Disclaimer: same old, same old. i don't anything it all belongs to respective creators
Chapter Twelve: New Monsters = New Problems
Sakura had no idea how long she had been running for. All she knew was that there was a monster right on her tail, and it was gaining! Fumbling in her pocket, Sakura retrieved the pen Lance had given her in her dream. Just as she took it out of her pocket, she tripped on an exposed tree root and went flying through the air to land hard on her stomach, the pen landing a few feet in front of her. Sakura turned around in time to see the monster almost upon her. Scrambling to her feet, Sakura raced to the pen, pressed the top of it and extended her sword just in time as the monster leapt on top of her, pinning her to the ground. Looking into the creature's mouth lined with razor sharp teeth that dripped with saliva and blood, Sakura began to feel a little panicked. As soon as she smelled the monster's putrid breath however, all thoughts of fear fled and were replaced by revulsion.
Gathering what little strength she had left over after her flight, Sakura raised the sword she held clutched in both hands and sliced the monster's belly open. Unfortunately, this covered her in blood as the monster reared on its back legs howling in pain. Sakura took this opportunity to get out from underneath it by rolling to the side. Once she was a good distance away, Sakura leapt to her feet and wasted no time in jumping into the air, bringing her sword down as she did so to slice the creature's head off. As soon as the head was separated from the body, the creature disappeared leaving only Sakura standing in the middle of the forest covered in blood and sweat and panting to catch her breath. She let the sword revert back to a pen before stowing it safely back in her pocket.
As she made her way back to the Strawberry Dorms, being careful not to be seen by anybody, Sakura thought about what had just happened and how she was going to deal with it. Obviously the monster that had attacked her was one of the minions sent to get rid of her, and it was more powerful than Sakura had anticipated. She was worried that those who were after her would send more powerful monsters than the one she had just faced, and if that happened it would put those she cared about in greater danger than even her friends had been in the previous year when they were taken hostage by her grandfather. The thought terrified Sakura to no end, and she needed to come up with a plan before another monster attacked her, or somebody else.
By the time Sakura made it back to the dorms, she had an idea. Racing up the stairs to the room she shared with Sachiko for the time being, doing her best not to leave a trail of blood along the way, she made it to her room without anybody seeing her. After taking a quick shower and changing her clothes, Sakura pulled a small suitcase out from under her bed, opened her closet and began to throw whatever she could fit in it. She threw in her small collection of non-school uniform clothes, the photo album Youko had sent her earlier with photos of the Yamayurikai, Lance, Mizuki and Nagisa and Shizuma added in, an extra set of toiletries, some pens, pencils and notebooks, and a pair of sneakers. Sakura then grabbed an empty backpack from under her bed and put in an extra set of clothes and a second pair of sneakers along with her wallet and cell phone before putting both the suitcase and the backpack back under her bed. Having completed those tasks, Sakura flopped onto her bed and fell asleep.
Once again, Sakura woke up in limbo, and was welcomed with the sight of Mizuki pacing and Lance's worried frown.
"Sakura!" Lance exclaimed, finally realizing Sakura was awake. "Are you alright? What happened?"
"What happened?" Sakura asked, incredulous. "What HAPPENED? I'll tell you what happened, I was attacked, that's what happened! One minute I'm in class, the next I have a pounding headache that leads me straight to a freaking monster! I barely managed to kill it and get out of there alive!"
"Yea, sorry, I forgot to warn you about that," Lance replied sheepishly.
"Forgot to warn me about what?" Sakura asked, reverting to sarcasm to keep calm. "The fact that these minions that are after me are actually monsters, or the fact that unless I kill them I have a painful buzzing in my head?"
"Both," Mizuki replied, ceasing her pacing. "It seems that, since you're the only one who can kill these things at the moment, the Powers That Be decided that it would be wise to give you a warning every time one of them shows up."
"And that warning would be my headaches?" Sakura asked, not sure whether to be grateful for the heads-up or not.
"Precisely," Lance stated.
"Wonderful," Sakura said, rolling her eyes. "Any idea how many more of these things are going to come after me?"
"Not a clue," Lance said, "however, I can assure you that there will be more. By now the ones controlling these monsters are already aware that you destroyed this first one and they will undoubtedly send more."
"Wonderful," Sakura repeated, rolling her eyes again. "So what do I do? Just keep killing these things?"
"For now, that is all you can do," Mizuki said. "We do have a solution, however..."
"Mizuki doesn't like it," Lance stated, cutting Mizuki off.
"Indeed I do not," Mizuki continued, ignoring Lance. "It is ridiculously dangerous, but it might be the only thing to do."
"What's the solution?" Sakura asked, directing her question to Lance.
"To send you to the area where these monsters are coming from," Lance answered.
"So sort of an 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' sort of thing?" Sakura asked, incredulous. "Really? That's the best you could come up with?"
"Like I said, I don't like it," Mizuki repeated. "You can think about it, and if you don't want to do it, we will find another solution, but for now this is what was presented to us."
"I'll think about it," Sakura said, nodding her head in agreement with Mizuki's statement. "If we can't come up with anything better, then I'll do it. Alright?"
"Alright," Mizuki and Lance agreed at the same time.
"Now you should probably go back," Lance said, "I have a feeling somebody found you and is having a little freak out."
"Next time you come, we will make a decision," Mizuki decided.
"Alright, till next time then," Sakura said, watching as both Mizuki and Lance faded into the mist.
"Sakura! Sakura! Wake up! Please wake up! Sakura!"
Sakura was brought back to her world by the frantic voice shouting at her. Opening her eyes, she saw that it was Sachiko, shaking her and shouting in a panic.
"Ugh!" Sakura complained, sitting up. "What's wrong Sachiko? Why'd you wake..." Sakura was cut off as her sister threw herself on top of Sakura and proceeded to wrap her in a bone-crushing hug, consequently knocking the wind out of her.
"Oh thank Maria-Sama!" Sachiko cried, hugging Sakura tighter if that was even possible. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" Sachiko reprimanded, pulling away from Sakura, but still not letting her go.
"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked, slightly afraid that Sachiko knew about the monster encounter.
"I'm talking about you almost passing out in class!" Sachiko exclaimed, looking at Sakura like she had two heads, while Sakura herself breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. "Shizuma told me that Nagisa-chan had come to her saying that one of your classmates had told Nagisa-chan that you had gone to the nurse because of a headache. Shizuma said that when she went to check on you, the nurse said that you never showed up." Sachiko was talking faster now, almost hysterical. "Then I come to the dorms, thinking you had just gone straight to bed, only to find you passed out in bed and your school uniform lying in a bloodied, crumpled pile in the bathroom! I panicked and tried to wake you up, but you didn't move and..." Sachiko's tirade was cut off when Sakura put a hand over her sister's mouth.
"Stop right there," Sakura said, taking her hand off her sister's mouth. "I'm sorry for worrying you onee-sama, but I figured that since it was just a headache I could sleep it off. I got turned around and completely lost on my way back to the dorms and wound up in one of the forests. After falling down a good number of times and tearing my uniform on branches, I finally got back here. I was so tired I just changed out of my uniform and fell asleep. It's usually really hard to wake me up when I get like that, just ask Yumi-chan, so I apologize for not waking up sooner."
"I see," Sachiko said as she visibly relaxed, seeming to accept her sister's explanations when, in reality, she did not believe a word of it. "I'm glad then, just make sure you don't freak me out like that again." Sachiko didn't want to push Sakura away again; Sakura would tell her what really happened on her own time, so she just let the subject drop.
"I'll try not to," Sakura said, grateful that Sachiko didn't push her for more details by asking unwanted questions. "I can't make any promises though."
"Well, if that's the best you can do..." Sachiko sighed, half-finishing her sentence. "Anyway, since you're up now, let's go to dinner, you've been out most of the afternoon."
"Alright," Sakura said, deciding to think about Mizuki and Lance's idea later, as she followed her sister out the door to the dining hall.
A week later, Sakura had dealt with at least seven more monsters and she was beginning to feel that maybe Lance had a point in telling her to go 'out of the frying pan and into the fire' as Sakura herself had put it. It was getting difficult for Sakura to hide her monster killing excursions, especially since they seemed to happen at the most inconvenient times and there were only so many excuses Sakura could come up with to dash away and deal with it before someone got hurt. It didn't help that Sachiko was getting more and more suspicious and all Sakura's friends, including Nagisa, Chikane and even Amane, who Sakura had met through some of Nagisa's friends, had started asking more and more questions. Sakura wasn't sure how much longer she could hold off telling more people about herself, and, consequently, her past, something she wasn't too fond of doing. Also, due to her disappearing acts, her grades had been dropping, nothing too noticeable, but if she didn't find a solution soon, Sakura was sure she would fail.
The only thing that seemed to be going well for Sakura was her relationships with Sachiko and Shizuma, and the relationship the two of them had with each other. It went without saying that Sakura was genuinely surprised when Sachiko had dropped the animosity against Shizuma, it probably had something to do with the fact that both Sachiko and Sakura found out that Nagisa and Shizuma liked each other but were too nervous, or in Shizuma's case too wrapped up in the past, to do anything about it. At any rate, after discovering that the relationship between Sakura and Shizuma was simply platonic and that of close friends, Sachiko and Shizuma had rekindled their childhood friendship, which basically meant playful bantering and Shizuma acting like Sei, just to get under Sachiko's skin of course.
Throughout all of this, Sakura kept up her silent, internal debate about whether or not to follow Lance's advice and go to the area where all the monsters were coming from in the first place. Sakura tried her best not to think about it during class or other conversations, but she caught herself quite often and, more frequently than she wished, her friends would have to pull her out of an internal debate to ask her why she suddenly looked so pale. It wasn't until after a student from Lulim, Kagome Byakudan, ran into the last monster Sakura faced, a rather nasty frog-like one with bad breath and a slimy tongue that almost ate her, that Sakura made her decision.
It was a rainy Sunday afternoon and Sakura was in the library, her favourite spot in the entire grounds of Astraea Hill, looking for a book on monsters in order to do some research and see if there was a faster way to get rid of them as the battles were constantly getting longer and longer. She highly doubted that she'd find anything as this was a library of a Catholic school; so needless to say, she was quite surprised when she did find one.
It was an old, dusty, leather-bound book with no title whose pages were yellowing and words were fading with age. It caught Sakura's attention when it fell on her head, almost as if it wanted her to find it. Rubbing the spot on her head where the book landed, Sakura went over to a quiet corner of the library, seated herself in one of the comfy chairs and began to read.
"Among many stories of this world, there are the ones centered around Orphans, monsters with purple skin and putrid breath..."
That definitely sounded like many of the monsters Sakura had faced before and Sakura shuddered at the memory of her first encounter with the monsters as she continued to read.
"...and the ones who destroyed them, the Draconians."
Sakura's eyes went wide as she read the last part of the sentence. *Draconians? So Lance was right, there is more to my existence than either of us knew.* Sakura thought to herself, continuing to read as her interest peaked even more.
"The Draconians were powerful beings, created by and descended from the Gods. Many believe them to be the children of the angels of the Lord and the almighty protectors of our world. The Draconians were created to battle the Orphans, the monsters spawned from the evil powers of the Underworld, and they did this for many centuries. The Draconians and the Orphans would do battle for their masters to determine a winner. It was a vicious cycle of death and destruction on both sides for many centuries. When all the Orphans vanished, the Draconians had won and would gain a respite for a couple hundred years until the next generation of Orphans was created. When the Draconians died, the Gods would create more for the next battle. However, if the Draconians were to vanish before the Orphans, another power would step up to take the place of the Draconians until more could be created. They were human girls blessed with powers, they were called..."
Sakura had to stop reading at that point when the buzzing in her head that alerted her of a monster's, now an Orphan's, presence made her close the book in irritation. Forgetting to sign the book out, Sakura exited out the back of the library and ran through the rain to the outskirts of the forest, the buzzing leading her on. Sakura came to a small clearing close to the forest's edge where she found her next monster. It was like many of the ones Sakura had already faced with purple skin with red markings, the only difference being that this one more resembled a toad than anything else. Preparing to release her sword from its pen form, Sakura entered the clearing, making her presence known to the monster. The monster fixed Sakura with its large yellow eyes before pouncing on her, literally.
Sakura shoved the pen back into her pocket and managed to roll to the side before the monster landed on top of her, standing up in time to avoid a swipe from the creature's tongue that was just like a frog's, which took out a few trees. *Better the trees than me,* Sakura thought to herself, dodging another swipe at her head. Turning around, Sakura ran out of the clearing, hoping to put some distance between her and the monster, seeing as the trees around her meant that the thing couldn't jump on top of her and would instead be forced to use the only other method of attack: the tongue. The monster followed her, barely a meter behind.
It wasn't until the monster had almost caught up to her that Sakura realized that she had moved the fight in the wrong direction, towards the edge of the wood closest to the schools' grounds, but by then it was too late. Sakura only hoped that the rain was enough to keep the students indoors. Unfortunately, she was proven wrong. Sakura had just narrowly avoided another swipe with the tongue as the monster got more frustrated by the second when she noticed a little girl, a Lulim student with a teddy bear, standing a few feet away under a tree, completely oblivious to everything going on around her. Just then, the monster noticed the little girl too and, thinking she was easier prey than Sakura turned out to be, shot its tongue in the direction of the little girl. Sakura mentally swore and dashed towards the girl, who turned around just in time to see the tongue coming towards her before Sakura got between the two.
Sakura grabbed hold of the girl just as the monster's tongue reached them, slicing a large gash in Sakura's back. Flinching in pain, Sakura released her wings and flew into the air, the little girl still in her arms. Flying as fast as she could, Sakura placed the little girl a safe distance away before flying back towards the monster. As she flew, now completely serious, Sakura retrieved her previously stowed pen and transformed it into its sword form and prepared to strike the monster. However, the monster was quicker. It wrapped its tongue around Sakura's leg and began to pull her in, opening its giant mouth wide. Not ready to be dinner, Sakura sliced her sword through the creature's tongue, freeing herself. As the monster roared, more like croaked, in pain, Sakura brought her sword down on its back, slicing the vile thing in half and covering herself in its blood, before watching it disappear in green lights like the other monsters had.
Landing softly on the ground, Sakura let her wings disappear as she turned her sword back into a pen and put it back in her pocket before turning around to face the little girl she saved. The girl just looked at Sakura before silently walking up to her. Once she was standing a few feet away, the little girl stopped and held her teddy bear out towards Sakura who just blinked in confusion.
"Percival says thank you," the little girl said, still holding her bear out to Sakura who quickly realized that Percival must be the bear. "Percival says thanks for saving him and his friend."
"Well Percival and his friend are very welcome," Sakura said, bending down to the girl's level. "What is Percival's friend's name?"
"Byakudan Kagome," the little girl replied.
"Well Kagome-chan, Percival-san," Sakura said, coming up with a way to make sure the girl didn't tell anybody about what she had just seen. "Instead of thanking me, can you do me a favour?"
"Percival wants to know what the favour is," Kagome said, bringing her bear close to her again.
"I want Percival-san and Kagome-chan to not tell anybody about what just happened," Sakura said, smiling to reassure Kagome. "It's going to be a secret between the three of us; can you keep it a secret?"
Looking down at her bear, Kagome seemed to listen to it for a moment before nodding her head. "Percival says we can do that. Percival also wants to know what your name is and where you are from."
"Well my name is Sakura," Sakura said, thinking that telling Kagome her name was alright. "As for where I am from, I'm a fifth-year at Miator." Kagome nodded accepting Sakura's answer. "So, Percival-san, do you want me to take you and Kagome-chan back to the dorms before you get wetter than you already are?"
After looking at her bear again, Kagome nodded her head. "Percival says he would like that very much."
Nodding her head and smiling at Kagome, Sakura took Kagome's hand that wasn't holding Percival and the two girls and teddy bear started back towards the Strawberry Dorms. As they walked Sakura came to a conclusion. If the monsters were going to go after students instead of her, Sakura wanted to be far away from the school and the people she didn't want to get hurt. She decided that she would indeed go to where the monsters were coming from and put a stop to them once and for all. She put one hand in the pocket where she had put the book she found in the library and gripped it tight, hoping that it would be able to help her understand her purpose in being a Draconian as well as giving her hints as to how to stop the monster attacks for good.
After arriving at the dorms and making sure that Kagome, and Percival, were safe in their room with their friends, Kizuna and Remon, Sakura raced to her dorm room and flopped on her bed, eager to inform Lance and Mizuki of her decision.
A/N: hey, sorry for the late update. yes the book sakura found was totally made up by me to forshadow for the next installment in this series. yes that means that this fic is almost done. cant say more right now cuz i gotta run to work so be happy i uploaded before i left. gotta fly! R+R please!