Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Lost ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )
[ A - All Readers ]
The sequel to Dream On. You don't have to read Dream On, but it would help you understand it better.
*
"We have two new exchange students today-"
The door slid open, revealing a boy and girl, arguing.
The boy had messy brown hair and glaring amber eyes. Sakura had a strange feeling when she looked at him; as if she knew him from some past incarnation or something like that. A green aura of mystery and loneliness seemed to surround him.
The girl looked exactly like Sakura. The eyes, face, hair, heck, even their noses were the same! The only difference was that the girl's pigtails were tied up with purple ribbons, and she was wearing a heart-shaped trinket that looked like a ruby. An aura of power and confidence radiated from the girl.
"Hwaling, you-"
"Ahem."
Mr. Terada cleared his throat loudly on purpose, to get their attention. Both of them blushed, embarrassed.
"Class, this is Li Syaoran from Hong Kong and Kao Hwaling from Los Angeles."
Syaoran scowled, and walked with his head high towards the back, until he tripped over a backpack. He fell flat on his face, and it was very painful. Worst of all, some of the kids started laughing. Getting up, his face red from humiliation, he glared at the entire class, shutting them up with the mere power of his gaze.
He continued walking, then stopped when he reached the desk where Sakura was sitting. Syaoran had a feeling he knew her. Really knew her. And he could sense Clow Cards, too. Sakura looked uncomfortable, so he walked behind her and sat down.
Hwaling grinned, then walked slowly towards the seat where Sakura was sitting. She sat down in the seat next to Sakura's. Sakura felt strange, as if she'd known Hwaling from somewhere, like Syaoran.
Suddenly, a crumpled piece of paper hit her head. Sakura uncrumpled it, smoothed it out, and tried to read the tiny, unfamiliar writing.
I have a feeling I know you from somewhere. Don't you?
The note was signed Hwaling, in what looked like Chinese characters.
Sakura wrote 'Yes' and passed it back. Hwaling read it, then scribbled something on it, then passed it back.
You have Clow Cards, don't you? Syaoran senses them.
Sakura froze. How did this girl know about the Clow Cards? How did Syaoran know about them? They must have magic too…
"Miss Kinomoto! What is 12/24 in it's simplest form?"
"Uh-"
"The answer is ½ ! Pay attention please!"
"Sorry!"
Sakura pocketed the note and started to pay attention.
*
Syaoran scowled at his lunch. How could he have missed that backpack? How could he have lost his balance, fallen face down on the hard ground, and humiliate himself? At least his "legendary" glare had shut everyone up.
Syaoran's stomach grumbled. He sweatdropped, then gave up and opened his lunch. Fried rice, cold. Ick.
"Element! Heat!"
He whispered quietly, so no one at the nearby tables would hear. Automatically, his lunch was hot, as if it had just come out of a microwave.
"Hey! Syaoran! Over here!"
That Hwaling girl again. He was certain she was Chinese, since her last name, Kao, meant "high" in Chinese. Hwaling meant "flower bell." But what was strange about her was that necklace she had and her resemblance to the card captor, Kinomoto Sakura.
Hwaling's heart-shaped necklace just gushed out power. And her aura was strange. Golden fire and crimson rain. It seemed…familiar.
"Syaoran! Do you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Why are you eating alone?"
"'Cause I feel like it, obviously."
Hwaling walked over, grinning.
"Or was it because you used magic?"
"Shut up."
"Fine, fine."
She walked away, and Syaoran sighed. That girl was powerful. More powerful than himself, even though he'd never admit it. The card captor had potential, but her power hadn't developed yet. It was so undeveloped, that he was surprised that she'd actually caught some cards.
Syaoran closed his eyes, and concentrated. Windy, Watery, Fly, Shadow, Wood, Rain, Jump, and Illusion. And a card inside of her that she was unaware of. Light. Some of them were pretty powerful. And the card captor had been capturing cards since…April! That long ago?
you wouldn't have done so well either, Syaoran
Huh?
you are not hearing things, Syaoran
Who are you? Show yourself to me!
I am here to tell you
Tell me what?
you are not destined to capture the Clow Cards
I can change that!
it is your destiny
So?
you have a bigger task
And that is…?
first, help Sakura
The card captor?
yes
Why?
No reply.
Hello?
The voice didn't respond. It was gone. Syaoran sighed. So, he wouldn't capture the Clow Cards, but help the card captor? She simply wasn't powerful enough!
"Hey! Lunch is over!"
"Huh?"
"See? It's 1:00 already."
"Oh. Thanks."
"No problem."
Throwing away the remains of his half-eaten lunch, Syaoran walked back to the classroom.
*
"We had two new students today."
"Oh."
"Their names are Li Syaoran and Kao Hwaling."
Kero dropped the controller and his jaw hit the ground.
"Are you sure his last name is Li?"
"Positive, Kero. He's from Hong Kong."
"He's a descendant of Clow Reed, then."
"What?"
"I said, he's a descendant of Clow Reed."
"Then he must know a lot about the Clow Cards."
"Not more than me."
"Oh. Anyway, I felt really funny around him. As if I knew him from somewhere."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Deja vu."
"Hmm, that's strange."
"I had the same feeling around the new girl, Hwaling."
"What did she look like?"
"Exactly like me! And she was wearing a necklace."
"She looked exactly like you?"
"Yeah! Even the hair!"
Kero looked puzzled.
"This might have something to do with the Clow Cards."
boom! The entire room was plunged into darkness, even though it was 3:15. After a few seconds, the darkness was gone. But something else had disappeared too.
Sakura.
*
Hwaling was pigging out on candy when everything turned pitch-black. She didn't scream, but instead tried to see through the darkness. She couldn't see anything.
"Illumination!"
The darkness disappeared. Illumination returned to Hwaling's necklace. Every Hanakane Card she had captured was not stored in the form of a card. It was, instead, kept in her necklace, which she never took off. Never.
There had been 60 cards in all, which Hwaling had captured with much effort the year before. Although she probably wouldn't have admitted it, she had been very stupid back then, when she was nine. Hwaling could have died when capturing the last card, Escape.
It had escaped again, and jumped over a barbed wire fence. Reckless, forgetting about her other cards, Hwaling had climbed the fence, scratching herself. Very serious scratches they were, too. Fortunately, Escape had been touched at Hwaling's determination/stubbornness, so it turned itself into a card, and flew into the necklace.
Her best friend had been nearby, concerned. Matt had applied many band-aids to her heavily bleeding back and legs, lecturing her to not climb barbed-wire fences but to use Leap. Hwaling had grinned, not really caring. After he had finished covering the cuts, she surprised him by using the recently captured Restore.
This got Matt annoyed. After all the effort to put on the band-aids, she used a card to heal herself!
Hwaling smiled. California had been great. School had been great. But the Clow Cards just had to escape in Japan.
They just had to.
*
"Sakura! Sakura!"
Kero flew around the room, saying out loud that Sakura was here, but inside he knew she wasn't.
"Hey, who-"
The door opened. Kero stopped mid-air and fell, ungracefully, on the bed.
"You! You, stuffed toy, can talk! There's no one else here!"
Touya walked to the bed, and held Kero up. Kero was struggling not to move. Touya shook Kero, then held him upside down.
"LETMEGOLETMEGO!"
Kero kicked and squirmed and tried to pull himself out of Touya's grasp.
"Not until you explain yourself!"
"I can't explain until you let me go!"
Touya, still holding Kero, closed the door, and tossed poor Kero onto the bed. Kero shook his head, a little dazed.
"Now explain! And where's Sakura?"
"I don't know where she is. It's as if she was swallowed by the darkness."
"It's not dark."
"It was dark here, just a few minutes ago. And when it disappeared, so did Sakura."
"How did you get here, and how does my sister know you?"
"It's a long story. Sakura has magic, and she set these magic cards loose. So, she's responsible for getting them back. The cards are called Clow Cards, and I'm their guardian. They were created by Clow Reed."
"And how did they escape if you are their guardian?"
"Uh-Uh-"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared Sakura.
"Sakura! Where were you?"
"I don't know. It was pitch-black, and…is it a card, Kero?"
"Dark doesn't make people disappear, and you already captured Shadow. So, no."
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know."
"Darn. Touya!"
Sakura, who had been pretty sleepy, jerked awake when she noticed her older brother.
"I can't believe you never told me about this! It's dangerous!"
"I never told you 'cause you don't have any magic!"
"So?"
"It isn't any of your business!"
"Whatever!"
Touya left, slamming the door. Sakura, however, was tired, for some reason. She laid down on her bed, and fell asleep.
*
Arrows were flying down. Sakura was running, dodging each one swiftly. She noticed that she was taller. Almost as tall as Touya was! The arrows stopped. To be replaced by swords.
Sakura was holding her wand, but her wand was a little different. A pink circle enclosing a star, with wings on the circle.
"Shield!"
Sakura was surprised. She had a card like that? But the swords went through.
"Time!"
Someone else's voice. The swords stopped, the people in the street stopped, everything stopped except for a figure jumping down from the sky.
She was running toward him. He had amber eyes and messy brown hair, and looked a lot like an older version of Syaoran.
"Syaoran!"
So it was Syaoran. And she was crying, crying just underneath his shoulder since he was a head taller than she was. Why was she crying? Crying and hugging him even though she barely knew him? Why?
He was saying something, something that sounded like an apology. And then he was crying, but his tears got her hair wet, and they pulled apart. Syaoran was blushing, she was blushing, and someone else said that they better start fighting again.
The swords were replaced by bombs. Buildings around them exploded, and Sakura was running again. What were they battling? Why was she doing this?
"Mirror! Reflect! Reflect the bombs back!"
The bombs flew back at an invisible target. Which was revealed to be a girl with a tattered and mutilated body. The girl flew down.
"Return to your power confined-"
Strings shot out and wrapped around Sakura, she was so cold-
*
"Sakura!"
Kero was yelling for the hundredth time in Sakura's ear.
"Hey!"
Sakura woke up, shivering.
"Sakura? What happened?"
"I had a weird dream."
"What was it about? It might be a precognitive dream."
"It is, probably. 'Cause I was older, and Syaoran was older, and you were there."
Sakura told Kero all the details. Kero was puzzled.
"I have no idea what card it is, if it is a card."
"I know it's a card. I had a feeling."
"Oh."
Sakura glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was 9:00. Time to go to bed already!
"Kero! Why did you wake me up?"
*
Sakura walked into classroom 4-2, feeling strange. She had had a weird dream last night, a very long dream. It had seemed so real, too.
It had started with Syaoran arriving, but alone. Without Hwaling. Syaoran had confronted her about her Clow Cards during lunch, but Touya had "rescued" her. Syaoran then ran off when Yukito arrived, blushing.
The rest of the dream was harder to remember. She and Syaoran had captured cards together, and sometimes with his cousin, Meiling. Tomoyo filmed the adventures whenever possible, and finally, in 5th grade, Sakura captured all the cards and passed the Last Judgment.
It got even harder to remember after that, but Sakura could recall converting the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, and then capturing new cards when her Sakura Cards disappeared.
Sakura grew up to be a model, and then, these Victory Cards started attacking and she captured those with Meiling. Until there was one card left. Harm. But as soon as some arrows fell down, her alarm clock woke her up.
Sakura shuffled to her seat, sat down, and felt someone looking at her. She turned around, to see that Syaoran was smiling at her. Smiling? He was scowling yesterday.
Next to him was Hwaling, occupied with thoughts. Today her hair looked exactly like Sakura's, so you couldn't tell them apart. Not unless you knew about Hwaling's necklace, that is. She was wearing it today, and the necklace seemed to be…glowing. Glowing with magic and power. Sakura blinked. For a second she thought she had seen shapes moving inside…how ridiculous!
Syaoran glanced at Hwaling. That necklace's power was driving him insane! He scowled. Hwaling didn't notice, however. She was staring into space, unaware of the world around her.
rriinngg!
The tardy bell didn't even faze Hwaling. She seemed to be thinking about something…something important…
*
rriinngg!
Sakura raced out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, put on her roller blades, and skated home at top speed.
During school she had sensed a Clow Card near her home. It was rather strange, though. Whenever Sakura tried to determine what card it was, there was just pain, extreme pain.
"Kero!"
"Yes?"
His voice was muffled, however, because he was currently eating some chocolates that happened to be in Sakura's room.
"I sensed a Clow Card here when I was at school."
"Oh."
Kero swallowed the last of the candy, stretched, and flew to Sakura's shoulder.
"Then let's go! You might want to get your wand out."
"Okay."
After saying the familiar words, Sakura raced down the stairs, wand in hand and Kero clinging on to her shoulder. The weather seemed normal outside. Everything seemed normal, actually. Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated. Pain. Just awful pain.
Sakura opened her eyes, to find someone right in front of her dressed in strange green clothing. Syaoran.
Syaoran was holding what looked like a board game in his hands. He said a few words, and blue light shot out of it, pointing to nothing but air. He looked surprised.
"The lasin board isn't working…"
He was muttering, but Sakura heard.
"What's a lasin board, and what does it do?"
"This," Syaoran held up the board, "is the lasin board. It tracks down Clow Cards."
"Oh. But it's pointing at nothing."
"Yeah. Which is weird. It worked fine last night, when I was capturing Thunder."
"You captured Thunder?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I wonder what this card is. I sensed it at school, and I sensed it here, but I have no idea what it is."
"It might not be a Clow Card."
"What do you mean, Kero?"
"There are other cards. Clow Reed was not the only person who created cards."
"So you're saying it could be another kind of card?"
"Exactly."
"Well, then, could I catch it?"
"Yeah. You have a sealing wand, don't you?"
Sakura suddenly had a feeling of deja vu. Where had she heard someone say that?
"Sakura? Is something wrong?"
"No. Nothing's wrong."
"Hey! Look!"
Syaoran was pointing to a girl. The girl had black hair longer than she was tall, and was wearing a black mask. On her slim body was a piece of black cloth that was barely a dress, but the dress was covered with diamonds. The girl was barefoot, and had tattered wings. But the girl's skin was hideous. It was full of cuts, bruises, and scratches, and some of the scratches were oozing green blood.
Sakura winced at the sight of her, and realized the girl was the Harm Card from her dream.
"She's from a dream I had yesterday afternoon!"
"Really?"
Syaoran's voice, instead of being full of astonishment, was quavering with fear.
"Yeah. The Harm Card, or something like that. I was battling it when Kero woke me up."
Sakura glared at Kero.
"What did it do?"
"It sent down arrows, then swords, then bombs, but I used Mirror and Reflect to bounce them back. I don't even have those cards."
"I-I had the same dream…"
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're describing it perfectly."
"But something else happened too. While the swords were still raining down, someone stopped time, and it was you."
"Did you ah-hug the Syaoran in the dream?"
"Yeah. I was crying, and then you were crying, but then you got my hair wet so we resumed fighting."
Sakura was trying to remember more details of her dream when the card spoke.
"All of your dream actually happened."
The card had a raspy sort of voice, as if it had trouble breathing.
"Huh?"
"Do you remember your other dream, Card Mistress?"
Suddenly all the details of the other dream were clear. Sakura nodded.
"That is what happened, to cause the events in the dream both of you shared."
"Why are you here, then?"
"Revenge."
"Revenge?"
"Revenge for what Little Wolf did to me."
"Huh? He didn't do anything in my dream!"
"Because you were killed."
Syaoran looked like he thought his feet were fascinating, since he was staring at them.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Harm's black strings covered you and Meiling, killing you both. I saw it in the dream."
"Oh. What did you do to Harm?"
"Meiling was still alive for awhile. She told me to burn the card so that Harm wouldn't harm anyone else. I did. After I captured it, of course."
"But if Harm was burned, why is it here?"
"Even though you burned me, Syaoran, and Hanakane went back in time, I was able to turn back into this form after much waiting. And now I can destroy you."
Black strings shot out of Harm's hands, aiming straight for Syaoran. Sakura quickly pushed him out of the way, but her foot got caught.
"Ow!"
It was freezing cold, but on fire.
"Sakura!"
Syaoran reached for the strings, but Sakura's other foot kicked his hands away.
"Don't touch it! It's evil!"
"But-"
"I said, don't touch it! I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Well, maybe I can burn it off. Element, Fire!"
The flames did nothing to the strings.
"Element, Ice!"
The ice did nothing but slide off.
"Arrggh!"
Syaoran decided to attack Harm instead.
"Element! Lightning! Ice! Fire! Water! Earth! Wind!"
These attacks stopped in mid-air and vanished. (a/n: Digimon fans-think of how Myotismon blocked all of the digimon's attacks until Angewomon used Celestial Arrow.)
"What?"
Syaoran blinked, wide-eyed.
Sakura groaned in pain. She pulled out a card, but with much difficulty, since she was lying on the ground. Illusion.
"Illusion! Show Harm what it fears the most!"
A blurry shape shot out of the card, then slowly revealed itself to be Sakura. Sakura? It was Sakura, definitely, but Sakura was wearing a kimono, and Hwaling's heart-shaped necklace.
"It's Hanakane."
Harm did not even flinch.
"That's a fake. I'm not scared of an illusion."
"But are you scared of the real thing?"
It was Hwaling. Hwaling looked like her usual self, wearing the Tomoeda Elementary uniform.
Harm sneered.
"You're not Hanakane. Hanakane is dead."
Hwaling smiled, took off her necklace, threw it up in the air, and let it fall to the ground and shatter. Shapes started zooming out, blurry shapes that looked a lot like true forms of Clow Cards. Then Hwaling began to change.
Her clothes were replaced by a kimono identical to Hanakane's illusion. She grew taller, until it looked like she was sixteen. The shattered necklace put itself back together, and hung itself around her neck.
Harm's eyes widened.
"This is a trick, isn't it? You can't be Hanakane!"
"Why not?"
Hwaling's voice had changed. Changed dramatically.
"B-Because-"
"Because what? And just why are you scared of me? I thought you killed me in your timeline."
Harm smirked.
"Yeah, I guess I'm not scared of you then. Just surprised."
Strings shot out of Harm's hand, but invisible scissors cut them to pieces. Harm gaped.
"What's the matter?"
Hwaling/Hanakane's voice was dripping with sarcasm, which infuriated Harm.
"Why I'll kill you! Death!"
A cloud of pure darkness zoomed toward Hwaling/Hanakane. She sent it back just by raising her hand. It hit Harm, who screamed and "dissolved" into thin air.
Hwaling/Hanakane shrank, and the kimono was replaced by Hwaling's school uniform. Hwaling collapsed.
The strings on Sakura's foot dissolved, and she hugged Syaoran in relief. Syaoran was surprised, but did not resist.
"Thank God those strings are off…"
"Yeah."
Syaoran let go, and they both stood up, dazed. Hwaling was beginning to stir also, and then opened her eyes.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"Let's just say you saved the world. And us."
Sakura smiled at Syaoran, who smiled back. Slowly, they leaned closer, until their faces were next to each other-
There was a sudden rustling in the bushes. It was Tomoyo!
"Tomoyo! What are you doing here?"
Tomoyo smiled.
"Since you rushed out the door, I figured there might be a Clow Card. So I followed you here. I got it all on tape. It was great!"
Sakura and Syaoran sweatdropped.
"I even got the part where you guys almost kissed!"
"YOU WHAT?!"
The End
*
A review would be nice...*hinthint*
*
"We have two new exchange students today-"
The door slid open, revealing a boy and girl, arguing.
The boy had messy brown hair and glaring amber eyes. Sakura had a strange feeling when she looked at him; as if she knew him from some past incarnation or something like that. A green aura of mystery and loneliness seemed to surround him.
The girl looked exactly like Sakura. The eyes, face, hair, heck, even their noses were the same! The only difference was that the girl's pigtails were tied up with purple ribbons, and she was wearing a heart-shaped trinket that looked like a ruby. An aura of power and confidence radiated from the girl.
"Hwaling, you-"
"Ahem."
Mr. Terada cleared his throat loudly on purpose, to get their attention. Both of them blushed, embarrassed.
"Class, this is Li Syaoran from Hong Kong and Kao Hwaling from Los Angeles."
Syaoran scowled, and walked with his head high towards the back, until he tripped over a backpack. He fell flat on his face, and it was very painful. Worst of all, some of the kids started laughing. Getting up, his face red from humiliation, he glared at the entire class, shutting them up with the mere power of his gaze.
He continued walking, then stopped when he reached the desk where Sakura was sitting. Syaoran had a feeling he knew her. Really knew her. And he could sense Clow Cards, too. Sakura looked uncomfortable, so he walked behind her and sat down.
Hwaling grinned, then walked slowly towards the seat where Sakura was sitting. She sat down in the seat next to Sakura's. Sakura felt strange, as if she'd known Hwaling from somewhere, like Syaoran.
Suddenly, a crumpled piece of paper hit her head. Sakura uncrumpled it, smoothed it out, and tried to read the tiny, unfamiliar writing.
I have a feeling I know you from somewhere. Don't you?
The note was signed Hwaling, in what looked like Chinese characters.
Sakura wrote 'Yes' and passed it back. Hwaling read it, then scribbled something on it, then passed it back.
You have Clow Cards, don't you? Syaoran senses them.
Sakura froze. How did this girl know about the Clow Cards? How did Syaoran know about them? They must have magic too…
"Miss Kinomoto! What is 12/24 in it's simplest form?"
"Uh-"
"The answer is ½ ! Pay attention please!"
"Sorry!"
Sakura pocketed the note and started to pay attention.
*
Syaoran scowled at his lunch. How could he have missed that backpack? How could he have lost his balance, fallen face down on the hard ground, and humiliate himself? At least his "legendary" glare had shut everyone up.
Syaoran's stomach grumbled. He sweatdropped, then gave up and opened his lunch. Fried rice, cold. Ick.
"Element! Heat!"
He whispered quietly, so no one at the nearby tables would hear. Automatically, his lunch was hot, as if it had just come out of a microwave.
"Hey! Syaoran! Over here!"
That Hwaling girl again. He was certain she was Chinese, since her last name, Kao, meant "high" in Chinese. Hwaling meant "flower bell." But what was strange about her was that necklace she had and her resemblance to the card captor, Kinomoto Sakura.
Hwaling's heart-shaped necklace just gushed out power. And her aura was strange. Golden fire and crimson rain. It seemed…familiar.
"Syaoran! Do you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Why are you eating alone?"
"'Cause I feel like it, obviously."
Hwaling walked over, grinning.
"Or was it because you used magic?"
"Shut up."
"Fine, fine."
She walked away, and Syaoran sighed. That girl was powerful. More powerful than himself, even though he'd never admit it. The card captor had potential, but her power hadn't developed yet. It was so undeveloped, that he was surprised that she'd actually caught some cards.
Syaoran closed his eyes, and concentrated. Windy, Watery, Fly, Shadow, Wood, Rain, Jump, and Illusion. And a card inside of her that she was unaware of. Light. Some of them were pretty powerful. And the card captor had been capturing cards since…April! That long ago?
you wouldn't have done so well either, Syaoran
Huh?
you are not hearing things, Syaoran
Who are you? Show yourself to me!
I am here to tell you
Tell me what?
you are not destined to capture the Clow Cards
I can change that!
it is your destiny
So?
you have a bigger task
And that is…?
first, help Sakura
The card captor?
yes
Why?
No reply.
Hello?
The voice didn't respond. It was gone. Syaoran sighed. So, he wouldn't capture the Clow Cards, but help the card captor? She simply wasn't powerful enough!
"Hey! Lunch is over!"
"Huh?"
"See? It's 1:00 already."
"Oh. Thanks."
"No problem."
Throwing away the remains of his half-eaten lunch, Syaoran walked back to the classroom.
*
"We had two new students today."
"Oh."
"Their names are Li Syaoran and Kao Hwaling."
Kero dropped the controller and his jaw hit the ground.
"Are you sure his last name is Li?"
"Positive, Kero. He's from Hong Kong."
"He's a descendant of Clow Reed, then."
"What?"
"I said, he's a descendant of Clow Reed."
"Then he must know a lot about the Clow Cards."
"Not more than me."
"Oh. Anyway, I felt really funny around him. As if I knew him from somewhere."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Deja vu."
"Hmm, that's strange."
"I had the same feeling around the new girl, Hwaling."
"What did she look like?"
"Exactly like me! And she was wearing a necklace."
"She looked exactly like you?"
"Yeah! Even the hair!"
Kero looked puzzled.
"This might have something to do with the Clow Cards."
boom! The entire room was plunged into darkness, even though it was 3:15. After a few seconds, the darkness was gone. But something else had disappeared too.
Sakura.
*
Hwaling was pigging out on candy when everything turned pitch-black. She didn't scream, but instead tried to see through the darkness. She couldn't see anything.
"Illumination!"
The darkness disappeared. Illumination returned to Hwaling's necklace. Every Hanakane Card she had captured was not stored in the form of a card. It was, instead, kept in her necklace, which she never took off. Never.
There had been 60 cards in all, which Hwaling had captured with much effort the year before. Although she probably wouldn't have admitted it, she had been very stupid back then, when she was nine. Hwaling could have died when capturing the last card, Escape.
It had escaped again, and jumped over a barbed wire fence. Reckless, forgetting about her other cards, Hwaling had climbed the fence, scratching herself. Very serious scratches they were, too. Fortunately, Escape had been touched at Hwaling's determination/stubbornness, so it turned itself into a card, and flew into the necklace.
Her best friend had been nearby, concerned. Matt had applied many band-aids to her heavily bleeding back and legs, lecturing her to not climb barbed-wire fences but to use Leap. Hwaling had grinned, not really caring. After he had finished covering the cuts, she surprised him by using the recently captured Restore.
This got Matt annoyed. After all the effort to put on the band-aids, she used a card to heal herself!
Hwaling smiled. California had been great. School had been great. But the Clow Cards just had to escape in Japan.
They just had to.
*
"Sakura! Sakura!"
Kero flew around the room, saying out loud that Sakura was here, but inside he knew she wasn't.
"Hey, who-"
The door opened. Kero stopped mid-air and fell, ungracefully, on the bed.
"You! You, stuffed toy, can talk! There's no one else here!"
Touya walked to the bed, and held Kero up. Kero was struggling not to move. Touya shook Kero, then held him upside down.
"LETMEGOLETMEGO!"
Kero kicked and squirmed and tried to pull himself out of Touya's grasp.
"Not until you explain yourself!"
"I can't explain until you let me go!"
Touya, still holding Kero, closed the door, and tossed poor Kero onto the bed. Kero shook his head, a little dazed.
"Now explain! And where's Sakura?"
"I don't know where she is. It's as if she was swallowed by the darkness."
"It's not dark."
"It was dark here, just a few minutes ago. And when it disappeared, so did Sakura."
"How did you get here, and how does my sister know you?"
"It's a long story. Sakura has magic, and she set these magic cards loose. So, she's responsible for getting them back. The cards are called Clow Cards, and I'm their guardian. They were created by Clow Reed."
"And how did they escape if you are their guardian?"
"Uh-Uh-"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, appeared Sakura.
"Sakura! Where were you?"
"I don't know. It was pitch-black, and…is it a card, Kero?"
"Dark doesn't make people disappear, and you already captured Shadow. So, no."
"Then what is it?"
"I don't know."
"Darn. Touya!"
Sakura, who had been pretty sleepy, jerked awake when she noticed her older brother.
"I can't believe you never told me about this! It's dangerous!"
"I never told you 'cause you don't have any magic!"
"So?"
"It isn't any of your business!"
"Whatever!"
Touya left, slamming the door. Sakura, however, was tired, for some reason. She laid down on her bed, and fell asleep.
*
Arrows were flying down. Sakura was running, dodging each one swiftly. She noticed that she was taller. Almost as tall as Touya was! The arrows stopped. To be replaced by swords.
Sakura was holding her wand, but her wand was a little different. A pink circle enclosing a star, with wings on the circle.
"Shield!"
Sakura was surprised. She had a card like that? But the swords went through.
"Time!"
Someone else's voice. The swords stopped, the people in the street stopped, everything stopped except for a figure jumping down from the sky.
She was running toward him. He had amber eyes and messy brown hair, and looked a lot like an older version of Syaoran.
"Syaoran!"
So it was Syaoran. And she was crying, crying just underneath his shoulder since he was a head taller than she was. Why was she crying? Crying and hugging him even though she barely knew him? Why?
He was saying something, something that sounded like an apology. And then he was crying, but his tears got her hair wet, and they pulled apart. Syaoran was blushing, she was blushing, and someone else said that they better start fighting again.
The swords were replaced by bombs. Buildings around them exploded, and Sakura was running again. What were they battling? Why was she doing this?
"Mirror! Reflect! Reflect the bombs back!"
The bombs flew back at an invisible target. Which was revealed to be a girl with a tattered and mutilated body. The girl flew down.
"Return to your power confined-"
Strings shot out and wrapped around Sakura, she was so cold-
*
"Sakura!"
Kero was yelling for the hundredth time in Sakura's ear.
"Hey!"
Sakura woke up, shivering.
"Sakura? What happened?"
"I had a weird dream."
"What was it about? It might be a precognitive dream."
"It is, probably. 'Cause I was older, and Syaoran was older, and you were there."
Sakura told Kero all the details. Kero was puzzled.
"I have no idea what card it is, if it is a card."
"I know it's a card. I had a feeling."
"Oh."
Sakura glanced at the clock on her bedside table. It was 9:00. Time to go to bed already!
"Kero! Why did you wake me up?"
*
Sakura walked into classroom 4-2, feeling strange. She had had a weird dream last night, a very long dream. It had seemed so real, too.
It had started with Syaoran arriving, but alone. Without Hwaling. Syaoran had confronted her about her Clow Cards during lunch, but Touya had "rescued" her. Syaoran then ran off when Yukito arrived, blushing.
The rest of the dream was harder to remember. She and Syaoran had captured cards together, and sometimes with his cousin, Meiling. Tomoyo filmed the adventures whenever possible, and finally, in 5th grade, Sakura captured all the cards and passed the Last Judgment.
It got even harder to remember after that, but Sakura could recall converting the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, and then capturing new cards when her Sakura Cards disappeared.
Sakura grew up to be a model, and then, these Victory Cards started attacking and she captured those with Meiling. Until there was one card left. Harm. But as soon as some arrows fell down, her alarm clock woke her up.
Sakura shuffled to her seat, sat down, and felt someone looking at her. She turned around, to see that Syaoran was smiling at her. Smiling? He was scowling yesterday.
Next to him was Hwaling, occupied with thoughts. Today her hair looked exactly like Sakura's, so you couldn't tell them apart. Not unless you knew about Hwaling's necklace, that is. She was wearing it today, and the necklace seemed to be…glowing. Glowing with magic and power. Sakura blinked. For a second she thought she had seen shapes moving inside…how ridiculous!
Syaoran glanced at Hwaling. That necklace's power was driving him insane! He scowled. Hwaling didn't notice, however. She was staring into space, unaware of the world around her.
rriinngg!
The tardy bell didn't even faze Hwaling. She seemed to be thinking about something…something important…
*
rriinngg!
Sakura raced out of the classroom as soon as the bell rang, put on her roller blades, and skated home at top speed.
During school she had sensed a Clow Card near her home. It was rather strange, though. Whenever Sakura tried to determine what card it was, there was just pain, extreme pain.
"Kero!"
"Yes?"
His voice was muffled, however, because he was currently eating some chocolates that happened to be in Sakura's room.
"I sensed a Clow Card here when I was at school."
"Oh."
Kero swallowed the last of the candy, stretched, and flew to Sakura's shoulder.
"Then let's go! You might want to get your wand out."
"Okay."
After saying the familiar words, Sakura raced down the stairs, wand in hand and Kero clinging on to her shoulder. The weather seemed normal outside. Everything seemed normal, actually. Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated. Pain. Just awful pain.
Sakura opened her eyes, to find someone right in front of her dressed in strange green clothing. Syaoran.
Syaoran was holding what looked like a board game in his hands. He said a few words, and blue light shot out of it, pointing to nothing but air. He looked surprised.
"The lasin board isn't working…"
He was muttering, but Sakura heard.
"What's a lasin board, and what does it do?"
"This," Syaoran held up the board, "is the lasin board. It tracks down Clow Cards."
"Oh. But it's pointing at nothing."
"Yeah. Which is weird. It worked fine last night, when I was capturing Thunder."
"You captured Thunder?"
"Yes."
"Oh. I wonder what this card is. I sensed it at school, and I sensed it here, but I have no idea what it is."
"It might not be a Clow Card."
"What do you mean, Kero?"
"There are other cards. Clow Reed was not the only person who created cards."
"So you're saying it could be another kind of card?"
"Exactly."
"Well, then, could I catch it?"
"Yeah. You have a sealing wand, don't you?"
Sakura suddenly had a feeling of deja vu. Where had she heard someone say that?
"Sakura? Is something wrong?"
"No. Nothing's wrong."
"Hey! Look!"
Syaoran was pointing to a girl. The girl had black hair longer than she was tall, and was wearing a black mask. On her slim body was a piece of black cloth that was barely a dress, but the dress was covered with diamonds. The girl was barefoot, and had tattered wings. But the girl's skin was hideous. It was full of cuts, bruises, and scratches, and some of the scratches were oozing green blood.
Sakura winced at the sight of her, and realized the girl was the Harm Card from her dream.
"She's from a dream I had yesterday afternoon!"
"Really?"
Syaoran's voice, instead of being full of astonishment, was quavering with fear.
"Yeah. The Harm Card, or something like that. I was battling it when Kero woke me up."
Sakura glared at Kero.
"What did it do?"
"It sent down arrows, then swords, then bombs, but I used Mirror and Reflect to bounce them back. I don't even have those cards."
"I-I had the same dream…"
"Really?"
"Yeah. You're describing it perfectly."
"But something else happened too. While the swords were still raining down, someone stopped time, and it was you."
"Did you ah-hug the Syaoran in the dream?"
"Yeah. I was crying, and then you were crying, but then you got my hair wet so we resumed fighting."
Sakura was trying to remember more details of her dream when the card spoke.
"All of your dream actually happened."
The card had a raspy sort of voice, as if it had trouble breathing.
"Huh?"
"Do you remember your other dream, Card Mistress?"
Suddenly all the details of the other dream were clear. Sakura nodded.
"That is what happened, to cause the events in the dream both of you shared."
"Why are you here, then?"
"Revenge."
"Revenge?"
"Revenge for what Little Wolf did to me."
"Huh? He didn't do anything in my dream!"
"Because you were killed."
Syaoran looked like he thought his feet were fascinating, since he was staring at them.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Harm's black strings covered you and Meiling, killing you both. I saw it in the dream."
"Oh. What did you do to Harm?"
"Meiling was still alive for awhile. She told me to burn the card so that Harm wouldn't harm anyone else. I did. After I captured it, of course."
"But if Harm was burned, why is it here?"
"Even though you burned me, Syaoran, and Hanakane went back in time, I was able to turn back into this form after much waiting. And now I can destroy you."
Black strings shot out of Harm's hands, aiming straight for Syaoran. Sakura quickly pushed him out of the way, but her foot got caught.
"Ow!"
It was freezing cold, but on fire.
"Sakura!"
Syaoran reached for the strings, but Sakura's other foot kicked his hands away.
"Don't touch it! It's evil!"
"But-"
"I said, don't touch it! I don't want you to get hurt!"
"Well, maybe I can burn it off. Element, Fire!"
The flames did nothing to the strings.
"Element, Ice!"
The ice did nothing but slide off.
"Arrggh!"
Syaoran decided to attack Harm instead.
"Element! Lightning! Ice! Fire! Water! Earth! Wind!"
These attacks stopped in mid-air and vanished. (a/n: Digimon fans-think of how Myotismon blocked all of the digimon's attacks until Angewomon used Celestial Arrow.)
"What?"
Syaoran blinked, wide-eyed.
Sakura groaned in pain. She pulled out a card, but with much difficulty, since she was lying on the ground. Illusion.
"Illusion! Show Harm what it fears the most!"
A blurry shape shot out of the card, then slowly revealed itself to be Sakura. Sakura? It was Sakura, definitely, but Sakura was wearing a kimono, and Hwaling's heart-shaped necklace.
"It's Hanakane."
Harm did not even flinch.
"That's a fake. I'm not scared of an illusion."
"But are you scared of the real thing?"
It was Hwaling. Hwaling looked like her usual self, wearing the Tomoeda Elementary uniform.
Harm sneered.
"You're not Hanakane. Hanakane is dead."
Hwaling smiled, took off her necklace, threw it up in the air, and let it fall to the ground and shatter. Shapes started zooming out, blurry shapes that looked a lot like true forms of Clow Cards. Then Hwaling began to change.
Her clothes were replaced by a kimono identical to Hanakane's illusion. She grew taller, until it looked like she was sixteen. The shattered necklace put itself back together, and hung itself around her neck.
Harm's eyes widened.
"This is a trick, isn't it? You can't be Hanakane!"
"Why not?"
Hwaling's voice had changed. Changed dramatically.
"B-Because-"
"Because what? And just why are you scared of me? I thought you killed me in your timeline."
Harm smirked.
"Yeah, I guess I'm not scared of you then. Just surprised."
Strings shot out of Harm's hand, but invisible scissors cut them to pieces. Harm gaped.
"What's the matter?"
Hwaling/Hanakane's voice was dripping with sarcasm, which infuriated Harm.
"Why I'll kill you! Death!"
A cloud of pure darkness zoomed toward Hwaling/Hanakane. She sent it back just by raising her hand. It hit Harm, who screamed and "dissolved" into thin air.
Hwaling/Hanakane shrank, and the kimono was replaced by Hwaling's school uniform. Hwaling collapsed.
The strings on Sakura's foot dissolved, and she hugged Syaoran in relief. Syaoran was surprised, but did not resist.
"Thank God those strings are off…"
"Yeah."
Syaoran let go, and they both stood up, dazed. Hwaling was beginning to stir also, and then opened her eyes.
"What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
"No."
"Let's just say you saved the world. And us."
Sakura smiled at Syaoran, who smiled back. Slowly, they leaned closer, until their faces were next to each other-
There was a sudden rustling in the bushes. It was Tomoyo!
"Tomoyo! What are you doing here?"
Tomoyo smiled.
"Since you rushed out the door, I figured there might be a Clow Card. So I followed you here. I got it all on tape. It was great!"
Sakura and Syaoran sweatdropped.
"I even got the part where you guys almost kissed!"
"YOU WHAT?!"
The End
*
A review would be nice...*hinthint*