Okay! This is the last chapter! Yatta! ^0^ I'm so happy I successfully completed my story! Yay! Lol! Sorry for taking so long, but I'm so happy that people have read and appreciated my story, it is really very touching. ^-^ I want to thank you all for reading and enjoying my story! ^_~ Love you all heaps! ^o^ I hope that my first CCS story posted on Fanfiction.Net was a good one and deserved all your comments! Oh, and if you're sad this is the last chapter, don't be! It's got a happy ending...like every S+S fanfic should have! I may even write a sequel...but read the ending first, and if most of you insist on having a sequel...who knows? ^_~ Ok, that's it from me! Bye!

Ps. I may continue to write more CCS fanfiction, but I need some comments from you guys for inspiration to continue! ^_~
Chapter 9: The Beach

Sakura felt herself sink several inches down into soft grainy sand. She heard the faint lapping of waves and the howling call of a nightly gale. She opened her eyes. She stood on the edge of a dark, deep blue beach. The moon shone high and eerie. She turned and saw Eriol standing three feet behind her; she looked down and saw Tomoyo lying on the ground at her feet; she turned to her right and saw Syaoran, his face now in full view and his features etched deeply into his face. The moon's light only seemed to emphasize their depth and distortedness, making him look much older than he was. Sakura yelped and took a staggered step back.

A deep growl was discharged from the boy's throat as he leered at her. His amber eyes flashed, twitched, looking far from human. His teeth were bared.

Sakura held her breath and dared not move.

Eriol stood behind them, his breath was rattling as he tried to stay conscious. He had used too much of his strength in transporting them to the boundary between land and sea: the beach.

Sakura's eyes shifted to the ground beneath her, as she viewed her motionless cousin, Tomoyo. She immediately felt a surge of panic and she bent down out of reflex. Her movement was a mistake as Syaoran snarled and lurched toward her, his arms spread, his hands clawed.

Sakura screamed and backed up, flinging her arms out in front of her. Syaoran missed reaching for her but made an attempt to try again.

'Eriol! Help me!' she shrieked with fear as Syaoran advanced on her. She stumbled as she vainly ran in her heels that always sunk deeply into the sand. She reached down and pulled them off and tossed them aside and found her proper footing as Syaoran pursued her up the beach, towards the cliffs that hung over the coastline. 'Eriol! Please!'

But Eriol was far too worn to pursue them, or to hear her pleas. He fell to his knees, exhaustion overcoming him and sank down to his head beside Tomoyo. He shuddered and whimpered as if a vampire was draining his life force out of him. 'Tomoyo,' he rasped, lifting his head with much effort and stretching an arm towards her. The tips of his fore finger and middle finger brushed the bloody clusters formed on her dark hair. He collapsed, unconscious.

'Eriol!' Sakura cried in anguish, rotating her head and peering over her shoulder as Syaoran chased her. She snagged the ends of her dress and fell chest first into the ground, sand spraying over her. Her face was buried into a shallow hole made in the sand. She stayed still for a while, furiously racking her mind. What could she do? What ever was happening? He was insane. He was chasing her. He wanted her dead. For what ever reason. Where did Syaoran go? This wasn't him...was it?

Sakura raised her head out of the sand slowly and turned her whole body around and stared as a large dark figure loomed over her like a solid shadow. She felt tears rise in her eyes as two white lights flashed from the head of the figure. Her ears started ringing. She opened her mouth like a retracting mousetrap and gasped, 'Syaoran?'

The figure seemed to hunch its shoulders in response but it didn't make a sound, only the growl of a revving lawnmower could be distinguished.

Sakura gulped against the dryness of her throat and repeated his name.

He didn't speak with that of human tongue. He howled softly, like an anxious whimper, prolonged like the wind. His shoulders lowered and his hands unclenched from their claws. Sakura stared up at him for a moment, uncertain of what to do, and uncertain of his sanity. Was he human at all?

She chose to heave herself to her feet. She found it difficult to catch her balance on such uneven ground but managed to stay standing and stared hard into his eyes. She didn't know why, but she suddenly found a determination. She didn't notice at first, but a magnificently bright pink aura began to blossom from around her head and shone in a ring like an angel's halo. It radiated in the dim.

Syaoran seemed to be blinded as he hissed and shielded his eyes with his hands.

'Syaoran,' she said clearly and without submission, 'are you there?'

The pink light started to fade and he could look at her again. His eyes grew wide and shone with confusion. He looked like a frightened and vulnerable creature.

Her ears started ringing again when she heard a voice call from behind them. 'Sakura!'

Sakura and Syaoran turned and saw Eriol running over to them, Tomoyo at his side. It was too dark to see the blood drying on her scalp. 'This is all my doing! I brought you all here! I used my magic!'

'Eriol?' Sakura asked, breathless.

He stopped in front of them and talked as quickly as possible, 'Remember the day you described to me what the boy looked like. I took that information from you and searched all the descriptive auras of every person on land and sea. I wanted to bring your prince to you, but I knew once I'd taken him from the ocean, he wouldn't be able to adapt to land life so I fashioned for him a personality that would enable for him to live on land and make him love you...but the spell backfired and I made a mistake...Syaoran seemed to have found what he was truly like before my spell but the two egos were in constant battle for complete control...' he lowered his head in shame, 'You know when he ignored you the first time he came here...but then he suddenly saw you...' he raised his head and his eyes glowed from under his dark fringe. 'The day you started wearing that scale around your neck...because it held his essence, he was able to see you.'

Sakura gasped, 'It was a scale?!' everything suddenly made sense. It was just like a scale from the tail of fish, but it was much more magical and much more solid! 'Syaoran's a merman?!'

Tomoyo's eyes widened in recognition. 'So it is true! You were saved by a boy!'

Sakura nodded her head slowly, in utter shock. 'I don't believe it...' she turned to stare at Syaoran, 'and you saved me...'

Syaoran nodded his head and gazed into her eyes. 'I'm sorry, but Syaoran isn't my name.' Syaoran held out a hand to Eriol. 'He gave me that name when he transferred me and redesigned my entire character. I remember now...my name Ookamenkai, wolf of the sea. I am a mer-person, not of your world but the one below.' He seemed to understand the overwhelmed look in Sakura's eyes. Even though she had realized it and had come to accept it, she still found it absolutely amazing. He idly took her hand in his and brushed the sand off her face with his other hand. 'I knew that I was destined to save you...and I longed to meet you...Eriol helped fulfill that wish and I have come to know the sweet, caring girl you are, Sakura.'

Sakura's mouth opened slightly, but no words came out. No one had ever said anything so touching to her. She blinked back tears and closed her mouth before a sob managed to escape.

He gazed warmly at her, his eyes full of nothing but love and affection for only her.

'I hope you can forgive me, both of you,' Eriol said, holding his hands together and bowing before them.

Sakura and Syaoran broke their gaze and looked at him.

Eriol raised his head when silence met him. Tomoyo still stood beside him, deeply confused. Eriol looked grave. 'There isn't much time left, before one side shall triumph. You see, Syaoran, I mean Ookamenkai, has been exposed to land for so long, that this particular ego of his - which I created - of land will be much more strong. Soon, it could take over completely.'

'I would sacrifice my quiet life of the ocean to be with her!' he exclaimed, grabbing Sakura's shoulders firmly, as if she were a sacred treasure that he could never part with. Eriol shook his head, 'You still don't understand. The ego of land has always been corrupt, but it was weakly shown in its early stages. As I said before, my spell backfired and it worked in reverse - Syaoran wasn't a gentleman but a nuisance, and he didn't hold an eye for only Sakura, but for everyone but Sakura. Now your land ego is strong and thriving, and it will destroy your ego of sea if something isn't done about it soon.'

'What needs to be done?' he asked quietly, but with a stern look in his eyes.

Eriol looked scarcely at Sakura then returned his gaze to his supposed cousin. 'You'll need to return to the ocean soon...or otherwise, land will consume every watery aspect of you...and you will not stop until you have killed Sakura.' Tomoyo gasped with horror, clapping a hand over her mouth. Eriol narrowed his eyes as he said, 'Sakura was supposed to be the central key of your being, for love or for hate...and with the spell in reverse, it's hate and a lust for murder.'

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked up at Syaoran anxiously. He determinedly avoided her gaze as he said, 'So be it.'

Eriol nodded with a deep understanding. 'It's been nice having you as my cousin. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for your benefit.'

He bobbed his head once and nodded over at Tomoyo. 'Tomoyo. Good bye.'

Tomoyo sniffled softly and nodded her head. 'Good bye.'

Sakura shook her head violently and snatched his wrists. 'You can't leave me! Don't go away! We can find a way around it! We can't be certain that you will try to kill me!'

'No, Sakura!' he yelled, wrenching his wrists from her hands. Now he was looking at her, his brows were knitted, but his eyes were` full of regret. 'I can't afford that possibility! You've witnessed what I'm capable of' - he pointed a finger at Tomoyo, indicating the bleeding which wasn't visible because she had previously been healed by Eriol - 'and I cannot risk it happening again! Don't you see?' he cried, a sort of pleading in his voice, 'I can't afford it! I just can't! I don't want to hurt you any more than I already have! I care about you too much!'

He stopped yelling and seemed to calm as he said, 'I will return to the sea. My home.'

He turned slowly and began walking towards the lapping waves, washing over the sand. His lean form was silhouetted under the eerie moon. The scale around his neck glistened with the reflected light, like a magical calling to the magical moon.

Tomoyo and Eriol watched with pity as Sakura stumbled after him.

'Syaoran! No!'

But as she reached the water's edge, she stopped in surprise. He walked across the water, weightless, his footsteps creating defiant ripples that fought against the washing of the waves.

Within seconds he was far out to sea, nothing but a visible speck on the dark, watery horizon.

'NO! SYAORAN!' Sakura screamed. Almost at once, a brilliant pink light shone from under her feet and she skimmed across the waters like a dragonfly traveling.

'Sakura!' Eriol and Tomoyo called after her.

She ran with nonhuman speed, feet barely leaving the surface as she finally made it out to him. He stood next to a large crooked rock that resided a few hundred meters from the shore. He turned and saw her, but he didn't look surprised. 'I sat on this rock the day I saved you. And I watched you and your loved ones walk back up from the beach. The sun was setting then, with beautiful reds and oranges...it made your hair look like silken thread spun from rubies...you looked beautiful.' He blinked his eyes hard, 'And you still are.'

'Ookamekai.'

Sakura's lips trembled and she couldn't take it anymore. She threw her arms around his neck, forcing his head down and kissed him hard. Fortunately, he didn't struggle and the pleasure was enhanced as he returned the kiss. He caressed her face with such gentleness that she felt as if she were not worthy. They finally parted with a short breath and a gentle gaze.

He removed the necklace from his neck and placed it around her neck. 'I love you, Sakura,' he said with much compassion. 'But we're from two different worlds, we can't be together...it's impossible. Water and Land were never meant to be.' He tilted her chin so she would look at him. 'Wear this necklace always and remember me by it. My love for you shines brighter than the sun in the day, and the moon and stars at night...it blooms into something much stronger and more beautiful like the flowers with each coming spring...because of you, I was able to enjoy walking on feet, even the pain that came with it...' he smiled sadly.

Tears fell from her eyes, one after the other, and landed with little splashes into the ocean on which they stood. But the giggling ripples didn't come; the pink light that emitted from under her feet dissolved them. Sakura whispered, 'My love for you is ageless, and outdoes the constant waves that wash across the oceans in search of land to break upon...my love for you is vaster than our galaxy, and reaches beyond the distance of the stars that burn in galaxies far away...you are my love in love.Ookamenkai.'

He leant his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. 'The thing I'll miss most about you, more than your kisses, is your heart...I know my life below means nothing now, now that I've seen what land can offer...what we mer-people were never meant to experience...' as he said this, he slowly began to sink down.

Sakura looked down at his feet that slowly disappeared as he sank further and further. She watched him disappear slowly until his head was the only thing visible, he stayed for a short time, smiling sadly up at her. A faint blue glow appeared in the water around him; Sakura knew his tail was growing back. The tuxedo jacket and pants floated to the surface on either side of his head.

'Good bye...Sakura...'

His head sank down: his chin...his mouth...his nose...his eyes...his head. He was gone. Sakura sank to her knees. She stared at the empty space of still water, her stark face reflected in it as if it were a mirror. She winced, clutching the necklace that hung around her neck and she jerked it. It seared a burning line of chain into her neck until it gave way and snapped off. She ignored the pain as she shivered violently, crying softly.

The scale slowly fell from the broken chain and landed in her lap.

Tears streamed down her cheeks and poured down her neck, down her front and gradually soaked her dress. The damp patch reached the scale. At once, it shimmered white, and magical blue rings rippled from it.

Sakura opened her eyes wide enough to see the scale glowing. It flashed a brilliant purple and the light spread over her legs. She felt her entire body warm up and fight the chill of the night. When the light faded, she saw the scale had vanished, and she didn't feel the presence of two lower limbs, but one. She lifted her dress cautiously, and in her pale skin's place, glistened dark purple scales.

'Sakura!' she heard a voice from behind her, immediately turning around. Eriol and Tomoyo stood on the rock beside her. 'All along you had the power...but if you choose to go with him, you would be giving up many things! Your family,' he placed a hand on Tomoyo's shoulder, 'your friends,' he gestured to himself, 'and your dreams for the future! Think about what would happen to them! Is this what you want for the future?'

Sakura looked away from them, not fazed by Tomoyo's devastated tears or the sorrow evident in Eriol's voice. She ran a hand over the smooth scaly tail that had replaced her legs. She didn't desire her family's riches. She didn't enjoy being dry. She didn't like the pressure of foot on ground. She didn't like the vanity of appearance and accessories. All she wanted was freedom. She knew her answer.

'I would rather love and be loved more than anything else in this world! Neither sea or land can prevent that!' and quickly, she added in a whisper, 'Please tell my mother I'm doing something that requires less snoring.'

She plunged deep into the waters of the ocean, splashing Eriol and Tomoyo.

They watched the ripples intently, hoping to see her resurface.

But when bubbles did rise, nothing but a pale blue dress floated to the top.