I Think I'm In Love with My Bestfriend's Boyfriend

Author's Notes: Thank you for everything-- sorry for all the delay, and please enjoy this chapter, even if it is quite…not good?

Chapter Seventeen: Law Breaking

"No…it's not possible. He isn't that careless, is he?" Meilin yelled at her surroundings, having woken up after a few minutes of unconsciousness. "Just when he returned after six years, this happens?"

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Tomoyo's spine shivered from the intriguing and scary dream. The pictures from the dream jumped out at her, sharp and unforgettable. She couldn't help but wonder…

Is this a prophecy? Is this going to happen?

She didn't want to ask, for fear of the answer. Pain returned again - she realized that they must have used some painkiller on her and that its effects were fading away.

She ran as fast as she could back to her hospital room, hoping she would be able to bear the pain at least until she got back to her proper bed.

And who was that Chinese girl with Syaoran in my dream?

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Syaoran was left alone again. He had been left alone in the cold and forbidding room. He didn't even know where he was. At least he could feel a little warmth in his throat from the water he was given.

When he tried to speak, he found that he could do so with effort.

He would demand every answer from his secret childhood love.

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Everything was a blur as he ran towards the hospital.

For Tomoyo.

For Sakura and Syaoran.

For my survival.

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Meilin was furious and crying. No one could calm her down, not even her powerful aunt. Yelan Li was shaking her head in confusion, scared that the heir of her clan would suddenly disappear just like that.

"Is there anyone who has a grudge against him?" She asked Meilin and Wei, the butler.

"No." They both said.

There was no one who hated Syaoran, though there were people who were jealous of their estate and riches. So…could this be a ransom kidnapping?

"Was there a ransom note?"

"No," Wei said, depressed. "Nothing at all. He just never came."

Wait. Did he even…?

"Are you sure that he even decided to come back to Hong Kong?" Yelan Li asked, unsure if her son would ever disobey a family order.

"No…" Wei said, clearly hiding something. The demanding glare that he got was intimidating, and he knew he had to tell everything that his master had told him about Japan.

"Alright," the butler said, straightening his collar to get some air. "I'll tell you about her."

Meilin gulped, surprised. Her?

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Yukito laughed subconsciously to himself. It was so pleasant to have his cute little Syaoran Li back. It was sad, though, that his blush wasn't as red as before. At least he still blushed.

He wondered when he had become so…not good. Maybe it was the general greed of the whole modern world. Or perhaps it was something else. After all, he had been very lonely ever since Syaoran left. And Touya too. And all those funny fan girls and student council members who wanted him to sign petitions.

Chuckling, he slowly opened the door as not to cause too much noise.

"What happened?" Asked a voice from within. Yukito had to smile.

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Unfortunately, Tomoyo had not been fast enough in running back to her hospital room.

"Eriol."

Eriol was…unreadable. He didn't look as pleasant as he usually was, but he didn't seem irritated either. Like…he was bothered by something. He looked torn apart.

Tomoyo decided that she had enough.

"Eriol, you have to explain everything that happened in the last few days."

"I know."

He looked small. Like a child who broke a vase, but didn't really mean it.

Without a word, they entered the hospital room, not noticing the surprised stares from the people in the hallway.

"I'm torn apart, Tomoyo." Said Eriol, rubbing his head.

Tomoyo was still catching her breath, after running so hard. "About what?" She asked carefully, remembering the horrible dream that she just had. Such a nightmare…could dreams really be true?

"About…well…you and Sakura." Eriol looked apologetic.

Tomoyo knew it from the second she woke up.

"There's a part of me that loves you. And a part of me that doesn't."

Somehow, Tomoyo had to laugh.

This sounds like something I should be watching on TV. How did I get to this point anyway? Just a normal picnic with Sakura?

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"What?" Meilin yelled, gaining the attention of everyone within the house. "Syaoran? With a common girl like that? Impossible!" she managed to say, before breaking down in tears and tantrums. It wasn't like her to act like a child, but this was all an unpleasant surprise.

Yelan Li shook, asking for a glass of water then sinking down into the sofa. No one dared make a sound, except for Meilin on the floor.

Syaoran? Heir of the Li Clan, my clan, with someone…I've never even met…unacceptable…

At that point, Wei wished that he didn't know anything in the first place. Little did he know all the trouble that was going on with the four of them - Master Syaoran, his…girl friend…his girl friend's friend, and his girl friend's friend's boy friend…

Wei thought that it all sounded like a teenage girl's diary.

Yelan Li got one of her daughter's cellphones and dialed Syaoran's number.

Ring. Ring. Ring…

Then there was a message recorded in Japanese.

Exasperated, she slammed the mobile down, upset. "He's even gone to recording messages in Japanese!" she said, unable to do anything else.

Meilin didn't hear. She just kept sobbing, realizing that all her doubts had come true after all.

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Tomoyo patted Eriol's back, aware that he had been in a lot of stress and hurt over the past week. The fact that he had been keeping this secret so much - even keeping it from himself - was shocking. She didn't know how to handle it.

To break the awkward silence, they decided to ask for the complimentary dinners and watch some TV. The channel was the news network.

There was a knock at the door. Tomoyo stood up quickly to answer it.

She brought the two trays into the room, where Eriol looked pale again. "What's wrong now?" She asked, wondering what on earth he might have thought of.

He just pointed to the screen.

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"You overestimated him greatly." Yukito said, grinning faintly. The man in front of him, sitting up straight on a computer chair. His face was dimly illuminated by the stark screen, fingers typing furiously on the keyboard.

He didn't seem to hear.

"Touya, calm down already." He said reassuringly. "Definitely his family would agree to pay any ransom we would give them."

The man sighed, pushing his rolling chair backwards. "I see you're still the optimist you always were." He said good-naturedly.

Yukito laughed. "Why shouldn't I be?"

The other's face turned grave again. "Something tells me things aren't going to go right. So I didn't release the ransom note yet."

"What!"

The other one, a certain Touya, laughed. "I sent them an email."

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One of the preppier family girls was using her laptop, when suddenly an alert came for the shared family email address. It was a message from an unknown source.

Calling her relatives, she motioned towards the screen. Yelan Li, one of the first to arrive, clicked the message with caution, all of them knowing it could be anything.

It was exactly what they had expected.

Meilin was in hysterics. She never felt so useless and irritating (and irritated) before. She could do nothing properly. She already bumped into three walls since she heard the news.

Family Li,

Your heir, Li Syaoran, is currently with us. Please send half a million yen through online finance services to account snowbunnyghost. You have until tomorrow to do so. Understand that you will not see him again till we have received what we have asked for.

Obviously, there was no clear sender. It apparently just popped out of nowhere.

Panic reigned in the mansion of the Lis.

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"Is that…is that…" Tomoyo stuttered, unbelieving.

Eriol was equally, if not more, shaken. It was really unbelievable. The news flash was totally unexpected.

"Now, with our latest news. Tomoeda citizen Kinomoto Sakura was caught while breaking in to a Victorian mansion on Ahiru Street. The house has been identified as belonging to a certain Hiiragizawa Eriol, an alleged friend of the suspect. Further notices will be posted by Tsubasa News - Always giving you the latest, fastest and best."

Sakura just got caught breaking into my house.

As the TV switched to a dramatic-looking show, they stared at each other for a few minutes. They had to do something about Sakura - after all, she wasn't so good at answering things under pressure.

"Let's go."

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Syaoran wasn't feeling good. He could smell something unpleasant, probably from the swarm of rats he could hear scurrying inside the hollow walls, and it hurt to breathe.

The rope was chafing - he wished that he hadn't broken his wrist - it just turned out it was broken. Probably a careless thing on the plane. If his wrist wasn't broken, he would be free by now.

Wondering what was happening, he wished that his family would not agree to whatever thing Yukito was planning. Was it a ransom? Probably was, but it might not be. Yukito wasn't the type - well, he wasn't a few years ago.

He's really changed.

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"No, really, miss, sir, I was checking to see if he was there!"

They could already hear Sakura's confused answers from the lobby. Apparently the walls weren't sound-proofed.

"Well," said an authoritative voice, "we'll let you go as soon as we're able to contact this friend of yours."

Tomoyo and Eriol fidgeted, walking towards the door with their passes in their hands. Tomoyo raised her hand and knocked gently on the door.

After a moment or so, the door swung open to a tall brunette. She was clearly a police officer. Behind her, they could see Sakura practically jumping on her seat.

"Tomoyo! Eriol! ERIOL! We're friends, right?" she said simply.

"Well, of course we are." Eriol said, fumbling with his wallet to show his ID. He didn't have his driver's license, so he just showed them his passport.

"Eriol," Tomoyo whispered, "you carry your passport around with you?" It wasn't a common thing, after all.

"Yes, in case I have to leave on short notice." he said, half-truthfully - he had already thought of flying away and not having to face all of this.

After discussion at the table and a few clarifications, the three friends exited the station with dozens of sorries and apologies trailing behind. What a misunderstanding.

As they were passing the lobby though, they overheard something peculiar. Someone was talking loudly on the phone, enough to be heard out on the street.

"As in the Li Clan? That's amazing. And I thought Hong Kong wasn't kidnapper-infested. Well, I'll report that." The phone was hung, but it was enough to get Sakura's suspicions up.

"Kidnapper-infested?" she asked, walking up to the man.

"Didn't you hear?" The man said, picking up his coffee mug. "The heir of the Li Clan was kidnapped for ransom."

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Yukito watched as Touya practiced all his measures, erasing his tracks, deleting the fake account. It turned out that this wasn't just about money.

"Then what is it about, then?" Yukito asked, curious.

"You'll know soon."