Feel free to shoot me.

This has been far too long in coming. It's been what, a year and a half since I posted the rewrite of the prologue? I think it's been nearly two years since I started planning the rewrite ...

Can you believe it's been over four years since I first posted Fragile Heart? Feels like just yesterday I was trying to figure out the best way to tell a story without letting the characters tell it. It's amazing how time passes.

Anyway, more after the story, so enjoy Chapter 1 of the rewrite of Beating Heart!

Title: Beating Heart

Rating: M (later chapters, may change as they are rewritten)
Summary: She really wished things had worked out now. She really wished that her heart would beat once more. But it was too late ...
Full Summary: Having finally found closure on their illicit relationship, Sakura's heart is broken. At least, it's broken until things begin to turn on their head. Suddenly their relationship is not so forbidden, but it's too late ...

::-::-::-::-::

Two weeks.

Two long, miserable weeks.

Kinomoto Fujitaka had yet to hear his darling daughter's voice since she had regained consciousness in the hospital following a crash that could so easily have killed her. Though she was awake, and alert, she kept her silence, showed little emotion. The only time she had broken that was in waking, when, her eyes still fuzzy from unconsciousness, she had called out a whimpering 'Syaoran?' and then faded again.

Her best friend had yet to show, but that wasn't surprising, considering he was due to be on his honeymoon halfway across the world right now. The accident had only been reported two days after it had occurred, and the Kinomoto family had requested that Sakura's name not be mentioned on the news: they themselves would tell people who needed to know.

His daughter watched the outside world, the sun climbing higher in the sky and the birds skipping joyfully past the window. Her left hand, fingers encased in their cast, touched her stomach gently, while her right reached for Fujitaka's. It had come as a shock to him, to learn his baby girl had become pregnant; the last he'd heard, she was single and had been since she was fifteen. Even her best friends had had no clue as to who the father of her unborn child could be, and that was saying something, considering how close they had been for most of their lives.

Her hand twitched in his, and his eyes shot up to her face, lips pursed in pain. For a second, she held herself there, immobile, and then her right leg twitched and she exhaled loudly. It was her right leg that had been injured in the car crash, the right leg the console had tried to jam itself into as it buckled and twisted under the pressure of the other cars in front of her. Two weeks and five operations later, the doctors had declared her leg free from any remaining metal pieces that had twisted, damaging the muscle and the blood vessels. They'd been repaired, he'd been informed, but the resulting weakness would take time to work out – it might take as long as two years before she was able to walk properly again, if she ever was.

Her eyes, the same jade green as her mother's, turned to him as she relaxed ever so slightly. He could tell waves of pain still flooded through her body, but she made no sound, no complaint even as the on-duty nurse who had watched from her position came over and adjusted the pain medication.

He smiled at her, watched the lines of tension ease from her face as she slowly drifted into a quiet sleep.

Some hours later, just as the sun began to dip behind the horizon, she awoke. The TV set in the corner flashed out light, irritating her closed eyes, and she turned her head towards it. Sounds, words, floated to her, but it took a moment for her tired brain to function and to give them meaning. Finally, she understood.

'Teenager Anasawa Kai will tomorrow go to court on nine counts of manslaughter and one account of grievous bodily harm in a tragic car crash two weeks ago. The crash, which occurred in Tomoeda, left a family of four, two old-age pensioners, a newly wedded couple and Anasawa's own brother dead, and two survivors. The second, left unnamed due to her family's request, is currently recovering in hospital. More information will be available at a later date.'

The crash. Her eyes flashed open, caught the screen with the picture of the teen. Young, eighteen or nineteen, with a mop of dyed-blonde hair on top of an angelic face. She struggled to see whether he had any injuries, anything at all as a reminder of the crash. The screen turned black, and then her brother moved into her gaze.

He smiled down at her, as if to comfort her in her distress. 'Hey there, you. You had Dad worried again earlier.' His hand sought hers, warm and large and comfortable. She looked up, eyes wide and panicked, and he gently squeezed her bruised fingers. 'It's okay. I promise you, he will go away for life for what he did to you.'

She believed him. Kinomoto Toya had a way of making things that felt so terrible happen without so much as a blink. If he said Anasawa would get life … Anasawa would get life.

Kaho, the wife of Toya and mother of his child, moved to join the siblings, her auburn hair reflecting the dull sunlight and turning a vivid orange. She, much like her husband before her, smiled down at Sakura, one hand resting lightly on the leg that was almost uninjured.

'You need something to drink, honey?'

A drink. A drink was a good idea. She nodded, and Toya turned away, releasing her hand from his hunt for the glass and jug of water. Carefully, Sakura attempted to move her body, trying to force it to sit up – attempted being the key word. Her arms, seriously bruised, protested, and her wrist, sprained, cried out in agony. Her ribs, two of them cracked and one broken, screamed their protests, and a gasp escaped her mouth, no matter how much she tried to prevent it from doing so.

'Hey, hey, don't try to move too much yet, sweetheart!' Kaho pushed her down, hands gingerly on sore shoulders. 'You've got too many injuries to think about moving like that right now.'

Too many injuries … She bit her lip, remembering the doctors who had spoken to her when she had woken from the anaesthetic. You were lucky. Another few inches, and you might have lost your leg. Any longer before we operated, you might have bled out, and if you'd hit the steering wheel with more force you might have punctured a vital organ in your chest. We don't get many miracle cases like yours.

Miracle case. Ha. She would have laughed, if it was a laughing matter. It didn't feel much like a miracle, her survival. She had to live with the knowledge that she and the monster who had caused the crash survived when so many innocent lives had been lost – for she didn't count herself as innocent, not any more. She carried the reminder of her betrayals within her sore, aching body.

Toya's face returned, and he carefully lifted her head with one hand whilst tipping the cool glass of water against her lips with the other. The liquid felt good against her dry throat, and again she was grateful for the lift of her nil-by-mouth restriction two days prior.

'That better?' Kaho perched on the edge of the bed beside Sakura's hand, fingers warm where they rested above the cannula in her hand. Sakura nodded slightly, and when Toya moved the glass away settled back against the pillows.

'Dad'll be at the court tomorrow, but Kaho and I will be here with you, okay?' Her brother pulled the chair closer to her bed and sat on it, folding his hands beneath his chin. 'He'll make sure that Anasawa goes away for a long time. That bastard's not going to get away with doing this to my little sister.'

She just stared at him, green eyes lifeless, face emotionless. Though he'd never admit to it, seeing her like this day after day unnerved him – his little sister, the 'brat', normally so full of energy and life, now such an empty shell, with no words or emotions. It wasn't normal. Not for the first time, he cursed himself for not keeping a closer eye on her. For so many years he'd been protective, always checking up on her, making sure she was okay; when she'd turned twenty-one and he'd married Kaho, he'd eased up. Guilt ate at him now. If only I'd taken care of her.

But he hadn't. And here she lay, carrying a stranger's child and a miraculous survivor of a fatal car accident that could so easily have torn her out of his life.

The tears nearly came to him again, but he forced them back with sheer willpower. He would not show weakness in front of his baby sister. He was supposed to be strong, the impenetrable older brother who was the best protector she could ever wish for.

Kaho's fingers on his forehead made him look up, snapping out of his own depressing thoughts. She knew. At night, she would stroke his hair as he lay, cursing himself, and she would tell him it was okay, it wasn't his fault, life was never fair. She had a soothing effect on him, and as he sat there, he felt his internal anger seep away slowly.

Beneath them, Sakura turned her head away from Toya and closed her eyes. She liked to block out the world at the moment, to shut her eyes and ears and pretend nothing existed but her and the little life growing inside her.

'Goodnight, Sakura,' Kaho whispered to her, and releasing Toya, she bent to place a gentle kiss on her sister-in-law's forehead. 'We'll be back tomorrow.'

Toya stood, swallowed hard, and shook his black hair from his eyes to look down at the small body wrapped in hospital sheets. 'Get some sleep, sis. And don't give the nurses hell.'

Was it his imagination, or did that, a little throwback to their childhoods, make a small smile cross her face?

She woke late the following morning; noon sunlight had already fallen across her bed, warming her legs through the sheets. Lazily, she turned her head towards the window, seeking warmth on her face. She felt rested, perhaps for the first time in weeks; the feeling of protection she'd felt in her dreams still lingered, as if someone had watched over her. No nightmares had plagued her mind.

There was movement in the corner. She opened weary eyes, narrowed against the light. The first few seconds, she struggled to identify her companion, hiding in the shadows of the corner. She blinked, and then pushed herself up straighter. The figure stirred, and then leant forward. Her father's features came into the light, a small smile playing upon his lips.

'Hello, beautiful,' he whispered as he stood, moving to block the light offending her still sensitive eyes. He became nothing more than a silhouette in her vision. 'You slept right through the trial. Kaho and Toya were here the entire time. They've had to go check on Kenji, but they will be back later.'

The trial. Her heart faltered for a moment, and her eyes widened. Fujitaka knelt beside her bed, putting himself below her. For a moment, she remembered being a little girl, looking down at her father through teary eyes as he knelt to soothe her, to show her she was the most important little girl in the world. What on earth had happened at the trial?

'We did it, honey.' He reached out and captured one aching hand, careful not to squeeze it too hard. 'We got him. Once he saw the photos of your injuries, he confessed to everything on the stand. Sweetheart, he's been given life.'

Life. She frowned, trying to understand how a man – no, a boy – could be given a life sentence. Was that right? He was nineteen – the life they had taken from him hadn't truly begun. Yet he deserved it, didn't he? He had killed those innocent people in that accident. Stolen the life of children not yet ten years old.

Her free hand drifted to her stomach, stroked it gently through the sheet. He had nearly stolen the life she carried within her, the life that reminded her of all the evil she had done, but also of all the things she had lost. What if that life had too been stolen from her?

She closed her eyes against her father's wavering smile. She could understand, of course, why her father was joyful over this result, but it seemed wrong, somehow. Ever happy, easygoing Kinomoto Fujitaka was happy that a child would spend the rest of his life behind bars.

'He nearly took you from me.' The pain in his voice surprised her, and she opened her eyes again. His head was bowed now, hair falling forward to hide his eyes from her. 'I sat by your bedside every day you were unconscious, praying to all deities that I would see your beautiful eyes again, hear your voice. And I vowed, that if I lost you, if he took you away from me, I would see him pay. And he did, in a way. He took away your laughter. You haven't laughed. You haven't smiled. That gleam, the one that shines through your eyes every single second of every single day, is gone. He changed you, Sakura. And I cannot forgive him for that.'

Her heart broke, and her eyes filled with warm tears. Gently, she raised her hand from her stomach and found her father's cheek. She didn't speak. She didn't need to. Fujitaka's shoulders began to shake, and within seconds he was clutching at her hand, needing something real to prove that she was really there.

How long they sat like that, she didn't know. It wasn't until there came a knock on the door that either of them moved.

A nurse bustled in with a bright, cheery smile. 'You have a special visitor,' she all but chirped as she made her way to the bedside to check the equipment attached to Sakura's hand. 'Quite handsome. You've done well, honey.'

The nurse – Usa, her nametag identified – wasn't looking at Sakura's face, so missed the intense confusion that crossed it. Fujitaka swallowed, then stood and shakily squeezed his daughter's hand.

'I'll leave you to it. See you tomorrow, honey.' He smiled, then bent and kissed his daughter's forehead. 'I love you.'

She nodded, and watched as her father moved out the door. She heard a short, quiet exchange before a vase filled with roses poked around the door.

The face that followed was heartbreakingly familiar.

Syaoran.

The man who had broken her heart.

::-::-::-::-::

So. Four years, huh? In that time, I've finished GCSEs, started and finished A Levels, and been a complete loser when it comes to updating my FFN works! I've been so focused on my original writing since July, I kind of forgot about all of this stuff. It's still been on my to-do list on my system, but I just kind of kept skipping it ...

But, I'm dedicating the rest of tonight, what little of tomorrow I have to myself, and Wednesday morning/afternoon before work to getting a few chapters of this written. I know where I want it to go (to be honest, it's not that different from the original - just a lot better written!) and I know how I want to get there, so I'm going to get myself there by the end of the week.

If you don't see Chapter Two by the 23rd, please hunt me down - I've got lost in fantasy world again.

See you guys soon ;)

Tears x