DISCLAIMER: The usual applies. I own the story.
~**NEED**~
- --Lady Rebecca
Sakura ran through the woods in the fading afternoon light. She liked coming here even though many found no pleasure in the dense thickets. Sakura smiled. She liked the fact that she basically had the entire forest to herself. She was running not because she was being pursued, not because she was in any danger, but because she wanted to get as deep into the forest as she possibly could.
She burst through a thicket and ended up falling on something that was lying in her way.
"Sakura?" a pair of bewildered chocolate-brown eyes peered up at her in disbelief.
"Hoe!—Syaoran?" Sakura looked down at him, feeling a blush creep into her cheeks as the scent of his light musk made her head swim.
"Umm…Sakura? Would you mind getting off of me?" his deep voice jerked her back to reality.
"Hoe—gomen," she said as she removed herself from his person, her embarrassment making her oblivious to the crimson blush on Syaoran's cheeks.
"What are you doing here?" soprano and baritone met and mingled.
"I--no you go first."
Both laughed at the terribly cliché situation, easing the tension a bit.
"I thought I was the only one in these woods," Sakura said, sitting back on her heels.
"So did I," Syaoran said, looking around at the trees, "I often come here just to lie and listen to the trees."
"I've been coming here since I was very little. The stillness helps me think," she said, also bringing her gaze up to the forest canopy. The soft glow of dusk was the only light penetrating through the leaves.
"The atmosphere lets me sort things out, see things differently," she whispered, not wanting to disturb the tranquillity around them, "Like when I first got the Clow Cards. I came here to collect myself for the task."
Both sat pensively for a while, each lost in their own thoughts.
A sweet summer breeze blew through the canopy, allowing the leaves to whisper to each other in some inaudible language.
"Actually," Sakura spoke up, a smile tugging on her lips, "I have marked on several trees before, just to show you how long I've been coming here."
She stood up, dusting off her pale pink skirt and signaled for Syaoran to follow her. "C'mon," she took him by the hand and led him away. He blushed slightly but hid it quickly.
She walked up to a tree a little ways from the thicket. She crouched on one side of it and ran her hand over the engraved letters about two feet off the ground. She looked up at Syaoran who had come to stand next to her.
"There," she said, running her fingers over the letters. "This was as far as I came the first time I ever came here."
Syaoran gazed at Sakura's name in the clumsy, childish scrawl. He smiled at the backwards 'R' carved deep into the tree's bark.
She stood up and walked farther into the forest, pointing to every tree she had left her mark on. Syaoran smiled at the one where she said that had been seven years ago, at the beginning of her cardcapturing carreer.
"How many of these are there?" he asked after looking at the upteenth tree, deep in the woods.
"I'm not sure," Sakura replied turning to face him. "I mark a tree every time I go deeper into the woods. When I go through something new in my life I go deeper into the woods. A new spot helps me think about the new things that are happening in my life. So I mark a tree in the spot in the woods that I went to that time."
Syaoran nodded and smiled at her. They both continued walking for a while in silence.
Outside, the sun slipped behind the horizon, letting the darkness take over. Meanwhile, Syaoran and Sakura hand in hand walked deeper into the forest…
*****************
"I've never come this deep into the forest," Sakura said as she stopped. She sat down at the base of a mighty oak tree and leaned back, resting a while. She smiled softly to herself as Syaoran placed himself beside her and began playing with a lock of her hair.
It had been about a month now that the pair had finally confessed their feelings toward each other. Both had been totally unnerved by the experience but were glad that the immense weight of uncertainty had been lifted up off their shoulders. Since then they had agreed to be a couple but were still shy around each other. Tomoyo and Yukito would poke fun at them constantly because of this fact.
But now, under a blanket of stars and the comforting atmosphere of the forest allowed both to be more at ease with each other.
Sakura rested her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, subtly pulling her closer to him.
Syaoran closed his eyes and inhaled the sweet scent of her hair and it made his insides feel like a puddle of goo. As long as he could remember, that's the way Sakura made him feel. He knew from the moment he laid eyes on her that there would never be anyone that could make him feel as complete and happy as she could. She was the one.
He leaned in and pressed his lips to her forehead, sending a shiver down her spine. Sakura snuggled closer to Syaoran, closing her eyes and breathing in his aroma…
******************
The first thing Sakura felt was the chill. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged herself tighter. That's when her eyes snapped open.
It was dark. She could hardly see her own hand in front of her face, but she knew that she was no longer in the woods and there was no sight of Syaoran anywhere.
She stood up and shivered in her thin summer blouse as she stood up and looked around. The ground beneath her feet was soft but firm. It was pitch black all around her and cold…so…cold…
Hugging herself a little tighter she chose a direction and began to walk just to keep herself warm.
She stumbled forward in the darkness. Because she couldn't see, all her other senses were heightened, so she chose a direction when the light musk that she knew to be Syaoran's drifted into her nostrils, faint but unmistakable.
Sakura finally pulled out her wand. "Light!" she commanded.
The star on her wand was then glowing allowing her to at least see what was ahead. It was still cold.
After a little ways, she heard a soothing whispering sound ahead. She raced towards it, still seeing nothing but hearing the whisper like the wind rustling leaves.
"Sakura," Syaoran's voice came as a whisper from a distance yet right next to her ear.
"Syaoran? Where are you?" she cried out, "I need you!" Her voice dropped into a whisper, "It's so cold…"
that's when she felt them. Butterflies, hundreds of them, all around her, gently caressing her cheeks each warm and wonderfully soft like feathers. She spread her arms, welcoming their warmth as they spread over her cheeks, her lips, neck and arms. Each one that touched her cold skin left a warm feeling she loved. However, there seemed to be less and less of them as they began to fly away letting her feel the cold again.
"N!" she cried out, "I need more to keep warm!"
Sakura saw that they were departing and she chased after their fluttering forms. She saw that they were flying in the direction of a faint light in the distance. Syaoran's scent was stronger now and all around.
"Fly!" she commanded. As wings spread, she felt that if she could just reach that light, she would never be cold again and she might find Syaoran again.
The light was growing closer and Sakura knew it contained the heat that her frozen limbs so desperately needed.
"Syaoran!" she cried out, in hopes that he would hear her and help her. She knew he was near, she could feel him.
The light was closer. She was almost there. She could feel the warmth as it gently massaged the life back into her cold body.
But it wasn't enough. She needed more.
She knit her eyebrows and concentrated. She was almost…there…
Then she was knocked to the ground flat on her back. No! she thought, I need the warmth…
She could already feel the heat that was radiating from the light creeping up her numb legs, brushing her arms, making her tremble. She wanted more. She needed it. But there was a barrier.
"Are you alright?" Syaoran's deep voice spoke in her ear. she still couldn't see him.
"Syaoran…I…" she struggled to express her frustration.
"I want it so badly," she whispered to him. It was right there…all she need was to go through…
"Are you sure?" he asked.
"Yes," she practically screamed, "I need it."
"No, you don't," he said.
"I want it," she said firmly. "Onegai, Syaoran."
Sakura's senses were heightened to everything about his being all around her.
"Please…"
The light. So warm…she reached for it…
Suddenly a force seemed to grab her by the shoulders and with a thrust, pain ripped right through the middle of her body, bringing tears to her eyes.
But she was not afraid. Somehow she knew that she would have to pa dearly for what she wanted.
Then all at once she felt the butterflies again. They washed over her, brushing away her tears and her pain, bringing the taste of him to her lips. Sakura smiled in content at their warm softness that dissolved her pain.
That's when she noticed the light had grown closer and hotter, finally wrapping around her.
The heat that came over her weary and frozen being was so wonderful. It was like walking out from a cold and perilous blizzard into a warm room, with a blanket and hot cocoa waiting for you by the fire. She felt the heat bringing back the life to her numb limbs and she groaned with pleasure.
But it wasn't enough.
"Sakura," Syaoran's voice came through to her.
"More," she panted.
The light got stronger, almost as if it was pressing itself against her, filling her with more tepidity.
She wrapped her arms around the invisible force and moaned, loving every second of the euphoric experience. She could feel him.
The heat was so amazing, she didn't know how she had ever gotten along with out it. Her journey had seemed so long and hard, she wanted to get everything out of this as she possibly could.
"Syaoran," she cried pleadingly, "I need more warmth. Onegai…I need…"
"Shh," his husky voice whispered.
"Fire," he commanded.
Sakura's back arched as she lifted herself a little ways in anticipation.
"Release," he breathed in her ear.
All at once the light blinded her and a blazing fire was release, the phenomenal heat filling her to very core.
Sakura threw her head back, closed her eyes and let herself go…
***************
When she opened her eyes she saw the starlight twinkling down at her through the forest canopy.
She sighed happily as summer breeze washed over her, cooling her over heated person.
That was when she realized that Syaoran was there. He was asleep, his body half draped over her, his face on her stomach, his arm falling across her hips so that his left hand was in her right one.
His hair was matted down on his sweaty face, his sleeping features weary.
Sakura then became aware that she was also drenched in sweat, strand of hair matted to her forehead, her thin summer button down blouse was partially open and also sticking to her back.
She could feel imprints in the soft dirt they were lying on. They were pretty deep and fit her heels perfectly, almost as if she had dug them in.
Sakura sighed lightly. She felt exhausted.
She didn't want to disturb Syaoran by moving so she just looked around. Her eyes fell on the oak tree where they had stopped earlier.
A little ways up off the ground, carved deep in the wood, she found the marking of one of the most phenomenal experiences of her life.
The moonlight through the trees lit up the old trunk. Below her name, he engraved his.
***************owari*****************
I assume you've figured out that most of this was not to be taken literally. However it is for you to interpret it as you will. Please review to let me know what you think. Thank you!
--Lady Rebecca