3. I Need You

A/N: Syaoran and Sakura have been dating for a while now, and as Sakura nears the annual end-of-year exam and Syaoran his highly dreaded graduation exams, things get intense. Both get more frustrated and it leads to very drastic situations.

Rating: T (language)

Genre: Romance

Syaoran waited for Sakura, as usual, near the side entrance of the school, where her car pool waited for her. It hadn't been a very good day; he had forgotten to finish the previous day's homework, got called to the principal's office because of a rumour that one of his many fan-girls made up, yelled at by a few different teachers for asking perfectly sensible questions and he hadn't seen his girlfriend the entire day. He missed her a lot and regretted not going to find her instead of feeling sorry for himself and wandering around the school without her by his side.

At last, Sakura came down the staircase, looking exhausted and extremely pissed off. Other students were pushing her around to get to their cars to be in time for their favourite TV shows and she looked just short of exploding. Her day hadn't been very successful either – she got called into the principal's office because of a fight she was involved in with a few guys who kept messing with her, missed her recess and lunch thanks to her teacher who wanted her to plan an end-of-year play with him and felt extremely guilty for not telling her boyfriend where she was going; knowing him, he would've gone wandering the school feeling sorry for himself. On top of everything else, she had just gotten her monthly period.

When she finally reached her boyfriend, she smiled tiredly, and a little more happiness entered her eyes. "Syaoran," she said, sounding fatigued but happy at the same time. "I'm sorry I'm late; got held back to clean the white board." She made a face, and Syaoran smiled. The grimace disappeared from her face and suddenly she didn't want to meet his eyes. "Baby, I'm sorry about today; I didn't spend time with you and I didn't tell you where I was going during recess and lunch."

A car horn interrupted her sentence and she turned to look in its direction. Tomoyo's mom – her car pool – was telling her to hurry up. Sakura turned back to Syaoran. "Look, I'm really sorry, but I promise I'll explain everything later. Just give me a call, would you?"

Syaoran nodded, and that was when she realized that he was not his usual open self. "Syao…you okay?" she asked, worried.

He simply nodded and managed a small smile. "It's a long story, cherry," he said quietly, calling her his pet name for her – one of them. "I'll tell you later, alright?"

"No, tell me!" she persisted, getting impatient. Another honk from the car sounded.

"No," he said firmly, then lowered his volume. "You should go, Saks. I…"

Before she could finish, Sakura's eyes darkened and she said quietly, "Fine, then. Chase me away. I'll talk to you later, then…" She turned away.

Unfortunately, Syaoran heard her. "Sakura, I'm not trying to chase you away, I…" His anger rose. "Fine then! GO! I don't need you."

Sakura's eyes snapped open and she stopped. No. No, he wouldn't have. He couldn't have! She looked over her shoulder and saw that he was focused on something outside, instead of watching her as she walked to the car like he usually did. Tears filled her eyes; it confirmed it. He didn't need her.

As she dumped her bag into the boot of the car and climbed into the front seat, she burst into tears.

But not before Syaoran saw it. And the only thought in his mind was: shit.

Shit, shit, shit, shit, SHIT! he thought, furious for letting himself say that. He pulled out his phone to give her a call when he realized he had no credit. He swore inwardly again and was about to toss the phone over the railing into the drain below him when he saw his best friend/cousin, Eriol. Dark-haired, dark-eyed Eriol was one of the few competitions when it came to getting girls. When Syaoran had gotten Sakura, he didn't need to compete anymore because he had the girl he loved; a girl whose heart he had just broken.

"Eriol!" he called out, pocketing his phone. Please let your phone have credit, please let it have credit enough to call her, he thought desperatedly. "Eriol, do you have your phone with you?"

"Erm, yeah…" he answered, confused. He brought it out – the latest iPhone 4S – and handed it to Syaoran. He took it from him, unlocked it with the code Eriol didn't know he had and dialled Sakura's number from memory. Pick up, pick up… Angel, pick up, please…

It rang for infuriatingly long until finally a shaky female voice said, "Eriol?" followed by a humourless laugh. "You sure now how to call at the right time…" It was shaky and sad, and it was evident that she was still crying.

"Sakura!" Syaoran said, clearly happy. "Sakura, listen, I didn't mean that…"

He wasn't allowed to finish his sentence when she hung up on him. "Sakura?" he tried again, pleadingly. Taking a deep breath and willing himself not to break down crying, he redialled her number again – several times – until he gave up and swore loudly, "FUCK!" and nearly flung the two-week-old phone across the room when he remembered that it wasn't his. As calmly as possible, he handed the phone back to Eriol, who looked even more confused than before.

As soon as the phone left his hands, he slumped to the floor, tears streaming down his face. "Sakura," he said softly, running his fingers through his hair and grasping it, like he wanted to pull it out.

Eriol knelt down beside him. "Wanna let it all out?"

"I…I said something to Sakura I didn't mean, and now she won't answer my calls. I haven't seen her the whole day and now she won't talk to me…she won't talk to me…" he kept muttering, crying. "Eriol, what if something happens to her and the last thing I told her was that I didn't need her?"

Eriol opened his mouth to answer but Syaoran pressed on.

"Do you know why I'm always spending time with her? Because it's my last year and I don't know how often I can visit next year. I'm also scared, because if something happens to her, I don't want our last memory to be hurtful or sad, that's why I try to make the best of every second I have with her. I failed today; I should've gone looking for her during recess and lunch instead of looking sorry for myself. I'm such a JERK!"

The pain was too much, just too much to bear. He loved Sakura more than anything on this earth and couldn't bear to be away from her for so long. Now if she was involved in an accident and he wouldn't be able to see her in time before she moves on, the last thing she would have heard him say was that he didn't need her when in fact, he needed her in his life every day.

Abruptly Eriol's phone started vibrating in his hand, playing the starting of 'Say You Like Me' by We The Kings, almost causing him to drop it. It was his personalized ringtone for his pretty girlfriend, Tomoyo. On his screen it even showed her posing in a brand new purple dress she designed. He hit the Answer button. "Tomoyo?"

Syaoran, who had his face buried in his hands, didn't see Eriol's face change, nor the words being said over the phone by Tomoyo, who was talking frantically and in a high pitched voice, making it clear than she was panicking.

"Eriol? Eriol! It's Sakura! We got into a hit-and-run accident and Sakura's down! She's at the hospital just opposite the mall, please get down here! She's out, and I'm not sure how long she's gonna last. Tell Syaoran, and please hurry!"

She hung up, and Eriol slowly lowered the phone. "Syaoran!" Eriol shook him unceremoniously by the shoulders, not caring whether he was still crying or not. "Syaoran. Syaoran, Sakura got involved in an accident. I'm not sure how bad it is but…"

The rest was lost into Syaoran's shout of horror. He stood up and just ran, not caring about Eriol shouting after him, not a care what happened to the people around him – he just needed to get to Sakura. The mall was at least fifteen minutes away from the school but he held track records for the school sports. However, it was nothing compared to how fast he ran now; he practicall flew down the streets. He took the road, and was grateful it was jammed up, allowing him to weave through traffic.

As he pulled into the hospital compound, he raced up the steps and stopped at the reception counter. "Sakura Kinomoto," he panted urgently. The receptionist in the neat uniform shot him a weird look before saying, "Ward 174, floor 3."

In his haste, he didn't say thank you. Immediately he rushed off to the ward, dodging and weaving through patients, nurses and doctors. He had actually run past the ward in his haste. As he backtracked, his heart started beating faster. Please don't go, cherry. Please don't leave me, he thought, silently pleading.

The door he stopped in front of had not been painted in at least a few months, and the golden numbers were chipped and faded to reveal the rusty brown underneath. Taking a deep breath, he knocked, and opened the door…and gasped.

His sweetheart was lying with her right leg in a cast, and her forehead bandaged. Her arms were covered in bright red scars and welts, no doubt from broken shards of glass. One eye was bruised, and as she raised her head slowly and painfully to look at him, he saw two short scratches dangerously close to her eye.

"What happened?" he asked, horrified.

Tomoyo, who was sitting next to Sakura on a stool, answered angrily, "An idiot motorcyclist, that's what. God, I hope he suffers!" She had escaped most of it, since she had chosen to sit in the back seat that afternoon to surf the Net on her laptop.

Syaoran looked at Tomoyo. "Is your mother okay?" he asked.

She nodded. "Yeah. The motorcyclist was on Sakura's side, so she got the brunt of it." Then she realized that she was probably keeping them from being alone. "I'll, um…go wait for Eriol."

And she left.

Sakura and Syaoran sat staring at each other for a few moments of awkward silence, he in his messy, untucked school uniform; her with one leg in a cast and scarred arms. "Sakura," he managed finally.

Sakura glared at him.

"Sakura, I…Baby, I'm sorry," he said finally. "I'm sorry I told you that I didn't need you, when I did, I need you in my life so I can continue living...I need you because I love you. I try to make the best of every second I can be with you every day because if something happens to either one of us, I don't want the last moment we spend together to be hurtful or sad; but I failed you today. Instead of going to look for you, I wandered the school looking sorry for myself. And I'm sorry. Please forgive me; anger made me say things I would never say to you and I'm really sorry."

He knelt beside her bed and looked her in the eye. "Sakura, I love you. Believe me. Please." He tilted her chin upwards to meet her lips and kissed her deeply. He didn't want to let go of her, not this time. When he realized that she had heard him, he should've run after her immediately. But at the moment, her hands were driving him crazy, so he couldn't pay attention to anything else.

Neither of them heard the door open. "Dear God, do you mind?" a male voice said.

Syaoran reluctantly pulled away from her and turned to face Eriol.

"Good news, Saks. You're not gonna die," Eriol said simple, parking his butt down on the chair facing Sakura.

Sakura met Syaoran's eyes again, and a small smile tugged their lips. Sakura tugged her boyfriend's tie, placed a hand behind his neck and pressed his lips to hers…

…ignoring the groans and 'ugh's of Eriol and his girlfriend.

Author's Note: So…what did you think? :) review, yeah! Thanks to those who reviewed, especially James Birdsong, who reviews on quite a few of my stories. Thanks a lot, James!
Coming up next: Please Stay, where Syaoran gets a job and asks Sakura to move in with him. However, with the way he's acting, she might very well just leave.

Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura. Just this story :)