Dedicated to SaKuRa LoVa. Your reviews are really supportive, and that really cheers me up after a long day.

There's a rather distressing moment in this chapter, where Tomoyo tells the others about what happened with Leon. When you see italics skip ahead if you don't want to read it. It's not graphic or anything, but I know the subject is distressing for some people.

Chapter 10: A Little Help From My Friends

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

What would you think if I sang out of tune?

Would you stand up and walk out on me?

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song

And I'll try not to sing out of key!

Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends

Oh, I get high with a little help from my friends

Oh, gonna try with a little help from my friends

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Syaoran met Tomoyo and Eriol outside the Kinomoto house the next. Tomoyo looked up to Sakura's window quickly but Syaoran shook his head.

"She went to hospital during the night. Touya told me to come home and go to school. We can visit her after school."

"Do they know what's wrong?"

"Pneumonia and shock… probably other stuff as well."

"Let's go to school. It'll keep us busy and time will pass quicker." Eriol suggested.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Syaoran sat alone at his and Sakura's desk, Noriko swept over.

"Hey, Syaoran."

"Get lost, Amano." He said, too tried to have a civilised conversation. She stuck out her bottom lip and said,

"Where's Sakura today?"

He didn't reply. Leon joined them and smirked.

"Probably too scared to face me. She always was a coward, not to mention stupid. The only good thing about her was her looks. And they weren't spectacular."

If Leon had planned to say anything else, it wouldn't have been said, because Syaoran had leapt to his feet and punched Leon in the face. He staggered back, and touched his lip. It had split and was oozing blood. Syaoran glared at him.

"Don't you EVER say anything like that about Sakura. You leave her alone. You leave me alone. You leave Tomoyo and Eriol alone. Unless you want me to rearrange your face for you, that is."

He sat back down and Noriko helped Leon away. The whole class was staring at Syaoran, who glared at them until they turned away, talking excitedly. Tomoyo looked at Syaoran.

"Well done. I'm so glad someone finally did that."

"Who the hell does he think he is?" Syaoran muttered. Eriol looked towards the door.

"I hope he doesn't get you in trouble."

"He won't. He'll be too embarrassed." Syaoran said. Tomoyo frowned.

"Don't do it too much though. Sakura needs you right now. Preferably whole."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

The rest of the day passed quickly. Syaoran had been right, Leon was embarrassed. He looked sullen the whole day. When the bell finally rang, Tomoyo, Eriol and Syaoran headed straight for the hospital.

They looked through the door and saw Touya and Fujitaka sitting by Sakura's bedside. As they went in the two men looked up. Fujitaka smiled wearily.

"Hello."

"Hi. How is she?" Tomoyo asked tearfully. Fujitaka's smile faded and he shook his head sadly.

"Bad. She woke up briefly this afternoon but she was raving. It was terrible. I can't speak about it in here. The doctors said that she might be able to hear us. Negative comments could set her back." Touya, Tomoyo and Eriol stepped out of the room with him. Syaoran sat down and held Sakura's hand gently. It was cold and clammy. He sighed.

"Sakura, come on. You have to wake up. You just have to. There's no two ways about it. You are going to wake up. And I'll be here waiting for you. I'll sit here, and call you back 24/7 if I have to. Because… you mean a lot to me Sakura. I know we're not going to get married, but you're the best friend I've ever had. If you don't wake up… Noriko and Leon will win. If that's not a reason for you to come back, I don't know what is."

Ten minutes later the others came back in. Syaoran looked up at them.

"I tried a heart-felt speech. Didn't work too well."

"Never mind, Syaoran. Do you want to stay?" Fujitaka said.

"Yes. I'm not leaving her now." Syaoran reached into his schoolbag and pulled out Sakura-bunny.

"This is for you, Sakura. Yolei would have wanted you to have it. To keep it safe for her. Like she wanted you to live for her." he unfolded some paper.

"I found this with Sakura-bunny. It might mean something to you, because I don't understand it too well. She wasn't too great at spelling. But it's here for you anyway."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Syaoran stayed at the hospital all that night, dozing in and out of sleep. When he jerked his head up he saw that it was morning. Sunlight streamed through the window onto Sakura's pale face. He stretched and turned as Fujitaka and Touya came in. Yelan followed them. She kissed her son.

"Have you been here all night?"

"Yeah… I fell asleep though."

"I have been sorting out a few things back home. And someone has arrived to see you."

"Who?" Syaoran asked suspiciously. The door opened and a girl appeared in the doorway. Her long dark hair was in bunches on the side of her head and her eyes glinted when she Syaoran.

"Syaoran-kun! How are you?"

"Meilin?"

The girl grinned.

"That's right! I'm here to help your mother and lend my favourite cousin some support!"

Syaoran and Meilin were very close. Or had been, at least, until Meilin's mother had sent her away to study in England. They had been born just a month apart, Syaoran being the older of the two, and had grown up together. Now Meilin hugged him and smiled.

"When I heard about your fiancée being ill, Auntie Yelan asked me to come. Thought you might like some company."

"Thanks Meilin. This is Sakura." He turned and sat back down next to Sakura. Meilin sat on the corner of the bed.

"She looks so sweet!"

"She is. Oh, and she's not my fiancée."

"What?" Meilin looked at him, eyes full of confusion. 

"We don't want to get married." Fujitaka, Yelan and Touya left the room and Syaoran leant towards Meilin as she asked,

"Let's get a few things straight. Does she not want to get married, do you not want to get married, or both?"

"Both. I think. I don't know, Meilin." He threw a glance towards the door, convinced that the others were spying on them.

"The thing is… lately we've been getting closer. We even kissed a little while ago and she's been avoiding me and fighting with me ever since."

"What do you feel for her?" Meilin asked. Syaoran shrugged.

"I don't know. We're friends and she's great and… whenever I'm with her there's this spark. But things are just too complicated."

"Of course it's complicated. If life were easy it'd be no fun!" Meilin commented. They were interrupted by the doctor.

"I have to take some samples. Some other doctors are coming to see her today, so you won't be allowed back in until tonight." He told them. They left the room and Yelan smiled at them both.

"How have you been, Meilin?"

"OK, I guess."

"Have you seen your mother recently?" Meilin's face clouded over.

"No… she's had a lot of business recently. She doesn't have time to visit me very often." She shrugged her shoulders to show she didn't care but it was painfully obvious to every that she was a very lonely person. She turned to Syaoran.

"Come on. We can't do anything for Sakura right now. I want to see your new school."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

They got to school just in time for registration. Tomoyo and Eriol stared at the strange girl as she sat down, chattering as if she'd known them all her life.

"Hi! Who are you? Are you friends with Syaoran?"

"Um-" Eriol started, clearly confused. Syaoran explained,

"Meilin is my cousin. She's come over for a visit. These are Sakura's best friends, Tomoyo and Eriol."

"It's great to meet you. Are you two dating?"

"Yeah…" Eriol managed to say. Meilin grinned.

"Oh, you make an adorable couple!" Syaoran turned to Tomoyo.

"Sakura's having lots of tests done today. So we can't see her until tonight."

"We'll go after school and wait then." Tomoyo said. She turned to Meilin.

"What sort of things do you enjoy?"

"Well, I plan to take Media and Clothes Designing next year." Meilin said. Tomoyo's eyes lit up and they started to talk animatedly. Meilin pushed Eriol out of his seta so she could talk to Tomoyo. Eriol sat next to Syaoran and asked,

"Did you stay there all night?"

"Yes. She's not getting better, Eriol."

"She will do." said Eriol lightly. Syaoran gave him a sideways glance.

"You don't know that."

"No. But I know Sakura. She's not going to let a little thing like Pneumonia, shock and a coma stop her."

Eriol smiled and they all stood up to greet the teacher.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Meilin was clearly impressed with the school. Not quite so impressed with some of its students. And do I really need to say which ones?

"Who's this?" Noriko demanded, standing in their path. Leon stood beside her. Meilin glanced at them and said,

"I'm Meilin Li. Who are you?"

"I'm Noriko Amano. And this Leon Maehara. You're related to Syaoran?"

"You managed to work that out all by yourself?" Syaoran said sarcastically. Noriko threw him a dirty look and Leon said,

"You'd better not insult her, Li."

"Why not? Or you might run off crying like a little sissy girl again?" Tomoyo asked sweetly. Leon stepped forward and grabbed Tomoyo's arm.

"I know how to hurt people, Daidouji. I've hurt you before, remember? If that little bitch Sakura hadn't arrived in time you know what would have happened. So you'd better not be so mouthy next time."

He and Noriko turned and walked away. Meilin stared after them.

"What the hell was all that about?" she asked, turning back. But no more words came from her. Tomoyo was standing frozen, in the middle of the path. Eriol put an arm around her.

"Come on. Let's go." Tomoyo shook herself and let him lead her away. They all sat down and a bench and Syaoran told Meilin about the history between Sakura, Tomoyo and Leon. Tomoyo held up a hand.

"I'll tell her. No one but Sakura and I know what actually happened that day. I mean you all know the basics. But…"

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Tomoyo knocked on the door to Leon's house. He opened the door and smiled. She grinned back.

"Hi! Ready to go shopping?"

"Sure. Come in." she stepped into the house. Leon lived by himself, in this small house on the outskirts of town. He led her into the living room. She sat on the sofa and asked,

"Which shops do you want to check out first? There's a jewellers on-"

"We're not going shopping." Leon said quietly, his back to her. She frowned.

"What? But-"

"Tomoyo…" He turned and sat on the sofa next to her. He looked into her eyes and said,

"Tomoyo, I'm going to break up with Sakura."

"What? But the ring-"

"There is no ring. Come on, why would I want to go out with someone like her with you around."

Tomoyo stared at him for a moment, then stood up.

"I've got to go." He jumped to his feet and grabbed her arm.

"You're not leaving now. Tomoyo, we're perfect together."

"Leon, let go! Sakura is my best friend! You're engaged!"

"I was just trying to get close to you. Why would I want Sakura?"

"Let me go!"

"No! You're not leaving!"

He pushed her against a wall. She hit it hard, and the world span as her head cracked into it. Leon moved towards her. She wanted to scream but his mouth was covering hers. Time had no meaning; it was jumping past in lumps. He was tearing at her clothes, she was sobbing, wanting to get out…

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sakura was practically skipping down the path to Leon's front door. She saw it was unlocked and pushed it open. She decided to make Leon jump; she could hear him in the living room. She jumped through the door and her mouth fell open as she saw Leon holding Tomoyo against a wall, tears running down her face, her shirt in tatters and Leon's hand at her trousers.

"What the-" she started. Leon turned and saw her, pulling his arms away from her. Tomoyo slid to the floor, arm desperately trying to cover herself. Leon stared at Sakura.

"Sakura, it was-"

"What have you done to her?" Sakura screamed. Leon desperately tried to save the situation.

"She led me on! It wasn't my fault!"

"Tomoyo…" Sakura knelt by her friend, covering her with a coat. Tomoyo clutched at Sakura, sobbing frantically. Sakura looked up at Leon, pure hatred in her eyes.

"You sick bastard. I'm calling the police. You're not going to get away with this." She said. Leon's eyes widened. Sakura pulled Tomoyo up and led her to the door. Glancing back she said,

"I don't know why you did this. All I know is that I don't know why I ever loved you. If you ever come near me or Tomoyo again…I'll kill you myself."

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Meilin choked back a sob.

"That's so sad… I can't believe it."

"He made a run for it the next day. We called the police but they couldn't find him. Apparently he was caught in southern Japan, smuggling stolen items and got prison for that." Tomoyo said. Eriol hugged her tightly.

"I won't let him hurt you. Not ever. I love you too much to let anything happen to you." Tomoyo buried her head in Eriol's shoulder. After a few minutes she said,

"I met Eriol a few months after. I was still pretty scared of guys at that point, so I avoided him for a long time. He had a part time job in clinic I went to. It was a recovery place, helping people who had been in traumatic situations. Sakura had persuaded me to go. After a few months Eriol and were quite close, and he asked me out."

"And Sakura?" Syaoran asked, leaning against a tree. Tomoyo looked up at him.

"Sakura was heartbroken. She had loved Leon completely, and then he did that to her. Afterwards she kept pretending she was alright, fussing over me. She felt so guilty, as if it were all her fault. But it wasn't and she kept insisting it was. We three stuck together mostly. We've got other friends, but we're really close. Eriol and I both thought that she'd never open up to anyone again."

Tomoyo looked at Syaoran again.

"And then Syaoran arrived. I have never seen Sakura struggle this hard to keep herself closed away from someone and fail. You've managed to open her up and turn her back to her old self. That's why everyone is working so hard for you two to get together. Because even though you're both insisting that you don't want to get married, you're the only one who has had this effect on her." Syaoran bit his lip and shook his head.

"I want Sakura to get well. She's my friend. But that's all."

"And what's more important than friendship?" Eriol said. Meilin grinned.

"Friends are the most important things in the world. I've never really had them before, but I've seen what they can do."

"That's how we're going to get Sakura through this. That's how I got through what happened." Tomoyo said. They all looked at her as she smiled and said,

"We'll get by with a little help from our friends."

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The end of another chapter. I thought a little more depth to the background would make it clearer.

A little note about Yolei's death. Although some people might think it unfair and even rude to use cancer in fanfiction, I think of her death as a way for me to show hard it is to lose someone to this disease and the effects that it has on people. I have lost many family members and friends to cancer, as have thousands of others. There are many charities for cancer victims. Please, please donate to them.

The future isn't looking too bright, is it? Sakura will wake up, obviously, but I'm not going to make it easy. That'd be boring, wouldn't it? Please review, feedback is good.

Lotsa luv 'n' huggles

Katie