The sound of a bell chiming made me open my eyes slowly. The town beneath me was lit by sparkling lights from windows and the cars driving by on the far off street below. In the back of my mind I knew that I was flying but currently I didn't find that odd. In fact, things were becoming more familiar and nostalgic. Tokyo Tower came into my view and I realized that I was seeing a premonition, just as I had all those years back whenever something life-changing was about to happen to me. My body started flying lower and before I knew it, I was standing on a rooftop. Eriol and Tomoyo were standing there as well, each looking away at nothing in particular. I spotted myself a few paces away, sitting on the ground and clutching something.

I walked forward to my future self, but I stopped before I could reach her. Sakura threw back her head in a silent scream and starting shaking it harshly, slinging tears. Confused as to why I was doing this, I started to walk forward again, but Eriol beat me to it. Kneeling, he put both arms on my future self's shoulders and spoke to her. Although I had no sound, I could tell that she didn't like what he was saying. Sakura shook her head again and screamed once more, this time revealing blood splashed on her face from whatever she was holding.

Whispers in the Dark VI

By: Satashi

Sakura's eyes snapped open and air flooded her lungs in a large gasp. Panicking, her pupils darted across the area, trying to figure out where she was. Several moments passed before her dream paralysis faded and she was able to finally realize that she was awake. Free from the confused state, she managed to pull herself up to a sitting position and bring a hand to her face. Tears stained her cheeks, being smeared by her hand as she rubbed them away. Taking another deep breath, she looked to the side and saw Syaoran asleep next to her, peacefully breathing steadily with his back facing her. 'Oh god…' Once again she placed her face into both her hands and took a steadying breath. When she was ready to pull back she noticed that it was apparently morning already. "I need a shower," She spoke to herself, wanting to wash away the dream that she just had.

"You took a shower last night," Syaoran answered her groggily, still half asleep.

"Did I wake you?"

"Not really," He yawned and pulled the pillow up closer under his head. "I'm not getting up, though."

"Don't. Sleep longer." Sakura slid out of the bed and rooted through the dresser to get some cloths, smiling lightly as she realized that she was probably going to leave all of her new wardrobe over at the apartment. Her hand reached for a red shirt, but the color made her mind flashback to the dream. Suppressing a shiver, Sakura quickly plucked a random shirt and made her way to the bathroom.

When Syaoran awoke next, he heard his hair dryer blaring from the bathroom. Sitting up gently, he stretched out and groaned at his sore muscles. Looking down, he let out a sigh. Somewhere in the night he had managed to make his wounds bleed and stained his sheets. "Great," he muttered, hopping out of bed and ripping the covers in a tangled mess on the floor. "I just bought those too." A sudden blaring of music made him turn to the small pink flip phone on his nightstand.

"Syaoran, can you get that?" Sakura called form the bathroom. "It's probably Tomoyo." The hairdryer resumed and Syaoran crawled across the bed to reach what he now considered 'Sakura's side' of the bed.

"Hello," He greeted the caller.

"Who the hell is this?" A male's voice demanded.

"What? Don't be demanding people's names before you give your own!" He challenged back, wondering what male had Sakura's number. His mind flashed back to Keith and his already dark mood just got worse.

"Where is Sakura?" The voice demanded of him.

"She's drying her hair," Syaoran informed him. "She just got out of my shower!"

"What the hell is she doing in the shower!?"

"Getting clean, you moron!" Syaoran smirked. "She obviously wanted to take one after last night." He heard the door open and Sakura walked out, fixing her fluffy pink shirt.

"So help me when I find out who this is you're dead! Now give my little sister the phone right now!!"

Syaoran suddenly went cold. Swallowing thickly, he looked at Sakura who had a confused look. "…Touya-san?"

"So you do know who this is! Put my sister on the phone!"

"Its… for you…" Syaoran reached out the phone to her, face pale.

"I'm not going!" Syaoran stated firmly as he walked through his living room with Sakura close on his heels. "No way, no how!"

"Syaoran! You have to!" Sakura kept following him, eventually running him out the dining room window and onto the roof. "I need you there!"

"After having my life threatened in every single way? Nuh uh!" Syaoran hopped up to the peak of the slanted roof and looked out over the city.

"Syaoran!" Sakura gracefully followed him.

"Hey, nice view."

"Yeah it really is," She looked out over the town. "The wind feels good too and… Don't change the subject!" She felt like hitting him. "Please! Come home with me!"

"When Touya-san sees me, he'll kill me!"

"He can't kill you, Yue has all his power."

"Then Yue will kill me! And that plush toy will be back too won't he? After Yue kills me, and Touya kills me, HE'LL kill me!"

"Kero-chan won't hurt you," She insisted, leaving out the other two. "He'll be too happy to stay with me again."

"What, does he swap places or something?"

"Yeah," Sakura nodded. "He stays with me a lot but he went to stay with my brother and Yukito-san the past little bit…didn't you find it odd that he wasn't around?"

"I just assumed he was at your house."

"Come on, Syaoran!" Sakura stomped her foot. "Yue and Kero-chan both know I have been using cards more than just in practice. They'll want an explanation!"

Sighing in defeat, he hung his head. "Okay. Okay! I'll come to dinner and explain everything."

"Thank you!" She hugged him tightly, getting a yelp of pain. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" She looked at his chest, which had dried blood on it. "Go take a shower, I'll run to the store and get a first aid kit so we can properly treat you."

"I'll be fine,"

"Syaoran."

Just the way she said his name cut off any argument from him. "… Okay. Thank you."

"Hold still," Sakura complained, scooping up the boy's hair. "If you would have let me dry it for you, it wouldn't do that."

"I, ow, don't like people messing with my hair." He closed one eye as he felt another one of his precious hairs be plucked from the abuse Sakura was giving it. "Let me do it."

"You tried; you can't raise your arms back enough." She told him with an amused tone. "If you don't want it pulled wet then let me dry it."

"Ugh, fine." He heard a happy squeal behind him as Sakura suddenly ran off to get the hair blower. "Christ, what is it with girls and wanting to touch my hair?"

"If you don't like it, cut it off." Sakura sat behind him again and looked for an outlet a moment before cutting on the dryer and starting to brush his hair. The boy relented to her and sat patently as she styled it for him, ending up putting it in a high ponytail and securing it there with a emerald green scrunchie that she just so happen to be wearing the other day. "There, now I can work." She arranged his ponytail so it was out of her way and began to treat the wounds on him. "I swear, you fuss over your hair more than I do mine, and that's bad."

"Yeah, yeah." A sudden knocking came to his ears and he looked at the door. "It's open!" After a moment two people came into view. Tomoyo had on white jeans and a dark lavender long sleeved shirt, actually matching Eriol's blackish blue short sleeved T-shirt. "Hey guys," He greeted. "What do you want to do today?"

"I don't know, maybe pitch a little?"

"Pitch?" Syaoran blinked at Eriol.

"Yeah. Underhanded right?" He pointed at his high ponytail. "You are on a girl's softball team aren't you?"

"Why you-!" Syaoran made a move to lung at the boy making fun of his hair, but found that he couldn't quite make it with Sakura looping the bandages across his shoulder and chest.

"There," Sakura told him finally. "Fixed. I'll go get your shirt." Standing, Sakura made her way over to the bedroom, meeting Tomoyo half way. "My, you sure look happy today." Leaning forward, she smiled. "You're practically glowing!" She followed Tomoyo's eyes over to Eriol, who looked like he had a faint trace of blush on his face. "Oh my god!" She suddenly whispered, hopping in place. "You didn't!?" After receiving a quick nod, Sakura grabbed her wrist and pulled her into Syaoran's bedroom and closed the door. "Details!" she squealed happily in a whisper

"What are they whispering about?" Syaoran blinked, finally standing and testing how tight the bandages are.

"I hope it isn't what I think it is…" Eriol muttered, kicking off his shoes and getting a sharp hiss for it. "What the!?" The man leapt to the side. "You have a cat?"

"No?" Syaoran walked over to him and blinked. "That's the stray that hangs out around here; I wonder how he got in?" Kneeling, he made a beckoning motion to the scared kitten. "Come here… I won't hurt you…"

The kitten arched its back and hissed at Syaoran, backing away slowly. "Don't think it likes you," Eriol commented, walking around to cut off the kitten's escape path. "Try and scare it to me, I'll catch it." Syaoran nodded and took a step forward. Instantly the kitten darted to the side and towards Eriol, who grabbed it but had to let go when he received several claws into his skin. "Ow! Those claws are sharp for being such a little thing!" Shaking his hand lightly, he grimaced at the small beads of blood coming from the marks. "Here's hoping he doesn't have any disease…"

"It ran behind my entertainment center." Syaoran grumbled, lying on the floor, looking. "Man there's no way to get behind it."

"Pull it out?"

"If something fell, it'd kill the darn thing." Syaoran sat on the floor and thought. "We could try and lure it out with some food?"

"Not a chance it would come out while we're both here."

"Scare it out?"

"With what?"

"Good point." Syaoran put his chin on his palm. "Well damn." The two boys looked at the small kitten through the glass shelves for almost three minutes before the animal decided to curl up in a ball and get some sleep. Taking the chance, Syaoran reached his hand slowly behind the center to grab it but was only rewarded with a slashed hand. "Ow! Little thing is packing isn't he!?"

"What's the trouble?" Tomoyo asked, finally coming back with Sakura.

"The little kitten that always hangs around the building somehow found its way in and ironically ended up here."

"So wait, there's a cat in here?" Sakura leaned over the boy and looked. "Oh wow, it's Kaze!"

"Kaze?" Syaoran blinked.

"Yeah, isn't it fitting? He looks like his fur was blown in the wind and never settled back." She pointed to the sleeping gray and white kitten. "I saw him a lot when I started coming over so I thought he could use a name."

"Well how are we going to get him out?"

"Just wait it out. He'll eventually come out for food." Tomoyo sat next to Eriol and took his hand in hers.

Syaoran noticed this and pointed at their interlaced fingers. "You guys dating already or something?"

"Something like that," Eriol grinned lightly.

"Yes we are," Tomoyo replied at the same time.

The blue haired boy noticed that Sakura was looking at him so he met her eyes and received the biggest grin he'd ever remembered seeing. 'She told her everything,' his mind realized. Blushing horribly, he looked down at the floor and halfly listened to Syaoran beg the cat to come out.

"Stop being so nervous!" Sakura whispered to her friend as they walked down the street. "You're coming over for dinner, not lining up at the shooting gallery."

"Same difference," Syaoran groaned, rounding the corner and looking at Sakura's house. "This is it isn't it?"

"You remembered," She seemed pleased at the thought. "You haven't been here in almost seven years have you?"

"Nuh uh," Any farther words were cut off as the door suddenly bound open and what looked like an armored Lion bound out, tackling Sakura.

"Sakura!" A thick Osaka accent came up as the lion nuzzled her. "I've missed you!"

"Kero-chan, someone could see you!" Sakura hugged him back, despite protesting. "I've missed you too!" She gave him another hug and a small kiss on his nose before turning her head and pointing. "You remember Syaoran right?"

"Ah, the brat's back? I thought I heard Touya mention that."

"Who you calling a brat, you over grown stuffed animal!?" Kero roared back at him, making Syaoran take a step back. "Hey, ease up will you? A 'nice to see you' would work wonders."

Kero smirked and padded over to him. "You've grown up a lot I see. Lots of magical power radiating from you… Although…" Kero hopped up on his hind legs and pinned the boy against the houses gate and glared into his eyes. "Your right eye is-"

"Kero-chan! Don't pin him!" Sakura pulled him back and pet him a few times. "Are Yukito-san and my brother here too or did you come ahead?"

"We're here." Touya's voice floated over to them from his place leaning against the doorframe. "Welcome home, Sakura."

"You too!" The teenage girl ran over to him and tackled the older boy in a hug. "Haven't seen you in almost a month." When she let go, Sakura immediately hugged Yukito as well. "And you, Yukito-san!"

Syaoran stood at the bottom of the stairs, watching with a slight smile on his face. When Yukito let go of Sakura, he noticed him for the first time and called out his greeting. "Syaoran-san, it's been a while."

"Ah," He agreed, walking up and shaking his hand. "You look good."

"You too, been working out I see?"

"You could say that," His eyes turned to Touya, who was glaring. Apparently he hadn't told the others about his comment of Sakura being in his shower that morning. "Uh, Hello Touya-san."

When he didn't reply back, Sakura discreetly stomped on his foot and hissed up at him. "Hello, brat." He managed out, which was good enough for his little sister.

"Well then!" Sakura clapped her hands together in front of herself. "Let's all go inside and I'll make us a great dinner and we can talk about things."

"And that brings us to the present," Syaoran finished finally, drinking from his glass to avoid the looks on him.

"So you're the reason that building on the news blew up," Yukito thought aloud.

"So you're the reason my little sister is in danger again!" Touya snarled at him.

"Brother!" Sakura kicked him under the table, making him wince, but back down none the less. "If anything this is my fault for opening the book years ago!"

"Then let's blame it on Kero for sleeping," Yukito pet the large lion on the head to show that it was a joke. "But my other self wishes to say something as well…" Without waiting for a reply, he stood and backed away from the table, wings erupting from his back. Sakura, being used to this since she trained her magic with him, didn't seem effected by the sudden change. Touya however let out a startled gasp, being only his third or fourth time to actually witness the transformation. "Salutations," Yue spoke, voice calm and collected. "Syaoran, I extend my welcome to you being back."

"Thank you," Syaoran nodded at him.

"So you have been sent to protect my card mistress?" Yue sat back down after folding his wings to keep them out of the way.

"I volunteered," He corrected him. "They were originally going to send 'Strider' but he refused to leave Hong Kong. Has too much keeping him there, and he's not really part of the government."

"A mercenary?"

"More like a powerful rebel," Syaoran smiled lightly at the words, one hand subconsciously reaching to stroke his hair. "He's stronger than me, but I didn't want anyone else to be the one to protect Princess."

"Princess!?" Touya screamed, getting another kick under the table.

"It's my pet name, deal with it." Sakura glared, talking in a harsh whisper before giving the other three people at the table and happy look. "Oh nothing, don't mind us!"

"So Eriol is back as well," Kero mused, thinking aloud. "When we felt his aura while you were using cards Yue and I decided to come back right away."

"Surprising to say the least," Touya added in, looking over at them. "They both just suddenly flat out demanded for me to come home this week. Classes are cancelled as it is for holiday. Speaking of, you skipped school today, Sakura?"

"Long story," Sakura scratched the back of her head. "My grades are high enough; even if I fail a majority of the rest of the test I'll still pass. This is more important."

"We won't miss much," Syaoran added in after seeing the disapproving look on the other's faces. A sudden yawn came over him and one hand reached up to rub his left eye. "Been a long day. Thanks for the dinner Sakura; I should probably be getting back home."

"Eh!? You can't go, if you're attacked at night while you're tired it'll be dangerous. Stay here!"

"Oh he's not staying in my house!" Touya instantly protested.

"Its dad's house," She reminded him. "And since you moved out and I haven't, it's more my call anyway on if he can stay or not, and I say he's going to stay with me tonight."

"Ugh, fine. He and Yuki can share the guest room."

"He's going to sleep in my room," Sakura declared, making Syaoran almost choke on his drink.

"What!?" Touya shook his head. "Oh no he's not!"

"Why!? Yukito-san always stays with you!"

"That's different!"

"How so!?"

"It just is!"

Sakura crossed her arms and looked over at Yue, who didn't seem to have an opinion. "I'm already feeling rather tired myself," Reaching over, she took Syaoran's wrist and guided him to his feet. "Sorry but can you clean up since I cooked? Thanks." With that, she pulled the boy out of the room and started to lead him upstairs. "Kero-chan, we can catch up tomorrow, right now I just want to sleep."

"Wow, wrapped around your little finger much?" Syaoran looked over his shoulder, surprised that no one was following them.

Giggling, Sakura opened her bedroom door and motioned him inside. "Don't worry; my brother is just looking out for me." Quickly grabbing some of her cloths, she tossed them all into her open closet before closing the door and laughing nervously. "Please excuse the mess."

"For someone who is a neat-freak, you sure let loose in your own room," Syaoran held up a skimpy nightgown and let out a wolf-whistle.

Blushing darkly, Sakura ran over to him and grabbed the fabric and turned her back on him. "I've been cleaning your place the past month so I haven't had time to do any here." Her gaze went upwards as she thought. "Wow has it been that long? Dad should be back this week. I'm so glad he won't have to go out anymore until next year!"

"Get lonely?" Syaoran sat on her bed and smiled when Sakura sat down next to him, purposely touching the boy with her side.

"A little bit, yes…" She looked over and up at him. "But it hasn't been so bad since you've come back. Thanks for letting me stay over at your place so much."

"Hey, anytime. You have a key, it's our place."

"Really mean it?"

"Oh come on, we've been through that before." He grinned at her. Sakura looked down, face lightly tinted. After a moment she looked back over at him and opened her mouth to say something but suddenly paused and looked at the wall. "What is it?" Syaoran asked in a whisper.

"Through," Sakura held up a card and the wall became transparent to them. Touya was on his knees with a glass to the wall and his ear on the other end. Yukito was trying to make him stop, but paused himself and looked at the wall, squinting. A moment later he waved sheepishly. "Guess he can see the card's power too, unlike my brother…" smirking, Sakura crawled over the bed and over to the wall. "Well if you want to hear something…" Slowly she took a large intake of breath before yelling right at the spot where Touya was eavesdropping. "Oh god Syaoran right there! Harder! Harder!"

"Sakura!" Syaoran dived over to her and clamped his hand over her mouth, stifling her insane laughter as Touya fell back, shocked. "Christ, he's really going to kill me!"

"My doors locked," She grinned up at him as the through card's power faded and the beating on her door started. "He shouldn't have been listening."

"Yeah but still…"

Sakura gave the boy a light smile before closing one eye. "Turn around while I change for bed?"

"Um, yeah," Syaoran did as he was told and faced the wall, hearing Sakura use her voice card to soundproof the room and make the beating of the door completely silent. "You use your cards for a lot of things?"

"Mmhmm," Sakura nodded to herself even though he wasn't looking at her. "I use one a day at least I'm sure. I've even used Bubbles, watery, and windy to take a shower when Tomoyo and I went camping a while ago." Reaching for a long shirt, her hand paused a moment and her eyes went over to the boy. Making a quick decision, she instead opted to pick up her lacy nightgown that Syaoran had found earlier and slipped it on. After adjusting the spaghetti straps over her shoulder she made sure that the transparent parts of it didn't reveal anything too excessive before turning to him. "Okay you can look now."

Syaoran nodded and turned around slowly. When he caught sight of her his mouth dropped and his hand instantly went to his face. "Oh my god, I think my nose is bleeding…"

"Too much?" Sakura posed for him playfully then turned so he could see the back side as well. "Tomoyo made it."

"No….No, I like it…" Turning away, he spoke facing away from her. "Though I don't think you should wear it while I'm sleeping in the same room as you…"

"Why?"

"You know why!" He turned to her and backed off when he noticed that her face was now close to his.

"You're so much fun," She accused, reaching up and touching his nose. A small yawn over took her body and she found herself stretching out. "Sorry, I don't have any cloths for you to change into."

"It's okay," Syaoran got off the bed and cut off the lights. "Give me a sheet or something so you won't wake up to the sight of me in my boxers?"

"I've seen you in your boxers plenty of times. Come on, get in bed."

"But your bed is too small for-"

"I'm not going to let you sleep on the floor, now come on." Sakura reached out in the dark and found his arm, pulling him and making the boy stumble and fall on top of her. "Kya!"

"Sorry…" Syaoran looked down, seeing a faint outline of Sakura in the dark. "Didn't mean to pin you down…"

"It's not pinning if the girl is willing," She teased.

Syaoran smirked and leaned down so their foreheads were touching. "That won't work on me."

"Oh?" Sakura giggled. "Rather me not tease you?"

"It's okay, I don't mind." He chucked to himself before lying next to her. Sakura turned on her side so their backs were touching before he spoke again. "Have enough room?"

"Plenty," She yawned out. "Sweet dreams, Syao-chan."

"Oi!"

"You have a pet name for me, I get one for you."

"… Okay. Sweet dreams, Princess."

Sakura found herself falling slowly onto a rooftop over the city of Tokyo. Lights from the tower illuminated the night sky, giving her enough visibility to make out her surroundings. As she landed Sakura looked around to see what was going on and why she was where she was. A bell chime revealed to her that she was seeing her dream again, a fact nailed home when she saw her future self screaming and shaking her head. 'What's going on!?' her mind demanded as she watched.

Eriol ran over to Sakura's future self to try and comfort her but the girl only screamed more, frantically shaking her head. Tomoyo joined them and hugged the other girl, getting blood smeared across her cloths as well. The dreaming Sakura took a few steps forward, scared at seeing herself still screaming while desperately clutching Tomoyo now. Her mouth was open wide in a long silent scream as tears poured down her face and sobs racked her body. The second bell chime came, catching her attention as she scrambled forward to see what was bleeding. 'Am I hurt?' her mind wondered. 'One of them hurt? What!?' She saw herself scream again, reaching her hand out to pull Tomoyo closer and revealing that it too was covered in the dark red color of drying blood.

Sakura's mouth took a sharp intake of air as she awoke, once again frozen in fear and confusion. Seconds passed before her mind recalled that she was in her room and not outside in the cold. Sitting up, she wiped her eyes free of tears and held the covers to her chin as her breathing calmed down. 'That dream again,' She closed her eyes and shook her head, wanting to rid herself of the images rather than try and figure them out at the moment. Opening them up again, she looked down at Syaoran next to her. His eyes were closed lightly, breathing steadily.

Lying back down on the bed, Sakura brought the covers up over them again. She looked at the boy in front of her a moment before giving into her own uneasiness and moving forward, wrapping an arm around him in an attempt to give herself some comfort. The motion made the boy yawn and stretch lightly, scaring Sakura slightly. When the instinctive motion was complete, Syaoran brought an arm around her and lazily embraced her. The girl was pulled close and found herself pressed against his chest. She accepted the motion eagerly and sighed out in relief when her fears left her.

'This is nice,' her mind realized, feeling his breath tickle the top of her hair. 'This is the first time we've embraced in bed like this…' Sakura's mind flashed back to what Tomoyo had told her earlier. A soft blush came to her cheeks as she recalled hearing how she had seduced her friend after confessing that she still loved him after so long. Using her free hand not wrapped around him she placed her palm against his chest. Leaving it there for a moment, she let her mind wonder on what it would be like to have such an intimate relationship with someone. 'Calm down there, Sakura,' she scolded herself. 'You don't even have him as your boyfriend yet and you're already thinking that? Since when did I become the pervert?' The thought made her smile to herself as she cuddled up against him, the dream now forgotten. In the silent room in the dark Sakura found out that if she held onto him just right, and was still enough, she could hear his heartbeat.

Syaoran sighed as he slid the key into the lock of his door. Touya had given him hell all morning while Sakura took her shower and he was surprised that he got away without a scuffle from the over protective brother. Upon entering, the keys dropped from his hands. His living room was scattered with shredded pieces of magazines and his kitchen garbage was dragged out all over the place. In the middle of it all, the small gray kitten was curled up on the dining room table on a little bed of shredded paper. Growling, Syaoran ran forward and lunged onto the table, grabbing the animal. "Got you! Out you go you little…" His hands loosened up when the kitten didn't move. "Hey…What's wrong?" the words left his mouth before he even thought about the fact that he couldn't answer back anyway. Leaning forward he looked at the kitten, who barely had its eyes open. The animal gave him a weak sound before closing its eyes again and weakly letting its head rest on his hands. "Aw man… don't die on me little guy." Syaoran gave him a glance over to look for wounds before jogging back to the door and scooping down to grab his keys before closing it behind him and heading to a vet.

Author's notes: Sorry for the long delay in updating, I'll try and get more out as soon as possible

Fun facts:

"Kaze"(kah-zay) means "Wind". Sakura named the kitten because of it's messy wind blown hair. Normally I dissaprove of random Japanese words/names but for some reason I'm letting this one slide. He was originally supposed to make his appearance in chapter two, but got pushed back.

The chapter titles of this fanfic are the lyrics from the song by the same name.

This fanfic was originally intended to only be three or four chapters long, but I wrote alot of filler that doesn't really progress the story and decided to leave it in anyway, if not just for cute moments between the couplings.

The song Tomoyo was lip-syncing in her commercial shoot in chapter 3 was "Cosmic Dare (Pretty with a Pistol)" from the Cowboy Beebop soundtrack.

"Bandit" Keith, the transfer student who hounds Sakura, is a small tribute to Little Kuriboh ...In America! (He was also originally named "Joe")