for the door. "Don't. It's not you're fault. There was nothing you could have done to change what happened… it's not you're fault."

"It is!" she shouted. Neither of them said anything for a little while, allowing Sakura to regain her composure. The air in the room seemed to freeze up a little, as she walked over to Tomoyo, a cold expression on her face. "And you know it. If I hadn't existed… if I hadn't been in the way, Touya would still be here… would still be alive. I was adopted into the family in the first place… I'm not a real Kinomoto, and I killed him… now you, Yukito, and Eriol are trying to drag me back to a life that I never should have had. Why would you do a thing like that? I deserve to die."

A hand went up and slammed across Sakura's face. Tomoyo glared at her, tears in her eyes, "Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up!"

Sakura touched the cheek that had been slapped gently, as if still digesting what had just occurred. "Tomoyo-chan… you…" "Yes!" Tomoyo screamed. "Yes! It was because of you that he died! Yes! You're not a real Kinomoto! But…" she put a hand on Sakura's face. "You're wrong about a few things…"

"Touya is very similar to you… in quite a number of ways… Before he found you in the streets, he had been barely alive… his family had died a long time ago… and his only friends were Yukito and Eriol. But, even still, I'm sure he would have ended up killing himself sooner or later… there just wasn't any light in his eyes anymore, but… but after he found you and brought you home, he was happy, all over again! You were his lifeline… his beloved imouto. If you didn't show up, he might have been dead long before the fire," Tomoyo sighed. "Touya died rescuing you from the fire. None of us blamed you… and yet, you, at the age of eight… while I was still only twelve, begged me to get you out of Hokkaido, so I sent you away, in the care of a friend's friend."

Tomoyo sat silently onto a chair before taking a deep breath and continuing, with Sakura's wordless consent, "I never told anyone where you were… I even covered up the trail you left behind you while running away, but all the time, my heart told me that what you were doing was wrong, but what could I do? By the time they found where you were, you were already fourteen, and I was there, trying to convince them to let you stay in your home… and Yukito allowed you to be by yourself until you were eighteen… you moved to Tomoeda by yourself after being hurt by Akira… but… I can't let you run away again."

"It's not your fault. The fire was an accident."

A knock came at the door.

"Now it's time." Tomoyo pushed her friend forward. "Go."

Sakura noiselessly stepped towards the exit, showing no resilience to Tomoyo's command, turning back at the last moment before following the servant out, she murmured, "Arigatou… and gomen nasai, Tomoyo-chan."

"I thought you'd never make it," Yukito offered a hand to the stunning star of the ball.

Sakura glared at him before taking his hand and descending the stairs with him, "Liar. You thought that I'd run away… again."

"I'll have to admit… you had me pretty scared for a moment when you showed up late," he chuckled. "But now you're here, and I'm happy. Let's go… and remember to put on a good show for the guests… you don't exactly want to make a bad impression on them – they're ruthless when it comes to gossiping."

She rolled her eyes, knowing full well that both she and Yukito didn't give a dmn about rumors. They stopped at the foot of the stair case, bowing and thanking a few people, before Yuktio nodded at her and disappeared into the crowd.

Almost instantly, Sakura was enclosed on all sides by men (most likely suitors), who were begging her for the first dance. She heard Yukito announce the start of the ball over the microphone and sighed, trying to squeeze out of the swarm of crazy Sakura-eaters surrounding her. "Let me get to a table first, please…"

When the men didn't relent and stayed huddled around her, she switched tactics. "Get the hell out of my way before I slam your faces in." That did the trick. Rich boys, raised to be perfect princes around polite, shy, and quiet princesses were too shocked to stop her as she pried her way towards the tables at the back of the room. Upon realizing what had just happened, though, the flurry of young males immediately ran after her, flattering her on her courage, boldness, and humor.

The look on Sakura's face read. "Ha. Ha. Ha."

"Just get away from-" she never got to finish her sentence, as she was whisked from the mob of crazy suitors and onto the dance floor. All the men looked enviously on as Sakura and her savior twirled around gracefully.

"Thank you… you really saved me there," Sakura sighed in relief, but as soon as she looked up and recognized her "savior's" face, she pushed him away, causing some of the people around her to stop dancing and stare. "Akira." She spat. "How the hell did you get in here?"

He grinned… the horrendously hideous mouth twisted upwards in such an awkward fashion that… well, it could hardly be called a grin. "Bribed a pretty young lady outside into letting me have her ticket. Though she wasn't as pretty . Though she wasn't as pretty as you are tonight, though." Akira reached forward, trying to get her to dance again.

She punched him… in the gut, making him double backwards, falling onto the ground. A few gasps came some of the people who had begun to take notice of the disruption, and servants were instantly on the scene.

"Take this man, and throw him out of the premises. He has no right to be here lawfully, and furthermore, he's not wanted." Yukito stood next to her, eyes blazing. "See to it that he is taken care of."

"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" he turned to her, looking at her, concerned. "I'm sorry that he had to show up… on tonight of all nights."

As if they concluded that Akira was a bad man bent on harming the great Kinomoto heiress, all the guests began crowding around her, the women asking if she was okay, and the men apologizing for not protecting her from the insolent intruder earlier.

"It's… I'm fine, please continue dancing," Sakura bit her lip to keep from screaming, and instead, forced a painfully polite smile onto her face. "What happened to the music? Yukito, please tell Satoshi to start the orchestra again. If you'll please excuse me for a moment, ladies and gentlemen."

She detached herself from the crowd of lace and frills and walked at a fast pace to the garden, never noticing the pair of eyes following her every movement.

"It's as if I'm being cursed," she hissed into the cool, night air. "But… but at least there's no pain now." She whispered.

Seeing or thinking about Akira no longer hurt her anymore… it just made her want to tear him limb from limb… and as much as she didn't want to admit it… as much as she just wanted to forget about it… it was because of Syaoran… it was because he had been there for her when Akira had tried to make a move again while she was still at school.

"Syaoran…"

"Yes?"

Sakura swung around, staring, wide-eyed at the all-too-familiar person in front of her. He stood there - Syaoran stood there, smiling his attractive, kind smile. It took an entire minute for her to snap out of her reverie and find her voice again. "What…" she gasped. "What the-"

"Yukito gave me an invitation," he answered her question. "Because he thought we still had some unfinished business to take care of… I didn't get a chance to talk to you before this because of… well… bad timing I guess. With Akira and all."

"Get lost," her voice was hard and icy. "You're not wanted any more than he was. You should have just stayed in Tomoeda, where all your friends are. Why did you come all the way to Hokkaido? Just to laugh at me because I'm wearing such pathetic clothing? Just to mock me for being forced to be all dolled up? Now you've had you're laugh… leave."

He grinned at her, scratching his head and blushing, "Actually, I think you look really nice in your dress. Daidouji-san made it for you, didn't she?"

Sakura fought to control the pink stain crawling onto her cheeks, "Leave. Leave now." She started to walk back into the building, but Syaoran grabbed her, pulling her back into a hug.

"I'm not letting you go again," he whispered into her hair, startling Sakura with his boldness. He had never done anything like this before. "I don't want you to leave me again… you have no idea how hard it was for me to get here."

"Why would you do something so utterly and completely stupid?" she hissed, trying to push him away, but he didn't let go, and held her in her arms tightly. "Get lost! Leave me alone! Why won't you just let me go live my life!"

"Do you really want that?"

Sakura stopped struggling and tilted her head upwards, staring up at him."

"Do your really want me to leave… to get out of your life? Say the word… and I'm gone." He took a deep breath. "Whatever you want."

She felt her heart pause as she gulped and…

To be Continued…

Muahahahahahaha! Now I will make you review in order to find out what happens to their precious relationship!

XD I am evil… but remember, summer is coming! So I might time updates by how many reviews I get… not how much time I have since summer is, well, summer! No school! Boo yah!

REVIEW OR DIE!

Imouto – little sister

Arigatou – thank you

Gomen nasai - sorry