"How are you feeling now?" Sakura asked as Tomoyo walked into the galley the next day. The raven haired woman had a couple of band-aids covering the gash on the side of her forehead.

"Aside from a killer headache," she gave a small laugh, "never better. What about you?" She asked as she walked over to the stove and turned it on, taking out a kettle from one of the cabinets.

"Me?" the brunette repeated.

"Yeah, you slept in pretty late, so I was wondering, were your injuries bothering you again?" she asked as she poured water in it, "Would you like some tea?"

"No thanks," the eighteen-year old shook her head, "And, um… My injuries are healed."

"Really?" the medic sounded impressed. "I didn't know you were a healer too."

"Healer… oh." it took a few second for her to comprehend what Tomoyo meant, "No, I'm not." She laughed, "I think it was Fai."

"That can't be right," Tomoyo frowned. "Fai can't perform healing magic."

"Are you sure?" This piece of information surprised the jade-eyed girl. She had been pretty sure it was Fai, since she couldn't heal either.

"Yeah," the older woman nodded, extracting a small packet of tea leaves, emptying the contents in the kettle before covering it. Silence reigned for the next few minutes till it was broken by the shrill whistle of the steam escaping from the spout.

"Tomoyo," Sakura spoke quietly once the older woman had settled on the seat. The lavender-eyed medic looked at her with a polite smile, "I know it's not really my place to ask…" Sakura's fingers worried the long sleeve of her shirt as she avoided the other's eyes. "But… What…" she drew in a deep breath, steeling herself to say the words, "what happened to him?"

The raven-haired beauty lowered her gaze as the smile left her face, her expression growing dark.

"I'm sorry," Sakura picked at a stray thread, "I know you guys told me he was in an accident but, who are they? The ones he is so terrified of."

"Seven cycles ago," Tomoyo sighed, "Kurogane found him alone in the rain, a little ways away from our shelter, near one of the spaceports on Nihon. He was unconscious and running a very high fever. He was only eleven at the time. Syaoran, I mean." Sakura looked up to notice that the woman was now staring outside, at the passing stars, her gaze distant. "We treated him as best as we could and tried to find his family, but he told us that they were all killed in a raid at his home planet. His mother had hidden him in a departing cargo ship that brought him to Nihon."

"Our home," Sakura noticed Tomoyo's fingers tightening their grip around the handle of the mug of tea, "was destroyed in a pirate raid when I was fourteen. Only Kurogane and I survived, so I guess he reminded us a little of ourselves. So alone and vulnerable… It took a little bit of persuasion on Kurogane's part but we took him in."

"He was very different back then. Intelligent, brave, kind hearted," Tomoyo smiled, lost in another world altogether, "and very helpful. He used to go to work with Kurogane, doing little odd jobs here and there. It wasn't much but we used to get by just fine."

"Then one day, a couple of weeks before he turned fifteen," Tomoyo's knuckles grew white from the force she exerted on the cup, Sakura was surprised that it had not broken by now, "he just vanished without a trace. No matter how much we searched and where we looked, we couldn't find him."

"Around three months later, Kurogane got it into his head that he had been kidnapped and taken off the planet. We both loved Syaoran like our little brother so there wasn't much I could do to dissuade him, not that I wanted to anyways when all our searching had lead us to nothing. So using what little savings we had, we bought this ship. We started travelling from planet to planet in hopes of finding him but to no avail. Two whole cycles went by and still we didn't get so much as a small drift of him."

"Then one day," her voice grew choked at this point, "while delivering some cargo in Infinity, we found him… In the marketplace… he was with Fai when we came across him." a small rueful smile adorned her lips, "Kurogane immediately attacked Fai, thinking he was the one who had kidnapped him."

"Obviously, Fai fought back, not even knowing why he was being attacked. The way they both fought, they nearly destroyed half the market. It wasn't until they both were nearly ready to rip each other's throats out that we all noticed Syaoran. Scared, trying to sink into the wall he was pressing himself up against, whimpering and crying. We both tried to go to him but he just shrank away from us."

"I don't think I've ever seen Kurogane look so…" she trailed off, a single tear trailing down her side of her face. "In the end it was Fai who managed to calm Syaoran down. The only one who knows what happened to him is Syaoran himself and he is in no state of mind to tell us. We have no clue as to whom kidnapped him or what they did to him, all we know is they completely destroyed his sanity." Another tear escaped her eyes, taking the same path as its predecessor, hanging at the tip of her chin.

"I'm sorry," Sakura said in a small voice, feeling guilty for having brought up a topic that was clearly painful for her.

"It is only natural to feel curious." Tomoyo shook her head before looking down at the cup in her hands. She gave a small laugh followed by a sniffle, "The tea is cold. I think I'll make some more." She said as she climbed to her feet, "Are you sure you don't want any?"

Understanding that the older woman needed some time to herself, Sakura politely declined and got up to leave when Fai arrived in the vessel's kitchen, Syaoran right on his heels.

"Tomoyo, Kurgy told me to tell you that we'll be stopping at Clow for a couple of days," he announced, "his Little Dragon needs some repairs after what happened last night so let me know if we are running short on supplies…" he trailed off when he took in the appearance of the two females onboard.

Tomoyo's eyes were slightly puffy, while Sakura had a small, guilty look on her face, but he decided not to question the reasons behind it being so.

"I'll check and let you know what we're running short on." Tomoyo nodded, busying herself with washing the mug in the sink. She dried her hands after putting it back in its place before turning around to give a gentle smile to Syaoran. And then, she was gone, leaving Sakura behind to watch her receding back.

A/N: So, what do you think? I finally revealed what happened to Syaoran… or not. ;)

But you guys got some idea about what might have happened, right? Right?

Anyhow, next chapter, the story picks up the pace. A little bit of Syaoran-cuteness and Sakura-badassness. (lol)

Here's a little preview to motivate you guys to review some more.

"For the use of illegal, unrestrained magic," The hunter recited, "You have the right to remain silent and anything- Ooof!"

Sakura jumped to her right, bounding off the alley wall like a predator ready to sink its claws in the flesh of its prey. The next second, the man was slumped on the gritty side walk, unmoving and pale, a steady stream of crimson flowing from the gash on his throat. "Sorry," Sakura said as she straightened up after cleaning the blade of her throwing knife on the shirt of the now dead hunter, "but getting captured is not part of my to-do list for the day."

If you wanna know what else happens, you know the drill. The more you review, the more I will be motivated to update faster.

By the way, I know you people must have developed your own theories on what might have happened to Syaoran and I would love to hear them. (Rest assured that I am not saying that because I need ideas or anything cuz I already have it all written out. Yeah. That's right. I do reveal the truth, but it might be a few chapters before we get there. Some things need to happen first.) I just want to know how many of you managed to get close to what I have in mind for our dear old Syaoran.

Alright. So that's it for now.

Until next time.

Ciao!