Thanks everyone for your patience! Lots of life happened and I haven't been able to get back to my stories. Enjoy!

Gifts

"Mokona will help Cerberus search for his friends while finding a delicious dinner for Fai and Kuro-pu!" Mokona cheered.

"Alright!" Cerberus cheered. "Dinner! And, uh, Yue and the new king."

"You two be careful," Fai told them.

"Mokona is sneaky. It's one of Mokona's 108 secret skills!"

He laughed. "Alright then."

As they walked Cerberus said, "I wonder why Clow would only have two young men as the city guards."

"There are some others too," Mokona said. "It's just those two are the best! And Mokona is really cool too!"

After awhile, Cerberus began to feel another strong source of power. "Let's go this way," he said. He flew while Mokona bounced. Then he saw him: a kid with brown hair, holding a magical sword. They rushed toward him, when suddenly…

"Hey look at this!" They were stopped by a boy with closed eyes who pointed right at them. Cerberus froze. He was afraid that he would attract attention.

"What is it?" a girl with braided pigtails asked.

"Did you know in ancient times that gummy bears and marshmallows originally looked like these creatures here? Then they got smaller and smaller until they finally-"

"Enough Yamazaki! That's a lie!" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

Ceberus and Mokona looked at each other, then snuck around them. They saw the brown haired boy until he disappeared in the crowd. They jumped into the mass of people, not wishing to lose him.

"Help! Mokona is getting all smashed up!" Mokona said. Cerberus dived in the direction of Mokona's voice, but ended up getting kicked and tossed around himself. When the crowd finally cleared, he and Mokona lay on the empty road. Their eyes were spiraled with dizziness. "I guess he's gone."

Then they heard more people approach. They felt too dizzy to even move.

"Yukito, did you like the food at the restaurant?" Sakura asked up at him.

"Yes I did. But I didn't get to finish it all," he said regretfully.

"He ate three times as much as the monster does," Toya added. Sakura glared at him.

"So I brought the rest with me." He showed her a giant bag of food.

Sakura's eyes got big. "Hoeee?" Tomoyo giggled.

"Hey, what's this?" Yukito asked, picking up Cerberus off the ground. He dusted him off. "Looks like some toys were left in the road. Seems very well made. Would you like this Sakura?" He paused. "Or maybe you'd like a newer one…"

"No! This one's good! Thank you very much!" She took it from him, beginning to blush again. She turned away. "Hey look another one!" She picked up Mokona and handed it to Tomoyo. "Here you go. Now we both have one!"

"I will treasure it always."

Sakura looked at her new stuffed animal. Yukito had given it to her. She hugged it tight. Aside from the scary incident, this was the best day ever!

Meilin

Syaoran stood in the tree, watching the people below. When most of them had cleared, a couple of toys set in the road. He sensed power coming from them. Was this some kind of trick, sent by Fei Wang to capture him? How young did he think he was?

Then he saw them. That girl he'd seen from before was among the group. But then there was him. He picked up the toy…

"Syaoran!" Meilin called from the bottom of the tree. "There you are! Come on back. We're going to have dinner soon, and I made you something very special!"

I hope it's not another cake, he thought. Despite her normally decent cooking skills, every one of her attempts to make a cake had turned out disastrous, including several explosions. (Not unlike the ones he'd seen earlier, but Syaoran didn't think that Meilin would make a cake out in the open.) The thought made him lose his appetite. "I'll come soon," he said down to her.

"You know all this running around the city is only going to make the bad guys find you faster," she said. "And what will I do then? Just come home and stay there."

But he might be on to me, he thought. Many people had expected Syaoran to take the throne after Clow, since they were related. But if Fei Wang had found out, he would be in even more danger. But Meilin would be safe because she doesn't have any powers… He looked down at her. Unless they captured her to get to me…

He shook his head back and forth, shaking off the thought.

Cerberus and Yue hadn't come for him yet. He would just wait until then to decide his next big move.

"Come on Syaoran!" Meilin called.

He tried to look back at Sakura and her companions, but they were gone. The toys had disappeared as well. "How can she be so careless?" he asked himself.

"What?"

He jumped down to the ground. "Come on," he told Meilin, taking her hand. He started to run. "There's something we need to see first."

Meilin smiled dreamily. She no longer cared if the food got cold. She was holding hands with Syaoran!

Kero-chan

"I'll come back and get you in a few hours," Toya said. "I know it's hard, but try to leave behind your monster ways and not stomp down your friend's house."

"I won't do that!" Sakura envisioned herself growing large and stomping Toya down.

"And stay here this time."

"Okay. I'm sorry about what happened-"

Toya instead stared at the new plush toy in her arms. "About that thing…"

Not wanting to be made fun of again, she hid it behind her back. "Is Yukito going with you?" They turned to look at him.

"I guess I'll be going now," Yukito said. "Thanks for having me along."

Toya ruffled Sakura's hair, then turned and started walking. Yukito left in the other direction. Sakura and Tomoyo watched them until they were out of sight. When they were back in Tomoyo's room, Sakura said, "I think that my brother was really worried about me. He and my dad have been acting strange lately. And that boy I ran into said something about me having magical powers."

"That's really cool!" Tomoyo said. "What kind of powers?"

Sakura looked down at her hands. "I don't know..."

At the sound of this, Cerberus' ears twitched. He sat up. It took him a second to realize where he was and what had happened. He shook Mokona awake and they looked up at the two girls, who then looked down at them.

Sakura jumped up, startled. "They're alive!"

"Of course we are, silly," Mokona said. "And Cerberus here has been looking for someone with powers. Someone just like you!"

"Cerberus? He's so little and cute. He looks more like a Kero-chan."

Cerberus straightened. "I am the great guardian beast of Clow! You've heard of me haven't you?"

"Um, nope."

Cerberus fell over.

Mokona jumped up. "And Mokona is Mokona! Mokona is really great too!"

"Nice to meet you," Tomoyo said, smiling.

"So you have magical powers?" Cerberus asked Sakura, hovering around her head.

"Um, not really…"

Cerberus closed his eyes, searching for a magical presence. Then before he knew it, he felt himself being thrown against the floor. "What'd ya do that for?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his head.

"I didn't do anything!" Sakura said, shocked. She scooped him up in her hands. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Let me try again." He fell over in her hands with the same result.

He looked up at her curiously. "There is something very different about you, kid. Something I don't quite understand yet. So we're going to stick together for awhile."

"What about your search?" Mokona whispered to him.

"I think she might be the one," he whispered back.

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

Cerberus laughed it off.

"I was going to keep you anyway," she said. "You're my present from Yukito! But wait, what if he finds out you're alive? What if my brother finds out?"

"I'll be sneaky. Unlike some, who say they're sneaky but end up getting us stomped on by a crowd." He eyed Mokona.

"It wasn't Mokona's fault!" Then Mokona gasped. "Fai and Kurogane! Mokona was supposed to bring them dinner!"

"You have to go?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yes. Mokona is really sorry."

"It's okay. Come back and visit, okay?" She picked up and hugged the creature.

"Oh no," Sakura said. "Tomoyo, I'm sorry you don't get to keep it. I'll get you something else… like, um… this bow!" She tugged the bow out of her hair and put it in Tomoyo's. "See? It looks really nice on you."

"Thank you Sakura," she said, hugging her. Of course I'd like anything my best friend gets for me.

Then one of the Daidojis' maids burst into the room. "Where is your mother?" she asked Tomoyo.

"She's out, remember?"

"Well, then at least we can get you two to safety. Come on to the secret room. We have to go quickly!"

Sakura scooped up her Kero-chan and Mokona and ran out of the room and down the hallway. "What's going on? And you guys have a secret room?"

"We have so many rooms, why not?" Tomoyo said, smiling to cover her fear. "Though we've never had an actual emergency to where we had to use it until now."

"The house is surrounded with intruders," the maid said. "Hurry! In here!"

The Secret Room

They went through to the back of the biggest closet Sakura had ever seen. When they got as far as they could go, the maid pulled out a key and stuck it in a keyhole in the wall, opening it like a door. Inside, there was a room about the size of Sakura's room back at home. Sakura couldn't see what was all in the boxes, but she spotted sleeping bags and canned food. On the opposite wall was a tall bookshelf filled with old books.

"I'll be staying in here with you two," the maid said.

"Where are all the other maids and bodyguards?" Sakura asked.

"Probably protecting the house," Tomoyo said. "They're all trained in combat. My mom thinks of everything."

Sakara stared at her wide-eyed. "Wow!" Tomoyo smiled politely.

They all sat there in silence for awhile. The maid stood silently by the door. Sakura sat on the pillow, petting Kero-chan and Mokona for comfort. Tomoyo took out one of the books and absentmindedly looked through it. "I used to sneak in here for fun," she said. "I hid some of my favorite books here."

Sakura looked and found a book with rabbits on it from the bottom corner of the shelf. Then she noticed another book stuck against the back of the shelf behind the others. Curious, she pulled out the books in the way to get to it.

"What is it?" Tomoyo asked.

"What's this really old one in the back?" Sakura asked. She pulled hard on it, but it was still jammed in the shelf. Kero-chan and Mokona perked up and looked at the shelf. They didn't say anything so that they wouldn't attract the maid's attention. Sakura pulled harder, but it still wouldn't budge. Then she pulled on it with all her might and flew backward.

"Are you okay?" Tomoyo asked. When Sakura nodded, she said, "I've never seen that book before."

Sakura studied the cover. "There's no title," she said, opening it up to the first page. "And it's blank."

"Maybe it's a journal or a sketchbook."

Mokona's ears stood straight. "There is some kind of power coming from that book," the creature whispered.

Kero-chan nodded in agreement. "Be careful."

"Try writing something in it," Tomoyo said, pulling out a pencil from her pocket and handing it to her.

Sakura took it and tried to write. "It won't mark," she said. "It disappears."

"That's strange."

Sakura closed the book and ran her fingers over the cover, absentmindedly looking over the strange designs on it. "My brother and my dad are going to be really worried," she said. "I hope they're okay."

Then the house shook in an earthquake, throwing them all to the ground. Books flew off the bookshelf and rained on top of them. Sakura screamed as she tried to cover her head. The shelf itself finally fell to the side.

"Oh, no," the maid said.

The Battle

The further Syaoran ran, the surer he was of himself that he was headed in the right direction. He saw more and more people running away in the opposite direction and the sounds of explosions got louder and louder. What did that girl get herself into now? he wondered. Couldn't she find a way to mask her magic better?

"Syaoran!" Meilin cried. "You're pulling my arm too hard! And why are we going this way?"

Syaoran slowed down and let go of her hand. "You can go on home if you want," he said. "You'll be safe. I'll meet you there later."

Meilin crossed her arms. "No. I'm coming with you. I'm tired of you disappearing all the time. I promise I won't slow you down."

He studied her for a moment. "Okay." Then as they continued to run, Syaoran chanted a spell that would better hide him and Meilin and shroud his magic.

They came upon a battle scene surrounding the Daidoji mansion. She must be in there, he thought. "Let's go," he said to Meilin and they dashed through a broken section of the wall which had surrounded the property. They frantically weaved around ongoing skirmishes and had almost made it to the house when…

"Over there!" someone shouted and a shadow bomb knocked them off their feet.

Syaoran struggled to stand. "Meilin!" he called to the girl still on the ground. She moved and groaned. Relieved that she was okay, Syaoran pulled out a magical string and it summoned his sword into his hand. He faced his approaching attackers. With no other choice than to use magic, which he had hoped to avoid as it would make him a bigger target, he took out a magical seal. "Lightning!" he called and sent a burst of electricity at his surrounding enemies.

With only a moment to spare, he knelt down to Meilin and shook her awake. Groaning again, she slowly sat up and looked at him, then shifted her gaze to something from behind him. "Look out!" she yelled. Without any time to move, Syaoran held her close, shielding her from the incoming shadow bomb.

But they didn't feel the impact.

Syaoran opened his eyes and turned. A tall wizard stood in front of them, whistling a protective bubble-shaped shield around them.

There was another guy next to the wizard looking at him skeptically. "I thought you said that you don't use your magic," Kurogane told Fai.

He laughed it off and turned to Syaoran. "You need to get into the house, don't you? You can let us watch things here."

"We left our posts to help a kid? The new recruits in our place hardly stand a chance!" Kurogane grumbled.

Syaoran just stared at them, wondering what they were up to.

"Go on ahead," Fai encouraged. "Kurgy and I will take care of things here."

Still unsure, Syaoran helped Meilin to her feet.

"I will weaken the back of the shield for a brief moment, then you can make your way directly inside the mansion. The rest is up to you."

Syaoran nodded.

"Alright… now!"

Syaoran and Meilin made a mad dash to the building and miraculously made it inside without anyone else noticing. They looked around the dark halls. "I hope you know what you're doing," Meilin whispered. "And that it doesn't get us killed!"

The thing was, he had no idea whatsoever what he was doing. He tried to think quickly of a plan when they heard shouts from down the hall. "This way!" he said, charging off in their direction. Meilin reluctantly followed.