A/N: first of all I would like to apologize for the lateness of this chapter. I have been completely swamped with school, work, and other activities. Okay now for all of you that are wondering where the S+S and E+T shows up, don't worry it is coming. Also thank you all who reviewed, your reviews make me so happy. Okay now on with the show.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own CCS.

Li slammed the door after he entered his apartment. He felt absolutely horrible. Sakura's words tore at his heart and made him want to sink into the ground and be forgotten forever. Everything about his life had fallen apart; everything he thought was certain seemed to be nothing but a lie. The ones he had trusted pushed him away and left him cold and bleeding. They were monsters, leeches that sucked the life from you and left you to die.

"How could you just stand by knowing that this was going on!" Li's voice was full of malice.

"My son you mustn't concern yourself with these things. You have far more important matters to deal with, such as training to become our next leader." A passive voice answered.

"Your leader? I will never lead you. All my life you have taught me about honor, well where is your honor now!"

"Do not anger the elders more Syaoran, they are already displeased with your behavior. Just forget what has happened before it is too late." Yelan Li sternly commanded.

Li diverted his eyes to the ground, taking in all his mother had told him. Yelan was convinced that her son's willfulness had been stubbed out by fear, and was about to leave him when his eyes rose to meet hers. She was surprised to see anger and resent rising in his intense gaze.

"I will not forget." Li said strongly. "And neither will history when I'm done." Li threatened and then walked away leaving his mother in shock and fear.

"Did you have a bad day at school?" Li broke out of his trance to meet a pair of concern ruby eyes.

"No everything is fine." He answered while pulling himself off the cold kitchen floor.

"Please tell me what happened." Meiling begged.

Li looked doubtful, but he knew that Meiling had a right to know. "The others have discovered that you are with child." He said slowly. Meiling only hung her head as her mind tried to fill in what might have happened during the others conversation. "Sakura is angry with me, and so is Tomoyo." He explained.

"This is all my fault, I have ruined your relationship with Sakura." Tears began to form in Meiling's eyes, and she didn't try to hold them back. Her thoughts of guilt were interrupted when Li laid his warm hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Sakura and I will work things out, in the mean time I have to go to work. Will you be all right here alone?" Li asked as he peered at the girl before him.

Meiling nodded her head yes and with that Li grab his coat and headed out the door for work.

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

"Hey China boy the men's restroom needs a good scrubbing, go take care of it while I handle the customers." A stout man with little hair and greasy clothes commanded Li.

"Yes sir." Li answered with little enthusiasm. He hated being called 'China boy', and he hated his boss even more. The man was rude and very inconsiderate. He forced Li to work late into the night and barely paid him minimum wage. Li would have quite the job after the first day of having to work past one in the morning, but unfortunately this was the only source of income he and Meiling had. So he had no choose but to work for the grumpy cook.

After about an hour of scrubbing the restroom was clean and sterol. As Li was rising from his the restroom floor he felt an overwhelming feeling of fatigue and nausea.

'Meiling was right I can't keep this up much longer. As if school isn't bad enough with the homework and studying, but work is really taking it out of me. And now Sakura hates me. I knew coming back here was a bad idea, but it's not like we had anywhere else to go. This was the only place that I ever truly felt happy, and now it feels like hell.

"Hey China boy get in here!" the stout cook yelled.

Li stepped away from the sink that he had been leaning on for support and headed into the diner. "Yes?" Li asked while yawning.

"I got to take off early so you need to whitish the diner and close up. You have the routine down by now of course." The cook instructed as he hung up his apron and headed for the door, before he left he turned around and shouted for Li to remember to scrub the floors then exited the diner.

Li looked around the diner then shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was the third time that he was left to work after his schedule hours, and of course he gets paid the same amount. This was crazy he was only sixteen and was already working his life away. Things couldn't keep up this way, sure he is strong, but this was just too much. He only got an average of four hours of sleep at night, and that didn't include all the times he would wake up in a cold sweat from his nightmares, or when he would have to stay up all night to watch over Meiling. He needed a brake; he just needed to rest.

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

Eriol walked on the streets alone. The whether was rather cool, but he didn't mind it was an improvement over the hot humid whether they had been having the past couple of days.

Many different thoughts circled his head, some about school others about spells and incantations, but the main thing on his mind was his young descendants. He didn't know much about the Meiling girl, after all they only meet on a few occasions, and barely spoke two words to one another. He knew she was one of the few Cow descendants which didn't have magical powers, he also knew she was a strong and willful girl, but that was about it.

Li on the other hand, well he knew a great deal about Li at least more then he knew about the girl, but even with the time he has spent with the young man he still remained a mystery. He was so strong a very mature for his age. At times he would acted discipline and focused like the worrier he was, and then there would be times when the front would fade away and he would be just another child young and innocent. It is a shame that his 'family' has destroyed that innocents forever.

Eriol's mussing was interrupted by the sound of his stomach rumbling. He hadn't eaten since lunch and the feeling of hunger was just starting to hit him with full strength. He wasn't ready to go home, Suppii and Nakuru where probably still arguing for control over the television remote, and he just wanted some peace and quiet. He looked around the street he had been walking on not much was there, just a few shops selling various items, of course they were all closed now. He looked at his whitish, eleven twenty-three.

"When did it get so late. I must have been walking for hours." He said out loud. He was about to turn around and head back home when he noticed a small diner on the corner of the road he was on. Normally he wouldn't even consider eating at one of those places, but his stomach was getting the better of him not to mention the wind had picked up and was blowing very hard now. So he took a deep breath and headed in the direction of the diner.

Li studied the floor beneath him. It was old tile with pieces chipped off and stains in many different places. He had just finished placing all the chairs upside down on the tables and was about to begin scrubbing them when another dizzy spell swept up on him. The whole diner seemed to increase in tempter and he began to see little stars everywhere. He leaned against the counter blinking a few times. His eyes finally readjusted but the tempter didn't seem to go down any.

After he was sure that there would be no more dizzy spells, he got on the ground, took his scrubber and began to clean the filthy floor. He didn't know why they stayed open so late. No one comes out to eat this late and only a fool would be out on a night like this. Li was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of the diner door opening.

Li looked up to greet the customer and was very unsettled to see Eriol standing in the entrance with a confused look.

"Li what on earth are you doing here?" Eriol asked with shock and curiosity.

Li got off the ground and whipped his wet hands on his apron. Then after carefully making up his story he answered.
"Um… well I work here. It's part of my training." He said hopping that the reincarnated magician would buy it.

Eriol looked Li over his face passive but his eyes showed worry. 'He looks horrible the dark circles on his eyes are even more noticeable and he looks half starved.' Eriol finally broke the silence after studding the teen closely. "I believe that you work here Li, but I know you are lying about it being part of your training." He said sternly.

Li looked down at the ground as if he wore ashamed. When Eriol saw that Li wasn't going to speak he decided to continue. "Li enough of this just tell us what is going on what happened in Hong Kong?" he begged.

Li didn't answer, but his eyes seemed to glaze over as if he were reliving a nightmare, then they quickly returned to their normal state. "What would you like to order?" he asked as he walked behind the counter.

Eriol just shook his head in defeat. "I have lost my appetite. It is getting late why don't you go home?"

Li looked at him a slight bit of annoyance shone in his eyes. "I have to finish cleaning the floors." He stated simply.

Eriol stared at him for a moment then closed his eyes. His faced relaxed as his hand began to glow a deep red. He waved his hand and the floor was completely clean, even the stains where gone. He opened his eyes and looked at the shocked Li for a moment then walked out the door leaving behind the small diner and a very distressed Li.

Li stared at the spotless floor, then ran a shaky hand through his unfixed hair. He probably could have done that himself if he still used magic. Sorcery was one thing he would like to forget altogether. Sorcery was something they had taught him, and he wanted nothing more than to forget everything to do with them.

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

Well how was that part. Please review and tell me what I need improvements on. I hope to have the next part out much sooner than it took to get this one out. Also no S+S in this one but it will be here eventually. Well please review, reviews make me so happy.