Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ An Unfinished Task ❯ Battle for Love ( Chapter 9 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

An Unfinished Task: Part 9
By: Starlight Rose
Rated: PG
Email: starlighto_rose@hotmail.com

Disclaimer: I wish I owned CCS but alas I don't own it. It's
owned by CLAMP, Kodansha, Nelvana, and maybe a few other
companies that I don't know of.

Here's the next to last chapter. One more chapter to go and I'll try to come
out with it as soon as possible but you all need to write me and tell me
what you think. Thanks to my beta-reader, Saturn Knight and Megs for the
spells.

Translator's Notes:

Sui Ryou Shou Rai!- Water Dragon Come Forth
Dame!- No good!
Onegai- Please
Arigatou- Thank-you

*****************************

Several weeks passed and both Sakura and Syaoran avoided seeing each other
afraid of what seeing the one they loved with another would do to their
already broken hearts. Over the short time they had been reunited, their
bond was strengthened and the sudden separation from each other left both
individuals feeling lonely and incomplete. The separation caused marked
changes in both their dispositions and behaviors.

While with Sakura, Syaoran had shed his cold and aloof nature, but after he
stopped seeing her he returned to his former cold aloof self. His study
sessions with her had been postponed indeterminately. He had canceled
several of their sessions in the beginning, coming up with excuses to not
meet with her. Eventually Sakura began coming up with excuses to not meet
with him and soon neither even bothered with the pretense of continuing
their study sessions. Syaoran also stopped having lunch with Sakura and all
their friends and avoiding all their company as well thus removing himself
from any chances of seeing Sakura again. Once he removed himself from
everybody, Syaoran knew a feeling he hadn't known in months. He knew
loneliness. But no matter how much he removed himself from everyone else, he
could not remove himself from the boy that had stolen Sakura away from him.
After seeing Christian the wound in Syaoran's heart would tear itself open,
each time going deeper. Several times Syaoran had considered just returning
back to Hong Kong and burying himself in his responsibilities rather than
completing his year in Japan, but he couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to
leave. He couldn't bear the thought of leaving and never seeing Sakura
again, even if it hurt to see her, even if he was avoiding her, even if she
didn't love him. Syaoran still loved her.

The change in Sakura was startling and to a large degree disturbing. Her
once cheerful face was almost always solemn. Her once bright emerald eyes
were now shadowed with bags caused by crying herself to sleep. She hardly
ever smiled anymore and outside of going to class she hardly ever left her
room. She knew that the drastic changes in her behavior worried her friends,
but even for their sake, she couldn't act like she once had. She felt as if
her heart had frozen and she didn't care about anything anymore. Syaoran's
rejection just hurt her too much. She knew that she should be happy that he
was happy with someone, even if it wasn't her. She tried to be happy for
him, but she just couldn't. Her heart hurt too much, so she avoided seeing
him, and allowed herself to go numb. She knew her friends were trying to
help her, but she didn't want to be helped. She just wanted to be left
alone, to allow her heart to mend itself. 'I guess eight years was too long
for him to wait for me to tell him I loved him.' Sakura reflected to
herself.

Christian Mauler watched the young couple separating themselves from each
other and smirked triumphantly to himself. He laughed at how easily humans
could be controlled and manipulated. How easy it was to play upon their
doubts and fears to tear their minds asunder. It was funny how the cherry
blossom and the wolf's powers increased when they were with each other, but
once they were torn apart, their powers weakened considerably. Their
willpower and confidence also weakened a large amount too. Soon the little
flower's willpower and power would have diminished enough for him to claim
her for himself. He hadn't realized when he had tried separating the two
that it would ultimately help him to obtain the girl's power for himself,
all he had wanted to do was eliminate any possible obstacles to his plan.
But things had worked out better than he had anticipated. He just needed to
wait a little longer and then he could make his move. The little wolf had
not only played right into his hands, but was also helping him to capture
the elusive cherry blossom that he loved so much. How amusing humans were.
An annoying voice in Christian Mauler's head, that he'd started to think of
as his conscious, begged him to leave the two alone. Christian just smiled
and mercilessly silenced the voice.

*****************************

Another day had passed and Sakura still avoided Syaoran and he still avoided
her. Sakura remained almost catatonic to the point that several of her
professors had inquired about the marked change in her. Her grades were
improving drastically considering that she threw herself whole-heartedly
into her studies, to forget her pain. But still her professors worried. They
were happy that she was doing so well in their classes, but still they
missed the cheerful girl that would light up whatever room she walked into.
They had tried talking to her but she skillfully evaded all their questions.

Sakura knew that people were worried about her and all wondered what had
happened. She knew they had all guessed it had to do with Syaoran, but she
was not going to confirm their suspicions. The only other person that knew
for sure was Tomoyo, and Sakura knew that her friend would not tell anybody
what had happened because Sakura didn't want anyone to know. Sakura was just
relieved that her father and brother did not know about her state. Her
father would have worried himself needlessly and her brother would have
threatened to kill Syaoran. She had had a hard enough time keeping the
overprotective Kero-chan from flying into Syaoran's room and beating him up,
not to mention how hard it would have been for her to prevent her brother
from doing so.

Sakura sighed to herself. She really did hate causing everyone to worry
about her, but she just couldn't seem to help it. She knew that she should
have just gotten over him, but she couldn't. She needed time. Suddenly she
felt her head ram into something hard, but still slightly yielding. Looking
up she found herself staring at a black shirt. Reddening she began bowing
her apologies to the person she had inadvertently ran into. The person
laughed cheerfully and said, "It's okay Sakura-san. I was looking for you
anyway. This just wasn't how I had expected to run into you."

"Christian-kun..." Sakura said looking up at whom she had ran into for the
first time. "Why were you looking for me?"

"Anou...I just hadn't seen you since our date and I was just wondering, did
I do something wrong? I mean you haven't come by Syaoran-kun's and my room
in a while. Was that date with me really that bad?"

"Oh no!" Sakura exclaimed inwardly wincing at the mention of Syaoran's name,
"It has nothing to do with you. I've just been really busy recently..."

"So ka... well are you still busy? Because I was wondering if you would like
to go see a movie with me this weekend. I really enjoyed going to the
concert with you."

"Well...I have to study for a Calculus test this weekend. I'm sorry."

"Oh I see. I guess it's a really important test huh?" Christian asked a
dejected and forlorn expression plastered on his handsome face.

Immediately upon seeing Christian's dejected face, Sakura felt a pang of
guilt enter her. Her resolve crumbled and she sighed to her self inwardly
but on the outside she attempted a weak smile and said, "I guess I could
study on Saturday and Sunday and go out with you on Friday."

"Honto?" Christian asked excitedly.

"Un." Sakura replied.

"Great. Then how about I pick you up from your room at eight on Friday
night?"

"Okay." Sakura replied wondering why she had agreed to the date, but it was
too late to turn back now. "I guess I'll get going now." She said as she
turned away from him and walked to her room.

Christian smiled to himself. That had been much easier than he had expected.
The little cherry blossom's willpower and resolve was much weaker than he
had thought it would be. Exerting his own will upon her was too easy. It
would now soon be a piece of cake for him to capture her for himself. It was
time for him to return to his room to gloat over his triumph to the defeated
wolf.

*****************************

Syaoran sat in his room trying to do his homework, but his mind could not
concentrate on his work. Instead his eyes kept wondering over to the little
pencil case that Sakura had given him for White Day. Finally giving up on
his work he picked up the little case and walked over to his bed and sank
down on it. He lay in his bed holding the case above him gently feeling it's
smooth surface, thinking of Sakura. He wondered how she was, if she was
happy. It had been about three weeks since he had last seen her. He wondered
how she would do on their calculus test on Monday since he had stopped
tutoring her. He put the case down as he heard the door opening. He sat
straight up in his bed as Christian entered the room in an obvious state of
bliss.

"I'm so happy. I have a date with the most beautiful girl on campus this
Friday." Christian said as he saw Syaoran.

"Good for you." Syaoran growled.

"Aren't you interested in who it is?"

"No." Syaoran replied coldly feeling his heart sink, already knowing who it
was.

"Well even if you don't, I'll give you a hint. She lives on this hall and
has gorgeous green eyes." Christian told him smirking.

Syaoran winced inwardly. He would not show that guy any weakness. Clenching
his fists and he stood up mumbling, "I'm going out." He picked up his jacket
and stormed out of the room. He needed to get away from that jerk. Syaoran
sighed a long-suffering sigh. "Why him, Sakura? Why him?" He asked himself.

Christian smiled as he watched Syaoran storm out of the room. He walked over
to Syaoran's bed and picked up the little pencil case. He felt the pink aura
that the case emitted and immediately knew who had made it. 'How strong she
is.' he thought to himself. 'Even small little trinkets that she makes with
no magical powers at all radiates immense energy and power. It will be a
pleasure taking her power. She was a pretty little thing too, it would be
fun keeping her around for a while too.'

*****************************

Again it was a Friday night and Sakura was getting ready for a date, but
this time there was none of the excitement and anticipation that surrounded
the other date. Again Sakura wondered why she had even agreed to go on this
date. She did like Christian, but not in the way that he wanted her to like
him. Sakura wondered was she just trying to use Christian to help her get
over Syaoran. Was that why she agreed? That thought made her feel a pang of
guilt, but it wasn't because she might be using Christian. It was because
she felt like she was betraying Syaoran, though she knew he wasn't
interested in her. Sakura carelessly pulled a long sleeved red dress from
her closet and put it on. She didn't bother putting on any make-up or doing
her hair. After all they were only going to the movies.

Tomoyo silently watched her best friend getting ready for her date and felt
a sense of misgiving overtake her. This just wasn't right. Mauler-kun seemed
like a nice enough boy, but he just wasn't right for her Sakura. The only
one that Tomoyo felt truly belonged with Sakura was Li-kun, but Li-kun
thought that Sakura liked Mauler-kun and was determined to stay out of her
way. Tomoyo sighed at the complexity of the situation. Sakura liked Li-kun
and Li-kun liked Sakura, but both thought that the other liked someone else.
That thought was apparently making both miserable if what Soujiro told her
about Li-kun's behavior was any indication of his feelings. Tomoyo just
could not understand why the two just could not work out their feelings for
another. Tomoyo had tried to help the two straighten things out, but neither
would trust their hearts to hope again so neither wanted to trust Tomoyo's
words. It hurt Tomoyo that her best friend didn't believe her, but she could
understand why. Tomoyo just prayed that Sakura's date tonight would not work
out and Sakura and Li-kun could work things out in the end.

At eight sharp Christian knocked on Sakura and Tomoyo's door. Sakura opened
the door and smiled weakly at him.

"Are you ready to go?" Christian asked brightly. The cherry blossom looked
beautiful and delicious with her pink aura weakly surrounding her. If her
outward aura was any indication of her condition then Christian knew that it
would be no problem stealing her power from her.

"Hai." Sakura replied grabbing her purse and waving good-bye to Tomoyo.
Tomoyo just watched her friend sadly.

*****************************

Sakura and Christian were walking back to their dorm after seeing the movie
when Christian suddenly stopped in the middle of a large open space. Sakura
looked around her and recognized that they had stopped at a place that she
knew was particularly good for gazing at the stars. Christian looked up at
the stars and sighed wistfully. "The stars are some of the most beautiful
and powerful things around. It's a shame that most people cannot capture one
for themselves."

Sakura looked at Christian quizzically and replied, "The stars are really
beautiful, but why would anyone want to capture one? Isn't it better to just
leave them the way they are up in the sky so that everyone can look at them
and enjoy them?"

"Is that how you feel about it Sakura-san?"

"Un. The stars are always there to comfort me when I'm sad and I would be
very sad to see one of them disappear." Sakura replied looking up at the
sky.

Christian smiled menacingly as he crept up behind Sakura and wrapped his
arms around her whispering in her ears, "I suppose you are right. The stars
in the sky should stay right where they are, but what about the stars here
on earth. What about the flower that holds vast amounts of star power within
her?"

Sakura stiffened at his words and asked nervously, "What do you mean?"

"I mean the little cherry blossom standing here in my arms. Is it possible
to capture her and her power for myself?"

Sakura's eyes widened in surprise and she tried to pull away from Christian,
but found herself trapped securely in his arms. "Now, now. You shouldn't try
to pull away from me like that my beautiful little star."

"Christian-kun, please let go of me." Sakura begged.

"After I spent this much time capturing you. I don't think so."

"What...what do you want to do with me?" Sakura asked in a scared voice.
This was not the Christian-kun she knew. This Christian was scary and gave
off a menacing aura that she never felt before. An aura suggested to her
darkness, but not Clow-san's comfortable darkness, but and evil type of
darkness.

"I'm going to do what I told you I wanted to do. I'm going to take your
power for myself. You have a wonderfully rare and delicious power that I
want. After I take your power you will become my little toy." Christian said
pulling her closer to him and lowering his head to the curve of her neck. He
licked her neck and murmured, "Delicious. If this is just how you taste, I
can't wait to taste your power."

"Onegai...yamete Christian-kun." Sakura whimpered. Sakura was really
frightened now. She tried struggling against him, but found her body
completely paralyzed. She couldn't move. He controlled her body completely.
Tears welled up in her eyes as she cried softly thinking to herself,
"Syaoran-kun..."

"Shush...it won't hurt a bit. Stop fighting me. Just let me have your power
and then you'll feel much better."

Sakura bit her lip trying to contain her fear. She tried concentrating on
her power like Kero-chan had told her to and tried to push whatever spell
Christian had set over her away, but to no avail. He was too strong for her.

Christian gave an amused laugh as he felt her trying to push his power away
from herself with her diminished power. "It's no use. I am much stronger
than you are right now. If you were your normal self you might have been
able to defend against me, but in the state you are in now, I'm afraid that
is impossible. Now stop struggling." Christian commanded as he set a spell
over Sakura, causing her mind to fog over.

Before her mind completely glazed over and she lost all her thought and will
to resist she softly whispered, "Syaoran-kun, gomen ne."

Christian bent over her and prepared to suck up her power. He concentrated
on her weak pink aura and lowered his lips to it tasting the sweet power
that flowed through it. Just as he was about to suck her power into himself
a large water dragon appeared out of nowhere and knocked him down. He let go
of the paralyzed Sakura in surprise and watched in frustration as a soft
wind swept around her softening her fall. Looking over to where the dragon
had originated from he saw Syaoran standing with an intense angry aura
surrounding him. Not bothering with any more pretenses he didn't bother
getting up. Instead he concentrated upon levitating into the air and smiled
at the shocked look on the little wolf's face at his display of power. This
was about to get more interesting. The little wolf had more power than he
thought he had.

*****************************

Syaoran wandered about the campus. He should have been studying, but he
didn't want to be in his room as that jerk was getting ready for his date
with Sakura. Syaoran knew that Christian would have gloated over the fact
that he had a date with Sakura. Syaoran's heart felt shattered and broken
enough without having to put up with that guy's gloating. He didn't know
what he would have done to the guy if he had stayed around, but he had
already promised himself that he would stay out of Sakura's way. If she was
happy then that was all that mattered to him. Syaoran just wished that he
could have been the person to make Sakura happy and not that jerk. He smiled
sardonically as he realized that Sakura's older brother must have had
similar feelings about him. Sakura's onii-chan must have felt annoyed that
someone was taking his precious imouto away from him, but in the end he had
been willing to give Sakura up to Syaoran for her happiness. Now Syaoran had
to do the same thing and give Sakura up to Christian for the sake of her
happiness. He just hoped that Christian would make her happy. Though he
swore if that jerk ever hurt her then he would have to face Syaoran's wrath.

Syaoran continued to wonder about until he found himself at the tree where
he had seen Sakura and Christian confessing their love for each other.
Syaoran stood next to the tree and leaned warily against it. He looked up
at the spreading branches of the tree with it's bright yellow, red, and
orange leaves, the signs of winter approaching. Smiling reminiscently to
himself he climbed up the tree and sat nestled among its welcoming branches.
He sat with his back against the tree's trunk and his legs propped up on one
of the tree's large branches and closed his eyes. Moonlight streaming
through the tree'' branches bathed his peaceful figure and he sat there for
several hours not allowing himself to think or feel.

Suddenly Syaoran heard Sakura's voice calling out his name in his head. He
jerked himself upright quickly and almost caused himself to fall out of the
tree. "Sakura..." he whispered to himself. Something was wrong. Sakura was
in danger he could feel her distress. He felt her calling out to him. With
one swift motion he had jumped from the tree and landed deftly on his feet.
Calling his sword to him, Syaoran concentrated on trying to feel Sakura's
power. Finally he found her familiar pink aura, but it was overshadowed by a
stronger dark aura. Syaoran clutched his chest trying to feel where her aura
had emanated from. Seconds that seemed like hours passed and he finally felt
something tugging at his chest. He was familiar with this feeling. It was
what had helped him in his final quest and he followed it willingly hoping
that it would lead him to Sakura.

He finally did reach her and saw her held helplessly within Christian's
arms. His heart pounded and he saw red as he noticed the tears streaming
down Sakura's face. Softly within his mind he could her Sakura whispering,
"Syaoran-kun, gomen ne." Without further thought he pulled out an ofuda and
chanted, "Sui Ryou Shou Rai!"

From the ofuda appeared a large dragon made completely of water. The dragon
rushed forth and did it's master's bidding slamming itself against the boy
holding the card mistress captive. Syaoran watched in triumph as Christian
staggered back from the impact of the water dragon releasing Sakura in the
process. With dread he noticed Sakura falling as Christian released her.
Pulling out another ofuda he chanted, "Fuu Ka Shou Rai!" creating a wind
that wrapped itself around Sakura softening her fall. Syaoran stood
vigilantly to with his sword drawn as he watched Christian begin to levitate
himself off the ground. Christian turned to him and grinned ferally.

"So the little wolf want to play huh?" Christian asked menacingly.

"What have you done to Sakura? Leave Sakura alone. If you dare lay a single
finger on her I'll make sure you regret it." Syaoran growled.

"Oh. I doubt that. You don't have enough power to be a threat to me. The
only one that could have been a threat to me was your little cherry blossom,
but since she was so weakened, by your rejection of her she really couldn't
put up much of a fight against me."

Syaoran paled at his words. It was because of him that Sakura was in the
condition that she was in. 'I'll make it up to you Sakura. I'll protect you
even if it costs me my life.' Syaoran gritted his teeth and glared at
Christian waiting to see what the other's next move would be.

Within the confines of her mind Sakura watched haplessly as Syaoran faced
off against Christian. She wished she were strong enough to move, but found
that she could barely think not to mention move. A heavy fog had settled
around her mind, but through the fog within her mind she could hear
Syaoran's voice saying, "I'll make it up to you Sakura. I'll protect you
even if it costs me my life."

His words cut through the fog like a knife helping to clear her mind.
'Syaoran-kun does care for me.' Sakura thought. Gathering up all of her
power and concentration she tried to burn away the fog in her mind. The fog
resisted her, but in the end she succeeded in burning it painfully away. Her
once glazed over eyes focused and she screamed out pain.

Sakura's scream attracted Syaoran and Christian's attention. Syaoran began
to run quickly over to her when he suddenly felt a force holding him back.
The force seemingly took over his body and he struggled with all his might
to keep it from gaining control of his body. His will battled against the
will of the spell-caster and for the first time Syaoran realized just how
powerful his opponent was.

Christian Mauler grimaced to himself as he realized how powerful the two
were when together. He was using all his power and concentration just to
keep control of the cherry blossom's body and to try and take over the
wolf's body. He was no longer able to control the cherry blossom's mind and
this frustrated him. After three thousand years, he had finally found some
opponents worthy of him and he could not believe that it was two kids. The
strength the two of them possessed was amazing considering that they could
resist his powers, but no matter that just made things more interesting.
With two such powerful humans he could easily take both their powers. But
the problem now was trying to take their power. The annoying voice within
his head laughed triumphantly and mocked him telling him, "They are stronger
than you think. You should have just left them alone. Now you'll pay for it.
You will get what you deserve." Christian Mauler tried silencing the voice,
but this time it would not be silenced since Christian did not have enough
power to silence it. It knew that its liberation was near and it rejoiced.

'They can give me more power when they are alive, but I'm sure they can
still give me power once they are dead. This game grows tiring. It is time
to end it.' Christian thought to himself. Summoning up more of his power
that he had acquired through three thousand years of draining powerful
sorcerers, he launched another attack on the wolf. This time he was
successful as the wolf was no longer able to hold out against him and he
successfully overtook his body. He grinned triumphantly as he felt the voice
within him react with immense distress. "Now it's time to have some fun.
Let's see how it feels to kill the one you love the most with your own hands
ne, little wolf?"

Syaoran's eyes widened in horror as he realized that he had lost the battle.
The jerk had managed to possess his body and he was helpless to do anything
about it. He summoned up his power to try and push the dark power away from
him, but found himself unable to do so. Syaoran found his body raising his
sword of its own accord and moving towards Sakura's paralyzed body. Syaoran
realized what the jerk was trying to do and again redoubled his efforts to
break free. He could not allow himself to hurt Sakura. She was the one
person he loved the most and wanted to protect the most and he would not
allow himself to hurt her. He screamed out at her as tears of bitter
frustration welled in his eyes, "Fight him Sakura! You can do it. You must
do it. Break free and run! Onegai! I don't want to hurt you."

Sakura stared at Syaoran wide-eyed and tried to do as he told her to, but
found herself unable to move. She struggled against Christian's powers but
found she was too weak. Crying out in anguish she turned to face Christian
and asked him, "Why, Christian-kun, why?"

Christian just grinned at her and said, "Because I want your power."

"If it's my power you want then you can take it, just please leave
Syaoran-kun alone. I'll gladly die if you'll let Syaoran-kun live. Onegai!"

"Ma, ma, how sweet, but I'm afraid I can't do that. The little wolf also has
a lot of power too. Much more power than I thought he had and so I'll take
his power too, but only after I take your. You will die by you love's hand
then he shall die by mine. Oh yes maybe I should tell you, I am not
Christian Mauler. Christian Mauler was a weak pitiful human whose body I
possessed seven hundred years ago so I'll thank you to not call me that
anymore."

"Kiisama, I don't care who you are, but you will NOT make me hurt her!"
Syaoran growled as he approached Sakura and raised his sword. Blood
splattered on his face as Sakura screamed in horror. Syaoran collapsed to
his knees panting heavily his sword imbedded within his thigh.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura screamed her power surging through her releasing her
from her paralysis. She too fell to her knees panting heavily from the
exertion it to break free from the spell.

"Masaka..." Christian said stunned. Both of them managed to break free of
his spell. "Fine then, if you are no going to kill her then, I will."
Christian stated raising his hands as a ball of energy appeared in it. With
one swift motion he threw the ball towards Sakura.

Sakura stared at the ball; unable to move knowing that even if she did move
it would not be in time. Suddenly before her appeared a figure. The ball of
energy hit the figure full on in the chest and the figure began to fall
towards her. "Syaoran-kun!" Sakura screamed again. "Why? Why did you do
that?"

"Because I had to protect you. You are the one person that I will always
protect." Syaoran whispered hoarsely. "Sakura you must defeat him otherwise
he'll kill both of us and do who knows what else to others."

"Don't worry Syaoran-kun. I promise you I'll take care of it. I'll be strong
and defeat him. Just please be okay." Sakura pleaded with Syaoran tears
filling her eyes.

"I know you will Sakura, but he's strong. Probably stronger than Eriol even.
You'll need help. Unfortunately Keroberus and Yue aren't here to help you,
so I'll help you. You can use my power."

"Dame! You're too weak to give me your power Syaoran-kun."

"Daijobu desu. I'll be fine." Syaoran told her as he removed a pendant from
around his neck then removed the Dragon's Eye from the hilt of his sword and
placed the Dragon's Eye into the center of the pendent. A bright flash of
light engulfed the piece of jewelry as the Dragon's Eye and pendent joined
together. Syaoran held the piece tightly in his hands and transferred as
much of his power as he could into the pendant. Finally done he hand the
pendant to Sakura and told her. "Wear this. It'll increase your powers.
Hopefully enough to defeat him. You can do it. Remember you undefeatable
phrase, 'Because it's Sakura, everything will be fine.'"

The being in Christian Mauler's form laughed as he watched the two. How
foolish of the boy to sacrifice himself like that. How foolish it was for
him to give the cherry blossom all of his power. Even with their powers
combined they wouldn't be able to defeat him. The being was sure of that so
he let them play out their little scene before clearing his throat to get
the girl's attention.

Sakura stood up from Syaoran's injured body and faced the being. Sakura was
thankful that she had never been able to rid herself of her habit of
carrying her Clow Key with her. Removing her key she began her familiar
incantation, "Key that holds the power of the stars, show your true form.
Under the compact, I, Sakura, command you, RELEASE!" Sakura stared at him
confidently and said in a clear firm voice, "I don't know who you are, but
I'm not going to let you hurt anyone."

The being stared at the girl that stood before him and grinned. The girl
certainly did not lack courage and he was amazed at how her power increased
because of her desire to protect and save the boy. Hapless inside his own
body, the real Christian Mauler watched and hoped. He hoped that the bright
star standing before them would be able to end his seven hundred years of
suffering and he swore to himself to help her however he could. He would not
be weak and pitiful anymore. He would help her make sure that the being
controlling his body would never hurt anyone ever again.

Knowing that this was her only chance Sakura pulled out the Light card and
commanded it, "Remove this dark being from this boy's body, LIGHT!"

The card flew out of Sakura's hand and entered Christian Mauler's body. She
found the soul of the creature and surrounded it trying to expel it from the
boy's body as her mistress had instructed her to. The creature fought the
Light trying to shield itself against it's antithesis and it was successful.
It was slowly pushing the Light out, but suddenly it felt as if something
had smashed its very being. The creature's shield gave out and it screamed
in agony as the Light trapped it and burned it. It tried to escape out of
the Light by flying from its host, but it couldn't. The Light and the
creature looked in surprise at what was retraining it and holding it within
the boy's body and found Christian holding tightly onto the creature.

Outside of Christian's body, Sakura watched as it convulsed as she saw the
Light entering it and she almost saw a black shadow fleeing from the Light.
Suddenly she saw two transparent arms reach out from the body grabbing the
creature and holding it in the burning Light. She saw a form appear behind
the shadow being and gasped as she noticed that the form looked like
Christian. The figure looked up at her and begged her, "It's no good,
Sakura-san. If you expel him from my body, he'll just possess someone else's
body. I won't let him do that! I won't let him cause anyone as much pain as
it caused me!"

"You fool!" The shadow creature screamed, "What do you think you're going to
accomplish by this? Keeping me in this cursed Light will not destroy me. Do
you really think you're powerful enough to contain me!?!"

"I'm not powerful enough to contain you, but Sakura-san can destroy you
while I can still hold you. I won't let you hurt anyone else. I will help
her destroy you."

"If she destroys me, you will die as well!" The creature screeched.

"I don't care! Sakura-san! Please destroy him now. If you kill me while he
is still in my body he will die with me! I can't hold him much longer.
Please hurry up and kill me!"

Sakura stared at the battle that the shadow creature and Christian were
waging. She looked at him with horror and shock written all over her face as
he pleaded with her to kill him. "Christian-kun, I can't kill you!" Sakura
cried.

"Just do it! Please, I'm fine with it. I've lived too long already. Please
Sakura-san." Christian pleaded with her again looking at her. "If you don't
do it now, then we'll never be able to destroy him and he'll hurt more
people like he hurt Syaoran-kun. You promised Syaoran-kun that you would
defeat him. Are you going to break your promise to him, when he gave all his
power to defeat this creature?"

Sakura started at his words. Syaoran-kun. She had promised him that she
would defeat the creature no matter what. Now she could, but she was
hesitating. Nodding her head grimly Sakura pulled out the Sword and summoned
it. Her staff transformed into a sleek blade and she closed her eyes.
Walking forward reluctantly, she plunged the sword into Christian's chest.
Christian's body crumpled and the shadow creature screamed in agony as it
felt the sword pierce it's being. Christian whispered softly into her ears,
"Arigatou, Sakura-san."

Sakura opened her eyes as the cards returned to their original form and
watched as Christian's body turned to dust leaving only a spectral form of
him standing there. Christian smiled at her and told her gently, "Please
don't cry Sakura-san. I'm finally free from the hell that that creature put
me through. I finally did something useful. I'm sorry about all the trouble
that we caused you, and I hope helping you destroy that creature helps make
up for the trouble we caused you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't save you Christian-kun."

"You did save me. For seven hundred years I was trapped within my own body.
I watched helplessly as that creature hurt or killed so many people
including my own family. I tried to stop him several times, but I was too
weak. Now I was able to finally do something about it. Thank-you for helping
me Sakura-san. Please thank Syaoran-kun for me too. And tell him I'm sorry
for what that creature did to him and you. I hope you and Syaoran-kun can be
happy together. Sayonara Sakura-san." Christian said as his spectral form
faded away.

Sakura nodded as she wiped the tears from her eyes. Turning around she
walked back to Syaoran's body lying on the ground. Kneeling down Sakura
shook Syaoran's body trying to wake him up. Several times she tried to shake
him awake, but he remained motionless. "No...Syaoran..." Sakura whispered
hoarsely. "Syaoran-kun. Please wake-up! Please be okay! I need you to be
okay. I need to be able to tell you I love you. Wake-up! Syaoran-kun!
WAKE-UP!"

*****************************

Oppsie. Did I just leave this chapter at a cliffhanger? *grins evilly* I'm
so sorry, but hey the more people write the faster I'll write and post the
next chapter. Please do tell me what you think of Christian now. You all got
what you wanted. I based Christian's death scene on Aki of Ayashi no Ceres's
death scene. Of course it's not as well written, but oh well. And don't
flame me about Syaoran yet. I have one chapter left. I'm not saying what
will happen, but you're not allowed to flame until then.