Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction ❯ Shadow of the Dragon ❯ Sakura and the Horrible Presents ( Chapter 36 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Lord Archive 
Twas the night before Christmas Eve and unwanted presents await.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.19.2014 | Updated On: 12.24.2014 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.0K | Visits: 252 | Status: Completed
Twas the night before Christmas Eve and unwanted presents await.
Anime/Manga: Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Supernatural / Romance / Drama | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 12.19.2014 | Updated On: 12.24.2014 | Pages: 10 | Words: 10.0K | Visits: 252 | Status: Completed
Shiori entered Twin Bells and rushed straight to a rack filled with cards. "Yes! The Wish Cards are back in stock!"
"I was afraid they wouldn't make it in time for Christmas," Maki replied with a matronly smile.
"Love, love, love... Here it is!" Shiori grabbed the card and held it up triumphantly.
The door chimed and Yuki entered with an annoyed look. "You didn't have to run all the way here."
"Of course I did! Class just let out. If I didn't get here first I might have missed out on getting the one I wanted!" Shiori defended. "With this, he'll finally notice me!"
"You really should look somewhere else," Yuki retorted. "If the guy is fickle enough to drop his current love for you, he's liable to dump you in a few years as well."
"I still don't buy he's dating HER," Shiori retorted.
Yuki shook her head. "Don't come crying to me when you find out it's all true."
"I won't because it's not!" Shiori shot back.
Yuki picked up a love card as well.
"Why do you need that? Don't you have a girlfriend already?" Shiori questioned bitterly.
Yuki playfully hit her friend with the card. "As much as I like my beloved, I'm afraid it might not be mutual. When we go out it feels less like a date and more being chaperoned by a big sister."
"Aren't you going to her Christmas party? Certainly you can make yourself the present," Shiori pointed out enviously.
Yuki smirked as she waved the card in her hand. "I just might, and this certainly can't hurt."
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Card Captor Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 36: Sakura and the Horrible Presents
By: Lord Archive
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
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.
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"Sorry. I've got some class duties to finish up before I can leave. It'll take me twenty minutes, thirty max," Meiling apologized.
Matsumoto frowned. "Guess I'll have to wait." He then leaned against the school gate irritably.
"'The best things come to those who wait,'" Meiling quoted before rushing off, barely making it into the school before she was stopped.
"You're playing a dangerous game," Syaoran warned.
"I know what I'm doing," Meiling retorted while trying to walk past her cousin.
Syaoran grabbed her by the arm. "Ignoring your grandfather might be VERY upset about what you did with him-"
"Actually I haven't YET," Meiling interrupted. "That was a lie to bait a trap, now to find out if it springs."
Syaoran blinked. "What do you mean by that?"
Meiling scowled at him. "This isn't the place to explain that." She pulled free and stomped off.
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"It didn't work," Sakura bemoaned as she plopped down to the floor next to the giant clock bell. "It's still going to happen."
Kero-chan floated next to her. "You had to realize that it was a hopeless wish. Too much has been invested in this."
"I know," Sakura whined. "It might have worked if I hadn't slept with Syaoran."
"That's one mistake you certainly can't undo," the small guardian groused.
"KERO-CHAN!" Sakura hissed.
The guardian beast flinched and flew back several centimeters. "Sorry."
Sakura let out a sigh. "I don't know what to do. There's going to be an attack in the next couple days. It might even be THE attack."
"You'll do your best," Kero-chan cheered.
Sakura gazed at it with a pained looked. "Even at my best... I have the worst feeling people are going to get hurt."
"Yueh and I will be ready to help, but you should gather more allies to help," Kero-chan suggested strongly.
Sakura nodded weakly. This was definitely something she could not handle alone.
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"Is he still at the gate?" Meiling questioned with a strange edge to her voice.
Tomoyo looked at the girl with a sorrow filled look. "I'm afraid not."
Naoko folded her arms irritably. "Didn't even take a minute."
Meiling clenched her fists. "Where is he now?"
"The Audio Visual room," Tomoyo replied bitterly.
"So I get to be the one delivering the presents," Naoko informed bitterly.
"Good luck with that," Meiling spat before rushing out of the room.
Naoko blinked. "Was she crying?"
Tomoyo sighed. "While it wasn't part of the plan... Meiling-chan actually did like him. Though I have no idea what she saw in him."
"She had to know this was going to happen," Naoko stated.
Tomoyo smirked sadly. "She did which was why she moved the test up. If he passed, she had a _special_ present planned for him."
"Ah." Naoko shook her head. "Well, I better head down there." Without another word she picked up an envelope and lightly jogged to her destination. Arriving at the door she wondered if she might have missed her chance but then saw Kurogane step into view and nodded to her before returning to hiding. Leaning toward the door, she could make out faint sounds that proved the room was indeed occupied.
Naoko moved to the wall across from the door and leaned against it to wait for Matsumoto to exit. As a few minutes passed, she started to be impressed by the boy. Finally he exited, but as expected he was not alone. "I have some things for you. First, don't bother waiting for Meiling-chan."
Matsumoto froze. "She knows?"
"You just screwed Megumi, the WHOLE school will know about it. She has never been discreet about borrowing boyfriends," Naoko informed.
The girl in question folded her arms. "I suppose this has a point?"
"Ever since you borrowed my boyfriend, I wanted to find a way to get back at you. However finding something that would actually hurt you was difficult." Naoko smacked Matsumoto with the envelope she was carrying as he tried to walk away. "THIS is your Christmas 'present' from Tomoyo-chan, WHICH also might work to hurt her."
"What sort of present would she get me?" Matsumoto wondered.
Naoko held out the envelope. "Open it and find out."
Megumi started to look sick. "Don't tell me he's...."
Matsumoto opened the envelop and looked confused at the papers he pulled from it. "What's with this medical garbage?"
"Simple, that is a DNA test that shows with a ninety-eight point three percent certainty that the two of you share a common parent, namely your father," Naoko informed smugly.
"I fucked my brother?" Megumi looked ready to retch.
Naoko grinned at her reaction. "Yep and do be careful. His father is as bad a womanizer as he is, and not only are there 'rumored' to be a number of half-siblings but Matsumoto-kun, here, may be a father in a few months."
"You expect me to believe this bullshit?!" Matsumoto demanded.
"Go ahead and test it yourself," Naoko returned. "Though do remember that Tomoyo-chan did pull your DNA from your scalp."
Matsumoto crushed the envelope and papers in his hands. "You better believe I'll have this tested! There's no way Dad would need to sleep around. He has me to be his heir!"
"Why leave all your eggs in one basket? If something happened to you or you proved unworthy, better to have a back-up just in case," Naoko shot at him.
Matsumoto glared death at the girl, his hand clenched into a fist. "You don't know anything!"
"I do know that Tomoyo-chan's boyfriend is right behind you. I'm aware you've met Kurogane-san before," Naoko returned.
Matsumoto glanced behind himself and saw the young man was indeed there. Even before learning martial arts were real he had recognized this was not a guy you would want to fight. If he took a swing at this bitch of a girl, there was no question that not only would he fail to hit her-- he would be in for a lot of pain. He angrily trudged away.
"Oh, and Matsumoto-kun, if you hadn't fucked your sister, Meiling-chan's present for you would've been her virginity," Naoko taunted.
"She lied about fucking him?" Megumi wondered.
"Of course she did," Naoko replied. "That had been the plan all along to get back at you. To make you believe he was her boyfriend so you'd bed him. While he hasn't exactly done anything wrong to Tomoyo-chan, she didn't take kindly to him wanting to make her his wife while he would have mistresses to ensure he had an heir. If you hadn't screwed Gotoh-san we might not have gone this far."
Megumi folded her arms. "I was never with Gotoh. I heard that he said he's been with two girls, but I certainly wasn't one of them."
Naoko blinked. "It wasn't you?"
"Course he might have lied to make himself look manlier and to piss off his girlfriend," Megumi rationalized. She then shook her head. "And here I was hoping Matsumoto could've been my meal ticket."
"Yeah, well I'm not sorry." Naoko started to walk away. "While it wasn't part of the plan, Meiling-chan really did have feelings for him. But if he could be swayed by you in less than a minute, there's no way she can trust he would be faithful to her."
"Trust me on this one, it's her loss. He definitely knows how to touch a girl," Megumi told her.
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"Syaoran, we need to talk," Sakura announced.
The boy stiffened a little bit but her presence was no surprise as he had felt her magic approaching him as he arrived at his apartment building. He merely nodded and opened his apartment door and let her in first. He shut the door before asking, "What is it?"
"You've been feeling it too, haven't you?" Sakura questioned.
"The increase of magic?" Syaoran asked to be sure.
Sakura nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I've felt it. Do you know what he's planning?" Syaoran wondered.
Sakura moved to the couch and flopped onto it. "I wish I did. All I know is soon, very soon, there will be an attack. It'll be the biggest one yet... and people will get hurt."
Syaoran frowned. "I see."
Sakura clenched her hands together. "Everything I had done hoping to avoid this attack... didn't work."
"But what can we do about this?" Syaoran questioned.
"'When you don't know how your opponent is going to move, you must wait, watch and listen,'" Sakura quoted her Tai Chi instructor. "When he acts we have to be ready to react."
Syaoran nodded slowly. "I hope you weren't planning on Meiling to help with this."
Sakura shivered when she heard the girl's name. Her eyes going wide. "Syaoran, where is she?"
"She ran off after her boyfriend wandered off with Inoue," Syaoran replied bitterly.
Sakura looked at him with fear. "Syaoran... I... The attack, it's going to begin NOW with Meiling."
"Why would he attack her?" Syaoran questioned with concern.
"It's... It doesn't feel like that. I'm not sure..." Sakura closed her eyes trying to get a better read of what her magic was sensing. "But she will be involved." She picked up her cellphone. "I'm calling Kurogane-san, we're going to need everyone for this one."
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Meiling ran blindly from her school, unsure of where she wanted to go. She couldn't stay there with Matsumoto having failed his test. She couldn't go home as Syaoran would be there by now and she didn't want to deal with him. She wanted to escape everything. When exhaustion finally gripped her, she found herself at the vacant building used to house the unofficial mixed martial arts tournaments. She frowned finding it was indeed vacant. Some Fridays there might be a few people practicing and sparring, but with it being Christmas weekend there would be no matches tomorrow as everyone would be out with friends or getting laid.
Falling to her knees, Meiling punched the floor. "Why do I have the worst luck?"
"There is no such thing as luck."
Meiling jumped to her feet and whirled around. "Grandfather!?"
The elderly man dressed ceremonial green robes gazed kindly at his granddaughter. "I've told you before, if there is something you want, don't hold back. Do everything you can to get it."
"The world doesn't work that way," Meiling countered weakly, a strange dread filling her. "I... I love Matsumoto but he'll never be faithful to me. I want a guy who will love me, and only me."
"That man whore was never worthy of you, you knew that before you even met him. You merely played into the act of being his girlfriend too much. There has only been one true love for you," Yinglong intoned.
Meiling folded her arms defiantly. "You caught the 'loves ONLY me' part, right? Syaoran loves someone else."
"He's mistaken with his feelings. He's only attracted to her magic. Once she is out of the way, he'll return to his senses," Yinglong rationalized.
"Bullshit!" Meiling spat. "That MIGHT have helped start things, but there's no way his feelings are fake!"
"There is nothing about that girl that is real. She is a false heir of Clow, her love is untrue, her worthiness to join with the Li clan is a joke. I tried to show Syaoran the truth, yet she still blinds him," Yinglong returned harshly.
"Disguising a ghost to slut around in a fake body isn't truth, that's the lie!" Meiling clenched her hands. "I don't want to believe this. You can't be the one hurting Kinomoto! You can't!"
"Why should I care if a thieving whore is hurt?" Yinglong hissed. "She is no more than a rat to the Li clan."
"She's my friend!" Meiling yelled at him. "You have to stop this."
Yinglong nodded. "I will be stopping this. And you will help."
"I won't help you hurt Kinomoto!" Meiling protested.
Yinglong pulled out a few items from his robes. "It will be best if you severe your ties with your own hands."
Meiling took a few fearful steps back before her grandfather waved his hand toward her and darkness descended over her mind.
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Sakura entered the main room of Syaoran's apartment wearing a dark green skirt with a red blouse, both accented with white stars and lace. It had a fanciful Christmas look without going so far that it would be embarrassing to wear in public.
Syaoran gazed intently at the girl. Seeing her dressed like that took his mind back a few years when she often wore clothes like that while capturing and converting her cards. In fact the dress made her look so cute, that he could almost swear Sakura appeared to be twelve-years-old.
Tomoyo clapped her hands together. "You look amazingly cute!" She then glanced at Syaoran. "And you've got his approval too."
Sakura and Syaoran began to sputter incoherently with embarrassment.
"Can we get to the matter at hand?" Kurogane growled.
"If only we could," Touya returned. "Until her enemy makes his move, we would be running blindly out there."
Syaoran frowned. "I don't like this either. Meiling is out there and we don't know what has happened to her."
"Considering Sakura-chan's enemy is Meiling's grandfather, it will be safe to say she will be physically all right," Yukito tried to assure the boy.
"It's what he might do to her head is what I'm worried about," Syaoran returned. "He knows how to affect the mind and the longer he has her, the more damage he can do."
Sakura frowned. "I wish I could be more certain about what he's going to do. Though I feel he's got too much invested in this attack to do much to Meiling-chan."
"You have an idea?" Kurogane asked.
"The magic he's been using has been obscured. Even now I can barely sense it, but there is more to it than Li clan magic I feel..." Sakura frowned deeply. "There's also some mind control aspect to it."
"It's spread too far and too weak to do more than influence people," Syaoran retorted.
"I know, but the magic is still there," Sakura warned. She turned toward Kurogane. "Where is Fye-san?"
"He's on a different case and can't be pulled away," Kurogane replied simply.
"Do be careful," Sakura told him.
Kurogane nodded, remembering Mizuki Kaho's prophecy that Fye would not be around when he needed him most. He then jumped as if lightning had struck nearby. Only his girlfriend failed to carry a similar reaction.
"It has begun," Sakura called out.
"No shit," Touya groused. "What was that?"
Sakura let her magic spread out, letting her mystical senses feel the situation. She then blinked. "The Wish Cards?"
"The what?" Kurogane wondered.
"They're novelty cards that look like my cards. But how? They had no magic," Sakura wondered.
"Have you checked the newest ones?" Tomoyo questioned.
"No, but I've had them before... I... well I guess I wasn't as strong as I am now. The magic had been obscured," Sakura replied sheepishly.
"And who is to say the original cards had any magic?" Tomoyo questioned.
Sakura went into Meiling's room and returned with a faintly glowing card marked with a heart and labeled 'Love.' "Because this is one from five years ago. It's only safe to touch because it lacks the mind control aspect."
"But all the new ones Twin Bells sold recently do," Tomoyo rationalized.
Sakura nodded. "And there are hundreds of cards out there."
"What's he going to do?" Syaoran questioned.
Sakura's cellphone began to ring. A feeling of dread hit her as she saw it was from Naoko-chan. She answered it on speaker phone.
"Hello, Sakura-chan," Naoko's voice sang over the phone.
"Hi..." Sakura returned nervously. "You bought a Wish Card?"
"They are a fun novelty," Naoko replied. "Much like having parents when you no longer need them. I think I'll throw them away. You better hurry over if you think I shouldn't be an orphan."
Dread gripped their hearts. Sakura looked up at Kurogane and he nodded in response before running out the door. The line went dead and she hung up the phone, which immediately rang again.
"Hi, Sakura-chan!" Rika greeted cheerfully. "I'm going to announce my love for all to see! I'll make sure some security cameras get a good look at Yoshiyuki finally making me a woman, then no one can dispute our love."
Sakura hung up the phone only for an unknown number to call.
"I will get to be with my beloved Terada-sensei!" Hayabusa called out.
Sakura glanced over at Syaoran. "Find Terada-sensei and make sure they don't succeed."
"You can start from here," Tomoyo told him and quickly scribbled down the teacher's address on a piece of paper and handed it to the boy before he ran off.
Sakura then blinked as her phone rang again, this time from her home. "Hello, Sakura speaking?"
"We've got a problem here! There's dozens of zoned out girls trying to break inta the house! I think they're mind controlled," Kero's voice rang out with concern. "I'm not exactly built to stop them unless I want to hurt them!"
Touya glanced at Yukito before announcing, "We've got this."
Sakura nodded. "Help is on it's way."
"He's intentionally splitting us up," Tomoyo observed.
"Yes," Sakura agreed. Her phone signaled yet another call.
"Syaoran will be mine, over your dead body," Meiling threatened evilly.
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Kurogane ran down the street. There was an unusual number of children walking around this late in the evening, especially without adult supervision. The vacant eyes made him wonder just how many cards were out there if this street alone had more than a dozen possessed children.
A few girls were in the process of ripping apart a fir tree loaded with decorations. The vandalism was not what caused of Kurogane's pause. A little further down the street a police officer was ripping apart a wreath with a girl lying on the ground nearby. Running with the shadows he moved to check the girl and noted she was still breathing and only seemed to be unconscious. He shook her gently.
The girl blinked tiredly. "Wha?"
"The streets are dangerous right now. Go home," Kurogane barked at her.
The girl looked around confused and jumped when the police officer jumped at the man in black that had woken her up.
Kurogane didn't spare a moment to look. In a single motion he pulled out his sword and swiped at the officer.
The girl screamed in terror, but quickly saw that no blood came from the officer rather a familiar card and some clothe floated toward the ground.
"Huh? My card?" the girl questioned.
"Don't touch that!" Kurogane ordered. "And GO HOME!"
The girl looked at him fearfully before running off.
Kurogane checked the officer and saw that the man seemed to be as unconscious as the girl had been. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed. "Do not touch the cards. Possession will switch to the current wielder. Destroying the cards will render the person unconscious for a short period of time." He then frowned. "I'll ask Yanagisawa if she remembers anything once I stop her."
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"Thanks, Tomoyo-chan." Touya hung up his cellphone. "Destroying the card will knock whoever is possessed out cold, but don't touch the card as it'll cause you to be possessed."
Yukito nodded. "So no need to worry about an angel being spotted." Magic erupted around the young man and wings surrounded him, before parting to reveal Yueh's form. "I am not an angel."
Touya smirked. "I can attest to that. You'll have an easier time removing the cards. Go on ahead of me."
Yueh frowned. "Indeed." He sped off as fast as his wings could carry him. "Be careful."
"You know you don't have to worry about me," Touya called out, doubting his words reached him. He then let out a sigh as a number of young teenagers stepped onto the street.
"Why don't you call for some help?" one young boy asked.
"Don't need it," Touya groused moving to a combat stance. While no where near as trained as the Li cousins, he did have a few years of martial arts training and with the magic Sakura was feeding him he should be able to fend them off long enough.
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"This isn't good at all!" Sakura whined.
"We'll deal with this," Tomoyo encouraged.
"Yueh went on ahead and now my brother is fighting in the street," Sakura bemoaned.
"You can sense that?" Tomoyo wondered.
Sakura looked confused. "Of course I can. They're using my magic."
Tomoyo nodded slowly, realizing the girl meant it literally with both of them actively engaged in this fight.
"I'll take care of this." Sakura pulled out a card and flung it into the air and held up her already transformed wand. "The SHOT! Destroy all the Wish Cards! RELEASE!"
Tomoyo frowned as the card sped off into the distance, not surprised it was heading toward the Kinomoto home and Touya. "We're still playing into his plans."
"Eh?" Sakura looked confused.
"He wants to drain your magic before you face Meiling-chan," Tomoyo noted.
Sakura frowned. "Well he has had time to plan this."
"And thanks to me knows how we'll fight him," Tomoyo added regretfully.
Sakura gripped her staff tightly. "Everything will be all right! I'm sure of it!"
"I pray you're right," Tomoyo returned.
Sakura prayed her so-called 'unbeatable spell,' truly was unbeatable.
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Syaoran ran down the street looking around, yet found the street oddly deserted. He would've expected to see some couples at least walking home from a date but even the animals seemed to be in hiding. He did not feel as if he was about to be ambushed, rather that everything was being made to avoid him. That was a problem when trying to find someone, but that could be fixed.
With no one around, Syaoran summoned his sword and pulled out one of his two magical cards, "Heed my call, The Birds, RELEASE!"
A flock of various tropical birds flew out of the card taking off into various directions.
"I'll be the one to find Sasaki-chan!" a parrot called out.
"No! I will!" a cockatoo retorted.
"Sasaki's house is that way," Syaoran groused.
The two birds immediately flew off in that direction.
The bird of paradise perched on Syaoran's shoulder and gave the teenager an exasperated look.
"Are they really that troublesome?" Syaoran questioned.
The bird of paradise nodded.
The pair remained silent and waited. The bird's attention stirred and pointed with his beak before taking to the air.
"Got it." Syaoran took off running after the bird quickly finding Terada walking down the street in a daze.
The chirps of three different tropical birds echoed.
Syaoran slouched briefly wondering why the man had four cards on him, but being an elementary school teacher there was no shortage of potential gift givers even if Sasaki hadn't given him one.
Terada's glazed eyes locked onto the boy and then suddenly surged forward.
Syaoran rushed a dodge as the man nearly clothes-lined him with his outstretched arm. While being a gym teacher obviously helped keep the man fit, the speed of the attack was that of an Olympic runner. He had to figure out how to remove those cards from the man fast, but his other magical card didn't have nearly enough control to just target them and he wasn't about to risk having his birds try to remove them.
As the teacher turned and prepared to run at his former student once again a Toucan swooped down and flapped it's wings straight into the man's face.
Syaoran didn't trust himself enough to destroy the cards on the teacher without hurting him. But the distraction did give him an idea. He called for the birds around him to swarm the man, and had them pull off his ever present suit jacket.
The magic of the cards did try to reach the birds through the clothing it was attached to, yet the separate minds dulled the affect allowing the birds to instinctively drop the jacket on the ground.
Syaoran pulled out a prayed paper and slapped it on his sword. "God of Thunder, DESCEND!" A bolt of lightning arced from his weapon to the suit jacket destroying the cards hidden in it. "Ah, I'll replace that."
Terada's glazed eyes remained, though he moved slower as he finally managed to charge once again.
A bird chirped in disdain.
"I realize that NOW!" Syaoran shot back. They had only taken care of three cards in the jacket, leaving one left. He could sense it resting on top of the man's chest, likely that card was the one Sasaki personally gave him.
A large group of girls turned onto the street, with one of them calling out, "We can't have you getting in the way of love."
"Shit," Syaoran spat.
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Kurogane slipped into the Yanagisawa household, doing his best to remain hidden from view.
Naoko swayed as she stood in the hallway while holding a large kitchen knife. She raised her foot as if to take a step forward but then pulled her leg back nearly causing her to fall over. Once she regained her balance she once again tried and failed to take a step forward.
Kurogane silently moved closer to the girl, careful to stay out of her sight. He frowned as he could not see where the card that possessed the girl was. He glided away from her to give himself more room. He then barked, "Yanagisawa."
The girl spun around and immediately leapt at the man.
A flash of Kurogane's blade slashed through the air and Naoko bonelessly collapsed to the ground.
Kurogane kicked the girl to lay on her back. Her pajama top cut from his strike and a shallow scratch to her chest, yet his true target remained on the floor in two pieces. He stabbed both pieces of the card with his sword and deposited them in the trash before returning to the fallen girl and shaking her awake.
"Wha?" Naoko blearily looked at him.
"Do you remember anything?" Kurogane questioned bluntly.
Naoko looked confused. "Remember what?"
Kurogane pointed at the knife next to the girl. "Do you remember why you had that?"
Naoko blinked in confusion. "Ah... no... Wait! Was I possessed?"
Kurogane nodded. "Kinomoto's enemy has used 'Wish Cards' to possess people."
"Why aren't you with Sakura-chan?" Naoko demanded.
"Because you were commanded to kill your parents," Kurogane intoned.
"What can I do to help?" Naoko asked, getting to her feet.
"Secure your home and if you have any more of those cards do not touch them. The one that was on you is now in the trash. If anything happens phone Daidouji and she'll relay your need," Kurogane ordered.
Naoko frowned but nodded. She was more a thinker than a fighter. She had looked away for just a second, however Tomoyo's boyfriend was no longer in sight.
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"Tomoyo-chan, hide!" Sakura ordered suddenly.
Tomoyo blinked in confusion as a dozen girls and a few boys, each armed with baseball bats, suddenly ran around the corner straight at them.
Sakura began to pull out a card when a battle cry came from behind her. Five women in business suits rushed past her and charged the possessed attackers.
"Be sure to not touch any of the cards!" Tomoyo warned her bodyguards.
"I forgot they were following us," Sakura giggled with some nervousness. "Not use to them being involved."
"Better than having to waste your energy on them." Tomoyo flinched. "Don't hurt them too much."
While the young teenagers might be armed and out number the bodyguards, the women were trained fighters with experience of facing armed men. Swings of the bats were dodged and immediately counter attacked before the child could recover. Because of the numbers, the bodyguards didn't hold back and went for quick take downs. The first to fall was a girl who took a knee to the underside of her chin and sending her crashing to the ground and knocking her out cold.
Sakura frowned. "She'll feel that in the morning."
Tomoyo nodded. "We'd best leave this to my bodyguards. Meiling-chan is waiting."
"...Yes," Sakura reluctantly agreed. She wasn't sure if The Sleep would do anything as those possessed by the cards might already be mentally asleep while being controlled. With the magic she already used, it would be best not to drain herself further when she didn't have to. She then ran ahead, not wanting to dwell on what the trained women were doing to the possessed teenagers.
Tomoyo gave chase wanting to support her friend and video tape what was hopefully the final confrontation with Meiling's grandfather.
"Tomoyo-chan, look out," Sakura cried in warning.
Tomoyo jumped and her camera seemed to zoom in on a senior high school girl running straight at her. The zoom wasn't active and the girl's speed was super-human. There was no time dodge as she took a fist straight to the chest.
Sakura spun around and gripped her wand tightly. Tomoyo was crumpled on the ground and made a horrible wheezing sound yet was otherwise not moving. She was unmindful of the camera that bounced down the street and broke apart into several pieces. The problem was before her could not be met with distraction. "Tachibana Rei-chan," she breathed out the name of the Olympic hopeful runner whose speed was being magically enhanced.
Rei charged again with blinding speed.
Sakura had but a split second, but her Tai Chi training kicked in and she managed to deflect the girl's arm and sent her running straight into a wall. She waited to see what her opponent would do next.
Rei slid to the ground as she collapsed.
Sakura rushed over to Rei and used her wand to slide the card out of the girl's pocket and onto the ground. She then pulled out a piece of paper and slapped in against her wand. "God of fire, DESCEND!"
With the card burning away with magic taught to her by Syaoran, she rushed over to Tomoyo and looked her friend over. She was deeply concerned with that her best friend's troubled breathing continued to make her wheeze.
"What hit me?"
Sakura looked over at Rei as the girl began to stir. "I don't have time to explain. You need to help Tomoyo-chan! She needs to see a doctor now!"
"What's wrong?" Rei wondered in confussion.
"She's been hit in the chest. She's having trouble breathing. Please run her to a hospital," Sakura pleaded desperately.
Rei was definitely feeling something wasn't being said, but she couldn't argue the point. She carefully picked up Tomoyo. "Don't know how fast I'll be."
"I'm sure a friend will help you," Sakura assured her.
Rei turned her head as a once familiar chirp echoed.
"Follow him," Sakura advised.
Rei merely nodded and began to run like the wind despite the weight of the comatose girl in her arms, following her short-lived beloved pet.
"And I still used magic," Sakura muttered to herself. If she used much more Touya wouldn't be able to use his second sight. And if the fight with Meiling were to go too far, Yueh might be forced to revert to Yukito.
------------------------
A streak of light had taken out the cards possessing Touya's opponents. He certainly didn't appreciate his sister's reckless use of magic. A prolonged encounter was sure to tax even Sakura's vast reserves. Still he rushed home to make sure his father was all right.
"You're just in time to give me a hand," Yukito chirped while dragging a young girl toward the street.
Touya grimaced. "Don't tell me she's been casting even more spells."
Yukito shook his head. "Sakura-chan is being more careful now. But we can't be sure how long this will last. Best to be cautious."
Touya hefted up another unconscious girl and carried her away from the house. "Hence dropping girls in the street."
"Less questions that can't be answered," Yukito agreed.
"Besides an angel would make things harder to explain if one of these kids woke up," Fujitaka added as he carried another girl away.
Yukito let out a giggle hearing Yueh make another complaint about being called an angel. He rushed to grab one of the few boys that had attacked the Kinomoto home, and frowned a little that the child was bleeding a little from when the card that had possessed him was forcibly removed.
"Let's hurry up. Sakura will need us," Touya insisted, already moving another victim.
"The little slut can wait."
Fujitaka stared in surprise as that was his girlfriend's voice that had just insulted his daughter. "What?"
Hanami gave him a sickening grin before she ran straight for her boyfriend.
Fujitaka made a surpised sound as he was suddenly yanked from behind. A streak of light flashed in front of him and he now saw a knife in the young woman's hand. "She's possessed?"
"Safe to say that," Yukito agreed warily. He wanted to switch with Yueh, but the kids that had previously attacked the house were now beginning to wake.
"Well, this is what you get when date your students," Touya hissed.
Fujitaka looked confused for a second but realized that was being said more to the waking children than to him. It would serve as a good method to deflect questions.
Hanami continued to press her attack on her beloved teacher and suddenly found herself grabbed from behind.
Yukito struggled to hold onto her. He then shouted in warning, "Run!"
Groggy and confused, the formerly possessed children heeded the warning and ran away from the knife yielding woman.
Yukito was rather surprised when Hanami suddenly threw him.
"Li Yinglung I presume," Touya muttered, doubting Hanami knew any Chinese martial arts.
"Just lending her a hand," Hanami retorted. "The harlot needs to be punished for believing she could be a proper member of the Li clan."
"Your plan has a fatal flaw," Yueh intoned floating above the possessed woman. "Me." With a glowing hand the magical being rained down waves of energy crystals.
------------------------
"Sasaki-chan is almost here!" a parrot called out.
"I saw her first," a cockatoo added.
"You did not." The parrot tilted his head. "Aren't you supposed to keep that guy safe?"
Syaoran gritted his teeth as he dodged another lunge by one of the girls.
"You're a slippery one," the girl teased.
"I just want to hug you!" added another girl.
Syaoran continued to dodge the girls attempts to grab hold of him. He had managed to free two girls of cards so far, but that was only because they had tried to put their cards onto him which gave him the opening needed to target them without hurting the girls. He knew very well that if these girls managed to pin him down they'd give him all of their cards. He might be able to resist the effects of one or two cards, but his senses warned him that these girls had at least a dozen of the cursed things.
Hayabusa sprinted onto the street. "Terada-sensei, I'm all yours!"
Terada stood there in a daze as the young girl eagerly approached the man.
Syaoran bit back an urge to let out a string of curses, but was surprised to note the man continued to stand idle as he had since the girls arrived.
Hayabusa gazed up longingly at the man. "Terada-sensei, you can kiss me, touch me..." She held her hands over her chest. "...or... even... fuck my brains out!"
Terada took an unsteady step away from his young student.
Hayabusa tried to close the gap, but the man continued to move away from her.
Syaoran was more than a little surprised that the gym teacher was seemingly fighting the card controlling him. His great-uncle's attention had to be somewhere else if the effect was closer to being hypnotized than full possession. It would also explain why Terada had stopped attacking him.
The distraction cost the boy as two slender hands latched onto his arm with a death grip.
"Accept my present!" a girl pulled out one of two cards that were on her.
"Sorry," Syaoran apologized before flipping the girl that had latched onto his arm on top of the girl moving to tag him. He then immediately sliced the offending card in half.
"Terada-sensei, why are you run-" Hayabusa did not get to finish her statement as a rock was slammed against the back of her head.
"Rika-chan..." Terada breathed.
"Yoshiyuki..." Rika returned as she dropped the rock that fell Hayabusa and the distance between them disappeared. They embraced each other tightly and there lips came together in a passionate kiss.
Definitely hypnotism when his great-uncle wasn't involved. The girls that had been trying to grab him stopped to watch the couple's impassioned embrace. Syaoran knew this distraction would not last long. He took a chance and yanked a card out of the nearest girls pocket and tossed it onto the ground immediately. He felt the card's power reach out to him, but the intentional loose grip, brief contact and his mental training allowed him to avoid being controlled.
Syaoran was able take all the cards off four of the girls before the remaining three turned their attention back onto him. "God of fire, descend!" he called out causing the girls to retreat several steps as he destroyed the fallen cards. He cast the spell again, this time focusing the magical flame onto the blade itself.
The possessed girls edged away from Syaoran as the flaming sword caused them to look upon the weapon with fear. Taking the advantage he rushed at the girls briefly yanking cards off them before slicing them with his enchanted weapon.
Rika and Terada noticed none of this as their passions caused their hands to glide over each others' bodies. The girl's hands moved to the crotch the man's pants with unbridled desire. She then collapsed into her beloved's arms.
Terada's glazed eyes still look confused with Rika suddenly passing out. Then he too fell unconscious from a quick blow to his neck.
Syaoran quickly removed all the offending cards off the couple. He then moved to take care of Hayabusa, but it was not the three cards on her that was worrisome. The girl was bleeding from scalp where Sasaki had stuck her. As much as he wanted to rush to make sure Sakura was all right, while he hoped the blow wasn't serious there was a real possibility it could be fatal if not brought to immediate medical care.
------------------------
Despite wearing only her school uniform, Meiling was unfazed by the cold breeze that licked at her bare legs. Her hands were wrapped in aged clothe that was not meant to keep them warm. "You're finally here."
Sakura held her wand against her chest, not liking what she was sensing. The girl did not have a card on her, rather the spells were cast on her directly. Worse there was an aura of magic coming from the fist wrapping. Meiling already knew how to kill with a punch, and was afraid what adding magic to her could do. With a deep frown, she finally replied, "I guess there's no way to talk you out of this. Lend me your skills, The Fight, RELEASE!"
"You took Syaoran from me. It's finally time to make you pay for that!" Meiling announce before dashing straight at the heart thief.
While Rei may have moved faster, the Olympic hopeful was no fighter. She had telegraphed her punch. Meiling had more than a decade of experience in martial arts and it took both Sakura's own skill and her now boosted reflexes from her magic to dodge a string of punches. Sakura dared not counter yet, unsure what enchantment was wrapped around Meiling's fists and waiting for The Fight to observe and discover what openings that might be exploited.
"Stand still so I can make you pay!" Meiling spat out. "Syaoran was mine! All mine! And you took him away! You even fucked him!"
Meiling's fist finally connected with something, fortunately for Sakura it was not her. The light post the Chinese girl struck, however, was now horribly dented and was leaning over drastically looking like a car had just crashed into it.
Sakura stared at the damage with morbid fascination before The Fight took over her body and rushed a dodge to prevent the next blow from hitting her.
"Why don't you say anything?" Meiling demanded just before her strike was avoided and received a small tap to the back that caused her to lose her footing and fall face first to the ground.
Sakura used the moment to leap away. "Because I don't know what to say. I never asked Syaoran to fall in love with me. He choose me."
"You're not sorry, are you?" Meiling hissed as she leapt back to her feet and attempted to close in on her foe.
"There's a lot I'm sorry for," Sakura retorted. Now seeing the girl's wild motion within practice forms she was able to deflect the attacks and keep the girl off balanced. "But sharing Syaoran's love... I'm afraid I'm not sorry about that."
Meiling launched a sudden kick and her foe was definitely not ready for it as she finally connected, striking at the knee.
The power of The Jump flared and Sakura immediately leapt to the top of a nearby house. She wobbled as she landed and clutched at her now tender leg.
"Sure! Run away when things go bad! You're good at that!" Meiling spat venomously.
"That I'm sorry for," Sakura replied sheepishly.
"Sorry you got upset at something so stupid as where you'd live? Sorry that you fucked him and then dumped him? Sorry that you're such a fucking coward?" Meiling cried out angrily.
"Yes." Sakura nodded sheepishly. "You have every right to be upset at me."
"Then get down here so I can pound your lights out!" Meiling demanded.
"I would've continued to run away had your grandfather stopped this attack. Ended my relationship with Syaoran for good," Sakura admitted.
"Why would you do that?!" Meiling spat out.
"People have been hurt because of this." Sakura wanted to look away but didn't dare in case the girl's magically boosted strength included being able to throw things. "Tomoyo-chan... Tomoyo-chan is in the hospital."
"You'd give up everything I've ever wanted just to avoid a few people from being HURT?!" Meiling yelled. "That's stupid! You'd make all the pain you've already suffered pointless."
"I know that!" Sakura shot back. "If he was going to attack just me, I'd face him. He's not. Tomoyo-chan, my father, our friends, even YOU were targeted with this. I know you don't want to kill me. But he's making your anger at me worse."
"Behind you!"
Meiling ducked and spun around before hastily jumping away. Where she had stood just a second before was Cerberus in his true form. "Why y-"
"Sorry," Sakura apologized seizing the opening Cerberus gave her, allowing her a quick strike from behind, knocking Meiling out cold. She carefully set her friend down to the ground before turning to the real threat.
"How surprisingly devious," Maki intoned in a dark voice.
"That's saying something coming from you," Cerberus spat. "You're still attacking indirectly."
"It's best to keep ones hands clean," Maki retorted. "And did you really think I bought your act that you hated the idea of moving to Hong Kong? You've seen the grandeur of the city and the Li clan. You would be back to whoring yourself to him in a week if I had backed off."
"Then you still don't know me." Sakura frowned deeply sensing that the store owner had literally dozens of cards on her body. There would be no easy method of removing them without injuring the woman.
"You are nothing but a rat thinking herself better than her station. I cannot allow you to taint the Li clan further," Maki spat out distastefully.
"'A rat?!'" Cerberus growled deeply, fighting the urge to maul the woman for the insult. It may be her voice but those were not her words. "She is the heir Clow Reed picked, and approved by Yueh. You think too highly of yourself if you think SHE is beneath YOU!"
"I have nothing to say to a pet tamed by a mere girl's pathetic magic. If not for the power of the Clow Cards she would be nothing," Maki shot at the magical beast.
"You really know nothing but your own ego," Cerberus growled out.
"Is there no way you will stop this?" Sakura pleaded.
"There is but one answer for someone who wishes to bring ruin to the Li clan..." Maki grinned deviously. "...DEATH!"
Sakura and Cerberus immediately reacted to the flare of magic and leapt away just before the ground underneath their feet gave way.
"A sink hole? Really?" Cerberus spat and looked to see where Meiling was but could not see her. Would the man really risk hurting his granddaughter. The magical beast then froze in horror with the sound of a thunderous gunshot.
Sakura stared at the smoking barrel of a gun that was still pointed straight at her. She glanced down and let out a sigh of relief not feeling any injury. The bullet had to have missed. "SHIELD!" she cried out as the trigger was pulled again.
"I can do this all night." Maki casually fired another shot. "Can you?"
Sakura tilted her head. "Actually, if all I need to do is keep The Shield up, I can do that for days even while I'm asleep. But I think you've over stepped your magic."
"What do you mean?" Maki demanded.
"Grandfather," Meiling called out. Once Maki turned toward the girl, all that could be seen was a foot before darkness descended.
"We need to get the cards off her now!" Cerberus warned.
Sakura let The Shield's power fade away while shaking her head. "If it means anything to you Meiling-chan, your grandfather felt that kick too. The magic activating the cards has been broken."
"It does." Meiling huffed. She then turned away. "Sorry."
"There's no need for you to be sorry," Sakura replied gently. "You have every right to be angry with me, to want to hurt me. Just as I wanted to hurt my brother when I learned Yukito loved him, not me. And I certainly would refuse to believe any evidence that my father was doing anything wrong."
Meiling huffed and folded her arms. "Still sorry."
Cerberus reverted to his weaker form and asked, "What are we going to do about these cards?"
"With the magic mostly gone I can finally do this." Sakura pulled out a card and tossed it into the air. "Remove the remaining cards from existence, The Erase, RELEASE!"
A woman in jester's clothing materialized above Sakura before vanishing as a wave of energy going out in all directions. Not only were the cards on Maki removed from existence but the hand gun vanished as well.
"Sakura-chan, after all the magic you've used..." Kero-chan whined.
Sakura held up her hand as a streak of light struck it and returned to being a card. "All the cards were sold here. I doubt there were more than a couple hundred and The Shot, here, took out at least a hundred. From the feel of it, Kurogane-san took out a large number as well. This is no where near as draining as destroying those videos."
"So what now?" Meiling wondered.
Sakura jumped. "We need to get to the hospital! Tomoyo-chan is there!"
Meiling stared at her for a moment before moving to run off.
"Hold on," Sakura called. "Kero-chan can fly us there faster."
"Someone might see me," Kero-chan pointed out.
"True, but my knee isn't up to walking that far," Sakura replied sheepishly.
"I did that, didn't I?" Meiling asked with a sense of dread.
"Yes, and don't say you're sorry about it," Sakura told her firmly.
------------------------
Coming Soon:
Chapter 37 Sakura and the Christmas Party
With the unwanted presents dealt with, it's time for some Christmas cheer and some special presents.
And I'm now moving into the final stages of the story. There are still several chapters before the conclusion. With no doubt anymore to who the villain is, the story will be shifting a bit. And while not a fan of Kishimoto's overuse of 'flashback to show the villain really wasn't a bad guy,' there will be a chapter dedicated to Yinglung and why he has made such choices.
Also last chapter marks the last omake of non-series stories. Starting next chapter I'll be going into deeper author's notes explaining why I've made the story decisions that I have so far.
"I was afraid they wouldn't make it in time for Christmas," Maki replied with a matronly smile.
"Love, love, love... Here it is!" Shiori grabbed the card and held it up triumphantly.
The door chimed and Yuki entered with an annoyed look. "You didn't have to run all the way here."
"Of course I did! Class just let out. If I didn't get here first I might have missed out on getting the one I wanted!" Shiori defended. "With this, he'll finally notice me!"
"You really should look somewhere else," Yuki retorted. "If the guy is fickle enough to drop his current love for you, he's liable to dump you in a few years as well."
"I still don't buy he's dating HER," Shiori retorted.
Yuki shook her head. "Don't come crying to me when you find out it's all true."
"I won't because it's not!" Shiori shot back.
Yuki picked up a love card as well.
"Why do you need that? Don't you have a girlfriend already?" Shiori questioned bitterly.
Yuki playfully hit her friend with the card. "As much as I like my beloved, I'm afraid it might not be mutual. When we go out it feels less like a date and more being chaperoned by a big sister."
"Aren't you going to her Christmas party? Certainly you can make yourself the present," Shiori pointed out enviously.
Yuki smirked as she waved the card in her hand. "I just might, and this certainly can't hurt."
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Card Captor Sakura: Shadow of the Dragon
Chapter 36: Sakura and the Horrible Presents
By: Lord Archive
Card Captor Sakura belongs to the fine ladies of CLAMP. Used without consent, all rights reserved.
Author's Warnings:
This contains mature themes not intended for children under thirteen.
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.
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"Sorry. I've got some class duties to finish up before I can leave. It'll take me twenty minutes, thirty max," Meiling apologized.
Matsumoto frowned. "Guess I'll have to wait." He then leaned against the school gate irritably.
"'The best things come to those who wait,'" Meiling quoted before rushing off, barely making it into the school before she was stopped.
"You're playing a dangerous game," Syaoran warned.
"I know what I'm doing," Meiling retorted while trying to walk past her cousin.
Syaoran grabbed her by the arm. "Ignoring your grandfather might be VERY upset about what you did with him-"
"Actually I haven't YET," Meiling interrupted. "That was a lie to bait a trap, now to find out if it springs."
Syaoran blinked. "What do you mean by that?"
Meiling scowled at him. "This isn't the place to explain that." She pulled free and stomped off.
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"It didn't work," Sakura bemoaned as she plopped down to the floor next to the giant clock bell. "It's still going to happen."
Kero-chan floated next to her. "You had to realize that it was a hopeless wish. Too much has been invested in this."
"I know," Sakura whined. "It might have worked if I hadn't slept with Syaoran."
"That's one mistake you certainly can't undo," the small guardian groused.
"KERO-CHAN!" Sakura hissed.
The guardian beast flinched and flew back several centimeters. "Sorry."
Sakura let out a sigh. "I don't know what to do. There's going to be an attack in the next couple days. It might even be THE attack."
"You'll do your best," Kero-chan cheered.
Sakura gazed at it with a pained looked. "Even at my best... I have the worst feeling people are going to get hurt."
"Yueh and I will be ready to help, but you should gather more allies to help," Kero-chan suggested strongly.
Sakura nodded weakly. This was definitely something she could not handle alone.
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"Is he still at the gate?" Meiling questioned with a strange edge to her voice.
Tomoyo looked at the girl with a sorrow filled look. "I'm afraid not."
Naoko folded her arms irritably. "Didn't even take a minute."
Meiling clenched her fists. "Where is he now?"
"The Audio Visual room," Tomoyo replied bitterly.
"So I get to be the one delivering the presents," Naoko informed bitterly.
"Good luck with that," Meiling spat before rushing out of the room.
Naoko blinked. "Was she crying?"
Tomoyo sighed. "While it wasn't part of the plan... Meiling-chan actually did like him. Though I have no idea what she saw in him."
"She had to know this was going to happen," Naoko stated.
Tomoyo smirked sadly. "She did which was why she moved the test up. If he passed, she had a _special_ present planned for him."
"Ah." Naoko shook her head. "Well, I better head down there." Without another word she picked up an envelope and lightly jogged to her destination. Arriving at the door she wondered if she might have missed her chance but then saw Kurogane step into view and nodded to her before returning to hiding. Leaning toward the door, she could make out faint sounds that proved the room was indeed occupied.
Naoko moved to the wall across from the door and leaned against it to wait for Matsumoto to exit. As a few minutes passed, she started to be impressed by the boy. Finally he exited, but as expected he was not alone. "I have some things for you. First, don't bother waiting for Meiling-chan."
Matsumoto froze. "She knows?"
"You just screwed Megumi, the WHOLE school will know about it. She has never been discreet about borrowing boyfriends," Naoko informed.
The girl in question folded her arms. "I suppose this has a point?"
"Ever since you borrowed my boyfriend, I wanted to find a way to get back at you. However finding something that would actually hurt you was difficult." Naoko smacked Matsumoto with the envelope she was carrying as he tried to walk away. "THIS is your Christmas 'present' from Tomoyo-chan, WHICH also might work to hurt her."
"What sort of present would she get me?" Matsumoto wondered.
Naoko held out the envelope. "Open it and find out."
Megumi started to look sick. "Don't tell me he's...."
Matsumoto opened the envelop and looked confused at the papers he pulled from it. "What's with this medical garbage?"
"Simple, that is a DNA test that shows with a ninety-eight point three percent certainty that the two of you share a common parent, namely your father," Naoko informed smugly.
"I fucked my brother?" Megumi looked ready to retch.
Naoko grinned at her reaction. "Yep and do be careful. His father is as bad a womanizer as he is, and not only are there 'rumored' to be a number of half-siblings but Matsumoto-kun, here, may be a father in a few months."
"You expect me to believe this bullshit?!" Matsumoto demanded.
"Go ahead and test it yourself," Naoko returned. "Though do remember that Tomoyo-chan did pull your DNA from your scalp."
Matsumoto crushed the envelope and papers in his hands. "You better believe I'll have this tested! There's no way Dad would need to sleep around. He has me to be his heir!"
"Why leave all your eggs in one basket? If something happened to you or you proved unworthy, better to have a back-up just in case," Naoko shot at him.
Matsumoto glared death at the girl, his hand clenched into a fist. "You don't know anything!"
"I do know that Tomoyo-chan's boyfriend is right behind you. I'm aware you've met Kurogane-san before," Naoko returned.
Matsumoto glanced behind himself and saw the young man was indeed there. Even before learning martial arts were real he had recognized this was not a guy you would want to fight. If he took a swing at this bitch of a girl, there was no question that not only would he fail to hit her-- he would be in for a lot of pain. He angrily trudged away.
"Oh, and Matsumoto-kun, if you hadn't fucked your sister, Meiling-chan's present for you would've been her virginity," Naoko taunted.
"She lied about fucking him?" Megumi wondered.
"Of course she did," Naoko replied. "That had been the plan all along to get back at you. To make you believe he was her boyfriend so you'd bed him. While he hasn't exactly done anything wrong to Tomoyo-chan, she didn't take kindly to him wanting to make her his wife while he would have mistresses to ensure he had an heir. If you hadn't screwed Gotoh-san we might not have gone this far."
Megumi folded her arms. "I was never with Gotoh. I heard that he said he's been with two girls, but I certainly wasn't one of them."
Naoko blinked. "It wasn't you?"
"Course he might have lied to make himself look manlier and to piss off his girlfriend," Megumi rationalized. She then shook her head. "And here I was hoping Matsumoto could've been my meal ticket."
"Yeah, well I'm not sorry." Naoko started to walk away. "While it wasn't part of the plan, Meiling-chan really did have feelings for him. But if he could be swayed by you in less than a minute, there's no way she can trust he would be faithful to her."
"Trust me on this one, it's her loss. He definitely knows how to touch a girl," Megumi told her.
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"Syaoran, we need to talk," Sakura announced.
The boy stiffened a little bit but her presence was no surprise as he had felt her magic approaching him as he arrived at his apartment building. He merely nodded and opened his apartment door and let her in first. He shut the door before asking, "What is it?"
"You've been feeling it too, haven't you?" Sakura questioned.
"The increase of magic?" Syaoran asked to be sure.
Sakura nodded slowly.
"Yeah, I've felt it. Do you know what he's planning?" Syaoran wondered.
Sakura moved to the couch and flopped onto it. "I wish I did. All I know is soon, very soon, there will be an attack. It'll be the biggest one yet... and people will get hurt."
Syaoran frowned. "I see."
Sakura clenched her hands together. "Everything I had done hoping to avoid this attack... didn't work."
"But what can we do about this?" Syaoran questioned.
"'When you don't know how your opponent is going to move, you must wait, watch and listen,'" Sakura quoted her Tai Chi instructor. "When he acts we have to be ready to react."
Syaoran nodded slowly. "I hope you weren't planning on Meiling to help with this."
Sakura shivered when she heard the girl's name. Her eyes going wide. "Syaoran, where is she?"
"She ran off after her boyfriend wandered off with Inoue," Syaoran replied bitterly.
Sakura looked at him with fear. "Syaoran... I... The attack, it's going to begin NOW with Meiling."
"Why would he attack her?" Syaoran questioned with concern.
"It's... It doesn't feel like that. I'm not sure..." Sakura closed her eyes trying to get a better read of what her magic was sensing. "But she will be involved." She picked up her cellphone. "I'm calling Kurogane-san, we're going to need everyone for this one."
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Meiling ran blindly from her school, unsure of where she wanted to go. She couldn't stay there with Matsumoto having failed his test. She couldn't go home as Syaoran would be there by now and she didn't want to deal with him. She wanted to escape everything. When exhaustion finally gripped her, she found herself at the vacant building used to house the unofficial mixed martial arts tournaments. She frowned finding it was indeed vacant. Some Fridays there might be a few people practicing and sparring, but with it being Christmas weekend there would be no matches tomorrow as everyone would be out with friends or getting laid.
Falling to her knees, Meiling punched the floor. "Why do I have the worst luck?"
"There is no such thing as luck."
Meiling jumped to her feet and whirled around. "Grandfather!?"
The elderly man dressed ceremonial green robes gazed kindly at his granddaughter. "I've told you before, if there is something you want, don't hold back. Do everything you can to get it."
"The world doesn't work that way," Meiling countered weakly, a strange dread filling her. "I... I love Matsumoto but he'll never be faithful to me. I want a guy who will love me, and only me."
"That man whore was never worthy of you, you knew that before you even met him. You merely played into the act of being his girlfriend too much. There has only been one true love for you," Yinglong intoned.
Meiling folded her arms defiantly. "You caught the 'loves ONLY me' part, right? Syaoran loves someone else."
"He's mistaken with his feelings. He's only attracted to her magic. Once she is out of the way, he'll return to his senses," Yinglong rationalized.
"Bullshit!" Meiling spat. "That MIGHT have helped start things, but there's no way his feelings are fake!"
"There is nothing about that girl that is real. She is a false heir of Clow, her love is untrue, her worthiness to join with the Li clan is a joke. I tried to show Syaoran the truth, yet she still blinds him," Yinglong returned harshly.
"Disguising a ghost to slut around in a fake body isn't truth, that's the lie!" Meiling clenched her hands. "I don't want to believe this. You can't be the one hurting Kinomoto! You can't!"
"Why should I care if a thieving whore is hurt?" Yinglong hissed. "She is no more than a rat to the Li clan."
"She's my friend!" Meiling yelled at him. "You have to stop this."
Yinglong nodded. "I will be stopping this. And you will help."
"I won't help you hurt Kinomoto!" Meiling protested.
Yinglong pulled out a few items from his robes. "It will be best if you severe your ties with your own hands."
Meiling took a few fearful steps back before her grandfather waved his hand toward her and darkness descended over her mind.
------------------------
Sakura entered the main room of Syaoran's apartment wearing a dark green skirt with a red blouse, both accented with white stars and lace. It had a fanciful Christmas look without going so far that it would be embarrassing to wear in public.
Syaoran gazed intently at the girl. Seeing her dressed like that took his mind back a few years when she often wore clothes like that while capturing and converting her cards. In fact the dress made her look so cute, that he could almost swear Sakura appeared to be twelve-years-old.
Tomoyo clapped her hands together. "You look amazingly cute!" She then glanced at Syaoran. "And you've got his approval too."
Sakura and Syaoran began to sputter incoherently with embarrassment.
"Can we get to the matter at hand?" Kurogane growled.
"If only we could," Touya returned. "Until her enemy makes his move, we would be running blindly out there."
Syaoran frowned. "I don't like this either. Meiling is out there and we don't know what has happened to her."
"Considering Sakura-chan's enemy is Meiling's grandfather, it will be safe to say she will be physically all right," Yukito tried to assure the boy.
"It's what he might do to her head is what I'm worried about," Syaoran returned. "He knows how to affect the mind and the longer he has her, the more damage he can do."
Sakura frowned. "I wish I could be more certain about what he's going to do. Though I feel he's got too much invested in this attack to do much to Meiling-chan."
"You have an idea?" Kurogane asked.
"The magic he's been using has been obscured. Even now I can barely sense it, but there is more to it than Li clan magic I feel..." Sakura frowned deeply. "There's also some mind control aspect to it."
"It's spread too far and too weak to do more than influence people," Syaoran retorted.
"I know, but the magic is still there," Sakura warned. She turned toward Kurogane. "Where is Fye-san?"
"He's on a different case and can't be pulled away," Kurogane replied simply.
"Do be careful," Sakura told him.
Kurogane nodded, remembering Mizuki Kaho's prophecy that Fye would not be around when he needed him most. He then jumped as if lightning had struck nearby. Only his girlfriend failed to carry a similar reaction.
"It has begun," Sakura called out.
"No shit," Touya groused. "What was that?"
Sakura let her magic spread out, letting her mystical senses feel the situation. She then blinked. "The Wish Cards?"
"The what?" Kurogane wondered.
"They're novelty cards that look like my cards. But how? They had no magic," Sakura wondered.
"Have you checked the newest ones?" Tomoyo questioned.
"No, but I've had them before... I... well I guess I wasn't as strong as I am now. The magic had been obscured," Sakura replied sheepishly.
"And who is to say the original cards had any magic?" Tomoyo questioned.
Sakura went into Meiling's room and returned with a faintly glowing card marked with a heart and labeled 'Love.' "Because this is one from five years ago. It's only safe to touch because it lacks the mind control aspect."
"But all the new ones Twin Bells sold recently do," Tomoyo rationalized.
Sakura nodded. "And there are hundreds of cards out there."
"What's he going to do?" Syaoran questioned.
Sakura's cellphone began to ring. A feeling of dread hit her as she saw it was from Naoko-chan. She answered it on speaker phone.
"Hello, Sakura-chan," Naoko's voice sang over the phone.
"Hi..." Sakura returned nervously. "You bought a Wish Card?"
"They are a fun novelty," Naoko replied. "Much like having parents when you no longer need them. I think I'll throw them away. You better hurry over if you think I shouldn't be an orphan."
Dread gripped their hearts. Sakura looked up at Kurogane and he nodded in response before running out the door. The line went dead and she hung up the phone, which immediately rang again.
"Hi, Sakura-chan!" Rika greeted cheerfully. "I'm going to announce my love for all to see! I'll make sure some security cameras get a good look at Yoshiyuki finally making me a woman, then no one can dispute our love."
Sakura hung up the phone only for an unknown number to call.
"I will get to be with my beloved Terada-sensei!" Hayabusa called out.
Sakura glanced over at Syaoran. "Find Terada-sensei and make sure they don't succeed."
"You can start from here," Tomoyo told him and quickly scribbled down the teacher's address on a piece of paper and handed it to the boy before he ran off.
Sakura then blinked as her phone rang again, this time from her home. "Hello, Sakura speaking?"
"We've got a problem here! There's dozens of zoned out girls trying to break inta the house! I think they're mind controlled," Kero's voice rang out with concern. "I'm not exactly built to stop them unless I want to hurt them!"
Touya glanced at Yukito before announcing, "We've got this."
Sakura nodded. "Help is on it's way."
"He's intentionally splitting us up," Tomoyo observed.
"Yes," Sakura agreed. Her phone signaled yet another call.
"Syaoran will be mine, over your dead body," Meiling threatened evilly.
------------------------
Kurogane ran down the street. There was an unusual number of children walking around this late in the evening, especially without adult supervision. The vacant eyes made him wonder just how many cards were out there if this street alone had more than a dozen possessed children.
A few girls were in the process of ripping apart a fir tree loaded with decorations. The vandalism was not what caused of Kurogane's pause. A little further down the street a police officer was ripping apart a wreath with a girl lying on the ground nearby. Running with the shadows he moved to check the girl and noted she was still breathing and only seemed to be unconscious. He shook her gently.
The girl blinked tiredly. "Wha?"
"The streets are dangerous right now. Go home," Kurogane barked at her.
The girl looked around confused and jumped when the police officer jumped at the man in black that had woken her up.
Kurogane didn't spare a moment to look. In a single motion he pulled out his sword and swiped at the officer.
The girl screamed in terror, but quickly saw that no blood came from the officer rather a familiar card and some clothe floated toward the ground.
"Huh? My card?" the girl questioned.
"Don't touch that!" Kurogane ordered. "And GO HOME!"
The girl looked at him fearfully before running off.
Kurogane checked the officer and saw that the man seemed to be as unconscious as the girl had been. He pulled out his cellphone and dialed. "Do not touch the cards. Possession will switch to the current wielder. Destroying the cards will render the person unconscious for a short period of time." He then frowned. "I'll ask Yanagisawa if she remembers anything once I stop her."
------------------------
"Thanks, Tomoyo-chan." Touya hung up his cellphone. "Destroying the card will knock whoever is possessed out cold, but don't touch the card as it'll cause you to be possessed."
Yukito nodded. "So no need to worry about an angel being spotted." Magic erupted around the young man and wings surrounded him, before parting to reveal Yueh's form. "I am not an angel."
Touya smirked. "I can attest to that. You'll have an easier time removing the cards. Go on ahead of me."
Yueh frowned. "Indeed." He sped off as fast as his wings could carry him. "Be careful."
"You know you don't have to worry about me," Touya called out, doubting his words reached him. He then let out a sigh as a number of young teenagers stepped onto the street.
"Why don't you call for some help?" one young boy asked.
"Don't need it," Touya groused moving to a combat stance. While no where near as trained as the Li cousins, he did have a few years of martial arts training and with the magic Sakura was feeding him he should be able to fend them off long enough.
------------------------
"This isn't good at all!" Sakura whined.
"We'll deal with this," Tomoyo encouraged.
"Yueh went on ahead and now my brother is fighting in the street," Sakura bemoaned.
"You can sense that?" Tomoyo wondered.
Sakura looked confused. "Of course I can. They're using my magic."
Tomoyo nodded slowly, realizing the girl meant it literally with both of them actively engaged in this fight.
"I'll take care of this." Sakura pulled out a card and flung it into the air and held up her already transformed wand. "The SHOT! Destroy all the Wish Cards! RELEASE!"
Tomoyo frowned as the card sped off into the distance, not surprised it was heading toward the Kinomoto home and Touya. "We're still playing into his plans."
"Eh?" Sakura looked confused.
"He wants to drain your magic before you face Meiling-chan," Tomoyo noted.
Sakura frowned. "Well he has had time to plan this."
"And thanks to me knows how we'll fight him," Tomoyo added regretfully.
Sakura gripped her staff tightly. "Everything will be all right! I'm sure of it!"
"I pray you're right," Tomoyo returned.
Sakura prayed her so-called 'unbeatable spell,' truly was unbeatable.
------------------------
Syaoran ran down the street looking around, yet found the street oddly deserted. He would've expected to see some couples at least walking home from a date but even the animals seemed to be in hiding. He did not feel as if he was about to be ambushed, rather that everything was being made to avoid him. That was a problem when trying to find someone, but that could be fixed.
With no one around, Syaoran summoned his sword and pulled out one of his two magical cards, "Heed my call, The Birds, RELEASE!"
A flock of various tropical birds flew out of the card taking off into various directions.
"I'll be the one to find Sasaki-chan!" a parrot called out.
"No! I will!" a cockatoo retorted.
"Sasaki's house is that way," Syaoran groused.
The two birds immediately flew off in that direction.
The bird of paradise perched on Syaoran's shoulder and gave the teenager an exasperated look.
"Are they really that troublesome?" Syaoran questioned.
The bird of paradise nodded.
The pair remained silent and waited. The bird's attention stirred and pointed with his beak before taking to the air.
"Got it." Syaoran took off running after the bird quickly finding Terada walking down the street in a daze.
The chirps of three different tropical birds echoed.
Syaoran slouched briefly wondering why the man had four cards on him, but being an elementary school teacher there was no shortage of potential gift givers even if Sasaki hadn't given him one.
Terada's glazed eyes locked onto the boy and then suddenly surged forward.
Syaoran rushed a dodge as the man nearly clothes-lined him with his outstretched arm. While being a gym teacher obviously helped keep the man fit, the speed of the attack was that of an Olympic runner. He had to figure out how to remove those cards from the man fast, but his other magical card didn't have nearly enough control to just target them and he wasn't about to risk having his birds try to remove them.
As the teacher turned and prepared to run at his former student once again a Toucan swooped down and flapped it's wings straight into the man's face.
Syaoran didn't trust himself enough to destroy the cards on the teacher without hurting him. But the distraction did give him an idea. He called for the birds around him to swarm the man, and had them pull off his ever present suit jacket.
The magic of the cards did try to reach the birds through the clothing it was attached to, yet the separate minds dulled the affect allowing the birds to instinctively drop the jacket on the ground.
Syaoran pulled out a prayed paper and slapped it on his sword. "God of Thunder, DESCEND!" A bolt of lightning arced from his weapon to the suit jacket destroying the cards hidden in it. "Ah, I'll replace that."
Terada's glazed eyes remained, though he moved slower as he finally managed to charge once again.
A bird chirped in disdain.
"I realize that NOW!" Syaoran shot back. They had only taken care of three cards in the jacket, leaving one left. He could sense it resting on top of the man's chest, likely that card was the one Sasaki personally gave him.
A large group of girls turned onto the street, with one of them calling out, "We can't have you getting in the way of love."
"Shit," Syaoran spat.
------------------------
Kurogane slipped into the Yanagisawa household, doing his best to remain hidden from view.
Naoko swayed as she stood in the hallway while holding a large kitchen knife. She raised her foot as if to take a step forward but then pulled her leg back nearly causing her to fall over. Once she regained her balance she once again tried and failed to take a step forward.
Kurogane silently moved closer to the girl, careful to stay out of her sight. He frowned as he could not see where the card that possessed the girl was. He glided away from her to give himself more room. He then barked, "Yanagisawa."
The girl spun around and immediately leapt at the man.
A flash of Kurogane's blade slashed through the air and Naoko bonelessly collapsed to the ground.
Kurogane kicked the girl to lay on her back. Her pajama top cut from his strike and a shallow scratch to her chest, yet his true target remained on the floor in two pieces. He stabbed both pieces of the card with his sword and deposited them in the trash before returning to the fallen girl and shaking her awake.
"Wha?" Naoko blearily looked at him.
"Do you remember anything?" Kurogane questioned bluntly.
Naoko looked confused. "Remember what?"
Kurogane pointed at the knife next to the girl. "Do you remember why you had that?"
Naoko blinked in confusion. "Ah... no... Wait! Was I possessed?"
Kurogane nodded. "Kinomoto's enemy has used 'Wish Cards' to possess people."
"Why aren't you with Sakura-chan?" Naoko demanded.
"Because you were commanded to kill your parents," Kurogane intoned.
"What can I do to help?" Naoko asked, getting to her feet.
"Secure your home and if you have any more of those cards do not touch them. The one that was on you is now in the trash. If anything happens phone Daidouji and she'll relay your need," Kurogane ordered.
Naoko frowned but nodded. She was more a thinker than a fighter. She had looked away for just a second, however Tomoyo's boyfriend was no longer in sight.
------------------------
"Tomoyo-chan, hide!" Sakura ordered suddenly.
Tomoyo blinked in confusion as a dozen girls and a few boys, each armed with baseball bats, suddenly ran around the corner straight at them.
Sakura began to pull out a card when a battle cry came from behind her. Five women in business suits rushed past her and charged the possessed attackers.
"Be sure to not touch any of the cards!" Tomoyo warned her bodyguards.
"I forgot they were following us," Sakura giggled with some nervousness. "Not use to them being involved."
"Better than having to waste your energy on them." Tomoyo flinched. "Don't hurt them too much."
While the young teenagers might be armed and out number the bodyguards, the women were trained fighters with experience of facing armed men. Swings of the bats were dodged and immediately counter attacked before the child could recover. Because of the numbers, the bodyguards didn't hold back and went for quick take downs. The first to fall was a girl who took a knee to the underside of her chin and sending her crashing to the ground and knocking her out cold.
Sakura frowned. "She'll feel that in the morning."
Tomoyo nodded. "We'd best leave this to my bodyguards. Meiling-chan is waiting."
"...Yes," Sakura reluctantly agreed. She wasn't sure if The Sleep would do anything as those possessed by the cards might already be mentally asleep while being controlled. With the magic she already used, it would be best not to drain herself further when she didn't have to. She then ran ahead, not wanting to dwell on what the trained women were doing to the possessed teenagers.
Tomoyo gave chase wanting to support her friend and video tape what was hopefully the final confrontation with Meiling's grandfather.
"Tomoyo-chan, look out," Sakura cried in warning.
Tomoyo jumped and her camera seemed to zoom in on a senior high school girl running straight at her. The zoom wasn't active and the girl's speed was super-human. There was no time dodge as she took a fist straight to the chest.
Sakura spun around and gripped her wand tightly. Tomoyo was crumpled on the ground and made a horrible wheezing sound yet was otherwise not moving. She was unmindful of the camera that bounced down the street and broke apart into several pieces. The problem was before her could not be met with distraction. "Tachibana Rei-chan," she breathed out the name of the Olympic hopeful runner whose speed was being magically enhanced.
Rei charged again with blinding speed.
Sakura had but a split second, but her Tai Chi training kicked in and she managed to deflect the girl's arm and sent her running straight into a wall. She waited to see what her opponent would do next.
Rei slid to the ground as she collapsed.
Sakura rushed over to Rei and used her wand to slide the card out of the girl's pocket and onto the ground. She then pulled out a piece of paper and slapped in against her wand. "God of fire, DESCEND!"
With the card burning away with magic taught to her by Syaoran, she rushed over to Tomoyo and looked her friend over. She was deeply concerned with that her best friend's troubled breathing continued to make her wheeze.
"What hit me?"
Sakura looked over at Rei as the girl began to stir. "I don't have time to explain. You need to help Tomoyo-chan! She needs to see a doctor now!"
"What's wrong?" Rei wondered in confussion.
"She's been hit in the chest. She's having trouble breathing. Please run her to a hospital," Sakura pleaded desperately.
Rei was definitely feeling something wasn't being said, but she couldn't argue the point. She carefully picked up Tomoyo. "Don't know how fast I'll be."
"I'm sure a friend will help you," Sakura assured her.
Rei turned her head as a once familiar chirp echoed.
"Follow him," Sakura advised.
Rei merely nodded and began to run like the wind despite the weight of the comatose girl in her arms, following her short-lived beloved pet.
"And I still used magic," Sakura muttered to herself. If she used much more Touya wouldn't be able to use his second sight. And if the fight with Meiling were to go too far, Yueh might be forced to revert to Yukito.
------------------------
A streak of light had taken out the cards possessing Touya's opponents. He certainly didn't appreciate his sister's reckless use of magic. A prolonged encounter was sure to tax even Sakura's vast reserves. Still he rushed home to make sure his father was all right.
"You're just in time to give me a hand," Yukito chirped while dragging a young girl toward the street.
Touya grimaced. "Don't tell me she's been casting even more spells."
Yukito shook his head. "Sakura-chan is being more careful now. But we can't be sure how long this will last. Best to be cautious."
Touya hefted up another unconscious girl and carried her away from the house. "Hence dropping girls in the street."
"Less questions that can't be answered," Yukito agreed.
"Besides an angel would make things harder to explain if one of these kids woke up," Fujitaka added as he carried another girl away.
Yukito let out a giggle hearing Yueh make another complaint about being called an angel. He rushed to grab one of the few boys that had attacked the Kinomoto home, and frowned a little that the child was bleeding a little from when the card that had possessed him was forcibly removed.
"Let's hurry up. Sakura will need us," Touya insisted, already moving another victim.
"The little slut can wait."
Fujitaka stared in surprise as that was his girlfriend's voice that had just insulted his daughter. "What?"
Hanami gave him a sickening grin before she ran straight for her boyfriend.
Fujitaka made a surpised sound as he was suddenly yanked from behind. A streak of light flashed in front of him and he now saw a knife in the young woman's hand. "She's possessed?"
"Safe to say that," Yukito agreed warily. He wanted to switch with Yueh, but the kids that had previously attacked the house were now beginning to wake.
"Well, this is what you get when date your students," Touya hissed.
Fujitaka looked confused for a second but realized that was being said more to the waking children than to him. It would serve as a good method to deflect questions.
Hanami continued to press her attack on her beloved teacher and suddenly found herself grabbed from behind.
Yukito struggled to hold onto her. He then shouted in warning, "Run!"
Groggy and confused, the formerly possessed children heeded the warning and ran away from the knife yielding woman.
Yukito was rather surprised when Hanami suddenly threw him.
"Li Yinglung I presume," Touya muttered, doubting Hanami knew any Chinese martial arts.
"Just lending her a hand," Hanami retorted. "The harlot needs to be punished for believing she could be a proper member of the Li clan."
"Your plan has a fatal flaw," Yueh intoned floating above the possessed woman. "Me." With a glowing hand the magical being rained down waves of energy crystals.
------------------------
"Sasaki-chan is almost here!" a parrot called out.
"I saw her first," a cockatoo added.
"You did not." The parrot tilted his head. "Aren't you supposed to keep that guy safe?"
Syaoran gritted his teeth as he dodged another lunge by one of the girls.
"You're a slippery one," the girl teased.
"I just want to hug you!" added another girl.
Syaoran continued to dodge the girls attempts to grab hold of him. He had managed to free two girls of cards so far, but that was only because they had tried to put their cards onto him which gave him the opening needed to target them without hurting the girls. He knew very well that if these girls managed to pin him down they'd give him all of their cards. He might be able to resist the effects of one or two cards, but his senses warned him that these girls had at least a dozen of the cursed things.
Hayabusa sprinted onto the street. "Terada-sensei, I'm all yours!"
Terada stood there in a daze as the young girl eagerly approached the man.
Syaoran bit back an urge to let out a string of curses, but was surprised to note the man continued to stand idle as he had since the girls arrived.
Hayabusa gazed up longingly at the man. "Terada-sensei, you can kiss me, touch me..." She held her hands over her chest. "...or... even... fuck my brains out!"
Terada took an unsteady step away from his young student.
Hayabusa tried to close the gap, but the man continued to move away from her.
Syaoran was more than a little surprised that the gym teacher was seemingly fighting the card controlling him. His great-uncle's attention had to be somewhere else if the effect was closer to being hypnotized than full possession. It would also explain why Terada had stopped attacking him.
The distraction cost the boy as two slender hands latched onto his arm with a death grip.
"Accept my present!" a girl pulled out one of two cards that were on her.
"Sorry," Syaoran apologized before flipping the girl that had latched onto his arm on top of the girl moving to tag him. He then immediately sliced the offending card in half.
"Terada-sensei, why are you run-" Hayabusa did not get to finish her statement as a rock was slammed against the back of her head.
"Rika-chan..." Terada breathed.
"Yoshiyuki..." Rika returned as she dropped the rock that fell Hayabusa and the distance between them disappeared. They embraced each other tightly and there lips came together in a passionate kiss.
Definitely hypnotism when his great-uncle wasn't involved. The girls that had been trying to grab him stopped to watch the couple's impassioned embrace. Syaoran knew this distraction would not last long. He took a chance and yanked a card out of the nearest girls pocket and tossed it onto the ground immediately. He felt the card's power reach out to him, but the intentional loose grip, brief contact and his mental training allowed him to avoid being controlled.
Syaoran was able take all the cards off four of the girls before the remaining three turned their attention back onto him. "God of fire, descend!" he called out causing the girls to retreat several steps as he destroyed the fallen cards. He cast the spell again, this time focusing the magical flame onto the blade itself.
The possessed girls edged away from Syaoran as the flaming sword caused them to look upon the weapon with fear. Taking the advantage he rushed at the girls briefly yanking cards off them before slicing them with his enchanted weapon.
Rika and Terada noticed none of this as their passions caused their hands to glide over each others' bodies. The girl's hands moved to the crotch the man's pants with unbridled desire. She then collapsed into her beloved's arms.
Terada's glazed eyes still look confused with Rika suddenly passing out. Then he too fell unconscious from a quick blow to his neck.
Syaoran quickly removed all the offending cards off the couple. He then moved to take care of Hayabusa, but it was not the three cards on her that was worrisome. The girl was bleeding from scalp where Sasaki had stuck her. As much as he wanted to rush to make sure Sakura was all right, while he hoped the blow wasn't serious there was a real possibility it could be fatal if not brought to immediate medical care.
------------------------
Despite wearing only her school uniform, Meiling was unfazed by the cold breeze that licked at her bare legs. Her hands were wrapped in aged clothe that was not meant to keep them warm. "You're finally here."
Sakura held her wand against her chest, not liking what she was sensing. The girl did not have a card on her, rather the spells were cast on her directly. Worse there was an aura of magic coming from the fist wrapping. Meiling already knew how to kill with a punch, and was afraid what adding magic to her could do. With a deep frown, she finally replied, "I guess there's no way to talk you out of this. Lend me your skills, The Fight, RELEASE!"
"You took Syaoran from me. It's finally time to make you pay for that!" Meiling announce before dashing straight at the heart thief.
While Rei may have moved faster, the Olympic hopeful was no fighter. She had telegraphed her punch. Meiling had more than a decade of experience in martial arts and it took both Sakura's own skill and her now boosted reflexes from her magic to dodge a string of punches. Sakura dared not counter yet, unsure what enchantment was wrapped around Meiling's fists and waiting for The Fight to observe and discover what openings that might be exploited.
"Stand still so I can make you pay!" Meiling spat out. "Syaoran was mine! All mine! And you took him away! You even fucked him!"
Meiling's fist finally connected with something, fortunately for Sakura it was not her. The light post the Chinese girl struck, however, was now horribly dented and was leaning over drastically looking like a car had just crashed into it.
Sakura stared at the damage with morbid fascination before The Fight took over her body and rushed a dodge to prevent the next blow from hitting her.
"Why don't you say anything?" Meiling demanded just before her strike was avoided and received a small tap to the back that caused her to lose her footing and fall face first to the ground.
Sakura used the moment to leap away. "Because I don't know what to say. I never asked Syaoran to fall in love with me. He choose me."
"You're not sorry, are you?" Meiling hissed as she leapt back to her feet and attempted to close in on her foe.
"There's a lot I'm sorry for," Sakura retorted. Now seeing the girl's wild motion within practice forms she was able to deflect the attacks and keep the girl off balanced. "But sharing Syaoran's love... I'm afraid I'm not sorry about that."
Meiling launched a sudden kick and her foe was definitely not ready for it as she finally connected, striking at the knee.
The power of The Jump flared and Sakura immediately leapt to the top of a nearby house. She wobbled as she landed and clutched at her now tender leg.
"Sure! Run away when things go bad! You're good at that!" Meiling spat venomously.
"That I'm sorry for," Sakura replied sheepishly.
"Sorry you got upset at something so stupid as where you'd live? Sorry that you fucked him and then dumped him? Sorry that you're such a fucking coward?" Meiling cried out angrily.
"Yes." Sakura nodded sheepishly. "You have every right to be upset at me."
"Then get down here so I can pound your lights out!" Meiling demanded.
"I would've continued to run away had your grandfather stopped this attack. Ended my relationship with Syaoran for good," Sakura admitted.
"Why would you do that?!" Meiling spat out.
"People have been hurt because of this." Sakura wanted to look away but didn't dare in case the girl's magically boosted strength included being able to throw things. "Tomoyo-chan... Tomoyo-chan is in the hospital."
"You'd give up everything I've ever wanted just to avoid a few people from being HURT?!" Meiling yelled. "That's stupid! You'd make all the pain you've already suffered pointless."
"I know that!" Sakura shot back. "If he was going to attack just me, I'd face him. He's not. Tomoyo-chan, my father, our friends, even YOU were targeted with this. I know you don't want to kill me. But he's making your anger at me worse."
"Behind you!"
Meiling ducked and spun around before hastily jumping away. Where she had stood just a second before was Cerberus in his true form. "Why y-"
"Sorry," Sakura apologized seizing the opening Cerberus gave her, allowing her a quick strike from behind, knocking Meiling out cold. She carefully set her friend down to the ground before turning to the real threat.
"How surprisingly devious," Maki intoned in a dark voice.
"That's saying something coming from you," Cerberus spat. "You're still attacking indirectly."
"It's best to keep ones hands clean," Maki retorted. "And did you really think I bought your act that you hated the idea of moving to Hong Kong? You've seen the grandeur of the city and the Li clan. You would be back to whoring yourself to him in a week if I had backed off."
"Then you still don't know me." Sakura frowned deeply sensing that the store owner had literally dozens of cards on her body. There would be no easy method of removing them without injuring the woman.
"You are nothing but a rat thinking herself better than her station. I cannot allow you to taint the Li clan further," Maki spat out distastefully.
"'A rat?!'" Cerberus growled deeply, fighting the urge to maul the woman for the insult. It may be her voice but those were not her words. "She is the heir Clow Reed picked, and approved by Yueh. You think too highly of yourself if you think SHE is beneath YOU!"
"I have nothing to say to a pet tamed by a mere girl's pathetic magic. If not for the power of the Clow Cards she would be nothing," Maki shot at the magical beast.
"You really know nothing but your own ego," Cerberus growled out.
"Is there no way you will stop this?" Sakura pleaded.
"There is but one answer for someone who wishes to bring ruin to the Li clan..." Maki grinned deviously. "...DEATH!"
Sakura and Cerberus immediately reacted to the flare of magic and leapt away just before the ground underneath their feet gave way.
"A sink hole? Really?" Cerberus spat and looked to see where Meiling was but could not see her. Would the man really risk hurting his granddaughter. The magical beast then froze in horror with the sound of a thunderous gunshot.
Sakura stared at the smoking barrel of a gun that was still pointed straight at her. She glanced down and let out a sigh of relief not feeling any injury. The bullet had to have missed. "SHIELD!" she cried out as the trigger was pulled again.
"I can do this all night." Maki casually fired another shot. "Can you?"
Sakura tilted her head. "Actually, if all I need to do is keep The Shield up, I can do that for days even while I'm asleep. But I think you've over stepped your magic."
"What do you mean?" Maki demanded.
"Grandfather," Meiling called out. Once Maki turned toward the girl, all that could be seen was a foot before darkness descended.
"We need to get the cards off her now!" Cerberus warned.
Sakura let The Shield's power fade away while shaking her head. "If it means anything to you Meiling-chan, your grandfather felt that kick too. The magic activating the cards has been broken."
"It does." Meiling huffed. She then turned away. "Sorry."
"There's no need for you to be sorry," Sakura replied gently. "You have every right to be angry with me, to want to hurt me. Just as I wanted to hurt my brother when I learned Yukito loved him, not me. And I certainly would refuse to believe any evidence that my father was doing anything wrong."
Meiling huffed and folded her arms. "Still sorry."
Cerberus reverted to his weaker form and asked, "What are we going to do about these cards?"
"With the magic mostly gone I can finally do this." Sakura pulled out a card and tossed it into the air. "Remove the remaining cards from existence, The Erase, RELEASE!"
A woman in jester's clothing materialized above Sakura before vanishing as a wave of energy going out in all directions. Not only were the cards on Maki removed from existence but the hand gun vanished as well.
"Sakura-chan, after all the magic you've used..." Kero-chan whined.
Sakura held up her hand as a streak of light struck it and returned to being a card. "All the cards were sold here. I doubt there were more than a couple hundred and The Shot, here, took out at least a hundred. From the feel of it, Kurogane-san took out a large number as well. This is no where near as draining as destroying those videos."
"So what now?" Meiling wondered.
Sakura jumped. "We need to get to the hospital! Tomoyo-chan is there!"
Meiling stared at her for a moment before moving to run off.
"Hold on," Sakura called. "Kero-chan can fly us there faster."
"Someone might see me," Kero-chan pointed out.
"True, but my knee isn't up to walking that far," Sakura replied sheepishly.
"I did that, didn't I?" Meiling asked with a sense of dread.
"Yes, and don't say you're sorry about it," Sakura told her firmly.
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Coming Soon:
Chapter 37 Sakura and the Christmas Party
With the unwanted presents dealt with, it's time for some Christmas cheer and some special presents.
And I'm now moving into the final stages of the story. There are still several chapters before the conclusion. With no doubt anymore to who the villain is, the story will be shifting a bit. And while not a fan of Kishimoto's overuse of 'flashback to show the villain really wasn't a bad guy,' there will be a chapter dedicated to Yinglung and why he has made such choices.
Also last chapter marks the last omake of non-series stories. Starting next chapter I'll be going into deeper author's notes explaining why I've made the story decisions that I have so far.