Chapter 7

Card Captor Sakura

By Angel Stardust

Makita Itsuto

When Sakura awoke in the morning, she didn't know where she was. It took her several minutes to remember that she was at Maki's house. With a loud yawn, Sakura climbed out of bed. She was still tired (she's not a morning person), but she got up anyways. I mean, even if she was exhausted, who knew if Maki needed help with breakfast?

Sakura pulled on the same clothes she had been wearing the day before and walked slowly towards the kitchen, attempting to stiffle another yawn as she went. It was difficult to remember how she had gotten up so early for school in her high school years.

As Sakura entered the warm kitchen, she was greeted with a loud screech of steam emitting from the teapot. The kitchen was a complete mess. It was mass destruction! No, take that back, it was worse than mass destruction! It looked as if somebody had planted a bomb inside and set it off!

Maki was carefully opening the oven, her face smudged with black as a burning smell filled the small kitchen. Sakura simply stared. Maki was obviously attempting to make breakfast, but failing miserably. To say that she needed help with breakfast was now an understatement. Maki's kitchen now officially need FUMIGATING. Yes, my friend, that is how horribly messed-up the kitchen was.

"Oh! Sakura-onee-chan, will you help me take this out of the oven?"

Sakura snapped out of her transfixed state and hastened to were Maki was standing, one gloved hand holding the edge of a small porcelain dish covered with a sheet of tinfoil. As far as Sakura's senses were saying, whatever was in there was burnt. Badly.

But the optimistic Makita didn't seem to see or hear anything. She simply smiled and hand Sakura another insulated glove. Sakura pulled it on, the thick, scratchy material fitting uncomfortably around her hand.

"Maki...don't you think its a bit burnt..." Sakura began, but was cut off by Maki's cheerful voice.

"Oh, no Sakura, it won't be burnt! My onii-chan used to help me make this with my mom back in Japan! It was always like this!"

Sakura simply nodded her head doubtfully and help pull the tray--which was surprisingly heavy--out of the small oven. The two girls hurriedly set the dish on the kitchen table with a loud clang, the heat reaching their hands despite the protective gloves. Maki and Sakura simply stared at the dish for a while, before the former began peeling away the piece of foil covering the dish.

Sakura prepared herself for a majoyr disappointment from Maki, but instead, was shocked to see that the small, pie-like pastry inside the dish was a light golden-brown, not at all the charred-black Sakura had been expecting.

Maki was looking at it so proudly, Sakura almost felt like laughing. After all, it was just a small dish, nothing really special. But as Sakura looked at her young friend again, a quiet realization came over her.

This seventeen-year-old girl was simply amazing. She had major problems with her family, was living alone in Hong Kong, had afterschool activites, was an exchange student from Japan, yet...yet she could still be so happy. Sakura didn't have nearly as many problems as this girl did, yet she moped around and acted depressed and hated the world.

Maybe it was just the way Maki looked at life. Or maybe...it was something else? This girl was just so optimistic about everything, so sure that life wasn't what it seemed, that it would get better, and did with each passing day. Maybe life wasn't about all the big things. Maybe life was about the little things that formed together to make the big things. Maybe life was just enjoying every minute, every second, of the day, and being excited over small items, like making a perfect pastry, or meeting a new friend. Maybe it was just the way you chose to live your life, rather than fate itself.

"Sakura? Hello? Yoohooo, anyone home in there?"

Sakura snapped out of her thoughts as a sharp rapping of the knuckles on the side of her head brought her back with a snap. Maki, obviously getting annoyed that Sakura had spaced out and wasn't coming back, had taken the liberty to whack her friend on the head a bit (a/n: okay, like not with a big baseball bat or like a WHAMMO! kinda thing, just a little tapping here) with her hand, bring her friend back to reality.

"Huh? What happened?"

Maki simply rolled her eyes. She and Sakura burst into giggles. It was funny how your friends could lose it, wasn't it?

As the pair sat down to breakfast, Sakura couldn't help but be glad. She had met a girl who was wiser than Winston Churchill, Emerson, and even Plato himself. This girl knew how to live. Maybe she wasn't the smartest, but she knew. She knew the true meaning of life, and that was the only thing that was really important.

o o o

Syaoran saton his bed, throwing all of his clothing into his suitcase. He wasn't going to take it anymore. He was going to leave. Yes, leave. Leave Hong Kong, leave Meiling, Yelan, whatever. He didn't care anymore. He was going to Eriol's place. Sapporo, Japan.

As Syaoran stood outside on the sidewalk, a scarf tucked into the collar of a khaki trench cloak, looking very warm and waiting for the stupid taxi to arrive, he saw a girl walking on the sidewalk opposite to him. Her dark brown hair flew out behind her as she fought against the oncoming current of wind. Her knee-length wool skirt blew out behind her and her coat was on old, shabby one that didn't look like it would keep her warm.

Syaoran watched the girl, an amused expression on his face. The way the girl dressed, she might as well be coming from the poorest family on the earth! It was winter for God's sake, who would be wearing a coat like that? Syaoran continued to watch her, and as he did, the girl tripped on the uneven face of the sidewalk. Syaoran could see her ankle twist, and his sharp ears caught the sound of a breaking bone (a/n: ouch, nice tripping eh?). The girl gave a cry of pain and sank to the sidewalk.

Almost without thinking, Syaoran ran out into the whirl and beeping of the traffic and across the street. He ran to the girl and knelt down next to her. A pair of wet, midnight purple eyes met his gaze and he asked her if she was alright. She simply shook her head and sobbed. The girl looked like she was a high school student, her naive trust and her young face betraying her youth.

Putting his arm around her, Syaoran managed to get her stop crying before inspecting her ankle. He pulled off her shoe, a creamy brown leather penny loafer, and inspected her ankle, which was clothed in black panty-hose. Syaoran's gloved hands massaged the ankle, feeling for the spot of the break. I can't seem to find it...Syaoran thought, frustration building up in his mind.

Suddenly, the girl gave a yelp of pain. Syaoran immediately moved his hand back to the place under her ankle. Putting pressure on the spot, Syaoran could feel the broken bone. The girl was sobbing quietly at the pain in her ankle.

Across the street, Syaoran could see his taxi arriving. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Look, miss, I don't know how to fix a broken ankle, but i c an take you to the hospital. But if I do, you have to pay me, okay?"

The girl simply stared at him for a minute before closing her eyes and shaking her head. Pay him? PAY HIM? She didn't even have enough money for a new coat, how was she going to pay him?

Syaoran sighed. Of course, no body was going to pay him. He had tried though...

Picking the girl up, Syaoran said, "Okay, screw the money, lets just get you outta here."

Walking to the crosswalk, Syaoran pounded on the button furiously. He had to get to the other side of the street for God's sake! Whenthe light finally flashed, Syaoran was practically dashing to the other side, the girl clinging to his neck.

"Yo, taxi! HEY TAXI!" Syaoran shouted above the din of traffic. The taxi driver, who had put the awaiting luggage into the trunk, spotted his client and hastily opened the door of the yellow car, in which Syaoran jumped into.

"Take me to the major Hong Kong hospital now, and if you get me there in ten minutes, I'll pay you one thousand yen extra!"

And with Syaoran's words, the taxi driver stepped on the gas pedal and the car screeched off towards the hospital.

Now, you can all probably guess who that girl was. Makita Itsuto. She had decided to go grocery shopping and had left Sakura at home to answer any phone calls for her and to clean up the kitchen, like she had offered.

Unfortunately, being the klutz she was, Maki had tripped on the sidewalk (a/n: is that possible? sounds like me...) and was now sitting in a taxi next to the very man who had upset Sakura. Ha. Like she knew that.

Maki whimpered as the taxi hit a speed bump in the drop off area of the hospital. Her broken ankel gave a throb of pain as the taxi screeched to a stop. The young man sitting next to her flung the door open, pulled her out, picked her up, and threw all the yen in his wallet at the taxi driver. After yelling at the cab man to wait for a while, the man ran in, through the double-doors of the hospital and rushed poor Maki to the emergency room.

"Broken ankle here!"

"The bone's ruptured!"

"Where's the head doctor?"

"Somebody get a nurse!"

All Maki could hear was the loud voices around her. Checking her watch, Maki realized that she had told Sakura she would be home...half an hour earlier! Turning to the young man that had brought her in, Maki asked him to call her apartment number.

Syaoran took the phone and dialed the number the girl had given him. A sweet, familiar voice answered.

"Hello?"

"S-Sakura!"

a/n: Hi! This is Aki-chan! How did you like this chappy? If you didn't like it...well I suppose you coudl just do a flame...I don't really mind...but it would hurt a lot of you did. anyways, I finally updated like all you reviewers wanted! Thank you so much for all your support! Review and I'll update the next chappy ASAP!

PS. the cliffhangy thing was on purpose! I need to keep all your readers hooked, don't I?