"What The Cards Were For"

A Card Captor Fanfiction

By: Bekah-chan

Rated: PG ( for blood

and um, some burns)



Disclaimer: I don't now, have never, and will never own Card Captors. *sigh*



Authors Notes: I think that the chapters will be getting a little longer from now on, I hope. ^_^ Thanks to all the people who reviewed this story.



Chapter 9:

Sakura stood in the middle of her kitchen, preparing to open the Fiery Card. (AN: Birda-chan, my sister, says: *FINALLY*) Syaoran was now sitting again on the table. The top of his outfit was gone, (AN: ^_~) cut away to expose the injury. Kent was helping Li stay upright, while Touya stood beside him looking worried (for Sakura), and annoyed (because of Syaoran).

Kero and Yue stood, or floated, next to their Mistress to offer what help they could, which wasn't much-- they were her cards and only she could open them. But they could, and did, advise her.

"Remember to use finite control with the Fiery," cautioned Yue, "Concentrate on getting rid of the poison and on healing, if you slip you could seriously burn Master Li or yourself." Sakura nodded, she was planning on being careful, and she would prefect her control on her own wound before healing Syaoran. That way she would be sure not to hurt him.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said. Yue handed her the Star Wand before stepping back to give her room. As she took the wand from him, Sakura noticed that the blood was gone from the handle, Yue must have cleaned it off. She smiled her gratitude at him "Good luck, Mistress," Yue said in return.

Kero landed on her left shoulder holding the Fiery, "Please be careful, Sakura," Kero knew that Sakura hadn't told them all that had happened. He sensed something big was wrong, and Sakura's magical aura was worrying him greatly. Her magic power was usually blinding in it's brilliance when looked at through mage sight, but now it was barely flickering. Something was wrong.

Sakura forced the fingers of her right hand to hold the Star wand then reached up with her left, Kero placed the Clow card in it, before fluttering off to wait with Yue.

"Fiery Card!!" she yelled the card's name. Below her a familiar glowing circle appeared, but it was even fainter then the one she called to open the Float had been. She needed to gather a little extra energy, and the easiest way to do that was to spin the Star Wand. But could she do it with one arm? She'd find out soon.

Sakura tossed the Fiery out over the circle of light, which caught it and held it in front of the Card Mistress. She then took the wand in her left hand and started to spin it slowly, glad she had done all those baton drills at school. When she saw that the circle had a brighter glow to it she swung the Star wand at the card hitting it dead center.

"Release And Dispel!! Fiery!!", she finished the summoning. Unbalanced a little by using one arm to open it, Sakura struggled to stand still, watching to see if it had worked. The circle beneath her seemed to kick up it's own wind, reacting to the powerful magic being conducted within. Good! It was opening. Once the card started to glow, Sakura willed it to obey her, she needed the magic in her hand. She had decided that it was the best way to get the kind of control Yue and Kero said she needed to make this work.

Slowly the card turned into a fire colored light which was absorbed through it's contact with the Star wand. It moved down the wand and collected in her hand. Once this had happened, and the glowing seal of Clow had disappeared from beneath her, Sakura fell to her knees gasping in exertion. She was careful to keep her left hand away from her body.



On The Kitchen Table:

When Syaoran had learned that Sakura was alright, his temporary strength had left as he sank once more into a fevered stupor. He wasn't quite sure what was going on, because he seemed to be hallucinating. It couldn't be true that Sakura's father was holding him up, and that Touya was right there glaring at him. And *surely* they hadn't cut off the top of the Li clan ceremonial robes. Therefore it must be a fever dream. Sakura had briefly explained about the poison and that she was going to open the Fiery to help them. The logical, and far away, part of his mind agreed with this move, magical fire should take care of the poison. This part of his mind also might have noticed that there was something *wrong* with all of these people together in Sakura's kitchen. But the logical part of his mind was not in control at the moment, so he did not think of these things. Instead he did what Sakura had told him to do and tried to stay awake, after all Sakura had told him to, so it must be important. Everything Sakura said was important-- at least it was to Li Syaoran.

Syaoran's eyes went from fevered to dreamy, as he thought about Sakura. Usually he didn't let himself think of her this way, he had a responsibility to his family, he had to go back home eventually. But the poison had lowered some of his barriers against his feelings for Sakura, and he had been so worried about her. ~Ahhhhh, Sakura~, he thought. She was perfect, she was beautiful, and she was strong. Stronger in magic then he would ever be, and strong in her caring for others. For a moment he entertained his wish to be with Sakura forever. To marry her someday and live with her in Japan. They would be so happy. *sigh*

Behind him Syaoran sensed the Clow circle being activated, which pulled him out of his thoughts and into a clearer state of mind. Sakura must be opening the Fiery. He half-turned to watch her, and got a few surprises. For one, the circle was a pale shadow of what it should be. For another, Sakura was only spinning the Star wand with one hand. Finally he sensed, with emotions buried deep in his soul that only worked in relation to Sakura, that his love was in mortal peril.

Syaoran closed his eyes and whispered a word that meant both "sight" and "knowing" in an ancient language that was no longer spoken. What he saw when he opened his eyes shocked him to the core. There was almost no trace of Sakura's magic around her at all. There was Clow magic, but the power behind it felt different, like the cards had felt before Sakura caught them. And Syaoran suddenly *knew* that Sakura must not open this card, something was wrong.

"Sakura, No!", he tried to call, but all that came out was a raspy whisper, and she didn't hear him. She swung her sealing wand at the card, hitting it with her usual precision. "No", he tried again desperately, but it was to late, the card had already dissolved into it's pure magic form and traveled down the Star wand to it's Mistress' hand.

"Something Wrong?," Kent had heard him trying to warn Sakura.

"Yes," he answered, "She shouldn't have opened that card!"

"Why not? Kero said she does it all the time." Evidently Syaoran had missed a lot more than he thought, since when was Kero even *talking* to Sakura's father?

"She does it often enough, but it's different this time. I sense she is in danger."

As if his words were a catalyst, Sakura chose that moment to drop the spell and fall to her knees.

"Sakura!!!" Syaoran (well everyone really) yelled in worry. Yue was closest, he had started moving as soon as the Clow Seal powered down. Syaoran wished with everything he was that he could be there for his beloved, but he knew that even if he tried to get to her now he could be of no help. Not in his current condition. All he could do was watch in concern as the Moon Guardian went to his Mistress' aid.



Back At Ground Zero:

Sakura tried to breath slowly, grasping to strengthen her tenuous hold on both the Fiery Card and her own consciousness. She noticed Yue approach as if to help her stand. She couldn't let him get close now! She needed more control first, until then anyone who got near her would get hurt. Or, more specifically, they would get burned.

"No! Yue stay back!" she ordered. Yue stopped instantly.

"What is it?", he asked.

"And did you open it? Are you okay?," finished Kero, floating along behind him.

"I'm alright," she assured them. ~For now, at least~ she added mentally.

"What about the card?" Kero asked again.

In answer Sakura simply lifted her left hand from the dropped Star Wand and held it up for them to see. Sakura heard them all gasp, she understood why. Her hand was encased in a burning glove of fire, flaring out of control and smoothly lying against her skin from one second to the next, constantly leaping from one form to the other. She had to get control fast, she could already feel the newly opened card begin to draw on the other elemental cards to stay open. It had happened much more swiftly than she or the Fiery had thought it would. Time was running out.

She stared hard at her hand willing the fire to obey. Once she felt she had enough of a command over it she asked Yue to help her to the table. When they got there she immediately noticed that Syaoran looked more alert and was almost sitting up without help from her father. In Syaoran's eyes she saw worry and fear for her safety. She tried to tell him that it would be okay with her eyes. But all his eyes said back was that he knew she wasn't telling them something. She looked away before he could see the truth of his anxieties in her face.

Sakura sat down at the table, careful to keep her left side toward Syaoran so he could not see the severity of her injury. "Yue," she almost whispered, "hold my arm down please, don't let go, no matter what. Okay?" she watched Yue closely until he nodded his eyes sad, he knew what she meant. She most likely would not start out with the kind of control needed to keep the magic fire from burning more then she wanted it to. She required someone to hold her arm firmly, so that when she burned it (which she couldn't see not happening at first) she wouldn't be able to jerk it away. Yue was the only one level-headed enough to handle this, the others in the room were strong enough, but not where she was concerned. She was their weakness. Yue understood when things had to be done, and he did them.

Sakura laid her arm flat on the table and Yue held it still, his wings *accidentally* blocking the view. Now, if she could only keep from screaming, the marshmallow men (and stuffed animal) in the room need never know.

Sakura took a deep breath and let it out slowly, before clamping her jaw shut with resolution, she wouldn't make a sound. She examined her arm again, it looked *really* icky, she'd better get this over with. She started at the upper end of the gash, almost up to the bend in her arm. The moment she touched the tip of one fire incased finger to the cut she knew that her prediction had been right, her arm jerked involuntarily under Yue restraint. The pain was almost indescribable, like a red hot poker stabbing into her arm, she gritted her teeth as silent tears leaked from her eyes to streak down her face.

She drew a shaky breath and fell to her last recourse, pulling her mind into the trace-like state she used when trying to get a reading from the Clow Cards. Sakura pushed her mind past the pain and concentrated on burning *just* the poison, and closing the wound. Immediately the pain lessened and by the time she had slowly drawn her finger along the length of the cut, it didn't hurt at all, just tickled a little. The top of the injury, of course, still hurt very badly. But she continued to block this pain as she pulled herself out of the trance, and glanced down at the now healed gash. Well, healed except for the part where she had begun, which was blistering. She again forced the thought from her mind and focused on the good side: She'd done it! She could heal Syaoran!! (AN: Yeah! ^_^)

Sakura looked up at Yue in triumph, meeting the question in his deep-purple eyes. Was she okay? She nodded, she was better then she had been. Yue released her arm and stepped back, giving Sakura room to stand, which she did while inconspicuously wiping the tears from her face. Now on to more important things, she turned to Syaoran.

To Be Continued ^_^