SEASON OF WINTER
Part One v1
By: Lau-kun
Disclaimer: A/N at end. CCS©CLAMP and this fiction is ©2005 by yours truly. So if you even dare steal it or use it w/o permission, a pack of white wolves with steel fangs will eat you... ALIVE. And for those who wanna sue me, I don't own CCS (along with a few copyrighted things mentioned in this fiction) coz if I do, Eriol would be off with Tomoyo by now. (Okay... that's putting it mildly... XD)
Feedbacks are always welcome... even cruel ones. And I would really like to mention, first of all, VampirePeaches for beta reading this fiction! Woohoo! You did a marvelous job! You really made my day, seriously! Thanks a bunch, Vampy! C3 This goes to YOU... and to all my reviewers and readers! Hugs and kisses! A/N at end... C3
Winter
Marked by lack of Life, Warmth and Cheer.
Twenty-five-year-old Kinomoto Sakura was having her occasional ramblings in her best friend's office. Her voice was mild and gentle; matched with pleading green eyes and deep emphasis upon each laid-out fact — but still, she was rambling about how her best friend had been so set in her WORK That She Doesn't Even SEEM to NOTICE that it's already high time for the winter festivities, OR even the FACT that it's already DECEMBER; AAAND if she KEEPS that UP, her BEST FRIEND — she breathed — HER VERY BEST FRIEND would forget how she ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE and would most likely spend her TIME in her room trying to remember when TOMOYO-CHAN last went out with them to have FUN... which was down to the point of exaggeration, mind you, but Sakura Kinomoto, was in fact, desperate.
"And the last time WEwent out together, which was LAST year'sautumn festival," Sakura paused for oxygen and momentum, "You RAN off to ATTEND an EMERGENCY BOARD meeting even though we've ONLY been there for an HOUR! —AN HOUR, Tomoyo-chan!" She radiated an aura of disbelief and disappointment, "And we were just deciding if we would RIDE the roller coaster or DROWN Kero in the pond for eating ALL the chocolates Syaoran-kun won!"
Tomoyo pouted. It's not like she wanted to attend that stupid emergency meeting anyway. "But it's—"
"—Come on, Tomoyo-chaaaaaaaaaan..." Sakura leaned from across Tomoyo's office desk, "We haven't been out for ages! Couldn't you at least make an exemption for your best friend?" A pair of thick lashes batted at Tomoyo.
She blinked and sighed, firm in her resolve though she's already finding it difficult to refuse an opportunity to be with Sakura. "I'd really love to Sakura-chan, but I—"
"—But WHAT?" Whined Sakura.
Tomoyo got as far as saying "—bu—" since Sakura was obviously determined to splatter her reasoning down a puddle of mud.
"—PRETTY PLEASE?" She pouted cutely.
And at this, Tomoyo found her resolve wavering.
She would really love to go to the festival but whenever her eyes strayed towards the stacks of paperwork littering her desk, she could feel her skull cracking. It was hard, really hard, to refuse such favors — ANY favors — from Sakura-chan but the paper works, she thought, were really and stubbornly demanding her attention. And the actual fact that Sakura-chan was doing the same — really and stubbornly demanding her attention — gave her ideas of seeking the consultation of a neurologist due to severe splitting headaches.
It was official. She was being railroaded.
"I KNOW you have a lot of work to do, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura flumped on the nearest chair, "I understand you have responsibilities but it is NOT an excuse to WORK your head off and besides," she stopped and smiled at Tomoyo, "Louise-chan told me you've finished most of your work due for this month so it's basically alright if you take some time to relax."
Tomoyo bit her lower lip. That is a fact. But she couldn't believe her secretary's being a turncoat too.
"Aaand your mother thinks—" Sakura jumped on her feet, gleefully. "—You could use a break from work too!"
"Really now?" Tomoyo's drawl implied something like she was more interested in observing a sloth for hours. She wasn't, the least, surprised hearing her mother's involvement in this one... heck, she wouldn't be surprised at all if her mother does something more than organize a thing like this.
"Not exactly," Sakura thoughtfully stared at the ceiling, "But I do remember her saying something about dragging you out of the house and locking the doors until you take a break." What she said gave her a confusing image of Tomoyo being dragged halfway across the street by Sonomi with a maniacal grin, saying 'Sakura-chaaaaaaaan! I brought Tomoyo-chan with me!' which she batted away mentally before something more confusing invaded her peculiar imagination.
"Oh..." Tomoyo cringed. At least that wasn't as bad as banning her from the company building if she didn't go out with Sakura-chan and Li-kun.
"Well?" Sakura asked again, hopefully.
Tomoyo saw the pleading look in her best friend's green eyes, and decided she made the wrong move.
"Please, Tomoyo-chan?" Pleaded Sakura, "We're all worried about you." And the thing that Tomoyo hated most was making Sakura-chan worry. "Just this once. Just to cool your head off." Desperately, desperately worried from the looks of it; and it gave her less pleasure, knowing that she was the cause of Sakura-chan's distress.
So, for the trillionth time since third grade, Daidouji Tomoyo was at a total loss.
Five hours later, she found herself sighing as she maneuvered around the crowded festival grounds.
She knew Sakura-chan was just looking after her. What best friend wouldn't anyway? Considering the fact that they've been best friends for over ten years and their familial bonds of being third–degree cousins, sort of makes them sisters, one way or the other. So, that would only explain why Sakura-chan would want to look after her, right?
She made a face.
That was supposed to be her job but somewhere between college and…well, until now, their lives switched.
Back in elementary and high school, it was 'Tomoyo looks after Sakura-chan'; in college, 'Sakura-chan looks after Tomoyo'; and now, rewinding over a year or two, it went something like this: 'everybody takes care of Tomoyo'.
She made a worse face.
They're making it look like she couldn't take care of herself. And anyway, one wouldn't call working for their company's welfare such a bad thing, right?
Heaving one heavy sigh and rubbing her aching temple, she finally told herself to stop rambling and start concentrating on finding her companions. It probably wouldn't do her any good and the best way to remedy the whole situation was to get it over with. She craned her neck around until finally, she saw who exactly she was looking for.
A pair of iolite met another pair of emeralds. Then the owner of the latter smiled warmly at her.
"Good evening, Tomoyo-chaaaaan!" Sakura half dragged her fiancé from across the masses of humanity.
"Good evening, Sakura-chan—" Tomoyo looked up to the man beside her best friend. "—Good evening, Li-kun."
Li nodded, politely. "I do hope Sakura didn't threaten you to come."
"That's entirely mean, Syaoran-kun!" Pouted Sakura, cutely. Li fought the urge to imitate a ripe tomato, and failed. "I wouldn't do that to Tomoyo-chan."
"Well, the impression we had says otherwise..." Popped a voice from Sakura's pocket, "If you only saw her yesterday, you'd think she'd EAT someone."
"KERO-CHAN!" Sakura glared; veins visibly swelled on her balled fist. The plush toy laughed nervously and ducked an inch just to play safe.
"Not really..." Answered Tomoyo in her usual cheer. "I have all the intention of coming especially when my mother stuffed me inside the car about an hour after I got home."
Li-kun and Kero-chan cringed.
They were probably thinking about the time when they first encountered her mother, balling up some nasty curve they didn't expect. Both of them had seen Daidouji Sonomi deal with Tomoyo's growing workaholic — or as they said she had, she amended — habit, and she remembered Li-kun saying something about how Sonomi equaled her own mother's talents in giving the heebie-jeebies in a spearing glance, if not worse.
"Anyway, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't drag you out as she said she would..." Sakura suddenly looked distressed as the image crossed her mind again. "...That would seem pretty scary."
Beads of sweat trailed down everyone's head save for Sakura who was momentarily busy at being confused.
One thing or another, as she had already explained to everyone, Daidouji Sonomi stuffed her inside the car — followed by an army of bodyguards — and directed an order — which came out with darting glares enough to kill the smallest living thing in existence—that she, at all cost, shouldn't BEallowed to go home BEFORESakura-chan confirms they're done with their business and all.
She inwardly sighed. Mothers would always be mothers.
"Well then," Tomoyo suddenly perked up, grinning. "Since we're all out here to have fun..." She paused dramatically, and saw Li-kun swallow something hard on his throat. Her grin widened. "Why don't we have some shots taken, ne, Kero-chan?" Instantly, she produced a camcorder from her bag.
The couple hit the ground with an unhealthy sounding thud.
"I guess old habits die hard, huh?" A conniving Kero-chan grinned; making sure everyone was seeing most of his sharp teeth then healthily cackled.
A huge sweat drop fell down the couple's heads.
Tomoyo threw a fit of her evil "Ohohoho", and explained to Kero-chan she had reasons. "Besides," she said, "It's been a long time since I got the chance to capture anything on video. I must take every opportunity that passes without hesitation!" She rubbed her trusty equipment, feigning innocence and an aura of delight — dangerous delight, amended Li-kun, since whenever Tomoyo does something of the sort, it usually involved him being red all over the face, if he was lucky; and if he was not, he'd consider himself lucky the human anatomy doesn't let out clouds of steam in openings, else he'd be a living steam reservoir enough to power a small apartment by now.
Li-kun sighed resignedly; another bead of sweat rolled down his head at the thought of the price he had to pay just to get Tomoyo out of the wrecking havoc her work had been causing. Of course, he knew there was something more to it but decided to settle on that particular fact at the moment to avoid ruining the entire mood...
And as for Sakura-chan - "H-Hoeeeee..." - was all that she could utter.
"There she is..." Snickered a winged female, puffing out an air of evil delight as she kept herself afloat in the isolated part of the vicinity, "Apparently, bringing in the company as expected." She turned to face a hooded man and a grinning white tiger.
"Company is good..." Said the tiger, "even though the odds are different..." He jeered at Sakura-tachi some yards away.
"With or against?" the femaleupped an eyebrow.
"Against..." Answered their master, gleefully.
Silence as the word was processed, then his guardians turned one horrified look at him.
"WHAAAAAAAT!"
They were at the point of hyperventilating.
Tomoyo turned and thoughtfully placed a finger on her lower lip.
"Is there something wrong, Tomoyo-chan?" asked the plush toy on her shoulder.
"I just thought I heard someone shrieking." she murmured. "I must've imagined it..."
"Huh?" Kero-chan blinked some more, obviously confused. "Did you say something?"
"Oh..." Tomoyo stared at the woods for a while, then cocked her head to smile at Kero, "It was nothing..."
"Well, we BETTER hurry up or Sakura and that BRAT would eat all those chocolates again!"
Tomoyo sweat dropped. "You sure love sweets don't you?" The smile she offered came out as a funny grimace.
"Of course!" He answered, crisply as they walked over to where Sakura and Li-kun were.
"Calm down..." The hooded figure was batting his hand at an already fuming tiger.
The winged female could only stare, dot-eyed.
"Calm down?" The hyperventilating tiger inhaled sharply, resembling someone who was having a heart attack. "CALM DOWN?" He snarled. "How can YOU calm down when YOU'RE aware of the FACT that YOU'RE ABOUT to face the MOST powerful BEING that ever graced this PLANET'S surface?" He stopped and stared at his master's obnoxious smiling face. "AND I THOUGHT YOU SAID WE'RE LIGHT YEARS AHEAD OF THEM?" The tiger — trying his best, with an effort, not to imitate two round saucers with his eyes — was torn between glancing down at Sakura-tachi and skewering his master in a glance.
"That's why I said against..." Said their master, smiling, "Against them..."
The tiger dramatically fell over with a thump, six to ten feet in mid air, before blasting off to face his master with a pair of annoyed eyes. "WELLWHYDIDN'TYOUSAYSO?" Veins visibly swelled on his head.
"Well, dumb head," the winged femalefinally got the hang of the situation and pulled out her most annoying smart-ass look, "You were fussing too much and you didn't even give him the chance to explain."
"WHAT WAS THAT!" screeched the tiger.
"I said, dumb head," jeered his female cohort. "YOU. WERE. YAPPING. TOO. MUCH." She finished with a flourish.
"I WASN'T!" countered the tiger, screeching up a notch.
"Well," the hooded man choked, trying to remedy the situation with a cheerful smile. "We won't accomplish anything if you guys keep that up..."
The winged tiger grumbled, looking ready to bite her head off. The winged female only gave him a funny sneering look.
"So now that everything's fine..." He raised his staff, which was now emitting a golden glow. "Let's do our handful of work now, shall we?"
His guardians nodded and took their leave, while their master allowed one evil smirk.
Sakura halted and turned, eyes locked at a particular tree.
Tomoyo looked at her. "Sakura-chan?" she blinked. "Is there anything wrong?" She turned her head towards the tree, then back to Sakura, Kero and Syaoran.
"This is..." mumbled Sakura, narrowing her eyes.
A pause followed.
Then a ripping sense of déjà vu hit them as they stared at the disappearing mass of people on the grounds.
"Clow's aura!" Sakura, Syaoran and Kero chorused.
Tomoyo was left to stare at her companions, a bit confused at the ongoing event, "But I don't understand..." she said; Kero transformed into his true form; Sakura called her staff; and Li brought his sword out. All of them were warily looking around for any signs of... well, anything at all. "Didn't Sakura-cha—"
An arrow barely missed her arm long before she could finish her sentence.
"Tomoyo-chan!" chorused Sakura and Cerberus before the trio jumped closer to protect her from the blitz of sapphire shards that followed.
"Why would Clow Reed do something like this?" The Li was glaring around, not at all liking the position they're in. "Or maybe THAT Hiiragizawa's back and pulling his strings again..."
Sakura shook her head vehemently. "Eriol-kun wouldn't hurt Tomoyo-chan. He wouldn't hurt anyone at all..."
Two skeptical pairs of eyes shot at her. "How can you explain the piano then?" grumbled Cerberus and Li at the same time, obviously digging up things in the past to throw at the currently absent Eriol.
Tomoyo sweat dropped. "It only frightened me but I wasn't really hurt..."
Cerberus and Li snorted, actually agreeing with each other. "He did a pretty good scare at that..." they chorused, somewhat sarcastically.
Then the shards stopped coming.
It ceased coming but it didn't take away the heavy air that alerted them. More so, it was only then did they sense two different and fairly new auras that popped out of nowhere after the attacks have come. And that alerted them even more. The magnitude of the shard attack was too much too bring them any comfort, added to the fact that it came and went, suspiciously, like the wind would after blowing its soothing gusts.
Well, for starters, as Cerberus thought, deadly and pointy shards are far different from the wind, and the thought of having contact with one is definitely NOT soothing. "It's gone..." Cerberus warily lowered his barrier and inspected the grounds, suspiciously. "Did you feel it, Sakura-chan?"
Sakura nodded, "Two of them..."
"And it's not Clow." added Li, darkly.
Another silence passed; and things were getting a bit weird for Sakura. The sounds of music and the noisy barrages of people were suddenly replaced by an eerie air of gloomy silence. And the same eerie air of gloomy silence was somehow giving Sakura a very unsettling picture of herself, being eaten by a zombie — she, in a platter with an apple stuffed on her mouth, while the zombie was holding a fork and a knife and the whole eating regalia — wishing it self a bon appetite. She immediately pushed that aside before her overactive imagination went to overdrive.
The Li suddenly groaned. "If I ever find out that THAT Hiiragizawa's behind all this," he paused and glared around even more. "I swear I'll —" he abruptly stopped then turned; eyes doubling the size of a large platter as he raised his sword to intercept another sword...
The sound of steel clashing with steel ended the flowing silence.
And when Tomoyo, Cerberus and Sakura turned, they saw Li, in sword contact with a black-winged female; holding her katana firmly with a dangerous visible smirk.
"That—" Touya heaved another box and panted, heavily. "Should be the last of it..."
Yukito inspected the box and wrote something on the record sheet in his hand. "Checked!" he said, looking up to his companion cheerfully. "All we have to do now is to—" his eyes widened.
"Yuki?" Asked Touya, wary of the sudden change in his companion's behavior, then he saw Yukito transform. "What's up again this time?" Touya looked agitated, narrowing his eyes and doing a complete carbon copy image of Bad Badtz Maru.
"A new threat has come..." answered Yue, in his normally inexplicable seriousness that bordered on gloom and... well, gloom alone suits it, thought Touya, since Yukito's true form had been doing nothing but bite retorting and bored comments at him from day one. Sometimes, he wondered whether Yue has some hidden grudge against the whole world and was planning to blow it up one day. "I need to go and help my mistress."
Touya hesitated for a moment, half considering leaving their work in favor of her sister, but then again... "I'll cover for you. Don't let ANYTHING happen to Sakura and Tomoyo."
Yue stared at him, looking bored. "That's the reason why I'm going there..."
Touya smiled. "Just checking." He glared at thin air again, looking doubly annoyed. "And tell kaijuu and the brat, they have a lot to explain later."
Yue looked absolutely bored. "Anything more?"
Touya sweat dropped. "Would you loosen up once in a while?"
Yue huffed at him, "Go find Akizuki..." he flew away and left Touya, who allowed a small, fond smile graze his lips.
Tomoyo was observing the winged female from behind the camcorder once more. At first, she thought that the female had beautiful black hair, cut on the waist but then, as she maneuvered the camcorder, when the moon's ray hits her hair; it revealed some hidden streaks of heavy blue. A silver crown-like ornament, adorned with a huge diamond-cut sapphire, glittered on her forehead; and a black scabbard with silver patterns hung high on her hips to sheath the katana on her hand; now mirroring the sharpness of her piercing orbs of green-gray. It was unlike Yue-san's vertical irises, she thought, but it definitely bore the same — if not more — intense and intimidating glint.
The obvious fairness of her skin was hidden underneath the black, turtleneck trench coat; she also wore a silver armband on her right arm, embedded with the symbol of the moon. And as she moved around in different strokes, which Li-kun intercepted with his sword, Tomoyo realized she was also wearing a pair of midnight blue pants and a pair of black boots.
She was far different from either Yue or Ruby Moon, as she had remembered. But still, she stared at them — it sort of revealed something about her personality as much as Yue's and Ruby Moon's clothing did.
"Who are you?" Li-kun demanded. The female merely flashed him a lopsided smile and lounged another attack.
At this, Tomoyo thought of black. Mysterious. Elegant. And dark.
"What do you want?" She heard Li demand again, trying his very best to keep her sword away from his skin. A couple of strokes were made, coming from above, the side and other more complex maneuvers but at one instance, Li-kun had seemingly caught an edge and used it to his advantage...
He ducked then lunged his sword forward with precision, trying to aim for the female's waist, but then, he hit thin air between her torso and her wings, clearly giving her the advantage of striking down Li with her katana. Li was in definite danger as she had anticipated, especially now that her katana was raised...
"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura pulled the Shield card out of her pocket.
But then, she did what they didn't expect. The female took the momentum and grabbed Li's arm, pulling him down to flump on the ground.
Silver. The color said to imply hope in bad weather. Hidden goodness.
She looked up towards their direction and allowed an evil grin. Her wings spread out, and immediately, she made a flying dash towards Tomoyo and Sakura...
Genuine in plans, sterling in nature... That of which blue represents.
She raised her sword, ready to cut down either of the two.
"Sakura-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" Shouted Cerberus, making a move forward but was interrupted when someone pounced his path with grace and lithe. "What the—?" was all he could mutter as he came face to face with a heavily armored, white tiger.
Cerberus glared.
The white tiger turned a challenging lopsided grin.
Cerberus's glare intensified, promising death if he wouldn't step aside.
"Sword!" He heard Sakura summon in no less than a quarter of a second. Then, it was followed by the intercepting sound of steel clashing, hanging in the air.
"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo called out from behind Sakura, who obviously, jumped in front to intercept the sword, regardless of which their enemy was really targeting. Sakura had fended herself a time too many with the sword card but with the incredible skill of her attacker, she was having a hard time stopping the katana from making dangerous contact with her skin.
On the other hand, Cerberus, now comforted at the thought that her mistress and Tomoyo-chan were safe — well, he amended, a bit safe, since they were still struggling from keeping the female bird away from their necks — was busily surveying his opponent's appearance and was somehow quite amused at the bold display of the sun's symbol on his black breastplate. Without a single doubt, he thought, Clow Reed made this guy. He and the tiger shared the same mode of power source and the crest was undeniably similar. A diamond-cut sapphire that resembled his companion's and silver patterns also adorned the helm that covered his head down the upper portion of his spine, then he noticed that he was also wearing an armband that resembled his cohort's own, only it bore the crest of the sun.
"Get out of my way. NOW," warned Cerberus, darkly, his eyes setting upon the jeering look the tiger was making. Aside from the bigger-than-him department — not that he really cared as Cerberus fondly reminded himself constantly — his looks were gentler and less fierce, contrasting with that of his companion's naturally intimidating persona. But, the tiger settled for a viler look, Cerberus was not foolish to let that kind of thought get inside his head. And Cerberus, being the creature that he was, knew true power when he sensed one. "What do you want?"
The tiger merely turned an evil, little smile at him.
And officially, that did it. "If you won't answer me then," he snarled, setting his paws firmly on the ground. "Get outta my way!" He opened his mouth and breathed fire, forcing the other to conjure up radiance from his mouth too...
Midnight blue and fiery red collided; making a distinct sound of deafening explosion intertwining together with Cerberus' agonizing scream from the impact it made, filling in the entire place with a blend of white light.
"Kero-chan!" chorused Tomoyo and Sakura.
Tomoyo immediately ran towards the plush toy while Sakura, on her momentary hiccup of concentration, was almost reduced to half.
Good thing Li was near to catch it for her just in time. "Go and help Cerberus!"
Sakura obeyed and ran to aid her injured guardian.
The winged female quirked a mocking eyebrow at Li and gave him a sword salute — bringing it upright to chest level.
Li did the same, as much as courteousness was followed, then continued their dual.
"You're hurt!" cried Sakura, inspecting the burn on her guardian's side and looking at him quite worriedly.
"I'm alright, Tomoyo-chan... Sakura-chan..." he tried to look okay but failed from the obvious slicing pain. "Really... it's just a scratch…" he winced. Sakura and Tomoyo threw him a 'We Believe Yamazaki's Stories More Than You Claiming To Be Alright Because You're A Terrible Liar' kind of Look. "I just didn't expect him to be that powerful, that's all..." he levered himself up then dropped on the ground, heavily. "Damn..." he winced some more, "I think I sprained... something..."
So much for saying he's all right.
"I'll take care of it, Kero-chan." Sakura patted him, gently, "You look terribly hurt."
"Naaah..." Cerberus shook his head in disagreement. "It's okay..." he grimaced and winced again; forcing the funny look out of his face with a smile, though Tomoyo and Sakura thought he looked like someone who was forced to eat bitter herbs. "Really..."
Sakura and Tomoyo threw him the same Look.
"I really think you should let Sakura-chan handle it, Kero-chan." Cerberus made a motion to protest again but Tomoyo silenced him with a 'No Cookies And Other Sweets For YOU If You DON'T Listen To ME' kind of Look. "And no 'buts'!" she scolded him mildly, smiling, as if explaining to a small child that cookies and milk comes after naptime, not before, honey.
Sakura agreed with a cheerful nod. Tomoyo was still throwing Looks at him. And Cerberus, well, he got Tomoyo's message and read it thoroughly, as if it was written in a well-designed parchment, and actually revered it as if it was the holiest of things in this world. He sighed in resignation. The cookies and other sweets were not — well, not entirely at least, thought Kero — the things that stopped him from putting up an argument. It went to the part that he knew it was pointless to argue with a determined Sakura and Tomoyo, who had their own unique ways of getting things when they wanted it, forcibly or not. "Okay..." he whispered resignedly; turning towards the white tiger who was smiling... gently...? His thoughts faded. Then, he blinked once. Twice.
He blinked some more. Then he decided the wound must be worse than he thought since he's definitely having a delirium.
He shook his head and stared, strangely, at the tiger, which was wearing a smug expression. He shook his head again and deduced, somewhat in a desperate way, it was just his imagination playing dirty tricks on him, or perhaps his wound was having its effects and all or... well, heck, he doesn't know. As long as it was JUST his imagination, he didn't give a damn.
"Take care of Kero-chan for me, Tomoyo-chan." Sakura positioned herself in front of her guardian then pulled a card. "Windy!"
The windy card swerved and triedto bind the tiger with its wind chain. Unfortunately, he formed a barrier around himself and pranced closer to Sakura with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
Sakura stood her ground and thought quickly. Despite its reliability, Windy didn't always work in extreme cases plus it was one of the gentlest cards in the deck, so she figured to use something feistier, "Watery!" She pulled out another card. "Freeze!" She summoned the card in an attempt to trap the tiger — which in turn, had his eyes abruptly widening in surprise — in a block of ice.
"Did you get him, Sakura-chan?" Asked Tomoyo, trying to see past the smoky fog that blocked their vision. All of them were sure the tiger was caught inside the ice block but then again, they couldn't be too sure unless they could see it with their own eyes. So, they waited. And when they could, something rang the alarm bells.
"Watch out!" Li's eyes were as wide as saucers, attempting to dash forward but his opponent was giving him a hard time. "Sakura!" He desperately yelled then saw the same light, radiating behind the girls and Cerberus. He didn't know what to do, and not knowing exactly what to do was one thing Syaoran didn't like. So in effect, a sudden surge of rage pulsated through his veins, subconsciously making him grit his teeth and launch one forceful full-strength attack.
He couldn't let anything happen to them. Nothing should happen to them.
And all the while that he was repeating that mantra on his head, he wasn't even aware he had already, somehow, brought the female to the ground, struggling to keep his blade at bay.
Tomoyo noticed the horrified look on Li-kun's face then swirled, followed shortly by Kero-chan and Sakura-chan.
Their eyes briefly widened at the sight before them.
Radiance was coming out of the tiger's mouth.
"Sakura-chan!" she heard Cerberus shout and saw him leap in front of her mistress on impulse.
It was too late to react. So, doing the only thing that came in her blank mind, Tomoyo did what she could do...
Kero-chan cocked his head and was horrified to see Tomoyo, boldly standing in front of them; arms open and eyes tightly shut to brace her self for the incoming impact. And, even though all of them knew she would get seriously hurt — gross understatement of the year — she didn't care because this was all for Sakura-chan. And if it was for Sakura-chan then everything was worth it.
"Tomoyo-chan!" screamed Sakura, her eyes widening to the size of soccer balls.
Everything will be alright...
"Daidouji!" screamed Li-kun, at a loss of what to do...
The beam was released and white light covered the entire grounds.
TSUZUKU
a.) Again, I edited it. XD A lot of people had been telling me it's too long. XD XD XD (sighs)