Composed by deko
Translated by Yuki Neco
“Who is it?!” Kerberos turned around when he sensed someone behind at the excavation site on Tomoeda hill after dark. It was Iyo who stood behind him with her eyes in a blaze of fury as terra-cotta dollas were floating around her.
“None of your business! Back off!” she yelled out as she radiated a strong powers. Yue and Kerberos set a force field to shield themselves.
“What a power!” Kerberos gasped, besides, the force field protecting them was overwhelmed and being shrunk.
“Heck!” Kerberos jumped up and breathed a fire toward Iyo, but it went out halfway. Iyo fought back immediately; her shot penetrate Kerberos. Yue and the Hope ruch to the spot Kerberos was falling onto.
“Oh, no!” Yue reflexively shoved the Hope away before Kerberos got up on his feet in a vacant look. He breathed a fire at Yue.
“Kerberos is possessed!” Yue exclaimed.
“Oh, no!” Hope screamed.
Iyo stood still behind Kerberos, with terra-cotta dolls shifting to their attacking formation.
“Hope, go! Receive the sealing wand from the Time and take it to Sakura,”
Yue instructed Hope in whisper.
“But I can’t leave Kero like this,” Hope shook her head confusedly.
Making his way straight ahead, Yue took his sparkling fist forward, and shot a bunch of crystalline bullets, which destroyed some of the terra-colla dolls. Unexpectedly, Kerberos jumped to shield Iyo from those bullets, then he was shot instead.
“Impressive!” Iyo smirked. She descended to stand against Yue. Knowing better than trying to stop Yue from fighting against Iyo, the Hope starts heading for the elevation where Time and Shield are supposed to be. As so exhaustful it was, Hope managed to come to the foot of the elevation, when the terra-cotta enermies caught up with her to attack her.
“Leave me alone!” Hope shrieked.
At this time, Yue flew to the scene, and shouts at her, “Run! What are you waiting for?” when he was blocking by exposing himself against the attcking force from Iyo and the dolls.
“Shield, let me talk to Time!” Hope shouted.
The Shield turning into its visible form took Hope in the force field.
Inside the enclosed space, Time was waiting for her. The Change Card was just beside him, in the form of some kind of a reptile.
“Time, I want you to give me...”
“I know what you want.”
The key to the seal appeared, but it sank into the Hope.
“I’ll open the door the tunnel of time for you. Good luck.”
When the shield opened, the Hope saw Yukito lying in injury. Kerberos also was down on his side in his temporary form.
“Yue.” Yue was transforming back and forth into Yukito and Yue. Obviously, he was trying to stay his true form, but didn’t have enough power left.
“Sorry, plushie. My power... Yue’s power couldn’t match for hers,” groaned Yukito as he faded. At the next minute, a transparent sword nearly skewer the Hope.
“Give in to me. I can get those things inside the Shield answer to me as long as the key and you are here. That girl is never to be back.”
“What if I don’t?” Hope provoked.
Iyo held her transparent sword up in front, getting ready to skewer the teeny-weeny plush doll at any minute. Meanwhile, the Time opened a time tunnel just beside them.
“Sakura!” Hope shouted, when the terra-cotta dolls descended to block her path, and simultanaously Iyo swang her sword a few times, but the Hope dodges the blow just the breadth of hair, making her way to the tunnel.
“How come you don’t fight back? Though you’ve got a powerful force,
I know.” Iyo glared at the Hope.
“Just to keep the premise I made with Sakura,” Hope answered.
“Ridiculous! Are you saying that girl made a promise with an
evil spirit like you?!” Iyo uttered in surprise.
“Yeah, she was the one who accepted me when I was all alone deep
in seal. And she had me be with my friends all along. Then I promised.
That I wouldn’t play mischief or menacing anyone... or I won’t even
use my power unless she wants me to,” Hope said in a detemined look.
Hearing the reply, Iyo couldn’t bring herself to destroy the tiny
speaking plush doll. Essentially as kind hearted she is, Iyo could
do nothing but see the Hope dive into the time tunnel.
“Shoot...” Iyo groaned.
She ran to the entrance of the tunnel, and held her sword above her shoulder to hurl it, but couldn’t. The moon was seen between the clouds above her, when the guradians of Sakura Cards had disappered before she could notice. But she sensed someone behind her.
“What’s the matter, Miss?” It was Masaki, who walked with a cane. Meanwhile, Yukito was vacantly watching them from up the distance at a meadow holding Kero in his arms.
The worn-out Hope was falling inside the time tunnel to the past, viewing scenes of history flashing in reverse like the gallary in an art museum.
“To the time Sakura is in...” she recited in her mind.
In a pit dwelling at the edge of Yakoku village, where a carpet of knitted straw covered the floor just like Yayoi perid style, there came a delicious smell across from the fire place.
Syaoran ate the porridge Sakura fixed for him, and put the rice bowl on the floor, saying “Thanks, I’m full,” When she reached the bowl, she found that he had eaten very little.
“OK, let me change your bandages. It might hurt, but please bare with it,” Sakura said when she rewind the bandages off him, which was badly bleeded. He was weakening just before her eyes.
“Evening, may I come in?” a voice came across from behind. It was Reko accompanied by some maids carrying the bedding. Those maids were bewildered at the small dwelling, and Sakura’s sad face as if she was derepressed by all the tragedies in the world. The girl who had blamed Sakura the day before in the kitchen took a glance at Syaoran, but she instantly averted her gaze,
“Let me see him,” Reko said.
Syaoran was deeply injured from the shoulder to the side. Strangely, it looked stitched out as if someone gave him surgery, however, he was still slightly bleeding through the defect of the stiching. Once they saw him bleeding, the maid couldn’t do anything but went out of the room urgently.
“I guess he can be cured in the world you came from,
but in this world he can’t,” Reko said examining his wound.
“Uh-oh,” Sakura sighed.
Reko remembered one thing at the moment she was getting on her feet,
and turned to Sakura, saying, “There’s one more person from another
world of time who has the same kind of power as you. I have sensed
several times their forces.”
“It’s... Ge-so... Li...” Syaoran winced.
“Stay put, Syaoran!” Sakura held him back.
“He must have,” he continued, “been the one who stiched my wound.
I sensed his aura at that side of this room...”
“That means, he left you suffering from the serious injury!
How can he be so heartless; you’re one of his descendant, but still...!”
Sakura shouted with anger. Sakura’s anger was so fierce that the Sakura
Cards floated back to the side of the room once they saw her eyes blazing
in fury.
“His... Geso’s power isn’t as powerful as Clow Reed’s.
It wasn’t his fault,” Syaoran defended him.
“Yes, it was! I gotta catch and bring him!” Sakura jumped on her feet.
“Sakura...” Syaoran stuttered.
“If he says no, I’ll hurt him.”
Hearing her determination, Syaoran smiled even with the unberable sore.
“But how can you find him? You need some clues if you want to use the Shadow Card... I know! Mirror Card, do you recognize him?” asked Syaoran.
Mirror, who was putting the bowls back in the shelf, dropped one of them with surprise at his question.
“I can’t stand the sight of him!” she cried out running out of the room. Light and Dark went out to catch her.
“Oh, I know,” Syaoran lowered his face, “Reflecting people’s faces mean
reflecting what they think. Geso Li must have...”
“Must have hurt her feeling so bad!” Sakura continued.
Suddenly a twitch attacked Syaoran, then Sakura held him tightly to soothe him.
A skinny man, Geso Li, was putting tresures around him in his suitcase.
One of the Cards floating around him asked, “What are you doing, Master?”
“Can’t you see this, Teleport? We got to get of here.” Geso replied.
All of Geso’s magical cards were surrounding him in the air; they were namely, Teleport, Life, Vision, Hover, Quake, Flame, and Learn.
“What a wimp,” the Flame commented, “I heard he once competed with
Clow Reed, but I doubt if it’s ture.”
“That was all because they matched their magic for the Mirror Card at
stake,” the Vision complemented.
“I guess he’s talented but not sophisticated,” the Teleport
jestingly continued, “Don’t you think so, Life?”
“You idiot Cards, just be quiet! Are you gonna disobey me?”
Geso shoulted in irritation.
The Quake flushed, then a small earthquake occured. The seven Cards were sneering at the poor Geso who was crushed under a pile of baggage.
Syaoran was sleeping in peace by the fire place in Dai’s house. He seemingly got better, when the Sleep Card was flushing above him. Sakura and Mirror were talking beside him, while the Sakura Cards are rotating about them.
“I didn’t know it. I’m really sorry I was upset about you,”
Sakura said.
“That’s all right, but I’m sorry, too, I shouldn’t have said
that,” Mirror replied.
Reko was watching them talk beside, thinking to herself, “Good mistress she is. She behaves as if she was a friend of those cards, even though she’s their official mistress. Oh, Iyo, I was wrong.”
By this thought, Reko blamed on herself that she had done every effort to separate Iyo and Dai. She had been stubborn being irritated by him who tagged along with her niece despite the difference in their social rank. She had had pursuers cathch up with Iyo who was running away with Dai, and get her back, with the commandment from the almighty wife of God stating they were allowed to kill him provided he resists.
“OK, let’s go, Sakura,” Mirror turned back into her card form as she floated at the height of Sakura’s eyes.
“Yeah, thanks. Now, Mirror Card, project the image of the Wizard Geso Li! Release and dispel!” Sakura shouted a spell. In response to the spell, the figure of Wizard Geso Li emerged from the big mirror.
“Shadow Card, find the shadow of the original body of this person!” Sakura continued her spell, “Release!’
Shadow swiftly jumped out of the place. That obviously implied that it found the wizard. The other Cards, which were floating all around the room, came onto Sakura’s palm.
“Aunt Reko, take care of him till I get back,” Sakura said to the old lady.
Sakura stepped closer to her boyfriend and gave him a tender hug to feel him with the skin. She whispered, “I’ll be right back, honey,” before leaving.
Meanwhile, the Hope was falling in the tunnel of time, whilst the voices of people from various time came aross to disturb and annoy her in exhaustion, just like turbulence.
“Sakura! Sakura, where are you?!” she was calling...
In Yakoku, Sakura with a pair of wings from the Fly on her back took off into the night sky. She held the Sword in a determined look that she convinced herself it was for the sake of her love.