The Peace Card
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The classroom smelled of faint cleaner. Dull poster hung upon the wall with
bold lettering reading various messages that one could only find in a school.
'The Best Angle Is A Tri-Angle' and others like 'Learning Is Power'. From
down the hall, faint yells and other sounds of fun could be heard from the
gym, lucky students whom were able to play a game instead of listen to boring
lessons on math and divistion. Maybe their playing Volleyball, Sakura idley
wondered to herself. Sakura put her pen down upon the blank page infront of
her. She wanted it to be the end of the day now, so she could leave this all
behind her to just gather dust with her textbooks.
Instead of leaving though, she stifled a yawn as class droned on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Sakura leaned her droping head upon her hand, desperate to stay awake. Or
face after school detention if she failed.
She gazed around her to see how might her fellow peers be handling. One
student, a girl with short red hair wearing a loose school uniform, seemed
to have admit defeat in ever gaining anything from this endless stream of
words and numbers and instead decided to make a sketch upon her page instead.
Another student, a boy with his head almost completely shaved and thick
glasses, was eagerly writting down every fraction and move the teacher made
upon what appeared to becoming his fourth page of notes. God, Sakura thought
to herself, what does he see in all that mess of mathmatics? A whispering
snore behind her told her that whomever managed to hide in the back row had
decided to succumb to sleep.
Wearily, Sakura returned her eyes upon the middle aged teacher before the
class. God, she prayed silently, please, let this end. As if in answer to
her prayers, the school bell rang.
'Thank you' Sakura replied immediatly as she felt blessed freedom from the
teachers hold. As fast as she could, Sakura closed her math book, closing
the cryptic notes between the pages. Without loosing momentium, she caried
the book under her arm to leave class while managing to ignore the desperate
calls of homework being declared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So how was class?" Tomoyo called cheerfully ahead to Sakura before she could
even be seen.
Sakura smiled inwardly as she set the last of her books into her backpack.
Tomoyo always was able to make her feel happy, regardless how slow or boring
the day was. She just couldn't put her finger upon what it was about her that
did that, but she just always was able to do that.
"It was boring... do you what it feels like to sit through an hour of just
hearing about dividing this to understand what X means? I just don't
understand why we have to learn this. I never have an X in any part of my
life, even when I'm buying things with money." She sighed in responce to
Tomoyo, while closing her locker with a slam.
"Oh well. At least it's over." Tomoyo replied while still retaining that
cheerful lilt in her voice.
"Your right, Tomo..." Sakura's voice cut suddenly when she felt something
deep within her soul. A clow card was near.
"Whats wrong, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked puzzled as she saw her best friends face
change so suddenly. "Is it..." she whispered as she looked around herself at
the other students as they walked all around, some going to their lockers to
finally finish another school day, others leaving to relax away from this
building they despise so much. She couldn't finish the sentance, not with
this many students around.
"Yes" Sakura answered her, already knowing the question. She felt it, and it
was near.
'Well at least there isn't any after school events to do today' Tomoyo said
to herself in defeat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura and Tomoyo sneaked silently around the hall. All around them various
sounds could be heard. The rusty grating of the old excersize wheel of Norm,
the pet hampster in Room 1-D. Faint whispers of teachers and students whom
stayed late in order to catch up on classwork or punish of ill-done deeds.
Even the tuneless whisiling of Akira, the aged janitor as he mopped along the
hallway floors.
Suddenly Sakura grabbed Tomoyo's hand and pulled her into a darkned science
lab. Tomoyo almost fell to the ground by the force of Sakura's pulling, but
managed to stay upon her feet.
"It's in here" Sakura whispered, determination set deep within her voice.
Tomoyo looked around the lab. A lonely looking plastic skeleton was hanging
in the corner of the room, a small layer of dust dulled the white of it's
bones and at least three of it's teeth were missing, probily the victims of
a childish prank or moral boost. A clean rack of beakers lay upside-down upon
a sickly green towel, most likely cleaned only minutes ago from a experiment
for the class to view. The desks in here were black tables, some more scarred
then others as she noticed 'R S + R H' engraved in the corner of one. The
only light in the room was from a pair of dirty windows set in the far wall
ahead of them.
Sakura started to walk towards one of the classrooms many chairs and sat down
in hopes to determine where the card was exactly and what was the nature of
it. Clearing her mind, she began to concentrate upon the card. Tomoyo felt
panic settling into her heart when Sakura suddenly went limp and laid her
head upon the desk before her.
"Sakura..." she whispered in fear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura awoke to the sound of someone humming happily. Slowly she began to
rise from her bed, wiping away the sleep from her eyes with the back of her
hand. What little sleep she did manage to miss was complete washed away by
the blast of sunlight through her bedroom window.
"Wha.." Sakura mumbled at she look around her room. Wasn't she... Sakura
paused as she tried to remember what she was thinking a moment before. She
lay back upon her bed again, rested her head upon her pillow and thought
about it. Slowly, she started to remember faint images. A boring lesson in
math class... then... something about a squeaking sound... a dusty skeleton?
Wait, Tomoyo was with me... something about finding something important in...
one of the school labs? Sakura gently shook her head. What a strange dream,
she decided and then dismissed it all from her mind.
She opened her eyes again, at peered at the ceiling of her room. A sea of
white. Then her stomach began to growl.
'Oops... better get some breakfast' Sakura said to herself and raised from
her bed. She walked over to her closet to find something to wear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Sakura finished getting dressed, into a nice yellow sundress her m...
Wait, Sakura thought to herself. Who bought me this dress? Sakura walked over
to her mirror, it's edges covered in different photo's. Some of her smiling
with Tomoyo, another of her with her father. "Oh, I remember that night"
Sakura whispered to herself as she peered into the photo. Caught within it's
ageless image was a picture of her in her cheerleader outfit, joy leaping in
her eyes from being picked for the cheerleader team. Beside her, Sakura's
mother shed tears of happiness for Sakura's acceptance. 'Wait... isn't my
mother...' Sakura started to realize before she heard humming. The same
humming that woke her. Coming from a voice that somehow, deep down, she knew.
"Mother..." The words died upon her lips as she a flood of memories crashed
into her mind. Memories of her and her mother at the park, enjoying a picnic
in the sun with Tomoyo. The laughter the three of them shared as they ate
under the shade of a tree and enjoyed the company of eachother. Her birthday
when her mother made her that chocolate cake and he entire family sat around
her singing Happy Birthday as she blew out the melting candles. Slowly a tear
started to fall down her face as she remembered it all.
Quickly turning around, Sakura dropped the image upon her desk as she called
out for her mother. The tears still fell as they made the world mist around
her. But she didn't care. Her mother was here, with her. Sakura ran across
room through the haze and gripped the door handle, the only thing left
between her... and her mother.
As she opened the door, her nose was immediatly filled with the scent of her
mother's perfume. The smell wafted around her and caressed her soul. It
tickled her heart and let forth another set of tears. Sakura ran down the
dark red hallway, ignoring the ebony, wood and oak frames along the walls.
Each picture filled with more images of her at different stages of her life,
a life with her mother and father. A picture of baby Sakura on Santa's lap.
Another of Sakura, her mother and father staring into the camera with a small
cupcake before them. A small candle with a number 4 was lit amoungst the
M&M's and blue frosting. A corner of the family cake was visible in the
bottom corner. Yet another picture of her, her mother and her father together
for a family portait. Her father in a tux, her mother and her in matching
white gowns.
Once Sakura got to the bottom of the staircase, she hear her mother in the
kitchen, humming once again. Then her heart stopped for the briefests of
moments. Her mother walked out. Sakura never thought she saw a more beautiful
woman. Before her, her mother was smiling at her. She wore a soft green dress
that reached down to her ankles. Her hair was done in a french bun with a
few strands of lose hair poking through the bottom of it. She was holding her
hands infront of her, resting them upon her stomach. Sakura could feel the
love that radiated from her, the love of her mother, the matchless love for a
daughter.
"Why are you crying Sakura? Is something wrong?" Sakura's mother spoke as she
saw her daughter before her with tears coming forth without end.
"Mo... mom..." Still the tears came forth.
"Come here, my child. Give mommy a hug" her mother replied as if the world
had stopped and just became only the two of them. Slowly she opened her arms
to greet daughter in a warm embrace.
"Mom" Sakura said again as she ran into the hold granted before her. And
still the tears came. "I love you mom."
"Shhhhh.... Sakura, it's alright. I love you too." Her mother whispered
softly into her ear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomoyo kept shaking Sakura as she lay upon the lab's desk. She could only
panic and not stop crying since Sakura fell upon the desk. She gave up
worring about the card and started to scream for help, for anyone to help
them, to help wake Sakura. But still no one came.
Suddenly, to Tomoyo's horror, Sakura sighed happily with a giant smile... and
breathed no more. Seeing her best friend die like this, before her, the tears
came forth again. Slowly, Tomoyo kissed Sakura's forehead, realizing there
was nothing left her could do. And in the softest whisper she said "Goodbye,
Sakura, my friend. May you be happy in heaven. I know you must be now with
your mother..."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The classroom smelled of faint cleaner. Dull poster hung upon the wall with
bold lettering reading various messages that one could only find in a school.
'The Best Angle Is A Tri-Angle' and others like 'Learning Is Power'. From
down the hall, faint yells and other sounds of fun could be heard from the
gym, lucky students whom were able to play a game instead of listen to boring
lessons on math and divistion. Maybe their playing Volleyball, Sakura idley
wondered to herself. Sakura put her pen down upon the blank page infront of
her. She wanted it to be the end of the day now, so she could leave this all
behind her to just gather dust with her textbooks.
Instead of leaving though, she stifled a yawn as class droned on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
Sakura leaned her droping head upon her hand, desperate to stay awake. Or
face after school detention if she failed.
She gazed around her to see how might her fellow peers be handling. One
student, a girl with short red hair wearing a loose school uniform, seemed
to have admit defeat in ever gaining anything from this endless stream of
words and numbers and instead decided to make a sketch upon her page instead.
Another student, a boy with his head almost completely shaved and thick
glasses, was eagerly writting down every fraction and move the teacher made
upon what appeared to becoming his fourth page of notes. God, Sakura thought
to herself, what does he see in all that mess of mathmatics? A whispering
snore behind her told her that whomever managed to hide in the back row had
decided to succumb to sleep.
Wearily, Sakura returned her eyes upon the middle aged teacher before the
class. God, she prayed silently, please, let this end. As if in answer to
her prayers, the school bell rang.
'Thank you' Sakura replied immediatly as she felt blessed freedom from the
teachers hold. As fast as she could, Sakura closed her math book, closing
the cryptic notes between the pages. Without loosing momentium, she caried
the book under her arm to leave class while managing to ignore the desperate
calls of homework being declared.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"So how was class?" Tomoyo called cheerfully ahead to Sakura before she could
even be seen.
Sakura smiled inwardly as she set the last of her books into her backpack.
Tomoyo always was able to make her feel happy, regardless how slow or boring
the day was. She just couldn't put her finger upon what it was about her that
did that, but she just always was able to do that.
"It was boring... do you what it feels like to sit through an hour of just
hearing about dividing this to understand what X means? I just don't
understand why we have to learn this. I never have an X in any part of my
life, even when I'm buying things with money." She sighed in responce to
Tomoyo, while closing her locker with a slam.
"Oh well. At least it's over." Tomoyo replied while still retaining that
cheerful lilt in her voice.
"Your right, Tomo..." Sakura's voice cut suddenly when she felt something
deep within her soul. A clow card was near.
"Whats wrong, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked puzzled as she saw her best friends face
change so suddenly. "Is it..." she whispered as she looked around herself at
the other students as they walked all around, some going to their lockers to
finally finish another school day, others leaving to relax away from this
building they despise so much. She couldn't finish the sentance, not with
this many students around.
"Yes" Sakura answered her, already knowing the question. She felt it, and it
was near.
'Well at least there isn't any after school events to do today' Tomoyo said
to herself in defeat.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura and Tomoyo sneaked silently around the hall. All around them various
sounds could be heard. The rusty grating of the old excersize wheel of Norm,
the pet hampster in Room 1-D. Faint whispers of teachers and students whom
stayed late in order to catch up on classwork or punish of ill-done deeds.
Even the tuneless whisiling of Akira, the aged janitor as he mopped along the
hallway floors.
Suddenly Sakura grabbed Tomoyo's hand and pulled her into a darkned science
lab. Tomoyo almost fell to the ground by the force of Sakura's pulling, but
managed to stay upon her feet.
"It's in here" Sakura whispered, determination set deep within her voice.
Tomoyo looked around the lab. A lonely looking plastic skeleton was hanging
in the corner of the room, a small layer of dust dulled the white of it's
bones and at least three of it's teeth were missing, probily the victims of
a childish prank or moral boost. A clean rack of beakers lay upside-down upon
a sickly green towel, most likely cleaned only minutes ago from a experiment
for the class to view. The desks in here were black tables, some more scarred
then others as she noticed 'R S + R H' engraved in the corner of one. The
only light in the room was from a pair of dirty windows set in the far wall
ahead of them.
Sakura started to walk towards one of the classrooms many chairs and sat down
in hopes to determine where the card was exactly and what was the nature of
it. Clearing her mind, she began to concentrate upon the card. Tomoyo felt
panic settling into her heart when Sakura suddenly went limp and laid her
head upon the desk before her.
"Sakura..." she whispered in fear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sakura awoke to the sound of someone humming happily. Slowly she began to
rise from her bed, wiping away the sleep from her eyes with the back of her
hand. What little sleep she did manage to miss was complete washed away by
the blast of sunlight through her bedroom window.
"Wha.." Sakura mumbled at she look around her room. Wasn't she... Sakura
paused as she tried to remember what she was thinking a moment before. She
lay back upon her bed again, rested her head upon her pillow and thought
about it. Slowly, she started to remember faint images. A boring lesson in
math class... then... something about a squeaking sound... a dusty skeleton?
Wait, Tomoyo was with me... something about finding something important in...
one of the school labs? Sakura gently shook her head. What a strange dream,
she decided and then dismissed it all from her mind.
She opened her eyes again, at peered at the ceiling of her room. A sea of
white. Then her stomach began to growl.
'Oops... better get some breakfast' Sakura said to herself and raised from
her bed. She walked over to her closet to find something to wear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Sakura finished getting dressed, into a nice yellow sundress her m...
Wait, Sakura thought to herself. Who bought me this dress? Sakura walked over
to her mirror, it's edges covered in different photo's. Some of her smiling
with Tomoyo, another of her with her father. "Oh, I remember that night"
Sakura whispered to herself as she peered into the photo. Caught within it's
ageless image was a picture of her in her cheerleader outfit, joy leaping in
her eyes from being picked for the cheerleader team. Beside her, Sakura's
mother shed tears of happiness for Sakura's acceptance. 'Wait... isn't my
mother...' Sakura started to realize before she heard humming. The same
humming that woke her. Coming from a voice that somehow, deep down, she knew.
"Mother..." The words died upon her lips as she a flood of memories crashed
into her mind. Memories of her and her mother at the park, enjoying a picnic
in the sun with Tomoyo. The laughter the three of them shared as they ate
under the shade of a tree and enjoyed the company of eachother. Her birthday
when her mother made her that chocolate cake and he entire family sat around
her singing Happy Birthday as she blew out the melting candles. Slowly a tear
started to fall down her face as she remembered it all.
Quickly turning around, Sakura dropped the image upon her desk as she called
out for her mother. The tears still fell as they made the world mist around
her. But she didn't care. Her mother was here, with her. Sakura ran across
room through the haze and gripped the door handle, the only thing left
between her... and her mother.
As she opened the door, her nose was immediatly filled with the scent of her
mother's perfume. The smell wafted around her and caressed her soul. It
tickled her heart and let forth another set of tears. Sakura ran down the
dark red hallway, ignoring the ebony, wood and oak frames along the walls.
Each picture filled with more images of her at different stages of her life,
a life with her mother and father. A picture of baby Sakura on Santa's lap.
Another of Sakura, her mother and father staring into the camera with a small
cupcake before them. A small candle with a number 4 was lit amoungst the
M&M's and blue frosting. A corner of the family cake was visible in the
bottom corner. Yet another picture of her, her mother and her father together
for a family portait. Her father in a tux, her mother and her in matching
white gowns.
Once Sakura got to the bottom of the staircase, she hear her mother in the
kitchen, humming once again. Then her heart stopped for the briefests of
moments. Her mother walked out. Sakura never thought she saw a more beautiful
woman. Before her, her mother was smiling at her. She wore a soft green dress
that reached down to her ankles. Her hair was done in a french bun with a
few strands of lose hair poking through the bottom of it. She was holding her
hands infront of her, resting them upon her stomach. Sakura could feel the
love that radiated from her, the love of her mother, the matchless love for a
daughter.
"Why are you crying Sakura? Is something wrong?" Sakura's mother spoke as she
saw her daughter before her with tears coming forth without end.
"Mo... mom..." Still the tears came forth.
"Come here, my child. Give mommy a hug" her mother replied as if the world
had stopped and just became only the two of them. Slowly she opened her arms
to greet daughter in a warm embrace.
"Mom" Sakura said again as she ran into the hold granted before her. And
still the tears came. "I love you mom."
"Shhhhh.... Sakura, it's alright. I love you too." Her mother whispered
softly into her ear.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomoyo kept shaking Sakura as she lay upon the lab's desk. She could only
panic and not stop crying since Sakura fell upon the desk. She gave up
worring about the card and started to scream for help, for anyone to help
them, to help wake Sakura. But still no one came.
Suddenly, to Tomoyo's horror, Sakura sighed happily with a giant smile... and
breathed no more. Seeing her best friend die like this, before her, the tears
came forth again. Slowly, Tomoyo kissed Sakura's forehead, realizing there
was nothing left her could do. And in the softest whisper she said "Goodbye,
Sakura, my friend. May you be happy in heaven. I know you must be now with
your mother..."