Chapter 6-- A Time for Reflections

Sensing that victory wasn't far away, the Mystix
swooped down once again, claws extended and beak wide
open. Syaomao darted away a second before its beak
struck the ground with a shattering force that shook
even the trees. Syaomao calculated that he had enough
strength for one more pounce, and so he gathered up
all his remaining strength and leapt onto the bird's
back. Surprised, the Mystix swiveled its head around
to face him, and let out a piercing scream. And then
it took flight. Bucking like a wild horse in midair,
it tried to loose Syaomao from its feathery back, but
he clung on with born desperation. But he wasn't
prepared for what the bird did next-it dived towards
the ground, and then suddenly turned onto its back,
smashing him against the jungle floor below. Instantly
his breath left him in a rush, and he was left fully
winded. The Mystix flew up onto a high branch and
preened its feathers in a careful manner. Then it
spoke, "Syaomao, you have failed. You are the first
of your kind to fail, you must know this…. And you
have disgraced yourself and them. My mother before me
was killed by you father, and my sister your brother,
as you were supposed to kill me. But I see you have
failed utterly. Now go."
Syaomao growled angrily, and with renewed strength,
he ran with a speed that the naked eye could not see
and sought to claw the bird's eyes. But its image
just wavered in the air, and then disappeared. "No
cheating," the voice taunted, and faded away into the
jungle air. With tears brimming in his eyes because of
all the disgrace he had felt all in one moment, he
raced towards the river, sobbing with frustration.
Sakura suddenly realized that Syaomao was Syaoran (a
bit slow as she always is; she just remembered that
they were in his memory) and looked at him pityingly.
Syaoran turned away, his face burning with shame and
disgust. "It's okay…." She started, putting her
hand on his shoulder in a sign of comfort. But he
shrugged off her hand and ran away, shouting, " Just
hurry up and watch the rest of the stupid memory and
then it'll be done with!"
Sakura could do nothing, so she reluctantly turned
back to the memory. Syaomao was licking his wounds,
and brooding over what had happened. He scowled,
wreaking havoc to the plant life surrounding him with
his needle-sharp claws. Then a shadow loomed over him,
and he looked up to find himself staring into the eyes
of his brother. "Failed, have you?" he growled
softly.
"If I have, so what?" Syaomao countered testily.
"You must pay the price of exile," his brother
answered as softly as before.
"Exile? What exile?"
"Oh, of course you have not heard, because you are
the first to fail," he continued silkily. "Anyhow,
you will be, um, reincarnated somehow into a different
being…. but of course you shall still have all of
your previous memory. But here's the catch: you
cannot by any means tell anyone of what you were
previously, because if you do, you shall be
reincarnated yet again without any memory…. And you
will be so lost it isn't even funny."
Syaomao gulped, but accepted his fate with a
question. "Well, when does this happen?"
His brother smiled craftily. "Like about-now."
Syaomao felt himself dissipate into nothingness, and
it was several minutes after he opened his eyes, and
he found himself peering into a set of brown eyes like
his own. "Oooooooh look! It's our little
brother…." A girl's voice squealed happily. He
acknowledged that he was born into a human family with
several sisters, and fell asleep, welcoming the abyss
of darkness once again.
Thus ended the memory, and the scene around her
started to flicker like a television screen, and then
it totally went black. "Hoe?" she gasped. 'Where is
Syaoran? What do I do now? What's happening?' she
thought, very near the next step of panic. "Ummm
right, I'll just sit here until help comes along….
Or whatever I should be doing right now," she said
aloud, with a grimace. But she waited, and waited, and
waited, and waited, and waited…. she could feel a
tear drop trying to break the restraints of her
eyelashes, but she held it back fiercely. 'Can't cry
now, not now,' she told herself. Sakura decided that
optimism was the best way to go, so she started
shakily singing whatever came to her mind:
"I've been lost once
And now I think it's twice
When will I ever get found?
And finally kept?
I've been through so much pain
Losing myself, costing him loss
Without him I'll never be the same
How I long for one gentle kiss
If only he were by my side
If only love wasn't a game of charades
I'm so utterly lost
But I don't wanna lose his love….
I don't wanna lose him
Ever, ever again
But he isn't here with me
So how can I say eternally?"
'Such a crappy poem,' she thought to herself,
allowing a giggle to escape her. 'Oh well, doesn't
matter….but,'--- a horrible thought still nagging at
the back of her mind-'where is Syaoran? And didn't
he say this would all go away after I'm finished
watching it? Panic started making its way to her
heart, and when it did, it started to form into fear,
and then ascending to despair.
"SYAORAN!" she screamed. "SYAORAN! SYAORAN!" she
screamed over and over again, her last outburst
echoing and reechoing off into the black distance. The
ground (if you could call the solid blackness she was
standing on the ground) started shaking violently, and
the walls (I guess they're walls) of darkness started
to split and crack, letting meager strips of light
through. And as the cracks got larger, the whole black
landscape started to give way to a blinding white
light--- then all the shattered fragments of dark
disappeared like smoke into the air. "Wh-What?" she
stammered, unsure of what had just taken place. She
was back in her room, sitting on the floor before her
bed. But she knew all of that had been real because
Syaoran was sprawled on her bed. He sat up, wincing in
the process, to look at Sakura. Her limpid green eyes
wide open at first, and then softened in recognition,
bringing tears to her eyes as well. "You're safe,"
she whispered awkwardly.
"No….more like, you're safe," he responded with a
sigh of relief, biting back what was just about to
escape his mouth - 'You're beautiful, even now.'
He blushed inwardly at the thought that almost got
free. Syaoran clambered off the bed to sit beside her,
drawing his knees up in a sign of starting a
conversation. "But-are you okay?" he asked
tentatively.
Sakura blinked her eyes, and the misty expression
went away. "Yes….I'm okay….. as long as you're
okay…." She trailed off, apparently distracted.
"Sakura…." Syaoran reached out a hand to rest on
her shoulder, which caused a natural response from
both, which was to lean a bit closer until the tips of
their noses almost touched………

tO bE cOnTiNuEd~~~~

AuThOr'S NoTeS: aiyah! So sorry that I haven't
written in SUCH a long time. Heheh. But like, homework
has been piled most unmercifully lately, and you must
forgive the teachers. cough cough nehow, ya'll gotta
wait for the next chapter now! Cackles insanely-or
rather-quite sanely. So the ending WAS kinda cheesy,
rite? But that's okai…. Complaints and compliments
are always welcome! Heheh. Well, till next tyme! ^.*