A/N: My heart goes out to all those families that were effected by the terrible acts of violence on the United States earlier

A/N: My heart goes out to all those families that were effected by the terrible acts of violence on the United States earlier this week. No punishment is too harsh for these heartless creatures, and I hope the terrorists are caught soon. Everyone has been left wondering what they can do, and I was answered with "Not much". So here's my next chapter, and I'm hoping if anyone reads it they will find a little bit of sunshine to take their mind off of a less than pleasant world for a little while. It's seems to be the most I can do for now.

Just another note, later in the chapter the words will be colour. The green ones are Torako.

Chapter Six

"I'm telling you, that girl is bad news Sakura. She's the Brat's match, and that's saying a lot."

"What do you mean?" Sakura furrowed her brow. She and Kero were having one of those heart-to-heart bedtime talks again.

"Li is a tough rival for anybody, I'll give him that much, but Torako can do things that he can only dream of. You know how hard it was for you when Li came along, right?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Well, picture what it would have been like if Li had even more powers than he did when you two were rivals, and you've got Zachary's situation. I don't mean that she's necessarily stronger, it's just that she has a wider range of skills that she can use, and all Zachary has is potential so far."

"So, what exactly are you trying to say Kero?"

"What if Zachary doesn't get a chance? He's hardly done any magic at all. By the time Li showed up hear you'd already caught a bunch of cards, so you had a bit of experience. When Torako got here, she captured the very first one!"

"Kero, you're really worried about him, aren't you?" Sakura smiled light-heartedly.

"Well, he kind of grows on ya." Kero said sheepishly.

"Yeah, just like a spore."

"I thought you two were friends?"

"Okay then, a loveable spore." Sakura sighed.

"Anyway, what if that girl challenges you?"

"What? She wouldn't do that, we're friends!"

"Don't be so sure of that. She may be a wolf in sheep's clothing Sakura, you can't be too careful."

"I know, but for some reason I just trust her. When she's around Madison and me I don't feel any bad vibes from her at all. I really don't think she'd try anything."

"Maybe you're right, but then again, expect the unexpected. Goodnight Sakura."

"Goodnight Kero."

~*~*~*~

The next week…

The students of TDSS (Tomeda District Secondary School) were all excited because of the announcement that Friday would be cut short by half because of a huge assembly in the cafatorium (A cross between a cafeteria and an auditorium.). It was the second best thing to a long weekend!

That Monday Sakura had shown Zachary a few techniques, taking Kero's advice to heart. Together with Quan they figured out how to seal cards with the sword, and luckily Zachary was a fast learner. He even figured out how to launch sparks from it, which was close enough to lightning for him. He thought he was doing pretty well for a beginner, especially when earlier that week he had captured The Shrink card…

~*Flashback*~

"Hey, where'd my ruler go?" Sakura looked over the pile of papers she'd just set them on. "Zachary, have you seen my ruler?"

"Nope."

"I could have sworn…"

"Okay, where's the stapler?" Mr. Terada was going crazy trying to find it.

Zachary was waving his hand frantically in the air.

"What is it?" Mr. Terada asked, still looking around the room.

"Can I go to the bathroom?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Yes, but hurry back."

Zachary walked out of the classroom, down the hall. It felt like his shirt was shrinking and he was having a hard time breathing.

Just as he was passing Chelsea in the hall, his shirt stretched tight to his body and ripped apart like he was the incredible hulk or something.

"Please, don't try to impress me." She said and walked away after they gaped at each other for what felt like a whole minute.

"Something's definitely going one here." He muttered to himself, and ran the rest of the way to the bathroom.

He surveyed the damage in the mirror. His shirt was ripped apart at the seams. "Hmm." He thought for a minute, and then called out his sword. "So, given the evidence that even I can see, I'm going to take a wild guess and say you're the shrink card."

In response his boxer shorts began to give him the biggest wedgie of his life.

"Shrink card, reveal yourself in your true form!"

A green figure of a girl appeared before him. She looked like she would about his age. She had pointy ears and was dressed in a wrap around skirt and a top with flowing silky sleeves. She smirked mischievously as the room began to shrink around them rapidly.

"All right, I've had enough of this." By this time, the room was only about twice the size of Zachary. "Shrink card, return to your power confined!"

It smirked at him the whole time, and even when the card appeared, The Shrink still had the tiniest hint of a smirk on its face. Zachary smiled and shook his head as he held it in his hand. Then he went to his locker to get his coat, hoping against hope that he wouldn't be caught by a teacher looking the way he did.

When he got back to class, Torako glared at him.

"You've just caught one, haven't you?"

Zachary smirked triumphantly.

~*Flash forward*~

The magician on the stage of TDSS was amazing to all, with the exception of two excessively serious people, and the fact that things kept going wrong with his equipment.

"How can you three find this entertaining?" Li snorted to Zachary, Madison and Sakura.

In response Sakura stuck out her tongue at him.

"Oh come on, that's so amateur." Torako commented. Normally there would be no point in making a bunch of high school kids watch a magic show, but this was Malcolm the Magnificent, sort of the Houdini of that area. He even had a TV show. It was unnatural for all this stuff to be going wrong.

They all rolled her eyes at her. Torako gestured to the magician, who was successfully pulling various things out of a hat. She grabbed Zachary's hat from beside him and stuck her hand it, pulling out a fluffy white bunny. Seeing their surprised expressions, Torako put the rabbit back in and gave Zachary his hat back. Li grinned at them.

When the show was finished, their group followed Zachary up to where the magician was packing up a big trunk. Zachary sidled up to the guy and said behind his hand, "Hey, I bet I can show you a trick you've never seen before."

The guy looked slightly amused. "Okay. I'll give you five bucks right here if you can show me a trick I've never seen before."

"Well okay, but only if you pull it out of my ear." He quipped.

Malcolm the Magnificent clicked the trunk shut. "Hurry up kid. I don't have all day."

"Okay, here' goes." He was about to shrink the guy's hat when Torako stopped him.

"Zachary, this guy doesn't have time for your silly little games. Let's go."

"She's right, I don't. I've had a hard day. Goodbye." He said, and then pushed them out of the way.

"Hey, we had a bet!" Zachary yelled, then walked after him with Torako trying to catch up. They followed him all the way out to his van where he was packing things up.

"Hey!" Zachary yelled again, "That wasn't cool man!"

"Look kid, I don't really care. I have another appointment that I'm going to be late for if I don't get out of here now.I've already had enough problems for one day." He realized he had his costume caught in the closed trunk an opened it to pull the fabric out, but along with the fabric came an explosion of confetti and a flash of light, streaking away from them.

"Whoa!" the first few students were just getting out of school had to duck to avoid being hit.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Zachary turned and asked Torako, but was surprised to see that she wasn't there anymore. He looked to see where she went, and she was already hopping the school fence to go after the card.

"Hey, what was that?" The magician stood there looking bewildered.

"I told you I could show you a trick you'd never seen before." He said, and then ran off after the card too, calling out his sword on the way.

Quan poked his head out of the big front pocket of Zachary's hooded shirt. "Can you feel it?" He asked Zachary. "Can you feel the card's magic?"

"I can feel something. I can't decide if it means it's a card, or that I'm going to throw up."

"Just keep running."

When they caught up with Torako, she had already made the card show itself. "Ploy Card,"

"Oh no you don't." he mumbled to himself while breathing heavily, then yelled, "Hey Torako, you're bleeding through!"

"Huh?"

That did it; her concentration was broken for those two vital seconds. "Ploy card, return to your power confined!"

When the lights and wind died down, and Zachary had the card safely in hand, he noticed Torako standing in front of him, one white-knuckled hand holding her staff, and the other clenched into a fist.

"What? Everything's fair, right? I guess I'm not so retarded at this after all."

"That was a dirty trick Zachary." She snarled through clenched teeth.

"What, so now there's rules to this whole thing?"

"No, that was just…OH FORGET IT! You're such a God damned jerk!! Why do guys have to be so fucking gross?!" she asked nobody in particular.

"It's just your body Torako. Nothing to be ashamed of." he grinned.

"I totally agree," said some guy who was walking past them. He gave her the full checkout. Torako made a weird noise and walked past Zachary.

"You're such an ass hole. It's no wonder Chelsea can't stand you anymore." She said and stalked away, probably back to the school to get her books.

"Hey," Zachary semi-yelled, but then gave up. Her remark most likely was true.

"Never mind her Zachary. That was a great capture!" Quan said.

"Yeah, I guess. I wonder where everyone else is?"

As if waiting for their cue, Sakura, Li and Madison finally showed up.

"Zachary!" Sakura yelled, "Did you capture it?"

"Yeah, I did!" He waved the card in the air. On it was a picture of a woman dressed as some kind of soldier, but with make-up like a clown.

"The Ploy card? What does it do?" Li asked.

"The Ploy card can help you figure out a plan to get out of any situation, but it's also a trickster. It likes to do little things to bother people. Anything that will give it a laugh." Quan explained.

"Zachary, how could you?!" Madison semi-yelled.

"WHAT?" he looked surprised. What could he possibly have done now?

"You caught another one without your outfit or me videotaping!"

Everyone sighed and sweatdropped.

"Erm, yeah. Sorry." He really didn't look like he was sorry at all.

"Hey Zachary, where's Torako?" Sakura asked him.

"Torako? She um, well, I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure she's mad at me though, wherever she went."

"What did you do now?"

"I-" Zachary stopped himself. There were two girls standing right in front of him who would probably back Torako up 100% in her opinion that he was an complete jerk if they found out what he said. "I guess because I caught the card and she didn't."

"That's too bad. Let's go get milk shakes." Madison said, smiling.

~*~*~

'Aargh, that jerk Zachary! I wish a bus woud hit him…' Torako thought as she slammed the door of her apartment.

"Torako, do you realize you've slammed a door in here at least once every day for the past week?" Saruko needlessly pointed out the fact to her.

"Saruko, you dumb ape, do you realize that I don't give a fuck and a half how many time's I've slammed the door? Get a life."

"Hey, don't use that potty mouth. I have company." Saruko grinned.

Torako looked over his shoulder into the living room and saw some girl with auburn hair sitting on the couch watching them.

"Well I just hope she realizes that you're gay before she falls in love with you." She said, loud enough for the redhead to hear.

"I am NOT!" Saruko stomped his foot and was instantly transformed into a five-year-old, which always happened when Torako called him that.

"I know that, but she doesn't." Torako smirked. "Have fun." She walked down the hall to her room and closed the door. Then, just to make a point, she opened it again and slammed it.

She pressed her ear up to the door to listen to what they were saying.

"Who was that?" the girl asked.

"My sister. She's in a mood. I think it's time to up her medication."

"She's on medication?"

'Girrr,' Torako thought, 'I wish he would get hit by a bus too sometimes…'

~*~*~*~

October 30, 2001

Dear Jared,

I hate it here! I really wish I could come home, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen any time soon. It's raining here right now. It's been raining a lot since we got here. I guess it reflects my mood perfectly. There's this boy here named Zachary. He's such a jerk sometimes I can hardly stand him. He's "The Chosen One" apparently. How about that? I miss you so much…does anybody miss me there? Tomorrow is Halloween. Remember the last year we went out, and we hid in those bushes and scared the living out of your sister and her snooty little friends? That was so funny! I wish we could hang out like that again. Tomorrow night I'm going out to a party with these girls Sakura and Madison, and my cousin (whom I just met, but don't tell my mom!) Syaoran Li, which means Zachary is bound to be there too. They're pretty much best friends. Just my luck, hmm? It won't be a party without you there.

Well I guess you want to know how I'm coming along with the cards, so I may as well tell you, I've only caught one so far. He's caught two, and he won't shut up about it.

If you met this guy you'd probably want to punch him in the face after five minutes. I feel like a bit of an outcast to the group when Zachary is around. I know they'd rather have him capture the cards than me, and I can understand that since they've all been friends a long time, but I still don't like the feeling I get.

You really need to get the Internet. It would make talking to each other so much easier! I guess I'd better stop writing now. It's past midnight. Saruko has this redheaded girl Nadia over (they've been going a week now) and he told me I'd better stay out of the living room tonight unless I want to catch them making out. By the way, I hate Nadia too. What am I going to do about her? She thinks I'm on medication. But that's a looong story, so I won't get into it. I thought I said I was going to stop writing? Oh well. Write me back the second you read this!

Love Forever and Ever,

Your bestest best friend,

Torako

November7th, 2001

Dear Angel:

I wish you could come back too. That bitch Brittany who moved here last year thinks she owns the school now that you're out of her way. Sorry we couldn't be together on Halloween, cuz we both know it's the best day of the year, right? He he. It sounds like somebody might have a bit of a crush on Zachary to me. But that's just me, and what do I know? Mom made me take my sister out trick-or-treating since I didn't have anything to do. Does that suck or what? Tough break with that "Chosen One" thing. He sounds like an ass, but then you sure know how to hold a grudge better than anyone, don't you? Maybe you should cut him a bit of slack. Don't take anything he says too seriously, okay? He's just another dork like your brother (but I guess I don't really have to tell you that. Too late, it's written, so I'll just keep going). Don't worry, I won't tell your mom about your cousin. By the way, I saw her today at the post office and she gave me another dirty look, just in case you were keeping count. I couldn't help gloating when I noticed that I got a letter from you and she didn't ^_^ I was actually a bit tempted to wave it in front of her face and blow a big raspberry.

How was the party? Did you survive without me? I bet you were kickin' it on the dance floor (you do, by the way, make a great dancing partner). I bet the entire male population of the room was after you half the night.

Anyway, whoop Zachary's ass at this card-capturing thing, okay? Chosen one or not, they're rightfully your family's (I can't believe I'm actually defending YOUR family, the people who hate me with a vengeance!). Cheer up, I'll come visit you some day. Until then, check your email around 5PM on the 15th. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. Love ya sexyJ

Missing you a ton,

Jared

P.S: Cut Nadia's hair off while she's sleeping and see how long she sticks around. Trust me, it worked with my brother's girlfriend. Hehe!

Catch ya later

~ Jared

Torako devotedly folded the piece of paper and crammed it into her diary, then she turned on her computer as he told her too and opened her email. The top of the page said, 'Welcome, Tiger_gal

"Forwards from my Psychic Friends…whoop dee doo…" she scrolled down the page to the very bottom and saw an address that was knew to her. The message was from "E-meetings.com." Torako quickly clicked on the link with curiosity. What could it be? The screen loaded, and it took all of her strength to keep from shouting for joy.

'Jared07 has invited you to a live chat via Web Cam. To accept their invitation, please click here.'

After that were a bunch of sponsors and disclaimers, but she completely ignored them and clicked on the link. The E-meetings screen popped up, and Torako tried her best to fix her hair and make-up before the screen loaded. She turned her Web Cam away from the wall (she'd always been nervous about it since American Pie came out). After going through the motions, an image of Jared's bedroom appeared on the screen and Torako saw his sister looking into it as if wondering what the heck it did. Suddenly she got a look on her face that confirmed Jarred would be there in a second. Torako smiled and chuckled to herself. He'd be so mad she was in his room. His sister backed away from the computer and ran away, sure enough, just as Jared came in to view. He looked into the screen and started grinning from ear to ear, making Torako to do the same. She waved at the camera, and in response, he gave the camera a big hug. Torako laughed. "Oh, Jared," she found her microphone and talked into it. "Hey stranger," with a smile in her voice.

He waved back at her, and then typed,

Sorry, I don't have a mike yet. That would be too much of a miracle to ask for,' and shrugged.

"That's okay,we can just type" She said.

Ok :)'

I can't believe you finally got the Internet!

Neither can I. I had to beg forever, and finally my parents let me, but I have to pay for it myself.

Too bad.

Ah, it's a small price to pay to be able to talk to you face to face…kind of…you know what I mean.Heh.

Yeah, I know. That's sweet.

Well I'm just naturally a nice guy I guess.

Ha!

What's so funny?

Just naturally nice eh?

Of course! I'm the lady's man.

Torako looked at the screen sceptically.

Riiiight.

Hey, are you mocking me?' He joked.

How could I mock "the Lady's Man?"

Okay now you're just hurting my feelings.' He teased, and pouted.

So what have you been up to? Capture any more cards?

Nope. Not yet. I'm about ready to kill Zachary.

That's always good. My best friend is homicidal. Head for the hills!

Look out! Oh, wait a sec, my brother's calling me.

Torako turned her face towards the door.

"WHAT?"

"Somebody here to see you."

"Rrr…just a minute."

What's up?

Someone's here.

Want me to let you go?

Are you kidding? Don't move a muscle!

Ok.

Jared leaned back in his chair to wait

Torako got up to talk to whoever was at the door. Once she saw who it was she almost slammed the door again, this time in his face, but she decided that there must be a reason why Zachary was there, so she didn't.

"What?" She asked him, putting her hands on her hips.

"I'm sorry Torako. Please forgive me?"

"Why should I?" she quirked an eyebrow.

"Because I'm very sorry, and it was nothing personal! I hate having people really mad at me. How many more weeks are you going to go without talking to me?"

"Do you really want to find out?" she said coldly.

Sakura and Madison had finally found out what it was he said to her, and as he expected, they insisted that he go to her house and apologise until she forgave him, or else. Zachary was starting to think that that would never happen. He was beginning to think he was a woman deflector. None of his gal friends would talk to him now.

"Please, please please PLEASE?" he begged.

Torako looked at him thoughtfully. Was he mocking her, or did he really mean it? He sounded sincere enough to her.

"Alright, I forgive you, but don't do anything like that to me again okay?"

"Okay, I guess."

"You what?"

"I won't?"

"That's better. Now goodbye." Torako shut the door and leaned against it, then having a sudden thought, opened it again. Zachary, who was walking down the hall, turned to see why.

"Hey Zachary, come in for a minute. I want you to meet someone." She grinned slyly.

~*~*~

A/N: Well what did you think of that chapter? Please review!