-To Iambickilometer.
The tavern was smoky, tendrils clinging to Sakura's form as she slipped through the crowd.
"Shaoran!" she called anxiously. Men saw her, looked away, and looked back. The smoke seemed to increase around her, grey swirls rising in the air. Peanuts crunched underneath her feet as Sakura ran past the bar, skidded around a corner, and nearly tripped over Fai. He glanced down at her with a glazed-over eye, hair curling around his shoulders like hazy, floating mist. Three men surrounded him, grinning; he looked at them, then back at her. This- this Sakura understood. Whatever Fai's choice, it was not hers to see. She met his eyes, nodded at him, trusted him, and continued on her sprint past him without another glance. She called forward-
"Shaoran!" in part panic, part fear. The men watched after her, surprised, before wordlessly turning back to Fai. His eyes followed her for longer, analyzing, watching her, hesitant to commit to either dream. When he turned back to the three, his eye was different; brighter, almost. He cracked a grin and his knuckles, no verbal communication necessary. They scattered, like smoke rising off a campfire.
"Shaoran!" the distant Sakura cried again. Fai knew he couldn't help her. Demons of his own were waiting, pinning him ethereally there with smoky handcuffs and chains.
"Shaoran!" Sakura yelled, but silence greeted her, no echoes bouncing off the walls. Her feet hit the ground silently, dispersing the lingering pieces of slate-grey fog hanging around the floor and walls. She ran straight, shouting out his name ceaselessly as if only to hear her own voice-
"SHAORAN!" she screamed to him in frustration, arriving at a fork in the path. From one side smoke poured out, vapor twirling around the entrance and screening the inside from view. She saw something inside shine and caught sight of one green eye. A mirror? she guessed, before losing sight of it. When she caught a glimpse of it again, the eye in the mirror was blue.
"Shaoran?" She called in tentatively. No answer. She turned to the other fork. It was free of smoke, but seemed unbearably alone and foreign, and long.
"Shaoran?" She called in carefully. No answer. The choice was hers- the smoke and the mirror, or the hundred years of solitude.
"SHAORAN!" she wanted to cry from the irritating smoke and rising fright. Come on, Sakura! The smoke churned rapidly, picking up pace from a lazy curl to a tumultuous mass. Coils of gossamer grey poured out and reached to curl around her, forcing her a step back and away. She glanced anxiously at the other fork, straining her eyes to see. She thought that that darkness must always end, so she chose her fate, turned, and ran.
"Shaoran!" again she called, but this time he called back to her. "Sakura-hime! Here!"
And she sees right in front of her his two chocolate eyes.
A/N: Wow! I started this Christmas Day, it took forever! But I'm happy with how it came out.
The smoke reference is a nod to xxxHOLiC, where it seems to be a bit of a motif. Also, it was just a cool, kinda creepy theme. The two paths are for the two Shaorans- "the smoke and the mirror", or the deception, for c!Shaoran, and the "hundred years of solitude" (Yay Gabriel García Marquez!) for r!Shaoran, who she doesn't really know at all. The mirror is partly just to get the "smoke and mirrors" pun, and partly to provide a clue of what would have happened if she went the other way, ie found Cloney. Yes, those men were propositioning Fai, and yes, yes he is going to kick their asses to the day after tomorrow. I really do hope this made sense though. Please let me know!