Konnichiwa minna-san!

May you forgive me for everything I get wrong and enjoy it all regardless.

- Freyarri

HERE BE MONSTERS

Title: Here Be Monsters

Authoress: Freyarri

Disclaimer: Well, gee, let's see. CLAMP owns an awful lot of the characters…not me…and Joss Whedon is the person to thank for all of the Slayer lore and the particular brand of vampire/demon/'forces of darkness' mythology I'm going to be using in this fanfic…not me. You can also thank him for some of the delightful yummies that may or may not be popping up in the form of characters and subplots. I really get to claim very little of this one … but the concept of merging CCS and BtVS in such a way is, as far as I'm aware, uniquely mine. As are Felix, Ms. Blake and whoever else you don't recognise from any of the series … ses. . So … yeah. Don't sue me and don't steal my characters and I'll love you forever. Arigatou!

Rating: M. For harsh language, violence and the occasional reference to adult content.

Summary: AU. Kinomoto Sakura is the Vampire Slayer, born with the strength and skill to fight the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. Eventual S+S.

Chapter One - Underneath the Cherry Tree

It was raining hard enough to dent earth and bruise skin; a continuous curtain of icy cold downpour that had transformed the park into swamp land. Thunder rolled overhead, rumbling through the darkness and adding a disconcerting bass to the heavy ricochet of rain on stone.

Huddled beneath the nominal protection of a sakura tree, Kinomoto Sakura tugged the collar of her pink leather jacket higher up her neck, and shuddered as an enterprising stream of water cut a trail down her back.

The world around her was lit up by an eerie neon glow from the clubs and restaurants overlooking the park that she was waiting in; the grass beneath her feet and the leaves above her head shone with a sickly red hue, and the cherry blossoms that swooned around her were dyed the colour of spilled blood. It was a macabre sight, but Sakura didn't seem to notice, her gaze fixed outwards as she gnawed on her lower lip hard enough to break skin.

There was something out there. Watching her. She could feel it.

Beyond the reach of the neon, the park hid its secrets well from her, concealing them in thick shadows. Even the bridge crossing the park lake looked ominous; the bulk of the bogey man rising up from the glacial water to claim her. A multitude of beasties could be hidden away in the night … stalking her in the darkness, all claws and snarls and teeth. The foliage, bowed by the relentless sheets of rain, could be camouflaging armies with razor blades and bullets and fists the size of car tyres.

Swallowing, Sakura shook her head to dislodge the fear seizing up her muscles and then scrunched up her nose as a strand of matted auburn mane took the opportunity to smack into her cheekbone. It was a light slap, but it stung in the cold as Sakura tucked the sopping lock behind her ear and absently rubbed at bridge of her nose. Her eyes, a dazzling emerald green even in the unnatural light, never once stopped darting uneasily about the park.

Sakura's ears strained, twitching forwards as her jaw clenched with the effort of trying to penetrate the echoing sounds of a heavy bass, the cacophony of hiccupping giggles and braying laughter, and the thudding of her own heart beat in her ribcage.

It was stupid, she knew; childish, like a baby girl huddled under her sheets as the weight of her favourite dress made its hanger grate against the inside of the dresser door. The scariest thing out there was probably a feral tom cat, all hisses and plucky bluffs. Absolutely nothing to be afraid of given she wasn't allergic to fur.

Reason told her to grow up. But gut instinct yelled at her to run - to run as far and as fast as she could and then half a mile further still. Compromise kept her rooted.

Then she heard it; a sharp crack off from slightly too far to the right to be directly in front of her, coming from about ten metres out.

Her heart stopped. For one nasty, lurching moment she was convinced she was having a heart attack, but then it didn't hurt and she didn't die and all of the evidence seemed to point to the fact that the muscle was working again. If so, it was the only one in her body that was; Sakura wasn't sure she could breathe even if she were to notice that she wasn't actually doing it anymore.

It's not a ghost - oh, please, not a ghost - it interacted with it's surroundings - stepped on a twig - ghosts can't do that - onii-chan said … not corporeal - not a ghost not a ghost not a ghost not a gho - Sakura's panicked internal ramblings cut off with a gasp as she saw them: four pairs of amber eyes glowing in the saturated darkness, irises fixed, unerringly on her.

And then they started to move.

The pairs of golden eyes split away from each other, two circling left around the thick patch of bushes hiding them from sight, another going right and the final one stalking forwards, apparently unaffected by the unseen tangle of greenery at ground level. Her muscles seized tight, Sakura tracked their progress through the dark, shuddering under the intense, anticipatory stares levelled in her direction.

They were nearer now and stepping ever closer. Sakura couldn't breathe. Her pulse was thudding in her throat like a trapped thing. Her knees had melted to rubber. Her vision had tunnelled until the only real thing was those feral amber stares, glinting oddly in the blend of moonlight and neon. Her mind felt numb - fuzzy. Detached. She was shaking - the rain water still thudding into her skin, but it didn't hurt anymore. She couldn't even feel it.

Rain? What rain?

Sakura's foot lifted off of the ground and she didn't notice. She stepped forwards, towards the eyes, the heel of her boot flattening the sodden cherry blossoms that littered the ground underneath the Sakura tree. Her other foot lifted and swung forwards and then -

- they blinked. And Sakura ran.

She couldn't remember what happened immediately after her mind snapped back into focus - would be unable to recall those few seconds even in death - all she knew was that she was running. And that the eyes were chasing her.

Sakura ran faster than she could ever remember running before - there was a difference of more than a few seconds between running laps on a track, and running for your life, and Sakura was damn good at running around an athletics' track. Her hair flared out behind her like a dying flag, the rain water making it heavy. The rain punched tiny pinpricks into her face, and it felt like shards of ice were cutting her skin. Sakura felt the heat of blood in her cheeks after each stab, and was convinced she was bleeding. But she ignored the pain, even when she came down on a patch of mud, arms wind milling as her foot lost purchase on the slippery ground and she landed heavily on the water-laden grass, her skull cracking on a rock.

The world exploded around her and all that there was, was the sensation of someone taking a sledgehammer to the back of her head.

Sakura groaned and fought through the pain. The universe swam back into focus and there was rain again, puncturing her face and making her clothes heavy. There was the background noise of Tokyo nightlife, so near and yet so far. And there. There was the unmistakable whisper in the wind, the tingling in the back of her mind, the occasional rustle of leaves and misplaced footfall. And she just knew: they were still coming.

The knowledge sent a frantic shock of adrenaline through her. She was on her feet somehow, using her fingers as grips in the mud to get up and then, not waiting to make sure she was steady, Sakura burst forward like a sprinter from the blocks.

They were closer now, and she could hear them more clearly, though she still had to strain her senses. She could hear no breath from behind her, though the occasional crackling twig was so close there should have been heat on the back of her neck. Raw fear made Sakura squeeze her eyes closed as she ran and an overgrown branch slammed into the bridge of her nose, the rough bark grazing her cheekbone as she yelped and spun wide of the offending bough.

Her eyes flew open unbidden as the toe of her boot caught on her ankle and she went down in a rush of gravelled path and amber eyes.

There were hands on her before her back even hit the ground. Fingers dug into her arms and a stray hand brushed the inside of her thigh. Sakura gasped and pulled away, her effort futile as other hands found her shoulders and jerked her roughly onto her stomach.

"No! Hey! Get off me! Onegai!" The words seemed so small and useless even as Sakura said them. The sole of someone's shoe smashed her face into the ground and the rest of her panicked plea was smothered by gravel. Sakura hissed in pain and jack-knifed, pulling her head back and then twisting upwards. She lashed out instinctively, but backhanded nothing but empty air.

The sudden movement sent stars sparking through her line of sight and her head swam like the world was cork-screwing. But as the cacophony of lights cleared, Sakura could make out four shapes into the darkness, slightly blurred but rapidly coming into focus. Sakura's eyes quickly readjusted to the low level of light and she blinked in surprise: they were women; curvaceous, exotic women. But there was something wrong with their faces - the ultimate face lift from hell - and their eyes …

"Nani …?" Sakura breathed.

They had retreated a few feet away from her after their initial onslaught and now stood on all sides of her, watching her with what could only be described as hungry anticipation. Sakura gulped and, eyes switching between the four women, scrambled to her feet.

Her back had just arched straight when the first strike came.

It came from behind; a heel driven into the small of her back. Sakura pitched forwards and she stumbled, trying to absorb the momentum of the kick. A sound escaped her throat as she fought to keep her balance: half-frustrated sob and half-inarticulate pain.

This wasn't happening. It couldn't be happening. They were just women - why were they doing this? Sakura didn't understand.

Knuckles smashed into the same cheekbone that the tree branch had torn into and Sakura grunted. The force of the blow rocked her and it was sheer force of will alone that kept her from falling to her knees, though the hit drove her halfway there. Sakura amended her thought as she surged back upwards, twisting her upper body as she snapped her hand around in an improvised, desperate haymaker - these things weren't women. They were monsters.

The combined force of Sakura's body weight as she leaned into the punch and the collective strength of the muscles in her legs and her arm knocked the monster off of its feet and sent it flying through the air. It seemed to hang there for forever and a day and then it just stopped. Mouth open in a startled 'o', Sakura stared, arm still outstretched and body frozen in place as she watched the monster's eyes shoot open in pained disbelief. It seemed stuck, like the air had solidified around it. Then Sakura's eyes made out the rough pattern of the bark behind the creature's head and shoulders and her eyes started to widen as realisation dawned.

It was … she had … oh, Kami-sama

Not daring to breathe, Sakura's eyes tracked downwards, past the woman's neck and down to the branch that had erupted from her chest cavity. That had to have pierced her heart.

"Oh, Kami-sama, I am so sorry … I -"

The woman let out a choked exhalation. Sakura thought she might be laughing. Or maybe she was crying. Whatever the sound was, it ended almost as abruptly as it began - the woman was falling apart, disintegrating into dust even as Sakura watched. The dust suddenly exploded. Poof. The woman - creature, thing, monster, nightmarehad to be - was gone. Just like that.

Trick of the light. Had to be.

Sakura staggered backwards, shaking her head forcefully as though the motion would dislodge the memory and send it cascading into the shadows of the neon-lit park. It just wasn't physically possible … it …

Suddenly Sakura froze, sensing rather than hearing the three remaining women still surrounding her. She swallowed slowly and turned her head to each of them in turn. All three of them were staring, expressionless and unblinking, at the tree branch. They seemed to have forgotten all about her, and Sakura took a cautious step to the side, careful not to cross their line of sight any more than she had to.

Then it happened.

The screams tore through the air as the three women fell to their knees and threw their heads back, screaming anguished challenges at the soaked red moon. The noise was guttural and primitive, and it made Sakura's bones quiver.

So she ran. For the second time that night, Sakura couldn't remember the intervening seconds between horrified stillness and frantic motion. Maybe it was because the decision to flee had been reflex and there wasn't much to remember about it, if anything at all. Or maybe it was because she would give anything to forget what had occurred here tonight. Anything, anything at all.

At some point in her mad dash earlier, Sakura had veered towards the restaurants and clubs and life that were responsible for the disorientating glow enveloping the landscape. Now she was nearly there, so close she could taste the petrol fumes of running engines in her mouth. She couldn't hear the howling anymore and its absence only made her run faster. Sakura barely noticed it when she burst from the tree line, vaulted a fence that seemed tiny in its relative insignificance and then spilled out onto the concrete road that separated the Ueno Keno parkfrom the bustling nightlife beyond.

The squealing protest of braking tires snapped her out of her instinct-driven daze and Sakura spun, eyes widening as bright light blinded her and the roar of an engine skidded closer. The auburn haired girl simply gaped like a deer staring down the headlights, waiting for the car to hit her. The car's horn blared and Sakura slammed her eyes shut, brain uncomprehending, and then -

- the bumper nudged Sakura's hip.

Sakura's eyes flew open - wide and breath-taking in their brilliance - and for what seemed like an eternity she just stared down at the dented silver metal resting against her thigh. The driver's side door was flung open and a girl tumbled out of the car, all shaggy hair and clomping combat boots, but Sakura didn't notice.

"Hey! Baka!"

The gruff shout snagged Sakura's attention and shook it like a wet Labrador guarding a favoured chew toy. Sakura's head shot up and she stared blankly at the driver of the car. The other girl was stepping closer, gesticulating now. Her mouth was still moving. There was a mobile phone in her hand; some racy silver design that wasn't quite the perfect blend of aesthetics and practicality.

"… phone 119?"

Sakura's brain snapped back into gear. "Iie! Gomen nasai! I'm fine. I --"

The bushes off to Sakura's right rustled over the pitter patter of the falling rain and she froze, muscles leaping to taut attention. Then she was running again like the gait was an interlude to yet another crowd-pleasing scene and she knew she wouldn't like what she found when she stumbled onto that new stage but she couldn't stop her legs and her muscles were pumping and pumping and she. Needed. To. Stop.

When she did finally stop her feet nearly skidded out from underneath her and her outstretched arms hit blossom pink metal. The Vespa GTS rocked slightly as she leaned away and shoved her hand into her jean pocket, fingers groping and stretching for the key. Her index finger hooked through the key ring and Sakura yanked the key out of her pocket, simultaneously swinging her leg over the saddle and ramming the key into the ignition. Sakura had just peeled away from the kerb when the three monsters rushed out of the tree line.

Sakura gunned the engine and the scooter surged forwards hard and fast, throwing her back in the seat. Through the rear view mirror Sakura watched as the three creatures gathered in the middle of the road, staring after her. The girl who had nearly knocked her over retreated quickly back into her car. Sakura was ashamed to say that she couldn't help but feel relieved that she wasn't the only one who had chills crawling down her spine and whisperings of terror taking up residence in her gut at the mere sight of those three women.

But for now it didn't seem as though they were going to chase her. Maybe it was the people - witnesses. Maybe they were well-lit-public-area-phobes. Or maybe they couldn't keep up with 250cc of motor scooter. Sakura didn't particularly care; she was just relieved that they were gone. That she was safe.

Though there was all the logic and reason in the world to reassure Sakura that she was safe now, the auburn-haired sixteen year old frequently had to tear her eyes from the rear view mirror, gaze hunting the shadows for movement or signs of life. Not even the sudden, surprising discomfort of damp skin on sodden jeans on slick leather could draw her attention from the threat that she was sure was still coming.

Tokyo blurred into a collage of red lights, blaring horns and Sakura's disjointed perspective of the world she was racing away from. Sakura couldn't feel the rain on her face anymore - the nerve endings in her cheeks were numb and unresponsive; her skin could have been grated across rough asphalt and she wouldn't have been able to feel anything - but she was aware of the droplets of excess water clinging to her eyelids and sending sparks of reflected light through her line of vision. The effect was disorientating and Sakura blinked rapidly, squinting against the downpour as she swung the Vespa around a tight corner, tunnel vision and heavy limbs making her oblivious and unresponsive to the red light that she ran through.

It took Sakura only twenty-eight minutes to get home, pushing the motor scooter to the limit. The brakes protested with a loud, grating squeal - the rain making them slick - as she skidded to a halt in front of the suburban Kinomoto household and slumped over the handles of her Vespa, all of the tension draining out of her body in a single flood of boneless liberation. "Oh, arigatou, Kami-sama."

Shivering slightly because of the cold or shock or a combination of the two, Sakura dismounted the Vespa and wheeled it up the drive towards the house. She left the scooter outside - Touya would hear the garage door open and she really didn't want to bump into him right now - beneath her window and then clambered up the trellised vines secured to the red brick wall with a practiced ease. The catch to her window was already loose and hitching the pane up high enough for her to slide under and through was easy.

Her phone was ringing.

Feet just touching the plush carpet flooring as she clambered through the window, Sakura paused, her fingers instinctively going to her jeans pocket. The familiar bulk of her mobile wasn't there and Sakura's head snapped up, eyes following the sound to her bedside table. Sure enough, the light pink phone was resting there, snug against her cherry-shaded alarm clock. Eyes wide in surprise and self-consternation, Sakura pushed the rest of her body through the window and, unable to stop the nervous shiver that flooded down her spine, turned back to the glass pane and pushed it shut as tight as she could, double and triple checking that the catch was secure before she crossed the room to her mobile.

The call screen was blank except for one flashing letter: F. Sakura let out a breath she hadn't been aware she was holding and slammed her eyes shut, the better to centre herself. She didn't move for what felt like an eternity, concentrating on the flow and ebb of her breathing and the slowing of her erratic heart beat. Then, as though a switch had been thrown, she twisted and slumped back onto her bedding, her thumb simultaneously pressing against the 'receive call' button.

"Moshi moshi," Sakura murmured, trying to enforce some cheer into her voice. Her attempt fell flat and the loud intake of breath on the other end of the line informed her that she wasn't the only one to notice.

"Sakura-chan? You … okay?" The voice was hesitant, quiet and Sakura wondered if she really did sound as bad as she felt right now.

"Hai, genku desu," Sakura said automatically, her lips forming the words even as her brain screamed 'Iie!' " … actually, Felix-chan, I … don't think I am."

There was a rush of breath over the phone, like the girl on the other end was just relieved to hear her admit it. "Gomen nasai, Sakura-chan. I just … you always were telling me I shouldn't drive so fast … guess you were right, huh?"

Sakura blinked and tilted her head so she could frown at the mouthpiece. "Nani?"

"I mean … I could've killed you! Like 'bam', 'squish', bye bye Sakura!--" For a second Sakura tuned out Felix's increasingly frantic rant to focus on figuring out what was going on. Felix was worried about her - apparently this wasn't a call just to apologise for not meeting her at Ueno Keno - and thought that she'd nearly killed her. The only thing Sakura had ever had to nag at Felix to slow down for was … oh. "--all because I was running late to meet you! And I am so sorry about that, too, by the wa--"

"That was you?" Sakura interrupted, disbelief clear in her tone as she tried to sort through her memories of the night. Everything was a little fuzzy and events refused to sort themselves into order. Even now her perception seemed a little off, like someone had wrapped her in cotton candy and then stuffed her brain into a padded room. "I didn't … realise."

"You didn't realise?" It was Felix's turn to be disbelieving. Sakura could just see the quirked eyebrow and the slightly slack-jawed expression. "Sakura-chan, I nearly hit you with a car. How could you not realise?" Sakura had no way of answering that - the question still tap-dancing through her own mind, the answer just out of reach - and so an uncomfortable silence stretched across the phone line for a few seconds before Felix hesitantly probed, "does this have anything to do with those chicks that were chasing you?"

"You saw them?" Sakura demanded, worry tinging her voice as she grasped the phone tighter in her hand. Vaguely a memory of a girl - Felix - scurrying back to the relative safety of her car while the three women stood only ten feet away rose to her conscious mind. An affirmative-sounding noise came from the other end and Sakura hissed, gingerly prodding at the bridge of her injured nose as Felix confirmed that they had been neither dream nor hallcuination. So maybe she hadn't just gone crazy and started randomly running into trees … "Did they … they didn't … you're okay though, right? No bruises, broken bones, etcetera …?"

"No," Felix said, sounding half-surprised and half-understanding. Whatever was weird about those girls, Felix had obviously noticed it too. "They just left after you took off. Like you'd ruined their party. To be honest, I was kind of expecting some trouble myself. But … no cigar. Not even a little, puny cigarette." Felix's drawl suddenly cut itself short to be replaced by a much more serious tone, "why're you asking? When I saw you, you looked like the hounds of Hell and Hades were on your back … they didn't hurt you, did they?"

"… Define 'hurt'," Sakura finally said, unconsciously pushing herself up off of her bed and moving over to her vanity cabinet. She lowered herself into the chair there and, unbidden, her gaze flickered up to the mirror inset in the back of the wooden frame. Sakura flinched; she looked like she'd just lost a fight with a lawn mower.

Though … her nose honestly didn't look as bad as she'd imagined, and the cheek that had taken the most damage of all actually looked pretty healthy …

"Sakura-chan …" Felix said, "maybe you should … I don't know, inform some higher authority? Like the police? Or maybe Ghostbusters - want to bet they'd know how to handle that strange 'why, hello there, little Miss Lunchtime Snack' vibe those chicks were giving off?"

"I would, but somehow I don't think --" Sakura was cut off by an impatient rapping at the door. She froze, pressing her phone into her shoulder as her brother's voice came through the wall.

"Sakura? That you in there - when did you get in?" Touya didn't wait for a reply - the door knob was already turning. Sakura's panicked eyes met her reflection's and in a split second of realisation Sakura saw exactly how Touya would react when he saw her - panic, anger; protective rage at it's finest.

"I'm naked!" Sakura suddenly yelped, the words coming out without checking with her brain first. "Shower … wet … towel!" But it worked. The door, which had been inching further open, suddenly stopped and then, seemingly at light speed, slammed back shut.

There was silence - bar from the snickering coming from the phone - and then, "yeah, well, don't want to go blind now, right, kaijuu?"

"Sakura no kaijuu!" Sakura yelled at the retreating footsteps going down the hall. The full-throated laughter now erupting from her mobile's ear piece soon drew her attention back and the pout fell off of her lips. "Well, I'm not," she informed Felix a tad petulantly, mind whirring as she tried to figure out what she was going to tell Touya about her face tomorrow.

"I know, Saku-chan, I know." Felix reassured, voice lilting, "and even if you were, I'd still miss you. You know that, right? It just sucks that we missed spending your last night here together. I had plans. Special plans. There could have been bowling. There probably wouldn't have been," Felix amended after a moment, much to Sakura's amusement, "but there could have been."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed wistfully, adding an unneeded, "we head out in the morning - Otou-san wants to beat the morning traffic. We'll maybe get there around dinner time, I guess, provided Touya's bladder doesn't burst. Did I ever tell you that he has a bladder the size of a golfball?"

"Once or twice. Repeatedly. Each day. For a fortnight in third grade." Felix supplied dryly with a snort. "Where was it you said you were going, anyway?" She paused for a moment and then, perhaps sensing an admonition headed her way, hastened to add, "Channing Tatum walked on screen the exact moment you told me the first time, y'know. You can't blame a girl for zoning out a little in those circumstances. Trust me; it ranked way up there with Jensen Ackles in a little blue towel. A wet Jensen Ackles in a little blue towel."

Sakura laughed. "Huh uh. And let me guess - you were too busy drowning in drool to pay any attention?"

"There may have been drooling," Felix retorted evasively, her chuckles easily audible down the phone line. "But c'mon, spill … unless you're planning to run away and never see me again, in which case I can understand how telling me where you're going would kind of put a spanner in the works."

"Don't give me ideas," Sakura murmured, her gaze catching her own in the mirror for the third time. It felt a little like she'd crashed back to Earth with no parachute - the reminder of the night's scary and downright befuddling events making her stomach drop to her toes. Was there more blood on her face? She looked like she'd been bathing in the stuff … the sight was macabre to say the least.

Swallowing slightly, Sakura tuned out Felix's indignant - and relieved - chatter and stood, moving from the vanity cabinet to her door. For a moment she just stood, senses straining to pick out sounds of life on the other side and the sixteen year old only relaxed when she heard her Onii-chan pottering about in the kitchen, her Otou-san's deep, soothing tones only just audible over the noise. Assured that there was no one waiting on the other side of the door to ambush her, Sakura left her bedroom and padded down the hall to the bathroom, her mobile still pressed to her ear, and her bedroom door left open just a crack.

The bathroom was as spotless as always, the white tile gleaming. Sakura winced involuntarily as she crossed the room and her muddy shoes left imprints on the pastel green bathmat. Stopping by the wash basin, Sakura spared a moment to stare into the mirror, aghast at how pale she looked in the harsh light of the bathroom; her skin looked like paper beneath the blood and her eyes stood out like beacons. Even her auburn hair looked stark against her skin.

Grimacing, Sakura plugged up the basin and then turned the taps on full. She reached for a matching pastel face cloth and ran it under the water before using it to gingerly wipe away some of the blood. One gentle swipe across her skin complete, Sakura wrung the cloth over the basin, feeling her stomach lurch as the water turned a salty pink.

It took less time than Sakura would have imagined for her to feel remotely human again, but by the time she'd finished the water in the sink was pure scarlet.

"Sakura-chan?" Felix's voice, which had been toned down in 'friendly, not important teasing/gossip' mood only seconds previous cut through Sakura's daze with it's seriousness. "You still haven't told me where you're going, y'know. I'm starting to feel unwanted."

"Oh," Sakura said, voice listless as she stared, disbelieving and confused at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. The skin unearthed beneath dried blood was smooth, flawless in its perfection. Had she … healed? How … ?

"Sakura-chan?" Felix prompted once more, sounding worried.

Sakura swallowed. "Tomoeda. I think they call it Tomoeda."