Hi everyone! ^-^ I wrote this in less than an hour over my frustration at all of the ‘S+S’ and Tomoyo/Eriol fics out there. Poor Tomoyo-chan. ;_; She can’t be with who she loves so she’s paired off with Eriol just because they’re both eccentric. *sighs* Anyway, I’m way too overly emotional about the whole Sakura & Tomoyo thing, and I was in kind of a weird mood anyway, so that’s where this story comes from. ^-^ I hope you like it! Love Lies Bleeding By the Amazoness Duo As I lie bleeding to death on the cold ground, my last thoughts automatically travel back to Sakura. Her beautiful face, her sparkling emerald green eyes, her friendly smile. I could always tell how she was feeling, even if she didn’t know herself sometimes. I could see it in her eyes. Those eyes told me everything. They filled me with strength, bolstered my love for her. But they hurt me in ways she’ll never know. I love her so much, yet… His incessant agonizing breaths are breaking my concentration. “Li-kun, if you’re going to die, then could you please be a little quieter? I’m having a hard time remembering what I got Sakura-chan for her twelfth birthday and her exact reaction.” He seems to consider my request before moaning louder. How inconsiderate. I asked nicely. And wouldn’t he want to think about her in his last moments as well? “This is all your fault...” he says after a moment, glaring pointedly at me. At least, I assume he is. I can’t really see him very well from where I am and my vision’s starting to go dark. I can almost see her in the darkness, as if she’s waiting for me. Oh, Sakura-chan... You’re always so sweet. I’m so lucky to have... I cut off again as he reiterates how much this is my fault. “I hope Sakura-chan wouldn’t see it that way,” I say simply. Why does it matter what he thinks so long as she knows? “I hope she knows my video collection is willed to her.” All of my worldly possessions are willed to her, so she’d be getting everything anyway. I’m just trying to keep his mind off of things long enough so we can both die in peace. Unfortunately, that seems to be the wrong thing to say. “That’s what started all of this. I never would have noticed the way you look at her if it weren’t for all of those videos you take. Can’t you let her be happy on her own?” I blink back my surprise, or try to, anyway. “What? How I look at her? I look at her with love because that’s what courses through my heart when I see her. And of course I want Sakura to be happy. I just know how to make her happy better than she does. So sometimes she needs a little extra push in the right direction.” I smile fondly at so many memories before realizing that smiling hurts far more than it’s worth. I can hear him trying to drag himself up. If he’s in half as much pain as I am, he can’t do it. Nope. It sounds like he clattered back to the ground again. “If you think you know so well, why the hell didn’t you get with her?” he growls. Though I tried so hard to get him with Sakura, I really wish he didn’t have such a temper. You’d think he’d be happy after sacrificing my happiness for her. “You’re starting to make me wish I did. Then you and Sakura-chan could still be friends and I could be at home videotaping her right now.” I don’t mention _what_ I’d be videotaping exactly. Probably her eating dinner. Or maybe out back practicing her magic. Or maybe just her sleeping cutely. That would be so sweet. Some of my favorite footage is while she's... Apparently I’m not allowed to get sidetracked in my thoughts of her because he picked up where he left off again. “I didn’t say you couldn’t be friends. I said I never wanted you to see her again,” Li-kun corrects me. Which is more or less what started this. You see, one of the things that made Li-kun so good at protecting Sakura also made him dangerous to all those around her. He never did learn how to work out his jealousy problems. He tried to burn Sakura’s big brother alive once. Over Tsukishiro-san if I remember right. I should have known that that would eventually turn towards me. I’m closer to Sakura than anyone else he knows, and in some ways I’m closer to her than he is. That doesn’t stop me from wishing I could be in his place, though. That I could be the one she loves. But back to the point, we’re here because Li-kun finally noticed that I’m insanely, horribly, and absolutely in love with Sakura-chan. That my heart never wavers and my eyes never wander despite the fact that she’s not even mine. That didn’t go over very well with him, though, and he confronted me about my feelings for her on the way home while Sakura was out shopping with Chiharu. He had been too busy arguing and shaking me while I was calmly trying to explain that Sakura is the light of the entire universe before we got struck by a passing motorist. The man must have been in quite a hurry because he didn’t bother to stop and check if we were alright. “But Li-kun, that’s practically the same thing. And I can’t very well videotape your wedding and first through fifth children if I can’t be around her.” Silly boy. So I can’t be away from her. And Sakura will have five children. I’ve already come up with all of their names. Now how will she know what to name them or what to wear to her eventual wedding? Or even who to marry? I can’t leave her yet. She still needs me. Not that I have any reason to live without her, but I can’t make her sad. I won’t let myself. But it seems like I don’t have much of a choice. The pain inside seems to intensify and the darkness covers more of my vision. I don’t feel angry so much as... a great sense of loss. How can I be taken from her like this? Is this some divine retribution for trying to kill myself a few weeks ago? Mother stopped me and she has me in therapy now, so there’s no reason to have me die in the street like this. I won’t try again unless Sakura- chan doesn’t need me anymore. It makes enough sense to me. “Besides, aren’t you in love with Eriol?” he asks after a slight pause in our lovely conversation. Hadn’t Sakura asked me that before? I think everyone was trying to mentally pair me off with them sense I had no true love interest that they could see. And because I stalked Sakura. It’s much easier for them if they think I’m in love with someone else. “Eccentricity does not mark the trappings of love.” “What?” “No, I’m not. And I don’t see how anyone could think I did. He and I barely even talked when he was here. Sakura-chan is far more captivating than anyone else I’ve ever met,” I explain. How could I ever not love her? She has been the single most important aspect of my life from the day I met her till the day I die. Which will most likely be today. So in that case, for all eternity. I’ll always love her, even if I can’t be there for her. “Yeah, but you’re both...” “Messed up?” I supply. “Yeah.” We sit in awkward silence for a long moment, pain gripping my shattered body. Silken dark gray hair lies pooled on the floor, a stark reminder of the blood under me. I think my legs are broken and definitely some ribs. I’m having a hard time breathing. Little droplets of red mixes in with the darkness randomly as blood drips into my eyes. But none of this compares to the pain in my heart at the thought of being torn away from her so violently. Not so much for my own sake because I have nothing left to live for, but for hers. I know that this will hurt Sakura dearly. She needs someone to help her through this, but Li- kun and I will both be gone. Poor Sakura-chan will be all alone. I can’t bear the thought of her pretty face streaked with tears. “Why didn’t you just tell her? You could have snagged her from me during those years I was gone.” His voice sounds defeated, pained. “Because I wanted her to be happy. When I was little, I used to think I could do that. But after you showed up and then Eriol started testing her, I wasn’t so sure anymore. I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t give her a child. She might not even be able to love me.” My voice breaks at the last of it. That fear has ridden along in my heart nearly as long as I’ve known her. It’s safer to love her from afar, to watch from somewhere else. “You seemed to make her happy and you obviously loved her almost as much as I did.” Which is a lie. He’d shown the same affection to Yukito. He seemed just fine transferring his feelings to Sakura. But I was starting to get desperate to play matchmaker for her lest someone else get in the way. “I thought you were the best possible candidate for Sakura’s love and I wanted to do all I could to make her happy.” That is the truth. That’s what I’ve wanted ever since she first smiled at me in class all those years ago. I knew then as I know now that I would do anything, _anything_ to make her happy. Another odd silence answers me as he lies there. “I would have. Sometimes things were tough and she always ran to you with her problems.” He sounds a bit resentful of that. Is that what this is really all about? He was worried that I was more important to Sakura? I almost laugh, hurting myself more in the process. The taste of blood is almost sickening now. I could only wish I was as important to her as he was. “But I would have made her happy.” “I believe you, Li-kun. There’s no doubt in my mind. That’s why I wanted you to be with her. She deserves to be happy.” Nothing but the sound of birds greets our ears for the longest time as we both wait to die. Does it usually take this long? My only condolences are that I’ll be able to speak with whatever wondrous being created the beauty that is Sakura and that hopefully they will let me watch her as I never have been able to before. Touya did used to speak of seeing his mother. Maybe I could come back and watch over Sakura, even if she couldn’t see me. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about hurting her. “Li-kun, I promise if I make it out of this alive that I will make Sakura-chan happy.” He doesn’t seem to know how to reply, but I can only guess that he’s happy with my proclamation. I am, of course, wrong. “What? What makes you think you’re going to live? If either of us lives, it’s going to be me. Why would a fragile little rich girl survive that?” “Well, I’m only stating it as a ‘just in case’. So you’ll know she’ll be in good hands in case I survive and you don’t. Besides, I already know that’s what you’d do in the event that I die.” My resolve is much stronger than it’s ever been. I’ll take care of her as best I can. I’ll love her like no one else ever could. I will make her happy. I wish I had this type of strength back when my life expectancy was higher. It might have come in more useful. “Yeah, but that’s because she’s my girlfriend.” I wait for him to continue, but apparently that was explanation enough. I shrug it off. It sure is dark. I feel like I’m falling asleep. “I wonder what Sakura- chan’s doing right now.”