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Chapter Nine - The Day Maidel Hit Shore

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  The only home I had, destroyed...

  ...all hope seemingly lost...

...except as I look at it...

         ...should I feel bad...

...or should I laugh...?

         ...at my own unfortunate happening...?

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   'Why didn't you tell me?' Yumiko asked me, as we continued walking through the garden. Naroays told me that Yumiko was important somehow...and it was strange how she existed in this dream as well...

   'Yumiko....I'm sorry...' I said back. It was all I could say. We just continued walking, the trees on each side of the small little path just slightly swifting to the wind.

    ...and yet, she didn't seem mad. Her face didn't falter at all, nor did it show a single sign of calmness. Instead, she simply said 'Its okay', in a tone and a face...that almost made me cry.

    'Sakura, you could have told me though...' she then said back, almost as silent as a whisper. Looking at her through the eyes, I explained to her that I didn't even know her for a full day...and she was already treating me like too much of a friend. Who was I to put trust in someone I had just met?

    She sighed. 'Its just a feeling, Sakura. Don't you have that feeling as well?'

    I gave out a small breath, and could only say no.

    We kept silent for most of the rest of the walk.

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    Continuing to walk on the cobblestone path below us, Yumiko and I sat down on a bench. The night sky glittered above us, as the wind continued to blow.

    'Just like the nights in Maidel...'I said, looking over to the huge glass dome in the distance. 'With the dome as our moon tonight, I guess.'

    Yumiko looked up at the sky, her eyes sparkling as well as the jewelry she wore. She looked all the more beautiful...as if blessed by an angel.

    'Hmm...I never noticed this...' Yumiko said, as she looked at my head. She pulled out my hairpin, as it glowed a malaginative red.

    '...and I never noticed this...' I said to her, as I lifted her pendant from her neck. It glowed a blushish-white color, twinking with the light from the dome.

    'Oh, my brother gave me this before he disappeared...' she replied, seeming to be hurt. I put the pendant down, and I put my hand on her back.

    'Its ok, Yumiko...' I calmly said to her.

    'I miss him everyday...my brother...he said that he'd be back from his little journey...and he never returned.' she sighed. Nothing short of the same as me, except I was looking for Syaoran...

    'I miss Syaoran even more as I try to look for him here...' I replied, trying to hold back my tears as well. 'Maybe...its just a stupid feeling. Its most likely brought up because..well...we just don't know what happened to them...'

    'Right...' she said back in a weak tone. She sighed, and looked at me.

    'Still....what should it matter to you how I feel? I am merely a part of his dream, right?' she then suddenly remarked. 'Everything about me was created by him...I'm not real Sakura.'

    'How do you know that, Yumiko?' I then answered.

    'I don't...' she said back, putting her head down. 'I guess I will only find out in the afterlife after I die...'

    I looked at her, and she fumbled with her dress to be able to sit the right way. 'Still...if I don't know whether I'm real or not....where is the meaning of me even existing?'

    'Are we here to know why we are here, Yumiko? We're all here because we just are' I responded, smiling past my worries.

    'I guess so then.' she said back, and stood up.

    I stood up as well, as she walked down the path again. Following her, it suddenly became colder and colder until it started to snow...

   ...ahead of us, the path stopped at the edge of a long fingerlike extension elevating over the surrounding land. The ground was covered in snow, and Yumiko ran up to the edge of the cliff.

   She just stood in place...

   I followed her, and I too was shocked.

   Ahead of us, making it through the snow that fell slowly through the air, we could see a massive wooden structure almost completly destroyed. Its wear looked as if it had been there for some time, and the icy waves moved about the sides of the structure, even reaching inside it, slowly consuming it back into sea.

    'Sakura...' Yumiko slowly said, holding her hand to her mouth. 'Oh my god...'

    Ahead of us lay the ruined mass of our beloved and adoptive city...Maidel...

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    'Sakura...! Come on! We have to see what happened!' Yumiko frantically yelled out, as she ran in her evening gown, almost ignoring the fact that it was freezing cold. I ran behind her, trying to catch up. Maidel looked as if it had been hit by something...and hard. From what I saw...most of it was already gone.

     She ran through the torn gates of the city, and towards the residential district of the city. I walked, still following, but noticing the body-shaped bumps under the snow scattered amonst the ground.

     I followed the road down, until I came across a disturbing sight. In the center of the city...where the crossroads had once been, there was a huge gaping hole, about 30 feet wide and across. At the bottom of the hole lay a bluish pool of something or another...that glowed a blushish and reddish color. It was strange how it seemed to glow both at once...maybe it was just me.

     Yumiko ran over to me, panting as she ran. About to talk to me, her direction suddenly pointed to the large hole in front of us, and walked to the edge.

      'What could this be, Sakura?' she asked me. I tilted my head and looked down. inside, I could see something floating inside the pool.

        ...The Chronos Sword...the one Li was holding when he had disappeared...

       It was too far down to reach for...you hadd to jump into the pool to get it. Still...does this mean that Syaoran had been here? Wheres no telling about what could happen as soon as you touch it...

       'Sakura, my house is still standing. The beds are a bit rusty...but they seem just fine. If you want, we can stay there for some sleep.' Yumiko offered, and I looked down. Lying on the ground was a small flower...the one of the ones that this town had once sold. A Destined Flower...

       However, it was blackish and wilted...and dead. With many years of existance, it must be that the cold had preserved it so well. It was fragile though...I was afraid I may break it with the slightest touch. I gave it to Yumiko, who placed it inside a small bag of which she had recovered from her home.

       'Should we find out what is inside that hole?' she asked me, and I nodded.

       'Yeah...we should...and I have a feeling that it will be something that we both have been looking for...' I replied, looking over my shoulder to her.

       'What do you mean by that?' she asked me, and I gave out a small smile.

     'We'll find out tomorrow, Yumiko. We will find out tomorrow...'

    ~to be continued