"Ghosts From the Past"
Sakura flinched as the doctor pulled the needle out her arm.
"Alright, I will just sit this here," the doctor said, placing the syringe in a plastic bag.
Sakura looked at her gratefully, nodding her head. "Where's Dr. Li? I thought he'd be the one to come here and..." she trailed off, realizing how ridiculous and desperate she sounded to see the man. That was not in her character and they most certainly had not come out to the public yet.
The older doctor gave her a knowing look before smiling at her softly as she dabbed something on her arm and covered it. "He said that he'd be down on this floor after running a few test on his patients for the trial," she said softly. "He said if you were to ask for him to let him know right away though, so I could go and get him if you would like," the doctor said.
Sakura smiled at her gratefully again, really considering it so she could tell him about Eichii, but something told her not to, so she shook her head. "No, it's okay. But um...I do have a question about the whereabouts of one of the other workers here..." she said softly, trailing off.
"And who might this one be?" the doctor asked, looking a bit confused about that question.
"Umm...I think her name is Akari—she's a nurse who lost her husband this past year, I believe. U-uhh...Syaoran—Dr. Li, left some things with her for me to get," she lied on the spot, knowing a person who knew her could tell that it was a lie. She was awful at lying, but she knew she had to get to the bottom of this herself.
She knew she would have to tell Syaoran eventually, but she wanted to do some research on her own to make sure before getting him involved. She could only think of Akari, her friend, and Akinari that would do such a thing to her and she knew that Akinari would never do anything like that. The other two women, on the other hand, were out to get her since one of them had went back and told Syaoran about her and Akinari.
"Hmm... I'm not quite sure who that is, but I can ask around for you," the doctor said thoughtfully.
Sakura smiled at her, nodding her head. "That would really mean a lot. Don't bother getting Dr. Li involved either," she said, cringing at that last statement.
The lady gave her another knowing look before chuckling at her. "Ms. Kinomoto, I trust that Dr. Li has great judge of character, so I will do this for you," the woman said.
Sakura did not say anything, not wanting to give away anything she might do. Granted, she did not plan on causing any trouble, but she just wanted to have a one-on-one conversation with the person behind this.
"Of course," she said, instead of giving the woman any detail on what she wanted to do.
"I'll have her come here when I find her," the doctor said, picking up the syringe that she had just placed in a plastic bag and then leaving her alone to her thoughts.
She really could have made this easier by just telling Syaoran about someone doing it and she suspected that it might just be someone in his hospital, so he could handle it. But no, she wanted to handle it.
Syaoran had not done anything wrong to make her question his loyalty with any woman since they decided to start sleeping with each other, so she refused to give him hell for this. This was in none of their doings, so she wanted to be the one to get to the bottom of this.
She hoped that she could find the source to fix this herself and she just might not have to tell Syaoran about Eichii coming to her practice.
Wrong move.
She mentally groaned, annoyed with her stupid inner voice. She just did not want to create or cause any more conflict between them. She promised her inner voice that she would tell him eventually.
The time ticked by like a tortoise in a marathon, causing tension to rise in her chest in anticipation. What seemed like forever, the door to the room opened, causing her head to snap forward in the direction. And in walked the woman Sakura had never spoken to before but heard about so many times.
She paused at the door when she noticed Sakura sitting on the stool. "K-Kinomoto-san," she called.
Sakura looked her up and down subtly, noticing how attractive the woman looked. For a moment, her stomach felt a bit queasy at the thought of Syaoran possibly thinking that she might be more attractive than her, but she pushed it out her head immediately. Syaoran wanted to be with her, which meant that he wanted no other but her.
"Close the door," Sakura said in a tone so soft, yet held so much confidence to let the woman know how serious she is and did not feel the least bit threatened by her being here. She did not want her to feel threatened nor did she want her to think that she was trying to pick a fight with her. She just wanted to have a conversation.
Akari closed the door quietly, but stayed at the door as if Sakura might jump at her at any minute and she might have to bolt. Seeing how afraid the woman seemed to make the wrong move made Sakura feel a surge of power overwhelm her chest.
Is this how Syaoran feels?
"I just want to have a conversation..." Sakura said a lot softer this time.
The woman's shoulders untensed; her face looking a bit more relieved now. "Is it about Dr. Li? I swear there is nothing going on between us anymore," she said quietly.
Sakura shook her head. "No. I was told by Syaoran that you're good friends with the woman who's out to ruin my relationship with him," she said.
Akari's breath caught in her throat, much to Sakura's delight. Perhaps they did have something to do with that phone call, she thought. "I...take my job very seriously—"
"Not serious enough if you're sleeping with your boss," Sakura said without thinking. At any other time, she would have clamped her hand over her mouth and apologized profusely for her very rude and intruding statement, but she could not this time.
Akari's cheeks colored in embarrassment and shame, more than anything. "I-I'm sorry, Kinomoto-san. I wish I could take it back, but I..."
"Are you in love with him?" she found herself asking, not knowing why she was doing this.
This conversation had taken a different turn, as they were only supposed to be talking about that phone call, but she could not help but question the woman.
Akari shook her head slowly. "I will admit that I have liked him in the past, just as much as any woman in this town would or has, but I understand that nothing will ever come of our relationship as no more than a boss and employee now," she said.
"Syaoran's different from the way he was a few months ago," Sakura said, purposely calling him by his first name. She wanted the woman to know of the closeness of their relationship so she could know that they were serious. "Yes, Syaoran was those awful things that everyone said he was, but he is none of those things anymore. And I know...that you will not see that because you feel like you've been wronged by him, but he is different now."
Akari was quiet for a moment, making Sakura wonder if she were thinking about disagreeing with her until she spoke, "I know...and, I believe that he has changed. I never believed Dr. Li to have done wrong by me—"
"Well, he did, just as much as you made that decision to lie down with him. And your friend and everyone knows that, but that doesn't mean that any of you get to decide his punishment." Sakura closed her eyes, hoping to calm herself down from getting angry at the thought of the audacity of these people to think they were some gods who decides what happens to other people.
"I said all of that to say this...Syaoran and I will end up together. We will work out and there's not a damn thing that...any of you in this hospital can do to change that. You guys can throw whatever you want at me or Syaoran because I have no control over that, but don't you all dare bring my past in this to your advantage because you're hurting me more than you're hurting him. That's why I need you to go ahead and tell me this...and if you don't, as much as I hate to seem like that person, there will be consequences. Who made the call?"
Akari's face looked lost more than ever now. "The call?"
"Yes, there was a call made to my ex and I dare you to play stupid—"
"I told her not to do it," Akari said immediately, eyes watering at the confession.
Sakura let out a humorless laugh, finding nothing funny by the revelation. "So, it's exactly who I expected it to be," she said.
"Kinomoto-san, please...don't make me lose my job for her actions. She means well, really, she does, but she's just a little overprotective of me since I've lost my husband and I've done very reckless things in the past, including my past affair with Dr. Li. Please, don't tell him or I lose my job too," Akari said desperately.
Sakura stared at her for a while, seeing a little of herself in the woman at the mention of losing a loved one and being very irrational afterwards. Instead of feeling pity for a woman who had once slept with the man she planned to be with, she looked away, praying her caring nature away for right now.
The nerve of the woman to use the loss of her husband to get herself out of this. "I watched my abusive fiancé kill himself and only just recently found out that he's been alive this entire time when I blamed myself for six years that I was the reason he died...so, why should I pity your friend who's forcing my ex who lied and abused me? What about how I feel? "
"Please, Kinomoto-san, I had nothing to do with it," Akari said, falling on her knees in front of Sakura now, to her surprise. "If you turn her in, I lose my job too, please!" she begged as tears fell from her eyes.
Sakura tore her eyes from the woman, feeling her heart ache at the sight. "Get up," she demanded softly. "Selfish...just so selfish, only thinking of yourselves. Imagine how I felt, seeing my supposed deceased fiancée approach me like that at my practice, leaving us alone? She didn't think about how I would feel?" Sakura asked, trying to control her anger towards the woman.
The woman had done nothing wrong by her, but the fact that anyone would stoop as low as forcing Eichii back in her life like that was the lowest of low. They would never understand what she went through with that man. They would never understand what she has suffered from for all these years of pain. They would never understand her trauma.
She could feel no sympathy for anyone who let another person cause another pain purposely like Akari let her friend do to her.
"Go get her," Sakura said tightly, making the woman freeze on the floor. "Now."
The woman seemed to take the hint and stood from the floor, wiping her face. "I'm not sure where she—"
"Find her," Sakura said tightly, making the woman scurry out of the room after murmuring a quick okay.
"What's going on—?"
"How did you find out about Eichii?" Sakura asked as soon as the woman walked through the door with Akari.
The woman froze at the door, seeing Sakura sit on the stool still. It had been over 10 minutes since she had sent Akari out to get her friend so she could have a nice chat with her about her schemes. For a moment, she thought that the woman would not come back, but remembered that the woman's job was on the line here. She wanted to get to the bottom of this.
When the woman finally showed up, Sakura could feel her emotions begin to battle with each other.
The woman just stared at Sakura; eyes widened as if she could not believe that she would be here. Sakura could tell they were younger than her by a few years. "I'm sorry?" the woman questioned, leaning against the door.
"Eichii Kobayashi. Please don't play dumb with me," Sakura said softly, not wanting to slip out of character as she did earlier with the other woman. "I just want to know why."
When neither of them spoke, just staring at her, Sakura folded her arms over her chest. "I just want to have a conversation like adults. Make me understand why you would do something like that to someone who's done nothing to you," she asked, feeling her voice tremble towards the end. Maybe seeing Eichii was a lot worse than she thought it was.
"Kinomoto-san," called Akari, speaking on behalf of her friend.
"You said your peace, so there's nothing else to say to you. I want her to speak. Tell me what your intentions were—"
"To hurt Dr. Li."
"Momoko, please, I told you this wasn't a good—"
"Akari, leave. I will handle this," the woman, whose name is Momoko, said.
"Momo—"
"I'm serious," Momoko said in a threatening tone, surprising Sakura at her confident attitude.
"Gomenasai, Kinomoto-san," Akari said, bowing to her apologetically before she left the room, leaving them alone.
"Is that your only excuse? You must not care about your job? Your reputation?" Sakura asked. "How did you find out about my ex?"
"Hmmm...how could you say that it was me who called your ex? It's not quite fair on my part for you to accuse me of such a thing..." Momoko said, raising an innocent brow at her.
Sakura could feel the anger rise in her chest at the woman's nonchalant behavior, but refused to let this woman get the best of her. "Don't do that. You just said that you want to hurt Syaoran," Sakura said calmly. "If you're going to act like a stick's up your ass, I can end this conversation short."
Momoko looked at her seriously with a fire in her eyes that might have resembled her own about getting this out in the open. "He was once your fiancée, wasn't he?" Momoko asked. "I just thought...maybe if you would...see him again then you might reconsider giving Dr. Li a chance. He'll just hurt you like he's hurt every other woman who's been involved with him. You don't want that, do you, Kinomoto-san? You don't want to get hurt and I don't want you to either. I don't want another woman to suffer at the hands of that bastard," Momoko said, folding her arms as her eyes began to water towards the end of that statement.
Despite everything she said, all Sakura could address was one thing that stuck out the most to her. "What was seeing my ex going to do?" she asked.
"You guys were once engaged, right? I...did a little research on my own of you and found out that you had a fiancé. And I...found out that he was dead, but I...got into Dr. Li's office to find something and he ended up leaving something up on his computer and it just happened to be a picture of Kobayashi-kun in a mental hospital. I thought that you had known he was there all along and I thought...just maybe...maybe if you saw him one more time, you would want to rekindle your relationship with him; break whatever you and Dr. Li have off to save yourself the trouble of getting hurt too," Momoko explained with a sad look in her eyes now.
Sakura closed her eyes, feeling herself regret telling Akari that Eichii had been abusive to her. She thought they had known that much at least if she knew anything about their past. "I don't think you understand..." Sakura said quietly, dropping her head, feeling her heart ache at this conversation now. "I understand where you are coming from, but I need you to understand that you can't hurt Syaoran through me. Thank you for the warning and concern, but I think that I'm old enough to make decisions on my own without others interfering with them," Sakura said softly.
"But—"
Sakura held up a hand, shaking her head. "I appreciate it, but please...stay out of this," she said tightly. "I understand you want revenge for your friend and all the women he's hurt, but you need to understand that hurting Syaoran will do nothing good for anyone. You aren't some God who determines what punishment a person receives. You're doing more damage to me more than anything if you truly cared about me. He's already gone through enough, so this will be nothing compared to what he's already been through," she explained.
Momoko dropped her head in shame and disappointment. "Okay, Kinomoto-san..." she said quietly.
An awkward silence followed that statement that Sakura decided not to break.
"Are you...will Dr. Li know about this?" Momoko asked after a while.
Sakura could hear the hesitancy in her tone, hearing how scared the woman sounds now. Sakura could have easily laughed at the woman's confidence dropping from its high level of arrogance to nothing, but chose the mature route. "Yes. I don't trust that you won't go back and twist anything else," she said, dropping down from the stool she had been sitting in to stand.
"I won't, Kinomoto-san. I know that you want this, and you don't mind the consequences of being with him. I promise I won't be an issue anymore, just...don't let me lose my job," she said in a pleading tone.
Just a few minutes ago, the woman was confident in her actions as if nothing could ever knock her down. Now she stood here, practically begging on her knees for Sakura's mercy.
"I have to go," Sakura said instead, walking towards her where the door is.
Momoko blocked the door, to her surprise. "Kinomoto-san, please—"
Sakura stood in front of her with a calm expression on her face, or she hoped so at least. "Move," she said softly.
The woman stood there for a moment before her head dropped again and she moved out of Sakura's way so she could leave her alone in the room. She wished she could say that the woman would not pay, but she felt that she would stop at nothing until she actually believed that Syaoran could truly get rid of her if she did not stop. Plus, she dragged Eichii into this, which had been the last thing she wanted.
Sakura made her way to the elevator, taking her phone out of her pocket, sending a quick text to Syaoran to ask if he could talk for a bit in his office. On her way up to his floor, her phone went off, telling her she had a message.
'I'm here now.'
She read the text, frowning at the way it made her feel. Something was wrong.
As soon as the elevator doors slid open, Sakura walked out, almost feeling her legs rush to his office door. She could always sense when there is something wrong with Syaoran for some reason.
She slowly opened the door to his office once she punched in the code she had memorized, walking inside, but stopped at the front of the door when she noticed his head in his hand.
He looked stressed out and like he were overthinking something that had happened. She closed the door, hoping to get his attention, which worked because he looked up, eyes immediately locking with hers. A gentle smile played at his lips and he stood from his desk, making his way over to her.
She held on to the knob of the door tightly, knowing exactly what she had to do; to tell him. "Are you okay?" came from her mouth instead of spewing all her secrets.
"I am, I am, just..." trailing off, he reached her, leaning down to place a lingering kiss on her lips. "My day just got 10 times better seeing that necklace on you," she felt his hot breath brush against her lips, causing her cheeks to warm.
"W-well...you gave it to me to wear, so..." she said, pulling back from his lips.
"I know. I just love how it looks on you is all," he said, resting his hand on the door behind her, which she just noticed she was pressed up against now.
How had that happened?
"Hmm...I asked were you okay when I came in," she said, looking up at him with a serious look in her eyes.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said, sounding like he were trying to convince himself of that. "Just...we're slowly losing one of our patients on this trial and I have all this other shit to deal with. I'm not complaining, really, because I expected this to happen, but damn, you know? I'm used to losing people because I can't fix everyone, but...it still sucks," he said, looking emotionless as he spoke on it.
Sakura frowned, letting her hand reach up to cup his face. "I understand."
He smiled sadly, leaning his forehead against hers with his eyes closed. "And then it doesn't help that that bastard is getting out soon, you know? That's been on my mind all day too."
Sakura contained herself, not wanting to give anything away. She knew that now was not the time to add anything to his plate. He was already stressing enough.
"And on top of that...Yelan wants me to come to Hong Kong to talk..."
Immediately, her eyes locked with his, surprised to hear that. He had even said her name! He never had before without nearly losing his wits.
He had grown so much since they first started therapy. She had never felt this proud of patient as much as she had of Syaoran right now.
"You never told me what you had said to her in that text..." she started.
He scoffed, shaking his head against hers as his eyes remained locked with hers. "How fucked up I am because of her. How much I wished she was there for me at times when I needed her...and do you know what she said?"
Sakura shook her head slowly against his. "What'd she say?"
"It's so ridiculous. All she could say for herself was that I would never understand what she had gone through...no apology, no sympathy...nothing that showed her remorse for her actions in the past of how she had treated me," he said.
As Sakura listened, she noticed there was no sadness or hatred in his tone. He sounded...completely emotionless about all of it. He sounded done.
"And then we talked about my father and his well-being...like, fuck me, right? And now she wants me to come 'home' because she wants to talk." He moved back from her forehead, letting out a quiet sigh. "Now she wants to talk."
"You don't have to—"
"I won't. I refuse to see that woman again if I don't have to," came his bitter response.
"What about your father?"
"I will...check up on him when...I find the right time to," he said quietly.
"That's fair," she said softly.
"I'm sorry for springing this on you like that, I don't mean to sound like a negative-nancy," he said. "How'd things go with Dr. Akamine?"
Sakura smiled at him, nodding her head. "It went fine. I didn't know it would be so quick."
"I took care of all the paperwork and such. She just needed your blood. You haven't ran into any trouble while here, right?"
At that question, she fell silent, knowing she would not be able to lie without getting caught red-handed. "I didn't run into Aki, if that's what you're asking," she said in a teasing tone, hoping it would shift the conversation.
He glared as if the man were there with them. "That bastard," he said under his breath, making her giggle.
"Oh, stop," she chided quietly.
"Look at me," he demanded softly, yet he already used his fingers to grab her chin to lift her face towards him. "You didn't run into any trouble, did you?"
By the mere fact of him asking again, she knew exactly what he was referring to. She did not want to add any more stress on his plate though. She would tell him, but just not now when there were already so many things going on in his life.
She let her hands fall on his chest over his shirt, which made him stiffen under her slim fingers. She stood on her tiptoes, letting her lips ghost over his neck. "Only trouble I'm in is being in here with you alone."
Syaoran released a shuttering breath at the silkiness her tone held. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked quietly. She could not tell if he were playing dumb or not right now, but she knew he would follow along with whatever she did.
Her hand slid down his chest slowly as her lips closed around his neck and her other hand pulled him down by the neck so her lips could travel up to his ear. Her ears registered a sharp intake of breath as he rest both hands on the door behind her now while her lips closed around the outline of his ear. He pulled back immediately, to her surprise, but leaned down to close the gap between their lips tightly in a steaming hot kiss.
As if he sensed her surprise, he took advantage of her parted lips to deepen their exploration with his tongue, battling with hers. Her hands slid lower until it reached the belt of his pants, causing his harsh breaths to increase against her mouth. One thing she loves about being intimate with him is the fact that it barely takes any time to get him aroused. He was beyond aroused right now, which only spurred her on to continue what she had suddenly started.
Her fingers expertly unbuckled his belt and the top button of his pants before she readily slid her hand further down his pants and boxers until her fingers came in contact with the hard, stiff flesh. His hips automatically jerked towards her as his lips pressed into hers harder, making her release a soft moan into his mouth.
Her fingers curled and stroked along his member, letting her thumb tease the slit every few strokes, smearing his precum in the awkward position of her hand. He snatched his mouth from hers, closing his eyes tightly as he struggled to not let his control slip at any given moment as she stroked him expertly, staring at the contorted look on his face.
She rarely ever had the opportunity to look and observe Syaoran through any pleasurable encounters. He always seemed to control every sexual encounter, so to see him come close to being undone was one of the most erotic things she had ever seen. Nothing had turned her on more than seeing the man jerk uncontrollably in her hand with each passing swipe over his tip. His slightly parted lips and ragged breaths did nothing to help that. She wanted him to feel how she felt every time he would go above and beyond to please her.
She removed her hand from his pants, but pulled them down a little to free his stiff rod as she fell down on her knees in front of him.
"W-what are you doing, Sakura?" he asked in a weak tone, stirring something in her stomach at his vulnerable state.
She had only seen Syaoran like this one other time and ironically, it was in this office, except on the couch. They were at the door this time where anyone could possibly walk by and hear them going at it.
As weird and out of character it sounded, she could not help but like the thrill of possibly getting caught, but did not want to get caught. It would be a shame for people to hear their cocky, arrogant boss who always acted as if he had it all together come undone at her mercy; lose all the control that he swore he had over everything in his life.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" she asked, letting her hand stroke him slowly while looking up at him through her lashes as she felt the temperature on her cheeks rise.
"Fuck," he swore under his breath, leaning his arm against the door with his head resting against it. She would not let him stop her this time as he had last time so he could control the situation.
He grabbed her auburn locks gently, but somehow forced her to look up at him. Or maybe she had willingly. "You don't have to do this," he told her, rather than asking her if she wanted to.
She bit her bottom lip, making him groan quietly. "I know," she said.
This was only the second time she had ever done this with him, and even though she reassured him the first time that this was her choice, he still insisted on telling her that.
Instead of waiting for a response, she let her lips brush against the base of his arousal. She fought to hold back the grin at the responsive hip jerk from the slight contact. Not wanting to keep him in a tortuous mess, she opened her mouth, allowing her tongue to rub against his hot flesh. He shuddered, grip tightening in her hair, which oddly turned her on even more at how rough he was getting due to his lack of control. She licked along the vein before enclosing the tip in her mouth, tasting the slightly salty essence that seemed unable to stop pouring from his body.
She could feel Syaoran's hip jerk towards her mouth, attempting to sink himself further into the wet heat that her mouth had. She let her tongue tease the slit on his head a little more, enjoying the little grunts that left his mouth at her skilled tongue. She wondered how long he could last before breaking.
"Fuck, y-you can't keep teasing me like that, baby," he said in a strangled, deep tone filled with lust, creating that delicious stir downstairs again.
Hearing the impatience in his tone made her cave into sliding her mouth along the base of his member, causing it to throb in appreciation in her mouth. Gently, her mouth sucked him before gliding up and down, creating a friction of her lips against the sensitive flesh on his body. Despite the needy, strangled groans that filled her ears, she continued at a steady paste as she lifted her hand to cup the sac underneath him.
He swore, uncontrollably jerking his hip towards her mouth, forcing more of himself in her mouth now. She did not mind one bit, finding that she liked him practically begging for more of what she had to offer. His grip loosened in her hair before she moved her other hand around him, pulling his hip towards her face to encourage him to keep pushing himself in and out of her mouth as she continued to pleasure him.
Seeming to take the hint, Syaoran grabbed her hair again, pushing her head back against the door before guiding her forward until she could fit as much of him into her mouth as she possibly could.
"Look at me," he demanded in a gentle tone and caressed her cheek with his other hand, making her look up at him through her lashes.
She knew that would get him because he groaned before pulling back from her mouth and thrusting in slowly a few times as his grip tightened in her hair, holding her head back against the door still. Nothing had ever been as hot as this before.
His hips began to thrust towards her face faster now, as she felt the head of him brush the back of her throat a few times, making her resist the urge to gag, all the while keeping her eyes locked with his still. Nothing had ever been more arousing than Syaoran nearly making love to her mouth while watching himself slide in and out of her mouth with the most awestruck face she had ever seen. She took deep breaths through her nose, inhaling his aroma. Despite the crowdedness her mouth was of his length thrusting in and out, she still managed to rub her tongue against the underside of him, exploring the flesh with salacious twist and rolls.
He began to tremble as his balls tightened in her hand when she began to move with the rhythm of his thrusts in her mouth. She could feel his impending orgasm rising as the little control that he had begun to slip with the way his hips pushed towards her uncontrollably now.
When she felt him try to pull back, her hands both wrapped around his behind to hold him in place as her mouth continued to pleasure him quickly.
"S-Sakura, I'm... g-gonna—"
Before he could get it out, a rough grunt preceded to a warm rush of thick liquid to spill in her mouth. She swallowed around him, tasting the tangy liquid for the first time ever. While she was not used to this kind of thing, she was already ready for it to happen again so she could taste him all over again.
Syaoran pulled himself out of her mouth, still panting loudly as his fingers gently massaged through her slightly sore scalp that he had assaulted while uncontrollably thrusting into her mouth.
She looked up at him with a sly smile on her mouth before she stood up from the floor, wrapping her arms around his body as she kissed his heaving chest gently. "Too much?" she asked softly, making his breathing stagger a moment. "Are you okay?" she asked, chuckling once she noticed him unable to catch his breath still.
"Kinomoto Sakura, you will be the death of me," he said, leaning down to close the gap between their lips tightly.
She pulled her lips back from him as he still had her pressed against the door tightly. "I hope not," she said teasingly.
"Let me show you what—"
A knock on the door caused her to jump, as she felt the vibration of it.
"Fuck," he said under his breath, releasing her. He pulled his pants back up, buckling his pants and belt quickly. Sakura stepped on the side of him, straightening her clothes and attempting to finger comb through her hair, but found that she could not comb all the way through from his griping and tangling earlier. Instead, she just smoothed her hair down as much as she could.
"I will make sure you're taken care of as soon as I get rid of this prick," he promised.
He opened the door, appearing as though they had not just done anything inappropriate. "What's the issue?" Syaoran asked in a tone that she was all too familiar with.
He was back to the man that everyone feared and respected at the same time. She could not understand how he appeared so normal after what had just occurred minutes ago.
"There's an emergency on hall 15–"
"Is it really something anyone else can't take care of?" he asked, trying to hide his annoyance, but Sakura could hear it. She had to bite back a giggle at his frustration of wanting to continue their little game.
"U-uhh...no sir," the man at the door said hesitantly.
Sakura could feel his eyes keep shifting to her uncomfortably, making her smile. The boy had to be new because he looked like a newly internship student working here.
She saw Syaoran step in his view so he could not see her anymore, making her roll her eyes at his possessiveness. "I'll be down in a few. Go," he said, making the man scurry off immediately.
As soon as the door closed, he let out an aggravated groan, making her giggle. "I just can't get a fucking break," he said, turning to her with an apologetic look in his eyes. "I really wish we could continue—"
She interrupted him, placing a kiss on his lips. "I'm fine, I promise. I did that because I wanted to; not because I wanted you to return the favor," she said.
"Give me one second," Syaoran said, walking to his desk, digging something out of his desk.
He threw her something, which she automatically caught in her hands. She looked down at it, smiling when she saw a piece of gum in her hand. She opened the piece and threw it in her mouth. "Thanks," she said. "But you should get going."
He sighed, walking over to her to kiss her lips briefly. "You're right, I'll shoot you a text when I'm done."
"Oh, before you leave, can I ask one favor of you?" she asked.
She hated to hold him up, but she wanted to stick by her word.
"Of course, anything, baby."
"Suspend Akari's friend," she said.
That seemed to catch him off guard as he looked at her surprised. "I'm on it, but what happened—"
"Come on, you have to go to hall 15, didn't you hear that guy say it was an emergency?" she said, ushering him to the door now. She did not want to get into it with him right now.
She opened the door for him, but he tried to stop her. "Sakura, what's going on? What happened—"
His pager went off, interrupting him from further questioning her.
Saved by the pager.
He let out an aggravated groan, turning to her with a serious and dangerous look in his eyes. "We will talk about this," he told her, rather than asking before placing one more kiss on her lips.
"I know. Now...go save lives," she said, pushing him out of his office now, towards the elevator.
She would tell him about everything next time they saw each other, but there was no way she could now.
He already had too much on his plate.
"So you don't feel like it's too soon to do it?" Sakura heard Tomoyo ask as she scribbled down things on the paper they would need for the get together.
Tomoyo had said that they could do the party at her house, so Sakura had already started planning everything. She had already wrote down the catering place.
"Of course it's not too soon," Sakura said, placing the pin down on the table.
It was 5 in the evening that same day she had seen Syaoran earlier. He had not sent her a text since she left the hospital, only making her assume it must have been a real emergency since he would normally send her a few texts throughout the day.
"What's wrong?" she heard her best friend ask, pulling her back to reality.
Shaking her head, Sakura offered her friend a kind smile. "Nothing. I just...haven't heard from Syaoran since I left the hospital," she said, absentmindedly clutching the diamond on her neck gently.
"That's who gave you that?" Tomoyo asked suddenly.
Sakura looked at her, confused by that question. "Hoe?"
Tomoyo smiled at her, shaking her head. "The damn near million yen worth necklace on your neck," she said before pausing. "You got it from Li-kun?"
Sakura could feel her cheeks warm, causing her to look away shyly. "For Christmas..." she trailed off.
"I couldn't stop staring at it, but every time you move, there's this glistening that forces me to look at it," she said, giggling. "What do the colors stand for?"
Sakura swallowed, not ready for her friends reaction when she explained it to her, but she did it anyway. When the squeals of how 'kawaii' they were as a couple, Sakura could not stop the blush from creeping to her cheeks.
"We aren't together, Moyo'," Sakura said under her breath, shaking her head to rid of the apparent blush on her face.
"Yet," Tomoyo corrected. "I wish you guys would hurry up already."
"I..." she started, unsure how to tell Tomoyo about this.
"I understand that you're scared...but if you say you feel that way about Li-kun and you trust him, what's holding you back now?" Tomoyo asked.
"He's still my patient too...and I realized that...I can't show his charts to anyone else. As selfish as it may sound...I don't want to share that Syaoran with anyone else. I want to be the only person who sees that Syaoran, so I...Aki can't be his therapist," Sakura said, feeling shame and embarrassment wash over herself at saying these things out loud.
She knew she could trust Tomoyo though. She knew Tomoyo would not chastise her for feeling this way. For right now, she wanted to feel okay in her selfish behavior.
"So don't share that Li-kun with anyone else then," Tomoyo said softly, standing from her chair at her sewing machine so she could make her way over to Sakura. "Sakura."
Sakura looked up at her as she towered over her sitting form. "Why not you just...give Li-kun's charts to someone else? Someone you trust and would never look at them. No one knows, besides our little circle, that he's been your patient and we can keep it that way. You haven't thought about that?"
A light bulb suddenly popped in her head at that idea, not believing that she had not thought about that from the start. "Actually, I...have not. That's a really great idea," Sakura said thoughtfully.
"That's not the only thing stopping you, is it?" Tomoyo asked suddenly. "Is it Eichii, Sakura?"
Sakura froze, not expecting Tomoyo to say that, of all things. "Of course not, Tomoyo. Eichii has nothing to do with the decisions I make anymore," she said weakly, though she could feel herself not even believing that statement.
"No one has even known about your relations to Li-kun aside from Aki, me, and Eriol," Tomoyo said.
"Eriol knows?" Sakura asked, not believing that Tomoyo had told someone else.
"No, I did not tell him. Apparently, he's known before me and Aki. He's the one who gave Li-kun your business card to get help. Eriol's known that Li-kun had a problem before he was even aware that he needed help. He actually told me before you did.." Tomoyo said, dropping her head low.
Sakura could tell that that had hurt Tomoyo a lot, making her feel a bit guilty. "I'm sorry, Tomoyo. I wish I could've told you sooner..." she whispered.
Tomoyo shook her head. "You don't have to apologize. I understand why you felt like you couldn't. That wasn't my point though... I'm just saying that no one knows of your relation, so it's very easy to fix that," Tomoyo said.
Sakura sighed, knowing her best friend knew her better than anyone. "Eichii came to my office today," she blurted, looking away from Tomoyo in shame.
"What? He's already out?" Tomoyo asked worriedly, dropping her hand to Sakura's shoulder as she stooped down in front of her.
"I...I was so scared, Tomoyo. We were alone and all I could think about was...Syaoran. I knew Syaoran would have a heart attack if he found out that Eichii and I were alone together again. I know it would hurt him. And as Eichii stood in my practice talking to me with so much remorse and love for me...I couldn't help but think about him hurting me again. I said that I was over all of that, but deep down inside, I'm still scared. I'm scared that he might...and things might fall into shambles. I don't want to hurt Syaoran any more than I already have, and I want to be with Syaoran. I want to make him happy; I want to—" Sakura stopped, realizing her own self rambling on about this, yet she had no clue where she is trying to go with everything she is saying.
"I want Syaoran; everything that comes with him. I'm just so damn scared with Eichii here now, especially and I don't want to be reminded of my past with him. I don't want to think about the good or the bad with him. I'm afraid if I think of the good, I'll overlook the bad and fall back down that rabbit hole, but if I only look at the bad, I'll forever be scared and experience so much anxiety. Tomoyo, I have never felt so much anxiety in my chest than I had today, and it made me...terrified that I won't make it. What if I—" Her breath caught in her throat, as her chest tied into knots at everything coming out. "What if I fail Syaoran because I can't let Eichii go?"
"Oh, Sakura, honey," her best friend said, wrapping her arms around her body now tightly. "You won't do any of those things, okay? I can see how much you want to be with Li-kun, but you're scared. And you know what, Sakura? You're going to always be scared, okay? You went through something awful, something no one should ever have to go through...but you came out in the end, didn't you? Do you know that there's thousands of girls who never make it out of an abusive relationship? You are one of the lucky ones. I don't believe that it will ever be easy for you, but you have to trust yourself. You have to trust Li-kun too if you want to make it through this. He loves you—I see it, Eriol sees it, hell, Akinari-kun sees it, even though he makes it hard on you sometimes. Everyone sees it, so...it's only a matter of time before you see it too," Tomoyo promised, making Sakura wrap her arms around her body now too.
"I just..." she started, not sure what to say now. "I don't want to..."
"I know you don't want to hurt him, but you know what, Sakura? You're going to hurt him whether intentional or not. It's not possible to be in a relationship where you don't hurt your significant other, but you know what makes up for that? The love you give unconditionally..." Tomoyo said softly, holding her tighter.
The feeling of her best friends arms around her only caused the dam to break as she buried her face in her shoulder. "Syaoran said something to me last night in his native language..." she said into her friends shoulders as she held back the sobs that wanted to be released.
Tomoyo did not say anything, seeming to wait for her to continue.
"H-he thought I was sleeping, b-but I wasn't," she sobbed out now, unable to control herself anymore. "I-I don't know what it means, but I'm...t-too afraid to find out what it means. I-I wanted to...ask him today, but knew better than to. I didn't even tell him about...Eichii coming to my practice! What if he finds out about it and what we have ends? W-what do I do then?" she said between sobs, holding onto her best friend tightly. She wanted to loosen her grip for her friends health and safety, but found it extremely hard to. She just wanted to be held right now. While she appreciated her best friend being here for her, she realized she wanted Syaoran to hold her right now.
"Li-kun would never do anything like that," Tomoyo said in a confident tone, making Sakura envy her confidence in the man.
She felt even worst that someone else had more trust in Syaoran than herself.
"You don't think so?" she asked in a timid tone, releasing her best friend so she could look at her.
Tomoyo smiled at her, swiping the tears away under Sakura's eyes. "I know so. Talk to him about Eichii when you feel comfortable. Don't force yourself or it'll only cause more anxiety. Do it when you're ready and I promise you that everything will be alright."
Sakura could feel the knots in her chest alleviate a bit, hearing Tomoyo use her motto that always keeps her going.
She's right.
"Thank you, Tomoyo."
A/N: I know, I know! I'm back a lot quicker than I normally am these days, but no worries, guys, I plan to get back on a steady uploading paste, as my life is much easier than it's been the last few months mentally for me. First and foremost, I hope that everyone is staying safe, healthy, and sane right now with everything going on! Even staying inside is driving people mad, so please try and keep yourselves occupied, especially those who already struggle with their mental health!
And thank you guys so much for the support and reviews(I responded to them, but as I said in a previous A/N, you have to check your inbox on the site in order to see the response now because FF is glitching and not sending to our emails anymore!) and sticking around with my long periods of time of not uploading. I got the results back from the school and found out that I got into the program, so I'll be starting grad school in the fall! I'm super excited and beyond happy about getting closer to my goal, but you guys will have me for the next few months nonstop. With everything going on right now, I'm not working much, so I have much more time to write. I might even take the time to read some others fan work on here!
But, anyway, what'd you guys think of this chapter? I wasn't quite sure how to feel about things while editing it, but I'll leave it up to you guys to tell me too and we'll see where I'll go from there! (FYI, sorry for that VERY lemony scene with Syaoran, but I couldn't resist the urge to squeeze it in there. Something about his office that just makes me want to write them, I don't know why lol). But Sakura ended up hearing Syaoran in her "sleep"! Too bad she doesn't know or speak any Chinese :P. I know a lot of people will be upset that the other women were mentioned in this chapter, but all I'm going to tell you guys is that their appearance is VERY crucial to the plot, as it will pull and push our favorite couple in a very needed direction on both parts, even if you can't see it right now. Just trust that I won't disappoint! I'm going to head to bed, as it is 3am and I need some rest!
Ja ne!