[A/N: A bit of disturbing content in this chapter (depending on the reader). Enjoy.]

Disclaimer: Neither Cardcaptor Sakura nor its characters belong to me. It is owned by CLAMP. I do own Misako, Tai Lee/Jai Yu, and Javier though.

Italic- Thoughts/ Dreams

Bold- Something really important

CAPS LOCK- Someone really mad/worried

-------- Scene change

~~~ Change within a scene

Chapter 21: It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better

"JAI YU I AM SO FUCKING SERIOUS, YOU BETTER OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW," Javier screamed, still banging down the door.

The girl played with her jet black hair and rolled her eyes again.

"This is getting annoying now. Sorry ladies, the story's going to have to finish later."

She decided to toy with her 'boyfriend' now.

"I'm sorry, but who's this," she asked, stifling a laugh.

This girl is really enjoying this, Sakura thought disgustedly.

Meilin's phone had been ringing in her pocket for about ten minutes now. She knew the only person that could be trying to get to her would be either Eriol or Syaoran.

Eriol…God I miss him…

She wasn't even in an official relationship with him, but her heart was in more pain than when her fingers had been cut off.

She could only imagine what Sakura was feeling. Or what Syaoran was going through.

"Don't play with me Jai Yu," Javier responded, surprisingly to the three girls, a lot calmer than they had expected, "let me in and I won't be mad at you. I just want to see Sakura. I just want to know that she's alright, and if she is then I would have no right to be upset at you, because that's what I asked you to do; make sure she stays alright."

Jai Yu couldn't hold it in anymore and she burst out in a fit of laughter. That same eerie laugh that sent chills down your spine.

"You know what Javier? Every time you open your mouth I swear you get dumber and dumber. I have no idea what Misako saw in you, and I'm ashamed to have fallen for you."

The twenty year old didn't respond.

As a matter of fact, none of the girls knew if he was even there anymore because no sound was coming from the other side of the door. Jai Yu proceeded anyways.

"Who do you really think was the mastermind behind all of this? Did you think you were ever smart enough to have any control over me, or to think that I was doing any of this for you? You're such a disappointment," she ridiculed.

Still nothing.

"What girl do you think would be stupid enough to let their boyfriend go on and on about another girl and not be affected by it? Did you really think that I would just use my late best friend's left over tissue if I didn't have a good enough reason too?"

He still didn't make a sound but the words cut him deep. Deeper than she would have ever expected, and deeper than he wanted.

They were quite similar to one of the last words he had spoken with Misako. It was in fun then, but the suppressed memory caused a tug to his heart. He never wanted to remember about Misako after he had met Jai Yu. It would hurt him too much.

He was disillusioned to be in love with Sakura, but he really did love Misako when they were together, even though it was a short period of time.

Maybe that's the reason why he had been going along with this for as long as he had. Maybe it was for revenge on behalf of Misako; taking advantage of Sakura again.

Or was it that Jai Yu was playing mind games with him all along? Making him feel as if he were the one in charge and in control of it all.

It looks like Sakura wasn't the only one that got played.

But even though he knew this somewhere in the back of his mind, he didn't want to think about it. He wanted to pretend that he loved Sakura so that he couldn't feel any real pain from rejection. Was it a messed up logic? Maybe, but it was how he coped.

"What nothing to say? Well then in that case, I have a story to continue," Jai Yu said tiredly, headed back towards her victims.

However, just as she took a couple steps away, there was a loud smash against the door, causing Sakura and Meilin to jump.

Jai Yu turned to see a hole and a hammer lodging its way into the door. It was hauled out and then rammed back in, slowly at first, then faster and harder, widening the size of the hole.

It was almost the size of a beach ball, in terms of circumference, when Jai Yu began to get scared.

This was a first, Sakura thought.

It was really sad, but after being in this environment for so long, Sakura was used to feeling and seeing pain being inflicted. She knew that Javier was probably going to get into the room, beat Jai Yu to a pulp, and then release her and Meilin.

But of course it couldn't be as simple as that.

He would probably have his way with her in the end, and if she was lucky enough, he'd let her go. If not he'd either kill her or keep her as his sex slave or something like that.

But that would mean that he'd kill Meilin because he would never let her live knowing that she knows about their location.

And that would also mean that she would never be able to see Syaoran or Eriol or her dad or her brother or Yukito or Chiharu, or Takashi, or baby Mina or…anybody.

These thoughts were running through her head as Javier got closer and closer to entering the door.

It was official; she gave up.

She gave up on the tiny little sliver of hope that her soul tried desperately to hold on to. If she wouldn't be able to see her loved ones again then what would be the point of caring?

And even if Javier had his way with her and let her go, how could she possibly face Syaoran. The four years that they spent with each other would be shattered, she just knew it.

I don't know why I'm thinking so negatively…maybe it's the lack of blood.

She looked down to her wound which just had her thinking all over again about how pathetic her life situation was.

Meilin looked over to the her best friend's absent face. Sakura looked like all of the energy she had just seeped through a crack and left her body.

The revolting odor of blood that had been hanging over the room for the last couple of days had now become the smell of natural air to Sakura and Meilin.

They didn't remember what anything was supposed to be like anymore. What was socially accepted in their society and what wasn't? Who knew anymore?

Jai Yu scrambled around the room, looking for a way to prepare herself for the raging Javier. She ran over to Sakura and pulled the knife from the wall, just as Javier made his way through the door.

The 'couple' was now facing each other, inhaling and exhaling heavily. Jai Yu tried her best to mask the fear revealed in her eyes, but she was so overwhelmed by the hate, anger and confusion in Javier's eyes that she couldn't.

This time it was Javier's turn to form the twisted smile.

"You're right, Jai. This does end tonight.

-------

The phone rang four times and then was answered.

"Hello," a restless voice came from the other side of the receiver.

"Hey dad, can you do me a favour?"

The voice on the other line chuckled. This too hasn't happened in a while. He enjoyed the inside joke he had between himself and the person who had called him.

"What do you need son?"

"Well, Eriol and I came over to the house to see if you were home and if we could borrow the car. The car is here but you're not…is everything okay?"

Fujitaka sighed.

"I take it you haven't heard. Yukito was hit by the car, he's in the hospital. Touya's in the hospital too."

"Shit," Syaoran muttered under his breath. As if life wasn't complicated enough as it is.

There was an awkward silence that fell over the phone line, when Fujitaka remembered that Syaoran called asking for a favour.

"The extra car key in the drawer in the kitchen to the far left. Extra key to the house is under the welcome mat. What do you need the car for?"

Syaoran was still partially taking in the new found information.

"Eriol found a voicemail message from Meilin before she went missing saying that she got a phone call from Tai Lee, saying that they were in Tokyo. Eriol and I figure that if we go to the Tokyo Police we may be able to find Sakura."

A slightly relieved sigh was heard in Syaoran's ear. The brown haired young man gestured to Eriol to lift up the mat and take up the key and the blue haired young man did as he was instructed.

"That's great news. Please, let me come with you. I can't learn about this information and not be there to see if she really is there. I don't know how much longer I can be without my precious little flower," Fujitaka told Syaoran, his voice cracking.

Syaoran smiled, remembering a time that Mr. Kinomoto had told him that he used to call Sakura his precious little flower when she was younger and she used to hate it. She'd probably love to hear that now.

"It's okay Fujitaka, I know how you feel. She's my precious little flower too you know. And even though Touya is a grown man, he is still your son and he's in the hospital too. I don't mean to put you in a situation where you have to choose between your children, but that's the way it is right now. If you come with us then you leave Touya by himself."

Touya hasn't been very stable… Fujitaka thought, looking over to his son toss and turn in cold sweat on the hospital bed. He was fearful that Touya may stress his heart too much that he may get a heart attack or cardiac arrest. The way the world is now, you're not too young to get anything.

But at the same time, there may be a chance that Sakura is dying somewhere, or in some form of pain, and he wants to be there to help her.

Nadeshiko, I wish you were here so badly.

Eriol opened the house and the two men walked into it, Eriol following his friend's lead into the kitchen.

When Sakura's dad didn't respond for a while, Syaoran took the initiative to continue the conversation.

"Look Mr. Kinomoto," he began to rummage through the drawer until he found the key, "I know you're worried about your children, but let me and Eriol handle Sakura's situation and you handle Touya. At least that way everyone is being tended to and no one is secluded."

Syaoran surprised himself with his own composure. Maybe his reliance on Sakura to feel secure was dissolving. The love was still there of course, but the dependency was lessening.

Fujitaka sighed again, and as much as he wished it could be otherwise, Syaoran was right.

"Alright, hurry up and get to Tokyo, but if you find her and this Javier character there, give him a good punch in the jaw for me."

Syaoran laughed, but it wasn't a very sincere one and he meant every word of what he said, "Oh don't worry. If I see Javier he'll get more than just a punch."

He hung up the phone in a rage, unintentionally hanging up on Mr. Kinomoto. He slammed the kitchen drawer shut and headed out the door.

Eriol looked at his friend concerned.

"Are you alright?"

Syaoran unlocked the car door and made his way into the passenger seat.

"Let's just say I'm out for blood."

Eriol nodded, and even though he didn't show it much, so was he.

He locked the door, placed the key back under the mat, hopped into the car, and drove off.

---------

"I'm not afraid of you," Jai Yu stated, glaring into his eyes and grabbing onto the knife harder in her left hand. There were still blood stains on it, and she held it towards him.

"I may love you, but I'm not afraid to kill you. I don't want to, but I will if I have to," she said, imitating the words she had told him before this diabolical-plan-gone-wrong had occurred.

Javier grabbed the hammer with both hands and swung it at Jai Yu's hand so fast that she hadn't even seen it coming.

The sound of her shattering bones was like the sound of a hundred bubble wraps being popped at the same time.

Meilin and Sakura cringed and even felt a slight bit of sympathy for their captor. Well, Sakura did at least.

The knife fell out of Jai Yu's hand and she screamed in pain. Her left hand stayed limp and an uncomfortable rush of liquid spread inside of it. She knew immediately that it was internal bleeding and her bones were broken.

---------

I heard someone scream, but this time it wasn't one of my fwends. It was mommy. Wuss going on, asked the little boy, sitting with his knees to his chest on the cold floor of the dark room. But all he could do was what he had been doing all this time. Stare at the door, thinking if he did that for long enough he could see through it. Or even better, go through it.

----------

Javier on the other hand didn't look so compassionate. This time when he lunged the hammer at her, it was onto her left knee, the sound of cracking and shattering bones, as well as her screams echoing the room. Her tears flowed harder now that her left side was practically useless in terms of getting her anyway.

It hurt Sakura to watch and even Meilin looked away from it. If she could, she could cover her ears to block out the excruciating cries. He was about to swing again when Sakura screamed out for him to stop.

Meilin, Jai Yu, and Javier stopped in their places and looked at her.

"Please…don't hurt her anymore…"

If Meilin's wrists were free, she's walk over to Sakura, slap her across the face, and then shake her until she came back to her senses.

"Sakura, what the fuck? Leave him to do whatever he wants to her. She used him. She practically slit you in half, and look at what she did to my fingers!"

Meilin meant to wiggle her fingers to make her point, but then realized that was pointless because she didn't have the fingers there to wiggle.

"I know…but…but if he does that then he's no better than she is…" Sakura said softly, looking down to her tainted red sweater.

Meilin gave her an 'are-you-serious?' look.

"Do you hear yourself Sakura? This guy has tried to rape you twice, and this girl has had us deprived of the necessities we need to live properly. Who cares what happens to them?"

At this point Meilin didn't even care if the other two were listening to her or not.

"Sakura, you can't keep trying to save everyone, or assume that everyone is good or means to do good. At the end of the day, one wants to kill you and the other wants to rape you. You should know that already. Look at how close you were to killing Misako yourself, and the only reason you didn't is because Eriol was selfish and did it himself."

Javier gaped at Sakura.

"Is…is this true," he asked. Had the person he pretended to love, conspire to kill the person that he actually did love?

"Sakura…tell me this isn- OH MY, AHHHH," he screamed. It was so loud that it echoed around the room, and probably the house.

Jai Yu, pulled the knife out of his shin with her right arm and then jabbed it back it, causing him to howl wildly again.

His legs gave in and he collapsed to the ground, trying to tend to the wound. Jai Yu took this opportunity to crawl as much as she could on her right hand towards the door, in hopes to get away from him. One strike like the ones she has been getting to her head and that would be the end of her life.

As she dragged herself closer and closer away from the scene, the sound of the knife being dragged out of Javier's shin and him groaning could be heard in her ears.

He now looked up at Sakura, knife in hand, and despite the pain in his leg, he stood up straight and walked towards her.

Meilin was watching in horror at the sight. When Javier began to go in the opposite direction of Jai Yu, towards Sakura, she started to feel for her friend.

"GET AWAY FROM HER! YOU BETTER NOT DOING ANYTHING TO- HEY! I'M TALKING TO YOU," she yelled, but her efforts appeared futile.

Sakura made no attempt to scream or tell him to stop. She had already mentally prepared herself for the worst possible situation. Her dull emerald eyes looked into his emotionless brown eyes and vice versa. Sakura could see from the corner of her eye Jai Yu's right hand stretch up towards the doorknob, while she remained captive.

Or so she thought.

Javier took her by the chin and kissed her forcefully. She didn't kiss him back, but she didn't make an effort to stop him.

She had completely given up.

He could probably take her right there and then and she still wouldn't care. She didn't care about anything anymore. Caring only gets you more hurt.

Meilin couldn't believe what she was seeing. Sakura, the perfect Sakura, the persistent Sakura, the strong willed Sakura, the Sakura that she once knew was gone. The one that she knew would have never allowed this to happen. She stopped it from happening twice before after all. But then again, Sakura had been through a lot, and Meilin thought that if she was completely in Sakura's position she would have given up too.

People have been trying to make a living hell out of Sakura's year for five years now, and every time things seemed to look up, something would come and shatter it back to nothing.

How did that quote go again? One step forward and two steps back, that's it.

Even though Meilin seemingly understood her friend's dilemma, part of her wished that Sakura would still keep trying to be that person that Meilin had looked up to for as long as she lived in Tomoeda.

When he pulled away he didn't even look at her; he simply took the knife towards her left wrist and cut the rope off. When her arm dropped to her side, it felt awkward.

It had been held up there for so long that she wasn't even used to having it anymore. Moments after her right hand came down and she fell to the ground.

Javier turned his back on her and headed out of the door to search from his runaway revenge target.

He paused.

"If you even think about leaving, I will hunt you down and I will kill you. But before that I'll have my way with you. I'm tired of playing games," he finished, slamming the door behind him.

Sakura looked up to Meilin's eyes that said 'I've given up my hope in you, Sakura', and then placed her face in her hands and wept.

--------

There's a 'whirring' sound. I was looking evweewhere for what it was coming from, which is silly because it was in my pocket all along. I can't wead so I don't know what it says but I pressed something and put it to my ear.

--------

He occasionally looked over to his friend, curious as to what he was doing. Yeah, yeah, he was supposed to be paying attention to the road but, as mentioned, he was curious.

The car ride in general had been relatively quiet, but he finally broke it.

"Hey man, what are you doing," Eriol asked, still eying Syaoran.

"I'm going to try calling Sakura. I gave up after the first couple of days, but maybe she's been able to get away from wherever she was kidnapped and it slipped her mind to…call or…something, I don't know," Syaoran replied agitatedly, slamming the phone to his ear.

"You know what, sometimes I think you're more hormonal than the gir-"

"Shut up, it's ringing."

Eriol rolled his eyes and continued driving. The Tokyo Tower was in sight and he felt a little more helpful.

Everyone could use a bit of good news right about now, and he was hoping that in this section of Japan was holding some of that.

I just remembered that I didn't call Nakuru to tell her about any of this…I should get to that as soon as I could, he thought.

"Hewo?"

Syaoran couldn't believe his ears. He thought that they were playing tricks on him because in all honestly he hadn't been expecting a response.

He sat there in silence which called the voice from the other line to repeat itself.

"Hewo? Is anybody there?"

"S-Sakura? Where's Sakura," Syaoran found himself yelling into the receiver.

The voice paused for a moment.

"Sa-ku-wa? Is dat my fwend's name?"

Syaoran had put two and two together and figured out that the person that he was talking to was a child. As much as he wanted to interrogate the kid, he knew that patience was the only way he was going to get the answers that he wanted.

"What does your friend look like," Syaoran asked as calmly as he could.

Eriol glanced over to his friend, wondering even more what was going on.

"She's weally pretty. She has short hair and a red sweater wid blue pants," the voice on the line began to sniffle, "but mommy hurt her so she has cuts all over. Dere's so much blood. I wanted to help my fwend but then mommy left me all by myself in the basement."

This caught Syaoran's attention, while at the same time causing him to lose his patience.

"WHO'S YOUR MOTHER? WHAT DID SHE DO TO SAKURA?"

The little boy started to cry, a soft sob that escalated to a hysterical howl.

"I-I-I'm s-s-sowy. I-I-I d-di-didn't want anysing to-to happen to my fwend. Mom-mom-mommy didn't, didn't listen to me."

"Okay, okay, calm down I'm sorry for yelling at you," a hint of anger still tinted his voice, he needed answers, but if the kid kept crying then he wouldn't get them.

He covered his hand over the receiver and faced Eriol.

"Stop the car. We may be getting the best lead by far."

Eriol did as instructed.

He now was just as anxious as Syaoran was. There were only three things that he wanted in life. One, was to get into a good university and pursue with his dream. The second was that maybe Tomoyo could come back to life, but he knew that that couldn't happen, which led to the third, and at the moment, most important thing. To hold Meilin in his arms and never let her go until he knew for a fact that she wouldn't scare him like that again. The amount of fear that welled up in his body concerning what may have happened to her or Sakura, was immense.

Syaoran took his hand off of the receiver.

"Do you want your friend to be okay?"

The little boy sniffled.

"Yes," he replied, barely audible.

"Then you need to tell me where you guys are, where you live, or what the area looks like. You tell me that and I will tell it to the police so they can come and help you, okay?"

The little boy was silent again. There were a few sniffles, then silence.

"But how do I know you're going to help me?"

Syaoran smiled.

"Because I'm your friend's friend, and I want to help."

The little boy thought about it and then told Syaoran that he did not know the exact address, but he could describe what it looked like, which he did.

Syaoran thanked the boy and then gave his word that everything would be alright.

He hung up the phone and told Eriol immediately where he needed to go, and the blue haired man turned on the car and flew down the street.

Syaoran made a mental note to call the police as soon as they found the house and could give them a solid address.

There are still two things that are bothering me. The first thing is who the hell is this kid's mother? I could have sworn that Javier was behind all of this. And the second thing, that isn't as major, but I still wonder about; why was the kid so susceptible to giving away his home information to a stranger?

But then again, it's not like his mother taught him any better.

--------

After Sakura finished crying, she sat on the ground, hugging her knees and not making a sound.

Meilin hated seeing her friend like this. Sakura was behaving like a young child who did something wrong and was waiting for their parent to discipline them. Meilin knew Sakura needed some tough love, and that was exactly what she was going to offer.

"Listen Sakura, I get that you've been traumatized by this experience, I can only imagine what's running thought your head right now, and you and Syaoran are going to have some serious trust issues when, not if, you guys are reunited, but you're always complaining that it's Syaoran that saves you, and I think it's gotten to the point where you rely on that. I don't know if you've noticed this or not but you're your own person, and you can save your own damn self. What you need to do right now it prove to Syaoran that you can manage without him being there. That way, God forbid, if something later on in your life were to happen similar like this, as unlikely as it is, you will be able to take care of yourself, and he won't have to worry as much about you. And remember, none of this is your fault. It's Javier's and Jai Yu's. Those are the people that were messing with our heads, those are the people that we need to get revenge on."

Sakura still stayed in silence but then looked at her friend and nodded.

"You know what Meilin," she said while rising to her feet, "we're getting the hell out of here tonight."

Meilin grinned widely, the first smile that appeared on her face in a very long time.

"That's the spirit! Now get me down from here before Javier gets back."

TBC…

[A/N: So I lied about the story being almost over. I just had a sudden rush of ideas that I want to add to this story, since this isn't going to be a trilogy. It won't be too much longer, but it won't be over in the next 2/3 chapters, let's just say that much.

And by the way, I haven't forgotten that Syaoran is one of the main, main characters :P. The spotlight is going to switch to him slightly after a few chapters. Not as much spotlight as Sakura got, but enough :)

Anyways, leave your reviews please & thank you.

Eternal Cosmic Sailor Saturn: We'll see. We shall see :P. And thanks a lot, I'll try to remember to let at least him have a happy ending. Thanks for the review!

pikachu2510: Well isn't someone a little addicted to my fic, hahha :P. I'm glad you are enjoying it and thanks for the compliment and the review!]