| Because You Understand In Sky Country: A four-winged Ser'ph approached the eight-winged Ser'ph, stopping at a respectful distance and stood, with her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes to the ground, waiting for the eight-wing to speak first. "What is it?" The four-wing raised her eyes. "Shaoran has escaped again. Shall I go retrieve him?" Eight-wing shook his head. "No, there's going to be a Dev battle. Not a serious one, granted, but I don't want the fighters to be distracted, even if this is about Shaoran." As an afterthought, "Besides, he might find the other one for us." In the Bottom Lands: "YOU BASTARD!" A six-clawed Dev was smacking around a weaker, two-clawed who had just nervously told her Sakura was gone. "Do you have any idea what the Ser'phs are going to do once they get their hands on her?" Slap, kick, kick. "And there's going to be a battle real soon, so their best will be on Middle World!" Punch, grab soft flesh with sharp nails. "They'll be all over us like, like..." Her anger was spent, but that didn't cahnge the situation. Pushing the bloodied two-claw, she sharply said, "Go get some others to find her if you want your skin to stay on your back!" On Middle World: Oh, this is sweet! Shaoran stretched and studied the sky. He finally left without getting caught. No annoying Ser'phs breathing down his back and preventing him from doing anything fun(especially the six-wings and most especially that eight-winged jerk), and being able to, finally, get into a good fight. Back in Sky Country, they wouldn't even let him look at the fight practices. But by being sneaky, and hiding where he could see the six- and four-wings doing the same moves, over and over and doing them himself in secret, he learned. Just befoer he left, he stole a wonderful little(well, not so little) knife with a strong blade that wouldn't rust or turn dull. And, he heard that Devs loved to go to Middle World to terrorize the resident Nin. The Ser'phs wouldn't yell at him for killing some of the enemy. Speaking of which... A few yards in front of him, with her back turned, was a Dev(well, he never saw one before, but she wasn't a Nin, and definately not a Ser'ph, so...), looking at a tree as the wind moved the branches. Perfect. He went up to her and slapped her across the face. The force knocked her to the ground. Sakura lay there, considering her options. Stand up and get slapped or punched, or stay down and get kicked. She'd rather be punched. But Shaoran kicked her anyawy, as she was halfway up, and this time after she fell he sat on her and rested the edge of the blade against her throat. Adrenalin was racing madly in his veins, but this was going to be his first kill, and he didn't want to screw it up. He leaned down until their faces were almost touching, and started to press the knife deeper into her skin, and blood started to slowly seep around the blade- He stopped. Should he really do this? Adrenalin aside, it wasn't as fun as he thought it was oing to be. She didn't even try to fight back. Sakura startled him by looking into his eyes, her calm against his feral. He suddenly noticed how hard he was breathing, whereas she was practically holding it in. It should be the other way around, right? Feeling the pressure on her neck relax slightly, she whispered, "Please. Do it." Abruptly, Shaoran got off her and backed up a few steps. Someone who wanted to be killed? Sakura sat up and felt her neck. Already a scab was forming. "Why didn't you do it?" Her voice was thick with unshed tears. "Wouldn't you love to kill someone from the Bottom Lands?" Shaoran began to understand. "You're not a Dev, are you? What's your reason for leaving?" Sakura looked away. "I don't want to talk about it." Shaoran smiled. "I don't plan on returning to Sky Country. Why don't you stay with me?" Sakura's eyes grew huge. "Really?" "Sure. I'll kick the crap out of any Dev that comes near you." In Sky Country: A six-winged Ser'ph nervously kept a respectful distance from the eight-wing. The eight-wing was busy drawing something the six-wing couldn't quite see. The eight-wing didn't look up. "Yes?" The six-wing tried not to stutter. "S-s-sir, we were wondering w-why you haven't sent anyone to search for Shaoran in the 2 months he's left." The eight-wing gave a tiny smile. "I'm killing 2, maybe 3 birds with one stone." "How so, s-sir?" "There've been more Devs than usual on Middle World since Shaoran left, but they haven't caused any extra trouble. Chances are they're searching for someone, most likely the other one, who probably fled the Bottom Lands." he paused to erase a line and sketch in a new one. "Shaoran and the other one are designed to find each other. And we shouldn't waste our breath looking for those 2 when the Devs can do it for us. We just keep track of the Devs's on Middle World." The eight-wing stopped, satisfied with what he drew, and showed it to the six-wing. It was a picture of a tower, being struck by a bolt of lightning, crumbling, and falling on the people below.The eight-wing explained. "In the Middle World, there is a set of fortune-telling cards. On one of the cards is this," he tapped the picture, "a symbol of destruction." "That'll happen if they get close." This wasn't a question. Some of the six-wings knew about this, but not all the details. "but what will we do after Middle World is destroyed?" The eight-wing answered as if stating the obvious. "We will build over the ruins and control it all. We will have an advantage over the Devs, and finally, we will finish them off." In Middle World: Sakura was staring at Shaoran, studying his face. Daylight was poking through the window, illuminating the room. It was tiny, gray, dirty-looking and didn't even have the pretense of furniture, but it kept them out of the rain and wind, and gave them a locked door. Sakura spent a lot of time in there, cause she was scared to be outside by herself. Every time she slept, she would have nightmares and Shaoran would shake her awake, always asking "What's frightening you?" She studied his face. So peaceful, so untroubled. Felt a pang of jealousy. He must have had an easy life in Sky Country. It was obvious in the way he slept. He wouldn't wake up even if she brushed the hair from his face. There was no way she could tell him about her dreams. Most of the time, she couldn't remember them, but when she did, she saw the future. That was how she found their room and Shaoran's job. But these nightmares were out of the question. They were scary enough when she didn't remember, and if she did...? He'd leave her for sure. There was no way he'd want to be around a catalyst for something horrible. And she didn't want to be alone, just waiting for the Devs to reclaim her. Few hours later: "Hey, Sakura," Shaoran said, touching her shoulder, "Come with me. You need to cheer up." Sakura sat at the bar, holding her soda and staring at the dancers. The dance floor was so crowded, she wondered how they had room to breath, let alone dance. The entire nightclub was dark, illuminated by the occasional flashes of colored light, and in the background, the music played so loud you could hear nothing else. She was nervous. The dance floor and bar were all the way in the back, and Shaoran was at the front door, where he worked as a bouncer. The whole place was filled with dark shadowy places where anything could be hiding, and anything could happen. Slowly, she got up and made her way around the edges of the room, where there was at least enough space so that you weren't rubbing up against Nin she didn't know. She walked until she at the other side of the room, where there was some empty chairs and tables littered with abandoned, half-finished drinks. Sakura sat down and sighed. She felt less nervous now that she was alone. No she wasn't. The hair rose on the back of her neck. She didn't want to turn around, but her body betrayed her and did it anyway. There was a Dev, unmistakable with his claw-tipped wings, who was previously busy drinking the forgotten alcohol until he noticed her. The Dev grinned. Sakura jumped out of her chair and started to run, but the Dev grabbed the back of her shirt. "KYAAAAA!!!!" she screamed, but the music was so loud, even she didn't hear it. She strained forward, her shirt choking her, until she felt rather than heard it tear. Not wasting a moment, she pushed into the solid mass of dancers. It was horrible. Her feet were demanding she move fast, but there were so many Nin, she was lucky to move at all. She had to push them away to make room for herself, but there was nowhere to push them. Tripping over who knew how many feet, she was terrified to fall, cause those feet would crush her to death. She wanted to look behind her, and see how close the Dev was, but she was afraid that if she did, she'd be caught. Then suddenly, it wasn't so hard to run. The dancers were trying to make a path for her. One of them, on the edge of the dance floor, ran to get the bouncers. Sakura burst from the crowd, sobbing for breath, and would have fell if someone hadn't caught her. She looked up. Shaoran. They stared at one another for a second, then he left to "take care of" the Dev. Sakura went back to the bar and sat down, trying not to cry. She didn't know how much later she lost track of the time. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped. But it was just Shaoran, with a strange look on is face. "Someone's going to cover the rest of my shift," he said. "Come. There's something I should tell you." * * * * * * Sakura woke up. Shaoran had his arms wrapped tightly around her, and she still couldn't believe that even in his sleep, that he wouldn't let go of her. Even though he had shown her, and they both realized how deep their feelings for each other would run, and even though she now knew that he cared, she hadn't hesitated to attempt suicide. After he'd shown her, and she lost that fear of being alone on Middle World, her nightmares grew far more intense, and what was worse, she started remembering what she saw. Ser'phs and Devs warring, destroying Middle World in the process and not caring, Devs, Ser'phs or Nin driven beyond terror barging into their room and either separating them or forcing them to do things that she couldn't quite remember, and, and...Shaoran accidentally dying while trying to protect her. Her dreams saw no absolute future, but many possible ones. But all of these nightmares told her these things: She and Shaoran were very special, and any or all of those things would happen if she remained on Middle World. And returning to the Bottom Lands was not an option. She remembered holding Shaoran's knife and how the answer seemed so simple... The next thing she knew, Shaoran was shaking her with one hand, and with the other he was pressing his wadded-up shirt over the wound to stop the bleeding. Sakura never saw him scared before. She could still hear him pleading "Don't die Sakura, we have to be together, we have to..." They had to. After Sakura was attacked by the Dev and they returned to their room, Shaoran took his shirt off, turning away from Sakura and telling her "Look." So she did. And she stared. It wasn't really wings on his back, more like a tattoo more that anything else. It was an image of wings, folded so tightly that she couldn't tell if they were Se'rph or Dev, so large it covered him from shoulder to back. "I was born with this," he explained, "and it sets me apart. I don't belong to any species." He turned to look at Sakura. "You have the same thing on your back." Sakura took Shaoran's hand. There was nothing to say. They were supposed to be together. * * * * * * Sakura turned so she could embrace Shaoran while he was doing the same. He protected her. She should do the same. Even if it meant they had to be apart. Few hours later: It was surprising how easy it was. All she did was wait for Shaoran to go to work, wait a little while longer, then leave. Once she was outside, she walked fast, often changing direction, turning, cutting through alleys and over fences, and soon she was so lost there was no way she could come back. After a while, long after her aching feet turned numb, she spotted some broken glass, remembered that Shaoran wouldn't be completely safe while she was alive, and started gathering the bits of glass. She was so intent on collecting as much as she could swallow, that she didn't notice the eight-winged Ser'ph until... <To Be Continued> Uh... Sara-sama did not provide me with a title. So... the title will probably change. XD Written by Sara Quill. Typed out by Wing Zero and placed on Sakura Wing on 1/9/2002. Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, even though when I rule the world I'll get the copyright from them. Someday. ^_^ |