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 Thirty-seven
Essence of Wait

.xx.

-Tomoyo-

August 13th, 2001 – 8:27 p.m.

My head was groggy, my vision was slightly blurry, and my whole world was spinning, but I still couldn't have been more aware of what was happening. The Essence of Continuation outlined where Syaoran was but it didn't have anything written in it about how he was saved.

Rather… if he was saved.

I'm sure that was what the pages ripped out would've told me, had Akuma not interfered. I sat up and rubbed my temples, trying to rid my head of the nasty pounding. I knew, though, that it wasn't going anywhere, anytime soon, so I had to make do with how I felt and proceed with my day. I didn't feel possessed or anything – though how I would be able to tell if I was possessed or not was beyond me – so I took it as a good sign.

My hand barely wrapped around the doorknob when I went flying backwards because the door flew open, revealing a rather anxious Mei Lin.

"You okay? I heard footsteps and I thought some evil no-gooder was up here attempting to molest you!"

If I had a favourite, it'd be Mei Lin.

Despite myself, I laughed. "I'm not being raped by an evil no-gooder, thank you for your concern; I woke up and felt like I was hit in the head with a big tree trunk… apart from that, I would like to see my cousin." The colour drained from Mei Lin's face and that made my heart race. What happened?!

"You seem a lot more energetic for somebody who was knocked out by an evil force." Mei Lin said forcedly and I knew she was trying to get me off the topic of Sakura. Too bad, it wasn't going to work.

I managed to shrug nonchalantly and tried to look over Mei Lin's shoulder, hoping to see anybody in the vicinity that I could ask to take me to Sakura. It was evident to me that Mei Lin was not going to be that person.

"You gotta do what you gotta do. So, can I see Sakura now?"

Mei Lin nervously twiddled her thumbs and that began to churn my curiosity; what could she possibly be hiding?

"Well… see… the thing is…"

My headache was beginning to really grind against my skull and I was becoming highly irritable. If Mei Lin didn't tell me where Sakura was, then I was going to snap. How hard could it be?! She was either in Jin's office trying to locate Syaoran or—

My eyes widened.

Or she already found him.

"She went there, didn't she?"

Mei Lin's silence was enough to affirm my suspicions. Without waiting for an explanation I shoved her out of the way and bolted towards Jin's office.

My cousin was in hell. How the hell did she go to hell?!

.xx.

August 13th, 2001 – 8:54 p.m.

I was sitting blankly on the sofa with the girls around me. I learned that Eriol, Jin, Mika, Takashi, Clow, Ceroberus, Ryu, Atashi, and Hikaru all accompanied Sakura to the fiery depths of hell. Apparently, according to Feimei, Sakura tapped into her magic to figure out if the boys were pure enough in soul to accompany her to hell and still come out.

All the other ones have committed sins in their life's that they were still repenting for, but the aforementioned guys were noble and pure enough that hell would refuse to keep them, even if they chose to say (as to why they would want to stay is beyond me).

My heart was in a clump at my throat when I learned that Eriol went with Sakura. I mean, I was already worried about Sakura but now I was concerned about Eriol as well. Although I was anxious about the well-being of all the boys, Eriol was a bit more…

Special.

"And we have no idea of how they're doing?"

Fuutie shook her head. "No. We can't monitor their health or do anything with them in another plane altogether. All we can do is wait."

I involuntarily growled. I hated waiting. Patience was a virtue I lost during my brief period with the Bloodhounds. Everything was a waiting game with them; I was the most patient person in our group of friends and I lost all of that will power.

How on earth am I supposed to stay patient when my cousin is in hell and I can't do anything but sit idly by and wait for her to return in one piece?!

I don't.

That was the answer.

I was going to find a way to go there—although without anybody that possessed magic, which would be proven rather difficult.

Thunder gone.

I slouched even further in my seat and only looked up when a hand rested on my shoulder. It was Chiharu.

"Let's take a walk?"

I agreed, reluctantly. A walk would clear my mind. Besides, it wasn't as if I could do anything else but wait around, potentially pulling my hair out in frustration. At least the walk would save my hair from an untimely demise.

.xx.

August 13th, 2001 – 9:26 p.m.

"Every time I go to the Garden of Eden something ridiculously bad happens." I murmured more to myself than anything as Chiharu and I headed towards the aforementioned destination. I mean the first time I was there Sakura was kidnapped…

And the second time I was there, Syaoran was kidnapped.

Like, seriously?

Who's next? Me? Hell, I wouldn't be surprised at the least.

"Nothing bad'll happen." Chiharu whispered. "Sakura and Syaoran are both in hell fighting the bad guy. Everybody that he possibly could want to hurt is already in his lair."

I snickered at the idea of hell being called a lair.

"Still," my shoulders slumped and I sighed loudly. "According to our families Sakura and I are both dead… we can't just reappear." I gulped, remembering that I had to rephrase what I just said: "I can't just reappear… I mean with Sakura gone…"

Chiharu hugged me; it was comforting, to say the least. "Don't worry, Tomoyo… how many years did you say Syaoran has been out searching for Sakura in order to protect her?"

I closed my eyes, feeling the dull pang of a headache coming on. "Millions."

"Exactly," Chiharu's voice dropped to a whisper, "even if she went to save him, I guarantee that they'll come out with him kicking Akuma's ass, bringing everybody back to the land of the living, without so much as a scratch."

The corners of my lips tugged. "Yeah," I murmured, "you're right… so what happened with you and Takashi?" I had to get my mind off of Sakura. There was nothing I could do about the situation sitting around here, so I may as well think about other things.

Like Takashi and Chiharu.

Last I remembered they were going to have their talk.

Chiharu looked away from me and that immediately piqued my interest. I sat up straight and faced my friend with utmost interest. "Chiharu?"

"We… reconciled."

Reconciled, eh?

"And that means?"

Chiharu turned and looked at me, her eyes brimming with tears. I gasped and without even thinking, leaned forward and hugged her. We were all experiencing some form of pain or another—just different kinds.

"It means we talked about it… and I figure life is too short to hold grudges. You know I love him… he knows I love him and well… we want to make it work."

"That's great news!" I beamed but deep inside knew she was dying slowly because the man of her dreams marched to hell to save one of his best friends. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and gave her a gentle squeeze. "He'll come back, Chi. Just keep faith."

I felt Chiharu's body sag; she sighed heavily. "How am I supposed to keep faith when all these years I was the one that kept him away?"

As ironic as it felt, I still said what I said: "God has a plan."

The corners of her lips tugged and I was glad that I was able to instil some sort of comedy in her life; lord only knew how badly all of us needed it. "I'm sure He does." Chiharu murmured her response. I released my hold on her shoulders and continued to walk in tandem with her towards the Garden of Eden.

"So," I hummed, "what did you talk about?" I cocked my head in her direction. "And details, please."

I saw her blush and I squealed. Yeah, trademark Tomoyo, I know.

"Everything." Chiharu answered, her voice becoming distant. I knew she was entering the realm of her memories; reliving the conversation she had with Takashi. "Anything and everything," she repeated, this time her voice echoing reality. "About why he did what he did, about the hurt and pain... about us."

I smiled. I couldn't help it; Chiharu was finally happy... and then the gravity of our situation weighed me down.

Hell.

That's where Takashi was and we couldn't do shit all about it.

Talk about taking away the thunder, geez.

"Do you think time exists in hell?" Chiharu asked rather suddenly. Until that moment, the topic didn't even cross my mind- does time exist in hell?

"I don't think so." I replied. "Time is probably endless in heaven and hell, which is why hell is referred to the punishment of eternal damnation. Time isn't a factor when you're dealing with eternity... right?"

Chiharu seemed to consider my answer. "I guess so..."

"Why?" I was curious why she asked me that; it was a random question.

She shrugged. "I dunno. I mean I guess I'm wondering how long they've been there for, even though it's only been a few hours here."

An appropriate question, if I did say so myself. The two of us arrived at the Garden of Eden and despite negative news being correlated to this place, it still gave me a sense of peace.

"I guess time will only tell, right?"

Chiharu nodded. "Time will only tell."

.xx.

One more Tomoyo chapter and two more Sakura chapters before this story is FINISHED.

Woo!