Chapter 1

The Proposition

"What!"

"What, what?" A silent sob was heard from the other side.

"What do you mean 'what, what?' " The exasperated voice spoke in empathy. "How can you stand someone like that?"

"I don't know, you know what, I just don't know anything any longer." The other individual, obviously upset about something, spoke over the phone.

"Listen, Tomoyo, I'm going to take the first flight over to Tokyo. This will be solved, don't worry, alright?" Her voice was uncertain.

"Ohh…please come, it's been ages since I last saw you, I miss you so very much." Tomoyo spoke softly into the phone.

"It's a plan. Hold on. Give me a minute." Putting down her cell phone, she pushed back her office chair and went to open her second drawer to the left. She took out a file and slammed it onto her mahogany desk. Quickly flipping through the fawn pages, she came across a beautiful stationary. 'Dear Kinomoto' was encrypted at the top in beautiful flawless calligraphy. Swiftly, reading over the letter she came upon a number.

Dashing to the side table she picked up her industrial phone, and dialed the number in an unfashionable manner. While ringing she picked her cell phone up off the spotless mahogany table, "Tomoyo?"

"Yes?" Tomoyo replied, in now a hopeful tone.

"Stay on the line, I'll just be another minute," She reassured her distressed friend. She was sure she heard a faint, "Mmhmm". That being good enough, she went back to the other phone, only to hear it ringing.

"You've reached British Airways, please state your business, and our automated answering system will try to direct you to the right representative for your inquiries. If you have the extension key to your destination, please enter it now, followed with the pound key. "

Looking at the paper, she entered the numbers given. She waited patiently while the bell rung once again. "Hullo, you've caught Francis, and whom am I speaking to?" She heard the familiar English accent of her old friend Francis.

"Francis! It's me! Recognize me?" She spoke in the sweetest voice that she could.

"Ms Kinomoto! So nice to hear from you again, how have you been?" Francis asked enthusiastically.

"Fabulous, listen this is no time for small talk, I need a favor" Ms Kinomoto spoke business.

"Right, when and where?" He replied.

"Tokyo, next flight." She grabbed a pen and her stationary ready to write anything he had to say. She scribbled on the paper to make sure the pen worked, it was an Elizabeth Arden collectable she had bought when she was in London. With the dead silence at her side, she heard hushed typing from the receiver. Waiting for a response, she gently tapped her pen on the stationary, looking for anything interesting to do; she read the words in her mind. 'Ms Kinomoto please get back to Mr. Lang regarding the Atlantic City Casino.' This wasn't good. There were too many things on her agenda.

"Okay your in, pack your bags for the next flight which is in an about…three hours. At 5 PM." He told her quickly. She scurried to scribble it all down. "Have a nice flight!"

Hanging up the receiver, she went to grab her cell phone. "Tomoyo, I'll be there as soon as possible, I'll call you when I reach." She said gently. Hearing a faint acceptance, she hung up.

*

The stop at Hong Kong would be great; she could pick up something great for Tomoyo, and not to mention something for her brother, Touya, and her father, Fujitaka.

Sitting in first class, it was very quiet, and she rested her head on the seat, and fell into a peaceful slumber. It wasn't very long, as she was awoken by a very irritant ache in her shoulder, a stewardess was standing beside her. And by the looks of it, she had poked Sakura on the shoulder.

"Sorry to disturb to Miss, but this gentleman seems to be claiming that you are sitting on his seat." The stewardess sounded quite disdain, but the twinkle in her eyes showed that she was regretful to be kicking someone of their seat. "There will be no trouble to find you another seat, and we are very truly sorry about this."

Smiling at the stewardess, she grabbed her purse, and lifted herself off the seat. "Sorry to have disturbed you, my sincerest apologies."

"Now let's have a look at your boarding pass," the stewardess said while walking down the aisle to look for a vacant seat. Sakura following behind and handed her pass to her, "Oh, look at that, that was your seat. Thanks a lot." She turned around and Sakura caught a glimpse of her sharp maroon eyes. "These reps are making a lot of mistakes these days, or maybe it's just the system."

Sakura was amused, she was just mumbling to herself now. She was offered a temporary seat, while the stewardess pried for another one. Finally when the stewardess returned looking quite resentful, she was told to follow her for she had found another seat in the business class.

A seat beside the window, how nice, Sakura thought. She bid thanks to the stewardess, who was well on her way to her station. Sakura looked to her left and noticed a gentle woman with tired eyes looking directly at the seat ahead of her. The woman was sitting stoic, Sakura wondered what she was thinking—she seemed to be in a trance. When the woman put her head back on the seat and set it back, Sakura was able to see the woman's companion. It was a stern looking male, who was reading the day's paper. Ignoring her thoughts, she also set her head back and rested into a sweet slumber once again.

Waking up, Sakura heard hushed voices, "Xiao, what do you propose we do?" She heard the woman to her left question.

"Jaya, there is not much that we can do. It's just not up to us anymore," was her companion's bleak reply.

"Xiao, how can you say that, he is our son! It is our job as parents to make sure he receives our full attention and it is our duty to make sure he is on the right path." The woman's voice was strained. It seemed to Sakura as if the couple had been debating this for a long time.

Sakura didn't want to eavesdrop on their conversation, she felt wrong, but somehow she couldn't pull herself from the woman's voice. The woman was now asking her husband about their welfares' future. The man sounded quite irritated by this quarrel, "Let's just hope this proposal goes well and then we can look to the future."

Sakura turned her head a little so she could see to her left, there she saw the woman sitting upright staring at the same seat in front of her. The paper the man was reading earlier was now tucked into the seat pocket. The woman looked to her companion and said, "I suppose you are right Xiao…I am sorry," she looked to the ground at this point, "I wasn't thinking in regards to what was going on through your mind…"

The man sighed with a heavy sound, "It's alright Jaya…Let's just get this done, and I promise that we will surly look into this more. It's my promise to you darling." Sakura turned her head, this wasn't fair, this was an intimate moment between the couple. She had no right to be listening into their conversation, but she couldn't help feeling a tinge of envy. She looked down and let the air escape from her mouth, how she wished she could have someone like that.

The stewardess came around with the food, and they all ate, Sakura noticing that the couple was now quite. "Mr. Wang, Dr. Wang, would you like anything else?" She heard the maroon-eyed stewardess speak. Their reply was a simple no; she then informed them that they would be arriving in Hong Kong in another hour. Sakura having finished her food got her laptop out and looked at her memo. Studying her duties for this week she got to work so she could finish as much of it as she could prior to arriving in Japan.

Hong Kong

Descending the steps in the airport she looked around, it was pitch black. She thought she might as well spend the night here, the planes in Hong Kong were constantly flying to Tokyo. Sakura never really liked plane food, it was always stored away in freezers for weeks, and how could you eat a salad sprayed with chemicals? She exited the airport, only grabbing her essential luggage and leaving the rest at the airport, for a small price of course.

She had been to Hong Kong before of course, but not long enough to remember where anything was or to have memorized where all the hotels were. She was so used to England she found it a bit funny to see so many of her own people. The woman on the plane, she noticed while exiting the plane, was lavish, she had the most beautiful silky black hair, which was in a ponytail, and her saddened gray eyes were magnificent. She had honey-tanned skin and she wore a casual business suit to match her husband who without doubt was a mixed oriental. He had white golden hair, to go along with his icy cerulean eyes. She loved it when there was so much history in the family, their son must be lucky, she thought. She wondered how he looked. The thought occurred to her, maybe because of all those blends maybe their son was mutated, they had been speaking about not being able to do anything about it earlier. She shook those thoughts out of her head and called the nearest taxi.

"The Hyatt please!" Sakura spoke in her best Chinese, which actually was pretty rusty. The taxi driver, being glad that he finally got a customer nodded and took off.

In no time she was standing in front of the Hyatt in Hong Kong. It had been a long time since she was in Hong Kong, she thought about calling a couple of friends, or acquaintances while she was here, surely Tomoyo could wait a couple of days.

Entering through the glass doors she made her way straight to the counter. It was night so not many people were in the lobby. "Hi," she spoke sweetly to the woman behind the counter, "I'd like a room please."

Judging by the sloppy grin on the woman's face, it looked like she would be getting a big commission tonight. "Not a problem Ms?" She questioned in a professional voice making up for that messy smile earlier.

"Sakura Kinomoto." Sakura replied taking out her credit card from her purse. The woman started typing things into the screen in front of her.

"All right, you're all ready to go, here are you keys," she handed Sakura an envelope. "And your room is on the 40th floor, room number two, and everything you will need is in that envelope as well." Sakura smiled and handed her credit card over to the woman.

After giving her luggage to the usher she went straight to the guest's elevator. She wondered where the gentleman who presses the buttons was, but she pressed the 40th floor anyway and pressed the 'close door' button as well, it was the middle of the night and Sakura was feeling very sleepy. Just as the doors were closing a hand came in-between the sliding door, and the door opened once again. Sakura's eyes flew up to look at the new arrival.

Sakura missed a heartbeat. And she wanted to apologize, but her voice wouldn't come out. There stood a tall man, no older than she was, staring at her with his piercing ocher eyes. A deep frown on his face, he looked tired, from the looks of it. His hair, slicked back with gel, but pieces of it fell everywhere anyway.

He turned his back on Sakura and went to go press his floor. Judging by the sudden stop in raising his arm, she figured it was already pressed. She looked at his back. He was wearing beige khakis and a forest green long sleeved shirt. He was carrying a black laptop in his right hand, his other hand, unoccupied.

The elevator was to say nevertheless, very slow. And they were only at the 20th floor, when Sakura heard a little tune. It was not her cell phone, but it was his. Again, she had this habit of eavesdropping, she couldn't but help herself not listening.

"Hello?" She heard him speak in a flawless American accent. "Oh. Hello mother, how are you on this excellent morning? … No I'm staying at the hotel." He had a deep icy tone. She could hear his mother on the other side. That was the thing with cell phones.

"…home right away, the elder's have something to discuss with you." She was saying, this was getting very interesting. Sakura could hear his mother perfectly; the quietness in the elevator didn't help.

"I'm conducting very important…" He looked over to Sakura with a deepened frown; she quickly looked down and answered her cell phone as well, ignoring his conversation now. "Business, there's much to do, I must go now." Without a second thought he closed the phone on her and looked up.

"Ohio! Mmmm! Hai! In Hong Kong father…." He heard her speak in a highly pitched tone to her Japanese father obviously. This woman was very much just a little girl, dressed in a business suit with wrinkles all over it. She had the most mesmerizing jade eyes he had ever seen. Not your usual, dull washed out green eyes. They were full of colour, and happiness. "Yes father, I am coming to Tokyo as soon as I can."

Finally the elevator reached the 40th floor. He waited patiently while he let this…girl exit the elevator first. The floor only had two doors to it. There was a sofa near the elevator, and a unique placement of various different furniture; there was even a powder room. The room was a lavish maroon colour, with two dark beige doors on opposite ends. He looked at his door, "4001". He started walking towards it. The 'lobby' of the apartments had background music playing.

"Ja ne father!" He heard her perky voice as he went to open his door. Getting his key out he put it in the keyhole and with one swift motion he pushed the buttons and opened the door. Just when he was going to close the door did he notice that the girl was staring at him. So he just stared back. Her luggage was in front of the door. Just when he was about to close his door did she try to speak up. Just to close her mouth again, like a fish in water.

The background music that the hotel was playing was getting to his brain.

"I...I am sorry…to disturb you…sir." She spluttered over the music. She too looked annoyed by the music. Why were they playing pop music at 3 AM in the morning?

He walked out and opened all the cupboards on the wall. One by one he opened them, she looked utterly confused. Finally stopping at one of the cupboards, Sakura noticed had a little black box with little LED lights. He took his hand and smashed the box, and suddenly the music went off, and along with the lights, air-conditioning and every other electric device on the floor.

She heard him sigh exasperated. All she was going to do was ask him how to use the key. It was one of those high-tech ones that all the new places had. She noticed that he was really livid from what she could tell before the lights went out, she liked the song that was playing, but from the looks of it he didn't.

"Listen," she heard him say in a very drained tone, "I didn't mean that to happen." Sakura took went over to press the elevator button, putting her hands on the walls for guidance. When she felt bumps in the wall and she was sure she reached them, she pressed her finger down. A little light went off in the button. She looked towards her other. When she caught his shiny ocher eyes, she quivered. He didn't look like the nicest guy.

"It's alright," she replied. "That music was getting annoying…but the real question is what do we do now?" She really didn't want to go to another hotel; she had already paid a four-digit amount as well.

"That's easy, we ask for new rooms." He felt a bit guilty; it was his fault this girl couldn't go to sleep. She yawned; obviously she had traveled a long way. "Leave it to me," he said looking down, "I'm obligated to."

She nodded and said, "I'll wait here for you then." And as soon as she said that, the elevator finally arrived and the door clicked, "or actually, I'll come along, how about that sir?"

He didn't say anything but instead just went into the elevator, Sakura followed curtly. The elevator again took a good 4 minutes to get to the ground floor. All the while Sakura was quite and looked down, and he leaned against the wall with one of his feet pressed on the wall. He was also looking down with his arms crossed, and an uncertain expression on his face. They both exited the elevator, with Sakura first. Walking to the receptionist, Sakura noticed she had that big sloppy grin on her face again. The receptionist was staring at him; god people will do anything to pick up a date, Sakura thought. When she saw Sakura, her smile faltered for a moment but went back to that fake grin.

"How may I be off assistance Ms-" She noticed that that the man had come to stand beside Sakura.

Sakura saw him bend towards her and he said with an icy voice, "Hi," he looked down at her nametag, "Jamie, do you know your eyes are very pretty?" And then smiled down at her, making her grin. She giggled, and he got up, "but unfortunately a terrible accident occurred and our electricity has gone out, do you think you could get us new rooms, Jamie…?"

She giggled again hearing her name, Sakura wanted to puke. "Let me check for you…" She typed in her computer again, and Sakura looked at his face, and she saw exactly what she saw of him before, a frown rested upon his face.

"Oh my… looks like…there just aren't any rooms left. I am so very sorry-"

"Excuse me? I just booked in 15 minutes ago! And already you don't have any rooms, I'm sorry Jamie but I really don't feel like taking another taxi to another hotel. And I'll let my father know of this beautiful estate and their courteous staff as well." Sakura slapped her hands on the table.

He gave a side-glance at her, and she made a pointing gesture with her head. He looked quite unimpressed with her behaviour. "The madam is right, I will tell the manager of the wonderful work you are doing, I assure you, in fact you will probably be promoted as well." He growled giving Jamie a glare. "How about you look into the computer again," he once again looked down at her nametag, "Ms Ja" He ended with another glare.

"Ac-actually look at that! Oh my, I must have missed that, how clumsy of me…Why there is a room!" She said pointing at the screen in a very scared tone. Sakura glanced over at him again, he gave a little smirk and rolled his eyes, these hotels were very stupid. "And wow, it's a pent house!" She said with fake surprised face.

"A?" Sakura repeated her, her arms crossed.

Jamie Ja gulped, "Why yes! There is only one, but it has many rooms, and it is as big as a mansion, and it actually belongs to the owner of the hotel, but you see he's away. Never really here anyway, and it's not like any of his possessions are there anyways, and I'm not really supposed to be giving that away to anyone, but since there is nothing else, you can have it," She said in one big long sentence, he raised one of his eyebrows, but quickly went to his normal monotonous face.

"Fine, we'll take it, whatever." Sakura said; she could convince him to leave for at least one night, as he was such a gentleman. The woman opened her drawer to get the keys for it out.

He glanced at Sakura but didn't protest. When Jamie Ja gave Sakura the key they left towards a different elevator. When the door opened, Sakura looked at the little envelope in her hand, "Perfect, 100th floor." He pressed the button to the hundredth floor.

She looked over at him; well she might as well introduce herself before kicking the total stranger out of the suite. "My name is Sakura K-" he looked up, should she be telling a total stranger that she was the heiress to the Kinomoto Kingdom, what if he got kidnappers to kidnap her for a ransom or something. "Konami."

He was leaning against the same wall again, he turned his gaze to the floor once more. No response, so Sakura persisted, "What's your name?"

Syaoran looked up once again, this girl was really getting at his nerve. If she hadn't been staring at him earlier, he could have closed his door and could have gone back to his work. But no she had to stare and he had to get mad at that annoying music and he had to break the fuse box. Maybe he could have replaced the fuses, but no, he had to break their circuits too. And god did it hurt, his knuckles were bleeding. The thoughts ran through Syaoran's mind. But of course, it was dark and she was oblivious to the fact that he was in utter pain, having been shocked all the while.

Still looking down, he lied through his teeth, "Syaoran Sheng Ma," she nodded automatically. He could tell she was nervous about saying the next sentence.

"Look Mr. Sheng Ma," she said quietly, "I'm only going to be here a short time, so how do you say you find another place to stay for tonight?"

He looked up at her with those ocher eyes, and she wished she hadn't said a word. "No." And with that said the elevator door opened and he exited to the door of the pent house. Walking silently to the door, she followed him. He opened the door and went into the suite. Sakura looked down at her hands, she had the envelope with the keys. "Guess the maid left the suite open." He said whilst walking away from her.

She entered the suite and looked mesmerized with her surroundings. It was a dark house; the parlor spotless with beautiful black furniture, in the middle laid a beautiful taupe leather sofa. She looked to her right and the entrance to the kitchen was there, and she looked to her left where Mr. Sheng Ma opened a door to a room, after entering he closed the door behind him. Sakura went around picking a room, all of which were decorated in the same manner as the living room. After choosing a large sized room she planned to work on her laptop some more and then go to sleep for a couple of hours.

She rested on the hard mattress and knew for sure that the owner was a man; no woman would let this happen to the beautiful suite. She got the shivers; it was just so dark, like there was some sort of dark whole in the person's heart. She fell back on the bed, and reminisced about her life. Closing her eyes, she thought about the predicament that her dear friend was in.

Her name was Tomoyo Daidouji, and her dilemma: her boss had fired her. Sakura knew that Tomoyo had much potential to do what ever she wanted, but when she said that she was going to work as an advertising manager in an office building, Sakura was thoroughly bewildered. Sakura always believed that she would make it to be some famous singer or designer. Sakura didn't know what to tell her, she was just so talented, but she decided that it would be best to support her friend in a time of need, so she wished Tomoyo good luck with her new position.

Tomoyo had explained later that she had just wanted to live up to her mother's expectations. Her mother was the CEO and owner of the famous electronics line, DD Electronics Inc. Sakura always thought that Sonomi Daidouji would have handed her company to Tomoyo, but when she refused to hand it over and said that that it was up to Tomoyo to make her own fortune, she was outright confused.

She, just like Sakura was only at the age of 21, and as much as Sakura had told her that she had a lot of talent, Tomoyo refused to go where her heart told her, but rather to do something similar to her mother. Thus enabling her to prove to her mother that she had the strength to take over the family business.

As much as Sakura wanted to support her friend, she had to admit that Tomoyo's talent did not exist in making advertisements and making false promises about the company's products. Sakura knew that Tomoyo's 'resignation' was inevitable. But she didn't expect her to be this upset about it, after all Tomoyo was never really happy in that job. It seemed as if her friend was not telling her the whole story; but now it wasn't time to think of those sorts of things, it was now Sakura's turn to go comfort her friend, just like Tomoyo did throughout their childhood.

Her father had also called in the middle of the night; he had said that it was very imperative that she be in Tokyo in the next week, it was regarding some very important business that her brother and him had to discuss with her. As usual, she had said yes and that she would be there no problem.

She loved her father very much, but sometimes felt that he didn't fully understand her. And that stood correct for her brother, who never really cared about what she had wanted, but for what was 'good' for her. He wouldn't allow her to do silly things when she was a child; she always had to sit right, meet the right people, and say the right things. There was a time when they were a normal family; her father would cook dinner and she and Touya would laugh and they would act like a real brother and sister. But all that changed when her father felt that they deserved more, and they had wanted the world for Sakura. They were always getting her what she had wanted, always taking her where she wanted to go, and always just having fun like a normal family.

Oh how she wished she were back in those happy days; it wasn't as if she wasn't happy with her life. She loved her brother and father very much and would do anything for them, and they for her. But she just needed a rest, she was still very much a child, and she wished her family would realize that. It's as if they were trying to keep her away from something they thought would hurt her very much. She was always bombarded with work; she couldn't even visit her friend's during the holidays, heck she hadn't seen her best friend in four years.

Sakura shook those thoughts away from her head and felt like resting, she would work another day. Tomorrow she had to meet some old friends, and get things for her family and Tomoyo, and hopefully then she can be on her way.

*

There was an omelette sandwich, waffles, with milk, and even a chocolate chip muffin. Sakura stared at the sight in front of her; she was standing in front of the breakfast table with her hand on her chin in a thinking manner, her head tilted.

Surely the maid hadn't made this, they clean, they don't cook. So someone would have ordered this from the hotel kitchen, and the only other occupant of this suite was Mr. Sheng Ma. The thought occurred to Sakura, maybe this was Mr. Sheng Ma's breakfast and that she shouldn't be touching it.

As if on cue, she heard the door click, and she turned around to only come face to face with those ocher eyes. There he stood, with a deep scowl on his face, he turned his sight from her and walked to the one of the kitchen cupboards and took out a glass. Sakura didn't want to look as if she was watching him so she sat at one of the seats on the table and opened her laptop to start working. The awkwardness in the room was clear.

Peeking over she saw him open the fridge and take out a carton of milk. Her silent typing and the milk pouring into the glass were all that you could hear.

He turned around and stood with one of his arms across his chest and the other holding the milk to his mouth. He looked over to the breakfast and then up to her typing. Taking a sip from his milk he said quietly, "it's yours." Sakura looked up to him, he was whirling the white liquidly contents of his glass.

Sakura rose an eyebrow as to question what he was talking about, he pointed his glass in the direction of the laid out breakfast, she nodded, and without another word he left the kitchen. Watching him leave, she sprinted to the seat to have some real food. Sakura sat there eating thinking about the fact that those were the most awkward moments that she's had ever had, and not to mention that non-social animal, Syaoran Sheng Ma.

Who was he?

She had been away from Japan and China for so long that she realized that she knew no one any longer. She didn't know of the aristocrats, or the successful businesses or families. She would ask Mr. Sheng Ma what he was doing here; just to make a little conversation of course, and to at least know the man she was living with for the while.

She finished eating and put her stuff away; she walked out of the kitchen and saw Mr. Sheng Ma sipping on coffee and eating biscuits, and reading a newspaper with a concentrated look on his face. She walked swiftly to the sofa across from him and sat down, he looked up from his paper for a second, only go back to reading his paper.

Sakura noticed that he was in a suit now. Wow, she thought, he certainly looked very sharp; now she was thoroughly intrigued by what he did. She noticed that her luggage from the 90th floor was beside the door. She nodded inwardly.

"So…Mr. Sheng Ma, how are this morning?" She tried hopefully, he didn't bother to answer; he simply kept reading the business section. She looked down on the table; beside the coffee cup were the Chinese paper, the Japanese paper, and the American paper. Currently he was reading the German newspaper, she was sure. Everything that he did, small discreet actions of course, but actions nevertheless fascinated her. Why did he know so many different languages?

Just when she thought she wouldn't get a reply he said, "It's 2 PM," 'right so afternoon, whatever,' thought Sakura. He didn't even bother to look up but just to turn the page of the newspaper, but she would try again.

"So what line of endeavor are you engaged in?" She asked crossing her legs and placing her hands on her knees. He looked up once more irritated, and wondering where this conversation was going.

Putting his newspaper down he took a sip of his coffee, "I write reviews on hotels for the company I work in." He then took another newspaper, the Japanese one this time and started reading it.

"Oh, that's interesting, is it a fun job?" He looked up from the newspaper and met her eyes head on.

"Don't you have something to be doing?" She looked at him straight in the eyes, she was not afraid of him, he was just a stupid little journalist, does he think he can push her around, she had more money than he could ever dream of.

She stood up and walked over to him and stood inches apart, "Excuse me, but who do you think you are? Huh? I am sorry, but most gentlemen are polite to women, obviously," she looked him up and down with a frown, "no one taught you any manners, scum."

She grabbed her laptop and headed to the door while grabbing her luggage she heard something that made her eyes water, "Japanese whores and their anger," he growled lowly. Sure she was attracted to him, but after their little squabble, not even a witch would be attracted to him. He was plain ugly from the inside.

She banged the door behind her, stupid man, if only he knew who she was he would have never dared to say such a thing. She would make sure he would suffer, and that he would never live to review a hotel again.

Sakura left the hotel with her luggage; she called a taxi and went to the airport. After getting her ticket to Tokyo she decided she might as well go shopping now, as the plane wasn't going to arrive for another four hours. She went to the Hong Kong downtown. Shopping around she found a great purse store. Looking around Sakura found a perfect gray and black 'Guess?' tote; she quickly bought it, Tomoyo would absolutely love it. Prancing around the street, she came upon a jewelry store, 'Spencer's Diamonds'. She went in, it was very crowded, but then again it was marriage season, spring. She went over to one of the displays and saw a beautiful heliotrope bracelet decorated with ruby's and faint diamonds, it was very simple yet chic. She just had to have it!

"Yes that one please," she heard a voice near her say. It was a beautiful Chinese maiden, she had beautiful long silky black hair, and striking claret eyes, she had brought one of the stores' clerks over. She came to stand beside Sakura, she pointed to the same piece of jewelry that Sakura was planning on buying.

"Oh yes that one is a very popular, but your are the first one to buy it, it's a Tiffany's original." She heard the store clerk say, he then noticed Sakura's presence, "you like that one don't you?"

"Yes I do, do you have another one?" Sadly the store clerk shook his head 'no', so Sakura looked over to the Chinese maiden and said, "You sure are a lucky one." And with that said she walked away. She had bought a white gold watch for both her brother and father from Spencer's Diamonds.

She once again called the taxi to head back to the airport; it was finally time to go back to Tokyo. She thought about how it would be like to see all her friends again. Her childhood friends, there was Chiharu Mihara, she was the always very cheerful, and always choked Takashi Yamazaki, her boyfriend, whenever she was mad at him. There was also Naoko Yanagisawa, she was a remarkable writer, and her story telling skills were superb. And then there was Rika Sasaki, she was exceptionally mature, she gave the finest advice and was always there when Sakura needed her.

She couldn't wait to see all her friends.

*

Sakura woke once again panting; she grabbed the glass of water from her bedside table and swallowed it all down satisfying her thirst. This was the fourth night in a row that she had had that nightmare. She held her head and let the sweat drip down, when would all this stop. What were those dreams trying to tell her?

Sakura had finally come home five days ago; she had darted to Tomoyo's apartment only to hear laughter. Tomoyo had gotten her job back, and she was as happy as ever. Sakura couldn't understand what had just happened. But she had found out what Tomoyo hadn't been telling her on the phone, Tomoyo was dating her boss! So when Sakura went into Tomoyo's living room, and stumbled upon a happy looking couple laughing, she was unreservedly confused as to what had just happened.

His name was Eriol Hiriigazawa, and he was a tall hunky gentleman with luscious dark hair, and stunning sapphire eyes. Again Sakura felt that hint of hurt in her heart, she wasn't envious of her best friend, she was just so happy for her. Tomoyo deserved this so much, more than anyone else she knew. She was always putting others ahead of her, and she never once thought about herself. She had always wanted to make her mother happy, she had always wanted to make Sakura happy, but she never thought about making herself happy.

Sakura pulled herself out of the duvet and stood to open the cumbersome curtains to let some light in. She was surprised to see that she had slept so much; in fact it was already 9 AM. Today she had to attend a meeting with her father; there was important business on the line, according to him. She decided that might as well get ready now, the meeting started in an hour anyway.

She had already visited her father and brother, who had missed her wholeheartedly and welcomed her home with open arms. They had spent the night together dining as a whole family, not having to talk about business even once. The next day Sakura got together with all her friends and discussed their lives that she had missed on. It had been such a long time since high school; they were all the same age but Sakura went ahead and finished high school before any of them could of, at the age of sixteen. She then left to study abroad, and they weren't in touch after she had secured a position in her father's company. It was so nice having her back; they could all talk about the dear memories that they all held so close to their hearts.

She decided on a black skirt and black jacket; how original, she thought. Today she felt spontaneous so she decided she would let her hair down. It was a dark honey colour, and went down to her mid-back in waves; it was originally straight but she had had it in a braid last night, so it created big heavy loose waves. She liked it a lot today; it gave her that 'Je ne sa quois?' look, that mysterious women had.

This was her time off, she would enjoy this; even though she had to discuss some business with her father, it was better than being in England. She had always drowned herself with work ever since she had got the position to control the branch in England, but the truth was Sakura didn't really have a choice to if whether she had wanted to work or not. It was sort of just thrown at her, and expected to be completed flawlessly.

But it was no time to think about that now, she grabbed her purse and headed out the door to this important meeting.

*

She could hear distant voices as soon as she exited the elevator; she quickly recognized it as her brother's voice. She walked closer to the entrance to hear her brother bellow, "Fucking Chinese baka!" When she entered, both figures lifted their vision to look at the new arrival. "Oh good, Sakura your finally here." He said regaining his composure. Sakura found it better not to question about his sudden outburst. She noticed her father was drowned in what he was reading.

"Glad to see your having a nice day as well Touya," she went over to the sofa to settle herself down.

"We have important business to discuss with you." He said sitting in a leather chair across the room.

"I am quite aware of that Touya." She retorted while crossing her legs and putting her hands on her knees. Touya was about to open his mouth but she interrupted, "So father why am I here then, let's get to it." Her father looked up and sighed. Resting his head back he closed his eyes.

"We're going bankrupt." Touya said bleakly and to the point. Sakura's eyes widened.

'No this isn't happening,' she thought. She must of heard wrong. "What?" She finally got out.

"You heard right Sakura darling, our company is loosing an immense amount of money…" She looked to her father and shook her head.

"How…?" She looked to the floor, all of a sudden mesmerized by all its detail.

"Well do you remember the hotel project, the one we were going to build in Hong Kong?" She nodded, "Well the Chinese firm that we got in touch with, the only one that could give us the permission, refused the offer, and all the clients, who invested a really big sum are legally inclined to have their money back. And because we already used that wealth to help strengthen the branches in the other countries, we don't have enough to continue any of the branches let alone here in Tokyo. Meaning when we compensate all the workers we will be bankrupt, and not to mention all the money the government will take from us." Fujitaka sighed once again, "We had thought we could have returned that money through the stock market when our hotel boosted and made profit. We made a big mistake Sakura."

Sakura looked up to her father, she couldn't believe what was happening, all the fortune, all the hard work was going to waste. They wouldn't have any money left; suddenly the idea came to Sakura's mind. "What about the trust otou-san!"

Her father looked down at the paper, "We have branches in fifteen countries, Sakura, we have to compensate each and every one of them. Or we could all be put to jail."

"But…I'm sure there's a way, Touya! What's the name of that Chinese firm? I'm sure we could talk to them, explain our situation, and they would listen!" She screamed grabbing his hand. Sakura had jumped out of the sofa with surprise when she had heard about what was going on.

"Don't you think I tried Sakura! That fucking baka wont listen to anyone!" He screamed at her holding her shoulders. She couldn't control it anymore and she let the tears fall freely. Her brother embraced her wiping all her tears away, she then turned towards her father.

"There has to be a way fathe-" she stopped short only to hear the voice in the intercom.

"Mr. Kinomoto, Mr. Wang and his wife are here to see you." Fujitaka pressed the button and said to let them in.

"The investors are already pouring in." He said sadly putting away the files that were scattered all over his table. Touya and Sakura went to sit at the sofa across from the room. The room had a beautiful view of Tokyo city, it was high in the 60th floor of the Kinomoto Real Estate building.

The door opened revealing two figures in black suites, whom, to Sakura's great surprise, recognized them as the couple from the airport.

"Ah, welcome, welcome, Mr. Wang," Fujitaka stood up and shook the gentleman's hand, "Dr. Wang," he shook the ladies hand. Fujitaka then ushered them to sit down on the leather seats across from him. He gestured towards where Touya and Sakura were sitting who quickly stood up. "I'm sure you remember my son, Touya," Touya put his hand up with a quick smile. "And this is my beautiful daughter, Sakura, she had been away on studies these last few years."

The Wang's gave each other a knowing glance. This made Sakura nervous, "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. Wang," she bowed towards him, " Dr. Wang," she bowed towards Jaya. Touya and Sakura sat back down.

"So what may I ask brings you here?" Fujitaka asked politely.

"We need to discuss the current quandary you have gotten yourselves into." Xiao spoke with potency.

Fujitaka looked down and then up again with a strong motive, "Do not worry Xiao, we will return everything you have invested," Fujitaka added, "with interest of course."

"No, no," Xiao leaned his hand on the table and Fujitaka was taken aback by his refusal, "you don't seem to understand, I have come to strike a deal with you old friend." He smiled at Fujitaka's surprised face. "I will pay all the investor's back with interest, thus you won't have to close any of your branches, helping you to maintain your reputation and wealth." He sat back comfortably.

"Xiao, you do realize that is a billion dollar amount, not yen, a dollar amount." Xiao simply nodded his head with a smug smile, "So what do you want in return then."

Jaya spoke up this time, "We have taken a liking to your daughter, we ask of her hand in marriage to our son, Tigen."

Sakura quickly grabbed Touya's hand and squeezed it before he did anything stupid. They were so straight forward and to the point. Touya looked over to her quickly and she shook her head 'no'.

Fujitaka was taken aback, give his little girl away for a stupid company and for some money? The answer was very obvious to him but he had to be nice to the Wang's, they were still very good friend's of his. "Surely we will need time to discuss this with Sakura, after all it is her choice to make." He spluttered out still confused as to what to say.

Sakura sat there on the sofa hearing them talk about her, 'This is the only way to save everything, my family gave up so much for me, now it's my turn.' She thought, she knew what her answer was and it was simple, everyone always gave away things for her, now it was her turn to make the sacrifice. She got up from the sofa, and Touya grabbed her hand and stared at her if to say 'Don't do anything stupid.' She nodded and he let go of her. She walked over to the Wang's and looked them right in the eye and smiled.

"Mr. Wang, Dr. Wang, I would gladly accept your generous offer." She said bowing, and before her father or Touya got a chance to speak she said turning to them, "Touya, otou-san I have made up my mind."

Jaya and Xiao stood up and hugged her tightly to them; Xiao let go and said, "Why it's a time to celebrate! You are all invited over to our house for a formal dinner tomorrow!"

Jaya and Xiao shook hands with Touya and Fujitaka and said their final farewells and were on their way. As soon as they had left Touya stood up and said very lightly, "Sakura…" And she ran to her brother to cry her heart out. Fujitaka's heart ached and he embraced his two young children.

"Everything will be alright," he assured them, "as soon as everything is back on track we will get an annulment, or who knows even better, maybe you two will take a liking to each other." He said with a forced smile.

*

"Sakura pass me that plate," she heard Tomoyo say through her trance.

"Oh yeah sure." They were washing dishes over at Tomoyo's house. Sakura was rinsing and drying them while Tomoyo was soaping them up. Tomoyo's job didn't pay that well and she couldn't really afford a luxury suite or even a dishwasher at that.

Sakura had stayed over at Tomoyo's last night and had told her everything that had happened that day. Tomoyo had been surprised at the sudden turn in events. Tomoyo had comforted her and told her that in the end everything would turn out to be all right. Sakura was very glad she had had Tomoyo; Sakura had come here to comfort her friend, and now it was Sakura who needed the comforting.

"So you never did tell me what happened with Eriol?" She popped the question out of thin air.

"Oh." Sakura could see the light tinge of red on her friend's face. She was usually very well composed and didn't let her feelings fly about. "Well, as you know Eriol runs the Tokyo branch for his boss, right?" Sakura murmured a 'yes' while drying the two cups in her hand, "well his branch was not making as much money as the other branches, so his boss blamed it all on me. But than Eriol knew it wasn't my fault, he says that the boss likes to blame anyone but him. He's just really rude, I've met him, I don't think he likes Japanese people. Anyway and since you know that Eriol and I are…er…um…to-gether, so he kind of came back and offered me the job back and apologized and you know then you kind of came in…yeah."

"Are you happy?" Sakura asked while Tomoyo washed the last of the dishes.

"Extremely…I hope this one is it. Oh Sakura, I really hope I'm going to be making two wedding dressed instead of one!" Sakura felt a tinge on pain hearing what Tomoyo said, tonight she was going to meet her fiancée at that dinner.

"Which reminds me, I need to get a dress for tonight, are you willing to spare some for me?" She questioned while exiting the petite kitchen.

"Anything for you Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo hugged Sakura tightly, "You know how much I love designing for you!"

Tomoyo had a collection of clothes she had made for Sakura while she was away in England, "Wow Tomoyo, you did all this while I was gone," she nodded, "that's some hobby, you should pursue a career in it."

"Nuh-uh, I have to do what I have to do, and that's to get my mother to hand the company over to me." She said to Sakura who was busy looking at the dresses on the racks in Tomoyo's extra room.

"But, think about it Tomoyo, why not have an electronics line and designer line, own two, make a kingdom!" She said while examining the inside of a ginger mid sized dress. She then took it out and put it against herself, holding the bottom of it up and putting her leg out to examine how it would look. "That way you can have both, instead of getting the company from your mother, join together, DD Electronics, and DD Designer Wear? And that way," she said putting the orange dress on the table to examine another one. "You can have proved to your mother too."

Tomoyo who was leaning against the table with her arms crossed, she thought about Sakura's views for a few moments, "You know what Sakura? I think you got yourself a point…but what about Eriol?" She said looking down. Sakura turned around and walked towards her.

"What about Eriol? Surely he would love it for his girl to be the most famous designer in all of Asia?" Tomoyo laughed a bit at the way Sakura had said that. Sakura walked to another rack.

"You've got a deal Sakura-chan, but on one condition." Sakura looked up from the rack she was at with a raised eyebrow.

"If you promise to be my top model!" Sakura looked up with wide eyes.

"No way! I can't model, I'm a businesswoman! I'm going back to England to continue on my project." She said staring at Tomoyo.

"As if, your getting married Sakura-chan, do you really think Wang-san would let his wife go off to some foreign country for the rest of her life?" She asked surprised of what Sakura was thinking.

"I don't know! Things happen to fast Tomoyo! Do you think that Wang-san will let his decent Kinomoto wife be a sluttish little model!" She yelled back.

"Okay Sakura, go talk to him about it tonight, get the feel, don't go asking him, but you should at least get the impression if he's a free guy or whatever else hun." Tomoyo insisted.

"Mhm-kay," she said looking down at the dresses she liked, "I think I'll go with this one." She said picking up the ginger one. It was sleeveless and glossy; it was cut just at her knees and would stick on her body perfectly. It resembled a kind of sundress a Barbie would wear.

"Nice choice, I got the inspiration from a 1950's frock, ya like?" Sakura nodded. "Okay, okay then no more time wasting, go change!" She pushed her into the direction of the door.

"You must make me a couture dress for my wedding, Tomoyo!" She said while running into the other room.

"Yeah right! So you can scare all your guests at the wedding! 'Oh look she's wearing a couture on her wedding day' they'll say Sakur-" Tomoyo looked at her sweet friend run out the door with sad eyes.

'Saku deserves way better,' she thought while a tear slipped down her face at the thought of what her best friend was going through.

*

"Saku-chan stand still!" Tomoyo slapped her shin.

"But these heels are two inches taller than what I would usually wear, they hurt so much!" Sakura could always act like a baby around Tomoyo because she knew Tomoyo would never judge her. Tomoyo was tying up the straps to her orange stilettos.

"There, all done," Tomoyo said ignoring Sakura's last comment, "now stand back so I can look at you."

Sakura ran back a bit, Tomoyo looked at her masterpiece. Sakura wasn't a very tall girl, but she stood a nice 5'6". She had long straight hair that curled in a bit at the ends; Tomoyo was dying to cut it off, it looked so much cuter when she had it small. But Sakura had said a solid 'no' and that she needed to have it in a bun to look decent, of course Tomoyo had disagreed at that statement and had rolled her eyes. Sakura had the most perfect body that Tomoyo had ever seen, she had designed for many girls, but so far she had noticed that Sakura had the most ideal measurements. Her waist was lean and flawless, she had milky peach skin, Sakura's assets, as Tomoyo had pointed out one day, were what every man had desired. She would make the absolute perfect model. Maybe not what Gucci would want, with his absolute skeletal girls, but she was definitely a Valentino. She would look gorge in Valentino's red rose! None other than Sakura broke Tomoyo's train of thoughts, "Okay, okay! Quit staring and tell me how I look!"

"Like my perfect model." Sakura smiled at her dear friend and came over to hug her.

"Thanks Tomoyo-chan! I hope everything goes well tonight, I hope my father gets trough!"

"Me too Sakura-chan, me too…"