Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters from Card Captor Sakura, neither have any stakes in the teams and soccer leagues mentioned in the story. I sadly just own the plot. Names and places may exist but nothing in the story is veridic. The whole plot is just a concept/product of my imagination.

Chapter 4

"Let the Season Begin"

She was heading into Yelan's office to ask for some advice on her project. After running it by Syaoran and getting his more-okay-than-not approval, she decided to start with the changes she already had in mind and Yelan was an expert when it came to architectural building designs. Although she still hadn't heard from Jun to see if all the partners would agree to the changes she wanted to make, she needed to make sure to stay ahead with this whole project in case she finalized her acceptance of it. Visiting Syaoran once a month deprived her of spending all her time developing a project like she was used to, so staying a step ahead of the game was imperative especially knowing the reward that was on the table with this one. Reaching Yelan's office door, she opened it and walked inside.

"Sakura!" Yelan said standing up from her chair, not minding the three figures sitting in front of her desk. She greeted her with a hug and a sincere smile on her face but at the same time a smile that hid something more than just a mere simple greeting. "I didn't know you were going to be back today. I thought you would take the day off since that trip must've been tiring. What? About ten hours on a plane?"

Sakura with a smile on her face nodded and received the hug. "Well, I wanted to start on this project right away but, if you don't have a minute now, I can always come back later," she said taking notice of the people in Yelan's office for the first time since she walked in.

Yelan, not minding much about her inquiry, brought her forward towards her visitors. "Before any of that, let me gladly introduce you to one of Xian's oldest friends. He came over to visit this week."

Sakura looked at her before looking back at an old man sitting in front of Yelan's desk along with two younger ladies at each side of him. His white strands of hair mixed in with the rest of his dark brownish hair gave her the impression he was almost the same age or a little bit older than Xian. The women that accompanied him, on the other hand, were both young and very pretty. Their high-end cocktail dresses and stiletto heels gave her the impression they were here to impress someone, so the only question left in her mind was who.

"Sakura, this is Mr. Xu." Yelan said.

Sakura bowed her head a little paying her respects. "Pleasure to meet you." She said with a smile on her face even though when she looked at him once more, she could see in his face the feeling was not reciprocated. Perhaps to someone who wasn't trained to read people's faces it could've gone unnoticed but not to her. She was perfectly able to see the displeasure hidden under the small smile adorning this man's face.

"And these are his daughters, Lya" Yelan said pointing to a slender brunette sitting on his left side with a red dress on "and Aki, his youngest daughter. They came to visit and will be staying with us for the rest of the week." The second one also shared his hair color but was wearing a pale green summer dress with white heels on.

She smiled as well. "Ladies, a pleasure as well." If the father was not pleased to meet Sakura, she could tell the daughters were definitely following his footsteps. In contrast to their father's fake smile, the daughters didn't even try to hide their displeasure.

"It's a pleasure for us as well Ms. Kinomoto. We have heard many things about you." Xu said. He turned towards Yelan once more and said, "I was hoping your son would be meeting us as well. We haven't seen him since he was fourteen, I believe. We did enjoy his games a couple of weeks ago but never had a chance to catch up with him. He has grown up to be a fine young man from the looks of it."

Yelan laughed a little and corrected his thought. "Oh no, Syaoran is in England doing what he loves which is playing soccer. His team doesn't permit him to come whenever he wants to. As disciplined as he is with his successful professional career, I doubt he would come just for a simple weekend too, but Xian and I enjoy visiting him whenever he has games."

"I see. Then perhaps one day we will be able to see him even if it's playing in England. Perhaps we could all plan a trip to watch him play." Xu said smiling while turning towards Sakura once more. "Yelan has told us of the amazing job you have done since you started in this company. It gives me great comfort in knowing my daughter will be surrounded by such excellency."

Sakura frowned at his words and looked at Yelan who didn't look phased at all after his words.

"Not only that. She has been nominated for the Project Developer Award this year too." Yelan proudly added.

The old man raised a brow. "Ah, that is quite an accomplishment, congratulations!"

"Thank you." Sakura simply said as she watched with fascination the exchange of words between Yelan and this man. Yelan never did anything in vain. All her words were cautiously measured and used towards a purpose. A purpose Sakura new it was important for her to find out. Clever as always, Sakura smiled and turned towards Yelan. "I will come back when you have some time for me. I want to go over a few things."

"Sure thing." Yelan said smiling as well. "For now, and his daughters will join me and Xian over for lunch. We can meet after I come back. Does that sound good?"

"That's perfect. Thanks!" Sakura said. She turned towards her visitors and said, "Mr. Xu, ladies, it was a pleasure. I hope you enjoy your meal and the rest of your stay in Hong Kong." With that being said, she walked out of Yelan's office and went straight to her office.

~ o ~

He was a little bummed at the fact that Sakura was missing his first official game with Manchester, but it was something he mentally prepared his mind for since the moment he had asked her to have a long-distance relationship with him. After everything they had been through, he wasn't going to pressure her again and much less if she was working towards getting the project developer award she had worked so hard for. As she had been there for him when his World Cup had taken place, he was determined to be there for her now when she needed him to be so. It was the way he was seeing things between them now after being given a second chance.

He tied his soccer cleats and started heading out to the field. Pre-season was finally over, and practices had gone down now to their regular one-time practice in the afternoon even though that wasn't enough for him. Although they were down to one practice a day, he had Choi set up his gym equipment in one of his seven bedrooms so he could do his regular morning routine before heading down to practice. Being fit was something he took very seriously since he was a child. He had conditioned his body since his childhood so he could achieve his goals and his discipline in training had not been in vain. This summer he had finally been able to kiss that so awaited Cup home but that wasn't the end of it. He was ready for this new chapter in his life, and he was going to work even harder to keep stepping up as a professional soccer player.

He was heading towards the field when he heard his coach calling him from behind. "Li!" He stopped and looked at his coach.

"Come into my office before heading out there for practice. I want to run something by you before practice starts this afternoon."

He frowned at his coach but nonetheless followed him into the office and closed the door after getting in. He looked around at the numerous certificates hanging in the wall of his past merits before looking at him. "Coach."

His coach smiled at him as he sat down on his chair. "I've been thinking a lot about this team from the moment I signed my contract a few years ago. Do you know why you are here?"

Syaoran kept looking at him. "To play. To help the team win."

"Mmm…" his coach opened the left drawer of his desk and pulled out a band. "When I had my meeting with the owner last year, I sat down with him and straight out told him we needed a leader. Not just a good player. Talent? We've had an abundance of that in our team for the last couple of years, but failed to get a leader. That's why you are here. Now, I know you are only a rookie in this team but…" he stood up from his desk and offered the band to him, "what do you say to being part of the captain lineups for this team?"

He looked at the band being offered to him for a couple of seconds. Silence filled the room before he said, "I think it's too soon to decide if I can captain this team or not. All we have done is practice and finished a couple of friendlies."

"And yet, the team hasn't had any problems following you." The coach said.

He sighed and looked away. "You're right, I am but a rookie in this team. I don't think I'm ready to be something else yet."

His coach nodded. "Very well, you can give it as many games as you want but know I will not be choosing another final captain. This last arm band belongs to you so whenever you're ready just let me know. As a coach, it is my duty to find out what the team needs to be successful. I hope you can see my reason behind this decision."

Syaoran nodded and took a deep breath before asking, "can I head to practice now?"

His coach smirked. "Off course! I'll see you on the field."

That being said, Syaoran walked out of the room with a lot on his mind. He had only been practicing with his teammates for a month. How could the coach easily throw that captain armband in his face? What was he thinking? This wasn't China? It's not like he had been with this team for many years. He was starting another phase in his sports career… one he had dreamed of starting as a normal player. And, as much as he would love to win all the trophies he could win with this team, he knew what that armband meant. He knew exactly what came with it. It had haunted him for many years and still to this day not even with his national team had he worn it again.

~ o ~

She sat in her office looking at the picture they took in Spain. Thoughts of him filled her mind as she wondered how he was doing. By now he was probably in practice. Speaking with him last night on the phone, apart from letting her know he missed her like crazy, he also told her he was glad pre-season was over. They had won their two friendlies and already started regular practices earlier this week looking forward to having that first official league game this weekend. She was very excited for him and still thinking about his first game that was coming up. When they talked last night, he assured her it wouldn't be a big deal for her to miss his first game because according to him the team they were playing wasn't that good, but at the same time she couldn't put down the feeling of inevitable regret at missing his first game. Not only because she was his girlfriend, but also because she was perhaps one of his biggest fans as well. Although he wouldn't straight out say he was disappointed that she couldn't come, she could clearly hear the hopeless feeling of letdown in his voice last night. After hanging up with him, she had thought that perhaps she could change her week but that would mean he would be away for part of the week since they were having their first game away and then she would finally be able to spend time with him by mid week when they come back from Brighton. As much thought as she gave it last night, she ended up getting nowhere when it came to making it to this first game of his.

A week and a half ago she enjoyed her time with her boyfriend. She had a splendid week which she found amazing considering she still had problems believing in this long distance relationship. So far things were good between them, but for some reason this week she was missing him more than usual. As she kept looking at the picture, she remembered those days they spent together. Their walk around the beach, their romantic dinners around Spain, his soft lips against her neck… she had to admit she was missing him more than she thought she would. When they first started this long-distance relationship, she had set her mind to think that her life wouldn't be changing much. She could easily do the whole seeing him one week every month. In fact, she was so confident that when she suggested an open relationship, she truly was thinking more about him than her considering how impatient he was for everything. Now, after spending one week with him and almost two without him, coming back to her regular working life she started wondering who was truly having more difficulty at not seeing the other.

Her office door opened. Michi poked her head into her office before entering. "Mr. Li just called. He said he wants to see you."

She had forgotten she had put her phone under "Do not disturb" since she wanted to calm her mind a little. She hadn't completely started to develop this project and she was already feeling her mind going in so many directions that she needed to reorganize her thoughts. She nodded to Michi, took her iPad, and went over to the President's office.

His secretary as usual with her serious stuck up face nodded to her to let her know she could walk in. She knocked on the door before letting herself in. "You asked to see me?" He was looking at the city with both of his arms crossed on this back.

"How is your project going?" he asked turning around to watch her walk into his office and closing the door after.

"It's still in its early stages of analyzing. I still haven't completely chosen it, but I received a couple of construction bids though I'm trying to negotiate one of them."

He chuckled. "CC Construction?"

She stared at him and sighed. Although Xian never demanded any answers from her on the group meetings they had every month, he was always on top of everything she did in the company. He had trained her from the moment she started working for him. He knew better than anyone in this company what she liked about her work, the companies she trusted the most to work with her, the materials she liked using, in the end he was on top of everything that had to do with her job. "I trust them more than any of the other companies that have submitted their bids. And since this is a big project for me, I don't think I can work with any of the others."

"Agreed. Are they under budget?" he asked.

"They're pretty close but not there yet." She answered.

"I have no doubt you will get them there." He walked over to sit at his desk and motioned for her to sit in one of the chairs in front. He opened a folder that was right on top of his desk, glanced over it, closed it once more, and hand it to her. "I asked to see you because we have a new investor in the market. Mr. Delawney. He is an Englishman and he's looking to build an office building right here in China. Our friend Steven is also looking to snatch this deal since the money he's putting on the table to invest is quite the sum."

"Don't you have enough money to not worry about it?" she asked.

He smirked. "You're right. I don't care about the money, but I do care for a little payback. I don't want Steven getting this one."

Sakura smirked. "Is he requesting I do his project?"

"Not necessarily. He knows what our company can do for him and also I know you will probably not have enough time for both project. Personally, I think Riversky is more your area of expertise not to mention a great challenge for the competition. No… what I need is for you to be present in those first meetings as a sort of reassurance. I will be giving this one to Suri since she learned her knowledge from you and she will be working with Xiefa but, since she has only worked on small projects on her own, I feel a little adamant about this decision. This will be her first big project to work on therefore, I wish for you to be on top of the progress in case I need to bring you in if we for some reason run a little behind schedule. We both know Xiefa is good at handling projects but sometimes she misses in working as a team. Suri, on the other hand, trusts you enough to know if she has any questions she can always go to you."

She looked at the content inside the folder and looked back at Xian. "I've worked with Suri and I trust her. She can take care of it on her own." There was no way she wanted to sit hours and hours on meetings listening to updates of projects she wasn't going to be working on. She had already done that once before. There was no way she would have the time. She needed to stay on top of her project and also stay in tune with a much demanding boyfriend who happened to be his son. There was just no way she could do the three things at the same time.

He smiled at her. "Our first meeting is on Saturday in Brighton since that's where he lives. You'll be joining Yelan and me as well as Suri for the introductions."

She stared at him. Brighton? Had she heard correctly? Three days before Syaoran's game her boss was asking her to go to Brighton? This was perfect then. I mean not the whole having to stay on top of Suri's project but it was her ticket no doubt to be able to watch Syaoran's first game without having to spend her full week. Although… now that she thought about it, she found it quite questionable. "Are you using your son's game to lure me into accepting this?"

He smiled. "Off course not. Suri is the only one that has to go since I'll be introducing her on Saturday. You'll only be a guest, unless you decide not to go, off course."

"You will be attending your son's game, I assume?" she asked.

He smirked. "I think we both know the answer to that question Sakura. Yelan would kill me if we left without watching Syaoran's first game. Also, it so happens that Mr. Delawney is a soccer fan. Apparently the Premier League is very famous in England. So, we'll be landing there in the morning, have lunch and then head towards the game in the afternoon."

Even though her whole mind was screaming for her to accept this, she still had some concerns regarding his latest proposition. Putting the folder back on his desk, she said "this keeping up with Suri's project may take away some time from me," not withholding her concerns over his idea.

"You just told me you trust her. If that is so, then what I'm asking shouldn't take too much of your time. You would only be there in case she needs help. Nothing more." He easily said.

"Very well then. I'll supervise but on one condition… you will keep this information from your son." She said.

He stared at her. The last time he checked she was still his girlfriend so he couldn't understand the reason behind her request. "You don't want him to know precisely what?" he asked.

"That I'll be in this meeting with you and that I will be attending his first league game. I already told him I couldn't go. Might as well surprise him." She said smiling.

He chuckled and effortless moved his hands in a non-caring way. "Very well, have it your way."

"When do we leave?" she asked.

"We'll be leaving Friday night so we can arrive at Brighton Saturday morning."

She grabbed the folder on the table once more and stood up. "Very well. I'll finish reading this in my office."

"Sakura" he hesitated a little before seriously saying, "accepting this responsibility of supervising can't become an excuse to fail your own project. Be advised, your priorities must be clear when it comes to this competition you're in. As the only one who has won that award before in this company, I'm telling you right now this competition is like none you've ever done in the past and it requires for you to truly be on top of everything. One small mistake on your part and I can assure you, you will be kissing the award goodbye. The nominees that are competing against you all have your skills or better so you must pay attention to everything you do and do not limit your creativity to just doing what you have done in the past. Everything counts in this competition. Do you understand?"

She nodded.

He smiled. "Will do then. I'm happy that you're on board but keep my warning in your mind."

She smirked. "More like tranquil now that you know I'm on board, and do not worry about the competition. I can assure you my priorities are in order." She excused herself from his office and went back to hers. She placed the folder in her desk and sat once more in her chair. Oh, she knew this competition was top of the line yet hearing the warning come from her mentor just made her feel more cautious about it. She knew this wouldn't be an easy task to do but she was excited about it. She had been from the moment she opened that envelope and saw the golden letters with her name on it.

But, for some reason, even her mentor's warning wasn't enough to get her mind off thinking about her boyfriend right now. Massaging her neck, she looked at the picture on her desk once more and smiled. Now all she had to do was plan her surprise and think of an excuse to give Syaoran for not picking up her phone while being in the air. A really good excuse. She had no doubt he would be calling her like crazy. Getting him pissed was even a probability but in the end, she needed to make sure it would all be worth it. Cunningly smiling, she grabbed her phone and dialed his sister's number. "Feimei, what are you up to?"

~ o ~

Feimei walked around the store looking for a perfect dress for her friend. She ran her hands through various dresses before picking one out, eyeing it well, and then put it back into the rack. "You know, if you ask me, I think lingerie would be a better choice rather than a dress to impress my brother. I'm sure he will definitely like it more."

Sakura rolled her eyes and chuckled. "I don't need lingerie. I need a dress and it is not only to impress your brother but to impress our client as well. It has to look professional yet I don't want Syaoran to see me in just a simple work dress. It has to be more, it has to have personality, something that stays in his mind even after I'm long gone." Mimicking her friend's actions, she kept rummaging through racks to see if she could find a suitable dress to take to England.

"Lingerie does that for you." Feimei said smirking.

Sakura tsk, ignoring her friend once more as she kept looking through the choices in front of her.

Feimei chuckled. "Do I get the sense of you getting nervous about visiting my brother?"

"Off course not." She sighed pulling another dress and putting it back on the rack. "I just want to surprise him entirely."

Feimei smirked. "Oh trust me, he will be surprised. Your mere presence will be enough for that. Though I must say I can't quite understand why you are worrying so much about this dress. I mean, it's my brother. I don't think he'll care much for the dress to be completely honest with you."

Sakura sighed. "I just need to find one Feimei."

"Why do I get the feeling there's something you're not telling me?" Feimei narrowed her eyes at her friend and, when Sakura didn't answer, she stopped rummaging through the clothes and immediately added "okay, out with it. What's truly going on?"

Sakura looked at her and ran her hands through her hair. "Nothing, I just want to look good when I surprise him. Is that so bad? I mean, you get ready and fix yourself up every time you're going to see your boyfriend. Can't I do the same with mine?"

Feimei scoffed. "Yeah… off course…" she sarcastically said then pointed with her finger and said "except, you're doing that thing with your hair, and you've never care for what others think about your dresses before, and now all of the sudden you need one to impress my brother? Which… let me just add in case you have forgotten, is already completely madly in love with you. Why don't you tell me why we're really here and maybe that may help me better understand the type of dress you are looking for?"

Sakura sighed. "Fine, but this conversation stays here Feimei." When she saw her friend nod she continued. "I just feel a little anxious. When I went the first time to visit your brother a couple of weeks ago, I found out that a lot of women over there don't even care he has a girlfriend. They would just flirt with him openly even when I was right next to him, and it hit me you know. Perhaps he loves me like you say but he's a soccer player." She ran her hands through her head and rolled her eyes. "A hot one… might I add… one who's used to playing with women all the time. He's so exposed to finding all of these women over there around him which I will probably not know about unless the media finds it commendable to publicize. I mean, who knows how many women have already thrown themselves at him while I've been here these almost two weeks…"

Feimei scoffed having difficulties believing what she had just heard. "You're seriously thinking of this as a competition?"

"Not a competition Feimei but as a need of making it very clear to him that I am better than any of them even if I'm not around as much as they are."

Feimei rolled her eyes at her friend and smirked. I mean she could understand her being insecure but at the same time, how could she even think that? "I am about to diagnose you as a totally blind woman my friend."

"I'm not blind. I just, you know… want to be careful." She said picking another dress and putting it back to where she found it.

Feimei chuckled and smirked. "Well, I think if what you're looking for is that kind of dress then this is not the store we should be in. Come on." She said as they walked out of the door and into the huge mall. After turning several times into the corners they finally arrived at the store Feimei suggested.

Sakura largely opened her eyes. They were high end dresses hanging everywhere. Many of them with their shinning details, others missing some fabric according to her, but all of them screamed made to impress without a doubt. "This is so not totally me Feimei."

"You said you wanted a dress to impress… believe me, we are in the correct store." Feimei confidently said.

"Jeez, some of these dresses I may only wear if I go to a night club not a soccer game and much less with clients."

Feimei smirked. "The soccer game is at night."

Sakura gave her a scolding look. "It's a game, not a party."

Feimei chuckled. "Trust me, this is my area of expertise. They have every type of dress in this store. Game or party this is the place we should be. Now let's see." With a thoughtful expression she went slowly walking around the store till she found exactly what she was looking for. "Ah! Found one! How about this one?"

She took out a cocktail black dress that very well fitted her body with loose long sleeves that started on the side of her shoulders and formed a loose V in front of the dress, yet it wasn't exposing too much skin. Her back, however, was exposed by loose strands of cloth as well that came from the back of her shoulders and formed another V all the way down to her mid back. It was exactly what she was looking for. It had that wow factor without being too revealing for her business meeting if she wore a cardigan or a scarf to cover her back while the clients were present. Syaoran would definitely love to see her in this dress. She confidently smiled. "Perfect."

"See! I told you this was the right store." Feimei smirked.

~ o ~

After finding the dress she was looking for, she went home. She took her usual small business carry-on bag and set it on the bed to start preparing for the trip. It was still two days away but she was quite excited to surprise him for his first game. Her phone started to ring with that famous ringtone she knew already by heart and made her smile even without realizing she was doing it. "Hey baby."

"Love, how's your day going today?" he asked.

She smiled at hearing his voice which was already becoming a sound that soothed her day. "Very well."

"Oh yeah, did you get that contract you wanted?"

"I'm still working on it but it's getting there. How about yours? How was practice?" she asked.

"Great. We're looking better than when we started but we still have way to go. On my end, I feel like the guys are more comfortable with me around. Having a new guy on a team that's been together for several years can be a little difficult to adapt but I think they are finally accepting me as part of the starting lineup."

"Really, that's great. I knew you would eventually get there though. None of those players can compare to your kind of playing."

He chuckled. "I scored today two of our three goals."

"Mmm. Does that mean you're ready for your first game then?" she asked.

"More than ready. I'm excited to finally start the season. I feel like it's taken forever to start."

She laughed. "That's what happens when you don't have patience baby. Everything takes longer than usual in your mind."

He chuckled. "I miss you."

She smirked. "I miss you too. You know I was looking at things to do next week when I visit you in England and there's an art festival in town. Do you want to go?"

"Yeah, it be nice to go. Weather is still somewhat warm during the day though at nights it's been getting a bit chilly now."

"Well summer should be almost ending for you over there."

"It is. The guys are talking about going to some gig after the game."

"Gig?" she asked. "You sound like you're adapting really well over there when you say the word gig." She chuckled.

He laughed. "A party. Apparently they call it gig in here."

"Are you planning on going?"

"I may just go to socialize a little with my teammates You know, make an appearance."

She thought about his answer and wasn't too pleased with it. She was still trying to get used to dating him once more and this was one of the things that stayed in her mind, more so when she was fully knowledgeable about his past, but at the same time she felt that it was something she couldn't blame him for it and instead she would have to find a way of dealing with her feelings about this. He still didn't know she was going to be there but she didn't like the fact that he was willing to go out to night clubs when she wasn't going to be there to go with him. Then again, another thing she needed to work on about their relationship. Her reasons came only because she wasn't there and it wasn't like she could demand from him not going out until she arrived. That would be selfish on her part. And although in this case she would be in because she would surprise him it didn't take out the fact that it would be unfair from her to ask him for such a thing even when she didn't like it one bit. "Is this something you normally do after each game?"

He hesitated a bit before answering "just sometimes."

"Do all of your teammates go to these events?" she carefully asked.

He sighed. "Babe… Eriol and Kyu usually go with me. There's nothing to worry about."

"I know. I know. I'm just asking out of curiosity. I'm not used to having a boyfriend who likes to go out to pubs and socialize, you know…" She said trying to make it sound like it wasn't a big deal.

"Are you sure you're not asking because you're not sure how I feel about you?"

"No. No. I just… feel like it's a bit weird."

He sighed. "Sak… I love you. I don't need anyone else."

She smiled. "I love you too. Don't mind my question so much. It's just weird to hear you say it like that. I'm not used to it yet."

"I wish you were here. I would rather show you than tell you over the phone."

She chuckled after hearing his sultry voice which made her face flush in a matter of seconds. "I'm sure I wouldn't mind you showing me either."

"I'll be sure to show you when you come next week then."

"Looking forward to it." He had no idea she would be meeting him before next week which made her smirk thinking about how good she was going to pull this surprise on him.

~ o ~

Two days passed in a heartbeat as she was rolling her small bag towards the company jet. She looked at her phone and checked before getting into the plane. Syaoran would no doubt call her and, although Xian's jet had Wi-Fi, she had already decided on not picking up any of his phone calls. She wouldn't take any chances of messing this up.

"Did you take care of the reservations?" Xian asked her walking side by side towards his plane. When traveling for business trips together, Sakura always traveled with Xian as his assistant while his real executive assistant stayed in the office.

She nodded. "Everything is taken care of. I confirmed with Mr. Delawney. He's bringing his wife and son to the game so I reserved seven sits in the VIP stadium room directly with Manchester's owner."

"Perfect." He said while looking at his watch. "I expect we will be arriving right on time." He waited for her to go up the stairs into the plane and followed through. As he entered, he took his seat right next to his wife. Being the last one on board, he watched as the stewardess closed the door and sat on her seat to prepare for take-off. He kissed his wife's hand and smiled at her. It would be a long flight to London where they would take the train to reach Brighton after but he wouldn't miss his son's first game for anything.

~ o ~

Kyu arrived at Syaoran's house and parked his car. He got out with a smile from ear to ear and approached Eriol and Syaoran who were waiting outside for him. Since they lived close by, they had agreed on meeting here to head to their stadium to take the team bus and finally reach Brighton Stadium as a team where their first game was at. "Guess what? Meiling is actually coming tonight." Kyu excitedly said. "It took me a while but I finally convinced her by telling her Tomoyo never misses our games."

Eriol chuckled and shook his head. "It still amazes me how you always have to fight your way through to get something in return. It reminds me of one of those epic video games where you have to fight your way over to conquer the boss and level up, only in your case you always end up fighting your fiancé."

"Hey, not every girl is as attached to guys as Tomoyo. Tell him Syaoran. Am I right or not?" Kyu said.

Syaoran chuckled and looked at his cousin. "He's right. At least she's coming. Sakura is not making it to this game. She's still coming next week though."

"See!" Kyu said in a matter of fact way.

Eriol chuckled. "Sucks for both of you then. I'm sure Tomoyo will enjoy our season from start to finish."

Syaoran shook his head. "Okay, enough talk about women. Let's go." He opened his car so they could all get in. After a couple of minutes they were driving through the road. As it was his normal routine, he dialed his girlfriend's phone from his car five minutes before reaching the stadium but unlike many occasions this time it went directly into voicemail.

"Maybe she's in a meeting." Eriol said. "You know she has many of those."

Syaoran narrowed his eyes, hung up, and kept driving. "I doubt she would have a meeting this late Eriol. Plus I've been trying to reach her since this morning and it has gone straight to voicemail."

He didn't say much but his friends could easily tell his demeanor had suddenly changed.

"Well, who knows? I mean, maybe Eriol is right. From what you told us, this new project of hers is a big deal, isn't it? Plus, going by what a lot of people say about her, she's kind of a workaholic." Kyu added.

He tightened his hands around the wheel and tried to calm down. Looking at the clock on his car, he could feel his anger getting the best of him by the second. The thought hadn't occurred to him but after hearing Kyu he said "I don't really need you two to keep putting ideas into my head. Right now, I rather not know where she is than to think she could be in a meeting with that buffon at this hour in China."

Then suddenly the two of them understood what he meant perfectly. Sakura had agreed to develop Jun's project for her awards and China was eight hours ahead of England which meant, if Sakura was indeed in a meeting with Jun, it was around midnight over in China. "You're right. Let's just leave it at that and have a great first game. Shall we?" Eriol said.

Syaoran parked his car and waited for Kyu and Eriol to get out. "I'll be right behind you." He looked at the screen on his car and dialed another phone number.

"Hello." A woman's voice came through the speaker.

"Xiefa! Do you know where Sakura is?"

"Little brother… Do you know what time it is and also is that a way of greeting your sister?" Xiefa said.

"I don't have much time and she's not answering her phone." He said trying to hide the anger in his tone.

She chuckled. "You really are hopeless when it comes to her, you know."

"Xiefa-"

"You don't need to worry little brother she's fine. I'm sure she'll give you a call soon alright. Aren't you supposed to be getting ready to leave for your game?"

He sighed. "I need to know if she's alright. I've been trying to call her since this morning, and I haven't been able to reach her."

"Well, she's fine. Don't worry. Like I said, she'll probably give you a call a bit later. You can ask her then why she didn't pick up the phone before. Now Ja! We'll be seeing the game from home when they transmit it. Good luck!"

With that, she hung up the phone. He sighed. At least his sister confirmed that she was alright so he finally walked out of his car. Grabbing his things from the trunk he walked straight to where the team bus was waiting for them.

~ o ~

They had arrived Saturday morning like Xian had expected almost around noon and had gone directly to meet with Mr. Delawney. He had invited them to have lunch at his estate near the country side a couple of hours from the field. Xian took care of the introductions as well as assuring the fine job they were going to do with his project, but most of all he made sure Mr. Delawney understood that while Sakura would be supervising the work, she would be in no position of helping in it physically as a project developer. To their contempt, Mr. Delawney agreed with it as soon as he heard Suri, who had been chosen for this project, had been her right hand for many years.

After a fine afternoon lunching and talking about business, the time came for them to head towards the game. They all got ready at Mr. Delawney's estate since he had been so kind to offer them his facilities so they could all leave towards the game together. Everything had worked out perfectly well for her so far. Sakura was excited but at the same time nervous. Excited because she knew she was going to surprise him and nervous because it was his first game with Manchester. Watching the game from the outside definitely had to be more nerve wrecking than playing inside the field.

Several hours on the road, and a couple of drinks later, they finally arrived at the soccer field. Indeed soccer in England was big. A huge crowd of fans surrounded the field outside. Some of them were singing, others were very excited as they eagerly entered the gates towards their seats. Sakura, on the other hand, outside of the field met up with Choi who had their ID's to go into the VIP room.

"Did he see these?" she quickly asked after she greeted him.

"And miss the surprise? Absolutely not! He has no idea." Choi said laughing and smirking at her. "Though I will warn you, he's in a very foul mood."

She chuckled shaking her head in disapproval as she started giving the ID's to his family and Mr. Delawney's. They accompanied Choi who knew the way into the room and were able to pass with no problem. He opened the door for them and they entered the VIP room of the Brighton Stadium.

"Sakura!" Tomoyo surprised exclaimed. She was the first one who noticed her friend coming in. "What are you doing here?" she asked hugging her friend. "Syaoran didn't tell us you were coming."

Sakura laughed and winked. "He doesn't know I'm here."

Meiling hugged her friend excitedly as well. "You're surprising him? He's going to faint when he sees you here!"

Sakura kept laughing with her friends without straying too far from Mr. Delawney. She needed to make sure he was contempt with everything as usual. "Xian had a business meeting here with a potential client and asked me to attend. Since I was looking for a way of not missing this game, let's just say it worked out perfectly."

"It sure did!" Meiling said.

Tomoyo nodded. "He was a little gloomy this morning because you weren't coming. I heard from Eriol he was a little off at practice as well."

Sakura chuckled. "Well, let me just say that he better not be off in the game now that I am here."

The girls laughed.

"Everyone, this is Suri. She was my assistant for a couple of years ago and now she's a project developer as well." Sakura introduced her friend.

"Nice to meet you Suri." Tomoyo and Meiling amiably said as Suri greeted them as well.

Sakura put her purse down, right next to Tomoyo and Meiling. "I was trying to make it work since I didn't want to lose my week in only being able to see him for a couple of days, you know since they were playing away today and going back late at night. Lucky for me this whole meeting with Mr. Delawney filled just the spot." Sakura said.

"Lucky indeed." Meiling said. "Where are you staying? Are you leaving with auntie tomorrow as well?"

She nodded. "Since it's a business trip, we're leaving tomorrow all together but we'll be staying at Syaoran's house. He gave Yelan the address." She kept looking at Mr. Delawney and smiled at the girls. "I have to go but I'll sit with you. Save me a seat alright."

Tomoyo nodded. They watched as her friend went back to Mr. Delawney and started talking to him while offering a glass of Champagne from the girl that was going around with the tray on hand. Suri followed her leader for many years once more and got involved in the conversation as well.

~ o ~

The stadium was packed and getting fuller by the minute. Eriol was stretching with Syaoran as usual when he noticed his cousin's dark mood hadn't changed since this morning. It was the only thing he didn't missed about having Syaoran with a girlfriend. Sakura's lack of communication was definitely affecting his cousin even after so many years. He thought perhaps he had learned his lesson by now. When he used to play with women years ago, he stopped having this issue since he truly didn't care, but with Sakura everything was different. His mood could change from excitement to full pledge pissed off as it had done when they reached the stadium earlier. "I wouldn't put too much thought into it Syaoran."

Syaoran looked at him. "That's easy for you to say. Your girlfriend most of the time is with you."

"Fiancé…" Eriol corrected sighing. "But, girlfriends aside, we should be enjoying our first game. Do you remember how much we have practiced and suffered to get here? Don't bring your personal problems into the field man. We all know how that goes. Aside from that, I'm sure she must have a good reason for not answering."

Syaoran scoffed and sighed as he took Eriol's leg up as part of their stretch. His cousin was right. He needed to leave his personal problems off the field but there were so many things running through his mind right now. "The last time this happened Eriol my father had a heart attack, and she hid it from us until the game was over."

Eriol stared at his cousin and understood his concern. He was glad to know his thoughts were not completely on his girlfriend this time but that it involved his family as well. Maybe he had changed even with Sakura back in his life. It wasn't a petty concern anymore but a real concern what he was worrying about. Out of instinct he looked at the VIP room as they were stretching just to make sure. He was certain his aunt and uncle wouldn't miss this game for the life of them and surely enough he saw them both at the VIP booth talking with some of the people over there. Then he narrowed his eyes and smirked. "I'm sure your parents are fine. They're already here with, I'm guessing, a special surprise?"

Syaoran turned and followed his cousin's look to the VIP booth. He saw several people talking with his parents and then he saw her. She was animatedly talking with a person next to Suri while a glass of champagne rested in her hand. A small smile started to form on his face. She had come. After all she had come.

"Let's have a good game now, shall we?" Eriol said as he finished his stretching and padded his cousin's shoulder. "What is it that you call it again? Whipped?"

"Shut it Eriol!" Syaoran said as he shook off his cousin's hand from his shoulder. He chuckled and shook his head while they walked inside the locker room once more after finishing warm ups. Too many emotions were running through him right now and he needed to take control of each and every one of them. He had been anxious and excited for the start of the season to kick in and, now that he knew his girlfriend was actually here, he was thrilled. He took a deep breath while walking through the hallway and into their locker room. He needed to channel his emotions right now and concentrate in the game. It was sort of like a mantra to him. Once that last walk into the locker room was done, everything around him disappeared. The game that was about to take place was the only thing he would allow on his mind as the coach gave his final instructions before each player changed into their game jerseys and finished preparations to start the game. He smiled as he walked back into the field. It was time to start living another dream.

~ o ~

Sweat went down his face as he looked at his teammates defending their side. He walked a little approaching their side as well but aware and ready in case they could quickly break through to score. It had been one of the most intensive eighty five minutes he had ever played. His legs, as much as he worked training them, hurt from over working them on this game. Sprinting back and forth from one side to the other and trying to help his teammates defend as well was having its toll on him. They had been left with ten men on the field since the referee had given a red card to one of their defenders which had made this game harder than it already was since the beginning. What a way of starting the season.

He took a deep breath trying to stay focused as he watched the clock on the scoring board... only five more minutes to finish this game. The score was tied one to one which clearly represented how close this game had been since the very beginning of the game. He had scored the first goal of the game but now they needed one more to win it all. He ran his hand quickly around his face as he watched Eriol finally getting the ball back for their team. Reading his movements, he started sprinting forward. He didn't have to look much to know Eriol had kicked the ball in a high pass straight to the middle of the field.

Syaoran looked up and located the ball. He easily put the ball down and skillfully dribbled the ball through his feet while approaching the goal net. He watched several of his teammates getting into the area as he kept closing the distance to the goal. Looking up, he spotted one of his teammates nearing the goal net from the middle and quickly passed the ball to him. He watched as his teammate kept sprinting forward and kicked the ball towards the net only to have it deflected by one of the other team's defenders.

"Corner" marked the referee.

Syaoran jogged towards the corner to execute the kick. Taking quick breaths, he looked towards all his teammates stepping forward towards the goal net. He watched intensely as they prepared themselves for the corner kick before looking at the ball again and taking the kick. His teammates all jumped when the ball was coming down and Mark, getting away from his defender, hit it with his head.

"Gooooaaaaallllll!"

Finally! With three more minutes remaining on the clock and whatever the referee wanted to add to this game they had finally scored their second goal to start their season with their first victory. He ran towards his right side and jumped in the air as he celebrated the goal while his other teammates reached him after to celebrate as well. The game ended two to one. It had been an intense game from start to finish. He could feel his legs were hurting more than usual but he was satisfied as he walked inside the locker room to change.

~ o ~

Immediately after the game ended, he waited for the coach to say a few words before hitting the showers quickly. It had to be one of the fastest times he had ever changed and headed out of the locker room with a set goal in his head. Going towards where the VIP people were waiting, he saw his girlfriend standing with his parents and walked over. "Mother" he said as he greeted her with a hug. "Father" he said as a greeting and also gave him a hug. Then he turned towards his girlfriend "Love" to whom he dropped his sports bag and hugged her sweeping her off her feet and circling her around one time which earned him a yelp from her as a surprise.

"Son!" Yelan exclaimed looking around her. "Behave! What will people think?"

He laughed as he set Sakura down who was trying hard not to laugh at the scene created by his excitement over seeing her. He knew by "people" his mother could only mean his father's client but he didn't mind much. He was happy. She had come to his first game. Even though he knew she was busy back in China she had still made time to come to his game.

Yelan cleared her throat before politely saying, "Mr. Delawney, I would like to officially introduce our son Li Syaoran as you well know."

Syaoran smiled and greeted the old man with a shake of his hand. "Nice to meet you Mr. Delawney. I apologize, I didn't know Sakura would be coming tonight."

Xian, who was standing right next to his wife enjoyed the small scene with much interest as he softly chuckled. "Ah, young love."

"Ms. Kinomoto, son" Yelan corrected making sure her son understood this wasn't the kind of environment to feel casual about things "came with us to meet Mr. Delawney who's interested in broadening his real estate portfolio by investing in China."

"A very wise decision I'm sure Mr. Delawney." He said looking at his father quickly before returning his eyes to the client. "Is Ms. Kinomoto in charge of your project?"

Mr. Delawney chuckled as well. "Oh no, I believe I have another developer but Ms. Kinomoto will be supervising nonetheless."

Syaoran grabbed Sakura's hand, which earned him a look from her, and smiled. "I'm glad to hear. Father, do you mind if Ms. Kinomoto comes with me tonight?"

Xian smiled. "I don't see why not. Our business dealings are done for today."

Yelan quickly interrupted and added "tomorrow however we'll be having brunch with Mr. Delawney and his family before we leave son. I'm sure you won't mind accompanying us."

Syaoran smiled to his mother. "Not at all mother. I'll see you at home." He then turned towards Mr. Delawney and with the same smile said "it was a pleasure to meet you Mr. Delawney. We'll see you tomorrow then." He grabbed his bag once more never taking his hand away from his girlfriend.

Mr. Delawney smiled. "The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Li. Till tomorrow then Mr. Li, Ms. Kinomoto." He watched as Syaoran walked away with Sakura and turned towards Xian. "You have a fine son Li."

Xian chuckled. "He is."

~ o ~

Syaoran walked all the way to the side of the stadium. He turned one corner and then another till he entered the parking lot for the players and immediately after entering he backed Sakura against the wall and kissed her. He caressed her face as he tasted her until he finished and kept his forehead against hers. "I still can't believe you're here."

She laughed. "I can't believe you just did that in front of Mr. Delawney."

Syaoran chuckled. "Could've been worst if it wasn't because of mother, I assure you."

She hit him playfully in his stomach. "You can't do that in front of our clients."

He chuckled. "Did you see my goal? I dedicated it to you." He said before kissing her again.

"Were you surprised?" she asked smiling of happiness at the events. So far, her surprise was going quite like she had imagined.

He nodded still caressing her face. "Very."

"I'm glad, because I was worrying on how would I be able to pull this off when I received 17 missed calls from you, mister." She said in a playful matter-of-fact way.

He chuckled. "You didn't even pick up the phone after you arrived."

She smirked. "What would've happened if all that time I was in a meeting? Honestly Syaoran, 17 calls?"

He shrugged his shoulders and gave her a quick kiss. "You shouldn't be having so many meetings anyways if you ask me. What do you want to do?"

She frowned before playfully saying, "I thought you had that… what did you call it again? A gig?"

"I can cancel that now that you're here. We'll do whatever you want to do." That's when he noticed the way she was dressed. "Is this new?" he asked while motioning to the dress.

She nodded. "From the way you mentioned it over the phone it sounded like a type of team bonding for you guys so I came prepared just in case." She said.

He smiled. "I like it. Could be considered like one since the guys like to party after each game from what I hear, but I truly don't care. My night is yours."

She smirked. "What if I wanted to go to the party?"

He stared at her taken aback at her question. "You truly want to go?" Given the situation he would've thought she would want to go anywhere else with him but instead, she wanted to go to the party?

"You sound surprised."

He smiled studying her face at the same time. "I didn't think this was something you would be interested in doing."

To be honest, she truly didn't care much for the party but she did want to meet his teammates and what better opportunity than this after game party. These were the people he would be spending most of his time in here with, therefore she wanted to know what kind of people they were. She was close to Eriol and Kyu and she knew she could trust them but she was curious to see who else surrounded him. Were they good influence or were they up to no good? She wanted to feel these people who would be close to him until his season was over. "I don't mind going. This way you can still make your appearance."

He frowned but nodded. "Okay… if you want to go then I don't mind. I'll ask Tomoyo to drive you up to Manchester and from there we can grab my car. I don't feel like spending my entire night in this party." He got his cell phone out and dialed Tomoyo's number. After a couple of minutes, he arranged everything and put his bag down. Searching through it, he took his keys out and handed them to her.

"Are you sure you can do this Syaoran? I don't want to get you in trouble." She said.

He shook his head. "It's fine. The bus will drop us off at the Stadium and my car is there. You can wait inside the car for me. The guard already knows Tomoyo so they'll let you in. So, it's interesting that you're supervising Mr. Delawney's project. Do you have time for that?" he asked her while they waited for Choi.

"I don't think I have much of a choice. Besides, it allowed me to come tonight to see your game." She said.

He grabbed her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers as he gave hers a small kiss. "And I am totally grateful for it, but I don't want you overworking yourself only because he is from here and it may allow you to see me more often."

She stared at him and smiled. "I'll only be supervising Suri and I can tell you she doesn't need much supervision at all. She's perfectly fine handling this one by herself. I think your father actually asked this of me just to get Mr. Delawney on board with giving us this contract. Which, by the way, it completely worked in his favor."

He nodded. "How's your project going?"

The controversial project… she thought. Although he had told her he was fine with her doing it, there was no way she believed he was entirely okay with her spending time with Jun. Syaoran was a lot more demanding than Jun in a lot of ways and protecting what was his was just one of the many ways he was different from her ex. "It's going as fine as it can go at this point of the stage. There's not much done yet. We're still dealing with finalizing all the architectural and engineering plans. There are some things I already want to change from it but the partners are analyzing my suggestions. So basically we still haven't completely started on it."

"Does this set you back with the competition and all?" he asked.

"Not yet. I have some cushion when it comes to time because of the type of project it is." She said.

He nodded. He saw Tomoyo pulling over close to them on her SUV. "Come on." Grabbing her hand, he walked with her to the car where he opened the door for her to get in and closed it afterwards. He waited for Meiling, who was in the front seat, put her window down. "We'll be there after you guys probably around nine."

Tomoyo nodded.

Sakura quickly said, "can we take Suri as well? I'm sure Matt will appreciate it."

"Sure!" Tomoyo said.

"I'll bring her over. Stay here." Syaoran said before going back towards the hallway.

"Oh! This is going to be so much fun the three of us together again!" Meiling excitedly said.

Sakura chuckled. "Oh, yes it will!"

A couple of minutes later, Syaoran appeared with Suri at his side and, after she got into the car, they said their goodbyes before Tomoyo drove off. Just like Syaoran had said, around nine, the bus with all of the athletes arrived at the Manchester stadium. One by one they all started to get out of the bus and into their respective cars. Since Kyu knew how Syaoran was whenever Sakura was present, he decided to go in Tomoyo's car to the party. Sakura, on the other hand, waited for Syaoran in his car. After a couple of hours later they had finally left straight to the party like he planned. They entered a large terrain and a couple of minutes later a huge brick house came into view. Sakura could see now why the realtor had mentioned other big houses for them when they were searching for houses. Apparently, it was normal for a soccer player in this place to own a mansion with lots of square feet even if they didn't use them all the time. On the side, she started looking at many expensive cars that were parked all around the terrain while people were walking towards the house on the sidewalk. Syaoran followed suit and parked in the first spot he noticed open.

She sighed and got out still amazed with the size of the house. "Wow, TV reporters weren't kidding when they were talking about soccer players lifestyles."

He chuckled. "Only some." He grabbed her hand and whispered on her ear "come on. The quicker we get in, the faster we get out."

She chuckled. "You really didn't want to come?"

He sighed. "It's not bad, but it's definitely not what I had in mind when I saw you."

She smirked. "Your parents are staying in the house with us so… I wouldn't think too much on your plans."

He chuckled and smirked. "We'll see."

They entered the doors of the brick mansion along with a lot of other people who were getting there as well. The house must've had more than eight rooms for sure. Unlike the party she was arranging for Syaoran, the first thing she noticed of this party was the many women dressed in skimpy clothing. There was no way she would allow this type of women entering his house. The music was blasting loudly from four huge speakers set in the living room. A small-squared area was set in the middle for people to dance to their own contempt, if that's what could be called, but most of the people were either in the second level balcony which surrounded the set dance floor laughing and drinking or at the bar. Nevertheless, she tried to hide her intake of this place so she could have a good time with her boyfriend. The whole idea was to meet his teammates and find out more about this place he was staying at without her most of the time. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but she needed to know what she was going to be facing in their relationship.

"Ricardo!" Syaoran said.

"Hey man! You made it! We were wondering if you were going to show up or not." Ricardo said.

"This is my girlfriend Sakura." Syaoran loudly announced. "Sakura, this is Ricardo. He's one of the rookies on the team."

She smiled and said "nice to meet you" as she shook his hand.

"Well, not rookie rookie. I was just promoted to the big team this year." Ricardo loudly said so that they could hear him over the loud music playing around. "Nice to meet you. Drinks are on your right corner over there. Help yourselves to whatever you need and have a good time."

Sakura nodded after listening to him. He excused himself to meet other guests as she turned to Syaoran and loudly said, "I'm guessing he's the host."

He nodded. Looking around, he spotted Eriol and Kyu who were already there talking with a couple of guys and walked towards them with Sakura on hand.

"Sakura! Long time no see!" Mark said while giving her a hug. "I'm glad you could make it to the game and bring my girlfriend at that too."

She chuckled. Mark had always been very enthusiastic when meeting and talking to people. He was one of those people who could start any conversation with anyone because of his easy caring way of being.

"Actually, your girlfriend is the one that brought me here this time for a change." She said.

"Anderson, Mikey, this is Sakura my girlfriend." Syaoran said while introducing her to two more of his teammates.

She greeted the tall black haired guy whose slender figure could easily pass him up for a ballet skater instead of a soccer player as Anderson with a shake of his hand. "Nice to meet you." Then she turned towards a blond short haired figure whose body was way more developed than Anderson's and shook his hand as well. "Nice to meet you."

"It's finally an honor to meet you." Mikey said in a sort of way that caught her attention. "It's not every day you meet a girl that has caused so much controversy in a guy's locker room so early in the season."

She knew exactly what he was referring to and smirked. "I don't think there was any controversy at all, just a misunderstanding from one of your teammates but everything is taken care of now."

"Indeed." Mickey chuckled and moved his beer to toast to her answer before taking a sip from it.

Mark, after seeing their little encounter, decided to interrupt their small talk. "Mikey is one of our three captains in the team, though we only know of two" he said the last part as an afterthought before asking what he truly wanted to hear, "Sakura, what did you think about the game? Did we play good?"

Grateful for the change in subject, she answered "I think it was a good game. I mean it's only the first game but you guys looked good out there."

Syaoran turned towards her and said on her ear, "I'm going to get something to drink. Do you want me to bring you anything?"

She nodded.

He didn't ask her what she wanted or anything though she could bet he knew exactly what she liked. Syaoran had a really good memory for anything. When they had spent time in Spain, she would order something and then later on he was able to remember whatever she ordered. Or she would like something and later on he would remember. He had a really good memory for everything he would hear once or see once. Although never officially diagnosed, she could go as far as to say he had a photographic memory.

"So Sakura, this was a nice surprise." Eriol smirking said.

She chuckled. "Sorry I couldn't give you guys the heads up. I can see it in your face you want to blame me, but I had my reasons. I didn't want anything to spoil the surprise."

Eriol walked towards her and put his free arm around her shoulders while the other one still held his drink. "I'm hurt." He nudged his head towards Kyu and jokingly said, "we would never ever dare to spoil a surprise like this for you."

She raised her brow towards his mischievous face and shook her head. "Wouldn't take any chances. You three musketeers are always together plus… the surprise ended up being perfect. That means I get the comfort of saying everything worked just as I had planned."

"For you, you mean!" Kyu added smiling while toasting to her with his drink before taking a sip.

"By the way, I heard a curious rumor around the locker room that perhaps you can confirm." Eriol said to her ear.

She curiously looked at him before saying, "Syaoran doesn't say anything that goes inside the locker room to me. It's some sort of "Vegas" code for him whatever you guys do or say inside that locker room."

Eriol smirked but nonetheless continue on his quest by asking "does that mean you don't want to hear it?"

She quickly shook her head and answered, "no. You already started, might as well finish it."

He smirked. "That's what I thought." Once more, he inclined his face towards her ear and said, "I heard Syaoran was supposed to be our third captain, but he rejected the position."

She quickly looked at him to confirm his words losing her smile second by second but the only confirmation she got from him was the movement of his hand as he put his finger on top of his lips as a signal for her to be quiet about this. Immediately she understood his message. Nobody knew about this, which meant that probably the only one on the team that knew about this was him, the said person aka her boyfriend, and now her.

Kyu frowned and complained, "hey, what did you say to her?"

Eriol took a sip of his drink and smirked. "It's not for your ears to hear" he said almost singing the words while enjoying the way his friend sulked for a couple of seconds in front of them.

Meanwhile, Sakura kept Eriol's words in mind as she kept looking around the place at the people that were walking now to the party. It was around eleven o'clock and she was exhausted but she needed to stay awake to keep noticing things. The bar was full of women no doubt waiting for their right chance to snatch one of the players. As she kept giving small glances to where her boyfriend was asking for their drinks, she noticed some couples were starting to dance downstairs. Their movements were a clear indication that neither of the parties where completely conscious of what they were doing. As the guy's hand went under the girls skirt while supposedly dancing, the girl instead of taking it away just welcomed it with a flirty playful smile on her face. She looked at her boyfriend once more who hadn't finished asking for their drinks and saw how he took off another girl's hand from his shoulder. They had just gotten here and she was already getting tired of the entire scene.

"Sakura!"

She turned around to see Tomoyo and Meiling coming forward. "I thought it was weird that only Eriol and Kyu were here."

"We were in the bathroom." Tomoyo said. "Where's Syaoran?"

"Getting drinks. You guys come to these all the time?" she asked her friends.

"Not all the time." Tomoyo said. "Only when it's like a special occasion or something like that. Actually to be honest it wouldn't be my first choice but it is Ricardo's house party."

She nodded and perfectly well understood her friend.

"Syaoran used to come to these more often than we did though." Tomoyo added.

"Well, I don't think he will do so often now." Meiling quickly added. "I mean I think it's kind of obvious given his history where he would spend most of his time in the past but I doubt he will still spend it here now that he's with you Sakura."

"Oh! Absolutely!" Tomoyo said catching up to the conversation. "Trust me when I tell you, that man is going nowhere now that you're back in his life."

She had to admit as much as she would like to find some sort of comfort in her friend's words, after tonight this whole long distancing would definitely be harder on her than she thought. It wasn't that she was nervous or insecure about him, but she hated the whole ambient. These parties where most of them got drunk, slept with as many women as they wanted, jumped to the next one maybe tomorrow or even the same night, it was just not what she was used to. This was something she was absolutely sure she could never agree to even if she sounded selfish. Still, she wasn't willing to lose time with him to thoughts. Putting her very well practiced mask on, she tried to enjoy what was left of the party for him and decided to deal with her thoughts later.

Author's Note – Well, chapter 4 is up. Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you guys enjoyed it. So guys, how are you faring with the World Cup this year? Are you liking it? Is your team making it? I feel there's many good teams out there playing in the Cup this year. It will be interesting to see who wins it this year.