by Ella
Chapter 3: Warning
THE DISTANT WEST
"It is with much sadness that I must tell you that
my partner had passed away. He died last night in his sleep and, the doctors
inform me, he felt no pain. We were aware that this might happen because
of his long-term illness. He spent many of his last days searching for
a suitable replacement. It is with pride that I present to you – a great
man's choice that he intended to reveal to you today – Evison Stuart. May
he be as wise and just as his father was." The owner of the voice – Belen
Nawat – worked hard to cover the distinct darkness that had crept into
him ever since he made a fateful decision twenty-five years ago.
FLASHBACK
A young man stood looking out a window at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen…and her lover. This woman was even more beautiful than the Japanese woman he had loved in his teens. He sighed, "Always second best." He was handsome and had proven his intelligence and strength on many occasions, but he could still never get her to notice him. The young man lost everything to him. 'Well, almost everything, I lost Nadeshiko to someone else.' He sighed again.
"I can change all that."
"Who said that? There's no one here. I know the room is empty. I'm always alone here."
"You're never alone. I'm always with you. I can make her be with you too. I can give you power."
"What kind of power?"
"Power beyond your imagination: the power to change everything. People would respect you. All you have to do is let me in."
The young man thought about it. 'Power…respect…the credit I deserve…and her!' "Fine the, you have a deal. I want to be a Decision Maker."
"Easy enough – you will be one."
END FALSHBACK
A twenty-three-year-old boy stepped forward to speak at the podium. He looked nervously at his prepared speech – this was a moment he could not ruin. The entire plan hinged on his people believing he was a good person.
"First of all, I would like to thank you all for being
here in my family's time of need. My sisters and I share your grief at
the loss of my father…" He paused for a moment overcome with grief. "I
can only hope that you will support me as you did my father and I sincerely
wish that I can me the replacement he expected me to be…"
JAPAN (Earlier that day)
Sakura ran up the stairs from the office – where she and Tomoyo had spent the night – to her bedroom – where Syaoran had slept. She had forgotten her training clothes when she moved her things downstairs the night before. Without thinking, she flung open her door when she reached it, then she froze. She blushed as she realized that she had walked in on Syaoran while he was changing. "S-sorry Sh-syaoran-kun. I forgot you were here." She stumbled over her words until she got over her embarrassment.
Syaoran had just finished pulling on his training pants when the door opened behind him. He still didn't have a shirt on but it didn't bother him because his sisters and Meiling always walked in on him while he was changing. He figured it was just Sakura coming to get him even though he wasn't late yet. He turned around as she apologized and froze when he saw her. He blushed, 'She's still in her pajamas. She apologized Syaoran: say something.'
"That's okay Sakura-san, I'm used to it," he responded, then tilted his head with a questioning look. "You sleep in that?"
Sakura looked at what she was wearing and blushed again. She had forgotten that she was wearing the knee-length slip style nightgown that Tomoyo had made for her. She nodded at Syaoran and then looked up at him. "I forgot my training clothes last night, can I come in and get them?"
Syaoran looked around the room until he spotted the stack of clothes that Sakura had obviously set aside for the morning. He smiled at Sakura. "You could," he said as he waved a hand at the clothes, "but then you'd be late for training." The clothes disappeared and in their place was the pink nightgown Sakura had been wearing.
"Hoe!" Sakura shrieked as she noticed she wasn't wearing her pajamas anymore. She looked down at herself and saw that she was now wearing her training clothes. "You could have warned me! How did you do hat?"
Syaoran laughed, "You're right, but this way was more fun." Sobering up a little he added, "It was a little trick I learned to make my sisters get ready faster. I really hated waiting two hours while they got dressed to go grocery shopping." He picked up his shirt and put it on as he said, "We had better get going. At this rate, I could be noon before we even start training."
Sakura giggled, "That wouldn't be good. I have plans."
Li Yelan watched her son and his friend race down the stairs. 'It's good to hear him laugh,' she thought. 'I don't think I've heard him laugh since he was a baby.' She walked down the stairs thinking that she would watch the friends train.
~~~
Tomoyo was just finishing her stretched when Sakura and Syaoran reached the training grounds. Sakura put a protective barrier around her part of the garden while Syaoran stretched and Tomoyo practiced a few moves she had learned the week before. While Sakura stretched, Syaoran asked Tomoyo why she was there.
It's Saturday. Sakura-chan always lets me train with her on Saturdays. She says that I should know how to protect myself and that it will help me focus." She noticed Syaoran open his mouth to ask something else when she added, "Just over five years ago."
He looked at her, surprised, and asked, "How did you know I was going to ask that?"
"I just did," Tomoyo answered as she rose to challenge Sakura.
Syaoran watched as the two girls fought. 'She's better than I expected but Sakura is obviously going easy on her.' He focused of Sakura's movements thinking about how much she has improved. 'Sakura may even be able to beat me.'
After they finished, Sakura beckoned Syaoran over to them. When he reached the girls, Sakura smiled and said, "Your turn." She took the two swords and left indicating that he and Tomoyo would fight without weapons.
As they fought, Syaoran became impressed with Tomoyo's strength and speed. 'I would not have thought Daidouji-san could fight this well a day ago. It's almost like she knows what I'm going to do before I do it. She has no magic though…' He hadn't really been paying attention be he did notice that Tomoyo didn't block his last strike when she should have. He stopped his attack inched from her face.
"Tomoyo-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura ran toward her two friends thinking that this never happens during training. 'I hope it's nothing bad,' she thought as she supported a weak Tomoyo. She helped her friend back to the bench where Yelan was sitting. "We'll talk about this when you feel better Tomoyo-chan."
Tomoyo smiled at her weakly as Sakura turned away.
"Sakura-san," Yelan said as the woman took charge of Tomoyo. Sakura looked back to see her friend's mother holding out two swords. "You should continue practicing – my son needs the exercise. I'll take care of Daidouji-san until you're done."
Sakura took the swords with a bow and walked back toward the center of the training ground. She saw the question on Syaoran's face. "She'll be fine. We'll talk about it later." She looked back to see Tomoyo crying in Yelan's arms. 'It must be something bad.'
The two sorcerers practiced a few moved side by side and then turned to face each other. They fought for a while with their swords and then for quite a while without. Eventually, Sakura picked up her sword and motioned for Syaoran to do the same.
"Let's play a little game," she said when he had his sword in his hand. She noticed he didn't say anything. "Syaoran-kun?" she asked. He grinned and nodded his agreement to her suggestion. Seconds later a maze sprung up around them, formed from a variety of plant life. "First one to land a blow of any sort wins. Anything goes." She started to run to one of the corners as soon as she finished talking.
She hid her aura and then searched for Syaoran's green aura. She could feel him coming through the walls. She laughed, "They grow back, you know. You might get stuck."
"Keep talking Sakura, I'll find you." Syaoran said as he came through the last wall. Sakura blocked his strike and called upon fly to escape.
This time Sakura ran through the maze until she found her prey but she didn't notice the foot coming at her until it struck. She fell back and the maze disappeared. Standing up, she asked, "How about another round?"
Her opponent laughed, "You must be a sucker for punishment." Nevertheless, he agreed.
Instead of the botanical maze Syaoran expected, Sakura called on the maze card and the illusion card. The Maze separated the two again and the Illusion card showed copies of both Sakura and Syaoran running through the maze at random.
Sakura laughed again. "You know Syaoran, the last time I used these cards together was when I transformed them," she said as she ran through the maze.
"You know, if you keep talking, I will be able to find you." Syaoran commented.
"I know," Sakura replied as she turned around and kicked him square on the back with just enough force to knock him off his feet.
Syaoran scrambled to his feet trying to figure out what hit him. Seeing Sakura behind him, he smiled and said "I give up."
The cards returned to their normal forms and the maze and illusions disappeared. The two youths bowed to each other then walked toward Tomoyo and Yelan.
Kneeling beside her best friend, Sakura asked what is had been, a look of concern showed clearly in her eyes.
Tomoyo looked at her, eyes brimming with tears and full of fear. "Something terrible has happened – will happen – in the Distant West."
~~~
They sat staring at Tomoyo who lay resting on the sofa. The girl shifted uncomfortably under all the eyes.
Finally, Sakura broke the silence, "Tomoyo-chan?" her friend looked up at her in response. "What do you mean when you say 'something terrible?'"
Tomoyo shuddered as a thousand images flitted through her mind in response. She could feel the concern in the room increasing. She struggled for several minutes trying to find her voice. It was shot with fear when she finally did use it, "Decision Maker Stuart has died." Her small audience gasped, knowing he was a good man. Tomoyo continued after a moment's pause, "His son has been chosen as his replacement. They were going to announce it this morning, but he died yesterday."
"I never thought he would choose his son," Yelan commented. "He always feared that Evison would be a corrupt leader and bring harm to his people." The three twenty-one-year-olds stared at her in wonder, but before anyone could say a word, she continued. "He studied in Japan with a friend of his when he was younger. He kept in touch with Kinomoto-san after he left." She turned to Sakura, "Your father would pass news on to Syaoran's father since we had all known each other."
"Why did he choose his son then? If he thought he would be a poor leader, he could have chosen someone else." Sakura put a voice to the thoughts going through the heads of her friends. She thought for a second before turning to Tomoyo. "That wasn't all you saw, was it?" It was more of a statement than a question but Sakura still expected an answer.
Tomoyo cringed, then sighed before answering her friend. "No, it wasn't. I saw pain and suffering. There were burning cities – the sky was thick with smoke. People were training to be fighters – they're raising an army. Others were slaves, being forced to work all day and not even given food to eat. There was another group of people," Tomoyo's eyes opened eyes opened wide with fear as she remembered what she saw, "they were training in magic; it felt dark." She shivered as she fell silent.
"This is more serious than I feared," Yelan said as she rose. "We must warn the other Decision Makers, hopefully we will be able to stop the destruction before it goes too far." The woman left the room leaving her parting words on the air behind her, "Perhaps you should write to England."
Sakura nodded to Yelan's suggestion, thinking that it would be a good idea to tell Eriol. Nevertheless, she still sat in her chair, not really seeing anything – she was in shock. 'I should probably tell Adan about this, his family is from the Northwest which is very close to the Distant West. He'll probably want to make sure they're safe.' Eventually, she noticed Syaoran beaconing to her from across the room. She stood up and walked toward him without even knowing she did it.
"You promised you'd tell me what's been happening to Daidouji-san," he whispered as he drew Sakura nearer to him. He was worried Tomoyo would hear and get angry at them for fussing over her. "I gathered from what just happened that she has visions. Tell me more about it."
Sakura sighed loudly, about to begin, when she felt a finger in her lips. "Shh…not too loud, it wouldn't be a good idea to attract Daidouji-san's attention."
She looked up at Syaoran and nodded before he removed his finger. "She gets visions. Not very frequently though and never during training." Syaoran looked at her questioningly, it had sounded like Tomoyo had had another vision recently. Sakura blushed lightly, "She saw the incident with the truck yesterday." She paused before continuing and noticed that Syaoran's cheeks had a faint rose hue as well. "That's not all. You remember how we all thought she was very perceptive when we were younger?" Sakura asked. Syaoran nodded. "Well, that's part of it too. She can sort of read minds, not exactly what people are thinking, but she gets the gist of it."
"That must be why it seemed like she knew what I was going to do before I did it."
Sakura nodded, "She does that to me sometimes. She says it's to keep me on my toes. She joins me in training so she can learn to control her abilities and to make them stronger."
"How many people know about this?" Syaoran asked.
"She and I, now you, probably your mother has figured it out, Kero-chan, Yue and Eriol-kun. I guess that's makes seven." Sakura listed everyone who knew about her friend's recently surfaced abilities. Her father may know about Sakura's abilities, but the didn't want to bother him with Tomoyo's – he'd just get more worried.
"And how long has this been happening for? Why did you tell Hiiragizawa and not me?" Syaoran was miffed that the girls trusted the boy who had tried to hurt them, but not him and it showed through his tone of voice.
"It started about five years ago. I wrote to Eriol-kun about it because I needed to know what to do – I needed help." Syaoran eyed her as if to say 'why didn't you ask me for help?' "I-I didn't really think to ask you. We hadn't heard from you in a while. I thought you were too busy to deal with minor changes in Japan." Sakura refused to meet his eyes as she answered.
Syaoran sighed, "well, I'm glad you've told me now. Next time something like this comes up, please tell me about it too?" His voice and choice of words made it seem halfway between a command and a question.
Sakura smiled. "Of course I will Syaoran-kun, I'm very sorry I didn't tell you about this earlier," she said, giving him a small hug.
Once again, they both felt that little jolt of electricity but neither of them really noticed because a small, "Kawaii," interrupted them from the other side of the room. They quickly broke apart and turned to see Tomoyo staring at them with stars in her eyes.
"I don't know why I didn't think of this before, but you two would make such a cute couple!"
Her friends just stared at her, trying to figure out
what she was talking about.
Pronunciations and Meanings
(I'll do this when I introduce a character that
I created if the name isn't an easy one)
Evison – Like Edison only with a 'v'. Giving you
the meaning of this one would ruin my fun
Adan – (ah-DAHN) means 'a large bat' from a proverb
that essentially means you do your best.