Chapter Seven
Meet the Vulgar Scheming
Someone will save me
Somehow
Somewhere
Sometime
No matter from what
November 2019 – Tomoeda, Japan
'Where did you put the package you got me from home?' Eriol asked Syaoran, as he put his seatbelts on, and Syaoran drove away from Sakura's house. Sakura, in the back – Eriol had surprised her this morning by offering her a ride to school because of the rain – perked her ears, wondering what this was about.
Syaoran frowned for a moment. 'Hm... I think it got delivered at LiCo with the rest of the cargo. It was too big to bring along immediately. Why, of all things, did you want me to bring the piano over?' He sounded a bit agitated.
'Because I wanted a piano. I've got enough room here, so why not?'
Syaoran snorted at that. 'You could have bought a new one...'
'Oh Syao-boy, don't glare! You had some big boys with you to carry it all the way to the big truck!' Eriol stated in a childish – even girlish – way.
This resulted in a deep glare from Syaoran, and Sakura who suddenly got a fit of laughter. This resulted in an even deeper glare from Syaoran.
And after an extremely quiet ride, they finally arrived at school. It was November 2nd, the first day of school after the autumn-vacation, and no one really looked forward to it. But that's normal with students these days. Holidays are always better than school.
The normal routine soon began. Sakura met with her friends, and talked about their adventures during the holiday. Then the lessons began, and after an entire, very long day, school ended and everyone went home.
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Kuromori Tomiko watched everything carefully, staying in the background on purpose. With shadowing Kinomoto Sakura the entire day – with a bit help of her current friends – she discovered that Tuesday evening, Sakura's lessons would end at 16.15 hours, and that she would skate home, like she normally would. The weather would be sunny tomorrow. Or that's what the weather report said.
Tomiko clicked her mobile open, and dialed a number. After two rings, someone at the end of the line picked up. 'Hey, it's Tomiko. Tomorrow evening, between four-fifteen and five o'clock. I'll call if she leaves school with someone else.'
After a short reply, she hung up and allowed herself a small smile. Tomorrow it will happen! She had made sure that by then, she would have extra lessons from her mentor, so that no one could suspect her in any way.
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On the fateful Tuesday morning, Sakura woke up early by the morning greet from Touya. He came home yesterday evening and welcomed her by demanding some food. To make it up, he made breakfast and a lunch for her, but because he was supposed to be the 'mean brother' he woke her up extra early.
He could hear her stomping from her room, yelling that she wasn't a monster. When Sakura entered the kitchen, she stomped his foot, before eating his well made food for her.
An hour later, she gave him a hug, and raced on her skates to school, leaving Touya behind. Fifteen minutes later he still stared out of the window, to the road. He shook his head as he grabbed his briefcase and went for his car.
He didn't know why, but somehow Sakura reminded him today, of the accident four years ago. The one where she was raped and he failed as brother. Since then, he couldn't sleep when she slept somewhere else, and he was uneasy when she wasn't around. He knew that it was foolishness most of the time, because nothing had happened since that day.
But he would never forgive himself if something like that would ever happen again. The chance that he would lock her up in the house, if it did happen, was something he rather not thought about. It would destroy her life either way.
When he parked the car at LiCo, his thoughts still hadn't left the subject. Sakura needed to find a good man, one that could be trusted, that could take care of her, and one that would make her happy and forget the past.
He walked past Li Syaoran's office and snorted. Sakura needed to find a man who was the exact opposite of that gaki.
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Tomiko watched Sakura leaving her last class and walking to the hallway. Before getting there, one of her friends stopped her for a little chat. Naoko was her name? Damned bitch...
Sakura finally reached the lockers, but before opening it, Chiharu stopped her for a useless chat. Sakura finished the talk before getting her belongings out of the locker. Tomiko groaned.
When she finally walked to the exit, Tomoyo stopped her, for...whatever! They chatted until Tomoyo went her own way with her personal drivers. As Sakura was out of sight, hopefully skating her normal route without further distractions, it was long time for Tomiko's extra lessons.
By this time, she ate herself from the inside from frustrations.
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Sakura skated home, the normal route. And normally nothing really exiting or strange happened, so she didn't understand at first what happened. When five men surrounded her, it was already too late for her bright thought: this is bad... real bad!
The men all wore masks, and unrevealing clothing. They even wore sunglasses, which meant she couldn't see their eyes, or a glimpse of hair. Why five masked and armed men would rob a helpless, don't forget completely broke, schoolgirl, went beyond her.
That was soon to be answered.
'Kinomoto Sakura, I presume? We were just waiting for you.' The voice was quite chic, and didn't fit the man that went with it. Blankly, Sakura realized that this wasn't a robbery.
This was the past repeating itself.
And with five of them, it would probably be worse.
That was the moment when she gave everything to get away from here. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape, and somehow, no one heard her screams.
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Hiroshi walked fast to his home. At least, it seemed fast, although he really tried to walk as slow as possible. When the next house didn't come any nearer for at least ten minutes, he cursed his daily routine. He really should stop drinking, then maybe he would find his bed before the next morning, instead of waking up someplace he didn't recognize.
As he neared the next corner, he nearly fell before turning it. He cursed again as he walked into another dustbin – sixth of this day, so far – and fell to the wall. Slowly he steadied himself and tried to walk away from the wall.
He tripped again, but he was quite sure it wasn't a dustbin this time. Unless the dustbins of nowadays where made of human flesh.
Human?
Flesh?
Hiroshi paled as he staggered a few feet away from the human flesh on the ground. He sat there for a full minute, before he slowly neared that what looked like human flesh. As he poked it, it didn't move at all. He poked again, harder, but with no avail.
Maybe this flesh is dead? He thought as he turned it around.
He rubbed his eyes as he noticed this flesh was beautiful, and... and female! And, ouch… It seemed like someone tried to eat this flesh, like meat.
Female meat. He sniggered, although he didn't understand why he found that funny. But then saw a strand of hair move in front of her mouth. She is breathing!
He tried his very best to think like he knew he could do when he wasn't drunk. What must I do when I find female breathing meat?
It took Hiroshi over ten minutes to get the idea of a mobile phone – which he, surprisingly, found in his pocket – and another six minutes to think of the alarm number.
He got the police office on the phone, who asked after introducing, seriously: 'What can I do for you?'
Hiroshi had to think deeply over this. What could this nice, and seemingly not drunk, men do for him? He stood, walked, and tripped over the female, before remembering it all again. 'Uh... Thers female here. Breathin' I guess.'
'There is a woman with you who probably breaths, right? Is she hurt?'
'Uh... Donno' can't see trough hick all freakin' red.' Vaguely he realized that it was a wonder the policeman could understand what he tried to say. But the thought soon disappeared with the next question.
'She is bleeding, sir?'
'Sir? Who're talkin' to?'
'I'm talking to you. Is she bleeding?'
'I'm no sir... nor is she... Strange, she's gettin' redder!' This amazed Hiroshi, and he bent over to look. That didn't make it stop getting redder.
'Could you tell me where you are?'
'How would I know? I'm friggin' drunk!' Hiroshi frowned at the phone. Didn't they know that you shouldn't ask difficult questions to people who are drunk?
'Can you find a street name?'
'Uh...'
The policeman ordered a police car and ambulance to stand ready, as he waited for the street name.
'Uh... Carnivore Street. He! That's funny. She looks like eaten meat!' He laughed at his discovery, and didn't hear the man ordering all street names that could be interpreted with the word "carnivore". Because he couldn't find any "Carnivore Street" in Tomoeda.
'Sir, police and ambulance are on their way. Please stay on the phone, and tell everything that you see as suspicious.'
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It had started with an uneasy feeling, when Sakura didn't come home before her part-time job. It worsened when her chief called, asking if she still planned on coming or not, and if she was ever late again, she would have to find another job.
So Touya was extremely worried at the moment. It was twelve at night, and Sakura still hadn't come home yet. He had called her numerous times, but she didn't pick up her phone. He just laid the phone down after calling one of her friends, Chiharu. He had already called everyone he could think of, but to no avail. The only one remaining was that Li kid. He had even called the police first, but they said they couldn't do anything this soon, it was probably false alarm.
He dialed the number of the Li leader, while impatiently tapping with his fingers. If he has touched her with even one finger...!
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Tomoyo paced around worriedly. Touya had called an hour ago, and she had sent all her bodyguards and anyone she could find, to go and look for her friend. They had all called back with negative news. No one knew where she was.
She paced some more, until Eriol arrived, evenly worried. She threw herself in his arms and started to cry.
She could handle a little stress, but not when it concerned Sakura.
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Syaoran was pale as he put the phone down.
Touya had just called for Sakura, and although he would normally not allow the hidden accusing of him hiding Sakura somewhere, he let it go just this once. A sudden image of Tomoyo and Meilin telling him about Sakura past came into mind. What if...?
He couldn't stand this. Sakura was one of his rare friends, and he didn't want to lose another one. Especially not in such a tragic way.
He grabbed his coat and mobile and went out to look for her, just in case he would find her. Once outside, he called Eriol.
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When the phone rang, Touya immediately picked it up. 'Hello?' He knew he sounded a bit frantic, and he should at least mention name, but he couldn't help it.
'Hello, this is Coyo from Tomoeda Hospital. Am I speaking with Kinomoto Fujitaka?' A kind voice said.
'No, I'm his son, Kinomoto Touya. My father is out of the country at the moment. What's wrong?' Touya clenched his fist, awaiting the bad news. Hospitals didn't call without reason. 'Is it Sakura?'
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She lay comfortably in her mother's arms, who soothed her with kind and sweet words, just like she used to do when she was still a little kid. She buried her face deeper in the long, violet grey, hair.
God, how she missed her mother!
Kinomoto Nadeshiko sat on a swinging chair, and softly rocked her off into a deep sleep. When the dreams started to turn in nightmares, she whimpered softly. She dreamed of being beaten up, lying in the hospital and her heartbeat slowing down.
When Nadeshiko woke her, she stirred and relaxed at her soothing words.
'It's okay, Sakura-dear. It was just a bad dream. I'm here for you, always.'
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Touya paced around after laying the phone down for the last time that night, he hoped. His father had promised to be here as soon as possible, which would at least take him five hours.
"Here" was, at the moment, Tomoeda Hospital. And he paced in front of the grey doors with a red light on top, which irritated him like hell. They took Sakura behind those doors, accompanied by two doctors and a lot of assistants. They came in and out, but refused to speak to him just yet. It had been half an hour since she was in there, and he waited here for fifteen minutes already.
What irritated him as much was that soon after, the gaki showed up, before anybody else. 'What are you doing here?' He barked at him.
Syaoran held his hands up in defense. 'Same as you, I presume. How's Sakura?'
Touya's face fell at the mentioning of her name, and he turned away from him. 'Don't know. They refuse to say anything at the moment.'
'Do you know what happened?'
'No.' Touya growled with frustration. He didn't know anything about the things he wanted to know right now. It was already two am, and still he hadn't seen his little sister. He growled again. I have failed... again. He wished he could howl like a wolf, because that was exactly what he felt like doing now.
Tomoyo came in, together with Eriol, and you could see that she had been crying. With one look at Touya, she frowned and run to him. She gave him a hug and set him on one of the uncomfortable chairs. 'Stop it, Touya, it's not your fault.' She hugged him again and looked him straight in the eyes. 'She loves you, and you need to be there for her. You're the best brother she could wish for, so don't even think about killing yourself, or something like that!'
Touya silently wondered how she knew that that was the exact thing he thought about. He pushed it back, as he felt tears threatening his eyes. Tomoyo lent him her shoulder, and for the first time since... long ago, he cried till his heart's content.
A while later, when Touya had dried his tears, the doctor finally came out, and asked for the family members.
Touya stood up and shook his hands. He followed the doctor inside the room, and came out a while later with news. His voice was hoarse as he started. 'She is not in live danger.'
A sigh went to the group.
'Her left arm is broken on three places, two ribs are sprained, one broken, she has a knife wound on her right leg and right shoulder and both her left knee and foot are sprained. And she has a lot of bruises. She is still unconscious right now.'
'And do you know what happened?' Tomoyo asked with a wavering voice.
'She has been attacked, probably by more than one man. The police are still on the case, but they don't know anything for sure, until Sakura confesses. At least one thing is sure: they didn't rape her.'
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The warmed of her mother left her, as soon as the nightmare began. She could even smell the hospital and it's medicines, that's how real this nightmare seemed. A whimper escaped her lips, and her entire body hurt in return. She tried to move, but strong hands held her in place.
The hands belonged to a man in a white coat, and a white cap in front of his mouth. She wanted to close her eyes, only to realize that they were already closed.
'Sakura-dear...'
Her mother's voice reached out to her, took the pain away and the horrible sight of the man in white. When she finally opened her eyes, she was back in her mother's arms. This is where it's save.
Something in the back of her mind tried to get her attention, but the words just couldn't find the way to the working part of her mind. She shrugged it off, and gave her attention to her mother.
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It was morning already. Touya had been with Sakura most of the time. Just sitting beside her bed or holding her hand. Later on, when Sakura was completely stabile, her friends were allowed to visit her for a while.
Tomoyo held her right hand, giving it a little squeeze, before realizing that she probably hurt her best friend. Eriol stood behind her, holding his girlfriends shoulders in comfort, and Syaoran stood at the foot end of the bed, looking at the fragile and bruised Sakura.
Syaoran had to admit it. Seeing her like this, made him realize that it was just as bad, as when he would see Eriol or Meilin in this state. Somehow, Sakura had become his friend. A close friend. And it really hurt him to see her like this.
When he left the room, he found Touya in the hall, talking in his cell phone.
'I'm sorry, Tamaho-san, but I really can't come now.' Touya sounded angry and glared at the phone. Not the famous glare Syaoran could muster up, but an intense one at that. 'I know it's hectic!' He snorted. 'Then fire me, see if I care...'
That was the point where Syaoran just had to interfere. He really didn't like Touya, but Sakura did, and he would just do a lot to make her happy. So he took the phone out of Touya's hand, and answered it himself.
'Tamaho? Li here. Kinomoto Touya is taking today and the rest of the week off, please make sure there is a temporarily substitute for him.' A murmur from the other line made clear that Tamaho was shocked to hear the Li-leader, but that he didn't agree. 'I know it is hectic, but he won't be there and you're not going to fire him. So you better find someone for the job ... I don't care if it takes you two minutes or the entire week, just take care of it ... Listen, Tamaho, this is an order, and if it's that hard to follow it, then you still have the option to take over the job personally. Am I understood?'
A few seconds later Syaoran hung up, and gave to phone back to Touya. One look between the two of them, made everything clear: they wouldn't speak of this, it was just a onetime occurrence.
At this, Syaoran returned home, to get ready for school, soon followed by Tomoyo and Eriol. Touya stayed the entire day at the hospital.
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The warmth was something she knew so well, but at the same time, it was something that wasn't supposed to be there.
Her time with her mother, was supposed to be only three years. After that, Nadeshiko passed away, leaving her young daughter with her husband and son. So how was it possible that she sat here, enjoying her time with her mother?
That couldn't be right. But then again, what was right?
The creepy Hospital? The scary man in white? The pain in her body?
Was that real?
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Later that day, Tomoyo brought Chiharu, Naoko, Yamazaki and Rika to the Hospital, where they could visit Sakura. Even Ted, Nakuru and Yukito insisted on coming along. All her friends had reacted shocked at what happened, and wanted to see her as soon as possible.
The news had spread fast, and soon the entire school knew about it. Tomiko reacted shocked, but at the same time, not that shocked. Immediately, most students seemed to link Sakura's accident with Tomiko, and treated her with the necessary respect. Well, the necessary fear, that is.
Somehow, everybody knew she was behind it, but there was no prove, and Tomiko said she didn't do anything. There was prove that she had extra lessons that day, and went home directly afterwards.
When everybody arrived at the Hospital, they found Touya and Fujitaka near Sakura's bed, engaged in a deep conversation. They looked briefly up and motioned them in, but also to be not too loud.
They gathered around Sakura, and at the sight, Chiharu started to cry on Yamazaki's shoulder. Sakura whimpered a bit, but stayed unconscious throughout the whole ordeal around her.
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A few days later, as if she suddenly remembered it, the trigger in the back of her mind worked.
This wasn't real.
The hospital was...
She needed to go to her father and to Touya, not to mention her friends.
With pure determination, she went to sleep again, and when the nightmare begun, she somehow managed to wake up inside of it.
A small smile spread across her face when she saw Touya sitting beside her, and she murmured a hello.
But soon after, the pain overtook her, and she blacked out again. At least now she knew how to get here, and that was most important.
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Touya was worried, again. Hospitals were expensive, and they didn't have so much money. Fujitaka and he summed it all up, and it seemed they came not even close to the end of the bill.
Fujitaka had gone back to Tokyo, to work and earn some money. But because he came home every two days, there wasn't much left over.
Touya only saw one thing left to do.
He stood outside of the Tomoeda Hospital, the phone in hand. He took a deep intake of breath and dialed the number of his chief.
'Tamaho Hoku.' Came the short reply.
'Hello, this is Kinomoto Touya. As you probably know, my sister lies in the Tomoeda Hospital, and...'
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Syaoran was on his way from work to home, planning to give Sakura a short visit later on. He drove Eriol's car, as usual. I really should buy my own car, somewhere these days. He thought as he reminded that Eriol wanted to be picked up tomorrow morning at seven.
He had just contacted some of his connections at the police, making sure that they gave everything given to find the culprit who had done this to Sakura. All he had done lately was hanging on the phone and it proved to be quite bothersome.
When the phone started ringing, he silently cursed seeing the number of Tamaho Hoku, and answered it. 'Li'
'Li-sama, Hoku here. Kinomoto Touya called, and he's asking to us pay two months ahead, for his little sister.'
Syaoran turned left towards the hospital, instead of right towards his home. 'And what did you tell him?'
'I told him we don't do charity. But he seemed agitated, and he's probably going to beg to you yourself.' A short hesitation. 'I-I thought I should warn you, beforehand.'
'Hm.' Syaoran neared the Hospital, and parked his car nearby. 'I'll take care of it. Bye.'
He hung up, and entered the Hospital, seeing Touya immediately. A mix of emotions was to be seen on the man's face. He probably had a hard time battling with his own pride, to ask for money from a guy he couldn't stand.
Syaoran walked towards him, and sat down on the chair beside him. 'How is she?'
'Better. She regained consciousness this morning, but fell asleep after a few moments. The wounds are healing nicely.'
'That's good to hear.'
'Hm.'
'Tamaho called.'
'Hmpf.' Touya could just muster up enough kindness to not literally growl at the man.
'We don't do charity, he said.'
Touya growled deeper.
'But then again, it's not really charity to help friends, right?'
Touya sat upright, wondering if he just heard what he thought he heard.
'I would like you to understand, Kinomoto Touya that Sakura is a friend of mine. A good one at that. Even I know the meaning of friendship, and I'll do anything possible to help my friends.' Syaoran looked him straight in the eyes, a serious expression, though his glare hadn't left his face.
Touya narrowed his eyes, wondering if he lied or not. 'Are you saying you'll pay two months ahead? That's rare.'
Syaoran snorted. 'No.'
'But...' Touya tried. He really didn't get this boy sometimes. Well, never...
Syaoran sighed as he explained. 'Paying ahead is against the rules of LiCo. You can check your contract, it's all standing there. So all I can do is using my private money.' He stayed quiet for a while. 'Like I said, she's my friend, so I'll pay for everything, since I'm filthy rich anyway.'
Syaoran stood up, walked a few steps away and said quietly: 'But, Kinomoto Touya, this has to be a secret. I have a reputation to keep up, you know.' And with those words, he went to the second floor to pay Sakura a visit.
Touya was left staring at the elevator in pure surprise.
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After the visit – Sakura hadn't been awake – Syaoran made sure the bills were paid, so they wouldn't kick Sakura out or something like that. Not that they would, of course, but he hated the idea anyway.
When he finally arrived home, he called Meilin to tell her about the latest developments concerning Sakura. She was very happy to hear it, especially about the part where he offered to pay for everything.
Meilin happily told all of this to Ryu, who was also glad to hear this. Those two were, by the way, dating steadily, and couldn't keep their hands off of each other.
When he finally hung up, it was already late, but he did his training nonetheless.
He could finally say for once, that he was, partly, at peace. He never cared about all the money he possessed, and never really noticed where everything disappeared to. Besides, that's why he had accountants.
But paying for Sakura, paying for someone who needed it, and who he cared for, that was something completely different. It made him a bit proud of himself, aware that he did some good things too... once in a while.
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When Sakura woke up, money didn't even come up in her mind.
The first thing she noticed was that the pain was less than last time. She couldn't move her left arm, and her right shoulder ached, but she managed to sit upright. It didn't take long for her to figure out that there was something wrong with her ribs, because it started to hurt like hell.
A nurse came in, greeted her happily and put some pillows behind her, so she could sit up without effort, and less pain.
'Ah, you are awake! Your visitor has just left you a few minutes ago.' The nurse said with a kind voice. 'I'm Cara, by the way. How are you feeling? I'm going to do a little checkup, to see if everything is alright.'
As Cara babbled on and concerned herself with Sakura's arm, Sakura was bedazzled and couldn't even answer between everything that Cara said or asked her.
'You have had many visitors these days. Of course your father and brother – Touya is so cute! Do you think he'll like me? – and a lot of your friends visited. A few minutes ago another cutie came by, he had such amazing amber eyes! Though he always comes alone, and not with your other friends – Is he your boyfriends perhaps? Does this hurt? No? Good, then I'll look at your right shoulder now. Even one of your teachers came by – what was her name? Kaho or something like that – she was really nice. You must have a good time at school. What school are you from? You know, I used to...'
At this moment, all Sakura really wanted was to fall unconscious again, only to not listen to this overexcited, babbling, monster like, nurse.
But it was good to know that everybody visited her, even Syaoran and Kaho. At that moment, Fujitaka came in, stopping the nurse from talking any further.
Only at the moment when the nurse left, and her father asked her how she felt with a worried look on his face, did she suddenly remember why she was here, how she probably had gotten here, and what had happened before she got here.
She cringed as the scenes flashed by before her eyes, tears fell rapidly from her eyes and she started to scream.
Fujitaka ran to her, but she fell out of bed on the other side. A doctor, followed by two nurses, came rushing in, stabilized her and gave her something that should relax her. Within seconds she stopped screaming and fell limp in their arms. They laid her down on the bed and adjusted some things.
'W-What happened?' Fujitaka demanded with trembling voice of concern.
'I think she just remembered what happened. It's quite normal for people to forget everything in the first days after waking up. It must have been something terrible for her to react like this.'
Fujitaka frowned at the doctor. 'Of course. Like the file says, she has experienced something like this before.'
'Ah, the file. I haven't read it, because I'm not her personal doctor. I just happened to pass by at this critical moment.' The doctor nudged the nurses to go. 'I have to go to my own patients; your doctor will arrive as soon as possible for further help.' And with that, he left a shaken Fujitaka to sit beside a drugged Sakura.
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Eriol and Tomoyo sat in Syaoran's living room and talked with Meilin over the phone. Fujitaka had called Tomoyo to explain what happened, and they quickly gathered for some comfort.
'I wish we could visit her now.' Tomoyo muttered again. She had said that a couple of times now, but at the moment, only family was allowed to visit her.
'I wonder if she wants us around now.' Meilin said through the phone. It stood loud, so everybody could listen to what she had to say.
'Why not?' Tomoyo asked worriedly.
Syaoran knew what his cousin meant. 'She might be really scared at the moment, of everyone. Even of her family or her best friends.'
'This happened twice to her already.' Eriol agreed. 'Maybe she won't get over it this time, maybe we lost her for good this time.'
'I don't want that!' Tomoyo wailed. Tears threatened to spill.
'I'm only opting a possibility.' Eriol said, as he stroked her back.
'Don't worry, Tomoyo. If she is scared, then she probably avoids men. Because it's men that do this to her, not the women.'
'Maybe, but on the other hand, maybe it are the women who are behind this. The first one was ordered by his sister.' Tomoyo pointed out and sniffed.
'And this time?' Meilin asked.
'Well... I think it was Tomiko. I think she is behind it.'
'Kuromori Tomiko? Hm, who knows?' Eriol mumbled.
'Nah.' Syaoran retorted. 'I don't believe she is that rotten.'
'Ha! Since when are you so trustful?' Meilin spat. 'If you ever befriend that girl, I won't talk to you anymore!'
Syaoran glared at the phone in front of him. 'Hmpf, as if I ever would.' And in his mind he added:
She made me this trustful.
He meant Sakura, of course, not Tomiko.
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Sakura was engulfed in darkness. She didn't see the Hospital anymore, nor was her mother around. She felt only plain darkness, together with all her fears.
She hung in the darkness for days now, seeing the past over and over again, until she started to think as a human again. One realization hit her:
This is like my personal hell, but going up there – conscious – is even worse.
In here, she had all the pain she ever witnessed, all her fares were combined in here. But up there, more pain awaited, accompanied with more fears. She wasn't so sure if she wanted to go back.
But then again, her father was there, Touya waited for her, Tomoyo would die to see her again – she really couldn't let her do so – and she would miss the rest so much. Chiharu, Yamazaki, Rika, Naoko, Yukito, Ted, Meilin, Ryu, Kaho, heck she would even miss Nakuru.
But if she went back, Touya would never ever let her out of sight again, Tomoyo would probably arrange a couple of personal bodyguards for her, Eriol would personally bring her everywhere with his car, and all her friends would never ever leave her alone again.
She would be imprisoned in her own fear, in her own life.
But... there was also Syaoran. Not going back, meant not seeing him anymore, and that while he had, subconsciously, become so important to her. And at the same time, he was her chance to be a little bit free in the end. If he agreed, he could teach her martial arts, he could teach her how to fight, and how to defend herself.
And what did her father tell her, such a long time ago? Living is accepting and conquering all your fears.
Maybe it would be better to go back, after all.
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It had been two days, since he heard that Sakura was conscious again, but he couldn't find any free moment yet to pay her a visit. If he had to believe Eriol and Tomoyo, she was back to her normal self.
Or at least, as much as possible, after such a short period of time.
At this moment, Syaoran drove straight from work to the Hospital, before something came in between again. When he finally knocked on her door, twenty minutes and a phone call later, she called him in with a cheerful voice.
Looking around the corner of the door, he saw Sakura's figure sitting in bed, reading on of her schoolbooks and making notes. He opened the door further and let himself in. 'Hey, how are you?' He asked, softer than he usually asked something.
Sakura looked up from her work. 'Syaoran! So nice to see you again!'
Syaoran smiled apologetic. 'Yeah, I'm sorry for that. I really couldn't find a free minute. And they won't let me in after midnight.'
This made Sakura smile. 'Silly, you don't have to apologize.' She motioned with her right hand for him to sit down on the chair beside her bed. 'The nurse already told me you came to visit me a lot when I was unconscious.'
Syaoran smiled again. 'So how are you?'
'Alright, I guess.' She sighed as she moved a bit. 'It will take a while for my arm to heal, but my shoulder and leg are closing pretty well. The bruises are disappearing, and my left knee and foot are all better!'
'Well that's good news!' Syaoran said, although Eriol had already told him this. 'And what about yourself? How do you feel?'
For a moment, he could swear he saw a hint of her true fear reflecting in her eyes. But it disappeared just as fast as it came. She smiled bravely, although he could see it wasn't her normal smile from just a few days ago. 'Don't worry, I'm fine. I've got all you guys to keep my mind of things. In a few days, I may leave the Hospital, and it will all be just as before!'
It was brave of her to say this. Or stupid. He didn't understand how she could say that everything would turn out fine, after all that happened. He admired her for keeping this up, though he felt a bit hurt that she lied about it. But he pushed the latter deep away. He didn't always tell the truth about his personal deep feelings, so why expect others to do so?
'If you say so.' He muttered.
'Oh, that reminds me! I planned to ask you, that is, if you are willing to... You must say it if you don't want to, but...' She looked down to her hands, apparently embarrassed to ask him this.
'What is it?'
'Uhm...' She clapped her hands together in a pleading way. 'Please teach me martial arts! Please teach me how to defend myself!'
Now it was his turn to uhm. 'Uhm...'
'Please?'
'Well...'
'Pretty please?'
'Who says I can teach you?'
'But you can, can't you?'
'Well yeah, but…' He had a really hard time in trying to ignore those pleading eyes of hers. Looks are everything, some said. And somehow, those eyes perfectly proved it. There was just no way in saying 'no' when those eyes looked at you. '...when?'
'Whenever you have time!' Sakura's eyes started to shine.
'But I don't have time.' Her face fell, so he quickly continued. 'After school, I've got to go to work, until late. Then I've got my home work, and my own trainings.'
'Wow, all in one day? Every day!? Then how about in the morning?'
'Then there is morning practices and a sometimes a bit of leftover homework.'
Sakura gaped at him, and her hope wasn't visible in her eyes anymore. He really couldn't stand seeing her like that. It was as if he left her with nothing.
'But... If you're at my place at six in the morning, we would have an hour to give you some lessons. And I can muster up some time in weekends, I guess.' He looked at her, expectantly, wondering how she would react.
'Really?' She straightened her back, then cringing from the pain in her ribs. Her smile was completely back. Not her fake one, but her real one. 'I'll get up in time for it, I swear! I'm going to do my very best!'
She was so excited that she threw her arms around him and gave him a hug. Seeing as he sat on a chair facing her, she ended half on his lap. 'But we're not going to start until you are completely better.'
Right then, as if he waited outside for the right moment, Touya entered and let out a deep growl.
'If you don't let her go within two seconds, you're dead. Prince of Li, or not.'
Syaoran raised his hands, trying to show that she hugged him.
'Touya! Syaoran is going to teach me martial arts!' Sakura beamed excited, as she got off Syaoran and into her bed again, as if nothing just happened.
'No, he's not.' Touya said as he came closer.
'W-what?' Sakura stammered. 'Why not?'
'You really think I let you alone with him, after what just happened?' Another growl escaped when he pointed towards Syaoran.
Sakura shot up, apparently quite angry. 'You really think I let you lock me up in my own house?' She shouted at him.
Touya visibly shrunk, but he retorted. 'You really think I will let this happen to you, for the third time?'
'God, you're still at it? Get it in your thick brain that neither of those was your fault! Don't destroy my life because of your own, completely wrong, conscience! Don't you get it!? If I can defend myself, I might actually get a normal live again, instead of two bodyguards following me all around!' Tears slowly dripped from eyes, as she finally showed how she really felt. 'I-instead of being scared for the rest of my life...'
Touya glared at her for a moment, before muttering. 'I was thinking of four...' He sighed as he sat on the bed and took her into his arms. 'I'm sorry, Kaijuu. If that is what you want, then you may learn martial arts.'
Sakura sniffed as her tears didn't stop flowing. Touya turned towards Syaoran, who sat there quite uncomfortably. 'If she gets hurt, I kill you. If you make her cry, I'll do even worse.'
Syaoran returned the glare he got. 'I am supposed to teach her how to fight, right? You can't learn that without getting hurt.' He tried not to make it sound as if he wanted to save his own life with this.
Touya thought about that for a while. 'True. But don't overdo it, and no blood.'
'Deal.' Syaoran said as he got up to leave them alone. 'But not sooner than when she is completely healed.'
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Tomiko sat in her car, while the driver drove her to one of her personal party's.
Just as she had anticipated, with her actions towards Sakura, she got all the attention she longed for. All the students tried their best to get in her favor, and everybody liked her. They showed respect.
Though she had to say the boys went a little bit further than planned. She didn't mean for Sakura to lie on the ground till early morning. Sure, the plan wasn't for Sakura to get up fast enough for nobody to see what happened, but from half past four till two am? That was almost twelve hours.
She could have died...
Tomiko shrugged at the thought. If that had happened, she would have played along. Nobody could prove that she was behind it, so it didn't really matter. The police and inspectors all had come to question her, but they had absolutely no proof.
As the driver pulled up in front her, just finished, brand new mansion – her third in Tomoeda – she straightened herself, perking herself up for the upcoming attention.
When the door opened, a camera flashed, and she had to smile. This had really, really made her famous. On her way to the door, a couple of guest gave her a warm handshake, and asked how she did. She greeted them cheerful with her best smile.
Oh, how she enjoyed this!
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To Be Continued
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