Chapter Twenty

The moment

"How are you doing in class, Syaoran?"

"Quite good. I can control my anger even if I get nervous or angry."

He and Eriol were walking towards the Alpha's cave house, who had called a meeting.

"It's been almost two months now... Have you tried fighting Sakura?" Eriol asked with a smirk.

Syaoran snorted, frowning.

"I didn't need to, I haven't been stronger than her for a long time. But at least I'm still a wizard, and no one can beat me at that."

Eriol nodded thoughtfully.

"Maybe you're stronger than normal because you have magic. I'm not better than you."

He shrugged.

"I don't know, but I'm glad she's not that much more powerful than me, because she'd get revenge for everything I've done to her."

"What? What have you done to her?" Eriol asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I... I meant... It's nothing bad, don't worry."

Eriol gave him a crooked smile, understanding what he meant.

"You guys are perverts," he murmured, raising an eyebrow.

Syaoran's cheeks blushed.

"Shut up, you're not better yourself," he snorted.

The two laughed as they entered the large meeting room, sitting down among the people to wait. At ten o'clock sharp, Fujitaka and Sonomi stepped onto the small platform.

"Today I have something very important to announce to you all."

Sakura and Tomoyo had just arrived, sitting down next to their mates.

"I think the day has come to step back and let Sakura take the lead," Fujitaka added.

Sakura was petrified in her seat, staring at her father.

"What?" she asked aloud in confusion.

Fujitaka gestured to her and she stood up, walking up the stairs to stand beside him.

"You should come here too, Tomoyo," Sonomi called after her.

Once the two girls were next to them, Fujitaka continued talking.

"Sakura led our response to the attack we had a couple of months ago very well, you all know that. She's about to turn twenty-two, she's brave, smart and ready. That's why Sonomi and I have decided to retire. As of today, we have a new Alpha and a new Beta."

The room erupted in applause, but Sakura and Tomoyo still hadn't been able to react. Tomoyo walked up to her friend and held her hand, giving it a squeeze.

"I will always help you, we are in this together."

Sakura glanced at her with grateful eyes and heard her father's voice.

"What's going to be your first decision?"

She pondered for a few seconds. Sakura looked in the direction of Syaoran, who was still sitting in the crowd. He frowned as he felt anger building up inside her body, as if she was suddenly furious. Imagining what she was thinking, he spoke in her mind.

Sakura, don't.

She decided to ignore him, clearing her throat before speaking.

"I want to attack the southern pack. They've fucked with us enough and I want to finish them off."

They decided that the attack would be in March, when the snow had already melted across the country and it would be easier for them to run as wolves.

Syaoran tried to talk her out of it, but to no avail.

It was already late February. It was still cold, but that didn't bother either of them. Sakura and Tomoyo had just finished their first term exams at the university, they only had one more term left and that summer they would finish their degrees.

One Saturday, the four friends were walking down a path that led to the top of the mountain. Every weekend they went there to train Syaoran, He had to learn how to fight as a wolf.

"I think you know everything you need to," Eriol commented, patting his shoulder as they reached the city.

He nodded seriously.

"It'll be next week, right?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yes, I don't want to wait any longer," replied Sakura.

They said goodbye and each couple left in the direction of their cave house.

"You really don't have to do this, Sakura. You don't have to take revenge for what they did to me."

"You almost died because of them, and I had to transform you. I want them to pay for what they did, I want to find that black wolf and tear him apart with my bare hands," she growled angrily.

Syaoran closed the door and approached her, hugging her from behind.

"I like being a werewolf, don't regret turning me."

She turned to look him in the eye.

"Really? Wouldn't you rather be human?"

He shook his head.

"We're closer now and I can go everywhere with you. I prefer it that way."

She smiled and stood on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck and placing a kiss on his lips.

"Don't you want to find that black wolf?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course I do," he said, frowning.

Her lips curved into a wicked grin.

"They don't know what they're in for."

"Not all of them will be guilty. I'm sure there are many who were just obeying their Alpha... There is no need for a massacre."

"We'll see about that when we get there," she replied, bluntly.

A week later, half of the pack had travelled to Kyoto, near the city where Syaoran had lived when he was a child. It brought back unpleasant memories.

"Relax, we're not going through Okayama," Sakura said, holding his hand as she noticed his discomfort.

They were all in their human form. They had rented cars and left them on the outskirts of the city. They walked in small groups so as not to attract attention, until they reached where the forest began.

"Where does this pack live?" he asked quietly.

Sakura pointed to a small mountain nearby. They entered the trees, walking up the mountain.

"Why are we in human form?" Syaoran asked.

"Because we make less noise like this," Sakura whispered.

The idea was to get as close as possible without being discovered. After a few hours of walking, everyone stopped and Sakura took a breath, exhaling slowly.

"It reeks of wolf."

Eriol and Tomoyo stifled a laugh. The others began to take off their clothes and put them in the backpacks they had brought with them.

"You'd better start as a human, Syaoran. Use your powers to scare them," Sakura muttered, putting her trousers away.

"So I'll have to go back to Kyoto naked?"

If he had to transform in the middle of the battle, he'd tear all his clothes. Sakura raised an eyebrow, looking him up and down with her gaze.

"That wouldn't be bad... but I won't let anyone else see you naked. I've brought some clothes for you," she said, pointing to her backpack.

Slowly, they began to transform into wolves. In a few seconds, Syaoran was surrounded by dozens of them, almost a hundred in total.

Okay, let's go - he heard Sakura say in his mind.

They all started walking towards a small clearing. They could see wooden huts in the background, some of their chimneys were smoking. Soon, they heard several screams and wolves started to appear everywhere, running towards them.

Syaoran stopped with Sakura at his side and everyone else at his back. In front of them were dozens of enemy wolves, baring their sharp fangs.

"Those who had nothing to do with the attack and don't fight now will be spared," Syaoran shouted for all to hear.

Several wolves looked at each other.

Syaoran noticed four black wolves standing together. One of them had his yellow eyes fixed on him.

Anger coursed through his veins, but he tried his best to calm himself so he wouldn't transform just yet. Sakura sensed it and followed Syaoran's gaze, watching the black wolf. Her fur went up and she bared her fangs, snarling angrily.

He clasped his hands together and made his sword appear in a bluish mist. About twenty wolves from the enemy pack were retreating.

The black wolves snarled but those twenty wolves ignored them, making a hasty retreat. Syaoran raised his sword, pointing it to the sky.

"Thunder God, come forth!"

The blade of his sword started to glow and from it came a great ball of lightning, so huge that it frightened Syaoran at first.

He knew that his powers had increased since he was a werewolf, but he wasn't used to it yet. The ball spread out in front of them and exploded into thousands of bolts of lightning, striking many of the enemy wolves.

The black wolves growled, running towards them. Sakura and the others also rushed into the attack. Syaoran closed his eyes and pressed the cold blade of his sword against his forehead.

"Water God, come forth!"

The sword turned blue and a great wave erupted from it, hitting several of the wolves running towards them.

"Ice God, come forth!"

The water turned to ice, trapping the wolves it had swept away.

Syaoran smirked and looked around. The two wolf packs were very mixed up. He could tell which wolf belonged to which by the scent, but he could no longer attack with his magic or he risked hurting one of his own.

He made his sword disappear and transformed into a wolf to join the fight.

He followed Sakura's scent and found her being cornered by the four black wolves. As he got closer, he could smell them and discovered that the yellow-eyed wolf was the Alpha of the pack, the strongest of them all.

He averted his gaze to the black wolf that had just lunged for Sakura, who was the Beta. Syaoran lunged at it and dug his claws into his back, causing the wolf to let out a howl of pain. Once she was free, Sakura leapt at the Alpha.

A few feet away, the others were also fighting for their lives.

Tomoyo ran over to where Sakura was, joining her fight with the black wolves. Syaoran ripped apart the Beta wolf's body and lunged for another one that had just attacked Tomoyo. Eriol also appeared, jumping on another one of the wolves and catching him by surprise.

In the end, only the Alpha wolf was left, cornered by the four of them. Sakura transformed into a human so she could talk to him.

"Surrender now," she growled, crouching down.

The black wolf transformed into a human as well, fixing his yellow eyes on Syaoran.

"I should have finished you off that day," he said in a deep voice.

Syaoran bared his fangs at him, snarling until he looked away from him to fix his eyes on Sakura.

"I'll never give up. At least I'll take one of you with me... I hope it's the wizard."

She gave him a wicked grin.

"As you wish," she replied, transforming back into a she-wolf.

Leave it to me and help the others - she told the other three mentally.

Tomoyo and Eriol gave one last hateful glare at the black wolf, who had also transformed back, and ran at full speed towards the centre of the battle, but Syaoran didn't move from there.

Go away, Syaoran.

No.

Before Sakura could answer, he lunged at the enemy wolf. They started to fight but the black wolf, being Alpha, was much stronger than Syaoran.

As he was about to bite him in the neck, a strong blow pushed him away. The black wolf fell to the ground, but jumped back up, facing the mahogany wolf that had pushed him.

Syaoran stood up as well. He had wounds on his back and a broken paw, but he wasn't about to give up. He shared a glance with Sakura and the two of them jumped on the wolf together.

Stop!

All the wolves stopped fighting, shocked. Those from both packs had heard that cry in their minds.

They turned their heads in search of the owner of that voice, until they saw two wolves on a huge rock. One of them had green eyes and the other had amber ones. Both were wounded, but they stood and watched them all with a serious look on their faces.

It's over, the Alpha is dead. If you can hear me, it is because I am now your Alpha.

All the wolves could see that the body of the black wolf lay at the feet of the mahogany wolf.

I don't want a war, nor am I interested in ruling here. You must choose a new Alpha, and that new leader must obey me and respect the rules. No more fighting amongst ourselves, I don't want it to happen again.

The wolves looked at each other in confusion, and one white wolf took a few steps towards the rock where Sakura was standing.

I volunteer to be the new Alpha.

What is your name? - Sakura asked.

The wolf fixed his blue eyes on her.

Yue.

Well, Yue, do you agree to rule here and are you willing to sign a peace agreement between our packs?

I am.

And you all... do you accept Yue as your Alpha?

A chorus of howls confirmed that Yue had the support of his pack. Sakura looked at Syaoran and couldn't help but smile, showing a large row of teeth.

Finally, Syaoran. Our troubles are over.