It was utter chaos. Somehow, after a whole night's rest, the blond pilot had managed to regain enough of his magic to be able to perform a few lethal yet flashy spells that managed to halve the number of their opponents. The lavender-eyed beauty also proved to be quite a formidable opponent for the unsuspecting guards stationed aboard Little Dragon.
Touya had healed enough to be able to keep his own in the fight that ensued. Sakura's plan involved them wreaking havoc aboard Little Dragon while she would deal with the guards on Kishimu. Once the three had dealt with the ones aboard Little Dragon they were to proceed to board Kishimu. Sakura would meet them halfway and direct them to the holding cells where they could get Kurogane out, while she herself would leave to deal with Ryanban.
Sakura was obviously enraged and offended at having been blackmailed into doing dirty work for one of her customers, and she had stated in very clear terms her desire to extract revenge on the man, to make an example out of him for others to fear. Touya had found himself wondering for hours on what had happened that changed his little kaijuu from the sweet, forgiving girl that she once was into the fiery, vengeful person she was now.
He had offered to accompany her to Ryanban but his idea had been shot down by Sakura, stating she'd rather face that man alone than have a hunter watch her back. Knowing it was futile to pursue the matter further, he had dropped the topic.
He remembered how stubborn his sister could be. If she said she was doing something the way she wanted, nothing in the entire multitude of galaxies would make her change her mind.
Fifteen minutes into the fight, just as they were dealing with the last guards on the ship, Touya felt a sudden chill go down his spine as a sharp, suffocating aura pervaded the ship. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the blond freeze for a second, his eyes widening to the size of dinner plates, and for a fraction of that time, Touya thought the latter's eyes flickered to a sharp cerulean shade.
He was brought back to the present situation as he was forced to dodge a new attack, courtesy of his last opponent since he had dealt with the rest of his buddies. With eyes burning in rage, Ryanban's guard lunged forward, eyes burning in rage as the hunter managed to avoid all his advances with graceful ease.
With a loud roar, he charged forward, fully intending to cut Touya in half but at the very last second, Touya's hand shot out, grabbing a hold of his opponent's hands, effectively stopping him in his tracks.
The guard tried pulling his hand free, but Touya's iron hard grip on his hand did not allow the other man to budge even a fraction of an inch. Seeing the other man's frustration grow every passing second, the hunter allowed a low chuckle to escape from his lips.
"Lights out for you," Touya said softly, twisting his opponent's arms in such a manner that the guard was impaled by his own blades.
Choking on his own blood as it spilled out from his mouth, the guard fell to the floor, his body falling motionless within seconds.
"Where's your pilot?" Touya asked the lavender-eyed woman as he raced towards her, taking on one of her opponents.
"I think he went on ahead." She replied, pulling out her blades from the body she had just felled. Turning her back towards Touya and her latest kill, Tomoyo moved towards the docking bay door.
"You know the passcode, right?" Touya asked as he stopped behind her.
"Yeah," she answered pressing the required alphanumeric codes in the right sequence. With a small beep, the door began to slide open.
"Good," Touya breathed right next to her ear before striking her at the base of her neck with the pommel of his sword. "I'm sorry but I have to do what I must. I hope you can forgive me for that, Miss Tomoyo." He said, dragging her prone body across the docking bay, leaning her against the wall next to the stairs.
-0-
"I thought I told you to stay and wait for me in the stupid ship!" Sakura yelled angrily, punching one of the guards in the face, sending him crumpling to the floor in a heap.
Syaoran's only response was his rather infuriating, feral grin. Huffing angrily, Sakura turned her attention back to the fight.
A blond blur entered the fray, taking out opponents with swift and precise moves. Together the three were done with their enemies far more quickly than Sakura had anticipated initially.
All of a sudden an alarm began to blare out, flashing red lights to alert everyone aboard Kishimu.
"Shit." Sakura cursed, her eyes flickering towards the doors currently sealing shut everywhere. "Kurogane is probably being kept in the lower levels of the ship. Take the door to your right and keep on going straight down. Ignore the side corridors. Spark a little bit of magic through the dead end. It will unseal the passage to the holding cells. Get Kurogane back to Little Dragon." She instructed Fai in a serious tone. "I'm gonna go deal with Ryanban. Syaoran," she turned to look at the amber-eyed male, "Go with Fai and don't you dare try to follow me, got it?"
Their eyes met and a jolt of electricity shot down Sakura's spine and images of a time long forgotten began flashing past her eyes. A dark haired woman smiling and hugging a laughing amber-eyed boy, a green-eyed woman kissing her head and tucking her in bed, a brown-haired man teaching her how to read, an older version of Syaoran sword fighting with a barely six year old boy, an ocean-blue eyed male catching her as she fell from a glider…
Voices loud and soft, hysterical and jovial, afraid and ecstatic rang in her ears, drowning out the blaring alarms and flashing lights.
Mother… a boy laughed.
Goodnight, darling, a woman whispered.
Say it like this, a man spoke.
Duck! Another man yelled.
Oof! You're still so fat, Kaijuu… her brother groaned and Sakura felt her heart skip several beats.
"Syaoran, let's go." Fai's words broke the spell and the green-eyed girl felt the memories slip through her mind like sand through a fisted fingers. She tried to grasp at them but the severity of her current situation prevented her from doing so for long.
"Go!" Sakura had to bodily turn the amber-eyed male around to make him follow Fai. "I'll see you guys in a while."
"Sakura!" she heard the hunter yell in alarm. She turned around to find the body of a dead guard fall to the floor. "Pay more attention to your surroundings, you stupid Kaijuu!"
"T-Touya?" her eyes widened in shock as she took in his peeved appearance.
"Oh, so now she decides to say my name," he grumbled, straightening up as he walked past her towards the end of the corridor that led to Kishimu's docking bay.
"I am not a monster, you jerk!" she huffed angrily, stomping past him but making sure to land one of her feet on his.
"Ow!" the hunter cried, "Damn it, Kaijuu! One would think after all these years you'd have lost some weight."
"Nii-saaannn…" Sakura whined childishly, "I am not fat!" it took a few precious seconds for the words to register in her mind and when they finally did, Sakura's body froze.
"S-Sakura… You rememb- Duck!" whatever it was that Touya was about to say, he had to cut off to warn her of the approaching danger. Sakura snapped into action, dodging the laser-blaster shots that were being fired at them as she flicked her wrists and grabbed the handles of her throwing knives that slid into her hands.
"You messed with the wrong girl, Ryanban!" with that yell, the brunette raced forward, towards the fat man that was standing behind the group of his infamous fighters. A pink aura surrounded her body, deflecting the blaster shots that she did not bother to dodge as she rushed at the group standing next to a smaller, speedier ship than the Kishimu. On its side, Sakura noticed, was an emblazoned Mokona.
Mokona was one of the two fastest ships in the entire Galaxy. The other ship belonged to Yuuko Ichihara.
In the background, Sakura was aware of Touya swearing at one of the guards who had managed to nearly blow his head off his shoulders. She managed a smirk, when the hunter summoned his ocean-blue aura for protection against the shots, magic permeating the air as it flared out in the docking area in a manner similar to Sakura's.
-0-
"Oh and by the way, just so you know, I did get the information you wanted," Sakura said carelessly as she tossed the info-sphere in one hand, watching a bleeding Ryanban as he crawled away from her. "But I don't think I'll be handing it over to you. After all," a frown settled on her normally angelic features, "you dared to blackmail Cherry after breaking the terms of your contract with her so…" she grinned sadistically, watching the man as he paled. She flicked her wrist and a choked, gurgling sound filled the otherwise quiet air, "bye-bye. Have a nice trip to hell."
Catching the sphere out of the air, she pocketed it, turning her attention back to the only other person alive in the bay with her.
"I have to say, I am certainly impressed by the way you handle your magic." She looked over her shoulder to find the space empty. "Hunter?" her jade eyes darted around the expanse of the hangar, her heart clenching fearfully as she found no signs of him or his body. "Hey… Touya?"
"I'll find out who did this to you, Sakura," she heard his voice respond over the speakers installed inside the hangar.
The sound of engines powering up alerted her to the fact that the hunter was inside Mokona. At the same time, she felt a light, cerulean aura flare out somewhere in the lower levels of the ship, battling the suffocating forest green aura that belonged to Syaoran.
"Hey, wait a second! Hunter! Don't you dare steal that ship!" she yelled over the blasting off the engines, her heart pounding violently against her ribcage as she noticed the foreign aura beginning to dominate over Syaoran's.
"It's a promise." The hunter said seriously before the connection was cut off and Mokona lifted off the ground.
Sakura! Fai yelled for her telepathically just as Syaoran's aura dimmed and then fell dormant. You have to get down here! Syaoran passed out and more guards are coming!
Casting one look over her shoulder at the solemn profile of the hunter observing her through the viewing bay of Mokona, Sakura turned on her heels and raced back towards the corridor that she had used to arrive at the docking bay.
A/N: I'm evil, aren't I? She had almost remembered him. Ah well, worry not my friends for the time is near. Take a guess at how many more chapters till she does.