Agent08 Reporting for Duty!

Disclaimer: I claim I do not own anything but the plot. However, some lines I use in this story have also been used in CCS, the TV show. Still, I claim I don't own a thing. Merci beaucoup :)

Now…on with the story!

Things I Never Expected to Happen

For starters, my name is Li Syaoran. I've been living for exactly sixteen years, since the thirteenth of July. And in my entire sixteen years of living, I've been writing a list of things that I would never, ever expect happen to me, as they occur. It's a pretty long list, I have to say, but I've shrunk it down to a maximum number of ten things, which I think are the most important.

They go, starting from ten. Ten, being pretty predictable, and one, being the event in my life which I never, ever in a million years would have expected to happen.

10. Being sent to live in Tomoeda, Japan to compete for the Clow Cards which my mother and the elders thought should have been mine.

9. Finding and meeting my so-called competition, Kinomoto Sakura, the most cheerful, immature, scaredy-cat girl in the entire universe.

8. Then finding out that as much as I refused to speak to her and accept her, she was still abnormally friendly and nice. Not the type of "nice" that you can see right through, but the type of "nice" that you know truly comes from the heart.

It turned out that she was just normally like that. As I continued to spend more time in school eating lunch with her, or outside of school, capturing cards with her, she was never seen without a smile, which creeped me out. I'd never met anyone like that before, as unbelievable as that sounds, seeing as how I have the most energetic and hyper sisters to ever walk the planet.

This brings me to number seven on my list of Things I Never Expected to Happen:

7. Accepting her as an actual human being and an actual friend.

And surprisingly enough, being her friend was pretty darn easy. It was on one cloudy day after school that we spent together, as we were on class chores for the day. I was trying really hard to concentrate, but Sakura, being the talkative and cheerful girl that she is, wouldn't shut her mouth. And unlike the other times we'd spent like this, I really didn't mind.

"Could you believe that outfit Tomoyo-chan made for me, Li-kun?" She asked conversationally.

"Mmmmm." I replied, scribbling something down onto my piece of paper. We'd been sitting there, together, alone, for the past half hour. I was surprised she hadn't grown tired of my un-talkativeness.

"Way too much frills, if you ask me." She said as a matter-of-factly. I nodded.

Just for a moment, we were quiet. No one said anything, and the only thing that could be heard was the scratching of my pencil against my notebook. I could feel Sakura staring at me, and I tried not to let it bother me. But it did. So dropping my pencil in defeat, I lifted my head up to stare back at her.

"Is there something on my face?" I asked, running a hand through my chocolate brown hair. Instead of answering me, she plopped her head down onto her arms which were resting atop the desk, as she continued to stare up into my eyes. I fixed a glare back at her. "What?" I asked, frustrated.

"Li-kun, do I bother you?" She asked, as if this were a question somebody asked on an everyday basis.

"What kind of question is that?" I asked, not knowing how to answer. Yes, in the beginning she bothered me, and yes, she still seemed to get on my nerves, but I was growing used to it. And I did not want to hurt her feelings. So I answered her question with a question.

"Do I, Li-kun?" She asked again.

She gave me no time to think this over, so I had no other choice but to lie to her face. "No." I said. And, as weird enough as she seemed to me, she caught my bluff like she was some kind of mind reader.

"Liar." She said with an amused smile on her face. "Li-kun…if I promise to try and be less annoying, will you promise to call me Sakura from now on?" I looked at her like she was nuts. What the heck kind of request was that? I mean, really! What did she care that I refused to call her anything else but "you" or "Kinomoto"?

"Why?" I asked, letting the confusion be shown on my face.

"Because I don't like it when you call me by my last name, or anything at all." She explained. She smiled brightly at me, tilting her head to one side which gave her a kind of cuteness that drove me absolutely crazy. "And besides, all of my good friends call me Sakura. So please, please start calling me by my first name?"

What the heck was that supposed to mean then? That I was a good friend to her? But how was that even possible? We'd only known each other for only a short number of months. How could I become a good enough friend to her to call her by her first name? I guess friendship can't be told in a matter of time, can it?

Or maybe Sakura was just the type of person that you can easily get close to.

"Er…sure." I agreed awkwardly. She squealed in happiness.

"Yay!" She cheered, clapping her hands together, "No take backs! I'll try to keep my end of the promise as long as you keep yours, okay? And I also promise that I won't call you anything else besides Li-kun still, even though you're calling me by my first name now.'Cause I know how grouchy you get when people call you by your first name, and –"

"It's okay." What did I just say? I hadn't even thought about it. Was I really doing what I think I was doing? "You can call me Syaoran." I must've been out of my mind.

Sakura stared at me with wide eyes. "Really?" She asked. "But…Li-kun, I thought only your family members ever called you by your –"

"Well I just thought it was only fair since I'll be calling you by your first name from now on, okay? If you don't want to, you don't have to." I snapped, crossing my arms over my chest and turning away from her. I could sense her smiling from behind my back. Was she really that happy?

"Okay," she agreed, "Syaoran-kun."

She opened a book and began to read. I could still sense her smiling from behind it. And so, having sensed the end of our conversation, I picked up my pencil and began working on the daily notes once more. I glanced at her, from the corner of my eye, and said, "Alright." She didn't seem to hear me. "Sakura."

Moving on…

6. Allowing her to call me by my first name.

5. Losing to her, as she finally became the mistress of the Clow Cards.

And for some odd reason, that didn't seem to botherme once I got used to it. Sure, I knew that my mother and the elders would be bugged badly, but honestly? She deserved it. I could never love the cards as she loved them. She never once treated them as if they were useless to her, but instead treated them like close friends, which they now and always were.

"Syaoran-kun…" Sakura said, coming to my side. I was sitting alone, trying to accept the fact that she had just passed the final judgement with Yue. Her smile was brighter than I'd ever seen it before, almost brighter than that of the full moon which had been present that night, the only thing illuminating our surroundings.

"Congratulations." I said, truly meaning it.

Suddenly, her smile disappeared and instead, her lips pressed together in a thin line. She was not frowning or pouting or doing anything, in fact. Her face was expressionless, and for once, so were her emerald green eyes. A soft wind rustled her auburn brown hair, causing it to go in every which way.

"You too, Syaoran-kun." She replied.

My eyebrows drew together in confusion. "Why? I'm not the one who's the new master of the cards. I failed the judgement, Sakura. I haven't accomplished anything." I said. My eyes gravitated towards the ground. I suddenly felt immensely sorry for myself. Everything I said was true, wasn't it? I really hadn't accomplished anything to be proud of.

"Syaoran-kun…" she said sympathetically, sitting down beside me. She placed her face close to mine. "That's not true."

"Sure it is." I replied, turning away from her. "There's nothing I've done."

She took my shoulders in her hands and forced me to face her. I glared at her as she stared back at me with serious eyes. "That's not true." She repeated. "Who was it that earned half of the cards that I'm now the mistress of?" Me. I knew that, but that didn't mean anything if I wasn't their master.

"Who was it that failed the final judgement?" I retorted.

"Who was it that also helped me capture these cards?"

"And yet they still went to you."

"Because you helped me!"

"Because I wasn't worthy, Sakura." I said.

Sighing, an unknown expression became clear in her eyes. I could notinterperet it was. "Congratulations, Syaoran-kun." She said again. I opened my mouth to yell at her, to tell her for the last damn time thatthere was nothing to congratulate me for. But she got there before me. "You deserve it, you really do. Just because you failed the judgement, doesn't mean that you haven't mastered anything."

"Like what?" I asked bitterly.

"Well…" Sakura pondered, "you've mastered the art of friendship, haven't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

Sakura sighed again, as if the answer to this was quite obvious. "What friends did you have before coming to Tomoeda?" she asked.

"Er, that's easy. Er…Meiling!" I blurted. I couldn't seem to think of anyone else. Was I really that much of a loner that I didn't even notice?

"Meiling-chan and other family members of yours don't count, Syaoran-kun." She giggled cutely.

"Well then…um…no one, I guess." I shrugged.

"And now that you've been here for a long while, who are your friends?"

Lots of people's faces came to mind. "Yamazaki-kun." I stated.

"And?"

"Daidouji-san." More faces popped into my head. "Mihara-san, Yanagisawa-san, Sasaki-san —"

"And?" She asked hopefully.

I realized who I was missing. "You too, Sakura."

She grinned widely. "See, Syaoran-kun? You're nicer now, much friendlier than you were when you first came here…" both she and I turned a bright shade of red as we both remembered how rude I'd been to her when I came for the cards. I practically attacked her, which I was not proud of, might I add. It was true; I could have been more gentle with her.

"And," she continued, "not to mention, you're better with your Japanese!"

That was also true. Although, Japanese was still my most hated subject. I smiled sheepishly at her. Smiling was something I did not often do. "Thanks, Sakura."

And then…

4. Being a total and complete statue as she closed the remaining space between us and kissed my cheek.

Every night after that one, I couldn't help but think of her. For a reason I did not know why, she was in my head, all the time, and everyday. Sakura this, Sakura that. Her emerald eyes seemed so visible to me inside my mind she could've been standing directly in front of me. Sometimes, I'd wish that she was. I would wish that I was always near her, for some weird reason.

3. Finding myself thinking about her every minute of every day.

I came to a stupid conclusion. The fact that I could not stop thinking about her was some sort of spell, I just knew it. Some weird side effect that came with being the mistress of the Clow Cards. In just a few short days, she'd be completely out of my head. Out of sight, out of mind, only to be thought of when completely necessary. There was no way that Sakura Kinomoto, just another girl in the universe, could get me this crazy.

It was one horrible day that finally confirmed my absolutely ignored thoughts. It started raining forty five minutes into my afternoon jog. I was, and still am, a very good long distance runner, so I'd ran a pretty long way away from my apartment with Wei. I brought no umbrella with me that day, so needless to say I was completely soaking as I made my way back to my home.

I was passing the library, about to cross the bridge that lead the way passed other various places such as the Twin Bells toy store, the grocery store, and etc. My footsteps were heavy atop the wooden planks, knotted together to create a safe crossing path for all those who happened to walk on it. I remembered, in fourth grade, when I had invited Sakura over to my apartment for the first time on this bridge.

There she was again, in my head. I continued to walk, mentally slapping myself in the face for doing exactly what I was trying to avoid. Thoughts of her. Honestly, how hard could it have been? There were about a million other things I could name that I'd rather be thinking about than Sakura Kinomoto. So why wasn't I following through with my demands? I continued the mental slapping.

I wasn't even half done scolding myself when I passed through Penguin Park. I paused, staring at my surroundings. King Penguin's tongue, which acted as a slide to all children, was slippery wet with the continuous splattering rain. The swing sets and benches were all drenched, and not to mention a softly giggling girl about my age, far off in the distance.

This young girl, whoever she was, was wearing a bright yellow raincoat with her hood on. She was jumping in all the puddles, no matter how deep they were. She fell a few times, but only ever laughed. The way she was acting reminded me all too much of Sakura, and that unnerved me so badly that my fingers twitched with yearning to smack myself in the face.

As if in slow motion, the yellow hooded figure of the young lady stopped jumping. I heard a soft sneeze and another giggle. And then, still in slow motion, the girl started spinning round and round, her arms stretched out wide. Out from her mouth came a thin pink tongue, trying hard to catch tiny rain droplets. She still hadn't noticed me, which I was thankful for.

I wanted to turn away, but I couldn't. Whoever this girl was reminded me all too much of Sakura, and for some odd reason, that made me want to keep staring. So I did.

And suddenly, the girl stopped spinning. She stopped so that she was looking directly my way. I still had time to run, or to hide behind the nearest penguin statue, but something in me told me not to. Slowly, the still closed eyes began to open, and I was met with stunning emerald green orbs. No wonder this girl reminded me of Sakura…She was Sakura!

"Syaoran-kun!" She shrieked happily, running towards me. I wondered if she was able to see the shock written all over my face. "I didn't expect to see you here!" She took off her hood, soaking her once dry auburn bangs. She shook it in the cold splattering rain, as if she were taking a shower.

"M – Me neither." I replied, stuttering for only God knows why.

Without even thinking, I reached for the back of her raincoat and pulled the hood back over the top of her head. She stared at me curiously, wondering why I had done so. I answered her by saying, "If you don't go back home right away, you'll catch a cold." I told her.

She replied with a shrug. "I don't mind."

I gave her a shrug of my own, avoiding her eyes. "I do. Come on." I tried steering her into the direction of her house. She didn't move an inch, staying solid as a rock in her spot. I sighed, adding just a little bit of force in my light pushes. "Come on, Sakura. You don't want to get sick do you?"

"I don't mind." She repeated again.

Hesitating for what seemed like a million years, I finally said, in one quick breath, "I'll walk you there, alright?"

All she did was smile, and finally agree to go home, but only if I walked her all the way there. I was happy to oblige, but I tried to stay neutral on the outside. On the inside, my heart was beating about a million times faster than it should have been. Was that really safe? I could have had a heart attack.

For the first few minutes, we walked in silence. My thin coat wasn't doing much to keep me warm, and I too was already at risk for a cold. But I didn't mind. I wanted to make sure that Sakura got home safely, and…I also felt like being at her side. If you asked me why at that precise moment, I wouldn't know how to answer. But later on, I would.

"I'm sorry, Syaoran-kun. I'm being selfish." Sakura said after a while. I turned to her, confused.

"How?" I asked.

"I made it rain so I could enjoy it. But now you might get reallysick. I should just stop it." She said, bringing her hand inside her shirt, feeling around for something. She smiled, bringing out the tiny pink key which was the miniature version of her magical staff. Just as she was about to mutter the incantation, I interrupted her, having a few questions in mind.

"You made it rain?" I asked, "With the Water Card?"

"Well, yes." She answered, "I only meant for it to be a light drizzle…but then I got a little carried away."

"It's okay." I said, as we both continued to walk. This was half a lie, as I was getting fairly cold, but I really didn't mind. Just as long as she was still enjoying the rain though, right?

"Okay?" She asked.

"Yes. If it really means that much to you…" What was I saying? "I can stand the rain just a little while longer." Shutup, shutup, SHUTUP!

She giggled, causing the blood to rush to my cheeks. I did that a lot, I noticed, whenever she did something cute, like giggle. "Thanks, Syaoran-kun, but I really should stop the rain." She closed her eyes, ready to get in that calm state of hers that she always got into, when transforming the key into a staff.

Another unexpected thing happened, but not unexpected enough for me to put on my list. My arm, having a mind of its own, reached out and took her hand in mine, setting it back down to her side. My eyes, refusing to listen to the angry objections of my brain, stared deep into her own.

"No," I said gently. What was with my voice? "Really, it's okay."

Still staring at me, Sakura smiled awkwardly. "But I want to," she insisted, "I don't want you to get sick. And neither do I. So if you just…um, stop holding my hand…"

As if her hand was on fire, I automatically pulled my fingers back, rolling them into a fist. Oh, how they ached to punch myself in the face. I watched as she went digging around for the key again, transformed it, and asked for the Water Card to stop the rain. When the blue, liquid form of a beautiful young woman resembling a nymphhad done its job, she and I were left alone once more. The sound of the pounding rain was no longer around us; instead, silence filled our ears.

Bringing her hands together awkwardly, she began walking again. I followed suit, making sure that my own hands were no where near hers. She was the first to break our unwanted silence. "You know, you really are very kind, Syaoran-kun." She stated, her eyes on the ground. My cheeks, for the second time that day, went against my wishes and turned red.

"W – What makes you say that?" I stuttered.

"Well…" she began, searching for the words, "you're always looking out for my well being…and not just mine, but everybody else's, too. And I really thank you for it, Syaoran-kun." She was smiling at me now, blinding me with her beautiful white teeth. I looked away.

"It's nothing." I replied with a shrug.

She giggled again. Again! How many times did she do that in one day? "You're always saying that. You always say 'It's nothing,' when really, it's not. Do you see what I mean, Syaoran-kun? You really are a kind person."

We arrived at the front gate of her house. As she undid the latch, I began thinking of what I could say to her next. "Um…" I said, still not knowing how to reply. "err…"

"I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable…" Sakura apologized, sounding sincere.

"No, no!" I insisted, "I mean, um…I didn't mind. I…thanks a lot, I mean, for what you said. Not everybody says that type of thing to me. And you should know that you too, are a really…really…" The word was in my head, it really was! But it disappeared, leaving me at a total blank. "Really…"

"Um, yes…?" She asked.

I searched in my mind for the words that refused to come from my mouth. When I failed to come up with anything clever to say, I began to search Sakura's emerald eyes instead of my mind.I know, it wasn't the brightest idea, but I just couldn't help it! They were just…there, you know? Big, and round, and beautiful…waiting to be stared into.

"Amazing…" I whispered. WHAT?

"Um…I'm…amazing?" The way her nose wrinkled up in curiousity made me want to just grab her and…and…

"Yeah, you really are." I said, "You're kind too, and…" Why was it that her face seemed to be getting closer and closer to mine every second? Surely I couldn't have been moving towards it…or maybe she was moving towards mine? Whichever one it was, I could tell that a certain part of our faces were about to make contact in a way neither she nor I had ever done before.

"What are you doing?" Came a booming voice from the inside of Sakura's house, beyond the gates which she had already opened. Both our faces immediatelypulled apart and stared at the tall and sturdy figure of Touya Kinomoto, also known as the most over protective person on the planet. "Are you bothering my sister again?"

My soft gaze turned into a glare. "Onii-chan, stop it!" Sakura ordered, pushing through the gate. "He wasn't doing anything."

"I'm so sure he wasn't." He said sarcastically, taking a step forwards. He began yelling his normal threats at me again. Sakura groaned, pushing him inside the house. "…and if I see you get close to her like that ever again…" his words melted into the air, and so did everything else, as Sakura and I shared this one lasting moment together, before she disappeared inside the house.

Raising a single arm in goodbye, she smiled at me, opening her eyes wider than before. At doing this, I got a good look into her eyes once again, better than last time. There was something inside of them – not just the beautiful green colour which filled them to the point of perfection, and nor was it the sudden twinkle which glimmered inside of them for just the briefest of moments.

That something, whatever it was, finally got me to my senses. Number two on my list of Things I Never Expected:

2. Realizing that I'd fallen fast and hard for Sakura Kinomoto.

There wasn't a single day after this particular one that I did not scold myself for falling in love with her. I mean, why her? Why did I have to fall in love with Sakura Kinomoto, the girl that I used to be enemies with? Why did I have to fall in love with the girl that was so oblivious to my feelings? Why, oh why did she have to be such a caring and beautiful person that it made it impossible for meto fall out of love with her?

And most importantly, why did I have to fall in love with a girl I already knew loved another guy?

It was the day of the Seijou High festival. Her heartthrob, the man that she was positively in love with, Yukito Tsukishiro and her brother, Touya, were showing us around campus. Us, being Tomoyo, Sakura and I. Sakura and Tsukishiro-san had disappeared inside the stars exhibit for a few minutes, and thesecond thatthey came out, I'd noticed thatshe had been acting strangely.

When I say "strangely," I mean that she'd been avoiding his gaze every time he looked over to her. Tomoyo and I could easily see through her fake cheerfulness, and not to mention, she wasn't speaking much. Had something happened? Something must have. So when we dropped Tomoyo back at her home, and we were left alone, I decided to walk her to her house.

"Thanks, Syaoran-kun." She thanked, but avoided my eye.

We started walking, but then she stopped. Slowly, she raised her head and asked, "Would you mind if we stopped by the park, Syaoran-kun?"

"Not at all." I answered. And so, we changed direction and in just a few minutes arrived at Penguin Park. I lead the way to the swing set and took a seat. Neither she nor I had spoken since I agreed to come there. The only thing that could be heard was the rusty squeak of the swing as she swung lightly, back and forth.

Just when I'd gotten the courage to ask her what was the matter, she began first.

"I told Yukito-san that I loved him today…" she said.

It was like somebody had taken my heart and squeezed it tightly. I couldn't seem to breathe. But I managed an, "Oh?"

She nodded. "But…" but what? "Yukito-san told me that he wasn't my number one. That it was somebody else." I did not speak, not knowing how to answer to that. "He told me to think of my father, and compare my feelings for them. And so…I thought about it, like he said, and I really did find my feelings for them similar."

"Is that so…" I mumbled.

"And…" she continued, "it turns out that the person that he loves is somebody I really like, too." She paused, to sniffle. Out of courtesy, I pretended to not notice that she was crying. "Once, Tomoyo-chan told me that the greatest happiness is seeing the person you love be happy. And so…I really am happy for Yukito-san, to know that he's found someone he loves…"

I noticed that her grip on the metal chain grew tighter. "I understand what Yukito-san was trying to tell me!" She exclaimed.Her voice cracked, her shoulders beginning to quake as the tears began to fall from her eyes, "I really do, Syaoran-kun! But why? Why do these tears come out? I don't…"

I winced, not able to stand her crying. But I didn't know what else to do.

"I don't want to cry. Especially not in front of Yukito-san, because I know he'd be troubled…"

The sight of a single tear falling from her delicate face made me snap. Abruptly, I stood from my swing. "I know." I said, staring down at her with a sympathetic smile. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at me with a questioning look in her eyes. I held out my blue handkerchief for her. "I understand."

A slow smile appeared on her face. Standing up, she took the handkerchief from me. The contact our hands made, surprisingly enough, did not make me blush. I watched as she dried her cheeks, wiping at them carefully. Having finished, she let her arms fall to her side. She took two steps towards me and let her head rest on my shoulder. Her hands rest lightly at my waist.

Smiling gently, I lifted my own hands to place them on her shoulders.

She sniffled. "Yukito-san told me that one day I'd find the person that meant the most to me."

Rubbing at her shoulders gently, I replied, "It'd be nice if you did…"

And you know what would be nicer? If that person ended up being me…but I knew, in that moment, as I held her lightly, that she would only ever think of me as a friend. The friend that comforted her whenever she was in need, the guy friend that would always protect her no matter what. The friend that was madly in love with her, but would never be able to have those feelings returned.

My thoughts on that day would be the very things that would cause my shock, the day I finally told her I loved her.

Okay, so, things started out simply enough, right? It was just days before our summer break, and I had just come back from the grocery store. In my hands were several white plastic bags, each one containing food ingredients that I'd be using to cook the dinner for that night. As I made my way onto that same bridge above the lake, I noticed a young girl standing on it, looking out over the water.

Who was that girl? Of course, it just had to be Sakura Kinomoto.

"S – Sakura?" I muttered.

Turning to face me, I noticed that she was not very happy. She smiled, all the same, and dropped the brown picnic that she was holding. I walked towards her, also setting down my grocery bags. "Hi, Syaoran-kun. What are you up to?" She asked. I pointed to the bags.

"Just finished grocery shopping. What's with the picnic basket?"

"Oh," she said, her smile brightening. "I just came back from Eriol-kun's house."

My hands rolled into tight fists. Eriol Hiirigazawa? Just some background info, he too, was an exchange student, but from England. He came a couple of months ago, and started getting really close to Sakura. Obviously, I didn't like it. Every time he did something for her, the green monster of jealousy seemed to take over. The only one who ever seemed to notice this was Tomoyo.

"You remember he's leaving tomorrow, right?" She asked me sadly.

"Yes." I answered, not so sad. In fact, I was jubilant. He'd finally be leaving. Leaving Tomoeda, and Sakura.

"He invited me over for tea today, so I thought I'd bring some snacks." He invited her over? What the hell? Honestly. How obvious could his crush on her be? At least I tried to keep quiet about mine. Tomoyo was the only other person who knew, but she only found out because she's like, a psychic. At least, that's what I think. What Tomoyo thinks is that he doesn't love her the way I think he does. But I know better.

"That's…nice." I replied.

"Yeah. He and I were having such a great time."

I don't care! I wanted to scream. I didn't want to hear her go on and on about him, like she normally did. Just because he was good at everything he did, Sakura was always so amazed by it and never ceased to compliment him. I always just had to watch on the sidelines as the girl of my dreams fell for another guy. I mean, I just had to face it. She didn't love me, did she? She loved Hiirigazawa.

She sighed before she continued. "I feel horrible." She frowned, her eyes growing sad. "We were having such a good time that I'd forgotten to tell him that I lo –"

"Sakura, please, don't." I interrupted. I couldn't bare it anymore. I knew that she loved him! I knew it. I just didn't want to hear it come from her mouth. I was already in such an angry mood because of Hiirigazawa! The last thing I wanted to happen was have my heart ripped from my chest.

Her mouth was left hanging open, as all my thoughts came pouring from my mouth, "I don't want to hear you say that you love him, alright? I don't ever want to hear it." She stared at me, her jaw still slightly open, not able to finish the sentence that I refused to hear. "So please, just…don't."

I saw her tongue move to the roof of her mouth, about to say something. But I would not let her get a word in. "No, Sakura, don't!" I demanded, "Don't say another damn word about your precious Eriol-kun, I'm begging you. It's already hard enough, seeing you two together, knowing that you were just at his house a few minutes ago." I sighed, frustrated, "Don't you realize how much it's killing me?"

Sakura remained silent, so I took that as the permission to keep speaking. "Sakura, you're blind." Her eyes widened just a little. "You don't even notice that huge crush he has on you. You don't even see that he loves you, too, Sakura! Everyone can see it, including me. But to actually hear you say that you're in love with him would destroy me. So, I'm begging you Sakura, just keep your mouth shut."

Silence…

"…lost the goodbye card I made for him…" she whispered, her eyes staring at something that seemed far, far away.

"W – w – What?" I asked.

"I…I was just going to say that I…lost…the goodbye card that I made for him…" Oh. Shit. "Syaoran-kun…" she breathed, staring at me hard. "Why…why does it kill you?"

Son of a motherfu–"W – w – What?" I spluttered once more, trying to give me some time to come up with a valid excuse.

"Why does it kill you…to always see me with Eriol-kun?"

I felt the heat increase in my face. Laughing nervously, I turned away, absolutely refusing to look at her. I started scratching my neck, throwing out the first excuse that came to my head. "Oh, no, I didn't mean…kill me kind of kill me, you know?" Lie. "Actually, I don't even know what I was saying. It was just a whole bunch of gibberish, actually…" Lies! "I didn't know what I was talking —"

"Syaoran-kun, the truth…please." She said quietly.

I paused for what seemed like a decade. Neither of us spoke. What would I say? I wasn't ready to tell her yet…but I couldn't stand lying to her through my teeth – to Sakura – the girl that I was in love with. I mean, what was I supposed to say? "No, Sakura, I don't love you,"? No! That would be the biggest lie to ever be told in the entire planet! And it's not like I could actually bring myself to say it.

"You want the truth, Sakura?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I do."

I sighed, preparing myself for the biggest speech I'd ever make in my entire life. "Every waking moment that you're with Hiirigazawa makes me want to hurl something at him. I hate it with a passion. And the reason why? It's because I'm jealous, okay? I'm out of my mind, insanely, uncontrollably jealous of him." I paused to growl angrily. "It's that stupid crush he has on you, Sakura."

"Syaoran-kun…" she began, "Eriol-kun and I are only friends."

I didn't let my happiness keep me from my "speech." "Yeah, well, still, Sakura! I hate it whenever you're with him, smiling with him, laughing with him, hanging out with him, because that's everything you used to do with me. It's like, ever since he's come here, he's totally replaced me!"

"That's not true, Syaoran-kun!" She exclaimed, shock written all over her face. "No one, no one could replace you, Syaoran-kun! You're one of my best friends…"

Frustrated, I ran a hand through my hair. "You see, Sakura? Besides having to see you with Hiirigazawa…that kills me the most."

"What does?" She asked.

"Being you're friend…" I whispered. "because…because I know that that's all I'll ever be to you."

She stared at me confused. "I don't understand..."

Taking in fistfuls of my shirt, I mumbled just so that my confession was just barely above audible, "I'm…well, uh, I'm kind of…sort of…in love with you."

"In…love…with…me?" She breathed.

"Yeah. I am." I answered.

This is where Most Unexpected Event, numero uno comes into play. That exact moment in my life which I never thought, in a trillion, million, zillion years would ever happen:

"That's…"

"Unexpected?" I interrupted, "Yeah, I know."

I shifted my weight from foot to foot, not knowing what else to do. The red was back in my cheeks, causing me to break out into a nervous sweat. I stared at Sakura's fidgeting figure, her eyes flicking from side to side. I sighed. I really had made her quite uncomfortable, hadn't I? What was she thinking? She didn't have to answer me at that exact moment; it wouldn't be fair to her…

"I should go…" I mumbled, picking up my grocery bags. "I'll…see you around."

Just as I was about to walk passed her, she reached out to me. "Wait…please."

I smiled at her, hoping to reassure her, "It's okay. You don't have to say anything. I just thought that you should know —"

"Iloveyoutoo." She said quickly. I almost didn't hear her.

"What?" I said.

She smiled awkwardly at me. "I'm…well, uh, I'm kind of…sort of…in love with you, too."

"You…are?" I asked incredulously. "That's…that's not possible." I said, choosing not to believe my ears, instead thinking that they were playing tricks on me. "You can't possibly be in love with me. I mean….falling in love with you, that's understandable…I mean, what with your beautiful eyes and pretty smile and…"

She smiled shyly. Oh shoot. I was starting to rant. "But – but that's not the point! Sakura, you don't have to lie to me to make me feel better about my –"

"You don't believe me?" She asked.

I was not given any time to reply to this. In just a matter of a few seconds, Sakura closed the remaining space between us and gave me my first kiss, as I gave her hers. The shopping bags fell from my hands, my arms automatically sliding themselves around her waist, as her own hands rested themselves against my broad shoulders.

Now that was pretty unexpected.

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THE END

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Signing Off,
Agent08 – My life as a secrent agent xD