A/N: This part will be more action, as promised. Plenty of angst, but they wouldn't let me pick Action/Adventure, Angst, *and* Romance. If, after the next two chapters, anyone thinks I should change it to Angst/Romance then let me know! But wait 'till you read at least this chapter. Okay? Oh, and just so everyone is aware, this story *will* turn into a lemon, but there will be no hardcore citrus here on ff.net. I will post links where appropriate. I refuse to bend the rules and use R as my surrogate NC-17. I will make this version as complete as I can, but if you want to see what you're missing out on and are of age feel free to read the rest of the story where appropriate. That's a future warning though...no worries yet.
Here there be darkness. You have been warned.
Thank you to the faithful Starquestor! Yes, Korvath the sicko was *terribly* easy to get rid of. I'll make it clear in future chapters why I took that route. Yuki has always been so kind and sweet and innocent. And non-magical. What will this do to him, especially in his vulnerable state of being alone? ~shivers~ And your next question…is about to be answered. Read on.
Silvermoon maru, thank you for the review! Yes, this story is almost unbearably dark. There *is* light at the end of the tunnel though, I swear! I'm glad you are reading even if it is darker than you expected. And...do you really think there are others who read this and just don't know what to say? I don't even know what to say about that, but if people are reading this I'd like to know. Really. I'm interested to know how many people think this story is worth their time to read, even if they don't think it's great or anything. A word or two would be awesome.
Kira--how much can I thank you? Really? You stuck with me on Generations even through my long dry spell, and as long as I write something about CCS you love it. ~blushes~ You are awesome! There were many times I thought about giving up on Generations because no one else was sticking with it, but you've been with me through thick and thin. I'm glad you like this one too! Thank you! Everybody, do me a favor and visit her site, Sakura Premium! http://mysticmobius.com/sakura/index.shtml
On with the story:
Silent Eyes
Far From Over
Li Yelan grinned wickedly as she helped the other woman destroy the power center of little Sakura's captor. Surprise had slackened his grip on the knife enough for her to take it from him easily, and the red-haired beauty helping her held out a crystal orb with triumph. The knife slid into the glowing crystal easily, dispersing the energy stored within and removing a large portion of the monster's magic ability. Yelan let the wash of energy flow past, rocking with the wake since she wasn't there in physical form. Her and the other woman were too far away to truly teleport, and there was a barrier up that would have prevented that approach anyway. They had astrally projected their images there, using that as a focus to grasp the objects telekinetically. It was took a lot of energy, but it was something their adversary could not have expected.
She smiled in triumph and was about to let her consciousness simply snap back, but she saw the kidnapper lunge for Sakura. With the last of her magical strength she warned Yue telepathically, Sakura is not out of danger yet!
Yelan couldn't stay any longer. She was being pulled violently back because of the energy she had to spend in order to pick up and handle a hostile, physical, magical item. When her physical eyes snapped open she shuddered, scared for Sakura's safety.
Then the legendary Yue spoke within her mind again. She is...no longer in immediate danger.
The mental tone was awash with an unidentifiable anguish. Sakura hadn't died, that much she could read, but some other great evil had befallen. Unfortunately, Yelan would not know what had happened for a while. Exhaustion swept over her and forced her into an uninterrupted sleep. She had done her part.
~~~~~@~~~~~
Yue walked from the kitchen back into the living room, leaving Touya and Syaoran to worry about food while he checked up on what was happening. Li Yelan and Mitsuki Kaho were almost ready, and he wanted to see for himself how his plan would work. The first thing he noticed when he walked in was that Keroberus had stretched out on the floor in front of the couch. He looked like he had been relaxing, but now he was tense and staring intently at the television. Sonomi had gone pale and clutched her daughter's hand tightly. Tomoyo had tears streaming down her face, but her eyes were locked, unblinking, on the screen. Fujitaka and Eriol wore almost identical looks of shock, horror, and guilt.
Yue's eyes finally locked on the screen to see the last of Sakura's clothes cut cruelly from her body. The intent of the kidnapper was unmistakable. It was horribly unreal to see this happening to the Mistress on a television screen when there was nothing he could do himself. He could only give the order for others to do his duty.
You must do it now, Korvath is about to do the unspeakable. He felt the two women agree, making their move immediately. The screen, magically showing events as they occurred, showed the ghostly forms of two women appear and destroy the magical implements. The wave of released energy caused the television screen to go blank for a moment, but Eriol quickly cast a new spell to show them the same scene. At the same time Korvath turned on Sakura Yue heard both Kaho and Yelan give warning. Their images were fading from view quickly, both had expended a lot of magic to do what they did over such great distances.
At that moment Yue knew defeat, sure that he had failed in the worse possible way. He had assumed the energy release would be enough for Sakura to tap into and save herself, but she was laying perfectly still on the table. She would not be casting any magic to save herself. Yue was sure she was about to die. He had failed.
An unearthly glow lit the room. It was an effect that Yue was intimately familiar with. It was the same glow that preceded his own most powerful magic. Yukito stepped into the frame, bathed in light that gathered quickly in his hands. The energy was released at its peak and blew Korvath with lethal force across the room.
"Yuki!" It was a harsh whisper that escaped Yue's constricting throat, but a moment later a tray of food met the floor behind him and Touya's much stronger voice echoed the cry.
His sweet, innocent, cheerful Yuki had been forced to kill to protect The Mistress. He had been forced to use Yue's magic to take a human life. He had witnessed horrors that Yue would have sheltered his mask from forever. Now there was no point. Yuki had had his innocence painfully ripped from him forever in one morning, bringing him closer to Yue than Yue would wish on anyone.
Touya ran to the television screen, trying to somehow comfort Yuki through it. Yuki and Yue had identical expressions of terrible numb shock on their faces for long moments. Syaoran walked in, staring silently. Yue remembered to let Kaho and Yelan know that Sakura was safe again and he felt them both mentally slump in relief. They were both soon asleep and he casually dismissed the mental link to them.
When Yukito finally turned and untied Sakura Eriol stopped the tape. "I have their location now. They'll still need rescued, but I don't think they'll be in any immediate danger."
"What do you mean, 'immediate danger'?" Sonomi demanded. "That monster is dead, so Sakura is safe! Right?"
"We should hurry," Eriol said, turning away.
Sonomi shook her head. "The cars won't be enough. Mine has room for only one passenger."
Yue interrupted, "I can fly."
Sonomi speared him with her own heated glare, matching his icy stare with unflinching will. "I don't think our group should be divided any further," she stated bluntly. "And before you say it, Kinomoto-sensei, Tomoyo and I will not stay behind. Sakura will need women around after what she has been through, even if we won't be much use in a fight. I'll call for the limo if we can wait that long."
No one dared argue with her and Yue turned and walked away, hiding an admiring smile. He resented anyone ordering him around other than Sakura, since she was his Mistress, but this lady had a good head on her shoulders in an emergency. It was just what this group needed.
Not that he'd admit it out loud, of course.
~~~~~@~~~~~
Sakura's left hand ached and protested any movement, but the burning had finally left her. She groaned, sitting carefully, and noticed that while she was unconscious a few of the small cuts had bled a lot more than the small beads she had seen at first. In some spots she was covered with dried blood, but it hadn't flowed enough to reach the surface of the table. Just enough to flake off disturbingly when she moved.
She heard the soft rustle of fabric on the floor beside her and looked down at Yukito's bent form. "Yukito-san."
"Sakura-chan!" He almost looked up at her, but quickly averted his eyes. He quickly unbuttoned his pajama top and handed it in her direction, refusing to look up.
"Thank you," she whispered. She had known she was naked, but hadn't thought about being naked until she saw his reaction to her. Her cheeks burned with shame and unshed tears stung the corners of her eyes. She gently took the proffered garment, easily slipping it over her shoulders. She moved to button the top though and gasped in pain. The small and precise motions needed to button the shirt caused her left hand to burn anew, even though she was uninjured physically. She slowly forced her hands to work the first button, and then the next, but when she reached the third Yukito's hands covered and stilled her own.
"I'm sorry, you're in too much pain for this. Let me help?"
Sakura nodded in relief, watching his hands as they deftly finished the task. When she looked into his beautiful amber eyes she saw a sadness and distance there that looked totally alien on him. It filled her heart with sadness to see Yuki so withdrawn and unhappy, but she realized that he might feel the same to look at her. She didn't want someone she loved so much to be so sad because of her, so she gave him the biggest smile she could. "Come on, let's get out of here."
His gaze rose to meet her face, startled at her cheerful tone. He looked so vulnerable for a moment, but managed to recall a smile of his own. "That's a wonderful idea," he agreed, acting almost like his old self until he looked away. Then the haunted look returned.
~~~~~@~~~~~
As they stood to leave, Sakura surveyed the room one last time and froze. Yuki didn't need to follow her gaze to know what she was looking at. She let out a scream, shuddering as Yuki grabbed her shoulders and turned her away. "Sakura, we have to get out of here. That will be a lot harder to do if either of us goes into hysterics. I don't like this any more than you do, but we have to just ignore it and walk away now."
She nodded stiffly and turned, testing the door that their captor had used. It was locked, but Sakura easily opened it with her key. They quickly moved to leave, but found themselves unable. There was some invisible barrier across their only exit. Sakura released her staff and tapped it against the invisible wall, but it rebounded strangely and wouldn't give way at all. "It's like the Shield card, but not quite as strong. If I had any of the cards here I could get out easily, but without them I don't know what to do."
Yuki spread his hands out in a hopeless gesture. "I'm sure Yue could have done something too, but I--" He broke off with a shiver. Something within him whispered that he could do the same magic, but he didn't want to. It felt wrong for him to have so much power. The tears welled up again and he leaned against the wall, defeated.
When he looked up Sakura was studying him closely. She was starting to figure a few things out about what happened, but she didn't have all the clues she needed to put the puzzle together. Her eyes grew wide and she reached a hesitant hand toward her friend. "Yukito, how did that man die?" She gestured briefly toward Korvath, but then moved slightly closer to Yukito as if she still needed assurance and protection from the older man.
"I--I--I felt this energy in me, and he was coming back because he was going to kill you this time and I knew I had to stop him from hurting you again and my hands started to glow and tingle and I hit him with the energy and he flew across the room and he was dead oh my God Sakura I can't believe it and I don't understand it and it happened too fast and I just had to do it but--" He took a deep breath and forced himself to stop. "I'm sorry, Sakura. I'm so sorry...."
"Yukito, you saved my life. Thank you."
They stared at each other for a while longer, and then Sakura started crying. Yuki wrapped his arms around her to comfort her, but ended up crying also. For a very long time they sobbed into each others shoulders, finally collapsing on the floor next to each other. Awareness of anything but the two of them returned slowly when neither could force themselves to cry any more.
"What do we do now?"
Yukito shrugged. "We wait to be rescued. If it starts to look like we don't have any other choice I could...I could try...something. I don't think I should try though, and I really don't want to." His voice was huskier than usual and weak even to his own ears. He hated not being able to be strong and cheerful for Sakura, but he just couldn't force himself to be something he wasn't.
Sakura was the one to set Yukito's mind at ease with her cheerful answer. "It's okay, Yukito. If Syaoran's mom and Mitsuki-sensei showed up to help us then that means someone knows where we are and can help us. We'll get out of here, we just have to be patient."
"Thank you," he said, finally giving her something that felt like his old smile.
~~~~~@~~~~~
Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun were waiting in front of the dilapidated house when everyone else arrived. The house wasn't far away, but it was easy to overlook in the neighborhood. Yue was sure he had flown over this area many times and never seen the house, but with magic anything was possible.
Yue stepped out of the car carefully, not entirely happy about the ride. He tried not to show it, but it bothered him to move so swiftly when not under his own power. It somehow felt wrong. Wait, no, he realized that something else was responsible for the "wrong" feeling. Everyone gathered in a group and looked around, feeling something strange coming.
From behind the house came six huge dogs with glowing red eyes. Yue immediately started pulling energy to create crystal energy shards and attack the enemy. With a swift motion he struck down the first of the possessed animals and brought it down, but he heard Touya gasp behind him. Touya's eyes were wide at first, then began to slip closed as the young man yawned.
Yue cursed under his breath, aware that he couldn't do much more without endangering Touya. He swiftly walked over to Touya and prepared to simply guard him while the others fought his battle. "Sit down and regain your strength. The others should be able to take care of this."
While they watched, Syaoran, Eriol, his two guardians, and Kero defeated the first wave of attackers. They were so intent on their ground-based opponents that they didn't see the attack from above. It was Yue who shouted the warning as about 20 small creatures with bat-like wings flew in to strike. Yue, Touya, Sonomi, and Tomoyo all stood close to Fujitaka who cast a shield with some coaching from Yue. He had never drawn upon his powers as half of Clow deliberately before and found it to be a novel experience. Yue just gave the man a small smile of encouragement and kept his eyes trained for other threats. His magic may have been weakened, but his powers of observation were still intact, and he had been trained for just this sort of combat.
~~~~~@~~~~~
Sonomi watched the fight with wide eyes. Syaoran was wielding a huge sword and cutting through opponents who got too close. When they learned not to come near he used the sword to release spells of fire, lightning, and other things. Eriol was using another kind of magic to stop his own opponents with a long staff that was tipped with a sun symbol. The three guardians that could fight were attacking with various beams of magical energy or fire or ice.
It was like nothing she had ever seen before.
The enemies came in waves and every time Sonomi thought it had to end there were more strange creatures attacking them. It was hard to keep track of everything going on, but she noticed that after a couple of creatures rebounded against Fujitaka's shield they were left totally alone. There were times though that the others, the ones fighting, were swarmed by strange magical creatures. Sonomi lost track of their companions multiple times in the combat, but they kept resurfacing with a blast of some magic power that drove the creatures away.
"Kinomoto-san, when is this going to end? We can't stand here all day while Sakura-chan waits for us to save her."
"I know, Sonomi-kun, but I don't know what to do. The creatures keep coming."
"Standing here and being attacked all day is not an option! Can we move from this spot with this magic shield up?"
Fujitaka looked over at Yue and shrugged. "I'm not used to using magic at all."
Yue just shook his head. His piercing gaze made Sonomi want to shiver with the intensity of his scrutiny when he turned on Sonomi. "Shield spells usually stay where they are cast until released. If it were centered on an inanimate object it could be transported, but there are other complications to that."
"Fine then. How fast can a shield be put around us as a group. I refuse to stand here and be useless any more."
Yue's strange cat-like eyes softened slightly. "I know how you feel. I want to be doing something as well. If I could use my magic without relying on Touya's already depleted magic I could put up a shield in an instant. While we're relying on Kinomoto-san though, we can't rely on his speed."
Fujitaka nodded. "I don't have the experience for this. I remember now what it was like to be Clow and cast those spells, but having the memory isn't the same as having the practice and experience."
"Fine then, tell one of them to get over here." She gestured to the combatants with an impatient wave of the hand.
"I can do that much," Yue said with a determination in his voice that matched Sonomi's. Soon they were joined by Keroberus who looked at the group impatiently.
Sonomi hugged her daughter for a moment. "Stay here with Touya-kun and Fujitaka-san. You'll be safe here."
Tomoyo frowned. "I have more experience being--"
"I know, so it's my turn. Please. I'll be perfectly safe, but I want to get this done as quickly as possible."
She noticed that Yue was questioning her with a skeptical glance. "I am going, and you can't stop me. Besides, I have a feeling about where Sakura is, so you can use my help getting to her without using any more of your own magic."
Kero whined, "How come you can tell where she is when I can't?"
Sonomi smiled knowingly. "Because whoever cast the spell obviously didn't think I was a threat?"
Yue and Keroberus looked at each other and nodded. "She has a point," Yue said.
"Why don't we stop debating this and rescue Sakura and Tsukishiro-san?"
The front door to the house suddenly opened wide and a child's voice cried out, "That won't be necessary!" A little boy with light blue hair, cat's ears, and a tail came bounding out and chased off the magical creatures. They scattered and disappeared and soon there were no enemies left to fight. In the shadow of the doorway stood Sakura and Yukito, looking weak but bemused.