"What is the matter with you?" Kara Reed asked, "You've been off ever since that new Professor arrived in Seijou. Are you smitten by her?" she teased

Leiyun merely shrugged. He was obviously bothered and frustrated since his father's call a while ago.

"Leiyun?" she asked, "What do I do next?"

He looked at her, as he ran a finger through his hair. There was really just one person who could such an effect on him. But, he didn't want that to show.

"I'll have to come up with a good plan" he said, hoping she would believe that he actually was on track, "And, well the new Professor, she is kind of hot, and I might just have a casual fling with her. I am, after all, a man with needs you know."

Kara laughed. "Okay. Think fast though, Chief."

Erika entered the room, frowning as usual, "What is our next course of action? We can't just

sit here and do nothing, you know."

"Right." Leiyun said, "Keep an eye on that new Prof. for me. Remember, do it very surreptitiously, she might be a tricky one for all we know."

"Prof. Zhang," Erika said, in callous tone, "You don't know what just befell upon you."

Or what befell upon you Erika, Leiyun thought.


"Your son is such a smart ass" Maya said, placing her grocery bags on the kitchen counter.

"Well, I know where that comes from." Yelan said, smiling. She was dressed in a simple cotton summer dress and had an apron tied around her waist.

"Me, of course." Maya said, passing her the sauce. She stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"Whatever." Yelan said, "As long as you are really helping him into getting into a good university, I'm glad."

Maya bit her lip. She hadn't told Yelan about the conversation she and Syaoran had had the other day.

"Oh well," Maya said, "I don't know. I might end up sending him to the Juvenile Correction Home…"

"MAYA!" Yelan cried,

"I'm kidding." Maya said, "Besides, have you done anything productive or have you just been roaming around this town thinking you're on some well-deserved vacation?"

"Well," Yelan said, sitting down to a table laden with some books. "I have done some research, and I have a fair idea of how this war is going to be carried out."

"Okay." Maya said, leaning against the kitchen counter, "Go on."

"Well," Yelan paused, ruffled around some sheets, and then said, "The war of the five force treasures largely depends on the individual powers of their warring masters. For there to be a clear winner, the warring parties must draw their strength from different sources, and…"

"Wait," Maya interrupted, "Different sources? Does that mean, both of them cannot draw their powers from the same source?"

Yelan nodded

"Yelan" Maya said, "Do you realize what this means?"

"What?" Yelan said calmly, though a little agitated,

"There won't be a war!"

"Will you wait till I finish?"

"Okay." Maya said, sitting down, her face suddenly glowing. Yelan looked and her and then smiled. This reminded her so much of the old Maya. The Maya who hadn't grown, who hadn't been subject to so much pain, the Maya who hadn't lost so much.

"Anyway," Yelan said, snapping back to the task at hand, "The source of power is not the absolute criteria for war."

"Absolute criteria?" Maya asked, "What is an absolute criteria?"

"I have to figure that out myself." Yelan said, "However, consulting some other books," she lifted another heavy black covered book and placed it on the table, and began to read,

"The war of the five force treasures cannot be limited to be interpreted as a conventional war. It centers more on the probability of the magician who restores the balance of the positive and negative magic forces."

"Right" Maya sighed, "The positive forces being the Sakura Moon cards and the negative cards being the sealed Dark forces."

Yelan nodded, and continued reading, "The war comes to a definite end when the balance is restored. This balance is achieved by placing the magician's magical seal over the last two dark forces."

"Two?" Maya asked, confused.

Yelan shut the book, and looked at her sister. "Well, it does make sense. Two cards. Just like the positive forces when Sakura had to convert the Dark and Light together."

"So," Maya asked, "These two cards are?"

"Don't know." Yelan pressed her lips together.

"The two remaining dark forces are what we're looking for." Maya said, "Know where we can find the answers?"

"You won't get them in Japan," Yelan frowned, "We'll have to travel, and more importantly, who to approach."

Maya sat in silence for a few seconds before answering, "I think I know someone who might be able to help us."

"Yeah?" Yelan asked, staring hard at her sister, "Who?"

"But you can't come." She said,

"Why?"

"Because he lives in China."

Yelan merely frowned

"Oh," Maya said, "When do you plan to reveal to Syaoran that you are in Japan? I mean, we're here to help him right?"

Yelan laid back on her chair and sighed, "In time. Leiyun is getting on to you."

She studied Maya intensely to see whether there was any flicker of emotion on her face when she said Leiyun's name. Maya merely scowled and said, "Fine by me."


The Alliance of Stars had gathered in Tomoyo's basement. They were all seated in a round table; Touya, Nakuru and Kaho were seated at one end of the hall. Kero zoomed around the room, deep in thought. Yukito had transformed into Yue and was seated, listening patiently to Sakura.

"So," Eriol cleared his voice, "We're here to discuss our next plan of action."

"But none of us know where this supposed "war" is heading," Meilin said, "How can we possibly have a plan of action?"

"But," Kero interrupted, "One thing's for sure, there is a war happening, sooner or later."

"There are only two cards left." Eriol continued, "But I do not know which ones."

"Are they like the Dark and Light cards?" Sakura asked, "Ones which are supposed to be captured and transformed together?"

"No idea."

"Wait," Miho suddenly asked, "How do you know that there are only 2 cards left?"

"It's simple." Eriol explained, "When the magic forces existed, there were an equal number of positive and negative forces. There are 52 Moon Cards, which were earlier Sakura cards, and Sakura has captured 50 dark cards. To maintain the balance, there must be 52 negative forces, which leaves us with the two remaining dark forces."

"Which are?" Tomoyo asked,

"Well, honestly." Eriol said, running his hands through his dark hair, "I don't know. I highly doubt anyone does."

"This is tougher than we thought." Syaoran said, "We need to be prepared, since nobody really knows what is going to happen next. We need information, information that is crucial to anything and everything related to this war."

"How do you propose that we find such information?" Touya asked gruffly

"Research." Syaoroan said, "I have some books in the apartment."

"But we will need more than that." Kaho said, "How are we going to find more information? Keroberous? Yue?"

"It is difficult." Yue admitted,

Kero paused for a while, "We need to find methods and processes of magical wars."

"How do we do that?" Sakura asked, "Can we approach someone?"

"We'll have to travel and look for those learned in magical forces, it might be very dangerous." Kero said

"Do you know any?"

"I don't. Like I said, it's a tough job. And, the traveler has to find ways and means of communicating back and forth whatever information he receives."

Everyone sat deep in thought.

"Before taking a decision like that," Sakura spoke up, "We should really do some research. We've hardly done any! Syaoran has loads of books on the subject and if all of us work on it together, we will come up with something."

"I agree with Sakura" Syaoran said, "We can't just leave our lives here and wander around aimlessly."

"You do realize you have to take this up seriously?" Eriol said, "We don't have much time on our hands, and we must be prepared. Plus, in our normal lives, we are in one of our toughest terms in school."

"I'll do it!" Kai said, unexpectedly.

"What?" few voices said in unison.

"Well," Kai said, "I have nothing to do on most days, and volunteering in the hospital isn't that strenuous and the books are in Syaoran's apartment which is right next to mine."

"Kai," Tomoyo said, "It's a huge commitment."

"Yes," Meilin said, "You can't be lax about this, Kai." There was a slight hurt implied in her voice which Kai understood and sighed

"Don't worry," he said, "I stayed back in Japan for this. I'll take care of this. You guys just have to trust me."

"Well," Touya said, "I can keep an eye on you, and make sure you do what you're supposed to do."

"Let me do some initial research." Kai said, "Give me a week, and I'm sure the books will say something about such a thing. I'll look for other sources. I'm willing to travel, if need be."

"You're always willing to travel!" Miho said

"So," Kai said, with confidence and much conviction, "I propose that I be made in charge of the research, and if I fail, you can put someone else in my place. But, I don't think I'm going to let you guys down. You have to trust me." He looked at Sakura, before resting his eyes on Meilin.

"Okay." Eriol said, "You are the least stressed among all of us, and it wouldn't hurt to give you a chance. Anyone disagreeing?"

Nobody objected.

"Get on with it, Kai!" Touya boomed.