Author's Note: I'm sorry about the brevity of my chapters >, ...Once I get us out of the hospital things will pick up in chapter length, believe me, but right now is one of the more crucial story-building phases. Bear with me....the real fun will begin soon!
Disclaimer: I own not the characters or original story used to make the fanfic portrayed below....heck, I'll say it less fancy - not mine, don't sue.
Even after the menacing doors had been pushed open, it was yet another dreadful thirty seconds before activity resumed. The doctor came out. Short black hair previously contained by a cap was the only thing that stood out in the hospital ambience - she was dressed in an emergency room frock; the hospital's logo, obscured behind folded hands, blatantly printed upon cream paper-like material. Her gloves had been removed, as was her mask, and the perfect white teeth she had were readily visible as she walked past Tomoyo and Sakura, through a 'Staff Only' door, and presumably sat down for a break. Tomoyo grimly imagined the break room in her mind; a lush, carpeted, colorful land for those who did not need to hinge there life on the surgery previously performed.
Two nurses wheeled out the bed which held her mother, but Tomoyo's legs would not let her move. The tears had stopped when the doors had opened, mostly because the grip she now had on Sakura's hand was holding all of her will, but the ache still remained in her heart. The nurses slowed the bed before glancing their way, realizing that they would not be moving for quite some time, and continuing on to an open room. Silence clung to the walls, with breath audible beneath the clenching of hands. Operational room doors swung shut silently on well-oiled silver hinges. As though freed from a trance by the movement, Tomoyo dropped the grip she held on to Sakura with, and sank to the floor from her position on the bench. Sakura followed her down, and tried to hold her hand again. Tomoyo's hands shot to the floor, bracing her for what she knew was inevitable.
"Sakura…please…step back a little" she mumbled.
Such was the quiet that with her tiny voice, she was still heard. Sakura stepped back a foot at the request of her best friend, hoping that it would help her get moving again. Suddenly Tomoyo trembled and translucent yellow fluid was ejected from her mouth as she vomited. Tomoyo thought with irony that she had finally removed some of the whiteness from room before collapsing.
"Tomoyo!" Sakura yelled, bringing the bodyguard out of her own daze so as to rush to the little mistress.
With both Tomoyo and her mother resting in cheery hospital rooms, one for recovery from surgery, another for recovery from heartache, Sakura finally had time to start her own breakdown. Her once again bright face had turned immediately to worry once Tomoyo had fainted – partially because Tomoyo had fainted, but also because she could no longer keep the bright face there. Once Sakura began to shake uncontrollably, the ironic sunshine and heat of the day left, and clear turned to cloudy, which lead to rain, and finally snow. The hallway that she sat in fell to below zero, her tears turned to miniature ice drops, and the coffee in the staff lounge nearby froze while still in the pot. And then everything went back to warmth and sunshine.
Perhaps what made her pain so great was how she did have magic, and yet she could do nothing. She could manipulate elements, form barriers, destroy evil, but she had no way of knowing anything about the internals of humans, or any other creature for that matter. Promising Tomoyo that everything would be all right and having everything be all right were two different things…things which she had forced herself to believe were one. In this case, being 'Cardcaptor Sakura' meant nothing; being Sakura meant nothing. She could just hold out a hand to hold…all the while whispering words that she couldn't believe herself.
Tomoyo slowly came awake and noticed first that the walls weren't white. Hoping for her terror to just be a dream, she bolted up from her firm bed, and promptly fell back when she smelled the air. It was too clean; it was the hospital's scent. A strange resolve had been brought to her with this knowledge though. Tears no longer came to thought at the reality of what was happening, at the percentage that was given to her of success, or of the almost comforting fact that she had little to no chance of Sakura ever returning the feelings she felt so strongly. After acknowledging the pain and emptiness of reality she slowly pointed her gaze around the room, taking in the differences of it and the hallway in which she had waited for her mother.
A light lavender paint coated this room's interior – not that different from the corridors, but enough to have some psychological impact upon the 'patient' currently in her bed. A small TV hanging from the ceiling – Toshiba – which shown sumo into the depths of those eyes watching it when turned on was the largest distraction possible in the room; the window's view was of traffic outside. Unlike the hallway, a slight sound was always present inside the room, whether absolute silence engulfed the subject or not. Tomoyo's ears caught on a distant-sounding hiccup, and it took her a while to realize it only sounded distant, and that it was in fact originating from just outside the door. By the time she had realized its maker, she was already out of bed dressing in clothes left on a small oak side table (presumably by her guard).
She blushed in slight embarrassment as her socks were pulled on, recalling how ungracefully she had arrived in a situation such as this. A turn of the handle silenced the hiccups and snuffles, and as she opened the door a slight rustling was heard. When the door was full-open, there sat a beaming Sakura, preparing to stand and hug her best friend's bemused self. Tomoyo put on her best grin, hoping that she could mend a small amount of the torture she knew Sakura to be putting herself through. The moment of selfishness had passed her, and she vowed not to show such an indecency to the one which she loved so much again.
Until next time...