The moon has set

I do not own Card Captor Sakura

If only she had known. Oh if only she had known… she should have believed Kero Chan when he suspected Toya was onto them, maybe then it would have made a difference. But now it's too late. He's gone. Yukito is gone. While filming the end of the movie, Yukito passed out and fell off the balcony. She was able to save him with the windy card and Toya took Yukito to a private room. But he never woke up. Unbeknownst to Toya, Sakura was standing by the door, worried for Yukito's safety and wellbeing. She'll never forget her older brother trying to wake Yukito up and the hollow, faint shrieking noise when Yukito vanished completely and was erased from this world. At that moment she knew what happened. She burst in tears and ran away from the mansion. Wanting to run away from being a card captor, wanting to run away from her family, even run away from her friends…

Shaoran and Tomoyo were startled and alarmed to see Sakura run away in a flight of tears and sobbing.

Worried about her and what might have happened, Shaoran called after her.

"Sakura! What's wrong?"

"Go away! Leave me alone!" she yelled at him from afar.

Shaoran was taken aback by her reaction. He never heard her speak to anyone like that. Let alone him. In the distance he could see Sakura trip on her wooden shoes and fall to the ground. He rushed to her aid but she glared at him.

"Go away Shaoran! Leave me alone!" she yelled at him in a threatening tone.

"Sakura please, I'm trying to help," he implored.

This made her burst into an even bigger fit of tears as she got up again and ran off again. He looked at her sadly. He's never seen her like this. What could possibly torment her like such? Then he realized the horrible truth.

"Oh no…" he muttered.

"Sakura Chan!" came a voice from behind. He turned around to see Tomoyo Chan run towards him. He realized she was about to go after her, so he extended his arm to stop her.

"Don't." he said simply with a dark tone to his voice.

"Li Kun, what is going on?"

Shaoran sighed.

"Yukito's gone…" he said sadly.

Tomoyo's lip quivered slightly.

"Are… are you sure…?"

Shaoran lowered his head with his eyes shut briefly, then raised it again and opened his eyes again.

"Yes…" he said sadly. Suddenly they heard Sakura's voice in the distance.

"Jump!" she called out and they could see her leap farther away from them and away from sight.

"Poor Sakura… she mustn't blame herself for it… it's not her fault…"

"You're right." Said Shaoran decisively and started walking after her.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to find Sakura." he said and continued walking but stopped after a few steps. He looked back at her.

"Aren't you coming?" he asked. She shook her head gently.

"It's you she needs now Li. Make sure you find her and be of as much as aid and comfort as you can…" she said sadly with a sincere look in her eyes. He thought for a moment about what she meant, then he understood it. He nodded softly, turned on his heals and ran after Sakura while Tomoyo stayed behind for a while looking at him run to her aid. She stood there sadly for a while, sighed, turned around walked away.

Meanwhile Shaoran ran all over the surrounding area looking for the heartbroken girl he sought to comfort. Soon it was getting dark and he hadn't found her yet. He looked everywhere. The school grounds, the park, the bridge, Penguin Park… he even tried going to her house and rang the doorbell several times but no one answered. Shaoran walked back to the street when he saw the light turn on in Sakura's room and Kero Chan flew out.

"Where's Sakura?" he demanded.

For the first time in his life, Kero was at a loss for words. He felt awful. Not only about losing Yue but also because he never told Sakura about it.

"Where is Sakura?" demanded Shaoran again.

Kero sighed sadly as he closed his eyes. After he a few seconds he opened them again.

"I don't know where Sakura is. She sealed off her magical aura and I can't locate her. About an hour after I felt Yue disappear, I heard her brother come home sounding very upset. His father asked him what happened. He knew he couldn't lie about it so he told their father everything. About his ability to see ghosts, about Yue, us the cards, everything…"

Shaoran paled at the realization that they found out, but also found himself suppressing a small sense of relief that they don't have to sneak out anymore.

"Where is Sakura's family?" demanded Shaoran.

"They went looking for her." Kero said gravely. Shaoran sighed.

"You stay here. As soon as you hear from Sakura, call me." He instructed.

"Yeah. Good luck." Said Kero with a dark expression on his face and his arms crossed. With that Shaoran ran off and continued looking for her.

As he ran, the hours went by and so did his strength and stamina. To make matters worse, it was getting cold and he realized Sakura was out without a coat. So he ran briefly to his apartment to get his coat and an extra one for her. He also boiled some water and poured hot tea with a lot of sugar in it into a thermos, put it in a bag and darted out of the apartment. He ran and ran, searching for her calling her name; but she was nowhere to be found. Soon it was getting cloudy and it seemed like rain was about to fall. He could hear thunder clapping in the background. He hoped he would find Sakura before she gets caught in the rain…

At about eleven PM, he passed by an old closed down cinema. It was then that he heard the sound he hated the most: Sakura crying. He stopped suddenly to catch his breath as it started to rain. It looked like he was just in time. He walked gently towards the sound of her crying. He found her curled up beside an old dumpster and to his sadness and horror, she was still crying. Yet to his relief, she was sitting under a fabric roof hanging from the back wall of the cinema, so at least she wasn't getting wet. She seemed unaware of his presence. So he approached her slowly and gently, as if approaching a wounded and frightened little kitten. He sat down softly beside her but she still didn't notice him.

"It's gonna alright…" he said softly and in a tender voice. Surprised, she removed her hands from her eyes, and was shocked to see him there.

"Shaoran Kun…"

"Yes",

"How did you find me?"

He smiled warmly at her and gently rubbed the tears away from her cheeks. At first she was stunned by the gesture, but immediately it made her feel safe and reassured, as if she saw it a source of aid and comfort.

"I could always find you…" he said softly, with a gentle tone in his voice.

"Shaoran Kun…" she said emotionally.

She leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck and wept into his trusty shoulder. Her crying shoulder. He was always her crying shoulder. He gently wrapped her arms around her waist and rubbed her back slightly trying sooth her as best as he could.

"Shhh…." He whispered.

"Shhh…." He whispered again, soothing her like a parent would sooth a crying child. He brought her closer to him and rested his head on her shoulder to offer more comfort and emotional support. He hugged her tightly, will keeping one arm around her back, to keep her from further harm, as he used the other arm to stroke the back of her hair gently. Yet she still had a hard time calming down. He continued to sooth her.

"Shhh…." He whispered once again.

"It's gonna be okay Sakura…. I promise you everything is gonna be alright…" he reassured her, still rubbing the back of her hair with one hand and rubbing her back gently with the other. Only now, did she seem to calm down a bit. Slowly but surely, the tears began to stop, and the sobbing began to cease. Now all that remained was a breathless, sad and emotionally drained girl. She gulped.

"Thank you for coming for me Shaoran Kun… if it wasn't for you, I would have stayed her until morning…"

He smiled at her.

"That's why I'm here…" he said softly into her ears. She smiled softly. Then she shuddered slightly, then again.

"Cold…" she muttered miserably… he gently released her and presented her with the bag he brought with him. He took out a large piece of fabric.

"I brought an extra coat for you…" he said warmly and wrapped it around her shoulders. She smiled warmly and weakly at him.

"Arigatu…" she said sincerely, touched by his kindness. She put her arms through the sleeve holes and zipped it up.

"Is that better?" he asked gently.

"Yeah." She nodded. He smiled at her and took out something else from his bag. A warm thermos.

He presented to her with a warm and loving smile.

"I thought you might want some tea too…"

Moved to tears by his kindness she leaped forward and brought him in for another hug and placed a kiss on his cheek.

"I don't know what I would do without you Shaoran Kun…"

"I'm glad I was able to help…" he said warmly. After a short while, they parted and he smiled at each other and she returned the gesture with a small sad smile of her own. He then took the thermos and poured some tea for the two of them. Being thirsty it wasn't long before they drank the whole thing. Now they both felt much better. Sakura felt the need to give her Shaoran one last hug.

"You're wonderful Shaoran Kun you know what…?"

"Not as wonderful as you…" he said softly. To his surprise she didn't respond. Slightly puzzled at first, he then smiled in bemusement when he heard her snore softly. He did it. He finally managed to cheer her up and even sooth her to sleep. But he didn't want them to fall asleep out here in the middle of a storm, yet he didn't have the heart to wake her up. Before he could make a conscious effort to consider his options, he too fell asleep, cuddled in Sakura's arms while she cuddled in his own trusty embrace. It wasn't a few minutes later, that the Kinomoto family car pulled up nearby and Toya and Fugitaka ran to the back of the old cinema and felt of mixture of sympathy, warmth and sadness. Sakura was laying there cuddled up with her best friend, he ran after her in the dead of a cold night looking for her and even managed to calm her down. The men smiled warmly at the sight. Each of them picked up of the kids and their belongings and carried them into the family car.

By midnight, they arrived home and the two adults set the two kids down on separate couches in the living room and covered them both in blankets. Fugitaka, now relived that his daughter was safe, both physically and emotionally, turned to walk upstairs to his room and go to sleep. Toya in the meantime stood there looking at the two exhausted kids.

"I was wrong about him. He really does care deeply about Sakura. All I wanted was the best for her. But now I see that she already has it…" he thought warmly to himself as he shut the last lights and went upstairs to his own room and go to sleep…

To be continued…

So there it is. Quite a change of pace I'll tell you that. I'm sorry for doing that to Yukito. I know he's a nice character and he never did anything to anybody. But I wanted to explore the possibility of what would happen if he didn't make it and how effect everyone involved. So please don't flame (though I would understand it if you will).

Reviews are most welcome…

Pace out…