What The Heart Forgets, The Body Remembers: Body Memories
Summary: Right after Syaoran returns to Tomoeda to be with Sakura, he is taken by Fei Wong Reed. Sakura turns to the Dimensional Witch for help in finding him, and encounters his clone. Uses characters from Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, and XxXHolic.
Disclaimers: 1) I do not own the Cardcaptor Sakura or Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle or XxXHolic characters, although I sure as hell wish they existed!
2) This is my first fanfic, so a little help would be wonderful : )
3) TRC manga and OVA (The Magician's Message) spoilers, so if you don't want to know what happens, please skip this fanfic
Warning: 1) If you are 17 and below, the story will require some situation you may not want to read for sexuality and violence
2) I've tried to keep to the canon CCS/TRC but please forgive any deviations :)
Notes: 1) I've used the Chinese "Xiaolang" to refer to the Cardcaptor Syaoran, who takes the place of the real Syaoran in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, and "Syaoran" to refer to the clone in TRC. Real Syaoran in the TRC stories has not yet been clearly connected to Syaoran of Cardcaptor Sakura in the manga by CLAMP, but theories and good arguments about this possibility have been raised in many fan group discussions.
2) "Sakura" is the original Cardcaptor, and the Princess is used to refer to the TRC Sakura.
3) Hearts go out to Pipi-chan for being so kind!
4) The reason for this revision is because I just saw the Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles OVA "The Magician's Message" and was blown away by the reminder of Fay's role in the whole business : )
Prologue: A Broken Hourglass
"You mean we're together forever from now on?" Sakura tilted her head up to look into Xiaolang's copper eyes, darkened with his love for her.
"Yes," he smiled, and they embraced each other tightly. When they let go, Xiaolang was smiling one of his rare smiles, and he reached down--he had grown several inches taller in the year they had been apart--and tilted Sakura''s chin upwards so that her lips could meet his.
Around them, pink petals fluttered daintily to the ground, and a soft breeze fluttered. As they kissed, they were blissfully oblivious to the young woman watching them wistfully.
Chapter One: Cold Comfort (Sakura)
A tear slid down her cheek, and the scene faded before her.
The Return card regained its corporeal form and stood before the young woman whose bottle-green eyes wavered under her tears. Sakura choked back a sob, smiled, and reached out to pat the little card on the head. Memory's eyes sparkled with sympathetic tears. Her Mistress was still carrying the pain of having been torn from Li Xiaolang so soon after they had finally had the chance to be a real couple.
Though she had tried to use Erase to forget, and nearly destroyed the card in the process, nothing could take away that awful memory.
Interlude: Hope Shatters
How cruel that the sun was mild and peeking playfully through the clouds that morning. After their first kiss, they walked to school together for the first time, holding hands and kissing occasionally, light little smacks which were sweet and playful. Though it was unspoken, the promise of the future buoyed them with joy. There would be so much time for more kisses, more hugs, more laughter. And eventually, though only Xiaolang knew it then, loving.
But all that was shattered after the black androids appeared from voids that suddenly appeared in the space before them and snatched Xiaolang from her.
Oh, they had fought back. And how. Xiaolang's reflexes, always faster than hers and sharpened by the intensive training he'd undergone in Hong Kong, allowed him to draw his sword and cast several lightning spells, all the while using his body to shield Sakura and buy her time to cast her Sakura card spells.
Though she knew it would cost her, Sakura quickly released Time. Freezing the moment would give them time to flee or to decide what to do. As the card took effect, her knees shook, but she drew on her new reservoir of strength, something that had sustained her as she was changing the cards from Clow to Sakura cards.
Incredibly, the androids were unaffected, and they ignored her next spell, Fiery. As though sensing what was at stake, Fiery, always an aggressive card, snarled and launched a vicious attack, the full force of its fury into its attack on the androids advancing on Xiaolang, who was firing off lightning bolt after bolt, shattering a few androids. Sakura then cast Shield before them both, and prepared to use Flight on both herself and Xiaolang.
But they kept coming, overwhelming the young pair with their sheer numbers. Even Xiaolang's last-resort fire spell and Sakura's desperate attempt to Shield them crumbled, and the last thing Sakura heard from Xiaolang was his anguished cry of her name as he was pulled into the void.
Above her she could hear the flapping of two pairs of mighty wings. Yue and Keroberos, both too late to help her, could only pull her away from the wreckage of the battle. Someone was screaming Xiaolang's name over and over, and Sakura never realized it was her.
"Mirror!" Sakura cried. She had long since mastered the ability to summon her cards without her star staff, and Mirror appeared before her, quickly melting into Sakura's image.
"No," Sakura whispered. "Be him for me. Please."
And the ribbons in Mirror's hair faded as they shortened into thick, unruly locks of dark brown. Next came an upturned nose, copper eyes, a crooked smile, tanned skin, lithe muscles, and a long, lean frame. Mirror was now a young adult Xiaolang, and Sakura curled up in his arms.
It's still wrong, she thought. That comforting scent of tea and pine which Xiaolang always exuded was not there.
But she looked up into the false Xiaolang's eyes, and allowed herself to believe he was there. She raised her lips to his, and they met in a kiss that reminded her of autumn, falling pink petals, and teddy bears with wings.
Sakura found herself arching against the false Xiaolang, wanting something she couldn't define. And the false Xiaolang could not give her more than this cold comfort, because it could only do what she wished it to do. How, then, to explain the fluttering sensation in her stomach, the strange need for skin on skin? She slid her hand beneath his shirt, and then stopped, because she did not know what to do next.
She pulled away, and softly bade Mirror to return to its true form.
Interlude: The Magician Dreams, Too
He had dreamed of Sakura again, the innocent girl with golden hair who so resembled Princess Sakura, who wielded a power which was her own. Though it could not change worlds the way the Princess' could, it could change hearts.
And hearts can change worlds, Fay thought.
Fay opened his eyes, and was instantly grateful that he slept with his face down, because he had awoken with tears.
He thought of the boy who did not ask to exist but who was forcibly created from another, and of the girl who loved that other, but who would have nether.
And he hated himself a little more for the role he was going to play in their young lives- a role he likewise had never asked for.
Why is it always the innocent who have to pay?