Chapter 9-Sakura
The memory of that night was very dim. I had a dream, and dreams were my natural abilities, when they are prophetic. Syaoran was engulfed in flames, his eyes burning like the fire he was in. There were feathers, blacked and scorched, fluttering in the wind. Dark shadows creeped through the flames. And from the center, a great, magnificent dragon slowly writhed its way out of the roaring fire, its neck long, its body glistening with its golden scales, muscles tight underneath. It raised its huge head towards the sky and gave a loud cry. It was terrible. There was a whisper, a hush, and the flames faded, taking Syaoran with them. It was morning.
I woke up to the sound of birds singing. Syaoran's sister wasn't kidding about the birds when she told Tomoyo she woke up at five. The birds never stop talking. They sound sweet, but after a while it gets annoying, especially when you're trying to get some shut eye. They don't sing lullaby songs, like crickets, which you get use to after a while. They sing, they chirp, they do all kinds of weird stuff, like a classical music, and so there's always something new, and once in a while a shrill and piercing cry sounds. Not nice for sleeping.
After some failing attempts to go back to sleep, I finally gave up. Because birds chirping and a growling stomach is not something you could ignore. The dream was not unpleasant, although it wasn't pleasant either. I didn't wake up in sweat. I did wake up annoyed. And then, after I got up, the music of the birds and my stomach grumbling was mixed with Kero-chan's snoring. Today, I thought, was not going to be a good day.
There are weird times like this, when something very bright shines through all
the gloom, like today. Because omens have a weird way of affecting people. Kero
woke up sometime later, Oni-chan was eating lunch. Calling me kaijuu; he never
stopped, unfortunately, although I was pretty comfortable since he also calls Jingxi
chan kaijuu. Sometimes Eriol-kun, although rarely, because Eriol rarely does
anything stupid. We all shared the same counter attack.
" Yeow!!!"
I guess anyone could figure out what I did.
Oni-chan limped to the kitchen to wash his plate. Last day of school graduation, for me that is. And so off I went. I couldn't possibly be late this time, because I woke up at five, so at most I would be on time.
Graduation was nothing special. We had a fan, it blew all the papers away so
we had one of those parades they have when they throw strings of paper around.
Only this time it was more like doves, divebombing us. Papercuts are not
comfortable. It was pretty hot, but we didn't suffer like Oni-chan and Yukito-san.
Nothing special. We sang stupid songs, there were tons of speeches, yahoos, and off
we went straight to the reception for some ice. Singing is hot work.
Ice, a bottle of soda, and some cookies. More than enough to satisfy our stomaches. Syaoran-kun and I share one quality. Too much junk food gives us stomach aches. The only problem is neither of us knew our limits, so it wasn't long before we went to the bathrooms. Tomoyo was smart. Hai, she was really smart. She ate some ice, drank some soda, and then busied herself with taping us, while we are in the cafeteria, that is. Oni-chan and Yukito -san had a good dose of it. Syaoran definetely did not take Yukito's trait for when it comes to eating.
We went home very full. Yukito, Syaoran, and Xuyan went one way, Eriol
went his way, Tomoyo-chan went her way, and me, oni-chan and Otou-san went
the other. Of course, the ways are all directed to home. ( Some people need that.)
Oni-chan and I managed to sneak some food into our packages for Kero, who gorged on them as if there was no tomorrow. I wasn't in the mood to deal with him-I needed to go to the bathroom again.
That night was nothing special. Oni-chan and I flipped through the TV channels, those ' haha' shows that aren't even funny.
The next morning, there was a phone call. From Kaho-san.
" Ohayo Sakura-chan." She had said, and I could see her smiling. " There's something you need to know. The night before yesterday, Eriol went with Yue..."
There was a huge transition in the days that followed. A part of the dead
body has become restless. Syaoran was attacked. And we saw the dragon in action
for the first time. I still remember it.
He was like my dream. Engulfed in flames. The dragon rose out of his robes and raised a loud cry. But there was a flash. The flames blew up, like bombs, and settled back. A whisper, a hush, and the flames faded, taking Syaoran along with him. But this time, night was suddenly white, the sky was blazing, as if it had lit up with fire itself.
There were murmurs, musical murmurs, wails, whispers, mutters, and silence. The Stone of Renague glowed bright white. Then all was dark and still, silent, empty, like the void of the dead. Except this time, we were just as empty as the dead. As silent, mute, still...
" I have absolutely no idea how that had happened, so stop bombing me with
questions!" Syaoran cried, very very annoyed. " I know exactly what you know. Big
flames, huge dragon, and then just plain nothing. Then I woke up here!"
And ' here', was actually the cave, the same cave where all the fates had been carved on the wall. This time, we were right in front of Syaoran's fate, as well as my fate, and there was another carving, this time of Syaoran, for some reason riding the golden dragon, and I was standing there watching like some sort of princess in St. George and the Dragon. Only, of course, there was no dragon slaying, and Syaoran was riding on it.
Eriol sat down with a resigned look and he seemed equally annoyed. Not because Syaoran wouldn't answer but because we couldn't get out of there. And if all these events seem to be happening quickly, or written down in a hurry, then I had done a good job, because that was exactly how it was; everything happened in a hurry, with no explanation and no cause.
We later found out we were stuck in that cave for two days, during which nothing really happened to us, no hunger and no thirst, except Yue began to fade. He had strained himself and endured so much stress, worrying over Syaoran's health and well being as well as caring for the rest of us, that the entrapment in the cave came right on time for his collapse.
During those two days we found out some very interesting information. Syaoran's soul was named Tenko; The Clow Cards respond to Tenko so they are able to help him and they are the key to his recovery, somehow. About a third of the dead had been misled and are turning against Syaoran. The Dragon chooses who it defends, so Syaoran was actually the chosen one. Yue is not just a guardian, he is able to join the immortal council if he wants to. Xuyan is actually the guardian to the gate of the dead, which explains his robes. I was the Mistress of all cards, so I command every one of them.
This whole bunch of information came to us at the same time, inscribed neatly on the wall, for the first time in Japanese characters instead of pictures.
We were let out in the morning, or was it noon? Hai, it was noon, the sun was right above us. We were pretty desperate for fresh air, truthfully. But Yue couldn't come out on his own. Kero had to carry him. And everything went wrong.
The dead decided to attack, not Tenko, as you may think, but Yue. The poor guardian began to scream and writh. Jingxi ran over and tried to comfort his father but he couldn't. I called out the Sleep Card and quieted him down a little, and then the Dream Card to form a barrier. Syaoran went out cold, perhaps to negotiate with the dead, and then the Dragon on his robes began to move, clamping its teeth freakishly. The stone began to flash, flashing again and again in a strange purple light.
There was a loud explosion, and the impact had all of us flat on the ground, paralyzed. It lasted for about ten minutes, and when we got up, both Jingxi and Yue were gone.
And then everything went black.