Chapter Eighteen
Ephemeral Promise

"Are you coming in or what?"

Touya was standing in the doorway to the house, Sakura still hitched up on his back in a feverish sleep. Touya held the door open for Syaoran, seemingly in a gesture of invitation, but the stiffness in his movements and the contempt on his face contradicted his gesture.

But it was good enough for Syaoran. He was only relieved that he didn't have to crawl through Sakura's window or do something else equally illegal to get inside the house. After recovering from the initial shock of Touya's strained hospitality, Syaoran slinked past Touya who swiftly shut the door behind him.

Syaoran followed Touya upstairs to Sakura's bedroom. Her bed was unmade and her room was a mess. Touya gently pulled Sakura off his back and laid her down in the bed. He gave her an extra pillow and pulled the blankets high around her chin.

Sakura's eyes opened for just a moment. They were unfocused and the usual sharp emerald color had faded to a mossy grayish-green.

"I'm sorry onii-san," she said before closing her eyes again.

"There's nothing to be sorry about," Touya said. "Just get some rest."

Sakura nodded weakly before she slipped back into a fitful sleep. Her breathing was long and deep, but it was also labored and rasped. The red in her cheeks had spread back to her ears and her skin was slick with perspiration. Syaoran stood over the bed, fighting the panic that was slowly flaring up inside him.

I remember this, Syaoran thought, his thoughts whirling. It's a little different, but I've seen this before.

He could almost feel Sakura's fever in his own cheeks. With every breath she took, Syaoran felt the grinding wheeze in his own chest. The weakness in his joints... The way even the ends of his hair hurt... He put a hand to his chest, positive that he would feel the vibration in his labored breathing, but there was nothing there. It was only phantoms of pain that seemed to haunt his physically unfeeling body as he started at Sakura.

She's really in pain, Syaoran thought, lowering his hand after several seconds of waiting for a breath he knew would never come. Somehow I know exactly how it feels.

Touya had been standing there in silence, watching Syaoran closely with a suspicious glare. Eventually, he turned and moved toward the door.

"I'm going to call my father," Touya said from the doorway, his words clipped and sharp. "If anything changes, call me. I'll be right downstairs."

Syaoran turned around just in time to see a spark of real fear drop off Touya's face, replaced by the "in-control older brother" look. Syaoran's soul ripped.

He can sense it too, Syaoran thought, turning back to Sakura and listening to Touya's footsteps as he walked down the stairs just a bit faster than normal. He knows that something dangerous is at work here.

After a few moments of silence through Sakura's rasping breaths, Touya's phone conversation drifted up the stairwell.

"Otou-san, it's me. Sorry to bother you at work but—" he paused. "So you noticed this morning too, huh? Yeah, she has a really bad fever now. You should probably... Okay. Bye."

Syaoran could hear Touya moving around downstairs. It seemed he wasn't too keen on coming back up.

Syaoran moved to the side of the bed and knelt down so he could get a good view of Sakura's face. If anything were to change for the worse, even a bit, he was sure that he could see it from this angle.

"You'll be okay," Syaoran whispered, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he even formed the thoughts. "I'll find a way to make it stop."

When he spoke, she opened her eyes a little.

"Syaoran-kun," Sakura said, a wavering smile appearing on her face like a light bulb that didn't have enough power. "I'm so glad you're here."

"Why?" Syaoran asked, a wave of guilt washing over him. Sakura was sick because he was here.

"I just like knowing that you're here," Her eyes closed again, but the faint smile stayed. She lifted her arm and held it up to Syaoran, her wrist dangling limply. "Hold my hand, okay?"

"Okay," Syaoran said quietly. He took her hand gently and laid it on the bed. Even though his own skin was nearly colorless, Sakura's was much darker. He could see her veins.

"And stay here until I fall asleep," she said, a rasp lacing every syllable.

Syaoran shook his head. "I won't leave until I know you're okay."

"Promise?" Sakura asked faintly.

"I swear it," Syaoran said with all the conviction he could put into his voice, even though Sakura had already drifted back to sleep. Her hand went limp in his and the expression of pain came back to crease her eyelids and pull down the corners of her mouth.

He'd give anything to take that expression away.

Anything.

The first thing Fujitaka did after he got home was call the family physician.

"I think he's the last doctor in the world who still does house calls," he remarked as the phone rang on the other end.

Syaoran was very impressed with how well the family dealt with a crisis like Sakura's. They stayed calm and collected, even though both of them were obviously aware that Sakura's illness was something much more serious than the flu. The father spent most of the time downstairs preparing hot tea and making sure that Sakura always had a pot of ice water for her compress. The brother was busy most of the afternoon canceling all his after-school activities and calling into work. After every phone call, he came into Sakura's room to change her compress. Syaoran felt Touya's eyes on him whenever he did.

But no one ever told Syaoran to leave. He kept expecting either Touya or Fujitaka to tell him to go home, but they never seemed to mind him. In some ways, it felt like old times when he was a ghost in their house. Whether he stayed or went— it was all the same to them.

Sakura spent the afternoon slipping in and out of consciousness, waking up whenever anyone would touch her or call her name. She never became unresponsive, but the pain that lined her face when she was asleep began to stay even when she was awake.

The doctor showed up about an hour after Fujitaka called him, carrying a black medical bag and a deathly serious expression. He hurried up the stairs to Sakura's room.

"Sakura-san," Fujitaka said gently. "The doctor's here. Wake up, sweetheart."

She didn't move. It was the first time that she didn't wake up right away when someone called her name.

Touya nudged Syaoran's shoulder roughly. "You call her."

"S-sakura," Syaoran said, feeling embarrassed. "Please wake up."

Sakura's eyes fluttered open and she squeezed Syaoran's hand. "Un?"

"Hello Sakura-san," the doctor said, forcing a smile and a morbidly cheerful tone. "I heard you aren't feeling too well."

Sakura shook her head, smiling a little. "I think I'm feeling better than I should."

"Well, let's have a look at you," the doctor said.

For the next fifteen minutes, the doctor used every instrument he had in his little black bag on Sakura. He took her temperature, blood pressure, and pulse. With every reading, his expression became more and more serious.

"Alright Sakura-san," he said finally. "Go back to sleep. I'm going to have a talk with your dad."

Sakura nodded and feel back asleep almost instantly.

Syaoran followed the doctor, Fujitaka, and Touya out into the hallway, but he didn't leave the doorway. He wanted to hear what they were saying, but he would be damned if he would let Sakura out of his sight even for a moment.

"I'm going to be very blunt, Kinomoto-san," the doctor said. "This doesn't seem like any illness I have ever dealt with. If she was fine this morning, that means that in just four hours, her temperature has skyrocketed from normal to 102.4. Her blood pressure and pulse are also elevated to dangerous levels."

"What should we do?" Fujitaka asked.

"I don't have the proper equipment to help her here," the doctor said. "We need to get her to a hospital as soon as—"

"NO!"

"NO!"

Syaoran and Touya stared at each other, both of them surprised at the other's outburst.

"Look, kids, you don't understand," the doctor said. He turned back to Fujitaka. "Her lungs are filling with fluid and her body temperature is rising by two degrees every hour. If that trend stays constant, she won't even live through the night. She needs to get to a hospital."

There was a beat of stagnant silence. Fujitaka looked extremely torn.

"Otou-san," Touya said, taking Fukitaka by the shoulders. "You can't take her to the hospital. She won't get better there. The only chance she has is right here."

Another beat of silence passed. Touya grip on Fujitaka's shoulder tightened.

"Please trust me," Touya said, his eyes rock steady. "A hospital stay didn't help mom, remember?"

Finally, Fujitaka nodded. He turned to the doctor. "I think we should keep her here. Traveling could be bad for her."

The doctor stepped forward. "This is madness, Kinomoto-san. I know the doctors couldn't help Nadeshiko, but her case was terminal. There was nothing they could do for her. Sakura-san has a virus, not cancer. Swearing off hospitals just because your wife died in one—"

Fujitaka held up a hand. "That's absurd, Doctor. I don't blame the hospital for my wife's death. Nadeshiko left us when it was her time. I made peace with that long ago."

He stepped forward a bit. "However, now is not Sakura-san's time. I know it's true. And my son is only confirming my convictions. If he says Sakura-san's cure is right here in this house, I believe him."

The doctor shook his head and headed for the stair. "Then I suppose there's nothing I can do to change your mind. Just let me say my peace: if it was indeed Nadeshiko's time, then no power on Earth could keep her here. But... even if it's not Sakura-san's time, that doesn't mean she is immune to dying."

"She won't die."

Syaoran's voice was quiet, but echoed in the hallway.

"I'll go first," he said, slipping back into Sakura's room. "I promised I'd be the one to go first."

The doctor went down the steps, still shaking his head while Fujitaka and Touya exchanged glances.

"I didn't even know he was here," Fujitaka said with an embarrassed half-smile.

"Sakura knows," Touya said, crossing his arms in a gesture of indignation. "And I guess that's all that matters."

Sakura's temperature didn't rise by two degrees every hour, but it certainly didn't go own. As the afternoon wore on, Sakura's breathing went from long and strained to shallow and swollen. She woke less often and when she was awake, she seemed distracted and confused.

Tomoyo and Eriol came by after school, Tomoyo with a basket full of paper cranes strung on a long fishing wire.

"Mizuki-sensei had us make them during her class," Tomoyo said solemly, carefully stringing up the cranes over Sakura's bed. "She said it was a good way to practice geometry by measuring the angles of the folds, but I know better. She's just really worried about Sakura-chan..."

Tomoyo looked down and watched Sakura's labored breathing for a few quiet moments.

"And she has every reason to be worried," Tomoyo said. She touched Sakura's arm lightly. "Doesn't she?"

No one said anything, but Tomoyo seemed to take the silence as answer enough.

Tomoyo and Eriol were almost as determined as Syaoran to stay near Sakura until she was better. Fujitaka seemed relieved with all the company and even insisted that everyone stay for dinner. He made sandwiches and soup, but no one was really hungry. For the first time, Syaoran didn't feel awkward about not touching his meal.

Sakura woke up a few times between three and five o'clock, but each time she fell back asleep almost instantly. She acknowledged Tomoyo and Eriol's presence, however, and commented on the cranes above her bed. But as she was talking to Tomoyo, she fell asleep in mid-sentence.

The day seemed to be on fast-forward. From Sakura's window, Syaoran watched the sun slowly sink into the horizon and felt the tugging on his soul as it prepared for release. Tomoyo, Eriol, and Touya were all in the room, but Syaoran was determined to stay by Sakura's side even if he had to reveal his secret and disappear right before their eyes.

Thirty seconds before sunset, however, the doorbell rang downstairs.

"That's probably Yukito," Touya said. He headed downstairs.

"I'll take these plates downstairs and help Kinomoto-san clean up dinner," Tomoyo said, picking up a few plates.

"Good idea," Eriol said, lifting a few plates of his own. "I'll help you."

The last person left the room just as Syaoran's soul released. It was kind of like a sigh of relief. Keeping his secret was just one less thing to worry about.

Sakura's hand slipped through Syaoran's soul and fell limply on the bed. Sakura's eyes fluttered open for just a moment before closing again. The creases of pain on her face seemed to deepen.

Syaoran looked out the window to see a sliver of moon hanging in the sky above the setting sun. It looked like maybe two days before the new moon.

"The new moon is almost here, Sakura," Syaoran said softly, phantom pain lacing every syllable. "Just fight it until then."

"She won't make to the new moon, Syaoran," a voice sounded behind him. "At this rate, she won't even live past sunrise."

Syaoran whirled around. He hadn't noticed any presence besides Sakura's.

Yue stood there, his arms folded over his chest and his expression icy. He was looking past Syaoran to Sakura.

"You! What do you know?" Syaoran said, taking a few threatening paces forward. "You stole my life and now you're going to let Chaos take hers!"

"You were always quick to jump to conclusions," Yue said serenely. His eyes shifted to Syaoran. "Of course, you're right about the first part. And there's no reason that you shouldn't hate me for it."

And there it was. The only person in the world who Syaoran had considered a true friend was actually his worst enemy. Right then Syaoran hated him more than Chaos.

"Why?" Syaoran said, unable to gather the strength even to lift his weightless head. "Why me? I was just a kid. I don't understand it."

Yue stood there for a long time without saying a word. He was so silent and his aura so subdued that for a moment Syaoran thought he had run away. But he was there, looking as if he only wished he could run.

"Human beings," he said finally. "If they think about things like Order and Chaos at all, believe the two of us are complete opposites. One is good, the other is bad; one is right and the other is wrong.

"But, in reality, we exist on a whole other level from all that. Right, wrong; good, bad— that's for humans. All that exists for us is necessity.

"And we are not opposites, either. Two opposing elements have nothing in common whatsoever, like fire and ice; one can't possibly exist within the other. But Chaos and I... we have the same goal: the balance. And so we are connected. The actions of one of us directly affects the results of the other, while the counter-actions of the other sets off a whole new chain of actions... so on and so forth.

"This has been going on since the Big Bang. However, it's only been in the past few million years that things began to... 'get interesting,' as Chaos put it. That's when you people began to populate the planet. Humans have one very special capacity that no other creature on Earth has: the ability to make your own fate. And this ability has added a whole new facet to the duty that Chaos and I have to protect the balance. That's not to say that we're powerless now; on the contrary, it has granted us a new extraordinary power— the power to indirectly affect the balance through human beings. It turns out that this kind of approach is vastly more potent than directly affecting the balance, since every action a human takes has the tendency to reverberate through time and cause a chain reaction of new events, often weighed in the favor of the force from which the first action came."

"Humans make their own fate, huh?" Syaoran said, his words biting. "Then why did I die when I was only 16? And why is Sakura sick? We didn't want this."

"Just because humans have the ability to change their lives doesn't mean that we can't intervene," Yue said. "Fifty years ago there was an explosion in population growth. To balance the sudden increase in human lives, thanks indirectly to an event Chaos caused, I created a mild epidemic in a small city on the island of Japan. Here I could keep the outbreak isolated and still be sure that as many died as were needed."

"Like me," Syaoran said slowly. "I was one of those people you needed to die."

But Yue shook his head. "No. You were going to live, Syaoran. And I knew that when you caught the illness. There was something inside you that kept the virus from shutting down your system like it did to others. You didn't succumb to the fever it induced.

"And, at first, that was all part of the scenario. When you lived, the virus would have had time to mutate and go on to affect others. That was the beauty of my design: the way the virus mutated every seventy-two hours. That made it impossible to stop until I stopped it—"

"By killing the last victim before the virus could mutate," Syaoran finished.

Yue's wings flared. "Correct."

"But I wasn't supposed to be the last victim, was I?" Syaoran said.

"No," Yue replied, almost whispering the word. "I terminated your life prematurely. That is, you died before you were ready to die. It doesn't happen very often, but it's not completely unheard of."

"But why?" Syaoran said, taking a few threatening steps forward. "Why kill me if I was supposed to live, especially when my living or dying wouldn't affect the epidemic at all? It doesn't make sense!"

"That's because you're thinking too narrowly," Yue said. "I didn't create that epidemic for my own gain; I created it to counter Chaos. And when I realized that you were able to fight off the virus I created, an opportunity presented itself. This opportunity had the potential to not only counter Chaos, but get the upper hand.

"But it also carried some very real risks, and it required tremendous sacrifice. Basically, because to explain it in any more detail would be impossible for the human mind to comprehend, by killing you before your time, I created a hole in the balance. Ironically, this means that Order created chaos. And thus, Chaos was forced to create order in retaliation. This began a series of chain events that leads up to this day— when decades of counter-retaliation finally come to a climax."

Yue nodded to Sakura, who lay in her bed, wheezing with every breath. "It all comes down to her. I told you before, Syaoran: she is your opposite. You two are so completely different that what one of you lacks, the other possesses something that fills that void. Your souls fit together seamlessly like two puzzle pieces that form a whole. Your existences, right down to the actions you make, balance each other. And so if you died where you should have lived..."

"Then Sakura needs to live where she should have died," Syaoran said quietly to the floor.

Yue nodded firmly. "When that happens, the balance will shift in my favor. But if she dies, the balance will shift in Chaos' favor. And Chaos has something big planned if things turn out for her."

"What do you mean?" Syaoran said, his aura flaring. "It's bad enough that Sakura's sick and dying! What else is she planning?"

"The virus that's killing Sakura is indeed a creation of Chaos, but it's not an original design," Yue said. "It is based on the virus I created fifty years ago in this very town. However, Chaos made one crucial change to the original. My virus was slow and methodical because it had to keep the victim's body alive in order to successfully mutate. However, Chaos' modification is swift and erratic, seeking to kill its victim as fast as possible because, unlike my virus that mutated at exactly seventy-two hours into the illness, her virus mutates at the exact moment of the victim's death.

"Right now, this illness is limited to Sakura alone. But if she dies — and I would say she has less than twelve hours — this virus will mutate and become airborne. By drawing on the echoes of Sakura's tremendous strength of soul, it will become unstoppable. As each strain enters a new victim and kills him, it will mutate again. Suddenly, there will be hundreds of different viruses mutating out of control until there is no more life to feed from."

Syaoran stood dumbstruck, staring at Sakura who was fighting to stay alive. She didn't know it, but she was fighting for the whole world. "How can I stop this? What can I do?"

"Unfortunately, I can't tell you," Yue said stonily and drawing his arms tighter around himself. "But I can say this: you are the key to Sakura's life. If your existence here didn't matter, you would have disappeared fifty years ago. I've created a much more intricate picture than it looks from a distance and I would never make such a drastic sacrifice without having good reason."

Yue kneeled down to Syaoran and took his shoulders. The darkening rays of the sunset began to wipe his appearance from the air. "I hate myself for it, but you are my secret weapon, Syaoran. I know you will do what's best for her."

Yue's torn expression faded with the last rays of the sun, leaving Syaoran whirling. Of course he would do what's best for Sakura. Her wellbeing was all that mattered to him.

But Syaoran also knew what Yue meant by 'secret weapon.'

He was like an impending explosion. Once triggered, he would detonate and be no more.

In tune with Yue's prediction, Sakura's fever began to skyrocket again after midnight, and she became completely unresponsive. Her only signs of life were her wheezing breaths and the way she mumbled every so often as if talking to someone in her dreams.

Syaoran sat like a stone by her bed, holding her hand and churning the conversation with Yue over and over in his mind. But no matter how many ways he viewed the situation, he didn't see how anything he did could possibly make a difference. If he truly was the only one in the world who could save Sakura, then why did he feel so utterly helpless?

"If it's any consolation," Eriol said, coming up behind Syaoran around 4am. "She's still watching you."

Syaoran didn't even turn around. "Whatever the hell that means."

"Chaos," Eriol expounded. "She's still watching you very closely."

"And that's supposed to console me?" Syaoran asked bitterly.

He could feel Eriol shrug. "I would be relieved to know that my enemy still thought of me as a threat."

"Yeah, well I don't feel very threatening right now," Syaoran said as Sakura took a particularly labored breath. He squeezed her hand and brought it to his forehead. He wished that the heat from Sakura's fevered body would sink into him somehow. He wanted to be able to feel it because maybe then he would know what to do. "I don't think I can save her. Not from this."

"She should be dead now," Eriol said. The seriousness in his voice seemed to leak out into the room. "You have no idea how hard it has been for Chaos to touch her. Sakura-san is strong, which is why Chaos had to resort to such an extreme tactic like this, but Sakura-san would never have made it this far without you."

"Even if I saved her one thousand times before tonight," Syaoran said quietly, "If she dies here, then it's all for nothing."

"Nothing is ever nothing," Eriol said. "Even nothing is something."

Syaoran shook his head. "I don't think that's right."

"Well, at the very least remember that you're not alone," Eriol said. "Chaos has her eye trained on you... and one more. There is another that has the ability to alter Sakura's fate."

Syaoran finally turned around to face Eriol, but he wouldn't let Sakura's hand go. "Is it you?"

Eriol shook his head. "No. Like I said before, I'm just an observer. But I'm flattered that you would think otherwise."

Syaoran glared. "Then who? The brother?"

"No, not him. Chaos stopped watching him some time ago," Eriol said. "The person you're looking for has already altered your fate once. Without him, you wouldn't be what you are today."

"Clow?" Syaoran asked, his voice rising.

Eriol nodded firmly.

Syaoran stood up, a wave of hope surging through him. "That makes sense. He's a magician! He brought me back to life—"

"Well, he gave you a fake one," Eriol interrupted.

"—and if anyone could do anything for Sakura, it's him," Syaoran said, ignoring Eriol's comments. For the first time in hours, Syaoran voluntarily released Sakura's hand. He stood over her bed for a moment as if contemplating something grave.

"She'll be okay if I leave, won't she?" Syaoran asked.

Eriol shrugged. "Her chances all rely on your discovery of why you're important to her survival. Whether you're sitting here like a stone or actively pursuing her cure doesn't affect her chances of living or dying. Until you change her fate, she'll die all the same."

"How long do I have?" Syaoran asked heading for the door.

"Not long," Eriol said gravely. "A little less than two hours."

Syaoran nodded firmly. He reached down and brushed a few auburn hairs out Sakura's fever-slick face. "I have to do something. I can't just sit here and hope for the best."

He headed for the door. Before he left, he took one last look at Sakura lying on the bed, fighting for every breath. Then he turned toward Eriol, looking him in the eyes for the first time since the day they met.

"Thanks Hiiragizawa," Syaoran said slowly. He never thought he'd actually say those words.

Eriol's expression darkened further.

"Don't thank me just yet."

It took Syaoran a lot longer to get to Clow's mansion from Sakura's house than the first time he had made the trek. Back then, he'd been able to float through walls. It surprised him how many barriers there were between Clow's place and Sakura's now that he had to physically pass them all. He pushed his unfeeling body as far as it could go, but it still seemed like he was moving in slow motion. He warily watched the moon sink in the sky with every step he took.

At last he arrived at Clow's, running up the short path that led to the front porch. The windows were dark and the house itself seemed dead, but it didn't deter Syaoran in the slightest. He simply kept on running until he reached the porch.

As he approached the heavy oak door with the giant bronze knocker, it began to sink into the wall just as it had last time he visited. He increased his speed, but by the time he reached it, the door had vanished.

"No!" Syaoran said, banging his fists violently on the blank brick wall. "Why are you doing this? Sakura needs help!"

Beyond frustrated, he turned and leaned his back against the wall.

"I need help," he said to the night sky.

Suddenly, the support behind Syaoran gave way, making him tumble backward into the house. He landed flat on his back, stunned and staring at a gap in the wall in front of him. The door that just a moment ago hadn't even been there swung silently shut.

Syaoran got up and looked around. It was eerily dark and quiet, just as it had been a little less than a month ago when Syaoran dared to enter this house to ask for Clow's help.

An odd sensation weighed heavily in Syaoran's soul as he made the long trek down the hallway. It was a feeling of foreboding and... regret. He did the best he could to shrug the feeling off.

He came to the door at the end of the hallway. This one, thankfully, did not attempt to disappear on him. He pushed it open and stepped into the same spacious room that he had been in before. The sliver of the moon was perfectly framed in the center of the huge window that took up most of the north wall. A dying fire lay sputtering in the fireplace that sat against the north wall. About the only other thing in the room was that huge red armchair. Syaoran marched up to it.

"I apologize for the less-than-warm welcome, Syaoran," Clow said as Syaoran rounded on the chair. The older man sat there with his head resting on one fist. His eyes were mirthful as always. "The house shuts down to anyone who comes near. I am a hunted man and it never hurts to be too careful."

"Sakura's sick," Syaoran said unceremoniously. He knew that Clow would know who Sakura was. She seemed very important to a lot of people.

The spark of playfulness dimmed from Clow's expression, but did not disappear entirely. "I am painfully aware of that."

Syaoran was shocked. Clow knew all this time and just let her get worse?

"So do something!" Syaoran yelled. "She's dying!"

Clow's serene expression never wavered. "And what exactly do you propose I do?"

Frustration surged through Syaoran. "You're the magician! Can't you give me something to cure her? Like a potion or a magic spell or something? You have to help her! I don't know what to do."

"The chaos that is inside Sakura-san," Clow said calmly as Syaoran began to pace back and forth in front of him. "is slowly eating away at the energy that makes up her soul. That energy is unique to her and impossible to duplicate. It would be like trying to replace a part of Sakura-san's brain. The human brain is so infinitely complex that people don't even know how it works, so an attempt to recreate it would be a total waste of time. And if something as physical as the brain is that elaborate, try to imagine the inner workings of the soul. There is no magic spell or potion that can recreate the energy Sakura-san has lost."

"So what are you saying?" Syaoran asked. "There's nothing you can do?"

"No, Syaoran, there is nothing I can do," Clow said. "You are the only one who can help her."

"How?" Syaoran said through clenched teeth. He leaned close. "What can I possibly do about her soul?"

"The fire is dying, Syaoran," Clow said, gesturing to the hearth in front of him. His robes flowed gracefully as he motioned. "Would you please put another log in before it completely goes out?"

"What?" Syaoran hissed. "Sakura's dying and you want me to save your fire?"

"Please do as I ask," Clow said, a warm smile playing on his lips. "Use the white birch log from the basket beside the hearth."

Glaring maliciously and feeling used, Syaoran did as he was told. There was only one white log in the entire pile of wood, so Syaoran picked it up and lugged it the few feet to the fireplace.

When he dumped it into the smoldering embers, the reaction was immediate. A strong, steady fire erupted from under the log and began consume it. Within seconds, tendrils of flame were licking up the side of the log. Soon, a roaring fire had sprung to life again where just minutes before there had been nothing but a few struggling embers.

"That's better, isn't it?" Clow said, the light from the roaring fire dancing on his face. "Did you see how that worked, Syaoran?"

Syaoran shrugged, feeling completely hopeless. The moon was low in the sky now with a bluish hue of the sunrise near the horizon. "The log gave the fire something to feed from."

Clow nodded. "Now take it a step further. Imagine the dying flames represented Sakura-san's dying soul."

Syaoran turned to Clow, a small spark of realization slowly dawning on him.

Clow's small smile spread a bit. "The virus inside Sakura-san is a modification of the virus that you were able to fight off fifty years ago. Although Chaos did alter the original design, many things about the virus remain the same, including its weaknesses. There is something in your soul, Syaoran, that can cure Sakura-san's illness.

"A soul's energy can't be recreated out of nothing, but it can be mixed with compatible energy. If you give Sakura-san what is left of the energy that keeps you bound to this plane, that energy will cure her because it contains the essence of whatever it is about you that was able to negate the effects of Order's virus back then. It will give her the extra push she needs to survive."

Hope brimming in him, Syaoran ran for the door. Right before he reached the handle, however, he paused. "But how do I give her my own energy? I didn't even know I had it."

Clow shook his head. "It's not something that can be instructed. But if you want to help her enough, I know you will find a way to make it happen. Just remember, Syaoran, that the energy you have is the only thing that binds you to this world. When you give it up, the Void will take that as a gesture of defeat. There is no other way to save Sakura-san's life, but you must be prepared to receive the consequences of your actions."

Syaoran yanked the door open before Clow was even done talking.

"I was going to disappear at the new moon anyway," Syaoran said bitterly. "Making what's left of my soul useful to the only person in the world who matters is nothing to regret."

He ran from the house then, slamming the front door hard as he left.

"Sakura-san would certainly disagree," Clow said quietly, snuffing the fire in the hearth with a wave of his hand.

As the landscape slid by in a blur, Syaoran found himself passing through the park. It was strange because the park wasn't exactly on the way between Clow's mansion and Sakura's house. But his feet had taken him here anyway.

Perhaps he just wanted to see it one more time while he had the chance.

As he dashed through the bushes that surrounded the penguin slide, something around his neck went taught and drew him back. He struggled for a moment before finding that the scarf Sakura made for him was caught on a branch. It took him a few panicked moments to get the scarf untangled. The second it released, he started running again, only to jog to a stop a few feet later.

What would happen to the scarf when he was gone? Would it disappear with him? He couldn't bear the thought. This messy hunk of yarn was somehow a part of him. If he couldn't stay, then maybe, at least, Sakura's gift to him could.

Syaoran took it off his neck and looked around. Where to put it?

He happened to look up at the apartment complex that towered over the park. His eyes wandered up to the floor where the light in Wei's apartment was still on.

Making a split-second decision, Syaoran raced into the complex and up the stairs. Within seconds he was standing in front of Wei's door and knocking in short, panicked bursts.

The door opened almost immediately.

"Syaoran?" Wei said. He had an odd expression on his face, somewhere between surprised and relieved.

"Sakura's sick," Syaoran said, his voice shaking only because no other part of his numb body had the capacity. "She'll die if I don't do something."

He gingerly held the lumpy scarf out to Wei. "This is the second most important thing in the world to me, but I can't bring it where I'm going. Would you keep it? I just want to leave knowing that it's safe."

Wei reached out and took the scarf from Syaoran as if taking something precious from a person who was about to fall from a cliff. "Of course I will keep it, Syaoran. But shouldn't you give it to Sakura-san so she will have something to remember you by? Otherwise she may come to think of you as only a dream."

Syaoran backed up a few paces. "But I really am just a dream. And it wouldn't be fair to her to let her think anything else."

Then he turned and took off down the fire escape steps.

Wei stayed in the doorway long after Syaoran's footsteps had faded, clutching the scarf in one hand.

"Dreams are meant to come true," Wei said to the scarf. "It is unfair to your mind to think they are meant for anything else, especially something as horrible as oblivion. Oblivion is a graveyard for dreams, not an afterlife. Do you think he will understand that in time?"

Getting no answer from the scarf, Wei stepped back into the apartment and quietly closed the door, but not before eying the brightening horizon out the window at the end of the hall.

The sight made him feel ill.

Disclaimer: CSS is the property of CLAMP and all related companies.

Special Thanks to Snickerer for beta-reading for me and getting the kinks out of this chapter. Faucet... Gah! -.- Special mention goes to Broadway Belle. Sorry I was lazy.

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