"A Little Loving Hurts Sometimes"

Of all the places, it had to be there. A rippling pain tore at his heart strings hearing the name of that forbidden city.

"Don't go," Syaoran found himself saying without thinking.

There was no way he could let her go there.

"I—"

"Please," he said, turning to her with a desperate look in his eyes. "You can't go there," he told her, rather than asking.

"Why not?" she asked quietly.

"You know why, Sakura. How could you even ask such a silly question?" he said with a frown on his face.

"Your personal reasons has nothing to do with me though—"

"If you go anywhere far from me, you should already know that I will take as many trips as I can to be with you. Joining that research would mean forcing me to go back there when you know that's not good for me," he reasoned, hoping she would see from his point of view.

"When did this become about you? Aren't I allowed to make my own life decisions?" she asked, placing a hand on her hip. He knew exactly what that stance meant.

"Sakura, this is no matter to be stubborn about. You aren't going," he said in a finalizing tone.

She looked taken aback by that statement. "Excuse me?" she said in disbelief.

Syaoran thought about what he had said before realizing that statement sounded like his old extreme demanding self. He reasoned that it was necessary this time though.

"Y-you can't go there...I'll...you can go anywhere but there. I'll help you find another country. Hell, I'll be more comfortable with you going to the states before you go there—"

"I want to participate in the research there though. Syaoran—"

"No," he said tightly.

Sakura sighed softly, shaking her head. "We aren't going to agree. I have not given them a decision yet, but I am leaning towards taking it more than not going there. I wasn't asking you if I could go. I was just telling you about the offer," she said.

He stared her in the eyes for a moment, trying to see if this was some sort of joke, but only saw how serious she was about the offer. He let out a sarcastic laugh, standing up slowly from the stool. He had to walk away from her for a moment to gather himself with this new information.

This was all becoming too much for him. First, her abusive ex appears and now she was telling him that she would be moving? And when? To the land of all his nightmares that came to life?

"How long will you be gone?" he asked with his back facing her now.

"About six months to a year…maybe longer," she said.

He stopped in his tracks and turned to her with a glare. "You're kidding me, right?" he said in a disbelieving tone.

"I haven't taken it yet, okay? There are things that I... have to think about first," she said softly.

"Like what? Because obviously it's not me," he said with a bitterness to his tone, feeling angry. Not at her, but himself for not being that important to her.

"Oh, Syaoran, do not go there, please. It's already a hard decision as it is," she said with a frown.

Not the least bit fazed by her frown, he continued to glare at her. "Isn't it true? You thought absolutely nothing of me when you decided to even consider taking that job. You don't care for me like you say you do, do you? Fuck me, right?"

"Syaoran—"

"You know what, just fucking go. When you see my sisters, Meilin, Yelan, tell them I said hello and to make sure your stay is well. Hell, you might as well fucking stay with them," he said, feeling his blood boil at the thought of that woman being in the presence of his Sakura. "God, Sakura, you can't fucking go," he switched up just as fast.

He was acting like a moody girl who is pmsing, but that was exactly how he felt.

One part of him felt upset with her for not considering how he felt about that place while another part felt sad that she would be able to do something like this to him without any remorse.

It hurt.

"Syaoran—"

"Please! I will do anything. I mean, anything to keep you from going there," he said desperately, moving towards her again so he could grab her hands gently between his. "Please," he begged.

"I-I..."

Seeing her hesitancy, he knew she had already made up her mind about this. He would not be able to convince her to do anything she did not want to do. Sakura was far too stubborn for her own good and he knew there was nothing he could do to convince her to not go there.

He released her hands, moving back from her again. "I see how it is then," he said, dropping his head to hide his face with his bangs from her. "I'm going to go."

Before she could respond, he bolted out of her apartment, closing the door behind him.

"This isn't the fucking playground, so get to work!" Syaoran barked at two interns who just happened to be at the front desk laughing at something the other had said. At hearing his harsh words, the two scrambled off to what their tasks were.

Syaoran had been in a sour mood all day, having got barely a wink of sleep last night. After he had left Sakura's place, he had gone home and drowned himself in alcohol to stop himself from going back to Sakura's place to bury himself inside her relentlessly to make himself feel better.

Despite her being the reason for his pain, he wanted her to be the very person to fix it. He was one twisted man who needed more psychological help aside from his addiction.

So, instead of using sex to get rid of these emotions, he had been projecting them on any employee who was slacking today. He had not even touched any paperwork, scrubbed in on any surgeries, even been on the floor for the trial. He needed something he could keep in his control and demanding people around his hospital just happened to be it today.

He was not unnecessarily getting on to people, as they were supposed to be working, but he would usually let a few things slide around the hospital these days. He just did not want to see that today.

His workers were getting too relaxed and that was unacceptable. If they got too relaxed, they would think that they could do whatever they pleased; or they would run over him.

At that thought, two of his employees came to mind, instantly making his blood boil at the thought of them. And because of that, he found himself on a search adventure to find one or the other to give them a piece of his mind.

He went to the elevator, pressing the third floor as he remembered the board and their assigned places.

As soon as the elevator doors slid open, he heard a gasp, making his head snap up at the sound.

Just the person he had been looking for.

"Come here," he demanded tightly, glaring at the woman, ignoring the fearful look in her eyes. "Now."

He walked to one of the rooms on the first floor, hearing the woman follow behind him. As soon as she entered the room with him, the door automatically closing behind her, he turned to her with a deadly glare and pointing an accusing finger at the woman. "You just couldn't do as you were told, huh? You wanted this because what you did was unforgivable," he said angrily, wanting to do so much more than speak, but knew better.

No matter how much a woman made him angry, he knew better than to lay a hand on a woman. He wanted to strangle this one though.

"Dr. Li, I'm so—"

"I don't want to hear your pathetic excuse of an apology, wench. I want you to pack all your shit and get the fuck out of my hospital and if you were smart, you would leave this fucking town," he said tightly.

Her eyes widened, along with her mouth opening and closing, but nothing came out.

"How the hell did you find out about her ex?" he said, wanting the answers he knew he could not get out of Sakura. He wanted more of a reason to ruin this woman.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Li! I didn't mean to. It was done out of—"

"Answer the fucking question, you annoying parasite!" he barked angrily during her sobbing fit, not caring if anyone heard the conversation.

She had tried to humiliate him on countless occasion, so he did not mind in the least bit if she felt it now. She ought to be ashamed of her actions.

"You…I mean, I-I found where he was through your computer and—"

"You...went into my office and invaded my privacy?" He could not even believe the words that had left his own mouth.

"I'm sorry...I just thought that Kinomoto deserves better than you and, and…maybe I was wrong. But, wouldn't you think the same thing? Don't you think Kinomoto deserves better than you?"

For a moment, it made him reconsider his actions, believing that Sakura does deserve the best. He had always been well-aware that she could do better than a sex addict who had been around.

"Please…I'm not as bad as you think I am. I'm on her side, and that's what you want, right? If you truly loved her like you're showing, you would see and agree with me. If you really loved her, you would stop being selfish and do what's best for her…" she stopped for a moment before continuing, "It's not like you wouldn't still have free pussy around. I know what I did was horrible and makes you want to get rid of me, but maybe I could..." She walked towards him slowly before pushing him against the door so she could press her body into his. "...change your mind?"

In an instance, Syaoran pushed her to the side, not caring in the least bit when she fell on the ground dramatically. "Doctor—"

"Get the fuck out of my hospital right now! Don't you ever show your fucking face here again!" he said angrily, wanting her to feel as she made Sakura feel; scared, hurt, and possibly so much more.

"I'm sorry!" the woman sobbed before bolting out of the room and hopefully his hospital.

As soon as the door automatically closed behind him, he had to take deep breaths to calm himself down, though it did not work. He was to the boiling point with everything.

He knew Sakura deserved better. He had already thought of all that, but he knew one thing for sure; he refused to let any person think that they could determine who Sakura deserves.

On top of that, he had not even heard anything from Sakura today to apologize, or even just talk in general.

He usually had been the one to message or call her first every day, but he felt it not fair to today. She should have come to him and apologized about disregarding his feelings. She should have been the one to contact him since she hurt him this time.

He looked at the clock on the desk, seeing it was 14:02, yet she had not. She was doing god-knows what right now while he was here losing his mind. She could have been doing anything. She could have been with anyone right now.

At that thought, one person came to mind, automatically making him think about what the man had said to him last night, "Isn't she the cutest when she's all flustered? She looked exactly how she used to look being under me when I saw her today."

When the image of Sakura and the man being in one of the most intimate positions possible popped in his head, he could feel a migraine creeping in slowly as everything felt extremely hot in his body. All of this had to be unreal.

When he made the decision to confront his past, he never meant going back to that place. He thought talking about it would be a good enough start. He had not even told her everything that happened in his childhood and yet here she was, ready to jump right into it.

He was certain that he love her, and he had a small amount of hope that she reciprocated the feeling, but after her lack of response last night, he was certain that she did not return these feelings. He thought she had already hurt him to the point where nothing else would, but he was gravely mistaken, as nothing had topped how he feels now.

He felt betrayed and Sakura was doing nothing to fix it like he would if he were in her predicament. In fact, he almost felt certain that Sakura would not do any of the things he had done for her this far. He was always willing to take the extra mile for her, but he was beginning to see that she would not do any of those things for him.

She would never put that much effort into him like he has been doing for her. She would never trust him like she trusted her last lover. At those thoughts, he realized that she would never love him the way he loves her.

And nothing had ever hurt more than that.

Syaoran stared at his phone, feeling his leg bounce up and down, trying his hardest not to go to her text messages.

He was going mad. He had been staring at his phone for a solid six hours, waiting for a text. It was past six o'clock and he still had not heard from Sakura and he still had not done any work at all today. He was stressing and losing hair over this while he felt more than certain that she was living on with her life, enjoying her day.

He was beginning to feel physically sick and like he had to throw up from the disgust he felt, knowing he felt this strongly about a woman who did not feel the same. All he had done all day was yell and send people home who rubbed him the wrong way. He had even run into Akari on one of the halls when looking for her and felt the anger of the memory of them hurting Sakura like that. He had taken all of his pent-up anger out on her, telling her to go home and never return to his hospital. The tears he had seen in her eyes had not even fazed him in the least bit.

No matter how many people he yelled at, nothing was making him feel better. Nothing would make him feel better besides one thing and that was being reasonable and talking to Sakura. He could not see how he could be reasonable in this situation though.

He closed his eyes from the light on his phone, trying to concentrate on his thoughts of everything happening. One part told him that maybe she was not planning on accepting that offer to hurt him and it was just genuinely something she wanted; while the other part told him that she knew this would hurt him, yet she still wanted to.

Rational, Syaoran. Be logical.

He wanted nothing more than just to talk to her, but the longer he did not try and get in contact with her, the more he realized Sakura did not care about him. He could not even begin to think about how he could move on without her. And because of that, he was certain that he never would.

With that thought in mind, he decided not to care that he would be the one to cave and love her more.

Syaoran went to their text conversation, getting ready to type out a message, but his phone started ringing before he could finish the text.

Sakura.

His heart nearly stopped beating as he picked up the call on the first ring, putting the phone to his ear to finally hear her voice for the first time that day.

"Syaoran..."

Relieved to hear the concern in her tone, making him feel like she cared a little, he released a soft sigh. "Sakura."

"Are you still upset with me?" he heard her ask softly on the other line.

"I'm just glad to hear from you today finally," he settled with, not wanting to let her know he still felt unease about their conversation last night.

"I'm sorry for that. I just...need time to think to myself."

"And what did you come up with?" he asked quietly, holding his phone a little tighter.

He heard her sigh softly. "I don't know. I just...it's not fair that you're upset with me for thi—"

"It's not fair?" he asked, feeling himself get upset all over again at the situation.

He mentally took two steps back to retract from his recent emotion trying to come into play. He did not want to end up the same as last night, not feeling capable of going another day like this without her.

"I don't want to fight right now. I just need you to be a bit more understanding of me—"

"So, you don't have to be understanding of me, then?" he asked quietly, holding on tighter to his phone.

"I am being considerate and understanding of your feelings, Syaoran. You won't even let me get a word in," she said, making Syaoran worry when he heard the frustration in her tone.

"Talk then, Sakura. Make me understand where you are coming from."

"I've never received an opportunity like this. I've...never been the leader over a research project before and I... if there's anything I can do to help and improve people's mental health, I would. If I can get results from another country of different people, I could bring that treatment here and help the people in my community too. For the first time in my life, I will be able to lead and be active in helping society. Rejecting it will be like me rejecting what I'm meant to do—"

"And what is that, Sakura? What are you meant to do?" he found himself interjecting.

"Helping people. I'm here on this earth to help people and—"

"And helping people here isn't enough? Who's going to help all your patients here? Who's going to help me? You're just going to leave us all behind?" he asked, feeling hot tears burn the back of his eyes.

"And that's why I'm struggling to leave...I just...why can't you see that this is something that I've always wanted. If I could perform the research here, I would. But there's no way I could do a big, great research in a small town. I mean, I can, but why shouldn't I want to reach out to more people and see the treatment planning work there and then bring it here to help my community too? What's so wrong with that?"

"And then what about us?" he asked sadly. "We just...no, you, just put a pause on us? After everything we've been through? We just...stop? For crying out loud, we haven't even been on our first official date yet!" he said angrily.

"You shouldn't have acted out like a child then! And don't think you're getting away with what happened last night. Eichii, he—" she stopped, alerting him even more now.

"Eichii what? You're still fucking talking to that bastard?" he asked, raising his voice a bit.

He knew it would continue to happen the moment he found out they got in contact with each other. His nightmares were coming to life.

"I'm not. He sent me a picture of himself with a black eye and said that you attacked him. I thought you were done with violent behavior and here you are, doing things behind my back again," she spoke in a reprimanding tone, making him feel like a kid yet a cheating boyfriend at the same time.

He had to think for a moment, unsure how to respond to that. One part of him wanted to ignore being exposed while another wanted to tell her he had every reason to attack the man when he tried to say things to spite him.

"And the next time I see him, I won't hold myself back since he doesn't know how to take a fucking hint. And why the fuck is he still talking to you when you told him not to pull any shit like that anymore?" he asked, feeling his hand tremble around on the phone.

"That's not what's important, Syaoran. You told me that you were done with your barbaric behavior and we find ourselves here almost every week, further setting us back from our relationship."

His heart nearly dropped at hearing that. "What?" he whispered in the phone. "So now we just aren't going to go on that date anymore as a normal couple? You don't want to go public about us anymore is what you're saying? That you're ashamed of me?"

At those questions he could not help but feel like all the blame pointed a finger back at the veteran who appeared just recently. It almost felt like she did not want to go so public anymore because he would see.

"What happens when I make you upset again? More than anyone you've laid a hand on? What happens then? Do I get the hand too?"

He could feel his heart shattering at those questions. It was very clear that she thought that he would even think to hit her.

"You don't mean that, Sakura. Y-you're just saying all that because that bastard is here. You've made me angry beyond measures countless of times and I've never even thought to raise a hand at you before. I could never do anything like that to you and you know that," he said sadly, not believing she had just said something like that to him.

He heard her sigh on the other end softly. "I know. And maybe you're right about that, but if you think that, then you should be putting in more effort to control your emotions so you don't have to do anything crazy like what you did," she said quietly.

"He should have never provoked me," he said, finally deciding to tell her what happened. He had wanted to keep his jealousy at bay because it had almost ruined them last time.

"Provoke you how?" she asked, making Syaoran almost see the disapproving look on her face with that tone.

He was quiet for a moment, not sure if he should tell her how the bastard had provoked him until he decided that his jealousy was very reasonable this time. "Talking about your intimacy together."

The other end went completely quiet, making him check to so if she had hung up on him. She was still there though.

"Oh... that still doesn't justify violence, but I understand why you were upset and I'm sorry for that," she said after a while.

"I know," he said. "But I can't promise you that it won't happen again."

He heard Sakura sigh on the other end of the line. "Okay, Syaoran. I just...I'm exhausted for today."

"I'm sorry," he said into the phone. "I've been a very difficult man from the start of our relationship..."

She sighed again. "No, don't apologize. I'm to blame partially too..."

"No, you aren't, Sakura. I even overreacted last night too about the news...I'm really glad that you received an offer like this and that people are acknowledging how bright and intelligent you are...I just hope that you think of me when you are making the decision..." he said sadly.

"I am. And you will be the first person I tell when I make the decision," she said in a promising tone.

He smiled a little, feeling a bit better about that. He still could not agree with her going there though. "Thank you," he said in an appreciative tone. "That would really mean a lot to me."

"I know. How's your day been?"

He felt relieved when she started another conversation. At least she was not upset with him anymore.

He proceeded to tell her about his day and how miserable he had been, leaving out the part about him firing those women. They already had a lot of tension between them with other things and he did not need to add any more with that.

"So, we are set for Saturday at two?" Sakura asked the receptionist on the phone.

"Yes, ma'am," the lady said over the phone.

Sakura smiled, thanking the woman for her services before bidding her goodbye. She had been planning for Tomoyo's pregnancy reveal party for the last week in a half, wanting everything to be perfect for her best friend.

She had everything down from the theme to the colors to the games to the food and the list went on. She had not been able to focus on anything but this and now, it was finally approaching. Everything was settled and they were just waiting for the big day.

She had gotten all their friends to come out to the party, using the excuse of, "We haven't had a get together in a while," which they all agreed and said they would come.

She almost felt more excited than the pregnant woman herself.

Sakura had decided to put everything else on hold in her life to do this for her friend. She had not even seen Syaoran in over a week, despite him making the effort to see her any kind of way he could.

She wanted to keep him at a distance right now though. She had a lot of thinking and deciding to do. She understood why he had a breakdown the last time she saw him. She did not blame him one bit for reacting and feeling the way he did about her going to Hong Kong.

In all honesty, she had felt the same way about it the moment she got the offer. All of her thoughts ran straight to Syaoran and how he would feel about all this. She knew it would affect him horribly, which made her almost say no instantly. But something stopped her.

She realized that she was putting another man before herself again. She had unconsciously done the same thing with Eichii after she had graduated. She had always wanted to start her practice in her hometown, yet she somehow found herself in Tokyo after she graduated.

Eichii had wanted them to start their life in Tokyo and convinced her it would be smarter too, telling her she would make more connections and money there. So, in the end, she found herself living in Tokyo like he wanted.

She wanted to keep herself first like she promised she would this time. She refused to put herself in the same situation as she had last time, so, she wanted to stick by her word this time. She wanted to put herself first for once in a relationship.

She just hoped that Syaoran could begin to understand where she is coming from eventually.

"Thinking about our famous doctor in town again?"

Sakura jumped, not expecting to hear that voice so suddenly. "Eriol," she called, smiling at him.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. You called the place?" he asked gently.

She nodded, sitting her phone on the desk.

She had forgotten that Eriol had been here with her to make sure all the arrangements were set for this upcoming weekend. "Everything's settled. We can get there that morning to make sure everything's set up too," Sakura said, smiling at him as he sat in one of the chairs. "Are you excited?"

He shrugged before resting both arms on the arms of the chair she normally sat in during therapy sessions. "For the get together?"

"No, silly. For the baby," she said teasingly as she walked over to sit on the couch across from him.

"It hasn't quite hit me yet with all I've been worrying about," he said.

Sakura thought back on the conversation she had at the bar with Tomoyo a few weeks ago. "You know, I don't think Tomoyo's mom had a difficult time during her pregnancy," Sakura said softly.

"Tomoyo tells me the same, but it's like...what if the curse skipped her mom and goes to Tomoyo, ya know?" he said.

Sakura smiled at him sympathetically. "Tomoyo is one of the healthiest women I know and I'm sure you know that too. Besides, my mom could have had some other underlying condition that none of us just knows about for the cause of her death—"

"And your grandmother and great grandmother had an underlying condition too?" Eriol asked, frowning at her now.

Sakura swallowed nervously, not sure how to appease his anxiety of this all. "But Auntie Sonomi's birth was perfect; no health risks afterwards and all," Sakura said. "Doesn't that give you some kind of hope that she will be fine? I believe she will."

For a moment, it made Sakura think and want to go and talk to her father about all of this. Maybe they had not told her everything. The only thing that stopped her is the fact that it could hurt her dad talking about his deceased wife.

She knew for sure that Tomoyo would be fine if her mom had been fine during her birth though.

"You're right," he finally said. "How's your…situationship with Xiao Lang?"

"A-about Syaoran...I was just wondering..." she started, not sure how to talk about the man with Eriol. She had never talked to Eriol about Syaoran before, yet he had been the person to set them up somehow.

"Cousins, that's what we are," he said. "Long distant cousins, so I don't even know if you could consider us related, but we'd definitely see each other at a family reunion on his mom side."

That would explain why he referred to Syaoran by his Chinese name.

"I see...so, why did you...I mean, how did you know he had a problem?" she asked hesitantly.

"Who wouldn't know he had a problem?"

Sakura frowned. "True, but—"

"I always...suspected he did, but never had any clarifications. I was honestly just poking fun at him when I gave him your business card after walking in on him with yet another one of his women one day. I was only half serious about it," he explained.

For some reason, hearing others talk about catching him in intimate situations left a nasty taste in her mouth.

"I knew that you would be the one to help him though."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He pushed his wired glasses up his nose. "Something just clicked in my head that it would be you," he said. "Granted, I didn't know that...your relationship would be where it is now, but I figured it would be somewhere along these lines," he said, making her cheeks warm at the suggestion in his tone.

"That's...—"

Sakura's phone ringing interrupted her sentence, making her grateful for the device. She moved to grab the phone off her desk and looked at the unknown caller ID, swiping it across.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Is this Ms. Kinomoto Sakura speaking?" an unfamiliar woman asked on the other line.

"This is she..." she said slowly, confused about who this person could be.

"This is Dr. Ruby speaking—the one who explained and gave you the genetic test a few weeks ago."

Sakura smiled, remembering the kind woman who had been nice to her the entire process. "Oh, Dr. Ruby! How are you? I hope everything is well," Sakura said.

"Yes, ma'am. Everything is fine here. I'm just calling to let you know that we have your results from the genetic testing."

Sakura froze, regret instantly washing over her body at falling through with Syaoran's request.

A/N: Thank you guys so much for the follows, favorites, and reviews! I know I have not responded to them yet, but I will most certainly get to it tomorrow at work! It's 3am and I have work early in the morning, but I promised myself that I would upload the chapter tonight after having it in my notes on my phone for the past week in a half D:

What'd you guys think of this chapter though? Sakura's test results are in and Tomoyo's pregnancy reveal party is coming up! And...maybe her decision for the new research project?

I hate putting our poor Syaoran through so much pain, but remember when I said he would suffer for his past actions in chapter 6 author's notes when you all wanted it? That's exactly what's happening here lol. I hate it, but no one truly gets away with doing bad, whether it be them feeling guilty/bad about it later on or nothing going right in their life! Sorry to slip the real life in the fiction world, but you guys should be used to that by now with this story :p.

Anyway, I'm going to end the note here as I need to get these few hours of sleep for a long day at work tomorrow.

Ja ne!