Disclaimie:

Jeez.

A/N: Sorry for the lack of update, I have been really busy lately, school is a pain in the butt, building a house is a pain in the butt, doing homework and learning how to drive is mucho pain in the butt…

Also I got a question from someone asking about the game "Concentration" and here it is:

Concentration is hand game where you start going:

Concentration

Clap, Clap, Clap

64

Clap, Clap, Clap

No repeats

Clap, Clap, Clap

Or Hesitation

Clap, Clap, Clap

Category is

Clap, Clap, Clap

(This is where you say a category like names, fruits, colors, country names, etc.)

I'll go first

Clap, Clap, Clap

After that, you and your partner(s) take turns saying something WITHIN the selected category, if you repeat something that has been said by your OR anyone else you lose and if you hesitate for more then about 3-5 seconds you also lose. The clapping is mostly there to establish a rhythm, but you don't necessarily need it. After you say the word, everyone claps three times and then the next person has to say his/ her answer, it continues until there's only one person left who becomes the winner.

Anywho here's the 13th chappie (who else can't believe that I made it this far?)

Dodging the Raindrops

Chapter 13: Freezing

Plot by: The Can-Can group

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Tomoyo was upset again. It happened every time she thought about Sakura. She kept on blaming herself for what had happened and has been eating less, making her pale and ghastly.

"Its not your fault," Eriol said, as he put a comforting arm around her shoulders. He really hated seeing her like this, normally she's composed and calm, but now that Sakura's gone missing, she's been really letting her self go, she's not even wearing one of her outfits, just a t-shirt and sweats. "Weren't you the same person who helped Sakura get over her depression over Suzo? I don't think she would like to see you like this."

"But it's all my fault! I should've have put in more security! I shou-"

Eriol wanted to break down and cry, or scream or something… Normally he's the one that could keep on smiling no matter what, but Tomoyo is starting to frustrate him. Her face looked stricken and as if had been slapped. He took in several deep breaths and smiled. "I'll go make tea," he said as he got up and headed towards Tomoyo's kitchen.

Tomoyo stared at the opposing wall. Her eyes were red and stained with tear trails and looked as if very dull.

Sighing, she stood up and went to the one of the walls filled with many pictures of family and friends. She gently picked up a frame that contained a picture of herself and Sakura when they were in middle school. The both of them were smiling, Sakura was doing a little peace sign, and Tomoyo was smiling in her gentle fashion. "Come home safe, all right?" She whispered to the picture.

……………

"Can this place get any colder?" Sakura asked as she sneezed. Earlier she had ripped the dress so that her knees showed and used the material that was ripped off as a shawl and the pink sash as a pillow for Suzo, but despite this, she's still very cold.

Sakura was not only upset at the low temperatures of the concrete room, but also at the fact that she had just learned that Renjiro has been putting sleeping pills into their food. When Suzo fell asleep after having some of the food he had given her, Sakura knew that something was up with the food and refused to eat it. In the end, he got angry, pulled a switchblade on her, and threatened her life if she didn't have the food.

Sakura checked on the wraps on her wrist, they were soaked with blood from cuts that was inflicted by someone else. She figured that when Renjiro put her to sleep, he slices her wrist vertically to not cut the artery and accidentally kill her, that way showing her that he has control over her and that he could kill her while she's asleep if he wanted to. If he were willing to kill her in her sleep, he'd probably have no trouble doing horrible stuff to Suzo. "Coward," she muttered.

Suzo was sleeping, her head on top of her lap. Sakura smiled as she looked down onto the girl's curly red hair. Her daughter still thought that this was some sort of a game, which is a good thing because if she thought otherwise, she'd be scared stiff and would be crying all the time, making herself panic and get upset.

After finding out that Suzo's limbs were bound together, Sakura had untied her, allowing her to move around easier. The thought that Suzo was being bound together, with her wrists getting burned from her skin rubbing against the ropes made her even more upset. Sakura figured herself lucky that she wasn't bound, yet, and was able to undo the rope.

Her eyes began to wonder around the now familiar room. On the far wall, there was an air duct. Many a time Sakura had contemplated crawling up there and getting out through the duct, unfortunately she's too big and would probably get stuck while getting in. However, she glanced at Suzo whom was now arousing from the involuntary nap, she might be able to fit.

"Mommy?" Suzo said, wiping her eyes of their tiredness.

Sakura leaned towards her daughter's ear so that in case if there are any listening devices in the room. "Suzo, I'm going to help you up into the air duct, I want you to crawl out of here and find someone who can help us, okay."

Suzo blinked at her mother, the way she was acting, Suzo realized that her mom was serious and that this isn't some game. "When?" she asked softly, knowing that this is very important.

Sakura gave a sad smile. "After Renjiro comes in, pretend to eat some of the food and pretend to go asleep. Once he's gone, I'm going to help you up into the duct. You have to crawl through them until you can find away out. Promise you'll be very careful, okay?" Sakura watched as Suzo nodded. "That's a good girl," she hugged her daughter and kept her in her embrace, enjoying it while it lasted.

It wasn't soon before Sakura found herself asleep from exhaustion and worrying if the day is going to be their last. She hoped that they would get out of this unscathed, but with the unpredictable Renjiro involved with this, it could be anyone's guess.

About an hour later, the heavy metal door opened up, allowing Renjiro into the room. He went over to where Sakura and Suzo lay, and gently woke them up. "Its time for dinner," he said, presenting the tray in front of himself. "You will it eat this time, if you don't, I'll do something that I will regret horribly."

Sakura glared at him as she took a bit of the food. In order for the plan to work, Sakura figured, one of them have to fall asleep. In the corner of her eye, she could see Suzo take a bit of the food, but not swallow it. Her own eyes started to feel droopy, and Renjiro, satisfied by this display, left the room. Sakura got up as Suzo spit out the food in her mouth. She moved some of the boxes and pilled them up so that they're in a stack.

Yawning, Sakura climbed the stack, and loosened the grid protecting the duct. "Come on up," Sakura said as she helped her daughter onto the stack. "What ever you do, don't scream or make too much of a noise. Find someone who can help once you get outside, and be very careful, especially since I don't know where we are." Suzo nodded in understanding at the instructions as she climbed into the dusty, cold duct.

Before Sakura fell into another sleep, she placed the grid back in its place and undid the stack. The moment she was done, she leaned against a wall and went into a sleeping pill induced sleep…

………….

Suzo nearly cried out in fright as she went through another spider web. She could feel the silkiness of the web all over her arms and hair and was lightly caressing her body, making her want to stop and take the sticky substance off. However, she couldn't, no, she needed to get to the end so that she can find Syaoran or Eriol or Auntie Tomoyo, or someone.

Her knees hit the metal of the duct with a light banging noise, making her tear up every time. Her knees had scraps and burns from sliding across the metal at odd angles; they were red and hurting and even were starting to bleed.

Her hands kept on stirring up the dust that was layered everywhere, which in turn made her sneeze. She didn't have her eyes open though, especially since when she touched something soft and fuzzy that moved as soon as she let it go. Since she didn't have her eyes open, she didn't notice the duct suddenly going at a ninety-degree angel. She hit her head, hard…

"Ouch," she mumbled as she nursed the small bruise on her forehead. She looked ahead and saw the duct going straight up. She crawled a bit further and looked up. The duct leading to more darkness, but this time, there were white dots in random places, almost like the night sky. She noticed small groves lining the joints of the duct. Getting an idea she started climbing the side, using the grooves as a ladder. A few times, she slipped, but managed to regain herself in just enough time.

It took her about five minutes to get to the top where another grid was blocking her path of exit. Using every ounce of her strength, she pushed it up and moved it away from the opening. She pulled herself out of the duct, breathing in deeply as she got out of the dusty place.

There wasn't much on the roof of the building, just the ventilation shaft that she had just came out of, a door leading to a set of stairs, and an old iron ladder on one side of the roof, leading to the road. Suzo went to the side with the rusted iron ladder, to see if she could get down the ladder safely. Putting one foot underneath the other, making herself stretch far because of her lack of height, she made it to the bottom were it ended in an alley.

Wearily she walked out of the alley, littered with trash amongst other things. Cars drove past the opening in a speeding fashion, leaving fumes in their wake. Suzo looked around her surroundings, trying to see if someone can help her find a way home.

Across the street, there were some woman loitering at an abandoned corner, smoking their life savings away in cigarettes and drugs that are even more lethal. They were huddled together, trying to keep warm from the cold temperatures. It didn't help much that they wore a simple trench coat over their scantly clad bodies. One woman had blond hair that was faker then fake and was seemingly plump underneath the coat. The other woman was a brunette and had barrels of make-up on her face, similar to a clown, except with out the white face paint.

She approached them, thinking that they were entirely safe and wouldn't harm her. She was right, in a way…

"Oh look," one of the women said, pointing out to the little girl that was heading towards them. "Such a cutie, why she all the way down here?" The other woman shrugged.

"Can you help me? I need to get home so that I can save my mommy," Suzo asked, pleadingly, all the while smiling like there's no tomorrow.

The two women looked at each other, to the girl, and finally back to each other. The first woman shrugged, "My old man won't mind too much, he might just take some of the money I earned, what about you?"

"My old man is probably screwing some of his other girls to even give a damn," the second woman said nonchalantly, accompanied by a shrug.

With that in mind, the two loose women turned to Suzo with a small smile on their faces. "Sure!"

Suzo smiled back at them. "Thank you very much!" She bowed a little bit; such is the custom her mother taught her.

The two women threw their smokes onto the ground and squashed them, putting out the fires that came out of the ends. They grabbed her hand in a motherly way and led her to an old, beat up, red Volvo. Suzo got in with them, instantly asking them questions and talking up a storm to the two women. The car rived to life with a loud 'bang' and began to roll out of the spot it was parked in.

"So, girlie," the first woman, whom was now driving the car while interrupting the small girl's talking. "Do you know where you live?"

"I think it's the in the city, we live near a giant park where me and mommy go everyday," Suzo replied, looking out the window, watching the lights of the night life go by.

The first woman looked to the second. "Do you know where she's talking 'bout?"

The second nodded. "Sure, we used to go there all the time before dad left for another woman and mom decided to go all suicidal on me. Its right in the middle of the city." She began to say the directions to the first.

In a few moments, and after a stop to a fast food joint and getting lost several times, not to mention a few run-ins with the police and some drug dealers and one staged grocery store robbery, the red Volvo stopped outside of Sakura's apartment building. "Thanks for taking me home, I had lots a fun," Suzo cried out, while waving and smiling.

The two hookers cried at the sight, "If you ever need us to help you out, just ask around for Sweet and Slow, okay Sue?" Suzo nodded her head as the women waved back to her and drove off to most likely their corner. The only thing that she was confused about them, is why they kept on calling her Sue, it sounded weird coming from them, but it was nice to have a nickname, she never had one before and made her somewhat happy at the fact that they gave her one.

Suzo smiled as she climbed the set of stairs in front of her.

……………….

Syaoran paced around the living room, again. He had his eye on the phone, waiting for a call from the police to see if they had found out anything yet. So far, there hasn't been any luck, but he knows that they are still safe and are somewhere near. Kero was at the door pawing at it and whining like there was no tomorrow.

"Jeez," Eriol sighed. Watching Syaoran pace around like that was not only making him dizzy, but was also giving him a major headache. "Please sit down for a moment. You need to stop worrying about it, he'll get caught eventually."

"EVENTUALLY?" Syaoran all but bellowed. "THE STUPID BASTARD KID KNAPPED SUZO AND SAKURA FOR SOME MONEY! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSE TO STOP WORRYING!" He took a moment to glare at the whining dog. "AND WILL YOU SHUT UP WITH YOUR WHINING?" The dog flattened his ears to his skull and sulked away to his corner in the living room, tail between his legs the whole while.

"Don't make me put you to sleep again," Eriol threatened. It seemed to work, because in the next instant, the angered man sat down, rather harshly, onto the couch, muttering dark things underneath his breath. "There now, just calm down and you'll be able to think bett-" A knock at the door interrupted his sentence, making him want to bang his head.

Syaoran leaped out of his spot, a look of hope on his face as he unlocked the door and opened it wide. "Have you found-?" He noticed that no one was there and was about to yell obscenities, when something latched onto his legs. Surprised, he looked down to see a smiling Suzo. "Suzo!" He grabbed her and pulled her into a hug.

"Have we won the game yet?" She asked as Syaoran pulled back a bit to get a look at her. She was very dirty, like she hasn't had a decent bath in a while, she was skinnier than before and her knees were covered in bruises and burns. The words she said registered in his mind. "Game? You think that this is a game?" His voice held disbelief more than anything.

"Uh-huh, so, did we win yet?"

He hugged her again. "Not yet, but we're almost there."

Eriol came up from behind, smiling like a fool. "You know that Tomoyo missed you a lot, right?"

"She did?"

"Yep," Eriol nodded, still smiling brightly. "After we get you cleaned up, we'll go visit her."

Suzo yawned. "Okay."

Syaoran handed the little girl over to Eriol, who took her to the bathroom in order to get her cleaned up. "I'll call the police and Tomoyo," he said.

"Sure."

Syaoran went to the kitchen and picked the phone up. Dialing the correct numbers, he ranged up the police department. "Suzo just came back," Syaoran said into the phone, his happiness evident in his voice.

"We'll need to talk to her," the commander's voice came out of the earpiece.

"Once we get her cleaned up and take her over to her Aunt's."

"Okay," The two hanged up after that.

Now, that they got Suzo back, they need to figure out a way to get Sakura out of… where ever she is. Syaoran had spent the past few nights thinking up ideas of what to do (most of which includes castrating Renjiro). So far, he thinks that if they give Renjiro a bag filled with fake money and followed him back to his hide out. However, there are too many variables in this, mostly Renjiro knowing that the money wasn't real (Syaoran suspected that he's so obsessed that he can smell the difference between fake and real) and ends up hurting Sakura just to get even.

Syaoran sighed; they'll just have to cross the damned bridge when they get to it.

The bathroom door opened up, revealing a clean Suzo and a somewhat wet Eriol. "She wanted to swim laps," he explained, seeing Syaoran's confused stare.

"Are you hungry?" Syaoran asked Suzo as she came bounding over to him. She shook her head. "Nope, the two ladies who dropped me off got me some food after they beat up this man that was shooting at us."

"Right…"

…………………………………

The arrived at Tomoyo's house just a few moments ago. Upon seeing Suzo, Tomoyo squealed, cried, nearly fainted and immediately started putting outfits on Suzo as a way to show her happiness and to relieve the pent up stress.

Eriol and Syaoran settled themselves in the kitchen talking to one of the detectives assigned to the case. The detective had come over after Syaoran called, wanting to talk to Suzo about what had happened to her since they had last seen her.

"Did she say who dropped her off?" The detective asked, his pencil flying over the little black notebook with all his notes in it.

Syaoran shook his head. "All she said that two woman had dropped her off. I think she said that they're names were Slow and Sweet, but they sound like nicknames, so I'm not all that sure if that was their real names."

The detective gave an irate sigh. "I know those two, they're prostitutes that have been causing us troubles for the past few weeks now. However, those two always has a corner in the same area, which tells me that Suzo was in the downtown district."

Tomoyo entered at that time, Suzo in tow wearing a ridiculous outfit that had many bows and frills. "Do you need to talk to her now?"

The detective nodded. "If that is all right?"

Tomoyo smiled. "Yes, if you guys need anymore tea, just call for me." With that hanging in the air, she left the kitchen, most likely heading to her design studio in one of her many rooms.

The detective turned his full attention to the fidgeting girl. "So Suzo, can you tell me has happened to you?"

"I was inside a very cold room, and this nice man gave me food, but I had a hard time eating it because my hands were bound. I think I fell asleep a lot. Mommy came into the room later on and we played games and slept after eating. Then she helped me get out of the room by helping me get up into a metal thing that was similar to a very long box.," The girl explained, drinking some of the water Eriol had just given her.

"Do you know where you were, once you got out?" The detective asked. If Suzo knew where she had left, they could finally capture Renjiro.

Suzo shook her head, "I forgot, I was having too much fun with the two women who helped my get home."

"Is that all?" Syaoran asked the detective, who was putting away his notebook.

"Yes, thanks. If she did find Sweet and Slow in the area they normally are in, then we have just limited the possible places of where Sakura could be." The detective grabbed his coat from off the back of his chair. "Thank you for allowing me to talk to her." He left after that.

Eriol turned to Syaoran. "What is your plan now?"

His cousin sighed as he downed the tea, ignoring the searing pain from the burning. "I really have no clue. The deadline is tomorrow, and I'm coming up with nothing."

Suzo squirmed even more in her chair. "Um… this isn't a game, is it?"

Syaoran took in a deep sigh. "No, its not, your mother… is in serious danger."

"Okay, well, I'm going to bed then," she said softly, getting out of her chair.

Eriol started to get of his also. "Do you need help finding your room?"

She shook her head. "No thank you, I know where it is." Suzo left the kitchen.

Eriol settled back into his chair. "Sometimes, I think that she is more mature than she seems."

"You're telling me," Syaoran replied as he poured himself some more tea and drinking it a little bit slower then before.

…………………………………

Renjiro smiled evilly as Sakura coughed up blood. "Now you know the punishment for allowing you daughter for escaping."

Sakura glared at him. "She is as much your child as she is mine, you sick person."

Her grabbed her throat, pulling her close to his face. "The moment you divorced me, she became all yours, I don't even care about her. The only thing I care about is money." He removed one of his hands and pulled out the necklace that he had bought a long time ago, the same one that he had gave to Sakura, who promptly threw it out the window. Using only the one hand, he placed it around her neck. "And you are a fountain of it, just by your association with Mr. Li."

Sakura spat in his face, causing him to throw her onto the concrete ground, breaking one of her bruised ribs. She clenched her eyes in pain as she could fell the bone prodding one of her organs.

"Let this be a lesson to you," his face wasn't smiling any more; he was serious now and very angry with her. "Next time, I won't hold back and you won't escape with only a few… minor bruises."

Renjiro started to leave after that, just as he was about to go through the doorway, he turned his head to look at the bloodied mess that is Sakura. "Tomorrow is the day that will decide if you live or die." The metal door shut after that.

Sakura muttered some curses. She figured that Suzo escaping was way too easy; she was making such a loud noise as she crawled the ducts. Well, at least Suzo is safe now, Sakura figured as she tried hard to not fall asleep. With the injuries that she is sustaining, if she were to fall asleep, she could go into a coma or die from blood loss. Weakly, she tore off some more material and fashioned herself a crude wrap to be placed around her abdomen.

Once her task was done, she sighed, leaning against the concrete wall. She shivered. Wrapping her arms around herself, being careful of her broken rib, she muttered, "Why the heck is this place so cold?"

She knew that no one was going to answer back.

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Authoress's Notie:

Kaixo everyone.

Sorry for the lack of update for the past umpteenth months, been very busy with some stuff and I figured that I'll work on this story over winter break.

Merry Holidays by the way (this includes all the ones since I have last update, which should start w/ Halloween and up to New Years)

Before I allow you all to review, please go read my new story, "Magic and Vampires Don't Mix" it's a Hellsing and Cardcaptor Sakura cross-over, and I would love it very much if someone were to read it.

I also took "Cherry Soda" off b/c I couldn't think of what to do with the story, it wasn't going anywhere, so I'm sorry to those of you who liked it, please forgive me, I didn't think that I couldn't finish it, and it pains me to get rid of it. Although, if I do ever get inspiration to actually work on it, I'll put it back up.

Now that is all out of the way, please read and review for me, por favor.

I can't believe I got 102 reviews; you all are making me happy, I never dreamed I would get this far…

The Can-Can group