Hi everyone. Long time no see. I'm going to try to make this chap extra long because I made 100 reviews. Woohoo. That sure cheered me up cause I read something sad.
LB- what book was this.
Little Blossom: It's called Firewing, authored by Kenneth Oppel. . It's such a good book. I recommend it to everyone. But before you read this, you have to read the book Silverwing and then the next one Sunwing. These books are amazing but in the last book, I'm not going to say who, but a character I liked died *cries*.
Syaoran: what a wimp.
Eriol: Don't be mean. Remember she can always kill you off if she wanted to.
Syaoran: Oh ya. Ehehehehehe.
Little Blossom: Well anyways I should say thank you to everyone. And I decided not to do review of the chapter, because I don't want to make it seem some are better then other and stuff.
iii_sis - wow, arigato so much for the review. your welcome for the email. I'm just gald you like my story.
LB- *laughs at Syaoran gagged* I always enjoy your reviews. Arigato so much. You're always there to help me Syaoran in line.
Silver Star- thank you so much for the review. I'm really sorry it's taking me so long to up-date.
Mei-Fong - awe thanx for the hug and the review. I'm so sorry it took so long to up-date.
Kikie- I have a question, can you self destruct. You always seem to want to go boom. Oh well, thanx so much for your review.
IcE AnGel- You'll see what's going to happen to my story… unless I die, but I hope to live longer then that. But neways I am so sorry I take forever to up-date.
Final Fantasy Princess- When you put my story that way, it makes it sound like all their lives are so complicated, but that's okay. It'll be easier to make all the characters lives mayhem. Arigato for the review.
Sivana Yuy- wow you are so nice. You're review really cheered me up. And don't worry I email everyone, unless they tell me not to.
SJ - awe, you are way to nice. Thanx so much for the review and glad you liked it.
SwitSakura- Gomen Gomen Gomen I took way to long to update. Thnx 4 your review it made me J
Cool camzy blue- arigato for the review. Your nice, I like nice ppl. *starts scaring everyone* oh well , hope you enjoy this chap.
Artemis: The Huntress- here's more and thank you for the review
Diane- *sweat drops* Gomen for taking so long. I would really love writing all day but because of the hell they try to hide as education I can't *cries*. Arigato for the review.
Sparkly Star- of course S&S forever. But just because of that doesn't mean I can't medal in their lives. *evil grin*. Arigato for the review.
Chibicherry- Of course your story wasn't good… It is GREAT. You continue soon but don't rush yourself. Arigato for the review.
Nefertiti- your really nice to give me nice reviews. Even your daily chapter line is nice. Arigato very ,very much for the review.
SweetAznPnai4eva- *jumps around for joy* Yay you're not mad at me. Thanx for the review and I hope you enjoy this story.
Sapphire Midnight- Thank you so, so, so, so much for reviewing. You have to up-date to, your stories are really good, way better then mine.
Devilblossomgrl - Gomen I took so long and thank you for the review
Lil CherryBlossom- arigato for your review
Sunbeam- I can picture him now. Man is he freaking out. Arigato for the review
Rushi33- I always love getting reviews from you cause you're so nice. Arigato gazaimasu for reviewing.
Evil Wolf of Cherry Blossom- LOL. Who knows. (well I do , but that's not the point) arigato for the review and hope you enjoy this chap.
Kawaii*Miki- maybe. I love torturing people, especially Syaoran. (smiles evilly). Arigato for reviewing, I'm glad you enjoy my story.
Maiko- arigato for reviewing. Hope you enjoy it.
tricia p- Glad you like my story. Hope you enjoy this chap. Arigato for the review.
mellou Collie- put more adventure into the training, well you read my mind cause with my mind *evil grin* you won't know what to expect. I would love to kill Kimi off but I can't do that for the sake of my story. Thank you soooooo much for reviewing.
Solaris- Thank you so much for reviewing. I know I'm this took forever for me to post but I've been so busy lately.
Asukaphina- Arigato for reviewing. Gomen for taking so long
Elena- Wow, you really think I deserve all the reviews I got. You're too nice. Email me when you get signed up with the sight though Elena. Well you better keep in touch camp buddy, I hope to read one of your stories one day.
Exotycmisteriladi- mmmm… coffee. Thank you so much for reviewing. All these reviews made me feel so happy. And don't worry, I plan to put Syaoran under much torture.
Little Blossom: Wow thank you all for reviewing. You help give me the energy I need to write.
Syaoran: What are you talking about; you take forever to up-date.
Little Blossom: Well sorry, my laptops busted, my c-drive isn't working so I have to use this one. And my brother is ALWAYS on it. And it's so depressing. I REALLY WANT TO FINISH THIS STORY SO I CAN START MY NEW STORY.
Syaoran: excuses, excuses.
~LB~: Syao-kun, give her a break. For that I'm going to have to punish you ^_^.
Syaoran: 0_o.
~LB~: come on Syao-kun. *Throws him in a bag and carries him away to some unknown place*
Little Blossom: Eriol can you say the thing.
Eriol: Little Blossom doesn't own CCS or anything else she may have used. She basically owns nothing.
Little Blossom: Now after that depressing speech let's begin. And because I made it to a 100 reviews, let's see if I can make it longer. Well you guys better get yourself comfortable. This is the first story to make a 100 review (well there's the small fact most of my stories don't have that many chapters cause I'm a really slow typest who doesn't get of her lazy @$$ enough to type out her planned stories. Not many would believe me that these are all planned out cause I tend to up-date in like what, once in a blue moon) , so because it's the first to make a hundred reviews, I'm going to make this chapter at least twice as long as the others. I have my caffeine and my boundless amount of energy to help me through this. So without further a due, let's begin.
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Return Of Dark
The Test of the Enchanted Clear Water Crystal
Sakura sagged into the chair by her desk. Her second day had been much more tiring then she thought .Yuko was a tough teacher. She would always change her mood depending on the situation. So you can well bet she can go from a commanding officer to a happy go lucky teenage girl in a breath. Her last class today was school, just normal school. And for the first time in her life, math came as a relief.
Her first class today after breakfast was martial arts. Yuko was determined to teach so many forms of martial arts that Sakura had trouble remembering them all. There was judo, ji ken do, karate, kick boxing, caporia, tai kwan do, wrestling, ai ki do, jujitsu, kung fu, Yuko and Naotoshi's own type and some others she planned to teach her. Today they focused on Judo. She first learned how to do break falls. It was a way to fall that wouldn't hurt you as much as a normal fall would. Judo was a form that you tend to throw, rather then in karate where it's more kicking and punching. After that- it was learning all the different throws, and some katas. All the judo katas have to be done with a partner, and they were very confusing. As for the throwing, you have to get the opponents body off balance, get under them, and throw. The first throw she learned was osoutogari, and iponseinagei. Timing was everything, and it was much different then the way the fight card fought. Yuko said the only way to get very good at judo was to do repetition with the throw. That meaning, she has to work up the speed and make throwing just as easy as breathing.
The next lesson was like a hell brought to the surface. It was mental training. What was meant by mental training was to work up your mind so you don't brake down at the mere sight of something. It was working up the pain tolerance for the mind. Yuko was very good at mind magic. Sakura would close her eyes as Yuko would send her mind images. She said they would get worse as they go, which Sakura shivered to the bare thought. Today Yuko shot images of creatures that were beyond explanatory, and images of wars that even the most overexcited war obsessed fool would reduce to anything just to avoid the topic for the rest of their life. Fool because anyone who sees glory in war is just a stupid git who can't see that there is no glory in anything that causes so many people to die, and leave so many to mourn over lost loved ones.
Well, after all that strain today, wouldn't you be happy to do something as normal as math. Education as is important as anything else. If fact, by the time Sakura gets back, school will be a cinch for her. She'll have 27 more years of knowledge then the rest of them, except of course for Eriol. He has memories of his past life, but not really the true experience. After all, like he said, Clow is dead, and there is no way he can come back to life. He just happens to be born with his knowledge, if he were actually Clow, he would've not asked Yue and Kero to pick a new master in the future.
So right now she is doing some of the homework she was assigned. She was tired; it was clearly drawn on her face with a highlighter. She felt like she was going to pass out at any given second. Finally she put down her pencil and decided to call it a night. She finished her math work and had only science left. Luckily the work didn't have to be done till Friday. She didn't even bother to change into her pyjamas; she just crawled into bed where sleep took her instantly.
She stood in a dark grassy plain. The grass reached up to her hips, but she could only see about an inch of the grasses tips. She wasn't blind, but the grass was mostly hidden by a mist that covered the ground. The mist smelt of rain hitting the ground on a warm day. It was warm wherever she was, humid too. She could feel her clothing sticking to her body, and the sticky feeling on her skin.
She could feel a hilt grasped in her hands. She looked down at the sword and her eyes widened. Sakura knew that sword… in fact, she new it very well. It was Syaoran's sword. –Why am I holding his sword? This can't, no it can't be the dreams of him hurting me. I shielded my dream already. This must be a premonition dream. There's no other explanation for it. If that's the case, then what can all this mean?-
The sound of panting was heard, and it was coming closer with every pitter-patter of foot-steps heard. The panting sounded of a dog, but at the rate that it was coming from, it was too fast for a dog.
Sakura whipped her head around when she heard it near; and when she decided her mind was not playing tricks on her. She turned around in time to see a wolf immerge from the forest. A forest surrounded the plain, and the wolf was right on the rim. It looked right where she was, but it seemed to be looking through her and not at her. Without any notice it started bounding in her direction.
She took a step back with her left foot, next thing she knew; she was lying sprawled on the ground. There was a searing pain in her ankle that she noticed just when she put that extra amount of weight on it. She looked at her left ankle to see it swelling, and right now it was the size of an orange. She cringed at the sight of her fruit sized ankle, but managed to pull away in time to see that the wolf was only a metre apart from her.
The wolf, there's something about th-. But before she could actually finish her whole thought, another figure immerged from the trees. This time, the figure caused Sakura to be just sitting there gaping. It was none other but herself wearing something Tomoyo would make. She looked down at her attire and noticed she was wearing the same thing. It was black, pink and green, but mostly black. It went up to the calf, black boots, rimmed with green. She wore flow-like black capris; which on first glance may be mistaken for a skirt. On top of that was a see-through material that altered in green and pink. It was tied like a sarong but shorter. The colours weren't striped, kind of cow like but flowed into each other nicely, not clashing like. She wore a black, belly, tank top with the rim around the edges a dark pink. On top of that she wore a trench coat, not done up though. It went down to just below her knees and the sleeves to her elbows. The material seemed like leather or pleather, but she couldn't be sure which one. Her hands were gloved with the biker type gloves, the ones where the material only goes to the knuckle, then its nothing but the skin of your own fingers. One was green and the other pink.
The thing is that the Sakura that was running over looked somewhat different. The other Sakura first of all had much longer hair that was tied up in a high ponytail. Second of all, that Sakura also looked stronger, the major give a way being that she looked more muscular and solid then she does now. Thirdly, and last of all, she just seemed different. Her eyes held a glint of determination, pain and were cold like ice. Ice a raging fire would fail to melt. Her aura was strong and stood hard and unmoving like a diamond. She held Syaoran' sword as well, but she didn't need a weapon - from looks of her, she was a weapon.
The other Sakura stood near the wolf. Lightning lit the darkened sky and the projected sound of thunder banged on her ears like a stampeding herd of rhinos. Tension flooded the air around her as the distinct feel of evil was approaching.
Sakura sat on the grassy floor unable to get up. "This is just a dream, remember." She spoke to herself trying to sound calm. "Then Damn it, why does it feel so real?"
The other Sakura looked up at her as if seeing her for the first time, giving her a slight surprised look. Her look of being startled slowly turned into a look of reinsurance. She held a half grin on her face. The wolf too was staring right at her. "It is a dream, but will you realise it in time, with help from the one who always has a watchful eye over you, even if you are too blinded to see the eye, feel for it." Her words seemed to cut through Sakura like a knife. "It will be real, like the pain will be real, how you are real, how I am real, how the soul-eating emotion loneliness will be forever real."
Other Sakura crouched down and was hardly visible from the mist lying on the ground. Her voice also lowered an octave "Darkness to you and your people if you do not see past the illusion that the slumber of another will bring." Her voice went down to a barely audible whisper. She and the wolf seemed to be getting weaker with every passing second. "You then must choose the path of peace or pain." They, other Sakura and the wolf, now were on their last breaths of life.-
The girl shut her eyes in pain, but when they opened, there was a whole new light to them. No longer cold, distant, and filled with pain. They held a warmth and peace that Sakura couldn't understand, and other Sakura's eyes seemed almost sad, sympathetic sad. "You are our best hope. You hold the lives of strangers, and of the people you care about." The wolf was gone, Sakura could tell. She didn't know quite how she knew, but she knew through some sort of sixth sense that lay within her skin, somewhere deep inside. Deep inside where it managed to leak out through her dormant power. Other Sakura will be gone soon as well. The only thing keeping her from death was the shear will to complete the message to her other self. "Don't let the pain be for nothing." She spoke starting to become short of breath. "Mine and everyone else's future are for you to decide- and yours alone." With her last word, she gave a reassuring smile and closed her eyes to what they both knew would be the last time those blazing eyes of the forest would focus again.
Sakura dragged herself across the earthy ground to be beside the two bodies. She shook the two no longer life-filled bodies in hopes they would move, blink, something to show some sort of life, but it never came. She looked at her hands, the sword she had been holding she left behind. Her hands were drenched in a cooling blood. She looked back at the other Sakura. She could faintly see the patch of blood over the area where her heart would've been. She could hardly see from all the mist that was slowly building up. She knew that she was murdered. And she was left all alone on the misted, grassy plain.
Sakura gasped as she sat up in bed. It was still dark outside. She turned to look at her clock. It was two thirty. She was covered in sweat and she felt unclean from her dream. Still a little drowsy, she managed to pull herself from her soft bed to the bathroom that connected to her room.
Her body was tired and told her mind so with all the aching in her joints and the heavy feeling of her limbs. She tried not to let the others know, but she still felt a considerable amount of pain from her dreams that had Syaoran in them. Sure her magic helped to heal her wounds faster, but with her draining her energy from training, she's using up what would be her usual healing energy. Her cuts and bruises from the first night are pretty much healed up except for a little bit of aching on her back and shoulder. Her black eye was almost gone, and the slashes on her limbs were practically healed. Her wounds from the third and last night were the worst. She had a bruise on her left cheekbone from the hilt across the face fading in a slow process, bruises on her stomach from a kick, bruises as well on her neck as souvenirs from being choked, and finally, the cut on her right cheek. The one that Syaoran said would last forever. A forever reminder of what had occurred those nights. A forever memory of the insufferable heartache she felt, and the pain that drove her to the saddened girl she is today. It was healing slower then the others. She could feel traces of magic on the wound. She knew, even if he didn't tell her, that the wound would become a memorable scar.
Her muscles had begun to ache as well from all the physical training her body wasn't used to. She had never wanted a bath so badly in her life. She dragged her tired body to the tub and turned the taps on. As soon as the water got to the level she wanted it she turned them off and stripped of her clothing, leaving it in a pile on the blue tiled floor. She slid her worn out body into the tub with a relieved sigh. She could feel all the joints relax and all the knots begin to un-knot themselves. As she relaxed she begun to think about the dream she had. Well actually, more like the nightmare she had. The misted plain surrounded by nothing but miles and miles of forest, empty forest. She couldn't remember one noise coming from the forest like birds and bugs like you would normally. The only noise was of the thunder in the sky, the wolf… and the other Sakura. The words that she spoke were confusing and unclear to Sakura. Then again, she just might have been too tired to contemplate the words. After a half an hour of relaxing, she pulled herself out of the tub and drained it. After she dressed in her pyjamas (while her clothes still lay in a pile in the bathroom), and lay on her bed. She was tired, but she couldn't get to sleep.
Damn it! I'm so god damn tired, why can't I seem to get any rest. She thought angrily to herself. Though she thought it, she already knew the answer. I know why, no use trying to deny it. I'm- well- I'm afraid. That dream, the feeling of anxiety, the speeding beat of my heart pumping to no end. I'm just afraid of…of… of what, Death, No, not death, not really. In death maybe I can finally rest instead of doing what I'm doing-
I live for nothing right now but for my duty and a burden that will benefit all but me, duty of being card mistress, keeper of the Sakura cards. Burden being the one chosen to save the world. Why do people try to take over or destroy the world? What could drive someone to do that? Just because you like the feeling of power, or just something to do cause you're bored. She pondered distastefully. I'm getting off topic. What am I afraid of, Syaoran? That I won't be strong enough? Well that's part of it, but not the real reason. What really terrifies me right down and through is the feeling of being alone, living life alone, then to die all alone. And that dream. I die. I'm dead. Dead on the cold dirt all by myself, except for that wolf that's already gone, so alone. In that dream, the loneliness was so overwhelming. I just can't go back to that, no more.-
She stayed awake for the rest of the night till it was the time to go and have breakfast. At breakfast she put on one of her best smiles so they wouldn't notice how tired she was. She didn't was to tell them she was having a premonition dream. They would worry about it too much and take it too seriously.
* * * * *
"Sakura, what's with you today?" asked Naotoshi worriedly. He glanced at the fallen girl sitting on the ground panting, gasping for breath. She seemed out of it today and very tired.
"I'm fine." She reassured him, while struggling up to her feet.
It all started out in physical training earlier. In physical training they she was to do things such as running, lifting, push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups, working on flexibility and a whole bunch of other things to keep the body in shape. Naotoshi knew she wasn't used to doing those types of things, but he didn't expect the struggling and her to tire out so fast. He saw her eat breakfast; he knew she ate enough to give her more then enough energy.
"You know you're a terrible lyre." He retorted tonelessly. He then crossed his arms watching her with a stern face, while on the inside he was really concerned about her.
"Well that's something else I'm going to have to work on along with all this other training." She joked to try to lighten up the mood. "But, seriously, don't worry about me." She tried reassuring him again.
He might have accepted her reassurance if he wasn't so positive there was something wrong with her. Not only was she having trouble in physical training, she was having some problems with magic skills too. He thought it was somewhat understandable to be tired in the morning, she wasn't exactly the morning type, and she did sleep in all the time. Still, in the class she seemed drained and seemed to tire out easily using her magic. And the spells were all basic. He only got half way through the lesson plan. He managed to get her to learn some defence shields, a basic locating spell, how to use the planets and stars in a magic based spell and a simple truth spell. What he also wanted to teach her was mind control, mind-speaking, telepathy and the mind-fetch.
Right now he was teaching her how to use a sword. He could tell she knew how to do it, but she lacked focus and was moving slow being as fatigued as she was.
He shook his head at the girl. "You are my concern Sakura. I don't expect you to be exactly hyper, but I didn't expect this. Didn't you get any sleep last night?" he spoke motioning to Sakura with his hand to take a seat on the bench.
Sakura accepted his offer gladly, and took a seat. He joined her soon after. "I got some" she began to say. "I woke up later on and I couldn't get back to sleep. So I didn't sleep as much as I should've." She admitted softly, biting her bottom lip. She struggled to keep her eyes open.
"What time did you wake up?" he asked staring straight ahead. He pretended to look at the wall with a great interest, but he was really waiting for the dear cherry blossom to say something.
"Well… two-thirty." She also admitted just as softly as the first time. She stared down at her feet and begun to fidget with her training outfit.
"Sakura, you need more sleep then that. If you want to train, you must sleep more then that." He said turning his attention to her. "What on the parallel earth got you up that early?"
"I had a nightmare. I couldn't fall back asleep after it, no matter how much I tried." She spoke still looking down.
"A nightmare?" he repeated, though it sounded like a question.
"Ya… just a nightmare." She said softer still. She wasn't exactly lying. It was a nightmare, it's not like he specifically asked if it was a premonition dream.
"If you want, I can make you a potion to take every night so you'll have a dreamless sleep until you learn how to make yourself have a dreamless sleep." He offered.
Her eyes lit up and she stared at him. She didn't want to face the loneliness, not again. Her expression was of someone who was starved for weeks to suddenly see a grand feast before them.
"You… you can?" She spoke feeling a crumb of hope slowly getting bigger within her, turning into a cookie.
"Of course I can. I mean what good can you do if you're too tired to stand let alone train and face the enemy." He spoke. Her hope was now a nice, big tasty looking cookie, maybe a cake. "You're lucky that my sister believes in good taste. She used to have nightmares and she would have to drink the stuff I'm giving to you, and believe me, if I were to quote her 'That has to be the most god awful taste that my taste buds have had to touch in my entire life. Who ever invented this stuff obviously didn't believe in good taste'. You see, I never had to drink that stuff because I had already mastered dream magic, while she doesn't have that power. I remember she would spend days trying to get it to taste bearable, and so the potion would still work as well." He chuckled slightly at the memory. "And from her slavery over the potion, it now tastes like honey with a slight hint of mint." He then laughed as another memory came to him. It was a warm and rich sound. "It's a pity that as soon as she found a way to change the flavour did the nightmares stop. It wasn't a pleasant sight according to grandpa, but I found it rather funny to see her pacing back and forth muttering incoherent things." He laughed again.
The story earned a small chuckle from Sakura. "Well I'm sure no one would like that to happen to them."
Naotoshi just stared at her with a smile lingering on his face.
"What?" she questioned, one eyebrow raised confused.
"Oh- it's nothing. I was just noticing what a heavenly sound your laugh is. You would make the angels jealous with such a beautiful, melodic sound." He smiled widely at her.
"Thank you." She replied, while she was blushed a bright scarlet." You know though, I've had plenty of time to think last night. And I remember you said that- when we first met- that two weeks in my world equal a year here." She looked at him as her blush begun to fade.
"Yes, that's correct." He responded.
"You also said that 27 years here equal a year in my world." She stated towards him.
"That is also correct." He responded once more. "Where are you going with all this?"
"Well first of all, it just doesn't make sense." She interrogated crossing her arms over her chest. "For those two statements to work, there would have to be 54 weeks in a year, but there are only 52."
"Well actually, it isn't exactly two weeks that equal a year. Two weeks and a little bit, but the little bit is not that much time. So we just round it down to two weeks." He answered thoughtfully. "Does that answer your question, or are you going to keep cross examining me?"
She shook her head slightly. "No, I'm fine, thanks for answering me."
"No problem." He smiled. "Now, I think that this lesson is over. Why don't you go get ready for bed? I'll come by in a bit with the potion." He casually spoke getting up and off of the bench.
"That sounds good. I'm sorry for not being good student today, and thank you again for your help." She got off the bench and started to head toward the door. Bed was sounding very tempting right now, she was never one to give into temptation, but in this case- she'll make an exception.
* * * * * * *
"Master Li, don't you think you should come inside." Spoke a voice from inside the dark apartment.
"I can't seem to sleep Wei." The young warrior replied without so much of a glance in the direction of the voice.
He was out on the balcony on this warm, humid night. He rested his arms on the banister, staring up at the night sky. He was starring at nothing really. It was a cloudy night, so there wasn't so much as a single star shining in the sky. No star to guide him back to the hidden place in his heart; just lost in the darkness of the night. The only thing that lit up the night was the blazing, full moon glowing in all its glory, and then there were the shadowy, bare empty streets which were just slightly illuminated by the streetlights. No ones house- or apartment for that matter- had there light on.
"At least come back inside. You won't catch a cold in this weather, but you should at least lie down so you don't waste any energy. You have school tomorrow, well actually I should say today- its quarter after one." Pleaded the guardian to the young master, in hopes he would take his advice.-
"It's okay Wei. If I lie down I'll become restless. Out here, well- I feel calmed. And besides, you know that in training I went without sleep for longer then what I'm doing right now." The handsome fifteen-year-old sighed as a warm breeze rustled his hair, blowing more of his soft, chestnut coloured hair over his warm amber eyes.-
"I remember what I was like before I came to Japan. How I detested coming here, but how I thought it would be worth it in the end- to get the Clow cards, and to get away from my sisters. It was quite a simple plan really, get the cards and go -get the elders complete confidence and trust." It wasn't quite a smile on his face, just a slight tug on the lips. "Little did I know she was going to be here. She came in and played editor, taking things out and putting knew things in, to spice things out a little."
He looked down at his callused hands, caused by the many years of training. "Now look at me." He spoke so quietly and softly his voice would be lost from the sound of the pin dropping. "I'm still here in this county –for no reason, the cards have a new owner, my cold barrier is down and now- I'm left confused."
"Master-"
"Don't worry about me Wei. You know when I'm tired I get depressed easily, and I'm just too stressed out to sleep right now. I'll go in eventually, why don't you go get some sleep. No use in having two tired people around when there only has to be one." He spoke a little bit louder then before trying to sound casual, now looking at the streets.
Wei sighed sadly, and nodded to the future heir of the clan's back before sliding the door and going back inside.
When Syaoran heard the door click of the door closing, he brushed some of the hair in his face back with his hand- and then looked at the starless sky. "When will the star return, the one which will guide me to the place in my heart where I will finally know the truth." He whispered gently into the night air, while the wind just blew the hair back over his eyes.
* * * * *
Time passed for both worlds. One of coarse just went by faster then the other on did. Sakura found that the potion worked. She had a dreamless sleep. She would rather have no dreams, then to risk getting another nightmare like that one. And if she remembered correctly, premonition dreams come off and on, she would never know when she was going to get another look into the future. A look into a future, that didn't look good for that matter. The difference between this premonition dream and the others was, that in this dream, someone was trying to guide her with words- it wasn't pure imagery this time.
The day after she used the potion, she had enough strength to get through all of Yuko' classes without having to exert herself the way she did before. Survival Training was mostly learning things, such as what herbs to use and what type of things are edible in the wilderness. A logical mind game was basically solving problems. Yuko would tell her scenarios or mind-send them to her, and then she would have to figure it out. It was to teach her to think on her feet. Card magic was just working with the cards. Yuko wanted her to be able to use the cards without the staff, and later on when she masters that, she wants her to be able to call the cards with her mind. And as she gets stronger, and as her bond with the cards grow stronger, her cards with become more powerful.
Weeks were passing for Sakura, while only hours passed for the rest of the card captures gang. Sakura was getting stronger with every given week. Her tests would always have to do with some of the things she learned that week. Slowly throughout her training, Yuko and Naotoshi were growing stricter and less kind through the training sessions. They didn't want to be so tough on her, but they had to.
* * *
Naotoshi was overlooking some papers in his room. It has been a year now. He was just going over the test that they were going to give Sakura tomorrow. Because it's been a year, they were going to have the test a bit different then the others they have given her.
Yuko and Naotoshi created their own little training area on a different plain. It took them a lot of effort and magic, but they pulled it off. While inside they don't have to worry about outside intruders. It was a combination of mind magic and dream magic. The only way to get into the test area was if you were asleep. And the only way to get to the actual area was if someone who's been there before hulled in. Only Naotoshi and Yuko have been there before, so it was logically safe.
The setting in the plain was an old castle. Just outside of the castle there was a stunning structure made out of marble. From the six different corners of the hexagon shape there was a coil of marble no wider then a basketball. They grew out of the cold marble floor and made there way up. They all went up about three feet before it would turn inward, towards the centre. They would go seven eighth way to the middle before spiralling up again. They twisted in a right direction, and shrunk in circumference on the way up. It went elegantly up for seven more feet before they stopped spiralling. Each coil minimized to a point, while pointing in the direction it originated from. The marble was no ordinary marble. Normal marble would have the blackish-grey spots and crack like images in it. Each marble coil had it alright, but in the oddest assortment of colours. That cracked looked weren't a blackish-grey, each one had a different colour of the rainbow. And above the end of each coil had a little, tiny pillow hovering an inch above the coils tip, matching its colour. The pillows also hovered around a downward opening towards the five foot pillar that was there. Dead in the centre of the structure was a marble (but reversed with it black and white crack marks) five foot pillar. On top of the little pillar was a flat plaque. There was also a one foot step in front of the pillar.
This structure was surrounded by pillars holding up the roof that made the whole inside area shaded in the roofs shadow. Dead in the middle of the roof was a small, circular stain glass window. The stain glass was done completely in stark black. The darkness of the glass didn't help in any lighting. The marble structure was also propped up on a platform complemented by a staircase. All in all it looked majestic in a godly sort of way. It appeared to be something straight from Olympus. Yuko was quite proud of her architectural abilities.
This was going to be a somewhat more difficult test then usual. Sakura was supposed to search the castle for the six rainbow coloured gems. The stones were the star ruby, the fire opal, the golden beryl, the amazonite, the blue star sapphire and the amethyst. Once she collects them all, she must place each one on its proper place in the structure, and then- finally from there, she must figure out how to activate each one to create the enchanted clear water diamond crystal.
There would be obstacles in the castle, and once she got to the marble structure, she would have to figure out the riddle. The riddle on the plaque:
Stand on me you may, and place the rainbow you can do.
It's all of us, actually only three that together make it
The thing that frees our power, but blocked by masked sand, it is true
The sand will crumble and fall if you have enough strength and wit.
The riddle was created by none other then Naotoshi. He sighed as he looked over the papers. The papers were a map of the ground and castle. It marked where all the obstacles were, he was just trying to memorize where everything was. His focus and thoughts were then abruptly put on halt as thoughts of Sakura poured into his mind.
Sakura hadn't changed as much as he thought she would. She was still pretty cheerful and smiled a lot, despite being worked so hard. It was just in her personality. She just tried to ignore any conversation topic that was about her old world.
I wonder if Sakura will be able to figure out this. Yuko is the one that teaches her logical mind games, I don't know exactly what type of things she learns. Well once she figures it out; it won't be hard to do it. All you have to do is brake the stain glass window. It's only light after that activates the gems.-
It shouldn't be overly hard. Light contains all the colours, and then there are certain colours made from other colours, leaving three colours to make all of the colours. And sand is made into glass. I'm pretty, - no wait; I'm positive Sakura will figure it out. She's a little dense, but not in this type of a situation; anyways, she's not as dense as she used to be. He took a glance at the clock. Guess I better call it a night.
And with that, the sort of young and handsome man went to bed without as much as a thought. Well, maybe the thought of a green-eyed girl crossed his mind once or twice.
* * * * *
"… and that's about it. So you ready Sakura?" asked Yuko to Sakura. She was tying up her dark brown hair into a ponytail at the moment.
Naotoshi was standing beside his sister. He had amusement lingering in his ice blue eyes. He knew Sakura wasn't paying attention as his sister was rambling on with the instructions for her test.
"Sakura…" She repeated again in slight annoyance that she was being ignored. She was tapping her shoe on the ground, as she then crossed her arms over her chest once finishing with her hair.
Sakura's attention was else where, somewhere deep in her mind. She was thinking about last night.-
Last night… it was probably nothing, but yet... I know I felt something. I didn't do anything out of the ordinary. I took the potion, got ready for bed and then slept. I did nothing unusual. I wonder if the potion did something?-
"Sakura"
No, that can't be it. The potion didn't affect me before, it wouldn't start now. Besides, the potion did work. I didn't have any dreams as usual. There was just this consistent feeling that I was being watched. There was also the feeling I felt of something trying to brake into the emptiness of my not there dream. As if it wanted me to dream. But what-
"Sakura!-"
Yuko's voice brought Sakura out of her train of thoughts. Sakura blinked wide in surprise of her name being shouted that loudly. She refocused her eyes only to see a glaring Yuko. She felt her cheeks get hot from embarrassment as she dropped her head down and looked at her feet.
It was sort of a good thing for Naotoshi. Or she might have seen the playful smile he smiled at her when she flushed a deep red. He stared at her sweetly, just admiring how adorable she looked with her head down and her cheeks red like that.
"Sakura…" Yuko started to say as she was beginning to say a disciplining speech about paying attention.
Sakura heaved a heavy sigh preparing herself; for the worst. Not that Yuko's speeches about proper behaviour were upsetting, it was just that she heard them often enough that she could quote some of her favourite disciplining lines. Luckily someone stepped in.
"…Sakura you know better, you-"
"Yuko, why don't you just let me explain the test, or you can. It's just that I don't think we have enough time for this. We're wasting testing time." Naotoshi chimed in. "Besides, I'm sure Sakura is sorry and will try not to do it again." He gave his female trainee a slow wink when his sister wasn't paying attention.
"Well I guess your right brother." She sighed in defeat as she then looked at Sakura.
Sakura gave her a quick- but not overly quick nod. And when she wasn't paying attention, she gave Naotoshi a small smile in gratitude.
"Okay Sakura. Here's you test. I'm only going to say this once more. Your test is to retrieve the clear water diamond crystal. Don't worry, you're not going to have to wonder off our property like the last time you had to retrieve an object." She said the last sentence hastily in seeing the look on the girls face. "None of us expected that to happen." She spoke shaking her head distastefully at the memory.
Sakura was almost at her goal. She could see the golden dagger in which she was to retrieve. A wave of relief washed over her as she neared her target. Her feet were killing her. She spent much of her energy and magic to get here. Then when she was almost in arms reach- a young man stepped out of the bush, and stopped right in front of her goal, blocking her.
"What do you want?" She snapped in a harsh tone. She wasn't one to be rude, but this man had a bad feeling about him.
He smirked at her rudeness. He pushed the sun kissed bleach blond hair from his face to reveal blue eyes outlined in a reddish brown. His eyes looked at her with a hunger in them that caused Sakura to swallow a nervous gulp in her throat.
"I'm looking at what I want." He replied casually. Though his voice sounded casual, his eyes flared up in excitement- but the kind of excitement of watching a bloody masquerade, and enjoying it. His eyes darted around, as if seeing something she wasn't. And that's exactly what it was. "Ain't that right boys."
And then, as if on queue, a somewhat of around seven men appeared from places that they were eloquently hiding in. She whipped her head around in confusion on why she didn't sense them. Her answer was explained a moment later when one more person emerged from the trees. It was a tall, tanned man with raven black hair in ringlets. Deceived by the blond, Sakura could tell that this was the ringleader. He carried himself tall, with power and confidence. He grinned as he eyed her from head to toe, and then back up again.
"And what- I'm sorry, correction- and who do we have here." He spoke in a voice as smooth as silk, but was also just as unnerving.
"Sakura- my name is Sakura." She spoke showing him all the disgust she felt for him in her voice.
"Ummm... Sakura." He pondered the name to himself. "Well lovely cherry blossom, I'm quite happy that we bumped into you."
"I don't believe I could say the same. Especially to someone like you." She glared at him with all the hate one could muster. Her look was at a point that it could render a small animal unconscious. Unluckily enough for her, he wasn't a small animal.
It wasn't his looks that repulsed her, also considering he wasn't at all bad looking. It was the vibe she got from him. It was twisted to a point where metal would snap, and dark enough to make the colour black itself jealous.
He seemed completely unfazed by the look. He just continued on like they were having a nice polite conversation. "Well my lady, you can call me-"
Yuko cut the memory off abruptly. She could tell Sakura was thinking about it too. She decided this was not the time, nor the place to bring up unpleasant past memories. The only reason why she knew what was going on, and how Sakura felt was because she used her mind magic to see things from her eye, and feel what she was feeling. And what she saw and felt was not something to be remembered, best left forgotten. Yuko pitied the girl for the things that have happened to her, and the things that she's going to have to do. Sakura was getting stronger, increasing her magic- but still, there was locked within her, a potential to be broken free. Yuko wasn't sure if she was just being paranoid, but the potential everyone else noticed in her (meaning her, her brother and their grandfather), was just merely a wall for an even bigger, larger potential within her, which the obvious potential showing was just there to hide her true power.-
These were her thoughts, but she only felt it off and on, and the others haven't said anything about it, so she wasn't sure if it was real or not.-Best not to let these thoughts wonder, best to think about the task at hand.-
Yuko recomposed herself before beginning to speak again. "As I was saying Sakura, you are to retrieve the clear water diamond crystal. You'll use the powder you use to make yourself fall asleep in dream class. Once asleep I'll use my mind to guide your mind onto a different plain. My brother and I created it so it should be perfectly safe from unwanted intruders. It's impossible for someone to get there without guidance from someone who's been there before, which are only us." She spoke reassuring her. "The plain should have a big castle which you will appear in front of. In order to get the diamond you must fist find and collect the six gems, five of which are in the castle, while the last one can be seen only from the highest point of the castle. On the other side of the castle there is a structure, using that you must collect the diamond crystal." She finished nearly out of breath.
"Can you tell me at all what the gems look like? Knowing you guys, you but up a shield on most of them so I can't use a location spell. And at the most, I can only use a basic location spell which will only let me know if I'm within twenty feet of the object." She mused.
"I can tell you the types of stones." She replied. "They are the star ruby, the fire opal, the golden beryl, the amazonite, the blue star sapphire and the amethyst."
"Okay then. Now I'm ready to go off and look for the different parts of the rainbow. Who knows, maybe if I'm lucky I'll find a put of gold." She teased. Yuko told her that when she was younger she would always try to find the end of a rainbow.
"Ha, ha, ha very cute." She replied acidly. "And one more thing." Yuko spoke. "There are no crystals in the basement of the castle, which is also the dungeon. Don't by any chance go down there. I put a spell on the dungeon door, so you won't be able to get in. It shouldn't be a problem, but just encase my spell went a rye; there's a picture of a black dragon on the door. You're not trained enough to go down there. The basement is for a future mental training class, a very distant future class, as in the last two year you're here. And for the future, depending on what room you're in changes the different levels." She added on.
"Yuko, but couldn't you just pull my mind out of the dungeon, you are spying on my quest."
"I could, but it would take me at least five minutes. I don't think you would want to even step one foot in that dungeon. Like I told you it's very advanced. But then again you're not really going to have to worry about it."
"Well I'm ready to begin my test." Sakura spoke.
Naotoshi handed her the bag of the sleeping powder. "Good luck Sakura. I'm sure you'll do fine and be back in no time"
Sakura smiled when she received the bag. "Thank you Naotoshi. At least one of us has confidence in me." She sighed heavily. "Well time for me to start this test. Bye Yuko, bye Nao. I'm off to sleep." With that, she lay down on the mattress in the middle of the room, sprinkled on the sleeping power, and was out. And as for the nickname, if Sakura needed help in a training session, it would be quicker to say a shortened version of his name.
* * *
Sakura felt her mind being pulled my Yuko. She didn't put up any resistance, she just let Yuko guide her way. It felt like floating on a smooth drifting cloud.-
She could see her destination up ahead. It was a round door way, it rippled once in a while like a drop of water impacting on stilled water. Sakura could see it coming closer, it was as if it was moving towards her, but in reality, she was drifting towards it.
She placed her clenched fist where her key necklace used to be. She still felt insecure without it. She wasn't allowed to use the Sakura cards for tests unless she was told otherwise. It was to see if she can solve her problems without the cards, and use her own skills. And when she could use the cards, she was encouraged not to, and if she had to- she tried calling the cards without the staff.
She could call the cards without the staff now; it wasn't quite as powerful though. The staff contains, and helps control the magic. Without it, she has to use her will to keep it intact. It's not as powerful as with the staff because she can't completely make a solid enough tunnel-like-thing to feed into the card. So some of the magic she sends to power up the card leaks from her mental tube. It will be even more difficult in the future when she has to call the card with her mind, so it will come to her aid with a single thought. Right now without the staff, she has to call out its name and pick it from the deck.
She then suddenly felt her body pierce through the liquefied barrier separating the different plains of existence. It rippled wildly as her body passed through the doorway, falling onto soft lush grass.
She stood up abruptly onto her feet, and eyes widened. She didn't expect to see what she just saw. The world they created was large and very beautiful. It was quite evident they spent much of there time on the place. There were fields of grass- that kept on going till you saw nothing but the blue sky. Flowers flourished all around; there were trees of all kinds flooding the place with life. Even though you could make a setting change in your dream, and she was dreaming in some sort of way, her mind had moved, so this plain really existed and not just in her mind. They placed her right in front of the castle, a castle that came straight from a faerie tale. The only thing missing was water where the moat was. It was a waterless moat. It looked like a ditch all going around the castle.
-I guess Yuko wouldn't be fond of the idea of bringing back a soggy mind.-
There was a forest on one side of the castle, and a lake on the other side. She grinned as she saw that there was a no swimming sign right in front of it.
-correction, she would detest that idea.-
She knew she could start the test as she felt Yuko's mind settling in the back of her own. 'To make sure you don't get into any trouble' quoted the age deceiving girl. Sakura shook her head in disbelief and chuckled at the thought. She stepped towards the golden castle doors when she felt Yuko's mind completely settle at the back of her own.
She reached the finely crafted doors and paused for a moment, preparing herself completely. "Well," she sighed "let's get this over with." And with that she stepped into the castle shutting the door behind her.
Watchful eyes watched as she entered the castle. The eyes watched from a branch on a tree, a tree with many leaves; so many flourished that made it more then easy not to be seen. Eyes narrowed, mouth tightened into a half-sided grin. Leaping from the tree to the ground, standing in the trees shade; their features were hidden from the lack of light. Still, holding the most peculiar grin, they spoke "You're right Sakura, this shall end."
Stepping from the trees shadow and into the light, you could see pleasure and excitement sparkle in their eye. Their grin turned into an all out smile, but not a warm smile, one of a starved hunter backing it's pray in an inescapable corner, holding a nicely polished rifle "Just not the way you planned."
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Little Blossom: I'm done, finally done. Well this chapter anyway. This has to be the longest chapter that I've typed so far. It's got to be over 8000 words. And my fingers are dead, dead I tell you. Because I took so long and because it made a hundred reviews, I made it twice as long as usual. So ~LB~, where' Syaoran?
~LB~: Uh Oh!
Little Blossom: What exactly does uh oh mean?
~LB~: well, I remember caring him off in a bag some place, but then stuff happened… Oh you know I get distracted easily. I saw some really cute anime guys, and Syaoran in a bag hiding his cuteness, well I sort of dropped him to catch up with the guys.
Little Blossom: *rubs temples* Now what?
~LB~: If you want I can take you to the party they invited me to. I'm sure it will be lots of fun.
Little Blossom: I meant about Syaoran. And as much fun as that sounds, I need sleep. This chapter took way to long. And I need me rest cause I'm going to B.C. this Friday. And I also get to go to Edmonton, and the Edmonton mall. It's supposed to be one huge mall. I mean huge. I've wanted to go there since I read the book code red at the supermall authorized by Eric Wilson. As the back says, quote unquote- 'have you ever visited a mall that has sharks and piranhas, a triple-loop rollarcoaster, 22 waterslides, an ice palace, submarines, 828 stores...' and so on. It'd be fun to go to even if you didn't like shopping.
~LB~: Aren't you getting a little off topic.
Little Blossom: Oh Ya! So what are we going to do about Syaoran?"
Eriol: Don't fear Little Blossom. Some ones curiosity will get the better of them and they'll open the magic proof bag I made. Luckily it won't be one of us, and we won't see Syaoran when he's at the peak of his temper. And he always seems to be here before the beginning of each chapter, no matter how much he hates being here. *eyes Little Blossom suspiciously*
Little Blossom: I love being me.
~LB~: *watch begins to beep* Oh well I got to go, cause it's time to party. I'll meet a bunch of friends.
Little Blossom: Don't you mean a bunch of cute anime guys.
~LB~: *puts on a surprised innocent look* Why, I'm hurt you could think such a thing.
Little Blossom: I wonder. Well you best be gone little hellion before I end up temping myself to go to that party. I prefer to be a sweet little angel.
Eriol: *scoffs* Stop trying to seem virtuous, I know deep down you could cause more mischief then me if you had magic. But fortunately you don't, leaving me the king.
Little Blossom: I think you need to buy a bigger hat to go with your outfit Eriol. I could've sworn I just saw your head swell up a moment ago.
~LB~: Well I'm going I wouldn't want to temp you. *leaves*
Eriol: Ha, ha, ha. (Said very sarcastically)
Little Blossom: I finally did it.
Eriol: What?
Little Blossom: I got on your nerves. I wiped that smirk off your face. Now all I have to do is get Yue to smile.
Eriol: You what? Dammit! Well you mat have gotten me, but my past self created Yue, and I know you will not get him to smile. He's strong willed because I created him.
Little Blossom: Geez, soon you'll need a kiddie pool for a hat.
Eriol: My hats a fit all type.
Okay… anyways thank you person out there for reading my story. Now can you please review so I know someone is reading this and I'm not writing this only for it to collect cobwebs and dust. Leave your email if you want me to email you when I up-date. And if you actually care and want to, you can check out some other stories of mine. I attempted a one-shot last time up-loaded something onto the sight. And because it's a one-shot, you don't have to wait forever for me to update because it's already done. Well now I'm off to sleep. And I ask for no flames, I accept constructive reviews telling me how to improve, but I don't improve at all getting something saying 'it sucks, you suck, you couldn't write if your crummy life depended on it'. I figure you don't like it, but I don't know why you don't like it, or how to do better. I haven't gotten any reviews like that so far, but still. Well thank you for your time, and I hope you enjoy my story so far, even though it's probably not worth your time. I'll try to up-date sooner too, I promise.
