Chapter 6

~~~~~

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are proud to present our special program for tonight, the story of the star fairy!! Please sit back, relax and enjoy the show.” Jowna said through the microphone, [Great,] she thought, [the show is finally starting!!]

The roof of the auditorium started to make a mechanical sound, then it slowly opened, creating an out door stage.

Mean while in back stage, everyone’s getting ready, there were people putting on make ups, and people moving the props. This whole play was much bigger than the one they had back in the elementary school; after all, this show is serious. Sakura was very nervous; she was shaking, [Oh, man.] She thought, [What if I screwed up on the stage, what if I can’t handle it??] She sat in a chair, trying to calm down, but it didn’t work. Her hands were still cold as ice, and they wouldn’t stop shaking. [I’ve got to calm, I won’t be able to perform like this.] She shut her eyes. Holding her hands closed to her chest.

Syaoran came by, he saw her scared look, and it hurts him. “Hey, you all right?” he asked, trying to be as casual as possible.

“Oh, Syaoran.” Sakura looked up to him. “I’m really scared, I’m afraid that I might do something to screw up the whole play. Oh, why did I even bother to help out at all.”

Syaoran kneeled down before her. “That’s because you’re Sakura.” He said gently, Sakura looked at him, a bit confused. He continued, “You did that because you want to help out, the Sakura I know would not hesitate when it comes to helping someone in trouble.” Sakura smiled, his face turned red, and avoided eye contacts. “It’s okay,” he said. “I’ll be with you, as always.”

Sakura gave him a big hug. “Thanks, Syaoran...I know you’ll always be there when I needed...”

“Now...” he stood up, face still red. “Let’s get on with the show!!”

~~~~~

[I can’t believe that they are going to perform with out the main actor and actress! Time for plan B...] A dark shadow emerged from the dark. It walked towards one of the actor in the back stage. The actor was putting on make-ups; he saw the shadow from the reflection of the mirror, it gets closer as he began to become petrify. He slowly turned around; the last thing he saw was a man in a big blanket hitting him with a two inches thick log.

~~~~~

“Syaoran...” Sakura asked him with a tender voice behind the curtain, in about five minutes they are going to go on. “Do you think there are someone who doesn’t want the show to go on?” Meanwhile, Syaoran was looking out at the crowd, he turned around. “Why’d you asked?”

“Well, doesn’t it seems weird to you that all the main actors and actresses got hurt right before the performance? If they’re sick, that would be a different case, but they all got hurt because of some weird accidents.”

“I’ve noticed that too, but there’s no reason to do such a thing, the whole town is looking forward for the play.”

“Unless, the one who did it was no ordinary town people.”

“You’re not thinking of...”

Sakura nodded. It could be the hell’s missioner that’s here to screw things up. “We’ll just have to hope that those are really accidents.” Syaoran said, looking back out the curtain. “Why?” Sakura asked.

“If it was the hell’s missioner, then he, or she, won’t give up that easily.” “That means, he’s going to cause trouble directly during the play?”

“And if he does...we’ll be in big trouble.”

~~~~~

“Once upon a time, there was a star fairy.” Jowna was reading the skid from the control room. “Sakura, get on the stage.” She whispered through the other microphone, the one that was attached to Sakura and Syaoran’s ears. “Okay,” she said, nervously, “there goes my cue, wish me luck!” She took a deep breath, and walked on to the stage. [Good luck...] Syaoran thought.

Sakura walked towards the stage. “Alright, stand on the stage and pretend that you’re looking for your parents or something. Oh, and look sad!” Jowna whispered. Then she turned away from that microphone, and put her mouth close to the on that was attached to the whole auditorium, “She was a fairy with a kind heart, and a pure soul. But yet, people see her as a witch, and never get close to her. Her parents died early, so no one ever really cared about her. She was always alone, and always gets picked on by other kids her age.” Just then, some kid appeared on the stage, and through some rocks at her. “Sakura!! Run!! Look scared and run off the stage!!” Jowna whispered through Sakura’s earphone. Even though Jowna warned her, she still got hit by one of the rocks. [No!] Syaoran yelled in his heart.

Sakura ran to the back stage, rubbing her head. “Well,” she stood in front of Syaoran, “I guess I had to be thankful that it wasn’t a big one.”

Syaoran rushed up to her. “Are you okay?” he asked. “I’ll get Jowna for this.”

“It’s okay, Syaoran...” Sakura said, out of pain. “I’m not hurt that badly, it’ll pass.”

“...You’re always nice to others...” Syaoran gave her the soft look.

“One day, the fairy was getting picked on again.” Jowna announced. “Sakura, go on again.” She whispered. By this time, the stage was already changed. It went from a normal street to a hill. Sakura went on, the same kids that through the stone to her were there again, each and every one of them looks mean, and have a rock in their hand. “Great...” Sakura thought.

“Alright, Syaoran, go out there and save her!” In Syaoran’s earphone, Jowna ordered.

[You don’t have to ask me twice.] He ran out of the stage.

“Alright, now say what ever I said okay?” Jowna said. She moved away from that microphone, and move to the announcer. “A handsome young man came to save her.” She saw Syaoran ran out on to the stage. “Hey,” he repeated the words Jowna passed through his earphone. “Leave her alone!!”

“Oh, look who’s talking, it’s the weir-do boy that no one wants to play with.” One of the kids taunted. “Get out of the way.”

“You’re not hurting this innocent young lady.” Syaoran said. “You’ll have to get pass me first!”

“Get him!” All of the kids yelled. Then they all started to “hit” Syaoran. (Of course, it was fake “hitting”, if it was real, Jowna would have get beaten up badly by Syaoran) Jowna switched the microphone, “And so, the poor young man was getting hurt, all for the fairy, the fairy was very touched by his action.” The light slowly fainted off, and people started to quickly changed the scene. There was a tree on the middle of the stage, Sakura and Syaoran heard the cues Jowna gave them, and started to act once the lights were back on. Syaoran acted like he was badly hurt (even thought the kids didn’t even touched him), Sakura helped him walk, and they came to the tree, and sat down. “You really shouldn’t have,” Sakura started to read the lines that Jowna said. “Why did you defend my honor, even when you don’t even know me?”

“Because you were out numbered. I hate those jerks anyway. It was no big deal, I’ll live. Why were they picking on you anyway? You look like a lovely young lady.”

“The star fairy wanted to tell him the truth.” Jowna said, through the announcer. “But he was the nicest person she ever met, probably ever will, she was afraid to lose him too. So she had decided to hide the truth.”

“I don’t know...” Sakura said.

“Well,” Syaoran said. He hesitated, and then he finished the line. “I bet they’re jealous of your beauty.” He blushed as he said that, and it was a little quiet, too. Sakura’s face turned red, as if he was telling the truth. “And so,” Jowna said. “The two quickly became friends. But how long can the star fairy hide her secret? And what would happen if the young man finds out about the truth?”

The light fainted off again. The scene was changing. The next scene took place around the street. “Weeks pasted by.” Jowna announced. “The star fairy’s friendship with the young man remained steadily. But you can never tell, when there’s trouble.” Syaoran appeared on the stage, walking casually, then a kid sneaked closed to him. “Hey!” the kid buzzed. “You hang out with that weird girl?”

“She’s not weird, she’s my friend, and if you say one more word about her, you’ll be crawling back home with two broken legs.” Syaoran gave him the mean look. [You better believe it.] He thought.

“Do you know why we called her weird at all?” the kid asked.

“No...” Syaoran looked curious. “Why?”

Mean while, Sakura saw those two talking, and hid.

“Well,” the kid said. “She’s really a witch, she can use powers, magic powers. My mom said leaving her here would only bring bad luck.”

“She...knows magic...?” Syaoran was shocked. (Good acting.) Sakura made a noise, stepped on a branch or something. Syaoran turned around, and saw the hurt and painful look on her face. Tears started to come down to her cheeks. She ran off with out saying a word. “I’m saying this for your own good.” The kid said. “You should stay away from her, not even YOU deserve to be with her.”

Syaoran lowered his head; it made it very hard to see his eyes. He stood there for a while, and then he looked up, and followed Sakura.

The scene was changing; they were back to the tree again. Some how, it had become their “usual spot”. Sakura ran up to it, and cried. Syaoran caught up to her, he stood there, didn’t know what to say at the moment. Then he began. “Look, I’m sure we could work this out.”

“How could we!?” She yelled. “I’m a witch, everyone hates me, and now that you found out about it, you will too! I didn’t want to lie, but I was really afraid, that you’re going to hate me like everyone else when you found out the truth about me...I don’t want to lose... you...”

“But I’m not everyone else!” He said gently. “I’m me, I care about you, like you, want to be with you, no matter who, or what you are, even a witch, I...I still...loves you...” [Oh man oh man oh man...I can’t believe I’m saying this!!! What kind of lines are these?] He’s face wasn’t just a tomato; it was so red, only a rotten tomato can describe it. His heart was beating 2000 times per second. Sakura looked at him with a pair of emerald eyes. It was wet by the tears, making it extra shiny. Her face was turning red, too. “Really...?” she asked.

Syaoran nodded. “Oh...” Sakura began. “I feel the same way for you too.” She threw herself into his chest. Syaoran put his arms around her, his heart was beating so fast, he could have a heart attack any second. Sakura’s heart was beating quickly too, and her face was red.

The light fainted off. “Ladies and gentlemen, we will be having a short break, the second half of the play will start 15 minutes later. Please buy some gifts at the gift shop, or buy some snacks from the snack bar.” Jowna announced. The audiences started to leave their seats. Some went to snack bar, but most of them went to the sign where it says “washroom”. Jowna used this time to talk to Sakura and Syaoran. “You guys were awesome!! I heard some of the audiences talked about how great you were. What’s the matter? You both looked shy.” They were still a bit embarrassed from the late scene; neither of them could look at each other. “Well, the next scene is the battle scene. I hope you’ll do well, too!!” She took off, and grabbed Huron with her. Sakura and Syaoran sat in the back stage, there were people moving the props back and forth. They just sat there, didn’t know what to say. “Um...” as usual, Syaoran tried to break the ice. “That was just acting; no one really would have to be upset about it. After all, it wasn’t real.”

[It wasn’t real...] The thought hurts Sakura, she felt very uncertain, [What’s wrong with me lately, I was jealous when Syaoran was being nice to Kyn, and now I’m embarrass about the act we had. I’ve got to calm down!!] “Yeah, you’re right, let’s try our best in the second half of the play, too!” She gave him the brightest smile she has. Syaoran sighed, at least now they’re talking to each other.

~~~~~

The curtains were rolling up, the lights brighten, and the scene was starting. Jowna spoke with a loud voice. “Welcome back to the second part of our play, the star fairy and the young man was having a great relationship, but peace could never last long, as their greatest enemy arrived.”

A man with black cape entered the stage. [What?] Jowna thought, [that wasn’t one of the actors! What’s going on?] The man smiled, then he swung his arms, a dark smoke appeared, and surrounded him. “I am the missioner from hell, and I’ve come to fill this honorable night with darkness.” He said. He swung his arm upwards, the smoke fill the sky, blocking the moon, and the stars. All the audience reacted with “Awe” and “Ooo”; they all thought this was part of the scene.

Not even the actors and actresses realized it; only Jowna remembered all the casts in the play, Sakura and Syaoran both reacted surprisingly. “Syaoran!” Sakura said. “It’s the missioner from hell! We were right! It was him who injured all the cast members!”

“I know,” Syaoran said. “We better tell Jowna! I think she realized, too, that he’s not part of the play.”

“But we’re up next!” Sakura said.

“Sakura, this is too dangerous, we can’t continue the play!”

“We have to!” Jowna yelled through their earphones. “This is too important to me...I can’t give up the play now, this is everything to me...”

“Jowna...you can hear us?” Sakura asked.

“Some where near you guys, there’s two mini mikes that’s connected to the control room.” Jowna said.

Syaoran sighed. He took the two mini mikes, threw one to Sakura, and pinned the other on his shirt. “We’ll keep in contact during the play.”

“Syaoran...” Sakura said softly, “What are you going to do?”

“The audiences and the casts don’t know about this yet, we’ll have to pretend this is part of the play, and try to defeat that guy!”

“This is a great idea!” Jowna said. “But can you two handle him?”

“We’re no ordinary travelers.” Sakura said. They both got in to battle position. “Release!” She yelled, and then the star key grew to a usable size. Syaoran pulled out his sword, and have all the magic charms in his utility belt out. “Let’s go!” He said.

“Right!” Sakura answered. “But still!” Jowna said. “You two have to follow the skid!” Both of them dropped dead on the floor, big sweat on their head. “This is going to be the greatest scene ever! With tons and tons of ‘special effects’, the audiences are going to love this!!”

“Do you care about anything else but the play!!??” Syaoran shouted while trying to get up.

They went out on the stage. “How dare you block the sky with darkness?” Syaoran said. [This is so pathetic...] “Change it back now!”

“That’s right!” Sakura said. “The villagers can’t live with out the sun and the moon. They need to see!”

“Twerps.” The man said. “Do you really think you can defeat me?”

“We’re better than you think.” Sakura said.

“We’ll have to see about that, dark lightning attack!!” A big lightning zipped right in between Sakura and Syaoran; that was a close call. “We’ll have to find his weak spot!” Syaoran said. “Then I’ll take care of the rest.” He reached into his utility belt, and pulled out a small marble. “Go find Chocy!” Syaoran commanded; the marble started to glow, and flew out of the auditorium through the opened rooftop. [Chocy got the backpack with the crystal.] He thought.

The missioner began his second attack; lightning zapped from his hand, Syaoran kept dodging. He used the reflect charm to reflect the lightning back to the missioner, but the lighting has no effects on him. Sakura tried to use the fire card, but he formed a barrier, and blocked the fire. He was almost invincible, but everyone has a weakness, the problem is where?

~~~~~

Mean while, the glowing marble found its way to Chocy, it was sleeping peacefully until the glowing marble woke it. It flew around Chocy, and stopped right in front of its face, it grew brighter, and began to speak. That freaked out Chocy, “Chocy! Come to the auditorium where Sakura and I are, and bring the backpack! We’ve go trouble!” The marble spoke with Syaoran’s voice; Chocy got pumped up, and ran towards the auditorium.

~~~~~

Sakura and Syaoran were still fighting that missioner, the crowds went wild, and Jowna was reporting the whole scene like a sport game. “The bad guy had just fire another thunder bolt, but the star fairy was pretty quick herself, she returned that thunder bolt with her own wind attack...”

“Windy!” She cried. The “Windy” flow out of the card, and attacked the missioner. The missioner was blinded for a while, Syaoran used this chance to slice his cape into pieces, and the tattoo is visible now. It was located on his left chest. Syaoran tried to stab it, but he couldn’t get close enough, the missioner had the lightning surrounded him to from a barrier. He didn’t like the way Syaoran slashing his favorite cape, so he had the lightning surrounded Syaoran, the lightning shocked him. He was weakening, and fell to the ground on his knee. “Syaoran!!” Sakura get close to him. [Sakura...you’re not suppose to use his real name!] Jowna thought. “Looks like the young man’s out of the picture.” She kept reporting.

[That does it!] Sakura thought. “How dare you hurt Syaoran!” She pulled out the card of thunder, “You like to play with lightning, don’t you? I’ll play with you! Thunder!!” She used the card. Their thunderbolt clashed together, creating an impact.

That lasted for a few second, and then Sakura took a look at Syaoran. He was still weak, couldn’t really get up. [How dare he...HOW DARE HE!!!] She increased her power. Her thunder over powered the missioner’s, and it stroked his tattoo, his body dissolved into smoke, a glow of light appeared in his body: it was his soul.

The card returned to its normal self. Sakura collapsed; Syaoran went forward and caught her. She was too tired from the over powered thunderbolt battle. “Did you see that...?” She slowly opened her eyes in Syaoran’s arm. “I did it...I defeated him...that was my first time, it was you who always defeat our enemies. Finally, it was my turn to protect you.” She snuggled. Syaoran smiled. “Silly thing...” His cheek slightly turned pink.

[That wasn’t the line, but it’ll do.] Jowna thought. “They had defeated the evil monster (?) that tried to block the sky with darkness. But the sky is still black.” She was right, the sky is still dark. Farther more, the missioner’s soul was floating away. To take care of the sky first, Sakura stood up, and tried to use the windy to blow out the smoke, but Syaoran stopped her. “You’re too weak, and those smokes are too high up, you’ll just waste your strength.” The soul was flowing higher and higher.

Just then, Chocy came to save the day; it came through the entrance of the auditorium, with the backpack around its neck.

“Alright! Chocy!” Syaoran yelled.

“Star fairy’s trustful chocobo had arrived to help them!” Jowna said.

It came to them, and they jumped on Chocy. “Hoe...found it!” Sakura picked the crystal out of the backpack. “Great!” Syaoran pulled out another charm, and said the magic words. “Sky walk!”

A dash of magic gathered around Chocy’s feet. It was new to Chocy; it looked at its own feet with curious glares. “Calm down, Chocy,” Syaoran petted it. “It’ll be okay.”

[Tell that to my vet...] Chocy thought. They started to flow in the air, and got higher and higher. “Let’s go get that soul!” Syaoran said.

The soul was sucked into the crystal when they got in to a close enough distance. They kept going up, and stopped when they were around the same level as the smoke, Syaoran pulled out his charm, and yelled “Feng hua!” (That means wind in Mandarin) The smoke was blown away, and the sky was filled with stars again. All the audiences clapped at the scenery, almost all of them rose up from their seats. “And the star fairy and her lover live happily ever after...thank you for joining us tonight, we’ll see you next year!” Jowna turned off the mike after the finale; all the audiences began to leave. She switched to the other mike. “Sakura, Syaoran, you can come down now. That was the best!”

~~~~~

They slowly came down, Chocy sure was glad it was back on the ground again; it gave Syaoran the don’t-you-ever-do-that-again look. “You guys were great, the audiences loved you!” Jowna told them, “And...I heard, about the missioner, so I can pretty much guess who you guys are, with all those ‘special effects’...” Sakura and Syaoran gave her the innocent look. Jowna continued. “You guys are dare devils!” Both of them dropped dead on the ground, again. “Can you get your mind off show business for once?” Syaoran got up.

“I’m kidding, I know you guys are the legendary heroes...” Jowna laughed.

“Yeah...” Sakura said. “And try not to tell anyone okay?” (Gees, they say that to everyone.)

“Do worry, I know how to keep a secret.” She zipped her mouth. “But you better go now, if you don’t want to get caught by one of the audiences, they are pretty likely to ask you how did you do those magic thingy.”

“Don’t worry, we thought of that, so we’re leaving now.” Sakura, jumped off Chocy. “Um, we need to give this costume back to you.”

“Keep it, it looks great on you guys anyway.”

“Thanks, Jowna, bye Huron!” Then she hopped back on Chocy.

Jowna and Huron escorted them all the way to the town’s exit, “This is your pay for tonight’s show.” Jowna gave them a small sack of golden coins. “You deserved it. Now be careful!!”

“We will.” They wave as they say good-bye.

As they go, Syaoran handed a necklace to Sakura. “I bought this...at the festival. You could use it to hang your key.” He was a bit shy.

“Thank you.” Sakura’s face turned pink, and took the necklace. It has a bell on it too. “You can open the bell...I thought we can put the crystal in it so...you know, we don’t have to get the backpack every time we see those missioners.”

“Right...” Sakura smiled, and put the necklace around her neck. The bell made a clear ring with the crystal in it. Sakura likes that sound. She put her arms around Syaoran’s waist, and closed her eyes. The bell rang as Chocy walked along the road, under a starry night.

to be continued...

Phew...that was fast, one chapter; done in 8 days, fastest record ever. As a result, the next chapter might be a bit late. Well, I deserve a little break. Good day!

Piggy Ho Ho

Feb. 18, 2000