DISCLAIMER: I don't own any CCS characters, they belong to CLAMP.
a/n: I hope you didn't all abandon hope and go read my other story to find out what happens. ^^ Sorry this took a while. My creative efforts were focused on two of my other stories for a while. I think you should go read them if you have a chance. Keys of Light and Dark and The view from Hong Kong.
Fei- I think it was kinda funny I got your review the same day I updated the last chapter. I guess it just didn't show up.
kirjava-chan- Did you lose self-control and go read the other story yet? I didn't mean to wait this long to update.
Lian Leviathan- I don't get it. What did your grandma do to her fig and walnut tree? I love figs. ^_______^
One week passed, then another, Kaho frequently came over to assuse me that Sakura was well. She also had gone to Kaiba and basically did the same thing she did with me - scare him. She told me that after she had informed him about the dangers of our world, Kaiba started a verbal rampage against everything he could think of and was prepared to walk out the door, sword in hand and magic at the ready, to slay every single monster he found before Kaho could calm him down and tell him that Eriol was with Sakura. Kaiba, for some reason, thought he was invincible in all things.
His superman attitude was what got him killed, but we'll get to that later.
Another week passed. Hitas came for dinner one day and told me that Kaiba was deep in thought about something and had himself locked up in his house; she was an absolute gold mine of information about other gods. During her visit, she reminded me that Sakura's health might be in the same state it was when she left. "I'll go check in on her when she returns just to make sure though."
"Why are you telling me?" I asked.
"You're always concerned about anything involving her. I'd almost say you liked her." My face heated up. I'm sure she noticed because she smirked and added. "Of course, only in a nice brotherly fashion."
It was a good thing she was the only god outside our little group I was really friends with. "Don't worry, Syaoran, your secret's safe with me," she said, smirking again when she left.
By the end of the fifth week, with only positive news from Eriol, I stopped worrying. I stopped worrying too soon. The next day, Eriol came back, with an unconcious Sakura. "What happened?" I demanded as soon as he contacted me.
"She's sick," he replied in awe. Gods rarely fall ill, so Sakura's illness was unusual, but then I remembered that Hitas had warned me.
"I'll find Hitas," Kaho said wringing her hands.
Hitas showed up less that two minutes later. She pointed at me and Eriol. "Stay out of the way, you two. Things will get done faster if you do."
"Should we go find Kaiba?" Eriol asked.
Hitas paused briefly. "No. He'll be even more in the way. And I doubt you'll be able to reach him, he's locked himself inside his house for some reason or another," with that, she rushed off with Kaho to tend to Sakura.
Eriol and I walked to my place. "Why does everyone seem so scared?"
Eriol gave me a long, steady look. "The types of sickness that effect Gods are few, but they're vicious. If a God were infected with a mortal disease, he would simply shrug it off, but our diseases are different, they're hard to get, but once caught, they're hell to get rid of."
"You are so encouraging."
"Don't underestimate Sakura. She'll live."
"How do you know?"
"Because I was sick once too. It was the worst eperience of my life, I was nautious and throwing up all over the place. I couldn't see straight, I felt like everyone was trying to make me dizzy. The slightest pressure caused waves of pain and every noise hurt my ears. But I remember the Hitas saying that no matter what the illness, if it comes suddenly, it'll go suddenly. 100 percent survival. If it came gradually, it'll go gradually. With that one, survival is still good, but not 100 percent."
"How much is not 100 percent?"
"Ninety."
"Ninety's not bad."
"Not bad at all," he agreed.
"So which kind did Sakura have."
Eriol paused and quickly said, "I don't know."
"Fat lot of help you are," I muttered.
"Hey I told the truth."
"Which is good."
"And you seem to be less stressed."
"Which is not true," I replied and then mentally called out, "Kaho, Hitas!"
"No need to yell, Syaoran. What's wrong?" Hitas calmly replied.
"You don't have to ask. I already know," Kaho said menacingly. "Eriol, did you tell Syaoran your 'When I was sick' story?" she demanded.
"Eh..hehe...yes."
"Why? Wasn't it true?" I demanded.
"Oh, it was true enough, that's how we meet, when he was sick, but he didn't have to scare you any more than you were."
"ERIOL!" I said out loud and telepathically.
"I wouldn't worry that much Syaoran. Sakura's a tough one to beat." Hitas paused. "From now on, the two of you can only come here ONCE a day. For dinner. Other than that, I don't want to see either of you. We can take care of Sakura better that way."
"Just once a day?" I complained to Eriol. "What if she needs something? What if something happens and we can't get there fast enough? What if-"
"Shut up, Syaoran," Eriol said bluntly. "I know you're worried, but we all are. I know you have even more reason to be worried since you happen to have a romantic interest in her, but no one is supposed to know that."
"That's right," I inturrupted. "How did you and Kaho find out exactally?"
"Kaho guessed. Remember? I can't believe you can't remember. That's insane," Eriol commented, shaking his head.
Three weeks passed. I must admit, they were probably the most agonizing three weeks of my life. If it hadn't been for the fact that Gods don't age, I think I would have aged thrity years in three weeks. In those three weeks though, Sakura recovered and Kaiba was still "missing." I suspected that Kaiba wasn't in our world anymore. As much as I resented Kaiba for his emotional attatchment to Sakura, I still remembered when we were really friends; I worried about him constantly.
Soon enought though, I found out what Kaiba was planning. "Syaoran," he said to me. "I'm going on a little vacation soon."
"A vacation," I repeated flatly. "Where do you plan on escaping your duties as a god?"
"Oh. No. You see, for the past three months - I think it's been longer though, I haven't been keeping track - neglecting my duties is exactally what I've been doing. See, the Fates came and visited me. I'm in trouble. I need to go redeem myself in their eyes....so I have to go to the Mortal Realms for a while," he explained.
Though I was curious as to how he had offended the Fates, I could see he wasn't ready to tell, so I didn't push it. "Good Luck. They're hard to please," I said.
He started absent mindedly, "Yes...well. Just don't tell anyone where I'm going." Kaiba looked like he was about ready to vanish.
"Wait, don't you want to talk to Kaho or Eriol or...Sakura?" I had to choke out that last name.
Kaiba smiled mysteriously. "Maybe when I get back, I'll have things figured out," and then he vanished in his customary red fire.
I toyed with the idea of telling at least Kaho where Kaiba went; she had always liked knowing where everyone was. I expected him to be back in a few months. No more than a year, so I ruled against telling Kaho where he was. But a year passed, and another, and another, but there was no sign of Kaiba. Finally, Eriol came to me one day, "What happened to Kaiba?" he asked bluntly.
"Why do you want to know?"
"Because he just diappeared! That's why."
"Don't tell me you just noticed."
"I just noticed. How long has he been gone anyway?"
"How could you have just noticed?" Kaiba had been gone for such a long time that even the people who thought he was still in his house were getting suspicious.
"He let behind some kind of illusion to make us think he was still there. How long has he been gone?" Eriol repeated.
"Oh, a while now," I said counting. "Nearly five years."
"What for?"
I shook my head. "Didn't say."
"Oh. I see..."
"He didn't want any one to know..." I added, just remembering. "Oops."
"Never mind, never mind. I'm sure he'll forgive you."
Then I also remembered that in those five years, I saw Sakura after she recovered from her illness, but that was only once. And since Kaiba hadn't been around to bother her, well, it was just another reason I hadn't seen her. Five years goes by pretty fast for a god. I hadn't noticed how long it had been until now. "Come with me somewhere, Eriol," I suggested.
"Where could you possibly want to go where you would need me?" he asked. I think he already knew.
"Let's go visit Sakura."
Eriol blinked and then grinned. "What do you need me for?"
"Well......well......."
He laughed. "Syaoran. As much as we both love Sakura...well, maybe just you, since you love her in a different way than I do...as much as you love Sakura, you have to admit, she's dense. Even if you drop a hint the size of both our houses combined, she wouldn't understand."
I smiled. Eriol did have a point there. "Maybe I should just go by myself and surprise her."
Eriol smiled back. "Don't do anything stupid."
I had never been to Sakura's house before. I sort of wanted to surprise her though, so I used my magic to find where her magic was located and then 'ported myself a little ways away from it. I ended up in her living room. It was completely an accident. I really meant to put myself outside her front door. I wanted to surprise her, not pop in like a burgler.
It really was quite fortunate for me that Kaho was visiting, or else I might have gotten petrified. "Umm...Syaoran?" she gave me a funny look. Sakura's back was facing me, so she didn't see what Kaho was looking at. I felt my face heating up.
"Don't be silly, Kaho, 'Syaoran' isn't the name of something you can cook with." Sakura obviously didn't get it.
I wasn't really sure what I should be doing. I didn't exactally belong where I was, but I couldn't exactally get out either. I looked at Kaho apologetically and tapped Sakura on the shoulder. She squeaked in surprise and turned around. "Did I let you in?" she frowned.
"Erm...not really. No. I actually meant to end up outside your front door, but I ended up here instead."
It seemed to dawn on her just then who I was and she squealed in delight and hugged my arm. "Oh, Syaoran. This is absi-posi-tivolutly wooonderful! You've never seen where I live before. I've been meaning to invite you over, but it always slips my mind, along with a bunch of other things, but that doesn't matter. Isn't this wonderful, Kaho? Why don't you stay for dinner, Syaoran? Oh, Kaho, why don't you bring Eriol along too? Does anyone know where Kaiba is? Let's all have dinner here. What do you think Kaho?"
Kaho smiled. Sakura had said all that so very quickly. "Dinner here sounds good, but, um, Sakura. Are you sure you want to invite Kaiba?"
Sakura blinked. "Oh, that's right. That. Well...it might hurt his feelings if i didn't invite him..."
I cleared my throat. "Actually, Sakura. He's not here right now. But you aren't supposed to know that," I looked away, rather embarassed that I had broken a promise. "Just...just so you don't feel too guilty about not inviting him," was my mumbled excuse.
Sakura patted my head like I was a child and chuckled. "You're so sweet, Syaoran," her chuckle was like a rainbow. Each sound was it's own color, brilliant and beautiful in every way. She cocked her head and looked at me the way a bird would "You weren't supposed to tell me that were you?" she asked.
"Not exactally," I said.
She grew serious. "You're a very noble man, Syaoran. You could have just kept his secret though."
"You would have found out anyway," I replied. "If you couldn't find him mentally, you would have gone out to look for him, and you would have found out anyway." She grinned sheepishly. I had guessed right. "Why do you do that anyway? Why are you still so nice to him?" I asked. I couldn't help myself, but the question had been bothering me ever since my conversation with Kaho before Sakura fell ill.
"Because he's still my friend, Syaoran. No matter what happens, no matter how much I hate him, I'm always going to remember him as my friend."
"Amazing," I whispered to myself. "You have a very forgiving nature, Lady Sakura," I said, mock bowing.
"Do I?" Sakura pretended to look flustered and then laughed. "One of you guys had better tell Eriol to pop on in," she said to Kaho and me before disappearing into the kitchen.
Yes, Sakura did have a very forgiving nature. That was the way she is to everyone. It's as if she doesn't know how to hate. Didn't know how to hate, rather, because eventually,Kaiba would even push her to the very limits of her forgiveness. But that was still a ways away.
a/n: eh, not exactally my favorite chapter, but that's that. Hopefully, the next one will be better. Well? So what did you think of what's happening? No cliffie this time...maybe next time though...*cracks knuckles* I'm getting close to a fun part to write ohohohohohohohohoho! Review, review! ^___^
p.s. That reminds me. I need some advice on one of my other stories, if you are willing to help me, will you leave a message in a review or e-mail me at kooky_cookiemonster03@yahoo.com? Thanks.
