A/N: *sigh* I'm supposed to be studying for my exam right now you know. *smacks head against the laptop* seriously, the stupid bunny dubbed as Ruthless-chan by one of my friends refused to leave me alone till I wrote this down so be happy. And leave lots of reviews for the stupid thing to feed on so it would leave me alone till Monday.
Anyhow, go ahead and enjoy!
"Kurogane-san…" it was nighttime and the red-eyed ninja was slouched over the railing lining the balcony of the room Syaoran was being kept in. He cast a glance in the auburn-haired princess's direction as she stepped next to him, her hands nervously fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "I just met Nixon-san in my dream."
"The Oracle?" he cocked a brow.
"Hai," she nodded, looking out at the night sky, "He said something that has me thinking and…" she kept playing with her shirt, unsure of how he would react to what she had in mind. But then she thought back to how Syaoran was acting towards them and her resolve hardened. It hurt her to think about it, but it was obvious he did not trust them enough to tell them about what had happened to him. Deciding on what she was going to do, she continued, "I have decided to look through Syaoran's memories."
"Are you sure?"
"To tell you the truth," she bit her lip, still looking out at the dark sky, "I'm kind of scared of what I might see but… Syaoran… he is afraid of us. Whatever those people did to him… H-he doesn't trust us anymore."
"He won't tell us anything himself," Kurogane nodded in understanding.
"But we need to know what happened to him."
"When do you plan on doing it?" he asked simply, already accepting her decision.
"I was thinking about now." She said, looking over her shoulder at the sleeping figure inside the room. "He's already asleep so it would be easier for me to get inside."
"You've been healing him for the better part of the day." Kurogane said. 'Aren't you tired?' he left his question unsaid, the pale bruises forming underneath the princess's eyes answering it already.
"I think I can handle it for a little while." Sakura replied, turning back to head inside.
Kurogane looked back at the twinkling stars in the sky one more time before following her inside. Sakura had already seated herself on the bed, placing Syaoran's head in her lap, the palms of her hands resting against his temples. She closed her eyes and a soft, pink glow enveloped her hands. The glow began seeping inside Syaoran's head as Kurogane stood off to one side and watched the princess work.
A frown began forming on her face, beads of perspiration dotting her brow as she bit her lip, scrunching eyes in concentration. A few more minutes passed by before she let her concentration break and the glow receded.
"I don't get it." her frown deepened.
"What happened?"
"Syaoran-san is keeping me from looking at Syaoran's memories," she replied, letting her right hand fall to her side.
"You mean the other kid?" Kurogane's brow rose. He had not known that the other Syaoran's spirit was active inside the boy's body. Was it the same for the princess?
"Yes." She nodded, looking down at Syaoran's face. His brows were scrunched up against whatever nightmares plagued him. "Syaoran-san… he's blocking my spell." Sakura closed her eyes, fingers gently tangling themselves in the unconscious boy's hair.
"Why?" Kurogane asked, choosing not to comment on her behavior.
"I can't tell."
"Is there any way to get past him?"
For a while, Sakura remained silent as she continued playing with Syaoran's hair, seemingly thinking something over.
"There has never been a case before, like Syaoran and I, so…" she bit her lip when the boy whimpered, turning his head away from her, uttering a soft 'no' as he did. "I don't know of any spells that could be used to break the shield that he put up."
"But?" The ninja could tell there was more to it, seeing the way she seemed to be fidgeting.
"Kurogane-san," she finally raised her head to look the man in the eye, "do you trust him?"
"The Oracle," seeing the confusion in his eyes, she clarified, "Nixon-san, I mean. Do you trust him?"
Thinking over everything that he and his companion's had gone through while in the company of the blind man he frowned, "He's like the Mage. The bastard has his share of secrets and he sure as hell was adamant about not leaving that place, but the Mage trusted him. The kid did too."
"And you?"
"Why are you asking me all this?"
"Somehow, he knew that this might happen." She replied, her gaze returning to the pained visage of the one she loved. "There is no way past Syaoran-san's shield. The only way for anyone to look at Syaoran's memories is if Syaoran-san is no longer inside him."
"What? If you already knew that, why the heck did you try to look through his memories?"
"I wanted to confirm what Nixon-san said," she replied, her hands stilling. The air before her began to shimmer softly, distorting and bending till a small orb, the size of a bead, formed in the air before her. Kurogane could sense strong waves of magic coming off of it but there was nothing malicious about it. "He gave me something to solve that problem but… Syaoran-san's soul has bonded with Syaoran's body just like Sakura-san's has with mine."
"What would happen to them if they get separated?"
"Ordinarily, separating a soul from a body is not possible. It would fade away the minute it was brought out of its bonded body, however," Sakura plucked the hovering orb out of the air, laying it the upturned palm of her hand, "this bead is made up entirely from a part of a sacred aura. This can sustain his soul and keep it from fading away if we separate the two. But it's not enough to hold him infinitely."
"I see. And what about this kid?"
"Nixon-san didn't say. But he wants us to send Syaoran-san to Fai when we remove him from Syaoran. That world has more of this essence, so Syaoran-san won't fade away until we get there."
"What do you mean, we?" the red-eyed man was immediately on guard. Was the princess planning on tagging along?
"Those hunters have Fai-san. Nixon-san cannot leave that city nor can he send someone to rescue him. But we can't leave him there."
"And we won't." Kurogane responded, "But it's too dangerous. You're not coming."
"You don't have to worry about protecting me, Kurogane-san." The princess responded quietly, her green eyes hardening like jade. "I have been training under Touya-nii-san for almost three years now. I won't become a liability to you."
"Why does he want you to send the kid to the Mage?"
"Arigato, Kurogane-san," she smiled softly, noticing that the red-eyed man had not refused her again. "I'm not sure what to make of it, but he said 'Syaoran-san would help anchor Fai-san to reality.'"
"Are you going to do it then?"
"Syaoran is so afraid of us." She murmured, her eyes softening as she looked at his sleeping face once again. "I want for him to be able to look at us without fear. I want him to let us help him, but how can I want all that when I don't even know what's wrong with him? If separating Syaoran-san from Syaoran is the only way I can do that then…" Sakura slipped out from underneath the brunette, settling his head gently on the pillow before bringing the flame-colored bead over Syaoran's chest. She cupped her hand on top of it to keep the ball from rolling off of his sweat-drenched bandages. "Please forgive me for doing this without your permission, Syaoran-san." She apologized quietly before flattening her palm over his heart. A bright glow enveloped her hand before melting off of it and into the bead as she removed her hand. It pulsed softly before sinking through the soiled gauze and into the unconscious boy's chest.
As soon as the last bit of the bead had disappeared in his body, Syaoran's muscles tensed up, his breathing speeding up as a fiery red glow, the same shade as the orb, enveloped him. The boy's eyes snapped wide open, pupils dilated as he arched off the bed, his back contorting almost painfully.
He panted, having trouble drawing in a proper breath as crimson began to dot the white gauze wrapped around his torso. All of a sudden, as though the invisible power holding him off the bed had disappeared, he fell back in a limp heap, panting heavily as he clenched the sheets in his fist.
A couple of seconds later, his body began to convulse again as he threw his head back in soundless scream.
"Fuck!" The ninja swore loudly as he made to grab the boy, only to be stopped by the princess.
"Don't touch him!" She flung herself at his outstretched arm inches from the boy's writhing body.
"What the heck is happening to him?"
"Their souls are being separated." She answered as she buried her face in the ninja's shirt. "You shouldn't touch him. Your soul can interfere with the spell." Somehow Kurogane knew she was quoting what the Oracle had told her. But knowing better than to mess with spells, he settled on patting the sobbing princess on the back as he watched his student thrash in bed in agony.
Kurogane almost let go of the girl in his arms and race to the brunette's side as his body seemed to set alight on a magical flame. He let out a heart-wrenching scream before falling limp as the fire died down, leaving a pure, snow-white feather in its place, hovering above the unmoving boy.
The feather floated away a few seconds later but Kurogane couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of the teen. It took him a few more precious seconds to realize what was wrong with the picture though.
"Shit!" swearing angrily, he let go of Sakura, rushing to the boy's side. "Shit. Shit." Cursing profanely, he reached for Syaoran's neck.
"K-Kurogane-san?" the princess asked in a confused voice at the same time as a familiar voice yelled in anger.
"Get away from him!"
"S-Syaoran-san." Sakura breathed, making the red-eyed man to whirl around.
It was the kid. But he looked nothing like the shy, gentle and eager boy he had travelled with, or the determined one who searched for the feathers. Heck, he wasn't even anything like the one who had left them all in Tokyo.
Oh, Kurogane could spot determination in that amber-eyed gaze, but the cold fury burning in those hardened orbs was like something he had never seen before. He almost preferred the emotionless, mindless look of the clone instead of the one he was currently receiving.
"I said…" Syaoran growled deep in his throat, "Get. The. Fuck… AWAY FROM HIM!" without a warning, the brunette rushed at the ninja, his leg poised to kick the older man right in the chest. Too surprised by the other's sudden reaction, it took Kurogane a while to realize that the teen was attacking him.
"Syaoran-san!" Sakura cried as Kurogane jumped away from Syaoran's bed to block the incoming kick.
It was the strangest thing he had felt in his entire life, like he had just walked through a sheet of freezing water. Only he did not get wet. The crimson-eyed ninja whirled around to see his livid student try and attack him again. He managed to dodge the attack this time, deciding he did not like the sensation of his student's spirit passing through his body.
"Haven't you two had enough fun with him?" Syaoran snarled, attacking again and again. "He never did anything to deserve your hatred."
"Syaoran-san, stop!" Sakura cried, rushing in front of the ninja, her arms outstretched sideways as she looked at him.
"Despite everything that you did to him," the brunette lowered his leg as he stopped it inches from the jade-eyed princess's face, "I don't want to hit you, Hime. Step out of the way."
"It wasn't us." She shook her head. "Believe me. We didn't do this."
Behind them, Kurogane moved back to the boy lying on the bed.
"Stay away from him!"
Ignoring the yell, Kurogane, rested his hand on the brunette's neck, feeling for his pulse. "Oye, Hime! Get over here." He grunted, raising his hand to Syaoran's nose to feel him breathe. "Fuck! The kid isn't breathing."
A/N: I'm evil, I know. I left you guys hanging on a cliffie but I like it so :P
Just be grateful I updated. I'm in a rather irritable mood today but I'd still like to hear your thoughts on this. What do you think of Nixon? Why does he refuse to send someone to rescue Fai? How is Syaoran's (cloney) soul help anchor Fai to reality? Wonder what went wrong with R Syaoran. Is he dead already? ;) tell me what you think and help feed Ruthless the vicious plotbunny.
-Ja