Title: Beneath the Cold Layer
A/N: Didn't realize I haven't updated… well… in a while. Hope someone enjoys the story!
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Italicized - thoughts/Flashbacks
Chapter 3
It was 3 in the afternoon when the consort of students rushed out of the building. It seemed like the perfect day; the sun was brightly shining, flowers were lightly blooming, and even the birds seem to sing a soft tune expressing their joy of living. However, as Sakura stepped languidly over the concrete stairs to retrieve her bicycle from the rack, her body screamed from exhaustion and frustration.
'What should I do? Should I do what Kero wants?' Laying her hand delicately on top of the handle, Sakura bit her lip softly.
'Should I kill?'
She spent all night thinking about what Kero had told her, and just realizing that another being was settled on earth, she felt her mind jammed with numerous of unanswered questions. By the time she felt as if she could finally get a moment of rest, her brother was already pounding forcefully on her bedroom door, signaling for her to brush up and go to school.
Focusing on her thoughts heavily, she mindlessly passed Syaoran, who was waiting for her patiently near the gates.
"Sakura-chan?"
Turning her head, her eyes focused into Syaoran's deep pool of brown eyes staring back at her.
"Are you all right?" With his arms folded in front of his chest, Syaoran was casually leaning against one of the metal gates surrounding the bicycle area.
Shaking her thoughts away, she smiled forcefully. "Yeah. I just have a lot of things happening in my life right now."
Raising his eyebrow, he replied, "Like what?"
Studying his facial features, she debated whether or not she should tell him the truth. 'I can ask Syaoran, but,' Sakura remembered what Kero had warned her about this morning.
::Flashback::
"Why can't I tell him? If we have more fighters on our team, then wouldn't the job be easier?"
Kero shook his head. "We can't."
"Why not?"
"Like I said, I don't know how they ruptured the balance of the universe and settled here, but just You, Yue, and I are the only ones that know about this situation. The less people involved on this, than the higher chance for us to discover what's happening right now." Kero flew to Sakura's desk and carefully picked up an old, worn-out book.
"If we tell the brat then there is the slight, possible chance for us to be tracked down by one of the vampires, and I just can't risk that right now."
Gliding back to his master, "Yue came in yesterday night and found this in one of Yukito's room. Just study the materials inside and then we'll go from there. If we receive more information on their whereabouts and what they want from us, then maybe later on, you can tell him."
Sakura sighed. 'No, if I tell Syaoran, then I would be the one getting a stake stabbed into my chest.'
Staring back, she gave him a placid smile. "Nothing, just worried about school." Dragging her bicycle pass him, she mounted, pushing her left feet off the ground.
He questioned, eying her back carefully, "Like the test we have this upcoming Friday?"
Almost missing her step, she regained her balance and whipped her bicycle sharply towards him.
"What?" All she received was a small smirk.
After the words dawned into her mind, she let out a devastated groan.
"Syaoran-kun, why did you have to remind me?"
"Do you have everything?"
"I think so. Just let me check once more."
Forming a sigh, Kero commented, "You know, by the time we get there, the vampires probably have woken up already."
"Well, good for them. Then maybe I wouldn't have the opportunity to kill one of them today." Sakura replied sarcastically.
"Sakura."
Expressing her own sigh, she gave in. "Fine, just let's get this over with." Heaving the bag, full of weapons, wooden sticks, and holy water, over her shoulders and grabbing the flashlight from her desk, she and Kero left the house.
Kero wanted to practice her combats with just a few vampires that were 'reviving back from the dead'. Even though Sakura protested, saying that she wasn't ready to fight yet, Kero reassured that the vampires around here are weak and basically uneducated. He believed that this was the perfect opportunity for her familiarize herself with the foreign creatures.
Finally arriving at their designated spot, Sakura placed the bag gently onto the ground. Flicking the light over the trees, Sakura felt somewhat terrified. The sky was pitch black, and the only source of heat and light came from her little, flower colored flashlight she had bought when she was 8 years old.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
As Kero was about to answer her with the same statement, Sakura cut him off.
"I know that this is just practice, and there won't be a whole lot of them coming here, but what if I can't fight them?" Sakura twisted her fingers hesitantly around the flashlight. "I mean, what if it turns out that I don't have the capability to fight? All I have been doing for the past years is fighting demons and creatures with my clow cards. I'm not even sure if I can throw a outward punch."
Detecting some fear and uncertainty in Sakura's voice, Kero flew over to her shoulder.
Reassuring her, Kero calmly said, "Don't worry. You'll do fine. You have Yue and me to help you out. We both have experiences with vampires from the past, so just try your best today. Yue confirmed that there would be only two vampires coming here, so it'll be fine."
However, their calculations were extremely off.
"Sakura! Watch out!"
"Kero! Get the weapons!" Sakura yelled back, blocking one of the fists with her forearm.
Kero hastily grabbed the wooden bark. When the angel came close to him, Kero tossed it sharply to Yue, who caught it swiftly with his left hand.
"Get Sakura out of here! There are too many!" With a curt nod, Yue went back to Sakura.
'What the hell?! How did the vampires know we were coming here today? There's got to be at least 6 of them here!' Kero returned his attention to the bag, and started to furiously dig through it once again with his nose until he finally found what he was looking for. Wrapping his teeth carefully around the translucent liquid, he pushed himself up and quickly maneuvered his wings towards the vampires.
However, by concentrating his sight only on Sakura, he didn't seem to notice the stranded vampire lurking behind one of the trees. As Kero came closer and closer, the vampire jumped out and pinned Kero on top of his broad back. From the unexpected impact, with a loud grunt, the bottled liquid flew out of his mouth and shattered immediately onto the ground.
"What the-" Kero was about to turn his head towards the intruder when he heard Sakura scream. Looking off to the distance, he could barely make out one of the vampires wrapping their cold hands around her neck.
Kero started to shout her name but when a strong metal compellingly collided with his head, darkness instantly engulfed him.
As the stiff fingers started to slowly close tightly around her neck, Sakura could feel the sharp nails digging deeper, gradually cutting off her air supply. Reaching out feasibly, as if to grasp some unknown object floating in thin air, Sakura tried to scream, but no sound came out.
'Help.'
A/N: Still confused? Yeah… me too. ha hA oh, and for the person that was a bit confused about the prologue and chapter 1, the prologue is from the present, and starting from chapter 1 and on, the plot is occurring from the past. Yeah, sorry if I haven't made that clear. Also, I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed, and hope that someone would continue reading this story at least. I hope the chapter kind of flowed too, I noticed there were a lot of change scenes, hehe and sorry if there are any grammar mistakes. Yeah I know, I should proofread my work, ahh but too lazy
Argh and I'm writing a chapter during my finals week…. Shame on me…. Need to StUdy! Stupid biology, English, history, math, and Spanish!!
Toodles?