Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Dragon ❯ Sakura's Doppelganger ( Chapter 16 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lord Archive 
Sakura faces herself in a battle with everything at stake.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.19.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.3K | Visits: 477 | Status: Completed
Sakura faces herself in a battle with everything at stake.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.19.2008 | Pages: 7 | Words: 6.3K | Visits: 477 | Status: Completed
Reiko would've tapped her foot impatiently if she had a foot to do it with. She had been told to be here, but the one who wanted her there was late. If she didn't owe a favor for being brought over to get revenge on Sakura, she would've left already.
Reiko glared angrily when her wait finally came to an end. "It took you long enough. I got what you asked for." She pointed at a hairbrush that was sitting on the ground near her.
With much disdain, the hairbrush was picked up. A long black hair was pulled from it and immediately discarded. Then a short brown hair was taken from the brush, a hair that was then held out as if it were diseased. Then the chanting began.
Reiko watched as a spell was cast upon the hair, wondering what sort of magic was going to be done. Was the airhead's hair going to be used in some voodoo doll?
The hand holding the now-glowing strand of hair plunged into Reiko. She stared in shock as no magic-user had yet to pass through her ghostly body. The hand was quickly pulled from her, but the hair remained.
Pain. That was all Reiko suddenly felt, absolute pain. She fell to the ground and began to convulse. She couldn't think as her entire being cried out in torture. Blissful nothingness soon descended upon her mind.
The spell continued to work on the dead girl. Flesh forming around the spirit, bringing her back to the land of the living in a faux-life that would not last long. However, the damage that could be done now was far greater.
Dark laughter filled the school as Reiko stopped twitching and she became fully integrated into the very likeness of Kinomoto Sakura.
The laughter ended with uncomfortable reality setting in. Reiko now had Sakura's body, but the girl had no clothes. That would need to be fixed....
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Card Captors Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 16: Sakura's Doppelganger
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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Sakura tried not to make too much noise. Her head was throbbing dangerously. She had always hating reading, but now it seemed she couldn't do it for more than a few minutes without getting a royal headache. She was exaggerating the situation to herself, she was certain. She had been reading for the past few hours and the stress of her situations wasn't helping. Not to mention trying to get a card reading left her more confused.
Not paying any attention to who was talking in the living room, Sakura went straight to the bathroom to grab some aspirins. She rubbed her forehead, willing to the pain-relievers to work faster. She then left the bathroom, and the voices became more evident to her.
Sakura peeked into the room and saw her father talking rather animatedly about some archaeological dig or something, while her boyfriend was sitting there listening intently.
"Syaoran-kun, when did you get here?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"Huh?" Syaoran glanced at the clock. "Erm... about an hour ago. I was going to ask if you wanted to grab something to eat...?"
Sakura held her forehead. "Wish you asked me that an hour ago. My head is killing me."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to monopolize your boyfriend's time," Fujitaka apologized.
Syaoran got up and guided Sakura to sit down. He began to massage her forehead as he had before the last time they had made out. She squirmed a little, not because of the way he was touching her, but out of memory of how they had gone beyond kissing. She was sure he was remembering it as well.
Fujitaka coughed. "I'll be going downstairs to work on something. I'll reheat some leftovers when I get hungry. You two have fun."
Sakura and Syaoran began to blush, wondering if her father knew what was running through their minds. Still, the boy leaned forward and kissed her forehead, the same as he did that day. He did not move to her lips this time.
"Feeling better?" Syaoran asked her gently.
Sakura nodded, though her head was still throbbing slightly. "Why don't we just pick something up and eat at your place? I don't want to deal with too much noise right now."
"Let's go," Syaoran agreed. Leaving her home with her hand in his.
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Emerald eyes gazed into a mirror at the naked image reflected. The equally naked and far more satisfied boy slumbering in the bed behind her had jumped at the chance to sleep with her. All it took was a little story of Syaoran having an affair with Meiling and she wanted revenge to get over any reservation he had. Now there was a boy who knew what it was like to plunder Kinomoto Sakura's body.
Getting dressed quickly, she left the love motel room. There was no need to dwell on her former classmate. If he overslept and got charged more for the room, that would be his fault. She cared nothing for him other than to further ruin the airhead's reputation.
It couldn't be more perfect. In this body, Reiko could do more than just hurt her murderer. She could destroy her.
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"You did a card reading?" Syaoran asked as he set about disposing of what little remained of their dinner.
"I tried to do one," Sakura replied. "The cards couldn't agree on what to do. I asked the same question and got two different answers. One listed Mirror as part of the answer and the other as part of the problem."
"That doesn't make sense," Syaoran grumbled.
"You're telling me?" Sakura shot back. "How can Mirror be an answer?"
"Maybe because Mirror was once like me."
Sakura screamed in terror. She then held her hand over her wildly beating chest. "Don't do that to me, Fanren-chan!" She then groaned. "Damn, my headache is back."
The ghost of Syaoran's sister giggled a little. "Sorry, but how else am I supposed to appear?"
Sakura let out a long breath. "At least I'm no longer scared at your mere presence."
"Odd that we can thank Ichimai for that little cure," Fanren commented. "Still, Syaoran, you remember what Clow Reed's books said about Mirror, right?"
"I don't know what..." Syaoran's eyes widened. "The ghost card!"
"Right." Fanren nodded.
Sakura blinked in confusion. "What do you mean by 'The Ghost' card? There isn't one."
"Clow Reed didn't refer to all his cards by their names in his writing. Besides, if I knew that there was a Mirror card, you wouldn't have been the one to capture it. However, in one of Clow Reed's accounts on making cards, he referred to coming across an angry ghost who he could not save. Instead he sealed the ghost into a card. There aren't many cards the ghost could be, and The Mirror would make the most sense," Syaoran explained.
"So the cards can't agree if I should make her a card or find another means." Sakura pouted. "Though it does seem odd that the reading with The Mirror as the problem relates to The Hope, The Flower and The Libra as the solution. How can those relate to saving her?"
Syaoran walked up behind the couch and began to massage Sakura's shoulders. "If anyone can find a way, you can."
"Wish I felt so confident." Sakura sagged. "I need a nap."
"Of course." Syaoran quickly moved to pick her up, much to her surprise. He then carried her to his room and gently set her on his bed. He climbed next to her, holding her tightly against him. Sleep fell upon her quickly, and Syaoran silently vowed to do everything he could to help her.
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"Why didn't you tell me we were having an affair?" Meiling asked her cousin as she arrived at the spot their friends were eating lunch at.
"What?" Syaoran looked at her, utterly confused.
"That's the rumor, we're lovers now and Kinomoto has been bedding boys to get revenge," Meiling told him, her tone showing she didn't believe any of it.
"That's not! I wouldn't..." Sakura protested.
"It surprised the hell out of me to find you getting felt up," Meiling countered. "There's no way it can be true."
Tomoyo and the other girls nodded in agreement.
"Those two boys from our class have some nerve claiming it, though," Meiling groused.
Sakura pursed her lips. Something didn't feel right about this. Why would they lie about her? It didn't make sense. She let her presence wash over the school and found that Reiko wasn't at the school at all. That didn't feel right either. Her magical senses began to tingle and the image of a card appeared in mind, causing her eyes to widen in surprised realization. "Mirror?!"
"What was that?" Syaoran asked her.
"The problem relating to The Mirror. I think somehow Reiko-chan has become me!" Sakura cried out in distress.
"How would that be possible?" Tomoyo wondered.
"If a hair or blood of a person is put into a ghost, it is possibly to give them temporarily life. The fake life is unstable and shortens the time the spirit can remain in this world," Takashi related, and then smirked at the stunned looks cast at him. "It was in one of Hiiragizawa's 'stories.'"
"My brush!" Tomoyo cried out. "Ichimai must have taken it after I brushed your hair."
"What an interesting turn of events!" Naoko cheered.
Rika pouted. "But doesn't that mean that those boys really did have sex with Sakura-chan?"
Sakura paled while Syaoran clenched his fists tightly.
"Perhaps we should considering obliterating her soul," Meiling half-joked.
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"Renji-kun..." Reiko cooed, smirking slightly. It was time for someone else to experience 'Sakura's love.'
The baseball player raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you want?"
"I suppose you've heard about me and my boyfriend," Reiko mentioned, toying with her borrowed short brown hair.
Renji nodded slowly. "For cheating on each other, he seemed awfully protective of you today."
"The jerk still thinks I'm his property, even though he's bedding his whore of a cousin!" Reiko retorted with false anger. "He wasn't 'protecting' me, he was holding me as a prisoner. I'm free now, and I intend to stay that way."
"Right..." Renji frowned at her. "And why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you go see Hitoshi-kun or Hiiro-kun?"
Reiko shook her head. "I want a boyfriend who can please me. Those two weren't any better than the jerk I used to go out with. And about as endowed, as in not at all."
Renji folded his arms. "And you are here because...?"
Reiko slithered closer to him, her hand caressing his chest. "I was wondering if you would be interested in applying to be my new boyfriend. Of course you'd need to pass my 'interview.'"
The boy didn't immediately reply, which confused Reiko. All she had to say to him before was 'it's your turn again' and his pants were practically off. She smirked when he nodded and quickly guided him to a private place in the school where she was sure no one would interrupt them, particularly as it would not be the fist time she had sex with Renji there.
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"Headache again?" Syaoran asked as he sat on Sakura's bed, looking up from his homework.
"Yeah." Sakura rubbed her forehead. "I wonder if it has anything to do with Reiko-chan. Maybe she's... you know... with some guy."
Syaoran scowled darkly. "I can't believe what's going on with her."
Sakura sighed. "Once we get..."
Sakura's computer chirped, announcing she had a new email.
"...Eriol-kun's e-mail," Sakura finished before checking to see if it was indeed from her friend in England. She frowned at what she read, the stress in her forehead was not helping her. "This isn't good. Eriol-kun says a ghost has at most a week after taking on human form before the body fades away. When that happens, the ghost is sent directly to the afterlife."
"Ichimai can still do a lot of damage in the mean time," Syaoran growled.
"We have to save her! If she dies as she is now, she's going to hell." Sakura stood up and began to wobble.
Syaoran shook his head. "First we take care of your pain, THEN we'll try to track down Ichimai."
Sakura slumped back into her seat. "Fine."
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Reiko quietly got dressed, an evil smirk playing across her face. Renji had been oddly tentative at first, but he had outdone himself. If she was really 'interviewing' for a boyfriend, he had just passed her test with flying colors.
The fake Sakura prepared to put her socks on, but stopped when his hand grabbed hers.
"Reiko... Please don't leave me again," Renji told her desperately.
Reiko's now-emerald eyes widened in shock. "I'm not..."
"Kinomoto doesn't play with her hair and she doesn't insult people. She doesn't speak so crudely either," Renji retorted. "And how would Kinomoto know this room is 'private' or move like you do during sex." He looked away. "I've been with Michiko-chan... and I hated it. She didn't move or talk like you. She wasn't you, Reiko."
The dead girl yanked her borrowed flesh out of his hand, grabbed her shoes and ran off.
Renji reached out for her, but she was gone.
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Sakura landed lightly on top of her school, her white wings shimmering in the moonlight. Her gaze wasn't looking for signs of the ghost who borrowed her appearance but on Syaoran. With a few heavy steps, he landed a few meters from her with rainbow colored wings that folded irritably. This was the first time she got to see him use The Birds on himself, and the affect made him look even more handsome.
"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Syaoran grumbled, scanning the school grounds with more than just his eyes.
"If only we had something Reiko-chan owns," Sakura mentioned.
"Wouldn't work," Syaoran replied. "Right now she's both Ichimai and you. It wouldn't work any more than using something of my mother's in an attempt to find one of my sisters."
Sakura tilted her head. "Are you saying Reiko-chan is functionally my daughter?"
Syaoran shook his head. "Only in a magical sense. We'd need something of hers that she owns now to track her."
"Considering she only owns clothes now, it's not likely we'll find that," Sakura bemoaned.
Syaoran nodded. "At least possessing a body means she needs sleep."
"Not very helpful considering she could be sleeping anywhere with anyone," Sakura muttered.
"Right," Syaoran growled. "Let's check the homes of our classmates. She might be with one of them."
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Syaoran was beginning to really hate that schools made it mandatory that every student had to participate in one club. He wanted to be near Sakura to keep her safe. More than a few boys fully believed she was now 'sexually free' and were trying to get her alone. So far she had been able to avoid the boys unwanted advances by being near him or her friends at all times, but that could only last so long. Unfortunately, the football team had a match this weekend and the cheerleaders were expected to perform at the game. Both of them were needed at their respective clubs.
"Li-kun, I need to talk to you," Renji called out, marching right up to him.
"What do you want?" Syaoran growled.
"I don't know how to say this..." Renji looked away. "The rumors about you girlfriend are both true and false."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"I wasn't sure about all the talk about Reiko being a ghost, but now I know it's true. She's possessing your girlfriend. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I was with her yesterday and that was Reiko in Kinomoto's body!" Renji insisted.
Syaoran didn't immediately reply. This was an opportunity he could use. "That... that could explain her headaches. If it's Ichimai's ghost possessing her or her guilt manifesting another personality..."
"I doubt it's the latter. Ichimai has some... peculiar habits. And I doubt Kinomoto would know about the sexual ones," Renji corrected.
Syaoran gritted his teeth. "Right..."
"I'll try to get the other guys to understand," Renji promised. He then fished something out of his pocket. "You might want to return these to Kinomoto. She left them behind."
Syaoran's eyes widened at the pair of socks and immediately grabbed them. "I'll be able to track her now!"
"What was that?" Renji asked.
"Uh, nothing," Syaoran blurted nervously. "Thanks, you've been a great help."
Renji frowned. "If there's anything I can do for Reiko, let me know. There's still something I have to tell her."
"Um, right. We'll see," Syaoran half-promised, doubting the boy could be of real help and not wanting to risk exposing him to magic.
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Reiko whistled as she walked down the road. She wondered where she could find another classmate to add another notch in the airhead's bedpost. It didn't help her when Renji decided to practically camp out at the school. She still didn't understand how he had been able to recognize her or what difference to him who he had just fucked. He was a guy. Weren't all girls the same to him?
A stinging sensation struck her arm. She looked and saw a strange beam of light that was continuously striking her. "What is that?"
Reiko tried to move away from the light, yet no matter where she moved or to, the beam followed her everywhere. Even when she tried to put something between herself and the source of the light, it would just go right through her makeshift shield and still hit her.
"There she is!"
Reiko turned and saw Meiling pointing at her with Syaoran, holding a strange glowing board with a familiar sock on top of it, following behind her. She tried to run from them, but the Chinese girl was on her in an instant. A flying kick to her chest sent her flying back into a wall, sending new feelings of pain all through her new body. Reiko tried to get back to her feet, struggling against the pain that was becoming all too common since discovering Sakura was a magical girl. Meiling didn't let her get to her feet, with a sharp kick to her back slamming her into the sidewalk. Her attempt to crawl away met with failure as Meiling grabbed her right arm and vicious wrenched it behind her back, pinning her in place.
"OW! Meiling-chan, stop! I'm Sakura!" Reiko hissed out in pain, hoping to confuse the girl.
"Not going to buy that one. At least not with you wearing a school uniform right now," Meiling retorted, twisting the captive arm more.
"Meiling-chan, don't hurt her!" Sakura cried out, running up to them wearing a pink jumpsuit with flowery stripes down the sides and with a simple image of a ghost on her shoulders with a red line across it.
Tomoyo said nothing as she stood behind her best friend and filmed everything.
"This isn't hurting her," Meiling shot back. "I could break her legs so she can't run off."
"MEILING-CHAN?!" Sakura screeched.
"Just kidding," Meiling replied.
Reiko wasn't entirely sure the Chinese girl had been kidding. "So, is the airhead upset that I let boys have fun with 'her?'"
Sakura pouted as she walked up to her physical copy. "I don't like it, but I'm not upset. What I did to you was unforgivable. You have every right to hate me."
"You bet I do! You killed me!" Reiko shouted.
"I know." Sakura sighed. "Reiko-chan, I know it's hard, but you have to let go of your anger. If you don't... when that body disappears in a few days... you'll go to hell."
"WHAT?!" Reiko cried out.
"The path to hell is lined by anger and hate. If you can't let go of your negative feelings, you'll be dragged down into damnation," Syaoran told her sternly.
Reiko didn't move for a moment, and then she exploded. Either her borrowed body had more strength than she thought or Meiling had been too confident, as she threw off the Chinese girl and lunged for Sakura. Her hands tightened around the girl's neck. "If I'm going to hell, you're coming with me!"
Sakura didn't even wheeze for breath once before Syaoran unleashed a blindingly fast attack on Reiko. The undead girl tumbled away, grabbing her now bruised shoulder.
Reiko shakily got to one knee. "If I only have a few days left, I'll make sure to destroy everything!" Using her borrowed athletic body and the skill she had in cheerleading in life, the undead girl tumbled past Meiling and picked up the fallen sock that had dropped off Syaoran's board. She then sprinted off.
Syaoran moved to hold Sakura, checking her neck for injuries. "Are you okay?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. She just surprised me."
Syaoran then looked at his cousin. "Why aren't you running after her?"
"Why? She can't run from us. We still have her other sock," Meiling pointed out.
"I won't be able to attune the board to that sock until tomorrow. She's going to have another day to hurt Sakura now," Syaoran spat.
"Oops. Sorry," Meiling apologized sheepishly.
Tomoyo shook her head. "I suppose now that she knows her time is limited, she'll try to attack me as well."
"You did nothing to her!" Sakura protested.
"I failed to deal with my mother's death, which led to your decision to let Ichimai die." Tomoyo looked away. "In a sense, I'm more to blame than you are."
"But it's not your fault! I was the one who chose!" Sakura cried out.
"You chose because of me. I have as much right to feel guilty over a death we couldn't prevent," Tomoyo pointed out.
"Arguing whose fault it is won't stop Ichimai," Syaoran grumbled. "Sakura, let's fly around and see if we can spot her. She can't have gone far."
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"Hope, Flower, Libra...," Sakura muttered to herself as she ate lunch with her friends. "What do they mean?"
"Perhaps you should take a break from the ghostly problem and focus on tomorrow's test," Rika advised. "High school placement tests will be coming before we know it."
Sakura shook her head fiercely. "Reiko-chan has at best four days. If she's not saved before then, she's going to hell!"
Naoko's glasses sparkled with delight. "Perhaps we can help with the riddle. Let's see the cards that offer the solution."
Sakura frowned and pulled out the three cards depicting the scales of Libra, a beautiful dancing woman surrounded by flowers and a young girl clutching a winged heart.
"What does The Libra stand for?" Chiharu questioned.
"Truth," Sakura answered. "It allows me to detect lies or make people unable to tell a lie."
Yamazaki shuddered. "The day I couldn't tell stories...."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. That's when I captured it. The card went after you with your tall tales."
"Does The Flower carry any special meaning?" Rika questioned.
"Happiness, mostly," Sakura replied. "We've never had The Hope in a reading before, so I don't know what it could mean."
"Maybe it's love?" Chiharu guessed. "I mean she is holding a heart and that templated card The Void fused with was created by your love for Li-kun."
Tomoyo frowned. "Love, happiness and truth... That doesn't sound like Ichimai. She doesn't love anyone. I don't think she even likes herself."
Syaoran blinked. "Maybe..."
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"That baseball player I got the socks from knew Ichimai well enough to know that was her and not you. Though he thought she had possessed you. Maybe we're not the solution, but him," Syaoran suggested.
Sakura looked at her boyfriend with a surprised gaze. "You mean there's someone who truly loves Reiko-chan?"
Syaoran shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it's a thought."
"It's worth a try. I doubt you'd want someone as unruly as Ichimai as a card," Meiling mentioned.
"How do we go about getting him to help without exposing him to magic?" Tomoyo questioned.
"I have an idea!" Naoko grinned. "I'm afraid Sakura-chan will have to sit it out. Can't have lover-boy see two of you."
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"Come on, Makoto, let's have fun," Reiko purred.
"You don't have to keep saying that." The boy was drooling as he followed the girl down the street. He blinked as a strange light flashed and Sakura's body shimmered briefly, momentarily taking on the appearance of a familiar black-haired girl. "What... Ichimai?"
"Damn it! Not them again!" Reiko sprinted off. She sparred a look back only to see Meiling and Renji chasing after her, with Makoto dumbly pointing towards her.
"Fuck! This just gets shit on more and more," Reiko cursed. At least the sting from the light had ended. She just had to lose those idiots.
A strong wind suddenly came out of nowhere that slowed her speed before a gust struck at her legs, knocking her to the ground. "That fucking airhead."
Reiko tried to catch her footing, but the wind continued to assault her. When it suddenly subsided she found Renji's arms wrapping around her in a hug. "Let go of me!"
"I was stupid to have let go of you before, Reiko. I'm an idiot. A stupid fucking idiot," Renji told her barely above a whisper.
"I could've told you that, baseball brain!" Reiko shouted at him.
Renji let out a short laugh. "You were always quick with names. Not even the guys you slept with were safe." He held her tighter against himself. "I even like that nickname, even if you meant it as my brain is only the size of a baseball. Sometimes I think it's true. If it's not baseball, I didn't care about it."
"Lovers' spat! Nothing to see!" Meiling waved away an elderly couple walking past them.
"Lovers? Ha! Do you have any idea how many guys I've been with?" Reiko spat. "Fifteen!"
"I know." Renji swallowed hard. "I counted them. Didn't know why it bugged me. Why I didn't feel any joy when someone else pulled off some great game winning performance. It's because I knew you would reward them. It's why I tried so hard to be the star player all the time so you could reward me, and only me."
"So you like cunt. Big deal. So does every other guy." Reiko continued to struggle against his grip, to no avail.
"I wish Syaoran 'liked cunt,'" Meiling groused bitterly. "And I'm soooo sure that Yamazaki married just for the sex," she sarcastically added.
"Reiko... this is all the stuff I should've said to you while you were alive... but was too stupid to realize it. I didn't just want to be rewarded by you. I... I wanted you." Renji leaned his head forward, touching the top of her head with his face.
Reiko's eyes widened in shock. "You're crying?!"
"Reiko... I wish I hadn't been so stupid... I wanted to be your only boyfriend... I wanted you to love me... the way I love you!" Renji finished with a sob.
"You... love me? No one has ever said that to me... not even my mother...," Reiko whispered. She then shook her head. "You can't love me. No one does."
Renji let go of her and spun her around. "I love you, Reiko." He then kissed her soundly on the lips.
Reiko melted into his embrace. Part of her still wanted to deny what he said, but those were words she had longed to hear from someone who truly meant them. Her parents had never said those words to her, or each other. Her father was one who believed in letting actions speak instead of words, and her mother had followed his example. Now, finally, someone had said those words to her. She pulled away from his kiss. "You stupid baseball head. Why couldn't you have told me this before!"
"WHA?!"
Reiko looked over and saw Sakura trying to catch her balance a few feet from her. The airhead was holding her wand but was otherwise dressed exactly like she was, down to the missing socks.
"Oh, Reiko! You're really back!" Renji cried out, spinning her around.
Reiko felt her hair, and found it long enough to look at her own black strands. She then began to cry as her body started to grow cold. "Not for long. I'm dead, you idiot."
"Stay with me!" Renji pleaded.
"You don't think I want to?" Reiko shot back. "I don't want to go away. All I ever wanted was to be loved. Now that I have that, it's too late. I'm going to hell! You'll never see me again, even after you die!" Reiko sobbed.
"I don't think so," Sakura interrupted. "Do you feel anger or hate? Do you want to hurt me?"
"I want to stay with Renji!" Reiko cried out.
Sakura clenched her staff over her heart. "Then embrace that feeling and wait for him in heaven!"
"I will wait for you," Renji promised.
"Don't be an idiot," Reiko shot at him. "I plan on having as much fun as I can, so should you. Find a girl, have some kids. And when your time comes, I'll welcome you."
"Reiko..." Renji's hands passed through her now ghostly fingers. "I'll never forget you. I will see you again."
Reiko smiled through her tears. "Goodbye, baseball brain."
"Goodbye..." Renji whispered.
With a flash of light, Reiko's fading form disappeared completely.
Sakura let out a long sigh. "She really did go to heaven. Thank you, Godou-kun. You saved her."
Renji glared at the boy who walked up behind Sakura. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
Syaoran shook his head. "It's what we hoped would happen. If Ichimai continued to hurt Sakura, when her time was up in a couple days, she would've gone to hell."
Renji bowed his head. "I don't know if I should thank you or deck you."
"Do as you wish," Syaoran offered.
Renji ran up to the boy and punched him squarely in the face, knocking Syaoran to the ground.
"What?! Why you do that?!" Sakura cried out, immediately going to her boyfriend's side.
Renji smirked as he wiped away his tears. "You could've let me know she had a few days. I could've taken her on a real date. Thanks anyway. Now we can meet again." He walked off, his head held high as he gazed at the night sky.
Syaoran smiled as he rubbed the front of his face. "You're welcome."
Sakura let out a frustrated moan. "I'll never understand boys!"
"And they'll never understand us," Meiling chirped. "Now I say we celebrate!"
"Yah!" Kero-chan flew out from where he was hiding. "We deserve a feast!"
"You shouldn't get any after ditching us yesterday to play your game. We wouldn't have lost Ichimai if you had followed her," Meiling shot at the guardian.
"You didn't do much either!" Kero-chan returned.
Tomoyo placed her hand on Meiling's shoulder. "I believe we should have a little party in Ichimai's honor."
"Right." Sakura nodded in agreement.
Syaoran suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Why did you do that?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"I forgot to ask Ichimai who brought her over," Syaoran growled angrily at himself.
Everyone groaned at the realization of the missed opportunity.
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Author's Notes:
Coming next: Chapter 17 - Sakura's Moment of Peace
With one of Sakura's problems solved, a chance to relax arrives.
Reiko glared angrily when her wait finally came to an end. "It took you long enough. I got what you asked for." She pointed at a hairbrush that was sitting on the ground near her.
With much disdain, the hairbrush was picked up. A long black hair was pulled from it and immediately discarded. Then a short brown hair was taken from the brush, a hair that was then held out as if it were diseased. Then the chanting began.
Reiko watched as a spell was cast upon the hair, wondering what sort of magic was going to be done. Was the airhead's hair going to be used in some voodoo doll?
The hand holding the now-glowing strand of hair plunged into Reiko. She stared in shock as no magic-user had yet to pass through her ghostly body. The hand was quickly pulled from her, but the hair remained.
Pain. That was all Reiko suddenly felt, absolute pain. She fell to the ground and began to convulse. She couldn't think as her entire being cried out in torture. Blissful nothingness soon descended upon her mind.
The spell continued to work on the dead girl. Flesh forming around the spirit, bringing her back to the land of the living in a faux-life that would not last long. However, the damage that could be done now was far greater.
Dark laughter filled the school as Reiko stopped twitching and she became fully integrated into the very likeness of Kinomoto Sakura.
The laughter ended with uncomfortable reality setting in. Reiko now had Sakura's body, but the girl had no clothes. That would need to be fixed....
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Card Captors Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 16: Sakura's Doppelganger
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.
------------------------
Sakura tried not to make too much noise. Her head was throbbing dangerously. She had always hating reading, but now it seemed she couldn't do it for more than a few minutes without getting a royal headache. She was exaggerating the situation to herself, she was certain. She had been reading for the past few hours and the stress of her situations wasn't helping. Not to mention trying to get a card reading left her more confused.
Not paying any attention to who was talking in the living room, Sakura went straight to the bathroom to grab some aspirins. She rubbed her forehead, willing to the pain-relievers to work faster. She then left the bathroom, and the voices became more evident to her.
Sakura peeked into the room and saw her father talking rather animatedly about some archaeological dig or something, while her boyfriend was sitting there listening intently.
"Syaoran-kun, when did you get here?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"Huh?" Syaoran glanced at the clock. "Erm... about an hour ago. I was going to ask if you wanted to grab something to eat...?"
Sakura held her forehead. "Wish you asked me that an hour ago. My head is killing me."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to monopolize your boyfriend's time," Fujitaka apologized.
Syaoran got up and guided Sakura to sit down. He began to massage her forehead as he had before the last time they had made out. She squirmed a little, not because of the way he was touching her, but out of memory of how they had gone beyond kissing. She was sure he was remembering it as well.
Fujitaka coughed. "I'll be going downstairs to work on something. I'll reheat some leftovers when I get hungry. You two have fun."
Sakura and Syaoran began to blush, wondering if her father knew what was running through their minds. Still, the boy leaned forward and kissed her forehead, the same as he did that day. He did not move to her lips this time.
"Feeling better?" Syaoran asked her gently.
Sakura nodded, though her head was still throbbing slightly. "Why don't we just pick something up and eat at your place? I don't want to deal with too much noise right now."
"Let's go," Syaoran agreed. Leaving her home with her hand in his.
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Emerald eyes gazed into a mirror at the naked image reflected. The equally naked and far more satisfied boy slumbering in the bed behind her had jumped at the chance to sleep with her. All it took was a little story of Syaoran having an affair with Meiling and she wanted revenge to get over any reservation he had. Now there was a boy who knew what it was like to plunder Kinomoto Sakura's body.
Getting dressed quickly, she left the love motel room. There was no need to dwell on her former classmate. If he overslept and got charged more for the room, that would be his fault. She cared nothing for him other than to further ruin the airhead's reputation.
It couldn't be more perfect. In this body, Reiko could do more than just hurt her murderer. She could destroy her.
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"You did a card reading?" Syaoran asked as he set about disposing of what little remained of their dinner.
"I tried to do one," Sakura replied. "The cards couldn't agree on what to do. I asked the same question and got two different answers. One listed Mirror as part of the answer and the other as part of the problem."
"That doesn't make sense," Syaoran grumbled.
"You're telling me?" Sakura shot back. "How can Mirror be an answer?"
"Maybe because Mirror was once like me."
Sakura screamed in terror. She then held her hand over her wildly beating chest. "Don't do that to me, Fanren-chan!" She then groaned. "Damn, my headache is back."
The ghost of Syaoran's sister giggled a little. "Sorry, but how else am I supposed to appear?"
Sakura let out a long breath. "At least I'm no longer scared at your mere presence."
"Odd that we can thank Ichimai for that little cure," Fanren commented. "Still, Syaoran, you remember what Clow Reed's books said about Mirror, right?"
"I don't know what..." Syaoran's eyes widened. "The ghost card!"
"Right." Fanren nodded.
Sakura blinked in confusion. "What do you mean by 'The Ghost' card? There isn't one."
"Clow Reed didn't refer to all his cards by their names in his writing. Besides, if I knew that there was a Mirror card, you wouldn't have been the one to capture it. However, in one of Clow Reed's accounts on making cards, he referred to coming across an angry ghost who he could not save. Instead he sealed the ghost into a card. There aren't many cards the ghost could be, and The Mirror would make the most sense," Syaoran explained.
"So the cards can't agree if I should make her a card or find another means." Sakura pouted. "Though it does seem odd that the reading with The Mirror as the problem relates to The Hope, The Flower and The Libra as the solution. How can those relate to saving her?"
Syaoran walked up behind the couch and began to massage Sakura's shoulders. "If anyone can find a way, you can."
"Wish I felt so confident." Sakura sagged. "I need a nap."
"Of course." Syaoran quickly moved to pick her up, much to her surprise. He then carried her to his room and gently set her on his bed. He climbed next to her, holding her tightly against him. Sleep fell upon her quickly, and Syaoran silently vowed to do everything he could to help her.
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"Why didn't you tell me we were having an affair?" Meiling asked her cousin as she arrived at the spot their friends were eating lunch at.
"What?" Syaoran looked at her, utterly confused.
"That's the rumor, we're lovers now and Kinomoto has been bedding boys to get revenge," Meiling told him, her tone showing she didn't believe any of it.
"That's not! I wouldn't..." Sakura protested.
"It surprised the hell out of me to find you getting felt up," Meiling countered. "There's no way it can be true."
Tomoyo and the other girls nodded in agreement.
"Those two boys from our class have some nerve claiming it, though," Meiling groused.
Sakura pursed her lips. Something didn't feel right about this. Why would they lie about her? It didn't make sense. She let her presence wash over the school and found that Reiko wasn't at the school at all. That didn't feel right either. Her magical senses began to tingle and the image of a card appeared in mind, causing her eyes to widen in surprised realization. "Mirror?!"
"What was that?" Syaoran asked her.
"The problem relating to The Mirror. I think somehow Reiko-chan has become me!" Sakura cried out in distress.
"How would that be possible?" Tomoyo wondered.
"If a hair or blood of a person is put into a ghost, it is possibly to give them temporarily life. The fake life is unstable and shortens the time the spirit can remain in this world," Takashi related, and then smirked at the stunned looks cast at him. "It was in one of Hiiragizawa's 'stories.'"
"My brush!" Tomoyo cried out. "Ichimai must have taken it after I brushed your hair."
"What an interesting turn of events!" Naoko cheered.
Rika pouted. "But doesn't that mean that those boys really did have sex with Sakura-chan?"
Sakura paled while Syaoran clenched his fists tightly.
"Perhaps we should considering obliterating her soul," Meiling half-joked.
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"Renji-kun..." Reiko cooed, smirking slightly. It was time for someone else to experience 'Sakura's love.'
The baseball player raised an eyebrow. "Is there something you want?"
"I suppose you've heard about me and my boyfriend," Reiko mentioned, toying with her borrowed short brown hair.
Renji nodded slowly. "For cheating on each other, he seemed awfully protective of you today."
"The jerk still thinks I'm his property, even though he's bedding his whore of a cousin!" Reiko retorted with false anger. "He wasn't 'protecting' me, he was holding me as a prisoner. I'm free now, and I intend to stay that way."
"Right..." Renji frowned at her. "And why are you telling me this? Shouldn't you go see Hitoshi-kun or Hiiro-kun?"
Reiko shook her head. "I want a boyfriend who can please me. Those two weren't any better than the jerk I used to go out with. And about as endowed, as in not at all."
Renji folded his arms. "And you are here because...?"
Reiko slithered closer to him, her hand caressing his chest. "I was wondering if you would be interested in applying to be my new boyfriend. Of course you'd need to pass my 'interview.'"
The boy didn't immediately reply, which confused Reiko. All she had to say to him before was 'it's your turn again' and his pants were practically off. She smirked when he nodded and quickly guided him to a private place in the school where she was sure no one would interrupt them, particularly as it would not be the fist time she had sex with Renji there.
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"Headache again?" Syaoran asked as he sat on Sakura's bed, looking up from his homework.
"Yeah." Sakura rubbed her forehead. "I wonder if it has anything to do with Reiko-chan. Maybe she's... you know... with some guy."
Syaoran scowled darkly. "I can't believe what's going on with her."
Sakura sighed. "Once we get..."
Sakura's computer chirped, announcing she had a new email.
"...Eriol-kun's e-mail," Sakura finished before checking to see if it was indeed from her friend in England. She frowned at what she read, the stress in her forehead was not helping her. "This isn't good. Eriol-kun says a ghost has at most a week after taking on human form before the body fades away. When that happens, the ghost is sent directly to the afterlife."
"Ichimai can still do a lot of damage in the mean time," Syaoran growled.
"We have to save her! If she dies as she is now, she's going to hell." Sakura stood up and began to wobble.
Syaoran shook his head. "First we take care of your pain, THEN we'll try to track down Ichimai."
Sakura slumped back into her seat. "Fine."
------------------------
Reiko quietly got dressed, an evil smirk playing across her face. Renji had been oddly tentative at first, but he had outdone himself. If she was really 'interviewing' for a boyfriend, he had just passed her test with flying colors.
The fake Sakura prepared to put her socks on, but stopped when his hand grabbed hers.
"Reiko... Please don't leave me again," Renji told her desperately.
Reiko's now-emerald eyes widened in shock. "I'm not..."
"Kinomoto doesn't play with her hair and she doesn't insult people. She doesn't speak so crudely either," Renji retorted. "And how would Kinomoto know this room is 'private' or move like you do during sex." He looked away. "I've been with Michiko-chan... and I hated it. She didn't move or talk like you. She wasn't you, Reiko."
The dead girl yanked her borrowed flesh out of his hand, grabbed her shoes and ran off.
Renji reached out for her, but she was gone.
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Sakura landed lightly on top of her school, her white wings shimmering in the moonlight. Her gaze wasn't looking for signs of the ghost who borrowed her appearance but on Syaoran. With a few heavy steps, he landed a few meters from her with rainbow colored wings that folded irritably. This was the first time she got to see him use The Birds on himself, and the affect made him look even more handsome.
"It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," Syaoran grumbled, scanning the school grounds with more than just his eyes.
"If only we had something Reiko-chan owns," Sakura mentioned.
"Wouldn't work," Syaoran replied. "Right now she's both Ichimai and you. It wouldn't work any more than using something of my mother's in an attempt to find one of my sisters."
Sakura tilted her head. "Are you saying Reiko-chan is functionally my daughter?"
Syaoran shook his head. "Only in a magical sense. We'd need something of hers that she owns now to track her."
"Considering she only owns clothes now, it's not likely we'll find that," Sakura bemoaned.
Syaoran nodded. "At least possessing a body means she needs sleep."
"Not very helpful considering she could be sleeping anywhere with anyone," Sakura muttered.
"Right," Syaoran growled. "Let's check the homes of our classmates. She might be with one of them."
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Syaoran was beginning to really hate that schools made it mandatory that every student had to participate in one club. He wanted to be near Sakura to keep her safe. More than a few boys fully believed she was now 'sexually free' and were trying to get her alone. So far she had been able to avoid the boys unwanted advances by being near him or her friends at all times, but that could only last so long. Unfortunately, the football team had a match this weekend and the cheerleaders were expected to perform at the game. Both of them were needed at their respective clubs.
"Li-kun, I need to talk to you," Renji called out, marching right up to him.
"What do you want?" Syaoran growled.
"I don't know how to say this..." Renji looked away. "The rumors about you girlfriend are both true and false."
Syaoran raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"
"I wasn't sure about all the talk about Reiko being a ghost, but now I know it's true. She's possessing your girlfriend. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true. I was with her yesterday and that was Reiko in Kinomoto's body!" Renji insisted.
Syaoran didn't immediately reply. This was an opportunity he could use. "That... that could explain her headaches. If it's Ichimai's ghost possessing her or her guilt manifesting another personality..."
"I doubt it's the latter. Ichimai has some... peculiar habits. And I doubt Kinomoto would know about the sexual ones," Renji corrected.
Syaoran gritted his teeth. "Right..."
"I'll try to get the other guys to understand," Renji promised. He then fished something out of his pocket. "You might want to return these to Kinomoto. She left them behind."
Syaoran's eyes widened at the pair of socks and immediately grabbed them. "I'll be able to track her now!"
"What was that?" Renji asked.
"Uh, nothing," Syaoran blurted nervously. "Thanks, you've been a great help."
Renji frowned. "If there's anything I can do for Reiko, let me know. There's still something I have to tell her."
"Um, right. We'll see," Syaoran half-promised, doubting the boy could be of real help and not wanting to risk exposing him to magic.
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Reiko whistled as she walked down the road. She wondered where she could find another classmate to add another notch in the airhead's bedpost. It didn't help her when Renji decided to practically camp out at the school. She still didn't understand how he had been able to recognize her or what difference to him who he had just fucked. He was a guy. Weren't all girls the same to him?
A stinging sensation struck her arm. She looked and saw a strange beam of light that was continuously striking her. "What is that?"
Reiko tried to move away from the light, yet no matter where she moved or to, the beam followed her everywhere. Even when she tried to put something between herself and the source of the light, it would just go right through her makeshift shield and still hit her.
"There she is!"
Reiko turned and saw Meiling pointing at her with Syaoran, holding a strange glowing board with a familiar sock on top of it, following behind her. She tried to run from them, but the Chinese girl was on her in an instant. A flying kick to her chest sent her flying back into a wall, sending new feelings of pain all through her new body. Reiko tried to get back to her feet, struggling against the pain that was becoming all too common since discovering Sakura was a magical girl. Meiling didn't let her get to her feet, with a sharp kick to her back slamming her into the sidewalk. Her attempt to crawl away met with failure as Meiling grabbed her right arm and vicious wrenched it behind her back, pinning her in place.
"OW! Meiling-chan, stop! I'm Sakura!" Reiko hissed out in pain, hoping to confuse the girl.
"Not going to buy that one. At least not with you wearing a school uniform right now," Meiling retorted, twisting the captive arm more.
"Meiling-chan, don't hurt her!" Sakura cried out, running up to them wearing a pink jumpsuit with flowery stripes down the sides and with a simple image of a ghost on her shoulders with a red line across it.
Tomoyo said nothing as she stood behind her best friend and filmed everything.
"This isn't hurting her," Meiling shot back. "I could break her legs so she can't run off."
"MEILING-CHAN?!" Sakura screeched.
"Just kidding," Meiling replied.
Reiko wasn't entirely sure the Chinese girl had been kidding. "So, is the airhead upset that I let boys have fun with 'her?'"
Sakura pouted as she walked up to her physical copy. "I don't like it, but I'm not upset. What I did to you was unforgivable. You have every right to hate me."
"You bet I do! You killed me!" Reiko shouted.
"I know." Sakura sighed. "Reiko-chan, I know it's hard, but you have to let go of your anger. If you don't... when that body disappears in a few days... you'll go to hell."
"WHAT?!" Reiko cried out.
"The path to hell is lined by anger and hate. If you can't let go of your negative feelings, you'll be dragged down into damnation," Syaoran told her sternly.
Reiko didn't move for a moment, and then she exploded. Either her borrowed body had more strength than she thought or Meiling had been too confident, as she threw off the Chinese girl and lunged for Sakura. Her hands tightened around the girl's neck. "If I'm going to hell, you're coming with me!"
Sakura didn't even wheeze for breath once before Syaoran unleashed a blindingly fast attack on Reiko. The undead girl tumbled away, grabbing her now bruised shoulder.
Reiko shakily got to one knee. "If I only have a few days left, I'll make sure to destroy everything!" Using her borrowed athletic body and the skill she had in cheerleading in life, the undead girl tumbled past Meiling and picked up the fallen sock that had dropped off Syaoran's board. She then sprinted off.
Syaoran moved to hold Sakura, checking her neck for injuries. "Are you okay?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. She just surprised me."
Syaoran then looked at his cousin. "Why aren't you running after her?"
"Why? She can't run from us. We still have her other sock," Meiling pointed out.
"I won't be able to attune the board to that sock until tomorrow. She's going to have another day to hurt Sakura now," Syaoran spat.
"Oops. Sorry," Meiling apologized sheepishly.
Tomoyo shook her head. "I suppose now that she knows her time is limited, she'll try to attack me as well."
"You did nothing to her!" Sakura protested.
"I failed to deal with my mother's death, which led to your decision to let Ichimai die." Tomoyo looked away. "In a sense, I'm more to blame than you are."
"But it's not your fault! I was the one who chose!" Sakura cried out.
"You chose because of me. I have as much right to feel guilty over a death we couldn't prevent," Tomoyo pointed out.
"Arguing whose fault it is won't stop Ichimai," Syaoran grumbled. "Sakura, let's fly around and see if we can spot her. She can't have gone far."
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"Hope, Flower, Libra...," Sakura muttered to herself as she ate lunch with her friends. "What do they mean?"
"Perhaps you should take a break from the ghostly problem and focus on tomorrow's test," Rika advised. "High school placement tests will be coming before we know it."
Sakura shook her head fiercely. "Reiko-chan has at best four days. If she's not saved before then, she's going to hell!"
Naoko's glasses sparkled with delight. "Perhaps we can help with the riddle. Let's see the cards that offer the solution."
Sakura frowned and pulled out the three cards depicting the scales of Libra, a beautiful dancing woman surrounded by flowers and a young girl clutching a winged heart.
"What does The Libra stand for?" Chiharu questioned.
"Truth," Sakura answered. "It allows me to detect lies or make people unable to tell a lie."
Yamazaki shuddered. "The day I couldn't tell stories...."
Sakura nodded. "Yeah. That's when I captured it. The card went after you with your tall tales."
"Does The Flower carry any special meaning?" Rika questioned.
"Happiness, mostly," Sakura replied. "We've never had The Hope in a reading before, so I don't know what it could mean."
"Maybe it's love?" Chiharu guessed. "I mean she is holding a heart and that templated card The Void fused with was created by your love for Li-kun."
Tomoyo frowned. "Love, happiness and truth... That doesn't sound like Ichimai. She doesn't love anyone. I don't think she even likes herself."
Syaoran blinked. "Maybe..."
"What is it?" Sakura asked.
"That baseball player I got the socks from knew Ichimai well enough to know that was her and not you. Though he thought she had possessed you. Maybe we're not the solution, but him," Syaoran suggested.
Sakura looked at her boyfriend with a surprised gaze. "You mean there's someone who truly loves Reiko-chan?"
Syaoran shrugged. "I'm not sure, but it's a thought."
"It's worth a try. I doubt you'd want someone as unruly as Ichimai as a card," Meiling mentioned.
"How do we go about getting him to help without exposing him to magic?" Tomoyo questioned.
"I have an idea!" Naoko grinned. "I'm afraid Sakura-chan will have to sit it out. Can't have lover-boy see two of you."
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"Come on, Makoto, let's have fun," Reiko purred.
"You don't have to keep saying that." The boy was drooling as he followed the girl down the street. He blinked as a strange light flashed and Sakura's body shimmered briefly, momentarily taking on the appearance of a familiar black-haired girl. "What... Ichimai?"
"Damn it! Not them again!" Reiko sprinted off. She sparred a look back only to see Meiling and Renji chasing after her, with Makoto dumbly pointing towards her.
"Fuck! This just gets shit on more and more," Reiko cursed. At least the sting from the light had ended. She just had to lose those idiots.
A strong wind suddenly came out of nowhere that slowed her speed before a gust struck at her legs, knocking her to the ground. "That fucking airhead."
Reiko tried to catch her footing, but the wind continued to assault her. When it suddenly subsided she found Renji's arms wrapping around her in a hug. "Let go of me!"
"I was stupid to have let go of you before, Reiko. I'm an idiot. A stupid fucking idiot," Renji told her barely above a whisper.
"I could've told you that, baseball brain!" Reiko shouted at him.
Renji let out a short laugh. "You were always quick with names. Not even the guys you slept with were safe." He held her tighter against himself. "I even like that nickname, even if you meant it as my brain is only the size of a baseball. Sometimes I think it's true. If it's not baseball, I didn't care about it."
"Lovers' spat! Nothing to see!" Meiling waved away an elderly couple walking past them.
"Lovers? Ha! Do you have any idea how many guys I've been with?" Reiko spat. "Fifteen!"
"I know." Renji swallowed hard. "I counted them. Didn't know why it bugged me. Why I didn't feel any joy when someone else pulled off some great game winning performance. It's because I knew you would reward them. It's why I tried so hard to be the star player all the time so you could reward me, and only me."
"So you like cunt. Big deal. So does every other guy." Reiko continued to struggle against his grip, to no avail.
"I wish Syaoran 'liked cunt,'" Meiling groused bitterly. "And I'm soooo sure that Yamazaki married just for the sex," she sarcastically added.
"Reiko... this is all the stuff I should've said to you while you were alive... but was too stupid to realize it. I didn't just want to be rewarded by you. I... I wanted you." Renji leaned his head forward, touching the top of her head with his face.
Reiko's eyes widened in shock. "You're crying?!"
"Reiko... I wish I hadn't been so stupid... I wanted to be your only boyfriend... I wanted you to love me... the way I love you!" Renji finished with a sob.
"You... love me? No one has ever said that to me... not even my mother...," Reiko whispered. She then shook her head. "You can't love me. No one does."
Renji let go of her and spun her around. "I love you, Reiko." He then kissed her soundly on the lips.
Reiko melted into his embrace. Part of her still wanted to deny what he said, but those were words she had longed to hear from someone who truly meant them. Her parents had never said those words to her, or each other. Her father was one who believed in letting actions speak instead of words, and her mother had followed his example. Now, finally, someone had said those words to her. She pulled away from his kiss. "You stupid baseball head. Why couldn't you have told me this before!"
"WHA?!"
Reiko looked over and saw Sakura trying to catch her balance a few feet from her. The airhead was holding her wand but was otherwise dressed exactly like she was, down to the missing socks.
"Oh, Reiko! You're really back!" Renji cried out, spinning her around.
Reiko felt her hair, and found it long enough to look at her own black strands. She then began to cry as her body started to grow cold. "Not for long. I'm dead, you idiot."
"Stay with me!" Renji pleaded.
"You don't think I want to?" Reiko shot back. "I don't want to go away. All I ever wanted was to be loved. Now that I have that, it's too late. I'm going to hell! You'll never see me again, even after you die!" Reiko sobbed.
"I don't think so," Sakura interrupted. "Do you feel anger or hate? Do you want to hurt me?"
"I want to stay with Renji!" Reiko cried out.
Sakura clenched her staff over her heart. "Then embrace that feeling and wait for him in heaven!"
"I will wait for you," Renji promised.
"Don't be an idiot," Reiko shot at him. "I plan on having as much fun as I can, so should you. Find a girl, have some kids. And when your time comes, I'll welcome you."
"Reiko..." Renji's hands passed through her now ghostly fingers. "I'll never forget you. I will see you again."
Reiko smiled through her tears. "Goodbye, baseball brain."
"Goodbye..." Renji whispered.
With a flash of light, Reiko's fading form disappeared completely.
Sakura let out a long sigh. "She really did go to heaven. Thank you, Godou-kun. You saved her."
Renji glared at the boy who walked up behind Sakura. "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"
Syaoran shook his head. "It's what we hoped would happen. If Ichimai continued to hurt Sakura, when her time was up in a couple days, she would've gone to hell."
Renji bowed his head. "I don't know if I should thank you or deck you."
"Do as you wish," Syaoran offered.
Renji ran up to the boy and punched him squarely in the face, knocking Syaoran to the ground.
"What?! Why you do that?!" Sakura cried out, immediately going to her boyfriend's side.
Renji smirked as he wiped away his tears. "You could've let me know she had a few days. I could've taken her on a real date. Thanks anyway. Now we can meet again." He walked off, his head held high as he gazed at the night sky.
Syaoran smiled as he rubbed the front of his face. "You're welcome."
Sakura let out a frustrated moan. "I'll never understand boys!"
"And they'll never understand us," Meiling chirped. "Now I say we celebrate!"
"Yah!" Kero-chan flew out from where he was hiding. "We deserve a feast!"
"You shouldn't get any after ditching us yesterday to play your game. We wouldn't have lost Ichimai if you had followed her," Meiling shot at the guardian.
"You didn't do much either!" Kero-chan returned.
Tomoyo placed her hand on Meiling's shoulder. "I believe we should have a little party in Ichimai's honor."
"Right." Sakura nodded in agreement.
Syaoran suddenly slapped his forehead.
"Why did you do that?" Sakura asked in surprise.
"I forgot to ask Ichimai who brought her over," Syaoran growled angrily at himself.
Everyone groaned at the realization of the missed opportunity.
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Author's Notes:
Coming next: Chapter 17 - Sakura's Moment of Peace
With one of Sakura's problems solved, a chance to relax arrives.