A Perfect World

Summary: Sakura Kinomoto is 16. But there's one secret to her- at 15 she was told she had leukemia. To top it all off, her strong will to have a 'perfect' world creates a motal enemy- perfection itself. Can she realize in time, with Syaoran's help, that without pain nothing would be worth living for?

Chapter 4: Perfect Worlds

{Tomoyo's World}

"Tomoyo!"

Tomoyo Daidoji turned around to see her best friend, Sakura Kinomoto, running towards her. "Tomoyo, wait up!"

"What is it, Sakura?" Tomoyo's hair swayed in the breeze, making the seventeen year old look very angelic. Tomoyo's eyes glittered their amethyst purple, like always.

"Your song was beautiful, today! I wish I could sing like you..." Sakura babbled on as she and Tomoyo walked along. The sun was shining on them. The trees were swaying in the wind. The birds were singing their never ending song. All that was missing was...

"Eriol." The lavender hair girl breathed. Sakura smiled at her friend.

"Surprise! You work so hard on improving your magic Tomoyo, so I thought I'd bring Eriol here to help you take your mind off everything! I owe you for setting up me and Syaroan, anyway!" Sakura giggled as she walked away, leaving the two of them alone.

"Tomoyo." Eriol breathed. "My beautiful Tomoyo..."

"Eriol, I've become much more powerful! Like Sakura and -"

Eriol brought a finger to Tomoyo's lips. "I don't care about Sakura, right now. I only care about you. I'm glad your magic has improved."

Tomoyo sighed. Life should always be this perfect! No longer was she the tag along without magic; no longer was Sakura the only one who got the attention in battle.

"Don't think, Tomoyo."

"This is like a dream, Eriol," she whispered.

"Thunder!" Sakura called out. The glass roof shattered. "Shield! Erase!" The glass hit Shield, only to be erased by Erase. "Jump!" Sakura leaped up, landing on the roof of Tokyo Mall.

Sakura, about to fly out into the blacking sky, but a black bubble aught her instead. "Syaroan!" Sakura called out as the bubble carried her away, toward a black castle that had once been a radio tower.

{Meiling's World}

Meiling walked around an empty ballroom, dressed up in a Chinese style red dress, waiting for someone. Someone special. Her someone.

"Meiling..."

Meiling looked up. There, at the entrance of the room, stood a man with bright blue eyes and light brown hair., holding a flower."Taylor?," she questioned. Taylor was the American exchange student who came to Hong Kong just a month before spring break.

"Meiling, I love you.."

Meiling was taken back. Wasn't this always what she wanted? To be loved? To belong to someone in a special way? Like Sakura belonged to Syaroan? Like Tomoyo belonged to Eriol? Was it possible that she, Meiling Li, could find love? Wasn't this all she wanted? What she told Sakura back in Japan all those years ago? What she was waiting for?

"Taylor..."

Taylor walked up to Meiling, wrapping his arms around her. Meiling sighed, letting all her worry escape her mind. She accepted the red rose her brought her.

This is all so perfect! Just like in all my dreams! I can't believe this is all true!
Sakura awoke to a dark room. She stood up, tightening her grip on her Star Wand. Where am I? She looked around, scared. Sakura had visible bruises on her legs and arms where she had been tossed around and thrown on the hard ground. All around she felt coldness. The trademark always left behind in her currant dreams.

"Card Mistress..."

"Who's there?" Sakura looked toward a girl who stood about 6 feet even, with blue-gray hair that fell to her feet and deep, gray eyes. She wore a simple white dress and a strong, black aura surrounded her.

She felt her eyes tear up. "What are you doing to all those people?"

"Card Mistress, it's like you said. You wished that life was perfect! It was your will that finally allowed me to accomplish my life goal! To create everyone's perfect world!"

Sakura shook her head. "So they're all... in their own world?"

The girl smiled. "Yes. Like sleeping. An eternal sleep. Everything is the way they want it to be.. where nobody hurts. Everyone is happy this way. No longer will perfection be impossible to achieve!" She paused for a second, taking in the young girl before her. "Card Mistress, just look outside Or, rather, into your friend's perfect worlds." Waving her hand, a four "windows" appeared in the darkness. In each window, one of the four friends was in some sort of a separate world. A cry of utter pain escaped her lips....

"Tomoyo! Eriol! Meiling! Syaroan!"

She laughed at Sakura's foolishness. "They can't hear you. But... you called that one Syaoran? You hurt him so badly that he wasn't even a challenge to put under my spell. His life was so far from perfect... his world is my masterpiece!"

Sakura gasped. "You're no human! You're... Perfection!"

"Let me put it to you this way, Card Mistress. You join, they die. Take your pick."
{Eriol's World}

Eriol stood silently observing everything around him. Plum blossoms all around him seemed to dance with delight. He raised his head to see a beautiful girl in front of him. He smiled at her. Tomoyo Daidoji.

Eriol looked around the magic free world. He closed his eyes. Memories of his past came into his head. Images of a mother and a father; regular schooling; winning a soccer tournament; failing a test; falling in love...

He was normal.

Eriol looked up again to see Tomoyo right in front of him. "Tomoyo..."

"I was worried when you didn't show up for tea, Eriol! Hurry up! Your Mother is waiting!"

Eriol looked shocked. "My... Mother?"

Tomoyo rolled her eyes. "Of course, silly! Who else?"

Eriol smiled. He ran along with the girl he loved. No longer was he burdened with being a reincarnation or having magic. He had real memories. True memories.

Did life get anymore perfect?

{Syaroan's World}

"Come on Syaroan! We're going into this store!"

Syaroan looked around, smiling back at Tomoyo and Meiling. Beside him, Eriol was rolling his eyes.

"Coming, Tomoyo!," he called back to her. All around people were chatting to one another as they walked around Hong Kong Mall. He heard echoing laughter, almost as if this all wasn't real. Syaroan walked into the store, following his friends up and down the aisles of jewelery. He stopped as his eyes rested on a pink bracelet with a star in the middle.

"Didn't I see this design before?," he wondered out loud. "Something doesn't feel right."

"Syaroan, my love, how does this look on me?" Syaroan looked up, hearing Meiling's voice.

"Meiling.. I don't... love... you..."

"Syaroan! Were engaged! Don't be so silly" Meiling turned around, modeling her necklace for Syaroan.

"Engaged? We broke out engagement! I love... who do I love?"

"Syaroan? Are you feeling okay?," Tomoyo asked, walking up to him.

"I... can't... remember...," Syaroan muttered.

"Syaroan! Get a grip! You... you.. proposed to me!," Meiling cried out.

"I... did?"

"Syaroan... man... you're freaking us out!," Eriol said, putting an arm around Tomoyo.

Syaroan looked back at the pink bracelet. Why was it so familiar? It was almost as if... as if... he'd seen it before. The star in the middle... where had he seen it before? "I can't... remember..." Syaroan cried out.

"Syaroan..."

Syaroan looked up. That voice! He'd heard it before! But... where?

"Syaroan.... Syaroan..."

"Syaroan, please, you're scaring me!," Meiling pleaded.

"Meiling... do you hear it? They're calling my name..."

"Who is?! You're scaring me! Please, Syaroan..."

"Syaroan... please... I love you..."

Syaoran gasped. The star! Japan! The Sakura Cards! "Sakura! I remember!"

"Sakura? Who's she? Syaroan, what are you-" Tomoyo started.

Syaroan smiled at his friends, turning to face Meiling. "You're so protective, Meiling. Even in dreams." He paused. "Force, know my plight! Release the light!" A bright light consumed him...

Sakura let the tears flow down her cheeks as she watched her friend's dream. Tomoyo... wanted magic? All these years... she felt like a tag along? Meiling was jealous of her love? Tomoyo and Eriol's love? Syaoran.... why wasn't she in his dream? He was hurt that badly? And Eriol. All these years he wanted to be normal? With normal memories? Live a magic-free life? " I never knew how much they... wanted..."

Perfection smiled. "You see Card Mistress? It is better this way. Nobody is suffering."

Sakura shook her head. "No! This can't be right! Nobody has a perfect life! It wouldn't be worth living if it was perfect!" Sakura turned away from her friend's dreams. "Tomoyo! Meiling! Eriol! WAKE UP!" She shouted at the wall. A bright light came from Syaoran's World. Sakura looked up in panic – did Perfection kill him? "Syaoran! NO- wait. Where is Syaoran's World? Did it... disappear?"

Perfection gasped at the missing World. "Impossible! No one can escape!"

Sakura smiled; hope was taking her over. Maybe the window was portal to reach him through! "Syaoran! Can you hear me? Where are you? Are-"

{Sakura's World...}

"Right here, Sakura..."

Sakura turned around seeing a sixteen year old boy standing front of her. She looked around. The dark tower was gone. Perfection was gone. They were alone, together, in Syaroan's room.

"Sakura? What's wrong?" Syaroan asked coming closer, wrapping his arms around her.

Sakura looked shocked, as she was still holding her Star Staff and dressed in a pink battle costume. Syaroan was in different clothes, more relaxed than his tan jeans and green sweater. "What's going on?" she asked softly.

Syaroan chuckled. "What do you mean Cherry Blossom? Isn't this what you wanted?"

"What I .... wanted?" Sakura mimicked.

"To stop everyone from pulling us apart? The Li Clan Elders? The Cards? Your family? Your heath? We're finally together, now."

"This isn't what I want." Sakura replied pulling from his embrace. She looked into his eyes, smiling. "You were the one who told me, Syaroan, that their has to be a balance between happiness and pain. That's what makes a world perfect. A world worth living in." Sakura remembered how she felt the day Syaroan came back to Japan. If they had been together all those years, things would have turned out differently.

Sakura took a step back. "I guess I felt cheated out of those years. I wanted more time with you. I felt mad at whoever cursed me with cancer. I didn't understand why...Now, I see, I was wrong. There can't be happiness with out pain." She put a hand on his cheek. "You know, Syaroan, you look handsome even in a dream. "RELEASE THE POWER!" A white light erupted around Sakura.