All That Remains

Chapter Two

Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

As soon as the last choir had departed left, the little man from earlier had appeared back on stage, thanking everyone for attending and saying just how more and more stupendous the choirs became with each passing year before also leaving. Sakura had followed her aunt then through the groups of people loitering in the aisles and halls all the way to the backstage. Daidouji Sonomi had always been a particularly determined woman, and clearing a path to ensure her fast arrival at the arranged meeting spot with her daughter was as simple a task for her as snapping her fingers. In fact, that was all she had to do for her complement of bodyguards to start firmly yet politely reshaping the crowds so that Daidouji Sonomi et al could proceed easily.

Sakura had followed her aunt through the back corridors of the auditorium, Syaoran not far behind. After a little while, all the cream walls and sage green doors started to look the same, and she was inordinately glad she hadn't attempted to find her way around without Aunt Sonomi's guidance.

"Ah, finally. Here we are," Sonomi said as they stopped in front of a door that looked no different than any of the handfuls they had passed earlier. Upon opening it, the three were blasted with a wave of sound from seemingly hundreds of conversations all occurring on top of one another. Many of the people in the room still wore their performance robes, and there were little clumps of blue and yellow and black scattered around the room. Sakura saw a few people she recognized from school talking excitedly nearby, and she had smiled at them when they glanced over and waved at her and Syaoran.

But there was one familiar face that was missing. And no matter where they looked or who they asked, nobody seemed to have seen a girl fitting Daidouji Tomoyo's description around. Looking over at her aunt, Sakura could tell that Sonomi was seconds away from calling the police and ordering a full-out search of the building and grounds; in fact, her hand was clenched in her jacket pocket already, undoubtedly turning on the phone that rested there.

"Oh, good evening Daidouji-san," greeted a girl still wearing Seijuu High School's robes suddenly. Sonomi almost jumped in surprise, so absorbed was she in scanning the room for her daughter. Sakura thought the girl might have been the third year who was the choir's president, but she wasn't entirely certain. "Did you enjoy the performance?"

"Where's Tomoyo?" Sonomi wasted no time getting to the point, her eyes wide and serious. Sakura was a little worried she might take out her anxiety on the poor sempai, but for the moment at least Daidouji Sonomi kept her urge to shake the student in front of her until she told her exactly where her daughter was in check.

"Tomoyo-san? I saw her leave only a few minutes ago. I thought she was going to find you…" the sempai trailed off, a vaguely worried expression forming on her face. "Come to think of it, there was this guy with her. I'd never seen him before – I just assumed he was a friend…"

Sonomi had bolted before the sempai was able to finish her sentence. Sakura could hear her racing through the halls calling alternately for her daughter and for her guards to search the auditorium for Tomoyo. Turning back, she saw the sempai looking extremely confused.

"Is there something wrong?"

Sakura didn't know what to say. She hoped there was nothing wrong and this was all just a sort of weird misunderstanding and Tomoyo really had just met an old friend but there was an unpleasant lump in her gut that was telling her this was something more than a chance meeting of estranged acquaintances. Besides, didn't Sakura know nearly everyone Tomoyo knew?

"No, everything's fine," Syaoran filled in when Sakura remained silent. "Don't worry." Sakura watched as he flashed a quick, reassuring smile at the sempai. She nodded, almost looking convinced and wandered back into the crowds of students. "Come on," Syaoran muttered, his voice barely audible over the incessant chatter. "If we split up, we can find her faster."

"You don't think…?"

"I don't know what's going on, but whatever it is I don't like it. Here, I'll go left, you go right." Without looking back to make sure Sakura heeded his directions, Syaoran sprinted off down the corridor to the left, stopping at every door he encountered and flinging it open. Sakura stared for a few seconds before she took off out the door to the backstage room and down the corridor to the right.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura called, her footsteps carrying her faster and faster through the halls. She didn't bother to apologize to the people she ran into in the process. "Tomoyo-chan!" Her heart beat so fast in her chest it was making her head light, but all Sakura could pay attention to at the moment was the heavy, sick feeling of dread settling in her stomach. It wasn't like Tomoyo not to be where she said she would be, and even more unlike her to walk off with some stranger. Something bad had happened to her; that was the only explanation. Sakura's mind flashed back to the newspaper article her father had shown her the week before.

Five people missing… all disappeared at night…

Sakura nearly tripped over her own feet as she stopped suddenly in front of a small side door. It stood ajar, letting in the humid night air and sounds of cicadas and other night insects. There was nothing special about the door to suggest her friend might have passed through it earlier, but she hurried through it all the same, roughly pushing the heavy thing open and stumbling outside onto the dewy grass. It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust to the lack of light; there was a safety light spreading a weak orange-tinted glow above the door she had just exited, but the moon and stars were blotted out by thick clouds, and directly next to the auditorium lay a dense patch of woods from which no light emanated, not even the passing headlights of the cars on the motorway she could hear over the night stillness.

"Tomoyo-chan!" she tried again, moving quickly but carefully through the darkness. Her nerves were on edge; Sakura couldn't remember ever feeling as if she was wound as tightly as she was now. There had been that time on the class trip to the beach when she'd first started catching Clow cards, but even then with the threat of ghosts and disappearing friends a part of her had been sure that everything would be alright in the end. "Tomoyo-chan! Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura yelled again, desperation creeping slowly but surely into her tone.

Her invincible spell looped in her mind like a broken record. Surely everything will be alright… surely everything will be alright… It was hard to stop the terrible feeling that everything might not be alright in the end, though, but for the life of her she couldn't explain just what had her so scared.

And then Sakura saw her – saw them – near the edge of the tree line, just past the last pool of light from the auditorium's exits' safety lights. It was too dark and she was still too far away to see the stranger's features, but there were a few things Sakura noticed right away, regardless of the lack of light. Of those, the thing that preoccupied her most, however, was that the man was standing far too close to Tomoyo for Sakura's comfort, though Tomoyo herself didn't seem to be protesting the proximity at all.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura yelled again, hand flying to her key as she sprinted over to where her friend stood. She roughly yanked the chain it was attached to over her neck as she ran. A small part of her mind told her it didn't matter if she carried the key or wore it around her neck, the transformation it would need to undergo would be the same. But that part was drowned out by the part of her mind that was telling her to run faster because in the weak orange light, she thought she saw Tomoyo put her hand to her head and stumble before collapsing entirely into the stranger's arms. "Tomoyo-chan!"

"Do you not say anything else?"

Sakura stopped not ten feet from where her friend lay slumped in the strange man's arms. Arm, actually, as his other arm was attached to a hand that was busy playing around a spot on Tomoyo's neck that seemed just a little darker than the rest of her skin. Slowly, gracefully, the man raised his free hand to his mouth. Sakura thought she saw a flash of a tongue reflect a bit of the orange glow of the safety light.

"What…" she stammered, finding it hard to say the words when her mind was insisting this was all a huge dream so it shouldn't be bothered to do something silly like form sentences. "What did you do to Tomoyo-chan?" She could feel the blunt edges of her key digging almost painfully into the skin and bones of her fingers and palm as her grip on it tightened unconsciously. And all the while there was something nagging at the back of her mind, something that was telling her that she'd seen this all before and that she should knowexactly what was going on and above all else she should be very afraid.

"Ah, so the girl does speak. And here I was thinking you had only managed to master your friend's name in your short life. I take it she is your friend, no?" the stranger drawled, the fingers of his free hand playing lazily over Tomoyo's neck once more. He seemed to shift her closer to him, and Sakura was certain she heard her friend groan.

"Yes, Tomoyo-chan is my friend. Let her go." She tried to sound intimidating, or at the very least serious but Sakura had the distinct impression that her voice was too high and shrill with uncertainty and fear to pull off either.

"Hmm… what a pity," the man continued, completely disregarding Sakura's demand. "My lovely Tomoyo will undoubtedly be saddened by your demise."

"Let her go. Now." Her heart was racing and had at some point climbed up into her throat, nearly causing her to choke on her words as she ground them out. All of her muscles felt jumpy and tense, ready to dodge any attack at a moment's notice. Her hand tightened even more around her key, and she wouldn't have been surprised to find that her knuckles had gone white and her nails were leaving little red crescents at the spots where they bit into the skin of her palm. The words to the release incantation were at the tip of her tongue, but she yet refrained from saying them. Magic would be the last resort.

"And if I don't? What are you going to do? Will you kill me?" His eyes flashed, reflecting the orange-tinted safety light, and for that instant Sakura didn't see a man but rather an animal, feral and dangerous, standing before her. Slowly, delicately, as if he was laying down his most treasured possession, the man lowered Tomoyo to the ground. She didn't move from the spot, but even through the darkness Sakura saw her friend's arm move to the dark spot on her neck.

Tomoyo's whisper carried over the still night air. "Sakura… chan…"

And then the stranger moved. So fast, so agile, he was nothing more than lighter blur of dark against the black of the evening. He stopped a hairsbreadth from Sakura, his hand grasping her neck lightly. Sakura tried to shriek, but the sound was muffled as he covered her mouth with his other hand. She resisted, but each time she was almost free of his grasp, his hand would tighten and she would be worse off then ever before.

"I could kill you, you know. But somehow," he paused, mouth opening into a wide, tooth-bearing grin, "somehow I don't think you could kill me."

Sakura struggled. She squirmed, she tried desperately to claw at the vice-like grip the strange man had on her throat, she punched, but nothing seemed to work. And with each passing second the already dark world seemed to be growing more and more impenetrably black around the edges and she found it harder and harder to stop her world from spinning out of control.

A second later it had all stopped though, and Sakura greedily gulped in breath after breath of precious air. A quick glance over in the stranger's direction showed him doubled over at the waist and Sakura could only assume that she must have kicked him in just the right spot just then. She scrambled to her feet, coughing roughly a few times. Her throat throbbed from the pressure and her head still felt a little dizzy but she pushed those feelings aside when she saw the strange man who couldn't possibly be a man stand up straight once more. His expression was annoyed, though there was something more to it than that. Anger, possibly. As he advanced, Sakura backed away instinctively.

The words to summon her key flew out of her mouth without her truly thinking about them. In a flash, the warm pendant in her hand grew and transformed into her familiar staff. It sat comfortably in her grip, even though it had been months since she'd last summoned it. Her actions made the strange man give pause, and in the residual light from the spell she caught him eying her up as if he was surveying a potential piece of meat at the grocery store.

"What are you going to do with that fancy staff of yours?" he asked, his eyes never leaving Sakura as he began to move closer again. Sakura wasn't having any of it, though, and moved back and to the side in response. The two ended up circling each other until Sakura's back was to a still-supine Tomoyo. "Surely you're not going to try and kill me now, are you?"

This time when he charged, Sakura was ready. A rush of energy passed through her body and before she could properly think about it, Jump had carried her far out of the stranger's grasp and onto an outstretched limb of a nearby tree. But before she could catch her breath, Sakura caught a glimpse of a streak of movement below and suddenly the branch was groaning under the weight of not one but two persons. She fled again, her next leap carrying her onto a low outcrop of the auditorium's roof. The ground, the trees, the roof… Sakura sped between the targets faster than she could keep track and each time she could sense the evil man not two paces behind her. Her heart was beating fit to burst from her chest, and a thin sheen of sweat uncomfortably coated her skin. And though she could feel the card's will to serve its friend and master until the end of time itself, Sakura could also feel Jump's strength flagging as her own energy was slowly but surely being used up.

"FLY!" she screamed, and a pair of wings pulled her abruptly up from her crash course with the next tree branch. Sakura gasped; her back ached as much as if she had been wearing a physical harness that had just been jerked. She hung there, suspended in midair and recovered her breath. Below her, the man landed with cat-like grace on the tree branch. Sakura acted before he had a chance to move again. "WINDY!"

Windy's elegant form appeared in front of Sakura, hovering in midair for less than a second before speeding off in the direction Sakura had pointed her staff. The blast of rushing air chilled her sweat-dampened skin, and Sakura shivered as she watched Windy's flowing arms bind themselves around the man's torso, legs, and arms.

She felt the moment he broke her spell before she actually saw him do so. The way he snapped through Windy's chains created an almost physical pain in her chest. Sakura watched in horror as Windy dispersed, its form melting back into the air as if it had never been summoned at all. With that grin that was more animal than human, the man made his way to the fragile end of the branch and launched himself up at her. And even though she had wings and a head start on him, the space between closed rapidly and he somehow showed no signs of slowing down. Sakura looked down in horror as his outstretched arm grew closer and closer to her legs until finally she felt his too-cold fingers close vice-like around her ankle. Time seemed to slow down as she felt his weight combined with her own drag her down towards the far away ground. The magic supporting Fly snapped, just as painfully as Windy's had, and she felt the reassuring tingle of magic across the skin of her back fade as she plummeted to earth.

Her life didn't flash before her eyes, just the inky dark streaks of trees did. But she was still convinced she would die then, and she shrieked in fear as a result.

Seconds before she reached the ground, Sakura felt a strong current of wind rise up underneath her. The air sped from her lungs as she hit the ground a lot slower than she had only seconds ago expected and she rolled roughly across the grass. The rush of wind had not been quite enough to completely break the fall, but it was enough to ensure that she lived. Pulling herself up, sore, dizzy, and still wheezing for breath, Sakura found herself facing a slightly winded Syaoran, sword drawn and ofudas close at hand, though she wasn't sure if he was short of breath from running or from throwing out such a strong spell all of a sudden. Probably a bit of both.

She had never been more relieved to see her boyfriend's face than she was at that moment. If the situation had been different, she would have hugged him tightly and refused to let go until each and every ounce of fear had been replaced by the familiar, confident, comforting warmth he seemed to exude.

"No one ever mentioned that you came with an accessory."

But the situation wasn't different. The man – the creature, whatever he was – stood in front of them, unscathed. It couldn't be possible. He had to have hit the ground just as hard, if not a little harder than she had. And yet there he was, dusting off his dark, high collared jacket as if he'd merely been hit by an unpleasant dust storm.

"I came as soon as I felt the cards being used. Are you alright?" Syaoran asked urgently, but quietly enough that only Sakura could hear him.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Sakura automatically. She ignored the fact that her chest ached from breathing so hard, that her throat still throbbed from where it had been squeezed, and that there was a pain that was so bright it was almost physical burning deep in her chest from the two times the strange man in front of them had violently broken her spells. There were more important things to worry about at the moment. "He's got Tomoyo-chan, back there behind him."

"Do you want me to-?"

She knew what he was about to ask, and while a part of her was tempted to let Syaoran have a go at the man in front of them still working the last bit of dust out of his dark slacks, she didn't want him to get hurt as well. And he would, if she let him go in alone, so she didn't. "No, you get Tomoyo-chan. Make sure she gets out safe."

Syaoran looked rather grim in response, but Sakura put on her best determined face, the look that booked no opposition with him or any other acquaintance and in the face of that he nodded his assent. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, Sakura stood up and raised her staff.

Evil or not, inhuman or not, homicidal or not, she really didn't want to do this. A nearly overwhelming part of her still held out the increasingly unrealistic hope that maybe this was all some sort of crazy dream and that this man, whoever he was, would be a normal nice guy if she could only just open her eyes and see that. But deep down, she realized he wasn't. He had tried to kill her not once but twice just now, and had had no qualms about doing so. Never before in her life had Kinomoto Sakura faced such cold-hearted malice; a characteristic like that just didn't exist in her world. It didn't fit. She didn't know what to do. And so, aching, winded, and numb to the core, Sakura did the only thing she could think of to do.

She protected what was hers.

Firey sprang forth from the tip of her staff at her call, more explosive than ever before. Its heat washed over her face and she felt her skin go numb from the extremeness of temperature for just a moment. The impish figure sped forward, its flames licking the wet grass and leaving a trail of steam in its wake. This time when her card encircled the man, he did not break free. Sakura felt Firey's magic hold, burning strong and true in the night. Above the roar of the flames she could hear a shout, low and angry, and the stranger ran towards the woods bringing Firey with him. He made it only a few more steps, however, before he collapsed, still wreathed in flames. After a few moments more, she recalled Firey, and the card flew back to her obediently. By its light, she could make out the singed remains of whomever or whatever the strange man with the dark hair and animal eyes had been. She tried to ignore the twinge of guilt and remorse she felt at the sight, but found she could not.

Behind the spot where he lay, Sakura could make out Syaoran gently lifting Tomoyo's still-limp form. "She's okay!" he called as he turned back, and Sakura felt a tight band of worry loosen in her chest. "She's unconscious, but she's okay."

"I'm so glad," Sakura sighed, as Syaoran returned. As he said, Tomoyo looked fine, except for the scratch high on her neck. It didn't look very deep, though, and the blood had long since coagulated around the wound. Her chest rose and fell with steady, deep breaths, and Sakura was pretty sure her friend was actually asleep, though how she could be so when there had been all the commotion of a magical fight going on around her, Sakura wasn't certain. "We should get her back to Aunt Sonomi -"

She broke off, unsure if she wasn't just imagining things. But then it came again, louder this time, fuller, and oh so familiar that it made her brain hurt trying to remember just why she was so instinctually terrified of the laugh that carried across the evening air. Sakura's grip tightened around her staff so much so that it became painful, but the pain wasn't nearly enough to distract her from the all-encompassing sense of fear that pervaded her mind. A quick, frightened glance at Syaoran showed he too was worried, though not nearly so lost to his fear as she was. His grip around his sword tightened and he pulled Tomoyo just a little closer to his chest, ready to make a break for it if need be. Sakura's eyes fixed on the wound on Tomoyo's neck as for just a moment, and in that time the cloud cover broke to reveal a bright half moon.

Laughter… blood… moonlight…

Sakura's mind felt as if someone had finally found all the missing puzzle pieces and filled in each and every gap that had been nagging at her for the past week and a half. And then her eyes latched onto the figure, lit by the last rays of moonlight before the moon disappeared once again, and the puzzle was complete.

"You. You're from my dreams," she murmured, too wholly petrified and too fascinated to do anything more than gape at the woman with the long dark hair and the flowing red robes standing not ten feet from her.

"You are equally as impudent in person as you are in your dreams, I see," she spoke, and her voice was harsh to the point that Sakura wanted to cover her ears from the pain and yet was at the same time the most beautiful voice in the entire world. "I also see my idiot brother couldn't do his job properly." Her eyes flicked down to where the lump of the strange man still rested, disdain evident in her expression. She bent down, her hair falling forward in perfect sheets over her shoulders, and touched a hand to her brother's still body. Both Sakura and Syaoran watched, their initial curiosity turning to horror as they saw a series of sparks race down the woman's pale fingertips and dance across the burned man's skin. There was a moment of absolute silence when the cicadas dared not chirp and even the distant sounds of cars on the highway were muted and then the man stood up again, stretching his long arms over his head as if he were simply waking up from a long nap. Before their eyes, Sakura and Syaoran watched as his charred flesh lightened and healed completely. After a minute, it was as if he had never encountered Firey at all.

"What…? Who…?" but Sakura couldn't finish her thought for there were too many questions racing around her mind, each vying to be the one asked first.

"Who are you?" demanded Syaoran, speaking where Sakura found herself struck dumb. Sakura could sense his magic stirring, roiling just under the surface of his being like a wave about to spill over. The muscles in his legs tensed, and he crouched a little, ready to spring off and carry the unconscious Tomoyo away from danger at a second's notice.

The woman, however, deigned not to answer, and instead looked over to her brother. He shrugged, a fluid movement of his shoulders, and refused to meet her gaze. "The girl has an accomplice, it seems."

"I see…" Her eyes traveled up and down Syaoran's figure twice before she turned away, almost bored. "He is even less of a nuisance than the girl. Why did you not deal with him earlier?" she snapped, her hand whipping up from her side and cuffing the back of her brother's head with a resounding smack.

The man cradled his head where it had just encountered his sister's hand. "I would have," he ground out, clearly irritated, "but I was taken by surprise." His eyes briefly flickered over to where Tomoyo lay still in Syaoran's arms and as they did so his sister's eyes followed.

"You will never accomplish anything if you continue to think with your stomach, Hayato."

"It was not my stomach with which I was thinking…" he retorted testily, his eyes still riveted unnervingly on Tomoyo.

Sakura saw Syaoran glance down at Tomoyo once more, then back to the two terribly beautiful strangers in front of them. An expression of horrified understand dawned on his face. "Sakura," he whispered urgently. "They're vampires."

"Yes, yes, how very astute you are, boy." Both Sakura and Syaoran looked at the female vampire in front of them, the one Sakura had seen in oh so many dreams of late and suddenly everything made more sense to her. The blood, the everlasting Night, the moonlight, even the disappearances from the newspaper. This woman, this thing and its kin were responsible. Sakura found herself suddenly extremely cold, and it was impossible to stop the tremors that ran up and down her arms and legs. Her knees knocked together almost painfully and she was worried she wouldn't be able to stand if this kept up.

"What… what do you want here?" A remote part of Sakura's brain was proud she'd only stuttered through the first word of her question. "We don't want any trouble, so please leave."

She didn't think there was anything funny about her request, but apparently the woman found it hilarious. The same overpowering laughter as before filled Sakura's ears and mind until she cringed. Next to her, Syaoran winced and narrowed his eyes against the sensation.

"We shall leave when our business is done," the woman said when her laughter had subsided. "In fact, if you cooperate, we shall be able to leave before the morning sun rises."

"Cooperate?"

Both she and her brother smiled at this, their own little joke, and Sakura instantly wished she hadn't asked for clarification. "The sooner you are disposed of, girl," the vampire woman explained, cruel smile never leaving her lips, "the sooner my brother and I shall be able to move on to far more glorious sights than this little backwater of the world."

Disposed of. The words made Sakura feel quite numb inside, even more numb than before when it was just physical exhaustion and magical depletion she was dealing with. But they didn't surprise her. She remembered the dreams, after all, and she could perfectly recall at that moment each and every occasion the evil woman in the red robes had cornered her in the realm of Night and bleeding sakura trees and informed her that she would kill her.

"I'm not leaving without my Tomoyo-san," the brother – Hayato – grouched, interrupting Sakura's thoughts. As he said this, his fingers seemed to elongate, the nails growing out like wire-thin claws. "And this annoyance," he growled, gesturing at Syaoran, "is in the way. With your permission, sister, I shall do away with him immediately."

"You have my blessing, Hayato."

The words had barely left her mouth before Hayato raced forward, claws bared, straight to where Syaoran was standing. Syaoran had only just enough time to lower Tomoyo to the ground and roll out of the path of the vampire's scythe-like claws before they came crashing down on the spot where he had just stood. Drawing his sword, he caught the next attack against the steal, grunting with the effort of keeping the razor-sharp edges of the claws as far from him as he could manage. The first lightning ofuda he threw in Hayato's direction seemed to have no effect, and neither did the wind or the water. Sakura could hear his labored breaths above the clash of sword on claw, and she wanted desperately to lend her assistance but the woman was still standing there not ten feet away, and Tomoyo still lay helpless on the ground. And so her feet remained rooted to that spot, though her mind screamed at her to pick up her friend and fly far, far away while the woman was distracted.

The woman's eyes followed Hayato's fight with Syaoran with a restrained sort of amusement for only a few moments longer, however, before she returned her gaze to Sakura. "To answer your question, girl, you may call me Miyako," she announced, and Sakura had the most terrible feeling that it was considered an honor to call this creature by its name. "And now that you know this, you shall die."

At that, Miyako surged forward, a smear of blood against the night. Before Sakura could even think, the vampire was in front of her and its hands were poised to swipe across her neck. As if in slow motion, she saw one hand draw back, impossibly long nails that were somehow simultaneously needles and claws reflecting the orange glow of the nearby door light. Sakura raised her staff at the last possible second, summoning the first card that leaped into mind.

Miyako's claws swept down in a flash at the same instant a figure began to form in the small space between herself and Sakura. There was a resounding crack that Sakura felt all the way through her teeth and bones and that made her heart miss a beat. Both the woman and the girl were thrown back violently and the air once again rushed out of Sakura's lungs as her back connected painfully with a tree trunk.

Her vision was blinded as an overwhelmingly bright burst of Light exploded out from the now-broken ends of her staff.