The lightning exploded outward, throwing them all backward a few steps. Roof tiles flew through the air by them, until Kaho managed to raise some kind of mystic barrier to shield herself, Tomoyo and Sonomi. The black smoke was too thick to see through for a moment, but it gradually cleared enough to reveal the battlefield. Sakura hovered there in the air, the wings of the Fly card stretched out behind her, the Sword ready in her hand. Mei-Lin looked up at her, coldly furious, as lightning raced up and down her own sword, the strange metal coins she used for her magic clasped in her hand. 'And the Christmas party was going so well, too,' Tomoyo thought to herself wearily, remembering how this evening had started for them, not too long ago. The doorbell rang, and Tomoyo jumped up to her feet to answer it. She and Sakura had been dancing cautiously around each other all day after what had happened between them last night. 'And our little talk this morning,' Tomoyo thought to herself. She wasn't quite sure what to make of what Sakura had said to her, scared to get her hopes up. She opened the door to be greeted by Sonomi's wide smile. She saw who was standing just behind her and felt her mouth dropping open in shock. Kaho Mitsuki smiled over at Tomoyo gently, a small pile of gifts cradled in her arms. Kaho said softly, "Merry Christmas, Tomoyo." Tomoyo recovered from her surprise enough to invite them both inside, shooting a fierce glare at her mother for keeping it a surprise. "Welcome," she said with a smile, and noticing the pile of gifts added, "here, just put them down by the tree." Sonomi said softly, "Sorry, I just couldn't resist keeping her a secret." She smiled a bit as she said teasingly, "Forgive me?" "Oh, I'll think about it," Tomoyo sassed back at her. She saw Sakura step up to greet Kaho and suddenly found herself wondering if Sakura understood what was going on between Kaho and Sonomi, that they were girlfriends. "It's good to see you again, Ms Mitsuki," Sakura said with a smile, helping her with her packages. "So how long have you and Sonomi been dating?" she asked her cheerfully. 'Yes, she knows,' Tomoyo thought, hiding a smile. "Call me Kaho," Kaho said with a smile. "We've been seeing each other for a month or so," she explained, "after meeting at a little bar not far from here." "Thank you, Kaho," Sakura smiled back at her. They spent a few moments arranging the pile of gifts, while Tomoyo and Sonomi busied themselves making everyone drinks. Sakura and Kaho got up to be met by Tomoyo and Sonomi, each bearing a pair of drinks. Sonomi sat one down for her and one for Tomoyo while Tomoyo herself delivered the drinks to the other two women. "There's some rum in your eggnog," Tomoyo said to Kaho, then she passed one over to Sakura, "and here's a plain one for you, OK?" "Thank you, Tomoyo," Sakura said, and then she surprised her with a single gentle kiss on her cheek. Both Kaho and Sonomi looked on with some amusement as Tomoyo went beet red, her mouth partially open in surprise. They settled down on the two living room couches, Tomoyo and Sakura on one and Kaho and Sonomi cuddling together on the other. The fire burned cheerfully, the lights dimmed to highlight the tree and the gentle flames. "Sonomi tells me you're a documentary filmmaker," Kaho said to Tomoyo softly. A little smile teased her lips as she added teasingly "No one, of course, was very surprised, I trust?" "No surprise at all," Tomoyo agreed with a soft laugh. "Are you still teaching?" Sakura asked Kaho curiously. "I've become a school teacher, myself," she said with a smile, "so I was wondering." "I got out of teaching," Kaho admitted, "a couple of years ago." "But you were so good at it," Tomoyo said a bit regretfully. "After everything that happened to us with the Clow cards," Kaho said softly, "I began to reevaluate certain things in my life. It seemed to me that there might be some better uses to my talents than teaching." "So she became a ghostbuster," Sonomi said with a quirky little smile. Kaho shot her a dark look while Sakura and Tomoyo chuckled softly. "It's not quite that simple," she scolded her gently, "I consider myself a paranormal investigator, helping people who have problems that are outside the normal world." "Ghostbuster," Sonomi repeated with a little shrug. She smiled over at Sakura, "Do you enjoy teaching, then?" "Very much," Sakura agreed, then she laughed softly. "Except around exam time," she added with a rueful smile. Kaho laughed softly, nodding her agreement. "I remember exams," she said feelingly. She smiled over at Tomoyo, "I saw your last documentary, the one on Angelic Layer. Is it really that popular here in Tokyo?" Before she could answer her, there was a soft knock on the door. "I'll get it," Tomoyo said, getting up to go over to the front door. 'No one else was invited tonight,' she thought with a little frown on her pretty face. She opened the door and gaped in surprise. Mei-Lin looked at her calmly, her long black hair tied back; wearing a costume like the one she once wore chasing the Clow cards. "I need to see Sakura," she said simply to Tomoyo. "Sakura?' Tomoyo echoed, surprised. She shook herself, "Come in, please. What do you need to see Sakura for?" Her eyes widened slightly when she saw the sheathed sword over the young woman's shoulder. She barged right by Tomoyo, making a path to Sakura. Sakura got up and walked towards her as she asked, "What can I do for you?" Before anyone could do anything, the sword appeared in Mei-Lin's hands, and she swung it at Sakura, demanding, "Why did you do it?" Sakura ducked, barely below the blow, crying out "Did what?!" "You know!" Mei-Lin cried out, swinging again. Seeing she wasn't going to hit her normally she pulled an odd, metallic coin from her belt. "Element," she cried, "wind!" The sword struck the coin, and Sakura was hit by a massive gust of wind. Sakura struggled against it for a moment, then she lost her balance and flew right out the apartment window. There was a crash of breaking glass and then Sakura was gone. "Sakura!" Tomoyo cried, running towards the hole in the wall. Sonomi grabbed at her, holding her back from the edge. A stunned Sakura fell, the air swirling around her. Her head was ringing, she couldn't seem to concentrate. Strangely, her life didn't run before her eyes, instead her life with Tomoyo did. A moment of clarity came over her, and she understood at last what she had to fight for. "Fly!" she cried out, her star staff appearing in her hands. Wings appeared from her back, slowing her fall then carrying her back up to the apartment. A sobbing Tomoyo ran at Mei-Lin, hammering at her with her closed fists, "How could you! She never did anything to you!" "She killed Li," Mei-Lin answered her coldly, and Tomoyo suddenly felt her blood run cold. A small smile teased her lips as she leveled her sword outside, "And she hasn't paid for it yet." Tomoyo whirled around, to see Sakura floating out there, her wings beating around her. 'She looks like an angel,' a wondering Tomoyo found herself thinking. She was astonished at how calm Sakura looked, almost like she was at peace. "If we fight here," Sakura said, holding up a hand to stop Mei-Lin's move to attack, "innocents will be hurt. Let's take this somewhere else." Mei-Lin paused, then she nodded slightly, admitting, "Li wouldn't have wanted his friends hurt." She quietly suggested, "Shall we go upstairs?" "Lets," Sakura answered her simply. Mei-Lin ran out the door to the stairs even as Sakura took a moment to fly into the apartment to stand at Tomoyo's side. Sweeping Tomoyo up into her arms she said softly, "I don't know why she's after me, but it doesn't matter now." Tomoyo opened her mouth to try and say something, and Sakura shushed her. "When I was falling out there, thinking that I might die, I realized something," Sakura said softly, "I love you, Tomoyo, and I wish I had known sooner." Tomoyo grabbed at her, but Sakura slipped from her grasp, flying out the window. She stood there, shocked, until Kaho grabbed her by the shoulder and shook her, fiercely asking "What do you want us to do?" Sonomi looked as shocked as she did, stunned at how their deeds had come back to haunt them. 'I should have thought of this,' she shook her head. "We've got to help, somehow," Tomoyo said softly, aloud. Kaho nodded firmly, and the three of them ran for the stairs. The stairwell itself shook, the sound of distant explosions ringing through the building. The reached the roof door, discovering it was jammed from the other side. "Let's push together," Sonomi said intensely, leading them, "One! Two! Three!" With a combined shove, the door flopped open, spilling them on the snow-covered roof. 'Which brings us back to the present,' Tomoyo thought, keeping her head down as she watched the battle continue. Sakura dived and weaved, sword swinging to parry all of Mei-Lin's many attacks on her. Lightning, wind, fire, Mei-Lin kept throwing elemental attacks at Sakura, but she agilely dodged them all. "Why isn't she using the Sword to end this?' Kaho said to herself softly. Getting an inquiring look from Sonomi, she added "Sword should be able to cut anything, even Mei-Lin's sword." "She's holding back," Tomoyo realized, looking at Sakura, "she doesn't want to hurt her." "But Mei-Lin's trying to kill her!" Sonomi exclaimed. The sword clanged together, and for a moment they were face to face. "I can't believe you would pay someone to kill Li," Mei-Lin said to her fiercely. Sakura stopped a moment, her eyes widening for a moment, then they narrowed. 'Tomoyo,' Sakura was suddenly struck by the thought, 'or maybe Sonomi. It had to be.' She remembered coming to Tomoyo for help, her body wracked with pain from Li's last beating, and suddenly was struck by how much it had hurt Tomoyo as well, to see her like that. Before she could consider any more, Mei-Lin attacked! 'I have my own magic now,' Mei-Lin thought to herself fiercely, 'so why can't I hurt her?' She swung again and again, her magics flaring up against Sakura. But each attack she tried, every strike, was stopped cold by the mistress of the Clow cards. "Stop this, now!" Tomoyo yelled, breaking free of the others to run between Mei-Lin and Sakura, arms spread to stop the battle. "Tomoyo! No!" Sakura cried out worriedly. "Out of the way, Tomoyo," Mei-Lin hissed at her harshly. "No," Tomoyo said calmly. She took a deep breath, to steady her before she said, "Sakura didn't kill Li, Mei-Lin." "I did," Sonomi softly said, stepping up to stand by Tomoyo. "Or at least, I arranged for it to be done," she clarified. "You're lying," Mei-Lin said tentatively, sounding quite unsure of the statement. "How could you have done that to him," she said softly, as the possibilities slowly dawned on her. They had the money, the power to do it, but why?. Tomoyo took a deep breath, knowing that Mei-Lin wouldn't want to hear what she was about to say to her. "Sakura came to me for help," she said softly, calmly meeting Mei-Lin's eyes, "even though she could barely stand up. She was bruised down the side of her body, so much so that her skin was almost black." "When she finally got to sleep," Sonomi said softly, "she'd turn over in her sleep, and almost every time we'd hear a soft whimper of pain, when she pressed down on a bruise." She looked at Mei-Lin, a fire in her eyes, "After what I saw what he'd done to her," she said in a whisper, "I knew we had to do whatever it took to protect her." Mei-Lin stood there, reluctant tears trickling down her cheeks, "He couldn't have... wouldn't have." She shook her head, trying to deny their words. "Why..." A soft but strong voice, familiar to them, all spoke out. "Jealousy," Yue said, his blue wings holding him aloft, "for Sakura's achievement. She claimed the cards, and won in the final judgment, a test Li himself failed at." "He never got over that anger," Keroberos said sadly, the giant golden lion standing on the snow-covered ledge. "He couldn't seem to let it go," he continued softly. Sonomi, Tomoyo and Kaho looked at the two of them, wondering where they had come from. Toya stepped out of the snow to Tomoyo's side, a wry smile on his face. "I felt something was happening," he whispered to her, "I hope we were in time." "Better late than never," Kaho said with a smile. "Nice timing, Toya." "You could be lying too," Mei-Lin said, tears streaking her face as the words sank in. Yue smiled at her sadly, "You know me, I think, and you should know that it isn't in my nature to lie." He tilted his head sideways, "So what will you do now?" Mei-Lin stood there, her shoulders bent. She only loosely held her sword, fingers loose around the hilt. She tensed, looking up to where Tomoyo and Sonomi stood, and pointed her sword towards them. Toya pushed them behind him even as she began to speak. "The vendetta is over," Mei-Lin said softly, tears streaking her face, "at least it is for me." The sword was quite ceremoniously sheathed over her shoulder, and she slowly began to walk away. Over her shoulder she quietly added, "I would recommend staying away from Hong Kong. Li's family will not be so forgiving." Before anyone could say anything, Mei-Lin was gone, running down the stairs at breakneck speed. Sakura softly said to Kero, "Could you change form and follow her, please? After what she's just heard, she shouldn't be alone right now." Kero looked at her a moment, then he smiled. "She just tried to kill you," he said, shaking his head, "and you're worried about her. Classic Sakura." In his small form, he flew off after her. "Is everyone all right?" Yukito asked them, pushing his glasses up self-consciously. He shivered a bit, and Toya stepped up to wrap his coat around the frail shoulders, receiving a grateful smile in return. "Everyone's fine," Sakura assured them both, "and thank you, both, for your help." Toya smiled wryly, looking between Sakura, Sonomi, and Tomoyo. "I suspect you've got some things to talk about," he said softly, "so we'll be going." After delivering Christmas wishes, the two young men walked down the stairs together. They stood there silently a moment, each waiting for the other to speak. Growing tired of the silence Kaho spoke up, "We probably should go see how damaged the apartment is." They walked down stairs together, warming up as they went deeper into the building. "You should have told me," Sakura said softly. "I wanted to," Tomoyo admitted, "every day. I wanted to tell you that I could protect you, watch over you, but that isn't what you needed to hear." "Oh, really?" Sakura said, looking over at Tomoyo, her expression unreadable. "After that fight, I'm sure you don't need protecting," Tomoyo continued softly. "You're strong, capable, and well able to take care of yourself," she smiled sadly. "So why did I get hurt by Li?" Sakura asked softly. "We make mistakes, occasionally. And maybe if I spoke up a bit stronger, then, it might not have happened," Tomoyo answered. "I guess we all need someone to watch our backs occasionally, even you," she said with a shrug. Sakura was silent, seemingly weighing those words in light of what she had learned. She reached out to take Tomoyo's hand, "I love you, Tomoyo." She smiled a bit, adding, "Just don't hold things back from me again, please?" "Deal. And I love you, too," Tomoyo answered her tearfully. They went through the apartment doors to see a state of complete ruin. The tree was down, fire out, and the pile of presents were soaked by where the rain and snow had blown inside. "I guess you're moving back home for tonight," Sonomi said, looking around a bit sadly at the ruins of their Christmas party. "I suppose," Tomoyo said, giving Sakura a sly glance, "we'll have to share a room." Sakura blushed redly, and Sonomi and Kaho laughed softly. "This party's a bust," Kaho said with a soft sigh. She looked thoughtful, "There is that all night party at the Locket tonight." Sonomi looked surprised as she said, "We really shouldn't throw the two of them into the deep end so quickly." "The Locket?" Sakura echoed curiously. "It's a ladies club," Tomoyo said with a little smile, "not too far from here. I've been once or twice." Both Kaho and Sonomi gave her thoughtful looks, and she blushed. Sakura surprised them by laughing softly, "I have magic powers, a book full of Clow cards, and all three of you to watch over me. I'm sure it'll be all right." "You asked for it," Sonomi said dangerously, and they were off.
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