Title: Reminiscent (1)

Author: Yih

Written: February 14-15, 2001

Dedication: To all my loyal Reviewers (GIGANTIC HUG ^_^)!!!

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Clamp; except ACC- Shaolin, Faa, and Dangyun.

"Faa!" yelled Shaolin as he ran to where Faa was tied to a tree. Before he could reach her, his worst nightmare appeared next to her.

Dangyun, a very dangerous sorceror and one of Clow Reed's most persistent enemies, cut Faa from the tree and held a knife to her fragile throat. "Not so much in control are you now?" sneered Dangyun. "I will give you the pleasure to watch your flower die. And you'll be completely powerless to try and stop me! How is that for showing you my superior powers? Not even Clow Reed can stop me!"

"I will stop you!" exclaimed Shaolin. He clenched both of his hands in anger and in fear for Faa. He knew he didn't have the upperhand, no matter how much pride he had--he had to save Faa. He would even sacrifice every last visage of his dignity as long as he could save her. He pleaded with his most hated enemy, "spare her. It's me you want. You know that nothing will make my brother more enraged than if you had me in your grasp. You'll have an even sweeter victory if you had me. Just please spare Faa. Torture me, kill me, just don't hurt her. It's me you want."

He hated that his voice sounded like he was begging. But he was. He would do anything to save her. He would suffer through hell. He would die for her in a second. He saw Faa's eyes well up in tears, and she shook her head in denial of his request. He didn't care. He couldn't live if she died. It would be like a part of him was dying. No, he would rather have himself to die than for her to die. He would not allow her to die.

Dangyun laughed manically. "It's not your request. I will have this delicious victory, and I shall savor it! For this is the ultimate way to win! What better way than to destroy the family of that moronic magician? It will filter into his heart and cause him to sour with bitterness. And when that happens--your brother will no longer be the strongest magician in the land! I will! I will be the strongest sorceror ever!

"Now, say good-bye to your precious flower!"

"NOOO!" screamed Shaolin in anguish.

Dangyun was quick in killing her, causing her only momentary pain, for that Shaolin was grateful. If she had to die for no reason, at least she would die painlessly. Dangyun slit her throat easily, and as she was choking on her blood, she mouthed to Shaolin, "I love you."

He watched her beloved eyes glaze over.

Her body slumped over.

Her green eyes dulled--the life taken.

She fell to the ground.

Her spirit going heavenward.

She died.

Shaolin continued to scream his torment. He crumbled to his knees, his face in his hands. He could not live without her. He loved her so much. Why is this happening? Why was my oni-chan not here to help me? Why? It was our fight, not hers. Why should she die from the wages of our war? Why must my Faa die because of this fight? Why? WHY? Tell me WHY!

He felt the tears spill down his face. He was crying as he moved to where Dangyun had dropped her. He held her close to him. His hot tears stained her cooling face. He could remember a time, just a few days ago, when everything seem perfect. They had talked about getting married soon. He touched the jade ring on her finger. He had even given it to her as an engagement ring--a promise of his love. He had wanted to be with her always. When the tears could no longer come, when his eyes were dry, he whispered to her with an aching voice, "I will always--I will always love you."

He rested her body on the ground. He closed her eyes. His love was gone, forever.

A terrible rage built itself next to his incredible sorrow. He gave one long, last look on Faa's fallen form. Then he turned toward Dangyun and said in a voice devoid of any emotion, "you will pay for this!"

Dangyun stared at him with a mocking sense of disbelief. "Do you think you can challenge me? You don't have a tenth of the magic your brother, Clow Reed has! And Clow Reed has never been able to defeat me! I have the power to destroy EVERYTHING you hold dear. And I have. I've destroyed your beloved Faa right before your very eyes, and you believe you can make me pay for this? You can't even get close enough to harm me!"

"You will always be second best to Clow Reed. You've always tried harder than my oni-chan. You've always wanted to be the best. But to be the best you've to do it effortlessly. You will ALWAYS be less than my oni-chan!" Shaolin declared with furious eyes.

"But who has the power to destroy everything you love? Everything in your future lives?" cried out Dangyun with triumph in his eyes.

Shaolin glared at Dangyun. "What do you mean by that?"

"You stupid little fool! You're even stupider than your moronic magician of a brother! You cannot comprehend what I've discovered in my quest for power. I have the secret to go into the future. And with that I can find Faa's reincarnation and murder her again. I'll even do it in front of your reincarnation! I'm sure that will make you sick to your stomach and vowing vengeance. You stupid little fool! You cannot stop me! I will be the most powerful sorceror that ever stepped on the face of the universe! Even Clow Reed cannot save the future with your precious flower! He couldn't save her now; he cannot save her later. You won't know it when I destroy her, but I'll give you back all your past memories, and you will experience all the past pains! It will eat you up, and Clow Reed will suffer as he sees it. Didn't you know that all time happens simultaneously? It will be even more satisfying to watch the flower of your life die one more time, two more times, even three more times!"

Shaolin watched as Dangyun disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. He panicked as he thought over Dangyun's words. He needed to stop this maniac once and for all!

"Shaolin! Wait! You don't know what you are doing!" cried out Clow Reed to his younger brother.

"I'm doing what I have to do, onii-chan," Shaolin responded.

"You don't need to worry about Faa anymore. I've seen the future, she has inherited the Clow Cards and eventually changes them into the Sakura Cards. Do you know how much power she has?"

Shaolin shrugged and turned to face Clow. "It doesn't matter. I'll always worry about Faa. Besides, if you were so powerful, why didn't you tell me that Faa would die? Of all the important things in my life I could lose and still live with, Faa was not one of them! Don't you understand, oni-chan? Or are you so caught up in becoming the Master of Magic that you have forgotten about love?"

A flush came upon Clow, which was no easy feat. His eyes were still as sharp as the truth in his words, "you know, you were reincarnated with Faa. You should understand the soulmate principle: that for every human soul, there is another half lurking out there. You should know that better than anyone else, if you truly felt what you felt for Faa! Don't go into the future, Shaolin," he warned his younger brother. "You'll only mess up the balance of nature. You may not even be reincarnated again with Sakura!"

"Sakura?" interrupted Shaolin. "Cherry blossoms, Faa's favorite flower."

Clow nodded with impatience as he continued, "you two are forever connected. You will see her again with no memories of what has happened. Be thankful for that."

"I cannot," replied Shaolin grimly. "Your most hated enemy, Dangyun has vowed to destroy Faa again and again. I cannot allow himself to even come close to her. I love all of her, every single part of her. Do you know how much it hurt to watch her die? It's like a part of me died," his voice dropped to a whisper, and his eyes filled with tears. "I loved her, dammit. I still love her. I will always love her. If I see her again--if I see Sakura… maybe I'll be able to move on--knowing that I will be with her again. Can you at least give me that?"

"It's too risky."

"I know you have the power. If Dangyun has discovered it, I'm sure you have, oni-chan! You always were one step ahead of him, and far beyond my league," cried out Shaolin with bitterness.

"You cannot get Faa. You say that when you see her again, it will be enough for you to move on with your life. But will it truly? Will you be able to leave her again? Sakura is Faa's later form, but she is not Faa! And if you go forward, as you said, the balance of nature will be upsetted. It will twist in agony from the torture of an aberration," answered Clow gravely.

"Send me. If you don't, I"ll find some way to get to her. You know better than anybody else what I'm capable of," Shaolin said tersely.

Stubborn as a mule, thought Clow. He muttered aloud, "I cannot promise you this will work."

"I have faith in you." I just hope I'm not too late. I can't let Dangyun get to her before I can get there. Shaolin closed his eyes as Clow began to chant the incantation.

The air in the room spun around, whirling the pages of books, flying light objects, and virtually messing up the room. A dark, forbidding channel formed out of the wind. Clow blinked as he saw the abnormal portal and after that blink, Shaolin was gone. He whispered to himself, "I should have never let you go to her. You will never give her up because you aren't that kind of person. You hold on to everything so tightly. And you always will. I just hope that you know that the greatest gift you can give to Faa-Sakura is to let go after everything is settled. It is the only way for you two to be together eternally…"

Side Notes:

Shaolin- I've heard this is the Chinese vs. of his name. If I'm wrong, I'm sorry. I'm still sticking with this name.

Faa- The cantonese word for flower. Hey it's the closest thing I could get to Sakura, especially since my 'rents don't know what a Sakura is!

Dangyun- An evil magician I saw in a Cantonese movie, God I hope I'm not going to get sued, not that my spelling's that great. -_-'

Author's Note: Welcome to my newest series! I've hoped that I've become a better writer, but who knows? This just might suck (because I wrote it during a really snoozy class, so my mind was kinda yawning). Anyway, you know the drill--I'd love to get reviews because this series was screaming at me to write it in December! But I was on An Endless Affair and I had to finish that one! Then I got kinda blocked because I couldn't think of the perfect enemy! It's really hard without taking any ideas from other great writers, i.e. Ann (writer of Starlight, Starbright) ß great title by the way.

I have other series to finish, namely the Neon Genesis Evangelion fanfic: I Love You, Asuka. So I'll probably keep this on an every other week basis.

Enjoy! Please Review!

Remember: Reviewing is Doing the Giving to Caring authors Slaving over Working on Writing fanfics!