Sakura and the other card captors sat in a circle in the empty parkade, their eyes all focused on
hovering Kero. Meilin gripped Li's arm tightly, while Madison checked her video camera to
make sure it wasn't broken.
"Okay," said Kero, "it's probably best if I start at the beginning."
"No duh," murmured Li.
"Syaoran!" said Meilin, slapping Li across his face.
"Okay. Uh... you see, in the beginning, there were originally 53 cards."
"What?" shouted Sakura suddenly. She blushed and covered her mouth.
Kero wore an annoyed expression. "Anyway, there were 53 cards to begin with, but Clow Read
had fought them all, and won, so it seemed as though there was no real concern. One of the
cards, however, was incredibly strong. Stronger than all the cards in the deck combined."
"This card had taken several times to catch. It had the ability to deflect the powers of Read's
binding powers. Read had to use everything he had to capture that card. It was almost human. It
thought like a human, spoke like a human, and even looked like a human. But his powers.... oh,
his powers were unrivaled by any other card in that book."
"To these things Clow Read made note. The card had the ability to use all of the powers of the
other cards at the same time. And it had a hunger. A hunger for power. It would have most likely
destroyed much of the world if Clow Read hadn't captured it when he had."
"When he captured this card, he decided the best course of action for the world was to burn the
card and leave it at that. There could be no threat if the card was gone. So he made a sacred seal
over the card, then he burnt it in the deepest fires, and made sure that it would never return."
"What is the card called, Kero?" asked Sakura hesitantly.
"It is the Infinity," Kero responded. "I thought Clow Read had destroyed it and that it would
never return. Somehow, it escaped its fiery demise and now the world's in danger."
Syaoran stood up. "That thing... I've seen it before. Our family crest, it has the Infinity's symbol
engraved on it."
"The Infinity is no doubt seeking to destroy all known card captors. my bet is that he will show
up again, and soon. His goal will be to kill you all."
"But I don't wanna die!" screamed Meilin, squeezing Li in fear. Li struggled for air.
"I don't think you or Madison have anything to worry about, Meilin," said Sakura. "He only
wants those who can confine him."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Sakura didn't sleep all night. She kept going over what she should do with Kero. If the card
couldn't be confined without immense injury to slow it down, then it would be hard for a bunch
of kids to stop him.
School wasn't too fun, either. All the friends who had experienced the events the previous night
were too shaken up to do much of anything.
At lunch time, Sakura stayed in the room instead of going outside. Misho approached her with a
look of concern. "Sakura-- what's wrong?"
Sakura looked up at him with tear filled eyes. She stood up and hugged him tightly. "Misho! I'm
so frightened!"
Misho smiled and held her close to him. "It's okay, Sakura... it's okay..."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
After school, Misho walked with Sakura down to the stream behind the park. They sat together
in the grass.
"Misho," started Sakura, "I'm scared."
Misho smiled and draped his right arm over Sakura's shoulders. She looked over at him and
blushed. He brushed the hair out of his eyes. "Sakura, whatever is going on... I can help you get
through it."
Sakura felt tired. It was as if she was in a sort of dream state. Her mind wandered through the
clouds of thoughts. What was going on? Everything that was happening-- it was making no sense
at all.
Suddenly, Misho pulled Sakura closer. Shadows covered his face. "Sakura--"
"Yeah?" Sakura answered.
"I needed to tell you... how I feel..."
Sakura looked into Misho's eyes. He gazed back at her. The two kissed longingly. The dream
state wrapped around her even more. She felt happy, joyous, even though there were problems
all around her. For that silent moment, Sakura's troubles were relieved. Mist seemed to roll in
around the area, and Misho disappeared within the mist's folds of grey, as Sakura's eyes closed
and she fell into a deep sleep.
When she awoke, it was nearly five, and she hurried home. As she walked through the door, she
was greeted by an angry Kero.
"Sakura! Where have you been?" he demanded angrily.
"Sorry, Kero. I had, uh, some work to do after school."
"I very much doubt that homework is more important than saving your own life!!" shouted Kero
as he bit onto Sakura's shirt and tugged her up to her room.
Kero quickly flew over to Sakura's bed and started talking immediately. "Okay, so we have a
new card to fight. We can work with that. The Infinity card is the strongest card in the deck so
we're going to have to use all of our cards to fight it. Shadow, Windy, Fiery, you get the idea.
The Infinity has no weakness. Our only chance is to lower its strength by bombarding it with the
other cards until its too tired to resist confinement. Oh, how I wish Clow Read was here right
now."
"Kero, do you think we should gather the others?" Sakura asked.
"Good idea, kid. You call em' while I get the book out."
Sakura picked up the phone and dialed Syaoran's number. She let the phone ring about eight
times before deciding he wasn't going to pick up. Next, she called Madison. She picked up the
phone on the second ring and said she'd be right over. Then Sakura tried Meilin. No answer
there. Sakura thrust the phone back down onto the holder and went over to Kero, who had
moved the book about halfway across the floor. She went over and picked it up and set it on the
bed. Opening it up, she picked out the Shadow, the Windy, the Fiery, the Watery, and the Erase.
"How about these ones?"
Kero shrugged. "You might as well bring them all, Sakura, cause we're gonna need every last
one."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
The night seemed so empty and lifeless at the end of the day. Sakura stared silently out the
window and around the city. She wondered where the Infinity card could possibly be. Where was
it hiding? What was it planning?
Sakura tensed. She felt around her neck. She was missing her pendant! She nudged the snoring
Kero roughly. "Kero! Kero!"
Kero slowly came to his senses and looked up at Sakura. "What is it, Sakura?"
"The pendant's gone! I must've lost it!"
Kero jumped into the air and flew around the room in panic. "AHH!! YOU LOST THE
PENDANT????!! NO!!!!! HOW COULD THIS HAVE POSSIBLY HAPPENED???!!!!"
"I-- I don't know what to say, Kero."
"Okay... let's calm down. We'll retrace your steps. Tell me everything you did yesterday, and
everywhere you went."
"Okay.... I woke up got dressed, went to school, but it was there because I remember taking it off
during physical education. Then I remember putting it back on in the locker room, and going to
lunch, and then I left school with Mi--" She covered her mouth.
"Misho? That guy you've been hanging out with? He took it?"
"No! He'd never steal anything!"
"Sakura, you've only known the guy for three days. Exactly how much can you trust him?"
Sakura looked at Kero.
Kero sighed. "Oh, right. love. Well, tomorrow, we'll have to find your buddy and see if maybe
he found it or something. If he didn't then there's one other way to recover it, though taking a
toll on my strength."