A little note: I apologize for this horrendous piece of writing, if it can be called that in the first place. Anyways, there's one more chapter after this which will, hopefully be an improvement compared to the rest of the series. Stick around. It'll all be over shortly.

Mystery of the Haunted Cabin

Chapter 9

"Li-kun! Hurry up!"

"Coming," he panted as he raced up the slopes to reach Sakura.

Syaoran suddenly tripped on the slippery slope, sliding down the hill a few feet. Sakura approached him, worry carved into her face.

"Li-kun?"

Sakura had to stifle her giggles when she saw Syaoran's face covered in snow. Syaoran spit the flakes out of his mouth before going through the procedure of dusting his face as well as the rest of his body off. Syaoran sent Sakura a playful glare.

"Don't even-"

"I think that was the seventh time today, Li-kun," Sakura giggled.

Syaoran groaned, just to play along of course. Sakura giggled all the way up the slopes. The two managed to finally reach the ski lift without too many stumbles (3 of Sakura's and 14 of Syaoran's) when they noticed a little shack nearby.

"Li-kun, can we go get some hot chocolate first, onegai?" Sakura squealed.

"Er, uh, I guess it wouldn't hurt to-"

"Great!"

Sakura dragged the sweatdropping Syaoran all the way to the shack when Syaoran noticed something about this place...They'd been there before.

'Only it was at the bottom of the hill the last time we went here,' Syaoran thought as the two entered the shack and ordered their hot chocolate.

Sakura cheerfully drank the steamy liquid as she smiled at the people who were buzzing about in the cafe. She was unaware of the stolen glances that Syaoran took when she turned her head to listen to a conversation nearby. Too bad she was also unaware of a strange yellow glow in Syaoran's eyes.

"Ready?" he asked as he paid for their drinks.

Sakura smiled and followed him on the way out when she stopped suddenly.

"Um...Li-kun?"

Syaoran slowly turned around. Sakura blushed when she realized what she was going to say...

"I...I have to go to the bathroom!"

Syaoran rolled his eyes and used an elaborate jester by pointing to the bathroom as though he were bowing and introducing someone. Sakura immediately took off in the direction he was pointing with an "Arigato!" trailing behind her. Syaoran grinned and shook his head when the familiar glowing came back to his eyes. As his eyes changed from the usual amber color to a yellowish, almost feline look, he headed over to Sakura's skis and tampered with them.

When he finished, he turned back around and waited for Sakura to return from her trip to the "powder room." Sure enough, bouncy little Sakura was skipping (in the snow?) on her way back. The glowing started to disappear from Syaoran's eyes, leaving him with the same headache he had the night before.

Syaoran winced, trying to hold back the pain back from reaching his facial expression. Sakura realized that something was awfully strange about Syaoran's expression.

"Li-kun, are you okay?"

"Hai. Let's go," he replied as the glow returned to his eyes. Unfortunately Sakura didn't catch it as she smiled and cheerfully headed out toward the slopes. After putting on her skis and checking to make sure it looked right, Sakura adjusted her goggles and got into her position. She looked down to find which way she wanted to go and then used her ski poles to push off. Syaoran grinned, but in a malevolent way. He knew he tampered with her skis enough to get her hurt or even killed, and yet, he didn't feel guilty at all! Syaoran suddenly shook his head and realized what had happened.

'I don't get it! What the heck was I doing and why?' he thought, but there was no time to blame himself. Sakura was in danger.

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned when she heard her name called out.

'Syaoran? Why is he calling me?'

Suddenly, she remembered that she wasn't supposed to look back. Sakura jerked her head back to stare in front of her. Whatever it was that Syaoran had to say, it would have to wait.

Syaoran realized that she wouldn't be able to listen, set his goggles in place, and pushed off to catch up with her. Calling her name out too loudly might cause an avalanche, and that was the last thing he needed. Somehow, Syaoran was lucky enough to catch up with Sakura who had now realized what he was warning her about. Her skis began to wobble underneath her as she struggled to keep herself from falling. The distressed Sakura felt Syaoran's presence.

"Li-kun! Help, onegai!"

"Keep looking forward and make sure you don't run into anything! I'll think of a plan," Syaoran answered back.

Sakura clutched her ski poles tightly and continued down the slopes to the best of her ability. Her skis kept wobbling around, threatening to drop her face first into a nearby tree. Syaoran's eyes widened when he realized Sakura's predicament.

"Sakura!"

Syaoran sped up his skis until he ended up in front of her. He moved out of the way until he was on the right side of the frightened Sakura and pushed between her and the approaching tree, shoving her to the left. Syaoran ducked to avoid a tree branch, slipping and falling on his side while Sakura continued downward.

"Hoeh!" Sakura screamed as she approached a cliff. "I knew I wanted to fly, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind!"

Syaoran would have laughed, only it wasn't very funny in this situation. How could he just sit there and watch her get hurt or...or even worse? Syaoran shook the thought out of his head when he suddenly remembered a tip that could really help just about now.

"Sakura! Float!"

'Float? What does he think I am - a bird?'

And then it clicked. There was no time to pull the card out of her pocket. She might risk losing it. Sakura held her key in her hands without taking the necklace off.

"Help me," she whispered her earnest prayer.

Suddenly, a pink light enveloped her as a card shot out of her pocket in a form of light. The card floated next to her, spinning about, waiting for her to strike it and release the spirit within. Sakura knew what to do.

"Float!" she cried as she struck the card with the staff that formed in her hands.

A white light enveloped her, leaving behind a very dizzy Sakura. All she could see was white light everywhere she looked, and looking was really quite painful at the moment. Everything else seemed to melt out of sight as she squeezed her eyes shut. Sakura then heard a voice from a distance, calling her name.

"Sakura," it called, "are you okay? Sakura!"

Sakura peeked at the one who was calling her. She felt her body being turned around and the substance that was hurting her eyes was gone. Now she just felt cold all over.

"Sakura?"

Sakura felt someone brushing something out of her eyes. Once it was gone, she opened her eyes slowly, hoping that more won't get in. Everything seemed blurry at first, but her sight slowly returned, sharpening the blurry images that danced in front of her.

"Syaoran? What happened?"

Syaoran finally let go of the breath he was holding. Sakura was safe. Sakura was alive. Sakura was...waiting for an answer.

"I don't know how to explain it...," Syaoran trailed.

"Just tell me what you know," Sakura replied, dusting the snow out of her bangs. After all, that did hurt when it got in her eyes.

"Well, the card just carried you over, but it disappeared in the middle of bringing you here. It just vanished and dropped you to the floor."

Sakura gave him a bewildered look. First off, how was the card able to do anything without her and secondly, why did it just vanish?

"I'm not sure what happened, but I did hear shrieking, which was not very pleasant by the way."

Whatever it was that caused her card to do that, it couldn't have been far. Sakura shivered. She didn't like the feeling in the air; both the cold and the presence of some dark magic sent unwanted tingles down her spine, alerting her to danger.

"Li-kun, let's just go back. I think I'm done skiing for today."

The two headed back. Too bad for them they didn't notice a very familiar person in the shadows of the very tree that Syaoran saved Sakura from...Tayori.

On the way back to the hotel, Sakura still clutched the float card in case that something was trying to take it away from her. The two went into their room to rest when Sakura noticed something.

"Syaoran, remember how the dark card went haywire when we first got here?"

Syaoran nodded in response.

"Do you think that has anything to do with the rumors about a demon and everyone's disappearance?"

Syaoran stared out the window.

"Possibly. You never know when it comes to magic after all."

"Hmm."

Sakura bit her lip as she thought about it. There just had to be some sort of connection, there just had to be! Sakura pulled her book out of her bag to put her cards away when all the cards fluttered around her again.

"I missed you too," she giggled. "Now come on, let me put you away before I start losing some of you."

The cards arranged themselves in order and went in the book one by one so Sakura could keep track. Suddenly, when there were four cards left, they stopped going in. Sakura scrutinized her cards to see what they were doing when she realized...one was missing.

"Syaoran!"

Syaoran yelped. Startled from Sakura's sudden outburst, he hit his forehead against the window.

"Ouch," he rubbed his forehead.

"Syaoran, one of my cards is missing!"

"What?"

Syaoran stood over her shoulder. Sakura had the cards arrange themselves and go back into the book again just to double-check. Sure enough, one was missing.

"The song card," the two said in unison.

"Where could it have gone?" Syaoran asked the air.

Sakura carefully put away the last of her cards, closed the book, and stood up to face him. Syaoran knew it was serious, especially when Sakura acted this way.

"Syaoran, the cards are connected to everyone's disappearance. Whoever or whatever took the song card used it to lure everyone."

Syaoran was about to protest when it suddenly clicked. She was right! Just before somebody disappeared, they always heard a song of some sort that described the person. Someone or something was powerful enough to steal a card from Sakura and use it against her!

"This isn't good."

"I know," she answered him.

It was an empty hallway. There wasn't even carpeting on the floor yet. There was only one room that was furnished in the whole house. Miraculously, there were no bugs, rats, or any pests of any kind with the exception of Nakuru. (Just kidding.) Such was the power of Eriol's magic.

Spinel turned the page of his book and continued reading until he perked up his ears at the sound of the phone. He sighed softly.

"Eriol-sama, the phone is ringing," he replied nonchalantly as he continued his reading.

Eriol smiled. "Must be from Sakura," he thought as he allowed his magic to answer the phone.

"Hiiragizawa residence. How may I help you, Sakura?"

Eriol grimaced slightly as Sakura's "Hoeh! How did you know?" rang in his ears.

"I've been having some visions that still continue to assist me."

"Really," came the reply, "How much did they tell you?"

Eriol smiled. Now the fun part.

"It told me up to...right...about-"

"Suppi-chan!" a shrill voice screeched throughout the house.

"-now," Eriol finished. Eriol looked up just in time to see Nakuru taking the stairs five at a time on her way down while Spinel desperately flew up to the top of the bookcase. Unfortunately, that did not stop Nakuru.

"Suppi-chan, I've got some sweets for you!" her voice sang.

"NO! I'm NOT going through this again!"

Spinel knew that he would get drunk off of sweets. This was why he hated them. (No, he does not get hyper. He literally gets drunk, the poor creature. He'll never understand the joy ice cream and chocolate and...okay, I'll stop.) Eriol smiled watching his two companions racing around the house as Sakura's laughter carried over the phone.

"So how may I assist you, Mistress of the cards?"

Eriol could just picture Sakura blushing at her title, but for some reason, he knew by the sudden flickering of her aura that this was not so. Something may have upset her, and indeed something has. Sakura explained to Eriol all about the camping trip to what was the most current piece of information. Eriol frowned.

"This was certainly unexpected. Whatever is out there was able to steal a card without you noticing, cause two cards to act very strange, and possess the card mistress? All is not well."

Crash! Thump, thump. Twitter, twitter.

Nakuru bumped into the bookcase, sending a few books flying off while Spinel flew to another corner of the room. Sakura and Eriol ignored them and continued their conversation.

"What should we do, Eriol-chan? Li-kun and I think it's a card, but we're not so sure."

Eriol furrowed his brows, something he never did very often. The more he thought, the more his thoughts seemed to flit away from him; his ideas remained away from his grasp...

Crash! There goes the wall...

"Ahhhhh! Nakuru!" Spinel screamed.

"Onegai, Eriol-kun."

Sakura's voice startled Eriol out of his thoughts. What was she asking him? He didn't tell her anything yet.

"Didn't you just tell me that there might be a way?"

Thump, thump, thump. Crash! And the bottom stair...

Eriol shook his head. Just what was going on? He hadn't been muttering anything without realizing, had he?

"Sakura, listen to me carefully. I want you to repeat what I said, word for word if you can."

Eriol heard a slight pause as Sakura gathered her thoughts.

"You said that there is the traditional ritual..."

"Ah. Yes, of course."

Shatter! The window upstairs...

Eriol started pacing, something he didn't do very often.

"This ritual is not quite foolproof, however. Countless have tried and failed. Not to mention your fear of ghosts may hinder you, Sakura-chan."

Smash! The roof...

"Suppi-chaaaaan!" Nakuru cackled.

"I suppose you could try using the cards, but since they were inaffective in the beginning..."

Bump. And the fireplace...that was lighted with fire...

"Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! Hot! HOT!"

Suppi-ch-, er, Spinel flew around as fast as he could, hoping that the breeze would take out the fire on his tail...Too bad he lit up everything else while he was doing it. The breeze tossed Eriol's hair back and forth as Nakuru continued her pursuit of the flying black, green, and red dart.

"Eriol-kun, what is the ritual?"

Crash!

Eriol sighed in annoyance.

"Spinel, Nakuru, enough!"

The two screech to a halt, making more burn marks on the floor. Eriol snapped his fingers, causing the room to be restored back to its orderly self and encasing Nakuru and Spinel within two crystalline solids. Spinel continued to blow at his tail, hoping it would relieve the pain from the burn while Nakuru continued her giggling and taunting.

Eriol shook his head. Sometimes those two were a little too much...Eriol cleared his throat and continued.

"People usually ward off spirits by either fighting it, singing to it, or..."

A long pause...

"Eriol-kun?"

He sighed once more and plopped into his chair.

"I don't know if I should be telling you this..." he rested his head in his hand, "but since you insist...the only effective way to ward off a demon is either to be possessed by it for eternity or marrying it."

Eriol heard Sakura gulp.

"What I'm more concerned about," he continued, "is...if it isn't just a demon."

Sakura gasped. The phone disconnected.

"Hello? Sakura? Sakura!"

Sakura clutched the phone that she still held to her ear. How? How can she do that? Could she possibly marry something she was so afraid of? Could she allow for it to possess her? But wouldn't that be letting it have full control of all her powers? Sakura turned to Syaoran who waited patiently for her answer. The haunted look in her eyes already informed Syaoran that it was not good news. Then again, who expected good news from this?

"Syaoran," Sakura called, her voice rasping.

Sakura explained all she could before her fear weighted down her heart. Little Sakura stared at the floor and allowed her tears to fall silently. Syaoran turned away. He couldn't watch her cry, especially when he was expected to be the strategist of this team.

'But who could think up a plan at a time like this?' he thought as he sighed and watched the angel weep.

The two had dinner and returned to their room. Sakura couldn't eat much. She picked at her food until Syaoran forced her to eat by claiming that he wouldn't unless she would. Poor Sakura was devastated, and Syaoran wasn't in a much better condition either. The two agreed to go straight to bed and think tomorrow instead.

Sakura climbed under the covers as soon as she finished changing out of her clothes.

"Oyasumi, Li-kun," Sakura called drowsily.

"Oyasumi," he replied.

The two drifted off to sleep, hoping for a better day. However, there was a third presence that did not want to say goodnight just yet.

The clock struck midnight. The last skiers quickly finished getting off the slopes and headed to their cabins.

"I'll see you on the slopes tomorrow."

"Sure, Eva. Meet ya at the hill?"

She nodded. After giving him a quick peck on the cheek, she entered the cabin to turn in for the night. On the way to her room, she saw a very, ugly looking shadow with monstrous fangs and a misshapen head. Oh, she would have screamed all right, if it wasn't for the fact that she lost her voice from laughing and screaming so much on the slopes. She quickly ran out of the cabin and followed after her boyfriend instead.

The shadow, unaware of this episode, continued to pursue its target. It finally reached a door and merged with the shadows in that room.

Just then, a head snapped up.

A kind face turned evil as the child's canines transformed to the point where they could be mistaken for fangs. Yellow eyes glowed in the darkness.

"She will die tonight."

A hand snatched the covers and yanked them away, but there were only pillows in sight. The demon child muttered curses in his native tongue and crept away to find his victim.

Meanwhile, a sweet, drowsy girl headed toward her room. Her hollow, green eyes didn't sparkle tonight as she came from the lobby where she got a glass of water. Still holding the glass in her hand, she approached her room to find someone waiting for her.

"Li-kun?"

Too bad she didn't notice the evil gleam in his eyes.

"Daijabu-?"

Sakura barely had time to blink before she dodged out of the way. Her eyes widened when she saw the slash mark that scarred the floor.

"L-li-kun?"

Her eyes widened in fear as his eyes glowed. Yellow...At least they weren't red.

Sakura shot down the halls before the next attack. Her heart thundered in her ears with each step she took. She could barely hear the light, quick shuffles behind her. Before she could process what was going on, she called on shield and jump.

"Please protect us," she whispered as she did all she could do get out of the way.

Just as she slammed into a door, Sakura remembered another piece of business she had to take care of. She immediately dodged the next attack and continued escaping as Syaoran continued his pursuit.

"Sleep, watch over everyone," she pleaded as she dodged the lightning that crackled above her head.

It was a slight distraction, but a distraction nonetheless enough for Syaoran to corner our heroine. Luckily the shield card kept the sword from harming her, but Sakura wasn't much more fortunate. Syaoran used all his magic to bypass the barrier and caught her by the throat.

Sakura's magical barrier dissipated immediately, leaving her completely vulnerable as her former friend held her throat against the wall. Sakura struggled as she flailed her legs, hoping she could get some leverage only to realize that Syaoran was well out of the way.

"Syao...ran..."

She gasped desperately for air as the hand squeezed around her windpipe. She could have sworn her head was about to pop, but this wasn't the time to think of that. Despiter her concentrated effort at breathing, tears of concern slipped past her eyes and streaked her cheek. As one salty drop landed on his hand, Syaoran started to regain consciousness and immediately loosened his hold on Sakura.

"Sa-sakura..."

Syaoran stared at his hands, an appalled look etched across his features while Sakura gasped for air in a heap on the floor. Just as she tilted her head to see him, a black cloud jumped out of Syaoran, cackling and screaming at the same time, if such a shriek was possible to achieve.

Syaoran collapsed onto his knees and trembled in pain as he tried to fight off the demon who wrestled with his will to control his body. Sakura gaped at him, but merely for a second before rushing to his side. Then she saw it: the barely concealed fangs that glowed with a luster so contrary to the rest of its shadowy body.

'A g-ghost?' she thought as she stared, her hands gripping Syaoran's shoulders in fear.

She scrambled to her feet and summoned all her courage to face him.

"Wait. Stop! Don't hurt him!"

The next thing it did frightened her to no end. The demon jumped out at her and hovered inches in front of her face, its gaze piercing, its fangs glowing, its head hung at a strange angle as though its contorted neck gave out...She tried to scream but fear gripped her as an icy chill ran through her bones. It winked at her in the most gruesome way before it leapt as if to possess her...

Before she knew it, a stream of wind blew harshly past and a protective arm snaked around her waist. Yet all she could do was gape and tremble as the demon forced its way back into her protector who pushed her out of harm's way. She tumbled down the hall while the crash brought her back to her senses.

"Syaoran-kun," she whispered his name, an incantation for courage and strength.

She jumped when Syaoran reached for his sword, but she trembled even more when the blade approached his own throat.

"Stop it!" she screamed.

The wrestling stopped momentarily.

"If it's me you want, you can have me. Just...don't hurt him," she stifled her sobs as tears ran freely down her cheeks.

Syaoran's knees buckled and, as he leaned against the wall, the haunting figure reappeared beside him. It stared at Sakura, a puzzled look across his rather foreign features. She felt a slight chill as it approached her.

"Why?" the demon asked.

She glanced up at it.

"Why would you give up your life for him?"

She took a swift glance behind the demon, swallowed and continued.

"Because I...I love him."

Sakura trembled as she spoke those words. She wasn't sure if Syaoran could hear her anymore, but she had to say it. She wold do anything to save him, even if it meant that he would never care for her the way she did for him.

"Love? There's no such thing," it scoffed.

"What?"

Sakura stared up at the spirit's form, floating above her. The black ghost was just inches from her, sending a chill up her spine. The heartless look of hatred and despair in its eyes was enough to make anyone shudder.

"There's no such thing as love. Nobody cares. It's all a matter of what you can get from each other and that's all that counts."

Sakura took another quick glance at Syaoran before gathering up her courage again to defy those words.

"That's not true! I care about him so much. I don't care what happens to me as long as he's okay. I...I want him to be happy."

The ghost floated toward her. Sakura cringed when it came so close that it was only a few inches in front of her face. The black spirit humphed before going back to its floating position.

"Even you who claims to know how to love is repulsed by me."

Sakura gasped. What was this spirit saying? She didn't mean to make it appear that way. Who else made this spirit so upset?

"It's just...I'm...afraid...of ghosts...but, but I can change that!"

"Little girl, don't start with me."

The ghost waved a finger in front of her, challenging her to make a move. Sakura swallowed her pride. She had to do this to get Syaoran back.

"Who is it that neglected you?"

The ghost let itself fall closer to the ground.

"Who else but Clow."

"Clow Reed!"

"The one and only."

Sakura's eyes widened. Eriol would never do such a thing! What was going on? How did this spirit know Clow Reed and why did it feel so abused? The spirit gave her a melancholy stare as though it read her mind.

"Do you know who I am?"

Sakura shook her head no. The spirit sighed and gave an expression that said "I knew it" across its face.

"I'm the conveniently forgotten 54th card."

...to be continued...