Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ All That She Is ❯ Breakdown ( Chapter 20 )

All That She Is

Chapter Twenty - Breakdown

By Crow Skywalker

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Disclaimer - I don't own CCS, nor do I claim to. No profit is being made from this…it's only for my amusement :P

Author's Notes - Sorry for the long delay. I've forever been waiting for my new computer to come in, and now that it's finally here, so is the next update :P Sorry it's not that long - I just wanted to get this in. R&R, and enjoy.

Pairings - Sakura/Syaoran, Eriol/Tomoyo

Summary - Sakura's recently moved to Tomoeda. Syaoran makes a bet that he can have any girl, even her. But when he finds out who she really is...the adventure's only just beginning.

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She stood with the wind blowing her hair, rustling the strange costume she was wearing as she looked out over the dark city. It was night, the stars above glowing brightly, though there was no moon in the sky. Standing on top of a building, she could see everything, and for a moment, she didn't even question what she was doing up so high. Slowly, reality sunk in.

What…what's going on? Sakura thought, her gaze still trained straight ahead. Where am I? A sudden cold breeze blew by and she went to cross her arms in hopes it would give her some warmth. She began to panic when she realized her arms would not move, no matter how hard she tried. Why can't I move!?

Suddenly all thoughts left her as she realized she was standing on top of a high building, staring across a great distance at an odd shaped tower. If she looked hard enough she could see it was red, and it was lit up by many lights. She'd never seen the building before in her life.

Sakura's body took a step forward, startling her, as she stopped very near the edge and caught a glimpse of the streets below. A flash of light caught her attention, and once again she found herself staring at the red tower, though this time it was different. A figure cast in light floated before it, and though she couldn't see who it was she could tell it was holding a hand out as if calling to her.

"I've been waiting for you," came a whispered voice upon the wind, sending shivers down Sakura's spine. "Come fourth."

Sakura was about to take another step, going as far as to lifting her foot and moving it into thin air as she prepared to go to the figure - even though she was about to take a step off the building and plunge to her death.

"Stop." A firm voice said behind her, and immediately her body froze. Sakura wondered who was behind her, for she couldn't turn around to get a look. The voice continued, though she knew whoever it was was now talking to the white figure, "She's not ready. She cannot go to you yet."

"You're wasting my time, girl." Said the floating figure, "Capture the rest of the Cards, for I am tired of waiting."

"She will do it in her own time," The voice said behind her, "Do not rush her."

"Stay out of this." The floating figure said harshly, "This is between me and the girl."

"She cannot come to you until she is ready." The voice behind her insisted.

Sakura struggled to move, to turn her head to at least see who was behind her. Her body wouldn't move, and she found that she couldn't even take her eyes off the figure floating near the tower.

"Sakura," the figure moved, white hands coming out and beckoning to her. "Come to me."

Sakura took a step forward against her will, and her foot came down on empty air as she stepped off the side of the building. She felt herself fall, the wind blowing at her clothes. From somewhere above her a voice called out to her, but she couldn't look up. She was still paralyzed, falling to her doom, and the silvery white figure still hovered next to the tower, its arms still extended.

"Sakura!"

She sat up abruptly, nearly colliding with another dark figure as she took in her room, realizing that it had all been a dream. She wasn't falling - she was safe at home in her bed. Her breathing slowed as her panic disappeared, only to quicken when she realized she wasn't alone. In one fast movement she reached over and flipped on the lamp next to her bed, her hands coming back to grip her blankets tightly.

A familiar figure was standing next to her bed, his dark eyes watching her worriedly as her mind started to lift out of her sleepy haze. He was dressed in his usual green garb, the one he wore when fighting and capturing Cards, and his chestnut hair was falling in his face. Quietly, he reached up and ran a hand through his hair.

"Li, what are you doing here?" Sakura asked, her gaze turning to the clock next to her bed. It was past twelve in the night - Eriol and Tomoyo had only brought her home just a few hours earlier.

Syaoran shifted uncomfortably before reaching for something by his side. He held it out for her and she stared at it a few minutes before she realized what it was. "I brought this back for you," he told her, looking away into the darkness of the room.

Sakura took it from him, their fingers meeting briefly before he pulled his hands away. Sakura looked down at her wand, which was still transformed into a sword, and the past night's events came flooding back to her. Meiling attacked me…I tried to fend her off but…Syaoran saved me… She looked up at him and smiled. "Thank you."

Again with the uncomfortableness as Syaoran looked everywhere but at her, and a faint blush stained his cheeks, though she couldn't see it in the dimly lit room. "Yeah well," he muttered, "I kind of owed it to you to return it." He finally looked at her, managing to look emotionless, "Look, Kinomoto, I'm sorry about Meiling…"

"It's alright," Sakura interrupted him, looking down. "Meiling felt threatened and hurt, that's why she did what she did."

"You're not mad at her?" Syaoran raised a brow at this, staring at the girl before him in disbelief.

"No," Sakura shook her head with a small smile.

Syaoran gave her a confused look before crossing his arms, turning away from her. "You're way too forgiving, Kinomoto."

Sakura looked at him, seeing his back turned to her. So it's back to using last names, she smiled bitterly. He'd called her by her first name for the first time ever, just only a few hours ago, though it seemed like it had all happened days ago now. She's been about to walk away from him, angry at him for using her to get to Meiling - but she'd heard him. He'd called her Sakura, and it had just sounded…right…coming from his lips.

Breaking out of her thoughts, Sakura glanced over up at him, her mouth open to speak - only to find that he had disappeared. The room was empty, the only noise coming from Kero, who was quietly snoring in his drawer, and the flutter of curtains from the open window. She stared at the window for a few minutes before getting out of bed, shivering as her feet touched the cold floor, and walked across the room to close the window.

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The apartment was empty and silence hung like death in the air. Meiling sat on the dark leather couch, staring at the cup of coffee in her hands. She'd been sitting like that ever since she'd walked home, waiting for Syaoran to come home. She wanted to talk to him, even if he was only going to yell at her.

Shifting the mug from one hand to the other, she mentally decided that she wasn't going to drink the contents of the cup. It had long ago gotten cold, and the only reason she was still holding onto it was because she was too numb to move, too hurt to look anywhere but at her reflection in the dark substance staring back at her.

A knock on the door startled her, and her cup dropped to the floor with a smash. Small glass shards scattered everywhere, and the brown liquid seeped into the expensive rug that was on the floor. She paid no attention to it as she leapt to her feet, running to the door to unlock it in a hurry.

"Syaoran?" She swung the door open, looking beyond it expectantly. All hope left her as she stared at the dark haired female on the other side of the door, still dressed in the clothes she had worn earlier that night.

"Meiling, may I come in?" Tomoyo asked softly, looking at the mess the other girl was in.

Meiling said nothing, but left the door open as she returned to her seat on the couch. Tomoyo followed after her, being sure to close the door behind her. Taking a seat across from Meiling, Tomoyo stared down at the mess on the floor.

A few minutes of silence before Tomoyo finally asked, "Remember that time back in elementary school? You were trying to impress the guys by jumping off the swing set at the highest you could push yourself. You ended up getting caught up in the chains and dragged through the sand. You tried hard not to cry, but I knew you wanted to. I helped you to the nurse's office, and I stayed with you until she was finished. Remember that night? I invited you over and we ate fudge brownies and we laughed at it like nothing happened."

Meiling glanced at her, but said nothing.

"Those were the days," Tomoyo sighed as she remembered, "We used to be inseparable; the best of friends. Tell me, Meiling…what happened? What happened since those years that's changed us so much?" She turned towards the other girl, "What happened to our friendship?"

Meiling mumbled something that sounded a lot like, "We changed. We grew up."

"I think you're the one who changed, Meiling," Tomoyo replied. "Ever since you entered high school it's been a competition to be the best. You were always like that, but it seemed you took it a step further. You're what caused our friendship to break. You started hanging around with the wrong crowd, your marks went down, you started making fun of everyone and putting them all down…including me."

Meiling frowned, suddenly turning on the other girl with a glare. "Where are you going with all of this?" She snapped, "I don't want to remember any of that stuff, and I certainly don't need you here trying to be my friend!"

"Meiling, Iam your friend - I always will be," Tomoyo stated quietly. "I care about what happens to you, despite the fact that we don't exactly get along anymore."

"Yeah? Well you can just stop!" Meiling got up now, clearly growing angry. Bending down, she began to gather up the shards of glass on the floor. Tomoyo laid a hand on her shoulder, trying her best to get through to her old friend.

"Meiling-"

Meiling jumped at the touch, dropping the shards in her hand. They fell back to the floor, but not before one cut open her hand. She stared as the blood dripped from her hand and into the carpet.

Silence. Then, "I remember."

Tomoyo stared at the other girl, confused, and somewhat worried. Meiling's cut continued to bleed, though the girl didn't seem to see it. Her eyes were unfocused now, as if she was staring past her raised hand. "Meiling, come on," Tomoyo began to pull the girl up off the floor, "We need to bandage that."

Meiling shrugged her off. "I wanted so badly to impress Syaoran…I wanted to be the most popular girl in school. I wanted him to like me, so I tried my best to change so that I would stand out. I became…what I am…and then we started dating, and I thought that I had changed to his liking. But I wanted more - I wanted him to love me and only me, so I broke it off with him in hopes he'd become jealous and want me even more."

"But it didn't work."

Meiling looked up at her, and Tomoyo realized that the girl had been crying silently. Getting down on her knees, Tomoyo embraced her old friend, comforting her. Meiling reluctantly returned the gesture, burying her head in Tomoyo's arm as she wept.

"I blew it, Tomoyo!" She cried, "Syaoran hates me!"

Tomoyo said nothing, just rubbed the other girl's back as Meiling continued to cry.

To Be Continued…