Cards of Yesterday

Birds and their Cages

With every beat of arrows, Sakura jumped with wings on her feet. She dodged a few, and the ones that went stray were slashed by Li's blade.

By now they could predict the attacks as they were preceded by a short change in currents. However the arrows still came from unpredictable directions, appearing magically out of the void.

With blazing fire reeling out of his magic writings, he slashed flames into the darkness hoping it would strike against something but they only traveled through, like waves in an unending sea.

"This is no good. We need to find the source." Syaoran's forehead sweat.

Sakura stood still as she tried to detect the location of the presence. He stayed close to her in case the being would strike her again.

She slowly calmed down her breathing and focused on what she could sense. Even though the presence was all around her, there must be some place it must be the strongest. Like the hands of a clock, her mind sweeped from one direction to the other looking for a clue.

"I got it! The house. She's inside the house!" Sakura pointed.

Syaoran clenched his teeth, held onto her hand tightly and went running towards the door.

-

The aging walls showed their age and a hundred framed photographs were hung on the wall. Syaoran spotted a few old Greek artifacts but ignored them to retain his focus.

He tread carefully with his sword before him, opening door after door, only to get nothing. When he looked back to ask Sakura if she felt anything else, he panicked as she wasn't behind him anymore.

Sakura walked up the stairs towards the terrace where the power lured her. Her feet walked gently on the wooden stairs as they creaked with little weight on them.

As she walked upstairs she felt more and more sleepy, as if she were drifting into a dream, till she was finally in the open air on the roof.

The figure of a woman was standing before her, her features still unknown by the darkness. All she could understand was that her eyes gleamed in purple, the exact purple that lit Kaguya's eyes.

She slowly walked towards her, almost in a daze. She placed her right foot forward but for some odd reason the floor before her sank.

Her eyes opened wide in shock as she saw the illusion fold like thin paper. She realized that she was standing on the railing of the roof and was enveloped in hypnosis only a second back.

She tripped forward into thin air but Syaoran tugged onto her arm just in time. He held her hand as she dangled from the roof. Her shoe slipped out from her foot and fell to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" He raged in panic.

Syaoran pulled her up and Sakura could feel his heart throbbing as he helped her up

"So we're up against an illusionist? Why are you hiding yourself, you coward?" Syaoran blazed his sword on his right hand.

Just on the other side of the roof, an ash white figure clenched her teeth. Her eyes gleamed in embarrassment and with a dash she disappeared.

One by one all buildings began to appear and the cheerful chirps of sparrows replaced the eerie silence.

Kaguya and Kazuma seemed to be sleeping in the Garden blissfully uninformed about the chaos that just happened. However the box of memories, the pictures and the pages that were kept on the table were gone.

-

Syaoran opened the door for Sakura as she limped out of the car with a bruised ankle. She snuggled in his coat on her back which smelt like his musk perfume.

He paid the driver, pulled her arm around his neck and helped her walk up to her apartment. Unlike Syaoran, she hadn't been training regularly and the sudden encounter left her body strained.

"I've already called up Hiragizawa, he'll be coming here soon. Ruby moon and Spinel Sun will be coming too." He carefully helped her up the stairs to her apartment.

"And what about Mizuki sensei?"

"She needs some rest before she can travel. She's recently had a baby."

"WHAT! You're telling me this NOW?"

"I got to know about it today."

"So Eriol is a father now?" Sakura repeated to herself.

Eriol was the first one to get engaged from the 'Tomoeda group'. When he broke the news to Sakura, she was surprised to know that he and Miss Mizuki had a relationship in the first case; but then again, Sakura was dense with such observations sometimes.

"I'm pretty surprised myself. I didn't think he'd settle so soon. He's always been so smooth with the ladies." Syaoran coughed. He knew how big a flirt Eriol was, when they were in school.

The door before them opened and Ayumi looked at them with surprise.

"What happened to you?" Ayumi rushed to help Sakura.

"I fell down some stairs." Sakura smiled awkwardly.

"Oh my God. Come in. Come in."

Syaoran closed the door behind him as Ayumi helped Sakura walk up to her bed.

"You're so careless sometimes." Ayumi helped her get comfortable on her bed as Syaoran watched them.

Ayumi turned around and bowed down greeting him. Her long black hair fell gracefully on her soft sweater.

"Nice to meet you. Sakura has told me so much about you." Ayumi smiled.

Syaoran bowed.

"I'll make some tea for both of you. How many sugar cubes for you?" Ayumi asked him as she walked into the kitchen.

"One will do."

The doorbell rang and Syaoran offered to see who it was. As he opened the door, he was greeted with a warm smile.

"Yukito-san." Syaoran greeted him with a smile.

"Yukito! What are you doing here? I thought Touya was going to visit." Sakura beamed with enthusiasm from her bed.

"He offered to make dinner so I brought the souvenirs instead. " Yukito handed over a paper bag filled with confectionary to Sakura.

"What happened to you?" Yukito looked at the bandages on Sakura's arm.

"Long story." Sakura smiled awkwardly.

"By the way Li-kun, we met your mother."

Syaoran's expression changed instantly. There was a certain discomfort in his posture and his hair looked like the fur of a terrified cat.

"We also met Sheifa. I couldn't recognize her at first." Yukito smiled.

"But your mother sent you this. She told its a letter from when you were in school." Yukito walked up to Syaoran and handed him an old letter posted from Li's old apartment in Tomoeda. Syaoran glimpsed at the handwriting and understood that it was Wei's.

"Who is it?" Ayumi walked into the room with a bottle of tea leaves in her hand and bumped into Yukito.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" Yukito asked Ayumi as she looked up to see who the unknown person was.

Sakura noticed Ayumi struggling to find words in response. This was strange, as Ayumi was always meticulous with her greetings.

"Yukito-San. When did you return back?" Ayumi's face blushed slight red as she tried to compose herself.

Sakura looked at them carefully, and could slightly detect patterns in her hesitant behavior in the presence of Yukito. This wasn't the first time she was being so flustered.

"Oh no! I didn't get anything for you... Wait." he walked up to the bag Sakura was holding and took out an ornamental hair pin.

"I'm not sure if she can use this anymore. You have long hair, maybe you'll like it." Yukito handed her a metal pin with a bird made on it.

Ayumi's palms held the pin before her and she looked at him with a daze.

Sakura giggled as she saw a glimpse of her childhood self in Ayumi.