Chapter 2: It's Only a Matter of Time.

A/N: So you're not confused… it is Syaoran's turn to tell his story.

When the sound of my alarm clock finally reached my ears I was stripped of my sleep. Grouchy and in a bad mood I slammed down on the snooze button and got up to stretch. I couldn't help but feel just a little bit more scared every time I woke up to the real world. Any day it could happen, at any time the machines could find a way to get to Zion and destroy us. It is inevitably only a matter of time, after all.

I walked to the showers with the same morning tension and stress until I felt that hot water run down my muscles, calming and relaxing me like it does every morning.

I suddenly slapped my hand against the wall in front of me when the images of my dream flashed in my mind again. I always had that dream, that same annoying dream that made no sense at all. I was starting to get aggravated by the curiosity and fright of it all, and I could loose my mind at any moment.

I closed my eyes as I tried to catch back the breath I lost for the past few minutes and as soon as I did I took a deep breath before turning the water off. After drying off I wrapped the towel around my waist when I remembered that there was a party tonight.

"God damn it." I didn't feel like going tonight. It would be crowded and loud and every woman would annoyingly want me to dance with them. Apparently I was the most good looking guy on Dock 8 ever since I could remember. Everything went especially haywire after I had that fight with that kid who insulted my mother only weeks ago.

When I got dressed I took a walk down to the eatery on Dock 6 where I was suppose to meet Eriol. When I waited for over a half an hour and the kid never came. I should have known he was up to something… what was he up to anyway?

"Syaoran!" I turned around to the voice and waited patiently for him to catch up, with my hands tucked strongly in my pockets. I raised a brow when he doubled over while catching his breath, thinking it was definitely odd to see him like this.

"So?" I asked him after he caught his breath and sat across me at the table I chose. It seemed to be his turn to have raised a brow at me, "So what?"

"Why did you call me for lunch…you finally turned gay?"

"Can't a cousin spend some time with a cousin?"

"You'd rather waste time on me, the arrogant bastard, than to win the heart of your obsession?" My eyebrow rose again, this time higher as I watched him turn a shade of red.

He sunk into his seat, "Of course, you don't understand my situation."

"Of course I do." I started to say, my amusement going wild as I leaned against the table to get into character, "You're afraid she'll never want to speak to you again and along with that, never want a friendship with you after you confess. Now you'll have no one but your stupid cat and an arrogant bastard of a cousin who could care less about your silly situations that are only useless in the first place."

There was a long pause as he stared at me, obviously irritated or at least offended and I waited in satisfaction for him to speak again, "This is why you don't have a girlfriend."

I almost laughed, "You think I want a girlfriend? Dude, have you seen all the women here? They're crazy about me and are only after one thing, and there's no way in hell I'll be giving it to anyone." I took a sip of my water and gave a regal stare, watching him look at me with that ugly smirk of his.

"And what might that one thing be?"

"Eriol, there is no point in relationships down here." He raised an eyebrow at me and I looked away from his gaze before whispering, "It's only a matter of time."

"You're still coming to the party tonight, right?" Eriol gulped the last of his water and I scoffed.

"Oh C'mon Syaoran, you're apart of this colony too, you have to come." The disappointment in his voice was rare and it would be a complete lie if I said I didn't rethink going.

"I can't stand the crowd, you know that." I still couldn't look at him, but I knew he was staring.

"Not everyone is obsessed with your looks Syaoran. Most of the women will be stuck to their boyfriends or husbands. Just come and at least try to have fun."

He meant this and I knew he was compassionate towards me. I knew he truly wanted me to go, I could hear it in his voice, and he definitely sounded like he did want me to have fun, considering I spend most of my days locked up in my room.

"Besides… I want to introduce you to someone." He smirked slyly and I scoffed again as I rolled my eyes, "Why would you even bother trying to hook me up with someone Eriol? Are you deaf or just plain stupid?"

He grinned, "I never said anything about hooking up. Did you know that when you assume something you want it to happen?"

"Oh give me a god damn break; I don't give a fuck about that stupid physique shit." Every time, I don't know why but I always got pissed off with this kid around and it's surprising I haven't knocked him out yet.

"You're right, you don't." He sat back in his chair and I looked out over the ledge where I could see the rest of the city below me. I had to admit, this place was remarkably amazing.

"Well then…" He sat up and pushed the chair out, catching my attention again, "I'll pick you up at six." And with that he started to walk away.

"I'm not going, Eriol!" I called after him, though he ignored me with the wave of his hand and several others were looking at me with odd looks and the only thing I could do was look back at the city around me.

Later I found myself eating where there were many other people, and I don't usually do this. I usually grab my food and go back to my room. I suppose I was trying to avoid Eriol. Surprisingly none of the women were gathered up around me and I was quite grateful of this, finally I could eat in peace.

Every time I would see someone with holes it reminded me how I was born here without them. I never saw the matrix except for on the screens. I've always wanted to volunteer as an operator on one of the ships but somehow I found myself stepping away from it. I suppose I should go and do it anyway soon, there isn't much to do here anyways except eat.

The only people I have contact with are Eriol and his stuck up cat. Of course, I wouldn't have any contact with him if it wasn't for his clinginess towards me. But in a way I've had to eventually grow some feelings for the kid, he's my cousin after all, even if he was annoying.

I've lost my mother and father to the Venus ship long ago. Apparently they were killed in the Matrix while trying to get some very important information to the Neberkanezer. My father was released from the Matrix when he was seventeen and my mother a little after him, only a few years younger. Both unplugged on the same ship and soldiers on the Venus they soon fell in love and I assumed settled down for a while to have me. I've only known them for a short time until they both died on the same mission when I turned five. I bunked in with Eriol and his family until I could get a pad of my own.

When they died I learned how harsh this war was and I was from then on terrified of this place, so I was always a quiet person until someone pissed me off. I've gotten into many fights when I was younger and my aunt and uncle were both worried it was some physique problem for loosing my parents at a young age.

I don't aim to get involved with anyone not just because of the women attracted to me, but because I'm afraid if I get too attached I could loose them somehow, like I lost my parents. I was afraid to risk.

When I walked back to my door I found Eriol leaning against it looking out at the city. I stopped as I waited for him to notice me. When he did he smirked and turned to face me.

"You ready?"

I stared at him without a reaction until he raised a brow, "You're not going to chicken out like you always do are you?"

Why did he have to go and say something like that; I hate how he knew me too well.

I sighed as I looked out at the city, "Fine… I'll go."

"Great, let's go then." He said, simply turning around not even waiting to see if I would follow. I scowled as I glared daggers at his back and followed slowly.

The Cave was full with everybody from the colony and I couldn't help but try to remember the last time I came to one of these. I followed Eriol to the spot I assumed all his friends were waiting and I knew we were almost there because I saw Tomoyo up ahead.

"Hello Syaoran!" She yelled to me over the loud chattering. I nodded to her as I stood in my place with my hands in my pockets like I always did.

"Where's Sakura?" Eriol asked her.

"Oh she'll be here," She paused to giggle, "the silly girl came out while I was waiting for her and forgot to lock her mischief cat up inside so she told me to go on ahead."

"So she finally realized locking Kero up in a cage would reduce the loss of food she had eh?" Eriol laughed and I watched them exchange smiles.

Suddenly someone bumped into me and I couldn't help but notice that the girl was falling as she lost a certain amount of balance. I grabbed her sides and looked over at a boy laughing as he watched her fall.

"Oh, I'm so sorry." The girl said, forcing me to look away from the asshole and down at her. She had to grip my shirt in order to stand and I waited until she was fully balanced before I let go of her arms.

"Don't mention it."

"Sakura, that was awfully mean of him to push you down like that, why would he do something like that?" Tomoyo asked as she ran up to the girl… so this was Sakura?

The girl blushed and looked down, "He was just in the way and I asked him politely to move and when he did he just shoved me… B-But it's alright! I don't really mind."

I saw Eriol's face turn to disappointment until he spoke, "Sakura, you shouldn't be so forgiving like that." This caused me to look back at the girl in question and I was surprised to see her smile for a moment, but it eventually faded.

"Oh don't get all caught up in a silly event you guys," Tomoyo started, "We came here tonight to have fun!"

As soon as she said this, councilor Hamenn spoke up over the crowd, silencing everybody. He spoke of this evening as a celebration like many of the ones in the past and told us all that we should enjoy ourselves for another night of reminder that we are free before he walked off and the drums began.

I leaned against the wall as I watch everyone grind together and dance with their partners, some being partners of three. Eriol was dancing with Tomoyo and at some time Tomoyo was dancing with Sakura.

Unlike everybody else, Sakura danced differently. It wasn't as dirty or as wild as the rest and she didn't wear one of those see-through shirts. Instead the shirt was grey and it just barely pulled over her breasts, leaving her flat belly exposed. Her arms were in the air and her eyes were closed as she swung her head from side to side, moving to the beat of the drums.

Soon she became tired and she walked over to the wall beside me. She sighed and looked up at me with a smile, "Why aren't you dancing?"

I found this question mighty uncomfortable for some reason, "Because I find it uncomfortable." I automatically said this without thinking.

"Then why would you come here if you weren't going to dance?"

"Because a certain cousin dragged me here." Just saying this made my blood boil and I glared at Eriol.

"Oh? Who's your cousin?" she asked me and I had to stare down at her. It was a surprising question that made me wonder if Eriol even spoke of me.

"Eriol." I watched her eyes widen and for some reason I had the urge to smirk. She looked over at my cousin with the most curious eyes.

"I wonder why he didn't say anything." She said slowly and at this moment for some reason, as I stared down at her I realized she was extremely different from the rest.

"He's probably embarrassed." I said as I watched my cousin with a smirk. At the corner of my eye I could see her snap her head back towards me but I didn't look at her. Then she giggled and I found it confusing as I looked back at her.

"Everybody's embarrassed about their family members, but I highly doubt that was Eriol's reason," she started to say, "You should know, Eriol's not like that at all."

My smirk widened and before I knew what I was doing I was laughing.

"I guess." After I said this I felt like going back to my room. I've never really had a conversation with anyone here but my family and Tomoyo, so this was my first conversation with a straight up stranger. I suppose she wasn't a complete stranger though, if she was a friend of both Eriol and Tomoyo. But all the same, it slightly scared me.

I took a look at her again and scanned her image in my mind. She had holes, which obviously meant she was originally plugged into the Matrix and her hair was as long as mine, short and messy. This either meant she was unplugged a little while ago or she kept her hair short. She had a beautiful face, small and feminine and eyes like an emerald jewel.

I pulled my eyes away when she caught me staring, but fortunately she didn't say anything of it, "So you must have been born here without holes like Eriol and Tomoyo." She said and I only nodded in response. She looked down, "You must be very happy you never had to go through the experience of being unplugged."

This girl never seized to surprise me. I spoke up once I looked back at her, "People like me never seen the Matrix except in code. We grow up to be operators of some kind in order to help with the war."

"So you're an operator?"

I shook my head, "Not at all."

"But you just said-"

"We're not forced. We have the choice to be an operator if we wanted to, but some of us can live peacefully here in Zion. We're just taught the codes in case of emergencies."

"Oh…" She looked back at the ground and I realized now that she must have been here for only a short period if she didn't know everything yet, although there was a lot to learn.

"I should get back." I said as I unfolded my arms and inserted my hands in my pockets once again. Turning around to leave I heard her voice again.

"Wait!"

I turned around and waited for her to speak.

"Uhm… may I walk with you? I'm going to go back too. I don't feel like dancing anymore." Her eyes were pleading and I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. I thought about it for a moment and even though I still wasn't sure about it I nodded anyways.

As we walked through the city in silence I thought about how I'm usually uncomfortable with others around me. This girl had a certain atmosphere that was calming but at the same time I still felt tense around her.

"My name's Sakura, by the way." She said, still not tearing her eyes away from the floor. "I just remembered I haven't introduced myself properly."

I was quiet for a moment before I responded, "Syaoran."

"Which dock do you live on?"

"Eight."

"So I suppose we should go to mine first."

My eyebrow went high as I stared at her.

"I'm on Dock 6, so I'm first stop." I finally understood and looked away.

"You're an awfully quiet person." She giggled nervously and my gaze turned to hers once again.

"You're an awfully talkative person." I might have sounded a bit too rude but I had a habit of ignoring it.

She looked down, "Yes, well, I'm not usually this talkative. I just have a habit of trying to break silences when I feel uncomfortable."

"You're uncomfortable?" she nodded slowly and I thought it wasn't like me to feel guilty about things, but right now I was feeling guilty.

"I have a habit of staying away from these kinds of situations. I don't normally talk to anybody." I don't know why I'm opening up to her like this. I'm starting to tell her things I haven't even told Eriol.

"I'm sorry; did I force you to take this walk with me even though you didn't want to?"

When she asked me this, I had to ask myself the same thing because I didn't even know the answer. I didn't even know why I agreed to walk her home.

"It's just a bad habit, it doesn't really mean anything."

She stopped suddenly and I stopped to look at her questioningly, wondering if I said anything I shouldn't have.

"This is my stop." She smiled nervously, pointing to the door beside us. I stared at the door for a moment when I realized it was beside Eriol's. When I looked back at her she already turned to open the door.

"Thanks for the walk. It was nice to meet you Syaoran." And before I could say anything she closed the door gently. I blinked several times before walking to the elevator.

She was definitely a strange girl.