Chapter 13. Best friends.

"Sakura." Li murmured. She turned to him and he felt the ice in her eyes.

Ignoring him completely, even though he was on the outer fringe of the crowd around her, she said, "You guys wanna go get something to eat? My treat."

Her friends nodded and they turned to leave, arms linked with each other. Syaoran followed close behind, he put a hand on her shoulder and she turned around. "Sorry, Li. I don't got enough money for anyone other than my friends." She jerked her head at Kiaki. "I think you should go back to your girlfriend. You're new one, I mean."

Numbly, he let his hand drop and turned to direct his feet to where Kiaki was. Shruikin stepped into his path, his expression serene from the pot and alcohol. "Don't do it, man. Go back to her. Go back to Sakura, you know she deserves more effort than that. Can't believe you pick Jet over her…"

"What? That's Kiaki, you idiot." Syaoran was exasperated.

"Sure she is." Shruikin said dubiously. "Just remember what I said." And he walked away. Syaoran shook his head and went to Kiaki.

"So who was that?" She asked quietly. But he saw in her eyes a fiery fury. Something that reminded him of Jet's angry eyes. He brushed it away. Jet was gone, she went to boarding school in America, Katana said.

"No one important." He shrugged. "You want me to drop you home?"

"Sure, if it's not too much of a problem for you." There was a cold triumph in her voice. But her voice was bubbly, like Sakura's used to be. He closed his eyes for a moment and imagined that it was her that was with him and not Kiaki. "You okay?" She asked him.

"Yeah." He sighed. "Let's go."

Kiaki smiled at his back. This is what you get, Sakura bitch. She could tell from how Sakura had looked at her that she was jealous. Perfect.

The Fried Sushi

They decided to go to the Fried Sushi, Sakura's favorite restaurant. Despite the name, the sushi was much raw. They were waiting for a table that would seat them all when Mei Lin turned to Sakura with pleading in her eyes. "What?" Asked Sakura.

"He broke up with Jet, you know. Because of you." She replied.

"Really," She said quietly. "What took him so long? Why did he do it?"

"Because of yo-" Began Ayisha.

"Don't give me that bullshit nonsense." Cut in Sakura. "If it really was because of me I never would have left. Now really, why did he leave?" She looked at her friends, one at a time, letting her gaze linger a bit. "Anyone?"

"I showed him a tape that-" Started Tomoyo.

"Exactly." Sakura interrupted. When her friends looked at her, clueless she sighed and explained, "He needed proof. He didn't just take my word for it. He didn't trust me enough to take my side. So, all those years of friendship basically don't count with him." The waiter appeared and announced that their table was ready. There was tension so thick you could see it between the friends. In an attempt to lighten the mood, Sakura said, "Itadakimasu!" In her loudest, most bubbly voice. It worked, the girls smiled at their friend. Katana felt something she had never felt before; she felt a sense of family.

"So what are you guys wearing to graduation?" She said.

"It's a surprise." Her friends said, simultaneously. They looked at each other and burst into a fit of giggles.

Sakura smiled serenely. "It's good to be back."

Meanwhile

"Bye, Syaoran!" The bubbly brunette waved at her friend and watched from the doorway with a smile as he sped away. As soon as the door closed, though, she turned around and grimaced in disgust. Her boyfriend walked up and hugged her from behind. She moaned in pleasure as he tongued her neck, making her shiver in delight. She turned around to receive that tongue in her mouth.

"I missed you Jet, baby." He whispered in between breaths.

"Shhh… It's Kiaki, remember?" And with that she pulled off her brown curly wig.

Somewhere Else

Sakura refused to go to her prom date-less. After considering all the free possibilities (the guy that practically lives with is hand in his pants? I don't think so.) she remembered a certain sexy officer's cell number in her pocket. She felt a spark of chemistry between them and liked his easy-going manner. She had searched everywhere for his number and finally found in accidentally wedged inside her foundation case. So now she was walking to the police station where he worked, his break was in… -she checked her watch- it started ten minutes ago. She sped up a bit and looked back because she thought she saw a certain someone's car drive by. She was still looking when she bumped into a toned chest. "Oh! I'm so sorry." She mumbled and craned her neck to look at the person… and was met with a pair of electric blue eyes.

"Hi, looking for me?" Said Xishi.

"Oh, uhm, ah yes. Yes I am." She smiled, having thought her return comment fairly decent. He looked at her expectantly with his brows raised. She merely tilted her head to the side in reply.

"Well? What's up?" He said when all was silent.

"Oh right! Yeah, um I know it's really short notice and all but I was wondering if you would like-"

"Uh huh," he prompted. Startled by his sudden interruption, she lost track of what she going to say and her perfectly thought-out speech fell apart. She stared at him awkwardly for a minute and tried to recover.

"Wanna go get coffee?"

"Sure." He said instantly. They walked to a nearby Starbucks (a/n which I also do NOT own.). Along the way, Sakura frequently caught him staring at her on one of her discreet glances toward him (meaning she was staring first and then she would turn away and feel his gaze around her. Finally they were two blocks from the store. "What?" She finally asked. "Is there something on my face?"

"Well," He began, disregarding the last comment. "I was wondering; is this a date?"

"It is if you want it to be." She replied, making the first actually cool-sounding sentence since she bumped into him.

"I want it to be." He murmured huskily.

"Me too." She whispered. She intertwined her fingers with his. She never realized that her whole body leaned toward this motion and before she realized what was happening, his mouth was on hers, sweet and lingering. She couldn't help but think about Syaoran and she wondered what it would be like to kiss him. But she brushed that thought aside, reminding herself that she was so over him.

Syaoran

He was driving back on the way from Kiaki's house when he thought he saw Sakura. He took a U-turn in the middle of the road just to be sure and, yeah, there she was. But the thing was, she was with that guy from the police station. He followed them until they were about two blocks from what he knew to be Sakura's favorite coffee store. They talked for a minute and then kissed.

If it were possible to feel anything right then, Syaoran would have felt his heart shatter. As it was, all he could do was stare for a minute and slowly drive away.

Okay, a deeply short chapter and I'm very sorry but I just really have a lot on my mind right now like school and this really nice who I seem to gravitate to. But that's not why I can't update often; I can't because I've somehow gotten into advanced classes and am struggling to keep up. But I will try very hard to make the next chapter longer. Keep in mind I've got another story that I'm trying to finish at the same time so don't burn me right okay guys?

-Chibi angelle