Tattooed

Summary: "I've lost everything to drugs, do you know that?" Sakura told him with tears in her eyes. "The funny thing is I've never even touched a drug in my life and yet it destroyed me. It took everything." She turned to face him then. "Please, don't let it take you away from me. I won't be able to handle it, not this time, not again." S x S.

Author's Note: xXBlossomofShadowsXx, amelancholicangel, teru21, petiteTRINH, Fashion Fairy 26, SweetSeductionCherryB: :) You guys have me *so happy*.

deadflo: Missed you in the previous chapter. This is the second update of the day.

Truth be told I first had the song 'Lights' by Ellie Goulding in mind for this chapter but the lyrics were not at all fitting. It's sad that I couldn't use that song but I guess 'Eternal Flame' will have to do.

Disclaimer: Not mine.

xviii.

Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling
Do you feel my heart beating?
Do you understand?

- Eternal Flame/The Bangles

This wasn't the first time Sakura had kissed someone; felt someone so close to her body as the sunlight completely vanished outside, leaving them in the dark. Tilting her head back to kiss him, she thought of her first kiss in the dark, under the moonlight with Hiro, a boy from her school in Tomoeda. She'd thought it was the most magical anyone could make her feel.

How wrong she'd been.

Barely six years after the first kiss came the man she'd thought she was in love with at the time, Yamazaki... tall, dashing and sophisticated. He was every girl's dream, really. Maybe it was love, who knows, but they'd shared a bond that Sakura took a long while to recover from. It wasn't as painful a parting as much necessary for their end had come. He was more than a friend, but somehow still lesser than a lover.

But Syaoran... was so much more than anything she'd ever felt before.

As fierce as him were his kisses against her lips, their bodies close and their hands clasped. Every kiss brought her so much closer to forgetting everything like it never happened. His hands came to her shoulders as he pushed her back gently to the bed. On top of her now, on all fours, he looked at her.

"I... cannot believe how much I want you." His lips came to graze her earlobe, her ear, her cheek.

"You... you... you've been on mind since that first night I saw you in the rain." He kissed her lips gently. "You're all that I've been able to think about since then.

"You're all I can paint since then."

Sakura couldn't bear to look at him. Hearing him say... made it so much harder to keep her own. With one finger he brought her to look at him again.

"It's been you for months, do you know that? You, with your long hair and beautiful skin and pink lips... but I think it's your eyes I'm most partial to... I've tried so hard to find the green in your eyes, bring it to life... It's just impossible."

"Syaoran—"

"Even the way you say my name, the way your mouth—" he cut off to kiss her. "... it's like I've never kissed anyone before you, like I was waiting my whole life to find you, have you," he brought her wrists to his mouth and bit softly. A soundless moan left her lips.

"Every inch of you is so pure, innocent..." Syaoran bit her neck, gently at first. "... and I've been so jealous of you, your untainted skin, body... heart and soul."

"I'm..." Sakura gasped as he bit her harder.

"I'll never be good enough," he told her before kissing her, over and over again. "Nobody will be enough,"

"Syaoran... that's not true," Sakura said between kisses. "You are good enough, you know that. I—"

He looked into her eyes before dipping lower to kiss her collarbone.

"You saved me, that night." Syaoran told her in hushed tones. "If you hadn't found me, I don't know what I would've done. You saved me.

"I remember thinking I was in heaven that night as you comforted me, soothed me, put me to sleep. I remember you... your face, your nightgown, I remember how you sat with me through that night. Nobody has ever done that for me. Months ago I didn't even know you, and now here you are, the stranger on the road who cared more than anyone else."

Sakura felt scared at those words.

"What happened that day?" she asked.

"I don't want to –just hold me." He told her before slipping to the side, his legs tangled with hers. "Hold me."

Sakura held him as he quivered in her arms wildly. Tighter than before, she held him as she willed her eyes to remain dry.

It was a long time before wetness seeped into her t-shirt. Syaoran was crying.

"I'm going to ruin you," he murmured against her neck. "You'll never be the same again. I ruin things, and I've touched you... but I can't help myself. I can't help but want you.

"You should have never picked me off the street that night."

Sakura pulled back and looked into his wet eyes, kissing the tears that left them. She smiled through her own tears as she tugged on his hair.

"It'll be okay, whatever it is." She said as she patted him to sleep. "I'm here now, it'll be okay."

"You will leave me," he doubted.

"Not if you get help, not if you try,"

"What if I can't?"

"You will, because I'm here now. I'll help you," she promised.

Nothing else was said as she patted his back while softly singing an old song Touya had taught her. Supposedly her mother used to sing it to him to put him to sleep.

Syaoran was asleep in minutes.

Sakura fell asleep with tears in her eyes.

*.*

Syaoran woke up to Sakura. It was still dark, and Syaoran felt slightly disoriented. How long had they been sleeping?

She softly kissed his lips as they lay in bed together. Her eyes shined, even in the dark. It made him smile. How easily the butterflies spurted to life and roamed, making him feel excited and tense all at once. It was all because of the enigma next to him, holding him, kissing him.

"What time is it?" he asked her.

"A little after four,"

He kissed her, his hands holding hers as he pinned her beneath him. She was here, willing to be his. He couldn't believe. It felt too good to be true.

"I'd do it again, you know." She told him tiredly. Had she slept at all?

"Do what again?" he asked her before bringing his lips close to hers.

"I'd pick you up off the streets again. I'd bring you home again. I'd fight with you again... I'd do it all again.

"I'd fall in love with you, all over again."

Syaoran felt his pulse race... love.

He smiled and then laughed quietly before kissing her.

Do you feel the same
Am I only dreaming
Is this burning an eternal flame

Aww... I couldn't help myself. They are too sweet together. Falling in love is so easy. I still remember the first time I realized I was in love. Best damned day of my life.

QUESTION: Tell me your love story.

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