Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Dragon ❯ The Taking of Sakura ( Chapter 12 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
Wandering around the school was boring in the middle of the night. It was no wonder ghosts were most often heard at night. They were all bemoaning the fact there was nothing to do!
Reiko floated aimlessly through the school, only her upper body being solid. She had already stuffed the airhead's shoe locker and desk with rotten food. Unfortunately, the girl who had murdered her had started to take everything home, to prevent her from doing any more damage.
The ghostly girl debated visiting home, but saw no reason to go beyond bringing back memories of other lonely nights when her phone never rang, be it a girl wanting to have a fun outing or a boy wanting anything besides her body.
Reiko smirked as she remembered the restrictions placed upon her new existence, having been told what she could do by the one who brought her back. She couldn't go just anywhere she wanted, but she could go to places she had visited before. While she had never been to the airhead's home, she had gone to the apartment of the girl's boyfriend. If she was lucky, the murderer would be there.
Reiko found it a bit of a struggle to transpose herself to Li's apartment. Having only been there once, she didn't have much connection to the place at all. Still she managed to appear in the darken living room, standing in front of the couch and looking towards the television. With the only light coming from the lighted walkway outside of the apartment, it was unlikely anyone was awake.
"Hello."
Reiko whirled around to see a young woman gazing at her from behind the kitchen counter. "Who are you?"
"That should be my question." The woman smirked. "I'm Li Fanren, Syaoran's sister."
Reiko scowled. "And you can see me?"
Fanren giggled a little. "Of course I can. The Li clan is one of the oldest mage clans. Meiling, her mother, and one of my brothers-in-law are the only ones in the family who can't see or touch you."
Reiko huffed. "And why aren't you asleep now?"
Fanren moved forward, floating through the counter separating the kitchen from the living room. "Because I'm as dead as you are. Though I became this intentionally. Care to tell me who brought you over?"
"If I told you, you'd tell that airhead. I'm not about to help the girl who killed me," Reiko snarled.
Fanren sighed. "Sakura-chan didn't kill you. True, she had a choice of who died, but someone had to die in that accident. It ended up being you."
Reiko folded her arms. "I wasn't supposed to die, yet because of the airhead, I'm dead. How is that not murder?"
Fanren's eyes hardened on the ghostly girl. "I suppose I could debate this point, but it'd get me no where. However, I will not let you hurt my little brother to get back at his girlfriend."
"Can you stop me?" Reiko threatened, her lower chest solidifying into the gory mess the truck inflicted on her.
Fanren rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed by the ghastly display. "You were a normal girl before. I've always had magic." Flames erupted from her spectral body, her image going from what she had been in life to the charred flesh and bones of her death. "You will leave NOW!"
Reiko immediately fled back to the school.
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Card Captors Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 12: The Taking of Sakura
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
By: Lord Archive
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.
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While Sakura had no plans of leaving her shoes in her locker, she still checked it to see what Reiko's ghost had done to it over night. She smelled cleaner from it, but found it to be empty. She could only guess a teacher found the prank and took care of it.
Sakura yanked her hand back as the door to her shoe locker closed suddenly. She then looked tiredly at the phantom girl scowling at her. "Can't you give me at least a little break?"
"You should be rotting in jail for murder," Reiko sneered.
Sakura pouted at the dead girl. "I suppose saying that I'm sorry and that I had every intention of being the one to die that morning if it meant saving someone's life wouldn't be enough?"
"And why would I believe a lying witch?" Reiko retorted.
"Because it's the truth," Syaoran said firmly as he moved to stand next to his girlfriend.
"As if," Reiko spat. She dashed around Sakura and shoved the girl by the head into the lockers.
Sakura rubbed her now bruised forehead. "Why does everyone go for my face?"
"Kinomoto Sakura, come with me," announced the school disciplinarian. He then glared at the boy. "You too, Li Syaoran."
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Teikei gazed intently at the girl sitting nervously in his office. He had been keeping an eye on her since the Chinese boy arrived at the school. She had picked up a long list of injuries since Ichimai's death. The most notable ones weren't when Li was around, however he wasn't sure if the boy was completely innocent. Especially as Li was the only one near Kinomoto when her head was slammed into the shoe lockers.
"Now, Kinomoto, can you tell who is hurting you?" Teikei tenderly asked. "You can tell me and I'll see the person or persons are made to stop."
Sakura's hands twitched together as the girl tried to come up with something to say. "It's well... I... ah... I don't really know!" she lamely lied.
"You don't know who is shoving you into lockers or down stairs?" Teikei returned disbelievingly.
Sakura seemed to shrivel up in her seat. The disciplinarian tried to coax any information from her, but she wouldn't answer.
"If you need any help, I'll be here for you. When you're ready to tell someone who is hurting you, I'll be ready." Teikei sighed. "You can go, Kinomoto. Send in Li."
Sakura nodded and quickly dashed out of the room.
Syaoran entered a moment later with a scowl etched on his face.
"Perhaps you can explain to me how Kinomoto bruised her forehead?" Teikei asked fiercely.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth," Syaoran answered evenly.
"Try me," Teikei demanded.
"I won't bother," Syaoran returned.
"Do you want detention?" Teikei snapped.
Syaoran folded his arms defiantly. "I suspect you'll give it to me regardless of the fact that I would sooner die than hurt Sakura. I know what it looked like to you."
"It looked like you were the one to shove her into the lockers," Teikei snarled. "You were the only one near her."
"I didn't do it," Syaoran stated firmly.
Teikei's retort was prevented by a light tapping on his door. He growled as he moved to see who it was. He gazed hard at the dark haired girl holding up a video camera.
"I have proof that Li-kun is innocent," Tomoyo informed, attempting to sound sweet but it fell flat.
"Oh, really?" Teikei wondered skeptically.
Tomoyo entered the room and shut the door behind her. She once again presented her camera with the view screen extended and pressed play.
Teikei saw an image of Kinomoto talking to herself with a strange glare on the view screen. He couldn't hear what she said with the noise of other students crowding the sound. Shortly after Li appeared on the image, the glare somehow moved past Kinomoto and her head suddenly collided with the lockers, yet no one touched her. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Guilt, I'm afraid." Tomoyo sighed theatrically. "You see, Sakura-chan was in a position to save Reiko-chan, but didn't. Now she blames herself for the girl's death. She's been hurting herself because no one has punished her. We've been trying to help her, but over coming her feelings of guilt isn't easy."
Teikei wondered if the girl should take up acting or was naturally off-key. What she said would make sense for the injuries involved. He frowned at her. "And what about the rotting meat in her locker?"
"That may be pranks done to her by those who do blame Sakura-chan for Reiko-chan's death. Reiko-chan was 'popular' with the sports team, and individuals might be doing petty things against Sakura-chan," Tomoyo added logically.
The smirk on Li's face was not lost on Teikei. If he had to place a bet on who was really responsible, it would be Daidouji and Li both hurting the girl for whatever reason. Possibly as an effort to push Kinomoto away so that they could develop a relationship or some other such nonsense. However, the time needed to edit a video should take longer. But if there was one person in the school who could change images on a video in less than fifteen minutes, it was Daidouji.
"Well, you two are free to go, however I don't like what I'm seeing at this school. If I find either of you responsible for causing damages or hurting others, you'll find yourselves in different schools," Teikei threatened.
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"It sucks that we can't let everyone know that magic is real," Naoko commented in a low tone for only her friends to hear, glancing at the school disciplinarian as they all walked toward the school buses.
"Tell me about it," Meiling groused. "We have to be very careful that Ichimai's pranks don't get us kicked out of this school."
"Can we not talk about that, please?" Sakura pleaded. "We're going to an aviary. A place Reiko-chan has never been too. A place I'll be able to relax." She then shifted uneasily as she saw Satome glaring at her, his hand entombed in a plaster cast.
Syaoran returned that boy's gaze with equal hostility. "Unfortunately you won't be able to completely relax."
"At least he's on a different bus." Rika hugged herself. "I seriously hope he fails to get into senior high."
"That jerk might not even bother going," Naoko spat. "I want him out of our lives for good."
Meiling folded her arms irritably. "Unfortunately the two ways for that to happen at this point is either someone kills him or he gets sent off to jail as an adult. You can imagine what has to happen for the latter situation to occur."
Naoko shivered in dread. "Yeah, he'd have to succeed in raping one of us."
"Can we PLEASE not talk about that either?!" Sakura whined her demand. "This is a field trip. Let's just try to enjoy it."
"I hear that part of today's assignment will be to draw an exotic bird," Takashi chirped in. "It'll be a large part of our grade too."
Sakura let out a frustrated moan.
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The students looked at a large enclosed area that had a few dead trees and rocks resembling barren lands. The only form of life they saw was a small mouse skittering across the ground.
"Aw, it's a cute mouse!" Sakura giggled. She then blinked as a mass of brown feathers swooped pass. She slowly looked up at one of the trees and saw the remains of the rodent in the claws of a hawk. "Ewww."
The tour guide laughed a little as he adjusting his hat. "The aviary occasionally has a little rodent problem, but the birds take care of it for us. In fact, we put healthy mice into these areas for the express purpose of letting our predatory birds hunt them as it is healthier for them to kill their own meals rather than be fed cut meat."
Syaoran gazed at the brown bird with red tail feathers. "That bird is amazing."
Sakura pouted. "It just killed that poor mouse."
"How else is it supposed to eat? It's a bird of prey. It only eats meat," Syaoran retorted.
"Fish are just as alive and you eat them, don't you?" Takashi added mischievously.
"Yeah, but they're not cute," Sakura defended weakly, and then giggled despite herself. "I know it's what he's supposed to do. I just don't like seeing things die."
"Now let's go to our main attraction. Please be mindful of the plastic curtains we'll be passing through. They help to keep the birds inside this exhibit as there are no cages there. You'll be able to feed the birds directly. Though do not try to pet them," the tour guide informed the group.
After passing through the final curtain, the students were faced with an enormous room. They could not see the other side of the room as towering trees and plants filled most of the empty spaces. Numerous birds were chirping excitedly, yet none could be seen in the cover of the foliage. Many of the students loosened their shirts as the humidity of this indoor tropical forest assaulted them.
"You can all spread out and try to find the birds, but stay on the inside of the marked fences. The birds do like to hide, though you can draw them out at the feeding stations," the tour guide advised.
"Remember you need to sketch one of the birds you see here," Teikei told the students.
Sakura groaned. Her drawings were never good enough. Even worse for her was groups were to consist of no more than four people, separating with Tomoyo, Meiling and Naoko she couldn't stay with Syaoran. Though she knew he would be nearby with Yamazaki, Chiharu and Rika.
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"Can you hold that pose?" Naoko asked.
Sakura pouted. "How can I draw if I can't move?"
"You'd have a hard time drawing them anyway," Meiling pointed out.
Sakura glanced at the parrot on her left shoulder and then the cockatoo on her right shoulder. "You'll let me draw you later, won't you?"
Both birds bounced their heads in a nod.
"It's a shame we can't see the bird of paradise," Tomoyo commented, taking a still image of Sakura and the birds.
The tour guide walked up to them. "We haven't seen Rakudo since the female bird of paradise we had died."
"His mate died? That's so sad!" Sakura whined, and the birds on her shoulders nodded in agreement.
"Birds of paradise aren't known to keep with only one mate, though I suspect he's upset that there aren't any other birds of his kind here anymore." The tour guide gazed at the girl with the two birds. "You certainly have a way with animals. If you manage to see him, please feed him some fruit. He hasn't eaten anything in days."
After the tour guide walked away, Sakura asked the birds, "Do you know where Rakudo-san is?"
The birds flew from her shoulders and hovered above her.
Sakura glanced around as she took a handful of chopped melon from the feeding station. "I'll be back. Cover me. Jump!"
Tomoyo's camera tracked Sakura as the girl leapt into the forested canopy.
Sakura frowned as she spotted the sad, yet extremely colorful red bird. Carefully she approached him. "Hello, Rakudo-san. I'm sorry to hear about your mate."
The bird of paradise gazed at the girl with a confused look.
"I know it's sad to lose someone important to you. But you can't hide away by yourself. You're not alone and others still care for you." Sakura placed her hand against her chest. "I know about hiding away from others because of pain. I was doing that myself. My friends helped me know I wasn't alone. Parrot-san and cockatoo-san cared enough to show me where you were." She held out her hand. "Please, eat and know you're not alone."
Rakudo cautiously moved toward the girl and tentatively pecked at the food in her hand.
Sakura smiled as the bird hungrily ate all the pieces of melon she had. "I don't expect you to come with me, but do try to not hide any more. Illusion!" Her image became that of a cockatoo as she returned to her friends. Seeing no one around, she let her cards return. "I got to feed Rakudo-san!"
Tomoyo's camera wasn't on the girl, but above her. "I would say so. You've got another friend! He's beautiful!"
Sakura looked up. "You did come out!"
Dozens of birds suddenly flocked around Sakura and the bird of paradise, which in turn brought the other students from Sakura's class who looked in awe at the giant colorful bird that seemed to be out of a fantasy story, yet was in fact a real bird. The attention caused Rakudo to be upset, making him fly away.
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The parrot and cockatoo stood on the railing that helped mark the path the students were supposed to stay on. They kept moving, trying to look more majestic than the other bird.
"You two are as bad as Kero-chan," Sakura muttered. "Can you please stay still so I can draw you?"
The birds did calm down for a minute, but only one minute, before returning to their posturing.
"They seem to be good friends," Tomoyo commented with a few giggles.
Naoko looked from what she was sketching. "At least Sakura-chan is a great help in getting us subjects to draw."
Suddenly both birds took off, flying away from the nearby outer wall.
"Get back!" Sakura warned before the wall exploded. She covered her face from flying debris and looked up in horror as a monstrously huge raven loomed before her. She reached for her cards, but the bird swooped in and picked her up. She screamed as magic assaulted her, knocking her unconscious.
Naoko could only stare with the others as the bird turned around and flew out of the gapping hole it had made in the wall.
Syaoran ran straight for them, yanking papers from his pocket upon seeing what was going on. "God of thunder, descend!" he cried out, sending a lightning blast at the bird, but missed his target and succeeded in only making the hole larger. He fired more spells at the giant raven, but the distance soon became too much.
Naoko shakily stood up and watched in worry as the bird flew away with her friend.
Meiling took off running through the hole despite her slower speed.
Tomoyo bit her lip as her camera focused on the bird.
"Shit!" Syaoran cursed. His body shook in impotent rage. "SAKURA!!!" Glowing markings appeared around him, but they did not form a circle like Sakura's magic would display, rather they took the shape of two squares offset from each other.
Naoko might not have any ability with magic, but even she could feel the energy building around boy. Wind began to circle around him, gathering in speed. She had no idea what was going on. She started to hear loud screeching from the birds.
From the upper canopy the bird of paradise took flight, followed by the hundreds of birds in the tropical enclosure. Rakudo led the birds into the vortex around Syaoran. The winds were becoming already fierce and then exploded in intensity when the large colorful bird slammed into the boy. But instead of knocking him over, it literally went into him, its wings merging into his back. Hundreds of birds followed suit, each one disappeared upon hitting Syaoran, somehow making the wings on the boy's back grow in size.
With the last bird gone, Syaoran took flight with his rainbow wings, pushing himself to fly as fast as he could. His speed was faster than the monstrous raven, catching up to the bird holding his beloved captive. He could feel his strength waning, taken up to give him a means to fly. He had to free Sakura, even if it meant dying in his attempt. He knew he would only have one shot as he would likely fall unconscious from the effort. He dug deep into his pocket that held Fanren's comb and pulled out every lightning spell papers he had. With more a guttural scream than incantation, he stabbed the papers with his sword, launching a giant lightning blast at the bird.
Syaoran smiled as the lightning stuck the bird's back. The monster squawked in pain and reflexively let go of Sakura. The bird lost its immense size as it plummeted to the ground with the girl falling next to it. He tried to focus on his beloved, but exhaustion pulled him into darkness and the feathers melted away from his back.
Sakura groaned awake as she felt the all-to-familiar sensation of free fall. She quickly cast Fly upon herself and looked around to see what was going on. She saw Syaoran falling and immediately grabbed him, before trying to slow down her descent. The speed of their fall was too much and they were too close to the ground. They slammed into the ground, but thankfully not dangerously hard.
Sakura panted, unsure what to make of what was going on. She glanced at her boyfriend and her heart froze in panic. His hair was white and his face wrinkled. It was as if she was seeing what Syaoran would look like at one hundred-years-old. Remembering the sensations she felt after the fight with the dragon golem, Sakura willed her energy into her boyfriend. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she noticed two cards with dark green backs in his hand.
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Sakura groaned awake, finding herself in bed with Syaoran. "This is really getting to be a bad habit." She then giggled tiredly. "Well, maybe not 'bad.'"
"You're awake."
Sakura sat up and stared at the woman in the room. "Li-san...."
Syaoran's mother, Yelan, approached the bed. "I see you both are past the worst of it."
Sakura began to panic as she suddenly realized she was in a hospital room, with tubes and wires attached to her arm. "What happened?"
"You were attacked by a giant bird and rendered unconscious. Syaoran, desperate in trying to save you, did something obscenely reckless and nearly killed himself. If not for your magic potential and quick thinking to feed him your energy, he would've died," Yelan informed, sounding sadder than the girl had ever heard the woman speak.
Sakura clutched her boyfriend's hands tightly. Looking at his face, the patch of gray hair reminder her of what he looked like after he defeated the bird. "Don't you dare ever do that again!" she chastised the still sleeping boy.
Yelan cleared her voice. "To cover up this event, there's been some... truth bending. As far as everyone is concerned, an ultra-light plane crashed into the aviary and hurt you and Syaoran from the debris. The pilot was dead at the scene, though there actually was no plane nor pilot. The gapping hole it made let most of the birds in the aviary escape, and only a couple of them have been found."
Sakura blinked. "The birds? What happened to the birds?"
Yelan frowned. "Look at what's in his other hand."
Sakura reached over the boy and saw the two dark green cards he had before she became unconscious. The backs of them showed an image of two offset squares filled with symbols that reminded her of the lazen board he had so often used in locating the Clow Cards. The face of the first card was 'The Lightning' with a rather simple picture of a lightning bolt depicted on it. From her own cards could see that this was extremely similar to the Clow Cards, but attuned entirely to Syaoran, as her cards were now attuned to her. That card seemed to be strongly offensive, yet she couldn't sense it having the guiding intelligence 'The Thunder' did. She then looked at the other card.
"The Birds..." Sakura moaned out in anguish. Her fingers shook as she touched the image of the bird of paradise beautifully centered on the card. She could see the two small friends she had made at the aviary sitting together on the right side, while dozens of other birds were scattered about the picture. "He... he KILLED the ENTIRE aviary for this?!" Tears pooled in her eyes. "Rakudo-san... Parrot-san... Cockatoo-san... All those birds... for this...."
"For you," Yelan snapped.
Sakura flinched. "I would never want this."
"Syaoran needed a means to save you, and the birds responded to his plea. They choose to do this for you. To save your life," Yelan pointed out firmly. "If not for their sacrifice, you would not be here. You would be dead."
Sakura yanked the tubes and wires from her arm before jumping out of the bed.
Yelan moved to push her back. "Sakura, you need to rest."
"I need to be alone!" Sakura shouted, despite her unsteady stance. "I've had too much going on as it is. Some mage is out to kill me, fought an assassin, nearly raped, Fanren-chan met her fate and is now a ghost, Mihara-san died from cancer, and not only did I choose to let Reiko-chan die, she's now a poltergeist out to get me." She clenched her fists. "Now Syaoran-kun murdered hundreds of birds to save me. It's too much!"
Yelan sighed as the girl stomped away. "And the worse is yet to come."
Sakura froze at the door and gave the woman a pain-filled glance. "Why is this happening to me? To us?"
"Power attracts power." Yelan looked away. "And the misuse of power corrupts."
Sakura clenched the door tightly as she opened it and exited the room, slamming it behind her. She then blinked in surprise. This wasn't a hospital she was in. She recognized the hallway as being from Tomoyo's house. She made her way to the back gazebo and sat heavily at the patio table.
A moment later, Sakura was surprised as a maid arrived holding a tray of food.
"We weren't sure what you wanted, so we prepared a few different things that would be easy to eat."
"Thank you." Sakura glanced at the cereal, chopped fruit, toast, milk, orange juice and tea. While she was starving, this was too much for her alone. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," the maid replied.
"How long have I been here?" Sakura wondered.
"Seven days," the maid answered.
Sakura stared at her. "A whole week?!"
The maid nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid Tomoyo-hime will be quite upset to learn you woke up while she was at school."
"I see. Thank you." Sakura poked at the cereal with a spoon. "I've got more than enough here. You can go."
"It's no problem. I can remain to help you," the maid insisted.
"I need to be alone, please," Sakura pleaded, and was thankful when the maid nodded and walked away. She then frowned, sensing the maid had only moved out of sight.
Sakura sighed as she slowly began to eat. This wasn't fair. Twice now others had died for her. She should've been killed in that stupid accident. Then the aviary wouldn't have been slaughtered by her own boyfriend. How could he do that to them? How?
Collapsing onto the table, Sakura began to sob uncontrollably. How many more would get hurt because of her? How many would die because some mage was out to kill her? Why was that person out to get her? What had she ever down to that mage?
Sakura felt something tap her head. She looked up to see the parrot and the cockatoo from the aviary standing on the table. "Wha... what?!"
"Don't be sad," the parrot told her.
"But you're dead!" Sakura protested. "You're not free! You're bound to Syaoran-kun now!"
"Were we ever free?" the cockatoo retorted. "We were stuck in an aviary waiting for hand outs for food. And trust us, you were a LOT kinder than most of the kids we've seen."
"Rakudo's girlfriend died because of what another group of kids did," the parrot added. "They didn't MEAN to hurt her, but they ignored the tour guide's warnings about petting and remaining on the path."
Sakura pouted, silently casting Libra to make sure this was not just a show being put on for her, but the honest truth. "But you'll never be able to fly around like you did before."
"It'll be better than before. We now have a purpose!" the cockatoo announced happily. "We can even talk to you."
"Sure we could've learned how to speak in the aviary. But that would've been repeating phrases. I'd hardly call 'cute bird,' 'come on eat,' and 'stupid bird shit on me' as speaking," the parrot added jokingly.
Despite herself, Sakura giggled a little. "I still think what happened is too sad."
"So we're not going to be paraded before snot-nose kids anymore. Big deal. The aviary will replace us with other birds. Not even Rakudo was irreplaceable. It's why we were in that enclosure with no cages. If some stupid kid killed one of us, it wouldn't be a major tragedy," the parrot explained in distaste.
"Yeah, but Syaoran-kun still murdered all of you," Sakura protested.
"For the last time, he didn't kill us. He gave us a new purpose and meaning beyond to be seen by people. You'll be able to see us whenever you want now. Which makes me a lot happier!" the cockatoo chirped.
"And me even happier than him!" the parrot added.
"I'm the happiest!" the cockatoo shot.
"No, I am!" the parrot returned.
As the argument continued, the birds faded away and returned to being a card. Sakura followed the path of the card and saw Syaoran catch it as he leaned heavily against his mother.
"I'm sorry," Syaoran told her as he weakly approached her with his mother's help.
Sakura pouted at him. "I'm not sure I can forgive you."
Syaoran looked like he had just been stabbed.
Sakura walked up to him and poked his chest. "Don't you dare kill yourself trying to save me! Without you, there would be no reason for me to live! Syaoran-kun, I love you. I can't live without you!" She pulled him into a fierce hug.
Syaoran returned her embrace. "I'm sorry. I feel the same way. It's why I did... what I did. You mean everything to me."
"Try not to kill anything next time," Sakura pleaded.
"I'll try," Syaoran pledged, yet accenting 'try.'
Sakura frowned, Libra telling her that wasn't the full truth about not killing anything. She pulled the card back, not wanting to have any more reason not to trust her boyfriend. "Now come on, let's eat. You've got to be as hungry as I was," Sakura pulled him towards the patio table.
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Coming soon:
Chapter 13 - Nadeshiko's Past, Sakura's Present
Chiharu finds a picture at her house and learns that the unspoken past is being repeated in the present.
Sorry, not Avatar crossover this time, but Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, which is owned by CLAMP. This occurs right before the country of Piffle.
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The very air seemed to bubble before five figures fell from it. A tall, muscular man in black landed first, followed by a slender man in white, then a teenage boy in browns, followed by a teenage girl whose arse bounced on each of the guys' heads, and then the small white creature did the same-- though his fall seemed to have been intentional.
"You did that on purpose!" snarled the dark dressed man, Kurogane.
"I certainly have no complaints," the one in white, Fye, added, earning a glare from the other man.
Syaoran and Princess Sakura said nothing as Fye, Kurogane and the small white creature, Mokona, got into a small fight. They were too busy blushing.
"So, um, where are we?" Syaoran asked, looking at the strange houses and roads. There were some similarities to the first world they had went to, but the buildings weren't nearly as big.
A metallic roar that thundered ever closer filled their ears. Kurogane reached for his sword.
A motorcycle sped toward them and then came to a screeching halt. The pink haired and sparkling emerald-eyed rider wore no helmet as she gazed intently at the boy. "You're not Showron. You know where that mother-fucking jerk is?"
"Ah, no." Syaoran sweated nervously.
"If you see him, tell him Sakura Avalon is out for his ass." With no other words, she sped off on the bike.
"Was that supposed to be me?" Sakura wondered.
"Not a chance in hell," Kurogane spat.
Syaoran could only nod.
They tried to decide where to go as Mokona wasn't sure if one of Sakura's feathers was in this world, let alone where. A teenage boy with wild auburn hair and a scarred face that made him more attractive walked down the road. He stopped and gazed at Princess Sakura.
"The name's Showron. Care for a night to remember?" the scarred boy asked devilishly.
"Over my dead body," Syaoran snarled.
"That can be arranged, fucktard," Showron spat. "But if a night of bodily pleasure isn't your thing, how about something to pick up your spirits?" He held up a bag containing some white powder.
"Um, Avalon was just by looking for you," Sakura told him.
"Shit! That fucking bitch just won't figure out her place." Showron immediately ran off.
"Mokona, let's just leave now. I don't want to see any other fractured images that might be us," Sakura requested weakly. "They kind of look like us, but they certainly don't act like us."
"But there could be a feather...." Mokona trailed off, staring at a tall man in black with long flowing black hair holding a stack of books.
"Fey, you're so mean! Why won't you understand how much I love you?" bemoaned the guy who could've passed for Kurogane's twin sister, if the guy had breasts and a higher voice.
"We leave NOW!" Kurogane shouted.
Mokona nodded, leading the way through a new portal.
In another dimension, a witch laughed heartily. "That'll teach you not to give me white day presents!"
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If the above world they appeared in resembles a specific fanfict, it is purely coincidental as I have never and will never read a story depicting Sakura or Syaoran in a gang as the very concept goes against who they are.
Reiko floated aimlessly through the school, only her upper body being solid. She had already stuffed the airhead's shoe locker and desk with rotten food. Unfortunately, the girl who had murdered her had started to take everything home, to prevent her from doing any more damage.
The ghostly girl debated visiting home, but saw no reason to go beyond bringing back memories of other lonely nights when her phone never rang, be it a girl wanting to have a fun outing or a boy wanting anything besides her body.
Reiko smirked as she remembered the restrictions placed upon her new existence, having been told what she could do by the one who brought her back. She couldn't go just anywhere she wanted, but she could go to places she had visited before. While she had never been to the airhead's home, she had gone to the apartment of the girl's boyfriend. If she was lucky, the murderer would be there.
Reiko found it a bit of a struggle to transpose herself to Li's apartment. Having only been there once, she didn't have much connection to the place at all. Still she managed to appear in the darken living room, standing in front of the couch and looking towards the television. With the only light coming from the lighted walkway outside of the apartment, it was unlikely anyone was awake.
"Hello."
Reiko whirled around to see a young woman gazing at her from behind the kitchen counter. "Who are you?"
"That should be my question." The woman smirked. "I'm Li Fanren, Syaoran's sister."
Reiko scowled. "And you can see me?"
Fanren giggled a little. "Of course I can. The Li clan is one of the oldest mage clans. Meiling, her mother, and one of my brothers-in-law are the only ones in the family who can't see or touch you."
Reiko huffed. "And why aren't you asleep now?"
Fanren moved forward, floating through the counter separating the kitchen from the living room. "Because I'm as dead as you are. Though I became this intentionally. Care to tell me who brought you over?"
"If I told you, you'd tell that airhead. I'm not about to help the girl who killed me," Reiko snarled.
Fanren sighed. "Sakura-chan didn't kill you. True, she had a choice of who died, but someone had to die in that accident. It ended up being you."
Reiko folded her arms. "I wasn't supposed to die, yet because of the airhead, I'm dead. How is that not murder?"
Fanren's eyes hardened on the ghostly girl. "I suppose I could debate this point, but it'd get me no where. However, I will not let you hurt my little brother to get back at his girlfriend."
"Can you stop me?" Reiko threatened, her lower chest solidifying into the gory mess the truck inflicted on her.
Fanren rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed by the ghastly display. "You were a normal girl before. I've always had magic." Flames erupted from her spectral body, her image going from what she had been in life to the charred flesh and bones of her death. "You will leave NOW!"
Reiko immediately fled back to the school.
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Card Captors Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 12: The Taking of Sakura
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
By: Lord Archive
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.
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While Sakura had no plans of leaving her shoes in her locker, she still checked it to see what Reiko's ghost had done to it over night. She smelled cleaner from it, but found it to be empty. She could only guess a teacher found the prank and took care of it.
Sakura yanked her hand back as the door to her shoe locker closed suddenly. She then looked tiredly at the phantom girl scowling at her. "Can't you give me at least a little break?"
"You should be rotting in jail for murder," Reiko sneered.
Sakura pouted at the dead girl. "I suppose saying that I'm sorry and that I had every intention of being the one to die that morning if it meant saving someone's life wouldn't be enough?"
"And why would I believe a lying witch?" Reiko retorted.
"Because it's the truth," Syaoran said firmly as he moved to stand next to his girlfriend.
"As if," Reiko spat. She dashed around Sakura and shoved the girl by the head into the lockers.
Sakura rubbed her now bruised forehead. "Why does everyone go for my face?"
"Kinomoto Sakura, come with me," announced the school disciplinarian. He then glared at the boy. "You too, Li Syaoran."
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Teikei gazed intently at the girl sitting nervously in his office. He had been keeping an eye on her since the Chinese boy arrived at the school. She had picked up a long list of injuries since Ichimai's death. The most notable ones weren't when Li was around, however he wasn't sure if the boy was completely innocent. Especially as Li was the only one near Kinomoto when her head was slammed into the shoe lockers.
"Now, Kinomoto, can you tell who is hurting you?" Teikei tenderly asked. "You can tell me and I'll see the person or persons are made to stop."
Sakura's hands twitched together as the girl tried to come up with something to say. "It's well... I... ah... I don't really know!" she lamely lied.
"You don't know who is shoving you into lockers or down stairs?" Teikei returned disbelievingly.
Sakura seemed to shrivel up in her seat. The disciplinarian tried to coax any information from her, but she wouldn't answer.
"If you need any help, I'll be here for you. When you're ready to tell someone who is hurting you, I'll be ready." Teikei sighed. "You can go, Kinomoto. Send in Li."
Sakura nodded and quickly dashed out of the room.
Syaoran entered a moment later with a scowl etched on his face.
"Perhaps you can explain to me how Kinomoto bruised her forehead?" Teikei asked fiercely.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth," Syaoran answered evenly.
"Try me," Teikei demanded.
"I won't bother," Syaoran returned.
"Do you want detention?" Teikei snapped.
Syaoran folded his arms defiantly. "I suspect you'll give it to me regardless of the fact that I would sooner die than hurt Sakura. I know what it looked like to you."
"It looked like you were the one to shove her into the lockers," Teikei snarled. "You were the only one near her."
"I didn't do it," Syaoran stated firmly.
Teikei's retort was prevented by a light tapping on his door. He growled as he moved to see who it was. He gazed hard at the dark haired girl holding up a video camera.
"I have proof that Li-kun is innocent," Tomoyo informed, attempting to sound sweet but it fell flat.
"Oh, really?" Teikei wondered skeptically.
Tomoyo entered the room and shut the door behind her. She once again presented her camera with the view screen extended and pressed play.
Teikei saw an image of Kinomoto talking to herself with a strange glare on the view screen. He couldn't hear what she said with the noise of other students crowding the sound. Shortly after Li appeared on the image, the glare somehow moved past Kinomoto and her head suddenly collided with the lockers, yet no one touched her. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Guilt, I'm afraid." Tomoyo sighed theatrically. "You see, Sakura-chan was in a position to save Reiko-chan, but didn't. Now she blames herself for the girl's death. She's been hurting herself because no one has punished her. We've been trying to help her, but over coming her feelings of guilt isn't easy."
Teikei wondered if the girl should take up acting or was naturally off-key. What she said would make sense for the injuries involved. He frowned at her. "And what about the rotting meat in her locker?"
"That may be pranks done to her by those who do blame Sakura-chan for Reiko-chan's death. Reiko-chan was 'popular' with the sports team, and individuals might be doing petty things against Sakura-chan," Tomoyo added logically.
The smirk on Li's face was not lost on Teikei. If he had to place a bet on who was really responsible, it would be Daidouji and Li both hurting the girl for whatever reason. Possibly as an effort to push Kinomoto away so that they could develop a relationship or some other such nonsense. However, the time needed to edit a video should take longer. But if there was one person in the school who could change images on a video in less than fifteen minutes, it was Daidouji.
"Well, you two are free to go, however I don't like what I'm seeing at this school. If I find either of you responsible for causing damages or hurting others, you'll find yourselves in different schools," Teikei threatened.
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"It sucks that we can't let everyone know that magic is real," Naoko commented in a low tone for only her friends to hear, glancing at the school disciplinarian as they all walked toward the school buses.
"Tell me about it," Meiling groused. "We have to be very careful that Ichimai's pranks don't get us kicked out of this school."
"Can we not talk about that, please?" Sakura pleaded. "We're going to an aviary. A place Reiko-chan has never been too. A place I'll be able to relax." She then shifted uneasily as she saw Satome glaring at her, his hand entombed in a plaster cast.
Syaoran returned that boy's gaze with equal hostility. "Unfortunately you won't be able to completely relax."
"At least he's on a different bus." Rika hugged herself. "I seriously hope he fails to get into senior high."
"That jerk might not even bother going," Naoko spat. "I want him out of our lives for good."
Meiling folded her arms irritably. "Unfortunately the two ways for that to happen at this point is either someone kills him or he gets sent off to jail as an adult. You can imagine what has to happen for the latter situation to occur."
Naoko shivered in dread. "Yeah, he'd have to succeed in raping one of us."
"Can we PLEASE not talk about that either?!" Sakura whined her demand. "This is a field trip. Let's just try to enjoy it."
"I hear that part of today's assignment will be to draw an exotic bird," Takashi chirped in. "It'll be a large part of our grade too."
Sakura let out a frustrated moan.
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The students looked at a large enclosed area that had a few dead trees and rocks resembling barren lands. The only form of life they saw was a small mouse skittering across the ground.
"Aw, it's a cute mouse!" Sakura giggled. She then blinked as a mass of brown feathers swooped pass. She slowly looked up at one of the trees and saw the remains of the rodent in the claws of a hawk. "Ewww."
The tour guide laughed a little as he adjusting his hat. "The aviary occasionally has a little rodent problem, but the birds take care of it for us. In fact, we put healthy mice into these areas for the express purpose of letting our predatory birds hunt them as it is healthier for them to kill their own meals rather than be fed cut meat."
Syaoran gazed at the brown bird with red tail feathers. "That bird is amazing."
Sakura pouted. "It just killed that poor mouse."
"How else is it supposed to eat? It's a bird of prey. It only eats meat," Syaoran retorted.
"Fish are just as alive and you eat them, don't you?" Takashi added mischievously.
"Yeah, but they're not cute," Sakura defended weakly, and then giggled despite herself. "I know it's what he's supposed to do. I just don't like seeing things die."
"Now let's go to our main attraction. Please be mindful of the plastic curtains we'll be passing through. They help to keep the birds inside this exhibit as there are no cages there. You'll be able to feed the birds directly. Though do not try to pet them," the tour guide informed the group.
After passing through the final curtain, the students were faced with an enormous room. They could not see the other side of the room as towering trees and plants filled most of the empty spaces. Numerous birds were chirping excitedly, yet none could be seen in the cover of the foliage. Many of the students loosened their shirts as the humidity of this indoor tropical forest assaulted them.
"You can all spread out and try to find the birds, but stay on the inside of the marked fences. The birds do like to hide, though you can draw them out at the feeding stations," the tour guide advised.
"Remember you need to sketch one of the birds you see here," Teikei told the students.
Sakura groaned. Her drawings were never good enough. Even worse for her was groups were to consist of no more than four people, separating with Tomoyo, Meiling and Naoko she couldn't stay with Syaoran. Though she knew he would be nearby with Yamazaki, Chiharu and Rika.
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"Can you hold that pose?" Naoko asked.
Sakura pouted. "How can I draw if I can't move?"
"You'd have a hard time drawing them anyway," Meiling pointed out.
Sakura glanced at the parrot on her left shoulder and then the cockatoo on her right shoulder. "You'll let me draw you later, won't you?"
Both birds bounced their heads in a nod.
"It's a shame we can't see the bird of paradise," Tomoyo commented, taking a still image of Sakura and the birds.
The tour guide walked up to them. "We haven't seen Rakudo since the female bird of paradise we had died."
"His mate died? That's so sad!" Sakura whined, and the birds on her shoulders nodded in agreement.
"Birds of paradise aren't known to keep with only one mate, though I suspect he's upset that there aren't any other birds of his kind here anymore." The tour guide gazed at the girl with the two birds. "You certainly have a way with animals. If you manage to see him, please feed him some fruit. He hasn't eaten anything in days."
After the tour guide walked away, Sakura asked the birds, "Do you know where Rakudo-san is?"
The birds flew from her shoulders and hovered above her.
Sakura glanced around as she took a handful of chopped melon from the feeding station. "I'll be back. Cover me. Jump!"
Tomoyo's camera tracked Sakura as the girl leapt into the forested canopy.
Sakura frowned as she spotted the sad, yet extremely colorful red bird. Carefully she approached him. "Hello, Rakudo-san. I'm sorry to hear about your mate."
The bird of paradise gazed at the girl with a confused look.
"I know it's sad to lose someone important to you. But you can't hide away by yourself. You're not alone and others still care for you." Sakura placed her hand against her chest. "I know about hiding away from others because of pain. I was doing that myself. My friends helped me know I wasn't alone. Parrot-san and cockatoo-san cared enough to show me where you were." She held out her hand. "Please, eat and know you're not alone."
Rakudo cautiously moved toward the girl and tentatively pecked at the food in her hand.
Sakura smiled as the bird hungrily ate all the pieces of melon she had. "I don't expect you to come with me, but do try to not hide any more. Illusion!" Her image became that of a cockatoo as she returned to her friends. Seeing no one around, she let her cards return. "I got to feed Rakudo-san!"
Tomoyo's camera wasn't on the girl, but above her. "I would say so. You've got another friend! He's beautiful!"
Sakura looked up. "You did come out!"
Dozens of birds suddenly flocked around Sakura and the bird of paradise, which in turn brought the other students from Sakura's class who looked in awe at the giant colorful bird that seemed to be out of a fantasy story, yet was in fact a real bird. The attention caused Rakudo to be upset, making him fly away.
-----------------------
The parrot and cockatoo stood on the railing that helped mark the path the students were supposed to stay on. They kept moving, trying to look more majestic than the other bird.
"You two are as bad as Kero-chan," Sakura muttered. "Can you please stay still so I can draw you?"
The birds did calm down for a minute, but only one minute, before returning to their posturing.
"They seem to be good friends," Tomoyo commented with a few giggles.
Naoko looked from what she was sketching. "At least Sakura-chan is a great help in getting us subjects to draw."
Suddenly both birds took off, flying away from the nearby outer wall.
"Get back!" Sakura warned before the wall exploded. She covered her face from flying debris and looked up in horror as a monstrously huge raven loomed before her. She reached for her cards, but the bird swooped in and picked her up. She screamed as magic assaulted her, knocking her unconscious.
Naoko could only stare with the others as the bird turned around and flew out of the gapping hole it had made in the wall.
Syaoran ran straight for them, yanking papers from his pocket upon seeing what was going on. "God of thunder, descend!" he cried out, sending a lightning blast at the bird, but missed his target and succeeded in only making the hole larger. He fired more spells at the giant raven, but the distance soon became too much.
Naoko shakily stood up and watched in worry as the bird flew away with her friend.
Meiling took off running through the hole despite her slower speed.
Tomoyo bit her lip as her camera focused on the bird.
"Shit!" Syaoran cursed. His body shook in impotent rage. "SAKURA!!!" Glowing markings appeared around him, but they did not form a circle like Sakura's magic would display, rather they took the shape of two squares offset from each other.
Naoko might not have any ability with magic, but even she could feel the energy building around boy. Wind began to circle around him, gathering in speed. She had no idea what was going on. She started to hear loud screeching from the birds.
From the upper canopy the bird of paradise took flight, followed by the hundreds of birds in the tropical enclosure. Rakudo led the birds into the vortex around Syaoran. The winds were becoming already fierce and then exploded in intensity when the large colorful bird slammed into the boy. But instead of knocking him over, it literally went into him, its wings merging into his back. Hundreds of birds followed suit, each one disappeared upon hitting Syaoran, somehow making the wings on the boy's back grow in size.
With the last bird gone, Syaoran took flight with his rainbow wings, pushing himself to fly as fast as he could. His speed was faster than the monstrous raven, catching up to the bird holding his beloved captive. He could feel his strength waning, taken up to give him a means to fly. He had to free Sakura, even if it meant dying in his attempt. He knew he would only have one shot as he would likely fall unconscious from the effort. He dug deep into his pocket that held Fanren's comb and pulled out every lightning spell papers he had. With more a guttural scream than incantation, he stabbed the papers with his sword, launching a giant lightning blast at the bird.
Syaoran smiled as the lightning stuck the bird's back. The monster squawked in pain and reflexively let go of Sakura. The bird lost its immense size as it plummeted to the ground with the girl falling next to it. He tried to focus on his beloved, but exhaustion pulled him into darkness and the feathers melted away from his back.
Sakura groaned awake as she felt the all-to-familiar sensation of free fall. She quickly cast Fly upon herself and looked around to see what was going on. She saw Syaoran falling and immediately grabbed him, before trying to slow down her descent. The speed of their fall was too much and they were too close to the ground. They slammed into the ground, but thankfully not dangerously hard.
Sakura panted, unsure what to make of what was going on. She glanced at her boyfriend and her heart froze in panic. His hair was white and his face wrinkled. It was as if she was seeing what Syaoran would look like at one hundred-years-old. Remembering the sensations she felt after the fight with the dragon golem, Sakura willed her energy into her boyfriend. As she slipped into unconsciousness, she noticed two cards with dark green backs in his hand.
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Sakura groaned awake, finding herself in bed with Syaoran. "This is really getting to be a bad habit." She then giggled tiredly. "Well, maybe not 'bad.'"
"You're awake."
Sakura sat up and stared at the woman in the room. "Li-san...."
Syaoran's mother, Yelan, approached the bed. "I see you both are past the worst of it."
Sakura began to panic as she suddenly realized she was in a hospital room, with tubes and wires attached to her arm. "What happened?"
"You were attacked by a giant bird and rendered unconscious. Syaoran, desperate in trying to save you, did something obscenely reckless and nearly killed himself. If not for your magic potential and quick thinking to feed him your energy, he would've died," Yelan informed, sounding sadder than the girl had ever heard the woman speak.
Sakura clutched her boyfriend's hands tightly. Looking at his face, the patch of gray hair reminder her of what he looked like after he defeated the bird. "Don't you dare ever do that again!" she chastised the still sleeping boy.
Yelan cleared her voice. "To cover up this event, there's been some... truth bending. As far as everyone is concerned, an ultra-light plane crashed into the aviary and hurt you and Syaoran from the debris. The pilot was dead at the scene, though there actually was no plane nor pilot. The gapping hole it made let most of the birds in the aviary escape, and only a couple of them have been found."
Sakura blinked. "The birds? What happened to the birds?"
Yelan frowned. "Look at what's in his other hand."
Sakura reached over the boy and saw the two dark green cards he had before she became unconscious. The backs of them showed an image of two offset squares filled with symbols that reminded her of the lazen board he had so often used in locating the Clow Cards. The face of the first card was 'The Lightning' with a rather simple picture of a lightning bolt depicted on it. From her own cards could see that this was extremely similar to the Clow Cards, but attuned entirely to Syaoran, as her cards were now attuned to her. That card seemed to be strongly offensive, yet she couldn't sense it having the guiding intelligence 'The Thunder' did. She then looked at the other card.
"The Birds..." Sakura moaned out in anguish. Her fingers shook as she touched the image of the bird of paradise beautifully centered on the card. She could see the two small friends she had made at the aviary sitting together on the right side, while dozens of other birds were scattered about the picture. "He... he KILLED the ENTIRE aviary for this?!" Tears pooled in her eyes. "Rakudo-san... Parrot-san... Cockatoo-san... All those birds... for this...."
"For you," Yelan snapped.
Sakura flinched. "I would never want this."
"Syaoran needed a means to save you, and the birds responded to his plea. They choose to do this for you. To save your life," Yelan pointed out firmly. "If not for their sacrifice, you would not be here. You would be dead."
Sakura yanked the tubes and wires from her arm before jumping out of the bed.
Yelan moved to push her back. "Sakura, you need to rest."
"I need to be alone!" Sakura shouted, despite her unsteady stance. "I've had too much going on as it is. Some mage is out to kill me, fought an assassin, nearly raped, Fanren-chan met her fate and is now a ghost, Mihara-san died from cancer, and not only did I choose to let Reiko-chan die, she's now a poltergeist out to get me." She clenched her fists. "Now Syaoran-kun murdered hundreds of birds to save me. It's too much!"
Yelan sighed as the girl stomped away. "And the worse is yet to come."
Sakura froze at the door and gave the woman a pain-filled glance. "Why is this happening to me? To us?"
"Power attracts power." Yelan looked away. "And the misuse of power corrupts."
Sakura clenched the door tightly as she opened it and exited the room, slamming it behind her. She then blinked in surprise. This wasn't a hospital she was in. She recognized the hallway as being from Tomoyo's house. She made her way to the back gazebo and sat heavily at the patio table.
A moment later, Sakura was surprised as a maid arrived holding a tray of food.
"We weren't sure what you wanted, so we prepared a few different things that would be easy to eat."
"Thank you." Sakura glanced at the cereal, chopped fruit, toast, milk, orange juice and tea. While she was starving, this was too much for her alone. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Of course," the maid replied.
"How long have I been here?" Sakura wondered.
"Seven days," the maid answered.
Sakura stared at her. "A whole week?!"
The maid nodded. "Yes. I'm afraid Tomoyo-hime will be quite upset to learn you woke up while she was at school."
"I see. Thank you." Sakura poked at the cereal with a spoon. "I've got more than enough here. You can go."
"It's no problem. I can remain to help you," the maid insisted.
"I need to be alone, please," Sakura pleaded, and was thankful when the maid nodded and walked away. She then frowned, sensing the maid had only moved out of sight.
Sakura sighed as she slowly began to eat. This wasn't fair. Twice now others had died for her. She should've been killed in that stupid accident. Then the aviary wouldn't have been slaughtered by her own boyfriend. How could he do that to them? How?
Collapsing onto the table, Sakura began to sob uncontrollably. How many more would get hurt because of her? How many would die because some mage was out to kill her? Why was that person out to get her? What had she ever down to that mage?
Sakura felt something tap her head. She looked up to see the parrot and the cockatoo from the aviary standing on the table. "Wha... what?!"
"Don't be sad," the parrot told her.
"But you're dead!" Sakura protested. "You're not free! You're bound to Syaoran-kun now!"
"Were we ever free?" the cockatoo retorted. "We were stuck in an aviary waiting for hand outs for food. And trust us, you were a LOT kinder than most of the kids we've seen."
"Rakudo's girlfriend died because of what another group of kids did," the parrot added. "They didn't MEAN to hurt her, but they ignored the tour guide's warnings about petting and remaining on the path."
Sakura pouted, silently casting Libra to make sure this was not just a show being put on for her, but the honest truth. "But you'll never be able to fly around like you did before."
"It'll be better than before. We now have a purpose!" the cockatoo announced happily. "We can even talk to you."
"Sure we could've learned how to speak in the aviary. But that would've been repeating phrases. I'd hardly call 'cute bird,' 'come on eat,' and 'stupid bird shit on me' as speaking," the parrot added jokingly.
Despite herself, Sakura giggled a little. "I still think what happened is too sad."
"So we're not going to be paraded before snot-nose kids anymore. Big deal. The aviary will replace us with other birds. Not even Rakudo was irreplaceable. It's why we were in that enclosure with no cages. If some stupid kid killed one of us, it wouldn't be a major tragedy," the parrot explained in distaste.
"Yeah, but Syaoran-kun still murdered all of you," Sakura protested.
"For the last time, he didn't kill us. He gave us a new purpose and meaning beyond to be seen by people. You'll be able to see us whenever you want now. Which makes me a lot happier!" the cockatoo chirped.
"And me even happier than him!" the parrot added.
"I'm the happiest!" the cockatoo shot.
"No, I am!" the parrot returned.
As the argument continued, the birds faded away and returned to being a card. Sakura followed the path of the card and saw Syaoran catch it as he leaned heavily against his mother.
"I'm sorry," Syaoran told her as he weakly approached her with his mother's help.
Sakura pouted at him. "I'm not sure I can forgive you."
Syaoran looked like he had just been stabbed.
Sakura walked up to him and poked his chest. "Don't you dare kill yourself trying to save me! Without you, there would be no reason for me to live! Syaoran-kun, I love you. I can't live without you!" She pulled him into a fierce hug.
Syaoran returned her embrace. "I'm sorry. I feel the same way. It's why I did... what I did. You mean everything to me."
"Try not to kill anything next time," Sakura pleaded.
"I'll try," Syaoran pledged, yet accenting 'try.'
Sakura frowned, Libra telling her that wasn't the full truth about not killing anything. She pulled the card back, not wanting to have any more reason not to trust her boyfriend. "Now come on, let's eat. You've got to be as hungry as I was," Sakura pulled him towards the patio table.
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Coming soon:
Chapter 13 - Nadeshiko's Past, Sakura's Present
Chiharu finds a picture at her house and learns that the unspoken past is being repeated in the present.
Sorry, not Avatar crossover this time, but Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, which is owned by CLAMP. This occurs right before the country of Piffle.
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The very air seemed to bubble before five figures fell from it. A tall, muscular man in black landed first, followed by a slender man in white, then a teenage boy in browns, followed by a teenage girl whose arse bounced on each of the guys' heads, and then the small white creature did the same-- though his fall seemed to have been intentional.
"You did that on purpose!" snarled the dark dressed man, Kurogane.
"I certainly have no complaints," the one in white, Fye, added, earning a glare from the other man.
Syaoran and Princess Sakura said nothing as Fye, Kurogane and the small white creature, Mokona, got into a small fight. They were too busy blushing.
"So, um, where are we?" Syaoran asked, looking at the strange houses and roads. There were some similarities to the first world they had went to, but the buildings weren't nearly as big.
A metallic roar that thundered ever closer filled their ears. Kurogane reached for his sword.
A motorcycle sped toward them and then came to a screeching halt. The pink haired and sparkling emerald-eyed rider wore no helmet as she gazed intently at the boy. "You're not Showron. You know where that mother-fucking jerk is?"
"Ah, no." Syaoran sweated nervously.
"If you see him, tell him Sakura Avalon is out for his ass." With no other words, she sped off on the bike.
"Was that supposed to be me?" Sakura wondered.
"Not a chance in hell," Kurogane spat.
Syaoran could only nod.
They tried to decide where to go as Mokona wasn't sure if one of Sakura's feathers was in this world, let alone where. A teenage boy with wild auburn hair and a scarred face that made him more attractive walked down the road. He stopped and gazed at Princess Sakura.
"The name's Showron. Care for a night to remember?" the scarred boy asked devilishly.
"Over my dead body," Syaoran snarled.
"That can be arranged, fucktard," Showron spat. "But if a night of bodily pleasure isn't your thing, how about something to pick up your spirits?" He held up a bag containing some white powder.
"Um, Avalon was just by looking for you," Sakura told him.
"Shit! That fucking bitch just won't figure out her place." Showron immediately ran off.
"Mokona, let's just leave now. I don't want to see any other fractured images that might be us," Sakura requested weakly. "They kind of look like us, but they certainly don't act like us."
"But there could be a feather...." Mokona trailed off, staring at a tall man in black with long flowing black hair holding a stack of books.
"Fey, you're so mean! Why won't you understand how much I love you?" bemoaned the guy who could've passed for Kurogane's twin sister, if the guy had breasts and a higher voice.
"We leave NOW!" Kurogane shouted.
Mokona nodded, leading the way through a new portal.
In another dimension, a witch laughed heartily. "That'll teach you not to give me white day presents!"
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If the above world they appeared in resembles a specific fanfict, it is purely coincidental as I have never and will never read a story depicting Sakura or Syaoran in a gang as the very concept goes against who they are.