EPISODE TWO: Of Captures, Friends,
and Fortunes.
Shibori sighed. She loved nothing more than long bike
rides, with the crisp autumn leaves crunching under the wheels of her bike. The
moon hung high above her head, glowing in all it's mystery, surrounded by tiny
stars dotting the skies. The sun had long since set, and Shibori figured she
must have already been out riding for hours. Not that it was unusually,
especially when she wanted to just get away from something.
It had been over a week since the book of Sakura
had first come into Shibori's possession. But since her first capture, the Windy
Card, there had been no real sign of any other cards. Shibori had begun to think
it really was all a dream... but of course, that couldn't be true, since 'the
talking cat toy' was still around. Because
of the guardian, Shibori had good reason to believe she'd gone insane.
Cerberus was also the reason she was out riding in the
first place. It seemed like they had more arguments than hours in the day. It
was exactly one of those arguments that had prompted Shibori's evening bike
ride.
"Are
you sure about this whole card thing?"
"What
do you mean?"
Shibori
looked up from her three cards, which she was holding in a fan shape, like a
hand of poker.
She
just crinkled her eyebrows, staring at the images of the rabbit, the sword, and
the lady with the strange hair.
"What
I mean is, if I'm the card captor, and I'm supposed to seal the cards, why
haven't we seen any since Windy?"
"The
cards have minds of their own." Cerberus said, and he fluttered to the bed,
seating himself on The rumpled sheets in front of Shibori.
"They're
probably trying to catch you off guard."
Shibori
let out a sigh. "Windy was hard to catch."
"And
Windy is an easy capture."
"NANI?!"
Shibori exclaimed, falling backwards.
She
winced when her cranium made contact with the wicker headboard, and she
immediately clutched the spot with her hand. "Itai."
Cerberus
grumbled, "What a klutz."
A vein
visibly popped out on Shibori's forehead, "Watch it, our I'll make sure
Chibi has a brand new, talking chew toy."
Cerberus
sweatdropped, "Oi, Oi… Okay, sorry."
"Getting
back on track. You say Windy is an EASY capture?!"
"Compared
to the other Elements, yes. Windy
is noted for being a gentle card, but the other three are the most powerful and
aggressive of the deck, aside from Dark, Light, and Hope."
"Wait,
Slow down." Shibori flailed her hands about, "Just how many cards are There?!
And what kind of card is 'Hope'!?"
"There
are 52 cards total—"
Shibori's
eyes widened.
"—And
Hope, Well, that's a whole other ballgame."
Shibori
just scowled at the stuffed animal creature, who scowled back. Shibori broke her gaze away from Cerberus, her face in a sour pout.
"I'm not getting into a staring contest!"
"You started it, girlie! I'm just trying to explain
things!"
"You weren't trying to explain ANYTHING! I had to
wrench everything out of you!"
"You little Gaki!" Cerberus shouted, suddenly
fluttering right up in Shibori's face.
Shibori flicked him aside, stood up in a huff, and went
to the closet. Cerberus watched with little interest as Shibori pulled an
over-sized sweatshirt on over the top of her t-shirt and jeans. She stretched her arms through the sleeves, and barely noticed that the
sweatshirt went down to her knees. At
the moment, she didn't really care.
"Girlie, where do you think you're goin'!?"
"OUT. As
if it's any of YOUR business where I go."
And with that, Shibori slammed her bedroom door. She didn't care about causing a fuss, since she was alone. Her mother was working, Her sister was at dance practice, and
according to their schedule board, her brother was 'with Shijou-san.' Shibori stopped downstairs only long enough to grab a cookie, and write a
note.
Hey. Went
out for a bike ride. Might go to
Hana-chan's. Don't wait for me
to start dinner, I'm not hungry, and I can fix myself something later.
-
Shibori stomped to the front door, more than happy that
Cerberus hadn't followed. With
full force, she yanked open the door, and slammed it behind her.
Shibori fumed, as she pumped her bike pedals. Just the thought of how stubborn Cerberus had been made her angry all
over again. Her legs were
completely exhausted, with only her anger left to turn the axels of her bike. Shibori took a deep breath, and lifted her head to the sky. It stretched out endlessly above her head, covering the city in inky
black, with only tiny stars and the glowing full moon to light her way. Slowly, her rage began to die, followed shortly by the dropping of her
eyelids. She yawned helplessly.
I wonder how long I've been out here. It's late, I should go home… but my legs are so tired, I don't know
how far I'd make it.
She could already feel her speed slowing before she
allowed the bike to coast to a stop. She looked at the street signs and frowned. No one's house was close enough for her to crash at. A light breeze began to pick up, and a white sheet of paper landed in
front of her bike wheel. Curious as
a kitten, Shibori picked up the paper. On
it were bright colored pictures and words, promoting the Fall Festival at the
local shrine.
Games, Fireworks… Fortune telling. Shibori
blinked, folded the flyer, and tucked it in her pocket, maybe I can get a
little insight from a psychic, since my so-called 'guardian' has done
nothing but ARGUE with me.
And
then the wind picked up again. A
momentary gust caused the hairs on the back of Shibori's neck to bristle.
That was weird. The wind isn't usually like this.
And then she felt another gust. Stronger this time. Fearing
a storm of sorts, Shibori climbed in her bike again, forcing herself to pedal
towards home.
And
then she heard it. A loud,
bird-like screech, echoing off every house and street. A shadow cast over her, and her blood ran cold. In fear, she looked up, and found a large bird flying over her. Her eyes widened and her hair blew in every direction as the bird's
massive wings forced more gusts down upon her.
A Sakura Card! It's got to be!
With renewed vigor, Shibori bit her lips and pumped her
bike pedals as fast as she could. She
was off in hot pursuit of the Bird. With
one hand firmly on the handlebars, Shibori dug into her pocket, withdrawing the
tiny indigo key.
OH, what was that darn incantation!?
Shibori had no more time to think of the words, because
the bird chose that moment to land right in her path. Shibori gasped, and swerved the bike to the side. With the misfortune of the large crack in the sidewalk, The front bike
wheel caught, and Shibori went sprawling across the empty street, the bike
clattering to a stop a few feet away. Shibori
groaned as she sat up, her cheek throbbing with pain, the knees of her jeans
ripped and dotted with blood. As
the bird's long neck snapped toward Shibori, she did the only thing she could
think of. She yanked the shoe off
of her right foot, and flung it in the bird's eye. The massive bird screeched and flapped it wings, pushing Shibori across
the cement.
With the tiny key still clutched in her fist, she watched as the bird lifted off the ground, preparing to fly away.
Trying to
keep a good grip on the key, Shibori held out her fist. She no longer struggled to remember the incantation. The words seemed to flow from nowhere.
"O Key that hides the powers of the stars. I command
the, reveal thy true form to me."
An orb of light formed over her hand, and a circle of
light formed underneath her.
"Under Contract, Shibori commands you, RELEASE!"
The incantation complete, Shibori released the key,
which promptly lengthened into the full-sized rod.
"I… won't let you… get away!" She exclaimed,
gripping the rod firmly with both hands.
Shibori watched the bird rise into the sky. She used the rod as a support, and pulled herself up weakly to her feet. Exhausted legs struggled to keep her upright. She lifted the staff with all her might.
"Return to thy true form, Sakura Card!"
And the bird froze in mid flight, it's body glowing. Slowly, it re-shaped, being absorbed into the card that formed at the tip
of the rod. The card dimmed, as did
the circle under Shibori, and the card floated gently into her extended hand.
"The Fly." She read quietly to herself.
And a smirk slowly crossed her pale lips, while she
ignored the pounding in her head. Her
cheek throbbed, and she could barely feel tiny rivulets of blood running down
her cold, numb legs.
"I did it…" she mumbled, "Without Cerberus…
all by myself… I… Did it."
Slowly, the pressure in her head began to overwhelm
her. Spots appeared in front of her
eyes, and the key shrunk down in her hand. She desperately felt for her pocket as the spots turned to blotched
darkness that spread across her eyes. She
shoved the card into the nearest cavity, her neckline, just before her body gave
out. She felt herself falling, and
her head slam against the pavement. And
what followed, was silence.
* * *
I feel something… Someone's… holding me. No… Carrying me. But I
can't see. Who are you?
Shibori received no reply. She tried to see, but only a blur appeared in her minds eye. Long, white hair, and angel wings, with cool arms cradling her. A gentle heart beat ringing in her ears.
Are you an angel? Are you here to help me? Am
I dead?
But no reply. Perhaps, because the questions weren't even heard. And even her blurred companion disappeared, as she was left in the dark. She felt the arms release her, and her body sink into something she was unsure of. She wanted to beg her guardian angel to stay with her, but the darkness pulled her under again.
Finally, she woke. Her amethyst eyes cracked open slowly, and met with a nearly dark room. The dimmed lamp on the nightstand was the only light, aside from the full
moon shining in the window.
Despite the pleasant setting, it was strange. Shibori forced herself into a sitting position. She felt herself shudder
when the blankets fell away from her body, and her hand flew to her head. It was cold, and a tiny towel lay in her lap. Gingerly, she lifted it.
Was this… It
was moist, and so was her forehead. Someone…
was taking care of me?
When she pulled back to blankets, she found her jeans
were missing, and her knees were bandaged up. The sweatshirt she wore went down to her knees, acting as a nightgown of
sorts. She turned a crimson color,
wondering just who would have the guts to take off her jeans. She didn't have time to think about it. She felt something strange under her sweatshirt, and reached into her
neckline. She pulled out the Fly
card.
The door hinges creaked, and a person slowly stepped in
the room. "You're awake I see."
Shibori cringed, pulling the sheets up to her chin,
hiding the card behind the sheets.
"Sorry to frighten you." The voice spoke again, and
the lights flickered on.
The bright lights overwhelmed Shibori at first, and her
eyes squinted in reflex. When she
was finally able to see clearly, she saw a teenaged boy with white blonde hair
and gray-blue eyes smiling at her. Her
heart leapt into her throat.
"Sh… Shijou-kun?" Shibori's cheeks burned a
bright shade of pink.
"I told you, you can call me Tsukiyo." He smiled,
"Are you feeling alright, Shibori-chan?"
"H-hai… But how did I get here?" Shibori looked
down at her sheet-covered legs, and her blush darkened to a crimson red, "And
where are my pants?"
"They're in the washing machine."
Shibori blinked and the shade on her cheeks deepened.
"Did…did you…"
Tsukiyo blinked, and then a similar shade of pink
crossed his face, "Ah, no, no, it was Makoto."
Shibori blinked, "My Onii-san is here?"
"Hai. But he's in the other room. He's calling your mother and telling her you're staying with us."
Shibori blinked.
"We found you and your bike laying along the
sidewalk. You were unconscious, and
scratched up pretty bad. Oh, and
here…"
Tsukiyo dug a hand into his pocket, and withdrew from
it, Shibori's key. But now, it was dangling on a chain.
"I put it on a chain for you. So you don't loose it."
Shibori
took the pendant from his hands, and he smiled at her.
"It's very pretty." He added, "You like
Stars?"
Shibori nodded feebly, and her head felt like it might
explode. It
must have been obvious, because Tsukiyo gently took the towel that was in
Shibori's hand, and dabbed it gently against her temples. She blinked as he gently
pushed her head back to the pillow and laid the towel on the back of her neck.
"Shi, what are you doing up?"
Shibori looked to the doorway, surprised to find a
tall, pale, dark haired teen standing in the doorway. His arms were crossed, and he gave the girl a mock glare.
Shibori's face was still red and unfading, and she
hoped he would assume a fever. Makoto
stepped over beside his friend, and looked down at his little sister. "You
should rest now. You took quite a spill, and it's late."
"Hai…" Shibori yawned and Tsukiyo stepped aside,
allowing Makoto to pull the blankets up around her chin.
"Oyasumi, Shibori-chan." Tsukiyo said, and both
boys left the room.
And
the room went dark. Shibori reached
over, and set the pedant on the nightstand. With warm blankets hugging her body, and a cool towel on her neck, she
slowly slipped to a peaceful slumber.
* * *
"Sugoooi…" Shibori awed over the shrine.
It was lit up like a Christmas tree, with paper
lanterns strung up, games, and food booths everywhere. Shibori's mouth curled
into a smile, while family's moved about. And her smile faded. Moriko,
her little sister, had become sick at the last minute, leaving her and her Mom
at home. Moriko got sick a lot. Only
Shibori and Makoto had attended, and since they arrived, She'd barely seen her
brother.
"Pst. Girlie,
where's the food?"
Shibori clenched her teeth in surprise, and gently
shoved Cerberus back into his hiding spot in the bow of her Kimono, "Stay
hidden, or you get nothing."
Shibori
could have sworn she heard the tiny guardian mumble something about her being a
spoiler brat, and Sakura always cooking for him. However, she was too busy looking for the fortuneteller to pay any CLOSE
attention to the guardian beast.
Shibori's wooden sandals clicked quietly against the
stone walkway leading up to the shrine. Children
laughed, half of them walking around with toys, the other half carrying tiny
plastic bags with goldfish swimming inside them. She smiled and continued her search, completely unaware that she was
being watched.
Four children sat on the steps leading up to the shrine
itself. The girl sitting on the lowest step smiled, brown-red locks of hair
dangling in her eyes, while her other friend sported chin length, jet-black
hair, with Sapphire eyes gleaming in pure delight.
"How delightful!" she trilled, a hand rested on her
cheek, a snap shot camera in the other hand, and getting quite the workout.
"At least the girls are having fun." Mused the boy
with the ash blonde hair, and he scowled slightly.
"Oh! She's so KAWAII Ying-chan!" the girl with
the jet-black hair trilled again, her camera lens shifting to Shibori.
The
girl named 'Ying' followed her friend's gaze while brushing a piece of her
auburn hair out of her sea foam green eyes.
"Ayame-san, I can't believe you would say that to
anyone but Ying-san or myself." The second boy chimed in, his dark eyes hiding
a glint of mock hurt.
The dark haired girl named 'Ayame' looked at him,
"But you're my Koishi, Kokken-kun, and you know it without me saying it."
"How true that is." He replied, wrapping his arms
around Ayame from behind.
Ying turned and looked at the silent, ash-blonde boy,
and smiled. He didn't react in
the way she appeared to have been expecting.
"Don't you trust my judgment?" She asked,
innocent as a very young child.
Still he did not move, and his arms remained crossed.
Ying smiled again, and climbed to steps to where he sat.
"Daisuki, Ookami-kun." Ying whispered, hugging onto
the boy.
His cheeks
flared a brilliant pink, and he swallowed. A smile parted his lips as he looked down at her head of auburn hair. He hugged her in return. "Daisuki, Ying. Of course I trust you."
* * *
Finally, after submitting to buying funnel cake for
Cerberus, playing the fish-catching game (and failing miserably), and winning a
teddy bear for Moriko, Shibori reached her destination. A tent had been set up towards the end of the grounds. Shibori lifted Cerberus and allowed him to hide on her shoulder, behind
her hair.
Slowly, she parted the curtains, and stepped inside the
small tent. A girl sat behind the
table, with her head down. Her body
was draped in what appeared to be traditional clothing of some sort. A stack of cards lay on the table in front of her.
She lifted her head.
"Welcome. Do you wish to have your fortune—"
Both girls paused, staring at one another.
"Shi-chan?"
"HANA-CHAN!? YOU run the fortune telling?!"
The brunette nodded, "My family has told fortunes for
generations!" she spoke nervously, "The miko asked me if I would…"
Shibori choked, "Are they accurate?"
"Painfully."
Shibori took a deep breath, and settled herself into
the seat.
"Well… let's take a stab at it, shall we?"
Hana nodded, and began to shuffle the cards. Shibori watched in amazement as her young friend dealt the cards, moved
them about, and proceeded with a strange chant.
"This doesn't seem like a normal tarot card
reading." Whispered Cerberus
Shibori did not respond.
"Turn over the first card."
Shibori did as she was told. She gasped, surprised to see The Windy card staring back at her. However,
it was colored in purple and gold, not pink.
These are no NORMAL tarot cards! What's going on?!
Cerberus peered out, but still kept well hidden. He was not pleased to see the card lying on the table. But, it did not contain the magic of the Sakura cards.
"Windy. This
is in the past position. It shows
that things in your life have recently been blown about." Hana said, with
little emotion. "Flip the next one."
Shibori swallowed, ignoring the sweat forming on her
palms. Gingerly she pinched the card and flipped it over. Staring
back at her, in the same format as the previous card, was a card labeled "The
Flowery."
"Flowery is in the Present position. It indicates new growth in your very near future. Something is going to change."
Hana's eyebrows crinkled in concentration, and her
eyes shifted to Shibori. Something
was defiantly not right. Tiny
raindrops pattered on the tent, but neither of them seemed to notice.
"Flip the third one."
Shibori did as she was told, and blinked to find a card
labeled "POWER" staring up at her.
"Power." Hana looked up sharply at Shibori, her
eyes like daggers.
"N-nani…?" Shibori asked, the glare striking
chills in heart.
"I always take power out of the deck before I
start."
Shibori tensed up.
"Power indicates strength and magic, especially in
the future position."
Hana stood
up, palms laying flat on the table, "Shi-chan, are you HIDING something from
me?"
"I…" Shibori blinked, "Do you hear
something?"
Something creaked. And something ripped. Shibori and Hana looked up, and watched as a tree
branch crept in through the upper seam of the tent. Slowly, the branches extended, ripping through the material.
"Get out!" Hana shouted, shoving Shibori out of the
tent.
Shibori stumbled, and both of them fell onto the
pathway just as the branches completely tore up the tent.
"Girlie. Use
the key. This is the work of the WOOD card."
Shibori nodded, hoping Cerberus was still concealed under her hair. People were abandoning the temple groups in groups, most of them in wet Kimono's and Fukatas. Only as she looked down to brush the wrinkles and dirt from her Kimono, did she notice that the ground was littered with rain-trampled cherry blossoms. And more of the delightful, like pink flowers and petals were raining down, mixing with the rain. Shibori left a bewildered Hana as she ran around to the other side of the shrine
"Looks like you've got three cards to handle."
"Three?!" Shibori exclaimed, withdrawing the key
from under her kimono.
"Hai. Rain,
Wood, and Flowery."
Shibori nodded, and held the pendant at arms length,
dangling from the chain. It swung
around, and began to glow.
"O Key that hides the powers of the stars, reveal thy
true form to me."
The circle of light snapped into existence below her
feet. She could have sworn she'd heard it hiss when the rain
struck it.
"Under contract, Shibori commands you, RELEASE!"
The pendant away from the chain, and the chain vanished
into thin air as the pendant elongated into the full sized rod. Shibori grabbed
it, and held it in the air.
Cards, prepare to meet your captor!
TO BE
CONTINUED…
SHIBORI: Well,
looks like the festival has been ruined… But, the cards will be mine!
HANA:
Don't be so sure.
SHIBORI: Hana-chan?
What are you doing now—AH! Where'd that water come from?!
EPISODE
THREE: Of Rivals, Families, and Magical Lineage!
Next Time!
^.^