Summary: People are disappearing...and Sakura is the only one who can stop it. Seventeen-year-old Kinomoto Sakura may look like a normal girl, no stronger than the very flower for which she was named. But stronger powers lie within: the strength to fight, the ability to save, and the will to live.
Vanished
by Zenin
~Prologue~
My legs folded beneath me and I crumpled to the floor, sighing explosively as I rested my forehead against the tufty grain of the carpet. The folded scrap of paper lay where it had fallen…on the edge of the desk that I had been dusting. I stayed where I had collapsed, weary eyes closed.
The room was in shambles, the vacuum cleaner still in the middle of the floor with its cord trailing around the corner. A pile of soiled cleaning rags was sitting limply near the doorway, a stuffed black trash bag beside it. Assorted bottles of cleanser lined the edge of the wall. My father's office had needed this cleaning forever it seemed, and since he and my brother Touya were away on an archaeological dig, it was the perfect opportunity to give the room a thorough airing.
I seldom had the house all to myself, especially during the summer. Summers were usually the busiest time of the year for me. They were a time of magic…literally. You see, at the age of ten, I had discovered — and, erm, set loose — a rebellious set of magical cards…cards that contained a lot of power. That was only the start of my discoveries.
As the year went on, I found within myself magic that even Keroberos — the Guardian Beast of the cards — had never imagined. It was old magic, ancient magic…magic that the cards would obey. I became a card captor, destined to capture the wayward cards in order to keep my small hometown, Tomeoda, safe from the their destructive capabilities. Of course, I never would have been able to do this alone. Tomoyo was there, keeping my spirits high with her contagious enthusiasm. Kero was there to instruct me in my newfound power. And there was also Li Syaoran, the boy-rival who arrived in Japan shortly after the cards escaped. He was, according to his ancestry, the heir to the Li Clan's fortune and true heir to the cards. The Cards, you see, had been created by his grandfather's grandfather's grandfather (or something like that), and he was determined to bring back what had been lost for so many generations. So, naturally, he hated my guts. He was a condescending, unnerving jerk of an opponent. But even he, after time, started to help me.
Let's not mention the fact that I ultimately got a huge crush on him. That fact is totally worthless; since after I was chosen as the Cards' mistress, Li Syaoran only hated me more and soon returned to his ancestral home: Hong Kong. I sent him letters, but after he sent me one crushingly nasty reply, I never heard from him again.
Anyway, after I became the Card Mistress, rebellious sorcerers who wanted power and typically had a pretty big grudge against the former Master of the Cards — Clow Reed — soon swamped me. I had to fight all of them alone. I might have caved in if it hadn't been for the reincarnation of Clow Reed, Hiirigizawa Eriol, who became my instructor…in a roundabout sort of way. The way Eriol trained me was by putting me into danger. He would basically try to kill me, and I had to find a way to save my life without hurting the Cards.
In the resulting chaos that followed, I decided to take up kickboxing. I merrily kicked Eriol back to his country, England, and settled down for a pleasant rest.
All that was seven years ago. And every year I have had to battle some sorcerer or mystical presence. This year, thankfully, had been blessedly quiet.
Which should explain why I was now facedown in the carpet wearing my cheerleading outfit and busily trying to ignore the small, seemingly harmless scrap of paper. The piece of paper that was now floating eerily from my father's desk to land neatly in front of my bowed head.
"Nope," I muffled. "Not going to open it. I'm having a break this summer. That means no magic, got that? Nada."
The paper rustled impatiently. I scooted away from it, my face still buried in the musty carpet. Let me tell you, that carpet really needed shampooing. But finally, after what seemed to be hours (and was actually only about five minutes), the smell of the carpet got to me. I lifted my head just enough to gasp a lungful of air…which, incidentally, ended up being just enough room for the paper to slip right beneath my nose. Against my will, my eyes caught the words and I read the note.
"Hey Sakura," it read. "Sexy outfit. You really have nice legs, you know?"
I sprang upright, immediately searching around for a robe or towel to cover myself with. The cheerleading uniforms that my school supplied were little better than sports bras and mini skirts. It was embarrassing to be caught in them when not cheerleading. I mean, hey…in a troupe, it isn't all that noticeable. But solo, it's rather…uncomfortable. "Eriol!" I squeaked. "Stop watching me, you pervert!"
The letters on the note seemed to melt away as a new phrase formed. "Sakura-chan's always so cute when she's blushing!"
That reminded me of something. My eyes narrowed as I crossed my arms protectively over my bare midriff. "Does Tomoyo know that you watch girls like this? Where is she, by the way?"
Tomoyo had been cordially invited to spend the summer in England with her big-time crush, Eriol. At first, I could not believe that she actually thought of him as anything other than sadistic, but after a while, it was all too clear that the two were perfectly suited to one another. They connected in a way that I could not even begin to understand.
Another sentence lazily scrawled itself onto the paper. "Hai, and she's right here with me."
I sighed. "Look, I'm kind of busy right now and I really don't—"
"Sakura-chan, this is Tomoyo. Hi! I just wanted to let you know that something might come in the mail sometime today and…um…well, just to give you a head's up…"
"What have you done?"
That sounded kind of harsh, didn't it? Well, I had a perfectly good reason for saying that. I mean, Tomoyo's life goal is to plan every minute of my existence on earth, and to get it all on video. Touya has gotten kind of annoyed with Tomoyo's cameras, and finally made his point clear to me by giving me a book for my birthday, entitled How To Know You're Being Stalked. I made good use of the book by firmly hitting my brother over the head with it.
"Well...you know that camp Takashi is going to? The one in Ya Valley. They're kind of short on staff there, and since you looked like you were getting a bit bored with being alone, I just thought that you'd like to go volunteer or something."
"There's more to it, isn't there?" I asked suspiciously.
"Well...hai. You see, people have been disappearing from Camp Shuniji for the past three weeks. And besides...didn't you say you needed a vacation? This should be easy. Just go there, use one of your Cards to find the people, and there you go! A free, two-month vacation guaranteed. It's got mystery, intrigue, guys... Um...Sakura-chan, is there some reason as to why you are wearing your cheerleading uniform on a Saturday?"
"All my other stuff is in the washing machine. And no," I said through gritted teeth. "I really don't want a vacation. This," I waved my hand at my dad's office, "is my vacation, Tomoyo. And what's more is: I actually feel rested. At least, I feel rested when freakish perverts keep their eyes to themselves." I added darkly, tugging the short hem of my skirt to cover a few more inches of leg.
"Sakura, these people need you…"
"Do I look like the Lost and Found?" I stormed. "I'm not! I don't go into the whole missing people thing. You yourself said last year that I needed a break! Well, going to work isn't exactly taking a break, okay? I'm not going."
Had anyone been passing by my house, they might have wondered why a girl was dressed in her cheerleading uniform on a Saturday. They also might have wondered why the girl was yelling at a piece of paper. And I'm sure that they, worthy pedestrians that they are, would agree that I definitely needed a break from whatever it was that was plaguing me.
"Listen up, Tomoyo," I cried, snatching the piece of paper up and glaring heatedly at it. "Take that ticket back and whatever else you sent. And you," I snarled at the invisible Eriol, "If you dare watch me again, I swear I'll—"
The paper fluttered huffily from my hands and disappeared with a small pop. I sank to the carpet and rubbed my head with my hands. A headache was beginning to form.
"I'm not going," I whispered stubbornly. "I'm not."
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^_^
It sounds a lot like SOTR, doesn't it? Well, similar, anyways. But that's my point. Because, you see, I wasn't quite content with SOTR and the way things turned out. Sure, I had a few interesting ideas with that story. It was fun to write and I don't think that I have ever felt so happy and inspired as I did the time I made the Condiment Woman turn out to be a card. Ah…such wonderful memories…
I'm making this story into a sort of parallel universe thing to SOTR: there will be some of the same characters, and the plot setting is the same (a camp named Shuiji — which ultimately means rainbow), but the plot itself is a little different. And what happens at the camp is going to be different.
This is being written purely for fun. If you want to review, well, that'd be nice. If you don't want to review…well, that would be fine as well. Anyways, I have another chapter to get out, so I guess I see ya later. ^_^ Bye!
~Zenin
