There was a large crowd over at the Woodruff farm. Nearly the entire village folk had turned up to see the crime scene. Syaoran, Sakura and Kurogane went over to see for themselves what the commotion was all about. The villagers, recognising them from the night they killed the werewolf, moved aside to let them through so that Syaoran could reach the leader of the hunters who was at the scene. “Ah, ‘tis you from last night. Nice work shooting that wolf down, Missus.” Sakura cringed at the hunter’s words. She really didn’t want to be reminded of the terrible deed she did. Seeing her discomfort, Syaoran immediately changed the subject. “What exactly happened last night after we got back from the hunt?” Syaoran questioned the huntsmen’s leader. “Another killing, nothing serious. Just a couple of sheep, a bunch of chickens and a new calf. We suspect another wolfman, but if is was it wouldn’t have just killed small animals, it would’ve slaughtered the whole livestock.”
“That monster also killed my little Darling, Snowflake!” Sakura’s mouth went dry when she heard that name. “Who just said that?” Sakura said hastily. An elderly woman step out of the crowd before Sakura, who was crying violently. “My dog! He was outside trying to save the animals when…when…when the monster killed him!” The huntsmen’s leader came up to hold the lady as she started to wail uncontrollably. Sakura just stared. Frightened and confused. The collar she had in her hand this morning bore the same name as this woman’s dog. Why did she wake up with it?

The village was yet again in another flying panic after witnessing the massacre this morning. Sakura was feeling sick all day after that. Making Syaoran very worried about her. “Princess, are you okay?”
“Oh, it’s nothing…it’s just…never mind.” Sakura didn’t want to show him the collar. As soon as she got back she threw it on to the fire. Suddenly Fai and Mokona come bursting through the door exhausted. “What happened to you guys?” Kurogane asked, not that he cared. “Err…Syaoran, Kuro-puu, we may have a problem. Particularly concerning last night’s wolf hunt and this morning’s event.”
As Fai sat down he told them that some of the people are blaming Syaoran and Kurogane for the killing, believing that one of them was now a werewolf after being wounded by the wolf from the night before. “But I went to the library earlier to read up on Lycanthropy for myself. I too was curious about what a wolf’s bite can do because the werewolf myths also exist in my world too. Good news is that just because you are bitten by a wolf, does not turn you a wolf. It can happen, that part’s true, but it’s a very rare case. Bad news is that the villagers are very superstitious about lycanthropes, therefore they’ll believe that a bite always changes people, whether it is myth or not. We may very well be on this village’s hate-list for a while until we discover the true culprit behind these attacks.” Fai said with a grin on his face. That guy just doesn’t stop smiling ever. “In that case we should stay and help.” Syaoran said with one of his famous determined faces. “Okay, me and Mokona will help too. Right, Moko-chan?” Sakura chimed as she moved to cuddle Mokona. However, the moment Sakura reached for him, Mokona squealed and not with joy either. With fear.

Mokona quickly jumped away from Sakura and into Kurogane’s arms. “Oi! What’s up with you all of the sudden, meat-bun?” Kurogane growled down at the quivering round, white creature hiding in the crook of his arm. Sakura was really hurt by this and tried to approach Mokona again, but Mokona only buried himself deeper into Kurogane’s arms and was shaking so much that both of Kurogane’s arms were actually vibrating. “Waah…Mokona is scared, scared, scared! Sakura is scary, scary, scary!” Mokona whimpered silently, but loud enough for Sakura to hear. “…Mokona…” Not knowing what to do or what to say, Sakura rushed up the stairs to her room, feeling like crying herself. Syaoran and Fai flinched at the sound of Sakura slamming her door. Then Syaoran turned to face Mokona, his face’s expression was a dark combination of anger and worry. “Mokona, what’s the matter? Have you and Sakura had a fight or something?” Syaoran questioned with a rather harsh tone of voice. “No…it’s not that…” Mokona answered sadly. He knew that he had upset Syaoran. “Then what’s wrong?!”
“Sakura feels strange, strange, strange. Very strange! It scares Mokona.”
“What do you mean?”
“Wait, do you mean…her aura feels strange?” Fai joined in. Guessing that what Mokona had felt from Sakura was a change in her magical power or in her heart. Mokona nodded. “Hmm, that is strange. A change in Sakura’s aura…” Fai spoke and scratched his head. “Well come to think of it, Sakura has been acting kind of weird lately.” Syaoran mentioned as he rubbed his chin. “Maybe the feather we got last night is responsible.” Kurogane grunted. “I don’t think that’s it." Syaoran argued. "I mean the feathers have never altered her being when returned to her in the past, so why would a feather do so now?”

While the rest of the group were discussing Sakura’s behaviour among other important things, Sakura laid face down on her bed, saddened by what had happened down stairs. Sakura rolled over onto her back and stared at the ceiling as she thought to herself many things concerning the happenings in this world. what is going on? Why am I acting this way? What about me exactly is Mokona so afraid of? Sakura froze suddenly as a wave of pain washed through her whole body. Sakura growled and winced as from out of the blue, another jolt of pain surged through her. Sakura was now snarling at herself out of pure agony as she unconsciously curled herself up into a tight ball, gasping hard and trying to smother the throbbing coming from her chest, spine, and from between her legs. It felt as though all of her guts and organs were boiling inside, like every bone in her body was snapping and breaking. However…the pain didn’t last. Sakura started to slowly uncurl herself; she began giggling feverishly as the pain in her limbs and flesh started to tickle her. Oh sweet pain, delicious pain. Pain was now pleasure. Sakura rose herself from the bed and smiled sinisterly. Her eyes illuminated by the light of the full moon burning through the shadows of her window’s drapes and quilting her skin. Sakura was now laughing manically like a hyena; she has never felt anything like this before. She felt pleasured, she felt strong. She felt hungry.

Seconds later, Sakura shot up from her bed into a sitting position, looking flushed and terrified. She crossed her arms over her chest as her heart thumped against her ribs. Tonight had been another night where she had been having recent strange nightmares about wolves, and pain, and those things she would rather not think of. Sakura looked down upon herself and saw that she was still wearing her day clothes, hinting that she had fallen asleep suddenly like she normally does. I must’ve fallen asleep again. How long have I slept this time? She wondered. Sakura looked over to the side of her bed where the clock was. 11.50pm. God, it was only 6:30pm when she came upstairs! Still…her nightmares seemed to be getting worse and worse in this world.

She couldn’t sleep like this anymore. Sakura left her bed and her room. She wandered almost blindly through the dark halls of the house, searching for the room belonging to the own person who always made her feel safe.

Syaoran’s room.