AN: This took a LOT longer than planned! I am so sorry, I've been away and doing a new course so life's been mad. But

I think you'll enjoy this! R&R! Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with CCS

Chapter 13

Chase

Meilin cursed to herself as she hit the dashboard with her gun, angrily shouting somewhere that she couldn't hear herself to her cousins to put their feet on the pedal, to get them to her friends faster, to save Sakura and Tomoyo.

I should have known, her eyes closed as she threw herself back into the seat, ignoring the other two in the vehicle and attempting to think if there had been some indication she missed. It had been ridiculously easy, but she thought nothing of it- other times before some missions had been simpler, what made this one so different. Sakura… Tomoyo, she cringed at the thought of what might be done to them after Sakura's previous experience with Jai, and now Tomoyo's blossoming relationship with the navy haired man in the back seat. She just hoped her new friends would be clever enough to remember what she had been teaching them.

-x-

Just a little more, just a little more, Sakura willed her own body, feeling the warmth flow back through her veins and the twitch of her muscle fibres beginning to work once more. They were almost at the car, her mind and body working on a split second timeline as she saw the side doors of the van being slid open by two tattooed thugs before Tomoyo was thrown in, next Sakura.

Fuck! She was too late by the time her left arm started to regain feeling, already shoved into the back of the van next to her friend, both still mute. Sakura could hear the laughter of the Mamba's men outside, laughing to themselves about catching their 'prey' and how grateful their boss would be.

Finally flexing her fingers she began to move her arm, the feeling coming back to her as she managed to move from the floor and sit up, looking to her right to realise Tomoyo was beginning to regain feeling in her limbs as well.

"Alright?" She whispered softly, looking at her friend to make sure she wasn't injured.

"Yeah… But now what…" Her amethyst eyes looked around the darkness of the back van, from the slight crack where the doors met; she could make out… Absolutely nothing of use.

"They didn't check us for guns, they didn't even bind us… They obviously think we are more useless than we are." A hushed whisper exited Sakura's mouth as she reached down to unstrap a gun from each of her thighs, holding them in her limp hands before looking to Tomoyo who was doing the same.

"What do we do?"

"Here's the plan…"

-x-

"Turn the fucking music off, turn the fucking music off before I blow your cranium out!" Meilin screamed at the DJ, her gun out of her holster and held at an angle to the man's head. His shaved hair was on end as he reached over slowly as not to appear to be making sudden movements, turning the music off to the chagrin of the partygoers.

"You all know who I am. I'm looking for two girls, Sakura, Tomoyo?" She shouted over the microphone, the faces of many of the gang recognising her as they looked around one another, hands lowered from the air and inquisitive looks upon their faces.

"Long auburn hair, skinny, green eyes? Black hair, amethyst eyes, shorter than the other one, just as skinny?" She shouted over the microphone, watching as the crowd desperately began to look around one another before she heard someone shouting from somewhere below.

"What you saying?" She shouted, looking down to the young barman who was shouting her, but she was too far away from the DJ booth.

"He says they went out with some guys, through the door at the back!" A dark brown haired girl shouted, pointing toward a dark exit at the back of the room that appeared to be seldom used apart from by staff.

"Shit." She whispered, throwing the microphone down and making her way through the crowd to the back of the club where a small crowd was beginning to form, her cousins at the forefront.

"Tyre marks from here, they've gone." Li said, his eyes focused on Eriol next to him who had his head in his hands, sat on the dark curb.

Meilin looked up and down the road and felt like screaming, looking at Eriol who had suddenly become defunct and her other cousin whose eyes were steely and cold, revealing nothing. She scuffed her foot along the floor as she decided what to do about the situation, what they could do.

Suddenly, she felt a vibration from her pocket and fished her phone out of the from next to her thigh. Sliding her finger across the glass, she answered.

"Meilin, Samaya here."

"What's up Sam?" She asked impatiently, remembering how their haul had now gone badly at Ingashu Tower.

"We've got a tail on a silver van down the west side ring road, we were driving back on the bikes from Ingashu when we pulled up next to it at the lights. By chance Tak noticed it was the same guys we had a run in with the other week and now we're following them, they're trying to get away though, they might have the girls."

"Fuck! Yes! Stay with them we're on the way!"

-x-

"We're speeding up, maybe they found us?" Tomoyo whispered, crouching down in order to retain some balance as she was suddenly thrown around the vehicle once more, trying to peek through the back doors of the van once again.

"I think you might be right…" Sakura whispered, her ear to the back of the van, crouched down with no shoes on as she tried to stand.

"Right, stick to the plan anyway, we don't know what's going to happen… Next time they slam on, we're out, okay?"

Tomoyo's features became determined as she nodded, cocking the gun back for good measure and crouching to wait with her best friend.

"We know they're in the van they've sped off, do we shoot? I repeat do we shoot or stand down?" Samaya's voice came over the intercom as Meilin looked between her two cousins, Syaoran's eyes furiously on the road as Eriol held his gun between his hands, just waiting for the moment he would be able to use it.

"It's too risky… Don't try and run them off the road either, you might hurt the girls…" Eriol looked for confirmation from the others and received a swift nod at his response.

"Not being funny E, but what the fuck are we meant to do then? Just follow them until one of us runs out of fuel?" Takashi's voice came over the intercom as Samaya swerved the black vehicle around a corner, dodging a black cab as he followed behind the van. Hiru and his brother, Mika, were behind them in a silver saloon, tyres screeching on the tarmac as they kept pace.

Inside Syaoran's head a whole manner of emotion was swirling around, most importantly the face that he kept seeing flashing in his mind's eye, those emerald eyes and that look she had upon her face during their last interaction… And that he knew for definite now that these feelings he had been harbouring and trying so hard to fight were not lessening with absence.

"Just fucking… Think of something, we're nearly at you now…" He fiddled with his ear, pulling the earpiece from it and throwing it down onto the dash as he concentrated on driving and tried to think of a plan. If they blew out the tyres the van might flip, if they carried on chasing them for a while they might get back into Mamba territory, if they shot the drivers the van would surely crash…

"We're going to have to try and box them in … That's the only thing I can think of…" He said, turning to look at Meilin as they approached the van for her approval or contribution.

"It's dangerous, we might hurt them…" She whispered, biting her lip as she began to wind her window down and take aim as she saw the van coming closer and closer into view as Syaoran pressed the pedal harder, the sleek car moving faster through the night.

"Well it at least needs to slow down… Somehow… They're going too fast for these roads."

Grabbing his earpiece back from the dash and securing it in his ear, Syaoran pulled the car further up towards Samaya and Hiru's vehicles, saluting them as they drove, the three cars taking up each of the roads lanes as they tailed the van in front.

"Just keep following them, we need to think of something…"

-x-

"Look right, we're being tailed, there are three cars behind us, and we just need to find a way to get them to stop so we can get out of here…" Tomoyo's hand's clutched the lever inside the van, at the very bottom of the door, which would allow them to open the back doors if they managed to stop. Cowboys, she thought to herself as she realised these were probably some of the most inept kidnappers possible.

"Right, well, on three?" Sakura looked unsurely to her friend, sizing up the idea that was at hand. It was the best they currently had, and it didn't seem like any of the other people involved were getting the van to slow down any time soon.

"One, two…THREE!"

Both girls opened fire through a small crack that they had found between the front and the back of the van that showed the back of one of the car seats, namely one of the three front passenger seats. It was the seat in the middle, and not the driver, but they knew if they managed to hit the spot where the crack was, the bullets would go straight through to the other side.

Suddenly the van lurched, both girls tumbling into a heap of limbs as their bullets hit home, their mission a success, shouts and a wounded man's voice chilling them to the bone as he screamed in agony. Looking at one another, their eyes were glued to the spot as they began to consider what they had just done.

"It's kill or be killed Tomoyo. They have no sympathy left for us." Sakura whispered, taking her friends hand and standing as the vehicle made a noise as if the driver was attempting to put it into gear.

"Go, now, lets go!" Tomoyo shouted, grabbing the lever at the bottom of the door and wrenching it upwards, the doors peeling open to the air of the night and the bright lights of the city blurring out into her vision, street lights and car headlights swimming into view as she saw they were along a three lane carriageway. The air took away their breath as suddenly there was another vehicle careering toward them, the black saloon unaware of the vehicles sudden stopping mere moments too late as it shunted the back of the van, throwing both girls back into it with a large bang.

-x-

Syaoran slammed on the breaks as good as he could, however he knew it wasn't good enough. By the time he'd realised that the van was coming abruptly to a halt, which he had no part in causing, even his reflexes could not make the stopping distance of the car become shorter at such a high speed. The car shunted into the back of the van as he saw auburn and black hair throw open the doors, shoving the van forth and the two girls toppling over.

Luckily, a quick survey told him the shunt had caused no damage to his passengers, and he threw his belt off with a grunt as he hauled himself out of the car, jumping upon the bonnet and into the back of the van.

Laid there was Tomoyo, her eyes open and glassy as she looked to her rescuer, a smile gracing her face as he grabbed her arm to pull her up.

"Are you alright?" He whispered, looking her up and down, noting a slight bump to her head.

"I'm better now you guys are here." She nodded at him before escaping the van and into the arms of Eriol, who was now stood on the hood of the saloon.

"Sakura…" He whispered, grabbing her small frame from the floor of the van and into a crouch. Her emerald eyes were swimming, like her friends, with unshed tears as she looked to the face that she hadn't seen in days. His chocolate hair was messier than usual, sticking out at odd angles, his face cut across the cheek in a somewhat recent altercation. His eyes, however, held something different to the last time she'd seen him. They were concerned.

"Are you alright?" He whispered, as they both crouched inside the vehicle, the rest of the world and the rest of the incident that they were in momentarily forgotten. Moving away a stray hair from in front of her eyes, he took in her emerald orbs as if relishing the moment, as she nodded, her voice lost.

Suddenly a shout was heard from the front of the van, and swearing from the others. Grabbing Sakura's hand and dragging her from the back of the van and onto the top of the saloon , they both surveyed the scene around them. The others had pulled up in their cars, guns aimed to the two men who had emerged from the van in a stand-off. Neither party had shot a gun, neither party was wavering to flee and retreat.

"Think you're little bitches shooting at us would kill us then?" One laughed, grinning as he looked at the messy state of Sakura and Tomoyo.

Raising a brow, the others stood around looked to the two girls who stood sheepishly at being reminded of what they'd just done. "Better you be dead than alive!" Shouted Eriol, pulling Tomoyo to be shielded by his form.

"You're out of luck, Wolf." The one who Sakura had met in the bar shouted, grinning all of a sudden as he took Syaoran into view.

"And how would you suggest that? Look around you" he gestured to his friends, his members, his family, stood with their arms holding weaponry, pointed at the two men who were sorely outnumbered.

"Because you didn't think we'd just come all the way alone did you?" The other grinned, gesturing behind them as the roar of engine after engine suddenly entered their ears.

Motorbikes and cars, careering down the highway toward the stood vehicles, growling like beasts in the night as they gained speed. Upon them, helmeted and non-helmeted riders, brandishing weaponry of all kinds, from large guns to small, matte to shiny… Suddenly bearing upon them.

"GET BACK IN THE FUCKING CARS!" Eriol roared, grabbing Tomoyo and practically throwing her into the car with Hiru and Mika, himself following.

"Meilin, ride with us!" Samaya shouted, grabbing Meilin as Syaoran assessed the damaged bumper of the black saloon before gesturing to Sakura to follow him, buckling her into the passenger seat.

In front, the van began to take off as the men started the engine to get away from the fray, no doubt to tend to their injured companion, Sakura thought. Syaoran started the car with a roar before pulling away, the intercom back safely within his ear.

"We need to get out of here, but take as many down with you as possible. If you're in trouble, if someone else is in trouble, shout for help, main priority is to get out of here, we've been truly done over tonight, but we aren't leaving without something." He growled down it, looking to Sakura who had a firearm in each hand, loading the cartridge.

"When did you get those?" He asked, surprise written across his face as he pulled the car away from where it was, revving the engine loudly as he heard one of the bikers coming toward them.

"These? They're mine." She said, wriggling up from her seatbelt, the green dress hiking further and further up her creamy thigh as she pressed the button for the window to open and took position.

"What are you doing?" He nearly shouted, as she partly hung out of the window, both weapons in her arms. What the hell was she doing? She didn't even know how to shoot a gun.

"How do you think we got out of that van? I've not been sat doing nothing on my ass for the past few weeks you know." She bit at him, inside once again feeling that inadequacy in his eyes settle upon her. He never thought she could do anything, just a child who was in his way… A child who could never live up to his expectations.

"I was just surprised…" He said, swerving the car as a biker flanked the right side of the car.

"Well next time, don't be!" She shouted, her voice lost in the night as the sound of bullets reigned from the gun in her hand, peppering the side of the black bike, causing it to swerve backwards, flip and retreat off into the night, it's rider long forgotten.

His mind was whirring, who was this girl beside him? He looked to the passenger seat, watching as she reloaded her weapons with near expert ease, handling them like she had done so all her life, not mere weeks. She had managed to hit the motorcycle with no ease, not a flicker of regret in her eyes, not a twitch in her arm.

Behind them, gun shots and blurs were hurtling down the road, twists and turns throwing them with Syaoran's driving and her shooting, almost like a team as she continually managed to land shots on whoever came close to them. Their friends were in similar situations, fighting against the others as they tried to get back, as well as get some revenge.

Without warning, another car joined from a side street into the fray, roaring to life and purposely swerving into the black car on Sakura's side. The impact threw them to the side but Syaoran did not let go of the wheel, didn't let his foot off the pedal as they continued on, despite the young girl who had just flown into his shoulder.

"Fuck…" She groaned, one of her wrists feeling sore due to a smash against the door at the time of impact.

"You bastards…" She then whispered, under her breath, as the car fell behind them and she saw the passenger hang out of the window, two guns in his hands as he took aim for the car.

"SWERVE!" She shouted, Syaoran instinctively throwing the car to the side as a rain of bullets missed her head. The sound of them pinging onto the metal of the car rained upon them, the shooter now gaining upon them as they veered off onto another street, this time into a warehouse district.

"Sakura, aim for the tyres!" He shouted, watching as she once again positioned herself out of the car to aim for the tyres.

-x-

"MEILIN!" Shouted Samaya, the car twirling around in circles as she continually popped bullets from the gun in her hand, aiming for anyone and anything that might get in their path. The car steadied once more and the three occupants slammed into the side before Samaya's foot was on the pedal once more. They had long lost the others, diverging onto different routes home, the three inside the car now travelling into a residential area from the roundabout they had just spun out on.

"Fuck sake, do they ever fucking give up?" Takashi swore, pulling a gun out from the glove compartment and aiming into the darkness to the vehicles tailing them. With Meilin's aim, she had managed to pick off two of the bikers and a car already, but this one that was left following was proving particularly difficult.

"Where is the fun if they don't?" Samaya grinned, pulling around another corner that gave them a split second window where they could successfully hit the car tyres to try and pop them, however, this was to no avail as it took the corner wider than expected, only resulting in some damage to a privet garden.

Suddenly, the vehicle began to gain on them, as if it had a sudden burst of energy inside it. Samaya's eyes widened as he saw it in the rear view mirror, quite suddenly grinding up against the back bumper and the unmistakeable scream of Meilin as the rear windscreen burst like a bubble above their heads, glimmering shards of glass floating through the air and resting upon the occupants of the car.

"Fuck, shit, wank, fuck!" The profanity spitting from ruby lips was accompanied by trickles of blood coming from scratches on her cheeks, suddenly spurring her back to shoot through the now exposed back window and straight for the inside of the car behind. With a sudden bang, a flash of light and the screeching of tyres it flew backwards, a grin settling upon her features as she turned back to the two stunned male occupants of the car.

"Shouldn't have done that should they!"

The only sound left in the street was the opening of doors as the residents of the neighbourhood came out to inspect the wreckage that had been left behind.

-x-

"Where is everyone else?" Her worried voice came as she looked to her other half, his arm across her shoulders rubbing small circles onto her back.

"They'll be back soon enough; we weren't followed by as many as them. They can deal with it." Another voice answered, as two brothers came to stand by two lovers, next to their now battered vehicle, staring down the driveway to the gates. Waiting. Waiting to hope that their friends would soon be home and safe.

-x-

There was a trail of blood running down from her shoulder, now flowing down her arm and onto the gun as she wiped sweat from her brow. The car had chased them for miles, and they had taken some convoluted route back to the mansion as they tried to lose it. The back seat was full of glass from the back windshield, they were both sporting glass cuts and bruises from being shaken around the car like pinballs, and both had been grazed by bullets in the fray. The car behind wouldn't let up, and they couldn't seem to lose it.

"How far away are we?" She shouted to her partner, taking her eyes off the car behind momentarily to attempt to see if she knew where they were.

"Not long, we're nearly there." He grunted, the pain in his left shoulder radiating throughout his body as he attempted to get them home.

Feeling the car throw to the side once more, a screech was heard and the car behind dropped off from them, coming to a halt. "What…?"

Before they could comprehend what was happening, the car spun around, leaving to the other end of the street and out into the darkness. Dumbfounded, they stopped the vehicle, staring down the street.

"What just happened?"

"I have no idea…"

"Lets get back…"

-x-

"For fucks sake! Why does this keep happening! We were set up all night, at Ingashu, at the club with Meilin, the girls, the chase! Every single moment they were ten paces in front of us, we were pawns in the game!" Syaoran slammed his fist down on the table with a crash, everyone present unsure as to how to proceed.

As soon as they were back he had given them all half an hour before they were to convene in the dining hall, all who were present that night. In various states of repair or disrepair, they sat around the table. Tomoyo sporting a bandage to her ankle, a couple of stiches in her calf. Eriol, with a new pair of glasses upon his face, a rather nastily cut lip and a bullet wound to his shoulder. Samaya and Takashi, both sprinkled with small red cuts of varying depth across them from the back windshield. Meilin with a large cut across her brow from a particularly large shard, others scattered across her face and arms. Hiru and Mika, each with a scraping of a bullet wound to the lower arms. All of them sat, bandaged in various places, the scent of TCP in the air from their wounds and some of them from fresh soap. Only two of them were sat still looking as if they were in the battlefield.

At the head of the table sat Syaoran, somehow dirty from the dealings of the night, cuts across his left cheek and a bullet graze across one shoulder. Various shards of glass had embedded themselves into his skin, prickling through, some of the glass still sticking out as he sat, glimmering in the dim light. On the floor, with her head held in her hands, the only one not around the table, was Sakura. Her long hair was pushed to one side, the opposite to where a trickle of blood had dried itself onto her skin right from her shoulder blade to her wrist. A small cut was on her forehead, laid upon a flowering bruise just beneath her hairline. Her wrist had been put into a makeshift bandage from some material she had grabbed off the counter, various other small bruises and dirt covering her form from the back of the van.

"We have a traitor in our midst. This was made clear to me tonight, from Mamba… And from this. I trust each and every one of you in this room, and if I find it is one of you who betrayed me you shall feel the full force of my anger. Rest up because tomorrow is going to be a tough day, we will be meeting at 11 sharp, here." He finished, signalling for the others to disperse, which they did, scrambling away with the scrape of chairs.

Sakura raised herself from the floor, glancing to Syaoran, back to his scary self, before leaving the room to shower.

The water felt hot and glorious against her skin, dripping in beads down her back as she lathered the soap, hissing at the sting against her open wounds. Blood entwined with the water, rolling off her and into the bottom of the shower cubicle. Wincing, she lifted her arms to continue her wash, considering how the events of the night had transpired… And the man who she had spent most of it with. Those concerned eyes as he had come to haul her from the van, him taking her with him, their partnership in the car. Was she overthinking the events of the night? Maybe he was just acting normal?

The air was cool out of the shower, grabbing her towel to roughly dry her hair she threw a pink robe over herself, planning to immediately go to bed and forget the events of the night. Padding softly across the floor, she sighed to herself as she turned the light down and crawled under the duvet.

Suddenly, there was a soft knock on the door and she turned, looking inquisitively at the wood. Sighing, she knew it was probably Tomoyo come to say night, and tell her they would catch up in the morning. Hopping over her discarded green dress and underwear from earlier, she walked over, swinging the door open and retreating back without looking who was there.

"I thought you'd be with Eriol tonight…" She said, a cheeky tone entering her voice as she crawled back onto the bed, stopping dead as she turned around to see her visitor, her cheeks becoming a sudden shade of vermillion.

"Oh my gosh…" She whispered, staring into the face of Syaoran, stood in her doorway looking as embarrassed as she currently felt. He had a pair of black pyjama bottoms on and a plain green t shirt which she had guessed was sleep attire also. In his hand was a bottle of what looked to be brandy, two glasses clutched within his other hand.

"I think Eriol is prior engaged…" He smiled, watching the pink creep further down her neck and onto her chest… Down past the v that her dressing gown had created… "But I thought you could use a drink? On the balcony?"

She nodded, unable to speak as he swiftly closed the door behind him, crossing the room over her discarded clothes in a few short strides and exiting onto the balcony, the light curtains flapping behind him. She hopped out of bed, tightening the pink material around her and accepting a glass of amber liquid before settling herself to look out across the gardens. They sat in silence for a few moments, neither daring to break the silence.

"There was no one else to drink with you?" She whispered, not even turning to look at him as she spoke. Tension hung in the air between them, the partnership from the car earlier truly dissolved.

"I didn't ask anyone else…" He whispered. Inside, he knew that he probably shouldn't have sought her out in the middle of the night. Yet, after seeing her earlier, after the weeks of torture from being unable to see her face and hear her voice, he had broken and in a moment of madness he had removed the glasses and the brandy from his office and somehow found himself at her door.

"What about… What about Laia? I'm sure she would have drunk with you." She whispered the latter half of her sentence, the elephant in the room spilling out of her mouth as she did so, squeezing her eyes shut as the memory remerged as if it was moments ago, a video playing in her mind.

Syaoran sat, in silent shock that she had brought that up and been so abrupt with him. Then again, she had been petulant and open since he had known her… But he had not expected that the incident with Laia would still be playing on her mind. It made sense, as much as he had tried to avoid her over the past couple of weeks, it seemed that she had been avoiding him also… After that night when she had looked at him so brokenly, as if he had shattered every illusion she had of him… Which he knew he actually had.

"Sakura… I…" He was lost for words, unable to voice what he wanted. That he didn't really want Laia? That he was trying to get her out of his system? It sounded so feeble to him, she would never accept it.

"I am not interested; your extracurricular activities are your own… I apologise. That was out of place of me." Her reply was strong, blatant, laid out in front of him. Inside he felt that he needed to explain to her, that he needed something more than the cold persona she was showing him as she sat quietly, her milky legs resting on the balcony railing in front of her.

"Sakura, listen…" He whispered, setting his glass down and touching her arm slightly, causing her to turn inquisitively toward him, emerald eyes shining as the slight lamp light from her room reflected from them. He didn't know why, but he needed to explain. He felt the sudden pull toward her, the need for her company that he had not experienced in weeks.

"Sakura, me and Laia… We didn't go anywhere you know… I don't know why I did that, I was frustrated; I don't even like her…" His eyes pled with her, yet he didn't expect her to suddenly stand, knocking her drink back down her throat before grabbing the bottle off the table.

"You know Li, when I said I didn't want to know, I meant it. I don't know why you're telling me this, but I seriously don't need to know about your conquests." She grabbed the bottle and slid open the door, storming inside to sit on her bed.

In the corner of her eyes she could feel tears springing forth, stinging at her eyes. Why did he have to remind her of Laia every time she looked at him? His messed up hair and her askew clothing. All he spoke of were excuses and she didn't want to hear them. He had come to her room in the night, offering her peace yet all she could think of was that night.

"Sakura… You have to let me explain. You have to know that I did it because… Damn it… I can't get you out of my head Sakura and I was stupid and I wanted Laia to get you out of my head… Since we met I've done nothing but think about you and I needed to get you out of my head, to focus. I'm sorry Sakura, I truly am. I've wanted to speak to you… I really have… I just haven't known what to do. You don't understand, this isn't me… I don't even know what I'm doing here…"

She looked up, from where he stood, his face trained toward the floor as he made to leave her room. As he reached to grab for the handle, she called him. Looking to her, amber eyes and emerald met across the room and she gestured for him to sit on her bed. In that moment he was just a young man, in a room with a girl whom he liked. Gone, was the gang persona, the harsh face and the cruel tongue. Gone, was her petulance and her childishness.

Obliging, he looked at her expectantly. Her face was screwed up, as if she was trying to think of what to say. She was sat cross legged, the pink dressing gown now barely covering her modesty, the bottle of brandy in her hand. Raising it to her lips, she took a large swag before placing it back. "Look… I get it. In a way, I get it. I'm sorry too, for how I acted… But… What is this? I don't know what this is… I don't even know that much about you and I don't know where this will go or what is going on around me at the moment but I do know I feel something for you…" She trailed off in a whisper, the quilt becoming extremely interesting all of a sudden before she looked up toward burning eyes staring back at her.

Their words were spinning around one another's heads, both silent as they contemplated the revelations. Syaoran didn't know what possessed him to spill his secrets to this girl, who had been getting in his minds way since he met her. Sakura didn't know where she got the courage from, confessing feelings, not just to a boy, but a leader of a gang…

He examined her for a moment, cuts along her body glowing against her pale skin. Her auburn hair was still wet, droplets rolling down from where it met her skin, gently flowing down and underneath the front of her dressing gown. It was somewhere in that moment that he knew that he was right to come to her tonight, seeing her head bowed as she waited for an answer.

"Sakura…" He whispered, gently tugging at her chin, her eyes brilliant in the lamplight as she looked up at him. Every pattern in her iris', from the darker green to the lighter at the edges, the slight traces of yellow around her pupils, he studied for a moment before leaning forward and finally grasping her lips into a kiss.

AN: Well, I hope it was worth the wait! R&R xxxx