Essence of Blood

He had met girls throughout his life but never had he met a woman as unique as her. Not only did she defy him in an erratic way but her blood held an essence that differed from everyone else. Her blood was special... her blood made her, his.

Chapter Twenty Nine
Essence of Past

.xx.

-Tomoyo-

August 9th, 2001 – 4:04 pm

Takashi retired to his room and Chiharu refused to come out of hers. The girls and I were all sharing drinks – Smirnoff Ice- in the kitchen, discussing what the hell just happened. The guys dispersed and we figured they were off training with their firearms, not thinking of what happened.

"Intense, eh?" Fuutie sipped from her can. "I always knew Takashi had a girl, but for her to be Chiharu?"

Feimei nodded in agreement and picked up her third can of Smirnoff. She had the alcohol tolerance of a beast. "Right? I've never seen him actually date anybody for as long as he's been with us."

I concentrated on my can, listening but not participating with the conversation. It was very surreal, to finally meet the asshole that tore Chiharu's heart out of her chest and stomp on it, repeatedly. I remember countless nights where she would call either me or Sakura crying and we'd never know why.

But now I did.

And I really disliked him

A lot.

A lot a lot.

A lot a lot a lot.

"We have to talk to Chi—WHAT THE FUCK?" Sheifa hurled out of her seat when we heard a crash in the living room. Running out of the kitchen, and forgetting our coolers, all of us stopped dead in our tracks when we saw Li, a passed out Sakura and an unknown girl. I reached them first, desperately holding on to Sakura as Li managed to get a hold of himself.

"What happened?" Tears were forming behind my eyes. The girls rushed forward and I heard Sheifa squeak Fanran.

So that's her…

There was a sword that had scattered off which, in front of our eyes, glowed a bright green before disappearing, its particles flying into Li. I looked back down at my cousin, the tears finally coming loose—"Sakura?" I tried to shake her. She was burning up with a fever and, just when I thought I was going to explode into tears, Mei Lin wrapped an arm around my shoulder.

"Let's drop her into an ice bath," she murmured. I was about to nod when Li started barking out orders.

"Get Fanran a doctor. NOW. Mei Lin," he nodded to the girl beside me, "go prepare the ice bath for Ying Fa. Tomoyo, relax, go take a walk. I'll take care of Sakura."

"But…"

"I said go," his voice was stern, but not harsh. "Take Chiharu with you and grab a gun."

I wasn't allowed any room for argument as Li picked Sakura up and bounded up the stairs behind Mei Lin. I sat there, dumbfounded, for a moment longer. Despite the fact that shit always happened, I still couldn't get over the fact that shit only ever happened with us.

.xx.

August 9th, 2001 – 5:19 pm

I guided Chiharu to The Garden of Eden after we both were sure that Sakura was being well taken care of. The situation tore Chiharu away from her personal misery and allowed her to focus her attention on one of the most important girl's in our life: Sakura. I had a gun strapped to me as we followed the dirt path; Li was afraid there was going to be an Akuma repeat.

"What the hell is happening?" Chiharu asked and I tilted my head, looking over at her. Guess I owe her a more in depth explanation now.

"Well…" I began. "You won't believe me?" Chiharu snorted.

"Right. We see the exiled sister half dead, Sakura's burning up with a fever when she was okay a few moments ago, and I keep hearing Li scream out something about Akuma and sending him back to where he belonged—I highly doubt that you'd call any of that normal." Well, she hit the nail on the head with that one. I crossed my arms and inhaled deeply; the sweet smell of summer tingled my senses and I only wish that I was able to enjoy it without the fear of being shot constantly in my mind.

"Okay fine, I'll tell you. Sakura is actually God's descendant." I didn't pause and neither did I bother looking at Chiharu. I didn't want to see the look of disbelief on her face; I knew there would be one. Our story is rather unbelievable. "God had given her His blood when she was created, millennias ago. Xiao Lang, or Syaoran as some of the gang members call him, is her guardian created specifically to keep her unharmed from the evils that wanted to control heaven, hell, and earth." I inhaled, pausing for a moment. I hadn't spoken the story to anybody and only discussed it with Sakura sometimes. Hearing myself retell the whole story aloud made me realize how cooked up it sounded and how nobody would believe me unless they experienced it for themselves.

"Sakura – rather Ying Fa as you may hear Syaoran call —died during her first existence and Syaoran was pulled into the dark side; Satan's side. Satan wanted the best warrior ever created and that was him. He was created to protect the ruler of the universe so he had powers that were incomparable." We arrived at the Garden and immediately took our seats by the rocks. Chiharu was listening intently to my story and I was relieved to see that she didn't look like she was in utter disbelief.

"Turns out that Sakura didn't die. She managed to survive with the last ounce of her energy. She stumbled upon Syaoran one day and he had his memory return, but in exchange for that she gave up her life. Since then he's waited until she was reborn, century after century after century. Some of her incarnations died very young, so he was unable to pursue her further. Until this Sakura." I kicked at the water.

"She lived. She survived everything for him to find her. And he did. She has random flashbacks about her past life, but I guess it'll slowly come back. Akuma is Satan incarnate. Apparently we can't destroy him, but we can defeat him… which is scary. Fanran is the eldest Li Sister who had fallen in love with Akuma. Turns out," Tomoyo recalled what Xiao Lang had told her quickly before she left for her walk, "Fanran was being brain controlled by Akuma to get to Syaoran. When that didn't work, Akuma threw her back at us and threatened to kill Syaoran if he didn't hand Sakura over. Akuma is out to take over the world and he can't do that unless he has the powers of God."

Chiharu's eyes widened and she finished my story for me: "The powers of Sakura."

"Right." I nodded. "So, there you have it. We're not normal, we're magical people from a time where humans didn't even exist."

"Then what're you?"

I wanted to laugh. "I was the illegitimate daughter that they had, but I died at birth."

Chiharu deadpanned. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." I nodded. "Eriol is Syaoran's wingman, who died in war but reborn." I shrugged, carelessly. "We're used to the deal now, but Sakura is getting hurt more and more these days and I don't know what'll happen next…" My voice caught. Chiharu wrapped an arm around me.

"What if she…"

"She won't." Chiharu stated firmly. "She's our Sakura and she'll be fine. Besides, she has this hunka hunka guardian alla sex watching over her. She has to come back, even if it's to get organ throbbing, mind combusting, orgasm-after-orgasm-after-orgasm sex."

I threw my head back and laughed so hard my sides hurt. Chiharu ended up falling into a fit of laughter, like myself, and we both laughed. It was contagious because as soon as I recovered, she died, and as soon as she recovered, I died. It was great to have a friend around to lean on when trouble seemed to arise.

"Oh dear God," I wiped a tear from my eye. Chiharu nudge dme.

"No, we have to start saying oh dear Ying Fa."

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up. She hit me when I tried that on her."

"My turn to try it on her," Chiharu winked. I exhaled loudly before poking Chiharu's arm. She looked over at me.

"Hmm?"

"Wanna talk about your issues now? It'll help you feel better, Chi."

She sighed loudly, her expression falling immediately. "I don't want to, but I know it'll help. Nobody knows the story…"

"Yamazaki told us." I informed her. "Well, rather, Sakura scared him into telling us; let me tell you, she's learned a mean glare from Syaoran."

Chiharu smiled, rather forcedly in my opinion, but it was something. Something is better than nothing, that's what I always say.

Okay, no I don't. But now I do.

"Well…" Chiharu started. "It's… you heard the story so what else can I tell you?"

"How you feel."

She stared at me and I stared back. We're friends, good friends for that matter and I'd be damned if I weren't there for her when she needed me the most. Chiharu looked back at the water and exhaled sharply. "We were engaged," she murmured, "I loved-" she choked. "I love him. Our families were great friends, my grandparents loved him, it was something out of a fairy tale. And then he started getting distant…"

She rubbed her hands up and down her arms and I placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, urging her to continue. I was there for her, and she knew that.

"I thought he was cheating on me. He'd cancel dates, come home with bruises, refused to look me in the eyes." Chiharu coughed, trying to stop herself from crying again. Scooting closer, I wrapped an arm around her shoulder. She leaned onto my shoulder.

"And then he broke it off. Over a text message."

I gasped. "WHAT?"

Chiharu nodded. "Yeah," she sounded rueful and in so much emotional pain. "text message. One day he was telling me he loves me, and not even twelve hours later I get a text saying that it's over and he found somebody else. The next day I mailed him my ring. I couldn't keep it anymore."

"I can't…"

"Believe it," she cut me off, knowing what I was about to say. "I still have that text message saved. Is that psycho of me?"

"Kind of," I nudged her playfully, "but we're all entitled to our own moments of crazy."

"Coming from the reincarnated daughter of God and her guardian?"

"I'm your regular circus act," I teased her. Chiharu exhaled loudly and rubbed her hands together. I kept my arm wrapped around her, staring into the water, studying our reflection. Life had taken such a strange turn and I was unsure of how to act.

How to react.

"Feel better?" I murmured and I felt her nod.

"A little. I never expected him to see him here."

I understood what she was saying. "He told us that he only said that because he was scared for your life. There was never actually a girl, and nobody recalls ever seeing him with a girl for as long as he's been here."

Chiharu snorted. "So? Syaoran loves Sakura more than anything. Is he gonna tell her he's in love with somebody else to protect her?"

"Syaoran is a legendary Guardian with unimaginable powers." I reminded Chiharu. She rolled her eyes.

"Principle remains the same. He's a dick."

"I concur."

"When you ladies are done complimenting Takashi, Xiao Lang wants you back at the house." We both turned around to see Eriol watching us amusedly. I wanted to throw a pebble at him, but refrained from doing so. I had to be civil; we had a dinner date tomorrow and firearm training. Chiharu and I got off of our rock and I cracked my neck.

"Sakura?"

"Is fine." Eriol smiled. "She's asleep right now… kind of."

Chiharu quirked an eyebrow. "Kind of? What the hell is kind of awake, Hiiragizawa?"

"She's awake but not really?" He was acting cheeky. It was then that I really threw a pebble at him.

"You're lame, Eriol."

"I know. Come on, you beautiful ladies need an escort back to the house." He held his hands out and we both looped ours through his, standing on either side of him. It was less awkward to be around him when Chiharu was with me. She was one of the few people that weren't aware of the Yasui-divorce-Eriol-soul-mate-Tomoyo-fuck-my-life situation that I was going through. Everybody else did.

"What exactly happened though?" I asked on our walk back. Eriol's gaze darkened.

"Akuma dropped by. The flow of energy knocked Sakura out and Fanran was out cold to begin with. We're trying to bring Fanran back to consciousness, but Sakura seems to be alright. Xiao Lang wanted to keep her secluded for now, with nobody but him." He glanced at Chiharu and I spoke up—

"She knows."

He raised both eyebrows. "She does?"

Chiharu snorted. "Yeah, I do. What kind of wingman are you, dying when Syaoran needs you the most?"

"Alright I believe you; she knows." Eriol muttered sarcastically. "Xiao Lang is saying that he thinks her memories of Ying Fa could be returning. It was the first time she felt Xiao Lang's aura and Satan's aura collide in many millenias. It could've triggered hidden memories for her."

My eyes widened. "So she could?"

Eriol nodded. "She could potentially remember who she is."

Chiharu seemed confused. "But what does that mean?"

I inhaled deeply, filling my lunges to the farthest reach before I answered my friend. "It means we can defeat Akuma and lock him up in hell." My eyes met Eriol's as he spoke the final words.

"Once and for all…"

.xx.

It's a tad short, but the next chapter will be doubled in length!