Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, Clamp does. But I do own this story.

Pairings: Syaoran x Sakura, Eriol x Tomoyo, Mei Lin x OC, Rika x OC, Naoko x OC, Chiharu x Yamazaki


Chapter Forty

"Pain with Recovery"


"Eh? Who's that?" the nurse said getting the attention of her companions.

Dr. Aisaka and the other nurse looked at the small TV screen situated at the corner of the ICU nurses' station. The screen held an image in black and white where a woman wearing a casual, floral Sunday dress and a large sunhat stood waiting in front of the ICU entrance doors.

"Must be one Mr. Li's family or friends again," replied one the other nurse, slightly exasperated. "These guys have been having different guests since the day they arrived," she said, pointing to the row of rooms where Syaoran and Sakura, Eriol, Mika, Rika, Aki and Chiharu were in.

A sudden beeping then sounded through one of the rooms.

"That must be from Mr. Kobayashi again," Dr. Aisaka said with a little frustration, looking towards Aki's room. "He's been so restless ever since he woke up."

The two nurses giggled at him.

"By the way, where are the other doctors and nurses stationed in here?" he said, taking a stethoscope that hung on a hook by the station.

"There seems to be an emergency down in the regular ICU, they say they'll be back as soon as they can."

"They better, if anything sudden happens to these patients, I can't very well take care of everything by myself," he muttered before heading towards Aki's room.

"Wha- Hey! What do we do about the lady outside?" one of the nurses called out to his retreating form.

The doctor shrugged without turning back. "You know the drill, just let her out after her time's over. We can't really do anything to stop the patients' visitors from coming in," he called back. "Unfortunately," he added to himself, thinking of all the sorts of people that have been in the ICU for the past three days just to visit the group of patients they had now. All of the staff assigned inside the ICU have been wary of the visitors that have been coming in, mainly because most of them looked to be dangerous with their dark clothing and fierce appearances. And the conditions the patients had right now, like their multiple gunshot wounds only made them even more cautious.


"I can't believe you talked me into this," Ren hissed, glaring at Mei Lin who was beside him, trying to keep up with him whilst walking with a crutch by her wounded leg and pulling along the rolling IV stand that held the fluids connected to her and Naoko.

Mei Lin grinned at him before turning to the girl behind her. "You catching up well enough Naoko?"

Naoko grinned back at her with a nod as she easily kept up with the group even if she had two crutches. "You kidding? I can go faster with these things than I can with my own two feet!" she replied with a laugh before turning to the giggling Tomoyo whose wheelchair was being pushed along by Ren who had unfortunately been forced into accompanying them to the ICU when he came by to visit along with Mike.

Mike, Jay and Takashi all intended to go follow them of course, but not until the girls and Ren got in first. They knew well enough the ICU wouldn't let all of them in at the same time.

"And pray tell, how do you intend to get in there?" he asked, smirking at the three girls as the glass doors to the ICU came to view.

The three girls didn't answer at this. They hadn't really thought about it, they were just hoping for luck.

"We'll see," Mei Li replied with an unconcerned face.

"Your aunt is gonna kill me," he said somewhat fearfully, thinking of a certain older Chinese woman with the name of Yelan Li.


"Where is he?" she hissed with a fire in her eyes.

The nurse trembled in silence, and just stared back at the female guest they had just let in who now held three scalpels by her neck whilst gripping the neckline of her colleague's uniform.

It happened so fast. First they had let her in, talked to her for awhile while she looked around the ICU, casually glancing at rooms within eyeshot as she did. The next thing they knew, the sterile tray that was kept in the station that was readily set up in case an emergency happens, fell with a loud clang on the floor, and all the scalpels on it were in the hands of the seemingly harmless visitor.

None of them moved an inch in fear that the crazy lady might do something towards them.

Still holding onto the nurse with one hand, Reimi turned fully towards the one she had the scalpels pointed to. "I'll slice your throat if you don't answer me," she warned icily. "Again, where is he? I know he's in one of these rooms, and I can't bloody well waste my time searching for him."

The nurse didn't answer her, instead turned to her colleague, who in turn was looking at the TV screen showing them now that the front doors of the ICU were now crowded with what looked like three female patients with one capable-looking enough man. The three girls were waving at them through the camera, trying to get their attention as it seemed.

Both nurses seeing this without the awareness of the woman whose attention was on them, they nodded at the other before speaking.

"C-Can you lower the b-b-blades first though?" one of them managed to say in stuttered words, looking down at the three scalpels still held by her throat.

That did it.

Reimi did lower the blades and their holders but then piercing them straight into the nurse's stomach and pulling them right back out.

The other nurse screamed as she fell to the ground, blood seeping through her uniform, making Reimi turn to her fully now, the bloody scalpels by her throat.

"Anything else that comes from that mouth of yours that doesn't start with a number of the room where Li is, and I'll make sure you get a fate worse than her," she said in a very cold voice.


"You see?" Mei Lin said rather smugly towards Ren who rolled his eyes at her.

"Too much luck in my opinion," he muttered before pushing Tomoyo's wheelchair down the corridor of plain white walls.

"Ni hao!" Mei Lin greeted in a loud and cheery voice as they rounded the corner that lead towards the nurses' station and the ICU rooms.

The scene in front of them however, stopped them dead in their tracks. On one side of the station was a well-dressed woman holding bloody surgical utensils just an inch away from a nurse's throat where as another nurse was on the ground, trying to crawl away from them with blood trailing behind her on the floor.

"HELLLLPPP!" the nurse on the ground said in a mangled scream, breaking the ice and snapping everyone's attention before she fainted, her head landing on the floor with her blood.

"Don't move!" Reimi hissed at the newcomers, now holding on to the nurse beside her by her hair, the bloody scalpels still by her throat.

"Who are you?" Ren asked, frowning at her but unmoving, she looked really familiar.

"Shut up!" she replied, sounding a little hysterical. "I came here for payback, and I intend to see it done. I don't care if I die or rot in prison for this!" she screamed before turning to the nurse yet again. "WHERE IS LI?"

As she shouted this, Mei Lin, Ren, Tomoyo and Naoko didn't move an inch, they were too far away to be of any help, but the incoming figure sure wasn't.

When Dr. Aisaka got near enough, he took hold of Reimi's hair and slammed her down the floor.

A sharp scream came from the nurse as she fell to the ground, holding onto her throat.

"Let go of me! LET GO!"

The girls watched helpless as Ren ran towards them and helped the struggling doctor who was trying to hold the girl to the ground all the while avoiding her constant swipes of the bloody scalpels.

"WHERE'S LI? I'LL KILL HIM FOR WHAT HE'S DONE!" she shouted, still trying to struggle under the two men even though she's lost her weapons.

Mei Lin frowned at the scene playing before them before tiptoeing and removing Naoko's IV bag and transferring it to the stand that held Tomoyo's IV bag on her wheelchair.

"Mei Lin?" Both girls called as she made her way towards the mess of people on the floor with her crutch and the rolling IV stand.

"Ren," she said in a very serious voice, holding a hand towards him.

Ren didn't say a word, instead gave him what he knew she wanted.

Mei Lin held on the scalpels and turned to the struggling woman as he and the doctor gripped all of her extremities.

"What are you doing?" Dr. Aisaka asked, watching Mei Lin position herself just over the Reimi's head.

"Doing my job," Mei Lin said calmly, while eyeing Reimi with a hard glare.

"What job?"

Dr. Aisaka needn't a verbal answer to his questions as he watched with eyes wide open as Mei Lin pierced the scalpels over the girl's chest without any hesitation, and with a single downwards strike, slid them easily enough through her clothes and skin towards her neck to make sure her heart as well as her throat were damaged.

Ren let go of the girl under him, not at all bothered by all the blood and revealed guts on the body, and eyed her closely.

"Is this her?" he asked, looking at Mei Lin who threw the scalpels onto the lifeless form.

Mei Lin nodded, letting out a long sigh. Her job was finally done.

"That's her, Reimi Shikou, Tsuyoshi's younger sister" she said, before getting up although struggling slightly with the crutch. "When Syaoran assigned all the female targets to me, she was the top of the list. But I never found her through all the missions we had, or the individual missions I had with the girls," she added, referring to Aya, Emi and the rest of the females who were older members of the Wolves. "I thought we had to go on a chase for her after everything's that happened, that would've been a hassle. Good enough, she actually came to us, although it was quite stupid of her."

"She sounded hysterical though. Her brother's death must have caused some real emotional damage on her," Ren replied, sounding a bit sympathetic.

"Don't feel sorry for her Ren. The girl's not as sweet as you think. After all, she's the one Shikou specifically gave responsibility to for recruiting more members into the Kins. She has quite a lot of connections and influences over people, not to mention she has the looks for it," she said, while casually pushing the dead girl's cheek to the side with the foot of her good leg. "If I had killed her sooner, the Kins would've run out of followers a long time ago, but I never got a lead on her. She never really sees Shikou often enough for me to get to her."

Ren nodded in understanding, figuring the siblings avoided each other to keep the kid safe. 'This girl looks a lot like Sakura and the girls' age or even younger,' he thought, looking her over one last time before turning to the man opposite him who was just as still and as quiet as the dead body beneath them.

"You a'right there Doc?" he asked, flashing a calm grin towards the bug-eyed doctor who still hadn't let go of Reimi's arm and leg across him.

That said, Dr. Aisaka finally snapped out of it. "Y-You killed her!" he exclaimed, voice full of disbelief.

"Yeah, and we've got you to thank!" Mei Lin said with a smile at him, nodding in appreciation.

"Me?" the doctor said incredulously. "I didn't kill her! You did!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at Mei Lin.

She looked at him, figuring he must've been paranoid of the entire situation. "Yeah, I did. Uhm…you better attend to your colleagues," she said, changing the subject and pointing to the two nurses who were on the ground by the station.


"What happened in here?" Mike asked as he arrived inside the ICU which was now full of people.

The girls had just come back into Mei Lin and Jay's room but didn't say a word as Yelan was continually scolding them over something or another when they arrived. Now she personally saw to it that the heavily injured Wolves stayed inside the room.

Ren nodded at the two Wolves Mike recognized before they left out the door he just came in.

"Ren?"

"A Kin just came in here looking for Syaoran with every intent on killing him," Ren said before nodding towards the nurses' station which was currently being mopped in several places where Mike saw traces of blood were still present.

"How could a Kin get in here? We have the whole hospital in lock down," Mike pointed out with a frown as he saw a stretcher being rolled past them, the figure of a tiny body was obvious underneath a white blanket that covered it.

"It wasn't anyone we've seen before…at least not personally. It was Shikou's younger sister. None of the Wolves ever saw her, not even the girls who were assigned to hunt her down and kill her, so they didn't stop her from entering the building. No one's seen her except from old photos but Mei Lin recognized her easily enough, she's been hunting the girl down for years now after all."

Mike nodded at this, not believing such a thing just happened after the last fight they had with the Kins only three days ago.

"Did you give instructions to the rest of the Wolves?" he asked, making Ren nod with a scratch to his head. He had to admit, being a leader to the Wolves wasn't at all as easy as they thought. And he and Ren were only acting-leaders for the time being since Syaoran was out of commission and so was Eriol, as well as Mika, as well as Aki. He and Ren were one of the oldest- by experience –members of the Wolves and one of the closer members to Syaoran as compared to the other members.

"I'm having more Wolves come in and guard the entire floor as well. There are low chances of anything else happening for the mean time but we can't risk it, especially not with Syaoran, and the guys all in the same floor and defenseless."

"I'll go and have a chat with the hospital administration," Mike said with a nod before leaving the ICU.

Running a hand through his hair, Ren walked over to Dr. Aisaka who was sitting on a stool in silence. The doctor hadn't said a word ever since more nurses and doctors came in to assist him with the injuries the two nurses had acquired. Only one of them had the worse end of the injuries, the nurse was hurt pretty badly when she got stabbed in the abdomen where as the other nurse got three minor cuts by the skin on her neck. But both of the nurses, as well as him, were pretty shaken up by the whole ordeal.

"You okay Doc?"

Dr. Aisaka looked up at him, a far-away look in his eyes but managed a weak nod.

"Sorry about earlier," Ren said, leaning on the wall beside the silenced man. "When we do our jobs, we tend to lose ourselves into it. We forget about civilians sometimes, and not to mention Mei Lin's kind of…" Ren looked thoughtful at this, thinking of the best word to describe Mei Lin. "Aggressive."

"Aggressive?" the doctor echoed in a faint voice. "That girl was brutal," he said with a shudder at remembering the scene.

"Well, yes, I guess that's true. But, it's her job you see…" he explained, although not so convincingly. But surprisingly enough, Dr. Aisaka nodded in understanding.

"You're all from one of those gangs am I right?" he asked, indicating the patients inside the ICU, making Ren nod. "I read what happened three days ago in that mansion not far from here. I saw it in the news too. Besides that, I've heard of Li's name come up in the news now and again for the past few years."

Ren kept silent as Dr. Aisaka informed him of his own knowledge about the entire situation at hand. The Wolves always kept their business to themselves and kept others out of it to avoid further conflicts and increase of the number of people who get involved in the dangers of their business.

"I don't know much about your gang or the gang of that girl who you guys just killed. And I'd rather not know. But can you tell me this, are you the good guys in all of this?" he asked, looking at Ren seriously. "Please tell me honestly, it might clean my consciousness of guilt from what happened earlier as well as the guilt that might come someday if I might hear about you guys- the very people I actually helped treat as a doctor –causing trouble for the wrong side."

A sad smile spread across Ren's features after hearing this.

"I don't think anyone of us is actually 'good' Doc," he answered truthfully. "After everything we've been through, you can't even imagine the extent we've gone to keep ourselves alive."

Dr. Aisaka nodded in silence yet again.

"But," Ren continued, a happier smile on his face now. "I can promise you that we're not the gang responsible for needless killing. We're fighting for a purpose although it's our own purpose and as much as possible, we avoid letting more people into our business so as not to cause harm to the innocent. So, you can clear your conscience. You're doing the right thing for treating my friends."


It's been a week and a half now since the incident in the ICU. Chiharu and Aki had been transferred to their own rooms outside the ICU where the rest of the gang paid constant visits to. Takashi was almost at full recovery, Mei Lin and Jay could walk without the use of crutches although there's still the obvious limp both are trying to conceal, Tomoyo's still on a wheelchair but can move more properly, and Naoko's only using a single crutch.

Mika had already woken up just 3 days ago and the gang especially Naoko couldn't be any happier. Rika had also woken up just yesterday, and knowing this almost immediately calmed Aki down. Taking him a break from all the sedatives the doctors had injected in him just to calm down. Although both of them were awake, they were still kept inside the ICU for a few more days just in case.

There is of course, still Eriol, Sakura and Syaoran left who haven't at all showed signs that they were waking up any time soon.

Until today.

"I swear it, I saw the bastard move earlier!"

"Mei Lin" an older voice scolded at her use of words.

"Sorry Auntie, but really though, I saw him kind of blink when I came in here earlier"

"Maybe his insides are twitching from all the racket you've been making" snickered another voice.

"Say another word Takashi and I'll make sure you get your own room in here" the female voice growled.

"If you two don't shut up, I'll make sure you two get your own rooms in here"

Blinking a couple of times, Eriol's vision finally cleared, revealing three faces hovering closely above his own. His aunt, her cousin and one of the guys who had helped rescue his, Sakura and Syaoran's life.

"I told you he was awake!" Mei Lin said, grinning madly.

Takashi rolled his eyes and looked down at him. "Are you okay man?"

"Mmm…my head hurts though" Eriol mumbled.

"Of course it hurts! You've been bleeding from your skull like there's no tomorrow!"

Eriol grinned at his aunt. "Nice to see you too auntie"

"It's a miracle you even remember us, I would've expected you having amnesia from the sort of injuries you got!" Yelan scolded further. "Honestly, you, Mika and Rika should all be grateful you haven't suffered that much other than an ache in the head!"

He wouldn't exactly call it an 'ache'. In fact, he felt like his head was still about to explode.

"Mmm…" he replied incoherently.

Seeing the look on his nephew's face, she turned to the two other visitors and pulled them by their elbows. "Come now, you two get back to your rooms, he needs rest"

"But we don't, we're perfectly fine already!" Mei Lin reasoned.

"Yes but he's not. Just hearing your voice must cause him further pain in the head- see? He agrees!"

"Oh stop grinning like that Eriol" Mei Lin said with a glare at the patient whose eyes were already closed but his lips were formed into a large grin. "Fine, but I want to see Syaoran and Sakura first before we go back"

Eriol listened to their voices as they started to fade before he heard the sliding doors to his room open and close yet again.

"Anyone there?" he said with a slight groan in his voice. He didn't want to open his eyes anymore, it seemed like the brightness of the lights caused his eyes to burn.

"Eriol?"

Upon hearing the voice, he couldn't help himself, he had to open his eyes just to see its owner.

Tomoyo looked at him with glassy eyes, filled with unshed tears.

"Eriol" she repeated, a smile spreading across her face and tears now slipping down the side of her cheeks.

Eriol looked at her, she was too far for him to see without his glasses on and he had no idea where his glasses were at that moment and he wasn't so sure if he could even move enough to look for it, wherever he was. He only knew he was in the hospital but precisely where, he didn't. Blinking a few more times and narrowing his eyes at the figure, he could see she had long hair and she was sitting down on a chair by the entrance.

"Who are you?" he asked, just to make sure. He wanted to believe it really was Tomoyo but he can't call to the person and declare his undying love if he wasn't even 100% sure it was her. Although the voice should be obvious to him, the girl seemed to have a throaty tone that didn't sound like Tomoyo when she said his name due to tears which was apparent to him because of her constant sniffling earlier.

He didn't get an answer to his question, all he heard was a sort of creek from something then everything was silent.

xoxo

"Will you please shut up?" Tomoyo huffed with a flushed face, arms crossed in front of her.

"S-Sorry Tomoyo…I…yeah, sorry" Mei Lin was able to gasp out in between howls of laughter.

Everyone else kept silent but sent Tomoyo mocking grins and wide smiles.

Tomoyo pouted.

It was an honest mistake. It's not her fault she fainted, but she was slightly guilty for making the nurses and the doctors in the ICU worry after they discovered her unconscious on her wheelchair in Eriol's room in the ICU. How could she have known that Eriol couldn't see much without his glasses on? She knew he needed them but she really didn't know the extent of how bad his eyesight was without his glasses. She honestly believed he had forgotten about her the moment the words 'Who are you?' left his lips. And now his friends won't shut up about it after they found out from the doctors the panic she caused from the medical staff.

"Sh-shut up already!" she exclaimed in Mei Lin's direction, her face now fully flushed at remembering what had happened, but the rest of the gang merely started laughing as well.


It has officially been three weeks since the incident.

Eriol has been moved into his own private room outside of the ICU now and is recovering at a remarkable pace.

Takashi, Chiharu, Jay, Mei Lin, Naoko, and Mika have been officially discharged out of the hospital but have come back now and again to see to their friends in between taking care of wrapping up the business with the rest of the members of the Wolves.

Aki was still using crutches but was healing fast as well. Rika's wounds were fine except for the occasional headaches she gets and opted to stay in the hospital a few more days as requested by the doctors.

Tomoyo can stand and walk on her own but still had a hard time moving too much. The doctors also requested her to stay for a few more days, and she didn't argue since she stayed in the same room as Eriol did.


As for a certain guy with amber eyes and a certain lady with emeralds…

"I don't understand, why are they still unconscious?" Yelan asked, getting worried, she had expected the couple to gain consciousness around the same time Eriol did but they didn't. It's already been three weeks since the incident and they haven't gotten so much as a twitch from either of them.

Dr. Aisaka merely sent the woman a comforting smile and glanced towards the glass doors and walls to the large ICU room Syaoran and Sakura where in before turning back towards her.

"Don't fret Mrs. Li" he said reassuringly. "I can swear with everything I own that your son and Ms. Kinomoto are indeed fine. Their bodies are recovering at an even pace and their conditions are already stable. The reason why they haven't woken up is purely psychological at this point"

"Psychological?"

"Yes. At first my team and I assumed they must have just suffered some sort of head trauma that won't show up in the scans from that explosion and collapse of the mansion, just as Mr. Hiiragizawa sustained. And indeed, they did suffer head trauma from the incident although not as serious as Mr. Hiiragizawa's was. At this point, they are merely willing to stay unconscious due to psychological reasons, they aren't suffering from any more physical injuries that can hold them unconscious anymore. They must be mentally and emotionally exhausted, just give them a bit of time"


Sakura turned to look at Syaoran beside her, letting a tear slip from the corner of her eye as she did.

Syaoran looked back at her, a faint smile on his face.

They both tightened their already strong hold on each others' hand before falling back to sleep.

They had already woken up. Sakura woke up yesterday, although she wasn't sure when Syaoran had woken up but he was already looking at her the moment she opened hers. But both of them still felt too exhausted. They knew they were in a hospital, for how long now, they didn't know, but they didn't care. Everything was over, and they both knew it, realizing all this only made them both contented, and exhausted all the same. They knew their bodies were healing and some of their wounds already healed, but they were still tired. After they wake up together, they spent a few minutes just looking at each other, not saying a single word, and just fall right back to sleep.

They have both agreed with the unwritten and unsaid decision of just resting there for now. None of them were in a hurry, and they were both contented just the way they were. All they wanted to do was recover fully, so by the time they can fully move again, they can immediately hold onto each others' arms, this time, with the absence of any sort of pain because it was over.

The Kin's leader was dead, the rest of their surviving followers were behind bars, or at least, they hoped so.

But, one thing they knew is…it's over.

It was all finally over.


Author's Note:

The following chapter will serve as a finale, the epilogue chapter.

I'm not really entirely happy with this story to be quite honest. In fact, I wish I started writing this story now when I've slightly matured as a person and as a writer. I was such a kid back when I first started Meant to be Wild.

But hey, I don't regret it. I'll take this as a stepping stone.

I might start up a new Action/Adventure themed story again sometime soon. But for now, I'm leaning more into pure Romance (as you've noticed with my two new stories).

That's it for now. See you in the next chapter! Ja ne!

Raeny