Chapter Six
Recovering
Tomoyo woke up and changed into casual clothes. It was the weekend, so she decided to give Sakura a few more visits. "Who knows?" she said out loud, combing her hair. "Sakura might be transported to the Recovery Ward."
She hummed a song and advanced toward the bed. She slid under the covers and laid next to Eriol.
"Eriol, wake up," Tomoyo whispered, gently shaking Eriol. "Wake..." she was saying as she said a red print on his shirt collar, "up."
Tomoyo gasped. It wasn't just a red stain! It was a red lipstick print! She narrowed her eyes and examined it, her heart beating fast.
Eriol couldn't possibly be cheating on me, she thought as she looked at him. "Eriol! What's that?!" she demanded.
His eyes opened and closed a couple of times. "What?"
"That! That red lipstick! Where'd you go last night?!"
"What lipstick? I didn't go anywhere last night." It was quite early and he was too tired to think. Last night, he probably had a couple of drinks, but he couldn't remember.
She slapped him, causing him to become shocked. "You could've at least said you were with some friends!" she said. "You went to a bar, didn't you?!" She pushed him off the bed and made him give a sharp yell.
Tomoyo stepped on his stomach and marched out of the room.
Eriol got up, shaking his head to clear out the dizziness. His back hurts a bit, maybe because Tomoyo pushed him against the edge of the window. Then he remembered what she said and his eyes opened up big.
"Joy must've planted that lipstick on me after she fell on me yesterday at the party!" he said out loud. "Tomoyo, wait!"
Tomoyo ran out of the house and into her car. When Eriol came out, the Toyota was well out of sight.
He cursed something and ran into his own car, not caring that he hadn't change.
Eriol drove as fast as the speed limit allowed him. He spotted Tomoyo's car in the hospital and parked beside it.
"I don't think he went to a bar. Come on, Tomoyo, it's Eriol," Sakura insisted.
"Yeah, but..." She sighed.
"Tomoyo, you were happy with him." Sakura smiled. "I'd give anything for a guy like that. And even though this girl, 'Joy,' is all over him, you can't give up. Be selfish. Fight for him for once."
"You're saying that, but I don't see you doing it," Tomoyo said. She suddenly remembered that Syaoran was Sakura's boyfriend. "So, is Syaoran being nice to you?"
"Syaoran?"
"Yeah. I guess he is."
Sakura didn't say anything.
"Did he visit you last night?"
"No, he didn't."
Tomoyo went to the table beside the window. In the middle was a vase of tulips. "Syaoran bought you these, didn't he?" She looked out the window, then quickly said, "I remembered I got to do something," and opened the door.
"Where are you going?" Sakura inquired.
"I just... I just want to take a walk around the hospital," she lied.
When the door closed, Sakura whispered, "You're not good at lying today."
Tomoyo took the stairs. Eriol missed her by one second when he came out of the elevator and into Sakura's room.
"Hi, Sakura."
Tomoyo didn't tell him that Sakura decided to talk since yesterday.
Sakura tilted her head and smiled. "What did you do to her?"
Eriol stayed quiet, staring at her.
"Oh, Tomoyo took the stairs. She says she wants to take a walk around the hospital grounds. And why are you wearing that? Isn't it cold outside?"
He looked out the window. Eriol nodded uncertainly and left. He really wasn't sure that Sakura talked to him herself.
Tomoyo walked with her hands in her coat pockets. She looked up and waited for the sign to tell her to cross the road.
"Tomoyo!"
She turned around and saw Eriol.
Tomoyo crossed the road without looking. Eriol followed her, not realizing that a cars were speeding toward him.
There were a lot of corn horns. Then Tomoyo looked back. Eriol had froze, seeing a car heading toward him.
"Eriol!" Tomoyo cried, running back.
The car hit him.
- - - -
Syaoran phoned in to tell Naozumi Tyru - his boss, Yumi's father - that he wanted to take the day off.
He drove to the hospital in time to see someone being rushed in. He recognized Tomoyo holding the victim's hand. Curious, Syaoran approached them.
"I'll be fine," Eriol whispered.
"Please, miss, we need to repair his legs. You'll have to wait in the waiting room," one of the nurses told Tomoyo.
She nodded. Tomoyo sat down and saw Syaoran. "You'd better go visit Sakura since you're her boyfriend."
Syaoran sat down beside her. "What happened?"
Tomoyo's eyelids drooped. "A car hit him," she whispered. "It was my fault..."
"You know, not everything has to be your fault," Syaoran told her. Then he thought about himself, how he thinks it's his fault for what happened to Sakura. "I'd better go."
Syaoran walked passed the receptionist's desk. He was surprised that Kayla Smith, the old lady they met weeks before, wasn't there, only a replacement.
He approached Sakura's room and opened the door.
There wasn't anyone.
"Huh?" Syaoran looked around. Neither his cell phone nor the flowers he gave Sakura was seen. "Maybe I'm in the wrong room." He walked out in time for a nurse to walk by.
"Oh," she said, "you must be looking for the patient that used to be in this room. Well, doctors have saw her and she seemed to be recovering. She's in the Recovering Ward."
"Which room?" he questioned.
She smiled. "You'll find her." The nurse walked away. She turned around and said, "The Recovering Ward is on the second floor," and disappeared from view."
Syaoran went to the second floor. True enough, Sakura's room was the first he entered. There were two other female patients in her room. Sakura was laying on the middle bed. The girl on her right have brown hair and the one on her left have gold hair. They pointed at Syaoran, then looked at Sakura.
"Your boyfriend is cute," they commented.
"He's not my boyfriend," Sakura said, blushing. "Good morning, Syaoran," she greeted. "Introductions: Syaoran, she's May the girl on the right and that's Polly. May and Polly, Syaoran."
"Hi, Syaoran," they said.
"Hey," he replied, then stared oddly at Sakura.
"What?"
"D - D - Did you just speak to me?"
She nodded. "Is there anything wrong with being myself?"
"No, it's just that-"
Three nurses entered. The one in the middle was holding two sets of stapled papers. She said, "May and Polly, you're due for a checkup. After this week, you'll be released."
"Yay!" they exclaimed, following the nurses. "See you in a few minutes, Sakura."
After they left, Syaoran walked over to Sakura. He stood at the end of her bed.
"Oh, here's your cell phone. Someone called yesterday, but she hung up before I can say that you weren't here," Sakura told him, getting the cell phone from the desk beside her bed. She held it out for Syaoran.
- - - -
Flashback
- - - -
It was late at night. Syaoran walked out of the building, glad to be able to return home and not listen to anyone's nagging or talking.
He was walking pass the bushes beside the company when he heard some rustling.
Syaoran turned around, studying the leaves and branches. "Maybe it was just a squirral," he muttered.
Something like a small scream gave him goosebumps. He looked around and was about to clear away some branches when his cell phone made him jump.
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star was playing.
"It was just my thinking," he mumbled, reading the caller's name. "I can't believe Frank left before I did. I thought he still had a lot to finish."
"Hello?" he greeted, walking away as quickly as he could.
"Hi, Syaoran," Yumi's voice replied.
- - - -
End of Flashback
- - - -
He cautiously took it, wanting to smash the cell phone into a thousand pieces. It was the cell phone that stopped him from saving Sakura - if she was in the bushes.
"You're not too... emotional now, right? I mean, I can just ask you something and you'll answer it, right?" he asked, choosing his words as carefully as time allowed him.
She nodded, looking at him curiously. "What do you want to ask me?"
"I... What happened to you the night you got... raped?" he inquired.
Sakura's eyes froze for a minute. Her eyes slowly fell on her hands.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Sakura. I understand if you never want to speak of it again," Syaoran told her, mentally snapping at himself.
She shook her head whispered, "I don't want to talk about it now."
He nodded. "Well, is there anything you want me to do?" he said, changing the subject.
Sakura looked at him innocently. "Will you keep that promise?"
"Yeah. I don't break promises I made to cute girls."
She blushed. Then her head turned to the window. She got up and dragged Syaoran toward it. Sakura opened the window and pointed at some of the people on skates. "Can you teach me how to skate?" she asked, looking at him.
Syaoran looked down to avoid staring at her.
"Oh, nevermind. I can ask Tomoyo or Eriol. I mean, you have to support yourself, don't you?"
Eriol and Tomoyo... Geez, should I tell her? No... Syaoran thought. He couldn't decide to tell her about Eriol's accident or not. If Sakura knows how, she'll be really sad, and it's none of his business, anyway. But if she finds out later...
"Um... Syaoran?"
"It's cold out, Sakura. Are you sure you want to skate in the cold?" he suddenly mentioned.
She looked disappointed.
"But, you know, the sun's out. I might not be able to go to the store today. Want to go look for four-leaf clovers?" Syaoran suggested.
She nodded excitedly. "I have never done that before," Sakura muttered shyly.
"Oh, come on, Syaoran," Yumi kept nagging. She held Syaoran by his right arm and pulled him back inside the lobby. "Where are you going every day? I want to go, too!"
"Just let go, Yumi," he said sternly, pushing her hands away. "And don't follow me," Syaoran warned.
It has been a few days since Eriol's accident. Syaoran wasn't able to visit Sakura because he recognized Yumi's car following him in his few attempts to go to the hospital. He thought of telling Yumi that he was visiting a long lost friend that he met a few weeks prior. But then, knowing Yumi, she'd probably want to meet his friend. And then finding out that it's a girl, she wouldn't let him go alone ago.
He looked back a couple of times to make sure Yumi obeyed him. A few times he passed by the hospital just in case. He finally went in.
Sakura greeted him at the lobby. "I saw your car. I thought you forgot about me, then you came back. And it seems like you were trying to come up with a conclusion as to visit me or not... Aren't we friends?"
"Yeah. Look, I was trying to look where we can find a good patch so you can skate," he lied. Actually, it was sort of true.
She gasped. "You got the skates?"
He nodded. "Wait, it's in the car."
"What do you think he's doing?" Tomoyo asked as she saw Syaoran taking something out of his car. She pushed Eriol's wheelchair as close to the window as possible.
Eriol replied, "Something. I guess it's for Sakura, huh?" He reached for the hand over his shoulder. "When I recover, we'll go skating."
She nodded. Somehow, during Eriol's recovering time, he was able to convince her that she shouldn't feel guilty. And she didn't now. But she still felt bad for not letting him explain about the lipstick.
Eriol told her that it was Joy's. Tomoyo was angered until she realized that Eriol was marrying her and not Joy.
At the company, Joy kept questioning her about Eriol. Eriol told Tomoyo that it'd be best if she told everyone at the company that he was injured and that it wasn't her fault.
So, yeah, Sakura knew about Eriol's accident the day after he entered the hospital.
"Hey, if it's cool out, want to follow them?" Tomoyo suggested, bending down next to him.
He chuckled. "Want to eavesdrop on them?" he said.
Tomoyo giggled. "Great."
Sakura put on the skates as soon as she was outside. She was sitting on the bench one moment and then hitting the ground the next.
"Hey!" she exclaimed.
Syaoran bent down next to her. "Hmm?"
Sakura picked up a four-leaf clover. "My first one." She paused. "Is it true that you can make a wish on it?"
"Huh? I'm not sure. It's just a rumor. Hey, you can preserve it by putting it in a book for a few weeks. But the book needs to have a lot of pressure on it so the leaf'll be flat. I'll just put it here by the bench and you find a book to put it in later, okay?" he suggested.
She nodded uncertainly. Syaoran helped her up and led her through the grass until they hit the sidewalk.
While they were away, Tomoyo crawled toward the bench. She took the four-leaf clover and placed it in a book she was carrying for Eriol.
A loud voice suddenly yelled, "Hey, Eriol!"
The couple turned around.
Joy raced toward Eriol, wrapping her arms around him. "Oh, my God," she whispered. "I thought you were dead or something."
"I'm fine, Joy," Eriol replied as she loosened her grip on him.
She turned to Tomoyo. "Why didn't you tell me he was in the hospital earlier?!" she demanded.
Tomoyo just looked at her.
"Hey, Tomoyo. Hi, Eriol," Sakura greeted, rolling toward them. "Hi... Um..."
--Sakura and Eriol already met! Okay, imagine they met at the hospital and Sakura was a bit surprised. Tomoyo says it was her faught so both Sakura and Eriol tries to convince her that it's not. Well, you get the drill. And I'm not going to waste my time typing all that out when it's an obvious fact. Read on.--
Syaoran tried to keep Sakura balanced, but she was losing her balance like a drunken girl.
"Hey, aren't you-" Joy started, pointing at Syaoran with a thoughtful expression on her face.
"I'm who?" he snapped.
"Oh, nevermind," she quickly said.
Joy pretty much stuck with Eriol throughout the duration of the day even though Eriol insisted that Tomoyo didn't need any help. Tomoyo resisted the urge to yell at her because of how pathetic she seemed, bugging Eriol like a stalker. Syaoran and Sakura hardly noticed any friction because they were so busy with the skating lessons.
Sakura was pretty much bored because she kept on falling. When she fell on the grass again, she refused to get up. "I'm so tired," she told Syaoran. "Can we just lie down and rest for a while?"
Syaoran shrugged. "Okay."
It was probably somewhere near six because the sun was a little more faint than it was a little while ago. Syaoran's and Sakura's heads were parallel to each other. Syaoran laced his fingers behind his head and looked up along with Sakura.
"I know that it's rude, but why did you come to visit me when I don't even know you?" she asked, avoiding his eyes.
Syaoran remained silent for a few seconds. "I... I just wanted to help."
"Well... Thanks." There was a pause. "I wonder if my family's life flashed right before their eyes prior to being run over."
He felt a little relieved that she was finally talking about the past now, but it also felt a little weird. He thought that she wanted to commit suicide, then realized that she wouldn't be so immature.
"That night, I walked out of the company." She paused again. Her eyes were closed. "When I was... attacked, everything that happened flashed before my eyes. I thought I was going to die."
"Sakura, you shouldn't be talking about it," Syaoran told her, looking at her. "If it makes you feel uncomfortable, you shouldn't be talking about it."
"Yeah, it does. But I feel so heavy when I didn't tell anyone. It's as if no one knows me. I kept everyone in the dark." She opened her eyes. "The day before I was transferred to the Recovering Ward, I finally told Tomoyo. I was sick of myself! I felt so guilty for not seeing how much she's suffering herself." Sakura turned to Syaoran, no expression on her face. "I know who raped me."
Syaoran was shocked. He wasn't sure what to say and pressuring her wasn't a very good thing to do, not saying that he would do it.
Tomoyo bent down next to Eriol. They were inside the hospital so Syaoran and Sakura would have some private time.
"You should leave," he said.
"What? No!" Tomoyo argued.
"Why not? Joy's here so there's nothing to worry. Anyway, it's not like we're not engaged." He rolled his eyes.
She made a face. "So you don't want to marry me, huh? Fine! I'll leave! Have a not-so-wonderful time with Joy." Tomoyo waved bye as she took up her bag and left.
"I thought she would never leave," Joy whispered to herself, waving at Tomoyo with a smile. She felt so tired and sick of herself, but it didn't matter now that Eriol's here with her. She took the cup of water to him.
"Thanks," he said as he took the cup.
"So... um... can we go somewhere tomorrow?" Joy suggested.
Eriol raised an eyebrow. "Where's there to go in my condition?"
"I'm sure no one minds if you leave the hospital," she replied.
He shrugged. Tomoyo won't mind, he thought. "Okay."
"Then I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Eriol." She kissed him on the cheek and left.
- - - -
To Be Continued...
--I've noticed I might be taking it too fast on Syaoran and Sakura. Forgive me, okay? And Eriol and Tomoyo! Oh, shoot... And the "Syaoran and Sakura" instead of "Sakura and Syaoran" is because I thought a change would be nice. Lolz.--