Chappy 1

It all started with 3:00 a.m. and nothing to do. Kero lie in his tiny bed inside a drawer in Sakura's room, tossing and turning. Sakura had claimed before going to bed that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep because he'd eaten so much chocolate, but that's not why Kero believed he was awake. 'I've beaten every video game Sakura has… except for one!' He scolded himself. 'But I can't even play it, because Sakura doesn't play with me and the game needs two players!' He folded his arms. 'Why is she so mean…?' he thought. He stared at the drawer wall in front of him. He had to find a way to play that game. He had to!

Kero flew out of his drawer quietly and landed on Sakura's desk. He picked up the game box. 'Swordsman's Kin' was the name of the game. He set the box back down. Just as he was going to go back to his bed and try fruitlessly to get some sleep, he noticed the Book of Clow lying next to the game. 'Maybe I could get the mirror card to play with me,' Kero thought. But then he realized that if the mirror card mimicked Sakura, she'd be just as bad at video games as Sakura was. He stared at the book for a while longer, and finally, an idea slowly crept its way into his mind. An idea… that might actually work. Quiet as a mouse, he grabbed the game, flew over to the window and, checking to make sure Sakura was sound asleep, pushed it open and flew outside.

Later…

"Clow!" Kero called, floating through the halls of the mansion. "Are you in here?"

A door opened, and Ruby Moon stepped out. "Ungh, what's with all the yelling at three a.m.…" she moaned, rubbing her eyes. Then she spotted Kero. "Oh, hello Kero-chaaaan!" she chirped. "Did you wanna talk to Suppi?"

"Not this time," Kero said. "I'm looking for Clow."

Ruby looked thoughtful. "Oh, you mean Eriol-kun… Well, I know he was gonna go to bed late, but he might be sleeping by now," she said. "You could check, though. I don't think he'd mind if you woke him up, considering he made you and all…" She trailed off and sauntered back into her room sleepily, closing the door behind her.

A dim, flickering light was coming from a room up ahead. The door was open only a crack, but Kero shrugged and flew over to it. Pulling the door open, he saw that he had found who he was looking for. "Clow," Kero said, floating across the room toward him.

Clow was sitting at a desk with a single candle lit next to him, writing something on a piece of paper. He put down his pen. "Please," he said, "Call me Eriol. Though I may have Clow's memories, I'm technically not Clow…"

"Whatever," Kero said, annoyed. "I have a favor to ask."

"Yes?" Eriol asked.

Kero's face became determined. "CAN YOU SEND ME INSIDE OF A VIDEO GAME?!" he asked.

Eriol stared at him for a moment and then started to laugh. "You came here at three a.m. just to ask me to send you into a video game?" he said. Laughing harder, he added, "I bet this is because you ate too much chocolate before bed again, isn't it?"

Kero's face reddened. "I did NOT eat chocolate!…Much…But that's not the point! Can you send me inside the game or not?!"

Eriol seemed to regain most of his composure, although he snickered occasionally throughout his sentence. He took the game box from Kero and looked at the back. "This game looks like it needs two players," he said.

"Yeah," Kero said, "but I was hoping that if I was in it then I could just do everything myself-"

"You'd never survive," Eriol interjected. "It looks like there are several cases where there are so many enemies charging at you at once that you'd need two people in combat to even have a chance to fend them off."

"Uhh," Kero said, "Well… You could come with me!"

Eriol laughed again. "Silly Keroberos… I have better things to do than go inside a video game with you. Why don't you go with Yue?"

"You know he'd just say 'that's ridiculous' and walk away," Kero whined.

"Well go with Spinel then," Eriol said.

"NO!" Kero screamed, "I don't wanna go with Suppi! He's my rival, not my friend!!"

Eriol looked back down at his desk. "Well, I guess you're out of luck then…"

"No! I'll… I'll think of something! I…" Kero stopped dead. "Wait…" A sly look crossed his face. "If I can't go into the game… Maybe Sakura and that kid can!"

Eriol looked back up, interested. "Hmm… You may have something there. I do love mischief," he said, smirking. "…Okay, I'll do it. But on one condition."

"What?" Kero said. "Anything!"

Eriol smiled. "I get to watch the game, too."

Kero stared at him for a long time. "…Okay," he finally said, "You-"

"And Ruby Moon," Eriol interjected with a smile.

"I… Okay. But not Suppi," he said. "Suppi can't come!"

Eriol thought for a moment. "All right," he finally said. "I think I can convince Spinel to stay here. I'll just tell him he has the whole day to himself, and he'll probably agree. …And if I tell him you'll be there, he'll definitely stay home."

"Okay," Kero said, "Then it's settled. You, me, and Ruby Moon will come to watch Sakura and that kid play the ultimate video game!! Sakura said her dad has a business trip tomorrow, and her brother is staying late at his part-time job, so we'll do it tomorrow. I'll get Sakura to invite the kid over, and all you have to do is come and send them inside the game!"

Eriol grinned. "Excellent," he said. "But what about Yue?"

"What about 'im?" Kero asked.

"I think he'll want to come, too."

Kero was confused. "Why would he care about a dumb video game? Unless… he wants to watch out for Sakura's safety…"

"Bingo," Eriol said. "But he trusts me to protect Sakura-san, too, and I'll be there. I think he'll come for a different reason..."

"Huh? What reason?" Kero asked.

Eriol walked over to his desk and picked up the piece of paper. "I explained everything in this letter – the whole video game plan, when and where it will happen… and everyone who's coming. And as long as he knows who's coming… I'm almost sure he'll be there."

"But," Kero asked, "Didn't you write that letter before I got here?"

Eriol just smiled and said, "It's fun having magic powers."

Kero stared. "So… You knew I was gonna come here…"

"And I know you ate chocolate," Eriol added.

"I didn't… Aww, it's no use," Kero said, defeated. "Anyway, be there tomorrow."

Eriol smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

And so, Kero flew out the window and back to Sakura's house. Eriol enchanted the letter he'd written, and it flew to Yukito's house. 'When Yukito touches that letter, he'll transform into Yue,' he thought. 'And if he knows Ruby will be there… Well, I have a feeling he'll come.' He smiled one last time and blew out his candle. "Let the games begin!"