Introduction
A year has passed since Li fell prey to the Evil Card, and he's trying to cope with the effects. With his dark side closer to the surface, he can get angry very quickly – a fact that everyone notices.
Since he moved back to Readington, Sakura has been the rock in his life, the only person able to keep him balanced. But when an argument gets out of hand, Li makes a drastic decision…to walk out of her life forever.
Another year passes, and Sakura is once again under threat from evil forces. But without Li to protect her, is this the end for the 16 year old Card Mistress?
The scars of the past come back to haunt them…
Chapter Sixteen; The Spreading Illness
"So, the little Card Mistress defeated yet another one of your cards. This seems to be becoming a bit of a pattern, hmm?" Kuro taunted, watching the pacing Li through narrowed eyes. Li growled in response, finally coming to a standstill as he glared back at his subordinate.
"Considering the fact that my 'failures' affect your chances of success as well, you seem awfully happy that Avalon defeated Fear." He said suspiciously, hand flexing in the air beside him. Kuro simply leaned back against the wall, shrugging as a wicked grin made its way onto his face.
"Well maybe I like watching you get taken down a peg or two." Kuro replied. Li chuckled humourlessly, a sly glint appearing in his eye.
"Funny…I may keep having my cards beaten and returned to me, but I don't seem to recall being sealed in another dimension." Li shot back.
Kuro's lip twisted at the reminder, and he clenched his hand into a fist.
"That damn Clow Reed…I'll get even with his reincarnation if it's the last thing I do!" He swore angrily. Nearby, Vega snorted, a disbelieving expression on her face as she carelessly flicked through a magazine.
"We can't even get close to him with the little Card Mistress around." She reminded Kuro.
"I have an idea to get round that particular little problem." Li smirked, hand reaching into his pocket and drawing out a single green card. Kuro rolled his eyes in response.
"You should just stop hiding behind those pathetic cards of yours – they're only failing you anyway." Kuro sneered. Li's crimson eyes narrowed, and before Kuro realised it, Li had moved from the other side of the room to the area directly in front of him, a small ball of energy crackling in his hand.
Li smirked at the other's surprise before letting the attack drain away, leaving Kuro to breathe again.
"As I keep saying, charging in with all guns blazing isn't always the best way to win a battle! You need subtlety and cunning too, or the whole thing will just fall apart. Besides, I need her alive for the ritual."
Laughing lightly, Yuri glided up behind Li and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning her head lovingly on his shoulder.
"She'll make a fine offering, Li." She said, smiling as Li reached up to gently stroke her cheek with a finger.
"Yes, Yuri. A fine offering indeed."
"Tori, I told you, I'm ok! I can go to school!" Sakura pleaded, standing in front of her brother with her hands on her hips. Her father had already left for work, and she'd got ready for school just like normal.
Except that she'd never expected to find an overprotective big brother blocking the door when she got downstairs.
"You can shout and scream all you want, Sakura…but you're not going to school. You got what, all of four hours sleep last night? And on top of that you got a huge scare and ended up running around the neighbourhood in socks and pyjamas. If you think I'm letting you go off to school the day after all that, then you've got another thing coming." Tori said firmly, steering her back up the stairs and ignoring her protests.
"But I'm ok! Why won't you let me go to school!" Sakura demanded hotly as she was pushed down to sit on her bed, Tori dropping down next to her. The older sibling fell silent, and Sakura frowned, putting a hand on his shoulder.
"Tori…?"
"Why didn't you tell me, Sakura? I know I can't protect you anymore without my magic, but I still want to know when you get caught up in this sort of thing! I don't want to just come home one day and find out that you died fighting something that I didn't even know you were fighting!" He blurted out.
Wrapping her arms around her brother, Sakura rested her cheek against his back, feeling the small tremors that were running through him.
"I'm sorry, Tori…I didn't want you to worry. I understand just how much you used to do when I was fighting the Clow Cards – all those jobs you took in order to follow me around. So I thought that if you didn't know I was getting involved in battles, then you wouldn't worry."
Tori sighed, gently prying Sakura off him so that he could stand up.
"I'm your big brother, Sakura. I'm meant to worry. So next time, tell me ok?" He pleaded. Sakura smiled, nodding.
"Sure thing, Tori."
"Squirt."
"Toriiii!"
Sakura sighed for what felt to her like the thousandth time as she leant back into her pillows. She knew that Tori was just trying to do what was best for her, but she'd been bored out of her mind all day – there was nothing good on television, and Kero was still researching the Dark Monarchs with Yue.
The piercing echo of the doorbell suddenly cut into her melancholy thoughts, and the next thing she knew Tori was calling up to her and saying she had visitors. Frowning, Sakura turned her head to look at the clock, promptly doing a double take as she saw the time. >Oh my God! I didn't realise it was that late – school's already out! Does that mean…>
"Hey Sakura!" As if on cue, Madison's head popped round the door, Eli's and Natalie's following only moments later. All three were smiling broadly, and Sakura couldn't help herself – she just had to smile back.
"Hey guys…"
"How are you feeling? You haven't come down with the same thing that got Zachary, have you?" Natalie asked in concern, moving over to the bed and placing her hand against Sakura's forehead. Surprised, Sakura shifted back, blinking at the green obsessed girl.
"No…I'm fine. Tori was just being a worrywart. But Zachary's ill? I can't remember the last time he was sick…" She murmured. Eli nodded, looking slightly upset at the thought of the chronic liar being ill – after all, Zachary was one of his closest male friends, and he knew that anything that brought down the other by had to be bad.
"I can't either…but he was very pale when he turned up at school today, and we realised that he had a really bad fever when he collapsed halfway through the day. Chelsea had to take him home." Eli explained.
"I hope he's ok…" Sakura whispered.
"He will be. But why did Tori make you stay home if you're not sick?" Madison asked, brow furrowed ever so slightly in confusion. Sakura shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself as she remembered the night before.
"Last night, I ended up fighting against one of Li's cards – The Fear. I saw all these horrible things…vampires, ghosts, monsters…I just freaked and ran for it. I even thought Tori, Yue and Kero were monsters until Tori calmed me down enough to see past the card's illusions." Sakura said in a hushed voice, screwing her eyes up tight against the images playing in her mind. Even though she knew full well now that all of those creatures had been fake, that didn't stop the memories of them scaring her still.
"Sakura…" Madison murmured. Eli looked pained.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't help. If I'd sensed anything, I would have come, believe me…" He pleaded. Sakura smiled gently and nodded, believing him. He didn't need to explain himself to her.
"Grrr….I'm really getting sick of that brat! If I had magic of my own I would zap him right here, right now! How dare he do that to one of my friends!" Natalie fumed. The others sweatdropped, retreating as she broke out into a fiery battle aura.
"Umm, Natalie? Li isn't here right now." Sakura reminded her. Natalie started, visibly deflating as the words sunk in.
"Oh yeah….sorry about that!" She laughed, rubbing the back of her neck in embarrassment. "I just got so worked up when I heard what he did to you…"
"It's ok, Natalie. I understand. Just try not to burn my house down, alright?"
"Heh…"
The next day, Sakura actually woke up early for once, getting ready and sneaking downstairs to eat breakfast before making a run for it, afraid that Tori would force her to stay home again. As it turned out, she needn't have worried – Tori simply watched her go through his bedroom window, shaking his head at the foolishness of his little sister.
"Morning!" Sakura chirped, sliding the door open and entering the classroom. A chorus of hellos greeted her, and Sakura made her way across the room to her desk, smiling as Eli, Madison and Natalie all twisted round to face her.
"Hey Sakura…Tori didn't make you stay home today then?" Madison asked, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. Sakura shook her head, laughing as she saw Eli staring at Madison from the corner of her eye. Eli immediately stiffened and pulled back as if burnt, blushing as Madison turned to face him, a single eyebrow raised.
"Eli…? What was so funny?" She questioned.
"Uh, um…" Eli flushed a deeper red and began to stammer, searching for something to say. Luckily for him, the door slid open again just then, taking away the attention that had been focused on him. Eli sighed in relief, slouching down in his seat even as he nodded his head in greeting to the newly arrived Chelsea.
"Morning Chelsea! How's Zachary today?" Natalie called. Chelsea smiled wanly in return, moving to slowly drop into her own seat.
"I called my aunt this morning, and she says that he's really ill…they're thinking of taking him into hospital if he gets any worse." Letting out a weak chuckle, she gazed down at her desk miserably. "You can tell how ill he is without any examinations anyway…he's actually telling the truth for once!"
"I'm sure he'll get better soon, Chelsea. The doctors will do everything they can for him." Sakura soothed, offering her friend a reassuring grin.
"Yeah. He'll be back here in no time, ready for you to swing your mallet at him again." Rita put in, looking up from the scarf she had been embroidering throughout the conversation.
"That enough, everybody! Settle down now!" Mr. Yoko ordered, walking into the classroom and setting his stuff down on his desk. The room instantly grew quiet, and the school day finally began.
Less than three days later, and the classroom was practically empty. Within the space of a single day, both Chelsea and Rita had fallen ill to the same thing that had got Zachary, with Nikki following the day after.
After that, students began getting sick left, right and centre, until there was a grand total of ten students left in Sakura's class – and even then they had another class mixed in with them. As classes all over the school had fallen prey to the mysterious illness, teachers had decided that it made more sense to mix the smaller classes together, especially as they'd lost several teachers to the bug too, and were running out of staff.
"This is bad…it's not just the school either. The whole town's falling prey to this illness. I was listening to the radio this morning and the hospital staff are saying that they can't cope anymore – they have too many patients and too few staff – they're already bringing in staff from out of town to replace those lost to the virus, but they can't keep up with the number of patients brought in everyday, so they're asking families to care for their sick relations as best they can as home." Eli said grimly, staring seriously at his remaining friends.
"But what caused this epidemic so suddenly? It doesn't make sense – people who haven't even come into contact with sick people are falling ill too…and it's not an airborne virus like a cold or cough, because all it does is cause a high fever and delirium." Natalie mused.
The group fell silent, staring at Natalie, who blushed and hid her face from their disbelieving gazes.
"Hey! Just because I'm a hyper doesn't mean that I don't watch the news!" She protested.
"…Sorry, Natalie. You just didn't seem the type." Sakura grinned. "But I can't help wondering if the kids at the nursery are all right. A lot of their parents got sick early on, so the nursery promised to take care of the kids whilst the parents were in hospital…but since the illness has been spreading…"
"Well why don't we go for a visit after school today? I'm sure the kids will be happy to see us – plus, for big brothers and sisters, we haven't been paying a lot of attention to our Younger Siblings recently, have we?" Madison suggested.
"That's a great idea, Madison." Eli smiled. Noticing Madison blush at the compliment, he felt himself flush in response, and instantly decided if was brave enough to help Sakura face the Dark Monarchs, he was brave enough to risk rejection from a girl.
"And…um…maybe we could do something afterwards? Just you and me, I mean. Maybe ice-cream?" He asked, much more smoothly than he had expected – he was so nervous, he'd been expecting string of incoherent babbling. >Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes…>
"Ok. I'd like that." Madison answered, cheeks painted a delicate pink. The next thing she knew, Sakura and Natalie had leapt at her, smothering her in two strong bear hugs.
"Finally! I thought you two would never get your act together!" Natalie crowed.
"I'm so happy for you!" Sakura squealed.
Watching the three girls, Eli sweatdropped, beginning to slowly edge his desk to the right. >Nice and slow, Eli…nice and slow and maybe they won't notice… ah! > Before he could get very far, however, two excited girls had turned to him and pounced yet again, sending him crashing to the ground.
>Girls…>
"You can't be serious! All of them are ill?" Sakura exclaimed, emerald eyes widening as she listened to what Misha was saying. The tired looking woman sighed and nodded her head, covering her eyes slightly with a hand.
"I'm afraid so. They all came down with the bug yesterday, one after the other. All the staff here are worried sick – with the hospitals full and their parents so ill, if any of us get laid up we won't be able to cope." Misha murmured.
"Can we visit? Or are they too ill for that?" Madison asked, concern practically shining from her face. Misha smiled tiredly, shaking her head and signalling them to follow her.
"As long as you don't mind the possibility of getting sick yourself, come on in. I'm sure the kids would love to see you – they've been so bored lately."
Nodding, the group followed Misha, keeping up with the older woman's purposeful strides as she led them down the stairs into an area they hadn't seen before on any of their previous visits. To their surprise, the large room was filled with beds and toys, and obviously had been there long before the epidemic even hit Readington.
Seeing their confusion, Misha laughed and gestured for them to spread out and find their Siblings, bending down to pick up a fallen bear and tuck it back into the owner's bed.
"A long time ago, this nursery was an orphanage – but when the government decided that there weren't enough orphans in the area to merit it being kept open, the landowner decided to turn it into a nursery instead. He kept the dorms though, in case they were ever needed. Now go on! Find your Siblings and cheer them up!"
"'Kura? 'Kura, is that you?" Hunter piped up as Sakura settled herself into the chair next to his bed. Sakura smiled and smoothed some of his hair back from his face, letting him know that she was there.
"I'm here, Hunter. How are you feeling?" She asked quietly.
"My head hurts, and I'm hot all over, but Miss. Blossoms won't let me push my duvet off." The little boy complained.
"That's because it'll be best for your fever in the end if you can sweat it out, Hunter. Miss. Blossoms knows what she's doing – just you wait, you'll be fine in a few days." She soothed. Hunter screwed his face up, shivering as a wave of cold passed through him.
"But that's what they said about Mummy and Daddy, and they're still sick…" He said miserably. Sakura bit her lip at his sad voice and bent down to hug him, feeling to her alarm exactly how high a temperature he had – he seemed to burn her right through his bedcovers.
"Oh Hunter…if I could use my magic to heal you, I would…" She whispered, pulling back and stroking his arm.
"I wish Li was here…the magic paper he gave me doesn't work anymore…I think it ran out of power." Hunter whimpered. His face screwing up against the pain in his head. Sakura stiffened in shock.
"He gave you an ofuda? When?"
"When that nasty girl burnt me…he visited me at night and pressed the paper into my hand. I took really good care of it, honest! I didn't let the doctors take it or anything!" He said earnestly. Sakura felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she held them back as she carried on talking to her Younger Sibling, trying her best to cheer him up.
>Oh Hunter…he must have visited you the night before he cast that spell on himself…you were the last person that he used his magic for good on…but it won't happen again. There's nothing left in him that wants to be good. I'm sorry, Hunter…I'm so so sorry…>
Author's Note
Well...I can't say I'm very happy with that chapter. I hate writing fillers where nothing happens. But unfortunately, it's necessary sometimes. I hope everyone had a great Christmas...and that you have a happy new year! Please read and review!
I'm also having a little vote here. Do you guys want to actually see Madison and Eli's date? Or do you just want me to get on with the main story? When you review, put an A at the end if you want me to include the date, B if you want a fairly short chapter totally devoted to their date, or C if you just want me to mention their date but not actually write about it. Get voting!
And now...replies!
Bloodcherry - Hmm...another weird person - yay! We can form a club! And I have to admit, Yue is my favourite guardian - and second only to Li when it comes to my favourite CCS character, so I'm always trying to put in plot points about him. I did think about writing something about how the soul Clow Reed used to create him was originally the brother of Kuro, but it got too complicated so I gave up on the idea...so I'm glad you liked the idea I actually used!
Niri - Don't worry about it, I do that too, especially when they're on television...and sometimes my parents just find me laughing at the computer screen when I'm reading fanfiction...
krnanimegrl - Well, I continued...hope you liked it!
Anime Flower - I know how you feel about homework - I haven't been able to get on my favourite anime/manga forum for nearly 2 months now...and since I helped moderate, that isn't a good thing! I miss everyone there so much...stupid homework. But I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter - sorry the update took so long! And there's a confrontation between Tori/Touya and Li/Syaoran coming up in a few chapters, so watch out!
Marin - Sorry...it wasn't very fast, was it?
x3dark awak3n - Again, I'm sorry I didn't update very quickly...a little thing called Christmas got in the way!
svakee2000 - A lonely feeling? Yeah, Sakura isn't quite her usual bouncy self, is she? Come back Li!
Dragon Star 16 - It doesn't matter, I'm just happy to get your reviews! Sorry I didn't update very soon!