Fun House
Sakura walked into her room, ploped her backpack down next to the door, and threw herself onto her bed. The bed's sudden lurch woke up one familiar little guardian beast. "Hey! Watch it!" He exclaimed.
Sakura looked up to see a pair of very angry eyes. "Oh, sorry Kero. I forgot you were there." She said as she layed her head down on the pillow.
"Forgot! Oh fine then!" Kero replied.
Sakura turned on her back and stared up at the ceiling. "I'm just tired from today. Meilin wouldn't leave me alone after we told her about what her clone did. She went on and on about how she could be better then that. She then first forced us to listen to her try and play her recorder, then she tried some really hard gymnastics routine's." Sakura giggled at the memory. "The last one she tried sent her home with a twisted ankle."
Kero crossed his arms. "Serves her right! She's been nothing but trouble since she got here! Her and her brat cousin!"
Sakura sat up. "Li is not a brat! He saved you and me many times if you care to remember! Especially yesturday with that woman." Sakura shuddered at the memory. "We still don't know who she is."
"I do." Kero mumbled.
Sakura gasped and plucked Kero out of the air. "What do you know!" She demanded.
"The stone on her sword is that of the Ri Lon Clan. They were rivals of Clow Reed during his time." Kero began. "When Clow Reed was practicing his magic, there came a time for the chosen one to be...well....chosen. Everyone thought their family should get the honor of having thier descendants chosen to be the savior. The one chosen to save the world from destruction."
"What do I have to do with all of this, Kero?" Sakura asked.
"I was getting to that! Since the Ri Lon Clan wasn't chosen, they were very upset and vowed that when the time for the chosen one to start his/her quest they would destroy it. They were very powerful. The person you fought yesturday was one of thier descendants."
Sakura opened her mouth in shock. "And after all this time, their carrying out thier ancestors mission! The chosen one is....me?! They're after me!"
Kero nodded. "That's why the girl wanted to get rid of you. She wanted to become the cardcaptor and she thought she could if she got rid of you."
Sakura immediatly picked up the phone and dialed Li's number. "Li has to know about this! Maybe he knows more!"
After a couple rings someone picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Is Li there?" Sakura politely asked.
"This is he. He is this?" He replied.
"Li! It's Sakura. I found out some stiff about the woman from yesturday." Sakura proceeded to tell him what Kero had told her.
"The Ri Lon Clan? I've heard of them. Their the Li Clan rivals as well. The woman we fought couldn't have been one of the stronger ones." He said.
"Stronger ones?" Sakura asked in disbelief.
"Yes. There are three levels of magic. The woman we fought, having a red stone in her sword meant she was third class. The least strongest. There is also a blue stone, representing the second class, and a yellow representing the strongest, or first class." Li explained.
A thought came to Sakura. "Li what if their are others out there? The other levels? Will we have to face them all?" She asked.
Li sighed. "I don't know, but I'll look in my books and try to find something out."
"Okay thanks. By the way, how's Meilin?" Sakura asked.
"She's fine, if she would just stop whining about it." Li said. "She won't be able to go to school tomorrow though."
Sakura suppressed a laugh. She didn't want to sound mean. "Send her my best wishes okay?"
"I will. Are you okay though? How's your head?" Li asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
Sakura slightly blushed. "I'm fine. I just got a little cuncussion. You? That head butt had to have hurt."
Now it was Li's turn to blush. "Well, like my mother always said. I have a thick skull. I'm fine thanks."
"Dont' mention it. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Sakura said.
"Yeah bye." Li hung up. Then Sakura.
The next day Sakura walked into class with Madison. Li walked in a little later.
"Find anything?" Sakura asked.
Li nodded. "It says that there's two third class. Two second class. And one first class. Assuming that we defeated one of the third class, I say we still have four to go."
Sakura shuddered. "And they're all after me." She asid.
Madison put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Dont' worry Sakura. You'll be fine."
Li took his seat behind Sakura. 'Don't worry Sakura. I won't let anything happen to you.' He thought.
Sakura sat down and stared at her math test. In all the excitement, she'd forgotten to study. Suddenly, a wave of powerful magic swept over her. She gasped in surprised. Her body was instantly filled with pain. Sakura gritted her teeth against the pain. She held her head in both hands.
Behind her Li stiffened and felt his head get dizzy. He shook his head to clear it.
The teacher had heard Sakura's gasp and look over her way. Finally the pain ended and Sakura let out a sigh of relief.
"Is something the matter Miss Avalon?" He asked.
Sakura looked up to see al the students and teacher staring at her. "No, no. Nothing's the matter. It's just this test.....it's so hard. Kinda over welming."
The teacher raised an eyebrow in suspision, but left the matter at that.
From behind her came a note. It read: 'I felt it too. Meet me at the usual spot at lunch.'
At lunch, Li met Sakura behind school, where they always met to discuss things they couldn't infront of thier friends. Mainly Clow Card related things.
Sakura approached Li. "What the heck was that! It felt like my head was being torn apart!"
Li shook his head. "I don't know, but I felt it too, not as strong though." Sakura frowned in thought. 'She's so cute when she does that.' Li thought. "Why don't we try and figure it out tonight?"
Sakura nodded her agreement. "I'm sure Kero felt it too. Maybe he can tell us where the epicenter is."
Now it was Li's turn to frown. "Epicenter?"
Sakura nodded. "Like in an earthquake, you can tell where the center is. We need to find the source of this power wave."
Li nodded. "I have a feeling it's from our new enemy."
"Speak for yourself. They're not after you." Sakura said crossing her arms.
"Think again. If they want a peice of you, their gonna have to get through me first." 'Why the heck did I just say that?!' Li thought.
Sakura's eyes went wide. "You mean it?" She asked.
'Great going Li! Why don't you just tell her you love her!' Li stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. "Yeah."
Sakura ran to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you!"
Li was blushing madly. "Uh...uh..for what?"
Sakura looked up. "For being my friend and always protecting me."
Li ran a hand through his hair. "Uh....no problem."
Sakura smiled and started away. "See you tonight."
Li smiled as she walked away. "Yeah tonight."
As soon as Sakura got home, she immediatly went to her room to see Kero. When she walked in, he started talking.
"I know you felt it. What the heck was it?!" He asked her.
Sakura closed the door and shrugged. "I don't know, but Li felt it too." She sat down on her bed. "It felt like my head was going to explode. Li said he didn't feel it as hard."
Kero flew up to her. "Of course he wouldn't. You have more power so your more sensitive than he is."
Sakura blushed, then frowned. "But what was it, Kero?" She asked.
Kero thought for a moment. "I think our new enemies are trying to make contact with us."
Sakura nodded her agreement. "Li and I are meeting tonight. But first, I have homework to do."
Sakura got out her notebook and started on her homework.
Li went to the park at about eight o'clock. Sakura got there a little later. She had Kero flying over her shoulder.
Li crossed his arms as she approached. "About time you got here." He said.
Sakura smiled. "Nice to see you too Li." He blushed and smiled back.
"Okay enough with the introductions!" Kero interupted. "We have to find where that kind of magic originated."
Sakura nodded. "And soon." Then suddenly Sakura felt pain in her head again. She grabbed it and screamed in pain as the pressure increased in her head.
"Sakura? Are you okay?" Kero asked.
Sakura couldn't respond. She fell to her knees and shut her eyes. Next to her, Li came up and put to hands on her to steady her. "Why aren't I feeling anything!" He demanded.
"Because they're not after you!" Kero responded.
The pain continued until Sakura collapsed into Li's arms. Li frantically tried to wake her. It was five minutes before she came to again. "What happened?" She asked.
"Our friend sent another post card. This time express." He replied helping her up.
"Well, even more reason to get rid of them now." She said weakly. She started walking towards the south. "It's this way."
"Where do you think you're going? You're still weak." Li said grabbing her arm.
Sakura pulled her arm free and glared at him. "I'm fine! This just proves how powerful they are and it emphasizes the urgency that I have to take care of them!"
"I'm coming with you." Li said.
Sakura's expression soften. "I know." Then she started walking again, this time Li right behind her.
Sakura walked and followed her sense till they came upon a house. It looked old, but she never remembered passing it before. She opened her self up and found the power was originated from inside the house.
She turned to Li behind her. "It's inside......whatever it is." She turned back towards the house and started towards the door.
Kero flew above her head. "This is definatly stong magic."
Li didn't like the sense he was getting and took out his sword. 'Something doesn't seem right.' He thought.
Sakura opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked, and entered the house. Once the three were inside, the door abruptly slammed shut behind them.
Li ran to it and tried to open it, only to find it was locked.
"Forget about that!" Sakura whispered. "We have to keep going. We'll worry about that later." She kept walking.
Li kicked the door one more time and followed Sakura. Sakura stopped and opened her self up again. She tried to get a fix on where they needed to go.
Li was watching behind them and accidently ran into Sakura. He turned to say sorry, but a trap door opened underneath them and they started to fall. Sakura fell, but Li caught the end of the opening in the floor.
"Sakura!" He cried as he reached out to her. He missed her hand and she kept falling into the black pit below.
Kero started to dive after her, but Li caught him by the wing. "It won't do any good if both of you get lost." He said.
Kero turned aroung and bit Li's finger. He yelped in pain and let Kero go. Li growled at the little animal and pulled himself back up.
Kero searched frantically in the dark for Sakura. "Sakura!" He called out. "Sakura!" No response.
Li got up. "I knew this place was no good." He turned to Kero. "Are you gonna help me find her or not?" He asked. Without waiting for an answer he started deeper into the house.
Kero tried one last call and turned to follow Li into the house.
'Don't worry Sakura. I'll find you.' Li promised to himself.
Sakura woke up and found herself in a lush forest. 'How'd I get here?' She thought. 'And where's Li?' She walked around and looked at all the beautiful flowers. They varied in color. Dozens of them, covering the whole color spectrum from red to yellow to a dark purple.
"How beautiful." She said to herself. She walked until she got to a patch of open grass. Sitting in the middle was a large yellow flower. Different from the ones she'd seen before. She carefully looked around before approaching the extravigant flora.
She was no more than five feet away when the blossom began to move. She stopped. The petal's tips touched and twisted to form a spiral. Suddenly they opened up fast and shot something at Sakura.
Sakura tried to dodge, but it was too fast. Sakura felt something hit her neck before falling to the ground. Her body felt like it was starting to shut down, in a way. She slowly reached up and pulled three barbs from her neck.
Then everything went black.
Out of some nearby bushes came a woman. She had golden yellow hair flowing down her back. Purple robes weaved around her body. On her back was a black sword with a blue stone. She approached the fallen figure and smiled. "You fell into my trap, Clow Card Mistress. Now I will put an end to you."
Li searched around the lower levels of the house in search of Sakura. Kero was above him calling out her name. "Great Kero." He said. (Actually using his name!) "Why not announce that we're here!"
Kero growled at the boy. "The people who stole Sakura obviously know we're here! There;s no need to hide it!" He retorted.
Li ignored him and continued his search. He was following his sense of where she was. At first it was muffled, obscured. But now he was getting a sense from above him.
"She's up stairs. Let's go." He moved towards the staircase. He started walking up, but he got to the middle he noticed something strange. Even though he kept walking, he never got any closer to the top.
"Strange." He thought outloud. He continued to walk, but stil got no closer. Then he started to run. "What is this!? Somekind of play house!" he yelled out to no one imperticular.
Li stopped and Kero started laughing. "Great going chinese brat." He said between laughs.
Li snarled at Kero, but then an idea came to him. He took a step forward, but this time did a double flip in the air, landing on the top of the staircase. He turned to Kero and smiled. "Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.
Kero growled and flew past him. Li followed, resuming thier search. They checked all the rooms, until they came to the last one at the end of the hallway.
Li carefully opened it and saw what he least expected to find. The door opened ro reveal a large.....church? Yep, Li walked down the isle and found each side to be littered with pues. The walls were mostly made of glass and the sun shone through.
Li surveryed the church, but found nothing. Until he reached the front. When he got to the front alter, he found a body lying on a table. As if it were.....a sacrifice.
Kero immediatly flew over. "Sakura!" He cried.
'Sakura?' Li thought as he followed Kero over. Li's blood turned cold when he saw her face.
She was a ghostly white and her neck had three holes in it. She made no movement at thier approach. It was as if she were....
"Sakura?" Li asked softly. 'Gods, let her be okay.' He though. "Sakura?" He asked again.
Kero flew over and examined her neck. "She's been poisoned." He concluded.
"Poisoned? By who?" Li asked.
"By me!" A voice said from behind.
Li whipped his head around and saw the woman with the golden hair, and the deep purple dress. "Who are you!" He demanded holding his sword in a defensive postion.
"I am Ivy. One of the four Ri Lon Sisters." She replied. Her voice was drenched with pride. "And you're her bodyguard. Am I right little wolf?" She taunted.
Li ignored it. "What have you done to Sakura!" He demanded.
The woman laughed. "She has been poisoned by one of my magic barbs. And the only way you'll treat her is with the antitdote." She held up a vile. "And I'll die before you get it!" She said. Then she replaced the bottle back inside her robes.
"That can be arranged. Now, hand it over witch!" He said.
She motioned him forward. "You'll have to fight me to get it." She started back down the isle. Li turned to Kero. "Watch Sakura for me." He said.
"What about you?" Kero asked then quickly covered up. "Not like I care or anything."
"I'm going to get that vile." He replied and started after the woman. She laughed and raised her hands. Suddenly the world around Li was pitch black, but Li was still conscious.
He heard laughing all around him. Her laughing. He turned around trying to find her but couldn't see anything.
"You can't hide from me!" He said.
She laughed some more. "I don't need to little wolf, I only need to wait for my poison to make you're little Cherry blossom wither away."
Li growled and took out his lasenboard. "Source of light with ancient spin. Send forth the magic power within. Force know my plight, release the light!!!" The board lit up and shot towards the left.
Li smiled and followed the light, until he came to the end. The light just stopped. "Huh?" He said.
Suddenly, a foot struck out and hit Li in the chest. He was thrown back and the lasenboard flew from his hand. He landed with a thud and saw stars in front of his face.
Ivy walked up to him and kicked him in the ribs. He rolled over in pain and she laughed. "You're all that stands in my way of fofilling my ancestors revenge." She kicked him again. "And I don't intend to let you stop me!!"
She pulled her foot back for another kick, but Li caught it with his hands. A look of surprise came to herface. "Sorry. Revenge isn't on the schedule!" He twisted her foor and she went spiraling to the floor. He slowly got up and with his right hand pulled his sword, while his left hand hugged his, now broken, ribs.
She looked up and snarled at him He smiled. "Guess your ancestors forgot to get a reservation."
Ivy got very mad and formed an energy ball in her hand. It flew forward, right at Li. Li couldn't move fast enough, so he deflected the shot to the side with his sword.
"Force know my plight! Release the light! Lightning!!" He said and fired his lightning attack at Ivy.
She formed a wall of fire in front of her and the blast was deflected. She got up, still maintaining the shield. "You forget, little one, you're in my world now." She said.
All of a sudden, the seemingly solid ground beneath Li disappeared and Li started to fall. He looked down to see that he was now very high in the sky, but falling fast.
'This can't be real!' He thought. "This can't be real!!!" He yelled as he fell. Then just as abrubtly he was back in the church.
He turned to see Ivy behind him. She threw her hand forward and out came an ivy vine. It wrapped around Li and sqeezed.
Li cried out in pain as his broken ribs were mangled about. He moved his sword from his side and tried to cut the vines, but the vines tightened thier hold on him. Li dropped his sword. It fell with a CLANK on the floor.
Ivy smiled. "I will squeeze the life out of you slowly."
"I...don't ..think....so....witch" He said in bewteen wheezes. "Lightning!!!!" He called and from his body came electricity. It flowed in all directions and cooked the vines, until they broke.
Li fell to the ground and landed on his side, injuring his more. His burst had struck Ivy as well, sending her to the floor. Li crawled to his sword and used it to heave himself up.
He walked over to Ivy and raised the sword.
WARNING!!!! ANYONE WITH A WEAK STOMACH DO NOT READ THE NEXT PART!
He sliced down, left and right, across her body. She screamed in pain collasped in a heap of blood and entrails. (Sorry, had to)
Li bent down and dug through it all and found the vile. He turned and saw Kero still watching over Sakura. Kero turned to see Li appraoching. He flew over and Li handed him the vile, as Li leaned against the wall for support.
Kero gave the antidote to Sakura, and for a few moments, both Kero and Li held their breath. Sakura quietly moaned and her eyes fluttered open.
She saw Kero smiled happily down at her. "Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked.
She smiled. "Fine. thank you." She frowned. "Where's Li?"
Li cleared his throat and started to approach. He tried to walk as straight as he could and bit back against the pain. But Sakura saw right though it.
She bolted up and ran forward, just in time to catch Li collapse. He slowly opened his eyes and saw two beautiful eyes staring at him with worry.
"I'm glad you're okay." He said weakly.
"Thanks to you." She smiled and he fell into a quiet unconsciousness.
She turned to Kero. "Go find something we can use to bandage his ribs with." She asked. Kero nodded and flew off. Leaving a sleeping Li in Sakura's arms.
She bent down and kissed him on the lips, knowing he wouldn't know. "I love you so much, why can't I tell you?" She asked.
Little did she know that Li was in and out of consciousness and felt the kiss. 'Was I dreaming?' Then he felt the pain in his ribs. 'Guess not. But then what was that Sakura just did? Did she mean it? Oh, Sakura. I'll tell you the truth soon. I tell you what I feel.' Li went back into unconsciousness.
Sakura walked into her room, ploped her backpack down next to the door, and threw herself onto her bed. The bed's sudden lurch woke up one familiar little guardian beast. "Hey! Watch it!" He exclaimed.
Sakura looked up to see a pair of very angry eyes. "Oh, sorry Kero. I forgot you were there." She said as she layed her head down on the pillow.
"Forgot! Oh fine then!" Kero replied.
Sakura turned on her back and stared up at the ceiling. "I'm just tired from today. Meilin wouldn't leave me alone after we told her about what her clone did. She went on and on about how she could be better then that. She then first forced us to listen to her try and play her recorder, then she tried some really hard gymnastics routine's." Sakura giggled at the memory. "The last one she tried sent her home with a twisted ankle."
Kero crossed his arms. "Serves her right! She's been nothing but trouble since she got here! Her and her brat cousin!"
Sakura sat up. "Li is not a brat! He saved you and me many times if you care to remember! Especially yesturday with that woman." Sakura shuddered at the memory. "We still don't know who she is."
"I do." Kero mumbled.
Sakura gasped and plucked Kero out of the air. "What do you know!" She demanded.
"The stone on her sword is that of the Ri Lon Clan. They were rivals of Clow Reed during his time." Kero began. "When Clow Reed was practicing his magic, there came a time for the chosen one to be...well....chosen. Everyone thought their family should get the honor of having thier descendants chosen to be the savior. The one chosen to save the world from destruction."
"What do I have to do with all of this, Kero?" Sakura asked.
"I was getting to that! Since the Ri Lon Clan wasn't chosen, they were very upset and vowed that when the time for the chosen one to start his/her quest they would destroy it. They were very powerful. The person you fought yesturday was one of thier descendants."
Sakura opened her mouth in shock. "And after all this time, their carrying out thier ancestors mission! The chosen one is....me?! They're after me!"
Kero nodded. "That's why the girl wanted to get rid of you. She wanted to become the cardcaptor and she thought she could if she got rid of you."
Sakura immediatly picked up the phone and dialed Li's number. "Li has to know about this! Maybe he knows more!"
After a couple rings someone picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"Is Li there?" Sakura politely asked.
"This is he. He is this?" He replied.
"Li! It's Sakura. I found out some stiff about the woman from yesturday." Sakura proceeded to tell him what Kero had told her.
"The Ri Lon Clan? I've heard of them. Their the Li Clan rivals as well. The woman we fought couldn't have been one of the stronger ones." He said.
"Stronger ones?" Sakura asked in disbelief.
"Yes. There are three levels of magic. The woman we fought, having a red stone in her sword meant she was third class. The least strongest. There is also a blue stone, representing the second class, and a yellow representing the strongest, or first class." Li explained.
A thought came to Sakura. "Li what if their are others out there? The other levels? Will we have to face them all?" She asked.
Li sighed. "I don't know, but I'll look in my books and try to find something out."
"Okay thanks. By the way, how's Meilin?" Sakura asked.
"She's fine, if she would just stop whining about it." Li said. "She won't be able to go to school tomorrow though."
Sakura suppressed a laugh. She didn't want to sound mean. "Send her my best wishes okay?"
"I will. Are you okay though? How's your head?" Li asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
Sakura slightly blushed. "I'm fine. I just got a little cuncussion. You? That head butt had to have hurt."
Now it was Li's turn to blush. "Well, like my mother always said. I have a thick skull. I'm fine thanks."
"Dont' mention it. Well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Sakura said.
"Yeah bye." Li hung up. Then Sakura.
The next day Sakura walked into class with Madison. Li walked in a little later.
"Find anything?" Sakura asked.
Li nodded. "It says that there's two third class. Two second class. And one first class. Assuming that we defeated one of the third class, I say we still have four to go."
Sakura shuddered. "And they're all after me." She asid.
Madison put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Dont' worry Sakura. You'll be fine."
Li took his seat behind Sakura. 'Don't worry Sakura. I won't let anything happen to you.' He thought.
Sakura sat down and stared at her math test. In all the excitement, she'd forgotten to study. Suddenly, a wave of powerful magic swept over her. She gasped in surprised. Her body was instantly filled with pain. Sakura gritted her teeth against the pain. She held her head in both hands.
Behind her Li stiffened and felt his head get dizzy. He shook his head to clear it.
The teacher had heard Sakura's gasp and look over her way. Finally the pain ended and Sakura let out a sigh of relief.
"Is something the matter Miss Avalon?" He asked.
Sakura looked up to see al the students and teacher staring at her. "No, no. Nothing's the matter. It's just this test.....it's so hard. Kinda over welming."
The teacher raised an eyebrow in suspision, but left the matter at that.
From behind her came a note. It read: 'I felt it too. Meet me at the usual spot at lunch.'
At lunch, Li met Sakura behind school, where they always met to discuss things they couldn't infront of thier friends. Mainly Clow Card related things.
Sakura approached Li. "What the heck was that! It felt like my head was being torn apart!"
Li shook his head. "I don't know, but I felt it too, not as strong though." Sakura frowned in thought. 'She's so cute when she does that.' Li thought. "Why don't we try and figure it out tonight?"
Sakura nodded her agreement. "I'm sure Kero felt it too. Maybe he can tell us where the epicenter is."
Now it was Li's turn to frown. "Epicenter?"
Sakura nodded. "Like in an earthquake, you can tell where the center is. We need to find the source of this power wave."
Li nodded. "I have a feeling it's from our new enemy."
"Speak for yourself. They're not after you." Sakura said crossing her arms.
"Think again. If they want a peice of you, their gonna have to get through me first." 'Why the heck did I just say that?!' Li thought.
Sakura's eyes went wide. "You mean it?" She asked.
'Great going Li! Why don't you just tell her you love her!' Li stuck his hands in his pockets and stared at the ground. "Yeah."
Sakura ran to him and gave him a hug. "Thank you!"
Li was blushing madly. "Uh...uh..for what?"
Sakura looked up. "For being my friend and always protecting me."
Li ran a hand through his hair. "Uh....no problem."
Sakura smiled and started away. "See you tonight."
Li smiled as she walked away. "Yeah tonight."
As soon as Sakura got home, she immediatly went to her room to see Kero. When she walked in, he started talking.
"I know you felt it. What the heck was it?!" He asked her.
Sakura closed the door and shrugged. "I don't know, but Li felt it too." She sat down on her bed. "It felt like my head was going to explode. Li said he didn't feel it as hard."
Kero flew up to her. "Of course he wouldn't. You have more power so your more sensitive than he is."
Sakura blushed, then frowned. "But what was it, Kero?" She asked.
Kero thought for a moment. "I think our new enemies are trying to make contact with us."
Sakura nodded her agreement. "Li and I are meeting tonight. But first, I have homework to do."
Sakura got out her notebook and started on her homework.
Li went to the park at about eight o'clock. Sakura got there a little later. She had Kero flying over her shoulder.
Li crossed his arms as she approached. "About time you got here." He said.
Sakura smiled. "Nice to see you too Li." He blushed and smiled back.
"Okay enough with the introductions!" Kero interupted. "We have to find where that kind of magic originated."
Sakura nodded. "And soon." Then suddenly Sakura felt pain in her head again. She grabbed it and screamed in pain as the pressure increased in her head.
"Sakura? Are you okay?" Kero asked.
Sakura couldn't respond. She fell to her knees and shut her eyes. Next to her, Li came up and put to hands on her to steady her. "Why aren't I feeling anything!" He demanded.
"Because they're not after you!" Kero responded.
The pain continued until Sakura collapsed into Li's arms. Li frantically tried to wake her. It was five minutes before she came to again. "What happened?" She asked.
"Our friend sent another post card. This time express." He replied helping her up.
"Well, even more reason to get rid of them now." She said weakly. She started walking towards the south. "It's this way."
"Where do you think you're going? You're still weak." Li said grabbing her arm.
Sakura pulled her arm free and glared at him. "I'm fine! This just proves how powerful they are and it emphasizes the urgency that I have to take care of them!"
"I'm coming with you." Li said.
Sakura's expression soften. "I know." Then she started walking again, this time Li right behind her.
Sakura walked and followed her sense till they came upon a house. It looked old, but she never remembered passing it before. She opened her self up and found the power was originated from inside the house.
She turned to Li behind her. "It's inside......whatever it is." She turned back towards the house and started towards the door.
Kero flew above her head. "This is definatly stong magic."
Li didn't like the sense he was getting and took out his sword. 'Something doesn't seem right.' He thought.
Sakura opened the door, which was surprisingly unlocked, and entered the house. Once the three were inside, the door abruptly slammed shut behind them.
Li ran to it and tried to open it, only to find it was locked.
"Forget about that!" Sakura whispered. "We have to keep going. We'll worry about that later." She kept walking.
Li kicked the door one more time and followed Sakura. Sakura stopped and opened her self up again. She tried to get a fix on where they needed to go.
Li was watching behind them and accidently ran into Sakura. He turned to say sorry, but a trap door opened underneath them and they started to fall. Sakura fell, but Li caught the end of the opening in the floor.
"Sakura!" He cried as he reached out to her. He missed her hand and she kept falling into the black pit below.
Kero started to dive after her, but Li caught him by the wing. "It won't do any good if both of you get lost." He said.
Kero turned aroung and bit Li's finger. He yelped in pain and let Kero go. Li growled at the little animal and pulled himself back up.
Kero searched frantically in the dark for Sakura. "Sakura!" He called out. "Sakura!" No response.
Li got up. "I knew this place was no good." He turned to Kero. "Are you gonna help me find her or not?" He asked. Without waiting for an answer he started deeper into the house.
Kero tried one last call and turned to follow Li into the house.
'Don't worry Sakura. I'll find you.' Li promised to himself.
Sakura woke up and found herself in a lush forest. 'How'd I get here?' She thought. 'And where's Li?' She walked around and looked at all the beautiful flowers. They varied in color. Dozens of them, covering the whole color spectrum from red to yellow to a dark purple.
"How beautiful." She said to herself. She walked until she got to a patch of open grass. Sitting in the middle was a large yellow flower. Different from the ones she'd seen before. She carefully looked around before approaching the extravigant flora.
She was no more than five feet away when the blossom began to move. She stopped. The petal's tips touched and twisted to form a spiral. Suddenly they opened up fast and shot something at Sakura.
Sakura tried to dodge, but it was too fast. Sakura felt something hit her neck before falling to the ground. Her body felt like it was starting to shut down, in a way. She slowly reached up and pulled three barbs from her neck.
Then everything went black.
Out of some nearby bushes came a woman. She had golden yellow hair flowing down her back. Purple robes weaved around her body. On her back was a black sword with a blue stone. She approached the fallen figure and smiled. "You fell into my trap, Clow Card Mistress. Now I will put an end to you."
Li searched around the lower levels of the house in search of Sakura. Kero was above him calling out her name. "Great Kero." He said. (Actually using his name!) "Why not announce that we're here!"
Kero growled at the boy. "The people who stole Sakura obviously know we're here! There;s no need to hide it!" He retorted.
Li ignored him and continued his search. He was following his sense of where she was. At first it was muffled, obscured. But now he was getting a sense from above him.
"She's up stairs. Let's go." He moved towards the staircase. He started walking up, but he got to the middle he noticed something strange. Even though he kept walking, he never got any closer to the top.
"Strange." He thought outloud. He continued to walk, but stil got no closer. Then he started to run. "What is this!? Somekind of play house!" he yelled out to no one imperticular.
Li stopped and Kero started laughing. "Great going chinese brat." He said between laughs.
Li snarled at Kero, but then an idea came to him. He took a step forward, but this time did a double flip in the air, landing on the top of the staircase. He turned to Kero and smiled. "Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment.
Kero growled and flew past him. Li followed, resuming thier search. They checked all the rooms, until they came to the last one at the end of the hallway.
Li carefully opened it and saw what he least expected to find. The door opened ro reveal a large.....church? Yep, Li walked down the isle and found each side to be littered with pues. The walls were mostly made of glass and the sun shone through.
Li surveryed the church, but found nothing. Until he reached the front. When he got to the front alter, he found a body lying on a table. As if it were.....a sacrifice.
Kero immediatly flew over. "Sakura!" He cried.
'Sakura?' Li thought as he followed Kero over. Li's blood turned cold when he saw her face.
She was a ghostly white and her neck had three holes in it. She made no movement at thier approach. It was as if she were....
"Sakura?" Li asked softly. 'Gods, let her be okay.' He though. "Sakura?" He asked again.
Kero flew over and examined her neck. "She's been poisoned." He concluded.
"Poisoned? By who?" Li asked.
"By me!" A voice said from behind.
Li whipped his head around and saw the woman with the golden hair, and the deep purple dress. "Who are you!" He demanded holding his sword in a defensive postion.
"I am Ivy. One of the four Ri Lon Sisters." She replied. Her voice was drenched with pride. "And you're her bodyguard. Am I right little wolf?" She taunted.
Li ignored it. "What have you done to Sakura!" He demanded.
The woman laughed. "She has been poisoned by one of my magic barbs. And the only way you'll treat her is with the antitdote." She held up a vile. "And I'll die before you get it!" She said. Then she replaced the bottle back inside her robes.
"That can be arranged. Now, hand it over witch!" He said.
She motioned him forward. "You'll have to fight me to get it." She started back down the isle. Li turned to Kero. "Watch Sakura for me." He said.
"What about you?" Kero asked then quickly covered up. "Not like I care or anything."
"I'm going to get that vile." He replied and started after the woman. She laughed and raised her hands. Suddenly the world around Li was pitch black, but Li was still conscious.
He heard laughing all around him. Her laughing. He turned around trying to find her but couldn't see anything.
"You can't hide from me!" He said.
She laughed some more. "I don't need to little wolf, I only need to wait for my poison to make you're little Cherry blossom wither away."
Li growled and took out his lasenboard. "Source of light with ancient spin. Send forth the magic power within. Force know my plight, release the light!!!" The board lit up and shot towards the left.
Li smiled and followed the light, until he came to the end. The light just stopped. "Huh?" He said.
Suddenly, a foot struck out and hit Li in the chest. He was thrown back and the lasenboard flew from his hand. He landed with a thud and saw stars in front of his face.
Ivy walked up to him and kicked him in the ribs. He rolled over in pain and she laughed. "You're all that stands in my way of fofilling my ancestors revenge." She kicked him again. "And I don't intend to let you stop me!!"
She pulled her foot back for another kick, but Li caught it with his hands. A look of surprise came to herface. "Sorry. Revenge isn't on the schedule!" He twisted her foor and she went spiraling to the floor. He slowly got up and with his right hand pulled his sword, while his left hand hugged his, now broken, ribs.
She looked up and snarled at him He smiled. "Guess your ancestors forgot to get a reservation."
Ivy got very mad and formed an energy ball in her hand. It flew forward, right at Li. Li couldn't move fast enough, so he deflected the shot to the side with his sword.
"Force know my plight! Release the light! Lightning!!" He said and fired his lightning attack at Ivy.
She formed a wall of fire in front of her and the blast was deflected. She got up, still maintaining the shield. "You forget, little one, you're in my world now." She said.
All of a sudden, the seemingly solid ground beneath Li disappeared and Li started to fall. He looked down to see that he was now very high in the sky, but falling fast.
'This can't be real!' He thought. "This can't be real!!!" He yelled as he fell. Then just as abrubtly he was back in the church.
He turned to see Ivy behind him. She threw her hand forward and out came an ivy vine. It wrapped around Li and sqeezed.
Li cried out in pain as his broken ribs were mangled about. He moved his sword from his side and tried to cut the vines, but the vines tightened thier hold on him. Li dropped his sword. It fell with a CLANK on the floor.
Ivy smiled. "I will squeeze the life out of you slowly."
"I...don't ..think....so....witch" He said in bewteen wheezes. "Lightning!!!!" He called and from his body came electricity. It flowed in all directions and cooked the vines, until they broke.
Li fell to the ground and landed on his side, injuring his more. His burst had struck Ivy as well, sending her to the floor. Li crawled to his sword and used it to heave himself up.
He walked over to Ivy and raised the sword.
WARNING!!!! ANYONE WITH A WEAK STOMACH DO NOT READ THE NEXT PART!
He sliced down, left and right, across her body. She screamed in pain collasped in a heap of blood and entrails. (Sorry, had to)
Li bent down and dug through it all and found the vile. He turned and saw Kero still watching over Sakura. Kero turned to see Li appraoching. He flew over and Li handed him the vile, as Li leaned against the wall for support.
Kero gave the antidote to Sakura, and for a few moments, both Kero and Li held their breath. Sakura quietly moaned and her eyes fluttered open.
She saw Kero smiled happily down at her. "Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked.
She smiled. "Fine. thank you." She frowned. "Where's Li?"
Li cleared his throat and started to approach. He tried to walk as straight as he could and bit back against the pain. But Sakura saw right though it.
She bolted up and ran forward, just in time to catch Li collapse. He slowly opened his eyes and saw two beautiful eyes staring at him with worry.
"I'm glad you're okay." He said weakly.
"Thanks to you." She smiled and he fell into a quiet unconsciousness.
She turned to Kero. "Go find something we can use to bandage his ribs with." She asked. Kero nodded and flew off. Leaving a sleeping Li in Sakura's arms.
She bent down and kissed him on the lips, knowing he wouldn't know. "I love you so much, why can't I tell you?" She asked.
Little did she know that Li was in and out of consciousness and felt the kiss. 'Was I dreaming?' Then he felt the pain in his ribs. 'Guess not. But then what was that Sakura just did? Did she mean it? Oh, Sakura. I'll tell you the truth soon. I tell you what I feel.' Li went back into unconsciousness.