Illusions of Love ~ Chapter 1
~On the Wings of an Angel, She carries me....
The cool breeze made the leaves dance in the moonlight as a shadowy figure silently crept through the shadows to the Kinomoto residence. The figured faced the house and looked up towards the second floor. The wind caught the figures long, black cloak and made it dance in unison with the autumn leaves. It spotted the window in the moonlight and silently made it's way over to it. The figure then gracefully made it's way up to the sill.
Silently, the figure slid the window up and crawled in. Being sure not to wake the occupants of the room, the figure in shadow crept over to the desk and opened one of the drawers
Upon opening the drawer the figure found what it was looking for. The Clow.
The figured opened the book, which encased the powerful Sakura Cards and shuffled through the deck. It drew out 25 cards. These were the most powerful cards in the deck. Dark, Light, Earthy, Firey, Watery, Windy, Power, Fight, Shot, Arrow, Sand, Snow, Freeze, Storm, Mist, Thunder, Shadow, Wood, Illusion, Twin, Dream, Change, Create, Mirror, and Sword. It placed the rest of the cards back into the Clow and placed the book back into the drawer, closing the drawer tightly.
The figure then tucked the cards into its cloak. As the figure did, it dropped a card. Hope. The card fluttered to the ground, unnoticed. The figure then jumped out of the window and raced off into the night, the moon high in the dark, starry sky.
The girl and the room stirred restlessly in her sleep. She had no idea what had just happened or what she was in for....
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Beams of sunlight shone through the window lighting up Sakura's bedroom. She squinted against the sunlight and rolled over to face the wall, her intent was to go back to sleep. She hugged her Syaoran bear closer and sighed deeply.
"Sakura..." came a voice and a small, yellow, stuffed animal-like creature tapped her on the shoulder.
"Leave me alone.." She mumbled sleepily and smacked Kero away from her. The poor creature flew across the room before regaining its composure.
A small sweat drop appeared on the back of the beast's head and he clenched his fist irritably.
"Sakura! School!" He yelled as loudly as he possibly could with out drawing any unwanted attention from the rest of her family.
Sakura bolted upright and looked around wildly. "School?! Where?" She asked sleepily. She was in mid-yawn when it hit her. "Hooee!! I'm late!" She cried "Kero-chan! How come you didn't wake me up?! Why didn't my alarm go off?!"
"I did wake you up and your alarm did go off. Move your pillow." Kero quipped sharply. He hovered in the air, arms crossed and watched as Sakura moved her pillow to the side. Instantly a loud beeping noise omitted from the clock. Sakura shut the alarm off and set the clock back on the headboard of her bed. She then frantically raced around her room getting ready for school, hysterically chanting "I'm late!"
"When are you not?" Kero muttered sarcastically.
Sakura was just grabbing her Syaoran bear (honourably dubbed 'Syao-bear' in this fic. Also, both Touya and Kero-chan call Syaoran 'Gaki') when her brother opened her bedroom door. Kero fell to the floor with a soft thud.
"I'm leaving monster so if you want to meet 'gaki' then you better hurry up." Touya said, mimicking their father, Fujitaka.
"Quit calling him that!" Sakura snapped "Call him Li. Not gaki!" she ploughed Touya out of her doorway and trampled down the stairs.
"Don't forget your lunch!" Fujitaka reminded her. "Thanks Otousan!" She smiled sweetly at her father before cramming a piece of toast in her mouth, strapping on her roller blades and racing out the door.
She shivered in the cool autumn breeze as she skated off to meet Syaoran. Her Syao-bear was just barely poking out of the backpack. The sakura trees were almost bare and the sky was clouded over. There was a chill in the air and the wind picked up.
"Wow, you're a whole two minutes early!" Syaoran teased as Sakura skated up to him
Sakura sweat dropped. "You're starting to sound like my brother" she teased back, grinning
"Is that a good thing?" Syaoran asked. He leaned over and kissed her softly on the cheek.
She grinned. "Not if it's Touya!"
Syaoran glanced at his watch. "We better hurry up and get to school" He said, turning.
"Your right" Sakura agreed and they both raced off.
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"Hi Sakura-chan" greeted Tomoyo in her usual, cheerful voice.
"Hello Tomoyo-chan, Meiling-chan." She said as Meiling sat down near Tomoyo. Meiling smiled in response.
"Oi! Li-kun!" called Takashi. He approached the group of four."Did you realise..."
"Takashi-kun!" Chiharu shot Takashi an annoyed look.
"Alright! Alright!" He said, sweat dropping."Besides, I don't think Li-kun is that gullible."
"I wouldn't be to sure" said Tomoyo. "Li-kun can be quite gullible at times." Everyone laughed and Syaoran sweat dropped.
"Settle down everyone" Jikangai-sensei commanded as he entered the room. Everyone quickly sat down and got ready for the class.
"Now first we shall.." Jikangai-sensei started but was interrupted.
"Look!" shouted Tenchi, standing up "It's snowing!"
"Class, you're all 17. I think a little snow shouldn't be a distraction. Pay attention."
"It's beautiful." Sakura breathed. Syaoran came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
"You want to go out later. For a walk?" He whispered in her ear.
"Sure." She answered. "Sounds like fun. The first snow of winter." She smiled up at Syaoran and he returned her smile with a warm one of his own.
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"I love this time of year!" Sakura said as she kicked the snow with her boot and twirled around. Large, fluffy snowflakes were falling, covering the ground with a warm, fuzzy blanket of fresh snow. Other couples were out in the park enjoying the beauty of the falling snow.
Syaoran shuddered and wrapped his scarf tighter. "It's not this cold in Hong Kong, but I enjoy watching the snowfall." He looked towards the sky then at Sakura. "We could have done this earlier in the year with the Snow card."
"And miss out on the beauty of the first 'natural' snow of winter?! I think not Syao-kun!" She scooped up a handful of the fluffy snow and packed it into a ball. "Besides, wouldn't that be cheating? But you could have used the extra practice."
"Practice for what?" He asked, densely. He gave Sakura a confused look.
"For this!" She exclaimed as she threw the snowball she had made at Syaoran. It hit him full force in the side of the head.
"Oi!" He said, scooping up some snow of his own. "I'm gonna get you back for that!"
"I highly doubt it, Syao-kun!" She said and took off through the clearing, making a trail of footprints through the freshly fallen snow.
"Get back here!" He cried. He took off after her, tramping over her trail.
"Catch me if you can!" She teased as she ran, her long, light brown hair trailed behind her a she ran.
Syaoran grinned and with a final surge of energy, he tackled Sakura. Both went flying into the powdery fluff. Syaoran landed on top of Sakura. He pinned her shoulders to the ground and grinned down at her. "Gotcha" He said. She laughed.
"It's about time!" She said sarcastically, ginning.
"Are you calling me slow?!" He joked; pushing himself off her only to roll and lay beside her in the snow. He looked up to the almost bare sakura tree that they were laying under and spotted a lone sakura on one of the lower branches. It glistened in what little sunlight there was. "Isn't that blossom pretty?" He asked to no one.
"Yea." Sakura answered, smoothing her hair out. "It looks so lonely by it's self. It's the only one on the entire tree." She smiled.
Syaoran stood up and brushed himself off. Sakura gave him a confused glance and propped herself up by her elbows. Syaoran picked the sakura from the branch and knelt down next to Sakura. He pulled the ribbons out off her hair and tied the cherry blossom into on of her braids. The frosted sakura glittered as she moved her hair back and forth.
"It looks beautiful in your hair, Sakura-chan, and now it's not lonely."
"Thank you Syaoran!" Sakura murmured. She wrapped her arms around him, hugged him tightly and kissed him softly on his cheek.
"I"m just glad your happy." He whispered and hugged her back
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"Where have -you- been?" Touya quipped as she kicked he boots off. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, a wry smile playing on his lips.
"Is it really any of -your- business?" She gripped back at him and hung her cost up. She shook her head back and forth to rid herself of the extra snow in her hair.
"Naw, but I felt I had the right to know. Was it with the gaki?" He raised one of his eyebrows and gave her an inquiring look. "Well was it?"
Sakura groaned in protest. "So what if it was? Why do you care so much anyway. Go do your 'so-called' homework with Yukito." She turned and marched up the stairs.
Touya growled then headed back to the kitchen where he and Yukito were working on their homework.
"Out with gaki again, ne?" Kero asked as she shut the door to her room.
"Yea, so?" She asked, gently untying the sakura from her hair. She set it on her bureau and pulled out the case that held her corsage from her graduation. She then gently placed the sakura inside along with a beautiful pink rose that Syaoran had surprised her with for her 16th birthday. The case also held a few other precious items that were of extreme importance to her. She shut the case and locked it, then placed it carefully back into the drawer that also held the Clow. As she was shutting the drawer she happened to look down toward the floor and spotted The Hope.
"Kero-chan," She asked, "why is The Hope out of the Clow?" She bent over and retrieved the large card that depicted a rather large red heart that had beautiful white wings and a small crown floating on top of the heart. Underneath, the card read in large letters 'The Hope'. She smiled, remembering the meaning of the card and opened the drawer again to re-insert the card into the Clow. But instead, she laid the Card on top of the Clow in the middle and shut the drawer, still unaware that just under half of the cards were missing.
"I don't know." The beast answered. He raised his head to sniff the air. "Something smells pretty good downstairs!" He said, almost drooling.
"All right Kero-chan, no need to start your begging. I'll bring you back desert.
"Alright!!" He whooped and flew around in circles and loops. "Hurry!" He called as she ran down the stairs.
"So what are we eating?" She asked as she skidded into the dining room
"Who ever said that you were aloud to eat." Touya said, taking a large bite out of a drumstick.
"Grrrrrr.." She growled and frowned. "You're a pain, Onii-san." She said, sliding into her chair.
"Like I've told you before, Sakura, just ignore To-ya-chan" Yukito said through his speed-of-light method of eating.
Touya shot Yukito an overly annoyed look. "Don't call me that in front of her" he hissed in Yukito's ear. Yukito shrugged and continued to scarf down his dinner.
A few minutes later, Sakura stood and walked over to the sink. She set her plate down in the basin and set off upstairs. "I'll eat my dessert in my room." She called and grabbed her plate of dessert and headed upstairs.
"Pudding!" Cried Kero in pure joy. The minute the plate was set down, Kero was into the pudding, scarfing it down so quickly and messily it appeared the he had inhaled the entire thing.
Sakura sighed. "Could you be any messier while eating?" She asked sardonically.
"Sure" he answered, "I just choose not to be"
"Yea, I'll believe that when pigs fly!"
"Then you better believe it now!" He said, enjoying his hold over the conversation, "Pigs can fly. You just have to watch very carefully. You must be blind if you can see them. They've even got little wings on their hooves. Just ask any pig! "
"You better stop telling those wild stories. You're starting to sound like Yamazaki-kun" She pulled out her homework and began working.
Kero's eyes widened. "No!" He cried sarcastically. He dropped to the floor and staggered around for a few seconds, clutching where his heart should be. "I'm mortally wounded! I'll never recover!" He groaned and fell over.
Sakura laughed. "Looks like Kero-chan won't be getting any more sweets!" She shook her finger and said "Tisk, tisk. He died from a heart attack because of his wild stories and -way- to many sweets."
Kero's eyes watered. "You wouldn't stop getting me sweets, would you?" His eyes became very large and he put on his best puppy-dog face.
Sakura sighed. "All right. I give in. I won't stop being your vending machine."
Kero glomped her. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He exclaimed, but the words came out all slurred together.
"Calm down!" She cried and pulled the etastic creature from her neck. "Can I get my homework done now?" She asked.
Kero sweat dropped. "Okay."
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"Done!" Sakura exclaimed triumphantly. She shut her textbooks and loaded them into her backpack.
"Sakura!" Came her father's voice. Kero flew to her bureau and sat on it stiffly, imitating a stuffed animal. Her father opened her door and stuck his head in. "you better get some sleep now." He said kindly.
"Okay, Otousan." She replied giving him one of her cute smiles.
"Good." He said "Good night then." With that he closed her door softly. Kero waited until he could no longer hear Fujitaka's footsteps.
"Whew! It's hard pretending to be a stuffed animal." He flew to Sakura's bed and sat next to her Syao-bear. He glanced at the bear then glowered at it like it was Syaoran. He continued this until Sakura climbed into her bed and cuddled her Syao-bear.
"Good night Kero-chan!" Sakura whispered softly
"Good night Sakura." He replied.
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"What's going on here?" Sakura asked, her voice echoing in the darkness. She blinked, trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. Suddenly a blinding light filled the area. She shielded her eyes against the light. When the light finally dimmed down, she found herself surrounded by twenty-five people, faces hidden in shadows as the light contrasted against the dark. Each person glowed with a different power and a card appeared in front of him or her. The people grabbed their card and walked in the opposite direction.
"Wait!"Sakura screamed. She reached for the Time card but found it to be missing.
"Syaoran!" She shrieked. A shadowy figure appeared in front of her and grasped her hand. The figure pulled the Key of the Clow from her hand and placed it between its hands. Sakura found herself instinctively grasping the figures hands. The key began to glow and they both let go. The key glimmered and took its new shape.
"The master staff" the figure said and walked away. Sakura raced off to try and catch the figure. She grasped wildly at its cloak only to come up with nothing.
"Help me!" She yelped hoarsely. She felt herself become confused and lost. "Someone help me!" She gasped. The darkness began to overcome the light and it crept up to Sakura. She was surrounded. The darkness washed over her and she fell into nothing..
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Preview of Chapter Two:
"They're gone!" Sakura yelped. She stepped back away from the drawer, unable to come up with a logical explanation for the disappearance of twenty-five Sakura Cards.
"This is not good." Was all Kero could say. Sakura could tell he was deeply worried but was unable to help him. Her only clues as to how the cards had disappeared without a trace was her unusual dream and The Hope.
"What am I going to do?" She wondered.
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By Azarya
Your comments are appreciated. ^_^
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters form CCS. They belong to their rightful owners. I'm not making a profit off of this so please do not sue me.