"Windy!" Sakura took out a card with between her fore and index finger. "Release and dispel!" She hit the floating card with her wand. "Windy!"
Windy emerged from the card and flew to the enemy wrapping it with her cream colored body. But with just a minor flex, it broke Windy's tight grip and sent her flying.
"Windy!" Sakura kept Windy and turned to Li. "That was my third card in a row that he's pushed right over. Could you slow him down for me?"
"I'll try." Li took his sword and called a time spell. The enemy stopped- for a moment. He drew back his breath. "No…"
"That's it Sakura! You can't do anything to it! Stop!" Mei Lin cried from where she was leaning against the tree trunk. She had been hurt earlier.
"No! I have to try and stop it! Fly!" She called upon the card, mounted her wand and kicked off.
"Sakura! No!" Li frantically ran after her but with no avail. "Be careful…" He said half to himself.
Sakura flew towards the huge dark shadow with menacing speed. I have to win this fight! I am the Mistress of the Clow cards! I will win! The world depends on me! She narrowed her eyebrows and concentrated. I have only one chance… I need one card… But just as she was about to think of the card, a huge wave of energy pushed her off her wand and she was falling to her death.
"Sakura!" Mei Lin, Li, and Tomoyo screamed as they saw her limp figure fall helplessly to the ground.
As sudden as the energy wave had hit, the enemy caught Sakura and held her up to it. It stared at her for a moment, then raised her above its head, gave a mighty, final roar then exploded and vanished as quickly as it came.
"No!!!!!" Li raced to where he had seen Sakura fall. I can't bear to lose her now! I had just started to have feelings for her… This can't be happening… He then saw her sprawled out on the side of an adjoining street. "Sakura!" He slowed down and leaned over her tiny frail body. He quickly checked for a pulse and sadly found none. He knelt down and picked her up. "Sakura… why did you have to leave me? Why now?" He bent over and kissed her forehead. "I loved you…" A single hot tear traveled down his flushed face. He gave her one last hug then carried her back to Tomoyo and Mei Lin.
~*~ Three years later ~*~
Li Syaoran, now 17, ran from the classroom hurriedly to his locker. He tried to ignore all his other friend's questions.
"Li, do you want to play some soccer this afternoon?"
"No." He managed to mumble.
"Right. See you next week then!"
"Hey Li!"
Li recognized the voice. It was Tomoyo. He didn't feel like talking. He threw things into his bag and was about to get up.
"Come on Li… what's up with you?"
Li stared at her with a blank face. How could she not remember? Sakura died on this very date three years ago… It still hurt to think about it. "What day is it?"
" The fourteenth- oh yeah…You know it's not your fault. Why still be all gloomy like this? Oh well, I'll see you around then."
Li was thankful that she left. He didn't exactly know why he was still like this every anniversary. Or even on the day… the 14th. That's how old she was when she had died… only fourteen and nothing more… He would always think.
He closed his locker and hurried home. It didn't take very long to get there if he passed by Sakura's house, but he always took the longer way now. He slammed the door closed and ran up the stairs to his room. He flung his bag to the wall and lay on his bed with his face to the ceiling. He closed his eyes and tried to block out all the thoughts of Sakura out of his head, but he just couldn't do it… no matter how long ago it was he still loved her. He tried committing suicide to join her, but Tomoyo had talked him out of it. He always had blamed himself for not telling her about his feelings. Not being able to say anything to her before her death…he just wished he could see her for one last time…
A quiet giggle and a small tap interrupted him. Who could be here? No one had knocked on the door… Again he heard the giggle. What? He slowly opened his eyes to reveal a smiling Sakura in front of his face.
"Aaaahhhh!" He back up until his back hit the wall. "S-Sakura?" Am I dreaming?
"Yes, it's me." Sakura stood up to show that she had grown taller and her hair had grown longer. "Who'd you think it was?"
She's beautiful… "I thought you had died… three years ago from today?"
"Yeah, that was the sad part. Having to leave my family and friends. I miss them." She had almost said 'especially you' but stopped herself.
Now I know I'm dreaming… "How could you be here if you're supposed to be up there?"
"I am an angel now, but I could only come down here to give you a message: you can bring me back but you have to do one thing."
"What? What is it? I'll do anything to bring you back!" He didn't have time to think about what he had just said. He was desperate.
"You have to trust me on this… kill Mei Lin."
"No! I can't kill Mei Lin!" But he soon found out that he was alone once again. "Dammit!" He swore to himself. The words Kill Mei Lin still stuck in his head. Why should I kill Mei Lin? I don't even know where she is… Mei Lin had mysteriously disappeared shortly after her tragic death. One thing stayed in his mind the rest of the day. Why?
The next morning he went to give Keroberos his breakfast. He, Sakura, Mei Lin, and Tomoyo had always called him Kero out of fondness. He took Kero in after Sakura had died. It was always an effort to give him his food, let alone talk to him. Many times he was never in the attic, but he would always be there when his meals came. He forced his legs, which were starting to wobble even more with each step, up the hidden stairs leading to the attic. In his mind he kept rehearsing what he was to converse with Kero, but when he got to the door, his mind went totally blank. He reached the doorknob with his sweaty hands and turned it. But before he even had the door open, he heard Kero's deep voice.
"Come in Li."
Li opened the door to find the mighty Kero in his true form; a golden colored lion with great white folded wings. "I-I brought you your breakfast…" He set the tray down.
"Thank you. But that is not the only reason why you came up here. Is it?"
"No…" He hung his head. "I wanted to talk to you about angels…"
"This is about Sakura, isn't it?"
"Yes…"
"She came to visit me too. She asked me to guide you with what is to come ahead."
"What am I supposed to do? I can't kill Mei Lin!"
"In order to bring an angel back, you need to kill a dark angel. I have a feeling that dark angel is Mei Lin."
"Is there another way?"
"No."
Li sat down to think. If I have to kill Mei Lin… for Sakura… then I'll do it… I hate to… but I'll do it… "I'll do it."
"I'm here to go with you. You just need to decide when."
"But we don't even know where she is or how to kill her."
"I know. Where she is and how to kill her."
"Then let's start this afternoon." Am I really doing the right thing? An image of the angel Sakura appeared in his head. I'm coming…
~*~ After much searching ~*~
"I couldn't find her. How about you?" Li rested under a tree in the park. He was talking to Kero's other form, a toy-like flying stuffed animal.
"No, I couldn't either. These dark angels are tricky though, so be careful. They can assume any shape. I know she's still here. I can sense her…"
"Maybe we should continue searching tomorrow morning. It's getting dark…" Li stood and headed home as Kero followed.
With his back turned, he did not see the black silhouette emerge from behind the tree. "I'm watching you…"
That night Li dreamt of Sakura alive…
"Hey Sakura." Li called when all of Sakura's friends had left her.
She turned. "Oh, hi Li."
"Can I tell you something?"
"Anything."
"I've liked you for a long time now and-" Li's words were stopped by Sakura's lips that had come in contact with his. He closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her waist only to find wings. He backed up.
"Li Syaoran… so I've found you…" The voice that had spoken sounded a lot like Mei Lin's. He looked up to see Mei Lin floating above Sakura's body on the floor. She was using large black wings to hover.
Li sat up and wiped the beads of sweat coming down his forehead. "Sakura…"
He could not wait any longer. He raced up the steps to Kero's room. There he saw Kero already up and facing the attic window, back towards Li.
"Kero! We need to find Mei Lin! She is the Dark Angel!"
"I know…" His voice seemed to alter into another one. "Because I am the Dark Angel." Kero's body melted away like shedding skin and out rose Mei Lin the Dark Angel.
All Li could do for a moment was stare. "I have come to kill you, Mei Lin." He sounded braver than he felt.
"Wrong! I have come to kill you!" She sent a black energy wave that Li narrowly dodged.
"But why? Why Mei Lin?"
"I have been the Dark Angel for quite some time now, Syaoran. I sent that shadow enemy to kill Sakura three years ago because she was in the way of me loving you! But then, when she died, I realized that it wasn't you I loved, but Sakura… so I now have to kill you so I can have her to myself!" She hurled another ball of energy again missing Li.
"Won't you just be doing me a favor by killing me?" Li asked cautiously.
"You fool! When the Dark Angel kills a mortal, their soul is destroyed completely! Therefore you cannot go to Heaven or Hell!"
Gathering the biggest energy orb, she cast it onto Li hitting him with great force resulting in him thrown against the wall and passing out. When he came to, there was the Dark Angel and Sakura fighting head to head against each other.
"You will never win, Dark Angel." Sakura, barely visible in the bright white light surrounding her, looked very calm considering the danger brewing around her.
"I am not here to fight you, Sakura … I am here to-" But before she had completed her sentence, Li had grabbed one of the swords on the wall and had rendered both wings of the Dark Angel. "No! Farewell my one true love…"
With those last words she diminished and Sakura's body fell to the ground. Li ran and embraced her. "Sakura?"
She stirred slightly and mumbled," Mow I cannot be your angel…"
"Sakura, you will always be my angel."