War for Peace
Chapter 2: Cardcaptors Return
"Get ready for oblivion Eboshi," laughed Cargo.
"You can kill me if you want but it won't help you in the slightest," said Lady Eboshi calmly. "Iron Town may be yours; however I assure you, you'll never claim this world."
"When Ashitaka and Kaya see you in the afterlife, they can tell you just how right you were," Cargo giggled.
"What?" Eboshi asked.
"Unlike my father, I have no intention of taking over this planet. My master and I have a far better way of restoring peace."
"Your master?" exclaimed Eboshi in surprise, "I thought you…"
"Like I said," Cargo interrupted, "your friends can exclaim in the afterlife." Eboshi saw the dagger in his hand just a moment before he threw it at her. She smiled triumphantly as she knocked the blade away with her sword. Only for the smile to vanish when another dagger pierced her knee a split second later. The pain shot through her leg but it didn't last long. Just long enough for Cargo to dart behind her and deliver the final blow. He watched with satisfaction as the leader of Iron Town collapsed to the ground for the last time.
"You certainly took care of her," said a voice. Cargo's messenger, a small creature with purple roots for legs, leaves for fingers and three flowers on his head, scuttled in.
"Well what else could have happened Captain Weed," smiled Cargo.
A second man walked into the room. He looked like Cargo but about ten years older. Also his hair was its natural black and his outfit, while similar to Cargo's, had less armour and his cape was black. "Master Bristow," cried Captain Weed, leaning forwards slightly, which was the closest he could get to a bow.
"Well brother," muttered the man, talking to Cargo, "I'm pleased to see you didn't mess up the plan."
"Did you expect me to," Cargo asked.
"I usually do, why should this time be any different?"
"Maybe I should…"
"Shut up," Bristow interrupted.
Clenching his teeth Cargo thought, 'Just a few more days, then you can torture him all you like.'
"Master, your brother did manage to kill Iron Town's leader," pointed out Captain Weed.
This information did not seem to impress Bristow in the slightest. "One person?" he muttered, "Didn't you get anyone else?"
"No," replied Cargo calmly, "Everyone else escaped."
"Not everyone," said a hoarse voice. The three turned to see a figure dragging a struggling girl through the doorway. He had an identical outfit to Cargo, although his hood was up and he had a wooden mask to cover his face. The mask had two narrow slits in it so the man could see.
"Where did you find her Master Yugi?" Cargo asked.
"She tripped and sprained her ankle," replied Yugi, still in a hoarse voice, as he tossed the girl in front of Cargo. "I've healed the damage," he continued, tapping the black emerald around his neck.
"What's your name," Cargo asked the girl, kneeling down in front of her.
"M… Miho," the girl whispered quietly.
"You'll be useful later," said Cargo getting to his feet. "I shall prepare the ritual to bring back the cardcaptors."
"Father never needed rituals to preform magic," Bristow muttered.
"Because he had been practicing spells before you were even born," yelled Cargo, resisting the urge to stab his brother in the heart.
The boats and rafts slowly floated away from Iron Town. No one spoke, everyone in silent memorial.
"You know that staying would have been pointless bro," said Kaya, breaking the silence.
"There was nothing pointless about it," said Ashitaka without looking at her. "We could have taken Cargo if…"
"We could have taken Cargo," Kaya agreed, "but you and Eboshi couldn't. You wouldn't have been in perfect sync, he'd have killed you. And if all three of us had stayed, his men would have killed us."
"At least we wouldn't have abandoned a friend," Ashitaka muttered.
Kaya stared at him in disbelief; she then lay back on the raft muttering, "So you're saying it would have been better if you had died with her?"
Ashitaka blinked in astonishment. "Kaya, that's not what I…"
"I know that's not what you meant, but it is what would have happened," Kaya breathed. "We didn't abandon her; she gave her life to save her people. Our job is to make sure the act wasn't in vain."
"I know," Ashitaka sighed, and after a long pause muttered, "I must see San as soon as possible."
Kaya let out a soft laugh. "Can't you control your hormones?"
The prince threw her a death glare. "You know that's not the reason. She's not been well lately."
"It's not surprising; we've all been working overtime. Soon it'll be worth it." The young princess placed her hand over her mouth and yawned. "Wake me when we're back on dry land," she mumbled sleepily. She used the magic of the emerald, now around her neck, to make her hat appear in her hand and then she placed it over her face.
A moment later Ashitaka jerked his head to look at her. "What?" he gasped.
Kaya pushed the hat off her face. "What?" she echoed.
"What did you just say?"
"I said 'Wake me when we're back on dry land'."
"No, after that."
"What."
"What?"
"After I said 'Wake me when we're back on dry land' I said 'What'." It was obviously a deliberate joke to be annoying.
"No, in between you saying…"
"I didn't say anything in between," Kaya muttered, before pulling her hat back down and drifting off to sleep.
Her brother watched her carefully. He couldn't be certain but he thought she'd whispered 'It'll be fun killing Cargo and his brother.'
-Present Day-
Syaoran leaned back against a tree in the schoolyard. He looked up at the cherry blossom while thinking back to the time traveling events that occurred just three days earlier. "Hey Syaoran, how it going," he heard Sakura say.
He turned, smiling mischievously. He was about to say something flirtatious but managed to stop himself just in time when he saw Sakura's best friend, Tomoyo. As Syaoran was still trying to come up with the best way to tell Meiling about him and Sakura, neither of them had mentioned their love confession when telling Tomoyo and Meiling about their recent adventure. "You certainly seem happy Syaoran," said Tomoyo.
He quickly wiped the smile off his face. "Why wouldn't I be?" Syaoran asked, going slightly pink.
"Well you usually only smile when Sakura compliments you," Tomoyo giggled.
"Oh stop it Tomoyo," said Sakura, starting to turn red herself, "What makes you think Syaoran likes me anyway?"
"The reason I just…" Tomoyo began, but a shrill voice cut her off.
"Syaoran," Meiling cooed.
'Oh damn it,' Syaoran thought as Meiling came running up to them and put her arm around his.
"So this is where you've been hiding," she laughed, resting her head on his shoulder.
Syaoran blushed while Sakura fumed. "Meiling, Syaoran has something to tell you," said Sakura.
"No I don't," Syaoran said quickly, throwing Sakura a glare.
Just as Tomoyo was about to make a teasing joke, such as 'You mean about you and Syaoran getting together', the four of them felt there faces come into contact with the ground.
"I thought you said there were only two cardcaptors," muttered Bristow.
"That's right," replied Cargo, "The other two must be friends of theirs." The twelve year olds found themselves in a cell, along with Cargo, Bristow and four guards. The green haired man then walked over to Syaoran and, grabbing a handful of his hair, yanked him to his feet.
"Hey, let go of my boyfriend," yelled Meiling.
Cargo cocked his head to one side. "Your boyfriend?" he said amused.
"Yeah and I said let go of him," she shouted.
"I know you did," Cargo replied calmly. Then, acting as if Meiling wasn't there, he looked at Sakura and said, "Hand over all the Sakura cards or I will…"
"Meiling stop!" Syaoran shouted but she ignored him. She ran forwards and attempted to karate kick the assassin in the face. Cargo didn't even need to glance at her. He caught her ankle and proceeded to punch her in the face a moment later. The girl felt pain shoot through her skull as she landed on her back, her hands covering her face, partly because of the pain and partly so nobody would see the tears seeping from her tightly closed eyes.
"If you get up again, I'll put a dagger between your eyes," Cargo stated. With the tone he used it was hard to believe he'd just given a death threat. "As I was saying, Hand over all the Sakura cards or I will kill Syaoran."
Reluctantly, Sakura pulled her cards from her pocket and placed them on the floor. Cargo nodded at Bristow, who then walked over to Sakura and pressed a dagger against the side of her neck.
Cargo let go of Syaoran's hair and picked up the cards. He flipped through the deck, appearing to count them. "They're all here," he announced. "Now Syaoran, give me your element cards if you don't want to see Sakura's throat slit."
Syaoran tossed the pieces of paper in front of Cargo's feet. "Is that all of them?" Cargo questioned. Syaoran nodded glaring at him.
"Now let her go!"
"Why should I?" smiled Bristow.
"Because I order it," said Cargo.
"But you said…" Bristow began.
"You can kill them later, for now just do as I say," hissed the green haired man.
With a scowl Bristow obeyed. "So when do I get to kill them," he asked.
"At sunset," his brother replied, "Give them the rest of the day alone to think about the fact that they'll never see their families again."
Bristow giggled, "It's at times like this I'm glad to have you around."
Disregarding the pain in her head, Meiling jumped to her feet. "Meiling if you must do something make sure it's something you'll have time to regret," Sakura muttered through gritted teeth.
Unsurprisingly Meiling didn't listen. "You can't execute us; we're only kids, we…"
The dagger almost sliced off her ear, but Cargo only wanted to scare her, so it narrowly missed. "I can kill you if that is what I wish," he sneered. He walked forwards and looked into her eyes. "And you have no way to stop me." A pale Meiling shrank back in terror.
The six men then left, locking the cell door behind them.
"So I take it this is the place you were telling us about," said Tomoyo.
"What gave that away," Syaoran muttered sarcastically.
"Oh I can't die here, I'm only twelve," Meiling sobbed.
"We won't die," said Syaoran, surprisingly claim, "Those friends we mentioned can help us out."
"How can they help us while we're stuck in here," his cousin whined.
"We don't need help getting out," Sighed Sakura, "Now would you please calm down."
"But they took all your cards! Without magic what chance…"
"That is not a problem," said Sakura as she walked over to the cell bars.
Cargo walked into his sleeping quarters, which formerly belonged to Eboshi, carrying a bowl of ramen. Miho was sitting in a chair, rope around her wrists and ankles made sure of that.
There was silence for a short time, Miho watch Cargo while wondering if her life was about to end. Then Cargo placed the ramen on a table and proceeded to draw his sword. The young girl closed her eyes but instead of feeling the agony of death she felt the ropes slacken and fall away. She opened her eyes to see Cargo sheathing his sword. "The ramen is for you."
She looked at the food uneasily. "You didn't… add anything did you?"
"No, until you are needed in my plan you are my guest."
"If you treat all your guests like…"
"I can't have you getting away now can I. That is the reason for the rope, so unless you'd rather be placed behind bars I suggest you don't complain."
After another silence Miho sat down and began to slowly eat the soup. She wasn't hungry but she didn't know what other food she'd get.
"I won't tie you up again so feel free to try and escape. Just be aware that if you do, I will break both your legs in three places."
Miho gulped and nodded.
It was getting close to sunset when Captain Weed ran through the door yelling, "Master, there is a problem!"
To Be Continued…