Chapter 11: Back in Japan

oh, it almost finished me, what with all my homework
my math teacher gave me this week {sob sob} but I
got the chapter done! oh yeah, this is all S+S fluff.

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I DONT OWN CARDCAPTORS
I DONT OWN THE CHARACTERS OF CARDCAPTORS
I DONT OWN THE STUFF IN CARDCAPTORS
HECK, I DONT EVEN OWN ANY PART OF CARDCAPTORS
DONT SUE ME, CLAMP OWNS CARDCAPTORS, I HAVE NO MONEY
we-ell, all the stuff I make up are mine, of course

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Eighteen year-old Syaoran Li arrived back at the apartment. He carried
his backpack, and his serious amber eyes were shining with excitement.
His small suitcase was set down beside him. 'Don't worry, Mom, I'll BUY
clothes in Japan!' Syaoran had told his mom.' "I'm finally back. I'm
finally back with my cherry blossom." he said quietly aloud. He walked
into his old apartment. "Hello, Syaoran Li, we have been waiting for
you," a nice, older woman said. "Hello, Mrs. Takhasi," Syaoran said,
bowing his head slightly. "Now, we had your old apartment held for you.
However, there has been a change of plans. This arrived just an hour ago.
It was express," the older woman said, handing an envelope to Syaoran.
Syaoran curiously opened it.

Dearest brother,
We have decided to get you a dorm at the local college. You have never
been sociable, and you need to live it up. Mrs. Takhasi was so nice to
agree over the phone to have her daughter put you in a dorm. All expenses
are paid, you are to pick the extracurriculars yourself. Among them are
soccer, and sword-fighting, which Mei knows you'll enjoy. She is dancing
around the room in happiness right now. Mother has agreed to give you
some money to start it easy, you know, to buy clothes. If you need more,
just write us, we have a bank account saved up just for you! Mother has
been planning it for years. Enjoy yourself in college, don't do anything
you'll regret, and remember to find your dearest cherry blossom and say
hello to her for us!
Your loving sisters,
Mei Li
Mei-Lee Li
Mei-Fa Li
Mei-La Li

Syaoran looked up from the letter. "Okay, so where is the college?" he
asked. "It's Tomoeda College, and I'll have a taxi take you there," she
said. "But, I don't... you don't have... you see," Syaoran started to
protest. Mrs. Takhasi waved him off. "The taxi's already here and paid
for by your mother and sisters. Go, it's not far, Syaoran. Goodbye!" she
called cheerfully as she pushed him into the taxi. It zoomed away towards
Tomoeda college.
Inside, he waved to the taxi driver and went to the reception desk,
where a teenager about his age was typing away, her glasses on top of the
computer. "Hello, are you Ami Takhasi?" Syaoran inquired. Ami looked up.
"Oh, I was expecting you, Syaoran! Welcome back to Japan. I'll take you
to your dorm. This one, the Waterfall Dorm, is for boys and girls who
take sports, whether it's soccer or baseball or cheerleading or
gymnastics. The dorms are all named after things in nature, such as the
Snow dorm for the girls who take music, guests and permanent students,
and the Oak Dorm, for guest and student boys who take music. There are
many more, to make traveling around campus to classes easier for them.
Guests and visitors come often for competitions and shows, so we bunk
them with their fellow visitors in the same building as the students so
they socialize better," Ami said clearly, leading him towards the biggest
dorm around the quad. The quad had tall, bushy oak trees that provided a
lot of shade and some flowers around it. Two-foot brick walls surrounded
the single trees in a circle. It would be a nice place to relax, winter
or summer, because there were comfortable looking benches right next to
the tree.
"Why is the Waterfall Dorm the biggest?" Syaoran asked. "A lot of
students take sports, and like I told you, boys AND girls live here.
Besides, it's better if teammates are in the same building, it's easier
to get to know each other that way because you can't leave your dorm at
night. Safety policy," Ami said, and Syaoran nodded. "What if the
students take sports AND music?" Syaoran asked. "Not to be a bother to
you or anything," Syaoran quickly added. "Not a problem! I'm here to
answer your questions. If they play a lot of extracurriculars, then they
get to choose. After all, if the kid had all their classes with their
musical friends, they obviously shouldn't bunk with them because then
they would have almost no time except for practices and games to get to
know the sports team. But it is usually their choice, we try to mix the
classes around," Ami explained. Syaoran nodded, and they stepped inside
the air-conditioned building. "Classes started a month ago, so you're a
bit late, but I'm sure you can catch up. The registration desk is right
over there, you sign up for all extracurriculars there, as well as
receiving your schedule and dorm number. If you ever have any questions,
remember you can always come to my office, or better yet, talk to the
other students here! Ja!" Ami cheerfully waved, and went back towards her
office.
Syaoran stepped up to the registration desk. "Hello-o," the girl there
said. She fluttered her eyelashes casually, and twirled her hair around
her finger. "My name is Syaoran Li, I just moved here from Hong Kong. I
believe my family has registered me in the school already, so all I need
to do is get my schedule and sign up for extras," Syaoran bluntly said,
his voice cold. The girl looked at him, eyes half-closed, gazing at him
piercingly. Syaoran could tell that this girl was going to hit on him.
'Well, the only girl I want is Sakura,' Syaoran thought in defiance. The
registration girl printed out the information, and she typed in and
signed Syaoran up for three extracurriculars: soccer, basketball, and
sword-fighting (fencing, we'll call it from now on). "Remember, you can
always quit if you absolutely have to, Li-san, you know, if you need time
to, like, go out," the girl said, standing up slowly. She was in a VERY
short skirt. Syaoran, deliberately not noticing, turned around and headed
for his dorm, suitcase in tow. "Sorry, miss, but I am not interested,"
Syaoran said, and walked towards his dorm. The girl scowled and sat down,
obviously understanding the clear message.
A week later, Syaoran had become the star of the basketball, soccer, and
fencing teams. His skill attracted a lot of girls, but Syaoran just
couldn't seem to find Sakura. His practices never conflicted, for Ami and
her assistants knew that some people signed up for a lot of sports, so
each sport was on a different day of each week. But he still couldn't
find Sakura, something that bothered him an awful lot. Of course, his
roommate, Justin Kimayato, was a lot of help, pointing out the fields and
buildings and classrooms. Justin was in five of his classes, but not in
his math class, because after a day Syaoran had been transferred to the
advanced math. Syaoran was all settled in, comfortable with his roommate,
who had a good taste in colors (greens of all shades) and who was also on
the basketball team. 'Now, everything's fine... except for all those
girls hanging around me... and I still have to find Sakura. Too bad I'm
to proud to ask Justin about THIS. He'll tease me until I stop the sun
from coming up,' Syaoran thought grimly.

The next day, Syaoran sat, bored, in math class, his last class of the
day. His teacher was someone named Ms. Fuyato. The bell rang. "You are
all dismissed. Syaoran, please come see me after your soccer practice
today," she said pleasantly, and left. Everyone walked out, and Syaoran
met up with Justin in the hallway. "You have soccer practice today,
right?" he asked Syaoran. Syaoran nodded. "Wanna shoot some hoops
afterwards?" he asked. "Sorry, Ms. Fuyato asked to see me after practice.
See you later, Justin," Syaoran waved, and jogged through the hallways to
the boys locker room.
Right when he stepped onto the field, a whole flock of girls ran up to
him, surrounding him. Syaoran gritted his teeth, walking stiffly through
him. The coach clapped his hands, and surprise (this guy had to quit
elementary school teaching to do this) Mr. Terada was the coach. "Hello
Mr. Terada," Syaoran said, and ran over to his friends, who were
stretching. "Alright, class, today we'll work on only one side of the
field because the cheerleaders need the other side. If I see that your
attention strays, you'll have to run extra laps! This scrimmage will
focus on foot technique and strategy! Okay, start the game in teams A and
B!" he called to them. They began a rough scrimmage, and as Mr. Terada
said, the small field forced them to focus on their footwork and
strategy. "Alright, guys, subs in!" Mr. Terada yelled, and the subs went
in for some players. Syaoran got to rest after he had run back and forth
the small field, scoring several goals. "Good job, Syaoran" "Nice pass!"
"We ruled!" Syaoran's teammates told him, slapping him on the back. They
all watched the cheerleaders doing one of their routines.
Syaoran's teammates pointed out most of the girls for him, since he was
relatively new. "See that girl to the right? Her name is Julianna. She's
good at twists and footwork. And her, to the front, that's Sally, she's
okay at everything, but there aren't any weak points or strong points
except she's bad at being the jumper, but she's excellent at throwing.
And there, in the back center, is Miyako. She's the best at, well, I
think footwork too." Slowly, they pointed out everyone on the team.
Syaoran watched all of them start a new routine. "That's their newest
routine, it's a combination of all kinds of music, and it looks awesome,"
one of Syaoran's teammates said. Syaoran kept watching. "Who's that girl
who just went through that crazy combination of footwork and then flipped
into the air?" Syaoran asked, pointing to a pretty girl with
shoulder-length brown hair. All the guys sighed. "That's Sakura Kinomoto
(okay, i DID change it back to Japanese, sorta...) . She's the best at
EVERYTHING. Everyone likes her, and everyone is friends with her, but
she's still single. She's in the cheerleading and gymnastics team, along
with flute. She started in the first year of high school, and found she
was really good at it, and she plays the most romantic songs on it.
Sakura always wears this bracelet, it has these tiny golden stars inside
pink circles with even tinier white wings outside of those on a silver
chain," a guy on the other team, and one of Syaoran's best friends,
Jonathan Mindelan, said. He was born in England, but had moved to Japan
when he was four to go to school (sounds a bit like Corey, huh?). "She is
really amazing," Jon continued, "because she learns things in a snap and
is so friendly with everyone. That's her best friend, over there in the
bleachers, Tomoyo Daidoji (okay, okay, so I changed it back to Japanese.
it can't be THAT bad). Tomoyo is in the choir, she has this great singing
voice. She always video records Sakura. Her boyfriend is Eriol Hirogaziwa
(is dat how u spell it??)."
Syaoran stared at Tomoyo. She looked a lot the same, with her video
camera in hand, smiling at Sakura. He stood up and ran over to the coach
and talked to him for a moment. Mr. Terada glanced over at Tomoyo and
smiled, nodding. Syaoran laughed and ran back to the bench. "What did you
ask him?" Jon asked. "If I can skip about 30 seconds of the game. I need
to talk to - to an old friend," Syaoran finally said. He ran over to
Tomoyo even thought there was only about thirty seconds until he had to
be back on the field. "Tomoyo!! Tomoyo!!" Syaoran shouted, waving. Tomoyo
almost dropped her camera, and looked at Syaoran, recognition coming in.
"Syaoran! Hey, you're back!" she cried, jumping down from the bleachers.
She smiled, turning her camera on and leaving it on the bleachers. "It's
great to BE back. I miss ol' Tomoeda. Besides, I promised Sakura. Listen,
I'll see you around, but don't tell Sakura I'm back yet. I want to tell
her myself," Syaoran hurriedly said, and suddenly Mr. Terada blew the
whistle, signaling the time to for Syaoran to play. Syaoran glanced back,
then patted Tomoyo's shoulder. Tomoyo's grinned. "Okay. Just don't take
too long, I'm her roommate. I wouldn't be able to keep this quiet for
her," she said, giggling. Syaoran waved and sprinted toward the field.
Madison watched after him, and then picked up the video camera and
started recording Sakura again.
To his dismay, when soccer practice ended, the cheerleaders were all
gone. 'Oh well, I have to meet with Ms. Fuyato anyway,' Syaoran thought,
disappointed. He quickly dressed into his regular clothes and put on his
shades. He walked through the hallways and upstairs through the classroom
building. All the classes were indoors. "Hello Ms. Fuyato," he said,
walking in. "Shades, Mr. Li," she reminded him. "OH, right. I forgot
again," he said sheepishly and took them off. "Would you like to tutor
someone in math? I have a list of people here, and I have gotten older
students or students in the advanced class to tutor them for free. They
get community service hours for doing this, one hour a day," she said.
"Alright," Syaoran agreed. "Okay then, come back here Monday. You have
fencing practice, but only for half an hour, so come after that." "Sure
thing, Ms. Fuyato." Syaoran said, and went back to his room.

Later that night, Syaoran sat down outside the Waterfall Dorm on a
bench. Inside, since it was Friday, the guys and girls were having
parties and stuff. He didn't feel like having fun. 'Not tonight, anyway,'
Syaoran thought gloomily in the light of the moon. Suddenly, the door to
the dorm opened, and a pretty girl in a backless light-pink dress came
out. Her hair was shoulder length, but it was too dark to see anything.
The door opened again, and a guy came out. "Oh, come on, Sakura," he
drawled. "Admit it, you're in love with me, and you definitely belong
with me," the guy said, walking up to her. The girl, Sakura, drew away.
"No, I do NOT love you. I belong with someone else," she said sharply.
"Is it that Li kid that went back to Hong Kong eight years ago?" the guy
snorted. "He's probably already into someone else. He's probably
forgotten you, beautiful," the guy taunted. Syaoran's hands clenched into
fists.

Sakura rushed out of the dorm, leaving Tom behind. Obviously, he liked
her but he definitely wasn't subtle about it. 'I'm waiting for Syaoran,
forever,' Sakura thought, straightening her light pink dress. "I'm not in
love with you," she said sharply at him once she was outside. "Right.
He's never coming back," he taunted her. "Syaoran would never break his
promise, Tom," Sakura replied, starting to walk. Tom immediately rushed
after her and grabbed her wrist. "Hey, leave me alone!!" Sakura shouted.
Tom grabbed Sakura's other wrist, and pushed her against the brick dorm.
"Admit it. You know it's true. Syaoran Li will never come back, and he
doesn't love you. I love you, and you know that you love me back," he
said, leaning closer to her. Sakura leaned back against the wall. "I
don't! I - no, let go of me!!" she said, terrified. Immediately she was
yanked forward, and Tom let go of her wrists.
"Leave her alone," said a male voice. Tom got up from the ground and
glared at the stranger. "Want to make something of it?" he said, raising
his fists. "No," the guy said. "Well then, let me get back to my
girlfriend," Tom said, starting to turn towards Sakura, who backed away.
The guy punched Tom. Sakura couldn't quite see his face, but somehow, in
a way, he seemed familiar... "Hey! You want a fight, then you've got
one!!" Tom yelled, furious. In the moonlight, Sakura could see that
football-player Tom was a much larger opponent than the stranger. But,
somehow, he tripped Tom over in seconds. Sakura gasped in surprise.
Humiliated, Tom left and stormed inside the Waterfall Dorm. Sakura turned
to the stranger. "Who are you?" she asked. The student of Tomoeda College
looked up, and his face was no longer in shadows, but bathed in
moonlight. His serious amber eyes looked at Sakura like someone from long
ago, someone very familiar.
"Why, it can't be," Sakura whispered, walking forward, reaching her hand
towards the young man's face to brush away a strand of hair. "It's true,
Sakura. I've come back to you," Syaoran said, grasping her hand firmly
and pressing his lips to hers. "It is you! It is, Syaoran! It really is
you!" Sakura yelled in delight, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I've
missed you so much, but I knew you wouldn't break our promise," Sakura
whispered, hugging Syaoran tightly. "Let's go inside and tell Tomoyo,"
Sakura said, looking up at Syaoran, who grinned. "She already knows. I
met up with her during your cheerleading practice," he said as they
walked inside the dorm. Sakura blushed, looking down. "You saw me, out
there?" she asked him as they walked down the hall. "Yeah... I'm on the
soccer team," he told her. Sakura knocked on a door. "Tomoyo? It's me,
Sakura," she shouted.
The door opened and Tomoyo looked out. "Oh, Sakura! Syaoran! I knew you
guys would get back together since Syaoran is back," she said, smiling
wickedly. "Now I can videotape you guys all I want!!" she said giddily.
"Come on in," she said, opening the door wider. Eriol was on the floor,
his and Tomoyo's stuff spread out around him. "Welcome back, Syaoran, to
this nice mess," he said. Sakura grinned happily, leading Syaoran in.
'This is definitely a dream come true,' Sakura thought, sitting down on
her bed. 'Cheerleading and gymnastics is going great, I have all these
great friends, and Syaoran is back,' she thought as Syaoran sat down next
to her. A shiver of excitement went through her as Syaoran pulled Sakura
close in a hug. 'Life is perfect,' she thought, hugging him back tightly.

sunday...

Syaoran laid back on the grass, breathing hard. Jon sat down next to
him. "That was - fun, wa- wasn't it?" he said, panting. Tetsuo tried to
sit down but he fell over onto his stomach. "Tired... about, to- uh,
water please, Coach," Tetsuo croaked out, and Mr. Terada handed out a
bottle of icey cold water to everyone. "Drink up, the game is Tuesday,
remember," he said. Syaoran relished the cool feeling rushing down his
throat. Tom hung back from all the others, practically growling. He was
still angry about Friday night.
"Syaoran! That was great!!" a nice voice called to him across the field.
Sakura ran into his arms, making him fall down. Her two-piece practice
cheerleading outfit was a cherry blossom pink, and the top was
sleeveless. Her hair was swept back in a ponytail. "Umph. I am very
tired, Sakura," Syaoran gasped, drinking some more water. "Oh, sorry,"
she said, getting up. All the other cheerleaders were just getting to the
soccer field. "Hey Sakura! Let's show these guys what we can do," Miyako
said, waving her over. "Oh, okay!" Sakura said happily, and tapped
Syaoran on the arm before running to the other girls. Madison stood at
the edge of the field, then ran over to where Syaoran was. "They've been
practicing really hard, this new routine. It looks great," Madison said,
pressing the play button on the boom box. Very upbeat music started, and
the girls went throught their routine flawlessly.
Syaoran noticed that Sakura did the most daring things, using her
knowledge of gymnastics along with a few others to really speed up the
movement in the routine and make it seem very... challenging but at the
same time, graceful. Most of the guys were sitting or standing, sipping
their water. At the end, they all clapped loudly, cheering, whooping, and
whistling. All the other girls waved, then started walking off, but
Sakura quickly walked over to Syaoran and grabbed the boom box. "Come on,
let's go to your room. I have to study," she said. Madison smiled. "I
have to go to the library, you two have fun!" she said cheerfully
skipping off in the opposite direction. Syaoran turned red, but led
Sakura to his room. Jon clapped Syaoran on the back. "Don't study TOO
much," he whispered as Syaoran passed by. If it was even possible,
Syaoran turned even more red.

monday...

Syaoran quickly flipped his sword so that Gary couldn't knock his sword
away, and caught it, dodging away from his blade. Then, quickly battling
back, he hit time after time, not allowing Gary to attack. Finally,
Syaoran swept Gary's sword out of his hand and out of his reach behind
him. Gary fell backwards, and Syaoran pointed his practice sword at his
throat. Gary gasped, tired and sweating. "I keep forgetting how damned
FAST you are," he said, accepting Syaoran's offer of helping him get up.
Syaoran put down his blade and handed Gary's to him. "Good job though.
That trick you did almost got me," Syaoran said, bowing. Sensei Myles
smiled, patting Syaoran's shoulder. "That was very good. At the fencing
match on Wednesday, if you do this well, we'll go on to the national
tournament. Congrats," he said, and everyone got up and bowed to Myles.
"Get up, have a good day," Sensei said, and he left. Everyone else left,
and Syaoran headed for Ms. Fuyako's classroom.
As he neared it, he heard speech. "But I'm certain I don't need it, Ms.
Fuyako. I'm doing fine in math," a girl protested. "You call failing
'fine'?" Ms. Fuyako asked pointedly. Syaoran stepped inside, just as the
girl, blushing, said, "But I've only been falling behind on my work, it
has nothing to do with my understanding of things," she protested. The
young girl glanced at Syaoran, then looked at the ground, cheeks pink.
Ms. Fuyako smiled warmly. "Hello Syaoran, we've been expecting you. This
is Mina, she's from China. I think she needs help with her math, judging
from her last test," Ms. Fuyako explained. Syaoran nodded, and Mina
glanced at him. Her hair was in a low bun at the nape of her neck, the
ribbons trailing from it. Her brown bangs were swept to one side, but a
few strands had escaped. To Syaoran, seeing the girl's outfit was like
seeing Hong Kong again. Mina wore silky white flares, with regular tennis
shoes. Her shirt was made of blue Chinese embroidered cotton, with a
tiger in the front. Syaoran recognized the work of his sister, Mei.
"Do you come from Hong Kong, Mina?" Syaoran asked in a kind voice. She
looked into his eyes, and nodded. "I'm the mayor's fourth niece. I came
to Japan to study in this college," she said softly. Syaoran tried to
smile, but remained serious. "That shirt... did you buy it from the Li
family?" he asked. Mina snapped her head up. "How did you know?" she
asked wondrously. Syaoran smiled cockily. "I'm Syaoran Li. I believe you
bought it from a seamstress named Mei Li," he said, shifting his books to
his other hand. "Well, yes. It is an honor to meet you. Your sisters say
you are a most awesomely skilled man with a sword," she said, blushing.
Ms. Fuyako got up. "Alright, here's your schedule. Alternating Mondays,
then Wednesdays, then Saturdays, and then Sunday, and back again.
Basically, once a week. I created this schedule around your sports
practices and games, Syaoran, so you don't have to worry about
rescheduling unless there is a change of plans. You will always be
tutoring Mina in the library, which will be empty on these days except
for other tutors. That's all you need to know, Syaoran, Mina, and
Syaoran, Sakura told me to tell you to meet her at the park," Ms. Fuyako
said, quickly gathering her things. Syaoran looked up, and thought he
could see a flash of disappointment in Mina's eyes, but he quickly darted
out the door, eager to see Sakura again.

Sakura fell onto the ground, laughing. Syaoran laced his fingers through
hers, kissing her neck. "Stop, Syaoran," she said, trying to push him
away. "Oh, you don't want me to stop, you're just saying that," Syaoran
said, kissing her lips. He held her like that for almost a minute, and
when he broke the kiss, Sakura just stared lovingly into his eyes. "I
hate it when you do that. You make me feel like I can't breath," she
gasped, short of breath. Syaoran just pulled her up, hugging her tightly.
"I don't regret coming back, because I get to be with you again," Syaoran
murmured softly in her ear. Sakura just sighed. "You and me, forever,"
she whispered.