Sorry for the lateness...I had interenet problems along with too much homework. I hope you like and unless I get more than 5 reviews, the next chapter won't be out. Thank you to all those that have reviewed and please do review!!!!
Um...personally, I think this chapter is too sappy...but if you like it, do tell me...
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Sakura opened her eyes to the bright sun. It was Monday and it meant school. She sighed loudly enough to wake her sleeping Guardian. "Oh, my! Look at the time, Sakura. You should head to school." Sakura just nodded and went into her bathroom to have a shower. She was tired, but it was understandable. She DID change over 15 cards after all. Getting out of the shower, she dried her hair and proceeded to get into her school uniform. Kero looked at her and went back to sleep. Passing the sleeping Guardian, Sakura smiled and gently stroked his fur before getting her bag and heading downstairs for her breakfast.
Stifling a yawn, she managed to eat her breakfast quickly enough and also deal with her brother before running out of her house. She was late to school, again! Rushing, she managed to avoid bumping into anything or anyone until she had reached the school. Changing out of her skates, she went into the classroom, only to find it half full with her classmates and a certain few surrouding someone. Curious, she walked up to the group and greeted them, getting her hint, the group parted to allow the card mistress to see a certain red eyed girl.
"Meiling!" Sakura yelled and threw herself at her friend. They shared a friendly hug before asking excitedly how they were. Meiling told her that she was here because she had missed her fiancee and also because she had missed her friends in Japan. Thought Meiling had been going to a Hong Kong school most of the time, she didn't find good friends due to the respect she got because of her family. They were the Li Clan and they were respected and feared for their magic and warriors. Sakura and smiled and nodded in understanding. Then getting an idea, she said, "I know! We can all go to that new Ice cream Palour and we can catch up." But her idea didn't turn out the way she wanted as most of the girls had something on that day. Piano lessons, family dinners, dates and so on. The group had sighed, so afterall, it was just Card Capting group. Sakura was rather glad about it though, that way, Meiling could see Yue and Cereberus.
"I would love to stay and chat, but you have class and I think I should go and say hi to the teachers we had." With that, Meiling waved to the girls and went. Leaving the couple of boys to stare after her. The group didn't have the time to discuss it as the teacher walked in to start the class. No one however noticed one boy smiling a evil smile and another with a dreamy look on his face.
Eriol sat and planned. Once again, Sakura would have a challenge. She would have to face something of his imagination and he could only hope that she would be ok after it all. He casted a quick look at her and saw that she was faring a lot better than before, perhaps she wouldn't be collapsing after changing the cards, perhaps. He smiled again, looking at her. The part of him that was Clow Reeds was smiling like a proud father, soon enough, she would be ready, to face the world of magic as the greatest sorceress alive. She held so much power in her, something that no one in the world has seen. Eriol smiled a smile of a proud friend. That his friend, Sakura could do such things and that she could control the power given to her, without the studying and without the knowledge that the others often possessed to become powerful. She was so pure, innocent, once again something that you did not see with great power. Stopping his thoughts, Eriol decided that he should start listening in class.
Syaoran was not paying attention to class. It wasn't obvious, but to his friends, they could see the distracted look upon his eyes and the fact that he didn't look alert enough, revealed that the Chinese Warrior was day dreaming. Tomoyo guessed that it was Meiling, in which case, she was right. Syaoran could not stop thinking about his obssesed cousin. She was 17, his age and also his fiancee, a promise that she had made at a young age. Yet, he was bound to keep it. At first, he had thought that he would hate to marry her, seeing her obsession and also her annoying side only. Yet, now that she had changed, she has changed into someone much more beautiful and had lost some of her edge, more soft, less obsessive and less annoying than before. She was indeed beautiful, he thought, her eyes were the colour of a red rose, her hair soft as silk and she was just so beautiful. She had the talents to fight, someone that could be an even match for him. He let his face drop it's frown. He had nothing to frown about, did he? He was in love...
Tomoyo and Sakura caught each others eyes and winked at each other. They knew that Syaoran was in love, it was clear. They were hoping that their chinese friends would get along, sometime. Sure, Syaoran had a clear crush, even love for Sakura, but it was something that was just then. Just at the moment, it was more like a precious friend than a lover, or a boyfriend. They both had understood their relationship and had become close friends, nothing less and nothing more. Thinking about love, the girls each looked back to the front and went into their own daydreams.
Sakura tried to stop herself from thinking of the one person that was constantly taunting her. He was out of bounds, or so she thought and to some extents wished. She could not aproach him, he was out of reach for her. But, if she KNEW that he was out of bounds, she would not feel such feelings for him, right? Thinking to herself, she shook her head, trying to shake the thoughts of him away from her head. It was most a good idea, after all, he was older than her, he shared a being with another. But, she might be able to use her magic to seperate them, couldn't she? Somehow, she knew that then answer was yes. That she could work such a magic. Thinking that it was better to think about magic rather than her blossoming love or math, she paid her full attention to the power than resided in her body and mind.
Tomoyo looked at her best friend, to Syaoran and to Eriol. They were all deep in thoughts. She knew that Sakura hated math, that Eriol and Syaoran excelled in the subject, yet none of them was paying attention to class. That particular day, even the usually good girl, Daidouju Tomoyo, sunk herself deep in her thoughts. There was a particular male in the class she was interested in and it was time that she paid closer attention to what her heart was telling her. Carefully, not to catch anyone's attention, she looked around slowly, catching a look at her crush. With a sigh, she looked towards the front again. The black board seemed to have a picture of Eriol-Kun on it all of sudden as she smiled. Though she was able to set her friends up, tell them to talk to their crushes, she was hopeless when it came to herself. She could not make herself get up and tell Eriol-kun what she felt. She was scared, scared of him deserting her, putting a strain on their friendship and also that she would get a broken heart. She thought and thought, smiling like a love sick fool...
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The school ended with a bell. Sakura quickly rang up Kero and told him to meet her at the park. She had wanted Meiling to meet Yue as well, but sometimes, she couldn't always get what she wanted, right? "Hey Meiling! Let's go! Kero is going to be waiting for us at the park so he can show you his true form. He has been boasting about it." Meiling laughed and Sakura took that chance to get a closer look at her friend. She was much more carefree now, she looked much happier, relaxed. They all headed to the park.
Sakura looked around as they entered the park for the beast of the seal. "What are you looking for?" Meiling asked as Sakura closed her eyes and went into a trance to see where abouts the small beast was. "She's looking for something. Don't talk." Syaoran's voice whispered and Meiling kept quiet. All of sudden, Sakura's eyes snapped open as she called, "Kero!" The small beast appeared next to it's Mistress withi seconds and hugged her neck the best it can. Sakura allowed herself a smile. She had also sensed someone else of power within the park, "Yue is around here as well." She said, to no one in particular. Meiling has been told about the Sakura Cards and her Judgement. "Cool, can we see him?" Meiling asked and never recieved an answer as they neared the Peguin playground.
Sakura and Syaoran stopped short, trying to see where all the power was coming from as the slide lifted up into the air and the small penguins around it started to spin, fast. Kero hung near his Mistress, "return to thy true form, Cereberus." There was a flustering of wings that Meiling watched with huge eyes. Then, there was blinding light. In the place the small beast of the seal was floating at, now there was the true golden beast of the seal, Cereberus. Meiling watched, open mouthed as he moved gracefully towards it's Mistress and stood in front of her, willing to protect her with his life. "Wow! I never would have imagined! You look impressive." Cereberus didn't even turn to enjoy the remark. His eyes were aware of everything in the park, he was ready to protect and fight for his Mistress.
Sakura walked closer to Cereberus and laid a gentle hand on her and he turned to nuzzled her hand as he purred. "Rephrase that. He's just like an overgrown kitten." Once agiain, the comment went ignored. "Meiling, we don't have time for insults. Right now, we have to figure out what on Earth we are going to do with this." Meiling just nodded as Sakura turned to look at her. There was movement and when Sakura turned to look at what it was, she saw one of the Peguin things heading her way, fast. She cried out in surprise and jumped away the best she could. Cereberus flew up into the air and threw his fireballs at the attacking penguin statues. "Release! Fly!" Sakura's voice rang out as she shot up into the air, next to Cereberus. Her school uniform flew about her frail looking form in the winter wind. "Wow! How did she do that?" Meiling asked Tomoyo, surprised. She didn't get an answer as the penguin statues started to attack her and Tomoyo.
Meiling fought with her hands, she kicked and punched at the statues, breaking them and throwing them away from her and her friend. Syaoran looked at her, worried. As soon as he looked, he almost smiled. He should have known better than worry about his cousin. She was more than a match for the penguins flying about. Sakura landed with a thud on her back, crying out in pain. Meiling turned to look at her and saw that she was fairly alright, but worried anyway. "Sakura! Are you alright?" Meiling's voice called Sakura from her pain. "I'm fine. Be careful Meiling and look after Tomoyo for me." With that, she was back in the air, surveying the scene and thinking of a card that could be of help. "Card created by Clow, change and be reborn under the name of your new Mistress, Sakura. Shot!" Meiling watched, amazed as the young card Mistress called on her powers and the card changed to fit her. It wasn't something a person get to see everyday and secretly, Meiling was glad that she was there to witness the scene.
Ths shot card bowed to it's Mistress and flew off to keep the penguins in safe distance of Sakura. Meiling fought hand to hand with the statues while Syaoran called on his magic. Tomoyo hid behind the two warriors and thought. They were getting nowhere and the group was tiring. Sakura was well protected from the attacks and the others were able to handle themselves as well but they needed some more help and think up a good card to use. A statue went past Shot and was blocked by Cereberus. Sakura floated in the air, eyes closed, calling for help with all of her powers. "Yue." She whispered gently into the air. "I need you."
Yukito stopped walking. He had been tired for the last week but, he was feeling much better now. Thinking about it, why did he stop? He never got to answer himself as he was gone and replaced with another being inside of him. Yue opened his eyes and flew off to where his Mistress was. She was in distress and was calling for him. The Moon was almost full and he had enough power to help her unlike before. The Moon and his Mistress was the providers of his powers, he could not survive if he didn't have enough power. Last time the Moon had waned, he had thought that he could not survive it, yet, somehow, he did. He wasn't sure about the next time though. Sakura was having less trouble with the cards but she needed to grow more in power to support the two guardians and also the cards. He stopped his thoughts as he had reached where the crisis was happening. He looked down at his young Mistress, her uniform flying around her in the cold winter wind, fighting was all around her, yet she was calm, Cereberus by her side, fighting away all her opponents.
Sakura noticed the presence and looked up, a name slipped through her lips, her voice filled with longing. "Yue..." She flew up higher and on impulse, hugged the Guardian. Yue put a tentative arm around his Mistress as she looked up and smiled at him. "Thank you for coming." She whispered. Her voice was enough to erase everything else around them and leave them along in the skies, but it didn't last as Cereberus called, "watch out!" Instictively, Yue wrapped both of his arms around Sakura, holding her tight as he ducked away. He was so much more experienced with his wings than the young girl.
Sakura snuggled closer to Yue, forgetting that he didn't know how she felt or that he was out of bounds to her. She felt warm and protected in his arms. She knew that he would never hurt her and that he would always be there for her, if he can. She smiled in his embrace as Meiling yelled out something that made Sakura blush. Yue ignored the young Chinese teen and concentrated on keeping his Mistress safe. Another statue headed for the two and was destroyed with a blast of power from Yue. The shot was still running around trying to stop any of the statues coming towards Sakura, but there is only so much a lone card could do. "We have to do something! I'm getting tired of this!" Meiling yelled out, her voice a little desperate. "What can we do? If only we could stop the movement." Cereberus put in, his voice was serious, and full of energy, thanks to the warm sunset.
"Stop the Statues, that's a good idea. What about that card we caught at the ice link? Freeze?" Meiling yelled, as Sakura and Yue started to drift down towards the ground, Yue set Sakura down gently onto her feet. Sakura smiled gently at him before calling back Fly in her mind and chanting again, prepared for the energy drain she knew that would come. "Card created by Clow, change and be reborn, under the name of your Mistress, Sakura. Freeze!" With her chanting came silvery golden light, the magical greed and admiration from the group. She looked graceful, in control of the wonderful power she held and she looked beautiful. Yue tried to appear that he wasn't staring at the girl in front of him, in the middle of her magic. As Freeze went to do it's Mistress's biding, the group stood and watched. Finally, the whole playground was frozen and the magical feeling was gone. The group sighed.
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Eriol watched from top of the tree. "Poor Yue and Sakura. They both can't tell each other, think each other is out of bounds." Nakuru commented from her spot next to him. "Anyway, two more cards were changed. It'll be over soon." A small flying creature said, it's blue eyes flashing. "All thanks to the young Chinese Lady. Well, I hope Sakura and Yue will open their eyes sometime soon. Is it just me or is the two Chinese warriors in love?" Nakura laughed softly as Eriol smiled. Everything will be over soon.
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Sakura turned to look at all of her friends, her eyes showing her fatigue. "Is everyone ok? Is your hands ok, Meiling?" Meiling nodded but Syaoran grabbed her hands gently to show the cuts and bruises on it. "That's not ok, Meiling. We need to get that patched up." Meiling blushed as Syaoran held her hand. Noticing what he was doing, Syaoran also blushed, leaving the two other teen girls to giggle and one Moon Guardian puzzled. "Mistress..." Sakura turned around to face him, a frown on her face. He thought that there might be something that he has done to displease her, but when he looked in her eyes, he saw her laughter. "Sakura. Please Yue. Call me by my name. You can call me anything you like as long as it's not Mistress." Yue smiled at her, a hesitant, gentle smile, but it was a smile. "It would be disrespectable to call you anything else, Mistress. Besides, what would I call you?" Sakura let the frown slip from her face, revealing a gentle smile.
"How about Sakura-chan? Or just Sakura would be fine. That's what Cereberus calls me." Yue's smile remained. The group had turned to look at the scene unfolding before them, also the trio in the tree watched, interested. "It would not be suitable, Sakura-sama." Sakura heard her name and felt her knees go weak. Not because she was tired after her magic, but because he loved the sound of her name on his lips. It sounded beautiful. "I would love it if you dropped the sama part though." Sakura said, almost teasingly as the guardian simply shook his head. "Fine, for now, but I promise that I will be able to get you to call me by my name someday!" On impulse, she flung herself at him and hugged him, kissing him on his cheeck and then letting go. She blushed and he blushed, both surprised at her boldness. "I have to go now, Sakura-sama. Yukito will be puzzled at what had happened if I dont go soon." Sakura nodded and the Guardian flew off, still red in the face.
"Wow! Who is that? Is the card Mistress in love?" Sakura blushed deep red and Tomoyo let out a small sigh as Syaoran looked uncomfortable. "Um...if you don't mind, I think we should get moving. There are sounds of people heading this way." Syaoran commented, getting looks to kill from his cousin and from Tomoyo. Sakura looked as if she could just kiss him. "He's right, You should looked around yourselves now." Cereberus commented, as he transformed back to his smaller form. They looked around and saw havoc everywhere. There was broken pieces of the Penguin statues everywhere with the slide almost falling down, everything was broken. The pavement around them was also destroyed with the help of the two Li Clan warriors and also the Shot card. The sounds came closer and the group ran off.
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"Well, that was certainly interesting! I have one question though. How is it that whenever we are in one of these weird situations, no one is around to see us?" Sakura asked, breathing hard, from all the running. "I would imagine that the same person that is causing the trouble to be clearing away all the people. The strange thing is, that we should be able to sense him, but we can't." Sakura looked a little guilty. "Um...you can't always sense people with magic. According to Cereberus, if they have powerful enough magic, they could hide it in themselves. Kind of make them disappear from the raider." Syaoran looked positively shocked. Sakura gave him a smile before pulling her magic into herself to hide her magical powers from him.
"It is possible then. So, that's how the enemy is hiding and so, now, what do we do from here?" He asked, his voice thoughtful. "I would have no idea. Besides, we have been able to fight off every single one of the attacks. There is no reason that we can't do it now. I think that we shoud wait it out, get more information and when we know enough, then we will act." The group nodded. "I'm so sorry Meiling. We can't go to the Ice Cream Parlour. It's 5:30 and I think they are closed. Wanna come over to my house?" Meiling looked up to her friend and nodded. She would love to go to Sakura's house and see what it was like, how she lived. "I would love to."
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The group arrived at Sakura's place and found that Touya was home. "Hey monster! What are the Chinese Brats doing here?" Instantly, Touya was giving the two dirty looks while Sakura sighed. "They are my guests and they are not brats so lay off. Leave us be." With that, she ignored Touya and walked into the loungeroom with her friends. "Ignore my brother. He's still not over the incident. Anyways, what would you like?" She asked, her form instantly taking the one of the hostess. She got her orders and Tomoyo walked out of the room with her, giving a small wink to Meiling.
In the kitchen, the two girls giggled. "I think it's about time Syaoran and Meiling got their acts together, don't you?" Sakura voiced as she cut the cake, surprising Tomoyo. Looking at the shock on her best friend's face, she looked at her, smiled and said, "you didn't think that I was that dense, did you?" Tomoyo could do nothing but nod a little and look ashamed. "Tomoyo!" Sakura cried out, outraged look on her face, but soon the two teens were laughing and went about preparing the drinks, slowly as they can.
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The two Chinses sat there in awkawrd silence as the two girls giggled in the kitchen. "So, how have you been eating and sleeping in the time that I was in Hong Kong?" Meiling asked, a question that was more or less given by the Elders. "I bet that you have been asked to ask me several questions running on that line, right?" Meiling blushed a little and nodded. "I've been fine. Lately worried about the Sakura cards though. She keeps collapsing after changing each one. But we have more help now, as you might have seen." That was close enough to break Meiling's heart. So, it seemed that her Xiao Lang's attentions were on the Card Mistress and not on her. It hurt her feelings, it broke her heart into two, yet she kept her straight face and smiled at her friend. "Now, it's time for me to ask you a question. How have you been?" By that question, the raven haired girl was surprised, maybe he did care for her, but it might also just be something as one cousin to another. "I'm pretty ok. I've been training hard in Matial arts with your sisters and the Elders have been training me."
Syaoran understood the reason that girl had blushed. The Elders have been training her to prepare her to be his bride, most likely. "Good. I hope you are not too stressed by that. You need to learn how to be the Clan leader's wife, the Lady of the house." Those simple words were enough to shake away all the doubts that Meiling had once had. "You mean...I thought..." Meiling couldn't speak propably, drawing a smile from the chocolate haired boy. "No, I'm not in love with Sakura, but I do care for her deeply as a friend and the Mistress of the cards. I still intend to marry you...even though it was a promise as a child, I think it's one of the best decisions I have made so far. So, if you still want to be my fiancee, train hard." Meiling threw herself at the boy of her desire and he held her close to him. For the first time, he did not complain at the way that she expressed her effection for him. "I would love to! I love you, Xiao Lang."
Sakura and Tomoyo looked through the crack of the closed doors and surpressed their giggles and sighs and went back to the kitchen, giving the two a little more time to have their romantic moment. "He finally told her." Tomoyo said, giving Sakura a look. "It wasn't my fault! Don't look at me like that, Tomoyo-chan. He was just too shy to tell her. He always had loved her, but didn't know...I think it's beautiful." Sakura and Tomoyo looked at each other and sighed together, little hearts forming over their eyes.
Syaoran held his fiancee in his arms and lifted her face gently and laid a small kiss on her lips. His first proper kiss. "I love you too, Meiling." He whispered in her ear, his gentle side taking the warrior part away. "I never would have guessed." Meiling giggled and got out of his hold, a little reluctantly, but she had noticed some strange sounds outside the door in the living room. She opened the door to find the two best friends standing there with cups and drinks and cake all in a small tray, trying to look innocent.
"Congrates." Sakura commented, noticing the blush among the two teens with amusement. "It's about time." Tomoyo commented, adding to Sakura's comment and more blush was her reward. "I can't believe that you took that long to figure out your love for each other! I should have just gotten one of the Clow Cards to solve your problems for you." Talking about Clow Cards gave her a great idea, so she pulled out a card, her key, made sure that no one was around in the house other than her friends. They watched her movements suspiciously until she stood in the middle of the room, in front of the newly made couple. "Release!" She called out her spells. "Card created by Clow, change and be reborn under the name of your new Mistress, Sakura. Flower!" Imagining what she wanted, she silently commanded the card to do her biding.
Meiling blinked in surprise as red and pink rose petals started to rain out of nowhere onto her and Syaoran, covering them in rose petals. Then Sakura walked closer and handed her a bunch of the most gorgeous red, pink and white roses that Meiling had ever seen. "Congratulations and good luck." She said, as the petals stopped and she smiled apologectically. "I don't want to get rid of the petals, they are just so beautiful, but, my brother will kill me. So, I hope you don't mind if I get rid of them..." Meiling just gave her a bright smile, smelling her roses as Syaoran blushed deep red. "Card created by Clow, Change and be reborn, under the name of your new Mistress, Sakura. Erase!" Erase did it's job and erased all the flower petals from the lounge room and Tomoyo squealed. "I have the picture taken! Now I'll develope it and send it to you, Meiling. I'll also give you a copy, Syaoran. I think you'll like it. Don't you just think that these cute digital camaras are great?" She commented, not noticing the sighs and giggles from her friends.
Sakura climbed up to her room, tired out of her wits. She had changed 4 cards that day and even though she had not collapsed, she was just about ready to. "Hey Kero. I brought you some cake." Sakura said, brining the Sun Guardian to her with a yell of joy. "Thank you so much Sakura!" The guardian exclaimed as he devoured the cake. Sakura just smiled at the golden beast of the seal. "Guess what? I changed two more cards while Meiling and Syaoran was here, as a small present to them for getting together." Kero almost choked on his cake and giggled. "Most of us saw it coming, didn't we?" Sakura nodded, joining in the laughter. When Kero had finished his cake, he went to play the playstation while Sakura did her homework. Touya was in his room also doing his homework and their father was in the study, marking the homework from his students.
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Meiling and Syaoran stood outside at the balcony of the apartment. "I was too shy to tell you." Syaoran told his girlfriend. "I don't know when, but my love for you as a cousin and a friend changed into love and I couldn't tell you." Meiling nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean. Though I acted obsessed with you and stuff, I didn't have the courage to actually go up to you and tell you that I love you without all the act behind it. The fact of the matter is that I thought that you had fallen for Sakura when you sent that letter. I thought you meanrt it to tell me that you wanted to break off the engagement and that you loved Sakura more than anyone in the world and that you wanted to marry her instread of me. Thats why I came so quickly, to get it over and done with, to let the pain pass quicker." Syaoran understood. With all the confessions done, he moved to hold her in his arms and kissed her gently on her nose as a conteneted sigh escaped her lips. She moved her face up to recieve a kiss from her gentle warrior and the kiss grew more and more passionately until they had to come up for air, leaving them both blushing. Then they simply held each other and watched the stars...
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I hope you enjoyed it...I enjoyed writing it...now, you have the task of reviewing!
Thanks to Blue Angel for the wonderful, long and insightful review...please REVIEW!!!!!