Note: Sry about the )s you'll see. It's the only way I can make paragraphs won't screw up. --
Playing In The Sand
By the end of the school day what had happened at that gym classes was known by over half the student body and still going strong. People were all eager to check Jet out and out of sympathy Madison flaked him on one side and Sakura took the other side with Leah in front to form a barricade as they attempted to make their way out of the school hallways so that they could go home for the day. But people were making that very difficult and Leah was losing her patience fast which was never a good thing. Syaoran was rather overwhelmed with the way he'd become the person to gawk at or at least he was till he thought about why they were gawking and could sort of understand. In this body he looked like a gangly geek and geeks didn't send huge muscle bound football players into the dirt without breaking a sweat. He couldn't have played badly just to agree nerd like though, it went against the grain and besides that Leah had been there. So when that huge hulk of muscle had come charging at him with the ball he's taken the guy down with a hard tackle which was what you were supposed to do in such situations. It had been a really nice tackle too. Of course if he'd known that the guy was the captain of the football team he might have hesitated to take him on. The fact that he'd bounced back from the tackle while the captain was still reeling from the tackle hadn't helped either.
"Well at least the few bullies in this school will think twice about messing with you, Jet." Madison said as they finally got out of the building and began walking down the stairs. "Looks like Leah didn't even have to warn them off for you."
"She did?" Syaoran said looking at the lady in question who was walking in front of them and it was all he could do not to stare at her. She has such a cute butt too, Syaoran thought then nearly went tumbling down the stairs and would have if Sakura and Madison hadn't grabbed his arms. Those kinds of thoughts were obviously a health hazard. "Ah thanks, I'm fine." Syaoran said with cheeks going red as all three girls asked him if he was alright. Leah would be pushing him down the stairs if she knew he'd been admiring her figure and that's why he'd nearly fallen.
)
"And yeah I did. I can't stand bullies and they know better to think that they can mess with me and stay in one piece." Leah said with a grin, smirking at the fact that he was blushing. She still couldn't figure out how he'd managed to kick so much ass during gym though. The kid was quite fast on his feet and he moved with a grace that was at odds with the image he projected. It was like he was an athlete trapped in a geek's body but that didn't make sense since in that case he should have been able to build up some bulk. And there was just something about him that didn't seem right to her but she couldn't put her finger on it. He was a really nice guy though, a lot more polite and courteous then most guys their age. She hadn't heard him swear or talk trash once though he seemed to be a social guy surprisingly enough. If he was better built and cuter she'd bet he would be quite popular. Not that he was bad looking or even ordinary. She supposed he was cute in a way even with the glasses. "Any of them bother you and you can't handle them let me know and I'll get them off your back."
"Thanks, I'll remember that." Syaoran said with a smile, pleased that she'd actually beat up someone for harassing him even if it was a slight blow to his pride that she thought she'd need to. He was just as good as she was but she didn't know that and couldn't know that or else she'd be wanting to kick his ass. he wouldn't mind a pat on the ass though.
Later that night
"Okay, so then the judge is going on and on about the rights of the parents and I was arguing that using a baseball bat as a way of punishment should be a clue that these people were not meant to be parents. God I was ready to hit the judge with a nice grand slam to the face let me tell you." Katie Maxwell said with a huff as she added more salad to her plate. "But I was finally able to get it across to him that if he didn't agree to make the children the ward of the state I was going to make his life a living hell. So I got my way and am now working on my report to try and get those bastards in jail where they belong and if they don't I'm going to rebuild a Gundam and squash them."
"And I'll help you, Mom." Solo said and received a warm smile from his mother for his offer. His mom was a social worker and he knew just how ragged she ran herself trying to make a difference. Personally he thought anyone who would hit their child deserved to be squashed by a Gundam. His parents had never raised a hand to him and neither had Sakura's and they'd turned out just fine. Well at least he'd turned out fine, Sakura was still a little weird in his books and getting more so by the day. She'd been staying up in her room with Madison and that Jet guy a lot which bugged him to know end. They hardly ever talked recently and Solo missed arguing with the twerp and getting into fights about stupid things that made no sense afterwards. And he could understand her wanting to spend a lot of time with Madison but what was with the Jet guy? I mean she barely knows him when he moves here and now it's like he's her best friend. Like the kid had up and replaced him a little voice in Solo's head said making him want to blow up said little voice. The kid had only been there for a little less then a week for Christ sakes. "Madison, could you pass the peas please and thanks?" Solo asked, shaking himself out of it and accepting the peas with a smile added a couple of spoonfuls to his plate before setting in back onto the table.
)
"So I understand your friend Jet made quite the impression on the football coach today, young ladies." Duo said with a grin, unknowingly bringing up one of the people on Solo's current I wish they'd fall out of a building list. "He must have some moves to have sent the captain of the football team flying. That boy may not look like much but to pull that off I have to tip my hat to him..if I was wearing a hat which I'm not." Duo added with a chuckle. When his wife and Relena gave him curious looks Duo explained about how in gym class Jet had shown some real skill in football and had sent the captain of the football team flying and seeing stars. "I was talking to the principal when I came in to drop some paperwork off for Katie and he said the coach was even thinking about trying to get the kid on the team if he'll go for it. Think he would?"
"I don't think so, Uncle Duo." Madison said with a shake of her dark head as she put some more pepper on her mashed potatoes. "Jet likes sports but I think he said he was trying to concentrate on his grades this year and didn't want to do any extracurricular activities but I suppose you never know."
"If they can find a jersey and equipment that will actually fit him." Sakura said with a chuckle thinking of poor Jet drowning in too big football equipment.
"Well they could always shrink them down to his size." Solo said with a smile, pleased that she didn't sound like she was talking about someone all that special to her. Not that he cared mind you but the guy was too young for her not to mention frail looking. Sakura would walk all over the poor kid before he even saw it coming. So pleased was he with the news that he decided to give her his surprise anyway. "Oh and Sakura you know that brown leather jacket I have with the my initials on the back?"
)
"Yeah...I didn't borrow it without asking again so if you're going to accuse me of it I demand proof and my lawyer present." Sakura said with a mutinous look on her face. It was no secret that Sakura had always loved the jacket, jumping at any chance to wear the beloved jacket. It was too big for her of course but she liked it that way, like a big warm hug.
"I wasn't accusing you of anything, Sakura. I was going to say that you can have it if you want to. I tried to wear it a few days ago and it's gotten too tight around the shoulders for me. Since you love it so much I thought I'd give it to you." Solo said with a grin as he watched Sakura's jaw drop as she gapped at him in complete shock at him. "You do want it don't you?"
"Are you kidding? Of course I want it!" Sakura said with a huge grin on her face as she jumped from her seat and running across the other side of the table turned his chair with him still in it to face her then hopping into his lap hugged him hard and placed kisses on his cheeks in between hugs. Everyone laughing as they watched Solo go a rather interesting shade of red.
Two Days Later
"So then I was like flying through the air and hurtling towards the ground with rather alarming speed when I remembered Fly so I quickly called it and just managed to get on it before I crashed into this huge tree." Sakura said animatedly as she described her most recent card capture to Syaoran which had been one hell of a capture if she did say so herself. They were all at the park at the moment near their school having just got out of class. "I mean chasing after the dash card was sure hard work."
"Well if you hadn't been chasing it on top of the Preventers building which happens to be twenty stories high I don't think it would have been so dangerous, Sakura." Madison said with a dark look on her face thinking she'd nearly had a heart attack when it had happened. They'd been at Preventers to drop off some stuff to Sakura's dad and they'd been on their way to the elevator when Sakura had sensed a Sakura Card. Following her instincts Sakura had found it and chased it up to the roof of the building and then she'd gone chasing right after it. Unfortunately it had been a really windy day and a particularly strong gust of wind had hit Sakura while she was practically on the edge sending her flying over. Luckily Sakura had remembered the Fly card and had gone right back after Dash like nothing had happened. Sakura had caught the little bugger too.
)
"You're lucky you weren't hurt, Sakura. You weren't, were you?" Syaoran said with a concerned look on his face as he gave her the once over. "We need a better way to communicate or I'm never going to be there to help you unless I'm close enough to sense a card too."
"Hmm well then maybe we should get something like tracker beepers so that we just have to press a button to let the others know there's a card and where we are." Madison said with a thoughtful look after Sakura had assured her cousin that she was fine. "I'm sure we can get something like that, we can ask Uncle Duo about it and say its for a project or something. Or we could bribe your dad, Sakura with MS cookies."
"Sounds like a plan to me. We'll bring it up at supper tonight and see which one can be bribed the quickest." Sakura said with a chuckle as she stuck her hands into her jacket pockets. She was always wearing Solo's jacket now and several teachers had recognized it and given her weird looks. Madison had finally explained that some of them had taken her wearing Solo's old jacket to mean that she was with him in a dating sort of sense which Sakura found very amusing and made no move to quell the rumors. If they were crazy enough to believe that then they weren't going to believe her even if she was telling the truth. "So we'll need four then, one maybe that Kero can wear as a sort of backpack? Unlike a ten year old I can't exactly justify taking a stuffed animal with me everywhere and he hates being treated like one to begin with. If we give him one too that would make things easier I think and he'd be a lot happier. He eats more when he's upset and I can't keep blowing my money on extra food for the little bottomless pit."
"You're telling me. He eats more then growing teenage boys and they eat so much it's a wonder the world hasn't completely run out of natural resources." Madison said with a laugh as she ran a hand through her dark hair before sliding down a slide while Sakura and Syaoran swung on the swings. The three chatted for a bit then were all set to go when they all felt the presence of something that hadn't been there a moment before. A magical presence. "Do you guys feel that? Is it a Sakura Card?"
)
"I'd lay my money on it." Syaoran said as he set his backpack back down on the picnic table where they'd set their bags. Reaching into the front part of his backpack Syaoran withdrew several pieces of long stripes of paper with words written in Chinese on them. Holding the limp pieces in front of him they suddenly went straight and spread out like a beautiful paper fan in front of him. "The question is what card are we dealing with today."
"Lets find out shall we?" Sakura said as she released her wand and twirling it in her hand tried to sense where the card was as they spread out in a triangle with their eyes peeled. They didn't have long to wait as a pool of sand appeared between them and they all turned to see the ground become a whirlpool of sand growing bigger and bigger as though it intended to consume them along with the playground.
)
"Sakura it's the Sand Card." Syaoran called out as he backed up, not sure what of his cards would do the trick. His mind racing quickly he thought of what made up sand and could hold something like sand long enough for her to seal the card. His chemist mind working on over drive Syaoran gave a yell as the sand suddenly lashed out at Madison who was trying to climb up the slide she'd been on earlier. "Madison!"
"Hold on, Madison. Hey you big pile of beach, it's me you want to pick a fight with not her." Sakura said as tried to distract the sand which only made the sand pool widen. "What can we use against it? I can't think of anything that will hold it!"
"I have an idea! Sakura use the Fiery card on it." Syaoran called out as a crazy idea came into his mind but it was a crazy idea that just might work. While Sakura summoned the powerful element card and set it loose on the sand while Syaoran called out to Madison. "Madison, I know you have magic too. Can you create lightning or something like it and fire?"
"Yeah why?" Madison asked as she managed to reach the top of the slide since the sand card was too busy try to sandstorm the Fiery Card away at the moment.
"Sakura back away from it so that you don't get pulled into this. Madison hurl your lightning and fire at Sand with everything you've got. Element lightning. Element Fire" Syaoran called out as he plucked the two pieces of parchment out of the fan and held them up with a hand that bore a ring bearing his family's crest. Responding to the call the parchments shot out lightning and fire into the swirling mass to join the Fiery Card and joined by Madison's the sand sparked and flamed, slowly stopping its whirling as it appeared to be turning into ice or glass in the middle, the shiny substance spreading out quickly to consume the sand as Syaoran had hoped it would. "Sakura seal it now!"
"Sand Card, return to your power confine. Sand Card." Sakura demanded and swirling and blowing the hard changed into what looked like a sand sculpture of an exotic genie before it became a card, floating over to Syaoran who took it from the air with a grin. Walking over to Sakura he held the card out to her with a grin and smiling her thanks took it from him. "So exactly what did we do?"
"We were turning it into glass, Sakura." Syaoran said with a smile as he slid his parchments back into his pocket. "You see glass is made of sand brought to very high temperatures so basically we were heating the sand up causing a chemical reaction which was turning it into something that couldn't move."
)
"I will never say chemistry is a useless subject again. Are you sure you don't want this? You really do deserve it." Sakura said as she held the card out to him but he just shook his head at her.
"No, there wouldn't be any point to it anyway since whoever becomes the official cardcaptor gets all the cards. I wouldn't be much competition with only a few cards now would I? I'll stick to helping you, Sakura." Syaoran said with a smile, wishing he could tell her about Yue but knowing now wasn't the time. He and Madison had both been told by Kero that they weren't allowed to tell her bout the Judge and they understood that she could only be told once she needed to know. First the cards needed to be captured..then they'd have to face judgment.