Author's Note: That's right. The next American Card is in the nation's capital of Washington D.C. But which card could get into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?


Cards captured so far: Vision, Heat, Vine, and Bell


CCS: The American Cards: Part 7


Five minutes. It had been five minutes since Sakura got into her hotel room in Washington D.C., and already she plopped down onto her hotel bed. She groaned in frustration. This was probably going to be her hardest task to date. At least Madison was there to listen to her.

"Something troubling you, Sakura?" Madison asked.

Sakura nodded. "The White House, Madison. I still don't know how I'm going to pull this off. Do you have any idea how tight security is over there?"

"Actually, I don't," Kero suddenly piped up. "It's nothing harder than anything we've faced before, is it?"

"Yes, it is," Sakura responded. "Haven't you ever heard of the Secret Service?"

"The Secret Service protects the White House and the President of the United States," Madison added. "And they do it by any means necessary. Even if it means…killing."

"Wait a minute," Sakura corrected. "I thought it was that other organization that kills anybody. What's it called?"

"You probably mean the CIA," Madison guessed. "Our World History class describes certain incidents where some world figures have been found dead. Nobody's proven who killed them, but CIA is always suspected. But they wouldn't be around the White House, would they?"

"I hope not," Sakura moaned. "Why did an American Card have to hide out in the White House? I could end up getting killed."

"Calm down, Sakura," Kero said. "I'll admit, from what you're telling me, this definitely won't be easy, but you can do it. What do you have planned so far?"

Silence.

"Sakura…you DO have a plan, don't you?"

Sakura hung her head down. "I don't. I have no idea how I'm going about this."

Kero floated above the bed and thought about this. "You obviously can't break in at night. Secret Service would shoot you on sight."

Sakura cringed at that thought. Her last few American Cards, she would wait until late night to strike. But if she did that this time, then they'd kill her. She had to find another way.

"We can always go on the White House tour," Madison suggested. "The trouble with that is, if we're caught in the wrong place, we could get arrested."

"Being foreigners doesn't help things, either," Kero added. "Imagine if Secret Service caught a Japanese girl snooping around the White House. Don't you think they'd get some ideas?"

Sakura gulped. "We'd cause an international incident. What would my family think of that? My dad doesn't even know I'm here."

"Then you're going to have to pinpoint the card's exact location beforehand," Kero told her. "You're either going to have to use the Lasin Board or the Vision Card. You can't slip up, Sakura. If you do, then I don't even want to think of what'll happen."

Sakura thought about it. If she got caught, she'd likely be arrested and deported. Aside from the obvious grounding she'd be in when she got back, there would be no way for her to seal the rest of the American Cards. She had to get this right the first time around.

They all got there early. Luckily, Madison found out about the self-guided tours available early Saturday. So Sakura went looking through the White House at her own pace.

"We're lucky we came this early," Madison pointed out.

"Why's that?" Sakura asked.

"All tours have been cancelled for next week," Madison answered. "They're canceling all tours until they inaugurate the next President of the United States."

"You mean that election's finally over?" Meilin asked.

"I guess so," Li guessed. "Looks like they finally decided on one."

Sakura couldn't understand how a presidential election could get out of hand, but it didn't matter to her at that moment. She just wanted to find that card. So she went to the next part of their tour, the Blue Room. Just as the other rooms, it was empty with the exception of one Secret Service agent.

"Are we the only ones here?" Meilin finally asked.

"Must…not be a popular place today," Li tried answering. "Why IS the White House so empty today?"

"Even Pennsylvania Avenue was empty," Madison added. "And wasn't our hotel pretty lifeless, too?"

"Getting some ideas, Sakura?" Kero asked from under Sakura's Santa hat.

"Will you hush?" Sakura snapped. "What if they hear you?"

"Who?" Kero shot back. "Sleeping Beauty over there?"

Sakura looked over at the door and saw that the Secret Service agent had fallen asleep. Not only that, but he was snoring loudly.

"That's weird," Sakura finally said. "Why would he just fall asleep like that? Madison? …Madison?"

Sakura turned around to see that Madison and Meilin had also fallen asleep. Then she began to sense something. This was the work of an American Card. Her suspicions were confirmed when she thought about the fact that everyone had fallen asleep except her and Li.

"It's here somewhere," Sakura said. "Li, use the Lasin Board."

Li took out the Lasin Board. "Force, know my plight! Release the light!"

The Lasin Board pointed outside the Blue Room. Sakura and Li ran out of the Blue Room and saw that everyone behind that door had also fallen asleep. Sakura and Li spent several minutes looking through the White House, following the light of the Lasin Board. Then the light pointed to a big set of double doors that were heavily guarded...by sleeping Secret Service agents.

"What do you suppose is back there?" Li asked.

"Only one way to find out," Kero answered.

Sakura took a deep breath and went through the door. Then she gasped when she realized where she was.

"It's…the Oval Office."

Somehow, they had stumbled on the big room where the President of the United States conducted his business. It was a good thing everyone was asleep. If not, it could have been a bad situation.

Sakura then cautiously approached the big chair behind the wooden desk. The chair was facing away from her. When she reached for the chair to turn it around, she expected to see a sleeping President. Instead, when she turned it around, she found a huge anteater. It got up from its chair and stood on two legs. This had to be what Sakura was looking for.

"It's you isn't it?" Sakura demanded. "You're…the Sleep Card!" Sakura reached for her key. "Key of Clow. Power of Magic. Power of Light. Surrender the wand. The force ignite. Release!" Sakura was ready to strike, but Li held her back.

"You can't do anything here, Sakura," he pointed out. "What if we break something?"

Of course, the Sleep Card made it too late to prevent that. It jumped through the window, which spanned from the floor to the ceiling and led to the big White House garden. Sakura and Li gave chase, but the Sleep Card was pulling away fast. Things were turning bad. Since he had to pass himself off as a tourist, Li couldn't take his sword with him. So Sakura had to do this herself. She took out the Vine Card.

"Vine Card! Rise from the ground! Release and dispel! Vine Card!"

The ground shook and thick vines rose out. The vines wrapped themselves around the Sleep Card's legs and knocked it down.

"Good job," Li admitted. "Now seal it!"

Sakura reached back, but the Sleep Card wasn't finished. It waved its hands and started working its magic. It looked like it was going the extra mile to put Sakura and Li to sleep. She knew it couldn't happen. Sakura and Li possessed magic. They couldn't be knocked out.

Then Sakura's eyelids started to get heavy. She couldn't believe it, but it was actually working. She yawned heavily and was ready to fall over.

"Don't fall asleep, Sakura!" Kero shouted. "Stay awake! Uh…use the Bell Card!"

That sounded like a good idea. Sakura had nothing to lose, so she took out the Bell Card.

"Bell Card! Wake us up! Release and dispel! Bell Card!"

The Bell Card came out and rang very loudly in Sakura's ears. Nothing could sleep through this sound. The bells were loud enough to wake the dead. The Sleep Card knew this, too. It started trying to escape from the Vine Card's grip once it saw that its plan had failed. But it couldn't escape. Sakura, now wide-awake, approached the Sleep Card.

"Sleep Card! Return to your power confined! Sleep Card!"

As the Sleep Card was being sealed, Sakura couldn't help but think about what would happen now. Everyone was about to wake up and that meant the Secret Service would find a broken window in the Oval Office…and find Sakura and Li in the garden. As soon as the Sleep Card was sealed, she glanced at Li.

"We have to get out of here!"

"Well, the vines are still here," Li suggested. "Maybe they can give us a lift…but we'll have to be…HEY!!"

It looks like the Vine Card had read Li's mind…or Sakura's mind. The vines rose out of the ground and wrapped themselves around Li and Sakura. It lifted them up and over the White House gate. Sakura and Li were now standing on the Pennsylvania Avenue sidewalk. One good thing came out of this. At least they were out and they didn't have to go through the Oval Office where Secret Service was likely waiting. Sakura felt much better about gently being placed in the midst of the empty Pennsylvania Avenue. But then she thought of something else…

"Uh…Li? What about Madison and Meilin?"

Li seemingly didn't know what to say. "Um…I hope they can figure it out eventually. What should we do while we wait?"

Sakura had an idea. "We'll wait for them under…I don't know…say…the Washington Monument?"

"How will they know to find you there?" Kero suddenly asked. Sakura shot the guardian a glance. Kero sighed. "All right, I can take a hint. I'll let them know. You two just go ahead."

Sakura smiled at the thought of getting some alone time with Li. Holding hands, they walked down Pennsylvania Avenue. Maybe for a few minutes, she could enjoy being out here in the United States…with Li.

It was a long walk to 15th Street, but it gave Li some much-needed alone time with Sakura. It was a nice afternoon Li had under the Washington Monument. For at least an hour, Li got to be alone and romantic with Sakura. They engaged in a long kiss. He wished it could last, but he knew it couldn't. Especially when he felt something land on his head.

"Ugh…it still blows my mind every time I see this."

Li and Sakura parted their kiss. He didn't want it to end, but it looked like it would…for now.

"You have the worst timing, Kero!" Sakura snapped.

Li shook his head. If this was just like all the other times Li and Sakura were alone, then he knew what had to follow. And sure enough, someone else took his arm. It was Meilin.

"I should've known better than to leave you alone," Meilin said. "If only I had stayed awake. Sakura didn't take advantage of you, did she?"

"He didn't do anything he didn't want to," Sakura retorted. "In fact, most of this was his idea."

"It was?" Madison whined. "Sakura…why couldn't you wait? I could've gotten it on tape!"

"Sorry, Madison," Sakura sighed. "But it couldn't wait. I wanted to get closer to my BOYFRIEND!"

"Stop saying that!" Meilin groaned. "He's not your boyfriend! Isn't that right, Li?"

Li didn't say anything. He didn't want to say anything. He knew if he spoke his mind, then the arguments would escalate…even further than they were now. As he watched Sakura and Meilin argue, though, Li realized he had to put an end to this.

And he would. It was finally time for him to tell Meilin to face the truth. He loved Sakura and she couldn't change that. But this wasn't something he could tell her now. Li wanted to tell her in private. He would tell her on the bus.

Of course, as much as he wanted to lash out, Li didn't want to hurt Meilin's feelings. She had been a part of his life for so long. She was even the only person, other than Sakura and Madison, to side with him when he cut ties with his family. But to this day, that still didn't make sense to him.

Li's family was so opposed to his relationship with Sakura. Of all people, that should have appealed to Meilin more than anybody. So why didn't she side with his family?

Maybe he could ask…on the bus.


Any comments? Then mail me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com and don't forget to review below.