This is a really large story of mine that I've been working on forever. It's Card Captors, but in the future. Seven years in the future in fact. This fic is AU in that Sakura hasn't captured all the cards, in fact, she still has about six left. The arc with Eriol and Ruby Moon hasn't happened but Touya knows all about his little sister being a Card Captor. Syaoran (Li) went back to China with Meiling (Meilin ::shudders:: horrible name). Sakura has been trying to capture the stupid cards for seven years now but they keep getting out of hand!! And if this seems a bit OOC (Out Of Character) just think how different they would act seven years later, especially after all that's happened in my story. ^^* I hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it. It's a three parter and I'm almost finished with the third part. Later! P.S. The title is from a CCS song called Purachina which means Platinum! Oh and the italics are flashbacks ^^*
"I can't believe that you still haven't captured all the cards." "I can't believe I'm sitting here talking to you." "I mean, it's been seven years." "Well Clow Cards are harder to capture than they look." "Sure they are." "What are you doing here anyway? Why aren't you in Hong Kong?" "Oh why, did you want someone else to be here instead? I just thought that with
Tomoyo and Syaoran and your father gone, you'd want somebody here with you." "And you thought you were the best choice?" "I'm sorry that you're jealous over his ex-fiancée." "I'm not- ex? Since when did you become his ex Meiling?" The dark haired girl hid her face from the other, blushing dark red and moving her
mouth open and close, as if she didn't know what to say. "Well you
see our parents kinda" And she mumbled incoherently the rest. "What did you say?" The other girl, Kinomoto Sakura said, delighting in her
rival's embarrassment. "I said that our parents split it up after they found out that I had magic after
all. The whole reason for the engagement was to hook me up with someone that had magic so
I wouldn't be a disgrace to the family. But now that I have enough magic not to be
disgraceful, it's over. He can marry whomever he wants, and I. Don't.
Care." Each word was punctuated with disgust that Sakura knew to be false. Although
the arrangement was forced, Meiling never seemed to have a problem with it. And the
auburn-haired girl knew she still loved him. "I'm glad you're here Meiling, even if I don't really like
you." She offered a smile that the other girl returned barely. Sakura wiped down the
countertop and turned off the water in the sink. It was her job to close up the ice cream
shop that she worked in. The grey-haired girl was sitting at one of the tables with her
black boot clad feet on the back of a chair. "So where are we going after this? I'm rather hungry. And is Kiroberos still
around? I'm not sure if he'll be glad I'm back." Meiling watched her
former rival move, her auburn hair was to her shoulders, but still in the two pigtails on
the side of her head that gave her a very childlike appearance. She didn't like the
girl that much, but she wanted to be friends. Sakura smiled, her smile much more mature than it had been six years ago when they had
been ten and unfamiliar with the dealings of the world. Many things had happened since
then. "Well if you want, there's this great Chinese food place that opened down
the street and then I'm going to go home." Her voice had tightened once she
mentioned Chinese food, thinking of Syaoran and missing him. "I love Chinese food! We'll have to go. Aren't you done yet?" She
whined, standing and leaning against the cash register. Sakura frowned at her but nodded. "Yeah I'm done. Come on Meiling, I'm getting hungry too." The two
girls left, doing exactly what they had planned. Except that Meiling was a little more
hungry than usual and opened her Styrofoam container and eating the chow mien inside.
Sakura growled at her and would have snapped it shut on her if she hadn't been
driving. "Don't eat in my car!" Meiling smirked and stuck a huge piece of orange chicken in her mouth to contradict the
auburn haired girl. "I'll do whatever I want. So where are we going now
Sakura? In case you don't remember, I just got into town and home' to you
might be different from the home I remember you having." Sakura said nothing and sat perfectly straight. Meiling grimaced and put up her food,
folding her hands in her lap and mimicking Sakura's pose. Out of everyone that the
life of being a Card Captor had included, Meiling was the one person Sakura had never been
close to. Oh sure, when the Fight card had shown up, they'd gotten close and the
grey-haired girl had revealed some things about her that made Sakura realize she was human
too, but that was it. They weren't bosom buddies and nothing was going to make them
that way or as close as she had been to Tomoyo. Just thinking the name hurt. Tomoyo
it was an empty place in her heart along with Syaoran. "Wow." Meiling whispered as Sakura pulled up in the driveway of a very nice
four-story building. She hadn't known that Sakura had any money, much less anything
to be putting herself up in a ritzy place such as this. The crimson-eyed girl nodded her
head with appreciation as she stepped into Sakura's forth floor apartment out of the
uncharacteristically cold spring weather. She wove in and out of the rooms, dropping off
her stuff in one of the bedrooms that was absent from all personal touches. Her almost
friend was waiting in the living room, an odd smile on her face and her green eyes glowing
with maturity. They had all grown up so much too much. "You got yourself a
pretty good hook up Sakura. But why didn't you stay at home?" The smile fell and Sakura flopped down on one of her navy couches. It was fairly
obvious that she wasn't up to games anymore, anything she said was straight up.
"After the accident, Yukito moved in with Touya and me. It was great having him there
with us but I felt so out of place. And Tomoyo-" Her voice cracked slightly and
Sakura cleared her throat before continuing. "Tomoyo always wanted to live in the
city by ourselves. We got his place but well she never got to move in here. I only
did recently." She gestured to the various boxes. Meiling rested her elbows on her thighs as she knelt in front of Sakura. "Do you
ever think about it Sakura? Why they died?" Bluntness always seemed to work great for
Meiling. Sakura leaned back farther and shook her head. "No more talk like this Meiling. It's depressing. Why don't you go get
settled and I'll warm up our now cold dinner ok?" Meiling held Sakura's
eyes for a while longer, green and red battling out to see who would be the winner and it
was most definitely going to be Meiling: as it always was. But the grey-haired girl backed
down. "We'll do it your way Sakura. For now." The girl wanted answers and with
her attitude, she was going to get them. *** "I was thinking of Sakura's room being a studio. I never got to paint after
she was born and it's bugging me that I haven't." "Uh huh." The response was something that Touya normally didn't hear from his best friend in
the world, Yukito, but it was there nonetheless. And it bothered him a great deal. He
peered at him closely, watching the silver hair move slightly with the wind that came from
the open window Yukito was standing at. Touya opted to see if his koi was really
listening. "I was also thinking of running down the main street naked, freeing all the Clow
cards so the spirits and me could have a huge orgy." Yukito didn't flinch. "Sounds great." Silence permeated the room before Yukito shook out the
cobwebs in his head and snapped his head to look at Touya with a yelp of
"What?!" "I really don't see what could possibly more important than me. And it had
better not be my sister." Yukito turned a light shade of red, moving his glasses
about his face until they were in a good spot and brushed past his friend, heading towards
the kitchen. It was a sign for yes if he went for food. "For Kami's sake,
I'd think you two had been having a secret love affair if I didn't know that
you're plenty satisfied enough." Yukito was downing crackers, heating toast in the toaster, and vibrating with every
second. His brunette lover raised an eyebrow. The snow bunny, as he was referred to so
affectionately, smiled a full on grin before dumping his remaining handful of crumbs in
the trash. He moved closer and pushed Touya against the nearest wall; kissing him full on
the mouth, running his hands up his shirt. The brunette gave in, relishing in the feel and delighting in his lover's taste,
but something was wrong. Yukito always used sex to lead him astray, especially when it was
something very important. But he was never this distracting before, trembling with energy
and coming at him like he was a nymphomaniac that hadn't been satisfied in several
years. Well Yukito was somewhat of a nymphomaniac but it was always a lazy
drawl, never this frenzied rush. Touya grabbed Yukito's shoulders and pulled him away, searching his face for
something, anything. Well, he looked cute. His silvery white hair was askew and his
glasses were missing, probably the same place his shirt had gotten to. That was
surprising, Touya didn't remember removing any one's shirt. But his eyes
his eyes were huge pools of molten gold, and they only turned that way when he was
extremely passionate, extremely melancholy, or extremely worried. Their little scene
hadn't gone on long enough for the first and the second was completely out of the
moment so the only thing that was possible "What is going to happen to
Sakura?" Yukito jumped up at both his sister's name and the sound of the toaster going off.
He responded to the food first, bouncing over there and placing it delicately in a napkin
before crunching it in his fist. Slowly, he slid down the side of the counter; his head
making audible thunks as the underside of his head caught on every drawer handle.
His hands, pale and long, came up to cover his eyes. Touya stood and watched speechless.
If that's how Yuki was behaving, something was very wrong. So, he tried again with
the talking thing. "What's wrong?" "I don't know yet." The blonde or as close to blonde as anybody with
silvery white hair could get, answered earnestly. "But it's bad. Very, very
bad." *** That night, as she lay in bed with the covers all drawn up around her like they were
her stuffed animals, Meiling cried. She hated crying; it always made her feel weak and
tiny as if she couldn't handle things so she had to resort to tears. And the whole
reason she was crying wasn't even a good reason. It was getting hot under the covers, so Meiling jumped from beneath them and headed
towards one of the windows in the living room, sitting with her legs dangling out window.
Syaoran always hated when she did that, he wasn't too happy with heights and would
flip out when he saw her like that. She missed him. Missed him so much that her heart hurt and her head felt like it was
going to explode without him being there. When they had gone back to Hong Kong,
they'd gotten closer. Closer than they had ever gotten before. Perhaps it was that he
understood her now, or that his time with Sakura had opened his eyes to certain things,
whatever the reason, they were once again best friends and even a bit more. But then
it had happened. They had been walking along the promenade, hand in hand and being the loud joyous
couple they were when someone had bumped so hard into Syaoran that he fell, his cards
scattering everywhere. Meiling had tried to jump on them or anything to stop the cards
escape, but it was going to happen again. Some of the most difficult cards were going to
flee and there was nothing either of them could do about it. And then it happened. It was
the rush of power in her body like she had finally been able to breathe properly. Her hand came up of it's own power and gestured slightly at the fleeing cards, the
power coursing through her veins. "Stop." And somehow, they did. Syaoran had watched her with wide hazel eyes, mouth opening and closing as if he
couldn't figure out to say. It didn't matter: she couldn't either. That night should have been the best night of her life. She had always tried to be the best she could be physically since she was completely void of magic. But that new discovery had changed her life. After the elders found out that Meiling had power and a fairly good amount of it, they denied the parent's request to keep the betrothal between the two cousins. It had been designed to give Meiling a chance of having a magical baby and the elders always thought that two magical people should never marry for their magic should be shared with the world. She thoroughly considered jumping off the building. No one would miss her all too much and she was a tiny girl, she wouldn't make that big of a mess. But Sakura had been through many deaths already, and Meiling couldn't muster up enough self-hatred to do it with that thought in her head. Instead, she closed the door and went back to her room, oblivious to the green-eyed girl that had been watching her the entire time. Normally, he hated when people treated him like some animal that could be cuddled and petted on the head to the point where he almost purred with the pleasure of it, but the next day when Sakura had woken him up to meet Meiling again, Kero was having no problem enjoying her treatment. She wasn't even someone he could stand most the time but now Meiling had grown up and Kero figured that he could do the same. Maturity wasn't that hard a getup to get into. The grey-haired girl gently stroked the spot between his ears as she told him about China, relating what it looked like and how pretty it was. "We always lived in a very secluded spot, and I guess that's why everything was so fresh and undisturbed." Kero mumbled something in encouragement and Sakura smiled over her shoulder as she grabbed doughnuts from the freezer. "So you'll complain when I pet you but when she does it's ok?" Sakura popped a chocolate doughnut in her mouth as Meiling set Kero down on the counter at the little island they were sitting at. Kero got himself a doughnut and sat down, chewing thoughtfully. "Yes." Sakura grunted in frustration and kept eating. Meiling got herself one and picked at it, not feeling the urge to eat. The tall auburn girl across from her noticed. "Why did you come back Meiling?" Kero choked on the huge bite he had taken and Meiling's scarlet eyes widened. She ducked her head and started to fiddle with the necklace at her throat. It was a small replica of a sword that both girls knew too well hanging on a silver chain. Syaoran's sword looked exactly the same and was in fact, a gift from him. It came to dangle just at the utmost top of her cleavage, which gave her an ample amount of chain to play with. "I I came into magic. I got my hand of power." She stood up and wandered, but still within hearing distance. "Isn't that a good thing?" Her head turned back to look at Sakura, locking eyes and staring for a few moments. Then, Meiling bowed her head and shook it in a quick negative motion. "You don't understand Sakura! My family is very old fashioned, they believe that magic should be spread throughout the world while it can, and that means, if I have power, then I'll have to end up with someone else. Someone non-magical. And even though you think I'm just spazzing on this because of Syaoran well everyone I've ever had a crush on was magical. That's pretty much my type: tall, dark-haired, magical'. Everything's been turned upside down and I can't find my feet. I didn't even have any training back in Hong Kong. Wei had died a few years after I got back, so no one would bother with the little non-magical girl. The worst thing though was-" She caught herself, biting her tongue. "I've lived in the United States for the past two years. Then I went to Hong Kong for a month to see my family and well things happened so that I knew I could only come back here to you. But don't get cocky Sakura. It's just that you're the only Card Captor I know and I need some training." Sakura was frozen, partially eaten doughnut halfway to her mouth. She cleared her throat and placed the doughnut on the counter. "Well I- I guess I'd I'll umm ok Meiling. If you want, I'll show you what I know but it's not much. Kero can show you stuff, right Kero?" The little golden Seal Guardian fluttered up and circled around Meiling in a way meant to belittle her but the grey-haired girl stood straight and defiant. Kero settled back on the counter. "She's gotten magic since I last saw her but she's a bit older than normal." "Fine." Meiling wrapped her arms around herself and sucked herself back into the shell that she always had. "It's alright I guess, I mean-" "Meiling-" Sakura tried to cut in on Meiling's obviously discriminating monologue but the apartment building rumbled so violently that she had to grab on to the counter to stop from falling. The crimson-eyed girl fell to the floor and they all waited until the rumbling has ceased. "What was that?!" *** The more nervous he got, the more he ate. Empty boxes of everything that had been in the cupboards littered the table and he tensely munched on a cookie that he had found at the bottom of a discarded box. Touya sat across from him, watching with a raised eyebrow. He'd never seen Yukito like this, never. "It's going to kill her." He said suddenly, looking at the half of a cookie in his hand as if it held all the answers. Touya furrowed his eyebrows and immediately thought of- "Sakura?" *** Sakura righted herself and grabbed Kero. "We have to go find out what that was! Do you think it could be a card?" Kero closed his eyes in concentration. "I don't know what card would do this besides the Earthy." *** "The test is going to be too hard too hard." Yukito broke the remains of the cookie in half and put the halves facing opposite. Brotherly protectiveness welled up in Touya and he sat on his hands to stop from grabbing Yukito and shaking him. "Sakura? Are you talking about Sakura?" *** Golden light enveloped the three figures as they stepped from the building. Meiling shielded her eyes and stepped in front of the others. "It's nine at night, the sun can't be out this late." Sakura shivered, staring out into the gold nothingness. "It's not the sun Meiling." *** The two halves of half a cookie were smashed beneath his fist and he sifted through the crumbs. "It's going to be her fault that the world ends." Touya sprang from his seat and grabbed Yukito by the front of his blue shirt, hauling him to his feet. He wasn't really angry, no one could ever be angry with Yukito, but he was definitely frightened. "Is Sakura in trouble?" *** The sea of golden light –which was more like a large pool with the city glowing around it- started to shrink, shrink so that it formed a ball of shinning shimmering light in front of them. Meiling backed away as did Kero but Sakura stared, entranced by the orb. "Sakura! Call upon Windy!" Kero shouted, trying to break through her haze. She nodded and reached in her trans-dimensional pocket where all her Card Captor stuff was kept and brought out the Sealing Wand she used. "Let's do this." *** "Yukito tell me! Is Sakura going to be alright?" He was shaking Yukito now, trying to hold it in but, his sister might be in trouble and nothing else was important. She was all the family he had left. Yukito reached up and held Touya's face in his hands. "Sakura will be tested. And she will fail." |
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