Konnichi-puu! Back for more? I'm flattered.

((In this chaptire, Kotori has some questions for Syaoran. Sometimes certain questions lead to unexpected discoveries...))

Disclaimer - Syaoran, Sakura, Kotori, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and all related aspects, X/1999 (X), Cardcaptor Sakura and all related aspects are copyright CLAMP-sama! The rest is mine, not yours. :)

-----------

Incurable - A TRC Syaoran Drama/Tragedy fic

Chaptire 2 - Amber

The boy at the end of the hallway was on her mind again. Kotori sighed, leaning back in her chair, resting a thick stack of papers in her lap.

Those eyes... why can't I forget those eyes? She sighed, and shuffled through a stack of papers profiling patient 1493: Li Syaoran. She'd thought the mountain of data, history, photographs, anything would help her understand it, but it hadn't. She withdrew a photograph of Syaoran as a child - he wasn't smiling, though he was being hugged tightly by a ecstatic girl with long black pig tails. A memo on the back of the photo noted her as being his cousin. She closed her eyes, recalling his face, as she had done so many times in the 5 days since she had met him. She tried to compare the two pairs of eyes, the stature, the general essence of the two figures.

He's a different person... The same, and yet... Kotori shook her head. She was being completely irrational, and she knew it. But did it matter? She wanted to know, who this "Syaoran" really was, and what had happened to him. With an exasperated sigh, she tossed the pile of paperwork onto her desk, and stood. She carefully drew a few pictures from the pile, and gently placed them in her shirt pocket as she left the room. She walked, quickly, head lowered, not wanting the other nurses to know where she was so determined to reach.

I have to ask him...

----

"Syaoran?" She said meekly, as she stuck her between the crack in the doorway. "It's... it's Kotori." Something about talking to this boy made her so nervous. The boy she had only met once before had her completely captivated.

Syaoran didn't move. She sighed, and stepped inside, quietly shutting the door behind her. Her feeling of fear had decreased since last time, but she still felt uneasy about the unmoving body of her patient, the empty expression. She crept to the wall closest to him, and sat down to watch him. As she did so, his eyes flashed in her direction.

"You're back?" He said in a hoarse whisper, amber eyes meeting her pale, cautious ones. He shifted onto an elbow, braking eye-contact, and rising to a sitting position. The sudden movement made Kotori realize she was trembling, but for what reason, she didn't know. As he turned to watch her again, his hair shifted in front of his eyes, turning his face into an mess of chocolate and amber, with little but mouth and nose visible.

"Of course." She said, managing a smile, despite the trembling the slight cold sweat forming on her forehead. She crawled a few feet closer to the sitting boy, reaching out a hand to his. The sudden chill of it, almost made her recoil, to run away, but instinct said otherwise... "I want to know who you are."

Syaoran looked blankly at her for a moment, and then, to Kotori's surprise, he nodded in assent. She smiled, and lifted her hand to her cheek. "You're not Li Syaoran, are you?"

Syaoran looked up at the ceiling and inhaled, as if drawing the answer from above. "I'm not. I... but what I did to him..." He looked down, clamping his eyes shut, as if fighting off something from inside. "He looked like, him... I thought he was still... even after what he took from me... from myself..." Kotori felt his breaths growing shallower, and stroked his hand, willing him to be okay, to stay a while longer. I still need to know more... "'Him'?"

"He is the one who made me do... to kill... even her! My Hime... Sakura..." Syaoran clenched his teeth, and Kotori watched as tears began to well up in the corners of his eyes. "I thought Li Syaoran was... and so I... I killed him." Kotori's eyes widened, and she struggled to see his eyes, but they were still closed.

"We were exactly the same. There was nothing left of him, but I was soaked in his blood. So, they found me... and..." Tears were fully formed now, streaming down his cheeks, soaking strands of his knotted hair.

Kotori's face went white. "A mistake. They mistook you because..."

"Because all they could find was one body, covered in his own blood." Syaoran's eyes flashed open, and Kotori watched, breathless, as his eyes darkened from light amber, to chestnut and then to black. Suddenly, she couldn't see anything anymore, couldn't feel the floor. But there was a light, and then suddenly...

"Syaoran! Quickly" A shrill voice, unseen called out to the pair of eyes. The figure followed after the shrill call, panting, calling ahead to the unseen speaker.

What happened to Kurogane-san and Fai-san?

"There's trouble! There's someone here who-" The voice ceased, as the pair of eyes rounded a corner, entering a chamber lit by dim torches on all sides. In the chamber was a young man, holding a blood-stained animal carcass by two long ears. As the runner entered the room, he looked at the man, clad in blue and orange robes, markings running up his arms and legs in an intricate pattern.

Who are you? What are you trying to do to... as he spoke, the eyes darted downwards, towards the stranger's feet, where visible from behind him was a thin girl, amber hair covering her eyes, bound and gagged.

"Oh, but It's not what I will do..." The young man smiled, and with a jolt, the pair of eyes moved forward towards the stranger and the terrified girl. A knife was clutched in a hand. My hand? The hand plunged forward...

"No!!" Two pairs of eyes flashed, two breathless screams in unison, as they found themselves, side by side staring up at the ceiling of a padded room. Kotori leapt up to a sitting position, soaked in cold sweat. She immediately turned to Syaoran, who was still on the floor, in a panic. "No, Sakura! No... don't... I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..." He lifted a hand to his face, and Kotori watched, horrified, as he began to scrape at his skin, leaving red impressions on his face.

"Syaoran! Stop!" Kotori gasped, and went against one of the most important codes for a nurse in her line of work. She placed her hands on top of his, and clasped them, pulling them away from his face. "Stop it, Syaoran!" She had managed with some struggle to pry his hands of his face, but he was still fighting her. I can't win against him... as the thought crossed her mind, he let out a deep cry and flung his arm against the wall, sending her face first into the cushion.

He had struck her. This boy she had trusted so deeply, who had just opened up his mind to her a moment ago... "Syaoran..." her voice came out as little more than a whisper. As the last syllable of his name left her lips, his eyes flashed, and instantly the amber light was back.

"Sa-kura?" his head turned, hair obscuring his face once more, but though her vision was a little blurry, she could have sworn she saw a look of sympathy in his eyes. "Oh, Kotori-san... I... oh god..." He crept away, returning to his position in the center of the room. "You saw it? What I..." he said, his voice barely audible.

"Yes." Kotori responded simply. She had only meant to talk to him, to ask questions, but it had become so much more. She shared a piece of his past. And it wasn't enough for her, to know such a small part. "Will you please... let me come again?"

Syaoran looked up at her, and with something resembling a slight smile on his face, Kotori realized she was welcome to return.

----------------------

I didn't entirely like this one, it was rather hard to do at 1 AM. But meh, please review. Constructive criticism would be appreciated, but no random flames.