Author's Notes – Another chapter here for y'all! Anyways, just one thing you guys should know. I don't write these fics because I want reviews. I write them as a hobby and so that it'll improve my writing skills. That's all I write for. So when I don't update for two months, please don't deem me for someone who's desperate for reviews. That definitely pulled a string. I update when I can, when I'm fully satisfied with the chapter and when I get my hands on the Internet. NEIS was already taken away for a reason I don't know of, and I don't want it to happen to this story. And since holidays started a while ago, I've been busy with other stuff too, but I'm still concentrating on this story. So please don't assume stuff like that about me. I don't write according to the number of reviews. Remember that. But putting all that aside…get ready to read!

Title – Head Over Heels

Author – Shinsei Kokoro

Chapter – 12 – Crossroads

Beta Reader – Amai Okashi

Updated – 17th December 2004

Syaoran Li P.O.V

It hadn't done me any good after leaving Sakura at school.

Yamazaki had taken me and a few other guys to the apartment he'd found out that the tattletale had been hiding out in. But the asshole didn't seem to be around, because everything inside was empty when we'd broken in through the back window. The rat had run off with his cheese.

There didn't seem to be any neighbors who'd listened, but we'd still not risked the chance and had taken the long drive back to my apartment. There was no way we were gonna me trekking back to the stockade.

Yamazaki had disappeared into his room with Chiharu, and he never bothered to say anything to Meiling's anger that kept banging on his door. She'd apparently searched the entire place for her goddamn CD. Seriously, that girl was a pain where no one wanted to go.

While the guys made a few calls, Shiroi was busy making conclusions and letting out his steam.

"He probably ran out knowing we'd screw him for busting us after we got bailed. Goddamn wuss, man I swear to god, if I ever see his shitty face around I'm gonna make sure he won't be having no kids. The loser's gonna be going home to his mama." Right. The guy could only talk. He didn't have any knuckles. I'd never seen Shiroi twisting off someone's jaw. I'd never seen him dirty his face.

I just grabbed another bottle of beer and let him go on. It was a way of letting my own over-due anger on that sod come off.

He wasn't going anywhere. I would find him one day, and make sure he would never mess with me again or give the damn heads-up to the cops.

The beer tasted sour to my tongue, so I let a girl drink the rest of it. I borrowed off a cigarette from her and found Yamazaki heading towards me.

"Forgot to tell you." He fell down against the couch, his business with Chiharu finished and got his cigarette lighted from me, "Your deal's gonna be coming in a week late."

I scowled at him, "A week? What happened eh? Got nicked?"

"Pack it in man." He rolled his head around, and stretched out his arms, "This new guy's a lil' shit scared, but he's reliable. He's just being slow around the Law. You know, he's already been jammed in more than you have."

"Law my ass." I flicked off some of the cigarette's ash at him and watched him pat it away, "He better be good, or you'll be getting dirty Yamazaki."

"Whatever man." He just grinned. I don't think there's been a time when Yamazaki'd ever been seriously pissed. The guy had guts to keep that smile on near me sometimes. If it'd been a random bloke, he'd be having fake teeth by now.

Shiroi threw an empty can at him, not looking happy, "This guy's wrecking you Syaoran. Shove him out before he takes you down with him. You know it's not gonna be looking good if anyone catches you."

"That's not my problem." I clapped knuckles with Yamazaki and we each smirked at Shiroi, "But we'll see who goes down."

We spent the rest of the night getting drunk and talking about the next plan with the asshole that'd robbed us. We were gonna make him pay. Literally.

And I was gonna make sure he came out of it barely alive. No one got me in shit and got away with it. Especially not with my mother who would sure to be more than a little bit concerned when she'd find out I that got in jail again.

So I was hoping I wouldn't be seeing the damn police anytime soon.

I needed a getaway anyway. There had just been too much going on for me. I needed a break. Maybe I could grab Sakura for a ride sometime. It would give me a chance to shove the details she wouldn't know in her face.

Sakura Kinomoto P.O.V

When mom left last night with Mr. Ryusaki, dad still wasn't home. The two of them were unusually happy when they left and off course, we knew why. Touya and me had to stay up late just to wait for him, washing away the dishes to keep ourselves from falling asleep. Not really a way of spending your Friday night if Van ever heard about this, but what was a girl to do.

Touya had 'accidentally' broken three of the china and Kero had ended up getting a cut in his paw since he'd been wandering around searching for leftovers. After plastering it up he'd started to whine and grunt about the plaster. For a dog he was a hell of a lot clumsier than I was.

Dad came home at about three o'clock. Touya had sent me to bed only minutes before, but I could hear the doors slamming when I'd almost drifted off. I had come running down the stairs with Kero by my side only to see Dad struggling to stand up with the help of Touya.

He was drunk. And his tie was hanging by his shoulders looking as though he were slapped around.

And when he looked at me, I knew the reason why. The horrid reason.

"Sorry sweetie." He'd ruffled my hair, and patted my cheek, "I wanted to come, but I took a rain-check at the last minute."

Touya had dragged him to his room after that, and I had followed them quietly.

I knew it. I'd known it all along.

My Dad had become a miserable man.

Without my mother he'd become as miserable as me. And now I think he'd gone worse.

It was never supposed to be like this. When Mom had left that day, we were supposed to move on with our lives, or that's what Dad used to say.

He used to say that it was necessary we got over things or there wouldn't be a way of holding any sort of contact with her. It was best to keep everything about her casual like we would to any distant relative.

But I guess Dad couldn't do it any better than I could.

In bed, I told the stupid ceiling how my equally stupid day was.

Van had cornered up to me, telling my imaginary boyfriend to sod off when there was someone like him.

Syaoran had suddenly gotten the urge to get jealous when he saw us. But he had still kissed me. It had been harsh, but the moment had been a bliss.

Then I had to stand up with Eriol's strange looks and Tomoyo's over-lovey-dovey-ness over him. She had to learn how to give her guys some space.

I had to run a marathon around school, first to ditch my friends, then to drown Touya and then to get pummeled by Syaoran with his I-Don't-Care attitude. Even though he had dropped his cigarette only for me, he'd still ditched me after his small talk.

I had to also have that emotional stuff with Mom, find out that she already had a stepson and be on extra-friendly terms with her husband who was a drug-hater. Plus, he hadn't touched the crab salad that I'd made. What could be ruder than that, really?

And last but not least I had to see Dad in that state. He looked like some battered guy who needed crutches to go around with while drinking. And he used to tell me not to be an alcohol victim. But I guess he had a purpose for today.

For some reason, I was actually glad that he'd come late. It was probably because I couldn't dare imagine what it would have been like to have dinner all together. And all in all, I hoped Mom would never come back again for sometime. She was like an omen now. A definite omen of sadness.

I couldn't go to sleep the entire night, and when I did, Kero had come in licking at my ear and then snuggling in beside me, his paw unwrapped and little blood clots staining onto my sheets. I'd been too irritated to care.

He'd been the one to wake me in the morning too.

It was already 8 o'clock and I had to be in at church by half an hour. After having a quick shower and slipping on some loose jeans and my cleanest slippers, I had Touya drop me off.

I made him break the traffic rule twice, and when we'd finally reached, I knew I'd already rubbed my bad mood off on him. He'd left after kicking dirt on me with his tyres.

The nun had ushered me in, shoving me in the yard behind with a broom and shovel. It was manhandling, I swear.

I don't really know why I ever did bother with this, but it was fun. I wasn't that religious, but it gave me comfort. I mean, everyone needs a God they can go to, kneel down in front of and confess to. It's just a way to make you feel much better, or if not it still works on me.

I used to go twice a week when I was in Tokyo, because there used to be a church just two streets away from my house. That way I didn't need Touya to wake up early as me to drop me off. But this was Tomoeda, the unusual town, with an unusual school, unusual people, and an unusually large mall. It was good I guess. I missed Tokyo, but not as much as I used to before.

I'm not really someone who would have darn close friends. I don't like sharing my stupidest and darkest secrets with them. I remember when once I'd gone to a slumber party and had ended up snoring through most of the pain-each-other's-toenails part. I'd had good and helpful friends who I'd went shopping clubbing and had my first tequila shots with. They were the ones who'd hooked me up with a guy when I turned twelve.

They were the ones who'd thrown water bombs across the hallway, and had gotten a week of detention with me when it had went splat onto a teacher's face. It had ruined her make-up, that's all. But those were all we did.

They hadn't known that my mom had had me when she was eighteen and still in school. They hadn't even known that she'd split up with my dad, until they'd found me crying like a fool in the toilets.

They had been kind. And so I guess, it was partly my fault. For keep everything in the dark and all that. But somehow, coming to Tomoeda, everything had changed.

Seijuu in the city had obviously been large, but Sanron wasn't small either. There were those stupid rules and stupid customs. We never had those in Seijuu. No one really cared. The teacher's weren't even that harsh if we came in a little late, but here, they practically exploded.

Keeping on with my volunteer work at church was something I was determined to do I guess. The nuns had been a little surprised that I'd just come towards them asking for something to do. I'd heard them whisper something about kids wanting to do nothing but work long and painful hours only for money and then to go spending it on clothes.

It was a little cliché. Not everyone did that, but I didn't need to be the one who told them that.

After making sure that there wasn't a single brown leaf on the lush green grass, I brushed up the cement a little before going inside, and lighting up a candle.

I stood there for quite a few minutes, and looked up at the fascinating marble sculpture of Christ hovering above me.

It was absolutely beautiful; I had to admit that.

Through the corner of my eye I could even see an old man and probably his granddaughter lighting a candle. He had bowed down to her height and was whispering something to her.

She was lucky. My grandfather had never done anything like that with me. Much less, look at me without wrinkling his already wrinkled nose in disgust. I guessed it was because he never approved his son's marriage with my mom. I hoped he was happy now. As far as I can remember, he'd been the first person to jinx their marriage.

The nun found me later, and let me go on with cleaning the colour-stained windows and the doorstep. I managed to neater the position of the Bibles after a few hours, and then stood in front of my candle again.

I was tired, a little dirty now and my knees were bruised after having to climb one of the high walls from outside to get to the window.

I was feeling a little better maybe. Maybe even a little happy. It was good standing there and just looking at the flame and thinking over unstable things.

I left after seeing few more people come packing.

After five hours of work and bidding the nun goodbye, I took the long-way and walked through the cemetery to get to the road where Touya would be waiting grumpily as usual.

One look at his face and I knew I was right.

I slammed the door after buckling my seat belt and looked at him expectantly. There was always something he wanted to complain about.

"Some guy was over asking for you." I looked at him and then at his face.

"What?" I grimaced.

"A guy you idiot." He turned his face away from me, and started the engine.

We were on the road, but I was still thinking over what he'd said.

"What did he say?"

"Just wanted to talk to you."

"What did he look like?"

Touya gave me a little grin, "Had a badass car, I can tell you that."

My heart suddenly made a leap and I tried desperately to hide my smile. It was Syaoran. It had to be Syaoran. It just had to be. He had come to see me. He'd really come.

I had to make sure Touya remained oblivious. But for a reason I couldn't stop that excitement squiggling under my nerves.

"What did he look like?" I asked him again anxiously, and I found myself waiting for a few seconds, gripping the edge of my seat, before loosing the top level of my patience. "Well?"

My stupid brother gave me one queer look; "Look Sakura. I don't care about what you've been up to really, but it better not be anything Dad and I would hate. You know how he's gonna react. And you know how he hates those—"

I gave him my fiercest look and snapped as raggedly as I could "Quit giving me that bullshit Touya. Just tell me who he was, will you?"

I think that shook him up a little bit, but he still took the left turn after a red car sulking, "Van Atashi. He's got one heck of a rumbled name if you ask me. I mean, is he even Japanese? But his car was nice. Man, his car was awesome."

I didn't bother saying anything after than. It was another 'thrash-Sakura' day.

I didn't think there was anything I could say.

Van? It always had to be the guy on top of my least-expected guests' list didn't it? I really didn't even want to imagine what he'd come for. I mean, I'm sure he already knew that I'd be going to church. Then why had he even bothered coming? Was he trying to check up on me? That if I'd lied or if I was out with my boyfriend Kouga. Somehow, I didn't want to wait for the day when he'd find out that there was no guy called Kouga I'd even met. But then again, I had all the space to just blame it on Tomoyo, since it was because of her that I had to create an imaginary boyfriend.

Touya gave me a side-glance, but he must have caught hold of my blank expression, because he didn't speak a word for the rest of the ride. And that was more than fine with me. I didn't have anything to say.

I could have cried right then, but I didn't. My eyes just stung, and that was all of it.

I knew I shouldn't have expected so much, but I was so caught up in the moment, that I had failed to realize its cons.

There had been so many things going wrong with me that I just wanted to reach out to the source that would keep me happy for a while. I'd expected that person to be Syaoran, but I expected too much. Last night in bed, with Kero beside me, I'd let a little part of me wonder.

Was there even anything going on between us? Other than attraction? Maybe it was all one-sided for me. Maybe he was just having the fun of it.

Or was Syaoran just making sure that I didn't stray because of what happened the night we hooked up? Was that it?

While having my second shower of the day, I decided that I was going to ask him. I just wanted to make a few things sure. Tomorrow, I would go over to his apartment and ask him. Dress up a little dark, hoping his flat-mates wouldn't straw me out, and maybe pop in a tic-tac, so it would pass for a tongue piercing if by any chance they got a little suspicious.

Syaoran Li P.O.V

Minas called more than a million times last night. She tried breaking in this morning, but Yamazaki caught her while drinking his strength-providing chocolate milk. She said she wants to see more of me and that we're meant to be together. Hell, she said a lot more things than that. Threatened me even. By what? By getting a hiding from her big bro and from his gang if I didn't get back with her.

She's a sad ass really. Almost broke the damn TV and got bitch-slapped from Meiling.

She got kicked out after that. Thrown out actually, and I can bet she's gonna be calling all day now.

Meiling went back to sleep after that, so it was just Yamazaki and me. Th rest were still asleep, they didn't even have the chance to find out that there'd been a sissy intruder. Saturday was one day they all slept in till it was evening.

Yamazaki was hell confused when I walked in with a cigarette dead in-between my fingers.

"Man, I thought you were tight with her till yesterday?" he was raiding the fridge as usual.

"Nah." I almost spewed out the beer in my mouth, "And what the hell is this?!"

The guy turned around for a second, and glanced at the bottle in my hands, "That's called beer. Smarten up will ya? Thought you knew that."

I looked away scowling, "Cap it asshole. This tastes like shit."

Yamazaki grinned as he slipped up on the counter opening one of the foiled plates, and balancing a juice bottle under his arm, "That's 'cause Shiroi got the new label. It ain't my problem so go take it out on him."

I dropped it in the bin without saying another word and grabbed the nearest magazine.

"So, what's this thing I hear about your new chic?"

I looked up momentarily, "Nothing."

"Really?" he jumped back down and dragged back the chair opposite me, making himself comfortable, "That's not what I hear."

I didn't look back up; "Who's giving you the kick?"

"Chiharu."

"Go ask her to screw herself then."

"Ho!" Yamazaki grabbed the magazine in a flip, his face clad in a wide smile, "So you got it going on with her then eh?"

"Piss off." I didn't look at him.

"Da-amn!" Yamazaki was crowing before I knew it, "Tell me, where have you been with her, c'mon tell me man." he was wiggling his brows, and I snatched back the magazine.

"Nowhere."

He clucked his tongue, opened up the juice bottle, and poured the orange liquid into a plastic cup, "So that means that she ain't giving nothing to you? Or that you don't want any?"

"It means nothing." Heck, he wasn't getting anything outta me.
After drinking gulps, he finally put it down, "So you don't wanna tell your old buddy the stuff yeah?"

I looked up at his grinning face and rolled my eyes, "I told you, it's nothing."

"Right. I know she ain't like us. The chic, I think she's in one of my classes."

I frowned and went back to the reading.

"So?"

"So, you gotta watch your back dude. She's gonna be your killer. I mean, what with that Hiiragizawa as her back-up and all."

I zeroed up on him, then flung the magazine at his face in a fist of fury; "Fuck you man. I don't need to hear this." I pushed back my chair as he caught the magazine in a reflex.

He blinked at me a few times, "Take care of your own shit then."

"I will." I turned to leave, then grabbed the juice from his hands, "And tell your girlfriend to get her nose out of my business."

He held up his hands in surrender, smirking, "Yeah. Yeah. I've got my mouth shut, see?"

I gave him one smack in the head with the bottle then headed to my room.

I paused a second outside the room Yamazaki and Chiharu shared. The bitch.

Man, if she wasn't gonna keep her mouth shut, then she wasn't gonna be hanging around her anymore.

Instead, I barged in on Meiling's room. The door was wide open, so I took my entrance without knocking. She was on the window bracket with Chiharu, nail-polishing each other's toes. One look at me, and then she was glaring.

"What do you want?" Meiling jabbed a black finger at me, and almost dropping the bottle.

I looked at Chiharu, and turned up my scowl, "Get outta here." I mumbled through a tight jaw.

"What?" Meiling grabbed my arm as the girl shrugged and walked past me.

I pushed Meiling back, and slammed the door behind me, "You! If you don't keep your fucking face out of my problems, you're going back to Hong Kong!"

"What the hell?" the girl looked at me confused, "What're you talking about?"

"I'm talking about Sakura."

She was silent for that moment, and I thought she wouldn't say anything more.

"What about her?" she sat back down after a while.

I grimaced at her tone, "Whatever you're telling your goddamn friends about me and her, you gotta shut it up. Yeah?"

She looked a little taken back, "But, I didn't—,"

"You told Chiharu and she went and blabbered it to Yamazaki. You think I wouldn't find out?"

She turned away just then, "I didn't tell her nothing."

"I don't care what you told her, but that ain't the truth!"

That was when she gazed up surprised, "What?" she stood up cautiously, "But I thought you…"

"Thought what?!" I barked in her face.

"I thought you liked her!"

"Damn!" I tried laughing a little, "Are you nuts?! What're you on huh?"

She kept looking at me with that staggering expression, "Stop faking it Syaoran. I know you do. You got the hots for her."

"Fuck. You don't know nothing."

I could see her lips tightening then, "So you're playing with her like you did with Minas?"

"I'm not playing Meiling." What the hell did it take for this girl to understand? "There's nothing. And Minas is finished."

Her eyes hardened, and after another lapse of silence, she gave a tight shrug, "Sorry then. Thought you fancied her."

"It's none of your business what I do aight?" I was enjoying the effect I was having on her. Her face had darkened and she threw herself back on the bed. "Stick to your own Meiling. And get your ass straight. 'Cause there ain't anything going on for you to gossip 'bout."

"I don't gossip you asshole!" she snapped, while bottling the nail polish.

"Like hell you do." She gave me the fingers just before I slammed out of her room.

I was hoping she'd keep her mouth her shut after this along with Chiharu. I didn't need them running around my feet.

I found Chiharu with Yamazaki in the kitchen, so I just went back to my room. There was no way; I'd be seen hanging around with them the whole of the morning.

After swigging down the entire juice bottle, I flung open drawers, and went through the trash that had built up over the years.

I dug out a syringe and hurled it into a nearby bin, then crumpled the paper straws from underneath the bed.

I went through the cabinet, and finally heaved out the entire drawer in a spurt of anger.

There was nothing left.

I was left rummaging through my narrow closet and found myself dragging out shirt after shirt and slinging them across on the floor.

There was nothing left.

With a little boost of strength, I dragged out the only shelf, and tossed it, feeling an immediate pleasure as it skidded of the carpet, tossed off more clothes and then crashed against the wall.

There was nothing more left of it

In a heave, I threw myself across the bed, and pulled out the white bed-sheet.

For a week.

How was I supposed to live without my crack for a week when it'd already been two days before my last dose?

I grinned against the mattress and yawned.

Whatever there had to be done, I wasn't touching the stray dose. They were from the street, and I wanted quality. The type only Yamazaki could get from the contacts he has up his sleeves.

And somehow, the addiction wasn't as strong as it was a few years back. Maybe I was getting back on track. Maybe the time lapse Yamazaki had told me to go through was good.

Getting high once a week, and spend the rest of the days hunting for girls and money.

That was his case.

As for me, I had the girl and the money.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see my car keys underneath the window. And before I knew it, I was grabbing it, pulling on shirt and marched out.

I had to get out of there. Probably catch Shiroi at that carpenter's he worked at or see if any of my other mates were at the backfield back at school.

Yamazaki and Chiharu were still making out in the kitchen when I passed them. They didn't hear me get out, which was probably a good thing.

Fiddling for my phone from underneath the bloody pillows on the couch, I walked out of the apartment.

Maybe meeting up with the locals in Kawashi would give me something more. I hadn't met up with the gang since quite a darn while.

Sakura Kinomoto P.O.V

While Dad was in his room, re-adjusting himself while having his hangover, I had known it was a perfect time to do some begging.

After a few mumbled questions and coughs, I'd made a deal with him for having his car for two hours, and then cooking some hot and spicy the moment I got back.

Touya was at work, so I fed Kero a quick snack before he could shred the family sofa into pieces. He was being rather cranky today.

Maybe it was just my mood that had rubbed off on him after Touya had stormed out for shrinking one of his favourite shirts.

I patted Kero's head the moment he buried his nose into his putrid bowl.

I glanced at the dog-food in my hands, then at my fog who was rather enjoying the meal. Without a second thought, the large sachet was soon in a bin.

I'd have to remind Touya for bringing a different snack the next time.

So he was a dog. And as far as I could remember from what a friend of mine used to say every time Kero dogs thought it was time to chew shoes, dogs must never be given the wrong type of food. Especially food that stunk, because everyone knew that smell came before taste.

I changed into my darkest skirt with a pocket for my tic-tac box, and into a purple singlet remembering to push my crucifix deep inside.

I looked reasonable in the mirror, then in a fit of hurry I put on some eye-show, and made sure I was nowhere near stinking like Kero's meal.

I got my feet into my boots as I hurried down the stairs, then spent five minutes looking for the car keys that had fallen behind my Dad's cactus collection.

After a few pricks, I was finally shutting the door in Kero's sniffling nose.

The car looked decent-to-the-eye when I opened the garage door, then sucked in breaths. The last time I'd driven this heap of crap, I'd skidded straight into a lamppost. The police had gone away mumbling about charging the person who'd given me my license.

Really. How insensitive could two beefy officers get? What they needed was a good diet, and a trip to Antarctica.

I was doing fine in the reverse, but just came to late to see metal scrap some idiot had left wondering on its own.

I pushed on hard on my brakes and on the horn at the same time. It took me some time to figure that out, but as I inched out onto the road before someone saw me horning in a garage I spent the rest of the ride making a plan to get Touya back for being that idiot.

It took me a few wrong turns and asking a smoking woman to get to the apartment. While I was still busy trying to get the scent of the smoke out of my hair, a car horned on its full blast as it raced past me, the rear-view mirror almost attacking mine.

I rolled my window down in a hurry, and screamed as hard as I could to the damn loser. The car looked a little familiar as it took a sharp turn on a corner, but I carried on.

What I had to focus on was keeping my heart from not pounding so loud.

It took me more than a little while to park properly. Maybe a few ten minutes, but that was only because the rest of the cars had been parked so close.

I glanced up at the mirror for one last time, making sure my eye shadow had not run off for a hike. I popped in a tic-tac and then talked a few Elizabeth Taylor lines just to make sure the little lolly showed every time I opened my mouth to say anything. It wasn't metallic but at least it was an effort.

Gathering more than wanted wits, I gripped the gate, then walked in, almost half running up the stairs to find the proper floor.

The elevator looked like it was still broken down, so it had me running around imaging the night of the party and the right door had been.

Not before long, I was knocking in a door and waiting with my stomach in my mouth. When I knocked again, I could hear footsteps nearing and I drew back immediately adjusting my braided hair and my skirt.

The door was opened by a middle-aged man and for that moment both of us looked confused.

"Hi…" I smiled widely, hoping he could see my feigned tic-tac, "Is Syaoran here?"

The man's face wrinkled horribly, and that was when I notice he was probably in his sixties, "Sorry. I think you've got the wrong door."

"Oh." I think I looked stricken for a second because he open his door wider, but I just stepped back laughing, "Okay. Sorry for interrupting then. Um yeah. Thanks anyway."

The man's eyes peered at me for another one or two second before he nodded and closed the door.

I heaved a tight sigh, and took another step, before having my arms flailing in front of me. I caught the rails in a huff, and turned back to groan.

The long steps stared back at me looking forlorn.

God. Thank you. You just saved me from having my brains from splitting open without a frying pan.

I gulped back the remaining horror scenes, and pushed myself as far as I could go away from the stairs.

I looked back at the corridor of doors, and leaned against the wall for reassurance.

I knew it was this building. I knew it was this floor. But which room?

Everything turned into dismay thoughts as I imagined myself spending the entire day knocking on each door.

Frowning, I forced myself to play back the events from three nights back. Where I'd been kicking the elevator.

Off course! The elevator!

Pumping with energy, I found myself half-skipping along the long corridor in search of the infamous elevator where there had to be a few dents from these exact same boots I was wearing.

It was just a matter of seconds before I found it and I stared at it dreamily. I turned around and smiled wistfully. This had been the exact place where I'd pushed Syaoran against the wall, thinking he'd been some guy who wanted to take me on.

But how many doors had I passed?

I walked on, and finally found my feet at the last door. Was this it? Or was it the wrong one once again?

I gave myself a quick pinch, and knocked before I could change my mind.

I didn't have to wait too long because the door was soon answered. There was a boy standing with a cup. He didn't look a bit like Syaoran, but he looked rather familiar.

"Hi." She mustered up another big smile; "Can I talk to Syaoran?"

Off course, she'd seen him somewhere. He was probably here at the party itself. But the boy didn't say anything for a long time.

"Uh…" she wrung her fingers behind her back, "Is he here?" Then she suddenly drew back, "Oh god. I –I think I've got the wrong place again."

I glared at the other doors, but before I could say anything more, he was interrupting me.

"No. Syaoran lives here all right." This time he was grinning. It didn't look like a normal smile actually, but it was okay. At least he wasn't kicking me out.

I felt a tingle running as he kept grinning, "Can-can I talk to him? If he's not busy?"

The boy looked boy for a second, before coming forward, and closing the door a little behind him, "Not here. Left back just a few."

"Oh." I was picking the floor, everything suddenly falling into pits inside of me.

He wasn't here.

I'd come all the way only to find out that he wasn't here.

How much did that suck?

"You're his girl eh?"

I looked up at him. He was still smiling and suddenly I wasn't so sure of what to say, "Uh…"

He inched another bit closer, making me step back to make him some room. He was acting as if he didn't want anyone else inside hearing us or seeing me, which was exactly what I wanted, "Sakura aight?"

I smiled back weekly at him, "That's my name."

"What you doing here?"

He was still acting the clown, but I wasn't fool enough to ignore the tightness in his voice, "Uh…I-I just wanted to have a word with him. But if he's not here, that's okay." I was scratching at my head before I knew it, giggling nervously, and taking steps back down the hallway.

For a moment, he looked dead serious, "Better not be getting him in shit girl. I think you should be better off in your own crowd yeah?"

I swallowed a mysterious that seemed to have gotten stuck in my throat, "Yeah." In another blink he was all smiles once again, and I turned around as fast as I could, power walking down the familiar corridor.

Where was Syaoran? Where was he when I'd finally gathered up all this courage to come here for nothing but to get snapped from one of his flat-mates?

I hurried back outside before I could break down and really make a hole in the elevator this time.

This sucked. Because I was back to square one again.

Syaoran Li. P.O.V

A damn long trip to Kawashi had been slamming. I met a few mates of mine, before I got it up with Hikari - a girl I'd met a few months back. We'd hooked up a few times, and the last time had been when her boyfriend had walked in on us.

This time, she was the one who kissed me, and I didn't hold back. I never hold back on a girl I want.

It was a little surprising when she asked me how Minas was doing. Maybe I'd brought her over once? I didn't remember.

In fact, I figured there wasn't really a thing I wanted to remember about Minas. We had a few smokes, before I headed back to Tomoeda and met up with Shiroi. He was as usual lazing off and was glad to get a few hours off without letting his boss know.

While opening the door he'd looked up, "You got a scratch here man. Haven't seen it before, have you?"

It had me coming around and suddenly remembering the car I'd nearly collided against in the traffic.

By the time we got to the apartment, Shiroi was out of the car, yelling that he had to go and meet up with his girlfriend.

The kitchen was empty when I got upstairs, but I could hear the blaring of the T.V from the couch area.

Yamazaki had himself plopped with a beer can in one hand and the remote in another.

"Was there a call for me?" I relaxed back down on the floor leaning back. My mother hadn't called for a long time, and I was expected another check-up from her. It'd almost been a month since her last call. When he didn't answer, I grabbed the remote from his hand, and hurled it at him, "Was there?"

He gave me a little pissed look as he bent down to retrieve it, "Make it clear man. Were you expecting a call or a visit?"

I looked up at him carefully, "What? What the hell are you on about?"

He finally gave a twisted smile, "Sakura was here."

"What?" I was suddenly up on the couch.

After a second of flicking through another channel, he turned it off all together and looked at me grimly, "So much for your back-ups buddy. She was here to chat you up."

"No fucking way."

"Oh yeah man. She was here all right." Yamazaki was just grinning, but I found it hard to even crack a smile, "Get her out of it Syaoran or you're a dead man. And you know it don't you?"

I didn't hang around to find out anything more. Without another word, I left the apartment slamming the door behind me.

What the hell had the bitch come here for?!

I was pissed before I even knew it, and the best way to vent the anger out was to drive through the streets. After getting on the road, I was cornering into streets, and before I knew it I was parked outside her house.

I didn't know why I had even come there.

But this was where my own damn car had brought me. To Sakura.

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