EDIT 7.26.05: I reread this chapter and the part where Jin gets all weak has always bothered me so I changed it slightly. Old readers might want to quickly skim through to check what was changed (a tiny bit of conversation between Jin and Sakura which just makes Jin sound more confident) and new readers can just ignore this message! Just know that it's quite a bit less corny than before. XDD Also a bit of dialogue between Syaoran and Meiling at the end was changed because my plot changed a bit. :P
OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH! I'm updating! Oo So very very sorry about not updating sooner. I'll bet you thought I'd died, or given up, or would provide some lame excuse about being busy. But actually, this chapter contains a fight scene and I'd pretty much never written a fight scene before so it took months of reading action stories before I was able to come up with this spit of a battle. I hope it's somewhat satisfactory. But one can only hope.
Disclaimer: Oh wow! holds up certificate I have been accepted into CLAMP so now I own Card Captor Sakura! grins broadly
Yes. The truth hurts.
Key:
Narration
Thoughts, dreams, flashbacks
EMPHASIZED WORDS
… … … … scene change
Spells, incantations, etc.
Japanese/
Hoe! DON'T tell me you don't know what this means… shakes head Any decent CCS fan should know that this is Sakura's little trademark cry. Pronounced "hoy!" not "ho!".
-chan honorific used for/among girls, childish endearments
-san honorific for respect towards/among older people or a sort-of default among peers
Onii-chan older brother
Spirited Away
Chapter Six: Card Captor Once Again
Sakura was in a dire situation.
She thought that by lighting up the alley, she could probably see whatever she was following. But Sakura was badly mistaken. Now, she could not see what she was following but she knew that the thing she was chasing could see her. Sakura nervously tightened her grip on her wand but it no longer brought comfort to her racing heart. It simply prodded deeper into her the fact that she had no idea what to do.
Think, think! She chided herself. But with thoughts of thinking flashing through your head, you don't get much done.
By now, Sakura had come to realize that the little dots of light falling from the sky were growing fewer and fewer and that meant her time to do whatever it was she was trying to do was limited. Sakura had also become aware of a low, ragged breathing coming from somewhere around her. It sounded dark and full of a longing that frightened her greatly.
It was him.
But how to find him? Sakura's panicked thoughts collided in one another as she wracked her brain for a strategy. But beneath all the chaos, she discovered that she also felt strangely calm and in that calm, a nagging feeling told her that the evil deity was behind a pile of craters roughly 10 feet away from her. But she felt too scattered to act upon that instinct and could only stand there petrified.
So it was he who made the first move.
A small spark suddenly appeared in front of Sakura's feet and she nimbly stepped away but barely dodged it when it enlarged into a great bubble the size of a car and destroyed everything inside, creating a crater in the ground. Sakura sat panting and feeling faint when she saw another spark coming her way. She scrambled back up to her feet and was about to run when she saw that she would be running right into the crowd. Sakura would never endanger innocent people. Ever.
She then resorted to, as the spark came closer, fending them off with the first idea that popped into her head. Sakura raised her star wand and hit the spark as hard as she could back to where it came from, baseball-style. The bright yellow star struck the spark squarely and it sped back towards the crates and enlarged just in time to take a large bite out of the pile.
This could work. Everything will be fine!, Sakura thought, reciting her motto in her head. She resumed a baseball stance again only to look up and see as many as 20 sparks flying towards her.
"HOE!" cried Sakura as she fumbled through the cards in the book and finally brought out the desired card. She quickly thrust the card in the air and swung her wand back where it promptly pointed towards the pink rectangle and caused to glow. If she couldn't run right (the sparks) or left (there were innocent people), there was only one way to go.
Up.
"JUMP!" Sakura shouted to the brisk evening air. With thankful alacrity, small wings appeared at her ankles and she shot upwards. And with no time to spare as the sparks all expanded into their respective spheres and obliterated the ground where she had just stood, creating a hole with a radius of ten feet.
Sakura gulped shakily and collapsed on to a nearby roof. She lay there panting when suddenly, a dark shadow hovered up in front of her, landing on the edge of the roof. Sakura quickly scrambled to her feet, eyes wide in fear as she surveyed her pursuer. He seemed to be a creature the stature of an average man and covered with a billowing cloak. Most features were hidden in a strange black aura that appeared to surround him. The bloody sunset behind him gave the specter a frightful lurid glow.
If anything, he looked a whole lot like the grim reaper.
Discarding the morbid thought of death coming to visit her, Sakura summoned her courage and asked, "Who are you?"
A sick, happy laugh escaped the foul being's mouth and he replied in a soft silvery voice that chilled the air like a thick frost, "You don't remember?"
Why was it that everyone assumed that she "remembered" something like this?
"W-what are you talking about?" Sakura nearly squeaked. "I've never met you in my life!" She noted with growing unease that the sky was turning a rather dark shade of violet now, the sun being nearly sunk under the hills. There was barely any glow fall in the air anymore.
The being allowed one last twisted chuckle before saying, "Still clueless as ever, eh? Well… I'll tell you again then, to refresh your memory."
Sakura wanted to jump away right then and there but something seemed to glue her legs down to that roof. She wanted to know because an impulse in her made her think that it could provide the missing link in all this chaos. The dark link to all this chaos.
"My name, dear Sakura… is Jin!" Serpent-like eyes widened maniacally and the wind whipped his cloak around like a flag.
Sakura screamed.
Excruciating pain throbbed through entire body and flooded her senses. Her very nerves seemed to crackle with electricity and a new feeling of hate and fear began to grow. She felt different and distant as her wand clattered to the ground. Suddenly her eyes glowed a sparkling green and Sakura stood up straight, more confident. But she was no longer Sakura Kinomoto of Tomoeda in the 21st century.
She was Sakura Kinomoto of 1803.
"Jin," Sakura said heavily, as if the name alone weighed her down. Her face held a look of anger but also its own share of sorrow. She had the look of having been through life one too many times.
"Well, well, THIS is the Sakura I know," Jin must have smiled his ghastly smile again in the dark for Sakura felt it puncture her senses. She narrowed her eyes at her and he continued, "Your seal wasn't as strong as you thought, huh, little cherry blossom?"
"You're wrong, Jin!" Sakura's eyes were bitter emeralds and she glared in disgust at the nickname. "I made it weak on purpose so I could come back and finish what I started so long ago."
Jin roared with laughter and Sakura quickly picked up her wand, clenching it in anger. The wind made her hair flurry around her face. The sky was mostly dark now.
"You FOOL!" Jin burst out raucously, "what of the current Sakura Kinomoto? Will she disappear from this world?"
"No…" Sakura smiled determinedly, "I am she. She is I. We will become one and we will defeat you! I know she would feel the same."
Jin laughed and laughed and laughed, his ugly voice making Sakura squirm.
"Ha ha ha… I've missed you, my dear Sakura," he said in a gleeful tone, "I've been waiting for you all this time, you know. And THIS if the perfect chance to gain what I've always wanted!" His aura whirled hungrily, "So get ready to DIE!" Jin charged full speed at her, his venom eyes gleaming and his arm glowing with destruction.
Sakura's eyes widened, she hadn't expected this. With this body, she definitely couldn't destroy someone as powerful as Jin. And if he could get her weak enough, he could take her precious powers! But she had no choice.
She found, in horror, that her elemental cards were all gone and she could only make a split-second alternate pick. A magenta card was flung into the air and its name called out.
"Sword! Sharpen my wand to a blade that is true!" At those words, the rather friendly looking wand was transformed into a lean, supple gilded katana that looked a quite frightening match with the glass-green glittering eyes of a very angry Sakura.
She barely dodged Jin's sleek pummel but managed to parry a chunk of cloth off his cloak, and a look of astonishment tensed his aura. She then backed her hilt hard, expecting to meet the back of his head and knock him unconscious but met only cold night air. Sakura spun, bewildered, when a hard blow to HER head knocked her down, and stars spun in front of her eyes.
The dull ache in her head made it hard to think and she could only gape as the Jin's sharp claws came closer and closer…
The strength that had erupted from within slipped away.
And she knew only darkness.
… … … …
Sakura awoke to a flurry of quiet voices conversing near her. Her head was crawling with pain and everywhere else on her body felt quite sore as well. As her eyes slid open, she found that she was lying on the ground and the sky was very dark now, a sheet of black satin embedded with rhinestone stars. Buildings enclosed her on one side and she seemed to be on a small walkway. Unable to move her head and therefore couldn't see who was talking, she could only stare upwards and try to collect her thoughts but they only came as fragments.
…cherry blossom…
We will become one!
…disappear from the world?
You're wrong!
Jin…
Syaoran… kun…!
At this Sakura suddenly cried out in pain and the voices near her abruptly silenced. Meiling hesitantly glided over to Sakura's view and looked down at her, an extremely concerned expression etched in her features.
Sakura felt a fear grow again staring at the specter (trying to ignore the trees she could see through her) but a look at the ultimately deep worried scarlet eyes calmed her racing heart.
"M-Meiling-chan…?" Sakura managed a strained stutter. Somehow she didn't care for much formality at that moment.
Tears of relief actually appeared in those ruby eyes and they disappeared into thin air as they fell. Meiling's voice came shaky and quiet and she said, "Kinomoto-san! Thank everything good that you're all right!"
"Meiling-chan," Sakura smiled brightly, despite the pain it pierced through her temples, "Thank you for your concern."
Meiling smiled back and then look back over her shoulder at someone Sakura couldn't see and motioned for that person to come over. Kero first appeared over Meiling's shoulder and peered down with worried beady eyes.
"Sakura, it was all my fault! If only I had stayed with you, then this wouldn't have happened!" He looked so desolate that Sakura had to reach up, ignoring the tremendous energy it was taking out of her, and pat his soft head.
"It's okay, Kero-chan… everything will be just fine!" Sakura's eyes shone gratefully.
Suddenly Sakura tilted her head as she heard a distant sound calling her name.
"What is it, Kinomoto-san?" Meiling eyes sharpened as she looked in the same direction that Sakura had tilted her head in.
Sakura smiled a small smile, "Ah, it's just Onii-chan. You guys better hide before he sees you." Kero heeded her words and zipped off behind a tree but Meiling just stayed there, kneeling.
"Meiling-chan? Why don't you go? Onii-chan will see you!" Sakura began to sound worried herself.
"Oh, just watch," Meiling grinned at Sakura.
Heavy footsteps came pounding on the asphalt to where Sakura lay and a voice weighed down with fatigue and yes, worry, yelled out one last time, "Sakura!"
"Onii-chan," Sakura responded weakly. She smiled a bit at him.
"Sakura! What the hell happened!" Touya kneeled down next to his sister right next to Meiling and looked incredulously down at her. Sakura looked absolutely dumbfounded.
"Oh, I went to school to get a book I had forgotten and on the way, I tripped and hit my head," Sakura overcame her surprise and quickly crafted a story, "It hurt so much but no one came by this way and I couldn't get anywhere."
"You IDIOT!" Touya cursed but Sakura knew he was just, once again, worried. He gingerly picked her up and seemed to squint at where Meiling was sitting, but deciding that it was his imagination, he walked off towards the Li mansion.
Meiling floated over next to Sakura's ear and whispered:
"He can't see us!"
And before Sakura could ask anything back or widen her eyes in surprise, she disappeared without a trace.
… … … …
"Syaoran… why didn't you even go over to see her?" Meiling sat down next to Syaoran on a stone bench back a few feet from Sakura had lain a while ago, "After all, you did save her. Wouldn't you want to see if she was okay?"
"She was talking. She must be okay," A flat answer came. Meiling stared tersely at his face before she suddenly sprung up out of the bench.
"Stupid stupid stupid cousin!" Meiling rose to her full height in front of Syaoran's bowed head and slapped his face as hard as she could. Of course ghosts could touch each other.
Syaoran looked up with bewildered mahogany eyes, stunned beyond words. It didn't hurt, because ghosts couldn't feel pain, but he knew that in real life, it would have hurt. Very much.
"I don't know what's wrong with you!" Meiling looked at him with bitter eyes, "You don't understand Kinomoto-san's feelings at all!"
This time, it was Syaoran's turn to rise tall, and he stood a good four inches above Meiling, but she seemed completely unfazed.
"Meiling," He started darkly, his eyes so full of pain that Meiling had to soften just a little, "How can you understand what I'm trying to do! Much less what Sa- what SHE is thinking!" He had bit back her name just in time. Or else he would have really lost his mind.
"But just YOU think about it!" Meiling exclaimed, "What can you gain from doing this! What do you hope to gain from doing this!"
She stood waiting for an answer as Syaoran remained silent and then her eyes bore into him, full of emotion, "I feel the same empty feeling in my heart that you feel… I couldn't bear it if you made it feel worse for yourself by putting yourself through so much pain."
"But I deserve it… I deserve it a hundred, no, a million times over," Syaoran's voice suddenly gave way and he looked down, his eyes lost in the cast shadow, and Meiling almost felt too much pity for him to go on. Almost.
"You know… she was attacked by Jin, right?" Meiling said quietly. Syaoran flinched and seemed intent on crushing his hands in by clenching them. He answered, "Yes I know."
"What do you intend to do about it?" She asked icily, "Nothing? Go on, stoically pretending that she has nothing to do with all this?"
Syaoran nodded ever so slightly.
"Suit yourself then…", Meiling turned her back on him then, her Chinese dress following behind her and billowing in a mysterious wind, "But I hope you know… the only person she was calling for while she was unconscious…
Syaoran's eyes widened in anticipation and anguish.
…was you."
Hm… this chapter was almost totally different from what I had in mind before. This fic is like almost more angst than fluff… -- Well I hope I can add in more S+S fluff next time. And yes, there WILL be E+T and even Yue will appear! You'll see! .
Finals coming up so I have NO clue when I will update but it WILL be sooner! Promise! Summer is coming up so it should be doable!
DreamerDust