CHAPTER 1:

Premonition of the Dark


"Do you feel it too?" Cerberus asked, though the answer was obvious. The night was soft, softer than velvet, so many would think. Mist danced along, it's cottony edges curling around the Kinomoto household. Yue, standing next to Cerberus, both looking outside from Sakura's room, nodded.

"Whatever it is, it's powerful. Maybe even more so than Sakura." Yue said, softly. Sakura herself was snoring, as neither Cerberus nor Yue wanted to wake her at 2:30 AM.

"Perhaps…. But there is something more. A feeling of wrongness." Cerberus growled.

"Indeed."


Sakura was walking through a plush, lovely darkness. It wasn't frightening, but friendly.

"Sakura…" Whispered a voice, and she stopped.

"Hello? Who's there?" She asked, loudly.

"Sakura…" The voice repeated, louder this time. No, not louder. Closer. Whatever was speaking her name, it was coming towards her!

"Who are you?" Sakura inquired, a sinking feeling signaling to her that something was wrong.

"Sakura…." Came the whisper once again, sinister, and right next to her ear! Hot breath crept upon her neck, and she screamed.

"SAKURA!" A voice cried in her ear, waking her up.


She was drenched in sweat. She gasped for breath and fought to keep tears from coming. There was something watching her! The nightmare speaker! Then, it's presence faded from her awareness, and she noticed Yue and Cerberus.

"EEK!" She said at the sight of them, shocked. "What are you doing here, Yue! And Kero-chan, why are you in your true form? What's going on?"

"The power is gone now." Yue said, going to the window.

"What power?" Sakura asked.

"Sakura, what was your nightmare about? You were screaming, so I assume it was one." Cerberus said, eyes worried and concerned.

"Um….I think I was walking somewhere… it was really dark, and then I heard a voice calling my name, over and over, and getting closer and closer. It scared me, and when it was right next to me, I woke up." Sakura said, frowning as she tried to remember the details.

"Something about that sounds familiar…" Yue mused, but he shook his head when they asked why. Cerberus did not recall anything like what Sakura had dreamt, but he could guess what it was.

"A premonition?" She asked, forgetting for a moment what they were. "What are… oh, waitaminute! You may be right!"

"Well, I must be going." Yue said. "Yukito volunteered to help out the baseball team today, and I doubt he'd appreciate an exhausted body."

They said farewell to him, and as he left, Cerberus turned into Kero and Sakura went back to sleep.

"What could it mean…?" Kero asked aloud in a soft voice, before closing his eyes to sleep.


"Sakura… I cannot wait to finally meet you…" Whispered the being, standing under a tree nearby the house. "I think you'll make an…interesting addition to my little collection…"

It laughed, a sinister sound, and raised a hand in a mock salute. Unbeknownst to Sakura, the Cards turned black for a moment as he did so.