How many memories were entrusted
To the sky beyond the flying birds?
Short-lived hopes and dreams
Are forgotten in an unreachable place
Can you say our meeting was coincidence?
Even though the time will surely come when we part?
---Melodies of Life (FF9) Japanese Version
Chapter One
Fifteen-year-old Kinomoto Sakura, with her tousled honey brown hair and eternally cheerful green eyes, was crouched in the shadows of an old fence and some bushes with two other people, who were either lost in thought or fiddling with their camcorder. She was wearing a pair of black pants and a dark green shirt, and she automatically smoothed her hair as she looked at her friends.
Daidoju Tomoyo had been her friend since the day they met in the first grade. She was usually quiet, with long black hair and amethyst eyes. There was almost always a kind, playful smile on her lips, and she'd taken to wearing long skirts and lots of jewelry when she wasn't in her school uniform. Now she was dressed in black as to not attract the attention of the men that the trio were spying on.
Li Syaron was on her left, between Tomoyo and Sakura. His medium brown hair framed gold brown eyes that were stubborn, wryly humorous, and strong all at the same time. He was dressed in the baggy bottoms of his fighting costume and a black shirt. He and Sakura hadn't always been friends, but when Kero was injured one day during a fight with a Clow Card, a tearful and worried Sakura had turned to Syaron for help in capturing it. After that Syaron was unable to remain cold with Sakura, and at his prodding his former fiance, Meiling, was able to accept Sakura as well. Meiling was at another martial arts competition, and was undoubtedly worrying about the three of them that very moment. Their last attempts to figure out what was going on had been unsuccesful, to say the least.
It had been started by a dream of Sakura's, one of her visions. This one had involved a cloaked and shadowy form standing in the darkness as it captured a Clow Card. She'd seen ghosts as it's side, a beautiful, golden female, and a gray and white tiger. A cadaverous form behind the figure resembled the form of Death, and even further behind it were other Clow Cards held in chains. Something about them seemed good, pure.
A few days after Sakura first had the vision she sensed a Clow Card nearby. Going to investigate she'd run into the gray and white tiger. So now she and the others were trying to figure out who was capturing the Clow Cards and how he or she was doing it.
Syaron had used his compass to search for Cards and it had pointed them to this direction. Acting on a hunch that the owner of the Cards had the Gold Card judging from Sakura's description of her vision, Kero proposed that their new enemy was paying off human troops. This might be one of their only chances to figure out who it was. He had ordered the stakeout, and Sakura had swallowed the urge to remind him of the party that was going on that night, the one she'd promised Chiruru she would go to. She seemed to be doing that a lot, lately, breaking her promises to her friends. Sakura felt wistfulness rise up in her chest, and then she shook herself back to reality.
She broke the silence, tapping Syaron on the shoulder and whispering, "Have you seen anything?"
Syaron came out of his small trance, glancing at the warehouse that they were spying on. It's walls had once been cream colored siding, the pavement once smooth, and the windows once straight and clear. Now the siding was an unattractive gray, the pavement was broken where weeds had fought their way through, and the windows were broken, dirty, and hanging at odd angles. It's ramshackle appearance fit with the tone of the rest of the neighborhood; depleted and abandoned. Tonight, however, there were a few cars in the driveway, and a light shone faintly from a third level window.
"Nothing," Syaron answered Sakura's question. Not that I've been paying much attention, with you so close, Sakura. To take his mind off the pretty young girl next to him, the sixteen year-old turned to the diminutive teddy-bear with white wings, hovering above Sakura's right shoulder. "Are you sure that this is the right place, fuzzball?"
Kerberos, Guardian Beast of the Seal, commonly known as Kero to his friends, glared at Syaron as his tail stuck straight out in impotent fury. "Am I sure? Listen up, kid-"
"He's not sure," Sakura cut in with a faint smile.
Kero made an exasperated noise and fell to the ground, then shot back up again. "I"m pretty sure."
Tomoyo shut her camcorder with a click, cutting of Syaron's reply. "All ready," she said, as if Sakura and Syaron had been waiting for this statement. "I just hope that the shots will still turn out all right, even though it's dark." She lifted the camera and looked around for something to test it on. Kero, always willing to be filmed, struck a few heroic looking poses as the violet-eyed videographer zoomed in.
Kero was starting to look nervous when Sakura interrupted. "There! I saw someone move by the door!"
Syaron peered over her shoulder, his wide brown eyes narrowed. "I don't see anything," he said, his voice soft. His proximity sent a chill down Sakura's spine, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. Sensing her gaze, Syaron turned to face her, his heart starting to thud nervously.
Sakura was suddenly aware that Tomoyo had moved the focus off of Kero and was filming the two of them. She pulled away from Syaron, looking resolutely at the warehouse. When she glanced at him a moment later, his face was unreadable and he stared at the door.
"Maybe I didn't see anything after all," Sakura said.
Tomoyo turned the camera on the warehouse and zoomed in as best she could. Then she pulled the camera from her eye and shook her head. "Nothing," she said. "They might have just been passing by."
Sakura nodded, and Syaron relaxed a little. He pulled up one knee and rested his arm on it, watching the warehouse for any further sings of life. Aside from a few leaves that fluttered lazily to the ground, there was nothing.
"Hey, Syaron," Tomoyo broke the silence a moment later, mischief in her eyes.
Syaron glanced at her, looking a bit worried, and nodded for her to continue as he returned to his vigil-like position.
"Do you have a crush on anyone?"
This time he turned and looked at her a bit longer, his gaze exasperated. Tomoyo widened her eyes innocently and waited for his reply. Sakura turned scarlet and didn't look at either of them. What was Tomoyo doing? Sakura had told Tomoyo of her crush on Syaron, because she told Tomoyo everything, but honestly. He's going to figure it out, especially if he glances at the tomato with hair, Sakura thought, feeling how warm her face was. She focused on cooling down, and had a hand with it as she saw Syaron nod. Oh, he likes someone else, she thought, wanting to cry. Her heart crawled into place with her stomach and felt miserable. Sakura wanted to say something, but no wards came to mind. She stayed silent.
Tomoyo noticed Sakura's distress with a corner of her mind. "Who?" she asked, trying the innocent look again as if the question was merely one of curiosity.
Syaron didn't look away from the warehouse. "I'm not telling you," he said, glancing at Tomoyo. "The whole school'll know by this time tomorrow."
Tomoyo pouted. "Not even a hint?"
"Not even."
Sakura reined in her misbehaving emotions through sheer force of will. Kero was unnaturally silent as he hovered beside her, and if he noticed that Sakura wiped away a tear she was glad he didn't say anything. When she glanced back up a the warehouse she noticed another flash of movement.
"Shhhh," she whispered to Tomoyo, who was questioning Syaron with frightening determination. They glanced at her, and then followed her green-eyed gaze.
Two men had left the warehouse and walked around the side of the building away from the quartet, in the direction of the road, and the sidewalk. They were clearly leaving, and were just as clearly in a hurry.
"They're not taking the cars?" Syaron whispered thoughtfully. His gold brown gaze flicked over the parked cars as he thought about what that meant.
Sakura didn't wait. Suddenly she was burning with energy that demanded not to be ignored. She half stood and, keeping close to the fence, ran to the road, passing through an alley on the opposite side of the warehouse from the one the men had taken. Syaron hissed a soft curse and turned to Tomoyo and Kero. "Stay," he ordered firmly, and followed at a trot.
Sakura, sensing that he was behind her, hurried to the corner of the building. The men were a ways down the street, walking quickly. They didn't glance behind or to the left or right. Their tall forms were barely distinguishable in the darkness, and Sakura realized that dark would be the perfect cover - her perfect cover. Without waiting for Syaron to catch up, she snuck after them.
Syaron reached the corner just as she left it. "Sakura!" he whispered near soundlessly. Sakura glanced over her shoulder instinctively and saw concern flashing in his eyes. Pushing away her own sense of foreboding, Sakura turned away and hurried.
Syaron wondered, but he ran after the Card Captor, his feet soundless. When the two men rounded the corner he and Sakura hurried to catch up. If he recalled correctly, the street their 'prey' had just turned on to was short and if the two Card Captors wanted to see which way the men had gone they'd have to hur-
Sakura was a foot from the street corner and Syaron four feet behind her when the man stepped out of the shadows, a gun in his hands and held far from his body, at level with his eyes. He saw Sakura, he turned to face her, didn't notice Syaron-
Sakura reached out, felt the fence, and hauled herself over it, landing badly and feeling her ankle twist. She ignored the pain for the moment and ran, pushing a few garbage cans out of her way and creating a loud clatter.
Sensing that Sakura was safe, Syaron dove behind a car as the man watched Sakura run. He scanned the street as his companion joined him and asked where the girl had gone. The first man said, "She went over the fence," and the second followed Sakura.
The first man walked slowly down the street, his gun still held out in front of him. Syaron waited, waited, waited, a step, come on, no don't stop gaki keep going -- leap, Syaron! Now!
He jumped into the air and grabbed the man's arms and pushed them up. The gun went off harmlessly, and a quick, jerky motion disabled Syaron's opponent. A lightning quick blow to the temple knocked him out. Syaron was searching him when he heard a sharp, female scream that belonged to someone familiar and close to Syaron's heart.
"Sakura!" he shouted. Without hesitation, Syaron vaulted the fence and ran to Sakura's aid.
Kero watched with deep unease as the group of people climbed into the cars and left.
"I don't trust this," he said to Tomoyo.
Tomoyo lowered her camcorder, her dark eyebrows drawn together in worry. "I don't know," she said under her breath, suddenly, as if Kero had asked her a question. "I just have this feeling that Sakura is in trouble."
Kero looked at her, then shot into the air. Taking that as a bad sign, Tomoyo leaped nimbly to her own feet, glad that she'd worn her dress tonight. Her other skirts were all the wrong type for running, but this dress only came to her knees and was billowy. She slung her camera case over her chest like a purse and ran in the direction that she'd seen Syaron and Sakura go.
When she reached the intersection she hesitated, then saw the man unconscious behind a parked car. Feeling unsure, Tomoyo grabbed his wallet and keys that Syaron had dropped, and then heard Sakura scream again, this one muffled. The charcoal haired girl couldn't explain it, but there was a panicky feeling in her chest as if she were the one in trouble.
Shoving the man's belongings in her camera case, Tomoyo turned and ran, following the feeling. Her boots pinched her feet as she ran, and people stared, but she was unwilling to leave Sakura in danger. When she reached an alley she stopped and looked.
Kero had changed into his most powerful form as the Guardian Beast, an enormous cat with gold fur and gold eyes. Beautiful white wings spread from between his shoulder blades and his teeth glistened in the dark as he snarled at Sakura's attackers.
Sakura, unknowingly, had walked straight into a trap. Not paying attention to her instincts and not thinking to call on the Fight or Power Cards, she had been captured by a group of ten hard-faced men whom were all armed. Tomoyo felt her heart do an interesting dance routine as she realized that even powerful Kero was outnumbered here. Kero was strong, but cats were killed all the time by guns-
As if this thought had occurred to him, one man raised his own sidearm almost lazily. Sakura cried out with fear and Tomoyo turned away, expecting to hear the gun go off any second-
Instead she felt the air hum with strange and powerful energy, and she heard the man yell in pain or terror. She looked up in time to be shoved away as he ran from the alley.
To the man's intense misfortune, Syaron had finally located Sakura. Realizing who the man was, Syaron grabbed his wrist and threw him into a wall. There was a thud, he fell, and he did not get back up. Then the young Chinese warrior joined Tomoyo, and then promptly pushed her out of the way as the fighting started.
Tomoyo heard the guns being fired, but Sakura's panic still hovered over her. She heard a sharp snap as someone's arm was broken and a furious roar from Kero. Ignoring her own panicky feelings, Tomoyo ran into the alley after Sakura.
It was only a mater of ten feet or so, but ducking between the fighting made it feel like ten yards. Blood made the pavement slick, and Tomoyo slipped, almost putting her hand on the ground to catch her balance but stopping herself just in time. Tomoyo started to stand, and then stopped, retching. A foot away or so was a dead man, his eyes staring at her, a gun in his hands. For a moment she stood still, feeling faint. And then she remembered that Sakura was waiting for her. But she couldn't move.
It was horrible. She knew that Syaron and Kero didn't have a choice -- they were severly outnumbered -- but it still didn't settle right with her stomach.
Then Tomoyo pushed away her naseous feelings and looked around for Sakura. A feeling led her to the back of the alley, furthest from the fighting.
She found her longtime best friend being held by a man who had a knife pressed to her throat. He smiled nastily at Tomoyo and opened his mouth to speak.
He never said anything, because at that moment a rock fell from the sky to hit him firmly atop the head. As the man fell Tomoyo looked up into a distant pair of purple-silver eyes.
"Yue," she said, relieved, and bowed slightly. Then she ran to Sakura, noticing that her friend's shirt had been torn straight up the middle. Tomoyo hugged her tightly as Sakura buried her face in her friend's shoulder and cried, fear and terror vibrating in the air around her like a maelstrom.
"Shhhh," Tomoyo whispered, smoothing Sakura's hair. "It's all right. Syaron and Kero and Yue are all here. It's all right."
Sakura looked up, tears glistening in her emerald eyes. "They were going to -- rape -" her voice choked and she was unable to finish her statement.
Tomoyo felt helpless tears filling her own eyes. She hated to see Sakura cry! Sakura should be happy and genki at all times. "They never will," Tomoyo promised. "We won't let them. Don't worry, Sakura. We'll protect you." Tomoyo felt a desperation in her heart at Sakura's distress.
Yue jumped off the roof and landed easily. He handed Sakura a jacket that looked like it may have been Yukito's, his metallic gaze intense. "She is right."
Sakura shivered, from the cold or the promise in Yue's voice, she wasn't sure which, and pulled on the jacket, zipping it up. Then she turned to Kero and Syaron, who had finished disabling the last of her attackers -- and gasped. "Syaron! You're hurt!"
Syaron turned to her, and then glanced at his wound. Someone had buried a knife into his ribcage, and blood drenched his shirt and was starting to seep through his pants. He blinked with suprise.
"Freeze!" a voice shouted, interrupting Syaron's struggle to remember when he'd been stabbed.
Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's arm and turned, along with everyone else. There was a small group of police officers standing outside the alley, weapons held at the ready. One had a flashlight, and it crept towards Tomoyo's and Sakura's faces as the two girls clutched each other.
Syaron thought fast, ignoring his wound for the moment. They won't believe that we're innocent -- and we killed some of the men. If we could explain -- we can't, stay on track. If they see Sakura and Tomoyo -- it's over for them. But I have less to lose.
Before the officer could see the two girls, he jumped forward. In a flurry of movement he grabbed the flashlight and twisted the officers arm so that he fell to the ground with a shout of pain. The police backed away and trained him in their sights -- "Stop, or we'll shoot!" -- can't kill them, they're just doing their jobs. . .
Syaron staggered, blood loss weakening him. He heard voices behind him, felt the magic of a Clow Card being called upon, and then someone grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He looked up into Yue's eyes as the less-than-human guardian shoved him in Sakura's direction.
"Syaron!" she called, holding out her hand. "Come on!"
He saw the wand's wings. He hesitated. He looked into Sakura's eyes and realized he couldn't be arrested -- they would find her, too.
Sakura pulled him onto the wand. Feeling like he might faint, Syaron laid his head against Sakura's shoulder. He felt everything move around him and wind whipping back his sweat dampened hair as they moved forward, and then up. Syaron tried to straighten, and almost fell. Sakura caught him, the wand wavering dangerously. Sakura took his hands and slipped them around her waist, making sure he held on tight.
"Are you all right?" she asked, craning her neck to talk to him.
Syaron lifted his head and peered into her eyes. She blinked, and he saw something new and strong in those jasper eyes, something bright even as it danced among the shadows.
The metaphor puzzled Syaron briefly, pulling his mind away from the current situation. Sakura saw his eyes glaze over and felt worry swell up inside her.
"Syaron?" she asked.
His hand went up from her waist and touched her delicate cheekbone, brushing her hair back. "Sakura. . ." he whispered. "I'm glad you're safe. . . ." He didn't see the blood his fingers left on her pale skin, as his eyes were sliding shut. Sakura felt his arm around her slacken, and his other arm dropped limply.
"Syaron," she said, tears in her eyes as his breath rasped in his chest. "Oh, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault."
He couldn't hear her.