True Warrior
Summary: Plunged into a world of deceit and bloodshed, Sakura Kinomoto lost her hold on everything normal the day she turned 16, the day she lost her parents and the day an old rival bid her farewell. "It's a small world Kinomoto, we'll see each other again." Were his parting words. Who knew eight years was all it would take for those words to come true?
Author's Note: Monstar xo, moon86, petersgirl21, KrisyStory, Natsu71316.
I hope I replied to everyone this time around. No excuses for not. If I haven't, please forgive me. We'll catch up this time, I promise.
Now, let me tell you how I was so completely uninspired to finish this story because really, I couldn't find a point to it. While listening to some very inspirational songs while watching some fuck awesome AMVS, I realized why I wanted to write this story, and I hope you all enjoy it for the same reasons. While there will be plenty of S and S, I can't promise it'll be as fluff filled as Tattooed, so if you're here for that, I'd rather you read MWBB or Tattooed again. This may not be for you.
Anyway, here's this chapter.
Disclaimer: Everything you read here, apart from the familiar CCS characters, plot and cards, are mine.
x.
Mei Ling stood in front of the large, ethnic Chinese mirror, simply looking at her face, observing deep brown eyes that almost looked red under the light, gazing into them as she wondered why, why Syaoran did this to her, why anybody would do this to someone? Days had passed since his escape from Tokyo. Lord alone knows where he was now, even if she did know with whom he was with.
"Have you ever had a girlfriend?"
"Once, when I was still collecting the Clow cards,"
"What was she like?"
"She's the Card Mistress, actually,"
Mei Ling still remembered the intimidation that crept into her blood when she heard those words, all those years ago. It was as though being second had become a ritual for her, first with family, and now with her fiancé.
"Mei Ling," Wei's weary voice came. "Mistress Yelan will be ready to see you now."
Mei Ling merely nodded before she turned around and took a deep breath. She hadn't felt this way in months, years actually. As though she would fail with every breath she took. As though she might collapse, even though the ground she walked on was sturdier than ever.
"Aunty Yelan," Mei Ling greeted to the tall woman standing away from her, looking out the window.
"It has been a long time, Mei Ling," her cool and suave reply came. "Come, sit," she gestured with her silk kimono sleeves, her hands invisible. "We have much to discuss."
Mei Ling sat opposite a chair she'd known was her aunt's over the past two and a half decades. True, her aunt was widowed at a young age, but she never did let that affect her children or home. One would think her aunt had never seen or heard of a man before Syaoran was born. She never had needed a man to be who she is, and it looked as though she never would.
We have much to discuss.
Mei Ling swallowed soundlessly as she thought of the IAS, her director and her superiors. She thought of the mind numbing questions and the hours to which they stretched, simply to understand the depths that were Syaoran Li's mind.
Finally, after three devastatingly long minutes, her aunt turned around to look into her eyes.
At that moment, Mei Ling knew that this would be a humiliation like no other.
t. w
Somewhere far away from where Mei Ling was, were Sakura and Syaoran, finally having reached their destination, lying down on the sandy beach as they enjoyed the sound of the ocean just mere steps away. They'd managed to stash the car they were in on a lonely street of Aomori as they now gazed at the stars above. The midnight sky was closing in on them, with dawn a few hours away.
Days were simply flying by.
"Nothing's happened yet," Syaoran commented softly, between the sounds of the waves. "Absolutely nothing,"
Sakura said nothing as she folded her hands across her chest and took a loud breath.
"This is going to take forever isn't it?" he asked her then, turning to his side to be able to his companion. "I mean, they couldn't possibly not know where we are right now,"
At last, Syaoran found Sakura nodding. Finally, a response.
"What do you think they're doing?"
"Thinking,"
Syaoran raised an eyebrow at that. "Seriously? It's us versus them. I'm sure there's no real contest going on here. It's just the two of us.
"What's got them thinking so much?"
At that, Sakura was quiet.
Syaoran pushed himself up on his elbow then. "They're afraid of you,"
Sakura looked at him with an eye closed.
"Wow,"
Syaoran lay back down, the sand now swimming in his hair as he fidgeting with his hands. Not that he cared.
"They may not know the true strength of my ability, yes," she said to him quietly. "I'll admit that much.
"Though that still doesn't explain why they haven't made a move yet."
This time, Syaoran didn't bother saying anything. Instead, he huddled closer to Sakura's form and turned away from the girl, his eyes closing instantly.
"Night,"
He couldn't hear Sakura at all anymore, the wind and the ocean now lulling him softly to sleep. It was cold, dreadfully so, but Syaoran couldn't complain. They hadn't slept in three days. Cold or not, Syaoran was going to fall dead on this beach, right here, with the sand under him, the stars above.
And Sakura next to him, lying wide awake, wondering, waiting, listening.
t. w
"I'm sure you're already well aware of the consequences of Xiao Lang's actions, Mei Ling,"
Mei Ling didn't nod. After a good hour of hearing about the Li dynasty and their ancestral heritage, Mei Ling couldn't find it in herself to care enough to nod. She'd always known somewhere deep down that if it ever came down to things like family pride and prestige, there would be hell to pay for the smaller things. Things like love, affection, relationships.
"And of course, you realize, the Elders want nothing to do with him, or anyone that has anything to do with them,"
At this, Mei Ling raised her head and looked over at Yelan.
"I don't understand," she said affirmatively. And she didn't understand.
"Well, seeing as you are –were- Xiao Lang's fiancé, the Elders would understand if you ever had any contact with him. But you see it is against our heritage to associate ourselves with the bad seed of the family.
"And it would be a shame to see you do the same,"
Mei Ling narrowed her eyes at what Yelan had to say.
"You don't think he knows he's doing something wrong? Of course he does. Young and brave, yet my foolish son is, and I can assure you, he knows exactly what he's doing and now, he must know the cost of it."
Mei Ling wanted to storm out of there, stand up, maybe even take in a sharp breath, but she found herself unable to do any of that. She simply sat there as if she were a statue, her knuckles white from her fists so tightly clenched, and her heart beating like a hummingbird's wings flapping through the air, loud enough to create an impact, loud enough for Yelan to possibly hear.
"Is this is a new rule the Elders have passed?"
"I'm afraid it is more of a courtesy to the IAS, the Chinese government, and the Japanese as well. Consider it our way of telling them that we don't have anything to do with terrorists, even if they are –were- our family."
Are?
Were?
"Has this happened before?" Mei Ling let the question escape her lips before she lost the courage.
Yelan merely pursed her lips. "I cannot say so, Mei Ling. It is not for you to know."
Mei Ling stood then.
"I've understood, Aunt Yelan," she paused then to look out of the window at the pouring rain now. Funny, it hadn't even been cloudy when she'd arrived.
"I'll take my leave now,"
Yelan nodded. "Wei will escort you back to the airport,"
"Thank you,"
Down the stairs Mei Ling ran, down and down, step after step, before she broke, before she cried, before she wept.
A traitor, that's what Syaoran had become to the family. He was worse than a traitor; it was as though he'd never been born. Mei Ling wouldn't have been shocked if they erected a tombstone in his name at the family funeral grounds. The only reason they wouldn't do the same would be because even that, even to bury the man's empty coffin, at the family grounds would be a spit on the family name.
And they couldn't have that, now, could they?
Mei Ling ran out of the wooden doors without a single look back, afraid someone might see her at her weakest moment. She merely ran to the car, opened the door and got inside before any further courtesies had to be exchanged.
Syaoran had betrayed them all that much Mei Ling knew. Between her tears, between glancing at the driver's seat to make sure Wei wasn't watching her cry as soundlessly as possible, Mei Ling wondered why she still felt for Syaoran.
Why was Syaoran still haunting her so?
It was as though she could feel him in her veins, his words, his breath, his blood. It was as though somehow, somewhere, at some point, Syaoran and she had become one.
Mei Ling wanted to laugh at the thought. He had left her to be with his one true love, Sakura. He wasn't hers. He was never hers. He would never be hers. He had betrayed her, as he had many others.
So why did it feel like he hadn't?
t. w
Sometime when the light shone brighter than it should have, Syaoran found himself realizing that something was amiss. He shot up then, his eyes looking around for Sakura.
A little ways away, beyond the rocks that cut off his view, he found her head of auburn hair gazing at something. He rushed over to her, only to come face to face with Spinel, only Spinel wasn't so much himself anymore.
"Ruby got away,"
The large cat like creature had been severed from the waist down, as though something had cut a loaf of bread in half. His eyes were open and disgustingly staring off into space, a clear sign that the creature was now dead. His breath was nonexistent, his tail now gone as well. Syaoran didn't have the stomach to ask what had happened to it.
"How long—"
"Barely a few minutes. I sensed Ruby first," Sakura looked over the ocean. "Spinel... I had never had any qualms to settle with Spinel. Spinel always stayed out of my way,"
Syaoran felt a shock run along his spine.
"Ruby, on the other hand, was another story,"
"Are you upset you killed him?" Syaoran asked as they did nothing but stare at Spinel's dead body.
Sakura didn't bother to respond to him. Instead, she looked resigned now.
"You had to kill him, them, you know that. I know that too."
The wind at that point decided to play its part, causing Sakura's hair to come loose of the bun she'd tied before they'd gone to bed. Syaoran watched as her long hair swayed in the wind.
"Help me bury him,"
Syaoran had seen dead bodies before; he'd also seen the people who'd come to cause the deaths. As they dug through the sand with their hands, Syaoran wondered if Sakura had done the same.
She probably had, Syaoran decided, as the two of them walked away from the lone bridge at Aomori, now heading towards nowhere as aimlessly as they had before. Syaoran wondered if he ought to comfort her somehow.
"We'll eat, grab a set of clothes and leave,"
To where? Syaoran wanted to ask. Where are we going now? What now?
Instead, he followed her lead, hoping that that in itself was the comfort Sakura needed.
With everything that you do is wrong
And you feel like you can barely survive yeah
When those around you are crumbling downwards
Buried in the sunset alive
- Pretty Vegas/INXS
Next update soon! Check out my profile for Teasers.
Thanks for reading!
Do review.