Friend or Foe?

(Chapter 1)

"Return to your powers confined, clow card!"

The sound of Sakura Avalone's voice filled the room. Sakura and Tomoyo were having a sleepover at Meilin's house and they were reviewing some of Sakura's past captures of Clow Cards on Meilin's 42inch big screen TV.

It was the start of a new school year. Meilin had dragged Syaoran down from Hong Kong to study in Japan (and of course to see Sakura). Tomoyo popped in a new tape, and Sakura and Syaoran's faces came on the screen. That was the play Sakura and Syaoran acted in last summer. Sakura still blushed at that thought.

" Creek" the door creaked open a small little crack. Syaoran's face appeared through the crack.

Meilin, who was lying on the floor, sprung up and bellowed,

" This is an all girls sleepover! Anyway, no one invited you! Get out of here you BAKA GAKI!"

Syaoran glanced around the room and saw Sakura. He blushed a deep shade of crisom and backed out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Sakura too, blushed and looked down. Tomoyo looked at Sakura knowingly.

" Let's go for a walk Tomoyo! I want to talk to you about Eriol, " said Meilin breaking the silence. Sakura immediately noticed a shadow pass over Tomoyo's face. Meilin pulled Tomoyo to the door. Sakura stood up and followed too. But Meilin shook her head and said,

" You stay here."

Puzzled, Sakura asked "What am I gonna do?"

Meilin replied "You, erm, stay here and," "look for Syaoran, then talk to him!" Tomoyo finished off brightly.

"Oh," Sakura said looking crestfallen that they wanted to leave her out of the walk. Meilin turned the doorknob and flung the door open. The first thing she saw was Syaoran leaning casually against the wall. Syaoran fell in surprise. His forehead reddened as he straightened quickly and looked at them. "Where…Where are you going?" Syaoran asked them. Tomoyo and Meilin ignored his question and eyed him suspiciously.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you that this is an all girls sleepover? Hello, it means NO BOYS! Need I bring the dictionary for you to check?" asked Meilin. "No…No…"Syaoran stuttered. Of course it was obvious why Syaoran was standing there.

"Oh." Meilin said and raising her eyebrows. "AVALONE someone's here to see you!" Meilin bellowed into the room. Syaoran gave Meilin a death stare.

"Coming!" Meilin heard Sakura say. Sakura appeared at the doorway. Tomoyo nudged Meilin in her ribs and pulled her away from the couple.

"Let's go." She hissed in Meilin's ear.

"What do you want to see me about?" Sakura said, avoiding Syaoran's eyes. "Watashi…watashi…watashi…" Syaoran stammered, looking at the floor. His heart was pounding. He looked at Sakura for a full ten seconds before running away. Sakura frowned and looked at Syaoran's disappearing shadow then she went back into the room.

Tomoyo who was hiding with Meilin around the corner sighed and clicked her camcorder shut.

" Nothing much this time. I thought he was gonna declare something. What a waste of time." Tomoyo and Meilin stepped out into the cool night air.

*****

(On the other side of the world…)

Harry Potter flopped down onto the grass, under the shade of a great oak tree. Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger followed suit and flopped down beside him. Harry sighed. It had been a very busy week at the start of the school term. Harry couldn't believe that Hermione was studying even though the exams were months away! Oh well, Hermione was always studying, no matter where she was. She was flipping through a huge thick book, reading and muttering to herself.

"How are you doing, Potty, Weasel and the Mudblood?" A cold voice sneered at them.

Harry heard two other people sniggering nearby.

Harry squinted up through the flittering shadows of the great oak tree and saw the pale face of Draco Malfoy looking at them. As usual, Malfoy was flanked by his two sidekicks, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle. Malfoy was as thin as usual. Crabbe and Goyle were as big sized as usual, looking much like two big boulders, protecting Malfoy.

"Have you got nothing better to do Mousy?" Harry said coolly while trying fervently with Hermione to keep Ron from sending Malfoy a punch.

On hearing that, Malfoy's nostrils flared. He shot a menacing glare at Harry and said,

"No one ever gets away with calling me names--"

"Why? Gonna run back crying to Daddy and complaining, huh, Malfoy?" Harry cut in, "Anyway, I have been calling you names for years, and nothing has ever come of it. I see that your threats are just as empty as your brain." Harry paused to take a breath. He was happy to see that Malfoy was too angry to say anything. "Oh, I found another similarity in both your brain and your threats: both of them never work, especially your brain!"

Malfoy seemed to have finally found his voice. "Potter, you won't come to a good end, just like your father and mother." Malfoy said, his voice still shaking with anger.

He sauntered away, back into the castle. Hermione went back to studying, after letting go of Ron, who had stopped attempting to punch Malfoy and was laughing so hard, that he almost fell into the lake.

Harry heard laughter, apart from Ron's laughter, and whirled around. Fred and George Weasley stepped out from behind the trunk of the great oak tree.

"Bravo, bravo! Could we have an encore?" Fred said clapping his hands. " Just kidding, just kidding … … Good one Harry. I couldn't have thought of it better myself." George gave Harry a pat on the shoulder.

Hermione looked up scowling. She frowned at the Weasley twins and said,

"Can't a person have any peace for studying around here?"

With that, Hermione slammed her book shut and stood up. She started off to the castle when she heard a mixture of laughter and shouts behind her. She turned around and saw them rolling on the ground laughing. Ron was the only one not laughing. In fact he looked kind of petrified.

"Boys," Hermione muttered under her breath.

"What is it?" She asked the panic stricken Ron. He didn't answer straightaway.

Finally, he stammered.

"There's…there's a spider on your back." Hermione used her hand and reached around her back and felt a hairy leg tickle her.

"Arghhhhhh!" Hermione shrieked.

She stood rigid, not daring to move an inch.

"It's…it's a fake Hermione…" George managed to gasp.

It turned out to be one of Fred and George's prankster jokes.

"Boys are soooo childish, and senseless and ugh!" Hermione muttered under her breath. She clenched her fists, as she swept the spider off her back and started back towards the castle. By that time, Ron has already regained his senses and was laughing as hard as Fred.



*****

(Back at Japan)



The moon shone brighter than usual tonight.

"Let's go back." Meilin said to Tomoyo, shivering in the night air. She hugged herself tighter as a slight breeze ruffled her hair. "Good idea." Tomoyo replied, her teeth chattering. They walked the familiar path back to the mansion.

Meilin barged through the door. She scanned her eyes around the room and saw Sakura sitting on the edge of her bed apparently thinking of something.

"A penny for your thoughts, Sakura?" Tomoyo said, jerking Sakura out of her thoughts. "Oh, it's nothing." Sakura said shaking her head.

"Did you talk to Syaoran? Huh, did you?" Meilin inquired Sakura enthusiastically.

It was obvious that Meilin was pretending that she did not know a single thing about what happened. "Well he … he ran off without talking to me. Weird isn't it?" Sakura replied, still frowning.

Meilin stifled a yawn and said "Well anyway, let's turn in I'm tired."

All of them nodded their approval. Sakura and Tomoyo crossed over to their bags. Sakura's bag gave a wobble and toppled over. Sakura, who just reached out her hand to unzip her bag, withdrew her hand.

"Yikes! There is a ghost in my bag!" Sakura shrieked.

Then Sakura's bag burst open and something yellow flew out.

"What's the deal of keeping me locked up in the bag for such a long time Sakura?" Kero asked Sakura. "You gave me such a fright Kero," said Sakura breathing in deeply trying to calm herself down.

"BANG" Meilin's room door burst open. A breathless Syaoran rushed into the room.

"Now I really think you need a dictionary." Meilin said reaching for a dictionary seated on her shelf.

"I…I heard someone scream. And it sounded like Sakura." He paused to take a breath. " What happened? Are you okay Sakura?" Syaoran asked worriedly. He was still gasping for air and was clutching a stitch on his side.

"Wow, Syaoran even recognizes your scream Sakura!" Tomoyo whispered into Sakura's ear. 'A big fat drop' appeared on the back of Sakura's head.

Syaoran scanned the room to see what had happened. "Wow wee! The stuffed animal is here too!" Syaoran said sarcastically upon seeing Kero. "Oh yeah, no one invited HIM anyway…" Syaoran said pointedly to Meilin. "I think HE needs a dictionary too, don't you think so?" "Unless, unless…Kero's a SHE?" Syaoran said, a dreamy looked crossed his face. The corners of his mouth turned into a smile.

Kero's eyes narrowed dangerously at Syaoran.

"If that's what you want, then…" Kero told Syaoran. Kero's wings glowed and lengthened around his body. "AH… not that…" Syaoran said in a strangled cry.

When Kero opened his wings, he had transformed into a majestic lion with large sweeping wings. Meilin looked at Kero awed.

"The tables are turned now, gaki. Look who's the kid and who's the cowardly sissy now? See who's laughing now. Look at the handsome me." Kero said triumphantly. He was clearly enjoying himself.

"Handsome? You? You must be kidding me!" Syaoran said. Meilin agreed and pretended to gag. Sakura got very agitated at what Kero said. "KERO-CHAN!" Sakura said, slamming her hands down onto Meilin's dressing table.

"Watch it, Sakura." Meilin said in the background, as her dressing table gave a slight wobble.

Kero changed back, somewhat reluctantly. Now the fun was over.

"I was just having some fun, Sakura." Kero said sadly. "Well I'm not allowed in here am I? If that's the case, like the gaki here says, than I'll sleep in his room to keep an eye on him."

"Oh no you don't. I take back what I said. You can stay here for all I care. I'm out of here." Syaoran said wagging a finger in front of Kero. Following that, he fumbled for the catch on the door and bolted out of the room.

"Kero, you scared him away! It's all your fault!" Sakura whined.

"Why, want to go back to your boyfriend?" Kero teased Sakura. Sakura blushed upon hearing that.

"Well let's turn in," Sakura said changing the subject. She went to her sleeping bag and plopped down on it. She crawled under the covers and slept almost straightaway.

"Sleep tight!" Meilin said as she switched off the lights.

~

Sakura woke up to the sun shining on her face. It felt so warm and comforting. She cracked open her eyes an inch and saw sunlight streaming in through the curtain gap. Meilin went to the window and threw the curtain open.

"Hrrmph…" Sakura said groggily. She sat up and stretched. Sakura blinked her eyes and adjusted to the bright sunlight.

"Why'd you wake me up so early?" Sakura said hoarsely.

"Early? Look at the time!" Meilin half-shouted.

Sakura dragged her feet over to the alarm clock on Meilin's beside table. It was already 11a.m! "AHH!" Sakura shouted.

Her brother was going to walk her home 15 minutes later!

"SHH!" Meilin said putting her fingers to her lips. "You don't want Syaoran to come barging in again… do you?"

A few minutes later, Sakura was down at the dining room for breakfast.

"You're late, as usual, squirt." She heard a familiar voice say. She turned around and saw her brother, Touya, lounging on the sofa. Sakura got a shock of her life.

"What…what are you doing in here?" Sakura stammered.

"Well the Chinese gaki let me in." Touya answered listlessly.

"You didn't do anything to him did you?" Sakura asked him.

"Well… as a matter of fact…" Touya started.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?" Sakura shouted.

"Do what to who? Oh, and Sakura, Tomoyo's bathing right now. She told you to wait for her." Syaoran walked into the room, carrying a tray of food.

"I was just about to say, no." Touya finished.

"You…" Sakura scowled at Touya, and turned to Syaoran. She smiled brightly and said, "ohayo." Syaoran smiled at her and returned her greeting.

Touya immediately crossed over to Syaoran. Sakura winced and said "NO!" as Touya raised his hand and brought it down above Syaoran's head.

"What did you say? Why, that funny look on your face, Squirt?" Touya said as he took a whole stack of toast from the tray. "Is it illegal to eat toast here?" Touya asked a bewildered Sakura.

"I thought you were going to…oh never mind." Sakura said giving him a bright smile.

Of course, Sakura was protective of Syaoran and thought Touya was going to hurt Syaoran.

~

Tomoyo trailed behind Touya with Sakura at her side. Touya was leading the way home on his bike. Sakura had her skates on and was skating at a leisurely pace.

"…Well Eriol…back in England…" Tomoyo was wringing her hands.

"What is it? Are you okay Tomoyo?" asked a concerned Sakura.

"It just that, I have been missing Eriol lately. He said that he would come back and visit us. I'm worried about him. What if something had happened to him!" Tomoyo blurted out. Tomoyo's eyes misted all over.

"Soon," said Sakura, "He said he would be coming back soon, not straightaway. Stop being a worrywart, Tomoyo. Besides he still writes letters to-"

"Exactly he doesn't even writes to me now."

"So that's worrying you. When was the last time he wrote to you?"

"A week ago…"

"WHAT! A week ago and you're worrying already? Hello, he lives in England and we live in Japan. It takes over a week for mail to be delivered!" said Sakura incredulously as a 'big fat drop' appeared. Sakura shook her head.

There was a sound of screeching brakes as Touya stopped his bike abruptly. Sakura almost crashed into him. She stopped just in time and skidded. She doubled over as something hit her stomach. Wheezing, she pushed herself up and glared at Touya in the eye.

"Why'd you stop for? Almost got me killed!" gasped Sakura. Sakura dusted her arms and hands.

A wave of concern crossed Touya's face. But it went away as fast as it came. Touya suddenly realized why he had stopped.

"Sorry, I couldn't help overhearing you, but who lives in England?" Touya pulled his face up close to Sakura.

"Well…well Eriol lives there," said Sakura intrigued by Touya's sudden weird behavior.

"That's interesting…" Touya mused as a frown ceased on his forehead.

"What's wrong?" asked Sakura.

"You know that I'm doing an ancestral project in school now, and I looked up our relatives and found out that we have a cousin living in England too! Could it be that Eriol guy you were talking about?" explained Touya.

"WHAT! A long lost cousin. Living in England?" Her eyes grew big as she talked. "Dad never did mention anything about that before." said an alarmed Sakura.

(To be continued…)