Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Dragon ❯ Sakura and New Beginnings ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

Naoko had always thought it would be neat if dragons truly existed. That such great and awe-inspiring creatures could walk the Earth would be a dream come true. And it was like a dream. A nightmare. Her panties were soaked with her urine caused by the unimaginable fright the beast instilled in her. She had been shocked when she first saw the beast emerge from a grove of trees near Tsukimine's main shrine. Now she felt like a measly insect as the great western wyrm strode past her, mere meters away from squashing her under its claws. The ground shook from the beast's immense weight as it moved. The monstrous roar it bellowed was deafening. Naoko saw the way the dragon's eyes stared down at Sakura as if she was a candy treat. If fear hadn't petrified her, Naoko would've yelled out a warning to her friend, or at least screamed at Tomoyo to put her damned camera down and run.

There was something distinctly wrong with Sakura's demeanor, though. The girl screamed in terror at even the slightest mention of the word 'ghost,' yet it seemed like she was staring the beast down. Where did that staff in her hands come from, anyway? The pink toy with a star on top wouldn't mean anything as the dragon reared its head back and unleashed hellfire from its jaws.

"JUMP!" Sakura called out and leapt straight into the air, shattering world records with her impossibly high jump as she dodged fiery death.

The dragon then caused a maelstrom of fierce winds by flapping its huge leathery wings at Sakura before she landed. The gusts sent her into an uncontrollable flight and ended up being saved from colliding into the side of the main shrine by an honest-to-God angel. For Naoko, beauty did not begin to describe the winged man holding Sakura protectively.

Once again the great wyrm unleashed fire at Sakura. A winged, maneless lion jumped into the path of the dragon's fire and fought back with its own inferno blast. That gave the angel the moment he needed to put Sakura down and go on the offensive, showering the scaly beast with crystals. Though it seemed unfazed by the assault.

"What is going on here?" Chiharu questioned behind Naoko.

"I don't know...." Rika trailed off.

Naoko couldn't reply, but was thankful she wasn't the only one who was scared stupid and seeing all of this.

"Earthy!" Sakura yelled, raising her staff above her. A card somehow spun in the air above it while a glowing circle filled with complex symbols appeared beneath her.

Suddenly the ground began to shake and tendrils of rock erupted, trying to ensnare the dragon. The great beast fought against the rising Earth.

"Wood!" Sakura cried out and the very trees went to aid in capturing the wyrm.

With the dragon struggling against the restraining ground and wood, the angel and winged lion floated in defensive posture toward Sakura.

"Kero-chan, is there any way to calm down Dragon-san?" Sakura questioned.

The great lion seemed taken aback at the girl's question. "Sakura-chan, western dragons, like that one, are a force of nature. You CAN'T calm them down."

The angel seemed annoyed. "There are two ways to stop this sort of dragon: seal it or destroy it. None of us know how to seal such a beast."

"Maybe we could call Eriol-kun and see if he remembers how?" Sakura suggested.

The dragon bellowed an ear-splitting roar and all the rock and wood restraining it exploded off its scaly body.

"SHIELD!" Sakura yelled, and Naoko and her friends suddenly found themselves inside glowing spheres as rock and tree collided with the protective barriers, leaving them unhurt.

Immediately the winged lion and angel leapt once again into battle against the enormous dragon, while Sakura stood still with her eyes closed. The girl's eyes snapped open with a look of fierce determination. "Big!"

And Sakura certainly got bigger. She had to have grown at least ten stories tall. Taller than the dragon was long. And with a lunge, she tackled the great wyrm, trying to restrain it with her now superior size and mass.

"Why did I have to do this in my school uniform?" Sakura muttered, somehow managing to joke while locked in combat. Flashing her panties to her few observers at the forest-enclosed shrine should have been the LAST of her concerns at the moment. "Dragon-san, please calm down. I don't want to hurt you," the giant girl pleaded. "Please calm down."

The wyrm did not relax at the tender plea. The beast twisted its body within her grasp and plunged its claw into her side. Sakura screamed in pain and instantly began to shrink. A tiny streak of light that was almost too small to see leapt from the falling girl and struck the great wyrm, apparently causing the dragon to be reduced in size as well.

Before the great beast was half its size, it let loose another roar and was back to its original immense size. The angel and winged lion moved to Sakura's side and produced their own protective shields as the dragon tried to slash the fallen girl into pieces.

"GOD OF THUNDER, DESCEND!" shouted a voice in unimaginable anger.

Despite that there was not a single cloud in the sky, the mother of all lightning bolts crashed from the heavens. The giant wyrm howled in pain from being struck.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura called out. She winced in pain when she turned her body to see him, but was happy to see the Chinese boy dressed in green standing atop the shrine's Moon Gate.

"Remind me to never piss off the brat," the winged lion muttered.

The dragon turned its great head and spewed out flaming death at the newcomer.

"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura cried out again, this time with fear in her voice. Then she relaxed. "He's still okay."

As the inferno died away, the arch had ceased to exist, but Li was standing there as if the structure was still intact, hovering in the air with a barely visible ball of air spinning around him.

Sakura pouted. "Yue-san, help Syaoran-kun."

The angel paused and turned toward the lion. "Cerberus, protect the Mistress."

"Like I would do anything else," the winged lion returned as the angel flew off.

"There has to be a way to stop Dragon-san without killing him," Sakura seemingly said to herself, her white school blouse now dyed red with her blood.

"You can't kill what's not alive," someone retorted.

"Meiling-chan!" Sakura chirped as the Chinese girl approached her.

"Gods, Kinomoto. Without Syaoran around, you fall all apart. You should've blasted the stupid thing into rubble already," Meiling chastised the girl, while a look of worry engraved itself on her face seeing the growing pool of blood. She ripped open the wounded girl's shirt and pulled some stuff from the bag she was carrying, placing it upon the bleeding injury.

Sakura seized up as pressure was applied to her side. "What do you mean, Meiling-chan? I can't kill him!"

Meiling shook her head. "Sakura, that's not a real dragon. It's a golem. Made back in Clow's time. It's nothing more than rock and magic used to simulate life. It wouldn't be moving if the magical statue inside it was removed."

Sakura blinked. "It's only moving because of magic.... I thought that was its heart. It's not alive in any way? Nothing organic?"

Meiling shook her head. "Not one bit of it is alive."

"This might not work, but it's worth the try." Sakura struggled to sit up.

"Let Syaoran take care of it!" Meiling yelled at the injured girl.

"Syaoran-kun and Yue-san can't defeat it," Sakura returned, though her voice seemed weaker than before. She pointed at the battlefield where it was quite obvious the dragon was the one on the offensive while the boy and angel struggled to avoid being hurt by the great wyrm.

Meiling huffed and helped Sakura sit up. Both girls became very frightened seeing Li had been knocked down and that the dragon was about to claw him.

Sakura held her wand to her chest and called out, "Move."

Li tensed up, awaiting the claw to sink into his body. The dragon suddenly froze. Its talons a mere few dozen centimeters away from removing him from this world.

The winged lion blinked. A half-meter tall statue that was an exact, miniature copy of the now motionless giant dragon had appeared next to Sakura. Guessing that the smaller dragon was the golem's heart, the lion commented, "I won't call that a useless card anymore."

Sakura smiled. "I did...." The girl then collapsed upon herself, no longer conscious.

"SAKURA?!" the winged lion shouted in distress.

"Damn it, Kinomoto! Don't you dare die on us!" Meiling cursed her friend with worry.

Li ran to Sakura like his life depended on it. "Meiling, treat her injury!" he ordered in rage. He then kneeled down and placed Sakura's head on to his lap. No more words came from him as his tense features began to ease.

The angel and lion nodded to each other. Suddenly the winged man turned into Sakura's first crush, Yukito. Then the winged cat turned into the stuffed animal she sometimes had around her.

Yukito knelt down beside Sakura. "I can help you. Yue knows how to treat this kind of injury. He'll guide me."

Meiling looked a little surprised, and then nodded.

"Should we call for an ambulance or something?" Rika questioned.

"No. Sakura-chan will be fine. Besides, it would be a problem trying to explain how she was injured," Tomoyo replied calmly, still recording everything.

"But she's been seriously hurt!" Chiharu protested. "She's lost so much blood!"

"The brat is taking care of that," the flying stuffed animal told her. "He's using his own life force to stabilize hers. He's making her body produce more blood and directing blood flow to keep it away from her injury."

"How...? How is any of this real?" Naoko questioned. "How can they use magic? How can a dragon be real? What the hell is going on?!"

The stuffed animal folded its arms and glanced at Tomoyo, letting out a short laugh. "She can handle explaining that with her videos."

Yukito stood up. "Sakura-chan's injuries have been taken care of. She'll be fine with plenty of rest."

"Thank goodness," Li said weakly before collapsing beside the sleeping girl.

Meiling folded her arms. "He used up too much of his chi, didn't he?"

Yukito smiled gently. "Of course. Sakura might wake up before he does."

"What will we do with them?" Rika questioned. "We can't leave them here."

A car brake's squealed as it pulled up to them. Sakura's elder brother leapt out of the car and rushed to her side. "She IS all right, isn't she?"

Yukito's face quirked. "I AM still here, Toya. She'll be fine with bed rest."

Touya scowled. "Don't joke about that."

"Sorry." Yukito held his hands up defensively. "Now let's put Sakura-chan and Li-kun in the car and take them home."

Touya nodded.

"I'll explain everything after school tomorrow at my house, if that's all right?" Tomoyo asked her friends.

The trio nodded dumbly while they watched as Li was buckled into the car's passenger seat and Sakura was carefully placed along the back seat. The dragon statue was moved to the trunk. Without any further words, Touya sat down in the driver's seat and Meiling knelt beside Sakura on the car's floor. The automobile sped off, while Yukito and Tomoyo went to shrine.

The girls looked up at the once moving statue that towered above them. Each of them feeling smaller and incredibly lost in a world that didn't seem so big an hour ago.

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Card Captor Sakura - Shadow of the Dragon

Chapter 1 - Sakura and New Beginnings

By: Lord Archive

The characters of Card Captors Sakura belong to the fine women of Clamp and are used neither with consent nor for profit. All rights reserved. I'm only borrowing the characters. Syaoran... wouldn't like it if I kept Sakura. ;

Author's Warnings:
In accordance to movie system rating this series would be rated PG-13, and as for television would rate TV M for mature audience, but would be viewable with no edits save for some incidents of vulgar language. Due to subjective nature of the ratings, for FFnet this series has been labeled with a mature rating for those who have poor views of some of the subject matter contained within.

This series contains:
Adult situations.
Sexual situations withOUT detailed description of sex nor the naked human body.
Brief moments of violence, some cases involving people getting severely injured and possibly death.
Occasional use of vulgar language.
Japanese humor: which include bathroom jokes, panty fetish and shocking situations.
Depictions of criminal activity committed by fictional characters.
References of homosexuality.

This series will be played as Card Captor Sakura meets Kare Kano/His and Her Circumstances. It will not tiptoe around and make light of situations contained within the original canon, including inappropriate relations between teacher and student. As such this series will likely contain a darker feel to it than the anime of which this series is primarily based on. It will not ignore the light and fluffiness, either-- but will try to blend and balance both.

Only a few items from the manga that do not contradict anime canon will be used, otherwise this will be strictly written in accordance to the animated series.


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Naoko frowned. The rope across the Tsukimine Shrine's entrance announced it would be closed for a few days. She looked around and entered the shrine anyway. Carefully she made her way up the stairs. Her heart skipped a beat as she arrived at the courtyard. The gigantic dragon statue was still there, frozen in mid-attack.

"So, you had to make sure this wasn't just some whacked out dream too, huh?" Chiharu commented, moving from behind a tree.

"Makes me wonder what other 'dreams' I had that weren't dreams at all," Rika added, coming out of hiding as well. "How long have they been at this sort of thing?"

Naoko adjusted her glasses as she thought for a moment. "At least since Li-kun showed up the first time. Possibly some time before that."

"They've been fighting this sort of crap since they were fourth graders?!" Chiharu questioned rather skeptically.

Naoko shook her head. "Not THIS sort of thing, at least. But toying around with magic, probably. There were lots of odd things going on during fourth and fifth grade."

Chiharu huffed. "Why didn't she tell us about this?"

"Probably because she was afraid that her being a witch would scare us away from being her friends," Rika replied. "Are you looking forward to seeing her again?"

Naoko and Chiharu's silence was all the answer that was needed.

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Tomoyo gave a small wave as her trio of friends entered the classroom, but then sighed as they made no move to return the greeting. Not really surprising since they had been left out on Sakura's greatest secret that she had kept for five years. It must be upsetting for them to learn about it by accidentally becoming spectators to one of the magical girl's greatest battles. She would likely have to endure this silent treatment until she explained everything to them through her 'Documentary of the Beautifully Cute and Lovely Kinomoto Sakura, Sorceress Supreme.'

With a chime of a bell, the ever-prompt, middle-aged, overly professional, homeroom teacher Fukino entered classroom 3-C and began the school day for the ninth graders. After looking over the class to verify his absentee list, which not surprisingly included Sakura, the teacher cleared his throat. "Today we were supposed to have two new transfer students, but one of them has fallen ill." He turned to the door. "You may enter."

Meiling strutted into the room and waved. "Hey, everybody! I'm back!" She then blinked in surprise as no one responded.

Fukino looked at his papers. "What do you mean, 'you're back?'"

"I attended Tomoeda Elementary with most of them for about a year," Meiling replied. "For those of you I didn't meet then or somehow forgotten, I'm Li Meiling, cousin of Li Syaoran. My engagement to him ended some time ago and I am looking for 'Mr. Right.'"

"You were engaged to your cousin?" Fukino questioned, not liking her announcement of her 'availability' in the least.

"We're cousins through our great-grandparents. While getting engaged was largely my idea, our family didn't reject the idea," Meiling explained.

"I have another question for you: Why did Kinomoto-san call in for Li Syaoran?" Fukino questioned.

Meiling smirked. "Well, you see, Syaoran is Kinomoto's boyfriend, which is why my engagement went down the toilet. And when he met her yesterday, she was already not feeling well. He couldn't stay away from her and came down as well. As we hadn't settled into our place yet and Syaoran was at Kinomoto's residence, they let him stay there to recover."

Fukino scowled. The girl was obviously withholding some information. The fact that Kinomoto's best friend was giggling only added to his suspicion that Meiling was lying. "And what is so funny, Daidouji-kun?"

Tomoyo stood up to properly address her teacher. "Oh, nothing, Fukino-sensei. I was just remembering when Li-kun met Sakura-chan yesterday. He was so urgent to touch her, yet gentle. Nothing inappropriate happened, mind you. Just he couldn't be kept away from her. It had been close to a year since they last saw each other."

Fukino shook his head. If something was indeed going on with Kinomoto and Li, it was out of his hands to prove it. Her father had called it in and two similar vocal accounts of the illness put too much evidence against his suspicions.

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Tomoyo sighed as she hung up her cell phone.

"They're still asleep?" Meiling questioned while walking alongside the girl.

Tomoyo nodded. "Sakura-chan used up a lot of magic on top of being injured. It's only natural for her to sleep like that to recover her energy."

Meiling sighed. "Then lover boy had to dump his energy into her to keep her alive." She then shook her head. "You know, seeing those two together still makes me jealous."

Tomoyo looked at her friend closely. "I thought you were over Li-kun."

"I am over him!" Meiling protested, but then paused. "Well, mostly. I'll always love him, but that's not why I'm jealous. It's that the only way those two won't end up married is if one of them dies first. That trick Syaoran did with his giving his chi to Kinomoto can only be done if there's some kind of familiarity to the person. The stronger the connection, the easier the energy can be transferred."

Tomoyo frowned. "But he used up all his chi to help heal Sakura-chan."

Meiling pouted. "Yeah, he did. His bond with her is THAT good. I've seen him practicing with it. While he could do it with his mother, his sisters, myself, Wei, and maybe you-- he wouldn't be able to give any of us nearly as much energy as he did with Kinomoto."

"Oh." Tomoyo smiled softly. "I was wondering that if he used so much, that it meant he wasn't as connected to her."

Meiling laughed bitterly. "For me to give up my engagement to Syaoran, he had BETTER love Kinomoto more than anyone else."

"But it hurts seeing proof of that love," Tomoyo observed sympathetically.

Meiling gave a weak smirk. "Yeah, it does." She shook her head. "They do make a disgustingly cute couple."

Tomoyo chirped, "Of course!"

"Syaoran's sisters will want copies of the picture you took of them last night," Meiling informed.

Tomoyo giggled. "I'll be sure to print a few out." She continued to walk quietly with her foreign friend, but then asked a question that had been on her mind since yesterday, "Meiling-chan, how did you know about the dragon?"

Meiling frowned. "Well, it was made during Clow's time. He didn't make the thing, but he did capture it from the guy who did. It's been kept by our family ever since then."

"You didn't wake it, did you?" Tomoyo asked suspiciously.

Meiling scowled. "I'm not THAT jealous."

"Then who did?" Tomoyo asked.

Meiling shrugged in response while looking away, which caused Tomoyo to frown and wonder what the girl did know.

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Sakura blearily opened her eyes. She didn't want to get out of bed. She never liked getting out of bed. And despite the stiffness in her side, it seemed especially comfortable right now with Syaoran sleeping next to her.

The girl blinked and glanced at the slumbering boy who lightly held her within a hug. Her sleep-fogged mind couldn't figure out why he was in bed with her. Not that she could think of any problem with him being there at the moment, either. She'd figure it out after she dealt with the reason that had woken her up.

"You're up!" Kero-chan cheered and flew over to the girl as she struggled to pull herself away from Syaoran and the bed.

"Ungh," Sakura muttered in a failed attempt to say 'good morning.'

The small, plushy-like creature frowned at her. "You still haven't recovered yet. Why are you up?"

Sakura weakly pointed. "Bathroom." She eventually managed to fully exit the bed. She briefly noted Syaoran reaching out for her in his sleep just before she collapsed to the floor in a heap.

"Are you okay, Sakura?" Kero-chan asked with concern.

"I don't have any energy," Sakura answered.

"Not surprising. You cast a lot of spells yesterday and was injured on top of that," Kero-chan explained.

Sakura paid no attention. "Bathroom."

"Huh? Right." Kero-chan frowned. He had to help her get to the bathroom somehow. Giant wings extended from his back, engulfing his diminutive form. When the wings parted, a giant, winged mountain lion stood there. He laid himself down next to his master. "Think you can climb onto my back?"

Sakura nodded weakly and did as Cerberus suggested, though she failed to notice him wincing as she grabbed his fur and then his wings to help pull herself up onto him.

Once the cat's passenger was safely on his back, he used his wings to help hold her in place. He padded over to the door and carefully pawed it open. As Cerberus made his way to the bathroom, he paused as someone stood in his way.

Fujitaka stared at the great beast that had his daughter safely nestled on its back.

The winged-cat laughed a little nervously. "Bathroom run."

Fujitaka nodded uneasily. "Sakura, how are you feeling?" he asked, stepping aside to let them pass.

"Tired," Sakura moaned.

"And Li-kun?" Fujitaka questioned.

"Still sleeping like a log," Cerberus replied.

"I've got to go to the university, Touya will be back from his part-time job soon," Fujitaka informed them.

The winged-cat nodded. "See ya tonight."

Nearing their destination, a questioned pierced Sakura's mind. "Since when has Dad known about you?"

Cerberus laughed guiltily. "A while back he caught me sleeping in the candy dish. Apparently your brother has been telling him about your adventures so he wasn't really surprised."

Sakura nodded her head against his furry back.

The winged-cat did what he could to help Sakura and maintain her dignity as she answered nature's call. Once finished, she climbed onto him again and was returned to her room.

Sakura could tell Kero-chan was trying to be careful as he returned her directly to bed, but she still ended up flopping into it. While Syaoran seemed to have slept through it, she immediately found his arms wrapped around her once again. She felt more energized, realizing he was feeding her his energy. She was about to comment on that, but she still felt unnaturally tired and the bed was far too comfortable. She was asleep in seconds.

Kero-chan carefully lifted Sakura's pajama top and checked her bandages, making sure her wounds hadn't reopened with all that movement. He gave a sigh of relief noting that no blood was visible. Apparently Meiling was good for something besides mouthing off, he thought.

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A trio of girls stood gawking in front of the massive gates that led to a mansion. Tomoeda was a rather wealthy community. Each of the three girls' family worth was in the hundreds of millions in yen. Yet the property before them, itself, had to approach a trillion yen, and that wasn't taking in account any other assets the family may own.

"I knew Tomoyo-chan was rich, but not THIS rich," Chiharu commented disbelievingly. "She makes us look poor."

Her two friends could only nod at her statement.

"We may as well announce ourselves," Chiharu added.

The two girls nodded again.

Chiharu walked up to the gate and pressed a button next to the speaker.

"Daidouji residence. Please state you business," a young woman's voice politely demanded.

"Sasaki, Yanagisawa and Mihara here to see Daidouji Tomoyo-chan," Chiharu replied respectfully.

"We have been expecting you. Please enter and go to the main doors of the house," the woman informed.

The gate slowly began to open by itself and the three friends nervously entered. They sheepishly waved at the group of gardeners tending to the massive yard in front of the house. They were almost relieved to see Tomoyo's friendly face greet them at the door, along with Meiling.

"Welcome!" Tomoyo waved them all inside. "I have everything already set up in my room. Follow me."

"You certainly have a nice house," Rika commented politely, while gazing in wonder at various paintings and statues lining the foyer and the hallway walls. She felt like she was in a museum more than someone's home.

"Thank you," Tomoyo replied.

"My house in Hong Kong is bigger," Meiling bragged, and then smirked wryly. "But my room isn't even a third the size of hers."

Tomoyo opened the door to her bedroom.

The trio of guests gaped at the huge room before them. The area before them looked more like a living room but with a massive television and theater system dominating the wall to the right. Some distance to the left was an elevated floor which had an expensive bed and a desk cluttered with fabric and a partially visible sewing machine.

Tomoyo smiled sweetly. She motioned towards the table placed in the center of the living area of the room. "I already took the liberty of having the maid bring us some tea and cupcakes. Please sit down and I'll be able to show you my video that'll explain everything."

Meiling went and snatched one of the cupcakes before staking her claim to one of the couches, laying on it length-wise. Rika noted that one of the two chairs was slightly worn and had a remote control on top of the armrest and decided to sit down on the other chair. Naoko, on the other hand, opted for a front row seat, kneeling at the base of the table nearest to the big screen. Chiharu took the couch on the opposing side from Meiling and sat down on it sidesaddle to view the video. Tomoyo sat down at her favorite chair and press a few buttons on her remote control.

The light in the room dimmed as the television turned on. The speakers began to play an upbeat melody as the screen showed the words 'Card Captor Sakura' in bright pink on top of a light blue background.

The trio of girls blinked in surprise that Tomoyo's video contained a title screen and opening credits.

"What? No, 'Exquisitely Cute, Supreme Sorceress of Cards, Sakura?'" Meiling asked in a tone that one would think was sarcastic if they didn't know her.

Tomoyo sighed. "Actually I wanted to use 'Documentary of the Beautifully Cute and Lovely Kinomoto Sakura, Sorceress Supreme,' but Sakura-chan pleaded for something much more simple."

Large beads of sweat appeared on the side of the girl's foreheads upon hearing Tomoyo's reply.

"Why the opening credits?" Naoko questioned, her eyes glued to the now flashing sequence of Kinomoto in various odd dresses using a vast array of magic.

"It makes the tape look more like a movie and less real," Tomoyo answered.

The music stopped and upon the screen was Sakura coming home from school, wearing her elementary school uniform. She called out in greeting, but quickly found that her house was vacant. She shrugged and went to the refrigerator to grab a snack. Despite no noise or any evidence of something being wrong, the girl suddenly jerked her head and called out, "Is somebody there?"

A suspenseful tune began to play as Sakura became even more nervous while she looked around. She picked up her baton and clutched it tightly as if it was a weapon and cautiously walked through her home. "It's coming from the basement," she surmised.

Sakura shivered in dread. "Maybe it's some animal or something. It better not be a burglar." She shuddered again. Carefully and quietly she opened the door leading downstairs to her father's library. Her eyes darted everywhere looking for the source of the noise that wasn't heard by anyone watching the video.

The young girl's gaze rested for a moment on one shelf of books, but then turned away. "Maybe it was my imagination." She then whirled back around and saw one of the books was glowing. As if being moved by some unknown force, Sakura approached and picked up the book. The clasp on the book popped open by itself and the girl opened it.

Sakura blinked at what was inside the book. It wasn't pages of writing but a stack of cards inside the hollowed out pages. She picked up the top card and looked at the English word at the bottom intently. "Win... Win... Windy," she finally managed, not having a full grasp on that language yet.

Suddenly a bright circle filled with complex symbols formed under the girl's feet. A huge gust of wind swirled chaotically around the girl. She was shocked at the turn of events, and failed to notice the cards in the book being flung into the air by the wind burst. The cards did not seem to notice walls or ceiling as they shot out and away from the book, disappearing from sight.

Meiling blinked repeatedly at the video. "You were there?!"

Tomoyo shook her head and pressed 'Pause' on the remote to stop the video. "Afraid not. I had Sakura reenact it using Illusion. You might notice that Sakura is holding a Sakura Card and that she's a bit older than ten."

Meiling couldn't tell the difference in Sakura's appearance, but only now noticed the card in her hand was pink, not the brown of the original Clow Cards.

Naoko smiled proudly that her earlier deduction of when Sakura became a witch had been proven true.

With no further comment, Tomoyo resumed the video.

Sakura plopped to the floor, looking completely confused. The book she had been holding fell to the ground as well. The girl then blinked in amazement as the book glowed again and a winged, yellow plushy-like creature emerged from it.

"How ya doing?!" the floating creature greeted. "Thanks for waking me!"

"Hoeh?" Sakura moved closer. "A Kansai accent?"

"Well, the book was in Osaka for some time," the creature replied.

Sakura grabbed the creature and started pulling at it. "Does this use batteries? Where's the switch?"

The creature broke away, screaming, "I'M NOT A TOY! I'm Cerberus, Beast of the Seal and protector of this book!"

"Seal?" Sakura questioned.

Cerberus nodded. "Yah! I protect the book to make sure the cards don't cause trouble!" The yellow mini-beast looked at the book and his mouth dropped and began to panic. "There are no cards?! Why?! Where'd they go?!"

"You mean this?" Sakura questioned, handing him the Windy card she still held.

Cerberus nodded, obviously grateful to hold it. "Yes, this! This is it!" Then he looked at the girl. "Where's the rest of the cards?"

Sakura nervously scratched the back of her head. "Well, I read the Windy card... and a big gust of wind came... and they all flew away." She started laughing a little.

"I see." Cerberus joined in laughing for a second before screaming, "WHAT?!"

The scene of the video changed to Sakura's bedroom. She set down a desert cake and then started to get ready for bed.

Cerberus glowed as he floated above the book he had come out of. "I can't tell where any of the cards are." He sighed dejectedly. "The Clow Cards were in this book."

"Clow Cards?" Sakura questioned.

Cerberus folded his arms. "The Clow Cards. When their seal is broken, disaster will spread in the world. Those cards are special, made by Clow Reed. Each one is alive and holds immense power. They all act as they like, and no normal person could stand against them. It's because of that, Clow made this book to seal them inside and put me as the beast of the seal.

"Anyway, we need to get these cards back." Cerberus picked up the spoon that sat next to the cake Sakura brought in earlier and pointed it at her. "So, I'll have you help me."

"Eh? Why do I have to?" Sakura demanded.

"You're the one who scattered the cards in the first place!" Cerberus retorted.

"But you're the one that's supposed to make sure these cards are sealed, right?" Sakura retorted.

"Well, I fell asleep for a bit," Cerberus replied a little nervously.

"For how long?" Sakura pressed.

"About thirty years," Cerberus answered with forced laughter.

Sakura's expression of shock was shared by most of the audience watching the video.

"And you call yourself the 'beast of the seal?'" the girl questioned.

"A lot of stuff happens in life!" Cerberus cheered, as if it answered everything.

"So that noise I heard was your snoring," Sakura commented in disbelief.

"Anyway, since you opened this book, it means you have some degree of magical power. What is your name?" Cerberus asked.

"Sakura," replied the girl.

"Okay, Sakura. Stand over there," Cerberus pointed.

"Hoeh." Sakura did as she was told and backed away from him.

Cerberus then began to glow. "Key of the seal... there is one here who wishes the contract with you. The girl by the name of Sakura. Key give power to the girl. RELEASE!"

As the yellow creature chanted, a small light emerged from the tiny keyhole on the book's latch. The light moved toward Sakura and began to enlarge, revealing a pink rod with a white, birdlike head inside the light. A glowing, golden circle filled with complex symbols formed beneath the rod.

"Sakura, take the rod!" Cerberus commanded.

Sakura struggled against the bright light but managed to grab hold of the rod, which grew longer in her hands.

"All right! It's the birth of a Card Captor!" Cerberus cheered.

The scene on the video changed again. Now Sakura was skating down the road, wearing pink pajamas. "I'm telling you it's impossible for me to be the 'Card Captor,'" she whined.

"And who was it that scattered the cards?" Cerberus retorted.

"And who was it that was asleep at the job?" Sakura shot back.

A sudden gust of wind blew them down the street.

"No time to argue," Cerberus called out. "It's time for the Card Captor to get to work!"

"Something that big is impossible!" Sakura complained, staring at the humongous bird perched on a shrine gate.

"Are you trying to be cute?!" Cerberus growled.

The giant bird flapped its great wings, sending another gust of wind and launched Sakura into the air. Cerberus caught her by her shirt and struggled to set her back down on the ground safely.

"Sakura, your magic. You should be able to capture Fly card with the Windy card you already have!" Cerberus advised. "Use the key like I told you to."

Sakura nervously grasped the small key shaped object she now wore as a necklace. "Key which hides the powers of darkness, show your true power to me. Under the contract, Sakura commands you. RELEASE!"

Once again the magical golden circle formed beneath her, and the key in her hand grew to form the rod she had been given earlier.

"Now we need to get closer and use Windy," Cerberus informed.

Before Sakura could act on that, she had to duck as Fly swooped right over her. "It came after us!"

"Here it comes again!" Cerberus warned.

Again Sakura had to duck as the great bird attacked.

"Hurry and use Windy!" Cerberus called out.

"I can't use it like this. It's impossible!" Sakura whined, skating away from Fly.

"Isn't it a Card Captor's job to do something about that?" Cerberus countered.

"Something?" Sakura questioned in confusion, but then her face became determined. "Maybe there is something I can do." She began to skate even faster.

"What are ya planning?" Cerberus questioned, but ended up being blown away by a fierce wind that Fly threw at him.

When the world stopped spinning for the diminutive beast, he saw Sakura skating up the side of a cliff wall, using her speed and the wind generated by Fly to keep herself from falling. When the girl got above the great bird, she managed to flip off the wall and land on the bird's back.

Sakura barely managed to stay on the bird. Once she was sure she wouldn't fall off, she called out, "Become the wind that binds. Windy, release!"

A spectral image of woman appeared above Sakura and great winds began to surround the bird, forcing Fly to crash to the ground. Little Sakura rolled as she hit the ground and then stood up facing the trapped Clow Card.

Sakura raised her wand into the air and commanded, "Return to your true form, Clow Card!"

The giant bird struggled as it was literally pulled apart. Suddenly the great creature was a small card, resting before the exhausted girl that had sealed it.

"I thought I was going to die!" Sakura whined, her adrenaline obviously leaving her.

"Is that anyway for a Card Captor to talk?" Cerberus chastised.

Sakura huffed. "I never said I agreed to be a Card Captor."

"The more you experience in life, the better person you'll be," Cerberus said sagely before laughing. "Well, you went through all the trouble of capturing it, why don't you use it?"

"What does it do?" Sakura questioned.

"Hit it and find out," Cerberus replied.

The scene then changed to a grainy and poor quality image of Sakura flying with Cerberus next to her.

"This time I was there," Tomoyo pointed out. "I'm so happy I managed to get her first flight on tape, though it's such a shame I missed her first capture."

"Hoeh?!" Sakura voice called out. On the screen was a mountain of desks and chairs piled up in the middle of the school's field.

"Well, that brings back memories," Chiharu commented dryly. "We spent a lot of time cleaning that mess up."

"So what card did this?" Naoko questioned.

Tomoyo pressed pause. "There's a hint in the screen. What's missing?"

The girls peered at the screen. Chiharu and Rika didn't see anything off. But then Naoko called out, "Wait a second! What time was this taken?"

"Oh, a little after eight in the morning," Tomoyo replied.

"Shouldn't the morning sun be casting much larger shadows?" Naoko asked. If it wasn't for the grainy image indicating that this was original footage, she might've passed it off as Illusion not casting a shadow.

"So, it's the Shadow Card," Meiling commented. "Guess that one was a bit of a prankster."

"Many of them were like that," Tomoyo replied before she resumed the video.

Sakura fretted as she paced nervously. "There are g-g-g-ghosts at school during the night!" she whined.

Meiling shook her head. "Kinomoto can blow up skyscrapers, flood a city with water or snow, and the gods know what else; yet she still wusses out like that over ghosts."

"Well, this is when she was ten," Tomoyo reminded.

"Has she gotten over that fear?" Meiling returned.

"Not really," Tomoyo reluctantly answered.

----------------------

If a glare could kill, Syaoran would be dead. Touya never did like the foreign boy, and it had nothing to do with how they met. Part of him wished he hadn't interrupted Li's rather poor first meeting with Sakura. That would've set them much firmer as enemies and would've made it harder for him to successfully steal what was truly important: her heart.

When Touya first saw Li, he knew the boy would take Sakura away. She was only ten-years-old, and there was the boy that fate had tied her too. They would fall in love and nothing anyone did could stop it short of killing one of them. He had never hated his magical second sight more than he did that day.

Touya sighed. He wished his little sister could've had a normal life. That she would go to college and have her own career before settling down with a family. However, he knew Sakura would follow their mother's footsteps. She would never graduate senior high school because she would be a mother instead.

"How are they?" Yukito asked, approaching the upset Kinomoto.

"Asleep," Touya almost growled.

Yukito smiled at the couple. "They're so cute together."

"No, they aren't," Touya returned. "They're monsters, and they'll make more monsters."

Yukito patted him on the back. "Fretting over things you can't change won't do you any good."

Touya huffed. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Perhaps you need a little distraction for the moment," Yukito advised with a sly grin. "How about a little 'nap?'"

"Fine," Touya muttered, closing his little sister's bedroom door.

Kero-chan, who had been sitting over the bed the entire time, huffed. "They better not make too much noise."

----------------------

A trio of surprised shrieks echoed in the room.

"Li-kun tried to mug Sakura-chan?!" Chiharu cried out.

"Talk about a bad first meeting," Naoko commented, shaking her head. "It's like a cliched manga meeting of the main couple."

"Though thankfully without all the misunderstandings and physical violence afterwards," Rika added. "Still, that is a bad way to meet."

"Rewind that and pause it when the lazen board is pointing at Kinomoto," Meiling ordered as she gave a confused stare at the video.

Tomoyo giggled nervously at her friends' reactions, and was uncertain about Meiling's request but did it anyway. She rewound the video a little too far and hit play. On screen Syaoran began to chant while holding his lazen board, a flat piece of wood with painted symbols on top. When the board produced a beam of light, Tomoyo froze the image. "Is something wrong?"

Meiling nodded. "Yeah, there's a mistake here. If the cards are in her pocket, the board would point there, not her heart."

"But it did point..." Tomoyo's eyes widened in surprise. "The Light Card! It's pointing at that! I never realized that."

Meiling huffed. "So that's how she had it when she faced the Dark Card."

Tomoyo nodded. "And here there was a hint where it was months before she found it." She then resumed the video.

As they watched the attack again, Chiharu repeated in disbelief, "Li-kun tried to mug Sakura-chan."

----------------------

Syaoran groaned as he slowly woke up. He felt extremely comfortable and then stiffened into a statue as he noticed he wasn't alone in the bed. He jumped straight out of bed and across the room. He stared at the slumbering girl in disbelief. He then started patting his clothing to making sure they had been on the entire time.

"Geez, you two make a great pair," Kero-chan groused. "You're both lousy at waking up."

Syaoran blinked at the yellow plushy as it floated toward him. Slowly the events leading up to him falling asleep struck him and the boy lunged at the sleeping girl, knocking Kero-chan to the side in the process. He pulled up her pajama top to check her injury. He frowned as she winced in her sleep when he poked at her bandages.

Sakura's eyes briefly opened and she muttered, "More sleep." She grabbed hold of his arm and yanked him back into bed. Syaoran tried to sputter out protests, but they fell upon sleeping ears as the girl did not let go of the death grip on his arm.

Syaoran tried to relax, and the peaceful slumbering face of his beloved certainly helped, but that didn't help his problem. He needed to go to the bathroom.

----------------------

The trial of Yue. The girls watched on like they were viewing an airplane in the process of crashing to the ground. Blow after blow rained upon their friend, and she would not fight back for the one causing her the pain was, in fact, her first crush who she still loved at the time.

They knew very well that Sakura would live, but to see her go through a life and death struggle against someone she cared deeply for was hurting them. And then when the Wood Card engulfed her in its branches and began choking her to death, they still feared for her.

"You have failed," Yue decreed, and the girls started in surprise as the screen faded.

Then the video showed Sakura waking up and muttered something about a dream. The young girl went through the day. But something was off. It became obvious that the warnings of Yue and Cerberus had come to pass: those touched by the Clow Cards would forget those they loved the most.

There were no pictures of Sakura's mother at her home. Nobody stood at the spot where Yukito would meet the Kinomoto siblings on the way to school. When Sakura arrived at school, Tomoyo practically ignored her presence.

Meiling looked over at Daidouji. "Just how much do you love Kinomoto?"

Tomoyo laughed a little nervously. "We're like sisters."

Meiling gave her a disbelieving look before noticing that Syaoran likewise barely registered Sakura's presence. Her gaze turned to a deadly glare. "He loved her even then?! And she couldn't even figure that out?! Gah! They're both stupid!"

Chiharu flinched at the image of her dismissing Yamazaki so casually, while Rika fidgeted at the lack of nervousness the screen's version of her showed when talking with a certain teacher, but was relieved to note that he also lacked a nervous edge as well. Naoko sighed noting that her reaction to the loss of love was the lack of books on her desk.

Meiling looked confused. "Doesn't look like Rika or Naoko were affected."

"Remember I'm in love with an older man," Rika reminded with a blush, hoping Meiling didn't figure out WHICH older man that was.

"I need a boyfriend," Naoko grumbled.

Sakura approached what should've been the Tsukishiro household, but the house was vacant and in serious need of repairs.

"What happened to Tsukishiro's grandparents?" Naoko wondered.

"He has none," Tomoyo replied. "It was a story used to get him into school."

"Then who changed Sakura-chan's clothes when she faced Illusion?" Naoko pressed.

"Tsukishiro-kun probably did. At that point he was very much in denial that he was not human. He probably doesn't even remember changing her clothes," Tomoyo answered.

"Or it could've been Yue. Sakura did have Windy and Watery already, so he should've been able to go to his true form if he wanted too," Meiling added.

"True, but Yue's power is harder to maintain so I don't think he would expend his energy just for that," Tomoyo returned.

"The one I love the most is Yukito-san!" Sakura cried out as a bell chimed through the dream world that faded away quickly. Back into reality Wood was dispelled and Sakura once again stood upon Tokyo Tower confronting Yue. With a little advice from her math teacher, Mizuki, Sakura's wand changed form and the young girl overpowered Yue with the Windy card.

With Yue's decree that Sakura was the new mistress of the Clow Cards, a song began playing as the magical girl celebrated her victory with Tomoyo and Syaoran.

"And that ends Sakura's first adventure," Tomoyo informed as she pressed stop and rewind.

"But more weird stuff happened the following year," Naoko whined. "Why did this stuff continue?"

"Well if it wasn't getting so late, I'd start up that video...." Tomoyo replied reluctantly.

"The short of it is Sakura was forced to transform the cards with her own magic, since the magic in the Clow Cards would eventually drain away to nothing. The cards became 'Sakura Cards' that feed off her magic rather than living on Clow's residual magic. The person behind it was Hiragizawa Eriol, the reincarnation of Clow," Meiling explained.

"It gets quite complicated," Tomoyo added.

"I can't wait to find out all about it!" Naoko chirped. "Can we come back tomorrow and see that one?"

"Certainly!" Tomoyo chirped.

----------------------

Syaoran was quite thankful for all his meditative studies. Despite the pain of his full bladder, he was still able to control himself. It wasn't that he had a choice in the matter. Sakura had yet to relinquish his arm to him and neither her older brother nor the stuffed-animal would tell him a means of getting her to let go that didn't involve waking her or possibly hurting her. And her brother made it quite clear what would happen if he did wake Sakura up, which he frankly had no plans of doing.

While many would consider almost anything to be a welcome distraction, Sakura's cellphone ringing wasn't a comfort to Li as it not only broke him out of his meditation, but forced him to stop looking at Sakura as well. Believing that the only ones to have her cellphone number were Sakura's family, Tomoyo, Meiling, and himself, he picked up the phone with a half-formed threat in his mind if it was a telemarketer.

"Hello," Syaoran groused. "Yes, I'm awake Daidouji, and, yes, Sakura is fine. She's still sleeping." The girl rambled on to him for a few minutes while he only grunted in acknowledgement. When he finally had a chance to say something, he asked a little nervously, "Do you know any way to get Sakura to let go of something while she's sleeping without waking her?" Li waited as the girl pondered his question. He turned deep red and stammered, "I-I-I-I can't do that!"

Syaoran sighed as Tomoyo hung up on her end, laughing her strange laugh. There was no way he was going to do THAT to her. At least not yet and not with her asleep. If he tried that now and Sakura woke up or worse her brother walked in... he shuddered. He shook his head and tried to settle back into his trance using Sakura's face as his focus.

----------------------

Author's Notes:

Tomoyo's video of scenes, especially those that were reenacted, are not a word for word rewrite of Card Captor Sakura. Part of the reason is that Sakura and Tomoyo don't have perfect memories and don't remember things exactly as they happen, and for reducing length of the whole video.

The current level of Touya's magical sight will be explained in the next chapter. It has not fully returned and it does not work exactly the same way it did in series.

The depiction of Tomoeda is that of a wealthy Japanese community. The houses they live in are worth between one to five million dollars US or hundred-and-fifty to seven-hundred-and-fifty million yen if not more. Property value, especially near Tokyo is beyond expensive. They are also shown to be involved in expensive recreation, whether it's Rika's piano classes or the fact Sakura had a Super Famicon (Super Nintendo) as soon as it was released.


Coming in Chapter 2: Sakura and the Return of Abnormal Days
Sakura's life gets swept back into the world of magic with the return of her boyfriend. But has life been truly normal for her and her friends?