CHAPTER THREE:
IRON RESULOTION

Syaoran was gone. It seemed he had disappeared into thin air. There was no lifeless corpse or frightening figure hovering above it to be seen anywhere. There was nothing but the trees, and the debris, and the wind. It was all very lonely.

Only a moment ago, Sakura was about to lose her own life. But instead, she lost Syaoran. And this felt worse. Of all the things she owned, there was nothing more important. He was the person most precious to her. It was only now that what was hidden all along deep inside her heart came out and she knew the truth.

Sakura loved Syaoran.

And it was with this new-found knowledge that tears began to skip down the hills of her cheeks and jump off the cliff of her chin. Everything was falling. A day passed. But the sun did not rise, it fell. The moon did not come out to comfort her. Trees turned their backs on her. The wind did not whistle to her. She was all alone.

After hours of sobbing, she found she was not alone. The debris of the house scattered around her seemed to haunt her with every memory they held. They whispered conversations of laughter and giggles and whispers. They stabbed her with their stories. Sakura knew she couldn't stay amongst the scene of the crime. Wiping the tears from her face, she stood up from the ground and she started to run.

Not very far, she stepped on something hard and she looked back. Underneath her foot was the opal necklace that Syaoran had worked so hard to get cut for her. As she reached to pick it up from the ground, fresh tears began to trickle down her cheeks again. Despite that, Sakura took the gem and ran.

Later on, she came to a stop. Here she could run no farther. Here was where the trees thinned because of the sand. Here was where the land ended and the water began. The vast empire in which she lived ended here. So she could go no farther. She collapsed on the sand breathing heavily although she still held on tightly to the opal. As the water washed the shore to tickle her feet, light began to escape the horizon. For the first time in her life, Sakura watched the sun rise.

She watched on in amazement at the beauty and wonder of one of mother nature's many gifts. But then and there her heart made an iron resolution: no matter what it takes, she will find Syaoran.

Disclaimer: Sakura, Syaoran, and the many characters to come belong to the manga/anime Tsubasa Resovoir Chronicles. And that belongs to the very gifted CLAMP.

A/N: Hey everyone! Sorry about not updating this for like... a year. But freshman year of highschool is a very busy year... not really. Well, you must all blame yourselves for not reviewing so HAH! Anyway, I've been reading xxxHolic and this story may well be one of those little universes Yuuko's always talking about.

Stay tuned or well... check you email... for the next chapter of Shieldmaid:
CHAPTER FOUR:
RESURRECTION