Annie: Coming out a little faster, huh?

Kyralea: Yep. We were bluffing.

Annie: No one is that cruel.

Kyralea: Wellm technicly, we DID make them wait for the last chapter-

Annie: Shush!

Kyralea: Need sugar....

Annie: Oh-ho-ho-ho no!

Kyralea: Enjoy this chapter!

~*~*~*~*~

Disclaimer:

WE DON'T OWN IT, ALRIGHT?

SO JUST LEAVE US ALONE!

(Kyralea: SUGAR!)

~*~*~*~*~

Near And/Or Far

Chapter Six.

Sakura awoke in the middle of the night. She looked at her Indiglow watch, flinching as her eyes met the bright blue light. Three AM. She could hear Zachary snoring
slightly at the far end of the room, and Madison rolling over on the other side. She could hear Li’s rhythmic breathing just a few feet away from her, close to the floor. She
sighed and rubbed her eyes. Those stupid kids in the room beside theirs must still have been awake, because she heard giggling, then someone saying, “Shhhhh, Mrs.
Carswell said we’d be sent home if that bitch in the next room complains again!”

Sakura smiled. They were referring to Madison. Every day she was growing more and more to believe that her friend was going to end up one of those old ladies that owns
50 cats and throws things at kids whenever they step on the lawn.

Li shifted on the cot at her right. ‘If only he were a few feet closer,’ she thought.

“Sakura, are you awake?” came Li’s voice inside her head.

“No. I’m sleeping.”

“Okay then, I guess I should get back to sleep too then.”

“NO! I mean, I was just kidding! What’s up?”

“Just can’t get back to sleep. Those girls are really annoying.”

“Tell me about it. Are you sure they’re girls?”

“What kind of question is that?”

“Well, I mean, you kind of sounded like a girl when you were younger, before you hit…never mind.”

“Hmmm… We’ve been friends a long time, haven’t we?”

“Ummhmm. Not always, though.”

“I know what you’re talking about. Sakura, I just want to tell you-”

“YES?” she thought expectantly.

“Well, I’m sorry for when we were younger. I wasn’t very nice to you.”

“I know. It kind of hurt me a lot, coming from you.”

“Why’s that?”

“You were so…different. When you said those things, it sounded like you really meant it. Did you?”

“No.”

“Then why did you say them?”

“I guess it was because… I was jealous that you got to capture the cards and I was just the backup support most of the time.”

“And you don’t feel like that now?”

“Feelings change, Sakura.”

“I know what you mean.” She looked up at the ceiling in the dark.

“No, I don’t think you do.”

“Pardon?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

“Oh. Syaoran?”

Li felt a tingle at the back of his neck. Why was she using his real name?

“Y…Yes?”

“Why do you do it?”

“Do what?”

“Protect me. Ever since we started working together as a team, you’ve always kept me from killing myself in one way or another. Don’t you ever get sick of it?”

“I have to do it.”

“But why?”

“Because…”This would have to be quick thinking, “If you died, I’d blame myself.”

“Oh.” Sakura couldn’t hide the disappointment in her thought no matter how hard she tried.

Li made a mental note to let himself get hit by a bus. He was really sounding like a jerk.

“Li?” She reverted to call him that again.

“Yes?” He was disappointed himself. He liked the way his name sounded coming from her, even if it was only in his head, and not really spoken out loud.

“Have you ever loved someone? Like, more than a friend, or a relative?”

Li thought for a moment. Was it really love if the other person didn’t love you back? Or if you didn’t know if the other person loved you back or not?

“I don’t know. I think I am-er, I mean-have been. Have you?”

“I think so. I don’t know if he loves me back though.”

“I have the same problem. Who is it?”

“I…uh…you tell me first.”

“Nooooo, I asked you first.”

“Fine then. I guess you’ll never know.”

“Oh, come on, Sakura! Pleeeeease?”

“Nope. I’m going to sleep now. Goodnight.”

Li was silent. Sakura chuckled to herself. She had narrowly averted catastrophe yet again.

Out of nowhere came a whisper.

“Let’s go out.”

This time it wasn’t in her head.

“What? Li? Where are you?”

“Right here.” She turned her head to find he was barely two inches away from her face. “Come on. Let’s go.”

“Where? What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Wherever there’s something good to do.”

Sakura smirked in the darkness. She could think of a few good things to do right there.

“I have an idea, too. We still have our costumes. Let’s go out and freak some people out.”

“You just want to see me dressed up like that again,” she said.

He tried his best to deny it. “That’s got nothing to do with it. Besides, maybe you can make a few extra bucks,” he quipped. Sakura’s response was to playfully smack him
in the side of the head.

“What about Madison and Zachary?”

“As long as we’re back in a couple hours they’ll never know we were gone. Come on, what do you say?”

“I say…Let’s go for it.”

“Great. Get dressed. I won’t look.”

“Yeah right. You’re just dying to sneak a peak.”

“Hey, I could say the same about you.”

Sakura could feel her cheeks growing warm in the dark.

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

“Hey,” she said as she zipped up her boot, “It wouldn’t really matter if you looked. After all, I’m barely wearing more than I was five minutes ago. It really doesn’t make that
big of a difference.”

Li decided to ignore the prickling sensation at the back of his neck. “Bring the make-up out to the car. You can do it out there. Are you ready to go?”

In response, he heard another zipper being zipped. “Yup. Let’s go.”

They closed the door softly, then turned and looked down the hall. There was a woman sitting in a chair way down the hall. She had blond hair that was very obviously
dyed, and she was wearing a t-shirt that had a school crest on it. It was probably the Mrs. Carswell that the girls next door kept whispering about. Suddenly an idea
popped into Li’s head. He took Sakura’s hand and led her to the room where all the noise had been coming from. He rattled the knob a couple of times, then banged on the
door just loud enough so that the girls inside could hear. He and Sakura both pressed their ears to the door.

“Shhhh, it’s probably a teacher! I told you guys to be quiet.”

“We’d better answer it before she starts screaming at us again.”

The door opened slowly. Sakura was starting to catch on to his plan, but the next thing he did totally caught her by surprise. He grabbed her around the waist and started
to kiss her like a hungry animal. Was this just part of the plan? She didn’t care, and joined in, hearing the young teenaged girls gasp at the sight before them. Li stopped
kissing her, but he still held her around the waist.

“Oh, uh, sorry ladies. I could have sworn that this was my sister’s room. I thought she said it was this one, but I guess I was wrong. She’s going to be really sorry she
missed this one, let me tell you.”

Sakura licked the side of his face and put on her best whore grin. Li let out a small whimper. All four of the girls that now stood at the door gasped. The tallest one spoke to
him.

“Uhhh, sorry, but you’ve got the wrong place.”

“Oh, okay then. I thought you were the one my sister brought, but I guess I must have been wrong about that too.”

“Whatever.” The door closed in his face. Sakura was choking back a laugh. Li held up a finger as if to tell her to wait, then listened attentively. From the room came a huge
burst of laughter, followed by, “Guys, shut up! It’s not my fault he thought I was a hooker!” and, “What I don’t get is why a guy that hot would have to buy a date! I’d screw
him in a minute.”

Li raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Sakura snorted, trying to hold back the laughter that threatened to conquer her. Down the hallway, Mrs. Carswell stirred. Li grabbed
Sakura’s hand and started dragging her towards the elevator before the teacher could wake up and see them. Once the elevator started moving, they could finally let out the
howls of laughter. They laughed the whole time they were trying to figure out where the car was parked. They finally stopped when they were in the car and the heater was
on full blast to thaw out Sakura’s frozen everything. Li shook his head.

“Wasn’t that fun?”

“You have no idea. That was the coolest! Did you see the looks on their faces?!”

Li did an imitation of the tall girl’s expression at being insulted in such a way, which made Sakura laugh even more.

“Li?”

“Hmm?” He smiled while still keeping his eyes on the road.

“You should have seen the expression on your face when I licked you.”

“Hmmm… What was up with that?”

“Are you saying I’m a bad licker?”

“It’s just that it’s not every day that Sakura Avalon turns around and licks someone. Now that was a surprise.”

“So was that noise you made. You sounded like you were about to pass out.”

“Like I said, it was a surprise!”

“What the surprise was was the way you kiss. Was it your goal to eat my face?”

“Not what you imagined it would be like?” he raised one eyebrow.

“Definitely not.”

“What did you imagine?”

“Well for one thing, there wasn’t as much saliva involved.”

“Well as for you, I guess I could ask why you imagined kissing me in the first place,” he said, which finally made Sakura realize that she had just admitted to imagining
kissing him to his face, “But that would be just too cruel, because I know that you’d be totally embarrassed, and you’d probably turn red…hey! You’re turning red right
now!” He grinned. “But I also have to tell you, I don’t usually kiss like that. I hope to god you don’t usually kiss like that, because if you do I’d be afraid for all men
everywhere.”

“Hey, you were the one doing all the work.”

“I noticed.”

“What was that supposed to mean?!”

“Just that, I think you need to perfect your technique.”

“Back to you, sloppy Joe.”

“At least I don’t play dead.”

“Ha! That's for sure! How did my stomach taste?"

"Not too bad, but I think the sauce on the noodles we had earlier was bad."

"Yeah right! Are you sure it was the food and not the kissing?"

"So! Now I'm a bad kisser?"

"Do I have to answer that?"

"Yes."

Sakura looked deep in thought for a minute.

"Truthfully?"

"Oh, very funny! I'm not that bad."

"You keep telling yourself that."

"Oh? Come here, girl...." Li reached a hand out to Sakura, who backed away giggling.

"Not on your life!"

Li parked the car in a parking lot outside something that looked suspiciously like a bar. He reached over to Sakura, who shrieked, and squirmed.

"So? I'm a bad kisser, huh?" He said, pulling her closer, Sakura still squirming, and gasping for air as she laughed.

"Ye-Yes!" She gasped, slipping out of his grip, though making it worse since his hands slid down to right above her knee.

"Hey, gimme a chance? I'm a good kisser!"

Sakura squirmed even more, blushing a bright red from the position of Li's hands. He pulled himself closer, tickling her. She laughed more, and squirmed, and gasped.

"How do you know, mister virgin?"

"Oh, now you are SO getting it!"

Sakura screamed as Li grabbed her and started to tickle her like crazy. She tried again to escape from his grasp, but was too weak from laughing, and from his making a
type of physical contact with her. Li laughed, and pulled her up to face him. Her face was completely clean, her having forgotten to apply the make up. Her giggles slowed,
but her heart did the opposite. She started to tremble at the realization of their closeness.

"And I haven't even had one drink yet." Li muttered.

"I still think you totally suck at kissing" Sakura gasped.

"Well, lets try to change your mind." Li breathed, and kissed her softly. Her eyes widened, but slowly fluttered close. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed
back as hard as she could. Li's breath started to come in short gasps. Sakura's already was.

"mmmm..." She sighed, slipping her tongue in. He answered with is, pulling her closer. She kissed him harder, holding on to him for dear life. Li's hands made their way up
Sakura's back. They finally parted after about two minutes.

"So, am I as bad as you said?" Li gasped.

"I'm not sure, let me try again" Sakura gasped right back, and immediately pulled him back. Her hands started to play with his hair, and his were trying their best not to
play with her bra, which was easy to feel through her slut top, which REALLY didn't help with the situation they were in. Suddenly there was a tap at the window. Sakura
pulled away, eyes as wide a saucers. She looked at the window. Three girl stood there, in outfits almost as slutty as Sakura's, giggling at them. Sakura gasped, and
looked back at Li, who had no idea what to say. Sakura rolled down the window.

"Um, hi." Said one of the girls, who was wearing a tube top, and an almost non-existent skirt.

"Hi." Sakura said sweetly. "You know, we're kind of busy here, that is..." She turned to Li "Unless you want to do a groupie, but that would cost extra."

One of the girls gasped. Tube top turned red.

"We are NOT sluts!" She practically screamed.

"Could have fooled me." Li said.

"Well, whatever. If you aren't here for business, then leave! I caught this one, fair and square." Sakura hugged Li protectively. All of the girls gasped again. One of them, in a
shirt almost as small as a bikini top, with a black sweater over it, and VERY tight pants, let out a quiet scream.

"We are NOT SLUTS!" Bikini actually screamed.

"As long as you don't want to be called sluts, I'll lay of. If you aren't here for business, as prostitutes, then leave."

The girls all screeched, and ran off. Sakura poked her head out the window.

"Get your own employer!" She ducked back into the car, and rolled up the window. Li looked at her for exactly a second, and burst out laughing.

"Well, no one can accuse you of being out of character." He said in-between laughs. Sakura smiled, her entire body trembling.

"We should probably get out, the windows are steaming up." She nearly whispered, not really wanting to even move. But she had to, or she would collapse, or even more
embarrassing, confess something. She slowly climbed out of his lap, not seeing his disappointment. She opened the door, climbing out, trying to keep her balance. She
was still trembling from that 'All-too-short-make-out-session-that-wasn't-really-a-make-out-session,-she-just-wishes-it-were', and that mixed with the cold air blowing through
her entire body, she could barely stand up. Li quickly got out, and grabbed her right as she was about to fall, his hands ending up in a very unfortunate lace. He quickly
moved them, and pulled her upright. Sakura's face was now a bright red.

"You know, I could sue you for that." She said impishly.

'It would be worth it.' He thought to himself. Sakura's eyes widened.

"Wha-?"

"Huh?" Li asked, looking at her confused face.

"Uh, nothing." She said meekly. She started to walk to the club-ish looking building. Li followed her, making sure she didn't fall. They walked into the bar. It was completley
full of complete drunks. And a whole lot of girls were dancing on the bar. With even worse outfits than Sakura. (Have you ever Seen 'Coyote Ugly'? Then you know what we
mean.) Li looked away, and Sakura pushed him playfully.

"What's wrong, Li? Oh, wait, I forgot, your not ANYTHING like anyone your age." She screamed over the music.

"Yeah, well, you aren't exactly normal, either!" He screamed back. Sakura laughed.

"Lets go get a drink! After that drive I'm ready to do anything to relax!" She shouted, and pulled him to the bar. One of the girls jumped down.

"Whadaya'll have?" She shouted.

"A double shot of Tequilua!" Sakura shouted back. She turned to Li. "You want any?" He looked really surprised.

"I think I'll have the same, only a single." He shouted.

"Gotcha." Said the girl, and she did some cool tricks with the bottles, and handed them their drinks. Sakura payed(Money bummed off of Madison, who had plenty of it.)
her. Sakura downed her's in one gulp, and Li did the same. Sakura giggled at his face, and she started to dance. Li watched, her completley amazed. He had never seen
her like this. She looked kind of silly, and like a complete slut in the process. Li pulled her back to him.

"What's gotten into you?" He shouted. She smiled.

"It's your fault! I'm all excited, and now I want to dance! And get drunk!" She laughed. Li shook his head. He was determaned to stay sober. He watched her down another
double. One of the girls pulled her up on the bar, and she started dancing to 'Unbelievible'. Li's eyes widened, but he wasn't going to let her out of his sight. This bar was
way too full of horney drunks for her to be left alone, no matter how drunk she was. She did three flips on the bar, and landed in a split. The men all whisled. She got up,
and did a back flip, and started to dance again.

'I need to get her down from there before she completley qualifies herself to her disguise.' Li though to himself. Unforunatly, four guys had the same idea, only for diferant
reasons. They grabbed her off the bar, and everyone carried her across the crowd. The four guys ran after her, and after she was upright, started to hit on her. Li hurried
throught the crowd, trying to get to her. He saw one of the guys drawling on her arm. She backed away, disgusted, but one guy grabbed her. Then the others started to
grab her, but not her arm. She struggled, but they held her. Li finally got to her.

"What. Exactly. Do. You. Think. Your. Doing?" He asked furiously. One of the guys squinted at him.

"You..you go awa-ay! *Hiccup* We...got to her..firrrssshht!" He slured. Li narrowed his eyes.

"Let go of her." He growled, his voice dripping with fury. The Oh so very drunk team ignored him, and started drawling on Sakura again. She started to cry. Li gave up
talking, and spun one of the guys around, and punched him square in the nose. He let him drop slowly, so no one tried to start a fight in the bar, and turned to the others.

"Anyone else want to mess with her some more?" He asked.

Thew guys backed away, whimpering. He slowly went over to Sakura, holding her up, and pulled her outside. She held onto him.

"I am never going to drink again" Sakura moaned. Li picked her up, and carried her to the car.

"It's not your fault, Sakura, those guys were horney and drunk." He said soothingly. Well, and soothing as something like that could get, anyway. Sakura wasn't listening.

"Next time I even think of setting foot in a bar, slap me." She cried. Li sighed.

"It's not your fault, Sakura. And the time frame between your first drink and them trying to rape you was way too short. Who allows this? They should fire the mayor,
whatever kind of used car salesman he has to be."

"I couldn't get them off of me!" Sakura cried, not listening. Li set her in the car, and buckled her seat belt. He got in, and drove away. Woried about the crying girl next to
him. There was no way they could go back to the hotel. He thought quick, and took a sharp right. Sakura jumped.

"Li? What are you doing?" Sakura asked quietly. Li smiled.

"I'm getting you out of here. We're going to calm you down, get you to sleep, and then we'll go back to the hotel. You can't even see straight right now." He said.

"Yeah? And how-how exactly to yo-you sugest we do that....?" Sakura asked weakly. Li smiled.

"You'll see in a minute." He whispered, and held her hand comfortingly. She closed her eyes, letting her heart beat double. She loved him so much. The tingles started, and
the car stopped. Sakura was too caught up in the feelings gushing through her body to notice, and sighed a little. Her head slid down to make contact with Li's shoulder.
He smiled, and pushed her upright. She mummbled something, not wanting to let him go anywhere.

"I'll be right back." He said. He gt out of the car, and went to the trunk. He took out two suitcases they had decided not to take in. The only thing in them were comforters,
and with all the bags they had, and knowing the hotel already HAD blankets on the bed, they had decided to leave them. Now Li got them out, and carried them to the front
of the car. He took them out, and set them on the car. One unfolded, covering the cold metal, and one folded, waiting for use. He walked over to The passenger door, and
got Sakura out. She started to shiver. Li brought her to the hood, and covered her with the remaining blanket. She looked at him in confusion. He just smiled and got on
next to her.

"What's going on?" She asked quietly. He smiled, and pointed ahead of them. She sat up, and looked ahead. She gasped. They wer on some type of cliff, that looked over
the entire city. All the glittering lights, and everything was right in front of them. She could hear running water, but wasn't sure from were. But the entire city, the lights, and
under the moonlight, looked beautiful. Well, it looked better than her latest experience up close to it. She liked far way veiwing better. She looked back at Li, who had kept
is gaze on her the entire time. She noticed his lack of blanket.

"Aren't you cold?" She asked. Li smiled.

'She probably won't remember." He said to himself.

"No so long as I'm around you." He whispered lovingly. Sakura blushed.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"For what?" Li asked, still watching her intently.

"For always being there for me. For being so forgiving. For helping me when I can't defend myself. For being born....."

He laughed.

"You hardly need to thank me for that. I've always been glad to do it." He said, still watching her. She closed her eyes, Letting his aura wrap around her. He watched her.
His eyes overflowing with love, something he had never let show before. He scooted closer, and held her in his arms. She gasped, but didn't resist. She couldn't resist. She
buried her face in his chest, while he buried his in her hair. She sighed happily.

"Thank you." She whispered as she fell to sleep. Li looked down at her. He started to stroke her hair. The feeling of having her in his arms was too good to cease, and her
held her tighter. He wanted to stay like this forever.

"I love you." He whispered ino her ear.

She sighed, and cuddled closer to him.

"I love you, too, Li." She murmered. Li looked down at her, surprised. She was smiling in her sleep. And she kept trying to push closer to him, even though it would be
impossibal to get any closer than she was now. Li smiled. She really did love him. Then he started to shake. He was soo happy. He was about ready to hold her, squeaze
her, until she popped, but thanks to an AMAZING amount of self-restraint, he managed to keep it at kissing her all over the face. She giggled in her sleep, and kissed him.
On the lips. (Shut up! I don't care if it's possible, it's a fic!) He kissed back furiously. His hand made it's way up her back, and by now he knew she was awake again. He
slipped his tounge in her mouth, and she answered doing the same. He pulled her as close as he posibly could, and kissed her harder. His tounge was all around her
mouth and he couldn't pull away. All he could do was breath hard between kisses, and kiss some more. He stopped, and held her close, but didn't let her kiss him. He
shouldn't be doing this. She was drunk. Even if he knew she was telling the truth, she was still drunk. She held onto him, and kissed his neck. She just layed like that, lips
on his neck, and fell to a VERY happy sleep. Li trembled, but didn't push her away. He let his lips make their way to her forehead, and fell to sleep, too.

How Li made it through the night without waking up and tearing off every single piece of clothing she was wearing(Even if it wasn't that much) and kissing her everything, he
didn't know. But all he wanted now was to hold her forever.

He didn't know how he made it through he night. All he really remembered was kissing Sakura one last time, and falling asleep in her arms.

To Be Contiued.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kyralea: And you said we weren't evil!

Annie: *Raspberry*

Kyralea: Hope you liked this chapter, and the next one will be out soon.

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

Preveiw of the next chapter:

“That’s what you said last night.”

“Madison, they’re gone.”

“You know one thing I do remember was the bad kissing.”

"What were you two DOING last night?"

"Um, Sakura, doesn't this belong to you?" Zachary asked, holding up a bra.