Daphne

Chapter One: Earth and Wood Thy Blood Become

–Vow made to Apollo by Daphne upon being cut down

I will never forget that day. Ever.

I can forgive Daphne for what she did to me. All in all, it was a very–well, educational experience. I can try not to think about it now.

But I will never, ever forget that day.

The sky was clear; the trees were blooming. Cherry blossom petals drifted down, making Tomoeda look like it was the subject of a lightly pink-white blizzard. I was walking in the forest, just for fun and due to a lack of anything better to do.

It had been a year and a half since Syaoran had come back; but yet, I had not told him.

I didn't know why it was so hard. Just three little words, my mind incessantly reminded me. It can't be that hard. You managed to tell Yukito. How is this any different?

Because that was Yukito, another part of my mind would shoot back. This is Syaoran. You have no clue how he feels. He just came back, that's all.

His reason to come back, as he had said, was that the Clan had sent him to insure the Cards never fell into the wrong hands.

It was nice to know they had that much faith in my abilities as the Card Mistress.

I wonder if he had any say in it, I mused.

What if he had wanted to come back?

I stopped and looked behind me, surprised. Usually, twigs in the forest didn't just break on their own

A flash of color caught my eye, and I dropped to the ground, my sixth sense blaring at full alarm. Something about this was truly, truly not right.

Moving silently, I crawled into the underbrush, ignoring the sharp branches as they scratched at me. My instincts were never, ever wrong, and they were saying that my follower had nothing good in his intentions.

Soon, he came into view as I watched, praying he wouldn't look my way. I recognized him: one of the high school students who'd been giving me strange looks lately, almost like–like I was some morsel he wanted to devour. I'd tried to avoid him.

My nose itched, and I stopped breathing, begging it not to sneeze. My safety depended on me not sneezing. I couldn't sneeze. I won't sneeze, I willed. I won't.

I sneezed.

Immediately he whirled towards where I was hiding, and our eyes locked. One glance, and I knew that he knew that I knew exactly what he wanted from me. I bolted.

The forest was dense and hard to run through, but if it was hard for me to run through, then it was just as hard for him. The only problem was that he was faster, and the forest was running out.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

My heartbeat pounded in my ears.

Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

I have to get out of here I can't let him catch me

I ran, fleet as a deer, through the woods, my hunter on my heels.

Soon, he was so close behind me, I could hear his heavy breathing and nearly feel it on the back of my neck. The terror streaked through me, and I ran on.

A building started to loom up ahead, and I sucked in a breath. If I could get to the open, he couldn't chase me any more.

There was a crunch behind me as he tripped and fell with a grunt. Not even looking back, I dashed ahead–

Then fell over something myself, just as I got out of the woods.

I was in the back of an apartment complex; no one was there and the wall was too tall for me to try to get over when I was this exhausted: at least four feet high.

Worse, there was no way to get around it.

I stared at it, breathing frantically, my heart thundering in my ears.

Oh my god. This can't be happening

Something–anything–help me, for god's sake, I don't want this to happen, this can't be happening to me, oh my god–help–oh my god–

I could hear his rackety footsteps nearby–he'd purposely chased me here.

Panic seized me, and I begged anything that was listening to help me. My legs were to stiff with fear to move, or I would have run.

Wait a second

No, they weren't stiff with fear

As I watched in shock, bark crawled up them, wrapping around my torso, then over my shoulders and head–

And I was shooting up–

My arms became branches, my fingers bursting into bloom. My feet were twenty feet beneath me, my body lengthened into a single, long trunk. Somehow, I could still see.

The cause of this came into view, looking around for me. Looking around confusedly, he cursed, then walked away, and I heaved a sigh of relief. Thank god

Wait a second, Sakura. You're a freaking tree.

New fear washed over me as I looked at my reflection in someone's sliding door. I'd become a young cherry blossom tree.

And there wasn't much of an indication that I'd be going back to normal any time soon.

This can't be good

Well, maybe it'll wear off, I thought with a mental shrug. Won't it ?

The hours ticked past as I wondered what Dad's reaction would be when I came home three hours late. Maybe I'd get off with only a month's grounding; after all, I wouldn't have a very good excuse Yeah, I was being chased by a rapist and I got turned into a tree

The sunset passed, and the sky started to darken. The stars were just starting to come out when a light clicked on in the apartment whose balcony I was shading.

I wonder who lives there

[AN: I'll give you three guesses ^_^]

Soon, a figure shuffled into what I guessed was the living room, flopping down on the couch. I caught sight of unruly brown hair and mentally swallowed.

Not only was I a tree, but I was a tree standing outside of Syaoran's apartment.

After a minute, the phone rang. I could tell because the pane of glass wasn't all that soundproof.

"Syaoran Li."

There was a murmur on the other side, and he sat up. "What?!" Another murmur. "She's gone?!" Babble. "Hold on," he ordered, his face white. "I'll be right there." There was a click as he dropped the phone on the couch and got up, seizing a coat from the rack and pulling it on. The door slammed shut.

He didn't come back all night as I worried and fretted.

Worse, I didn't change back.

I think I'm stuck

This is really, really, really not good