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Chapter Six - The Forest Arisen

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What can love be compared with?

Shall it be our hearts,

our pulsating hearts that lay inside us?

Or shall it be the black heart that plagues

the man's very soul

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     Walking without stopping, I brushed the sweat off my forehead with my sleeve. It was hot where I was now...

      Before me lay miles of nothing more than sand and the brisk hot sun. After opening the previous door, I arrived at a place that my mind could only call 'hell'. The sand slowly seeping into my shoes, I still walked, even as my feet began to grow sore.

      ...nothing but silence...

     Soon, I found myself wondering why I was even here. Find Li? What if he's already gone...

     He can't be gone though...thats whats making me continue to walk...in...this desert...

     I could hear my own heart beating, for that was as silent as it was. My reality distorting as my eyes grew dry. Nothing more than an obscurity...nothing more...

     ...then what if it were that my own goal werte an obscurity...perhaps I'm just dreaming...

     ...but no...the sun burning upon me...its too real to be fake...

     ...or possibly the other way around as well...

     The desert seemed infinite, the very possibility of me making it slim...

     ...and I fell..

     ...and found myself in the desert no longer. Instead, a forest of bamboo took its place, each standing tall as if it were telling me not to pass them. Taking out my sword, I sensed that something had to be here.

       I walked forward, and could hear some laughter from deeper into the forest. I turned my head, and I could hear nothing more than the rustling of the bamboo waving with the wind.

       I searched the area around me, but could find nothing...or no one..

       ...instead, it seemed as if I were getting lost amongst the bamboo. That instead, maybe I've been searching in the wrong place.

       ...and so I looked up...

       I could see the clouds, and it were about to rain. I held out the sword, standing in place, waiting for something to strike me. I knew something had to be here.

       I waited...and waited

       ...nothing came by...nothing even rustled the bamboo...

       Instead, I could only hear the faint sound of laughing from the forest.

       'Who are you?!' I yelled. 'Who are you?!'

       ...and the laughter became louder, as if it had moved closer to me.

       ...and in front of me, I saw a small rock lift into the air. It flew towards me, and hit me. It didn't hurt, but more and more lifted into the air and hit me.

       Soon after, an entire ring of small rocks formed around me. I could hear the same laughter, but even closer now...

             ...stalking me...like a predator...

             ...weakening me by throwing sticks and stones...

       Where could it be? I had no clue.

       ....I could only either wait for it to appear

       ...or just make it appear...

       The rocks hit me, each one sending its own private sting to my skin. I did nothing more than shut my eyes and drop my sword. I don't know why...but I waited. Pelted by the rocks...

       The bushes rustled even more, and the laughter stopped. I could see someone hiding, most likely a child, the top of their head exposed from the top of the bush. As I focused on that area, the person ran from me, shreiking as if caught. I ran after him/her...what was that person trying to do? Even if for no reason...how could he/she lift the rocks like that...

        Running at my own full speed, it was hard to keep up with the person I was pursuing, even if it were a child or not. However, there were trees and the such that I had to dodge.

        I saw the child stop at a log, which spanned across a river. I could see fish jumping out of the water, fighting the current, trying to get upstream. The child sat down, and threw rocks at the river.

         Looking at his face...I could tell...

              ...she was....Meiling....

        'Meiling?' I asked her. 'Is that you?'

        Meiling looked at me, her face still etched with the innocence that comes with childhood. She walked towards me, strangely seeming to age as she came closer to me. By the time she was right in front of me, she was my age...around 20...

        'Kinomoto Sakura. Its been too long...' she said to me, as I just looked into her eyes. Her eyes looked like they always had...but without the usual life in them...

        'Yes...it has...' I replied, unknown to what just happened. Meiling was only a part of Li's mind...she died...6 years ago.

        'Do you know who I am, Kinomoto Sakura?' she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

        'Yes...I do' I said back, keeping my tone down. It shocked me to be able to see Meiling again..although she wasn't real.

        'Then why do you , in your mind, doubt I am me?' she asked.

        'Why shouldn't I?' I asked her.

        '...because you're the one who killed me...' she coldly remarked, glaring at me from below her breath. I backed away, as the area around us both disappeared, and I found myself sitting in the middle of a movie theater. The theater was huge and magnificent, with sparkling pillars standing on the sides...much like an old theater.

        The screen in front of me flickered, as I could see myself , Li, and Meiling standing at the corner. I could recognize the sceene almost immediatly...

                        ....it was where Meiling was killed...

        I could see the three of us walking across the street, and the truck driving towards us.

        Sitting in my seat, I saw that the only thing I could do was sit and watch. I tried to cover my eyes with my hands, but it felt like my hands were glued to my lap...as if I wanted to see it all again in some way...but...that can't be...am I that heartless of a person?

        I could see the water jump, Syaoran grabbing me before it came...Meiling standing in front of the closing headlights....

         ...and I could only see me crying into Syaoran...as he held me. Closing his eyes, he turned away from the road....as the ambulance took her away...

        ...and the movie stopped.

        Meiling stood in front of the screen, holding a music box as she walked over to me. However, she walked through the seats...as if she were a ghost. Still holding the music box, she came closer to me...and closer...

         ...and stopped in front of me. She looked into my eyes, her tears giving way at the etches of her eyes. The very expression that she hated me...but couldn't hate me at the same time. She wiped of her eyes, and opened the small music box, as it played the same tune as the one Li and Yumiko both had...except inside this music box...

               ...a small cherry blossom seemed to clog the sokes, making the song sound distorted. Still, the gears continued...and the small box struggled to play its tune.

              'Why is it that he never said a single word...' she asked me, facing towards the ground. 'Why couldn't say a single word...or warned me too...'

                        Why couldn't he say a single word after I died...?

               ...and she disappeared, disappeared in a rain of feathers which slowly floated down. With that, the small music box played its tune normally...as the small cherry blossom was ripped apart among the gears.

      'He will have something to say Kinomoto, Sakura. He will have something to say'

    ~to be continued