Recap:

Akuma's pliant body became as tense as the string on a bow as she released all that power held in her slender body in one massive surge. The large flow of energy formed itself into a one giant stream of angry red force that was aimed at the prone figure of Yue. And there was absolutely nothing he could do but watch it as rushed towards him with nothing between him and it. Yue closed his eyes in resignation as he offered up a prayer to all the gods that had ever been, and was now in existence.

/Please protect them. Please grant them enough strength to face her and defeat her./

Chapter Thirteen

The storm wasn't natural, Kero and Tsuki knew that. They were creatures made entirely of magic and they were made instantly aware of any changes in the energy pattern around them. And right now their supernatural sense was telling them forcefully that the raging over them was a lot more than unnatural. Tsuki was huddled on Sakura's bed leaning on Kero, who was sitting beside her.

"Kero, what's going on?" Tsuki asked worriedly looking out at the storm via the large window of Sakura's bedroom.

Kero frowned biting his lips in anxiety. "I don't know, but I know it's got to be bad," he answered bleakly. Both guardians had grim expressions on their faces. They knew something was wrong. What was going on, was the thought running through both their heads. Who was gathering such an amazing amount of energy, and why?

As if in answer to that question a sudden wave of energy swamped their body, flooding them with excess energy that burned their physical body. Their human form couldn't deal with the flood and was telling them in the most obvious way. Their nerves seemed to be on fire as the energy flowed through their weak body. The pain ebbed fading away slowly fooling them into thinking that the worst of the storm was over. But the next second, another wave of energy, stronger than the previous one, washed away their flimsy shields, attacking them directly.

On the bed Tsuki curled into a right ball and squeezed her eyes shut struggling to put up her shield again without little success. Her pearly teeth bit her lips drawing blood that filled her mouth with the coppery tang of blood. Kero, beside her was bent over, clutching his stomach with an expression of pain. The two could barely focus on their surroundings, as preoccupied as they were by the pain.

"Wha – What's going on?"  Tsuki gasped out with difficulty as another wave burned her body. Kero shook his head. It was all he could do in his vulnerable state.

~ * ~ * ~

Kaho looked up from her desk with a small frown marring her face. She had been marking her students' assignments when she had noticed that something wrong. In all her life she had never, ever sensed this much energy gathering in the one place, not even when Sakura had been facing Eriol. And there was something else as well. This kind of energy was wrong. This wasn't pure magical energy. It was a warped and distorted version of magic.

The moon priestess stood up and walked over to an open window. She noted that dark storm clouds were collecting over the town. The brunt of the storm seemed to be concentrated on one particular area. The frown grew deeper. This was wrong. Every nerve in her body was screaming danger.

A choked gasp escaped her mouth as her head suddenly exploded with pain. Sensitive as she was to power, her mind was being overloaded with energy. She gave a brief thought to how Touya and Eriol were dealing with the pain, before all her attention was focused on conquering the pain.

~ * ~ * ~

A loud boom broke Touya's concentration. The young man looked out the window to see that a storm had broken over the town. Worry entered his eyes. There had been no storm forecast on the news. And even more strangely, all the ghosts had abandoned this area. He could no longer see the children playing in the street, or the young woman sitting on the sakura tree outside the house. His mind made the connections. Ghosts only disappeared when magic is involved. And for all of them to disappear…

This storm was very bad. The magical energy running all over the place was enough to give him a headache. There were few times when he wished to be rid of his powers. Now was one of those times. Touya's eyes grew wide. Sakura was still out there. She was still out there unprotected in the magical storm. But before he could do anything more than worry a sudden rush of energy made him gasp in surprise and in pain.

Touya dropped to his knees barely able to keep conscious. The energy hummed in his body, making his body ache painfully. He gasped again and tried to force air into his lung. The magical energy had suddenly gone off the scale. And he didn't know why.

~ * ~ * ~

Eriol thanked god that he was sitting down. Around him Spinel Sun and Ruby moon fluttered around wanting to know why their master curled up in pain. Even with all the shields he had up Eriol could feel the magic pouring through his body making it feel as though he had molten lava for blood.

Eriol shook his head and looked up at his guardians with a pained smile. "I'm fine, really," he squeezed out through gritted teeth.

"What's wrong?" Ruby Moon cried anxiously. Even though his master was protecting him from the backlash, he could feel the danger in the air. Spinel, even though he was quieter, was worried as well. Both magical creations knew something was attacking their master.

"Someone in this town is using a tremendous amount of energy," Spinel Sun answered for Eriol. As learned as he was, he recognized the signs of a magical backlash. Ruby Moon's eyes widened with horror.

Everything had a balance. When you used magic, there was always a backlash of some sort. The greater the power, the greater the backlash. For the backlash to affect Eriol this much, the energy being used must have been high. Higher than most magicians could handle. The only two people capable of such things were Sakura and Eriol. Sakura had no reason to call up this much power, and Eriol was writhing in pain.

"So who is it?" Ruby Moon voiced the thought running through everyone's head.

~ * ~ * ~

Yue closed his eyes in resignation. He consoled himself with the fact that he had tried his best. He had failed, but at least he hadn't just rolled over, he had gone down with a fight. And that was enough for him. It had to be.

He felt the energy gathering and braced himself for the impact. It was going to hurt. He could barely put up a shield but he gathered what little energy his weakened body could handle, and even that was enough to burn him, and put up a basic shield. The shield would do nothing, but it made Yue feel marginally better. Yue winced as the energy was released. However, instead of feeling the burst of energy ripping his body apart, he heard the energy exploding several feet away from him. Heat washed over him, almost blistering his already sensitive skin but he wasn't dead. Surprised, shocked, and alarmed, Yue opened his eyes…only to be greeted with an amazing sight.

Standing in front of him, shining brightly, was a winged figure. The feathered wings gave off a pale pink glow, as did the gauzy dress fluttering about the person's ankles. Surrounding both Yue and the person was a shield of shimmering pink. The star guardian quickly saw that the lightning had crashed against the shield and had been deflected away to a safe area. Around them the storm raged and lighting flashed in the sky. Yue shivered as he saw the angry sneer on Akuma's lips. The sorceress didn't look pleased by this new development. Her eyes flashed bright red and in accordance with her sharp hand gestures several lightning flew down and struck the shield but it held strong. Each strike was deflected away without a flicker of weakness. The figure stood strong through the assault until Akuma saw the pointlessness of attacking. The wind died down, allowing Yue to more closely observe the figure.

Even from the back Yue recognized his saviour. "Tenshi," the Japanese word slipped out from between Yue's lips in an awed sigh. In direct contrast to his normally icy exterior the star guardian's eyes were wide open and his mouth was slightly gaping. The figure did not turn around at the voice. Yue struggled to stand up unable to believe what he was seeing.

"Leave him alone Akuma, it isn't time yet," the young woman demanded firmly not letting the shield down. Yue didn't blame her. He wouldn't put the shield down if he were her. Akuma glared at her anti-thesis with unconcealed hatred. The Angel didn't look fazed by the anger directed at her.

An unpleasant smile appeared on Akuma's lips. "I will not harm the girl but it is within my rights to kill him," Akuma proclaimed possessively. Yue bit back a retort at the arrogance in her voice. It was not wise to draw attention to himself at this precise moment.

Yue heard a smile in the Angel's voice. "He is under my protection, unless you wish the battle to occur here and now, I would suggest that you leave." Yue had never heard the Angel sound so angry, so cold. Every other time he and the Angel had met, she had been so gentle, and kind. But now her wrath had been stirred, and Yue didn't mind admitting that she scared him.

Akuma snarled wordlessly. She was reluctant to admit defeat but she eventually stepped down. There was no use in wiping each other out. "When the day comes sister, you will regret ever opposing me," she warned fading away. The storm, along with its maker, faded away as well, until the sky was once again clear and blue. The Angel waited for all traces of Akuma to disappear before taking down the shield slowly.

Yue leaned on his uninjured leg the other had been sprained during the fight. "W – what…" Yue stammered. The girl turned around with a welcoming smile. In contrast to her words to Akuma, she had a gentle smile on her face. Yue was frozen at the sight of her face. It had been so long since he had seen her. She still looked beautiful, blindingly so. She radiated a calm aura that soothed his soul and mind. Yue had missed that aura of serenity.

"Hello Yue," she greeted walking over to the star guardian with slow measured steps. She seemed to float as she headed for him. Yue, frozen in his place, could do little more than stare as his first love approached him. The Angel stopped a respectable distance away from Yue. The two stared at each other, the Angel fondly, and Yue with wonder.

"You seem so surprised to see me," she said with a gentle smile, prompting Yue into speech.

Yue found his voice again, "Why are you – "

"Why am I here?" the Angel interrupted. Yue nodded silently. The Angel's smile grew wider. "Do you think I would really let my sister kill you?" she asked. Yue smiled slightly and shook his head in answer to her question. Then his eyes shadowed as the past rushed to catch up with him.

"Where have you been?" Yue blurted out, a note of anger and hurt in his voice.

The Angel scowled playfully at Yue, not seeming to take him seriously. "Where I've always been, right beside you."

"Since when?" Yue demanded, having gotten over his shock, enough to hold an actual conversation with the Angel. The Angel stepped closer and put her hand on his cheek. Her pale pink eyes looked up at him with sorrow.

"Since the day I left Clow Reed," she whispered softly. Yue's confused and angry eyes softened. He leaned into the Angel and let his lips close over hers. The girl kissed back gently. The kiss seemed to last an eternity, soothing both their souls, and awakening latent desire. Yue grasped her waist holding onto her tightly. But she broke free of his hold and stepped back reluctantly. Yue grabbed her wrist.

"Where are you going?" he asked anxiously. The Angel smiled wanly.

"I have to go, my host can't support me forever. She is growing weak." Yue nodded to show that he understood and let go of her wrist. His hands clenched in an effort to resist the temptation to grab her. He knew how it worked. Cards could not stay in their physical forms for long, not if they had no master to depend on. The Angel was such a card. He knew she had to either go back to her card form or to the form of her host. And if her host grew too weak, the Angel would fade away, simply becoming shapeless, mindless, soulless energy. And Yue could not allow that to happen.

"Please be careful," the Angel warned gently, a pale pink glow coming over her body.

Yue dredged up a smile. He couldn't allow the Angel to worry about him. Letting out the breath he had been holding Yue watched as the glow grew brighter, and brighter, almost making him blind with the intensity. He turned away instinctively as the glow grew too bright for him. As the bright glow faded away he slowly turned around. As his eyes landed on the Angel's human host they widened in shocked surprise.

Standing before him was a confused and shocked Kinomoto Sakura. The teenager looked at the guardian in bewilderment. She was wearing the school clothes that Yue had last seen her in, but they were rumpled and wrinkled. Her brown hair was in disarray and her emerald eyes reflected the confusion that Yue was also feeling. "Yue?" she whispered huskily before her eyes closed and she fell to the ground, exhausted by the task of holding enormous amount of power in her frail body.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Heheh, the latest chappie is up. No I wouldn't have killed Yue, I love him too much for that. And beside, if he died who on earth am I supposed to pair Sakura up with? This was supposed to be a ten chapters story but somehow it evolved into a long multi-chapter story. I still don't know when I'll end it.

I didn't realise where the Angel was hiding until I wrote this chapter. I had a faint idea that the Angel was watching over Yue, I just wasn't sure how. Turns out she was with Sakura after all. When I wrote chapter twelve, I was wondering who on earth was going to rescue Yue. I wanted to make is Sakura but somehow it seemed so predictable, so I settled for the Angel. As for why Akuma called the Angel 'sister', you'll find out later. And there is a reason why Akuma's been attacking everyone around Sakura. Let me work out the glitches in my plot first. I should really plot first before writing, otherwise it's a pain having to go back to make the past chapters fit with the story.

My latest obsession is a site called go-gaia (www.go-gaia.com). It's a great site, and I have such a cute character. My name's Morier, and my guy has long silver hair and blue eyes. He's so cute!!! I've also decided to participate in my school volleyball team and the debating team as well. What can I say, I love arguing. That's what's happening in my life if anyone wants to know.

Enough of my chatting. Go and review people, go and review.

Ja