Innocence

Disclaimer as in Chapter 1. Also, added disclaimer to chapter 1's disclaimer: I do not own xxxHolic.

Note: After Googling possible concussion + not sleeping facts: this is your FACT –

Concussion patients don't need to be awake after the event. The reason to make them so is only to check up if there is any relative change in the person after the concussion. There's no chance of sleep inducing a coma. Therefore, all keeping-the-headaching-guy-up-with-tactics is just a rouse to make a story/TV Program/Movie/whatever more interesting and hilarious.

Chapter 3 (otherwise named 2b)

"Ko-hane…" Sakura repeated numbly. The girl lying in bandages and casts lay still in front of them, her face expressionless as she slept in the drug-induced slumber. Outside, the cool spring winds blew softly in the night sky. "Poor girl, she used to be on that supernatural show that my brother watches. Apparently she's made a mistake and now everyone calls her a lair. Everyone else said that there was one spirit –" Sakura stuttered out the word "-but she said there are two. My brother keeps saying the unfairness of people. She can't be lying can she? My brother says a person can't stick to their words under pressure if what they said is a lie."

"A medium, you say, huh?" On the way here, Sakura had already informed Syaoran about her background, and needless to say, the boy was intrigued. Fahren was a medium, and her – performances – were similar to that girl's. Not like those fake shows at all… yet –

"I heard they were extinct." A voice said from the hallway. "But apparently not." Lightening struck –

"Clow's aura!?" The two gasped, whirling around to see –

"ERIOL-KUN!" Sakura squealed, albeit quietly, and jumped onto the boy. Syaoran rolled his eyes and waited for the hyper female to become, well, not so hyper. "When did you come back!?"

"A few hours ago… I felt an unnaturally powerful Shield aura, and I followed your auras here after I landed. I thought there had been a battle." Eriol chuckled, inclining his head at Syaoran. "I see you've come back, little descendant of mine."

Huff.

"Alright, on to business, this girl here is a medium."

Emerald eyes widened. "She is? But she has no aura…"

"Mediums' magic is so that they don't flare outwards unless they choose to, instead, they wait for spiritual flares, always listening." Eriol explained good-naturally, waving a hand so that the door swung closed behind him. "They're seers, not sorcerers. They detect but not seek. They help but not surpass the border of interference. What they see, what they detect, who they help is unknown, unheard of, unfelt of, unless you are, of course, a Medium."

"…Hoooe? Unkonwn… You mean, like… GHOSTS?" She unconsciously pulled Syaoran's hands with hers, letting one interlace into the other.

"Ghosts don't exist, not really. They are not really there, but always there." The blue-haired boy grinned an evil grin, and Syaoran scowled at him again.

"Ghosts are not there in the physical perspective, Sakura. What Hiiragizawa-kun means is that they are simply spirits of those who are there and here." Syaoran explained, toying with Sakura's hand in his semi-consciously. A blush of pink sprinkling across his cheeks.

"Yes… And the last one I have seen to be a medium is Kinomoto-san. But he doesn't have the power anymore."

"HOE?! Onii-chan's a medium!?" Sakura exclaimed, and then stuffing a hand into her mouth as the girl on the bed moved slightly. A pained moan escaped her mouth as she rolled onto her arm, which is currently in a cast. "Where… where am I?" She croaked out, rolling back to the position she was in before. Sakura's face burned with guilt as Eriol smiled.

"It's all-right. You're in a hospital now… Nobody can hurt you now, okay?" Eriol smiled the kindest smile he can, which, incidentally, is the 'Clow-Reed's Mona Lisa'-smile, showing no tooth but an evil aura.

"Okay." The girl seemed unfazed by the evil smile bestowed upon the boys face. "Where is mommy?"

Syaoran shrugged uncomfortably, "The police took her away."

"Am I going to be away from mommy? I don't want to leave mommy… Ever since dad went away…" Sakura shot Syaoran a glare at this, then smiled at the girl. "You won't alone, you know, Syaoran, Eriol and I promise you that. You won't ever be alone…" A dazed look overcame Sakura as she reminisced about the time after her mother had died – she constantly held her brother's hand, or her father's neck, for she was afraid that if she let go, just a second, she'd be alone in this world…

"Yeah…" The boy said softly, smiling sadly at the girl. "We'll be there for you, okay?"

A small sad smile graced the girl's lips, and Sakura could feel her heart breaking – This girl's never going to feel her mother's love, nor her father's…

"You have magic, don't you?" Her voice was thin, cutting through the silence.

"Yes." Eriol nodded, stepping forward and transforming his staff. "And I can relieve you of your pain, if you … accept."

"You know how to heal?" Sakura blurted out happily. "That's great Eriol-kun!"

The little girl gazed up at him with curious eyes, and nodded slightly. Smiling, Eriol reached out and stroked the girl's shoulder, and immediately something cracked as the bones righted themselves and rejoined. The girl shuddered as pain tore her body, and then calmed.

"Thanks…" She whispered, staring at her hands as a bruise lightened considerably.

"The doctors aren't going to believe this…" Syaoran muttered, shaking his head. The other boy just smiled and then touched the girl's shoulder again. "Well…"

Her eyes widened as the bruise came back full force, and the bones restored themselves to their faulty states, only a little better, seeing the look on her face as she moved the arm with difficulty. "There, I've erased all pain and damage, yet still allowed signs of damage to show through." He smirked at Syaoran, who glared back at him.

"Oh yeah… Eriol-kun…" Sakura said timidly, smiling all the same. "Have you seen Tomoyo-chan yet?"

Syaoran smiled triumphantly – that got Eriol's smirk off his face.

A/N

Gah. It's a short chapter again, is it not? At least now I am used to writing 1k+ Chapters…

I'll update really quickly if you give me 20 reviews! :D It's not too much to ask for is it? With 160 Visitors per-chapter…

REVIEW PLEASE!

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