What Matters In the End

Chapter 3

After being in Tomoeda for a couple of days, Syaoran had almost gotten used to the place. It was very serene and the aromas of the Cherry blossoms made him feel like he was right back at home in his secret spot, underneath the Cherry Blossom tree.

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling loudly, he and Eriol continued walking along the path towards the park.

Syaoran didn't want to waste time and went straight to business training as hard as he could just to be strong enough to defeat this evil force and right now he was no where near as powerful, hence why they were in the park. They were looking for a good place to practise their swordsmanship techniques.

Walking for a little while they finally came across a meadow, just the perfect place for their training. It was quiet, spacious and secluded.

Syaoran and Eriol bowed towards each other and chanted words underneath their breaths. Out of no where two sharp, shining swords appeared in front of them.

Eriol took his sword and positioned himself for a fighting stance. "Just like old times neh, don't expect me to go easy on you" he smirked trying to annoy Syaoran.

Syaoran too grabbed his beloved sword and went to his own offensive stance, face full of serious ness. "Likewise" he replied.

Both charged at each other the same time, raising their swords to an offence position. CLANK, The two swords met and Syaoran looked over at Eriol. He lifted his sword for another attack but Eriol quickly blocked it and quickly he swung his sword towards Syaoran's right side but as if he expected the attack he immediately dodged it.

"I see that you have gotten stronger since we last met" Syaoran said with no emotion in his tone of voice. "Interesting"

"Well I've been training for quite some time" Eriol beamed and returned to another one of his stances.

"But it's still not enough" Syaoran continued as he lunged towards Eriol again, only this time with twice as much speed.

A couple of hours passed by and the boys were still at it, training intently whilst beads of sweat ran down the sides of their faces. They were alone in the park and from far away you can hear the clashing of the two swords and the insults both of them were throwing at each other. Somehow though, they managed to get away from the meadows and entered a small area full of cherry blossom trees without even knowing, till Syaoran looked around. The town seemed to have an abundance of them.

He could feel the petals gently landing onto his head. Looking up, he was standing underneath the biggest and the most beautiful Cherry Blossom tree he had ever seen.

He was beginning to get himself lost in the atmosphere but the chuckle of Eriol brought him back to reality.

Frowning, Syaoran got into his normal fighting stance. "I'm done playing games, it's time to finish this" he said with seriousness in his voice.

Eriol smiled "Okay flower boy" he teased.

Syaoran glared at Eriol... I'll wipe that stupid smile off your face… he said to himself and started running towards him at an incredible pace ………

"AHHHHHH" a feminine voice screamed as she started falling. She was sitting on a branch admiring the view when she lost her balance. Looking down, she was expecting to have a hard impact on the ground, so to ease the pain she closed her eyes tightly and continued to scream. I'm gonna die… she thought and waited for the hard impact to arrive but it never came. Instead she landed on something soft and warm. HUH? This can't be right? She thought and opened her eyes slowly. She looked around and found one of her best friends on the ground laughing hysterically with tears streaming down from his eyes.

"Eriol?" she asked herself confused watching him rolling around. She then looked around to gather her surroundings.

Eriol looked over at the girl who had just fallen out of nowhere and laughed even louder.

What's so funny about falling? She said to herself, but a groan from underneath her broke her thoughts. Slowly looking down, she found herself staring at a boy about her age looking as though he was out of it, and hair filled with cherry blossom petals. She continued to stare at him for a couple of minutes when realisation dawned on her.

"OMG! I'm so sorry" She quickly apologised and stood up, letting all the petals that landed on her fall to the ground.

Syaoran gingerly tired to get up but he fell back down onto the ground. He was too dizzy to stand up straight.

The girl who landed on him felt really bad seeing all his attempts to get up. No wonder why Eriol was laughing like a Hyena… she thought as she looked at her friend who was still laughing his head off. Immediately she turned her attention back at the boy on the ground and reach out her hand to help him.

By this time Syaoran was gaining his composure and stopped feeling dizzy. He turned his head and glared coldly at the idiot who knocked him out. That was when Emerald met Amber. The girl in front of him had shoulder length wavy auburn hair, a petite body frame, a light shade of pink on her cheeks and captivating emerald eyes. He had never seen a girl with emerald eyes before in his entire life, and yet there was one staring right at him with a worried expression on her face.

He continued glare at her and shoved her hands away from him.

"Get away from me" he spat out and gained some energy to stand up again. "I don't need your stupid help".

The girl was taken back by his rude attitude and looked sadly towards him.

"I said I was sorry" she whispered staring into those empty amber eyes.

"I don't care" he said walking towards his sword that flew out of his hands and landed near Eriol. Pretending he didn't see his cousin, Syaoran "accidentally" stood on him.

"Owww" Eriol whined knowing Syaoran did that on purpose.

Eriol wiped the tears away from his eyes and chanted for his sword to return back to where it came from. He stood up and walked towards the girl who had fallen on his cousin, trying his hardest to suppress his laughter.

"Hey are you alright….." but before he could finish his sentence, Tomoyo's voice interrupted him.

"SAKURA" she yelled, grabbing both Eriol's and Sakura's attention. Tomoyo was climbing down from the tree Sakura fell from and rushed towards her.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?" She asked examining her friend.

Eriol tried his best to suppress his laugh for this long but he couldn't anymore and once again started rolling around the floor holding his stomach laughing like there was no tomorrow.

Tomoyo looked down at her crazy boyfriend and lifted an eyebrow. "Am I missing something?" she asked.

"Syaoran and I were training…HAHAHA….and Syaoran was being all serious and lunged towards me…HAHAHA…. but Sakura fell on top of him before he could… HAHAHAHAHA", Eriol tried to explain but he couldn't help laughing in between. It wasn't everyday that the almighty Li Clan leader gets beaten by a girl and he laughed even more at the thought.

Getting really annoyed that Eriol was laughing at his misfortune; Syaoran summoned forth water and splashed it on him from head to toe.

Serves you right Syaoran said to himself and gave Eriol an evil stare.

"Aww... That was mean" Eriol whined again standing up, his clothes all drenched. This time it was Sakura's and Tomoyo's turn to laugh.

Being all serious, Eriol walked over to Sakura. "Are you alright Sakura?" he said finally finishing his sentence.

She gave him a smile and nodded her head.

"Well I guess that's one way to make an entrance" Tomoyo joked and smiled towards Sakura also.

"Oh Yeh" Eriol remembered, "You guys haven't officially met, Sakura this is my cousin Syaoran, Syaoran meet one of my best friends Sakura." he introduced.

Sakura looked at Syaoran and by the glare he was giving her she already knew she had blown her first impression. Well maybe we could become good friends and I can try to make up for almost squashing him to death. She told herself.

"Good evening Syaoran" she smiled nervously.

Syaoran stoped his glaring and gave her a look of disgust and immediately turned his back on her and walked away without even saying a "Hello" or a "Goodbye".

Yup, we're going to be great friends she sarcastically told herself. Feeling a bit down, she felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about him." Eriol said giving her a smile, "he's always like that, you'll get used to it eventually".

Sakura smiled back at her friend. "Thanks" she whispered, "I feel a whole lot better".

Authors Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed, I greatly appreciate it. Please tell me what you thought of this chapter and continue reviewing.

Always Chikka