"What The Cards Were For"

A Card Captor Fanfiction

By: Bekah-chan

Rated: PG (for, an

improvised explanation)



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



Author's Notes: My sister pointed out that some of this chapter doesn't exactly jive with the show. Well, this *is* a fanfiction. In my universe, Sakura did all the magic herself, and the sealing wand was just a tool to help her get her magic past that barrier Clow put in her mind (remember that? :) Anyway, hope that didn't confuse anybody. Thanks for the Reviews! Now I have more than 100!!! :) Yay! Thanks guys! Now I feel all warm and fuzzy!! ^_^



Chapter 36:

To revive the slumberous Kerberos, the group decided to use an age-old remedy: Water. (Which, luckily, Sakura did not say) Unfortunately, they could not decided how *much* water to use. Madison thought a sprinkle of water would do the job. Sakura, looking at the limp form still dangling from Syaoran's hand, thought a handful of the liquid stuff, would be better. Syaoran and Touya, oddly, both agreed, on the 'entire bucket' plan. Kent just stood there, amused. It was interesting to see these kids debate over how much water was needed to revive an unconscious stuffed-animal. He could have told them that the bickering was unnecessary, said Magical Beast was coming back, all on his own.

"Hey, Kid!! Let GO of my TAIL before I BITE you!!" Syaoran quickly complied.

Kero (now free) flew back to his Mistress and sat on her shoulder once again. The small Magical Beast picked up his tail and started to fluff the end, which Syaoran had quashed.

"You need to be more careful of peoples tails!" Kero lectured Syaoran, adding a glare for good measure. Sakura glared too, she wanted Syaoran to apologize.

"Sorry, Fluff-ball," Syaoran reluctantly ceded under his love's icy stare.

"You should be," Kero agreed. It seemed he had not even noticed the use of the hated nick-name, he was to busy getting the tip of his tail 'just so'.

While Kero made sure his tail was okay, Sakura was thinking about her dreams. From what they had told her, and from what Kero had said (pre-faint), she got the gist of what the Stealers could do. And she didn't want Kero to suffer anymore with the retelling.

"Kero," she waited til she had his attention, "Let's just say that Stealers cause 'unspeakable torture', and move on. Okay?"

Kero gave another little shudder, and nodded, "Okay."

"Right then, moving on. Kero, how did Clow defeat the Soul-Stealer?" Sakura asked gently.

"Well," *tremble*, "I was pretty out of it, but I think I remember lightning."

Sakura thought about that for awhile. The night before, in the park, she had destroyed the two minions with lightning (or Thunder). And, while she had sensed the Stealer coming before, after her little lightning storm, she had not sensed it anywhere.

"Umm," Sakura admitted, "I sensed the Stealer in the park last night."

Syaoran, Kero, Touya, and Kent: "You WHAT?!?!"

"Sakura! Why didn't you tell us?" Syaoran demanded.

"Because I knew you'd act like this! I didn't want to cause a panic!"

Syaoran, Kero, Touya, and Kent: "Good Point."

"Anyway," the Card Mistress went on, "After I fried the minion-monsters with lightning, it was gone. So, it must have been scared off by the lightning! That's how we can battle it!"

"That's a pretty weak plan, Sakura," Touya observed.

Sakura glared at her brother, "Do you have a better one?"

"Give me a minute, monster, I'm sure I can come up with one."

"I am not a MONSTER!!!!!!!!!" she kicked him in the shin.

"Stop it, you two!" ordered their parent, "We're saving the World here! Behave!"

Sakura and Touya (meekly): "Yes, Dad."

*quiet thinking*

"Kero?" Syaoran finally said.

"Ya, Kid?"

"You said I needed to help Sakura, right? That Clow said we needed to work together to defeat it?"

"Ya"

"I've got a spell that will, probably, amp-up my lightning spell. And Thunder should be stronger with Sakura's power released. Sakura and I can hit it at the same time. That should *at least* weaken it some right?"

"Hey! Ya, it should!" Kero smiled a little.

"And," added Sakura, "We can improvise from there. We usually do better that way, in any case." Syaoran, Kero, and Madison, nodded their agreement with the statement. Kent and Touya just stared.

"Wait a minute!" everyone turned to Touya. "Let me get this straight; Out there," he pointed to the window, "is a huge monster, with the cuddly name of 'Soul-Stealer'; An ancient sorcerer named Clow Reed had a vision it would destroy the world; Sakura and the gaki are the only things that stand in it's way; And you are going to IMPROVISE!?!?!?!"

"Yep," Madison answered.

"Are you all INSANE?!?!?!?"

"No, Touya, we are not 'insane'. I've, we've, been doing this for almost 6 years. We know what we're doing." Sakura insisted.

Touya looked like he would complain again, and Kero decided to do something.

"Hey! Come here," he gesture for Kent and Touya to follow him as he drifted a few yards from the group. When he thought they were out of hearing distance, he turned to face Sakura's family. He needed to explain before Touya undermined Sakura's confidence, that would *definitely* get them all killed. ~Or~ Kero thought of the one Soul-Stealer he had met in his life, ~worse than that.~

"Now, listen up," he began, "I've worked with Sakura and the Kid for a long time, and they didn't have a solid plan for most of the battles we went into. But they still won. I'm telln' ya right now, when those two 'improvise' it is truly a beautiful thing to see."

"Why is that?" Kent asked curiously. Touya just shook his head.

Kero remembered when Sakura had caught her first Card (the Fly); When Syaoran had saved Sakura during the capture of the Cloud Card; How fast they adapted to the Fiery Card situation; Sakura had told him how they had both caught the Sand Card; And worked together in returning the Freeze to it's Card form. Kero tried to think of a way to put that into words.

"This is kinda hard to explain," he admitted. Touya snorted skeptically, Kero shot him a glare. "But I'll try. First off these kids are *really* good at what they do."

"What they do?" Kent asked.

"Magic."

"Oh, right."

"And, while Sakura is a little better at it," Kero smiled in pride as he pictured the way Sakura had suddenly known what to do on her first capture, the amazing roller-blade acrobatics that had enabled her to flip onto the Fly Card's back, the perfect place to capture it,"they both have inspirational intuition that's off the charts."

Kent nodded, Touya still looked skeptical. So, Kero decided an example was in order.

"Touya, remember when that false Sakura was running around?"

Touya nodded reluctantly.

"Well, that was the Mirror Card. When it lured you off that cliff," Kent gasped, he also remembered that incident, "Sakura knew you were in trouble. And she knew where to find you. She tracked your location until she got too worried to think straight, and then Syaoran was there to help her with the Lazen-board (AN: I don't think I spelled that right :). The point is, with only a few hints from me and the Cards, Sakura knew you were in danger, knew where you were, and deduced which Card it was."

Touya looked thoughtful.

"I was taught by one of the greatest sorcerers in history," Kero wrapped it up, "so I should know what I'm talking about here. Trust me when I tell you, if anyone can beat the Stealer, improvising or not, these kids can."

Both Kent and Touya nodded this time. And Kero knew they would support his Mistress. Which was good, Kero had a feeling she would need it before this was over.

To Be Continued ^_^