AAAHHH! CuteMew's first written crap in OVER TWO FRIKIN MONTHS! GOMEN NASAI, I know I've been such a complete #*&$%, I feel *so* bad for not actually writing this until today! *sigh*… well, here it is, the SECOND chapter to "Never Let You Go"!
A/N: BEFORE YOU READ THIS FIC, I IMPLORE YOU TO READ THE FIRST CHAPTER! (If you haven't done so already, that is.) Otherwise I don't think it'll be easy to understand… but what do I know, as of now, I haven't even finished writing this yet… ^^;;
Thanks to: Wing-wing, for that very helpful episode summary of episode 67 (hehe CuteMew doesn't know any Japanese… ^^;;), and The MOUSE for encouragement. And anyone else who thinks he or she deserves my thanks… I forget easily… O_o
Note: I will be using the spelling of Li Syaoran's name as "Shaoran", which is based on the Japanese katakana romanization.
Never Let You Go – Chapter 2
Disclaimer: Don't sue me.
(Note: Shaoran and Sakura are 12 years old in this fic)
Sakura opened her eyes, and looked with bleary eyes toward the alarm clock. "What? It's only 6:17 am…" she sat up slowly, yawned, and stretched. "I must have been sleeping since…" She thought for a bit. "Since 7:30 p.m. yesterday… I must have fallen asleep while Shaoran-kun was here…" She blushed. How rude of me, she thought ruefully.
Sighing, she pushed aside her covers, and clumsily stumbled out of bed. Brusquely running a brush through her tangled hair without bothering to put it up in the normal short pigtails, she suddenly realized that she was still wearing her school uniform from yesterday, now wrinkled and creased generously. She quickly pulled her clothes off and changed into a fresh middy blouse and short, pleated blue skirt.
It occurred to Sakura how odd it was now to be in her room. With Kero still asleep, there was no one nagging her to wake up, no one just to sit and talk to. She felt slightly uneasy since it was still very dark, and all of a sudden images from the premonition, or whatever it was, that she had had yesterday started popping up in her mind. She decided that she should go downstairs and make breakfast so she could avert her thoughts from the frightening vision.
She quickly ambled downstairs into the kitchen, and brought out all the materials to make pancakes, mixing them up with a practiced air. As she deftly poured the batter into a hot frying pan, she smiled as she heard the satisfactory sizzle of the hotcake cooking.
"Up so early?" A voice behind Sakura startled her. She whirled around.
"Otou-san!" she grinned. "Just making breakfast…"
"I see. Well, you must have gotten plenty of sleep; I found you asleep on your bed when I got home last night at only 8pm! You never go to bed that early."
Sakura sweatdropped. "Well, I was tired…"
"Okay." Her father smiled at her. "Careful, now, you're going to burn that pancake!"
"Hoe? AHH!" Sakura yelled as she quickly grabbed a spatula and flipped the pancake over.
The pancakes had been cooked and Sakura had eaten her share, yet it was still only 7:03 am. Touya had just woken up and was just starting to eat his breakfast. She decided not to wait for him. Ever since she admitted to Yukito how she had felt about him, she thought of him more as another, nicer older brother. She also became much less enthusiastic about following her brother everyday to school; she used to do so just so she would be able to see Yukito.
"Onii-chan, I'm going to leave for school now. Without you," Sakura told him, and quickly pulled on her rollerblades.
"Now? School doesn't start for – " But Sakura had already grabbed her book bag and was out the door. "Bye," Touya mumbled, and continued to eat his pancakes.
Sakura sped down the street towards school, and arrived before she realized it. As she entered the silent building, she realized that even the teachers hadn't arrived. "Wow, I'm really early, aren't I?" She giggled to herself as she stepped into her classroom and sat down in her seat. "This sure is a change…"
"Ohayou, Sakura." Sakura jumped.
Oh, yeah, I should've remembered that Shaoran-kun always gets here early, she thought. "Ohayou!" she replied cheerfully. She leaned backwards in her seat towards him. "Thank you so much. For yesterday, you know." She grinned at him.
"Oh. Yeah." Shaoran felt his face burn like fire and became lightheaded as he stared at the bright green eyes and sugary smile that hovered just two tempting inches from his nose. He quickly grabbed a book and buried his face behind it, pretending to be engrossed. He avoided saying another word to her, fearful of the consequences.
"Hoe? Shaoran-kun?" He didn't answer. However, what he didn't realize that he was not only blushing crimson but was also breathing in rapid, short, sharp gasps. "Shaoran-kun! What's wrong?" Sakura's face was full of worry. She grabbed his hand. "What's the matter? Are you having trouble breathing? Tell me!" she cried anxiously, unconsciously squeezing his fingers. "You don't have asthma, do you?"
He nervously jerked his hand away, completely flustered. "N-no… I…I'm fine. Really. But, Sakura, I… I…"
"What is it?"
"I… uh…" he started. He paused. Then he started again. "I… I…"
"Yes?"
"Never mind," he murmured, and looked away, thoroughly embarrassed.
"It's okay, you can tell me… but… if you really don't want to, it's all right," she whispered soothingly, but it was easy to see that she was disappointed.
A few minutes passed in silence, Shaoran's head still hidden behind his book, Sakura still looking at him in caring concern. Before long, other children started streaming into the classroom, chatting and laughing with each other. Tomoyo walked in.
"Ohayou, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura called as the dark-haired girl came over and sat down in her seat.
"Ohayou gozaimasu! You're early today, Sakura-chan!" She smiled at Sakura happily. She turned and looked at Shaoran, noticing that he was beet red and trembling behind his book. She chuckled to herself. "Ohohohohohohohoho!"
As the bell rang, the teacher came through the door, and students scrambled for their seats. Class began, and the day slowly wore on without a hitch.
After school, Sakura walked home with Tomoyo. She told her about her vision yesterday, but, of course, Tomoyo had no ideas as to what the dream meant. When Sakura got home, she went to the kitchen, grabbed some food and went upstairs. There, she found Kero, riveted to a video game.
"Kero-chan, I brought you some cake," she grinned, and sat down at her desk.
"What? Cake!" Kero turned around, and in that moment, eight bold letters flashed up on the screen. ~GAME OVER~ "Aaah? NOOOOO!" Kero wailed. "Oh well, at least there's," he drooled greedily, "CAKE!" With that, he instantaneously flew over to where the chocolate temptation sat waiting, grabbed a piece, and stuffed it gluttonously into his widened mouth.
"Kero, there's something important I have to tell you."
"Cake… cake… wai, wai… CAKE!"
"Kero-chan, can you stop eating and listen to me for a minute?" Sakura asked, irritated.
"Mm," Kero nodded, his mouth stuffed full. Sakura proceeded to inform him on yesterday's events. "Very interesting," he said thoughtfully after listening to all that she had to say.
"Do you have any ideas about the meaning?" she asked skeptically.
"Hmm…" Kero sat in deep thought. "Hmm…" After about 5 entire minutes of racking his minute brain, during which Sakura stared intently at him, he finally came up with an answer.
"Sorry, Sakura, you'll have to figure this one out on your own."
Sakura facefaulted.
That night, Sakura fell into a deep, peaceful sleep. She jerked awake abruptly from her sound slumber when a strange, loud crack sounded outside her window. She quietly tiptoed to her window to investigate. She suddenly fell into a deep trance; eyes dimmed and head lowered. Almost as if she were sleepwalking, she slowly walked soundlessly down the stairs and out into the driveway. She brought out her star-shaped key and somehow managed to transform it into the sealing wand wordlessly. Again without a word, she simply reached out with her magic and called upon the power of the Jump card. Familiar wings appeared on her feet and she began to bounce steadily towards Penguin Park, still in a trance.
Meanwhile, Shaoran had awoken. He sensed a strange presence nearby, so he whipped out his lasin board and began to search for its origin. The thin pale blue beam of light pointed straight towards the park. He quickly dressed in his green battle robes and ran out toward where his lasin board pointed.
"Who… who are you…" Sakura cried. Was this another vision? Sakura wasn't sure.
"Come… come to me…" the lilting female voice called out.
Sakura stepped forward, acquiescing to the gentle, hypnotizing voice echoing somewhere in the distance. As she took another step forward, she looked down at her feet. How odd… it seemed to her as if there was no ground to walk on…
"Come closer…" She took one more step forward. The voice… it seemed to be luring her in…
"SAKURA!" a familiar rough voice hissed from somewhere above her.
"Hoe?" She jerked back into reality. Looking around, she saw Shaoran standing on top of the King Penguin, holding his lasin board. Then, turning her head in front of her and looking down at her feet, she saw something that gave her a huge shock.
A colossal crack had split right down the middle of the entire park, and Sakura was standing with her toes barely over its edge. It was around 20 feet wide and seemed to go down infinitely. Out of the crack came a strange glare of blinding white light. She tried turning her head from the intense brilliance of the strange light, only to find she couldn't. Instead, her body did just the opposite of what she was trying to tell it, and she leaned farther forward, staring straight down into where the brightness was coming from. She tried backing up. She couldn't. Her feet were planted to the ground, her legs frozen… yet if she kept leaning forward she would surely fall in…
"Sakura… what are you doing…" Shaoran furrowed his eyebrows, confused by Sakura's actions.
Barely able to move her lips, she gasped out, "Shaoran-kun, I… I can't… I… I'm… Help me…"
He reacted to her words like lightning. Swiftly he jumped down from the top of the slide and rushed to Sakura's side. Just as Sakura was about to topple into the glaring depths of the chasm, he grabbed her around the waist and pulled.
Something pulled back. Whatever had forced Sakura to lean into it was not giving up so easily. Shaoran tightened his arms around her waist, leaning backwards, slowly but surely inching both of their bodies away from the edge with each reverse step.
Damn… this strange force is strong, Shaoran thought to himself. Putting in his entire, undivided strength into each step backward, he focused on getting Sakura out of its grasp.
Shaoran was getting tired, and fast. Using one last burst of energy, he dragged Sakura's limp body away from the abyss, finally overcoming the invisible claws that had held a tight hold on her. The momentum from Shaoran's tugging threw both of them backward, causing them to tumble onto the nearby grassy field where they rolled to a stop.
"Hoe… Dai…daijoubu ka, Shaoran-kun?" Sakura gasped.
"Yeah… I'm all right," he mumbled weakly. "What about you?"
"I'm fine…"
Shaoran suddenly realized that Sakura was awkwardly sprawled on top of him and that he still had his arms around her. He flushed, feeling his face grow hot, and quickly let go of her waist. His heart pounding painfully in his chest, he quickly whispered, "Um… Sakura? Kinda… hard to breathe…"
"Hoe? Oh…gomen nasai," Sakura giggled nervously, blushing, and stood up. Her knees gave way beneath her, so she quickly plopped down in the soft grass beside her rescuer. Sakura turned to look at the giant crack. It wasn't there.
"Shaoran-kun, look…" She whispered. He struggled to sit up to look at what Sakura was pointing towards, aided by the arm Sakura used to support his back. "The crack… it's…"
"…Gone," Shaoran finished, staring at the unmarred cement where there had been a giant chasm just a few minutes before. "How odd… It must have sealed itself up…"
There was a moment of brief silence. Suddenly, Shaoran found himself with Sakura sobbing into his chest. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she whispered, "Shaoran-kun…I…I thought I was going to fall in… I… was so scared…"
Shaoran pulled his arms tightly around Sakura's trembling body. "I would never let you go, Sakura," he murmured. "Don't be scared… I'll never let anything hurt you… I promise."
Sakura stopped crying. Letting out a little gasp, she looked straight up into the chestnut-haired boy's golden brown eyes. They held a definite fierceness, but somehow, looking into them, they made Sakura feel all warm inside. She sighed, a small, shuddery sigh, and leaned against his chest.
"Shaoran-kun?"
"Mm?"
"Thank you."
"Uhn," he grunted, and looked away, blushing profusely. Sakura smiled softly, tilted her head up, and gave Shaoran a very quick peck on the lips. Shaoran turned even redder, but didn't say anything. He leaned back to look in awe at the beautiful, smiling angel beside him. Sakura… I promise I will never let you go…
Review? PLEASE? I'm desperate, seriously… THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU REVIEW!!!