Chapter 5: New Faces

She couldn't believe that Captain Black had not noticed. Jade smiled to herself as she stepped off the plane at the Hong Kong airport. She needed something to keep her entertained. The Dark Hand and Shendu had all but disappeared and there was no sign that there were any new bad guys to take care of... not that they ever let her take care of them, or that their not letting her ever stopped her from doing anything.

Now, Jade was finally on her own. No Jackie, no Uncle, and no Captain Black to tell her what she could and couldn't do. She had a pocket full of mischief as well. Black would never even realize that they were missing from the vault. After all, she had been trained by Viper herself, the best former-thief in the world, not to mention her extensive experience Jade had from breaking in and out of Section Thirteen's vault.

The situation almost made her feel good about majoring in archaeology. It hadn't been her idea. She wasn't interested in archaeology at all. She wanted to be a government agent in Section Thirteen like Jackie was. He wasn't actually an agent, more of a consultant, but he still went on dangerous top secret missions.

There were some interesting things that you ran into as an archaeologist. It was not the mundane pottery or ancient huts that intrigued her, it was the mysterious. She loved fighting demons and using magical artifacts. Jackie ran into these things constantly, and that's what had piqued her interest in archaeology. That and the fact that, by studying the artifacts, she learned how to use them much more quickly. She doubted any of those interesting things would happen on this trip, but it still felt good to be out on her own.

Jade's cell phone rang. She flipped it open quickly in hopes that her long-time boyfriend Paco was the one calling. She wondered if he was trying again. He had wanted to say something to her for a few days before she left, but had never gotten up enough courage to spit it out. He had been having a little trouble in the courage department since she had won his luchadore mask when after beating him in a wrestling match. She glanced at the caller ID and sighed.

"Uncle waited for five rings! Why Jade take so long to pick up?" Uncle's high pitched voice annoyed Jade. She had just gotten out on her own and he was already checking up on her.

"Uncle, I'm in the middle of the airport. Can't you wait until I find my bags at least?" She asked wearily as she scanned the lines of luggage.

"No! And one more thing," Uncle told her, "My chi tells me you are in danger."

"I'm fine, Uncle; your chi thinks I'm in danger whenever I'm not eating half a ton of garlic and mung beans every day." She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the thought. She had never taken to mung beans like Uncle had. She had never even met anyone who agreed with his mung bean obsession.

"Uncle will send Jackie to help fight evil." Uncle declared definitively.

"I'm fine, Uncle, I can take care of myself. You taught me everything you know."

"One more thing," He replied loudly, "Uncle taught you all he remembers, not all he knows."

"I'll do okay. Don't worry." Jade hung up the phone before Uncle could try something silly like casing a spell over the phone. She pressed a speed dial button to call Jackie just in case.

"Hello, Jade," Jackie answered happily. "How are you doing? Did your plane land yet?"

"I'm fine. I'm just looking for my luggage now. I just wanted to make sure you don't let Uncle ship you over here. After all, how am I supposed to 'learn responsibility' if I always have you, or Uncle, or Toru, or Viper babysitting me?" She flipped the phone closed before Jackie could answer and dropped the phone into the pocket of her hoodie.

That's when she spotted it. Her luggage was just rounding the corner of the conveyor belt and there was a straight path to it. She reached into her pocket and grasped a stone talisman. In the blink of an eye she had run to the location of the luggage, only to run into a teenage girl who was reaching for the bag next to hers. Both girls were knocked to the ground by the impact. The bags traveled past them on the conveyor belt and out of reach.

"Sorry!" Jade apologized, hastily grabbing the rabbit talisman that she had dropped in the collision and returning it to its resting place in her pocket.

"No, it's my fault," The girl replied. She had darkly tanned skin. Her hair was waist-length and almost unnaturally straight. She wore a white silk dress and simple gold jewelry. Her eyes were a dark reddish brown with flecks of grey and their gaze was piercing and unnerving. "My name is Rusaki Akila." Her Chinese was perfect.

"I'm Jade. Jade Chan," She replied. Jade's Chinese was much more disjointed and had a western accent, despite her asiatic features.

"American?" Akila asked.

"I lived with my parents in China when I was young, but I have lived in America with my uncle for the past ten years," Jade replied.

"I'm sorry..." Akila said, apologetic for bringing up what she thought were painful memories.

"No..." Jade said, realizing that she'd given the girl the wrong idea, "My parents are fine, they just thought I needed an environment that encouraged more discipline." Jade laughed.

"So, are you here visiting your parents then?" Akila said with a relieved smile on her face.

"No, they don't live in Hong Kong. I'm actually here as an archaeology student. One day I'm sitting there being bored out of my skull, the next I get a letter from the Li Corporation telling me that I've been selected to take part in some expedition that they're financing." Jade casually explained her presence in the country.

"Really? I didn't think that the Li Corporation had anything to do with archaeology." One eyebrow arched as if she had learned something extremely interesting.

"Well, I don't know where they got the idea, but when they offer to pay off your tuition, you don't say no. So where are you from?" Jade glanced at the luggage conveyor. They bags had not returned yet.

"My family comes from Egypt. My father owns a large company and we are conducting a lot of business here, so he has lived here for a while now. He was grooming my brother to take over the business, but there was an accident last year and so now I am the next in line." She said rather smugly.

"Oh... Sorry."

"Don't be. I'm not all broken up over it. We were never really close."

There was a period of awkward silence.

"Oh, the bags are coming around again," Jade grabbed hers, "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Akila said, "It is always nice to meet people of interest." Despite Akila's friendly tone, Jade felt uncomfortable when she said this.

Alex had packed light and had avoided the need to claim any luggage. He felt a little nervous. Like his father before him, he liked to be armed in case he ran into any trouble.

Admittedly, he was not half bad at hand-to-hand combat, but he still liked to have his Smith and Wesson sitting on his hip, or even a nice scimitar. If he really got into a jam, he could always use the Manacle of Osiris, which was permanently attached to his wrist, but he had learned long ago that messing with magical objects usually brought trouble.

"My lucky day," he said to himself. There was a taxi with no fares waiting. He ran toward the vehicle. He was not the only one to notice it, and he found himself facing off against a beautiful Asian girl for the vehicle.

"Back off, I got here first!" The girl told him.

"I don't think you did," Alex replied. He liked this girl. She had spunk, and she had thankfully addressed him in fluent English. "Why don't we share?" He offered gallantly.

"Big city. No way you are going-" Jade began to contradict him.

"To the dorm of the Li Archaeology Expedition?"

"How did you know?" Jade asked, amazed at his deduction.

"You don't look it, but you act as foreign as I am. You're about my age. And you have something in your pocket that seems to be attracted to my manacle." He pointed confidently towards the bulge in her pocket.

"It's nothing!" Jade clamped her hands over the offending talismans. They were gently pulling towards the boy.

"Too late. Now that I know it's there, there's no point in hiding it," he pointed out, "Let me help you with that bag." He discreetly ran his hand over hers before grabbing the handle of the suitcase. When he tried to take it, it didn't budge.

"FYI, I have a boyfriend, and I haven't seen him lose to anyone but me in a fight." Jade mocked.

"And just who might that be?" Alex's asked as he exerted himself in a futile effort to take the luggage for her.

"Paco del Toro, or just Paco when he is not busy being the luchadore wrestling champion." She grinned proudly.

"Champion? I think I could take him." He said off-handedly. He wasn't getting anywhere. This girl was strong. She had a hand in her pocket and must have been using whatever was in that pocket to increase her strength.

"You're not even stronger than me. How do you expect to beat him?" Jade flaunted.

"Well, if my life had taught me nothing else, it's that you must use magic to defeat magic." He muttered some words under his breath and Jade found her fingers to be losing their hold on her luggage.

"How are you doing that?" Jade asked. Whatever the power was, she wanted to try it too. "And where did you get that saying?" Uncle had always said the exact same thing whenever they had tried to defeat the supernatural with pure athleticism.

"I learned it from a Chi master who was guarding a scroll about the magical Manacle of Osiris which currently resides on my wrist. You?" He finally managed to pry the luggage from her hand and tossed it into the trunk of the cab.

"Magic talismans stolen from a demon lord named Shendu who is currently trapped in a statue. Can I try the manacle?" She asked in an excessively sweet tone as Alex tossed his own luggage into the vehicle.

"Sorry, but it can only be used by people with the right bloodline. And also, it's permanently attached to my wrist." He opened the door for her.

"I could try getting that off for you later if you want," Jade offered hopefully.

"No thanks. Better on me, than on someone who's going to abuse its power." He said. His tone allowed for no further argument. Jade entered the tab.

"You're right, there always seems to be bad guys after these." Jade witdrew the talismans so Alex could see them, "Good thing no one else knows I have them. By the way, my name is Jade Chan."

"Alex O'Connell," he replied.

The limousine pulled up to the front of the main house of the Li complex.

"I'll take Tsukishiro-san's luggage to your room." Wei offered.

"Thanks," Yukito said, "but I'll take it myself. I don't want to trouble you."

"No trouble at all. It's what I'm paid for, and on top of that, I enjoy my work." Wei insisted.

"If you are sure... Touya?" Yukito glanced at Touya to get his opinion on the matter.

"I'll be back in a minute." Touya's eyes carried a far-off look that Yukito had come to identify as Touya's sixth sense.

"Is it Sakura?" Yukito asked.

"I'll meet you in the room in a few minutes," Touya said with concern as he headed off up the stairs and towards Syaoran's room.

Touya could feel that something was wrong. Yukito always teased him about his sister complex, but she was his little sister, and he would not allow her to come to any harm. Every time his sister was in danger he could feel it.

He trusted that she could take care of herself. In fact, he was sure of it. She had been trained in hand-to-hand combat for a year and was very good at it. He had also seen her use extraordinary abilities. Her magic had defeated a fifty-foot worm of rock, and immediately after, she had even managed to defeat Yue. He had no illusions about her being weak, but it was still his responsibility to protect her.

As he got closer, he could hear the Syaoran's muffled screaming and he started to run.

"Give me the damn pills you stupid bitch!" Syaoran yelled ferociously.

Touya kicked open the door expecting to find Syaoran man-handling Sakura, his fists rready to knock the boy's lights out. But found that instead of attacking Sakura, the brat was well restrained with one limb tied to each of the bed posts so that he could not untie himself.

"Don't you dare talk to my sister like that," Touya said menacingly, "Because you are her fiancé, I am forced to let some of the things you do pass, but no one is allowed to insult her but me. You understand that?"

"Brother... Wait. He's not himself," Sakura begged. Touya did not touch Syaoran, but he remained in a fighting stance with his fists clenched.

"I don't care what's making him do this. Just let him up so I can knock him back down." Touya glared at Syaoran, who ignored him completely.

"It's not his fault..." Sakura said quietly as she glanced timidly at the floor, "It's the drugs. They were supposed to help him... but..." Sakura looked touya in the eye and announced determindly, "I'm going to make him alright again."

"Failing that, the joy of kicking his sorry ass belongs to me." Meiling growled.

"Please, Sakura... It hurts too much. I need them." Syaoran pleaded as he tried to free himself from his restraints.

"Besides, the drugs are doing a good enough job of killing him; they don't need your help." Sakura sighed.

"Is there anything you can do?" Touya asked, alluding to the magical powers which she still hid from him.

"There's nothing else I can do. He's already got the best care I can give him." Sakura answered desperately.

"Then I'll call the doctor. The sooner he gets better the sooner I can kill him." Touya said seriously.

Touya walked stiffly towards his room. It took every ounce of his strength not to run back and kill the stupid brat. Had he stayed any longer... He could barely believe what he had seen. Syaoran was completely different now.

He had avoided Syaoran since Sakura left because of how he felt about the engagement. In those few weeks, he had gone from being completely devoted to her to treating her like dirt.

Sakura had tried so hard to make him believe that everything was fine. He knew it was a lie. Sakura was broken up inside because of what was happening. She had not told him everything, but he could piece together what had happened. It was hard enough on her as it was. Touya swore that he wouldn't let it continue. If Syaoran didn't get better, there would be no groom at his sister's wedding.

Touya was not at all surprised when Dr. Ling passed him in the hallway. He didn't question it, and even half expected it. He knew that some things that routinely happened in the Li house were inexplicable by conventional means. They usually tried to hide it from him, but he could tell. He suspected Yelan had known before anyone else and had conveniently called the doctor at the time when he would be most beneficial. She had a knack for knowing what was needed before anyone else did.

Yukito was already in the room unpacking. He stopped when Touya entered looking obviously frustrated.

"Is everything-"

"I should have seen it!" Touya shouted suddenly, "But I thought she was safe while she was in Tomoeda."

"What happened?" Yukito asked. He didn't bother asking about Sakura. If anything had happened to her, Touya would not have returned.

"He tried to hurt her and I wasn't there to protect her," Touya said, remembering the restraints Syaoran had been bound with.

Yukito placed his hand comfortingly on Touya's shoulder. "She's not injured."

"But-" Touya protested.

"There are some things that you can't protect her from..." Yukito let his head rest gently against Touya's, "When that happens, the best you can do is to try and understand how she feels and be strong for her."

"I know," Touya sighed, turning away.

"Tell me what happened." Yukito ordered softly.

Touya wondered if Yukito was asking because he really wanted to know, or because his other half wanted to know. After Sakura had defeated Yue, he had submitted to her and became her guardian. Touya didn't mind this. Yukito was the one boy that he could trust around his sister, but since the incident, Yukito had shown no recollection of what had happened. Either way, he was glad that Yukito was sharing in his burden of protecting his sister.

"I don't know the whole story," Touya admitted. He now wished that he had waited to hear the whole thing. "But I know enough. The brat got addicted to the pain killers. Sakura got rid of them. He attacked Sakura, but Meiling stopped him."

"Is he going to be alright?" Yukito questioned seriously.

"Unfortunately, he'll probably survive," Touya grumbled, "the doctor's there now."

"Then everything's alright for now. There is nothing we can do and nothing more you could have done, so there's no point worrying about what you can't control, is there?" he gently forced Touya down onto the bed, "You rest and calm down. I'll unpack, then we'll go see what the doctor what the doctor has to say about him."

Touya allowed Yukito's gentle touch to relax him. After all, Yukito was right. Nothing could be done, and Sakura was safe for now. Maybe if he was lucky, Sakura would see how right he was to have gotten in the way.

"Let me go!" Syaoran screamed as he thrashed about.

"Please, Syaoran," Sakura was straddling his abdomen and pressing down on him to stop him from struggling, "We're just trying to help. Don't do this."

"You're trying to help me are you? Since when did the definition of help become 'painful torture'?" Syaoran accused, "Just give me the pills. It's the only thing that helps." He begged desperately.

"But they're not helping. They're making everything worse." Sakura cried, putting even more force into her attempts to restrain him.

"Is there... anything else?" Dr. Ling asked. He wanted a blood sample, but Syaoran was being uncooperative. He knew that the Li family had unconventional ways of doing things and was well paid for his discretion.

"No... I wish I could... There's nothing I can do." Sakura wished that she could use the Clow Cards. The Sleep would have solved this problem so easily.

"I could shut him up." Meiling suggested, towering over Syaoran and cracking her knuckles.

"No!" Sakura placed her own torso between Meiling and Syaoran, "I don't want him hurting anymore. He can't do this forever." Sakura whimpered.

Syaoran gasped and stiffened as a needle was jammed into his leg, tearing his muscle as he struggled.

"That would have been painless if you had cooperated," the doctor told Syaoran worriedly, "Meiling hold his arm. The sedative I gave him probably won't last long." He was not sure how much sedative had actually made it into him, or how much had actually made it into his bloodstream. He had not wanted to use a sedative to calm Syaoran in case there were any adverse reactions, but he had not been given a choice. It was the only way he could conduct the tests he needed to do.

Sakura's eyes glanced at her ring. The wolf stone now looked as if it were made of onyx rather than emerald. She wondered how Syaoran felt about her. She was the only thing that stood between him and what he so desperately wanted. She had no idea of what he was going through his mind because of what she had done. He said he was in pain, but how much of it was because she had forced the end of the drugs?

"Syaoran... How do you feel about me now?" Sakura asked timidly, staring at his chest rather than looking him in the eye.

"That's a stupid question," he said. Sakura looked at him hopefully. "You've taken everything from me. I hate you!" he responded venomously while looking her in the eye. Sakura suddenly felt like she couldn't breathe.

"Sakura, he didn't mean it," Meiling tried to assure her.

Sakura shook her head. It couldn't be true. Had the drugs really replaced her in his heart? The feeling of abandonment was stifling. How could he have said it? She needed Syaoran and now it seemed as if he'd lost every ounce of what they'd shared.

She gripped him tighter. Maybe they had never shared it. Maybe it had all been a ruse. Maybe he had never loved her and it had all been about the Clow Cards. A tear dropped from her cheek and landed on Syaoran's.

"Watch where you're crying! I don't need your tears falling into my eyes," Syaoran struggled more, "Let me go!"

"I promised," Sakura whispered, "You're trapped in the darkness again... That means I have to show you again. I have to be your light." She was trembling as she leaned forward.

"What the hell are you-" He was cut off as Sakura's lips pressed against his. He stopped struggling, instead suddenly becoming rigid. Slowly, his body relaxed and he began to respond to Sakura's kiss.

"When you're alone in the dark, I am your light," Sakura whispered, "No matter what." She laid her head on his chest and continued to hold him, but this time not to keep him still. She had missed him so much, even though they had been apart for such a short time.

Even though he was sweaty, and trembling, and confused, he was still Syaoran. He had the same scent that comforted her. She wished that she could untie his arms so that he could wrap them around her again. She missed the sense of safety they gave her.

Sakura didn't even notice when Meiling quietly ushered the doctor, who had managed to get the blood sample, out of the room. Instead her eyes were focused on the tiny flecks of green that shone through the darkness in the ring as she listened to Syaoran's rapid heartbeat. The whole experience had just been exhausting so she lay there listening as her eyes drifted shut. Before she fell asleep, she heard him mutter something that sounded a lot like an apology. She knew that the next days would not be easy, but she also knew that in the end, everything would be alright.