Hey guys, it's been a while.
Actually it's been . . . months? How is that even possible? -.-

I've been pretty busy lately. Gearing up for Christmas and college.
I also updated my profile the other day and it talks about a few things I've been working on for here, as well as what I'm doing with this story.
Since I'm going to be putting this on a bit of a hold until I get more readers and/or reviewers.
My profile talks more about it, so you should check out the update.

Are we really past the 25,000 word mark?
It sounds so incredibly bazaar.
I remember when I first started the story, reaching just a few thousand words seemed to take FOREVER.
Ummm, yeah, so how about I get to the chapter?
Cool? Cool ;)

Weeks have passed since the initial nightmare. They hadn't let up. Each night, Sakura would give a silent prayer for a reprieve; a time for rest. And each morning she would wake with a sore throat. She'd begun taking short naps after cheerleading practice – the changing of the seasons and the shortening of the days hadn't helped. She knew she was growing detached from her friends, though felt helpless to stop it. She also knew that Touya was watching her, and was worried by her nightmares. Attempting to allow her to sleep for a bit longer, Touya and Yukito had taken up the habit of bringing her to school each morning.

Though Touya had told her the night before that they would be unable to bring her to school the following day because they were both going on a trip that she'd insisted on him attending. Fishing might not sound that appealing to her, though when you factored in a bunch of junk food, friends, and a certain girl that Touya had a thing for, she was sure he'd have a good time.

And that was how Sakura found herself alone on a quiet sidewalk, leisurely rollerblading. Because by some miraculous coincidence, she'd managed to wake up early and had left the house on-time. The wheels on her blades made a sort of 'zooming' sound against the cement as she stretched out her strides, and her lips curled at the sight of fallen leaves littering the sidewalk. Autumn was finally visible in the scenery.

But hadn't the forecast predicted snow?

That was, after all, the reason behind her wearing her new pea coat for the first time. Not to mention, she also wore a large and slouchy beanie, knitted finger-less gloves, and a short white scarf. So she was beyond toasty and felt a bit out of place, gazing at colored leaves and trees that were still holding onto their leaves while she was bundled up and ready to take on a blizzard. Tomoyo would find it adorable.

Sakura sighed weakly, noticing that her house was just a few hundred yards away. It's white exterior looked like it had been cleaned recently, or re-painted even, and the lawn was spotless of weeds and leaves. The rosebushes looked like they'd been pruned for winter, though still contained a few blooms here and there and she could just make out that the stone path in the backyard had been re-done. The thought of the gradual changes made her want to sigh again. Had she really been too pre-occupied with everything else not to notice such drastic changes happening around her? This was a place she passed every day, twice a day, and yet she hadn't really lookedat it since that first ride with Yukito and Touya. And this was supposed to be the place where she'd always imagined herself in when she thought of her future, a place that she loved. So how many other things had she disregarded and neglected since the dreams had started?

The front door of the house opened then, and a dark-haired figure emerged stepping backwards through it, pulling the door shut behind him. When he pressed the key into the handle to lock it Sakura found herself glaring up at him, irritated with both herself and the new home owners.

Turning away from the house, she forced herself to continue down the sidewalk and away from the faceless man that she suddenly felt the urge to strangle. She didn't get far.

"Hey! Sa – errr – Kinomoto!"

Facing the direction of the voice – and the house – Sakura felt her brows shoot up in the same instant her face flushed. It was Syaoran. And he jogging to catch up to her. From her house. Why was it that irony seemed to mock her?

Not much had changed between them since his first day ... other than the fact that Sakura had developed a tiny sort of obsession for him. She would never admit to it, though.

He was dressed in dark jeans, a simple white T-shirt and a pair of black Chuck Taylors with only a leather jacket to protect him from the elements, though he was as breathtaking as ever. His posture said he was from a higher class and his clothes screamed money, though he wasn't snobbish by any means. His dark hair was in an effortless disarray as it always was and he was grinning. When he'd finally made it to her side and let out a long breath in relief, she laughed.

"Just call me Sakura, Li-san. Calling me by my family's name just sounds so formal."

He shugged. After a moment, he shot her another grin. "Then you should call me Syaoran, yeah?"

Okay, so maybe things between them had changed a bit. For one, the idea of choking Syaoran horrified her – even if he was the owner of her dream home. And then there was the whole thing of him walking her down to the girls' locker room every day after classes had ended for cheerpractice. He'd sit with her and her friends at lunch and would even slave over her math homework with her and Tomoyo. In her book, that was what she would call 'a keeper'. Though she wasn't sure if he was just acting the way he did because he thought of her as a friend, or if they had a bit more going on between them. Because, to her, Syaoran was about as easy to read as a Quadratic Equation.

They went a ways in silence; his long strides keeping an easy pace with her slow rollerblading. And then he chuckled. Confused, Sakura whipped her head up to see what he was laughing at. And found him staring at her. Or rather, her floppy hat.

Scowling, she folded her arms over her chest. "What's so funny?" she demanded.

He shook his head and seemed as if he was willing himself not to laugh when he replied, "Don't take this the wrong way or anything, but why are you dressed like you're going to climb Mount Fuji?" He gave a gentle tug to the loose part of her hat then and gave a low chuckle. Sakura raised her hand to her hat self-consciously, though he quickly added "It's a cute look for you."

"The forecast said it was going to snow and my dad's pretty big on bundling up in the cold." She replied, attempting to defend herself. Though she had to admit, she probably looked ridiculous. Wearing a heavy winter coat, gloves, an oversized hat, scarf, and ... rollerblades.

Syaoran grinned down to her, lightly tapping her chin with a curled index finger. When she scowled again and batted away his hand he gave a chuckle then questioned, "So how come I never see you walking this way in the morning?"

She shrugged. "I've been waking up later that usual these past few weeks. So my brother and his friend have been giving me rides in the morning on their way down to the coffee shop." She explained, glancing up to him with a faint blush.

"So I guess you aren't much of a morning person then," he asked, his dark eyes amused.

Sakura laughed in response and shook her head. "Oh no. I'm pretty terrible when I've just woken up." She said grinning, knowing that there was a reason behind why Touya had continued calling her 'Monster' over the years. "My dad won't even come in my room in the morning, instead he has my brother, Touya, come in and get me so that I can say goodbye to him before he leaves for work. Touya can be pretty scary on his own, so I guess it makes sense." She shrugged again, then gave a giggle. "You know, I never knew you lived over here."

This time Syaoran shrugged, the movement causing a stray strand of hair to fall in front of one of his eyes. Sakura wanted to sigh. He was too handsome for his own good, his dark eyes glinting down to her. "I never knew you did either. But now we do." Finally making it to the school's front gates, the tiny brunette removed her rollerblades and replaced them with a pair of flats and they continued up the stairs in silence, each too caught up in their own thoughts to mind it. Though when Syaoran looked over to Sakura once more his expression had been swiped clean of any amusement, suddenly serious – as he seemed to be with any other person.

"So I was thinking, maybe we could-"

"Sakura!" Tomoyo's voice interrupted him, and he exhaled an irritated breath in response. Out of seemingly nowhere came the tiny raven-haired girl, racing towards them with a huge grin spread across her face. When she finally reached them she nearly tackled her cousin, throwing her arms around her. "You look so incredibly cute! Though you do realize that it's still kind of warm out, right?" The words flew from her lips in a rush and then she paused to draw in a breath, only to continue milliseconds later without missing a beat. "Oh! The student council finally released the theme for the Winter Ball. Fire and Ice; opposites, you know? Though we don't have much time to prepare. So tonight, before the sleepover, we're going to the mall to go dress shopping. I've already talked it over with Rika and Chi, and I'm sure Noako won't be thatput out by it." Gasping for air, she grinned, her amethyst eyes shining with excitement. Only then did she seem to notice Syaoran standing beside her closest friend, he'd raised a brow though had kept quiet. Apparently, he'd grown used to Tomoyo's antics already. "Ohayo, Syao-san." She said with a small wave, flashing him that bright smile of hers.

He merely grunted a reply just as the bell rang, signaling that the students had ten minutes to finish gathering their things and report to class. Sakura started at the sound, still not very used to hearing it. She blushed, though began inching towards the stairs. "That's great, Moyo. I mean about knowing the theme thing, not dress shopping. I'm not looking forward to that," she shuddered not-so-subtly "but I guess I can deal if we do all of our shopping all at once. But we might have to stop at my house first, since I don't think I brought the right wallet to go shopping with."

Yes, she had more than one wallet. Though there was a perfectly logical reason for it. She was typically a forgetful person and a bit frazzled at times so she liked to keep her smaller bills in one wallet that she carried around with her, while she kept quite a bit more in the one at her home.

"Sounds good." Tomoyo beamed.

"I've still got to get to my locker, though." Sakura added, taking a few steps towards the staircase. "I'll see you in math, so we can talk more there."

Her cousin nodded and skipped away, calling over her shoulder, "I've got to go find Noako, anyways! See you in math!"

The auburn-haired girl sighed, then looked up the young man next to her. He was still scowling, his brows knitted into a deep line. Though when he noticed that her emerald gaze was fixed on him, it slowly ebbed away and the very edges of his lips began to curl. She nudged her shoulder into his in an attempt to hide the flush that had crept up her cheeks, and asked, "You coming, Syaoran?"

He nodded and followed after her dumbly as she chattered on as she usually did, without a care in the world. She wasn't aware of how much she'd pleased him by just saying his name.

A bit of a short chapter. Though the scene sort of stretched out, at least for me.
Sakura dressing up in snow-gear was just a fluke thing. I've actually had this written up for about a month now and haven't bothered to post it.
So when I was re-reading it and making connections I couldn't help but smile. Since where I live, we've been hit by a miny blizzard for the last few days.
Let's just say, the snow is over my waist. NOT cool. And the thing is, it doesn't stop. It just keeps coming down, throughout the whole day.
I mean, I've lived in New York all of my life and am pretty used to snow, but I can't remember a time when we've ever gotten this much of it. It's kind of crazy.

-sigh- No Touya in this chapter. Pretty sure he wouldn't be pleased with his little sister's choice in 'friends'.
What I love is that he's always seemed to be even more protective of Sakura than their father.
How does that work out?

I couldn't really pick a song for this chapter so I went through my iTunes and Jordan Pruitt's "When I Pretend" was the only thing that came remotely close to what I wanted this chapter to reflect. Plus, I think it sounds pretty Sakura-y.

Remember to check out my profile and read my update. I'm really in need of opinions on one of the topics I talk about, so yeah.
Also, reviews are always appreciated. And would probably get me to take this story of it's hiatus much quicker.

So yeah, I'll talk to you guys later.
- jo