Skipping is much more fun than walking! I decided as I skipped home from school what was almost the best day of the whole week: Thursday. For once, I had opted not to wear my rollerblades and had gotten Touya to drive me to school on his motorcycle. (I had hounded him about his owing me for the dishes I'd cleaned last night and, with threats of bringing up the matter to Dad, Touya had reluctantly agreed.) Needless to say, I had been breathless and dizzy by the time I'd arrived to school that morning. Touya had also been breathless, but that was probably because I had squeezed him so tight his windpipe had been constricted. Because of this, I was banned from the motorcycle for all eternity, which was quite alright with me. After that wild ride, I vowed I would always rollerblade to school from now on. Or until I hounded Dad into buying me my own car.
I was thankful that, for once, school had been boring and ordinary. Usually, I was dying for something exciting or new to happen, but ever since I discovered the world of Clow, normal had been edited out of my dictionary. Boring as it may be, as long as nothing supernatural showed up during school, I was fine with dreary lessons, even Math (even if I did fall asleep every other day).
Nothing seemed to be wrong with Tomoyo as well, which I was grateful for. After last night, I had been worried for my friend, but Tomoyo was as calm and kind as always, even laughing at Takashi's extravagant lies and Chiharu's discipline of him for it. Thankfully it seemed Tomoyo had, if not forgotten, completely shoved the attempted kidnapping of Monday to the back of her mind, where she wouldn't let it ruin her good natured self. Still, I was going to keep an eye on her for the next couple of days, just in case. With the Clow Cards on my side, I was confident in my abilities to protect my friend from that creepy "bodyguard." Hopefully he was stuck behind bars right now.
"Hey, Sakura, where are you going? Isn't our turn up ahead?" Kero asked, his small yellow head sticking out from my bag as he surveyed the world passing him by. He had only taken the route home with me one time, yet he had memorized every turn, street name, and block number from it. He may not look it, but Kero could be pretty sharp when he wanted to be. Although I suspected he kept such careful detail of where my house was located because it was the most convenient place to get food, and because I, who lived there, cooked for him.
"Relax, Kero! I'm just going to take a more scenic route through the woods. Don't worry, I won't get lost. I've got the Clow Cards with me in case anything happens. Plus I've got you, my big, strong Guardian Beast!" I sarcastically rubbed the last sentence in Kero's face while giving him a couple pats on his furry head, making fun of his small stature paired with his self-appointed big job.
"Hey, hey! No need to rub it in." Kero pouted sourly, crossing his arms and sinking lower into the bag. Giggling, I continued to skip towards the forest, my schoolbag swinging back and forth by my side.
The forest I was headed to was connected to Penguin Park. In fact, it was the forest that bordered the park, as well as much of Tomoeda. Throughout my childhood, I had tramped through much of it, exploring it in the fashion of elementary students. Naoko had led many ghost-hunting expeditions (Chiharu co-leading them) into its leafy embrace (I had been dragged along unwillingly, clutching Tomoyo the entire time), and Tomoyo had taken me out many times on modeling trips. (It was all about the scenery, as Tomoyo liked to say. Of course, she also said that the model and the clothes were important as well. Actually, to Tomoyo, everything about clothes designing and modeling was important.) I had a couple of scrapbooks filled with pictures of supposed "ghosts" and shots that Tomoyo had taken of me in her various outfits. In other words, it was a forest filled with memories of fun times with friends (sans the ghost hunts).
Entering into the dark green palace, I closed my eyes and breathed in the fresh air. Slowing down to a walk, I took in the feeling of the forest, and then paused. Something wasn't right. Instead of putting me at ease, the atmosphere of the forest hyped me up, made me nervous. Continuing on at a brisker pace and debating over whether I should turn back or not, I decided to forgo my gut instinct. I figured I was just nervous from the whole forest-set incident from earlier in the week, and my body was warning me against forests of all kinds. Besides, this forest was good. What could happen? Brushing invisible spider-webs off myself, I continued on.
The trees seemed darker somehow. The air was still, as if waiting for something big to happen. Not a breeze stirred the needles on the trees. The only sound came from the crunching of dirt and discarded leaves from under my shoes. Puffs of air were visible from my mouth. I hugged myself, in part against the sudden chill in the air and in part because of the sinister feeling the woods were giving off. Even though it was winter, shouldn't some sort of life-form be moving? A squirrel digging up his stores of hidden nuts, or a bird taking to the air, frightened by the sounds I was making. But no, everything was still.
Sticking his head out of the warmth of my bag, Kero commented, "I don't like the feel of this place."
"It isn't usually like this; even now, during winter, there's some sort of life here. When it snows, you can still usually see a bird flitting about, or even a bug flying past. I don't know why it's so dead now." I frowned and looked around. Everything seemed to be waiting, though for what I had no clue. I found myself holding my breath in silent anticipation. Yet I could see nothing approaching, friendly or otherwise.
"I'm sensing something. I don't know what it is, but I can tell it's not totally friendly. Yet, it seems as if it isn't totally hostile either. Argh, I dunno. It doesn't make sense!" Kero's little face scrunched up into a deep scowl. I continued to swivel my head back and forth. I was now beginning to regret not turning back when I had the chance.
Should've known better than to go against my gut saying! Now I might have put Kero and myself in danger.
A tingling began to grow in the back of my mind. It was an odd feeling, one that felt neither pleasant not painful. Instead, it felt like whatever had created the feeling was fighting against itself. It was almost… almost the same feeling that you get when you force two opposing magnets together. Describing it further is impossible. I could sense a warm, green feeling (could you feel a color?) sparring with a darker, sinister force. The green force felt familiar to me, like déjà vu.
"I think I sense something as well. And I think I understand what you were trying to say." I commented, and Kero nodded in approval. Every day, my magic seemed to be exponentially strengthening. Kero had said it "unnerved" him; he hadn't known anyone whose inner reserve of magic was so strong. It made me feel a bit proud and a bit apprehensive of my powers. What if they grew so great, they were beyond my control? What would happen to the cards I'd transformed? Would they be set loose to wreak havoc (whether intentional or not) on the world?
A whooshing sounded in my right ear, disturbing my thoughts. From my left, Kero snapped his head around and looked past me, towards the tree beside me, with wide eyes. Turning my head, I saw that the branch hanging next to me had been completely chopped off. Wooden splinters now jutted out dangerously close to my cheek. Gulping, I began to turn around in slow circles, straining my ears to hear where my mysterious attacker had retreated to.
"Whoever it is wants the Book and cards, don't they?" I nervously asked Kero, my eyes peering out into the perplexing darkness of the woods around. Nodding silently, Kero, too, was keeping watch, with his beady eyes peering out over the top of my schoolbag. For the first time in forever, my forest felt unsafe.
Without warning, the invisible foe struck again. This time they smote my left side, hitting a couple inches above the spot where Kero's head jutted out. After a few seconds I felt a stinging sensation on my left cheek, and raising my hand to it I felt a wetness. Bringing my hand down, I was surprised at the harsh red staining it. Accepting the tissue a solemn Kero handed me, I pressed it to my bleeding cheek and kept on circling, warily searching for my attacker.
The forest remained quiet. My enemy was taunting me, gloating at my lack of knowledge. And it was making me angry. Heat flooding into my body at my sudden anger, I continued to glance fiercely around, this time much more jarringly than before. Kero noticed the change in me, but did nothing to try and stop it. My guess is that he thought I'd be better in a fight if my adrenaline was rushing and my blood boiling. He was right.
Suddenly, a rustling sounded in the bushed behind me. Whipping around, I caught a glimpse of metal flashing in the dull afternoon sunlight. The flash flew out of the bushes, and I could make out a sword. A sword that was headed straight for my heart. I didn't even have time to scream.
But the blow never came.
A flash illuminated the once-dark woods. Looking up from my crouching position with hands shielding my head and my knees bent I saw an object floating before me, the sword unable to penetrate past it. A pink, bubble-like energy surrounded me, and I guessed it was some sort of force-field protecting me from the sword. Looking more closely at the floating object, I saw it was a ruby-red jewel bordered on one side by a spread, wing-like engraved piece of silver metal drawing to a diamond point near its bottom.
Almost like a magnificent warrior's helm cresting a jewel face. I thought, half-dazed from my second close-call of the week. Again the sword stuck, and again the helm-like object held it at bay. The pink force-field crackled and sparkled as the sword continued to attack it, but the force-field would not let the sword pass, the floating helm holding steady.
"Thank god for the Shield." Kero mumbled, climbing up out of the depths of my bag and gazing admirably at the helm, which I took to be the Shield.
"The Shield?" I asked, looking down at Kero.
"Yup, you managed to transform it into a Sakura Card and call it out in time to save us." Kero replied; his gaze locked on the struggle between Shield and sword.
"But I didn't…" I stopped speaking as I noticed the star rod I was now clutching tightly in my right hand, poised upwards as if to strike with.
When did I summon The Shield and my staff? I pondered, staring at the pink staff in my hand in confusion. I was brought back to the events taking place when a crash sounded from the sword hitting Shield with more force than it had put behind its other attacks. The pink screen wavered for a bit before strengthening its defense and I felt as though I had been slugged a hard one in the stomach.
"Not good; Shield is getting weak. It can't hold its barrier up for much longer, and if you keep feeding it your magic to keep it up, then you'll collapse and leave us defenseless. I can't transform yet, or I don't remember how, so we'd be sitting ducks if that happened." Kero fretted, fully emerging from the bag to hover nervously by my shoulder. Eyes widening, I turned my gaze towards the deadly sharp blade of the sword. The sword, a Sword…
An idea forming in my mind, I quickly brought out my cards and started rifling through them, wincing every once in a while as the sword continued to land blows on the weakening Shield.
"C'mon, c'mon, it's gotta be in here somewhere!" I muttered. My attention was fully fixated on the cards as I shuffled through them, looking for one in particular.
"Sakura, hurry up with your brilliant plan; either Shield or you will collapse in a couple more hits!" Kero said, shaking a bit in his agitation. Ignoring his comment, I continued to rifle through the cards until the picture of the card I was looking for met my eyes.
Drawing it out, I took a second to admire it. "The Sword" it read in bold letters, and a picture of a fine-bladed sword rested above it, wrapped in chains. Its silver handle bore two wings at its hilt, and had an elegant hold that swooped down to its base. A blue stone was set in its hilt.
I've always been top of my class in fencing, I figured, as I stood up straighter and held The Sword card out in front of me. Raising my staff, I threw the card into the air and slammed my staff into it.
"SWORD!" I shouted, and the winds began to pick up in a circular motion around me as my golden insignia appeared beneath my feet. The wind rose to swirl around my staff, obscuring it from view. After the winds dispersed, I found myself holding a slim-bodied sword, a bit like the one I used during gym in fencing. It was perfectly balanced for me, and I could feel the strength emanating from the Sword and into me. Confidence returned to me. Holding out my hand, Shield returned to its card form and gently fell to rest in my palm. Putting it with the rest of my cards, I raised Sword and examined my opponent with a buccaneer's eye.
Nothing that I could see was supporting the sword; it was suspended in midair. Its blade was wicked sharp and thicker than mine, and it looked to be forged from the finest silver. A golden hilt inlaid with a red jewel supported the blade. Beneath the hilt lay the black, scale-patterned grip of the sword. A golden ball capped its end. The most distinguishing feature of the sword however was the red string tassel and a pure black orb that hung from it; tied around the end of the hold. The sword seemed very similar to me. I knew - I felt - that the sword itself was not evil; the invisible one wielding it was. I had to find a way to free the sword from the one that was commanding it. But how?
Parrying the blow that the sword sent my way, I strangely felt no aftershock. I knew the blow had been a hard one, but my hands were not stinging. Could Sword somehow lessen the impact from blows? Guessing it was a part of the magical properties of Sword, I continued to dodge and parry the seemingly random blows the enemy sword sent my way. My continual avoidance and defensive method was wearing me out, and I knew I had to stop the sword's continual, relentless attack soon. Otherwise, I'd be too tired to lift my Sword up, let along parry blows, and if I couldn't block the blows… Well, I didn't want to think about that.
In an experiment, I tried a few basic stabs at the sword. It avoided all of them easily, having no body controlling it to defend. It swung back around with a stab of its own. Reeling back, I held my left arm to my side. I had received the blow from the unexpected attack, and was bleeding profusely from my arm.
That does not look good. I though absently, the lack of blood already making my brain fuzzy and the pain numb. I knew I didn't have much time to end the sword's blows, and I had even less energy to do so, magical and otherwise. The sand was trickling, or in this case, the droplets of my blood were falling down from the top of the hourglass.
Still the sword pressed on, causing me to stumble backwards, tripping over tree roots and shrubs. Many times Kero had to rush in and saved me, keeping me from tipping backwards and dragging me away from the sword's bite. I knew it pained him to see me slipping, and I could see him mentally beating himself up over his weak state. Eventually though, I found myself backed up against a tree and Kero, tired out from continually supporting me as I stumbled, couldn't lift me up into the branches and temporarily out of harm's way.
Looks like my brilliant plan just backfired. Maybe transforming The Sword wasn't such a good idea after all. I thought, eyeing the enemy sword warily as it leisurely approached, like it knew I had no place to run to, nowhere to hide. The edges of my vision going black, I wildly lashed out at the sword, hoping to do something, anything, to stop its continual approach. My aim was way off, partially due to the recklessness of my blow, partially due to my almost non-existent energy levels, and the blow swung harmlessly over the top of the sword. Waiting for the final stab to come with eyes closed, I tried to be brave in the face of death.
Nothing ever struck. A clank of metal hitting something solid sounded, and I peeked out through my eyelashes. My eyes widened as I saw the sword lying inanimately on the ground. Next to it dark purple, almost black, strings lay scattered around. Their edges were frayed, as if they had been cut through with a sharp object. The strings hadn't been visible a moment earlier. Bending down warily, curiosity giving me some energy, I was reaching out a hand to touch the purple strings when Kero slapped my hand away.
"Don't touch those. I'm pretty sure they're the things that were controlling the sword, a dark magic." Kero cautioned, still holding my hand in two of his own to make extra sure I wouldn't try to touch them again. Taking a second glance at the strings, I could feel a faint dark presence, slowly fading. When I felt the presence completely gone, I reached down a hesitant finger, despite Kero's protesting and pulling on my hand, and poked one of the strings. It disintegrated into ashes.
"Um, Kero-chan?" I said, "You can open your eyes now." The little, yellow bear-creature had been squeezing his eyes tightly shut when I had shown that I was going to touch the string no matter what. Maybe he had feared I would've been vaporized, or something equally horrible. Well, I hadn't been, and now I had more questions than ever. Opening his eyes, Kero looked at the ashes with loathing.
"I told you not to touch it! Though, I suppose it didn't do any harm since you touched it without dying or anything. Next time though, a little more caution would be nice. It is my job to look after you and watch your safety, after all." I laughed bitterly at this.
"Caution? Safety? I almost died because of a possessed, puppet sword, and you're telling be to be cautious and to watch my safety?" I stopped my rant as I noticed two of the words I had said, and I repeated them, "Puppet… sword?"
Kero looked up at me in confusion. Shaking my head, I waved away his unasked questions. Puppet… If I remembered right, there had been a puppet in my nightmares, and one specific one in my nightmare I'd had at the start of the week. Could this be just a coincidence?
If it had been last week, I would've dismissed the fact that I could have prophetic dreams. Actually, if it was a few days ago, I wouldn't have believed that I'd get wrapped up in some power-battle over a book and a deck of cards! Times change, I guess.
The fact that a puppet-sword had attacked me scared me. As in, it really scared me. More, even, than ghosts and other spirits scared me, which was quite a lot. Just because I defeated the sword, it didn't mean that whoever had sent the sword was defeated. The one pulling the strings was still out there, and I had no clue where they were, or even who (or what) they were. This was just a bit unnerving.
When Kero continued to stare worriedly at me, I patted his head and stated "It's nothi-"
Once again, I found myself slumped up against a tree and out of energy. Frowning, I glared down at my weak body. Why did I have to half-faint whenever I used a bit of magic? It wasn't fair!
Thinking back, I reprimanded myself. In reality, it had been more than a "bit" of magic I had used. First I had transformed and held Shield through the swords blows, then I had transformed Sword and wielded it. I had the feeling I was forgetting about something big, though…
I guess I can see why I'd be a bit drained…
"Kero," Turning to the worried guardian beast, I stated, 'You're acting like a mother hen - flocking around me without really helping. Could you call Tomoyo and ask her to pick me up? I'm afraid I can't really move all that well, let alone make it home. If my family saw me dragging myself to the door, they would freak."
"Got it." Kero replied glancing quickly at me before floating over to my bag. After a few second of digging, he emerged victorious, my cell-phone in his hand, but he quickly stopped grinning when he caught a glimpse of me.
"Oh my god Sakura! Your arm!" Kero cried, dropping my phone and quickly rushing over to me. I glanced down, and was surprised to find the sleeve of my jacket was torn and soaked through with red.
"When did that happen?" I slurred, poking the wound and wincing when the action jostled my arm. Oh right, that darn sword had clipped me, apparently deeper than I had first though. Thinking of the sword caused me to look where it had laid, only to find it was gone; the only evidence of it having ever existed were the cut on my arm, the slashed trees and foliage, and the small piles of ash.
"Kero, do you know-"
"Hush! You're injured and weak and shouldn't be wasting energy on trivial things like talking." Kero butted in, placing a paw over my mouth to shush me.
Rolling my eyes, I thought, It's not like I'm dying or anything. Kero really is over protective! But in a way, that endeared him even more to me, and I smiled softly at him as he muttered about finding a bandage for me, rummaging through my bag to look for something to stop the bleeding with. Eventually he gave up, and turned to my school jacket.
Tearing a bit of the hem of my jacket with his mouth and speed-dialing Tomoyo with one hand, Kero temporarily bandaged me up with one hand while explaining to Tomoyo what had happened. I never knew Kero was so good at multitasking! A couple minutes later Tomoyo came tearing through the forest and up to us with a first-aid kit in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Tomoyo must have some fast chauffeurs!
"Oh my gosh, Sakura! Are you okay?" Tomoyo asked, concern evident in her voice.
"I'll live." I replied as Tomoyo began cleaning my wound, stripping off the fabric Kero had put on to stop the bleeding and wrapping a clean bandage around the long cut. I flashed Tomoyo a small smile to let her know I was okay, or as okay as I could be given the circumstances. As Tomoyo finished bandaging her wound, she let out an exasperated sigh.
"I do wish I had been here so I could've video-taped Sakura's wondrous battle against the evil puppet-sword, and so I could've gotten her medical attention immediately afterwards. I had just finished an outfit for you, too!" Tomoyo sighed again and smiled at me while heaving me up to her feet. Rolling my eyes at Tomoyo's obsessive costume-making and video-taping, I allowed myself to be supported all the way back to Tomoyo's car. I knew Tomoyo was talking about her obvious addiction to dress-making and video-taking to take my mind of my hurt arm and to get me to smile, and I was grateful to her for doing so.
In Tomoyo's cushy limo-car, I called Dad and let him know that I would be spending the night at Tomoyo's. He okay-ed it, and I was free to go. He was used to me frequently spending nights, school or no, at Tomoyo's. In fact, I was there so often she even had a set of (home-made) clothes for me. I hoped she'd have an extra uniform for me, as I had torn, dirtied, and bloodied the one I was wearing right now. Though if she didn't, she could no doubt make me an exact replica. In fact, she'd probably do it just for fun!
My world may be shifting, but it comforted me to know that some things, like Tomoyo's weird obsessions and continual support, would never change.