RECAP: Sorry I realized that I left the recap out of last chapter- silly me. I am sure you all survived without it. Okay so last chapter Sakura went on winter break and was invited to Mark’s party. Her and some of her friends (Chihura, Tamakazi, Tomoyo, Rika, Trent, Meilin, Syaoran) want to sabotage it, so they had a meeting (they had this meeting after Sakura went riding with Syaoran where they raced Moondust around against Mark’s dirtbike) to figure out what they were going to do. Finding that they couldn’t concentrate, they decided to have a good game of hide and go seek in Sakura’s mansion. Fun turns to havoc when Sakura gets kidnapped by some weirdo, (who she thought at first might have been a player in h & g s) and that’s where this starts.

Sakura opened her eyes. Her head was pounding, and she had no idea where she was. Sakura saw a dark room spinning before her, but could not make out the texture of the walls, or what else lay in the room.

Her eyes began to focus. The room was small and square, naked of any furniture, only the desolate wall and ceiling there to shape the room. Sakura staggered up to her feet. Her body ached from laying in such an awkward position. The room was dark, though she could see specks of light glowing under the door. She felt like she had slept for a long time, but the type of sleep she had had was misleading, and did not give her an accurate time clock to go by.

Sakura saw the door on the adjacent wall. She stumbled over to it and slowly reached out to the doorknob. She turned it quietly, but the squeak it made magnified itself in her ears into her aching head. She cringed and felt a bit wobbly for a breif second, then continued to open the door.

She creaked it open, then peered around the corner of the door. There was a lit hallway. A draft entered the room from the hallway, very cold. Sakura shivered and looked around at the hall. Pale orange light was glowing in the windows. Is that sunrise or sunset? It can’t be sunset, I couldn’t have been out for that long, could’ve I? Sakura looked back once more at the barren dark room, then turned and stepped cautiously out of the door. Her foot was on the stone floor of the hallway now, and she could feel the cold of the stone all the way through her shoe.

Sakura started walking down the hallway, shivering at all the breezes that bit at her bare skin. The shallow sunlight that glowed in the inset stone carved windows provided no heat. Sakura crossed her arms and shivered again.

An alien hand gripped Sakura firmly again. Sakura spun around with fear to meet her adversary. She gasped. This person looked just like the one she had seen in her vision; with dark black hair that curled down to her shoulders, and keen, cunning eyes. Sakura looked with surprise at her. She gulped and russled up enough courage to speak. "Who...are you?" Sakura asked.

The woman smiled, a crooked smile, one eye bulging out while the other stayed in. She ignored Sakura’s question and said some things of her own. "Locked up. Don’t think I don’t understand. Tables turn now."

Sakura frowned, trying to pull away from the grasp the woman had on her. "Let me go, please!"

Her hands tightened around Sakura’s arm. "All pay for wrongs. Mother told me."

Sakura looked with fear. This woman looked older than she seemed, her nimbleness was quite amazing for the look of worn and brokeness she wore. "I don’t know what you are talking about! Please just let me go!"

The woman’s glaring face turned and twisted into pyschotic laughter. She bulged her eyes at Sakura and leaned in to her.

A chill ran up through Sakura’s spine. She remembered this smell very well, it was the same smell she had noticed the previous night. Sakura tried to pull away from the woman’s tight look, and kept her eyes from meeting the woman’s horribly twisted expression.

"Crazy you think, no? Mother tell me how they lock her up. She do nothing wrong. Crazy they thought her."

Sakura wriggled away, dreading the end of this climaxing story. Who knows what horrible hurt it would involve Sakura to endure.

"She hates you too. Hates us. It is for our hate that she hates us, you see?" The woman paused. She eyed Sakura. "You see her, don’t you? She thinks you us. You Aruka."

Sakura’s brain started with that name. "How do you know Aruka?"

The woman made a horrible smile. "I am."

Sakura frowned. This was Aruka? How can that be? I don’t understand! Sakura didn’t want to ask anything of this mad person, she wanted to go away. Sakura took advantage that the woman (Aruka) did not have as tight of hold of her. Sakura whipped around and started sprinting. She felt Aruka’s arm reach out for her arm, but Sakura pulled it away and kept running.

"Use his magic, you do! Sense it!" Aruka yelled after her. Sakura kept running until she reached a set of stairs she had never seen.

She climbed them without any thought and pushed through the door at the top. She ran down this hallway and found herself in a hallway she recognized. She didn’t slow her pace, but continued running until she reached the main entry room. Sakura’s chest heaved for air, but her mind starved for attention. Sakura knew now that she had a human enemy as well, and somehow this enemy was within her house. She didn’t want to stay in this house. She wanted to find Syaoran and beg for his counsel.

Sakura looked around the room. I guess everyone went home without me. Did they think I was in a really good hiding spot or what? Sakura remembered seeing Syaoran in a far off doorway, trying to follow her. He just left me? That’s not right,... But where else would he be but home? Sakura walked over to the coat closet and pulled out her huge fuzzy winter coat. She turned around to hear footsteps tramping down a hall, in the direction suspicious close to where Sakura had just come out of.

Sakura panicked. She’s following me! Sakura yanked on her boots and ran out of the house into the deep snow. The snow made it almost impossible to run, but she was able to trudge her way through. After a good ways she was pretty sure that she had lost her follower.

Sakura looked behind her down the long snowy road. She saw no one behind her, but she knew someone was following her still, so she continued to make quick pace down the road. Sakura jogged absently by other people out walking in the snow, and jogged by the stores and buildings that stood along the road. She was almost to her destination.

Sakura could see Penguin Park from here. Trees started to spread along the road again, replacing the loss of buildings. Crunching snow and breaking sticks grabbed Sakura’s attention. She turned swiftly towards the park beside her next to the sidewalk.

A figure was darting through the trees, and was now close enough to jump the fence that seperated Sakura from it. Sakura spun around, recognizing the dark curls of hair, and began running away towards the nearest public building.

Sakura sprinted towards the large glass doors full speed. She didn’t pay any attention to the building’s sign, or what the building was, she just ran into the doors with a bit of releif as the warmth of the building seemed to wash away the tension of the chase. Sakura looked about her, and saw bookshelves, various heigths, filled with used books of all kinds of length and genere. The library desk was in the front, and the librarian was giving her an irritated look for making such a chaotic entrance.

Sakura froze as she heard the doors behind her open. She didn’t dare turn around, she had no idea who it might be, but if it was this Aruka person, she didn’t want to get caught face to face with her again. Sakura tried as nonchalantly as she could to speedwalk through a maze of book cases.

Sakura was dismayed to hear other footsteps accompaning her own. Sakura broke into a jog, now a safe distance away from the librarian. She turned her head around for a split second, then was abruptly stopped by running into something solid.

Sakura gained her balance and looked up at the obstacle she had run into. Shallow brown eyes smiled back. "Sakura! What are you doing here?"

"Oh, uh, hey Mark." She looked around her worriedly. Mark watched her odd behavior suspiciously.

Mark, not minding in the least that his question was left unanswered, persisted on. "You aren’t in another chase, huh? Too bad I beat you guys in our last little race. Syaoran looked a little preoccupied, someday we can have a real race."

Sakura looked behind her quickly, then looked quickly back at Mark. "Uh, yeah." His words started to register in her head. "What?" Sakura heard footsteps coming from the other side of this bookcase. "Uh, Listen, I’ve got to go."

Sakura started speedwalking away, oblivious to Mark’s look of annoyance and surprise. I now know how to handle Mark. Just show him I have better things to do. Sakura started jogging again. She stopped at the end of this aisle, seeing a black haired figure to her left down the T of the bookcases’ set up. She turned to her right and headed down the last row of shelves toward a side exit door.

Sakura looked with dread at the reflection in the glass of the door as she swung it open. Aruka was catching up. Sakura threw the door back behind her in an effort to slow the thing down, then started sprinting down the street. She wasn’t quite sure where she was, but she had a general idea. She was no longer looking for shortcuts, she was just trying to get this person off her tail.

Sakura pulled her cards out of her pocket as she ran. She heard a hissing sound from behind her, her chaser could see the cards as well. Sakura looked through them quickly and held out the maze card. She turned the corner of the street, then looked with exasperation at the unlikely crowd of people walking down the sidewalks. She slowed to a walk and put the cards back into her pocket, then quickly tried to blur herself into the crowd of people. Sakura turned to see where her chaser was now, but was surprised to see no one behind her, no one following her path.

Maybe she just gave up? She’s been chasing me a while, who knows. But deep down Sakura did not beleive this. If her chaser was willing to chase her through a library, a small crowd wouldn’t stop her. Sakura looked up at the towering adults in work outfits that walked around her. All these people, but not one of them can help me. Sakura tried to gently push her way through so she could progress to Syaoran’s nearby apartment complex.

The crowd slowly dissolved, and as Sakura turned the corner onto a more solitary sidewalk, thudding footsteps behind her confirmed that the chase still led on. Sakura started sprinting again, hard, because there was a long stretch of open road to outrun this horrible chaser. Sakura felt her feet start floating across the ground again. She didn’t notice how everything, all the scenery and signs around her, seemed to blur together, for her speed was so great.

Sakura couldn’t hear footsteps behind her, but she couldn’t hear anything for that matter. The wind rushing in her ears filled up all audible sound hearing capabilities. She started to slow now, the speed of which her legs were traveling was a bit scary. She, still sprinting, turned her head around once again.

She ran into something solid for the second time in this short while, but the solid object had more elasticity to it than Mark’s intruding presence. Sakura was forced to a stop, and she found herself looking at the scenery around her over someone’s shoulder. She quickly backed up, praying this would be someone to help her.

"Got you." Syaoran said sarcastically.

Sakura frowned, breathing hard, and looked cautiously behind her. She returned her attention back. "What?"

Syaoran sighed, Sakura wasn’t the fastest to pick up on dry humor. "Must of been some hiding place you had last night. Everyone left thinking you’d find your way back."

Sakura smiled momentarily, then frowned at Syaoran. Everyone left? Some friends I have. But didn’t I see him, wasn’t he chasing after me? I thought... "You didn’t see me? Getting carried away by that....thing?"

Syaoran looked down the road, his eyes attentive to something Sakura could not yet see. She followed his gaze but saw nothing. "Come on." Syaoran said, starting to walk.

Sakura followed after him quickly, trying to stay beside him. "Where are we going?" She noticed Syaoran’s general appearance for the first time. He looked kind of dirty, and weary, as if he had been fighting something as well. She frowned but kept it to herself, one question was enough for now. And shouldn’t he be in work? She looked at him curiously again.

Syaoran quickly turned a corner, and it took Sakura a second to catch up with his large stride. "I’m not sure. We can’t stay...around here." He paused. "Do you understand?"

Sakura frowned. She had no clue what he was talking about. "Not really." She said sadly, hating to be such a slow thinking person.

Syaoran turned another corner. Sakura hurried after them and looked at the alein whereabouts of their location. She looked forward and saw the train station ahead. "You’re going on a train!?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran started to slow now, there were more people around on the sidewalks. "We have to."

They approached the open archway that led into the station. Syaoran stopped walking and faced Sakura. "I’ll explain everything on the way, but we can’t stay here long. You know the woman that chased you?"

Sakura nodded.

"She is a very bad person. She thinks you are someone else, that’s why she is chasing you."

They approached the counter with the ticket guy. Sakura waited impatiently for Syaoran to buy the tickets, and looked curiously over his shoulder at the place the tickets said they were going to. "But she knows about my magic, she said that I use his magic or something."

Syaoran took the tickets and looked at Sakura with surprise. "Really? She said that?"

Sakura frowned. It didn’t seem that important to her. "Well yeah. She said some weirdo stuff. Wait, how do you know this?"

Syaoran wasn’t really paying any attention, their train was starting up. "Come on, hurry."

Sakura hurried after him. They showed their tickets to the gaurd guy standing outside. He nodded and let them through. Sakura hesitated to follow. "I don’t understand! I can’t just leave my family behind completly uninformed!"

Syaoran looked back with impatience. "I know, I know. You’ve got to trust me on this, you can’t stay."

Sakura sighed. Of course she had to follow him now, he had said the ‘you have to trust me’ line. Sakura slowly hopped up the steps into the train. She followed Syaoran to a seat and sat down, then spent a few minutes glaring off in the distance, wondering if anything was worth leaving her family behind like this. She was only thirteen! What age was that to go ride a train by yourself?

She looked at Syaoran again. He looked very tired, he had just been fighting something. But what position was he in to make her trust him? He hasn’t said anything about anyone being nervous for me last night when I was hidden for TWELVE HOURS! They know I’d be scared to death of hiding anywhere alone, they couldn’t actually beleive I was hiding all that time? Where’s the friendly concern?

"What else did she say?" Syaoran asked after some time.

"I don’t know. A bunch of jumbled stuff." Sakura said annoyedly.

"Like what kind of jumbled stuff?" Syaoran persisted.

Sakura looked out the window, happy to see the ground wasn’t moving yet. "Syaoran, honestly, can’t I just go home and talk to my father about this? "

Syaoran shook his head, starting to get impatient. "No, Sakura. Your father wouldn’t understand. It is your fate, not his."

Sakura was getting restless in her seat. "Then why are you making me go on a train to some city I have never heard of?"

Syaoran sighed. "Listen. The person after you spent most of her life in the madhouse until your Uncle brought her back to his home. Your family was never supposed to see her, but she knew you were there, so she broke out of her prison just to find you. She will keep going until she kills you."

Sakura glued herself back onto her seat. "What!? What are you talking about, I mean- how do you know all this?" Someone’s trying to kill me!?

Syaoran looked out the window as the ground beside him started moving slowly along. The concrete of the train station slowly fell away to the outdoor landscape of their town of Tomeoda. "I thought some of what had been happening was kind of suspicious. So last night (after trying to follow you and your chaser around the whole mansion) I figured that was the last straw, and I had a talk with your Uncle."

Sakura felt forlorn. My family would put me in danger? Other things started to make sense. "So all the noises; the screams and the yells, weren’t the ghost’s doing? That’s why Chindra had scratches on her arm?"

Syaoran nodded. "She started to get out of hand a while before now. Chindra works there mainly to keep her in line, -"

"-They are related aren’t they?!" Sakura cut him off, jumping into her pre-made conclusion.

Syaoran nodded again. "Yes, she is her youngest daughter. The other three were put into houses away from here."

Sakura tried to let all this soak in, but unsettled questions were still disrupting her peace. "How does she tie into the ghost? Or does she even?"

"I’m not sure, there was a lot of things left unanswered, but I can’t see any connection between them. That’s why I don’t understand she knew anything about magic, she is a bad guy in the normal world, she isn’t tied in with magic."

Sakura shrugged. "I dunno, that’s what she said." They were quiet for a while, then Syaoran got up.

"They have food upstairs. Do you want anything?"

Sakura shuddered to think about eating, it seemed for the moment her stomach had been disconnected from the rest of her from the shocking news. "No, but I will come along." She still had some things to ask him.

She followed him up the very small stairs that led to the second story of the bus. Now they walked down the long aisle through that cart. They reached the end and Syaoran opened the doors to hop from cart to cart. Sakura stepped cautiously over the moving and rackety step and continued to follow Syaoran through the aisles.

They reached the end where a sign read ‘concessions’ and then they followed it into the food cart. Syaoran got into the line and leaned on the wall beside him. Sakura fiddled with her watch then looked up. "Can we at least call my father later?"

Syaoran sighed. "Maybe." He got to the counter and looked at the menu for a second. Hardly anything was on the menu, but he was very hungry, so he ordered a bunch of chips and a drink, and was happy enough with that. Syaoran turned back to Sakura and they walked back to their seats. In between the carts, Syaoran narrowly missed spilling his drink when the train was particularly bouncy and the carts were moving crazily around.

They sat back down and both looked out the window. Syaoran started on his feast of chips, then looked up at Sakura. "How long was she chasing you, anyway?"

Sakura woke from her daze. "Huh? Oh, I am not sure. I woke up in some weird room, then I saw her and she said all that weird stuff, then I ran and ran until I ran into you."

"You were using the dash card again. I about fell over."

Sakura smiled for the first time since she had gotten on the bus. "Are you alright? I mean- you look...tired."

Syaoran smirked. "Yeah. Well the Fight Card escaped last night."

Sakura looked at him with alarm. "You fought it off all by yourself?!"

Syaoran shrugged. "Fought it, yeah, but it’s still running around. Hopefully it stopped chasing us."

Sakura looked nervously behind her. "Yeah." She looked outside at the snowy hillside they were passing now. They had exited Tomeoda, and were now on the countryside around it. She felt tired, so she sat more comfortably on her seat.

She gazed out the window beside her, thinking about this whole situation. I can’t run from this forever! I don’t understand why we can’t face her at home. We are going to have to some time. He doesn’t make sense sometimes. Sakura’s eyelids began to weigh, and she leaned on the window to sleep.

Just as she allowed her eyes to close, the train shook. She opened her eyes sharply, and looked around. We just hit a bump I guess. Sakura slowly let her eyes close again, pushing her concerned thoughts away. Another more sharp jolt made her open her eyes again. She looked worriedly at Syaoran, who was looking ahead with attention as well.

"What is it?" Sakura asked in a low tone.

Syaoran glanced sideways at her. "Some kind of magic, I can sense it. Maybe the power?"

Sakura grabbed her cards out of her pocket and found the Power. It was still warm in her hands, she could connect with it easily. "No, it’s not yet released." She looked through the rest of the cards. The Fight was glowing with a kind of red glare. "Look!" It didn’t always do this before, did it?

Syaoran stood up. Other people were looking around worriedly now, they had to do something. "I am going to try to find it." He hurriedly walked to the stairs. Sakura was at his tail. He looked back at her with question.

"Well don’t think I am going to sit there." Sakura said, a bit offended of what he might have thought.

Syaoran just continued up the stairs. Sakura followed him onto the cart, where he stood for a second, looking both directions. Another distant jolt gave him an idea of where the disturbance was. Syaoran spun around and headed down the cart. "The end cart."

Sakura jogged after him. Some people eyed them suspiciously from their seats, while others were asleep and didn’t pay them any attention. Syaoran opened the door to the in between cart thing and deftly jumped across the swaying carts. He looked back to Sakura. She worked up some courage and jumped across, landing unsteadily on the moving ground. She looked up and saw that Syaoran was already halfway down the aisle, so she hurriedly started jogging after him. Syaoran lept through another cart change, then looked back at Sakura to make sure she was still behind him. She jumped across, but as she landed another jolt made the ground move swiftly under her. Syaoran quickly held her arm steadily until she found her feet, then let her go. Not many people were in this cart, it was a bit louder, and the din of the train was more evident. They had reached the back cart.

A couple jolts that sounded more like metallic punching echoed through the cart. The few people in the cart looked back worriedly. A large portion of them got up out of their seats and started walking out of the cart. Syaoran and Sakura made their way to the back of the cart passed a few remaining onlooking eyes.

Syaoran pulled on the hard stiff door that led to the small fenced back of the train. It wouldn’t give at first, but Syaoran persisted, and the door creaked sideways. A slight chill filled the air. A man sitting in a chair near the back stood up out of his seat and stormed over to Syaoran.

"What do you think you are doing here?" He demanded.

Syaoran barely gave any attention to him, but concentrated on getting the door all the way open. "Please sir, I understand your concern, I know what I am doing." Syaoran said, his authority tone coming loud and clear.

The man shook his head. "Staff’s going to hear about this..." The man grumbled. A very unbalancing jolt hit their cart again, and the last of the man was seen hopping into the next cart. Syaoran finally triumphed in getting the door open. Sakura looked outside with worry. It looked very windy and cold, most uninviting.

Syaoran didn’t look back, but hopped right out onto precarious looking blacony. From there he turned and climbed up a ladder Sakura could only see a portion of. Sakura reluctantly followed him out, then looked at the ladder. He had carelessly climbed up on top of the train!

Sakura gripped the bottom ladder peice with fear. She did not want to cilmb up there, it was suicide! But she had to, she couldn’t see Syaoran, and she had to follow him up. Sakura squinted her eyes and started climbing the small ladder. It wasn’t the climb she was worried about, it wass what she was going to do when she got up there.

Sakura reached the top and peered up at the roof. She could feel the wind skimming the hair on the top of her head. Syaoran was standing up, oblivious to the heigth and speed he was standing on, and was face to face with the Fight card. He had his sword already in hand. The Fight came at him with a swift flying kick. Syaoran ducked under and spun around, crashing his sword down at the card. It darted away, and Syaoran slowed his sword just before it hit the roof of the train.

Sakura choked her fear down and scurried up on the train, sitting on her knees for a second. She did not want to stand, but she saw no alternative. Sakura slowly got to her feet, keeping her knees bent and staying low to the ground. She jogged over a safe way close to Syaoran and quickly tried to figure out what she was going to do.

"What should I do!?" Sakura shouted to Syaoran.

Syaoran’s sword fell to the ground from a crashing blow of the Fight. He stopped it from sliding off the side with his foot, and kicked it over to Sakura as he hardly managed to block the fight’s punch with his arm. Sakura stared at the sword that slid in front of her. She fumbled down and picked it up, and stagger under it’s weight. This was much heavier than she had ever imagined it to be, Syaoran carried it with such ease.

The Fight was still fighting strong against Syaoran. He switched modes from swordplay into martial arts and combat, being very agressive with the card. The card and him were one for one, he’d nail a punch and the Fight would hit him with a kick. Syaoran winced over from a kick in the side, but returned the hit with a footswipe that temporarily sent the Fight off it’s feet.

Sakura pulled her cards out. "Power! Help me use this sword!" The power came out, gave a smile at the Fight card, then flew into the sword. The sword became light, and she was able to move it nimbly.

Sakura ran at the Fight card with new found courage. She swung it down, and Syaoran looked at her with surprise. Wow... Sakura picked it up out of it’s lodged spot in the metal roof and slashed it through the air at the Fight card. It skimmed the shoulder part of the figure. Sakura quickly threw the sword to Syaoran, who had been watching her in a kind of trance, and he caught it by the hilt. Sakura called back the power. "I can’t hit her! You get her!"

Syaoran nodded with confidence. He smirked at the Fight, and she smiled back. They circled each other for a second, then Syaoran ran lightly at her, his sword ahead of him. Sakura watched him for a second, then looked up with alarm at the coming scenery. With cruel irony, she watched the approaching hillside come at them.

"Syaoran! A tunnel!" She pointed to the dark depth that cut low into the ground, and the obvious height of the train.

Syaoran glanced quickly that way, which cause him another punch in the side for letting his attention waver. "Quick, we’ve got-" Syaoran paused, blocking and then relflexively punching back. "To get in between carts!"

Sakura looked at their spot on the train. They had walked much of their cart, and now were far from the ladder they had climbed onto it from. Syaoran tried to make his way forward, fighting his way through. Sakura took the first card on her pile out and held it up. "Mist, do something!" Misty emerged from the paper and spread a thick fog through the air. Sakura sighed. This wasn’t helping.

Sakura ignored the Fight’s constant and relentless attacks and grabbed Syaoran’s arm. "Come on!" She pulled him towards the between carts thing, but she could see a looming ceiling come closer and closer. Sakura watched it come with fear. She had to hurry! Sakura could feel the pressure rising up. She reached the edge of the cart and let go of Syaoran’s arm, only slowing for a second as she blithely lowered herself onto the unsteady lower ceiling. She looked up and held out an extra hand for Syaoran to take.

Syaoran knelt down and reached out for her hand when a mean persistant kick just barely managed to jab him in the back. Syaoran spun around onto his feet and kicked quickly, this time nailing the Fight with the end of his foot.

The Fight jumped off the side of the train, leaving Syaoran alone on the top of the train. "Syaoran!" Sakura screamed, trying to remind him the impending doom that was upon him. But it was too late. The low ceiling came rushing over them. Everything blurred together into black.

Sakura stared with shock and dread at what she could make of the ceiling. The rickety thing she was sitting on rudely bothered her attention, and she had to get a better grip on the metal bar she was holding. "Syaoran!" She yelled out again, but the echo of the train in the desolate cave was overwhelming, and she could barely hear her own voice.

Sakura’s grip became feeble, her whole body shook with shock. I’ve killed him. All these years of protecting me and I’ve finally killed him. Sakura’s eyes watered thickly, though no one could see for the foreboding darkness of the tunnel. The roar of the train ached in her ears, but faded into the roar of her own mind. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut and let her mindless emotions take over. No tears ran, only the shock of the truth held it’s grip on her now.

A dim light began to show through the tunnel, quickly getting brighter. They emerged out of the tunnel’s horrid darkness back into the light of the outdoors. "Syaoran?" Sakura called one last weak time, afraid to peer over the edge of her hiding spot. Sakura wiped a hand across her drying eyes and pulled herself up. She didn’t look at the roof just yet, but focused on getting herself up off the rickety roof she sat on back onto the normal steel she had been standing on moments before. Sakura slowly turned her eyes to the steel roof.

Bright amber eyes stared back at her. Sakura gasped and about fell backwards. Syaoran quickly pulled her back, surprised at her surprise. Sakura just stared with amazement. "You- how did you...?"

Syaoran smiled his small smile. "I flattened myself like a pancake to this thing." Syaoran didn’t bother to mention how close the moving cave’s roof was from his back the whole time he lay flat on his stomach. He hadn’t been sure he could fit, but he was alive. The option of death hadn’t really occur to him, which was why he had been so surprised that Sakura had been surprised to see him. "How did you make out?"

Sakura felt so dumb for thinking he would die, but that was a very plausible thought, because she had last seen Syaoran standing as a huge roof was coming at him at high speed. Either because of that feeling you get from a near death experience or just over run emotions, Sakura happily threw her arms around him. "I thought you would be killed!" She said, sniffing away the earlier tears she had held back.

Syaoran unsurely smiled and put one arm on her for consolation while he put his sword away with his other. He wasn’t sure what had been going on in Sakura’s mind, but didn’t mind the effects it was having on her. He squirmed out of her hold and did his almost-laugh. "You thought I’d die? Come on Sakura, you know me better than that, don’t you? A little tunnel doesn’t stop Li Syaoran!"

Sakura laughed and adjusted herself into a better sitting position. The top of the train had lost its scariness. "I’m sorry, a bad assumption of course, just because you’re fighting a card on top of a train while a very low roofed tunnel is approaching, I should never had considered any harm would be done to you."

I wouldn’t say that. Syaoran thought, rubbing the bruise on his side. The Fight had managed to get some good hits on him. Besides that, he was still a little shooken up from the whole roof narrowly keeping from decapitating him. Still, no need to make Sakura worry. "Come on, it’s freezing here." Syaoran said, getting to his feet.

Sakura got up and looked at the ground below her with wide eyes. "Woah, that is a long way down." She swayed uncertainly.

Syaoran shook his head. "Don’t look down. Come on." He quickly walked the cart and reached the ladder. Sakura was slowly making her way over, glancing warily off the side from time to time. Syaoran went down the ladder, keeping an eye on Sakura.

The whole train slowed dramatically, and Syaoran was thrown back on the ladder, barely keeping himself up with his hand’s tight grip. Sakura’s feet slipped right from under her, and she fell to her stomach on the cold hard steel. Syaoran heard an "ow" from her through the wind’s relentless noise.

The train slowly came to a complete stop. Syaoran looked around the cart and saw cement ahead. They were at a stop. Syaoran looked back up at Sakura, who was eying her hand as she got up.

"Hey Sakura, we’re at a stop. We’d better get down." Syaoran called.

Sakura grumbled and made her way over. The one nail she had any sucess with getting to grow had had enough, and had managed to get her finger mauled when she fell. It hadn’t been a long nail, just much longer than the other ones she had a habit of biting.

She hurried down the ladder and followed Syaoran into the back cart through the open door. The cart was still deserted, though Sakura could only guess why. "Let’s go off the back." Syaoran said, knowing that they were probably in trouble with the conductor and staff of the train, and to stay away from most people would be wise.

Sakura shrugged. I’ve already fought a card on top of a train, why not? Syaoran hopped down the long distance off the balcony thing onto the empty tracks. Sakura bit at her lip nervous to land on such a mean ground, but she jumped all the same. Her knees stung a bit from the hard landing, but she was fine. Sakura straightened up and followed Syaoran up onto the cement platform. She had a bit of difficulty climbing it, because it was above her head, but she made it up.

She looked around. The scenery was still foggy. She knew it wasn’t her misty, it was just the weather. The sun still tried to break through the haze, but it didn’t do a very good job. Sakura followed Syaoran over to a vending machine. He bought a bottle of water and looked at Sakura. "You want one? The train’s was way over price."

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, thanks." She looked around at their surroundings again. "Where are we?"

Syaoran looked up from the machine at the little tiny station they were stopped at. "Somewhere South of Tomeoda. About 150 miles." He handed her water to her.

Sakura took it and sighed. "I’m sorry, Syaoran, but I just don’t understand why we have to leave Tomeoda. If we have to get rid of the woman we should fight her there, it makes no sense to run."

Syaoran flashed his fiery eyes away. "Sakura, you’ve got to understand, she doesn’t just mistake you for someone, she hates your family. I haven’t figured everything out yet, but..."

"But what? You mean my whole family is in danger? Why are we leaving them!?"

Syaoran sighed and set his eyes on the water bottle lable. "Because, she wants you most. That’s what I don’t understand."

Sakura sighed and looked at the train she didn’t want to reboard. But yet again, the conversation was cut short. A group of middle aged woman were huddled around the Fight, who was smiling at them with her fists up. One pudgy woman was standing up front, holding her head high.

The Fight stealthily grabbed the bag out of her hand and darted back. The woman fumed. One of the woman in the crowd said "this is just like our self defense class" - another replies "it finally comes in use".

"That’s my purse!" She shouted angerly. "I don’t know you!" She charged at the fight and kicked out, a sloppy kick aimed at the groin.

The Fight easily outmoved the kick and held the purse teasingly. The group of woman gasped. (AUTHOR NOTE: Some may recognize those last few lines and actions from a recent King of the Hill episode-if you didn’t understand it that’s okay) "What do we do now?" One of the woman whispered.

"The class didn’t cover this!" The worried pudgy woman said.

Syaoran nodded Sakura in the direction. "Let’s go."

Sakura hesitantly followed him. He acted as if she knew how to fight, but he knew very well she had no kind of martial arts training whatsoever. She stood back as Syaoran gave a sharp punch at the Fight in the shoulder. The Fight spun around, still with a tight grasp on the purse. Sakura moved around, keeping herself in line with the purse. If anything, she could at least get the purse out of the Fight’s hands.

Syaoran and the Fight matched each other’s kicks with blocks and visa verca. Syaoran faked down and caught the Fight with another skillful footswipe. The Fight stumbled for a second, barely balancing herself. Sakura ran in and tore the purse out of the Fight’s arms, scared to death to be next to anything so powerful and be its enemy. Sakura darted away and handed the woman her purse.

The group of woman looked at Sakura with a incredous glare. They turned and left, not bothering to thank Sakura for helping them out. She tried to forget it and turned to see how Syaoran was doing. This time she would help him out, she wasn’t going to have any more close calls. Sakura took out her cards, but Syaoran looked sideways as he fought at her hand full of magic. "Not here, Sakura!" He yelled, jumping over one of Fight’s attempts at a footswipe. He punched powerfully at her, but she caught his fist in her hand and flipped him over with a simple twist of the arm.

Syaoran was thankful his arm had stiff, else it would have broken in midtwist. Still, it felt horrible from the unnaturnal direction it had been pulled. Fight ran in Syaoran’s second of vulnerability and grabbed him in a choke hold, pulling him to his feet. Syaoran looked defeated for one second, but he knelt down and flipped her over his back, then kicked sideways as she landed, but she had been expecting this, and had twisted around in midair to just barely miss his attack.

Watery wafted her way in from no where, and her and Fight had one breif moment to smile at each other before they took league at Syaoran.

Now the Fight could pass as a normal person, just someone with high fighting skills, But Watery was a bit unhuman looking, and she was completly composed of water. Syaoran evaded one more attack and ran by Sakura. "We’ve got to get away from all these people!"

They had attracted quite an audience, Sakura realized, as she ran after Syaoran as fast as she could get her legs to go. Many people watched them from the train’s windows, but Sakura barely saw them as she pushed her legs harder. She followed Syaoran out of the train station and onto snowy grass. It slowed them little as they ran across the snow. Sakura was able to run on top of the frozen snow, it was hard enough to support her light footed weight.

They were running uphill now, and trees were starting to become obstacles as they ran. They went through trees of all types. Sakura barely winced as a sharp needly tree slashed her as she ran by. Sakura’s legs started to hurt from the strenuous run uphill. Luckily, Syaoran began to slow. They reached the summit and looked about them. Nothing was following them, or at least to their knowledge.

A rushing sound caught both Sakura’s and Syaoran’s attention. Syaoran instinctively stood out in front of her and held his sword out now, he would be ready to finish the Fight off once and for all. If only I could have hit her with that kick, she would be back in the card as an ally.

A wind blew past Sakura’s ears. She recognized this wind, it brushed her hair out of her face with a fimiliar touch. "It’s Windy!" Sakura shouted over the rising sound of brushing trees.

Syaoran looked at the trees wavering against the wind’s strength. This foe may be beyond them. He shook that thought away and gripped his sword tighter. The Wind wasn’t going to stop him.

Wind rushed over the top of the hill and slowed to face Sakura and Syaoran. The Fight was with her. Syaoran glared and charged forward. He slashed his sword at both of them, but they were both quick, full of the energy he needed to fight. Sakura took our her power card, ready to avenge Syaoran’s fighting efforts. "Power!" She called her staff out and held it with her arms stretched out.

Sakura ran at the two feiry looking cards and swung it at them. It crashed down and made a large crater in the ground, but missed both of her adversaries. She picked it up and swung it around again, skimming the shoulder of Windy. Windy was pushed back, but was still alright.

Syaoran was working hard with his sword and the Fight card. So far, he was winning. He advanced on the confident looking opponent and slung his sword at her right shoulder. She moved as he would have predicted, and he caught her left knee with his foot and knocked her to the ground. He pinned her down with her sword and glowered down on her. "Go back to where you belong." He said.

But something was different with this card. It wasn’t obedient, but had a complete will of its own. It made a screech noise, and a blur of actions left Syaoran dumbfounded. The card screeched and was back on it’s feet again. Syaoran staggered back, something sharp was making his head spin. His stomach felt as if it had been torn apart. Syaoran took a shallow breath and pulled back. His hands went to his stomach, and his knees wavered. He fell onto his knees and doubled over his stomach. He realized that he no longer held his sword in his own hands, but the Fight had it pushed into his stomach.

Sakura looked up from her fight with Windy. Something just happened, Windy had swept over to Syaoran and the Fight card and pulled Syaoran’s sword right out of his hands, and turned it on him. Sakura stared with wide eyes as Syaoran staggered down and fell to his knees, surprise and agony plaguing his face. Sakura stood shocked for a moment, she could hardly beleive the Fight had defeated Syaoran. Then again, he was fighting against two cards, two cards that were using his own magic and turning it against him, much like how the Fight had turned his sword.

Sakura clenched her teeth and ran at the Fight, who was smiling at Syaoran as she withdrew the stained sword. Sakura took her staff and slammed it down with fury. It hit the Fight with perfect aim. The Fight froze in motion, then disappeared into the card in Sakura’s pocket. The Windy screeched and spun away friendless, much in the same fashion the ghost had spun away.

Sakura dropped the staff to her side and ran to Syaoran. "Syaoran!" Sakura screamed. She knelt down at his side in the cold snow. Syaoran looked up weakly at her, trying to push the pain down.

"Syaoran, Syaoran, oh God please don’t die Syaoran!" Sakura frantically looked at his stomach, where his hands were not doing a very good job at hiding the flowing blood.

Syaoran tried to smile, but a sharp pain jabbed him into more of a wince. "I’m not going to die, Sakura." Syaoran said gruffly, though he didn’t know if he even beleived those words himself. He had gotten himself in fixes, but never this near death.

Sakura sat back and looked at his bravery with teary eyes. "You have to get to somewhere warm; you’ll die if you stay out in this cold." Sakura looked with dispair at the location of the cut. "You know you can’t stop the bleeding with your hands." She said softly, not wanting to make Syaoran more tense from her obvious worrying condition.

Syaoran loosened his hand and looked at it. Sakura was right, his hand was covered with red, and his shirt was stained in a circle around the gash. He needed to get it bandaged. Syaoran looked about him for something to improvise for a bandadge.

Sakura pulled her sweatshirt off from under her coat, then set it on the ground, laying an arm out. She took her staff and used the Power to pull it apart, then took the well cut sleeve and held it to Syaoran. "This should reach." Sakura meant of course that the sleeve was kind of small to go all the way around his stomach and still tie in a knot.

Syaoran hesitantly took his hands away and left the wound for Sakura to fix. She wound it around very very tightly, and Syaoran had to clench his teeth to keep from moaning. Sakura finally finished fiddling with the knot and she sat back. Syaoran still bore the expression of torture. Sakura’s eyes softened again. "I’m sorry, does it feel any better?"

Syaoran had to get over the initial shock from the first pangs of horrible agony the tight sleeve had caused him, and then he realized that it did feel a little better than it had before; either that it had fixed the wound or was numbing the effects with its tightness. Syaoran nodded. Sakura smiled. "Do you think you can walk?"

Syaoran nodded, already attempting to get to his feet. He hated this fussing over him, even if it was Sakura. Then again, he knew he needed it, because this wasn’t just a frivolous little gash, this was a full blown stab in the gut. Syaoran had never thought about dying in combat, because he had always put such faith in his own skills. He knew that he’d get alot of bumps and bruises on the way, but what if he did make a mistake? Was he going to die now? But I don’t want to die! Not now, not when Sakura needs me so, and I am finally loosing the tight hold of my clan’s stict rules.

Syaoran stood firmly, maybe because of locked knees, but firmly all the more. Sakura stood up and eyed him, a dispirited look in her eye as she watched Syaoran force himself through such hardship. She knew she couldn’t do anything more for him, and that drove her crazy. A thirteen year old should never be stabbed intentionally, at least in her mind. Sakura looked off their little treeless plateau into the long extension of coniferous trees down the hillside. It was a long way down, wounded or not. Sakura wished she had the Float, or she would have liked to use it. Now she was stuck with the unused cards.

Sakura pulled out the Fiery. "Fiery, burn down a path down the hillside. Go!" The Fiery swirled out of the card and washed down the hillside, making a wide clear path through the trees. At least it would be easier walking. "Thank you Fiery!" Sakura said, calling it back into its card.

Syaoran started walking ahead of Sakura, though she quickly caught up to him. He set the pace, which was not very fast, but not horribly slow either. Sakura tried to gather a rough plan of what she would do when they got back down onto civilized land. She hated hospitals, and what more she didn’t quite know how to handle money payments and things like that without her father’s credit card. Sakura knew the best thing would be to bring Syaoran back home to Meilin, because Meilin seemed to generally have an idea of what to do. Still, that would require a bus ride, and a rather long one at that, not to mention the amount of time they would have to wait for a train going to their destination to come around.

Sakura fiddled with her cards as they walked, looking through the faded ones with despair. She looked through the usuable ones, glaring a bit at the Fight card that was now safe in her command, then looked through the rest. She stopped at the last one.

The Create. I’ve hardly used this, but what is it capable of? I could create a whole hospital for Syaoran if I wanted to. Why don’t I think of these things, I’ve got to remember I have magic at my disposal. Sakura held out the Create. Syaoran looked over and paused from his melancholy mechanical walking. He was able to put his mind somewhere else and let his body walk on in its pain without him for a while, but Sakura brought him back to reality.

"Create! Create us antiseptics!" Sakura put her staff on the card. She stood still a few seconds, waiting for the big whirlwind of action to take place, but nothing happened. "Create! I command you to obey!" She slammed her staff back down on the card. A faint breeze blew through the trees, but nothing happened.

Sakura frowned, frustrated. "Create!" She shouted loudly, but still, the card remained still. It dropped to the ground from her staff silently. Sakura bent over and picked the card out of the snow.

All to suddenly the Create sprung out of the card and whirled around them, then disappeared into the air. Sakura looked at the dull and lifeless card with horrid dismay. Her allies were growing thin now. The cards were abandoning her, even though she had fought so hard to win their loyalty. Sakura looked at Syaoran with depression. "They are all leaving me!" She said, angerly putting the card into one of her pockets.

Syaoran tried to be sympathetic, though he was preoccupied in keeping himself conscious. "There’s nothing we can do yet." He said gruffly.

Sakura sighed and looked ahead. She looked down the long path they had ahead of them, then looked back at Syaoran, who looked completly exhausted. Sakura was sure that all the magic that had been used from him was very tiring, not to mention adding the stabbed factor. Sakura’s eyes tried to water, but she fought it back. I am causing him so much pain! Why does he help me? Can’t he see he’s just going to end up getting hurt worse? I can’t put him through this anymore.

Sakura started walking silently, with Syaoran walking along beside. Their earlier sprint uphill turned into a perilous journey downhill. Sakura was worried that if Syaoran were to trip and fall, he would not get back up, so she kept her eyes atentive for loose roots and stumps. They slowly reached the base of the hill, where they trekked a flat stretch of land for a while until the train station was in sight.

Sakura and Syaoran stopped, admiring the goal that was now within sight. "I don’t suppose they’ll have a train going straight to Tomeoda at this time?" Sakura said sarcastically.

Syaoran looked at her worriedly. The whole purpose of this was to get away from Tomoeda, now she wants to go back? "Sakura, we cannot go back yet. You do understand that, right?"

Sakura looked at her feet guiltily. "I guess."

"It is too dangerous, we have to find some answers before we go back to that psycho." Syaoran said solemnly.

"Well she never tried to kill me before, Why would she ever kill me? She has no reason to hate my family! If I lived with her in the same house for all this time and nothing happened, why would she act now?" Sakura asked.

"Look, I don’t know why she times things the way she does, but it’s truth. She has killed people Sakura. Innocent people. For no apparent reason, children or adults it is all the same to her." Syaoran stopped his scold, because all the tension had been building up and was now settling on his stomach, causing great pangs of pain every few seconds.

Sakura looked back to her feet guiltily again, feeling horrible to make Syaoran talk so much, when it put him through pain. "I am sorry Syaoran, it’s hard to swallow that my whole family is being chased like this."

Syaoran nodded, but still remained silent.

A change in temperature caught both of their attention. Sakura looked up at the sky, which was clouding over quickly. Large drops of water came down, warm water, which should have been snow if it was precipitation.

Sakura watched the water droplets form with teary eyed frustration. The Watery slowly appeared before her, smiling as the Fight had smiled at them earlier. Apparently the Watery still wanted to finish the fight. Sakura gripped her staff tightly and flung out a card.

"Leave us alone!" Sakura shouted, slamming her staff down into the card in front of her. "Go! Freeze!" Sakura watched (with a bit of relief I might add - since the previous disobedience of the Create Card) the Freeze swirl out of the card and immediatly take to the task of catching Watery. It shrouded around all the possible water droplets in the air, making it impossible for Water to make an escape.

Sakura figured she might as well try to reclaim the card, she had it in a vulnerable spot, and she had close to nothing to lose. She brought her staff down on the main body of frozen water. "Watery! I command you to return to your power confined!" Sakura held the staff down, feeling the power charging through her. The Watery was fighting the unfolding confinement with great strength, but Sakura held her staff steady, gritting her teeth and forcing every ounce of magic in her to get this card back to where it belonged.

With a final cry of anger, the Watery returned into the Watery card. Sakura watched it go back, with a bit of self satisfaction, then called the Freeze back to its card. Sakura took the Watery up to veiw. She almost gasped as she saw the face of the Watery on its card now. Watery’s face was dark and twisted, with large eyes that followed Sakura whereever she held the card. Sakura rushed over to Syaoran to show him. "Look at that! Watery’s messed up! What’s wrong with her?"

Syaoran frowned at the dark card. "This card is dark, you can’t use it. It’s still trying to side with the enemy as it’s in its confinement."

Sakura turned her eyes away from the awful sight and put the card into her pocket. "I just don’t get it. Who’s our bigger enemy; the ghost or the psycho? So far I think the ghost has caused far more damage than the person has. Why is this ghost after us as well?"

Syaoran looked even more exhausted, if that was possible. "I’m not sure." He was amazed at her progress from the timid girl she once was into the confident and powerful magician she was now, but his brain could hardly focus. He wasn’t sure which was worse; his pain or his exhaustion. Right now the tiredness seemed to be winning.

Sakura looked at Syaoran’s sleepiness with commemoration. "Come on, we both need to sit."

____________________________________________________________________

Syaoran glared at the train sitting on the tracks next to him. Sakura was off buying their tickets with the left over money Syaoran had, but Syaoran was firmly against the going-back-to-Tomeoda idea. He had set out on the train for a reason, not to just up and turn around. The problem was, Syaoran wasn’t in the position to protest, because he was spending alot of his time fighting off unconscious. It was getting worse, he knew, with every step he forced his body to endure, the more fight it fought back. Right now Syaoran had to admit that a fluffy bed to sleep in for a few weeks sounded good to him, but he was trying to keep their main objective ahead of him.

Sakura skipped over, smiling. She held up the two tickets between her fingers. "Sleep carts! Perfect luck, the last open cart." She sat down on the bench next to Syaoran. He barely heeded her words, only stared down at his feet with a clouded look over his eye. Sakura sighed, she wasn’t sure if he was in pain, or if he was unhappy that they were going back, either way she was dismayed to see him unhappy.

"We might as well board, it’s alot warmer in there." Sakura said, keeping a watchful eye on him to make sure he was still conscious and capable of walking.

Syaoran brought his eyes up and looked at the small crowd of people around the open train station. Sakura looked at his eyes with curiosity, his eyes seemed to be thousands of miles away, despite their limited vision here. I wonder what he thinks about that keeps him so distant? Must be fairly interesting to be able to block out this scene.

Syaoran got up slowly and followed Sakura’s practical path into their cart. Syaoran grimaced up the steps onto the train, but once inside looked at their cart with wonder. Sleep cart? This is like the vampire groupy cart. Syaoran looked at the small little beds that were covered by the wall’s protuding shape. "Those are beds?"

Sakura shrugged, still smiling with pride at the cart she had been able to get. "Well they may be small, but you’ll be appreciating them when you are asleep. Have you ever tried to sleep in a chair like the ones in there?"

Syaoran continued to look skeptically at the beds. "Look more like coffins to me."

Sakura sighed and sat at the edge of a lower bed. "Once you’re done complaining, this is your bed. I got a top one." Sakura pointed to the bunk on top of the lower one. "Amazing, they have carts made for sleeping..." Sakura said, climbing the tiny ladder to her fortress.

"It’s for business people that travel by trains, so they can catch up on sleep or whatever." Syaoran said, amazed of how soft the bed felt after walking around with a fatal wound in the stomach. Speaking of which, Syaoran looked down to see how Sakura’s sleeve bandage was holding up. His plans were interrupted, as two men dressed in business suits walked into their cart, holding breifcases. They looked at Syaoran with a bit of annoyance, set their luggage in the little space in the front of the cart, then took the two opposite beds to them. They pulled down some door things, then were blocked from Syaoran and Sakura’s sight.

Business people... Syaoran grumbled in his head, swinging his legs over and attempting to lie down as his cut screamed in protest for the stretching of the wound. It wasn’t another moment before everything went black for Syaoran, and he was unconsciously appreciative of the sleeping card Sakura had managed to get them.

____________________________________________________________________

Sakura lay restless in her little perch of a bed. Syaoran had been silent for over two hours now, so Sakura knew he was asleep. They had about a thousand stops before they would cross with another train that would take them to Tomeoda.

Currently Sakura was trying to figure out what she was going to do. She knew she’d make sure Syaoran was taken care of first, but after that she wasn’t sure. She was planning to talk to Uncle Guan about everything first, but after that, who knows. Sakura knew she couldn’t drag Syaoran into anything else, no matter how much she wanted his protection and company. She couldn’t risk it.

On top of everything, it was going to be tough to explain to her family why she had been gone for a day without warning. Right now it was starting to get dark outside. No doubt their full journey would go well into the next morning. Sakura tried to find a story that sounded good, but they all sounded so fake and farfetched. Still, she had to leave Syaoran out of the story, because he was wounded, and that would lead into all kinds of crap Sakura didn’t want to try to explain to her father.

A slight tap on the high window right next to Sakura’s resting head rustled in Sakura’s ears. She glanced over, then half jumped into the little door thing that kept her bed private. Two beady brown eyes gleamed at her with the last of the sun’s pink light.

"Kero-chan!!" Sakura exclaimed. Sakura whipped out her cards and as quietly as she could called out her staff. "Through card! Bring Keroberus through the glass!"

The through card immediatly did what it was told, and Kero was inside. His cold little arm was shivering. "It’s about time! Sakura you are cruel, making me hang on to the edge of that window for a half hour! What on earth could you be thinking about that is more important then me!?"

Sakura smirked. "Let’s see; the fate of my family, how to escape an excon... Kero I am so happy to see you up and about! I checked on your every day (almost) and talked to you though I knew you couldn’t hear. Did you have a good sleep?"

Kero smiled, his smug little bear smile. "Enough to last me another year. Okay fill me in! Tomoyo told me what she could, but her information was pretty vague. You have no idea how long it took me to find you train...and then to find what cart....oh it was a nightmare. You owe me big, Sakura. On top of that, I got into you room, and some crazed bug started flying around me and sprinkilng some blue dirt and shouting some weird words. Strange things are afoot at 315 Treyaak Drive."

Sakura smiled. "So much has happened Kero! That bug is Bob-you know, Bob!" (Sakura pauses to delight in Kero’s wide eyed surprise.) "I knew the extended jar was a good idea. To be honest, that bug kind of freaks me out." (Kero: "Yeah, me too.") "That’s irrelevant, but there is some weirdo stuff going on. It turns out some psycho after my family has been locked up in the old part of the house, and she finally got loose to try and capture me. That’s why I’m here- Sy- I, uh, decided to get away from her for a little while. But besides that, the ghost is getting really strong. We’re not sure if everything is tied in, but it’s getting really hard to fight just one off, let alone two. Syaoran was stabbed-" (Sakura glares at Kero’s look of slight satisfaction) "And I don’t know if he’ll live-" (Sakura exagerated just a little bit to take the look of satisfaction off Kero’s face) "And so that’s why we are going back to Tomeoda."

Kero’s face screwed up with disgust. "You mean to tell me that brat is here with you!? Can’t you go anywhere without him? I am going to go tell him personally that we don’t need his help everywhere we go..." Kero went on about it, but Sakura just ignored it patiently. She knew the real reason Kero was so ticked off was because Syaoran had lasted longer than Kero had; Kero had been put out of commission at the beginning of the fight.

"Kero, please, we have to be reasonable." Sakura stopped, because the intercom outside their cart was talking quietly.

"...Food cart open from now to eleven p.m. Thank you."

Kero started puling determinedly at the door that had closed Sakura’s bed off. Sakura sighed exasperated. "Kero-chan can’t you think about anything other than food!?"

Kero stopped and turned around innocently. "Stop thinking..." He whispered to himself, then crossed his arms. "I took a curse while trying to help you Sakura, and then was stuck in the same doggone spot for two weeks with no food or water, and you think I should be happy to prolong the famine!? Please Sakura! I nnneeed it!!"

Sakura sighed again and opened the door. Kero dived into her pocket, and Sakura climbed down the ladder for the both of them. Sakura looked curiously at Syaoran’s ‘coffin’, but it was closed too. Sakura figured that made sense, Syaoran valued his privacy very much.

Sakura walked up the stairs in their cart to get to the upstairs carts, then made her way down the long aisles, hopping nervously across the cart changes. She reached the food cart after not too long; she found that their cart was located rather near it, contrasting their last train cart. There was a small line, so Sakura stood patiently in the back.

Once up to the counter, Sakura gawked at the outrageous prices. Sakura had some money, but she hadn’t been planning on blowing it out on train food. "Can I get two cokes and two bags of chips?" Sakura felt a sharp pinch coming from her pocket. "Make that four bags of chips."

She reluctantly payed the awful amount, then headed back up to the upstairs so she could travel back to her sleep cart. Once up, Sakura looked both ways. She didn’t feel like sleeping, but she wasn’t sure what else there was to do. Sakura figured she could explore the train, Kero wouldn’t know once he had his food.

Sakura walked the opposite direction and walked softly through a cart with a few people asleep in their chairs. Three kids had a set of action figures and were playing with them on the seats. Sakura embaressedly turned her eyes away from a couple that were making out in their seat without any thought to what other people might think of them.

Sakura hopped through the cart thing and landed feeling another annoying pinch from her pocket. Kero wanted food. Sakura stopped in the back of the cart and held her coat pocket up. "What do you want?" Sakura whispered harshly.

Kero looked around and then returned his gaze to Sakura. "Food. Aren’t we there yet?"

Sakura sighed. She dropped her pocket, then shoved a bag of chips into her pocket. She walked through this cart, hopped across the cart change. This cart had a large amount of oddly set chairs and couched, along with tables and booths. Televisions were set in the corners of ther room, playing a movie Sakura didn’t recognize.

Sakura sat down in a solitary chair, ignoring a group of kids her age sitting off in their own group. She looked up at the television but didn’t have a clue what was going on in the movie. She tried to listen to the television sound, but it was hard with all the talking noise. Kero was crunching loudly from her pocket, which sounded a bit interesting.

Two boys, one looking slightly younger than Sakura, and one about her age, walked over and sat in two chair near Sakura, though being so absorbed in concentrating on the movie, Sakura didn’t even notice them until they spoke.

"Hello." The younger one said.

Sakura looked down from the movie, not sure if the ‘hello’ was directed at her or someone sitting around her. When she realized two boys were talking to her, she decided she better answer. "Hi." She said, with a short smile, then looked back up to the tv, very aware that they were still looking at her.

"Are you from Tokyo?" The older one asked.

Sakura looked back down, trying to stay polite. "No. I am from a nearby city. This was the fastest way to get back."

"Oh. Well we are traveling with our school." He pointed back at a large group of kids- mainly boys- that were watching them also.

Sakura sat nervously in her seat. Why do they have to hit on me? Can’t kids be normal and civil sometimes? "Oh, where are you going?" She asked politely.

"Tokyo of course!" The younger one said. The older one glowered at him from speaking again.

Another boy walked over coolly, though Sakura didn’t think it was cool at all, he looked very stupid in her opinion. "Hey guys." He addressed Sakura, holding out his hand for a hand shake. "I am Li."

Sakura was suprised with his name. "Like from the Li clan you mean?"

The boy seemed to hesitate before answering firmly. "Yes."

Sakura smiled. "I have a friend that is a Li also. You must know each other!"

The boy grinned nervously. "Maybe, I don’t know, the Li clan is very large and I don’t know very many people because of going off to school so young..."

Sakura nodded. "Li Syaoran?" She said.

"Syaoran...umm...boy or girl? What did it look like?"

Sakura frowned. This was all very fishy to her. I thought everyone thought of Syaoran as a boy’s name? Maybe these kids were very sheltered? Sakura tried to be more suspicious, as Syaoran would be. " Brown haired boy- listen I’ve gotta get back to my cart." Sakura said, getting up from her chair. The boys looked at her with dismay.

Sakura stalked off, angry with herself for being so socially impaired. She heard the older one reprimand the third boy saying, "You chased her away. Li clan my butt you’re no more a Li then I am a Samurai descendant!"

Sakura smiled with some satisfaction, because it was nice to know she was pretty enough that boys would chase after her. Sakura hopped across the cart change, then headed to her cart.

________________________________________________________________________

Syaoran watched the television with dreary eyes. He had gotten bored of sitting in the coffin, so he had decided to go out somewhere. He had put a couple spells on himself to numb out the pain, and to try and keep himself awake from the tiredness of having his magic used up. He had set himself down in the farthest and most recluded corner of the cart, away from the annoying group of school kids.

The movie on television was some weird movie from America with a poor dubbing job. It had a very strange variety of comedy and drama, but Syaoran didn’t like it very much. He thought the structure of the movie was horrible, and the plot was about as thick as his thin tshirt.

Syaoran knew he probably looked a bit strange where he was; huddled in the corner with a coat wrapped around him, but his shirt was still blood stained, and he didn’t want to freak people out. He had accidentally caught eyes with one of the school girls, and ever since then the little group of gossipers would look over at him and giggle and stuff. Syaoran had just sunk lower in his chair and tried to keep himself as unrecognizable as possible.

Syaoran was getting very bored with this movie, so he got up and headed across the cart. The girls watched him with shy eyes, and a group of three boys were looking at him with curiosity. "Excuse me-" One of them said.

Syaoran stopped walking reluctantly, and gave the boy his most intimidating glare.

"We were just wondering - are you from the Li family?" A slightly younger one asked.

Syaoran frowned even deeper, thinking about how he was going to respond. "Why do you ask?"

"I told you; we’re just wondering." The boy said, trying to fight back intimidation with intimidation.

Syaoran glared. That doesn’t qualify as an answer. Syaoran shook his head and stalked away. He walked quickly through the train, then entered quietly into their sleep cart. When he had left, Sakura had been asleep, at least he thought. He hoped she still had her bed thing shut, cause she would probably yell at him for walking around when he should be sleeping.

Syaoran froze midstep as he walked into the cart. Sakura had her bed thing open, and was sitting with a very fimiliar yellow teddybear type thing, eating chips. Syaoran sighed, he knew he couldn’t sneak into his bed without her knowing. He walked into the cart with his eyes on the floor.

Sakura looked up, surprised. "Syaoran! I thought you were asleep!"

Kero frowned at him. He looked back to Sakura. "About to die? He looks healthy to me, Sakura."

"Syaoran! You should be sleeping, how are you walking around?"

Syaoran looked down. "Well I used some spells. I got bored."

Sakura sighed. "Well I got you a drink if you want it." She pulled the bottle of coke from behind her. Kero gawked at the full bottled drink with hungry eyes.

Syaoran reached up and took it from her, then winced from stretching himself out so much. Sakura looked sympathetically at him. "Has it stopped bleeding?"

"Hard to tell, cause I spelled it into not bleeding."

Sakura nodded. She got out of her sitting position. "Here, lemme look at it."

Kero was watching this whole scene with annoyance. "Syaoran just needs to suck it in and go to sleep, right brat?"

Syaoran glared at Kero. "I see you already started your binging." Syaoran said, looking at the three empty chip bags around Kero, and the bag he was holding in his hand.

Sakura grabbed Kero before he could say anymore. Kero struggled a little, then settled back down to sitting. He grabbed the bag of chips, then fluttered down to Syaoran’s bed thing. He pulled it open, then flew in, closing it tightly behind him.

Syaoran glared. "Hey that’s my bed!" Syaoran pulled on the door, but it was locked. He sighed.

Sakura hopped down from her bunk drinking some of her almost gone soda. "They have a movie playing, though I didn’t know what it was."

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah, I saw some of it, it’s pretty dumb."

Sakura was already trying to eye Syaoran’s cut, but he had it well covered for his travel through the train. "Do you need another sleeve or something to tie around it? I’ve still got one sleeve left."

Syaoran smiled. "It feels fine. You can go back to sleep if you want, Kero’s bound to come out soon."

Sakura shook her head, unconvinced. She learned that just because Syaoran said he felt fine, he was still very likely to have a mortal wound slowly bleeding him to death. "I’d sleep better if I knew for sure you are alright."

Syaoran sighed, and seeing that it would be a hard fight to win this arguement, took his coat off, then pulled off the last remaining sweatshirt. Underneath, he had Sakura’s sleeve thing tied around his tshirt.

A person just changing carts, walked into theirs and eyes Sakura and Syaoran suspiously, before walking quickly by and hurrying up the stairs. Sakura laughed, partly from embaressedment and partly because she knew they probably did look very ridiculous. "Dressing a wound in a train aisleway is probably not the best idea."

Syaoran nodded. His spell was starting to wear off, because he was becoming more and more aware that the gash was there. Sakura was climbing up to her bunk. She looked down expectantly at Syaoran, who looked at he with surprise.

She wants me to go up there? Syaoran, shaking away heavy blush, climbed up the ladder with obvious pain. He bumped his head on the low ceiling as he tried to sit up. Sakura smiled sympathetically and picked up a a bundle of things wrapped in a sheet. "They had some stuff in the emergency aid kit, they even had a nurse on duty, but I knew you wouldn’t tolerate that."

Sakura set the stuff down in front of him. "This stuff’s gonna sting really bad."

Syaoran was still sititng really uncomfortably in the low ceilinged thing. He tried to kneel, but that wouldn’t work. But Sakura had it all worked out in her head. "Lie down, then." She said.

Syaoran obeyed, though it was hard not to be aware of the very strong vibes of awkwardness from the whole situation. He didn’t like to be in this vulnerability to anyone, but little did Sakura know that he would only obey certain people. Syaoran lay with his head down, then noticed the great veiw out the window Sakura had. He turned his head and gazed out into the night scenery. He drew his eyes back away as he felt cold and real oxygen going over his gash. He had it so smothered with cloth earlier, that it had never seen real air. It hurt and felt good all at the same time. Syaoran tried to lift his head to look at what Sakura was about to do, and to see what his cut looked like, but that needed stomach muscles, the very ones that were aching.

Sakura was staring at his cut with wideyes. It was very deep, and very bad, in her opinion. On top of that, it went through a scar Syaoran had already had across his stomach from the slash he had taken for Sakura when they were in the States. "Syaoran-you got this cut right through your last one!"

Syaoran wanted to look, but he still couldn’t support his head. "Great. At least it will all be the same scar." He said sarcastically.

Sakura smiled weakly and grabbed the peroxide from beside her, along with some cotton to put it on. She hesitated in pushing it down, she knew it was going to sting alot. Syaoran was looking out the window, deep in thought, so now was probably the best time to put it on. She pushed it down and looked away all at the same time. Syaoran hardly winced, but only stared out the window with his teeth clenched. Sakura took the cotton away and watched the white bubbles fiz around the cut. "It’s getting infected."

Syaoran was gazing out the window, trying to ignore the stinging tickle of the peroxide. Sakura put another cleaner thing on some cotton, then pressed it down, not as careful as she had been the last time.

Syaoran cringed at this one- it burned alot more then the last one. Syaoran waited for the maddening sting to stop, but it persisted. Syaoran grit his teeth. "What is that stuff?" He moaned.

Sakura picked the bottle up and read the lable. "Iodine something. It says it’s for cleaning cuts."

Syaoran pushed his teeth together. No wonder it hurts! Iodine? Well at least I know my cut will be clean...But at what price? If this stuff doesn’t stop hurting in the next minute, I’m going to throw myself out the window!

Sakura admired Syaoran’s strength, and felt bad about using this stuff, because he was in actual pain again. Sakura picked up the gauze she had stolen and unwrapped some of it. She looked at Syaoran, who was still gritting his teeth. "You’ve gotta try to sit up so I can wrap this stuff on you."

Syaoran brought his eyes away from the window and looked up at Sakura, who was bending over him. Kero interrupted the scene, buzzing in nochalantly. Syaoran glared at him from his laying position, and Kero found this amusing. "What’s wrong Brat-chan? Not enjoying being out of commision?"

Syaoran had had enough. He sprung up, ignoring the screams of pain and protest coming from his stomach, and tried to pounce on Kero, who deftly flew behind Sakura. Syaoran landed stomach down, then (saying "arghhhh!") pushed himself off the sheets that were clinging to his wet wound.

Sakura helped him sit up with his feet in front of him, and patted him consolingly on the shoulder, giving a mean glare at Kero, who threw his hands in the air with mock confusion and innocence. "Are you alright Syaoran-chan?" She asked.

Syaoran got over the first pangs of shocking pain, then nodded weakly at Sakura, though he was glaring at Kero. Sakura took the gauze from her side and held it up. "‘kay, I’m gonna wrap this stuff while you’re sitting right."

Sakura wrapped it tightly over a soft cotton bandadge uptil the peice of gauze was gone. Her long dormant butterflies were trying to take flight, though Sakura was trying to keep them on the ground. She couldn’t help but notice what good shape he was in, all things considered. He manages to still have perfect abs even after he’s been stabbed in the gut. How impressive.

Syaoran was too busy glaring at Kero to notice Sakura’s sparking eyes, and Kero was too busy glaring at Syaoran to be annoyed with Sakura’s odd behavior. Sakura sat back. "Done."

Syaoran looked down at Sakura’s clean bandadge job. "Cool." Said Syaoran. He supported himself up with his arms behind him and drank some of his coke.

Sakura wanted to talk further about this whole psycho person ordeal, but she was reluctant to push Syaoran into a conversation. "Do you think it’s safe for me to go home?" She asked.

"No. But there’s not really any other choice." Syaoran said.

Kero was sitting indignatly. "Sakura you know I am fully capable of fighting off anything."

Sakura sweatdropped. She ignored Kero an continued to talk to Syaoran. "D’you think that it’d be safe for me to talk to my family about it? I cannot beleive Uncle Guan would put my family in so much danger!" Sakura eyes started to burn with anger.

"He only knew so much himself, Sakura, don’t be so quick to judge him. I don’t want you to be walking around alone in your house, especially after dark. Will you promise me?"

Kero was sticking his chest out in pride and self confidence. "Excuse me, am I being ignored here? Can you hear the words coming out of my mouth? Sakura won’t be out of my sight, that’s a given."

Sakura hated them fussing over her own safety. "Do you guys forget I am the Cardmistress? I think I can take care of myself, as long as the ghost doesn’t show up."

"Just promise." Syaoran insisted.

Kero was waving his little arms around. "Hellllloo!? Did you not hear anything I just said?"

Syaoran glared at Kero. "You glutton, you can’t do anything but eat and sleep. Now if you can fight a psychotic murder using your pie eating skills, that’s beyond me."

Sakura sighed as they continued to argue. She knew she would have to do this by herself, no matter how much Syaoran didn’t want her to. But who was this person-why was she after her family? And can’t Syaoran concentrate? Can’t he see how important this is (with good reason) to me? I just want to try and straighten out the facts, and he and Kero go bickering about and nothing is accomplished.

____________________________________________________________________

Sakura stepped lightly through the large thick door, leaving the freedom of the outdoors behind to step into the nightmare of her home. She closed the door gently behind her, then looked around the large entry room. It looked the same as it always had, though with the gloom of the rising dawn it had an eerieness to it, a discomforting vibe that chilled right down to Sakura’s bone.

Syaoran was safe at his apartment, with Meilin, no doubt being fussed over. The long trip from Tokyo had taken them through night into the early hours of the morning. If Sakura’s brain was right, this was the first day of winter, the shortest day and the longest night, and Sakura could feel the prolonged dawn stretch before her as she stepped further into her own doom.

"Sakura! Where have you been!?" Called an angry, worried voice. Touya appeared from the kitchen, looking very tired.

Sakura looked at him with emptyness. "At Tomoyo’s."

Touya’s eyes were burning. "No you weren’t. Why are you lying? I know you are hiding something."

Sakura shook her head. "No, Uncle Guan is the one hiding something."

Touya frowned and looked at his sister with worry. "Are you alright?"

Sakura frowned back. "I’m fine for now. Onni-chan you must have heard of her by now." Sakura said.

Touya shook his head. "Heard of who?"

"Aruka." Sakura said, watching his reaction very closely.

Touya looked at her with suprise. "How did you hear about her?" He asked coldly.

Sakura gasped inside. So he knew about her all along as well? What’s wrong with them? Why won’t they get rid of the danger? "Did you think I was so young and stupid I wouldn’t figure it out?"

Touya’s eyes seemed to soften with remembered sadness. "I just-...I didn’t think dad woul tell you when you are still so little- he only told me two years ago, I was much older than you and..."

This was all very confusing to Sakura. "Two years ago? What do you mean?"

Touya’s eyes were normal again, but confused. "Two years ago, father told me about Aruka and what she had done,...isn’t that what you are talking about?"

Sakura was now very intersted in what Touya was talking about. "I do not know what you mean- I am talking of the present. Please tell me what you mean."

Touya was choking on his words. "No, uh, it’s nothing. What do you mean- the ‘present’?"

Sakura had to know what he had been talking about. "Tell me Touya! Tell me and then I will tell you."

Touya frowned, an obvious amount of emotional pain crossing his face. "Father will be very upset for me telling you this...but you do need to know..Did father ever tell you how mother died?"

Sakura frowned. "Well yeah, she was very sick. Like bad pneumonia or something."

Touya nodded, though Sakura knew he was not done with what he had to say. "That’s something he told you when you were little. You were always so curious, and you wouldn’t have understood..."

"Get on with it!" Sakura said, her patience at its end.

"She was killled by Aruka. Aruka - she had been chased by the police for a few months before she finally escaped their chase and got to our mom. Father says it was horrible, when he found her..."

Sakura was staring with disbeleif. "Touya! She is here, Aruka is here!"

Touya frowned at her with disgust, like it was an insult to their mother’s death. "Sakura..."

"No no no, she’s here! She’s tied in with Uncle Guan- he keeps her at this house! And Chindra’s her youngest daughter, our families go way back, but I am not sure what she wants. Really, Touya, she tried to kill me too! She could be listening to us right now!"

Touya arched his eyebrow. "Uh..."

Sakura grabbed his arm and pulled him toward’s Uncle Guan’s room. "Come on, Uncle Guan knows all about it, come on!"

She pulled him along and opened the door to Uncle Guan’s room. No one was in the small bedroom. Sakura just turned and pulled Touya to Uncle Guan’s study room, the second place he would be.

She opened the door to the large room and looked in. A fire was going, a sure sign of Uncle Guan. Sakura stepped in and gasped.

Chindra was in the room also, but was kneeling over Uncle Guan, sobbing. There was a large amount of blood around him. Touya was looking at the scene with wide eyes. He was about to run over to Uncle Guan’s side, when another figure stopped him.

A woman with black hair was turning around from her desk, a shining metal object gleaming in her hand. Touya put an arm on Sakura’s shoulder and pulled her back. Sakura stared with fear and then looked again at Uncle Guan and the horrific scene.

The woman smiled cruely at Sakura and Touya, who were both backing away with utmost respect for the gun she carried. Their backs hit a wall, and they could back away no longer. Sakura tried to surpress the shakes of fear and keep alert. The black haired woman advanced, holding the gun out in front of her, aimed well at Sakura’s forehead. Sakura felt a surge of courage, she knew that she wouldn’t shoot her until she had had a word with her. "I know who you are now, Aruka."

Aruka spun the gun around her fingers teasingly, then grinned sideways. "Do you, then? Pity, I enjoy talk."

"Why are you hurting my family!?" Sakura asked, pulling out of Touya’s grasp to come closer to her foe in her fury.

"Revenge. All about it. You treat us inferior- locked up, prison. No more, no more. Avenged my mothers are with yous death."

Sakura swallowed hard, she had known what Aruka wanted to happen in the end, but wasn’t prepared to think that death could come so soon. Still, Sakura had to know what she was talking about, what did she mean? Was she tied into the vision she had seen, with the ghost as a young girl, and another dark black haired woman that was locking the ghost in? That did not make any sense to Sakura, Aruka was saying that her mother had been the one locked up, but if Aruka was related to anyone, it was the one that was locking the ghost up. "Why?"

Aruka’s patience was coming to an end. "Lifetimes wasted. Locked up! Your doing, evil sinister people you are!"

Touya was sick of his sister doing the talking. He stepped up in front of her and swiftly tried to pull the gun out of her grasp. Instead, it clattered to the floor. Both Aruka and Touya dove unto the floor to get it. Sakura watched helplessly.

Touya wrestled to get to it, but realizing that his efforts were futile, he changed goals, and hit the gun with his fist safely across the floor. Aruka shreiked and got to her feet. She held her hands out towards the gun, and it flew swiftly through the air. Sakura looked stupified. Had Aruka just used magic?

A wind blew through the room, causing the fire to flicker and dance nervously in its place. Sakura’s hair blew hazardously into her eyes, and she quickly brushed it away. A voice was moving with the wind, whispers from a good distance away, but Sakura could tell from their tone that this voice was angry and ready to fight. Sakura looked wildly around the room, and it started to dim with the fading fire. The fire finally gave out with a last draft of wind, to leave a stirring smoldering pile of ashes.

Aruka was looking up with utmost alarm, terror stricken at the coming wind. The gun she was holding dropped to the floor as her hands went limp with fear. Sakura knew something bad was happening, but she was unsure of what was coming. Touya had slowly gotten to his feet, his eyes locked on the directional source of the wind. Sakura wondered what could be horrible enough to join such feirce foes as allies in fear, but her thoughts were interrupted. Aruka let out a bone chilling scream and tore off at her full and awkward sprint, leaving the room, banging through the doors of the house, until all was silent, and the last door was closed to leave her outside in the cold snow.

It took Sakura a few moments to collect her thoughts enough to move. The wind had stopped, and the noises along with it. She took a second to distinguish reality from what she might have imagined in her own head. She looked to Touya, who was staring at the same spot, his eyes unable to move. Could that really have been the person that killed my mother? Then again, is that so hard to beleive? "Do you beleive me now, onni-chan?"

Touya stayed silent for a moment. "Something was coming. I could feel it." He turned to Sakura, finally tearing his eyes off their spot. "How do you know all of this? I know something’s going on Sakura. Why did you not tell me it was at this level of proportion?"

Sakura wasn’t sure how to respond. "I...uh, I..."

"What, you were just going to wait until a few more of our family members were killed before you’d spill the beans? Thought you’d have some fun with this precious information before you’d let us in on your little secret?"

Sakura’s eyes watered with disbeleif of her brother’s accusation. "Touya you know I wouldn’t- I ...I didn’t have anything to do with this!"

"Of course not. Nothing to do with any of these things that just happen to revolve around you."

Sakura was even more taken aback. "You mean...Are you suggesting that I staged this? What kind of person do you take me for!?"

Touya drew his eyes away, letting them rest coldly on Uncle Guan’s lifeless body, of which Chindra was huddled over, her face in her hands. "I wouldn’t of thought you could conjure something this big up, I’ll give you that, but ever since you were a kid, you always wiggled your way into the center of attention. I thought you’d grown out of it for a while, things were quiet, but then you came back, stronger than ever, hungry for attention. You’re not the only one who grew up without a mom, at least you didn’t live through her death (He is saying that figuring Sakura would understand he meant something like ‘you weren’t old enough to be aware of what was going on’)."

Sakura was staring hard at her feet, her large green eyes waved over with thick tears. "I never knew you thought of me like that, onni-chan." She said quietly. "I didn’t think you thought I was capable of...of...this." She waved her hands at Uncle Guan’s direction, unwilling to look at it.

Touya shook his head. "Oh come on, Sakura. You were running around saying you could do magic and move stuff around at your will! You don’t think that was a warning sign? Well I can sense things too, little sister. So you couldn’t stand to share the limelight with me?"

Sakura had her teeth clenched together. Never in her life could she have imagined her brother saying such treachory to her, but here he was, speaking it earnestly. Sakura couldn’t stay here, her strength had diminished. She had felt drained facing her mother’s murderer, but now, she was completly exhausted. Sakura squeezed her eyes shut, the extra tears falling out the corners. She opened them again, and they were dry. "Please think of what you are saying." She said softly.

Touya had calmed just a little bit, but his dillusion was still set. "I think you should go and let the rest of us take care of this." Touya said through closed teeth.

That was all the invitation Sakura needed. She spun around and fled, running through the coats and grabbing hers, then grabbed an extra, to ensure her warmth. She was not sure how long she would flee, but she wanted to be prepared. Sakura ran out into the snow and sprinted the entire length of her driveway. Once out onto the dark road, Sakura slowed, her body was completly exhausted and in bad need of sleep. Sakura didn’t want to see anyone, be near any person, until she had cleared her mind.

Sakura trudged the deep snowed in lane until she made a plan of where she was headed, then let her brain disconnect from her legs, and they carried her along at a good pace until she reached her destination.

The sun was just starting to rise, and Sakura looked with disgust at the happy sunlight. She wanted overcast, dark and gloomy clouds, to be covering the sky. To the west it seemed she might have her hope, because a large front of clouds was slowly dominating the sky.

Sakura walked through the deep snowy field until she reached the large barn that stood sneering in its sturdy ground. A sparkling grey horse was waiting at the gate, patiently, as if it had forseen what it would be needed for this day. Sakura opened the gate and grabbed a peice of her mane, and walked her blithely into the barn. She closed the sliding door and then turned on an old kerosene lamp. Sakura wasn’t quite sure how it worked or how long it would run, but she was thankful for it’s gentle light.

Sakura sat in a pile of soft hay that was drifted in the corner. Moondust was chewing on some stray peices of hay, then came over to Sakura’s spot, sniffing her gently before returning to eating from a nearby pile. Sakura watched her in her beauty for a moment, before allowing the thoughts to come flooding back.

Sakura’s body was incredibly thankful to be sitting down so comfortably. She shifted around until she could rest her head comfortably, and then some random tears fell down her cheeks. She stared at Moondust’s blurred silver figure, letting her thoughts move by in the backround, but not letting them disrupt her study of Moondust’s beautiful form.

Moondust heaved a sigh, then walked over to Sakura and slowly knelt down. She lay down with her forelegs tucked in, and rested her head on Sakura’s thigh. Sakura was a bit startled with the horse’s behavior, because she wasn’t sure how exactly cuddly a horse was, or if it was normal for them to lay down like this. She was pretty sure they slept standing up, and she hadn’t remembered anything about them laying down like this. Still, Sakura considered it an act of consolation, so she gladly accepted, and stroked the horse’s forelock unconsciously as her thoughts began to cloud in stronger than ever.

Could Touya have been under some kind of magic spell? It’s probable, but I really don’t think he was. He sounded so honest, could he have really wholeheartedly beleived that? I could have never imagined that he could say such things...Where is Kero? He left me again? That figures. Sakura fell into a dreamless sleep, her thoughts leaving her at an unsettling peace for the few hours she slept.

____________________________________________________________________

Syaoran dared to open his eyes. The bad conciquence that could occur if he did open his eyes is that Meilin would still be staring back, and she would force him to drink more of the nasty medicine supplement concocture she had made, then he would have to sleep for another five hours before he could try to open them again.

To his great releif, nothing was staring back at him except the same white ceiling that had been over this room since it had been made. Syaoran looked around the room to make sure Meilin wasn’t hiding anywhere, then carefully swung his legs over the side of the bed and planted them softly on the hardwood floor.

He was terribly dizzy, which made being stealthful a very hard job, but he managed to do it all the same. Meilin had insisted on rebandadging the cut, so now Syaoran was walking around with nothing but a bandadge and a pair of boxers on, which how he had ended up in this outfit Syaoran was not quite sure, but he knew it must of been Meilin’s doing. Had he had it his way, when Sakura dropped him off he would have gone straight to sleep in his pants and stained shirt, he didn’t see the difference it made.

The only real difference, he realized, was that he was freezing cold, but Syaoran figured he could rough the temperature to get himself a drink of water before rushing back to the warm refuge in his bed.

All too quickly, Syaoran’s hands were locked behind him, and a peice of cotton was being held threateningly near his stomach, with only his bandadge to kept the stinging antiseptic menace from touching his open wound. Meilin held his arms tightly. "Where to, so early in the morning, cousin?"

Syaoran sighed, trying to get his arms out of Meilin’s well trained arm lock. "Meilin you are being ridiculous. I was walking around fine earlier, I just want to get a glass of water."

"That’s because you had Sakura taking care of you. Of course I can’t blame her, she doesn’t know how to handle these situations, but to make you walk miles like this? Ugh..."

"Oh come on..." Syaoran pulled his arms harder, which only tightened Meilin’s grip. She held the cotton threateningly.

"Syaoran I know you don’t want any more of this Iodine Peroxide cleaning up all those nasty bacteria, but if we keep walking around, your immune system’s going to need a little help and..."

Syaoran cringed to think of having the stinging liquid come near him again. "Just get me a glass of water, okay?"

Meilin was ecstatic with the errand. She loosened her grip and gently led Syaoran back to his bed. He sat down on the side and glared up at Meilin, who was admiring him in his freezing shirtless state. "Oh, water, right."

Meilin hurried out of the room, leaving Syaoran with his misery. He sighed loudly and flopped on his bed. I can’t take much more of this. He looked out his small window, seeing the first bands of golden shimmers of lights. I wonder how Sakura is faring through all of this? I hope she doesn’t meet that psycho.

Meilin came rushing in with a whole tray of things. "Water and some other stuff in the fridge, I am sure you will like it."

Syaoran nodded and yawned. He took the glass of water and chugged it down without ever taking it down to breath, then set the tray at his side. "I’ll eat it later." Syaoran said, then rolled half on his side, the best position he could get to without hurting his stomach. Meilin was standing over him for a little while, then convinced he wasn’t going to take one thing other than the glass of water off the tray, stalked out of the room with the food.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

TADA! hehe I like this chapter. I enjoy writing about people getting like mortally wounded, cause they seem so cool to be standing up and moaning but still have the courage to go on, just like Boromir in Lord of the Rings. Good movie, have I said that already? Go see it, if you haven’t. Legolas the elf and Frodo the hobbit ^__^! Well chapters should keep going at this action pace for a while, hopefully anyway. I thought about making this a fifty page chapter so I could add in everything I wanted to add, but I decided to split it.

SNOW! I want it! It’s raining outside now, and it’s like...60 or something. Dang it. Well I am in a writing mood, I think I’ll start up chapter fifteen. Wow-chapter fifteen! I am moving along!

COMMENTS PLEASE! [email protected]

My site! geocities.com/KeanusHorseChic

K! Your favorite author: Syaoran Fan 4 Life