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, teru21, petiteTRINH, deadflo, Musette Fujiwara, amelancholicangel, Care, Fashion Fairy 26, Randomsam123, Immortal Blood: Do you guys know that the previous chapter has gotten the maximum number of reviews, 8 reviews! 8! Wow, I was so blown away by the way this story is picking up readers. 4500 views, 113 reviews. I love you guys. I'm so overwhelmed, I could cry. *sniffle*

We'll be doing two chapters a day starting tomorrow. Had a test today so had to cut back. Make sure you tell me what you thought.

Disclaimer: I can't even bring myself to write something innovative here. You know none of this is mine.

xxi.

Life is like a mean machine
It made a mess outta me
It left me caught between
Like an angry dream I was stranded, I was stranded

- This is How a Heart Breaks/Rob Thomas

The walk back home was a sordid one. Syaoran barely saw where he was going as he held his bag in one hand. The world felt like it was spinning, the quiet mocking him.

"Touch me,"

Had he? Did he touch her? Just the thought was sickening. Syaoran ran over to the side and threw up promptly. Guilt flooded him and then came the worry. He couldn't even remember exactly what happened. One thing was for sure, he now hated Nakuru.

Syaoran felt angry tears slip over his cheeks as he tried to blink. His fist hit the wall as he pounded it over and over again. Angry and humiliated, he finally knew what it was to hate someone. After every punch he felt bruised and raw, the anger not dissipating one little bit.

"Touch me,"

Punch.

"Touch me,"

Punch. Pause. Punch.

"She's going to leave you now."

That voice sounded so much like Nakuru. Why? Was it because he hated her now?

"She's going to leave you, and you won't be able to stop her."

Syaoran sat against the boundary wall and cried hot tears whilst biting his fingernails. He picked out his phone and dialled her number once again.

"Hello, you've dialled 0044392810029. Please leave a message."

Syaoran spoke. For the first time in years, he spoke.

"It's me." He said. "I... I need you. I need you. I need you." He chanted, on and on and on, until his head throbbed and his body gave out.

"I need you.

"I need you.

"I need you."

Maybe it was the meth, or maybe it was real, he would never know. But from beside him came the voice that he craved to hear.

"I'm here, Syaoran." She told him, her perfectly black and long hair a curtain around them now as she hugged him close. The call disconnected automatically and he hugged her close as she did him.

A passerby noted how a boy with brown hair slept on the street.

The poor thing was alone.

*.*

Syaoran didn't know how he got where he was right then, but knew something was amiss. His lips felt dry and his hands coated with dry blood. The backpack he'd been carrying was a little ways ahead. It was still dark when he made the long walk home.

His head felt fuzzy... how long had it been since he'd smoked? Maybe six hours... maybe lesser. There was no way of knowing for sure until he went home and... Did what? He knew there was nothing to relieve the feel of strain on his body and mind... except Sakura.

No, he couldn't face her. Not yet, anyway.

Syaoran entered his building and walked up the stairs to the apartment. Letting him in with the key he shut the door and noticed how different the house looked in the dark.

"Syaoran?"

Syaoran turned around and yelped.

*.*

Mei Ling had fallen asleep on the couch whilst watching TV. It had been a long day of shooting but finally the next day was an off. Tomoyo and her planned to spend the day shoe shopping with Sakura.

She thought that Syaoran was probably with Sakura, and not wanting to disturb them if they were together, left the matter be.

Around three in the morning in came Syaoran, startling her awake. She stood and went closer to see if it was her cousin.

"Xiao Lang?" she asked, suddenly aware of her dark, open hair. She moved to tie into a knot before Syaoran screamed.

"What?" she asked him, looking around. "What is it?"

"You..." he pointed at her. "You're here... why? What do you want now?"

"Xiao—"

"Stop calling me that!" he pushed her away before running towards the corridor to the bedrooms. Mei Ling ran behind him into his room.

"Xiao Lang, what is it?"

"You're here for money, aren't you? You want money."

"What—"

"Take it," Syaoran threw his backpack at her, hurting her hands as she tried to catch it. "Take it and go. Leave. I don't ever want to see you, not again. It was a mistake. I don't need you."

"Xiao Lang, listen to me!"

Syaoran came close and clamped a hand to her mouth.

"I don't want to hear your voice," she'd never heard him sound so lethal. "I don't want to hear another word. Leave. Go. I am so angry I could kill you for what you did to me, for how you left me." He told her, his other hand choking her neck. Mei Ling's scream were simply muffled cries that no one would hear.

"I hate you," he spat. "I hate you like I hate no one else. You did this to me. This is all your fault." He enunciated every word. "This, who I am now, is because of you."

Mei Ling broke away from him and ran, outside his room, outside the apartment, out to the road and found herself banging on Sakura's door. She didn't know how she got there, and even why, but she needed someone now.

"Mei Ling?" Sakura asked groggily after opening the door, only in a nightgown. "What happened?"

"Xiao Lang," a howl escaped between pants. Sakura's eyes went wide.

"Where is he?"

"He-is-I-Sakura!" Mei Ling hugged Sakura as she cried. "I don't know, he's so hysterical... he's saying things... I don't even think he recognized—" she suddenly stopped talking.

"Mei Ling?" Sakura asked and pulled Mei Ling away. "I need you to calm down, okay? Is Syaoran alright?"

Mei Ling shook her head.

"Why... was he like that?" she rasped out with her hand on her neck.

"Calm down, okay? Everything's going to be alright. I promise." She pressed a kiss to Mei Ling's forehead and assured. Mei Ling was shaking panic-stricken.

"Come on, we're wasting time. We have to see to Syaoran, don't we?" Sakura asked.

Mei Ling finally snapped out of it and pulled Sakura by the hand. She never stopped shaking.

You take a hit now you feel it break down
Make you stay wide awake
This is how a heart breaks

QUESTION: What's the song in your head right now?

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