Last time:

'Why is the whole world against me?' Sakura thought. 'Why can't they just keep into their own freaking business. It's just plain flat out rude, I tell you. Even though Syaoran is a great guy who will make a great father to Judith. …Maybe Tomoyo was right. Not every guy is going to do what Ty did to me…Syaoran is a great kisser…'

"Thanks for the compliment."

Sakura jumped. "What?"

Syaoran smiled at her. "You said I was a good kisser."

Sakura gasped and put a hand up to her mouth. 'Did I just say that last bit out loud?'

"And I must say," Syaoran said, inching closer to her, "that you're not a bad one yourself."

Sakura laughed nervously. "Thanks. I was…"

Syaoran cut her off the best way possible…or to her it was. He placed his mouth over hers in a sweet, passionate kiss. Sakura didn't even think of objecting this time. She slowly brought her arms up to wrap around his neck as his arms went around her waist. Sakura heard herself moan as Syaoran deepened the kiss farther.

"Wow! I thought you'd guys would talk, but not make out!"

My Daughter, the Matchmaker

Chapter 6: Picking up the Pieces

By: Cutie Blossom aka CB-chan

Syaoran's mouth dropped. "MOTHER!!!!"

Yelan smiled as she entered the kitchen. "Don't worry. The girls are still out in the car." She walked over to the counter and picked up a black purse. "I was so absent minded that I forgot my purse!"

Sakura, whose face was red, pushed herself away from Syaoran's warm, protective, and not to mention powerful arms. "We were…were…"

"Making out?" Yelan finished for the younger woman, raising her eyebrow slightly.

Sakura's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Uh…yeah…"

Syaoran smiled. "We were caught red-handed, my dear."

Sakura's face, if possible, went even redder. "Mrs. Li, would you be so kindly to drop my daughter off at our house after you take them to the ice cream shop, please?"

Yelan smiled. "Only if you call me Yelan."

Sakura smiled. "Miss Yelan."

Yelan laughed. "Alright, I'll drop her off," she said and walked out of the house.

Sakura walked down near the entrance and gathered her purse and was about to leave when a voice very close stopped her.

"Are you leaving me all of a sudden?"

Sakura nodded without turning around. She didn't want to face the amber-eyed male at the moment.

"Was it the kiss?"

"No," she lied and reached for the doorknob, but couldn't turn it for the fact that Syaoran put a hand on top of hers.

"Come no, Sakura," he said. "I won't force you to do anything you don't want. I'm not that kind of man."

Sakura still didn't face him. "I'm glad to hear that," she said, trying to move her hand, but couldn't. He was so close that she could feel his breath on the back of her neck. "Now if you would kindly let me turn the doorknob so I leave, I would be very grateful."

"I wanna hold your hand," Syaoran said in a singsong voice.

Sakura couldn't help, but let a grin slide across her mouth, but quickly tried to hide it.

"I won't hurt you, Sakura," he whispered close to her ear. "I can promise you that."

Sakura's face saddened. "Even though you promise me that, some promises are broken anyways no matter what a person said before it was broken."

Syaoran's face filled with concern and confustion. Now why would she think that? While occupied with his own thoughts, he let go of Sakura's hand and before he knew it, she was gone.

"Sakura…"

Syaoran moved into the kitchen to think. He was still in there when his mother and Judith came into the kitchen.

"Syaoran!"

Syaoran smiled. "Hey! Have fun?"

Judith nodded her head.

Yelan sighed. "Well…I'm going to go back to the hotel."

"Why not stay here, Mother?" Syaoran asked as Yelan made her way back to the front door.

Yelan opened the door, but paused and turned to her son before exiting. "I think you and your new responsibility should be alone for the first night," she said and then turned and walked out.

Syaoran stared at the door and smiled.

"Syaoran…" Judith's voice was behind him and shaky.

Syaoran walked over to the girl in the wheelchair and kneeled to her level. "Yes, kiddo?"

"Are you sure that you want to take care of me?" she asked in a low voice. "I mean, I don't want you to have so much responsibility if you don't want it. I just thought since I've always loved to be around you and other things, that maybe, just maybe, you wouldn't mind being my guardian, but if you don't want to…I'll go live with my grandparents. I mean…who would want to take care of a girl in a wheelchair that will never walk again?" Tears were rolling down her rosy cheeks.

Syaoran put on a smile for her. "I would," he answered. Judith's eyes widened as he continued. "For starters, just because you can't walk now, doesn't mean you won't later so don't give up." He winked at her. "I know you can. You're too stubborn to give up now."

Judith pouted and Syaoran gave a laugh, but then turned serious again. "Judith, it was my choice or not. You know how I always told you that I wanted a family of my own?" Judith nodded. "Well, though I love my mother too death, I really never felt the family bond with the rest of my family because we never got to see each other a whole heck of a lot…even during the holidays! Now, you're my family and I know with a bit of patience, we will get through this together."

Judith's smile returned as she nodded her head. "Yeah!"

Syaoran took hold of her chin before continuing. "But I hope you will have patience with me. I warn you though there will be nights that I will have to work late, but I won't make it a habit and I will let you know when I will have to stay behind a few more hours. You and I will have most of the nights to eat dinner together, like a real family! Okay?"

Judith threw her arms around her cousin and he hugged her back. "Don't worry. I won't be angry with you if you can't make my lunch the right way or something like that. I will love you anyways."

Syaoran smiled. "That's all I ask for."

They stayed that way for a couple more minutes, in a hug before Judith broke the ice.

"So what do you think of Sakura?"

Syaoran had to laugh.

~*~

Sakura took out her toast and Kristen's bagel out of the toaster.

"Kristen Kinomoto!! Get your little butt down here or we are going to be late!!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm here!" Kristen said.

Sakura gave Kristen her bagel and the two got into the car.

"Do you think I could see Judith after school?" Kristen asked.

Sakura nodded as she continued to drive. "Did she go back to the hospital last night?"

"Noppers," Kristen said. "Syaoran took her back this morning."

Sakura stayed silent as she continued to drive.

"Mom…?"

"Yes, honey?"

"Do you think she'll be able to walk again?"

Sakura didn't hesitate when she answered, "Yes."

Kristen smiled. "Really?"

Sakura smiled also. "I know she will as long as she has tons of support from her best friend, the best friend's mother, and her cousin."

"Now that you mention it," Kristen said. "How do you like Syaoran?"

"He's…" Sakura tried to search for a safe word. She wanted to say terrific or wonderful, but didn't want to tell Kristen that because that would mean that she might be falling for him, right? Like she had time for a boyfriend. It was hard enough being a great mother to Kristen. Syaoran wouldn't want a single washed-up mother. He'd be better off with a blonde haired model then a mother. Sakura felt a bang in her heart as she finished off her unfinished sentence. "…a great guy."

Kristen smirked. "You paused too long, Mom. That's either a bad sign or good sign. Really, what do you think of the amber-eyed hunkster?"

Sakura stopped along side the curb. "Oh look! School! We've arrived! You don't want to miss any social time!"

Kristen smirked. "Pushing someone away means that you don't want to answer because it's usually good. Also, pushing your only, scared daughter away makes her feel not loved."

"Scared my butt," Sakura muttered.

Kristen frowned and looked out the car window at the school. "I don't need a whole bunch of social time since my best friend isn't by my side. It just isn't the same."

Sakura frowned as Kristen stepped out and slammed the car door shut and ran over to some of her classmates. Sakura sighed and started to drive away. This was going to be a tough time on Syaoran, Kristen and especially Judith.

Sakura entered her office about twenty minutes later, ready to get her mind on something else.

"Sakura!" Catherine said, entering Sakura's office. "Mr. Li just called about a one minute ago and asked you to call him back right away."

Sakura sighed. When she wanted to get her mind on working and away from other things, she didn't mean working with one of the distractions that has been clouding her mind. "Okay, I'll call him back right away, Catherine."

Catherine smiled. "Okay! Do your best with his project, Sakura!"

Sakura put on a fake smile. "Yes, Catherine."

Catherine left and left Sakura staring at the phone as if it grew horns.

"Quit being a stupid teenager, Sakura. He's only a male…a darn cute one, but still male…" she mumbled to herself. She stared at the phone for a moment more before picking up the receiver and dialing Syaoran's work phone. It rang twice before a male's voice picked up.

"Hello. Syaoran Li speaking," Syaoran answered in a bored tone.

"Syaoran? This is…"

"Sakura, I know," Syaoran said in a voice filled with more energy. "I would never forget your voice."

"Oh."

Syaoran smirked. "I can feel your blush way over here."

Sakura's blush deepened. Time to change the subject. "Syaoran, what did you need?"

"Are you free for lunch?"

"Didn't I tell you that I don't want to get into another relationship?" Sakura asked.

"I wanted to discus with you about the party for the merging," he said.

Sakura's face couldn't get redder. "Oh! Yes! The party! Of course! I knew that! I'm sorry, Syaoran!"

"It's okay, but now that you mention it. I do think we should go on a…"

"I'll meet you twelve o'clock sharp at Seadries. I hope you like seafood, Syaoran. I'll see you there," Sakura said in one deep breath before he could finish his sentence and she then hung up before he could say another word.

Sakura tried to get as much work as possible done before lunch and to her irritation, caught herself glancing at the clock frequently. When she arrived at the seafood restaurant, she was a tad bit early as in 'I'm a pro and I'm here on business,' not 'I'm excited to see the guy and I need to do redo my make-up before he arrives' early, though she did reapply some lip gloss.

Syaoran entered the restaurant right on the dot and made his way over as his eyes landed on Sakura.

"Good afternoon," Sakura said politely.

Syaoran took his seat and smiled at Sakura. "Good afternoon to you too. One question before we begin."

"Ask away."

"Can I kiss you after this lunch date, too?"

"Syaoran! The girls are not here! We don't need to act."

"Who was acting?"

Sakura took a deep breath to try to calm her beating heart down. "Let's get down to business, shall we?" Syaoran shook his head, but she ignored it and continued to talk business anyway. "I see two different ways of advertising your party for the partnership, Syaoran. We can take one or the either, or if you wish, we could do both. Those two ways are commercials and/or ads. We can place many ads about the party mostly on billboards. If you wish to go with commercials only, they can be aired all over Japan and that will give an opportunity for some of the other people of Japan to come in and join."

Syaoran looked deep in thought about the information Sakura just gave him. "Can you just limit the commercials to Tokyo?"

Sakura nodded. "That can be arranged."

Syaoran smiled again. "I wish for just the city to come, not the entire country."

"I was just leaving you open to options."

"I know. All the people that the bank wishes to invite that live outside of Tokyo have already been notified."

"Okay, then," Sakura said. The waiter then dropped off their food and walked away.

The meeting continued on as if they only wanted to talk about business, but unknown to Sakura, Syaoran was not being so calm and collective inside as she seemed to be.  Why did she have to talk about only business? Why not talk about something like how delicious her mouth tastes?

"Syaoran?"

Syaoran shook out of his thoughts. "Sorry. I was just thinking about how delicious your mo-FOOD looks!" he said, changing the last part of the sentence.

Sakura blinked and looked down at her plate that only now had little bits and pieces of the original food left. "Oh?"

Syaoran could have slapped himself right then and there. Nice save. VERY nice save.

Sakura eyed him weirdly. "Did you want the scraps that are left, Syaoran, or can you survive without?"

Syaoran sweatdropped. "Without, thanks."

Sakura shook her head, smiling slightly. "Anyway, did you like the ideas on how to advertise your party?"

Syaoran blinked. What ideas? Her mouth was too hypnotizing he missed the ideas! "Of course!"

Sakura leaned over to reach for her purse and started to move stuff around in it until she found her planner. She took it out and opened it. "Did you want to get together Tuesday at around ten? That would give me time to call the TV stations and set up the studio that we can do the commercial in."

Syaoran took out his Palm Pilot and looked at his schedule. "Can we make it ten thirty? I have a meeting that ends at ten fifteen."

Sakura nodded absently and wrote it down. "Fine by me."

"Sakura?"

She looked up. "Hmmm?"

Syaoran looked up from his Palm Pilot. "Would you please tell Kristen that Judith is leaving the hospital this Friday and that Judith wishes that her best friend would make it."

Sakura's eyes softened. "She wouldn't miss it. What time?"

"Around five."

Sakura nodded her head. "I'll be sure to tell her."

"Will you come with her?"

Sakura smiled. "Of course."

Sakura and Syaoran paid for their lunches and the two exited the restaurant and entered the parking lot.

Sakura made her way over to her car. Once she unlocked her car, a hand stopped her from opening the door.

"Syaoran," Sakura said with deep sigh, "must you always make it difficult for me to open a door?"

Syaoran smirked. "Of course, but you never answered my question at the beginning of lunch."

"Huh?"

Syaoran smiled. "Can I kiss you after this lunch date, too?"

Sakura's eyes widened. "NO!"

Syaoran pouted. "Why not?"

"Probably because I can't think when you kiss me and right now, I need all the knowledge I have right now, thank you very much."

Syaoran blinked. "You mean your knowledge is worth more than a kiss? That's all that's keeping me from kissing you?"

Sakura thought a moment. No, that's not all, she thought, but he is not going to find out the rest of it. "Yeah."

"I think you could put off your knowledge for a quick moment," Syaoran said and before Sakura could say anything or think for that matter, his lips were over hers once again. This kiss didn't go as passionate as the one in his kitchen because Syaoran pulled away right away and turned around. "See you on Friday," he said, walking away from Sakura.

It took Sakura a few moments to recover and realize that he got her once again. "Darn that stupid man," she said out loud, finally getting into her car. "Can't take no for an answer, can he? I said no to the kissing, didn't I? But no, he has to go and screw up my mind anyway." She started her car and drove away from the restaurant. "Who cares if he's a super kisser? HE STILL WON'T STOP AND IT'S MESSING UP MY FREAKING HEAD!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Yay! Not a cliffhanger! I'M SOOOOO SORRY EVERYONE!!! I know I haven't updated in a month or two, but I just haven't been in a writing mood! I've got SUPER news, though! But first I need a question answered:

What do you desire?

A.) Eight chapter plus a short epilogue

B.) Just end it at eight

C.) Don't give a rut-warn-toot!

There you go! I need to know. The Epilogue, if people want it, will only be around five, probably less, pages but it will be fluffy! I've got two MAJOR PACKED two chapter planned with or without the epilogue. Including a huge surprise, Kristen's B-day, THREE surprise guesses and S+S fluffiness! ^_^

Here are the shout-outs!

Anime-Lover41 ~ ^o^ I know I'm evil, but look! Not another cliffy! ^^

Reigh Evenstar ~ SORRY!!! I know you wanted me to update within a month and I let you down!!!! But I don't think the chapter wouldn't have been all that good if I wasn't in the mood to continue! I promise though! The next two chapters will be GREAT! ^_^

TreeLeaf ~ heheh! ^_^ You liked the thought of Yelan playing matchmaker too? I thought it was cute! Here's a hint on what's to come: the two most famous S+S matchmakers make their appearance in the next chapter along with a not so wanted surprise appearance from someone! O.O

Daisy-chan1 ~ I was really going to put Kristen catching S+S making out, but…I decided against it. More matchmaker moments to come! ^_~

Suga^-^Pink ~ I'M SOOO SORRY!!! I was going to put Tomoyo and Eriol in the story a LOT earlier, but it went against my plans. Read the endnotes, though! ^_~ No more hints!

ScarleT RoSe5 ~ Sorry, but the story is about to end! T_T Otherwise I would have been more than happy to put you in the group! How bout next story? ^_^ Glad you enjoyed the last chapter! ^_^

Final Fantasy Princess ~ Really? You think this story is one my best ones? ^_^ I'm happy to hear it! ^_^ Glad you liked it so much! You cried at the end of 5th book of HP, too? ^o^ YAY! I'm not the only one!!!! You-know-who was my favorite character too! T_T (Not Voldie. I didn't want to ruin it for anyone!) I used to not care about H/H or R/H either. I was in the middle, but I don't know…R/H…it just doesn't hit my Hopeless Romantic vibe! ^^; I don't know. Though I love H/H…I doubt they are going to get together. *sigh* Oh well. You not get some couples you want and you get some, I guess. This is random, but…I WANNA GO TO FRANCE TOO!! ^^; I can speak it…sort of! Rookie here!

Meow the chibi neko ~ ^o^ The last line seemed to be a lot of people's favorites!! ^_^ I usually laugh at stories too, but…^^; it's usually 2 am and my parents are asleep right above me. ^^; Oopsies!

Shattered Midnight Dreams ~ Neat pin name! I like it! ^_^ Anyway, you think Ron/Luna is kind of weird too, ne? I'm not sure what to think of it! @_@

Magicalfoci ~ Wow! You don't get that emotional that easily? LUCKY DUCK!! T_T I am WAY to emotional and I can't hold it in worth a darn! *sigh* Yeah, you are right…S+S shouldn't have made out after the funeral, but oh well. @_@ I was having a major brain blockage! Sorry!

Sakura68 ~ I'm glad you are really enjoying this! I usually also go into a frenzy where I add so many stories to my favorite list and I have only a couple that stick in my mind!

Vnrose04 ~ Yay! I fellow H/H fan!!! ^o^ Here I thought I was the only one there for a while! @_@ Anyway, glad you are liking the story!

Chibi Akuma ~ Don't feel bad for being emotional! Some of the other reviewers said that they cried at the end of the book too! ^^; I was pretty much bawling! ^^;

ChErRi)*(DrEaMeR ~ Don't ask how they got the idea of Ron and Luna! @_@ Probably from that one scene when Luna was laughing hard. I don't know! @_@ Who knows? Maybe they will get together? JKR has surprised us more than once, ne? Yay!!!! ^_^ Another H/H fan!!! ^o^

Sally ~ ^_^ Yay!! Another H/H fan!!!!! ^^

Ac4cherryz ~ Fluffy and romantic are the best combo, ne! ^_~ To me…I wouldn't have it any other way!

AnimeObsessionFantasy ~ ^o^ It wouldn't be a CB fic without S+S getting together!!! ^_^ Rest assured that everyone will live happily ever after!

Skylover ~ Sorry! @_@ I think I didn't do what you asked about slowing down the plot! NEXT CHAPTER!!! I will try!

Mira-san ~ MIRA!!!!!!!!!! LOL!!!! ^_^ Glad you liked that part where she said that he was a good kisser out loud! ^o^ ^_~ Hopefully this chapter was full of fluffiness for you!

Mini Sweety ~ I know!! Syaoran isn't helping much, is he? If I was Sakura…I would just latch onto him! ^o^ Syaoran is trying to get close, and of course he'll succeed! Hopefully, the next two chapters will be fluffy city! ^_^ Also, about the lines, I know they are big, but I swear that originally, I only have one line between each!! T_T When I post it…it changes to like double double space! @_@ I'm sorry, but I don't know how to change it!! I would if I could!!! I'm really sorry!

There! @_@ Lots of shout-outs! I'm so happy right now!!!! InuYasha comes back to Adult Swim at midnight and it's 9:30 pm right now!! Any other InuYasha fans out there? I just got off of e-bay episodes 1-119 and the two movies!!! ^_^ I'm in InuYasha heaven!!!! ^o^ Anyway, I hope you guys liked the chapter!!! ^_^ Be prepared to enter Fluffy City next time!!!

Ja ne!

Cutie Blossom aka CB-chan