A/N: I updated. You can put down those pitchforks and torches now.

"Hunters," Fai answered, "a whole lot of them, all heading this way."

"Mage, connect the engines and get the ship in the air," Kurogane ordered as he climbed up the ladder. "Tomoyo, take the kid to his room." Then, without another word, he was gone.

"Fai," the medic asked as the pilot jumped down the hatch and landed on the floor with feline grace. "How many hunters?"

"Around two dozen or so." The ochre-eyed man replied in a grave tone as he ran to the holo-display screen and checked the engine statistics.

"I'll go help," Sakura volunteered at the same time as the medic declared that she was going out.

"No, we couldn't ask that of you," the lavender-eyed woman shook her head. The eighteen year old brunette could almost hear the medic thinking, 'She's too young to fight a battle as bloody as this one.' Tomoyo would have probably had a heart attack had she known about the battle Sakura had taken part in not even a week back, but she let the medic have her way.

After all, if the hunters knew Sakura was onboard, the crew of the Little Dragon would have a lot more hunters coming after them. So she nodded and said instead, "Is there anything else I could help with?"

"Could you take Syaoran to his room and stay with him till we get out of here?"

All Sakura could do was nod once again, shocked by this display of trust from the older woman but agreed to do what she could anyways. "Sure thing."

An explosion sounded in the distance and Tomoyo bit her lip, looking over at the chocolate-haired boy. Syaoran's expression was blank, his eyes having lost their previous spark, dulling in the fear he no doubt felt. "Stay with Sakura, okay, Syaoran?" the medic instructed him gently.

Hesitantly, the eighteen year old nodded, his gaze travelling in the jade-eyed girl's direction.

"I'll be right back," the medic promised him as she turned around and raced up the ladder.

Another explosion, this one closer than the last, reverberated along the floor and Syaoran made a small noise in his throat.

"Fai, is there anything I can do before I go?" Sakura asked quickly, looking over at the pilot who was busy fiddling around with a bunch of wires.

"Just get Syaoran to his room," was the reply she got.

"Let's go to your room, alright, Syaoran?" she took his hand, noticing how cold and clammy it felt in comparison to her own and she squeezed it in a comforting manner, similar to how he had done only a few hours back.

The amber-eyed teen looked uncertainly back at Fai but the pilot was too busy concentrating on the task at hand to give him a reassuring smile. His eyes moved back to her face and Sakura smiled at him softly. Still not appearing completely sure of himself, he nodded once, letting the caramel-haired eighteen year old lead him up the steel ladder.

The engine room was situated near the back of the ship, closer to the cargo hold, while the living quarters were located in the middle and the galley was up front near the cockpit. A long corridor joined these areas. The area in between the bunks and the cargo hold also had a large, glass window which served as a viewing bay of sorts.

It was here that Syaoran's body froze up; his eyes going wide as all color drained from his face, making him appear like a ghost. Alarmed, Sakura stopped walking, following his line of sight to the viewing bay window.

Outside, a battle was going on in full swing, Kurogane and Tomoyo weaving in and out of hunters with ease and agility. The red-eyed captain was armed with a long katana that he was using to cut down all those that were in his path. There were little flecks of blood on his face and clothes but none of that appeared to be his own. With his feral grin and fearless disposition, he looked like nothing less than a demon ready to destroy anything that got in his way.

Tomoyo, as she swung the twin, prong-like forks -that were her choice of weapon- looked like nothing less than a deadly angel, what with her beautiful, porcelain face and long, raven hair flowing about her body as she moved. A small amount of blood dotted her otherwise crisp and clean white-colored shirt. There was a small gash visible on her crème-skinned leg through a place where her jeans had been torn but she did not appear to be bothered by the pain. Unlike Kurogane, her face was set in grim determination.

All around them, the bodies of defeated hunters lay bleeding, some dead, others fatally injured.

Sakura was brought out of her assessment of the battle when a jolt of electricity went through her body, originating from the hand that was holding on to Syaoran. Her curse mark throbbed and another jolt went through her body. The lights flickered inside the ship while the scene outside flashed and morphed into night time.

A woman was facing away from her as she peered outside the window, her head held high as she walked away. Several men dressed in hunter garb appeared before the woman, shouting at her. Sakura could not hear what they said, but the anger in their tones carried over to her, making her heart race with fear.

The woman answered, desperation clear in her voice. Silence followed her pleas as the leader of the hunters turned away, asking something softly. The woman only raised her chin in a defiant gesture, not answering his question.

The loud thunder clap of a gun being shot was what broke the silence and the woman crumpled on the ground in a heap, blood pooling about her body as the light left her eyes. The leader began shouting orders, telling his men to search for something.

But her eyes were fixated on the woman's pale, lifeless face. Her thoughts rushed, panicked and confused.

What had they done to her?

Why was she lying in that dark liquid?

Why wasn't she getting up?

Syaoran wrenched his hand from Sakura's grip, dashing away from her in panic. Pushing away the confusion that was born due to this sudden vision, Sakura raced after the boy put under her charge.

"Syaoran!"

Outside, Tomoyo and Kurogane continued fighting off the hunters.

"Wait!" Sakura cried, fearing he might do something dangerous in his blind terror, but the beeping sound as the door to his bunk slid close told Sakura that the amber-eyed teen had only hidden in his room.

"Syaoran?" she gently knocked on the door once before pressing the panel that opened the door but Syaoran's whimpered cry of 'Please, don't' made her stop.

"Syaoran?" she asked, quietly pressing her ear against the metal door to hear what he was doing inside.

"She- she died." His muffled reply came from the other side. Sakura could almost visualize him sitting in a corner of his room, curled up in a ball, his eyes glazed and bloodshot.

Sakura's mind's eye flashed back to the vision she just had. She had seen that woman in a dream before, the one where she had been running in fear on an alien world. Syaoran had called her mother when he had seen her disguised as the same woman five days back.

At first she had entertained the possibility of that dream being a vision of her own past but what if… What if that wasn't her own past she had seen? What if it had been Syaoran's? She had thought of that woman as her mother but her heart had not jolted with the feeling of emptiness knowing she could not remember her, like it had done with those two hunters.

She had seen that woman die in the vision she had at the viewing bay. Had Syaoran seen it too? Was that why he had fled? Because he had been reminded of the way his mother had died when he saw those dead hunters lying outside the ship?

"Syaoran, was that your mother?" she asked cautiously.

"She died…" she heard him murmur again.

"And you saw it happen." She said softly but loud enough that he heard her. It was. It was his mother she had just seen.

"They killed her… they- they were looking… and she wouldn't tell them, so they killed her…" his tone was rushed. Panicked. His breathing, uneven as he spoke or more like confessed. "She made me promise… I didn't want to, but I promised her!"

Sakura got a fair idea of what was going through his mind as he said those words.

"Syaoran, listen to me," she spoke in a calming tone, "It wasn't your fault. Your mother loved you very much."

"I promised!" he responded. Sakura had no idea what it was that he had promised his mother but whatever it was, the promise had probably been broken if he was acting in this manner. "And they took me away…" this was enough to confirm her theory.

"You did everything you could to keep that promise," she answered soothingly. "Sometimes… things happen… things that are… beyond your control." Her thought flicked back to the way she had killed countless hunters in cold blood without a thought about their families. "And just because something happens doesn't mean that what happened was your fault."

"she- she asked me… and I couldn't…" he whimpered.

"Because it was something you couldn't control," she answered patiently. "Syaoran, I'm gonna come in now, alright?"

The teen inside did not ask her to stop, but he didn't answer in positive either.

Still, not hearing any cries of pain and the lack of his choking aura, she figured that he was still relatively calm if his mark had not activated. But just as she was about to press the panel to open the door, she heard Tomoyo's battle cry inside the ship. The grunt of retaliation was definitely male but it did not belong to Kurogane and Sakura felt her heart freeze.

A hunter was onboard!

"Syaoran, stay in there. No matter what, don't come out." she told him urgently through the door as she cautiously slid a few throwing knives into her right hand from the sleeve of her shirt.

She heard Tomoyo cry out in pain before the sound of a body hitting the floor reached her ears. Inside she heard Syaoran scramble on the floor. Fearing that he might activate his curse mark if he saw something disturbing, she quickly moved her mouth closer to the door.

"Syaoran, stay where you are." She told him seriously and immediately the noise on the other side ceased.

Satisfied, she returned her attention to the hallway to her right, the part which connected to the cargo hold. A hunter armed with a broadsword emerged at the entrance and Sakura tensed her body in anticipation of the attack.

Stormy, ocean-blue met impassive jade and the world came to a halt. Sakura's heart skipped a beat as the word Nii-san rang through her head.

"What did you do to Tomoyo?" she hissed, aware of Syaoran on the other side of the metal barrier on her left.

"I found you," was the hunter's quiet response making Sakura tighten her grip on the throwing knives.

"I asked you," she narrowed her eyes, "what did you do to Tomoyo, hunter?"

"Hunter?" the dark-haired man repeated in a tone that Sakura could not quite place in her moment of panic. She would have to fight this man. She had to fight this man. Or else she would be captured. But if she fought, he would die. She didn't want to kill him. The thought of killing this hunter before her made her heart feel like it would explode. "Sakura, don't you… Don't you know who I am?"

"No," she answered venomously, hating the man for his stupidity. Didn't the fool realize she wanted to spare his life? Why was he still standing here? She was having a very hard time as it was, controlling her instincts to let the knives fly and end his life. Why wasn't he running away? "And I don't care." The hunter's expression grew blank when he heard this. "I would suggest you leave before you end up losing your life."

"Haai-ya!" Tomoyo cried as she jumped at the hunter from behind but the blue-eyed man spun out of the thrusting fork's path and lifted his sword to stop the weapon's companion. "I won't let you bastards hurt him." she hissed angrily as she dropped to the ground and swung her leg at him.

The hunter blocked the attack and retaliated with a swing of his sword.

"No!" Sakura cried, fearing for the lavender-eyed medic's life. The knives whistled as they sailed through the air.

"Argh!" the hunter gave a cry of pain as they were embedded in his flesh. Dropping the sword, he staggered away from Tomoyo, a look of disbelief on his face as he looked at Sakura. His deep-blue eyes wide in bewilderment as he stared at her before they rolled to the back of his head as he collapsed on the floor.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Tomoyo climbed to her feet, wincing in pain as she did.

"I… I killed him." Sakura breathed, disbelief and shock evident in her tone as she stared at the pale face of the hunter. Blood was beginning to form a small puddle beneath him.

"The engines are online," Fai announced as he raced past them, not pausing to take in the scene before him.

An explosion rocked the ship and Kurogane emerged in the hallway. He swore loudly, running towards the cockpit saying something about blowing the fucking bastards up.

But Sakura did not hear him. The ship rumbled as it lifted off, tilting a bit to the right as Fai maneuvered it but the jade-eyed girl did could not feel it. She couldn't feel anything. A strange emptiness threatened to swallow her up as her heart shattered into a million pieces.

"Oh God…" her breath came out uneven and shaky as she stared at the unmoving figure of the hunter at Tomoyo's feet. "I killed him!"

A/N: *slowly backs away* uh yeah. *tugs at collar* I killed Touya. It's about time though. Seriously it's been fifteen chapters and everyone was still alive. I had to kill someone. Ahehehe…

So anyhow, the next update will be on Saturday. Till then, adios.

PS. I am putting up a challenge for you guys so keep an eye out for that. The winner will get to request a oneshot from me. :D