The students milled out of Readington Elementary School, glad another week was over. Sakura blinked as she walked out into the bright afternoon sun. She had no plans for the weekend but there was certain to be some clow business to take care of, there always was.
"And my mom said I could get a new camera this weekend, so she's taking me shopping tomorrow. Oh, I can't wait!" Tomoyo gushed about her good news to her best friend, Sakura. "Then I can get better action shots of your adventures."
Sakura smiled back at Tomoyo as they walked down the school stairs, surrounded by other students. Tomoyo was always going on about camera and angles and lens, but it really made no sense to Sakura.
A hand grabbed Sakura's shoulder, "I need to speak to you." It was unmistakably Li's voice.
Sakura turned around and silently nodded. She said goodbye to Tomoyo and then followed Li to the side of the school. No one else was around so they could talk about clow card stuff without being overheard.
Li held out a card. With a pained voice he told her, "I want you to have this."
"Li?" Sakura looked at him, puzzled. "What?"
"It's the Earthy, the last card Kero needs to change into his true form. I captured it last night. I want you to have it."
"But… you're the one who caught it, you should have it. Besides--"
"I didn't write my name on it yet." He cute her off, knowing full well what she was going to say.
Sakura looked up with her dark green eyes, not knowing what to say. Li had never done anything like this before; he was usually the one who told her she didn't have the right to have the cards in the first place. "This is really nice of you but… I can't..."
He sighed; she always made his job twice as hard. "It's not for you anyway, it's for Kero. The sacred Guardian of the Clow shouldn't be stuck in some stuffed animal form. Besides…" He paused, "If he was in his true form then he could protect you." He realized he might give something away and added quickly, "And then I wouldn't have to."
Sakura took the Earthy card in her hands and examined it. There was a serene looking woman wearing a white dress and the words 'the Earthy' written on the clow card. "Thanks…" She glanced up again, but Li was gone. "Li?"
At home that night, Sakura sat in her bedroom at her desk. With a pen she carefully wrote her name on the clow card 'S-A-K-U-R-A'. There it was now hers. She still felt guilty for taking it from Li, but it was for Kero. Where was the little guy anyway? Kero had been missing from her room when she got home. After checking the house, Sakura was certain Kero must be out in town. Hopefully he was being cautious about not being seen. It worried her, but still, Kero could take care of himself.
It was eight o'clock and no one else was home. Touya was out with Yukito; they always seemed to be going out lately, she wondered if that meant something. Nah, couldn't be.
And her dad was on an out of town business meeting. So she was alone, all alone. Tomoyo was hanging out with her mother all weekend, so she couldn't call her either. And just where was Kero? She turned on the television and tried to get her mind off her worried thoughts, but they still troubled her.
There was a sound of something heavy landing on her balcony, right outside her bedroom. Startled she quickly jumped under her bed covers. Suddenly she was aware of the scary fact that she was all alone in the empty house and had no way of protecting herself. What if it was a burglar, or worse, a ghost?
She shut her eyes tight and tried to imagine being somewhere safe. "It's nothing, just a tree branch hitting the house, it's windy outside isn't it? Yeah, that's it. It's n-n-nothing."
"Sakura!" A low deep voice filled her room. Footfalls came closer to her bed. "Sakura?"
She peeked out of the covers. There stood a tall lion-type figure, standing over her. This had to be a dream, it just had to be! Where was Kero? She started screaming and hid back under the blankets.
"Sakura-chan," The voice came again, "Are you all right?"
"Please don't hurt me," Her voice was muffled by the blankets. A part of her was ashamed of acting this way, she was a card captor after all. What would Kero say? What would Li think? She had to be brave, no matter what was trying to attack her. Still, all she could think of to do was to plead, "Please leave me alone!"
"Sakura-chan, it's just me."
She lifted the blankets from her head, slowly. "Who?"
"Kero, silly!" The lion's muscular face pulled up to a simple grin, the same smile as Kero. It was Kero!
"Is that really you?" She asked apprehensively.
"Yes." Kero nodded and reassured her, "It's still me."
Sakura gulped as she took it all it, the true form of the Guardian of the Clow Cards. Kerberos had a massive powerful body and a large toothy jaw, but it was still Kero. The same Kero who had trained her, and taught her all about the clow cards and stuck by her side as she collected them. It was the same Kero who had laughed with her, and cared for her. Looks didn't matter, because his soul was the same. "This is your true form? It's… nice…. But I don't think I can hide you in my room anymore." A small giggle escaped her delicate lips.
Kero jumped up on to her bed, and laid down next to her. "Think your brother would believe I was a big dog?"
Sakura chuckled and shook her head.
"A large cat?"
Another laugh sounded through the house. Maybe things didn't have to change that much.
The End