Chapter 2

Whoa nellie. I was getting my ass kicked.

I mean, seriously, I hadn't landed a single hit in the entire fight! Every time I would go on the offensive she would effortlessly dodge with some gravity-defying stunt and continue to pummel me. At the moment she had me locked between her legs and was mercilessly punching my face over and over. I could faintly hear Drake's voice yelling commands, but it was hard to concentrate on, what with the fists, the... the pummeling and all.

After much struggling and several failed attempts, I finally managed to gather enough of my senses to quickly grab her by the torso and fling her into a concrete wall using the limitless strength Power had given me. While she recovered from the unexpected move, I took a deep breath and pulled myself to my feet. I took a few exasperated breaths in the hope that the lingering pain would subside and raised my fists in a boxer-stance.

It didn't take long for Fight to jump to her feet and charge me, but at least I was ready this time. She jumped some 6 feet into the air and spun herself in midair, delivering a forceful kick to my face. I took the opportunity to grab her other leg as she pulled out of the spin and toss her onto the ground. Before she could pull herself out of the crater in the ground I threw my fist into her chest and continued to punch her face repeatedly. Dust began to kick up as I hit her again and again, so I didn't notice when she locked her feet against my chest and pushed off, sending my flying through the glass window of a nearby sporting goods store.

I hit the hardwood floor with a scream as the shards of glass buried themselves into my back. I clenched my teeth as hard as I could and forced myself to sit up. Beyond the shattered window I could see the tattered fight card already on her toes and sprinting towards me. I turned to my side and spotted a metal baseball bat from the shattered window display lying next to me. I grabbed it by the handle and swung it into the airborne fight card. She flew through the wall and flipped herself midair, landing on all fours. I tried to hit her again but she was upon me before I had time to react. With blazing speed she tackled me and grabbed me by the collar of my jumpsuit. I attempted to pry loose her grip, but she managed to pull me into a roll before it could secure a hold of her and used the momentum to flip me out of the store and into a lamppost. I landed with a loud sandpaper-on-concrete sound as the shards of glass that were sticking out of my back forced themselves deeper. I gritted my teeth, grabbing angrily for my baseball bat as I dodged another quick punch from Fight. I ducked under her kick and hit her grounded leg with my bat before she had time to pull the other leg out of the kick. She pivoted and turned sideways, allowing me to grab her by the neck and plant her into the ground. She attempted to kick and punch, but I had pinned down her legs with mine and had my baseball bat horizontal to her shoulders, pinning her arms to the ground. She gave an angry, frustrated growl and glared at me.

I raised my fist to hit her again but hesitated when, for some odd reason, I the dream I had a few hours ago popped into my head. In the dream I, the fierce warrior, had killed the other me, the noble, intellectual me. The warrior carried a sword, a killing weapon. The intellectual carried at staff, a tool used to capture, not destroy. Perhaps if I took another approach to this card captoring business, I would avoid my own destruction, as a saw in the dream.

Drake's voice echoed through my head as she spoke her justifiable confusion, M-Master Touya, what are you waiting for? I'm sure she will admit defeat if you continue your attack!

The Fight's problem was her pride. She definitely did not like to be beaten by those she considers to be below her. If I beat her and she gave up, it would crush her vision of power and dishonor her title as the master of fighting. Kinda like if Steeve Erkle beat you up in font of your friends; you would never redeem yourself. I just needed to give her an opportunity to lose with honor. "You fight exceptionally well, Clow card. Perhaps you might be infested in lending your skill to our fight against the Clow Mistress?"

The Fight continued to glare at me.

"If I were to remove my restrains, would you then be willing to talk?"

She nodded slowly.

I cautiously withdrew my restrainments and waited for her to stand. Gracefully she picked herself off the ground and dusted herself off.

"Now, perhaps we can discuss this like civiliz-" My 'civilized discussion' was cut short when Fight drew back her foot and kicked me in the crotch as hard as she could. Obviously I had 'misjudged' her personality. With a squeak of unspeakable pain I fell to my knees. Fight bounded over my crumpled body and started to run. I quickly mustered as much willpower as I could and stood up. I turned to see Fight leaping over the gate to the park and making her way down the street. I concentrated Power's energy into my stamina and took off in hot pursuit, snatching my baseball bat off the ground as I passed it. Fortunately, Power gave me a distinct advantage over the exhausted and battle-worn Fight, and I was on her tail within minutes. I drew back the bat as I neared and swung. She nimbly dodged and the bat smashed into the pavement, creating a large crater in the street. Angrily I took another swing at the Fight, she attempted to move out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. The hit sent her into a brick wall, where she slowly fell from the wall and onto the ground with a thud. I tossed my bat aside and pulled her into a headlock before she had time to recover.

"That was quite the underhanded stunt you pulled back there."

She hissed, If you were looking for an honorable fight you should've left your cards out of this.

"IF this was going to be an honorable fight, you should've gone easy on the martial arts. How unbalanced would the fight have been had I not used the Power card?"

Power struggled to free herself, but I had a firm grip on her.

Very well, if you are willing to defeat me in a fair fight than I will give myself up freely.

I challenged her to a heated match of thumb wars. My years of intense practicing with Yuki throughout middle school gave me a distinct advantage, and I was soon to defeat her. After I had pinned her thumb down for 3 seconds, she humbly admitted her defeat.

Feh! I suppose you'll be needing all the help you can get.

With a smile she closed her eyes and quickly became enveloped in a bright light as she evaporated into card form. Swirling winds blew past me as her figure melted into a small, rectangular card. There was a brilliant burst of light as all the wind and light sucked itself into the center of the card and silenced, leaving only her black and bronze-colored colored Clow card behind.

Ragged, shaken, beaten, cut, bruised and most of all, tired, I picked the Clow card and my baseball bat off the ground and headed home.

=----------------------=

By the time I got back through my window it was already 6 in the morning. Fortunately, it was a Saturday, which meant that I could sleep in. I made a makeshift bed for Drake using a bunch of blankets, a pillow and my camping sleeping bag and waited for her to separate from me. She didn't.

"Hey Drake, I'm kinda tired, could you get off me so I can go to sleep?"

...I would love to, sir Touya, but I would appreciate it if you would avert you eyes for a few minutes.

"What? Why?"

As you can see, I'm not really... well... wearing anything.

"Oh. Oh! Sorry." I felt myself blush as I turned towards the wall. Separating from Drake was a rather unpleasant experience. It's kinda like being wrapped up in a warm blanket on a cold winter night, only to have your covers evaporate into thin air. Except that it left you wearing nothing but your underwear. Chilly.

I waited for Drake to give me the 'okay' before turning around, seeing Drake fidgeting with one of my too-large t-shirts. I pull on a pair of pajama pants and opened my bed's covers, ready to pass out. Expecting the warm, soft covers to lull me to sleep, I was a little surprised when my back suddenly shot out in the most excruciating pain imaginable. I quickly jumped out of bed and stood up trying to figure out what happened.

"Oh Dear! Master Touya, you are wounded!"

At the sound of Drake's assessment, I glanced over my shoulder and into the mirror, where I could clearly see the many different bleeding cuts scattered across my back.

"The glass from the window! I completely forgot about that! I'm so sorry Master Touya!!" Drake clutched her blankets nervously, like she expected me to hit her or something.

"Why are you sorry? I was the one who got thrown into the window!"

"I should've shielded you from the glass, but I was too cowardly to take the hit."

I shook my head, "It's not your fault, Drake. I can't expect you to cushion every hit I take."

Drake nodded and looked up from the ground, "I guess we should get those wounds stitched up."

"I guess so." I peeked out through my door, checking the hallway for signs of life. "I'll get the bandages." Quietly, I made my way into the bathroom and dug up the bandages and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. I snatched some metal clips from the medicine cabinet and opened the door to leave. Expecting the barren, 6am hallway to be just as empty as I had left it, I found, quite to my surprise, my little sister's best friend, Tomoyo, standing outside clutching Sakura's little winged stuffed animal in her arms.

She stared at my face first, observing all the cuts and bruises I had sustained in the fight, then at the bundle of bandages in my arms, then she just sort of gazed wide-eyed at my bare chest. She blushed fiercely and squeezed the stuffed toy subconsciously as she quickly averted her gaze.

The stuffed animal's tail shot straight out and let out a squeak of pain.

Realizing that it had just broken its silence, it quickly covered its mouth with its stubby paws. It then realized that it had moved, and dropped its arms to its sides and fell limp.

Tomoyo quickly hid the yellow bear behind her back and met my surprised gaze. Panicked, she furiously attempted to concoct an excuse, but couldn't seem to get past the first few words before starting on a new one.

Slowly, I backed out of the bathroom, clutching my bandages and clips, "I won't ask if you don't ask."

She sheepishly nodded and walked into the bathroom, silently apologizing to the stuffed bear.

I waited for her to go into the bathroom and out of sight before turning around and heading back into my room. I found Drake waiting patiently on my floor, ready to conduct medieval surgery on my back. With a sigh, I dropped the supplies at her feet and laid stomach-down on my bed.

Her left arm melted and turned into a mass of black, shapeless goo. Slowly, the goo began connecting with other strands of the the semi-liquid, gradually forming a tangled web of 7 or 8 black tendrils.

She turned and met my horrified stare with a perky smile, "Don't worry, Master Touya, I'll be sure to make this as painless as possible!" She climbed on top of my bed and began to reach in and pull out each piece of shattered glass. It was quite an unpleasant experience, but I can't imagine it was any easier for one as selfless as Drake. She would silently apologize each time I would wince in pain; I could tell she was feeling guilty.

"I'm not mad at you, Drake."

She sighed as she carefully pulled out another blood-covered piece of glass, "Whether or not you are angered by my actions does not undo the damage that they have caused, Master Touya."

"Well this is a partnership, right?"

"Yes, I suppose so."

My shoulder blade twitched as her tendrils reached in for another shard, "Then you must agree that one member of a partnership should not be held at higher esteem than the other, right?"

"Yes."

"You're my partner, Drake, not my shield. If we're gonna share a body, we'll share equal amounts of punishment for our actions."

Drake pulled out the last piece of glass and cleaned the wounds with peroxide, "I just don't feel like I'm being of any help. I'm afraid I just don't know anything that could help you. I feel rather useless."

I sat up while she began wrapping the bandages around my midsection, "Give it time, you'll get used to it. It can't be easy jumping from medieval Europe to 21st Century Japan; it's going to take some getting used to. I'm sure that once you start feeling familiar with your surroundings, you'll realize that a lot of things in the world really aren't that different than they were 1000 years ago." I bowed in thanks and wished her a good night. Exhausted, I finally plopped my head on my pillow and fell asleep.

=---------=

I awoke at about 11 that morning, feeling rested and a lot better. Drake was already awake and sat cross legged on the floor, her eyes fixated on my computer's screen saver.

I yawned and pulled on one of my T-shirts, "'moring, Drake"

Drake snapped out of her daze and turned to me with a smile, "Good morning, Sir Touya! I hope you slept well."

"I did." I smirked and turned to the door, "I'll be right back."

Drake nodded and turned back to the screen saver.

I made my way down the stairs slowly, scanning my kitchen for Sakura or her friend. Lying on the table I could see a piece of paper under a paperweight. I took the note form the table and read it, 'Touya- Tomoyo and I went back to her house. I'll be staying there until about eight, so don't worry about dinner. -Sakura'

With my father off on his business trip, that basically left me the house to myself. I yelled up to Drake, telling her that it was okay to come down, then turned back to the kitchen and opened the pantry, hoping to find something for Breakfast. After sorting through the numerous bottles and boxes scattered inside, I managed to salvage the items necessary for pancakes and plopped them on the counter. As I began to cook, Drake began to wander around my house, mesmerized by every shiny object scattered about the house.

She eventually made it back into the kitchen, where she took a seat at the table and began examining with a pair of chopsticks. She politely waited until I placed a dish with about 8 pancakes in the middle of the table. I took one and started eating while she just stared.

I slowly swallowed and met Drake's gaze, "Feel free to have some breakfast."

Drake turned her gaze to the pancakes, where she slowly and carefully took one in her hands and placed it on her plate. She then picked up the chopsticks and aquardly tried to hold them between her fingers. Obviously, she had been out of practice with eating utensils for quite some time.

I reached over and took the chopsticks out of her hands, "You don't need chopsticks to eat pancakes."

She stared blankly at me.

I held the half-eaten pancake in front of me and pointed to it, "This is a pancake."

Enlightened on the subject, Drake smiled, held the pancake up to her mouth, and took a bite. While she began happily chomping away at her pancake, I glanced back down and began to finish mine. Strangely enough, when I reached for another pancake, I found there to be none left. Puzzled, I looked back at Drake, who was simply inhaling my pancakes. I mean, she was eating nearly at a Yuki pace here! She would basically rip one in half, throw it into her mouth and swallow. I don't think I saw more than 3 or 4 chews the entire meal.

I watched in amazement as she finished her last one, at which point she politely wiped her mouth and smiled at me.

"Drake!" I shook my head in disbelief, "What the heck was that!?"

Drake frowned and gave me a confused look, "Did I do something wrong?"

I just gazed at her with a dumbstruck look on my face.

Slowly Drake's gaze drifted to the empty plate in the middle of the table. Her expression turned to that of horror as she blushed a deep, deep red, "Oh no!! I'm so sorry Master Touya! How could I be so thoughtless?"

My gaze darted from her mouth to the plate in back, "W... How?!"

She bowed her head sheepishly, "Us magical creatures don't get to eat much, so when the opportunity arises, it is very difficult to resist food."

"Well how much CAN you eat?"

She shook her head, "There's really no limit, it's not like we have a stomach."

This really rose more questions than it had answered, but I decided not to pursue the subject. I picked up my plates and placed them inside the sink, "Did you like them?"

"Oh yes, Master Touya. Very much."

I smiled, "At least someone likes my cooking."

I was still kinda hungry so I poured myself some lucky charms, then handed Drake the rest of the box. She smiled and started chowing down while the two of us plopped ourselves in front of the TV. I turned on the television to the sound of a reporter's voice as she reviewed the warpath Fight and I had created during our battle. I felt a little guilty for not being more careful as the camera panned across the trail of shattered windows and concrete, but I suppose a certain level of recklessness was required if I was to capture Fight. Drake just stared in bewilderment at the Television, not knowing what to make of the bizarre contraption. She soon lost interest, however, and began eating again.

I smiled and glanced down at my cereal for another bite. It was then I noticed that the fork I was holding was melting! Surprised, I dropped it to the ground and stared wide-eyed at my hands. I could feel the temperature in my hands rapidly climbing, as if I had stuck them inside an oven and turned it on. I shoved my hands into the milk in my cereal in a vain attempt to cool them down, but the milk just began to boil.

"Drake!! Help!"

Drake jumped out of her seat and came running over, examining my hands as I pulled them out of the milk. I could see what looked like feint black and blue flames radiating from the backside of my hand.

Drake frowned, "This isn't good."

"I know that!! How can I stop it?!" I ran into the kitchen and shoved my hands into the ice tray in my freezer, keeping the heat down for at least a little while.

"Your negative energy has been increasing exponentially since we bonded. I guess there's just not enough room for it any more, and it's trying to escape."

"Great."

Drake extended herself around my arms and covered my hands with her body as she bonded. Slowly, the temperature lowered and a black and blue aura of semi-transparent flame surrounded both hands.

Drake pulled away from my body and pulled her jumpsuit back on, "It looks like your dormant magical abilities are starting to awaken. I've managed to cut off all the blood going to your hands, so your arms will now be running off or your surplus negative energy."

I examined my skin as it began to become pale around my arms, "So my arms will use magic and not blood to function."

"Yes."

I frowned when I found that my hands had gone numb and couldn't feel anything, "I can't just walk around with these flame things coming off my hands! Can't I cover them with something?"

Drake picked a pair of tight workout gloves out from my mess of camping stuff I had left on the counter. She chanted a quick spell and slipped them on my hand, "These should help."

I turned off the TV and dumped my bowl of lucky charms in the sink, "So I'll have to wear these everywhere?"

"Unfortunately, yes." Drake put her hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

This whole card captoring thing was starting to become a lot less appealing than it had been at the get go. I sighed and opened the door to the outside, where it was already beginning to become dark as the storm clouds moved in.

"I'm gonna go for a walk."

=------------=

I sulked down the street with my hands in my pockets as the raindrops began to fall. I wasn't really heading in any particular direction; I suppose I just needed some time to cool down and think about whether or not I still wanted to do this. I mean, if it was going to be detrimental to my health...

I turned the corner onto the main street, where I came across a bus station with a single awaiting passenger. He was about my age and had messy brown hair. It didn't seem all that odd at first glance, until I noticed that even though he was sitting in the middle of the pouring rain, he was still perfectly dry. As I came closer I noticed a large section of the back of his head was spilt open, revealing the scarred remains of his cranium. Obviously, this person was dead.

I took a seat next to him and shook all the rain out of my spikey black hair, "So... What happened?"

The kid jumped in surprise, not expecting anyone living to be saying anything to him. He shrugged and stared at the cement ground, "Car accident. My whole family died. Only THEY got to move on, I'm still stuck here."

The rain began to let up as the dark clouds slowly moved away, "Any idea why?"

He frowned, "No clue. I've been walking around here for the past few weeks trying to figure it out." He glanced at my leather gloves, "What're those for?"

I sighed, "The supernatural world has been being a jerk to me lately."

He gave me a confused look, then smiled, "Oh. You mean that whole Clow- magic thing."

I stared at him in surprise, "You know about the Clow cards?"

"Sure. A lot of dead people know about it. It's about the only form of entertainment this sleepy town has to offer. Great fight last night, by the way."

I suppose I was using most of my magic for the fight, so I really wasn't looking for ghosts at the time, "So I suppose I'm sort of a celebrity among the deceased in this town."

"You betcha."

I stared at my gloves and watched as the raindrops hit my pale, numb arms, "I'm not really sure if I still want to keep doing this..."

"Ah com'on. Don't tell me you're wimping out already! Jesus, you've only had one fight!"

"Yeah I know... but I have school and other stuff..."

He scoffed, "Oh please, don't give me that crap. From the looks of it, you're not the only one who's concerned about getting those cards. Are you going to let the Clow mistress win without a fight?"

"Without a fight? I barely made it out of the last fight in one piece!" I lifted part of my shirt, showing the bandages lined across my stomach and lower back.

"You probably just started out on one of the harder cards. I mean, now that you have all of Fight's skills in addition to Power's strength, the rest of the cards'll be a synch!"

I sighed, "I suppose so. I'd hate to let Power and the others down."

The brown-haired kid patted my back, "Good luck."

I stuffed my hands back into my pockets and bid the waiting spirit goodbye. The dark clouds moved back in and it began to rain again. There was something off about the weather today. It seemed like the storm was just moving around the town, not traveling in any particular direction. I sensed a Clow card.

Without Drake or my cards with me, I wouldn't stand much of a chance in a fight. I increased my pace and started walking faster, shaking the feeling. I would have to come back later for it.

When I returned home I found my house to littered with empty boxes of food. Everything from cheese-it boxes to sacks of flour had been devoured and tossed aside. I followed the trail into the living room, where Drake sat holding a half-eaten frozen pizza and watching Mst3k on my TV. It amazed me how she was able to consume several times her own body weight, and not gain a single pound. It was like she was a bottomless pit!

I was too wet and cold to argue, so I plopped myself next to Drake and flipped through the channels.

Drake bit off another piece of the frozen pizza and started making a crunching sound as she chewed.

"You know you're supposed to heat that up, right?"

Drake swallowed and glanced at the packaging strewn onto the floor below her, "I thought it tasted a bit off."

I took another look at the trail of food products that lead from my fridge and into the living room, "Are you always hungry?"

Drake smiled, "Oh no. I don't need to eat food, I just enjoy the taste."

"Well, I think you've had enough to eat for one day." I pried the frosted pizza out of her hands and tossed it back into the freezer.

I really wasn't in the mood to clean up the mess right now; I could get it later. I frowned as I glanced at the window, seeing that the rain had only worsened since I had last seen it, "You wanna go see a movie or something?"

Drake stared blankly at me, "Moo-vee?"

"It kinda like the TV here, except... bigger."

Drake glanced around the living room, "Where is it?"

I shrugged, "Not far, within walking distance."

Drake's gave me a wide-eyed look, "Y-you mean... outside?"

"Of course."

"Do you think it's wise for me to leave the house?"

"Don't worry about it. I'll just say you're a friend if anyone asks."

She smiled, "Thank you, Master Touya!" She happily jumped out of her seat and waited patiently by the door as I flipped off the TV.

I gave Drake my sneakers and guided her though the shoe-tying process, then used one of my old pairs for myself. I scribbled Sakura a note and locked the door behind us.

=----------=

The movie got out pretty late; about 7ish. Drake had been thoroughly amazed by about every aspect of the trip, especially the food. I think she spend more time happily chowing down on popcorn than watching the movie. Whatever makes her happy, I guess. The rain hadn't let up while we were in the theater, meaning that I would have to find and stop this card soon, or the town might be flooded. I put up the umbrella and held it over Drake as we started back home.

As we passed Sakura's school I started getting an extremely strong feeling from my sixth sense. I stopped at stared at the deserted school grounds. It felt like a Clow card all right, but I sensed something else. Something... not unlike myself.

"What's wrong, Master Touya?"

I folded up the umbrella and started towards the school, "We've got card Captoring to do."

We waited until we were inside before Drake bonded, excreting both her and my clothing during the process. I folded her jumpsuit and my shirt and pants and placed them next to a nearby locker. I had Drake carry the baseball bat I had found earlier inside of her, anticipating a fight. Being as formless and liquidly as she was, Drake bonded while leaving the bat on the ground.

As she shaped herself into my battle costume, I picked up the bat and started down the hall, following my sixth sense to the card. I eventually came to locker, from which the feeling was originating. How, and why, would a Clow card manage to cram itself into a locker? My question was answered when I opened the locker to find a tiny glowing dot starting right back at me.

Be careful, Master Touya. Do not let it touch you.

I scoffed, "What, you're saying that this little insect is a Clow card?"

Indeed. It is the Tiny card, and it is more dangerous than it appears.

I stared at the card again for a few seconds, then quickly attempted to stomp on it with my sneakers. Unfortunately, like most insects, it was pretty fast and leaped out of the way, jumping over me and onto the floor. I tried grabbing up but it took off pretty fast and started jumping down the hallway and into one of the math rooms.

I rounded the corner and jumped over a few of the desks as I closed in on the miniature menace. It quickly made its way towards and open window, leaping from desk to desk as it neared. I bounded over the last row of desks and caught it in mid-air as it tried to leap out the window. Thankfully, my leather gloves prevented me from touching it, and I started to chant the sealing spell.

It was then that the odd feeling that was bugging me suddenly re-appeared, driving my magical senses up the wall. I stopped the spell and my eyes shot to the now-occupied doorway. Standing there with a rather large sword in hand and a confused look on his face was none other than the little Chinese twip himself, Li.