§ Cherished in My Heart §
A fiction by moondocc
Rated T/Genre: Romance/Drama

Song Used: What Happened to Us? By Hoobastank

Chapter 3: A Scattered Memory

Cherry felt her knees shaking as her jade green eyes opened in wild surprise. The boy in front of her broke away, smiling (almost kindly) at her.

Flustered, Cherry pushed herself away from him and slapped him hard in the face. "What the hell are you doing?" she demanded, her eyes with an expression that could kill.

"Oh great. That was my 966th slap," the boy in front of her murmured indignantly, "do girls have to get so emotional when guys kiss them?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Do you randomly go and snog girls!" Cherry snapped, waiting for an answer. "How would you expect me to behave? Just fall in complete ecstasy with your stupid lip-lock?" she yelled, her face flushing. "Of course girls would slap you. I would be dead wondering if they didn't."

The crowd grew silent as the Cherry stared at the boy in front of her with a death glare.

His expression was blank. His hazel eyes, no, amber because they showed the slightest hint of gold, grew reflective at the gaze upon her. "I thought you were dead," he whispered.

Cherry stared at him in confusion, her head tilted sideways to look at the mysterious chestnut-haired boy standing firmly in front of her. Then she scanned the crowd, searching for a face whose eyes would align with Mr. Amber-Eyed. She found none. Confused, she spoke softly, afraid that if she spoke any louder, she would be dubbed Miss Psychopath on her first day. "Are you talking to me?"

The boy in front of her scrutinized her quickly, as if deciding if she was the emerald-eyed girl that he had loved. He decided then that there would be no doubt, that the girl standing before him was indeed Sakura Kinomoto, twenty-third to the Japanese throne, heiress of the Kinomoto Grand Hotel. He was certain it was her. Throughout the years he had tried to captivate the colors of her eyes, but found that impossible because no matter what combination of crayons he would try, they would never come out as beautiful and as realistic as hers.

"Yes, I'm talking to you," he spoke calmly, talking as if everything made sense.

Cherry leaned in, studying him closely. "Am I supposed to know you?" she asked innocently. The boy suddenly felt a sharp pain slicing through his heart. He hid it anyway. "Let's talk in private," he muttered as he grabbed her arm and led her away from the curious crowd.

"Go back to class," he ordered. Surprisingly, Cherry noted, all of them obeyed and scattered across the hallway toward their destinations. He led her to a private room as she anxiously scanned the hall one last time in attempt to find Tomoyo. To her disappointment, Tomoyo was no where in sight. She sighed, hating herself for letting this happen to her on her first day upon arrival.


I thought it was too good to be true
I found somebody who understands me
Someone who would help me to get through
And fill an emptiness i had inside me
But you kept inside and I just denied
Some things that we should have both said
I knew it was too good to be true
Cause I'm the only one who understands me

What happened to us
We used to be so perfect, now we're lost and lonely
What happened to us
And deep inside I wonder, did I lose my only?


"Sit," the boy said quietly, pointing towards a chair.

"Why should I?" Cherry asked defiantly, hatred brooding in her emerald eyes.

The boy sighed. "Never mind," he dismissed her as he walked towards the window. He lifted the windowsill open with one easy strike and proceeded to lean against it. "Don't you know who I am?"

"Nope." Cherry shook her head wildly. "But I'm tempted to report you for sexual assault."

"I didn't sexually harass you!" He argued, but it was no use. "Don't you know who Sakura Kinomoto is, at least? I mean, aren't you her? Aren't you the 'famous child princess who died tragically in a plane accident'?"

"Unfortunately no, as you can see, sadly, I'm still alive to receive that kind of inappropriate treatment from you," Cherry muttered sarcastically. "Who do you think you are, anyway, some sort of hotshot from Planet Nowhere?"

"My name is Syaoran Li," he stopped here, clearing his throat. "First questions first. Were you or were you not on the plane along with the princess?"

"Hmm, I think so, why?" Cherry asked stupidly, not realizing how dumb one could be.

"I thought all passengers on board died." Syaoran said as coolly as snow on a mountain. His cold eyes glared at her expressionlessly, anticipating her to remember those eyes from somewhere in her memory.

"Is it so ironic that I survived?"

"Yes." Syaoran answered simply. "How can someone fall from a five thousand feet altitude and survive that fall? Isn't it too ironic?"

"Well, I'm not her. I don't know how I survived," Cherry replied, studying her nails as if what Syaoran had asked was the most preposterous question that she had ever heard, "but I'm pretty sure that I'm not this Sakura Kinomoto person."

Syaoran stared at her for a moment before turning around from the window, his sun-kissed hair glimmering. "How is it possible that two people, with the same colored eyes, same colored hair, same colored skin, same colored attitude, be…two different people?" he inquired, pondering quietly to himself. "I wonder how that is…"

"Look, you should be glad that I'm not going to press charges," Cherry snapped impatiently as she walked defiantly to the door, "oh, and for the record, dream on. Sakura Kinomoto is dead toast."

Syaoran smiled at her. "I'm sorry I thought you were her. I guess I was wrong. How could I have mistaken you two from the start? I mean, she's prettier than you, and cuter too. There is no way that you could ever match her level of beauty." He said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Cherry's face blanched. "I don't even know what Sakura Kinomoto looks like, but if she had ever liked you, she must have been a blind mule."

Syaoran's eyes flared up angrily, he was just about to go strangle this new look-a-like when the door was kicked open violently by a jet-black haired girl who has snogging Syaoran earlier.

"Natalie!" Syaoran yelped in surprise.

"Where have you been, Syao-darling?" Natalie inquired. "What is this girl doing here?" she hissed. Cherry's eyes rolled heavenward. "It's ok, I'm leaving. I hope you have a good time with this idiot over here."

"Oh don't worry, I will," Natalie grimaced as she placed her arms around Syaoran's neck. Syaoran had an absolutely appalled look on his face. Cherry laughed at the image of the two lovebirds as she closed the door loudly behind her.

"That damn bastard," Cherry breathed angrily, her eyes smothering admonition to anyone who dared near her. The hall as completely empty now as she glanced furiously at her watch. She was already five minutes late to class.

She found Tomoyo waiting in a corner for her, worry written over her pale face. "Cherry!" the raven-haired girl hollered at her impatiently, gesturing for her to come near her. Cherry stared up, her face loosening a little bit. Before Tomoyo could speak, Cherry cut in.

"I have decided who my new enemy is." She said determinedly.

"Oh?" Tomoyo sweat-dropped. She didn't need an elaboration to read through her friend's mind. Cherry has always been pretty easy to read. "It's Syaoran Li, isn't it?"

"How do you know his last name?" Cherry asked in amazement, temporarily forgetting about her hatred.

"They were all talking about it after Li took you to that private classroom. He's a hotshot from here, I think, ever since he was little he has been a hotshot." Tomoyo explained. Cherry reddened at the memory that she had previously called her amber-eyed kisser "a hotshot from Planet Nowhere". Now that she thought about it, he was pretty good-looking. But so what if he was cute? He was still rude and insulting.

"Anyway, Cherry, is it safe to open my present now?" Tomoyo asked hopefully, changing the subject.

"I'll do that in Ancient Empires," Cherry said apologetically. "I don't want to be late to my first day of college… even though we're already pretty late."

"Yeah, that's true." Tomoyo nodded. "But on a serious note, I really need to do something right now," Cherry said suddenly. Tomoyo glanced worriedly at her friend, "what?"

"I really need to go to the bathroom." Tomoyo tumbled over.


Remember they thought we were too young
To really know what it takes to make it
But we had survived off what we have done
So we could show them all that they're mistaken
But who could have known the lies that would grow
Until we could see right through them
Remember they knew we were too young
We still don't know what it takes to make it

What happened to us
We used to be so perfect, now we're lost and lonely
What happened to us
And deep inside I wonder, did I lose my only?


Cherry Kura and Tomoyo Daidouji made their way fearlessly towards their seats in the huge classroom that was so different from the typical high school settings in Tokyo. Since it was the first day of the first class, their tardiness didn't seem to matter. Everyone in Ancient Empires was still chatting excited anyway.

Cherry inspected around her. The topic of almost everyone's chat seems to revolve between Syaoran and her. She quietly peeked behind her. She felt herself snogging the center of attention as every pair of eyes always seems to glide past her spot. She sweat-dropped nervously.

Cherry turned a thirty degree angle left and tried to see who was behind her out of the corner of her eyes. What she didn't realize was that this still wasn't enough. Growling, she turned another sixty degrees.

Syaoran Li sat comfortable behind her with his arms folded in a most proud manner and his legs crossed on the row of desks in front of him, so that the tip of his Nike sneakers barely escaped Cherry's nape. Once she realized who dared to sit behind her, her head flipped a whole one-eighty degrees and shot Syaoran a death glare.

The thing is, his eyes were closed in a mood of utter relaxation! How could he? Cherry turned around angrily and leaned back against her chair so that her nape kicked Syaoran's foot out of the way.

Syaoran opened his eyes instantaneously, "What?" he said irritably as Cherry flipped around again. Next to her Tomoyo flipped open her book as the professor walked into the classroom. Cherry was too focused on Syaoran to notice.

"You idiot. You cost me my first kiss!" she hissed in a soft voice. Syaoran merely looked away as if it was no big deal, his face showing nothing resembling guilt.

The professor asked the students to open the books now. Syaoran looked back at Cherry's incessant glares and rewarded one of his famous million-dollar looks back at her.

"To tell you the truth, I never expected Kinomoto's twin to be so stupid and ugly." He teased.

"How many girlfriends do you have now, Li? Too many that you can't count?" she smirked to herself. Now that is one question that she was convinced that Syaoran wouldn't be able to answer.

"Why, are you interested?" he asked daringly, his voice full of amusement. Receiving Cherry's silent sneer, he quickly added, "Three hundred and sixty five. Three hundred and sixty six, to be exact. Natalie's just been added to my collection."

"Pssh, all you collect are broken hearts and forgotten girlfriends." Cherry shot back.

Syaoran narrowed his eyes. "That's precisely my point."

Cherry flipped around to her seat and took out the pink-wrapped present from her bag. She ignored Syaoran's insult targeted at woman and slowly unraveled the wrapper silently behind her desk. Inside was a silver bracelet with the initial "S.L. + S.K. Forever" on the heart-shaped diamond and an old, stinky picture of a girl and a boy, both smiling innocently. She can't exactly see the intended colors of the picture because of its age. It was dusty and took with a monotonous color.

Cherry closed her eyes as she felt a strong force rushing over her.

"Sakura?" a boy smirked.

"Yes, you 'asshole'?" a girl said a prankish tone. Her hair was colored just monotonously like the photograph, everything about her vibrant, yet dull.

The boy looked hurt.

"I was kidding, Syao!" The girl giggled softly, noting the boy's dignified expression.

Shaking away his thoughts, the boy shoved something in the girl's hand. Then he ran away quickly, never looking back at her.

"Wow, Syao! You shouldn't have!" the girl smiled as her fingers traced the pink wrapper. She turned around, searching around her for a shadow of him. He had already run away.

Cherry noted the happy smile on the girl's face. Somehow she felt happy for her too.

"Where did you get that?" a chilling voice reverberated from behind her.

We could have made it work, we could have found a way,
We should have done our best to see another day
But we kept it all inside until it was too late
And now we're both alone, the consequence we pay
For throwing it all away, for throwing it all away...


To be continued...

a/n: revised! YES! Finally. This chapter was like… 900 words before. Anyway, I hoped you liked this chapter. The song was used because their love when they were young didn't work, so it's "what happened to us? We used to be so perfect…" hahah. I know it doesn't really make a lot sense, but it sort of makes sense when you think about it… anyway, KrNstargurl, thank you so much for reviewing my revised chapters even though you read them anyway!

heheh...please review this revised chapter!