Heya everyone! This is my first CCS fanfic so please go easy on me if I have done some blunders..

Read on!

CHAPTER 1: THE CONTEST

Syaoran Li stood in the stands, craning his neck as far as possible. He was tall, almost touching six foot, with carefully messy chestnut hair framing his lightly tanned face, shining amber eyes, a physique that could rival a professional football player. It was a physique that made girls weak in the knees and boys green with envy.

Exactly which was happening now; but he was blissfully oblivious of that. He was scanning the participant stand for the only face that made his life worth living-that cute round face, those emerald eye, brown hair held up in tiny piglets...

Sakura Kinomoto...

The girl whom he loved more than his own life.

Plain and simple.

"Sit down, for heaven's sake Syaoran!" said Yamazaki, slightly grinning at his friend's eagerness to see Sakura perform.

"I will wager you are more nervous than her," added Eriol Hiragizawa, tossing back his ebony black hair and adjusting his spectacles.

"Ya Syaoran, we all know how important this is for Sakura," added Tomoyo Daidouji as she adjusted the angle of her arm to get a better view in her video camera.

"Sshh!" she hissed violently, making the three boys jump.

"The announcer is giving her intro!"

Syaoran finally sat down, smiling at himself. He certainly did stupid things sometimes!

"And now," began the announcer.

"Time to introduce our old favourite-the last participant of The National Ice Skating Championships...hold your breath and bring your hands together for...SAKURA KINOMOTO!"

A defeaning applause filled the stadium as everyone clapped with energy-Sakura had been winning for the last three years so she had a formidable fan-base.

As she glided to the centre of the ice rink, Syaoran felt as if an angel herself descended to the mortal world. Clad in a deep red and silver sequinned ice-skating dress with bright red ribbons holding up her hair, she looked beautiful, angelic...

"Damn! I can never understand how can someone be so beautiful," he said out loud.

"Well, considering I made that dress for her, she's bound to look ravishing. I just hope she holds out this time...I have seen her routine and its pretty difficult." said Tomoyo, worry sprinkled in her voice.

The stadium darkened and the spotlights focussed on her as she took her position.

"Okay Sakura Kinomoto," the announcer said.

"Three-two-one...LET THE MUSIC PLAY!"

As the soft opening notes began to play, he realised it with a jolt that it was his favourite piece...

Ave Maria.

"Hey Syaoran...you will come to the competition, right?" she had asked him yesterday.

"Of course, Sakura. Why ask?" he answered, slightly surprised. He always went to the competition as a spectator since they were in elementary.

"No...it's my last competition, I want it to be a tribute to you." she whispered.

Syaoran was taken aback.

"M-Me?" he managed to splutter.

"Yes."

Now he understood.

And Tomoyo wasn't joking when she said that her routine was difficult. It was insanely impossible...backflips, twists, twirls...he thought that every turn in the skating terminology was being performed here.

As the audience "ooh-"ed and "aah-"ed at every difficult move, he couldn't help but pray that it ended well.

"Hey Tomoyo, isn't this too high-level?" asked Yamazaki, puzzled.

"It is, but according to her, that new competitor Kimaya Shiro is like big deal. And she wants to finish her skating career with a win..so.."

"Kimaya Shiro huh..."

Syaoran thought back to Kimaya's performance. Sure, it was impressive, but compared to Sakura's it wasn't even worth watching. He watched, transfixed as if both by her elegance and her sheer professionalism.

It was four years back when they began dating in earnest. He couldn't help but cringe at the thought as to how he hated her initially. She was kind, well-behaved, popular, athletic, had good-grades but was unnaturally clumsy. It wasn't her fault he hated her-he just couldn't stand girls then; Meilin Li had driven him up the wall with her possessiveness. When they were assigned the same History project, things really had come head-to-head. It was when Tomoyo gave him the ultimate death threat that he became milder.

To his surprise, Sakura bore no ill-feelings towards him. As he came to know her better, he found out that she was actually very nice. Through her, he got to know his now-best buds Yamazaki and Eriol and also Tomoyo. He was glad to realise that Tomoyo could be fun, as long as he didn't made Sakura cry.

Soon, that friendship grew into something more...and then, he finally blurted it out in middle school.

"I love you, Sakura..."

Those emerald eyes...the love that shone through them...was branded in his brain forever.

"SAKURA!" Syaoran, Tomoyo, Eriol and Yamazaki screamed in unision.

The last jump resulted her in slipping on the ice and she crashed head-first on the floor. The stadium went deathly silent.

"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled as they dashed down the seats onto the very edge of the floor.

Blood streamed out of her head as she lay on the white ice floor unconscious, making a deadly red circle around her.

"MEDICS! ON THE FLOOR PLEASE!" the announcer yelled on his mic frantically.

A team of white-clad medics wearing snowshoes rushed onto the floor. One applied a compress on her head while three lifted her gently on the stretcher. Her manager, Shizune Yagami went over to Syaoran.

"You better make your way to the hospital as fast as you can, I will go with her in the ambulance," she said gently.

"B-but..." he began.

"You will reach early if you leave now, otherwise the gates would be crowded."

Yamazaki took the wheel and drove as he didn't trust Syaoran in the present condition. Eriol called up Sakura's brother while Tomoyo informed her father of the same.

"Yamazaki-hurry UP!" said Syaoran, panic plain in his voice.

Tomoyo gave his shoulder a light squeeze.

"She would be fine, trust me,"

Syaoran just gave a vacant nod.

Yamazaki drifted into the hospital drive-way; Syaoran was out before the car had even stopped completely.

"Hey you moron! Do you want to get admitted too?" Eriol told his retreating back angrily.

"Cut the guy some slack," said Yamazaki as he looked for a free spot to park the car.

"You two go with him; I don't trust him in this mood."

Eriol nodded in agreement.

"Come Tomoyo, let's go."

Syaoran peeped into the ICU though the glass pane.

Sakura was the lone occupant in the six-bedded ward. Scores of machines were attached to her bandaged body which beeped continuosly. The sterile white room seemed way too uncharacteristic for someone like her; it seemed lifeless and bland.

"How is she?"

He wheeled around to find Tomoyo and Eriol, panting slightly.

"The doctors say she suffered an ankle fracture along with a head injury. Looks like she won't be skating anytime soon,"

"That bad?"

"Yeah," he sighed.

"Touya and Mr. Kinomoto are now talking with the doctor who's handling the case."

"This is Sakura," said Tomoyo in a determined voice.

"She will be fine."

Half-an-hour or so later, Touya and Mr. Kinomoto came over to them.

Normally, Syaoran and Touya stayed at arm's length from each other as both of them felt that Sakura belonged to them first. It was the first time Syaoran has seen Touya angry on someone else other than him.

"Shizune had called," he said in a quiet voice that simmered with anger.

"She didn't slip-someone had loosened up the metal strap so it broke when she jumped."

Tomoyo gasped in horror as Eriol and Syaoran froze.

"Someone deliberately sabotaged her," Touya concluded.

"But what I do not understand is, who on earth would do something so horrible?" wondered Mr. Kinomoto.

"Whoever did this, that person is freaking dead," Syaoran swore, his voice raw with sadness, worry and immeasurable anger.

"And for the first time, I agree with you," said Touya, mirroring Syaoran's voice.

Just then, Yamazaki came running.

"Syaoran! It's Meilin! She saw what happened on TV and she's coming to Japan now!"

There! Hope you guys like it! I will try and update soon... :)