Grumbles. Oh hi everyone. Sigh, I'm sorry this chapter took so long but as I mentioned at the end of the last one, SOMEONE got troubled with my medical knowledge so I had to rewrite some of it. Sigh it's ok though. I guess it turned out better. (M: hides under your bed with silky. At least the dog still likes me.)
Ok also. I got a review and I am going to be a little menacing. PATHETIC? You thought he was pathetic because of a simple barrier? He had a blast of elements and venom coming at him at rapid speed. Not even his training would have gotten him to do both. To move out of the way and get through the barrier. Plus I needed him in coma.
Ok I'm done.
Well on with our story.
***
The bright lights of the hospital reflected against the white polished floor. A group of teenagers sat in one of the waiting rooms, discussing the things that had occurred.
"I'm glad she's asleep." Tomoyo said. She was sitting next to Eriol, slowly drinking a cup of hot chocolate.
"Yeah me too, she really needs to rest." Meilin was sitting on one of the hospital sofas eating a piece of fruit and drinking a soda. Fu and Jin were sitting on a set of beanbags.
"I still think we should be in there." Kero was sitting on the large table with a box of pudding in front of him.
"Kero it wouldn't be right. She's asleep and I think she needs that time alone." Tomoyo said a little defensively.
"Yeah but when she wakes up she'll go straight to Li." Everyone smiled at the change of name. Ever since he'd told Sakura what happened he'd used Syaoran's last name instead of baka, gaki or kid.
"She's asleep right now. That's all that matters." Tomoyo looked over at her boyfriend who had a slight smirk across his face.
"Eriol? is there something you want to share?" She said playfully as he looked up at her.
"Well my beloved, I was remembering something Yue said." Everyone looked at him, even Kero looked intrigued.
"Tell us." Jin said. He took another bite out of his sandwich and looked at the blue haired boy.
"Well, he said something that I didn't think about till now. Which makes me wonder about a lot of things that I haven't been able to predict."
Everyone stared as he remembered Yue's words.
#Flashback#
"Yue how did you get to him in time?" Eriol asked. He was as perplexed as everyone else. It had been impossible for himself and Kero to get through. How could Yue get to him?
"The barrier the attacker used was to keep you and Keroberus away from the master. She did not intend on anyone else interrupting her. The barrier was much weaker to the north and I found a suitable entrance. The blast was mere seconds away from him when I got him out."
"That explains how beaten up he is. You saved him from getting killed but the pressure from the venom and the explosion still got him." Kero, Yue and Eriol were all walking in front. The others walking a little slower.
"He doesn't have much time."
#End of flashback#
"Eriol? What did Yue say?" Kero was getting impatient. He had a feeling this conversations was important.
"When Yue was telling me about how he got Syaoran out, he used the word 'master'" A big smile was on his face.
Everyone stared at him for a moment. Registering what this could mean. Kero was the first to speak up.
"But for him to be called master he'd have to own the cards." His eyes went wide for a moment. "You don't think that Sakura gave him the cards?"
Eriol shook his head and stood up. He walked around the room a little, his eyes in a far off gaze. Like he was remembering something.
"No, she didn't give him the cards, but he does own them now." Everyone looked at him surprised. "I've been noticing some changes in both Sakura and Syaoran. Something different."
"What does that mean?" Fu asked. He'd noticed something about the two but had dismissed it as lovers things.
"I think they've merged." He looked at his friends for their reactions. Each looked puzzled, except for Kero. He looked mad. He got up and walked over to the blue haired magician and grabbed his shirt.
"ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL US THAT, SAKURA AND THE GAKI HAD SEX?" He'd started shaking him violently and his eyes were red with rage. Sure the kid had grown on him but it didn't mean he approved of him and his mistress, well doing 'it'.
Everyone was silent except for Eriol's laughter. Could it be true? Had Li and Sakura gone to the next level? If they had, they'd been really spontaneous about it since they'd only seen each other a week ago.
"N-no Kero 'chuckle' I didn't 'snorts' mean that kind of bonding 'haha'" Eriol couldn't contain the laughter inside of him. He'd meant something completely innocent and the guardian had jumped to another conclusion.
"Then how else could they bond? You know the only way that the cards can become someone else's is if they are handed over by the current master or if the master/mistress merges with another."
"They did merge. Just not in the way you're thinking." Eriol had stopped laughing. Smiling brightly he made the protective guardian sit back down. "Kero, I think you know Sakura well enough. Besides I doubt Li is the type to get that far into a relationship."
"I don't know you guys. You saw that spontaneous kiss on the stage that day. You never know." Jin said with a smirk. Xiao Lang sure acted well, normal when he was around the beautiful Japanese model.
Everyone, even Kero laughed as they thought of it. It had been a very spontaneous kiss but what was funnier was the fact that Sakura, sweet innocent Sakura, had been the one to start it.
"Ok, you're right. So what do you mean by merging?"
"Spiritually, I think someway they've merged their essences." Everyone looked at him a little curiously. "Has anyone else noticed the way they go silent? Almost as if they were speaking to each other. The way Sakura mysteriously flat lined like that."
"Yeah, I've noticed. I got a lot of it on tape. It's like their having a conversation with each other, without moving their mouths." She then said more quietly. "Her wounds weren't bad enough to make her heart stop either."
"But how could they do it?" Meilin asked, as she tried to put the pieces together.
"Can't be sure, number of possibilities. It's something they will tell us when they wake up." Everyone went quiet, remembering that Syaoran was in a coma.
"What if he never wakes up?" Meilin said softly.
"He will Meilin, he's Li Xiao Lang, and he'd never let us down." Fu said holding her hand gently. (I see some possibility with these two. What you think?) (M: Puh-lease as if there isn't enough sap already ;) )
"He's right Meilin. Li never let us down before. He's not going to start now." Tomoyo said confidently. "Besides do you think he'd abandon Sakura?"
"Yeah, that's right. Li would never do that to Sakura." Kero said. Everyone had noticed the quick name change.
"He's grown on you, hasn't he?" Tomoyo said smiling. Kero looked at them a little nervously.
"Well he tends to grow on you after a while. I mean, I never hated him. It was just a habit to fight." He said. "I never wanted something like this to happen to him."
Everything went still and the group of teenagers waited the rest of the time in silence.
***
"Ma-ma, do you know what will happen to little brother? Will he be alright?" Fei Mei asked as the five women and Wei walked out of the plane.
"I'm afraid not. Meilin didn't give me details but we will find out." Yelen walked briskly down the halls of the terminal.
Meilin had called two days ago to inform her that Xiao Lang and the card mistress were in the hospital.
#Flashback#
"Li residence, This is Wei. Oh hello Meilin, you want to speak with your aunt. Of course." He handed the phone to Yelen and walked over to finish some work.
"Hello Meilin, how are you?" Yelen asked her niece politely.
#Aunt I have some bad news.# Meilin was sniffing and Yelen could hear her voice cracking just slightly.
"What happened?" Yelen was getting a little concerned. With the elders warnings and then discovering that her son's aura was no longer traceable.
#Aunt, there was an accident. A dark force attacked the festival, and, and Xiao Lang, and Sakura went to fight it. It was so strong. It went after Sakura first but then it went after Xiao Lang. Th-their in the hospital.#
"Heavens child, are they alright?" Yelen asked as her four daughters came in. They all looked concerned.
#We don't know. We know that Sakura's gone in and out of consciousness but Xiao Lang hasn't woken up yet. They took them into surgery, but no one's told us anything else."
"We'll be there as soon as we can Meilin." With that they both hung up the phone.
"Mother? What's wrong" Fuutie asked her as she watched Yelen sit down.
"Your brother is in the hospital. Something attacked them and they don't know what's wrong."
All four girls gasped. Their little brother was hurt. He was in hospital.
"Girls pack your things. We'll try and get a plane immediately. With this storm it will be hard so be ready to leave at any moment."
All the girls nodded and raced to their rooms.
#End of flashback#
It had taken time for the storm to clear enough for planes to take off. They were now at the Korean airport waiting for their car to take them to the hospital. They still had no idea in what condition Xiao Lang or the mistress of the cards was in. Though to the tone Meilin had used, it was serious.
"I know little brother will be alright. He's strong. Plus he wouldn't leave his Ying Fa behind." Xie Fa said with confidence.
"What if it's not him that worse off? What if it's the pretty card mistress? Oh poor little brother, he'd be heartbroken if she dies."
"No, they're both strong. They'll be fine."
'I only hope your right my daughters.'
They continued to walk up to the parked cars waiting for them. They decided to go straight to the hospital, instead of stopping at the hotel first. The well being of the card captors was much more important. Besides they were family.
***
"He's alive." Nisha whispered. A gleam of anticipation in her eyes.
"You're shocked?" Bahul stood next to her eating a piece of raw meat.
"Utterly. How could I have missed seeing the guardian?" She said frustrated.
"Missed the guardian?" Bahul took another bite out of his meat. His glass of blood in his other hand.
"When you went to retrieve the girl I felt something. I was in human form so I couldn't completely feel it, but I saw a light pass by me." (No one expected the light to be Yue ay?)(M: I… no I didn't actually).
"But he's alive. That mean's the plan can go ahead. Even if he's not completely conscious."
"Lie, I've changed it. I've placed something in the midst that will force the card mistress to use her powers."
"That would be?" Nisha stared at him. He was always so rude when he ate. His usual stance was down as he relished in his meal. It was quite amusing to see a warrior of darkness consumed by food.
"You might have been too young to remember, but many years ago when Clow Reed still walked this earth he created something more than just the clow cards."
He looked up suddenly interested.
"Clow created the cards and then sealed them. This created a side effect. Strong magic from our universe seeped through. Very strong negative forces. Clow already had void to balance the others but some of that dark energy flowed into ten unused cards."
"There are more cards?"
"These cards are very different to the other clow cards. These cards are much more dangerous and it takes a great amount of will power and energy to control them."
"How do you know about all this?" Nisha smirked at him and an evil glint crossed her face.
"The cards were causing more trouble than Clow could handle. They were rebellious. Like the darkness that spawned them. You already know that we can not return to the real world in great numbers. That only one to five can come and go."
Bahul nodded taking a sip of his cold drink
"It took awhile to acquire these, after Clow's death the cards disappeared. No one knew where they were or who had them. It was quite by accident that I came in contact with them."
"Accident?"
"That's something you don't need to know."
"So where are these cards?" Nisha reached into her coat pulling out her pouch. She pulled out ten cards that looked a lot like the clow cards. Only these were black.
"These are as precious as gold. If Elsu knew I had these he'd have them taken away in a second. They are very different to Clow's cards. These don't hold much of his magic. They hold our magic. Destroyer's essence"
"What are they?"
"Transform, lust, instinct, hate, madness, fear, violence, envy, possession and love." She watched his reaction.
"LOVE?" He'd dropped his meat and looked at her with a puzzled gaze.
"As void was the negative balance of the original clow cards, the love card is the positive balance of the black clow cards." She stared at the card with interest. "I think we'll keep this card locked up. Don't you think?"
"Probably. So what do you intend to do with the rest?"
"Release them." Her voice was almost giddy. Strange.
"You've gone completely mad."
"Hush little one. These cards know what to do. They'll make the card captors lives quite interesting."
"You intend them to attack?" She nodded. "With all due respect, why?"
"The mistress of the cards is strong. So is the card master. I want to see how much power they can create before we continue with the plan."
"What if the boy doesn't wake up?"
"We'll just have to wait and see. I won't release any of the cards till he has woken up. Till then I believe Elsu will have his hands busy with the traitors punishment."
"You put too much confidence in that boy." He grabbed another piece of meat and continued his meal.
Nisha walked over to an ancient looking bowl and picked a fruit from it. It looked a lot like a peach or an apricot only the colors were different. Taking a bite out of the rich fruit she felt the tang taste of blood in it.
"As the saying goes, keep your friends close and your enemies closer. I've watched both of them for a long time. I know what their capable of. I know more than Elsu believes he does. Our goals will not be achieved if we don't fully see the limits of their abilities."
"Again I say. You have too much faith in them." He walked over to her, watching the fruits nectar run down her jaw. "It's almost like you want them to win."
"Maybe I do."
"You're crazy."
***
Noise. So many noises. Why did their have to be so much of it? Couldn't they all be quiet?
Pain. Why did she feel so much pain inside of her? It was like all the old wounds were being opened up and tampered with.
The noise. It hurt. Or did the pain make the noise? She couldn't make sense of anything. Everyone was blurry. Nothing was right. It was all distorted and wrong. She tried to open her eyes. Tried to make sense of what she was feeling.
White lights. No other color filled her vision. Only white. People in coats. Bandages, bed sheets. All of it white. White was a pretty color. Pretty and pure. Pure like death.
Death wasn't good. She almost died. Someone she cared about almost died. Her friends had told her. Who were they again? She couldn't quite place the names to the faces.
She could only remember one name.
"Syaoran" She sighed contently
"She's awake. What exactly happened?" A low masculine voice asked a lady to the side. The lady looked sweet.
"We had to sedate her, she fell asleep about an hour ago when we heard some screaming from the room. When we came in she was fighting in her sleep. We didn't know what else to do. She wouldn't wake up."
"White is pretty, but I like pink better." Sakura giggled. The drugs were still in her system and it was making her feel light headed.
"She's a little delirious right now. She'll be ok once the effects wear down." With that the doctor went over to check on Syaoran as the nurses helped Sakura sit up to drink some water.
"I have a friend named Kero. He's a little stuffed animal who changes into a big lion with wings." She said happily. Part of her mind knew she shouldn't be telling the nurse all this but she was just too happy to care.
The nurses all laughed at the girl's babble. She was definitely delirious. She had a giddy smile on her face as she played with the water in her cup.
"Xiao Lang said I looked gorgeous in my dress. He looked kirei too. He always looks so kirei. His sisters said that we should get married. That I'd make a good wife for him."
"I'm sure you would." It was quite amusing. Sakura was acting like a three year old. Talking about how kawaii he always was when he smiled.
"We captured cards together when we were ten. He didn't like me back then. He said I wasn't worthy to have the cards." She said sadly. "But later on he was my friend. We caught all the pretty cards that had magic."
"Really?" It was hard not to pay attention to her. She was a sweet girl with a vivid imagination.
"Yes, he was my best friend. He protected me. Then he had to go away. He told me he loved me. He came back though. I told him I loved him too." She had a radiant smile across her face as she said it.
"Well that's very good to hear." Even the doctor had to smile. Sakura was a very happy girl. The drugs might have affected her but it was obvious to see she was innocent and pure.
"You have a very special girl their Li." He whispered to the unconscious boy. "You ought to come back to her. A girl like that doesn't deserve to be left alone."
"We both sung on stage. I kissed him in front of a whole crowd of people. He kissed me back." The doctor smiled as he heard her proud voice.
"That's nice to hear."
***
"Where is she?" A very anxious Touya said bursting into the waiting room. The teenagers all looked up to see Sakura's over-protective brother standing at the door with his fists clenched.
Behind him stood Fujitaka and Yukito. Both looking worried. It was obvious to the group of teens that they'd rushed to the hospital because their clothes were all crumpled.
"She's in intensive care. She woke up an hour ago but they got her back to sleep. One of the nurses came in like ten minutes ago and told us she's a little delirious." Kero said calmly. He was the only one who dared talk to Touya in his current state.
"DELIRIOUS?" Everyone looked at him nervously. He was mad and he would take it out on the first thing he saw.
"She had to be sedated." Tomoyo said quietly. "She was having a bad dream and they couldn't wake her up so the gave her something to calm her down."
"Apparently she can't stop babbling about Xiao Lang." Meilin laughed sadly. Sakura's family still didn't know about the warrior's condition.
"Where is the gaki anyway?" Touya wasn't in the mood to deal with the Chinese brat either.
"H-he's in there." Meilin said with tears in her eyes. Fu held her closer for comfort.
Touya raised an eye brow and waited for an explanation. If the doctors were in there with her why were they letting the baka in there with them?
"Touya, Li-kun is, he's in a coma." Tomoyo said. Everyone bowed their heads sadly. There had been no change in his condition.
There was silence. No one moved as Touya processed what he'd been told. The brat was in a coma. Sakura was seriously injured but healing slowly. He could imagine her reaction to the news. He hated to admit it but his Imoto really did love the sorcerer. It didn't matter how many times they'd fight about it. Sakura always defended him.
Without warning Touya stormed into the intensive care section to find his sister. The others tried to hold him back but it was no use. He walked down a small hall and found his Imoto laughing and giggling with the nurses as she told them about her life.
"My Onii-chan is very protective. He says he doesn't like Xiao Lang but I know he's just afraid to loose me." Her tone was almost drunken. "He doesn't have to worry though. I love my family and even if I do marry my little wolf, I'll still love my family."
Touya stared at her from the door. She hadn't noticed him yet and she kept babbling. He glanced to the other side of the room and saw the unconscious boy hooked up to monitors and drips. Sakura would point to him from time to time and say that he'd wake up soon.
"Every time they see each other they glare. They're both very protective of me. It's really kawaii. I think it's the way they talk. They're alike in that way. They don't want to see me hurt." She laughed happily. She was still under the influence of the drugs and it was obvious in her beautiful green eyes. They didn't look, normal. Still her words were true.
"Why hasn't he woken up yet?" Her voice snapped him out of his thoughts. She had a pout on her lips and an annoyed look across her face. "He should be awake by now. He promised he'd come back to me."
"He still needs to rest." The nurse said as she tucked Sakura in. "Now why don't you rest too?"
"But he promised." She yawned. "He promised to come back."
Touya felt a tear fall down his cheek.
This was going to be harder than anyone could imagine.
***
Gomen, gomen, gomen. I'm sorry that this all took so long. Me and Max were still fixing chapter fourteen while I wrote this chapter. So it's probably taken a week in total to get it all done. Sorry it's all my fault. I had to rewrite stuff and everything. Sigh, but I hope you like it. I don't know what possessed me to make Sakura seem high but I think that's how she'd act if she was delirious.
Well anyway I better go sleep now.
Remember to review.
Ja ne everyone. (M: what does that mean anyway?)
Kang
(M: *sits down* OMG. Best. Chapter. Ever. [From editors POV], *is sad* soon you wont even need me.)
PANICS I do need you Max. *Sniff* Who's going to be my editor if your not?????
