RECAP: Last chapter Link went back to Japan with Sakura. She showed him the sights of Tomoeda. Syaoran showed up in a bad mood and Sakura still has no idea what all happened in Hong Kong. They went with Tomoyo to see that really long bridge that connects the south island of Japan with Honshu- I don’t remember the name- and then earthy showed up and started some chaos. They’re just going after it now.

Chapter 44 - Syaoran Has Issues

Sakura dodged around the stopped cars, concentrating only to catch up with Syaoran. Link was running at her side, looking breathlessly around to try and make sense of the situation. Sakura forced her legs faster and found herself gaining. But she wasn’t speeding up; Syaoran had stopped. She slowed unsurely then stopped just beside him, her shoulders heaving as she tried to catch her breath. "Do you...see it?" She asked.

Syaoran, who was also recovering, narrowed his eyes ahead of himself. "It’s spreading out. I can’t follow one source."

Sakura shut her eyes and tried to follow it. But Syaoran was right. She didn’t have an ounce of hope to find this thing. Sakura into bit her lip and looked around. "Well maybe we can get it to come-"

"There!" Syaoran exclaimed, jumping forward.

Sakura moved aside for him to run by, then saw what he meant. The earth waved as if it was nothing more than liquid at disposal of the wind and rolled towards her. It settled slowly, calming completely before ever reaching Sakura and Link. But the bridge caught the effects. It swayed just so slightly, making Sakura’s eyes widen. The huge structure looked immovable. "Syaoran!" She shouted.

Syaoran, who was standing ahead of them, looked over his shoulder.

"It’s trying to take the bridge down!" She shouted.

Syaoran nodded. He looked forward again, then reluctantly turned back and jogged over to her. "You’re right. But there’s nothing we can do about it."

Sakura frowned, then shook her head. "What are you talking about!? Come on, we have to get on the bridge." She started off, Link faithfully following her lead.

Syaoran grabbed her wrist. "You can’t use magic. All these people..."

"What? You want these thousands of cars to fall into the ocean?" She asked scrutinizingly.

Syaoran scowled at her, then let her wrist down.

Sakura brightened as she got an idea. "Use the strongest sleep spell you know!" She hurried over to Tomoyo’s car and ducked down behind the door as she called out her staff. Sakura then peered in. Neither Tomoyo nor Kero were inside. Where had they ran to? Well, it doesn’t matter. Tomoyo will be asleep and safe in a second anyway. And Kero... who counts on him anyways. Sakura raised her staff and called out her sleep spell, putting a massive amount of energy behind it. She hoped maybe she could get everyone in sight range asleep so she could go on to defeat the force undisturbed.

The magic flowed out of her and collected like a massive fog that fell over the crowd of cars. Slowly the blue settled away and everyone fell into dreamless sleep. Sakura sighed and leaned against the car as her use of energy weakened her, then forced herself up and looked around for Syaoran and Link. Link was already hurrying over, looking slightly disoriented.

"What was that?"

"A sleeping spell," Sakura explained. "Everyone’s going to be asleep until I catch this magic."

Link said, "Oh", but it was very apparent he didn’t understand.

"Watch out!" Syaoran shouted a few cars down.

Sakura and Link only caught a glimpse of the rumbling ground before it rose between them and sent them sprawling opposite directions. Cars on either side rolled ever so slightly from the new tilt. Sakura landed painfully on her elbows and took a second to recover before she felt the ground shaking underneath her again. She shouted a Move spell quickly, ignoring the risks along with it.

Sakura banged onto her knees and then opened her eyes. Syaoran was glaring at her from the side, obviously disapproving her new risk-taking spirit. Sakura quickly got up. "Link, move!" She shouted, seeing a fault form before her very eyes and split the pavement.

Link got up from his muddled state and jumped away from the fissure. He ran over to where Sakura and Syaoran stood, looking worriedly at the cracks behind him. "This is dangerous magic. How do you fight it?"

Sakura glanced at Syaoran. He was always the one with the fighting advice. But it seemed somewhere between her trip back from Hong Kong and his trip here he had become very indifferent whether there was world destruction or not. She looked back to Link, seeing she was going to have to be the smart one here. "Well...we’ve got to provoke the magic’s real form so we can capture-" She stopped as she watched the bridge start to sway. The steel enforcements groaned in protest at the movement they were not supposed to sustain.

"I’m going over there!" Sakura exclaimed, taking off to the bridge before anyone could stop her.

The ground sent odd vibrations up her legs, but she ignored it. She was going to stop this card before it sent thousands of cars diving into the river. She ran down the side of the bridge, dodging around cars, forcing herself to keep up the grueling pace. "Earthy! Show yourself to me!" She shouted, though her voice was weak.

Nothing. She slowed down, partly by exhaustion, partly from doubt that running any further would do any good. "Earthy!" She shouted again.

The ground under her feet shook. Sakura looked down nervously, then around. A slight breeze ruffled through her hair. It was eerily quiet. "Mamoru!" She shouted, raising up her weak shield.

Still nothing. Sakura shifted impatiently. What could she do? There was nothing to fight unless the card would give her a form. Sakura peered over the large cement wall beside her. It was a long drop to the ocean below. She swallowed and stood rightly again. Link jogged up to her, his cheeks a little flushed from the breeze, his ear-hiding hair style now completly destroyed.

"Nothing’s happening," He said.

Sakura was just slightly irritated with him for saying something as dumb as that. She didn’t respond and only looked around. Sakura grit her teeth with anger. "Come on! Earthy! Are you too scared to appear?"

It seemed that had been a good approach. The bridge immediatly started creaking. Sakura grabbed the wall for balance and looked around with wide eyes. Great. Now what? What fights an earthquake? The earth’s core...liquid? Secondary waves stop through that, right? I wish I had earth science this year. "Water!" She sent as much water out of her as she could.

That was a good offense tactic, Sakura discovered. But she had neglected to plan out her next move. The water had been sucessful in getting Earthy riled up. The bridge was vibrating, but, as Sakura noticed, the seismic waves had much more strength on land. Syaoran was having much difficulty staying on his feet. Over several cars and a large distance she met his eyes. What was he doing still over there? She quickly jumped away as a car with a sleeping drive slowly rolled towards her.

Link pulled her out of the way as some kind of firebolt landed just where she had been standing. Sakura jumped out of the way of another one, then quickly jumped behind Link’s shield.

"What is that?" He asked, looking around his shield for a second before quickly placing it in front of him again.

"Fiery. The cards are teaming up-" Sakura practically knocked Link over as she moved away from a ball of fire at her side.

"Can you use that water again?" He asked.

Sakura looked worriedly behind her shoulder. Their shield was only on one side. "Ye-yeah." She said. She glanced at him, a little surprised to see his crystal blue eyes so close. "Can you keep me covered?"

Link nodded. "Go ahead, I’ll shield it."

Sakura ducked out of the shield and jumped as a rather fast moving flame almost penetrated her pants. "Water!" She called out again. Water jumped out in all directions, chasing after the fire, but not with much success. Sakura sighed with frustration.

"Fiery’s too fast, you need to speed up your spell."

Sakura jumped at Syaoran’s voice, then turned to see him with his arms crossed over his chest, not looking very helpful. "What do you propose, oh wise one?" She asked with irritation. His attitude was starting to get on her nerves.

Syaoran glared for a second and was about to retort when a huge flame landed between them. Sakura panicked. "That gas tank!" She shouted, the car beside the flame sitting dangerously close.

Syaoran easily estinguished it with some water and then moved around the car.

"Sakura!" Link said, bumping into her as he backed away from a large fire brigade.

Sakura turned and saw the wall of flames that were descending from the sky. They could blow up every single one of the cars in front of them. She had to act. "Water!"

Again the flames scattered. Sakura snorted with frustration.

"Shoot the water at me!" Link said, sounding very urgent. Sakura looked to see if he was on fire. No flames.

Though puzzled, Sakura followed his command.

Link put his shield up and reflected the water at the fire, his reflexes moving as fast as the flames. It worked. Steam rose into the sky from where the flames had died. Sakura grinned at Link. "Good idea."

Link blushed in response. Neither of them noticed the scowl Syaoran was giving them.

The bridge gave a slight sway again. Earthy was getting bored. Sakura suspected some mass destruction was going to soon follow. "We’ve got to get her to appear!"

Link nodded. Syaoran glared.

The bridge was vibrating again. Looking towards the land Sakura could see the trees shaking violently. They needed to act quickly. "If we capture the other cards, maybe without them....maybe we can catch her. We need to get Fiery."

Link nodded. Syaoran glared.

Syaoran looked around. Fiery had already given up. Water wasn’t going to do anything. Hadn’t they noticed that Earthy was coming at them from under the ocean? Syaoran glared at Link. The same thing had happened last time Link had been in Japan. Link had decided to make himself Sakura’s hero. How sweet. So why should he even bother helping them? Why had he even come here in the first place? To help? He wasn’t doing a whole lot of that. Syaoran, clenching his hands into fists, decided he’d take care of this himself. He gathered himself and jumped onto the hood of the nearby car.

From that heigth he could see easily down the bridge. He stepped onto the roof and then agilely jumped to the next vehichle. Off the bridge he could see the water surge outwards in ripples. All he had to do was find the source. That would be the epicenter. Hopefully from there he could defeat the Earthy. What attack can I use? If I could get Earthy to show form I could use any of my energy attacks. But she won’t appear because she knows she can avoid us.

Syaoran slowed to a stop as he could sense the magic right underneath him. What if he sent an energy attack straight down? The bridge may collapse. There’s too many cars on it. I’ve got to get through the bridge. Syaoran jumped off the car’s roof and called out his sword, ready to use whatever spell it took to get through the several feet of pavement and steel that seperated him from the card. But Earthy beat him to it. The open pavement in front of him shattered like a thin sheet of ice. The violent quake that followed sent Syaoran to the ground. The cars around him rolled away as the bridge swayed a little too much for his liking. Syaoran stretched his fingers for the swords hilt but did not feel the hard metal touch his finger tips. He jumped to his feet and searched frantically around and found the sword sliding away. He quickly ran after it and raised it over his head, facing the forms before him.

"Watch out!" A voice yelled. It didn’t register in Syaoran’s mind. He opened his mouth to shout out the spell of Earthy’s defeat but found the wind knocked out of him as he was pushed onto the hard ground. Syaoran quickly brought free the hand with the sword to attack but found the weight off of him without any struggle.

Link stood and faced the still transparent form of the earthy that was gathering around them. He moved his hands in some kind of odd fashioned wave. But, Syaoran realized, he wasn’t waving at all. He was doing a foreign spell. Syaoran refused to leave this foreigner could possibly defeat such a powerful foe. Link’s little knowledge of magic wasn’t going to get him by in this situation. Windy was gathering around them as well. Did Link see that? Syaoran climbed up to his feet, dodging some flying debris.

"Don’t even try, this wind is going to knock you right off your feet," Syaoran shouted.

Link broke the trance he had from his involvement in the spell and looked at Syaoran in a clueless manner. But his moment of hesitation got the best of him. Windy knocked him right off his feet. The force was enough to send him sliding into the side of the bridge, where he nearly fell over the side. His hands caught him and held him tightly to the rail, though he looked a little frightened to be hanging over such a high distance. But Syaoran didn’t have time to help him up. He was going to take this chance to seal the card.

"Earthy-" Syaoran had gotten no further than that when a huge gust of wind took his firmly planted feet from right under him. The wind sent him careening into the side of a car, which sharply hit his back. Syaoran could do nothing but let himself collapse on the pavement for the moment. He blinked dazedly for a moment at the fogged over sky. A figure running by caught his eye. He tried to follow it but he felt dizzy. Syaoran ignored his spinning head and achedly sat up. He saw the back of a brown head veer towards the side of the bridge.

Sakura rushed around the car that stood in her way and grabbed Link’s arm. Taking hold of it with both arms, she willed her magic to give her strength and pulled up hard. With a second tug and some help from Link, they both sailed by the momentum backwards safely onto the hard asphalt. Sakura struggled to unpin her leg from underneath Link and then clambered onto her feet, her staff in hand. She was going to catch Earthy before any more life or death situations arose. First she should get Windy out of the way.

Sakura rose her staff up and started the spell. But Windy swirled about her feet and tossed her into the air. Sakura’s eyes widened as she found herself being flipped around. All that she could think of was how much it was going to hurt when she hit the ground. She reached her arms out in front of her to stop herself but there was nothing but air moving about her. She saw the sky, then the roofs of cars, then the ocean, all seeming to move in sickening directions. Then Sakura found herself losing momentum. She had hit the peak of her toss, now she was heading no other direction but down. But the pavement wasn’t underneath her anymore.

Sakura found herself looking down to the ocean, an enormous gap from the top of the heighest wave to where she was. Her speed increased with every thought that ran through her mind. When she would hit the water, she would hit hard. Sakura tried to unfreeze her limbs into doing some retaliation. But it seemed they were glued to her sides. Air rushed through her ears as if a freight train were passing by. The wind sent tears streaming out of the corners of her eyes. But the ocean still approached her fast.

Suddenly the ocean seemed to slow down. Her whole body jolted and her stomach seemed to all too quickly be replaced back where it was supposed to be. She felt as if she was hovering. What was this sensation? The ocean was only inches away now, but she could not even throw herself into it. She was seemingly frozen in midair. Sakura tried to right herself and figure out what was going on, but just as suddenly as it started, the hovering sensation snapped and she plowed into the water. Sakura gasped with shock as the freezing ocean water practically numbed her senses on the spot. She quickly tried to stay afloat though her limbs were fast becoming immobile.

Syaoran staggered slightly as his energy level was draining but forced his legs into a sprint. If he could make it to the bridge enterance, the drop wasn’t half as large and a dive wouldn’t have any life threatening affects. Syaoran grabbed the railing with his hand and threw his legs over. It would be a waste of time to get into perfect diving position. Just before he hit the water Syaoran summoned a shielding spell for himself. He didn’t know if it would hold all the water off him, but it was worth a shot. He made a splash in the water but didn’t disrupt the waves that pushed and shoved the ocean around. Syaoran quickly reached Sakura and grabbed a hold of her, ignoring the chills he got from the freezing water that soaked her through. He swam hard and fast to the shore and threw his hand up on the cement base of the bridge. He got a better hold of Sakura and helped push her out, then climbed out the rest of the way.

Sakura was on her hands and knees, her teeth chattering uncontrollably, her body shaking harshly. That water had been very cold. She barely noticed Syaoran collapse beside her. He lay on his back and stared aimlessly up at the bottom of the bridge, very dry for having jumped in the water. Sakura didn’t even try to figure out how he had managed that, as she only tried to keep herself from shaking too much.

"Are you alright?" He finally asked, turning his head and surveying her.

Sakura glared at the ground in front of her with mixed emotions. She turned around and then sat, hugging her knees to her chest. "That water was very cold," She said quietly.

If she was irritated with him, Syaoran didn’t notice. "If I had a coat, I’d give you one."

Sakura ignore that. "Where’s Link?"

Syaoran had been preoccupied thinking about who knows what. "Huh?"

"Link. Where’s he at?" Sakura repeated, this time trying to calm her jaw by biting down her teeth.

Syaoran let out a breath to let everyone know he didn’t really care. "Somewhere on the bridge, I dunno."

Sakura looked at him with disbeleif for being so insensitive. Syaoran didn’t even notice as he was picking at some unknown part of his shoe. She tried to calm her shivers and then got to her feet, heading as independently as she could towards the steep bank that ran along the base of the bridge.

"Where are you going?" Syaoran called after her.
Sakura looked over her shoulder scrutinizingly. She was about to call some mean answer out but a fimiliar figure slid down the side of the bank towards them.

"Oh, you’re alright!" Link exclaimed, hurrying over. He quickly noticed her situation. "You must be freezing, here-" Link stripped off his thin fall jacket- a prize of one of Tomoyo’s shopping sprees- faster than the eye could follow.

"Oh, ah, thanks," Sakura said, smiling unsurely as he pulled it tight around her.

"You’re going to get sick if you stay in those clothes for too long."

Sakura only shivered in response. Syaoran was already glaring around Sakura at Link and had gotten up from where he had been so casually lounging.

"Everything stopped after you hit the water. It was quite bizzarre." Link said.

Sakura tried to get the jacket a little tighter, though she knew it did no good. "Well that just means we’ll fight them another day I guess."

"Your sleeping spell’s going to wear off soon," Syaoran muttered.

Sakura could have turned and acknowledged him, but she was feeling quite annoyed with him. "Then we should go fix everything, huh?" She said, already heading towards the bank.

Syaoran glared at the back of their heads. Already heading up the bank without him. He really felt unneeded. But where would she be had he not slowed her down in that fall? The water would have hit her into a million peices. Syaoran walked stiffly after them, chewing his bottom lip in frustration.

"Why should we waste time and energy fixing everything?" Syaoran asked as they climbed up the bank.

"Because we caused it," Sakura replied from farther up, climbing onto the level ground.

"No we didn’t, we stopped it from becoming a disaster. I’m sure they could handle fixing some earthquake damage." Syaoran continued.

"And let some people fall through that big whole in the middle of the bridge?"

"What, you don’t think they’d notice a fifteen foot hole right in the middle of the bridge?" Syaoran retorted. He got to the top a little breathless and stood for a moment before walking on.

"It’s not exactly responsible to just walk away while there’s thousands of motorists asleep at a disaster scene." Sakura grouched, irritated he would even come up with something like that. "We could end up sending a couple families into the ocean through that gigantic hole."

"Look- first of all, you could see that thing from a mile away and I’m sure they’d stop and go around it. Second of all, we should try and make sure the cards haven’t gone anywhere else-"

"How are we suposed to do that?" Sakura demanded, turning around.

"Walk."

"We just drove two hours to get here. And you want to walk home?" Sakura asked critically.

"Unless you want to steal a car," Syaoran replied.

Link could see the sparks flying. He couldn’t help but ask, "What about all these people that are asleep?"

"What about them?"

"Syaoran, if you want to go back, then go ahead and walk back. But we’re going to stay here and fix what we screwed up so that no one goes diving into the ocean, alright?" Sakura said.

Syaoran could feel a very hot flash of anger coming on. He gathered his energy and put it into his sword, then brought it down on the ground, sending the energy down the bridge. He opened his eyes and found he gained both Sakura and Link’s attention. He swallowed then set his mind stubbornly. "I’ll see myself out, then."

Sakura frowned and watched him turn and leave. Tears burned the corners of her eyes, though she felt no need to cry. She only felt bitter hate and resentment for him at the moment. What had he just done with his sword? Was he just playing with his powers nowdays?

Sakura clenched her teeth and tried not to let her shoulders go crazy with shivering, then turned and stalked onto the bridge. She might as well start with fixing that hole. She wished for that moment Link wasn’t there. Maybe she would break down and cry, she wasn’t sure. Why is he being like this? Syaoran definitely wasn’t showing any sign of repentance. He seemed fairly content being like he was. Was this a phase? What happened to the Syaoran she had seen in Hong Kong? He had been a very different person. I shouldn’t let him do this to me. It’s not my fault he can’t keep one personality, right? "I can’t beleive him. First almost letting you fall to your death and then not even caring about all the damage we’ve caused..."

"He seems disturbed," Link said quietly, his head hanging. "I do not think he likes me either. It seems he does not like anything."

Sakura just let out a heavy breath to show her irritation.

They walked down the eerily quiet bridge and made their way through the maze of cars down the center to where the hole made by Earthy was waiting. Sakura stopped as they approached it. A gleaming shield sealed it over. Nothing was going to be falling through that any time soon. So he hadn’t been just showing off when he brought his sword down on the ground. He had fixed it. Sakura bit her lip and frowned, then looked over her shoulder. Syaoran was quite far already, and was about to break through the major traffic jam of cars. Sakura looked at the shield, then at Link. "We should follow him, I think."

"You are going to freeze," Link observed.

Sakura knew that Link’s windbreaker was pretty close to useless now. "Maybe..." Sakura got an ingenius idea. "We gotta hurry, this spell’s going to wear off all these people and we don’t wanna be around."

Sakura hurried off towards Tomoyo’s limo. Link stayed close behind her. Sakura’s limbs felt frozen as the wind cut right through her clothes but still she pressed on. "Syaoran!" She shouted.

Syaoran, who was barely in earshot, turned around quickly.

"Wait up!" She shouted.

Syaoran just stood. Sakura figured he heard her because he wasn’t moving. Sakura dove into the back of the limo.

"What are you doing?" Link asked curiously.

"Tomoyo....always would have some wild outfit....somewhere...." Sakura looked through all the little cabinents frantically, her freezing cold limbs hardly assisting her. She hurried to a larger one beside the fridge. Sakura retreived a box of fabrics. She pulled them out of the box quickly.

Sakura sighed as she examined the outfit. It was going to be a cold trip either way. Here were a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. But at this moment Sakura was convinced any clothing would be better than her freezing wet clothes. She turned to Link who stood outside of the car by the door. "I’m going to change really quick, go make sure Syaoran doesn’t leave without us."

Link nodded slowly. He then shut the door behind him and hurried away, as if afraid to see any of Sakura’s changing process through the heavily tinted windows. Sakura let out a short breath in the large backseat. She was very cold, but this still felt awkward to change here in this seat. She reasoned with herself and then began ripping off her soaked clothes. In the dead silence of the car her thoughts quickly crowded in.

He is so confusing. I don’t understand. What does he have against Link? Link has only ever helped us. Is he jealous? Why would he be, anyways? He’s not showing any feelings for...for me anyways. Not like when...like before. It’s still no excuse for turning your back when your friend is hanging off a bridge. Link could have died! Sakura pulled on the dry shirt and shivered a little. Her underclothes were still wet, but this new dry layer felt very nice. She made sure no one was around just because she was paranoid, then pulled on the shorts. Feeling alot better though still cold, she raked her fingers through her half frozen and brittle hair and then opened the door. She hopped outside, pausing to pull her shoelaces tight, then headed towards where Syaoran and Link stood.

She mentally cringed. Why had she sent Link to be alone with Syaoran? She hoped no harsh words were exchanged. She inspired herself to move a little faster and jogged up to them. Her bare calves went numb quickly again. She stopped in front of them and continued jogged in place, trying to get her circulation going.

"So what’s our proposed route?" She asked Syaoran brightly, trying to forget that he had practically tried to ditch them only a few moments ago.

Syaoran looked at her with an unreadable expression, then looked at the street beneath his feet. "We can just go back the way we came." He turned and looked over his shoulder. "We can probably save time by cutting through the woods."

"You really think the cards will be attacking somewhere else?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran shrugged. "We didn’t catch it."

"Hey, um, look- over there-" Link pointed at a nearby car. Sakura and Syaoran turned to see the object of interest. In the driver’s seat of the small Toyota next to them a driver was blearily wiping his eyes. Sakura panicked.

"We gotta go!" She said urgently, turning to the direction they were going and springing into a run.

Syaoran and Link were quickly beside her. They ran a safe distance from the main car and then continued to run, running out of any people’s sighting. They headed across a large ditch by the highway and then headed onto a side exit. Only when they were onto a smaller town’s sidewalk did they slow down.

"You think we’re safe?" Sakura asked through her many breaths.

"Until Earthy shows up," Syaoran said.

Sakura sideways glared at him, then looked around at the large buildings that lined the main streets. "Great." She sighed and glanced at Link, then at Syaoran, then looked back at the street. Things had been gettting very awkward recently. Sakura glanced over her shoulder. She noticed the sky was going orange. It was probably fairly late in the day, now that she thought about it. It had been a long drive after school... "Do you really think it was a good idea to walk home? I mean, it’s going to be dark soon."

"You want to let Earthy hit a couple more towns before we decide to catch her?" Syaoran asked skeptically.

Sakura clenched her teeth for a moment. She really could hate him sometimes. "I’m just saying this was a stupid idea. We should have just stayed back and ridden home in Tomoyo’s limo. He would have stopped if we needed to get out and fight something."

"How the hell would you explain all the crap that happened while he was asleep?" Syaoran demanded. It seemed this was the fight he was looking for.

"I don’t know. At least we wouldn’t be left on the side of a major road trying to get home in the dark."

"How about you go buy yourself a hotel room and I’ll go seal your card for you?" Syaoran scoffed.

"This was your idiot plan in the first place-"

"This is ridiculous!" Link cut in, glaring at them. Once a moment of stunned silence passed, he continued on. "Honestly, you two..." Sakura shivered loudly, and Link noticed. "First of all, we should buy some clothing for you. I’m sure one of these buildings is a store-"

"They all are you idiot," Syaoran muttered.

Link glared at Syaoran slightly, then took a composing breath. "Alright, sorry. So we should go into one of these stores and buy her a coat. Then is there any way we can reach your friend before she passes us by?"

"Yeah, ah, she has a cell phone. We can call from a public phone in the store. But, um...we don’t have any money." Sakura said, not looking at Syaoran a single time.

"Let’s go try to talk to your friend and then figure things out from there."

Sakura nodded in agreement with Link and walked by his side, intentionally excluding Syaoran. They hurried to the largest looking department store and rushed through the door, not caring if they left anyone behind.

"There’s the phones," Sakura said, pointing down the hall that was behind the checkout lanes. She walked over and searched through her pockets for some change. Nothing. She bit her lip, then looked to Link. He wouldn’t have any money. Syaoran walked up with a very nasty scowl on his face. He shoved his hand in his pocket and then very stiffly held out some money for Sakura’s use.

Sakura took them, not bothering to say thank you, and put them in the phone. She hurriedly dialed Tomoyo’s phone number, then waited impatiently. Syaoran walked around them and leaned on the wall. As cool and aloof as he did look, Sakura hated him all the more for it.

"Moshi moshi?" A groggy voice answered.

"Tomoyo! Are you guys alright?"

"Sakura-chan! I should be asking you the same question!" Tomoyo lowered her voice. "What happened? There’s a traffic mess here. I don’t know how long it will take us to get out. Was it a card?"

"Earthy. We didn’t catch it yet. But when everything had settled down and people started waking up, we ran." Sakura added a spontaneous glare in Syaoran’s direction. "Listen, is there any way you could pick us up? We ran off the main highway into some town. You can see it right off the highway, it was the first exit we passed."

"Sure! We might be a while, this traffic isn’t budging. Where will we look for you at?"

"Um..." Sakura glanced at Link, then out the window to the main street. "We could go to that cafe but I don’t have any-"

"I’ve got money," Syaoran said nonchalantly.

Sakura went back to the phone. "Meet us at... ah...Julie’s cafe. It’s a french looking place, across from a really large department store."

"Ok. Julie’s. We’ll be there as soon as we can."

"Thanks. Okay, bye then."

"See ya."

Sakura hung up the phone then faced Link. "Alright. We can go get something to eat then, I’m starving." She turned and headed for across the street without looking to see if they followed her.

Sakura walked into the cafe and was greeted by the delicious smell of waffels and coffee. She looked around the place for seating and saw their best bet was the bar in front. She walked up and sat down on a cushioned stool. Link sat on one side of, then Syaoran sat grudgidly on the other.

"What can I get for you three?" The waitress asked, an older looking woman with a crooked name tag that read in english. It seemed they had found an authentic cafe.

"Water," Syaoran said shortly, more concentrating on swirling some spilled salt around on the counter than ordering.

Sakura smiled at the waitress. She seemed like a rather interesting person by the way her japanese was so accented. "I’ll take a lemonade, please."

The waitress nodded and looked at Link. He smiled his bright smile, his dimples showing clearly. Sakura melted. The waitress smiled back as well. "Same as her, thanks."

The waitress smiled and then turned and headed back into the kitchen.

Sakura felt so happy to have a friend like Link. He was so adorable and so polite...Totally the opposite of Syaoran. "Your street lingo is getting better."

Link grinned. "I’ve been observing."

"Your shields really come in handy, you know? What magic do you know how to use?" Sakura asked.

Link looked thoughtful for a moment, then spoke. "Not very many spells. From what I can tell of you two, you have very diverse powers. I have only learned one offensive spell; Din’s fire. I can use a transporting spell and a special shield spell also. And I am able to use the lens of truth to see hidden things. No other magics have revealed themselves to me as of yet."

"I wonder if I could teach you anything? I doubt it, I’m not a very good teacher..."

"I’d love to learn!" Link said, looking enthusiastic.

Sakura heard a loud sigh on her left. She ignored it. "Well maybe after school tommorrow we can go see my horse and try out some spells."

Syaoran fumed. They seemed to be having a nice little chat beside him. Not that it mattered if he existed or not. Syaoran was a grumbling complaining jerk that only hindered their lives and was a burden on their wonderful expeditions. So now Sakura had finally accepted Moondust as her own horse. How sweet. And she was offering out rides to her new boyfriends. That was great. Syaoran was glad for her. He stretched out his arms in front of him and glanced to the side as he watched Link get up from his stool. Link left with that bright happy cute little boy smile as he headed off the bathroom. Heading to the bathroom with a great atitude. What a guy.

Syaoran fidgeted on his booth, very aware that it was only he and Sakura sitting at the bar. Sakura was sitting at a half turn, not looking very personable. But she suddenly turned and faced Syaoran. "So how long are you planning to do this?"

Syaoran only stayed leaned over his elbows. "Do what?"

"This. You know you almost let Link die back there? Just left him hanging on for his life."

Syaoran was quiet for a second. "I was trying to seal that card before it killed in mass numbers. If he’s going to be in the way like that, he should fend for himself."

Sakura snorted. It was just like him to reason that way. "You are so immature! Can’t you just get over yourself and see he’s just helping us out? I don’t understand what you have against him. He’s nothing but nice to you- way nicer than you deserve. I don’t know what your problem is- being too competitive, too grouchy...whatever. It’s driving me insane!"

Syaoran clenched his teeth down hard. One way he was incredibly angry with her. How could she say all of that without knowing everything that had happened? He had just destroyed his life to come here and he was finding out he had already destroyed this life in the past somewhere. What was he to do? She was being exstremly unjust to go judging without any knowledge of the sources of his incurable pain. But she might understand if he would just tell her. That meant all of this really was his fault. "Maybe I’m just angry with myself," he replied quietly.

Sakura frowned and glanced at him. Syaoran had a downcast look and had his hair falling off his forehead. If Sakura didn’t know him any better she’d say he was about to cry. What was with his wild mood changes? She hadn’t meant to hurt him by saying any of that. Only to wake him up. Maybe she had? "What do you mean?" She asked.

Link sat back down beside her, looking brightly around. "No drinks yet?"

Sakura cast one more glance at Syaoran before shaking her head. "No, nothing."

The waitress came on cue. She set the drinks out, smiled at them, then took out her notebook. "What can I get for you all?"

Sakura glanced at her watch, then looked over her shoulder out the window. "Nothing, thanks, I think we’ll be leaving in just a little bit anyways."

"Alright then. Let me know if you need anything."

Sakura nodded. She tapped her fingers on her glass and then took a long drink before shivering and setting it back down. She rubbed her calves with her hands but it didn’t seem to do a whole lot for her. "I’m telling Tomoyo to crank the heat when we get in there."

"Yes, and your hair’s still wet. It’s probably not helping much."

Sakura nodded. "There’s not a whole lot I can do about it." She bit her lip as she wondered what Syaoran was talking about. He was so confusing. He was so hot headed and confident and passionate...so the opposite of Link. Strange. Two exstremes on either side of me. But he was trying to tell me something. What? What does that mean ‘maybe I’m angry with myself’? Something is majorly wrong and he’s not going to come out and tell me. "Syaoran...." She quickly formulated a plan, letting him take his time to face her as she lingered off his name. "Do you want to see Moondust tommorrow? You can help me teach Link some new stuff if you want."

Syaoran shrugged. "If I’m not busy."

Sakura wasn’t sure whether to be happy or depressed about that answer. He never seemed to like letting out the plain truth. Did that mean something about him? She took another long draught of her lemonade and then looked back at him. "We’ll probably just go by my house after school." That led to other questions. "Are you going to school tommorrow?" She asked Link.

"Ah...well...am I going to be getting into more trouble tommorrow? I think your friends are very suspicious of me and it is clear your authorities are in disagreement about me. You think it would be wise?"

Sakura tried not to smile at his old lingo. "Well..." She sighed. Though she really enjoyed having someone enjoyable for company, he did have a point. She got out of in school suspension the next day. She should probably try and play it safe. "You’re probably right. You don’t mind staying at Tomoyo’s house all day?"

"No, that’s quite alright." Link said.

"Alright then. So I’ll go by Tomoyo’s house, to my house, and then we can meet you if you want, Syaoran. Or you can just go with me the whole way, it doesn’t matter."

Syaoran shrugged. "I’ll let you know," He said in a quieter tone. He glanced over his shoulder, then looked over the counter. He flagged down the waitress and asked for the bill.

"Yay, they’re here! I’m so freezing!" Sakura hopped down from her stool and took a long drink to finish off her lemonade. She then turned and waited for Syaoran to take the bill, and they walked out together. "Thanks for paying, Li-kun."

Syaoran didn’t respond.

They jumped into the back of the limo, Sakura diving in headfirst, and quickly settled into their previous seating arrangement. Sakura hugged her legs.

"Heat heat heat..." She sang under her breath, trying not to shiver after their short jaunt from the cafe door to the limo. She didn’t notice Syaoran fighting a smile beside her.

Tomoyo got the vents going full blast, then sat back, flipping her perfectly managed hair over her shoulders. "I’m so glad you are alright, I was so worried to wake up and find you guys not around!"

Sakura nodded. "I was worried everyone would wake up while we were still around."

"Yes, that was a close call," Link agreed, leaning back on his seat, his elvish features showing well by the orange sunlight that played shadows across his face. Sakura blushed and looked away. She looked at Syaoran. His dark eyes were being shaded by his thick eye lashes and he was scowling as if thinking about something deeply. Most girls would kill to be sitting where I am right now.

The car went quiet after a while, as it seemed they were all feeling the effects of their little squabble. Tomoyo turned on the radio again and it seemed to understand their feelings as it played soft music that soothed them into dozing off. Sakura leaned her head on the chair back and stared ahead blankly. She would ponder this very strange day sometime when she wasn’t quite as tired.

____________________________________________________________________

Sakura discovered Syaoran had become a genius over the summer. He was in all advanced classes. The only classes they shared together were 3D art and P.E.. The art teacher had set them on opposite sides of the room. Sakura found herself glancing at the northeast corner of the room quite frequently. The clay pot she had been attempting to make, unfortunately, felt the affects of her wandering concentration.

Chihura returned to their art table and plopped down in a disgruntled manner. She placed her finished pot on the table. It was all blue. The carvings she had made in the pot were filled with blue glaze. It looked like a blue brick. "I don’t see why we had to use that blue glaze, anyway."

"Because it’s japanese invented and it’s very pretty." Rika picked up Chihura’s shiny blue brick. "Maybe you could have filled those cracks with a dark color to juxtapose stuff. I don’t know."

"Look at Rika, the artist," Sakura said kiddingly, eyeing the masterpeice of a pot Rika was finishing trimming up and thinning out.

Rika laughed shyly. "Come on guys, it’s easy, you just have put everything through your own filter. That’s how it becomes art, you know?"

Chihura snorted with laughter and then walked away to place her finished pot on the to-be-graded table.

"That’s not a bad pot, Sakura-chan. It just looks like you’re not smoothing it out as you go along, that’s all. You’re slapping layers on without really smoothing it out."

Sakura looked down at her wavey pot. "Yeah, I know. I don’t like the coil method, it’s too hard. I’d rather just dig a hole in a chunk of clay and call it a pot."

Rika laughed. "This is so much more economically conservative, Sakura-chan."

Sakura grinned and worked steadily at her pot. She glanced back through two different tables to see how Syaoran was faring with his first clay experience. Since he had come in during the middle of a trimester, he hadn’t gotten to practice any of the easier methods of clay working. He just had to jump right into to the coil unit without ever getting the honor of making a little dug-out pot. Sakura’s was sitting on top of the living room television.

Syaoran’s pot wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t Syaoran’s normal diplay of over-achievment. Sakura wondered if this was because he wasn’t a talented potter either. No, it seemed the stars of this class were Rika and Tamakazi. Trent wasn’t far behind, though his coil pot wasn’t showing the same promise of its predecessors. Part of that wasn’t his fault. He had, as he said, ‘a masterpeice of pottery’ that had gone into the oven to be made to last forever. Unfortunately he had made it after school, when no one was around but the art teacher to see it. And a horrible accident occured in which his pot exploded in the kiln. This led to some delays on firing pots for a few art classes and also caused several lectures on useful art tips. Sakura was glad to get tips. She sure didn’t want her hard work blowing up in the kiln and covering up all the other kid’s pots with little peices of baked clay.

Sakura sat back in her chair and looked up at the clock. Only twenty more minutes of clay massacring before she would be heading over to Tomoyo’s to pick up Link. She was sure he would be having a ball right now. She left him behind with a video line up that even she couldn’t refuse. Link, who had never seen a television in his life, was throroughly enjoying the movie experience. Tomoyo’s big screen just upped the amazement Link had about the wonders of Hollywood. And then from there...they would be going to Moondust’s. And Syaoran might go along. Syaoran... maybe I can figure out what’s really wrong with him. Who knows. She glanced up at him. His pot had collapsed. Sakura smiled to herself and looked back down. It figured he hadn’t told her yet if he was going or not. He would make her ask him. He wasn’t going to put any effort into these plans. And if she didn’t ask him, he would just go home and mope all alone, doing whatever it was he did. He’s got to be the most aggrivating guy in the world. In Hong Kong, I really thought he had changed...

Sakura gathered her things to put away. She picked up her pot and walked over to the sink, glancing once more at Syaoran. He wasn’t paying attention, only despairing about his collapsed work of art. Sakura didn’t blame him. He needed to get this pot done within the next two classes. She looked back to the sink and grabbed a paper towel and soaked it in water, then placed it in the pot to keep it moist. She then placed the pot in a bag and walked it over to the art closet and placed it on a shelf. After throwing all the utensils back in their right drawer, she plunked down in her seat and awaited the bell.

Sakura sprung out of her seat and then took her time getting to the door, knowing that Syaoran was coming from the far side of the room. It’s so weird, after all that we’ve been through and after being...as close as we were- and then we pretend that the other doesn’t exist... "Li-kun!"

Syaoran stopped as he was cut off by some senior classmen and then got beside her. "Huh?" He mumbled, looking down the hall with his average observance.

Sakura glanced sideways. He really was taller. Even taller than the previous month she had seen him in Hong Kong. Now she found herself more at eyelevel with his upper jaw than his eyes. "Are you going to see Moondust tonight with us?" She asked as pleasantly as she could manage.

"Ah..." Syaoran snuck a furtive glace at Sakura before slowing at his locker. She was so sincere about getting him to come along. But what good would he be there? Sakura had Link to entertain, and Moondust was part of that entertainment. It was pointless. He sighed and leaned on his locker to face her. "I don’t care."
She hated him for his indifference. She was torn between two decisions. Should she quit being the weaker link and finally stand up for herself or should she have faith that there was something causing Syaoran to be like this other than his natural born attitude? Sakura was getting sick of swallowing her pride. She was going to explode sometime. But today wasn’t the day for it. "You could really help me teach Link some spells. Everything I know you taught me, basically." She laughed nervously with that. She kicked herself for giving him a bigger head than the one he already had.

"Mm." Syaoran took out his bookbag and CD player and then faced her again. "I have to stop by my house."

Sakura wanted to laugh about how obvious it was he wanted to come. It hadn’t taken much to win him over. "That’s alright. I can go with you and then we can go by Tomoyo’s to get Link or we can split and meet back-"

"I’ll just go over there whenever." Syaoran said, throwing his bookbag on his shoulder. He waited for some kind of confirmation to leave.

Sakura was a little dumbfounded at his curtness. "Yeah, okay." He was already walking away. Sakura glared at his back. "So don’t wait up for us or anything. Take your time. We’re all about fitting your schedule, Syaoran." Syaoran didn’t hear any of that.

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

Link just ‘adored’ Moondust. She reminded him of Epona and apparently was very well mannered. This was news to Sakura. Sakura let Link hack around on her for a while. He was very talented, but that wasn’t surprising; most of his transportation was horseback and this wasn’t just an amateur sport for him. He jumped Moondust, galloped Moondust, climbed high tree stumps, did wheelies; everything Sakura could have imagined was possible on horseback. For this she cringed to think how competitive Syaoran would be when he got there. Maybe it would be better if he didn’t show up.

Sakura watched Link get Moondust to walk on her hind legs. She rolled her eyes. "Show off."

"I didn’t know standing quietly was a major feat."

Sakura jumped at Syaoran’s voice. She glanced in the direction it came from and saw he was standing only a little ways beside her, and at first she was worried his dry humor would errupt into some shouting fest, but was consoled by the twinkle in his eye that he was only joking. "That was kind of freakishly quiet. How long have you been standing there?"

"Since Moondust tried her hand at being a biped." He said, crossing his arms and watching Link ride with an unreadable expression.

"Yeah, ah, he’s pretty fascinated by her. Too bad Raion wasn’t around though, that horse was amazing even to a horse-dumb person like me." She said, smiling.

Syaoran’s face fell ever so slightly. Raion and Iata...I hope they’re alright. I’ll send for them as soon as I can figure out how to afford the shipping fees. Poor animals. They shouldn’t have had to go through any of that. I destroyed everything. "Mhmm." Was his only response.

Sakura saw she should avoid that subject. "So how long do you think we have until Earthy strikes again?"

Syaoran just stared off blankly, his thoughts wandering now. "Hard to tell."

"Kero hasn’t been offering any help but I was hoping we could get through to Eriol before this last one fights us again."

"Yeah..." Syaoran agreed. Sakura thought he might be thinking but after he didn’t respond for another minute she sighed loudly.

"Syaoran, is everything okay with you?" When he looked at her questioningly she added; "I mean, is everything alright? You seem....different. Or different than I remember you being, anyway."

Syaoran started digging a hole in the dirt with the toe of his shoe. He’d be in China before the century turned over. (authors note- ha........ha)

"Why did you come back to Japan, anyway? You never gave me a right answer. I at least deserve that much."

"I thought you could use help with your cards," he muttered.

Sakura glared at Moondust, who was galloping over at a fast approach, Link looking thrilled. "Listen, I really hate for things to be like this and I really wish you’d just come out and say whatever it is you’re holding back. Can we finish this later?"

Syaoran looked up to see Moondust slowing down in front of them. "Sure," He said sarcastically, not having any intentions of following through with that one.

Link had stopped right in front of them. Moondust breathed heavily through her nose but looked excited as all get out about her new friend. Link gave her a harty slap on the neck and jumped down. "She’s great. You should do something with her other than keep her as a pasture animal."

Sakura grinned and pat Moondust behind her ears. "If I could do half that stuff I’d be entering us in a talent show, believe me."

Link hopped down and smiled at Syaoran. "Hello Syaoran."

Sakura muffled a laugh at the disgruntled look Syaoran had for Link to dare use his name so carelessly. Link wasn’t custom to japanese traditions. Sakura broke the quiet. "Well, Link, what do you want to learn? I don’t know half as many spells as Syaoran but we can still try and work it out."

Link shrugged. "Something with water would be nice. I have a fire spell, not a water spell."

Sakura turned to Syaoran. "How does this work if he doesn’t have a staff or anything to channel through his magic?"

Syaoran looked Link over. "You have a sword, don’t you?"

Link nodded. "I thought I might need that stuff, I’ve got my shield, sword, and armor in a bag over there, hang on." Link rushed away but was back before there was any awkward silence between Syaoran and Sakura.

"Okay, now what do I do? Is there motions involved or words or what?"

Sakura smiled at his excitement. Syaoran cut in to teach before Sakura had to say a thing. He showed him the sword movements and repeated the chinese words several times before Sakura needed to do anything.

Link put the attack together and tried it out. Instead of a weak stream as might have been expected, Link sent out the Nile river. Before Sakura knew what hit her she was gargling water and laying on the soaked ground, her clothes soaked through and through. After a moment of recollection, she got to her feet, looking a little perturbed. "I’m really getting sick of this ‘soak Sakura’ act. This better not be a habitual prank."

Link looked horrified. He felt the sleeve of her shirt and looked around with panic. "I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean...oh goodness you are soaked again...you’re going to get sick with this two days in a row."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I’m fine, don’t fret about it."

Syaoran summoned a fire and set it burning as a nice little campfire in front of Sakura. She smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks."

Syaoran glanced at Link and then without looking at Sakura he managed to tear off his coat and throw it at her. Sakura caught it just before it went in the fire and looked up to see them already trying another spell. She frowned with thought and wrapped his coat around her, inching over to the fire. Syaoran had Link going for a wind spell this time.

He’s so weird. He hated Link yesterday and today he’s being totally civil with him. I don’t get it. Is he doing this just for me and what I said? It hadn’t seemed like my words had had much of an impact on him yesterday. Guess so. Sakura continued to watch them. Syaoran was being kinder than usual, but it was still apparent to her that he was changed. Something about the way he acted was tired and worn out. Whatever had driven him out of Hong Kong had drained the life out of him. She watched the fire move around in an elusive demeanor, all swirling and twisting around like a liquid suspended in the air. She held her hands over it for extra heat, then looked up to see Syaoran and Link walking back from their safety zone. Link seemed to be kind of dragging along.

"Those are....very intense spells." Link said, his breathing a little heavier than normal.

Syaoran stopped beside the fire, warming his hands as well. The long sleeves on his T shirt didn’t do a whole lot against the wind. "That’s probably all he can take for now," Syaoran informed Sakura.

"Yeah, magic wears you out, I know. I used to fall asleep all the time from my powers being drained...." Sakura thought back breifly to those days and smiled. Life hadn’t been so complicated then.

"There’s a bus coming by in a little bit, you should probably get your stuff together." Syaoran muttered, looking towards the road, then crossing his arms, trying to hold in a shiver.

Sakura knew she had probably soaked the inside of his coat by now, and he wasn’t going to be getting much in return for his kind gesture. "Alright." She then looked at the fire, realizing it needed to be put out. She didn’t really feel like doing any water spells at the moment, and she dreaded what Link’s might do, but luckily Syaoran was ahead of he rand already put it out with a perfectly controlled stream.

"Thanks,"She mumbled as she walked past him toward the barn. She helped Link get his stuff together, then they headed towards the road. Syaoran was already leaning against the fence by the road, looking bored.

They all stood quietly, Link tired out, Syaoran bored, Sakura trying to figure him out. The bus came and picked them up, and Sakura sat with Link to be polite, though she wanted to interrogate Syaoran who sat in the seat behind them. I hope he’s not getting the wrong idea about Link and I. He’s got to see how innocent Link is. Though... he does worry me sometimes.

"Sakura," Link said once they had arrived back at her house and she had successfully smuggled him into her room.

"Hmm?" She asked, looking up from her homework she was doing last minute.

Link sat down besideh her, making her really look up. "I was thinking....ah... (Sakura fidgets nervously) I’ve been having a really wonderful time here but...I should probably think about going back to Hyrule. I know they are going to be needing my help soon..."

Sakura should have seen this coming. At least it wasn’t some unwanted confession. She had been worried for a moment. "It’s totally up to you, I understand. I can’t stay out of Japan too long either, don’t worry. Whenever you want to leave, just say so."

Link smiled with releif. "Alright, do you think maybe tommorrow night? We don’t have to tell anyone, I hate goodbyes and I’d rather just disappear."

"Sure...tommorrow. We’ll plan on it. We can have a little party here with just us I guess."

"Party!?" Kero exclaimed, zooming into the conversation.

Sakura sighed. "No food for you there, Kero."

"But I’ve been so good lately! I haven’t touched Bob in at least three weeks! You’re being so unfair!"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "YOU, my gaurdian, haven’t given me a single bit of information on what to do about Earthy."

"I think better on a full stomach..." Kero said, smiling hopefully.

Sakura sighed. "We’ll see."

That was enough to send Kero away rejoicing. She looked back to Link. "Well what do you want to do tommorrow? I’m in school again, so it’s up to you."

Link bit his lip. "I might go say goodbye to Moondust, and then I’d love to watch this other movie I watched today over, I didn’t quite understand all of it, then...ah...I don’t know."

"We can go out for pizza again after school." Sakura suggested.

Link grinned, nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah! That sounds wonderful." He leaned back against the wall and lot out a contented sigh. "I think Syaoran is finally accepting me."

Sakura sat up from her homework. "Yeah, he seemed in much of a better mood today. But it’s hard to tell with him sometimes, he’s uh...he’s just had so many things happen to him that it really gets to him sometimes...So it’s hard to understand unless you can get him to talk about it, which he almost never does."

Link looked thoughtful for a while, then got up and headed over to his fortress of pillows and blankets. Sakura shut her book though she wasn’t quite done with her math, then walked over and turned off her light. "Oyasumi, Link."

"Oyasumi," he said, though his words were muffled as he had already surrounded himself with pillows and blankets. Apparently bedding in Japan was much nicer than in Hyrule.

Sakura straightened up her own blankets and then settled in. She lay quietly for a while, feeling slightly restless. She went through yet again the possibilities of what was bothering Syaoran and still didn’t come to any decision. She found herself asleep before long.

_________________________________________________________________

Sakura was getting tired of Syaoran’s newfound quietness. She found that she would actually rather him to get in trouble because he was too loud in violent than to take this sudden turn to completely aloof. This was different than anything he had ever done before. She was convinced something was wrong. She had planned to sit with him in lunch but he had quietly trailed over to the soccer table. Sakura ended up sitting with Tomoyo, surviving another session of ‘you know he’s just not right in the head, being with him is only going to tear you down...blah blah’. Sakura entertained herself by watching the falling leaves fly through the air outside.

It was not until after P.E. that Sakura actually saw Syaoran carry a conversation, and that just happened to be with her. Sakura stopped in the hall. "Yeah?" She answered to her name- last name anyway.

"Do you sense this?" He asked, his voice in his new undertone.

"Ah...I guess not..." She said, looking around for any signs.

Syaoran let out an impatient and disapproving sigh. "Your card’s going to move again soon. You should be on your lookout."

"Any suggestions?" She asked.

Syaoran stepped restlessly. "We can try and provoke it out after school. See if we can get where there’s not alot of people."

Sakura was glad to see he used four long sentences so far without any outbursts. That must be a good sign. But these next replies were sure to get some kind of anger surge. "Oh, ah...I’m going to be busy and..." She glanced up and noticed that slowly but surely she was receiving a glare from Syaoran. She allowed that to be the end of her reply, hoping to stay out of trouble.

"And..." Syaoran prompted her.

Sakura saw he wasn’t going to let this go. "And...I don’t think I’ll have time to."

Syaoran shifted positions and looked at her as if sizing her up. "I see...I guess I’ll have to do it, then." He said lightly, though Sakura knew there was anger powering that sarcasm.

"I’m sorry but I’m sure-"

"No, I understand," Syaoran said, waving his hand as if to wave it off. "Gotta take care of those social priorities," he was already turning, walking coolly away as he knew he had the last word.

Sakura glared. The way he handled things drove her crazy. She was sick of being the one left back. "At least I have social priorities!" She shouted after him, though she knew it was exstremly lame.

"Ouch, Sakura-chan tearing down Li-kun’s ultra ego!" Chihura giggled, stopping beside her.

Sakura sighed and walked forward with her. "I dunno about that. He seems rather...ah...insecure lately. I think that’s the first time I’ve heard him talk all day."

"And what nice things he has to say to provoke such bitter anger from Sakura-chan. What did he say?" Chihura inquired.

Sakura shook her head, smiling. "Nothing that deserved a come back as lame as that."

Chihura smiled and shook her head. "Tamakazi’s been complaining about him being ‘no fun’ lately. Though Syaoran was never a really exciting person as far as I saw. He was seeming alright for a while but..." She tilted her head as she looked at Sakura. "You seemed like the only person that ever actually got along with him. I don’t understand you though- get a guy like that to open up to you and you only and you don’t claim him yours immediately... maybe we’ll never understand one another."

Sakura giggled. "Maybe not," she agreed.

They parted at their lockers where Sakura was joined with Tomoyo. Through Tomoyo’s complaints about her journalism class Sakura pondered her after school activities. Link’s going to be gone after tonight. Maybe I can finally figure things out. But why should I have to be working this hard just to keep him being civil with me? It’s not fair. I know just as well as he does what my own cards can do, I know better than he does, so why should he be allowed to say things like that?

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

Sakura hadn’t wanted to risk eating at the pizza place. Syaoran was sure to walk by just by her luck. So they got take out. Touya had asked why they had had two pizza’s delivered and almost suceeded in keeping one for himself, but when he wasn’t paying attention she took a good half of that pizza out and threw it in the other box. Now she and Link lounged out on her floor, enjoying the pizza as they listened to some good radio music. Kero even managed to benefit from Sakura’s high spirits and was eating a small corner peice of the pizza at this moment. Bob only sat at the window, singing to himself, not audible over the radio.

They were battling a good game of checkers.

Sakura glanced at Link to see how much he was playing, then moved her red checker in a ridiculous pattern to steal away five of his black peices. She had been beaten three consecutive times and figured it was time to retaliate. Link set his pizza down and went to move a peice on the board and then frowned. He then looked up at Sakura, who was pressing her lips together tightly in order to keep from laughing. He burst out laughing. "You cheator!"

Sakura giggled until she was rolling around, trying to supress the laughter.

Link grinned and shoved all her red pieces off her side. "I win!" He declared.

Kero flew down, his stomach weighing down heavily. "I don’t think that was a legal move, buddy."

Sakura laughed and sighed, sitting up. "I think we’re getting bored with this game."

Link nodded. "I think you’re right. But uh..." He glanced at the clock. "I should probably be going soon."

Sakura frowned as she watched Kero and Bob herd out of the room. Weird. They never did things together. And here they were wandering out of her room in perfect unity. They better not go by Touya. I’ll kill them both. She looked back to Link, her eyes falling. "You’re right." She looked back up. "We shouldn’t drag this out, and besides, it’s only till next time."

Link smiled and nodded. "You’re right." He got to his feet, then offered his hand to help her up. Sakura took it and stood up, immediately trying to quietly back away. She wasn’t liking this close proximity stare they had going.

"Uh..." He looked down and laughed, letting Sakura admire him for all he was worth. Soon he showed his blue eyes again. "Forgive me for saying this if you did not wish me to say it but... I just think you are a very beautiful and wonderful person. And you should not forget it. I’m sure you will have no trouble defeating your enemy, whatever it is. So..." (Sakura died to fidget and get away, but still somehow was intrigued by the sincerity in his voice and in his eyes.) "Your friend will hate me for this but forgive me," Link leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. Then as suddenly as he did it he moved back and let go of her hand, got his stuff, grabbed his sword, and smiled at her. "Till next time, then."

Sakura, who was still recovering from shock, managed a weak smile. "Till next time." She tried to refocus her eyes. It didn’t work.

Link said the spell and sent himself into the air until the room was completly quiet. Sakura looked around for a second, as if convincing herself he was gone, then collapsed on the side of her bed, temped to put a hand to her cheek like they did in all corny movies. But it still tingled and felt warm.... She shivered as if to release some bottled energy.

She layed across her bed and went through that last speech. No one had ever been that upfront about her, ever. It felt really nice to be called that, especially from someone like that... Beautiful, wonderful.... How could I have just stood there and let that go by me? But what else could I have done? He’s so sweet! Even apologizing for all of it, like I’d be upset...Figures the best of them live in video games.

Kero and Bob flew in, Kero having a smug look on his face. Sakura frowned at him. "What are you so happy about?"

"How was you last few minutes? Dramatic? Heart pounding? Mind boggling?"

Sakura threw a pillow at him. "None of your business! I’m going to bed." She hurried over to her light switch, ignoring the empty pizza box on the floor and the messy checkerboard that could be cleared away.

"It’s only eight!" Kero exclaimed.

"Yeah, tough. I’m tired." She jumped into bed and layed back down, looking at the ceiling. The truth of it was she wasn’t really tired. She just wanted an excuse to be able to think without disturbances.

___________________________________________________________________

It wasn’t until the last few minutes of art that Syaoran spoke to Sakura that day. "So you were still using big spells at your house, Kinomoto?"

Sakura placed the wet cloth in her pot. "What do you mean?"

"Even you should have been able to feel that strong use of magic. You didn’t use any magic last night?" Syaoran asked, following the same motions with his own pot. Sakura thought her’s was better.

What does he mean ‘even ME’? "I didn’t use any magic. Link used a transport spell, though."

"Skirtboy’s back in skirtland?" Syaoran asked, walking his pot over to the cabinent. Sakura followed.

"Yeah, Link went back to Hyrule. He says bye, by the way."

"Mm."

Syaoran was intending on going back to his table without asking her any more questions. Sakura didn’t want conversation to end yet. "Matte, so you didn’t find anything? About Earthy?"

"No, nothing’s going to happen till...tonight maybe." Syaoran mumbled, glancing at the clock, then looking back to her.

"Great." The bell rang, and Chihura walked by with a funny smile on her face that told Sakura everything she needed to know. Sakura tried not to laugh, then looked back to Syaoran, who, for some amazing grace, was still waiting for her to say anything more. "I guess we might be seeing each other after school, then." She said, smiling.

Syaoran was about to say something, changed his mind, then opened his mouth again. "Don’t count on it."

Sakura frowned and was about to ask him what that was supposed to mean but she then saw Tomoyo storming into the art classroom from the hallway, giving Syaoran a dark glare. Syaoran was already leaving. She glanced over her shoulder as she stopped by Sakura, then they headed to their lockers.

"Is he talking again?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura sighed. "I guess." She answered, though her voice was monotonous. She couldn’t help it. Tomoyo was like a nosey parent. Sakura figured Tomoyo would have a cow if she knew what all went on in Hong Kong. Back when Syaoran was personable and sweet and....close to perfect. But he never said anything as straight forwardly nice as what Link did. But...when he hints at anything, how does it feel just as good? I don’t get it. Syaoran must have been using spells on either me or himself then. He certainly hasn’t been putting on any charm lately.

"What’d he say?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura could have guessed that’d be the next question in the line up. "We were just discussing Earthy." She summed it up safely.

"And..."

"And we think it might do something tonight. Not sure. We’re going to watch out."

"Oo, do I get to do any video taping!?" Tomoyo asked excitedly.

Sakura bit her lip and thought through all the attacks that had happened in the past year. Though Tomoyo had come along to many of the expeditions, it seemed Tomoyo hadn’t videotaped anything. She had always been around, and then...disappeared. Just like Kero. Those two must start up a game of Uno while Syaoran and I are just short of death. "If you want, I don’t care. This is really dangerous though, you might not want to come along."

"That’s never stopped me before!" Tomoyo said in a courageous voice.

Sakura smiled weakly. "Sure."

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

Syaoran had been right about Earthy, though Sakura wasn’t surprised. He was at least definitely half-right; there was some type of magic strong in the air. Sakura wondered if Syaoran felt tired? Did his magic still get drained and he was just better about hiding it? She didn’t know. Sakura was now sitting around in Tomoyo’s room as they were watching some chick flik Tomoyo had just been ‘dying’ to see. Sakura couldn’t help but wish in these moments that Chindra was here to hang out with. But she reminded herself that Tomoyo had been the best friend she could ever ask for, minus these past two years.

"I wish Earthy would go ahead and attack," Sakura complained, looking boredly out into the pale twilight.

"Are you sure it’s going to be Earthy again?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura sighed and rolled over, looking up at Tomoyo’s high ceiling. "No. But it’s probably gonna be, anyway. I hope it is, I want to seal Earthy away, she’s so dangerous... not that my seals hold them in for very long..."

"Yeah..." Tomoyo agreed, though she was enthralled in the movie again. Sakura had figured out the plot after the first five minutes.

Sakura sat up, hoping that maybe if she looked more alert the card might decide to attack. She looked out the window again, then fidgeted. She went over the previous night in her mind, expanded of it for a while, then thought back to her other social problems. She needed to take a nice long walk with Syaoran and get him to tell her what was bothering him. Maybe it was just Link. If so...wow.....he’s very irritating. Honestly, if he gets that upset...he must have an overprotection problem or something. I don’t need that. But...if that’s it...he’ll be getting alot more friendly from now on, now that Link left. But he didn’t seem any nicer today.

Sakura was getting very bored of sitting in front of the television. She wondered if Tomoyo was really enjoying this movie. It was about as corny as the cornfields Sakura had seen in America. (author’s note: ha......ha. Lots of crappy jokes in this one.). Maybe I can just pretend like something’s happening just so we can go outside. I wonder where Syaoran is? No ones knows. Probably out wandering the wilderness already. Maybe we can find him. Though that’s probably not a good idea with Tomoyo... but...argh. "I think I might sense something," Sakura lied.

Tomoyo looked back from her movie, only slight concern in her expression. "You sure?"

Sakura had never heard that one from Tomoyo before. She was definitely getting worse and worse. "Yeah...even if I wasn’t we should check it out, right?"

Tomoyo seemed to remember how she was supposed to act. "Of course!" She agreed, quickly flicking the tv off and jumping to her feet. She hurried to her bed where she had set out her camera, then turned to Sakura, flipping the record button on. "And the heroine is calmly ready to set out for battle!"

Sakura rolled her eyes and headed for the door. "You’re going to run into something, walking with that."

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

Sakura led them to the park where she ‘sensed’ the magic. The only thing Sakura could sense was that nothing was going on and that Syaoran was faraway, probably at his apartment. Sakura was depressed. For some reason, Sakura had no idea why, since Link had gone, she really was missing Syaoran’s friendship. Sakura plopped down on a swing and kicked off the ground, sending herself spinning around. It at least was a good cure of boredom for the immediate moment.

Tomoyo taped Sakura for a little while, scanned the surroundings, then plopped in the swing next to her. "Where is it?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura sighed and leaned back in her swing, letting her hair fall down. "Stalling. Hopefully-" She pulled herself upright "-Syaoran will get here soon and we can provoke it out. Maybe we should go somewhere quieter, just to try and keep the card’s contained... I dunno....They may just appear wherever they want and we’ll have to try and get there ourselves..." She yawned and looked at the fading glow in the sky. "I just hope it attacks soon, it’s going to be totally dark soon..." Sakura got to her feet.

Tomoyo followed. "You sense something?" Tomoyo asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No, I just thought I might as well find Syaoran as soon as I can. We can get this thing to appear before midnight." Sakura started walking to the exit of the park.

"Can’t you do that yourself?" Tomoyo asked, her voice sounding a little annoyed.

"Why should I fight it by myself when I could have his help?" Sakura asked.

"Because his help only gets you into trouble and you’re strong enough now to do it yourself."

Sakura pressed her teeth together, then continued walking. "I’m not looking for glory, Tomoyo. I’m just trying to seal these cards as easily as I can."

Tomoyo was quiet, but her huffing breath let Sakura know she was exstremly irritated with Sakura’s stubborness. Sakura only continued towards Syaoran’s apartment building, checking every now and then to see if she sensed his aura. By the time the ubilding was in sight, Sakura was sure he was home. She hurried across the apartment, for some reason very excited to get to the second floor. She tried to leave Tomoyo behind discreetly, but Tomoyo was hard to lose. She rushed up the stairs, then slowed and tried to compose herself in the hallway.

Sakura knocked on Syaoran’s door and mentally kicked herself for knocking so quickly. She then glued her arm to her side and took a couple steps back, trying to determine where she should stand to meet him.

Sakura was discovering Syaoran was breathtaking about the first two seconds she saw him. After that the radiant glow faded and wore off he was just an over confident, selfish, exstremly conceited boy that Sakura happened to claim as one of her best friends. Syaoran opened the door, looking tired and irritated, and only left it half open, lazily glaring at Sakura for her to announce her reason of summoning.

"Hey, uh..." Sakura kicked herself again within her head, not having a game plan. "Are you really busy or do you want to try and help me provoke this thing out to seal?" That sentence was rushed. He’s gonna think I’m nervous, then get even more of an ego...

"Um," He rubbed his eyes, then opened his door more, motioning in. "You guys can come in, I have to finish some stuff and then we can go."

Sakura smiled gratefully and then headed in, Tomoyo glaring at her heels. They headed into the living room, stopped politely to let Syaoran walk by, then went to a single couch to sit. Sakura looked around. It was definitely different and much more bare than before he had moved. But, she noticed, he had put much of his furniture back. Did this mean he was thinking about staying here semi-permenantly? Syaoran went back into the room and sat down in front of a very nice laptop he had either recently gotten or that Sakura hadn’t noticed before. He typed a couple words and then shut it down.

"Homework?" Sakura asked, trying to make smalltalk. Syaoran walked into the kitchen.

"Huh, oh, uh, yeah." He put some dishes in the sink and then walked to the hallway, where he stopped and faced them. He looked like he was about to say something, instead he turned back around and continued to his room.

Tomoyo faked a shiver as she looked abound. "This place gives me the creeps. It’s so empty."

"Give him a break, he’s only been here for a week." Sakura said, trying not to snap.

"Yeah, I know, but still....weird." She glanced over her shoulder, then stood up.

Sakura saw that Syaoran was walking back into the room with different clothes. Sakura had to hand it to him, he probably was the fastest changer she had ever known. He grabbed a key off the kitchen counter then looked back to them. "Let’s go, then." He mumbled.

Sakura and Tomoyo went through the door and waited for him to lock it, then followed him down the stairs. He wasn’t trying to make conversation at all, it was more like he was pretending they didn’t exist. They caught up outside, and Sakura decided she could force him to talk by bringing up battle strategy. "So where do you think we should try this?"

Syaoran looked around at the fall trees. Everything was looking so pale and dead. It suited him just fine. "Somewhere secluded."

"Moondust’s pasture?" Sakura asked.

"If we can get it to hold off that long." Syaoran shivered. He should have worn a heavier jacket. But he wasn’t use to the cold temperature in Japan just yet. Hong Kong had only burned him and drained his sweat. It felt odd to wear more than a sweatshirt. He glanced at Sakura from the corner of his eye. She was trying so hard to understand him, he could tell. And he wanted her to, why wasn’t this working out? He could see he was finally gaining a good couple inches on her. Had she noticed that? Probably not. She was too busy trying to keep on good standings with his constant bad moods.

"So how do you like your schedule so far?" Sakura asked, trying desperately to get some conversation going.

"It’s alright," Syaoran mumbled. He didn’t want to talk about school schedules. Why would he?

"You’re in some really difficult classes," she commented.

"Mhm," Syaoran agreed.

Sakura sighed quietly, trying to burrow her annoyance. She glanced at Tomoyo, annoyed with her for not helping. Tomoyo only gave Syaoran a sour look. Sakura walked on miserably. She didn’t get him at all. She wanted just one good friend that wouldn’t drag her mood down every time she saw them. But no one was like that here. Only conflict here, problem there, Sakura you have to save the world while I wallow in my own little problems. She sighed. That wasn’t being very fair. Syaoran, at least, she knew, was probably dealing with something horrible. But she had no idea what it could be. But was that her fault?

Sakura thought back to Hong Kong. His mother hadn’t been doing well. His mother! He said she was fine on the phone. But maybe she’s not doing so well...but then why’s he here? "How’s your mother doing, anyway?"

Syaoran swallowed hard. He figured that question would come up sometime soon. And he had no idea how to answer it. For him he was still trying to accept it, let alone explain to others. Another wave of pain overwhelmed him. How could he be expected to deal with all of this? He had an urge to saw down a couple trees with his sword. But that thought gave him no comfort, as he knew afterwards he would only be more exhausted with the same feelings. There wasn’t a cure for this, he could only endure it. But what was he holding onto? Why should he even bother? Syaoran glanced to his right. Sakura was waiting for an answer. "She..." Sakura watched him, becoming more worried as she watched his expression. Totally gaurded. He wasn’t going to let this through. Syaoran looked up suddenly, and she caught a glimmer of the amber in his eyes. He was still there, somewhere. "There!" He shouted, pointing towards a high outter fence of the park.

Syaoran took off and jumped up the fence, easily throwing himself over it. He did not wait for them, he only hurried in the direction where he sensed it. Sakura hurried after him, taking a longer time to climb the chain link fence. She didn’t bother to wait for Tomoyo. Tomoyo learned long ago she had to follow Sakura’s movements, not the other way around. Sakura could hardly see Syaoran. Instead she ran by her senses, dodging the trees that stood in her way. Sakura skidded to a stop as she reached a sudden drop off in the landscaping of the park’s wilderness.

"This can’t be Earthy," Sakura said to herself, looking around. The magic in the air was strong, but not that powerful. It was a smaller card, but which one Sakura didn’t know. A sudden burn on her arm let her know. Sakura jumped back and clutched her arm, then looked in the direction of the attack. There was no fire. Instead bubbles were falling down around her. She looked down at her arm. A circle of red was forming. These bubbles were boiling hot.

A large number of suds were falling now. Sakura looked with wide eyes, then quickly called up a shield with water properties, hoping to cool the bubbles down. She heard them hit her shield, sizzling as they deflated. She breathed a sigh of releif. A sudden hand grabbing her arm woke her up again. Syaoran jerked her away and out of her shield, running in an unknown direction.

"That was a bad idea." He said bluntly, slowing to more of a jog.

Sakura looked over her shoulder. Thick steam was spreading from her shield, causing bad visibility. So what? He’d rather me get boiled to death? Aside from the steam, visibility was getting bad anyway. The sun had long before set and the twilight was almost gone. Low branches were becoming invisible. Sakura wished she had the aid of the glow card. Unfortunately, she didn’t have that privilidge.

Syaoran muttered something that Sakura couldn’t understand. She was about to say ‘what’ when she saw he was halfway through a sword motion and that he had just said a spell. She stepped sideways just for safety’s sake and looked towards the cluster of bubbles. Syaoran’s sword sent out an icy blue-white stream that hit each of the bubbles, causing them to freeze and shatter.

"Hurry, go seal it," Syaoran said, looking tense and ready for another attack.

Sakura jumped forward and brought out her staff in the meantime. She ran up and summoned Bubble’s visible form. She came up without much hesitation and was easily sealed away. It wasn’t until Syaoran had knocked Sakura to the ground while a huge flame went flying over their head did Sakura remember she needed to seal Fiery too. "Fiery!" Sakura started to call, getting up. She found herself being pulled roughly to the ground again. A large flame came from behind and just missed her head.

Syaoran glared at her from his flattened position on the ground. "You’re going to get yourself killed," he said tersely.

Sakura felt indignant. She summoned another water shield and got to her feet. "I can take care of myself, Li-kun." You forgot you left me to take care of myself several times. A flame hit her shield and sizzled loudly. Sakura cringed slightly, a little wary of how her shield would hold up. Once she was satisfied it would keep her safe, she quickly thought out a good attack. Water seemed to be the only choice. She called out her water spell, pointing her staff towards the incoming flame. With unnatural speed, the flame turned, easily passing out of the water’s way. Dash was helping out the offender. Sakura wanted to whine. She was sick of fighting these cards, the same fight over and over.

Syaoran stepped in. He could see she was getting frustrated, and frankly he was too. Syaoran gripped his sword and stood patiently, luring the flames closer to them. Fiery set up an attack from all sides, trying to intimidate them. He looked around and then decided he would use the biggest water attack known to man and get rid of Fiery once and for all. The flames closed in and Sakura moved in closer to Syaoran, not sure of how to get them out of this one. Syaoran gripped his sword tensely and took a breath, then shouted out the spell, bringing down his sword with all the severity in his body. But nothing happened.

Sakura watched the flames circle in wide-eyed, wanting to quickly come up with a solution. But Syaoran seemed to know what he was doing. But when he brought his sword down and then followed that by cussing loudly, Sakura figured he didn’t have a very good plan. He’s used up his magic! Sakura grabbed his arm, ignoring the look of aggrivation he gave her, and forced the magic she could muster to him.

Syaoran tore his arm away. "Do it yourself," He said over the flame’s crackles.

Sakura felt a horrible stab of pain from that one. Recovering the only way she could, she put anger in its form. "Fine!" She shouted. Though she wanted to shout more, to get out all her frustration, there was a bigger problem at hand. The biggest problem was Sakura knew she didn’t have the best water attack in the world. But she was going to have to make this one big. "Water!"

Sakura summoned every ounce of magic she had to go into this attack, sending water everywhere around her, saturating every flame that had collected around them. She swung her staff out at the collecting form in front of her. "Return!" Fiery withdrew her forces reluctantly, slowly gathering into a distorted card. Sakura reached out and took it, glaring at the red eyes that stared back at her. She was sick of spending her life like this. But there wasn’t anything she could do about it. It was the clash of metal that brought her mind to alarm again. She whipped around to see what was going on.

Syaoran slashed his sword down on the sword, trying to pin it down long enough to be sealed without much effort. But the sword was stronger than him and it sent him stumbling backwards. Syaoran brought his sword back up, his teeth set in a line, ready to fight this thing off. The sword jabbed in and then slashed horizontally, catching his arm in an almost teasing manner. Syaoran ignored the first shot of pain and tried to block himself from the next incoming attack. The sword made a swing at his head which he narrowly missed, ducking sloppily away.

All these years of training and I can’t even defend myself from one sword? Is this how worthless I really am? Syaoran let his anger show freely and he went into rage mode, all of his attacks and blocks speeding up. But the sword followed suit, staying still a measure in front of him. He jumped over a low attack and almost tripped as it was already at his shin. Syaoran did his best to ward it away but it caught him on the side of the ankle, this time hurting more than one little graze. Syaoran cringed just for a second, and that one second was long enough for the sword to get under Syaoran’s own. It flipped it up sharply, sending Syaoran’s sword flying through the air. Syaoran looked over his shoulder as his sword was lost. It was pointless.

Sakura gasped. Syaoran wasn’t fighting well at all. He looked totally frustrated and unorganized. That wasn’t right. She watched his sword go and gripped her staff, not willing to wait this out any longer. She didn’t care if this hurt his pride. She wasn’t going to let his ego stand in the way of his life. But as she was about to run in, she saw he was getting back to his feet, looking rather calm. But had she taken closer inspection, she would see that he wasn’t calm with a plan, he was calm with surrender.

Syaoran put his arms out at his sides. The sword was lingering in the air, pointing at his chest, just hovering, waiting. "Go ahead. Go ahead and kill me."

Sakura felt sick with the look on his face. It terrified her. She had never seen anyone with that look of complete abondonment before. He seemed to be indifferent whether he lived or died. What was wrong with him? Sakura ran in to interfere.

"Kill me, damn it! What the hell are you waiting for-"

Syaoran’s shouts were cut off as he got tackled to the ground. The sword, that had just decided to move in, hit the tree behind them sharply. Sakura ignored her instinct to run and threw her arms around Syaoran’s shoulders, burying her head in his shirt. "Stop it! Don’t do this, if not for you than for me!"

Syaoran, first of all not enjoying being pinned down like this and second of all dying to get out of all these emotions, pulled Sakura off as gently as he could. He couldn’t contain these emotions no matter how hard he tried. For one of the few times in his life he almost couldn’t find his voice. "Seal it," he choked out, breaking the rest of her hold and getting to his feet, his breath uneven.

Sakura didn’t have time to think about anything for she knew the sword would be coming at her or Syaoran any second. She swung her staff at the sword in front of her, taking magic she did not have and forcing it to seal the card. The card slowly collected in front of her. Sakura reached out with a shakey hand and pulled it out of the air. She looked at it breifly, then slowly got to her feet, her limbs all trembling from the intensity of the previous situation. She took a deep breath, then turned to Syaoran. But he was not there. She frowned and turned around, looking frantically in every direction. Where had he gone? Sakura grit her teeth and looked as hard as she could. She spotted him. In the far dark, she could barely make out a running figure. Sakura didn’t check to see if everything was alright around there. She took off after him.

Sakura stumbled over some stumps that were invisible in the dark of the beginning night but continued all the same, keeping only that faint figure in her sights. It became fainter and fainter until she could not see him at all. She continued running in that direction aimlessly, ignoring all the pain in her legs or the tight feeling in her chest as her lungs could not bring in enough oxygen. She came to the chain link fence and barely noticed herself climbing it. She jumped down onto the sidewalk with her barely-functioning limbs and continued going. But a sharp grab on her arm forced her to stop. For one breif second she thought she had found him, but as she stopped and turned, it was only glaring gray eyes that met her own.

"Don’t follow him. He’s completely insane. Let him be," Tomoyo said, her eyes looking into Sakura with a solemness Sakura had never seen.

"Tomoyo, I’ve got to follow him! Let me go!" Sakura cried, pulling her arm.

"Sakura-chan, please, just let him cool off. Did you see that? He doesn’t even value his own life, how could he stop himself from hurting you?"

"He just wouldn’t. I know he wouldn’t. Let me go!"

"You’re saying you beleive he values your life more than his own?" Tomoyo asked. Sakura only looked back with begging eyes. "Sakura-chan, Syaoran loves no one more than himself. And now he’s even lost that. Let him be."

Sakura felt her eyes watering up. She yanked her arm out of Tomoyo’s grasp and turned, tears starting to fall down her cheeks. She knew Tomoyo was right. Even if she caught him, she wasn’t going to make a difference. "What’s wrong with him, Tomoyo!?" Sakura sobbed.

"He’s always been like this. Now he’s not able to hide it anymore. It was always there, waiting to come out. Do you beleive me yet, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura grit her teeth so hard her mouth ached. "No! No, he was fine, something must have happened. He was never like this!"

Tomoyo walked around to her friend’s side, keeping her from pacing. "Sakura-chan, forget about it. He’s a lost cause. Accept it. You can’t save him, no one can but himself. And he doesn’t want that job."

Sakura turned furiously to face her friend, her emerald eyes gleaming with mixed tears. "If everyone in the world gave up on him, I wouldn’t! He’s never given up on me!"

Tomoyo had a look of incredible disbeleif. "What do you call that!? He couldn’t have cared less whether the whole world and everyone on it was destroyed! You can’t deny that, you saw it! I know you did! Quit lying to yourself and get over it, Sakura! You two aren’t meant to be, you never were! All you two have caused is trouble and destruction."

Sakura found her eyes brimming again. She couldn’t take it. This was overloading. She couldn’t handle this many emotions at once. She turned and took off, heading for her house, Moondust’s barn, a secluded park, or just a good dark alley where she could hide away. What is wrong with everything?

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

Holy crap! That took me like two years to write and it’s so crappy! I’m really sorry guys! Really I am! But I have a good excuse! The band I’m in is like taking off and all my energy is being channeled. So like..... if any of you feel like helping out your favorite but very slow author check out our band site at geocities.com/Ogie_revolution . Okay. With that said, let’s see....what can I discuss?? I’ve got the entire rest of this story planned out, I’ve been thinking about it alot, it’s just hard to get it out onto the keyboard. This like... first half of the story is almost over. Then there’s like big changes....then it goes to the final final end. So first one end then the second and final one. Anyways I’m going to go put this up on the internet. Sorry once again!!!!

Email- [email protected]

Site (for latest chapters (haha)) geocities.com/keanushorsechic/ccs

~*Syaoran Fan 4 Life!!!*~

Ja mata ne!