Elucidations: This story takes place before Tokyo arc. It is just a fanfiction, I do not own Tsubasa Chronicles, nor its characters and nor even the image that I have chosen as the cover. Please help me to improve my story making a review, even negative ones are welcome.
If those people were not cooped up in their houses that night, they would have had a chance to see something fantastic happening on their gloomed sky. Above the forest, next to their town, a part of the sky was suddenly bending itself, in a circling movement, forming a starry bulb.
Descending slowly to the ground, the starry dark bulb landed gently on the foggy grass of the glade. Without delay it opened, revealing its insides and showing four youngsters and a little white round animal.
"Puu! We've arrived in a new land!" said the white little creature. The round red jewel on his forehead shined as joyous as his smile. Even with long ears, his earring on his right ear was quite noticeable too.
"This is not the world I came from". Said the tallest of them with spiked up black hair. His red colored eyes were already investigating his surroundings.
"This is not the world I came from either". Replied the man wearing a fur-lined robe and white clothes. He tried to tight his robe, but due his carelessness his hood suddenly slipped on his back, allowing to show its owner's blonde short hair. He had an appearance of a young man in his twenties. His blue eyes now were jokingly looking around, as if the presence of the trees and the dismal hoots of the owls were amusing.
From these people left side, the other two youth were looking at each other. One of them was a teenaged boy wearing a long cloak with a pair of strange glasses hanging from his neck. With slightly worried eyes he asked: "Are you all right, princess Sakura?"
Smiling politely, the girl answered with a gentle voice "Uhuh". Her green eyes depicted her honesty and her short brown hair was dangling amidst the nightly wind. Her look is around the same age as the boy.
"Brrr! It's cold! Hey Syaoran, can I hop on your shoulder?". Asked the white long eared animal.
"Sure, Mokona." answered the smiling boy with strange glasses.
"Thank you!" And without further words, Mokona jumped to Syaoran's left shoulder, cuddling fondly in the hood of his cloak.
"Hey, white manju! Do you sense any feather in this world?" the spiked-hair guy asked impatiently.
"Yes, Kurogane. I can feel one of the Sakura's feathers, but it's too faint. It seems it's a bit far from here."
"From where?" asked Syaoran.
"From there." Mokona then raised his cute little hand (or paw, whatever sounds cuter for you) and pointed to the little mountain range from their left side point of view. Indeed, it was far away and it would take at least two days or more of traveling on foot, according to Syaoran's measuring thinking.
While looking at the mountains with a pair of grumpy eyes, Kurogane asked cranky: "Why didn't you land us closer to the feather, white manju?"
"Puu! Kurorin is angry! So scary!" Said Mokona playfully. A cruciform popping vein on Kurogane's head was showing off his frustration already. Even after so much time travelling with Mokona, he still wasn't used to the white manju games.
"Don't you like to climb mountains, Kuropon?" asked the blonde and elegant man, poking fun at Kurogane.
"Who is Kuropon?!" now the vein was popping from Kurogane raised clenched right fist. His cartoonish appearance now didn't fool the blonde man. Beneath that abrasive look and serious personality, Kurogane has a good heart.
"Fay-san, Kurogane-san, I can see some lights from here." said Syaoran while trying to look far through the trees. Although the jokes were funny, he was too polite to laugh at Kurogane.
Fay joined Syaoran, squeezing slightly his eyes to look at the same spot. He could see dimly lights coming from the darkness of the forest at their right side. "Yeah, it looks like a town. How about we take a look, Kuropun?"
"Shut the hell up!" yelled a cartoonish Kurogane.
Syaoran approached Sakura. Smiling, he asked: "Shall we go, princess?"
"Yes, Syaoran-kun." her delicate hand then began to reach his, searching for a safe hand. In return, Syaoran gave her his hand. As Sakura's hand was gently clasping his, he couldn't avoid to think about her. If only she could remember him, remember those warmful days… Looking at those graceful green eyes now rekindled a little hope that this would change someday. It doesn't matter how much time it will take, he will keep searching for her feathers. And even if she never recovers her memories of him, he will always stay by her side, just like this.
The group then started to leave the glade and cross the trees. They couldn't see what type of trees were those, but guessing by the sound of the leaves blowing in the wind, most of them were high. The deeper they entered that place, the denser the fog was becoming. Hoots and chirping sounds of crickets reminded them that they were still in a forest, but after some time, even their feet couldn't be seen anymore.
Steadily, once where were standing those dark trees, now were just murky blurs silently surrounding them. Even the sound of leaves and wind wasn't enough to lift the heavy air, as if it was oppressively demanding a withdrawal from those strangers.
Before such atmosphere, Sakura held Syaoran's hand even more tightly. It was true that she still hasn't recovered all her feathers, and therefore her memories, yet there was no way that she had seen a forest so scary as that one before.
Syaoran nothing could do for Sakura now, unless getting out of that somber forest as soon as possible. He looked through the trees in front of him, and even several minutes after they began their walking, it was difficult to measure from those feebly lights how much time was left before arriving to their destination. That thick fog was not making things easier.
Suddenly, Syaoran halted.
"What is wrong, Syaoran-kun?" Sakura tried to sound calm.
"Something is strange. I can't hear the animals of the forest anymore." Syaoran then placed his right arm in front of Sakura. "Please princess, step back a little."
"Heh! I was wondering when you would notice it, kid." Grinned a mocking Kurogane.
Fay didn't hide his smirk: "Ara~, Kurorin sounds like a cool ninja!"
"I AM a ninj…!"
A rustle was heard somewhere near them; definitely it belonged to something big.
Kurogane and Syaoran drew their swords. Fay remained with his humorous trait, but his arms were not silly holding the back of his head anymore. Sakura followed Syaoran's advice and stood behind him. Mokona hid even more inside Syaoran's cloak; he was already used to do that in that kind of situation.
Again the rustle, but it didn't come from the same direction they heard it from the first time. Another one behind them, and another. The bushes didn't let it show, but they knew that there was three of them and they were already closing in around Syaoran and the others.
"Don't waste my time and face me already!" when it comes to fighting, patience was not one of Kurogane's virtues.
Answering his demand, a pair of amber eyes showed themselves in front of Kurogane. A snarl came from Syaoran's direction…
Three strong noises abruptly warned them that a fight was inevitable. Syaoran barely make it to push Sakura and avoid the claws. A clank sound came from Kurogane's direction and heavy dull kicks came from where Fay was as well, that was all Syaoran could hear before trying to avoid another hit from those claws. He barely make it in time: it ripped off his clothing.
The darkness didn't allow Syaoran to see who or what did that, but it was standing like a man and was roughly as tall as Kurogane.
"Che! Demons, huh?" Kurogane was now facing the creature, blocking both its hands and claws with his sword, Sōhi. Thanks to his well trained night vision, Kurogane could see who was the owner of those amber eyes: a human-like wolf. It was not much taller than him, but it was bulky: the power of that attack was not surprising anymore after this. The beast was still trying to force his sword to his chest with its bare hands, and it was winning the struggle. Kurogane then slipped to its side, using the creature's own strength against it and letting it get past to his side. Taking advantage of the sudden unbalance of that thing, Kurogane immediately placed himself behind it and took a fighting stance.
"Hama..." now holding his sword with both hands "...Ryuuoujin!"
A flash of light came out from Sōhi and went straight forward to the creature. Still, Kurogane waited for the results. Seconds passed, and after the light disappeared, a surprise: the monster was still standing, but now it was lacking one of his arms. A red vivid colored blood was gushing from where once was an arm.
"Son of a bitch! They are faster than I thought". Despite his frustration, Kurogane was grinning. He always liked to face strong opponents.
Fay was busy as well. Helping Syaoran to protect Sakura-chan was proving to be a difficult task. She was just behind him, standing between Fay and Syaoran's backs. Thus, moving from that spot would be deadly for the princess. Syaoran-kun was thinking the same and was trying to not move too much from his place by using his sword, Hien, to block his enemy attacks.
Kicking and punching were not working too much on those creatures. They were receiving less damage than Fay anticipated. Syaoran noticed that too and now he is just slashing his opponent.
Even if Syaoran-kun's clothes were a bit tore up, Fay was in worse conditions. He didn't have any sword or staff to help, so getting hurt was inevitable. The problem is that it was not just some bruises here and there, he sprained his ankle too while trying to avoid a strike from his adversary. If it was already difficult to ward off the attacks, now it was nearly impossib...
Swiftly, sharp claws shredded his skin, rending the flesh of his left arm. The sheer force of that blow pushed Fay against a tree next to him.
"Fay-san!" screamed Sakura. Syaoran fended off an attack just in time to see Fay bumping against a trunk. Abruptly, his eyes widened: attracted by the princess Sakura scream, he could hear the monster's steps rushing towards her.
Syaoran snapped. Right now there was no more an opponent for him: all that mattered was to protect her. In a blink of an eye, Syaoran jumped to push Sakura. Just in time. That was enough for both to evade those monster's claws, but not its fury: the beast took the opportunity to grab one of Syaoran's legs and, without dallying, threw Syaoran as if he was rag doll. Syaoran only had the time to lower his head, preventing thus a strong knock to his head when his body slammed against the tree. But that was not sufficient, one of his legs got badly hurt.
He suddenly noticed that his left shoulder felt lighter. It seems Mokona is not hidden anymore in his hood. He must have been tossed somewhere...
Fiercely, the monster dashed towards Syaoran. He tried to stand up, even weakly. Yet, that proved in vain: that thing was way faster and seconds later, it was already holding his arms with its both hands. Syaoran flinched, he was feeling its claws piercing his flesh, blood dripping from his own shoulders through those tightly spurs. Drops of saliva are falling on his face while he tries to open his eyes and, for a split second, Syaoran sees an opened mouth and several fangs coming to his right shoulder direction.
An excruciating scream comes out from Syaoran's mouth. Like sharp rocks, those fangs were piercing his flesh and the next thing Syaoran feels is them trying to bit off a chunk of his shoulder. Tired from the earlier fight and in extreme pain, he didn't even have the strength to fight back those fangs.
Suddenly, they stopped. The creature's body felt lighter and immediately Syaoran discovered why: Kurogane have just slashed the back of its neck and slew the beast, making it fall to its side on the ground.
Weary and panting, Syaoran slowly and weakly tries to get up. "Kurogane-san… the princess…!".
"Don't worry kid. The other demon fled the moment I finished off one of his friends."
But for Syaoran's eyes that was not enough. They searched for the princess, who is already helping Fay to keep standing while walking towards Syaoran.
Syaoran then gave a smile of relief. "Princess! I'm glad. Thank you Kurogane-san, Fay-s..."
"Hey, kid! HEY!"
That was the last thing Syaoran could hear.
