Authors Note: Hey readers. Honestly, I can't say I wasn't dissapointed with the response for the last chapter. I guess I scared you guys away. Check my journal for my reviewer responses. Not much to say here this time. This will be my last authors note for the story since I'm posting all the rest of the chapters together today in an attempt to make up for not posting in months. Thanks so much to all my faithful readers and reviewers. Enjoy.
Special Dedication: asn water
Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura. It belongs to Clamp. I am simply using their characters for entertainment purposes only. À la folie... pas du tout was written by Laetitia Colombani and Caroline Thivel and directed by Laetitia Colombani. The plot belongs to them. Thank you.
10, November 2005 : Chapter 06, More Pastel Papers
Syaoran sat at his desk reading over the note again and again. Office hours were over so he finally had time to think. He ended up giving his last few appointments to Eriol since he simply couldn't concentrate. He couldn't tell Sakura. Not while she was pregnant. But this were very strange... It would break Sakura's heart to know. He had almost lost her right before the wedding. Too much drinking at his bachelor party led to quite a slip-up. A one-night stand, to be exact. He just couldn't tell her about this… Not yet. Syaoran was shaken out of his thoughts when a small knock sounded on the door.
"Come in." he called putting the note away.
"Happy birthday, love." Sakura cooed as she walked through the door. He gave her a surprised smile as she walked over to him and gave him a sweet kiss. "I made us dinner reservations," she said with a dazzling smile reserved only for him.
"Oh, good." he said as he went out to the coat rack in the waiting room to retrieve his jacket. It was then that Sakura noticed the painting of her husband propped up against the wall.
"Wow. Who is this from?" she asked walking closer to it. Syaoran told her the first excuse that came to his mind.
"A patient sent it... to, uh, thank me." He called to her as he slipped his jacket on and walking back in to see his wife picking it up with a bright smile on her face. "Wh-what are you doing?" he stuttered.
"I want it at home. We can hang it in our living room. Isn't it lovely?" Sakura stated as she walked over to him with the painting. "I want to enjoy it too." She gave him a little kiss over the painting and pulled away leaving it in his hands so she didn't have to carry it down the stairs to the car. "Let's get going" she smiled as she shooed him out the office door and closed it behind them.
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Syaoran sat in his office looking over the files as his patients described why they were there.
"Dr. Li, I've been having chest pains almost as if someone is sticking a needle in my heart. It hurts all the way up into my jaw and my head." she said placing her hands on the top of her head. Another woman later that day had problems with her heart racing.
"It's like a runaway train!" she exclaimed not knowing what to do. "I start to choke and I can't breathe, Doctor." Syaoran just nodded his head and jotted down notes on what they were saying. "I really need medicine to help me out so it won't be like this anymore."
"I can't hear my heart in my sleep," said another woman, clutching her purse to her chest. "and then I wake up in a panic..."
Syaoran had been simply going through the motions of his job. The strange note was still on his mind. His next patient was the shy young man sitting in front of him. Months earlier his stress level has escalated to the point of giving him quite high blood pressure.
"I was around so I figured I would stop by to thank you for what you did. My blood pressure is all better now." Patients of his often stopped by to thank him. Once the young man was gone he looked at the list of patients for the day to see who was next, only to let out a groan when he saw Nakuru Akizuki's name. She walked into his office and made herself comfortable as she began to tell him the same problems as always.
"I'm at my wits end, Dr. Li. My heartbeat is still racing. I can't even sleep at night. I really think you should examine me. Don't you?" Nakuru wasted no time in putting her bag on the ground as she began to shed her shirt… as always. Syaoran was getting very tired of her antics. He put his head in his hand, holding the bridge of his nose as she settled herself on the exam table.
Hours later all of the patients were finally gone and he had time to his thoughts. He took the note from his desk drawer looking it over again. He was brought out of his revere when Chiharu poked her head in the door.
"Well, I'm done for the evening." she said quietly. Syaoran looked over to her and sat up straight when he realized she looked very dressed up. "Are you ok, doctor?" she asked.
"Yea. Good night Chiharu." he said as he waved her off. She nodded and shut the door behind her. Syaoran waited a few moments before venturing out to her desk. He opened the appointment book and held the note up to her writing. He sat back in the chair, frustrated, when he realized they weren't alike. Syaoran thought for a moment before opening her desk draw and taking out the checks that were hidden within. Laying them out across the desk around the note, he studied them. To his dismay, not one matched up with the note he had received with the painting.
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Syaoran quietly walked into the dark house so as not to wake up Sakura. Suddenly the light turned on and he saw her sitting on the couch in their living room.
"Where were you?" she asked quietly.
"Sorry, I had a file to finish off." he said as he walked to her and gave her a kiss on the forehead.
"Syaoran… listen to your messages." she said quietly, averting her gaze to the floor.
"Okay..." he said, feeling a tad confused, walking over to the phone where their answering machine was.
"There are 23..." she said looking up at him with sadness in her eyes. She hugged herself as he pressed the button on the machine.
"You have 23 messages. Message one." came the computerized voice. Suddenly the song "Love" began to play. Syaoran raised an eyebrow and pressed to hear the next message. "Love is all that I can give to you..." Syaoran pressed again only to hear the song once again.
"Is this a joke?" he said looking to Sakura.
"I don't know... Maybe it's your patient." Sakura said as a tear fell from her eye.
"What patient?" Syaoran had no idea how she knew.
"The grateful one." she said as she looked over to the painting that was waiting to be hung. "She must love you a lot." Sakura nodded at her own words. Syaoran felt a waved of nausea come over him like a tidal wave.
"What do you mean?" he asked walking to Sakura who got up quickly and walked over to the paining, flipping it around. On the back of the painting there was now, scrawled across it in marker, a note that read Happy Birthday, my love. Sakura looked at Syaoran expectantly.
"Wh- what's that?" he stuttered.
"That's what I'd like to know." she said with an exasperated sigh.
"Sakura... this painting came without a word, nothing." he said trying to remain calm but his heart sank when she handed him a note in that familiar pastel envelope.
"This is nothing?" she said holding the envelope up to his face. She took his hand and shoved it there before walking away but Syaoran caught her sleeve.
"Sakura, please wait." He had to tell her what had been happening so he sat her down across from him and looked her directly in the eyes. Her hand covered her mouth as she sat there waiting to hear what he would tell her. "Listen. Recently, I've been getting gifts. Messages. All kinds of things. They could be from a patient but I honestly don't know." Sakura took his hands looking worried.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to worry. I'm sure the baby has you worrying quite enough already." his thumbs stoked the back of her hands.
"Syaoran, if there is another woman-" Syaoran wouldn't let her finish. He didn't want to hear what she would undoubtedly say.
"There isn't another woman." Sakura got up and began to walk away from him. "You have to trust me." She turned around to face him before leaving the room.
"I'll try… but it's hard." And with those words she was gone. Syaoran slumped over on the couch looking at the envelope in his hands. With a heavy sigh he opened it up and took out the note that was inside.
I waited until morning. I wish you'd been there.
I feel so close, yet so far. I have no one, only you.
I know she's coming between us, she clings to you.
Be strong, my love. Don't let her keep us apart.
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"Sakura!" he shouted as he ran up to a woman who was dressed in a black dress suit. She was ascending the stairs of the court house when he called her. Sakura turned around to see Syaoran standing before her with a small box.
"You forgot this." he said, giving her a small kiss.
"Oh... thank you." She replied taking the box of her morning sickness medication from him and putting it in her pocket.
"Sakura, can we talk?" Syaoran asked her quietly. When she nodded he led her to a bench across the street where they sat down. Syaoran brushed a stray strand of hair from Sakura's face.
"You okay?" he asked using a gentle tone as he continued to stroke her hair. She looked down briefly, not making eye contact with him.
"I've got a client to see..." she said and Syaoran took his hand away from her head. He reached in his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of white paper.
"I've made a list of everyone. Patients, docters, nurses... It could be anyone." he said skimming over the list.
"Syaoran, I really have to go..." Sakura said hastily getting up. She didn't want to discuss what had crushed her the night before.
"How can I convince you?" Syaoran called out following her. She stopped on the sidewalk, at his pained words, and turned around.
"Do you really want it?" Sakura said looking him in the eyes.
"Want what?" he tilted his head slightly not knowing what she was saying.
"The baby, Syaoran." she said, her voice breaking slightly. Syaoran had no chance to reply when Sakura's client walked up.
"We'd better get in there. It's starting soon." he said, unaware of what he had just interrupted. Syaoran was left standing alone. He didn't know what to do. Slowly he walked back to his car and unlocked it. then he noticed the writing on his windshield.
Don't let her keep us apart.
Syaoran's jaw dropped. He stood there gaping at the message for a few moments before looking around him for anyone he recognized. But there was no one. He threw his brief case in the car and grabbed a rag from his glove compartment. Syaoran scrubbed at the message as hard as he could but it would not come off.
"Shit!" he shouted as he threw the rag on the ground and pounded his fists onto the hood of his car.
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Syaoran walked up the stairway to his office. Before he even reached his floor, he heard shouting.
"I've been waiting here since 9 am!"
"Ma'am, please."
"No! I want to see the doctor! You can't treat us this way!"
"What is this?" Syaoran asked as he came upon the mostly one sided argument between Chiharu and a patient. The large woman turned to him looking very angered.
"I had an early appointment and look at your clock! It's noon!" she shouted pointing to the clock that hung on the wall.
"Ma'am we don't see patients on Wednesdays." he replied whipping the appointment book of Chiharu's desk and opening it up to show the woman.
"Chiharu, you know I'm supposed to be over at the hospital on Wednesdays." he threw the book back down on Chiharu's desk and it slid knocking over a cup of pencils. She had, indeed, written the appointment for Wednesday.
"Dr. Li, isn't it Thursday?" the realization hit her when she finished. She had made another mistake.
"I- I'm sorry Miss Yuzuha." he was about to apologize further when he heard a song playing somewhere. That song that had been left on his answering machine. Syaoran slammed his briefcase down and ran to his examining rooms, opening up all the doors looking for where the music was coming from. Finally he came to one of Eriol's examining rooms. Opening up the door, Eriol looked up in plain shock from the patient he was examining.
"What are you doing?" Syaoran wasn't listening though. His eyes were to the radio that sat on the counter next to him.
"I- I'm sorry... I thought… Sorry." he said closing the door and stepping away from it. He rubbed his eyes and forehead in frustration.
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"It can't go on like this." Syaoran shouted. "You mix up everything." Chiharu looked down. "Files, dates, patients. People waiting and complaining does not make me look very professional. I'm sorry but it can't go on like this."
"I'm sorry. I'm new at this... I promise I'll-"
"You always promise Chiharu! It's been six months and still you haven't gotten any better." he reprimanded
"Please doctor, give me another chance. I promise I'll do better." Chiharu pleaded. Syaoran shook his head.
"If you goof one more time you're fired." their conversation was halted when Syaoran's partner and friend, Eriol, opened the door.
"Oh, I'm sorry. Was I interrupting-"
"No. Please come in." Syaoran said rubbing his eyes and walking around his desk He looked at Chiharu. "We're through here." Chiharu nodded and gave him a grateful smile as she left the room.
"Did you fire her?"
"She promised..." Syaoran said as he sat on his desk racking his hand through his hair.
"As always." Eriol said pushing his glasses up on his nose. Syaoran put his head in his hands. "You okay?"
"Fine..." came Syaoran's muffled reply. "Tired, but fine..."
"You've seemed pretty stressed and distant all the time lately. What was that about this morning?" Eriol said shoving his hands in his pockets and walking closer. Syaoran got up suddenly before Eriol reached him.
"I have to go. Sakura will worry about me." he hurried out without another word.
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Syaoran lay still as Sakura tossed and turned in bed. He looked to her wondering what was going through her mind.
"Something wrong?" he asked quietly.
"I'm fine..." she lay on her side not facing Syaoran. He leaned over and turned the lamp on, grabbing her medication off the nightstand.
"Did you take any of these?" he asked holding them up to her.
"I just need a mug of honey milk." she replied rolling onto her back, clearly frustrated. Syaoran got up to get her some milk but when he went to pour the contents of the carton into a mug, he found that there was only a gulp left. Throwing the carton in the garbage he searched through the fridge to see if there was any more. His search was to no avail so Syaoran got dressed and walked to his neighbor's house to if they had any milk.
He knocked on the door of the house and waited for a moment before peaking in the window to see if he could spot anyone inside. He knocked again but when nobody answered he hopped of the stoop and went to his car so he could pick up milk at the store.
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Thanks to asn water and Kenny's grounded all the time for reviewing He Loves Me... He Loves Me Not.
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