CH36: All Wet

"There he is!" Sakura announced as she noticed the lone figure standing rigidly beside one of the hot springs. Syaoran turned to face them.

"LOOK OUT!" He shouted, with a look of abject despair as his sword was caught in his collar as he tried to draw it. Sakura turned her head. Things almost seemed to move in slow motion as she caught site of the spears of liquid rushing at her much too fast for her to avoid. She closed her eyes and screamed in fear. Then there was a loud crack and her hair stood on end. Next, she noticed the incredible heat and then the light mist raining down upon her. She opened her eyes. All around her, it was raining, despite the fact that there was not a cloud in the sky, as could be seen by the full moon which hung brightly over their heads.

"What was that?" Sakura asked. She was bowled over by a mass of brown fur, saving her from a spear of water that launched itself from directly below her. Syaoran almost immediately tackled Tomoyo, saving her from a similar fate. All the water began to gather into one puddle. Out of this puddle shot the figure of a young girl who immediately launched another spear of water at Syaoran and Tomoyo.

"Syaoran!" Sakura exclaimed as he threw himself in front of the liquid assault. He cried out in pain as the watery barrage struck him directly and sent him flying off into some tall grass. Sakura rushed towards where the boy had fallen while the wolf launched a barrage of lightning at the creature in order to distract it. "He's gone…" Sakura couldn't find Syaoran where she had seen him fall.

There was no time to search, Xiao Lang was fighting the card and it was distracted. "Fly!" She zipped up over the battle and dropped straight down above the card. "Return to the form you were meant to have." It didn't have time to dodge the swing of her sealing wand as it struck the creature right between the eyes. It splashed to the ground and a card began to appear, sucking up all the water into it. Before it completed, it stopped. A small fraction of it still unsubstantiated. Then, the formed card degenerated, releasing the water to attack her again.

"What happened? Why didn't it seal?"

"You must have missed a piece of it," Kero explained as she ran to dodge the projectiles that were once again being launched at her by the water creature. "You have to capture the whole thing, but since watery is so formless, it's easy for it to be split into multiple parts as you are trying to seal it."

"Wood!" A barrier of wood rose up, blocking a barrage of water that was too difficult to dodge. Though the main barrage was blocked, a fine mist sprayed through the cracks, totally soaking Sakura and Kero.

"You will have to contain it somehow," Kero shook off the water vigorously.

"But it's water. How can I contain it? It can slip through any cracks." As if to prove her point, a jet of water broke through the wooden barrier and narrowly missed her.

She took off at a run. "DASH!" She zipped around the elemental spirit, dodging its attacks with her enhanced speed. She passed by Xiao Lang. Despite a stream of water barrelling towards him, he did not make a move to avoid it. Sakura skidded to a stop.

"Xiao Lang! Watch out…" Her warning was unnecessary. The watery was frozen solid; a stunning ice sculpture in mid attack. "Hoe… What happened?!"

"Sakura! Seal it." Kero ordered.

"Watery, return to the form you're meant to have!" This time it sealed without problems. Sakura signed the card.

"Where did Syaoran go?" Tomoyo asked.

"Xiao Lang, do you know where Syaoran is? When he was hit by the water, he disappeared." They stood silently for a moment. "Help me look for him, please."

Sakura, Tomoyo, Kero, and Xiao Lang searched for Syaoran together, starting at the point where Sakura thought he had landed. After a few hours, he still could not be found and the horizon was beginning to get brighter.

"I wonder where he is," Tomoyo said.

"He's probably fine," Kero said. "He probably just went to bed and wants you to worry about him so you will be 'extra-grateful' the next time you see him."

"Not likely," Sakura huffed. "If he did, he's going to be sorry."

"And I'll have a Sakura's Kawaii Revenge video!" Tomoyo added.

"The sun is about to rise," Sakura pointed out. "Doesn't that mean you are about to change back?" Sakura remembered that after fighting the rain and the storm, when the sun had risen, he had transformed. He also always seemed to run away when sunrise came.

The wolf looked at the horizon in shock, it had obviously lost track of time.

"Don't run this time; just let me see who you are."

The wolf looked at her for a moment, as if considering her request, then took off at a run. Sakura began to chase after it.

"Wait!" She panted, as she began to fall behind. For the second time that night, she activated the dash card, this time to catch up with her lupine friend. He in turn sped up, though it soon became apparent he was not going to lose her. He turned sharply and headed towards the cabins, and Sakura followed, determined to find out once and for all who the mysterious wolf was. She ignored her surroundings and her vision tunnelled as she focused on her target. Suddenly, the wolf leapt to the side and through an open window.

Sakura paused, only for the briefest amount of time in order to realize that she should probably use the door. She then quickly located the door, which was conveniently beside the window the wolf had entered through, and burst into the cabin. She was rather shocked and embarrassed at the discovery. Inside was in fact the shower building... for the boys. Most of the boys were not awake yet, but one was, and he was not alone.

"Sakura!" Chiharu exclaimed as she wrapped a towel around her bare chest and stepped in front of Yamazaki who was wearing nothing at all.

"Hoe!" Sakura turned bright red and turned around. "Gomennasai!" She apologized. "I didn't realize that…"

"You didn't make plans to meet Li here, did you?" Yamazaki asked cheekily.

"Why would I do that?" Sakura asked, genuinely oblivious to what Yamazaki was referring to.

"Did you know that it has long been a tradition for couples to bathe together?" Yamazaki began, "It all started fifteen hundred years ago when a peasant kept coming home to his wife completely covered in mud and grime. He didn't mind being dirty, but his wife wanted to keep the house clean so she would take him to the wash tub and scrub him herself."

"Really?"

"Yes, and one day the Emperor's carriage broke down outside the couples house. When the Emperor came in to ask for assistance, he found her washing her husband. When he asked why, she… OOF!" Yamazaki grabbed his gut where Chiharu's elbow had impacted.

"She told Yamazaki to stop telling lies if he doesn't want to spend his wedding night on the couch."

"He was lying?" Sakura asked, still completely gullible to Yamazaki's stories. "Anyway, did you see a big dog come through here?"

"No…" Chiharu answered. "Nothing like that has come through here. As least it hasn't for a few minutes."

"Umm, then I'll… um… I will just leave now." She exited the building hastily and found Syaoran coming towards her. "Syaoran!" She exclaimed. "We looked everywhere for you. Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," He said. "Just a little bruised." He lifted up his shirt to reveal a huge yellowish, red and black bruise in the center of his chest.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sakura asked. She was completely forgetting about the wolf that had disappeared. "That looks really bad."

"It doesn't hurt too badly," Syaoran said. He let his shirt drop again. "I thought I'd take a shower though. I am all sweaty and the hot water will loosen up my muscles a bit."

"Umm, you may want to wait a few minutes… The showers are occupied."

"It's only half past five. There can't be too many people in there."

"There are only two, actually, Yamazaki and Chiharu." Li's eyes widened a moment at the comment.

"How did you end up going into the boy's showers anyway?" He asked. He was wearing a grin similar to the one Yamazaki had given her earlier.

"It was an accident. I was chasing the wolf to find out who he is, but then it jumped through a window. When I went in, it turned out to be the boys' showers."

"Really? But this building has no windows," Syaoran pointed out.

"I am sure I went into the same building," Sakura insisted. She was completely confused because what Li had said was right. There were no windows on the building at all. "Forget about what I was doing. What were you doing? You've been missing ever since you got hit by that attack from the Watery Card."

"I guess having the wind knocked out of me so badly left me a little disoriented." he explained. "I must have wandered off and got lost. It took me this long to get back."

Sakura stared at him critically. His story made sense, but she was sure that she would have found him when they were searching. As she pondered the events of the night, the door opened behind her and knocked her off the step leading into the building and on top of Syaoran. Yamazaki and Chiharu exited the shower building to see what looked like Sakura leaping eagerly into her fiancée's arms.

"It's all yours." Yamazaki winked.

"Don't worry, it'll be our little secret," Chiharu said with a smile. Both Sakura and Syaoran turned completely red.

Later that morning, the buffet was opened for breakfast. The students came in and began to eat pancakes, waffles, French toast, fruit, oatmeal, and sausages with their choices of whipped cream, chocolate shavings, various jams, fruit toppings, and maple syrup. Kero, however, had unwittingly fallen asleep in Sakura's suitcase and had not awoken – a fact that he would later complain a great deal about. A representative of the resort showed up mid meal and told them that the problem with the hot springs had seemingly fixed itself and that while the levels were still a little low at that time, they should be ready for use that afternoon.