Chapter 2: To hold you once more

By Stephie23

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"Listen Syaoran, calm down. We will find her. I'm sure she's alright." Although she didn't say it she had a horrible feeling, and feared for her best friends' safety.

"Okay" replied Syaoran in no more than a whisper, his thoughts began to fill with dread as he continued running.

"Good. Now Syaoran Eriol and I will head downtown, you head uptown. Call me if you find out anything."

"Okay. Hope to see you soon"

With that he tucked his cell phone back in his pocket and ran towards the north side of town, towards the docks. He was still quite a distance away when he heard a shot ring through the silent night followed by an ear piercing scream. The blood drained from his face. He ran faster, and faster, until he was almost at the docks. A shadow passed by him in the alley way. He didn't give a second thought to it. He just kept running faster and faster. Praying and hoping to God that it wasn't Sakura, his Sakura. His cell phone rang. He quickly grabbed it.

"Sakura?"

"Syaoran it's me Eriol."

"Did you find her?" he asked anxiously, hoping that she was alright and was sitting in front of Tomoyo's fireplace sipping hot chocolate.

"No. But Tomoyo and I heard a shot, and wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Ya, I'm fine. I heard it too. It came from the docks. I'm just heading there now. I'm going to go investigate it, why don't you guys head up here too."

"Will do, see you soon"

Syaoran continued running. When he reached the docks he scanned the left and the right side, looking for any sign of someone. His gaze suddenly shifted to the water, causing his breath to catch in his throat.

"no…" he whispered to himself. "it can't be"

What he saw made tears well up in his eyes and the blood in his veins run cold. He stared at the body floating face down in the water; the clear liquid oozing from it stained the lake a deep crimson. The body was unmistakably that of Sakura. He could recognize her one of a kind features anywhere. He ran forward and dived into the lake. As he swam towards her body all he could think of was how he couldn't possibly live without her, and what he wouldn't do to take it back, take it all back. He dragged her out of the water, carried her lifeless body and placed her carefully on the grass. His vision began to blur as he silently hoped that she was still alive. He leaned in closer to her, and to his relief she was still breathing, but the breaths were shallow. She began to shiver, and was losing a lot of blood. He took off his jacket and wrapped it around her ice cold body. The next few minutes passed by so quickly he didn't even know how long Tomoyo and Eriol had been standing over him as he cradled Sakura's body towards him.

Tomoyo ran towards Syaoran and Sakura with tears forming in her eyes, and Eriol following close behind.

"Is she okay? What happened?" she screamed, and then stopped suddenly as she saw the pool of blood that was slowly forming around Sakura's lifeless body.

"Oh my God… She's not … she's not…" Tomoyo managed to croak out before she fell to the ground in a wave of crashing emotions. She rocked back and forth sobbing uncontrollably.

Eriol, who was currently the only one thinking straight, quickly grabbed his cell phone and dialed 911.

"Listen the paramedics are on their way" "It will be okay. I promise it will." He comfortingly told Tomoyo and Syaoran.

In a swirl of flashing lights, sirens, and panic attacks they finally arrived at the hospital. Sakura was rushed to the emergency ward and Syaoran, Tomoyo, and Eriol were ushered into a secluded and virtually empty waiting area by a concerned looking police officer.

"Now Mr. Li … is it?" asked the police officer (Syaoran nodded in acknowledgment) ... "I just have a few questions I want to ask you… in private"

"Okay…" Syaoran replied unsure.

Syaoran couldn't shake off the feeling that he knew this person from somewhere. He took one last look at the police man, but was still unable to place him. He shook off the feeling, stood up and followed the man into a small office. The office consisted of a metal desk and two metal chairs. The only difference (that Syaoran noticed) between this room and an interrogation room was the two sided mirror that seemed to be missing. The officer gestured for Syaoran to sit down, then he closed the door and sat directly across from him.

"I know this is a hard time for you Mr. Li, however there are a few things I need to ask you. This was no accident, we had a tip that Ms. Kinomoto's life was in danger, however we received this information too late I'm afraid."

"Do you have any idea who might have wanted to hurt her?"

"As far as I know she was well liked by everyone. She is the kindest, most caring person I have ever met. I have no idea why anyone would even think about hurting her, much less actually do it."

"So she has no enemies that you are aware of"

"None that I can think of…"

"I see" replied the officer who sounded thoroughly unconvinced.

"And what is your relationship with the victim?"

"Well ….."

Meanwhile … in the emergency ward

The team of paramedics crash through the operating room doors. The on-charge doctor rushes over, and helps them guide the gurney to the trauma room.

"What have we got?" asks the doctor.

"Gunshot wound to the chest. She's bleeding out. BP is 100 over 65, pulse is 88, no exit wound" replies an over-anxious paramedic.

"Trauma two lets go! CBC, chem.-7, cross and match. I want 5 units, B-positive, and a chest tube.

They arrive in Trauma two and things take a turn for the worst.

"Heart rate's up to 120. Chest out, put some blood… 500cc's! She's bleeding through her chest. Alright, spike a unit of B-positive." Yells the doctor

"BP is down to 70 palp ... still falling, 60 palp."

"I've got to locate the source of the bleeding."

The other doctor leans in. "We need to take out the bullet first, and I just opened her up."

"Well it won't make much of a difference if we don't stop the bleeding!"

"Wait... wait, wait. Just WAIT!"

"There's no time"

"Just one more second, the bullet must have hit the auxiliary artery."

"I NEED to get this damn bullet out!"

"Then I'll do it myself! Move out of my way." After a minute of intense concentration he manages to pull out the bullet.

"Pressure's down to 50"

"Dammit, I can't reach the artery. Open it a little wider"

"She's in v-fib! Panels! Panels! Get your hands off now!"

"Hold on! Almost go it ... one more second…"

"Clear NOW!"

"Got it, go, go, GO!"

Authors Note: Hey guys. Thanks so much for reading this. I know how you HATE to review, and you know what…. I do too. But never-the-less I still manage to find time to review. In fact I have done more than 177 (I think). Another thing …I LOVE flamers. I really do, I find that they are the best tool in helping me improve upon my work. So don't feel shy if you have a suggestion or comment to make about my work! I will try to improve upon it in that aspect, oh and I will also do my best to update at least once a week, but hopefully will be able to update more than that. It really depends on my workload, college life is quite busy. Thanks again, and hope to hear from you soon!