See? Told ya'll the epilogue would come quicker than other chapters!

Let's just end this thing, baby!

-:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:--:+:-

Sakura - - 17

Syaoran - - 18

"..." Spoken Words

*...* w/italics Thoughts

~~~~~~~~~ Scene Changes/Flashbacks/change in P.O.V

[...] Authors Notes

Disclaimer: The CCS characters DO NOT belong to me, ok! They belong to © Clamp...so please don't sue me!! ^^'

~No Strings Attached ~

Epilogue

The next few days passed by slowly for Syaoran and Kero. With Sakura still unconscious, they could do no more than wait for her to wake up. Madison had come by once or twice, to check on Sakura and make sure Kero and Syaoran were handling themselves alright. The two had determined that Sakura's system had some how been polluted by dark magic when she touched Odium's staff; they figured he had put some kind of a curse on it for those few times his staff actually would get taken.

After they had brought her back to Syaoran's, Kero used all the Clow magic he possessed to rid her system of the evil magic. Luckily, they had done it quickly enough, otherwise, Sakura would've been consumed and led to the dark realm; nothing would have been able to stop her.

After her system was pure once more, Syaoran called Sakura's father and explained to him what had happened (leaving out the magical references, of course). He told him that he and Sakura had been attacked and that she had been knocked out by their assailant. Syaoran didn't think Fujitaka would buy it, but, to everyone's surprise, he did and had asked Syaoran to bring Sakura back home.

That was almost three days ago and Syaoran, although he would never admit it, was afraid she was going to be stuck in a coma forever. Kero had tried waking her up with different magical remedies, but, so far, none of them had worked.

After one straight week of waiting patiently, everyone was beginning to lose hope that she would be awake soon; they now had become used to the fact that she was in a state of unconsciousness and had accepted it. Everyone, that is, except Syaoran.

But Syaoran's hopes were soon justified. One very rainy morning, Syaoran sat at Sakura's window watching the rain drops lazily slide down the outside of the glass, when the Card Mistress stirred. Syaoran immediately snapped his head in her direction and saw her tossing and turning in her small, pink bed. He quickly rose from his spot at the window, tapped on Kero's drawer and walked over to Sakura's restless form.

"What is it, kid? I was sleepin' in there." asked a groggy Kero.

"I think she's gonna wake up, Kero. She looks like she's dreaming right now." Syaoran replied with out looking at him.

Kero blinked and looked at Sakura hopefully.

"What makes you think she's dreamin'?" he asked, scratching one of his little ears.

"Well, her eyes are moving under her eyelids. That's a distinct sign of R.E.M sleep..."

Kero looked at him eccentrically.

"And I suppose 'R.E.M sleep' is the technical term for 'dreaming'."

"Yep, that's what it means."

Syaoran and Kero continued to watch her toss and turn periodically, for another five minuets.

Then she opened her eyes.

Syaoran smiled widely and bent down closer to her face.

"Hey there, sleepyhead." he said joyfully.

Sakura turned her head to him and smiled weakly.

"Hi...*yawn* how long have I been asleep, Syaoran?" she asked, rubbing her eyes and trying to sit up.

"For about a week."

"A week?! My gosh, what happened?"

"What's the last thing you remember?"

Sakura thought intently for a moment.

"A really bright light...that's the last thing I remember seeing. What happened after that."

Syaoran then told her all that had happened. [AN: did ya 4-get already? read ch.9 again]

Sakura gaped at the wall before her.

"So you're telling me that 'The Guardian of my heart' came out from that huge blast of light? And then this person scared Odium off?"

Syaoran nodded; he hadn't mentioned what the Guardian's identity was.

"Well, then you must've seen 'em! What did they look like? Better yet, who is it? Please tell me, Syaoran, please!"

Syaoran sighed (^-^') and turned to Kero, who nodded.

"Sakura," Kero began, " 'The Guardian of your heart' is...Syaoran."

Sakura stared at him and then looked at Syaoran, who was blushing intensely and looking nervously around the room.

"Syaoran...you saved me?" she asked sweetly.

Syaoran looked her straight in the eyes.

"I had to, Sakura...without you, my like would be incomplete." he said, then smiled.

"Besides, that's why I'm your Guardian. It was my obligation to rescue you."

Sakura smiled brightly at him and then pulled him into a hug.

"Oh Syaoran, I don't know what I would do without you. Thank you so much."

Syaoran smiled again and returned the hug happily.

"But Sakura," he started pulling away from the embrace, "before my destiny as your Guardian can be truly fulfilled, there's something I have to tell you."

Sakura looked at him perplexedly, but nodded an 'ok'.

"Sakura," he began again, "I...I love you."

Sakura's eyes grew wide and brimmed with tears that she let over flow.

"Oh geeze, Sakura, please don't cry! I'm sorry! I'll take it back if you want me to. I just --"

No more words were exchanged between them after that.

Sakura had stopped him mid-sentence; with a kiss.

They stayed with each other like that for God knows how long, just expressing their deepest love for one another.

I leave you with this:

"Love

may not make the world go 'round,

but it's what makes the trip worth

while."

The End

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Well, this story is officially DONE!! Hope you all liked this ending. I thought it was sweet :D full of cuteness and FLUFF!! *lol*

I just wanna thank everyone who read this. Thanks for taking your valuable time to read my "wonderful" fanfic. I really appreciate it.

Well, nuthin much more ta say:

Questions? Comments?

Email me:

silvr255@bellsouth.net (-- this one is u wanna faster response)

:: OR ::

silverserenity2000@yahoo.com

Want somethin' else to do while you wait for my next fic? Here are my others:

"Links to the Past"

[Pokémon]

AAMR (means "Ash and Misty Romance")

"The Untold Story"

[Card Captor Sakura]

(my VERY FIRST fic...it's alright, but it gets better as the story goes on)

"Love Story"

[Lord of the Rings]

(apparently not too many ppl enjoyed this one...but I thought it was well written myself)

my next fic is most definitely going to be Star Wars. I've been itching to start it; and now I can, yeah!!

"Enigmatic Ordinance: Book 1"

[Harry Potter]

JUST started this one 6/8/03...check it out if u like HP

Catch ya'll lata'

::: Legal Stuff :::


Storyline © Angel: da Newsies fan

Title © JC Chazes of *NSync

Character © CLAMP

oh and the quote at the end was from the movie "On the Line".