Michi-Hey y'all! Sorry this took so long. A certain Red Bean wasn't being much help >_> ^_^;
Red Bean( looks innocent)- Moi? The thing is, it's done, right?
Michi- Sure. Wahtever you say. Anywell, there are some things you might want to know.
Red Bean- First and Foremost, if you hadn't read the first two parts, read it.
Michi- Duh. Second, this story is about 40% musical. If the lyrics are wrong, pardonne moi.
Red Bean- What she means is radios and tapes have a significant part in the story. Hey, at least they aren't karaokeing or something.
Michi- If some of the songs don't exactly fit in the story,hey, well sorry. I'm having a major "song block". So on with the show and a bag of chips!
Red Bean- Bag of chips? Anyways, here's are tongue and cheek version of the second chapter!
*Disclaimer: We don't own any part of CCS( plot, characters, yaddayaddayadda). We don't own any of the song lyrics, blahblahblah. If you try to sue us, well, don't. You'll be wastin time.
Part II
Sakura looked up. No emotion showed on Syaoran's face, though the spark returning to his amber gold eyes betrayed the fact that he indeed was feeling something, and it was sure as heck not sadness. It bothered her and she started feeling angry.
" Are you happy?" she spat out bitterly.
Syaoran was taken aback by the question and he thought: <If I say yes, I'd hurt her feelings. If I say no, then she'll know I'm lying>. Sakura already knew the answer, yet she didn't say anything, just waited for his reply.
Wishing that the question was rhetorical, Syaoran replied cautiously, " If your happy, then I'm happy." <Good answer>, he thought, giving himself a mental pat on the back. Which left him totally unprepared for her reaction.
Her body quivered with anger and sadness as she spoke, her voice barely audible. " Do you think I'm happy?" Her pooly eyes brimmed with tears as her voice slowly rose to a crescendo. " I came here to help you and now you're making me relive an ordeal I would like to forget!!!"
" Th-thats not what I meant!" Syaoran protested desperately. There was something different about Sakura, and he wasn't sure if he liked it. It was as if someone had taken the angel wings and replaced them with cold hard steel that hurt anyone lucky enough to touch them.
" Then what did you mean?!" Sakura said, and the words came out a snap/hiss.
Syaoran was by then wishing she had gotten married, that he never found out about it, just as long as this conversation didn't exist. Looking for a distraction, he turned on the radio. Hopefully, some big disaster had happened that would make them both drop the topic at hand.
"...Every little thing I do, never seem enough for you, you don't want to lose it again, but I'm not like them. Baby when you finally, get to love somebody, guess what, it's gonna be me."
Turning from the radio, Syaoran said," Hear that? That is exactly how I mean. What I feel. What you should know." His head was starting to hurt, and a strange burning sensation was filling his stomach, which made his answer sound harsher than he intended.
Angrily, Sakura reached for the off button, but pressed the tuning button instead.
"...Thought I saw a man brought to life. He was warm he came around and he was dignified. Showed me what it was to cry. You couldn't be that man I adored..."
He hurried to change the radio.
"...I'll never break your heart. I'll never make you cry. I'd rather die, than live without you-"
"-There you go, lookin pitiful. Just because I let you go. There you go talkin bout you want me back-"
"...Leila, got me on my knees Leila, beggin darlin please Leila-" Reaching over, Sakura finally found the right button. The silence throbbed in Syaoran's ear.
" What are you implying?" Sakura asked him, struggling to be calm.
<Implying? What kind of question is that?!> Syaoran thought, his desperation slowly turning into frustration. "What do you mean?! All that I'm saying is I love you." he started feeling a bit
crazy. "Exactly on this day seven years ago, you broke my heart, ripped it out and tore it in two. Tell me that I'm crazy, but Sakura, damn it, I still love you. All I'm asking is not that you love me back, but at least care for me, like you do with Tomoyo and Chiharu and everyone else! Don't shut me out of your life. Is that so much-" Suddenly, he choked. Puzzled, he tried to say something, but was stopped by a barrage of coughs.
Sakura watched, anger dissipating into concern and panic, as Syaoran coughed nonstop into his palms. " Syaoran! Are you all right?!" He looked at his hands and started in alarm. Sakura gasped. They were covered with dark red spots. <Blood...> Sakura thought, shuddering. He coughed again, and a dribble of blood trickled down his chin.
" Oh God. Syaoran!" Sakura whispered, rushing towards him.
He was feeling lightheaded. Everything was in slow motion. He vaguly sensed his legs giving out, only to be caught by a horrified looking Sakura. The burning sensation was worse than ever, and he felt sure his head was going to split. Then his eyes rolled up and he drifted into oblivion.
6 days later
* * *
Syaoran was standing in a dark room. Alone. Unless you count the full size mirror at the other end. Suddenly, he felt a disturbance in the air. Whirling around, he glimpsed Tomoyo waving sadly before she disappeard. <Huh?> More people were appearing and disappearing, to be replaced by more. He saw Takashi, his mother, the old man who owned the noodle shop across the street, his cousins, and more, all people he had met through his life. <What in the world is going on?!> he thought, bewildered. <They seemed to be saying goodbye...>
"Syaoran!" Turning back to the mirror, he saw the image of...
"Baba?! And...Nai Nai?! What?!" It couldn't be real! They were dead! More figures appeared in the mirror, all of his deceased relatives. Then, he realized with a shock that he was staring at the window into the spirit world.
"Syaoran! Come join us! Everyone is waiting for you! Your time has come!" They all called, beckoning invitingly.
<But...What about his living family? And friends? And...Sakura?> Even now, the name struck a painful chord. Shaking the thoughts from his head, he tentatively poked a finger through the mirror. <What the hey? No more pain and eternal paradise,> he thought as he stuck a leg through the flexible glass.
"Syaoran!" A familiar voice reached his ears just as he was about to stick his head through.
"Syaoran! Wait!"
<Sakura?!> he thought, pulling his body out and staring with disbelief at the approaching figure. "Sakura! What are you doing here?! Are you dead too?!" <Please, I don't want her to die!> he prayed to whoever answered prayers.
" Syaoran! Come back with me, please!" She pleaded, panting.
<Go back? Face the pain? Again?> "Sakura, I...You...It's my time, I have to go now!" He started ducking under the frame of the mirror again.
"No!!!" Sakura shrieked, tears rolling down her cheeks. Desperately, Syaoran looked at his relatives. They were all silent now, waiting for his decision. " I'll come back, later, when I'm more prepared!" he called to them softly. They smiled, understanding.
Putting an arm tentatively around Sakura's shoulder, he tipped her chin up. "Only for you..." He told her quietly. She looked surprised, then smiled. Suddenly, they were fading away.
The local hospital
* * *
"Doctor! Doctor!! He's breathing! He's alive!"
" What?! That's impossible! He was dead only a minute ago!"
Getting up from his chair, he followed the nurse down the hall at a run.
Syaoran's whole body ached. He could barely lift his arm. And he was cold, unlike any cold he experienced before. Hearing a slight noise, he turned his head with much effort and saw...<An angel> He thought, a bit stupidly. Looking closer, he saw it was Sakura, and she was clasping his hand so hard, both of their hands were pale white.
"Wake up, Sakura." His tongue seemed too big for his mouth and the words came out awkward and clumsy.
"W-what? Oh, ouch" She winced as she stood up. She started to prie her fingers off of Syaoran's hand, and all of a sudden, the blood rushed in, making his hand tingle. There was an uncomfortable silence.
"So..."
At that moment, the doctor and Mrs. Li rushed in. Uttering a scream, the stately lady collapsed. Syaoran's four older sisters had their faces pressed into the window.
"God..." The doctor was pale and at loss for words. Mutely, he carried Mrs. Li into a chair and checked the heart monitor, which already had started it's steady beeping again.
" W-what just happened?" Syaoran stumbled over his words, his voice shaking like mad. The doctor pulled out the I.V.
" I honestly don't know."
Looking at Sakura's expression, he knew she knew.
"Uh...Doctor, I think a nurse is calling you!"
Xiang Lan, Syaoran's oldest sister had come in, creating a distraction. Excusing himself hurriedly, he left the room. There was an awkward silence.
"...Explain yourselves." Syaoran crossed his arms. He wasn't mad just...annoyed.
"Well, six days ago, you collapsed coughing up blood. Today, your heart monitor went flat. I went after you, and here we are." Sakura summed the whole thing up in three nice, neat sentences.
" I guessed that much, but why?"
Mrs. Li sensed it was going to be a MOMENT and ushered the four, giggling older girls out of the room. After she closed the door, Sakura got up, and crossed the room to the radio. "Shall we?" When Syaoran nodded, she turned on the radio.
"...Me and you and you and me, no matter how they toss the dice, it has to be, the one for me was you, and you for me, so happy together..."
Syaoran smiled. "We have a lot of catching up to do."
Red Bean- Aw, isn't that sweet? You could have laid off the corniness, though.
Michi- Hey, I wanted it to be like that! =P
Red Bean- Like what? The movies? ~_~;
Michi- Whatever. I think the songs were okay though.
Red Bean- Oh brother.
Michi- I just wish I knew more Japanese songs. I wonder if any of those songs are translated? Anyways, thank you, reader for sticking up through this extremely patchy story!
Red Bean- Perhaps our future stories will be better.
If you have any comments, e mail them to
michigrl@hotmail.com
*_-