Chapter Three: Everything Happens for a Reason

Riyo started laughing whole – heartedly when she heard Tomoyo say her infamous line.

"Tomoyo, you haven't changed a bit. Why don't you let our guest rest first from her recent healing before you give her your full treatment? God knows she'll need all her energy with you in that mode." She said placing herself between Tomoyo and the extremely confused Sakura.

Tomoyo pouted stubbornly. "You never let me have my fun Riyo! Last time, you hid Syaoran from me for an entire hour. An hour for goodness gracious! He's my fiancé too! Have you any idea how torturous it was to have all those wonderful costumes I made for him, sit in my luggage, not being used?"

"I imagine it was hell on earth for you dearest Tomoyo." Riyo muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Sakura to hear.

"I'll tell you! It was hell on earth for me!" Tomoyo exclaimed.

"Bingo!" Riyo muttered again, for Sakura's secret pleasure. Sakura giggled softly, not wanting to draw the attention to her. Well, of course that never happens in real life especially around this Lady Tomoyo.

Tomoyo peeked behind Riyo, trying to get a good look at Sakura.

"Please let me dress her up, just for a little while!" she begged like a little girl.

"No." Riyo said, making a funny face at Tomoyo.

"But Riyo, she's so kawaii!" Tomoyo complained. "Besides, it's not like you let me dress you up!"

"I do dress up – just when you're not around." Riyo said as she winked at Tomoyo.

"WHAAAAAAT!" Tomoyo exclaimed, nearly pouncing on Riyo. "You dress up and you don't let me sketch you! Oh, the inhumanity of it all!"

"I'm not..." Riyo paused, trying to search for the right word. "How would you say it? 'Kawaii'? Where on earth do you get these words?" She said, waving it off. "Well, point being, I'm not... whatever that is ."

"Oh but you are!" Tomoyo assured her. "So... while we're waiting for Miss Sakura to complete her recuperation, how about a little game of dress up, Riyo?" Tomoyo suggested innocently.

"No." Riyo replied flatly.

"But Riyo!"

"No. I'm going to stay and watch over Sakura. She needs treatment and I'm the best. You know it yourself." She said, finally convincing Tomoyo.

Tomoyo nodded, understanding. Riyo was not only the best prophesier but she was also the greatest healer in the Clan and outside it, despite her own weak constitution. She herself had been taking lessons from Riyo lately in hopes of learning how to heal wounds just as effectively as she. She turned her attention back to Sakura, worry finally present in her bright amethyst eyes.

"What happened to her?" Tomoyo asked, in a somewhat restrained manner now that she had let out her hyper ness.

A cry pierced the air as Riyo was about to answer. Everyone's expression had sobered severely. Another one's life force had been taken.

Riyo suddenly felt a wave of nausea hit her. She felt these attacks every time someone's life force had been strained out of them. The stronger the life force in the crystal that gets taken, the more of her life force would get weaker.

Meanwhile, Syaoran had stepped out of the closet when Tomoyo was not paying attention to him. Seeing the ever familiar nauseous feeling take over Riyo, he quickly moved to her side, giving Riyo someone to lean on.

"You're weak. Sit down." He said as a hint of concern flashed in his amber eyes.

"I'm fine, I have to tell Tomoyo about Sakura." She insisted.

"Sit." Syaoran pressed. "Sit down, you stubborn mule." He said, pushing her onto the chair next to Sakura's bed.

She willingly obliged, not feeling up to arguing with her cousin. This gave Tomoyo free access to sit on Sakura's bed, on the opposite side of where Riyo was seated. Syaoran satisfied himself by moving to the window and staring out into space. He knew the story already.

"She was one of the targets." Riyo explained, as soon as the nauseous ness passed. "She was nearly caught. In fact, I suppose that the soldiers would have even raped her before robbing her of her crystal, had Syaoran not come into the picture."

Tomoyo right hand instinctively flew to the turquoise crystal around her neck, dropping the items from her hand onto the bed. She knew what it was like, having nearly been a victim before. Being the Duke's daughter could only do so much.

Feimei winced a little. In all honesty, she was down right frightened. Yes, she was a Li. All Li's were supposed to be brave. Although she knew that she was scared to the tips of her long curly auburn locks, she knew as well that she wasn't alone in the Li Clan who felt that way. Every time she got near her cousin Riyo, she would sense fear emanating from her every time someone's life force would be robbed. And that happened a lot.

Feimei felt a firm hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see her brother beside her.

"To your room Feimei." He said, indicating towards the door.

"But Syaoran, I want to-"

"Go. You're only twelve. This information is a little too heavy for you."

"Syaoran," Feimei argued. "I'm smarter than everyone my age and three years up. I've got one of the largest vocabularies in the Clan and I'm more mature than you were at your own age. I'm staying."

Much to her dismay, Syaoran picked her up, carrying her out the door. Feimei beat against his chest, trying to get out of his grip.

"Let go of me you mean bully!" She protested.

"Gladly." Syaoran replied, dropping her lightly on the ground right outside the door. With a soft thud, he shut the door behind her.

When Syaoran returned to the room, he felt curious eyes turn towards him.

"She didn't have to leave Syaoran." Riyo said, a disapproving look on her face.

"Yes, she did." He insisted. "Last night... Before I met her," He nodded towards Sakura's direction, "I saw him." Syaoran paused, looking at Riyo intently. It took a few seconds before realization finally dawned on her and Tomoyo, leaving Sakura painfully clueless. The latter looked away, wondering if she should be in this conversation at all.

"Syaoran, your-?" she said, only to be interrupted by him.

"Father." He said, looking out the window. Ever since that night, he had been thinking about him. About the bastard that left home when he was only three.

"He was leading the troops who were after her. That's when I saw him. It wasn't hard to pick him out." He clenched his fist tightly. "After all, how many sick bastards would do something as low as this?" He said bitterly, pain evident in his voice.

"But..." Tomoyo began, half afraid to ask Syaoran anything about his father. Never before, not in all their time together, had he mentioned him. "What does all of this have to do with Feimei? Why should Feimei worry about your father so much anyway? She's never even met him. For all she knows, he's been dead for the past twelve years."

Syaoran stared at Tomoyo a bit, trying to put what he knew into words, but he couldn't. Riyo saw this and tried to fill in the blanks.

"You're not around enough, Tomoyo. You don't see what she's like." she said. "I knew him longer than any of you. I saw him leave. Since I was already seven then, I can still remember him well. Feimei comes to me often since Fuutie isn't around much anymore, asking me what her father was like.

"She told me once," Riyo continued. "If she could have anything in the world, anything at all, it would be to have her father back. Of course, I didn't know that he was on his side back at that time, so I comforted her, telling her what a wonderful uncle Xiao Hai was to me. How he told me and Fuutie bedtime stories about his travels before Syaoran and Fanren came into this world. How, when I was sick and my parents were at the social events, he'd take care of me until my mother and father came home to take care of me properly.

"Sometimes, she cries at night. She doesn't know but I can hear her cry in her sleep, always calling for the same person - Daddy." Riyo looked down cast once more. Everything nowadays had been remorseful. It was hard to truly be happy in this age of such violence. Sometimes she wished that they weren't bound by the power of the crystal. She wished that people like Feimei could have experienced happiness as Riyo did fourteen years before, before he came into power.

"Oh, poor Feimei..." Tomoyo said as she placed a hand on her cheek. "It would be such a fright to her."

"Exactly," Syaoran said, striding to sit down at the edge of the bed. "She doesn't need to know."

"When did you find out?" Tomoyo said, gripping the hand of Sakura and draping the other one around her shoulder, giving her a quick hug. Tomoyo felt guilty that they were pulling a complete stranger into the thick of things. It would make things very uncomfortable for a person in her position, especially for someone who just found out that she had been attacked by her rescuer's own kin.

"A few years back." He said with his face emotionless. Riyo was astounded. She was about to start rebuking him for not telling her sooner when a voice cut in, much to her surprise.

"But Li, why didn't you tell anyone?" Sakura questioned, her head cocked innocently to one side. "I'm just a stranger here and I don't wish to pry, but from what I've heard, this is big news. Doesn't everyone else in your family deserve to know about your father?"

Syaoran was taken aback. No normal stranger would have asked such a question. It would imply insolence, rude ness and even, idiocy. He observed for for those few seconds, wondering why the hell he chose to save her last night. She was a girl. A girl with absolutely no special qualities. She wasn't particularly pretty and she was so thin that she'd look anorexic. There was nothing remotely remarkable about this peasant girl, and yet...

Last night, he was supposed to return home immediately, regardless of what may happen to anyone. But when he heard her cries for help, he couldn't just leave her be. When his mother had told him to let the girl sleep in his bed, he wanted to refuse. However, he felt the girl shiver in his arms and he couldn't say no. She would heal more effectively in better conditions, he thought. He couldn't bring himself to refuse anything related to the better welfare of Kinomoto.

Syaoran suddenly started getting upset. Once again, he found himself doubting that girl. Why is it that he had succumbed to this girl? This girl of no extraordinary trait, this girl who he hardly knew seemed to know exactly how to affect him. He hated being this weak, he hated the fact that he was being lenient with this girl. Why is it that he couldn't leave her to die? It was her destiny after all. Why did he save Kinomoto Sakura when he couldn't even bring his father back from the wrong side of the social rank? Why was he given the opportunity to save this stranger, when he couldn't even save his own...?

Syaoran choked back emotions. What was done is done and there is nothing he can do about it. She's gone forever. 'But still...' a little voice inside his head insisted. 'Is it really fair that you were there to save Kinomoto from danger when you couldn't even save...?'

He whirled around on Sakura, unusual emotions taking over. He was about to send her out of his room and cast her out on the streets when he saw those emerald orbs of hers. Something in them stopped him from exploding. Ashamed of what he was about to do, he looked away.

He really should stop getting into deep thought like this.

"Don't..." He stopped himself in mid-thought, deciding against continuing that statement. He sighed, obviously frustrated with all these contradicting thoughts in his head.

"Why?" he whispered to himself, barely loud enough for Sakura to hear. "Why is it that I was there just in time to get you away?"

Sakura could do nothing but smile sadly, feeling a little hurt that it seemed as if he didn't want to save her at all. "I'm not sorry that you were."

Suddenly, Feimei burst into the room, her auburn eyes wide in fear. "The troops have found us!"