Part Two: Forces Unknown

Early, before the sun had even peaked over the mysterious ruins, Sakura got dressed, changing into her usual clothes. A shirt that fit her loosely, so that she wouldn't get too hot in the scorching heat of the sun. A pair of pants, made from an incredibly light weight material. On her feet she wore a pair of shoes, that only very slightly, curled up at the toe. Finally, she threw on a hooded cloak, so that she could shield herself from the harsh winds that sometimes went through Clow. Pulling her hood up, she sighed, and began to make her way to the door of her bedroom.

She had decided that she needed to go and visit Syaoran. Saying anything that would be able to get her out of the Palace. Whether it was that she wanted to go to the market down in the village so that she could buy some apples. Or that she'd made plans to meet up with her math tutor to figure out how to correctly solve one of the equations that had been given to her as homework, she'd say it.

Anything to be able to see Syaoran before he had to leave again.

Out in the corridor, just outside of her room, Sakura saw that a few of the Palace guards were still patrolling the area. Some of them seemed to be on high alert, as if they could feel that something bad was coming.

Were they feeling the man from another dimension on his way? Coming to kill her?

Shaking her head furiously, trying to clear thoughts like that away from her mind, and running as quickly and as quietly as she could, she hurried off for the nearest exit.

Time was ticking, coming to an abrupt end, and she had to do everything that she could to stop it from even happening.

"Last night...when Yukito had came by to see me...he wanted to see if I was okay...he's never done that before!" Sakura thought as she ran through corridor after corridor, the exit that she longed for, getting closer by the second. "Maybe he saw something! Maybe he's had a premonition about me that's concerned him!" She was now outside, the wind slightly stronger than it had been the previous day. "When I'm done seeing Syaoran, I should go and see Yukito next!"

Walking the streets of Clow, a few of the country's citizens were already out and about. Tending to their business like always. Greeting their neighbors, and watching as their cloaked Princess rushed by. Though they didn't know that the person under the flowing garment was Sakura, they smiled as she ran past, some of them even bidding her a very good morning.

The people of Clow were all very nice and loving. None of them, she thought, could ever harm another person, a creature or even so much as an object. They were just that kind. And she was proud to be their Princess.

When Syaoran's clay-brick domed house was in view, Sakura bounded up to the wooden front door, and began to beat on it with closed fists. "Syaoran! Syaoran! Let me in!"

From the other side, she heard someone fumbling around for something. He must have still been asleep. Then after a moment of waiting, and glancing around nervously, the door opened, and there standing, with one hand still on the door knob, was Syaoran. Wearing an olive green sleeveless shirt, and a pair of baggy tan pants. His amber eyes only half opened. "Sakura...Do you know what time it is?"

Without an invite into his house, she rushed in and took a seat at the small kitchen table, the flat surface cluttered with maps, notes and sketches. "Syaoran...I had a dream...You know like that kind that I used to have when I was a kid?"

More awake, he lit a lantern and sat it down on a small desk next to his bed. "You mean like that ones that to an extent, predicts the future?" He watched as Sakura slowly nodded, then quietly he asked, "What did you see?"

Whispering, she recounted the events of her dream. "There was a demon...piercing red eyes, black menacing wings...but then it transformed into a man, only I couldn't see who he was...he spoke to me though...he said, that my fate would be sealed with the arrival of a man from another dimension...from another world...I caught a brief glimpse of this man..." She looked Syaoran in the eyes, a pleading edge now in her voice, "Syaoran...the man looked like you...only older..."

Tensing up, he quietly asked, "It looked like me? I'm going to be the cause of your death?"

Sakura calmly took hold of his hand in hers, "I don't know. I think that we should go and see Yukito. He's maybe seen what I've seen happen in my dream. Maybe he saw it more clearly than I did. Every one's face was shrouded in shadows...But Syaoran, something else happened in my dream...Wings...I grew wings from out of my back, and all of the feathers from the wings shot out, going in over a hundred different directions. I don't know what any of it means..." She shook her head from side to side, her eyes closing.

The sun now rapidly rising high within the sky.

Quietly running one of his leathery hands through his chocolate brown hair, Syaoran stood up, as he continued to use his other hand to hold onto Sakura's delicate one. "Come on, we need to get to Yukito. Just like you said, he maybe has more insight about what you saw."

Opening her eyes again, she saw a determined smile etched onto the lips of her dearest friend. "Alright then! Let's hurry!" On her feet, they both raced out of the house, blowing the lantern on the desk out before doing so.

Sakura wasn't sure if they'd even be able to make it to Yukito's place, after all, another thing that the demonic man had told her was that all of the answers that she would need, would be given at dawn...And it was dawn right then. They might already be too late to save her life.

However she had to keep hold of her faith. Faith that there was still some time left to do what needed to be done.

A few blocks from Yukito's house, Syaoran and Sakura had to stop running, because the ground beneath their feet began to quake, and a sudden sand storm appeared. The wind form it focusing on a single spot. Staying stationary, unlike the other sand storms that had gone through Clow.

Then nearly as quick as it had started, the earthquake faded into low, soft rumbles, and the sand storm faded away, becoming nothing but a gentle breeze. Leaving behind in its place a man.

A man with brown hair, that was a shade lighter than Syaoran's.

But where had he come from?

Everyone who was looking at him, as he lie unconscious on the cobble street, could tell just from glancing at the clothes that he wore, that he wasn't from the Kingdom of Clow. Pants that were nearly black in color, and made out of a material that not even Syaoran, who had travelled to other countries with his late foster father, Fujitaka, had never seen. A shirt that was red, and in white letters, had a strange foreign language printed on it. Then there were his shoes, just as red as his shirt, and kneeling down, Syaoran noticed that there were wheels on the bottom of them.

He knew instantly that this man wasn't from Clow. He wasn't from any country that was nearby either. Leaving just one other option to choose from: Another dimension.

Was this the man that Sakura had seen in her dream? If he was, what world was he from, and how did he end up all the way in Clow? Being born from a sand storm, and lying abandoned in the center of a busy street.

Thinking quickly, Syaoran called out to the other people on the road. "Do any of you know where the High Priest, Yukito, lives? He might already be on his way to the Palace! Will one of you head to his house, and someone else head to warn His Majesty? If you see Yukito, tell him to hurry here, by the request of Princess Sakura!"

Two men hurried off, heading in different directions. And all that Syaoran wanted to do was make sure that the man before him now, stayed away from Sakura. He'd do anything to make sure of that.

Stepping forward, Sakura examined the young man's face. No one knowing for how much longer he'd be unconscious, "He doesn't look so bad. His aura is pure. I'm not sure if this is the man from my dream..."

"He's from another world. Where he's from, a pure aura might mean the opposite of what it means here. We can't be too cautious with him!" Syaoran muttered, resting one of his hands on the ground. He was ready. If he were to so much as move an inch, he'd use every bit of the techniques that he'd learned in fighting that had been taught to him from a very old friend named Seishiro. He'd use it all against this man! He'd stop him from laying a finger on the bright smile that always occupied Sakura's face. If he were to make that smile fade, then the brightest, and warmest sun that Syaoran had ever known, would be gone forever.

Several minutes went by before they all heard the worried cries of the Priest. Running down the street, he rushed over to Sakura's side, his white and maroon vestments billowing out behind his lean body as he ran. "Your Highness! What's happened?! Are you hurt?!" Yukito glanced over at Syaoran, who was still kneeling next to the man, who somewhat resembled him in the way that he looked.

"I had a dream last night, Yukito. And I believe that the man beside Syaoran was possibly in it. A creature made of the darkest power, told me that my life would end with the arrival of a man who came from another dimension." She slowly wrapped her arms around herself, "That man came out of no where. One second, there was a sand storm, then when it was gone, he was there. Lying on the ground." Quietly she whispered, so that only Yukito could hear her. "I was wondering, have you seen anything in one of your visions that's even close to what I just told you? Have you seen anyone who looked like him?"

Shaking his head, he replied, "No, at least not yet. From the looks of it, as you've probably all realized, he's not from this world. But just from looking at him, I can't sense any magical abilities at all. Meaning that he didn't send himself here. The real question now is, who did send him? And by doing so, what were they hoping to accomplish?"

Uneasy, Syaoran stood up, his eyes not leaving the stranger, "So he's not the man from her dream?"

As he spoke, the man began to stir. His eyes twitching behind their closed lids.

Seeing this, Yukito answered quickly, "I don't think so. But we should take him back to the Palace so that His Majesty, King Toya, can meet him, and so that the guards can keep an eye on him." Placing a hand on Sakura's shoulder, he added, "Though he came from another world, he might not be the one that we need to worry about."

On the ground, the man slowly opened his eyes, his mouth opening to speak, "W...Where am I?" His eyes were an amber color, just like Syaoran's, and his pupils were wide, from the sudden exposure to the sunlight. "Who are all of you?"

The language that he was speaking in, was one that was another form of a language that Syaoran was familiar with. Though it was slightly different, he was able to translate and act as an interpreter for both groups. "First off, you're in the Kingdom of Clow. How did you get here? Do you know how you got here?"

Looking around wildly, he eventually shook his head. "No. I don't know how I ended up here..."

Sighing, Syaoran asked an easier question, "Okay, can you tell me what your name is?"

"Toby."

Glancing over at Yukito, who was slightly smiling, he said, "Toby, we need you to cooperate with us as much as possible. You see that girl over there?" He gestured at Sakura, "She's someone who's very special to me, and last night she had a dream. That a man coming from another world would arrive here in Clow, which would bring about her death. Has anyone asked you lately to kill anybody for them?"

Nodding, Toby answered, "Yes, but it was in a video game."

Syaoran stiffened, and motioned for Toby to stand, "Come on, the King would like to see you."