Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Sakura Falls ❯ Jyuichi ( Chapter 11 )

Sakura Falls

By: Sorano

Chapter Eleven

Disclaimer: CCS does not belong to me. It belongs to CLAMP and Kodansha.

As Sakura came to, the very first thing her concious mind was aware of was a sharp pounding in her skull. She tried to sit up but her whole body ached and she seemed to be tied down by hundreds of cords. The white light was blinding. "Hoe? What's going on?" her voice was shrikk and childish. Suddenly it all came back to her in a flash. The bowling alley was closed, it was raining, something had hit her and Mei-ling. There had been pain and a slow crimson spread.

Mei-ling…"Where's Mei-ling-chan?" she cried. "Is she okay?"

"Shh," a strange male voice said. "Lie still."

"Iie!" Sakura cried and forced her eyes open. She took a look around her and gasped. She was lying on a white hospital bed in a plain white room. Aside from a couple of cabinets, she was alone in the room with a young man dressed in white. White, white, white! Everything was so clean and pure! Where did the darkness go? Where was it hiding?

"Sakura Kinomoto?" The man asked.

Sakura nodded strangely. She felt as though she was floating. Am I dreaming?

"I'm Dr.Hasani. Do you remember what happened?"

"A car…" she said, trying to sort the images in her mind. It hurt to think. A searing pain came whenever she attempted to remember. "It was going really fast."

"That's right," the doctor nodded encouragingly, scribbling down on a piece of paper. He looked triumphant. "You and your friend were hit. You aren't too bad off. You have a minor concussion and some scrapes. You were extremely lucky, actually."

Sakura sighed for a moment, feeling relief wash over her, then a horrible thought began to emerge. "Mei-ling? Where'sMei-ling? Is she okay?"

The cheerful look disappeared from the doctor's eyes and he frowned. "Sakura, you're friend is being treated in another area. You should rest now."

A nurse entered the room and spoke briefly with Dr. Hasani. His frown deepened and he spoke harshly with the young woman, however he kept his smile steady for Sakura. "Eeto, Sakura," he said to her. "Your family is here. Would you like to see them?"

Sakura groaned and sunk into her bedding. I'm going to get it now. If Mei-ling is hurt bad then Otousan will blame me for it. It is all my fault. I will have to face up to it. She nodded. No point in preventing the inevitable.

The nurse pulled up the door and Touya and Fujitaka fell in, looking tired and distraught. Fujitaka rushed over to his daughter. "Sakura!" he cried, bundling her in his arms. "Are you alright?"

Sakura nodded, embarrassed. "Un, daijoubu."

"Hey, kaijuu," Touya said, joining them. He only ruffled Sakura's hair and stepped away, but Sakura could see the tearstains on his cheeks. He must have been so worried! He used to be able to see when I was in trouble and now he must feel so helpless! I be he is regretting giving Yue his power.

"Otousan …Gomen nasai…"

Fujitaka shushed, rocking her slowly back and forth as if she was a small child. "None of this is your fault, Sakura-chan. Just rest now. Don't blame yourself…As long as you're okay…"

"Otousan? What happened to Mei-ling? I want to see her!"

"I don't think…" Fujitaka cast an uneasy eye to the doctor. He mouthed something that Sakura couldn't make out and the doctor gave a simple nod.

Fujitaka swung Sakura up in his arms, cradling her. Even that slight motion made Sakura feel sick and dizzy and so she clung tightly around her father's neck. She was carried down to ICU, Touya and the doctor tailing behind

"She's in here?" Sakura asked, eyes widening with shock. Wasn't ICU where those who were really bad off went?

"Of course," Touya sighed. "She did get hit by a car."

"But so did I."

Touya did not respond and Sakura let the matter drop.

The room was dim but Sakura could make out two dark figures were huddled next toMei-ling's bed and when they turned around, Sakura was horrified to see they were Syaoran and Tomoyo. Did they care more to see Mei-ling than me? Of course, this wasn't any of Mei-ling's fault and look at her!

Touya saw her look and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. They did go to see you, but you were still unconscious. That stupid gaki sure has a dirty mouth, imouto."

Syaoran's head lifted up slowly until he made eye contact with his girlfriend. An unmistakable fury burned in his eyes and his body was racking with some passion. "Sakura-chan!" he burst out, and as he ran to her Sakura couldn't help but see the figure of a small child, injured beyond belief.

Fujitaka set Sakura down gently and stepped back to give the two room, but close enough so that he could still support her if she fell.

Syaoran held his arms out and touched her face gingerly. She's so fragile. The girl gave a gasp and collasped against him. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, afraid to let go.

Sakura was shocked. He isn't angry! Hot tears dripped onto her neck, but they weren't her own. "Syaoran-kun?"

"Hmm?" His voice was choked and grief-stricken.

"I love you, but you're kind of squishing me."

He blushed pink and stepped away slightly, but he never let go of her. "Gomen. I… was afraid you were dead. Ara, God, Sakura-chan! I thought you were dead!"

"Baka," Tomoyo teased. "The doctor said she was alright." The pale girl hugged Sakura. "I'm so glad you're okay. We were really afraid. When we got that call…"

Sakura was near tears herself. She wanted to reassure her friends that she was all right, but she saw Mei-ling lying crumpled and broken on the bed behind them and like in a trance she moved towards her.

"Sakura-chan…" Syaoran whispered and stuck his hand in hers. "Mei-ling is…" Sakura covered her mouth in horror when she saw her friend lying there. Mei-ling's face was completely torn up to the point of being unreconizable, her body was all scratched up and the once-white bandage wrapped tightly around her dark head was throuoghly soaked with crimson. She was so pale and still that Sakura was sure she couldn't be alive.

"I'm so sorry, Syaoran-kun! I'm so, so sorry!"

Syaoran didn't know what to say. He wanted to comfort his girlfriend, but the anger was still too near. He couldn't choose between the two girls.

"The doctors said she's stabilized," Tomoyo said. "But she got hit by the car head on, you were pushed out of the way."

"She'll be okay, right?" Sakura asked "She has to be okay."

"We don't know, Sakura-chan. The doctor said she's in a coma."

Why Mei-ling? It's not fair! It's all my fault!

Syaoran put a hand out to steady his girlfriend. "Sakura-chan, we don't blame you. You just happened to be there at the same time."

"But I invited her! And I'm the one who insisted she didn't go home. If it weren't for me-"

No one knew quite what to do about Sakura. What could they say? "Let's go home, Sakura-chan," Fujitaka suggested. "You need to get some rest."

"Iie! I can't leave. I have to stay with Mei-ling." Sakura broke into hysterical sobs and slowly sunk to the floor.

Touya and Fujitaka exchanged glances before pulling the girl up. Once again, Fujitaka swung his daughter up into his arms and carried her out the door, ignoring her mad protests.

"We'll call you if anything changes," Tomoyo called.

Sakura didn't hear. She was in shock.

* * *

By the next day at school, the news of Sakura and Mei-ling's accident had spread like wildfire. Even kids Sakura didn't know were coming up to her and asking her if she was okay, or to say how sorry they were about Mei-ling. Syaoran was miserable and kept to himself. People had expected the both of them to stay home but they just couldn't. Syaoran found his house to empty without his cousin.

The shock of last night had worn off, and Sakura began to feel like herself when the concussion healed. As soon as she could think straight she realized one thing. She was angry. Somebody was going to pay for this. During lunch, she set out on a mission to find Miyuko's group. It seemed they were the only ones who hadn't talked to Sakura that day.

Sakura found them in the girl's washroom, fixing their hair and smoking. "Hey, Sakura-chan," Miyuko said. "We missed you last night. And what about that Mei-ling girl? I thought we were going to meet her! She couldn't have been to cool if you both went and punked out on us."

Rage flooded through Sakura, a strange primitve emotion she was unused to feeling. "Where the hell where you last night?" she spat out.

"Huh? What do you mean, Sakura-chan?" Admie asked, honestly curious.

"You know what I mean! We went to the bowling alley and it was closed!"

"Sakura-chan…"Sakia clucked like a tired parent. "We were at the bowling alley. We were a little late because Satoshi had some car trouble…Maybe you came at the wrong time."

Car trouble…Satoshi…It was them! Sakura took a deep breath, knowing whatever happened, it was an accident. Don't get mad. Don't do something you will regret. Don't get mad. Don't do something… "Was Satoshi drunk?"

Hanako giggled and exhaled in Sakura's face. "I think so. I can't remember much, can you Miyu-chan?"

Miyuko shook her head. "Nope. I was high all night."

Sakura was started to put it together. "Haven't you heard about the accident?"

Admie took a long drag of her cigarette. "What accident?"

"I can't believe you didn't hear! Do you people live in a vacumn or something? Mei-ling and I were hit by a car last night!"

Horror filled the girls' eyes as they looked Sakura up and down but they were skeptical. "Gee, Sakura-chan. You don't look like you were hit by a car."

Sakura wanted to scream. "I'm okay, but Mei-ling is in a coma. She might die."

"Ara, that's too bad, Sakura-chan. Do you want some weed? It'll take your mind off it."

"It was Satoshi's car!" Sakura continued. "I saw you guys in it."

The girls looked at each other in confusion. "Nah. It couldn't have been. We were-"

"Actually," Sakia interrupted. "Satoshi's car was pretty smashed up, remember?"

The other girls nodded. "Un, cussing his head of this morning and we couldn't figure out why."

"You know how it is when you're high, Sakura-chan," Sakia pointed out. "But we're really sorry about your friend. And it was like, an accident, you know?"

Sakura nodded. She understood. Really. But if she stayed any longer she just might lose her temper and when that happened she could do a lot of damage these girls weren't worth. She turned to go.

As she was halfway out the door, she heard Miyuko say," Hey Sakura-chan. Would you like something to help you get through the day?"

Sakura hesitated for a moment, she really did. She knew it was wrong. And she knew she really shouldn't. But the need was so strong. And she could smell it from inside.

"Sure," she sighed and joined her friends once more in the washroom.

* * *

Sakura and her dad had an interesting talk that night. Interesting as in half the neighbourhood decided to go out that night rather than experience the mini war going on at the Kinomoto residence. Kero had gone to visit Tomoyo and Touya had escaped to Yukito's place.

Actually, Fujitaka remained quite calm the whole time. He was sympathetic and as his daughter was still grieving he had to be gentle with her. It was mostly Sakura doing all of the yelling. She had a lot of rage built up inside of her and she let it all out on her father.

"I don't understand," he whispered. "Where did I go wrong? I was going to let you go on the trip and you disobeyed me again."

"I have a life!" Sakura retorted. "I have better things to do than sit around home all the time!"

"Don't you raise your voice to me, young lady!"

"I'll do whatever I want!"

"Not while you live under my roof you won't!"

Fujitaka took a deep breath and continued. "I know you hurt, Sakura-chan. I'm not blaming you for what happened to Mei-ling but at the moment I am convinced you aren't mature enough to go to all the way across the world. You may not go on your trip. No way, no how."

"Then I'm going out!" Sakura replied. "If I can't go to America, screw grounding!"

"Sakura! Chotto! Wait!"

"Sakura-chan…" Fujitaka sat down in his old armchair and lstared out the window, watching Sakura run into the sunset. "I'd give anything to have my little, sweet Sakura-chan back.Ara, God, that's all I want! Please bring my Sakura back to me!" He put his head in his hands and wept.

* * *

Sakura ran for about ten minutes before she got a cramp and had to stop. Shit! Where can I go now? She had acted on pure instinct, running out of the house. She hadn't considered the consequences of what to do after. "Real smart, Sakura," she muttered to herself.

She walked on for awhile, quite aware that it was getting darker. The dark clouds overhead threatened rain and it was so cold. Sakura didn't know whom she could go to. Syaoran? Tomoyo? Miyuko? Admie? No, she had to get out. Had to get away.

Sakura stuck her hand in the pocket of her jeans and produced a iplock bag filled with a hundred or so small, yellow pills. She had bought them off of Miyuko during school. She opened the bag and popped twenty of them in her mouth. A little much perhaps, but she was going to need it.

Sakura stood out in the rain for ten minutes waiting for the bus. When it finally did pull up, she was too out of it to care. She bounced into a seat next to a young man and started talking to him. By the time the bus pulled away from the stop, Sakura was already kissing him. Later she would realize this was the biggest mistake she had ever made in her life.