Sugar Pink: Wow! I can't believe all the encouragement and feedback I received for the first trial chapter! I'm glad you guys enjoy this story! Please R/R this chapter too!


Chapter 2: A Different Choice?
I stood there, not sure if I should offer a sincere reply or not. Syaoran's smile started to turn into a confused look as I simply stood there, not saying a word to his sweet introduction of himself.

"Sakura?" Mom said. I decided I have to say something. I mean, I can't stand there and pretend to be mute, can I?

"Hi, I'm Sakura. Nice too meet you too." I gave him a small smile instead of the big happy one I gave him five years ago on this very day.

"Why don't you show Syaoran around the house?" Dad suggested.

"But, Dad—"

"Why, that's a lovely idea. Isn't it, Sakura?" I noticed mom gave me a 'look.' One that says Be nice to the poor new boy.

"Sure," I agreed. I turned on my heels and walked out of the kitchen, not looking back to see if Syaoran was following me or not. I had a feeling he was.

"Just stay out of my room, kaijuu." Touya said roughly. I remember five years ago, Touya was more obvious with his dislike towards Syaoran. But I guess that was because Touya had thought I was too friendly with Syaoran back then…and since I am not that friendly now, there's nothing for Touya to be grumpy about.

"So, this is your room?" Syaoran asked me as we wandered into my room.

"Yeah."

"Cool. It reminds me of you." he smiled.

"How can you say that? You just met me."

"Oh, I don't know. I just think so." He said. His eyes wandered the room and caught sight of something. "You keep a diary?"

Oh, that's right. I keep a diary! How can I forget about it?

"Yeah, I do."

"Hey, do you mind if I use your washroom?" Syaoran asked.

"It's the second door to your left." I said.

"Thanks." And with that, he left my room. After he's gone, I rushed to my diary and flipped through the pages. All the entries I had had in there were gone. The entries I had about starting my last year at Seijuu High were not there. The entries I had about getting ready for the graduation photos were not there. The entries I had about Syaoran asking me to the prom were not there. In fact, the last entry that was in the diary was about the Christmas concert and play our freshmen drama class was going to put on.

I flopped backwards on my bed. The memories of the last five years replayed in my mind. The good, the bad, the ugly…and now…I have to do it all over again.

"Sakura?" Syaoran's voice sounded at my door. I sat up.

"Yes?"

"Mom said we're going back to unpack. I guess I have to go now." He said quietly.

Hmm…this certainly is different. Yes, I remember now. Five years ago, he stayed over and play with me while his parents went back to unpack. Then later, we became really good friends, and he defended me against that big bully at school, who is going to pounce me for Otou-san's delicious lunch on Monday.

Oh well.

"Okay, bye." I said. I noticed he gave me one last look before leaving. I think…I have just…altered the future. For the better.


I have to say, when I woke up the next morning, I expected myself to be back in my 18 years old body and everything to be back to normal. No such luck, unfortunately. One glance at my pink Hello Kitty clock—which says it's only 8:15AM by the way—told me that I'm still 13 years old.

"At least I get to sleep in." I yawned. "Thank goodness it's a Sunday."

"What do you mean? Today's Monday, kaijuu." I heard Touya's voice said at my door.

"Stop joking, Touya. Today is Sunday. Yesterday was Saturday."

"No, yesterday was Sunday."

"No, yesterday was Saturday!" I protested, getting annoyed. I need my sleep! "The Li's moved in next door yesterday remember? It was a Saturday!"

Touya gave me a weird look.

"No…the Li's moved next door two days ago." Touya reminded. "We drove all the way to Tokyo for Grandma's birthday dinner last night, remember? It was Sunday yesterday."

I closed my eyes and tried to remember. I don't remember going to Grandma's birthday dinner yesterday. I remember Syaoran coming over and me being cold to him. You know, as an attempt to not fall for him again. I remember thinking I must not get too close to him again. That was only yesterday.

However…

…I do remember Grandma's birthday dinner in Tokyo five years ago. And it was the day after the Li's moved next door. But that isn't right. The Li's only moved next door yesterday. The birthday dinner was supposed to be tonight!

"Isn't the dinner tonight?" I asked.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Touya frowned at me. I can see he's clearly worried. I cast a quick glance at the calendar on my wall. It says December 3. I frowned. The Li's moved in on December 1st, when mom asked Touya to flipped the calendar in the kitchen. Why is today December 3? What happened to December 2? What happened to Granny's dinner, which was supposed to be on December 2?

Not wanting my brother to worry anymore, or find out anything, or think I'm a lunatic, I quickly laughed.

"Yeah, I was just kidding with you, Touya!" I laughed realistically. "Got you! That was revenge for calling me a monster! Of course I remember Grandma's birthday dinner! We had a yummy pot roast and mom's special homemade cake." I said, thinking about the memory five years ago.

All traces of worry were washed out from my brother's features and a hint of relief was in his eyes. "Immature." He muttered and walked out, closing my door behind him.

I jumped out of bed and quickly grabbed my pink diary. I remember I wrote an entire one page entry on Grandma's birthday dinner before. My eyes widened to find a new entry that wasn't there yesterday when I had checked.

Dear Diary, December 2

Yesterday was awesome! It was Grandma's birthday and we all went to Tokyo to celebrate it with her! Mom's chocolate cake was delicious and Grandma's pot roast was excellent! We stayed there till one in the morning! Right now, it's 1:30, and I just finished showering. Gosh, I'm so tired!

Oh yeah, we have new neighbours. They're the Li's. They moved in next door yesterday. Gosh, I'm so sleepy! I'll write more tomorrow.

Sakura

I gently closed the book. I time travelled again. Again! Only this time, I didn't skip years. And I didn't go backwards in time. Instead, I skipped only one day, and I travelled forward in time.

That means…

"Ahh! I'm going to be late for school!"


"Sakura!"

I turned around to see Tomoyo, my best friend and cousin. She looks several years younger too, and instead of being her usual 5"5 self, she's only 5"2.

"Hey, Tomoyo!"

"Why are you still walking so slow? Jinzhi-sensei is going to give us detention!" Tomoyo grabbed my arm and ran all the way to homeroom.

I remember Jinzhi-sensei. He was the toughest teacher in Seijuu High. But…

"Jinzhi-sensei? Isn't he retired?" I frowned.

"What are you talking about?" Tomoyo gave me a questioning look.

Oh. Right. I forgot.

"Oh, nothing. I was just being silly." I laughed.

Needless to say, Tomoyo and I were both late. However, only I got lunch detention. Tomoyo, on the other hand, had perfect attendance records, so Jinzhi-sensei forgave her—just this once, he said. Tomoyo cast me a sympathetic look from her seat. I shrugged back with a smile.

"And now, I'll like to introduce our new student." Jinzhi-sensei said. My head snapped up in attention. That's right. I remember. Syaoran was in my first year homeroom.

"…and I just moved here from Hong Kong. I hope I'll get the chance to know all of you better." He concluded his intro speech to the class. Jinzhi-sensei assigned him to sit next to me. I expected that.

"Hey, Sakura." Syaoran gave me a friendly smile.

"Hi." I replied, giving only a small smile in return…just to be polite.

Class began and soon lunch time rolled around. I was so bored! I can't believe I'm sitting here, learning first year math. For some reason, my senior year knowledge is still with me, even though I'm trapped in this 13 years old body of myself. First year math was never any easier than today. Did I really have this much trouble with integers back then? It's all so clear to me now. I guess that's good, since I have a text next week on this stuff…I remember I only got a C+ on that that test five years ago. Now I can ace it for sure! Go, me!

"Sakura, please stay for your fifteen minutes lunch detention." Jinzhi-sensei reminded me.

"Hai, sensei." I replied. I sat in my seat while everyone strolled leisurely out of the room. Actually, I didn't mind getting lunch detention. If I remembered correctly, five years ago, I didn't get lunch detention, and I had went to the girls' basketball team practice at lunch instead. However, when I walked out of the gym, the school bully, Kai Aniyama cornered me and demanded I give him my dad's homemade lunch. Then Syaoran came to my rescue and saved me from Kai, since Syaoran and I were closer as friends back then than we are now. So if I didn't get lunch detention, I'll probably end up giving up my lunch to Kai and nobody will be there to save me, since I've been so cold towards Syaoran.

Detention was over fairly quickly, and I wandered to my locker to get my lunch. As I was locking my locker, I can feel someone else's presence behind me.

I slowly turned around.

It was Kai.

My eyes widened. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be on the basketball court!"

"I was there, looking for you and your lunch. How did you know?" Kai frowned.

"Nevermind." I sighed.

"Anyways, give me your lunch, Kinomoto." Kai leered over me, demanding my lunch. I feel fear rise in my chest.

"N-no! Go away!"

"You better listen to me, Kinomoto!"

"Didn't you hear her? She told you to go away and leave her alone." A familiar voice said. I peeked over Kai's tall shoulder to see who it was.

It was Kenou Kamiya, the class president. So he's coming to my rescue this time instead of Syaoran!

I vaguely remembered that I had only fell in love with Syaoran after he had heroically saved me from Kai. Yes, that's right. It was from that point…when he rescued me…that's when I had fallen for him.

So since he's not here to save me now…does that mean I won't fall for him?

But then Kenou is here. OH MY GOSH, DON'T TELL ME I'LL FALL FOR KENOU INSTEAD BECAUSE HE TOOK OVER SYAORAN'S ROLE TO RESCUE ME!

That'll be just awful! Don't get me wrong, of course Kenou is a nice guy. But he moved away after second year. I can't have a long distance romance!

"Move it, or I'll beat you up too." Kai threatened.

"You wouldn't dare beat up the class president!"

"Wouldn't I?" Kai lifted Kenou by the collar of his shirt. Kenou's eyes showed fear.

"Hey, leave them alone!" Syaoran's familiar voice cut through the mixed emotions in me.

"Oh, so now you want to get beat up too, eh?" Kai smirked. Dropping Kenou, Kai swung a fist at Syaoran.

Syaoran ducked. Kai changed his mind and came after me instead, yanking me by the left arm. I screamed.

"Let her go!" Syaoran growled.

"Aww…afraid I'll hurt your little girlfriend?" Kai mocked. I noticed Syaoran's jaw tightened. Really, this whole situation is getting much worst than it was five years ago. At least back then Kenou wasn't involved, and this whole situation all took place outside where there were more people.

I was just trying to change the past so I wouldn't fall for Syaoran Li again. But…what have I done?

"You can have your little girlfriend back, Li." Kai tore my lunchbox from my hands and shoved me away from him.

I tumbled.

"Sakura!"

I landed in Syaoran's embrace. Oh. My Gosh! I felt the warmth radiating from him, and my cheeks turned red. I didn't even notice how sore my left arm—where Kai had been grasping on—was.

Kai smirked and walked off. Just like that.

"Are you okay?" Syaoran asked me, his eyes filled with concern.

"I-I-I'm fine." I stuttered. Syaoran rolled up my sleeve. "What are you doing?" I asked. He didn't reply.

"Your arm is all red. That baka." He swore under his breath. "I'm taking you to the nurses office."


"I've told the principal, and he's giving Kai's parents a call now." The nurse informed me as she poured a cup of water for Syaoran and Kenou each.

I continued to hold the ice pack to my left arm.

I glanced at Syaoran. I feel myself falling for him all over again. The way that I had been in his arms…gosh, that didn't even happen five years ago! Did I make things worst?

"Sakura, would you like to nap for the rest of the lunch hour?" the nurse asked me sympathetically. "You've had a rough afternoon."

"Sure, that'll be great." I smiled. I laid my head back on the pillow on the small cot. I closed my eyes and started to fall asleep…


You see, Sakura? You can't change the past…what had happened before was meant to happen…even if you did make different choices…destiny will still find its way for events to occur.

And really, you had the chance to choose again…did you really make a different choice? Or did you choose the same path again because you believed that's the best path? You could have been crueler towards him…but you weren't…because deep down inside, in your heart of hearts, you believed that your choices before in the past were correct…even though you have to go through heartbreak in the future…


I snapped open my eyes. That was a weird dream. A voice was talking to me. And it sounded like my own voice. The voice was soothing and kind. It sounded like my 18 years old voice…that little voice of reason in my head.

I sat up and looked around. I'm in my own room. I thought I was in the nurse's office. I guess I must have sleet too long and they can't wake me up, so they called my family to pick me up. I glanced at the alarm clock to check the time. 8:05AM.

I checked the calendar. I groaned. It says December 24th! I travelled forward in time AGAIN! Darn! And I thought I could change the past and ace that integers test!

I quickly thought back to the Christmas five years ago. What had happened? Anything significant? Oh yes. The Christmas party back at school and the Secret Santa gift exchange happened today.

I remembered that I had drawn Syaoran's name from that top hat. I remember I had made him a scarf for the present. I remember he had given me the most grateful look and said "Arigatou, Sakura-chan." in the cutest way that just melted my heart.

Maybe I can just not give it to him this time around.

Maybe I'll go steel one of Touya's old shirts and give him that instead.

Nah, that'll be too mean. Oh, I know! I'll give him that pair of socks Touya got from Grandma, but never wore before!

Yes, that's an excellent idea.


"Okay, students, now please exchange your Secret Santa's!" Jinzhi-sensei said.

I walked up to Syaoran.

"Hey, Sakura." He said to me before I had the chance to say something first.

"Hey, Syaoran." I gave him a fake smile. At least…I think it's fake… "I'm your Secret Santa."

"Really?" he looked surprised.

"Yeah, and I have your gift." I reached into my bag. My hand froze. I saw both the green hand knitted scarf and the pair of socks. I bit my lower lip. Come on, Sakura. Why are you hesitating? Give him the socks! Then he wouldn't give you that cute adorable smile, and you can forget about falling in love with him and save yourself a whole lot of heartache in the future when you're 18!

Then I remember how I had felt when I saw his smile five years ago. I had felt a warm feeling gushing from my heart. I felt happy because he was happy. And I know that deep down, giving him the scarf would be the right thing to do. But…I really don't think I can take it if I fall for him again. I had asked myself before, if I can choose again…would I make the same choices?

Then, the voice of my 18-years old voice of reason from my dreams came back…

Deep down inside, in your heart of hearts, you believed that your choices before in the past were correct…even though you have to go through heartbreak in the future…

I took a deep breath. "Here's your present. Merry Christmas, Syaoran-kun." I smiled and presented him with the gift.

He looked shocked. "Wow…um…I don't know what to say…but…" he looked up at me with those amber eyes and…

…gave me a big smile filled with sincerity. "Arigatou, Sakura-chan. I'll be sure to wear it."

"Yeah, well, it's cold in Japan during the winter. I'm sure you'll put it to good use." I smiled back a genuine smile and felt that oh-so-familiar feeling gushing from my heart again. Sigh.

I watch as he wrapped the forest green scarf around his neck. Then I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around anyways, even though I already knew it was Chiharu getting ready to give me my Secret Santa gift from her. I already knew it'd be hair ribbons.

Before I have a chance to say a word to Chiharu, I felt myself black out.


I woke up. I was in my room again. The birds were chirping. My alarm was ringing. I banged it and the annoying sound stopped immediately. I rolled over in bed. Darn. I thought I was a the Christmas party at school. What am I—

Oh no. Please don't tell me that…

I quickly look at my alarm. It wasn't the pink Hello Kitty one anymore. It's now a more mature looking alarm clock, a lavender one to be exact. Tomoyo had given it to me after my pink Hello Kitty one broke after first year. That means…I'm no longer thirteen.

I jumped out of bed and glanced in the mirror. My hair is longer and now is about two inches pass my shoulders. I'm now 5"2 instead of 5"0 like I was yesterday. Two inches overnigh eh? Or was it overnight?

I quickly ran over and opened my diary. I found tons of new entries that I had wrote back in the past. I quickly glanced at them. The latest ones were about my summer vacation. The beach. Picnics. Swimming.

Then there was an entry about how excited I am to go into second year. I locked up my diary and opened the little box where I had collected my student identification cards. I noticed that there are now two cards in that box. My first year one and…

…my second year one. I've done it again. I'm now in second year high school, when only what I remember to be yesterday, I was at the first year Christmas party.


Sugar Pink: Wow! That took a long time to write! I hope you guys enjoyed it and will R/R! Please leave me a comment for feedback! Thanks!