Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest ❯ Sakura's Fantastic Dance ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Chapter 8: Sakura's Fantastic Dance

~~~~~Tokyo, Japan~~~~~

"I'm worried about Tomoyo-san you guys," said Ukyo as she looked towards Tomoyo's closed bedroom door from where she was sitting with the rest of her roommates.

"She has been working awfully hard in there these past few days," agreed Minako. The four girls all looked to the door and thought back to the day after the school's first soccer game.

~~~~~Flashback to Saturday; Five Days Earlier~~~~~

"Happy Birthday, Ami-san," said Syaoran calmly as the couple sat alone in one of the nicer restaurants in Tokyo. The entire gang had had a small party earlier in the day. They had originally wanted to all take Ami out to dinner for her birthday, but Syaoran had asked if they could do the group party earlier in the day, because he had something special planned for that night. At first the others had been a little dejected at not being able to spend the time with their roommate and friend, but they all understood why Syaoran wanted to be alone with her.

"Arigato, Syaoran-kun," responded Ami as she slowly reached forward to grasp the beautiful green felt box Syaoran was holding out to her. She slowly opened it, and audibly gasped when she caught sight of the contents. "I-It's beautiful," she stuttered as she carefully pulled out the necklace from inside the box. The necklace was a very thin sparkling silver chain with a gorgeous shining diamond set in the center. The diamond had a very faint sky blue tint to it, giving it a beautiful ice effect which only magnified its radiance. "I-I-I don't think I can accept this," Ami said as she continued to stare at the masterpiece of jewelry. "It's too much."

Syaoran chuckled at his beautiful girlfriend and walked around the table and kneeled next to Ami, gently taking her hand in his own. "Let me show you something," he said tenderly as he wrapped his own hand around Ami's and slowly closed it around the diamond.

Ami, who had let her eyes close when Syaoran closed her hand around the necklace, suddenly snapped them open again. "Magic?" she asked.

Syaoran grinned. "Just a little. You'll see." He then opened his hand from around Ami's, gently motioning for her to do the same. When Ami opened her hand she looked back down at the diamond and was amazed to see it glowing, ever so slightly, the same pale ice blue color as the diamond itself. Ami could just barely distinguish a small symbol that seemed to have appeared in blue in the center of the diamond. After taking a closer look, Ami gasped when she realized that it was her Senshi symbol in the center of the diamond. "It is activated by your magical aura," explained Syaoran. "As long as you are wearing it, the small Mercury symbol will always be there."

Ami didn't know what to say. It was the most beautiful and thoughtful gift she had ever received in her entire life. Ami just closed both her hands around her personalized diamond, closed her eyes, and held it close to her heart. She could feel the slight lingering of Syaoran's magic aura on the diamond, and felt it very reassuring to know that whenever she wore the necklace she would always be able to feel Syaoran nearby. Ami opened her eyes and stood up, bringing Syaoran up with her. She then pulled Syaoran into a close embrace and gently whispered in his ear, "Arigato, Syaoran-kun. I love it." Ami then lightly released from the embrace and tilted her head up. She slowly lifted her head closer to his, until her own soft, pale pink lips lightly brushed against his. When their lips touched, a spark of magic was sent through both of them as their magical auras mingled together. The couple deepened their kiss until they were holding each other tightly and the outside world had all but disappeared.

When Syaoran and Ami had arrived back at the dorms, all eight of the others were waiting inside the girls' suite. They could all tell that something had happened between Ami and Syaoran, as the couple walked into room seemingly on cloud nine, without a single problem in the world. "How was your date Ami-chan?" chided Minako when Ami and Syaoran came into the room.

Ami blushed a little as she thought back to the kiss she and Syaoran had shared at dinner. "It was very nice," she finally said in a very soft voice. Everyone else giggled very softly, causing Ami's blush to redden even more.

"Anyway," interrupted Minako. "We just wanted to tell you that an announcement was made saying that next Saturday there is going to be a freshmen dance. It is semi-formal and supposedly it is for freshmen only, but in recent years a number of upper-classmen always crash the dance."

"Will you be my date for the dance next week?" asked Syaoran in as sweet a voice as he could manage.

"Hai!" said Ami with a bright smile. She then jumped up and kissed in on the lips, forgetting for a second that everyone else was there and looking at them. When she realized what she did, Ami started to blush furiously as the other four girls giggled and came up to give her a big group hug.

~~~~~End Flashback~~~~~

"You are sure Tomoyo-san wants to make all five of our dresses?" asked Ami.

"Hai. I know she is working real hard, but I'm sure she is loving every minute of it," said Sakura.

When all the girls had announced that they were all going to the dance, Tomoyo had quickly said that she was going to design each and every one of their dresses. The other girls had been skeptical at first, but Sakura quickly assured them that when it came to formal dresses and such, Tomoyo was one of the best fashion designers there was. The girls had all offered to help, but Tomoyo had insisted that she wanted to make them by herself and surprise them all when they were finished. The only things Tomoyo wanted the girls for was to get their measurements to make sure the dresses would fit perfectly. After she had done that, Tomoyo had gone into her room and locked the door and made sure that none of the other girls could get in and sneak a peak at her new masterpieces.

The morning of the big dance eventually arrived and Sakura, Ukyo, Minako, and Ami were all up extra early in anticipation. They were all looking forward to the dance, but at the moment they were also all anxiously waiting to see Tomoyo's dresses. The night before she had come out of her room and told them all that their dresses would be ready in the morning and that they should be up early to see them and try them on and allow Tomoyo to make any last minute adjustments. She had also gone over to the guys' suite to tell them that under no circumstances were they allowed to go to the girls' suite and see the girls' dresses until that night.

The girls all jumped to their feet when Tomoyo's door opened and the lovely fashion designer walked out of her room. She was wearing her own dress already, plus she had two dresses draped over each arm. "Wow, Tomoyo-chan," gasped Sakura when she saw her friend. "You look so beautiful!"

"Just wait until you guys see your own dresses," Tomoyo said with a bright smile. Tomoyo then proceeded to hand out the four dresses she was holding to the four girls who were anxiously awaiting to see which one of the works of art was for them. Tomoyo handed a sparkling gold colored dress to Minako and a dark blue one to Ukyo. She then picked up one of the dresses from her other arm and handed it to Ami. This one was a glittering light blue color. The final dress, which was for Sakura, was a very pale pink color. The one she was wearing herself was bright red.

Down the hall, the guys' suite was strangely empty. All the guys had gone to the nearby gym to play some basketball to keep themselves from thinking about what their dates dresses were going to look like. Tomoyo had told them the night before not to even think about going to the girls' suite until it was time for them to leave. This only made them more curious as to what the girls were going to look like and it was starting to drive them insane just sitting in their room doing nothing. They were hoping to find five other guys at the gym they could play against, but it turned out that the gym was completely empty so they had to play a game amongst themselves. They ended up playing a half court game of two on three, with Syaoran and Heero against Duo, Ranma, and Eriol. The game was pretty evenly matched, so the five played for a good while without even thinking about trying to figure out what the girls' dresses were going to look like.

By the time the guys got back to their room, all they had time to do was to clean up and change into their suits before they had to meet the girls. "Hey guys. Can one of you help me with this thing?" Ranma asked sheepishly as he held out his tie.

Eriol laughed lightly to himself at Ranma's struggles before walking over and helping his new friend and roommate with his tie. Each guy was wearing a suit and tie that they either already owned or just recently purchased. Eriol was dressed in a dark blue suit with a white shirt underneath. The classic style jacket gave Eriol an even more sophisticated look than he normally possessed. His tie was a dark purple color that matched his hair and he made sure his entire outfit was in perfect position. Ranma had on a brand new charcoal gray, almost black, suit with a red shirt. Tomoyo had gone with him to buy the suit, so of course it had to look perfect. The shirt was just dark enough so that it wouldn't look tacky, yet bright enough so that it would be impossible to mistaken it for any other color. A newly tied, thanks to Eriol, tie that was the same color as the jacket, finished off the look. Duo had decided he didn't want to follow the crowd, so instead of a regular jacket and tie, he had opted for a full blown tuxedo. His tux had a jet black jacket and also a black shirt and tie. The vest he chose had a gold trim, so when worn with the jacket, the gold showed just enough to catch one's eye. Heero and Syaoran already each had suits of their own, although neither had had any reason to wear them till now. By a very strange coincidence, both guys had almost identical suits. They both had black jackets, ties, and slacks that were of the exact same style. The only difference was their shirts. Both the shirts were made of a material that darkened from certain angles and looked more colorful from another. Syaoran's shirt was a very dark green, his favorite color, while Heero's was a very dark red color.

When the time came, all five guys walked the short distance to the girls' suite. After knocking on the door, they heard Tomoyo's voice from inside telling them the door was open. After shrugging to each other, the guys opened the door and proceeded to go inside. When the guys got inside, they quickly saw why Tomoyo had told them to come in, instead of opening the door. Standing in a row in their new dresses were Ukyo, Minako, Tomoyo, and Ami. The guys could only gasp at the sight in front of them. Tomoyo had really outdone herself this time and had designed some of the most beautiful dresses ever seen.

Ukyo was wearing a stunning dark blue dress that form fit to her body just perfectly. The fabric was a shiny material that when hit indirectly by light, caused the dress to look like it was glowing. The top of the dress was just low enough to show Ukyo's slender neck, but not so low that it showed any cleavage. The back of the dress was much lower cut than the front. It was open down to the small of her back and showed a large amount of Ukyo's smooth skin. It was held up by very thin spaghetti straps that crossed behind her back and over her bare skin. The dress went down almost to the floor. It was tight fitting down the top half of her legs and ever so slightly loosened as it got towards the bottom. There was a long slit along the left side that went up to about halfway between her knee and her waist. She had a matching pair of heels that crossed over the top of her foot, leaving her toes and ankle uncovered as well as a pair of matching long gloves.

Minako had on a gorgeous sparkling gold dress. The material made the dress look like it was made almost entirely of sequins, causing it to light up whenever a ray of light was anywhere nearby. Her dress had a very low cut V-neck in front, showing a lot of Minako's soft perfect skin. The straps on Minako's dress were considerably thicker than Ukyo's and met in another V-shape at the small of Minako's back. Her dress wasn't floor length, instead stopping just short of the top of her knees. The top and bottom of the dress hugged Minako's curvaceous form, accentuating every aspect of her beauty. A pair of open toe heels added to the supermodel effect. Minako had kept her hair down, letting the long blonde stands flow freely down one shoulder and creating a perfect contrast to her bright blue eyes. The outfit was completed with a pair of elbow length gold gloves.

Tomoyo's dress was a bright red color. She had purposely picked out the red shirt for Ranma so that it would match the red dress she had been designing for herself. Tomoyo's dress wasn't made of any type of shiny material like the others, since it was bright red she figured it would be overkill to have it sparkle as well. Tomoyo's dress was held up by a strap that went around her neck and flowed out into the front. The front of the dress was based around the center and hugged the curves of Tomoyo's body and went under her arms, meeting in the back about halfway up. This allowed the pale skin of Tomoyo's entire shoulders and upper back to be shown. Like Minako, Tomoyo also had a short dress that stopped just above her knees, and had on a pair of red close toed heels. Her long hair was up, and curled slightly, to allow her back and shoulders to remain uncovered.

Ami was wearing a sparkling ice blue dress. The mixture between blue and white sparkles gave her an almost angelic effect. Like all the others, the top was perfectly fitted to her body. Ami really had to commend Tomoyo on her excellence when it came to making the dresses. Not only were all the dresses exceptionally beautiful, they all fit almost perfectly before she had even done the alterations. It had only taken Tomoyo a few minutes on each dress to get them to fit perfectly on the bodies of her new roommates. The front of Ami's dress was of a similar style to Ukyo's, with the curved low cut neckline. It was a little lower than Ukyo's dress, which made Ami blush a little at first since it showed the very top of her breasts and she wasn't used to showing much skin. Her dress also had the same very thin spaghetti straps that Ukyo's had, but since hers were white in color, they were almost invisible against her silky skin. The straps didn't cross in the back, but instead met the back of the dress just below her shoulder blades. The bottom of her dress wasn't as tight fitting as the top. Instead it started to loosen just below her waist and flowed out until it just barely grazed the floor when she was wearing her heels. Tomoyo had chosen the color of Ami's dress to purposely match the necklace Syaoran had given for her for her birthday. The faint glow of the light blue diamond hanging from Ami's neck was the perfect accessory to the sparkling blue of the dress.

All the guys greatly complimented Tomoyo on the dresses and expressed their admiration of how beautiful their dates looked, except for Heero. Heero was confused more than anything. "Umm," he started. "Where's Sakura?" The girls all got a very surprised look on their faces and started to point down the line towards Ami's end, when they noticed that Sakura wasn't there. It was right when Heero saw the girls surprised looks that he noticed the very bottom of a dress behind the line of girls. "I know you are back there, Sakura-san," said Heero sweetly through his mind.

Everyone heard the audible "Eep!" that came out of Sakura's mouth from the surprise of Heero saying that he had seen her. When the girls heard the noise behind them, they all turned around to see Sakura, slightly crouching, hiding behind them to keep from being seen.

"Sakura-chan!" all the girls scolded when they saw her.

Sakura started to blush furiously when the other girls saw her. "I am embarrassed!" she finally said when all the girl continued to look at her hiding form.

All the girls sighed and then proceeded to pick up Sakura and pull her in front of them so Heero could see her dress. Sakura continued to blush as she stood with her hands clasped together in front of her and her head looking down towards the ground. Sakura's dress was one of the best dresses Tomoyo had ever designed. The reason Sakura was so embarrassed was because the dress was completely strapless, but was made of a slightly stronger material to make sure it stayed up. The front was cut to just above Sakura's breast line, and it continued down her sides until it met the back of the dress which was just above Sakura's waist. The bottom of the dress was much like Ami's, in that it flowed down elegantly down Sakura's legs and reached just above the floor when Sakura was wearing her heels. While the top was made of the slightly stiff material to make sure it stayed on, the bottom was made of a thinner material, allowing it to sway just slightly when Sakura walked. The entire dress was a very pale pink color, that sparkled just enough in the light to allow the color to show. It looked striking against her creamy skin and her bright emerald eyes.

"So how does she look, Yuy-kun?" Tomoyo asked.

In Heero's mind, for a brief moment, everything around Sakura seemed to disappear. Her sheer beauty had captivated him and he barely heard Tomoyo's question. "She looks like a goddess," Heero thought to himself. He had completely forgotten that Sakura could hear what he thought, but when he saw her blush deepen when she looked up at him, the fact quickly reasserted itself and Heero's face turned just the slightest shade of red. Heero eventually recovered from his spaced out state and answered Tomoyo. "She looks beautiful."

"Arigato, Heero-kun," responded Sakura with a smile.

"We also have something for each of you," stated Duo as he pulled a single rose from behind his back and gave it to Minako. The rose was a beautiful yellow color that gradually turned orange and then red as it got closer to the top. Eriol pulled out a very rare purple rose, which he gave to Ukyo, and Ranma pulled out a bright red rose for Tomoyo. Syaoran also had a rose, which he gave to Ami, that was white at the base and gradually turned a pretty sky blue color as it got to the tip.

Heero was the only guy without a rose for his date. Instead he pulled out a small black velvet box and handed it to Sakura. "I was hoping you would wear this tonight," he said as sweetly as he could.

Sakura opened the box to find a beautiful diamond necklace, not unlike the one Syaoran had given to Ami a week ago. The small diamond was perfectly clear and was mounted on a thin silver chain. Sakura took it out of the box and clasped her hand around the striking piece of jewelry before opening her hand and looking back at it. She was surprised to see that it had changed color slightly, and now held a very faint pink hue to it. Once again she clasped it in her hand and held it close to her heart. "Arigato, Heero-kun. It's beautiful." Heero took the necklace out of her hand and very gently placed it on her neck. Once the necklace was attached, Sakura turned around and pulled Heero into a very tight embrace.

After what seemed like an eternity to the other couples, who had long ago finished saying their greetings and compliments, Heero and Sakura finally let go of their embrace. They didn't move too much however, until Duo interrupted their moment. "Alright you two lovebirds," he chided. "We've got to go, otherwise we'll be late." The interruption was obviously not welcome by Heero, who gave Duo another one of his death states to indicate his annoyance at the Gundam pilot's bad timing.

As the five couples all left arm in arm, Sakura sent to Heero telepathically, "I love the necklace. It's absolutely beautiful."

"It's only beautiful because you are wearing it." Sakura blushed a little before resting her head on Heero's shoulder as the group of ten made their way to the dance.

"Welcome everybody," announced the DJ from inside the large dance hall inside one of Tokyo's nicest hotels. "I hope you all are having a great time!" The students all responded to this with a mixture of clapping and yelling out back towards the stage. "I just wanted to announce that we will be having a contest of who is the best couple here tonight. The winning couple will have one entire dance just to themselves, so everyone please vote at the front table for who you think is the best couple!" His announcement done, the DJ then put on the first slow jam track of the night to allow the various couples to dance close with one another.

"May I have the honor of this dance my lady?" asked Eriol to Ukyo in as chivalrous of a voice as he could manage while keeping his trademark smirk on his face.

Ukyo couldn't help but laugh at Eriol's over the top theatrics. "Of course kind sir," she responded after gaining control of her laughter. Eriol took Ukyo's hand in his own, and gave it a gentle kiss before leading his girlfriend onto the dance floor.

They were soon followed by Syaoran and Ami, and Duo and Minako. As Sakura and Heero also started toward the dance floor, Sakura turned around to talk to her best friend. "Aren't you two going to the dance floor, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Nope. We are going to go vote for the cutest couple," she said with a grin. "I bet you can guess who we are going to vote for." Tomoyo gave Sakura a little nudge with her elbow, making Sakura blush at the insinuation that she and Heero were the best couple at the dance. Tomoyo laughed again at her cute blushing friend before making her way to the voting table with Ranma following closely behind.

"Shall we?" Heero asked as he held out his hand for Sakura. She just smiled and nodded to Heero as she carefully led her to an open spot on the dance floor. As soon as they found an acceptable open spot on the dance floor, Sakura wrapped her arms securely around Heero's neck, while he placed his hands gently on her waist. The couple held each other close, with Sakura resting her head in between Heero's neck and shoulder and swayed slowly from side to side to the rhythm of the music.

"By the way, Heero-kun," said Sakura telepathically so that she wouldn't have to move from her comfortable spot in Heero's arms. "How did you make the diamond turn pink when I touched it?"

The corner of Heero's mouth turned up into a small grin even though Sakura couldn't see it from her position of resting on his shoulder. "It is actually a rare diamond that can only be found in one country in the world. It changes to a different color based on a person's body heat and personal chemicals. There are only about a hundred such diamonds in the world, since they have only been found so far in the Sanc Kingdom. Many people have wanted to build mines in the kingdom to find more of these diamonds, but Princess Relena has denied all requests for more mines, insisting she wanted to keep the country's beautiful landscape in tact."

Sakura loosened their embrace slightly and fingered the diamond around her neck. "Only one hundred in the entire world?" she thought to herself in amazement.

"Let me show you what it can do," whispered Heero as he took the diamond between his own fingers. He closed his fingers around the pale pink colored stone, and when he released them after a moment, the diamond had turned back to its original colorless state. "While your presence makes the diamond turn that cute pinkish color, I apparently cause it to become colorless. If someone else touches it, it will probably turn another color. If you want to see what other colors it can turn, you can always ask Daidouji-san; I'm sure she'd be happy to help."

Sakura just smiled at Heero and took her diamond back into her own hand, changing it back to the light pink color it was before. That done, she cuddled her way back under Heero's chin and the couple started to dance, holding each other close, once again.

A few feet away from Heero and Sakura, Duo and Minako were slowing rocking back and forth to the tune of the music together. While Heero and Sakura were dancing so close together it looked as if they were connected at the hip, Duo and Minako had a little space between the two of their bodies. The reason for this was because while they were dancing, they were also engaged in a very long, very passionate kiss. A number of students continuously glanced in their direction, some marveling at their ability to go for so long without air, some wishing they could be the one kissing one of the two attractive students, and some feeling that such a public display of affection was quite inappropriate. Neither had ever had problems being the center of attention so neither Minako nor Duo cared even the slightest bit about the other students around them, and continued doing whatever happened to please them. When the first slow song of the night came to an end, so did Duo and Minako's kiss.

"You know," said Duo as he pulled away from Minako just far enough so he could get a good look at her beautiful dress and gorgeous body. "You really do look amazing tonight."

While her fellow Senshi, Ami, and her new roommate, Sakura, would both have been blushing furiously from such a comment, Minako relished in the attention. Giving Duo a bright smile, she pulled back a little farther and then did a quick twirl to give Duo a perfect view of her entire body. "Well you are looking pretty good yourself," said Minako as she lightly fingered the lapel of Duo's tuxedo. "I think you might be the only one here in a tux."

Duo just grinned at her and said, "I didn't want to follow the crowd."

Minako just grinned back at the joking Gundam pilot and as the next slow song started, wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him another long kiss on the lips. For the majority of the rest of the song, the couple mutually decided to just dance and save the make-out session for a little later. As they held each other close and danced the song away, Minako would continuously play with Duo's long braid. She had always thought guys looked hot with long hair, as long as it was properly maintained and styled, and she felt Duo's long braided pony-tail was perfect for him. For Duo, Minako's looks really didn't matter. Not that he was saying she wasn't absolutely gorgeous, especially in that stunning gold dress, but he had been most attracted to her personality. He knew for a fact that there were very few people with a similar personality to his own, and was excited to find that Minako was just like he was. They both loved being the center of attention, and always tried making anything serious into something fun. He always felt completely at ease with her, and had no problems just being himself when in her presence.

Another couple, on the other end of the dance floor, was almost the complete opposite of Duo and Minako. If there was anyone who had known both Eriol and Ukyo before they had gotten together, they would have never thought in a million years that they would be right for each other. And yet, despite the fact that their personalities were almost polar opposites of each other, they ended up making quite a nice couple. Granted, they made a nice couple because they both had changed slightly when they had gotten together, but for the most part they were still their same old selves. They did have one personality trait in common with each other however, and that was that they each had someone in their lives they just loved to torment. In Eriol's case it was Syaoran. The descendant of Clow Reed was just so easy to torture, and his reactions to just the most rudimentary of pranks amused the sorcerer reincarnate to no end. As for Ukyo, she had long ago found out how much fun it could be to torment Ranma. Ever since they had reasoned that they weren't really meant to be together as husband and wife, they had come together to become even better of friends. What Ukyo had quickly learned, was that messing around with Ranma's curse could be the perfect medicine to any type of depressed feeling she could be having. To just see his face when she made him change into a girl at the exact wrong time was priceless for the okinomiyaki chef. Ever since they had gotten together, neither Ukyo or Eriol had really felt the need to play jokes on Ranma and Syaoran, but they always made sure to do something to them every once in a while, just to keep their tormenting skills in tip top shape.

As for how the couple was when they were around each other, they got along great despite their different lifestyles. Eriol found it particularly relieving to be with a girl that wasn't raised to be the extra proper, extra polite type. The only girls that he was ever around in England were always overly dainty and eventually it had started to get on his nerves. That was one of the main reasons Eriol had wanted to go to Japan for University, and was quite satisfied that he had found Ukyo so quickly. Ukyo, on the other hand, liked Eriol because he was so polite and chivalrous. She had never had a guy treat her like a real woman and it really made her feel good inside to know that Eriol saw her just as a pretty girl and not a tomboy. All the guys she had known before Eriol had always treated her as `one of the boys' and never as a girl. She had never said anything, but she had always wished in her heart for some prince on a white horse to come and sweep her off her feet, just like in those sappy romance novels.

Back in present times, Ukyo and Eriol were dancing together happily, although not as gracefully as some of the other couples. This was mostly because of Ukyo, since she was not used to wearing heels or such elegant clothing. Eriol was trying his best to help Ukyo learn to move fluidly in her high heels and tight fitting dress and was slowly making progress. He didn't mind even a little that she was having so many troubles. In fact, he was enjoying himself more, trying to teach her how to get used to her clothing than he ever did with girls who had already perfected the gracefulness department. Whenever Ukyo started to trip over her own feet, Eriol would always catch her, and every time Eriol would catch her, Ukyo would reward him with a quick kiss on the lips. By the time the night was only a quarter over, Eriol caught himself unconsciously using his magic every once in a while to make Ukyo start to slip, just so he could catch her and get his prize. Although she couldn't sense the magic Eriol was using, the fact that he was causing her to slip didn't go unnoticed by Ukyo, but instead of getting angry like some girls would, she just played along and always gave Eriol his prize for catching her. The couple had a great time just fooling around and dancing together, which caused the night to pass very quickly for them both.

Ranma and Tomoyo was another couple some thought seemed quite random. The two did have a little more in common than Ukyo and Eriol, but not by much. Tomoyo was always very much a girl among girls, and Ranma was always trying to be a man among men, except of course when he was turned into a girl. At first, Ranma's curse had been what brought the two together. For the first time in his life, Ranma wasn't angry that he had fallen into the Nyannichuan, but instead he was almost glad. Never in his life had he met anyone who didn't think he was a freak for turning into a girl, until he met Tomoyo. She was definitely very cute, but the main thing that attracted him to her was that she liked him in both boy and girl form. From Tomoyo's point of view, she was always looking for a guy who was different than the pack. She didn't want just another guy that you could find an almost exact replica of just by looking down the street, so when she met Ranma and found out that he turned into a girl when splashed with water; she knew right away that he would be anything but normal. She found out later that there were more original things about Ranma other than his curse, but at first, it was the curse that had her hooked. It was also a plus that he turned into a girl because it presented quite a fashion challenge for her. Everyone who knew Tomoyo knew that she loved to design fashion. When she saw that Ranma changed from one sex to the other, she decided to make it her mission to design some type of clothing for him that will look good on both his male form and his female form. As of yet, she was still unsuccessful, but she kept trying anyway.

While they got together by unusual means, they stayed together for reasons that were much more normal by most people's standards. As it turned out, the two really did enjoy spending time together. They never felt uncomfortable around one another and always had something to talk about. Ranma accepted, and actually found most amusing, Tomoyo's obsession with capturing Sakura's cutest moments on tape as well as her passion about fashion designing. Even at that moment, Ranma was assisting Tomoyo in capturing Heero and Sakura dancing on tape, and even though he wasn't holding his girlfriend like the rest of his roommates were doing, he was still enjoying ever minute of the dance.

There did come a point, eventually, when Tomoyo decided that it was more important to dance with her boyfriend than to tape her best friend. When that time came, the couple held each other very closely, with Tomoyo resting her head against Ranma's shoulder. Every once in a while they would separate to give them enough room to either give or receive a short, but passionate kiss. The first time Ranma and Tomoyo had kissed was actually by accident. They had been sneaking around, trying to tape Sakura, when Tomoyo tripped over something on the street. Ranma, who had been standing next to her, noticed her falling, and quickly tried to catch her. The end result was that Ranma ended up between Tomoyo and the pavement, and Tomoyo had fallen far and fast enough so that their lips were touching while lying on the ground. Surprised at first, Tomoyo had quickly lifter her head so that their lips were no longer touching, but soon after, she found herself lowering her head once again and giving her boyfriend a long, tender kiss. The two held their kiss for a good while, until someone had tapped Tomoyo on the shoulder, causing her to break from the lip lock and look up. It turned out to be Sakura who had tapped Tomoyo on the shoulder, since she had noticed her best friend following her with her camera and had seen her almost trip and fall. Sakura had been relieved to see that Ranma had kept Tomoyo from getting hurt and then had been both surprised and slightly embarrassed when she saw the two of them start to kiss while lying on the ground in the middle of the sidewalk. She had quickly walked up and tapped Tomoyo on the shoulder because other people on the street had started staring and Sakura wasn't sure if Tomoyo and Ranma had really wanted to make a scene.

Duo and Minako were not the only couple that seemed to be a perfect match. Duo and Minako were much more outgoing, making the couple a lot more noticeable, but it was still clear that Ami and Syaoran also made quite a nice couple. They were both quiet most of the time, but still sociable when they were among friends. Both were also above average in smarts, and despite the fact that they often joked with others, they were still frequently thought to be a little too serious. Their timid natures had at first caused their relationship to move forward a little slower than couples such as Duo and Minako, and Ranma and Tomoyo, but as time went by; their comfort around each other soon overcame their natural shyness.

Many people back in high school had thought that Syaoran and Sakura should have gotten together long ago, but it had never actually happened. Everyone knew that they both liked each other ever since elementary school and numerous attempts had been made to get them to admit their feelings towards one another. However, both Syaoran and Sakura had both known somewhere deep in their hearts that they were just not meant to be. They loved being around each other and had been great friends all through high school, but they always felt it wasn't right for them to take their relationship any farther than friendship.

"That dress really does look beautiful on you Ami-san," complimented Syaoran as he held his girlfriend close on the dance floor.

Ami blushed a faint shade of red, like she always did whenever Syaoran gave her a compliment, before giving him a gentle hug. "Arigato, Syaoran-kun. That is a very handsome suit as well." As she complimented Syaoran's suit, she also thought back to when all five guys had walked into their suite to pick the girls up for the dance. What came to mind made her giggle ever so slightly, but just loud enough so that Syaoran took notice and gave her a questioning look. "I was just remembering what you guys looked like when you walked into our room to pick us up. I hadn't really thought about it earlier, but you and Heero-kun are dressed almost the same again, aren't you?"

Syaoran's eyes kind of rolled back in his head slightly at the mention of his similar style of dress as Heero. A very large number of jokes, mostly by Eriol and Duo, had been constantly made about Heero and Syaoran's apparent tendency to wear very similar outfits at the same time as one another. Even without dressing the same, Syaoran and Heero were already very much alike, but when they dressed the same as well, it just made them a prime target for ridicule.

Ami saw Syaoran's reaction to her comment and tried, but failed, to contain a giggle. However, to make sure that Syaoran wouldn't get mad at her for laughing at him, she pulled him into a very quick hug and kiss. "I think its cute when the two of you dress alike. I'm pretty sure Sakura-chan agrees with me." Syaoran just sighed, accepting the inevitable and very gently pulled Ami back in close and began dancing again, with her still giggling into his shoulder.

At the end of the song, Ami felt a tap on her shoulder from behind. "We are going to go for a short walk since it is really hot in here," said Sakura from her position in Heero's arms. "You two want to join us?"

Ami looked up at Syaoran who cocked his head indicating it was her decision. "Sure. We'd love to."

Sakura smiled happily as she and Heero led the other couple out the back door and into the small park attached to the hotel. A few minutes of walking down the path, Heero looked back over his shoulder to Ami. "That dress looks beautiful on you, Ami-san."

Ami blushed a little at Heero's compliment, although her face didn't turn near as red as when Syaoran would give compliments to her. "Arigato, Heero-kun."

"You're looking quite lovely as well, Sakura," added Syaoran with a smile. Since Sakura had been such good friends with Syaoran for so long, she no longer blushed at his compliments, but instead gave him a bright smile and a friendly hug of thanks.

"So have you two been having fun?" asked Sakura to Ami and Syaoran as she grasped back onto Heero's arm.

"Hai!" exclaimed Ami happily. "I don't think I've ever had so much fun at a dance before." Ami had gone to all the dances during high school with the rest of her friends, and had even had a date for one or two of them, but had always felt uncomfortable and out of place. This time she was with Syaoran, and she felt like there was nowhere that she belonged more. "So who do you think will be voted as the best couple at the dance?"

Sakura put her hand on her chin and scrunched her brow, obviously deep in thought. Heero couldn't help but smile at the cute face Sakura was making while thinking so hard. "Hmm, I think that Minako-san and Duo-kun are the more noticeable of the couples at the dance, so I think they will win."

"Maybe," commented Ami. "But I think Tomoyo-san and Ranma-kun will win. They stand out just enough to get people's attention, but also look so cute together that I think they will get more votes."

"I don't think so," responded Syaoran as kindly as he could. "If I know Tomoyo-san, she will do everything in her power to make sure that Sakura would win before she would." Syaoran's comment made Sakura blush as she thought about her best friend's obsession with her cuteness.

"What about you, Heero-kun?" asked Ami. "Who do you think you will vote for?"

"I'd have to agree with Sakura-san," said Heero. "Duo and Aino-san both like the spotlight so much that they should win."

Sakura smiled up at Heero out of happiness that he agreed with her about her assessment of the best couples contest. "Well, we have been gone for a while. You guys ready to go back?" Sakura was answered with a nod from the other three present and then the two couples headed back toward the dance.

As soon as Sakura and Heero walked through the door, they heard a voice they had hoped not to hear for a long time. "Hey babe. Looking good. How about you ditch that loser Yuy and come get freaky with me on the dance floor."

"What are you doing here, Katsaguri?" said Heero as calmly as he could manage, even though he was steaming mad that Tohru had shown up.

Tohru grinned at Heero, right before he pushed his shoulder, forcing him to take a small step back to keep himself from falling backwards. In that split second where Heero had to remove his arm from around Sakura's waist, Tohru stepped in and brought Sakura right into his own body. "I'm giving the babe a chance to be with a real man."

As Heero saw the most important girl he had ever met trying to push the much larger guy off of her with all her might, all of his previous restraint completely disappeared. In a slightly violent move, Heero shot is arm out and grasped Tohru right around his throat. Displaying an enormous amount of strength that it didn't look like he possessed, Heero picked the much larger man up by his neck and lifted him a good few inches up off the floor. "I'll tell you for the last time," Heero growled in a voice that would probably turn a pure flame into ice. "Leave us alone."

It wasn't until Sakura finished recovering from Tohru's tight grasp he had on her, that she noticed the dangerous stranglehold Heero had on the upper-classman. "Heero-kun. Please don't hurt him," she said quietly into Heero ear. "I don't like him any more than you do," she added telepathically, "but I don't want to see you get in trouble for hurting him." "I'm fine really. Please put him down, Heero-kun."

Hearing Sakura's sweet voice brought Heero out of his state of pure rage and he slowly dropped Tohru back to the ground. After releasing his hand from Tohru's neck he turned back to Sakura with a look of shame in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sakura-san," he said quietly as he pulled her into a light embrace. "You're right. It's just that, I saw you in trouble and I just snapped."

"It's okay," soothed Sakura as she tightened the embrace with Heero. "Let's go over there," she said when she spotted where Ukyo, Eriol, Duo, Minako, Ranma, and Tomoyo were standing and talking together. Heero just nodded and they, along with Ami and Syaoran, headed over to join the rest of their friends, leaving a still gasping Tohru on his knees on the ground.

The next couple hours of the dance went smoothly and without incident, allowing Sakura and Heero to almost forget that Tohru had even been there at all. There were a couple occasions when Tomoyo had been a little too aggressive with her videotaping, embarrassing the couple, but nothing serious. Basically, the couple spent the entire time either dancing or sitting down talking until they heard the DJ begin to speak over the speakers. "Alright everyone! I hope you are all having a blast of a time!" The DJ's statement was answered with a frenzy of shouts and claps indicating they were all indeed enjoying themselves. "Well, now is the time you have all been waiting for. We have tallied up all your votes and have determined who the best couple at the dance is!" This announcement was again followed by cheers and clapping by the students as they eagerly awaited the results. "I have been the DJ for this dance for the past five years, but never have I had a competition as close as this. We had three couples, all neck in neck to win the title of best couple, and the race was so close that instead of having a dance only for the winning couple, I have decided to have all three dance together." This time there was surprise on the faces of the freshmen present. They hadn't expected a tie, and were now quite anxious to find out who not only the winner was, but the two runners up as well. "In third place, only two votes shy of the second place couple, is Li Syaoran and Mizuno Ami!"

A spotlight appeared from the ceiling and was directed straight on the couple, as others backed out of the way to make sure they weren't in the scene where they didn't belong. Those closest to the couple could easily see the blush starting to creep across their faces as they shyly began walking toward the open center of the dance floor. "Are you as surprised as I am?" Syaoran quietly whispered in Ami's ear. Ami was so nervous at being the center of attention that she could only nod slowly to answer Syaoran.

"Now for the second place couple." The DJ paused for a second to get everyone's attention before he continued. "A mere three votes shy of winning, Aino Minako and Duo Maxwell!" Duo and Minako's reaction to the news was almost the exact opposite from Syaoran and Ami. As soon as they heard their names called, they turned to each other for a very long and passionate kiss while the rest of the crowd clapped and hooted at the sight. When Duo and Minako finally broke their kiss and proceeded to the center the DJ spoke up again. "Now, for the moment you have all been waiting for. Your best couple of the night… Kinomoto Sakura and Heero Yuy!"

As soon as the couple was announced a very loud scream of excitement was heard throughout the room. To everyone's surprise, the outburst hadn't come from the winning girl, but instead from a long, dark haired girl standing right next to her with a video camera in hand. Sakura blushed a very deep shade of red, more from the outburst made by her best friend than from the news of being the best couple with Heero. Heero, calm and relaxed like always, gently offered his arm to Sakura and led her to the center of the dance floor where their friends were waiting.

"This will be the second to the last dance of the evening, but for now, I want everyone to please give all your attention to your three best couples of the night!" His final speech made, the DJ turned off all the lights except the lights caused by the rotating disco ball at the top of the room and the three spotlights on each of the couples in the center of the floor. He then put on a beautiful slow song and watched as the three couples came together, each holding tightly to one another and dancing with the slow and steady beat of the song.

"You surprised we won?" Sakura asked Heero as the couple danced slow and content.

"Hai. But I can't complain, for it means I get one more dance to spend holding you."

Sakura blushed again at Heero's answer to her question, but luckily since her face was resting on Heero's shoulder and against his chin, it went unnoticed by everyone. The end of the song was a very smooth transition into the last song of the night. So smooth in fact, that the three best couples never even separated and just continued to dance as the last song began, with the other couples in the room all finding their places around them. Heero noticed that when the last song of the night started, Ukyo and Eriol found a place on the dance floor very near where Syaoran and Ami were dancing, while Ranma and Tomoyo had found a place right near Sakura and himself. Tomoyo even gave him a wink when she walked past and Heero could see that even she wanted to spend the time dancing with Ranma and not looking for an opportunity to videotape him and Sakura.

When there was only about a minute left in the last song of the night, Heero pulled back slightly from Sakura. When Sakura felt her boyfriend pull away a little, she looked up to him with a puzzled expression on her face. Heero couldn't help but smile as he thought about how cute she looked at that moment. "I just wanted to tell you that I had a great time tonight," he began. "And there is something I've wanted to do for a long time, but wanted to wait for the perfect moment to do it." Sakura still had the puzzled look on her face, obviously not understanding what Heero meant. In response, Heero just smiled and placed a hand gently against her cheek. He then leaned in and closed his eyes as he made contact with Sakura's soft and gentle lips. Taken by surprise at first, Sakura didn't know how to respond. But she quickly overcame her shock and wrapped her hands around Heero's neck and kissed him back. As soon as he felt Sakura kissing him back, Heero pulled the girl in close to him and wrapped his arms around her back and just enjoyed the feeling of Sakura's lips being pressed against his. Kissing Heero was sending a most enjoyable warm feeling coursing through Sakura's body and she stood up on her tip toes to deepen the passionate kiss as much as she possibly could. The final song of the night ended at the exact same moment as Heero and Sakura's first kiss. They broke apart, but still kept their faces mere millimeters apart, completely spaced out, looking deep into each others eyes.

"Tonight was one of the best nights of my life," Sakura whispered Heero as she stared into his deep blue eyes. Heero and Sakura's lips met once again, and the two finished off the best night of their lives locked in each others arms.