Written by: Sakura_Kinomoto
57. Sakura, Syaoran, and the Elevator
Syaoran is practicing with his sword in his room. He pauses and looks at the bear he made. For some reason, Sakura appears in his mind and he can't understand it at all. The next day at school, Rika tells Sakura about a teddy bear show and Sakura is excited to go. Tomoyo and Eriol are going to go with her. Syaoran walks in, sees Sakura talk to Eriol, and has a bit of a jealous fit, not going unnoticed by Tomoyo. As he walks, fuming, to his desk, Sakura asks Syaoran if he's going to go. Syaoran stammers out yes and Sakura is excited. Throughout the school day, Syaoran has Sakura in his mind, from gym class, to music, to math.
After school, Syaoran sees Sakura with Tomoyo and Sakura is very excited about the upcoming bear show. As Syaoran watches her with a blush, Eriol suddenly comments that Sakura is cute, causing Syaoran to blush even more and run away. Eriol immediately understands and thinks of a new plan. Because he was running and not paying attention, Syaoran bumps into Yukito and Yukito ends up taking him shopping. Yukito was going to go to the Kinomotos and he wanted to make cookies to bring with him and he was looking for cookie cutters. Syaoran picks one of a teddy bear and Yukito states that Sakura likes bears very much. He then holds up two big cutters of a moon and a star. Syaoran says they're all right and Yukito mentions that Syaoran likes Sakura a lot. This made Syaoran run out of the store and to King Penguin Park. He wonders if Sakura is the one he loves.
When Syaoran goes home, he checks the phone to see if anyone called. The first message was from Sakura but she gets cut off. The second one was also from Sakura and she tells him what time they were going to meet for the show. Syaoran looks at his bear, and then plays the messages again. On the day of the bear show, Sakura, Tomoyo, Syaoran, and Eriol, go through all the events and then finish off at a café. Sakura says she wishes she had seen the show before she made her bear and Eriol slyly asks Syaoran if he finished his yet. Sakura asks if he's given his to anyone yet, but Syaoran avoids answering by saying he had to go home and leaves. He enters the elevator and Sakura immediately runs in after him, calling Eriol and Tomoyo to hurry. Eriol's hand glows and the elevator doors force themselves to close, trapping Syaoran and Sakura inside, while Tomoyo and Eriol are still outside. Tomoyo asks Eriol to get help, who obliges and runs off, looking back with a smile.
Inside the elevator, Sakura is getting worried and tears come to her eyes. Syaoran lights an ofuda and tells her not to worry, that help would be on the way. Sakura cheers up, takes out a handkerchief and sits down on it, telling Syaoran to do the same. He does; but tries to sit as far away from her as possible while the ofuda continues to light up the elevator. Sakura takes out a little bear-shaped cookie, saying that Yukito had brought a big bag of cookies last night and Kero ate all of them except this one. Syaoran declines but Sakura breaks it in half and gives it to him. Meanwhile, elsewhere, Eriol is using his magic to cause "trouble". The elevator moves a bit and Sakura stands up. But suddenly, the elevator begins to disappear piece by piece, and Sakura tumbles out. Syaoran reaches for her but isn't fast enough. The scene of Sakura dropping into nothingness replays over in Syaoran's mind. Thinking he's lost her, Syaoran shouts "Sakura", saying her name for the first time.
There's a faint glow and when Syaoran looks up, he sees Sakura smiling at him. She said she used The Float. Without saying much, Syaoran takes Sakura into his arms and hugs her. Eriol smiles from his location and his staff turns back into a key. The elevator is back to normal; the lights turn on and the doors open. Tomoyo, standing outside, sees Syaoran embracing Sakura. When the former saw Tomoyo, he immediately pulled away from Sakura and stood blushing on the other side of the elevator. Sakura, on the other hand, is excited to see her friend. Later on, when Syaoran got back home, Sakura called him and said that since Syaoran had called her "Sakura", would she be allowed to call him "Syaoran" from then on. Syaoran blushed a bit, but didn't directly answer her. Sakura said she'd him in school, beginning to use "Syaoran" instead of "Li", and hung up. Syaoran walked to his balcony, stood outside for a moment and smiled.