Sakura sat at the table with a hand on her chin starring down at the plate of food in front of her.

"Not hungry Sakura?" Tomoyo asked who was sitting directly across from her.

Lifting her head to look at Tomoyo, Sakura smiled politely. "Not really. I don't have much of an appetite."

Syaoran eyed Sakura with a sideways glance as she put down her fork and sat back into the booth.

Tomoyo tilted her head to the side and commented, "Well that's a shame! This food is really good!"

Sakura looked down to her food again and huffed. "Maybe next time."

Eriol remained quiet as he looked to Syaoran who sat directly in front of him for questions. Syaoran offered none.

"Sakura," Tomoyo started up "Why are you here anyways? Aren't you supposed to be in school? I mean Eriol and I have a week off from our college, but I thought you were still in high school." Trying to piece things together, Tomoyo failed to notice Syaoran's pleading expression to stop.

Sakura looked at Tomoyo as if she was tongue-tied. But before she could even say anything to defend herself Syaoran started up for her. "We just need a break. All that studying can get tedious."

Tomoyo nodded her head, "I know what you mean-"

Sakura cut her off. "My mother is dying and Syaoran brought me hear cause I couldn't handle it myself." Sakura crawled out of the booth and stood next to it, looking at Tomoyo as tears dropped from her eyes. "I'm running away. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Before anyone could stop her, Sakura turned and ran out the door.

Tomoyo shouted after her, but Syaoran bolted before anyone else could say anything. She wasn't going to get away from him that easily. Reaching the main entrance Syaoran looked to his left then his right and spotted Sakura running through the rain. Chasing after her he struggled to keep from falling on the slick pavement. Sakura reached the end of the sidewalk and came upon the street. The stoplight was against her, but she obviously didn't care. She took a step of the curb and a horn was blazed just as Syaoran grabbed her arm and yanked her back to him.

If he didn't stop her, she would have been hit and she knew it too. Sakura breathed hard into Syaoran's chest as his grip on her tightened around her back. "Don't ever do that again!" His voice was shaky as she finally raised her arms to cling to his back and cried. "I thought I was going to lose you." Syaoran whispered to her as a few more cars passed them by as the rain continued to pound on them.

Sakura calmed down and started shaking. Neither one of them had their jackets on and to top it off, Sakura had on a thin shirt. She started coughing a little and Syaoran guided her back to the hotel. Catching sight of the entrance, Sakura half expected to see Eriol and Tomoyo but they weren't there. They weren't in the lobby either as the attendants rushed to the soaking pair.

Syaoran accepted a towel from one of them and pushed the rest away. He just wanted to get her back to the room. It was pretty quiet the rest of the way.

Sakura had almost given up on finding their friends until they reached their room where Tomoyo and Eriol were standing against their door. Tomoyo's eyes were red and puffy and Sakura knew the girl had been crying.

"Sakura, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I-" Tomoyo pleaded.

Sakura tried to smile the best she could. "It's alright." She said quietly shaking just a bit more as she leaned back into Syaoran making, subconsciously making sure he was still there. The silence was almost deafening until Sakura coughed lightly.

"Can we call it a day?" Syaoran asked Eriol.

"Sure buddy. You guys sleep well, and don't even think about getting sick Sakura." Eriol winked at her in a struggle to remain light and cheering to help support Sakura. "Call us when you're up."

Syaoran nodded and the four walked to their rooms. After closing the door, Syaoran leaned up against it. "Go get a warm shower babe. It will help relax you."

Sakura absentmindedly nodded her head and went to her bag grabbing her pajamas. Syaoran kept a close eye on her until she closed the bathroom door.

Pushing himself off of the room door Syaoran walked over to his stuff and picked up his cell phone.

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The phone started to ring waking Nadeshiko. Looking around she found her husbands cell phone on her nightstand. Picking it up, she answered it. "Hello?"

There was an intake of breath on the other end before someone stuttered out "Mrs. Kinomoto?" In a confused whisper.

"Syaoran?" She questioned back. "Is that you?"

"Yes." He spoke softly almost afraid to breath for fear of hurting her.

"Well it's good to hear from you! How is everything going?" Nadeshiko asked in a cheery yet winded voice as she lay back onto her pillows closing her eyes and holding the phone to her ear.

"It's going okay. I guess you could say better then before, but I'm still not really sure about that myself." There was a pause before he continued. "How are you?"

Nadeshiko smiled and evaded the question. "Please take care of my daughter Syaoran."

"Yes Mrs. Kinomoto. Please take care of yourself." Nadeshiko heard Syaoran sigh as she told him that she would do her best. She hung up the phone and felt sorry for the young boy on the other end. She knew he was still having trouble digesting everything he had learned in the past few days. It was still too unreal, even for her.

She was staring at the phone when the door quietly opened.

"Nadeshiko?" Came the soothing voice of her husband.

"I'm here." She called out to him and Fujitaka approached the bed.

"I thought I heard something. Is everything okay?" He cautiously sat on the edge of the bed and caressed Nadeshiko's cheek with the back of his hand. "Your warm. Do you feel sick again?"

Nadeshiko smiled at his concern and whispered, "No. I'm fine." She gently grabbed his hand from her face and brought it to her lips kissing it lightly. "How are the boys?"

"They are in the living room. Touya's resting and Yuki is reading a book. Would you like to see them?" He searched her eyes for a sign of. . . well, anything. She had been so good about everything so far and he knew she could hardly stand it anymore.

As if sensing his distress, she squeezed his hand. "I'm okay honey. I'm still here, right now, and that's all there is to it." She struggled to smile and her eyes glassed over. "I love you so much." She closed her eyes as tears leaked through.

Fujitaka leaned over her gathering her into a tight embrace. "I love you too, so much."

Nadeshiko wrapped her arms as tightly as she could around him and whispered through quiet sobs. "Don't forget me."

That was it. Fujitaka hit his breaking point and he broke down and cried. "I won't." He didn't even attempt to be quiet. He wanted to make sure she heard, that she knew exactly what she meant to him. "I can never forget you." He cried quieter muffling his face in her shoulder. "I will always love you, even when you leave me."

Nadeshiko choked a bit and hushed him. Once he calmed down a bit she whispered into his ear. "I will be waiting for you."

Invisible to the two, there was another standing in the hall by the door crying silently from the sad and depressing feelings being exposed to the house. He brushed his silver hair out of his eyes and backed into the living room taking a seat in a chair across from the sofa where Touya lay exhausted from lack of sleep since this whole ordeal started.

Watching closely, Yukito could see Touya's relaxed face and normal color return. There was no stress holding his body. He hoped that the dreams the boy would have would be great. He needed happiness right now. His best friend deserved all the happiness in the world.

Yukito whipped the tears from his eye and picked up the book he had found earlier and continued for where he left off knowing it would be a long couple of nights ahead of them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura stepped out of the bathroom and Syaoran stood up with his things. He had gotten all ready to go after hanging up with Nadeshiko. He didn't want to leave Sakura alone that long.

Walking past Sakura he smiled and stepped into the bathroom. He was showered and dressed before two minutes had passed. He stepped out of the bathroom, his hair dripping over his clean shirt making it slightly damp.

Sakura turned her head to him and chuckled. "In a hurry there?" She stood from the bed where she didn't have much time to do much of anything before he was back in the room. She walked right past him and into the bathroom grabbing a hand towel and exiting towards Syaoran. She walked right up to him and placed her hand on his chest pushing him backwards until he ran into the bed and was forced to sit. Placing the towel on his head she attempted to rub his hair dry. "You have to be careful Syaoran or you will get sick."

Syaoran laughed. "I never get sick!"

Sakura cringed at his cocky statement. "It's stuff like that, you know, that will bring you down." She raised an eyebrow at him and squeaked as he grabbed her by the side and yanked her to the bed.

He twisted her as he pulled and she landed on her back as his hands pinned her sides restraining her from any large movements. "And it's remarks like that which make me take you out." He growled it as if he were the predator.

In a quick motion, Sakura brought up the towel and wrapped it around the back of his head yanking hard. His head lowered a bit but stopped before hitting her chest. Syaoran was about to open his mouth in a protest when his eyes made contact with hers again. She loosened her grip on the towel and it slid down to Syaoran's neck. Her expression was solemn.

"Sakura" Syaoran whispered dying to kiss her even though there was so much sadness in her eyes.

"I am doing that, aren't I Syaoran?" Her face slightly paled as she tried to fit things together in her mind.

"Doing what babe?" He asked prompting her to let everything out.

"I'm running." She looked into his eyes, searching for another answer, a better answer, or maybe just a way out. "It's just so much easier to pretend that it's not there. Pretend that my life isn't falling apart. I mean I left her when she needed me the most! How could I do that?" tears flowed down her cheeks and hit the bedspread. "I'm a horrible person! And to top it off I'm a coward!"

Syaoran studied her for a minute before bending lower and whispering to her, "You are not a horrible person." He took a breath and his body reacted before his mind.

Leaning forward his lips met hers.

A few seconds later he pulled away realizing what he had just done. Surprise was written all over Sakura's face and Syaoran had been left tongue-tied.

Sakura's mind whirled at what just happened. 'Did he really do that?' 'Did he just kiss me?' 'What was that?'

Syaoran couldn't bare to look at her anymore. He got up and stepped a few feet back. "Sakura I-"

"It's alright Syao." Sakura interrupted. "I know it didn't mean anything. 'What are you saying?' She asked herself trying to keep a smile. She sat up and looked down at the floor completely missing Syaoran's hurt eyes.

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I know, I know. It's short. I'm sorry it's been so long between updates, but it's hard to find a lot of time in-between everything that is going on. I'm hoping to get the next chapter up tomorrow. Thanks again to all my loyal reviewers. Hope ya liked it.