Behind Bars
By: DEVILZ CHIK
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Chapter 3: Suddenly, so confused
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Syaoran could not sleep.

His back hurt like hell; his face feels like the heaviest thing and his arms and legs seemed to belong to a dead person.

The bandages around his wounds were not helping him as well because they were a nuisance to the beauty sleep he had been craving after some dude cleaned his wounds in the infirmary that afternoon.

Yeah, Sakura had not been there. Apparently, she was too busy with another patient when the guards brought him to the hospital wing after his little encounter with her fan club. He wondered if she knew though.

Syaoran groaned again as he slowly changed into a more comfortable position. Suddenly, in the darkness of their cell, Yamazaki jumped from his bunk bed.

"One more move from you and I swear, I will not mind being here in another five years," Yamazaki warned him dangerously.

Yamazaki was a guy who valued his sleep.

"Sorry," Syaoran muttered.

With that, Yamazaki went back to his bed and relaxed in slumber when Syaoran did not change his position on the bed again.

That makes a peaceful sleep for one of them.

"He was brought here by the guards," Shoya was saying to Sakura the next day. "He was beaten up quite badly. He's lucky he could still walk."

Sakura just nodded her head, uninterested of the matter. It was a normal occurrence at the Penitentiary. Syaoran was not so special that it would not happen to him one way or the other.

"Why did they beat him up? Did he tell you?" Sakura asked, just for the heck of it.

"Well, he didn't say much," Shoya said thoughtfully. "He just said he didn't feel like fighting back."

Sakura snorted. "Maybe he didn't know how," she commented.

"Ouch, I think that hurts more than the punches of those guys," a voice said behind them. Syaoran just walked in the room with his bruised face and wounded arms.

Sakura only looked away from him and pointed to the chair he usually sat. Shoya quietly exited the room and left the two alone.

Tense silence filled the room. The materials for his shot had not been fully prepared so Syaoran had to sit there to wait.

"Ready?" Sakura asked and he only nodded. She injected him as usual and handed him a cotton ball to nurse the injection himself.

After jotting down notes on his file, Sakura sat on her office chair and looked over at Syaoran. His face was a mess and she had to fight back her urge to caress those wounds.

"Why did you let it happen to you?" she asked softly, catching his eye.

"I was outnumbered," he answered simply. "And if I did fight back, I would be in solitary with them. It's better this way, I guess."

Sakura had nothing else to say so she stood up and made it clear that they were done for the way. She initially forgot that she did tell him that they would no longer have those little conversations.

Syaoran stood up as well.

"I'll see you later to change those bandages of yours," Sakura said.

"See you later, then," Syaoran said then exited the room.

Syaoran had nothing to worry about during their yard since the gang who beat him yesterday was stuck in the solitary chamber. He stayed with Yamazaki and some of the people whom he could call his friends.

He was not really paying attention to what they were saying. He was watching as the prisoners were being called by the guards one by one out of the yard and he was dying to know why.

Rudely, he interrupted the conversation the group was having. "Where is he going?" he asked as the latest prisoner was walking out of the yard.

"He probably has a visitor," Yamazaki answered. "It's a Friday. Many inmates get visitors on Fridays."

The others just shrugged when Syaoran looked at them questionably. He realized that they were not expecting any visitors.

The group went back to what they were talking about before he interrupted. As another prisoner went out of the yard, it made him wonder if someone would visit him.

He had been there for almost a month already. Did his friends forget him already? Was the crime he was accused for that terrible that they were so afraid to see him now?

"Li!" one of the guards called out. "Get out of here!"

Syaoran slowly stood up.

"I guess someone's visiting you," Yamazaki told him. "I might see you there later. My girlfriend said she might come by today."

Yamazaki sent him a reassuring smile before he proceeded to the guard.

He was not sure if having visitors would be overwhelmingly enjoyable or lonely. In the movies, the visitors would always just cry. If not cry, they would be shouting at the prisoner – either because they were so angry or just plain disappointed.

He chose not to ponder who his visitor would be. It could not possibly be his mother or any of his sisters. They made it clear that they would not like to see him in this place. So, who could it be?

It could not possibly be Eriol. That guy hated his guts after believing what he was made to believe: that Syaoran had attacked him that night.

He sighed as he reached the visitor's area.

The room had gray, metal tables and benches on either side of them, where the visitors and the prisoners sat to catch up to each other. It was quite a comfortable place in Syaoran's taste. None of the people seemed to care about anything else. No one was even bothering to eavesdrop.

It was as if there were unwritten rules in the place. Everyone was respecting the intimacy and the privacy between the people in the room.

"There's your guest," the guard informed him.

Syaoran followed the direction the guard was pointing at. And there, in one of the tables by the side of the room, he saw his cousin and ex-fiancé, Li Meiling.

Meiling had her chin resting on her left palm. She was staring out the barred window and had her legs crossed below the table. Her eyes seemed to be far away as if in a dazed. She did not even notice him approach her table.

"Fancy meeting you here," he greeted amusingly.

She smiled recognizing the voice but her smile fell when she noticed his condition.

"What happened to you?" she asked him before standing up to hug him tightly.

His breath hitched when she hugged him tighter as the pain from his bruises on his chest and back shot up. "Sorry," she said meekly as she pulled away from the embrace.

"It's alright," he replied sweetly.

They both sat down and just looked at each other. The table was separating the two and they knew that that distance was nothing compared to the gap they had formed in between them for the last five years.

"You shouldn't be here," she suddenly blurted out.

It caught him off guard. "Nether should you," he retorted back. "I don't want you to see me like this."

"C'mon, I think I've seen the worst of you," Meiling said almost light-heartedly. "And I know well enough that you're innocent."

Syaoran raised both of his eyebrows. "Are you for real?" he asked. "We haven't talked to each other for five years and yet, you still believe in me."

"I did not initiate the not-keeping-in-touch," Meiling pointed out.

"Exactly – you should hate me!"

"Well, I don't," she said stubbornly.

Syaoran eyed her. "What exactly are you doing here?" he asked her.

"I just needed to see you," Meiling answered. "And I want to tell you personally that… I'm working with your lawyers to prove that you're innocent. I'm not going to let you stay here for seven years. These places do things to people."

Syaoran could see the fear and worry in her eyes and he hated himself for it for bringing it to her. Although he called their engagement off, he still cared for her as a brother would to his sister.

It had been a lonely hour for the infirmary. Sakura figured it was because it was a Friday. None of the prisoners wanted to get themselves hurt because they knew their relatives and friends would come see them.

That was why Sakura had never been so excited before to hear her phone ring.

"Sakura here," she greeted over-enthusiastically.

"Sakura, this is Chiharu," Sakura almost screamed as she heard her friend's voice.

"Chiharu! What's up?"

"Well, I'm currently outside the visitor's area of WS Penitentiary where you work and where Yamazaki is detained," Sakura caught the sadness in her friend's voice as she mentioned her boyfriend's name. "I figured why not visit the two lovely people in my life at once."

"I'll be there!"

"Great! Tomoyo wanted to go as well but she has a show to get ready for," Chiharu said.

"Oh, okay," Sakura said, removing her doctor's coat and getting ready to leave her office. "Well, I'll be watching that show of hers. And it's not like we don't see each other every weekend."

"But it's always so cool to see you besides weekends," Chiharu said. "So get your ass down here!"

"Coming!" Then, Sakura hung up.

She quickly asked Shoya to take care of things while she was gone. She also asked permission to the warden, who quickly said his yes, and basically walked as fast as she could to the visitor's area.

When she got there, she quickly spotted Chiharu and sat beside her. Sakura was slightly panting and Chiharu could not stop herself from laughing at her friend.

"That excited to see me?" Chiharu asked.

"It was just so boring in the infirmary," Sakura said, putting some bangs behind her ear.

"How's your work?"

"You know, the usual – inmates getting hurt because of their co-inmates," Sakura said flatly. "And I'm the one with the task to mend those stupid wounds of theirs."

"Touya's been asking about you," Chiharu then said seriously.

Sakura quickly looked away. But her eyes landed on Syaoran with a visitor across the room. It was a girl about his age as well and from the looks of it, the two of them were really close. The girl was currently studying the wounds in his face and Syaoran didn't seem to mind.

While watching the two, she failed to listen to what was Chiharu was saying until she stopped because Yamazaki had arrived.

"Who did this to you?" Meiling asked Syaoran as she reached out to touch the bruises in his face.

"Who else, Meiling?"

"Will this be the last time?" Meiling said painfully.

"I don't know," Syaoran said honestly. "If I'm going to stay here for seven years, it might not be the last time."

"You shouldn't let them beat you up like this," Meiling said strongly, pulling her hand away. "You're a fighter, Syaoran."

"And you used to smile more," Syaoran said out of the blue, studying Meiling. "Do you have anything else to say? I really don't like you seeing me like this."

Meiling smiled slightly as she felt the genuine care Syaoran felt for her. He would always be the brother she never had.

"Fine, I'm going," Meiling finally said. "Your sisters send their regards. I can't talk to your mom about you – she just always burst into tears. Eriol's being a bitch nowadays – it makes me wonder how he got a girlfriend. And she's really pretty, too."

Syaoran raised one his eyebrows inquisitively. "Eriol has a girlfriend now?" he asked.

"Well, they're not yet official but he's been asking her out a lot," Meiling replied. "I think he's serious about her."

Syaoran just nodded.

Meiling let out a long sigh and stood up. Syaoran stood up as well. "I'll be back soon," she told him, as she stepped forward to hug him. Syaoran hugged her back and when they pulled apart, he rubbed the top of her head like he used to.

Meiling glared at him and fixed her now-messed-up hair. "Bye now," she said, smiling as she stood on tiptoes to ruffle his hair as well.

She started walking away but she hasn't gotten so far away when Syaoran said, "what, I don't get a goodbye kiss?"

Meiling looked back and sent him a flying kiss which he caught. He smiled at her and winked. Meiling turned around again to the exit and it was not until she was completely gone that Syaoran let out a long breath. Meeting Meiling was too awe-inspiring.

She was part of his past life. She had never been part of the life he had taken that caused him to do big decisions. She may be the only person who would always look at him as a normal teenager boy who was just dealing with life.

Still smiling, Syaoran looked around the room, suddenly conscious of his little display with Meiling.

Sakura's eyes caught Syaoran's as he scanned the room after the girl left. She knew she had to tear her eyes away from him but she couldn't. Syaoran also looked like his efforts were meaningless.

They stared at each other like that and it was long enough for Syaoran to recognize the jealousy and confusion in Sakura's eyes.

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To be continued…