A/N: I'm really really reaaaaallly happy today. My result came out yesterday and I passed everything. I messed up in a couple of subject and was really worried about that but thankfully everything worked out so I'm currently on cloud nine, which is why I decided to treat you to another update.

Enjoy!

On her way back to her cabin, she noticed that the door to Syaoran's room was open and the teen was asleep on his bed. Like everything else that had happened that day she was not sure why, but she found her feet leading her inside, stopping only when she was a couple of feet away from him.

Sakura watched him, her eyes silently roaming his face, taking in the way his thick chocolate hair fanned out on the pillow, to the way his eyes roved beneath his lids as he dreamt. He had a strong chiseled jaw, defined cheekbones and a slightly crooked nose. There was a small, purpling bruise on his forehead from where he had hit the wall during the pirate attack but all in all, Sakura had to admit, he had an attractive face.

His brow pulled into a frown as a small whimper of discomfort issued from his mouth; restlessly, he turned on his side, facing Sakura. He squirmed, his hands fisting around the sheets as he turned away from her moments later.

Agitated, he turned once more, the sheets twisting around his lower body as he moaned softly. Some of his hair stuck to his sweat-dampened forehead. Subconsciously, Sakura found herself sitting down by his side, her hand reaching forward to push the hair out of his eyes. Syaoran stopped moving when her cool fingers touched his rather hot skin. He was burning up with fever.

He had probably been in that place for a little over a complete cycle. Fai's words from earlier that morning rang inside her head. He went through magical and mental torture for days at end.

"You said I was broken," She murmured softly, her fingers lingering on his furrowed brow, "but what about you, Syaoran?" her hand trailed down the side of his face, along his cheeks, to his neck. "Didn't you break too?"

With a bitter laugh, she retracted her hand, "I'm not the only one who is damaged, huh?"

Just as she got up and turned to leave, his hand reached out and grabbed her wrist.

"Stay," he whispered. Sakura looked over her shoulder and noticed he was still asleep. With a quiet sigh, she tried to free her hand but his grip only tightened.

"Please," he mumbled with his eyes closed, "don't leave me here."

"It's okay, Syaoran," she tried to make her voice sound soothing like Tomoyo's but had little success, "you're safe."

"Don't go," he murmured, his grip not loosening one bit.

A sharp, burning sensation flooded her senses, spreading out from the mark on her shoulder.

"Argh!" she hissed, trying to clutch the source of her pain but realized with a jolt that her body was paralyzed. She couldn't move. She clenched her teeth and waited for the seal to start its work as precious seconds ticked by, which turned to minutes.

She waited and waited but nothing happened.

"Syaoran, let go," she managed to grit out, but the teen only held tighter. "It's hurting me, please let go."

"Don't leave me," was all the answer she got before the burning enveloped her whole. However, not even a cry was able to escape her lips as she was swallowed by darkness.

With a groan, she opened her eyes, blinking a couple of times to confirm if what she was seeing was real.

She was currently lying on her back on a cold stone floor. Up above her was a black, non-decrepit sort of ceiling also made out of stones. She rolled to her side and pushed herself off the ground on shaky arms. Not having enough strength to stand up, she merely used it to haul her body into a sitting position. Looking around she noticed that the rectangular room that she was currently in was occupied by four other people, three men and a young boy who appeared to be barely thirteen cycles old. She couldn't see the faces of any of the men, but one of them was definitely in his forties, while judging from the physique of the others, she would put them in the category of late teens to early twenties.

None of them noticed her appearance, and quietly struggling to her feet, she decided to keep it that way.

"Are you alright, Miss?" The somewhat familiar voice made her jump and lose her already shaky balance. She stumbled and almost fell to the grimy floor but a strong pair of arms caught her.

Despite the dull lighting of the room, her savior's face glowed as though emitting a light of its own. A mop of messy brown hair framed a finely crafted face with sharp cheekbones and the most captivating amber-colored eyes.

"S-Syaoran?" she gasped, noticing the way his eyes shone with intelligence.

His look of concern changed to one of confusion. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?" he asked politely, as he let go of her once she was back on her feet.

"It's me, Sakura," she answered.

"I don't think we've met before," he shook his head.

"What do you mean we haven't met before?" She repeated a little incredulously.

Syaoran opened his mouth to answer but a soft whirring sound caused his expression to darken.

"They're starting again," he murmured quietly, looking over his shoulder towards the boy who was currently strapped to a surgical table.

Before she could respond to that however, a heart-wrenching scream tore through the air. She whirled around only to freeze in horror at the sight before her.

The young boy was thrashing against his bindings, blood flowing freely from the torn flesh of his wrists and ankles as his body convulsed violently. His head whipped from side to side as he screamed before he began to choke and gag on the thick haze that enveloped his body.

His struggles grew more frantic as he failed to draw in a proper breath, his back arching in vain as he tried to break free of the bonds that held him. But the more he tried, the thicker the haze grew.

Slowly, his flailing body relaxed, his movements growing sluggish as his lids began to droop. Then all of a sudden there was brilliant flash of forest green and the thick choking haze that surrounded him was pushed away by the pure aura.

But it only took a couple of seconds before the choking haze began to seep into the aura that immediately retreated inside the boy's body before it could be polluted any further. One of the men with blank, stormy grey eyes stepped forward with a needle filled with some sort of black liquid that was injected carelessly into the boy's jugular.

Before the needle was even retracted from his body, the boy was screaming in pain, thrashing about wildly and tearing the skin off his flesh even more. A small pool of red began to form on the floor around him as his body lost the vital fluid but all those men did was inject a pale, green-colored fluid using a separate needle. This one was injected straight into his heart.

Or that was what she gathered from the fact that it had been stabbed directly into the left side of his chest. The flow of blood slowed down but he did not cease his struggles. Once again the haze gathered around his body and again he began to choke and gasp.

Just like before, his body flopped when he almost fainted and his aura came out to defend its master only to be polluted a little bit more. Once the aura retreated, the men stepped forward again and the whole cycle continued.

"Oh God…" Sakura breathed, her voice nothing more than a hoarse whisper. But her gaze was fixated on something behind the boy. She had not been able to make out the faces of any of the men present in the room. For some reason, all their faces were black outlines, but their eyes stood out.

And out of all three pairs of eyes, the ones that stood out the most were a deep, ocean blue color.

"T-Touya?" Sakura experienced a sensation as though she was falling down an endless tunnel as the scene around her grew hazy and finally faded away to leave nothing but pitch black.

Sakura woke up with a jolt, breathing hard she assessed her surroundings. Half her body was sprawled out on the floor while the upped half was leaning against a bunk, pressing against something firm and hot.

A pained whimper made her look to her right as she remembered she was in Syaoran's room. Her shoulder throbbed despite the cooling sensation of the second seal as she sat up.

Sakura couldn't remember what happened but a black outlined face with a pair of emotionless ocean-blue eyes flashed in her mind's eye and her breath caught in her throat. She quickly extracted her hand from Syaoran's grip, jumping to her feet. Clutching her hand to her chest she stumbled back, eyes wide in panic as she stared at the sleeping boy before her.

His brow furrowed as he groaned and bit his lip. His hand searched for hers, fisting around the sheets when he couldn't find it.

"No…" Another moan issued from his mouth as he turned on his side, but Sakura only took another step away from him. Her gut knotted uncomfortably and she retreated further.

Fear clenched its icy hands around her heart, freezing her blood.

Syaoran made a noise low in his throat and Sakura turned on her heals and fled.

Fai was the only person on the ship aside from her since Tomoyo and Kurogane had gone back to the Bazaar to buy food supplies and parts for the ship respectively. A task which was supposed to be completed the day before but had to be abandoned before it even began because of Syaoran having gone missing.

How many times do I have to tell you? She sank to the floor, hearing that hunter's voice again. Don't wander off like that you little Kaijuu.

"Who are you?" she mumbled weakly, burying her face into her folded knees.

She did not move to help Fai calm Syaoran when the disturbed teen cried out, nor did she notice it when a tainted, forest-green aura flared up and tried to subdue an equally strong, strangely familiar yet foreign aura. She didn't do anything when the foreign aura managed to overcome and suppress the tainted one as Syaoran's echoing cries ceased.

Had been any other time, she might have been worried about the boy but now, for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to care. She lacked the even the energy to crawl into bed to get some much needed rest. Her body was too drained, supplying the curse mark and it's containing seal energy to continue the battle for domination.

So that was how with fear-inducing, troubled thoughts of the forgotten dream or vision she passed out, leaning against the door.

A/N: And that's it for this time. Well?

A little bit more of what happened to Syaoran is revealed so is the picture becoming any clearer now?

So who can guess who those other guys were? I wonder why Touya would do something like that. Any thoughts? I'd love to know. ;)

-Nims.