Hmm... I'm sorry this new chapter took so long. Some of you might have read in my bio that I found out that a friend of mine died. I found out a couple of nights ago and even though I had over half of this chapter written, it was still quite difficult. Oh god, I'm rambling... sorry about that. I'll get on with the fic, it'd probably be easier for you guys, and for me...
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS or Spirited Away. CCS is owned by CLAMP and Spirited Away belongs to Hayao Miyazaki. Spirited Away is one of the best movies I have ever seen, if anyone hasn't seen it, I highly recommend it!
Special thanks to:
Yu Yuan: Thank you so much for your review! I'll update as fast as I can, ok?
lilsue: Here it is! Here it is! I'm sorry for the sad beginning; I should have given everyone a box of Kleenex, ne? I'm going to try updating regularuly, but honestly, speed is not exactly my forte. ^^;;
BlakBluNailPolish45: Thanks. Don't worry, I will be writing more. Maybe not at a quite speedy rate, but I will definitely update at LEAST once every two weeks.
Summary: If saving her life meant breaking her heart... would you be willing to do it? Yet, if she still came chasing after you, would you still run away? Taking refuge in the Spirit World, Syaoran's convinced he's doing the right thing. CCS/Spirited Away crossover.
~ A World Away ~ Chapter Two ~ Loss ~
* * * * * The Kinomoto Household ... back to Jomei, Sachi and Kero * * * * *
"What the HELL?!?!" was the echo.
Sachi covered her ears. Boy that guardian could yell.
Jomei was doing the exact same thing as his sister, but his was more exaggerated, as if telling that THING to shut up. "Is there any earmuffs around here?" Jomei asked the thing.
"Earmuffs?! What the hell are you doing in Sakura's kitchen?!" Kero thundered. It was definite, for a small stuffed toy, he had a big voice.
Kero was breathing hard. That shout had taken a lot out of him, it was just when he floated downstairs, anticipating to see Sakura cooking pancakes or something, he had come face to face with someone whose eyes had looked strangely like Yue's, and that had freaked him out big time. Only this one had been female, as Kero was quick to notice. Kero added onto his question.
"Who ARE you two?"
Sachi shot a troubled look over at Jomei. She had thought that dealing with the two VERY overprotective people in Sakura's life would be hard, but she had never thought it would be this hard. Sachi had always thought of the sun guardian, Keroberos, as a fun-loving, prank-pulling stuffed animal. Certainly, in this situation, he was a stuffed animal, but his personality had done a complete 180. She guessed it was one of the consequences that she'd have to deal with from travelling to this plane of time from the future. She'd known this little guy for years back in the timeline where she was meant to be, but he didn't seem to know her at all here.
Of course he wouldn't! She hadn't even been born in this timeline yet. Duh! Sachi thought, feeling like smacking herself on the forehead in disbelief. Ugh, she could be SO stupid sometimes. So completely dense. No wonder Jomei annoyed her all the time. Sachi had known Sakura's guardians back in her time. Well, she'd heard from Kero all about Tomoyo and Sakura, and had heard about stories from when Sakura had been alive. Tomoyo had always been at every card capture, well, the ones she could make it too anyway. Though, Sachi's timeline was so much different from this one.
After Syaoran had left, Sakura had become down and depressed. She had refused to have anything to do with magic. Of course she'd taken care of the Cards. She was bound to, but she never used magic again. Kero had told Sachi that every year that Sakura had lived, she had looked worse and worse. Her green eyes had never lit up like they once had, never even sparkled. They had been dull and lackadaisical. Kero had been worrying about her, right up until the day of Sakura's passing.
A couple of years later, Sachi had been born. From the moment that she'd been able to understand Kero, she'd become fascinated with Kero's stories, and had wanted so very badly to meet this Sakura. And now, here had been her chance, and she'd learned nothing new about the girl that she hadn't already known. It disappointed her a little, but she knew that she had to be here for a purpose, her instincts had told her so, and here she was going to stay until she felt that she had done what she had set out to do.
Jomei, who was the more empathic of the siblings, sensed something wrong with Sakura's emotions. Sakura was feeling horrible sorrow and misery. Although at the moment, she was currently out cold. He opened his mouth to say something to his sister, but she had her hands full with explaining something to Keroberos. Maybe this was a job that Jomei had to deal with on his own. He gathered his bag from the kitchen table and rummaged within it for something. He had a look of concentration on his face and with his tongue set between his teeth, it looked pretty comical.
At last, well in two minutes, he found what he was looking for and he saw that Keroberos was still yelling at Sachi and he guessed that he would probably have to intervene. Except for the tiny fact that arbitrating was not exactly his forte... Damn, this was a time that he wished that he had paid more attention to his mother. Curse distractions!
"Hey, hey, you two. But it out, we've got to go help Kinomoto, she's in distress."
Kero's furious glare was directed upon Jomei. "How the hell do you know what's wrong with my mistress?"
Kero certainly seemed to like the word 'hell', it seemed to Jomei. "I can just sense it, ok? Look, can we get a move on? We don't want to harm her more by just leaving her out there. Something horrible has happened, I know it."
"What? Has she been attacked?" Kero's voice was worried.
Jomei was taken aback at this sudden display of concern from Keroberos. At least two seconds ago, he had been yelling at Sachi, and now he was all concerned. Geez, this guardian had a personality switch.
"No. She hasn't been attacked. Something's been said to her that's made her feel this way. I don't know what it is, but it's causing her great sorrow and misery. That's all I know. I'm sorry I can't be of more help."
"Look, it's ok, but we have to find her now, before someone else gets to her. I can't sense the gaki around anywhere. I think it's something to do with him."
Jomei grabbed the amulet that was dangling from Sachi's hand and held it between his palms. He focused his energy and sent a mental image of Sakura into the amulet.
"This should lead us to her," Jomei said to Kero as the needle in the amulet began spinning. Its ruby studded point stopped, pointing south-southwest, well about two degrees off. "Let's go."
Kero looked at the face of the amulet. It was pointing near south-southwest. "The shrine! That's where she is!"
Sachi looked with shock at Jomei. "Didn't she say that was where she was headed? That she was meeting a guy called 'Syaoran' there?"
Jomei thought back and his eyes widened. "That's right. Come on, we have to hurry."
"Get on my back. We'll fly there, it'll be the quickest way." Kero had transformed into his true form; that of Keroberos, the sun guardian. His golden-white wings arched and Sachi and Jomei quickly climbed on, seating themselves just behind Keroberos' wing joints. He cantered through the house, out the front door, which Jomei shut and locked behind them and he jumped, taking to the air with a couple of powerful flaps of his wings.
About halfway up, they saw another figure. Sachi sharply drew in her breath, the sight was beautiful, even in the morning, he was glistening. She recognised the figure as Yue, Keroberos' brother guardian.
Yue's gaze was directed at Jomei, who was still scanning the surroundings, and referring back to his amulet.
"Keroberos, who are they?" Yue asked. His voice was cold, like the moon.
"They say their names are Sachi and Jomei. Sachi's the girl, Jomei's the boy. They're siblings apparently. Jomei says that Sakura's in distress and he pinpointed her location with that amulet thing of his."
"I see..."
Yue's eyes narrowed a little as he surveyed the two. They had to be something to watch out for. He had no idea who these two were.
Sachi was looking back at her brother. "How long before you know exactly where she is?" she asked hurriedly.
"We already know. She's at the shrine. Remember, Keroberos told us that."
"I know, I know. Let's just hurry and go so that we don't miss her."
"Right."
Jomei reached over and tapped Keroberos' head. "Let's get moving. We don't want to miss her."
"Right. Yue, we're heading to Tsukimine Shrine. Whether you choose to come with us or not is your choice."
Keroberos flapped his powerful wings a few more times and glided in the direction of the shrine, travelling at a relatively fast pace, Sachi and Jomei on his back.
* * * * * Sakura's location – the SHRINE!! * * * * *
Black. Blink. Trees. Blink. Trees. Blink. Shrine. Blink.
That was all Sakura was seeing. She was numb at the moment. She had stopped crying long ago. Now she was too sad to even form tears. When she had woken up, she had looked around wildly, but Syaoran was long gone. And then it had all come flooding back.
Sakura's senses were shut down. She didn't want to use them any more. What was the point? She'd never feel his presence near. She didn't know where he was now. He had just gone Syaoran. Sakura's eyes were dull.
"SAKURA!"
The cry drew her attention. She looked over in their direction. She saw Keroberos, Yue, Jomei and Sachi.
"Sakura-chan!"
The cry was from Keroberos again, as he cantered over to her. Jomei and Sachi, who didn't exactly have the luxury of four legs and a great deal of speed, slowly caught up behind. Yue landed beside his brother.
"Mistress, what happened?"
Sakura didn't know how to answer. How was she meant to be into words what had happened? How was she meant to put her feelings into words? It was practically impossible. She was feeling such an array of emotions at the moment. They varied from hurt to sorrow, from confusion to understanding.
He had had to do this. That was the only bit that she understood, but what for... she didn't know.
"Mistress?" Yue's voice was quietly persistent.
Sakura looked up at the face of the moon guardian, whose expression was quietly concerned. It was clear that the moon guardian had sensed something wrong with her. He was more empathic than Kero.
Sakura opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out.
"What's wrong?" Kero asked.
"She's in shock," a voice said.
Kero looked around. It was Jomei who had spoken up.
"Something has happened that has affected her emotions seriously. I don't think she'll be ready to talk about it any time soon, so I suggest you leave her to mull it over herself." Jomei's voice was quiet, but able to be heard by everyone as the morning in the shrine was perfectly silent.
"Very well," Yue replied. He offered out a hand to help Sakura up.
Sakura looked at the hand that Yue had offered out and slowly reached out her own hand to hold it and pull herself up. Yue's hand closed around hers as she hoisted herself up.
"Thank you, Yue," she whispered.
"It's no problem, Mistress. Would you like us to take you home?"
"Yes, please, but I think it would be best if you both transformed back into your false forms."
"Yeah," Sachi's voice had chimed in. "It'd look kinda strange if there was a big lion with wings and a human with wings dressed strangely walking through town. I mean, we could say it was some sort of strange new publicity craze, but it'd probably be easier, we wouldn't attract as much attention if you were in your false forms. Besides, Yukito is kinda cute."
Jomei and Kero sweatdropped.
"Hey, Jomei? Is she always like that?" Kero asked.
"Unfortunately, yes."
"HEY!" Sachi yelled at her brother. "That wasn't nice!"
Jomei shrugged. "Deal with it."
"Bah..." Sachi made a face.
"By the way, you may have like Yukito back in our timeline, sis, but he could be a whole lot more different now..."
"Doubt it."
"Could be."
"Oh geez, for once in your lifetime and this one, shut up Jomei!"
"Can't be done. Sorry."
"So you should be... baka!"
"Oouu! Sachi using curse words."
"Jomei. Shut. Up."
Kero's sweatdrop grew even bigger. "Oh dear god..." he muttered. "I'm surrounded by idiots..."
"Oops, there goes my amulet. Oh damn you Sachi!"
* * * * * For once... the Spirit World!! Woohoo! Haku time! * * * * *
Syaoran looked around from where he had emerged from through the portal. He could see many spirits around him. Yes, this was certainly the place that he had intended to come to. The Spirit World. Syaoran looked around him again, except this time in a different direction. He saw a boy standing near him.
"You're a spirit, aren't you?" Syaoran asked.
"What are you doing here?"
Kohaku was observing this boy. He had appeared out of nowhere, just like Chihiro had all those years ago. Except it was that much obvious that this person had magical powers, otherwise he couldn't have gotten here on his own.
"I'm Syaoran Li," Syaoran said. "And you?"
"Kohaku River."
"A river spirit?"
"Yes."
"If you're a river sprit, then what are you doing here in a human form?"
"My river has gone. It was taken out to build a set of apartments. Someone told me that four years ago."
Syaoran was staring at Kohaku.
"I'm here for work."
"You'll have to see Yubaba. But I recommend going to Zeniba first."
"OK. Could you tell me where they are?"
Kohaku pointed at the train tracks. "You have to follow the train tracks to the swamp. There you'll find Zeniba's house."
"Is there any fast way of getting there?"
"No. You either have to take the train, or walk. But since you're a spirit here and you have magic, you should be able to transform into the animal that most resembles you. Since your name is Syaoran, you associate with the wolf, so you should transform into a wolf. I can transform into a dragon because I'm a river spirit."
"I see. But how do I transform then?"
"You just focus on what you wish to become, and then most likely, you will become it."
It sounded easy enough, but soon Syaoran learnt, that even though words made it sound simple, transforming was a lot harder than it sounded. He had seen Kohaku transform a number of times before finally being able to merge into his own animal spirit. His sense of smell, sight and touch were improved drastically. He could sense things a lot better too. He gazed at Kohaku, his amber eyes quietly observant.
"Zeniba..." his voice came out as a low rumble.
"That way."
Kohaku pointed down at the train tracks again. "Follow them and I guarantee that you'll find Zeniba's house. It'll be the sixth stop. Look very carefully. You'll know when you're there."
"OK."
Syaoran bounded off the bridge with one powerful leap and began dashing across the tracks at a high speed. He marvelled at his senses, how sharp they were. He could detect a single movement from a fish, even as he blew past it. He was going to love it here, that much he could tell already.
* * * * * Meanwhile, back in Tomoeda... * * * * *
"Aww... CUTE CUTE CUTE!!!" Sachi squealed. She was holding a picture of Touya and Yukito that had been taken a long while back, back when Touya and Yukito were still in junior high. "I don't know which one is cuter, Touya or Yukito. What a hard choice!"
Kero was staring at Sachi in disbelief. "Jomei," he said, addressing the insane girl's brother. "I'd say your sister's officially gone crazy."
"I knew that a long time ago," Jomei replied nonchalantly.
"Well, I just learned it. I'd hate to be around her all the time."
"Join the club, but unfortunately... she's my sister and I have to put up with her. She has these crazy mood swings at the most annoying times."
"I think it's called PMS."
"Probably."
Jomei went back to flicking through a magazine. Kero floated down and took a look at the cover.
"A girls magazine? God boy, you need to get out more."
"It's actually quite interesting. There's this thing called the 'Embarrassment Page'..."
"Oh boy, do not go into the details. I do not want nightmares for the rest of my life..."
"Suit yourself." And Jomei lifted the magazine up until it was pretty much right in Kero's face.
"No! NO! NOO!!!"
Kero tried his very hardest to push away the magazine, but to no avail. His face was stuck in the magazine. His voice went muffled.
Sachi was watching Kero and Jomei with great amusement. She had never seen her brother be that annoying. OK, so she had, but never to someone else other than herself. Sometimes she just felt like strangling him.
"Jomei? Why do you do that to him?"
"Because it's fun and besides, I know that you find it amusing."
"OK, you caught me. Damn your empathic senses."
"Ha ha."
"Get off!" Kero cried.
His paws were wildly flailing around trying to get the magazine off his face.
"Kero, you're not going to get anywhere by doing that."
"Watch me!"
"OK."
And so she did. She watched and watched. Still, little Kero-chan did not manage to get the magazine off his face, no matter how hard he tried. It was still quite amusing though.
"Heh, keep it up Kero! I'm definitely going to borrow Tomoyo's camcorder sometime soon. This is KAWAII!"
"Oh no. She's turning into a Tomoyo."
"Ohohohoho!"
"Oh no... one is enough."
"Leave Tomoyo alone. She's cool. She makes me pudding." This muffled from Kero. He managed to push the magazine away from his face, all the while having a rather rile expression.
"No wonder you're getting so heavy."
"I have a high metabolism rate!"
"And you know that how...?"
"Everyone goes to the doctor once in a while, don't they?"
"A magical guardian going to a mortal doctor?!" Sachi asked incredulously.
"Yeah! You see a problem with that?"
"Uh... no... I guess not. I wonder, how would you wipe his memory afterwards that he's seen a stuffed animal talking."
"Oh, I go to a vet. I just transform into my true form and Sakura says that I have all the armour and stuff on me for a publicity thing."
"And they believe that?"
"Yeah, most of the time."
"Right... and who doesn't believe you?"
"Well, there is this one guy that lives near the corner, but he doesn't really count because me and Sakura don't really go to him a lot. There's this really nice guy in town though..."
Sachi slapped a hand to her forehead in disbelief. "I don't know how we're ever going to deal with this..."
"Go on, Kero. This is pretty amusing."
Sachi just groaned.
* * * * * Meanwhile... upstairs in Sakura's room... dun dun dun dun... * * * * *
"He just went, Yue. Just like that," Sakura snapped her fingers, feeling tears well up in her eyes.
"It's ok, Mistress. I think he'll come back." Yue was quietly observing his mistress.
"That's the keyword there, Yue. Think."
I'm going to miss you
I think you already knew that
When you passed on through the day
There I just sat
"I had no idea that he was intending to leave, Yue. I honestly didn't."
"I know, Mistress. You told me that."
"It reminds me of the dream that I had though..."
"Dream?" Yue was instantly alert. "What was it about?"
Sakura took a breath. Boy, this was going to be hard to explain.
I can't see your face at all
Though I know that you're happy
Though now you've passed on
I think I'm beginning to see
"It was black and then there seemed to come a voice echoing around me. It was saying, 'Come, come, the only way to see him again'. Then a figure swam into view. I didn't know who it was, but the voice was a woman's voice. Then I saw her features. She had long, really long, black hair swinging around her shoulders, and her eyes, a kind of metallic red-grey. I can't forget them. Anyway, after I asked what she wanted, she held a hand out to me. I reached out for it, but then I found myself surrounded in white light. It was the strangest thing."
I'm beginning to get scared
I'm not afraid to say that much
I can feel your presence
And things of the such
Sakura continued, "I wasn't answered, and after that, I don't remember anything..."
Yue pondered the dream, all the while staring at his mistress thoughtfully.
"Do you get anything from it?" Sakura asked. She sat down on her bed. Her mind wandered to Syaoran. She missed him terribly right now. And what made it worse was that she didn't even know where he was...
It's beginning to frighten me
I don't want to say
Thought it's the way of life
Maybe then it was just your day
Sakura suddenly caught a glimpse of a wolf streaking down train tracks. It looked sideways, right into her field of vision and then vanished. Sakura jerked out of her trance. Her eyes opened wide a little.
"Yue...? Something just happened to me. I'm scared..."
"What is it, Mistress?"
"I just had a vision, while I was awake."
I'm missing you
It's going through
I'm afraid to speak
I don't wanna seem weak
"Who was it?" Yue asked.
"I don't know exactly, but I have a hunch that it was Syaoran."
It's getting too hard
I don't wanna know anymore
My emotions are affecting me
Right through to the core
Sakura's eyes met Yue's.
"You have to tell me about this, Mistress. It might hurt, and I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to take the emotional pain away. But I need to know what you saw."
"OK," Sakura said in a hoarse whisper, now averting her eyes from Yue's steady gaze, "There was a wolf rushing past. It was dashing down train tracks, and it had a pretty determined look on its face. Then it turned and looked straight at it, right into my field of vision and I felt myself come back. That was it."
"So you think the wolf is Syaoran Li," Yue concluded.
"Yes."
"I don't see how that can be possible. How he can get there."
"What do you mean by 'there'? Where's 'there'?" Sakura looked right into Yue's eyes, seeing the apprehension in her guardian's eyes.
"You're not going to like this..."
I know I have to be strong
But it doesn't feel that way
But I'm going to try...
And come what may...
"He's in the Spirit World, Mistress."
"The Spirit World? What's that?"
"it's a world where the spirits of this one and many others go to rest. It's where they are and no one else, apart from those with magic can go there."
"I need to go there then."
"I'm sorry, Mistress. There is only a certain type of magic that is permitted to go there and the magic goes through certain bloodlines, but I'm afraid you are not related to them. I'm sorry."
"Oh no..." Sakura whispered. "How can I ever see Syaoran again...?"
~~To Be Continued...~~
There's the end of this chapter. Please, if you have any ideas, or any characters that you'd like me to have in the story (made-ups), just either e-mail me the bio, or post it in a review. ^_^ I'd be able to fit them in somehow. I'd try my best anyway. If there's anything that I need to work on, please let me know. I'd much appreciate it.
Also- feel free to email me. I love talking to new people. I guarantee a reply ^_^
Karisa Temura
karisa_temura@yahoo.co.nz
