Author's note
PLEASE READ I SAY IMPORTANT STUFFS
OMG look at me updating soo fast! It's like the good old days. Well I guess that comes from not having school. Oh well.
IT'S THE SECOND TO LAST CHAPPIE! 8D 8D 8D IM SO HAPPY! But I'm also a little sad... Oh hey, sorry Aria kinda turned into a cry baby, that wasn't meant to happen-I think.
Well here's the bad news for anyone who's bothered to read this far. I am two reviews away from 30 and I have decided not to put up the last chapter until I get those two reviews! Ahhhhhhhh I'm so mean and selfish I SOWWY. And I have the last chapter (almost) all written up so its not like you guys will be waiting forever anyway. But I really want reviews. And I just want to know what you think of this story and thank you very much to anyone who has stayed with me the whole way. Seriously I mean this had been hard- for both of us.
So yea. I love you( even if you hate me *hides*) but seriously review.
Nooooow I need to practice for the winter percussion auditions on Tuesday that I'm gonna fail.
~3
They had the feather. They had the feather! Aria was holding an extremely powerful, magical feather in her hands. She looked down at the object in her arms, the white, overlarge feather was slightly warm and it almost felt like it was alive softly pulsing in her grasp.
She traced the red design on the feather with her finger, remembering the same design in silver that had trapped her not too long ago. She had gone through so much this last hour, seen things no teenager-no normalteenager-would ever see. She'd seen magic, a tree become a thinking being, that same tree create warriors of wood and leaves, been hypnotized by a silver pattern, and fallen trough the tree. It slowly sank through Aria's head all that had actually happened in this short period of time and she felt her brain start to haze over at the enormity of it all.
She looked up and saw the others standing in front of her and she let out a soft laugh. And with her eyes wide and face pale, she looked slightly crazed.
"She's probably going into shock. We should get her home." Kyle said and walked over to Aria putting his arm around her and began to guide her along.
"Wait." Kurogane grabbed his arm, stopping his movement. "If you touch the feather, or do anything to suggest you might be trying to take it for yourself, I won't hesitate to break your neck."
"Wow Kurgs, violent much?" Fai asked pulling the raven away from the teen. Kurogane looked down at Kyle, who was staring back at him defiantly and let out a sigh. "Your right, I wouldn't kill him."
"Him is right here!" Kyle hissed. The deal haired teen quickly turned away and pulled Aria towards the park again.
They walked back to the park in relative silence. Aria and Kyle leading the way, with Kurogane, Fai, and Syaoran walking a bit behind them, and Kazahya and Rikuou brought up the rear, somewhat unsure if they were welcomed, but coming anyway.
"Kyle?" Aria asked quietly.
"Mhm" Kyle responded gently.
"Why are you so clam all the time?" Aria's question surprised the raven, and he was glad when Aria continued.
"I mean, you just fought off an army of tree monsters, and learned that magic is real, and...and that you're Dr. Kyle from Tsubasa." Kyle sighed, he had been hoping she wouldn't mention that.
"I'm still Kyle. Same old Kyle, nothing's changed. I guess I just have a high tolerance of the abnormal. And you handled it fine Aria, you went through things no normal person goes through and you're doing...okay."
"But you're acting like nothing happened! Like its no big deal!" Her voice rose, but she still didn't turn to Kyle as she spoke. "And look at me, I'm a wreck. And I'm so tired,so tired." Aria stopped walking
"Do you need me to carry you?" Kyle asked kindly. Ari nodded and situated herself so Kyle could pick her up in a piggy-back-ride.
"Maybe it's because I am ." The dark-haired teen said softly.
And they walked on to Aria's house like that. No matter how many weird looks they got, they kept walking. Kyle led them through the residential area to where Aria lived. He unlocked the door using the hidden spare key and after placing it back in its hiding spot inside the hat of an innocent garden gnome by the door, he led them inside and softly placed Aria down on the couch. She had fallen asleep on the way back home and she whimpered softly in her sleep when Kyle put her down. Kyle suspected a gentle "shh" and brushed her hair out of her eyes
"You know, it's getting harder and to hate the bastard." Kurogane said quietly to Fai as they watched the scene from a little ways away. Fai chuckled, "Mhmm, especially when he looks at Aria-chan like that." He looked at Kurogane, "It's almost the same way Kuro-sama looks at me sometimes." He said laying a hand on the taller man's arm. For once Kurogane didn't push the arm away, but let it wait out its stay until Fai removed it himself.
"Uumm..." A nervous Kazahya poked Kurogane in the shoulder. "Are we supposed to be here. Wait! Rikuou don't eat that!" He yelled at the taller teen who had picked up an apple and had been about to eat it before he got yelled at.
Once Rikuou had put down the apple, Kazahaya turned back to Fai and Kurogane.
"Sorry." The youth sighed.
"It's okay." Fai pipped up, "And I'm sure you can stay here, I mean you helped us get the feather."
"Yea, well we kinda have to leave, and we need the feather, Kakei probably wants it." Rikuou said from behind Kazahya, eating an apple.
"No." Syaoran moved up from where he had been sitting with Mokona, "That is Sakura's feather and she is getting it back." He said with cold determination.
"It really should go back to Sakura-hime" Kyle spoke up from by the couch, only to be yelled at by Kurogane for speaking.
"Well can't we at least show the feather to Kakei. And Saiga too. He'll never let us live it down if we don't complete a job!" Kazahya whined. The others looked to Syaoran for the answer, and after a moment he nodded stiffly.
"We all won't fit in my car." They all turned to see Aria had awoken and was sitting up on the couch.
"Aria-chan!" Fai squealed and ran over to the teen and hugged her. Aria laughed and then turned serious.
"My car only fits five and there's-" she pauses to count "And there's seven of us." She looked around to see if anyone would volunteer to stay behind.
"We'll stay." Fai said. And Aria nodded, understanding that Fai and Kurogane would be staying
"Who's we?" Kurogane grumbled with a sinking feeling that he knew it was himself who would be staying behind.
"You of course!" Fai said poking the raven's cheek for good measure.
"Fine." Kurogane sighed.
Before they could leave, they had to pry the feather away from Aria, who hadn't let go of the object since they had obtained it. Aria wasn't sure why she felt so protective of the feather, but it took a sizable amount of persuasion to get her to relinquish it to Mokona, who then stored it in her mouth. But right before they were about to leave, Fai yelled for Aria and ran from the kitchen holding Aria's camera.
"I wanna get a picture with us in it!" He cried, and then proceeded to here's everyone back inside and lined them all up. He got Aria to set the timer on the camera so they could all be in the picture. Aria set the timer and ran back to the group, Fai pulled her in close and she looked up at the man, he smiled down at her, and then the camera flashed.
"Oh I forgot to look at the camera!" Aria lamented. But Kyle pulled her to the door telling her they had to go.
They once again got into Aria's car, with Kyle diving this time around, Aria in the passenger seat, and the other three stuffed in the back.
Once downtown, Aria instructed Kyle to park in front of Kazahaya and Rikuou's store. They got out and Kazahaya led them into the store using his key, because it was closed.
"Kakei!" Kazahaya called once they were inside. A muffled response sounded from the back room. They walked through the quiet store and Kazahaya led them into the back room.
Aria had been expecting to see Kakei and Saiga fromLegal Drug she had attempted to prepare herself for this, but that didn't stop her from sharing a minor spazz with Kyle at the back of the group when she saw them.
Sitting on a couch was a man. It was difficult to tell how old he was, he looked no more than thirty, but he could just as easily be over forty. And his eyes. His eyes had such a depth to them. His brown eyes looked out from behind his glasses with the knowledge and wisdom of an old man. His hair was several shades lighter than his eyes and it fell unevenly around his face, framing his knowing eyes, and giving him a rather feminine beauty.
There was another figure on the couch.
Laying on the couch, with his head in the first man's lap, was a much larger man. He had short dark hair, and was wearing very dark sunglasses, even though it was dim in the room.
The larger man got up slowly and placed his arm protectively around the other man.
"Why Kazahaya, you brought friends." The smaller of the two men said. He had a voice fitting to appearance, somewhat high and soft and lyrical.
"I didn't know he had any." The other said. "Well, besides Rikuou. And we"", he's different..."
"Kakei, Saiga." Kazahaya said straining to stay calm. "We went to where you said and found that something was most definitely wrong. And the reason it was so wrong, was because of a magic feather.
"Maybe we should buy a chicken." Rikuou said softly. When Kazahaya turned to him exasperated, he elaborated, "You know, with feathers being so powerful, and-nevermind."
"And can you introduce yourselves?!" Kazahaya asked, still annoyed.
"My, he's bossy." The smaller man said smiling wickedly at Kazahaya's anger, before continuing. "I'm Kakei, and this is Saiga" he said and Saiga leaned down to kiss Kakei's head when he was mentioned, and Aria was struck with how much larger Saiga was. The man looked like he could almost be taller than Kurogane.
"Can we see this feather?" Kakei asked. Aria focused back on Kakei and pulled Mokona out of her backpack, ignoring the two's lack of response when Mokona summoned the feather from her mouth.
Syaoran took the feather and brought it over to the two, but he didn't let them touch it, and strangely enough, Kakei didn't move to take the feather either.
"I'm glad you got your friend's feather back" Kakei said with a smile.
"What!" Syaoran took a step back in surprise. "How do you know that this is my friend's feather?!" He asked.
"I get around." He said with a knowing smirk. Syaoran was reminded very strongly of Yuuko.
"But know, you have the larger problem of how to get it back to her." Kakei said, his kind exterior now dangerous and cold.
"Don't scare the kid." Saiga mumbled
Kazahaya couldn't take it anymore. "You sent us wandering off into the hills to find what was wrong. And then we find the stupid tree and almost DIE! And now it seems like it all had no purpose at all! We're just gonna give the kid his feather back and be on our way." He yelled.
"You know I had my reasons." Kakei said, but he was still looking a Syaoran. He then turned and glared at Kazahaya with the same dangerous aura. "I always have my reasons." And then he turned happy again, "Rikuou, you and Kazahaya can go upstairs now." Rikuou nodded and herded Kazahaya upstairs.
Kakei turned once again to Syaoran.
"Well, it was lovely meeting you, but I don't believe I caught your name."
"Sya-Syaoran" the brunette stuttered, still a little frazzled.
"Hmm, interesting name." Kakei mused. "Again nice meeting you, but if you could, I believe you can show yourselves out now."
Syaoran and the others hurried out of the room, all to glad to be out of the tense atmosphere Kakei had created. Aria hung back just outside the door.
"You know, you don't have to be so harsh." She heard Saiga say. Kakei sighed in response and then murmured something aria couldn't catch, and then she was able to catch: "The girl that was with them, I've seen her around here before, I think her name's Aria, and I've heard she's a bit of an eavesdropper, so we might not want to say anything important." Aria gasped and quickly moved away from the door before she could hear anything else. She ran to catch up with Kyle and Syaoran.
Kyle let her drive this time, and as she did she wondered about Kakei and Saiga.
'Kakei is like the female Yuuko, it's kinda scary. And Saiga, he's just scary.' She shuddered slightly. 'But, they are an adorable couple.' She admitted to herself. She wondered how Kakei knew she was there, he couldn't have have seen her.
But they were already at Aria's house, And as Kakei had pointed out, they had important things to discuss.
They were all sitting on the couch getting ready to call for Wataunki. Aria had put her car in her room, so she wouldn't disrupt things again. She only hopped that Watanuki would be alright this time.
Mokona's projection began to light up and slowly Watanuki came into view. Watanuki was in the process of yelling at Doumeki. They couldn't make out what he was saying, but he was spazzing out just like always.
Doumeki turned his head to avoid Watanuki, but saw Mokona's projection and grabbed the smaller male's arm, turning towards the projection.
Watanuki moved over to the projection, chastising Doumeki as he did so.
"Hi!" He greeted them. Doumeki nodded his greetings.
"So I take it you found Sakura's feather?" The wizard asked.
Mokona chirpped yes and brought the feather out from her mouth, momentarily obscuring Watanuki. Aria gripped onto the feather, and showed it to the men on the other side of the projection.
"Good job, guys." Watanuki said kindly.
"Oh hey, Watanuki-san," Aria spoke up. "What was wrong with you last time we called?" She asked in concern
"That? Oh that." He sighed. "It's a long story. And it's Doumeki's fault anyway, so-just don't worry about it." He said glaring at Doumeki, who didn't argue that it had been his fault.
"See what I mean?!" Watanuki said exasperatedly to Aria. "He never talks!"
Aria laughed, glad to see Watanuki in a good mood. In the manga, after Yuuko died, he was always so depressed and solemn, and Aria had missed the energetic spazz he had been before he inherited the shop. Watanuki looked no more than seventeen, but she could see the age in his eyes, just as she had in Kakei's.
"So why did you call me specifically?" The shopkeeper asked.
"Well now that we have Sakura's feather, we need to get it back to her." Syaoran said.
"Ahh, yes." Watanuki said, no longer childish. "That's a bit of a problem isn't it? Well you have several options: you could just keep the feather with you as you travel, and wait until you end up in Clow again. Or you could cross dimensions now and give it to her."
Syaoran looked to Fai and Kurogane before speaking, "I'd like to five it to her now, but that requires a dimension cross to a specific place, and that'd be awfully hard for me to afford wouldn't it be?" The brunette asked nervously.
"That's quite right, in fact I doubt you'd be able to pay for it at all, at least alone." The shopkeeper and Syaoran kept trying to negotiate, but Watanuki was adamant that Syaoran couldn't do it.
As Aria sat there in silence, an idea started to take shape in her head.
"Hey Watanuki-san, what if I went to return the feather?" She said quietly.
"We'll there's an idea." Said the wizard in a way that seemed to imply he had known this would happen.
"No Aria you can't!" It was Kyle, looking over at his friend worriedly. "He'll make you give something ridiculous! Remember what they had to pay?"
"But think about the vampires and Seishirou, and Fuuma. They can travel dimensions too, and I only want to do it twice, once to Clow and once back." She said determinedly.
"Can she afford it?" Kyle asked in worry.
"Well, there is one thing I can think of that would be able to just about cover it." Watanuki paused for effect. "Her memories."
"My memories!?" Aria cried out, terrified of what Wataunki would make her forget.
"You would forget everything that has happened since Syaoran and the others appeared. You would go to Clow and come back and then once Mokona has taken the others away, you would forget everything that has happened." The wizard said
Aria's brain reeled. She would forget meeting Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai? But she had only just met them and she treasured all of the memories she had made in that short time, even the ones when she was scared. Even when she had been lulled into a fake peace by the tree, even that she didn't want to forget. She wanted to remember all of it, she wanted to know all that she did. She knew how they acted in real life, how they interacted with each other. She didn't want it all to be a dream.
But Sakura needed her feather. And she couldn't pass up a chance to go to Clow, no matter what the cost.
She brushed the tears from her eyes, and gathered up her courage.
"I'll do it." She said strongly.
"But Aria!" She was met with protest from the group, but most of all Kyle.
"Why can't I give my memories?" Kyle protested. " Why can't I forget instead of Aria!?"
"That should be obvious, shouldn't it?" Watanuki said. "What give learned is far to important. You now know that you are the incarnation of someone terrible. You know that you have evil written in your soul. You need to take that knowledge and continue to do good." He sighed. "And anyways, your memories hold a different value than Aria's do. She cherishes hers, while you wish you had never had this experience." He explained.
"But won't I be a liability?" Kyle persisted. "What if I tell Aria what happened?"
"Even if you do that-which you won't-she will never remember it, and she either not believe you, or become sad because she can't remember anymore." Wataunki then focused on Aria again.
"But just your memories will not be enough to bring you to Clow and back." Watanuki told Aria. "I'll also need the magic in your eyes."
"I have magic!?" Aria yelled, for a second completely forgetting that Wataunki planned to take it away.
"Yes. It's not uncommon for eyes to hold magic, just like Fai's do. But yourself is different than his. It's less corporeal and is more self protecting and only comes out in small occurrences." He paused. "Will you still do it?"
"Wait, wait, wait!" Aria said. "How is it that I have magic, but I can't use it?"
Watanuki sighed, "It's normal for people to have some type of magic within them for small things. Like maybe you have extraordinary luck, or maybe you never get noticed when you don't want to be, and then there's magic that helps people. It helps the body be healthy, and the mind alert. It also has the power to heal to some degree." He paused. "Really Aria, it's just how it is, weather it makes sense or not."
Aria grumbled to herself about the unfairness of it all, and if it was going to be unfair, couldn't it at least make sense?"
"Well Aria?"
Aria's mind was made up this time. Even though she didnt think Watanuki had properly explained her hidden powers, she still wanted to do this.
"Yes"
No one opposed her this time, they just sat by in silence. Wataunki asked Fai to remove the Aria's magic for her. The lithe man walked over o Aria and knelt in front of her.
"This won't hurt." He promised. They others watched as Fai put his hand before Aria's eyes, and just as his own eye had done in Nihon, Aria's eye color now pulled away. The green light was pulled from Arai's eyes and solidified into a green gem.
Aria didn't feel any different, but she did look different. Her eyes were now, a rich golden brown, much different from their previous bright green.
As Fai transferred the gem through Mokona for Watanuki, Aria asked, "But won't people notice that my eyes are different?"
"No one will notice, that's the best part." Watanuki said as he held the dream gem up.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" He asked. "Now, are you ready to go?"
End Note
So how'd you like it? Can you believe this is almost over? Just one more chapter.
Were you surprised with what I made Aria pay?! I felt very evil writing that, but also sad, because I hate stories that end like that, but its so perfect! I hate writing angst, which is why I'll probably not be writing the kurofai fic I want to anytime soon -.-'
Well that's if for now! Please review, I love hearing what you have to say (and remember my selfish evilness)
And what's with the super long ANs this ch...
