Chapter Twenty Two

Card Captor Sakura

Eyes Of Mist

*starjade*

The End

Sakura stared at him, her eyes wide and scared.

No, this couldn't be happening! It just wasn't possible!

There in front of her stood....what looked to be Syaoran, holding a teddy bear in his hand...the same one that she had given Little Wolf so long ago.

She stared at him, and then whispered, " No."

The Syaoran look-alike stared back at her and then those frighteningly familiar amber eyes widened. " Sakura, don't-"

" NO!" She screamed. " STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

The person stopped, frozen and tears rose to her eyes as she backed away from him, slowly, step by step. " No," She whispered. " I won't be haunted by your memories anymore. No."

The man reached towards her and she just said, " Don't touch me," in a cold voice that made him halt completely in his tracks as Sakura turned and ran. She ran and ran, her bare feet slapping against the grass as she ran down the hill, away from her haunting memories, away from the mansion, away from the masked man, away from her life.


The feeling of the wet grass against her feet pushed her to run faster and the wind blowing at her, trying to prevent her from running, just motivated her to run faster, to erase the pain that was filling her chest.

Why was this all happening to her? What did she do to bring this onto herself? Absolutely nothing! Her breathing was coming hard, but she didn't want to think about what she had done.


It was all because of that radio. That letter. Tomoyo's catalogue.

A sob escaped her and she rose her eyes to look at the shining moon. " Why can't I be happy again?" She yelled. She stared up at the sky and tripped and stumbled as she screamed, " Please, can you just make this all go away?"

Honking burst through her reverie and she jerked, surprised. A bright light was heading rapidly towards her and she widened her eyes and her jaw dropped to scream but before she could, she felt herself falling, falling hard and pain, filling her head.

All went black.

***********

Sakura groaned. She moved around, her head hurting hard. Swallowing, she tried to open her eyes. Blurry dots covered her vision and she blinked hard.

Where was she?

Groaning, she tried to get up. Her head swirled and a pounding throbbed through her whole head and she moaned with pain and collapsed back against a soft bed.

" Shh..." Someone said. " You'll be alright."

Sakura blinked, wearily, trying to make out the person's face, but weariness got the better of her and she fell asleep before she could distinguish whose face it was swirling in the line of her vision.

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

'Sakura...'

The teddy bear.

The tag. Little Wolf.

Sakura gasped as she woke up. Sweating profusely, she reached around for an imaginary alarm clock, but when none reached her hand, she opened her eyes cautiously.

" What the..." She muttered and got up, slowly. Her head was pounding with pain and she screwed her eyes shut until the pain passed over to a light throbbing. Blinking hard, she gazed at her surroundings with mounting confusion.

She was in a room, that much was obvious. A small room, to be sure. On a bed, covered with white sheets. There was a machine beeping beside her and there was something around her head. The walls were white, the curtains around her was white and everything in the room was painstakingly neat.

She pressed a hand to her head and tried to remember what made her fall. She couldn't remember anything. What happened? All she remembered was going to the ball. Then a masked man...and that was it.

" Hello. It looks like you're awake."

Sakura jerked and moved to look at the person that had just walked in. It was a man, dressed in a long white coat.

" D-Docter?" She stumbled. " What-What happened?"

The doctor looked gravely at her.

" You were hit by a car. You ran out onto the road. I don't know why, but you did and the driver and this other man brought you here."

Sakura stared blankly at him. " Hit? By a car?"

" Yes."

" Then...why don't I remember anything?"

The doctor stared at her, carefully. " Have you experienced any recent trauma? Can you remember anything?"

Sakura pressed her fingertips against her forehead, willing herself to remember. " All I remember was going into a ball and a man asking me to dance. That's it."

The doctor nodded, his brow furrowed. " So from the dance to the time up to the crash, you can remember nothing."

Sakura looked down. " Nothing...doctor, can you call my father? My brother? They must be worried sick.?

The doctor smiled at her. " They have already been called. It's alright. They're coming over as soon as they can."

Sakura stared at him. " Wh-what? How did you know who I was? Who my father was?"

" Just calm down and relax. A nurse will come soon with some food. I want you to eat it all and don't stress yourself, alright?"

Sakura moved to protest but the doctor looked at her warningly and she stopped, sighing. " Alright."

Sakura shook her head hard. A dream...what had happened in her dream? It seemed important, somehow.

Hours passed by, and her father and brother came. They were worried about her (Touya was more angry than worried of course) but after seeing that she was fine, they had left after visiting hours were over. Sakura asked every minute when she could be released to go home, but with the blow to her head and a fractured rib, she'd have to stay at the hospital.

She wondered what had happened to her. What happened before the car crash? Why couldn't she remember anything?

The doctor had told her father that it was some sort of memory relapse. Something traumatic must have happened and she was blocking it out.

But how could that be? She tried to concentrate.

A teddy bear.

That's all she could see. A teddy bear. What the hell was wrong with her?

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

Sakura woke up suddenly. Gasping hard, she felt as if someone was watching her. She turned around quickly, and groaned as a pain lanced through her body.

" Owww..." She moaned. She flopped back onto the bed, breathing hard. The doctors had given her some sort of medication to ease the hurt, but she could still feel the agonizing pain through her body.

How long had she been in the hospital? Only for a day and a night, and already she felt as if it was a month. She ate as a nurse brought in her breakfast and lying listlessly on the bed, watching TV, trying every five minutes to remember what had happened.

Nothing came up. The doctor had said maybe some recent trauma had befallen her. Trauma? What sort of trauma had she gone through? She wished she could remember. Nothing hurt more than knowing that something important had happened and not remembering a thing.

By evening, she was bored. The pain had lessened to a faint throb and she wanted to get out. As the nurse left, Sakura crept out of bed as stealthily as she could. She grimaced at the hospital gown she wore and took some clothes out of the pack that her father had brought her.

There were loose pants and a baggy shirt, but that would do. There were still bandages wrapped around her stomach and every time she twisted, it killed like hell, so she had to walk carefully. There was nothing she could do to hide the bandage on her head, but it wasn't like she was running away, she was just going out for some air!!

Slipping on some slippers (it hurt too much bend down and tie her runners on) she walked down the hallways as normally as she could. She hoped no one would recognise her as she opened the doors to the back of the hospital.

She smiled as the setting sun's rays hit her face. Breathing in gulps of fresh air, she turned and looked at her surroundings, smiling softly. It was a little garden for the kids at the hospital. A little jungle gym and a wishing well.

That was when she saw someone at the wishing well.

Sakura went on the tips of her toes and tried to see catch a glimpse of the person. What if it was her doctor? It was a boy, to be sure, brown hair, casual clothes-

" Sakura?"

The wind seemed to stop blowing as everything around her went silent. Sakura froze, the earth halting completely. Her eyes were wide open as she stared at the boy in front of her.

It was him. The boy who she loved, the boy who had run away almost two years ago.

" Sy-Syaoran?" Sakura breathed, her heart pounding against her chest hard.

It was Syaoran alright. It was Syaoran's chestnut hair, his amber eyes, his tilted smile...everything that was about him was there.

" Sakura..." He said, his voice running through her like water. She stepped closer to him, step by step, a pain like none other piercing through her heart.

There was something else at the corner of her mind, but she couldn't recognize it. All she could see was Syaoran...

" You came back..." She whispered. " You came back."

He looked a bit confused and he stared at her with wide, almost frightened eyes. She walked closer to him, until they were only a foot away from each other. She reached up with a shaking hand and touched his cheek.

" You came back," She said firmly, her eyes glistening with tears.

" I-I did," He swallowed, his eyes a turmoil of emotions. He clenched his teeth hard and whispered, " I came to tell you something."

A tear slipped past her eyes and ran down her cheek. Syaoran instantly rose a hand and wiped it away with his thumb and Sakura felt her whole body react to his touch. She leaned into his hand and he stopped, his eyes once more taking on that frightened look.

Sakura couldn't even think. She could feel him, she could see him, she could hear him. This wasn't a dream...More tears slipping down her cheeks, she asked in a broken voice, " Why did you leave?"

Syaoran stared at her, blinking hard. " I had to."

" No you didn't," Sakura said, her voice taking on a hint of anger. " You left me. You left Eriol. You left all of us. You just ran away. Why did you leave?"

Syaoran turned his face away, and Sakura let out a wobbly smile and traced his jaw with her finger. He swallowed again as she whispered, " See? You're still running away."

" Not anymore," He replied, his voice quiet.

Sakura smiled and decided not to question him anymore, taking one last step closer to him and wrapping her arms around his torso. " Thanks for coming back, Syaoran. I missed you."

Syaoran didn't move until he finally put his arms around her, hesitantly. " I missed you too....Sakura.."

Everything was quiet as Sakura's eyes flew open.

" Sakura..."

"Sakura."

Sakura froze. That...that voice.

" H-How do you know my name?" Sakura choked out, turning around, her eyes wide.

The masked man smiled and pulled out something from behind his back.

It was a teddy bear. And around it was the tag, Little Wolf.

Sakura jerked, her whole body shaking as she wrenched out of Syaoran's hold. Syaoran's eyes were worried as she trembled as the memories flashed through her mind.

" Are you okay?" Syaoran asked, his voice worried. " You just were in a car accident and-"

He was still talking, but memories kept flashing through her mind.

Dear Little Wolf,

I cannot believe you actually replied! I am so happy that you did though. I was getting so anxious. I know I kind of sound crazy sometimes when I write these letters...I'm just overly hyper active. God knows why I'm saying this...

About your question. I know you must want me to explain why I don't want to reveal identities just yet. Probably because I don't want to be judged by the outside. I want you to be able to judge me from the way my personality is...not from how I look , or where I live. I know that we both will be tempted to do so...

" Sakura!!" Syaoran was yelling now, and Sakura realized she was on her knees. She looked up at him, her eyes wide.

" Syaoran, I need to tell you something," Sakura said, and Syaoran kneeled down in front of her.

" What?" He asked, his voice concerned. Sakura tried to breath, in and out, but rapidly, another memory came upon her.

" Sakura , you foolish girl. Out of all the boys in the world , why did you fall in love with a stranger? Why couldn't you fall in love with someone like....Li , for example?" Tomoyo asked , slyly.

Sakura blinked then laughed. " I would never fall in love with that cold , serious little boy. He's so boring and weird and creepy....."

Tomoyo shrugged. " Who knows? One day , you'll forget about this 'Little Wolf' your always writing to , and fall in love with a person you can see , feel , talk to-"

Sakura winced, closing her eyes tightly. Why was she remembering this??

Syaoran was holding her now and she felt herself calm down at his touch. She loved him more than anything...but he needed to know.

" Syaoran, I-I wanted to tell you what happened. A long time ago, before you came as a photographer, I was on this radio thing and I met this guy...Little Wolf. We were mailing each other and I...I fell in love with him."

Syaoran's eyes widened and Sakura felt her heart clench. " Sakura, I want to say something too-"

" No!" Sakura held up a hand, and continued rapidly, " I was going to meet him one day and then he didn't come. Eriol came instead. I was so depressed, I agreed to marry him. Then I tried to meet Little Wolf again...and once more he didn't show up. And then there was you..."

Syaoran opened his mouth to talk, but he couldn't say a thing as Sakura closed her eyes once more.

"I'll miss you when your gone..."

"Syaoran's....gone?"

"I'm sorry Cherry Blossom. Please forget about me."

" God no," Sakura breathed out, her heart beating fast.

" Syaoran?"

Sakura halted. Everything grew still and all she could feel was Syaoran's arms around her and the wind blowing fast. Her head hurt more than anything in the world and her chest was flaring with pain.

She turned to Syaoran, who was trying his hardest to talk as fast as he could to her.

" -Sakura, I'm really sorry, I couldn't tell you, he was my best friend and I just-" Syaoran was breathing hard.

" You're..." Sakura whispered.

" I'm Little Wolf," Syaoran said, his voice cracking. " I've wanted to tell you for so long...I'm Little Wolf, I was the one who wrote to you for so long, I'm the one who broke you're heart and caused you such pain, I'm the bastard who ran away."

Sakura couldn't breathe. Syaoran...Little Wolf...Syaoran...Little Wolf...

It all made sense now. Sakura searched Syaoran's eyes and knew it was the truth. In a way, she had known it all along.

Syaoran was Little Wolf.

Tears fell from her eyes down her cheeks and Syaoran tried desperately to wipe them away and Sakura grabbed his hands tightly, crying hard.

" D-Don't leave me," She sobbed, as he tentatively hugged her.

" Never," He said fiercely. " I won't ever leave you."

Sakura hugged him tightly. " My little wolf..." She whispered and Syaoran smiled, his smile warming her heart as he leaned down and pressed his lips against hers in a breathtaking kiss, pressing her close against him, their tears mingling together, holding each other as tightly as the could for so long apart could hardly compensate for the time they had lost.

And even as doctors ran towards them, as nurses and patients called out to them, through the whistling of the breeze and the setting sun, there was only the two of them. Separated for so long, brought to each other through tears and pain, they were together at last.

Dreams

Are all I have

of those eyes

those eyes of mist

A love so innocent

so deep and pure

a yearning that hurts

needing only

your heart

your smile

your touch

yet I know that

in my dreams

those eyes

those eyes of mist

will speak more words

than your voice

and that touch of silk

will lead me to you

and to those eyes

those eyes of mist

a/n: Epilogue Up Next!