Disclaimer: I don't own these people

Silence and Pain

"I could do it! I'm sort of freelance anyway. Tomoyo can survive if I'm not there twenty-four seven. I can do both companies!" Sakura nearly jumped at the chance of challenging herself with a large company. And Syaoran... she wouldn't need an excuse to see him anymore...

God, she really was pathetic. He was the love 'em and leave 'em kind of man. She couldn't trust him. Meilin's 'heads up' just confirmed her first impression of him. But she couldn't believe Meilin, of all people. Syaoran was good and kind and funny... and she couldn't deny it any longer.

"That's great. So I'll see you bright and early Monday morning, then? Eight o'clock."

Sakura's thought processes stopped short. Working for Syaoran... their relationship would inevitably change. He would be her boss, and couldn't be anyone else. She wondered if she dared to risk her heart. There was no help for it. It was already hanging out there, open to hurt and any pain he could inflict on it with a careless word or gesture. She wondered if he knew just how much he was in charge of now.

She'd take the job. Life was short.

"Eight o'clock." She smiled at him.

Later Syaoran would try to think back to when he'd ever been so... at peace with himself. After they'd had a short lunch, one Sakura was overdue for since she'd been waitressing all through lunchtime, they'd played tourist and gone to visit the Statue Of Liberty, strolling hand in hand around New York Harbour, blocking out the doubts that had immediately begun to creep in about work on Monday. Syaoran bought them both ice cream cones, both chocolate.

The weather looked like a blessing, the sky so blue it hurt their eyes and the sun so soft in the late afternoon that it was almost unnatural. Almost. Neither of them could have imagined a better day.

Late evening eased into the night on a long breath, and soon Syaoran and Sakura was back at Antonello's for dinner.

Sitting back at their booth, they ate their meals in companionable silence. Syaoran took Sakura's moans and sighs over her pasta with heroic and uncomfortable tolerance, and soon they were at her front door. The day seemed to passed by far too quickly, and the magic was nearly gone. What Monday would be like was weighing on both their minds, but both stubbornly refused to give up the opportunity to see each other once the weekend was over. Excuses were weak things that neither could abide. Good, solid reasons were the way to go.

However, once Syaoran let go of Sakura's hand at the door, he was suddenly loathe to leave her. Big surprise there.

He leaned against the wall next to her door, waiting for her to leave him again. He didn't want to go inside for some reason, something about the bedroom encouraging him to go too fast for both of them.

They wouldn't see each other tomorrow, they both knew it, and somehow, both wanted the time apart. To think. Something was going on. Something big and undeniable.

Suddenly, Sakura slid down the front of her door and sat with a small thump on the concrete. Syaoran looked down at her, and she turned her face up toward his, unsmiling. Her knees close to her chest, she help up a hand to him.

Syaoran grasped her small hand in his and sat down beside her wordlessly. Somehow, the moment was too... much... for words. Tucking her arm under his, they sat together on the floor in front of her door, the barrier that suddenly seemed so much more impenetrable than it had been just yesterday.

Sakura stretched out her legs and tangled them with his. Her body angled to him, she put her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. The quiet affection and regret was more palpable than any block of solid wood.

It was then he realised that he loved her.

Sunday came and went in a blur of day and night. When they finally saw each other again on Monday, their relief was a tangible thing. At last, they both seemed to say, you're here with me again.

"Sakura, Franco Buisette, the Vice President of Li Corporations. Franco, this is Sakura, our new Head Accountant." Syaoran stood between them like a referee at a boxing match, but these two weren't fated to be enemies.

"Sakura darling! Let me show you around, my dear girl!" Franco laid a friendly hand on her shoulder and proceeded to guide her around The Tower, the name they'd given to the forty-storey skyscraper Li Corporations had taken as their head offices. Sakura giggled and followed, giving Syaoran one last, cheeky grin over one shoulder.

Syaoran set his teeth and reminded himself to mention to Franco that Sakura was off-limits. At least the man hadn't mentioned anything about the stupid bets Mortimer had made with him the day he'd met Sakura. He didn't think would necessarily come off very well.

Syaoran, as the President and thus head honcho of the entire establishment, had his offices, in the plural, on the very top level of The Tower. Accountancy was two levels down. Syaoran was seriously considering moving the entire staff up to the top level, just so... well, Sakura of course.

Sakura had just gotten over seeing Syaoran in a business suit again. Ever since that first Friday, she hadn't seen Syaoran in a business suit, especially one that just wrapped him up beautifully like a present at Christmas. She was had been trying hard for the first hour not to just grab him by the starched lapels and have her wicked way with him. She didn't think his other employees would approve of her seducing the big boss. She counted herself lucky that Syaoran was on a whole 'nother level of the building and thus putting her far away from temptation.

It was 10 am in the morning. Work had started and Sakura was crunching numbers as diligently as thinking of Syaoran would allow. It seemed it was all she did these days. Think of Syaoran.

She was determined not to be any less competent than the beloved Bob Alcon had been, determined to prove herself as more than Syaoran's friend, someone deserving to be offered the job.

She wondered if Syaoran would admit to his company that he was having some kind of relationship with her, or if he'd prefer to hide it, to keep the appearances of a boss. A boss did not have relationships with his employees. That only happened in lurid stories, or amature porn. She promised herself she would not be hurt if he'd prefer to hide it. She didn't even know if what they had was considered a relationship, anyway. A kiss here and there, and feelings only on one side... she would not, absolutely would not, be hurt.

But there was no help for it, when he left immediately after work with a sorry look on his face.

"I'm sorry, Sakura, you do understand, don't you? It was my dad's company, and I can't afford to set a bad example. Do you want to walk a little bit down the road and then I pick you up at the crossroads?" The painfully apologetic look on his face told her just how bad he felt, but he was a responsible person, and so was she.

"No thanks," she said hollowly, "I'll take a cab home."

And so, it began, and everyday she hurt a little bit more.

Note: Continuing my penance...