CCS: Another Story
By: Sakura aka Michelle
Chapter 3

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Although it was pretty dim in the room as the sun had not risen, Sakura could make out faintly that her left arm and right palm were covered with blood and they were still wet. Breathing deeply to steady her and calm her jittery nerves, Sakura slowly pulled up the long sleeve of her pyjamas, noticing for the first time that her shoulder was throbbing, though it was not really painful but just an uncomfortable feeling that she was no accustomed to.

Sakura gulped unconsciously as she mentally prepared herself against what she knew she would be seeing. However, despite how she steeled herself from the inevitable, her hands still shook violently. So immersed in her task, she almost jumped out of the bed when a figure appeared beside her and she knocked the back of her head trying to put some distance between them. Sakura winced, cradling her head with both hands and crouching down on her bed as she figured out that it was only Meiling, who had stayed in the same room in order to raise the level of protection.

“Are you all right?” Meiling asked worriedly, her vision still unaccustomed to the dim surroundings as she tried to get close to the bed from her position at the other end of the room. She could only vaguely make out the Sakura’s huddled form on the bed. “You frightened me with all the screaming!”

Not wanting Meiling to ask further questions, Sakura reassured her that nothing was wrong and that she merely had a nightmare. She also requested to be alone in the room as she wanted to change out of her pyjamas. That’s was when she heard the pounding of steps outside her room followed by a loud crash of the door against the wall and people started pouring into the room, almost tripping each other in their haste to get into the room in the dim light.

“What happened?” Syaoran was the first one to ask as he scanned the room, searching for any peculiarity and when he found none, he fixed his gaze on the still form of Sakura who was still huddling in the corner of her bed. “What happened to her?” He directed the question to Meiling, knowing he would get no response from Sakura.

Meiling shot a worried glance at Sakura before replying earnestly, “I am not at all sure too. She claimed that she had a nightmare. I don’t believe anything can get past the barrier that Eriol had cast though so we can rule out the possibilities of any outside attack.”

Syaoran quirked a brow at her response. “That’s quick thinking for someone who sleeps like a dead. It’s a miracle that a scream can wake you up.” He dodged the pillow that was flying at him with ease and chuckled when he saw the angry expression on his cousin’s face. “You missed,” he supplied helpfully, just to irk Meiling.

Meiling’s temper did indeed flare and she retorted with a hiss, “That’s because the room is dark and I can’t see where I am heading!”

“We can remedy the situation,” Touya, who was standing outside the room and taking in the whole scene, interrupted and reached for the switch on the wall to turn on the light.

Sakura knew what Touya had intended to do and panicked; she could anticipate everyone’s reactions upon seeing her bloodied sheets and was reluctant to go through such a tedious process of having to explain something that she was not very sure of. “Wait!” she exclaimed hastily, stopping Touya effectively and the older brother looked at her, waiting patiently for an explanation. “It’s just a nightmare and I… er… am still sleepy and I want to continue to sleep some more. Can you all leave so that I can get more sleep? It’s still a long day ahead and I want to be fully rested to face whatever challenges that are ahead of me.”

“I believe it is best if we leave her alone in her room,” Kaho spoke up, understanding Sakura’s needs to be alone for the moment. “We can talk when she wakes again later and is more ready to talk.”

Meiling stood up, casting an anxious glance at Sakura before heaving a big sigh before hurrying to comply her wishes. “Are you sure you will be fine alone?” Meiling asked just to make sure that Sakura knew what she was asking for.

“Yes!” Sakura replied, though a little much too quickly in Syaoran’s opinion and he narrowed his eyes at her, noticing for the first time that something was indeed very wrong. He stood still while the rest filed out of the room, staring at Sakura until he found out what was wrong. That was when Sakura snuggled back into her bed and pulled the covers over her that he saw it with his razor sharp eyes. Sakura realized that Syaoran was still in the room and with subdued anger in her voice; she said icily before pretending to go to sleep again, “Can you make yourself useful by removing yourself out of my room?”

Instead of following what the others had done, Syaoran stubbornly refused to leave, much to Sakura’s exasperation. Didn’t the man hear what I had said? Is he deaf or what? She heard her door clicked shut and heaved a sigh of relief thinking that Syaoran had left the room like the rest. She quickly sat up straight on the bed, pulling up the long sleeve of her left arm at the same time. She winced when the sudden action brought a sudden pain in the shoulder. She almost screamed again when she felt a warm large hand clasp her arm.

“You insult me by thinking that this will go unnoticed. I am not like the rest,” Syaoran remarked gravely, looking at the wound with serious intensity. He knew that the wound was almost completely healed and that was why he was not that worried upon seeing the familiar scar left on Sakura’s shoulder. “The wound is seems all right. I suggest you leave it alone for the time being and let it do the rest of the job by itself.”

“You don’t seem surprised,” Sakura noted with interest as she watched his hand on her arm, leaving a tingling sensation behind. She was a little disappointed when he let go of her and she tried her best to mask her feelings with a serene smile.

Syaoran straightened and shrugged after hearing her statement. “The wound doesn’t seem serious now. If that person hadn’t heal you, I would have been pretty worried about you bleeding to death. Right now, what you need is some more sleep to replenish your energy and you will be as good as new when you wake up.”

“Sleep?” Sakura asked shakily. “How can you expect me to sleep after… after this horrifying experience. Right now, I am terrified of sleeping too!”

Syaoran chuckled, “You mean you have other things that you are afraid of? Oh come on, a big girl like you shouldn’t be terrified of anything at all right now. Furthermore, there is bound to be worse experiences than the one you currently had in the future.”

“Thank you very much for you kind reminder. I will keep it in mind,” Sakura retorted and slid down from the bed, moving to her cupboard for a fresh sheet for her dirtied bed. When she returned to the bed, Syaoran was still standing by her bed in the same spot and Sakura eyed him curiously, “Are you going to stand here all day or make yourself useful by moving away?”

“Aren’t you going to let them know about this?” Syaoran asked as he stepped aside for Sakura to continue with her task. “It might be a shock to them to find you waking up with new bruises and bleeding here and there.”

Sakura chose to ignore Syaoran’s question as she quickly changed the bed sheets and thought about the statements he made. Alarm bells sounded in her mind just when she was done putting a fresh sheet on her bed and she whirled around to confront Syaoran. It took her some time to digest Syaoran’s earlier words. “You mean there will be more episodes of such incidents of waking up and bathing in my own blood?” She exploded and jabbed a finger at Syaoran’s hard chest as he moved a few steps back. “How much do you know? And just how much are you hiding from me?”

“That hurts,” Syaoran complained playfully as he swatted her fingers away. “One question at a time please. I only have a mouth to answer all questions you know.”

Sakura rolled her eyes heavenwards at this and crossed her arms in front of her, tapping her foot impatiently as she waited for his reply. When he merely returned her look, Sakura landed a punch squarely on his chest and this time it actually hurt and Syaoran doubled over and had difficulty controlling the wince he felt was coming out. Sakura had to cheek to smile at him after the punch and looked at him with a spark of challenge in her eyes. “You were saying?” She prompted in order to get Syaoran to start his talking instead of wasting her time.

Syaoran said nothing but to pull up the short sleeve of his green tee and showed Sakura, who was rendered speechless by the similar scar on his left shoulder. Sakura was dumbstruck as she looked up at Syaoran in the eye for confirmation. He nodded his head grimly, wondering what had prompted him to show her his scar which he did not even show to his closest family. He suddenly wondered what Meiling and Kaho would say about this and then realized it was better for him to remain silent about this issue.

Sakura reached out a shaky hand to trace the faint scar on Syaoran’s shoulder. The scar must have been placed on him a few years ago as the colour of the scar was not pinky red like hers, but had turned dull white. “Now I understand,” Sakura murmured. “Keroberos and Yue were talking about you; you are the one who ventured to the entrance of the Clow shrine!”

Syaoran scoffed and jerked away from Sakura, moving to stand by the window and staring into the street below. “I had the misfortune to be meeting them,” Syaoran started explaining after long moments had passed. “They both attacked me as if I were some alien creature in that shrine. They didn’t even think that a talking lion and a flying human are weird in the first place.”

“How old were you then?” Sakura asked, a hint of worry and compassion in her voice.

“Twelve,” came the tort reply. “If you would excuse me, I will wait outside for you with the rest until you are ready to explain what had happened to them. I’ll back you up.”

“Wait!” Sakura called out when he was at the door. “Don’t tell them; I don’t want to make them worry about me.”

Syaoran did not reply but left the room, leaving a confused Sakura in the room. “What is wrong with him? Did he hear me?” She asked herself and shrugged before turning to change out of her bloodied pajamas into her school uniform and getting ready to face her family and protectors.

They were all waiting patiently for her in the living room, seated in tensed silence and looking deep in thoughts, especially true for Syaoran. He was looking at her with a weird expression on his face. The moment their gazes met, he looked away jerkily and started staring at Kaho instead. Sakura frowned at this and wondered what was really going on in Syaoran’s mind. She would not know, since they just met the day before and she did not want to dwell on this too much. This is pretty insignificant I guess… She thought with a sigh.

Kaho stood up the moment she felt Sakura’s presence behind her and quickly walked up to her. Her eyes roamed over Sakura’s body, scanning for any visible injuries and she was satisfied when she looked perfectly healthy. “Syaoran has already explained briefly to all of us regarding what had happened and indeed, we are all very worried,” Kaho started and was stopped by the angry stare that Sakura was giving Syaoran. Her eyes were practically spitting fire at him! Kaho smiled inwardly, thinking that something must have happened in the room when they were alone.

“How dare him!” Sakura exploded furiously and made a move towards Syaoran, but Kaho stayed her with a firm hand on the shoulder and she paused to look at her, silently demanding explanation.

“We are here to protect you,” Kaho explained. “If you don’t let us know anything that has happened to you, we won’t be able to do that. This is very dangerous not only to you, but to everyone around you as well as the rest of the world. So please, do not hide whatever you are experiencing. Can you at least promise me that?” She said with a solemn smile.

Sakura sighed, closing her eyes resignedly. “I guess I’ll have no choice but to promise you that. I’ll try my best to keep my promise to you…” She trailed off when Kaho embraced her in a big hug, effectively surprising Sakura.

Meiling jumped up from her seat and laughed merrily, “One problem settled! We can all rest our minds now. What’s for breakfast?”

“I’ll go prepare it now,” Fujitaka replied immediately and went to the kitchen for preparation and Meiling hurriedly offered to help which was gladly accepted. Like an eager child being summoned to receive treats, Meiling skipped her way to the kitchen, ignoring the chuckles and snorts from her teasing cousin.

There were five people left remaining in the living room and four when Eriol silently went to resume his position outside the house to guard the barrier. Kaho, sensing something was brewing up in the living room, wisely retreated into the safe haven of the kitchen to help with breakfast. Thus, Touya, Sakura and Syaoran remained in the living room. Sakura had taken the empty seat beside her brother while Syaoran was sitting on the opposite sofa.

Syaoran pretended not to notice the icy glares that were sent into his direction by the siblings and lounged on the sofa with ease as if he had been living here for his whole life. He closed his eyes and leaned back comfortably and this infuriated Sakura immensely. She just was not ready to forgive him for telling them about what happened before consulting her!

She felt a tug from her brother and she quickly rearranged her facial expression to one of her normal smile in order to hide her emotions from her brother. “What did the two of you do in your room?” Touya asked her while fixing his gaze on Syaoran. “We heard something happened in your dream and it had turned into a reality or something like that. It sounds serious though but we weren’t given other information other than this. What is going on?”

Surprised, Sakura turned to look at Syaoran who seemed pretty relaxed to her. So he did not mention about my wound? How surprising… I had assumed that he told them everything. Seemed like he did hear me after all and I have misunderstood him.

“Nothing happened, onii-chan,” Sakura replied, wearing one of her genuine smile right now. “The two of us were simply doing some talking and nothing else that you should be worried about. Anyway, I am old enough to be taking care of myself… So you can worry about yourself instead,” she added with a cheeky grin.

Touya sat up straighter as he turned his glare full force on his sister. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Well… Since I am almost grown up now and able to take care of myself, it’s time for you to search for your soul-mate so that you can wash your hands off me and enjoy yourself,” Sakura explained and then added solemnly. “For once…”

“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Touya muttered his reply angrily as he stood to leave for his room. “You are my younger sister and it is my duty to care for you, always.”

Sakura was left staring after the back of her brother as he ascended the stairs to go up to his room. There were only Syaoran and Sakura left in the living room. Syaoran seemed to be sleeping on the sofa and Sakura crept forward after she had checked that nobody was around them. “Syaoran?” Sakura called out softly, not wanting others to overhear her. “Are you sleeping?”

His eyes remained firmly closed and his breathing was slow and even, indicating signs of being sound asleep. Sakura poked his arm with her pointing finger but she got no response from him, so she sat down beside him and took in a deep breath to steady herself.

“I don’t know why I am saying this to you when you are sleeping but I thought that I ought to apologize to you for thinking that you have gone back on your words. I am used to having people to take care of me since I was young and you can say that I am reliant on them. But now, to suddenly entrust me with this mission of searching for the Clow book and defeating the dark lords is a risky one and I may not be up for the job. However, I will try my very best to do what I am supposed to make sure that no one will get injured. So…” she paused for breath and squeezed her eyes shut as she bowed her head. “So… Please do guide me along!”

She was startled when she felt a hand on her head and she looked up quickly and was stunned to see that Syaoran was wide awake and was smiling warmly at her. She then realized he was actually patting her head, as if she was a young little girl! Then he was pulling her into a light hug and Sakura’s heart threatened to explode in her chest.

“We are all here to help you,” Syaoran murmured as he patted her back encouragingly. “There’s nothing to be afraid of when we are together.”

Sakura returned the hug and closed her eyes, enjoying the feel of being in Syaoran’s strong arm, unaware of the eyes of those who were peeping at them from inside and outside the house.

To be continued...