My Immortal
By: Xiao

` I was hoping I could make Sakura just a bit different. -grin.- `

-- Chapter Two: Defenses --
"Have you two decided when?" Tomoyo asked, her voice somewhat dead over the phone. Meiling had pressed herself on the couch, her legs crisscrossed in front of her, her other hand placed in her lap. It was about nine o'clock and it had already been a few days since their group's last meeting.

She took a glance at Xiulang, who was sitting on the arm of her couch, flipping through TV channels with a bored expression, not even staying on one channel for more than a few seconds. "Yeah, we have."

"Really? Should we get another meeting up sometime before you guys leave?"

"No, we don't need to." She said back, calmly. "And anyway, we're leaving tomorrow night."

"Damn. You aren't going to cause any chaos at the airport, right?"

Meiling smiled somewhat dangerously and took another look at Xiulang. "Chaos? No, of course not, Tomoyo. Where ever do you get that idea?" Her voice was so cynical it was somewhat confusing. Tomoyo sighed deeply on the other line, and grunted, mumbling about how this was going to cause so much hell tomorrow night, and then hung up. She pressed the power button and then set it down on the table before standing up and walking over to Xiulang, snatching the remote from him.

"Stop flipping through channels, it's annoying." She said, and then handed it back to him before going to the stairs and up to her room, changing her outfit for the night. Xiulang mumbled something as she did so, and just continued to flip through each one. "I'm going to go out." She called back down from her room. "You want to come with?"

"I'll meet up with you. Where you going?"

"The alleys, then to Tomoyo's house. Want us to wait for you?"

"Training?"

"Yes." She said as she came down the stairs and snatched her purse off of the railing before slinging it onto her shoulder. Xiulang turned off the television and headed to the kitchen, where he left his car keys.

"Yeah, wait up for me." Meiling nodded and took her on set of keys out of her pocket and headed to the front door. She exited, waited for Xiulang to come, and then locked up for the night.

He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before slipping into his car and then driving off in the opposite direction, to where Eriol's house was. She watched as he drove off before making her way down the street and to more of the downtown area, where all the alleys were.

---

She gave a sharp knock on the door and then Tomoyo appeared at the door. She let her in and noticed that she was sipping from her usual water bottle. She slipped it back in her purse before she took a seat and looked at the clock on the wall, wondering how long it would take Xiulang to meet up with them. "So, what are we doing tonight?" Tomoyo asked, finally.

"Hunters." She said, the light of Xiulang's headlights flooded the driveway. "And if you don't mind, Xiulang is going to be helping out tonight. We're going to go down to the alley ways and see if we can find a few decent hunters."

"Damn it." Tomoyo said. Once again, the hunters were also a weak point of hers. She was good with getting away, and getting control of the silent prey, but anyone loud and anyone who could fight back was always a problem.

"Don't act so negative, you're lucky we're doing this during the night. If I was in a bad mood, I could have made you do this in the afternoon, which, as you know, let's their auras harder to notice." Tomoyo nodded; at least she was lucky enough to do this lesson during the night. For vampires, their auras were more noticeable during the day, and more discrete during the night. For the hunters, it was the same, except their auras were more discrete in the day.

The two girls exited and made their way to Xiulang's car, Tomoyo and herself taking a seat in the back as Meiling dug around in her purse. "Where to?"

"Alleys."

"What for?"

"Going to see if we can find some hunters." She looked up in the rearview mirror and saw that Xiulang was smiling. She shook her head, wondering why she was letting him join on this training bit. She knew that he loved to go after the hunters, that most of them were just a cheap thrill if you were actually looking for one.

She grinned and pulled out a small dagger placed in a leather holder, and pulled it out, handling it with extreme caution. Tomoyo just stopped moving and stared and then Xiulang slammed on the brakes in the middle of the road, cars swirling around him so not to crash. The sudden jerk caused her to stab the back of the seat in front of her. Lucky for them, it was the passenger's seat, and no one was sitting there. "Why the fuck are you carrying one of those around!?"

"Goddamnit, Xiulang!" She screamed pulling it out of the cushion and putting it back in the leather holder. "Stop slamming on the fucking breaks before I accidentally stab someone! I mean, what the hell is your problem!? Do you think I'm going to STAB you just because I have the fucking dagger?!"

"My problem?!" He shot back. Tomoyo just blinked and stared at the two, wondering how in hell they could be considered a couple, since they usually yelled at each other. "You're a fucking vampire, why the hell do you have a hunter's dagger?!"

"YOU GUYS SHUT THE HELL UP!" Tomoyo finally said, kicking the back of his chair to tell him to take his foot off the break. Meiling shook her head as she gave Xiulang a slight glare and then relaxed back in her seat. A moment later and he took his foot off the brake and continued on their way to the alleys.

A few minutes of silence passed until finally Xiulang stopped and took his keys out. Meiling sighed and got out and down to the middle of the alley, waiting for the other two to follow her. Once they all stood around her, she pulled the dagger out of its case, in exchange winning a glare from Xiulang. "Now, if you give me a chance to explain."

"You know this is really smart, Mei." He said, his voice full of ringing with a sarcastic tone. Meiling glared back and Tomoyo shoved him lightly, and waved for Meiling to continue on.

"Anyway." She said as she pulled it out of its case, silver glinting with the streetlights with a deadly tinge. She stuffed the small leather case in her back pocket and then held the dagger directly in front of her face, the tip pointing upwards. "Now, this is, obviously, a hunter's dagger. I stole it from a hunter when I killed them." She smirked. "And this is what a hunter's dagger does." She pulled it down and pressed the tip firmly against her index finger. Part of her skin seemed to sizzle and then blood pooled together and then spilt over.

"What the hell?" Xiulang muttered.

"Now, see, these type of daggers are supposedly have a holy water center, that's why it's so deadly to us. Of course, it doesn't kill us with just a small cut like this. But, let's say it's at the chest." She pushed the dagger hard at Xiulang and came to a dead stop only an inch from his chest. He didn't even wince or move at all. "Now, lets say they got a dead hit right at the heart. Xiulang, our lovely vampire, would die in a matter of seconds." She pulled it away and took its leather case out before placing it back in. She went to his car and tossed it in the back seat before coming back. "The point is it's deadly." She grinned.

"Now, if you want, we can get some basic fighting in before we go off in search of a real hunter. You want to?" She asked. Actually, Tomoyo was pretty decent at fighting, but she wasn't exactly an expert. She gave a slight nod, and Meiling took a glance at Xiulang. "Do you want to fight with her, or would you rather me?"

"I'll do it." He said, and went in front of her. It was a good thing that everyone was wearing somewhat moveable clothes instead of the usual skirts and such. Tomoyo adorned in a pair of dark blue jean pants with a black short-sleeved shirt. Xiulang with the same, except his pants were black. Meiling, of course, was all black with her red ribbon in her hair (yes, it was a trademark thing). "Don't worry, Daidouji, I'll go easy on you."

Meiling leaned against the wall and chuckled lightly as she prepared to watch her best friend and boyfriend go through a fighting session. There was a moment as they both prepared and got into their stances before their was a charge and kicks began to fly, sometimes being caught and hits bring through. Tomoyo began with a swift kick to the shin, only for Xiulang to jump and send another hit at her, which she caught and aimed another kick at his stomach, which he blocked swiftly. The same thing going on for a few minutes until Xiulang got hold of her leg and she was beginning to stumble.

The next moment he had a Meiling's arm held tightly around his neck with one of his arms in her grasp. Tomoyo pulled free, and then Meiling had her lips against his neck as if to bite him, but only the tips of her fangs pressed against the skin. Another bite from a vampire to a vampire was, of course, harmless, but it could cause some extreme pain if they got certain points, Meiling had the right spot, as usual. A moment later, she pressed, not enough to puncture skin, but enough to make it uncomfortable, and then she let go. "Come on, Xiu, that was much to easy."

Just then there was another person at the edge of the alley.

---

"So," she said as she slipped the dagger neatly back into it's case and setting it on her nightstand. "I got another one this evening." She turned and looked at her friend, sitting on her bed with a smirk on her face. Rika nodded lightly as she took a glance at the bit of blood spill on Sakura's jeans. "She had, sadly, a pathetic defense."

"Doesn't matter." Rika replied, her voice soft. "I got some news, by the way, while you were out."

"Oh? From who?"

"Xiao-Lang. He seems to have some sort of connection with people in Hong Kong. He wanted me to tell you that supposedly Meiling Li and Xiulang Lei are to be arriving in Tomoeda sometime tomorrow. Said that they're considered some of the best vampires, and their aimed directly at you and himself." She watched her friend's movements, Sakura running a hand through her chestnut hair and walking to the window, where she looked down at the street. Everything sat still and calm, the streetlight's shimmer flickering ever so lightly. She turned back to her, emerald gleams residing in her orbs, with a smirk on her face.

"Mess with the best and you'll die like the rest." This caused a nod from Rika, and of course a smirk. "There's tons of people who claimed to be the best vampires, and look, they're dead, aren't they; with just an impetration of a blade. How utterly amusing that they think themselves of any different than the ones that died because of Xiao-Lang or me."

Rika rolled her eyes lightly with a chuckle escaping between her lips. "You act like you're the best there ever is and ever will be in the hunters race."

Sakura smirked, as she went to the nightstand and took her dagger out of it's case and watched her reflection stare back at her in the blade's perfected silver. "That's because I am, Rika."

---

"Shit." Tomoyo muttered under her breath as she saw that figure making their way toward them. Of course she knew that it was a hunter, its aura was so strong and the way it was gazing at them was a dead give away. Her eyes tore from him and to Meiling's wondering why one hunter would take on three vampires, two of them being, basically, the best out of every one of them.

"Oh, this is wonderful." Meiling said as she took a few steps toward Tomoyo. Her voice was low, deadly, dangerous tone. "We can see what you can do now, and then improve. Go right ahead, Tomoyo, please get rid of this bastard and we'll see what we can do after that." She gave her friend a gentle push. Tomoyo shook her head and made her way over to him, as Xiulang came back to meet Meiling.

"You really think we should let her handle this one? He's obviously somewhat good if he's not even nervous about three of us." He took a side-glance at her, as Meiling grinned, watching Tomoyo begin a pretty damn good fight.

"She'll be fine, Xiulang." She assured him. "Some of these hunters are just on ego trips and think they can handle every one of us that they are dealt." The hunter had thrown a swift stab, in which Tomoyo jerked to the side and grabbed his wrist, sending a kick to the back of his right shin, which hit hard at its destination. He stumbled, aimlessly trying to get about stab at her and missed by at least half a foot. She then let his wrist go and he fell flat on the pavement. The next thing he knew, she had her foot standing on the wrist that had his dagger. He glared up at her, grabbing her ankle with his free hand.

"Now, now, you two, do place nicely." Meiling chuckled. Usually she was really serious when training Tomoyo, but at the moment, she knew that she had the advantage and if she just made the correct move, she could win this easily.

Tomoyo smirked down at his attempt to knock her over, and with a swift move of her leg, she kicked him hard in the chin, and then she felt his wrist stop being so tense, and his fingers detached from his dagger. She bent down and picked up the dagger, carefully, and then threw it down at the chest of her victim. Blood swelled and then spilled over against his shirt.

"Nicely done." Xiulang commented as him and Meiling made their way over to Tomoyo, who stood, smiling wickedly at the victim beneath her. "I especially liked the kick to the chin." Meiling nodded in agreement to his statement.

"I told you he would be a self centered bastard who thinks he can take on anyone who is dealt." She said as she eyed Xiulang beside her. Tomoyo turned and looked at the two behind her, with a smile on her face.

The three made their way back to Xiulang's car as Meiling began to comment on how she was getting much better, that now all she needed was a little more practice on a little more talented hunters, and then some strategy on handling bigger groups and then she'd be a pretty damn good vampire.