CHAPTER FOUR
Bullet Proof… I Wish I Was
--
Syaoran watched her sleep, his fingers just brushing the tips of her hair.
His back was hunched over as he kept watch. He had pulled the chair close to her bed, after carrying her back home, and he'd huddled there in the same position for hours. He didn't know how long he'd been there, just that he only managed to get rid of Kero a short while ago. It took him that long just to slow his pounding heart before he keeled over on the spot.
But now as he sat there watching her sleep, his back cramping in places he wasn't aware could cramp, Syaoran began to painfully go over every detail he could remember.
He tried to make it candid. He really did. But the fear kept creeping back into his memories. He couldn't shake the sheer terror that gripped him from his thoughts. All he could think was that when she walked into that room, none of them could follow.
He made a move to stop her, to bring her back to him, when he slammed into an invisible barrier. It was worse that it was invisible rather than being opaque, it meant he had to stand there and just watch.
They started to yell her name, to make her come back, but she wouldn't listen. Why wouldn't she listen?
He shook the wild emotion from his thoughts and started over.
Vaguely, he could remember a golden light behind him as Kero transformed, then barely having enough time to get out of the way before a stream of blistering fire blasted into the barrier. Kero had hardly uttered a warning. Tomoyo was already well out of the way. Syaoran had a feeling Kero didn't really care whether or not he turned into a crispy critter.
When nothing worked, Syaoran stood there, banging on the barrier despite being hot to the touch. The pain of it made him feel less worthless. Feeling the heat burn through skin made him think it was better than standing and doing nothing.
But when Touya's corpse wrapped his hands around her throat, Syaoran felt a surge of rage that blinded him, and terror that stopped him cold. He was useless. He didn't know what to do. And all he could think was that he couldn't lose her. Not like this. Not after four years of a misunderstanding.
He squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head like a dog drying himself. He fought off the waves of his own exhaustion. He wanted to be here when she woke up. He needed to… Just see her wake up.
Yue had just come in when Sakura burned up Touya's corpse to the bone. He could remember seeing the charred flesh hanging in strips, right before Sakura collapsed, the barrier evaporating under his touch. He tripped over his own feet getting into the room.
When she hit the floor, everything disappeared. The blood, Touya, every scrap of evidence of anything having ever occurred in there was wiped clean in seconds.
He didn't pay much attention to that at the time. He ran to Sakura, and needless to say, panicked when she wouldn't wake up. Surprisingly, Tomoyo had stepped in as the voice of reason before Syaoran did anything stupid. She'd calmed him down, convinced Kerberos to transform back, and then got them all back to Sakura's home. Of course Yue had cooperated, completely calm.
There was a throbbing, front and centre in his forehead and between his eyes. This was too much. All at once.
He leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes for a just a moment.
He bolted awake to Sakura's screaming.
"Shit, shit," he cursed under his breath as he leaned over the bed. He grasped her upper arms and tried to still her rather than listening to his initial instinct to shake her awake.
"Sakura. Wake up. Come on, Sakura. It's a dream, just a dream. Come back to me."
Her head thrashed on the pillow, eyes squeezing as tears eked out from the corner. Her hands reached up and gripped his forearms until he winced.
"Blood. Blood. So much blood." Her eyes snapped open, such a brilliant green despite her pupils being so dilated that it made him start. "Blood on my hands," she gasped.
As he made hushing, useless noises that sounded relatively calming, he framed her face in his hands so she saw only him. When her eyes focused, she jerked away just as pounding footsteps reached the door and threw it open with a bang.
"Sakura -" he didn't get much further when Kerberos leapt, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there.
"Don't touch her," he snarled.
Kerberos' bared fangs swam in and out of his vision as he recovered from the fall and from his head rapping against the floor.
"Get off him, Kero. Now." Hands pulled him off and Syaoran wheezed in a breath, bright spots still dancing in his eyesight.
Gently Tomoyo helped him to his feet. Sakura was still sitting, curled up on the bed. Kero sat scowling beside her, back in his disguise with his arms crossed. Yukito stood at the doorway, his expression a strange cross between worry and a frown.
Syaoran ignored them. He took a step towards Sakura.
"Are you all right?"
Kero jumped to his feet, but Sakura grabbed him before he could do much else.
"I'm fine." She tugged on Kero's wings. "It was just a nightmare."
"Right."
Syaoran sat back on the chair and leaned forward until she warily glanced up at him.
"What?"
"I want you to tell me everything. Right from when I left. When these things started happening, when you learned so much advanced magic, why you had to… Everything."
Yukito stepped in then, Tomoyo not far behind him.
"No. Not now. She should rest. Doing that sort of -"
But Sakura was already shaking her head.
"No. It's fine." She put Kero back on the bed and gave him a gentle boot with her fingers. "You guys should go downstairs and rest." Frowns were the response she got. "He'll have to know everything soon, anyways. Now is a good a time as any."
Kero stubbornly stayed put.
"The others can go, but I'm going to stay. I'm not leaving you alone with this -" his next words were unrepeatable. Syaoran's eyebrows arched in surprise. Where did he learn that?
"No, Kero. Go downstairs."
She glanced at Tomoyo and she nodded back.
"Come on, Kero," Tomoyo said, scooping him up. "We have cake downstairs."
Kero glared in Syaoran's direction as they left. "Fine, but if I -"
The door closed.
Finally alone, Sakura pulled the covers up over her knees and to her chin.
"So where do you want me to start?"
"The beginning would be nice."
She nodded. "All right."
--
It started a few months after you left. It wasn't anything drastic. Nothing too alarming. Just little things like maybe a missing object or broken lock or something. Things that almost resembled incidents Clow Cards would create.
"Tomoyo!" Sakura jiggled the doorknob impatiently.
"Yes?" Tomoyo asked, appearing behind her.
Sakura started, nearly wetting her pants.
"What are you doing here? Who's in the washroom?"
A slight frown creased Tomoyo's brow. "No one should be. No one's home."
Sakura groaned, thumping her head against the door.
"I have to pee. My bladder is going to explode. Why does your door have to jam now?"
Tomoyo reached over and jiggled the doorknob. "It's not jammed, Sakura. It's locked."
Sakura gritted her teeth and before Tomoyo knew it, she had released the wand and faced the locked door with all the determination she gave in the face of danger.
"What are you doing?"
"I have to pee."
"There are other washrooms…"
"No! Too far."
Tomoyo laughed in exasperation. "What do you plan on doing then?"
"If the Lock can lock doors, it can very well unlock them then, too! Lock!" Sakura paused, suddenly uncertain. "Unlock?"
The door clicked open and Sakura nearly fell over as she rushed in.
"Oh, thank God!"
-
That continued for a little while. It would get a little more difficult as time went by. A little more conspicuous. Like having a freak fire start somewhere I was. One that was a little startling, but not hair-raising. Or we'd have a bridge collapse. Or… I don't know… Kero would suddenly start transforming against his will. That's when I had to really admit everything to… Touya…
"What are you doing home, monster? Don't you have school?"
Sakura turned and gave her brother a sheepish grin and nervous laugh.
"Well… umm…" she mumbled something noncommittal before switching topics as quickly as she could, "What are you doing home? I thought you had… work?"
The truth was, Kero had phoned her at lunch, sounding relatively panicked. She'd rushed home to discover him switching in and out of his two forms. She was clutching him in her hands now, his body ram-rod straight.
"I got out a little early today… Yuki and I have to go shopping."
"Oh…" She let out another little nervous laugh. "Well I should be -"
Kero's wings suddenly began pushing out against her hand.
"Not now," she hissed, nearly panicked herself.
"What are -?"
Golden light suddenly flooded the room as Sakura stepped back, dropping Kero as his wings expanded and nearly knocked her over.
She was cursing under her breath as she watched Kero transform. She glanced over at her brother, but asides from raised eyebrows, it was all the reaction she got. When Kero was done, he crouched on the ground, his eyes getting shiftier by the second as the silence stretched.
"So…" Touya began. "You must be Yue's counterpart?"
Sakura's mouth dropped open.
Touya glanced at her. "Why do you look so surprised? You know I gave Yue my magic so he could survive."
"I… I…" her mind was completely blank.
Kero on the other hand, was now standing and preening.
"I might be his counterpart, but I'm much better looking if I do say so myself."
Touya nodded. "Right." He shot Sakura another look. "Go back to school, monster."
Then he walked out the room before she could form a proper word in her mind.
"Oh God, Kero. That was just… mortifying."
Kero snuck a look at her between preening. "Why? Now we don't have to hide anymore."
Sakura shook her head. "Never mind. Lets just find a way to stop this."
-
I'm not stupid, Syaoran. After all these little incidents happened, and after all the not so little things happened, I realized something. All the situations I was put in made me use my magic a little differently. It made me do things with the Clow Cards I didn't think of doing before, much less thought possible. I… When it got violent, that's when I used magic without the wand for the first time.
The red light blinked at her as Sakura twirled around to face Tomoyo. She heaved out a sigh.
"Do you always have to film me, Tomoyo? I mean… All I'm doing is rollerblading."
Tomoyo just laughed. "Every second is important! You never know what might happen."
Cherry blossoms lined the road they travelled down. Spring made the flowers bloom and cherry blossoms gently fall from the trees. It was the time of day people went out to shop, run errands, or just soak up the spring sunshine.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "Right, Tomoyo. I can't believe you still haven't gotten sick of filming me." She held up a hand to cut off Tomoyo's next words. "I know, I know. It's because I'm so cute, right?"
Sakura just got a smile in return.
She wrinkled her nose at her before pulling ahead of Tomoyo. They had just entered the park and it was hotter this day, and the slight breeze against her skin felt good. She didn't notice the dog barking.
What caught her attention was the sharp cry of what she assumed to be the dog's name.
Then everything that occurred afterwards happened a little too fast.
She was a ways away from Tomoyo, and the dog that broke away from his owner was at a nearly perpendicular angle from Tomoyo and Sakura.
It was an ugly, big brute of a dog. When it escaped the grasp of its owner, it streaked straight towards Tomoyo, ears lying flat on its head and lips peeled back in a snarl. Tomoyo stopped in her tracks, the initial fear and surprise paralyzing her.
Sakura panicked. She was too far away. There were too many people around. There wasn't time for her to call out her wand.
She didn't know what happened next, but she suddenly felt the presence of Windy inside of her. It felt like the magical pulse she felt as she prepared the cards for use, so she went with her gut reaction and took a hold of that feeling inside of herself, and flung it outwards at the charging dog.
As soon as she did, a gust of wind suddenly rose from the ground where she stood and swept out at its target. Stunned, she watched the wind stop the dog dead in its tracks, and lift it half an inch of its feet. The dog yipped in surprise, and as soon as its feet met the ground, turned tail and ran back.
Still incapable of forming proper sentences in her mind, Sakura goggled at Tomoyo who calmly turned back to Sakura, red light still blinking, and smiled.
"See what I mean?"
--
Syaoran sat back when it was clear Sakura was done.
"Is that all?"
Sakura shrugged, avoiding eye contact. "There was one night, after an incident in the park with a little boy that got me pretty worried. I stayed up to make sure nothing else happened. The next day I was supposed to meet with Touya to…" she trailed off, and shrugged again. "The reason isn't really important. But I slept in and… And when I got there…" she stopped. It wasn't really required for her to finish the sentence.
Syaoran knew what she found. He saw it himself today.
So he switched topics. "Windy is a pretty gentle card. Have you used any of the attack cards like Fiery before?"
Sakura shook her head. "Never. I guess that's why I passed out. I must've drained myself out on the magic."
He nodded. "Still, to use magic like Fiery without your wand… Has Kero told you about using magic like this?"
"Yes. He explained how the wand is just a tool to focus your magic through. He also told me that using magic without the wand is like trying to pour liquid into small openings without a funnel." She made a face. "I guess that was his analogy of trying to tell me that it's just harder to control and unpredictable. And messy." She rubbed a hand over her eyes. "I guess that's mainly why I feel like absolute shit right now."
"Still, your magic has grown considerably." He was watching her as he talked. "It's amazing that you can use Fiery like that and only be passed out for what basically amounts to a nap in order for your magic to rejuvenate. No… This thing, it's only been testing you. Can you see that? It's been pushing you to strengthen your magic."
"I'm not stupid, Syaoran," she scowled.
He made an impatient noise at the back of his throat.
"Clearly. But what are we going to do now?"
She finally met his gaze, and the determination in her eyes made him falter.
"We aren't going to do anything. You're going back to Hong Kong."
Things can move at such a pace
The second hand just waved goodbye
--Dixie Chicks
