Pre- Author's notes (IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ! THANKS!):
Okay. When I put ***************************************************************************, it means flashback/end of flashback.
These ' . . . . . ' mean thoughts, this " . . . . . " is speaking. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ means POV (Point of view [Li or Sakura]) change.
The Scent of a Cherry Blossom- Part 1
"Li! Watch out!" Sakura yelled and dove at Li, pushing him and herself out of harm's way. He stopped rolling, but she rolled father than he did and crashed into the side of a building. She slumped over as she was knocked unconcious, and Li ran over to her. "Sakura! Sakura! Answer me! Are you all right?" No answer was given to him. He looked at her limp body. She was bleeding on the side of her head where she had hit the wall. He checked her heart rate, and heaved a sigh of relief when he found that she was still breathing. He gathered her in his arms, then ran away from the Clow Card, determined to keep Sakura out of harm's way, just as she had done for him. The streets seemed too long, and the card too fast. He ran with all his speed, then ducked into a dark alleyway, hoping to lose the card by staying in the dark and switching direction. He ran from dark street to dark street, avoiding all the streets lit with lamps, hoping but not daring to check that they had lost the card. He stopped for a quick breather, and tried to steady his quickly beating heart as he listened for any sign of the card. After a few minutes, he decided he could relax his breathing for a little bit. 'I'll listen for a few minutes more, though, just to be sure. If it finds us again, I'm not sure I could lose it this time.' He nearly sighed, but then remembered he needed to stay quiet. He let his breath go in slow, quiet intervals. After he steadied his breathing, he looked around. For the first time, he seemed to realize that he was holding Sakura in his arms. He almost yelled, but a sudded noise made him tense up again. He paused, listening, for any further noise. After a few seconds his heart rate returned to normal, only to speed up again as soon as he looked at Sakura's face. He had never been this close to her before. He looked at her beautiful face. Her hair was perfect, no matter what she did to it. As he sat there, looking at her face, he caught her scent. It was flower-like, but more delicate. He almost leaned in to kiss her, but stopped himself. 'I could never take advantage of Sakura like this. She's to sweet and trusting, and I'd feel horrible if I did something like that.' He knew he wouldn't do anything, but the desire to kiss her didn't get any less. After sitting there for a few minutes, he realized how badly her head was bleeding. He didn't dare bandage it now, though, so he looked around, then took off at a high speed run for his house. His feet seemed loud on the pavement, and his heartbeat seemed to echo all around. Nothing chased him, though, so he ran un-interrupted all the way to his house, where he jumped in the window.
Li set Sakura down on his bed. Then he ran to the bathroom and grabbed a wet towel and a long piece of cloth. He cleaned the wound on her head, and bandaged it carefully. Then he realized just how many cuts and bruises she had. 'Stupid! She told me she was fine after she got hit with all those pieces of glass! I should have known better than to trust her! She just didn't want to look weak in front of me!' he thought as he replayed the scene in his head.
****************************************************************************
"Sakura!" Li shouted. She turned around in time to see the card coming at her at high speed. It knocked her through the window onto the street, and glass showered down on top of her. She tried to get up, but failed. Li jumped out of the window toward where she lay, and she tried harder. 'He'll think I'm such a weakling if I can't even get up. I have to do this!' She used a good amout of her remaining energy to haul herself up. Li ran over, looking concerned when he saw how weak she looked. "Sakura, are you all right?" She glared at him in mistrust, not wanting to be treated like a weakling. "I'm fine! Nothing's wrong! Now let's go get that card!" Li's face still held doubt, but it changed into worry as she ran off down the street after the escaping Clow card. Li ran after her as fast as his feet would carry him to catch up with the vanishing figure.
****************************************************************************
Li shook his head. 'I'd never think of you as a weakling, Sakura. You're too strong of a person for me to ever think that.' He got a fresh washcloth and started cleaning the rest of her wounds, being careful to extract every piece of glass and clean and bandage every cut. After she was clean, he noticed a huge red stain on her shirt. "Oh, no! Sakura!" He wondered where she got that wound. The stain was huge, and if the bleeding didn't go untreated, she was likely to die. There was no help for it. He took of her shirt, and covered her upper body with a blanket. He blushed as he did so. Then he carefully cleaned the wound, all too aware of the fact that he had just taken Sakura's shirt off. After the wound was bandaged, he put one of his t-shirts on her, and then put her shirt in the wash with his other clothes. He heaved a sigh of relief as soon as she had a shirt on again, realizing that if she had woken up she probably would have called him a pervert and their friendship would have been over. He went into his room, grabbed a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, and went into the bathroom to change. He looked in the mirror, and then realized just how many cuts he had on his face. He washed his face, not wanting to look like that when Sakura finally regained conciousness. He changed, and then he went down and made some hot cocoa for himself and Sakura when she awoke. He went up to his room, then sat quietly in the corner, drinking his hot chocolate and admiring her face. 'She's so beautiful, even when she's not trying. I wish she was my fiancee instead of Meilin.' He sat there in the corner for a little over and hour, just admiring her face and waiting for her to wake up. After an hour, he went down to re-heat her cocoa, not wanting to to be cold. As it was simmering in the saucepan, he heard a noise and turned around. "Sakura!" He saw her weakly trying to support herself by leaning on the doorway. He ran over to her and put her arm around his shoulder, seeing how hard it was for her to even stand up. "You lost a lot of blood! You need to rest!" She looked at him and smiled weakly. "I'm just fi-" He silenced her as he interrupted. "No, you're not just fine. You're going to go upstairs and lay down and sleep, okay?" She shook her head. "Really, Li, I'm just fine." He frowned at her, knowing just how stubborn she was. "Look, if you refuse, I'm just going to carry you upstairs, so you might as well go." She began to protest, but her lifted her in his arms, carried her upstairs, and laid her on the bed. "I told you I would. You should have listened." She giggled at him. "I didn't think you actually would. I should have realized, though. You always keep your word." Li blushed at even this slight praise. He smiled, which was rare, and sat down next to her. "I told you, you lost a lot of blood. You need rest, and I'm going to make sure you get it. Now, stay here while I get your hot chocolate, okay?" She smiled at him, which he took as a yes, and went downstairs to get her hot chocolate. On the way down, it seemed that he just realized that he had picked up Sakura and carried her in his arms. He almost fell down the last few stairs, and blushed as red as a rose. Glad that Sakura wasn't downstairs to see him, he waited until the blush had subsided, then poured her cocoa into a mug and climbed back up the stairs. He saw Sakura getting out of bed, and he quickly set down the cocoa and lightly pushed her over, back onto the bed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
She winced as she fell, knowing it was going to hurt as she hit the bed, but nothing happened. She opened her eyes and saw she was once again in Li's arms. Last time she had been able to contain the blush, but it wasn't working this time. Her face reddened, and Li gently set her down. She smiled inwardly and outwardly. "You are a man of your word, aren't you? I guess I was stupid to ignore what you said twice in a row." Li smiled again, with a blush this time. 'Wow, two smiles at me in one day. He must be in a really good mood.' "You're never stupid, Sakura. Spontaneous, maybe, but never stupid." 'And a compliment. He is in a really good mood.' "Thanks for the compliment, Li."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Compliment? What compliment? I never gave her a compliment! Is she onto me? Does she know? I'd better do something that isn't a reflection of my feelings for her, quick!' "And you're even more beautiful." 'Oh, that was smart, Li! Now where did that come from?! Now she's going to know for sure, you stupid!' Li thought to himself. He couldn't believe he'd just said something so stupid, and now of all times, right after they'd had an important battle and everything! He felt like a total idiot, and he was sure Sakura thought he was, too. He looked at the floor, waiting for her to tell him how stupid he was.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura's eyes widened, and her face turned as red as a beet. 'Did he just say what I think he said? Did he say I'm . . . . . beautiful?' She pondered over it, reluctant to say anything to Li about it because it might wreck the moment, or he might say it wasn't true and deny he said anything. She looked into his eyes after he lifted his gaze from the floor, and saw he had meant what he said, even if it had embaressed him. She stared into his eyes until he turned his face toward the floor. Sakura looked at him with love in her eyes. Of course, Li couldn't see because he was looking at the floor, but she did all the same. "Thank you, Li." she said softly. "You're welcome." Li replied, then walked out the door on silent feet, leaving Sakura alone with her thoughts. Sakura mulled over everything for a while, and after half an hour she went to go see Li. 'I'll tell him how I feel. Maybe he'll reject me, but I think I'd rather have that than never know at all. Never know if I actually had a chance and just didn't seize the moment.' She searched around the house, trying to find him, and finally saw him curled up the couch downstairs, fast asleep. She took the blanket she had and wrapped his shivering form with it, and then slipped quietly back upstairs, got herself another blanket, and went to sleep on Li's bed. She couldn't sleep in Li's room, though, and after much debating with herself, she sat down next to Li on the couch and looked at his sleeping form. 'He's so handsome, even when he's not doing anything.' She curled up on the opposite side of the couch and fell asleep.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
-OKAY. ORIGINALLY THIS WAS INTENDED TO BE 5 PARTS, ALL REALLY LONG (INSTEAD OF 10), BUT NOW THAT I'VE WRITTEN ONE AND TWO, IT WILL BE EITHER 6 OR 7 SHORTER PARTS. I DON'T REALLY HAVE THE MAKINGS TO WRITE REALLY LONG FANFICS, SO THIS WON'T BE AS LONG AS I PROMISED TO EVERYONE WHO READ MY OTHER FANFIC(S). THANKS A MILLION FOR READING, AND I HOPE YOU REVIEW! I GOT 15 REVEIWS FOR MY LAST FANFIC, AND WHEN I GET 20 FROM THIS PART (20, NO LESS!!!!!) I WILL POST PART 2! SO REVIEW IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE THE SEQUEL!!!!!!! THANKS!
Sakura Akane Saotome
http://come.to/CCSIAP -My site- CardCaptor Sakura: Info and Pics
Oh, and please visit my site and sign the guestbook! Thanks!