Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura is property of the wonderful CLAMP. I'm
hoping that if I suck up to them enough, they'll let me join. Despite
the fact that I'm male, can't speak Japanese, and am a distinctly
average artist. A boy can dream, can't he? Stop laughing, you
bastards.
This story is set in the manga continuity after Chapter 21. To recap,
Sakura has recently captured Light and Dark. Ms Mitsuki knows about
Kero and the Clow Cards.
THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT
Part 1- "Heart of Lightness"
It was an unusually cold day in Tomoeda. The sky was a barren,
uniform grey, and the town was somewhat subdued. The streets were
mostly quiet and empty, and it seemed that the dull weather was
influencing the collective mood of the populace directly.
Except for Tomoyo.
Kero observed the girl from his hiding place in Sakura's backpack.
She was a remarkable feat of nature. Of all the humans he knew, she
would probably be considered the most normal- no magical powers, no
strange abilities. Just a normal girl. But it was pretty obvious,
even with Kero's limited knowledge of human interactions in this day
and age, that Tomoyo wasn't normal.
She was always so... happy.
It had first occurred to Kero a few weeks ago. He'd never seen Tomoyo
get angry, or even upset. Since then, he'd made a point of watching
her carefully. He'd been right. No matter what the situation, she
greeted it with a smile. Remarkable. People weren't supposed to be
like that. Sakura had her bad moods, and there were times when Li
appeared to be the very epitome of angst. But not Tomoyo, never
Tomoyo.
He listened as she babbled excitedly to Sakura about the latest
costume she was working on. He couldn't see Sakura, but he knew she'd
be nodding patiently, as she always did upon feeling slightly
overwhelmed by her friend's exuberance. Li was there too, keeping a
reasonable distance and regarding the exchange with poorly disguised
disdain.
"I'm using a new type of synthetic fibre. It's a little more
difficult to work with, but it's supposed to give better insulation.
I can just imagine you wearing it now! You'll look so cute!"
Sakura smiled back weakly. "I... can't wait."
"Do you like blue?"
"Well..." Sakura pondered. She didn't really like blue, actually, but
it didn't matter, as she wasn't given the chance to say so.
"There's going to be lots of blue. And yellow!"
Kero almost smiled at the scene. But he didn't. Everything seemed
okay- Tomoyo was happy, and Sakura had a friend who was clearly very
dedicated. It was just that... well, it was like looking at one of
those photographs where just one detail had been altered. You feel as
if something's wrong, but it all looks so normal that you begin to
wonder if you're just imagining it.
There was nothing wrong with Tomoyo being so happy- nothing that
anyone would be able to point out. But Kero knew that there was
something amiss. He knew that there was considerably more to Tomoyo
than Sakura realised. And considering what he knew- or suspected, at
least- her happiness seemed just a little too good to be true. Did
she really feel nothing that was negative?
If so, then he for one was happy for her. But it didn't seem likely.
He looked at her again. Smiling, as ever.
The more he looked at that smile, the more he worried that one day,
something would go wrong. And then, the smile would end.
A towering image of Sakura dominated Tomoyo's room. She was reviewing
the footage she'd got at the festival when Sakura had captured the
Glow Card. She was especially pleased with the quality of the
exposure on this one. Getting the light levels right was extremely
tricky during card captures, and Tomoyo was nothing if not a
perfectionist...
Footsteps.
She hit a button on the remote control, quickly rewinding the video
to some of the previous, less bizarrely supernatural material. As she
heard the door open, she paused the tape. To her mild frustration, it
froze on a distinctly unflattering image of Yamazaki being beaten up
by Chiharu.
"Tomoyo!" her mother said brightly, striding into the bedroom. "How
are you this evening? Today's been a little hectic for me... I'm
sorry I haven't been around."
"That's okay," Tomoyo replied. "I've had plenty to do."
Sonomi was distracted by the picture on the screen. "Who... are
they?"
"Oh, just two people that I know." Tomoyo hit 'play' on the remote,
confident that there was a good five or six minutes of safe footage
to go before the capture.
"Sakura..." Sonomi said, recognising the girl on the screen. "She's a
good girl... Who's that boy?"
Tomoyo looked up at the picture. "That's Li. I don't think you've met
him. He's one of our friends."
Sonomi frowned slightly. "Hmm... He's standing awfully close to
Sakura, isn't he?"
"Is he?" Tomoyo responded, confused.
"I know his type, Sonomi continued, narrowing her eyes. "Don't let
that boy intimidate you, Tomoyo."
Tomoyo blinked. "Intimidate? I don't understand. Li's my friend." She
grinned. "He's a little serious, but he's nice enough. And Sakura
seems to like him."
"A-ha!" Sonomi exclaimed. "I thought so. I wouldn't buy that innocent
'friend' act if I were you! That's how it begins. Then before you
know it, he'll strike!"
"What?"
"If you're not on your guard, he'll steal her away from you! Trust
me, it happens!" Her manner grew increasingly erratic, much to
Tomoyo's bemusement. "She'll be bowled over by his masculine so-
called charm, and she'll be lost! Gone!"
Tomoyo let her mother regain her composure before she replied. "But
we're all friends. And if Sakura likes Li, then I like him too. I'm
not jealous. After all, if my friend is happy, that makes me happy."
Sonomi considered this strange concept.
"Tomoyo..."
"Yes?"
"I think that in many ways, we're very different people. Anyway, I'm
just saying that you should be..."
Her mobile phone rang. She sighed, retrieved the item from her
pocket, and answered.
"Hello? Well, what now? Haven't you... Didn't I tell you to deal with
it?"
Sonomi mouthed an apology to Tomoyo. She started to pace around the
room, her tone becoming more and more agitated.
"It's not my problem. We all agreed, and I told you... What? He said
WHAT? That's just... no, I will not talk to him. We had a deal, it's
signed and done with. A message? Yes, tell him... Tell him to get
stuffed!" She paused. "Oh, fine then. Just a minute."
She looked back at Tomoyo, and smiled. "Sorry. I have to go and make
some phonecalls." Leaning out of the room, she called down the
hallway. "Ai? Could you come here for a minute?"
An unfamiliar woman joined Sonomi in the doorway.
"I haven't had a chance to introduce you yet. Tomoyo, this is Ai, our
new maid."
Tomoyo smiled politely at the newcomer. She was dressed just like any
of the other maids in the house, but that was where the similarity
ended. She was amazingly beautiful. Green eyes, long red hair, and a
positively angelic expression.
"Hello, Miss Ai," Tomoyo said eventually.
Ai bowed. "Good evening, Miss Tomoyo. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted," Sonomi said, backing
through the door. "Don't forget, Tomoyo. If you need anything, just
ask Ai." She nodded to both of them, and left.
Ai ventured further into the room, watching the video footage.
"Your mother told me how talented you are. I can see she wasn't
exaggerating."
"Oh... you're very kind," Tomoyo blushed. "But it's really not that
difficult. Anybody could do it."
Ai knelt down next to her. "Oh, no. It takes a very special type of
person to do something like this. I think you have a creative soul."
Tomoyo observed Ai with a curious expression. "Well, thank you."
"Tell me..." Ai probed, staring intently at Tomoyo, "is there
somebody you love?"
Tomoyo flinched. She hadn't been expecting a question like that. She
looked back at the video screen, and paused the tape on a picture of
Sakura.
It wasn't something she usually talked about. She'd quickly
discovered that it made people uncomfortable, so she generally kept
it to herself. But Ai made her feel different...
"Sakura. I love Sakura."
Ai nodded, and looked up at the picture. "Is that Sakura?"
"Yes," Tomoyo said, suddenly a little cautious again.
"She's very pretty," Ai smiled. "You must love her a lot."
Tomoyo blinked. "You... don't think it's strange?"
"And why would I think that?" Ai asked. "Love is always beautiful,
don't you agree?"
"Hmm..." Tomoyo turned and looked at the huge picture of Sakura
again. "Yes... I suppose you're right."
"Come on, Kero. Have another try."
"No." Kero turned his back on the games console in disgust. "I refuse
to play against you any more."
Sakura laughed. "Kero, there's no need to be such a bad loser!"
"I am not! You have an unfair advantage over me. You and your
opposable thumbs..." He flew over to the bed, still grumbling.
"Sakura!" a voice called. "You should be in bed by now! It's late."
"Okay, dad!" she called back. "I have to go to bed now, Kero. We'll
have to schedule a rematch for tomorrow." She switched off the
console.
Kero folded his arms. "I don't think so. I've had just about enough
of your cheating..."
Sakura froze. She blinked a few times, then shook her head. "That was
weird."
"What's up?" Kero asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so..." Sakura replied. "I just had a strange feeling."
Kero frowned. "Like the feeling when you sense a Clow Card?"
"No, not exactly," Sakura sighed. "It was kind of different from
that. I just... had this vision of Tomoyo."
"Tomoyo? Do you think she's in trouble?"
Sakura paused. "Umm... no, I don't think so. In the vision, she
looked really happy. It wasn't a bad feeling."
Kero shrugged. Sakura had visions quite often. Sometimes things came
of them, sometimes not. But it was odd that she'd had a vision of
Tomoyo so soon after he'd been thinking about her.
"Sakura, do you, um... ever worry about Tomoyo?"
Sakura looked at Kero, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, do you ever worry that she might not really be happy?"
"But she is happy," Sakura said. "Isn't she? Why, do you think
something's making her unhappy?"
Kero pondered for a while. That wasn't really the point... To his
mind, there was definitely something that SHOULD be making her
unhappy. But apparently it wasn't. He had no idea how to explain this
to Sakura, so he didn't.
"Aw, it's probably nothing."
Tomoyo slept.
A figure walked silently into the bedroom. She approached the
sleeping girl, and stood over her, watching.
"Such love..." she whispered. "Love should be celebrated, not hidden
away."
Tomoyo murmured in her sleep. Ai smiled to herself.
"Your love is so strong..." she said. "You just need some help to
express it..."
Tomoyo dreamed.
Blossoms. Blossoms everywhere. Tomoyo could hardly see through the
petals swirling around her. She could just make out somebody in the
distance.
She ran towards the figure, wading through the growing mounds of
blossoms that covered the ground.
"Sakura?"
Sakura stood at the centre of the blossom storm, staff in hand,
smiling. Above her, the corporeal form of the Flower Card danced,
producing the clouds of petals.
"Hi, Tomoyo!" Sakura beamed.
Tomoyo gestured to the scene around her. "What's happening, Sakura? I
mean, with all the flowers..."
"They're for you!" Sakura smiled. "You like cherry blossoms, don't
you?"
"I... love them, yes."
"Me too." Sakura took Tomoyo's hand and pulled her closer.
"Beautiful, aren't they?"
Tomoyo put her head on Sakura's shoulder. "Not as beautiful... as
you..."
She winced. That sounded like a truly atrocious line. But when she
looked back, Sakura was still smiling.
"Thank you, Tomoyo. I think you're beautiful too."
"So you don't think I'm weird?" Tomoyo asked.
Sakura stared at Tomoyo. "And why would I think that? Love is always
beautiful, don't you agree?"
Tomoyo turned in her sleep, and sighed happily.
"Morning!"
Sakura entered the classroom, and saw five of her friends clustered
around one of the tables at the back.
"Hey, what's going on?"
Chiharu walked over to meet her. "Don't ask. Yamazaki's at it
again..."
"Huh?" Sakura responded, her curiosity piqued. "Hey, let me see! What
have you got there?"
Li, Rika and Naoko watched closely as Yamazaki opened the small
cardboard box. Sakura joined them, followed by a reluctant Chiharu.
"Be very quiet," Yamazaki whispered. "We don't want to agitate them."
Rika watched closely. "What are they?"
Li looked at the contents, and sighed. "Teabags."
"Not just any teabags!" Yamazaki insisted, picking one of them up.
"These are Ancient Chinese Duelling Teabags!"
Chiharu put a hand to her head. "You see? Didn't I warn you?"
"Duelling teabags?" Sakura gasped. "That's amazing! How do they
work?"
"I've never heard of them," Li said sceptically.
Naoko nodded. "It does sound pretty stupid."
"Trust me," Yamazaki said. "They really do fight. It can be quite
spectacular."
Li frowned. "Well, I don't see them fighting now."
"Of course not. They're teabags. They need water."
Chiharu grumbled. "This is the most ridiculous story yet."
"Water?" Sakura echoed. "I'll get some! Wait there!" She hurried to
the sink in the corner of the room, and began to fill up a jug.
Rika cautiously picked up one of the teabags. "They don't look any
different from ordinary teabags..."
"Just wait," Yamazaki said. "Wait until they hit the water. That one
is especially vicious."
"Oh!" Rika exclaimed, dropping it back onto the table.
Sakura returned. "I got the water!" She placed the jug on the desk.
"Now, stand back, everyone," Yamazaki commanded. He carefully dropped
two of the teabags into the water. "Now, let's watch them fight it
out!"
The six friends stared at the jug. The teabags floated harmlessly,
turning the water ever so slightly brown.
"They're not working," Naoko observed.
Chiharu shook her head. "Well, there's a surprise."
"Just give them time," said Yamazaki. "Look at them. They're...
sizing each other up."
Another figure walked into the room. Sakura looked back, and saw her
best friend.
"Oh, hi, Tomoyo! Quick, come and see the teabags!"
"This is pathetic!" Chiharu said, stepping away from the table.
"Yes," Naoko agreed, turning away. "They're just teabags."
Chiharu noticed a neatly wrapped parcel that Tomoyo was holding.
"What have you got there, Tomoyo?"
"Looks like a present!" Naoko said. "Is it?"
Tomoyo blushed. "Well... yes..."
"Ooh!" Chiharu said excitedly. "Is there somebody you like?"
"Yes," Tomoyo nodded. "There's someone I like a lot."
Sakura gasped. "Wow, I had no idea at all!"
"Tomoyo's in love!" Chiharu announced. She, Sakura and Naoko
squealed in excitement. Li, Yamazaki and Rika were still watching the
teabags.
"I didn't know Tomoyo liked anyone," Naoko said.
Sakura grinned. "Yeah, this is so cool! I'm so happy for you, Tomoyo!
Who is he?"
Tomoyo stepped forwards nervously. "Well, actually, Sakura..." She
pushed the parcel into Sakura's hands. "It's for you. My best friend,
and the person I love most."
Everyone except for Rika was now staring at Tomoyo with the same
blank expression.
"Oh..." Chiharu said. "I thought when you said you liked someone, you
meant that you were in love with them..."
"But I am," Tomoyo smiled. "I'm in love with Sakura."
There was an extremely protracted silence.
"They still aren't fighting," Rika commentated, still staring at the
teabags.
Chiharu scratched her head. "Well... this is weird."
"It's ridiculous!" Li objected.
"I think it's cute!" Naoko exclaimed.
"Well, Sakura," Yamazaki asked, "what do you think?"
Sakura looked nervously at the expectant faces. "I'm... flattered,
obviously, and... um..." She shrank away, having unexpectedly run out
of words.
Tomoyo put her arm around Sakura. "You don't have to say anything,
Sakura. I just want you to know that I love you. That's all."
Sakura looked at Tomoyo. She looked just the same as ever. How could
she be acting so differently?
Some more students entered the classroom, followed by Mr Terada.
"Good morning, everyone," the teacher said. "Please take your seats."
"Come on, Sakura," Tomoyo said. "Let's go and sit down."
Chiharu and Naoko headed to their places, gossiping quietly about
Tomoyo's surprise announcement. Li walked past Sakura and Tomoyo, and
shot Tomoyo an icy glare. He went to say something, but was
interrupted by Yamazaki.
"Weird stuff, huh? That's our Tomoyo. Always full of surprises."
Li and Yamazaki took their places. At the back of the room, Rika
stood alone at the table, prodding the teabags with a pencil.
It dawned on her. She looked up and scowled. "Hey! Yamazaki..."
It had been an uncomfortable few hours, for Sakura, at least.
Tomoyo seemed oblivious to the pervading atmosphere, not to mention
the astonished whispers that were following them wherever they went.
Sakura hadn't said more than two words in all this time. She didn't
want to upset her best friend, but nor did she especially want to
encourage her. This was all way, way too much to take in all at once.
Admittedly, it made sense... Tomoyo's actions as a friend had always
been above and beyond the call of duty. She'd always been there to
cheer her on, to boost her confidence... yes, she got carried away
sometimes, but Sakura had always assumed it was just one of Tomoyo's
many quirks. She'd never for one second imagined that there might be
another reason.
She wondered what had prompted this sudden change of tactics on
Tomoyo's part. She was obviously taking it very seriously, whatever
it was. All morning, she'd been showering Sakura with praise and
compliments. She'd even taken the rap when Sakura had started snoring
in history class.
Now they were sitting opposite each other on the grass. Tomoyo,
beaming, produced a small bento box and placed it in front of Sakura.
"I made you lunch! Here you go!"
Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Well, thanks, but... I brought my
own..."
"Oh, I know you, Sakura! It's not like you to turn down an offer of
extra food..."
"I suppose I could try it," Sakura said, caving in. She pulled the
lunchbox towards her, and went to open it. She stopped, noticing Li
standing over Tomoyo.
"Oh, hi, Li!" Sakura waved. "We were just about to have lunch. Come
and join us!" Yes, she thought. Please, God, come and join us. Right
now, she was far from keen on the prospect of being alone with Tomoyo
for too long.
Li said nothing. He sat down, carefully positioning himself between
the two girls. Slightly disturbed by the way he was looking at
Tomoyo, Sakura tried to break the ice.
"Hey, what about that science test this morning, huh? It really had
me stumped..."
Tomoyo leaned forwards and grabbed Sakura's hands. "Oh, I'm sure you
did just fine, Sakura. You're so clever... not to mention cute..."
Li went bright red. "T... Tomoyo, what are you doing?"
She turned to Li and beamed. "Isn't Sakura just the best?"
"Aaargh!" Li growled. "What's got into you, Tomoyo? This is wrong,
demented, insane!"
Tomoyo stared back, uncomprehending. She smiled again. "But I love
Sakura."
"That's impossible!" Li insisted.
"No, it isn't," Tomoyo said brightly, oblivious to Li's frustration.
"It is!" Li shouted. "Do I have to spell it out to you?"
"Hey, come on, Li," Sakura interjected. "Don't be so mean to her."
Tomoyo dived on top of her. "Oh, Sakura! You're always there to
protect me! Whatever would I do without you?"
Sakura struggled free. "Um... why don't I have some of that lunch you
made me?" She picked up the lunchbox, and noticed Li's expression.
"Relax, Li. Tomoyo's just being nice."
Li reluctantly withdrew. Sakura pulled the lid off the lunchbox.
"Oh boy..."
Inside was a lavishly decorated bed of rice, shaped into a perfect
heart.
Li stood up. "Okay, that's it..."
"Is everything alright here?" a female voice asked.
Li span round, surprised. Ms Mitsuki stood over him, smiling
casually.
"Everything's fine, Ms Mitsuki," Sakura said.
The teacher nodded, and looked to Li. "And Li? Are you alright?"
He stepped back warily. "Yes."
Ms Mitsuki turned her attention to Tomoyo. "Tomoyo... what about
you?"
"I've never felt better!" Tomoyo beamed.
"Are you sure? You look a little different, somehow..."
"She's okay, really," Sakura reassured.
Ms Mitsuki observed their wildly differing expressions. Sakura looked
nervous, Li's face carried a plethora of conflicting emotions, and
Tomoyo seemed lost in a happy world of her own.
"Well, I'll leave you to get on with your lunch." She walked away. Li
stood still for a moment, as if deciding what to do. Then he turned
and ran after Ms Mitsuki.
"Ms Mitsuki!" Li called. "Wait!"
The teacher stopped and looked back. This was a surprise. Li usually
went out of his way to avoid her.
"Li? Can I help you?"
Li caught up with her, and frowned. "Ms Mitsuki. I... I realise we're
not exactly friends, but..."
"Aren't we? Li Syaoran, I consider you to be my friend." She smiled
to herself. She liked toying with the almost obsessively paranoid
Li... perhaps a little too much. "Don't you like me?"
Li looked down and shuffled nervously. "I... well... um... Listen.
What you said about Tomoyo... You said there was something different
about her, right?"
She shrugged. "It was just a feeling."
"Well, you're right. She's acting very strangely. All morning she's
been claiming to be in love with Sakura."
Ms Mitsuki raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Does this bother you?"
"Of course it does. I mean, it's crazy..."
"I was under the impression that you consider Sakura to be something
of a rival. How strange that you're being so protective of her..."
Li gasped. "Protective? No way! I... I just think it's wrong!"
"Do you really?" the teacher asked sceptically. "Come along, Li.
You're an intelligent young man. Tomoyo's preferences might seem a
little unusual, but it's nothing you can't handle." She acquired a
distant expression. "Stay close to Sakura and Tomoyo, Li. They might
need your help."
"So you think something IS affecting Tomoyo?" Li said urgently.
"It's possible," she replied. "It is odd that she's suddenly acting
this way. But I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss her feelings."
"Okay," Li said, and, as if it was the hardest thing in the world,
added- "Thank you."
Ms Mitsuki turned and continued on her way. "Don't worry," Li heard
her say. "A little competition sharpens the mind..."
It was the end of a long and confusing day. Sakura was glad to be
getting out of school at last, and probably would have been running
from the building if it wasn't for the weight of Tomoyo's numerous
presents.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. Tomoyo's hand.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Tomoyo smiled.
Sakura laughed nervously. "I'm really in a rush to get home, and..."
"Well, if you're that desperate, why not travel in style?" Tomoyo
gestured to a black limousine parked nearby, accompanied by two of
the Daidouji family bodyguards.
"A limo... to take me home from school?"
Tomoyo led her over to the car. "But of course. I insist!"
Sakura sighed. Could today get any weirder?
"Thanks for the lift!" Sakura picked up Tomoyo's gifts and bolted
from the car.
"I'll see you tomorrow!" Tomoyo called. Sakura didn't look back. She
felt terribly guilty, but how was she supposed to respond? She just
wanted to get back to the relative sanity of her family. Perhaps Kero
would be able to help. He wasn't going to believe this...
A feeling of relief washed over her as she approached the house. It
was temporary, however. She saw her brother standing outside, arms
folded, glaring at her. Now what?
"H... hi, Touya..." she said with trepidation.
"Good afternoon, Sakura," Touya said coldly. "Have a good day?"
She gulped. "Um, yeah, not bad," she lied.
"Excellent," Touya replied. "Now, would you care to explain where
these came from?"
He pointed to several dozen bouquets of flowers, distributed around
the doorway.
"They came this afternoon. All addressed to you..."
Sakura winced. "Oh no. Not this too."
"Do you know who sent them?" Touya asked. "I swear, if it's that Li
kid, I'll break his little neck..."
"No, it was Tomoyo," Sakura said, immediately regretting it.
Touya's face cracked into a smile. "Tomoyo? You mean the pale girl
with the camcorder? Hmm..."
"It's not what it looks like!" Sakura insisted. "Tomoyo just... takes
our friendship very seriously..."
"Yeah, looks like she's definitely serious about something," Touya
continued, unable to hide his amusement. "Oh, this explains so much.
Just wait till I tell dad. He's gonna love this!"
"Touya!" Sakura growled.
"Oh, and I'll have to tell Yukito too," Touya teased. "Yep, this is
definitely a revelation..."
Sakura jumped up and down in undignified fury. "Don't you DARE tell
Yukito about this! It's embarrassing!"
"I know!" Touya laughed. "Don't you see? That's what makes it so
funny!"
Sakura snarled. "Well, you're just bitter. I don't remember anyone
ever sending YOU flowers."
"Yep, you got me there," Touya smirked. "I'm so jealous of your
stalker, Sakura."
"Aw, shut up!" Sakura pushed past him and ran into the house.
Touya looked at the huge quantity of flowers and grinned. "Hey," he
called. "We should get some water for all of these. We might have to
drain a reservoir or two..."
"Kero, I think that we should talk..."
"Can't talk. Eating," Kero replied through a mouthful of chocolate.
Sakura sat down on her bed. "It's about Tomoyo."
"Tomoyo?" Kero responded. "Yeah, you have to thank her for all of
this chocolate..."
"This is serious!" Sakura insisted. "She was really different today.
I'm worried."
Kero looked up. "Hmm? How so?"
Sakura looked at the floor. "This morning, she told me she loves me.
And since then, she's been doing everything you could imagine to
prove it."
"Interesting," Kero mused. "I'd always wondered if she was ever gonna
tell you..."
Sakura gasped. "You knew? Since when?"
"Since always," Kero said, a little smugly. "The girl worships the
ground you walk on, Sakura. It was obvious."
"If you knew..." Sakura challenged, "then why didn't you tell me?"
Kero shrugged. "Couldn't. Wouldn't have been fair on Tomoyo. Would
you like it if someone told that Yuki guy that you like him?"
Sakura sighed. "No. I see what you mean. Li seems to think that
there's some force affecting Tomoyo."
"What do you think?"
"I don't know... I mean, it looks as if she really is in love with
me, Kero. All the signs have been there from the start. I just didn't
realise it. But this change in her is so sudden. I think Li could be
right."
Kero nodded. "Tomoyo's pretty shy as a rule. I knew that she liked
you as more than a friend, but I am surprised that she'd suddenly
tell you like that. It doesn't seem like her at all."
"You don't suppose this could be the work of a Clow Card, do you?"
Sakura pondered.
"I'm not aware of any Clow Card that could do this..." Kero replied.
"Did you sense anything?"
"Well... no. But Li said Ms Mitsuki picked up on something. She knew
something was different, just by looking."
Kero frowned. "That woman has some very powerful magic up her sleeve.
Frankly, I'd be inclined to go with what she thinks. Maybe I'll go
with you to school tomorrow. This situation warrants further
investigation." He folded his arms. "By yours truly, of course."
She stood up. "Thanks, Kero."
"No problem. We'll get to the bottom of this," Kero grinned.
Sakura paused. "Umm... Kero? Do you think it's weird for a girl to
like another girl? The way Tomoyo does?"
Kero laughed. "Weird? Sakura, every other day, you dress up in
bizarre costumes and chase magical cards around, under the guidance
of a small, flying, yellow creature. You want weird? That's weird."
Sakura patted Kero on the head. "You're so smart, Kero."
"True," Kero nodded. "And you're so perceptive..."
Tomoyo nodded to her mother and Ai.
"Did you have a good day today?" Sonomi asked.
"Oh, yes," Tomoyo said shyly. "Mother, today... today I told Sakura
that I love her."
Sonomi stepped back. "Oh... well... that's... surprising."
"How nice!" Ai beamed.
"Well, yes," Sonomi smiled. "Isn't this a bit sudden, though? You're
still quite young, and..."
"But I love her with all my heart," Tomoyo said. "I always have."
Sonomi put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "And I believe you,
Tomoyo. I think you're very brave. How... did Sakura react?"
"She was pretty quiet about it, actually," Tomoyo recalled. "But I'm
doing my very best to prove my love for her. Oh! That reminds me, I
have to sort out some things for tomorrow. Will you excuse me?"
Tomoyo hurried away. Sonomi turned to Ai, concerned.
"She's serious about this..."
Ai nodded in agreement. "It looks like it."
"I'd always suspected that she might feel that way about Sakura,"
Sonomi sighed. "It was the same for me when I was younger. I'm
worried for her."
"Don't be," Ai said. "If she loves this friend of hers so much, it's
only right that she should confront it."
Sonomi rubbed her temples. Those words made so much sense. In an
ideal world, Ai would be right. But still, she worried. The last
thing she wanted was for Tomoyo to get hurt...
Tomoyo heard somebody entering the room behind her. She looked up,
and saw Ai.
"Hello, Miss Ai," she said.
"Hello, Miss Tomoyo," Ai relied. "You did well today. I'm very proud
of you."
Tomoyo smiled. "Thank you. But I know there's still more to do. I
have to show Sakura the true depth of my love."
"Yes, that's right," Ai said. "Express your love, Tomoyo. You must
make Sakura understand."
The smile temporarily faded from Tomoyo's lips. "But what if... what
if Sakura doesn't love me back?"
"Don't be afraid!" Ai commanded. "You must follow your heart, Miss
Tomoyo."
Tomoyo nodded slowly, spellbound. "Yes... I must."
Sakura stood in front of her locker, with Kero floating nearby.
"So," Kero said, "no sign of Tomoyo yet?"
"Not yet," Sakura sighed. "Kero... I know that I agreed to bring you
to school today, but try to keep out of sight..."
Kero shook his head. "Nobody's here, Sakura. Stop worrying..."
"Hey, Sakura!" Rika called from the other end of the corridor.
"Ack!" Sakura plucked Kero out of the air and stuffed him into her
backpack.
Rika and Naoko headed towards her. "We just saw Tomoyo," Rika said.
"She's looking for you."
Sakura shuddered. "Oh, great..."
"Relax, Sakura," Naoko grinned. "I think Tomoyo's crush on you is
just adorable!"
"Mm-hmm!" Rika agreed. "It's so sweet, like something out of a shoujo
manga..."
"We all knew Tomoyo idolised you," Naoko said. "But we never thought
she was in love with you!"
Sakura's embarrassment was reaching critical mass. "Oh, this whole
thing has been completely blown out of proportion..."
She opened the door of her locker. A heap of cherry blossoms fell
from the locker, and onto the floor.
Rika and Naoko squealed in delight. "How CUTE!"
Sakura started banging her head against another locker. "This...
isn't... happening..."
Sakura and Li headed purposefully through the school grounds.
"So we're in agreement?" Li asked. "Tomoyo's behaviour is becoming
increasingly erratic."
"Yes," Sakura said. "But I'm certain this isn't the fault of a Clow
Card. One of us would have sensed it by now..."
Li frowned. "Then what else could it be?"
A muffled voice emanated from Sakura's backpack. "You know, there
might be a way to find out what we're dealing with..."
Sakura stopped. "Really? What is it, Kero?"
Before Kero could answer, Yamazaki ran over.
"Sakura! Come and see this! You're not going to believe it..."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Is this another one of your stories?"
Yamazaki shook his head, looking uncharacteristically excited. "No.
Hurry up! Quick, or you'll miss it!"
Sakura, Li and Yamazaki joined the gathering crowd in the middle of
the schoolyard. Tomoyo, at the front of the crowd, beckoned them
over.
"You're just in time!" she said happily.
Sakura approached with caution. "For what, I wonder?"
"My big surprise!"
"Oh..." Sakura noticed Chiharu, Naoko and Rika, who looked like they
were probably in on the secret. "Surprise... Okay, that sounds...
nice."
Rika pointed up at the sky. "Look! Here it comes!"
Sakura and Li followed her gaze and noticed something in the
distance.
"It's an aeroplane," Li observed. "A small one. And it looks like its
engine's faulty. There's smoke coming from it..."
"Hey," Chiharu said. "This reminds me of something I saw at an air
show once..."
"It's a skywriter!" Naoko exclaimed. "Look! The smoke's spelling out
a message!"
Sakura put her head in her hands. "Oh boy..."
Rika read the message out loud. "Tomoyo Daidouji... loves..."
Tomoyo giggled. "Guess what the next line is!"
"Wow!" Naoko beamed, delighted. "This is absolutely the cutest,
sweetest, most romantic thing I've ever seen!"
Li was blushing profusely. "This is... deeply, deeply disturbing."
With the message completed, the skywriter finished the picture with
large heart in pink smoke.
"Tomoyo Daidouji loves Sakura Kinomoto!" exclaimed Rika, for the
benefit of anyone who hadn't noticed the message now filling half of
the sky.
Tomoyo turned again to Sakura. "I really do love you, Sakura. You're
my absolute favourite person in the whole world and I want to always
be with you and make you happy forever and ever and..."
"This is lovely," Sakura interrupted. "Very... um... thoughtful.
Nobody's ever written my name in quite such a conspicuous place
before..."
"Oh, this is just the beginning!" Tomoyo said. "I have hundreds of
romantic ideas just like this one!"
"Yamazaki," Chiharu frowned, "how come you never do anything like
this for me?"
Yamazaki gulped. "But... I can't afford a skywriter, Chiharu. Maybe I
could write your name on a wall or something..."
"That's not romantic at all!" Chiharu growled.
"Hey," Tomoyo said to Yamazaki. "I can give you the number of this
skywriter if you want. He does discounts..."
Li grabbed Sakura by the collar. "Come on!" he hissed.
"But..."
"This is our chance to escape, while she's distracted!"
Sakura glanced back at Tomoyo, then reluctantly sneaked away with Li.
Tomoyo continued to chat with the others.
"This is all so exciting!" Naoko grinned. "You're the talk of the
whole school, Tomoyo!"
Chiharu nodded. "I found it weird at first, but... I agree with
Naoko. You're the perfect romantic!" She glared at Yamazaki. "Someone
here could learn from you."
"I don't think it matters who you love, as long as you really love
them," Rika said timidly.
"Hey, Tomoyo," Chiharu probed. "If you love Sakura, does that make
you a... you know, like the Sailor Moon girls?"
"Lesbian," Naoko corrected. "I looked it up last night."
"Maybe it does," Tomoyo said, staring into the distance. "All I know
is that I love Sakura."
Yamazaki stepped forwards, trying to look knowledgeable. "Did you
know about lesbians? They were first invented in Ancient China..."
Chiharu kicked him. "No, they weren't. Shut up."
"In America, the law still says that all lesbians must own at least
one cat..."
"No it doesn't!" Chiharu snapped. "We're all sick of your dumb
stories, Yamazaki, so why don't you..."
Yamazaki continued, undeterred. "In fact, the word 'lesbian' comes
from the Greek phrase meaning 'one who owns many cats'... Ow!"
Chiharu pulled him into a headlock. "Do you want me to hurt him,
Tomoyo? I will."
Tomoyo seemed distracted. "Did anybody see where Sakura went?"
"I think she took off with Li just a minute ago," Rika recalled.
"Li..." Tomoyo echoed.
"Oh, she's just playing hard to get," Naoko smiled. "Come on, Tomoyo.
Let's discuss your next move..."
From an upstairs window, two teachers observed Tomoyo's message.
"Tomoyo Daidouji loves Sakura Kinomoto..." Terada read.
Mitsuki chuckled. "So much for subtlety. That's young love for you."
Terada stepped back from the window. "You find this funny?"
"On the contrary, I find it very sweet. And I have to admire the
effort she's putting in."
"This is getting ridiculous," Terada sighed. "What's Daidouji trying
to achieve here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Mitsuki laughed. "So, she's going a little
overboard. So what? Just try and appreciate it for what it is."
"It's completely inappropriate!" he barked.
Mitsuki adopted a serious expression. "Don't pursue this, Yoshiyuki.
Let it drop."
"Why?"
"Because you can't win against this. I guarantee you."
He frowned. "We'll see."
Kero couldn't stop laughing.
"She wrote your name in the sky? Oh... that's funny..."
"No it isn't!" Li insisted, checking that the classroom door was
locked.
Sakura was arranging the Clow Cards on the desk. "Am I doing this
right, Kero?"
"Yep," Kero replied. "Nine cards in three rows."
Li returned to the table. "I'm not sure about this. If what we're
looking for isn't a Clow Card, will a divination still work? There
are no references in the texts to..."
"Texts, texts, texts..." Kero interrupted. "Take it from me, kid.
Unlike you I had the benefit of actually knowing Clow Reed. The Cards
are sensitive to many kinds of magic."
Sakura sat down in front of the table. "I'm ready. Should I begin?"
"Whenever you're ready," Kero nodded.
She closed her eyes. "Cards made by Clow, answer my question. Show me
the true form of the one who opposes me..."
The cards glowed. A wind swept across the table, but the cards didn't
move.
"Right," Kero said. "Top card. Turn it over."
Sakura did as she was told. Thunder.
"Thunder..." she said. "What does that mean?"
Li frowned. "This could be very bad. Thunder usually represents an
immensely powerful force."
Sakura groaned. "Uh oh..."
"It'll be clearer with the next card," Kero said. "Bottom card."
Sakura turned over the card closest to her. Flower.
Li gasped. "That's... weird."
"What? What?" Sakura demanded.
"This is interesting," Kero mused. "Flower represents a gentle force,
usually harmless... definitely benign. That seems to contradict
Thunder."
"Maybe not," Sakura offered. "Just because something's powerful...
doesn't mean it's bad. It could be powerful and gentle at the same
time."
Li scratched his head. "This isn't making sense."
"I turn over the three middle cards next, right?" Sakura recalled.
"Yes," Kero said. "They're your best clue to the identity of the
force."
She turned the centre cards over. Dark, Light and Glow.
"More contradictions," Li sighed.
Kero pondered for a while. "Something that's dark and light at the
same time..."
"A panda?" Sakura suggested.
Li shook his head in disgust. "A panda? Is that the best you can do?"
"Well, let's see YOU come up with something!" Sakura challenged.
"Okay... how about... Tomoyo?" Li said. "She's got light skin and
dark hair, right?"
Kero sneered. "Yeah, genius. You described practically the whole
population of Japan. Besides, we're looking for a magical force here,
not a person."
Sakura looked at the cards again. "What about Glow? What might that
mean?"
"Only you can tell us that," Kero said. "You're the Cardcaptor, so
the cards respond to your perceptions of them. Think... what do these
cards mean to you?"
Sakura thought back to the captures. "Well... when I first saw Glow,
Yuki was there. It was sort of romantic. And, well... when I caught
Light and Dark they were both together like two halves of the same
whole, and... hey, that's it! It's so obvious! Love!"
"Love?" Li frowned.
"Of course!" Kero exclaimed. "Love is both light and dark at the same
time!"
"Is it?" Sakura responded. "Surely love isn't dark..."
Kero sat down on the table. "But it is. It's not a positive or a
negative emotion. It can make you do good things, and bad. Love can
make you jealous, right?"
"Hmm..." Sakura said. "I still don't really get it. Is there such a
thing as a Love Card?"
Li shook his head. "No. Well, at least..."
"What?" Sakura prompted.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
Kero sighed. "Well, we still have another card to help us." He
pointed to the pile containing the eight remaining cards. "Look at
the top card. That should tell us the force's intentions."
Sakura did as she was told. Maze.
"What does that mean?"
Kero growled in frustration. "Its intentions must be complex. The
cards alone can't express them."
"Or, the cards don't know," Li suggested.
The handle of the door turned. Someone was outside. Kero dived into
the backpack, while Sakura collected up the cards. Li walked over to
the door, and unlocked it.
The door opened. Ms Mitsuki stood on the other side.
"Is something the matter, you two?"
Sakura swung the bag over her shoulder. "Sorry, Ms Mitsuki. We were
just... looking for something."
"Did you find it?"
"Um... no," Sakura said. "To be honest, we're not even sure what it
really is..."
"Sakura!" Li hissed.
Ms Mitsuki smiled. "Well, I hope you find it."
"Thanks." Sakura hurried out of the room. Li followed, but was
stopped by the teacher.
"I think you do know what you're looking for, Li."
He frowned. "I... do?"
"What you suspect... is indeed the truth."
Li stared at her, uncomprehending. Then he turned and ran after
Sakura.
Ms Mitsuki watched them go.
"Good luck..."
Tomoyo stood across the desk from Mr Terada. She was positively tiny
in comparison to the towering man.
"Tomoyo..." he began. "You're an excellent student, and overall the
school is very impressed with your academic performance..."
"Thank you," Tomoyo replied.
"But... well, this recent business with your friend Sakura... I'm
very concerned. You're saying that you love her..."
Tomoyo nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, I do, Mr Terada."
The teacher sighed. "Yes, well... that much is obvious. But there are
different kinds of love, Tomoyo. You love Sakura as a friend, don't
you?"
"As a friend," Tomoyo said. "And... something more. She's more than a
friend to me, she's..."
Mr Terada winced. This was going downhill fast. "Okay. She's a very
close friend. But you don't love her in the same way as you'd love a
boy, do you?"
Tomoyo shrugged. "I've never loved a boy. I can't imagine I ever
will. I only love Sakura."
"You love her," he said, "but you're not IN love with her."
Tomoyo stared back blankly. "Yes I am.
"No, you're not."
"But I..."
He folded his arms. "Tomoyo, I'm sorry, but I can't allow this to
continue. You will no longer pursue this... obsession of yours inside
school hours. Romance is not an appropriate topic in a school."
Tomoyo gasped. "But... that isn't fair! Chiharu and Yamazaki are
always holding hands, you don't object to that! Naoko has that fifth
grade boy that she likes. And I'm pretty sure Rika has a boyfriend
too, although nobody really knows who he is..."
Terada's heart skipped briefly. "I... I don't have to explain this.
It's for your own good, Tomoyo."
Tomoyo's voice began to waver. "Please forgive me, Mr Terada... but
you're wrong. Why should I have to hide my love when nobody else
does?"
"You're dismissed Tomoyo," he said sternly. "That will be all."
Chiharu, Naoko, Rika and Yamazaki stood outside the classroom as
Tomoyo exited.
"What did he say, Tomoyo?" Naoko probed.
Tomoyo hid her face. "I... don't want to talk about it."
"Why? Is he angry?" Chiharu asked.
Tomoyo looked back briefly. "Please... I just need to be on my own.
I'm sorry." She ran away down the corridor.
Yamazaki frowned. "Was she... crying?"
"I don't ever remember seeing Tomoyo cry," Naoko said.
Sakura looked around at the shelves full of ancient-looking books.
"So... this is where you live, Li? You certainly have a lot of cool
old stuff."
"Do you mind?" Li snarled. "That 'old stuff' is very important to my
family. If you were a true Cardcaptor, you'd..."
"Aw, change the record, kid," Kero quipped. "Have you found the
reference yet?"
Li carefully turned the pages of the book in front of him. "Here it
is. The creation of the Love Card."
"But you said there isn't a Love Card," Sakura said.
"There isn't."
"Then how... why..." Sakura paused. "Kero? Am I the only one who's
really confused?"
Kero joined Li and looked at the page. "Now I remember. The very
first force that Clow Reed attempted to seal into a card was love."
Li nodded. "Unfortunately, it didn't work. Love was far too powerful
to be confined. No matter how many times he tried, he always failed."
Kero nodded. "End of story. He failed... which is why there's so
little information about the Love Card. He preferred not to document
his failures..."
"Wait a second..." Sakura said, jumping up. "If Clow Reed was ready
to seal it, he must have already... you know, isolated Love. Made it
into a spirit, just like with the other cards. Right?"
Kero and Li stared back. "What's your point?" asked Li.
"If he made it into a spirit, but never sealed it, then where did it
go? It might still be around somewhere..."
Li frowned. "I don't know. Could a card have remained active all this
time?"
"It's a distinct possibility," Kero mused. "Good thinking, Sakura."
"Hmm..." Li said. "The Love Card. Represented by Glow, Dark and
Light."
Sakura sighed. "I still don't understand this whole light and dark
thing. Even if love DOES have a dark side, it doesn't seem to apply
to Tomoyo."
"That's true," Li said. "As... disturbing as I find it, Tomoyo's love
doesn't seem to carry any negative attributes."
"I can't explain it either," Kero added. "But perhaps... there's
someone else who can."
Holding the staff in front of her, Sakura flung her two chosen cards
into the air.
"Release! Light and Dark!"
The two spirits assumed their corporeal forms. Almost identical, yet
complete opposites. The spirits joined hands and stood together
before Sakura.
"Hello, Sakura," Light said. "How may we serve you?"
"Hi..." Sakura said nervously. "I need to know... about love."
Dark smiled. "Yes, Sakura. We can tell you all about love."
Li and Kero observed from a distance. Sakura shuffled her feet.
Something about these cards put her slightly on edge...
She cleared her throat. "Kerberos says that love is both light and
dark at the same time. Is that true?"
Light responded first. "Love is light. Love is joy, happiness,
fulfilment."
Dark continued. "Love is dark. Love is jealousy, anger, heartbreak."
"I understand," Sakura nodded. "But... my friend Tomoyo is in love.
And she's only showing the light side. No darkness at all."
Dark frowned. "Impossible."
Light raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"Love requires a perfect balance of light and dark," Dark explained.
"One creates the other. Every action..."
"Has an equal and opposite reaction," Light finished. "The darkness
must be present..."
"But it may be hidden," Dark said. "That is the only explanation..."
"Which makes it dangerous," said Light. "The darkness dwells within
the person. They may not even be aware of its existence... but it
cannot remain inside them forever."
Sakura gasped. "I don't like the sound of this at all. Is Tomoyo
really in danger?"
Light's expression didn't change. "If all she has shown so far is
light..."
"Then soon the darkness will follow," Dark said.
"What does this mean?" Sakura demanded. "What's going to happen?"
Dark sighed. "All of the resentment, the jealously that she has
pushed to the back of her mind... all of it will be released. The
longer it is withheld, the greater the danger that all of it will
surface at once."
Light nodded. "Darkness alone can cause great damage. Light and dark
must always stay... together."
Light and Dark embraced. Li turned to Kero.
"Kero..." he whispered. "Clow Reed didn't ever write much about Light
and Dark, apart from their ability to communicate directly with
humans. Are they... I mean, to look at them, you might think that
they were..."
"It's a long story, kid," Kero replied.
Sakura stared at the twin figures. "Light, Dark... what should I do?"
"We can help you, Sakura," Light reassured. "Together, we have much
knowledge of the intricacies of love. We will guide you."
"But beware," Dark warned. "Your friend cannot encompass herself in
light forever. Soon, she will succumb to the darkness."
Yukito joined Touya in the living room. "Hey, Touya... do you know
somebody called Tomoyo Daidouji? The name's familiar to me, but..."
"Yeah, I know who that is," Touya smirked. "How come?"
"Well, I was on my lunch break today, and I happened to look up at
the sky, and, well..."
The telephone rang. Touya leaned over and picked it up.
"Hello? Oh, you want Sakura? No, she's not here... At a friend's
house. Um, yeah, that Li kid. I'll tell her you called. Bye."
He put the phone down and smiled. "Well, speak of the devil..."
Tomoyo never cried.
Well, almost never.
Very, very occasionally, it used to happen. She'd be alone, just
carrying on with her usual business... and it would strike. Always
without warning, and always without explanation. She'd just cry.
Then, as soon as she had started, she'd finish, and wonder why on
Earth she'd started crying in the first place. But now, even that had
become a thing of the past.
Of course, this was all before today. And this time was different.
This time, she had a reason.
She placed the phone down, and felt the misery wash over her. The
tears rolled down her face, but she remained silent. It had been so
long since she last cried. It was as if she'd forgotten how to do it.
The bedroom door opened. It was Ai. Immediately, the maid noticed her
distraught expression.
"Miss Tomoyo!" she said, rushing to her side. "Miss Tomoyo,
whatever's the matter?"
"It's... all gone wrong..." she replied. "I tried, I really did..."
Ai put her arms around her. "What happened?"
Tomoyo paused. Self pity was against the very nature of her being,
but this time, she couldn't hold back...
"Mr Terada thinks I'm strange! He says I shouldn't be in love with
Sakura... and... I mustn't... and... and..."
"He's wrong, Miss Tomoyo," Ai whispered. "You know that."
"Yes, but... that's not all. I think Sakura's avoiding me... she
keeps running away with Li. She hardly spoke to me at all today,
and... when I called her house, I found out she's with Li again. And
that makes me even more sad, but I don't know why because Li's my
friend too, and..."
"Oh dear..." Ai sighed. "Come on. Let it all out, Miss Tomoyo..."
Tomoyo screwed up her eyes. "Why? Why do I feel so awful?"
"Love can be painful, Miss Tomoyo. I think you're afraid... that Li
is stealing Sakura from you."
Tomoyo shook her head. "No, no, no! I'm not jealous! I can't be! I
want what's best for Sakura! That's all I want!"
"But you can't deny what you're feeling, Miss Tomoyo."
She began to sob. "I'm... so selfish! I'm such a horrible person..."
Ai shook her head. "This is all part of love. The sadness, the
jealousy, the anger..."
Tomoyo looked up. "Anger?"
"Yes. You're angry, aren't you, Miss Tomoyo?"
"No, no," she insisted. "Definitely not... I... well... I mean, maybe
just a little, but..."
"You're angry at Li for taking Sakura away. Angry at Mr Terada for
not understanding your feelings. Angry... at Sakura."
Tomoyo gasped. "Not Sakura. I could never be angry with her. She's
everything to me..."
"And yet she rejects you! You give her everything, and what does she
give you in return? Nothing!"
Tomoyo collapsed onto the bed, crying like she'd never cried before.
Ai stroked her hair.
"You're angriest of all at Sakura, aren't you? You've loved her all
this time, and she's never even noticed. You've made every effort to
make her happy... but you know she'll never love you back. You know
that you're only ever going to be second best to someone else, be it
Li, or Yukito... And the greatest tragedy of all is... you love her
too much to intervene. She'll never even know that she's hurting you.
You're doomed to suffer in silence forever..."
"No!" Tomoyo cried. Her face was so different... twisted into an
expression it had never required before. For the first time she could
remember, she was angry.
"Sakura..." she gasped, furious. "She... I... Why can't she
understand? Why does she torture me like this?"
Ai stepped back from the bed. Years of repressed anger flowed through
Tomoyo's body as she struggled to maintain some control over herself.
"How... how could you, Sakura?" she said through gritted teeth. "How
could you make me feel this way?"
To be concluded.
Next: Part 2- "Heart of Darkness."
NOTES: Thanks to Firebird for her proofing, and Lynzie for her much-
appreciated character analysis. They both rule.
hoping that if I suck up to them enough, they'll let me join. Despite
the fact that I'm male, can't speak Japanese, and am a distinctly
average artist. A boy can dream, can't he? Stop laughing, you
bastards.
This story is set in the manga continuity after Chapter 21. To recap,
Sakura has recently captured Light and Dark. Ms Mitsuki knows about
Kero and the Clow Cards.
THE DARKNESS AND THE LIGHT
Part 1- "Heart of Lightness"
It was an unusually cold day in Tomoeda. The sky was a barren,
uniform grey, and the town was somewhat subdued. The streets were
mostly quiet and empty, and it seemed that the dull weather was
influencing the collective mood of the populace directly.
Except for Tomoyo.
Kero observed the girl from his hiding place in Sakura's backpack.
She was a remarkable feat of nature. Of all the humans he knew, she
would probably be considered the most normal- no magical powers, no
strange abilities. Just a normal girl. But it was pretty obvious,
even with Kero's limited knowledge of human interactions in this day
and age, that Tomoyo wasn't normal.
She was always so... happy.
It had first occurred to Kero a few weeks ago. He'd never seen Tomoyo
get angry, or even upset. Since then, he'd made a point of watching
her carefully. He'd been right. No matter what the situation, she
greeted it with a smile. Remarkable. People weren't supposed to be
like that. Sakura had her bad moods, and there were times when Li
appeared to be the very epitome of angst. But not Tomoyo, never
Tomoyo.
He listened as she babbled excitedly to Sakura about the latest
costume she was working on. He couldn't see Sakura, but he knew she'd
be nodding patiently, as she always did upon feeling slightly
overwhelmed by her friend's exuberance. Li was there too, keeping a
reasonable distance and regarding the exchange with poorly disguised
disdain.
"I'm using a new type of synthetic fibre. It's a little more
difficult to work with, but it's supposed to give better insulation.
I can just imagine you wearing it now! You'll look so cute!"
Sakura smiled back weakly. "I... can't wait."
"Do you like blue?"
"Well..." Sakura pondered. She didn't really like blue, actually, but
it didn't matter, as she wasn't given the chance to say so.
"There's going to be lots of blue. And yellow!"
Kero almost smiled at the scene. But he didn't. Everything seemed
okay- Tomoyo was happy, and Sakura had a friend who was clearly very
dedicated. It was just that... well, it was like looking at one of
those photographs where just one detail had been altered. You feel as
if something's wrong, but it all looks so normal that you begin to
wonder if you're just imagining it.
There was nothing wrong with Tomoyo being so happy- nothing that
anyone would be able to point out. But Kero knew that there was
something amiss. He knew that there was considerably more to Tomoyo
than Sakura realised. And considering what he knew- or suspected, at
least- her happiness seemed just a little too good to be true. Did
she really feel nothing that was negative?
If so, then he for one was happy for her. But it didn't seem likely.
He looked at her again. Smiling, as ever.
The more he looked at that smile, the more he worried that one day,
something would go wrong. And then, the smile would end.
A towering image of Sakura dominated Tomoyo's room. She was reviewing
the footage she'd got at the festival when Sakura had captured the
Glow Card. She was especially pleased with the quality of the
exposure on this one. Getting the light levels right was extremely
tricky during card captures, and Tomoyo was nothing if not a
perfectionist...
Footsteps.
She hit a button on the remote control, quickly rewinding the video
to some of the previous, less bizarrely supernatural material. As she
heard the door open, she paused the tape. To her mild frustration, it
froze on a distinctly unflattering image of Yamazaki being beaten up
by Chiharu.
"Tomoyo!" her mother said brightly, striding into the bedroom. "How
are you this evening? Today's been a little hectic for me... I'm
sorry I haven't been around."
"That's okay," Tomoyo replied. "I've had plenty to do."
Sonomi was distracted by the picture on the screen. "Who... are
they?"
"Oh, just two people that I know." Tomoyo hit 'play' on the remote,
confident that there was a good five or six minutes of safe footage
to go before the capture.
"Sakura..." Sonomi said, recognising the girl on the screen. "She's a
good girl... Who's that boy?"
Tomoyo looked up at the picture. "That's Li. I don't think you've met
him. He's one of our friends."
Sonomi frowned slightly. "Hmm... He's standing awfully close to
Sakura, isn't he?"
"Is he?" Tomoyo responded, confused.
"I know his type, Sonomi continued, narrowing her eyes. "Don't let
that boy intimidate you, Tomoyo."
Tomoyo blinked. "Intimidate? I don't understand. Li's my friend." She
grinned. "He's a little serious, but he's nice enough. And Sakura
seems to like him."
"A-ha!" Sonomi exclaimed. "I thought so. I wouldn't buy that innocent
'friend' act if I were you! That's how it begins. Then before you
know it, he'll strike!"
"What?"
"If you're not on your guard, he'll steal her away from you! Trust
me, it happens!" Her manner grew increasingly erratic, much to
Tomoyo's bemusement. "She'll be bowled over by his masculine so-
called charm, and she'll be lost! Gone!"
Tomoyo let her mother regain her composure before she replied. "But
we're all friends. And if Sakura likes Li, then I like him too. I'm
not jealous. After all, if my friend is happy, that makes me happy."
Sonomi considered this strange concept.
"Tomoyo..."
"Yes?"
"I think that in many ways, we're very different people. Anyway, I'm
just saying that you should be..."
Her mobile phone rang. She sighed, retrieved the item from her
pocket, and answered.
"Hello? Well, what now? Haven't you... Didn't I tell you to deal with
it?"
Sonomi mouthed an apology to Tomoyo. She started to pace around the
room, her tone becoming more and more agitated.
"It's not my problem. We all agreed, and I told you... What? He said
WHAT? That's just... no, I will not talk to him. We had a deal, it's
signed and done with. A message? Yes, tell him... Tell him to get
stuffed!" She paused. "Oh, fine then. Just a minute."
She looked back at Tomoyo, and smiled. "Sorry. I have to go and make
some phonecalls." Leaning out of the room, she called down the
hallway. "Ai? Could you come here for a minute?"
An unfamiliar woman joined Sonomi in the doorway.
"I haven't had a chance to introduce you yet. Tomoyo, this is Ai, our
new maid."
Tomoyo smiled politely at the newcomer. She was dressed just like any
of the other maids in the house, but that was where the similarity
ended. She was amazingly beautiful. Green eyes, long red hair, and a
positively angelic expression.
"Hello, Miss Ai," Tomoyo said eventually.
Ai bowed. "Good evening, Miss Tomoyo. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted," Sonomi said, backing
through the door. "Don't forget, Tomoyo. If you need anything, just
ask Ai." She nodded to both of them, and left.
Ai ventured further into the room, watching the video footage.
"Your mother told me how talented you are. I can see she wasn't
exaggerating."
"Oh... you're very kind," Tomoyo blushed. "But it's really not that
difficult. Anybody could do it."
Ai knelt down next to her. "Oh, no. It takes a very special type of
person to do something like this. I think you have a creative soul."
Tomoyo observed Ai with a curious expression. "Well, thank you."
"Tell me..." Ai probed, staring intently at Tomoyo, "is there
somebody you love?"
Tomoyo flinched. She hadn't been expecting a question like that. She
looked back at the video screen, and paused the tape on a picture of
Sakura.
It wasn't something she usually talked about. She'd quickly
discovered that it made people uncomfortable, so she generally kept
it to herself. But Ai made her feel different...
"Sakura. I love Sakura."
Ai nodded, and looked up at the picture. "Is that Sakura?"
"Yes," Tomoyo said, suddenly a little cautious again.
"She's very pretty," Ai smiled. "You must love her a lot."
Tomoyo blinked. "You... don't think it's strange?"
"And why would I think that?" Ai asked. "Love is always beautiful,
don't you agree?"
"Hmm..." Tomoyo turned and looked at the huge picture of Sakura
again. "Yes... I suppose you're right."
"Come on, Kero. Have another try."
"No." Kero turned his back on the games console in disgust. "I refuse
to play against you any more."
Sakura laughed. "Kero, there's no need to be such a bad loser!"
"I am not! You have an unfair advantage over me. You and your
opposable thumbs..." He flew over to the bed, still grumbling.
"Sakura!" a voice called. "You should be in bed by now! It's late."
"Okay, dad!" she called back. "I have to go to bed now, Kero. We'll
have to schedule a rematch for tomorrow." She switched off the
console.
Kero folded his arms. "I don't think so. I've had just about enough
of your cheating..."
Sakura froze. She blinked a few times, then shook her head. "That was
weird."
"What's up?" Kero asked. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think so..." Sakura replied. "I just had a strange feeling."
Kero frowned. "Like the feeling when you sense a Clow Card?"
"No, not exactly," Sakura sighed. "It was kind of different from
that. I just... had this vision of Tomoyo."
"Tomoyo? Do you think she's in trouble?"
Sakura paused. "Umm... no, I don't think so. In the vision, she
looked really happy. It wasn't a bad feeling."
Kero shrugged. Sakura had visions quite often. Sometimes things came
of them, sometimes not. But it was odd that she'd had a vision of
Tomoyo so soon after he'd been thinking about her.
"Sakura, do you, um... ever worry about Tomoyo?"
Sakura looked at Kero, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Well, do you ever worry that she might not really be happy?"
"But she is happy," Sakura said. "Isn't she? Why, do you think
something's making her unhappy?"
Kero pondered for a while. That wasn't really the point... To his
mind, there was definitely something that SHOULD be making her
unhappy. But apparently it wasn't. He had no idea how to explain this
to Sakura, so he didn't.
"Aw, it's probably nothing."
Tomoyo slept.
A figure walked silently into the bedroom. She approached the
sleeping girl, and stood over her, watching.
"Such love..." she whispered. "Love should be celebrated, not hidden
away."
Tomoyo murmured in her sleep. Ai smiled to herself.
"Your love is so strong..." she said. "You just need some help to
express it..."
Tomoyo dreamed.
Blossoms. Blossoms everywhere. Tomoyo could hardly see through the
petals swirling around her. She could just make out somebody in the
distance.
She ran towards the figure, wading through the growing mounds of
blossoms that covered the ground.
"Sakura?"
Sakura stood at the centre of the blossom storm, staff in hand,
smiling. Above her, the corporeal form of the Flower Card danced,
producing the clouds of petals.
"Hi, Tomoyo!" Sakura beamed.
Tomoyo gestured to the scene around her. "What's happening, Sakura? I
mean, with all the flowers..."
"They're for you!" Sakura smiled. "You like cherry blossoms, don't
you?"
"I... love them, yes."
"Me too." Sakura took Tomoyo's hand and pulled her closer.
"Beautiful, aren't they?"
Tomoyo put her head on Sakura's shoulder. "Not as beautiful... as
you..."
She winced. That sounded like a truly atrocious line. But when she
looked back, Sakura was still smiling.
"Thank you, Tomoyo. I think you're beautiful too."
"So you don't think I'm weird?" Tomoyo asked.
Sakura stared at Tomoyo. "And why would I think that? Love is always
beautiful, don't you agree?"
Tomoyo turned in her sleep, and sighed happily.
"Morning!"
Sakura entered the classroom, and saw five of her friends clustered
around one of the tables at the back.
"Hey, what's going on?"
Chiharu walked over to meet her. "Don't ask. Yamazaki's at it
again..."
"Huh?" Sakura responded, her curiosity piqued. "Hey, let me see! What
have you got there?"
Li, Rika and Naoko watched closely as Yamazaki opened the small
cardboard box. Sakura joined them, followed by a reluctant Chiharu.
"Be very quiet," Yamazaki whispered. "We don't want to agitate them."
Rika watched closely. "What are they?"
Li looked at the contents, and sighed. "Teabags."
"Not just any teabags!" Yamazaki insisted, picking one of them up.
"These are Ancient Chinese Duelling Teabags!"
Chiharu put a hand to her head. "You see? Didn't I warn you?"
"Duelling teabags?" Sakura gasped. "That's amazing! How do they
work?"
"I've never heard of them," Li said sceptically.
Naoko nodded. "It does sound pretty stupid."
"Trust me," Yamazaki said. "They really do fight. It can be quite
spectacular."
Li frowned. "Well, I don't see them fighting now."
"Of course not. They're teabags. They need water."
Chiharu grumbled. "This is the most ridiculous story yet."
"Water?" Sakura echoed. "I'll get some! Wait there!" She hurried to
the sink in the corner of the room, and began to fill up a jug.
Rika cautiously picked up one of the teabags. "They don't look any
different from ordinary teabags..."
"Just wait," Yamazaki said. "Wait until they hit the water. That one
is especially vicious."
"Oh!" Rika exclaimed, dropping it back onto the table.
Sakura returned. "I got the water!" She placed the jug on the desk.
"Now, stand back, everyone," Yamazaki commanded. He carefully dropped
two of the teabags into the water. "Now, let's watch them fight it
out!"
The six friends stared at the jug. The teabags floated harmlessly,
turning the water ever so slightly brown.
"They're not working," Naoko observed.
Chiharu shook her head. "Well, there's a surprise."
"Just give them time," said Yamazaki. "Look at them. They're...
sizing each other up."
Another figure walked into the room. Sakura looked back, and saw her
best friend.
"Oh, hi, Tomoyo! Quick, come and see the teabags!"
"This is pathetic!" Chiharu said, stepping away from the table.
"Yes," Naoko agreed, turning away. "They're just teabags."
Chiharu noticed a neatly wrapped parcel that Tomoyo was holding.
"What have you got there, Tomoyo?"
"Looks like a present!" Naoko said. "Is it?"
Tomoyo blushed. "Well... yes..."
"Ooh!" Chiharu said excitedly. "Is there somebody you like?"
"Yes," Tomoyo nodded. "There's someone I like a lot."
Sakura gasped. "Wow, I had no idea at all!"
"Tomoyo's in love!" Chiharu announced. She, Sakura and Naoko
squealed in excitement. Li, Yamazaki and Rika were still watching the
teabags.
"I didn't know Tomoyo liked anyone," Naoko said.
Sakura grinned. "Yeah, this is so cool! I'm so happy for you, Tomoyo!
Who is he?"
Tomoyo stepped forwards nervously. "Well, actually, Sakura..." She
pushed the parcel into Sakura's hands. "It's for you. My best friend,
and the person I love most."
Everyone except for Rika was now staring at Tomoyo with the same
blank expression.
"Oh..." Chiharu said. "I thought when you said you liked someone, you
meant that you were in love with them..."
"But I am," Tomoyo smiled. "I'm in love with Sakura."
There was an extremely protracted silence.
"They still aren't fighting," Rika commentated, still staring at the
teabags.
Chiharu scratched her head. "Well... this is weird."
"It's ridiculous!" Li objected.
"I think it's cute!" Naoko exclaimed.
"Well, Sakura," Yamazaki asked, "what do you think?"
Sakura looked nervously at the expectant faces. "I'm... flattered,
obviously, and... um..." She shrank away, having unexpectedly run out
of words.
Tomoyo put her arm around Sakura. "You don't have to say anything,
Sakura. I just want you to know that I love you. That's all."
Sakura looked at Tomoyo. She looked just the same as ever. How could
she be acting so differently?
Some more students entered the classroom, followed by Mr Terada.
"Good morning, everyone," the teacher said. "Please take your seats."
"Come on, Sakura," Tomoyo said. "Let's go and sit down."
Chiharu and Naoko headed to their places, gossiping quietly about
Tomoyo's surprise announcement. Li walked past Sakura and Tomoyo, and
shot Tomoyo an icy glare. He went to say something, but was
interrupted by Yamazaki.
"Weird stuff, huh? That's our Tomoyo. Always full of surprises."
Li and Yamazaki took their places. At the back of the room, Rika
stood alone at the table, prodding the teabags with a pencil.
It dawned on her. She looked up and scowled. "Hey! Yamazaki..."
It had been an uncomfortable few hours, for Sakura, at least.
Tomoyo seemed oblivious to the pervading atmosphere, not to mention
the astonished whispers that were following them wherever they went.
Sakura hadn't said more than two words in all this time. She didn't
want to upset her best friend, but nor did she especially want to
encourage her. This was all way, way too much to take in all at once.
Admittedly, it made sense... Tomoyo's actions as a friend had always
been above and beyond the call of duty. She'd always been there to
cheer her on, to boost her confidence... yes, she got carried away
sometimes, but Sakura had always assumed it was just one of Tomoyo's
many quirks. She'd never for one second imagined that there might be
another reason.
She wondered what had prompted this sudden change of tactics on
Tomoyo's part. She was obviously taking it very seriously, whatever
it was. All morning, she'd been showering Sakura with praise and
compliments. She'd even taken the rap when Sakura had started snoring
in history class.
Now they were sitting opposite each other on the grass. Tomoyo,
beaming, produced a small bento box and placed it in front of Sakura.
"I made you lunch! Here you go!"
Sakura shifted uncomfortably. "Well, thanks, but... I brought my
own..."
"Oh, I know you, Sakura! It's not like you to turn down an offer of
extra food..."
"I suppose I could try it," Sakura said, caving in. She pulled the
lunchbox towards her, and went to open it. She stopped, noticing Li
standing over Tomoyo.
"Oh, hi, Li!" Sakura waved. "We were just about to have lunch. Come
and join us!" Yes, she thought. Please, God, come and join us. Right
now, she was far from keen on the prospect of being alone with Tomoyo
for too long.
Li said nothing. He sat down, carefully positioning himself between
the two girls. Slightly disturbed by the way he was looking at
Tomoyo, Sakura tried to break the ice.
"Hey, what about that science test this morning, huh? It really had
me stumped..."
Tomoyo leaned forwards and grabbed Sakura's hands. "Oh, I'm sure you
did just fine, Sakura. You're so clever... not to mention cute..."
Li went bright red. "T... Tomoyo, what are you doing?"
She turned to Li and beamed. "Isn't Sakura just the best?"
"Aaargh!" Li growled. "What's got into you, Tomoyo? This is wrong,
demented, insane!"
Tomoyo stared back, uncomprehending. She smiled again. "But I love
Sakura."
"That's impossible!" Li insisted.
"No, it isn't," Tomoyo said brightly, oblivious to Li's frustration.
"It is!" Li shouted. "Do I have to spell it out to you?"
"Hey, come on, Li," Sakura interjected. "Don't be so mean to her."
Tomoyo dived on top of her. "Oh, Sakura! You're always there to
protect me! Whatever would I do without you?"
Sakura struggled free. "Um... why don't I have some of that lunch you
made me?" She picked up the lunchbox, and noticed Li's expression.
"Relax, Li. Tomoyo's just being nice."
Li reluctantly withdrew. Sakura pulled the lid off the lunchbox.
"Oh boy..."
Inside was a lavishly decorated bed of rice, shaped into a perfect
heart.
Li stood up. "Okay, that's it..."
"Is everything alright here?" a female voice asked.
Li span round, surprised. Ms Mitsuki stood over him, smiling
casually.
"Everything's fine, Ms Mitsuki," Sakura said.
The teacher nodded, and looked to Li. "And Li? Are you alright?"
He stepped back warily. "Yes."
Ms Mitsuki turned her attention to Tomoyo. "Tomoyo... what about
you?"
"I've never felt better!" Tomoyo beamed.
"Are you sure? You look a little different, somehow..."
"She's okay, really," Sakura reassured.
Ms Mitsuki observed their wildly differing expressions. Sakura looked
nervous, Li's face carried a plethora of conflicting emotions, and
Tomoyo seemed lost in a happy world of her own.
"Well, I'll leave you to get on with your lunch." She walked away. Li
stood still for a moment, as if deciding what to do. Then he turned
and ran after Ms Mitsuki.
"Ms Mitsuki!" Li called. "Wait!"
The teacher stopped and looked back. This was a surprise. Li usually
went out of his way to avoid her.
"Li? Can I help you?"
Li caught up with her, and frowned. "Ms Mitsuki. I... I realise we're
not exactly friends, but..."
"Aren't we? Li Syaoran, I consider you to be my friend." She smiled
to herself. She liked toying with the almost obsessively paranoid
Li... perhaps a little too much. "Don't you like me?"
Li looked down and shuffled nervously. "I... well... um... Listen.
What you said about Tomoyo... You said there was something different
about her, right?"
She shrugged. "It was just a feeling."
"Well, you're right. She's acting very strangely. All morning she's
been claiming to be in love with Sakura."
Ms Mitsuki raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Does this bother you?"
"Of course it does. I mean, it's crazy..."
"I was under the impression that you consider Sakura to be something
of a rival. How strange that you're being so protective of her..."
Li gasped. "Protective? No way! I... I just think it's wrong!"
"Do you really?" the teacher asked sceptically. "Come along, Li.
You're an intelligent young man. Tomoyo's preferences might seem a
little unusual, but it's nothing you can't handle." She acquired a
distant expression. "Stay close to Sakura and Tomoyo, Li. They might
need your help."
"So you think something IS affecting Tomoyo?" Li said urgently.
"It's possible," she replied. "It is odd that she's suddenly acting
this way. But I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss her feelings."
"Okay," Li said, and, as if it was the hardest thing in the world,
added- "Thank you."
Ms Mitsuki turned and continued on her way. "Don't worry," Li heard
her say. "A little competition sharpens the mind..."
It was the end of a long and confusing day. Sakura was glad to be
getting out of school at last, and probably would have been running
from the building if it wasn't for the weight of Tomoyo's numerous
presents.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. Tomoyo's hand.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Tomoyo smiled.
Sakura laughed nervously. "I'm really in a rush to get home, and..."
"Well, if you're that desperate, why not travel in style?" Tomoyo
gestured to a black limousine parked nearby, accompanied by two of
the Daidouji family bodyguards.
"A limo... to take me home from school?"
Tomoyo led her over to the car. "But of course. I insist!"
Sakura sighed. Could today get any weirder?
"Thanks for the lift!" Sakura picked up Tomoyo's gifts and bolted
from the car.
"I'll see you tomorrow!" Tomoyo called. Sakura didn't look back. She
felt terribly guilty, but how was she supposed to respond? She just
wanted to get back to the relative sanity of her family. Perhaps Kero
would be able to help. He wasn't going to believe this...
A feeling of relief washed over her as she approached the house. It
was temporary, however. She saw her brother standing outside, arms
folded, glaring at her. Now what?
"H... hi, Touya..." she said with trepidation.
"Good afternoon, Sakura," Touya said coldly. "Have a good day?"
She gulped. "Um, yeah, not bad," she lied.
"Excellent," Touya replied. "Now, would you care to explain where
these came from?"
He pointed to several dozen bouquets of flowers, distributed around
the doorway.
"They came this afternoon. All addressed to you..."
Sakura winced. "Oh no. Not this too."
"Do you know who sent them?" Touya asked. "I swear, if it's that Li
kid, I'll break his little neck..."
"No, it was Tomoyo," Sakura said, immediately regretting it.
Touya's face cracked into a smile. "Tomoyo? You mean the pale girl
with the camcorder? Hmm..."
"It's not what it looks like!" Sakura insisted. "Tomoyo just... takes
our friendship very seriously..."
"Yeah, looks like she's definitely serious about something," Touya
continued, unable to hide his amusement. "Oh, this explains so much.
Just wait till I tell dad. He's gonna love this!"
"Touya!" Sakura growled.
"Oh, and I'll have to tell Yukito too," Touya teased. "Yep, this is
definitely a revelation..."
Sakura jumped up and down in undignified fury. "Don't you DARE tell
Yukito about this! It's embarrassing!"
"I know!" Touya laughed. "Don't you see? That's what makes it so
funny!"
Sakura snarled. "Well, you're just bitter. I don't remember anyone
ever sending YOU flowers."
"Yep, you got me there," Touya smirked. "I'm so jealous of your
stalker, Sakura."
"Aw, shut up!" Sakura pushed past him and ran into the house.
Touya looked at the huge quantity of flowers and grinned. "Hey," he
called. "We should get some water for all of these. We might have to
drain a reservoir or two..."
"Kero, I think that we should talk..."
"Can't talk. Eating," Kero replied through a mouthful of chocolate.
Sakura sat down on her bed. "It's about Tomoyo."
"Tomoyo?" Kero responded. "Yeah, you have to thank her for all of
this chocolate..."
"This is serious!" Sakura insisted. "She was really different today.
I'm worried."
Kero looked up. "Hmm? How so?"
Sakura looked at the floor. "This morning, she told me she loves me.
And since then, she's been doing everything you could imagine to
prove it."
"Interesting," Kero mused. "I'd always wondered if she was ever gonna
tell you..."
Sakura gasped. "You knew? Since when?"
"Since always," Kero said, a little smugly. "The girl worships the
ground you walk on, Sakura. It was obvious."
"If you knew..." Sakura challenged, "then why didn't you tell me?"
Kero shrugged. "Couldn't. Wouldn't have been fair on Tomoyo. Would
you like it if someone told that Yuki guy that you like him?"
Sakura sighed. "No. I see what you mean. Li seems to think that
there's some force affecting Tomoyo."
"What do you think?"
"I don't know... I mean, it looks as if she really is in love with
me, Kero. All the signs have been there from the start. I just didn't
realise it. But this change in her is so sudden. I think Li could be
right."
Kero nodded. "Tomoyo's pretty shy as a rule. I knew that she liked
you as more than a friend, but I am surprised that she'd suddenly
tell you like that. It doesn't seem like her at all."
"You don't suppose this could be the work of a Clow Card, do you?"
Sakura pondered.
"I'm not aware of any Clow Card that could do this..." Kero replied.
"Did you sense anything?"
"Well... no. But Li said Ms Mitsuki picked up on something. She knew
something was different, just by looking."
Kero frowned. "That woman has some very powerful magic up her sleeve.
Frankly, I'd be inclined to go with what she thinks. Maybe I'll go
with you to school tomorrow. This situation warrants further
investigation." He folded his arms. "By yours truly, of course."
She stood up. "Thanks, Kero."
"No problem. We'll get to the bottom of this," Kero grinned.
Sakura paused. "Umm... Kero? Do you think it's weird for a girl to
like another girl? The way Tomoyo does?"
Kero laughed. "Weird? Sakura, every other day, you dress up in
bizarre costumes and chase magical cards around, under the guidance
of a small, flying, yellow creature. You want weird? That's weird."
Sakura patted Kero on the head. "You're so smart, Kero."
"True," Kero nodded. "And you're so perceptive..."
Tomoyo nodded to her mother and Ai.
"Did you have a good day today?" Sonomi asked.
"Oh, yes," Tomoyo said shyly. "Mother, today... today I told Sakura
that I love her."
Sonomi stepped back. "Oh... well... that's... surprising."
"How nice!" Ai beamed.
"Well, yes," Sonomi smiled. "Isn't this a bit sudden, though? You're
still quite young, and..."
"But I love her with all my heart," Tomoyo said. "I always have."
Sonomi put her hand on her daughter's shoulder. "And I believe you,
Tomoyo. I think you're very brave. How... did Sakura react?"
"She was pretty quiet about it, actually," Tomoyo recalled. "But I'm
doing my very best to prove my love for her. Oh! That reminds me, I
have to sort out some things for tomorrow. Will you excuse me?"
Tomoyo hurried away. Sonomi turned to Ai, concerned.
"She's serious about this..."
Ai nodded in agreement. "It looks like it."
"I'd always suspected that she might feel that way about Sakura,"
Sonomi sighed. "It was the same for me when I was younger. I'm
worried for her."
"Don't be," Ai said. "If she loves this friend of hers so much, it's
only right that she should confront it."
Sonomi rubbed her temples. Those words made so much sense. In an
ideal world, Ai would be right. But still, she worried. The last
thing she wanted was for Tomoyo to get hurt...
Tomoyo heard somebody entering the room behind her. She looked up,
and saw Ai.
"Hello, Miss Ai," she said.
"Hello, Miss Tomoyo," Ai relied. "You did well today. I'm very proud
of you."
Tomoyo smiled. "Thank you. But I know there's still more to do. I
have to show Sakura the true depth of my love."
"Yes, that's right," Ai said. "Express your love, Tomoyo. You must
make Sakura understand."
The smile temporarily faded from Tomoyo's lips. "But what if... what
if Sakura doesn't love me back?"
"Don't be afraid!" Ai commanded. "You must follow your heart, Miss
Tomoyo."
Tomoyo nodded slowly, spellbound. "Yes... I must."
Sakura stood in front of her locker, with Kero floating nearby.
"So," Kero said, "no sign of Tomoyo yet?"
"Not yet," Sakura sighed. "Kero... I know that I agreed to bring you
to school today, but try to keep out of sight..."
Kero shook his head. "Nobody's here, Sakura. Stop worrying..."
"Hey, Sakura!" Rika called from the other end of the corridor.
"Ack!" Sakura plucked Kero out of the air and stuffed him into her
backpack.
Rika and Naoko headed towards her. "We just saw Tomoyo," Rika said.
"She's looking for you."
Sakura shuddered. "Oh, great..."
"Relax, Sakura," Naoko grinned. "I think Tomoyo's crush on you is
just adorable!"
"Mm-hmm!" Rika agreed. "It's so sweet, like something out of a shoujo
manga..."
"We all knew Tomoyo idolised you," Naoko said. "But we never thought
she was in love with you!"
Sakura's embarrassment was reaching critical mass. "Oh, this whole
thing has been completely blown out of proportion..."
She opened the door of her locker. A heap of cherry blossoms fell
from the locker, and onto the floor.
Rika and Naoko squealed in delight. "How CUTE!"
Sakura started banging her head against another locker. "This...
isn't... happening..."
Sakura and Li headed purposefully through the school grounds.
"So we're in agreement?" Li asked. "Tomoyo's behaviour is becoming
increasingly erratic."
"Yes," Sakura said. "But I'm certain this isn't the fault of a Clow
Card. One of us would have sensed it by now..."
Li frowned. "Then what else could it be?"
A muffled voice emanated from Sakura's backpack. "You know, there
might be a way to find out what we're dealing with..."
Sakura stopped. "Really? What is it, Kero?"
Before Kero could answer, Yamazaki ran over.
"Sakura! Come and see this! You're not going to believe it..."
Sakura narrowed her eyes. "Is this another one of your stories?"
Yamazaki shook his head, looking uncharacteristically excited. "No.
Hurry up! Quick, or you'll miss it!"
Sakura, Li and Yamazaki joined the gathering crowd in the middle of
the schoolyard. Tomoyo, at the front of the crowd, beckoned them
over.
"You're just in time!" she said happily.
Sakura approached with caution. "For what, I wonder?"
"My big surprise!"
"Oh..." Sakura noticed Chiharu, Naoko and Rika, who looked like they
were probably in on the secret. "Surprise... Okay, that sounds...
nice."
Rika pointed up at the sky. "Look! Here it comes!"
Sakura and Li followed her gaze and noticed something in the
distance.
"It's an aeroplane," Li observed. "A small one. And it looks like its
engine's faulty. There's smoke coming from it..."
"Hey," Chiharu said. "This reminds me of something I saw at an air
show once..."
"It's a skywriter!" Naoko exclaimed. "Look! The smoke's spelling out
a message!"
Sakura put her head in her hands. "Oh boy..."
Rika read the message out loud. "Tomoyo Daidouji... loves..."
Tomoyo giggled. "Guess what the next line is!"
"Wow!" Naoko beamed, delighted. "This is absolutely the cutest,
sweetest, most romantic thing I've ever seen!"
Li was blushing profusely. "This is... deeply, deeply disturbing."
With the message completed, the skywriter finished the picture with
large heart in pink smoke.
"Tomoyo Daidouji loves Sakura Kinomoto!" exclaimed Rika, for the
benefit of anyone who hadn't noticed the message now filling half of
the sky.
Tomoyo turned again to Sakura. "I really do love you, Sakura. You're
my absolute favourite person in the whole world and I want to always
be with you and make you happy forever and ever and..."
"This is lovely," Sakura interrupted. "Very... um... thoughtful.
Nobody's ever written my name in quite such a conspicuous place
before..."
"Oh, this is just the beginning!" Tomoyo said. "I have hundreds of
romantic ideas just like this one!"
"Yamazaki," Chiharu frowned, "how come you never do anything like
this for me?"
Yamazaki gulped. "But... I can't afford a skywriter, Chiharu. Maybe I
could write your name on a wall or something..."
"That's not romantic at all!" Chiharu growled.
"Hey," Tomoyo said to Yamazaki. "I can give you the number of this
skywriter if you want. He does discounts..."
Li grabbed Sakura by the collar. "Come on!" he hissed.
"But..."
"This is our chance to escape, while she's distracted!"
Sakura glanced back at Tomoyo, then reluctantly sneaked away with Li.
Tomoyo continued to chat with the others.
"This is all so exciting!" Naoko grinned. "You're the talk of the
whole school, Tomoyo!"
Chiharu nodded. "I found it weird at first, but... I agree with
Naoko. You're the perfect romantic!" She glared at Yamazaki. "Someone
here could learn from you."
"I don't think it matters who you love, as long as you really love
them," Rika said timidly.
"Hey, Tomoyo," Chiharu probed. "If you love Sakura, does that make
you a... you know, like the Sailor Moon girls?"
"Lesbian," Naoko corrected. "I looked it up last night."
"Maybe it does," Tomoyo said, staring into the distance. "All I know
is that I love Sakura."
Yamazaki stepped forwards, trying to look knowledgeable. "Did you
know about lesbians? They were first invented in Ancient China..."
Chiharu kicked him. "No, they weren't. Shut up."
"In America, the law still says that all lesbians must own at least
one cat..."
"No it doesn't!" Chiharu snapped. "We're all sick of your dumb
stories, Yamazaki, so why don't you..."
Yamazaki continued, undeterred. "In fact, the word 'lesbian' comes
from the Greek phrase meaning 'one who owns many cats'... Ow!"
Chiharu pulled him into a headlock. "Do you want me to hurt him,
Tomoyo? I will."
Tomoyo seemed distracted. "Did anybody see where Sakura went?"
"I think she took off with Li just a minute ago," Rika recalled.
"Li..." Tomoyo echoed.
"Oh, she's just playing hard to get," Naoko smiled. "Come on, Tomoyo.
Let's discuss your next move..."
From an upstairs window, two teachers observed Tomoyo's message.
"Tomoyo Daidouji loves Sakura Kinomoto..." Terada read.
Mitsuki chuckled. "So much for subtlety. That's young love for you."
Terada stepped back from the window. "You find this funny?"
"On the contrary, I find it very sweet. And I have to admire the
effort she's putting in."
"This is getting ridiculous," Terada sighed. "What's Daidouji trying
to achieve here?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Mitsuki laughed. "So, she's going a little
overboard. So what? Just try and appreciate it for what it is."
"It's completely inappropriate!" he barked.
Mitsuki adopted a serious expression. "Don't pursue this, Yoshiyuki.
Let it drop."
"Why?"
"Because you can't win against this. I guarantee you."
He frowned. "We'll see."
Kero couldn't stop laughing.
"She wrote your name in the sky? Oh... that's funny..."
"No it isn't!" Li insisted, checking that the classroom door was
locked.
Sakura was arranging the Clow Cards on the desk. "Am I doing this
right, Kero?"
"Yep," Kero replied. "Nine cards in three rows."
Li returned to the table. "I'm not sure about this. If what we're
looking for isn't a Clow Card, will a divination still work? There
are no references in the texts to..."
"Texts, texts, texts..." Kero interrupted. "Take it from me, kid.
Unlike you I had the benefit of actually knowing Clow Reed. The Cards
are sensitive to many kinds of magic."
Sakura sat down in front of the table. "I'm ready. Should I begin?"
"Whenever you're ready," Kero nodded.
She closed her eyes. "Cards made by Clow, answer my question. Show me
the true form of the one who opposes me..."
The cards glowed. A wind swept across the table, but the cards didn't
move.
"Right," Kero said. "Top card. Turn it over."
Sakura did as she was told. Thunder.
"Thunder..." she said. "What does that mean?"
Li frowned. "This could be very bad. Thunder usually represents an
immensely powerful force."
Sakura groaned. "Uh oh..."
"It'll be clearer with the next card," Kero said. "Bottom card."
Sakura turned over the card closest to her. Flower.
Li gasped. "That's... weird."
"What? What?" Sakura demanded.
"This is interesting," Kero mused. "Flower represents a gentle force,
usually harmless... definitely benign. That seems to contradict
Thunder."
"Maybe not," Sakura offered. "Just because something's powerful...
doesn't mean it's bad. It could be powerful and gentle at the same
time."
Li scratched his head. "This isn't making sense."
"I turn over the three middle cards next, right?" Sakura recalled.
"Yes," Kero said. "They're your best clue to the identity of the
force."
She turned the centre cards over. Dark, Light and Glow.
"More contradictions," Li sighed.
Kero pondered for a while. "Something that's dark and light at the
same time..."
"A panda?" Sakura suggested.
Li shook his head in disgust. "A panda? Is that the best you can do?"
"Well, let's see YOU come up with something!" Sakura challenged.
"Okay... how about... Tomoyo?" Li said. "She's got light skin and
dark hair, right?"
Kero sneered. "Yeah, genius. You described practically the whole
population of Japan. Besides, we're looking for a magical force here,
not a person."
Sakura looked at the cards again. "What about Glow? What might that
mean?"
"Only you can tell us that," Kero said. "You're the Cardcaptor, so
the cards respond to your perceptions of them. Think... what do these
cards mean to you?"
Sakura thought back to the captures. "Well... when I first saw Glow,
Yuki was there. It was sort of romantic. And, well... when I caught
Light and Dark they were both together like two halves of the same
whole, and... hey, that's it! It's so obvious! Love!"
"Love?" Li frowned.
"Of course!" Kero exclaimed. "Love is both light and dark at the same
time!"
"Is it?" Sakura responded. "Surely love isn't dark..."
Kero sat down on the table. "But it is. It's not a positive or a
negative emotion. It can make you do good things, and bad. Love can
make you jealous, right?"
"Hmm..." Sakura said. "I still don't really get it. Is there such a
thing as a Love Card?"
Li shook his head. "No. Well, at least..."
"What?" Sakura prompted.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
Kero sighed. "Well, we still have another card to help us." He
pointed to the pile containing the eight remaining cards. "Look at
the top card. That should tell us the force's intentions."
Sakura did as she was told. Maze.
"What does that mean?"
Kero growled in frustration. "Its intentions must be complex. The
cards alone can't express them."
"Or, the cards don't know," Li suggested.
The handle of the door turned. Someone was outside. Kero dived into
the backpack, while Sakura collected up the cards. Li walked over to
the door, and unlocked it.
The door opened. Ms Mitsuki stood on the other side.
"Is something the matter, you two?"
Sakura swung the bag over her shoulder. "Sorry, Ms Mitsuki. We were
just... looking for something."
"Did you find it?"
"Um... no," Sakura said. "To be honest, we're not even sure what it
really is..."
"Sakura!" Li hissed.
Ms Mitsuki smiled. "Well, I hope you find it."
"Thanks." Sakura hurried out of the room. Li followed, but was
stopped by the teacher.
"I think you do know what you're looking for, Li."
He frowned. "I... do?"
"What you suspect... is indeed the truth."
Li stared at her, uncomprehending. Then he turned and ran after
Sakura.
Ms Mitsuki watched them go.
"Good luck..."
Tomoyo stood across the desk from Mr Terada. She was positively tiny
in comparison to the towering man.
"Tomoyo..." he began. "You're an excellent student, and overall the
school is very impressed with your academic performance..."
"Thank you," Tomoyo replied.
"But... well, this recent business with your friend Sakura... I'm
very concerned. You're saying that you love her..."
Tomoyo nodded enthusiastically. "Oh, I do, Mr Terada."
The teacher sighed. "Yes, well... that much is obvious. But there are
different kinds of love, Tomoyo. You love Sakura as a friend, don't
you?"
"As a friend," Tomoyo said. "And... something more. She's more than a
friend to me, she's..."
Mr Terada winced. This was going downhill fast. "Okay. She's a very
close friend. But you don't love her in the same way as you'd love a
boy, do you?"
Tomoyo shrugged. "I've never loved a boy. I can't imagine I ever
will. I only love Sakura."
"You love her," he said, "but you're not IN love with her."
Tomoyo stared back blankly. "Yes I am.
"No, you're not."
"But I..."
He folded his arms. "Tomoyo, I'm sorry, but I can't allow this to
continue. You will no longer pursue this... obsession of yours inside
school hours. Romance is not an appropriate topic in a school."
Tomoyo gasped. "But... that isn't fair! Chiharu and Yamazaki are
always holding hands, you don't object to that! Naoko has that fifth
grade boy that she likes. And I'm pretty sure Rika has a boyfriend
too, although nobody really knows who he is..."
Terada's heart skipped briefly. "I... I don't have to explain this.
It's for your own good, Tomoyo."
Tomoyo's voice began to waver. "Please forgive me, Mr Terada... but
you're wrong. Why should I have to hide my love when nobody else
does?"
"You're dismissed Tomoyo," he said sternly. "That will be all."
Chiharu, Naoko, Rika and Yamazaki stood outside the classroom as
Tomoyo exited.
"What did he say, Tomoyo?" Naoko probed.
Tomoyo hid her face. "I... don't want to talk about it."
"Why? Is he angry?" Chiharu asked.
Tomoyo looked back briefly. "Please... I just need to be on my own.
I'm sorry." She ran away down the corridor.
Yamazaki frowned. "Was she... crying?"
"I don't ever remember seeing Tomoyo cry," Naoko said.
Sakura looked around at the shelves full of ancient-looking books.
"So... this is where you live, Li? You certainly have a lot of cool
old stuff."
"Do you mind?" Li snarled. "That 'old stuff' is very important to my
family. If you were a true Cardcaptor, you'd..."
"Aw, change the record, kid," Kero quipped. "Have you found the
reference yet?"
Li carefully turned the pages of the book in front of him. "Here it
is. The creation of the Love Card."
"But you said there isn't a Love Card," Sakura said.
"There isn't."
"Then how... why..." Sakura paused. "Kero? Am I the only one who's
really confused?"
Kero joined Li and looked at the page. "Now I remember. The very
first force that Clow Reed attempted to seal into a card was love."
Li nodded. "Unfortunately, it didn't work. Love was far too powerful
to be confined. No matter how many times he tried, he always failed."
Kero nodded. "End of story. He failed... which is why there's so
little information about the Love Card. He preferred not to document
his failures..."
"Wait a second..." Sakura said, jumping up. "If Clow Reed was ready
to seal it, he must have already... you know, isolated Love. Made it
into a spirit, just like with the other cards. Right?"
Kero and Li stared back. "What's your point?" asked Li.
"If he made it into a spirit, but never sealed it, then where did it
go? It might still be around somewhere..."
Li frowned. "I don't know. Could a card have remained active all this
time?"
"It's a distinct possibility," Kero mused. "Good thinking, Sakura."
"Hmm..." Li said. "The Love Card. Represented by Glow, Dark and
Light."
Sakura sighed. "I still don't understand this whole light and dark
thing. Even if love DOES have a dark side, it doesn't seem to apply
to Tomoyo."
"That's true," Li said. "As... disturbing as I find it, Tomoyo's love
doesn't seem to carry any negative attributes."
"I can't explain it either," Kero added. "But perhaps... there's
someone else who can."
Holding the staff in front of her, Sakura flung her two chosen cards
into the air.
"Release! Light and Dark!"
The two spirits assumed their corporeal forms. Almost identical, yet
complete opposites. The spirits joined hands and stood together
before Sakura.
"Hello, Sakura," Light said. "How may we serve you?"
"Hi..." Sakura said nervously. "I need to know... about love."
Dark smiled. "Yes, Sakura. We can tell you all about love."
Li and Kero observed from a distance. Sakura shuffled her feet.
Something about these cards put her slightly on edge...
She cleared her throat. "Kerberos says that love is both light and
dark at the same time. Is that true?"
Light responded first. "Love is light. Love is joy, happiness,
fulfilment."
Dark continued. "Love is dark. Love is jealousy, anger, heartbreak."
"I understand," Sakura nodded. "But... my friend Tomoyo is in love.
And she's only showing the light side. No darkness at all."
Dark frowned. "Impossible."
Light raised an eyebrow. "Interesting."
"Love requires a perfect balance of light and dark," Dark explained.
"One creates the other. Every action..."
"Has an equal and opposite reaction," Light finished. "The darkness
must be present..."
"But it may be hidden," Dark said. "That is the only explanation..."
"Which makes it dangerous," said Light. "The darkness dwells within
the person. They may not even be aware of its existence... but it
cannot remain inside them forever."
Sakura gasped. "I don't like the sound of this at all. Is Tomoyo
really in danger?"
Light's expression didn't change. "If all she has shown so far is
light..."
"Then soon the darkness will follow," Dark said.
"What does this mean?" Sakura demanded. "What's going to happen?"
Dark sighed. "All of the resentment, the jealously that she has
pushed to the back of her mind... all of it will be released. The
longer it is withheld, the greater the danger that all of it will
surface at once."
Light nodded. "Darkness alone can cause great damage. Light and dark
must always stay... together."
Light and Dark embraced. Li turned to Kero.
"Kero..." he whispered. "Clow Reed didn't ever write much about Light
and Dark, apart from their ability to communicate directly with
humans. Are they... I mean, to look at them, you might think that
they were..."
"It's a long story, kid," Kero replied.
Sakura stared at the twin figures. "Light, Dark... what should I do?"
"We can help you, Sakura," Light reassured. "Together, we have much
knowledge of the intricacies of love. We will guide you."
"But beware," Dark warned. "Your friend cannot encompass herself in
light forever. Soon, she will succumb to the darkness."
Yukito joined Touya in the living room. "Hey, Touya... do you know
somebody called Tomoyo Daidouji? The name's familiar to me, but..."
"Yeah, I know who that is," Touya smirked. "How come?"
"Well, I was on my lunch break today, and I happened to look up at
the sky, and, well..."
The telephone rang. Touya leaned over and picked it up.
"Hello? Oh, you want Sakura? No, she's not here... At a friend's
house. Um, yeah, that Li kid. I'll tell her you called. Bye."
He put the phone down and smiled. "Well, speak of the devil..."
Tomoyo never cried.
Well, almost never.
Very, very occasionally, it used to happen. She'd be alone, just
carrying on with her usual business... and it would strike. Always
without warning, and always without explanation. She'd just cry.
Then, as soon as she had started, she'd finish, and wonder why on
Earth she'd started crying in the first place. But now, even that had
become a thing of the past.
Of course, this was all before today. And this time was different.
This time, she had a reason.
She placed the phone down, and felt the misery wash over her. The
tears rolled down her face, but she remained silent. It had been so
long since she last cried. It was as if she'd forgotten how to do it.
The bedroom door opened. It was Ai. Immediately, the maid noticed her
distraught expression.
"Miss Tomoyo!" she said, rushing to her side. "Miss Tomoyo,
whatever's the matter?"
"It's... all gone wrong..." she replied. "I tried, I really did..."
Ai put her arms around her. "What happened?"
Tomoyo paused. Self pity was against the very nature of her being,
but this time, she couldn't hold back...
"Mr Terada thinks I'm strange! He says I shouldn't be in love with
Sakura... and... I mustn't... and... and..."
"He's wrong, Miss Tomoyo," Ai whispered. "You know that."
"Yes, but... that's not all. I think Sakura's avoiding me... she
keeps running away with Li. She hardly spoke to me at all today,
and... when I called her house, I found out she's with Li again. And
that makes me even more sad, but I don't know why because Li's my
friend too, and..."
"Oh dear..." Ai sighed. "Come on. Let it all out, Miss Tomoyo..."
Tomoyo screwed up her eyes. "Why? Why do I feel so awful?"
"Love can be painful, Miss Tomoyo. I think you're afraid... that Li
is stealing Sakura from you."
Tomoyo shook her head. "No, no, no! I'm not jealous! I can't be! I
want what's best for Sakura! That's all I want!"
"But you can't deny what you're feeling, Miss Tomoyo."
She began to sob. "I'm... so selfish! I'm such a horrible person..."
Ai shook her head. "This is all part of love. The sadness, the
jealousy, the anger..."
Tomoyo looked up. "Anger?"
"Yes. You're angry, aren't you, Miss Tomoyo?"
"No, no," she insisted. "Definitely not... I... well... I mean, maybe
just a little, but..."
"You're angry at Li for taking Sakura away. Angry at Mr Terada for
not understanding your feelings. Angry... at Sakura."
Tomoyo gasped. "Not Sakura. I could never be angry with her. She's
everything to me..."
"And yet she rejects you! You give her everything, and what does she
give you in return? Nothing!"
Tomoyo collapsed onto the bed, crying like she'd never cried before.
Ai stroked her hair.
"You're angriest of all at Sakura, aren't you? You've loved her all
this time, and she's never even noticed. You've made every effort to
make her happy... but you know she'll never love you back. You know
that you're only ever going to be second best to someone else, be it
Li, or Yukito... And the greatest tragedy of all is... you love her
too much to intervene. She'll never even know that she's hurting you.
You're doomed to suffer in silence forever..."
"No!" Tomoyo cried. Her face was so different... twisted into an
expression it had never required before. For the first time she could
remember, she was angry.
"Sakura..." she gasped, furious. "She... I... Why can't she
understand? Why does she torture me like this?"
Ai stepped back from the bed. Years of repressed anger flowed through
Tomoyo's body as she struggled to maintain some control over herself.
"How... how could you, Sakura?" she said through gritted teeth. "How
could you make me feel this way?"
To be concluded.
Next: Part 2- "Heart of Darkness."
NOTES: Thanks to Firebird for her proofing, and Lynzie for her much-
appreciated character analysis. They both rule.