Kero flew to the Sakura book and took out the mirror card. Eriol turned the card in his hand to see the unfamiliar symbol on the top right corner.

"I see." He responded. He fingered the blue gray symbol.

"What does it mean?" Kero asked.

"It means that Touya will be joining our rounds soon." Eriol answered.

"He won't have access to the cards, will he?"

"I don't think so." Eriol answered.

Sakura awoke to someone shaking and calling her name. "Sakura, will you wake up!" Touya's voice finally broke through her head.

"Touya what's wrong?" She asked groggy.

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Moonspell- I'm glad that you liked the story outline and plot. To tell you the truth I don't quite know what will happen in the small details as I go. On occasion I don't even know on the larger details. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Suppie69- If you're still reading this story I give you a high five just because you have been a very patient reader.

Tramie- Thank you for being the great person that you are for going over both of the stories that I currently have going. I know that you are a busy person as well. Somehow I can't imagine getting any busier than what I am. I'm going to look back on this time and say, "How did I do this?" So again thank you and I look forward to editing the next chapter of your story.

Disclaimer: I don't own them. We all know that. If I did they probably would have taken a totally different route on how they did the story but I like what I have now so I guess I wouldn't be changing any of it.

Chapter 15

-Likaun Ami-

'You are here for one purpose and one purpose only. You are the one that must keep this family afloat if something comes up and I can't. You must never marry under the richest person you can find or it must be royalty.'

A ten year old girl stood rigid as her mother gave her the instructions very carefully. If she didn't listen carefully then there would be trouble. She didn't even try to sneak away. She had to have the right friends, never get her hands dirty and she had to keep up appearances. It was a mantra that always ran through her head. It was never about what she wanted and she figured that was the way that it was always going to be. She didn't see her life being any other way.

Her hands never were allowed to get dirty, and even at the age of ten years old her hands were perfectly manicured. If she broke a nail, her mother wanted to know what happened and what she was doing that she had a broken nail that had to be filled. She would be taken straight down to the beauty parlor.

Her hair had always been in perfect position. You would never find one hair out of place. All the while that her hair and nails were being done, business deals were drilled into her head. She learned at an early age how to work the stocks and bonds that ran the world system. She learned how to keep books by the time she was thirteen years old and was definitely the top mathematician in her class.

She was the one that had to make the grades and push herself to even the limits that most adults didn't put out. By the time she was fifteen, she knew every financial problem that they had within the company. She knew the ins and outs and how to cover up expenses. She even knew how to get the extra cash if she needed. Of course she didn't. She had to admit that she had definitely 'known' some of the guys at the school by the time she was seventeen. That hadn't been part of her training and drilling, but it was certainly one of the few things that she had been able to get away with, without getting in trouble. Of course, she never kept any of the guys longer than a few months. They fell at her feet, wanting to date her because she had the perfect body, personality, and the right friends. She certainly did pick and choose who she would date until she got tired of them.

Ami Likaun gave a grim and evil smile before she entered her mother's study. "Okaasan, I need your advice."

"Okaasan, I don't know how to get his attention with this other girl around. He was in her room today."

Mrs. Likaun turned from her computer counsel. "Are you sure she's there to marry him?"

"Why else would she be there? When I arrived yesterday she was sitting in the chair that I'm supposed to be in. I sit on the right side of him when I eat with them." Ami Likaun informed her mother.

"You know that here are two things that will keep this family afloat. We have to get you married to Li Shaoran, and we have to be able to merge with Daidouji's toy company." Her mother didn't look worried about either one.

"You act like this is going to be the simplest task. You don't get it, Daidouji-san's daughter is over there right now. She's already told me that this merger isn't happening." Ami stood in front of her mother.

"Her daughter will be of no consequence. She is starting a fashion company that won't get very far after she has her first showing. Everything will depend on that showing. She just turned 18. She can't be that good." Her mother laughed at an 18 year old running a company.

"I wouldn't knock her. I saw one of her dresses. I wouldn't play this other girl lightly. He pays her more attention at dinner than he ever did me."

"Look I don't care what you have to do. If you have to sleep with him to make this marriage happen, do it." Her mother ordered as she digested the information that she had just been given.

Ami grinned from ear to ear. "I'd love to. He has one hot body." She laughed before she left the room.

Mrs. Likaun watched her daughter leave. "I think that I'll help my daughter out." She picked up the phone.

-Li Mansion-

Shaoran was out the door just as soon as Sakura returned with Touya and his family. He ignored Touya's glare as he took Sakura's hand.

Mizuki Kaho giggled at her husband. "You know that they will probably end up together, right?"

Touya nodded his head glumly. He knew it, he just didn't like it. "If the gaki does anything to hurt her, he will wish he had never laid eyes on her."

-Later that night-

Ami Likaun watched with keen interest as Sakura had another dance with a partner she obviously didn't want. She looked like she would rather kill the next guy that asked her to dance. 'Good. Now I can keep some of my attention on him. Maybe this will keep a rift between the two.' She let her lips graze across his cheek as she laid her head on his shoulder, facing his neck much like a contented lover. Shaoran stiffened as he held her.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying his hardest not to make a scene.

"Getting close to my fiancé." She whispered, nuzzling his ear. He took the formal step away only to find her pushed against him by another dancing couple, who needless to say weren't paying attention to anyone but their dance partner.

"It seems fate has different ideas." Her lips gradually and seductively were brushing against his neck, while the dress she had carefully chosen to wear was brushing up into a heated flame against his hot chest. He didn't think that the heat was coming from him. He tried to look for Sakura, but he couldn't see her. It seemed that she had been whisked far away from where he wanted to see her.

"Now don't worry about her. She'll be alright." She spoke just as if she could read his mind. She had somehow managed to get him to the back patio door.

"Likaun, I think I'm just going to find Sakura now."

"Oh, I don't think so." She pushed him out the door roughly. "I've been waiting all night to get my hands on you." She didn't hold back now. She pulled him toward her to start a demanding kiss, but didn't get any farther.

"There you are, Xiao-lang. I was wondering where you had been. I think that Sakura is free to dance now." Feimei smiled as the gracious sister, but held a dangerous steely glint in her eyes.

"Yes, she has been a little busy with all her suitors. Let me see if I can join her dance card."

Ami looked wounded, but pleaded to him. "We were just getting to the good part."

"No we weren't." His voice was quiet and deadly.

"Come on Sakura, don't be mad at me." He whispered in her ear a few dances later. She had seen what had happened between Li and Likaun. It didn't mean that she liked it.

"She was necking during the dance." Sakura whispered. She knew that he hadn't wanted Likuan to do that. She even knew that he didn't like the said girl. However, the fact couldn't be denied that his body reacted to the touch the other girls lips. Just as any mans.

"You mean something like this?" He whispered, hoping that his family wasn't watching, but knowing that they probably were. He kissed her forehead before he went to her cheek. "Or do you mean like this?" She felt his aura spike as the two of the auras began to shimmer together, making a rather pretty flowery shield around them. He ran his hand over her neck as gentle as the kiss he would have given her if they hadn't been in public currently.

'Shaoran, what are you doing?' She tensed for moments under his massaging hands.

'I want to do more than this. I want to do more than touch you, but I won't hurt you. That I promise.' He gently touched her lips to his not withholding the underlying desire in the kiss.

Sakura understood what was behind the kiss, but was shocked at the gentle boldness that he was giving her and only her. She somehow knew that he wouldn't give that to anyone else. While the young woman stayed in his arms, she began to relax against his chest, only to tense at the same time that he did.

They felt the difference in the air as they were dancing. 'You sense that?' Shaoran asked Sakura.

'Yeah, let's get everyone out of here.'

'Menchu, Eriol, let's get our people out of here.'

'Already on it.' Eriol spoke to them silently

"I'll get Tomoyo-chan, Meilin-chan and her date. You get the others." Sakura instructed as they parted.

"Alright, meet us at the front." Shaoran agreed.

'Tomoyo, where are you?' Sakura was hoping that this would work. She had never before tried to talk to her friend telepathically.

'Sakura, is that you?' Tomoyo's voice was in her head.

'Yeah, we have to get out of here.' She spotted Meiling and her date. "Meiling!" She pushed through the dancers.

"Kinomoto, what's up?"

"We have to go." Sakura was urgently trying to get to her friend when she was pushed away.

Meilin looked around to see that everyone was normal. She also knew that not everything was as it seemed a lot of times. She nodded to Sakura before she took her dates hand. "Let's go."

'Shaoran, Eriol, do you have everyone else?' Sakura asked mentally.

They first voice she heard was Eriol's. 'Yeah. I got all of the sisters and Aunt Yelan.'

Feimei's voice was next. 'Sakura, you have to get to my brother. It seems that he is being detained by Likaun.'

'I'm on it.' She said to them. "I don't have time for this." She said, talking to Meiling. "I'll be right back. You two keep going." Sakura disappeared back into the crowd, searching for his aura. "There you are Shaoran-kun. You promised me a walk in the gardens, didn't you?"

"Oh, but you've already had him Sakura." Likaun pouted slightly. Sakura took in her ankle length dress that revealed as much that could be revealed without being illegal.

"I'm sure you can get whatever it is that you want from any of the other rather annoying bachelors that I've had to dance with. I really need to talk to him." Ami Likaun watched in shock as Sakura took his hand and quite literally dragged him out of the room. That was until she was swept into another man's arms.

-Outside-

"Thanks." He whispered just before they felt the air filled with an electrical magic charge.

'Ready?' They asked simultaneously.

Sakura's star appeared under her, while Shaoran activated his sword and ofuda.

"Oh there you are. I was wondering when you two would show up." The woman appeared to stroll from the forest.

They sent a double lightning bolt to the lady. They landed on each side of her as if she had redirected them somehow. The woman laughed and bound Shaoran to a tree with magical rope. "This fight is between you and me."

"Let him go!" She ordered.

"I think I'll keep him there." There was a change in scenery to a dark, deadly forest. There wasn't one living bird, snake, or even one bug. The trees brought a haunting shadow to the whole scene.

"You want to play with illusions, fine."

"Last time I checked, you couldn't. I sense your fear. You're afraid you're going to lose. You almost did last time."

"Check again. Mirror!" Mirror came out of her card image. The woman was surprised enough to stay still for a second too long. There were figures of Sakura all over the place. Some of which were teleporting, some were holding a wand poised and ready to call a card.

"What a neat little parlor trick. You won't last long with this one."

One of the Sakura illusions started by calling create to make a live green forest. "I found you. An image can't call a card."

"How can you be so sure that she's the image and I'm not?" This Sakura taunted. This one called upon Earth.

The woman managed to jump out of the way of the trees that had begun to grow around her. "I will find you!" She flared at the many Sakura's all around her. She then stood still. The only sign of life that was around her was the wind blowing her hair. "You have grown powerful, Sakura." That was the only thing she spoke for eternities, it seemed. "Why don't you come out and play?" The world around her remained silent, though. "Found you." She sent a red sash in that direction. "What?"

All of the Sakura's disappeared at that moment. "Nice parlor trick, huh?"

"A stick? You transferred your power to a stick?"

"No I didn't, actually. I just used it to reveal some of it and covered my aura." She pulled out her sword. "I've just trained well."

The stick that Sakura had tricked her with quickly turned into a fiery sword, in which the woman quickly picked up. "You want to know what your problem is? You like to play with fire too much and you are too confident of yourself."

"You don't say? I'd say your problem is that you have too many emotions surrounding your heart."

There was nothing said after that. All around there was naught but silence reigning. It was as if both sides waited until the other would make a move.

The wind picked up around the two women. The elements were beginning to lighten and darken, all according to whom they were closest. The illusion quickly was fading away, so nobody could be sure what was.

The two had changed somehow. Sakura's dress had changed from the halter sunset orange/pink, to one of pure, sparkling white.

The other sorceress had but a pure black that went past her felt almost. Both women were in the air. There as a string of tension even beyond the barrier that couldn't be seen, that only broke when they decided to move at the same time.

The battle was between the cards, wands, swords and illusions. The battle raged on until each of them had to stop. "You've become much stronger. At one time you couldn't have lasted this long."

"Well, I'm tired of this game. I want to know who's doing this." Sakura said. She was using the last ounce of her energy to send a steady stream of blue fire to the sorceress that had shown up.

"The same person that has been after you for three years."

"They've been after me for three years and they still have not been able to beat me? That's sad. I thought I was supposed to be a weak, annoying sorceress." Sakura taunted. She put just a little more into the stream of fire.

"Now who's too confident." The other sorceress counteracted Sakura's fire stream with her own.

There was another presence sensed in the air with them. This presence sent a pure energy their way, knocking both of the weary women.

Shaoran caught Sakura just before she hit the ground. The woman that Sakura had been fighting wasn't so lucky, though. Through the air resonated the sound of a sickening crunch of bones snapping. 'Fuutie, we need you over here now.'

-Shaoran-

He found himself tied to a tree far beyond the barrier that had just gone up. "What's going on?" He was shocked to see the forms of unrecognizable bodies. "I told you at one time that those close to you would suffer the same fate as you, especially your husband." He stared in shock as one of the bodies became even more clear.

A dark forest presented itself with no signs of life. He heard Sakura speak. "You want to play with illusions, fine! Mirror!" She called.

"What has happened to her?" He saw Sakura all over the place. He kept struggling to get out of the magical rope. His sword wouldn't work very well because it was three feet away from him. He tried a few incantations so that the rope would come off. Nothing he tried worked. Yukito showed a few minutes later.

"Sorry, there's a battle going on over at the house. It took me a few minutes to get away."

"Why do they keep going after her?" Shaoran stared in shock at the sight before him. Everything to him seemed to be still and yet it wasn't. The wind circled around the two sorceress'. The elements were going alternately from a clashing dark to a compromising light. Then alternating colors came at the same time, fading into the most incredible scene that Shaoran had ever witnessed.

Yue and Shaoran's eyes were glued to the scene that was the same two women, but then again they weren't. Sakura had changed into a white dress. "She's beautiful." He didn't realize he whispered it aloud. "What do I have to do to make them come after me?" He looked unsure at Yue.

There was a pause between the two. They had tried to break through the barrier, but had found they couldn't. They were helpless to her, only able to watch her fight. "You have to make her love you."

There had been a fire streaming from the two of them. Then something, or someone, broke through the barrier, sending a beam of energy to the center of the moving fire. The extra energy beam knocked each of the women flying back and dropping from the sky.

Shaoran caught Sakura just before she hit the ground. "Oh Sakura, please get some rest." Sakura lay pale in his arms, unmoving and still in the white dress that they had seen her transform in.

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I'm so sorry that I've taken so long to get this chapter out. I hope that if you are reading this and have read the story before that you will forgive me that it has taken so long to get it out. I hope you enjoy. Arigato and ja ne!