"Your brother did not get home last night?"  Tomoyo asked.

"No."  Sakura sighed, trying to rub sleep from her eyes.  "I stayed up all night waiting for him, because Yukito-san seemed so intent on finding him..."

"I hope that you do not catch a cold or get in trouble by one of your teachers today..."

"I hope so, too."

"How is Cerberus?"  Tomoyo asked, suddenly remembering the guardian.

"He's doing fine.  The only times I go to my room right now are when I feed him or when I go to sleep... I should really take more care of him now that you mention him...but I have so much to do right now..."

"I understand, and I am sure that he must, too."

"Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."

"That's what friends are for.  Don't think about it."

Sakura smiled at her.  "Still.  Arigato, Tomoyo-chan!"

"Hoeh..."  Sakura had ended up going back to the penguin park after school, this time to wait for yet another person who wanted to tell her something.  Actually, that was because he hadn't had a chance to on the phone, the other day...

"Sakura?"  Syaoran appeared out of the shadow of a tree.

"Did I keep you waiting?"

"U...uh, no."

::What did you do to my son?::  Nadeshiko stormed into a dark room.  ::Emi--!!::

Emi, the previously mentioned fair haired woman, stepped forward.

::You're back so early, Nadeshiko.  I thought you were going to observe your children.::

::What did you do to my son?!::  Nadeshiko repeated.

::Your son?  Oh, Touya Kinomoto!::  Emi smiled.  ::He will be fine.  I just did what master told me to.::

::Which was?!::

::Now, don't be so angry, Nadeshiko.  I did nothing that will hurt him.  He will awaken soon...just wait...and see.::

::If you're lying...::  Nadeshiko was unable to look very threatening, but the other woman knew that she was trying her best to force anger upon her pretty face.

::I'm not.  Don't worry.::

"What were you going to tell me, Li-kun?"  Sakura took a seat on the park bench.

"Um..."

"Come on, you have to tell me!"  she sighed and leaned back.  "Tomoyo-chan said she wanted to tell me something here, too...but she never did."

"..oh."  he said simply.

"Will you tell me?"  her green eyes focused on him and she was more than surprised when he turned red.

"..um..."  he felt very lame.  He knew that he had promised himself to tell her and that he wouldn't chicken out, but...now that she was right in front of him...

"Li-kun."

"Hmm?"  Syaoran turned back to the girl, noticing then that he had spun away automatically when he had blushed.

"I want to ask you a question."

"Okay..."

"(Since you don't seem that you're going to tell me what you wanted to say...)  I want to know why you've been avoiding me at school."

"A...avoiding?  I...haven't been avoiding you...!"

Sakura sweatdropped, remembering the almost identical response from Tomoyo.  "Yes you have.  And I want to know why."  she leaned forward, looking the boy up and down.  "Y...you're very special to me, you know...I want to know what's wrong."  she smiled at him sweetly.  "If there's something wrong, or if you have a problem with...me...am I doing something wrong?"

"No!"  Syaoran shook his head.

"Then, what--"

"I called you here to tell you that--I'm in love with you, Sakura!!"

"..."  Sakura looked pleased in a way.  "Really?"

This was not the reaction Syaoran had been expecting.

"Huh?"  he was confused.

"I mean, do you really mean it?"  she smiled, tilting her head to one side.  "Or are you playing a really mean trick to me?"

"I...mean it."  he bit his lip and hoped that she wouldn't laugh.

"T...thank you."

"Huh?"

Sakura stepped forward and took his hand.  "Thank you, Li-kun."

"W...why?  Huh?  What do you mean?"

"But..."  she sighed, glancing down.  "You already have a fiancee."

"I do?"  he wished that his temperature would go down...but of course, that wish did not come true.

"Meiling-chan!"

"That wasn't my choice!  I--"

"But you still have to marry her, don't you?"

"..."

"If you do still have to marry her, than there's no point in this romance."

Was it just his imagination, or did she look sad...?

"Sakura..."  Syaoran shook his head.  "Don't worry about her.  I...if I stay with someone else...then she'll understand."

Sakura sweatdropped, remembering about how protective Meiling was about her fiancee.

"I don't think she will."  she stated.

"But since I'm in Japan--"  he tried again.

"Why are you here, though?"

"Huh?"

"You could have gone back to Hong Kong..."

"I know I didn't know it at the time, but...you were keeping me here."

The breeze blew at them softly, just enough to blow Sakura's hair to the side.  The two gazed at each other for a silent moment, and then Sakura shook her head, breaking the spell.

"I...really need to go home.  I'm so sorry, Li-kun...but I don't want you to get in trouble."  she turned to leave.

"Don't worry about me..."  he grabbed her hand before she could leave.  "Sakura..."

Before she could protest, he had scooped her up into his arms and kissed her...