Chapter 8!

Wow, this thing just keeps getting longer and longer! I can't think of any author's
notes for now, so I'll just start writing….
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I don't own Card Captor Sakura, so don't sue me, cuz I've got no money.
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Sakura woke in a cold sweat. That was one of the worst ones so far.
What day was it? Thursday? How did she get on the floor?

She sat up on her bed after picking herself up off the floor and untangling
herself from within the twisted sheets. The card mistress rubbed here eyes,
then let out a sigh as she caught sight of herself in the full-length mirror. Her hair was
flat on one side, poofy on the other, and she had a big red crease across her cheek
from where she had been sleeping on the pillow. She put her hand to the jagged red
slash mark across her neck. It was in the process of healing, and it didn't look very nice at all.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

(Li's POV)
'I'm sorry, but I have to go back. It's my family duty… I have to!'
'Syaoran, wake up!'

"Huh?!" his eyes snapped open. Sakura was staring at him from the doorway.

"Sakura? What time is it? Go back to sleep!"

"Wake up."

"Nooo-o! I don't want to." He was whining like a baby.

'And he's the warrior? Shesh.' She thought to herself.
She walked into the room and yanked the cord on the horizontal blinds covering the
window, causing them to jerk open. Sunlight flashed into the room. Li moaned and
groaned, and somehow ended up in a sitting position.

"What?! It's early!" he whined, rubbing his eyes.

"It's almost 7:30! We have to get going! And I need to talk to you about something."
The warrior/5 year old rubbed his eyes.

"Wha_at? Did you have another dream?"

"Yes. He was chasing me. His skin was green, and-"

"You were dreaming about the Incredible Hulk."

"Just listen to me! How can I get rid of them?! I'm almost afraid to go to sleep!"

"That's pretty serious. Maybe you should go see a doctor or something. I don't know
what to do for you. Especially at this time in the morning," He yawned.

"Do you even care?! You sure aren't acting like it!" she stood by his bedside.

"Sakura, look! Of course I care! I care about you more than anything in my life,
including life, but I have serious things on my mind as well, and I just woke up,
and it's early, and I'm exhausted, and -"
Sakura drew him into a deep kiss. After they parted, Li paused, and then began
to speak in a calm voice. "Okay. I know it really frightened you, but you have to
get on with life. You can't keep reliving the moment and expect that it'll go away.
Move on, and stop beating yourself up over him. He did some really stupid things,
and one of them almost killed you. There's no reason for you to live like this."
He hugged her close to him.

"I know, but it seems impossible. They just keep coming back. It's like he doesn't
want to leave me alone, even though he's dead. I can't help it."

"I know it's not your fault. You'll get through it somehow. Believe me, I know you can do it."

"As long as I have you with me, I know I'll be okay. You'll stay with me forever, right?"
Li's muscles tensed, along with his grip on her.
"Syaoran? Li? What is it?"

"We'd better get ready for school. Don't want to be late on your first day back."
"Oh… okay."

"Just one question though?"

"Hmm?"

"How is it, that you're allowed in my room, but I'm not allowed in yours?"

"Got me," she said absently, "See you downstairs."
She left his room without another word. She could obviously tell he was troubled.

Li dressed slowly. What was going on? What was his dream about? Was it a sign?
It couldn't be. He put the thought out of his mind as he searched around the room for
his school bag. Along with Sakura's nightmares, he had been having a few of his own
lately, of the scariest thing that could ever happen. Leaving again.

He finally found his schoolbag and went downstairs. Sakura was eating cornflakes at
the table, and Kero was stuffing his face with some multi-colored substance.
"Syaoran?" She asked him as he entered the kitchen.

"Hmmm?"

"What's wrong?"

He hesitated again. He didn't want to worry her. She already had enough on her mind. "Well, I was just thinking."

"About what?"

"About, what I'd do if I ever lost you." He hoped she would settle for that answer.

"What would you do?"

"I would probably kill myself." He mentally slapped himself. 'Yeah, that's really going to worry her less.'
Kero promptly spit a gob of marshmallow breakfast cereal onto the table as he screamed.

"WHAT!? No way you would do that!"

"What's wrong? Am I supposed to believe that you're actually starting to like me?"

"NO!" kero said quickly, "It's just that… kill yourself?" he said meekly, as a marshmallow star ran down the side or his furry face.

"I would have no reason to live. All this death talk has got me thinking, what if today
is my last day? Or tomorrow?" this was true. He had been wondering if each day
was his last, but not on earth.

Sakura shivered. "I see. Let's not talk about dying anymore." it seemed that Li had
thought up a good enough lie to get by on. She said no more about it.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"I'm going to school! You'd better hurry up!"

"I'm ready to go!"

"Er, are you planning on going to school without a shirt on?"

"Good point." He looked at his school uniform shirt hanging over the back of a chair with
a giant food stain on it. Kero had really bad aim when he got freaked out.
"I'll catch up. Go without me. And Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

She kissed him softly on the lips before running out the door. Li sighed, and grabbed his shirt
off the back of the chair. He'd have to find something else to wear, before he was
TOTALLY late for school.
~*~*~*~*~~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

She walked into the classroom. Actually, it was more of a shuffle

"Hey! Your back! Why were you gone so long?" Nikki said as she and Chelsea ran to greet her.

"Yeah, we missed you!" Chelsea said.

"Oh, umm I was sick."

"That must have been quite a bug!"

"Uh, yeah, whatever you say."

"What I don't get is why Madison wouldn't tell us what it was." Nikki puzzled.

"And where has that Kris been? Do you know he still owes me twenty bucks from two weeks ago?!"

"What a leech." Kris wasn't their favorite person in the whole world these days.

Sakura shuddered, "Guys, don't talk about him like that."

"Why not? Are you going out with him now?"

"No, I… just don't. Why would you lend him twenty dollars anyways?" Sakura changed
the subject. She had almost forgotten that nobody knew about what happened at the hospital.
She pulled her turtleneck sweater up as far as she could.

"Hello my sweet." Li hugged her from behind.

"It's nice to see you finally showed up."

"I thought I'd better. I have a science test today."

"I hope you didn't leave your socks in the sink again. That's got to be your grossest habit."

"Hey, it's not my fault I stepped in chocolate pudding. That little stuffed animal needs to learn how to clean up after himself."

Nikki and Chelsea stood there with their jaws hanging open.

"Sakura, what are you two talking about?" Chelsea was the first to speak.

"Why are HIS socks in YOUR sink??" Nikki practically yelled.

Sakura giggled. "I'll leave that up to your imaginations."

"Oh, my god. They did it!"

"Oh my god!"

"No we didn't. I'm not sure I want to leave this up to your imaginations."
He took his seat across from Sakura just as Zachary came running in the door, with less than
a minute before the bell rang to start class.
Nikki and Chelsea were now whispering excitedly to each other, probably trying to figure out what was going on.
"Hey! I made it!" Zachary heaved his backpack up onto his desk and took out a bunch of books.

"Yeah, I noticed. Did you get the history homework finished?"

"Oh no! I knew I forgot something! Now I have less than ten seconds to think up an excuse!"
Zachary was freaking out.

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It was lunch break. Their whole group was walking out to the tree that they usually ate lunch by.
The leaves crunched pleasantly under their feet. Sakura was still upset from the dream. They
were just about to sit down when Sakura saw something out of the corner of her eye. It looked like…Kris!

'But that's not possible!' she thought, and decided to forget about it.

She had just taken a bite out of her sandwich, when Zachary shouted, "Hey, isn't that Kris?"
Sakura turned around, even though she knew he was dead, and there he was, coming towards
them. She, Li, and Nikki stood up. Sakura couldn't believe it. How could this be possible?!
She knew the answer. It wasn't. But yet there he was. She narrowed her eyes and stalked across
the yard, with Li and Chelsea right next to her, and Madison getting up to follow.

Kris looked terrible. He had black circles around his eyes, and he looked a lot skinnier than he was before.

"Where's my money?" Chelsea demanded. He held out a 20 and she snatched it away from him.
Madison now stood on Sakura's other side. Sakura glared into his red-rimmed eyes.

"Hey, Sakura, I-"

"SHUT up."

"Wait, I-"

"WHY_ARE YOU_ALIVE!?!?!!!!!!!!!" She screamed in his face.

"I've asked myself that a couple of times over the past-"

SMACK!
She slapped him so hard, a red handprint appeared on his face instantly.
("All right Sakura," Madison cheered)

"OW! What was that for?!?"

"WHATWASTHATFOR!?!?!!!" she pulled down the neck of her sweater and ripped the
bandage off to reveal the giant scab on her neck. "THAT was for this, and a week of nightmares,
and making me traumatized for life, thinking that you were dead!!!!!!!!!!" to top it off, she kicked
him in the balls before turning on her heel and going back to the tree. Everyone in hearing range was
staring at her, but she didn't care. She plopped down onto the bench of the picnic table and took a livid
bite of her sandwich, staring straight ahead at nothing in particular.

Li looked down at Kris, who was now rolling on the ground holding his balls and making a truly unusual face.

"Hey, tough luck. Stay away from my girlfriend, unless you want to find out what I can do to them." He looked
at Kris one last time, then left to join his friends.

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The rest of the day crept by, and Sakura stayed pissed off through the whole of it. It was particularly irritating,
because now that she had revealed the wound, her friends were pestering her every five seconds asking if she
was all right. She had already refused to tell them what had happened, telling them to go ask Kris, but people
still kept asking her.

Finally it was over. Sakura decided to stay after school to get caught up on her assignments, and told Li to go home
because it would probably take a long time. She was left with the homework for the three days she had been away,
which turned out to be a lot less than she had expected there to be. She got everything she needed out of her
locker, and began to walk home.
~*~*~

The sun was beginning to set in the distance. Sakura quickened her pace and pulled her sweater neck up
against the cold autumn wind. Brown crinkly leaves swirled over the ground. She could hear the distant
cawing of a crow. But then there was something else. It sounded like footsteps, slightly off pace to her own.
She decided that all the attention was driving her loony, and pushed the thought to the farthest corner of her
mind. There was no way Kris would try anything…would he?

She had barely thought the thought, when a hand clamped over her mouth and she found herself being pulled
into a dark alleyway. She struggled to scream and get away, but it was no use. Her attacker pulled her further
into the darkness. She felt warm breath on the left side of her face. The assailant whispered in her ear,
"Don't scream. I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."
The hand was lifted away from her mouth.

"What do you want?" She turned around and it was, as she had accurately guessed, Kris.

"I just want to talk to you." He repeated.

"I suggest that you start talking before I start running."

"Okay, I just want to explain to you. And apologize. I'm sorry Sakura. I could blame it on being drunk
and high, but I know that in the end it's my fault, and I truly am sorry for what I did."

"Yeah, well so is my poor serrated windpipe. You're supposed to be dead. I do not see a coffin
anywhere near you. I thought I saw you die."

"What you saw was what happened when the heart-rate monitor got accidentally unplugged from the wall."

"WHAT!?!?!?!? Are you trying to tell me that I've been picturing your rotting carcass for a week,
and you couldn't even have the courtesy to be dead?!?!"

"Yes. I don't blame you if you hate me."

"Well that's a good thing or we'd have a pretty big problem!"

"Alright. I just wanted you to know. And please don't tell your boyfriend that I dragged you here.
I want to come out of this with all of my major organs intact."

"Why should I do that for you? After all, you did try to kill him."

"Because I'm working to fix my life, and I'm not doing those things anymore, and I already have too
much to work against without adding a crazy bodyguard to the mix."

"Just stay away from me, and I won't tell him."

"Thank you. It's more than I deserve."

"You've got that right. I'm going now, and if you follow me, consider yourself dickless."

"Got it. Goodbye forever, Sakura."

"Bye."
She walked out of the alley, anxious to get to the warmth of her own home. She was thinking about
the conversation she had just had as she walked. It was funny. She even let out a small chuckle. What
would Li say if he knew that other guys feared him the same way that he feared Tory?
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Li was just plopping down onto the couch at the same time Sakura was getting home. The wind sucked
the door shut behind her with a loud slam that made her jump.
"Back so soon?"

"I didn't have as much work to catch up on as I thought."

"Oh. Care to join us? The Guardian Beast and I were just about to watch a movie."

"What's this? Guardian Beast? Are you dying?"

"No. We just decided that if I don't want to be called The Brat, or any of the other things that he's
called me which aren't repeatable, I have to stop making fun of him."

"He hid your study notes again, didn't he?"

"I'm THIS close to finding them."

"I guess that would also explain why you rented Spice World?"

"How does she do it? That critt- er, I mean, Guardian Beast has really bad taste."
Out of the blue Kero popped up from behind the couch and smacked his ear.

"Ouch! I'm just stating a fact! Nobody likes the Spice Girls anymore!"

"And I care because?! Ginger is sooooo cute!" his eyes went all starry.

"I'm sure she'd say the same thing about you." Li got an impish look in his face.

"Okay, you just lost all hope of passing your mid-terms."

"You're forgetting that I'm about 5 feet bigger than you."

"Good point."

"Now either hand over the papers, or watch Ginger from the bottom of my shoe."

"OKAY! YOU WIN!! They're in the bottom of Sakura's underwear drawer. You should have NO
problem with going in there." Kero risked an eyebrow.

Sakura glared at Kero. "At least he's in a position where he would be allowed to go through it!"

"I AM?!"

"He is?!"

Sakura laughed all the way to the kitchen.

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Author's notes:
Hi everyone! It's been a while…I hope you all liked this chapter. It wasn't really that long, I know.
It might take me a while to get the next chapter out again, cuz I have NO idea where this story is going,
but you never know. I might end up with another one done by Friday! Everyone loving Kero's
obsession with Ginger Spice? I thought it would be cute ^_~
I'll try 2 get the next chapter up soon. If you read this, PLEASE review!

Hey, guess what? Me and Kyralea are writing a fic together! It's called Near and Far.
The group has to travel to a distant land to capture a VERY powerful clow card. Swing by
and check it out if ya like. We've even got a picture of the card that we invented on out bio page.
Our penname is Annilea, just to let you know. Okay, enough with this shameless self-promotion. I've gotta split. :o)