Composed by deko
Translated by Yuki Neco
There was a crowd in the excavation site in the morning, where news reporters were reporting the excavation live on TV. Professor Kinomoto and his students were busy being interviewed.
In the president’s room of Amamiya Cooperation, Sakura and Syaoran
were having breakfast with old Masaki solumnly. A female secretary,
brought another miso soup for them, said to Sakura, “Do you want
another soup, Miss?”
“No, thanks. It was delicious,” Sakura replied.
“You make miso soup at home for breakfast, Sakura?” Masaki asked Sakura.
“Yes, my brother likes strong taste, but my dad prefers light taste.”
Masaki turned to Syaoran and asked, “Do you like Japanese food?”
Syaoran devoured food he was eating before replying, “Yes. I’m not particular about what we eat.”
At this time, the people on the ground far below the windows were starting their day of work.
“OK, today’s work is also waiting for us. Let’s get to it,” the old man said. Syaoran and Sakura vigorously replied, "Yes! Thank you for the good meal.”
After the two teenagers left the room, the secretary brought tea for
Masaki, when she said, “You look very happy today.”
“I’ve been all dreaming about it. That I have meal with my
great-granddaughter. I reunioned her, that my wish has come true,”
he gently explained.
The excavation site was as hot as the day before, however, many terra-cotta dolls were found around the coffine. “That creeps me out, don’t you think?” Sakura timidly asked, but Syaoran plainly said, “No.”
Besides, Youko, Chiharu, and Takashi are working at the plane table.
“Like I thought, the heading is in the same direction,” Youko
mumbled impressively, then Takashi agreed with her, saying, “Yeah,
but this one is shabby compared with the coffine Sakura found
yesterday.”
“Hey, Takashi,” Chiharu shouted at Takashi stomping on his foot.
“That’s the evidence the status system had been established,
like superiority and inferiority,” remarks Youko.
Similarly, there seemed to be a status system between the teenaged
couple, namely, Chiharu looked superior. Actually, another coffine
was found where the three were working.
On that night, at the excavation quarters, Sakura put a big pan back in a shelf in the kitchen.
“Yeah, it’s done. And everyone is full.”
Meanwhile, Syaoran in a serious look held his sword forward, concentrating his power gradually. But in a few minutes, his concentration was relieved, when he mumbled, “No can do.”
Sakura came into the room without a knock on the door, then he gave up his second try.
“Oh, am I disturbing you?”
“No, what’s up?” Syaoran replied hiding his sword behind his back.
“Uh, wanna take a walk around?”
When she stepped toward the door, he grabbed her by the shoulder, in a blushed face as red as a beet.
“I’ll take my shawl. Might be chilly outside.” Sakura said.
In Sakura’s room, Kero finished eating a bunch of croquettes, besides, the Hope Card saw him in an unplesant look.
“Too bad I can’t eat anything. Eating looks so fun as long as I see you,” Hope complained.
Sakura ran back into the room, took her shawl out of the closet before rushing out of the room. The Hope took a sigh, but at the next moment, she sensed an enormous power, when Kero is already asleep from fulfillment.
“Scary power! Sakura, it’s after you!” Hope flew out the window to catch up with Sakura.
In the site where the excavation had progressed, a big tumulus half revealed its shape before the eyes. The spot where the coffine had been found was guarded by a scaffold. Syaoran and Sakura were walking on a path along which they could see terra-cotta artifacts from the excavation.
“Look. Looks like little houses,” Sakura exclaimed.
“They are the amulets,” Syaoran explained, “symbolized the persons
or things they would need in the nether land, in order to offer to a tomb.”
“With a wish them a happy life in the heaven, I guess.”
“Right,” Syaoran agreed with her, “That kind of wish is common
in the world, independent of religions.”
“I want to be happy... along with you...” Sakura whispered, looking
into Syaoran’s eyes and then closed her eyes, explicitly waiting
for a gentle kiss on the lips. Syaoran got nervous at this situation,
stuttering, “Are you sure?”
Sakura nodding in agreement almost stunned him. At this minute, an enormous power exploded blowing the two teenagers out a dozen feet. They found themselves surrounded by the terra-cotta artifacts.
Back in the excavation site, present times, Sakura took out her key, shouting “Release!” to transform it into the sealing wand, before she held it at her chest. A number of terra-cotta dolls surrounding them emitted ripples of power from their mouths. Sakura, who failed to dodge the ripple, was sprung backward. Syaoran was defending with his sword, but was distracted by the ripples that attacked him succeedingly.
“Sakura! Force, know my plite, release the light!”
An intense thunderbolt destroyed some of the terra-cotta dolls, but the remaining enemies still continued attacking without flinching.
“Sakura, use the Freeze Card!”
“I know! Freeze Card, Trap the enermies inside an ice!”
The summoned card covered the terra-cotta dolls with its icy power, and freezed them inside a rock of ice.
“Noooooo!!” The shriek of the Hope Card could be heard, then Sakura and Syaoran gasped cluelessly. They could see a girl in a pale look on the face standing, who herself was see-through dressed in a thin clothes embroidered beautifully. The see-through girl grasped the Hope tightly.
“Help me, Sakura,” the Hope pleaded.
Sakura called the Wood Card, but the Card could stay its visible form for only a second; an unseen force transformed it back into a card. She tried the Windy Card, “Windy Card, become a chain that binds.” The Windy’s visible form, rushing toward the enermy, was changed back to its card form before it could reach the see-through body. The card only could float back to Sakura powerlessly.
“There’s no use!” Syaoran shouted, “She used the Hope Card to disable whatever cards you call. Your magic is useless unless we help the Hope Card.”
Syaoran took out one of his incantation cards and holding it in his mouth
as he held his sword forward. The moment he was about to leap to attack,
a lightning struck him throwing backward on the ground. He was groaning
in the serious damage. When Sakura ran toward him, the see-through girl
blocked her way. “I finally found you. I’ve been waiting all this
time... waiting for the two who have strong powers,” the girl spoke
slowly in a fierce look.
“Who... are you?” Sakura timidly asked.
“Iyo... is my name. I was born many many many years ago, and died.
I was not allowed to do what I wanted to do. I was never to be married
to the one I love the most. That’s why I can’t help feeling hatred for you!”
The spirit had tears running down her cheeks.
“What do you want from us?”
“Swap lives with me. That’s all.”
Descending behind Iyo was the shabby coffine that was found in that day.
“You two give up the remaining life time for us, and instead, you shall be an ancient girl in my place. That boy too shall be an ancient guy,” the spirit said slowly and overbearingly.
Unconcious Syaoran was lifted upright in the air by the terra-cotta dolls as if he was hang on a cross. Sakura grabbed the sealing wand with a glare at the enermy, not intending to give up.
“Don’t be like that, or else...” Iyo commanded Sakura, squeezing the Hope tightly. Tears rans between patches through the Sakura plush doll, where the Hope’s spirit resided, the card pattern could be seen between patches. The Hope cried for help, so the energy of the other cards were leaking in response to the Hope’s cry.
“Nooooo! Help me, Sakuraaaa!”
“Stop it! Don’t hurt her! Please, stop it, please.” Sakura throw
her staff on the ground to prove she wasn’t resisting.
The coffine opens on its own in front of Syaoran, and a human figure
came out. Just a little moment when Iyo was distracted by it,
the Hope emitted a bright light of power, blinding Iyo, then the Hope
flew away. Sakura picked up her staff to fight back, nevertheless,
Iyo was still calm.
“Good,” Iyo sneered as she released an intense wave of power. Glowing rings appeared from underneath Sakura and Syaoran’s feet, and after the rings ran through their bodies only the lifeless bodies remained on the ground. Their spirits were pull out of their bodies and thrown into a tunnel of time.
Sakura and Syaoran, thrown into the dark tunnel, was falling toward the ancient times, in shapeless forms. They could see many people appear and disappear in a short while. The city changed into a village which turned back into a forest.
“Help me, Touya, Kero, Yue. Dad...”
Suddenly, a bright ring forms around her, when Sakura heard a
gentle voice calling, “Come on. Don’t give up, girl from the future.”
“No use. Syaoran and I are no longer...”
“Do as I tell you. Throw some of your powers back into the
time you came from,” the gentle voice
advised her.
“My powers?”
The magic circle representing Sakura Cards appeared, surrounding Syaoran and Sakura with its glow.
“That’s more like it. The powers you need to throw are Time...” Sakura succeeded the advice, “Time, Change, and Shield.”
The three of Sakura Cards came out from the mistress, flying straight away beyond the time.
The excavation site on Tomoeda Hill was enclosed by a strong force field. Inside the barrier, the white fog of Iyo’s spirit entered Sakura’s empty body. The girl getting a spirit stood up. Another spirit similarly entered into Syaoran’s empty body.
“Dai. You’re alive!” cried Iyo. But Dai walked away not to say a word, so Iyo got so shocked at the unexpectedness that she couldn’t even try to catch up with him. Meanwhile, the Time Card’s visible form flew toward Sakura’s sealing wand.
“No way!” Noticing the Time Card, Iyo shot her power at the Card, but the Shield Card blocked the attack. The Time picked up the staff and flew beyond the hill together with the other two Cards.
“To the stupid doll. Hmph, I’ll find it,” Iyo looked up the sky, when there’s the shady moon above her.
Tomoyo, in her room, was drawing a picture on her sketch pad, on which a girl with honey brown hair in a weddiing costume was drawn. “It’s done,” Tomoyo said aloud, “But I guess Iyo looked a little different,” as she recolored the hair with a deeper colored pencil. She confidently smiled thinking her picture was close enough.
In the ancient times, a crowd of people was worrying the girl with honey brown hair who was being recued out of the tumulus construction site that had collapsed down.
“Is Lady Iyo all right?”
“I thinks so. At least until we dug her out the mud, she was...”
“Princess is the God’s child. She is powerful to support a gigantic
log with her delicate arm.”
The faded girl being recued covered with dirt was actually Sakura.
On the other hand, a boy was dying at the entrance of a dwelling at the corner of the village with his side bleeding, when he muttered in a faint voice, “Sakura...”