Author's Note: I needed a break from heavy drama; if anyone's interested, I'm still working on Chapter five for my other fanfic, but this is just for fun. Sure everything is amazingly coincidental, but I wouldn't have it any other way. =) Read and review, please?
Mousetrap: Cardcaptor Sakura StyleThe day was overcast, perfect.
"Are you sure this will work?"
"Absolutely, would you ever doubt me?"
"Well…you've never failed before. Still…are you sure everything'll go according to plan?"
"I can foresee these things. I stake my reputation on it." A smirk quirked his mouth. "In fact, I bet you that I can accomplish this."
"Oh, and what do I give you?" She already knew he'd suggest something interesting. "How about a handshake and a pat on the back?"
"How about a hug?"
"You're reputation for a hug? It hardly seems fair. But it may do you good to have your reputation ruined a bit, even if it is already unworthy of a hug." She sighed, inwardly rolling her eyes. 'He's so predictable.' "Fine. If I must, I must; a hug it is."
"How about a kiss?" An eyebrow shot skyward.
"Don't push your luck, Hiragizawa." Abruptly she whirled around. "I'll do my job; make sure you do yours."
"Assuredly, madam." He mock bowed and went the opposite direction. "All is set." He grinned, a grin that said someone or maybe more than one someone was going to be very red by the end of the day.
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It was lunch; everyone was predictably where they always were. The 'girls': Sakura, Tomoyo, Rika, Chiharu, Naoko, were seated on a checkered picnic blanket chatting. Yamakazi had an audience as he related the tale of how fish were originally land animals. Syaoran looked at all this, distractedly, from a high branch of the blossoming cherry blossom tree. He was uneasy, with good reason, though he didn't have any idea at the time.
Glasses sparkled in the sunlight, a stealthy figure watching from the roof. He smirked; it was only a matter of a few minutes until it all began. "My little descendent, you'll be playing your part very soon."
Syaoran played with a cherry blossom petal, folding the silky flower smaller and smaller into a crane, creasing the lines and tucking the flaps. He let it go as the wind picked up, something magical tingling on the barest edges of his mind, but he let it go. He watched his petal crane drift aimlessly into the air and dance away. Graceful and beautiful; it reminded him of someone.
The reincarnation of Clow Reed watching in avid fascination, seeing the wind's paths as if they were colored threads. Gently moving his hands, he maneuvered each thread to suit his needs. How befitting the pink thread carried the crane; deftly he switched its path, aiming it at his target. "And the second act begins."
A lone crane, deilicate and velvety, floated aimlessly, or so it seemed, in the wind. Flittering and spinning in the air, it searched for a landing spot. Other threads of winds spun their way across the air blowing soft tendrils of hair in the crane's path. Hair tangled with blossom, a light pink in a sea of auburn.
Tomoyo's gaze narrowed slightly as she felt the wind pick up. Everyone else didn't even notice. She was the only one to see the solitary petal tumbling in the breeze. 'You never cease to disappoint, my dear Hiragizawa.' "Rika? Don't you have to get the bazaar flyers from the main office today?"
Rika looked up, blushing slightly at the remembrance of who was in charge of the bazaar. "That's right; I'm thinking I can do it after school."
"Why don't go right after lunch; I'll tell Terada-sensei what you're doing. I'm sure he'll agree; he is the head supervisor after all." Rika merely nodded to which Tomoyo put her hand to her mouth, covering a very pleased grin. 'This is almost too easy.'
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Students clamored down the hallway trying to avoid the bell's tone, running furiously to classrooms. A single boy walked down the corridor, counting his steps one by one. At a specific number, he stopped and went down on one knee as if to tie his shoelaces. Instead, he opened his palm and placed its contents, one marble, at his feet. Quickly straightening, he walked briskly to his classroom, not without a knowing glance cast back at the little glass bauble sitting obediently on the floor.
The students were gathered in their own groups in the classroom. The 'girls' minus Rika were busy continuing their lunch discussion about the upcoming bazaar. "That's right; I found the perfect thing for the bazaar. It's in my schoolbag; let me get it." Tomoyo caught the eye of Eriol behind her; both grinned in anticipation. It was only a matter of minutes. She kneeled down by her desk, the others still immersed in their own conversation. She took out a magazine with the article she wanted to show everyone. She pulled out the page marker, a coil of thin fishing wire. Deftly she tied one end to her desk, the other to Sakura's. Making a quick inspection of her work, and finding it satisfactory, she turned back to the group. "Here it is. Like I said, wouldn't this be perfect?"
Her question was left unanswered as Terada-sensei walked into the room. "Will everyone please be seated?" The children scrambled to their seats, sitting attentively.
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Syaoran watched what he watched every school day; the back of Sakura's head. Something caught his eye today, a pink shape in her hair. Staring closely, he realized it was his crane. 'Impossible.' He kept staring at the origami flower in wonder; he didn't notice the commotion in the room.
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Terada-sensei was going to start his lesson plan when an "Ahh!" was heard from the hallway. Upon opening the door, he found a dazed Rika sprawled out on the floor, flyers strewn up and down the hall. "Are you okay, Sasaki?"
"H-hai. I think I slipped on something." He bent down and began to help her collect the heap of papers. The class began to murmur as they noticed it would take forever to gather every flyer.
Eriol was watching all the elements fall into place. A glance to his left showed him Syaoran who was staring awed at the cherry blossom in Sakura' hair. She herself was again busy in conversation with the 'girls.' It was time for the next phase. "Did you know that paper was originally invented in China?" he asked Tomoyo.
"Really?" She feigned enthusiasm knowing full well what would happen next.
"Really." A voice came from the front of the room. A smiling Yamakazi, index finger pointed straight up in the air, was ready to recite another story. "Back then, the emperor had to keep a record of rice production in the country, so he took one leaf from each plant and put it in a bag. At the end of the year, they would count the leaves and know exactly how many plants grew that year. But one year, one of his servants was foolish enough to take all the year's leaves and put them next to the pigsty and by morning they were all gone. It was then that the emperor realized he needed another way to keep track of his rice, so he eventually came up with the idea of paper.
By the end his tale, Chiharu had already stalked to his side. "Lies! When will you stop lying? If I give you some of my leftover lunch, will that keep your mouth closed?"
"It depends."
"On what." She was almost afraid to ask.
"If you made it, I would have to open my mouth to pray."
The vein in her head swelled to enormous size. "Why?"
"To pray that I'll be okay afterwards." He laughed gaily as she gripped her hands around his neck and throttled him.
"Why you….ahhhh!" She shook him against the wall, inadvertently flicking off the light switch. The room was now bathed in darkness, the outside sky mournfully dark.
"Oooh." Naoko's voice floated eerily in the dark. "This is exactly like the book I'm reading where all the students are trapped in a haunted classroom."
"H-haunted? Hoe!" Sakura was gripped in fear.
"Hai. In the book, the ghost was a dead student; he used to come out during class and doing strange things."
"S-Strange things?" Sakura bolted upright, standing nervously in the dark.
Noako's voice took on an even spookier tone as she tried to create atmosphere. "He would turn off the lights suddenly just like this, and he would…" She left off hearing a 'Hoe!' from the back of the room.
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Syaoran was still enthralled with the cherry blossom when the light suddenly went out. He could hearr Naoko's voice trail hauntingly from the front. Suddenly, he watched the blossom jerk upward as Sakura jumped vertical.
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Sakura couldn't take it anymore; she was scared out of her mind. She wanted to run; instead she backed up slowly, looking cautiously around her as if trying to find the ghost. Almost instantly, she felt something behind her ankle, thin as a thread. Before being able to figure out what it was, she was already halfway to the floor. "Hoe!!" Amazingly, someone caught her before she crashed to the ground.
The lights flickered on suddenly, as Terada-sensei and Rika stood in the doorway, a stack of papers in their arms. The class had looked to the back where the 'Hoe!' had just come from. There was Sakura leaning on Syaoran's chest as he was underneath her, cushioning her fall. All eyes, and a video camera lens, focused on the couple. There was a delayed reaction as realization set in before the couple burst into a blush so red that it bordered on purple, as if all their blood had converged at their face.
Tomoyo leaned back on her seat. "Kawaii!" she squealed, her camera never leaving the two figures for an instant.
A voice breathed behind her ear. "Where's my hug?"
She smiled mischievously in return. "I'm not like you; I can't foresee that."
He chuckled in return. "You're more like me than you'd like to admit."
~Owari~