Change that four-shot to a five-shot.

If anyone can tell me all the times Syaoran and Sakura were drinking up to the Infinity arc so I don't have to keep changing the number I'll give you a cookie!

X X X

The fourth time Sakura hadn't been drinking. She had won the race, but an unexpected twist had forced her to take the feather into her body before she wanted to so she was dead-asleep on the couch. She slept through the entire party and remembered nothing of the night's events save speaking briefly with Tomoyo before sleep wrapped her up in its arms. But that was just as well. Surely, Syaoran would not wish her to remember what happened.

Hell, he didn't remember himself…

…

Syaoran wasn't sure when or how he started drinking. Mokona or Fai or maybe even Nokoru, the handsome blonde who had given Sakura the rose, may have handed him something. He wasn't entirely sure, but he soon found his mind muddled and distant.

Syaoran had distance himself from the party early on, sitting in the window with his gloves tucked under his thigh. The glass in his bare hands was cold and wet. Water rolled down the side, making ring on his pants. He was watching Sakura where she slumbered on the sofa, oblivious to everything around her. She looked so very peaceful, just lying there.

Nokoru approached him and took a seat in the window just next to where Syaoran had made himself comfortable. "Everyone seems to be having a fine time," he said and smiled dazzlingly.

"They sure are," Syaoran agreed.

Nokoru stared at Syaoran. His blue eyes looked through the young man, taking in the age and pain in the amber eyes set in such a young face. Syaoran didn't see Nokoru looking at him; he was still watching Sakura as she shifted in her sleep.

"The journey hasn't been painful for you?" Nokoru asked finally.

Syaoran aged before his eyes. The young man drew his shoulders in and ducked his head. Those amber eyes looked so old, ancient, in pain. They had seen so much and given up things that he should have loved. Then, the alcohol pushed through the gloom and set a smile on his fine features.

"It was a decision I made," Syaoran said. He continued watching the party. "And… I've learned about things I never dreamed would ever exist. And I'm learning the sword." Then, he turned to Nokoru and beamed.

Nokoru had a feeling suddenly that Syaoran was no longer seeing him and he was proven correct when Syaoran grinned even wider.

"Right, Kurogane-san?" He leaped up, gripping his gloves firmly in both hands. "I almost forgot! I have to put in today's practice!" He lashed out with the gloves, remarking to a nonexistent Kurogane all the while. "Kurogane-san, Hien feels as light as a feather today!"

"What an interesting drunken personality," Nokoru commented and pulled his video camera from his coat pocket. He put the lens into focus and trained it on the practicing Syaoran.

…

It was late in the night and almost everyone else was passed out or asleep. Shougo and Primera were still sitting up playing a drinking game, but the end was in sight. Primera couldn't sit up or say her own name anymore. Nokoru was passed out in a heap with Akira and Suoh. Fai was sprawled out with Mokona, mumbling and meowing in their sleep. Kurogane and Tomoyo, the only ones at the party with clear heads, had gone to bed a few hours ago (separately).

Staggering to his feet, Syaoran stumbled his way to where Sakura was stretched out on the sofa. The blanket had slipped down over her shoulder and she was smiling in her sleep. He wondered what she was dreaming about as he brushed some soft pale caramel-colored hair out of her face. She moaned and pressed her cheek into his palm.

"Sakura," Syaoran whispered and rested his head on the side of the couch so he could look at her face without the world spinning around him. He twisted one of her longer locks of hair around his finger and breathed in the scent of her. She was blessedly clean of alcohol, fresh, wonderful. "I'd do anything for you, princess. Do you know that?" He continued. "I gave up everything, the only thing I love in this life to protect you and, knowing how it would make me feel now, I'd do it all again without hesitation. I'd give you my own life if it came down to that."

His eyes drifted closed, but he snapped them open.

"Sakura, I wonder sometimes, if you might come to have the same relationship with me as we used to. The same beautiful soul is still inside you. It's like we've only just met again, started all over, like when we were younger. Maybe, you may come to see me as just Syaoran, not Syaoran-kun, as this journey goes on," he whispered. His breath stirred her hair. "Maybe you'll fall in love with me…"

"That gives me hope, you know," he confessed. "I used to be so afraid that without you, I'd be alone forever. I'd never be able to forget you, see you in the arms of another man. I'm weak and I'd be too jealous. I would never be able to love anyone else, but…"

He smiled softly, gently. "I see it now. What we had is gone, but the future is still so bright ahead of us," he murmured.

"I just wanted you to know that," he whispered.

She shifted, pressing her lips to his knuckles, not in a kiss, just a faint brushing. She smiled and her mouth formed half his name.

He rose up onto his knees and gently took his knuckles from her mouth. She reached after him, her brow crinkling in confusion. He bent over her, almost tempted to kiss her, but he wouldn't do that. He couldn't steal a kiss while she slept. Instead, he put the knuckles her lips had touched to his own lips and kissed them.

It was almost as good.

His eyes softened and drifted closed. "I love you, Sakura," he whispered and feathered his lips against her forehead. Then, he slumped down next to the couch and was wrapped safely in the arms of sleep within minutes.

…

The only sign of what had happened was Syaoran's unconscious figure slumped next to the sofa where Sakura was sleeping the next morning, but people were crumpled all over the room so it wasn't that much of a give-away.

Neither of them remembered anything which Sakura proved by shaking Syaoran so hard in a panic that his soul came out his mouth. She didn't know about the drinking or about the almost-kiss, but then again, neither did he.

X X X

I wanted to let them kiss, but that would seem like Syaoran was taking advantage of Sakura while she was sleeping and he would never do that. I thought this was more realistic and less out of character.

Wow, was this chapter short.

Questions, comments, concerns?