I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura or any of the ninja techniques used or any of the names being used from Naruto.
Chapter 9: The Earth Dragon Shrine Part 2
"Ready to go everyone? C'mon Sakura we can't wait all day!" spoke Eriol on one magnificent morning. The sky was clear and the sun was brightly shining. It made the white snow glitter like a polished jewel. Everyone was ready to set out except, well, for Sakura. She had woken up late because she didn't have her usual alarm clock to wake her up; Kero. He was the one who usually woke her when she spent her days in the castle training and living happily. Sakura scrambled and stuffed her sleeping bag inside her backpack. She hastily slipped on her shoes and met up with her friends who were waiting at the mouth of the cave.
Smiling foolishly she replied, "Haha...sorry about that. Kero-chan is usually the one who wakes me up…." Tomoyo tittered while Syaoran groaned with disgust.
"So you tell me that a stuff animal wakes you up every morning." Syaoran said dryly.
Sakura glared at him, "Kero-chan isn't a stuff animal, he's a guardian."
"YOU GOT THAT RIGHT!" A yellow animal with enormous ears and two black dots as eyes and a short tail came out of no where and appeared in front of Syaoran's face.
Sakura jumped of surprise and thought that she was dreaming. She looked at the small yellow animal intently and stuttered, "K-Kero-chan? Wh-what are y-you doing here?"
Kero turned and faced Sakura, "I told you Sakura, I said I won't stand around while you're facing danger. Also I am not letting that gaki talk behind my back and call me a "stuff animal." I won't make him slip that easily." He turned back to Syaoran who had his arms crossed in front of his chest.
He scoffed and sniggered at Kero, "Oh…? You think you can beat me up? You're just a small stuff animal who isn't useful at all. I'm surprised at why Sakura keeps you. I guess she keeps you as a servant?"
POP!
Sakura looked at Kero who was blazing with anger, "Hoeee…." Kero's face was growing red and a vein popped on his forehead. Sakura backed away from the two and using hand motions she told Eriol and Tomoyo to back away.
Kero gave Syaoran a piercing glare and shouted, "Hah! You know what gaki? You're all talk and no action. You're mouth is your only weapon to defend yourself."
"What was that?" snapped Syaoran. He was about to say something else but then saw Kero glow. The two wings from his back started to grow immensely large and it covered Kero. Then a Clow circle formed beneath him and then the wings separated themselves. Revealing was a lion animal with a forehead protector on his head. It had a red jewel on it. Kero had two fangs coming out of his mouth and he started growling at Syaoran. Syaoran froze and saw the "big" Kero. He hesitantly stepped back as Kero was walking up to him; but then Kero stopped. Syaoran eyed him suspiciously and stopped stepping back. Kero than sprung at Syaoran at a quick rate that Syaoran had no time to react. Then in a moment Syaoran was on the ground while a gigantic paw was over him.
Kero laughed triumphantly, "So gaki, what do you think of my true form? If you cross my path again this will happen…" He turned his head and faced a thick tree, and Syaoran followed his gaze. Kero opened his mouth and then a flame started to climb out, he exhaled and beam of fire hit the tree and it burned instantly. Syaoran gulped as the tree started to burn and turning itself to ash.
Sakura walked up to Kero and shouted, "Kero-chan! Don't even think about burning up anyone. If you lay one paw on Syaoran-kun, you'll-"
"WHAT IS WITH THE FIRST NAME BASIS SAKURA?" interrupted Kero. "YOU ACTUALLY ALLOWED HIM TO CALL YOU BY YOU'RE FIRST NAME?"
"Yes Kero-chan, I allowed him. If you get to know him, he isn't all that bad." Kero huffed while removing his paw from Syaoran's back.
He turned his head, "I can't believe that you like him. If he lays one finger on y-"
"Kerberos." Kero stopped talking at the sound of his real name. But he noticed that it wasn't his master but his formal master; Eriol or Clow Reed. He saw Eriol with a stern face and Kero lowered his head. Even though Eriol was the reincarnation of Clow Reed Kero still gave him respect.
Sakura sighed and patted Kero on the head, "It's okay Kero-chan, just please don't do anything reckless."
Kero nodded his head and shot an angry look on Syaoran who was dusting of his clothes, "Just keep away Sakura, gaki. I'll be watching you and if you harm her in anyw-"
He was interrupted by a throat being cleared. Kero saw Sakura looking at him sternly and he decided to keep quiet. He turned back to his temporary form and floated to Sakura's shoulder, "Fine, fine, I won't say anything else."
Sakura nodded and smiled at the group, "Ready? Let's go!" They all nodded and started to follow Eriol up a hill to the shrine. After a few hours of walking Sakura turned her head and asked Kero, "Kero-chan, how did you find me here? I didn't leave you a note or anything."
Kero just smiled widely and patted her shoulder with his small paw, "I just followed your aura. It's very obvious; it seems you're letting everyone where you are in the world."
Sakura grinned sheepishly, "Ooops, I guess I'm kinda obvious."
Kero laughed softly and patted her shoulder again, "Well you should try to conceal it now." Sakura nodded and closed her eyes, she thought of everything to conceal her aura and then she felt a tap on her shoulder…..again, "That's it Sakura, there I think that is good enough." Sakura nodded and caught up to Syaoran she placed a hand on his shoulder.
He jumped at the touch and turned around quickly seeing Sakura looking at him with surprise, "Syaoran-kun? What's wrong?"
He breathed hard and slowly came composed, "I was kind of surprised. I didn't even feel your aura; usually I know when you're coming and all."
Sakura laughed, "I forgot, Kero-chan told me to hide my aura so I won't be that obvious." Kero and Syaoran were starting to glare at each other while Sakura was explaining to him. When she finished she noticed that the two were still glaring at each other, "Ok, stop it you two! This is getting childish, and Syaoran-kun were you even listening to what I was saying?" Both stopped glaring and Syaoran fumbled with his words making stupid excuses. Sakura shook her head and repeated what she said, "I said, you should conceal your aura too. We're probably really obvious having our aura's exposed." Syaoran nodded and concealed his aura. Sakura than left Syaoran and went to tell Eriol the same message. After he heard it he nodded and concealed his. She then fell behind to walk with Tomoyo, who was silent. Sakura looked at her strangely, "Tomoyo-chan? Are you okay? You don't seem yourself." Tomoyo stopped walking and her head was down. Sakura walked closer to Tomoyo and looked at her face. She saw her eyes were glazed and then a fist hit her in the stomach which sent Sakura flying right into a wall of rock. Eriol and Syaoran saw Sakura fly and hit her back on the rocks. They turned and saw Tomoyo in her offensive stance.
Eriol looked at Tomoyo more closely and he gasped, "She's possessed! Someone is controlling Tomoyo. Argh!" He just dodged a kick from Tomoyo and then he summoned his staff. Tomoyo came at him and was sending him kicks and punches from each side. He dodged each one with his staff and then he swung his staff at her and she dodged it.
She was a few meters from them and she then did hand motions after she was done she softly spoke, "Chidori…(Lightening Edge)" She put down her right hand and her left hand held her right firmly. Then a blue static was forming around her eyes and then a blue orb was formed around her hand.
Sakura staggered and when she saw the blue orb she gasped, "Chidori…shoot. Eriol-kun, Syaoran-kun! We have to get out of here! That technique that Tomoyo-chan is about to use could kill us!" Both of the boys looked at her with wide eyes. Then all of a sudden Tomoyo came sprinting towards Sakura and raised her arm towards her. Sakura quickly summoned her wand and cried, "FLY!" She jumped and wings sprouted on her back. She flapped them and looked down at Tomoyo who was looking at her. Tomoyo than jumped from rock to rock to reach Sakura she then came close enough and swung her arm at her. Sakura quickly took out her fan and swung it quickly. The wind sent Tomoyo back and she hit her back on the ground. The Chidori disappeared from her right hand and she reached to her pouch; she took out five shurikens and released them at to Syaoran. He quickly uncheathed his sword and deflected each one with apparent ease.
After he deflected each one he noticed that Tomoyo wasn't anywhere in sight, "Where did she go?" He looked around and then out of no where a hand came from the ground and grabbed his ankle. He gasped and then was pulled down to the ground leaving only his head above. He couldn't move and he saw Tomoyo looking down at him. She took out a kunai and raised her arm, she than brought down her arm and Syaoran shut his eyes but he didn't feel any pain. He looked up and saw Eriol in front of him who was holding his staff and blocked the kunai knife. Tomoyo than jumped away from Syaoran and was at least three meters away from him.
Sakura landed next to Eriol, "Help Syaoran-kun out of the ground, I'll handle this."
Eriol looked at her, "But-"
"Just go Eriol-kun. I can handle Tomoyo." He nodded and went to where Syaoran was trapped.
Sakura than did hand motions and said, "Kirigakure no jutsu (Hidden Mist Skill)." Then a thick mist covered the battle scene and Tomoyo was looking around where her "enemies" were. Sakura now had the chance to get Eriol, Syaoran and herself a few yards away from Tomoyo. She turned to Eriol who was now holding Syaoran by his arm. She ran towards them, "C'mon we have to find a safe place to stay before Tomoyo-chan finds us. Right now I bought us some time for us to escape." Eriol nodded and dragged Syaoran to higher level. They jumped from rock to rock and landed on a cliff. "Kero-chan take care of Syaoran-kun please. Let's go Eriol-kun." Kero floated towards Syaoran and nodded. Eriol followed Sakura and jumped down from the cliff where they left Syaoran. He separated from Sakura to find the person controlling her. Sakura stood on a rock and was thinking of what her next strategy should be.
Back at Tomoyo, she took out a scroll from her pouch and unravelled it. She bit her thumb and placed her blood on the scroll. She rolled it up again and held the scroll; she did hand motions with it and at the last hand motion she spoke, "Ninpou Kuchiyous Doton Tsuiga no jutsu (summoning move, Earth Element: Dogging Fangs)." She then placed the scroll on the ground and words were starting to flow out of the scroll and into the Earth. The ground began to shake like an Earthquake.
While Sakura was trying to strategize she felt a rumble on the rock. She jumped off the rock but still felt the shaking, then out of no where a dog came out of the ground and bit her leg and another one bit the other. Sakura couldn't move because the two dogs were holding her down. Then a whole bunch of dogs came out of the ground and held the other parts of her body and Sakura became immobilized. Sakura tried to move but each dog held her down. Then a shadow came out of the mist and it was Tomoyo.
Tomoyo walked up to her, "Even if I can't find you in this mist I can use my nose. Since I don't have a strong keen of smell I summoned my dogs to find you." Sakura grunted, "Squirm all you want Sakura, those dogs will hold your place." She then placed her right hand down again and the Chidori appeared again. Sakura gulped and tried to move but she couldn't, "It's over Sakura…" Tomoyo softly spoke. She then pushed her arm towards Sakura and was near her chest when Tomoyo suddenly stopped. Her body couldn't move. Tomoyo turned and saw another Sakura behind her. She was holding a charka string and it was surrounded around Tomoyo's body, "Huh, a Kage Bunshin (replication)." She turned back to the other Sakura and saw that it disappeared, Tomoyo was right it was a replica. Tomoyo grunted but she couldn't move.
Sakura held Tomoyo to her place and didn't allow her to move anywhere. She walked up to Tomoyo and raised her fist at her, "Tomoyo, snap out of it!" She brought down her fist and punched her in the side of the face. It made Tomoyo stumble and fall. Heaving deeply Sakura's eyes were filled with tears, "You're being controlled. Don't let them do this!" Tomoyo rubbed off the dirt from her face. She remained silent and then she raised her right hand. She raised her two fingers and it started to glow blue. She then put her fingers to the chakra string and it snapped instantly.
Sakura looked at her shocked and Tomoyo smiled grimly, "The only way to break a chakra string is chakra itself. You should know that Sakura-chan, I was the one who taught that to you." Sakura positioned herself to a defensive stance and waited for Tomoyo to come at her. Tomoyo took out a kunai knife and charged at Sakura. With swift moves she reached her and swung her arm. Sakura quickly pulled out her wand and blocked it. Straining at the strength; Sakura pushed Tomoyo and jumped away from her. But as she was in the air Tomoyo jumped also and kicked her on the side. She then threw the kunai at Sakura and it landed on her arm. Sakura winced at the pain and clutched her arm.
"You should be more careful Sakura-chan, we don't want you dead yet." She landed on the ground and looked where Sakura was, but was hidden in the grey mist. Sakura who was concealed took out a pink card, "The Windy."
She threw up and called out to the card, "Windy lend me your powers and bind Tomoyo!" A woman shaped with wind came out of the card and came at Tomoyo. Tomoyo was able to dodge some of Windy's attacks but was quickly bind afterward. Windy brought Tomoyo to Sakura not letting her go. Sakura walked up to her, "Tomoyo I know you are not like this. Please snap out of it!"
Tomoyo smiled evilly and took out another kunai knife and held it towards her neck, "Well, if I can't kill you I'll just kill your friend." She was about strike herself when she stopped all of a sudden. She dropped the knife and her legs gave in and she fell onto the ground. Windy unbound Tomoyo and returned to the card. She put her hands to her head and started to scream, "Wh-what is happening to me? How…this can't be…"
Hands clutching her head tightly, Sakura watched the whole thing. Eriol-kun must have found him. She thought.
Tomoyo started screaming at the top of her lungs, "AAAAAA! I'M LOSING CONTROL! I have to…..GET OUT OF HERE!" She put her hands together to cancel the technique and a blue spirit came out of Tomoyo and then she fell on the ground.
Sakura ran up to Tomoyo and knelt beside her, "Tomoyo-chan! Tomoyo-chan! Can you hear me?" She held Tomoyo's head on her thighs to help rest her.
Then she saw Tomoyo slowly open her eyelids half-way, "Sa...Sakura...chan?" Sakura smiled with relief and saw that Tomoyo was okay.
Sakura helped Tomoyo up on her feet, "Are you okay Tomoyo-chan? You aren't hurt are you?"
Tomoyo shook her head groggily and softly spoke, "What happened? I don't remember what I did. Ah! Sakura-chan, you're hurt? Oh no…" Sakura looked at her puzzled. "I did this didn't I…I remember that someone was controlling me and were speaking my words. Also I had no control on my body." With tears in Tomoyo's amethyst eyes she hugged Sakura tightly, "SAKURA-CHAN! GOMEN (I'm sorry)!"
She started shaking and Sakura hugged her back, "Daijobou Tomoyo-chan. You don't have to worry." Tomoyo sniffed and released Sakura. Both of the girls stood up and Sakura took out "The Windy" card once again. "WINDY, BLOW AWAY THIS MIST!" Coming out of the card once again Windy raised her arms and a gust of wind blew away the mist. When the mist cleared they saw Eriol walking towards them with a limp body of a man that was being dragged behind him. The girls ran up to him and saw the unconscious man.
"This was the man controlling you Tomoyo. It appears to be the same man from earlier before when he attacked us by suprise."
Tomoyo's eyes widened, "Otashi? But I thought the guy we were pursuing was Iruka. So do you think Iruka sent Otashi to ambush us to buy time?"
"Eriol's eyes wandered to Otashi, "It seems that way Tomoyo." They all stared at Otashi for some time and then he started to wake up.
His eyes flashed opened and got up quickly but could not move; he was bounded by a rope, "What the-? Where am I? YOU!" He glared at Eriol who was smiling at him. "How did you dispel my technique?"
Eriol continued to smile at Otashi, "It was quite simple actually. I know a lot more magic than you do Otashi-san. I had to locate where you were controlling Tomoyo first, that was quite simple. You were in a very obvious spot, the trees. As soon as I found you, I just had to lodge myself into Tomoyo's mind. When I saw you in her mind, I had to do was beat you up a bit." Otashi bit his bottom lip and looked away from Eriol. Eriol shrugged his shoulders and looked at Tomoyo and Sakura, "Well I think we should tie him to somewhere so he won't get away." He looked around and dragged Otashi to a tree. He then snapped his fingers and the rope lengthen itself and tied Otashi. Eriol turned and then stopped abruptly, "Oh yes, before I forget…" He snapped his fingers again and all the weapons that Otashi had came out of his clothes and were thrown to a far away shrub.
Otashi grunted and squirmed all his might but couldn't move. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS! YOU HEAR ME! YOU WILL PAY!" He continued shouting as the three started to walk towards Syaoran. They met up with him and saw that Kero was holding down Syaoran. He was in his true form and he was beginning to get annoyed at Syaoran struggling under him.
Eriol laughed, "You can let go now Kerberos. We have to be at the shrine. We're pretty close it should take us an hour or so." Kero nodded and looked at the top of the mountain.
He saw a little roof in sight and Kero squinted, "So that's the Earth Dragon's shrine." Everyone met his gaze and saw the little roof. Syaoran staggered up and glowered at Kero.
Tomoyo walked up to Syaoran and bent her head down, "Gomen Li-kun."
Taken by surprise, Syaoran shrugged, "Whatever, it doesn't matter. You couldn't help it."
Tomoyo nodded slowly and walked to Eriol next, "Gomen Eriol-kun. I almost killed you by the Chidori."
Eriol laughed heartily, "It's alright Tomoyo. I'm just happy you're back to normal." Tomoyo smiled sweetly to him as a thank-you. He nodded back and started walking up to the trail that led to the shrine. The others followed him and then Eriol stopped; they were about ten minutes away from the shrine when Eriol stopped abruptly.
Sakura with a curious look on her face asked Eriol, "Eriol-kun, why are we stopping? The shrine is up ahead, we're so close!" Eriol put his hand up to silence her.
She shut her mouth and Tomoyo walked up to her, "Sakura-chan don't you feel that aura?"
Sakura breathed and felt a dark purple aura swirling around her, "It's someone with extraordinary power…" she breathed. Tomoyo nodded and jumped to a rock that was close to the shrine. She crouched and peered over a rock and she saw someone approaching the shrine. Tomoyo looked back down to the group and waved her hands that someone was approaching.
"Tomoyo, you have to stop him from getting the weapon. You have to distract him some how." He spoke through Telepathy and Tomoyo nodded. She took out a kunai and threw it at the person. Noticing the kunai he dodged it and looked around who threw the kunai. Then Tomoyo threw five shrurikens at the person who dodged each one. Tomoyo jumped up from her spot while holding a kunai. She landed and started to run towards the cloaked person and threw her kunai and it struck the person's arm. As the individual took out the kunai it started charging at Tomoyo with the kunai.
Tomoyo was ready with another kunai at hand and then from behind her she heard a shout, "DAI KAMAITACHI NO JUTSU!" A gust of wind blew past Tomoyo and hit the person who was charging at her. The character flew back and hit her back on a tree and gasped. The cloaked person fell onto the ground and the hood that was covering his/her face started to fall back. Revealing under the hood was deep crimson red hair that was tied up into a ponytail that reached down to the middle of her back. She had a pair of stunning silver eyes and had a light tan color on her skin. She was magnificently beautiful in a dark way. She huffed with stress and took off her cloak, revealing black tank top with forest green shorts. On the back she had a large shuriken that was almost the size of her self. She stood up erectly and with her eyes scanned both Tomoyo and Sakura.
She glared at them, "Who do you think you are?" She took off the shuriken from her back and was getting ready to throw it. After a few seconds she threw it at Sakura and Tomoyo. The speed of which the giant shuriken travelled was remarkable. But they both dodged it easily and just as Sakura landed she swung her fan once again. Dozens of wind blades came out of Sakura's fan and each and every single one of them hit the woman. The blades of wind cut and gashed her arms and legs. She screamed in pain and fell to the ground.
Sakura smiled to herself, "Well that was pretty easy wasn't it Tomoyo-chan?" she turned around and started to walk away when the woman who was on the ground smirked. She got up quickly and threw a kunai at Sakura which pierced through her left shoulder. Sakura screamed with pain and surprise, she dropped to her knees and slowly turned her head. There she saw the woman standing up with no cuts or scars that were left from the wind blades.
Sakura's eyes widen, "How, how could you have no cuts or gashes that was left from my attack?"
The woman smirked evilly, "My body regenerates instantly after it is damaged from anything. Therefore I can never die in battle or anywhere."
Tomoyo who was listening intently growled, "So you must be Iruka that we heard about from the innkeeper."
The woman glanced at Tomoyo and laughed, "That was a fake name I gave myself, my real name is Anko. I knew you lot would follow me after you heard about the weapons so I gave myself a fake name and put Otashi to stall you guys. But it seems that Otashi failed to kill you all…" She than summoned a replication of her self and both brought out five shrurikens each.
They threw it at both girls who were caught off guard, as Sakura staggered to get up to dodge the shrurikens she heard a rough voice from above, "GOD OF WIND COME FORTH!" A wind came behind Sakura and blew each of the shrurikens away. She looked up and saw Syaoran who landed beside her. He knelt down and saw the impaled kunai in her shoulder, "Daijo dis ka (are you okay)?" Sakura nodded and winced at the pain when Syaoran pulled out the kunai from her shoulder. Syaoran helped Sakura onto her feet and she thanked him. He nodded and held his sword in front of him, "So what's with this girl? I thought you attacked her with that technique of yours?"
Sakura with a serious face replied, "I was surprised myself that she didn't die. I was sure that my aim was perfect. But it seemed it didn't take in affect at all."
"She heals instantly after she's harmed," Explained Tomoyo. "For some reason she holds incredible regeneration powers, like a demon," She paused and narrowed her eyes to Sakura, "…..Sakura-chan…"
Sakura who was noticing her gaze nodded, "Right, I'm ready." Tomoyo nodded and disappeared.
Anko smirked, "Seems like they have a plan. Well anything they do won't work on me." She then saw her weapon flying back towards her. She grabbed the immense shuriken and was about to throw it again when something grabbed her ankles. She looked down and saw two arms that were above the ground. She tried to move but was hold firmly to her place. As on cue, Sakura summoned her staff and threw "The Shot" card in front of her. Hitting the staff at the card a woman with long flowing hair dressed in a black outfit and jester boots was summoned.
Sakura then pointed her staff at Anko, "Fire." The card nodded and stuck out her hand, a yellow orb was forming. Anko swallowed the lump that was in her throat as she saw the how much the orb was growing. When the orb was a size of a barrel, she threw the yellow sphere at Anko.
As she saw the immense sphere coming towards her, she felt bad vibes all over her body. She tried to move but Tomoyo held her down, "Yum mi (This is bad)!" The orb hit her directly. Tomoyo let go off her ankles quickly to dodge the sphere. She reappeared beside Sakura and watched as the woman started to disintegrate in the yellow light. A few seconds, the light disappeared and saw the woman. Who was on her knees and smoke was rising from her body. Her hair was unwound now showing her long crimson hair.
Tomoyo looked at her and saw she wasn't moving, "Is she dead?"
Sakura was about to answer but was interrupted with a faint laughter. Sakura turned and saw Anko chuckling softly as she staggered up to her feet.
She was up on her feet and was laughing even louder. "Did you think that would work on me?" She lifted her head and saw she had a mad look on her face. "Now it's my turn." She than raised her hand and a blue glow was surrounding it. She ran straight for Tomoyo and swung her arm; which Tomoyo dodged easily. Anko was still pursuing her and finally she grabbed Tomoyo's arm. At the moment Tomoyo felt her touch, pain went through her arm. She cried out in pain and yanked her arm out of Anko's grasp. She stepped back and clutched her arm.
She looked at Anko who was smirking, "What did you do to me!" but as she observed at what happened before she was injured, she gasped and spoke, "You just cut my arm tendons!" She tried to move her arm but couldn't. Too much pain was flooding through it.
Anko laughed manically, "My hand is like a scalpel, but made out of chakra. It can cut through any muscles without damaging the surface of the skin. If I keep this up you will die." Tomoyo gritted her teeth as she clutched her arm. Anko smiled and jumped. She took a deep breath, "Ninpou Dokugiri (poison gas)!" She exhaled and purple mist came out of her mouth. It was heading right towards the four.
Sakura struck her wand, "FLY!" She flew up to the sky. Syaoran jumped to a high tree where the gas couldn't reach him. Eriol joined Sakura up in the sky, but he used a float spell. Sakura saw that Tomoyo couldn't move because of her injury.
Sakura threw a card in front of her, "Fl-"But she was too late. Someone grabbed Tomoyo's ankles.
Tomoyo fell down onto the ground, "She ma ta! She got my achilles tendons. I can't move my legs!" Anko released herself from the ground and jumped away from the mist. As the gas came closer towards Tomoyo, Sakura quickly summoned her float card but was stopped by Eriol going towards Tomoyo. He grabbed Tomoyo by the waist and carried her safely up to the sky with Sakura.
Eriol faced Sakura, "Sakura-san."
She nodded and threw the float card once more, "FLOAT!" A pink round ball with wings came out of the card.
Eriol carefully put Tomoyo on top of it, "Arigato Eriol-kun…" Eriol nodded. As the gas faded away, they saw Anko jump back onto the ground. Syaoran jumped off the tree and faced her. He held his sword in front of him. Anko only smiled; she than charged at Syaoran. She swung her arm towards his heart but he jumped back just in time. At the same time Syaoran jumped back he saw an opening to counter. Just as he landed, he bent down low and jump forward cutting the side of Anko. She stuttered a few steps but regained her balance. Anko charged at Syaoran and threw some jabs at him which he blocked with his sword. She than faked a punch and he fell for it. As she saw an opening in his stance she touched his right leg and than his and left arm. Syaoran fell to the ground as he felt a sudden pain from his leg and arm. He cursed in Chinese and strained himself to get up. As he staggered up he held his sword with his right arm. His arm was shaking from the lack of strength that his body gave him.
Anko smirked and tossed her head, "I don't understand why you are so persistent. You already know that you've lost. I cut your hamstrings and arm tendons. Without those you are vulnerable." Without warning she jumped forwards and punched him in the side of the face which sent him flying back. Syaoran grunted and threw his sword with all his strength with his right arm. The sword came towering at Anko which caught her by surprise. She tried to dodge it but the sword struck her near her right arm and the blade went through her shoulder. Anko winced at the pain; she looked at her arm where the sword struck her. Red blood was running down the blade of the sword after it had impaled her. Breathing hard, Anko slowly took out the sword and dropped it on the ground. She suddenly collapsed, and she was on her hands and knees. Anko was panting hard; she touched the wound but drew back quickly. She gasped and than looked at the sword that was laying on the ground, "Poison, you spread poison on your sword didn't you?"
Syaoran only smiled at her. Anko growled and tried to move but her body started to go numb. Sakura, who watched the scene went to ground level and crouched down where Syaoran was holding his right arm. She ran towards him and slapped his hand away from his arm, "Daijo dis ka? Ta-ku, you're so reckless Syaoran-kun, just charging up to her full throttle with no strategy. You have to think things through. Now I have to heal you." She raised her hands summoning the chakra she needed to heal Syaoran but all of a sudden a hand grabbed her. Sakura looked and it was Syaoran holding her wrists.
Syaoran looked at Sakura, "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." He nodded towards Anko who was still on the ground and said, "Finish her off."
Sakura nodded and turned to see where Anko was; she was on the ground completely paralyzed. Sakura walked up to Anko and smirked, "Seems like this poison that Syaoran-kun spread on his sword is very persistent. I guess you will probably die anytime soon." Anko gritted her teeth. All of a sudden she quickly got up, took out a kunai knife and stabbed Sakura right in the chest. Sakura was taken completely by surprise and could not react at all. Her eyes widen and than she felt a pang of pain all over her body. Anko hastily took out the kunai and watched Sakura fall to the ground and cough out blood. Tomoyo, Eriol, Syaoran and Kero all had their eyes wide open at what happened to Sakura.
They all shouted, "SAKURA!" Tomoyo tried to stand up but still her leg was in a middle of recuperating. Eriol was in the air but was somehow frozen to his place. Syaoran, the only one who could move ran sluggishly towards where Anko and Sakura were. He then punched Anko on the side of the cheek that made her fall on the ground.
Syaoran came to Sakura's aid and put a hand on her shoulder, "Sakura, are you okay?" He took a look at the wound and saw a pool of blood spilling out of her chest. "Holy shit, what a wound..." He continued, "Do you have enough charka to heal yourself?" Sakura nodded slowly and put her hands on her chest. The light green glow came up again and was slowly healing her wound. He than turned back to where Anko was but noticed she wasn't there anymore. He scanned the area and finally saw her running towards the weapon of the Earth Dragon. He gasped and started to sprint towards her. He winced in pain because his left leg was still injured. He grabbed his sword that was lying on the ground and threw it ahead of Anko which stopped her at her tracks. She turned and gritted her teeth; she then threw her humongous shuriken at him which he dodged easily. The shuriken came back at him but this time he didn't move dodge fast enough. The giant shuriken deeply cut Syaoran on his side and blood was running freely from the wound. It came back to Anko, she smiled and she put it back on her back. She then charged at Syaoran with a kunai and did a few swipes at him. He dodged each of them and then crouched down and tripped her feet. She fell down and Syaoran took this chance to get his sword. He dove for it and grabbed it. He held it with as steady as he could with his right arm but his arm was shaking due to exhaustion. Anko and Syaoran charged at each other head on. Sakura was in the middle of recuperating herself when she felt a pulse in her mind. She stopped, and turned her head towards the shrine. The pulse in her head started to grow louder each time she came closer to it.
She got up and started walking towards the shrine, "Something's calling me…." She arrived at the shrine and saw a green long bow and a quiver of arrows in a pouch. As she looked closely at the weapon she could see it move and hear the pulsing. "It's calling to me?" Sakura slowly outstretched her arm towards the bow. The pulse grew quicker and when Sakura grabbed the bow, a light green glow formed around her body. "Nan-da (What the-?)? I feel, as if my power is starting to grow." She then grabbed the quiver of arrows and swung it behind her back. She then faced the battle scene where Syaoran and Anko were deadlocked. Syaoran's sword and Anko giant shuriken were deadlocked but Anko was winning. Syaoran, exhausted fell on his right leg, his left arm dangling at his side useless, and Anko towering above him driving her shuriken downwards towards his heart. Syaoran, growing more tired by the second thought, "Is this the end for me?" and looked at Anko who was smiling at him. Sakura held her bow and took out an arrow. She set it on the string and drew it back. Sakura closed one eye and aimed at Anko who was deadlocked with Syaoran.
Anko was about to drive her giant shuriken one last time towards Syaoran when she saw in the corner of her eye a bright green light coming towards her. She jumped back in the air and barely dodged it. Syaoran dropped his sword and collapsed because of fatigue "Thank you Sakura…for saving me.." he thought and let himself fall through the darkness of sleep. Meanwhile, Anko landed on a nearby branch her eyes narrowed as she located the person who shot the arrow. She looked down and saw Sakura armed with another arrow. Anko had to look twice to see if her eyes were playing a trick on her. She gaped at the weapon that was held in Sakura's hands. It was a long, forest green bow. It had many little designs all over the bow. It was as long as Sakura's body but just a few inches above her head. The string is a Dragons whisker. When Anko looked up and down on the weapon her eyes widened each time.
Her body started to quiver and she slowly pointed her index finger towards Sakura, "H-H-How can the weapon ch-choose you? The weapon can only choose a person who is strong hearted and has great experience with their magic…Y-you have, how do you hold magic?"
Sakura shrugged, "How should I know? It wasn't my choice for it to choose me. Putting that aside I think you should go to the "Other World" where all your other friends are." She pulled the arrow back and released it. As the arrow was flying through the air, a bright green glow started to surround it. The arrow was going towards Anko at an incredible speed. Anko screamed, and at that moment the arrow pierced through her. Eyes widened from everyone. Anko was dead in an instant, her legs gave in and she fell from the tree. There was no movement on her cold still body but a pool of dark blood spilling out of her body. Sakura heaved a sigh and dropped to the ground. She dropped the bow and laid her hands onto the soft, moist ground.
Sakura ran towards the body of Syaoran and turned him so that he faced up. She gasped when she saw the state he was in. Cuts everywhere along his body, and the deep wound on his side were still gushing out blood. Right away she began to heal him. "…Please be alive…" she thought through out the time she was healing him. It took awhile not because of the damage Anko had inflicted upon him but because of Syaoran himself pushing his other muscles which stressed and tore them. Suddenly Syaoran started coughing, Sakura sighed with relief and Syaoran slowly opened his eyes, "What happened? Is the battle over? Is Anko dead?" but the next thing he knew Sakura was hugging him. Syaoran was confused and then Sakura let go of him, "Taku, you say I'm reckless and I push myself too hard…baka." She hugged him once again.
Tomoyo who had also finished healing herself ran up to Sakura and Syaoran and knelt by them, "Sakura-chan? How, how come you have the weapon of the Earth Dragon?"
She released Syaoran and shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. For…some…reason something seemed to be calling me…When I reached the bow it started pulsing. Then after I touched it a green glow started to form around my body and I felt my power starting to increase. It was very strange…"
Eriol came at that moment after she had finished, "Interesting Sakura-san. It is strange for dragons to have weapons. How can dragons have such things? In books and paintings, it appears that dragons don't have the capability to hold them. But then again……" He trailed off. Everyone was silent. In their minds they knew that Eriol was right, but how could dragons hold such tiny weapons since they are gigantic and humongous? Sakura sighed; this was all too confusing for her. She slowly stood up and held the green bow in front of her. She looked up and down at the bow.
She lightly traced the carvings with her finger, "Ne, Eriol."
Eriol turned his head towards Sakura, "Na nee (what is it)?"
Without taking her eyes off the bow she quietly spoke, "Why did this Bow "choose" me and no one else? Does this have to do with the Prophecy? Also, you said that Dragons aren't capable to hold weapons! Is this true? Do you think these Five Dragons had another special pow-"
"Sakura-san, I know you have a lot of questions flailing in your head. But we'll figure them out later, we need to rest. C'mon, let's go back to the Inn." Sakura nodded. She helped Tomoyo off the ground and started walking towards the direction where the Inn was located.
She then turned back around and smiled, "Let's go, minna!" Everyone looked at her and nodded. Together they walked off into the dying sunset, leaving their problems behind them.
A/N: Yaaay! Finished Chapter 9! I think my fight scenes are a little better….right..? Ehehehehe, oh well. Little S+S hugging there! Bwahahaa! Please Read and Review! Stay tuned for Chapter 10!
