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Love of War
Chapter Fourteen: Moving On

Syaoran woke early. It was raining, big fat drops fell lightly to his face as he stepped out of his tent and into Sakura's.

She still wasn't awake, it had been two days.

Had she really been that tired?

He watched, kneeling beside her quietly, as she slept. She was so beautiful; small strands of her auburn hair fell onto her face, her mouth slightly open, her eyes twitching with a dream.

He remembered the feel of her lips on his. Syaoran smiled, he'd never felt so strongly for someone before. Never.

Thinking more, Syaoran's face fell. What was he to do with Meilin? Since the night he and Sakura had found her and the others, he hadn't gone near the holding tent. The only one to go in was Eriol to give them water and bread, but even he didn't speak to Syaoran's cousin.

"Sleep more, my Sakura." Syaoran whispered, kissing her softly on the forehead. Then he got to his feet and stepped out of the tent.

"Where are you going Syaoran?" Tomoyo, who had been awake for a while, asked.

Syaoran turned and smiled slightly at the girl, she was sitting under a large tree, to get away from the rain. "I must speak with my cousin."

Tomoyo nodded, a faint smile flashing across her eyes. "Oh. Well…good luck."

Syaoran nodded. "Thanks. I'm going to need it."

He was about to walk away, when Tomoyo stopped him. "Syaoran?"

"Yeah?"

"Whatever Meilin says," Tomoyo said, staring at her lap. "Don't believe it, okay? You saw what happened, because of going back in time, Sakura was greatly weakened. You have to believe what you saw, not what Meilin says."

Syaoran nodded, turning away from the girl and, without another word, he stepped into the holding tent.

Tomoyo was right, because of using so much of her magic, Sakura had been weakened. It hurt Syaoran to know that Sakura purposely did that…for him.

The men Meilin had been found with were asleep, their snores echoing softly off the walls of the tent. But the raven-haired teenager was sitting awake, her hands tied behind her back to a pole. Dried tears lined her cheeks, and small dark bags were under her eyes.

She hadn't slept in two days.

Meilin looked up when she heard Syaoran walk in, and her eyes filled with tears again. "Syaoran!"

"Don't." Syaoran warned, standing in front of her, just out of reaching distance.

Meilin lowered her head, her tears dripping onto the ground. "I'm so sorry."

"Why?" Syaoran snapped, his anger flaring. "Why would you betray us? Your family? Me?"

"You don't understand!" Meilin cried, looking up at him, her eyes watery. "I couldn't stay Syaoran. What your fighting for, what you think your fighting for, it's not real. It's not!"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You wouldn't understand…you've been fighting for so long to destroy the Kinomoto family…you've been so blind." Meilin said softly, lowering her head again.

"Meilin." Syaoran growled, kneeling in front of her and setting his hands on her shoulders. "What are you talking about? Tell me damn it!"

"It's a lie!" Meilin shouted. "It's all been a lie!"

"What? What's been a lie?" Syaoran asked, calmer now.

Meilin took a short, unsteady breath. "A few years ago…I found out something. What you've been fighting for, what we've been fighting for…to destroy the Kinomoto family…it's not real. Why would it be?" She looked up at him, a faint smirk crossing her lips.

"Have you ever been told the reason we're fighting the Japanese?" Meilin asked him, but continued before he could answer. She knew the answer. "No. You see Syaoran, the Li clan, all they want is the Kinomoto magic, that's it. Where as all the Kinomoto want is to keep their family alive. There is no real reason for fighting."

"But why," Syaoran said, squeezing her shoulders. "Why would you betray us? Why wouldn't you tell us instead?"

"Because." Meilin said, her eyes growing dark. "Doremi…he sees me for what I really am. He loves me Syaoran."

Syaoran caught his breath. "I won't-I won't let you be with him. He's a killer Meilin!"

"No different than you." Meilin shot back. "I love you Syaoran, I did. But did you ever show me the light of day? No! As soon as that Sakura girl came, you were too caught up in her well being to even notice me gone. How long did it take you to notice I was gone?"

Syaoran didn't answer.

"You see?" Meilin laughed. "You don't care. Well Doremi cares. And let me tell you Syaoran, we have a much better plan, a much better leader, now."

"W-What do you mean?" Syaoran stuttered. He didn't like the angry, crazed look in his cousin's eye.

"You see Syaoran." Meilin smiled. "When this war is over, both the Li and Kinomoto families will fall. There will be none left except the select few. Me, and a few others. That's it."

"You can't be serious." Syaoran gasped.

"I am totally serious Syaoran." Meilin growled. "Now let me go! You can't possibly do anything to me now. You can't kill me, and there's no way in hell you can keep me in here forever."

Syaoran frowned, she was right. "Tell me one thing." He said.

"What?"

"Why is it, that Doremi wants Sakura so badly?"

Meilin blinked. "What do you mean?"

"Something I heard." Syaoran said, taking his hands off her and staring to his left. "He plans to hurt Sakura in…some way. Why? She hasn't done anything to hurt him."

"Other than killing his comrades you mean?" Meilin smirked. "Well I don't know. Maybe because she's beautiful, or maybe he thinks that he can get her magic someway or maybe it's just because he knows it'll hurt you.But like I care, that bitch can die for all I care."

Syaoran lashed out and slapped her across the face, causing the startled girl to gasp and turn away.

"You…You hit me." She breathed.

"Don't," Syaoran growled, getting to his feet. "Talk about Sakura like that."

Meilin smirked, looking up at him, her eyes glazed and dark. "So, it's true then. You do love her. Doremi knew it."

Syaoran walked behind her and took out a dagger, cutting her binds loose.

Meilin stood and rubbed her wrists, they were raw from the ropes. "What about my comrades?"

"You'll have to do without them." Syaoran said, not bothering to look at Meilin. "They won't make it back to your camp alive. Besides, why give you any help? You may try to kill one of us."

Meilin smirked and walked past him. She stopped and turned just as she got to the mouth of the tent. "I will not be the one to kill you Syaoran." She said over her shoulder. "But I guess you knew that." She turned fully to him. "But I am sorry…I will be the one to kill the girl."

Syaoran gasped and looked up at her, but she was gone.

XxXxX

Sakura's eyes slowly fluttered open. She'd had the most odd dream that Syaoran had let Meilin go…and that the war they were fighting, wasn't for the reasons' they thought.

She sat up and looked around her, a small tingling feeling was on her forehead. Just faintly, she could smell Syaoran on her skin.

"Syaoran…" Sakura whispered, getting to her feet and rushing from the tent.

Her head hurt badly from a migraine and her feet were wobbly from not walking on them in a while. How long has she be out?

Sakura quickly dressed and stepped out of the tent. It was raining.

She searched around the camp for a faint glimmer of a familiar aura. Tomoyo was sitting under a tree with Eriol, she could see…the other men in the camp. Where was Syaoran?

Suddenly she spotted him, in the holding tent. Sakura couldn't see Meilin's aura.

The girl gasped and spun around in search of the raven-haired girl's aura. It was no where to be found.

Cold rain fell around and on top of Sakura, making her clothes and hair stick to her skin. She shouldn't be out in the rain.

Quickly, the auburn-haired girl ran across the soggy ground, barefoot, towards the holding tent, her feet padding softly as she went.

The aura's with Syaoran in the holding tent were growing steadily dimmer, as if they were slowly dying.

"No Syaoran," Sakura whispered. "Please…spare them."

But she was too late. Sakura burst into the holding tent, only to see Syaoran standing, his back to her, with his sword in his hand, drops of blood falling from the blade.

Sakura cupped her hand over her mouth and sunk to her knees, tears stinging at her eyes. They didn't have to die.

Syaoran heard something, and turned. Sakura was kneeling behind him, her hand over her mouth, staring at the dying bodies of the men who had been found along with Meilin.

"S-Sakura?" Syaoran said softly. "You must understand, they would have cut our throats in our sleep!"

She didn't answer him, not at first, she just sat there, staring. She wouldn't look him in the eye.

"Sakura please." Syaoran said, kneeling in front of her. Her clothes were soaked and clung to her skin, her hair fell in wet tendrils around her face, tangling with silent tears.

"They…they didn't have to…die." She whispered.

Syaoran frowned and turned away from her, what could he say? He'd killed then out of rage for loosing his cousin, and finding out that the Kinomoto weren't really his enemy, and he'd been killing innocent people all along.

Sakura sunk into him, wrapping her arms around his neck, she cried into his shirt.

"I want this to stop." She said. "No more killing, no more blood of the Li or Kinomoto clans…I want it all to end."

"I know, I know." Syaoran whispered. "Me too."

XxXxX

"Are you sure we should be moving out so soon Eriol?" Tomoyo asked under her breath. Her and Eriol were walking behind the large Li clan, Sakura and Syaoran we in front of the group, chatting away.

Eriol shrugged. "We may as well. We still have to get to the coast before the week is over."

Tomoyo frowned, her soft eyes clouding over. "So…we're still your prisoners?"

Eriol sighed and draped his arm across the girl's shoulders, pulling her against him as they walked. He kissed the top of her head. "No Tomoyo, you are no longer our prisoners."

Tomoyo smiled and leaned comfortably into him. She knew it was wrong, to love the enemy, and that if the Kinomoto found out she'd be banished from them forever.

But…Sakura was falling for Syaoran, had fallen. Tomoyo knew that much. They wouldn't turn Sakura away, would they? And Sakura would never let Tomoyo leave, never.

Tomoyo felt her cheeks flare as everything hit her. She was in love with Eriol. She'd never been in love with anyone before…

"What are you thinking about?" Eriol asked, his blue eyed gaze falling on her.

Tomoyo shook her head, a faint smile crossing her pale lips. "Nothing."

Eriol smiled and nodded, turning away and looking ahead of him at Syaoran and Sakura.

Syaoran had been Eriol's friend for a long time, since he could remember, and he'd never seen Syaoran so happy.

Except, of course, when he came back from being stranded on the island.

When Syaoran had been missing for that week, Eriol hadn't stopped worrying. What had happened to the next leader of the Li clan? His best friend? Would he ever return the same?

No. Syaoran wasn't the same when he came back from the island. The first thing he'd done was pull Eriol aside and spill his guts on what he'd been doing.

He'd met someone, a girl. A Kinomoto. They're helped each other to survive…after getting off to a rocky start.

Flashback
"A Kinomoto?" Eriol gasped, he and Syaoran were hiding among the sycamore trees in the Li family garden, away from prying ears and eyes. "You were with a Kinomoto this whole time?"

Syaoran shrugged. "It's not like I had a choice Eriol. Besides, she helped me, she healed my wounds."

"Wounds?"

"She shot me." Syaoran said with a slight smirk, his shaggy brown hair blew gently in the wind. "At first we didn't get along at all, but after she helped me…we just talked."

"Talked?" Eriol laughed. He knew his friend, and he wasn't one to talk in the presence of a girl. "Are you sure that's what you did?"

Syaoran shot Eriol a glare. "Yes. I'm sure Hirazagwa. We talked, for a long time. But on the last day..."

"You kissed her." Eriol smirked. "I knew it Syaoran, you just cant help yourself can you?"

Syaoran's cheeks went, to Eriol's surprise, a bright pink. "Um…yeah. But you'd have done the same thing. She's beautiful Eriol."

"What was her name?"

"Sakura."
End Flashback

Eriol had forgotten about the Kinomoto girl up until about a week ago, when he'd first seen her. Syaoran was right, Sakura was beautiful.

But so was Tomoyo.

"Sakura really changed him, you know?" Eriol said suddenly, catching Tomoyo off guard.

"What?" Tomoyo asked.

Eriol pointed to Syaoran and Sakura ahead of them. "Syaoran. He wasn't like this before Sakura came. I mean, all he wanted to do was go to battles and pick fights. I never really saw his soft side until he came back from being stranded on that island."

Tomoyo smiled and nodded. "I know what you mean. After Sakura's mother was murdered, she was always so scared, and depended heavily on her brother Touya to protect her, along with Kero and Yue. But after she came back from the island…she was stronger…somehow. She never told me what had happened but I know she wondered almost everyday what Syaoran was doing."

Eriol smirked and stopped, grabbing Tomoyo's shoulders and turning her so she was facing him, her eyes curious.

"What?" She asked.

"I propose," Eriol said, his eyes dancing with excitement. "That we get Syaoran to tell Sakura he loves her, or the other way around."

"What do you mean? Like…setting them up?" Tomoyo asked.

Eriol nodded. "You see, it won't be that hard. They already seem to like each other very much. I know Syaoran, I know he loves her just by the way he looks at her, and Sakura too. If we can get them together before we get to China then maybe you two will be okay."

Tomoyo grinned. "Great idea! But wait…I thought you said we were already safe?"

Eriol nodded. "You are…but Sakura isn't. You see, after Syaoran came back from the island, all he could talk about was Sakura. So the elders put him through vigorous training and got his mind off her…for good."

"That's terrible! No wonder he didn't remember her!"

Eriol nodded and let go of Tomoyo, the two started to follow after the group again.

"So if we can get Syaoran and Sakura totally in love with each other, there will be no way Syaoran will give Sakura up for anything."

Tomoyo nodded. "I'm in. This will be fun!"

Eriol grinned and pressed his lips against hers, kissing her passionately.

Tomoyo sighed and kissed him back. And this way, I can spend more time with Eriol

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