For this very important 1st chapter, I’ve decided to let the cast do the disclaimer.
| Syaoran | She doesn’t own it. |
| Sakura | Syaoran, at least make it easier for her. It’s not easy not being able to say that she doesn’t own the rights to all of us. |
| Kero | Yeah, who wouldn’t want to own me? |
| Syaoran | Anyone sane. Sakura is the only one who can put up with you so count your lucky stars. |
| Kero | What did you say gaki!? |
| Syaoran | That no one but Sakura would want to own you. |
| Kero | You’re really asking for it boy. |
| Sakura | Guys, break it up. Look here come Eroil and Takashi. |
| Takashi | Did you know that a father who didn’t want his son anymore first invented the disclaimer? |
| Eroil | That’s right. The father wanted a way to say that he didn’t own the boy anymore, but needed it in a legal manner. |
| Chiharu | ::grabs Takashi’s ear:: Do you ever stop lying? Come on. |
| Sakura | He was lying????? |
| Syaoran | Yes Sakura, even I figured that out. |
| Sakura | Hoe... |
| Sakura sama Blossom | Maybe I’ll just stick to doing the disclaimer from now on... To finish what I started: I have to admit that I do not own in ANY way ::sob:: Cardcaptor Sakura or any of it’s characters. Cardcaptors and Cardcaptor Sakura are owned by Nelvana and CLAMP respectively. The storyline is mine and is the product of my imagination. I must apologize if my story begins resembles another’s. My explanation is that I read too many stories on FanFiction.net and they get imprinted in my brain. Now, the story: |
by Saki sami Blossom
An amber-eyed young man was in the kitchen preparing a breakfast fit for a queen. Bacon fried to perfection, eggs extremely light and fluffy, falling apart only when they entered one’s mouth. The orange juice was freshly squeezed and minimal pulp was remaining. This chestnut haired gentleman was up at dawn to train as he has been doing for most of his 18 year old life, however, more and more lately he found himself doing odd things, such as smiling to himself over seemingly nothing. One could think it was just his way of finally becoming more human, but others who were close to him, or at least as close as he would let them get, concluded that it was the presence of a certain emerald-eyed angel that produced such a change in him.
Finally finishing serving the breakfast on 3 separate plates, Syaoran carefully placed all the dishes in the washer and closed the door. Looking exhausted, he leaned on the door of the dishwasher and wiped his hands with the green cloth that lay nearby. The dark circles under his eyes weren’t noticeable, but they were there nonetheless. Syaoran had suffered through another nightmare the night before. Yet, as hard as he tried to remember what caused him to have such an unrest full night, he simply couldn’t remember. Suddenly a chill passed throughout his body. Even the green sweater didn’t keep him warm, and his beige sweatpants didn’t stop the hairs from rising on his neck. All at once the feeling passed as quick as it came and Syaoran doubted if it had happened at all, but he knew it had. Trying to calm himself down, he began the wash cycle on the dishwasher.
As an afterthought, Syaoran looked down at his watch then silently murmured, “3... 2... 1...”
The faint ringing of a bell could be heard in the room next to the kitchen. All at once a resounding shriek pieced the silence of the apartment.
“HOEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”
Soon after the figure of a girl could be seen racing around the spacious residence looking for misplaced clothes. Only stopping to pick up a sock there or a tie here, she didn’t immediately notice Syaoran sitting at the counter eating breakfast chuckling at the sight of her. In fact, Sakura herself didn’t realize how humorous she looked. Her pink cherry blossom pajamas were slightly rumpled from yet another sleepless night, she too was being tormented by repeating nightmares, although unlike Syaoran, she could remember every detail of them. Still, she preferred not to. Her normally combed and well-kept hair was askew since it was not yet combed it that morning. Her frenzied state only added to the total outlook of her appearance.
At last, Sakura managed to find all of her uniform for THS (Tomoda High School), without Syaoran’s help, and rushed into her room to change. She was grateful for the first time in awhile that Meilin had moved back to Hong Kong four years ago because otherwise she was sure that Syaoran would give up his room to sleep on the couch so that she could have a private room. Sakura didn’t think that she could ask such a thing of him, especially since she was the guest and was intruding on Syaoran’s life as it was. Finally, Sakura managed to get dressed in her THS uniform and surveyed her appearance in the mirror. THS’s uniform was differed slightly from TES’s (Tomoda Elementary School). The idea was really the same, skirt, shirt, tie, emblem, and socks and shoes. However, at THS, changes were made to almost every one of those components. The skirt they now wore resembled more the skirt Sakura wore when she practiced for cheerleading at TES. In this regard, the skirt was shorter than the year before and stripes were embroidered along the bottom. The main color of the skirt was blue and the stripes were white. The one-piece shirt is now a blouse of a white, light and airy material with the emblem on the left shoulder. Oddly enough, Sakura thought, the high schools symbol was identical to that of the elementary school. The overall look would not be complete without a tie in the school colors (white and blue). The perimeter of the tie had a blue stripe while the inside was white. This year, the girls were forced to wear white knee high socks in order to compensate for the shorter skirts, but the black shoes stayed.
Thinking about the uniform, Sakura almost forgot to do her hair. Tomoyo had forced her to grow it out, so Sakura had so her cousin would stop nagging at her. However, to her dismay, the nagging only increased when she insisted that she keep doing her hair as usual, two pigtails on the side of her head sometimes tied with ribbons. But Tomoyo wouldn’t have any of it; she persevered and broke through to Sakura. Somehow she managed to teach Sakura how to do her hair in many different ways varying from a simple ponytail to a more elegant and complicated up style hairdo. For today, Sakura decided that a simple high ponytail would do with a navy ribbon so that it would match the main color of her uniform. Deciding at last, she opened the door and put the finishing touches on her ponytail.
Looking up, Sakura noticed Syaoran sitting there at last. Eyeing him suspiciously, Sakura sat down without a word and began to pick apart her breakfast. Syaoran had long finished his meal and was patiently awaiting Sakura to do the same. While observing her, Syaoran was stifling a laugh. At long last, a laugh escaped and his eyes began to water from suppressed laughs.
Fuming Sakura was deeply hurt since apparently, Syaoran was laughing at her for no obvious reason. Not being able to take it any more, Sakura yelled, “Why are you laughing at me!? HOE! You get me so annoyed sometimes Li Syaoran!”
At this outburst, Syaoran clamed down a bit and responded, “Sakura... snort... do you know... giggle... what day it is... snort... today?”
Sakura didn’t know what to say to this, but began to worry that she forgot an important day. She quickly ruled out that possibility because if that were the case, Syaoran wouldn’t be laughing so hard. On that thought, Sakura’s mind began to wander and she soon forgot that she was supposed to be figuring out what was so special about today. When was the last time Syaoran actually allowed himself to laugh like a normal person? She couldn’t remember the last time she had even seen a smile on his face. Yet, Sakura thought that he should smile more often because he looked a lot more lighthear ted, happier as it were.
On that thought, she started to think about how everyone should smile, so that the world would be nicer. But what if no one ever smiled? How would the world change? It would be a lot dimmer and darker. That would be absolutely horrible. Sakura was beginning to feel sleepy, as if she wasn’t supposed to be here and someone else needed her. Her head was spinning, why was someone calling her? Her train of thought was quickly broken and she was snapped back to reality when she realized that Syaoran was calling her name.
“Sakura. Sakura! SAKURA!” At this point, Syaoran was almost shaking her trying to take the glazed look off her face. After seemingly hours, Sakura blinked and shook her head and smiled as though nothing ever happened.
“Sorry, I must have spaced out. What were you saying Syaoran-kun?” questioned Sakura innocently.
At the mention of her special nickname for him, Syaoran’s fear subsided and the humor of the situation at hand came back. “I was saying,“ he began, “That today is Sunday and you don’t have to get ready to go to school at all.”
This statement infuriated Sakura, “You mean to tell me that you saw me getting ready to go to school. You saw me rushing around to find everything in a total frenzy, AND YOU DIDn’t SAY ANYTHING!? How could you be so inconsiderate? I thought you of all people would understand the kind of stress I go through so that I can get anywhere on time! HOE!” Sakura began to unpack her backpack; her face was flushed from a mixture of anger and embarrassment. Slamming her Sakura Cards on the table, she placed her other schoolbooks beside the deck of pink cards.
“Syaoran, I’m disappointed in you.” Stated the cards mistress as she playfully shook her finger at him. At this motion, Syaoran was aware that some of her anger had subsided and he was safe for the moment.
Sakura reached to pick up her plate, only to find that Syaoran had the same idea. Quickly retracting their hands, they found that they couldn’t look at each other. Even so, they knew that their faces had turned an unknown shade of red. It resembled a ripe tomato, but it would closer to the shade if a light burgundy was added. Thankfully, the pair of Cardcaptors was saved from an awkward situation when a little yellow bear-like creature flew in sniffing the air. Opening its black pinpoint eyes it regarded the third plate of food with great interest. Flying next to it, the guardian beast landed silently and took out a mini fork from behind it’s back. In a fury of forkfuls, Kero managed to say a few things.
“I knew... munch... that I smelled... gobble... something cooking... Of course I also knew... crunch... that it must be the... gulp... gaki’s turn to cook... slurp... because Sakura always calls me to eat.” With those words the last bite was gone and the stuffed animal like creature laid back and patted a full stomach. “That meal was almost good enough to make me forget that I still haven’t beaten the last level of Zylon Warriors.”
With this the pair glared at each other... *anime electricity.* During this dispute, Sakura thought it would be to stay off on the side giggling nervously. However when the glaring began, she couldn’t take it any more. Gathering her courage she stepped between the two and separated them with her hands. Turning to Syaoran, she said, “That was a great breakfast Syaoran, thanks.” She then looked at Kero as if expecting something.
“That was good gaki.” He grumbled.
“KERO” The warning clear in her raised voice.
“Good breakfast........Syaoran.”
“That’s better. I know you’re not happy about actually acting civilly, but it’s all for the best.”
In a desperate attempt to change the subject, and to take his frustration out on Syaoran, Kero managed to reply, “Umm... Sakura-chan... why are you in your school uniform? If that GAKI had ANYTHING to do with this...”
“No, no.” Sakura quickly answered, “Syaoran sorta reminded me that today was Sunday. Without that, I’d probably be out the door by now.” Looking down at her outfit, “But I’d probably go change. You two be good. PLEASE. I’ll only be gone a few minutes.” With that she opened her bedroom door and was out of sight.
“A few hours is more like it.” Syaoran and Kero muttered in unison. Despite their temptation to edge the other one on and begin a fight, they behaved for Sakura’s sake.
To their mutual astonishment, Sakura kept her word and only took minutes to change. Since winter was coming quickly, the weather was getting quite chilly. To keep herself warm, Sakura took Syaoran’s lead and changed into a purple turtleneck and black jeans. On any other person, the outfit would be basic and plain. However, this was Sakura. The hip hugging jeans accented her long sleek legs that were the outcome of many years on the cheerleading squad. The purple turtleneck was tight was tight as well and provided warmth, but also allowed her skinny midriff to be defined. Sakura decided to keep her wavy hair in the high ponytail, although when exciting the bedroom and entering the kitchen, one could see she changed the navy ribbon to a lighter purple one that matched the sweater perfectly.
Syaoran was awed to be in the presence of and angel such as this. Nonetheless he didn’t lose his composure. “Another one of Tomoyo’s designs?” He inquired.
“Yup, what do you think?” Twirling around gracefully, she came to a stop when she hit the doorframe.
“Perfect.” He whispered so quietly that only Kero could hear him.
“Pardon?”
“Let’s see, what do I think. Well..” Syaoran never got to finish his sentence. An odd feeling came over the two magicians. The feeling they thought had disappeared almost 7 years ago when the Void Card was caught.
“Syaoran...”
“I know. I can feel it too, but this shouldn’t be happening anymore.” Turing to face Kero he spoke in a grave tone, “Are you sure that no more Clow Cards exist?”
“Clow-san was a very odd person on many levels. He may have created more cards without the knowledge of the guardians. Yue was around longer than I around him. Since I was sealed into the Clow Book long before Clow-san’s death while he was still around.”
“So, Yue might know what this feeling is?”
“That’s right.”
“Sakura, do you have Yukito’s phone number.”
When Syaoran turned to look at Sakura, she looked oblivious to the conversation between Syaoran and Kero. Her emerald eyes were glazed over and her body was tense, it was as she was awaiting something. Syaoran remembered that same expression from earlier that morning, the fear that had subsided came back. Syaoran began to call her name again.
“Sakura. Sakura. Sakura. Sakura, please answer me!” Panic took over Syaoran; he rushed to her and waved his hand in front of her eyes. Sakura didn’t respond. Syaoran didn’t want to give up on her, so he kept calling her name over and over.
*~*~*~*Sakura’s Thoughts*~*~*~*
Where am I? How did I get here in the first place? Sakura was standing in a dark room with no light at all. She began to walk around the circular room with her hand on the wall she ran into. As time passed an unfamiliar sentiment filled her body. It was as though she was the vessel for someone else’s thoughts.
“I know they are around here somewhere. I must find them. Must finish mission.” The hatred that the voice possessed was clearly identified by Sakura.
Suddenly, Sakura was aware that someone was calling her name. A very familiar voice, but who? Kero? Tomoyo? No, it was a boy’s voice. Touya? No, someone close to her, someone who wants her back.
“Syaoran“ she said. At once she felt her body being pulled towards a bright light and when she passed through, the real Sakura collapsed. Slowly, she was regaining conciseness. Before opening her eyes, Sakura felt at peace. Strong arms supported her body and her breath was steady and calm. She forced her eyes to flutter open.
A sigh of relief escaped Syaoran when he saw the emerald green eyes open again. “You sure scared us Sakura.” Kero said.
“Gomen. I didn’t mean to.” She responded sleepily.
“That’s just like you. You know that it wasn’t your fault that whatever happened, happened.” Syaoran commented.
The memory of the black room came rushing back to her. She stood up quickly. “It knows. Whatever we felt earlier knows where we are. It’s only a matter of time before it finds us. We have to get ready to defend ourselves. This force, for some reason, hates us. It said something about a mission. That’s beside the point. We must get ready.”
Sakura took out her key. She put it in the palm of her hand and stared at it, a look of deep concentration came over her usually happy face. Without uttering a sound the key transformed into the full sized Star Wand. Then Sakura took her cards off the table and turned to Kero. Nodding his head, Kero mustered his energy. A bright light surrounded him and when it faded, Cerberus stood where Kero once hovered. Then Sakura turned to Syaoran and stated, “What are you waiting for? Hurry, transform your sword.”
Nodding, Syaoran reached for his necklace only to find it wasn’t there. “Kuso“ he swore. “I left it in my room, I’ll be right back.” Exiting the kitchen, he made his way down the hall to his room. On the way he thought about how Sakura had improved ever since he began teaching her a little martial arts. The formal lessons probably began when she asked how he transformed his necklace without an incantation. When he explained it to her, she was eager to learn as well. It didn’t take her long to learn the basic principle and after mastering the technique she wanted to improve her fighting skill by learning to fight. Syaoran only agreed with the idea because he realized that he wouldn’t always be there to protect her from danger, and if she could learn to defend herself, he’d feel better that he couldn’t be there at times.
So the lessons started. Every morning at 5:00 a.m. they’d get up and practice against one another. For the first few months, Syaoran easily beat her, but Sakura was determined and didn’t give up easily. She kept working at it and eventually gave Syaoran a real fight. He still won, but it wasn’t as easy as in the beginning. This was the week that Syaoran decided to give Sakura off. She had been working so hard that he knew she needed a break, but was too ashamed to say so.
Syaoran was still thinking to himself when he opened the door into his very neat and tidy bedroom. Briskly, he made his way to the nicely engraved wooden box that sat on his maple desk. The casing had many unusual symbols of magic on it, many of which Syaoran didn’t know the meaning of. He did know however, that it was handed down from chosen one to chosen one and whatever was put inside would be protected from evil. Naturally, when he opened the box, the warrior assumed that his valuable weapon would be sitting inside, yet when unlocked the container was empty. The spell that was placed on the box was a strong one that not many able sorcerers could break, so the thought was vivid in Syaoran’s mind. “Who could have broken this seal if only those who own the casing or those with permission to do so could even touch it?”
Panic flooded the sorcerers mind, although it didn’t belong to him. This feeling of panic was someone else’s, Sakura’s. Realization hit Syaoran; they must have established some kind of communication system through their magical abilities. He didn’t linger long on the thought or the many questions that came with the knowledge that he and Sakura shared some kind of a link because the teen felt another surge of emotion coming from the little Cherry Blossom, helplessness. At once he understood what was happening. “Kuso!” he cursed, “The battle must have begun!”
Xiao-Long (A.N: Xiao-Long means little wolf in Chinese. I’m running out of names to call them.*sigh*) sprinted out of the room so that he could assist Ying Fa (A.N: Means cherry blossom in Chinese.. again the no more names for them thing) in her battle against the force after them. About halfway to his destination, a female scream shattered the heavy silence. “Sakura!” Doubling his speed, the male Cardcaptor wove his way to the battle zone.
*~*~*Meanwhile..In the living room*~*~*
“Kero, you must be ready for anything. This Card or force or whatever it is feels both powerful and deadly. We don’t know anything about it’s powers, so I’m guessing because we can feel it’s power when it is still a long way off that it’s going to be a tough battle.”
“Sakura, I’m continually surprised over how much your skill has improved over the last few years. You’re a much better Cardcaptor than that gaki. If your able to hone in on the dark forces thoughts and feelings shows extremely advanced magic.”
“Don’t say anything like that, Without Syaoran I’d be dead by now. He taught me a lot and saved my life multiple times. Not to mention that he taught me how to fight properly and how to transform my key without an incantation. I’m no better than he is. Wait, what’s that? Kero on guard, here it comes!”
In the distance a dark shadow was visible against the crisp blue sky and bare trees. Moving speedily, the mysterious force traveled a good distance within seconds. Sakura’s senses were overwhelmed; it was definitively some kind of Card.
Leaving no time to contemplate the thought, the Card came right up to the reinforced window. Without much pause, it passed straight through the glass. Up close the Card was a shapeless black mist.
“A ghost.” Sakura mumbled. The fear she had ever since Touya had told her ghost stories when she was 3 never subsided. Nonetheless, Sakura showed no outer emotion and remained where she was.
“I know that you are a card, but which one are you? Maybe... Ghost Card return to you power confined! No then Phantom Card reveal your true form!” The effect that she was hoping for didn’t appear. “If only I wasn’t so scared. That’s it!” “Fear Card reveal your true form!”
With these words, the Fear began to glow a bright white. When the glowing subsided, the sight that greeted Sakura and Kero’s curious eyes was gruesome and terrifying.
The head of the Fear was covered with a black fabric that was arranged in such a way that even though only that portion of the head was not visible; the actual face was in shadow. The Card glided forward. With this sudden movement the cover fell revealing Fear’s appearance. In fact, so horrible was the Card’s true form that Sakura forced herself to clamp a hand over her mouth to prevent a scream from escaping. Instead of a normal face as many of the Card’s possess, this Card had a pearl skull with white fangs protruding from the bone beside the mouth. Weaving in and out in the empty sockets were hairy black spiders that the Fear took no notice of. As a addition to this horrifying appearance, sections of the skull had rotting flesh hanging off with gave the impression that this Card rose from the dead. Although most of the Card’s features were undeniably too clear, a section of cloak on it’s back was fuzzy and refused to come into focus. If Sakura had noticed this sooner, a great mystery would be solved, but her eyes refused to focus on the terrifying look of the card.
The Fear had many weapons at it’s disposal, aside from the obvious. Unbeknownst to Sakura and Kero, the Card had black crossbow armed with a large number of poison tipped arrows. A special magic ability that the unclear section on it’s back provided was also a big weapon.
Sakura just couldn’t take looking at the card any longer. Slowly she backed into a corner and slid down the pale blue wall. Hitting the hardwood floor harder then intended, she let out a barely audible “Oh.” Without missing a beat, she brought her legs in to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, while burying her face in her soft purple sweater. Kero, knew that his mistress was facing her deepest fear looking at this awful sight in front of them. He, too was having trouble keeping his morale up and breakfast down while this....monster was in their midst. In a desperate attempt to do both, Kero let out a powerful fire blast from his massive mouth.
The attack hit its target squarely in the center. Yet, when the smoke cleared away, the card appeared to be undamaged, but very pissed off. In a retaliation, it opened it’s mouth revealing rotting teeth and something else. In the place where a tongue would usually be, a snake resided. The reptile awoke opening garnet colored eyes and staring stonily at Kero. Kero was taken back at this sudden revelation. The invertebrate took advantage of Kero’s surprise; slowly it slithered from the Card’s jaws onto the floor. Kero regained his composure and growled at the snake, flaring his nostrils and narrowing his eyes. The cold-blooded creature did not look the least bit intimidated. Instead of slinking back, it opened its mouth and flew forward in an attack.
Kero had no chance to fight back. Within seconds the snake had doubled it’s original length and wrapped itself around Kero, squeezing tightly around his chest. As Sakura heard a groan, she managed to look up and see her beloved guardian being squeezed to his breaking point. Kero fought as hard as he could on almost no oxygen, but it seemed that the harder he struggled, the tighter the reptile’s hold on him became. Moments later, the snake threw the lifeless Cerberus the length of the room causing him to hit a wall. Upon impact, Cerberus transformed back into Kero and landed on a table. Sakura cringed when she saw her friend suffer so much for her sake. Yet as much as she wanted to rush to his side and make sure that he was OK, she couldn’t convince herself to move. Her fear of the Card froze her to the spot. Although she knew it was foolish of her to act this way and Syaoran would probably make fun of her later, her fear of ghosts and such finally got the better of her. The mistress found that without Syaoran or Kero there to encourage her, she was helpless. With this thought, the little Cherry Blossom began to whimper.
The Fear seemed satisfied with the work that his snake had done. Calling it back he petted it slowly before it disappeared in its jaws. The Card heard a feeble whimper coming from it’s right. Turning to investigate, it saw Sakura. It’s mission came back to it. Withdrawing the hidden crossbow that was behind it’s back; he armed it and aimed at Sakura’s heart. Hearing the motion, the female Cardcaptor looked up and realized what was happening, but it was too late for her to fight back. All she managed to do was stand up when the Card let the arrow go.
A bloodcurdling scream was heard throughout Unmei Apartments.
Yes....I’m sorry for leaving you with a cliff hanger, but it took me forever to type all of this up. If anyone remembers my previous first chapter (my first attempt at this), you’ll notice that this one is MUCH longer and more detail is added. Gomen again for the cliffy... DOn’t KILL ME! Remember that if you do, you’ll never know what happens next...
Review me please! I do take flames...
-Saki sami Blossom