[FFML] [CCS] Shadow of the Dragon Chapter 12

[David Barry]

Wandering around the school was boring in the middle of the night. It was no wonder ghosts were most often heard at night. They were all bemoaning the fact there was nothing to do!

Reiko floated aimlessly through the school, only her upper body being solid. She had already stuffed the airhead's shoe locker and desk with rotten food. Unfortunately, the girl who had murdered her had started to take everything home, to prevent her from doing any more damage.

The ghostly girl debated visiting home, but saw no reason to go beyond bringing back memories of other lonely nights when her phone never rang, be it a girl wanting to have a fun outing or a boy wanting anything besides her body.

Reiko smirked as she remembered the restrictions placed upon her new existence, having been told what she could do by the one who brought her back. She couldn't go just anywhere she wanted, but she could go to places she had visited before. While she had never been to the airhead's home, she had gone to the apartment of the girl's boyfriend. If she was lucky, the murderer would be there.

Reiko found it a bit of a struggle to transpose herself to Li's apartment. Having only been there once, she didn't have much connection to the place at all. Still she managed to appear in the darken living room, standing in front of the couch and looking towards the television. With the only light coming from the lighted walkway outside of the apartment, it was unlikely anyone was awake.

"Hello."

Reiko whirled around to see a young woman gazing at her from behind the kitchen counter. "Who are you?"

"That should be my question." The woman smirked. "I'm Li Fanren, Syaoran's sister."

Reiko scowled. "And you can see me?"

Fanren giggled a little. "Of course I can. The Li clan is one of the oldest mage clans. Meiling, her mother, and one of my brothers-in-law are the only ones in the family who can't see or touch you."

Reiko huffed. "And why aren't you asleep now?"

Fanren moved forward, floating through the counter separating the kitchen from the living room. "Because I'm as dead as you are. Though I became this intentionally. Care to tell me who brought you over?"

"If I told you, you'd tell that airhead. I'm not about to help the girl who killed me," Reiko snarled.

Fanren sighed. "Sakura-chan didn't kill you. True, she had a choice of who died, but someone had to die in that accident. It ended up being you."

Reiko folded her arms. "I wasn't supposed to die, yet because of the airhead, I'm dead. How is that not murder?"

Fanren's eyes hardened on the ghostly girl. "I suppose I could debate this point, but it'd get me no where. However, I will not let you hurt my little brother to get back at his girlfriend."

"Can you stop me?" Reiko threatened, her lower chest solidifying into the gory mess the truck inflicted on her.

Fanren rolled her eyes, completely unimpressed by the ghastly display. "You were a normal girl before. I've always had magic." Flames erupted from her spectral body, her image going from what she had been in life to the charred flesh and bones of her death. "You will leave NOW!"

Reiko immediately fled back to the school.

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Card Captors Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon

Chapter 12: The Taking of Sakura

Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.

By: Lord Archive

Author's Warnings:

This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.

This series contains: 
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.

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While Sakura had no plans of leaving her shoes in her locker, she still checked it to see what Reiko's ghost had done to it over night. She smelled cleaner from it, but found it to be empty. She could only guess a teacher found the prank and took care of it.

Sakura yanked her hand back as the door to her shoe locker closed suddenly. She then looked tiredly at the phantom girl scowling at her. "Can't you give me at least a little break?"

"You should be rotting in jail for murder," Reiko sneered.

Sakura pouted at the dead girl. "I suppose saying that I'm sorry and that I had every intention of being the one to die that morning if it meant saving someone's life wouldn't be enough?"

"And why would I believe a lying witch?" Reiko retorted.

"Because it's the truth," Syaoran said firmly as he moved to stand next to his girlfriend.

"As if," Reiko spat. She dashed around Sakura and shoved the girl by the head into the lockers.

Sakura rubbed her now bruised forehead. "Why does everyone go for my face?"

"Kinomoto Sakura, come with me," announced the school disciplinarian. He then glared at the boy. "You too, Li Syaoran."

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Teikei gazed intently at the girl sitting nervously in his office. He had been keeping an eye on her since the Chinese boy arrived at the school. She had picked up a long list of injuries since Ichimai's death. The most notable ones weren't when Li was around, however he wasn't sure if the boy was completely innocent. Especially as Li was the only one near Kinomoto when her head was slammed into the shoe lockers.

"Now, Kinomoto, can you tell who is hurting you?" Teikei tenderly asked. "You can tell me and I'll see the person or persons are made to stop."

Sakura's hands twitched together as the girl tried to come up with something to say. "It's well... I... ah... I don't really know!" she lamely lied.

"You don't know who is shoving you into lockers or down stairs?" Teikei returned disbelievingly.

Sakura seemed to shrivel up in her seat. The disciplinarian tried to coax any information from her, but she wouldn't answer.

"If you need any help, I'll be here for you. When you're ready to tell someone who is hurting you, I'll be ready." Teikei sighed. "You can go, Kinomoto. Send in Li."

Sakura nodded and quickly dashed out of the room.

Syaoran entered a moment later with a scowl etched on his face.

"Perhaps you can explain to me how Kinomoto bruised her forehead?" Teikei asked fiercely.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you the truth," Syaoran answered evenly.

"Try me," Teikei demanded.

"I won't bother," Syaoran returned.

"Do you want detention?" Teikei snapped.

Syaoran folded his arms defiantly. "I suspect you'll give it to me regardless of the fact that I would sooner die than hurt Sakura. I know what it looked like to you." 

"It looked like you were the one to shove her into the lockers," Teikei snarled. "You were the only one near her."

"I didn't do it," Syaoran stated firmly.

Teikei's retort was prevented by a light tapping on his door. He growled as he moved to see who it was. He gazed hard at the dark haired girl holding up a video camera.

"I have proof that Li-kun is innocent," Tomoyo informed, attempting to sound sweet but it fell flat.

"Oh, really?" Teikei wondered skeptically.

Tomoyo entered the room and shut the door behind her. She once again presented her camera with the view screen extended and pressed play.

Teikei saw an image of Kinomoto talking to herself with a strange glare on the view screen. He couldn't hear what she said with the noise of other students crowding the sound. Shortly after Li appeared on the image, the glare somehow moved past Kinomoto and her head suddenly collided with the lockers, yet no one touched her. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Guilt, I'm afraid." Tomoyo sighed theatrically. "You see, Sakura-chan was in a position to save Reiko-chan, but didn't. Now she blames herself for the girl's death. She's been hurting herself because no one has punished her. We've been trying to help her, but over coming her feelings of guilt isn't easy."

Teikei wondered if the girl should take up acting or was naturally off-key. What she said would make sense for the injuries involved. He frowned at her. "And what about the rotting meat in her locker?"

"That may be pranks done to her by those who do blame Sakura-chan for Reiko-chan's death. Reiko-chan was 'popular' with the sports team, and individuals might be doing petty things against Sakura-chan," Tomoyo added logically.

The smirk on Li's face was not lost on Teikei. If he had to place a bet on who was really responsible, it would be Daidouji and Li both hurting the girl for whatever reason. Possibly as an effort to push Kinomoto away so that they could develop a relationship or some other such nonsense. However, the time needed to edit a video should take longer. But if there was one person in the school who could change images on a video in less than fifteen minutes, it was Daidouji.

"Well, you two are free to go, however I don't like what I'm seeing at this school. If I find either of you responsible for causing damages or hurting others, you'll find yourselves in different schools," Teikei threatened.

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"It sucks that we can't let everyone know that magic is real," Naoko commented in a low tone for only her friends to hear, glancing at the school disciplinarian as they all walked toward the school buses.

"Tell me about it," Meiling groused. "We have to be very careful that Ichimai's pranks don't get us kicked out of this school."

"Can we not talk about that, please?" Sakura pleaded. "We're going to an aviary. A place Reiko-chan has never been too. A place I'll be able to relax." She then shifted uneasily as she saw Satome glaring at her, his hand entombed in a plaster cast.

Syaoran returned that boy's gaze with equal hostility. "Unfortunately you won't be able to completely relax."

"At least he's on a different bus." Rika hugged herself. "I seriously hope he fails to get into senior high."

"That jerk might not even bother going," Naoko spat. "I want him out of our lives for good."

Meiling folded her arms irritably. "Unfortunately the two ways for that to happen at this point is either someone kills him or he gets sent off to jail as an adult. You can imagine what has to happen for the latter situation to occur."

Naoko shivered in dread. "Yeah, he'd have to succeed in raping one of us."

"Can we PLEASE not talk about that either?!" Sakura whined her demand. "This is a field trip. Let's just try to enjoy it."

"I hear that part of today's assignment will be to draw an exotic bird," Takashi chirped in. "It'll be a large part of our grade too."

Sakura let out a frustrated moan.

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The students looked at a large enclosed area that had a few dead trees and rocks resembling barren lands. The only form of life they saw was a small mouse skittering across the ground.

"Aw, it's a cute mouse!" Sakura giggled. She then blinked as a mass of brown feathers swooped pass. She slowly looked up at one of the trees and saw the remains of the rodent in the claws of a hawk. "Ewww."

The tour guide laughed a little as he adjusting his hat. "The aviary occasionally has a little rodent problem, but the birds take care of it for us. In fact, we put healthy mice into these areas for the express purpose of letting our predatory birds hunt them as it is healthier for them to kill their own meals rather than be fed cut meat."

Syaoran gazed at the brown bird with red tail feathers. "That bird is amazing."

Sakura pouted. "It just killed that poor mouse."

"How else is it supposed to eat? It's a bird of prey. It only eats meat," Syaoran retorted.

"Fish are just as alive and you eat them, don't you?" Takashi added mischievously.

"Yeah, but they're not cute," Sakura defended weakly, and then giggled despite herself. "I know it's what he's supposed to do. I just don't like seeing things die."

"Now let's go to our main attraction. Please be mindful of the plastic curtains we'll be passing through. They help to keep the birds inside this exhibit as there are no cages there. You'll be able to feed the birds directly. Though do not try to pet them," the tour guide informed the group. 

After passing through the final curtain, the students were faced with an enormous room. They could not see the other side of the room as towering trees and plants filled most of the empty spaces. Numerous birds were chirping excitedly, yet none could be seen in the cover of the foliage. Many of the students loosened their shirts as the humidity of this indoor tropical forest assaulted them.

"You can all spread out and try to find the birds, but stay on the inside of the marked fences. The birds do like to hide, though you can draw them out at the feeding stations," the tour guide advised.

"Remember you need to sketch one of the birds you see here," Teikei told the students.

Sakura groaned. Her drawings were never good enough. Even worse for her was groups were to consist of no more than four people, separating with Tomoyo, Meiling and Naoko she couldn't stay with Syaoran. Though she knew he would be nearby with Yamazaki, Chiharu and Rika.

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"Can you hold that pose?" Naoko asked.

Sakura pouted. "How can I draw if I can't move?"

"You'd have a hard time drawing them anyway," Meiling pointed out.

Sakura glanced at the parrot on her left shoulder and then the cockatoo on her right shoulder. "You'll let me draw you later, won't you?"

Both birds bounced their heads in a nod.

"It's a shame we can't see the bird of paradise," Tomoyo commented, taking a still image of Sakura and the birds.

The tour guide walked up to them. "We haven't seen Rakudo since the female bird of paradise we had died."

"His mate died? That's so sad!" Sakura whined, and the birds on her shoulders nodded in agreement.

"Birds of paradise aren't known to keep with only one mate, though I suspect he's upset that there aren't any other birds of his kind here anymore." The tour guide gazed at the girl with the two birds. "You certainly have a way with animals. If you manage to see him, please feed him some fruit. He hasn't eaten anything in days."

After the tour guide walked away, Sakura asked the birds, "Do you know where Rakudo-san is?"

The birds flew from her shoulders and hovered above her. 

Sakura glanced around as she took a handful of chopped melon from the feeding station. "I'll be back. Cover me. Jump!"

Tomoyo's camera tracked Sakura as the girl leapt into the forested canopy.

Sakura frowned as she spotted the sad, yet extremely colorful red bird. Carefully she approached him. "Hello, Rakudo-san. I'm sorry to hear about your mate."

The bird of paradise gazed at the girl with a confused look.

"I know it's sad to lose someone important to you. But you can't hide away by yourself. You're not alone and others still care for you." Sakura placed her hand against her chest. "I know about hiding away from others because of pain. I was doing that myself. My friends helped me know I wasn't alone. Parrot-san and cockatoo-san cared enough to show me where you were." She held out her hand. "Please, eat and know you're not alone."

Rakudo cautiously moved toward the girl and tentatively pecked at the food in her hand.

Sakura smiled as the bird hungrily ate all the pieces of melon she had. "I don't expect you to come with me, but do try to not hide any more. Illusion!" Her image became that of a cockatoo as she returned to her friends. Seeing no one around, she let her cards return. "I got to feed Rakudo-san!"

Tomoyo's camera wasn't on the girl, but above her. "I would say so. You've got another friend! He's beautiful!"

Sakura looked up. "You did come out!"

Dozens of birds suddenly flocked around Sakura and the bird of paradise, which in turn brought the other students from Sakura's class who looked in awe at the giant colorful bird that seemed to be out of a fantasy story, yet was in fact a real bird. The attention caused Rakudo to be upset, making him fly away.

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The parrot and cockatoo stood on the railing that helped mark the path the students were supposed to stay on. They kept moving, trying to look more majestic than the other bird.

"You two are as bad as Kero-chan," Sakura muttered. "Can you please stay still so I can draw you?"

The birds did calm down for a minute, but only one minute, before returning to their posturing.

"They seem to be good friends," Tomoyo commented with a few giggles.

Naoko looked from what she was sketching. "At least Sakura-chan is a great help in getting us subjects to draw."

Suddenly both birds took off, flying away from the nearby outer wall. 

"Get back!" Sakura warned before the wall exploded. She covered her face from flying debris and looked up in horror as a monstrously huge raven loomed before her. She reached for her cards, but the bird swooped in and picked her up. She screamed as magic assaulted her, knocking her unconscious.

Naoko could only stare with the others as the bird turned around and flew out of the gapping hole it had made in the wall.

Syaoran ran straight for them, yanking papers from his pocket upon seeing what was going on. "God of thunder, descend!" he cried out, sending a lightning blast at the bird, but missed his target and succeeded in only making the hole larger. He fired more spells at the giant raven, but the distance soon became too much.

Naoko shakily stood up and watched in worry as the bird flew away with her friend. 

Meiling took off running through the hole despite her slower speed.

Tomoyo bit her lip as her camera focused on the bird.

"Shit!" Syaoran cursed. His body shook in impotent rage. "SAKURA!!!" Glowing markings appeared around him, but they did not form a circle like Sakura's magic would display, rather they took the shape of two squares offset from each other. 

Naoko might not have any ability with magic, but even she could feel the energy building around boy. Wind began to circle around him, gathering in speed. She had no idea what was going on. She started to hear loud screeching from the birds.