Disclaimer: I do not own CCS nor do I own the characters in the manga/ anime. The characters and events in this story are fictitious. Any similarities to real persons are coincidental and unintentional.


A Second Attempt at Love

-4-

Thin rays of light seeped through the dark curtains of Sakura's bedroom as the morning sun rose. The girl lay quietly in bed, staring up at the white lace canopy of her bed without blinking. She had been up for most of the night, trying to rid her mind of the man who had saved her—literally—to no avail. Something about him just sparked her interest.

Sakura shook her head as though it would help erase her memory of him.

If it wasn't working four hours ago, why would it now? She thought miserably.

Then, she closed her eyes, and buried herself deeper into her comforters, hoping for the Sandman to come. However, she had been awake much too long and wasn't able to go back to sleep. So, as much as she loved snuggling into the feather soft quilts, Sakura did something that she usually never did at 5:45 am—wake up. At least, that would've been something for her to look forward to if she had gotten any sleep at all the night before.

After stepping out of the shower, the girl dressed herself in casual clothing and set herself down at the dressing table. As she applied some sunscreen onto her face, Sakura noticed something odd about her appearance. She gazed at her reflection in confusion, scanning every detail of her visage. Then, it smacked her square in the face.

"My earring!" she gasped. Her fingers gently rubbed the naked lobe where her mother's last gift to her was supposed to hang.

Anxiety built in her chest as Sakura checked her other ear. The earring was safe, but swung wildly as her head snapped toward the direction of her bed.

She rushed over to the four-poster bed, and threw the sheets back, desperately searching for the object. But it wasn't there! Sakura ran back to the dresser and grabbed her handbag, her quick fingers rummaging through the contents inside.

"Nothing!" she finally sighed in frustration, and sank into the soft cushion of the matching vanity chair.

The overwhelming feeling of dread continued to fill her body as she tried her hardest to remember where she could've dislocated the precious object.

How and where could I have misplaced it? It was with me the whole time last night—Sakura thought, and paused briefly as realization struck her.

"Holy mother…" she breathed.

"Where is it…Where's the darn key?" Sakura was muttering when her brother walked in the main dining room.

His hair was still dripping wet from his shower, but he looked comfortable in his black pants and long-sleeved cotton shirt. He raised his brow as he watched his sister continue to mutter incoherently to herself while constantly opening and closing several cabinets.

"What's got you digging through the cabinets so early in the morning, kaijuu?" he asked loudly, taking a seat.

Sakura jumped and bumped her head into an opened cabinet door. To his surprise, she didn't hiss or make any remarks although she did look a little frustrated.

The older man sat down, took his coffee and opened his newspaper to the Business section.

"Why no-thing, of course, my dear Tou-ya-nii-chan," Sakura said smiling sweetly, stretching out each syllable.

The older man lowered his newspaper and arched his brow again, looking at her cautiously.

"Really, what were you looking for?"

Sakura fidgeted for a moment. "Well, I kinda need to borrow the key Koiji gave you...Do you know where it is?"

"Why? Is it for something important?" Touya asked. His sister looked at him seriously and nodded.

"I wouldn't be asking you for it if it wasn't, 'Nii-chan."

The jet-black haired man let out a small sigh and nodded. "I trust you."

"It's in the third cabinet to the right, in the second drawer. Here, use this key to unlock the drawer," He said, handing his sister a brass key he took from his pocket. "Make sure you put it back in there when you're done using it, you hear?"

Sakura chirped a word of thanks and rushed over to the other side to hug him. In doing so, though, she inadvertently spilled his coffee all over his newspaper. He gave a small groan, but assured her that he was okay.

"Oops. Gomen nasai, 'Nii-chan. I'll make it up to you later!" She called out, about to exit the room when he signaled for her to stop.

"Hold your horses, kiddo. You have the key now, but you haven't agreed to my conditions, yet."

Sakura rolled her emerald eyes. "Okay, fine. What are your 'conditions?' " She said, and then added quietly. "Dad."

"I heard that, but instead of punishing you like a father should for being mocked, let's move on." He grinned smugly at her extremely shocked face.

"First, Shojiro's driving you; second, you're not going alone—" he waited as she rolled her eyes once again.

"Okay, if you are going alone, you have to be home by 3:00 pm. No exceptions."

"Is that it?"

"Yes—oh, wait," He added, "Don't snoop around the places you're not supposed to. Give me call me when you arrive and leave."

Sakura crossed her arms. "Is that all, Otou-san?"

Touya laughed dryly. "Ha-ha, I'm too young and handsome to be a father."

The auburn-haired woman slapped his arm in annoyance. "Dream on."

Then she called out her good-byes and quickly ascended the stairs. Soon after Sakura left, Touya took out his cell and started dialing his chauffeur's number, glancing in the direction of the staircase.

"Shojiro, make sure you keep an eye on her. Report anything suspicious as soon as you see it happen."

Sakura, be safe.

"Oh, no, that's alright, thank you. I'll just wait until she gets back, then." Sakura sighed as she ended the call.

She was just on the phone with the Daidouji's butler, wanting to speak with Tomoyo, but apparently, she was disappointed. Not long after the ball had ended last night, some kind of emergency meeting had come up. Tomoyo had to pack immediately and catch a flight to Tokyo, where the meeting would be held.

Since she wasn't informed of this, Sakura had called to ask Tomoyo if she wanted to join her at the Iwazumi that day. She thought it was strange when Tomoyo didn't pick up her personal phone. Calling the Daidouji house was just to confirm that Tomoyo wasn't home.

Deciding that moping around all day wasn't going to get her earring back; Sakura picked up her cell and tucked her wallet into her back pocket. In the haste and hurry, she had nearly forgotten to take her earring with her—the only one she has left.

A few hours ago, she had remembered taking it off and quickly putting it into the gift box her mother had given her a long time ago. Sakura took the jewelry box off its place on a personally designed stand and opened it.

A smile spread across her lips when she saw the simple, but beautiful earring twinkling up at her. Then, she furrowed her brows up in surprise as something else caught her eye.

It was a snow white handkerchief.

No, it was his handkerchief.

Sakura ran a hand through her hair and rested it at the nape of her neck. She didn't have a clue how it got there. But, perhaps she had unconsciously put it in the box…?

That didn't bother her right now. At this moment, nothing concerned her more than the state of the missing earring her mother gave her. However, before she even realized it, Sakura had already picked up the handkerchief and unfolding it. Her fingers ran over the silky soft surface of the cloth, smoothing out all the uneven bumps and wrinkles.

Moments after unconsciously thinking, Sakura suddenly snapped out of it all, noticing that her fingers had run over a bump that couldn't be smoothed. She looked down and her eyes widened for a moment. That wasn't a bump! Well, not exactly…It was actually just a monogram.

No, not just any monogram…It was his monogram.

Sakura ran her fingers over the two letters that represented his full name.

"S" and "L", it read.

She knew what the "S" meant, but not the "L". They never had the opportunity to exchange their full names.

She sighed and closed her eyes. Then, she blinked them open again, but slowly in a half-lidded manner. Her emerald orbs quickly turned a darker shade as her mind began drowning in a pool of non-stop wonder.

"S" and "L"…I wonder what the "L" stands for. Who are you…Syaoran?

A/N: This was written about a year and some months ago, I think? (I'm not very good at math.) A lot of people were waiting for me to get out the next chapter, and I was really picking my brain for it, but for a long time, there was nothing! Now, I'm happy to say you can go on to reading chapter 5!

Whyte Lilac