Amber and Emerald: Killer and Prey

Chapter 10

The Plan

Again, I'm so sorry for the wait. And this is a really bad chapter, too…I personally kind of hated it. :S But please read and review anyway, please…the next chapter will be better, I swear. Thank you to everyone who reads and reviews this story. I'm really sorry that the updates are so spaced. :S I have too many stories going at one time. Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this chapter, even if it might be bad. ^^"

Sakura's eyes were wide in fear and horror. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.

"Sakura," Syaoran pressed, "please, please answer my question!"

Finally, she was able to speak. "Wh-what do you plan to do?" she choked out.

His eyes narrowed, and she flinched. But when she received no pain, she opened her eyes again to Syaoran holding the knife to his own neck. His eyes were smoldering.

"Because if you don't love me," he whispered, "I will kill myself right here and now."

Sakura inhaled sharply, her eyebrows creasing. "Why—why would you do that?!" she asked, her voice getting slightly louder, shriller.

"All of my memories of my past life are gone. My life, my family, my friends. All of it is gone. I only know some things because of Eriol, but even he doesn't know much because he's an estranged cousin." He pressed the flat of the blade harder on his neck. "I have nothing to live for, Sakura. But—but you've given me a reason to live. I want to protect you, I want to be with you." His eyes softened. "I love you. But if you don't love me back, I will free you and kill myself."

He felt like an idiot doing what he was doing, but it was the only way to be sure. It was taking things to an extreme, and a stupid one at that. He nearly felt like a coward, and like he was being very emotional even though he wasn't like that.

But he had to know Sakura loved him. He had to.

Sakura was utterly confused. She had to keep repeating to herself, over and over, that he planned to kill her. He was a murderer.

But he said he'd free me and kill himself…if I don't love him back. She gazed into his soft, amber eyes that held so much passion.

"Would you really…kill yourself?" she asked, her voice a whisper.

He pushed the knife deeper, and blood slid down the blade. Her eyes widened, her mind reeling. What would she do if Syaoran killed himself? She knew that she loved him. She knew that she wouldn't be able to go without him now. She had simply pushed those thoughts away and replaced them with the thoughts that someone should be thinking. But in a situation like this one—she could do that no longer.

Tears were already streaming down her face. She shook her head vigorously. "No!" she shouted suddenly. "Don't kill yourself, please!" She jumped forward, flinging her arms around his neck. He pulled the knife away carefully and set it down on the dashboard. Slowly, his arms found their way around Sakura's waist. He pulled her closer to him, breathing in her scent. It calmed him, and made him feel happy.

"Do you love me?" he murmured, almost inaudibly.

"Yes!" she cried. "I do, I do love you, I love you so much it hurts!"

He held her head up and pressed his lips against hers. Sakura let herself go to the kiss, and soon he was atop her on the seat, his hands running rhythmically up and down her body.

As they kissed, they were both thinking that it had seemed too easy. To say I love you. To overcome their differences as they did. To accept each other for who and what they were.

That's because it was easy. But only because it was about to get a lot harder from then on.

Back at the house, Tomoyo and Eriol sat silently on the couch, waiting. They didn't know what to expect when Syaoran and Sakura returned, or if they would return. But they hoped that whatever happened, it was for the best.

They both stood when they heard the front door open. At first, they hesitated, but then Tomoyo dashed into the front hallway, her heart speeding up with her feet. She was nearly hyperventilating by the time she reached her destination.

"Saku—ran!" she gasped, speaking too quickly in her nervous excitement and mixing her friend's names together. She let out a long sigh of relief when she saw the two holding hands, standing close together. Eriol appeared around the corner and smiled at the sight.

"You two worked everything out, then, I hope?" he asked Sakura and Syaoran.

Sakura's cheeks were red as she smiled, nodding. Syaoran couldn't help his mouth curving into a grin, either. "Yes," he replied simply.

Tomoyo let out another sigh, and grabbed Sakura, hugging her close. Sakura wrapped her arms around her friend, elated that Tomoyo finally approved of them.

After a minute, Tomoyo reached out for Syaoran to join their embrace, and Eriol took the hint and got into the hug as well.

Syaoran's stomach lurched when he realized that that moment may be the last he'd see of Eriol and Tomoyo. Ever. The thought made his grip tighter, and he moved closer to the group.

He knew that, had this happened a couple months ago, Syaoran would certainly not have joined in on a group hug. But, as only she can, Sakura softened him up. Before, his loyalties had lied only with Ayumu—but now, mixed with Sakura, his dreams of the past, and his time with Eriol and Tomoyo, he knew that his loyalties now lay with the group caught up in his embrace.

He almost laughed at himself for how very soft he was being.

But he couldn't erase his past with Ayumu—therefore he wasn't that soft. And never could be.

The corvette's engine hummed. Sakura was saying goodbye to Tomoyo in the house, and they were both surely shedding tears. Eriol and Syaoran were standing outside, Syaoran leaning against the black car.

Syaoran didn't know how to start what he wanted to say, but he had to try.

"Eriol…" he began, licking his lips. "I don't know if…" His sentence wavered and broke.

"If you'll ever see me again?" Eriol finished for him. His cousin looked up to meet his gaze. The two shared a long, meaningful stare, an entire conversation with no words.

Eriol raised his arms and rested his hands on Syaoran's broad shoulders.

"You will. Don't worry about it," he said, his voice soft and low.

Syaoran smiled at the bespectacled man in front of him. "All right then …count on it, then."

"I will, man, I will," Eriol replied breezily, wrapping his arms around his cousin in a brief hug.

The ladies stepped out of the house, and seemingly at the same time, Sakura ran over to Eriol and Tomoyo to Syaoran and caught them off guard with tight hugs.

"Goodbye, Eriol-san. Thank you for everything," Sakura whispered.

Eriol smiled and stroked her auburn hair. "You're welcome. Don't worry, you'll be safe with Syaoran." They parted, and Sakura started off towards the car. "Farewell, Sakura-chan."

Meanwhile, Tomoyo, buried in Syaoran's chest, simply murmured, "Be safe or I'll never forgive either of you."

Syaoran breathed a chuckle, and Tomoyo ran over to Eriol's side.

Sakura climbed into the passenger's seat, and Syaoran gave Eriol a final fist bump before getting into the car himself. Without another word, the corvette backed up and sped off down the winding road.

"So…what are we planning to do now?" Sakura asked, pushing her hair behind her ear in an attempt to tame it, as the wind from the open window was whipping it around her face.

"We have to go and meet Ayumu," Syaoran responded confidently.

Sakura's eyebrows creased with worry. "And then what? After we meet him, what happens then?"

After a moment, Syaoran looked at her with a smirk. "Whatever happens, happens."

Sakura blinked in surprise. "You can't be serious." Syaoran nodded, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I can't believe you! You're just charging in there, against a murderer, and winging it?!"

Suddenly, Syaoran's eyes flashed and his smile disappeared. "I'm a murderer, too," he whispered, turning back to the road.

Sakura reached her hand over to touch his hand on the steering wheel.

"You're not like him, Syaoran-kun," she murmured. "You're different."

"You are, too," he replied, his gaze softening again. "What do you planto do after all of this is over? You'll have to go home…"

"I don't want to go home," Sakura said in a small voice. Why would she leave what she had now—Syaoran—to go back to her unloving family? "I want to stay with you."

"How does that work?" he asked suddenly.

Sakura blinked. "What?"

"Once everything's over, you have to go home. I won't let you say no," he added when she opened her mouth to protest. "But who's going to want you to be with me, the man who kidnapped you? And it doesn't help that you're only fifteen."

"I'm sixteen in three days," she snapped. "And who cares who does and doesn't want us to be together?"

"Okay, maybe that's not the point—but I'm gonna get sent to jail." His voice was final. "Then what?"

"You have so much evidence that you weren't doing any of this out of your own free will. If we have a trial, it'll be fair enough if you get, say, community service or something," Sakura explained, confidence brimming in her voice.

"But I killed so many women." Syaoran's voice was soft, scared.

"Did you want to?"

The question caught Syaoran off guard. His eyes widened, and he stared ahead blankly for a minute (luckily on a straight stretch of road). He'd never really thought of it as wanting to or not wanting to, but just the fact that he did it…

"No," he responded slowly.

Sakura smiled. "You're not a killer, Syaoran-kun," she cooed, her voice comforting. "You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Before he knew it, small tears were threatening to spill over his lashes. Angrily, he brushed them away; he wasn't the kind of guy who cried. Never.

"Thank you," he breathed, "Sakura."

A couple of hours later, they were driving through a town. They were more than halfway there, and Syaoran was driving with determination that he would take Ayumu down. But as he turned a corner, he noticed a mall. He pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car.

"Syaoran-kun?" Sakura questioned, looking puzzled. "Why are we stopping here?"

"Well, first, I'm hungry. Second, I have a credit card that Ayumu is paying for. Why not blow it before he gets thrown in jail forever?" Syaoran grinned and held his hand out to Sakura, for he had just opened her door. Sakura sighed, shaking her head, though she was smiling as well.

They held hands as they walked through the mall, searching for the food court. When they finally found it, they decided on New York Fries.

They sat at one of the tables with their poutines in hand. Sakura's eyes were sparkling, and Syaoran guessed she had never eaten this, either. As she stuffed her fork into her mouth before the gravy dripped off, Syaoran brought up his plan.

"So I thought about it," he started, "and I've come up with a little plan." Sakura nodded, motioning for him to go on. "I'll take you there as was…originally planned," he stressed, unable to find other words for it, "but I won't warn him beforehand. Who I will warn—the police. I'll tell them where to be at what time, and they can take him in."

Sakura thought it over, and nodded slowly, accepting it. "Really, there's no other way…"

"All right then…it's settled. We'll get there as fast as we can…so we can get all of this over and done with." Syaoran gestured to the stores around them. "But not before a quick shopping spree to lighten up the mood, hmm?"

Sakura smiled and sipped her pop.

What Syaoran didn't tell her was that he'd more than likely die in the process of this plan.

I'm sorry…I know it was bad. :S I'll make the next chapter better, I promise. Thank you for reading, though. I really hope you'll review this terrible chapter. Please, and thank you ~ !