Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Cardcaptors: Clow Reed's Mistake ❯ Cardcaptors: Conflicting Emotions-Ch.15 ( Chapter 15 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Maurynna 
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.31.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.0K | Visits: 257 | Status: Work In Progress
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 08.31.2001 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.0K | Visits: 257 | Status: Work In Progress
By Maurynna
Author's Note: I must warn you, I am so VERY bad with sword fights. I LOVE swords and any kind of blades but I have to admit that I know nothing about fighting strategies. So, if I happen to make a blunder, or if this really sucks, ignore it, 'kay? ^.^
Oh, and my sincerest apologies to Starlight Princess who seemed to be very distraught over the fact that Rage and Sakura didn't get together. ^_^a Hope you didn't have a heart attack or something. And I would like to say sorry to the rest of the RagexSakura fans. And sorry to Kyla, who wanted Li all to herself.
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptors nor do I claim to. I am not getting paid for this so please do not sue me.
Cardcaptors: Conflicting Emotions-Ch.15
A sword slashed through the air and the battle had begun.
Sakura stood in indecision. What was she going to do? She couldn't just run in there and stop them that way. That would result in her own death, and then, after she was gone, what was to stop them from continuing their battle? Yue would fight to avenge the death of his Mistress and Rage,.....well.....Rage would fight for whatever reason he would be sure to come up with. Sakura had to admit, she didn't know him that well.
Yue's sword came flashing down towards Rage's head. Rage dodged quickly to avoid it and brought his own blade up to counter the thrust. Yue tried a different approach, he used quick cuts and slashes, trying to fool Rage's eye. Sakura had to admit, with Yue's wing span, he was more graceful and on balance than she would have expected. But Rage wasn't fooled by any of it. He kept parrying and dodging and Yue couldn't get through. However, as Sakura watched the two fight, something suddenly became glaringly obvious. She glanced over at Li and saw the confusion and puzzlement in his eyes and knew that he must have seen it as well.
Rage wasn't fighting back.
Sure, he was in there, his blade flashing in the sunlight, but he was fighting a completely defensive battle. No matter how many times Yue lunged for him or slashed at him, he never took the opportunity to counter. He just blocked. But why? Why wasn't he fighting back? It was almost....almost like....Sakura narrowed her eyes and tried to grasp the thought that was floating around in her head. Then her eyes widened. It was almost like Rage was afraid to hit him. Like he was going out of his way to make sure he didn't injure Yue. Sakura didn't know what to make of that, but she knew, that if Rage didn't start fighting back soon, then Yue would get a hit in.
Love stood leaning against the willow tree, his lips pinched. He had realized from the first that Rage was declining to take the offensive. And he was, to put it lightly, pissed. If Rage was going to act so foolhardy from the beginning, he should never have agreed to fight this....angel....in the first place. What Rage was doing had a word, and it was a very simple word. Stupid. What he was doing was stupid. And what made Love even angrier was, he hadn't the faintest idea WHY Rage was doing what he was doing. If Love had had even the slightest hint-or if Rage had just told him!-then he might have been able to understand this. Love crossed his arms over his chest and his face assumed a blank expression, hiding the anger that he felt. If Rage gets hurt, I'm going to kill him, he thought.
Sakura and company could do nothing but stare at the fight in progress. And then, it happened. Whether it was because Rage was tiring, or Yue found a chink in his armour, Yue's blade whistled through the air and imbedded itself in Rage's shoulder. You could see the bloody tip of Yue's blade where it peeked out of the back of Rage's shoulder. Sakura and Madison gasped as Rage stumbled back, his pupils dilating with his pain. But he didn't make a sound. Yue withdrew his sword and an angry red gash appeared where the sword had been, crimson immediately soaking the white silk shirt. His mouth tight, Rage lifted his sword in front of him, waiting for Yue's next move.
Yue went for his left shoulder, attacking Rage with a single-minded determination, forcing Rage to protect his wounded side and keep it moving, causing him pain. The left side was his sword arm.
Sakura couldn't believe how callous Yue was being. She watched as he continually slashed away at Rage and that shoulder, driving Rage back. She couldn't stop thinking how much pain Rage must be in by now, and she couldn't help but think that Rage was surely going to die.
Yue took a mighty swing at Rage and Rage moved to intercept it. As steel glanced off steel, Rage's arm began to shake.
"Stop." Sakura whispered.
The blood flowed freely from Rage's wound now, his adrenalin getting his blood pumping. Little droplets began spotting the grass beneath the warrior's feet. If he lost too much blood.....
"Stop." she whispered again, taking a step forward, but Sakura was still too quiet and neither combatant heard her.
Again and again and again, same attack, same side. Rage seemed to be having trouble keeping his sword arm steady, but he still managed to clumsily block Yue's attempts to kill him. However, it didn't last long. With a last downward arc, Yue sent Rage's sword skittering across the ground to land ungracefully beside Love's foot. Rage stood unarmed, hands at his side, waiting for Yue to slay him.
Yue drew his sword back. Looking up into Rage's dull, blue eyes he whispered, "I'm sorry," and thrust his sword forward.
"NO!!" Sakura finally found the voice that had been eluding her moments before. "YUE!! I order you! As Mistress of the Clow! to STOP!!"
Yue's arm froze, the tip of his blade a centimetre from Rage's abdomen.
Sakura walked towards them, worried, angry, and ashamed of herself at the same time. She was angry that they were fighting at all, and worried about Rage. She was ashamed because of what she had just done to Yue. When they had fought in the Final Judgement so long ago, Sakura had claimed that she didn't want to be Yue's Master, but rather, his friend. What had her order to him just proved? It proved that she had gone back on what she had said, and that, at this moment, she was not his friend, but indeed his Master. Yue's wings quivered and Sakura knew he was thinking back to the Final Judgement just like she had. She hoped he would be able to forgive her.
"Yue, put your sword away." an order. Yue did it without question. But instead of sheathing the glowing blade, it just disappeared into thin air. Sakura blinked. Then she shook herself, she'd wonder about that later. She stepped up to Rage and couldn't help but glance at the wound. Sakura's paled a bit, watching as slow streams still coursed from it. But the paleness of her skin was nothing in comparison to Rage's, whose skin was already white to begin with, and was even whiter with loss of blood.
"Rage, are you all right?" Sakura asked. She knew it was a dumb question, especially since he'd just been stabbed with nearly a metre long sword.
"Oh, I'm just fine." he said reasonably, not a trace of pain evident anywhere in his voice. Sakura just stared at him.
Returning her attention to the wound, Sakura said quietly, "I don't know how to take care of a cut that big, and it doesn't look like the blood is stopping. It'll probably need stitches, but I don't know how to stitch." she looked suspiciously close to tears.
"I can help."
Sakura turned around and saw Love, his face still that blank mask. It was a bit unnerving, seeing his face like that after having that devil-may-care smile on his face present ever since she'd met him.
Seeing Sakura staring at him, he smiled as gently as he could, if you could call water scraping across rocks gentle. "I have the gift of healing." he said, as if that should explain everything.
It didn't of course, but it sounded to Sakura like Love knew how to help Rage, so she stepped aside and moved back, wondering how Love was going to stop the sickening amount of blood from continuing to seep into the grass.
Love stepped up to Rage and placed his hand on Rage's shoulder. "Lie down." he said in a no nonsense tone.
Rage glanced up into Love's eyes, his own still dilated, "I'm fine the way I am." he said calmly.
Love's hand tightened minimally. "I said....lie down." he growled. He squeezed Rage's injured shoulder with enough force to bruise it.
Rage gasped. He felt his legs come out from beneath him and then he collapsed. Love quickly put his hand behind Rage's head to gentle the fall a bit. Rage stared up at Love, eyes wide, astonished at Love's behaviour.
Love crouched down and tore open Rage's white silk shirt, exposing his pale chest and the red gash on his shoulder. He glanced up into Rage's eyes and said quietly, "I don't know if I can do this. You were impaled with a soul sword[1], I don't know if my powers will work."
Rage stared into Love's eyes for a moment, then nodded, understanding. He closed his eyes and waited.
Sakura, who had inched closer, heard the exchange between the two and wondered what it had meant. She figured, though, that the gist of it was, that Love might not be able to help. Whatever the reason behind that was, and whatever a soul sword was, she sincerely hoped Love would be able to save Rage.
"Relax." Love whispered. He placed his hands over the wound, left hand first then right, and applied gentle pressure. Rage's lips thinned but he remained silent. Love closed his own eyes and began breathing deeply.
Everyone stood silently and watched, not exactly sure what it was Love was doing, but knowing that it was intense. Sakura had her hands clutched in front of her, watching the silent melodrama play itself out in front of her. She glanced at Madison, who looked a little sick to her stomach,
"Do you...do you think, that Love can, can save him?" she asked quietly.
Madison looked at her friend sadly, knowing that Sakura needed her right now. But, damn, why did she always have to be the one to offer support? The truth was, she didn't know any more than Sakura did, probably less, so how did her friend expect her to answer? On this line of thought, the only answer she could give was, "I don't know."
They both glanced back to the two men.
Suddenly, some unseen force seemed to go through Love and enter Rage. They both tensed, and Love's brow creased in concentration. A soft, light pink glow began to surround and envelope Love's fingers, and then his hands. The light slowly changed from light pink to a more yellowish colour, like the light from an angel's halo. Love's breath came more quickly and his brow drew together even more. Cold sweat droplets appeared on Rage's forehead and dotted his arms and chest. The light continued to change, this time from light yellow to a white, and the light seemed to take on a palpable, almost solid form now. They were both breathing heavily. Rage's dove white hair clung to his face and his eyes were squeezed shut as tightly as they could be.
As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The tension abruptly went out of them and Rage went limp. Love lifted his hand away from the wound........and only pale flesh greeted the stunned eyes of the cardcaptors and group. Sakura's eyes were locked on the place where the wound used to be. Even though she was seeing it for herself, she still couldn't believe it. There wasn't even a scar.
Love opened his eyes. They were distant and his pupils were almost non-existent, only hazel showing. He wavered slightly where he crouched and Sakura thought he just might collapse on top of Rage. He quickly shook himself though, and his eyes returned to this world. Shaking himself, he glanced down at Rage and smiled faintly, noting the absence of the wound.
Sakura rushed over and hovered anxiously behind Love and beside Rage. She glanced from Rage to Love, and then back again. Licking her dry lips, she asked, "Is he unconscious?"
Love opened his mouth to reply but was beaten to the punch. "I am not unconscious." Rage said, his voice only slightly off. "Just abominably tired."
An uncomfortable silence settled on the group. Rage remained on the ground, eyes closed, apparently oblivious to all and everything around him. Love remained crouched, his head bowed and his hair falling about his face; it was impossible to determine his expression. Madison and Kero shifted their feet uneasily, one on the Earth the other in the air. Yue had remained silent and still since Sakura's order, his arms resting at his sides, his face in his usual blank expression. Li stood glaring between the two Clow cards, but his eyes kept shifting back and forth, not sure exactly what to make of this situation. Sakura was still situated near the two men, chewing on her lip. The silence was making her nervous. Just when she thought she was going to go mad, Rage opened his eyes,
His gaze immediately went to Yue, and he asked, "Are you going to kill me now? Or are we going to be able to leave without further bloodshed?"
Yue didn't answer.
Sakura took the opportunity to speak up. "Of course you can leave," she said reassuringly. She observed his prone form. "Umm....do you need some help?" she asked hesitantly.
Rage shook his head. Picking up the remains of his tattered shirt, he began to stand up stiffly. Looking back at Love, who was still crouched down, he frowned. Leaning over slightly, he grasped Love around the arm to help him up. Immediately, Love shook off Rage's grasp, angrily, if Rage read him right, and refused to look at him.
Refraining from saying anything, Rage looked back at Sakura, "If you would still like those lessons, then meet me back here. No matter what time of day or night, I will be here."
Rage closed his eyes and he suddenly dissolved into a white mist. Love soon followed, shimmering into the shadows with a pink afterglow.
Sakura stood there, silent. There was a numbness permeating her thoughts, and all she could see in her mind was that angry sword wound in Rage's shoulder. Her head felt a bit fuzzy, and she wondered, detached, if that wasn't a good thing. She'd seen cuts and such before, hell, she'd had enough of them herself, but she didn't think she'd ever quite seen anything as bad as Rage's shoulder. She wasn't particularly queasy when it came to blood either, far less than what she would have been five years ago, but for some reason, seeing a Clow card bleeding.....she just hadn't been prepared for it.
Suddenly, everything that had happened in the last, what? half hour? couldn't have been more than that, came skidding back into her fragile world with a hardy BOOM! The argument she'd had with Li before she'd come here, her anxiety and fear when she faced off with Rage, the pain she'd felt at Wood's brutal treatment, and the anguish she'd felt when Earth had exploded around her. Sakura felt tears threatening,.....could she even call Earth back? Was her beautiful element card gone for good?........the wounds on her arms, although they seemed inconsequential compared to her emotional anguish. The certainty of her death when Rage had been poised above her, ready to strike her dead with a thrust of that terrifying, dangerous blade. And then the short lived relief when he hadn't. The hope when he claimed he could teach her magic. And lastly, the sickening dread when Rage and Yue had fought one another, certain that one would surely die. And the shame, oh, the shame of her betrayel of Yue's trust.
Sakura doubled over, clutching at her stomach. The emotional upheaval, the soul shattering anguish. Too many emotions had run rampant through her head recently, and Sakura felt as if her head would explode with them.
She felt a warm hand settle on her shoulder and a worried voice by her ear. "Sakura? Sakura! What's wrong?"
Ah,....good old Syaoran. She really should answer him.....she hated it when he was worried.
"Lay her down," a cultured voice ordered.
Yue. Sakura tried to open her mouth, tell him she was sorry, but her mouth didn't seem to be working properly. Sakura felt like giggling, fancy that.
A face suddenly appeared in her line of view and Sakura squinted, trying to make out who was leaning over her and blocking her view of the wonderfully blue sky.
"Sakura? Sakura, can you hear me?" Madison asked urgently. Sakura's eyes crossed as she waved some fingers in front of her face. "Sakura, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Come on kiddo, don't quit on us now." Kero said, standing beside her ear and stroking her hair. "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings, right?"
Sakura tried to nod, to reassure him, but the edge of her vision began fading to black, and then she couldn't see or hear anything anymore.
~
Love and Rage 're-materialized' in some other area of the forest, well away from the former battlefield. Rage immediately set his shirt down on the lush, green grass, and his sword, sword belt, and sheath followed suit. He sighed wearily and stretched. Turning back to Love, he said, "I don't expect they'll......"
Rage didn't even know what hit him. One moment, he was saying something, the next, he was down on the ground, one hand over his aching abdomen, gulping in huge gusts of air through his tortured lungs. Once he had his breath back, he gazed up at Love's furious face and only had a moment to realize, in astonishment, that Love had punched him, hard.
Love's hands were still balled into fists and in the next instant he was blasting into Rage, "You bloody fool!! What the hell is the matter with you!?!" he railed. "Did you PLAN to die out there? Was it a suicide attempt? Because I'd sure as hell like to know!" Love began pacing back and forth in front of the fallen Ice Prince, but he never took his burning hot glare away from the stunned gaze of Rage. "Is there something I should know about that angel? I've never seen him before, but obviously YOU have. Why wouldn't you fight back, Rage? Why didn't you just kill him?" Love came down on top of him, placing his strong arms on either side of Rage's head, pinning him there. He brought his face to within inches of Rage's, and said quietly, "Let me tell you now, whatever your reason is, it had better be a damn good one, because if it isn't...." Love shook his head, "If you think I'm angry now, you just wait." he lowered his voice even more and he hissed out, "Don't EVER do something like that again. If you're so foolhardy to put your life on the line like that, then I might as well just kill you now, because if you do do that again, I WILL kill you."
Levering himself off of Rage, Love turned his back and went back to pacing, trying to rid the rest of his anger without actually killing anything, preferably Rage. Rage propped himself up on his elbows slowly, eying Love with astonishment and confusion. Observing Love's tense shoulders Rage frowned,
"I don't understand," he said slowly, "Why are you angry? It was my decision, and whatever my reasons, I assure you, they are justified."
Love raked a hand through his tousled hair and gave out a short burst of laughter that sounded more like he was choking, "Of course you don't understand. You're sculpted from ice and there is no part of you that isn't as cold and unyielding as that very same ice. I suppose it's too much to expect that you might actually understand why I...." Love cut himself off shaking his head slightly. He glanced over his shoulder at Rage's still puzzled expression. His anger diminishing somewhat, a small smile appeared on his face and he shook his head ruefully. "Nevermind. Just forget it. It doesn't matter."
Rage, the fool that he was, believed him.
Shrugging his shoulders slightly, Rage stood up and walked over to a tree. Lowering himself down again, he rested his back against it and stared up into the sky thoughtfully. Finally, glancing back down at Love, who didn't seem to have moved, he asked, "What was it you did?"
Love sighed, giving up the rest of his anger as it was pointless anyways. He plopped down where he was and rested his hands on his knees, giving Rage his full attention. "I told you, I didn't know if my healing gift would work. Normally, I'm not sure doubtful of my own abilities," he said grinning cheekily, "But that angel DID use a soul sword, so I wasn't sure." Love shrugged. "I've only ever heard of the soul swords. When we were first made and Clow Reed was teaching us sorcery, he told us the myth about the incredible power of the soul swords. I remember him saying how only the most pure and dedicated could produce that gleaming blade, reaching down to the depths of his soul and extracting the deadly blade, full of one's own life force," Love shook his head slightly, getting his head up and out of the clouds. He grinned sheepishly. "I guess it wasn't a myth." Looking down then back up again, Love continued, "I knew that it would take a strong amount of energy to counter the damage done by the angel's soul force, so I…..I pulled extra energy from myself, hoping that it would be enough."
Rage eyed Love with a degree of curiosity and suspicion. "Where did you get the extra force needed?" he questioned.
Love rolled his shoulders. After a brief hesitation where Love had his face hidden from Rage's penetrating gaze, he said quietly, "I countered the angel's soul energy with my own."
Rage stared at him. "What, exactly, do you mean?"
Love glared at him defiantly, as if he expected to get scolded for something he had been forbidden to do. "I pulled the needed energy from my own soul, I used the….feelings, there, to help me heal your shoulder."
Rage's eyes widened. "You soul searched?!" he asked incredulously. [2]
Love shook his head. "Nothing quite like that. I didn't delve into myself to find knowledge that I needed. I, well, I'm not quite sure what I did." He admitted. He looked slightly embarrassed. "I…uh…think it was something similar to what the angel did in order to produce the sword. All I really know, is that I took a part of myself, and used it to heal you." he finished. There was so much more he could say, and he could have explained further, but, he couldn't bring himself to tell Rage exactly what part of his soul [3] he had used to heal him.
Rage continued to eye him skeptically. "You mean, you don't know what you did?"
Love shrugged, but he was becoming angry again, thinking that Rage was going to reprimand him. "Look, I didn't use a spell, if that's what you mean. I had meant to, I had meant to use my healing spells, but, when I saw how much damage had been done, felt the power still emanating from the wound, I just,.....reached out." he shrugged helplessly. "And what I was looking for was there."
They continued to stare at each other, then Rage frowned, "What you did was dangerous," he began, "Back when,....when..... Clow Reed," Rage gritted the name out, "Was teaching us the basics, he specifically said not to mess around with spells, because if you didn't know what you were doing, you could end up blowing something up. He didn't go into too much detail about Soul Magic, probably on account of the fact that he didn't think we HAD souls," Rage said bitterly, "but from what he did say, Soul Magic is the most tricky and difficult Magic out there. Only the most experienced sorcerers knew how to manage it, and even then they declined to use it because it was so dangerous." Rage looked Love in the eye with a firm stare, "Don't do anything like that again." he said simply.
Love just sat there, fighting the urge to let his jaw drop. Who did Rage think he was? Love fought his outrage, he knew it would get him nowhere. Huh, he thought, with much of his good humour returning, I think all that time he spent fighting the war between the sorcerers and us gave him an attitude. Love shook his head. So, he said the only thing he could, "Of course Rage, I wasn't thinking." and he hadn't been, but, in his opinion, thinking wasn't always a good thing. Besides, if he had to go and do that again, he would.
Rage nodded, satisfied. Running his hand through his gritty, sweat soaked hair, he grimaced. "Come on, let's find a pond, there must be one somewhere in this wood. I hesitate to think what I might look like."
Love grinned. "You could always go back to the little brook by the willow tree." he said slyly.
Rage gave him his ice glare, "I think not." was all he said. He pushed himself up and began walking.
Love followed him still grinning, "You know, you could always create your own pond." he suggested.
Rage glanced back at him, "But where would the fun be in that?" he asked sarcastically.
Love gasped. "FUN?!? I didn't know that was in your vocabulary!"
Rage ignored him. "Besides, I don't want to draw anymore attention to us by releasing anymore energy. God knows that little display back there probably alerted any of us that was in a fifty mile radius." Rage sighed. The he muttered, "Besides, I'm tired." his pride would never allow him to say that any louder.
Wisely, Love bypassed that statement, but only because he had bigger game in mind, "So, Rage," he said slowly. Rage glanced back at him, his eyes narrowed, wondering what Love was thinking now, and knowing that it couldn't be good, "I couldn't help but notice that everyone came out of this relatively unscathed, well, almost everyone," he grinned.
Rage's eyes narrowed. "Do. Not. Say. It." he bit out.
Love continued to grin until it nearly split his face. As soon as Rage turned back around, Love said, "I told you you wouldn't be able to kill her."
~
Sakura woke up feeling very groggy. There was something hard poking into her back and she frowned, wondering why her mattress was so lumpy. Sakura opened her eyes and blinked at the green canopy above her head. Staring at it for a couple seconds, Sakura suddenly remembered where she was and why.
Sakura sat up and groaned. Immediately, she was assaulted by three very worried voices.
"Sakura! You're awake! Are you okay?"
"He~y!! She's aw~ake!! I KNEW you'd pull through, kiddo!"
"Sakura! Do you feel all right? Can you get up?"
Sakura blinked some more as three faces appeared in her line of vision. Madison, Kero, Li,.....
Sakura bolted upright, "Where's Yue?!" she asked, panicky.
"I am right here, Mistress."
Sakura turned her head and saw him, Yue, leaning against the willow tree, his wings hanging stiffly at either side of his lean frame. Sakura quickly scrambled up, or tried to. She found that she couldn't go anywhere because Li had a firm hold of her arm. She looked up at him and frowned, confused,
"Li, let go." she said, tugging ineffectually on her arm.
Li shook his head. "I don't know why you fainted Sakura, but let's not make a habit of it."
Giving up, Sakura sighed, exasperated. "I'm fine now," Li didn't let go. Sakura huffed. "Fine!" she turned back to Yue. "Are you okay, Yue?" she asked concerned, referring to any emotional wounds rather than any physical ones.
Yue looked at her, puzzled. "I am fine, Mistress, but I am not the one you should be worrying about. You must be exhausted."
Sakura looked at him, her eyes going all misty. "Yue," she whispered. She gulped back a little cry and bowed her head. "Please, Yue, I don't want to be your Mistress. I told you, I want to be your friend." she looked back up at him, her eyes shimmering, "I know I didn't act that way today, but, you have to understand! I didn't want anyone to die!" in a whisper, she said, "Please, Yue,....I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
Yue stood stock still for a moment, torn between the betrayel, and the crystalline tears he could see threatening in her eyes. Obviously, she was sorry for what she had done, and even though he had to admit that her order had hurt, it had been for a noble cause. Besides, it would have been a shame to kill Rage,
Yue nodded his head slightly, "There is nothing to forgive. Do not worry." he had to refrain from calling her Mistress, not because he was still hurt, but because no matter how many times Clow Reed's descendant claimed to be only a friend, he was far too much in touch with his past still. Calling her anything but Mistress just felt too foreign to him, too wrong. Kero Beros had assured him that it would get easier, but Yue hadn't seen any evidence of that as yet.
Yue was startled out of his musings when Sakura suddenly launched herself at him, somehow escaping Li Syaoran's hold, and wrapping her arms around him in a big bear hug. Looking up into his face from the vicinity of Yue's chest, Sakura beamed at him,
"Really!? You forgive me? I really am sorry you know!! I felt so ashamed! But I didn't know how else to stop you from hurting him! I want you to know I'll never, ever do that again! I know you probably still don't COMPLETELY forgive me, but at least I know you're not mad at me. I'll try to do everything I can to make it up to you. I promise!!"
Madison was suddenly behind her and looking up at Yue's cornered expression sheepishly. She pried Sakura's arms from around Yue and said ruefully, "Come on Sakura, we don't want Yue to fly away and never come back now do we?"
Sakura frowned at her friend. With her ever present Sakura cluelessness, she asked, "Why would he want to do that?"
Madison rolled her eyes.
Li, ever the voice of reason, asked, "Why DID you faint, Sakura?" he asked because he was concerned, but for some reason unknown to him, it earned him a glare from Madison.
Sobering, Sakura looked to Li. Completely calmed down now, she said, "I had too much going on in my head. There was too much to deal with and i was feeling so many things, that I guess, my mind just shut itself down."
Patting Sakura's back reassuringly, Madison said, "We would have taken you to the hospital, but we were afraid to move you. Since we didn't know what was quite the matter with you, we thought it would be safer if we didn't move you." she explained.
Sakura nodded. "That's all right. I'm fine, really. Aside from these cuts all over my arms, I'm really not hurt. Besides, I want to ask Yue some questions that have been bothering me for the past couple days, and some others that have been bothering me just recently." Sakura stopped suddenly though. She looked so forlorn, that Kero, Li, and Madison all asked her what was wrong. Glancing about her, Sakura said brokenly, "I think I've lost Earth."
Kero and Li immediately understood. They glanced at each other uncertainly, not sure what to tell Sakura and unable to reassure her as they were uncertain if Earth could ever be put back together again. it only took a few moments for Madison to get what she meant, and then she was rubbing Sakura's back, sad for her friend. Yue, who hadn't been there when Sakura and Rage were fighting asked, "What happened to Earth?"
Sakura regarded him sadly. "Rage literally shattered Earth, broke it to pieces." hope suddenly filling her eyes, she asked, "Do you think I'll be able to get him back?"
Yue gazed at her with a hint of sadness in his eyes, "I truly do not know, Mistress," he said, unaware that he had reverted back to the formal address, "The only way to find out would be to call the Earth card back to you."
Sakura's face crumpled a bit, but she nodded, she really hadn't expected him to tell her anything else. Kero handed her her Clow key, which had reverted back to it's smaller form after Sakura blacked out, and gave her an encouraging grin.
Closing her eyes, she wasted no time in evoking the chant that would transform the key into the wand. "Oh, Key of Clow! Power of Magic! Power of Light! Surrender the wand, the force ignite! Release!" the Clow wand appeared in her hand. Taking a deep breath, and silently praying to God or the ghost of Clow Reed-Sakura didn't know-she called the Earth card to her, "Earth card! Return to your power, confined! Earth!"
Nothing happened.
Sakura lowered the Clow wand, her lip quivering. Li came up beside her and whispered gently, "Try again."
Looking up at him sniffling, Sakura nodded. Raising the Clow wand again, Sakura closed her eyes, concentrating. Putting as much heart into the chant as she could, thinking about how much she cared about the Clow cards, HER cards, Sakura called Earth again, "Earth card! Return to your power, confined! Earth!"
Again, nothing happened.
Feeling as if she was going to burst into sobs, Sakura gripped her Clow wand to her, clutching it protectively against her breast.
Before any of the others could move to comfort her, there was a slight rumble in the earth. Sakura glanced down at her feet and frowned. The rumble came again and Sakura shushed everybody, a desperate hope fluttering throughout her body. Standing completely still, she tried to open her senses and feel the rhythmic moving of the earth. It happened again and Sakura suddenly felt like laughing. "Come on, I'm right here," she whispered.
The small rumbling steadily increased until the very earth was shaking. Small brown chips began vibrating on the surface, and Sakura watched, holding her breath. Suddenly, those small brown chips exploded up from the earth, coming together from every direction imaginable. Sakura watched in awe as those pieces began coalescing, twirling above the groups' heads. They began drawing together faster and faster and faster, the pattern on the Clow book appearing beneath them. Then, with a flash of light! and the most amazing display she'd ever seen from a Clow card yet, the pieces came together and the pattern disappeared.
With a trembling hand, raised her fingertips, and Earth came gliding towards her. As soon as the card touched her fingers, Sakura could have sworn she felt joy coming from the card, but, of course, that was impossible. Turning back to the group, she raised the card as if showing off the greatest of things, "It came back." she whispered.
Caught up in the moment herself and smiling a watery smile, Madison glomped her friend, throwing her arms around Sakura's shoulders. They both began laughing through their tears. Kero began cheering enthusiastically and Yue smiled, his eyes soft. Li let a small smile grace his lips, feeling a warm fuzzy feeling at the display of happiness coming off of Sakura.
After the joy had simmered down a bit, and the girls stopped crying, Sakura managed to stop fawning over the Earth card and put it away. Wiping the last bit of tears from her eyes, she smiled apologetically, "Right, now, down to those questions."
Everyone settled themselves down in a circle, Sakura, Madison, Yue and then Li. Yue had a bit of trouble, he didn't quite know what to do with his wings. Finally, after much frustration and helpful suggestions, Yue spread his wings out behind him, the tips fluttering far out to the side of him on account of his large wingspan. Trying not to laugh at Yue's former predicament, Kero settled himself in Sakura's lap.
"What is it you wish to know?" Yue asked calmly.
"Well, first, why wouldn't Rage attack you? What was so important that he would risk his own life before yours?" Sakura leaned forward. "What's so important about his past?"
Yue had a slightly pained expression on his face. "If only it was any question but that, Mistress." Yue drew himself up, determined to stay true to his beliefs, but bracing himself to deal with his Mistress's disapproval. "I cannot tell you about Rage, and about what took place centuries before. I am sorry, but, if you want to know about Rage, you must ask him yourself."
Sakura smiled reassuringly at Yue. "Don't worry about it, I won't ask you to betray something you believe in." she had to admit though, she was disappointed. She thought she was finally going to learn just what was behind that icy exterior of Rage's. Well, she guessed she'd just have to wait. And she might have to wait a while, because, somehow, she didn't think Rage would tell her about himself if she just went up to him and asked.
Moving on, Sakura asked, "When I first saw you after you came back, when we had the discussion about the Clow cards, you kept referring to them as the Forgotten. Why?"
"I do not call them Clow cards, because, well, they are not." at the confused looks he was receiving, Yue explained, "Clow Reed may have created them, but as soon as he gave them a personality and feelings, he gave them a sense of self, and they ceased to belong to anyone but themselves. After Clow Reed had sealed them in his alcove, he did everything to ensure that everyone forgot about the cards, except for the select few, of course." he said, meaning Kero and himself. He shrugged. "The Forgotten is a much more appropriate name for them, don't you think?"
Sakura thought about it. "I suppose." she placed her hand underneath her chin. "After meeting and talking with Love, and especially Rage, I couldn't even THINK about them BELONGING to someone, being ordered around." sighing, she stood up. Everyone followed her lead and gave her questioning glances. "I think I should go put some peroxide on my cuts now." she explained." she turned around but then turned back as something apparently occurred to her. "Oh, and I'm going to need someone to meet me here tomorrow morning."
Everyone glanced at each other. Finally, Kero asked, "Why?"
Sakura gave them her best game but unsure smile. "Tomorrow, I'm going to have my first lesson in sorcery!"
To be continued....
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[1] Ever seen Devil Hunter Yohko?(I don't know what that translates to in Japanese) Well, if you have, then you know what a soul sword is. If you haven't seen it, well, think about it......soul sword.....pretty self explanatory.
[2] Soul searching is something that my unique imagination came up with all by itself. ^___^ I don't know if there really is such a thing as soul searching, but if there is, MY soul searching has nothing to do with it. Anyways, soul searching is something only the most qualified and experienced sorcerers did. Soul searching is where you delve deep into yourself, into your soul. If you are able to reach that level, then you are able to search your soul for knowledge(that's what Rage thought Love had done. Found the knowledge needed to heal him in his soul) and possibly be able to see things that will happen. (Kind of like in Dune with the Bene Gesserits and the Spice ~.^) Ever read the Dune series? Well, if you haven't, you should. It's very good!
[3] Love used a part of his soul to heal Rage, Soul Magic. It's the most difficult and hardest to reach Magic there is. I'm not going to tell you what he put into his soul that let him counter Yue's damage, because that would give something very important away, and I'm not ready to talk about that just yet ~_^
Okay, that was chapter fifteen. Hope the sword fight wasn't too bad. Hope you liked it! Don't know when the next chapter will be out, but we get to see Rage try and teach Sakura Magic! ~_^ It'll be something to see, trust me. Until then!!
Author's Note: I must warn you, I am so VERY bad with sword fights. I LOVE swords and any kind of blades but I have to admit that I know nothing about fighting strategies. So, if I happen to make a blunder, or if this really sucks, ignore it, 'kay? ^.^
Oh, and my sincerest apologies to Starlight Princess who seemed to be very distraught over the fact that Rage and Sakura didn't get together. ^_^a Hope you didn't have a heart attack or something. And I would like to say sorry to the rest of the RagexSakura fans. And sorry to Kyla, who wanted Li all to herself.
Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptors nor do I claim to. I am not getting paid for this so please do not sue me.
Cardcaptors: Conflicting Emotions-Ch.15
A sword slashed through the air and the battle had begun.
Sakura stood in indecision. What was she going to do? She couldn't just run in there and stop them that way. That would result in her own death, and then, after she was gone, what was to stop them from continuing their battle? Yue would fight to avenge the death of his Mistress and Rage,.....well.....Rage would fight for whatever reason he would be sure to come up with. Sakura had to admit, she didn't know him that well.
Yue's sword came flashing down towards Rage's head. Rage dodged quickly to avoid it and brought his own blade up to counter the thrust. Yue tried a different approach, he used quick cuts and slashes, trying to fool Rage's eye. Sakura had to admit, with Yue's wing span, he was more graceful and on balance than she would have expected. But Rage wasn't fooled by any of it. He kept parrying and dodging and Yue couldn't get through. However, as Sakura watched the two fight, something suddenly became glaringly obvious. She glanced over at Li and saw the confusion and puzzlement in his eyes and knew that he must have seen it as well.
Rage wasn't fighting back.
Sure, he was in there, his blade flashing in the sunlight, but he was fighting a completely defensive battle. No matter how many times Yue lunged for him or slashed at him, he never took the opportunity to counter. He just blocked. But why? Why wasn't he fighting back? It was almost....almost like....Sakura narrowed her eyes and tried to grasp the thought that was floating around in her head. Then her eyes widened. It was almost like Rage was afraid to hit him. Like he was going out of his way to make sure he didn't injure Yue. Sakura didn't know what to make of that, but she knew, that if Rage didn't start fighting back soon, then Yue would get a hit in.
Love stood leaning against the willow tree, his lips pinched. He had realized from the first that Rage was declining to take the offensive. And he was, to put it lightly, pissed. If Rage was going to act so foolhardy from the beginning, he should never have agreed to fight this....angel....in the first place. What Rage was doing had a word, and it was a very simple word. Stupid. What he was doing was stupid. And what made Love even angrier was, he hadn't the faintest idea WHY Rage was doing what he was doing. If Love had had even the slightest hint-or if Rage had just told him!-then he might have been able to understand this. Love crossed his arms over his chest and his face assumed a blank expression, hiding the anger that he felt. If Rage gets hurt, I'm going to kill him, he thought.
Sakura and company could do nothing but stare at the fight in progress. And then, it happened. Whether it was because Rage was tiring, or Yue found a chink in his armour, Yue's blade whistled through the air and imbedded itself in Rage's shoulder. You could see the bloody tip of Yue's blade where it peeked out of the back of Rage's shoulder. Sakura and Madison gasped as Rage stumbled back, his pupils dilating with his pain. But he didn't make a sound. Yue withdrew his sword and an angry red gash appeared where the sword had been, crimson immediately soaking the white silk shirt. His mouth tight, Rage lifted his sword in front of him, waiting for Yue's next move.
Yue went for his left shoulder, attacking Rage with a single-minded determination, forcing Rage to protect his wounded side and keep it moving, causing him pain. The left side was his sword arm.
Sakura couldn't believe how callous Yue was being. She watched as he continually slashed away at Rage and that shoulder, driving Rage back. She couldn't stop thinking how much pain Rage must be in by now, and she couldn't help but think that Rage was surely going to die.
Yue took a mighty swing at Rage and Rage moved to intercept it. As steel glanced off steel, Rage's arm began to shake.
"Stop." Sakura whispered.
The blood flowed freely from Rage's wound now, his adrenalin getting his blood pumping. Little droplets began spotting the grass beneath the warrior's feet. If he lost too much blood.....
"Stop." she whispered again, taking a step forward, but Sakura was still too quiet and neither combatant heard her.
Again and again and again, same attack, same side. Rage seemed to be having trouble keeping his sword arm steady, but he still managed to clumsily block Yue's attempts to kill him. However, it didn't last long. With a last downward arc, Yue sent Rage's sword skittering across the ground to land ungracefully beside Love's foot. Rage stood unarmed, hands at his side, waiting for Yue to slay him.
Yue drew his sword back. Looking up into Rage's dull, blue eyes he whispered, "I'm sorry," and thrust his sword forward.
"NO!!" Sakura finally found the voice that had been eluding her moments before. "YUE!! I order you! As Mistress of the Clow! to STOP!!"
Yue's arm froze, the tip of his blade a centimetre from Rage's abdomen.
Sakura walked towards them, worried, angry, and ashamed of herself at the same time. She was angry that they were fighting at all, and worried about Rage. She was ashamed because of what she had just done to Yue. When they had fought in the Final Judgement so long ago, Sakura had claimed that she didn't want to be Yue's Master, but rather, his friend. What had her order to him just proved? It proved that she had gone back on what she had said, and that, at this moment, she was not his friend, but indeed his Master. Yue's wings quivered and Sakura knew he was thinking back to the Final Judgement just like she had. She hoped he would be able to forgive her.
"Yue, put your sword away." an order. Yue did it without question. But instead of sheathing the glowing blade, it just disappeared into thin air. Sakura blinked. Then she shook herself, she'd wonder about that later. She stepped up to Rage and couldn't help but glance at the wound. Sakura's paled a bit, watching as slow streams still coursed from it. But the paleness of her skin was nothing in comparison to Rage's, whose skin was already white to begin with, and was even whiter with loss of blood.
"Rage, are you all right?" Sakura asked. She knew it was a dumb question, especially since he'd just been stabbed with nearly a metre long sword.
"Oh, I'm just fine." he said reasonably, not a trace of pain evident anywhere in his voice. Sakura just stared at him.
Returning her attention to the wound, Sakura said quietly, "I don't know how to take care of a cut that big, and it doesn't look like the blood is stopping. It'll probably need stitches, but I don't know how to stitch." she looked suspiciously close to tears.
"I can help."
Sakura turned around and saw Love, his face still that blank mask. It was a bit unnerving, seeing his face like that after having that devil-may-care smile on his face present ever since she'd met him.
Seeing Sakura staring at him, he smiled as gently as he could, if you could call water scraping across rocks gentle. "I have the gift of healing." he said, as if that should explain everything.
It didn't of course, but it sounded to Sakura like Love knew how to help Rage, so she stepped aside and moved back, wondering how Love was going to stop the sickening amount of blood from continuing to seep into the grass.
Love stepped up to Rage and placed his hand on Rage's shoulder. "Lie down." he said in a no nonsense tone.
Rage glanced up into Love's eyes, his own still dilated, "I'm fine the way I am." he said calmly.
Love's hand tightened minimally. "I said....lie down." he growled. He squeezed Rage's injured shoulder with enough force to bruise it.
Rage gasped. He felt his legs come out from beneath him and then he collapsed. Love quickly put his hand behind Rage's head to gentle the fall a bit. Rage stared up at Love, eyes wide, astonished at Love's behaviour.
Love crouched down and tore open Rage's white silk shirt, exposing his pale chest and the red gash on his shoulder. He glanced up into Rage's eyes and said quietly, "I don't know if I can do this. You were impaled with a soul sword[1], I don't know if my powers will work."
Rage stared into Love's eyes for a moment, then nodded, understanding. He closed his eyes and waited.
Sakura, who had inched closer, heard the exchange between the two and wondered what it had meant. She figured, though, that the gist of it was, that Love might not be able to help. Whatever the reason behind that was, and whatever a soul sword was, she sincerely hoped Love would be able to save Rage.
"Relax." Love whispered. He placed his hands over the wound, left hand first then right, and applied gentle pressure. Rage's lips thinned but he remained silent. Love closed his own eyes and began breathing deeply.
Everyone stood silently and watched, not exactly sure what it was Love was doing, but knowing that it was intense. Sakura had her hands clutched in front of her, watching the silent melodrama play itself out in front of her. She glanced at Madison, who looked a little sick to her stomach,
"Do you...do you think, that Love can, can save him?" she asked quietly.
Madison looked at her friend sadly, knowing that Sakura needed her right now. But, damn, why did she always have to be the one to offer support? The truth was, she didn't know any more than Sakura did, probably less, so how did her friend expect her to answer? On this line of thought, the only answer she could give was, "I don't know."
They both glanced back to the two men.
Suddenly, some unseen force seemed to go through Love and enter Rage. They both tensed, and Love's brow creased in concentration. A soft, light pink glow began to surround and envelope Love's fingers, and then his hands. The light slowly changed from light pink to a more yellowish colour, like the light from an angel's halo. Love's breath came more quickly and his brow drew together even more. Cold sweat droplets appeared on Rage's forehead and dotted his arms and chest. The light continued to change, this time from light yellow to a white, and the light seemed to take on a palpable, almost solid form now. They were both breathing heavily. Rage's dove white hair clung to his face and his eyes were squeezed shut as tightly as they could be.
As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The tension abruptly went out of them and Rage went limp. Love lifted his hand away from the wound........and only pale flesh greeted the stunned eyes of the cardcaptors and group. Sakura's eyes were locked on the place where the wound used to be. Even though she was seeing it for herself, she still couldn't believe it. There wasn't even a scar.
Love opened his eyes. They were distant and his pupils were almost non-existent, only hazel showing. He wavered slightly where he crouched and Sakura thought he just might collapse on top of Rage. He quickly shook himself though, and his eyes returned to this world. Shaking himself, he glanced down at Rage and smiled faintly, noting the absence of the wound.
Sakura rushed over and hovered anxiously behind Love and beside Rage. She glanced from Rage to Love, and then back again. Licking her dry lips, she asked, "Is he unconscious?"
Love opened his mouth to reply but was beaten to the punch. "I am not unconscious." Rage said, his voice only slightly off. "Just abominably tired."
An uncomfortable silence settled on the group. Rage remained on the ground, eyes closed, apparently oblivious to all and everything around him. Love remained crouched, his head bowed and his hair falling about his face; it was impossible to determine his expression. Madison and Kero shifted their feet uneasily, one on the Earth the other in the air. Yue had remained silent and still since Sakura's order, his arms resting at his sides, his face in his usual blank expression. Li stood glaring between the two Clow cards, but his eyes kept shifting back and forth, not sure exactly what to make of this situation. Sakura was still situated near the two men, chewing on her lip. The silence was making her nervous. Just when she thought she was going to go mad, Rage opened his eyes,
His gaze immediately went to Yue, and he asked, "Are you going to kill me now? Or are we going to be able to leave without further bloodshed?"
Yue didn't answer.
Sakura took the opportunity to speak up. "Of course you can leave," she said reassuringly. She observed his prone form. "Umm....do you need some help?" she asked hesitantly.
Rage shook his head. Picking up the remains of his tattered shirt, he began to stand up stiffly. Looking back at Love, who was still crouched down, he frowned. Leaning over slightly, he grasped Love around the arm to help him up. Immediately, Love shook off Rage's grasp, angrily, if Rage read him right, and refused to look at him.
Refraining from saying anything, Rage looked back at Sakura, "If you would still like those lessons, then meet me back here. No matter what time of day or night, I will be here."
Rage closed his eyes and he suddenly dissolved into a white mist. Love soon followed, shimmering into the shadows with a pink afterglow.
Sakura stood there, silent. There was a numbness permeating her thoughts, and all she could see in her mind was that angry sword wound in Rage's shoulder. Her head felt a bit fuzzy, and she wondered, detached, if that wasn't a good thing. She'd seen cuts and such before, hell, she'd had enough of them herself, but she didn't think she'd ever quite seen anything as bad as Rage's shoulder. She wasn't particularly queasy when it came to blood either, far less than what she would have been five years ago, but for some reason, seeing a Clow card bleeding.....she just hadn't been prepared for it.
Suddenly, everything that had happened in the last, what? half hour? couldn't have been more than that, came skidding back into her fragile world with a hardy BOOM! The argument she'd had with Li before she'd come here, her anxiety and fear when she faced off with Rage, the pain she'd felt at Wood's brutal treatment, and the anguish she'd felt when Earth had exploded around her. Sakura felt tears threatening,.....could she even call Earth back? Was her beautiful element card gone for good?........the wounds on her arms, although they seemed inconsequential compared to her emotional anguish. The certainty of her death when Rage had been poised above her, ready to strike her dead with a thrust of that terrifying, dangerous blade. And then the short lived relief when he hadn't. The hope when he claimed he could teach her magic. And lastly, the sickening dread when Rage and Yue had fought one another, certain that one would surely die. And the shame, oh, the shame of her betrayel of Yue's trust.
Sakura doubled over, clutching at her stomach. The emotional upheaval, the soul shattering anguish. Too many emotions had run rampant through her head recently, and Sakura felt as if her head would explode with them.
She felt a warm hand settle on her shoulder and a worried voice by her ear. "Sakura? Sakura! What's wrong?"
Ah,....good old Syaoran. She really should answer him.....she hated it when he was worried.
"Lay her down," a cultured voice ordered.
Yue. Sakura tried to open her mouth, tell him she was sorry, but her mouth didn't seem to be working properly. Sakura felt like giggling, fancy that.
A face suddenly appeared in her line of view and Sakura squinted, trying to make out who was leaning over her and blocking her view of the wonderfully blue sky.
"Sakura? Sakura, can you hear me?" Madison asked urgently. Sakura's eyes crossed as she waved some fingers in front of her face. "Sakura, how many fingers am I holding up?"
"Come on kiddo, don't quit on us now." Kero said, standing beside her ear and stroking her hair. "It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings, right?"
Sakura tried to nod, to reassure him, but the edge of her vision began fading to black, and then she couldn't see or hear anything anymore.
~
Love and Rage 're-materialized' in some other area of the forest, well away from the former battlefield. Rage immediately set his shirt down on the lush, green grass, and his sword, sword belt, and sheath followed suit. He sighed wearily and stretched. Turning back to Love, he said, "I don't expect they'll......"
Rage didn't even know what hit him. One moment, he was saying something, the next, he was down on the ground, one hand over his aching abdomen, gulping in huge gusts of air through his tortured lungs. Once he had his breath back, he gazed up at Love's furious face and only had a moment to realize, in astonishment, that Love had punched him, hard.
Love's hands were still balled into fists and in the next instant he was blasting into Rage, "You bloody fool!! What the hell is the matter with you!?!" he railed. "Did you PLAN to die out there? Was it a suicide attempt? Because I'd sure as hell like to know!" Love began pacing back and forth in front of the fallen Ice Prince, but he never took his burning hot glare away from the stunned gaze of Rage. "Is there something I should know about that angel? I've never seen him before, but obviously YOU have. Why wouldn't you fight back, Rage? Why didn't you just kill him?" Love came down on top of him, placing his strong arms on either side of Rage's head, pinning him there. He brought his face to within inches of Rage's, and said quietly, "Let me tell you now, whatever your reason is, it had better be a damn good one, because if it isn't...." Love shook his head, "If you think I'm angry now, you just wait." he lowered his voice even more and he hissed out, "Don't EVER do something like that again. If you're so foolhardy to put your life on the line like that, then I might as well just kill you now, because if you do do that again, I WILL kill you."
Levering himself off of Rage, Love turned his back and went back to pacing, trying to rid the rest of his anger without actually killing anything, preferably Rage. Rage propped himself up on his elbows slowly, eying Love with astonishment and confusion. Observing Love's tense shoulders Rage frowned,
"I don't understand," he said slowly, "Why are you angry? It was my decision, and whatever my reasons, I assure you, they are justified."
Love raked a hand through his tousled hair and gave out a short burst of laughter that sounded more like he was choking, "Of course you don't understand. You're sculpted from ice and there is no part of you that isn't as cold and unyielding as that very same ice. I suppose it's too much to expect that you might actually understand why I...." Love cut himself off shaking his head slightly. He glanced over his shoulder at Rage's still puzzled expression. His anger diminishing somewhat, a small smile appeared on his face and he shook his head ruefully. "Nevermind. Just forget it. It doesn't matter."
Rage, the fool that he was, believed him.
Shrugging his shoulders slightly, Rage stood up and walked over to a tree. Lowering himself down again, he rested his back against it and stared up into the sky thoughtfully. Finally, glancing back down at Love, who didn't seem to have moved, he asked, "What was it you did?"
Love sighed, giving up the rest of his anger as it was pointless anyways. He plopped down where he was and rested his hands on his knees, giving Rage his full attention. "I told you, I didn't know if my healing gift would work. Normally, I'm not sure doubtful of my own abilities," he said grinning cheekily, "But that angel DID use a soul sword, so I wasn't sure." Love shrugged. "I've only ever heard of the soul swords. When we were first made and Clow Reed was teaching us sorcery, he told us the myth about the incredible power of the soul swords. I remember him saying how only the most pure and dedicated could produce that gleaming blade, reaching down to the depths of his soul and extracting the deadly blade, full of one's own life force," Love shook his head slightly, getting his head up and out of the clouds. He grinned sheepishly. "I guess it wasn't a myth." Looking down then back up again, Love continued, "I knew that it would take a strong amount of energy to counter the damage done by the angel's soul force, so I…..I pulled extra energy from myself, hoping that it would be enough."
Rage eyed Love with a degree of curiosity and suspicion. "Where did you get the extra force needed?" he questioned.
Love rolled his shoulders. After a brief hesitation where Love had his face hidden from Rage's penetrating gaze, he said quietly, "I countered the angel's soul energy with my own."
Rage stared at him. "What, exactly, do you mean?"
Love glared at him defiantly, as if he expected to get scolded for something he had been forbidden to do. "I pulled the needed energy from my own soul, I used the….feelings, there, to help me heal your shoulder."
Rage's eyes widened. "You soul searched?!" he asked incredulously. [2]
Love shook his head. "Nothing quite like that. I didn't delve into myself to find knowledge that I needed. I, well, I'm not quite sure what I did." He admitted. He looked slightly embarrassed. "I…uh…think it was something similar to what the angel did in order to produce the sword. All I really know, is that I took a part of myself, and used it to heal you." he finished. There was so much more he could say, and he could have explained further, but, he couldn't bring himself to tell Rage exactly what part of his soul [3] he had used to heal him.
Rage continued to eye him skeptically. "You mean, you don't know what you did?"
Love shrugged, but he was becoming angry again, thinking that Rage was going to reprimand him. "Look, I didn't use a spell, if that's what you mean. I had meant to, I had meant to use my healing spells, but, when I saw how much damage had been done, felt the power still emanating from the wound, I just,.....reached out." he shrugged helplessly. "And what I was looking for was there."
They continued to stare at each other, then Rage frowned, "What you did was dangerous," he began, "Back when,....when..... Clow Reed," Rage gritted the name out, "Was teaching us the basics, he specifically said not to mess around with spells, because if you didn't know what you were doing, you could end up blowing something up. He didn't go into too much detail about Soul Magic, probably on account of the fact that he didn't think we HAD souls," Rage said bitterly, "but from what he did say, Soul Magic is the most tricky and difficult Magic out there. Only the most experienced sorcerers knew how to manage it, and even then they declined to use it because it was so dangerous." Rage looked Love in the eye with a firm stare, "Don't do anything like that again." he said simply.
Love just sat there, fighting the urge to let his jaw drop. Who did Rage think he was? Love fought his outrage, he knew it would get him nowhere. Huh, he thought, with much of his good humour returning, I think all that time he spent fighting the war between the sorcerers and us gave him an attitude. Love shook his head. So, he said the only thing he could, "Of course Rage, I wasn't thinking." and he hadn't been, but, in his opinion, thinking wasn't always a good thing. Besides, if he had to go and do that again, he would.
Rage nodded, satisfied. Running his hand through his gritty, sweat soaked hair, he grimaced. "Come on, let's find a pond, there must be one somewhere in this wood. I hesitate to think what I might look like."
Love grinned. "You could always go back to the little brook by the willow tree." he said slyly.
Rage gave him his ice glare, "I think not." was all he said. He pushed himself up and began walking.
Love followed him still grinning, "You know, you could always create your own pond." he suggested.
Rage glanced back at him, "But where would the fun be in that?" he asked sarcastically.
Love gasped. "FUN?!? I didn't know that was in your vocabulary!"
Rage ignored him. "Besides, I don't want to draw anymore attention to us by releasing anymore energy. God knows that little display back there probably alerted any of us that was in a fifty mile radius." Rage sighed. The he muttered, "Besides, I'm tired." his pride would never allow him to say that any louder.
Wisely, Love bypassed that statement, but only because he had bigger game in mind, "So, Rage," he said slowly. Rage glanced back at him, his eyes narrowed, wondering what Love was thinking now, and knowing that it couldn't be good, "I couldn't help but notice that everyone came out of this relatively unscathed, well, almost everyone," he grinned.
Rage's eyes narrowed. "Do. Not. Say. It." he bit out.
Love continued to grin until it nearly split his face. As soon as Rage turned back around, Love said, "I told you you wouldn't be able to kill her."
~
Sakura woke up feeling very groggy. There was something hard poking into her back and she frowned, wondering why her mattress was so lumpy. Sakura opened her eyes and blinked at the green canopy above her head. Staring at it for a couple seconds, Sakura suddenly remembered where she was and why.
Sakura sat up and groaned. Immediately, she was assaulted by three very worried voices.
"Sakura! You're awake! Are you okay?"
"He~y!! She's aw~ake!! I KNEW you'd pull through, kiddo!"
"Sakura! Do you feel all right? Can you get up?"
Sakura blinked some more as three faces appeared in her line of vision. Madison, Kero, Li,.....
Sakura bolted upright, "Where's Yue?!" she asked, panicky.
"I am right here, Mistress."
Sakura turned her head and saw him, Yue, leaning against the willow tree, his wings hanging stiffly at either side of his lean frame. Sakura quickly scrambled up, or tried to. She found that she couldn't go anywhere because Li had a firm hold of her arm. She looked up at him and frowned, confused,
"Li, let go." she said, tugging ineffectually on her arm.
Li shook his head. "I don't know why you fainted Sakura, but let's not make a habit of it."
Giving up, Sakura sighed, exasperated. "I'm fine now," Li didn't let go. Sakura huffed. "Fine!" she turned back to Yue. "Are you okay, Yue?" she asked concerned, referring to any emotional wounds rather than any physical ones.
Yue looked at her, puzzled. "I am fine, Mistress, but I am not the one you should be worrying about. You must be exhausted."
Sakura looked at him, her eyes going all misty. "Yue," she whispered. She gulped back a little cry and bowed her head. "Please, Yue, I don't want to be your Mistress. I told you, I want to be your friend." she looked back up at him, her eyes shimmering, "I know I didn't act that way today, but, you have to understand! I didn't want anyone to die!" in a whisper, she said, "Please, Yue,....I want you to know I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry. Can you ever forgive me?"
Yue stood stock still for a moment, torn between the betrayel, and the crystalline tears he could see threatening in her eyes. Obviously, she was sorry for what she had done, and even though he had to admit that her order had hurt, it had been for a noble cause. Besides, it would have been a shame to kill Rage,
Yue nodded his head slightly, "There is nothing to forgive. Do not worry." he had to refrain from calling her Mistress, not because he was still hurt, but because no matter how many times Clow Reed's descendant claimed to be only a friend, he was far too much in touch with his past still. Calling her anything but Mistress just felt too foreign to him, too wrong. Kero Beros had assured him that it would get easier, but Yue hadn't seen any evidence of that as yet.
Yue was startled out of his musings when Sakura suddenly launched herself at him, somehow escaping Li Syaoran's hold, and wrapping her arms around him in a big bear hug. Looking up into his face from the vicinity of Yue's chest, Sakura beamed at him,
"Really!? You forgive me? I really am sorry you know!! I felt so ashamed! But I didn't know how else to stop you from hurting him! I want you to know I'll never, ever do that again! I know you probably still don't COMPLETELY forgive me, but at least I know you're not mad at me. I'll try to do everything I can to make it up to you. I promise!!"
Madison was suddenly behind her and looking up at Yue's cornered expression sheepishly. She pried Sakura's arms from around Yue and said ruefully, "Come on Sakura, we don't want Yue to fly away and never come back now do we?"
Sakura frowned at her friend. With her ever present Sakura cluelessness, she asked, "Why would he want to do that?"
Madison rolled her eyes.
Li, ever the voice of reason, asked, "Why DID you faint, Sakura?" he asked because he was concerned, but for some reason unknown to him, it earned him a glare from Madison.
Sobering, Sakura looked to Li. Completely calmed down now, she said, "I had too much going on in my head. There was too much to deal with and i was feeling so many things, that I guess, my mind just shut itself down."
Patting Sakura's back reassuringly, Madison said, "We would have taken you to the hospital, but we were afraid to move you. Since we didn't know what was quite the matter with you, we thought it would be safer if we didn't move you." she explained.
Sakura nodded. "That's all right. I'm fine, really. Aside from these cuts all over my arms, I'm really not hurt. Besides, I want to ask Yue some questions that have been bothering me for the past couple days, and some others that have been bothering me just recently." Sakura stopped suddenly though. She looked so forlorn, that Kero, Li, and Madison all asked her what was wrong. Glancing about her, Sakura said brokenly, "I think I've lost Earth."
Kero and Li immediately understood. They glanced at each other uncertainly, not sure what to tell Sakura and unable to reassure her as they were uncertain if Earth could ever be put back together again. it only took a few moments for Madison to get what she meant, and then she was rubbing Sakura's back, sad for her friend. Yue, who hadn't been there when Sakura and Rage were fighting asked, "What happened to Earth?"
Sakura regarded him sadly. "Rage literally shattered Earth, broke it to pieces." hope suddenly filling her eyes, she asked, "Do you think I'll be able to get him back?"
Yue gazed at her with a hint of sadness in his eyes, "I truly do not know, Mistress," he said, unaware that he had reverted back to the formal address, "The only way to find out would be to call the Earth card back to you."
Sakura's face crumpled a bit, but she nodded, she really hadn't expected him to tell her anything else. Kero handed her her Clow key, which had reverted back to it's smaller form after Sakura blacked out, and gave her an encouraging grin.
Closing her eyes, she wasted no time in evoking the chant that would transform the key into the wand. "Oh, Key of Clow! Power of Magic! Power of Light! Surrender the wand, the force ignite! Release!" the Clow wand appeared in her hand. Taking a deep breath, and silently praying to God or the ghost of Clow Reed-Sakura didn't know-she called the Earth card to her, "Earth card! Return to your power, confined! Earth!"
Nothing happened.
Sakura lowered the Clow wand, her lip quivering. Li came up beside her and whispered gently, "Try again."
Looking up at him sniffling, Sakura nodded. Raising the Clow wand again, Sakura closed her eyes, concentrating. Putting as much heart into the chant as she could, thinking about how much she cared about the Clow cards, HER cards, Sakura called Earth again, "Earth card! Return to your power, confined! Earth!"
Again, nothing happened.
Feeling as if she was going to burst into sobs, Sakura gripped her Clow wand to her, clutching it protectively against her breast.
Before any of the others could move to comfort her, there was a slight rumble in the earth. Sakura glanced down at her feet and frowned. The rumble came again and Sakura shushed everybody, a desperate hope fluttering throughout her body. Standing completely still, she tried to open her senses and feel the rhythmic moving of the earth. It happened again and Sakura suddenly felt like laughing. "Come on, I'm right here," she whispered.
The small rumbling steadily increased until the very earth was shaking. Small brown chips began vibrating on the surface, and Sakura watched, holding her breath. Suddenly, those small brown chips exploded up from the earth, coming together from every direction imaginable. Sakura watched in awe as those pieces began coalescing, twirling above the groups' heads. They began drawing together faster and faster and faster, the pattern on the Clow book appearing beneath them. Then, with a flash of light! and the most amazing display she'd ever seen from a Clow card yet, the pieces came together and the pattern disappeared.
With a trembling hand, raised her fingertips, and Earth came gliding towards her. As soon as the card touched her fingers, Sakura could have sworn she felt joy coming from the card, but, of course, that was impossible. Turning back to the group, she raised the card as if showing off the greatest of things, "It came back." she whispered.
Caught up in the moment herself and smiling a watery smile, Madison glomped her friend, throwing her arms around Sakura's shoulders. They both began laughing through their tears. Kero began cheering enthusiastically and Yue smiled, his eyes soft. Li let a small smile grace his lips, feeling a warm fuzzy feeling at the display of happiness coming off of Sakura.
After the joy had simmered down a bit, and the girls stopped crying, Sakura managed to stop fawning over the Earth card and put it away. Wiping the last bit of tears from her eyes, she smiled apologetically, "Right, now, down to those questions."
Everyone settled themselves down in a circle, Sakura, Madison, Yue and then Li. Yue had a bit of trouble, he didn't quite know what to do with his wings. Finally, after much frustration and helpful suggestions, Yue spread his wings out behind him, the tips fluttering far out to the side of him on account of his large wingspan. Trying not to laugh at Yue's former predicament, Kero settled himself in Sakura's lap.
"What is it you wish to know?" Yue asked calmly.
"Well, first, why wouldn't Rage attack you? What was so important that he would risk his own life before yours?" Sakura leaned forward. "What's so important about his past?"
Yue had a slightly pained expression on his face. "If only it was any question but that, Mistress." Yue drew himself up, determined to stay true to his beliefs, but bracing himself to deal with his Mistress's disapproval. "I cannot tell you about Rage, and about what took place centuries before. I am sorry, but, if you want to know about Rage, you must ask him yourself."
Sakura smiled reassuringly at Yue. "Don't worry about it, I won't ask you to betray something you believe in." she had to admit though, she was disappointed. She thought she was finally going to learn just what was behind that icy exterior of Rage's. Well, she guessed she'd just have to wait. And she might have to wait a while, because, somehow, she didn't think Rage would tell her about himself if she just went up to him and asked.
Moving on, Sakura asked, "When I first saw you after you came back, when we had the discussion about the Clow cards, you kept referring to them as the Forgotten. Why?"
"I do not call them Clow cards, because, well, they are not." at the confused looks he was receiving, Yue explained, "Clow Reed may have created them, but as soon as he gave them a personality and feelings, he gave them a sense of self, and they ceased to belong to anyone but themselves. After Clow Reed had sealed them in his alcove, he did everything to ensure that everyone forgot about the cards, except for the select few, of course." he said, meaning Kero and himself. He shrugged. "The Forgotten is a much more appropriate name for them, don't you think?"
Sakura thought about it. "I suppose." she placed her hand underneath her chin. "After meeting and talking with Love, and especially Rage, I couldn't even THINK about them BELONGING to someone, being ordered around." sighing, she stood up. Everyone followed her lead and gave her questioning glances. "I think I should go put some peroxide on my cuts now." she explained." she turned around but then turned back as something apparently occurred to her. "Oh, and I'm going to need someone to meet me here tomorrow morning."
Everyone glanced at each other. Finally, Kero asked, "Why?"
Sakura gave them her best game but unsure smile. "Tomorrow, I'm going to have my first lesson in sorcery!"
To be continued....
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[1] Ever seen Devil Hunter Yohko?(I don't know what that translates to in Japanese) Well, if you have, then you know what a soul sword is. If you haven't seen it, well, think about it......soul sword.....pretty self explanatory.
[2] Soul searching is something that my unique imagination came up with all by itself. ^___^ I don't know if there really is such a thing as soul searching, but if there is, MY soul searching has nothing to do with it. Anyways, soul searching is something only the most qualified and experienced sorcerers did. Soul searching is where you delve deep into yourself, into your soul. If you are able to reach that level, then you are able to search your soul for knowledge(that's what Rage thought Love had done. Found the knowledge needed to heal him in his soul) and possibly be able to see things that will happen. (Kind of like in Dune with the Bene Gesserits and the Spice ~.^) Ever read the Dune series? Well, if you haven't, you should. It's very good!
[3] Love used a part of his soul to heal Rage, Soul Magic. It's the most difficult and hardest to reach Magic there is. I'm not going to tell you what he put into his soul that let him counter Yue's damage, because that would give something very important away, and I'm not ready to talk about that just yet ~_^
Okay, that was chapter fifteen. Hope the sword fight wasn't too bad. Hope you liked it! Don't know when the next chapter will be out, but we get to see Rage try and teach Sakura Magic! ~_^ It'll be something to see, trust me. Until then!!