False Pretense

Chapter 1

Tokyo

Morning

As the first rays of light breached the peak of the horizon, all was quiet over the city. Over all the houses and streets, everything was the epitome of peace. It was a dawn of tranquility. And as the first rays of the sun peeked over the horizon, they bathed the sleeping face of another peaceful figure.

She lay on her bed as though she hadn't a care in the world. Her soft pillow almost invisible as it was covered so thoroughly by her rich volumes of flowing hair. Her face was equally covered, and she was curled slightly in bed, a fact that masked her true appearance beneath her silken sheets.

As additional rays of light filtered into her room, one could see it much better. It was different than that of the one she had at her father's house. It was much bigger, and had an attached bathroom and closets. Dressers were neatly aligned on one side of the room, with a place for cosmetics and perfumes and the like. While the other side of her room was mainly dominated by a seemly uncharacteristic study desk and a hefty shelving of books largely dominated by those of varying histories and mythologies, that which looked out of place and more fitting of a library or museum.

Among the books were both ancient and new texts, some of the older languages and other meaningful transcripts. One easy similarity of these books was their age and relative sense of drab. Only one book would stop the eye. It was a fairly bright colored book, and read only a name on its side; Sakura.

Click-

Music began to pour from the bedside alarm clock. There was a slight yelp from the head board of the bed, and one of the small plush animals fell to the floor. The covers on the bed shuddered, but the figure did not get up. Instead, she simply reached out to the device, and turned it off. She retracted her arm, and then everything was still once more.

She closed her eyes tight. It was too bad… up until the alarm she was having a good dream. She was attempting to return to it, but there was an annoyed grumbling that was preventing that. She felt something small prodding her in her side. Uncaring, she rolled over to her other side.

"Sakura."

She felt another slight jab to her side. She contorted her face, eyes still closed, and rolled back to the other side.

"Sa-ku-ra."

The voice was louder this time, and this time the source was standing on her hand. She flipped her hand slightly, and heard a small thud and a disgruntled noise. She rolled back over. It was starting to become clear that sleep was something that might not happen.

"SAKURA!"

The voice was very loud, and right in her ear. She knew that it was pointless. Slowly she opened her eyes. Standing in front of her face was a very indignant golden plush toy with wings and a tail. He wasn't looking too happy. She smiled.

"Good morning, Kero…chan."

"'Good morning' won't work on me! Didn't you say to make sure you woke up early?" He demanded with clenched fist and a reddening face.

She still regarded him with a sleepy expression. Confusion was etched across her face. "What? Why?" She rubbed her eyes, attempting to wake. "I thought you liked sleeping in?"

"I do… but aren't you meeting with that 'kid' today?" He made sure to accent the word heavily.

"Syaoran!" She gasped, her eyes now fully open. In her rush, she bolted upright in bed. Kero was thrown from the movement, and slowly slid down the wall after having collided with it very hard. Without a second glance she looked at the time on the clock. Not good… she was running out of time… TIME! That's it!

Kero was now flying around her, yelling something, but she ignored him. If she didn't hurry, she might be late… and that's not something that she wanted to do. She threw off her covers and sheets, and quickly straightened her nightgown and went to her bookshelf. She quickly pulled the bright Sakura book from the shelf and opened it on the desk. She swept her hair out of her face and started shuffling through the cards that she had pulled out of the pages. After a few seconds, a cheerful expression crossed her face, and she pulled out one that was titled "TIME" on its bottom. "Please… if you would."

"Sakura, what are you do-" Kero stopped prematurely as the card in her hands had responded with a glow, and then an energy that permeated reality, thus freezing everything in that instant.

"Thank you." She breathed to the card. She set it down and went to her dresser and started pulling out various items of clothing. She looked over to Kero's small, unmoving form and smiled. Sorry, she thought, but right now you don't need to be a part of this. She smiled to herself and went back to her preparations.

Kero was still frozen in a flying, scolding stance when the time around him and the rest of the world resumed. "-ing… AHH!" He knew he was looking right at her a moment ago, and now she was gone! She must have used the Time card… He sighed. He turned around and yelped again. The bed was made and the room was transformed… well, as transformed as a room becomes when there are articles of clothing lying around and well, the usual things that lie strewn about when females are planning to go somewhere.

In the background, the shower turned on behind the closed bathroom door. He sighed again and sat on the bed. So she only used the card up until she needed the running water? He put his face into his hands (if you could call them that) and shook his head. Matters were much simpler with Clow Reed… but at least the times here were more enjoyable.

He had begun to reminisce in his mind, when thoughts of the Bubble card, and how Sakura had started to use it just like Clow, woke him from his thoughts. He was on the verge of fuming when he heard an electronic beep from behind him. Startled, he looked behind him cautiously, and stared at the device on the wall.

The device was new to both of them. Tomoyo had just given it to them the other week, saying that it was a new product from her mother's company, and she was testing it out. Although unlike the previous items that she had given them, this was much larger. It was like a TV, it definitely had a small LCD screen for that, but there was an array of buttons beneath that, and a small camera-type panel at the top of the screen. It was fastened flat to the wall, and while it wasn't as versatile as the phones… it was also used for communication in some way. He flew up to take a look.

There was a small red button that was flashing, and a small digital display panel that said: 'Incoming call.' He pushed the button.

BING-

"EEEeecCKK!" He flew backwards as the screen lit up. On it was a beautiful young woman with long straight black hair, and soft and kind facial features. She looked right at him.

"Oh… Kero-chan… is Sakura there?"

"T-tomoyo…" he let out a relieved sigh, "don't scare me like that."

"Oh… " She thought about it and smiled, "I guess that was your first time with the communicator, right? Hehe… I forgot."

"She should be around. She's just in the shower… she still has a lot to do." He looked towards the bathroom door.

Tomoyo clasped her hands together with wistful longing. "She's… in the shower." She let out a sigh. "How lovely… Sakura-chan!"

Kero looked at the blushing Tomoyo but said nothing. After all these years, though he never truly figured it out, he was used to that bizarre behavior.

"Kero… I thought I just heard Tomoyo-ch…" Sakura stood in the doorway of the bathroom wrapped in a thick towel and drying her hair with another. She had stopped in mid-sentence and turned to the communicator. "Oh… ok… never mind then." The revelation past, she started to walk into the room.

A small smile crept across Tomoyo's face. "Beautiful."

Sakura looked up at the screen. "Huh?"

Tomoyo was all starry eyed now. "So… beautiful. My Sakura is beautiful in a towel."

"Eh!" Sakura blushed and stepped back. "A-a-at least you don't have your video camera on you…"

"Hehehe… I don't need one, since this unit has a record option!"

Sakura turned somewhat white.

"Now I can see all your best moments while I'm away!"

Sakura smiled. "Sorry…"

"Eh?"

"…but not today." Sakura became very serious and lowered her head. "Dark…" She looked over to the desk. "Let it happen."

All eyes turned to the desk as one of the cards from the assortment started to glow and stood up on edge. It started to spin on a corner and went faster. When that happened, the card disappeared from their vision, as did the desk, and soon most of the room… concealed perfectly in a thick darkness.

"Aww… that's not fair…" Tomoyo said when her Sakura faded from her sight. She sighed. "Well… maybe next time."

"Maybe. Perhaps when you come home." Sakura, despite being in the dark room could still see enough to see the communicator. Her voice turned curious. "When are you coming home anyways? You've been away for a while now."

"Hopefully soon. As a representative for my mother's new communications branch from her toy company, it's important for me to travel extensively… so maybe when my current pitch to the consumers is done." She smiled cheerfully. "But I trust you can take care of our apartment, so I'm not worried!"

Sakura smiled.

"I have to run now, good luck with today; I know you've been looking forward to it!"

The communicator switched off, the digital display reading 'Call End'. Sakura sighed. Though she loved Tomoyo deeply, she was never sure what her cousin was thinking. She was an odd one… but her love echoed that of her mother's, so it was pretty natural. After all, Sakura's mother was loved much in the same way.

"I'm sure that's fine. Thank you Dark." The darkness slowly retreated back to the card, and it sunk back to the desk.

She crossed the room and sat at her table. She looked into the mirror and sighed. In the background Kero had turned on one of his console games, and was getting heavily involved with that. She took the towel off her head and let her damp hair cascade down her back. Despite the feelings she got that made her certain that her mother was truly happy, and that she should be happy as well… she has only felt her sense of longing for her mother strengthen, as she saw less of her childhood self, and more of what everyone else saw.

It was true. The years had gone by, and at 19 years of age, she looked like a reflection of her mother. If not for her height, her face, and her long bangs, she would pass completely. But she was not Nadeshiko. She wasn't anyone other than her self. A meaning she wasn't aware of until she had met Clow Reed himself.

Taking a moment from her preparations, she opened her hands and stared at her palms. Was there really a power to create good? She wasn't sure of the answer. She thought that perhaps it was in everyone's best interest that she get stronger and better suited to using her magic. She just didn't want to let anyone down.

"Are you ok?"

She jumped, taken by surprise at that which just broke her reverie. "Ah… sorry… you just kind of startled me." She sighed again and looked away from the mirror.

"Is that all?" Kero took a second to look up. "Isn't today supposed to be a good day? It isn't everyday you take a time to leave your studies behind to pursue a personal interest." He ended with a smirk, and focused again on his game.

"No… I guess not." She swallowed. There were too many things nagging her these days. "But is it still ok? If my magic is needed, will I be able to use it at the level I should be at?" She got up and began to pace about the room as though looking for something.

Kero didn't glance up, but he looked smug regardless. "Of course. There's nothing you can't do with your abilities."

"Yeah… but where's the proof of that?"

"Sakura… ever since you accidentally made that one card; you've made lots of others and other changes as well. You should be proud of yourself; even Clow Reed wasn't beyond the level you've reached." He watched as she went briskly to the bed and started to sort through her various garments, and then he went back to playing his console game. She went back to her table and sat down.

"Thanks… but I don't feel it. I feel as though I still need to work harder… that there's something I have yet to do. Maybe that's why I'm still working on it…" She put a scrunchie in her mouth as she attempted to tame her hair with the brush. "Itsh jusch that I'd 'eel 'etter 'eing 're'ared."

He looked up at her, confused. "Huh?" In the background his game crashed from his lack of attention. Disgruntled, he turned it off and flew up to the table.

"I sincerely doubt that there is much more 'to' do. You've already provided the cards with a home they love. You've become a friend of both guardians of the cards. You've created your own cards. You've unlocked a potential that enables you to call forth the powers of the cards with little effort. And you have a firm support group that cares for, and protects, you." He crossed his arms, apparently satisfied.

"I guess your right." Her worries seemed to lift slightly, and she allowed a small smile. "I guess all that needs to be done is finish getting dressed and assign an appropriate house sitter to watch things while I'm out." She picked up a light blue dress and went to one of her closets. I guess I just worry too much about nothing.

Satisfied, she picked up her dress, and closed the door.

England

Location unknown (some time later)

Sparks and glowing embers filled the air as the remnants of a broken tool rained upon those clutched in the darkness of late twilight. Five figures surrounded that of a young man whom was holding the broken shaft of a magic staff while he lay on the floor. He tasted blood in his mouth, and a series of bruises and gashes marred his handsome features.

"Eriol…" A voice broke the silence… one thick with a bottled rage and a darkened air of loathing. "No… the reincarnated form of Clow Reed. We have found you at last."

Another figure moved forward. "The cards… where are they?"

"Heh…" Eriol spat up some of the blood in his throat. "What might you be referring to?"

"Don't be foolish boy. We did not travel to England to listen to you play the fool."

A third voice cut in. "The Clow cards… your cards. You have them. They are what we desire."

Eriol raised himself up on an elbow, using the broken staff for support. He smiled.

"You little bitch!" A fourth member of the group said as he kicked Eriol hard in the side. Eriol went skidding across the floor, coming to rest at the feet of the leader.

"Come now… that's no way to extract information." He placed his boot on the head of Eriol and started to press down. "You skip the ribs… and threaten to break the skull. Perhaps if lucky, you'll squeeze out what you want prior to his death."

The circle burst out into laughing.

Through clenched teeth Eriol managed a faint voice. "Wa… wait."

"Oh? You'll talk now?"

"The… the Clow cards… are no more." He started hacking up blood. "You're too late."

"Which means that you've either destroyed those you made with all of your heart… or, they've simply changed ownership." He stopped to stroke his beard a moment. "Yes. That's the only thing it can be."

Eriol writhed on the ground. His cool and calm demeanor couldn't save him now. With mere moments left to hold his life force, he was running out of time…

The leader stepped forward. He looked at the pitiful form of Eriol and sneered. "Though the information you have must be invaluable, it is of no consequence if we kill you here. Good bye… Clow Reed."

With that, he stomped down hard. "It has come to this. The ownership of the cards has switched to another. With that known, the tracks have once again to show themselves. But there is no shame in searching, for that's what it is we long for. The thrill of the hunt."

That said, they dispersed into the night.

In the wallowing darkness they left behind, the battered form of Eriol… was cold… and unmoving.