Disclaimer: I don't own much of anything, much less CCS

A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, (intake of breath) Like I said, I'm sorry. Teachers at my school really know how to screw over a guy when it comes to homework. I hope it is compensation if I uploaded 3 chapters at once. I know it is too late for Christmas but if you guys want I can post up a new years chapter special. I know I can put them all into one chapter, but I don't know. I just feel like it I guess. Also please note that I changed my screen name from solar-storm247 to unshed-tears247. Lastly, I want to reply to my newer reviews just before I forget. I tend to do that at times.

To: FreedomGundam and sakura.cherryblossom.kinomoto: thank you for your reviews and I hope you guys would like these chapters.

(Also note rating went up and a chance for lemons)

Black Eye Of The Tao Abyss

Chapter Six:

As Ready As Can Be

Hours turned to days, days into weeks, weeks into months, months into years. Ok, maybe that was exaggerating this just a little bit. But it did last at least for a month. It seemed like much longer though, to Sakura. Ever since Sakura heard about "Premature Death", she worked non-stop to strengthen her magic. Her friends were with her all the way though. She wasn't really surprised. Though Sakura was certain that none of the others felt as strongly towards Syaoran as she did, Syaoran was still a good and close friend to them.

Was. Sakura didn't like that word one bit. It only reminded her constantly that Syaoran was gone. But like she had said, she was going to be strong for her friends, her family, Syaoran, and most importantly, herself. It wouldn't help at all if she were weeping like a madwoman.

Though only in this short period of time, many things have happened. First, the happiest news that Sakura received was when Tomoyo had told her that she and Eriol were going to start to date. Truth be told, Sakura still remembered when she dated Eriol herself, but she wasn't jealous at all. She could only say that she was happy for her friends. While it is true that Eriol had been a great friend and an even better boyfriend, Sakura never realized how much she cared about Syaoran until recently, when he was gone.

But you know what? Sakura has a secret. Deep down in her heart, she knew that Syaoran was alive, somewhere. She was told that when loved ones pass on, the person that is left behind normally have a pang of pain and sometimes guilt. But after all that has happened, she mourned and wept relatively less than she had expected. Not that her feelings for Syaoran weren't real, but that she just missed him, and he was missing. Definitely not that he was dead.

Sakura know for a fact that she was not in denial. Sometimes she would wake up in the night and look beside her. There, on top of her night table, was Syaoran's piece of the lover's stone. It would glitter here and there, raising Sakura's hopes each time it did. Though back on topic now, this month had done wonders to Sakura and her friends.

Firstly, Meilin had shown everyone else her special deck of Rose Cards. Not surprisingly, they consisted mostly around the strategy of a strong and firm offence. There were cards such as Fight, Berserk, Defense, Offence, and Gorilla Attack, which all basically meant physical combat. This type of cards, Sakura knew, drew more on the physical strength of the owner as opposed to magical power. It wasn't exactly a secret that out of them, Meilin was the weakest in magic (not including Tomoyo since she never really did any magic at all so it couldn't count) but could whip any one of them in hand to hand combat (maybe except for Syaoran). Meilin wasn't stupid though, as she did have cards that focused more on magic and they, of course, backed up the physical cards. These cards were mainly weapons and power ups such as Blade, Poison, Flame, Bow and Arrow, etc.

Next, the three of them (Sakura, Eriol and Meilin), managed to help Tomoyo create a deck of her own. Sakura joked around in the beginning by saying that they might come out as something like Camera Cards or Costume Cards but in the end she wasn't surprised to see Lilies on the backs of Tomoyo's cards. Her deck was a basic one, to say the least. Many of them were cards that required little energy but when used in the correct way, would do an expert proud. These were ones like Jump, Speed, Spark, Ember, Rain, etc. By the end of each day, Tomoyo would appear more tired than a 500 year old but nevertheless, she always wore a smile, knowing that she wasn't left out any more.

Tomoyo didn't just spend time on her cards though. She still somehow had the time and energy (much to Sakura's dismay) to create more costumes for Sakura. And Sakura, being the kind friend that she is, complied only to help Tomoyo relax her from the stress of her recent magical "developments".

Sakura and Eriol didn't just teach and train the others of course; they improved their own decks and their magical power energy at least doubled (or in Sakura's case, tripled). After the confrontation with Tao, Sakura knew that she had to play smart, and thus created three new powerful cards for her on coming challenge. She would be creating more of course, but right now she would be quite content by just having Friendship, Mercy, and Freedom (kind of got that from FreedomGundam's pen name which, if I'm correct, is from Gundam Seed). Of course, Sakura also still had Memory. When she showed her friends her new creations, all they did was nod, and say something like "that's just so like you to do that" and in Meilin's case, smirk.

Eriol, having an almost exact deck as Sakura (since the star cards originated from the Clow cards), he wanted to make his deck different from their friends, in hope that they would have a better chance of winning this way. He studied the way Tao fought and was rather impressed. Even though he couldn't bring himself to control the cards of his opponent (no matter who he or she is), he was still fond of the strategy of "Manipulation". With this thought in mind, he created ten new cards and removed ones that he thought were no longer needed. His new inventions were cards like Destiny, Redirection, Second Thought, Doubt, Blindfold, etc.

A couple more weeks passed and they still kept at it, increasing their physical strength, speed, endurance, magical power, and anything else that they could think of while creating new cards, making new costumes for Sakura (Tomoyo), homework (summer ones, I think they get them), and so forth.

The day came when Sakura realized that she had no idea about what the Rivals' Game was. Sure she knew the backgrounds of the entire thing and the prizes and stuff, but when was it going to start? What kind of things do they have to compete in? Who would be in these games? What are the rules? These questions ran around in Sakura's head along with other questions that follow this line of thought.

It was in the morning, so she decided to get ready first so then she could ask Eriol about the tournament when they met. It seemed like the more logical thing to do. It's not exactly the best idea for her to call Eriol at such an early time in the morning now is it? Come to think of it, when did Sakura Kinomoto ever wake up at 6 in the morning?

Sakura sighed as she dropped back down onto her bed and tried to get some sleep. Sakura turned, twisted, and tried various positions to get comfortable, but still couldn't get any sleep. "I didn't know you were a light sleeper Sakura," a familiar voice said, "come to think of it, why are you awake at this time in the morning?"

Sakura opened her eyes in shock and glanced around her room. She couldn't see anyone, but she could have sworn she heard a voice. It sounded… so much… like Syaoran… Sakura thought, as she tried to fight back a wave of tears. "Hey, hey, sorry, I didn't mean to make you cry…" the same voice said. Sakura glanced around again, still not seeing anything. "Oh! I get it, you're trying to see me, well for starters you can put your night table right underneath your window…"

Sakura agreed without any hesitation. She was a bit spooked by this. After all, who was to say this wasn't another one of Tao's tricks? As she moved her nightstand underneath her bedroom window, a pale greenish light appeared. When Sakura opened her eyes again, she stood in shock and stared at what was in front of her. There he was, Syaoran, the boy… no, the man who had disappeared with her heart.

Sakura couldn't believe it; Syaoran couldn't be back, could he? She gently caressed Syaoran's cheek with her right hand and felt his shiver at the contact, come to think of it, she shivered too. "I'm not really here you know" he said. Seeing Sakura's eyes drop with grief caused a pang of pain in his heart.

Before he knew it, Sakura had him in a bone-crushing hug and sobbing mercilessly. Syaoran ran his hands up and down her back, trying to soother her and muttered words that said everything would turn out all right and that he was sorry that this happened. It took a while, but Sakura did manage to calm down after about 20 minutes, and even then, she looked to be on the verge of tears again. It's kind of ironic that people cry when they first meet opposed to when they are not together.

"Syaoran, what happened?" Sakura asked, barely about a whisper. "I can't tell you that Saku, in a way, I'm not allowed." Syaoran spoke, in a voice so soft that Sakura thought it wasn't even Syaoran talking. "Then why are you here?" Sakura asked, more confused now than she ever was in her entire life. "Look on your night stand Sakura," Syaoran said, gesturing to the said furniture.

Sakura looked as saw Syaoran's piece of the Lovers' Stone shining brightly. When he saw the confusion in Sakura's eyes, he sighed and decided to explain. "Sakura, when I gave the you piece of the Lovers' Stone, I obligated myself to you. (Syaoran's blushing and watching his feet with interest while talking) Since I knew what the stones did when I gave it to you, I permanently gave a part of my heart and soul to you, bound by love. Yea, that's right, I love you Sakura Kinomoto (face going redder…redder…)."

Sakura didn't have time to recover from the shock and let everything sink in before Syaoran continued. "Every day at dawn, when the golden light of the sun pierced through my piece of the jewel when I am not with you and if somehow my piece of the stone ended up with you, a somewhat projectile of me materializes and that's what I am as of the moment. (Gesturing to himself) I couldn't talk or move though, as it is difficult to fight this bond that wouldn't allow me to speak or act. Therefore I couldn't wake you up or anything like that."

Finally finding her voice, Sakura asked, "Why can you talk now?" Syaoran, still staring at his feet, looked up, but still adverted his eyes from meeting hers and pointed to where Sakura's deck sat. "In there, if I am right, your card Freedom gave me the freedom of speech and action, sort to speak. It seems your cards can act on their own."

Then Syaoran surprised Sakura by looking straight into her eyes, piercing though what seemed to be like her soul. "I am the real Syaoran though, kind of like a Proxy, I know where I am at this moment, what I'm doing and so forth, but I am not allowed to say thing like that, it's kind of like a law using the Lovers' Stone. (Face turns grave, sad and hurt) But I want you to understand though, when you accepted you piece, you didn't know what it was, so you are in no way obligated to me. You are free to do whatever you want, and no part of you belongs to me, don't worry. You are… are free to love whomever you want (cringing at the thought). But I just want you to know how I felt (tears forming in both their eyes)."

Sakura could stand it no longer; she wrapped her arms around Syaoran again and cried once more, this time of relief and joy. Syaoran, surprised, tried to comfort her as he did before. Sakura then stopped and looked into Syaoran's deep, brown, chocolate eyes and leaned in forward for a kiss. Their lips touched for a second, shrills of excitement going down both their spines, but then Syaoran began to fade. He waved his hand in good-bye and said, "I guess I'll see you next dawn…" more as a question than a statement.

Sakura nodded before she realized and yelled, "I accept!" hoping that Syaoran would be able to hear her. He looked confused for a second before understanding as a genuine smile graced his lips and tears of joy weld up inside his eyes again. Syaoran disappeared just before Touya knocked at Sakura's door and said, "Your friends are waiting for you outside!" before leaving to his own room.

Sakura met her friends outside, having completely forgotten about her previous questions. "We're leaving today," Eriol said, getting Sakura's attention. "What about packing and all that?" Meilin asked but was silenced by Eriol lifting a hand. "The council would provide every one of the participants with what they need and will inform our parents and loved ones about our disappearances. I'm sorry for the short notice but that's the way the tournament is held, everything is told last minute to see how you react."

The four friends held each other's hands as Eriol held up a pure white, blank card and the scene around them began to dissolve into darkness. 'Am I ready?' Sakura asked herself, she smiled slightly and unconsciously put one of her hands to her lips. 'As ready as I can be I guess, Syaoran would probably be there' she answered herself. Looking at the two pieces of the Lovers' Stone that she now had on her palm. Yes, she definitely was as ready as can be…

There! I'm done the first of the three chapter updates, I'll get to work on the next ones tomorrow as it's 12:30 CHRISTMAS!!! Right now. Hope you guys like this one and I'm going to go to bed now, Happy Christmas you guys! :o)