11 December, 2000

Card Captors

"Dimensions"

By : The MOUSE...........................

Daidouji Tomoyo gasped at the sight unfolding before her. She zoomed the image in closer with her camera to get a better look and she still couldn't believe it. A small, shaky smile touched her lips at the thought that she was getting all of this, everything, on tape. The Death Card had chased Li Syaoran's spirit towards the school in response to the teen's taunts. The warrior ghost had then managed to flip over his pursuer to run back the way he had come, back to the Card Mistress, Kinomoto Sakura. His spirit had entered her body and she had fallen to her knees in what had looked like blissful rapture. The Death Card had prepared its ultimate blow, raising the scythe high, only to have it easily blocked by the kneeling sorceress. Her eyes had opened then and the sight of her friend's eyes had been the cause of Tomoyo's gasp.

Both the diminutive Guardian Beast of the Seal and Li Meilin Rae stared at Tomoyo, waiting. Neither could see the battle as closely or as clearly as she could since they lacked a video camera of their own.

Meilin pouted, unimpressed. "So she blocked the scythe, big deal. I could've done just as well."

"What do you see, Tomoyo?" Kero demanded as he landed on her shoulder.

"Sakura... her eyes..." the teen videographer stuttered in shock.

"What about her eyes?"

"They're... they're glowing! They're completely white!"

Kero looked to his Mistress, his face completely blank of any emotion he might have been feeling. "They did it. They merged." he breathed.

Meilin's ruby eyes went wide. "Then, my Syaoran...?"

He pointed to Sakura who was slowly standing in front of a retreating Death Card. "He's a part of her now. There's no Sakura now. No Syaoran. Just a soul reunited."

The two girls watched in barely concealed awe as the being with the glowing white eyes began to advance on the Clow Card, a small menacing grin on her lips. Kero frowned, watching the being carefully. There was something slightly off about it. A complete merge would have meant a merging of the two personalities as well. This didn't feel like the two teens he had watched over for so long. The Death Card felt this as well and backed away with each step the being took towards it. Before, it had nothing to worry about. Energy wise it would have easily outlasted the female Card Captor, but now...

Now, as a soul reunited, the Card Mistress was the Clow Card's equal.

The card knew this.

And, for once, Death was afraid.

* * *

White.

Nothing, but white.

No visible floors.

No visible walls.

No visible ceiling.

Just white.

Sakura frowned, annoyed at all the white surrounding her and at this place she seemed to be trapped in. She didn't know how she got here. There were no doors, no windows. One moment she had been in the delectable throes of the most exquisite waves of pleasure imaginable, then when she opened her eyes again she was here. Wherever here was.

And she seemed to be alone.

She hugged her sides subconsciously to comfort herself. She blinked suddenly and looked herself over. Gone were the torn pink parka and ski pants. She was now dressed in a dress that hugged tight her arms and lithe body, the knee length skirt flowing as if on a perpetual breeze. It was as immaculately white as the room. Sakura looked herself over critically with a low grumble of dissatisfaction.

If this keeps up I'll never want to see anything in white ever again.

She looked to the walls or her cell in thought.

For the love of... Where am I? she demanded of herself. "Ohayo? Is anyone here?" she called out, dreading the thought of being alone in such a quiet place.

But she wasn't alone.

"Sakura?" answered a voice she would have recognized even after a million lifetimes.

She whirled around to face the speaker, a bright smile on her face. "Syaoran!" she exclaimed in sheer relief upon seeing him now standing before her.

He wasn't a phantom in this place for some reason. He was completely solid, opaque, alive. He, too, was dressed all in white: a mock-neck that defined every curve of his muscles; and straight legged dress slacks. Everything about him: every shade of brown of his hair; the tan hue of his skin; the rich amber of his eyes, were sharp and crisp to the eye.

Unconscious tears burned her eyes, trailing down her cheeks. "I... I thought I was alone here." she near sobbed.

Syaoran felt a great weight painfully squeeze his heart at the sight of her tears. He knew how much it terrified her to be alone. He had heard her voice before actually seeing her. Her back had been to him as she had called out to the white nothingness. Her golden auburn hair was a sharp contrast to all the white. Then, when she had quickly turned to him at the sound of his voice, his breath had been taken away. Everything colorful about her: her skin; her hair; her eyes, seemed to glow from an inner-light. But it was the tears trickling down her cheeks that destroyed everything he had built up to be hard and harsh within him. He could never stand to see her cry. A living angel such as her deserved to smile and to laugh. He rushed forward and tenderly cupped her face in his hands, wiping the tears from her cheeks with the pads of his thumbs.

"You'll never be alone, Sakura." he reassured softly, lifting her chin slightly to force her to look at him.

She met his eyes and smiled softly. "Arigatou."

He allowed himself a smile, his hands dropping away from her face. "What are friends for? By the way, nice dress, though you could've gone with a more original color." he quipped.

She knuckled his ribs with a small laugh. "Not my choice. If it had been up to me I wouldn't have chosen white." She then sighed. "Any ideas what happened?"

His smile faded, replaced by his usual serious frown. "One. When we merged, did you feel even the tiniest bit apprehensive about it?"

"Um... well... to tell the truth, yeah."

"Same here. I think this is a place for that reluctant part of us to wait things out."

"We didn't completely merge?"

He nodded. "We each had half of one soul, like probably everyone else on this planet, but no one has ever seen or experienced a... a joining like this. Some tiny part of us was scared to completely commit. I'm thinking the soul has its own independent thoughts from us and decided that three minds working together wasn't practical. So it shunt us here, wherever here is. That's my theory."

She cocked her head to the side. "Makes sense... sort of. A soul with its own consciousness. Scary thought."

"Yeah. I just hope it's not doing any damage out there while we're here."

"But where are we?"

He thought a moment, then gently tapped a finger to her forehead. "I think... There."

"We..." She blinked in confusion. "We're..."

He nodded. Syaoran couldn't help but smile at how adorable she looked when confused. She blushed fiercely from his smile and looked away with a shy grin. He barely managed to stifle a chuckle and then watched her sit gracefully on the floor, her legs tucked beneath her. A look of marvel was in his eyes at how even the simplest of gestures became utterly graceful and delicate when she performed them. Sometimes he wondered how anyone so beautiful could be friends with him. Syaoran sat at her side. Their continued silence wasn't awkward. Rather, it was comforting. Just the knowledge that the other was near and safe was enough. No words were needed.

Sakura rested her cheek against the back of his shoulder, feeling suddenly safe and secure from the warmth of his body and the welcoming sensation of his aura. "So, what do we do now?" she asked softly.

"Nothing." he replied in a gentle voice, Syaoran's eyes closing at the soothing sensation of her aura. "All we can do is sit and wait."

Sakura closed her eyes, sighing a blissful smile. She wasn't worried, wasn't afraid. She had her beloved Little Wolf to watch over her. All she was, was content.

* * *

The fight was close quarters, barely enough room for either combatant to use the weapons they had. Moonlight glinting off of a curved steel blade as the Death Card swung its scythe at any opening it saw, adding its claw tipped fingers into the battle to attempt to inflict any kind of damage to slow down its opponent. Without much success. The being with the glowing white eyes dodged every one of the Death Card's blows with seemingly inhuman speed and skill. The reunited soul had the benefit of having inhabited two of the most powerful beings on the planet. It had experienced Li Syaoran's intensive lifetime training in the art of battle and magic and it had Kinomoto Sakura's powerful and untapped magic reserves. An equal match to the Clow Card before it.

The card saw an opportunity and lunged at its enemy.

The being, formerly known as Sakura, easily avoided the blade and managed to spin on herself along the length of the sharp scythe. With a final twist she landed a perfect blow to the back of the card's head with the sealing wand to disorient it, then she quickly jumped back to place some distance between her and it.

Death staggered, then turned to its opponent with a vicious growl, then lunged again, stopping its charge short to confront the enlightened Mistress of the Cards. It had already won the battle. The Card Mistress and the strange spirit had been no match for it... on their own. Now they were joined. This confused the card. Soul mates were impossible to find. How was it they knew?

It swung hard, but Sakura merely leapt up to avoid the sweep. Throughout the battle she didn't yet say a word or make a sound. She only had a slight perpetual grin on her lips and a familiar looking frown, much like now as she faced off with the Clow Card. She stood battle ready, the sealing wand held before her to ward off the card, the sword held over her head in a menace to the magical creature. Death seemed slightly taken aback by the strange expression on her face. It watched in frozen fascination as Sakura took a step back, changing her at ready pose to bring the Li Clan sword to bare. The frown on her face deepened, her grin turning into a smile. With a howl the Death Card suddenly realized what was going to happen and tried to flee, seeing its mistake for not having done something before now.

"Raiden Shorai!" a strange voice cried out from Sakura's lips.

With Sakura's magic as a resources to draw on, the bolt of lightning that erupted from the tip of the sword was brighter than even the purest light, blindingly so. The Death Card never had a chance to escape. The bright tendrils of electricity enveloped it in an almost non-stop onslaught of pure energy, forcing an agonized shriek from the weakening card. It almost fell to the snow covered ground, hovering shakily, its smoking form still struggling to get away from the attacker. It was a sharp roll reversal. Whereas it had started off as the attacker, it was now the attacked.

"Raiden Shorai!" the reunited soul cried out again mercilessly.

And again a blinding bolt of electricity wrapped around the helpless card. It dropped to the snow heavily, the scythe forgotten as it huddled in on itself, defeated. Sakura was going to conjure another bolt of lightning when Kero came flying out of hiding and zoomed right up into her face.

"Don't!" he warned in his most authoritative voice.

Sakura's glowing eyes frowned at the Guardian Beast of the Seal in clear annoyance and pointed the sword at her prey once again for the coup de grace. This clearly was not the real Card Mistress or the Li Clan's future leader. Kero stayed in front of her face and frowned in return.

"Your job is to weaken the Clow Card for capture only!" he shouted. "You are not to destroy it! Clow Reed allowed this to happen! You owe him!"

The being with the glowing eyes hesitated, taking a moment to consider the words spoken by the magical creature. Kero could feel a tiny bead of sweat trickle down the side of his face. His real Mistress, or even the gaki, would never even have considered destroying the Clow Card. Killing, even a dangerous card such as this, was not in their nature. This wasn't either of the two teens. Their personalities had been usurped. Anything could happen now. The phrase repeated itself in Kero's mind.

Expect the unexpected.

The sword finally lowered after a few tense minutes and Sakura straightened in a mix of bravado and defiance, the sword plunging into the snow with a soft crunching sound. Clow sealing wand in hand, Sakura approached the defeated and whimpering Death Card, then paused before it as if considering her next choice of action. In a surprising move she reached down to it, laying a gentle hand on the card's shoulder. It looked up at her, at first confused, then in understanding of the action. It was finally an act of mercy and one of acceptance. Fighter to fighter, she was silently telling it a battle well fought, you were a worthy adversary. Sakura gave it a real smile to which it nodded its hooded head. The card raised itself upright slowly, its scythe held at its side again, only this time in a non-threatening fashion. Sakura took a few steps back from it and held the sealing wand high.

"Death Card!" she intoned in the strange and hollow voice. "Return to your power confined!"

The wand down hard and connected with a glowing rectangle hanging in midair, sending glowing ripples of magic out from it to reach out to the card. An invisible force tugged at the card, sucking it into the glowing form. The rectangle glowed for a moment more before easily floating into Sakura's waiting hand, the image of a menacing black form now on the face of the new card. The word Death was written in bold letters beneath it. Kero released a sigh of relief and smiled at the being in his Mistress's body. Meilin and Tomoyo ran out of their hiding place, both cheering at Sakura's victory. She merely looked at them with a blank expression.

"That was some capture, Sakura!" Tomoyo praised. "And I got it all on tape!"

Meilin frowned at her. "What are you talking about? It's obvious it's my Syaoran who's in control here. I mean, Kinomoto's good, but my Syaoran is the best. And that's what we saw."

"Oh, please! Sakura was the one in control. The intensity of the magic was all her." the amethyst-eyed videographer countered.

"Guys!" Kero shouted. They looked at him. "I told you before. There is no Sakura and no Syaoran here." He looked to Sakura. "I'm right, aren't I? They're in there, but neither is in control?"

Sakura smiled and nodded.

"Thought so." he grinned in self-satisfaction. "Well, it was a great battle, but it's getting really late and cold out here. If you'll just split to let Syaoran and Sakura come back, we can all go home."

The smile faded from her lips and she shook her head in negative.

Kero frowned. "What do you mean, no?"

She pressed a fist to her own heart, a pleading look on her face.

The Guardian Beast of the Seal stared dumbly, then near exploded in shock. "You want to what!?" He shook his head violently. "No way! Uh-uh! No how! You let them go right now!"

She shook her head, frowning in determination.

"Kero, what's going on?" Tomoyo thought to question.

"The soul wants to stay. It doesn't want to let our friends come back."

""Nani!?"" the two girls exclaimed together.

"It... it can't do that!" Meilin protested.

"Tell it that, not me." Kero growled.

Tomoyo held back the look of devastation trying to creep over her features as she approached the reunited soul in her best friend's body. "You... you've been looking for your other half for a long time, ne?"

Sakura nodded.

"You think all this time that you've been searching has earned you the right to stay joined?"

Again she nodded.

"You might be right. But what gives you the right to decided that Sakura and Syaoran can't return?"

Sakura blinked.

"You have to let them come back." Kero began. "They have the rest of the Clow Cards to capture. They have a destiny to accomplish."

She frowned and shook her head in another negative.

"You're afraid to be alone." Meilin suddenly voiced softly. "Aren't you?"

Sakura nodded.

"Then I understand you better than you think. That's why I didn't want to let my... to let Syaoran go. So long as he was with me I didn't feel alone. But you won't be alone, even after you split again."

She had a confused frown and cocked her head at the ruby-eyed girl. Even Kero and Tomoyo quieted to listen.

"You might never be physically together like this ever again, but you'll never be very far away from your other half." Meilin continued. "As... as much as it hurts me to admit this... Syaoran and Sakura, because of you, share a very strong bond with each other. They love each other a lot; I can see that now. And I know you can feel it too."

Sakura nodded slowly with a soft, whimsical smile.

"They have the right to live normally too, or as normal as they can get being the Card Captors. Can you justify destroying two lives just so you can exist again?"

The being with the glowing eyes had a long pause of consideration at this. It was the old cliché: the good of the many outweigh the good of the few or the one. But it so wanted to stay. Could it live with the guilt? Was what this Chinese girl saying true about the Card Captors? If the two accepted to stay where they were, then the soul could remain as it was. Hai, that was the way to go. Ask that the Card Captors remain where they were, together forever. Her eyes closed, drawing herself inwards.

* * *

Li Syaoran's head snapped up abruptly and he stared anxiously at the white nothingness surrounding him and the Card Mistress, Kinomoto Sakura. His senses were buzzing, demanding attention. Sakura had felt the warrior/sorcerer's muscles tense, ready to fight. She raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him. His warm amber eyes were surveying the nothingness for anything out of the ordinary, any movement that didn't belong. Then her senses snapped to life and she gasped softly.

Something was coming.

Something was happening.

Something was changing.

Syaoran stood quickly to better protect the object of his affection. He could feel her press close to his leg, a slight fearful tremor coursing through her. He bit the inside of his cheek, his frown deepening. He would defend her with everything he had if need be. The white room they were in went pitch black without warning. Sakura yelped in fear, gripping the warrior's leg tight as he struggled to see in the sheer obscurity.

Then, with a flash, the darkness lifted and the duo suddenly found themselves in a vast, emerald green meadow of rolling hills. The ethereally beautiful landscape was dotted with the occasional grove of trees and brushes, a clear stream cutting between hills. The sky was a sheer plane of cyan dotted with cottony clouds. And in the distance, nestled in a grove of flower and fruit baring trees, was a quaint looking house. Everything was picture perfect, as if out of a dream.

"Now where are we?" the warrior grumbled.

Sakura blinked, awed by the simple beauty of her surroundings. "Don't ask me, I'm as lost about all this as you are." Looking around she spotted a clump of daisies growing just within her reach. She carefully plucked one of the delicate flowers and sniffed it. "It's real." she reported to her companion.

He went down on one knee facing her and experimentally touched the flower's petals. "Feels real enough." Syaoran suddenly sighed, his amber eyes scanning the glen. "So why does everything still feel... off?"

"Off?"

"Like someone or something is going out of their way to make us like this place." He near growled. "I will not be forced into anything that's not of my choosing."

The Mistress of the Cards was about to agree when her senses flared to life wildly. Her hand shot out and gripped Syaoran's arm in near fear. "It's back... whatever it is."

"You do not like it here?" a strange yet innocent sounding voice suddenly questioned.

They both jumped to their feet and turned to the voice, Syaoran instinctively placing himself in front of Sakura to protect her. There, before them, stood a being unlike any they have ever seen or encountered in their adventures. It was roughly their height, a being made of an ethereal material that rippled like light reflecting off clear water. It was gender-less and faceless. Only two glowing slits were its eyes. Its voice had been a mix of both male and female.

"Who... what are you?" the young warrior demanded, feeling the Card Mistress press closer to his back for protection.

"We are a part of both of you, as you both are a part of us."

Sakura blinked and stepped out from behind Syaoran. "You're our souls, the soul."

"We are." it smiled in confirmation.

Syaoran frowned. "Why do all this?"

"We have been given the opportunity to exist once again. It is an experience we are not willing to give up. But your friends have brought up some valid points on why we should return you to individuality. All you see here is to convince you to stay where you are and allow us to exist as one." What sounded like a forlorned sigh followed as it looked to the ground. "We have been apart for so long." It then suddenly looked up again, fixing them with its glowing eyes. "Will you let us exist? Here, you can be together as we have been told you wish to be. If you give us our opportunity, we will give you this opportunity. Onegai, will you stay here?"

Shocked by the offer, both teens hesitated. Sakura found herself turning to Syaoran, gazing at him almost fondly. Would it be that bad to give up the life she had for a life with him? For the moment she could only think of the pros to the argument: to wake up with him every morning; to sleep with him every night; to feel him; to breathe him; to love him every day until the world stopped turning. Then, slowly, the cons of the argument popped into her mind. She would have to leave her Otou-san and Onii-chan, never to see them again; she would never see Tomoyo, Meilin, Yukito, Kero, or any of her friends ever again; she would have to forget about the Clow Cards she had fought so hard to capture. The Clow Cards. If left on their own they had the potential to destroy the world. No, she couldn't stay. No matter how much she wanted that life with the handsome Chinese warrior/sorcerer, she had a destiny to accomplish.

For his part Syaoran didn't notice the gaze from his beloved Card Mistress, so engrossed in his own thoughts as he was. To live a life with Kinomoto Sakura. To have a normal life with her without the responsibilities of capting Clow Cards, without his annoying Cousin, without the responsibilities of the leadership of the Li Clan. The offer was incredibly tempting. Could he accept this? No, he couldn't. This was a coward's way out of every heavy burden of life. Here, a warrior like him would grow soft without challenges. And Syaoran loved a good challenge. Any challenge: a fight with a Clow Card; fending off his Cousin's advances; finding a way to stay in Japan; winning Sakura's heart. He looked at her and found her eyes, eyes that could put even the finest emerald to shame, watching him almost expectantly. He almost sighed in relief, terrified of what might have happened had their opinions differed. She had come to the same conclusion he had. He couldn't stay, no matter how much he wanted to. Syaoran looked to the soul, that glowing being that had waited patiently on their answer. The warrior only had three words to tell it.

"We can't stay."

* * *

Standing in the cold and in the snow the reunited soul in Sakura's body opened her eyes. She looked at the Clow sealing wand in her hands, then turned to stare at the sword still planted in the snow behind her. She yanked it free of the ground immaculate blanket and stared long and hard at both wand and sword. With the barest of thoughts she transformed both items back to their pendant forms. Then again she stared from one to the other, feeling the owners' auras radiating against her hands. She met three pairs of anxious eyes. Barely a minute had passed since Sakura had withdrawn herself to question the two minds within her. She sighed and cinched the pendants at her throat.

The glowing eyes shut tight to the world once again. Then, with a flash of light, Sakura was abruptly thrown forward as Syaoran's spirit split from her, thrown backwards. They fell into unceremonious heaps in the snow, dazed and stunned, panting for breath as if they had been running all this time. Sakura managed to raise herself to her knees, her face still downcast as she tried to recover, while the teen warrior/sorcerer managed a supreme effort to get to her side. Their friends gathered around them in worry. They looked pale, despite the fact Syaoran was a transparent spirit. Clow Reed's descendant mentally steeled himself for what he knew was coming next. If this merging was anything like what had almost happened to them on Halloween night, then there would be incredible pain coming soon. He could already feel it burning him from within like a lump of molten lead within his core. The warrior's pain threshold was high, he knew that. He also knew that the pain was no doubt devastating for the female Card Captor. The spirit froze in growing fear when he turned his phantom amber eyes to Sakura.

Her face was hidden from sight by the furry rim of her hood, but he could clearly see the tiny droplets of crimson blood fall to the immaculate white snow.

"Sakura?" he managed to call softly, his voice a bare rasp as he tried to ignore his mounting pain as much as he could.

She raised her head quickly at the sound of his voice. Too quickly. She was suddenly hit by a wave of nausea and dizziness, abruptly feeling lightheaded over top of her increasing pain. Sakura could feel something warm, wet and sticky trickle down over her lips and chin. The liquid tasted of salt and iron, familiar. She touched her face and looked down at her gloved hand.

Blood.

A nosebleed?

Her dazed and confused green eyes looked to Syaoran for a moment before they suddenly glazed over and she collapsed to the snow, her name from Syaoran's lips the last sound she heard.

To Be Continued...