"What The Cards Were For"
A Card Captor Fanfiction
By: Bekah-chan
Rated: PG (for
Sakura confusion)
Disclaimer: I don't now, have never, and will never own Card Captors. *sigh*
Chapter 23:
Syaoran narrowed his concentration as he looked at the group of Sakuras, trying to find the differences between them. The first thing he noticed, only because he was looking, was that with the Sakuras aged 2-10 there was only *one* Sakura per year. But once Sakura passed the age of eleven and became a Card Captor, there were at least *three* for every year. And her 11th year, when she caught all the Cards, had *six* Sakuras representing it. He spared a thought as to why the youngest was 2, and decided that the Sakuras must be made up of her memories and she must not have any clear ones before the age of 2, which kind of made sense. So, continuing in the same pattern, if she only had one memory-Sakura to represent herself at each age, he had to find the ones for years 11-16 and the Sakuras that were left had to be part of the *real* Sakura. Then all he had to do was get her back together. Simple, right? *sigh*
~Okay~ he said, getting the group to pay attention to him, ~All the Card Captor Sakuras over to one side~, he gestured to his right, ~and ages 2-10 over there~, he gestured to his left. It took a few moments to get them all separate, then he began to examine the Card Captor ones in earnest, which caused most of them to giggle.
~All the eleven year olds step forward, please~ they did as he asked, and he got another surprise. There weren't *six* of them, more like *ten*! Oh, this was impossible!!
~What, exactly, are we doing?~ Sakura-in-blue asked curiously. Syaoran didn't see any reason why they *couldn't* know, so he explained it to them.
~Oh! What a mess!~ said the Sakura still standing beside him. He glanced over and noticed that she was *his* Sakura again.
~Any ideas?~ he asked her.
~Well, the memory-Sakuras would be more like I see myself.....~ she trailed off again. *sigh* At least she had given him a place to start looking before she left. So, how did Sakura see herself? He had no idea. (AN: Neither does the author! Help!! :) He decided to start by weeding out the Sakuras that he was sure she didn't see herself as, then go from there.
He cast his eyes across the Sakuras in front of him, stopping on Sakura-in-blue. That was the one who was after the Watery Card. She was still giggling and blushing a little at the attention. Um, did Sakura see herself with such cheerful curiosity? He didn't think so.
~Okay, Sakura-in-blue~ he pointed to her, then gestured further to the right of the group, ~would you step over there please?~
~Sure!~ she did as he asked, giggling all the way. Some of the other Sakuras giggled as well, and that gave him another idea. For, while Sakura did giggle at times, and he thought it was adorable, she seemed embarrassed when she did it, so he didn't think she would see herself that way. So, all the giggling Sakuras went over to join Sakura-in-blue.
He also dismissed the Sakuras that didn't seem to like him, and deliberately didn't think of why they were the first to go after the gigglers. The ones who liked him too much were ditched as well, she would never be that obvious in her affections. Finally he jettisoned the ones who didn't know him, because ummm, just because! He didn't think it was too arrogant of him to assume that he had become enough a part of her life that it would influence her self-image.
After the weeding was over he had six Sakuras left, he needed five. He gestured four of them over to stand with the 2-10 group, and gazed despairingly at the last two. They were both eleven, and he had no ideas left how to rule one out. He stepped closer as he stared at them, one was the Sakura that captured the Fiery Card, the other had sealed the Twin Card. He still couldn't decide which one represented how Sakura saw herself in her eleventh year. If only he had another opinion!
Just as he thought that, and this seemed to be happening a lot lately, help arrived in the form of the Windy and the Fiery Cards. The Windy emerged from the pink fog dragging the Fiery behind it.
~But I want to find Mistress Sakura!~ the Fiery protested.
~How many times do I have to tell you! All the Skauras are here! They're *all* found!~
~But how can you *know* that for sure?~
~Because I *know* things! Now, come on! Master Syaoran needs us!~
~He does? Well, why didn't you say so?~
~I did! Arg! Never mind! Just come on!~ Syaoran was a little surprised at this abrasive personality coming from the Windy Card, it had always seemed so gentle before. In his mind he could almost hear Kero's favorite comment: 'Expect the Unexpected!' Fluff ball.
~So~ said the Windy as the two Cards joined him in looking at the remaining Skauras, ~Can't decide between these two, huh?~
~No~, he admitted, ~The Sakura who captured the Fiery was brave and faced her fears. The one who sealed the Twin was compassionate, and excepted Maelin into our group.~ he explained, ~Oh, and neither giggle.~
~Yes~ Windy nodded, ~Well, that's why we're here. Fiery anyway, it can help.~
~Help with what?~ Fiery asked.
~We need to decide which Sakura is how the Mistress would see herself.~
~Is that all? That one..~ the Fiery pointed at the Sakura that had captured it.
~Why do you think so?~ Syaoran asked.
~Well, look at her~, all three looked, ~See how she keeps stealing glances at you, Master Syaoran, then looking away again?~
~Yes~, he could see that. Her body language said that she *liked* him, but didn't what him to know.
~That was when she started to have a crush on you, and admitted it to herself. All the Cards knew.~
~Oh~ Syaoran blushed, what *else* did the Cards know?
~Alright then, that's settled~, Windy said. The two Sakuras, who knew the drill by now, went to their respective groups, to wait for what was next. Hey, wait a minute! What *was* next?
~What now?~ Syaoran asked Windy, because it seemed to *know* things.
~You mean *you* don't have any ideas about that either?~ Windy returned. (AN: Uh-oh! So much for Windy being in the *know* ^_~)
To Be Continued ^_^