The Shadow Where True Meaning Lies
By Sparrow Shadow
I don't own Cardcaptor Sakura
Chapter One: The Huntress
Alone was how she liked it, without Vickory breathing down her neck, telling her what to do. The night air blew across her face, raising the fox red hairs off the back of her neck, bringing with it the smells of cherry blossom, honeysuckle, and jasmine. She breathed it in, barely paying attention to the aromas surrounding her. Her mind was focusing on one thing; her mark. She shifted uncomfortably getting tired of sitting on her knees as she watched the house, a board expression on her face.
She had been hired to get rid of the sorcerer, Clow Reed. Her record was perfect. After all, she was one of the best assassins in the business.
Kana heard a noise behind her and turned to see a large tiger-like creature advancing on her. It growled at her as a human materialized out of the darkness behind it. The creature looked to him and he placed a hand on his head. "Down Cerberus," he commanded softly, and the animal obeyed. "Your name was Kana, wasn't it?" She looked at him apprehensively and nodded. He had gotten the drop on her. That had never happened before.
Clow Reed was smiling at her as if he was seeing a friend for the first time in ages. Kana was watching him, and his beast, waiting for his next move. Clow Reed reached out to her and she leaped away, finally recovering from the shock of seeing him there. She drew her blade out of her boot and another out of her belt, facing him with fight filling her expression. He only grinned, as did his beast. "Cerberus, would you kindly show our guest inside?" The animal nodded and pressed his nose into the small of Kana's back, causing her to yelp with surprise and follow without second thought.
Still gripping her blades, she followed Cerberus inside with Clow Reed following along behind her. She didn't trust him for a moment. She was only waiting for the right moment to strike. He offered her a seat and she refused to sit. He was playing her. She had no tolerance for foolish mind games. She was growing impatient, having never acquired a talent for staying in one place, as Vickory had, and she wanted this to end. She readied her weapon and whipped around to face the sorcerer. She swung her blade, aiming at his face, to distract him and he surprised her when he moved effortlessly to the side, dodging her barely in time to avoid getting his cheek sliced open. Kana landed on the other side of him, her knee absorbing the shock of the fall.
She stood, irritated, to face him again, rubbing her sore knee softly. The injury stung, but it wasn't debilitating. She had trained herself to fight beyond pain. Clow Reed made a move towards her and she drew her blade once more. He threw his hands up in surrender, his eyes imploring her to drop her weapon, as he reached a gentle hand out to her, placing his hand on her knee. "I'm mean you no harm, Kana, and neither does Cerberus, do you?" he said the last part sternly and the animal grudgingly nodded. "Let me see your knee."
"Like hell!" Kana snapped. She had always been severely out spoken for her time. Most young ladies of her age tended to be silent in manner, a mere prize for their husbands to parade. Kana detested such girls. True, had her situation been different, she would have been married around age thirteen to a man she hardly knew and would, most likely, have children by now. She silently thanked cruel fate for her fortune.
"Please, Kana, do not be stubborn."
"And who said you could call me by my first name?"
"If you would prefer it, I will call you by your last name. Would you like to tell me what it is?" Kana thought for a few moments.
"Kana is fine." A good assassin knew better then to reveal her full name to a mark. She would just have to put up with his familiarity for a while, before she killed him. While she was lost in thought, his hand had descended on her knee. She gasped in shock and tried to pull away, throwing her off balance. This time, her hand took the fall, only stinging for a moment, seeing as it was much less sensitive then her knee. She leaped to her feet, wielding her blade before she realized that her knee had ceased it's throbbing. She looked to Clow Reed, her confused countenance meeting his benevolent eyes. He was smirking at her, and she wanted to slice that smirk right off of his face.
"Healing is one of the most basic of powers. Your knee was badly sprained. Had you continued like that, you would have messed your knee up beyond repair." Kana held her wrist behind her back, in a soldier's ready, as she stammered out a hesitant thank you. She cursed herself for being so weak that she needed a sorcerer's aid, and now, she was hesitating to kill him because he had helped her. She had to get this over with. She raised her blade and swung it again, and Clow Reed dodged. "Now now, that's rude." His fingers flexed and she gasped, recognizing what he was doing. He was summoning his magic in retaliation to her strike. Her brain seemed to be working in slow motion as she saw the white magic, bubbling between his fingers. He raised his hand and she felt as if she had lead in her shoes and her brain had been disconnected from her spinal cord. She felt a searing hot burst of energy strike her in the back and she fell unconscious.
Senses and memories came slowly to Kana when she awoke. At first, the only thing she was aware of was the blinding pain in her back, neck, shoulders, and legs. She was lying down on her stomach, and, as she tried to move, she became aware of another sensation. She was restrained, around her neck, by a thick leather collar and a heavy chain. She growled in frustration when she found she couldn't stand all the way. She gave an involuntary shiver.
She breathed in, through her nose, and inhaled all the scents around her. She could smell smoke, dust and a cool fluid-like scent…water? It never occurred to her that you should be able to smell water, no human could. She breathed in again and she caught a whiff of the dirt on the floor and the warm, sweet scent of candle wax. She flexed her stiff shoulders and sat down as her tail flicked around her body.
Tail!…
It was true. She had a furry red and white tail flicking over the dirty floor. She looked down at her hands and realized that they were smaller and covered with red and white fur. She rolled over groggily and saw, in a mirror on the wall, that her body had become smaller, sinewy, and was covered with mostly red fur with splashes of white across her chest, front legs, tail, and face. Her expressive cat green eyes were rimmed by a dusting of white hairs.
That damn sorcerer had turned her into a dog!
She heard a noise behind her and she turned her head, releasing the only sound she could manage, a low, hateful growl. "The dog is among God's noblest creatures," Clow Reed said as he entered the room, shutting the door behind Cerberus and himself. Cerberus was growling under his breath, as if he was protecting Clow Reed. "I'm going to release you now. Promise me that you won't run away?" Kana gave another hateful growl. The growl was as close to 'fuck no' as she could get out at the moment. He chuckled and reached for her, placing a hand on the back of her neck. Kana turned around and ravaged his right hand, leaping away, jerking her neck on the chain. She growled and turned, her teeth set on ravaging the chain instead. She gnashed her teeth into it until her mouth hurt and her gums bled. Clow Reed rested his completely healed hand to clasp her mouth closed as his other hand unlatched the chain.
Kana looked at him with confusion brimming in her cat green eyes. "I'm releasing you. Please don't eat me." Kana stayed where she was. She knew there had to be a catch. She growled, telling him to get on with it. "I thought you'd see it my way." He chuckled and continued on with his monologue. "The dog is among God's noblest creatures. You, Kana, have no respect for human life. You have become cold, hardened, not at all the little angel I knew as a child-" she gave a yelp, begging him to explain himself. "All in good time, Kana, all in good time. I have turned you into a dog, so now, you have to rely on humans to survive. One day, Kana my dear, you will meet someone. You will refuse to let yourself grow close, at first, but soon you will be unable to resist the emotions that you were never allowed to experience. The one who will brake the spell will be the one you least expect. You will feel drawn to her for reasons beyond your comprehension. You will not be able to go on with your life until you find her, which means you will never age or die." This guy is such an idiot, she thought to herself. Clow Reed had turned away from her, facing the wall. "When you put an innocent life above your own, that's when you will be human again." He smiled at her, reaching his hand out to her and, without conscious thought, Kana allowed him to stroke her head as the weight of his curse hit her in her stomach. She whimpered. "In the mean time, you are welcomed to stay here." Cerberus made a nondescript sound of disapproval in the back of his throat. Clow Reed shot him a glare.
He fingered an object on a table near his spell book. Kana gave it a curious sniff and realized that it was a book with the symbol of the sun on the cover. The book smelled heavily of magic. "My latest…project," he told her simply. "So, what do you say, Kana?" Kana gave a nod. What choice did she have? She had nowhere else to go. With a growl in Cerberus' general direction, she found a comfortable spot in the corner and settled there, closing her eyes, drifting into an uneasy sleep.