Chapter 13

Tomoyo busted through the room door at that moment.

"Guys guess what?! They cancelled school today for no reason!" She smiled. "For once you guys aren't late-" Tomoyo suddenly stopped when she noticed there was another person standing in her room. She looked at them. "You look strangely familiar." Tomoyo said putting a finger to her cheek as if she were thinking. She squinted a little and then her eyes widened. "Is that you Meilin?" She asked.

"Miss Daijoubi. Heh, that used to be my name, it brings back so many unhappy memories. Memories of Li and that girl together. My name is Meiaku now, princess." Meilin kneeled down to her. Tomoyo backed up a little.

"What's going on?" She asked Sakura.

"I'm not sure..." Sakura answered blankly.

"Tomoyo, come over here behind me." The older Li said. Sakura was already standing behind him. The only people in the room that weren't standing behind him were the younger Li and an evil Meilin.

"We have to get out of here princesses." He whispered to them. Tomoyo looked at Sakura and Sakura returned her gaze. Was Tomoyo a princess too? Sakura ended up thinking.

"How are we going to get out of here?" She asked Li.

"I suggest we all jump out that window right there." He whispered back changing his gaze from them to the window to their right.

"What about Li?" Tomoyo asked worried.

"Li?" The older Li asked confused. He suddenly remembered there was a Li in front of him.

"Li?" Meiaku laughed. "This Li in front of you is nothing more than a figment of your imagination." She chuckled. At that moment the younger Li disappeared. Sakura and Tomoyo gasped. Sakura eyes looked as if they would jump out of her head.

"Where did he go?" She asked her guardian. Meiaku started to laugh loudly and uncontrollably. It was a high-pitched, ear shattering, dark laugh.

"Ha ha ha! You silly girl! He hasn't been on this planet since you met the Li standing in front of you!" Meiaku said matter of factly.

"What are you talking about?!" Tomoyo and Sakura yelled.

"He has been in the other world this whole time." She said darkly.

"That can't be! I was with him almost everyday!" Sakura yelled.

"And he was here just last night!" Tomoyo added.

"That's what you girls think. But in reality, that was just one of my droids. He was one of my faithful droids. He was a good actor too, the way he would always go after you and ignore me. It reminded me how much he loved you back then. Of course I had to go along with it, or else my cover was blown." Meiaku revealed.

"No!" Sakura stopped and thought. He was acting a little strange. "Does that mean-" She couldn't finish her thought but Meiaku knew exactly what she was thinking.

"Yes. That means that your first kiss with Li, it never happened." She snickered.

Sakura fell to the ground. All her precious memories that had happened since that day, they all weren't real. They were all fake. Tomoyo tried to comfort her. She kneeled down next to her best friend.

"Where is Li?!" Tomoyo shouted.

"Li? Oh yes him." Meiaku glanced away for a split second. "He is currently in a room with my old pathetic self. If I can make him love me in the past..." She hesitated and disappeared only to reappear in front of Li, a graceful hand on his cheek. "Then, he will love me in the future as well." She had hoped for a kiss but Li pushed her back to where she stood before. She lost her balance and fell giving them time to escape. Li had to carry Sakura, she didn't have the strength to move at that moment.

"Stop!" Meiaku screamed throwing her hand out. A black light shot from her hand and blasted out the window, the second after they had jumped out. Meiaku jumped to her feet and ran to the window almost throwing herself out it as well. She stopped herself. She noticed they were nowhere in sight. She growled and then slammed her fist against the window frame, turning away from the window. She crumpled to the floor near the window.

'They know my secret. For sure they will go and try to find Li now.' She thought worriedly. She had one hand behind her against the wall and the other was sitting by her legs. 'They know. They know almost everything! Why?! Why did I tell them-, her-, anything?!' Her eyes were facing downward at the floor and her hand hit the wall again, this time lightly. 'What am I going to do?' She thought looking up a little from the ground, a single tear rolling down her twisted, scrunched up face. She clenched her teeth together and tried to focus. Her hand on the wall joined the other on the floor beside it.

"Do you want some help, Meiaku?" A deep voice asked her. Her eyes widened and she looked up surprised. It was a guy, he looked exactly like the future Li, but the one difference was, he had silver highlights like Yue's outfit. He was standing in the doorframe to Tomoyo's, now beaten up, room. He walked over to her shaking body and wiped away her tear. "Tears don't suit you. Where's the girl I know that never gives up?" He asked with a flash of his perfect smile. He extended his hand out to her.

Meiaku looked down at his hand first then back up into his eyes. She closed her eyes and more tears overflowed. "Yes..." She sniffed and took his hand. He helped her up and then they were floating in the air. He was still holding her hand and held her back as if they were dancing. She looked down at the room's floor one last time and then back into his eyes. "Thank you Liaku." She said burrowing her head into his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it. Lets go make our traps for the princesses." He whispered into her ear. In a millionth of a second, they disappeared, together.

Li was pacing back and forth in Sakura's room. Sakura was sitting on her bed looking at the ground and Tomoyo was sitting next to her for comfort.

"What are we going to do?" Tomoyo asked looking from Sakura to Li. He stopped pacing and was about to answer but Sakura answered instead.

"What can we do? We have to save Li." She said emotionless, still not making eye contact with anyone.

"Don't you see? That's what she wants you to do. We'll only fall into her trap!"

"What other choice do we have?!" Sakura yelled at him, lifting her head and revealing tears of sorrow or maybe anguish. Li was speechless. He couldn't stand to see her cry, he never could. At that moment he wanted to just run to her and wrap himself around her. To make her laugh or smile.

Sakura stood up away from Tomoyo and walked over to him. Tomoyo stood up too but stayed back. Sakura stepped right in front of him and looked him in the eye. "Tell me, what other choice do we have?" She said as not really a question.

Li remained silent. He didn't want to upset her, that wasn't his aim. He watched her close her eyes. Again she asked him.

"Tell me now. Is there another way?" She would not let it go.

He looked down at the floor in response.

Sakura laid a hand on his arm lightly. "I love him, Li is a friend to us all, and I will not just let a friend rot in a hell unknown to us." Tomoyo and Li looked at her surprised. They had never heard her cuss before. But it was the real Sakura. She really meant business.

Li surrendered. He knew he wasn't going to win this battle. "Fine. We will go soon. But we have to have a plan first! We can't just waltz in there with no plan, we'll all be slaughtered!" He explained.

Sakura turned to her drawer and found a frozen Kero in it sleeping. She picked him up and turned her head in Li's direction.

"Whoever said I didn't have a plan?" She asked smiling.

TO BE CONTINUED