RECAP: Not a whole lot happened, Sakura sealed the Freeze card again, they had a water fight with Rika and all of them, then Syaoran got a call his mother was having a relapse, so he had to go back to Hong Kong, depressing everyone back in Japan.

Chapter 36 - Sunburns and Spells

Syaoran had gone swimming one too many days that week, and now, as he tried to listen to the sensei for his horseback training, all he could do was squeeze the reins in his hands with pain as his shirt kept rubbing against his sunburnt back.

"...And do you know why you failed to carry out that rollback?" Sensei Wanti went on.

"We were too slow." Syaoran said, use to this general lecture.

"And do you know why you’re too slow?"

"I am not giving proper cues-" Syaoran started to say automatically.

"99% rider error. But this time, we’ve reached a 1%. Tommorrow you’re going to be on Raion."

This combined with Syaoran’s sunburn made him want to scream. He clenched his teeth until the urge past, then spoke. "Yes sensei." He said a bit dismally.

The sensei left Syaoran standing in the hot dusty outdoor facility alone on the older coldblooded animal. Syaoran glared after him with narrowed eyes, then kicked the huge horse hard with his heels, the horse only taking off at a walk.

As Syaoran walked the horse by the indoor arena, he found Meilin attempting to give riding lessons to two of her friends- Chang Mandu, and the other he didn’t recognize. Syaoran hopped off the large horse before he was spotted by the small group of fanatics and walked the big horse into the stall aisle. Syaoran guided the horse into the stall, then half shut the door behind him and began taking off the saddle and bridle. He put the saddle over his forearm, cringing because of his burnt skin, and decided to hold the bridle in his hand instead of slinging it over his shoulder. Syaoran stepped out of the stall and shut the door, locking it with his free hand, then continued down the aisle to the tackroom.

Teller was leaning on the arena wall, staring with star struck eyes out at the indoor arena. Syaoran decided he’d come back and see what this was about. He went in the tackroom, stopping breifly in front of a fan to cool off, set the sweaty horse gear back where it was supposed to be, then continued out into the aisleway. A nice draft of air from the large industrial sized fans was blowing around where Teller stood, and Syaoran congrantulated the boy on his wise choice of stationing.

"Do you look like that at all girls or just one in particular?" Syaoran asked, leaning against the wall next to Teller and looking into the arena.

"Rejected. Again." Teller responded, continuing to stare.

"Which one?" Syaoran asked. He doubted it was Meilin, because she probably would have told him by now.

"Mandu." Teller said, a reverent tone as he said her name.

Maybe it was from being around Sakura, but Syaoran had developed slight sympathy for anyone that was lovestruck. "Good choice." Syaoran agreed. Of the three girls, she was maybe the nicest looking. Or maybe out of the two- Syaoran didn’t really judge Meilin that way.

"Well she doesn’t think so. She thinks I’m an idiot."

"Did she say that?" Syaoran asked.

"No, but I could tell that was what she was thinking."

"With girls you can never really tell. I’ve been around them all my life, you learn you can’t prejudge them."

Teller heaved a great sigh. "I was riding another new mare and she bucked me off right in front of Mandu. I fell right into the manure pile."

Syaoran tried not to laugh, but to stay sympathetic. "I told you to stay away from the mares."

"But Lexi always tells me to ride this one or another." Teller said.

"So next time you choose your own." Syaoran said simply.

Teller remained quiet, only stared off at Mandu, who was horribly riding a sloppy trot as Meilin tried to give instructions.

"Well I gotta go." Syaoran said, turning and leaving Teller by himself.

"Later." Teller called after him.

Syaoran walked down the aisle way into the outdoors, looking around at the trees. Summer was starting to slowly wind down, though the heat was relentless. A small forgiving breeze rustled the tree leaves around. Syaoran remembered he had promised himself a trailride back to where he had taken down the dragon spirit, at the pretty stream spot. That reminded him of his training. Which made him think back to Raion.

Raion, his father’s favorite horse. Huge and high spirited. Also the gentlest horse in the world. But he wasn’t gentle to people he didn’t like. That counted Syaoran. Syaoran slowed as he walked down the lane between pastures, looking at the large pasture of tall grass where a distant coal black horse was grazing, unperturbed by it’s surroundings. Syaoran stopped and looked out, contemplating. With a final thought, he ducked determinedly under the fence and headed towards the horse’s shadow slowly.

Raion jerked his head up as he saw Syaoran approaching, then slowly went back to grazing, keeping one eye on him as he came. Syaoran took a short breath, wondering if he really wanted to do this. I’ll just get him use to me. He continued on, getting ever closer. The horse remained unbothered, continuing to eat, his ears flicking around at nearby sounds. Syaoran slowed to a stop once he was about three feet away, and watched the horse. Raion brought his head up for a moment, then went back to grazing.

Syaoran hesitantly stepped forward, his hand outstretched to the horse’s long neck. The horse wasn’t doing anything. This wasn’t right. Syaoran unsurely took his hand away, now able to touch the horse’s neck. With more determination, he reached out and touched the horse’s sleek summer coat, but immediatly took his hand back as the horse threw his head up and snorted. With all unpredictabilty, the horse neighed shrilly and flared his nostrils, attempting to bite a chunk out of Syaoran’s shoulder. Syaoran ducked and narrowly missed the hit, instead falling to the ground. He quickly looked to the horse and was about to jump on his feet to avoid getting stepped on, but the horse had already taken off. Raion ran fast, very fast, and circled the pasture several times, letting out whinnies every few seconds.

Syaoran sighed and got back to his feet, trying not to let the failure get to him. Instead he brushed himself off and swallowed down any signs of hurt. He looked after the stallion to see where he had stopped. Raion was now by the back fence grazing again, acting as if nothing happened. Syaoran took a deep breath and continued towards the back fence. He wasn’t giving up yet.

This time, once Syaoran was about ten feet away, Raion took off wildly, and Syaoran hardly got out of the way in time. Still unscathed, Syaoran pursued on, jogging across the large distance, then slowing on approach. Raion stayed still again, letting Syaoran get close. Syaoran was very cautious this time. Just as he reached out his hand, he saw Raion’s ears go flat against his head, and the horse quickly spun around, aiming to nail Syaoran with a back kick. Syaoran flattened to the ground just as the sharp hoof went sailing over his head. The horse neighed again and took off, leaving Syaoran alone and thanking the heavens for his life.

Syaoran shakily got to his feet and looked after Raion. That had been enough for today, this time it had been cut too close. He would ask Alexis to bring Raion in with the other horses tonight, that way at least Raion would be in his stall for the next day’s training. Maybe Raion would be more cooperative with Syaoran on his back.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Does she sleep all the time?" Syaoran asked his sister Rana, who had driven him to the hospital.

"Most of the time." Rana agreed, playing with the car keys in her hand.

Syaoran tried not to be scared, but it was impossible. He couldn’t stand the thought of losing his mother as well. But here it looked like a plausible option. She was sleeping so horribly still that Syaoran kept seeing these visions of her dead, which didn’t do much for his mood. Syaoran had wanted to talk to her, but it didn’t look like she’d be waking up soon.

"How long has she been like this?" He asked.

Rana sighed, as if thinking about it was a nuisance. "Three days now, I suppose. She comes in and out. She was up alot earlier."

Syaoran grit his teeth. He would have been here right away, but he had been forced into his horseback combat training, and had reluctantly agreed to go with Rana later that evening. "So what’s wrong?" He asked.

"Well, the doctors aren’t one hundred percent sure right now. I personally think it’s just exhaustion from pushing herself too hard in the rehab center."

Syaoran didn’t answer, only looked back to his mother. She had an IV in, and several other monitors were attached to various parts of her. He didn’t like it at all. He hated feeling so helpless. But it’s not a big deal, she’ll be alright.

"Well can we get going? You’ve got to get ready for school tommorrow."

Syaoran turned and headed to the door without any further encouragement. "Yeah."

"And you’re guys’ play is coming up, isn’t it?" Rana continued as they went down the hall of the hospital.

"Mm." Syaoran only grunted in response, not wanting to be reminded. He had play practice tommorrow, and the sensei was a bit irritated with Syaoran’s sudden vacation.

"I heard you got the male lead."

"If you are saying all this to try and keep me from worrying, it’s not working."

Rana sighed loudly, and they stepped out onto the pavement of the large hospital parking lot. "I don’t understand you sometimes, little brother. You always seem to dwell on bad stuff, but you don’t want any help away from it."

Syaoran thought for a second. "But it’s better then clouding my mind with some superficial nonsense that will keep me satisfied for the time being. Might as well face up to the facts."

They walked the rest of the way in general silence, asides from Rana humming some song. Syaoran slowly recognized it as the song ‘Be Optimistic’, and only rolled his eyes.

They slowed to a stop in front of Rana’s car, Syaoran leaning on the door as he waited for her to unlock it. He glanced over at a car parked a ways away where a girl more Rana’s age was kissing a boy her age, both of them smiling. Syaoran glared back to the car and opened the door, sitting down on the seat and then letting his mind space out. I wonder how she is? Probably no better than she was yesterday. Probably just hating me a little more, wishing I would find a knife and fall on it. Not that I blame her. Syaoran wished he could have stayed longer, but he couldn’t help it. Why shouldn’t she just visit him here?

"So how did you vacation go?"

"Alright, till you interrupted."

"Geez, sorry, I thought you cared about your mother." Rana said defensively, not taking her eyes off the road.

"You know I do." Syaoran said with irritation.

"Well I don’t know. It seems whenever you go to Japan all your priorities are messed up. I mean, I just don’t get it. You can’t pretend like you’re visiting friends, because, let’s all face it, you’re not a very social person. I can’t remember the last time I saw you actually playing. When are you going to get yourself a girlfriend, little bro? You have girls standing in line for you. Really, I don’t understand you."

"There’s more important things than a social circle." Syaoran muttered, looking miserably out the window. He hated it when his sisters lectured him.

"Like what? The elder’s missions? Gimme a break, I don’t think-"

"No, like keeping magic cards from destroying the world, or protecting our house by running missions for the elders every second of my damn life just so the rest of you can go about your littles lives."

Rana was silent for a while, taken aback by her own family. She found it hard to beleive her own flesh and blood could be so different than her. "Okay, I’m sorry. But listen, all I was trying to say was that you need a change Syaoran. I haven’t seen you smile in God knows how long, and...I’m just worried for you. Alright?"

Syaoran didn’t reply, he only looked out the window. They fast arrived at home, and Syaoran got out of the car, breathing in the hot and humid summer air with gratitude, finding it safer than the air that had been in that conversation. He was walking to their backyard when he was interrupted by a pair of flailing arms, then a little rotweiler puppy dodging around his feet. He tried to squirm out, but found not just one, but two people had attacked him and he was impossibly pinned in by both sides.

"Meilin told me you were back!" Alexis said happily, stepping back just slightly so he could see her. "So I decided it was time for an emergency rehearsal!" She pulled him in by his shirt and kissed him, which he immediatly tried to ran away from. Once he had gotten out of Meilin’s sideways hug and Alexis’s tight grip, he ran a good distance away and faced them.

"Can’t I walk into my own house without being attacked!?" He found with dismay there was also another girl there- Chang Mandu, who looked liked she was furious with Alexis, but was batting her eyelashes in his general direction.

"Oh come on Syaoran, don’t be such a bad sport!" Meilin said. Her little puppy bounded forward after Syaoran, frustrating him more as the little fuzzball danced haphazardly around his legs. "See, Fuwa-Fuwa likes you!"

Syaoran clenched his teeth and looked back up at Meilin, even though he wasn’t self conscious, he was still irritated that they’d embaress him in front of someone like Mandu. "What do you want, Meilin?" He asked bitterly.

Alexis clasped her hands. "Oh that’s so cute! I love the whole scowling act, I missed it the whole long week and a half he was gone!"

Mandu was smiling in her most charming way in agreement, and Meilin laughed. "Actually, Sentya was kind enough to invite us over for supper."

Syaoran couldn’t beleive how downhill his life was going. This would mean there would be seven girls in his house, and him the only male. Shuddering with this thought, Syaoran hurried into his house. He figured he could grab some food to hold him over and go on the computer in his room, anything would be better than sitting at the dinner table.

______________________________________________________________________

There’s nothing to do in stupid Tomoeda! Sakura lay outstretched on her bed, totally bored out. She had gone to the mall the day before, the movies the day before that, and now she was out of suggestions. It was too hot to ride Moondust midday, that was for the evening, but there was no pools nearby, and no one was home to drive her to the ocean. It seemed a few days ago while Syaoran was still in Japan there wasn’t enough time to do everything, but now... "Who cares about him anyway." Sakura said outloud. It was part of her letting go program, though it wasn’t working out very well.

Sakura used a summoning spell and caught the remote in her hand. She turned on the television and flicked through the stations, but there was nothing worth watching. Frustrated she threw the remote back onto the table, cringing as it hit hard, then sat up to see what Kero was up to. Still napping. She looked over to Bob’s jar. The little bug looked like he was struggling, and he sat slighting panting at the edge of his jar, not paying attention to anything.

I can’t beleive he just left. After all I said... Sakura tried vainly to shut this out of her mind. It was the same battle she’d been having since she’d walked out of the airport. I hate him! I really do! But... He’s so nice sometimes... But I hate him! Sakura sighed with defeat, then walked over and picked up some of the spell books he had given her. She started leafing through the top one and decided to try out some of these new spells.

"How to change appearance....no....how to create....hmm..." Sakura got a brilliant idea. It seemed so obvious! Why had she never thought of this before?

To create an object, one must have a clear image in mind of what they would like to duplicate or create. Certain objects cannot be created, such as irreplaceable items. Living things, magic, and money are not possible options of this spell.

Sakura sighed. That figured. There went her plan for buying a plane ticket, a plane for that matter. She continued to leaf on through. "How to deconstruct skeletons....how to...dismember enemies- Honestly where do they get these?" Sakura realized she was talking outloud, then felt stupid, and went back to reading. Here’s a practical one. Transport. Something better than my Move card. Why didn’t anyone use this stuff before?

This spell is for level two magicians and up only. Complications such as wrong relocation and other objects being moved along with the subject of the spell will come with an unfocused mind. Full focus must be used with this spell!

Doesn’t sound that terrible. Sakura cleared her throat and began the Chinese spell. "Yunshu wo syang-"

"What are you doing!?" Kero cried, arising from his nap to fly in her face.

Sakura frowned. "Trying a spell."

"What’s this..." Kero was saying to himself as he fluttered down to look over the pages. "This isn’t an authorized spell." He began paging through. "A whole bunch of these aren’t! Where’d you get this book?"

Sakura was slightly taken aback by Kero’s urgency. "S-Syaoran."

"That brat! Trying to get you in trouble again." Kero looked up from the book, shaking his head. "Lots of these are unsafe, he’s gonna get you hurt."

Sakura frowned and shaded her eyes with her eye lashes. Now more than ever Kero and Tomoyo’s warnings about Syaoran were starting to get to her. What if they had been right all along? What if she had been a fool to beleive there was something going on that really wasn’t?

"Hey, are you alright?" Kero asked softly, peering into her face.

Sakura raised her head up, forcing pride into her system. "Yeah, of course."

Kero just silently shook his head. He opened his mouth to say something, but instead flew back over to his drawer and sat on the edge. Sakura picked up the book and bitterly set it back down on the other stack of books, then looked out the window. There was no breeze, nothing, it was just a hot and still muggy day. The sun was out and shining, which didn’t do much for Sakura. For all she cared she would have liked it to rain for the next five weeks.

Something about the way Syaoran left got to her. It seemed that this time it was for real. He had no reason to come back, and for all she knew, he didn’t really care to. Sakura walked back over to her bed and sighed. She was letting this eat away at her from the inside. She should just forgive it and forget it. If Syaoran thought of her only as a friend, that was fine, then friends they would be. Sakura put an end to her hopes yet again and decided to do something for herself. "I’m going to Tomoyo’s. You guys behave."

"Later." Kero called.

"Don’t give up angel-chan!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. Bob. He had been the only one that seemed to want her to stay depressed about Syaoran’s exit. She didn’t get him. He seemed to always have her best interests in mind, until recently. Sakura just continued down the hall and cleared her brain, concentrating on nothing but putting one foot in front of the other.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"No, she’s not here." Sakura said into the phone.

"Well if you see Meilin around, tell her hello." Komai was saying.

"Alright."

The phone was handed off, and Kato’s voice was on the telephone now. "So how is Syaoran doing?"

Sakura hated her for mentioning it, and tried not to let her swift change of feelings be visible to Tomoyo, who was sitting in the chair beside her. "He and Meilin went back to Hong Kong."

"Oh." Kato said, sounding deflated. "So you guys didn’t..."

"I think we’re just going to be friends." or less. Sakura said quickly.

"Ah. That’s depressing."

"I guess, so where are you guys touring next?" Sakura asked, swiftly changing subjects.

"Um, Thailand. Then we’ve got a concert in Taiwan, then I don’t know. We were thinking about going to Hong Kong. Too bad you guys aren’t there too. Maybe we’ll have Syaoran help us out backstage."

"Sounds cool. Good luck, then."

"Thanks."

"D’you wanna talk to Tomoyo now?"

"Yeah sure. Talk to you later."

"Bye." Sakura gladly handed the phone over to Tomoyo, glad to be free of Kato’s suggestions. Some people just didn’t understand.

Tomoyo took the phone and talked energetically about recording business. Sakura sat back and yawned. It was getting kind of late, and she was sleepy. Sakura was staying the night at Tomoyo’s, and right now they were just waiting to get off the phone with Shiro Ame so they could go to sleep. Tomoyo finally ended the conversation, then set down the phone.

"It sounds like they’re having a good time." Tomoyo said, smiling.

It seems like you’re having a good time too, since Syaoran left. "Yeah but I’m sleepy." Sakura said, rubbing her eyes and yawning again.

"We can sleep on the bunk beds if you want." Tomoyo said, standing up from her chair.

"Yeah, that’s fine." Sakura agreed.

She followed Tomoyo through her house to one of the many guestrooms, the largest one with the bunk beds, and climbed the ladder, then collapsed on the top bunk. "Those spells are exhausting."

Tomoyo got her bed arranged, then shut off the light. "Which spells did you practice today?"

"Um...I used the water one, the firespin one, shield, erase....But I didn’t try any new ones. I was reading about some good ones, but Kero said they’re unauthorized or illegal or something."

"What does that mean?" Tomoyo asked.

"I’m not exactly sure, just that I am not supposed to use them. Which stinks, because I wanted to try this transport one."

"Oh? Well I don’t know much about spells, but it seems to me that if you’re in a battle you’d use any spell that it takes, right?"

"I guess so." Sakura agreed.

"Well, Kero-chan’s only looking out for you, I’m sure." Tomoyo said.

Sakura couldn’t help but see an ironic side to that. Was dissing Syaoran really in her best interest? Then again, maybe Kero and Tomoyo and Touya had been right all along. Maybe he was just going to end up hurting her. He did, after all. Sakura frowned at the tears pressing in hard, then rolled onto her side. "Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi." Tomoyo said in response.

Sakura closed her eyes and tried to sleep for a long while, then finally fell asleep, freeing herself from the pain she felt every second she was awake.

"He has hurt her too many times now. That danger has passed."

"DAMN IT!" Normally Syaoran was the type of person that could keep a handle on his feelings, but frustration was one of his weak points, and that was all Raion was giving him. Right now he was pounding his fists on the ground as his leg throbbed for the well aimed kick the stallion had left him with after bucking him off.

Through the his horseback lesson he had fallen off three times, only getting bumps and bruises from it. Now the sensei had left him to work out his problems on his own time. Syaoran painfully stood up, kneeling over his knees for a few moments before looking for the runaway horse. Raion was standing statue still just a little ways to his left. Syaoran clenched his teeth and walked over to the horse, grabbing the reins just as Raion tried to make his dart away. The horse threw his head up with protest, shaking and snorting and pawing at the ground.

Syaoran mumbled some swears at the horse as he went around to the left to mount back up, dodging the horse’s bared teeth on the way. Syaoran held the reins tightly with his left hand, making sure the horse wasn’t going to take off when he put his foot in the stirrup. Raion stood still enough. Syaoran took a deep breath and then pushed off with his right foot to mount the giant black horse.

Just at that moment, Alexis and Teller rode walked out of the barn. That was the only encouragement the war horse needed. Though a bomb going off at the horse’s side didn’t scare him, two walking people were a good reason to spook, and so Raion lept forward, pulling Syaoran’s leg with him as the other stayed planted on the ground, sending Syaoran into some version of the extended splits. Syaoran landed on the ground, writhing in pain as something felt horribly pulled from his upper leg to his groin.

Alexis had already run over, and leaned on the fence slightly amused. "Having some problems?"

"God dammit..." Was all Syaoran could say through his clenched teeth as he rolled in pain.

"Hey Teller will you grab wild horse over there?" Alexis asked.

Teller agreed and ducked through the outdoor arena fence, jogging over to where the horse was.

Alexis knelt down to where Syaoran was on the ground. "So is this why I had to bring Raion in last night? You two don’t get along?"

Syaoran only groaned with pain.

"I see, I see." Alexis stood up, then held out her hand for Syaoran to use to get up.

Syaoran winced and looked up at her hand, then hesitantly took it and attempted to stand up. The strain felt horrible, and Syaoran collapsed back to the ground with a sort of grunt. Alexis sighed and shook her head. Teller approached with Raion, who seemed like a gentle lesson pony.

"I think our friend Syaoran has pulled something."

"Are you alright Syaoran?" Teller asked.

"Mm." Syaoran said through his shut teeth.

"Maybe we should go get one of his sisters?" Alexis said.

"NO!" Syaoran shouted. He got to his feet, then groaned with pain, but remained standing. "I’...I’mm al-r-right!" He said as convincingly as he could.

"Rrright. Telly put him away, I’ll take the injured back to his house."

Teller sighed, seeing he got stuck with the worse of the jobs, then reluctantly turned and led the stallion away.

"Look if you can’t stand, I doubt you can walk." Alexis said, trying to reason through Syaoran’s bullheaded mind.

"I can stand!" Syaoran said defensively, slowly getting to his knees, then, carefull standing up, keeping his legs together this time. As he stood totally up he could feel pain and tension shooting through the inside of his leg, but he only grit his teeth and remained standing.

"You males, I swear..." Alexis started, walking with him to the fenceline of the arena. "You get hit with swords and tossed to the ground, but you get hit once where it counts and you’re whining like a baby."

"I’m not whining." Syaoran said with annoyance. "And I didn’t get hit. I got pulled in two directions so that I was past the splits. God I doubt you could even do it without pulling something."

Alexis glared. "Do you want to walk all the way to the house?"

Syaoran stayed silent this time.

"Good. I’ll go get the gator."

Syaoran sighed. At least he could sit the whole ride back to the house. The gator might not be the smoothest ride, but it beat walking. Great job, idiot. Now what are you going to do? You can’t do sword training tommorrow like this. Syaoran sat gingerly on a fence board. I’ll deal. I always do. He heard a distant motor starting.

Alexis drove the little barn vehichle over and Syaoran hopped on, holding in pain every time she went flying over a bump on the ground. About midway to his house, Meilin flagged them down, frowning questioningly that Syaoran would be alone with Alexis in his spare time. "What are you guys doing?"

"Syaoran got hurt, I’m the ambulance."

"Oh, where?" Meilin asked, looking at him with worry.

Syaoran shuddered, knowing Meilin generally took the hands-on approach, and was about to say something, but Alexis interrupted him.

"He pulled a muscle or something, he’ll be limping along for a while. Wanna ride?"

Meilin smiled. "Sure." She jumped into the back that was used for hauling hayand they drove the rest of the way in silence, the motor being so loud no one could talk over it. Alexis slowed the thing to a halt in front of Syaoran’s house, where he got off, standing slightly offcenter.

"Are you going to Meilin, or am I taking you to your house?"

"Yeah, I’ll stay he-" Her sentence lost momentum as she saw the narrow glare Syaoran gave her. "Yeah, I’m going home." She said, jumping over the back into the passenger seat. They drove off quickly, letting Syaoran be alone.

Now alone, Syaoran found that he had indeed pulled a muscle, one he didn’t even know he had. Whatever the case, he felt it every time he stepped, and when he was standing straight he could feel a pull of tension that hurt just enough to drive him mad with irritation. Syaoran began listing all the things he had to do the next day that required walking. Sword training, play practice, school, visiting mother... Syaoran sighed as he walked into his breezy home.

He walked and half limped over to the stairs, then looked up the long curved staircase with dismay. With a breath of determination, he began going up, putting one foot on the step then the other. It was a very time-wasting process, but he did it all the same. Once he got to his bedroom he was spent, and he collapsed on his bed and let the overhead fan blow his hair around. He looked to his side where in the dresser there were letters stuffed in from Sakura before. He looked back up to the fan. Should he write her? He wasn’t sure.

I don’t think so, anyway. Not the way she acted when I left... Syaoran still felt fresh pain every time he saw her eyes cloud over, as he replayed the swift changes in his mind. I can’t expect her to come back every time. Every person has their limits. And I think I’ve reached hers. Syaoran frowned, feeling a bit sad as he thought of how it must have felt for her. Who can blame her? I’m giving her mixed signals. She must hate me by now. But it’s not like there’s anything I can do about it.

Syaoran turned on the television in his room and sat up on his bed. The news was on, and it was showing some type of tropical storm over the ocean, somewhere south of Beijing, moving north. The news reporter was describing the evolution of the storm into a hurricane. Syaoran sighed, hoping none of the after affects would hit Hong Kong, because he didn’t want to have to board up the windows. Probably will hit us dead on. Our house will get demolished and blah blah...

Syaoran got up from his bed and limped over to a table of books he had gotten from the library, trying to figure out more of the Clow Reed stuff. He opened one and began to look through it, determined to find some helpful information for Sakura. He flipped through some pages on ‘magical artifacts’, where there were black and white pictures of old Clow Cards, then several different crystal items. He looked over them but found nothing linking anything together, so he set the books away and looked back to the television to see if anything else was on.

________________________________________________________________________

"I don’t even want to see him..." Sakura was saying to herself, step two of the letting go program.

"This isn’t right Sakura, that wing goes over here." Kero said, tossing the peice of plastic he held aside.

"Yeah, I know." Sakura said, taking the wing Kero had tossed aside and setting the one she held down.

"I finish rutter!" Bob proclaimed, fluttering up.

The three of them were working somewhat peacefully to assemble a pressurized airplane to fly out in the backyard, hitting the epitome of boredom. Once Kero snapped in the left wing, they were ready to go. Sakura picked up the plane and flew it around atop her hand, then grabbed the bottom charger that got the plane started. "’Kay, let’s go."

Kero and Bob flew after her, having an airborne pushing match as they followed her down the hall. Kero pushed Bob with some magic and sent him careening towards the wall, but Bob used a reverse shield and bounced off of it and went with double speed at Kero, who was shoved down from his hovering point. They settled down as Sakura opened the door to go outside, and took the liberty to stretch out their wings in the infinite sky.

"Alright guys, here goes." Sakura said, charging up the plane. After getting it to the highest energy point, she pressed the button to release it. The plane shot up and sailed around, catching different drafts of wind under its wings, slowly drifting out of Sakura’s yard. It floated over the fence of the backyard and continued to sail across and dive under their veiwing. Sakura sighed, then looked back to Bob and Kero. "Stay here, I’ll go get it."

Sakura walked over to their back fence and climbed up as best she could, scratching her bare legs as she accomplished this feat. Once atop, she dropped to the sidewalk and looked around for the plane. She went pale as she saw a person holding the airplane just a few feet away. "S-sor-"

"Out flying plastic airplanes? You really must not have a life." Mark said, still holding the airplane in his hands, waiting for Sakura to come and get it herself.

"I’m sorry, I didn’t know it would go so far." Sakura said. I wouldn’t have come after it had I known you were here.

"Well you made a liar out of yourself, Sakura."

Sakura frowned. She didn’t want to really hear the rest of it, but she knew she would have to if she wanted any hope of seeing her airplane again. "What?"

"I remember very clearly you saying Syaoran wasn’t going to come beat me up or anything. But you went and sent him after me anyway." He said, stepping in threateningly.

Sakura would’ve loved to point out that Syaoran didn’t actually ‘beat him up’ because had the fight gone from verbal abuse to physical, Mark would probably still be in the hospital. but who cares about Syaoran anyways? She reminded herself. "No, I didn’t-"

Mark pinned Sakura’s wrist to the wooden fence behind her. She cringed and tried not to panic with fear. "Listen. I understand exactly what you did. And I hate being used. I can’t beleive I fell for your lie once, so don’t even bother to try and cover up. It’s obvious you guys have some sick obsession with each other. I wouldn’t of wasted my time with you had I known you were his bantai."

Sakura frowned, feeling a surge of emotions coming. "I am not, he-"

"You act like his sister, you know, it’s pretty disgusting. You guys aren’t related, are you, cause-"

"No, no you don’t know anything about us! You can’t just say-"

"I can understand incest when I see it-"

"You just don’t understand real feelings! You’re thinking about one thing, you miss out on what everything should be based on!" Sakura shouted, slightly surprised at her own boldness. She tried not to wince as Mark was totally cutting off the circulation in her wrists as he pressed them harder against the fence. She started to bite back on her words, hoping he wasn’t going to be violent. She knew he was stronger than her.

"I understand that everyone except you wants it, maybe there’s something wrong with you, I don’t know. But if you’d rather have it from your relatives, that’s your choice." He let go of her wrists, slightly satisfied of the shocked look she had on her face. He practically jammed the plane into her stomach. Sakura took it from him and continued to keep herself pinned on the fence. Mark didn’t say anything else, he only walked away smugly, his hands in his pockets.

Sakura took a deep breath, trying to keep her composure, though finding it hard. She was getting better and better at dealing with these situations, they seemed to be showing up alot lately. Sakura wondered how much she could take before she would break down. Disregarding that, she climbed back over the fence and found Bob and Kero already in another brawl.

_____________________________________________________________________

"Damn she’s hot." Yundi said, leaning forward on the lawn chair he had sat down around the large private pool so he could get a better veiw of Alexis, who was swimming carefully through the pool so that the tied straps on her string bikini wouldn’t give.

"Which one?" Asked Jin, another one of the soccer players that Syaoran was ‘friends’ with. He was referring to the fact that there was also Meilin and Mandu swimming around in similar attire.

"Wanti’s kid." Yundi answered, referring to Alexis.

"I dunno, she’s a little top heavy for my taste."

"That’s the way a real girl is s’pose to be." Yundi said, laying back down on his lounge chair.

Syaoran rolled his eyes. He didn’t know why he even bothered to go along with another one of his sisters’ attempt to get him more friends. He just continued to sit bored, the only one of the three boys with his shirt still on. He was still recovering from his past sunburn. He also noticed, with sad satisfaction, that he had gotten the best tan out of them. Probably all of the stupid outdoor training he had had.

Alexis and Meilin climbed out of the pool, walking over to Syaoran, dripping wet. They obviously hadn’t noticed that Yundi and Jin were trying to keep their jaws shut as they watched them walk over.

"When are you going to swim?" Alexis demanded, staring straight at Syaoran.

"My leg hurts." Syaoran said truthfully.

"Aw, do you want me to kiss it for you?"

"Man, Alexis, my mouth has really been bothering me, -" Yundi started.

"Cry me a river." Alexis said only giving him a short glare, then looking to Syaoran. "You seemed to get through sword training this morning just fine."

"I think swimming would be good for a pulled muscle." Meilin agreed.

A big splash from the pool interrupted their attention, followed by Mandu’s normally wispy voice in a high pitched shout. "Little freak! Get away!"

Teller emerged from the water, full snorkling gear on, though through the mask everyone could see the dejected look on his face.Yundi and Jin were rolling around with laughter of the boy’s failed attempt, Alexis looked embaressed for her own brother, and Meilin was just frowning with confusion.

Alexis shook her head and grabbed Syaoran’s wrist, yanking him to his feet. Syaoran winced, holding in a groan of pain as that muscle was stretched out again. Before he could sit down again, Meilin was aiding by pulling his shirt of his head. Syaoran, with irritation, tried to duck away, but being slightly handicapped, wasn’t able.

"Come on, Syaoran, stop being such a spoiler." Meilin complained, dragging the limping boy over to the edge of the pool.

Alexis, trapping him on the other side, took hold of his arm. "You’ve got to swim, Syaoran! This may just call for another emergency rehearsal-"

At ‘emergency rehearsal’, Syaoran threw himself into a dive, quickly fleeing the two girls. As he swam up to the surface, he found his leg to groin area was screaming with pain at the overuse of the poor pulled muscle, so he was forced to swim mostly off his arms until he reached the shallow area of the pool.

He finally was able to stand, and was breathing hard from the overwork of his arms. Teller came up next to him, pulling off his mask. Syaoran saw that the boy still had a depressed expression.

"Rejected again." Teller said, just barely having to swim where Syaoran was able to stand.

Syaoran nodded, then looked over to where Mandu was swimming with Yundi and Jin. As Alexis swam over, Mandu inched away, not wanting to swim with the westerner. "It’s not you, I don’t think. I think she’s prejudice."

"Everyone here is. Except for you and Meilin,..." Teller complained.

"I’m just saying, don’t take it personal." Syaoran said.

Teller swam away. Approximately that moment Mandu, Meilin, and Alexis were all crowding in on him again. "Do you have to swim by yourself?" Meilin asked.

"Maybe he’s just shy." Mandu said in her most flirty voice, smiling as she did around guys.

"Maybe I don’t want to be here in the first place." He said, making sure to give a slight glare at Mandu, giving her a taste of how her rejection felt.

"You trickster you. We all know you’re enjoying this attention." Alexis said, putting her arm around his shoulder, which he immediatly pushed off.

Mandu coughed with disgust and swam away noticeably loud.

Alexis looked after her with confusion, then sighed. "You know some of you Li’s are really stuck up."

"What do you mean?" Meilin asked.

"You’re the only girl here that’s nice to me here. In this entire place. And...It’s easy to tell the only reason guys will talk to me."

"Maybe if you hadn’t gone out with every single guy here in the time span of a month, people would be more hospitable." Syaoran said, pointing out her flaw.

Alexis frowned, swallowing down her self pride, and blinking quickly, as if hiding some hurt. "Yeah, well thanks for the consolation guys." She said a bit bitterly, then swam away gracefully. Meilin watched her go, then shrugged and looked at Syaoran.

"You’re sure Komai hasn’t tried to call your phone?"

Syaoran rolled his eyes with annoyance, this being the thousandth time she had asked, and shook his head. Meilin sighed loudly. Jin and Yundi swam over, looking after Mandu and Alexis, who were swimming seperately.

"I think I’m going to ask the elders if I can start doing missions for them." Yundi announced.

"Maybe then at least we’d get some of this that you are getting." Jin said, shaking his head at Syaoran.

"Are you warm enough, Syaoran? Are you hurt, Syaoran? Let me kiss your feet, Syaoran. I’ll be your own personal concubine, Syaoran." Yundi said, laughing with Jin as he said it.

Meilin grinned. "Did you ever think that maybe you were just trying too hard?" She asked Yundi.

Yundi frowned and bit his lip with contemplation, then looked to Meilin. "I never liked you Meilin, you’re ugly and annoying and I never want to go out with you." He said, smiling hopefully.

Meilin took her hand out of the water and slapped him. "Idiot." She muttered, swimming away.

Yundi rubbed his cheek and sighed. "Syaoran gets away with murder and I get slapped for trying to say the right thing. It’s just not right..."

"I don’t get it either. What do you do, Syaoran? Do you have them under a charmed spell or something?" Jin asked.

"Syaoran doesn’t need a charm spell, he’s...he’s..." Yundi said, his hands trying to gesture what he was trying to say. "He’s shorter than both of us. Maybe girls just like shorter guys."

"But you know what else that says about him."

"It doesn’t seem to stop the love life."

Syaoran sighed and began to walk away.

"Hey, do you guys wanna play chicken?" Alexis called, swimming next to Meilin and Teller.

Yundi grinned and looked to Jin. "Nothing better than a girl sitting on your shoulders. We may just have to accidentally untie some strings..."

Jin laughed, and they both swam in the direection of the girls. When they realized Syaoran wasn’t with them, they turned back to see where he was going. "Aren’t you coming?" They called.

"No, I’m, uh, I got to get home." He answered. His thoughts immediatly went to his mother, and he decided he’d visit her twice today. Maybe she’d finally wake up this time.

"Bye then." Yundi called back, though his voice was half lost as he was heading over to the other girls.

Syaoran walked over to the edge of the pool and found himself in some trouble. The ladder was rather high, and he didn’t feel like lifting his leg very high. Gritting his teeth and breathing shortly, he managed to pull himself out with the minimum amount of pain. As he carefully stood up out of the pool, he ignored Alexis’ and Meilin’s whistling and continued to get his towel and leave.

Limping his way back down the sidewalk to his house, his thoughts began to wonder. I wonder if any more cards have been bothering her? I’m not giving her much help. She needs answers, not help. She showed her point. Syaoran sighed, still feeling the bitter taste of the hurt he had felt. I hope I haven’t ruined her. Syaoran couldn’t imagine Sakura not being happy and bubbley, but even the most optimistic person could stand so much. This last gash may have been enough to change her. But she’s much stronger than I am. She can hold herself.

________________________________________________________________________

Sakura yawned as she continued to look through the spell books for a good transporting one. She knew it would be super helpful in fighting cards, but it seemed there was no other spells to transport aside from the one in the ‘unofficial’ book. She glanced to see if Kero was watching, then, seeing that he was tranced in his game, she quietly picked up the other spell book and started flipping through it.

She found the spell for transporting and began reading through the spell words. She found it easy to memorize, and within a few moments, it was documented in her mind. Sakura looked up from the book, thinking she felt magic in the air. The feeling quickly passed, but Sakura’s concern did not. She suspected another card was planning to ditch out soon, and another battle would happen. Sighing, she leaned back on her bed, thinking about how unproductive her summer vacation days were being. She was actually looking forward to going back to school, aside from seeing Mark. That thought made her feel a little sick. So aside from that, which she hoped ‘that’ was now resolved, the thought of spending the whole day learning seemed like a great idea.

Sakura looked up at the window, seeing that it was a nice windy day. Sakura enjoyed the wind that rustled the leaves outside, because it seemed to silence everything else. It made everything more interesting. Sakura decided she would go ride Moondust. Though she was determined to keep Syaoran out of her mind, she enjoyed riding the horse too much now to give up. She would just disassociate the boy and the horse. Getting up off her bed and setting the books down, Sakura turned and addressed Kero and Bob. "I’m going out, behave."

"Bye." Bob replied. Kero was too caught up to answer. With an annoyed breath Sakura continued out the door.

Sakura walked down the stairs and walked past Touya, who sat in front of the television eating. He glanced over to see what she was doing. "Are you going somewhere?" He asked.

"Yes." Sakura answered stubbornly, stopping breifly in the kitchen for a bottle of water.

"Did you forget Otto-san was planning supper for all of us?"

Sakura sighed, stopping. That was right. "Yes." She frowned as she was reminded he was already eating. "Why are you already eating?"

"None of your business, kiddo."

Sakura glared at him, then stood still, determining what she was going to do. I’ll just go see Moondust tommorrow. Another flash of magic passed so quickly that she wasn’t sure if it was there or not. I hope this can wait until after supper.

_______________________________________________________________________

Though Syaoran beleived this to be the most painful thing he had ever gone through in his life, he was able to stay silent, perhaps because the intensity of the pain was so great. He was attempting to take another horseback combat lesson, but he found it hard to do anything when his pulled muscle was constantly being yanked on.

"Again." Sensei Wanti intructed.

Syaoran tried to make his sigh of distress not audible, but was unsuccessful. He pulled carefully on the double reins and held the prancing stallion still as best he could, then leaned forward and spurred the horse forward. The stallion reared up angrily, throwing Syaoran slightly off balance, then gathered his haunches under him and jumped forward into a gallop again. Once getting a handle on things, Syaoran took the reins in his right hand and slashed across the targets with his left hand holding the sword. His hand stung from all of the impact, but he tried to focus. Raion suddenly decided to make a ninety degree turn to the right, while Syaoran was leaning to the left. He almost fell, but quickly grabbed mane and yanked himself on. Raion, feeling Syaoran back on balance, bucked and twisted in the air, trying to unseat him.

Syaoran held solidly with his legs despite the pain that had him near screaming, but when Raion cow hopped into the air while turning, Syaoran found himself hitting the ground hard again. Catching his breath, Syaoran stayed still for a moment, looking forlornly at the sky and trying to keep a handle on his frustration. Sensei Wanti walked over, towering over him and looking down to make sure he was alright before lecturing again.

"Horses associate people with things. You know very well what he’s associating you with. Fix it."

How motivating. Syaoran cringed as he got to his feet, brushing off his pants as he cleared his throat. He didn’t want to get back on. He’d end up on the ground again. Ignoring this, Syaoran limped pathetically over to the black horse. Raion snorted and kicked out, then began to run away. Syaoran angrily kicked the horse’s hock with his own pathetic soccer skill, only getting kicked to the ground in return. Syaoran winced as his leg throbbed horribly from the kick he had gotten. Luckily he had been far enough away to miss the power of the blow. Syaoran winced and got to his feet, sighing as he saw Sensei Wanti was making his way over. Another lecture.

"You never let your anger take control of your actions. It shows the weak person you are inside. I won’t accept that again."

Syaoran was sick of this. "Maybe if you didn’t push me over my limits I’d be able to control myself, but God, you don’t care about my well being, it’s all about getting out of running missions for the elders yourself-"

The sensei was enfuriated, and pushed Syaoran to the ground. "If you ever talk like that again, you’ll find yourself living in the streets. If it wasn’t for your father, I wouldn’t even teach such a spoiled and disrespectful child. Do you understand?"

Syaoran swallowed hard. His thoughts all focused on beating the sensei to the ground, but he knew that he shouldn’t let his frustration get the best of him. The sensei had already shown that weakness himself. "Yes sensei." Syaoran said, though his voice carried underlined intimidation that he hadn’t even known he had.

The Sensei hated that tone. Though he could not finding anything wrong with it, he feared the forewarning that it seemed to hold. This boy was going to grow stronger than himself, he was sure of it, and the rebellious sparks in those amber eyes held a threat. Ignoring that, the Sensei turned his back to him and walked over to the horse a bit spitefully. "Again." He ordered.

Syaoran got up, wiping off the dust on his sword with the end of his sword, then walked over to the horse, trying his best to keep his limp from being noticed. He grit his teeth as he mounted, this being the most painful part of the whole ride, then sat firmly. This was going to be a long and painful practice.

_______________________________________________________________________

Sakura was sure there was magic in the air now. As she was walking across Moondust’s pasture, she continued to feel it. It was sure to strike soon. Sakura was glad she had made it through last night’s family supper before the magic would battle her. Calling out her staff as a precaution, Sakura continued to search around for the silver horse. Finding Moondust by the edge of the woods, Sakura decided to ride without anything. It seemed she had finally gained a connection with the animal.

Moondust looked up at Sakura’s appraoch, but didn’t run away like she use to, only waited patiently for her to come. Sakura walked over and patted the horse on the neck, then put her arms over her back. The horse was rather tall, and Sakura didn’t know how she was going to get up. Moondust waited. Sakura jumped three times, then launched herself up. She found herself half hanging off, half on. Groping for something to pull herself on the rest of the way, Sakura struggled to wiggle around until she was up enough. Finally getting herself on, she swung her leg over and sat firmly. Once Moondust was convinced Sakura was balanced, she began walking. Sakura wrapped some mane around her left hand while holding her staff in her right hand.

There was definitely magic around her now, in this very location. Sakura looked around with alert eyes, but didn’t see anything. Not knowing what else to do, she continued to walk through the pasture. Bored of the slow speed, she asked Moondust to canter, and was rocking easily with the horse’s smooth stride.

Not knowing how to steer, she allowed Moondust to chose her own direction. The horse did a large circle, then suddenly stopped. Sakura almost toppled over, but the mane in her hand kept her on. She frowned and wondered what the sudden stop was for, then, concentrating a little more, she noticed that there did seem to be alot of magic in the air. Without any warning, something screamed, exstremly closeby, a horrible high pitched scream.

Sakura jumped in her seat atop Moondust, looking around with wide eyes. There was nothing around. The scream just continued. Moondust quivered unsurely, then took a few nervous steps forward. Many more screams joined in, seeming to come from under them. Sakura frowned, then looked down. There was nothing but grass under them. But the sound was definitely coming from there. Sakura bit her lip with confusion, then asked Moondust to step forward some more. Many more screams came, seeming to be from under Moondust’s feet. Like the grass had a voice.

Sakura frowned and sat straight up. The voice! She called a shield up around her and Moondust, then asked the horse forward, trying to ignore the cries of pain each blade of grass gave. What should I do? There’s nothing to attack.

Sakura held her staff around her, Moondust spinning around, obviously disconcerted by all the screaming. The more she stepped, the more different screams entered the air. Sakura put her hands over her ears, getting so irritated by the screaming blades of grass. "Shut up!" She shouted, though she didn’t expect them to listen.

Sakura shouted the flame spell at the grass and watched the grass melt away. That only caused more screams from the neighboring grass blades as they watched their fellow peers burn away. A wind rushed around, making Moondust dance around unsurely. Sakura sat deeply, trying to calm the animal as she tried to figure out her own battle plan.

The voice rushed around them, a childish form of a card, smiling as her voice rang out in all different frequencies. Sakura tried to plug her ears, but she had to hang on to Moondust, who was spinning around wildly as she was unsure about this battle of noises. Neighing loudly she jumped forward, trying outrun the sound. Sakura tried to stop the horse, but she had no reins to slow her down with. Moondust neighed again, but it was abruptly cut in the middle. Sakura frowned. Moondust had suddenly gone quiet. The screams seemed to have gotten louder.

But they hadn’t gotten louder. Moondust’s hooves just no longer made noise as they hit the ground. Sakura frowned and looked down, then around. The Silent was now at work. "Mamoru!" She shouted at her shield, wondering why it had let Moondust catch the affects of the Silent.

Moondust was starting to freak out now, and she kicked up her hind legs, then jumped sideways, not knowing what to do, obviously discombobulated not hearing her own hooves hit the ground. Sakura half ditched-half fell off, landing on more screaming grass. She stomped just to show her irritation, then looked around for the Silent card. She couldn’t get hit with this card, if she was unable to speak then she couldn’t shout out any spells, then she would be defeated.

The Silent appreared, a long slender female form holding a fan over her mouth. Her eyes opened and locked on Sakura, the eyes smiling for loss of the mouth. Sakura bit her lip and gripped her staff. "Hi ga tsuku!" She shouted, sending a flame at the Silent’s form. Empowered by the Dash, the Silent moved easily, then dodged forward, easily going through Sakura’s shield- not being an attack in itself.

Sakura dropped to the ground, sending the Silent over her back and narrowly missed being attacked. She reinforced her shield and looked with worry at the Silent. She couldn’t recapture this card! What would Syaoran do? He’d know what to do! Sakura didn’t know if she could dodge another attack. The Silent was bound to strike any second now. Sakura tried to think of what she could do. Too late, the Silent dashed forward. Sakura had to move!

‘if you’re in a battle you’d use whatever spell it takes’ Syaoran would know what to do! Why won’t he help me? "Yunshu wo!" Sakura shouted the transport spell, trying to concentrate as she saw the Silent practically on top of her. Magic swirled around Sakura, and she found herself very disoriented as she felt like she was floating through the air. What had she done? Had she said something wrong?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Syaoran yanked on the lead rope that Raion was resisting. With a snort the stallion jumped forward, trying to step on Syaoran’s feet. He moved away and yanked the horse in another circle, but was too exhausted to be any more violent. That last lesson was too much. He had worked himself over his limits. Now Syaoran was planning to skip the after school practice for the play that was now only five days away. He was going to go home and go sleep. Syaoran tried to plead with the stallion to walk to the gate to his pasture, but Raion was making this as difficult as possible.

Raion spun around Syaoran, almost sending him to the ground. Syaoran glared at the horse, then saw that the stallion’s ears were pitched forward as if looking at something. Syaoran frowned and looked in that direction, but saw nothing. Raion interrupted his search by nipping his arm, almost getting a better peice of his shirt before Syaoran managed to snatch his arm away. With irritation he pulled the horse around to the gate and tried to unlock the gate while keeping the horse under control.

"Syaoran?" A voice asked from behind.

Syaoran froze, he knew that voice. But it didn’t make any sense. Why was it here? Syaoran spun around, frowning with shock and uncertainty. Just as his eyes recognized a fimilar figure, Raion decided he didn’t like Syaoran’s sudden lack of attention, and the horse kicked out with his back legs, nailing Syaoran right in the stomach. Syaoran dropped to the ground, totally out of breath and totally unfocused. Trying to catch his breath Syaoran winced with pain, glancing to see what direction Raion was running to.

Sakura, so freaked out, walked unsurely over to him. "I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to-" She slowed, ignoring the fact that he was in pain and concentrating more on the problem of her own situation. "Are you really here?"

Syaoran breathed in carefully to be sure he was alright, then painfully got to his feet, half collapsing as his leg killed. "W-what do you mean? Why are you here?" He asked.

Sakura frowned, horrified at what she may have just done. She looked around and found herself in total alien surroundings. There was a huge horse barn behind her, then a bunch of horse pastures surrounding it, with dense forest in the distance. She found that it was slightly hotter than where she had just been. Where had she gone? "Where am I?" She asked, confused.

Syaoran, finally recovered, stood in the only slightly slouching way he could to avoid hurting his leg further. "What do you mean ‘where am I’?" He asked, slightly annoyed at her sudden entrance.

Sakura found it easy to keep up the angry feelings with him, he wasn’t being sympathetic in the least. But how did she know it was really him? Where had her transport taken her? "A spell took me here. I wouldn’t have come here on my own free will." She said, glaring at him darkly.

Syaoran glared back, this being his natural reaction to someone acting unkindly. "Why would a spell just take you to my house?" He asked.

"What, you think I tried to come here?" She asked, hardly beleiving he would conceited enough to think that.

"I just think it’s a little coincidental. Of all places in the world..."

Sakura didn’t admit that the real reason she was so angry was because part of this might have been her doing. She had been thinking about Syaoran’s help just before she shouted the spell... "I have to go home." She said angrily.

"It’s not like I can just walk you home." Syaoran said.

Sakura hated him for being like this. "You don’t have to." She said bitterly, turning around. She stalked away, not having a clue to where she was going, but determined to find a phone and straighten everything out.

"Sakura, matte!" Syaoran called after her. She continued to walk away. Syaoran glared. If she’s going to be like that... Syaoran ignored his own pride and attempted to jog after her, even though he was limping and sore. "Matte." He repeated beside her, trying to keep up with her fast walk.

Sakura sighed and stopped, turning to face him and looking like she was waiting for an apology.

She’s going to be disappointed. He opened his mouth to talk but stopped for a second, a bit thrown off by her emerald green eyes that looked back at him expectantly. "Do you have any idea what happened?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura chewed on her lip as she decided how she was going to explain this. "I was in a battle and I all the sudden got moved here." She said, not wanting to say that she had used the Transport spell herself, because Syaoran probably knew that meant she was thinking about him at the time she had used it.

"Just all the sudden? No words or anything?" Syaoran asked her.

"N-no." Sakura replied, hoping her lie sounded better to him than it did to herself.

Syaoran sighed, knowing Sakura was holding something back. "And you don’t know any Transport spells to get you back?"

"No." Sakura said quickly. She didn’t want to risk using that Transport spell again. She had no idea where she might end up being next.

Syaoran was quiet for a minute, trying to think of an answer. "Do you want to go to my house?"

"Why would I?" Sakura spat back.

Syaoran frowned at Sakura’s jumpy behavior. "To use the phone." He saiw slowly, as if that was a given.

Sakura, already embaressed by her own behavior, decided to keep her mouth shut, and shrugged.

Syaoran tried not to sigh again, then started forward again. Sakura followed him, glancing sideways once and then twice, noticing the odd way he was walking. After curiosity had eaten away at her, she gave up and spoke. "Why are you limping?" She asked.

"I pulled a muscle in my leg." Syaoran answered, looking around for Raion as he walked.

"Oh." Sakura answered, not pursuing the subject any further. She followed him through the large barn, slowing to a stop with him.

"Hey Teller," Syaoran said, approaching the boy.

He turned, then smiled with broad surprise at Sakura. "Hey Sakura! What are you doing here?"
Sakura smiled back at the cute english boy, remembering him from the cruise trip. "Hi Teller, I’m, uh, I’m just visiting." She answered.

Syaoran watched Sakura, loving the look she got when she smiled. He realized Sakura noticed he was watching her, so he blinked and looked at her again, meeting her eyes with a question. Sakura looked away, not wanting to answer. Syaoran tried not to be offended, and looked to Teller again. "Can you do me a favor?"

"Sure." Teller said happily, obviously happy to have a girl aside from his sister talking to him.

"Can you catch Raion?" Syaoran asked.

"Yeah, sure." Teller said. He turned and began to walk away, then turned back one last time. "See you later, Sakura." He said, then jogged shyly away.

Sakura smiled at him, then dropped her smile and looked to Syaoran. "Let’s go then." She said impatiently.

Syaoran couldn’t help but look into her eyes for a second more, then turned seeing that she wasn’t holding any smiles for him. "Right."

They continued silently down the sidewalks to Syaoran’s house, both of them aware of the heaviness of the quiet, but neither of them daring to speak, both for different reasons. Syaoran was glad when he was walking up to his house, hating to deal with this awkwardness.

He walked to his front door and opened it, slightly nervous to have Sakura inside his house for once, but threw the feeling away and stepped in. The moment he was in he spotted all four of his sisters plus Meilin having a pow wow in the far table of the room, and stepped back quickly, shutting the door fast but quietly.

Sakura frowned and looked at him, but waited to let him speak.

"My sisters are all in there. It’s probably better if they didn’t see you."

Sakura sighed loudly, letting him know her impatience. "So what are you suggesting?"

"Um..." Syaoran looked around the side of his house, then came up with an idea. "Come on." He said, trying vainly not to limp as he led her around.

Sakura followed him, watching him walk with slight sympathy. It must hurt him, else he wouldn’t be limping like this. But who cares. She followed him around the large side of the house and found him stopping at a tree. She looked up at the giant tree and saw that it was facing a window. Sakura frowned, hating Syaoran for taking this route. "Your window’s not even open." She said.

"I know. Hang on, I’ll go through the house, okay?"

Sakura hated him for making her go the hard way. It was just like Syaoran to do that. "Fine." She said in an irritated tone.

Syaoran would have liked to point out that there was no other way, or that if anyone should be complaining it should be him, but he held his tongue and turned away silently, heading back towards his front door.

Sakura watched him walk, then looked towards the tree. The first branch was way over her head. She figured she might as well climb it now, so that she didn’t embaress herself with failed attempts in front of Syaoran. She jumped and caught the branch in her fingers, then found herself hanging. She frowned with frustration and looked up above her, trying to figure out how she was going to do this. She threw her legs over the branch and was hanging upside-down, then flung herself over, laying on her stomach and straddling the branch. From that point on it was easy enough to get to her feet and climb up the rest of the way.

Once she was half onto the branch she needed to be on, Syaoran had gotten to the window, and threw it open. He leaned out of it. "You have to hurry, my sister could be here any second."

Sakura glared and continued to crawl across the branch, trying to keep her balance as the height made her sway a little. She reached the part in front of the window, then frowned, looking across to the window. It was a scary jump, much higher off the ground than the tree in front of the room at her own house in Japan. "I don’t think..."

"Come on, I promise I’ll catch you." Syaoran said, glancing nervously over his shoulder as he thought he heard movement in the hallway.

Sakura glared. That wasn’t very encouraging.

Syaoran felt slightly hurt at her lack of trust. He couldn’t remember letting her down before. "Look, if I don’t catch you, I’ll personally apologize to Touya. Alright?"

Sakura grinned halfway, then looked down, not wanting to be laughing with Syaoran. She looked at the window, biting her lip. "You promise?" She asked again.

Syaoran smiled at her, and loved the fact that she couldn’t help but half smile back. Sakura quickly shoved that away, angry with herself for going all wishy washy from one stupid smile. But his smile was...She glared harder and shakily stood up, holding her arms out for balance. Looking across to the window once more she gathered herself and jumped across. For a second she thought that she was falling, but instead she found that she only had her eyes closed, and as she opened them she was looking right back at Syaoran’s bright amber eyes.

"See, I told you." He said, half grinning.

Sakura didn’t like being this close, she felt trapped, with the window behind her, and his arms holding her sides. "Y-y-eah." She agreed, trying to step away. She didn’t like the way he was looking at her now.

Syaoran studied Sakura, who was close now, trying to determine why she was so uncomfortable. He wasn’t trying to scare her, but he wanted an answer. Syaoran was sure she never used to be like this when he used to hold her. Then something sparkling around her neck caught his attention.

Sakura, trying to step around him, frowned, seeing that his eyes were drawn to her chest. Sakura looked down self-consciously, then nervously at him. "Wha-" She stopped and jumped back when he reached with his hand the point he was looking to.

Syaoran looked at her with surprise, then realized what she must be thinking, and grinned apologetically. "Sorry, I was just looking at this." He said, reaching more hesitantly and waiting a second to make sure she wasn’t going to jump back again before picking up the necklace and holding it to the light to see what it really looked like.

"What?" Sakura asked, still not sure of what was going on.

"This...where’d you get it?" He asked, recognizing the crystal work.

Sakura looked down at the necklace and felt a little hurt as she thought back to the necklace’s origin. "Chindra, she got it for my birthday. Haven’t you seen it before?" She asked, knowing that she had never taken it off since that day.

"No, I, um, I never noticed." Syaoran said absently, studying the necklace for a second longer before letting go of it.

"Why, is it...important?" Sakura asked unsurely.

"Well just, uh, here, I’ll show you." Syaoran said. He stepped away from her and shut the window, then headed to the door of the room.

Sakura looked around at the room and noticed that this wasn’t Syaoran’s room, but probably one of his sisters. It had some posters of some popular boy bands, and had many other girly items decorating the room and the walls. The room was very bright and happy, unlike Syaoran’s old room that had been in his apartment. Syaoran slowed to a cautious walk as he approached the half shut door, and began to pull it open when he suddenly jumped backwards, grabbing ahold of Sakura behind his back and yanking her straight behind him. Sakura was shocked by the sudden movement and the sudden forced closeness, but slowly understood as Syaoran slowly back down the wall.

"What are you doing in my room?" One of his sisters was asking, pulling the door open and looking at him with bewilderment.

Syaoran, praying that he had all Sakura’s parts hidden from his sister’s veiw, continued to back until he found the corner of the inlet in the wall. He pushed Sakura with his outside arm sideways, hoping that she’d see the closet right beside her. Realizing that he needed to answer his sister’s question fast, he quickly spoke. "I was, uh, looking for, um..." Syaoran looked around the room, then lunged to the desk behind him. "Lotion." He said, holding the bottle up.

"Lotion?" His sister repeated skeptically.

"Yeah, uh, for...for my sunburn." Syaoran said convincingly.

"So instead of using the aloe spray we got for you yesterday, you decided to use my-" She paused to squint and read the lable of the lotion bottle. "My peach-berry blend revitalizing moisturizer?"

Syaoran glanced at the bottle and inwardly scolded himself for chosing such a sissy looking product. "Yes." He answered, hoping that would be the end of that.

She shook her head, still not understanding, then ignoring it, she went on to the other order of speech. "Well I was just looking for you to tell you Alexis is here. She said you and Meilin had to go to play practice."

"Yeah, alright." Syaoran agreed.

His sister waited for him to move, but his feet were still planted. "Well?"

Syaoran sighed. "Um, okay." He agreed again, forcing himself to take some hesitant steps forward. His sister let him walk past her so she could keep an eye on him and make sure his odd behavior wasn’t leading anywhere.

"So is your leg still bothering you?" She asked as he limped down the hall.

"Mhm." Syaoran answered. He slowed to a stop at his room. His sister gave him a questioning look. "I’m going to change." He explained.

"What’s wrong with the clothes you’re wearing now?"

"They’re uh, they’re wrinkled." Syaoran said, heading into his room.

His sister raised her eyebrow skeptically, then shrugged it off and continued back down the stairs. Syaoran counted to fifty, then peered around his door again. When he was sure the hall was clear, he rushed back down to his sister’s room as quietly as he could and opened the shut door, going around the inlet and peering around the wall.

Sakura gasped with surprise, having not heard Syaoran coming, then quickly calmed down. Syaoran motioned for her to hurry. "She’ll be back up here, hurry up."

Sakura sighed and hurried out of her hiding place and followed him out of the room and back down the hall. Half of the hall was an open balcony that had a nice veiw of the living room below, all of the house seeming very spacious and open. Sakura didn’t have much time to look around, because after a second she had followed Syaoran into his room.

It was much bigger than the one he had in the apartment, everything made so spacious to accomidate for the heat of Hong Kong. He had a very nice stereo and television set in his room, along with some nice looking furniture. The walls were still bare, and everything was very clean, so Sakura knew that it was still Syaoran’s room.

Syaoran walked around his bed to the desk beside it and picked up his phone. He handed it to Sakura. "Call them first, then tell me again exactly what happened."

Sakura half nodded, not wanting to dedicate herself to anything, then leaned against the wall with her back to him and started dialing her house’s number. Rethinking this, she dialed Tomoyo’s number instead. It rang three times, then Tomoyo answered.

"Hi, it’s me...No, I can’t, listen. I was in a magic fight and I, uh...remember that spell I was telling you about the other night?...Yeah, right, that one. Well I tried it. No, it didn’t. No, now I’m in Hong Kong...Yes, unfortunately, it couldn’t have happened any other way...’Kay, well can you cover for me? I’ll tell Touya we went on a trip or something like that, and I’ll call you once I figure it out... Is it really? I hope I can leave before that hits....Alright, thanks. Beleive me, I won’t...Alright. Tell Kero. Bye."

Sakura hung up the phone and handed it to Syaoran, half glaring at him for listening to that whole conversation.

"So..." He started.

"So what?" Sakura asked with irritation.

"So what happened? I know you’re leaving something out of this story, I can’t beleive that-" Syaoran stopped dead in midsentence, hearing his door handle turn. Jumping to his feet from where he had been sitting on the edge of his bed, he grabbed Sakura and half pushed-half guided her to the floor behind his bed. He stood up immediatly and looked at Meilin, who had just entered.

"Talking to yourself?" She guessed.

"No." Syaoran said, walking around the side of his bed to keep Meilin from possibly noticing Sakura.

"Guess what I heard from Teller? He said he saw you and Sakura wandering through the barn. Is she here?" Meilin asked.

Syaoran gave her the most convincingly look of confusion. "No, why would she be?"

Meilin peered around him to look at the bed questioningly. "I’m not sure..." She said. Sighing with defeat she stepped back and faced him. "Alexis is waiting for us to go."

Syaoran nodded. Meilin was waiting for him to leave. "I’m, uh, I was changing."

"Why are you changing clothes? Is Syaoran trying to impress someone?" Meilin asked.

Syaoran pushed her by her shoulders to the doorway and let her out. "No." He said, shutting the door half in her face.

Turning and sighing with releif, he walked back around the bed, finding Sakura twiddling her thumbs with boredom. "I’ve got to go, but I’ll be back in an hour. Can you stay here?"

Sakura stood up and glared. "The Voice and the Silent are probably terrorizing Tomoeda, I’ve got to leave."

Syaoran sighed, walking over to his closet to find another shirt, just so he could keep to his story. "I don’t think they’ll do anything unless you’re around." He said, pulling off his shirt.

Sakura tried not to stare at him, then decided to turn her back to him as well. "Didn’t you want to show me something about my necklace?" She asked.

Syaoran yanked on his other shirt, then walked around to her. "I’ll show you when I get back. Do you promise to stay in here? You can’t run into my sisters."

Sakura frowned at him. She didn’t want to get left here in a place she didn’t know by herself. "How long are you going to be gone?" She asked.

"An hour." Syaoran repeated. He half grinned with sympathy. "I have a bunch of books on that desk if you want to look for a reversal spell."

Sakura nodded and glared, waiting for him to go ahead and leave.

Syaoran stood for a second more, making sure she was going to be alright before turning hesitantly and leaving her in his room.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"Blah, you need to work on that." Alexis complained, making a disgusted face and wiping off her mouth.

"Maybe you’re the one doing something wrong." Syaoran said back, annoyed. So much for getting out of scene seventeen tonight.

"Passion, you two, passion! The script doesn’t say ‘stand and look like the dead’. Add some movement, anything!" The sensei said, her normally frizzled self becoming the queen of stress as their production was only five days away.

"Sensei, maybe Li-san should have a double for this scene. I will personally volunteer to take his role." Yundi said, smiling hopefully.

"You take his part, I’m going to need a double." Alexis said, glaring at him.

Yundi put his hand to his heart and put on his most depressed expression, mouthing ‘ouch’.

The sensei put her hand to her forehead holding in a migrane. "Alright everyone. Be quiet. Our performance is in five days. This is no time for fooling around." She turned to Syaoran and Alexis. "Syaoran, if you mumble your lines like this one more time your grades are going to have severe consequences." She looked to Alexis. "Even if you’re not enjoying this, at least look like you like it. You’re a spoiled little child to even have such a major role, you’d be out if we weren’t so close to production."

Alexis lips tightened with the prejudism but stayed quiet.

"Do I make myself clear?" The Sensei asked.

Yundi, Jin, and some boy that was closely related to Jin were making a hysterical immitation of the frazzled sensei. They froze in the middle of the crime, seeing that the Sensei was looking at them. The sensei slammed the scripts against the side of her leg. "YOU BOYS!" She pointed her finger threateningly at them. "If you don’t stop your fooling around, you’re out of this production!"

Yundi and Jin were holding their lips together from smiling, and they both nodded solemnly.

"Alright." She said, sighing. "Next scene."

Once she was walking off the stage, Alexis leaned on Syaoran while laughing hysterically. Syaoran pushed her off with annoyance, though he did think it was pretty funny. Yundi and Jin and the other boy left the stage, all shaking with laughter. Syaoran sighed and walked to his starting position for the next scene. He hoped Sakura was alright.

_______________________

Syaoran yawned as he walked into his house. His sisters was watching some movie loudly on their surround sound, the subwoofer turned a little too high and the floor vibrating with the bass. He easily passed by them unnnoticed and continued up the stairs to his room. For a second he spaced out and forgot why he was so excitedly forcing his pulled muscled leg up the stairs, then he remembered that there was someone waiting for him.

Waiting might not have been the right word. Sakura had seemed very hostile since she had gotten here. Even Syaoran’s hardest attempts to charm her over were getting overlooked. But it wasn’t like he could blame her, she was worried about her family. Syaoran could understand that. He walked down the hall and opened the door to his room. It was dark- Sakura had either been stealthful enough to think that a light on in his room was suspicious, or she had left.

Syaoran stumbled through the doorway and flicked on the lightswitch, the twightlight’s last light not doing a whole lot for him. He found that neither of his guesses had been correct. Instead she was sitting on the edge of his bed and leaning her head against the headboard with her eyes closed. Syaoran watched her for a few seconds, feeling that same irritating selfless emotion he got looking at her. Hating himself for being like that, he didn’t want her to wake and think he had been watching her, so he walked back to the door and noisily shut it. Walking back into the room like he had just gotten there, he smiled at Sakura, who was standing up now.

"Sorry, it went over time." Syaoran said.

Sakura nodded and yawned. "I’m normally not this tired, but..."

Syaoran set his script on his desk and then sat on the edge of his bed. "Did you use alot of magic fighting the Voice and Silent?" He asked, trying to offer a solution.

She yawned again. "Uh...Well I didn’t have anything to hit- they didn’t have a solid form, but...I used a shield, some flame attack, and...that was pretty much it." Sakura said, almost losing her story in her tiredness.

"Pretty much? So explain again, exactly. You’re sure you didn’t use any spell that could have gotten you here?" Syaoran asked, trying to encourage her into speaking the truth. Reprimanding her for lying wouldn’t get anything.

"Well I..." Sakura forced herself awake. She might as well tell him. Maybe if he knew the true story than he would be able to think up a solution. "I went over to Moondust’s to ride, and, ah....Oh yeah, well we were walking and the grass started like screaming, because of the Voice. So I tried to use a fire attack to make the grass stop, but that didn’t work. So I put up a Shield, then Moondust started freaking out, and she neighed and it got cut off. By the Silent. I got thrown off or something, and then the Silent appreared and almost got me, because it was really fast combined with the Dash and it could go through my Shield, and then it was going to hit me for sure, and that’s when...Well I don’t really remember, cause it’s all a big blur, but I might have started a Transport spell or something, but anyway, I was all the sudden here."

"You might have started a transport spell...?" He asked skeptically.

Sakura crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, looking away. "Okay, I did. I tried it. But I was trapped, I couldn’t just run out of the way. I have no idea why I ended up here, your guess is as good as mine." She said, hoping that was convincing.

Syaoran did his best not to grin on the outside. That explained her hesitance. Many spell failures were due to the magician not being focused when they practiced- and Syaoran’s best bet was her thoughts were on Hong Kong when she was trying to move out of the way. "Alright. Transporting spells can be very dangerous, did no one tell you that?"

Sakura’s face felt hot, and she refused to meet his eyes.

Syaoran sighed, knowing he was now the target for her anger. "Well don’t worry about Tomoeda, I’m sure that the cards are only after you."

"I still have to go home. I don’t want to be here." She said stubbornly.

Syaoran clenched his teeth to keep from saying what he wanted to, only sparing the mercy for her. "I’m sorry, but I don’t have the money to buy you a plane ticket."

"You don’t have to, but...I don’t know. Can’t you think of something?"

Syaoran leaned back on his hands on his matress. "Not really."

Sakura glared towards the window. It was dark outside already. Her family thought she was at Tomoyo’s. Everything was still under control to a point. But how would she ever get back? She needed to get a plane ticket, fast. Tomoyo had said something on the phone about some hurricane in the ocean around her location. That was sure to delay flights for a while.

Syaoran jumped to his feet. Sakura looked to the doorway expectently, but saw that Syaoran was walking over to his desk to get something. He picked up a book he had been looking at the other day and walked back over to his bed, plopping down and opening the huge book in his lap, flicking through the pages. "I’m pretty sure...your necklace..." He was saying absently.

Sakura walked hesitantly over, reluctantly sitting a cautious few feet beside him. She looked at the huge pages, waiting for him to stop at the right one. Syaoran found it and held the book open with his hand then looked up at Sakura, his eyes squinting to study the necklace before looking back down at the page.

Sakura moved over a little to get a better veiw of the page. She gasped at the fimilarity with her necklace and the crystal on the page. "Wha...what does it say about it?" She asked.

Syaoran held the end of the necklace in his hand and looked it over, then looked back to the page. "Um...Just that’s it’s a magical artifact or something. I read it the other day." Syaoran looked up at Sakura questioningly, for she was shaking slightly. "Are you alright?"

Sakura realized he was talking about her, and she looked up. "Oh, uh, your fan’s cold." She said, starting to get a chill sitting right under the overhead fan.

Syaoran glanced at his fan, then moved slightly back on his bed as he looked back at the book, thoughtlessly throwing the edge of the blankets on her. Sakura glanced at him with slight surprise, but saw that he was already reading the book again, obviously not thinking much of the action. She appreciated it alot, and pulled the covers a little tighter, though her mind wasn’t at rest.

Some of what Mark had said was bothering her. ‘Are you guys related? Cause that’s just sick...’ Does he think of me as his little sister? Sakura’s face was screwed up with disgust. How could he? Have I been missing something major this whole time?

"See here it shows the cards-" Syaoran slowed his sentence and frowned at Sakura’s odd expression of repulsion. Syaoran was sure he hadn’t said anything horrible, and he went through a quick mental list of recent actions he had done that could have gotten this reaction. Not seeing any, he asked, "What?"

Sakura blinked out of her scary revelation to look at him. "Hmm? ah, oh, n-nothing." She answered, watching him sidelong for a second before looking back into space.

Syaoran wasn’t convinced, Sakura had been acting awfully strange since she had gotten here. He went back to his discovery. "Well it shows the Clow Cards here, and then it shows those crystal things, but it doesn’t go into description of it. It just says ‘other magical artifacts’."

Sakura tried to ignore her previous thoughts and looked at the page. "Have you looked in the index for anymore stuff on it?"

Syaoran began flipping to the back of the book. "No, not yet." He said.

"Do-" Sakura stopped talking, hearing the door rattle.

Syaoran looked that general direction with horror, then quickly yanked the blankets halfway over himself, then totally covered Sakura, pushing her down with his right arm and holding her flat to the matress. Sakura stared wide-eyed into the side of Syaoran’s T-shirt, trying not to panic. If anyone was to discover that she was here, this would probably be the most embaressing event in her entire life. Plus, add to that the stress of being scared about being this close to a boy, she felt like a wreck.

Syaoran prayed that Sakura just looked like an extension of himself, because his sister had already walked into the room.

"Going to bed so early?" She asked.

"Yes, um, sword practice tommorrow." He said, moving slightly nearer to Sakura to keep her presence hidden.

"Ah. Well, I just came to reclaim my lotion. Assuming you’re done with it, of course."

Syaoran’s eyes went slightly wide, knowing that the lotion was on the table to his right, and if she was to walk over her, there was a good chance she’d notice that the blanket seemed to be hiding an extra pair of arms. He quickly grabbed it off the desk, mentally apologizing to Sakura for squishing her, then chucked the bottle of lotion to his sister.

She hadn’t been totally prepared to catch Syaoran’s fast pitch, and the bottle hit the wall hard and exploded open. His sister gave him a sour look, then picked up the messy bottle from the floor. "Great job. Next time, hand it to me."

Syaoran nodded.

"Lemme go get some paper towels..." She said, starting to leave the room.

"NO!" Syaoran shouted.

"What?" She asked, turning back around.

"I mean, I’m gonna clean it myself. It was my fault, I shouldn’t have thrown it." Syaoran said.

She frowned with amazement. "Are you really my brother?"

Syaoran scowled convincingly.

She shrugged and left the room. "Wan an."

"Wan an." Syaoran called after her. After waiting for the door to shut, he quickly threw the covers aside and freed himself, rolling away.

"We have to do something about this. I can’t hide you forever."

Sakura, who was still a little shakey from the ordeal, brushed out her electrified hair from the covers rubbing against it. "I’ve been saying that."

Syaoran, hoping he wasn’t still blushing, faced her again. "Well, we’ll work everything out tommorrow. We should go to sleep before we’re found out."

Sakura was reluctant to ask what he had in mind for sleeping plans. "Is your bed high enough of the ground?"

"What do you mean?"

"So I can sleep under it. Is it high enough?" She reiterated.

"No, it’s alright, I can sleep in the chair or something." Syaoran said, not wanting to leave Sakura with the floor.

"But what if someone came in." Sakura said.

Syaoran sighed and tried to think. "There’s my closet floor I guess. You don’t mind the dark, do you?"

Sakura glared at him for thinking her that stupid. "Only in card form." She said dryly.

Syaoran grinned. "Alright. Take some blankets, I’ll go find some extra pillows."

Sakura nodded and took the top blanket off his bed while Syaoran left the room. She walked over to the closet and opened it. It wasn’t horribly large or small, but just long enough to lay out at the bottom of. She laid the blanket along the bottom of the closet, tucking the edges up along the wall’s edge. She left the closet and waited patiently for Syaoran to return.

Syaoran kicked open the door, not able to use his hands, as he brought in several beds full of pillows, hardly able to see around them as he walked around the inlet of the doorway. He dropped them to the ground and looked up, grinning. "Is that enough?"

Sakura couldn’t help but smile back. "Yeah, thanks. Hopefully I don’t suffocate."

Syaoran grinned and picked up some, throwing them into the closet. Sakura aided, and the closet was quickly transformed into a nice looking bed. Sakura glanced at Syaoran several times through the work, thinking about her previous thoughts. What if he did think of her that way? That would ruin everything. She was sure she didn’t think of him that way. She had gotten those feelings straight ever since Yukito way back when. But who was to say that Syaoran didn’t think of her like that?

Sakura walked over to the closet and sat down on the pillows, a little disturbed as she looked at him, but fighting it away and smiling at him. "Arigato. G’night."

Syaoran wanted to sigh with content with the large smile she had on her face. A good thing to sleep to, he thought. "Oyasumi."

Syaoran helped her shut the closet door and then walked over to the light switch and shut off the lights. He walked over to his bed and layed down, still feeling a little guilty about making Sakura sleep on the floor. At least he had been able to get all of those pillows. He hoped Rana didn’t notice he had stolen a few from her. Syaoran laid for a while, trying to think about a solution, but only able to think about how much he’d rather her stay and visit here for a while. Keeping her smile in his head, he rolled over and fell asleep.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

And yet another exstremly long chapter. Sorry. So it’s a little corny, but I wanted to get Sakura to Hong Kong.

That’s about it, I guess. Comments at [email protected]

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