Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Black Wings ❯ Chapter 8 ( Chapter 8 )

Black Wings

By: Aisaki Sumi

 

Chapter Eight

 

Sakura felt her chest tightened as the soft words reached her ears. They seemed so unnaturally loud, and deafening in a sense. She was literally frozen on the spot, staring into the pair of sincere amethyst eyes, while she fought hard to keep her collectiveness.

 

Her mind was in the state of chaos. The memories that she tried so hard to forget were once again renewed, haunting her frail mind like it did before. The recollection was tearing apart her thread-bare sanity.

 

The lone statement hung in the air as they stood there in the midst of the hallway, as if they were two people suspended in a single frame of time. Others rushed by without noticing them, as if they were invisible to the naked eyes.

 

Sakura clutched tautly onto her precious sketchbook until her knuckles turned slightly white. She wanted to look away, but found it hard accomplish that simple task.

 

Her shoulder was shaking as she struggled to shield away the betraying emotions reflected in her large emerald eyes—the pair of beautiful green eyes that had lost their shine long ago. The child-like innocence and purity disappeared without a trace.

 

Lowering her gaze, she allowed the auburn locks to escape the hold of her hairclip and fell into her eyes, masking the windows of her soul once again.

 

“I'll be fine.” She replied curtly and kept her eyes on the floor. The words came out husky, but didn't shatter. Her voice didn't break. Her weakness wasn't exposed.

 

She didn't want to be regarded as the same asylum girl who was considered as a dangerous threat to the security of the society, and someone only wanted to hurt herself. Someone who wasn't welcomed in the world of reality.

 

“Alright then. Just stay away from them, ne?” Tomoyo asked carefully, not wanting to go too far, but far enough to show Sakura the seriousness of the issue.

 

She knew that her best friend had changed, from a cheerful, smiling girl to a darker and quieter one. The past several years had passed by too quickly, and the series of tragic events that occurred in Tokyo remained as a mystery.

 

But regardless of what happened, or how the changes took place. Sakura would always be Sakura, her best friend, and she would always be there for her. She was certain that she could eventually find a way and break through the walls of ice built around her.

 

She'll find a way, somehow.

 

A smile formed on her face as Sakura sent her a small nod of acknowledgement.

 

This was just the beginning of another journey, and no one could really predict the outcome of it. Perhaps the black angel Sakura had told her so much about when they were young could come and shine a stream of light into her darkened, world of gray and mistrusts.

 

Perhaps he could teach her how the trust, how to believe again. And perhaps, he could bring the smile back to Sakura's beautiful face.

 

……

 

As they neared their homeroom, Sakura's sharp ears immediately picked up the indistinctive, overlapping conversations in the room. Biting her bottom lip, she felt her heartbeat fastening as she neared the entrance door which would eventually lead her into her new life at Tomoeda Heights.

 

She didn't remember how long it had been since the last time she was at a school, in a classroom filled with students like her. In the asylum, she rarely stepped out of her room which was always under the close watch of doctors—a group of strangers wearing white lab coats whose eyes were as cold and apathetic as ice.

 

They held no sympathies for her, nor had they treat her with the respects she deserved. All they saw was a legally insane person, someone who should be locked up in a white room for the rest of their lives.

 

Following Tomoyo closely, she allowed her friend to guide her to a nearby seat at the front. Much to her surprise, the students in the class didn't even spare her a glance. She thought they would look at her as an outsider with a disdainful look in their eyes. But they didn't.

 

Sakura had her head lowered, as she settled down on the seat beside Tomoyo.

 

“Don't worry Sakura. Everything's in the past now. This is a new start, the beginning of your new life at Tomoeda.” Tomoyo's soft words rang in her head as she cast the other a grateful gaze from the corner of her eyes.

 

It was then the loud ringing of the bell snapped her out of her thoughts. The class quieted down as the ringing resounded in the air, before it was replaced by the sounds of high heels taping against the well-polished ground. The footsteps grew louder by the passing seconds, and slowed down as the person reached the door.

 

There, Sakura saw a lady in her late-thirties standing gracefully by the door frame. Her poise struck Sakura as nothing but elegant. The white shirt she was wearing complimented her pale skin perfectly and contrasted her dark grey dress pants. But as Sakura's scrutinizing emerald green eyes traveled upward, she saw a clement smile on her face, yet there was something about the smile that seemed rather forged.

 

“Ohayou gozaimasu minna-san!” She chirped cheerfully as she made her way to the empty teacher's desk at the front of the room. While one of her hands worked to place the pile of paper she was carrying a moment ago, the other brushed the strand of red hair that fell into her eyes.

 

“Glad to be back to school again?” As she organized her paper and textbook on the desk, she cast a halfheartedly look at the bored students. “Well I hope you all had a great summer. Mine was pretty interesting. My husband and I went to the--” The loud, abrupt intrusion cut her sentence short.

 

Everyone turned their attention toward the intruders, curious to see who was brave enough to be late on the first day of school and make such grand entrance without worries of receiving detentions. Sakura's eyes widened slightly, revealing her surprise as she recognized that handsome face and pair of distinctive amber eyes.

 

The two people who were accompanying him, one of them which she recognized to be her kidnapper, and the other spectacled young man was the one who approached her and bothered her about absurd things such as dating a random stranger.

 

“Late on the first day huh Mr. Li?” A frown graced the teacher's face as the smile waned rapidly, replaced by a mortified look that was torn between disdain and irk. Arms crossed in front of her chest as her hip leaned against the edge of the desk, trying to keep herself composed.

 

After spending three years with the trouble maker, leader of the school gang Black Wings, she had learned to keep her anger in check. The last thing she needed at the moment was to show him that he had successfully gotten under her skin.

 

“Gomen ne Sakamoto-sensei.” Syaoran apologized, not sounding sorry at all. He casually entered the class with his bag slung over his shoulder, and the other free hand shoved into the pockets of his pants. While the other male students had their ties in the proper place, Syaoran's was no where to be found. The first three buttons of his uniform shirt were left unbuttoned, and his jacket was left open like that.

 

“Take a seat Mr. Li.” Sakamoto-sensei instructed with a dangerous glare flaring in her eyes, her lips were pressed into a thin line as she added “and do it fast,” while gritting her teeth. She would've filed a complaint long ago and lobbied to get him expelled from the school, if he wasn't the future leader of the Li Clan.

 

Syaoran seemed rather nonchalant and unbothered by the fierce glare burned on the back of his head. He disregarded all the intentions of killing and promises worse than death revealed by that simple death glare.

 

Widening the playful, smugly grin on his lips, Syaoran concluded that it was fun to get under his teacher's skin and humiliate her in front of the entire class.

 

The woman was known as one of the bossiest teachers in the school, yet when it came to dealing with Li Syaoran, even she was powerless against him. This mere fact made him feel like a winner.

 

Gazing around, Syaoran noticed that there were only a few empty seats left in the class. He also silently thanked whatever god was watching over him when he noticed there were three seats in the unoccupied row at the far back—a place that he had marked as his territory in the previous year.

 

“Alright.” Sakamoto-sensei clapped her hands together as she put on her unnatural smile again. It was rather obvious that she was trying to put the humiliation behind her and get on with the day. “I could start the day with a lecture on how important this year is to many of you, and how stressful it is going to be, but I'm not going to do that.”

 

Surveying the room for students' reactions, she went on. “Your parents probably have already touched basis on those important things, such as trying your best on the university acceptance exams that you're all going to be writing at the end of this year. So I'm going to start the stressful year with something fun.” There was a mischievous glint glimmering in her eyes, as her lips twisted into a strange smile which made the students gulp slightly.

 

“You guys know my rules. I always start Japanese literature class with in-class essays.” She was forced to pause as loud groans filled the room temporarily, upon hearing the most dreadful news ever: in-class essays.

 

Raising her hands into the air defensively, “hold on. Hold on. Let me finish my sentence first.” The stirred class quieted down, with a few intelligible grumbles from the corners ending the commotion.

 

“But I have changed my mind this year.” An exhilarated grin curved on her red, glossed lips as she announced with growing excitements, “you guys are going to write me a poem in 20 minutes about your goals, dreams, using all the literature devices taught to you from the previous years.”

 

A ghastly silence followed as the words traveled through the vibrant air. Her gaze swept across the shocked students who were either gawking at her as if she had grown two heads or doubting the stability of her current mental state.

 

“Get out your notebook and start writing. The assignment is to be handed in and marked.” Sakamoto-sensei said with finality, dismissing the students groans in a cheerful singing voice while an overly saccharine smile stretched across her lips, with sarcastic sweetness dripping off it like honey.

 

Sakura pulled out a piece of paper from her notebook and stared down at it. The pale blue lines divided the sections into strips, and she realized that those lines were there for her to transform her feelings into words. Tightening her grip around her pencil to a point that any excess force applied to the thin plastic material outer layer would cause it to shatter into small shards.

 

She ran the topic through her mind again, attempting to find the inspiration for writing that was no where to be found. Sakura was never the writing kind of person. Unlike the poets, her preferred method of expression was painting and sketching. The flow of words and her mind never seemed to click, as if they were phobias of each other.

 

Life… and dreams… the thought rambled off her mind as she gnawed at the corner of her mouth, furrowing her eyebrows in contemplation. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, her life was dissembled and she wasn't even sure how to put it back together again. The various events occurred in the course of her recent life were something she never wanted to think about. They were better off locked away in the maze of her mind.

 

Dreams… such word had already lost its meaning and value to her. She didn't dare to dream anymore because they could only bring her pain. All that she had was nightmares, haunting memories put on repeat and a mental shock that she never really got over. Despite the fact that the doctors had signed the legal document stating that her mental state was stabilized once again.

 

What could she possibly write about? That she was a lost child on the road of life, not knowing which route to take and which direction to follow? That she didn't have any goals and didn't see the purpose of her existence? That she hated her life and the person she had become?

 

“Times up everyone. Put down your pencils or pens.” Sakamoto-sensei suddenly announced, breaking the pleasant tranquility that filled the room a moment ago. Sakura jerked her head backward at the abruptness of the declaration.

 

Blinking hazily for a few times, as if she had just been awakened from a dream and embraced by reality. Her gaze fell upon the blank sheet of paper lying abandoned on her desk.

 

She hadn't written a word yet.

 

“Alright, I'm just going to call the first person I see on the attendance list to read their poem.” Sakamoto-sensei conveyed while her dark eyes skimmed through the list of names, subconsciously picking out the names that she recognized right away, or hadn't seen before.

 

“Kinomoto Sakura.” She suddenly called out and averted her attention from the list of names and to her students. Glancing around, she sought for the owner of that name.

 

Sakura was stunned to hear her name and stood up abruptly in response to the call. Her heartbeat escalated within a few seconds, pounding rapidly, chaotically inside of her chest, as if trying to leap out of her throat. She could feel the blood rushing to her face, causing different shades of red to spread across her cheeks.

 

The teacher shifted her eyes to Sakura and smiled at her. “You must be the new student. I thought your name looked unfamiliar.” She commented, although it sounded more like she was talking to herself than to Sakura. “Anyhow, please share your poem with the class.”

 

Sakura stared down at her paper, gulping, enveloped by panic and nervousness. Her hands were trembling and her mind was blank, making improvising nearly impossible.

 

“Kinomoto-san?” The teacher inquired, quirking an eyebrow as her dark eyes scrutinized the standing girl whom apparently was lost in a world of her own. “Please read your poem to the class.” She repeated, louder and clearer this time, as a finger tapped impatiently against her arm. Her eyebrows furrowed disapprovingly at the lack of response.

 

Syaoran was sitting at the far back. His amber eyes were focused on Sakura and he could sense her discomfort levels rising at a speed that was greater than that of the speed of light. Her small form was quivering, and gave away the impression that she was going to shatter at any moment.

 

“Watashi wa…” She finally forced out the first word that came into her mind after the long pause, or rather, the first word that sounded logical as the start of a poem. Her voice was soft and quiet. Most of the students were beginning to fidget in their seats as they attempted to listen to her almost silent speech. It was then a girl at the far right corner burst out as the advocate of everyone's discontent.

 

“Read louder. We can't hear you. Are you mute or something?” The girl jabbed out loud, sending Sakura an exasperated glance. Other students laughed quietly and whispered conspiratorially to the person next to them.

 

Syaoran frowned at the speaker and glared at her grimly. The girl had a smugly smirk tugging on her glossed lips as she laughed mockingly, dark blue eyes revealing apathy.

 

Sakura pressed her lips into a thin line. Her eyes were strained upon the paper on her desk and unsure of what to do. The sense of panic was slowly taking over her body and mind. Maybe she shouldn't have come to this place. Maybe she should've just stayed at home.

 

Who was she kidding here? How could she have believed in her friend's words that she could actually find acceptance here? The shadow of her past would always remain with her. The guilt and pains would always be a burden that she must carry alone, labeling her as the outsider.

 

She was someone who didn't belong to either worlds.

 

“I'll read mine if she doesn't want to read hers.” A deep, masculine voice spoke from the behind, causing Sakura to widen her eyes and look over her shoulder. There she saw him, her savior: the angel with dark wings.

 

Those amber eyes sparkled confidence, vehement passions for life.

 

He possessed all qualities she lacked.

 

They were two people occupying the different ends of a spectrum.

 

They were so different that their difference became indifferent and unimportant.

 

He was a dark angel, whose purpose of existence was to bring salvation to the fallen world.

 

She was a fallen angel, whose wings were broken and shattered, waiting to be saved.

 

Soon she would realize that she needed him more than she could ever imagine…

 

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A/N: Long chapter. Very very long due to the demands from reviewers. Disregard all the mistakes, I had a tough week and haven't been sleeping at all lately. This chapter will be sent to my beta-reader soon and I will replace the chapter with the edited version as soon as possible.

 

Reviews appreciated. Flames ignored.