A/N: Well things are getting messy. So secrets are revealed for the greater good.
Chapter 22: Revelations
It was half a day before the doctors would believe Syaoran when he said that he was alright. They had actually strapped him into bed, with his mother's help, to keep him from trying to cross the ward and see Sakura. What was worse was that they refused to give him any news about Sakura for fear that his sudden collapse may have been aggravated by stress. Meiling had come along after that and told him mundane stories, forever leading up to exciting things before skipping right over them to the next mundane event. He began to wonder which god had cursed him that he should be subjected to this torture.
Finally, he was freed with a clean bill of health and crossed immediately to Sakura's room where he found Meiling and Tomoyo chatting amicably.
"I thought Syaoran was about to blow his top when I told him about how my toaster refused to toast to the precise shade of brown I wanted. I think I talked about that for at least five minutes, and his face kept getting redder and redder."
"Well good for you. I should have thought of that myself. I am not sure I approve of Syaoran dating Sakura anymore," Tomoyo replied, "He is nice to her, but he's so abusive to everyone else. He's threatened to kill me at least three times – not to mention how he destroyed my collection of Sakura videos. I was hoping to continue my collection, but there really doesn't seem to be a point now, except that if I don't, all the costumes I made this year would go to waste." She sighed resignedly. "I hope she doesn't hold the way I've been acting recently against me. I was being a total-"
"Your collection isn't destroyed," Syaoran cut in, "I made a copy and put it in the library. I'll admit to the death threats, though I only threatened you to keep Sakura safe."
"Maybe you should have bribed me instead," Tomoyo had completely tensed up, "That was half the reason I could never get back my relationship with Sakura!"
"You're already rich," Syaoran said, "You don't offer a drowning man a glass of water. The only thing I could have offered you was knowledge, which you'd already proven yourself untrustworthy of."
"I never told your secrets to anyone!" Tomoyo shouted indignantly.
"But you abandoned Sakura when she needed you most, and didn't come back until she took a bullet for you. I know Sakura will forgive you, but I won't and I will remember that it is your fault that my Sakura almost died!"
"You think I don't know that?" Tomoyo cried, cringing away from Syaoran, "Those men were after me. That bullet was aimed at me. My bodyguard forced her to exhaust herself before we even confronted the enemy, so yes, It is my fault, it's all my fault, and I'm sorry, okay?"
"I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you," Sakura said sleepily, her eyes peeking out from behind her heavy lids, blinking slowly.
"You're awake!" Meiling exclaimed, "The doctor said you'd be out until morning."
"I feel like I should still be asleep, but I have so much energy that I can't."
"Does it still hurt?" Tomoyo asked.
"I feel a lot better," Sakura said, placing a reassuring hand on Tomoyo's. Tomoyo blushed and Syaoran scowled jealously.
"You didn't see your wound though. After the last time you woke up, they had to replace your bandages because you reopened the wound. They even had to redo the stitches because they got torn out."
"I told you that I feel fine. With the drugs they have me on, it barely even hurts," Sakura assured Tomoyo.
"With your magical power what it is, your body should heal quickly," Syaoran replied, "I almost died when I got sucked into your head but, if I am right, you're a whole person again."
"You can look forward to fulfilling your promise when we get home," Sakura replied with a smile that made Syaoran feel like a lead brick had come to rest in his stomach.
"You remember that?" Syaoran asked.
"Which part, when you were sticking you nose between my breasts, or the part right after where you bit me?" Sakura's glare rivaled whatever any Li could have done, and Syaoran began to think that he might just be rubbing off a little bit too much on her.
"So, where's your dad?" Syaoran asked, he was receiving glares from both Tomoyo and Meiling as well.
"He said that he had gotten permission to return to the Forbidden City," Tomoyo said.
"Which is why I am here to look after my sister." Syaoran felt a hand grasp his shoulder with strong fingers digging deeply into the muscle.
"Nii-san!" Sakura smiled happily.
"What's this I hear about you and my sister?" Touya asked. He was still wearing a uniform from one of his part time jobs.
"He promised to submit to any punishment I could think of," Sakura said, "could you please take care of it?"
"No, I promised to take any punishment from you, not from your brother!" Syaoran wrenched himself away and took a defensive stance.
"And, my punishment is that you have to spend the rest of the day with my brother, and tell him everything. Tou-san already knows most of the truth. Touya deserves to know too."
Syaoran shuddered. It seemed that combining the two halves when the dark side was stronger had made the dark side of her combined mind stronger. At least that is what is seemed like to Syaoran.
"Well, gaki, it looks like we had better find somewhere to... talk... privately."
Syaoran swallowed hard and stepped out of the room, resigned to his fate.
Eriol walked into the hospital humming merrily as he tossed a fist sized piece of amber into the air and catching it repeatedly. Inside the amber was something that turned heads as people gawked at him and his little treasure. It was a little red piglet, frozen with a look of absolute terror on its face.
"I am back!" Eriol announced as he slammed open the door to Sakura's room, "Did you miss me?"
"Why, yes, yes I did," Tomoyo said with an icy smile, "Where were you when people were shooting at me? Aren't you supposed to be my bodyguard?"
"My dear Tomoyo, you wound me. How could you even think that I would abandon you in yout time of need? Did I not leave you under the protection of two of the most powerful magicians in the city?"
"But, you knew there were people after me in the school!"
"Umm... I hate to interrupt your flirting, but what's with the pig?" Sakura asked.
"We're not flirting!" Tomoyo fumed.
"Well, while you were off dealing with more mundane things, I was dealing with the real threat, risking my heart and my life because nothing it more important to me, my dear, than your safety."
Eriol didn't even see what hit him. The next thing he knew, he was on the ground and a bright red hand print throbbed painfully on his cheek, but the pain did nothing to make his Cheshire grin fade from his face.
"Tomoyo, are you okay?" Sakura asked.
"No! I am not okay!" Tomoyo glared at Eriol who flipped himself back to his feet in a single fluid motion. "This idiot has been nothing but trouble since he arrived. He's the one behind all the strange stuff that was happening, he's taken every bad thing I can think of and has cast a spell that makes them all happen to you. He tricked my mother into making him my bodyguard. He sneaks into my room at night, just to annoy me. He's an insufferable know-it-all wizard who is only around when I don't want him to be."
"After all I did to stop you from getting blown to smithereens, that's how you think of me?" Eriol asked, looking very hurt.
"Since when was I in danger of being blown up?"
"At about the same time Sakura was jumping in front of a bullet for you." He dropped the amber-coated pig on Sakura's lap. "Say hello to the spirit of the pig talisman. It is a lot more dangerous than the tiger or the bull which you already faced."
"So, this was the consolation prize you were talking about?" Sakura asked.
"Yes. How astute of you, Kinomoto-san," Eriol said with a mysterious smirk.
"And, how exactly is a super-pig a consolation prize when compared to normal, everyday, kidnappers?" Tomoyo asked sweetly, with a hint of menace in her voice.
"Yes, do tell us. I would love to hear how you explain this," Sakura added, leveling a Li-like glare at Eriol.
"It is rather obvious, if you think about it. You were playing the game for the dearest prize of all, Sakura, the lovely Daidouji Tomoyo."
Tomoyo raised a fist angrily and opened her mouth to yell at him, then closed it again. "I..." She was at a complete loss for what to say.
"After my little test of Sakura's powers, I knew that her magic was nowhere near strong enough to bind a powerful spirit. Just the one small act of magic completely drained her. This spirit happened to have headed into the boiler room after it used its heat vision to destroy the janitorial supply closet. It got spooked when the cleaning chemicals exploded. If I had been with you, the last kidnapper would have run away. We would have chased after him. The gas pipe to the water heater was loosened by the explosion in the janitor's closet. The kidnapper would have thrown himself into the boiler room and tripped over the pig. The pig would have been startled and would have used its heat vision, igniting the cloud of gas and destroying half the school."
"So, you really were saving us?" Sakura asked.
"Daidouji-sama has kept me quite busy. She once had a squad of bodyguards, but now there is only me. In addition to protecting her from over-zealous Li agents intent on purging a threat, there have been no less than eleven kidnapping attempts since I became her bodyguard. Until now, I was able to deal with them without her noticing."
"So, every time you were caught sneaking into my room, you were actually protecting me?"
"Well, every time after the first week. You needed to get to know me so that you would trust me. Tomoyo, there are some very bad people after you, and I doubt that it has anything to do with your mother's company."
"Someone is after the Li's, aren't they?" Sakura stated flatly, "They know she is my cousin and want to use her to get to me."
"No. I think they are after me," Eriol said, "I made some very dangerous people very angry the night of Miss. Daidouji's concert. I think that they want to get to her to get to me... But, your theory holds merit as well. I can see the assassins coming, but whoever is hiring them has veiled themselves. This magic didn't exist five hundred years ago."
"That's impossible! Your're our age!" Tomoyo exclaimed.
"Am I, Tomoyo? With everything you've seen, do you think something as trivial as eternal youth is beyond my power?"
Sakura gripped her pendant and looked suspiciously at Eriol. "Who are you?"
"I am Hiiragizawa Eriol. Transfer student from England."
"Liar! Why are you so afraid of the Li's finding out your true identity?" Tomoyo said, backing up a step and bumping into the wall.
"You shouldn't go and reveal people's secrets like that, my dear. But, I suppose that the big reveal will have to come early. Too many things are spiraling out of control. Sakura, I should have sent you the book when you were eleven like I originally planned. I never should have let Kaho Mizuki convince me to wait."
"You know Mizuki-sensei?" Tomoyo gasped.
"She always seemed to know things she shouldn't."
"Yes, I knew her quite intimately, but we grew apart... Or at least she did."
"I want to call Syaoran!" Sakura exclaimed, "He should hear this."
"Sakura, whatever you do, you can not let Syaoran know what I am about to tell you," Eriol insisted, "You can't tell anyone who might let the Li family know. Your lives depend on it, and more than that, the fate of the entire world will rest on your shoulders."
"If this will hurt the family, I will tell him." Sakura replied.
"I swear, that I have no desire to harm my cute little descendants," Eriol said, the seriousness of the mood dispersing as he drew out a golden key. "Key that hides the power of darkness," Sakura gasped in surprise as she heard the incantation begin, "reveal thy true self before me. Under the contract, I, Hiiragizawa Eriol, command you. Release!"
The air whipped around Eriol as magical energies were drawn into the key and it expanded into a long, ornate, golden staff topped by a golden sun and moon, shielded by a pair of strange statues. Sakura did not even get a chance to see what they were before Eriol called out in another incantation.
"I call upon the power of the night, release my servant unto me. I call upon the service of my familiar Ruby Moon. I call upon the power of the day, release my servant unto me. I call upon the service of my familiar Spinel Sun. Guardians awaken!"
The staff shrunk. Where Eriol had once been forced to hold it at a steep angle so it would not strike the ceiling, it was now only a few inches taller than he was. Two orbs of magical energy detached themselves from it and formed into two creatures that were strangely familiar – a winged cat and a winged human. They were as unlike her own guardians, Yue and Keroberos, as they were like them. Where Kero's true form was of an bright, yellow lion with golden armor and white, angelic wings; Spinel's was that of a stealthy, black panther with silver armor and wings like a great, blue butterfly. Sakura's Yue was an angelic presence as a man with white hair and feathered wings, garbed in white and soft blues; Ruby Moon, however, seemed almost demonic with her blood-red hair, black and pink butterfly wings, and garbed in black and pink robes.
"They are like the guardians of the Clow," Sakura said in awe.
"Don not compare me to that fat, lazy cat," Spinel said contemptuously.
"And I am much cuter than Yue, right, Eriol-kun?" Ruby asked, latching onto her master.
"How is this possible?" Sakura asked.
"It is simple, really," Eriol said, waving his staff and sending a coating of magical energy to seal the room, "Your father and I are the half-reincarnations of of the one you know as Clow Reed."
"My father is what?" Sakura exclaimed.
"You the reincarnation of who?" Tomoyo gasped.
"Five hundred years ago, Clow Reed was the most powerful magic user in the world. There was no man who could overpower him. No one could create any magics even close to rivaling his. No one could match him in combat or knowledge. No seer could see as much or as clearly as Clow. The past, present and future were open to him like a book. He had lived for more than a thousand years, knowing, before he even met a person, how a person had lived, was living, and would live. He also saw how they died. Every person he met died before him before they could even say his name. For over a thousand years, Clow Reed lived with no one but his own created familiars because to him, the entire world was already dead. It was a dark and miserable life."
"That's terrible. Who could live like that?" Sakura asked.
"Not Clow Reed. I have not met anyone who could live that life."
"When you said you couldn't see into my future, this is what you meant..." Tomoyo gasped.
"Tomoyo, you are the most precious thing in the world to me. I don't know how or why, but to me, you are just you. You are the only person who lives in my world. Only with you can I truly smile because, with you, I am not alone."
Tomoyo gaped, stunned by his words. Sakura looked between them, blushing as she saw the intensity with which Eriol looked at Tomoyo.
"What about me? Do I die?" Sakura asked nervously, breaking the uncomfortable silence that seemed to have engulfed the room.
"I don't know," Eriol admitted, "But in a little less than two years, you will be cast out of this world, and as powerful as I am, even my eyes cannot pierce the veil through which you will pass."
"What does that mean?" Sakura asked.
"It means, that after you leave, I will never lay eyes upon you again."
Sakura shuddered, "How does it happen? Can it be stopped?"
"You will make a choice out of selfless stubbornness. You will follow your heart then be guided by your curiosity. You will cast the spell that banishes you, Syaoran, and one old man from this world."
"You mean, I am going to kill Syaoran!" Sakura paled, feeling sick.
"No. I never said that you would die." Eriol reassured her, "You will just be somewhere I am not powerful enough, or will not be powerful enough, to reach. What will happen there will be up to the three of you to decide because I will never enter that place."
"I just don't want anything else to happen to Syaoran. He's already been through enough."
"I need to finish my story," Eriol said, "Do not worry about the future because the present has enough challenges to face." Tomoyo stepped over to Sakura and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Okay," Sakura said, "Tell me what happened to Clow Reed."
"He decided it was time for him to die," Eriol responded flatly.
Tomoyo gasped and sat down on the edge of Sakura's bed.
"Life was unbearable to the wizard, and he vowed that when his spirit was born again into this world, it would not share his sad existence. He split his soul in two so that each live created from his own could live a relatively normal life. As you can see, it didn't work out as he anticipated. What he failed to realize was that souls regenerate. By splitting his soul into two, he created two people with extraordinary magical power. Your father and I were born with power equal to Clow Reed. But, the soul did not split evenly.
"I received all the knowledge of Clow Reed, while your father received all the skill. I knew everything from birth, everything that Clow knew about the world, but my body needed to be retrained to do everything. To my parents, I seemed like a scholarly prodigy, able to read from infancy without being taught, only requiring to learn to do even the most inconsequential things like focus my eyes before I worked on getting current in this world.
"Your father was the one who received all the skills. Give him a sword, and he'll instinctively know how to fight. Give him a wand, and he will cast spells. Give him a needle and thread and he could even stitch the fabric of time and space on instinct. But he has no knowledge of how to do anything. If you ask him how to do any of these things, he wouldn't be able to tell you because he only has the skills and not the knowledge.
"However, things that should have been instinctual to me, I had to practice. Even when I was born, I needed to be on a respirator for a week before I was able to breathe on my own. I knew how to breathe, but I couldn't get my body to do it. You can imagine how frustrating that is. I spent the first eleven years of my life training my body to use magic. The next twenty, I spent in training my other skills: archery, swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, music, cooking, art, and sewing. I did this all while keeping my age frozen at eleven years old.
"During this time, I met a young girl named Kaho Mizuki, a priestess in training. She was a naturally powerful seer, so I trained her in magic. She fell in love with me. And I found that she was somewhat pleasant to spend time with. But, time passed, and she grew older. She became embarrassed to be seen with me and her love faded to friendship. Then I asked for her help. I asked her to watch over a newly born young girl named Kinomoto Sakura in Tomoeda."
Sakura gasped at this revelation, but Eriol continued, ignoring the interruption.
"Kaho worked at a shrine owned by her family, the Tsukimine shrine. She watched you from afar before taking a position as a student teacher where she met your brother. Unlike me, she could love, even when she knew that her time with someone was short. She dated your brother for a year when he was in his eighth year of school. Then, it was time for her to return to me.
"I told her my plans for you, to give you the Clow Cards. To secretly train you to use them through Keroberos with her help to guide you and protect you from harm. I would then appear as an adversary for you, forcing you to transform the cards and become an even more powerful magician than I so that you could rebalance the souls within your father and I and accomplish what Clow Reed failed to do.
"Kaho refused. She said it was too much for a little girl to deal with and refused to help me unless I waited until you were older. I could not do it without her, and so I waited and allowed myself to age along with you. I checked often for the right time to act, but it would have always ended up with your death. I briefly considered choosing someone else, but you were the only one I could trust with the power. Then, my hand was forced. You were getting too old, and as you age your magical development slows. I had to complete this before you reached maturity or your powers would never develop far enough to accomplish the transformation.
"I began my plan, subtly influencing people to put them in place. I had originally planned to have Tomoyo there as a loyal friend and support to help you, so I provided a business opportunity that forced her mother to move to Hong Kong. I influenced the Li seers, making them decide on you for Syaoran's next bridal candidate. I arranged so that Kaho would get a teaching position in your class. I set everything up perfectly, but then everything began to unravel. The Rusaki family noticed that their seers' predictions had changed, that they would soon become subject to the Li's. I notice that I could not see Tomoyo's future, and she played such a big role in your future that I did not know what would happen except that you would receive heavy injuries on several occasions. When you found the Book of Clow, and the Rusaki family start making moves against the Li's, the Li's increased their magical security so I could not influence you as I wanted.
"I thought that I might have a chance to restore my plans when you two fought, but for that, I depended on Tomoyo's interference. I could only hope that whatever was blocking her from my sight would block her actions from whatever forces were acting against me. That did not work out as planned, instead it drew the attention of the magic hunting sect of the Catholic church, the Templar, who once tried to oppose me in everything due to their belief that magic is evil.
"Then, because Syaoran got the emperor involved, his forces began to act as well when he discovered that your Father had too much magic to be influenced by his powers and the seal of power that kept his forces balanced against the Li's was stolen. I believe that he will make a move, and soon. But, he has shielded his palace against magical intrusion and I will not be able to see his plans unless I get inside."
"Tou-san just left to return there!" Sakura exclaimed fearfully.
"Remember what I told you about your father. He will reflexively protect himself, even if he doesn't understand what he is doing. He is heading into a dangerous place, but no harm will come to him," Eriol promised.