The Disease that Killed Love

Chapter 25-Eriol

" Eriol-san, this is Xuyan." And his voice sounded strangely quiet.
" Oh, ano, hai? Is something the matter?"
" Eriol-san, Sakura, her body, it's back. Jingxi's not sure if she's alive or not, but you know what happened to Sakura's body, as far as the news goes. It was in pieces, but here she's whole. And her aura is very still, but hers."
" Sakura?" I paused for a minute. No wonder I didn't sense her. Her aura has frozen.
" How did it happen?" I asked. If Xuyan could tell me how it all started, perhaps I could tell whether she was alive or not.
" Jingxi muttered some words in Mandarin." Xuyan answered, slowly, as if he was reluctant to leak any information. " I'm not that good in Mandarin, that I'll tell you. But Jingxi muttered some words, something about dead being alive, and the living being dead. He seemed to have switched something, a life for a life, I suppose, because the three hundred year old tree in the neighbor's yard simply gnarled up and all its leaves turned yellow. I'm guessing the same thing happened to the tree in the park where Sakura had captured her Return Card-or rather, Syaoran captured the Return Card, I'm not clear with that story, but I think Sakura's alive. It doesn't explain why her aura's still though."
" Iie, it doesn't." I replied slowly. " Jingxi's smarter than I thought. But trees are still a heavy price, especially if changes come that quickly. Also, plants are not enough to store magic, so that might be the case with Sakura's aura. It's the same aura as her soul, but not her magic."
" Then hospitals should be worried." Said Jingxi in the background, who with his musician's ears had listen to our conversation. " I expect some heart attacks and strokes."
" Nani?" I felt my heart stop at that. A terrible price to pay. I thought.
" So in this case," Xuyan continued, " It might be several lives for a life. Sakura seems to have grown stronger, judging by the size and intensity of her aura. I don't think you feel it, but Jingxi does, and so do I, for whatever reason."
" I see." I thought for a minute. " Did the dead require so much, Xuyan?"
" Iie, it is not the dead." Replied Syaoran in the background. " It's actually how it all works. The patients in the hospitals are supposed to survive for this to work, because none of them were meant to die. The trees are also meant to live on for quite a while."
" Then why did you do that?" I asked Syaoran in the background. " It can change the whole course of fate."
" The dead are not controlled by fate." Syaoran answered.
" The dead are not controlled by fate, but the living are." I replied. " We are, you are, and now, Sakura as well. What were you thinking?"
" I was thinking that I might try to bring the Card Mistress back, Eriol." Jingxi was still in the background. " I didn't imagine causing other deaths for her life. After all, I thought she was like any other."
" She isn't, Syaoran." Said Xuyan, not to me, but to him. " She is the Card Mistress, and a powerful one at that."
" How did you manage to do it, Syaoran?" I asked. " I thought you didn't know how."
" I didn't." Syaoran answered. " I guess it was a coincidence, and you can't be sure if she's really alive, or if it's her or not."
" What is that supposed to mean?" Xuyan asked.
" He means that it might be the wrong soul in that body, Xuyan." I answered. " Which is highly likely, or perhaps no soul at all."
" It's her alright." Xuyan muttered. " Just very much...unconscious."



The phone rang again about three hours later.
" I'll get it!" Spinel yelled. But the stupid part was, I was the one next to the phone.
" Moshi moshi?" I said.
" Eriol-kun?"
" Sakura!" I sat up. " Are you feeling okay? No broken bones or anything?"
" I expect a half mortal would do better than that." She said flatly. " Hai, I'm alright. My memories are a little woozy though."
" That seems appropriate," I said carefully. " Where's Jingxi?"
" Jingxi?" Sakura sounded sad. " I've never seen him so happy Eriol, honestly. It seems that Yue was right. He cooked dinner by himself, wouldn't let me help, he was suddenly so full of energy."
" And?"
" Got a...a seizure." Sakura finished with difficulty. " He forgot to drink his draught. Xuyan and I helped put him to bed."
I was silent.
" He's not well, Eriol-kun."
" I know. Is he sleeping?"
" Sleeping? Hai, he's sleeping, but he seems to have a lot of nightmares. Oh, Yue's home."
" Alright, I'll leave you to deal with him." I nodded. Then I hung up.

So there it is, the final proof that there was still love hidden within all the sorrow. Syaoran, technically, went to work overload, so happy he was. I guess it wasn't enough to cure him. Yue, on the other hand, couldn't believe that Sakura was real. It took him some time to get over his shock, poor guardian.

So the monks might have been after him because he had the power to switch deaths and lives. A life for a life, a death for a death. He is a dangerous weapon.

He's also very fragile. A sword of jade.



The phone rang two hours later. By then, I was really annoyed, since I had gotten repeated phone calls during those two hours from newspaper companies, phone companies, long distance companies, and wrong numbered dialers. But it actually was Kaho, who used long distance of course.
" Oh." I calmed down. " I thought you were AT&T Wireless."
" No, I'm not that." Kaho laughed, speaking English, which, of course, sounded British enough not to be in America. " Actually, I have found out quite a few things."
" Really." I sighed. " Well, thank you Kaho, for this favor."
" You sound so tired." She observed.
" I'm tired, I'll admit." I bit my lip. " I was tired in the morning. All these dreams, they can wear one out, and plus, I got quite a few phone calls from AT&T Wireless and the other Japanese newspaper companies."
" Hm. Well, I found out exactly what those monks want. They actually wanted Sakura to stay dead, but Syaoran had beaten them to that. They wanted Syaoran more so for...um..."
" What?" I asked. I was hoping it was not for bedding.
" Dining on, I must say. I'm sorry."
" We're all sorry. Cannibals that they are." I was very very upset and a little nervous.
" Well, there are some other reasons. Monks are not as pure as you think, not all of them. These particular ones, well, they're soiled. Not that all monks are unclean, these are, since they are immortals."
I was ready to yell. " So you mean that they want to..."
" Right." Kaho sighed. " I think it's truly ridiculous and sick, why they would want to rape an eleven year old."

I'm eleven at that time, mind all of those who think just because I'm a reincarnation of someone wise and powerful and also has a share of memories. And so, with an eleven year old instinct, I was ready to gag.
" Are you sure about that?"
" I don't want to be, so I'm not, that's the truth." Kaho said very practically. " You better warn Syaoran."
" I'm warning, but not Syaoran." I was ready to jump out of my skin. " And I'm also warning myself not to panic."
" It's alright Eriol." Kaho said gently, in her motherly way. " I know it sounds quite new."
I hesitated. " Actually, it doesn't, considering that an eleven year old girl did get pregnant, but that's not exactly the point. The point was, I had remembered one of those old news that take place somewhere in Africa, with all due respect to those who live there, that there was this one man who raped a woman and then boiled her in a huge pot. The only reason I'm freaking out is because I definetely don't want a fate like that. And Syaoran's my cute little descendant, and I certainly don't want him to suffer anything worse than a little loss of that pink blood through a minor nosebleed caused by too much humidity."
" Well, he's already suffering from something much worse than that." Kaho pointed out. " Even with the three magicians, I do believe that even they are baffled by the disease."
" They are." I answered. " The most they could do is perform surgery and pour potion into his brain so the brain doesn't release the wrong messages. Oh why couldn't Yelan Li use sun magic? Like I do! It would have balanced Yue's magic out. But it's too late for that, I suppose."
" Yes, indeed." Kaho said remorsefully. " Have the others treated him well?"
" Yes, so far, and they will treat him better. Kinomoto Sakura has come back, with some prices."
" Ah. Some high prices, I imagine. I did not know Li could do that."
" I didn't know either. However, I'm not surprised." I replied. " He is familiar with the gate of the dead."

There was a brief silence.
" He's a dangerous weapon," I finally spoke, " I could not have guessed, observing how weak and timid he usually was. But he has strong abilities, however few."
" He's halfway between the living and the dead, no wonder." Kaho was no fool. " To be mortal is to pass to death, to be immortal is to remain in life."
" Which is why we can't let him be mortal." I turned around, looking at the window, and I grumbled that it had started to rain, one of those surprise showers. " I'm trying to find a way with the three others how to let him remain half mortal but not suffer too many symptoms. That is probable, however unlikely."
" Yes, but also very risky." Kaho pointed out. " One mistake, and you will fail."
" We certainly can't let him be immortal without his will." I sighed. " And Jingxi is no idiot. He knows the curses of immortality. And the dead, they're not exactly letting him choose. They're more of choosing it for him. But if he veers towards immortality they have no power to protect him."
" Do you want me to come to Japan?"
" No. Stay in England. Most of my books are there, and I can't let you carry them all here. You'll need your own private airplane to do that. Just stay there, I'll handle the things here."
" Alright." Kaho sounded resigned. We hung up.



I often think back to that day, the day when Sakura came back. I had never felt so lifeless, more than that day. I remember the old Li, the Li Syaoran Li, the one that had first come to Japan, cold, arrogant, proud and glaring. And I remember the old Li, the Little Descendant Li, the one that had looked at me and frowned, sensing danger, protective, jealous, amusing. And then I thought back to that day when I remembered the new Li, the Jingxi Li, vulnerable, timid, reserved and sensitive. Had we not known the one secret that he had kept from us all these years, he would still appear, cold, arrogant, or protective and amusing, proud, jealous. Yet now that I think of it, it was the same Li, all the same, except for the one that was jealous and protective. But otherwise, it was all the same. The coldness and arrogance a means of self defense. For as dangerous as love is to others, all emotions are ten times as dangerous to Syaoran. The proudness had come from his triumph, he had lived all these years with this disease and may still live on. And the glaring?

One had never seen him glare except Touya, honestly. His brows were naturally lifted up, giving him a ferocious look, and if he had a lot of strength he might of raised them. When he really glares, then he puts a spell, hypnotizing the victim. The glare we knew was only a stare, a blank look filled with inner fire, kindled by the color of his eyes.

It was amazing, how that one secret, could turn interpretations back on itself. And I often think of that day, because in the patter of rain I thought about Jingxi, and I realized that he must have really liked the rain, because in the rain everyone's the same. Children stayed at home, did indoor chores and indoor projects. And the rain, a steady rhythm, for his bow...