Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own Card Captor Sakura or any of the characters within. However, the story is original and completely mine come near it and I shall chop out your tongue…

Summary Recap: Sakura is a weekly columnist in Tokyo where her best friend, Tomoyo is her editor. Her life seems kind of normal until Tomoyo breaks the news that her next assignment for the newspaper is to travel to Hong Kong to see the annual Arts Festival. Sakura arrives in Hong Kong with Tomoyo and her husband, Eriol, getting more then she bargained for. Sakura finds herself trapped doing a story about the elusive Xiaolang Li, who turns out to be her childhood friend, Syaoran! What will happen now that she's staying with them for a month?

Learn to Love Again by Aymiahfayth

Chapter 7

The dinner was uneventful at most, but a snore-fest if Sakura was recommending it to anyone else. It was strange sitting at a formal family dinner when you didn't know anyone. Because the big "passing of the torch" had only happened recently, most of the family was still in town, and therefore staying in the large Li mansion. Although Meiling tried to include them in the conversation, Sakura would have rather been in bed, but that would have seemed rude.

However, the food was amazing, and Syaoran hadn't shown because of an important meeting of some sort. The elder's were missing also, so Syaoran must have been with them. This was something that Sakura was not at all sad about. Another awkward meeting with him couldn't be at all healthy.

The day after though, Meiling promised to take them all shopping in the best shopping districts, something Sakura was very happy about. She hasn't felt at all like a tourist the entire time she's been here, now was the real time to party. She probably worried more in the last couple of days then she did before she left.

Tomoyo was of course elated to dress Sakura up like a Barbie doll but Sakura wasn't about to let that ruin her good day. Eriol had decided to stay out of the dress up, choosing to stay at the house. He and one of the cousins had hit it off and were probably discussing stocks or insurance costs, nothing that could really be that exciting, but he was Eriol after all.

"I'm so happy to have you here. If I mention shopping to my cousins they usually look at me like I'm crazy. Unless I mention wedding shopping…" Meiling laughed bitterly.

Smiling slightly, Tomoyo said, "We know we're cooler. They're just going to have to get over that." They all laughed as they walked down the long shopping strip.

Stopping inside a designer store, Sakura tried on a gorgeous pink evening gown. With a deep v-neck, thin straps and long, sleek line, Sakura gasped in delight. Tomoyo and Meiling squealed like children when Sakura twirled in the mirror. "Oh my god Sakura! You have to get that dress! It's absolutely stunning on you!"

"Running her hands on the silky fabric Sakura laughed, "and what would I do with a dress like this? Wear it to the coffee mornings with our boss?!"

Tomoyo was at a loss for words, trying to come up with a good reason to get the expensive gown. Sakura wasn't even sure why she tried it on in the first place, except that she just felt like being glamorous for a moment.

Meiling held a finger up knowingly, "hey, there's always some reason to have a gown in the Li family."

Laughing, Sakura smoothed her fingers over the fabric, wishing that she could even dream of owning such a dress. "That's how you know that you're a Li and I'm not…" Picking up the dress, Sakura went back into the dressing room to take off the incredibly expensive gown.

"Maybe you will be a Li someday!" Meiling called after her. Sakura's heart beat faster as she furiously denied it.

Although Sakura didn't get the gown, it didn't mean that she didn't buy anything. After their hectic day of shopping, Sakura and the gang walked in with trails of guards laden down with dozens of bags. Most of the stuff, Sakura couldn't even dream of affording, but Tomoyo and Meiling were determined to make her get everything, especially since she didn't get the gown. Tomoyo and Meiling probably paid for most of it, although Sakura protested the entire time.

Meiling directed the men to take the bags to their respectful bedrooms as they continued to chattered in the entryway.

"Welcome home." At the calm, male voice, Sakura looked up into a piercing set of chocolate eyes.

"Syaoran-kun!" Meiling ran up and gave her cousin a hug, he smiled fondly down at her. Sakura realized that not much had changed between the two except Li's façade had somehow disappeared.

"Good evening Li-kun." Tomoyo said as she and Sakura bowed in greeting.

Leading the way, Syaoran calmly led them into the sitting room where Tomoyo and Sakura sat on the couch while Syaoran and Meiling sat on the chairs opposite. "I saw all the bags and realized that Meiling must have taken you shopping." He laughed, "Meiling never leaves with anything less then ten bags."

"That's not ALWAYS true!" Meiling scoffed.

Syaoran continued, ignoring her comment. "and I'm certain she talked you into getting everything." Smiling, Syaoran looked at Tomoyo, "although instinct tells me that Tomoyo had a hand in that."

Tomoyo laughed coyly into her hand, "Well I also have a husband to shop for so its not all for me…"

"Ah, and where is that mysterious husband of yours?"

Feigning concern, Tomoyo looked at Sakura, "It was your turn to watch him!"

"I don't know what your talking about, I'm on vacation!" Smiling sweetly, the group all laughed.

"Well, I guess that answers my question…" Syaoran chuckled.

Realizing how late it was, they all decided to go to their rooms and get ready for another "exhilarating" dinner.

Sakura went into her room and found all the bags sitting neatly in the corner. Smiling, Sakura grabbed her cellphone off the nightstand to check her messages.

"You have two new messages…" the voice said. Pressing the 1 button to listen to the first message, Sakura placed the earpiece to her head.

"Hey Sakura… I just wanted…" Sakura froze as she heard the male voice sigh into the phone. "I just… wanted to…..to talk to you. Um…. If you get a moment, please call me back…. Call me" The message ended, Sakura stood there for a moment before the message repeated itself again, and again, and again….

Suddenly, her hand shaking horribly, Sakura hung up the phone. Why did he call? What could he want? The questions whirled around her head, not comprehending what this could mean. After everything that he did to her, all the crap that she went through, he was sorry NOW.

She had dreamed of the moment he would call to apologize, asking for her back. She would be cool and collected and have another guy around her waist… This was not the scenario, this was not how she wanted to react. She hated to admit it, but he affected her so. Her entire body was shaking so bad that she felt like she would collapse. Her stomach felt ill, she couldn't go to dinner like this.

Collasping into her bed, Sakura let the tears slowly fall from her eyes, not eve sure why she is crying when she hadn't even talked to him yet. Did she even want to call him back? What would she say if she did?

Not knowing how long she laid upon her bed, Sakura heard a knock on the door from the servant announcing dinner. Wiping her eyes, and getting up from the bed, Sakura got up from her bed.

"Tell the Li family that I'm sorry, but I'm not feeling well and won't be attending dinner tonight." Sakura told the servant respectively, he looked at her strangely but turned around and left.

Sakura went back to the bed and fell asleep with tears still rolling down her face.

A little while later, not really sure of the time, Sakura heard a knock on her turn. Knowing that Tomoyo had come to see if she was alright, Sakura didn't answer. She didn't want to see her, or anyone for that matter.

Tomoyo walked in anyway. "Sakura?" She said softly. Thinking that she was asleep, Tomoyo covered Sakura in a blanket and then left the room quietly, shutting the door behind her.

She felt bad for worrying her friend, but right now, she just needed the sounds of silence. She just needed to think.

Meanwhile, in Tomoyo's room, Tomoyo sat on the edge of the bed, Eriol sitting beside her. "It is a little strange, I'll admit but I'm sure she has a reason." Eriol said, trying to reassure Tomoyo.

"I know there's a reason, but the question is, what IS the reason? She couldn't really be sick, I saw her just an hour before and she was perfectly fine. I'm just hoping everything's alright back home, ya know, with her father and everything." Becoming very worried by the second Sakura looked at Eriol, "You don't think anything happened to Sakura's father do you?"

Eriol put his arm around Tomoyo, placing her head on his broad shoulder. "I'm sure he is okay. Sakura would already be home if something serious had happened to her father. We all know that."

Snuggling closer to the love of her life, she was suddenly very grateful for his arm securing her. She always felt comforted when he is around. "You're right. Thank you…"

Kissing the top of her head, Eriol said, "Always."

Authors Notes: I know this took me a little bit longer but I've been getting back into the groove of things. School is crazy and three of my five classes are three hours (which means six hours a week). Which officially sucks, oh well though, it'll all be worth it in the end.

This chapter has a love-hate relationship with me. I liked writing it a lot and especially the cute little moment with Eriol and Tomoyo, however, the stuff about Yukio was hard for me. This is because Yukio is fashioned after my ex-boyfriend, a guy is who treated me horribly. Basically everything that happens with Sakura and this guy, happened to me. Although you guys don't really know the whole story yet, you will soon enough. Just know that this guy may be more real then you know. Lol! However, the rest of the chapter was fun!

So I had thoughts of ending this on a horribly cliffhanger. Which I guess this is still a cliffhanger, but take my word for it when I say that I stopped it at a better time then I had originally planned. You might have had my head if I had stopped it there. Lol! So I hope you liked this chapter. It definitely wasn't what I had planner but I think I like it better… I think…

Thank you for the reviews before! I really appreciate it, it really does help! As always, review! Especially with school in, I need all the inspiration I can get!

Review!