Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to the wonderful CLAMP, not me.

In the last chapter...

Syaoran inched closer to Sakura and grinned as she darted away. "I won't allow you to run away anymore, muffin. Not when it hurts both of us when you do so."

"I'm not going to run away." Sakura insisted. He cocked an eyebrow at her in challenge. "Well, I just don't want to cause any fist fights between you and onii-chan."

"He's not going to hurt me, muffin. Because when he hurts me, he hurts you as well. Now stop running away and come here." He patted the recently vacated space beside him.

Sakura eyed the spot and bit on her bottom lip. "I can sit beside you only if you promise not to kiss me."

"You know I can't promise you that?" Syaoran pouted.

"Okay, if you promise not to kiss me in Yukito-san's house?"

He grinned that boyish grin of his. "Deal!"

He lied.

Sensei, I Love You

Chapter 30

Sakura woke up screaming in the middle of the night. Her pajamas stuck to her back like a second skin, totally drenched in her own sweat despite the cool temperature in her room. Her breaths left in pants as she tried to shake off her nightmare. She drew her knees against her chest and only then did she realize that she was shaking.

The loud taps on the door made her jump on her bed but she couldn't make herself to respond to it. She couldn't let anyone see how worked up she was over a nightmare. Knowing her brother's behaviour, he would insist on sleeping in her room like she was some baby girl requiring babysitting.

"Sakura?" Touya's voice boomed from beyond the door, followed by a series of loud knocks that threatened to tear down her door. "Sakura? Open the door! I heard screaming from your room!"

Sakura took a few breaths to calm down. She did not want to sound shaky to her brother but she definitely was in no condition to look at him in the eyes right now otherwise she would break down all over again. Most importantly, she didn't want her brother to blame himself for what happened to her.

"I'm okay," she said, loud enough to be heard through the door. "It's just a nightmare. I'm tired… I'm going back to sleep."

"Sakura, open this door!"

"Onii-chan, I'm tired!" Sakura didn't mean to shout at her brother but her voice came out harder than she had meant to. She knew that shocked her brother because there was a period of silence before her brother relented and walked away with a loud goodnight.

She lay back on the bed, only to spring back to a sitting position when she heard some noise from her window. Her wide emerald eyes flew to the windows and opened even wider when a shadow dropped into her room with a soft thud. She was ready to scream.

"It's me," came a familiar voice which soothed Sakura instantly. She relaxed and let go of the blanket in her death grip.

"What are you doing here? No, wait… Why are you still here? It's… almost three in the morning! And this is the second floor!"

Syaoran shut the window carefully before creeping over to Sakura's bed. She looked on in amusement, wondering if he knew the floor was carpeted and that any footsteps would be muted. He sat down beside her and nudged her hip with his, indicating that she move further to the other side of the bed to make space for him. She arched a brow in response before scooting in.

"I was actually sleeping in one of the spare rooms here," Syaoran confessed with a sheepish smile. "I wanted to see you again in the morning before we… before we part ways until your graduation."

Sakura's face fell at his words. "Do we really have to do that?"

"It's for your own good, muffin," Syaoran said. He leaned lay down on the bed and pulled Sakura into the crook of his arm. "I don't want to disrupt your studies."

"You don't have to quit. I know how much you like teaching and goofing around in school…"

Syaoran chuckled and Sakura could feel the vibration that reverberated from his chest. She snuggled closer to him for warmth and he quickly pulled up the blankets over the both of them. "You think I'm playing around in school?"

"You are always being an idiot in school. It really makes me wonder how you become a teacher in the first place."

"I told you, I studied real hard for the qualification. I'm a genius!"

Sakura snorted. "Genius? More like idiot."

"That rude! But I forgive you because I love you." Sakura didn't know how to respond to that and went silent for a while. "My muffin is so shy!"

"Shut up," Sakura said and turned her back at him to hide rosy hue on her cheeks.

"Aww! Don't be angry." Syaoran was whining as he poked Sakura shoulder. "Okay, I won't tease you anymore. Don't be angry?"

"I'm not angry."

"Then why are you not looking at me?"

"Are we really going to be apart from tomorrow onwards?"

Sakura turned to face Syaoran when he sighed. She frowned up at him, only to find him staring back at her with a serious expression on his face. "I've made promises that I have to keep, muffin."

"With who?" Sakura couldn't help but be curious. If she has to be apart from him, she needed to know exactly why. She knew that he quit teaching so that he would not influence her studies and she was truly shocked when he said over the dinner that the two of them will be apart until she graduated. Why?

"Your brother and I had another discussion after you went to bed," Syaoran admitted. "He is worried that you are making a wrong decision by being with me and I understand how he feels. Sometimes I wonder about it too—wondering if you will regret being with me after you graduate and grow up. You're still young… There's a bright future ahead of you and I don't want to restrict your wings from spreading."

"And my brother talked you into staying away from me? As in… really staying away?"

A sheepish grin donned his face. "Well… I disagreed initially but when he threatened cutting me off from you forever by bringing you with him to somewhere else. I had to give in-I'd rather restrain myself for a few months than spend the rest of my life without you."

Sakura raised a brow at him. "Aren't you contradicting yourself a little? You told me that we can still see each other outside school but now you are telling me that we can't?"

"It's just to appease your brother that this is not some infatuation." Syaoran grabbed Sakura's hands and trapped it against his chest. "It's just for a few months."

"What if I don't agree? What would you do then?"

"I'm sure you'd think that this is a good opportunity for us to re-think our future as well," Syaoran said and frowned when she remained silent. "You don't agree with me?"

"I don't like it when people make decisions concerning me without first consulting me," Sakura said and emphasized her words with a loud smack on his chest. "And you just had to do that to me. I don't need to re-think anything. I'm satisfied with whatever I have now—my brother and you."

"That has got to be the nicest thing you said to me in my whole life!" Syaoran gasped, his tone teasing.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "And I haven't even known you for that long… probably just slightly more than a year? Not to mention that you were acting like an idiot for most of the time."

"Hey, I know you since you were a little kid!"

"Well… I wasn't aware of you back then so it isn't counted."

Syaoran pouted like a kid denied of his favourite snack. "I'm still hurting over this issue…"

Sakura giggled and playfully smacked Syaoran again with her free hand. "Stop acting like an idiot. What matters is what we have now, isn't it? I can't believe I'm the one who have to console you like this… You are supposed to be the mature one."

"That's true." Syaoran grinned and pinched Sakura's nose. "Now that everything is settled, my princess muffin needs her beauty sleep."

"Stop giving me weird names," Sakura said. A tiny smile broke free as she snuggled into Syaoran's arms, making herself comfortable. "I'm not your pet…"

"Ah… That's right. You are definitely not my pet," Syaoran said. "You are my girlfriend, duh."

"Girlfriend huh? Then that makes you my boyfriend. Aren't you afraid that I'm going to get a new boyfriend in school when you are not around?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"Right, I wouldn't." Sakura grinned, totally enjoyed teasing Syaoran mercilessly. "I'll probably cry everyday thinking about you. Won't your heart ache thinking about that?"

"I'll probably do the same thing too, if I know I made you cry."

Sakura leaned up and pressed a quick kiss on Syaoran's lips and he was caught off-guard. His eyes turned as wide as saucers as he stared at her. "Then I'll make sure not to let a single tear escape so that you won't be sad as well."

Syaroan held a pinky at her. "Then let's make a promise?"

Sakura linked her pinky with his. "Promise you'll miss me?"

"I always will. Always."

Syaoran was gone when she woke up in the morning. She had a moment of panic when she turned on her bed only to find the space beside her empty. Yukito must be shocked when he saw how flustered she was, running from room to room to check if Syaoran was there.

"He's gone back," Touya said from the living room when Sakura reached the fourth and final room in the house. "Why are you so noisy in the morning? Is this going to be a norm everyday?"

"You!" Sakura screamed when she spotted him. She rushed over to pummel him on his chest with both fists. "Why did you make Sensei promise such a thing? Stupid brother! Stupid! Stupid!"

"Sakura-chan!" Yukito exclaimed from the dining room, having heard the commotion and came over to take a look. "What are you doing to Touya? He is still recovering!"

Tears burned the back of Sakura's eyes and she quickly blinked them away. "I'm really glad you are awake. Really… You have no idea how I managed to survive for the past year. Nobody wants me in their house and I had to sell our home in order to secure some funds to rent a place and fill my stomach with food. Sensei found me… took me in and cared for me. I know you think that I'm infatuated with him because of what he did for me but I'm not. I love Sensei and you just had to separate us! Isn't it good enough that he quit his teaching job and go back to being his dreaded CEO?"

"Sakura-chan, calm down," Yukito hissed as he dragged her away from Touya.

Touya's eyes narrowed at her. "You are making a big fuss out of nothing. Besides, it is only for a few months. If you can't even withstand being away from him for a few months, how are you going to survive being with him under the public scrutiny?"

"I… I'll…"

Touya placed the newspapers on the coffee table. "Blame me if you want but I'm doing this for you. I know I've made you suffer a lot for the past year and I'm really grateful that Li is there to help us. However, being grateful is one thing and handing my sister over to repay his kindness is another matter. I won't allow it unless I'm absolutely sure that the two of you are true to each other. I don't want you to suffer any more than you already had, Sakura."

"Onii-chan… don't do this…"

Touya sighed and shook his head. "My decision is made and I'm sure Otou-san would agree with me if he was alive."

"You play dirty! Why did you have to drag Otou-san into this discussion?" Sakura made a lunge towards Touya but was restrained by Yukito.

"Yukito, let her go."

"B-but she will…"

"No, she won't hurt me," Touya said. He shifted on the sofa towards Sakura and opened his arms to her. "Come here, Sakura."

Sakura went into Touya's arms willingly and hugged him back. "I'm sorry I took out my anger on you. I guess it's all the pent up emotions from the past year. I'm sorry…"

Touya patted her back to sooth her. "If I'm angry with you over that, then I'm not fit to be your brother. I just want to make sure you are not making the wrong choice. Graduation is just a few months away. Prove to me, Sakura, that Li is the right person for you."

"How do I prove it when you are keeping him away from me?" Sakura muttered into his shoulder.

"You are not the one doing the proving—Li is," Touya said. "This is a test for him—to see for myself if he is worthy of you."

"But he's a CEO… surely that itself is a plus point…"

"His status is of no concern to me," Touya said. "I don't care if he is filthy rich or if he is the president."

Sakura reared back. "Then how—"

Touya held up his forefinger to silence Sakura. "You don't have to worry about it. Just concentrate on your studies. The University entrance examinations are coming up and I really want you to study hard for them."

Sakura knew that there was no way that she could change Touya's decision once he made them. She sighed in defeat and nodded her head in agreement. "But only until graduation and not a day later."

"Agreed," Touya said. He then looked at Yukito. "Can we have our breakfast?"

To be continued

3 months for an updates? *Smacks head* Why am I so slow? Need to speed up because the story is coming to an end in... another chapter? Current plan is to end the story in the next chapter/epilogue. What do you think?

Was on a hiatus from work for the past 3 months, of which I spent 10 days in cool Japan. It was so much fun to experience a different culture and climate. Living in a warm country like Singapore, it is a challenge to stay in slightly colder weather... like below 10 degrees Celsius. Too cold! However, I believe this experience will help greatly in writing about CCS! Now I can incorporate weather in my chapters~ (totally clueless before that).

Anyway, I've got myself another job which starts tomorrow. That would mean it would be a harder challenge to find time to write and read and do many other things I want but I'm sure I'll manage somehow. You won't have to wait for another 3 months for the final chapter, that's for sure. Meanwhile, do review and let me know that there are still readers reading Sensei, I Love You.

Thanks for reading!