Princess Mononoke and Cardcaptor Sakura

Chapter 2: Enter Sakura and Syaoran

-Present Day-

Syaoran Li slowly made his way through the park after another boring day at school, his thoughts drifting to a certain auburn haired girl. He looked at the leaves covering the trees that surrounded him, 'They're the same colour as her eyes,' then added under his breath, "although nowhere near as beautiful."

He was snapped back to reality by a soft giggle, coming from behind some bushes. The twelve year old frowned and moved quietly through the bush to find out what was so amusing. It probably won't surprise you to hear that the person he found was the emerald eyed girl that had been occupying his thoughts, Sakura Kinomoto. She had her back to him, so didn't notice his presence immediately; her attention seemed focused on the two Sakura Cards she was holding.

"Well, this should be good," said Sakura to herself quietly, but loud enough for Syaoran to hear, which was unfortunate considering what she said next. "I'll use the mirror card to make a copy of myself and have her speak to Syaoran." The statement made Syaoran frown for a second time, he had a feeling he knew what was coming. "And then I'll use the water card to drench them both." She laughed, "He couldn't possible suspect I was responsible if I'm standing right next to him. Brilliant!"

"Unless Syaoran's standing right behind you" smirked Syaoran, making her jump.

Sakura slowly turned to face him, "Unless Syaoran's standing right behind me," she repeated, pretending to look terrified.

"Now, now, Sakura," smiled Syaoran, mischievously, as he walked forwards and gently took hold of her wrists.

"Oh no, Syaoran," Sakura giggled, putting on a 'please don't hurt me' look. "You wouldn't harm dear, little Sakura, now would you," she said in the sweetest voice she could muster.

Syaoran felt his cheeks starting to redden upon seeing the look of pure innocence on Sakura's beautiful face, (that's certainly how he would describe her). "Well, at least tell me why 'dear, little Sakura' would try to pull a prank like that" he said as he tried to regain his composure, but to his surprise Sakura's expression suddenly became very serious.

"Because you won't tell me who you're in love with," she yelled trying to sound angry, but only Syaoran could fail to notice the sadness in her tone.

"Not this again. I told you, that's private," Syaoran sighed. 'Why does she even care?' he thought to himself. Anyone who knew both him and Sakura could easily answer that question for him, well, except maybe his annoying cousin, Meiling.

"Oh please, tell me," Sakura begged sweetly, "I won't breathe a word to anyone, I swear."

'That's not the problem,' Syaoran thought. Unfortunately for him, Sakura gave him the most adorable puppy dog look with her sparkling emerald eyes, which was rehearsed I might add. He was helpless to resist that look.

"Alright," Syaoran sighed in defeat, "if you really want to know. The girl… I love… is…"

"Hey, what the?" gasped Sakura, as a bright blue light appeared all of a sudden beneath their feet.

"What on earth are you doing," Syaoran yelled, blushing madly when he finally remembered to release Sakura's wrists and stepped back in alarm.

"Me?" cried Sakura, "I'm not doing anything, I thought…" But before she could finish, they both found themselves face down in the dirt. Neither had any idea what had happened.

Cargo stared at the twelve year olds in disbelief. "You can't be serious," he roared at his father, "They are the Cardcaptors, two kids?"

With a shrug, Thiazzi replied, "It would seem so. I cast a spell to bring forth the Cardcaptors, so it would stand to reason that whoever appears next, are the Cardcaptors."

"Well then, this will be even easier than I thought." chuckled Cargo, and drew his sword.

Dusting themselves off, Sakura and Syaoran got to their feet. "Huh, where are we?" she asked no one in particular, as she noticed that they were, obviously, no longer in the local park.

"A better question might be: when are we?" replied Syaoran, noticing the "outdated" clothing and weapons Cargo and Thiazzi had.

"Hey," Sakura called to the green haired boy, "Where is this place." With a smirk, Cargo slowly began to walk towards them, a murderous expression on his face.

"Does it matter? Just get us out of here," yelled Syaoran, not taking his eyes off Cargo's sharp blade for an instant.

"Huh? Oh sure," said Sakura, taking out her star key and began her chant. "Key that hides the power of the stars; show your true form before me. I Sakura command you under our contract; release!"

While his father watched in astonishment, Cargo laughed, "So the little girl really can use magic. Ha ha, I'm going to enjoy this!" though his words seemed to be a hollow threat as he made no effort to stop Sakura using the Sakura Cards.

The key, which had now become Sakura's staff, landed in her right hand, and in her left hand she now held a card, which she seemed to have retrieved from nowhere.

"Fly, release and dispel," Sakura cried. The Fly card glowed, then vanished and was replaced by two white wings that materialised on Sakura back.

Syaoran's cheeks started to heat up again as the words, "Now she really does look like an angel," went through his head. The blush intensified when Sakura quickly moved behind him and put her arms around his waist. "Hold on," she whispered, and they both flew into the air.

"Going somewhere?" Sneered Thiazzi coldly, and snapped his fingers. Then, just as quickly as they had appeared, Sakura's wings vanished.

Turning her head, Sakura gasped, "What happened to my wings?" Moments later, the two Cardcaptors found themselves falling back to Earth, Sakura screaming in horror.

"God of wind, come to my aid," yelled Syaoran, pulling out an element card. He used it to generate a current of wind, which cushioned their landing. I would, however, be lying if I said that was enough to prevent the fall from being painful.

'So they have magic other than the clow cards,' Cargo mused, 'this might just be a bit more interesting than I thought.'

But despite the protests from her joints, Sakura was on her feet again immediately. "Windy, release and dis…"

"Not so fast," interrupted Cargo. In the blink of an eye he was upon them, grabbing Syaoran by his hair and his blade pointing at the boy's throat. "Summon the Clow card and he dies," Cargo hissed menacingly.

The girl gave a small gasp of terror. "Let him go," she begged.

"Do as we say and no harm will come to him," said Thiazzi, walking forwards. But in his head he added, 'for now.'

With a small grunt of pain, Syaoran cried, "Don't listen to them Sakura, just get out of here."

Laughing, Cargo yanked on Syaoran's hair, while Sakura rapidly shook her head. "Come now," Thiazzi scoffed, "I've already demonstrated that I can stop the Clow Cards…"

"Sakura Cards."

"What?"

"There called Sakura cards now," Sakura explained, sounded far calmer than she really was.

"Whatever. And I assure you that no one can escape my son on foot."

"But don't let that stop you from trying, little girl," laughed Cargo.

Sakura, however, didn't move, how could she? "I won't abandon you with them Syaoran," she whispered.

"How very touching," scoffed Cargo, his voice dripping with sarcasm, echoing the words he used when he saw Ashitaka and Kaya earlier.

With one hand outstretched, Thiazzi ordered Sakura to "hand over every Cl… Sakura card." She, very reluctantly, obeyed.

"What are you…?" Syaoran began, but shut his mouth when Cargo pulled his hair.

Thiazzi counted the Sakura cards, and every now and again tapped one of them. "They're all here, all fifty-two of them. Including the three you need, my son," Thiazzi announced.

It was infuriating; Thiazzi had tapped three of the cards, so obviously they were the cards Cargo "needed." But the cardcaptors had both been just a little too far away to see which three. I should point out, that this was probably intentional.

"Good, then it is time to bring the two princesses here," Cargo stated clearly enjoying himself.

"What about the prince?"

"Just make sure he's too far away to cause any trouble. I want to see his face when he finds his lover and his sister murdered," said Cargo with glee.

Thiazzi smiled, "You're absolutely merciless, and I take great joy knowing that I was the one who made you like this." He then began to mutter a spell.

Ashitaka and San sat patiently on a fallen tree trunk, waiting for Kaya to return. Once they had felt they were a safe distance from Cargo, which truthfully wasn't possible, Ashitaka insisted that Kaya made sure that the demon's curse was completely gone. But due to the areas of her body where the curse had spread, this task required the young princess to be alone.

Soon Kaya emerged from behind a tree as she finished retying her cape, smiling her beautiful smile. "It's completely vanished, not a trace left."

The revelation made her brother smile in relief. "I'm glad" A pause. "Any suggestions on what our next move should be?"

He completely walked into this. Afterwards he would admit that he should have seen Kaya's response coming. "Well San and I could face Cargo alone, while you and the wolves round up the kodama."

The irritation appeared very prominently on Ashitaka's face. "Kaya, I only stopped you from facing Cargo with us because I wanted you to be safe. Why can't you understand that?"

"And why can't you understand that that's not what I wanted," yelled the Emishi princess. San watched in amusement. This wasn't the first time the siblings had argued since the day Iron Town had been reclaimed, but the argument always ended in the same way. Being forced to leave her brother's side at such an important and dangerous time had clearly affected Kaya, and the two had often quarrelled about the prince being overprotective of her. This was, however, the first time they had directly referenced the battle with Asano.

"Kaya, I just don't want to lose you again," said Ashitaka sincerely.

"And can't you realise that I don't want to lose you?" shouted Kaya. "When you left our home I… I wept; I gave you my crystal dagger. Wasn't that enough to make you realise I didn't want you to go?"

"I had to leave Kaya," said Ashitaka, speaking more calmly now. "I would have died if I'd stayed. The only way we could have stayed together was if you had come with me that day."

"Why do you think I came to see you," Kaya chocked, tears falling from her eyes. "I… I didn't plan to just give you my dagger, I hoped you'd let me come."

"What?!" exclaimed Ashitaka. This was news to him. "Then why didn't you ask?"

"I thought you'd say no" she sobbed.

Her brother stared at her. "I wanted you to come with me more than anything."

"Then why didn't you ask me," blubbered Kaya, tears still flowing freely.

"I was afraid you would say no and I didn't want to cause unnecessary pain."

Now Kaya stared at him. "It wouldn't have caused me pain!" she gasped.

Laughing slightly as he and his sister embraced, he whispered, "I meant pain that I'd feel."

'Yep,' thought San, 'Their arguments end the same every time.' Suddenly her eyes widened in shock. "What the hell is that?"

"What?" asked Kaya and Ashitaka in unison, but they didn't need an answer. They saw the unearthly black mist forming around their feet instantly. In moments it had completely surrounded them to the point that it was impossible see anything. Then in a spit second it faded to nothingness. Sadly, it wasn't the only thing that had disappeared.

"Where's Ashitaka," cried San. The sound of Kaya drawing her sword was enough to tell the princess of the forest that the mist had not just removed people. In fact, it would be obvious to anyone who looked for more than a moment that they weren't even in the same part of the forest anymore. She turned to look at what Kaya had noticed and paled when she saw Cargo along with Thiazzi and two children she had never seen before.

Her horror at seeing the green haired assassin was great, but it was nothing compared to the horror brought on by what Kaya yelled next, "Cargo, I challenge you to a one on one duel!"

To Be Continued…