Disclaimer: Don't own, never said I did.

This is my second favourite chapter, and I simply adore the last chapter so you can guess which is my favourite. Now for Flyfly and anyone else who is wondering, Ying Fa is apparently the Cantonese (Syaoran's native tongue seeing as he's from Hong Kong) equivalent of Sakura - I'm not sure how true this is because I haven't really found it anywhere but fanfiction so I suspect it's something that was made up by the fans as a way to disguise Sakura's name where necessary or as a special name for Syaoran to use for her (seeing as she doesn't care who calls her Sakura unlike Syaoran who is fussy). I think I did read once that it meant 'pink flower' rather than cherry blossom so it was a very loose translation. It seems a little dubious to me, so if anybody out there in the real world could confirm if this is correct it would be much appreciated.

By the way, I was very impressed by the number of you that went out and read hitchhikers after my last update . . . yeah I live and dream.

Not What You Think - Unfortunately

"Well?" Meilin asked as her cousin approached her at the entrance to the botanical gardens. "What happened?"

Syaoran shrugged his shoulders and offered her a weak smile. "She didn't show," he said quietly.

Meilin's eyes widened and he mouth hung open in shock. She just couldn't believe it; she was so sure that this was it . . . but look what had become of it.

"Xiao Lang I'm so sorry," Meilin breathed as she saw the hope fade from his eyes and his jaw harden grimly.

"Forget it," he replied, his voice heavy with emotion. "Just forget it."

~ Almost 2 hours earlier ~

"Sakura!" Tomoyo's voice yelled loudly. "Sakura if you're in there get up now!"

Sakura slowly opened one eye and then the other wondering what all the ruckus was about. Maybe there was some kind of emergency and she had to get out of her apartment right this instant, but then why was Tomoyo there?

She walked slowly and clumsily towards the door, still barely conscious, with Kero trailing at her feet. She opened the door to a very worried looking Tomoyo, which made Sakura rethink her decision to discount the possibility of some sort of emergency.

"Tomoyo," she said tiredly, wiping the sleep from her eyes, "what are you doing here so early?"

Tomoyo sighed. "It's 11 Sakura. You're supposed to be on your way to the botanical gardens by now!"

"Hoe!" Sakura cried helplessly as she raced back to her bedroom to confirm. All the clocks in her room flashed 12:00. There had obviously been a power cut while she was sleeping.

"It's ok," Tomoyo said trying her best to calm her panicking friend. "Remember you said you gave yourself ten minutes for traffic. I'm here to help you get ready now. It should be fine."

"Right of course," she said, trying to breathe calmly.

Ten minutes later Sakura was ready and searching her apartment for her car keys which were nowhere to be found. "Where the hell did I put them she cried?" her voice raised in panic.

"It's ok Sakura," Tomoyo said, trying her best to stay calm when she too was panicking on the inside. "You can just catch a cab. You'll only be a few minutes late. It will be fine, ok?"

Sakura did not like the fact that Tomoyo finished with a question mark, but she nodded quietly as Tomoyo called her a cab.

"He said he'll be five minutes," Tomoyo said reassuringly. "So you'll only be a few minutes late. I'm sure that Xiao Lang can stand to wait for you for a few minutes."

The cab arrived fifteen minutes later.

"Good luck," Tomoyo said, staying cheerful for the sake of her friend. Sakura forced a smile, but her eyes gave her away. She was not as sure as Tomoyo that Xiao Lang would wait this long.

Ten minutes later they were stuck in traffic on the main highway. There had been an accident and the police were clearing the roads. Sakura glowered quietly to herself. She had told the driver to take the back roads instead, but he had insisted this was the fastest route and she had believed him. She was never listening to cab drivers again.

More than an hour later the cab was pulling up to the gates of the botanical gardens, only to be directed to one of the other gates due to some routine maintenance work that just happened to be taking place at that moment.

Five minutes after that they had made their way round to the other gate and Sakura was paying for her cab. It took him two minutes to find her the correct change; two minutes she didn't have to spare.

Five minutes later she was running up the steps to the gates in a yellow sundress and a pair of yellow high heeled sandals.

"Sakura!" Meilin called out seeing one of her best friends running towards her.

Sakura stopped to greet Meilin, her face obviously pained by yet another delay, but she tried not to make it too obvious.

"Sakura, how have –" Meilin started, but Sakura cut her off.

"I'm sorry Meilin," Sakura said trying not be rude. "I'm running late for a meeting," she said quickly as she dashed past Meilin and Syaoran and ran as fast as she could to the centre of the botanical gardens where she hoped he would still be waiting for her, almost an hour after her intended arrival.

"Poor Sakura. She looks terrible," Meilin sighed as she watched Sakura disappear. She turned to Syaoran for his input, but he looked almost as inconsolable as Sakura.

She gasped as something began to click into place and a strange look suddenly came over face. It was as if the fog had lifted and she could see the light beyond the end of the tunnel.

"Xiao Lang, how did you guys meet?" she asked cautiously, her voice urgent and excited at the same time. She was acutely aware that she might just hold the key to both Syaoran and Sakura's future happiness in her hands.

"I don't see how this is relevant," Syaoran muttered in response as he shoved his hands in his pockets. "And if you don't mind, could we just drop the subject altogether. I don't need you analysing the play by play action Mei."

Meilin sighed. Syaoran could be so stubborn sometimes. "Just humour me please," she replied, her voice stern yet soft conveying annoyance and sympathy. "It's more important than you think."

He sighed realizing there was no getting out of it. "If you must know, she sent an email to me by mistake. I replied and we started talking," he said quickly as though he was trying to rip off a plaster as quickly and painlessly as possible. "Feel free to tell my sisters all the finer details," he added resentfully, sure that that was what Meilin was getting at.

"Really Xiao Lang, now is not the time," she growled. "Now this email," she continued, almost unable to hide the hope in her voice, "do you think it might have been intended for me?"

"I suppose so," he said sardonically recalling the catalyst which had led him to what he suspected was the worst moment of his life. "It was one of those quiz thingee's where you fill your answers and send it back. Happy now?"

"Oh for crying out loud," she exclaimed suddenly exasperated by how slow Syaoran was being. "You know if you hadn't insisted on being so secretive about things I probably could have driven you up to her apartment and introduced the two of you myself. God knows we tried," she added as an afterthought.

"Look Mei, I get that she's probably your friend and all but I'm not really sure what good that does us. I stood there waiting like an ass for an hour and she didn't show. She's obviously not interested in meeting and I wish she had just said that to being with instead of letting me go through all this crap. Now can we please just drop it?" he finished angrily, glaring at Meilin through his heart.

"Xiao Lang!" she exclaimed, "you still don't get it do you?"

He looked at her as if she was mad, obviously not getting a hold of what she was on about.

"That was her!" she cried indicating the direction that Sakura had just ran off in. "The girl in the yellow dress? That was her! That was Sakura Kinomoto; YOUR SAKURA! And by the looks of things she is positively devastated."

"But . . ." he began, his eyes going wide as he made the connection. He could find the words to explain what was going through his brain. "But . . ."

"Just go," Meilin sighed, rolling her eyes at him. "I'll see you at the party."

And with that he was gone.

~ to be continued ~

Now for all of those that think I'm impossibly cruel I just want you to all take a moment to think of how cruel I could have been. I could have simply extended the section before the break - filled a bit with some angst and yearning on Syao's behalf - and left it there, but I decided to take pity on you all this one time and go with the other cliff hanger. Only two chapters left (end + epilogue).

You know I had this very strange thought about Sailor Moon - I was just thinking about how she's supposed to be the head of her sailor troop which makes very little sense given that all of her sailor friends are named after planets (except for pluto - was there a Sailor Pluto? I can't remember) and she is merely a satelite. I mean, even a former planet is better than a satelite. Clearly Sailor Jupiter needs to wage a mutiny and get herself in her proper position.

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