Sakura and Syaoran's Love
Disclaimer from chapter one applies to all chapters. In this chapter, however, I inserted translated versions of two spells or chants or whatever you want to call them for effect for calling upon her 'key' and to return the elementals to card form. These do not in any way belong to me. They are copyright of Clamp. I do not own them.
Chapter 4: Battle Against the Elements
"So, what did the doctor say?" Tomoyo asked, worry written all over her face.
"He said I'll be just fine," Sakura replied.
"He said the cut on her forehead should heal quickly, and she should try not to be too hard on her ankle for a while. She twisted it pretty badly. He also said she looked very exhausted and should rest for a day. Then she'll be just fine." Mitsuki sensei explained.
"Our train is here everyone," Terada-sensei called out. "Hurry and get in."
"Is it okay if I sit with you?" Syaoran asked Sakura quietly, blushing.
"Sure. That would be nice actually," Sakura replied shyly.
Tomoyo and Eriol smiled at each other. "It looks like they might not be needing so much help after all." Tomoyo whispered as they sat across from Sakura and Syaoran.
Kaho walked over to them as they train began to move. "So exactly what did happen out there today?"
"Well, I don't really know," Sakura began. "At lunch, I felt as if some of the cards had been released somehow, and then the watery card appeared and turned the snow into ice…I just don't get it…"
"What about earlier, the first time you fell?" Kaho asked.
"That time there was a strange gust of wind, but it didn't feel like a card."
Eriol and Tomoyo suddenly began looking sheepish.
"Err…actually, I created that wind," admitted Eriol.
"What did you say?" Syaoran asked angrily.
"I made it so the wind wouldn't be strong enough to really hurt her – just to throw her off balance is all."
"Why in the heck would you do something so stupid!" Syaoran yelled.
"Li-kun…you should be quieter unless you want everyone to know about all this." Kaho advised.
"Well…it was kind of my fault too…" Tomoyo began.
"No, it was all my idea," Eriol interrupted.
"Hurry up and explain," Syaoran said angrily.
"Well, I…I thought…um…it…uh…I just wanted to see how you would react I guess…I mean…if she fell…or something," Eriol managed to say, which only made Syaoran even angrier.
"You mean to tell me you put her in danger just to see how I would react?" Syaoran said rising menacingly to his feet, glaring harshly at Eriol.
"Syaoran…it's okay," Sakura said quietly.
"No it's not. He…" Syaoran began.
"Hey, what's going on over there?" Terada-sensei interrupted, sensing the tension.
"Don't worry…I'll handle it," Mitsuki sensei replied.
"Please sit back down beside me, Syaoran-kun," Sakura pleaded. He looked back at her surprised. "Please…" He sat. "Thank you for helping me today," she said looking up at him with a weak smile.
"Uh…your welcome." She suddenly leaned over and put her head on his shoulder.
"Oyasumi…" she whispered as she fell asleep. Syaoran's eyes widened as he looked at the sleeping girl on his shoulder.
"Let's try to let her sleep, okay?" Mitsuki sensei said gently, then returned to her seat.
Syaoran couldn't take his eyes off Sakura. She's so beautiful. I can't believe she's sleeping on my shoulder. How lucky can I be. She looks so peaceful. He reached over and smoothed her hair. So soft. He traced the side of her face with his hand. His fingers trailed across her lips. Whoa…what am I doing. He pulled his hand away.
Eriol and Tomoyo, meanwhile, were staring at him and smiling at each other all the while. He seemed oblivious to their attentions.
Sakura remained asleep till the end of the train ride. Syaoran still refused to let Sakura walk and carried her back to the hotel. She fell asleep in his arms, so he carried her all the way to her room and placed her into her bed.
*the next day*
"The four elemental cards are gone…" Sakura slowly muttered as Tomoyo walked into the room.
"We let you sleep through breakfast," Tomoyo
said. "Wait…what did you just say?"
"They're gone…Windy, Watery, Firey, Earthy…the elements…are gone."
"They can't be…" Tomoyo said. "How could they…"
"I don't know."
Silence.
"There was another earthquake this morning. Did you feel it?" Tomoyo asked.
"No."
"We should tell Eriol-kun and Syaoran-kun about this."
"I guess," Sakura agreed. "The rest of the cards seem a little distant too. I don't understand this at all. What am I going to do?"
"Cheer up! We'll figure this out and get them back, okay?" Tomoyo said. "We're all about to leave to go to a nearby hot spring and to go see some snow monkeys. Do you feel okay enough to come?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
***
"Wow, it's really windy today," Rika commented as the group got off the van at the hot spring.
"Be ready to try and catch the cards if you see them," Eriol whispered to Sakura.
"You did bring the rest of the star cards, right?"
"Of course."
"The hot spring is separated into male and female sides, so let's agree to meet back here in two hours, okay?" Terada-sensei said.
"Hai!"
"So, Sakura, how are you feeling today?" Mitsuki sensei asked.
"I'm okay," she replied.
"Just try and relax today. I heard you tell the others about the cards. Be very careful."
"I will," Sakura replied. "Do you know what's wrong with them?"
"No, I don't. Sorry." She replied.
Meanwhile, on the male side…
"Don't you know anything about this Hiiragizawa?" Syaoran demanded.
"Sorry. Nothing like this ever happened to Clow Reed. I didn't realize that they could actually release themselves." Eriol replied. "We haven't had any problems with them since you left. Nothing's happened since then. Maybe they're restless."
"But would they attack Sakura if they were just restless?" Syaoran asked.
"I don't really know. The elemental cards have strong personalities. There has to be something wrong with them."
"Hey, what are you two whispering about?" Yamazaki asked.
"We were just talking about this spring," Eriol quickly answered.
"Did you know many new hot springs give men a smaller area since it is the women who seem to be traveling and vacationing to the springs more often?" Yamazaki said.
Eriol and Syaoran sweatdrop.
"That's actually correct, Takashi-kun," Terada-sensei stated.
"He actually said something true?" Syaoran asked. "That's new."
*later that day*
"Look over there!" Chiharu pointed toward a group of little monkeys.
"They're so kawaii!" Tomoyo exclaimed. "I have to film them!"
Everyone sweatdrops.
"Sakura-chan, will you stand in front of them so I can get you in the shot?" Tomoyo asked. "The title can be Sakura and the Snow Monkeys!"
Sakura slowly walked over and gave a weak smile for the camera. They are cute, but I just can't be so excited about them when some of the cards are gone. I don't get it.
*syaoran* She's not her usual self today. I can't blame her though. We're all worried about the cards, but she has even a stronger connection with them I guess. She told me even Kero didn't know what was going on. I want to help her so much.
The rest of the week passed in a blur for the group. They visited famous sites, shopped, and toured Sapporo and neighboring towns some more, all the while hoping for glances of the missing cards. There were more earthquakes and heavy winds accompanied by a lot of unexpected rain, but no real sightings of the elemental cards. Sakura began to lose hope and grew quieter and more depressed every day.
The final day of the trip did finally arrive though – they were to visit the famous Sapporo Snow Festival before they left to go back to Tomoeda the next morning.
"Sugoi! Everything's so pretty!" Rika exclaimed. "It's much better than I thought it would be!"
Everyone agreed as they all looked around in awe at the beautiful snow statues surrounding them.
"This is so cool! I'm glad I chose to come on this trip!" Naoko said.
"Me too!" Chiharu said.
"I'm happy if Chiharu is happy," Yamazaki said shyly. Chiharu hugged him. "You're so sweet," she said.
"This will be another perfect place to film!" Tomoyo said excitedly. "I'm so lucky!"
"Everyone can do as they like while we're here. We'll meet back up at the entrance tonight at 8:00. Please be careful, and if you need us you can call my cell phone somehow. Okay?" Terada-sensei told everyone.
"Hai!"
"Hey, I'm hungry already. Who wants to come with me to eat?" Yamazaki asked.
"I'll come with you," Chiharu replied.
"Let's go look at the people still making some more snow statues, Rika-san," Naoko suggested, heading in that direction. Rika followed her. "We'll see you guys later!" she called out.
"Let's go look around," Eriol suggested, leading the way toward the center of the park.
"They're so big," Sakura commented. "I wonder how long it takes them to do these."
"I'm sure they work as a team for the big ones," Syaoran said. "It might be fun."
"We should try to make something like these statues at home," Tomoyo said.
"It would be so sad to watch them melt though after they worked so hard to make them,"
Sakura stated.
"But I think it would be worth it," Tomoyo said.
"Hey look everyone!" Someone yelled. Everyone turned toward the voice. The speaker was pointing at a huge snow sculpture of a horse that was melting quickly into a pile of slush.
"What's happening?" Tomoyo asked. "Why's it melting?"
"Firey…" Sakura whispered, running toward the melting horse.
"Wait Sakura!" Syaoran yelled as he tried to catch up with her. "I think it's already gone." He reached out and grabbed her arm to stop her.
"What am I going to do?" Sakura asked him, her eyes beginning to water. "I don't like this at all."
"It'll be okay. At least we know one of them is around." Syaoran said. She still looked depressed. "Let's go get something to eat and then we'll look around some more, okay?"
Sakura just followed him to meet back with Eriol and Tomoyo.
*syaoran* I wish I knew what I could do to make her feel better, but I'm just as lost as she is on this one. I hate seeing her like this. I want to make her feel better.
*1 hour later*
"Wow, this place is huge," Tomoyo
said staring up at the large snow palace in front of them. "Do you think we can go inside?"
"It looks like it. Let's go," Eriol said. "I'd certainly like to see the inside. And it'll be nice to get out of the wind for a while." The wind had been growing stronger as the day progressed.
"Wow, it's so beautiful in here…so peaceful," Sakura commented.
"I agree," Syaoran stated, looking at her. She looks so pretty under the lights in here. He blushed.
"It's so bright in here compared to the darkness outside. It's nice," Tomoyo said.
They walked further into the snow building, looking around at their white and pretty surroundings.
"It seems a lot warmer in here compared to the outside," Tomoyo noticed.
"I guess that's kind of how igloos work," Eriol said.
Sakura suddenly stopped. This feeling… "Don't you all feel that?"
"What?" Syaoran asked. He concentrated.
"It feels like they're all here," Eriol said.
"I feel it now too," Syaoran said looking around.
"We must find them," Kero said, suddenly appearing in front of them.
"Hoe! Where did you come from?" Sakura asked.
"I've been following you everywhere today," he replied.
"The presence is moving," Sakura said as she began running down one of the corridors. The others followed. They soon found themselves in what seemed to be a large room with a domed ceiling that allowed the moonlight to filter in.
"Kirei…" Tomoyo sighed in awe.
"They're here," Sakura stated.
Key that uses the power of the stars
Appear before me in your true form
Sakura, the one with the contract with you, commands it
Release!
At the end of the chant, the four elemental cards suddenly appeared in front of her together.
"I've never seen them together like that before…" Syaoran whispered. "It's awesome."
Sakura stepped forward to get closer, but the windy card sent a strong gust of wind that pushed her back. The watery card flew gracefully around the room covering the walls and entrances with water that quickly froze and trapped them inside the large space.
"Why are you doing this?" Sakura asked them.
"You do not know?" asked the earthy card. "You, as the card mistress, should know."
"They can talk?" Tomoyo asked.
"I don't understand at all!" Sakura said.
"That is not acceptable," the firey card said. It then began hurling a group of fireballs at them.
"Shield!" Sakura called out just before the fire reached her and the others.
Suddenly a crash could be heard from behind them as Yue entered the room after breaking through a wall of ice.
"Yue!" Sakura exclaimed surprised. "How did you know…"
"There is no time to explain," he said. Then turning towards the cards, he demanded, "What is the meaning of this?"
"The mistress should understand. Otherwise, she is not fit to be the mistress," the Watery card replied.
"I don't even get it," Eriol admitted. The cards looked over at him finally realizing who he was.
"This has nothing to do with you," the Windy said. "We are no longer your responsibility."
With that Earthy suddenly shook the ground around them knocking large pieces of ice off the building – one directly above Tomoyo. Sakura pushed her out of the way, but could not get out of the way herself before a block of ice fell hard on the ankle she had injured while skiing.
"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled, rushing over to her.
"I..I'm fine," she said trying to get up, flinching at the pain in her ankle.
Suddenly, voices could be heard coming toward them in the corridor.
"Sleep!" Sakura yelled. "Put everyone here at the park who are not in this room to sleep!" The sleep card immediately set out to accomplish its mission.
"Sakura-chan watch out!" Tomoyo cried out. Sakura turned to see more balls of fire heading toward her. Yue, however, picked her up and flew out of the way before they reached her. But more fire balls kept flying toward her and the others.
"Keroberos, please take care of Tomoyo and the others!" Sakura yelled out as the Earthy card lunged at them creating a wall between Sakura and Keroberos, Tomoyo, Eriol, and Syaoran.
"Sakura!" Syaoran yelled. He and Eriol tried all they could but the card seemed to be drawing energy from them and they only became weaker.
*syaoran* I can't believe this. I have to get out of here. I can't let her face these cards on her own.
"This should not be happening," Eriol muttered, trying another attack.
Keroberos tried burning the Earthy's wall, but even that had no effect.
Meanwhile, Sakura had reached the wall and was trying to use the sword to cut through the wall, but the Watery flew over and reinforced it water that quickly turned into a thick layer of ice while the Windy blew Sakura away from the wall.
Firey, all the while, kept throwing more and more fire at Sakura who could barely avoid the blasts. Yue kept pulling her out of danger until Windy finally was able to wrap itself around the guardian, rendering him useless.
"Yue!" Sakura screamed. "Let him go!" she demanded.
"We can't allow that," Firey said. "You alone must prove yourself to us."
"Prove myself?" Sakura asked confused. "Haven't I done that many times before?"
"You still don't get it, do you?" Watery asked.
"How can I? You refuse to explain anything!" Sakura said.
Firey then threw another fire ball, setting the wall created by the Earthy card into fire. Sakura heard Tomoyo scream.
"Why are you attacking them? They have nothing to do with it you said!" Sakura screamed, tears running down her face. The cards ignored her.
"Rain!" Sakura called out. "Put out the flames Firey has created!"
The Earthy card created another small earthquake, causing Sakura to lose her balance as Firey sent even more fireballs at her. She was unable to dodge effectively, and the fire ball burned her back as it passed, causing a searing pain to race through her back.
The attacks paused for a moment as the cards watched her struggle to get up. What am I going to do. If this goes on like this, everyone is going to be hurt. She looked up at the cards. They are certainly upset…but why? They said I needed to prove myself. But why?
"Have you decided to give up?" Firey asked.
"I will never give up," Sakura replied determinedly, standing up.
"Well, we'll just have to continue then," Firey said, sending another group of fireballs at her.
"Jump!" Sakura yelled and then jumped out of the way. But the Watery was ready and sent a strong force of water, hitting her and slamming her hard against the frozen wall.
She slid and lay motionless on the ground.
The others were desperately trying to escape their confinement as they watched Sakura being relentlessly attacked. They froze as they saw her fall unmoving to the ground.
"Sakura! Get up!" Syaoran yelled. "Let me out of here!" he screamed trying to break through the small holes in the wall the Earthy had created.
*sakura* I can't give up…no matter what. I need to think…I need to figure out why the cards are doing this.
"Can't you take anymore?" Watery asked sarcastically.
*sakura* They act like they don't trust me…like they don't think they can depend on me.
"The all-powerful mistress can't get up?" Firey said laughing.
*sakura* They seem to be unsure about me. But why?
"Sakura…are you okay Sakura?" Tomoyo asked from behind the wall.
"Well, if the mistress can't take anymore herself, we'll just have to turn our attentions to her friends, I suppose," Watery said.
"You can't…" Sakura muttered, lifting her head weakly.
"Oh…and why not?" the Earthy asked. "I could just squeeze them with the wall I've surrounded them with."
"No…" Sakura said, trying to get up.
*sakura* They are pushing me…to see how much I can take. Are they unsure of my power? Are they worried about their future since they draw their strength from me?
"It seems she might be able to handle more," Windy said gently, keeping a strong hold of the struggling Yue. Sakura walked slowly toward the four cards. Firey created a ring of fire around the girl, trapping her in the middle of the room.
Earthy shook the building, causing the dome of the building to crack into pieces, falling within the circle of flames that Sakura could not escape from.
"Shield!" Sakura yelled as the large pieces of the dome came crashing down. It took her a great amount of energy to keep the shield intact until the last piece had fallen.
"She's not going to be able to take this much longer," Eriol said, worried. Tomoyo began to cry silently. "Sakura-chan…" she whispered.
"She can do it," Syaoran declared.
"She must," Keroberos added.
*sakura* When will they stop this? I don't know how much more I can take, but I can't quit. I will never quit. I want to protect my friends…I want to take care of the cards too. I will never let them go…
"It seems you don't have much power left," Firey noticed with a smile.
*sakura* No matter how much they attack me, I will never let them go. I love them.
I really do.
Sakura winced as another fireball grazed her arm.
*sakura* Maybe they need to know that…that I love them. It's been so long since I've actually called on any of the cards. Maybe that's why they are unsure of my feelings and power.
Sakura looked up at the four powerful cards with compassion. They paused in their attacks again as they noticed the new expression on her face.
*sakura* They used to be my close friends. This is all my fault for ignoring them these past few years.
"I'm sorry," Sakura said, new tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. "I am so very sorry."
The cards looked at her surprised.
"I have been neglecting you for so long. I understand now why you felt you should leave. How could you be secure with me if I just put you away and never even looked at you? I've left you no choice but to think that I didn't care about you and didn't want you. But I do. I really do. I put you away back then because all of you brought back some sad memories that never really left me anyway. It was horrible of me, and I sincerely apologize. Please forgive me."
The cards glanced at each other and back down at the young mistress.
"We are glad you finally understand our feelings. When you don't call upon us, we begin to lose our connection with you and, therefore, we also begin to slowly lose a little strength. We could not let it continue that way," the Earthy explained.
"Now we are sure of your heart, but we also need to be able to depend on your power. Catch us once more on your own, and we will return to you," the Windy said.
"Thank you," Sakura said, then "Wood! Trap Earthy and bind him with your branches!
Shadow! Surround and hold in Windy! Freeze! Change watery into a form I can capture and form a binding cage around Firey!
Cards created by Clow
Discard thy previous form and be reborn under the name of Sakura
Earthy! Windy! Watery! Firey!
With that, the four elementals turned back into Star cards and flew to Sakura's hands.
Yue was finally released and the wall Earthy had created dissipated. The snow palace was in ruins.
"Snow! Recreate the snow palace!" The group watched as the palace was rebuilt right before their eyes into the beautiful structure it had once been. Sakura, her battle finally completed, collapsed into the arms of Syaoran who had rushed out as soon as the wall had disappeared.
End of Chapter 4
Time for another translation…
Kirei: pretty
