PART 1, Chapter 1

Syaoran Li, age 26, leaned back against his seat and bit back the really strong urge to walk out of the restaurant. He hated matchmaking and he hated group dates, but here he was now, sitting in one.

He'd lost a bet a few weeks ago to an old friend currently sitting two seats to his left. He mentally cursed the baseball team he had bet would win. Because of them, here he was, staring at a dolled up woman who seemed too self-conscious to swallow another bite of her dinner.

Surveying the situation, he noted that the two women farthest from him were shooting him glances all night. The third woman couldn't keep her eyes off of Hiro, the winner of the bet. Takashi, another old friend, seemed interested in the fourth one - the one in front of Syaoran - who instead seemed interested in Eriol, his best buddy.

And Syaoran wasn't interested in any of them.

Sure they were all beautiful, with their perfect hair and bright, seemingly big eyes, and rosy red cheeks. They were all equally attractive. But he'd dated enough attractive women before to know that looks just weren't enough. Not enough for a relationship to last anyway.

And he was 26. He figured it was about time to start getting serious about one woman. He'd never been in a serious relationship before and… well, everyone around him was starting to settle down. Maybe it was about time.

But meeting someone like this – in this superficial way – didn't sit well with him. He grabbed his glass of wine and downed it as though it was a shot of tequila.

"What are your favorite desserts?" The woman at the far end asked, her eyes resting on Syaoran.

"I like cheesecake," Hiro answered quickly. "You?"

"Wait, I want to know what everyone likes first," she said.

Hiro cleared his throat. "What do you like? Syaoran."

"Uh...I'm not a big fan of desserts." He loved them. But she didn't have to know that.

"But if you had to pick anything."

Hiro sent Eriol a look, who tried to hide the smirk on his face.

"Cupcakes." Syaoran wasn't a big fan of cupcakes.

"Seriously? I can make cupcakes really well! They're my specialty. I make different flavors of cupcakes. I'll make some for you sometime," she promised, flashing him a bright smile.

He was about to protest when Eriol interrupted and said, "What a great idea!"

It wasn't that Syaoran was closed to the idea of casual dating. He just knew himself well enough to know that if he wasn't attracted right away, he would never be attracted. And none of them interested him at all.

:::

"You could've shown a little more interest in her, Li," Eriol said lightly. "I felt bad."

"I don't want to lead them on." Syaoran pulled his tie loose. "You could've asked her out, Hiro."

"Why would I when all night she had her eyes on you?" He griped.

The three of them were walking to the train station from the restaurant. Only Taka seemed to have hit it off with one of the women. With work the next day, none of the three men were willing to stay for another drink.

"Well that was a successful night," Eriol said derisively. "Why'd you bring him, Hiro? No woman will ever notice us if this guy's with us."

"He made the numbers even..." Hiro moaned. "Why are you so good-looking?"

Syaoran chuckled. "Don't hate on my genes."

"Ahh…" Eriol looked up at the cloudy sky. "Valentine's is in two weeks and here we are, single and alone…I want a girlfriend! Why is it so hard to find somebody?"

"You're just not looking hard enough."

The three turned around. Standing by an entrance to a restaurant was a violet-haired, grey-eyed woman. She was wearing a simple, long dress. Her long hair was down, framing her petite face.

She burst into delightful laughter. "No…way."

"Who the he- Daidouji?!"

"Tomoyo Daidouji?"

"I can't believe my eyes! It's really you guys!"

"What, no way!"

Syaoran laughed in disbelief. He met her first as she ran to them. When she threw her arms around him, he returned the big hug gladly. "WOW! Long time no see! Make that a really, really long time. How ya been?!"

"Oh Syaoran! It's so good to see you! I'm doing wonderful. I just got back from London a week ago," she answered breathlessly, pulling back. Her eyes took in the sight of all three men and all she could say was, "It has been SO long."

Hiro moved forward and swept Tomoyo into a hug next. "It's been so long. But somehow you don't look all that different. I mean of course, we all look different and you look great, but you look like you haven't aged a bit! But I mean you're more mature-"

Syaoran slapped him on the head.

She laughed again. "I know. It's been years. What, eight years or something? You guys are…men. You're not those three boys I remember."

"You look great! But you don't look any older. It's amazing," Hiro insisted.

"Aw thanks. I think."

When Hiro and Syaoran moved aside, Eriol remained standing where he was, watching her. There was a mix of feelings going through him. Nostalgia, joy, disbelief to name a few. This was the girl he had loved secretly all throughout junior and senior high.

"Aren't you going to give me a hug?" She demanded teasingly, walking over to him.

He couldn't do much more than say, "I never thought I'd see you again."

Finally, he reached for her. She went into his arms easily and hugged him.

"I always meant to come back. I just didn't know when."

He hugged her tighter than probably what was normal.

Syaoran watched the two subtly. As one of Eriol's best friends, he knew how much he had loved her and never said a thing all throughout high school. He also saw how torn up Eriol had been when Tomoyo announced to everyone during their senior year that she was going to London. That was eight years ago.

Studying Eriol now, he began to wonder whether his friend ever did get over her.

"I was planning to give you guys a call, but I didn't know whether your numbers have changed or…if you were still here. I'm really, really, really happy I ran into you tonight," Tomoyo cried, fighting back the joyful tears. "I'm here for good. Can you give me your phone numbers?" She asked, reaching for her phone in her backpack.

They shared a few tidbits of their lives for another ten minutes at the middle of the sidewalk. Eriol didn't say much during the exchange. He was still trying to recover from the surprise of seeing her again after all these years. And on a night like this when he was feeling particularly hopeless about women in general.

At some point, Tomoyo glanced down at her watch. "I have to go, but Saturday night, let's have dinner?"

"Works for me!" Hiro replied enthusiastically.

"Sounds good."

"Yeah, for sure! We'll gather the group."

She laughed, practically jumping in happiness. "This is wonderful! I'm so glad I bumped into you!" She hugged the three of them quickly. "I'll see you guys Saturday!"

"See ya Tomo!"

"Take care of yourself."

She waved then turned around and walked away.

"You doing okay there, buddy?" Hiro teased, nudging his elbow at Syaoran.

Syaoran smirked. "Yeah, you awake Hira? What just happened to you?"

Hiro grabbed at Eriol's chest and said in a serious, mocking tone, "How's your heart, man?"

Hiro and Syaoran laughed while Eriol waved their hands off of him. "Lay off. I'm just surprised, that's all."

"Poor baby."

"Hey, if you saw Kana again," Eriol began, sending a look at Hiro, "you'd be feeling exactly how I feel right now, all right?"

"But it wasn't her!" Hiro said, smacking Eriol's head from the side. Syaoran laughed.

Arriving at the train station, they all separated ways. "I'll see you guys on Saturday," Syaoran said before waving and heading off to another platform.

What a night. Starting out with an exhaustive matchmaking party. Dinners like that used up a lot of energy. Having to put on a fake smile all night, trying to find good conversation topics. But to have the night end with the huge surprise of seeing Tomoyo again, that cheered him right up.

They had been a close group of friends since their junior high school days. For six years, they were all in the same homeroom class. It was rare to have the same classmate all throughout high school, much less seven. Syaoran, Eriol, Hiro, Takashi, Tomoyo, Rika, Sakura, and Naoko. After graduating from high school, five of them stayed in Tomoeda, one went to Tokyo, and the other two – Tomoyo and Rika – went off to different parts of the world chasing after their dreams.

He still remembered their last night together. Their homeroom class had a bonfire by the beach. They played with fireworks, took pictures, played sports. It had been a lot of fun. Then at the end of the night, the eight remained and exchanged stories of their high school memories. The girls cried buckets. He remembered feeling really sad that night when they all said goodbye to Tomoyo. She was leaving for London early the next morning. And he distinctly remembered consoling Eriol for a while afterwards.

And now here they were, eight years later. Tomoyo was back. Sakura was getting married. Naoko was finishing up her PhD. And last he heard, Rika was pregnant with her second kid. The women seemed to be successfully moving along life.

The men, meanwhile, were taking their time. No one was settling down yet. Then he felt a strange ache in his heart, one that he couldn't quite pinpoint. But it was somehow related to women. And maybe settling down too.

Ah well, those were thoughts for another day. As the cold wind passed him, he tightened his fists in his jacket pockets and hurried on home.

::::::

Sakura Kinomoto, age 25, woke up to the ringing of her alarm. She groaned and rolled around a few times. Still half asleep, she reached absently for the alarm clock. She squinted against the bright light streaming through her curtains and found the clock. It took her another fifteen minutes just to get out of bed.

Half an hour later when she was running out the door of her apartment building, she had a half-eaten bagel in her mouth and strands of hair flying everywhere. Her ponytail was done up messily. The bus arrived just one moment after she arrived at the stop and she ran in. The people in the bus looked at her as she tried to catch her breath. She squeezed her way to a free pole. She took a bite of her bagel and shoved the rest in her bag.

At the next stop, people began pushing their way through the bus to get off and she pushed herself right against the pole to make room for the main pathway. Someone bumped her from behind and the familiar scent made her glance up. Amused amber brown eyes met her gaze.

Her emerald eyes brightened. "Morning!"

Syaoran chuckled as he positioned himself beside her. "Woke up late today?"

She patted the flying strands downwards self-consciously. "I ran out of time this morning." Then she glanced over at him in his black suit. "You look perfect as usual. How was the group date last night?"

"Wow, way to ruin my day."

She laughed. "That bad?"

"Awful. Like every other one I've been dragged into, awful." He pointed at the diamond ring sitting on her left ring finger with his eyes. "Lucky you."

She glanced at the ring and beamed. "Yes indeed. Why don't you just say no? You will never meet a woman that way. Eriol might and Hiro might. But you, never. You're a picky, picky man."

"I say no, but I can't resist bets. It's so bad. OH you'll never believe who we bumped into last night!"

"Who?"

"Daidouji."

"Who?"

"Dai-"

Sakura grabbed his arm and almost screamed. "WHAT??" When dozens of eyes went to her again, she composed herself, but screeched it under her breath. "Tomoyo?! She's back? She's ALIVE?!"

"Calm down. Yeah, she showed up out of nowhere when we were heading home from the restaurant last night. I don't even know how or what or when. All I know is she's back for good and she wants a big reunion dinner on Saturday. I was gonna text you when I got to work."

"I can't believe this! Really? Really? Two months to the day I'm getting married, she comes back. When she left, it's like she just disappeared off the face of the earth. No emails, no phone calls, nothing. For eight years she never once contacted me. It's like those six years together in high school counted for nothing. I can't believe she's back."

"You don't sound bitter at all."

"Why shouldn't I be? She deserted me. She completely cut off ties the moment her plane left Japan. What nerve to come back into our lives like this!"

He shoved his palm against her forehead.

"What!?"

"Grow up. You've been perfectly fine without her for the last eight years. You're 25, living independently and successfully. She probably had her reasons. I mean it, Kinomoto. Get over it," he repeated when her brows furrowed even more. "Look, let's go to dinner tomorrow with everyone and catch up. She really seemed happy to see us. And excited to see the rest of you. Just ask first, all right? Before you go assuming and judging and going crazy on her."

Sakura was silent, her pride unwilling to soften.

Syaoran shook his head. So typical of Sakura to hold a grudge and maintain her pride like this. The next stop was his, so he grabbed his bag from the ground.

"Call me if you decide to go to dinner." At that, he patted the top of her head and headed for the bus doors.

Ugh he made sense. But still. That one year after Tomoyo left, it really did feel like she had forgotten the seven of them, as though their memories and time together meant nothing. Maybe that was all that was riling her up now; her 18-year-old self that felt abandoned by her best friend.

At her bus stop, Sakura got off and walked to work. She grabbed the leftover bagel from her bag and finished it.

She worked for Clover, a thriving clothing company. It had never been her dream to work in the fashion industry; ironically, that had been Tomoyo's. But for some reason, as fate would have it, she ended up going after that dream too. And here she was now, a successful marketing manager at only 25.

"Morning, honey."

She turned around. Her sweet fiancé, with his jet black hair and dark green eyes and charming smile, was carrying a tray of coffee cups and a bag of donuts.

She smiled at the sight of him. She angled her head towards him when he leaned to kiss her cheek. "Hi honey. What are you doing with all that? Why are you doing errands so early in the morning?"

"Head honcho over at Finances came to visit and he called up a sudden meeting. I was the last to arrive to the meeting so they made me go." They entered through the automatic glass doors. "Maybe go to the bathroom first. Your hair's all over the place." He kissed her cheek again quickly and walked to the elevator. "I'm going ahead of you!"

"Okay," she waved him goodbye and darted to the first floor bathroom.

Sakura pulled her hair out of the ponytail and used her fingers to comb through her auburn hair.

So Tomoyo was back. And for good, Syaoran had said. That feeling of betrayal that she had felt so keenly the year after Tomoyo had left and broke off all communication with them came streaming back. But she couldn't deny that there was also a sting of curiosity in there too. Why now? After all these years? Had something happened? Surely something did. The Tomoyo she knew wouldn't have broken communication lines with her only best friends.

Muttering under her breath, she grabbed her phone, scrolled through her contact list and found Syaoran's name. Count me in, she typed and sent.

Then she fixed up her blazer, stared resolutely at her reflection once more, then walked out of the bathroom. Time to go to work.

A/N: How's that for a new story? :) I hope you liked it! Let me know!