Chapter 8: In the presence of mine enemies

Disclaimer: CCS … I don't own you!

By Stephie23

Authors Note: I'd like to thank all of my reviewers … and for your reading pleasure you get to find out the name of one of the bad guys! YAY! Enjoy! PS don't forget to look for hints and clues that are placed in all of my chapters!

Last Chapter:

Suddenly a doctor walked in. She had a tall slim body and her long black hair was pulled into a bun. She had a strict air about her.

"I'm sorry, but Sa… my patient needs her rest. You can all come back tomorrow and visit her if you'd like"

I nodded and with one last glance towards Sakura I let a very disappointed Eriol and Tomoyo lead me away. (Syaoran)

She pulled a large curved knife out of her boot and advanced on Sakura. (The 'doctor')

"Hey guys, I need to go back, I forgot my jacket in her room." (Syaoran)

Sakura's room

While distracted he didn't notice her advance on him again. She took this opportunity to slash his right arm and attempted to stab him in the back. He tried to avoid it, but she still managed to stab it through his shoulder blade. The overwhelming pain began to take over him as he stumbled away. He made his way over to Sakura in a last attempt to protect her, but a few feet short of her bed he collapsed and darkness overtook him.

In the waiting room

"Eriol is something the matter?" Tomoyo asked, quite concerned

"I sense something." He glanced down the hallway and towards Sakura's room

"What is it!?" Tomoyo cried

"Hurry" Eriol grabbed her hand and they ran down the hallway

When they arrived outside Sakura's room Tomoyo let out a cry of concern and leaned onto Eriol for support. Syaoran was lying on the floor with a pool of blood seeping out from under him, and a woman with dark black hair, and bright yellow eyes was advancing on Sakura's position once again.

"Get away from her" Tomoyo shouted and rushed forward

Before she got to Sakura she was knocked into the corner by a very pissed woman. As the woman stepped towards the doorway and into the beam of light Eriol let out a gasp.

"Kumiko…"

"Yes it's me, and it's time for your friend here to die" spoke the woman

"How … how did you… I killed you" questioned a very confused Eriol

"No, you thought you did. But you failed. Kur… my Master saved me, and for that I am eternally grateful to him"

"You're working for someone? Who?" Eriol angrily shouted as he summoned forth his staff and slowly began to advance on Kumiko

"That my dear Eriol is information that I simply cannot give you." she began as she readied herself for Eriol's attack "now … Eriol… do you honestly think you can beat me? You barely survived the last time" she cockily replied

"I've done much training since then" Eriol snarled

"As have I" Kumiko countered and leapt forward with her long curved knife ready to strike

Eriol blocked the attack and swung his staff at her legs. She leapt into the air dodging the attack and kicked Eriol down. He did a summersault and came at her again, but she dodged the attack. They were pretty evenly matched.

"Tomoyo" Eriol shouted "Get Sakura out of here"

Tomoyo nodded in understanding and began picking up her friend

"Oh no you don't" snarled Kumiko

She snapped her fingers and 3 ninjas came out of the shadows. They surrounded Tomoyo and then grabbed and bound her arms. One of the ninja's held Tomoyo, another grabbed an unconscious Sakura and the third picked up a limp Syaoran.

The ninja holding Tomoyo summoned a portal and the other two ninjas walked through it carrying their hostages.

"NO!" screamed Tomoyo as she was being dragged towards the portal by the last remaining ninja

"Tomoyo" Eriol screamed as he tried to make his way over to her. Kumiko however wouldn't let that happen.

"I don't think so Eriol my dear … tisk tisk …" Kumiko laughed as she struck her distracted opponent's staff away.

Eriol watched in horror as the love of his life was dragged through the portal.

"awww… and now Eriol you have lost everyone you care for… isn't that a shame" she teased him "you have failed once again …"

Anger began to overtake him and he ran forward in an attempt to punch her, but she easily dodged it and spun around kicking him into the opposing wall. His body slid down the wall as he began to lose consciousness.

"Goodbye for now Eriol, you know where to find me" Kumiko mocked before she ran over and jumped into the shrinking portal.

"You won't get away" shouted Eriol, and as he got a new wave of strength, he stood up and ran towards the portal…

The three ninjas stood to the right of a beam of light in a seemingly empty room. On closer inspection the room had a large throne like chair at the front and the walls seemed to be alive. In the chair sat a very well built man with blood red eyes that seemed to glow in the darkened room. The three hostages lay sprawled out on the floor, Tomoyo had fainted in the travel and Syaoran and Sakura had yet to wake up.

Suddenly a portal appeared in the middle of the room and Kumiko was thrown through it.

She stood up and dusted herself off 'still need to perfect portal travel' she thought sardonically as she turned to face the front of the room

AN: When traveling through a portal you must think of the exact spot you want to go, although the portal can only go to the predetermined place (in this case the location of the bad guys' hideout) it will take you wherever you picture in that place, whether it is the attic or the dungeons. In the case of hostages the one with the most (remaining) magical power decides where they will end up

"Ssssorry master." Kumiko replied while bending down towards the floor she stood up and continued "although I have not yet killed Sakura I did manage to capture her and two other prisoners"

"Well done … for once" the man replied his mouth twisted up into a sly grin 'this may just work out better than I had planned'

"Do you want me to kill Sakura now?" she asked

"No, no … I have a much better use for her now" an evil grin now consumed his features "Chain the three prisoners in the dungeon and have a guard posted outside of the cell. When they awaken tell me. That is when the real pain shall begin for our dear Xiao-Lang" then he burst into maniacal laughter before ushering everyone out of the room.

'I don't understand why we can't just kill her now' Kumiko bitterly thought as she led the group out of the room

3 Hours later

Syaoran woke up and looked around his surroundings. The room was still a little fuzzy and he had a head-splitting migraine, but his surrounding finally began to come into focus. Then the events of the past couple of days began to sink in. Suddenly a sharp pain struck his shoulder. As he went to rub it, he found that he was unable to. He looked up and found that his wrists were chained above his head.

"Syaoran" someone to his left whispered to him

"Tomoyo" he happily answered back as he looked to his left "Are you okay? What happened? Where are we? Where are Sakura and Eriol? Who did this?..."

"Calm down" interrupted a frantic Tomoyo "I'm fine except for being chained to a wall… in what can only be described as a dungeon. Sakura is passed out over there to your right"

Syaoran looked to his right and sighed as temporary relief swept over him. He saw Sakura slumped against the wall with her arms suspended above her head, much as his were. How he wanted to sweep her into his arms and comfort her, but right now he could do neither since the chains simply would not budge.

"As for Eriol" Tomoyo continued, now tears began to fill her amethyst eyes and cascade down her delicate cheeks, " … as for Eriol… well I'm not quite sure … last time I saw him he was defending me and fighting against some woman who he seemed to know…"

"What!" exclaimed Syaoran "he knew her? Was it the same woman who I fought with, the one with yellow eyes?"

"I think so…" "Eriol said her name was… Kumiko"

"Kumiko … I don't think I've heard that name before … not that I remember anyways…" at this Syaoran began to ponder where Eriol could have known her from

"Syaoran" Tomoyo whispered once again

"Yes?"

"Are we going to be okay?"

"I know we will, if I can get out of these chains we can begin to form an escape plan" as he tugged at the chains pain suddenly shot through his shoulder

He winced as blood began to drip down his arm.

"Syaoran ..." Tomoyo whispered in a very concerned tone "are you okay? … Don't do that again, you're just going to make your wound worse" she scolded

Before Syaoran could object another voice broke through the silent dungeon

"Syao…. Syaoran…" Sakura groggily replied

Her vision was blurry at best and all of the colours of the room seemed to blend together. She looked over to where Syaoran was and saw a fuzzy blur looking at her.

"… it's really hot in here" she managed to choke out as the room began to fade again "Sakura" two voices called out before her world went black and her body fell limp against the cold stone once more.

"Sakura" Tomoyo and Syaoran yelled in unison

"Can you get to her? Is she okay" Tomoyo frantically asked Syaoran

"Not unless I get out of these chains. I think she has a fever, she seems to be really pale. Damn. I need to get to her."

"Syaoran" Tomoyo pointed out shakily

"What is it?"

"Sakura… she… her… blood"

Syaoran looked back over to Sakura and gasped. Her clothes were beginning to turn red.

"Her wound must have reopened" Syaoran yelled and began to struggle with his chains once more

"Syaoran don't … you'll hurt yourself" screamed Tomoyo

"Have they awoken yet?" replied the man, his red eyes gleaming with anticipation

"All but Sakura, sssshe seems to fade in and out" Kumiko replied

"I see. I wish to wait no longer. Lead me to them"

"Yes master." Kumiko bowed and then led him towards the dungeon.

Evil music began to float through the air as if by magic, perhaps foreshadowing the doom to come for our heroes, or perhaps it was something else altogether.

Authors Note: Sorry about taking so long to update. Truth is most of it was written by the 7th but then it would have ended with the cliffy of Eriol … and it was really short, so I decided to be nice and make it longer. Oh and don't kill me… hehe … 3 cliffies in one chapter. That's like a new record.

Firstly I'd like to thank all of my wonderful reviewers: Shaaarona, midnight-whisper3, BabyPenguin, Ashieyu-san, Kokari, and Mew Frost. You guys give me the will to continue to write! Thanks so much guys!

A VERY special thank you goes out to: midnight-whisper3, a nadeshiko blossom, Ashieyu-san, and esoterica for allowing me the pleasure of being on your favourite authors list. I'd also like to thank midnight-whisper3, Ashieyu-san, and BabyPenguin for adding me to your author alert list as well! Thanks so much, you guys are the BEST! Additionally I would like to thank MystiKAI-ElUzIoNs for adding my story to your favourites list. I really appreciate it!

OMG I'm so happy over 1,278 hits to my story… too bad the thing got reset. Oh well! Thanks again EVERYONE! Ja ne