Cessation Izzy Girl

X don't try with faiths and fears

"Do you find anything strange about this?" Kero hung his tiny front paws over the head of the couch and stared blankly as Touya poured himself a nearly over-flowing bowl of cereal and proceeded to spoon it into his mouth as if everything were completely normal again.

"I don't sense Yue's aura." Spinel said gravely. He folded his black paws over one another and aquired as sagely an expression as he could manage in his current form.

"Well, isn't it possible that's he's rejoined with Yuki?"

"Then he should be fine, right? But why isn't he up and about?" Ruby sighed and leaned her head back as she whispered as to have a better view of the other gaurdians. She was in her 'human' form once known as 'Nakuru'.

"Why don't we just ask?" Spinel's voice was ever deadpan, "Seems to me that the strightforward methods usually work best."

Ruby nodded resolutely and stood, stalking over to where Touya was calmly eating his cereal and planted herself on the table, crossing her long legs and staring down at the boy curiously. He stopped eating, his spoon paused mid-air between the bowl and his mouth. Slowly, he turned his head to look at her.

"Yeeeees?"

"So what's up? How's Yuki?"

Touya's brow furrowed and he shoved the dripping spoon into his mouth, "Yuki? What do you mean?" he wondered when he had swallowed the cereal.

"I mean about him and, you know, Yue. Last I heard they were both on the brink of dissapearing. What happened? How are they?"

Touya's attention was abruptly ripped away from his breakfast. He stared at Ruby long and hard before saying carefully, "Oookay... I have no idea what you're talking about. Who are Yuki and Yue?"

Ruby's face fell, "What do you mean 'Who are Yuki and Yue'? Yue as in the Moon gaurdian and Yuki as in Yukito Tsukishiro. Your... boyfriend."

"Boyfriend!?" Touya leapt from his seat, dark eyes wide and wild with confusion, "Ruby is this your idea of a sick joke?" he shook his head and snickered, "Besides, that's ridiculous. You're the Moon gaurdian, Ruby, you always were. Don't you remember? You spent most of your time disguised as a classmate of mine, Nakuru Akizuki until the final test." he lowered himself back into his seat and tipped his head, "You remember, don't you? Sometimes, Ruby, you make up these stories and I wonder..." he bowed his head over his cereal and began once again his concentrated devouration of the soggy wheat.

Ruby slid off the table and collapsed onto the couch, "What is going on around here..."

Before either Kero or Spinel could echo her lamentation, the door swung open revealing a primly dressed Tomoyo carrying her... video camera. She stopped and surveyed the kitchen and living room slowly before slipping off her shoes and taking a seat beside Ruby on the couch.

"Is something strange going on?" she asked frankly, fiddling with a few colored switches on the side of her prized device.

"I'd say." Kero rose and fluttered into Tomoyo's line of vision, arms crossed as was typical of him, "Touya's acting like he's got amnesia or somethin' and neither Yukito or Yue are anywhere to be seen."

Tomoyo blinked blankly a few times, then covered her mouth and giggled prettily, "Oh, Kero, Ruby. You guys are so funny, always making up these stories and people then trying to make us believe that they really exist. It's a wonder Suppi puts up with you!"

Over the girl's shoulders Spinel and Kero exchanged a meaningful look. Ruby just stared at Tomoyo in disbeief.

"Anyways," giggling exhumed, Tomoyo was all business, "We have trouble."

"What kind of trouble?" Touya piped up from the kitchen area, between moutfuls of cereal.

"The kind of trouble we usually have." Tomoyo sighed loudly, "The Firery. It's causing trouble down by the waterfront and it's all over the Tomoeda news."

Touya appeared in the doorway, rolling his eyes and pulling on a sweater, "So much for keeping this matter hush-hush among the civilians. So I suppose we're picking 'him' up on the way."

"He's not home. I already rung his house. It's strange, it's been three days since the fight with the Watery card and I haven't seen him since."

"Not a big deal." Touya shrugged as he tied his shoelaces, "We've captured cards without him before, we can do it again."

"Don't get to confident." Spinel warned, "This is different than the 'Jump' card, or the 'Mirror' card. This is an elemental we're talking about. They're much stronger and as of late, unpredictable."

Tomoyo turned her large, watery eyes on the cat, "Well, we wouldn't be in so much danger if we had you with us, would we Suppi?"

The gaurdian sweatdropped and shot hopeless glances at his two comapnions. Kero simply gave the thumbs up and Ruby winked.

"Spirit of Thunder!" Syaoran twirled his blade and caught the creature offgaurd as the lightning strike shot from the charm clenched between his fingers. He landed soundly on his feet and grinned in shallow satisfaction when his foe finally fell.

There were plenty of oni wandering around in the graveyard out by the well. He had made a pilgrammage of sorts, for in these woods and hills of deep and ancient imbedded magic Sakura's gravemarker laid. During the past three days, Syaoran had thought of nothing but his training and for the first time in months could feel himself actively improving. He watched the translucent figure at his feet disintigrate into the ground, trees and sky. He wiped his brow, pushing his ceremonial cap up so that he could look at the patchwork sea of leaves and faint sunlight above him.

The rain had finally stopped, but his clothes were still wet from the two days and two nights of torrent storm.

'I've won.'

Another oni rose from the forest floor, gnashing it's teeth. It meant no harm and was only defending it's land. Maybe at at different time under different circumstances Syaoran might have regreted his careless slaughter of the creatures, but he was on a mission of purification and focus.

'I've won.'

He swung his sword viciously, but not recklessly. His aim was percise and the cut of the blade sharp. The demon fell immedietly, only to be replaced by a larger and more fearsome one of his kin. Syaoran groped for a fire charm and flipped the colored rice paper scroll against the arm of his sword, throwing the oni backwards to it's demise.

'I've won.'

He fought faster and with a stiffer determination. He would not lose, he would never lose again. Never be weakened or embarassed or put into a compromising situation. He promised Sakura he would be strong, and if only to preserve her memory he would be strong for her. Just because he had failed her in life didn't mean he had to fail her in death. He would honor and protect her memory until he too died and beyond.

'Ive won.'

The oni finally keeled over, his body absorbed by the roots of an old gnarled oak. Syaoran spun his line of vision around the small clearing and when no more demons rose to meet his challenge, he let out an almost primal growl and flung his sword with all the force he could manage. It few through the air for a few feet then imbedded itself into the same oak the oni's soul had seeped into. The chinese boy stared after it, breathing heavily, then fell to his knees. He succumed to exhaustion and crumpled over himself, his cheek practically resting in his own lap and his back rising a falling with qucik, short and thick breaths.

"Damn you, Hiiragizawa." he muttered, digging his tired fingers into the soft ground, "Damn, damn, damn, damn, DAMN." he closed his eyes and lowered his face further. His fingers against the dirt felt horrible- grimy and painful as the tiny rocks and pin-needles dug themselves under his fingernails, but it perfectly emulated his mood.

The memories had returned to him- every concious moment of that night; every word, every kiss and shiver and sensation. He wished he could say that Eriol had taken advantage of him. He wished he could say that he had been seduced, raped even, but the truth was he knew perfectly well what to expect and how to expect it. Eriol had only spoken the truth- Syaoran was so horribly lonely and teenage mentality dictates that young minds and hearts gravitate towards those who show interest in them.

In the end, he had been the one taking advantage.

"I'm sorry Sakura." he practically sobbed. He rolled over onto his side and stared ahead blankly at where his sword had cut into the once healthy bark and wood-flesh of the oak tree. He then looked at his brown hands, dirt caked underneath the fingernails and ringed around his cuticles, "I'm so sorry, Sakura." he repeated, "I can't keep the group together, can't capture the cards and now I can't even remain faithful to you or your memories. I don't blame you if you hate me."

He laid like that for a very long time. He didn't count the seconds or even the minutes as they ticked past although he was fully capable. Instead his eyes followed the deep and ancient lines in the tree bark and his gaze skimmed the top of the grass. He listened to the wind and sighed into it as he stood, shakily and wavering, and retrieved his sword slowly, reluctantly.

There had been a slight change in the disposition of nature that only a practiced, magical mind would have noticed. Syaoran had been trained by his mother practically since birth to recognize the disruptions- a temperature drop of a degree or so; the wind moving from east to west instead of west to east; the way the grass would stand up on end and the trees would rustle just a bit harder than they had been. He didn't know where but there was trouble, most likely with the cards.

'I've been missing for over three days...' he affirmed silently, feeling along his sword to test for increased dullness, 'I suppose the others have been worried.' he didn't even bother retracting his weapon back into it's bead, simply slung it over his shoulder as he walked dispassionately, headed towards the direction his magical sense led him.

"This isn't right..." Ruby exclaimed through mouthfuls of salty popcorn, "The last time I watched this film, Yukito had been playing one of the lead roles. I remember this very well."

"Uncanny." Kero motioned for the other gaurdian to pass him to bowl. He stuffed a tiny pawful of food into his mouth and returned to his worried ranting, "I know you weren't the one playing that role. In fact, this was when Touya gave up his spiritual powers so Yue could survive."

"And all these other tapes!" Ruby waved towards the mighty pile that represented Tomoyo's video collection, "So many scenes that couldn't have taken place without Yuki, Yue or both and in all of them... I'm there in all of them!"

"It doesn't make any sense." Kero crossed his stubby arms and shook his head with a conflicted expression, "I'm worried."

"Strange things have been happening." Ruby sighed and closed her eyes, "I feel it down to the marrow of my bones, Keroberos. Something's gone horribly wrong. And worst of all, the master's back and he refuses to speak with anyone but that Li boy."

Kero shrugged his shoulders lightly and let out a long breath, "Well, it's only been since Sakura died. I always thought her death must have had some inverse effect on the cards... I mean, the Master had made sure these things were all taken care of before he passed on, but Sakura... she was so young..."

"Hey..." Ruby's brilliant eyes snapped open and she turned her head to stare at Kero with revelation stamp across her features, "Kero, you don't suppose that Yue and Yukito really did... well... dissapear."

Kero snorted, "That's stupid, Ruby. We would have felt it if that much magical energy was released into the area all at once."

Ruby shook her head, "No, no. I didn't mean like that. I meant... what if they left and simply chose to erase everyone's memories of them. Make it like they never even existed."

Kero blinked, "Could they... do that?"

"Yukito spent years doing it unconciously, I'm sure they could figure out some deliberate way to do it together. Maybe it was more convinient that way."

"Okay, okay." Kero was up, pacing sterotypically now, "This all makes sense. Then why do we remember them?"

"Easy." Ruby would have been grinning if the situation hadn't been such a grave one. Instead, she placed a slender index finger on her pointed chin and pursed her lips, "We're creatures made up entirely of magical energy. Our minds aren't wired the same as a human's because they don't solidly exist."

"Right!" Kero leapt up and nearly shouted, "Human brains are just lumps of electrical energy and flesh sitting around in their head. It would be so easy to..." he trailed off here, grumbling about the idiotic workings of nature. Ruby waited patiently until he snapped out of it, and then asked:

"Well, Kero. Now that we've figured it out... what do we do about it?"

Kero thought about this long and hard for a few moments before answering. He dropped his shoulders and sighed, settling back into the groove between the couch cusions, "I don't suppose we can do anything... so, let's not. When Yue feels like coming back to us, he will. I'm sure of that at least..."

"And what if he never feels like coming back?"

Kero didn't answer this time.

Touya felt supremely useless and unecessarily ridiculous fending off the vicious fire sprite with only an umbrella. True, it was not just any umbrella but the point was Tomoyo happened to be filming the entire thing and there were onlookers.

'Onlookers!' he lamented silently, feeling rather tragic as he dodged a tricky shot and jabbed at the card with the point of his umbrella, 'I bet my sister never had to deal with onlookers...'

Spinel dipped down beside him, lithe and panther like with his dusty, butterfly wings. He stared at the older Kinomoto disdainfully and muttered, "Well, so much for your dignity."

"Thank you, Suppi. I needed that." Touya groaned back, "I already feel stupid enough and on top of it the card's just playing with me. It knows we're just trying to hold it off until 'he' gets here."

"Well, give it a good game then." Spinel said cheerfully with his deep, British lilt, "We wouldn't want him to be too excited when Li finally decides to show up."

"What makes you think he'll even know to come."

Spinel humphed as he always did when his knowledge of things was challenged, "It's common sense. The boy is highly trained and has Clow blood in him. He couldn't stay away if he wanted to."

Spinel bounced back up as another flame-extended arm slammed down on their position. Touya was too late to dodge this one and blocked the blow with the length of his umbrella. The canvas began to stink with burn, but the magical sealing in the object did it's job. He was thrown back from to force of his blow, but was light enough on his feet that he was able to dive before the next barrage of fire zoned in on him.

Tomoyo clapped at the sidelines and peeked her head out from behind her camera, "You're doing great Touya! And you look so magnificent on camera!" she ginned madly, "You know, this is just like old times."

Touya shot her a cold look, sensing how ravaged he must appear, "You could do something, Tomoyo, instead of just playing cheerleader. I think both Suppi and I would aprreciate it."

"Don't be silly!" Tomoyo laughed, "You're not in any real danger. The Firery's looking for a real battle, so he's keeping on the kid gloves till' Syao-chan gets here. Until then all you have to do is keep it happy so it doesn't go around toasting random townspeople."

"And the umbrella?" Touya gestured hopelessly with the charred object.

"It looks good on camera." Tomoyo explained cheerfully, hiding her eyes once again behind the lens.

"Oh shit!" Touya rolled in a way that wasn't at all natural to avoid the smoldering telephone pole falling rapidly towards him. He lost the umbrella in the fall and with it the only protection he could hope for. He reached out a strong arm, but as he reached he felt the oppressive heat close in around him. He rolled back in the other direction but was caught once again by the wall of flames. He looked up to see the rebellious card sprite hovering no more than three feet above his head and shrunk back into the pavement.

The card looked upon him with wide, child-like eyes as if gauging his skill and intentions. It looked none too impressed and bored with this game. 'It's going to kill me,' Touya swallowed the hard lump in his throat as this traitorous thought worked it's way into his mind, 'Just like the Watery tried to kill Tomoyo. All because I'm Sakura's brother.'

He closed his eyes and decided to take the end like a man. He waited... and waited... and waited and eventually noticed that it wasn't so nearly sweltering. He blinked his eyes opened and saw that his situation hadn't imporved much, but the walls had receded and the Firery's head was turned to watch some far off point in the distance. Touya propped himself on his elbows and followed the card's gaze to see a silhouette illuminated against the edge of a low, cafe rooftop. The glare of the noon sun directly above prevented him from seeing it fully, but he could tell it was Li in the slump of his shoulders and the lethargically depressed way he drew his sword out from behind him.

He dove and the Firery swooshed her flame skirts to meet him. Spinel landed softly beside the still shaky Touya and grinned beneath his masses of sleek, black fur, "I told you he would come."

Touya nodded and pulled himself off the ground, dusting his clothes fussily. He briefly considered retrieving his umbrella, but quickly decided against it, instead settling his attention on Syaoran.

The boy fought like nothing Touya had ever seen before. His technical skill was absolutely astounding, better than it had ever been, but his face was emotionless as he swung his blade and paried, pulling out scroll after scroll. He moved in smooth, but sloppy movements and hardly flinched when he hit the ground wrong or was slashed across by a steaming tendril.

Touya furrowed his brow and watched closely. 'What is wrong with him' he wondered in dismay, 'I've never seen him fight like this. It's like he takes no pride in it anymore.'

The gathering audience had grown to include tourists who seemed to think this was all a great special effects show put on for their benefit and the local authorities who had presumably been called to halt the disaster. Tomoyo seemed to be in almost a Euphoric state, absolutely thrilled with the excellent footage she was collecting but Syaoran ignored it all. When the Firery fell, crashing into the harbour with great commotion, he called upon the power of the Kinomoto star with uncharacteristic casualness.

When it was all over he stood at where the boardwalk met water and stared at the card for a long time, his sword barely clenched in his hand and the very last traces of magic still dissapating into the air. There was a long moment of collective silence, broken by the quiet clicking sound of Tomoyo snapping shut the display unit on her camcorder.

The spell having been broken, the audience broke into wild clapping and hooting cheers of approval. Touya let out the breath he had been holding and fought the urge to clap as well. He was about to approach the chief policeman and attempt to explain the situation when Syaoran whipped around violently, his face marred by pure fury.

"What the HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL!?"

Not everyone stopped clapping immedietly, but the din wore out in less than thirty seconds. Syaoran's entire body was quivering with rage as he dragged himself out into the middle of the crowd. He cast his dark eyed glared across the entire crowd and it seemed as if he were staring specifically at each induvidual one at a time.

"This isn't a performance, you idiots! What the hell do you think is going on here!? Didn't you see the people who got caught in the crossfire earlier on!? This is a SERIOUS MATTER! I could have died fighting that thing and you ALL COULD HAVE DIED IF IT DECIDED I WASN'T A WORTHY ENOUGH OPPONENT!"

A few faces in the crowd were beginning to pale and a child of a tourist started crying. Syaoran continued, "Haven't you morons been watching the news lately!? Strange things- dangerous things are happening around here! Next time you see something like this happening in the middle of the firgging road STAY CLEAR OF IT! It's not a movie and this is no special effects bonanza! Go down the street a few blocks and see the charred corpses scattered across the sidewalk and ask THEM if it was just some stupid game!" he paused and gnashed his teeth threateningly. Touya had never seen the boy so livid, "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ALL STARING AT! GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" another pause. No one moved, "NOW!!!" he roared this time and the crowd quickly gathered it's wits and began to dissapate.

Except for the authorities of course. Syaoran had turned his back and was wiping the black charcol marks off his sword when the middle aged policeman grabbed him by his shoulder and spun him around, "Excuse me young man, but you and your friends are going to have to take a little trip down to the station."

"Well, I think I'll just make a quick exit." Spinel murmered to Touya, already spreading his wings anxiously, "Would you like me to inform the others of your untimely demise?"

Touya buried his face and his hands and answered simply, "Oh shit."