CardCaptor Sakura : Score

Love Is More Than Words

"Love is more black and white than we like to tell ourselves. Don't allow anyone to keep you trapped in the "promise" of the gray area. The bottom line is: If they love you, truly love you, they'll do whatever it takes to be with you. There won't be excuses or doubts or fears or hesitation. Love is action. Everything else is just words." – Mandy Hale

Chapter 20

His dribbling skills were like no other. No one could go head to head with Syaoran. His speed and ability to dribble the ball between his feet confused the opponent players to the point they couldn't quite keep up with him. It was truly a spectacle to watch him play with such ferocity as he left behind one guy while passing the ball quickly between his left and right foot. He then kicked the ball forward leaving behind a second guy by increasing his speed to reach it before anyone else could touch it. Two defenders ran in front of him trying to prevent him from advancing anymore than what he had already achieved. He looked towards the side to watch his teammates had finally caught up with him as well. Immediately he kicked the ball to the right corner to open up the play.

Eriol caught the ball and ran inside to bring the ball closer to the net. He evaded one of the defenders but saw two more waiting for him and turned around to get the ball outside once more. First half of the game had been pretty intense. They were ahead two goals to one but it had been harder than usual to score against Japan. Being inspired by playing the semi-finals of the Cup against China, Japan had come fierier than ever. Eriol passed the ball back to one of the midfielders before looking at the clock once more. Right on time, the referee blew his whistle to signal the end of the first half. He started walking back to the locker room when he felt Syaoran pat his back.

"One more half." Syaoran said.

"At this pace, we'll need a lot more to hold them off." Eriol said.

"We just have to make sure to keep going. Stay focused." Syaoran said.

Xiun joined them trying to catch his breath as they walked together. "Well, they obviously did a good job scouting us. I can't seem to get inside at all."

"We'll talk about this inside." Syaoran said. "But we'll definitely have to change our game play for the second half. We're too close for comfort."

~ o ~

Sakura took a deep breath before getting up from her seat. This game had her nerves on overdrive leaving no doubt to anyone that the fact that these two teams had faced each other countless of times was not an obstacle to bring the audience a great intensive game. Being halftime, she walked towards the bar and poured herself a glass of water. It was early in the afternoon still and she needed something to refresh and calm her nerves before the second half of the game would start.

"This game has been very tight from both side, don't you think?"

She turned around to find Oliver smiling at her.

Following her gesture, he poured himself a glass of water as well and drank from it before refilling it. He looked at her once more and said, "I do hope there are no hard feelings between us. I've enjoyed our talks during these short periods I've known you."

She took a sip of her water before replying, "I can assure you there aren't any."

"Good." He smiled satisfied with her answer. "It'd be a shame to cut communications just because of one incident."

She stared at him. In all her career as Xian's assistant she had master the art of hiding her emotions but that didn't mean she couldn't voice her thoughts on the matter. One incident...? Denying her the development of a project she wanted so badly to do didn't count as just one incident for her. Then again, she had yet to see the day an owner didn't regret his decision of not working with her. "Forgive me for saying this but I'm not quite sure there's anything else we need to discuss. You picked another person for the job and as far as I'm aware of our talks consisted of only that."