radio star

xv. continuation

"I have something to tell you about all of those photographs I've taken, Yamazaki," Sakura said, steeling herself.

"What is it?" Yamazaki asked, eyebrows raised pleasantly. Sakura wished for some reason that he could look a bit angry with her, but she was beginning to realize that it was virtually impossible to make him mad. The thought should have comforted her, but it didn't.

"Well... I'm not sure if it sounds very believable," she said, swallowing, "but those photos I took were staged. You see—I made friends with Syaoran Li, and so he let me take them—"

"Wait, what?"

"I know," Sakura said, lowering her eyes, and she began to ramble. "I'm really sorry. I know it was a horrible thing to do, but this stalking people and taking their pictures is so very out of my comfort zone when it's not for...I don't know, crisis coverage or something I'm more accustomed to, and—"

"No, no, the other thing!" Yamazaki said, raising his voice, but Sakura realized that it was not in anger, but rather in excitement. Yamazaki was actually eager to hear what she had to say next, leaning forward in his seat. "How did you manage something like that? He's such a private person!"

Sakura had to let out a strangled laugh, although she couldn't tell if it was with exasperation or relief. "Honestly, I'm really not sure. I just...asked to take his picture one day, and one thing led to another..."

"You asked to take his picture?" Yamazaki threw his head back and howled with laughter.

Sakura furrowed her brow. "Was that wrong?"

"It's just not very normal, as far as paparazzi go," Yamazaki managed to respond, wiping tears from his eyes. He looked at Sakura with what seemed like fondness. "Only you could get away with something like that, really."

"Ah... Thank you, I think," Sakura responded, unsure of how to feel.

Yamazaki sighed, staring at her resignation letter. "Well, I can't say you didn't break protocol," he said, the smile still on his lips, a little rueful now, "but I also can't say I'm angry at you. If I'd been in your shoes and I had that opportunity, I'd have done the same thing."

Sakura looked at her hands, which were folded tightly in her lap. "So you're not mad?"

Yamazaki shook his head. "No. I'm sad to see you go, in fact. I guess I couldn't let you continue to do what you were doing, but those really were some great pictures," he said wistfully. He smiled at her. "You did work really hard while you were here. There's no denying that. I'm really grateful to you, Sakura."

Sakura felt her eyes water a bit. "I'm really grateful, too," she said, lowering her head. "This job really turned my life around." In more ways than one.

"Well, what do you think you'll do next?"

Sakura shook her head. "I'm really not sure... I'll have to look for a desk job for a while and apply to other publications while I'm at it."

"Well, I know you didn't work the full year I wanted you to, but I could put in a few calls—"

"Oh, you really don't have to do that," Sakura said, raising her hands. "I didn't even hold up my end of the deal, it'd be so unfair—"

"It's really all right," Yamazaki said, eyes kind. "It was so nice to have you here. Don't worry about it. I'll see what I can do."

Sakura bit her lip, but then she nodded. "Thank you," she said earnestly. She stood to go. "I promise I'll keep in touch."

Yamazaki grinned. "Well, this is a little unprofessional, but since you've resigned, I can't send you off with nothing." He stood up from his chair and walked around the desk to give her a warm hug. "We'll miss you here."

"I'll miss you, too," Sakura responded, and she meant it. She'd made friends in this strange place, made a life here in these last few months. Syaoran aside, she really would miss the people, her little cubicle, her lunch dates with Chiharu.

Sighing shakily, she turned to go. "I'll leave my camera and my passes on my desk. I'm gonna leave before Chiharu gets here... It'll be tough to say goodbye."

Yamazaki waved a hand. "Don't speak that kind of nonsense! Chiharu will still want to hang out with you even if you're not officemates anymore." He grinned. "And I'll sneak along sometimes, too."

Sakura felt the corners of her lips tilt up once more. She really would be sad to leave. "Thanks, Yamazaki. For everything."

Syaoran stared at Meiling, his jaw hanging slightly open. "What?"

"It's all over the tabloids," Meiling said grimly, pulling a stack of various magazines out of her bag and handing them to Syaoran. Sure enough, photos of Mizuki leaving the studio clearly looking distressed appeared on the covers, with bold headlines speculating as to what she had been doing at Syaoran's studio and why she looked so upset.

"So, I'm going to ask you again," Meiling said, eyes soft but voice firm, "were you there yesterday?"

He set the magazines down on his bedside and let out a sigh, leaning against his dresser. "Yeah, I was."

"Syaoran, why the hell did you not tell me this?" she responded, exasperated. Meiling walked over to his bed and smoothed the covers over before sitting down on it.

"I wasn't expecting a media frenzy already," he said simply, running a hand through his hair and down his neck before running it back up again.

"You didn't expect it? Syaoran, have you learned nothing? It was the first thing you should've expected!"

"Meiling," Syaoran said, the exasperation in his own voice matching hers now. "I said I didn't expect one already. I knew it'd come eventually. I just didn't expect the paparazzi to be out there. They've been laying off the studio lately... I think they prefer to get me at grocery stores nowadays," he muttered wryly. "And I sure as hell didn't expect a less-than-twelve-hour turnaround time on this whole mess."

He frowned to himself. He wondered if any of them had seen Sakura, but he assumed not, since she wasn't in any of the tabloid photos. And even if she were, they likely would have assumed she was a producer or someone involved in the album.

"Well, what did you expect, then? Everything that's happened in the last year should have taught you to brace for the worst, always!"

Syaoran scoffed. "That sounds like a pretty horrible way to live." He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look. I was going to tell you today. I thought I'd have some time to think about it. I wasn't worried about paparazzi or the media because there were other things going on, Meiling. She left looking upset because we fought—we were screaming at each other. I didn't feel like I should make her stay."

At that, Meiling softened. "Okay, okay." She lay back on the bed and groaned. "You're right. I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he grumbled. "I'm sorry for not telling you, too. It wasn't the most professional decision to keep that a secret from you, even if it was just for a day."

Meiling felt herself smile a little. It was unlike Syaoran to apologize so quickly, but he'd done it several times lately. Even in moments of duress, she could see that he'd grown quite a bit. She sat up. "It's okay. You're right, there was little reason to expect them to be out there... They must have seen her car or something. But don't worry—it's nothing we can't control. Fortunately, it seems the paparazzi left after Mizuki did to follow her, and I guess you stayed at the studio so late that no one stuck around to catch you leaving."

"Yeah, I was in there till one in the morning."

Meiling raised a brow. "Doing what?"

"Writing," he responded, and then he shrugged. "Thinking."

She pursed her lips. His face was carefully blank, but she saw the bags under his eyes and realized how tired he looked. "Are you really okay?"

He sighed. "It was pretty exhausting," he admitted, staring at a blank spot on the wall. "But I'll be okay. I want to fix this."

Meiling nodded. "Okay. Well, go wash up and get dressed. We need to get this figured out. We're going to my office, and you can tell me what happened, and we can make a plan. We should probably call Matsura, too. I'll treat you to coffee on the way."

Syaoran hoisted himself up off of his bed, and with a nod, he walked into his bathroom and shut the door. Leaning his hands on the counter, he looked into the mirror with a frown. He felt a familiarly unpleasant churning in his stomach, an anxiety he hadn't felt so fully in a while. He could feel a storm brewing. Mizuki had returned, had cracked open the door, and all of a sudden, he felt like the potential for chaos had never been higher.

Heaving a sigh, he shook his head. He wouldn't let that happen—not this time. Because unlike before, he knew enough to protect himself, and he also wanted to protect people other than himself. That was more than enough for him.

"So you really quit, huh?"

Sakura nodded, taking a big gulp of milk from her cereal bowl and setting it down to spoon some more cereal into her mouth.

"Slow down, you're going to choke on your food," Tomoyo said, handing Sakura a napkin across the table.

The two were at breakfast at the old diner where Sakura had worked. Because she was still close with the manager, they got discounts on their meals quite frequently.

"Are you sad?" Tomoyo asked, poking around at her pancakes with her fork.

"A little," Sakura admitted. "I'm going to miss everyone I worked with, especially Chiharu. But it's also a bit of a relief. Snooping around like that all the time got to be really stressful. I'm honestly shocked no one ever caught on."

Tomoyo nodded. "What about Syaoran?"

Sakura stared at her bowl of cereal, absentmindedly puffing her cheeks up and then letting out a long exhale. "What about him?"

"You know. Are you ever going to see him again?"

"Oh, I don't know." She felt her phone in her pocket now, remembering... "He texted me last night."

Tomoyo's eyes widened. "What did he say?"

Sakura fished out her phone and tapped through the screen to find the message before handing the phone to Tomoyo silently.

Tomoyo scanned the text and her eyes quickly grew even bigger. "Sakura," she whispered, but Sakura could tell that the whisper was going to lead to something exponentially louder.

"Don't scream," Sakura begged. "Everyone's going to look!"

Tomoyo opened her mouth, then shut it. "Fine," she hissed. "Sakura, you can't just cut things off with him now! He said he wished he could see you!"

"Yeah, but I just quit my job. That publicity deal was what kept us meeting each other, remember?"

"Hardly. If he were that worried about his publicity, he'd have made deals with paparazzi from more prominent tabloids—no offense," Tomoyo added.

"None taken," Sakura said, a smile curving her lips slightly upward.

"Anyway, I'm not convinced. He said he wanted to see you, not meet you so he can get photographed. He's one of the most powerful stars on the continent. He could get his photograph from anyone he pleases. I think there's a lot more to it, Sakura."

"Yeah, well... I don't know what to think about it," Sakura muttered, taking the phone back.

"You don't know what to think about it?" Tomoyo said incredulously. "Here's what you should think: his gorgeous ex-girlfriend came and caused a scene in the studio while you were there, also happened to cause a scene leaving with the hundreds of paparazzi who got photos of her last night, and yet in the middle of all of this drama, Syaoran Li wishes he could see you, not her! Does that not mean anything to you?"

Sakura shook her head. "He could've sent her the same thing... I don't know."

"Don't make up excuses!" Tomoyo said. "Is he the kind of guy who would do that?"

Sakura pursed her lips. "No, he wouldn't," she finally admitted. "But I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"I don't know. Where this is going. Where I want it to go and where it won't go," she said. She stared down at her cereal, but suddenly, she wasn't hungry anymore.

"Sakura," Tomoyo said gently. "Believe in yourself. Just because you're not a famous celebrity doesn't mean someone who is can't fall for you. You might not have piles of money or an on-call stylist, but you're obviously amazing."

Sakura snorted. "'Obviously'?"

Tomoyo grinned. "Syaoran Li seems to think so."

"Oh, I don't know," Sakura repeated. "I just don't want to get my hopes up, you know?"

"Well, I understand that. But if you muster up the courage, I'd say text him back. And now," Tomoyo said grandly, "I have an announcement!"

Sakura raised her eyebrows. "What?"

"I got the job at MIA!" Tomoyo squealed.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Tomoyo! That's amazing, congratulations!" She laughed and shook her head. "I never doubted you, but that's still such a great surprise!"

Tomoyo laughed. "Thank you! I'm so relieved that my future is starting to come together."

Sakura grinned as she took a sip of her coffee. "Well, that makes one of us."

"No way! We're going to find you another job, a really great one, pronto. And as for other things in your future—tonight, we're going out to get drinks, on me. And you're coming over to my place to get ready, and I get to dress you up."

"Okay," Sakura said, nodding. "That's doable."

"And one more thing," Tomoyo continued. "You're going to text Syaoran back. No buts about it."

"Okay, I just got off the phone with Mizuki's rep," Meiling announced, striding back into her office and shutting the door. "She doesn't think it's necessary yet to meet in person and devise anything elaborate. For now, she says it'd be good to spin this into good PR for both of you."

"And how exactly do we do that?" Syaoran said, raising an eyebrow and raising his coffee to his lips. He grimaced. He only ever drank it black, but he wasn't sure why—he hated the way it tasted.

Meiling sat at her desk and began clacking away at her keyboard. "It's a little flimsy, but it's a situation where people are going to believe what they want to believe, so flimsy is okay."

She paused to type out some more, and Syaoran glanced over to see that she was writing a draft of a press release.

Meiling peered over the screen for a moment, eyes squinted, and then nodded to herself before turning to him. "We said before that you'd remain friends, and this just proves it. Mizuki was visiting the studio to say hello after her return from her trip to Thailand. You were busy recording all day, so you didn't leave with her."

"What about her looking upset? How are you going to explain that?"

Meiling shrugged. "It's not like she was crying or had mascara running down her face. She could have been surprised or annoyed by the photographers."

"Ah. That makes sense... I guess it's better to leave that unexplained."

"Exactly. You don't want to fill in blanks where it's not necessary." She turned back to her computer and continued to type. "You know, this might be a blessing in disguise. The media will definitely speculate about this for a little while, but if you keep up a pretense of friendship, they'll get bored when they realize there's no potential scandal there and lay off of your relationship with her."

"Right," he responded, although he wasn't sure how he'd go about keeping up a pretense of friendship when he apparently couldn't even handle an hour with her in the same room.

"Now," Meiling said, almost as if reading his mind, "I know that's going to be tough for you, but Mizuki's rep also thinks it'd be a great idea. It's a bit of a gamble, but in the long run, it could really pay off. So just hear me out on this," she said, turning around to face him.

Syaoran raised his brows at her, wondering what exactly what was about to come out of her mouth next. She looked nervous; Meiling, to his understanding, never got nervous.

She drew in a breath. "Okay. There's a promotional event that you're both scheduled to attend in two weeks. You don't even have to pose together, but if you just crossed paths and waved a friendly hello to each other, spoke a few words in front of the reporters to play up the friendship—"

"Absolutely not," Syaoran said, shaking his head.

"Syaoran—"

"Meiling, I'm not going to put on a show for these people. They already know enough about my life that I don't want them to know."

"But this wouldn't be a real aspect of your life. You'd be feeding them a story so that they'll leave you alone for a little while. Don't you want that?"

"Of course I do, but not like this. Why should I even bother? Like you said, we shouldn't be filling in the blanks where it's not necessary, even if it's with something that isn't real."

Meiling paused for a moment before responding. "Okay. Well, that's definitely tough to argue with..." She sighed. "I guess I can't try to push it too hard, can I?"

"I don't want to make things difficult for you," Syaoran said, running a hand through his hair, "but I just don't think I can do that. Not right now. Give me some time."

Meiling pressed her lips together, but she nodded. "Okay." She looked off to the side, and then she had to smile. "Thanks for not giving me a flat-out no."

Syaoran smirked. "I've already given you enough reasons to pummel me lately. I don't need to give you any more."

Meiling threw her head back and laughed. "That's very smart of you." She leaned back in her chair. "Speaking of reasons to pummel you, though... How's it going with your little paparazzo friend?"

"Ah," Syaoran said, suddenly reaching into his pocket for his phone. He pulled it out and frowned to see that he had seven new text messages and a slew of emails, none of them from Sakura. "She was there yesterday."

Meiling's eyes widened. "When Mizuki was there?"

"Yeah. I'd asked her if she wanted to come by the studio since I was alone, and Mizuki came unannounced an hour or so later."

"How did that go?"

Syaoran ran a hand through his hair. "I think she felt really awkward. I don't blame her. Mizuki started asking her questions, and she bolted pretty quickly."

Meiling snorted. "It's a little rich of her to be asking your friend anything, don't you think?"

Syaoran laughed. "Yeah, it was out of line... I can't say I didn't get irritated at that. But she's always been that way, just a little."

"So... With Mizuki back in the picture... Well, is she back in the picture?"

Syaoran shook his head. "I don't know. There's no telling with her. Honestly, I'm really confused about everything these days. And Sakura... I mean, you know, she's so different—but I really do..." He trailed off before he glanced down at his hands and exhaled softly. "I think things are going to get pretty complicated, Meiling."

"Well," Meiling said, tilting her head back, "I suppose that can't be helped. That's why you've got me. Just try to minimize the damage, would you? I can only handle so many curveballs, even if I am me."

Syaoran chuckled. In situations like these, he found himself feeling extremely grateful that Meiling had chosen to stick by his side not just as his friend and kin, but also professionally. "Of course."

Sakura glanced around the club over the rim of her glass as she took a sip of her drink. A pleasant buzz pervaded her system, but it still did not seem to be enough to draw her out of herself. Clubs had never particularly been her scene; although she was perfectly fine socializing at the bar, she had decided to sit back and watch Tomoyo and their friends dance on the floor rather than joining them.

They were in an upscale club in a popular part of Tokyo for young people, and Tomoyo had invited several of their mutual friends and some of her colleagues from internships and college out to meet up. As the music bumped loudly through the speakers, Sakura couldn't decide if she would have enjoyed herself more at home alone. She was happy she was around people, but what was the point when she wasn't actually speaking to any of them? She sighed, deciding that she'd finish her drink and join her friends soon. Hopefully, that would get her mind off of her job, and perhaps off of Syaoran, whom she had yet to contact that day.

Tomoyo wandered over, skin glistening and eyes sparkling as she held a bill out to the bartender and ordered two shots. "Sakura, you need to come out and dance with us!"

The shots came, and before Sakura could protest, Tomoyo shoved one at Sakura, who clinked her shot glass against Tomoyo's feebly before downing it and grimacing.

"Just give me a few more minutes to loosen up—God, Tomoyo, what was that? It was awful!"

"It's called a firebomb," Tomoyo said, grinning. "It should hit you pretty soon. Come dance! There are so many gorgeous men on the floor right now. And speaking of gorgeous men—have you texted Syaoran back?"

Sakura bit her lip. "No, not yet. I was going to wait on that, too."

"Well, you can't do it when you're too drunk!" Tomoyo said, grabbing Sakura's phone out of her purse and handing it to her. "Do it now, and then come out and dance with me."

Sakura swallowed. Tomoyo was right, at least on the timing of the text; if she wanted to text him back, it would have to be sooner rather than later. She could already feel her mind swimming hazily as the last shot rushed through her head.

"What should I say?"

"Well, if it were me, I'd just say 'I wish I could see you, too,'" Tomoyo laughed. "But I know we're a bit different, so... why don't you just say a casual 'Hello'?"

"That's it? Just 'hello'?"

Tomoyo nodded. "He'll respond. I promise."

Sakura looked down at the screen of her phone, tapping out a "Hello," then deleting it and opting for a "Hi." Before she could stop herself, she hit the send button and buried her phone in her purse.

"Good girl! Now finish your drink and come on!"

Sakura nodded and downed her drink, aware that she would become fairly intoxicated in about twenty minutes. Grinning slightly at the thought, she followed Tomoyo to the dance floor, and ushered into a group of her friends, she felt her hips moving along to the music almost instantly.

Syaoran frowned as he glanced at the clock. It read two in the morning.

This is ridiculous. You should just go to sleep already.

But he knew from experience that he would lie fruitlessly in bed until the sun rose, because when he was curious or anxious about anything, his mind raced at an irritatingly fast pace and refused to slow down, and sleep never came in those times.

Although Syaoran had had a busy day, since his morning was cut off by Mizuki's tabloid appearance and the end half of his day had been filled with meetings with producers and plans for his next media appearances, the text message he'd sent Sakura—the one to which she had not yet responded—had weighed heavily in the back of his mind. On top of that, the episode with Mizuki had left him more hurt and confused than he'd have liked to admit. As a result, between the two matters, he'd ended the day exhausted and somewhat down, worse than he'd felt in a while.

So it was much to his relief that a text came from her around midnight, but it was confusingly noncommittal and was not technically a response to his own text—it had just been a simple "Hi."

Perplexed and amused all at once, he'd responded by asking what she'd done all day... And now, two hours later, he had no response.

He sighed, lying back on his couch.

She wasn't playing hard-to-get, was she?

Syaoran immediately snorted at the thought. Sakura wasn't the type to do that. And even if she wanted to, he thought amusedly, she'd be horrible at it.

And more importantly, a voice said inside his head, why would she play hard-to-get? Why are you making more out of this than it is?

Before he could try to answer that question, he heard his phone notify him of a text, and he reached over to grab his phone and see who it was, letting out an exhale when he saw that Sakura had texted him back.

Syaoran smirked as his eyes scanned the text. She was obviously drunk, words misspelled here and there, although it was clear by the tone that she was trying to keep up a normal, sober front.

Oh, not muhc, it read. But kinda an unusual day. YoU?

Unusual how? He texted back. Because you're drunk? And it was kind of busy. Lots of work.

A minute later, a response came: I'm not drujnk.

Syaoran laughed, and as he typed out a response, another came before he could send his.

Okay Im kind of drunk. Tomoyo wsnted me to come to the club celebrate her neew job.

Syaoran revised his previously typed-out response. Well, what are you doing sitting around and texting me? You should be celebrating.

Feeling a little more at ease, he decided he could at least get ready for bed now. He tried to ignore how stupid it was that he could rest easy only now, now that he knew his text from the previous night had not gone ignored. He set his phone on the nightstand when he reached his room and headed into his restroom for a quick shower.

When he came back out and sat on his bed, rubbing a towel through his hair, he picked up his phone and raised his eyebrows to see that he had not just one, but rather four new texts from Sakura. He laughed before opening them. Although they'd never really discussed their drinking habits, he could imagine that she probably didn't enjoy clubs very much and envisioned her sitting at the bar, glued to her phone.

Taking a breajk from danfing, my feet hurt.

His grin slowly faded into a frown as he read the next three.

I lost Tomoo, not sure where she went.

Are yiu still awake?

There's this guuy who keeps trying to talk to me and folows me around. I s that weird? I ftold him to leave me alone anf I feel bad.

Syaoran looked at the time Sakura had sent the last text. It had only been five minutes ago. He wondered if he'd found her friend yet. She was definitely drunker than he'd thought she was.

Sorry, I was in the shower, he typed out. Did you find Tomoyo?

He lay back in his bed and waited for a response, but after ten minutes had passed without one, he frowned as he texted her again.

Is everything okay?

He was probably overreacting, he thought, but he couldn't help the way his stomach seemed to twist as he waited for a response. Sakura didn't seem like the type to get herself into troublesome situations by any means, but Syaoran had been to enough clubs with Mizuki and Meiling to know how aggressive some of the male patrons there could be. If she was alone, he imagined that she'd have a difficult time fending for herself, particularly when so drunk.

After five more minutes, Syaoran groaned and sat up, deciding to call her. As he held the phone to his ear, he prayed for her to pick up, nearly shouting in relief when she did.

"Syaoran," she said into the phone, voice slightly slurring. Although the background noise was definitely still the dissonant chatter and music of a club, Syaoran realized she must have stepped outside, because it was very muted.

"Hey, is everything all right?" he asked. "Where are your friends? Who's following you around?"

"Um—sorry," she said, her voice high-pitched. "Sorry to make you worry."

Syaoran sighed. "No, you're okay," he said, slowing down. "But did you find your friends?"

"Yeah, Tomoyo just texted me and said she's coming—that she's coming to find me, so I'm standing outside the club to wait for her, and then she said... Um... That we're—we're going back inside together to find everyone else."

"Okay," Syaoran breathed, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen a bit. That was good, at least. "Do you want me to stay on the phone with you until she finds you?"

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Sakura said, and Syaoran wanted to laugh despite the situation at hand; sober Sakura would be quite embarrassed of her drunken alter ego's extreme enthusiasm, he thought.

"Now, Sakura," he said carefully, "what's this about a guy following you around?"

"Oh," Sakura said, and her voice dropped low, so that Syaoran could barely hear her. "Yeah, this guy... I—he told me that he wanted to buy me a drink—and I said—I told him that's okay. And he said okay but he kept following me around the club while I looked for Tomoyo, and I asked him to stop doing that and now I think he's angry with me—because—because now he's outside here, too, and I can see him kind of looking at me sometimes. I feel bad."

Shit, Syaoran thought. It could have been nothing to worry about, but Sakura sober was already a bit too naïve and unassuming for her own good, and he could tell it was that much worse when she was drunk.

"Has he been out there with you this whole time?" Syaoran asked, rising up out of bed.

"Uh-huh."

"Has he said anything to you?"

"No, just looking over. Maybe I should go ask him why he's outside?"

"No, no, Sakura, just stay where you are, talk to me," Syaoran said hurriedly. "Is he alone?"

"Yeah—"

"Sakura!" Syaoran heard another girl's voice cut in from the background.

"Hey!" Sakura said in response, and Syaoran listened to them chatter for a moment, realizing Tomoyo had found Sakura. She also sounded far more sober than Sakura did.

"Hey, Sakura, could you hand the phone to your friend for a moment for me?" Syaoran said.

"Oh, sure!" Sakura chirped, and Syaoran heard the rattle of the phone being handed off.

"Hello?" said another girl's voice, sounding confused.

"Hi, er, Tomoyo?"

"Y-yes, this is she."

"Hey, this is Syaoran, I'm a friend of Sakura's. I just wanted to make sure—"

"Syaoran Li?"

"Ah..." Syaoran scratched his head. "Yeah, Syaoran Li."

"Oh my God," he heard her breathe, and he knew instantly that he had to stop her from getting too excited so he could assess the situation in time.

"Hey, Tomoyo, I'm really pleased to meet you, Sakura's told me a lot about you—but I need your help."

"Oh, uh—yeah, of course," she said, sounding startled at the urgency of his voice. "What is it?"

He explained the situation and his suspicions about the man Sakura had mentioned, and Tomoyo, who had also spotted the man outside the club and thought him an odd figure—particularly because of the way he'd been looking at Sakura, she told Syaoran—sobered up even more and seemed to instantly forget about Syaoran's celebrity.

"How drunk exactly is Sakura?"

"Ah... She's pretty far gone," Tomoyo said sheepishly. "I might have given her too many shots. She's fine, but we should probably go home."

"Are you with other people now?"

"We were here with some of my friends, but I don't know what happened to them—I think they might have gone home after they lost me, so it might just be Sakura and me now."

"Okay," Syaoran said, going over the situation in his head. "Okay, what club are you at?"

"Purple Stripe."

Ah. He knew that one particularly well; around the time of its opening, Mizuki had made herself a frequent patron and brought Syaoran along regularly, and much of their relationship had been captured on cameras there. It would be a bit risky, he thought, to drive over there and pick up Sakura and her friend as he wanted to do, as paparazzi still hung around that area. But he lived close by, and he didn't want them waiting on a cab when an odd stranger was eyeing them.

"Tell you what," Syaoran said. "Take Sakura back into the club, get her a glass of water. If that guy follows you, tell one of the bouncers. Stay around a lot of people. I'm going to come get you guys, so keep her phone on you and come out when I call."

"You're—you're coming to get us?"

"Yeah, I really don't like the way that guy sounds. I can pick you guys up and drop you off. Is that okay?"

"Y-yeah, that's totally fine," Tomoyo said. "Thank you so much."

"Not a problem. I'm leaving now. Head inside, and call if you have any problems."

"Of course. Thanks again!" Tomoyo said before ending the call.

And with that, Syaoran threw on a sweatshirt, grabbed his keys, and shoved a baseball cap on over his head before throwing his hood up and running out to his car.

That's it for now! Syaoran to the rescue! Kind of, haha. Are Sakura and Tomoyo in any immediate danger? Not the worst, but the guy following them around is still a huge creep, and Syaoran seems to be quite the protective type, huh?

I always feel this way about a chapter when I'm posting it, but I'm a little uncertain of the pacing, so I apologize if it seemed too quick—or, conversely, way too slow. I thought this chapter would be all action when I wrote it, but a lot of it ended up being exposition, foreshadowing, all of that good stuff—mostly a chapter to set up other chapters. I just feel like there's so much dialogue and explanation, so I apologize if the chapter wasn't the most fun. :( Next chapter will have a lot of interaction between Syaoran and Sakura, though, so look out for that! And I actually have most of it planned out, so hopefully, an update will come more quickly.

I am sorry this chapter took so long to update, but thank you all for the lovely reviews! Your response to the last chapter was very sweet. I never fail to feel amazed at how kind and enthusiastic you all are. It really makes my day. (My life, even.)

Thank you all, love you, and please leave a review!

Love,

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