Chapter 7: Backyards and Fairgrounds

As soon as the spirits returned to the cards, the pond returned to its murky green self. Sakura was splashing the moss like stuff away when she noticed what she was doing. She was freely moving her arms and body without having any pain. She practically screeched in happiness as she lifted herself out of the pond and ran to the sliding doors-another accomplishment all on its own.

She looked like something out of a ship wreck movie, her soaked clothes sticking to her body, blood and dirt staining her light pink pajamas. But all her scratches and bruises were gone, she lifted her shirt to see the large gash in her abdomen was also gone.

Sakura looked back and forth between her reflection and the pond, an overwhelming warmth spreading across her chest. She thought about the cards in her pocket and the conversation she had with Clow, and although she was still confused by what he said, she felt truly happy and relieved to be alive. She didn't think of her past life, she just enjoyed this brief moment of piece and broke out in her own little dance party.

The full moon bathed her features as she swayed her hips and flung her arms into the air. A light flickered on in the living room, Touya and Tomoyo emerging from the sliding door, worried and confused looks on their faces.

"Sakura!"

Sakura gave them the brightest smile she could as she continued to dance without music. She knew she looked insane, hell, she didn't even know if she was sane anymore.

"Sakura, your injuries, they're gone," Tomoyo said as she came closer "But look at you, you're soaked, in your pajamas…dancing in the middle of the night. Come on, let's go back inside and get you in some dry clothes."

"Sakura, come back inside." Touya steadied her by both shoulders, almost dragging her back into the house.

"I don't want to go back, not yet. I just want to be here a little longer."

She ignored the cold chill seeping through her clothes and sat down on the ground. She tuned out their voices and waited until she heard them retreat to the living room before laying completely flat on the ground. She watched the moon as the let herself blend into her surroundings. She felt the damp grass tickle her ears, the moist soil underneath her fingers. She breathed in the mixture of scents from the flowers around her, blissfully high on the smell of lavender.

She saw Yue on the face of the moon, and for the first time she didn't feel guilt when thinking about him, but hope. Hope that she would bring him back, along with Kero and her father. She was still troubled by her past, by her father, by Syaoran and all the Clow cards. She didn't know how she was going to get her DNA off the JBI's database. But for the first time since that day at the ruins, she felt like herself. And she let herself believe, that everything was surely going to be alright.

The next morning Sakura was having a hard time explaining exactly what happened the night before at the pond. How do you say that you practically video chatted with your ancestor/mentor from hundreds of years ago, thanks to a magical shield and an old man with a clock, without sounding absolutely insane. Though they nodded as she explained, it looked more like they were talking to a mental patient. Sakura wasn't quick to correct them, after all her nocturnal dance party was all her own doing.

"I've given some thought on how I can break into the JBI," she said as her brother was clearing the table.

"Going to tear down their walls and demand the test like the monster you are?"

Sakura picked a piece of toast from the retreating plate, managing to hit her brother in the ear with the crust before shoving the rest in her mouth. Touya glared at her, but she only stuck out her tongue at him like when they were children.

"So, breaking into the JBI?"

"Yes, Tomoyo, thank you. So here is the plan: I don't break into the JBI."

Touya and Tomoyo shared a worried look before looking back at her completely lost.

"Are you sure you are completely healed, Sakura? It might be best if you lay down for a while."

"I don't need to lay down, I'm fine. What I meant was that I don't need to break into the JBI because I can simply walk in. A little while ago, I was approached by a JBI agent to help with the investigation on the robberies that I committed, not that they know that of course. They were trying to make sense of my magic circle to somehow pinpoint a suspect. They deduced it was Clow's symbol on their own, they just don't know what it is."

Tomoyo unconsciously played with the napkin next to her, twirling the material between her fingers before slowly tearing off pieces of it.

"So you think you can enter the building with the pretense that you have new information on the case? That could work, but what if they question why you didn't send it electronically?"

"Then I have to turn in something tangible, that absolutely can't be input into a computer. The problem is that I don't know what I can give them."

Touya appeared lost in thought, his hand disappeared underneath his collar to scratch his shoulder, something Sakura noticed he did when he was concentrating really hard. His eyes widened and Sakura couldn't help but imagine an old school cartoon lightbulb lighting up on top of his head.

"You give them something you've stolen. You tell them that you think that an artifact is in danger and that you want to keep it safe."

"And then, once I am inside, I can erase the test from the system. I'll just put everyone to sleep."

"Now the only problem is what exactly you're going to give them, I doubt you are going to give them a Card, especially if it's going to bring up questions as to how you got it. And you can't give them an actual artifact, because you need to actually extract the card, never mind the questions that would rise from you having the artifact."

Tomoyo was right, that would bring up a lot of questions. She needed something she could legitimately give to them, maybe something from the library…

"That's it! Like Touya said, I'll give them something that I've sealed already but that they don't know I've stolen. One of the first cards I sealed was the Light and Shadow cards, they were these twin sculptures no more than a foot tall each. They were in the library buried deep with Clow's texts and journals in the archives. They were completely forgotten. So, if we can somehow forge the sculptures and present those to the JBI for protection, then that would be enough to get me in."

"But how are you going to make forgeries of sculptures hundreds of years old believable enough to fool the JBI's authenticators?"

Sakura just looked at Tomoyo to answer Touya's question, a mischievous smile playing on her lips.

"I just need one more thing to set this plan in motion. Tomorrow we infiltrate the JBI."

That night, Sakura found herself breaking in to the coolest place yet: the amusement park. The week before she had spotted a sculpture resembling a Clow card in a commercial for the amusement park. Now that she was there, she could feel the faint magical trace from the sculpture atop the bell tower in the center of the park.

Wearing fresh gear, courtesy of Tomoyo, Sakura climbed the chain linked fence and officially committed the B&E. She missed her friend's voice in her ear, their heist chat postponed since Tomoyo was pulling an all nighter to forge the sculptures. Her brother offered to stay on the phone with her, but Touya being all overprotective over the phone wouldn't be as helpful.

Sakura cloaked herself in Shadow, camouflaging in the night as long as she wasn't directly hit by light. She walked briskly through the night, wishing she could just fly up to the bell tower. But with the exception of one Ferris wheel and a roller coaster, there was almost a clear view of the sky and she would easily be spotted.

She held her breath a couple times when she heard the guards doing rounds, they weren't as intimidating and punctual like the ones at the museums, but Sakura was careful to avoid them nonetheless. Once she reached the bell tower, Sakura looked for a service entrance only to find it locked.

Figuring they wouldn't bother to place an alarm on the tower, Sakura mustered her strength and kicked in the wooden door, the rusty hinges falling easily on the floor as the door fell. You could now add destruction of property to her rap sheet, but she figured that if she ever got caught, this little incident wouldn't exactly land her on the electric chair.

Stepping into the bell tower, Sakura saw the long staircase leading to the top. Debating whether she should be lazy and summon Fly, or take the Stairmaster workout to the top floor, Sakura sadly opted for the stairs. Although her wounds had healed, her body was still out of commission for a long time and she couldn't let her body go soft, not if she wanted to outrun the cops.

By the time she reached the top Sakura's legs were burning and she was definitely winded. She leaned against the pillars around the giant bell, giving herself a couple seconds to catch her breath. The magic signature was definitely stronger, but as she suspected, she had to climb higher. Climbing onto the ledge, Sakura anchored herself to the ceiling before swinging her body back and forth to gain momentum. After a couple swings, Sakura managed to thrust her body outward so that she was out of the bell chamber and pulled herself onto the roof.

The concrete edge dug into her abdomen, but Sakura ignored the pain as she turned herself around so that she was sitting on the barely existent ledge of the domed roof. The magic signature was next to her now, strong and vibrant like she remembered. She recognized the jester outfit of the Erase card even encased in stone, the stone cloak at her hands.

Erase was exactly the card she needed for her mission tomorrow, if she could make the files disappear just as she did her friends in the test of courage in her past life, everything would be fine. Sakura released her wand and sealed the card. She heard Erase's quick 'thank you,' as she transformed into a card.

Sakura thought back to another life, to another time where she was in a park just like this one. After making the Nothing card into the Hope card and finally confessing her feelings to him. She tried to ignore the excitement bubbling in her stomach at the thought of seeing him tomorrow. She blamed the resurfacing emotions from her past life. But she couldn't allow herself to feel anything for him, at least anything genuinely hers. He was the one hunting her down, even if he didn't know it yet. And tomorrow she would try to steal from right underneath him.

She couldn't fall for him this time, not when he was the one standing between her and her father.

Author's Note: I actually don't have much to say in this AN. Next chapter will deal with the extraction of the the DNA test results (obviously) I will try to write it as soon as I can, I'll be moving this week so it's a bit complicated so keep an eye out for the update. If anyone is still reading the story, I would really appreciate some feedback, I can't make the story better if I don't know what doesn't work. Anyway, everyone have a nice week, and for those in the US who started school today, have a great year.

Disclaimer: I do not own CSS or any product mentioned in the story.

~Stay Golden