Author's Notes:
Two drabbles in one night! Finally, I'm getting time to update like a normal person again.
67. Birds
The pendulum hit the bottom of its arc once every second.
"Do you remember what I told you?" Kyle asked the child. This time, it was a girl of seven years, with curly black hair. She reminded him a bit of Xing Huo.
"I remember," the girl murmured, eyes never leaving the pendulum. "When the snow falls, I follow the blackbirds to the castle."
The doctor smiled. The blackbirds were nothing more than a hallucination brought on by the pendulum's magic. Quite useful for luring children to the castle.
Kyle sent the child away and called for his next patient.
68. Mirror
Syaoran's fingertips trailed down the mirror, heart fluttering as he realized his image wasn't reflecting his actions. He lifted a hand to his bandaged eye. His image copied him, a second too late. Instead of bandages, he wore an eye patch.
"Who are you?" Syaoran asked.
The image in the mirror didn't answer, merely lifting his hand to the glass. Where his fingertips touched, the silver surface warped. Syaoran recoiled as his image came through the mirror.
Syaoran sat bolt upright in his bed, shocked into awareness. His eye throbbed painfully. Why, he wondered. do I keep having that dream?
69. Caretaker (150)
Syaoran wrapped the bandages around his left hand, then tied the ends. After another day of training, his hands were raw and abraded.
Sakura slept, so he tended to his wounds alone.
He picked up the bandages again and unrolled some for the scrapes on his dominant hand. Then he hesitated, unsure how to proceed.
"Here, let me take care of that," Fai said, setting down a pan of croissants and approaching the table.
"I'm fine," Syaoran murmured as the magician wrapped bandages around his hands.
"Syaoran-kun works so hard," Mokona said, popping out of Fai's shirt. "He needs someone to take care of him."
"All done," Fai said, tying off the bandages.
Syaoran examined the bandages. "Thank you."
Fai smiled. "We're all in this together. It's okay to accept help sometimes."
Syaoran's eyes flickered to Sakura's room, then back to Fai. Sakura would want it this way, he thought.