| Falling Rain, and a Rising Flower By Sara Quill She looked about Touya's age. Her face was grey and a trace of blood was running down her mouth. Someone was screaming, "Oneichan! ONEICHAN!" Sakura snapped her eyes open. That was scary. What did Kero-chan say? That her dreamn could tell hte future. She looked at her alarm clock. "Hoeee!" She was going to be late! In her hurry, she shoved the dream out of her head. * * * * * * * * * * "HOEEEE!!!" Sakura and Tomoyo were walking to Sakura's house after school, and the sky just decided to dump what seemed to be all the water in Japan on Tomoeda. It did not help that neither of them had umbrellas, and that Sakura had trouble roller-blading on wet ground. The two of them were throughly soaked by the time they reached the park, where they ran under the Penguin King while Tomoyo pulled out a battle custom from her bookbag. "To-- Tomoyo-chan...." "Kawaii da ne. I made it specially so that you'll always have a battle costume wherever you are, and it's water proof, and the cape's big enough so that it'll keep both of us dry!" ^_^ So somewhat drier, they were leaving the park when someone behind them said, "Ara, Oneichan, your clothes are so kawaii!" (Tomoyo: Mochiron! Of course Sakura is kawaii!) It came from a very wet five-year-old who was sitting on a bench, unprotected from the rain. She was pretty cute in her own right, since she looked like she came straight from a Miyazaki film. "Why are you sitting there? You'll get a cold like that," Sakura said. "Oneichan made me promise to wait here." Spreading her arms out, she said, "But Oneichan's already here!" "Sou da? I don't see anyone else," Tomoyo said. "Oneichan's name is Ame." Rain. "What's yours?" After hearing them, she said, "Hana." "You still shouldn't be out here." An idea hit Sakura. "Why don't you stand under my cape? There's still room." Hana shook her head. "Oneichan said the bench." "Then I'll hold it over until your Oneichan comes." Sakura and Tomoyo stood there for hours. It got darker and darker, and the street lights turned on, until Hana shouted "Oneichan!" and jumped off the bench, turning around just long enough to say, "Bye, Tomoyo-Oneichan,bye Sakura-Oneichan." Ame started yelling at Hana the moment Sakura and Tomoyo left. * * * * * * * * "Mori-san, you're here." Touya could not hide the surprise from his voice. Mori Ame was pretty ill this morning, and had to leave school early, yet her e she was for her part-time job. And judging by the gray tint in her skin and slightly labored breathing, she shouldn't have come. "Nan deshite? Miss Work? Look at the pot calling the kettle black. Anyways, rumor has it that he's starting to rob stores." recently, a mugger was going around Tomoeda. All of his victims were found passed out, and the ones that woke up were all stark raving mad. Everyone was being more careful. Customers crowded the store for a while, but for an hour or so, the store was empty. Touya was in the storeroom, so it was Ame that greeted the final customer that day. Not really looking at the customer at first, Ame bowed and said, "Irasshai--". She looked up at the person-- "mase." Oh. No. Pretending not to know her, she asked, "How many I help you, Okyakusama?" in a voice that would have frozen fire. "Don't play dumb with me, Bakayaro." Her voice matched Ame's perfectly. "Where's Hana?" "Sumimasen, Okayakusama." Damned if she was going to call her Okaasan. "We don't sell flowers here, but would you be interested in--" Ame's mother tread heaviliy on her daughter's foot. "I don't care about you. Where's your sister?" And that bakayaro wondered why she ran away? Good thing she took hana with her. Not only was she safe from the constant fighting at home, but it really pissed off her mom. But now their parents were looking for her. * * * * * * * * * * "Oneichan, why do I have to hide?" It was no fun having to hide for the past two days. The beads, string, and wire that she always carried with her was all made into jewerly, and she got so boared that she started to dig through trash to find something interesting, though the smell quickly stopped her. "Okaasan's looking for you." Her voice was flat with exhaustion and the weakness of her deteriorating body. "I want to go home. I don't like hiding, I don't like sleeping in the park, I don't like sleeping in doorways, I don't like--" Ame pulled her sister's hair. "Ara, stop complaining." "--And I don't like you stealing! You never stole when we were home! You have a job, Oneichan." "It can't pay for everything, baka." She was even too tired to curse. "If you keep stealing, I'll leave." "Don't make me laugh! You'll starve to death." "I'll go to Otoosan and Okaasan!" "Is ther enoting between your ears? Are you so stupid that you'd want to return to all that fighting? All that yelling and cursing and creaking glass and being too scared to sleep in your own bed? Even a chibi-headed baka like yourself wouldn't want that." "Baka ja nai! I'm smart enough to know that you can't steal without taking from me! And I"m not letting you take any more!" Ame reached out and roughly grabbed the right side of Hana's face. The resulting flash of light made her scream and blinded them both. When her vision was cleared, Oneichan was gone, and she was so tired that she couldn't stand up. She smiled up at the person who caught her through half-closed eyes and said, "Ne-ho ma, Dai-lo." before passing out. * * * * * * * * * * "Shimatta!" Shaoran angrily turned off his phone. Sakura wasn't there, and he really needed to talk to her. He looked at the couch where Hana was sleeping. He was returning home from buying groceries, and he heared someone fighting. Nothing new. It was the scream and the flare of magic he felt that caught his attention. So he investigated. What he found was a little kid with a burn on her, about to pass out. Looking at it now, he could see that the burn, shiny pink and coverin half her face and neck, was obviously caused by someone who was very bad at magic. Probably the person she was fighting with. That wasn't what creeped him out. The girl spoke to him in Cantonese. With a perfect accent. A Japanese kindergartner who very likely couldn't read the kanji that made up her name, speaking Cantonese like a native. He called her Moi-moi without thinking, before his brain told him what wasn't right with this picture. He didn't know what to do, but he put her on his back and brought her home. Although he would never admit this to anyone, she scared him. Talking to Sakura would have taken the edge off his fear, but he only got the answering machine. * * * * * * * * * Sakura was at Tomoyo's house until late, and she was happy to go to sleep. It was such a long day. That hair....vaguely familiar...where...Oh yeah, the girl from the park had the same curly hair, but instead of being barely long enough for pigtails, this lady wore hers past her waist. One side of her face was faintly pink and shiny... But the most amazing part of her body was definately her hands. Charms of carved quartz of all kinds, jade, and hematite. Wire of copper, silver and brass. All expertly made into something more thna beautiful... Yes, more than beautiful. Even in her dream, Sakura could feel the power inside each piece of jewerly. * * * * * * * * * Hana woke up crying. She barely noticed that she was in a place she didn't recognize; after only two weeks of waking up on benches, doorways, and worse, she was used to it. No, there was something wrong deep inside, where only her magic and ties to her big sister resided. Oneichan, who took care of her when her parents only had eyes to glare at their spouse's snarling, rage-contorted face. Oneichan, who could have left her any time and make life easier by just looking after herself. But since they left, Oneichan was getting as mean as Okaasan and Otoosan. She stole from her little sister. Something bad, something bad.... All the beads fell into her lap. There was something that made some beads different from others, and it wasn't color, shape, or size. Hana didn't know what it was, but she knwe which ones to string on this new necklace she was making. Something bad... Everytime she strung a bead, she repeated the same desire, the same hope, again and again. Tying the knots sealed the wish. Something bad, something bad, something bad.... She was the only one in the apartment. It occurred to her that whoever lived here would be made at her if she left, because then the door would be unlocked. Anyone could come in. Even Oneichan. Quickly, and with not as much care, she made another string of beads to lay across the doorway and keep people out. But it didn't occur to her that Shaoran wasn't able to come in later, thanks to her magic, and had to use his sword t break the string. Her mind was thinking only of trying to give Oneichan the necklace, and use it to scare away all the bad things. * * * * * * * * * Ame knew that she and her sister had something inside that let them do things other people couldn't. That much she knew. Ame just didn't konw it was magic, and she certainly had no idea how to use it. Sure, if she concentrated correctly, something happened, but that wasn't a good thing, especially since she started stealing. If Ame had taken psychology, and not let her anger take control of her, she might have figured out that the real reason she would rob people by blasting them with the magic she took from her sister ('cause she had no where near enough power to do something like that with her own magic) and taking their money after they fell, completely passed out, was because she was perpectually pissed, and felt better when she took it out on someone, anyone. Even Hana. She was so angry, it took her few hours after she drained most of her sister's magical energy, for her to calm down, and even longer for concern to kick in. Wasn't Hana screaming then? She should go back, and see if she was okay. But Ame was feeling weak and tierd, and coughs ran through her body without mercy. Blood was even starting to come up. Another fit of those coughs came, with a force that made her lightheaded. She leaned against a brick wall and slid to the ground, still coughing up blood. Even though she was older and supposedly smarter than her little sister, she didn't know that Hana's magic was too much for her body to handle, and that it was killing her. * * * * * * * * * When hana finally found her sister, she knew "something bad" had happened. The words came out without her knowing at first. "Oneichan! ONEICHAN! ONEI--" Hana ran out of breath in mid-scream and didn't bother to finish. The "something bad" had already happened, so there was no reason to be scared anymore. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the necklace she had been wroking on. She walked over and put it around her Oneichan's neck. Then she began to speak. "I made this for you. It's a very special necklace, Oneichan. I want you to keep it. As long as you have it, things will get better. I promise." She abruptly turned her head, as if she saw something suddenly appear. But she couldn't see ghosts, so she didn't she her sister faintly smiled and walk away, slowly fading. I DO NOT own the right to Cardcaptor Sakura. I also don't know when this takes place, so don't ask me. Sara-sama's exclusive ranting to Wing Zero! All secrets revealed today! ^.~ Okay, my after-fic rant. I know this was supposed to be a fanfic, but the CCS people didn't seem to be too interested in appearing here, so. I also know that I wasn't able to explain anything, so tell me what you don't get, and I'll explain. I'm gonna make a sequel-ish story for this, but I'm gonna drag the CCS people back in the spotlight. Yes, let's start the ranting... More! More! More! We demand more! ^.^ |