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“Syaoran, are you alright?” Sakura asks when she and Tomoyo sat together during their lunch break. He was caught sleeping twice in the first half of the day, so Eriol volunteered to bring him to the clinic.
Eriol, together with Tomoyo and Sakura, went to the clinic as soon as their teacher dismissed their class before lunch. The nurse allowed him to go because he had enough rest and he also needed to eat his lunch. Eriol left a few minutes after he helped Syaoran walk towards the school grounds, specifically the spot the three usually eat their food in.
“I’m fine… Just haven’t slept recently.” Syaoran says, the last words spoken in a hushed tone as he looks away. Sakura heard him mumble, but was unable to comprehend the words he said, so she leaned nearer and asked curiously, “Eh–? I didn’t hear it- what did you say?” Syaoran was taken aback by Sakura’s sudden movement and immediately backs up… and loses his balance.
Sakura apologizes relentlessly while helping Syaoran sit properly. Tomoyo, on the other hand, realizes immediately what was going on— she might be the culprit of the poor boy’s restlessness.
She can clearly recall what she said to him the other day when she invited the two of them to try on the new outfits she made…
It was a rare instance to have just the two of them in the same room, so she took the opportunity to talk to him about it. She also realizes that it was the perfect timing, because she can clearly see Syaoran looking over to where Sakura is trying on the outfits.
While holding the tray with the tea, she broke the ice, “Are you thinking about Sakura, perhaps?”
Syaoran, obviously surprised by what Tomoyo has said, started defending himself, “What? That’s not–” She cuts him off, “That’s not it?” Tomoyo poses like she was thinking, “Is it really not?” Tomoyo walks over to the other side to sit directly in front of him. “So, you were thinking about Sakura, aren’t you?” The boy from the other side of the table hangs his head in defeat, “Yeah…”
Tomoyo took this opportunity to confirm her observation,
“You must really like Sakura very much.” Syaoran finally lifts his head immediately after Tomoyo finishes talking, cheeks red from uncontrollable blushing and face evident with surprise and confusion.
“Have you told her how you feel yet?”
“I…”
“Sakura is clueless when it comes to these things– she won’t know how you feel unless you tell her yourself.” Tomoyo advises. Syaoran looks to the window,
“She already likes someone else.”
“Is that why you’ve decided not to tell her?” Tomoyo asks while putting tea in her cup.
“You know, there are a lot of people who like Sakura, because she’s a wonderful person– and also very cute!” Tomoyo takes a sip as she listens to Syaoran’s response,
“I know that.” He responded dejectedly
“You know people who like Sakura, right?” Syaoran hesitates before he responds,
“Someone… like Eriol, for instance.“
“I get something different from Eriol.” Tomoyo corrects, “The way he behaves around Sakura feels like he’s watching someone very dear to him instead of looking at someone he’s in love with.” Silence fills up the room after what Tomoyo said. It took Syaoran a few minutes to respond,
“...You really do look close.” Tomoyo smiled hearing the boy's observation, “Of course! It’s about Sakura, after all!”
She then changed her expression to become more solemn.
“While some feelings are best left inside the heart… Can your feelings handle something like that?” Syaoran, who was surprised by Tomoyo's tone change, didn’t respond. Tomoyo continues,
“People won’t know your feelings if you don’t put them into words.”
Tomoyo let out a quiet giggle remembering what happened, which made the other two look at her.
“Tomoyo?” Sakura titlted her head, wanting an explanation to her friend's sudden reaction.
“It’s nothing.” She responds with a smile. Sakura then stood up, “I’ll get medicine from the nurse’s office!” She says before she started running towards the clinic, leaving Tomoyo and Syaoran behind.
Tomoyo took this opportunity to confirm her suspicions with Syaoran, “Were you unable to sleep because of what I said?” The boy avoided her gaze as he nodded in response.
“My!” She exclaims, putting her left hand on her left cheek. A few minutes of silence envelops them afterwards. Syaoran realizes that Tomoyo was waiting for him to vent out, so he started telling her his thoughts,
“I have thought of it, and you’re right. I should tell her how I feel…” Syaoran trails off. Tomoyo looks at him curiously, waiting for what he’s going to say next,
“I don’t know how I’ll be able to say it if my heart beats so fast every time she gets close to me— not even the how, I don’t know what words I’m going to say!”
“Then start by telling her that you like her!” Kerberos yells as he gets out of Sakura’s bag, taking the two off by surprise.
“We’re talking about Sakura, of all people! I’m sure she’ll be surprised, but she’ll respond to your feelings in her own way, Kid!” Kerberos says enthusiastically.
“How long have you been in there?” Tomoyo asks, Kerberos, now fully out of Sakura's bag, floated down to sit with the two humans in front of him, “I’ve been here since Sakura went to school– I slept through the subjects and woke up to this kid’s whines.” He says as he points to Syaoran. The boy, on the other hand, shot a glare at Kerberos. Kerberos stares back.
The staring contest got interrupted by Tomoyo’s clap. “I have an idea.” She says as she brings her sketchpad out to draw what her plan is.
~•~•~•~•~•~
Sakura returned shortly after Tomoyo told the two of her plans. Kerberos was agreeing all the way, but she noticed how hesitant Syaoran was throughout the discussion. Tomoyo understands that this is a new thing to him, and he’s really not the type of person who actively asks for help. She knew Syaoran as a very independent and hardworking person. Even though that’s the case, she’s sure her idea will help Syaoran a lot. She’s positive that she’ll see her plan through to the end.
Tomoyo told Sakura that she’ll be busy the entire weekend, and asks if she can borrow Kerberos under the guise of making outfits for her (she also promises that she’ll actually be making costumes for him, but it's more of him fitting the clothes). Even though she was a bit confused, Sakura still permits Kerberos to be with Tomoyo for the weekend… and the weekends to follow.
Sakura wonders if Tomoyo is making outfits for her and Keroberos enough for each day of the year, but she decides not to question it. She knows how happy Tomoyo is whenever she gets to film her adventures while wearing the clothes she made, and as long as she’s happy, Sakura is happy, too.
Syaoran arrives a few minutes earlier than the meeting time. The Daidouji maids who greeted him told him to go straight to the garden, and walked him there. He doesn’t really know what Tomoyo was planning as she didn’t show them what she drew on her sketchpad that day- she just told him to go here on weekends. To his surprise, he sees Yukito in his uniform standing by the table where Tomoyo is sitting.
“Ah, Syaoran! You’re early!” Tomoyo greets. Syaoran waves as he approaches the table, the standing Yukito remains motionless.He also noticed that there’s a background set up behind Yukito.
“Good morning, Tomoyo, Yukito.” Syaoran says as he bows down to both. Tomoyo bows back while Yukito remains standing. It’s almost as if he’s lifeless, which confuses him a lot more– he interacts with Yukito often so he’s aware that the guy is a bit chatty.
“Can I ask why is Yukito here?” Syaoran whispers to Tomoyo, who responds in hushed giggles.
“Kerberos, you can get out now.” She cues. The motionless Yukito falls to the ground immediately, and in front of their eyes appears Kerberos.
“T-that’s a standee?” Syaoran asks, surprised.
“Yo, Kid!” Kerberos greets, flying closer to the table. Syaoran glares at Kerberos for calling him a “Kid”. Kerberos just smirked at him.
“This is actually the plan I have” Tomoyo starts, “We had the Yukito standee when we filmed something with Sakura. We invited Yukito to film with us, but he was too busy. So, I asked for my mom’s help and they built the standee. It also includes the backdrop you see behind it!” She explains as Kerberos nods beside her.Tomoyo continues explaining the plan, which was what she drew in her sketchpad, but refused to let Syaoran see at first;
“We plan to make you practice your confession to Sakura through her cardboard standee until you can say it to her in person.” Tomoyo continued to explain the plan, and like Kerberos, he was nodding repeatedly. Syaoran starts to understand what her plan is, and he’s alright for the most part. But his only question is,
“Why does this stuffed toy need to be here?!” He said as he pointed at Kerberos floating on Tomoyo’s left. Kerberos glares at him,
“I’m not a stuffed toy!” He retorts. Tomoyo giggles seeing the banter of the two, “You two are going along so well!”
“We’re not!” The two say in unison. Surprised they said the same response, they looked at each other and had a staring contest. Tomoyo broke it off by gesturing to the tea and sweets on the table, “Let’s eat first, shall we?”
After they ate, the three of them approached the backdrop and they saw a Sakura standee lying down on the floor of the setup. Kerberos then lifts it up and holds it from the back. It was obvious that the standee was too heavy for him and he wanted to assist in lifting it up, but Keroberos swatted his arm off with his tiny hands and tried lifting it up until it was set upright.
Tomoyo, on the other hand, was setting up her camera to film what’s going to happen. When Syaoran asked her why she’s filming him, she said that this was related to Sakura, and she wanted to keep it as a memory.
“Go on, try doing it!” Kerberos urges from behind the Sakura standee. Tomoyo cheers him on alongside Kerberos, “You can do it, Syaoran!”
He looked over to the standee and remarked how well Kerberos was holding it from the back, his mind slowly taking everything in.
Just imagine that you’re talking to Sakura, he says to himself, so that I'll feel like it’s real.
He sighs as he starts to find the words he wanted to say.
Their plan is currently progressing well… according to Tomoyo, at least.
Syaoran doesn’t feel more confident no matter how many times he tries to “practice” his confession. Part of him feels like he’s not going to show genuine feelings if he keeps doing this, but the other part of him argues that he needs this so he won’t run away.
So, he still proceeds with the practice. They stay in the garden for not more than 3 hours, since they have to rest after a few tries ("To let the kid's heart rest", Kerberos once said, teasing him as usual)
The first day was the hardest as Syaoran was fumbling a lot of words, but he was starting to say a lot more coherent things, thanks to Kerberos teasing him when he gets nervous.
In a way, he was thankful that Kerberos was there, but he would never admit it out loud. He will never hear the end of it if he does.
It’s another weekend and he goes to Tomoyo’s mansion as usual. It’s been the third weekend that they were trying to do this, and each time gets shorter than the previous.
“Good morning, Syaoran! Are you ready?” Tomoyo greets as she invites him to sit on the table.
“Ready? For what?” The boy asks, confused at how she said it. She's wearing a different look from their previous practice sessions and it sent a chill down his spine for some odd reason.
“To practice, of course!” Tomoyo responds with a smile. Syaoran could’ve sworn that Tomoyo’s tone was hinting at something else. He decided to not mind it as he's not sure why he feels like there's something different on the air today.
He sees the standee already upright, which confuses him even more– especially when he sees Kerberos flying towards them, leaving the standee erected behind.
D oesn’t it need someone or something to be behind it to hold it in place?
“Yo, you’re here early, Kid!” Keroberos greeted in a teasing tone, but Syaoran was too out of it to retort.
“Do your best today, Syaoran!” Tomoyo cheers him up while serving tea. She always makes sure to not have one of the maids around so she can have Keroberos roam around freely.
“Mmm!” Kerberos hums in agreement. Pretty sure he was supposed to answer yes, but his mouth is too full of Tomoyo’s cookies to be comprehensible.
After eating, the three of them decided to go towards the backdrop where the Sakura standee still stands firm.
“Don’t you need Keroberos to make it stand on its own?” Syaoran finally questions. Kerberos stopped on his tracks and looked at Tomoyo nervously. Syaoran took a mental note of how the creature reacted before looking at Tomoyo for her response.
Tomoyo nonchalantly answers, “It’s not that hard to put support to have it stand on its own.” She then pulls out a camera from her bag and starts filming. He’s used to it as Tomoyo already informed him that she will film the moment of confession, as well as the preparation that went through it (she also promised that she won’t let Sakura see it when they started doing this).
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Syaoran sighs. Tomoyo gave him a thumbs up behind the camera, and he can also hear Keroberos cheering him on behind the standee.
The rest is in his hands now.
He took a deep breath and started saying how he feels– this time, he felt like not taking from the usual words he’s been practicing saying and improvise on his own instead,
“Sakura.” He starts, voice already full of admiration.
“I just wanted to say thank you, for everything.” Syaoran’s mind is now flooding with memories of Sakura from the very first time they met— which was not that great, and he was sorry for that, but also what happens afterwards, how considerate and kind she is, and how she genuinely cares for him, even when he established the fact that they are rivals.
“When I first arrived in Tomoeda, I thought of nothing but myself. I only went here to increase my magical abilities, and to not fail my family.” He smiles. “But you– you were doing your best for everyone despite everything, and even considered how others would feel every time. How I would feel.”
He puts his hand on his chest, heart almost beating out of his chest. He hopes his audience can’t know how loud it is beating right now.
“I tried to deny it, as I thought I liked Yukito all this time, but I realized that I was only attracted by the powers of the Moon that he radiates.” He remembers when Yue told him about that fact– that was also the same day that he realized how he felt.
“But the feelings grow stronger each day, like it wants to be freed, until I can't hold what I feel about you anymore.” Syaoran stumbles to find words that he wanted to say– his mind being overwhelmed by how much his heart feels at that moment.
He silently wishes Sakura was able to hear what he has to say right now. He looked over to Tomoyo, where she looks like she’s waiting for him to come up with words to say. He gently smiled and closed his eyes.
“What I’m saying is that I’m glad I was able to meet you. I really am. You made me learn about a lot of things I didn’t know… and made me realize that what I had is nothing–”
He was surprised when he got cut off by the voice of someone he did not expect to hear. He slowly opened his eyes to see that the standee itself had fallen down, and saw Sakura standing beside it.
The real Sakura, not the standee, is standing in front of him.
.
.
.
Eh?!
Since when was she here? Syaoran panics, his tongue now tied out of nervousness. Why is she here? He quickly looked over to where Tomoyo was standing, and she only looked at him like she wanted him to continue what he was saying.
Like it was that easy. He’s been practicing with a standee, but he wasn’t prepared to say it to her this soon. He’ll never be prepared to say how he feels.
He looked over to Sakura, and he’s surprised to see her a bit closer to where she was standing earlier, still with a smile on her face and cheeks as pink as the roses in Tomoyo’s garden.
“Um…” Syaoran tried to open his mouth to say something, but no sounds were escaping from his mouth. He holds his neck when he realizes. Sakura, on the other hand, giggled a little.
“That wasn’t true…” Sakura starts to say, “When you first arrived in Tomoeda, you were working hard and so focused.” “You knew a lot about magic, and knew what you were doing, and had so many things I didn’t have…” He sees Sakura looking down at her feet and fiddling with her fingers while she is talking. He smiles.
“What I’m saying is, despite how we started off, you were still there to help me out, and I want to be by your side too. I want to be by your side for as long as I can.” He took Sakura’s hand and held it on the same level as his shoulders, prompting Sakura to look at his eyes.
“I want to be with you because I…” Syaoran’s voice falters. He looks at Sakura’s hands, then her eyes and breathes deeply. He’s been practicing so hard for this moment. “I…”
He looked intently at Sakura and finally saying the words he’s been wanting to say to her for a long time,
“Because, I am in love with you, Sakura.”
Sakura looked like she wanted to say something, but Syaoran shook his head in response, “You don’t have to give me any response, Sakura. I just wanted you to know how I feel.”
Sakura smiles at him. He smiled back and let go of Sakura’s hands gently. Reality then hits and both of them realize that Tomoyo and Keroberos were there with them and their faces instantly turn as red as tomatoes while they look away from each other. Tomoyo, still holding the camcorder, exclaims, “I just captured the cutest moment Sakura had!” Sakura covers her face and shakes her head out of shyness. Kerberos went near the two and congratulated the two of them. He was also teasing about how they shouldn’t be too sweet whenever he’s around them.
Tomoyo stops recording shortly after and they all sit at the table in the garden together. When she realizes they don’t have anything to eat yet, she goes inside her house to grab meals, dragging Keroberos with her as she wants the two to be alone after the stunt she and Keroberos pulled.
The two in the garden awkwardly fiddles with their hands, Sakura directly looking at the table, still visibly red. Syaoran decides to break the ice, “Sakura…” the brunette slowly looks up to meet his gaze, “I am sorry to put you through this, I didn’t know Tomoyo planned to have you today.” Sakura shakes her head, “No– don’t worry! I actually went here to give Tomoyo a few of her costumes back.” She explains, “I had to sew some of the stitches because they were damaged, and I want to return them to Tomoyo in good shape. I arrived a few hours earlier than you and had a meal. Tomoyo also showed me some of the new costumes she made for me and Kerberos.” Syaoran stays silent while Sakura is explaining what happened before he arrived,
“Then we went to the garden. I was about to ask about the setup Tomoyo has here but that’s when you arrived. I was about to ask Tomoyo what were you doing here when she and Kerberos pleaded with me to hide behind the standee and to not talk until they said so.” “Kerberos was whispering to me behind the standee, saying that the main reason why he’s here is because you asked for their help so you can say how you really feel towards me without running away, and I just want to say… thank you.” Sakura beams at him, her smile almost blinding.
“I’m also sorry for causing more trouble–”
“No-!” Both were taken aback by Syaoran’s sudden response. “Uh- what I mean is that you don’t have to apologize to me for this. I want to tell you how I feel, because you deserve to know how much you’re loved.” He smiles, trying to reassure Sakura.
“Like what I said earlier, don’t pressure yourself to respond right away. Take your time, like I did with my own feelings. No matter what your answer is, I’ll be fine with it.” “If you need to practice with a standee, you can tell Tomoyo as well.” He jokingly states. Syaoran was able to tell that it worked because Sakura let out a giggle.
Tomoyo, Kerberos (seemingly in his “plushie form” because he was placed at the tray Tomoyo was holding), as well as a few of the maids came out from the house bringing several trays with them containing food, as well as dessert for 4. After seeing that Tomoyo only has 3 guests, they wondered who the 4th is, but decided not to question it.
“Let’s eat!” Tomoyo invites. Kerberos makes sure to look around to check if the coast is clear, then he breaks off from his plushie form and starts eating from his plate.
“Kerberos says thank you for the meal, Tomoyo.” Sakura says as she holds Kerberos’ tail to stop him from engulfing his entire meal. Kerberos stops then laughs in embarrassment. They all laughed at Kerberos’ response.
Sakura scoots a little closer to her left, and whispers to Syaoran’s ear “I might need to talk to Tomoyo about this later.” He nods in return.
Tomoyo was teasing the two while they were eating. Kerberos adds fuel to the fire whenever he’s not too immersed with his meal, but his one liners never fails to piss off Syaoran on the other side of the table. The girls laugh at the banter and adore how close Syaoran and Kerberos have become.
Syaoran wishes that this day would last forever, but alas, he can’t stop the time and tomorrow will inevitably come. He wonders how it’ll feel after the high he’s experienced due to the adrenaline he got while confessing. Will everything stay the same, or will it be awkward in school ? Will it get in the way of him and Sakura converting the cards ?
He has a lot of questions in his mind, but one thing is important to him now– he has decided to be with the side of the most important person in his life, and nothing else will stop him in protecting Sakura’s happiness until his last breath.