Man, it has been a long time since I wrote…sorry about that! Thank you to all who commented, good or bad. And no, I will NOT change this. If you want to write a fan fiction with the main characters being Sakura and Syaoran, be my guest. (Read the comments to understand what I'm talking about) This is my story. This chapter is shorter than other ones I wrote...I hope it's still good. Now with THAT out of the way, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Four

The Nightmare of Loneliness

"Her breathing is really heavy, Syaoran!"

"She'll be fine, don't worry."

"But-"

"Give her sometime, Sakura. Her energy will return eventually," Syaoran reassured his wife.

He ushered Sakura out of the Sarah's room to give their daughter, Kero and her friend some quiet so they all could rest. He closed the door behind him and turned to face Tomoyo who was waiting nervously outside the room.

"I'm worried, though! She's my daughter and I don't want capturing the cards to kill her!" Sakura said.

"It won't kill her. You, Eriol, Tomoyo and I all know that. Even Karen can sense that and she won't let that happen," Syaoran said.

"What of that Haku boy? From what Karen has told me, he's not terribly fond of her," Tomoyo said as they walked down the stairs.

"We shall see about him," Syaoran said, smiling oddly to himself and Sakura knew why.


Wolf gently nudged Sarah with her snout, whining for her to wake up. Sarah, however, did not. Wolf gently nudged her again, this time under the chin. Nothing, not even a sleepy groan.

Wolf looked at Kero and whined to him, why the hell isn't she waking up? She's really worrying me!

"I really don't know. Magic doesn't usually dwindle like this," Kero said, looking down at Sarah sadly.

All of this is giving me a head ache. I need a chew toy.

And, with that, Kero found himself dangling from Wolf's teeth, his tail stuck between them.

"Damn you! Let me go!" he yelled.

As you wish, Wolf responded and threw Kero out from the canopy bed and into the wall. Wolf curled up at the foot of Sarah's bed and watched her to see if she could spot any signs of her waking up soon.

Kero, breathing heavily, flew through the closed curtains and laid down near Sarah's bed.

"Wake up soon, kiddo. I told you that you could rest for as long as you needed…but not like this. You're scaring even me," he whispered.


Sarah did not wake. All night, Wolf would wake up and gently nudge her, but nothing happened. No groan of "Wolf, you idiot! Let me sleep!" Sarah just laid completely still, breathing, but not waking.

The next morning, Karen woke up in her human form, still at the foot of the bed. She sat up and stretched. The sound of small sighs reached her ears to see David asleep next to Sarah…who had her eyes open. She put a single finger to her lips.

"You have no idea how much he struggled to get into this bed," she whispered, a small smile on her lips.

"You didn't help him?" Karen whispered, surprised at her friends unwillingness to help even her little brother.

"I can't. I feel so weak." Sarah looked down at her little brother and giggled slightly. "It's so cute when he sleeps. He coos!"

Karen laughed slightly. "I'll go get your parents. Tell them you're awake. I'll take David back to his bed," she said and was about to take him, when Sarah stopped her.

"Leave him. He'll just get out of his crib again to get back to me," Sarah said.

Karen nodded and left. Sarah turned her head to her right. Kero was sleeping soundly near her head and she heard him mutter, "Don't take my saki!" David snuggled closer to his big sister and she just smiled down at him.

"You're just too cute, David," she whispered as he turned onto his back and let out a little coo.

The door creaked open and Sakura walked in with Karen right behind her. She moved aside the dark violet curtains to the canopy bed and sat down next to her daughter. She felt her forehead.

"I'll call you in sick today. One, you do feel rather warm and two…honey, your tired and weak. I can just tell because you're shaking a bit and your skin is pale. Don't you think it's a good idea to take a break from school?" she said quietly.

David woke up and, at the sight of his mother, crawled over to her and sat in her lap. Sakura wrapped her arms around her little boy.

"Will I be here alone?" Sarah asked her.

"No, David and I will be here. Around noon, your father will return from work and stay for the rest of the day with you and David. I'm going to work around one. He'll be here around 12 or 12:30."

Sarah nodded, weakly. "And what about Karen?"

"I'm making Tomoyo take her home so she can take some time to heal up those scratches," said Sakura.

"Scratches?" Sarah sat up at this. "What scratches? What happened, Karen?"

Sakura realized only too late that she had said something she wasn't supposed to. She quickly covered it up with, "When you were capturing Watery, the snow hit her, leaving some scratches. Nothing to worry about, dear."

Karen walked over to Sarah. "If you ever need anything, you know you can just call me," she said.

Sarah nodded and looked over her friends' arms and hands. They really were scratched up, badly. As if she had been in a fight. A fight with something much larger than her.


Karen and Sarah emailed each other back and forth all day until 11, when Sarah had to sign off and rest. She had been in her battle outfit all night, so she changed into her nightclothes and went back to bed.

Kero floated over to her and felt her forehead. He shook his head. "Poor kid… out in the snow in that costume was not the best thing for your health," he said.

"I wore a jacket with it!" Sarah told him.

"That didn't seem to help you much," Kero said, sitting himself down on her pillow.

Sarah climbed into the bed and covered up.

"That Wolf seems pretty attached to you," commented Kero.

"She's always been there for me. I can't imagine anyone else doing that for me," Sarah said.

Kero flew over to the light switch and turned off the light. He then flew back over to Sarah and closed the curtains around her bed. He looked back at her and found her asleep already. He sighed to himself as he lay down next to her head.

I don't think she's anything like you, Sakura. She's so weak! Kero thought to his old mistress.

Give her time, Kero. She's still getting used to the whole idea of the cards and her gaining all this power. Her body is just surprised by all the power she's gaining, Sakura thought back.

Why weren't you like this, though? Why didn't you suddenly black out or become unconscious when you were capturing the cards? demanded Kero

Sakura was silent for a moment or two. Kero didn't seem to put much faith in Sarah at all. In fact…he didn't seem to like her all that much. This upset Sakura very much, but as she responded, it did not affect her voice. She knew how to control her sadness and anger.

Her magic is used in a different form, Kero. She's used to that. Also, a majority of the time, she was using power from the sun and, suddenly, when she started using power from the moon, she started having a hard time with the sudden boost she was feeling, she defended for her daughter.

Kero knew he had probably gone too far in what he had said before. It was never a wise decision to question Sakura when it came to magic. She knew what she was talking about. It was also never a wise decision to go against any mothers' daughter right in front of them.


Everywhere…blood. Dripping down from her forehead was blood. Down her back…blood. Sarah fell to the ground on all fours and coughed some up. A sharp pain ran through her back and she looked down at her stomach.

The point of a dagger was pointing right out of it. She reached around her to her back and pulled it out. She felt weak. Her naked body fell to the ground and she bled all over the place. Two strong arm's gently picked her up and cradled her gently in them. She looked up. Jason was gently rocking her back and forth…his chest punctured and blood pouring out onto her body from his.


"Sarah! Sarah, wake up!" Kero's voice came like an echo through the mist.

Sarah's eyes shot open and she sat up, looking around. She was in her bed, the curtains closed around her.

"Where's Jason? Where is he?" Sarah asked Kero.

"Jason?" Kero asked her, confused.

"Where is he?" Suddenly, Sarah came to her senses. She buried her eyes in her knees and started to cry. Those dreams…they were happening again. Why? Why now? She was finally getting over him…even two years later it still hurt.

"What was Jason's last name?" came a voice.

Sarah looked up and found Michael sitting next to her. He had froze time. At the sight of her tears, his fingers gently wiped them away. At the feeling of his fingers, she let out a small whimper of fear.

Those eyes glistened when they were full of tears. God they were beautiful.

His fingers had a rough feel to them…but they were gentle and serene towards her.

"Please unfreeze time, Haku," she whispered, the tears still coming, him still trying to wipe them away.

"Does it scare you when I do this?" he asked her gently. She noted the sound of pity coming from his voice.

Sarah didn't answer, but he got his answer when she looked at Kero sadly. He snapped his fingers and everything unfroze from time. Kero saw Michael and charged at him, but Michael grabbed his tail and dangled him around like Wolf had in her mouth.

"I'm not here to hurt Li, so don't worry," he said and gave him to Sarah, who held onto him tightly. "What was Jason's last name?"

"Why do you want to know?" Sarah asked him, still holding Kero close to her.

She was shaking as she spoke. This Jason…was someone very close to her. Someone she had lost possibly.

Michael was silent and saw Sarah's eyes again. God…it turned out he had a very bad weakness here.

"Mist…Jason's last name was Mist," she told him after a minute of silence.

Michael was still silent as he watched Kero struggle to escape Sarah's hand. He continued to wipe the tears away as she cried.

"What did he look like?" he asked her.

"Red hair, gray eyes but he wore colored contacts that made his eyes blue…I can't remember what else…" the tears started to come even more at this. "It's been so long since I saw him!"

By complete surprise, Sarah let Kero go and she fell into Michael, overcome by her tears. Michael started to push her away, his feelings mixed with pure disgust and shock, but something stopped him and he held her doing the best he could to comfort her.

Kero just floated above them. Something was off. Why did he even come when there wasn't a card? Why was he interested in finding out who this Jason person was?

"What are you planning, Haku?" asked Kero.

"Nothing," he answered calmly.

"People don't come over just to find out about a person!" Kero argued.

"I have my reasons," was all Michael had to say.

"Get-the-fuck-away-from-Sarah," came a low growl.

Kero turned to see Karen standing in the middle of Sarah's room. Karen ran over to him and pushed him away from Sarah and took the sobbing blond in her arms, comforting her.

She thinks Michael hurt her again I bet, Kero said.

Karen gently stroked the back of Sarah's head, knowing exactly how to calm her.

"Shh…I'm not going to let him hurt you, Sarah. I promise," she whispered.

Sarah looked up at Karen. "Haku wasn't hurting me, though," she whispered back.

Karen didn't seem to have heard her and looked at her wrist. She turned back to Michael. "What did you do to her?" she demanded.

"I didn't do a thing to her. You're just jumping to conclusions…which I figure you do a lot," Michael said calmly.

Sarah felt Karen's grip become a lot tighter on her and looked up to see her ready to transform into her wolf form and attack him, but Sarah stopped her. She knew exactly how to.

"You never answered my question, Haku! Did you know Jason?" Sarah asked him, trying to buy time before Karen attacked him.

He went silent.

Oh god, don't do that! It'll only make Karen angrier! "Please! I need to know!" she cried.

"Why?" Michael asked her coldly, the question biting horribly at Sarah.

"I'm trying to find someone…anyone who knew him while he was still alive!" she said.

"You're out of luck there," Michael said, all of his cold side coming back again and he turned to disappear.

"I know why the Haku clan split from the Li clan!" Sarah suddenly burst out.

Michael turned to her, his eyes flashing, "Do you?"

"The Haku clan started to hate the Li clan. They had a cold disposition and someone from your clan killed someone from mine over the dispute of who had more power! You hate me because of that hate that's been passed down from generation to generation!" Sarah explained, her eyes still brimming with tears.

"That and other things," he told her simply.

Karen let go of Sarah and was getting ready to charge at Michael.

"And what would be those 'other things,' Haku? Hmm? Mind explaining that to us?" Karen yelled at him.

Michael was silently. He was not making wise moves with not answering Karen's questions, but he seemed to know what he was doing. At that, however, a cold empty feeling swept through all of them. The house, which had been full of the sounds of David's little shrieks of delight and Sakura's laughs, was now empty.

"David," Sarah whispered and ran out of the room.

"What?" Kero looked at Michael and Karen and both shrugged. All three went after her and found her standing in David's room. There was no David and no Sakura. Sarah ran downstairs, them all fallowing her, and found the living room, kitchen and dining room all empty.

"The entire house seems to be empty…" Kero said, looking around.

"Mom said she'd be here until noon and David would still be here!" Sarah looked at the clock. "It's not even eleven yet!" She turned around to speak to Karen, but saw she was gone. She looked at Michael, but all she saw was an outline of him and that cold empty feeling again. He then disappeared.

"Release the key, Sarah, this is a card," Kero told her.

Sarah pulled it out from underneath her nightdress and spoke the Japanese words, "By the power of the stars! Staff of power, made by Clow, reveal to me your true form now! Release the staff!"

"Try and sense it, Sarah. You have to try!" said Kero.

She closed her eyes and concentrated on her power. Please…don't do this to me again…She opened her eyes again and walked back up the stairs and into David's room. A woman in a jesters costume sat in the rocking chair near his crib. She smiled and waved her hand in Kero's direction. He started to disappear.

"Kero! No…please don't leave me!" Sarah cried.

"Don't worry about me! Just capture it!" he yelled before he disappeared.

The card stood up and walked right up to Sarah, smiling. She placed her hand out for Sarah to take. She started to back away from the woman.

"Please…give me back my family," she whispered, starting to cry again.

The woman, still smiling, giggled and shook her head. Sarah touched her with her staff.

"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Sakura Card!" she whispered, the Japanese words echoing through the empty house.

The card, The Erase, floated over to Sarah and she collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Kero reappeared and David, asleep in his crib, and Sakura, asleep in the rocking care, reappeared as well. Michael and Karen reappeared downstairs. They looked around for Sarah, but she wasn't anywhere to be seen. Kero flew downstairs to them.

"She's unconscious in David's room, guys. We need to get her back to bed," he told them.

Michael, Karen at his heels, ran up the stairs to where she lay and he picked her up. Karen carefully picked the staff and the card up. Sarah wrapped her arm's around his neck and buried her eyes in his neck. A small sigh escaped her lips.

"Jason…" was what she sighed. Kero stared at her. Again, she was thinking of Jason. Why would she say it around Michael, though?

Michael walked over to her room and Karen closed the door behind her when Kero came inside. He gently laid her down and made the staff back into the key and placed the card in the book. He sat down next to her, keeping his eyes on her the entire time.

"You knew Jason Mist?" Karen asked him, hearing the name Sarah had uttered.

"Key word is 'knew' in that sentence," Michael said quietly so Sarah could rest without being bothered.

"Who was he?" Kero asked.

Michael stared down at Sarah. She was breathing heavily. He took her wrist, the one he had twisted, in his hand and undid the bandages. He touched her wrist gently with two fingers and it healed up.

Sarah skin was so soft beneath his rough fingertips. It almost felt like he was touching something that could crumble and brake in his hands if he held it for too long.

"Haku?" came Karen's voice, snapping him away from his memories and thoughts of Jason. He had been searching for so long for that girl…that girl Jason had spoke of all the time before he died.

"Jason was my twin brother," Michael whispered.