Chapter 12: Memories, Festivals and Screams

Syaoran sighed in contempt as he plucked at another lint hair on his shirt, and yet again, tried vainly to find a comfortable position on his limo seat. He gave up after a few minutes of a lost battle, and slumped back against his seat, his head leaning back. He closed his eyes for a moment and pictured Sakura, pictured her smile.

"Don't fall asleep now, Syaoran." came Meilin's voice from beside him. He opened his eyes and turned his head to look at her.

"I was just thinking," he replied.

"About Sakura?" Meilin grinned.

Syaoran stuck out his tongue at her, and she laughed. He smiled slightly and leaned his head back again, his eyes closing once more to recount the memories of the night before…

(Syaoran's POV from the night before…)

"Syaoran, I had no idea.." Syaoran watched tears start to spill down Sakura's cheeks, and his heart cried out to her. "I had no idea at all," she whispered again. Syaoran watched as Sakura closed her eyes, and his fists grew tighter when he saw more of her tears fall.

When Sakura's eyes opened, Syaoran had barely realised that he was standing directly in front of her, staring down at her with his face twisted, in what he hoped, wasn't grief or pain.

"Syaoran, I…" Sakura peered up at him, tears glistening in her eyes. "I…" The tears began to fall again. "I…" Syaoran flinched when she suddenly stood up, wiping away her tears. "I love you, Syaoran." The whisper died from Sakura's lips as Syaoran's eyes widened.

It took a minute for Syaoran to regain his composure. "I love you too, Sakura.." he replied softly. At his words, Syaoran watched happy tears escape Sakura's eyes. She wasn't smiling, but Syaoran knew they were tears of joy…

"Syaoran?… Syaoran??…… Syaoran!!!" Syaoran's eyes popped open just before he grunted in surprise from a quick punch on the arm from Meilin.

"I told you not to fall asleep," she grumbled. But her anger was quickly replaced by delight as she peered out the limo window.

Syaoran shook his thoughts out of his head before reaching down to unclip his belt. Meilin and Syaoran said goodbye to Wei and offered their thanks to him for the ride, and then Meilin pushed the door open with Syaoran following her.

"Oh my god, you look GORGEOUS!!" Meilin shrieked as she ran to Sakura, her high heels clicking loudly. To Syaoran's amusement, she tripped over her heels and fell flat on her face. He grinned in spite of himself, but the smirk soon disappeared off of his face when his eyes fell upon Sakura.

Sakura was always beautiful no matter what she did, but tonight, she looked even more beautiful than ever. Her hair was curled into soft ringlets, some of the ringlets hung down to her shoulders, some of them were pinned up. Matching diamond earrings and necklace decorated her ears and neck, making her face light up with almost stunning effects. Her dress was a light pink, fine silk material that was cut at the knees, and formed her slim figure nicely. To top it all off, she had slipper-like shoes that matched her dress.

"Oh Meilin, are you alright?" Sakura was saying in a concerned voice as she knelt down to help Meilin up. Sakura took Meilin's hands and helped her up onto her knees, but Sakura's balance overtook her and she fell down to her own knees. Sakura's laughter echoed in Syaoran's ears as he continued to stare at her.

"Gonna stare all day?" came a voice from behind Syaoran. Syaoran jumped in shock, and sighed in relief when he turned around and saw it was only Eriol and Tomoyo. He was surprised to see that the two were holding hands.

"You scared me," Syaoran laughed. Eriol grinned and Tomoyo laughed heartily.

"Always keep up your guard, Syaoran," Eriol said wisely. Syaoran watched Tomoyo stare up at Eriol's face in adoration and affection. What was up with those two?

Syaoran then turned around to see where Meilin and Sakura were, and he was taken aback when they were right up close to him.

"Hi, Syaoran," Sakura said, her smile lighting up her eyes like the stars lit up the night sky. Syaoran smiled back and leaned down to kiss her cheek softly.

"Hello, Sakura," he replied back softly as he leaned back, grinning. Sakura was blushing, but still smiling more deeply than ever.

"Well, shall we go and see the festival?" Eriol said after a minute, as the group of five turned towards the bright lights and music of the event.

"Definetly!" Meilin replied back, as she ran ahead of them, her heels clicking on the paved path noisily.

"Let's go," Sakura said happily, as she slipped her arm into Syaoran's and smiled up at him.

Syaoran nodded, smiling more at her as they followed Meilin down the path to the amusement park gate, Eriol and Tomoyo pursuing them.

Syaoran heard Sakura gasp in amazement beside him as they stepped through the silver gate and gazed among the hundreds of rides, ranging from roller coasters to bunji-jumping, and all the flashing lights and flourescent glowing of the wand sticks that many people were wearing around their wrists. Dozens and dozens of shops were lined up in never-ending rows, arraying from candy stores to tattoo parlours, and Syaoran even spotted some guys his age on the DDR (Dance Dance Revolution).

"Look, look! It's a clothing shop!" squealed Tomoyo, pointing to one of the shops.

"We'll see you guys later!" Eriol called, laughing, as Tomoyo dragged him away.

"See ya guys!" Syaoran and Sakura called back. Syaoran then turned to ask what ride Sakura wanted to go on first, or if she wanted something to eat, and he suddenly realised that Meilin had disappeared.

"Where's Meilin?" Sakura asked suddenly, reading Syaoran's thoughts. She had noticed Meilin was gone also.

Syaoran looked around vainly, looking for any sign of his cousin. It was a hopeless cause; there were hundreds and hundreds of people, or maybe even thousands, and it would be almost impossible to spot Meilin.

"We'll look around for her, I bet she just got excited at one of the rides and-" Syaoran cut off when Sakura gasped suddenly, her eyes wide and fearful.

"Sakura? Are you okay?" Syaoran asked quickly.

"The Cards…" Sakura whispered, looking up at Syaoran with terror in her eyes. "We forgot about the Cards…"

Syaoran's eyes grew wide in shock, and his heart started to pound in panic. "Meilin.." he breathed.

"Meilin!" Sakura cried, but her yell was drowned out in the loud crowd and it barely reached Syaoran's own ears.

"We have to find her," Syaoran said hurriedly, as he grabbed Sakura's hand and started to make his way quickly through the crowd, squeezing through tight lines of people, his eyes searching frantically among the crowd for any sign of his cousin.

"The forest path," Sakura called to Syaoran over the loud crowd, her hand growing tighter on his. "She's there, I know it."

Syaoran nodded to her and then turned his head back to the crowd, finally getting through the rest of the people and leaving the festival, the forest now in sight. He let go of Sakura's hand and broke into a run, Sakura quickly catching up to him and running ahead of him, the amazing runner she was.

It was only seconds later when they reached the path, and Sakura took off down the path at a faster pace than Syaoran. He kept Sakura in sight as he ran as fast as he could, watching the trees alongside him.

A few minutes later, Syaoran realised that Sakura was running so fast that he couldn't see her ahead, and he quickened his pace to a very fast speed, his fear for his cousin driving him to go.

Abruptly, a scream filled the forest walls, a sharp scream of terror.

"SAKURA!!" Syaoran yelled, breaking into the most fastest run he had ever run.

In moments, Syaoran spotted a human figure and ran even faster, trees whizzing by on either sides of him, his heart pounding in panic for the two people he loved most.

As Syaoran came closer to the human figure, who he had a feeling was Sakura, his running slowed, his eyes growing wider and wider with every quick step closer to the horrifying scene his eyes fell onto, Syaoran's ears filled with his own screams.