"He's not answering," muttered Syaoran.

"Try again," urged Sakura, her voice anxious. Syaoran frowned, picked up the phone and dialed Kurogane's cell number again. Finally, on the eleventh ring, Kurogane picked up.

"Hello?" his voice was husky and out of breath. Syaoran breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kurogane-san! Did you find him?" Syaoran demanded. There was a pause.

"Yeah," he finally said. "Yeah, he's right here."

Sakura couldn't wait for Syaoran to hand her the phone. She dashed up the stairs and picked up the other line.

"Is Fai-san alright?" she demanded. Kurogane sighed.

"Yeah. Here, why don't you talk to him?"

There was a muffled whimper and a slightly less muffled "They're worried about you, idiot. Just talk to them." A rustling sound as the phone exchanged hands, and Fai's shaking voice filled the line.

"Hello?"

"Fai-san! Are you alright?"

"Of course, Sakura-chan! I'm just fine," Fai assured her with forced happiness. Sakura gripped the cord in her hands.

"Fai-san, you don't have to pretend you're happy all the time," she said softly. "I know I've told you that before."

There was a sharp intake of breath and then a long exhale.

"I'm sorry," Fai whispered.

"Don't worry about it," Syaoran told him, covering for his fiancé's brazenness. He could hear Fai sniffling and murmuring to Kurogane that no, he most certainly was not crying.

"I'm going to give the phone back to Kurogane," he said, and more rustling as he passed the device back to its owner. They could hear him breaking into sobs the moment he did.

"Hey."

"Tell Fai-san that we kicked those people out," Sakura said. "They're not welcome here anymore, so they won't bother you."

"Thanks," muttered Kurogane. He sounded distracted, probably because he was trying to comfort Fai at the same time.

"We closed up early, too," Syaoran added. "So you two can come back if you want, and we can go someplace…"

"Maybe go see a movie," offered Sakura.

"Nah. I think… I think we're just going to go home for right now. Fai-chan, you are not goin' to Hell," he suddenly snapped, and Sakura bit her lip. Kurogane sighed. "Listen, um… thanks for everything. We'll try to drop by tomorrow. But I think we're just going to go home now."

"Alright," Sakura said, and Kurogane could hear the way she furrowed her brow in worry in her voice. "We'll see you tomorrow."

"Will do."

He snapped the phone shut, and Syaoran and Sakura were left in silence.

~ Sorry I took so long to finish this. I sort of left it untouched for a while. I also apologize for it being so short. Has anyone else noticed that each chapter has been getting progressively longer and longer? Normally I wouldn't care, but I want to finish this story ASAP, just to prove that I can- I've yet to finish a single chapter story, be it for this site or anything else. More words = more work = I'll go around the rest of my life leaving a trail of half-finished junk in my wake.

I added a summary to the previous chapter, just for those of you who don't have accounts here. I'd recommend going back and reading it. I've realize that some key editing would make that story post-able, so I'm working on that now :)

This chapter is dedicated to all the unsigned reviewers: Raine, Anonymous, Mimi and Anonymous. Thanks, guys. Your help is appreciated.

Infinite thanks to Flowing Breeze, who has reviewed almost every single chapter. Love ya, hon :)

Reviews will be loved, polished, and set carefully on the floor until my shelf has been fixed. Reviewers will be given cookies and a free kitten (we're still looking for the puppies). ~