OKAY! I know this is a few days late, but here's another chapter for another month! Have fun. I'd also like to give a big hug to everyone who reviewed my story- without you guys I would have left it unwritten: Rin Hitokiri, helen, Mizuki Hikari, Boheme, iamkagomeiloveinuyasha, and Crying Flower. I also want to give a shout out to last chapter's reviewers, since I didn't have time to write my thanks to them. You guys all rock!

This chapter was long in coming, and hopefully satisfies the long, drawn out meeting between Syao and Saku. It also has a great fighting scene which is always a bonus in my book. So, on with the story.

"blah blah blah" Talking

'blah blah blah' Thinking or telepathy.

"blah blah blah" French/emphasized words. I think yo can figure out which is which.

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Ch. 12- The Coming of the Wolves

Most of the fighting was over by now, with Blob out for the count, Toad in crippling pain from whatever Eva had done (Rogue was personally creeped out by her now), and Colossus tanked by her touch. She was making quick work of Pyro with Kitty, who had been harassing the valley girl throughout the whole fight, when she noticed it. The howling.

She couldn't help but stop mid-battle to look around, and noticed that Pyro, along with the others, had stopped to look, too. It suddenly became dark.

Kitty instinctively pressed closer to Rogue, who was admittedly more than happy for it. Whatever it was that was turning day into night, it was powerful. Rogue gave Shadowkat a nudge, and they both fell into defensive stances. Whatever came, they'd be as prepared for it as they could be.

The sky became a dusty dull gray color. Rogue, back to back with her fellow x-man, looked out through the trees, straining her eyes looking for any danger or threat to the two of them.

Rogue's breath hitched. Slowly, as if being painted into existance, things were beginning to appear in the distance. Lantern-like greenish gold orbs appeared all over the area, steadily growing in luminosity and size until her eyes were tearing from the brightness, and she closed her eyes afraid that she'd go blind if she kept them open. She felt Kitty's shaking form against her back, and grabbed the younger girl's hand in her glove encased one,trying to reassure her despite her own growing fear.

The light abruptly dimmed down, and when Rogue opened her eyes again, blinking as her eyes slowly adjusted, she realized that it had become deep night, knowing it shouldn't have been later than 6 pm. The moon was out, larger and brighter than she had ever seen before, with thousands of vivid stars scattered across an unfamiliar sky. Rogue looked down, and the park they were in had become a forest, with high spiring trees and the dense, earthy smell of the wild.

It was then that the wolves appeared. Pouring into the clearing from all sides, the wolves stalked forwards, gleaming white teeth glimmering in the dark. Their hides, while all of different colors- mottled browns and blacks, whites and greys- all held a strange sheen of golden green. They were all abnormally large, too. Standing between five to six feet tall and terribly dangerous in appearance, they looked like they'd stepped out from somebody's nightmare. X-men, Acolytes, and Brotherhood alike huddled together in the middle of the field, except Syaoran, who was still bent over the girl.

Eva, who had stood as if in shockand awe for most of these happenings, seemed to come to herself. "Syaoran!" She called out, scrambling to get to the Li Clan leader, but Jean held her back fearing for her life.

"You can't go out there! It's too dangerous!" She cried out to her friend.

"You don't understand, Jean! There's no time. Kurt, help me get to Syaoran!" Kurt gulped, looking out at the wolves surrounding them.

"No Eva, don't think about it. The best chance we have for survival is to stick together; if you leave the team you'll be easy prey!" Cyclops added on, holding her back.

"No, you don't get it Scott! I think these wolves were summoned by Syaoran. The only way to get rid of them is to get Syaoran to banish them!"

"You're sure?"

Eva bit her lip. "Almost positive." It wasn't quite the answer they wanted, but the wolves were closing in and they didn't have much time.

"Nightcrawler, please will you bring me? You don't have to stay," Kurt looked pale even despite his blue fur, but grimly nodded. He wouldn't leave his new roomate in danger.

"Alzright, we go." He took a deep breath as Eva latched on to him, and bampfed out of the circle. Meanwhile, Rogue noted with increased unease, the wolves were getting closer, and growling.

By that time, Syaoran and the hostage were completely surrounded by wolves. Yet, they flowed past him as if they didn't see him- no, more like… they knew him? They brushed closely by as they past him, some stopping to sniff, others gently butting his hand as they flowed by, but Li looked like he was in a trance and hadn't even felt it.

Eva and Kurt appeared next to them.

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It had taken Eva a while to get over her astonishment, and further, her disbelief at what she saw was happening around her. She thought she'd never see it, the Wolf Spirit Summoning, Bei Chai. It was one of the most dangerous and powerful summonings of moon magic, one that was meant to utterly annihilate enemies.

She had heard that Li had done it once when he battled against his most powerful enemy, sorcerer Xin Dian Huo. The man was a fire elemental expert who was good at stirring up riots and other trouble, always leaving massive bloodshed in his wake.

On their last confrontation Dian Huo had brought a small army of sorcerers to the Li Clan Estates to kill Syaoran and become dictator of the Clan, and erstwhile ravaged and killed anyone in their wake. Syaoran, acting to save his clan, came out and faced them alone, using this summoning. Half an hour later, when the spell finally settled, not a single one of Xin or his men were in sight. It was as if they disappeared completely, except for reports of people occasionally hearing echoes of muted screams during nights of the full moon.

Li had never done any summoning magic since. He had come out of that incident scarred, his eyes tormented and heavy. Eva had no idea what triggered this reaction, but she had to stop him before everyone inside died.

For some reason, the wolves completely ignored her and Kurt, to their endless gratitude. It was odd and she wondered about it, but didn't have the time to think on that peculiarity. She went up to Syaoran.

"Li! Li, listen to me! You have to stop this! You can't kill them all!" The stoic leader's face remained blank, as if he couldn't see her at all, still staring at the girl on the ground.

"Syaoran!" She grabbed his face and tilted it towards her, trying to wake him from his trance. From behind her, she could hear the screams of the x-men, and the sound of battle. She looked back to see the group trying to keep the wolves away, but she knew if this didn't end soon their efforts would be futile. She turned back to Li.

"Xiao Lang!" She shouted into his face, slapping him. His mind stayed removed, eyes glazed. The screams grew louder and she looked back, fearing what she would see.

The wolves had entered the circle's ranks, seeping deep into it. Eva herself screamed as she got out her throwing knives, ready to fight to the death to save them. However, the wolves didn't seem to be biting any of them. They continued deeper into the terrified crowd, who were slowly calming when as they noticed the wolves' ignorance of them. The wolves passed by them as if they weren't there, just obstacles, making their way into the center…

Peitro ran out of the crowd as if caught aflame. Across his arm a was a bleeding red claw mark. Like a homing signal, all the wolves turned towards the white-haired mutant. Realization struck Eva, and she turned to Kurt.

"Nightcrawler, listen to me: we have to protect Speed Demon! Get the rest of them to help in any way they can, the wolves won't intentionally hurt them… I think. So just keep Pietro safe!" Nightcralwer was gone in a flash, leaving Eva going back to try and end Li's spell.

Eva kept trying to wake him, do anything she possiby could but nothing seemed to work. Pietro's cries of fear became louder and more insistant, and the wolves angrier and more vengeful. They weren't attacking the other mutants yet, but she feared if they kept blocking the wolves, the wolves would be spurred into all-out attack.

"Li! Please, you don't want to do this!" She screamed in his ear. "Please, please, please, Syaoran Li, wake up!"

Suddenly, everything came to a halt. The wolves stopped in their tracks, some mid-jump, landing gracefully as they backed away from the group. Li's eyes, which were dull and glassy, seemed to come alive. He looked down, Eva following his glance, to find the hostage alive and awake, ableit weak. She was grabbing Li's ankle.

The summoning dissipated, the wolves turning their backs and disappearing into the foreign landscape as the scene blew away like fog, leaving the stunned group in a battle-scarred park. Confusion and exhaustion reigned as the mutants collapsed, and a few laughed mirthlessly, glad to have survived the encounter.

Eva took a deep breath, noticing her hands shaking, and turned to look at Syaoran again. She watched, confounded, as Li gave the hostage girl a light, heartwarming smile. And with that, Syaoran collapsed unconcious, falling backwards onto the bruised earth.

Eva blinked, feeling a little hurt and extremely confused. She had no idea what was going on, but there were two people on the field that needed to get in the med bay as soon as possible. Quickly, she got the team moving, getting Li and the mysterious girl on the blackbird, ready to fly out.

The Acolytes and Brotherhood, seeing that they had just been thorougly beaten began moving out too. Falling into a chair, she took a shuddering breath. It was over, for now. She looked at the unconcious girl, strapped down in the back of the jet next to Syaoran and wondered. Who was this girl, and what exactly was she to Syaoran?

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Ten minutes after the battle had ended, Eriol and Tomoyo were staring at the ruined field, stunned. They had been desperately trying to track down Sakura during the whole battle, and clearly their efforts were in vain.

Eriol didn't understand it; with such a powerful aura signature as hers, it should have been easy to locate her even if she was weak or asleep. It was as if something was blocking her presence, or masking it. And on top of that, whenever Eriol did manage to catch her trail, she was moving incredibly fast, and turning irregularly.

Tomoyo turned towards him, looking lost and afraid. "Where is she, Eriol? Where's our Sakura?" Questions about her well-being hung off her words in the bated silence.

Eriol did not want to say he didn't know. He could not. Hell, how could the reincarnation of the most powerful sorcerer of all time not be able find her? All he needed was a little time and some clues. This was just another setback to keep in mind, nothing more. With a little time and patience, he'd be ready.

"We'll find her Tomoyo, I promise you," He finally ground out. "But first, we have to find clues about who kidnapped her. Let's split up and search the field for clues."

Tomoyo quickly nodded her assent, wiping a stray tear as she headed for the far left corner of the field, where something akin to a crater was made. Eriol watched her wander off before turning his sights onto the magic that had been used, heading back a distance towards the treeline.

Studying it, he noticed something he'd had a hard time believing, something that he had faintly felt since they got a hold on this location: he was alsmost sure there were traces of his descendant's magic. He'd seen the young man sparingly over the years, since he was always busy with Clan work. Was Li here, perhaps 'kidnapping' the young card mistress?

Turning around to tell Tomoyo his suspicions, he then noticed something else perhaps even more horrifying.

"Tomoyo?" Eriol called, looking around the empty field. No one called back. "Tomoyo! Come out!" Still, the young Japanese girl's face did not appear. He felt for her aura, and felt nothing nearby except the jumbled auras of the nearby town, and one faint, suspiciously familiar aura… Remy Lebleau!

Eriol's magic flared, voilent blue hues invading the landscape as he sent his magic crawling across the field. Eriol had just known he was bad news, and now he had a good reason to utterly destroy him, especially if he hurt Tomoyo in any way. He felt sure that Sakura's disappearance was somehow connected to Tomoyo's, and if he found one of them he'd shortly find the other.

And so, with an arsenal of facts and sheer determination, he was going to take the kidnappers to their knees.

XCXCXCXCXCXC

Sakura woke up as if from a long sleep, taking her time as she slowly slipped into conciousness. Sleepily wiping at her eyes, she awoke to find herself in an unfamiliar, sterile looking room. Her breath caught as her sleep-fogged memory sparked life, reminding her of everything that had transpired before her restful sleep.

While with Eriol, Tomoyo, and kind Mr. LeBleau she had been kidnapped. She remembered her high-speed struggle, her terrible fall, and little else. Something niggled in the back of her mind, telling her that she'd forgotten something important but she couldn't seem to remember. And despite just having awoken, she found herself inevitably tired again. Already her eyes were drooping as she cast about her memory for that intriuging fact that eluded her. However, sleep won as she fell back into a healing slumber.

XCXCXCXCXCXC

Sakura opened her eyes to find herself in the same sterile room she had awoken to earlier, except now she heard sounds of battle outside.

The dull thud of staccatoed explosions sounded, muffled by distance and debris. The sounds of fighting- grunts and yells and flesh hitting flesh could be heard underneath the blasts.

Unnerved by all the fighting going on, Sakura slipped out of the bed and cautiously exited the room, wondering what was happening. She felt like she had fallen asleep for a century or so only to have been woken by a bloody war. She cautiously walked down the charred hallway, trying to get out without running into the fight.

Suddenly, she saw a hazy figure standing at the end of the hallway, hard to make out from the light. Her rational mind told her to run, but her limbs didn't seem to want to listen as she stood in place and watched the figure.

"Come, Sakura." The figure turned and started walking away. Sakura, confused and wary, tentatively followed after the mysterious figure. Coming out into an austere entrance room, she caught up to the figure – a man she now realized- who was facing away from her, looking out a door.

The sound of explosions crescendoed as she walked closer, and caught sight of the outdoors. Sakura's heart caught in her throat as she watched the carnage of a terrible battle ensuing. Sorcerers and people with strange auras battled together against eachother, causing utter destruction. And most horrible of all, in the midst of this battle was a black sorcerer, creating utter chaos.

There were many different types of sorcerers; moon sorcerers, sun, star, even planet sorcerers. But all of them cast alliegence to beneficial or detrimental magic. You could have a light sorcerer like Sakura, one who mostly did good, or a grey sorcerer like Eriol, who chose to do both good and bad as things suited him. There were also dark wizards, the type she had to fight most often, and the incredibly rare white sorcerer, one who did no harm and could only cast incredibly powerful healing and evasion magic.

And then there was the black sorcerer. The black sorcerer was a light sorcerer's worst enemy, a person with no qualms about killing or torture or even more terrible things. Born from a ritual where the sorcerer willingly gave up his soul and concsience in exchange for lethal, incredibly dangerous powers to exact revenge, the black sorcerer was a mindless killing machine. The sorcerer also had to have killed at least one other sorcerer before the ritual, to prove themselves worthy of the ritual. If they hadn't killed and attempted the ritual, the ritual would give them a bloody death.

Sakura watched in horror as the black sorcerer terrorized the battleground. Whoever the sorcerer had once been (for now they were no longer a sorcerer, so much as a vessel of hate), the person had clearly already been very powerful even before the transformation. Now, the black sorcerer was unstoppable.

Grabbing the star key from her neck, she prepared to battle the heartless creature that had already probably killed so many. Her hands shook at the thought, because she knew the black sorcerer was clearly much stronger than her, but she just couldn't watch it anymore- the killing, the destruction, the hate.

Just as she released her wand, the figure spoke up again. "Don't try to fight him, Sakura. It will do you no good."

Sakura stopped mid-step, looking at the man. "What?" She asked, squinting against the light. She still couldn't quite make out his facial features, though she could clearly see him as an older man, perhaps in his fifties.

"The black sorcerer is even more dangerous than you think, and more important to you than you realize. Remember this moment. And when the time comes, you will know what to do."

Sakura tilted her head, confused. "Know what to do?"

"Yes." The man shut the door. The sounds of fighting stopped. "You must protect your people at all costs Sakura, even at the cost of your magic."

"My…my magic?" Sakura sidled away from the man, feeling uneasy.

"Put the needs of the people before your own, Sakura. You will know what is right, then."

Everything flashed white.

XCXCXCXCXCXC

Sakura abruptly woke up to the same sterile room, shaking. The dream – was it a dream? She couldn't tell – had shaken her, and she tried to puzzle out what exactly had been going on. Was the dream a prophecy? If so, when was this prophecy going to come true? She half expected to hear explosions, thinking that it was going to happen any moment now. Instead, she heard the door open, and rolled over to look.

A giant blue beast in a lab coat suddenly came through the door, toting a clipboard and pen. Sakura's eyes grew wide and, backing up in the bed she held back a cry of fear. Were her captors planning on experimenting on her?

Turning again towards Sakura, the creature caught sight of her awake and said in perfectly polished english, " Oh! Well then, my dear, welcome back to the realm of the living."

Sakura just sat there, gaping, as the blue creature continued to talk. " You've lived through quite the tumble. How are you feeling now, Sakura?" At Sakura's slack-jawed look, the creature took a different tack.

"Excuse me for my discourtesy, you must be very confused. I am Dr. Hank McCoy of the x-men. Nice to meet you."

Sakura, despite still being wary and confused, shook his hand. "Kini- I mean, Sakura Kinimoto, pleased to meet you, too."

"Well then, Sakura," the furry blue man asked, "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Feel free to ask me any of them to help clarify anything for you."

Feeling a little safer around the man, she asked, "Well, um… Where am I?"

The beast smiled. "Good question. Right now you are in Westchester, New York, with the X-Men."

"X-Men?" Sakura echoed.

"A group of mutant

a group of mutants dedicated to peace between ourselves and the general populace. You are currently healing from a rather nasty fall you took due to the Brotherhood's interference, another mutant group with more hostile opinions on human-mutant relations. You are currently residing in our medical bay for treatment."

Sakura's head was spinning. "Hoe… Mutants? What are they? Are you a mutant?" She asked, staring at his sparking aura. So maybe that's why she'd seen auras like that.

Dr. McCoy chuckled. "Yes, my dear, I'm a mutant. My genetic makeup has changed in such a way that I have inherited unique gifts."

Sakura seemed to digest this for a moment, before adding… "Excuse me… But, how did you know my name?"

The doctor seemed a little surprised. "You don't remember that? Dear, you might have a touch of head trauma." At Sakura's blank stare, he continued, "One of our new teammates seems to have been a good friend of yours during childhood. Do you have any recollection of seeing… Syaoran Li? He often visited you bedside these past few days."

Sakura's breath caught in her throat as in a flash of memory she recalled the fight, waking up to a starry sky to see his familiar face hovering over her. She had thought it all a dream.

"…Yes. I remember." She sat in a daze. Dr. McCoy seemed to realize her roiling emotions and went to find some gauze.

"Excuse me, Mr. McCoy, but where can I find him?"

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After being thoroughly checked by the doctor and given instruction to come by for a quick check up every day this week, Sakura was finally released from the med bay. A perky brunet waited for her at the door, eager to show her around the manor.

"So, like hi! My name's Kitty Pride," She said, looking at Sakura intently with eager eyes. "It's so nice to finally meet you! You were resting for such a long time, and it really got Li worried, even if he didn't say anything," She prattled on. "Li's not much of a talker, or emotional, or whatever, so it was a surprise to see him like that! I mean-" Sakura, who had been trying to get a word in edgewise for the last few moments, finally caught the mutant's attention with a tug on her shirt.

"What's up, Sakura…Ki-mi-yo…to? Is that how you pronounce it, I didn't quite catch it the first time,"

"No, it's Kin-I-moto," Sakura elaborated, "And I was wondering where-"

"AHHH!" The girl in pink screeched as frozen garments of clothing started falling to the ground, having been iced to the ceiling a while ago.

"BOBBY DRAKE, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

For a cute, ableit energetic young girl, Kitty looked downright dangerous as she cornered a blond haired boy who Sakura guessed must have been the 'Bobby' she was referring to.

"You are soooo dead meat, Drake!" She cried, chasing after him with a rolled up newspaper.

"Hoe… Kitty-san?" The girl seemed a bit caught up in her attck, so Sakura left her to chase the blond boy. She could feel her old friends aura pulsing, and heart fluttering, followed it.

Closing her eyes and trusting her magic to guide her, she walked through the complicated hallway system, coming ever closer to what she visualized as a mass of shimmering green-gold. He was actively using his magic in droves she could tell, the familiar tickle of him summoning the elements brushing against her neck. She walked through a door, and opened her eyes.

Taking in her surroundings, she found herself stationed in front of a giant glass pane looking down into what looked like a battle ground. One other person was also in the room, looking at her quizzically as she draw a heart on glass with her fingers.

"Alright there?" A burly looking man asked her over what looked like the controls. She nodded and would have explained her strange entrance, except he came into view. Syaoran Li was down there, in the flesh.

Her breath caught as she watched him fight. His movements were gracefully lethal, going from one attack to another with such fluidity and precision that it almost looked as if her were dancing. Except it was too fast for dancing, his motions so swift that she'd only just catch the twist of the wrist that blocked a bullet, or his leaning slightly forward and just out of the way of a razor disc.

"Yeah, he's good." It was the burly man again, who she noticed was watching her watching him. She looked up.

"Yes, he is. He was always good at fighting. It's just, seeing him fight now… It makes me realize how much things have changed." Syaoran was always a good fighter, but his lethal precision must have come from more than clan practice. He was incredible.

"Oh, excuse me. My name's Sakura Kinimoto, nice to meet you,"

"Wolverine. So you knew the karate kid when he was younger?" Sakura smiled faintly.

"I like to believe so," she bit her lip.

Just as they finished speaking, a sophisticated-looking blond girl came into the room. Taking a measuring glance at Sakura, she walked up to the window, catching sight of the young sorcerer neatly slicing a robot in half. "So you finally woke up. Syaoran will be glad to hear it,"

"He already knows," Sakura replied distantly. She knew he could feel her presence thrumming from up above, hesitant and curious. How much had he changed? How much had she? Had he forgotten about her? Moved on? She never had. It almost felt like she was watching a stranger.

The blond watched her with a calculating eye. "Kinimoto, right?" Sakura nodded. " I'm Eva Hiachi, Syaoran's partner from Li Clan."

To hear that Syaoran had a new partner stung, but what had she expected? And the way she called him Syaoran…He rarely let anyone call him by his given name, even for Sakura at one time. So Syaoran had moved on."Nice to meet you, Eva. How has the clan been doing?"

"It's been a little chaotic, but over all well. Ever since Syaoran took up leadership the clan's been a bit more stable, though there've been some tough moments,"

"Li's taken up leadership?" She felt like she'd fallen into another world.

Eva looked at her skeptically. "A while ago, yeah. You two are friends, right?"

"Last time I checked," They were silent. Sakura had faithfully written to Syaoran every week for nearly a year despite his rather sparse responses, when he stopped writing back altogether. The last time Sakura'd sent him a letter, she'd gotten all of her month's previous letters sent back to her unopened. He didn't even explain why he stopped writing. She turned away.

The battled scene below ended with an abrupt explosion. The three of them looked down to see Li in a circle of quickly dimming light.

Wolverine, who had been least surprised by this, talked into the mic. "What'd you just do there, kid?"

"Just a little moon magic. Sakura, would you mind meeting me downstairs in ten?"

Sakura nodded, knowing she was not visible through the reflecting glass but would still be understood. They could still read the feeling of her old partner's auras, at least.

"See you then," Was his reply as he turned around and headed for the showers.

XCXCXCXCXCXCX

Sakura waited outside in the corridor, antsy. She wondered how she and him would react around eachother. Would it be uncomfortable and dull? Or would they fake familiarity and pretend to forget all the their issues of silence over the years. She wan't sure.

But when Syaoran finally did come out, all of those thoughts raced out of her head like water through a sieve. She stood as if petrified, and watched her former ally, hair still wet from the shower, walk up to her.

Stuck trying to form some kind of coherent sentence, she was totally surprised when Syaoran came up to her and embraced her in a tight hug. "I'm so glad to see you're alright, Sakura. You have no idea how much you worried me there,"

Any of Sakura's remaining fears of akwardness melted away as she hugged her old friend back, nuzzling her head into his still-wet shoulder. "I can't believe it's really you. It's been so long," She laughed into his shoulder. "How have you been doing, what's going on with the Clan?"

The next few hours flew by without the two of them noticing as they caught up with eachother on their lives. Sakura was stunned over how much the young leader had changed, despite being the same Syaoran she remembered. Even while he was a middle schooler he acted rather mature (sometimes at least), but now he acted twice his age. He was well spoken, confident, and capable.

But he also seemed a bit jaded and world weary. Sakura privately wondered if he really wanted the position of Clan leader so early, because it clearly taxed him. The amount of work he had to do was exceedingly hard even for him, Mr. Efficient.

Despite Sakura's newfound connection with her old friend, she still wanted to ask a few of the less than savory questions lurking in her mind: namely, the reason why he'd decided to stop writing her altogether.

Before Sakura could muster up the courage to ask about why they had stopped communicating however, their conversation was interrupted.

'X-Men, meet in the hangar in ten minutes prepared for battle. Activity has been detected at the Brotherhood.'

(Evan, Eva, Kurt, Scott) (Li, Rouge, Kitty, Jean).

(Blob, Avalanche, Toad, Pietro, St. John, Remy, piotr.