Hmmm, nothing really to say here. Buuuut, I DO have more to say to the reviewers for Chapter 10 besides of course, THANK YOU! I'm so happy that you guys liked the last chapter I wrote! I can only hope that u'll enjoy this one too. J Can't say it till the end, so I'll have to hold my breath in for now. Yup, yup. R+R+E...the BIBLE OF FFs!
--------------------------------Hidden Power: Chapter 11...The Fight and the Fake
Li Syaoran just couldn't sit still. The new girl, Kinomoto Sakura had just fainted into his arms about 3 periods ago, and he didn't know where she was or whether she was okay or not. Why had she fainted? All the English lessons that the teacher was currently attempting to fill his head were pretty much flying out the other ear. The whole Sakura-incident was pretty much upsetting him.
"Can...Can you PLEASE stop fidgeting?" Gabriel snapped. "You're making me nervous!" then he quickly adverted his eyes when the teacher shot him a look from behind his desk.
"Hiiragizawa? Is there a problem?" the English teacher asked. Gabriel gulped. Wow, the English teacher was a bulky man.
Both Eriol and Gabriel looked up at the same time.
"Er...n-no, sir. I was just asking Syaoran for a pencil," he muttered before Eriol could say anything.
"You seem to have a good number of pencils beside you," the teacher pointed out, nostrils flaring.
Bad sign, Gabriel observed. Stupid excuse, he reprimanded himself. He was not good at this sneaking thing. "Yes, sir. Of course, sir," Gabriel ducked his head, ashamed and very aware of his father's glare.
The minute class was over Syaoran jumped to his feet, and without waiting for his friends to catch up with him rushed off to the nurse's office. Just for a little while, he thought. Sakura would not even know he was there.
"Where ya goin Syao-kun?" Skye whispered into his ear as he hurried along.
"To see if Sa-Kinomoto is okay," he mumbled, not really caring that he told the truth.
Skye was quiet as if deciding whether or not to say something, and then said, "If you like her you should tell her."
"I don't even know her, Skye. Don't worry about it!" Syaoran rolled his eyes. Inside he felt a little grateful for their brief talk as the little spirit zoomed into the hood of his jacket.
"Kinomoto-san? What a sweet girl, but such a shame," Syaoran skidded to a halt when he heard someone talking of Sakura.
"Oh, yeah!" he heard a vaguely familiar voice drawl sarcastically. "Yeah, yeah she was nice. Where did she go, old lady?" Emma, Syaoran realized, with a fizzle of anger. What did she want with Sakura? He was pretty sure she was up to no good after that scrap she had almost started with Sakura. What a crappy way to start off in a new school!
"Someone came to pick her up, saying it was normal. I don't really know but I think the girl is really sick, the poor thing. She doesn't seem to have very strong health, if you know what I mean!" the old lady confined and Syaoran felt a stone drop in the middle of his stomach. Syaoran quickly walked away from the door that he had been leaning against.
"So Sakura is...sick?" Eriol said blankly as they walked along the market later on that night.
"Myah," Syaoran said with a mouth full of chocolate ice cream. "Shaowned lifit. (Sounded like it)"
"That's terrible," Tomoyo said and Gabriel didn't say anything as he munched on the chunkee munkee banana ice cream she had bought for him.
"Next time we should sit with her at lunch so that goth girl can't pick on her."
"Mphaweffer (whatever)," Syaoran turned away. He didn't want them to start teasing him if they saw he heartily agreed.
"MIOPH!" Gabriel spluttered in mid-chomp. Someone had thrown ice cream at him. "ONT FRO IFF-CREAM! (Don't throw ice cream!)" he snapped the best that he could with a full mouth and turned to look at who had thrown it, absolutely positive it was one of the sprites. Lately, they were becoming so hyper it was starting to get on his nerves. He was sorely disappointed to see Syaoran witha smudge of chocolate on his right cheek. Syaoran's face burned red, and a bit guilty, he pointed to Pyro who squeaked in protest.
"WHAT! ME?" Pyro, quite offended.
While the two continued to bicker, Eriol turned to Tomoyo and said sadly, "I still don't understand. How are we going to find the Guardian of Earth?"
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Geeky Trio!" someone behind them cackled with glee.
Syaoran whipped around (ice cream went flying, forgotten in his anger) as he recognized the voice. Takana Emma leered at them as she lounged on the shoulder of a lanky, pale, teenage boy with long black bangs and icy blue eyes. Like, Emma, he too was a goth.
"Who you calling Geeky, worm?" Syaoran grinned and cracked his knuckles. The boy beside Emma narrowed his eyes at Syaoran and stood up a little straighter, tensed and ready for action. Syaoran's eyes didn't leave the two while the tension continued to climb. Eriol, Gabriel, and Tomoyo both feared the worst.
"You know wha..."
It was at that moment that the five tense teenagers felt a tremor go through them as the earth started to shake.
"You're KIDDING me! Another earthquake? This is the third one!" Tomoyo cried trying desperately to keep her balance. The quake continued to get stronger as people ran for cover screaming.
"Why does this keep happening!"
"RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!"
And the ever popular, "EARTHQUAKE!"
Emma gave a shriek. Her friend swiveled around and caught her hand, but was unable to keep his balance himself and the two of them fell with a loud splash into a fountain nearby. Mascara rained down her cheeks as she screamed and spluttered in outrage. The boy beside her looked annoyed as he pulled her up.
Syaoran resisted the temptation to laugh as he and his friends made their way to safety. But before they could get very far, the earthquake stopped as quickly as it had begun.
"Was that a normal earthquake?" Gabriel asked Aquia, who shook her head.
"No. And it's not over yet,"she whispered.
"What are you...?"
Syaoran turned to look behind him and frowned. It was bad enough that he had to deal with four annoying sprites and a crazy err...guardian watcher that loved nothing better than to get on his nerves, but now this?
Before them stood a tall young man with long locks of silver hair. Draped over his right shoulder was a long blue robe. Behind miniature spectacles were cold grey eyes. His expression was the expression of someone who did not care who lived or died...heartless and dead that it made the hairs on the back of Syaoran's neck stand on end. The boy reeked of bad karma.
Gabriel had gone pale and backed away altogether, seeming absolutely petrified.
"Ryou," he whispered.
(The four sprites immediately zoomed into hiding, shutting themselves in Syaoran's bag.)
The young man looked in Gabriel's direction slowly upon hearing his name and narrowed his eyes, "Hiiragizawa Gabriel so you are already here. What a pleasant surprise," his voice was whispery and grating at the same time, like the cold rattling breath that one draws upon death.
Gabriel merely grunted in reply.
Ryou closed his eyes and then reached behind him as if to draw something from beneath his robes, which he did.
A loud whistle pierced the air as three globes of light flew into the sky and landed on the ground, sending up sparks and a blinding flash of bright white light (A/N: Hahaha, look who's turning into Dr. Seuss!). When the light died down and those big white spots that you usually get when some idiot thrusts a camera in your face disappeared, Tomoyo cried out.
Ryou held the chains to three growling and very pissed-off-looking creatures each sporting its own spiked collar. The first creature was like a flaming lion. Syaoran's eyes widened in awe and horror as smoke poured from its mouth. That couldn't be good. A fire-breathing lion, he was sure.
The second beast was what Tomoyo recognized as a falcon of water. There was nothing majestic about it at all, especially not the forked tongue that darted out at her, almost mockingly. It was terribly disgusting to tell the truth.
And finally came the lightning beast. Just what animal it represented was sort of undeterminable. The creature's claws seemed to be very sharp and electricity fizzled whenever a foot touched the ground. It stared back at Eriol with bright yellow eyes, its tail (which was actually a streak of lightning) twitched to and fro. It was eager to hunt.
"The 3 Elementals and the 3 Guardians, together at last," Ryou hissed. And without further ado he dropped the Elementals' chains. They were free.
"Happy hunting," he cackled and disappeared.
None of the three Guardians dared to move, or even breathe for that matter, as the creatures, each beast every bit similar to the Guardian's power, paced and growled nervously.
"Why are they waiting?" Gabriel finally asked while Eriol stepped in front of him protectively.
"I don't know," his dad replied shortly, obviously waiting and ready for what might happen next.
Syaoran clenched his fists and stood there as the silence hung in the air, the tension growing thicker with every second that ticked past. Finally he dared to step backwards and the lightning creature immediately tensed up, ready to pounce. Tomoyo let out a little shriek. The Elemental of Water dove at her as Syaoran yelled, "RUN!"
Gabriel ran forward, his heart thudding fearfully as he placed himself in front of Tomoyo and staggered backwards crying out a word of power. What looked like a flare to the average eye exploded in the creature's face. Startled, the Elemental shrieked and veered off course, struggling to keep aflight. The magic was right on target but did not hit its mark. Normal magic would not and could not work on an Elemental.
"RUN!" Gabriel cried in anguish.
"WE ARE RUNNING, YOU FREAK! I'M NOT GONNA WAIT TO GET MY ASS WHOOPED BY A FIRE-BREATING CANNONBALL!" Syaoran roared, already way ahead of the rest of them.
"IT'S A CANNIBAL, DIMWIT!"Gabriel retorted. He was trying very hard not to hyperventilate. It was a real problem of his that always found its way back to him in times when he least needed it (Like now).
It didn't work.
"Gabriel! Gabriel what's wrong? Are you okay?" Tomoyo took a hold of his shoulder.
Eriol skidded to a halt, with his eyes wide and rushed back to see what was going on. What was happening to Gabriel? Hearing them stop he whipped around and almost fell into a nearby pile of garbage.
"What the hell are you...?"
"It's Gabriel! He's...he's doing something!"
"Hyper...hyper...ventilating," Gabriel gasped.
"LOOK OUT!" Syaoran yelled.
Tomoyo whirled around to see the Sky Elemental come flying around the corner at top speed, scrabbling on its claws to keep up with them. And keep up with them it had. With a triumphant roar it pounced on the two Hiirgizawas and Tomoyo. Syaoran picked up a trash can lid on the bin nearby and flung it at the creature, hoping against hope that it would strike its mark. It did. With a howl the creature rebounded upon impact on the metal object to slam into the pile of garbage bags by the dumpster.
Syoaran hauled Gabriel to his feet, "Keep running no matter WHAT! We can't let it get us!" he snarled and they continued to run.
The thing was back up and running. Syaoran twisted around and tried to send some fire at the water falcon when it swooped down to take a piece of them. To no avail. The fire sizzled on the Elemental's wings for a few moments before burning to no avail.
"Running... (wheeze)...out of..."
"SHIT! Shit shit shit shit SHIT!" Syaoran screamed when he turned the corner and came up to a dead end. There was nowhere else to run and the Elementals were here. He turned around as if to decide what to do next.
Tomoyo wailed, "What are we gonna do!"
"We fight," Eriol said grimly. Tomoyo hesitated and clenched her eyes shut tightly. She could hear her heart beating rapidly. She was absolutely terrified.
Eriol turned to look at her and with a warm smile he took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze reassuringly. Tomoyo gave a soft gasp and blushed, feeling her heart skip a beat. Her hand seemed to fit perfectly with Eriol's. As a wave of feelings overcame her she hoped that he would never let her hand go.
"I won't let anything happen to you. Or to Gabriel," he whispered fiercely and she smiled weakly. Then he held out a pinkie as if to prove it, "Promise." If he could be strong she should be too, she chided herself, taking a deep breath.
"Okay," she murmured quietly and sent a jet of water arcing out of her palm. Eriol followed behind her and blew a strong gust of wind. Gabriel thrust both palms forth, and the wall started to pulse a dark blue color. Instantly what was merely just a curtain of water became a fortified wall of ice that glistened like diamonds in the moonlight. They had just bought themselves a little more time to think about what to do next. With their powers combined they were far more powerful together than they were alone. The two looked at each other and grinned.
"Riiight," Syaoran drawled, his face hardening into one of resolve, one of determination. "Let's go."
He lifted two fingers to his chest as if in salute and with a satisfied grunt sent trails of angry fire into the air to surround the flying creature above them like ribbons. The combination of wind electricity was enough to make the creature screech in agony and explode into a hundred pieces. Each Guardian dove for cover when the shards of glass rained down on them.
The creatures could indeed be killed, just not alone. They were just one step closer to living until the next day, Syaoran thought triumphantly. He had no doubt these things could kill him. Not that it didn't scare him. He was pretty freaked out. Call it corny if you want, but there was suddenly a ray of hope that proved survival was totally possible tonight. And it made him strong enough to keep going and kick some monster butt.
Then there was a hissing noise as the ice barrier that they had created melted and oozed into a large puddle of harmless water. The Elementals of Fire and Sky had broken through. Not waiting a beat, he yelled to Tomoyo and Eriol, "It's fire! Use ice and water!"
Eriol faced his palm outward and icicles shot out to meet it. For a moment the creature roared in pain and writhed. It seemed that they had accomplished something until it sprang forward and knocked Eriol into the wall.
"HRAH!" the young boy that had joined them not to long before Sakura came had suddenly entered the battle. With a horrible grin he flew at the Elemental of Fire, which tumbled and hissed at him. Predator fought against prey, each attacking the other with equal ferocity. It all went so fast that by the time Syaoran had looked to see what was going on, the Elemental of Fire had literally been extinguished.
They were about to set to killing the final Elemental when the young man cried, "You cannot kill this creature!"
"WHAT!" Gabriel yelped.
"This is no ordinary Elemental. It is not of your nature!" the boy said eyeing the creature as it stepped forward a little er…suggestively.
"Of our NATURE!" Syaoran's voice cracked. "So you jus' snuffed out my uncle or what?" he shot back referring to the previous Elemental of Fire.
"FUN...ny,"the boy shot the Guardian of Fire a glare and continued, "This isn't the same KIND of Elemental as the others!"
And it seemed that he was right. No matter what they tried, their magic went right through the creature. They were exhausted and had no idea what to do. Syaoran had already gotten flung into the wall twice, Eriol was still out cold, Gabriel had a few burns and scratches to show for battle. Things were looking pretty bleak.
"Then what the HELL are we going to..."he stopped abruptly as something crossed his mind. Literally. He looked around as if searching for something.
"Syaoran! What's wrong?" Tomoyo cried. She was currently making ice wall after ice wall to stall some time.
"Someone's coming!" he shouted back to her.
Sure enough the Elemental seemed to have noticed this too. From behind the ice barrier they noticed that it had turned around to look at something behind it. Gabriel ran up close to the ice rather cautiously to see what had caught its full attention. Then he staggered backwards abruptly with a cry of surprise, not quite believing what he saw.
"It's like it was...was swallowed by some kind of black blanket. It's in a little black ball right now."
He didn't say it aloud but they all thought the same thing, 'We're next!'
"What!"
Now fully awake, Eriol felt his skin stand on end. He looked up just in time to see a blinding flash of yellow light shine through the icy barrier.
"GABRIEL! MOVE!" he bellowed.
Gabriel's eyes widened. Then he was flying in the air as the ice barrier exploded, showering them all with ice. Syaoran grunted and hauled Gabriel up by the nape of his shirt, his eyes not wavering from the thick fog that hovered over the ground.
"Stay alert," he whispered.
There was the sound crunching ice as someone slowly picked his or her way through the debris. Sure it was Ryou coming back to finish the job that the Elementals did not, Syaoran threw a fistful of fire into the fog. On the other side he could hear it rebound with something and ducked when his power came back at him. He reared up about to fight back when the figure stepped out of the fog and thrust a short pink staff at him. Recognizing Kinomoto Sakura he immediately dropped his hand.
"Kinomoto?" he cried in disbelief.
It was her. She tilted her head to the side as if trying to recognize him by the sound of his voice.
"Li Syaoran? Is that you?" she asked.
They all looked at each other, each at a loss. What should they do?
Kinomoto scratched her head with a goofy smile on her face.
"Hoe…." she said softly.
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"You were supposed to be sick," Gabriel accused her the next day beneath the sakura tree on campus.
They had let her go home because she seemed to be in a rush to get home. Syaoran wanted answers but didn't have the heart to hold her back. She would have to come back to school and he would be there waiting for her when she did.
"I am. But as you can see, I had things to do," her eyes twinkled with mischief.
"What?" Tomoyo said and Kinomoto held up what looked like a tarot card.
"The Thunder," she replied. "They're cards that come alive, like the one that I think you saw. And judging by the wall you put up, magic's nothing new to you. So I'm trusting you won't freak out when I say that I collect magic tarot cards called Clow Cards."
"How do you get around? I thought you were...?" Eriol started.
"Blind? Yes, I am," she admitted. "But there are some people who can see and sense things others can't. Luckily I'm one of them."
"So…if I were to do this you can see it?" Syaoran asked waving his hand to the right of her head. He wouldn't admit it but he flinched when she grabbed it.
"I can tell you're waving something in my face. I know that there are seven of you here and that four of you aren't human. Although I don't know who you all are. I do remember meeting Hiiragizawa and Li, though." And so they proceed to introduce themselves.
(Syaoran slowly started to turn red. They were…holding hands! She seemed to have forgotten this face while they talked together, but he couldn't.)
The four sprites of earth, fire, sky, and water took that very moment to descend from their hiding places in the tree and zoom around singing praises. Sakura's eyes widened in awe while they zipped around gaily. To the others they were merely the glowing little chibis that loved nothing more to play. Kinomoto saw four beautiful flying lights, each with its own color that represented an element.
"Wow…What-What are they?" she breathed, almost reaching out to touch the beautiful fire colored orb. Gabriel stopped her from making that mistake just in time when Pyro flared up proudly.
"HOOEEEEE!" she shrieked and squeezed Syaoran's hand harder in her hysteria (Syaoaran felt he'd pop). When she noticed Gabriel's aura flare with amusement she desolved into a fit of giggles.
"You seem so different. You seemed so timid and extremely polite. And defenseless," Eriol pointed out.
Kinomoto sweatdropped, "A-ano…"
Then he seemed to think this was a bit too forward and quickly apologized.
She smiled in his direction and agreed; "I do feel comfortable around all of you, so I guess I might act differently. Though if you can think about it, yesterday was my first day of school with you all. I don't want anyone to treat me differently if I were to act as though I can't see, so I try to be extra polite to others. Be the innocent outsider. I'm not really so defenseless. I-I can take care of myself. Though to be honest I'm a dork. I…I'm kind of shy and a little ditsy," she bit her lip and cringed a little at this, not really proud of it. But you could tell by the defiant look in her eyes that she accepted it.
"I guess you can call me a hypocrite. A fake."
"And this is the real you?" Syaoran asked, his voice strained because she was still holding his hand. The contact between them was doing weird things to him and all he needed was to burst out …whatever feelings he was holding back. He wasn't too keen to find out.
"Yeah."
"That means that you could have defended yourself against Emma that day?" he said quietly. She didn't seem to know who Emma was so he clarified for her and pointed to the goth girl staring off into space across the lawn. Kinomoto looked up and recognized the bright yellow aura across the lawn.
"I could have. I know some defense, but it would have been out of character for the kind of person I was portraying. It would have been suspicious."
It woulda been hot, Syaoran would have said. But he kept that to himself.
"She has it coming to her," he said.
"She kinna does, but I wasn't about to blow my cover so soon. I believe in observing others before showing your true own true colors." Syaoran admired that.
"No kiddin' eh? Why don't you just prove it, you Goody-Goody?" she spat and pushed Kinomoto roughly for emphasis. "I knew you were too damn good to be true."
Kinomoto frowned at the girl, but didn't say anything. Emma raised her eyebrows. Emboldened she smirked.
"Ha, I knew you were just talking shit," was all she said and then turned away to leave. She was very disappointed. And then she tripped. With an ear splitting shriek, she went down hard. Sakura's eyes widened when she heard Emma hit the ground. She hadn't laid a glove on the girl, so what had happened? Unfortunately, Emma didn't know that.
"Why you little bitch, so you do have some nerve. If you wanna pick a fight with someone, do it to their freakin' FACE!" she hissed venomously. Syaoran grit his teeth and tried to jump at Emma and do...something but Gabriel grabbed him. He recognized the look in Kinomoto's face all too well. Her jaw was tight, her eyes determined. It said all too clearly, 'Stay out of this'.
"Why don't you tell me what happened. Isn't kind of obvious or is it just you that can't tell? I'm sorry, I'm blind," Sakura said matter-of-factly.
"Don't play stupid, Kinomoto. I'm not an idiot. You're a blind little freak, but you sure as hell aren't deaf!"
"Good point. But I've been standing here twiddling my thumbs while you fell. You're just mad because you tripped over your own two feet and want to pin it on the innocent blind girl. Why don't you just look down to see if you tripped over something," Kinomoto continued as if they were actually talking about what they had done that night instead of the fight they might possibly get into.
Emma looked down at her feet. So it was true. There it was. A long vine was curled around her boot. Damn.
"You stupid bitch," she snarled. "You think you're such a smart ass."
Kinomoto shook her head from side to side, almost pitying, "Don't you have something other to call me than a stupid bitch? It's getting old," Syaoran guffawed as Emma's eyes narrowed in annoyance.
Emma growled in her throat and got to her feet to advance on Kinomoto. Then she faltered as the ground beneath her, and only her, started to quake. It took her a few seconds to realize that the earth on which she stood was actually shifting and rising of its own accord.
"Wha…WHAT'S GOING ON!" she yelled, fear in her voice very evident.
Sakura cocked her head with interested as Emma continued to shriek at the top of her lungs. Syaoran noticed the small smile that played on her lips. People were now coming over to their side of the campus to see what was going on.
"ARGHHHHH KINOMOTO YOU FREAK!"
Kino…Sakura's expression of amusement quickly reverted itself into one of confusion and surprise when she felt people's eyes on her, "A-Ano….I don't understand." For really, how could she? Syaoran was stunned. How could someone do so much and get away with it!
She gave Syaoran a warm smile, making him blush deeper. Finally he couldn't take it any more and felt if he didn't get away from her soon, he'd go crazy and pull her into his arms or something stupid. With a grunt he yanked his hand from her grasp and started to walk away.
"You shoulda jus kicked her ass," he murmured with his back to her as he walked out of the courtyard. She couldn't see the smile on his lips but the strong flare that she sensed in his red and orange aura told her that he was everything but disappointed.
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Yeah, I'm sorry to say it. Sakura's blind. I've become pretty interested in love stories where the girl is disabled. I'm a real romance sap, but it's not just that. It's become more interesting after reading about a character in the FEARLESS series. A boy stuck in a wheelchair that has a bit of a tough streak to him. He and the heroine get into a fight and it was pretty funny, lemme say. I won't go into details, but I HAVE actually considered putting Sakura into a wheelchair (as funny as it sounds), but I felt bad crippling her even more. She's blind, she don't need more, yknow? Lol.
Some people will also notice that she's a little more confident than the regular character. I guess I just wanted her to make more of an impact. Maybe to make up for the blind part. Honestly, I'm tired of writing Mary Jane (as Frasian calls em) Sakuras. So sweet and fragile. She won't be a flirt or anything. Just someone more bold and fun than the real Sakura. Though I like her ditsy side. It's funny.
Hypajocey, animeflower- yup a lot of people asked about that. Why did Emma fight with Syaoran if he was the one that she likes? Emma's one of those people who isn't gonna just stand by and twiddle her thumbs if someone tries to jump down her throat, no matter who it is. Once she gets going she's hard to cool down, so naturally she attacked Syaoran. More on this later in the story so keep on reading!
Mou hitori no Sakura – lol, thanks for reviewing Chee! Wth, onya? Annyong? O.O
AMie- thanks! I'm really happy u thought it was original! (hearts) my sister accused me of stealing this idea from that new show on Toon Disney W.I.T.C.H. dude, she INTRODUCED me to that show and I wrote this in the 7th grade. W.I.T.C.H came out, what….last year? Igooo.
Huh, the dialogue and fights mighta dragged that on a little. Lol, I just started getting all into it, so don't mind me. I enjoyed myself. I hope you did too, so tell me what you think! R+R