Part One: Missing Pieces
"Hoe...!!!" yelled Sakura as she held her alarm clock an inch away from her face.
Kero-chan reluctantly awoke from his bed in her drawer. "What is it now?" he grumbled.
"I'm late!" she shouted as she rushed to her closet.
Kero smirked. "So what else is new?" he asked with a laugh.
Sakura ignored his remark. She was too busy rummaging through her clothes. She hurried to put on her Tomoeda high school uniform on.
Kero sighed in disappointment as he watched Sakura, the one whose title is the Card Mistress, panic over being late. Some things never change, he thought.
Sakura was almost finished with her hair when Fujitaka called her from the kitchen. It seemed that Tomoyo was there to offer Sakura a ride to school... in her limo.
Sakura smiled happily when she heard she'd be going to school in a limo. She quickly straightened her tie and jacket. She picked up her bag and was about to go out when she suddenly received a weird feeling. She looked to her desk, where she felt the power was coming from. Sakura slowly opened her drawer, being completely cautious. She slowly opened the Book and peeked inside. Nothing. Nothing but her Sakura Cards neatly stacked into it's case. She wondered what the feeling was but it was too late for that when Tomoyo called her from downstairs.
She suddenly remembered that she was late and quickly put the Cards back into it's place and rushed out of her room yelling, "Gomen Tomoyo!"
As soon as she left, the Flower levitated into the air. It began to glow a mysterious blue when suddenly, it vanished.
The unsuspecting Kero lazily snored from inside his drawer, as yet another Sakura Card - the Sweet - beamed and disappeared as well.
Meanwhile, at the Tomoeda High School, two new students from Hong Kong are being introduced to the class.
"Hurry Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura yelled as she hurried up the steps of her school. Struggling behind her was the exhausted Tomoyo.
"I don't see why we have to hurry," Tomoyo said between pants. "Tsulynn-sensei will understand."
"She'll 'understand' for you!" Sakura said in outburst as she opened the doors and entered the hallway. "This is your first time!"
Tomoyo suddenly stopped. "Why? How many times have you been late?"
Sakura stopped as well. She played with her fingers in embarrassment. "Twelve?" she said meekly.
Tomoyo's jaw dropped like a ton of bricks. "Twelve?!" she asked in disbelief. "How can that be? We've only have two weeks of school!"
Sakura continued to play with her fingers as she held her head low. "I was late for detention too."
Tomoyo rubbed her temples in grief. "Sakura-chan..."
"It's not my fault! The school's clock is WAY too early!"
Tomoyo didn't even bother to comment her excuse. She only hoped Tsulynn-sensei would be so gullible as to believe whatever Sakura spins.
As the two girls rushed inside the classroom, all eyes, including Tsulynn-sensei's, were on them. But one set in particular made Sakura feel like jelly. It was the same chestnut eyes that she had known for so long. One word popped into her head: Syaoran.
There he was, sitting casually on the desk infront of her's. He looked at her without any sign of pain or anger.
How could he be so calm? Sakura was panicking like a dog does when in sight of a rolled-up newspaper. Only worse.
She barely stood; her knees were shaking so bad. All she could think about was waking up. This has to be a dream, Sakura thought. It just has to be! But she knew very well that it wasn't.
Beside her, Tomoyo couldn't help but notice Sakura's state. She looked like she had just been hit with a dictionary. Her les were barely supporting herself.
Tomoyo met Syaoran's stare. It was the same glare he had three years ago, when they were still capturing Cards. That's when she wondered why he was there. She knew about the breakup. And she was sure that Syaoran would never ever come back after what Sakura had done.
That was when she noticed the girl beside him. She was new and looked at the two as well. Her eyes were blue and her hair was a dove grey. She wondered if Syaoran knew her.
"Kinomoto-san!" yelled Tsulynn-sensei. "This is your thirteenth tardy! One more and I will be forced to contact your father!"
The sudden outburst of her algebra teacher snapped Sakura out of her daze. "G-Gomen, Tsulynn-sensei." she muttered. Her voice was shaky. She was stunned, and Syaoran knew it.
During lunch, Sakura was still overcome with shock. "He's in all of our classes, Tomoyo!" she said a bit too loudly. People around her began to stare.
"Maybe it won't be too bad," she said weakly. Even she didn't believe herself.
"Why is he here in the first place?!" she asked as she stabbed her sushi with her chopstick. "It was hard enough to break up with him, but now I have to sit behind him too?!"
"Calm down Sakura," Tomoyo said as she took the chopstick from Sakura's hands. "I'm sure he's over it," she paused, "are you?"
Sakura looked at Tomoyo in surprise. "Of course I am. I'm the one who broke it off right?" Tomoyo nodded. But she knew there was more to it than that.
In another side of the lunch area, Syaoran angrily fiddled with his dim sum. It was harder to see her again than he realized.
Beside him Ayame calmly ate her rice balls. "So," she asked, feeling that someone should start the conversation. "Nice weather here in Japan, huh?" She was obviously trying to avoid the 'Sakura' topic.
Syaoran knew what she was doing. "Yeah right," he said flatly. He put his chopsticks down.
Ayame began to get worried. He hadn't finished his dim sum, his favorite food in the world. "What's wrong?" she asked, even though she knew very well what was wrong.
"Nothing," Syaoran said, he didn't feel like talking about it.
Ayame put her chopsticks down and looked at him. "She's pretty," she said softly.
Syaoran looked at Ayame in surprise. He didn't expect her to say that. "What?" he asked.
Ayame gripped her skirt. "She's pretty," she repeated. She was in obvious pain. She had been engaged to Syaoran for three years, and even then she feels that Syaoran still has feelings for Sakura.
Syaoran didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure how to answer. If he said 'yes', it would break Ayame's heart. And it wouldn't do any good if he said 'no', for Ayame could tell if he was lying or not. He just sat there on the lunch table, staring at his half-finished dim sum. He started to feel the same way he did when he told Meiling that he loved another. What kind of a person am I? he asked himself. You're scum, he told himself. That's what you are.
Ayame straightened her skirt and jacket. She decided not to let the whole 'Sakura' thing get to her. It hurt Syaoran enough to be here, she might as well try her best to not add to the pain. After all, she was still his fiancé, and she'd at least do her best to keep her promise to Meiling.
*flashback* (Note: this is in Hong Kong, when they were still 11)
Meiling looked at Ayame. "Promise me something," she said softly.
Ayame looked at her cousin. "Yeah?" she asked. It was right before Syaoran and Ayame's departure to Japan. Meiling, along with a few other relatives, were there to see them off.
"Promise that you won't let anything - or anybody - hurt Syaoran," she said in a quivering whisper. Even if Meiling wasn't Syaoran's fiancé, she was still his cousin.
Ayame nodded as the tears dropped from her eyes. "Sure," she said as she gave her best friend - and cousin - a hug. "I promise," she whispered as Meiling let out the tears.
*end of flashback*
Ayame turned to Syaoran with a fake smile. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I shouldn't have said anything."
Syaoran shook his head. "No, I'm glad you said it." Ayame nodded as she proceeded to eat her lunch.
After school, Sakura talked about Syaoran's sudden appearance with Kero. "Something's not right," Kero said suspiciously.
"Why?" Sakura asked.
"I can feel it in my bones," Kero explained. "That kid wants something."
Sakura didn't understand. "You think he came all the way to Japan just to get something?"
"He did the first time," Kero said with a faint smile.
Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm sure it's not that. He wouldn't come back after I-", she stopped herself. Kero didn't know that she broke up with him. And she planned to keep it that way.
Kero looked at her suspiciously. "Is there somehting you're not telling me?" he asked quizzically.
"No...," Sakura said as she looked down in guilt. Kero decided to leave the subject alone. He'd find out sooner of later.
Suddenly he received a strange feeling. It was like a part of him was taken away. He turned to the Clow Book, which laid open on Sakura's desk. Sakura had forgotten to put in back in the drawer that morning.
He flew to the Book, and rumaged through the Cards. He suddenly let out a loud gasp.
"What?" Sakura asked as she walked over to him.
Kero didn't hear her. He was too busy panicking. He frantically looked through all of the Cards. But still, no luck. "No!" he yelled.
Sakura suddenly felt worried. "What is it Kero?"
Kero spread out the Cards, making sure all of the faces were shown. "The Firey." he said slowly. "It's... gone."
"What?!" Sakura asked in surprise. "It can't be," she said as she looked through all of the Cards. Kero was right. The Firey was no where to be found. That meant that kero could no longer turn into his true form, Keroberos.
And Kero knew it. No wonder he felt like a part of him was taken away. The Firey was like Kero's strength, his courage. But now it was gone. But how?
"How can it just be gone?" Sakura asked as she paced around her room.
"That's not the only thing missing," Kero said in a low voice.
"What?" Sakura asked as she looked at the stack. "No...," she whispered as she realized that The Flower, The Sweet, and The Earthy was gone as well. "Where can they be?!" she asked angrily. "I knew I felt something strange this morning."
"What?" Kero asked. He sounded different. Angrier. But who could blame him? He can't turn into his true form anymore.
"I-I felt a weird power coming from the book," she said cautiously. "Like a part of me was taken."
"That makes sense," Kero said as he put the Cards back in it's place.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You're the Card Mistress. They're a part of you now. Once you captured them, they are ultimately under your power. They give you strength," Kero explained. He sounded a little too close to home... his home. "And, I'm guessing, if they disappear, so will your powers."
"What?!"
"The Cards are like pieces of a puzzle, you're the puzzle. And, like a real puzzle, you won't be complete without all of them."
Sakura let out a sigh of disbelief. "What - or who - could be doing this?" she said. Kero shrugged. He couldn't even begin to guess.
"I have to get them back," she said as she pulled out the Magic Key, which still hung around her neck.
"Exactly how are you going to do that?" Kero asked with a sarcastic tone.
Sakura stood there without moving for a few minutes. She blinked cluelessly. "I don't know," she said admittedly.
"Exactly," Kero said with a smirk.
"Give me a break!" Sakura said in her defense. "This never happened to me before!"
In a simple Tomoeda appartment, Syaoran silently looked out his bedroom window. Ayame entered with a tray full of tea and cookies. She set it on his desk - with his homework scattered everywhere - and stood behind him, admiring the beautiful sunset.
"Just a matter of time," Syaoran said in a low voice, "before they're all gone."
"Then you'll begin?" Ayame asked.
Syaoran nodded. "Then I'll start my search." Ayame nodded in understandment as she took a seat next to him. For a while no one spoke, they just let the sudden darkness speak for them.
"Hoe...!!!" yelled Sakura as she held her alarm clock an inch away from her face.
Kero-chan reluctantly awoke from his bed in her drawer. "What is it now?" he grumbled.
"I'm late!" she shouted as she rushed to her closet.
Kero smirked. "So what else is new?" he asked with a laugh.
Sakura ignored his remark. She was too busy rummaging through her clothes. She hurried to put on her Tomoeda high school uniform on.
Kero sighed in disappointment as he watched Sakura, the one whose title is the Card Mistress, panic over being late. Some things never change, he thought.
Sakura was almost finished with her hair when Fujitaka called her from the kitchen. It seemed that Tomoyo was there to offer Sakura a ride to school... in her limo.
Sakura smiled happily when she heard she'd be going to school in a limo. She quickly straightened her tie and jacket. She picked up her bag and was about to go out when she suddenly received a weird feeling. She looked to her desk, where she felt the power was coming from. Sakura slowly opened her drawer, being completely cautious. She slowly opened the Book and peeked inside. Nothing. Nothing but her Sakura Cards neatly stacked into it's case. She wondered what the feeling was but it was too late for that when Tomoyo called her from downstairs.
She suddenly remembered that she was late and quickly put the Cards back into it's place and rushed out of her room yelling, "Gomen Tomoyo!"
As soon as she left, the Flower levitated into the air. It began to glow a mysterious blue when suddenly, it vanished.
The unsuspecting Kero lazily snored from inside his drawer, as yet another Sakura Card - the Sweet - beamed and disappeared as well.
Meanwhile, at the Tomoeda High School, two new students from Hong Kong are being introduced to the class.
"Hurry Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura yelled as she hurried up the steps of her school. Struggling behind her was the exhausted Tomoyo.
"I don't see why we have to hurry," Tomoyo said between pants. "Tsulynn-sensei will understand."
"She'll 'understand' for you!" Sakura said in outburst as she opened the doors and entered the hallway. "This is your first time!"
Tomoyo suddenly stopped. "Why? How many times have you been late?"
Sakura stopped as well. She played with her fingers in embarrassment. "Twelve?" she said meekly.
Tomoyo's jaw dropped like a ton of bricks. "Twelve?!" she asked in disbelief. "How can that be? We've only have two weeks of school!"
Sakura continued to play with her fingers as she held her head low. "I was late for detention too."
Tomoyo rubbed her temples in grief. "Sakura-chan..."
"It's not my fault! The school's clock is WAY too early!"
Tomoyo didn't even bother to comment her excuse. She only hoped Tsulynn-sensei would be so gullible as to believe whatever Sakura spins.
As the two girls rushed inside the classroom, all eyes, including Tsulynn-sensei's, were on them. But one set in particular made Sakura feel like jelly. It was the same chestnut eyes that she had known for so long. One word popped into her head: Syaoran.
There he was, sitting casually on the desk infront of her's. He looked at her without any sign of pain or anger.
How could he be so calm? Sakura was panicking like a dog does when in sight of a rolled-up newspaper. Only worse.
She barely stood; her knees were shaking so bad. All she could think about was waking up. This has to be a dream, Sakura thought. It just has to be! But she knew very well that it wasn't.
Beside her, Tomoyo couldn't help but notice Sakura's state. She looked like she had just been hit with a dictionary. Her les were barely supporting herself.
Tomoyo met Syaoran's stare. It was the same glare he had three years ago, when they were still capturing Cards. That's when she wondered why he was there. She knew about the breakup. And she was sure that Syaoran would never ever come back after what Sakura had done.
That was when she noticed the girl beside him. She was new and looked at the two as well. Her eyes were blue and her hair was a dove grey. She wondered if Syaoran knew her.
"Kinomoto-san!" yelled Tsulynn-sensei. "This is your thirteenth tardy! One more and I will be forced to contact your father!"
The sudden outburst of her algebra teacher snapped Sakura out of her daze. "G-Gomen, Tsulynn-sensei." she muttered. Her voice was shaky. She was stunned, and Syaoran knew it.
During lunch, Sakura was still overcome with shock. "He's in all of our classes, Tomoyo!" she said a bit too loudly. People around her began to stare.
"Maybe it won't be too bad," she said weakly. Even she didn't believe herself.
"Why is he here in the first place?!" she asked as she stabbed her sushi with her chopstick. "It was hard enough to break up with him, but now I have to sit behind him too?!"
"Calm down Sakura," Tomoyo said as she took the chopstick from Sakura's hands. "I'm sure he's over it," she paused, "are you?"
Sakura looked at Tomoyo in surprise. "Of course I am. I'm the one who broke it off right?" Tomoyo nodded. But she knew there was more to it than that.
In another side of the lunch area, Syaoran angrily fiddled with his dim sum. It was harder to see her again than he realized.
Beside him Ayame calmly ate her rice balls. "So," she asked, feeling that someone should start the conversation. "Nice weather here in Japan, huh?" She was obviously trying to avoid the 'Sakura' topic.
Syaoran knew what she was doing. "Yeah right," he said flatly. He put his chopsticks down.
Ayame began to get worried. He hadn't finished his dim sum, his favorite food in the world. "What's wrong?" she asked, even though she knew very well what was wrong.
"Nothing," Syaoran said, he didn't feel like talking about it.
Ayame put her chopsticks down and looked at him. "She's pretty," she said softly.
Syaoran looked at Ayame in surprise. He didn't expect her to say that. "What?" he asked.
Ayame gripped her skirt. "She's pretty," she repeated. She was in obvious pain. She had been engaged to Syaoran for three years, and even then she feels that Syaoran still has feelings for Sakura.
Syaoran didn't know what to say. He wasn't sure how to answer. If he said 'yes', it would break Ayame's heart. And it wouldn't do any good if he said 'no', for Ayame could tell if he was lying or not. He just sat there on the lunch table, staring at his half-finished dim sum. He started to feel the same way he did when he told Meiling that he loved another. What kind of a person am I? he asked himself. You're scum, he told himself. That's what you are.
Ayame straightened her skirt and jacket. She decided not to let the whole 'Sakura' thing get to her. It hurt Syaoran enough to be here, she might as well try her best to not add to the pain. After all, she was still his fiancé, and she'd at least do her best to keep her promise to Meiling.
*flashback* (Note: this is in Hong Kong, when they were still 11)
Meiling looked at Ayame. "Promise me something," she said softly.
Ayame looked at her cousin. "Yeah?" she asked. It was right before Syaoran and Ayame's departure to Japan. Meiling, along with a few other relatives, were there to see them off.
"Promise that you won't let anything - or anybody - hurt Syaoran," she said in a quivering whisper. Even if Meiling wasn't Syaoran's fiancé, she was still his cousin.
Ayame nodded as the tears dropped from her eyes. "Sure," she said as she gave her best friend - and cousin - a hug. "I promise," she whispered as Meiling let out the tears.
*end of flashback*
Ayame turned to Syaoran with a fake smile. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "I shouldn't have said anything."
Syaoran shook his head. "No, I'm glad you said it." Ayame nodded as she proceeded to eat her lunch.
After school, Sakura talked about Syaoran's sudden appearance with Kero. "Something's not right," Kero said suspiciously.
"Why?" Sakura asked.
"I can feel it in my bones," Kero explained. "That kid wants something."
Sakura didn't understand. "You think he came all the way to Japan just to get something?"
"He did the first time," Kero said with a faint smile.
Sakura shook her head. "No, I'm sure it's not that. He wouldn't come back after I-", she stopped herself. Kero didn't know that she broke up with him. And she planned to keep it that way.
Kero looked at her suspiciously. "Is there somehting you're not telling me?" he asked quizzically.
"No...," Sakura said as she looked down in guilt. Kero decided to leave the subject alone. He'd find out sooner of later.
Suddenly he received a strange feeling. It was like a part of him was taken away. He turned to the Clow Book, which laid open on Sakura's desk. Sakura had forgotten to put in back in the drawer that morning.
He flew to the Book, and rumaged through the Cards. He suddenly let out a loud gasp.
"What?" Sakura asked as she walked over to him.
Kero didn't hear her. He was too busy panicking. He frantically looked through all of the Cards. But still, no luck. "No!" he yelled.
Sakura suddenly felt worried. "What is it Kero?"
Kero spread out the Cards, making sure all of the faces were shown. "The Firey." he said slowly. "It's... gone."
"What?!" Sakura asked in surprise. "It can't be," she said as she looked through all of the Cards. Kero was right. The Firey was no where to be found. That meant that kero could no longer turn into his true form, Keroberos.
And Kero knew it. No wonder he felt like a part of him was taken away. The Firey was like Kero's strength, his courage. But now it was gone. But how?
"How can it just be gone?" Sakura asked as she paced around her room.
"That's not the only thing missing," Kero said in a low voice.
"What?" Sakura asked as she looked at the stack. "No...," she whispered as she realized that The Flower, The Sweet, and The Earthy was gone as well. "Where can they be?!" she asked angrily. "I knew I felt something strange this morning."
"What?" Kero asked. He sounded different. Angrier. But who could blame him? He can't turn into his true form anymore.
"I-I felt a weird power coming from the book," she said cautiously. "Like a part of me was taken."
"That makes sense," Kero said as he put the Cards back in it's place.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"You're the Card Mistress. They're a part of you now. Once you captured them, they are ultimately under your power. They give you strength," Kero explained. He sounded a little too close to home... his home. "And, I'm guessing, if they disappear, so will your powers."
"What?!"
"The Cards are like pieces of a puzzle, you're the puzzle. And, like a real puzzle, you won't be complete without all of them."
Sakura let out a sigh of disbelief. "What - or who - could be doing this?" she said. Kero shrugged. He couldn't even begin to guess.
"I have to get them back," she said as she pulled out the Magic Key, which still hung around her neck.
"Exactly how are you going to do that?" Kero asked with a sarcastic tone.
Sakura stood there without moving for a few minutes. She blinked cluelessly. "I don't know," she said admittedly.
"Exactly," Kero said with a smirk.
"Give me a break!" Sakura said in her defense. "This never happened to me before!"
In a simple Tomoeda appartment, Syaoran silently looked out his bedroom window. Ayame entered with a tray full of tea and cookies. She set it on his desk - with his homework scattered everywhere - and stood behind him, admiring the beautiful sunset.
"Just a matter of time," Syaoran said in a low voice, "before they're all gone."
"Then you'll begin?" Ayame asked.
Syaoran nodded. "Then I'll start my search." Ayame nodded in understandment as she took a seat next to him. For a while no one spoke, they just let the sudden darkness speak for them.