Author's notes: Well it's been quite a long while since I updated. Sorry ppl but I was ill for the pst three weeks and was stuck in bed. And I also have a lot of school work to catch up. I'm not very satisfied with this chapter but I hope u guys like it.

On with the story then……….

Chapter 14:

"Sakura!" Syaoran stared at her in surprise, his mind whirring with thoughts. Pushing them all away and ignoring the fact that his parents were there, Syaoran rushed up to Sakura and pulled her into his arms. He noticed that her face was pale and there were blotches of blood on her clothes.

Sakura struggled to get out of his grasp, sobbing loudly. Her face was still buried in her hands. But Syaoran's grip was firm and she gave up, burying her face on his chest, still sobbing while clutching a fistful of his shirt with her right hand.

"It's ok." He whispered soothingly in her ear, "Please don't cry, Sakura." I don't care if you're cursed or whatever…… I'll always love you. Please just don't cry," he buried his face in her auburn air.

But the moment he uttered those words. A bright light appeared as Sakura and the four flowers began glowing. Syaoran fell back in surprise and felt something cold fall onto he palm of his hand. But because of blinding light he couldn't see what it was.

"What? This again..?" The king asked who apparently had enough surprises for a day. First a nightingale transforming into a girl now what……

To Sakura's joy, she saw four very familiar figures in the hallway when the light had disappeared.

"Mom! Dad!" She shrieked and flung herself on her parents and hugged them tightly.

"Whoa! Whoa… calm down there little monster…" a voice came and Sakura saw Touya's smirking face.

She leapt happily at her brothers, tears of joy pouring down her face. "Great job there sis," Hiroshi smiled ruffling her hair.

"You!" The Li King spluttered, "What are you doing here?" The five Kinomotos looked up as though only then realizing that they were in palace of Li Kingdom.

"I'm sorry for our rude intrusion," Queen Nadeshiko bowed politely. Sakura frightfully glanced at Syaoran but his expression was unreadable. She squeezed her eyes shut, her head bowed. Oh no! He must hate me now…

"What's going on here?" Yelan asked looking faintly amused by all the events that had happened in the evening.

King Fujitaka sighed, "Long story…" but he began his tale anyway, "Well it all started when we had won a war against the neighboring kingdom. During the war, a young lad who was the son of a witch named Yuko was killed. Yuko was enraged by the death of her son and she cursed us all to flowers in the mythical valley of the butterflies. All of us, except our youngest daughter Sakura," he motioned Sakura, "who was cursed to become a nightingale by day and human by night." Syaoran let out and almost inaudible gasp at this.

"And thanks to her I'm standing here talking to you," There was a slight pride in his tone.

"Yuko was a nice person, really. But the shock of her son's death was too much to bear and I guess that's why she cursed us."

There was long silence till King Ryu suddenly stormed off to his room. Touya made a growling noise from the bottom of his throat but Hiroshi grabbed his sleeve warningly.

Yelan quickly bowed looking embarrassed, "Please excuse his rudeness. You are welcome to spend the night here,"

Touya opened his mouth to protest but Hiroshi and Sakura stepped on his foot at the same time and what he was about to say turned to a painful groan.

"That's very kind of you," King Fujitaka smiled gratefully.

"Maya! Escort our guests to their rooms please." Yelan ordered a maid who was passing by.

"Yes Your Majesty. This way, sir"

Everyone left the room with the Li sisters giggling and throwing glances at Sakura and Syaoran who were standing alone in the hallway now.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Syaoran opened his fist and stared. There was the heart shaped locket that Sakura had won in the fair except that…

It was whole…

"What's wrong?" Sakura asked timidly.

"Look…" Syaoran held out the locket for her to see.

Sakura gasped. "But how did that….? Does this mean…?"

, "The other part of the pendant will be found only if you find a person who will love you as much as you love him,"

The words of the old lady from the fair flooded into her mind making her blush scarlet immediately. She looked up to see a faint redness on Syaoran's cheek too. But before any of them could speak,

"Am I interrupting something?"

Sakura and Syaoran whipped their heads in the direction of the voice.

"Mother?" Sakura looked surprised.

Nadeshiko smiled at her daughter and looked at Syaoran, "I see you found the other half of the pendant, Prince Syaoran."

"I…uh…" Syaoran started but was interrupted by Sakura,

"How was the curse broken? I thought I failed." Sakura said, "You said I had to summon my hidden power or something and I never did that…"

Her mother laughed, "You really should listen properly Sakura. I never mentioned that it was your hidden power."

Sakura gawked at her mother, "You mean…?" Both of them looked at Syaoran who had a confused look on his face.

"It was Syaoran who broke the spell,"

"What? Me? But I didn't do anything…"

"It was your love for my daughter that saved the day actually." Nadeshiko said and laughed on seeing Sakura and Syaoran's face turn bright red.

"That pendant has a lot of magical powers. When you truly accept the fact that you love the person who owns the necklace and are ready to do whatever it takes to help them, you will obtain the other half of the pendant and it will become whole again. Here, when you declared your feelings for Sakura despite the fact that she was cursed, you proved yourself worthy of getting the other half of the pendant as well as my daughter's heart and love." Nadeshiko explained.

Syaoran blushed harder. Nadeshiko smiled, "I guess that answers your question, Sakura. I'll leave you two alone now," She turned on her heels and walked away leaving the two alone. Nobody spoke for a moment.

"I'm sorry," Sakura blurted.

"For what?" Syaoran asked puzzled.

"I didn't tell you that I was the princess of the Kinomoto Kingdom," Syaoran laughed.

"I told you that I didn't care, remember?" he frowned then.

"What happened?" he asked looking at the blood on her clothes.

"Come to the garden and I'll tell you everything." Sakura said. The two went to the palace garden (A/N: not the secret garden…)

"And that's what happened," Sakura finished, waving her hands dramatically.

Syaoran let out a low whistle, "So that means all this time you were my pet?"

Sakura nodded, slightly embarrassed, "Thanks Syaoran…for everything." She looked at him gratefully.

Syaoran shook his head, "No. I should be thanking you. You're the best thing that ever happened to me." He lay down on the grass not noticing the pile of dried leaves. "oof!" he ground shaking his head scattering the leaves on his messy hair. Sakura laughed and pulled him up by the arm.

"Look, now your hair is full of leaves." She leaned over and began pulling out the leaves from his chestnut locks.

His hair is so soft…

Sakura blushed at that thought but continued pulling out leaves from his hair.

"Done!" she announced and sat down but Syaoran pulled her onto him again and the two of them rolled into the pond.

"SYAORAN!!" Sakura yelled, "Look at what you've done!!" She indicated her wet hair sticking to her face and her drenched clothes.

"Did I do something wrong?" Syaoran asked in a feigned innocent voice. He was also completely soaked, with water dripping from his bangs onto his face.

Sakura strode up to him, wading in the waist deep water, furiously and dunked him in the water. But Syaoran who had been expecting this pulled her into the water too. Sakura sunk in with a yelp of surprise and finally broke free from his firm grasp and surfaced gasping hard.

Syaoran laughed as she glared at him.

"What's so funny?" she demanded glaring even more fiercely.

"You look so cute when you're angry," He pulled her into arms and kissed her.

Sakura forgot about her anger and blushed bright red which made Syaoran laugh again.

Syaoran dragged her out of the water, "We'd better get changed or else we both will catch a cold."

She nodded and walked into the palace to meet her mother wondering if she could ask the Queen whether she could borrow a change of clothes.

Syaoran stared at her till she disappeared around the corner and smiling to himself he walked towards his room not noticing a pair of eyes that had been watching them all along.

Sakura sighed leaning against the balcony railing while drying her hair with a towel. She was feeling much better, now that she was wearing dry clothes and had just taken a nice, warm bath. The garden looked beautiful shimmering in the silver moon light.

"It's beautiful isn't it?"

Sakura didn't have to turn around to know who it was. "Yeah," she murmured in response letting her chin rest on her palms.

"It almost makes you want to write a poem."

Sakura laughed slightly, "Since when did you become a poet?" she asked mockingly turning to face Hiroshi.

"Hey! Don't insult me!"

Sakura sighed again and turned her back to him. There was a few moments silence before he spoke again,

"Is something wrong, Sakura?" He had a hunch what it might be but he wanted to make sure.

"Maybe…" she replied vaguely, her voice half a whisper.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," he stood next her and studied gazed at her intently with his blue eyes.

Sakura shook her head but Hiroshi didn't know whether she meant a yes or a no. "Are you thinking about him?" he asked softly.

Sakura face turned red for a nanosecond and then it was replaced by a sad look again. Hiroshi smiled,

"I'll take that as a yes."

"What is going to happen now Hiro?" she asked, her voice quavering slightly, "will I…will I ever see him again?" the last part of the sentence was spoken so softly that Hiroshi had to strain his ears to hear her.

"To be honest I don't know…" Hiroshi said but immediately regretted it as she became upset again.

"Just forget about him," Touya's gruff voice came in as he entered the room. "We're leaving home tomorrow evening anyway. Besides that King's reaction was absolutely insulting. I knew it all along. All the Lis are just the same…rude and…."

"Touya," Hiroshi's warning struck through the air and he glanced towards Sakura, who had tears brimming in her eyes.

Touya took one glance at his little sister and left the balcony mumbling a small apology. He felt really bad for making her cry.

"You could have found all the flowers earlier then you had if you wanted to but you didn't because of him right?"

Sakura stared at the ground, "I'm sorry,"

"You don't have to apologize," Hiroshi said placing a hand on her shoulder. "That really proves how much you love him. I'm happy for you Sakura. I'm glad you found the right person for you. And if he loves you just as much then I'm sure everything will be fine. Just have faith in yourself and in him ok?"

Sakura nodded, her spirits slightly lifted. She gave him a small smile. He gently patted her head and left inside the room.

Sakura wondered why he left all of a sudden but turning behind she knew the answer. Because, there stood Syaoran, looking up at her from the garden, below.

"Syaoran!" she called out happy to see him, "What are you doing out here?"

"I came to say goodnight, my princess," he replied smirking as a red blush appeared on her cheeks.

Sakura stared at him, suddenly feeling sad all over again. Tears slowly formed in her eyes and slowly started falling down her cheeks. She sniffed back a sob.

"Sakura, are you crying?" he asked.

Sakura didn't reply and continued staring at him as tears kept falling. At that moment she suddenly wanted him near her and to feel his arms around her.

As though reading her thoughts Syaoran ran over to nearby tree and climbed up in a flash. He jumped onto the balcony from a nearby branch. Sakura stared at him surprised and amazed for a second before she flung herself of him sobbing uncontrollably.

He stroked her auburn her with one hand while the other was holding her tightly to him. He was at loss of what to say because he knew how she felt. Finally Sakura withdrew and he whispered into her ear, "Please don't be sad, Saku. Everything will be ok I'm sure," he wished he felt as confident as he sounded.

He placed a light kiss on her cheek and jumped down the balcony but not before pressing a handkerchief onto the palms of her hand.

Sakura stared gratefully at his retreating back and then wiped her tears with the kerchief before going back to bed to try and get some sleep.

Unknown to the two the Li sisters and the queen were plotting something as they had all seen the little scenario between the two. The Li sisters were absolutely delighted that their mother was a part of their matchmaking scheme.

"Stop giggling!" the queen ordered her daughters sharply. "There's nothing funny going on,"

"No, it's just that I never thought you'd be plotting here with us, mother," Fanran said suppressing another giggle as her mother glared at her.

"I just want my son to be happy," Yelan replied in a dignified tone. "And if he feels that he can find happiness in her then I'm not stopping him," she sighed softly before continuing, "I just want to him to make his own decision for once,"

Sheifa placed a hand on her mother's shoulder, "Don't worry. Things will be fine and we're here to make sure of it,"

"I don't think convincing her parents will be that hard," Feimei piped up looking serious.

Fuutie nodded at her sister and then turned to face her mother, "It's just father I'm worried about,"

"Just leave your father to me. I'll persuade him. I just hope we can convince the elders. You know how they are…" the queen trailed off.

"Just persuade father into agreeing, mother. I'm sure he can take care of those elders. She maybe a Kinomoto but she is of royal heritage. Isn't that enough?" Sheifa looked at mother.

"I hope it will be," their mother replied before sweeping out of the room. The door shut with a slight bang and the fours girls looked at one another.

Things were getting complicated. They hoped every thing will turn out well.

The next evening arrived and it was almost time for the Kinomotos to leave. There was a thick tension in the air as they bid their farewell.

Sakura's gaze was fixed to the floor, her face hidden by her bangs. Syaoran kept glancing at her but was unable to meet her eyes.

Feimei gave her mother a quick glance and the queen nodded. She cleared her throat,

"Excuse me Your Highness," she looked at Fujitaka, "Can I ask you something?"

All eyes were on her. Syaoran stared at his mother wondering what it could be. But her expression was unreadable.

Author's note: Well that was chapter 14! There's just one more chapter left. The next update is scheduled on my birthday which is in two weeks. (sigh) I'm going to miss this story. Anyways don't forget to leave me a review! Bye!

This is sakura doll sighing off.