A/n: Here's chapter 8 up and done...and I'm glad to announce that the mini hiatus is officially over =D Many thanks to those who had reviewed so far, you guys are wonderful...^^

and...

Enjoy the story!


Recap

"Sakura-san! Use your innocence to kill the akuma!" Allen shouted at her, fighting off about six level one akumas at the same time.

Allen's shout had brought Sakura out from her thoughts, it was only then that Sakura realised that one of the akumas had gotten quite close to her and Syaoran was some distance away, fighting off the akumas just like Allen and Lenalee.

"Sakura!" Syaoran immediately tried to rush over to protect her but a number of akumas blocked his path.

Determined not to let Syaoran worry over her, she took out her weapon, pointing straight at the akuma. However, once Sakura made eye contact with it, the fear that was momentarily blocked away by determination made its way back out again. As soon as fear took over Sakura, she had forgotten about the phrase that needs to be said before using the weapon at the akuma.

Sakura aimed her weapon with shaking arms right it and pulled the trigger. Upon pulling the trigger, she clamped her eyes shut, awaiting for the impact of the akuma being blown into bits but it never came.

"Thank you." A voice which Sakura did not recognize whispered.

Surprised, Sakura opened her eyes slowly, looking around for the akuma that had been a threat to her life just a minute ago. Instead, she noticed that there were sakura petals where the akuma stood before, dancing along wherever the wind blew.

"...What happened?" she asked both in surprise and shock, gradually sinking on the ground.


Sakura still could not believe what had just happened. The akuma had simply became flower petals and danced away in the wind but that was the least of what mattered to Sakura. The soul in the akuma was nothing like Sakura had ever seen, let alone experience or encounter.

Even though she was aware of her ability to see dead souls, Sakura was not really bothered by it until now. However, the moment she had eye contact with the akuma, Sakura wished that she did not have that ability at all. It was the first time that she witnessed a soul in so much pain and sadness.

At first, Sakura wasn't sure whether Syaoran and the others could see the akuma's souls just like she did but she noticed that Syaoran and the others were fighting the akumas as if they were just 'monsters'. That made her came to a painful conclusion that she was the only one that was able to see akumas' souls or so she thought.

"Princess! Are you alright?" Syaoran asked worriedly as he rushed to her side.

"...I'm fine..." Sakura managed to choke out these words; however, she noticed that not only her voice was trembling, but her body as well.

Syaoran immediately took notice of this and his expression softened. He knew that Sakura had not experienced such a thing before and therefore it's not surprising that she would react in that way. Syaoran took Sakura in his arms, slightly surprising her.

"It's ok..." he whispered into her ear.

Sakura wanted to reply him but no words would come out. Instead, tears ran down freely on her cheeks. Unsure of what to do next, Sakura buried her face into Syaoran's shoulder and wept while Syaoran patted her lightly on the back.


Standing a little distance away from the pair, Allen watched. He couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic just by watching Syaoran and Sakura. It had reminded him a little of his first mission where Cross had asked him to fight an akuma face-to-face for the first time. Although what he reminisced was a painful memory, Allen couldn't help but give a small pained smile and fully understood what Sakura was going through at the moment. Killing the akuma was a tough job and not everybody would be able to bring themselves to kill the akumas, with or without innocence.

"What are you thinking about?" Lenalee asked as she stood beside Allen.

"Just seeing Sakura-san makes me feel a little nostalgic...it reminds me of the first time I killed the akuma."

"I see...at least she had someone to comfort her right after this experience." Lenalee replied.

"Yeah..." Allen agreed.

"If you two are quite done there, we could carry on before it gets dark." Link commented, earning glares from both Allen and Lenalee.

"Link, can't you give them a little more time?" Allen growled.

"No, I can't. We have a mission to complete and we have to return to the black order as soon as possible." Link replied in a rather monotonous fashion.

Allen sighed in defeat. It was nearly impossible to convince Link that something else was more important than his duties. Although there might be exceptions, the chances of it happening were rare unless it was a matter of life and death. Allen had given up trying to convince the latter a long time ago, ever since Link was ordered by Rouvelier to keep a 24/7 watch on him. Initially, Allen had tried all sorts of ways to get Link to be more lenient on the 24/7 supervision but the inspector firmly refused, re-emphasising that it was his duty to watch over Allen. From that time on, Allen simply resigned to the fact, although he would get slightly irritated that he does not have time to spend alone.

"A-Ah, I'm so sorry, Link-san, we could continue on our journey." Sakura said apologetically, standing up and wiping her eyes.

"Are you sure you're ok, Sakura?" Syaoran asked his voice filled with worry and concern.

"Sakura, it's ok if you want to sit down a little while longer. Allen and the others can go ahead first; we can catch to them anytime." Mokona added, lightly jumping onto Sakura's shoulder

"I'm fine. Thank you." Sakura smiled reassuringly, touching Mokona's ears gently and looking at Syaoran.

"All right, let's hurry before it gets dark." Lenalee said to them.


The warm glow of the fire was welcoming against the cold air of the night. It cackled as if full of energy and undaunted by the constant cold wind that was blowing across the clearing. A pot of stew was placed just above the fire, boiling steadily as the flames danced along the bottom of the pot while the aroma rose from the pot and wafted gracefully through their noses, which was tempting enough for Allen and the others, especially Allen.

"Is it ready yet?" Allen asked expectantly, leaning forward.

"Walker, there's still another few minutes for the stew to be completely cooked...now stop asking me the same question every few minutes!" Link snapped.

"Looks delicious! Mokona can't wait to try some!" Mokona commented, jumping up and down in excitement.

Soon the stew was ready and Link poured equal amounts of it into each of the bowls, with the exception of Allen's of course. Knowing that the exorcist have a certain fondness of food and a parasitic anti-akuma weapon, Link had given him a larger portion compared to the others, which Allen gratefully accepted.

"Thanks for the food!" Allen happily called, before eating his meal, more enthusiastically than everyone else.

"Sakura, aren't you eating?" Mokona asked worriedly, noticing that the girl had not touched her food since it had been served to her.

"Sakura-san, if it's about Link-san, don't bother about him...he's always like that." Allen piped up, managing to swallow before answering. Link shot him a glare before returning to his meal.

"I-I-It's not that, Allen-san...it's-...nothing." Sakura finished hurriedly, deciding that it was a wise decision in not telling Allen and the others about her encounter with the akuma.

Syaoran felt that there was something not right in Sakura's voice; it still contained the fear which he sensed when he comforted her earlier in the afternoon. He decided to ask her later, respecting the decision Sakura made in not telling the others about it.

"Ah-h, ok..." Allen replied, returning to his meal. To a person who didn't know Allen well, it might have seemed that Allen wasn't bothered at all by Sakura's reply. Instead, he was a little worried about the comment she gave.


Later that night, Sakura could not get to sleep at all. She was still preoccupied about what happened earlier in the afternoon. Initially, Sakura thought that destroying the akuma was just killing emotionless monsters that had brought nothing but misery into innocent people's lives. That encounter with the akuma had proved her wrong.

"Sakura, can't sleep?" Syaoran asked, turning over to face her.

"No..." Sakura replied.

"What's on your mind?"

"...do you still remember what happened in the afternoon?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran nodded in reply.

"Do you see what was within the akuma?" she continued, avoiding eye contact with Syaoran.


A short distance away, both Allen and Lenalee were listening in on the conversation. They were shocked with the fact that Sakura had indirectly revealed that she could also see the akuma's soul, just like Allen. Lenalee forced herself to remain calm at the shocking revelation and placed her hand over her mouth, trying to force back a gasp.

Allen was pretty much as shocked as Lenalee was. Sakura did not look like the type of person who would make the same mistake he did so many years back. However, the logical part of him argued that it was the first time that Sakura had come face to face with an akuma and she wasn't cursed like he was. Truthfully, Allen didn't know how to react to this, a part of him wanted to be angry that she might have made the same mistake he did. Another part of him felt sorry for her that she could also see the akuma's soul just like he did. However, he decided for the time being he would try not to jump to any conclusions until he hears what she had to say.


Syaoran was rather taken aback by the question that Sakura had just asked him. As much he wanted to lie about how he could see akumas too in order to comfort Sakura, Syaoran felt that it was the best to give a truthful answer rather than a made-up one.

"...Sorry, Sakura, I could only the akuma as it is...but...could it be due to your ability to see dead souls since you're young?" Syaoran asked, in reply Sakura gave him a questioning look, wondering how he knew that she was able to see souls of the dead person since she was young?

Realizing at what he had just mentioned, Syaoran hurriedly replied, "U-u-uhh...I had mentioned that because...ah, do you remember back then in Jade country you mentioned that you saw the golden-haired princess?"

Sakura nodded her head in reply, pondering over what Syaoran had mentioned.

"But...the dead souls I could see was nothing like the akuma...it looks like a human skeleton...chained to the body of the akuma...the soul wasn't happy at all...it was crying..." Sakura explained, trying really hard to stop her voice from shaking.

"It's okay...Sakura, you remember what Allen-san had mentioned about the akuma soul would be freed if the akuma is destroyed by the innocence." Syaoran comforted Sakura, hugging her close to him.

"But..."

"Trust me, it'll be okay..." Syaoran assured her.

"Thank you...Syaoran-kun."


"Allen-kun, are you okay?" Lenalee asked worriedly, noticing that her friend was awfully quiet since they overheard the conversation between Syaoran and Sakura.

"It's just that...all this time, I thought I was the only one who could see the akuma souls...and now Sakura can too. Do you think...?" Allen didn't continue any further but Lenalee knew what he wanted to ask.

"I don't think Sakura would have done that," She replied, choosing her words carefully.

"We should talk to her about this before jumping into conclusions." She continued.

"You're right. Thank you, Lenalee." Allen smiled gratefully.


The next morning, Link was the first to awake, since he was undisturbed during his sleep the last night. Stretching himself, Link got up and poured the water over the dying embers of the fire, which sizzled feebly before completely dying out. Looking around, he noticed that the weather today was extremely good for travelling and in order to get to the much needed destination, the others must get up early and leave.

As if on cue, Mokona jumped onto Link's shoulder causing him to jump slightly.

"Good morning, Link! Puu!"

"Morning, Mokona, are you always this hyper every morning?" Link asked.

"Yes! That's because Mokona is Mokona!" Mokona giggled.

"Whatever..."

"Puu! Is it time to wake the others up?"

"Yes..."

"EVERYBODY!!! RISE AND SHINE!" Mokona shouted rather excitedly, arousing the others from their sleep.

"Mokona, next time try to use a quieter wake-up call....ugh, now my ears are hurting." Allen said, stifling a yawn.

"YAY!!! Now everybody's awake, we can leave!!" Mokona exclaimed, apparently she did not hear what Allen had just said.

"We haven't had breakfast yet...and I'm hungry" Allen whined, still feeling rather sleepy.

"I've already prepared breakfast." Link stated, throughout the whole time that Mokona was trying to get Allen and the others to awake, he had prepared breakfast, Knowing very well that a certain white-haired boy would much prefer to take his meals before setting off to anywhere.

"Thank you, Link" Allen replied gratefully, almost snatching the bowl from Link's hands.

As Allen finished the last of his breakfast, he carefully thought over what had happened the night before. Allen had felt that Lenalee was right about the point on asking Sakura before jumping to any conclusions that they could think of. Deciding to listen to Lenalee's advice, Allen determined to ask Sakura about it when he got the opportunity. Immersed in his thoughts, Allen stared off into the distance where the sun was already steadily rising in the horizon.

"Allen, if you wouldn't set off now, we're leaving you behind." Link called to him.

"I'm coming," Allen called back, rushing to catch up with them.


A little distance away, Road and Tyki watched the group as they set off. Road was swinging Lero, just like a child would with his toys at a certain point of time. Unlike their previous mission, the noah had finally managed to persuade the Earl to allow her to borrow Lero on this mission. Lero was reluctant to go with her, knowing full well what would Road do to him. However, he had no choice. Standing a little distance away, Tyki was smoking on another stick of cigarette, bored with the entire waiting game. The both of them waiting for an opportunity to strike.

"Tyki, don't you think they're moving a bit too slowly?" Road whined, lightly hitting Lero onto a rock, the umbrella was repeatedly wincing at each impact, though it never did much damage to the latter.

"They're moving way too slowly now...say, Road, should we get a few akumas to get them to warm up?" Tyki looked up, smiling rather sinisterly.

"Oh? I'm way ahead of you at this." Road replied snapping her fingers, immediately a level two akuma appeared, along with a couple of level three.

"Time to let the fun and games begin." Road said, using Lero like a pointer, she silently ordered the akumas to head towards Allen and the others.


A/N: So...chapter 8 is finally done...and it's a cliffhanger at the end...Sorry this had to be a filler chapter though...for next chapter, it's back to the action ^^

Please read and review! =)