A/N: Hello again~ I'm really really sorry I didn't put any of Sakura's magic here . Please forgive me... but I think this was a pretty good chapter anyways. Please Review~
Disclaimer: I do not own CCS or Tsubasa
Chapter 5: Courage
Sakura felt weak and helpless… and she couldn't do anything; bound by her own promise not to use magic. Even Kurogane and Fai were busy fighting the advancing guards. Kero-chan on the other hand…
"Kero-chan!" Sakura called.
The plushie nodded, catching onto her meaning quickly. His wings expanded outwards and grew until they covered his whole body. The magician's eyes widened as he sensed a large magical presence behind him. He whirled around in time to see a large thing cocooned by its own wings. Almost immediately, the wings drew back and revealed Cereberus, guardian of the Clow cards.
Without another word, he dove towards the cliff's edge and shot out of sight leaving Kurogane and Fai staring at him bewildered. Fai stole a glance at Sakura; who seemed unsurprised by the turn of events. She must have known… perhaps she was a magician and Kero was her familiar? 'No…' Fai concluded, 'She has too low of a magical capacity. But just in case…'
"It seems Kero had been hiding his magical aura." He commented. Sakura stayed silent.
Suddenly, the smell of blood filled the air. Sakura jerked her head towards Kurogane and saw a blade sticking through his stomach! The ninja lurched forwards and the magician caught him before he hit the ground. In one fluid motion, he snatched the sword up and thrust it into the heart of the soldier. Sakura flinched and looked away.
A great swooshing sound was heard from the direction of the cliff. Sakura turned to watch as Kero landed beside her with Syaoran and Sakura on his back. Syaoran was injured in his right arm but held up a feather triumphantly. It immediately floated over to the already unconscious princess who was, thankfully, not hurt in anyway.
Mokona whimpered at the sight of them.
"Syaoran and Kurogane are injured!" it cried unhappily. For once, not calling the ninja by another name.
"We're okay, Mokona. It's nothing serious." Syaoran explained gently.
"We should go to the next world soon." Sakura spoke up. "Maybe we can treat your wounds there."
Mokona nodded and they all scrunched together, with Kurogane leaning heavily on Fai. Syaoran winced in pain as his injured arm was hit. 'Useless…' those words echoed in Sakura's head as she tried to surpress her shadow of doubt.
Mokona's wings expanded sideways as they plummeted into another dimension. Sakura tried to ignore the queasy feeling in her stomach. Transferring dimensions always made her feel like she was being flipped upside-down over and over again. It was not a good feeling. Just as it got nearly unbearable, Sakura felt herself freefalling towards the ground. She let loose a scream.
"HOE!"
It seemed as if Sakura was the only one to land in the sky as the others were already safely on the ground. Usually, she was not one to be scared of heights with all her experience in flying, but this case was different. She closed her eyes tightly as she plummeted towards the ground.
"Sakura!" Kero shouted.
Fai, being a vampire, darted forwards in time to catch her. Thankfully, his arm managed to snag around her waist before she hit the ground. Unfortunately, her momentum was too great and the two of them crashed ungracefully on the lush, green grass.
Sakura scrambled up quickly.
"I'm really sorry! Are you okay?"
Fai smiled at her and pulled himself up from the grass.
"I'm fine."
The girl sighed in relief as she skipped ahead to keep Syaoran company. From their position in the back, Fai and Kurogane could see the determination in her face as she attempted to help carry the princess.
"You're not fine." Kurogane stated calmly; looking straight ahead. It was a statement, not a question.
Fai's usual grin locked into place. "Well, aren't we observant?"
Kurogane glared at the magician turned vampire beside him. When he got no response, the ninja huffed in annoyance and looked away. They continued on in silence.
/15 minutes later/
Finally, they could see twinkling lights in the distance. A good thing too because they were near collapsing. Kero, who had changed back into his plushie form, yelled in excitement.
"I see it! Do you think they have cake?"
Sakura sweat dropped. "Well, maybe they do. It looks like a city."
And she was right. They were slowly approaching a towering metal gate which was polished to the point where it glimmered in the sunlight. The tall buildings behind it were barely visible.
The guards stiffened at the sight of them and crossed their spears over the entrance; which was pointless because the heavy gate would've been impossible to move anyways. Silently, their eye's bored into them until Sakura felt like she was being suffocated. They spoke up unexpectedly.
"Outsiders or foreigners to the City of Tablun must prove their worth in a 5 match showdown. Do you accept?" the unspoken 'or else' hung in the air ominously.
Sakura shivered in fear. Their voices sounded so… robotic and unreal. Beside her, Syaoran and Fai stiffened.
"We accept."
The guards nodded slowly in synchronization and uncrossed their spears. Slowly, the gate creaked open. It was their cue to walk in.
Sakura kept her head down as she walked past them. Even Kero was glaring at them suspiciously. Once they were inside, a pretty middle-aged woman with long black hair gestured for them to follow her and led them to an arena-like area. There was a large space in the middle, which seemed to be covered in a transparent some shaped barrier. Surrounding it on all sides were bleachers, in which people had already begun to fill in.
They followed the attendant to an area near the bottom, which was surprisingly empty. She turned around to face them once they were seated.
"My name is Miyuki. I will be explaining the rules and regulations of the match."
"Ano…" Sakura cut in, "Could we get some medical attention for Syaoran-kun and Kurogane-san?"
Miyuki's sharp gaze glanced at Sakura and her face softened slightly. "Very well. Please wait a second."
She looked down at her belt and pressed a red button. Within seconds, 2 people wearing white clothes entered the stadium and walked slowly and calmly the invalids. Sakura watched anxiously as Kurogane swayed in his seat from the loss of blood. She strained her head to see over the medic's shoulder, but his tall figure blocked everything from view.
Miyuki cleared he throat to get everyone's attention.
"First of all, you must choose a champion to represent everyone in your group. This champion can be switched at any time before or after a match but not during one. Am I clear?"
Heads were nodded. "Good. Moving on; there are 2 categories for fighting. Physical and magical; you can choose either one. The first one, physical, is where you fight with swords, spears etc and the second one, magical, is pretty self-explanatory."
Sakura perked up and the word 'magic' and leaned in closer.
"As for the rules while fighting… there are none. Your only objective is to capture or pin your opponent in any way possible. And if they have to beat you up to the point of death, then so be it."
Miyuki stopped speaking; her face grave.
"Do you understand? If you are to die in any of these matches, we will not be held responsible."
Sakura pressed her hand to her mouth in horror while Syaoran clenched and unclenched his hands. Probably giving the medic a hard time too. Finally, he nodded.
"You must choose your champion now. The first match is starting soon." Miyuki mentioned.
"I'll do it." Came Fai's cheerful voice.
The woman nodded. "Very well. When the bell rings, you can enter the arena through the door over there."
A silence fell over the group. Only the sound of the medic's rustling and moving was heard as both Kurogane and Syaoran got patched up. In the quiet, a bell sounded. Fai looked up and rose to his feet.
"I'm going now."
"Ganbatte!" Sakura called to his back. He turned around to wave at her and tried not to limp. The fall earlier had twisted his ankle. It wasn't serious but it slowed him down considerably.
Fai entered the stadium and watched as another guys walked in from the opposite door. He was a seemingly average guy; complete with the over confident smirk.
In the space between them, attendants placed some weapons down for their choosing. Fai cast his gaze over the variety of weaponry and hummed slightly. This seemed to annoy his opponent; who had already chosen his weapon and was currently growling at him.
Fai grinned at him and finally chose a heavy axe. He looked up for further instruction. Quickly, the remaining weapons were cleared away.
"Begin!" the announcer shouted.
Immediately, his opponent charged full-speed at him. Fai grinned as he merely stepped aside and hit him on the head with the flat side of the blade. He crumpled to the ground and a shocked silence fell over the audience.
"Winner!" the announcer called.
Suddenly, the bleachers erupted in cheer. Sakura sweat dropped and continued to much on her popcorn, which Miyuki had provided, while Kero gorged himself on cake.
The next 2 matches proceeded in a similar fashion; with Fai the winner every time. On the 4th one though, it all changed.
It had started normally enough, with the crowd cheering for Fai and his opponent glaring at him. But when he had started moving, his twisted ankle crumpled and he fell into a crouch. His opponent saw a chance and ran forwards.
Fai quickly grabbed his axe and smashed it into his opponent's ribs. His eyes opened in shock as he clearly had not been expecting that.
Once again, he was the winner; but he was unable to go on. Sakura watched in panic as Fai gritted his teeth in pain. Everyone was injured so who was going to compete?
The announce came on again. "As the champion is unable to go on, who will replace him?"
Sakura watched silently as Fai slowly limped to the doorway and Syaoran opened his mouth to volunteer. A million doubts and worries clouded her mind but she pushed them aside. Sending Yuuko a silent apology, she stood up.
"I'll do it!" She declared.
She ignored Syaoran's and Kurogane's shocked stares and she strode forwards. No more being protected, no more hiding in fear. It was her turn now.
Please Review~ :) Again, I'm really really sorry!
