Whatever It Takes

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By: Trulie Hope

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As promised, I'm back and working my way through re-doing my fics. Not really sure how much or what's gonna change, but it's worth a read, right?

P.S. Sorry about the formatting mess- hopeful it's all better now!

***DISCLAIMED***

Chapter One: Card Mistress No More

Early spring in Tomedea was the most beautiful season of the year with the cherry blossom trees in full bloom, their intoxicating sent filling the air. Sunlight streamed through the branches and dotted the ground with playful shadows that hardly interfered with the temperate atmosphere. It was paradise for all the people strolling, laughing, and playing in the park.

A slender teenage girl, removed from the crowd, sat under a tree. Sunshine poured onto her hair and face, shattering into a prism of colors when it meet the tear drops running freely down her cheeks. Kinomoto Sakura shut her eyes and opened them slowly but nothing around her had changed. She hoped today was a nightmare, but found instead that it was real. The paper clutched in her hand held all the proof she needed; Li Syaoran was dead.

Sakura pressed her back into the ruff bark of the tree trunk. How could this happen? He had been invincible; immortal and unable to be killed. He was too strong to die and too smart to be taken from the Earth before his time. Emerald eyes tried to blink back tears, but they fell anyway. His cause of death was not disclosed. The formal letter had described it merely as an accident and hadn't elaborated farther.

Syaoran, how did this happen! She demanded silently, letting the blue sky blur before her eyes. What kind of 'accident' could take you away forever?

It wasn't an accident. She knew that someone as strong as he had been couldn't be killed by a mere accident; saying he had died by such was an insult to his memory. Sakura felt magic was at fault here. It was the only thing he'd never had complete control over, the only thing that could leave a scratch on him.

Sakura looked towards the sky, letting the sunlight blind her eyes. Why was everything so beautiful today! How could it be so beautiful when the person she loved most was dead? Was God punishing her for killing him? There was no doubt in her mind that she was the cause for his death.

If only I never opened the book and set the cards free, none of this would have happened. She thought. Bitter memories filled her mind, soon to be replaced by pleasant ones.

But the cards brought Syaoran to me. Images flashed through her mind; a ten year old Syaoran threatening her on the playground, capturing the cards, the first time he left for his home, his return. Then that joyous time they were snowed in at his apartment and admitted their love for each other. From that day on, they had been always together, until he was called back home again. That day, that horrible day was now burned in her mind forever:

"Syaoran." Sakura started, but choked on tears.

He looked down on her and wrapped her in his arms. "Please don't cry, Sakura." He pleaded quietly, wiping the tears from her cheeks.

"I just… what if I never see you again?" She wondered.

Syaoran tilted her chin up and kissed her: gently at first then with more passion. The kiss ended far too soon, but Sakura was content to stay nestled protectively in his arms.

He placed a hand on her face, forcing her to look into his eyes. "I will come back." He insisted, his eyes pleading to be believed.

"Promise?" She wondered tentatively.

A second kiss confirmed his answer, "No mater what, I'll come back to you. I promise."

More tears burned her already raw cheeks. "You lied Syaoran." She whispered letting the wind carry her words away.

Sakura knew it wasn't his fault he didn't return, it was hers. His connection to immense magical power, her and the Cards, had led to his demise. She had known Syaoran better than anyone and his devotion to her safety was great, at times she had been scared for his safety because of it. And now.

Sakura lurched to her feet and forgot her tears. Turning towards the west, she vowed, "I may be too late to save you Syaoran, but I will find out what happened."

*************

"Hey monster, where you been?" Kinomoto Touya called to his little sister as she walked through the front door. Although she isn't exactly 'little' anymore. He reflected with a pang of sadness. She turned sixteen last month. And she really has grown-up quite a bit.

Touya looked up from his newspaper when no objection to the nickname was heard and was shocked by what he saw.

"Sakura, what happened?!" He demanded, rising quickly to his feet. His sister was, or had been, in tears; something was wrong.

She did her best to smile, but her attempt failed horribly. "I don't want to talk about it right now, onii-chan." She replied softly, walking up the stairs to her room.

Touya watched her disappear behind her door with an expression of immense concern and confusion.

*************

"Eh, Sakura-chan, welcome back!!!" Kero greeted, not looking up from the video game he was playing. "Since you're back could you get me something to… Sakura, what are you doing?"

Upon entering her room, Sakura had gone straight to the drawer that contained the Clow book and yanked it open. She removed the book and threw the item onto her bed.

"Sakura-chan, why are you crying? What's wrong?" He demanded.

His mistress said nothing and merely shoved a crumpled, tear stained piece of paper in his face. He skimmed it, eyes growing wide as he discovered it's content.

The Li brat is dead? He wondered, unable to believe the news. No wonder Sakura is so upset.

"Sakura..." He started, but couldn't think of anything more to say.

"Kero-chan, I need to do a reading." That was the last thing he expected to hear from her.

"A reading? Why?"

"Please Kero."

He shrugged his little shoulders. "Go ahead, you know how."

She gave the small guardian and pleading look. "Could you walk me through it? It's been so long." The cards had already been removed the book and shuffled. "I remember the first part." She said, shuffling the cards and splitting them into four piles. After arranging nine in the correct pattern, she looked expectantly to Kero and then closed her eyes.

"Repeat after me." The guardian instructed, "Cards made by Clow, answer my question." He paused, not knowing exactly it was that Sakura wanted to know.

The Card Mistress, however, continued with, "Show me the true form of the one that defeated Li Syaoran."

Kero landed on her shoulder with a questioning look on his face, but he didn't say anything relating to her question. She turned over the top middle card and showed Sword.

"A challenge or test." He narrated.

The second card was Shadow.

"I don't know how to read that one." Kero admitted, "It's an eccentric card, could be referring to a random act."

"Or that the thing who killed him was eccentric." Sakura said without emotion.

"It said it was an accident."

She ignored him and flipped over the last three. "Dark, Flower, and Illusion."

"This reading makes no sense." Kero complained, "Sakura, I think it only works on cards, not solving mysteries… You're too tired to be doing this."

"It makes perfect sense." She protested, her voice a whisper. "Sword- he was challenged. Then there's Shadow and Dark- the attack occurred at night. Illusion- the attacker took on a different form. And then Flower- that's me.. Its all my fault, Kero-chan." She exclaimed, tears building in her eyes again. "If it wasn't for me, he would still be alive right now… Its all my fault."

"It says here it was an accident." Kero pointed out softly. "I think you're reading the cards wrong."

"Could an accident kill Syaoran?!!" She demanded fiercely, "No, it couldn't… He's too smart for that."

Her guardian looked at her sadly, "He wasn't invincible, Sakura."

"It has something to do with the cards, I know it." Sakura broke down into sobbing again, burring her head in the bedspread. The guardian wisely decided not to bother her and watched sadly as his mistress cried herself to sleep.

After her tears had quieted, Kero flew over to her desk where the cards from the reading were still laid out. He sat next to the formation, frowning in concentration as he tried to figure out another explanation. Flower. the flower card was the problem here. What else could it be referring to beside his mistress?

The door opened and the little guardian whirled around to face Sakura's older brother. It was a few minuets before Touya even acknowledged the presence of Kero; his gaze was fixed on his sister's sleeping form. He drew his eyes away from her and the pain was evident in his eyes.

Looking to Kero, he wondered, "Do you have an explanation for me, fur ball?"

Kero ignored the comment and flew to the bed, picking up Sakura's note and handed it to Touya. He scanned the page, his eyes widening before a light of sad realization.

"I don't believe it, the gaki is actually… dead."

"Sakura. cared about him a lot." The guardian said.

Touya snorted, "She loved him, fur ball. Even I could see that." He walked to where his little sister was sleeping and put a hand gently on her head.

"How are you going to deal with this one monster?"

***

When Sakura awoke, she had a look of set determination in her eyes. She shot upright so fast that she knocked Kero, who had been sleeping near her shoulder, onto the floor.

"Sakura. what are you doing?" The beast wondered, flying drowsily near his mistress's head.

"Kero-chan, please understand." She pleaded, opening her closet and finally pulling out a box. "I'm doing the only thing I can do… If I don't, someone else I love with get hurt or d…die... I can't.. I don't."

"Sakura-chan, what are you talking about?" He wondered, landing on her shoulder.

She picked him up and hugged him, "I. I'm sending the cards, and the book, e…everything to the Li-clan in Hong Kong." She told her friend, "They know how to handle it; no one else will get hurt."

Kero's eyes shot open in surprise. "Its not you're fault Sakura, it has nothing to do with you or."

"But it does Kero-chan." She replied sadly, wiping a few tears from her eyes. "If I don't do this, someone else could get hurt badly. Please tell me you understand, Kero."

He swallowed hard and nodded, "H..hai Sakura-chan. I'm sorry it had to come to this. You were an excellent mistress, and friend." Kero wiped away tears of his own and hugged her to the best of his ability.

Sakura smiled sadly. "Thank-you Kero-chan." She replied, kissing the top of his head. "I'll send the Play Station with you, ne?" She offered with a slight smile, un-hooking the system and placing it, along with his library of games into the box.

"Thanks, Sakura-chan. Will you say good-bye to Tomoyo-chan for me."

"Of course Kero." The Card Mistress walked to the Clow Book and opened it. Kero nodded, hugged her one last time, and disappeared into the book.

Carefully, she set the old leather bound volume into the box then placed her necklace with the miniaturized sealing charm onto of it. Sakura sealed the box with determination before she retrieved the letter stating Syaoran's death and found the return address. With a shaking hand she printed it and scooped the parcel protectively into her arms.

"Onii-chan, will you drive me to the post office?" She wondered of her brother. Touya looked up with a worried look on his face. He must have seen his sister's distress and urgency because he agreed. Nearly half an hour later, they returned home.

Sakura went straight to her room and looked around. Everything was silent; it felt empty without the auras of the cards and Kero.

Her thoughts drifted to the fact that there was one less aura in the world today, a green one, and she was lost to tears again. She cried for hours more, but before she feel asleep, a feeling of solemn happiness crossed her mind. At least now the cards will hurt no one else. I know they're in the right hands.

*** Hong Kong ***

"Li-sama, a package has arrived for you from Tomedea, Japan."

The woman sitting in the office looked up at the servant addressing her. The corners of her lips curled into a slight smile, which surprised the man greatly.

"Bring it here." She instructed in a tone that demanded respect and obedience.

The man complied with her request, setting the pack on the desktop and bowing before leaving the room.

The woman waited for the door to close firmly behind the man before examining the parcel. It had no return address or name, but the many auras inside it confirmed her suspicions of who it was from.

She was about to slice it open when a masculine voice calling her from across the room interrupted her actions.

"Mother, do I have permission to go into town?" Wondered the tall, well-muscled man standing who was now standing beside her, his messy brown hair falling over his amber eyes.

Impatient to open her package, his mother nodded and agreed quickly. "Of course Xiao Lang. Be home before dinner."

"Thank-you mother." He bowed, and left the room.

**************

Revision of Chapter One!!! Not too much different, just a little more detail, ne? The new chapter is in the work and I should have it out as planned. As always, reviews make me work much faster. If you want me to mail you when I update, the send me an e-mail and I'll put you on my list: pikogio@yahoo.com