Dedicated to MR-chan. This is a sequel to the fic in Chapter 7, Till Death Do Us Apart. ^_^

Waiting was a cruel thing, as Syaoran paced up and down the corridor outside the operation room, working some sort of rut into the ground beneath his feet. It had been hours since Sakura was hustled into the room, but it felt like days to Syaoran. The first hour wasn't so bad; he managed to keep himself seated, although his internals insisted on doing flip-flops against his will. The second hour was much worse; he had trouble dispelling the urge to move around, to do something, and not just sit there helplessly. He only realised he was gripping his pants tightly when Tomoyo shot him a few worried glances from the corner of her eyes, and he immediately released his clutch, only to find himself clenching his shirt next. The third hour was positively insufferable, and he finally gave up trying to remain on the bench. Absently wiping away the rivulets of sweat forming on his forehead, he settled for striding up and down the corridor, an activity he kept on until now.

All of a sudden he staggered as if he had collided into something, and Tomoyo shot up from her seat, probably thinking he was going to faint any moment. He steadied himself, waving dismissively to inform Tomoyo he was fine, and glanced around the empty corridor.

"What is it?" Tomoyo inquired, curious at his actions.

"Nothing, it's just... I swear I bumped into something just now." He fleeted some more looks around. "And there's that presen-"

"Are you Kinomoto-san's family?"

Both pairs of hazels and azures immediately shot towards the operation entrance where a man in white coat stood. Syaoran instinctively trained his eyes on the patches of red on his coat, and his stomach twisted violently in response.

"How's Sakura?" he demanded swiftly, hazel irises watching every slight change in the surgeon's face. A frown, weary eyes, and strained lips tugged into a neutral expression, the kind of expression a doctor usually sported before they announced that their patients were-

No... He couldn't let his thoughts trail in that area...

"I'm sorry," the doctor mumbled, shaking his head jadedly. Syaoran froze.

Tomoyo gave a hysterical laughter and said, "This is when you tell us that the surgery was successful, right? Right?"

It sounded more like a plea than a question to Syaoran, but heaven forbid, if begging would help, he would instantly fall down on his knees! He barely restrained the urge to just rush into the room and see the truth for himself, and only because he didn't think he could bear to see Sakura swathed in blood.

The doctor sighed. "Kinomoto-san didn't make it."

Syaoran's mind blanked. Utterly blanked. Suddenly, he couldn't see and hear anything, except the words "didn't make it" echoing over and over in his eardrums. He didn't know what happen next, only that when the world gradually swirled into focus again, he was supported on both sides by Tomoyo and the doctor.

And he wished he never had to wake up from stupor, because now he had to deal with the horrible horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Sakura!!!"

*

*

*

It had been a week since Sakura died.

A week which Syaoran drifted in and out of consciousness, the people around him nothing but a blobs of colours. He could tell they were concerned about him, always sending him apprehensive glances, but he could not muster up the tiniest energy to care. Some even tried to talk to him, and the sole response they got was, "I'm fine."

He was fine, really. He wasn't in pain, or uncomfortable.

He felt dead.

So this is what life without Sakura felt like...

He swept his eyes around Sakura's room, a sudden surge of emotions hitting him. The first emotions he had felt this week. The room was still the same; cheery bright yellow wallpaper covering the walls, the frilly half-transparent curtains fluttering in the breeze, sunlight pouring through the slanted window on the roof... They all gave the illusion that nothing had changed. But something had changed.

The room's occupant was no longer.

Choking back a sob, Syaoran traced the etchings on the book holding the Sakura Cards. He snapped open the book, wondering at the back of his mind what would happen to the cards now that their owner was no longer living. Whose magic could they feed on now?

Fingertips ghosted over the cards, feeling the warmth they exuded. These were the cards that brought them together, the ones that gave them so many cherished memories. Syaoran glared at them. If they brought them together, why couldn't they save her? Why separate them like this?

Then he sighed. What was he doing, blaming the cards for Sakura's death? He shook his head absently. He really was losing his mind.

If only Sakura knew how lost he felt without her.

*

*

*

"Syaoran-kun, what will you do if I die?"

Syaoran stiffened, brows furrowing together. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Sakura giggled. "Don't get so tense, it's just a hypothetical question."

Syaoran scowled. "Don't joke about things like that. It's not funny, you know?"

Sakura stifled her amusement and put on a bogus somber face. "Hai, hai. I was just curious."

Syaoran relaxed and sighed. "Well, I guess I would start dating other girls and party all night and do all the things you don't allow me to-"

"Hey!" Sakura protested, pouting.

This time Syaoran chuckled. He reached over and mussed up her auburn hair. "Don't worry, silly, I'll make sure you outlive me! You can bet on it."

Sakura rolled her eyes, but smiled nevertheless. "You'd better."

Syaoran shot up from his bed, gasping and panting desperately, vestiges of his dream – nightmare – still swimming clearly in his mind.

I said I'll make sure she outlived me... I promised...

He recalled the events of the last few days. Sakura's father and brother were planning her funeral along with Tomoyo. They had attempted to bring him into the discussion too, but finally gave up when he gave no inputs, or opinions, or anything whatsoever.

It was because he hadn't truly believed that Sakura died.

He felt like he could still sense her around him all the time, the familiar warmth that engulfed him whenever he was around her. It could be his imagination, he knew, but it felt so real, so tangible. Maybe it was this tiny part of him that just wasn't willing to accept the stark facts, but he just wasn't willing to let go this last thread of hope.

People would say he was being imbecile, being obstinate. But he didn't care. He just wanted Sakura back.

Abruptly, he leapt out of his bed to the phone. He had just recollected some happenings for the past few days, and together they were falling in place like a jigsaw puzzle...

"Hello? This is Li. Can I drop by your house now?"

*

*

*

"Hey, gaki, what on earth are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Kinomoto Toya griped as Syaoran pushed through him and headed directly towards her room.

"I'm going to save Sakura," Syaoran mumbled before disappearing upstairs. Toya stopped, stunned, before rushing after him.

"What the heck are you talking about?" he queried.

"You know during Sakura's surgery, right before the doctor came out from the operation room. I felt something... A presence," Syaoran elucidated, hands busy rummaging around for the light switch and turned the lights on.

"So?"

"It was Sakura. I know it. I can recognise it."

Toya felt an upwelling of incredulity coursing through him, but he upheld his patience. In fact, he was feeling sorry for Syaoran that he was being that delusional after his sister's death.

"And then the cards, they're warm."

"What?"

"They're warm, even after a week since Sakura allegedly died. They shouldn't be, since their source of magic was cut off. This means that somehow, Sakura still exists, and the Sakura cards are channelling her powers," Syaoran explained, flipping open the book and touching the cards. Toya saw the look of reassurance flitting through his face as he confirmed that they were indeed warm.

But that was too absurd an idea. So what if they were? It could be another work of Clow Reed, something too complex for him to understand. Sakura was dead. That was final.

Toya felt his heart twist at that. He clenched his fist. People must move on. He must move on. Syaoran must move on.

He grabbed the latter on both sides of his shoulders, shaking him roughly.

"Sakura's dead. Dead. Drill that into your mind, will you?" he spat out. He noticed the flash of anguish darting in those molten depths, but he hardened his heart. Sakura would not want to see Syaoran like that, and if force was the only way to do that, so be it.

"No," Syaoran bit out stubbornly.

Toya thrust Syaoran onto Sakura's bed and slapped across his face. "Be a man, move on!"

The amber irises burnt with determination. "No."

Toya threw his arms into the air with exasperation. "Fine!" he snapped. "Fine! Do whatever you want. And after that, move on!"

Syaoran merely glared at him and said nothing. Toya leaned on the wall as he watched the man walking towards the open book again, lips pursed together, a look of fierce resolve, as if he was trying to ward off all doubts trying to get to him. It was then Toya realised that Syaoran was skeptical as well, and only the most ardent of emotions, his love for Sakura, was edging him on.

He let out a breath of resignation. If Sakura hadn't died, he had no uncertainties that the brat and her sister would have been very happy together.

Syaoran shuffled the cards in his hands and laid them out carefully on the desk. He scowled, chin propped up on a hand as he deliberated on the next step. He placed two fingers between his eyebrows, closed his eyes, and muttered something in Chinese Toya couldn't understand. Then Syaoran's eyes snapped open, and he directed the two fingers at the card, as if willing them to respond to his summons.

No reaction.

Syaoran's lips thinned further, brows inching slightly closer. He brandished his sword out of thin air and aimed its tip on a card.

Nothing happened.

"Kuso!" he growled, chucking his sword away. "The cards won't answer my calls."

Toya shrugged, expecting this to happen all along. "Give it up, gaki."

"No!"

Toya slapped his forehead. He shook his head as Syaoran chanted another string of mantra-like Chinese to no avail, before trying another method. Minutes passed by, when Syaoran finally wobbled onto the floor in exhaustion. Toya sighed.

"There's nothing we can do, gaki. The best thing we can do right now is to move on and honour her in our memories," he murmured gently, placing a soothing hand on Syaoran's shoulder.

Syaoran bit his lip in silence. For a moment, Toya was afraid he was going to break down in tears, but then, he was too proud to do so. Instead, he stood up and towards the desk, picking up a card in his hand.

"Sakura," he whispered hoarsely, eyes glazed over with reminiscence – and tears. "Please come back."

Toya turned around at the sight. He felt like he was intruding something private, something very personal. He was about to leave the room when a sudden blinding glow halted him.

"What the-"

His eyes widened in amazement. The card, previously held in Syaoran's hand, was now suspended in the air, glimmering with such brilliance it hurt to look directly at it. The luminosity gradually broadened, expanding in width and height until the outline of a person could be seen.

"That figure... Sakura..." Toya gasped out.

Slowly but steadily, the radiance ebbed away, until a girl with silken coppery hair and shimmering green eyes could be seen standing there, mouth partially open as if in surprise.

"Sakura!" Syaoran exclaimed. The girl twirled to face him.

"Syaoran-kun," she breathed, looking at Syaoran as if she hadn't seen him in a long time. With a gush of adrenaline, he bounded towards her and enveloped her in his arms, hugging tightly, never wanting to let go. Toya perceived with some embarrassment the sparkling tears flowing down his cheeks.

"You saved me," Sakura said. "I knew you would."

"But... how? I didn't do anything..." Syaoran asked.

"The card. The Hope card. We never knew how it should be used, but actually it grants a wish to someone with a sincere heart. Just one, though."

Syaoran pulled away and raised his eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"I just... sort of did. After I died, I just knew. I tried telling you in your dreams."

Another eyebrow was quirked. "Were you with me the whole time? The presence I felt was you, wasn't it?"

Sakura blushed and nodded. "I was watching the whole time..."

Silence. Nothing stirred in the room, as Syaoran and Sakura gazed into each other's eyes.

An eternity passed, beforen a devious smile crept onto Sakura's lips. "Anyway, didn't you say you were going start dating and partying and do everything else I didn't allow you to do after I died?"

Syaoran sulked. "How dare I when you're observing all the time? Knowing your temper, I most probably would die a horrible death."

Sakura glowered. "What's that supposed to mean? I-"

The rest of her words were unheard as lips crushed on lips, and it only took Sakura seconds to reciprocate Syaoran's kiss. They were going to continue when-

"Ahem."

They jolted apart as if someone had passed a live wire between them and simultaneously glanced towards the source of sound.

"Oniichan!" Sakura grumbled, flushing feverishly. "Go away!"

Toya sighed. Since when were boyfriends more important than brothers? Ah well...

"Yuck, it's not like I want to see this, kaijuu. Come downstairs when you're done, okay? Otousan will want to see you too." All said and done, Toya tripped downstairs with a new spring in his steps and an ecstatic grin on his countenance.

"Mou, stupid oniichan!"

Syaoran did not answer; he just stared at Sakura thoughtfully.

"Sakura, I love you."

Sakura started, glancing at him. "What brought this on?"

"I just realised how short life can be. I want to make the most of our time together. I want to tell you how much I love you every single day."

Sakura suppressed a grin. "It'll get boring."

"Oh?" Syaoran pulled her into his embrace again and squashed her against him. "Then how about this?"

Once again, lips locked with lips as eyes fluttered shut. Lips slid in tandem and tongues engaged in an intense battle for domination. Sakura moaned.

I love you too, Syaoran-kun.

Kyah! Okay. That did not end like I imagined, but oh well. This is the last installment for this fic, since 2008 is almost over. Wow... Time literally flies...

So Happy New Year to everyone and thanks for reading!