Chapter 23

::: 8 MONTHS LATER :::

"Oh this is weird!" Tomoyo remarked as the gang walked up the familiar pavement that led up to their junior high school. "When was the last time all of us were actually here together? I can't even remember!"

"Nothing's changed," Takashi murmured, filled with nostalgia himself.

"I used to run every morning to school and say hi to everybody I passed by," Naoko said, laughing at the memory. "Oh I remember you falling over there, Hiro. Oh over there too."

He chuckled. "Chalk it up to sneakers that were too big for my feet then. Junior high was a lot of fun though, I must say."

"That's when we all met each other," Naoko said. "Do you guys remember how we became a group?"

"You guys were playing cops and robbers, I think," Sakura commented, referring to the boys. "And I got upset about not being invited."

Eriol laughed. "Oh yeah, Syaoran told us we should make you girls join and make you the cops for a whole week."

"It turned out to be so fun," Tomoyo said then, remembering it well.

"Then the next year, we were the only ones from the same class," Takashi reminded everyone. "So naturally, we just stuck to each other during lunch and after school."

"Oh yeah…" the rest of the group answered in a chorus.

"Where's Syaoran anyhow?" Naoko asked.

"Where'd he say we should meet him again?" Eriol turned to Sakura.

"Uh…soccer field I think?"

"No I think he said the gym."

"What? Didn't he say the track?"

"Uh…" Confused, she glanced around. "I don't know. I think he said soccer field."

"Why don't you go check there then Sakuchin? Eriol and I will check the track. Naoko, Hiro, Taka, would you guys go to the gym?"

"Sure," everyone but Sakura answered.

She opened her mouth to protest, but they split up in the blink of an eye. Sakura watched them disappear off into different directions. Confused, she walked towards the soccer field on her own. What exactly Syaoran had up his sleeve, she wasn't sure, but he was talking about it being their "friendship anniversary" and that he had something planned for the six of them.

When she caught sight of the soccer field, she glanced around for any sign of Syaoran, but no one was there.

"Here you go!"

She cried in response, taken aback by a kid in a soccer uniform who appeared out of nowhere. "What?" She asked, not hearing him the first time.

"Take it," he instructed, kicking the soccer ball to her.

"I…don't play soccer," she said, confused.

"Just take it anyway. No!" He interrupted when she bent down to pick it up. "You have to kick it."

"What? But I don't like soccer."

"But you love him don't you?" The kid pointed to a brown-haired man standing by the goal post.

She squinted against the sun, saw the love of her life, and laughed at this situation's absurdity. "Yes I suppose I do."

"Then just do it!"

Why she was taking orders from a thirteen-year-old, she wasn't sure, but with mild annoyance, she kicked the ball as she jogged towards the field. It was definitely as taxing as she had expected.

When she got close enough, she threw Syaoran a look. "And why did I just do that?"

He laughed as she kicked it to him. "Thanks."

"You know I don't play soccer."

"Maybe you need the exercise."

"You're being awfully suspicious, Sho," she said, coming over to him. "Are you planning something?"

"What? No." He leaned forward, kissed her, then stepped back with the ball in tow. "Let's play a game."

Her facial expression turned into one of unamused disbelief. "…Are you serious?"

"Yeah come on. I'll teach you how to kick properly."

"You know, I'm not exactly dressed for this, Syaoran," she said, looking down at her pretty pink flats. "If we were going to play soccer, you should've warned me beforehand."

"Come on," he encouraged. "Just one kick."

Grudgingly, slowly, she followed him towards the goal post. "Uggh, this is not what I had in mind when you said we would celebrate our friendship anniversary. I was thinking more like restaurant, dinner, you know, somewhere-"

Just then, Eriol, Takashi, and Hiro, in full sports gear, joined them on the field. More confused now, Sakura angled her head to one side and watched as they waved to her.

"Uh…" She didn't even know what to say.

"Here's the deal Sakuchin," Syaoran said then, enjoying her confusion. "The four of us are gonna play a game. Actual game. Naoko's gonna keep score," he pointed to the scoreboard on the far end of the field, where she stood, waving at them. "Taka and I against Eriol and Hiro. The first to 3 wins."

Unwilling to say anything because she was confused, she stared in silence.

"If I win," he said, meeting her gaze directly, "then I'm gonna ask you to marry me."

For what seemed like a long moment, everything became still.

Like time stopped.

And something must have been pinching her chest because her heart felt like it stopped too.

Did he just…

"If Eriol and Hiro win, I won't. Is that a deal?"

She didn't speak for another few seconds. Then, "What?" Her voice came out high and squeaky. She cleared her throat. Her palms came up. "Don't I…get some sort of say in this? I have no choice or-? I mean, what if, what if you lose?" She shook her head. "No wait, stop, are you proposing to me? Or-or, I mean you're leaving this all up to a game?"

He grinned.

She grabbed his arm. "I'm not kidding Sho, are you being serious right now?"

"If you want to marry me, then you better cheer for me, sweetheart." Then he kissed her cheek loudly and then ran off to the field. "Let's go guys! First to 3!"

Standing in slight bewilderment, Tomoyo grabbed her from behind. "Let's go watch over there!"

"You knew about this? You all knew about this?" Sakura asked, still at a loss, as she followed her to the sidelines.

When they sat down on the grass, Tomoyo said, "Actually…he's been thinking about it for a while. Syaoran told them to play their best. He doesn't want them to make it easy for him."

"I can't believe he's doing this."

Tomoyo bumped her shoulder. "He really loves you Sakuchin. He wants to prove it to everybody."

As the game began, Sakura watched, her eyes on one person entirely, just like all those years before. "This is ridiculous. My heart's pounding."

Tomoyo laughed.

"This is crazy. I should be mad that he's doing this, but I'm not. Leaving it up to a game like this. But… thirteen years ago, I fell for him here for the first time. He was playing soccer just like this. And I spent three years staring at him from this spot, watching all his soccer games, cheering him on, falling for him… " With those memories fresh on her mind, she sighed. Oh who was she kidding? She would marry him in a heartbeat. "He better win."

At that, Tomoyo squealed and hugged her tight. "Oh this is so romantic."

:::

Syaoran had the ball now, dribbling it between his feet. Eriol was guarding him on one side. The score was 2-2 and all the men were exhausted. They'd been playing without a break for over 40 minutes now. He glanced over at Sakura who was now on her feet, looking kind of nervous. It was the perfect adrenaline.

This place was where it started. He hadn't known it at the time, but she fell for him then. And he inadvertently started it all. With an innocent kiss on the cheek.

He had to win. With one fake move, he circled around Eriol, kicking the ball to Taka, and as he ran past Eriol, Taka kicked the ball back to him.

"Oh you're not gonna score on me again Li! That ain't happening!" Hiro cried out from the post, ready to protect his goal.

Seeing a small window of opportunity, he swung his leg back and kicked forward with as much force as he could muster, and the ball went flying in the air. Breaths hitched. At the sidelines, Sakura was standing, her fists tight, her body tense. Tomoyo stood beside her, also frozen, as were Naoko and Eriol and Taka. Only Hiro lunged to the left to block the ball.

But somehow, the ball whizzed through Hiro's outstretched arms.

Less than a moment later, it hit the net.

There was a collective gasp from all seven of them. Syaoran then threw a fisted hand in the air. "YEAH!"

Takashi laughed, cheering him loudly. "Nice one buddy!"

"You WON!" Naoko cried, running towards the men from the scoreboard.

Sakura's hand flew to her lips.

"Come on honey," Tomoyo said, beaming as she took Sakura's free hand and pulled her along to the soccer field, where everybody waited eagerly.

Everyone stepped away to give them the floor. When Sakura stopped a yard or two away from him, she still couldn't stop trembling. Her eyes on him the whole time, she watched as he grabbed a small box from Naoko. Then her eyes began to go blurry when he looked back at her. She laughed a little, unable to pull her trembling hand away from her mouth.

When he looked at her, staring right into her pretty green eyes, his heart began to pound. He licked his suddenly dry lips. "Hey."

She smiled, on the brink of tears.

"We've known each other literally all our lives. I can't even imagine what my life would be like without you," he said with a chuckle. "Sakura…"

"You're making me cry," she managed to say as the first tear rolled down her cheek.

He studied the box in his hands. "There's only girl who I've loved in all the different ways there could be of loving someone. And I have to marry her."

"Why?" Someone asked from behind.

Sakura and Syaoran glanced briefly at Naoko, who was smiling.

Then Syaoran turned back to Sakura, his eyes unwavering, focused on her. "Because. She spent half her life loving me without me knowing it, so…I want to spend the rest of my life making sure she knows." He then closed the distance between them, touched her cheek and wiped a tear with his thumb. "That I've loved her all my life and I'll keep loving her for the rest of it." Then he took a deep breath and knelt down on the grass. With the box in front of him, he showed her diamond ring inside. "So… want to go all the way with me, Sakuchin? Marry me?"

She laughed, and even with a blurry vision, she nodded many times. "I'd love to."

"Really?"

"She said yes!" Someone cried.

With almost a delirious kind of happiness, he picked her up from the waist and swung her around with glee.

"Sho!"

After she slapped his arm a few times, he planted her feet back on the ground. He hugged her tightly. "You just made me the happiest man alive."

"I love you so much, more than you know."

He pulled away and kissed her softly. Then he took the ring from the box and slid it on her ring finger.

"Wow," she murmured, then she noticed a little glimmer of red and gold at the edges of the diamond. "Sho, this is beautiful. Where did you find this?"

"Actually, it's my mom's."

"It is?"

Just then, the group of friends crowded them, crying out all sorts of congratulations greetings. Tomoyo had managed to catch the entire proposal scene on video camera while Hiro took the photos.

"We're so happy for you two," Naoko cried, in tears herself. "I can't believe it. This is a long time coming."

"We've all been waiting for this moment for a while," Eriol commented.

"This is surreal! Two of us are getting married!" Hiro added excitedly. "And probably two more! How did our group end up like this?"

Just then, Syaoran stopped and said, "Could we all form a huddle actually?"

The seven automatically formed a circle, with their arms over each other's backs. Looking back at each other, all of them felt the odd warmth of nostalgia wave over them. Though Rika was missing, it felt like their school days all over again.

"Congratulations you two!" Naoko cried again.

"Wait, wait, wait. Before that, I just wanted to say, Happy Friendship Anniversary guys," Syaoran said first.

Just then everyone broke out into gasps and laughter, realizing that it was indeed the day their group had officially formed thirteen years before. "HAPPY FRIENDSHIP ANNIVERSARY!" Cried the chorus of voices.

"I love you guys!" Sakura cried.

"I love you!"

"Love you!"

"I love you!"

"And YAY, Sakura and Syaoran are getting married!"

"YAY!"

"Finally."

"CONGRATULATIONS!"

::::::

That night, Syaoran and Sakura were walking over from the downtown area to the quiet seaside park. They walked for half an hour to get to the sea wall, and there they sat on the ledge, facing the ocean in front of them. The sun had already set, leaving a dark, starry view of the night sky and the sound of waves lapping against the shore.

"Do you think Eriol will ask Tomoyo to marry him sometime soon?" Sakura began.

Syaoran chuckled. "Why?"

"Wouldn't it be fun to a double wedding?"

"No. That sounds like double the headache."

She slapped his arm. "Don't say that. It might be fun."

"If I tell you something, you have to promise not to say anything to Tomoyo."

"What, what, what?" Sakura asked, pouncing on his words.

"Before my mom gave me the ring," he glanced at the engagement ring now sitting on Sakura's finger, "I was looking around a few shops. I bumped into Eriol in one of them a few weeks back."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He's been thinking about it for a while too, but I think he wants to do it in the summer. So give him a few months. Think you can keep it a secret?" Syaoran threw her a pointed look.

"Yes, I can! And I will," Sakura said firmly. "Aww that's really nice."

Syaoran bumped her shoulder. "Anyway what'd you think of my proposal? It was pretty romantic, right?"

"I loved it."

"Good."

"It was perfect. Good thing you kissed me on the cheek that day. If you hadn't, I might not've fallen in love with you at all," she teased.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Smartest move I ever made!"

She laughed.

"Honestly though… thanks for not giving up on me."

Sakura looked up at him.

He kissed her nose. "What?"

"I'm glad it was you."

He grinned, then kissed her again, this time on the lips. Then he said, "I was thinking, we could go to Spain for our honeymoon."

"Mm, no."

"Why not? I mean, I want to spend the entire honeymoon with you, don't get me wrong, but it wouldn't hurt to go watch a soccer game one day, right? And you love me. You want to make me happy. Don't you?"

"I thought marrying me would make you happy."

"Of course! That's a given. Soccer doesn't even compare to you. But I mean, I still love soccer. And honeymoons don't come around all that often. Come on, think about it."

"What about Brazil? They have a soccer team too, and a nice famous beach called Copacabana! You can go watch a game while I can stay at the beach and get a nice tan. I think Brazil is a way better idea."

"But Barcelona's a way better team."

"But what am I gonna do while you go and watch your soccer game? You can't expect me to just go around the city by myself! At least leave me at a beach. I'd enjoy that more. Getting married means compromise, buddy."

"Seriously?"

"Take it or leave it!"

"How is that compromise?"

As the time passed, the night continued on, and the two childhood friends engaged to each other continued bickering in the darkness about their honeymoon, the wedding, and whatever else came up in the conversation. It was almost midnight by the time they both gave up trying to convince the other of what they wanted, and Syaoran walked Sakura home.

At her doorstep, she said, "I don't want to go to Spain, Sho."

"What about England?"

"What about Brazil?"

At that he laughed, shaking his head at how difficult she was being. "You're not compromising at all, Sakuchin." Then he leaned forward and kissed her. "But that's all right. I still love you."

At that, she threw her arms around him. "Sorry. You'll still marry me though, right?" She asked.

Holding her contentedly, he laughed.

THE END

A/N: Sorry reader, it may seem like I ended the story too soon! Thank you so much for all the time you put into reading this story and reviewing and looking forward to each chapter. I enjoyed writing every bit of it. As you might be able to tell from my stories, I'm not a fan of much drama. I like things to be simple and that's why I can't really drag out my stories. I don't know if I'll write again, but if you have any storyline you'd like to see on between these two lovely characters, let me know! Send me a message. Again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for reading up to here! XOXO