Author's Note: Hey everyone! Well here's the next installment. And I have a little announcement: the chapters are going to be a little shorter than they have been in the past. This enables me to get them out quicker and it should satisfy you, John or Jane Reader. But in the end, I should have more chapters than expected and don't worry (if you are worrying, that is), the story will not be jipped of anything important! Just because I'm busy (and quite frankly…uh…lazy), means nothing. Anyways, on with the show!
One quick little note: I've started an update e-mail list. So if you want to be notified when I update my story, just review (you don't have to say anything, just leave your email address).
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters and anything to do with the Clow. They belong to CLAMP, respectively.
Chapter Twelve: The Grand Ole Opry
Sakura couldn't believe what she was seeing. A tattoo of a red snake with a ring of red words around it in an ancient tongue. The words were red and outlined in black; each letter seemingly written with the same loopy characters. Was it the same word or a series of words? She couldn't tell, but she immediately averted her eyes once Megumi turned around once more.
"I'm finished." Sakura looked to Megumi in the mirror and then turned around to look into her eyes. How could she seem so…so nice but then do such horrible things. If Sakura wasn't in her right mind she would have called upon her key. Fortunately for Megumi's sake, she was sane at this moment and restrained herself.
Sakura saw a little bit of blood on her shirt. One of her favorites that she had had for years. As if reading her mind, Megumi looked at the stain. "I'm sorry. I'll be sure to get the stain out." Sakura smiled as best she could under the circumstances but found it hard because she wanted to just scream. She felt as if her smile were false advertising.
Sakura took the antiseptic bottle and put a little bit of the liquid on the cloth before rubbing it on Megumi's arm. She winced but Sakura didn't care. She deserved the pain. Secretly, Sakura knew it was only time too before she gets what she deserved. If only I knew what I was up against, she thought, I would attack her right now. But I can't walk into a fight blindly. Not this fight. Too dangerous.
"Thank you." Sakura looked up from Megumi's arm. "You don't know me at all and you're helping me." Megumi smiled at her but Sakura felt like punching her in the face. "It's very kind of you."
It must have been something in Megumi's face because Sakura didn't look back down at her arm. She seemed genuinely thankful for Sakura's help. "It's not a problem." But then she saw something else. A gleam in her eye, the slight curve of the left side of her smile, the calm in her voice, made that genuine feeling subside.
Sakura looked back down at Megumi's arm and then started to wrap it. She never looked at her face again before she left the bathroom. And even during the brunch, Sakura didn't look at Megumi. Even after the food was cleaned up and the group was sitting around the table, telling stories, Sakura didn't look at her. She didn't want to see the look in her eye, or the curve of her lip that was a smirk in itself, but especially the calmness and serenity in her voice. It was almost un-nerving.
Li must have noticed too, for he placed his hand over hers under the table and stroked it softly. He could always feel when she was uneasy; a balance off the scale. She was very grateful for it.
Just as Li shut the door behind Zach ("Did you know that the door was first invented by a wandering monk in India?"), he leaned against the door and looked over to Sakura. She was sitting on the couch and seemed to be quite happy that they were gone. Well, more like relief.
He was about to make his move towards her but she stood up and went to him. 'She's got a tattoo' is what she would have said, but instead something quite different came out of her mouth. "I don't feel well." It was only when she was lying in bed and he was drawing her bath did she think about why she lied to him. She knew what his reaction would be. Call Eriol. It's important. Let's go after her. Stay in bed. I'll take care of it. And that was the problem, she thought.
Yes, she loved him. Very much, indeed. She would catch a shooting star for him and breathe life into his lungs if they were ever empty but…it was this love that she thought about not telling him about the snake and the words. He would become too worried about me, she thought. Li always worries. Sakura looked to her ring that he gave her, the silver reflecting her face. I could have gone out for breakfast this morning. And then she remembered further back to last night and then to the hundreds of nights before when she had gotten hurt. It's inevitable, she pondered. I'm not going to be okay forever and he needs to accept that. With that decided, she sat up in bed with a newly found determination. There's no need to alert him, she thought, over a silly little tattoo. I'll do some research myself and if I come up with anything, only then I will tell him.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
That night came and went, and the next night, and the one after that as well and it was only when Sakura looked at her calendar did she realize that it was Friday: one week since it all began. Nothing had happened as of late. She usually hung around with her friends and spent some time with Li (of course!). But the next set of days after she had seen Megumi's tattoo had gone by in a blink of an eye. Sakura hadn't even thought about researching it until she found herself alone in her house on the early morning of this Friday.
Li was spending the day with Zach while Madison was away as well. And Sakura, for the first time in a long while, was at her house…alone. Well, almost alone. Yue had gone back to the university to make a small appearance as Julian before coming back in a few days. But Kero was still at home and she finally got to spend some quality time with him and maybe even discuss Megumi's tattoo if she couldn't come up with any answers. Of course it wasn't really quality time. Not only if you considered that to be making food for Kero. He was the only one to think of it as such. Sakura liked to refer to it as "slave-driving."
"Kero?" Sakura asked, between stirring a cupcake mix and trying to keep him away from eating it right there and then. "Don't you find it strange?"
She batted him away hard enough so that he floated a good few feet away from it in the air, with his legs and arms crossed. "What's strange, Sakura?" She was about to continue but he interrupted her. "The fact that I'm hungry and you refuse to feed me? Of course I find that strange."
"No, Kero." Sakura added a little bit more milk before continuing. "I mean, why haven't any of the new cards showed themselves as of late? It's been over three days since I've seen a new card." Kero decided to get over his stubbornness and started to seriously pay attention to her. "They were coming everyday and now there's no sign of them. It's like they almost…forgot."
"If it's one thing that cards never do, it's to forget, Sakura," he said, opening the Sakura Book and taking out the new cards: The Aries, Taurus, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius and Aquarius. "Besides, you captured half of them already."
"No, I didn't Kero. I only caught five." Sakura finished pouring the cupcake batter into the molds and put them in the oven to bake. She walked over to Kero and took The Leo. "I didn't capture this one." She looked over it, as if pondering something. "I wonder if it even recognizes me as its master."
"Of course it does, Sakura!" He looked at The Leo but then saw past that to a more deeper matter at hand. "Is something wrong with you?"
She turned away from him and went to go check on the cupcakes. "No."
"That wasn't very convincing," Kero stated, flying next to her. He put his tiny paws on his hips and looked her straight in the eye. "Are you going to tell me or am I going to have to pry it out of you?"
Sakura looked at Kero for a moment before she hoisted herself up onto the kitchen counter. She sighed before starting up the inevitable conversation. "I lied to Li."
Kero was a little baffled. Why Sakura was telling him her "relationship problems" was beyond him but as her guardian and friend he decided to just try and help the best he could. "Um…Sakura…uh…there comes a time in a young girls…I mean…woman's life that uh…okay let me start over. In the course of humanity…um…"
"Kero." He jerked his little head up to her eyes. She wasn't smiling but she did seem a little amused. "It's not like I want to have sex or anything." Kero instantly felt very uncomfortable but that all subsided as she started to explain. "I lied to Li about something that has to do with the cards and I…don't know why."
"Uh, Sakura. I don't want this to come out the wrong way but…why don't you just call Madison about these things?" Again he was referring to her "relationship problems" but then he looked at the expression on her face. Only then did he realize what she had really meant. "What did you lie to him about?"
Sakura took a deep breath. "I saw a tattoo on Megumi's back." Expecting Kero to yell at her for not only not telling Li but not telling him too, she paused. But when his outburst never came, she continued. "I didn't want him to know because…well, I guess it's not that big a deal I mean…"
"Of course it's a big deal but this goes way beyond a tattoo and the cards, Sakura." She looked up at him, her eyes watery. "I know you don't want him to help you."
"Kero, I do…"
"No…you don't." She could feel the tears flow down her cheeks. It was like someone told her she didn't love Li. But she did! She loved him so much. Why was Kero saying this? "And you're secret's safe with me but…he's part of our team. We need his help." Sakura thought about this and realized it was true. They did need Li's help. She needed his help. "I won't tell Li about the tattoo but the moment I see that you're in too deep…he's going to know."
Suddenly, all of her reasons for not telling Li seemed very childish. As Kero flew out of the room, mumbling something about going to Madison's to play with her new X-Box, she decided to start researching for a meaning behind this tattoo. The faster I find something out, she thought, the faster I can tell Li.
Down in her basement, Sakura quickly found herself looking through book after book in her father's library. After a few hours, she decided to go to her bedroom and plopped down on her bed, exhausted. "You would think that my father being an archaeologist, that he might have some clues." She sighed once more as she stretched her arms out over her head. "You would think,"she said again, very sarcastically.
She looked out the window just in time to see the last bits of sunlight fade away into the night sky, letting her room darken up quite a bit. Sakura stood up from her bed and walked to her table where she flicked on a lamp, lighting up her entire room. Thinking of another way to research, she sat at her chair and let her eyes wander. Looking at her computer screen, she thought of the internet. "Might as well,"she said aloud. "What have I got to lose?" Reaching for her mouse, she was about to wash away the screensaver but stopped as her interest got the better of her as she watched a scrolling marquee cross the screen: SAKURA IS A MONSTER FROM THE FIREY PITS OF HELL. LOVE TORI. "Love you too, dipshit,"she mumbled to herself. As she was about to storm off into Tori's room to write a "loving" message on his computer, the phone rang.
"Hello?"
"Hey, beautiful."
A smile spread across Sakura's face. "Hey, handsome." Hearing Li's voice erased all her present anxiety along with a sudden need to be near him. "When you coming over?"
There was a pause on the other line of the phone. "Well, that's what I was calling about." Sakura felt her heart slow its pace from his original "hey, beautiful". "I'm gonna crash at Zach's for the night." There was another pause before he continued. "We haven't spent a lot of time together lately and…"
"Li, it's okay. He's your best friend." Sakura sat back down in her computer chair. "You don't need to give an explanation to me."
"I know it's just that…"There was yet another pause but this time, to adjust his voice and to possibly move into another room. "With all the new cards around,"he continued, whispering. "things haven't been the best."
"Well, they've been pretty good under the circumstances,"she said. Their love for each other had definitely been a lifesaver. She could feel him laugh softly on the other end of the line. A nice happy laugh.
"Zach was just on the phone with Chelsea and they got in a fight. She sounded pretty mad but I'm going to go pick her up in a few minutes so they can work this out."
"What did they fight over?"
"I dunno. Something about the history of Canada." Sakura laughed and then heard his happy laugh again. God she missed him. "Listen, I gotta go now but I'll stop by tomorrow afternoon. I promise."
"Okay. Sure."
"And then we can go out to the festival."
"The festival?"
She heard him laugh again and it only made her miss him more. "Yeah. Tomorrow's the Lantern Festival at King Penguin Park remember?"
And then it dawned on her. As well as the fact that she needed a new kimono for the occasion. And then the thought came that Madison probably already had prepared one for her. "Oh! Right. Okay. So, I'll see you tomorrow?"
"Of course, my love."
"Goodnight."
"Goodnight. Bye."
"Bye." Sakura pressed the "off" button on her phone before setting it in her lap. How could only hours seem like weeks? Was it because the moon seemed to laugh at her when she was alone? But unbeknownst to Sakura, time was about to speed up rapidly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The hours flew by and when Sakura finally looked at her clock, it was already 10:30. She wasn't feeling sleepy at all, probably due to the fact that she had spent all night keeping herself busy.
After getting off the phone with Li, she checked the cupcakes and then threw them away (they were very burnt indeed). Following the cooking disaster she proceeded upon cleaning the living room downstairs (after finding numerous dust bunnies) and then emptied out the refrigerator (after finding numerous molds, fungi and empty Chinese takeout containers. All proof that Tori had, indeed, been here at one time or another). Afterwards, Sakura then cleaned the bathroom and her room and after feeling proud of herself for her work decided to treat herself to a little bit of "Tori-bashing" by leaving a nice little message on his computer screen: TORI, WHY BOTHER GOING TO COLLEGE WHEN WE ALL KNOW YOU CAN'T KEEP A JOB? YOU WILL ONLY AMOUNT TO NOTHING. LOVE, SAKURA. And after the little encouragement note she left her lovely brother, she flopped down on her bed and looked at her clock.
"Now what?" Sakura looked around her room for something to occupy herself with. There was her computer but she had beaten all the games on it. But then there was her books but she had read all of them (most of them twice). And then something else had caught her eye. On her desk was a piece of paper with a picture on the front. Lazily but with interest, she got up and went to examine closer. It was a postcard.
"Daddy." She looked at the front quickly before turning it over. Sure enough, it was from her father.
Sakura,
I hope things are going well for you. The excavation is a week behind schedule.
Some unfortunate occurrences have delayed our deadline but if all goes well,
I should be home within a few weeks. But until then, I send my love.
Love,
Your Father
P.S.-I'll try to call you on your birthday.
A small tear escaped her eye as she put the postcard back on her desk. The combination of missing her father and the complete forgetfulness of her birthday had caused her to sink to her knees. She had forgotten the Lantern Festival and even her field hockey game before that but now she had forgotten this of all things. It must be these new cards, she thought. All this adventure has finally gotten to me.
She opened her windows into the night sky and let a cool gust of air sweep into her room. But then she felt something entirely different.
"A card." She scanned the darkness and tried to focus where it was coming from but couldn't. "Which card is it?" She wondered.
Grabbing her rollerblades and a cloak that Madison had given her, she skated towards the card as fast as she could. Upon summoning her key, she came to where she felt the card: The Opera House. Hiding quickly behind a large bush, she tried to figure out a way end and that wasn't going to be an easy task. Hundreds of cars were parked outside and the lights of The Opera House were all shining brightly. Looking at the clock near the top of the roof, it read almost eleven. The opera would be done soon enough but anything could go wrong if a card was inside the building amongst thousands of people.
Now all I need to do is to get inside unnoticed, she thought. Coming up with a plan, she grabbed a card from underneath her cloak. "Illusion,"she whispered. "Dress me for the opera." Sakura tossed the card up in front of her and struck it with the tip of her staff. "Illusion!"
Minutes later, Sakura had managed to sneak through the gates and up through the front entrance. Climbing the stairs, she finally caught hold of herself in the mirror. She was dressed completely in black, with a long, black, sleeveless, satin gown with matching gloves, shoes and purse. As she examined her look more closely, Sakura saw a flash of yellow behind her. I could have sworn I just saw…
"Kero!" She grabbed her little guardian from plain view and shoved him in her purse. "I thought you were at Madison's!"
"Well I was for about a whole five minutes until I realized she wasn't home. So then I went to the university to check up on Yue." Sakura turned around and saw Yue, wearing a black tuxedo with a silver tie. His hair only went to the middle of his back, probably to not focus anymore attention to himself. He was also wearing shoes which for Yue was odd. "Hi Yue."
"Hello Sakura."
She turned back to Kero in her purse and continued the interrogation. "Did you sense the card?"
"Exactly. The only question is which one and where…"
"Madam?" Sakura quickly shut the purse and turned to her left where a man was standing. "Would you happen to be Ms. Asuka? Party of two?"
After a quick moment, Sakura devised a plan. "Uh…yeah. Sure," she said, dragging Yue next to her. "That's me. Ms. Asuka. And of course my husband…uh…Mr. Asuka."
"I'm sorry to hear about the car accident and if there's anything we can do to help you, The Reedington Opera House is at your service. Right this way, please." As the man led them up a flight of stairs, Yue looked at her and she just shrugged her shoulders. Of course she had no idea who Ms. Asuka was or anything about a car accident but if it got her some free seats for a chance to spot the card, she was going to take them.
At the top of the stairs there was a long corridor that he guided them down, to the last box. Opening the curtains, he ushered them through. "Enjoy the show, madam." With that said, he left.
"Or what's left of it, you mean," Sakura said as she took Yue's arm and walked farther into the box. She didn't find any seats but instead, a winding stairwell to what seemed to be a loft. "Well, let's go then."
They climbed the steps and Sakura was in awe of the beauty of it all. The red and gold draperies, the red velvet seats and even the gold opera glasses that she had always seen in movies. It was all there. Even the…
"Food!"
Sakura unlatched her purse and let Kero fly to the back of the room where a tray of French entrees were placed. She laughed for a moment before her and Yue took a seat. She even tried to enjoy the opera, but between thinking of the card and Kero's outbursts of joy every so often, she couldn't concentrate on the love scene on the stage. And when she did concentrate on it, all she could think of was Li.
"Maybe I should have called him."
Kero flew over, seemingly satisfied with what he ate and hovered near her shoulder. "Who? Li?" She nodded. "I thought you didn't want him to be involved?"
She looked down into her lap at the program and started tearing at the edges nervously. "I do want him involved, Kero."
"I know you do," he said softly with a touch of care in his voice. He floated down so that he could look her in the eyes. "But don't worry about it. You'll do fine."
"Yeah. Okay." She put a smile on her face and then actually enjoyed the last half hour of the show.
Madame Butterfly had moved her to tears with the tragic love story it portrayed. Even when the curtain had long since closed and the applause had died long ago, she was still affected by it.
"Sakura." She looked over to Yue with her tear-stained face. "The people have gone. Most of the lights are out. I think it's safe to find the card n…"
A loud noise came from behind him. Sakura stood up and walked to the edge of the box. A single spotlight shown on the stage, the source of the loud noise. At the center of the spotlight stood a tall woman with full black hair that was a little lower than her shoulders, seemingly in dreadlocks of some sort. Like Sakura, she was dressed in black but the material was rougher and there were tears in her long full dress. She looked like she was wrapped up like a mummy throughout her arms and torso. With her eyes closed, you could see the dark red eyeshade that consumed her whole eyelid and then steamed out vertical towards her hairline. As her eyes opened, they were a shocking dark brown, almost swallowing the pupils.
Kero and Yue stepped towards Sakura, stopping right behind her. "What card is that?" She asked them, not knowing if they could answer her question.
"I don't know,"Yue commented.
"I would say the Virgo but I doubt that's how a virgin dresses…"
"That's it!" Sakura looked over the woman's costume. The black tattered appearance but her skin looked sleek, like a shell. "She's a scorpion." Grabbing her key and transforming it, she yelled out, "The Scorpio!" And while this was occurring, Kero changed into Keroberos while Yue's hair began to grow and he dawned his wings and shoeless feet. Oddly enough, Sakura's opera attire also vanished and she was back in her normal clothes: a pair of khaki, tight pants, black boots, cranberry t-shirt and her black cloak.
Sakura put her foot on the edge of the balcony for leverage as she grabbed The Fly card. "Let's go get her." But as she was about to call on The Fly card's aid, she felt another presence. Turning to her left, she saw it. All the way in the last box, a black hooded creature had it's foot on the balcony as well, but it's face was turned towards the Scorpio. Was this creature Megumi? Or someone else? She had no clue but the aura was becoming stronger. Just then, the black hood turned towards Sakura, not at all shocked, though Sakura surely was. Neither moved for a few moments but as she saw the creature jump from the balcony, Sakura didn't have to think twice as she summoned The Fly. "Fly card! Release and dispel! Fly!"
She jumped over the balcony and flew down to the stage but not fast enough. The black-hooded being grabbed the Scorpio and put a sword up to it's throat. Blood was dripping onto the floor but Sakura couldn't tell whether it was from the menacing creature getting poisoned from the scorpion or if the card was bleeding, if the card could bleed. Either way, she wasn't sure.
The black-hood turned towards her and a set of steel-clawed fingers pointed to her and Sakura instantly fell from the air. Fortunately it was only a few feet before Yue had swooped down to save her. Keroberos and him were both talking to her but she couldn't make out what they were saying. A card had failed her. That had never happened before except with The Hope. What was this creature?
As Sakura watched the scene unfold in front of her, she felt her heart go out to the card. Although the Scorpio had gotten loose from the black-hooded figure's grip, they were now in a desperate battle. The Scorpio was throwing thousands of needles at the figure but they didn't work against the sword it had. Finally, the figure stabbed the card in her arm and it turned to stone and slowly faded away. In it's place a card appeared, with the yellow color that a normal Clow card had but then it faded to a blood red and then to a hard black.
It happened so fast, Sakura thought that she was in a dream. If this were so, then not a pinch, but the beckoning call from the demon before her made her awaken. It whispered to her in a voice unrecognizable.
"If you want it, you must fight for it."
Sakura just stood there, watching the blood drip down from the silver claws from the black-hooded figure. Again it called.
"If you want it, you must fight for it."
As if in a trance, she summoned The Sword card and raised it to meet the black-hood. Sakura didn't even heed Keroberos and Yue's warnings but their voices seemed to fade into the distance as she made her way to the stage. With each step she took, The Opera House became darker, the lights falling asleep one by one.
"Who are you?" She asked. An answer she did not receive but instead, a raised sword.
Sakura didn't know who struck first but it didn't matter. A bright silver sword hit the ground, breaking in half and then disappeared. Silver streams of wind, whisked back to the card Sakura was now holding in her hand. Not meaning to speak aloud she said, "It…failed?"
"If you want it, you must fight for it."
And with one quick move, the figure pierced Sakura's arm, the opposite one to which she was injured before. And then with another quick move, the figure was behind her. Sakura couldn't move as metal hands grabbed her newly injured arm and began carving something into it, the blood ran down her arm furiously now, worse than ever before. The pain was deafening, if that is even imaginable.
Then Sakura was face up, on the floor. Her blood was making a small puddle next to her and her vision was becoming a little blurry. She looked up to the black-hooded figure and saw it with the card in one hand, the sword in the other. The last thing Sakura saw were the lights beginning to awaken and the black-hooded figure disappear, whispering in it's harsh voice:
"If you want it, you must fight for it."
Author's Note: Okay, so that's it. Look how fast I came out with that one!!! I'm so proud of myself. Anyways, if you want to be on my mailing list, just request it and of course I'll deny it. Just kidding, of course I'll accept it. And as always, reviews are appreciated but not necessary.