DISCLAIMER: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me but to CLAMP. I
am just merely borrowing it for entertainment purposes.
CHAPTER VII Blood starts to flow
"FLY!!!!"
Was it heard Sakura's screaming when she realized a windstorm was following her and, with a fluid movement, jumped into her winged staff. Miraculously she got to evade it followed by Kero. Whatever this thing was it had to be stopped quickly otherwise she would end up loosing the battle.
"TREE!!!"
She tried to stop the fury of the growing hurricane by confronting it to the recently created woods. The branches painfully hurting her arms and ripping the pink clothe of her costume. Sweat falling down from her forehead and causing her hands to slip making the escaping even more difficult every single second. Her hair revolting because of the savage air, blinding her sight to the point she merely crashed into a tree. And she would have if Syaoran hadn't appeared in that very second and jumped onto the staff and directed it somewhere else.
"Thanks" "It's okay" Syaoran answered "now keep your breath 'cause we've got to get out of here!"
She held her body close to him and closed her eyes for a brief moment inhaling the scent of his neck. Lavender. It was so like him: so seductive, so capable to awaken all her senses; his perfume was a signature of his manhood. She shook slightly her head at the thought and decided to clear her mind: This wasn't the time for that. Maybe later, when they got come. IF they could ever get out of this.
After a while of being riding and escaping from the hurricane over the whole city Syaoran and Sakura found themselves in a part of Tomoeda they weren't familiarized with. Maybe it was the fact of if being too deserted or it could be that intoxicating sweet scent but they had the impression that something was wrong. really wrong.
"Syaoran" Sakura ventured to say "isn't Eriol's place on the other side of Tomoeda" "Yes, it is" he answered in a matter-of-factly tone "but why do you ask?" "I thought we were going over there" "Aren't we?" "Well. yes" she answered puzzled "then. why are you taking us this way?" "I'm not taking us anywhere." his eyes grew bigger than Tomoyo's when she reached a high note "You're the one who's supposed to be leading us" "Well I'm not taking us anywhere either!!!!" she cried as she realized that something way to strange was happening and that neither of them could control it. "I guess we'll just have to go with the river."
And so they did, after a couple of minutes they reached a location in the outsides of Tomoeda that, if visited under different conditions, would have been an excellent place to have a picnic, but then again, the last thing that occupied their mind was having a picnic: there were more important things to think about for example: Why the hell they were there?. Or even more important yet: How the hell would they ever be able to get out?
They landed next to a tree, a peach tree more specifically. Syaoran descended first and when he proved it was safe he helped Sakura down. With a fluid movement she jumped from the staff and pretended to have slipped just to find support in Syaoran's body. They both realized the fake fall but they decided to take full advantage of it anyway. Syaoran moved his lips closer to Sakura but she turned her head before they could make contact.
"Sakura" he whispered in her ear "is something bothering you?" "No." she shook her head while blushing furiously "It's not because of you, it's just that. that smell. It's awfully familiar, don't you think?" "Now that you mention it. It is very familiar."
The young man hadn't even finished articulating that phrase when a cold drop fell on his palm and as if done magically he felt a strong pain strike against his right shoulder.
"You're bleeding!!!" Sakura cried in horror "God! That hurt like hell!!!!" Her companion groaned but tried to hide the agonizing pain in his words when he looked at her worried green orbs "Don't worry, it's not that bad." "Yes, it is" she said in with a nervous voice and put her left hand on his shoulder to heal the wound. Her surprise grew even bigger when she realized that magic wouldn't do the task "Why isn't it working?" "It must be some kind of stronger magic" "Why, dammed??!!! Why is this happening to us??!! I'm all alone in this crap hole, my whole family is in danger, and that freaking stink is killing me!!!" "That scent." Syaoran said almost in silence "It smells like lotus flowers!!!!!" "What do you mean Syaoran?? Do you mean.?" she just went speechless. Everything made sense now, that wound Syaoran had wouldn't just heal like that because it had been greater magic that had caused it "C'mon, fast, jump on! FLY!!!"
The staff was almost uncontrollable but with some magic they were finally able to deal with it. They landed again at the source of magic that Syaoran's board had been announcing until it wouldn't work anymore. The light in the board would spin from one corner to another and then glow in the center.
"This can't be happening" Syaoran whispered "the board has gone crazy." "This has happened before, remember?" Sakura said with concerned voice "this is exactly what happened with the Maze card - It's like.
.If we were inside the card."
"I wonder why it took you two so long to finally find it out" a familiar voice said which could no nothing but wonder both of the brown haired teenagers. "ERIOL!!!" "And who were you expecting? Madre Teresa?" The boy replied with a slight smile.
He didn't have his glasses on and after a quick examination they found them lying broken on the floor a few feet away from where they were standing. They looked at his eyes: they were tired, pleading for mercy, even if he wouldn't say it. He was such a stubborn person sometimes. And there he was standing proudly with his staff using it as a rod if one looked carefully enough. They noticed he was bleeding in the same point Syaoran had been a moment ago.
"E.Er.Eriol." Sakura began "why are you bleeding?" "This?" he answered while pointing at his shoulder "Oh! It is nothing! You should not worry about it" "It just can't be such a coincidence that Hiiragizawa and I have the same wound and had received it apparently at the same time" Syaoran interrupted. Great anxiety could be noticed in his tone. "You surprise me every single day that passes. You know Li, sometimes you can be so damn naïf!" The British boy almost yelled "I shall tell you what is going on but I'd rather do it fast, otherwise, this may get worse" he pointed at their shoulders and proceeded to explain "Do you remember what I told Tomoyo that day at my house? I told her that it was all about blood: about blood and about magic. ShinJin is after us and I have been convoked to confront her but this battle is not only Clow's: It is mine because of my magic, and it is yours, Li Syaoran, for being his own blood and his last descendent who has inherited his powers and is also ruled by his same element: The sun." "So that means.?" "Yes indeed" he continued "that means that everything that happens to me, while representing Clow in this battle, shall also happen to Li." "And what about Sakura?" "Sakura, for being blood related to the Ni clan and being the last one able to perform magic ruled by the moon for being a woman, shall be impacted by the same wounds that ShinJin suffers in this encounter. Therefore, as you can see" he referred to the girl standing next to him "I haven't been able to touch my opponent. "So that means." the Chinese one feared "that if we want to beat ShinJin Ni we will have to hurt Sakura?! I won't do it!" "But that would mean the end of magic. forever" "I don't care if that means the end of the world! I said I wouldn't do it!"
Sakura was shocked, she couldn't believe that either Syaoran or her would have to die so the other one would live. She had pictured their future so differently after their kiss. That damned kiss had blown her mind and changed her in so many ways until the point she would never perceive life the same way. Perhaps all those new things had lead her to think that problems would be over now and that they would finally be able to be together, that perhaps, this time, fate had decided that it had been enough and that they deserved to be happy. It had been so stupid to think that things would ever change into romantic perfection but hope had always been a stigma that would follow her and never leave her as it would never let some wounds heal.
A strike of red liquid against her face stopped Sakura's soliloquies to make her realize with great horror that the fluid that was blinding her sight was blood and that it came from both, Syaoran and Eriol's, arms.
"Bloody Hell!!" Eriol screamed. It was so unusual for him to loose control and say that kind of things "Come on Li!!!!" he continued while pulling the Chinese youngster onto his very own winged staff. "SAKURA!!!!!!!!"
The girl in question was left standing on the floor in great confusion. Green globes flickering incessantly full of fear as she saw blood leaking, either from her beloved one or her best friend's one, she couldn't tell but it was still horrible. However, she secretly just wished it was not Syaoran's even if deep in her heart she knew that all of her fears had been materialized into a cruel certainty. Tears fusing with blood into a mix of anguish and impotence.
More red liquid came to join de mixture in Sakura's face blinding her, this time, flowing gracefully down from one side of her forehead as if a paper cut had provoked it. She could not notice but one difference: the blood was hers now and that could have only meant one thing: ShinJin had been reached by their magic.
Her thoughts were again interrupted by a familiar voice, one that had gave her comfort in the hardest times and the one that had accompanied her best friend since Elementary School.
"SAKURA!!!!!!!!" the owner of that voice yelled "Sakura what's going on? I can't understand!! Please tell me"
The bleeding girl tried to calm her black haired friend whose eyes were now filled with tears product of, what appeared to be, hours of crying
"Is he. is he." the girl sobbed "Is he going to die?" "What are you talking about Tomoyo?!" the other one tried to comfort her "no one is going to die here" "Sakura you're my best friend, please don't lie to me - the blue eyed girl continued, her melodic voice was now cracking" I don't care how much it hurts just. just tell me truth "All right Tomoyo, I won't lie to you but you must promise me that you won't do anything stupid" her interlocutor nodded "Yes, yes there is a chance that both, Syaoran and Eriol, die" the magician ended to brake down after the last word came out from her mouth. "And. is there anything we can do to stop it?"
Sakura left her right hand to her forehead and brushed the blood invading it away as a tear rolled by her cheek followed by another one, and another one. and another own. The girl was crying as she realized that something could be done. and it WOULD BE DONE.
"Yes Tomoyo" she said with her green eyes flooded with tears "there is something to be done in order to stop it." "And what is it?" The other one inquired "We will have to beat ShinJin Ni" "And exactly how are we going to do that?" "Well."
Her words were interrupted by the sound of something heavy slamming into the ground, their eyes filled with horror when they realized they were the bodies of their beloved ones lying on the floor followed after a few moments by the winged staff. Their eyes were closed and they appeared to be unconscious. if not dead.
The girls ran towards the youngsters and started yelling, screaming their names. Their tears being mixed with the blood of their beloved ones pooling itself around them and dyeing their clothes and hands red.
A couple of eyes opened letting blue orbs meet the light again. Tomoyo practically threw herself onto the recently awaken boy.
"You." he started. His voice was weak and broken as he looked at the sobbing girl's eyes "you should not have come. It is dangerous."
Tomoyo cried and then regained her composure feeling relieved that he was fine but most of all to comfort him as her eyes met his sparkling confused eyes "you're wrong because I. because I need to protect you. I need to. I need to protect you from."she went speechless again as she realized the uselessness of her words and she understood that no matter how much she felt what she meant to say, she didn't have the strength to let those words abandon her mouth if they weren't going to be able to change the way things were.
The blue-eyed teenager wished, prayed to every god that would listen so he wouldn't have to live her side, even if she didn't believe in any. It was then when she realized that she would do anything, believe in anything just to keep him from suffering the pain of being him. But she knew as well as he did that she did not possess the chance to do that.
He was smiling, a small smile up at her, his eyes soft as the light from the sun danced across his face. "Tomoyo, you know that my only goal is to protect YOU" he said softly as he smiled up at her, his eyes soft as the light danced across the tears.
She blinked, and tears accompanied her eyes this time "No!" her hands balled into fists "No Eriol, you don't understand. I want to be here with you because I want you to be happy and because. because I don't want you to suffer anymore."
Her hands covered her face as tears fell to the ground splashing at the contact with the river of blood under her feet, her hair spattered around her as black ink. Eriol's hand reached to touch her braking at the instant the glass that covered that portrait of sorrow, his touch so light that she couldn't have noticed but she could assure existed. Her hands fell to her lap as her eyes locked with his.
"Tomoyo" he whispered softly "please don't cry. Please, if you want to protect me, protect me from seeing you suffering because of me. Don't cry and I shall be happy" "But it ain't enough!" She broke down at the impotence that invaded her "I don't want you to suffer. I don't want to loose you!!" "You shall not loose me. And it is enough" he breathed "You ARE enough for me. Just remember what I told you Destiny is meant to hurt me. Because life is unfair and shall not let me have you without getting hurt but it doesn't matter."
She felt his lips touching hers, brushing her own with that insubstantial touch he had demonstrated moments ago. She felt her body go weak down and her face lay on his chest; she could feel his dark against her visage. She could feel his breathing that enchanted her as a lullaby that would help her sleep for all eternity if she allowed herself to relax a little bit more ".It doesn't matter because I love you"
"Life is unfair, my love" she sighed as she held him to her so he would never leave her "life is so unfair."
End of chapter 7
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Isn't Eriol SO PERFECT? I love him!!!!!! (I WANNA MARRY HIM!) PLEASE REVIEW!! And thanks for reading!
CHAPTER VII Blood starts to flow
"FLY!!!!"
Was it heard Sakura's screaming when she realized a windstorm was following her and, with a fluid movement, jumped into her winged staff. Miraculously she got to evade it followed by Kero. Whatever this thing was it had to be stopped quickly otherwise she would end up loosing the battle.
"TREE!!!"
She tried to stop the fury of the growing hurricane by confronting it to the recently created woods. The branches painfully hurting her arms and ripping the pink clothe of her costume. Sweat falling down from her forehead and causing her hands to slip making the escaping even more difficult every single second. Her hair revolting because of the savage air, blinding her sight to the point she merely crashed into a tree. And she would have if Syaoran hadn't appeared in that very second and jumped onto the staff and directed it somewhere else.
"Thanks" "It's okay" Syaoran answered "now keep your breath 'cause we've got to get out of here!"
She held her body close to him and closed her eyes for a brief moment inhaling the scent of his neck. Lavender. It was so like him: so seductive, so capable to awaken all her senses; his perfume was a signature of his manhood. She shook slightly her head at the thought and decided to clear her mind: This wasn't the time for that. Maybe later, when they got come. IF they could ever get out of this.
After a while of being riding and escaping from the hurricane over the whole city Syaoran and Sakura found themselves in a part of Tomoeda they weren't familiarized with. Maybe it was the fact of if being too deserted or it could be that intoxicating sweet scent but they had the impression that something was wrong. really wrong.
"Syaoran" Sakura ventured to say "isn't Eriol's place on the other side of Tomoeda" "Yes, it is" he answered in a matter-of-factly tone "but why do you ask?" "I thought we were going over there" "Aren't we?" "Well. yes" she answered puzzled "then. why are you taking us this way?" "I'm not taking us anywhere." his eyes grew bigger than Tomoyo's when she reached a high note "You're the one who's supposed to be leading us" "Well I'm not taking us anywhere either!!!!" she cried as she realized that something way to strange was happening and that neither of them could control it. "I guess we'll just have to go with the river."
And so they did, after a couple of minutes they reached a location in the outsides of Tomoeda that, if visited under different conditions, would have been an excellent place to have a picnic, but then again, the last thing that occupied their mind was having a picnic: there were more important things to think about for example: Why the hell they were there?. Or even more important yet: How the hell would they ever be able to get out?
They landed next to a tree, a peach tree more specifically. Syaoran descended first and when he proved it was safe he helped Sakura down. With a fluid movement she jumped from the staff and pretended to have slipped just to find support in Syaoran's body. They both realized the fake fall but they decided to take full advantage of it anyway. Syaoran moved his lips closer to Sakura but she turned her head before they could make contact.
"Sakura" he whispered in her ear "is something bothering you?" "No." she shook her head while blushing furiously "It's not because of you, it's just that. that smell. It's awfully familiar, don't you think?" "Now that you mention it. It is very familiar."
The young man hadn't even finished articulating that phrase when a cold drop fell on his palm and as if done magically he felt a strong pain strike against his right shoulder.
"You're bleeding!!!" Sakura cried in horror "God! That hurt like hell!!!!" Her companion groaned but tried to hide the agonizing pain in his words when he looked at her worried green orbs "Don't worry, it's not that bad." "Yes, it is" she said in with a nervous voice and put her left hand on his shoulder to heal the wound. Her surprise grew even bigger when she realized that magic wouldn't do the task "Why isn't it working?" "It must be some kind of stronger magic" "Why, dammed??!!! Why is this happening to us??!! I'm all alone in this crap hole, my whole family is in danger, and that freaking stink is killing me!!!" "That scent." Syaoran said almost in silence "It smells like lotus flowers!!!!!" "What do you mean Syaoran?? Do you mean.?" she just went speechless. Everything made sense now, that wound Syaoran had wouldn't just heal like that because it had been greater magic that had caused it "C'mon, fast, jump on! FLY!!!"
The staff was almost uncontrollable but with some magic they were finally able to deal with it. They landed again at the source of magic that Syaoran's board had been announcing until it wouldn't work anymore. The light in the board would spin from one corner to another and then glow in the center.
"This can't be happening" Syaoran whispered "the board has gone crazy." "This has happened before, remember?" Sakura said with concerned voice "this is exactly what happened with the Maze card - It's like.
.If we were inside the card."
"I wonder why it took you two so long to finally find it out" a familiar voice said which could no nothing but wonder both of the brown haired teenagers. "ERIOL!!!" "And who were you expecting? Madre Teresa?" The boy replied with a slight smile.
He didn't have his glasses on and after a quick examination they found them lying broken on the floor a few feet away from where they were standing. They looked at his eyes: they were tired, pleading for mercy, even if he wouldn't say it. He was such a stubborn person sometimes. And there he was standing proudly with his staff using it as a rod if one looked carefully enough. They noticed he was bleeding in the same point Syaoran had been a moment ago.
"E.Er.Eriol." Sakura began "why are you bleeding?" "This?" he answered while pointing at his shoulder "Oh! It is nothing! You should not worry about it" "It just can't be such a coincidence that Hiiragizawa and I have the same wound and had received it apparently at the same time" Syaoran interrupted. Great anxiety could be noticed in his tone. "You surprise me every single day that passes. You know Li, sometimes you can be so damn naïf!" The British boy almost yelled "I shall tell you what is going on but I'd rather do it fast, otherwise, this may get worse" he pointed at their shoulders and proceeded to explain "Do you remember what I told Tomoyo that day at my house? I told her that it was all about blood: about blood and about magic. ShinJin is after us and I have been convoked to confront her but this battle is not only Clow's: It is mine because of my magic, and it is yours, Li Syaoran, for being his own blood and his last descendent who has inherited his powers and is also ruled by his same element: The sun." "So that means.?" "Yes indeed" he continued "that means that everything that happens to me, while representing Clow in this battle, shall also happen to Li." "And what about Sakura?" "Sakura, for being blood related to the Ni clan and being the last one able to perform magic ruled by the moon for being a woman, shall be impacted by the same wounds that ShinJin suffers in this encounter. Therefore, as you can see" he referred to the girl standing next to him "I haven't been able to touch my opponent. "So that means." the Chinese one feared "that if we want to beat ShinJin Ni we will have to hurt Sakura?! I won't do it!" "But that would mean the end of magic. forever" "I don't care if that means the end of the world! I said I wouldn't do it!"
Sakura was shocked, she couldn't believe that either Syaoran or her would have to die so the other one would live. She had pictured their future so differently after their kiss. That damned kiss had blown her mind and changed her in so many ways until the point she would never perceive life the same way. Perhaps all those new things had lead her to think that problems would be over now and that they would finally be able to be together, that perhaps, this time, fate had decided that it had been enough and that they deserved to be happy. It had been so stupid to think that things would ever change into romantic perfection but hope had always been a stigma that would follow her and never leave her as it would never let some wounds heal.
A strike of red liquid against her face stopped Sakura's soliloquies to make her realize with great horror that the fluid that was blinding her sight was blood and that it came from both, Syaoran and Eriol's, arms.
"Bloody Hell!!" Eriol screamed. It was so unusual for him to loose control and say that kind of things "Come on Li!!!!" he continued while pulling the Chinese youngster onto his very own winged staff. "SAKURA!!!!!!!!"
The girl in question was left standing on the floor in great confusion. Green globes flickering incessantly full of fear as she saw blood leaking, either from her beloved one or her best friend's one, she couldn't tell but it was still horrible. However, she secretly just wished it was not Syaoran's even if deep in her heart she knew that all of her fears had been materialized into a cruel certainty. Tears fusing with blood into a mix of anguish and impotence.
More red liquid came to join de mixture in Sakura's face blinding her, this time, flowing gracefully down from one side of her forehead as if a paper cut had provoked it. She could not notice but one difference: the blood was hers now and that could have only meant one thing: ShinJin had been reached by their magic.
Her thoughts were again interrupted by a familiar voice, one that had gave her comfort in the hardest times and the one that had accompanied her best friend since Elementary School.
"SAKURA!!!!!!!!" the owner of that voice yelled "Sakura what's going on? I can't understand!! Please tell me"
The bleeding girl tried to calm her black haired friend whose eyes were now filled with tears product of, what appeared to be, hours of crying
"Is he. is he." the girl sobbed "Is he going to die?" "What are you talking about Tomoyo?!" the other one tried to comfort her "no one is going to die here" "Sakura you're my best friend, please don't lie to me - the blue eyed girl continued, her melodic voice was now cracking" I don't care how much it hurts just. just tell me truth "All right Tomoyo, I won't lie to you but you must promise me that you won't do anything stupid" her interlocutor nodded "Yes, yes there is a chance that both, Syaoran and Eriol, die" the magician ended to brake down after the last word came out from her mouth. "And. is there anything we can do to stop it?"
Sakura left her right hand to her forehead and brushed the blood invading it away as a tear rolled by her cheek followed by another one, and another one. and another own. The girl was crying as she realized that something could be done. and it WOULD BE DONE.
"Yes Tomoyo" she said with her green eyes flooded with tears "there is something to be done in order to stop it." "And what is it?" The other one inquired "We will have to beat ShinJin Ni" "And exactly how are we going to do that?" "Well."
Her words were interrupted by the sound of something heavy slamming into the ground, their eyes filled with horror when they realized they were the bodies of their beloved ones lying on the floor followed after a few moments by the winged staff. Their eyes were closed and they appeared to be unconscious. if not dead.
The girls ran towards the youngsters and started yelling, screaming their names. Their tears being mixed with the blood of their beloved ones pooling itself around them and dyeing their clothes and hands red.
A couple of eyes opened letting blue orbs meet the light again. Tomoyo practically threw herself onto the recently awaken boy.
"You." he started. His voice was weak and broken as he looked at the sobbing girl's eyes "you should not have come. It is dangerous."
Tomoyo cried and then regained her composure feeling relieved that he was fine but most of all to comfort him as her eyes met his sparkling confused eyes "you're wrong because I. because I need to protect you. I need to. I need to protect you from."she went speechless again as she realized the uselessness of her words and she understood that no matter how much she felt what she meant to say, she didn't have the strength to let those words abandon her mouth if they weren't going to be able to change the way things were.
The blue-eyed teenager wished, prayed to every god that would listen so he wouldn't have to live her side, even if she didn't believe in any. It was then when she realized that she would do anything, believe in anything just to keep him from suffering the pain of being him. But she knew as well as he did that she did not possess the chance to do that.
He was smiling, a small smile up at her, his eyes soft as the light from the sun danced across his face. "Tomoyo, you know that my only goal is to protect YOU" he said softly as he smiled up at her, his eyes soft as the light danced across the tears.
She blinked, and tears accompanied her eyes this time "No!" her hands balled into fists "No Eriol, you don't understand. I want to be here with you because I want you to be happy and because. because I don't want you to suffer anymore."
Her hands covered her face as tears fell to the ground splashing at the contact with the river of blood under her feet, her hair spattered around her as black ink. Eriol's hand reached to touch her braking at the instant the glass that covered that portrait of sorrow, his touch so light that she couldn't have noticed but she could assure existed. Her hands fell to her lap as her eyes locked with his.
"Tomoyo" he whispered softly "please don't cry. Please, if you want to protect me, protect me from seeing you suffering because of me. Don't cry and I shall be happy" "But it ain't enough!" She broke down at the impotence that invaded her "I don't want you to suffer. I don't want to loose you!!" "You shall not loose me. And it is enough" he breathed "You ARE enough for me. Just remember what I told you Destiny is meant to hurt me. Because life is unfair and shall not let me have you without getting hurt but it doesn't matter."
She felt his lips touching hers, brushing her own with that insubstantial touch he had demonstrated moments ago. She felt her body go weak down and her face lay on his chest; she could feel his dark against her visage. She could feel his breathing that enchanted her as a lullaby that would help her sleep for all eternity if she allowed herself to relax a little bit more ".It doesn't matter because I love you"
"Life is unfair, my love" she sighed as she held him to her so he would never leave her "life is so unfair."
End of chapter 7
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Isn't Eriol SO PERFECT? I love him!!!!!! (I WANNA MARRY HIM!) PLEASE REVIEW!! And thanks for reading!