Catharsis

Sakura, a girl of age fifteen(and a half) wept silently in the corner of her small, darkly lit bedroom, her miserable shaking shoulders the only sign of her crying, other than her tears. Her short caramel hair hung by her shoulders, bangs hiding her bloodshot, yet beautiful emerald eyes that all the boys in her class loved.

"Why..." she muttered softly into her tear-soaked school uniform. She was to distracted by her crying to notice the knocking on her bedroom door. The knocking grew more vigorous and Sakura's head shot up, eyes wide with surprise and fear of who might be on the other side.

"Lazy shit, get your ass out here, or I'll come in there." the voice of her very furious, and abusive father yelled through the wood barrier. Sakura gripped the bruise on her shoulder, scared for her own safety. Quickly, acting on impulse, she opened her window leading to the front yard quietly. And jumped out. She lived on a one story house, so she was able to take off running right away.

After ten minutes, she was out of her neighborhood, and rounding the corner to where some of her friends lived. She mentally listed her options. Her friend Himawari was at her relatives' house, two miles away from here. And her father would for sure search her other friend, Tomoyo's house. And going to watanuki or Doumeki's house was out of the question since they lived so far off. Her last option was her slightly older best friend, Syaoran Li, the exchange student from Hong Kong.

XXX

When she reached the dull painted house on the empty culdesac, she rigorously rapped her knuckles on his door. Ating quickly for she was afraid her father was already after her at this very moment. Then, he opened the door. Syaoran was dressed in a pair of shorts, but was topless, common for boys his age to sleep with out shirts. His bed raggled chocolate hair hung in his face, over his warm burnt umber eyes.

"Sakura... what's wrong? Have you been crying?" he immediatly corraled her inside the house, out of the cold Tokyo air."What are you doing out so late..." he trailed off when Sakura wrapped her arms around his shoulders, having to stretch because he was so much taller than her. He was shocked at first, but eventually returned the hug by putting his arms around her small waist.

"Sy...syaoran...my dad... he..." she broke off sobbing, tears wetting his warm shoulder. Syaoran hushed her by stroing the back of her hair. Gently soothing his crying friend, and long time crush.

"It's ok... I got you...I got you... hush." he gripped her face lightly in his two hands," Let's get you some warm clothes to wear, ok." he said sofly, walking up the stairs, with her hand in his.

XXX

Syaoran had found a spare t-shirt made of very soft cotton and a pair of shorts made out of the same material for Sakura to wear as pajamas. He blushed when he saw her wearing his clothes, hiding his cheeks with a hand over his mouth. Sakura slowly and shakily explained everything her dad had done and said that night, showing him the bruises that were around her collar bone and arms, where the uniform would cover them. Syaoran, feeling awful for not noticing this before hand, agreed to let her stay at his house while the police took care of her father.

There was no spare rooms, so Syaoran offered to sleep on the couch in the room next to his, where he told Sakura she could sleep. After midnight, Syaoran was very thankful that it wasnt a school night, because there was no way he was sleeping soundly tonight knowing Sakura was in the same house. His face had blood rushing furiously to his cheeks as he thought about it. His inward thoughts were shattered when a very familiar voice spoke behind him.

"Uh... Syaoran... is it ok if I... sleep here with you... tonight?" Sakura asked, holding a pillow to her chest, looking at him with pleading emerald eyes that he could never say no to. He nodded and moved aside, making room for her on the small couch.

'Why does God hate me...' Syaoran thought as he practically spooned with his high school love. She slept soundly, her face buried in his chest and her back slowly rising and falling. Watching this, Syaoran felt his heart swell.'It doesn't matter. No matter what is thrown at us. I'll be your carthasis...my Sakura.' And with that last thought, he nuzzled the top of her soft hair, and fell deeply asleep, the girl of his dreams resting in his arms.

Author's Note,

Petty good huh, it took about forty minutes of boredom after a fight with my parents to make this. Carthasis by the way, is emotional relief, similar to crying after a day of misery and stress. It's one of this week's vocab word in my english class.