Geo

Geo: Oh, and it's me again! Yup, I was at my cottage and I all of a sudden started writing -- a lot. So...here's the next chapter. Yeah!

I'd like to say sorry to many people:

1.) phoenixangel: I'm so sorry I haven't reviewed your next few chapters. I loved them! I was going to then...ff.net went down. So sorry it's taken me so long!

2.) Jurei: I haven't reviewed your fic either but I loved them! I couldn't get to chapter 5 yet but when I'm there I will review....and the review will be three times as long!

To everyone else who I usually review their chapters but I haven't yet and I haven't named you. So sorry! I'll try my best!

Oh, a little note. Even though Syaoran made that little remark about the 4th of July and fireworks last chapter (if you don't remember, it's below in the 'previously on DANGEROUS RIVALS section) it doesn't mean they live in the US. They still live in Tomoeda.

Brooklyn: Anyways, yeah...disclaimer. Geo doesn't own anything, such as Syaoran or Sakura or anyone out of CCS.

Geo: *blink* My, you're being agreeable today, Brooklyn...*narrows her eyes* What are you on?

Brooklyn: Nothing! Nothing at all...heh heh...

Geo: Okay...*whispers to reader* You act normal and read the fic. I'll keep an eye on her...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Previously...

..."Let's just say that if it was the Fourth of July, these people have enough explosives to light up all 50 states and that's an understatement."...

..."I promise I'll bring Sakura back alive."...

...She smiled up at him and lifted her hand from her side. It was red with blood. Her eyes rolled back and she fell unconscious...

..."Phone up Meilin. We're going to need her help."...

chapter 8

the doctor is in

Yamazaki stared at Syaoran. "What? Phone Meilin? Come on, you have got to be kidding." Syaoran shook his head.

"I'm serious. She's the best doctor we know. I know for sure my cousin is on today. We can get Sakura in, no problem. No questions by other doctors, no hassle."

"Syaoran, do you really believe Meilin will help Sakura Kinomoto? No offense intended." Eriol added to Tomoyo and Chiharu, who, momentarily, looked offended.

"Don't give me that crap, Eriol. She'll listen to me. I need her help. Sakura needs her help. Or...or she will die." Syaoran said quietly, not wanting to utter such ugly thoughts. Eriol sighed and glanced over at Yamazaki, who shrugged.

"He has a point, dude. Where else can we go without being asked who we are or how this happened?" Eriol nodded in agreement and took out his cell phone which was in his jacket pocket.

~*~*~*~*~

The phone rang in Dr. Meilin Li's office just as the young doctor was about to leave. She sighed and glanced at her office phone, wondering who would phone her just when she was leaving. She was going to have to talk to the receptionist about that. Noticing it wasn't the office phone, she reached into her bag and pulled out the ringing cell phone.

"What do you want? Do you know what time it is?" She growled. On the other line, Eriol chuckled. Meilin reminded him so much of her cousin.

"Meilin, it's me, Eriol." Meilin brightened.

"Is my cousin with you?"

"Yes. Listen, we're in need of your medical knowledge." Meilin's eye's widened in fright.

"What happened to Syaoran?"

"Nothing. It wasn't him who got hurt. Look, please meet us in an emergency room or something."

"Of course. ER2. That one's empty tonight, or should be. It's always empty, anyways."

"Thanks Meilin. We'll be there in a couple of minutes."

~*~*~*~*~

Meilin anxiously watched for the group at ER2, a room dedicated to the agents.

'Who could've gotten hurt in Syaoran's squad?' Meilin wondered. She heard recently he was in a team with Eriol and Yamazaki. Eriol didn't sound hurt and he Syaoran wasn't either. So that only left Yamazaki.

"Meilin, are you here?" Came Eriol's voice from outside the door.

"Come in." She said. In walked Yamazaki and Eriol, followed by a dark haired girl and a lighter haired one. Next was Syaoran carrying a young woman in his arms. Meilin was shocked at the disorder of Syaoran. He was pale and had several cuts and bruises. He looked worried and he kept glancing down at the young woman.

'That person...she looks so familiar...who could it...' Meilin gasped as she realized who it was that Syaoran was carrying.

"Is she who I have to help? Well, no way am I helping Sakura Kinomoto." She turned to Eriol, glaring madly at Tomoyo and Chiharu.

"And who are these people. More enemies? And you brought them here? Eriol, I thought you had more common sense." Meilin frowned at Yamazaki then turned back to Syaoran.

"Never in a million years did I think you of all people would come in her with our enemy, asking me to save her life. That would be...that would be almost like treason!" Syaoran's usually emotionless amber eyes stared at her with so much sorrow and pleading that Meilin almost took a step back.

"Please, Meilin. She's going to die if she doesn't get help." Meilin crossed her arms stubbornly.

"I'm not helping her, Syaoran. You, I can help. Her, never..."

"You're a doctor, for heaven's sake!" Yamazaki intervened. "You shouldn't care who it is you're saving. You should be impartial!"

"No, I won't help that bi-"

"Stop, Meilin and listen." Syaoran said sternly. "Sakura took the bullet for me. The bullet in this brave woman's side was meant for me. Sakura saved me." Meilin looked at Syaoran, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"Sakura Kinomoto...she...she saved you?" She asked. Syaoran looked down fondly at Sakura and nodded. Meilin eyed him carefully.

'He loves her. And she must have loved him to save him...' Sighing, she smiled a bit and turned to wash her hands.

"Very well. I'll see what I can do."

~*~*~*~*~

Sakura opened her eyes slowly. Her side hurt - a lot - and she wanted to go back asleep. Slowly, she regained her sharp senses and she could hear the quiet voices in the same room.

"Leave me, alone, Meilin. I'm fine." Sakura's heart leapt with joy at the sound of Syaoran's quiet voice.

'He's alive! Syaoran's alive! Thank goodnes...'

"No, Syaoran. You don't seem to realize that you got a huge cute on your left arm."

"So what, Meilin?"

"Just let me clean it up and put a bandage on it. Then you can do whatever you damn well want."

Sakura sighed happy, quietly, not wanting to worry Syaoran. She didn't know who this Meilin person was but she did know that she was indebted to her. Closing her eyes again, she fell in a sound and dreamless sleep.

~*~*~*~*~

"My, she's sleeping for a long time." Tomoyo said, sighing. Yamazaki and Chiharu had found "Monopoly" to pass the time and they and Eriol and Tomoyo were playing. So far, Tomoyo was in the lead, with Eriol following close behind. Yamazaki had the least amount of money.

"Figures, you can never hold onto money for very long." Syaoran commented when he had stopped pacing for a few seconds to observe the game.

"Don't worry." Meilin replied to Tomoyo's worried comment, not looking up from some charts she was working on. "Sleep is the best thing for her right now. It helps them forget about any pain whatsoever."

At the word 'pain', Syaoran grimaced, remembering the blood-red color on Sakura's hands. He felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, and, looking over, he saw it was a gently smiling Tomoyo.

"I failed, Tomoyo. I promised I'd bring her back..."

"And you did." She interrupted. "You brought her back alive."

"It was close, Tomoyo. It was so close. I was so afraid I would loose her." He admitted softly.

"It's not your fault that she got hurt. But you promised to bring her back, and you did." Syaoran smiled back at Tomoyo and then chuckled.

"You'd better get back to the game or else Yamazaki's going to steal all your money. I'm going to check on Sakura." Before Meilin could protest, Syaoran swiftly entered the room and quietly closed the door. Meilin sighed and went back to her reports for a while.

"So, Doc, what is up with Sakura?" Yamazaki asked, since he had been off trying to find the board game.

"The bullet didn't hit any major organs, just mainly flesh. Some tissue was damaged but it was easy enough to fix, since you got her here quick enough." She paused, then quietly said, "So, Syaoran really loves her, doesn't he?" Tomoyo smiled and nodded.

"I didn't want to believe it at first either, but..."

"But you can't deny it after a while." Eriol added, nodding in agreement.

"There's a change in Syaoran, and I mean a big change. The way he acts around her, looks at her...I can tell when he's acting and when he's not and, believe me, he is not acting." Yamazaki said, receiving the dice from Tomoyo, who had just ended her turn.

"You know, if someone would've told me that one day I'd be sitting here on a cease fire order with you guys, I would've laughed and shot the person for such a wild suggestion." Chiharu commented, glancing around at her former enemies. They really were okay, after a while.

"Ditto, babe." Yamazaki laughed and took her hand in his.

"You owe me $50, Yamazaki." Tomoyo said calmly. Yamazaki's eyes went wide with surprise.

"What the hell, 50 bucks?! Since when?!" He asked as he quickly glanced from the game board where his little train was on 'Pennsylvania Railroad' to his small pile of Monopoly money.

~*~*~*~*~

Meilin quietly entered Sakura's room and smiled as she saw the faithful Syaoran on a chair beside her bed. His head kept on dropping and Meilin could easily tell that he was having a lot of troubles keeping awake.

"Go and get some sleep, Syaoran." Meilin whispered. He lifted his head with a start and reached for his gun. Shaking his head and dropping his head at the automatic reflex.

"No...have to stay here...have to..." Meilin smiled warmly.

"Syaoran, you're exhausted and I don't blame you. So you have to get some rest. Just a few hours is all you need, alright? There's a hotel near the hospital. You and the others can sleep there." Syaoran shook his head in protest.

"No...someone has to stay here..." Meilin smiled again and took his hand, hauling him up to his feet.

"I'll stay here for a while. You and the others go sleep and then when one of you wakes up, they'll come and replace me, all right?" Meilin smiled again while she led him to the door. "Anyways, Syaoran, this is a hospital. There are nurses and such...nurses who don't know who Sakura is will come in every once in a while. I promise, Sakura will be fine."

Syaoran looked over at his cousin, then smiled warmly. "Thanks, Meilin, for everything." Meilin shrugged.

"It's my job, Syaoran. Just as its your job to save young women from buildings that are about to explode. Now go over and get some sleep before I decide to re-define my job." Syaoran smiled and walked out the door. Meilin walked back over to Sakura and checked that all her vital signs were still in tact.

"So, you're the target of my cousin's affection." She whispered to Sakura, taking her pulse. "I would have never believed it. But, here you guys were...living proof that perhaps reality is stranger than science fiction. That perhaps it is really true when they say love has no boundaries." She glared down at the sleeping Sakura. "If you ever do anything to hurt my cousin...anything at all...you will not only be answering to Eriol and Yamazaki, but to me. Especially me." She laughed a bit, then wrote some things down on the chart which was at the foot of Sakura's bed. "I hope you two are happy together. Syaoran needs someone like you to brighten his life." She smiled and then walked out the door.

~*~*~*~*~

When Sakura opened her eyes, it was light in her room. Her side didn't hurt as much as it had the last time she had woken up. Turning slightly, she saw Tomoyo in a chair beside her, reading a book. Tomoyo looked down at her and smiled.

"Finally, you're up." Sakura smiled.

"How long have I been out of it?"

"Two days." Tomoyo smiled. Sakura's eyes went wide.

"Two days?! Why didn't you guys wake me up?!" Tomoyo laughed.

"Sleep was the best medicine for you, Sakura. You have to admit, your side doesn't hurt much right now, does it?" Sakura shook her head, then frowned as she looked around.

"We're in a hospital. Who treated me? Naoko?" Tomoyo coughed then shook her head.

"Um, no. It was Dr. Meilin Li...of Syaoran's agency." Sakura's eyes went wide, then softened.

"Really...Meilin Li...would that mean that she's Syaoran's cousin?" Tomoyo nodded and smiled.

"Lucky for you she is, since she probably wouldn't have helped you if he hadn't said you saved his life." Sakura shrugged then looked out the window.

"He saved mine as well...countless times. By the way, where is he?" Tomoyo laughed.

"I'm hoping he's sleeping right now. He was almost up the whole two days watching over you and he probably would've still been awake had Meilin not have intervened." Tomoyo smiled slyly. "Do you...want me to phone him?" Sakura sighed happily, even though it sort of hurt her side. She didn't want to worry Syaoran since he had been awake watching over her that long and she wanted him to sleep well. However, she wanted to see his handsome smile again. She wanted to hear his voice, look into the depths of his eyes, feel his arms around her...

"Yes. Please phone him." She whispered.

~*~*~*~*~

*Ring Ring*

"Eriol, get that." Chiharu said, not looking up from the TV.

*Ring Ring*

"Yamazaki, get that." Eriol muttered, reading the newspaper.

*Ring Ring*

"Chiharu, get that." Yamazaki said, not looking up from his Gameboy.

*Ring Ring*

"Damn it, why didn't somebody get it." Muttered Syaoran as he walked out of his room where he had been sleeping in his boxer shorts and an old t-shirt to answer the ringing phone.

"Hello?" He mumbled, still trying to wake up.

"Hi, this is Tomoyo. Sakura has woken up and she's asking for Syaoran." There was a slight pause until Tomoyo continued. "Syaoran, that's you, isn't it." However, Syaoran had handed the phone over to Eriol, who was laughing at his friend's antics.

"Nope, sorry Tomoyo. This is Eriol. Syaoran's getting ready now. You can expect him in about 0.5 seconds." He said, as he watched Syaoran trying to get his shoes on at the same time as brushing his hair and whatnot. Tomoyo laughed at the other end of the line.

"Oh, well, I don't think Sakura's going anywhere. We'll be expecting him." Eriol hung up and looked up at his friend.

"Hey, Syaoran, are you taking the car? Because you forgot the keys." He said, laughing. Syaoran looked over at the coffee table then shook his head.

"It's right there, I'll run, see you guys!" He yelled back and closed the door behind him.

~*~*~*~*~

Sakura was watching a program on the small television in her room when she heard footsteps outside the door. The door swung open and in jogged a panting Syaoran with messed up hair. He stood there, staring at her for a few seconds, then smiled tenderly.

"Sakura...how do you feel?" She laughed.

"I feel just fine, thank you, Syaoran. How about you? I heard you were up for a long time." Syaoran shrugged and sat down in the vacant chair beside her bed. He pushed a few stray strands of hair to the side and smiled again.

"Thank you, Sakura. You saved my life."

"And you saved mine." She replied, her beautiful green eyes happy and content. "I'm just happy both of us are safe." He bent down and kissed her on the top of her forehead.

"If you're happy, I'm happy, my angel..."

~*~*~*~*~

Well within a week, Sakura was up and walking again. However, the worst of their troubles were not yet over.

"We have to talk abut what we're going to do about this whole thing." Sakura said quietly to Syaoran. At Syaoran's questioning look, she said, "The thing about us not wanting to be agents anymore." Syaoran looked back at the movie they were watching at Sakura's apartment.

"You're right. But, what else other than death will be the solution to our problems?" He asked her quietly. Suddenly, the doorbell rang twice and there came a knock on the door three times.

"It's Tomoyo." Sakura said quietly and opened the door. In walked Tomoyo, Eriol, Yamazaki, Chiharu and Meilin.

"We brought food!" Yamazaki said triumphantly, holding up pizza boxes. Sakura laughed and got up to move some stuff of the table to make room.

"Great, we were hungry." She said, smiling over at him. Syaoran got up and got out some plates as Sakura brought out seven bottles of pop from the fridge. The others threw down their bags and took their plates, everyone chattering and laughing.

Once everyone was settled and eating, Tomoyo asked, "So, what were you two doing before we came?" Sakura looked down at her piece of pizza and shrugged.

"Oh, you know...watching a movie..."

"What movie?" Meilin asked suddenly.

"Devil's Advocate." Syaoran answered, then frowned. "I think Sakura wanted to see Keanu Reeves or something..."

"Well, anyways, continue..." Tomoyo said, taking another bite of her pizza.

"Well, we were also talking about...well, you know..." Sakura shrugged.

"No, we don't know. Tell us, Sakura. What were you two "talking" about?" Yamazaki asked, winking over at Syaoran, who glared at him. He did, however, turn an interesting shade of red.

"No, you guys don't understand..." He started, but was interrupted by Chiharu's fit of giggles.

"I didn't know that's what they called it...hm, 'talking'..." She said as she took a sip of her pop. Sakura finally got what they were talking about and turned red just like Syaoran.

"No! That's not what I meant! I meant we were talking about, well...getting out of the whole secret agent life." Sakura admitted. She shrugged as she saw the looks of surprise on thier face.

"S-Sakura...you can't be serious...?" Tomoyo asked.

"Why wouldn't I be serious, Tomoyo?" Sakura asked, staring at her straight in the eye. "I don't see any point for me to stay."

"You're the best, Sakura! We need someone like you!" Chiharu cried.

"Oh? And you're willing to stay? To stay in the agency and fight? Still? After all of this?" Sakura asked, her voice quiet.

"What do you mean, after all this?" Chiharu asked warily.

"I mean, after you met Yamazaki, Eriol and Syaoran. After you met Meilin, who saved my life. After you found out that these guys aren't really scum of the Earth, like they always told us. That they're actually really nice and caring. Could you really go back knowing that one day your mission may be to destroy Yamazaki Takashi, no questions asked? Someone you shared pizza with? Someone who worried about your friend's health with you? Someone you played Monopoly with, someone who ate pizza with you? Someone who you called friend. Huh?" Sakura asked, standing up and looking at Chiharu, her eyes repeating the question silently. She glanced around at everyone, holding onto her eyes repeating over and over again her question, not only about Yamazaki but about everyone else.

She looked finally into Syaoran's amber eyes, his expression calm like she had always known it to be. She remembered she had that conversation before with him. She remembered his answer was exactly like hers. That she could never go back to thinking that he was her enemy, that he had to be destroyed. She no longer thought that and wondered how she could've so long ago. It's a miracle that they had taken that walk. They learned trust, friendship and love. They learned all that meant to them in life, which was each other, and Sakura didn't want to go back to days of ignorance.

She took his hand in hers and he smiled tenderly, lovingly and proudly for her speech. It reflected everything he thought she stood for: friendship, love and caring. It's who she is, he thought as she smiled back, her beautiful jade eyes piercing into his.

"I know I can't." Sakura said quietly, turning to face the group again. "I can't go back. Not after this."

"Neither do I." Tomoyo admitted.

"The question is, how? We know that we can never escape our...life-style...except for...well, we know." Eriol said, shrugging.

And they did know. In the bottom of their hearts they knew what was the only choice if they wanted to leave, escape and never turn back. The answer to their problems.

That answer was death.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Geo: BWAHAHAHAHA! End of the chapter. Sorry, it's kind of short again but I wanted to end it there...CLIFF HANGER! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

Brooklyn: Ofcoursetheyaren'tgoingtodiearetheygeohuhhuhhuhtheyaren'tgoingtodiebecausethatwouldbebadreallybad,ohyeah...
veryverybadeveryonewouldhateyouandeverythingandthenpeoplewouldcometoyourhouseespeciallycherryandshewould
killyouandeverything...

Geo: *blink* OKAY BROOKLYN, WHAT ARE YOU ON?!?!

Brooklyn: nothingnothingatall*eye twitch*nope,nothing...lalalala...exceptforsugar...lotsandlotsofsugarandoooh..
havetoaskchicklesformoresugargoodgoodgoodgood..oopsshouldn'thavesaidanythinggoingtobeinbigtrouble...

Geo: Oookay...sugar high care of Chickles Almachi. Great...just perfect. Oh Cherry...could you please find better hiding places for the pixi stix?

Well, anyways, that was THAT chapter. Ooh...ahhh...now that everyone decided that they don't want to go back to their old 'life-style' what will they do if the ONLY answer is death? Well...find out next time!
Hope you liked the fic and all. Reminder: None of the characters die. NONE! Oh, and I have some plans to bring in Touya, Yukito, Kaho, Nakuru, and Fujitaka for a small bit...tee hee!
Once again, small bits of the Matrix...SORRY! This story just REMINDS me all the time...unconsciously putting quotes that are sort of from the movie...okay, you didn't catch the similarity? You haven't watched the movie? Okay, well...here it is:

You know how when you finally go back to the real world, you can never go back? And then, when Neo finds out about what the Matrix is and what really happened and what's happening on this Earth he finally freaks out. And then Morpheus is talking about going back and stuff...

"So there's no going back." (Neo)
"No. But if you could, would you really want to?" (Morpheus)

Who caught it? Huh? Phoenixangel, you probably caught it, didn't you? My one and only Canadian dollar says you did. How about you, Cherry?

Okay, I bit of Gargoyles trivia for ya':

Which line sort of reflects what Detective Elisa Maza says about Goliath from the final episode in this last part of the chapter? In your reviews (you are going to review, right? *wink wink*) tell me or email me if you know the answer. I will put the answer up NEXT chapter! Bwahahaha! ...Yes, I watch Gargoyles...you're point being?