Agent08 Reporting for Duty!

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't own anything related to Cardcaptor Sakura. Not the characters or even the little paper cut-out versions of her cards. Not a thing besides this plot. So please, don't sue me.

Full summary: ONESHOT. "How do I get her to notice me?" he asked miserably. "Sometimes I don't think she even knows I exist." What's a poor guy like Syaoran Li supposed to do to impress the girl of his dreams? The answer is simple... try hard. SyaoranxSakura.

Now… on with the story!

Try Hard

"You're staring at her again."

"Shut up."

"Well, you are."

Syaoran sat comfortably against the trunk of the cherry blossom tree, his legs swinging carelessly back and forth from the highest branch. He had been minding his own business, trying to relax for once by staring intently at the ridiculously pretty face of Sakura Kinomoto. But lately that was what had been causing the opposite of relaxation. Over the past few weeks, it had been more like botheration.

"You're still staring at her."

"Oh my God Hiiragizawa, go away."

"Did you even hear the bell ring?"

"Oh, what the hell? It rang? Crap, I'm going to be late!"

Eriol laughed. "Dude, I was kidding."

Syaoran had slung his backpack over his shoulder and was ready to jump down from the tree. He stopped to glare at his cousin. "You can leave now."

"Eh," he shrugged. "I'm okay up here. What are you up to? Besides, you know, staring?"

Syaoran sighed and lowered his head. His ever messy chocolate brown hair blew hazardously with the wind and his concentrated amber eyes were dim with frustration. He was really having issues with Sakura lately.

He admitted to himself that he was totally in love with her weeks ago but hadn't told anyone – not that he needed to, really. Eriol could pretty much tell just by the way he made a fool of himself when he was around her. But to say it out loud in front of his cousin might just be giving him more teasing material. He really needed to confide in someone, though, so he took the plunge.

"How do I get her to notice me?" he asked miserably. "Sometimes I don't think she even knows I exist."

"Of course she knows you exist," Eriol assured. "It's just that she doesn't know you exist as a, hmm, how do I say this? She doesn't know you exist as a romantic option."

Syaoran ignored the way the conversation made him feel so very awkward. For Sakura, he'd converse eagerly in any embarrassing discussion.

"Well, what do I do?" he asked, picking at the tree bark.

"Isn't it obvious?" Eriol replied, like he was some expert on girls that knew everything about their complicated ways. He'd been acting like that ever since he got his hands on Tomoyo Daidouji the violet eyed beauty, Sakura's best friend and the only other person who knew about his feelings for her.

"Enlighten me, oh girl-savvy one," Syaoran scowled.

His cousin leaned forward, as if what he was about to say was the secret of the century. "You have to impress her."

He stared at him, still unsure. "Impress her? How? I already do a lot of cool things in front of her that doesn't get her attention. I solve all those hard math problems in front of the class, I pull awesome soccer moves out on the field when she's cheerleading on the sidelines. I'm even unnecessarily brutal in P.E. just so I can look tough and have her attention!"

Eriol sighed again, as if the solution to this was obvious. "Try harder."

"Oh, well, thanks for that brilliant advice. I think I've really doubled my chances with her after this informative conversation. You're just totally like the best cousin ever!" Syaoran said in mock gratitude, his voice high and his demeanour very girly.

"Fine, don't listen to me," Eriol shrugged. "But don't come crying to me when Sakura starts dating that Yukito Tsukishiro fellow that she's so impressed with. And he doesn't even try at all."

Syaoran glared, him and his cousin both knowing that he struck a nerve. Everyone knew she had a small infatuation with him and it was no secret why. That dude really was pretty damn impressive without having to try hard in the slightest. It was even hard for Syaoran to hate him.

"You're an asshole."

"Correction, I'm a funny asshole."

"No, I'm pretty sure you're just an asshole."

"Hey!" the two heard from below. It was a girl's voice, high and reprimanding. Tomoyo, sitting with her group of friends at the base of the tree, glared up into the branches with a stern look. "Do you boys kiss your girlfriends with those foul mouths? We're trying to eat lunch down here! Do you mind?"

Eriol smiled and hopped down from his branch. "Me? I always kiss my girlfriend with this mouth," he answered smoothly and planted a wet one on Tomoyo.

As expected, Tomoyo was too charmed to actually get angry. She sat back down and made room for her boyfriend in the circle. He joined the group happily and looked heavenward one more time. "I don't know about Li, though. His invisible girlfriend might not like his foul mouth so much. Are you coming down from there or what?"

Syaoran was about to not only reject, but also throw a few more choice words down that Tomoyo would not approve of, until another voice rang out. This voice was different, lighter, like a feather caressing his cheek and a chime being thrown about in soft winds. It was her voice.

"Yeah, you should eat with us, Syaoran-kun. I didn't even know you were up there." Sakura said.

He swallowed thickly. "Oh, um… well I'm actually fine where I—"

"Come on, sit with us," she encouraged with a beckoning hand.

That was all the convincing he needed.

He took this moment to take his cousin's advice and try something new, and try hard. He stood on his branch at his full height and pushed off with force, creating just enough momentum for him in the air to do a back flip. He landed squarely in front of Sakura and the others sitting on the ground, standing erectly and looking manlier than ever. Feeling rather good about himself, he was confident enough to take on a confident pose, placing his fists at his waist, his legs shoulder-width apart.

Eriol, from off to the side and said behind his fist so that the others wouldn't hear, coughed loudly. "You look like Peter Pan."

Syaoran immediately dropped the stance and instead crossed his arms over his chest awkwardly. He puffed up his chest and held his chin up so high it was as if he had a nose bleed.

The girls in the circle and even girls who were just happening to pass by sighed in admiration. He could hear their hearts beginning to beat faster for him, something he was used to being, well, him. But it didn't matter unless one of those hearts belonged to Sakura.

"That was—" she began.

"Oh, Li-kun you're amazing!" one girl he didn't recognize cried.

"Wonderful! Bravo! Do it again!" another chimed that he was not familiar with.

"Li-san you are just so boss!" a red head screeched from across the school yard.

More and more girls started calling out, even whistling and winking. His eyes darted from side to side, suddenly uncomfortable and caught off guard with all the attention. He had only wanted Sakura's eyes on him, but every single girl that happened to be outdoors seemed to be staring at him.

"Sorry?" he asked, straining to hear over the voices to talk to Sakura. "I didn't catch what you said."

She seemed rather unsettled by the outburst of giddy girls as well. Cupping her mouth with both her hands to project her own voice she began again, "That was really—"

RIIIIIIIIING.

"That's the bell," Tomoyo announced, standing up and looking very eager to get away from all the noise. "Come on guys, let's get out of here."

Syaoran's jaw fell. "Yeah, coming," he said, "but Sakura wait, I never heard what you—"

"Nevermind," she said, her voice quiet, almost timid. "Let's go, we're going to be late."

As she walked off with Tomoyo, once again lost to him, Syaoran glared at his cousin and fell into step with him. "Well, that worked out nicely."

"Your damn right it did! You got like half the female population of the school wanting to get in your pants with that move!"

"Don't be such an idiot. I only wanted Sakura's attention, you know that."

Eriol sighed. "Yeah, yeah. She's the only one for you, the apple of your eye, I get it."

"What am I supposed to do now?" Syaoran very nearly whined.

Eriol stared at his cousin straight in the face to express his seriousness. "You're obviously not trying hard enough. Try harder."

xxxxxx

The lot of them herded into the classroom as Terada-sensei walked to the front by the podium. They settled into their seats as he took from his briefcase a stack of papers and tidied them by tapping the bottom of the sheets against the hard surface of the podium. He cleared his throat.

"I have here the results of your math tests. Good job, most of you. Others, maybe try attending a tutorial or two," he advised wisely as he proceeded to distribute the marked papers.

Sakura groaned and looked to her right where Tomoyo was seated. "This isn't going to be good."

"You don't know that, Sakura-chan. I bet you did fine." Her best friend comforted.

"Yeah," Eriol butted in yet again from behind his girlfriend. "I bet you did fine. Don't you think she did fine, Li?" he asked.

Sakura smiled. She turned around to face Syaoran who looked very red in the cheeks and was staring very nervously in her face. "Why do you look so sick, Syaoran-kun? I know you did fine. You're like a math genius."

Their tests fell from the teacher's hands onto their desks and Sakura grabbed hers up before anyone could take a peek at her mark. With the paper rolled at the sides to avoid embarrassment and one eye closed, she glanced at the number in red. Just as she expected, her mark was lower than she thought was humanly possible.

"HOE!"

Syaoran, who had been staring at the back of her head still ever intently, was startled by her sudden outburst and fell foolishly out of his chair, earning yet another shriek from Sakura. He landed on his back, still in his chair with surprising force. His head wasn't spared in the fall and throbbed with the beginnings of a bad bruise.

"Oh, Syaoran-kun," she cried, running to his side and getting down on her knees. Placing her hand gently on the back of his head, she tangled her fingers into his chocolate brown curls and rubbed gently. "I'm so sorry! Are you alright?"

"I… I…"

"Syaoran-kun?"

He swallowed and remembered his cousin's advice: try harder. So he did. "I'm cool. Totally chill. Way chill. Better than chill, I'm chillz. That's, you know, with a letter z."

Eriol put a fist to his forehead in an attempt to stop a headache from coming. "Lord, kill me now."

"Li-san? Kinomoto-san? Everything alright here?" Terada interrupted, putting an end to Syaoran's ridiculous endeavor to look cool.

"Fine," Sakura answered for the both of them. "Just fine."

She helped Syaoran up and soon they were sitting back in their seats, the class gone back to normal. After a couple of seconds, he leaned out of his seat subtly behind the girls and whispered behind his hand.

"Hey," Syaoran hissed to Eriol. "Did I really just tell Sakura I was chillz?"

"Yeah, you tool."

"No," he moaned, putting his face in his hands. "Tell me I didn't."

"Sorry, man. Wish I could."

"What do I do now?" he panicked.

"Recover," Eriol commanded, as though he were a drill sergeant. "Try to look cool again. And for the love of God, don't try to mess around with your vocabulary!"

"Right," Syaoran said with fake confidence. "Well, you have to help me out," he added, getting an idea from the math test he recently got back. He continued whispering to Eriol the plan he created and with a quick nod, the boys began.

"Wow, Li!" Eriol exclaimed, his voice high and purposefully loud. "Look at that math mark! You're such a genius!"

Sakura turned around in her seat once more and peered eagerly at his test, then back at Syaoran. "How'd you do?" she asked with curiousity and a kind smile.

Flexing his arm, he threw his head back, messing his dark brown curls around and earning a handful of new sighs of admiration. It seemed that when Eriol called out what an amazing mark Syaoran got on the test, not just Sakura turned around to look. In fact, every single girl in the classroom was staring at him. But he hadn't noticed. He had been anticipating Sakura's responses.

"Oh, well, just the usual," he answered, trying to sound suave.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Uh. What exactly is the usual?"

He continued trying to look nonchalant and devil-may-care. Eriol didn't think he'd ever seen so much arm flexing and hair tossing since Baywatch.

"You said it yourself, babe," he replied with a wink and a shrug in her direction. "I'm a math genius!"

A girl at the front of the room nearly fainted with his use of the word "babe".

"Li-kun, I need a tutor! My math mark was just awful," a brunette called. Syaoran was not very familiar with the girl, but he knew just from her reputation that she was kind of a smart cookie, certainly not one that would need any kind of tutoring for anything.

"Shut up, Kihara! You don't need a tutor. Tutor me, Li-kun. I'm actually doing poorly. I'm the one who needs your help!"

"No, me!" a different girl screamed.

"No, me!"

"Um, Syaoran-kun?" a quiet voice said. Syaoran looked to Sakura who had said it so quietly, so shyly and almost as if with fear, that he wanted to rip his heart out right there and give it to her.

"Sakura, I know for a fact that you did really badly on the test." He said. Finally, the right girl was asking for his tutoring. It only took three different girls to argue over it, but at least she was piping up now.

She looked up, her eyes narrowed. "Excuse me?"

"You need a tutor, don't you? Your test result, it was probably really bad, right? Since, you know, you're so bad in math."

She snatched her test that lay on her desk so that he wouldn't see her mark circled in devastating red. "Never you mind," she answered, ice layering her words.

"Are you sure? You said it yourself, I'm a genius—"

"I know what I said," she snapped. "Forget it. Go tutor one of them." She suggested, a hint of disgust in her voice.

"But… but I—"

"Okay class," Terada-sensei said, clapping his hands together to get the students' attention. "Enough chatting. You've had enough time to look over your results and talk about it with your friends. It's time to begin the lesson."

Syaoran sighed, not able to believe his luck. She seemed so angry with him, and it was all his fault. He got back in his seat and went back to staring at the back of her head. He knew it was the right thing to apologize, so with what little courage he had left, he reached out to tap her shoulder.

As if sensing this movement from behind her, Sakura hunched forward, her eyes glued to the front.

He sighed again and let his head fall onto the desk. He found himself very tempted to smash his head against it at least twice or fifty times over, or however much it would take for him to get back to normal and stop acting like a complete jerk.

xxxxxx

The final bell rang, dismissing the students of Seiju High and freeing them for the weekend. Teenagers piled out of the doors, not wanting to spend another second longer than they had to at school. One of those teens was Syaoran, who was so down in the dumps he didn't think he'd ever recover and feel good about himself.

Eriol caught up with him on the way home and his company was certainly the last thing he needed.

"What do you want?" Syaoran grumbled.

"We live together, genius."

"Don't call me that," he groaned, reminded of the math test fiasco.

"Oh, don't sweat it!" Eriol said, trying to cheer him up with pat on the back and encouraging words. "It wasn't so bad. Babe."

"Oh, shut up!" Syaoran snapped, shoving Eriol to the side which earned him nothing but a hearty laugh. "Oh, sure, laugh it up. It's not your dream girl that's pissed off and not talking to you. This is all your fault."

"My fault!" Eriol exclaimed, a smile still on his face. "Come on, you're taking this the wrong way. Her reaction was good, bro. She's jealous."

Syaoran stopped walking. "Jealous?"

"Yeah, totally! She sees you impressing all these other girls and them wanting to be with you, it's getting her angry. Completely natural. You're doing exactly what you should be."

Syaoran was quiet for a long time. "You think?"

"Absolutely!"

"So I should just carry on with what I'm doing?"

"Definitely,"

"And you're sure about this?"

"Dude, come on. I'm dating Tomoyo Daidouji. What could I be wrong about when it comes to girls?"

His reasoning was sound.

"Fine. What do I do next?"

"Not really sure, but there's no time to think about it. Here's your next chance!"

From across the way the two boys could see very clearly Sakura and Tomoyo walking, off in the direction of their homes. Syaoran was really not prepared for what he should be doing next, but like Eriol said, there was no time. He was already flagging down Tomoyo and running to catch up with her.

"Hey," Tomoyo greeted as he put his arm around her shoulders. "I didn't see you after school. Want to walk me home?"

"Sure. Let's hang out first," Eriol suggested, thinking he might as well get some quality time in with his girlfriend while trying to do the same thing for Syaoran and Sakura.

Tomoyo was reluctant to agree. "Okay, sure. But Sakura-chan…"

"I'll walk her home," Syaoran suggested.

Neither girl looked all too thrilled about the notion.

"Is that okay, Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura, her fingers around the straps of her backpack, shrugged and looked to the side. "I'm not going to stop you from going on a date."

Her best friend grinned at her and gave her a big hug. She took her hands in hers and glanced at the two boys before staring meaningfully into Sakura's face. "Call me if anything… comes up," she said. Sakura nodded and waved goodbye.

The two watched as Eriol and Tomoyo went on their way in a different direction before turning back around, in the direction of Sakura's house. They began walking.

For a while it was silent. It was a beautiful day and if things weren't so crappy with Sakura, Syaoran would've been feeling rather content. But unfortunately for him, he had things to continue on doing. Trying hard was, well, harder than he would've thought.

"So, babe!" he said with what he thought sounded like manliness. "What are you doing tomorrow?"

Sakura eyed him with an emotion that must've been a mixture of disturbance, awkwardness and just plain weirdness at his still strange behaviour. "We're all going to the beach. The weather's supposed to stay like this all weekend." She answered, not sounding at all invested in the conversation.

"Sounds like a plan. Mind if I tag along? I'm in need of some tanning. This chest of mine, you know. It's just so pale. Chiseled and pale. Yep."

She stopped in her tracks and stared in disbelief and confusion. "What is wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about, babe?"

"Stop calling me babe," she snapped. "Seriously, what's gotten into you?"

Syaoran was panicking all over again, not sure what to do or say. He thought he would look like a complete loser if he stopped the charade right then and there, and even Eriol said to keep on doing what he was doing. So he did.

"Nothing, Sakura. I'm just being myself."

"This is not you," she said with force. He had no idea she had such a mean side. Thank goodness they were at the front of her gates. "And I am not one of your infatuated little fan girls."

"No, you're not," he agreed.

"So stop treating me like one."

"Sakura, really. You don't have to be jealous."

Her eyes, if possible, got wider and filled with even more insult. "Excuse me?"

"The other girls don't get to have me. But you do. Just you."

"Okay, that's it. I've heard enough." she said, opening her front gate and stepping inside her front yard. Syaoran, attempting to follow, found himself in a lot of pain afterwards having the low top of the gate slammed right into his stomach.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did that hurt, babe? Why don't you get one of your admirers to take a look at that perfect, pale, chiseled chest of yours to check for a bruise? I'm sure they wouldn't mind."

Syaoran, who had doubled over and was writhing slightly groaned, "I never said it was perfect…"

Sakura shrieked loudly and slammed her front door.

xxxxxx

The next day Syaoran trudged to the beach, accompanied by Eriol who had forced him to come. Amazingly, the gate didn't leave a scratch, so he could afford to walk around with his shirt off while on the shore.

"You talked about your perfect, pale and chiseled chest?" Eriol asked again incredulously for the millionth time as they went to meet their friends.

"I never said it was perfect!" Syaoran nearly yelled.

"Whatever, man. I thought you'd be better at this trying hard thing."

"What?" he asked desperately. "I thought you said I was doing all the right things!"

"You were, man. Until you started telling Sakura-san how she felt."

"Wait, what?" he asked, stopping his cousin. It was too hard for Syaoran to have his mind in a terrible jumble, carry a bunch of supplies and walk with the sand getting all between his toes at the same time.

Eriol sighed, still walking and having to look over his shoulder to talk to Syaoran. "A girl hates being told how she feels. You made her angry when you told her she was jealous and that she could have you all to herself. She likes what's going on, this chase. She likes that you're trying hard to impress her. You giving yourself up so easy was no fun to her."

"…Are you sure?"

"I'm positive!"

"But… that doesn't sound—"

"Just trust me, alright? God, you're such a child sometimes."

The two had reached their friends. They found that they had already set up beach towels, lawn chairs and umbrellas so all they had to do was set up their own and then they could start the fun.

"Hey," Tomoyo and Eriol greeted one another, each of them planting a kiss. Syaoran looked to his feet to allow for some privacy. "Oh, well look who decided to show up," she drawled. He lifted his head again and saw that she was looking at him. "The babe with the perfect, pale and chiseled chest."

He groaned. "I didn't say it was perfect!"

She smiled. "You here to keep making an ass out of yourself?"

He scowled at her as he set his things down and laid out the towels. Eriol was smirking. "I'm not making an ass out of myself, I'm just doing what I should be doing."

She stared, her fine eyebrow ready to rise at any moment. "And what exactly is that?"

He stopped and looked up at her. "Um, trying hard?"

"Right..." She turned around in her boyfriend's arms to stare at the ocean and her eyes went alight. "Well, let the trying hard commence now! Here comes Sakura-chan."

He followed her gaze and had to strain himself from pitching a tent. A wide smile spread out across her face and water dripping down her amazing curves (currently covered in what was most likely one of Tomoyo's latest fashions, a white bikini with pink flower patterns), Sakura climbed out of the water and shook her auburn hair out. Now that was definitely something straight out of Baywatch.

He watched her as if in slow motion, running across the shore to reach them, her smile wider than ever. That was, until she caught sight of him and she stopped where she was, just a foot or so short of where they were camped. Immediately, Syaoran covered his board shorts with a towel in case the tent pitching was unstoppable.

She looked at him once, greeted Eriol and told Tomoyo to come into the water, as if he didn't exist. Why did it feel like nothing had changed?

Tomoyo agreed and undid her sarong, allowing Eriol to catch a glimpse of her bikini line (hairless like a baby's bottom) and then go chasing after her like a dog. Syaoran, who was suddenly by himself didn't want to be alone by the towels so ran to catch up.

"Wait up, guys," he called out from behind them.

As they were all about to jump off the pier to join the rest of their friends, Sakura stopped and looked back at him. "You sure you don't want to stay by the towels and get that tan for your perfect—"

"I – never – said – it – was – perfect!" he said sternly, thoroughly annoyed.

She shrugged before jumping back in the water and he swore he could've seen her smile. "Whatever,"

He shook his head and followed after, deciding this time not to do anything fancy in terms of dives and stuff, because really he just wanted to have some fun. He messed around with Eriol and his other guy friends, dunking each other's heads and starting water fights. It was a blast. It would have been a lot more fun though, Syaoran admitted, if he was having a good time with Sakura.

Things were going more or less well. By mid-afternoon the sun was still shining and it didn't seem as though it would relent anytime soon. The water still felt amazing and it was like their fun had just only begun. Their time spent at the beach, it seemed, was definitely going to last until the sun had set behind the ever blue ocean.

Things only began to turn slightly sour with the arrival of Koichi, a boy from another Tomoeda high school who had come by himself to the beach and had recently joined their group. All of them being so friendly and welcoming he was easily allowed to hang out with them for the day. After all, what harm could he possibly cause?

The response to that question was answered fairly adequately when Syaoran noticed how friendly he was being with Sakura. He wasn't sure if he was the only person who noticed it or not, but the Koichi fellow only seemed to have eyes for her. And needless to say, that was just not okay with him.

Eriol noticed Syaoran who had stopped playing their game of water tag and followed his gaze. A few feet away where a few of their group was playing water polo, Koichi chatted it up with Sakura who he believed didn't notice his advances at all. He kept touching her on the elbow, on the stomach, her face or her hands every chance he got and kept trying to make her laugh.

"What are you going to do about it?" Eriol teased, elbowing Syaoran in the rib and wiggling his eyebrows.

Good question. What was he going to do about it?

"Toss me the beach ball," he said in a tone that radiated confidence.

Eriol, who didn't think he would be taken seriously, nodded wide-eyed and threw him the colourful sphere. Together they advanced, and without Syaoran's noticing, Eriol had dragged Tomoyo along with them.

"What are you doing?" she asked, confused.

"We're about to be entertained."

When they were close enough, Syaoran raised the beach ball. Before Koichi or Sakura could realize what he was doing, he threw it with surprising force. It hit him in the head with a loud plop and he immediately fell into the water. Eriol and Tomoyo immediately began to snicker and covered their mouths with their hands as Sakura turned every which way to see who had thrown it.

The three swam over just as Koichi was rising from the water. He shook out his shiny black hair in a super model manner and Syaoran's anger was fueled. Even in disorientation he was trying to impress Sakura, and that was what he was trying to do!

"Oops," Syaoran said, not at all apologetically. "We were playing water polo. Didn't see you. Sorry."

Sakura, being the kind, sweet and non-judgmental person that she was, didn't suspect Syaoran of anything and honestly took the whole thing as an accident when the average child probably would've been able to tell that it wasn't. To Syaoran's dismay, she bent down and took the guy by his elbow, helping him up and being closer to him than he would've wanted.

Koichi, unlike Sakura, knew better. He had noticed Syaoran eyeing him with Sakura the whole afternoon. He wasn't about to let up his chances with a really hot girl all because this other guy was feeling threatened. If anything, that was more reason for him to continue pursuing her.

His lips formed something like a mixed smile and scowl as he glared. "No problem." And then, an idea hit him like the beach ball smacking him all over again. "Actually… you know what? My head… it kind of hurts now." He groaned a little and let his legs go wobbly so that he could slouch, giving the appearance of seeming faint.

Sakura immediately showed concern. She frowned and put her arms around his shoulders and waist, hoping to keep him standing. "Oh no. We should take you back to the shore to get your head checked out."

Syaoran snorted. He wasn't the only one not being fooled by the situation. Even Eriol and Tomoyo could see right through Koichi's attempt to gain Sakura's sympathy and some alone time with her.

"He's kidding, right?" Syaoran asked loudly with no kindness whatsoever. "It was a beach ball. It's a bit of plastic filled with air."

Sakura shrugged. "You never know, Syaoran-kun. He said he isn't feeling well. I should go with him back to the shore and make sure he's alright."

As she moved forward with no longer her arm around him, but his around her, Syaoran moved in front of them to stop them. "Sakura, really. He's fine."

Sakura was looking at him strangely, as if she couldn't understand why he didn't want them to go, which she probably couldn't. "Just let me take him back to the shore, Syaoran-kun. It won't be five minutes."

"Yeah," Koichi piped up, "Let her take me back to the shore, Syaoran-kun."

Syaoran turned from Sakura to him, his eyes fierce and demeanor extremely dangerous. "What did you say to me?"

Koichi straightened and tightened his hold around Sakura's waist. Either she honestly thought he did it because he needed more support or because she really was just that dense, Syaoran couldn't seem to decide. His mind was too clouded with anger and jealousy.

"I'm sorry, do you have a problem?" Koichi asked.

"Gee, for someone who says they aren't feeling too hot, you seem to be running your mouth just fine."

Koichi smiled, seeming to be perfectly experienced with the jealous other-guy type. "You know, it's got to be Kinomoto-san. She must have the healing touch, if you know what I mean."

His hand slithered up her waist, grazing her skin with his disgusting fingers, thinking he was caressing her in a way that would simply charm her to death. He really didn't think things through, because if he had wanted to charm Sakura in any way, that wasn't it. It was definitely a good way of getting her to squirm, though.

"Um—" she began uncomfortably, beginning to weasel out of his hold. "Could you not—"

Before she could even finish, Syaoran was up in his face, glaring down at him easily, being a solid inch or two taller than the guy. "You heard her," he said in a commanding voice. "She wants you to stop."

For a moment all Koichi did was stare back at him with equal ferocity and anger. Whatever it was that made him realize entering a brawl with Syaoran Li was a definite losing battle, it had hit him just in time. Syaoran was simply itching to raise a hand at him.

"Relax," he said, loosening his hold and returning his arm rightly where it belonged – back at his side. "I was kidding around."

"Well kid around elsewhere," Syaoran said. "And you bother her again, I'll be throwing something much harder than a beach ball."

He raised his hands in what was supposed to be surrender, but he sauntered away, still trying to look smooth and collected. He walked so far away from them his figure became a tiny dot in the distance along the shore. It was only then that Syaoran could bring himself to stop glaring.

He looked up to see that Tomoyo and Eriol had discreetly gone off on their own to give him some privacy, as well as the small crowd of their friends that had gathered to see the event. He also saw Sakura standing a little ways away, her arms folded and staring down into the ocean. It looked as though she wanted to talk to him, but was unsure of herself. Deciding to make it easy for her, he squared his shoulders and walked over himself. They would end this awkwardness right now, so help him.

"Sakura," he said.

"Hey," she said quietly. Her eyes were still downcast. "Listen, I—" she stopped herself and started over again, this time breathing in and out, smiling and lifting her gorgeous face to stare straight into his eyes. "Thanks for what you just did. You didn't have to. I swear, I had it under control. But I'm still glad you stepped in."

"Oh, of course," he said, nodding sagely. "A strong, levelheaded, confident girl like you? You'd never need my help in a fight. But how could I ever let a lady like yourself lift a finger to do any kind of work? It was my pleasure, Sakura. My pleasure and duty!"

He made a wide flourish with his arms and even bowed a little, getting Sakura to blush and even giggle cutely. He stopped, suddenly very surprised with himself. He wasn't even trying hard just then – he had just wanted to make her feel better. Knowing her, she was probably feeling at fault for almost starting a fight and being like a lame damsel in distress that was always in need of saving.

"Well," she said in a tone so gentle, yet it nearly swept him off his feet. "It seems like you're almost back to normal."

The corner of his lip lifted in an attempt to smile. He was suddenly very embarrassed. "About that… listen, I—"

Before they could continue on with their conversation, a herd of girls gathered around them. They were Sakura's girlfriends, the ones he wasn't really acquainted with. They had come to the beach that day as well and mingled with their own group at times when they weren't busy tanning or gossiping on the sand.

"Um, excuse us," they said with eager voices.

"Yes?" he asked kindly and with a smile. He supposed they were there to ask if whether or not Sakura was alright. Even though he and Koichi hadn't gotten into a physical fight, their squabble somehow got the attention of others. The tension must've been thicker and further-reaching than they thought.

Syaoran noticed Sakura's eyebrows lift at his grin. She wondered why he was being so friendly with them when he barely knew them at all.

"That was… that was really brave, what you just did," one girl from the group said. The others nodded fervently in agreement.

"It was like, totally amazing."

"Most definitely."

"And has anyone ever told you that you have, like, a really perfect, pale and chiseled chest?"

Syaoran was so shocked by what they had actually come for that the smile remained, frozen on his face, still wide and seemingly friendly. And immediately he knew it was a mistake to continue looking at the girls like that, because Sakura took it completely the wrong way.

As he opened his mouth to reply to them, and reply modestly too, he saw from beside him Sakura roll her eyes and march away. His head turned from her, back to the group of girls and then to her retreating back again.

"Um, no," he answered in reply to the last girl's question. "Never heard that before in my life. See you guys!" Saluting to the girls with two fingers he turned tail and ambled off after Sakura.

xxxxxx

"Hey! Sakura, wait up."

She kept on walking.

"Sakura, come on. Give me a break."

It didn't look like she was going to let up, not even for a second. She had even put her shorts back on, which meant she wasn't going back into the water. As he walked by their station of towels he grabbed his thin, silk sweater and threw it on before continuing to follow her.

With her back still to him and stomping away, further from where the beach was most populated into a more secluded area of the shore, she grumbled. "I didn't mean to take you away from your fan girls. By all means, keep entertaining them."

"I'm trying to explain myself, here!" he said annoyed, using a tone with her that was enough to get her to at least stop talking. She still hadn't turned around. He figured she wasn't about to meet him half way, so he jogged the rest of the distance between them and stopped on her other side so that he wouldn't be talking to her spine.

The smile that was on her face just moments before when he had made her laugh was gone, only to be replaced with the thin, flat line that her lips formed. Well, at least it wasn't a frown.

"Can I help you?" she asked monotonously.

"Um, no. I mean yes. I mean…" he was already starting to make a fool of himself. He wasn't even sure of what he was going to do – he never got the chance to ask Eriol first! He just knew this was a bad idea.

"Yes?" she coaxed, as if impatient.

"I just…"

"Are you going to tell me I'm jealous again?"

"What? No! Sakura, listen. I only—"

"If I had known that you were just swooping in to save the day all to get more attention and compliments from other people, I would've just taken care of him by myself. I had it all—"

"Yeah, I know. You had it all under control. You said so."

"You're darn right I did!" she huffed, crossing her arms haughtily and swinging her head in the other direction, causing her auburn bangs to swivel and nearly whip him in the face.

"But that's not why I did it."

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Oh no?"

"No," he replied, taking her arms and moving her so that she was at least facing him. He, had to peer up into her still downcast eyes to get her to look at his face, though. "I did it because I was jealous."

Her eyes shifted in confusion. "You were jealous?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

She seemed to think about this for a moment, going over the idea that Syaoran could possibly be jealous of any guy over her. After having thought it over, she shook her head and smirked, even laughed a little. "Okay, that's enough, really. I told you before. I'm not one of your fan girls that you can get at your feet by one little lie."

He sighed in what sounded like defeat, and Sakura was taken by surprise. His simple exhale seemed to be filled with a lot of emotion. Some of those emotions she thought were resign, exhaustion and sadness.

"It's like nothing I ever say or do is ever right for you anymore," he said quietly beneath his breath.

She inclined her head a little, unsure if she had heard correctly. "What?"

He kicked the sand at his feet. "You heard me."

She shook her head, still confused. "I don't understand."

He sighed again and walked closer back to the ocean, deciding then to take a seat and dig his toes in the tiny, little diamond grains. Sakura didn't wait long to follow and take a hesitant seat next to him in the sand.

"I just…" he began, not sure where to start. "I just feel…" and he almost vomited right then and there. If he knew waking up that morning that he'd be in a romantic setting with the girl of his dreams, talking about his feelings in the early evening, he might've considered making his morning coffee Irish.

"What is it?" she coaxed.

With one last sigh, he came clean. "I just feel like sometimes you don't know I'm there."

She squinted her eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

He turned to face her, feeling like he was about to get on a lucky stride. "I'm talking about the fact that you don't even look at me when I do anything, whether it be something cool or average. You just don't notice me. And I just thought that… I just thought that maybe, if I tried a little hard… I could get you to see me."

She was quiet for a really long time. So quiet, his face was beginning to burn, and it wasn't just because of the hot sun still beating down on them.

She sucked in air through her cheeks and blew it out noisily. It seemed as though she was still doing some serious thinking. "So… what you're trying to say is that, you've been acting like a conceited, arrogant, obnoxious jerk this whole time, all because you wanted to impress me? And get me to notice you?"

Syaoran nodded.

"That's strange," she commented.

His cheeks flamed in embarrassment. "Yeah, I know."

She shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. Yeah, I mean, you doing all those things was pretty strange. But I mean, it's strange because… I didn't think you noticed me."

He turned to her incredulously, his eyes wide and ears ringing with what he had just heard her say. "Huh?"

She giggled with such cuteness it was hard to keep him focused on the conversation and to not lose himself in the sweet melody of her laugh. "Well, yeah. I mean… come on, Syaoran-kun. You do a bunch of cool things, all the time. And lately with all that other stuff… wow. Every girl notices you. And as much as I keep telling you and myself otherwise… I'm just another face in the crowd, aren't I?"

"Uh, no?" Syaoran replied with much emphasis. "No you sure as hell are not just another face in the crowd! Are you trying to tell me I just had to be myself for you to notice me? I didn't have to do all that unnecessary crap?"

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Well, yeah."

Syaoran could hardly believe it. "Wow. This is so cliché I might actually vomit."

Sakura laughed again, louder this time and sounding a lot happier. "No kidding." After she had rid herself of all her laughter, she was quiet again, and it seemed like the conversation took on yet another serious turn.

"How could you think that though?" he asked with genuine curiosity. "That you're just another face in the crowd? Sakura, all I've known these past few months is… is…"

There were lots of things he wanted to say. All he knew was the curve of her cheeks, the brightness in her eyes, the sweet chime he called her laughter and the clumsy manner of hers that he'd grown to find irresistible.

"You." He said, finally finishing his sentence. "All I've known is you. I'd have to try really hard to get your face lost with a bunch of others. It's not something I can do so easily."

He watched her cheeks take on a delicious shade of pink. "Well, you're not such a bright thinker yourself, mister," she teased. "I don't do much to get myself noticed, nothing cool or extraordinary. It's a wonder your eyes even find me. But you? My eyes find you before they find anyone else in a room. And I've always thought you were really impressive and cool. Syaoran-kun, you've had my attention all along. Always."

At hearing this, Syaoran wasn't sure which emotion he felt was stronger at the moment. Happiness, because the girl he adored felt the same way about him, anger because he had tried all those ridiculous things for no reason at all, or completely in love because, well, he was.

Somehow, neither he nor Sakura knowing how it happened, their hands found each other in the sand and got tangled, web to web with grains of sand filling every crevice. The tide pulled in and out in time to their heartbeats. Speaking of hearts, there was one last thing Syaoran had on his mind that he just had to say. And it would definitely require him to try extremely hard.

"Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

She froze, as if what he said had hit her, literally, and it her hard. A second later, she defrosted, closed her eyes and inhaled.

"I love you too. Babe."

They grinned to one another and didn't stop smiling, not even when they had started to kiss.

After that afternoon, Syaoran was sure of only one other thing aside from his unwavering feelings for Sakura, and that was: he would have to try exceptionally hard to pull his lips off of her each time they kissed if they didn't want to be lectured about PDA by Tomoyo and Eriol.

THE END

What? No, this isn't me that you see. This is… some other girl who goes by Agent08. YOU WILL TELL NO ONE WHAT YOU'VE SEEN!

Okay, okay. I'm joking. Whatever. I was bored and I wanted to write a story, not much to say about that, eheh. But there is a lot more to say about something else: I'M TAKING STORY REQUESTS. YAYUH.

I want to write more stories. And though I have plenty ideas for myself, I want to try something new and do something for you amazing people, my readers. There are a few conditions to these story requests that you guys send in:

-Please only ask for stories that can be written as one-shots. I'LL be the one to decide if I want to turn your request into something more.
-I do NOT write lemons/limes. Not that kind of writer, y'all.
-You would be wise to ask for a SyaoranxSakura fic. Just sayin'.
-Feel free to include challenges. Go crazy.
-No garauntees I'll pick yours if you send a request. You'll be notified if I do pick yours.
-Please tell me if you want your request to remain anonymous and not be included within the Authors Notes section of the story.
-If I do end up picking your request, don't heckle me about when it will be posted/updated. I will take my sweet time with it, longer if you complain. Fo' cerealz.
-Requests will be closed when I say so. If you send one when I've stopped taking them in, well, tough luck. I'll let you know I'm thankful for it but won't be in need of it no mo'.

To send the request, send me a Private Message by way of e-mail. If for some reason you are not able to access my e-mail, feel free to send a request in the form of a review on ANY story. I check my reviews and e-mail daily, so no fear! Your request WILL be read. I also have a forum about it somewhere. Feel free to post suggestions and such there!

Hoping you guys are well and don't believe for a second that I've gone into… eugh, RETIREMENT. That'll never happen, babies ;)

Signing off,
Agent08 – My life as a secret agent xD