Chapter 13

Little Wolf

Uncomfortable and stifling was the silence to descend after the door had shut. Kurogane sat back, trying not to look as awkward as he felt, Fai looked contemplatively from one crying girl to the other, as though trying to figure out how to fix the situation, while Mokona stayed perfectly still, not knowing if it should move, but wanting to badly to help cheer up the two females. Finally, the edge of his mouth twitched upward, and he looked at the darker haired girl.

"I'm curious," He murmured softly. "What did Syaoran mean when he said he lost his hope to save the world?"

Meilin sniffed, and looked down. "A long time ago, I'd say a few months after... our Sakura... disappeared, some great magical power attacked this world. I... never really found out what it was, because I was in Hong Kong when it happened, but from what Syaoran told me after he got out of the hospital, it was unlike anything we've ever fought before. He said he thought he recognized the power signature as something like Clow Reed's, but Eriol was fighting with him- apparently he knew the world would be attacked and returned to Tomoeda just in time. So maybe it was just Eriol... anyway..." She paused, but continued before anyone could ask questions, though she could tell they wanted to. "He said the entire time they were fighting whoever their opponent was, and even he couldn't tell, he said the man had cast this weird thick darkness, the man kept saying things about Sakura, how his feelings were interfering and how he'd never win if he kept thinking about her. And he said something... particularly damaging... I don't remember what it was, you'd have to ask Syaoran, but he nearly died because it made him hesitate. If it wasn't for Eriol, he probably wouldn't still be alive." Meilin looked to the princess, who sat stiff and surprised. "So... after he was released, he said he was never going to hope again... never going to believe things would fully be alright again until they were. Until everything was back to normal." She sighed, closing her eyes, face contorting in anger. "And that stupid, stubborn boy must've put a magical seal on himself or something because I can see it. He really hasn't regained hope... but I think that was what made him so strong in the first place. His hope and belief in himself... and in his love for her..." The dark-haired girl looked up to find the princess staring into her own lap, hands clenched onto her pants.

Meilin's expression softened dramatically. "You're really not her, are you?"

It was all the young woman could do to shake her head.

Meilin sighed, closing her eyes to keep from crying again, and stood before bowing deeply. "I'm so sorry... Princess Sakura..."

-

The tree branches rustled as he climbed higher, toward a window on one side of the top floor. It was still day time, so he couldn't tell which rooms held an occupant of the house, though he was fairly sure the one he was about to enter would be empty. A quick look confirmed his suspicions, and he readied himself, leaping from the tree branch to the windowsill, balancing expertly, as though he'd done this before. Slowly he reached down and pushed on the window, hoping that no one had locked the windows in the time the room had been unoccupied. Surely enough, it slid open, slowly as though the track was very dirty, but it still opened enough to let him slip inside. He removed his shoes, holding them in one hand, then carefully stepped around the stuffed animals on the bench below the window, making sure not to knock any onto the floor, then stepped down and paused, looking around.

The room was exactly as he remembered it, girlishly pink and cute, the bed made neatly, the little plush doll on the headboard next to the alarm clock that never seemed to be effective. But it was the smell that rooted him in place; fresh blooming flowers, ripe fruit, open spring meadows... the smell was faint and slightly musty, meaning the room hadn't been aired out in some time, but it was there and just strong enough to cause Syaoran's knees to weaken, his stomach to flip.

It smelled like her. And it was an abrupt slap in the face, reminding him of his circumstances, because she wasn't here, and it didn't feel like she had been here for a while. Her presence was mostly gone, only the smell and sight remained.

He needed to move, he needed to get out of here before he completely lost it. He turned to the desk next to him, reaching out and gently opening the top right drawer; as he thought, it was empty, the pink, leather-bound book was missing, but he knew it was still within the house, he could feel its presence. One more look around the room, and he caught sight of the black plush bear he'd given her... what seemed like so long ago. He grit his teeth, and fled the room as fast as he dared, fighting the lump in his throat that suddenly restricted his breathing.

Slowly padding his way to the door, he let his senses reach out; if he concentrated hard enough, he could sometimes feel Toya, if the man was close by. He felt no presence, either Toya was on the other side of the house, or not in it at all. Syaoran hoped for the latter.

The door opened soundlessly, and the young man stepped out, on his toes, padding as quietly as he could through the house. Now, all he needed to do was figure out where the book had gone. He carefully checked the rooms upstairs but felt nothing, and knew he had to go downstairs- there was only one problem, he noted, as he reached the top of the staircase; the television was on in the living room.

Concentrate, concentrate, he said to himself in his head, carefully stepping from stair to stair. Silently so far, just a few more...

A creak sounded and it might as well have been a gunshot with the way Syaoran went ramrod straight, all motion, even his breathing stopped, ears open intently for the sound of someone coming, but no such noise occurred, and he let his breath out slowly. Finally, after several more agonizing steps, he ended on the ground floor, and paused to look around, reach out with his senses. The presence was a bit stronger down on the main floor, but he still couldn't get an exact location. He momentarily mentally cursed Yue for sapping Toya's power before continuing on. Inch by inch he made his way through the house, but stopped as he passed the door that, if he remembered correctly, led to the basement and Fujitaka's old study. Going on instinct, he eased the door open and stepped inside, closing it behind him and stepping down the stairs, careful as he could not see very well in the dimness.

There...

He turned toward a bookshelf, and there, sticking out only slightly, was a familiar pink book. Smiling, he reached out, took a hold of it. Power flowed out on contact, sending a warm tingling up his arm and into his torso, the magic flooded into him, wrapping around his own power, holding it gently in a lovers' embrace. He let a shuddering sigh, tilted his head back, and let the feeling wash over him. Behind his closed eyelids, faint images appeared, images of happier days, images that left him feeling warm and happy...

Something heavy landed on his foot, snapping him out of his daze, as he jumped backward into another bookshelf, wobbling it and causing at least a dozen books to fall and make a noisy racket. Above him, he heard the floor thud and creak as someone walked swiftly over it, and, panicking, he dove into the alcove next to the stairs- the darkest place in the room.

The door swung open, and the feet trudged down the stairs, and a moment later Toya appeared, looking about the room intently. Syaoran winced- the older man had gone frighteningly thin and pale, hair messy, dark rings under his eyes. This wasn't the Toya he'd known... had Sakura's disappearance really made that much of a mess of things?

Satisfied that nothing was there, Toya turned back for the stairs and slowly made his way back up. Syaoran waited a moment until the footsteps above him disappeared until he began to move again. He needed to get back to Sakura's room, and he needed to do so quickly. Up the stairs as fast as he dared without tripping over one. He paused and listened again as his fingers touched the doorknob. Good, it didn't seem like Toya had moved. He swung the door open as fast as he could-

"... Hello, brat."

-

They'd finally settled on a neutral conversational target- Fai and Kurogane's home worlds and were long into the conversation before the door opened and Syaoran stumbled in, cheek swollen and beginning to purple, lip split and bleeding, and clutching something tightly to his chest. He looked up at them, and smiled as much as he could with his cut lip. Meilin jumped up and ran to his side.

"I got it."

"Got what?" Meilin asked, placing a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

He wavered for a moment, then slowly loosened his grip on the object in his grasp before thrusting it out suddenly before him, grunting and nearly collapsing as he did so.

"A book...?" Sakura asked, tilting her head slightly at it.

Meilin's jaw set and she looked from Sakura to the book, then back. "... She doesn't recognize it... but why'd you bring that book here...?"

"Because if I didn't, Princess Sakura's power would draw out the guardians," he replied, his voice soft and somewhat scratchy.

"What happened to you?" Kurogane asked, eyeing the younger man's injuries; the bruised cheek, the split lip which had finally stopped bleeding.

Syaoran gave a sort of half-smile. "Protective older brother."

'...Sakura...'

The book began to glow, and drifted out of Syaoran's hands. A yellow symbol spread across the floor; a star in the center with a moon and sun on either side. The drawing on the front- what looked like some sort of winged cat- turned white and seemed to peel off the cover, before the light molded into a shape, and solidified into a brown lion-like creature with golden wings. Another light formed itself into the shape of a tall man with white hair, silver eyes, and white wings.

The lion creature looked around, then its eyes landed on the princess, and it leapt straight into the air.

"Yat-ta! She's back!" It bounded through the living room, gathering itself then leaping as though to pounce the princess.

"Cerberus, wait," the silver-haired man said, and the lion paused in midair, its wings flaring as it caught itself.

"Waiiiit... you're..." The cat creature stared more intently at the figure who had recoiled on the couch. "You're not from around here, are you?"

The princess, leaning back against the couch as though trying to absorb into it shook her head hesitantly.

"Oi, kid!" the lion turned back to look at Syaoran. "What are you doing bringing people from other worlds here? Especially ones that disappeared from our world."

Syaoran shook his head. "I didn't have a choice, if I could choose which worlds we travel to, I would have avoided this one at all costs. You should know that, plush toy."

Kurogane, silent the entire time, suddenly looked very interested in the conversation.

"Heyyy since there's a talking lion with wings does that mean Mokona can talk, too?" Mokona asked, hopping out of Fai's lap and landing on the coffee table.

Both the winged lion and the winged man looked at the little creature suddenly, stared it over in silence for a moment.

"This thing has a lot of power..." the man stated, finally his voice soft and calm.

Kero facevaulted.

"I'm not a 'thing'! I'm a Mokona!" the white fluffy creature stated. "And I'm the one that takes them to different worlds!"

"You're a manjuu, that's what you are," Kurogane shot.

"So were you the one who chose to bring them here?" the lion asked, regaining its altitude where it had stopped.

Mokona shook its head. "No, I can't choose where we go, either. It's up to fate to decide our destination. And fate always has a reason for bringing us to different worlds; like this one." It giggled and tilted its head. "Because I sense a feather! And it's really close by!"

Sakura, Fai, and Kurogane all looked at each other, then to Syaoran, who stood stock-still looking all the world like someone had come out of the blue and hit him in the face with a frying pan.

"... There's a feather... here?" He asked finally, voice soft, shaking, tight.

Mokona nodded. "Yeah, and it's really close, too..." The small creature studied the young man more closely. "Are you alright, Syaoran?"

He gave a half-nod, paused, then shook his head. "Fine. I'm fine."

Meilin finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence before it got a chance to settle. "I bet you're all hungry! Syaoran, help me make some food, you still remember how to cook, right?"

Syaoran blinked, startled, then gave a slow nod and followed his cousin into the kitchen.

"Make sure you make plenty of sweets! I haven't eaten in years," the lion-creature called after them, his tail twitching happily. It settled down, finally, then looked to the group left in the living room. "Oh, I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Cerberus, guardian beast of the Clow Cards... more recently under the service of Sakura Kinomoto." He looked over his shoulder at the man watching the group impassively with cold, silver eyes. "That's Yue the Judge... he's my counterpart. Don't worry about him, he's not really social."

Fai smiled at them. "Pleased to meet you. My name is Fai D. Flourite." He nodded at Kurogane. "And this temperamental fellow is Kurogane, or Kuro-pu-"

"Kuro-pu! Kuro-pu!" Mokona chirped, bouncing on its toes. "And I'm Mokona!"

Kurogane glared at them both accordingly.

"And I suppose," Fai said, looking at the Princess Sakura. "You can already guess her name to be Sakura... Princess Sakura. Everyone seems to know her here."

"They seem to miss her, too..." The small, white Mokona pointed out.

"That's because everyone here loved her on one level or another," Yue stated, looking to the princess. "And you as well, in your world?"

Sakura blinked, then nodded. "Yeah... everywhere I went people would always smile at me, vendors would give me samples of their wares for free, and everyone in the palace always told me how much everyone loved their princess." As she spoke, the two winged beings folded their wings over themselves and let a bright glow, and as she finished speaking in the place of the two, a small creature that looked like a stuffed bear and a young man with gray hair and yellow eyes stood, but soon collapsed into the chair next to him.

"It's universal, it seems," Kero said, smiling, his voice now much lighter.

"Yeah," The gray-haired one agreed. "A kind, gentle soul in one world is destined to be the same in all others."

"Sorry, these are our other forms; it was getting kind of claustrophobic in here with the wings and all," Kero explained. "And I don't see the point being big anymore... But isn't my unsealed form really cool?"

Sakura smiled awkwardly, glancing from Kero to the gray-haired one and blinking comically in surprise. "Y-yeah. Except, it's kind of scary when it looks like you're trying to jump on me."

Kero nodded, crossing his small arms. "Indeed, I can be very scary when I need to. But do not fear! I don't eat people, I only eat sweet things!"

"I love eating sweet things, too!" Mokona exclaimed, jumping up and down on the table.

"It must be universal for little stuffed toys," Kurogane muttered, and Fai smiled widely.

A head peeked around the corner from the kitchen. "Oh! Yukito's here! Double the recipe, Syaoran!"

"Yu-Yukito?" Sakura asked, staring at the man sitting in the chair to her left. "So you are Yukito."

He smiled gently at her. "I'm probably not the one you're thinking of, Princess."

She nodded. "The one I know didn't turn into someone else with wings..."

"Oh, Princess, can I ask something?" Kero queried, floating up until he was a little from her face.

Sakura blinked, then nodded. "What is it?"

"I know you've probably figured it out by now, but you being outside is kind of... dangerous; people who can't sense your magical presence won't be able to tell the difference between you and the Sakura they know, so it will just cause a lot of pain when you all need to move on," he leaned back, crossing his legs and folding his arms. "So, until you're done here and it's time to move on, could you keep a low profile?"

She nodded, and Kero floated closer to her ear. "And go easy on the kid, alright?"

An eyebrow raised as emerald eyes regarded the small floating creature with confusion. Kero just shook his head and flew back over to sit on Yukito's shoulder.

Meilin emerged a moment later, covered in flour and other basic ingredients, with Syaoran on her heels, completely clean and wiping his hands with a cloth.

"It shouldn't take very long to cook," the female informed them, plopping down on the opposite side of the couch Sakura sat on. Syaoran stepped over to where the pink book had landed on the table and picked it up.

Fai's eyebrow raised, and he looked to the young man before giving him a sympathetic smile. "I've never felt magics intertwine like that..."

"The Clow Cards, the original deck of cards those were based off of were very attuned to love," Kero noted, watching as Syaoran ran his hand over the lock of the book. It unlatched, and the book opened in his hands. "These cards are no different, and they know..." The small winged creature waved its hand. "What this kid is to their master. It's also why... we," and he looked at Yukito. "The guardians, are still around... we figure when our master returns he'll be the first one she'll run into." He looked at Syaoran, who seemed to be very focused on one of the cards.

"Which, hopefully, will happen soon," Yukito noted, smiling. "We're never going to give up hope."

Syaoran barked a laugh, and most of the occupants of the room winced at the tone. "I wish I could say the same thing." He opened the book and picked out the card from the top. The picture on the front brought a small smile to his lips. He turned back to the book and went to set the card back, when the whole book began glowing, and a single card drifted out of it, floating over to Princess Sakura.

"Mekyo!" Mokona said, and pointed at the card. "The feather's right there!"

Indeed, the shape of a feather began to glow on the back of the card as the princess took it out of the air. She squinted at the writing at the bottom. "Re..."

Syaoran, frozen in place, suddenly moved. "Princess, don't read the name of that card!"

But her eyes were blank, and her mouth moved anyway. "... Return..."

Time seemed to freeze, Syaoran's hand just barely touching the card Sakura now held, when they both began disappearing, almost as if being sucked into the card itself. In but a couple seconds, and before anyone could gain any sense to try to stop the occurrence, the two teenagers were gone.

"What happened?" Mokona asked, its voice high-pitched in panic.

"Calm down," Kero said, floating over to where the two had disappeared. "It's not going to hurt them. That was the Return card, it's one of the more powerful cards created. Its ability is to transport things into the past, but it takes a lot of magical power to do so- originally it had attached itself to a tree in the Tsukimine Shrine, but now it's got some other source of power to activate itself..."

"The feather..." Fai noted, now on his feet and standing near Kero.

"That feather was something else," the small creature nodded. He scratched his chin and focused on the couch Sakura had previously occupied. "But... what was it doing...? Return always confused me, its motives were always very complex and half the time I didn't understand what it was trying to do."

"Kero," Yukito said, watching the floating creature carefully, his face serious. "It may not hurt them, but what happens if they meet them...what happens if they run into Syaoran and Sakura Kinomoto...? What would that do to our world?"

Kero scratched his chin. "I'm... not sure. I guess we just have to trust that kid to make sure they stay out of the way until they can figure out how to get out of there."

"And how do you get out of there?" Fai questioned.

"Time," the guardian answered. "The way to stop Return is to activate the Time card and make time stop. Syaoran knows this... so, with a little luck, they'll run into a situation where he can use Time."

"But don't the cards only obey their master?" Fai asked.

"Well..." Kero began, closing his eyes and sighing. "That's a bit of a story."

-

A/N: Do you see that? Now watch as the two teenagers go through a heartwrenching trial. I promise they won't return the same as they left.

Thanks reviewers! Parma-violets, I've always dreamed of throwing the CCS world into Dark and Morbid times. Tsubasa really was the excuse I was looking for. xp