What if she didn't pass the final judgment? What if Yue made them forget everything? They were sent back into the real world with no memory of the Clow Cards or of each other.
The alarm clock rang uncontrollably. Sakura almost expected to hear some one yelling at her to wake up but the voice never came. She lazily reached for the alarm and turned it off. She looked at it with the dazed look of someone just waking up. Seeing that it read 7:30, she rushed out of bed to get ready for school. In the back of her mind she heard a voice yelling at her about sweet treats but then it was gone.
She was heading down Cherry St. when she thought she saw a figure on a bike waiting for her. She blinked and the image was gone again. 'What's wrong with me today?' She thought to herself. 'If things keep going like this then people may think I'm going crazy…'
Sakura made it to school without anything out of the ordinary happening and saw her best friend Tomoyo/Madison.
"Hey Sakura, ready for the history test today?" Tomoyo/Madison asked as she walked up to Sakura.
"Hey Tomoyo/Madison. Yeah, I studied all last night so I hope I do well." Sakura replied. They walked to class together, chatting the entire time about school and cheerleading and choir. When Sakura opened the door to the classroom, it felt different. Like this morning on Cherry Street, she was expecting something to be there and it wasn't.
She went over to her desk and put her bag down and set it to the side. She then looked back at the desk behind her. "Hey, Tomoyo/Madison, has the desk behind me always been empty?" She asked, not looking away from the vacant desk.
"Yeah, I think so. It's been empty all year. You've never had anyone behind you." Tomoyo/Madison replied, looking from the desk to Sakura's confused expression. "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason. I just thought there was someone sitting behind me…" Sakura says as an image flashes through her head of a boy with golden eyes and brown hair hanging in his face.
The rest of the day goes by without any more incidents. Sakura makes her way home, dragging her feet a little. She's more tired then she thinks she should be. She feels utterly exhausted, like she's been out running for hours on end, instead of just the little time she takes for cheerleading practice.
She gets home and goes to sleep without eating dinner. Her dreams are filled with floating cards and a slashing sword and a pair of golden eyes half hidden by hair.
.
Somewhere far away from Sakura, sleeps a boy who dreams about floating cards and an assortment colorful clothes. A talking little stuffed animal pops in every now and then but then disappears again. A pair of emerald eyes are always there, watching. Sometimes filled with joy and other times worried or scared. This time a scream tears through the dream and flashes of crystal from an unseen foe are seen. The eyes now fill with pain and hopelessness. Then the alarm goes of and Syaoran is awake.
He doesn't take time thinking about his dream, for he almost fears it. He wants to forget those eyes that showed so much pain at the end. He's never seen them before but he feels like he should make them look happy again.
He goes down to the breakfast table, where his mother and sisters are waiting. The news is on in another room and Syaoran hears it. It's talking about disasters happening all over Japan. Power outages, fires starting randomly, huge monsters appearing out of nowhere. His mother gets up and walks to the other room where the TV is. He hears her mutter something before she returns to them.
"Syaoran, pack your bags, you're going to Japan.
.
Sakura and Tomoyo/Madison are watching the news when they hear a loud sound come from outside. Sakura looks out the window and sees a huge bird flying over the buildings. Something looks familiar about the bird but she can't place it.
She doesn't exactly know why but she goes outside to get a better look at it. That little voice that had popped up a few mornings ago resurfaced and a word was repeated over and over. FLY. Then another word came along with it. WINDY.
Sakura grabbed her baton and started to run towards the bird. Tomoyo/Madison was close behind with her video camera yelling at Sakura. "What are you doing Sakura? We have to get back inside!"
"I don't know why but I feel I need to do this! It's up to me to stop it!" Sakura yells back through the noise the birds making.
Sakura ran towards the bird, no longer caring about her own safety. She needed to stop this thing and she knew that she was the only one who could. Those golden eyes flashed in her head again. They looked so cold and angry but also held some concern if you looked deep enough. Another instant and they were gone again, pushed to the back of her mind for a later time. She then fearlessly charged into battle.
.
He had to hurry, the birds' attack was getting stronger. He couldn't let it destroy the town. He shouted into the wind created by the birds' massive wings. Fire shot out from a piece of paper that was against his sword. It touched the bird but did little against its powerful magical energy.
The bird turned its massive head towards Syaoran, anger evident in its eyes. He knew he was in trouble if he didn't do something fast, but before he had time to think the birds' attention was drawn away from him and back to the ground, near its foot.
A girl was standing there, hitting the foot with what looked to be a baton. The bird raised its foot and attempted to step on the girl. The girl was to slow to move out of the way and as she looked at the bird, her emerald eyes filled with fear, Syaoran knew that this wasn't how it was supposed to end.
"Wind element come to my aid." He yelled as a gust of wind erupted from his sword. It encircled the girl and moved her out of way just as the foot came crashing down. The wind brought the girl back to Syaoran.
"What are you doing out here?!" He asked, concern showing in his golden eyes. The girl with the emerald eyes didn't have time to answer as the bird brought its attention to them both. It spread its wings and flapped once, sending a gale force wind at them.
Reacting on instinct, Syaoran reached for the emerald eyed girl as they were blown off the building they were on.
He felt the pain of the impact as they hit the ground. Her weight landing on his own, doubling the force of the impact. He could feel the liquid that was seeping from every little scratch and the bigger, more fatal gashes that the fall had given him.
He looked down at the emerald eyed girl in his arms and almost smiled. This somehow felt right, protecting this girl, giving his own life to save hers.
"Are you alright?" He asked and she started to open her eyes. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.
"Why did you do it?" She asked.
A stray thought came to Syaorans' mind, it was way to cliché, but what people said in this kind of situation. "Because I love you Sakura." And at the moment, for reasons he couldn't quite understand, he did love this girl with the big emerald eyes. This girl he'd never met before yet her name slid off his tongue like he'd said it a million times.
.
Her eyes were filling with tears as she looked upon the golden eyes from her dreams. His voice was softer then she had expected and when he said that he loved her, their was all the sincerity in the world ringing out.
And though she had never met him before in her life, she felt a love for him that was strong and true.
She saw that he was starting to close his eyes and that his breathing was getting shallow. "This wasn't how it was supposed to end." She whispered.
He gave her a small, reassuring, smile. "Expect the unexpected, remember?"
Sakura smiled at him as the tears rolled down her face. He slowly reached up to wipe them away but his hand didn't quite make it all the way before it fell back to his chest, limp and turning cold.
"No." It came out as little more then a whisper then she got louder. "No. No. No! No! NO! Syaoran!" She screamed to the sky, her voice mixing in with the sound of the birds' wings.
She looked at the bird, a fire in her teary eyes. She grabbed the discarded sword that lay beside them and charged at the bird.
The bird flapped its wings and got higher in the air. It swiftly turned around and headed back for Sakura. She raised the sword in front of her and braced herself for the impact of the clawed feet that would break her skin. She didn't have to wait very long. She felt the sword dig in to the bird but also the birds' claws piercing her flesh. They both let out a cry of anguish and then fell to the ground. With her last bit of strength, Sakura dragged herself back to Syaoran and lay in his arms as her breathing slowed and her heart stopped.
.
Not far away, a camera watched the entire fight. Tears rolled down her face as she looked upon the crumpled form of her best friend. All she could say as she looked around at the destruction that had been caused and at the two lifeless forms on the ground was "This wasn't how it was supposed to end."