Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptors/Cardcaptor Sakua

Author's Notes: I want to apologize for being MIA the last 5+ months, I've been dealing with a huge course load, 3 jobs, and graduation. Now that those are all done, well the course load and graduation, I'm hoping to be able to update more frequently. I hope you like it.

Chapter 2 Recap: Syaoran was packing his bags the night before heading to Japan. He finally had his talk with Meilin who he ended up making cry when he asked who the Master of the Cards was, because he was dead, and laugh when he was trying to ask, indirectly, how to get Sakura to go out with him (they still haven't met). Meilin, after leaving Syaoran to finish his packing and telling him good luck, called Sakura and Tomoyo to let them know exactly what was going on.

Chapter 3 - Stress Release

~ Same Day in Japan ~

A young woman was sitting on her bed just having hung up her cell phone. The auburn haired, emerald-eyed beauty was upset – no – raging. The 17 year old had just been told, by one of her best friends, 2 things: 1) she was apparently dead, and 2) her friend's family elders have decided that they were sending someone to take her most prized possessions away from her, the Sakura Cards.

The girl stood up revealing her full height, 5'1". Okay, so her full height isn't much, she's vertically challenged and she came to terms with that long ago. She tossed her phone on her bed and gave a small growl of frustration. She grabbed her pink gym bag and headed for her bedroom door only to have it crash open before her.

"Sakura! What's wrong? I heard you yell, you never yell", said a small, floating, and very worried creature. It appeared to be a small yellow teddy bear with white wings and a lion's tail.

"Nothing Kero, just get out of my way"

"Sakura? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Now move"

"What's wrong with her? I haven't seen her this upset since she captured the Snow card", this was all Kero had the time to think before being swatted aside by Sakura, something she has never done before. She pushed him so hard that Kero landed face-first into the wall causing him to fall to the floor in pain. Sakura left the room with so much as an "I'm sorry" and slammed her door shut, leaving poor Kero to tend to his own wounds.

Sakura was trying to remain as calm as possible or at least until she could get out of the house. She managed to reach the main door, slip on her snickers, and grab her purse when she heard: "Sakura, what happened to Kero?"

Sakura froze. Her father, Fujitaka Kimonoto, had caught her trying to sneak out before anyone noticed her foul mood. "Ya, I do", was all she said.

Sakura's father knew about Kero, or Keroberos in his true form, and Yue who are her guardians and the guardians of the Sakura Cards. He accidentally found out when she was trying to catch the Libra Card which can make anyone tell the truth about anything (A/N: Okay, I know The Libra wasn't caught during the show but I figured that this would be the easiest way for him to find out about Sakura's magical abilities and everything associated with them), the Libra Card kind of made her blurt out her secret but, surprisingly, there was no punishment for hiding this from him, instead there were a lot of questions to be answered. This, of course, meant that Kero had more freedom around the house but it still meant that he had to be careful around Touya, Sakura's brother, who still didn't know about him and the Cards(A/N: or so she thinks....).

"And what happened to him?", her father asked as he came down the stairs with a whimpering Kero on his shoulder.

"He wouldn't get out of my way so I pushed him a little so I could get through the door and I guess he hit the wall", she said without the remorse she would feel if she wasn't so angry.

"Aren't you going to see if he's alright?"

"No"

"What's wrong, Sakura?", he asked. Her father was now getting rather concerned because his daughter never acted so cold hearted.

"Nothing! I'm going out!", she practically yelled before wrenching the door open and slamming it shut behind her. What Sakura didn't hear was the end of the conversation between her father and Kero regarding her behaviour.

"I hope she's going to be okay..."

"Why? What do you know?" her father questioned.

"Not much... just that she go a call on her emergency phone"

"The one that only Tomoyo, Meilin, and you have the number for?"

"Ya... and it must have been Meilin because I was just talking to Tomoyo", said the defeated little flying teddy bear.

"Is Meilin okay? Sakura wouldn't lose control like this if she didn't have a good reason"

"I don't know but I think I should call Meilin and find out what's going on"

~ Back to Sakura ~

She angrily unlocked the cherry blossom pink convertible (N/A: the top was on the car) and shoved her gym bag in before climbing in after it. She jammed the key in the ignition, started the car, put her seat belt on, hit the button that put the top down, and backed out of the drive way. As she drove down the street, a person seem to materialize in the passenger seat. This person isn't not ordinary person, she was different, she's magical. This woman was no ordinary magical being, she was the Fight Card. As Sakura drove, the appearance of the Fight Card changed thanks to the Illusion Card. The Fight now look like a normal person.

The control and the new ways of using the cards that she had developed over the years, always amazed Sakura. As she glanced to the right, at the woman in the passenger seat, and thought: "Wow! I'm getting good at this". She gave the Fight a small smile and returned her gaze to the road before her.

Sakura's magical abilities have increase dramatically since she first discovered them when she was 10. She was not only able to control and use the cards in was that not even their creator Clow Reid could, e.g., using them without her staff and her voice, but was now able to perform spells that reach far beyond Clow magic. She has also created many of her own cards, including: The Doc, The Calm, and The Dance.

Sakura finally pulled up in front of a Dojo. Actually, this particular Dojo is one that she frequently visited over the past 7 years, sometimes 3-4 times a day. She parked the car, grabbed her bag, and both she and the Fight got out. Walking up to the front door, she was greeted by the Dojo's main Sensei: "Hello Sakura, I see you have new sparring partner."

Sakura bowed and said: "Sensei Hideo. I was wondering if we could use your Dojo today?"

Sensei Hideo Kondo was an elderly man, who stood not much taller than Sakura and had a belly. But Sakura was not fooled by his appearance. She learned very fast, actually the day that she met him, that he was faster and a much better fighter than his appearance leads people to believe. He kindly smiled and said: "How could I say no to my best and most frequent student?".

Sakura smiled at this and said her thanks. Before she and the Fight managed to make it through the Dojo doors, Sensei Kondo called after her: "I must step out for a while. Could you lock up when you are finished? And please don't hurt this partner."

Sakura smiled again and said: "I can lock up if your not back before we're done", she was about to turn and go into the Dojo when she finally registered what he had said. "When had I even hurt one of my partner?"

Sensei Kondo only laughed as he started to was towards his care. Sakura managed a "Be careful" just before he closed the car door.

When Sakura finally entered the Dojo, she headed for the changing rooms. Once she changed into her training outfit, a pink sports bar/tank top (N/A: not really sure what those tops are called) and black gi (N/A: a gi is a martial art uniform) pants, she bowed onto the tatames, walked to where the Fight was waiting. They bowed to each other and took a battle ready position.

(N/A: I'm not going to describe the training session because if I did, this chapter would be ridiculously long. If you want to know the gist of the training session let me know)

~ 2 hours later ~

Sakura and the Fight were still training/fighting and Sensei Kondo had still not returned. As the two fight, they failed to notice the lone figure enter the Dojo. She stood taller than Sakura at 5'6" but did not have the same physic. She was not as active as Sakura which resulted in a more curvy form. She had long, waist length hair which was almost black but not... The color of her eyes were revealed when she finally removed her sunglasses, they were the same color as amethyst stones. The most peculiar thing about her wasn't that she entered a closed Dojo but the fact that she was filming the two women who where sparring.

She stood there filming for a few minutes before she asked: "Sakura, who are you fighting?"

"Tomoyo?", said the completely stunned Sakura.

The appearance of Tomoyo and she question distracted Sakura, this allowed the Fight to land one good roundhouse punch to the cheek and an attempted knee to the stomach which Sakura managed to block at the last second. She gave the Fight a look that signified the end of training and bowed to her, this allowed her and the Illusion to transform back into cards.

Tomoyo worriedly ran over the Sakura, "Sakura!! I'm SO sorry. Are you okay?"

Sakura smiled at her and nodded saying that she was indeed alright.

"How did you know I was here?"

"Kero called me and told me what happened earlier."

Sakura's smile disappeared and looked at her feet. Despite how she felt at the time, she now felt terrible about how she reacted.

"Sakura, go get cleaned up and changed. We can talk when you're done", Tomoyo smiled at her kindly and encouragingly.

Sakura went into the changing room but was now feeling kind of depressed and lazy so she pulled out her cards. She shuffled through them until she found the two that she was looking for: the Fresh and the Guise. The Fresh is used to refreshen a person's cleanliness and the Guise allows for a quick change in clothing or hair style. Sakura packed her things in her bag and was back in the main dojo in less than a minute.

Tomoyo, who was waiting for her by the door, seemed unofazed at the speed at which Sakura changed. She smiled and told her that Sensei Kondo had just returned and not to bother locking up. Outside, Sakura was lead to Tomoyo's a purply-blue sports car. They both got in and drove towards Tomoyo's mansion. If they had stayed a little longer they would have seen the Mirror climb into Sakura's car and drive it back to her house.

~ Tomoyo's Mansion ~

Tomoyo is a very skilled and rich (her mother is the owner of the largest toy company in all of Asia) young woman. She was excellent in photography and film, as well as fashion and design. Those skilled came in handy during Sakura's card capturing days and during her more recent magical adventures. However, what Tomoyo was most skilled at was reading Sakura. She had managed, within a few minutes of arriving, to get Sakura to tell her everything.

"Why aren't you surprised?"

"About what? That they think you're dead?", Sakura simply nodded. "Because Sakura, even Eriol has said that he can sense you unless you let him. He even said that he should never have thought you that skill, because he can never find you or knows where you are"

This made Sakura laugh as she remembered the last time she managed to sneak up and scared the living daylights out of Eriol. "I guess you're right... I should have expected this".

"So... do you know what you're going to do when you meet him?"

"Who? Meilin's cousin?"

"Who else would I mean? Izanagi Nakajima?"

Laughing, she said: "Next time I see him, I'm going to set things straight. But I have no idea of what to do about Meilin's cousin besides making sure that he doesn't find out that I'm still alive and not handing over the cards."

Tomoyo narrowed her eyes before saying: "What do you mean 'set things straight'?"

"Well...um... He's been...", she nervously stated.

"He's been trying to get into your pants again, hasn't he?"

"You don't have to put it that way! But... he has been pushing me to have sex with him..."

"You know, Sakura, if he really loved you like he says...", Tomoyo calmly managed to say before Sakura interrupted her.

"I know, Tomoyo", the simple statement held so much emotion. "Next time I see him, I'm going to do like I said 'set him straight'. I think it might be best if we were just friends."

Tomoyo looked at her best friend with concern. "Are you sure you two can be just friends?"

"Of course we can", she said with a smile, "so long as he doesn't make it awkward, we can be friends"

Sakura stayed a little long but soon decided that it would be best if she went home. She did, after all, have to apologize to her dad and Kero for her earlier behaviour.

~ Later that night in Sakura's room ~

The lights were out and the occupant of the room was sound asleep in her bed, but not for long. She is startled awake by a ringing cell phone that was resting next to her pillow. Sakura looked at the caller ID: Meilin.

"Hello", she sleepily said.

"Sakura, did I wake you up?"

"Ya... but don't worry about it", Sakura yawned before continuing, "What can I do for you?"

"Well....", and Meilin proceeded to inform her of her encounter with Syaoran and how he asked he for advice on getting her to go out with him. "So that's what happened".

"You have got to be kidding me! He seriously asked you that?"

"He did", Meilin assured her. "Look Sakura, I have to get up early to see him off but.... be careful around him. He's not stupid. One wrong word, one miss step, or an odd behaviour could lead him to figuring out who you are."

"Don't worry Mei. I'll be fine. Tomoyo's going to help me and I'm sure that Eriol will too when he comes back from England."

"If you say so... I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay, night", she said with a smile.

"Night"

Sakura hung up she phone and placed back next to her pillow. She tried to go back to sleep but it seemed to elude her more than before. She eventually fell back asleep after an hour but it was a very restless slumber.