Chapter 4: A voice Unheard
It was nighttime and Rei muttered as she walked down the dark alley at the end of the street, "It's not like I don't want to go back."
"Please, spare me! I swear I won't ever do it again!" She heard somebody exclaim in the distance.
She squinted her eyes, a figure was standing in front of a man sitting on the ground, as she looked closer, she saw that the figure had brown hair and amber eyes.
"Syao-kun?" Rei spoke. Syaoran looked up, using that as a distraction, the man limply stood up and ran away.
"Hey! Get back here, you..." Syaoran tried to run after the man but the man already got away and was nowhere to be seen.
He sighed and turned to Rei, Rei sweat-dropped, "That was my fault, wasn't it?"
"No, it's a good thing you came actually, who knows what would have happened if you didn't interrupt?" Syaoran grinned.
"Poor guy... what did he do to you?"
"Let's talk about that another time, because the real question is, why are you still here in Japan?" Syaoran raised an eyebrow.
"Aw, come on, I'm already on my way to the airport," Rei smiled sheepishly.
"Well, you're going the wrong way. Besides, you were supposed to arrive in Hong Kong three days ago."
"Hmm, fine! I don't want to be in the same country you're in anyway," Rei pouted.
Syaoran let out a short chuckle and patted her on the back, "I'm not forcing you, Rei, if you don't want to do it, that's fine. These forces are going to be dangerous to deal with. They're different from the Clow Cards that we've dealt with before..."
Rei's smile dropped as Syaoran continued to walk away from her, she called out, "Ne, Syao-kun."
He halted and turned around sensing the seriousness in her tone, "Hm?"
"Is there something you know that I don't?"
"Eh? What brought that on?" He didn't fail to notice the dangerous glint in her eyes, "What are you talking about all of a sudden?"
She continued pleasantly, if not, too pleasantly, "I'll be straight to the point. I do get what you're saying, but, what's up with Mei-chan? She can take care of herself just fine without you agonizing over her. I'm trying to sound less reproachful than possible, but, is there something I should know about?"
"I already told you. It's because-"
Rei interjected, "I know. Some crazy dark magic is on the loose and might harm Mei-chan, right? But she doesn't have any powers anyway so why bother, exactly? In fact, she can fight very well, even without magic, so..." she trailed off.
"Exactly, I'm not doing this just especially for Meilin, but with the knowledge you have of the dark forces, I want you to look after things back at home. Not just in Japan and Hong Kong even," Syaoran fumbled in his pocket. "I was going to tell you soon... but since you're so nosy as always... here," he handed her a glass shard that was shining in different colors, it also looked like it had a magical barrier on it.
"What is this?" Rei asked, examining the shard. There was a design on it, which looked like a tip of a golden crown.
"I don't know either but, I think it's the materialized form of the dark forces. From that sealing ofuda you gave me. I don't know how, but I guess I managed to seal it properly." His brows were furrowed, "I wonder why it didn't turn into a card instead. I tried to seal it... it did go back in, but it broke free eventually and tried to get a hold of Meilin. She doesn't have magic so she won't really be able to do anything about it. Since the dark force seems to take control of you inside, you probably won't be able to break free from it through physical means. But that doesn't explain why she collapsed all of a sudden that one time."
"W-Was that my fault, t-then? For giving the ofuda to you and all..."
"Not particularly, but I guess that just proves how dangerous this dark magic can be. Not only can it take over the cards, but it appears that it can pursue humans as well," he replied.
"Hm... interesting," Rei tried to smash the shard to pieces but was shaken from the impact of it.
"H-Hey! What are you trying to do?"
"As I thought, it's completely sealed," Rei gave the shard back to Syaoran. "It doesn't break."
"What does that have to do with anything?" he asked.
Rei looked at him pompously, "Keep it. It might be important. Be sure to tell Saku-chan and the others too, okay?"
With that, she waved to Syaoran and leapt off, "Catch ya later!"
xoxoxoxox
Tomoyo continued to silently sew the pink chiffon dress she was making for Sakura when her phone suddenly rang.
"Hello?"
"Tomoyooooo-chhaannn!" It was Sakura, Tomoyo couldn't tell because the caller ID was unknown. She must be borrowing one of the public phones.
"Sakura-chan? What's the matter? Don't you have your phone with you?"
"I checked my bag, it wasn't there! I know I brought it with me today but I can't find it! B-But, that's not all I wanted to tell you..."
Suddenly, Tomoyo broke into a coughing fit, "Oh... Really? I..."
"Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, concerned. She's still sick... but, why? I know I can do something... but what? Tomoyo-chan's been acting really weird lately, I didn't want to admit it, but I felt like that strange aura felt stronger when I get close to her...
Then, Sakura's eyes widened at a sudden revelation, Is that even possible? I have to make sure! Still, I should've known though. Why am I so clueless? This is my fault.
"Tomoyo-chan, hang on! I'm coming back to your house!" She stated, tightly gripping her star key that was hung around her neck.
"Eh? Sakura-chan? Saku-" the line got cut off.
After a few minutes, one of her maids informed her that Sakura was back and that she had to talk with her immediately. Tomoyo nodded.
"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura exclaimed, bursting into the room. The maid closed the door after her, but Tomoyo looked slightly nettled.
Tomoyo quickly shook her head again, softly, she said, "Sakura-chan? Did you leave anything behind? Perhaps your phone? Oh, but I didn't see it an-"
Sakura cut her off as she jumped forward and embraced her tightly, "Tomoyo-chan... why didn't you tell me anything?"
Tomoyo was taken aback by Sakura's sudden act, and she resisted and pushed her away. "What are you doing?"
"A-Ah, I..." Tomoyo stammered and looked away. We made a deal, didn't we? You could stay in my body as long as you don't hurt Sakura-chan or my friends in any way...
I got bored, even though you are an interesting girl, and you have a lot of secrets hidden from the world... I don't need you anymore.
B-But...!
Sakura stared in shock as she saw Tomoyo turn a few shades paler, her eyes widened and a black smoke emitting from her frail body.
Sakura rushed to her as she collapsed, she layed her down on the couch. Sakura swiftly grabbed her star key and chanted, "The Key which hides the power of the Stars! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract. RELEASE!"
The star whirled and the key expanded into the Star staff, she was surprised that she actually still remembered the incantation that had not been used for at least 2 years.
The black smoke lurked around the room, looking for an exit. Quickly, she held out her staff in front of it.
Suddenly, Kero-chan bursted into the room from one of the windows, "Sakura! Ya called?" He glanced around and saw Tomoyo laying on the couch while Sakura was holding her staff up to a dark force, "What happened?"
"Kero-chan!" Sakura called out without facing him, "Look after Tomoyo-chan, okay?!"
"Ha? Oi, Sakura?! Where are you going?"
The dark force finally found it's way out from one of the windows, Sakura followed it, gripping her staff tightly to her chest. She exclaimed, "Wait!"
What do I do? I left my cards at home, why didn't I bring it with me?
She continued running after the force but she realized that it was heading towards her school. It went up the gates but Sakura wasn't the most athletic kid in her class for nothing. She climbed up the gates, and jumped down as the moon glimmered from above.
"Oh no... what do I do now? I lost it..." she murmured to herself.
Heedless, she ran inside the school since that's where she could feel it's presence. "This presence... it's awfully familiar. What is it?"
She turned to one of the hallways and shivered, "Hoooeee... I completely forgot how scary the school is at night..."
She tensed and hugged her staff closer to her as she suddenly heard a voice coming from the music room, "E-Eh? Wha-What's that...?"
The voice continued, The light of the sunset grows dim over the rape blossom field...
The outlines of the mountains fade into mist. In the calm spring breeze, I look up at the sky.
A faint scent fills the air, beneath the evening moon. The lights of the town, the colors of the forest.
The people walking through the rice fields. The call of frogs, and the ringing of bells.
All grow hazy in the misty moonlight...
Oddly enough, Sakura was enthralled by the voice, because it sounded like an angel lulling a baby to sleep. But at one point, despite the warm and tender feeling of the song, the voice seemed like it was yearning for something. Like a forlorn mother reaching out to her child. She felt like that was not the first time that she had heard that voice.
Before Sakura even knew it, she was walking towards the music room, towards the voice. She walked up the stairs and stood in front of the music room, the soft and soothing voice could be heard from behind the door.
She clenched her hand as she opened the door only to be greeted by a pale-looking woman, clad in a layored ivory dress. Her long gray hair fanned out behind her. Sakura's emerald eyes widened, the same shade as the woman's. She was sitting down on the piano as she stretched her arms out to Sakura, as if inviting her.
"O-Okaa-san...? But, how? You're..." How? Wait... this has happened before. With the Illusion Card! But, even if this is the Illusion... how come it has a voice? Is that possible? Or... maybe it's the Song card? I was right though, about Tomoyo-chan. Wait, that's it-the Song Card took over Tomoyo-chan!
Then, she gritted her teeth and stared at Kinomoto Nadeshiko, "That's right... you're really here." She smiled, "That's you isn't it, okaa-san? You led me to the Song, didn't you?"
The voice was familiar because it was her mothers. The Song must've taken over her mother's voice, but is that possible? Indeed, the cards would be even more powerful enhanced by dark magic. The question is, is somebody controlling this magic, or is it just acting on it's own?
A few tears streamed down her cheeks but she wiped them with the back of her hand. She shook her head, I need to seal this force, before it escapes and possibly harm other people!
Again, she held her staff up to the force, the singing stopped momentarily, as if accepting it's defeat. "So, you're the Card Mistress, huh? We'll see how tough you really are. Next time..."
She wasn't scared anymore, instead she furrowed her brows in concentration and exclaimed, "Original Card of the Stars, I command you! Break free from the grasp of the darkness. Return to my side once more, Dark Card!"
She swinged her star staff around as her hair billowed about, her magic star circle appearing below her. Indeed, the black smoke reduced to a glass shard that had the design of what looked like the heels of a crystal shoe. It slowly landed on Sakura's palms. She quietly said, looking up at Nadeshiko, "Thank you, okaa-san."
Her ghost slightly smiled and nodded, her mouth moved as if to say something, but Sakura couldn't make it out. She slowly disappeared into thin air, she felt a strong breeze and the swaying of the tree branches could be heard from outside.
A drop of tear landed on the shard and she examined it, "A... glass shard?" She placed it inside her pocket.
Her staff turned back to a necklace and she fastened it back to her neck, carefully, she continued to sneak out of the school. She halted.
"There's that same presence I felt before..." she turned around and tensed, could it be?
She kept walking on, clutching her star necklace, ready to release it again if ever something pops out. She walked out of the school gates but turned around as she heard light footsteps coming from the other direction.
Sakura ran towards the footsteps, feeling the aura getting closer.
She suddenly bumped into a person in the street, she hesitantly looked up, "I'm sorry, I wasn't lo-" she stopped short at the sight of a young boy, his amber eyes widened at her, blood dripping from his forehead. He had some bruises here and there, and he was panting as if he had been running, his chestnut locks were disheveled.
Her eyes fixated at him in shock, "You..."
xoxoxoxox
"Sakura. Oi, Sakura. You're going to be late," there was a gentle shake on her shoulder.
She opened her eyes and glanced at the clock, "Hoooeeeee! I'm going to be late!"
Sakura speedily did her morning routine and headed downstairs, "Kero-chan, I'm heading off, bye!"
Kero-chan yawned, "Seriously... what are you going to do without me waking you up in the morning?"
"Otou-san, good morning!" Sakura cheerfully greeted her father. Fujitaka was also dressed up for work, an early staff meeting, she assumed.
"Good morning, Sakura-san," her father greeted.
"Is onii-chan at work early again?" Sakura asked while she chugged down her glass of milk and swung her bag over her shoulder.
"Yes, he's been working a lot recently. I wonder if he's saving up for something..." Fujitaka replied, "Oh, right. I won't be home until tommorow morning, but Touya-kun said he'll be back tonight."
"Ah, I see. Good luck with work then, otou-san! I'm heading out!" Sakura fastened her rollerblades, then turned to her mother's picture frame. Her long gray hair was loosely tied back by a blue ribbon and she was wearing a matching blue satin dress.
Sakura smiled knowingly and said, "I'm heading out, okaa-san."
Fujitaka smiled and replied, "Have a great day, Sakura-san. Take care!"
xoxoxoxox
Sakura tried to sneak into her classroom unnoticed but jumped as her best friend, Tomoyo waved to her, "Good morning, Sakura-chan."
"Hauu... morning, Tomoyo-chan..." she replied while she sat down on her desk.
Chiharu and Naoko came up to them and Chiharu said, "Good morning! Ne, did you guys hear? There's apparently a new transfer student. It's like back in elementary when we had Li-kun and Meilin-chan... and Hiiragizawa-kun too!"
Naoko added, "Yeah, and we just had Reienji-chan a few weeks ago as well." They turned to her desk, which was empty, "Speaking of which, she's been absent a lot lately, huh?"
"Yes, it has been a while since we've last seen her... I wonder what happened to her..." replied Tomoyo.
Sakura nodded. She tried to get her mind off of what happened last night, which kept her awake, to her demise. It was probably just a dream...
And at that moment, the door opened and their homeroom teacher, Terada-sensei, came in, "Alright everyone, take your seats."
All the students returned to their respective seats and faced Terada-sensei. He cleared his throat and stated, "As some of you might have already heard... we have a new student joining us today."
This produced a murmur among the classroom. So it was true, Sakura sighed. She glanced at the doorway, eager to see him again.
"He is from Hong Kong and some of you might already be acquainted with him from elementary. Please be nice to him," he cued him in.
And there he was, dressed up in the Tomoeda Middle School uniform was Li Syaoran. He still had a few bruises but they weren't very obvious. He looked like the bad boy type though because of the band-aid that was evident on his forehead. "I'm Li Syaoran, pleased to meet you."
The girls in the room squealed at the new transfer student while students that knew him since elementary welcomed him back.
Terada-sensei proceeded to write his name on the board and said, "You can sit over there for now," he pointed to Rei's desk near Tomoyo's. "Since Reienji-san will be absent for a few weeks because of a family emergency. No need to worry though, Reienji-san had informed us that she is doing fine for the time being."
Syaoran walked over to Rei's desk as Tomoyo smiled and waved at him. He deftly gazed at Sakura then turned to face Terada-sensei.
Tomoyo kept quiet and glanced at Sakura to see her reaction. She was sort of expressionless, as if she knew that he was back. Did she? Were they even keeping in touch these days? But there was that look of relief in her eyes, as if she had been waiting for him. Worried for the two, Tomoyo looked outside the window past Sakura and sighed.
Sakura turned her head towards Tomoyo and caught her eye, "Is there something wrong, Tomoyo-chan?"
Tomoyo shook her head and smiled to reassure her, "Ah, it's nothing."
"Now everyone, settle down. We will now start homeroom."
Last night...
"Syaoran..." Sakura muttered. "Is that really you?"
He didn't answer. Instead he looked away, but Sakura clenched her fists and fingered his forehead covered in blood. His lips were also bleeding.
"What happened to you?" It broke her heart to see Syaoran in such a state, "Here, you can't just run around like this. I'll take you to my house for now, I think we have some medicine left in our medicine kit." She said, the fact that he had left her 2 years ago, forgotten. How could she still be upset about that when he was hurt like this? She shook her head, she had to treat him first and get him to the hospital.
She accompanied him to her house and he didn't protest, he seemed pretty beaten up so he probably didn't have the strength to argue, "Onii-chan's coming home a little later tonight and otou-san's at work until tommorow so it should be fine."
She set him down on the couch, "I don't know much about medicine, but I do know how to stop the bleeding and how to cover it at least. Before you go to the hospital, we should probably apply first-aid on your head."
First, she applied pressure on the wound with a clean cloth to stop the bleeding, and then cleaned the wound with warm water and some soap. Syaoran winced, but she proceeded gently as she placed some antibiotic cream on his forehead to avoid infection.
Lastly, she grabbed the bandage from the medicine kit and wrapped it carefully around his forehead, "There. It's not that bad so it should heal in a few days. You don't seem to have a concussion anyways."
For the first time, he looked up at her and muttered, "Thanks."
She held her hand up to her ear and leaned closer to him, "Hm?"
"I said, I never knew you were experienced with things like these," he said while averting his eyes at anything but her.
Sakura noticed this and frowned, "I learned a few things or two from onii-chan... So? Are you planning to tell me about what happened?" he looked worse for wear with his clothes all bloody like this. She reached over to him with a piece of tissue and lightly wiped the blood on his lips.
"I'm sorry for causing such a fuss. I never really meant to run into you anyway, and..." he trailed off, realizing how pathetic he sounded.
Sakura's brows arched in concern, "It's not a problem, it's natural to help out a friend," at this remark they both turned red and Syaoran quickly fumbled for something in his pocket and gave it to Sakura. It was her phone with a light pink case and a pretty star design.
"I... found it. And I learned that it was yours so, there," said Syaoran.
She gladly took it and placed it in her pocket, and threw the bloody cloths and kept the excess medicine. "Where did you find it?"
"Actually, there was this guy who stole it from you. It was in your pocket and you probably didn't notice but I happened to see so I ran after him and tried to get it back. He got away but came back with these three other guys. They were huge and they kinda ganged up on me so... but I still managed to get your phone back," he hesitantly said.
She stared at him, almost tearing up, "Why did you do that? You could've been hurt really bad! I don't want that to happen. But, thank you anyways..."
"It's fine, it was my fault for letting my guard down. This isn't how I wanted to see you, I'm sorry you had to see me like that."
Suddenly, Sakura stood up and hugged Syaoran, "I'm still mad at you for leaving like that so suddenly, and for getting beat up like this, but, why are you back here? We'll catch up okay?"
Syaoran's eyes widened but he hugged her back, "Yeah."
Releasing him, her ears reddening, she said, "But for now, you have to go back to your house. Where are you even staying? Are you still going to live in the apartment? I should probably come with you just in case."
Flustered, he looked away to cover his face. He replied briskly, "Y-Yeah, I'm still going to live in the apartment. But, I'll be fine, really. Besides, didn't you say that your brother was coming home soon? I should probably get going now, or things might get bad..."
"Oh, I guess so. B-But! The next time we meet, you'll tell me what you're doing here, okay? Are you really sure though? I'm sure the apartment's not far from here, I can come with you!" And spend more time with him too. She couldn't help but feel giddy that Syaoran was back, but why? Did he come to see her? No, no, that's impossible. So mayble like Eriol, is there something else?
"And don't forget to get it checked out by a doctor, okay? I don't want it to get worse... y-you know, since this is technically my fault for being such a klutz and all..."
Syaoran nodded and opened the door only to be greeted by a strong gust of wind and the rain heavily pelting down the ground, "It's raining..."
"Well... I can let you borrow my umbrella, it's fine," offered Sakura. She grabbed her umbrella from the stand and gave it to him.
He took it and headed outside, "Thanks again. Sorry for being a bother."
She shook her head and smiled, "No, like I said, It's fine."
His cheeks turned a bright crimson and he closed the door after him. Syaoran opened the umbrella, pink and cutesy, how Sakura-like, he thought.
"Sakura-chan... the bell just rang," came her best friend's lovely voice.
With a start, she looked around and gasped, some students were flocking out for lunchtime and she had been dozing off. "Hoe, sorry, Tomoyo-chan. I just feel a little tired..."
"That's fine," she smiled, "What a surprise, hm? Who knew Li-kun would be transferring back here in Tomoeda? Perchance, did you, Sakura-chan?" Kero-chan ended up sleeping over at Tomoyo's because he was too lazy to go back and since it was raining as well. Sakura called her that night that she got her phone back and asked how she was doing. Everything went well and the dark force was finally caught in the end.
"Actually..." Sakura relayed to Tomoyo what had occured last night, and to her demise, Tomoyo was now sulking about the fact that she didn't get to film Sakura's first capture in 2 years and that she didn't get to wear her costume that she had prepared for her.
"But I didn't know he was going to transfer here!" eyeing Syaoran who was surrounded by their elementary friends. Including Yamazaki who seemed like he was telling another lie and Chiharu looked like she was ready to strangle him.
Bentos layed in front of them, Sakura happily ate the omelettes that her brother had prepared for her. "Still, why didn't you tell me about it back then, Tomoyo-chan? I could've helped you."
"Well, I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal... and I didn't want to bother you."
Sakura replied, "Tomoyo-chan, we're best friends, aren't we? I won't be bothered by that! I'll be happy to help you out if you have any problems. So, next time, if you're okay with it, you should tell me if something's bothering you. Okay?"
Tomoyo smiled, "Of course!"
Sakura mirrored her smiled but her eyes lingered back on Syaoran. Syaoran-kun...
xoxoxoxox
AN: Konnichiwa~!
Hai hai! Chapter 5 is coming reeeaalllll quick. I'll write my proper author's note then. Sorry for the wait!