THE RAIN PELTED DOWN mercilessly as she looked down at the grave before her. She couldn't see the encrypted name for the storm and the sheer darkness of the night was blurring her vision.
She could feel the hatred boiling within her. She wanted to smear that man's blood in her hands. She wanted his head on a stick and his eyeballs on a martini.
She wanted to murder him little by little and make sure that he was going to beg for his life like the pathetic worm he was.
As Sakura knelt down and touched the tombstone, she did not notice that black Cards were raining along with the storm, slowly engulfing her soul whole.
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CARD CAPTOR SAKURA:
Chapter II
Bittersweet Sixteen
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Episode 1:
"He witnesses the darkness in her heart and longs for the truth..."
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THE DAY WAS WARM and sunny, bringing forth happy smiles and energetic auras to the students of Tomoeda High.
Kinomoto Sakura watched as cherry blossom petals fell down on her and on the open pages of her textbook. She did not—and could not—feel the bright decadence among the people around her. Instead, she could only see darkness.
It felt more comforting than the omniscient light in the sky.
"Really? That is so horrible!"
"I know, right?!"
Her ears picked up on a nearby conversation between two lively girls. She listened to them absently, not really letting their words sink into her mind as she let herself get lost into a world of mindless noise.
"How could your father do that to you?!"
"He always keeps on bossing me around, you know! He always wants to know what time I'm coming home, where I am, what tests are coming near, and everything else! He's unbelievable! Can't he understand that my whole life doesn't revolve around him? Sheesh!"
Sakura's eyes went wide.
"That's just unreasonable!"
"Yeah! And now he gives me an early curfew? Well damn him. I wish he would just drop dead!"
"SHUT UP!"
The two girls instantly ceased their conversation, their bodies freezing and then trembling as they felt a killing intent nearby.
"You two just shut up!" Sakura shouted, her expression contorted in pure, unadulterated rage. "What do you know, anyway?! How could you say something like that? You are the ones who should just DROP DEAD!"
The girls were now horrified as an ominous breeze swept by them. The sky turned dark and their surroundings suddenly looked so foreign and scary as they danced chillingly with the wind.
"S—Stop...! Please... We—We're very sorry!" they pleaded, fully unaware of what was happening yet felt that death was coming to slice their heads off.
Sakura gripped her necklace and summoned her staff. The latter did not harbour a vibrant pink colour any longer; it was pure black and had a blade at the end, making it look exactly like a deadly scythe.
"No... Please don't kill us! Please!" Their voices were now like howls, and rampant tears fell from their eyes as they huddled close to each other like a lifeline.
But before Sakura could behead them in a crazed frenzy, a noticeably slimmer sword was held against her neck, effectively making her stop her movements.
"Sakura, stop!" Syaoran said sternly, the authoritative tone evident in his voice.
She turned her head towards him, and he was startled to see the blind hatred reflected in her eyes.
"Let me go, Syaoran," she said quietly, albeit threateningly.
"No," he said in a firm tone. "Not until you get a hold of yourself." His gaze snapped towards the terrified girls. "帝俄个他," he commanded, "安定 平白无故."
("Forget and Obey.")
Their eyes instantly turned blank, and they ran towards the portal he made for their exit.
"That was a dirty trick," she hissed indignantly. "You let those banshees go! How dare you?!"
"What did they ever do to you that you should unconsciously summon your Card and trap them into this dimension?" he snapped. "Good thing I was in your range and made it before you did something you would definitely regret."
"I would not regret murdering them alive!" Her eyes were ablaze with fury. "You don't know anything, Li Syaoran!"
He was taken aback, but his stubbornness held on. "What the hell happened to you, Sakura?! It feels like I don't know you anymore! You're nothing but a ghost right now!"
"Then maybe I am a ghost! I died the day Daddy was murdered by that bastard of a man!" she all but screamed at him.
And then Syaoran could only see black and white static as angry tears fell from her eyes.
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DUSK WAS HANGING BY a thread. Nighttime wholly enveloped the sky and made clear to the throne. The stars were then suddenly twinkling a little dimmer than possible, and Syaoran wondered if that was an aftereffect of the overpowering magic Sakura used.
There were so many questions lingering in his mind. Who had murdered Kinomoto Fujitaka? Where was Kinomoto Touya? Why was Sakura living alone in her house? Why was Tomoyo suddenly distant from her cousin, making sure that she was nonexistent in Sakura's eyes? Where were Cerberus and Yue? Where was Eriol?
It was driving him crazy.
He looked at the sleeping woman (because she did not seem like a teenager anymore) on the bed. Even in slumber, she looked uncomfortable and weary, like she was struggling to survive through her dreams.
Or were they nightmares?
He knocked her out with a single blow, sending her unconscious in his arms. Then, everything that happened next was like a domino effect. The dark sky vanished, and the cold, chilling wind ceased its motion. The dimension then disappeared, and the scattered students around the campus looked at them strangely.
He paid them no heed and looked at Sakura. Her eyes were closed, her breathing oddly uneven. Cherry blossom petals once again fell on her, and some had formed an attachment to her face and hair.
Seeing her like that made Syaoran think for one moment that she hadn't actually changed after all.
"Oh, Li-kun!" Daidouji Tomoyo was then running over to them, her long dark hair flowing from behind her.
The elegant rich girl, in contrast to Sakura, hadn't actually changed at all. She still wore that same serene smile on her face, and her aura was nothing short of gentle and mysterious. Her features became more mature and refined, though, and her skin looked a lot silkier and smoother than he remembered. She must already be a teenage model, he wondered. She was beautiful and tall enough to be.
What was slightly different about her though was that her hair was curled elegantly a little lower from the middle part and was swept to one side of her shoulder. Her amethyst eyes held the telltale signs of weary grief, but she seemed strong enough to cover it and forget about the painful memories. Her voice became softer over the years, but there was that underlying tone of finality in it that implied that she took people seriously and that she meant every word that came out of her mouth like the sincere, sweet person she was.
Like Sakura was long ago.
But that Sakura was gone now.
"What happened to Sakura-chan...?" she asked quietly, staring at her cousin with a longing look in her eyes.
It was then at that moment that Syaoran had an inkling of what happened between the two of them, but he wasn't really so sure.
At Tomoyo's pleadings, he explained to her what happened, and she listened carefully, wincing at the part where Sakura showed a bloodthirsty side to her and crying shamelessly at the part where Sakura screamed about what happened to her father.
"What is going on, Daidouji?" he asked her, and he could almost swear that he witnessed her see the slight desperation in his eyes.
Her expression held sympathy and genuine remorse. "I'm sorry, Li-kun," she said, choking back another set of tears. "I don't think I have the right to tell you. Sakura-chan has to be the one to do it. All we can do is just wait patiently for her to come to us once again."
White-hot anger curled up inside him as he thought about the sufferings Sakura had to go through ever since he left. When did the murder happen? Did he kill her older brother and Yukito, too? But couldn't Cerberus and Yue have taken care of that?
He groaned as his mind spun with every possibility he could think of.
This was not what he had expected when he arrived in Tomoeda, Japan. He had expected a reunion, a breath of fresh air every day, a peaceful tour around the town to see what changed... anything.
Anything but this.
"Then maybe I am a ghost! I died the day Daddy was murdered by that bastard of a man!" she all but screamed at him.
Her words came back to him like a tide, and he buried his face in his hands, feeling grieved and frustrated.
What am I supposed to do, Sakura...? You always knew what to do.
I'm so worthless...!
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DAIDOUJI TOMOYO STARED AT the camera in her hands, watching the way Syaoran looked at Sakura with such tender love in his eyes while they were rained on by beautiful pink flowers. It was such a movie moment, a moment which she would have been thrilled about in the past.
But things had changed. Tomoyo was no longer Sakura's confidante. Sakura's personality reverted to a whole new level after that fateful night.
She wanted to be alone. Tomoyo let her.
She loved her too much to force her into doing something she didn't want to do.
Time, Tomoyo thought almost absently. Time was all what Sakura needed, but it seemed that she only got worse each day.
It made Tomoyo feel so devastated.
At least Syaoran was back. Syaoran would be able to bring her back to life.
And Tomoyo cried for the nth time, knowing very well that she could never be the one who could save her cousin.
The camera fell out of her hands, hitting the tiled floor with a loud crash.
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CCS — B
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THE NURSE GAVE HER a warm, sympathetic smile when she got in front of the counter.
"Here to visit him again, dear?"
Who else would I visit? Sakura thought snarkily, murderous rage befelling her. She fought to keep it in. Stupid bitch.
"Yes," she said in a controlled voice.
The nurse seemed to sense her mood and gave her a visitor's pass.
Sakura rudely snatched it from her hands and walked towards Room 274.
When she opened the door, she was not relieved of her stress. The man in the hospital bed was still unconscious, tubes driving into his skin and IVs giving him the fluids he needed.
He was just as good as dead.
Sakura hovered over him and reached into her pocket, slowly pulling out a daisy and placing it on his bedside.
"I'm sorry I didn't get to visit you last night, Onii-chan," she said softly, sitting on a chair and watching her brother's serene, lifeless form. "Yukito-san is still in his home, but he's doing a little better these past few weeks. Tomoyo is doing better as well. Rika and sensei are going strong, Naoko is happy with her new circle of friends, Chiharu broke up with Yamazaki again, I haven't seen Eriol around, and Syaoran—..."
Her voice trailed off unexpectedly. She had been talking about everyone she knew to her brother these past few years without any trouble, but now she was falling apart at the seams.
Suddenly her fists clenched, but whether it was from anger or frustration, she did not know. All she knew was that she was unconsciously wavering from her path ever since the day Syaoran came back to Tomoeda.
It was frightening.
She needed this revenge. She would kill in cold blood if it meant getting back at the damned man who murdered her father and ruined her family's life.
She would do this for them, and nothing was going to stop her from doing so.
Not Yukito-san, not Chiharu, not Rika, not Naoko, not Eriol, not Tomoyo...
...and especially not Syaoran.
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HE MET HER AT the park just as they agreed, and they both sat down on a vacant bench, staring aimlessly at their surroundings and not at each other.
It was she who broke the silence, her monotonous voice ringing in the air like a sharp weapon cutting through a gust of wind.
"I hate you, Li Syaoran."
He snapped his head towards her, his eyes blazing like ember flames. "Now this is my fault? Look at yourself now, Sakura! You've become a... Damn it!"
Her emerald-green eyes bore into his own amber ones. "I've become a what?" It seemed as if cold ice had seeped into her voice.
His gaze hardened. "A psychotic, immature little girl," he said harshly.
In an instant, they were at each other's throats; her scythe was in her hand and was pressed against his neck while his ominous-looking sword was pointed at her heart.
"Say that again, and I will kill you," she spat.
"What happened to 'I love you'?" he snapped. "What happened to 'We will always be friends'? You are just a girl who doesn't ever keep her word!"
"Fuck off, Li! I don't need your accusations."
"You are acting like a stupid brat right now, Sakura! Wake up!"
"I am awake, Syaoran!" She startled him by the aggression and passion in her voice. "Every day, I see a world that makes no sense. Every day, I dally around school doing nothing but learn for my future when it's clear that I don't need it right now! My father was innocent. He was innocent, Syaoran! But he was killed, just like that! His life ended too soon, and I—I could've j—just..."
He wanted to wipe the tears that were flowing down her face, but he suspected that she didn't want him to. Instead, he quietly summoned forth gusts of wind, thereby blowing her tears away.
She did not seem to notice. In an instant, she wore her emotionless mask once again, not revealing any hint of vulnerability in her stature this time.
"I meant my words, Syaoran," she said quietly, an underlying tone of anger coating her voice. "I really do hate you. Leave me alone from now on."
His eyes narrowed, but he could not mask the hurt that appeared on his expression. "Sakura—"
"From this day on, you are no longer a person that I know. The past is over between us. We were children back then, and that was just not me. Accept it and go back to Hong Kong."
She turned on her heel and left, leaving Syaoran in a speechless state.
His heart clenched inside his chest painfully as if something was twisting it into knots. He felt dizzy and his body went cold all over. He could not even think clearly.
He had gone all the way from Hong Kong just for her.
But Kinomoto Sakura was now indeed dead, replaced by a shadow of her former being.
And Li Syaoran started to hate her.
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tbc