I do not own Bakurano. If I did it would have a sequel with a happier ending.
I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura either. If I did there would be a lot more episodes.
What if there were others in the multiverse, and they needed pilots at any price? I will base those others on 'Cardcaptor Sakura,' but you don't need to watch it to be able to read the story.
There will be some adult situations, but I don't plan for it to be too graphic, and while there might be some innocent fun, this certainly won't be erotica - these are mostly kids !
Based on the anime, and not the manga.
Chapter 1: A Time Between Rounds
"I really wish I could've died on the Earth I grew up on," the girl spoke wistfully, sinking to the cold, hard ground. There, amidst the destruction where the fate of two universes had been decided, she breathed her last, and the slowly falling snowflakes that should've herald laughter, and cheerful shouts, instead covered her thin, rapidly cooling form. Then the scene was disturbed as the sound of rollerblades on the icy ground broke the silence, and a sudden, violent burst of wind scattered the snow, revealing the pitiful form.
A girl of around fifteen, or maybe sixteen, studied the corpse with green eyes that showed an age years could no longer measure. With a small sigh she reached up and brushed back her short, brown hair, while her lips turned down in a frown. "She has potential," the girl finally said. "And about time too. This is what, the forty-third millionth timeline we've searched? I'm tired." She gave the unmoving form at her feet a gentle, but respectful kick with her neon-pink rollerblades. "Frozen solid though. We should get moving before her soul moves on. Regeneration is a snap, but resurrection . . . now that's a pain." Turning away from the scene her hand brushed the satchel she wore around her waist. "Mirror, grab her and let's find a nice quiet spot."
Machi was confused. Stretched out, eyes closed, waiting for death, she let her hand brush along the ground. She knew she'd just been in a city, and her last memory had been wishing she could return to her home. Yet now the air smelled of flowers, and her hand moved only over warm grass and moist soil. The shattered rock was gone, as was the cold. Hesitantly, knowing she was about to see what lay beyond death, and knowing she'd been responsible for so much harm, she opened her eyes and looked up. Few were the minds that could look at a panorama of the multiverse, and none of those minds were entirely human. Even as her eyes snapped shut Machi screamed, and projectile vomit splattered from her mostly empty stomach, bringing with it blood.
"Oh snap." The brown-haired girl spoke the words like a curse, and kneeled beside the now sobbing girl. "I'm sorry. I enjoy the view, and I've never had anyone still human here. She briefly closed her eyes and commanded, "Space Card, make the sky blue, and add some clouds and stuff." Looking up she noted that the task was done, and gently stroking Machi's dark hair, asked, "Can you try looking up again, honey?"
Machi heard the words, but what she'd seen raced through her mind, and that mind, unable to conceive of four-dimensional space, let alone fifth or sixth-dimensional space, struggled to refuse. Yet the words had been strange, more of a command than a request, and she looked up expecting to see the incomprehensible again. A strange hell, yet still a hell, she thought hoping it was something one would adapt to, knowing it wasn't. She blinked at the pale-blue sky with a bright-yellow sun rising just above the horizon, and studied the pink and orange clouds that spelled out, 'Hello Machi.' She blinked, and the clouds changed to spell, 'If you need anything just say it in a very low whisper.'
"Water," was the first thought that came to her mind, and she softly spoke it. Before her eyes a glass of water rose from the ground, while a fountain started to toss up a refreshing spray just a short distance away. Other than those two items there was only grass, liberally spotted with a wide variety of colorful flowers, and a number of walkways formed from smooth, gray stone. Grabbing the glass she hurriedly took a gulp, too late realizing it might be a trick if she was indeed in hell. It had to be some sort of afterlife, right? But the water was cool and delicious, and she used it to wash out her mouth, spitting it out on the ground. The disgusting mess disappeared, and she noted that the ground was also clean of vomit. "Virtual reality?" she wondered aloud.
"More like virtual timeline," a voice spoke.
Machi twisted around to see a brown-haired girl dressed like a rollerblader in neon-pink rollerblades, with neon-pink pads on her knees and arms. A neon-pink helmet was on her head. Blue denim shorts and a black t-shirt completed the outfit. "Where . . . . Who . . . ." Machi asked, feeling a bit relieved that hell wasn't totally void of people, hoping the girl wasn't there to torture her for all eternity.
"You can think of this as a timeline I had Space make so we could chat," the girl said, sitting down across from Machi. Seeing the confused look she continued, "Think of it as a timeline much like your Earth is, and the Earth you were just on is. Only this one is artificial. Don't worry, the stuff here is as real as anything in either of those two timelines, and it won't just disappear unless I tell Space to pack things up. You can think of Space Card, or just Space, as the person who maintains it all. She has a soul, sort of, so calling her a person is the right thing to do. She's just not a person as you think of a person."
"Is this death?" Machi was glad she hadn't just disappeared as she'd been afraid she would. Her world wasn't big on religion, and what one believed about death was rarely spoken about in public. There was also the matter that if she was still alive, even if dead, then her friends and her brother might also be something other than just gone.
"No," the girl replied. "You were never quite dead, just a bit frozen. It takes three days, give or take a few hours, for a soul to leave a person. I just had Regeneration regenerate your body."
"Regeneration?" Machi wondered aloud. It sounded like a person's name, but . . . .
"Hrm." The brown-hair girl sat back, looking thoughtful. "When I use words like that, just think of it as a program with sentience and emotions. Or perhaps as software that inhabits a machine with a soul." She pulled a card out of the satchel she wore and held it up for Machi to see. "The card is the hardware, and it has a program on it; in this case it's a program's called Regeneration. And I'm the power source that it uses to run." She leaned forward. "When you vomited it went up at least thirty feet. That must've strained something. So, Regeneration, heal her."
Machi forced herself to stay calm as the strange girl touched her with the card, and the nagging ache she had in her stomach disappeared. "Oh." She looked at the card. Her people had been slightly more advanced than the people of the Earth she'd just been on, so perhaps the only thing confusing her was that this girl was from an Earth that was far more advanced than her own, and had technology that seemed like magic. Being able to create a personal timeline, and bring anybody that was less than three days dead back to life certainly seemed like magic to her. She focused her thoughts and recalled that the girl had healed her to chat with her. She pushed what that implied about the fate of her friends, not sure if she really wanted to live when they were dead, and asked, "Why did you bring me here?"
"To pilot a mecha for another Earth. You have certain . . . traits . . . that we need in a pilot."
"No." Machi stretched back out on the ground and closed her eyes. "No. When I die I will have enough blood on my hands, whole universes of it, and I've had enough. Kill me now." Tears seeped from her eyes, running down her cheeks and onto the grass. Sniffing as she cried, she clutched her hands into fists. "Let me die," she begged.
"I can make sure you survive being a pilot," the girl offered, looking a bit puzzled.
"No. I'm supposed to be dead."
"Really long life," the girl countered. "Lots of money and never any sickness?"
"No."
"Your Earth still has the Zearth program running. It can be stopped if you pilot enough of the mechas." The girl tilted her head, and peered at the sky, thinking. "Yes, I'm sure of it, I can ensure that your timeline will never be interfered with again, though it also means you can never return to it."
Machi, giving that some thought, wiped at her tears. "My people are good people. We got rid of war. I doubt they would want to destroy whole universes."
"You know things are bad when you can't give away health, wealth, or longevity," a new voice said, sounding amused.
Machi turned her head and opened her eyes to gaze at the newcomer. The girl looked to be a twin of the other, just younger and without the roller-blading gear.
"My name is Mirror," the new girl said, sitting down beside Machi. "And this, " she said, pointing, "is Sakura."
Machi blinked, closing her eyes again. "You're one of those sentient programs?"
"I guess you could call me that." Mirror shrugged. "But we're not really general purpose. The people who can use us are rare and far between."
"Oh."
"It's been a while since Sakura played the part of a human, and she's sort of lost touch with what that means," Mirror explained. "I know you're tired, and just want things to end, but you do know that you're not the one destroying universes, right? When you pilot those mechas, one either wins or loses. A universe gets zapped either way. It's the people who created the Zearth program who got that ball rolling, not you. The pilots have no choice but to fight, but if there has to be a fight, then why not let a good Earth survive?" Mirror closed her eyes and shuddered. "There are worlds of such darkness as you can not imagine."
"When a pilot fights, you don't know if you're fighting a pilot from a good Earth or a bad Earth," Machi countered.
Mirror studied the girl, noting just how unlike a regular girl of twelve or thirteen she seemed. Pushing aside the desire to just hold her, and weep alongside her, she asked, "For what reason would you fight again? Though it's far from infinite, Sakura has power far beyond anything you could imagine. Unlike most people her lifeforce is not that of a tiny, single candle, but that of a star whose energy is eternally replaced by the fabric of the multiverse. That's how she's able to use programs such as me and Regeneration, and even Space."
Machi turned to peer at Sakura. "Are you a god?" she suddenly asked, attention focused purely on the girl.
"No," Sakura exclaimed.
"But the term such as they use for themselves is that of demigod," Mirror countered.
"There's more like her?" Machi continued to stare.
"Thousands," Mirror answered.
"We're no gods," Sakura muttered. "We have all-too-many limits, and we can go mad." She shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.
"Such as her must at times seal their power, and live as a human, least they go mad and start to think they are actual gods," Mirror explained. "Once every two or three thousand years they are born on a world in the multiverse, and there they live and grow old and die. All the things that make up a human life they partake in from being born to loving and making love. Even bearing children that they cherished and raise. Sometimes they're poor and know hunger; sometimes they're powerful and command nations. This keeps them connected to the place they come from. Without that they become arrogant, and become cruel." Mirror smiled at Machi. "Trust me, a cruel demigod is not a pretty sight."
"Why did my friends have to die?" Machi suddenly demanded, leaping up. "And why did God make such a crappy system? Why is there hurt and sadness? Why was I born and why did I have to kill? What happened to my friends?" She raged the questions. moving ever closer to Sakura as if to beat the answers out of her. Her hands, arched into claws, trembled while she bared her teeth in a beastly fashion.
Sakura met the fury of the tiny girl's gaze with a small, sad smile. "Angela, Becky, Zephry, Kelly, Henry, Angie, Paul, Nancy, Zeldy, Sam, Vance, Xandra, Leslie, Lance, Xandra, Zander, Unsula, Iric, James, Jeric, Barbara, . . . ."
Machi, taking a step back, turned to look at Mirror with puzzlement now mixed with the wrath in her eyes.
"Who, or what, laid the foundations of the multiverse even the demis don't know," Mirror explained. "As for those names . . . ." She sighed. "Sakura has lived more than nineteen thousand human lives, and in most of them she's had children. Not all grow old; in fact, many die at birth. She's buried more children than you will ever know, and more husbands and wives than you will ever care to count. And she remembers them all. Every joy and every sorrow is written in her heart. The demis, more than any human, would wish to ask those same questions of whatever power is the true God."
"Oh." Machi gulped. "And I would imagine to them all life must seem short."
"Very," Mirror agreed. "Only we, the Cards they create, share their immortality. And while we do have souls time passes in a different fashion for us. When not called we rest and dream, trading thoughts with others of our kind."
Machi turned back to Sakura. "Sorry," she said humbly. "I . . . ." She wiped at the tears that started to flow down her cheeks again.
"I know," Sakura said, taking the girl into a hug. "I know." She fell silent and rested her cheek on the girl's hair.
A rumbling sound startled Machi, and she jumped back, looking around. Then she placed her hands on her stomach which rumbled loudly again.
"Regeneration doesn't fill the stomach," Mirror told her with a smile. "Just ask Space to make you something."
Images of food came to Machi's mind, and she started to ask for something but paused. All the images were things she associated with her friends, both those on her own Earth and those of the Earth her new friends had come from. Hungry as she was, she had no desire for food.
"Not even something to drink?" Mirror asked, and then nodded, understanding when Machi shook her head. "Back to why we called you here then," she said. "There's a task that the demis need done, and . . . ."
"With power like they must have, why would you need me? Machi interrupted. "I'm nothing more than what Koyemshi would call a crude ape."
"There is a task that needs to be done," Mirror started again. "And for all their powers demis do have limits. An elephant can trample down a tree, yet can't pass through a mousehole. A flea can never fell a tree, but the mousehole is a cavern through which he can easily pass."
"Find another."
Mirror laughed, smirking a little. "Honey, you would not imagine the trouble it took to find you. There are around ten thousand demis, and they all searched for someone such as you. More than a hundred billion timelines were examined, and only you were found. Now, they can search through another hundred billion, hoping to find another suitable for this task, but I'm not sure they have the time."
Machi gulped. "A hundred billion?" she asked. "But there are billions on each Earth and . . . ."
"Which makes you one in more than a hundred billion billion," Mirror simply said, amused by the girl's expression.
"You want me to pilot more mechas, right?" Machi said. "But there are better pilots than me. Kirie for example. His skill was beyond what any of us could do."
"Piloting a mecha is not the task, only the method by which the task will be completed," Mirror explained.
"Then what is the task?"
"That we can not tell you without destroying your chances of completing it."
"But . . . ." Machi shook her head. "I don't want to kill anyone else."
Mirror sighed. "The demis, all of them, need to take a break; they need to seal their power for a while, and become human. Yet they can't do so until this task is done. They risk going insane. Every two to three thousand years is how long they usually go without such a rest, yet none have done so for more than ten thousand. We can't tell you the task, and there is no time to search for another like you." She closed her eyes. "Machi, you have at your mercy ten thousand beings that most would call gods. There has to be something you wish."
"Stop the Zearth program," Machi said immediately, turning to look at Mirror and Sakura."
"If only," Sakura said with a slightly sarcastic smile. "Only for this task we need you to pilot a mecha. Without the program there are no mechas to pilot."
"Are you demis and Cards the ones behind the Zearth program?" Machi suddenly demanded. She frowned when the two remained silent. "You are, aren't you?" Screaming, she ran at Sakura, only the grass started to move beneath her like a treadmill, and she got nowhere. Raging, she reached down to pluck up clods of dirt and grass to throw, but they faded to nothing while the ground repaired itself beneath her feet. "Why?" She yelled, demanding an answer. "Why?" Sinking back to the ground she started to sob again. Seeing her sneakers, she took those off to throw. The ground rose to form a wall between her and the ones she would've sold her soul to destroy, and the sneakers merely bounced back into her face.
Mirror looked at Sakura and sighed.
"You claim to be so powerful," Machi raged, staring at the ground. "Yet you need a stupid ape like me, and you refuse to give me any of what I want while saying I can have anything." She sighed, scowling. "Kill me. I don't want to be part of your plans. I just don't want to be alone anymore, and I want my friends back." She sunk her fingers into the ground, knowing how useless it was to attack either of them. Lost in her misery, she barely heard the words Mirror said next.
"That can be arranged," Mirror said.
"Huh?" Machi looked up.
"Your friends," Mirror explained. "It's not an easy task, but it can be done." She turned to look at Sakura.
"No," the demigod said vehemently. "Mirror, have you ever done what you're asking of me? Do you know what it entails?"
"No," Mirror said, scratching her head. "Not being a demi I can't say as that I have ever raised the dead, nor do I know what it entails, but I do know that you can do it."
Sakura closed her eyes. "There are around thirty trillion cells in a human body," she started, speaking in a low, pained whisper. "And a trillion atoms in each cell. Each atom is made up of . . . ." She looked up. "Not that you would care," she said with a sigh. "But the body is the easy part. Without the soul it's just a body. Do you know what it takes to reach into the past and manipulate a soul? It's . . . . Ah, crap." She covered her eyes with her hands and sighed.
Machi looked at Sakura. "You can raise the dead?" she asked. "But if you can do that then why not raise all your children, and your husbands and wives?"
"Of all the demis, less than ten can do that," Mirror said with some pride, glancing at Sakura. "But those that do so end up killing themselves eventually. That's about the only way a demi can die, suicide."
"But . . . ." Machi looked around again.
"You give in to the temptation to resurrect one, and you want to resurrect them all," Sakura said, not lifting her eyes to meet the girl's gaze. "But people die, and then you got to resurrect the ones that you already resurrected. But after a thousand years people's memories start to overwrite each other. They go insane. But if you start then you can't give up, you can't let them go. In the end the people you resurrect are no longer human. You spend all your time resurrecting them, unable to stop needing to protect the ones you love, but you know that by doing so you're harming them. You're raising poor souls that are no longer human, who are in torture, in hell. Eventually, to stop hurting them, and to let them move on, you end your own life. It's the only way to stop." She looked up, her effect one of sheer anguish.
"Oh." Machi looked down and gulped, knowing enough to understand that she wasn't able to comprehend the hell of losing someone you loved, and having the power to raise them, yet . . . . She gulped again, both hating and pitying Sakura.
"But that doesn't apply here," Mirror said. "They would be raised once, and be able to lead their lives. Then they would die a natural death." She looked at Sakura. "Do you really have any choice?" Turning, she then looked at Machi. "Would you agree to that?" She asked.
Machi hesitated. To see them again, to know they would live. That Maki would get to see and hold her baby brother. That . . . . But it would come at the cost her own soul. She would have to kill, again and again, destroying whole universes. "I agree," she yelped the answer before she could think on it further. She knew her price had been met; her friends and the dreams they had.
"Only the ones who piloted the last mecha she herself piloted," Sakura said, "And not Masaru."
"All my friends, on all the Earth's I've been to," Machi insisted. "And my brother, Koyemshi."
Mirror gulped, peering at Sakura from the corner of her eye.
"Just the fourteen you were with then," Sakura insisted. "Kana isn't dead, so that leaves thirteen to raise. And not all the dead can be resurrected. After around three days souls move on, and usually seek to be reincarnated. That takes around a year, but in some rare cases can be as long as a century. To raise someone who's been reincarnated involved killing the person they've reincarnated into; that I will not do."
Machi gulped, forcing herself to reconsider any rebuttal she was going to make.
"But I will add this to the deal," Sakura continued. "For each mecha you pilot, I will offer you one wish when the task is done. What is not possible now, might be possible then." She frowned. "Perhaps even the resurrection of all the pilots you were friends with. That remains to be seen. It depends on how the pieces fall. If it is possible at the time, I will do it. Even your brother."
"But more than a year has passed for some," Machi said. "There's no way all of them can be raised."
Mirror smiled at the girl. "For a demi time is sometimes different." She looked at Sakura. "Is that really possible?"
Sakura shrugged wearily. "it depends on how the pieces fall," she repeated, eyes unfocused as she seemed to stare at nothing.
Machi sighed, eyes closed. Some of her friends would live, and some would get to fulfill their dreams. It was enough. "Agreed. Just don't try to back out. All you can bring back you bring back. Especially Koyemshi."
"I, and all the demis who can do so, will gladly comply with your wishes," Sakura agreed. "Just so long as they don't involve killing or harming."
"More killing is the last thing I want," Machi growled, puzzled by the squeamishness of the demi. It forced her to consider that the demis might not be monsters for running the Zearth program, and that for some reason, like when it came to raising their own children from the dead, it wasn't possible to alter it, horrible as it was. Then, face going white, she realized the true horror of the deal she'd made. She would make new friends, and they would die."
"Those will be easy to keep save," Sakura said, guessing the girl's thoughts. "Like with you, it will just be repairing some damage with Regeneration."
"Oh." Machi nodded. "But you can't do that with the pilots I kill, right? Their whole universe disappears?"
"Right," Sakura replied, tilting her head again as if peering at something no one else could see. "You can rest here, and when the time comes we'll call you," she said, fading from view, taking Mirror with her.
Machi stretched out on the grass, closing her eyes with a deep, weary sigh. She was twelve, far too young to know how to bargain with a god, or even a demi; whether the deal she'd made was good or bad she didn't know, just that at least a few of those she loved would get to continue on. Her stomach rumbled again, and she hit it with a fist. "Shutup," she told it. "I'm in no mood for food, so just be quiet and let me rest." Pondering the deal she'd made, wondering just how she might've made it better, she let her hands roam over the grass. Finally, she decided it was a good deal if only for what she now knew. Death wasn't final. There were souls, and they moved on. Even for those of her friends who she couldn't save there would be a rebirth, a new beginning. I should've asked if the souls of those in the destroyed universes lived on, she realized, biting at her lip. If so then . . . .
Machi wasn't sure what made her open her eyes, but she did, and saw a form take place just several feet in front of her. "Ushiro," she gasped, sitting up. Then she blinked, and moved her eyes lower, staring at a point that was less than four feet from her. Eyes wide, she bit at her lower lip, and for the first time since . . . since she could remember she suppressed a tiny giggle.
"Machi," Ushiro said, staring at the scrawny girl just a few feet away. For some reason his heart was pounding in his chest, and he couldn't take his eyes from her. The girl he'd thought dead was now sitting there with a silly smirk on her face, and his chest tightened painfully. His let his eyes roam over her whole body, seeking any sign of injury and he smiled when he saw none. "Machi," he repeated.
The girl noticed how the boy's eyes had swept over her whole body, and something in her chest responded to that gaze, while her stomach felt weird. Weird, but good, and she decided she liked this feeling. Still she kept her own eyes focused on that point just four feet away, and kept chewing on her lower lip. He doesn't realize it yet, Machi noted, taking in every detail. But he's obviously glad to see me. Then she blinked. Or was it Sakura he liked, she wondered, I'm nothing to look at. Skin and bones and . . . . She frowned.
"Machi, are you okay?" Ushiro asked, frowning. She looked okay, but her behavior was definitely not normal. And what was she looking at? He looked down and let out a tiny shriek, sounding very girl-like. Frantically he tried to cover that spot from which the girl's gaze didn't waver, and ended up sending the object of her attention bouncing up and down. It took a second for the red-faced boy to compensate, and provide himself with some cover, inadequate as he felt it to be.
"I take it you're glad to see me," Machi said. "Real glad." She looked up, "Or was that for Sakura. She's pretty cute isn't she?"
"I . . . ." He looked around, seeking clothes, or at least cover of some sort, but they were on a field of flowers and there was nothing. Not even a hedge or a tree. "I . . . ." He started again. For some reason when he'd seen Machi he'd wanted nothing more than to hold her, hug her, and his body had obviously taken that image the wrong way.
For the first time in a long time her mind wasn't on death and dying, and Machi returned her attention to that point which was so close. What does it feel like? she wondered, enjoying the moment.
"My eyes are up here," Ushiro stated.
"I know," Machi replied. "But right now it's not your eyes I want to look at."
"Clothes?" he managed to squeak out. She had clothes so there had to be clothes around somewhere. Of course those were the clothes she'd . . . . He forced his mind away from that though. She was alive, and she was smirking. The way those lips curled up, and fact that smirk reached her eyes, did nothing to help his situation. Damn it, go down," he ordered the offending part which refused to obey. Of course, even if it did, I would still be naked. But at least it would be easier to cover. "Clothes," he begged again.
"I prefer you this way," Machi said and blinked, shocked at the way she'd said that, even by the mere thought that she'd actually said it. I'm . . . I'm glad to be alive, she realized, startled. And right now I'm happy. I'm actually happy. She gazed at the boy, heart racing, stomach twisting. And I think I actually like a boy.
"I prefer clothes," Ushiro said, frantically glancing around again.
"I think that can be arranged," Machi admitted. "But not until you tell me if it's Sakura you like so much or . . . ." She stopped there, feeling another sensation that wasn't so good. "Was it Sakura?" she asked bluntly.
"No," Ushiro said. "Now clothes. Please," he begged.
"Then who?"
The still red-faced and desperate boy looked to his left, and to his right. Still no signs of cover. He sighed, realizing he had no choice but to explain. "It's not like that," he claimed. "Sometimes it just has a will of its own. Usually at the worst possible time. Anything can trigger it."
"So when a boy gets like that in front of class it's not because he's looking at a girl?" Machi asked, wondering how to get another peek.
"Not usually. Now clothes, please."
"I see." She leaned forward, staring intensely.
"Stop!"
"Big, small, or average?" Machi asked.
'Wha . . . ."
"Big, small, or average," Machi repeated the question while her eyes never wavered from the object in question.
"How would I know?" Ushiro answered sharply, then he took a deep breath. "I don't go around looking at guys. Machi, please. We had a deal. Now clothes."
A deal, Machi though, suddenly wondering if this was a test. Maybe Sakura was testing her to see if she could be trusted to hold up her part of the bargain.
"Okay, enough." Ushiro took a deep breath. "Machi, if I'm going to be here naked, then I am not going to be naked alone. Understood?" His let his eyes sweep over the girl again, and he cringed as that most traitorous part of his seemed to rejoice at the sight his mind painted of the girl; one where she was stripped as bare as he was.
Machi cringed. He was . . . cute, but she . . . she wasn't anything of the sort. She was skin and bones and flat. Flat? she thought. She'd never worried about that before. Or about being so skinny. There was no way she could let him see her like that. Frantically she closed her eyes, and quickly whispered, "Space, some clothes for him, please. And hurry. I can't let him see me naked."
Ushiro gasped as a bundle of clothing fell from the sky, making him jump, and giving Machi another peek. Looking down he saw jeans and underwear, along with a shirt and some socks. Nearby was a pair of sneakers. He started to reach for the underwear and stopped, wondering how to go about getting dressed without Machi seeing him again. With all the speed he could muster, he turned his back to the girl and grabbed at the clothes.
Machi observed the backside she was presented with, imprinting it in her memory. It's not nearly as interesting as his other side though, she thought, smirking again.
"Why are you here?" she finally asked. "Shouldn't you be on your Earth, teasing Kana?"
"Well," Ushiro sat across from the girl, trying to regain some of his dignity. "I'm pretty sure I was dead when a girl asked me if I wanted to make a deal? Since I was dead, and yet she still seemed able to talk to me, I asked her about my mother."
Machi frowned, wondering if she'd messed up. Technically his mother was a pilot, though not one of the original ones. Whenever the task, whatever it was, was completed she would've been brought back to life.
"But she said that was being taken care of," Ushiro continued. "That you'd made a deal with her, so I asked about you." Unsure of himself, Ushiro shakily rose from the ground and knelt beside Machi. "Thank you," he whispered in her ear, giving her a hug. He knew his dignity was ruined beyond any redemption when he started to cry on her shoulder. "Thank you, Machi. Thank your for saving kana; thank you for saving my mother; thank you for saving my friends. Thank you." He tightened the hug, still weeping.
Machi gulped, liking how his arms felt, and way he said her name. "Why are you here then?" she repeated, daring to hug him back.
"Well, I figured getting a god, or at least something close to it, into my debt was a one-in-lifetime chance, so I decided to take her deal to be a pilot, and hold off on asking for something til later." There was no way he was going to tell her that the thought of her being alone on another Earth, suffering to help the people she'd only known for such a short while, wasn't something he could accept. To think of her as so alone had . . . hurt. He wasn't sure, but somehow, somewhere along the way, Machi had become someone he cared about almost as much as Kana. She was courageous and strong, and then there was the fact that she'd died to save his sister.
Machi felt strange. There were his arms, still around her, still affecting the way she thought, and yet there was the anger that he hadn't just gone and been with his sister. And then there was the realization that she was glad that he was here, that she wasn't alone. Then her stomach rumbled violently, which seemed to cause a similar rumble in his stomach. With a sigh, she felt his arms leave her as he leaned away and sat back down across from her. "Hungry?" she asked.
"Famished. I don't suppose any of those flowers are edible," Ushiro asked, staring out over the field.
"No clue. You can try them if you like, but I'm in the mood for hamburger steak with lots and lots of onion."
Sakura, considering how to proceed, stood on the abandoned street, head slightly tilted with a tiny frown on her face. Ushiro was in the mecha, currently battling. She would get to him as soon as the battle was over. She was prepared to intervene if need be to ensure he won; there was no way Machi's cooperation could be jeopardized. It would also save her a lot of effort in that he would only need to be regenerated. Kanji, the pilot before Machi was also still capable of regeneration; she would have to get to him first. She skated down the silent street, considering the pilots. On many of the worlds she'd visited she was often disappointed in humanity, but these were kids, and to be frank when she looked at them she considered herself proud to be of human stock.
One after another the demi searched them out, and did what only ten of her kind could do - reach into the unalterable past of a timeline, and call the souls of the children home to her. It was only possible because the core of the souls had no mass, and hence no affect on the material world; they were merely information. If they had had mass, then it would've been impossible for anyone except maybe the original God, the one who'd laid down all the rules with all the pain they often caused. Yet, it was possible, and with the Time Card she walked unnoticed through the now destroyed city in its glory and, one by one, found those souls. As she united them with their newly restored bodies she studied them, pondering each in their turn, and offered them a choice. For many reasons they all accepted that offer.
For Ushiro, after so long rejecting those he truly loved, it was a need to make up for the pain he'd caused, and immense respect, intertwined with a love he did not yet understand, for a girl from another world.
For Waku, who knew nothing of the true Zearth, it was a need to fulfill his duty to his friends and to achieve his life-long goal.
For Daichi it was the need to protect his siblings and his friends.
For Kodama it was a desire to be the chosen, to have absolute power. He had not thought once of saving his father.
For Nakama it was because it was the right thing to do. That she would gain the power to protect her friends and her mother made the deal sweet to her.
For Kako it was shame. Though he'd died in pain, his last thoughts had been filled with regret, and he wanted to make amends. In her eyes he'd already redeemed himself, for given the offer he'd begged her to offer it to Chizu. At the time he hadn't known Machi had already ensured his life and Chizu's.
For Chizu it was a need to punish herself. And, though her pain overshadowed it, deep within her Sakura saw that the girl had a desire to find her path.
For Moji it was because he knew he could be of help. With his intuition the tide of a lost battle could be turned. He knew he would be needed.
For Maki it was because Sakura had told her the truth; her baby brother would die. The resolve in the girl's eyes had shaken Sakura to her core. There were few humans who could do that anymore.
For Kirie it was because the world had given his mother a second chance, and if she needed it he wanted to give her a third. He also wanted the strength to be who he was.
Komo wanted to save her father, and there was a need within her to see things through to the end, to not retreat from the world. That and Maki was her friend.
Anko when offered a deal had given it more than a little though. Finally she'd asked about Kanji, and the two together had made their choice. They would go together, and aid Machi.
Kanji had been explained the deal by Anko, and the two had discussed it for hours. In Sakura's mind they were already an old married couple.
End of chapter
If you're wondering why Space didn't react to Ushiro's request for clothes it's because she found the situation amusing. The Cards each have their own personality and, to a point, free will. Besides, the request wasn't directed towards her.
In 'Cardcaptor Sakura' magic is used to explain her powers. Here it's assumed to be the same source as that used to drive the mechas. Cards define the powers she can use, and uses her life force as fuel. That was done to get away from the idea of magic.