The One and Only
"Good morning! Settle down now!" Called Mr. Terada.
"He says the same thing everyday." Shuai pointed out.
"I could memorize the morning and replay everything." Li added. Mr. Terada was in front of the black board. At that moment, a tennis ball was thrown against the blackboard. It bounced back and hit Mr. Terada in the lower back of his head.
"Ouf!" He blurted. "Come here you little squirt." He said, pointing at the kid.
"There's something that doesn't normally happen." Madison said, pointing the incident out to Shuai and Li.
"Are you laughing at me?" He pointed in Madison's direction. "You want detention too?'
"No sir." Madison said nervously.
"Now calm down!" Mr. Terada called out angrily, rubbing the red spot. "Someone you've all been looking forward to seeing has returned." The class calmed.
"I bet Ms. Mackenzie's back!" Sakura said cheerfully. Ms. Mackenzie walked through the doorway.
"Hello everyone!" Ms. Mackenzie called to the class. "How is everybody?"
"I saw that woman in China!" Shuai said to them.
"What was she doing?" Li asked suspiciously. Sakura listened.
"She was talking with the elders." Shuai told them.
"I knew she isn't who she says she is." Li said confidently.
"But if she was talking with the elders, that means she's good, right?"
"Not necessarily." Li said in a soft, unconvincing tone. "Kuragari talked with the elders."
"As I told you all, I was in China. Visiting relatives who were wondering how I was doing and stuff like that."
"I'll bet." Li said under his breath, sarcastically.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"How annoying." Kuragari said to himself. "It would be a lot easier if they thought I was a good person." Just than he got an idea "It would be a lot easier." Jumping down from the tree he was sitting in, he noticed a black-haired girl walking on the pathway. She was wearing a red-violet shirt with black pants and a yellow belt that the shirt was tucked through. This twelve-year-old girl turned to look at him. "Everyone's supposed to be at the school." Kuragari thought to himself. He noticed she had brown eyes and an innocent look opon her face, making her seem weak. "What are you doing out of school?" He called to her.
"I just got here, are you Li?" She responded.
"So you're looking for Li." Kuragari continued to think. "No one who's looking for Li is ordinary". "Well, you can't see him right now." He said with a snicker. "You're coming with me."
"What do you mean?" She said confidently. Her voice didn't sound as weak as she looked.
"Teleport Card!" Kuragari announced. The girl raised her right hand to her face and focused on her pointer and middle fingers, which were not clutched. She then raised her face and looked at the teleport spirit. Her eyes glowed a frightening red and her face had a hypnotic look. The Teleport spirit froze in mid air. It was then thrown against a near by tree. Kuragari saw this girl had power. He couldn't let it fall into Sakura's hands.
"Construct Card! Trap the girl in an underground labyrinth!" Kuragari spoke. The girl turned her focus on Kuragari. Her whole body began to glow the red color. But the Construct card had her caught. She disappeared from sight, into the maze created by the construct card. "I'll get back to her later." He said walking away. "Now where was I… O yes, if I was good, I'd have better luck…"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So, what were Ms. Mackenzie and the elders talking about?" Li interrogated Shuai.
"I don't really care." Sakura broke in cheerfully. "She's back, and I'm sure that she's a good person. With a gentle face like hers and wonderful feeling emanating from her soul, could she really be evil?"
"Yes." Li and Shuai said in unison.
"You haven't listened to any of my warnings about her, have you?" Li said turning his focus toward her.
"What do you think?" Sakura responded with a smile. Li buried his face in his hands.
"What did I miss?" Madison asked, coming around the corner of a bush. "Mr. Terada says we have five minutes left out here."
"Just a interrogation attempt getting no where." Li said looking up.
"I have no clue what she was doing there? I didn't even want this assignment," Shuai said to him.
"Well, now that you're helping us recapture the cards…" Sakura was cut off.
"My mission isn't to capture the Clow cards. It's to bring back Kuragari." Shuai interrupted, not wanting anymore work.
"There virtually the same thing." Madison pointed out. "You need to recapture almost all of the cards before you can trap and take back Kuragari."
"So I'm caught in the mess you've made." Shuai muttered to himself.
"Hey!" Sakura stood up. "This is no mess. I've actually enjoyed the past year. Well, not every event, but most of them." Sakura said shocked at Shuai. "I mean, this "mess" has gotten me to know more people." Sakura said looking at Li. "And brought me to new places."
"And has allowed me to explore my creativity." Madison said speaking up. Sakura fell over. "Well Kero likes most of my ideas." Madison joked more. Shuai looked up at the sky. "What have the elders gotten me into?" he asked. Sakura looked up just then, "I feel something…" She said.
"Maybe Kuragari's new cards broke their seals." Li said standing up, looking around, and anticipating the event.
"No," Sakura said unsurely, "that's not it. Something else." The bell than rang and break was over. Everyone headed in. Rain started to come down. Inside the classroom, Sakura took her seat and gazed out the window. Ms. Mackenzie walked to her.
"I hope those flowers you were watching aren't ruined." She said to Sakura. Sakura looked at her strangely.
"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.
"You were looking at the flower bed. The late bloomers were looking gorgeous." Ms. Mackenzie replied, smiled, than walked to the front. Everyone else was settling in, but the rain was distracting them. Sakura thought for a moment. She wasn't at the flowerbed. Was Ms. Mackenzie trying to tell her something?
"Yes, rain can be fun to watch but we've got to get this done." Ms. Mackenzie said. She was having a difficult time getting everyone to pay attention.
"I'm so poor I can't pay attention." A boy blurted out.
"Than we'll have a charity drive for you." Ms. Mackenzie said looking at him. "Why can't you all be like Li and Shuai?" She asked desperate to get attention. "Sakura, I'm over here." Ms Mackenzie waved. Sakura looked to the front.
"Sorry," Sakura said with a smile.
"It would be a lot easier if I could control the rain right now." Ms. Mackenzie said, going to the window. "Wouldn't you agree Sakura?"
"What?!" Sakura questioned.
"If you could control the rain?" She repeated.
"Yes," Sakura said, checking the Rain card in her pocket. "Could she sense it?" Sakura asked herself.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I'm telling you Kero," Sakura paced on her bedroom floor. "She was trying to tell me something." Kero watched her.
"Stranger things have happened." Kero said innocently. Sakura starred at him.
"I'm beginning to think that somehow, she knows about the Clow Cards." Sakura said worriedly.
"Well, Yue was supposed to show up a while back. Things she's not supposed to know yet just might come out." Kero said to himself.
"What was that?" Sakura asked, not hearing him.
"Ahhh, what did she say?" Kero made up.
"She said it would be good if I could control the rain, then asked my opinion, as if I had done it before."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sakura's alarm rung as the sun began to pearce it's way through her window. Sakura went to swat the annoying buzzer. Unfortunately, Kero was sleeping in its place. He had moved the clock to the desk. The smack from Sakura's hand sent Kero flying across to the opposite wall. With the buzzing still going on, Sakura woke up. Kero was piecing together what just happened, while lying on the floor. "I remember I had better awakenings when I slept in the book." Kero remarked.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Good morning Rita!" Sakura said, reaching the floor her homeroom was on.
"Good morning again Sakura." She replied.
"Again?" Sakura said with a puzzled look.
"Yah, remember you told me good morning before you went into the classroom." Rita responded.
"I just got here." Sakura told Rita.
"It must be this headache I have. I was up all last night with… never mind." Rita trailed off, walking away. Sakura walked into the classroom.
"Where's Madison?" Sakura asked Li.
"She went to the bathroom with you two minutes ago." Li replied with a surprised look on his face.
"You two didn't lose each other, did you?" Shuai joked.
"I just got here." Sakura said leaving the class into the hallway.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So I'll call to you after dinner." Madison said to Sakura. Sakura looked up.
"I have to go check on something in my locker. Meet me in class." Sakura told her as she left the bathroom. Madison finished washing her hands and was drying them when Sakura ran through the doorway.
"Wow your fast. You just left here a minute ago." Madison said to her. "Ok, we can head to class." Madison finished as Sakura caught her breath.
"I haven't been here today." Sakura managed to get out.
"Sakura, I'm not falling for that. It's not your birthday today." Madison joked. Sakura remembered her birthday was on April 1st. Sakura began to regret the April fool's jokes. Sakura thought as they both walked to homeroom. "Four people saw me, Rita, Li, Shuai and Madison. Only, I was never there. The Mirror card was fully under my possession. It must be Kuragari's doing, but without the Mirror card, how did he do it?
"So what do you think Li's going to say to you?" Madison asked.
"When?" Sakura asked.
"After school, he told you he wanted to talk to you." Madison replied with a worried look. You'll tell me when I call, right?" Sakura nodded as they entered the classroom. Sakura suddenly felt a sense of endangerment. She looked behind her all day, as if waiting for something to strike. She hated the feeling and tried to stay with Madison or Li as much as possible. After what seemed like a month, the dismissal bell rang.
"Shuai" Sakura turned to him. "Do you think you could walk me home. I'd ask Madison, but she has to be with her mom and I'm meeting Li in the park and…" Sakura trailed. Shuai saw Li give him a sharp stare.
"Not after what we put Li through." Shaui spoke quickly, gathering his things and running out. Sakura turned to Li. "What did he mean by that?" Sakura asked.
"Nothing." Li said with a regretting look on his face.
"Well, I guess you get to walk me home." She said with a smile. Li's eyes popped open fully. "We can talk on the way." She said, a little desperate. The feeling she had was stronger than before.
"Well, I'm kind of busy right now and," Li said, searching for an excuse.
"Oh, come on." Sakura said, trying to laugh, grabbing his arm and running off with him. Li was able to grab the rest of his things in time. This wasn't the response he expected form her.
"Is there some reason you want me to walk you home?" Li asked.
"Well," Sakura stalled, not knowing how to explain. "I'm scared."
"You're scared?" Li questioned with a sarcastic look.
"Well, it's this feeling. It's like I feel that I'm going to be attacked. And when you said you saw me with Madison. I wasn't at the school that early. And Madison said she was talking to me in the bathroom, I was never there…" Sakura rambled. Li eyed her.
"Well, here's your house." He spoke up. "I'll see you tonight, right?"
"Yah." Sakura responded slowly, walking into the house. Shutting the door she turned around and saw a big yellow object in front of her. "AHHHHHHH! KERO HELP!"
"I'm right here?" the voice of the yellow object said. Walking backward, her eyes refocused themselves and she found that it was Kero.
"Don't ever do that again!" Sakura yelled at him.
"A little crabby I see." He said. "I guess a snack is out o the question." He added to himself.
"I'm sorry Kero," Sakura said to him. "It's just I have this weird feeling that something bad is going to happen." The phone rang and Sakura jumped.
"You are jumpy." He added. Sakura went and picked it up.
"Hello?" Sakura began
"Hi, are you alright? Li told me what you said to him. What do you mean, I wasn't talking to you in the bathroom?"
"Umm… I'm not sure actually." Sakura responded.
"You should get some rest. Bye." Madison said, hanging up. Kero flue to her.
"Stay be me." She said grabbing him.
"Sakura, I do need oxygen!" Kero said trying to brake her hold. Sakura heard a creek from the basement. She grabbed the key from her neck and summoned the wand. "Sakura, it's just one of those random noises. I hear them all the time. One's about to go off, now." He said. Just than she heard another creek from the upstairs.
"So you know all of the noises that go on here?" Sakura asked.
"Yah, I've been here so long."
"We've got to find you a life." Sakura joked. Than a tap occurred.
"There's not supposed to be a tap now." Kero blurted. Sakura looked at him. "Oops." He added.
"Were getting out of here." Sakura told him.
"Where are going to go?" Kero asked.
"I don't know, Li's house." Sakura said quickly.
"You want to go to the kid's house. You must be terrified." Kero said as Sakura pushed him out the door. Sakura swiftly snapped on her rollorblades and coasted down the road. Kero popped up onto her shoulder.
"Do you think your going a little fast?" Kero said, not wanting to be hurt.
"It's really not that fast." Sakura responded. Suddenly the Sleep card appeared in front of her. Sakura skidded to a stop, falling over. Kero tried to fly up but was put to sleep.
"Sakura" a voice said from the bushes.
"Who are you?" Sakura responded, pulling out her key.
"Don't you recognize me?" the voice said, coming out of the bushes. It was her.
"This isn't possible!" Sakura said.
"Yet it is." The other Sakura responded, summoning her staff. They both summoned their Sword cards. Battling each other was short for one Sakura quickly won.
"Who are you?" One Sakura asked the other Sakura.
"You're not Sakura, I am" Sakura said. The sword was pointed at her.
"Earth! Form a cave to trap her!" The Sakura who won the sword match ordered, hitting the Earth card. The other Sakura ran before the Earth card could catch her. The Sakura, who stayed behind, went to wake up Kero. She shook him and he broke from his slumber.
"What happened?" Kero asked.
"The other Sakura, I saw her. I tried to trap her in a cave but she ran off." Sakura told him. "Come on, we've got to get to Li."
"Are you ok?" Kero asked.
"Yah, I'm just tired.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Li paced back and forth over the ground. "How am I going to tell her? What would I even say?" he asked himself. "I should have never let Madison and Shuai talk me into this." Sakura walked up and Kero flue off into the sky. She didn't know why Kero did though. He met Madison in the bush. She was taping.
"What's going on?" Kero whispered.
"I think he's having second thoughts." Madison replied.
"You know Sakura," Li began. "We've known each other for a while now." Sakura nodded. "And…" suddenly there was no sound. Kero and Madison looked at each other. Madison attempted to say something. No sound came. Sakura and Li looked around.
"What happened?" Sakura was finally able to say.
"It's the Silent card!" Kero said, jumping out from the bush. He pointed to a tree beside them. Sakura and Li looked at the tree. It had a carving like the Silent card. The carving began to glow and Kero and Madison were transported away from the area. Sakura and Li approached the card.
"Silent card." Sakura whispered. "Return to your power confined." The carving began to glow but was too late. It disappeared from the tree and molded itself into a card. The card went to Sakura.
"So you were going to tell me something?" Sakura turned to Li.
"It's really just something I was doing for Madison." Li said, searching for something else to say. "She really owes me now…."
"Alrighty then." Sakura said, leaving.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sakura arriving home smelt dinner on the stove. Tori was making dinner tonight.
"Hey there, squirt." He said to her. "Dinner should be ready in about an hour."
"Alright." Sakura responded. Tori starred at her. He felt as if something was off.
"Is they're anything else?" Sakura asked.
"Just that the neighbors called saying they could feel the ground shake when you walked by." Tori joked it off. Sakura just walked on. Now he knew something was off. She didn't even try to make a comeback. Up in her room, Sakura looked all over her room for something. She almost had the place torn apart. Kero flew in the open window.
"Forget me!" He joked upon entry. Sakura jumped.
"Stupid guardian." Sakura spoke to herself.
"What was that?" Kero responded, not hearing her.
"I was looking for you." Sakura said getting up. Kero looked at her funny.
"Dinner!" Tori cried up the stairway.
"Bring me back something!" Kero perked up, licking his chops.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The next morning, Friday had come. Everyone had gone almost crazy. Sakura walked in. She seemed shyer today.
"Sakura, what's wrong?" Madison asked.
"Nothing wrong." Sakura said nervously. Li starred at her, trying to make eye contact. Sakura looked down or every which way to avoid him. Madison watched this show.
"Your not Sakura, are you?" Li told her. Madison looked at Li. Shuai walked in at that moment.
"Sakura, I just spoke with you outside with Rita and Nikki." Shuai said surprised to see her.
"That's because this isn't Sakura." Li told him. Shuai eyed Sakura like Li had done.
"Looks like your right." Shuai congratulated Li. "Than who is she?"
"The Mirror card." Li responded.
"Why would Sakura send the Mirror card up here in her place?" Madison asked.
"Sakura thought she was in danger of something yesterday." Li said.
"Why did Sakura send you?" Madison asked the Mirror card.
"There's someone after her, they've trick you, all of you." The card responded shyly.
"But Sakura's outside then?" Shuai checked.
"No she isn't." the card responded. "She was in the woods the last I saw her."
Li looked out the window. Sakura walked through the doorway. "She or whoever is coming in." Li told them.
"You'd better leave." Madison cautioned. The Mirror card pointed to the doorway. Everyone started screaming. These balls of light were appearing through out the hallway.
"It must be a Clow card." Shuai said.
"The Glow if I'm not mistaken." Li told them.
"It would have liked all this fun." Madison said. Sakura came through the doorway. Li, Madison and Shuai stood up, hiding the Mirror card behind them. The last couple people ran out of the classroom. "It's the Glow card." Sakura told them.
"Then seal it." Shaui told her. Sakura pulled out her key and released it.
"Glow card! Return to your power confined!" The spots of light collected into the card and the card went to Sakura.
"Can I see that card." Li said walking up to Sakura.
"Is there something wrong?" Sakura asked Li, still holding the card.
"There is." Li said pointed to the Mirror card. Madison and Shuai revealed her.
"How did it break its seal?" Sakura asked them.
"You shouldn't believe…" The Mirror card started, but was cut off.
"Mirror card! Return to your power confined!" Sakura ordered.
"The Mirror card floated from Sakura's desk, into its card form. But the unexpected happened. It floated out of an open window, and off school property. Forgetting about getting the Glow card from this Sakura, they all ran out of the school, after the card.
Author's notes: Yes I'm stopping it here! It's already confusing enough. This is the first chapter I've started from scratch since I began. Every other chapter I began before ending the previous one. This one and most after this one will be different. The next chapter was supposed to be set out after "The Lost Cards". I've pushed it back to here because I didn't have an idea for it. Remember that chapter I promised you in the first chapter. I'm in the middle of it now, but it keeps getting pushed back in the timeline. Could someone tell me besides the Time and Wood, what other cards are under Yue's protection?