A/N: It's been a while since I updated this. I'm terribly sorry if this chapter doesn't own up to the wait. I hope you guys enjoy all the same.
Screwing Destiny
Chapter Two
The Tomoeda Skiing trip wasn't turning out as smooth as it should.
"Sakura's still up there!" Naomi cried, tugging her sensei's coat and pointing to the steep mountain beside their lodge. A fierce blizzard was brewing at its peak and the students have been herded to safety, expect for three. Anxious faces from inside the cabin looked out, hoping for the safe return of their classmates.
"Eriol and Li are up there too," someone answered back. "She's going to be fine!"
"Are you an idiot? They can't possibly hold up against an avalanche this big!" The building noise was unbearable. Teachers were rushing to contact rescue teams and the anxiety levels were reaching their peak.
The center of it all, Sakura Kinomoto was hanging for dear life on a tree branch.
"You can't use the Time Card, yet," Kero by her shoulder was no less fretting too. "You aren't that strong!"
"I need to stop this avalanche! It's heading for our skii lodge!" Sakura yelled defiantly but soon yelped when she was snatched out of the tree and taken to a guard house standing on a not-so-sturdy pole right beside it.
"Li!" she exclaimed, quite winded as soon as she found out who caught her. "Where's Eriol?"
"Somewhere up there," said the boy with a stern expression on his face. His sword was already out and his spell papers poised. "Now, once I activate the Time Card, you have to choose a card to stop this..."
"Ah!"
The small rickety hut was fast collapsing under the sheer speed of the advancing wind and ice. Kero and Li hurried to grab Sakura, who was steadily slipping toward the open door.
"Hold on!"
She couldn't recall who screamed, as a pair of strong, warm hands grabbed her waist and hoisted her out of the snow.
- - - -
"Nurse, I think Mr. Kusanagi needs more blankets."
"Of course, Ms. Yuzuriha."
The young school girl sighed when the nurse left.
"Is there any news," Aoki Seiichiro asked, wheeling his way to where Nekoi, Arashi and the CLAMP Director were.
"They didn't find a single trace of Kamui anywhere," said the aging blond in his deep voice. "We're beginning to consider the possibility that what happened was indeed unexpected and not forseen by any of the dreamseers, as if someone or something intervened."
"So are you saying that Kamui might've really disappeared? And he wasn't intending to?" asked Arashi.
The director nodded solemnly. "Where could Kamui be? When is he coming back?" cried Nekoi.
"None of us can say. Even Kakyou has reported his absence from dreams. Kamui may be in another world, another time. All we can do is wait—"
"AAAAH!"
"AAAAH!"
The people in the immediate vicinity who could run raced to where the nurse was getting blankets, the source of the screams.
A small girl with mocha brown hair, who was wrapped in layers and layers of winter clothing and covered in snow tumbled out the cupboard instead of sheets. Her frightened green eyes took one look of her surroundings and she began to cry.
"Where am I?!" She was panicking.
The nurse, quickly recovering from her initial shock, tried to calm her down.
"She's covered in snow!" exclaimed one of the campus personnel who was helping out at the clinic. "She must be freezing!"
"Oh dear, you are," said the nurse and all but hugged the little girl in a flurry of warmer sheets.
- - - -
They had every right to be wary, despite the young girl's age. It wasn't normal for people to pop out of cabinets, unless they were spying. At a critical time such as this, the Final Battle between the Seals and the Angels (aside from Kamui's sudden disappearance), suspicions were running high.
But the Seals who gathered in the clinic, watching the little girl sip her cocoa and catch her breath, was finding it hard to see fault.
"What's your name?" the nurse was asking, rubbing her back to calm her down.
"S-sakura K-kinomoto..." she answered and sniffed. "Please, tell me where I am..."
The CLAMP Director sat beside her on the empty bed and gave a kind smile. "You are on CLAMP campus. This is our infirmary. Are you supposed to be somewhere else?"
Sakura looked up, surprised. "...CLAMP? The expensive school for gifted people?" Her panic level rose as she hastened to make herself look proper, for whatever personal principle. "Wh-why?"
"You tell me miss," Aoki said cheerfully from his wheelchair. "You're the one that popped out of our cupboard and gave the nurse a scare."
Sakura calmed down once more and looked at the half empty mug of hot chocolate between her hands. "I-I'm from Tomoeda Elementary. We went on a skiing trip but it was cut short when the mountain we were on had an avalanche. I..." She looked up once more, as if remembering something. "My classmates! Are they safe? Are they here?!"
There was a fuss to calm the little girl down once more. And once they did, Arashi was growing quite skeptical. "You were on a skiing trip before this?"
Sakura nodded. "Where are my classmates?" she asked fearfully.
"We don't know," Nekoi said carefully, not wanting to upstart the little girl once more. "But where did you say that you studied?"
"Tomoeda Elementary."
Everyone turned to the CLAMP Chairman, who has had been typing away at the infirmary's computer amidst the commotion. He turned around on his swivel chair and smoothed his hair. There was a dramatic pause.
"Your school doesn't exist in this world."
Sakura's eyes widened. "...eh?"
TBC
A/N: Well, that was crappy. Just a few more introductory chapters to come before the plot hopefully begins. LOL Not much fun here, though I doubt this is a comedy? I hope I got my basics right, it's been a while since I indulged in these fandoms. Ah well, forgive typos!
