Chapter 2

Syaoran stared up at the ceiling. The digital clock on the top of his drawer flashed 3:00 AM. He had just woken up from all-too-familiar nightmare. He'd been suffering insomnia since graduating from university almost four years ago.

Syaoran let his mind drift to the reason why he'd developed insomnia in the first place. His past was... convoluted, for lack of a better word. He'd been alone for a good portion of his life. He'd always been unable to lean on anyone and no one leaned on him in return. Trust was something he wasn't taught growing up. Since he was a child, people he'd met either walked away, disappeared, or threw him out of their lives.

Knowing he wouldn't get any more sleep, he got out of his bed and prepared a quick breakfast. Might as well get some exercise done while we're at it, he thought as he put on his training gear.

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Sakura walked back into the office after having eaten out. Feeling full, she felt like taking a quick nap before going right back to work, but once she'd reached her desk, she saw the sleeping Syaoran resting his head against his arm. The man was dead asleep. With saliva slowly dripping down the side of his mouth. Laughter begun to bubble up inside her, but she covered her mouth to keep from waking him up. She shook her head, finding the situation too comical. He looked so ridiculous.

Without hesitation, she grabbed her cell phone out of her bag. Ever so silently, she stepped closer, turned on the camera on her phone, and zoomed in on his face.

She pressed the click button, and just when the phone made the noise, Syaoran's head bobbed. He opened his eyes tentatively. Then he heard the snickering. He blinked his eyes several times against the light then looked over the cubicle divider. There was Sakura, doing a horrible job covering up her laughter. Without feeling embarrassed, he caught the drool sliding down the side of his mouth and wiped at it with his hand. "Why are you cackling?"

She scowled at his choice of words, but shook her head innocently. "I was laughing. Is it a crime to laugh? I just had a great lunch is all."

Suspicious, but still tired, Syaoran sighed, then stretched his back. He was exhausted. How long would this go on, having insomnia? What if one day, he would never be able to sleep again? At that, Syaoran dropped his forehead against his desk, trying to erase that depressing thought. That was physiologically impossible, right?

"You can't fall asleep at work, Syaoran. Just a reminder in case you've forgotten," Sakura commented again. "Otherwise…you might get fired for it."

He just replied with a grunt, then straightened up. "No way in hell that'll happen." At that, Syaoran slapped his cheeks several times. There were a good 3 hours left of work to do. Get through it, he reminded himself, and get on home and take a proper nap. "Besides, why would I give you, of all people, the pleasure to see me walk out of here permanently?"

Why was it that she could never win a witty argument against him? She pursed her lips, attempting to stay calm. He always had to have a rebuttal on everything. Not to worry, Sakura. There's that great picture in your phone. Then she broke out smiling slyly, feeling like she had the upper hand. "Oh I don't know. If I were you, I'd be careful with your words. I mean…what would you do if a certain embarrassing picture of you got out to the whole company? What if there was proof that you were sleeping on the job?" She chuckled when Syaoran got up on his feet.

He spun her chair around so she faced him. "What are you talking about?"

She shrugged. "If I had some proof that you were sleeping during working hours…drooling horribly at it, mind you…you'd probably get into a lot of trouble, wouldn't you?"

Despite his lack of an outward reaction, he couldn't believe he let his guard down for a second. With indifference he could muster up at once, he said, "Show it to me." He motioned to grab her cell phone that was on the desk.

Quickly reacting to it, Sakura took it out of the path of his reaching hand. "I don't think so. You're in my personal space by the way. Move." She replied coolly.

"Don't be so childish, Kinomoto." He hoped she'd get so annoyed with him that she'd momentarily forget about her phone. She was so scatterbrained it could work, he thought.

"That's not going to work this time, buddy! You better be nice to me if you don't want anyone to find out how you look when you're peacefully asleep like an ugly baby." Sakura grinned, shoving her cell phone into the back pocket of her pants and completely out of his reach.

He glowered at her, not having enough energy to chase after it. "All right fine." Child games weren't his forte. Shit that was a lie. He was just too tired to get up and grab it from her. "You win this time. I'm going back to work." He went back to his own cubicle.

Sakura smiled to herself in victory, then continued working. Serves you right for messing with me. She wasn't a pushover nor was she the type of woman who wouldn't fight back. Enough pushing and she had to defend herself, even if her methods were a little…adolescent. Doesn't matter, Sakura thought. As long as she had the upper hand, she repeated with satisfaction.

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Tomoyo Daidouji arrived at Sakura's cubicle and found it empty. Wondering where her best friend since college had gone, she sat on Sakura's chair and spun around absently. Despite working under the same company for almost a year now, Tomoyo wasn't familiar with anyone in Sakura's floor. That is, except for Syaoran. And that was because her best friend had a great deal of stories to say about the man.

Tomoyo took a glimpse. Syaoran Li was sitting on his chair, studying his computer screen, and despite Sakura's description of him, looked gorgeous even from behind. Sakura always described him as a nonchalant type of guy who didn't seem to care about anything but himself, and yet watching him now, she could see he was working fairly diligently. With curiosity, she stood and walked over.

"You must be Syaoran."

He turned slightly. The light grey eyes brightened when they met his. Her shoulder-length violet hair bobbed as she bent slightly and offered her hand. Though they had never been introduced, Syaoran was vaguely aware of this woman who seemed to be Sakura's companion on most days. He had to give points to Sakura for finding a pretty friend to hang out with. A grin immediately came onto his face as he stood and took her hand.

"That's me. More importantly, who are you?"

"Tomoyo Daidouji, Sakura's friend. So I've heard wonderful things about you." Her smile widened when Syaoran burst into laughter.

"No doubt about it. Don't tell me, are you replacing Sakura here?"

Tomoyo laughed as she shook her head. So there really was some tension between these two. "Definitely not that. I work a few floors down. She called me earlier, but I couldn't get back to her. Do you know where she could be?"

"If you've heard about me, you must've heard plenty about our boss. She's probably following him around like a lost puppy dog right about now."

The reference amused her. She tried picturing the cruel, heartless man Sakura described him to be, and found it difficult to match it with the man standing in front of her right now. Syaoran was in fact actually quite amiable. "Syaoran, you're not as bad as she makes you out to be. There's a lot of charm under that smile of yours."

At the compliment, Syaoran began to wonder why in the world he had to be sitting with Sakura when there was a perfectly great woman like Tomoyo right around the corner. "You should be working in this floor instead, Tomoyo. I'd take care of you."

Tomoyo laughed again, flattered. Just as she was about to form a reply, the sound of loud footsteps came from behind them. Syaoran was the first to look up and caught the evil glare shooting out of Sakura's eyes. After years of it, Syaoran was proud to say he had grown immune to it. Unaffected, he merely smiled mockingly in return.

Tomoyo turned and took Sakura's arm. "Hello friend. Where've you been?"

Sakura ignored her friend and separated the two. She stood as though to protect Tomoyo from him. "Tomoyo, ignore this man. Please consider him nonexistent from now on. You don't want to waste precious time talking to him."

Syaoran rolled his eyes. "What are you talking about? She said I was charming," he pointed out with emphasis, just as his eyes travelled past Sakura and met Tomoyo's gaze. His easy smile returned. "You'll come visit me next time, right?"

At the sight, Sakura gave him a forceful shove back. Tomoyo quickly grabbed her and pulled her along. "Nice to meet you, Syaoran. Time for lunch! Come on, come on." She dragged Sakura all the way to the elevator, at which point Sakura turned around and sent her a deep frown.

"He drives me insane. I'm slowly losing my mind because of him." She declared, placing her hands on Tomoyo's shoulders. "Can you please do me a favour and just not talk to him? I think I really will go crazy if you and Syaoran somehow become friends, or even worse, start dating." She let out a quiet moan in helplessness.

Tomoyo just patted her friend's shoulder in comfort. "I don't know, Sakura. He doesn't seem so bad. Just having fun with you, I think. And to add to that...you didn't tell me how gorgeous he is!"

"I'll interrupt you there. He's not gorgeous, not even in the same league as Soshi. Syaoran lacks so much finesse and-and… manners. He's too arrogant and thinks he's God's gift to women. Honestly, it's the most annoying personality I've ever had to deal with in my life! Okay, talking about him to this extent is already giving me a migraine. Let's change the topic."

They walked out of the building and down one of the busiest streets in downtown Tokyo. The two women frequently lunched together and spent many lunch breaks trying out all sorts of restaurants in the vicinity. They had made it a mission to find the best restaurant in all of downtown, and after three months, there was still no particular restaurant that stood apart from the rest. Hundreds filled the streets after all.

"Fine, but you shouldn't be so uptight about Syaoran. He probably just likes to tease you because you're so cute when you're angry!" When Sakura just scowled, Tomoyo laughed. She put her arm over Sakura's shoulders loosely. "Okay, changing topic now. Eriol's back. It shouldn't bother me this much, but it is, so I'm a little out of sorts. Why didn't he just stay in Paris and marry some long-legged model instead of coming back here?"

Sakura sent her friend a sympathetic smile and patted her hand. "Tomoyo, he's your first love. You can't fool me that there's not one part of you that wants to see him again."

Tomoyo put on her sunglasses and sniffed in haughtiness. "For your information, I don't want to see him again. I've had a good life since he walked out on me. My heart's doing very well now and my priorities have changed since he did. Right now I just want to have fun and enjoy what's left of my youth. Being in a serious relationship is exhausting and painful and so not worth my time."

"Only someone who's been in one can say that. Look at me. Two failed relationships, neither of them serious, and the breakups were anything but sad. I'm actually starting to think Syaoran's right. I am desperate for a serious relationship right now. With Soshi," she added the last bit firmly.

"Stop living in a fantasy, Sakura. Guys like Soshi, they look perfect on the outside, but you really don't know what kind of person they are. And you've never seen the man outside of work. He has got to have flaws. No man can be as perfect as you describe him." Tomoyo looked around and saw a red sign for a Korean BBQ restaurant. "I'm up for some barbeque. Let's go there."

When they were seated at a two-seater table, Sakura let out a heavy sigh and clasped her hands together in front of her. Tomoyo glanced up after quickly looking over the menu and noticed the resolute look in Sakura's face. Her brow rose in question. "What's the matter?"

"I just want to clarify right now that it doesn't matter what you or anyone else thinks about Soshi. I truly believe he is the most beautiful, most perfect man I've ever laid my eyes on. I may not know how he is outside of work, but I imagine he's just as kind and sweet to his family and friends as he is with his employees." After the remark, Sakura finally picked up the menu. "Just to clarify," she added.

Tomoyo laughed delightedly, finding her best friend much too adorable. "Okay, okay, I give up. Soshi is Sakura's perfect prince. Now let's order, please? I'm so hungry."

Sakura flashed a cute smile. "Fine."