I'm back! And I've got another chapter up! You're gonna love this one xD hehe… but I'm a little disappointed though :( I got like 4 reviews last chapter… bwah what a disgrace hehe… oh wells, hope you like this chap anyway!

Angol

Disclaimer: Don't own any bit of CCS. Not really the plot either but I do own this version!….

Chapter 31: Touch Of Grief

The guy pushed Syaoran making him walk forward into the garage. Syaoran wasn't looking mad, but he wasn't looking happy either. He stared at the people around him, then at Jimbo then at Sakura but turned away quickly again when he saw her.

"Untie his hands," said Jimbo.

One guy went up and untied Syaoran's hands.

"OK, skip the shit. I'm here, what do you want me to do," spat out Syaoran.

"Oh, nothing. All you have to do is stand there and be a good boy," said Jimbo with a smirk, throwing a baseball bat at one of the guys.

Four guys walked over to Syaoran, surrounding him with baseball bats in hands. Syaoran looked at them then back at Jimbo. Jimbo walked over to Sakura, knife in hand.

"I mean, you're untied. But would you try and fight back?" said Jimbo, putting the knife to Sakura's throat.

Sakura looked at Syaoran straight in the eye.

"Why did you come? WHY DID YOU COME?" she wailed.

Syaoran also looked her in the eye. Her eyes began glistening with tears.

"Don't give me that look," he said softly. Sakura shook her head as tears cascading down her cheeks. "Close your eyes Ying Fa…"

WHAM

POW

SLAM

The four guys with the baseball bats started hitting Syaoran continuously. Syaoran was now on his hands and knees, staring at the hard floor as the baseball bats thundered an pelted on him. Sakura watched in disbelief, eyes wide and teary. The four guys stopped the torture but still surrounded him. Syaoran looked up, blood trickling down his face.

"I thought you were really good at bashing people up?" sneered Jimbo. "C'mon, GET UP!"

Syaoran slowly got back up on his feet. He paused for a second, looking at Jimbo through half closed eyes. He was hurting everywhere and his head seems to be spinning.

"Is that all you've got?" he said coolly.

Jimbo glared at him.

"AGAIN!" he yelled

They started again, making him collapse back on the ground. Rapid blows of pain hit him.

"STOP IT!… PLEASE! STOP IT!" wailed Sakura, crying her eyes out, straining against the ropes around her.

They ignored her screams. Sakura continued to look, tears everywhere on her face, even though Syaoran had told her not to.

A person like Syaoran… he's always been the one to physically hurt people not the one being hurt. WHY! Why because of me he just stands there and doesn't even fight back! She thought sobbing uncontrollably.

Clow 3

The sun had begun to set. Clow 3 sat around a table still at Syaoran's mansion, drinking and drinking. Hiro had drank the most. He thumped the can, hard, back on the table. He hated being helpless. He had finally lost his patience, cool and anger. He stood up pushing his chair down, walking away from the table a bit, back turned.

"WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU GONE TOO!" he yelled.

Shingo and Eriol kept drinking with solemn faces, not surprised by their friend's actions or bothered stopping him either………..

Garage Place

Syaoran struggled up. Blood was everywhere.

"What's wrong with this guy! We've been hitting him non-stop and he's still trying to get up!" said one of the guys holding a baseball bat.

Syaoran couldn't get back up but he kneeled on the floor.

"Finished…?" he said hoarsely. "You've got nothing Jimbo. Nothing."

Jimbo glared at him hard. He was mocking him. He was there trying to hurt him and there he was being hurt. But he still had the guts to mock him. He grabbed a chair fuming.

"I'm doing this for my brother!" he yelled and ran forward.

Sakura's emerald eyes widened. It seemed to go in slow motion for her as Jimbo grabbed the chair and Syaoran just sitting there vulnerably, looking up at him. She didn't give a damn about herself anymore. All that mattered now was Syaoran.

Sakura dived at Syaoran with her chair still tied to her. Jimbo's chair came down on her and her chair. Even though the chair blocked most of the blow she still felt the pressure from the impact. Sakura's face turned to pain as her head leaned on Syaoran's shoulder, she fought it back and turned her head around, glaring at Jimbo with burning emerald eyes. Jimbo looked at her completely shocked.

"Let's bash the girl as well!" said the others.

"NO!" said Jimbo raising a hand immediately. He paused as he looked at the two on the floor. Sakura continued to glare at him as Syaoran wheezed, blood trickling from his head everywhere. "We're… finished here… Let's go."

With that Jimbo walked away. The others threw their bats onto the ground and walked away also giving Syaoran glares as they pasted. As soon as they were gone, Sakura struggled up a bit to look at Syaoran's face.

"Syaoran, are you alright?" she said worriedly.

Syaoran looked at her tear stained face.

"If I'm OK… that would be a miracle," he said hoarsely, trying to smile.

He struggled to sit up but he managed to get into a proper sitting position.

"YOU BAKA WHY DIDN'T YOU FIGHT BACK! THERE WERE ONLY 4 OF THEM! BY THE LIGHTS OF YOU IT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN EASY JOB!" shouted Sakura.

"Stupid girl… even if I did fight back and I won, I would have been the one to lose in the end. I would have lost you… Getting rid of them would have been easy, but I had to keep it down and not fight back because the one thing that was going through my mind was to protect…. You…" said Syaoran hoarsely.

Tears began to come down Sakura's cheeks once again as she listened to his words. She didn't care that she was still half tied up and this was the most unromantic situation to be in. But she felt that at the moment, the man in front of her was the most important thing in the world to her.

"If die today…promise me you won't be sad ne? Don't cry because of…me," whispered Syaoran softly. He reached out with a shaking, struggling hand caressing her cheek wiping away a tear with his thumb.

Sakura cried out, watching him drop to the floor taking his last breath. She nudged him hard. No response. She nudged him again. Still no response.

"Syaoran…? SYAORAN! NO! I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE! I'M NOT LETTING YOU DIE! SYAORAAAAN!…………."

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Sakura was at the top of a tall building. She was stuck and couldn't get up. Syaoran was standing at the edge.

"Syaoran? What are you doing there? It's dangerous! I can't get up! Come and help me!" she exclaimed.

"No," said Syaoran. "Didn't you say you hated me? Get up yourself."

"Hate you? Who said I hated you?" exclaimed Sakura. "NO SYAORAN!"

Syaoran stepped over the edge and fell.

Sakura immediately flew up from the hospital bed.

"Sakura dear, you're finally awake," said Fujitaka. "You had me so worried."

"Otou-san? How did I get here?" asked Sakura holding her heavy head.

"Someone find you and Syaoran Li in a shipping garage and called the ambulance. You two fainted and…there was blood everywhere," said Fujitaka grimly. He was glad that his daughter was not hurt severely at all and all the blood didn't belong to her. But when he looked at the Li boy…

"Oh…I remember now… and he fainted…………FAINTED?" exclaimed Sakura remembering what had happened immediately.

"Sakura are you feeling alright? Any pain or—"

Sakura shot up from bed quickly and opened the room door ignoring her father's protests. She immediately saw Shingo leaning on the corridor wall. He was looking at a piece of paper. She ran up to him. Shingo looked up at her.

"Where's Syaoran?" she asked quietly.

Shingo didn't reply but looked at Sakura with his expressionless face.

"He didn't die did he?"

Shingo looked down, avoiding her eyes. Sakura's breath caught in her throat.

"Where is he?"

Shingo looked up again and pointed to the door next to him still silent, then looked down again. Sakura went to it. She placed a hand on the door handle trembling. A pause. Then she opened it slowly with trembling lips. She walked in, finding Eriol sitting in a small couch in the room. Hiro was sitting in a white plastic chair, next to the bed with a figure on it, covered up with a white sheet from head to toe. Sakura looked at them then at the bed.

"No…," she whispered.

Eriol looked up at her sniffing.

"You're too late," he said. "Xiao Lang's gone."

Hiro was crying even more, he wiped away tears sniffing too.

"He was calling your name all the way," continued Eriol looking at Sakura with sad eyes.

"I can't believe it... Syaoran really is gone," said Hiro head in his hands

Sakura began crying and went over to the side of the bed, kneeling down. She lifted up the sheets revealing the handsome face of Syaoran. He had a bandaged head and some white patches on his face. Her heartbeat almost stopped. He wasn't ever going to open his amber eyes again. He wasn't ever going to whisper in her ear or shout at her ever again. He wasn't going to hold her and told her that he loved her…ever again.

"Syaoran …" Sakura wept. "Why did you die? How can I apologise if you're dead!"

Shingo came into the room and looked at Sakura. Sakura kept crying.

"Even though you're the biggest jerk I've ever met and always have a bad temper I don't want you to die!" she wailed. "I know lots of people wants you dead but I—"

"Shit you say weird things to dead people!" exclaimed Syaoran. His amber eyes were opened staring right into her tear stained ones.

Hiro, Eriol and Shingo started laughing their heads off. Hiro was laughing so hard he clutched his stomach.

"Syaoran I don't want you to die!" Hiro imitated in a high pitched Sakura voice, laughing hard.

Sakura gave Hiro a death glare.

"Oh It hurts It hurts!" imitated Hiro putting a hand to his heart, adding extra things to Sakura's 'funeral' speech.

"Sakura. Your face just then was… was… just so (Laughs hard) AMUSING!" said Eriol wiping away tears of laughter.

Sakura glared at them all and climbed onto the bed, grasping Syaoran's throat.

"You! I'm gonna kill YOU!" she exclaimed.

"ARGH! I thought-- you didn't want me-- to die! We're in-- hospital here!" coughed out Syaoran.

They all began panicking again, trying to get Sakura off Syaoran. Hiro took hold of Sakura and lifted her off the bed. (Just proves how small Sakura is and how strong Hiro is? Lolz:P)

"OK, calm down cherry blossom it's our fault. We shouldn't have done that to you okay?. It's our entire fault. Don't get angry," said Hiro trying to keep his expression straight.

Sakura sat on the bed glaring again. Eriol and Hiro started laughing again while Syaoran gave a cough. Shingo was smiling broadly.

"Let's go guys," said Hiro. "Look after yourself Syaoran."

Clow 3 turned to go.

"Shingo," said Syaoran, handing him a piece of paper. Shingo took it and pocketed it. "If you can find them—"

"Don't worry, I know what to do," said Shingo giving a smile.

Clow 3 walked out. Once all of them were out Hiro closed the door.

"Take a look at what it is," said Eriol immediately.

Shingo took it out again and unfolded it. They read it, smiles creeping onto their lips.

"He still remembers how many times each person hit him and how many blows he got," laughed Eriol. "Thought he grew up a bit more by now."

"Nope, still that kid we know," laughed Hiro, running his hand through his hair.

Shingo smiled.

"Hey what's this," said Shingo pointing to something at the bottom of the paper. "Leave Jimbo to me."

The three smiled at that.

"C'mon then," said Eriol slamming his fist into his palm. "Let's go have some fun."

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Sakura sat on the bed not looking at Syaoran nor speaking.

"Hey why ain't you talking? What's the matter? Don't you know how to say things to a patient? Gee, I went all that way to save you and get bashed like this and you're like a stone here. All you want to do is argue argue argue…………"

Sakura started crying again and Syaoran grew worried. He sat up and moved next to her.

"I had a dream that you died… I thought you wouldn't have come. But you did and you got bashed like an idiot. Then I woke up and I found you really were dead," Sakura said crying loudly.

Syaoran looked at her sobbing and sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said brushing away some of her hair that was a mess on face from all the crying. He gave a small smile. "Don't cry… you know you're already ugly enough."

Sakura pushed his shoulder a smile appearing on her face. She wiped away tears. Somebody put a hand to the room door and eased it quietly opened….

"I'm telling you, if you do a stunt like that again I'll never forgive you," said Sakura.

Syaoran didn't reply for he was looking at something at the door.

"Nani?" said Sakura and turned around also.

Jimbo stood before them, purple eyes staring at emerald and amber.

What have I got to say? PLEASE REVIEW

Love, Angol

Elaine Kwok