I'm back! Sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter, I went to Barcelona for a school trip and I came back only last night! How are you doing?
~The Phoenix~
Chapter 3: Wizards of the past
Darkness. Cold.
"…Where am I?"
Distant voices are calling her, in worry. She tries to answer, to find a way out. "Shaoran! Tomoyo!"
She runs.
"Shaoran! Where are you?"
But in the place she is struck a thick, suffocating obscurity reigns, there is no way out.
"Finally I've found you, Card Mistress."
Sakura halts and glances around, eyes open wide in fear. "Who are you? S-show yourself!"
An evanescent figure takes shape in front of the girl, it seems made of shimmering flames. The voice, a woman voice, chuckles.
"Who am I?" she giggles "Ah ah, come on… you really don't know?" Sakura stares her in confusion.
"Wait for me, my dear, because I'm coming to take what I am due… and unfortunately only you own it, little girl."
Tongues of fire detach from the figure and gently wrap around the scared girl, brushing against her skin as to caress her. "Nani… what do you mean? Who are you?! Tell me your name!"
"I'll ask you nicely: could you lend me your Cards, please?" the woman asks, with a sort of pleading look in her voice, as a child asks for candies.
"I said tell me your name." Sakura repeats ignoring the request, trying to sound firm.
"Are you sure it will be of any use?" the woman smirks "But yeah, I don't see why we can't follow the standards of education. My name is Shinobu, little girl, and since you're at it, say hello for me to your boyfriend… oh, and I need the Cards. So I will take them. Konbanwa, Sakura-chan."
The figure begins to fade, the light to disappear.
"M-Matte! Tell me more! What do you want from me?!"
The woman vanishes completely.
Sakura is left alone in the darkness, which soon engulfs her.
ooo000ooo000ooo
Sakura slowly came back to reality. Slowly opening her eyes, she found herself in the small recess under the Penguin Slide in the park, lying in Shaoran's arms. It was raining hard outside. He and Tomoyo looked at her in worry.
"Sakura! Thank goodness… are you alright?"
"How are you, my friend?"
Sakura sat up, her expression hidden by the hairs. "I'm fine, don't worry." She turned to the boy, eyes still filled with fear. "Shaoran, who… who is Shinobu?"
The rain poured down outside the recess where they were, but a patch of sky began to glimpse through the clouds and the treetops turned red for the sunset light.
Sakura didn't notice the sight, she was staring at Shaoran, waiting for an answer.
He was visibly nervous.
"So what?"
"H-how do you know Shinobu?"
"I've just dreamed of her. I think you owe me an explanation."
Tomoyo was confused "What? What's happening?"
Sakura kept staring at Shaoran, who sighed and ran a hand over his face.
"Yeah, I think so. Let's go home, I'll tell you everything."
ooo000ooo000ooo
"Well…how do I start…"
"Wait a minute, Li-kun; I'll take the camera to record everything" Tomoyo said.
The three of them were sitting on the couches in Kinomoto's house's living room, in front of a cup of steaming tea.
Sakura had spent the last ten minutes – the time needed to walk from the park to her house – reassuring Tomoyo, who wouldn't stop asking if she was ok. As soon as they walked into the house, the auburn-haired girl had ran upstairs to call Kero-chan, but she had founded him soundly asleep over the joystick of the console, so she had come down, in frustration.
She will never change… she thought with a mixture of resignation and amusement looking at her friend, while Shaoran glared at Tomoyo who was rummaging around in her bag. "Done!" she exclaimed, after the camera was accurately placed on the couch's arm.
Shaoran took a deep breath. "Uhm… so, you know that Clow Reed was one of the most powerful magicians on the earth…"
"Wasn't he the greatest?" Sakura interrupted, pulling her legs up on the couch she shared with the boy and hugging her knees.
"Yes, but" he went on "there were plenty of wizards at the time, in disguise. A Council made up of the most influential and powerful of them was created, Clow was one of them. The Council had the responsibility for monitor the other mages' behaviour, so that someone wouldn't suddenly decide to… well.. going too far. Being discovered by the common people would've been a problem, you know? The era of witch-hunting was still a bad memory, and they didn't want to provoke more violence. For a long time there weren't particular problems. Until Clow decided to take on an apprentice."
"Clow had an apprentice? Kero and Yue never mentioned it!"
"This is because it happened before had created them. The name of the apprentice was Reijiro, and for the first years he was an impeccable magician. Ho owned an innate talent for magic, along with an alarming hunger for power. For this reason, Clow decided to stop being his teacher, worried because he was becoming more and more powerful. Reijiro left and he didn't be seen again for about ten years."
"When did he create the Cards?" Tomoyo asked, intrigued.
"I think during this period, but I don't know why. You know, he was a kind of eccentric man… but my mother says he already knew what was going to happen in the future." Shaoran took a sip of tea "Meanwhile, the Council had split. As it was foreseen, a lot of wizard withdrew their loyalty to it, which continued to imprison the opponents. Clow tried to restore the confidence, trying to convince the other members to act more moderately, but he didn't succeed. To make things worse, Reijiro came back, not alone this time. There was a woman with him, almost as powerful as him."
"Shinobu?"
"Shinobu." he confirmed "In addition to a lot of other lesser wizards tired of a government which didn't allow them to live freely. I don't know much about her, but she was… kinda his right-hand man. Some people say she was in love with him. What the chronicles report is that they trusted blindly each other. However, the rebellion took place for a couple of months, until the Council gave the order to kill Reijiro."
"And did they do it?" Sakura asked.
Shaoran nodded "Not right away. Clow had tried many times to settle down the fight without getting anyone hurt. But at the end Reijiro was killed."
"…Who killed him?"
Shaoran placed his elbows on his knee, gazing down "Clow." he muttered.
"N-nani?" Tomoyo gasped. Sakura looked at him in disbelief It's not… possible. The boy lifted up his eyes, reassuring her with a little smile. "It was an accident: as I said before, Clow was against the verdict, and he joined the expedition to try to reason with both factions. There was a fight, and Reijiro died."
"Then… how do we know it was him?"
"Because he admitted it."
"Oh." the silence fell among them, after a few moments Tomoyo asked "What became of Shinobu?"
"She was upset, for the death of her beloved, and… from what I know she has decided to revenge on Clow…" he looked like he was going to say something more, but then he continued "Anyway, even though she had become very powerful, Clow was still the greatest wizard of the time. When she found him, he managed to seal her."
"Just a seal?"
"I told you. Clow was a very strange person, he must have had his reason. The fact is that almost two years ago the seal weakened, and Shinobu broke free. That's why I had to leave, Sakura." He uttered the last sentence gazing at the girl, eyes filled with a mixture of apologies, regret and guilt.
She looked away. "And what I got to do with it, anyway?" She asked.
Shaoran sighed, he hung his head down. "When she found out that Clow was dead, Shinobu started looking for his heir... that is you. Obviously she didn't find you in Hong Kong. At first she thought it was me, because of my family, but she knew Clow had created the Cards and so she realized she had got wrong, because I don't use that power. I tried to pull the rope as long as possible to keep her from getting to you…but at the end she found out who you are." He clenched his fists "…but at least I was able to seal her again before she could come here..."
Sakura tightened the grasp around her legs, a gentle warmth filling her heart. "You did everything… for me?" she whispered, still not looking at him.
Shaoran blushed. "…but It won't last for a long time… my skills are still too weak to fight Shinobu. My mother is keeping the seal now, so for a while we can relax."
"Oh, and then, the question of the interrupted communications?" Tomoyo asked.
"Shinobu was able to completely isolate the city. All ordinary people have forgotten of the world outside, and we couldn't leave Hong Kong in the grip of that witch. Then, after I sealed her, about a year ago, my family has been busy with the restoration of the city. We decided to maintain the state of isolation for a while, until the situation wouldn't came back to normality. That's why I couldn't get in touch with you, I'm sorry Sakura."
The silence fell once more. Sakura hesitated a moment, then she rested her head on Shaoran's shoulder, he wrapped his arm around her waist. Tomoyo turned off the camera.
Suddenly Sakura had a bad, indeed, very bad feeling. As if something inside her had disappeared. She lifted her face, looking at Shaoran, she spoke with an optimism she hadn't. "Listen Shaoran… How is Meilin doing?"
The boy clenched his fists. He knew she would have asked it sooner or later. They were friends at heart. But he didn't want to relive those moments, no, he wouldn't tell everything. It was after several seconds, and with the death in his heart that he answer.
"Sakura… Tomoyo… well, Meilin is…"
He took a deep breath, as the two girls looked at him in curiosity.
"…she's dead."
Papparappappa! Shockin' news! I hope you liked this chapter! It'll take a little longer to upload the new one because I still have to translate it. Reviews are welcomed!
