Author's Notes: Konichiwa minna-san! I tried to get this chapter up quickly and NOT run out of idea's. You see, it's quite easy to get a writers block. Also, ONEGAI (please) send me some fan arts!!! I need them for my site! ONEGAI?! Well, I would like to thank all of the readers! ARIGATO!!! *Hugs for everyone!!!*

But I don't understand this, how come Im not getting as many reviews as I used to? Did I go bad? Or are people to busy judging stories by Titles and summaries? Well, if that's the case, then I don't know how long im gonna last at FF.net. Well, please R+R!!!

Onegai - Please

Arigato - Thank you

Konichiwa - Hello/Good afternoon

Kawaii - Cute

Runaway Hong Kong

By: Sakura1301

Chapter 2 For the Love of the Cards

Windy blew the balcony door of Sakura's apartment open. Even though it was said that cards didn't have emotions, Windy did.

She gently laid Sakura down onto her bed and hovered above her sleeping form. Oh how she wished she could be of more help to the mistress.

Windy gently blew a few strands of the card mistress' hair out of her face before converting to her card form and resting into Sakura's hand.

-----

"So, what happened Syaoran?" Meiling asked as she ran up to him from the mansion.

"I don't know. It disappeared." He said as he continued to keep his eyes on the Mansions front door.

"Oh, well, did you find ANYTHING? Anything at all?" "Only burnt trees and ashes." Was his only reply.

Meiling turned her head to see what he was looking at.

"Why are you looking at the door?" But instead of Syaoran answering, Eriol did as he stepped out of the mansions front door.

"What are you doing here?" Syaoran said coldly.

Eriol walked up to him with a cheery smile on his. He stopped in front of him as he set his hand on Syaoran's shoulder.

"The Final Test has begun."

-----

Syaoran sat in 4th hour with boredom written all over his face. Eriol's words kept echoing over and over in his head.

The Final Test has begun...

The Final Test has begun...

The Final Test has begun...

What did he mean by, 'The Final Test has begun'? He hated Eriol's stupid riddles. Eriol ALWAYS puts things into riddles or rhymes just to piss ya off. He was NEVER completely straight forward. And if he ever did, it certainly wasn't towards him.

He glanced toward Eriol. Stupid Eriol. He never seems to make life easier for anyone.

Slowly, Syaoran's gaze went to the desk in front of him. Empty.

It was strange. On her second day of school, she was absent.

Just then, the front door slid open.

His head snapped up to see who was at the door.

Sakura tiredly walked into class. "Miss Kinomoto, pass?" Sakura slowly handed her a slip of paper and headed to her seat while the teacher scanned it quickly.

"Konichiwa Li-kun, Hiiragizawa-kun." "Please, call me Eriol." Eriol said as he smiled at her.

She gave him a weak smile before sitting down.

A small air puff came out of her mouth as she sighed. It sure was a task just to get to school. And not only that, she was REALLY late.

Syaoran just stared at the exhausted girl in front of him. Quickly, he jolted back in his seat as he noticed her aura.

It was so weak compared to yesterday. Something happened to her. Something that wouldn't happen to a normal person.

He took a sideways glance at Eriol again. He noticed his attention was on Sakura. He also had a concern look on his face.

'If Eriol is concerned about her, then something IS wrong.' He thought as his gaze shifted back to the girl again.

'Hoe... I feel so drained. I didn't realize that converting all of those cards would take that much out of me.'

She gently set her head down onto her desk and closed her eyes. She still needed rest if she was to recover.

As she tried to keep her conscious awake, she thought about that same dream again.

'But, if my dream wasn't telling me about the conversion of the cards, then what is it trying to tell me?' She thought as she had her eyelids cracked open.

It was all a mystery to her.

Slowly, her eyelids grew heavy. She was too exhausted to continue fighting the urge to just let go and let sleep over take her mind and body.

Syaoran watched as Sakura's eyes closed. For a second, he thought she died or something, till he saw her back rising up and down calmly.

Just then, the bell rang. He sighed. At least he wouldn't have to listen to the teachers lecture anymore. If he did, he would end up like Sakura. Asleep.

He packed his things together as he got ready to go to lunch. He looked out the window and slightly smiled. At least it was warmer today than it was yesterday. Today, he would eat lunch outside.

As he walked past Sakura, he stopped and turned to look at her. 'I guess I should wake her up.' He thought to himself.

"Kinomoto, wake up." He said as she shook her shoulder. No response.

"Come on, wake up. It's lunch break." He said as he continued to shake her shoulder.

Her lashes fluttered back as emerald pools were revealed. "Nani?" She said as she slowly sat up. "Come on Kinomoto, it's lunch break." He said as he took his hand off of her shoulder.

She yawned and stretched as she tried to shake the sleep off. "Arigato Li-kun." She said tiredly as she stood up.

Just then, Eriol walked towards Sakura.

"Here, let me carry that for you. You look tired." He said as he carefully took her books out of her arms.

She bowed and thanked him as he just nodded in return.

Syaoran watched as a tinge of jealousy ran through him. He glared at Eriol then stopped abruptly. 'What's gotten into me?' He thought before noticing Eriol's pleased grin towards him. "Wipe that smile off before I rip it off." He said as he shot him another icy glare. Eriol's grin disappeared for a quick second from the cold words before reappearing again.

Syaoran rolled his eyes as he headed for the door. He heard Eriol say, "Don't mind him, he's had a bad morning." He rolled his eyes again. "Think what you want. Im going to lunch." Eriol blinked in surprise. "He heard me?"

-----

Syaoran licked his ice cream from his cone. 'What did Eriol mean? 'The Final Test has begun'?' He thought as he licked it again.

His head snapped to the right as he felt an aura coming near. "Oh, it's you." He said as he turned his attention back to his ice cream.

"Why did you say that? Aren't you happy to see me?" Eriol asked as he pulled took a seat next to Syaoran.

Syaoran glanced at him. "Where did Sakura go? Wasn't she following you?" Eriol grinned. "Why do you want to know? Oh, I know. You have a thing for her. Don't ya?" Syaoran glared at him.

"I do NOT like Sakura." "Ohhh." "Shut-up." Eriol smiled.

"Well, the answer to your question, she told me that she had something urgent to do before running off. Im not sure where she went though." He said truthfully.

Syaoran shrugged. "So, how did you know I was here?" "You should know by now." Syaoran grunted. "I thought you were going to eat lunch with Sakura." "Well, I thought you were going to join us instead of coming down here." Eriol said. Syaoran just glared at him.

Then, at the edge of his senses, he felt two aura's. "Eriol, is it just me, or am I feeling two auras?"

Eriol stretched his senses out for a moment before shock was written all over his face. "There... are two aura." He said slowly.

Syaoran froze. "One's Sakura's, the others..." "Come on, something's going on and we're going to find out." Eriol said as he grabbed Syaoran shirt sleeve and pulled him, causing him to drop his ice cream.

-----

"I don't have time for this..." Sakura said as she gritted her teeth with her arms up in front of her, blocking a punch from the Fight card.

Beads of sweat started to run down her face as she tried to keep her feet planted firmly into the ground instead of sliding against the grass.

A pain raced through her back as she was slammed into the schools wall. She was thankful that no one was around to witness this.

She saw the Fight lift it's fist, ready to punch her head into the wall.

Without a second though, she lifted her right leg and kicked the fight in the stomach as hard as she could.

The Fight went stumbling back and tripped over a tree root before finally falling.

Sakura felt something warm and sticky run down the side of her head but ignored it as she pulled her key out from under her shirt out.

"The key with the power of my star! Show your true form before me! I, Sakura command you as your master! Release!"

The wand floated out of her hand as it started to glow. Then, without hesitation, it grew into the large staff.

Just as she opened her eyes, the staff went flying out of her hands as the fight grabbed it and threw it a 100 yards away.

"No! The staff!" She said as she ran towards it. But before she could reach it, the fight ran in front of her and kicked her feet out from under her.

As Sakura tried to get up, she was forced back onto the ground as the Fight put a foot onto her back and pushed her back down.

"Let me go!" She yelled as she struggled to get out from under the Fight's weight.

The Fight pushed more pressure onto her back, causing Sakura to stifle her scream and dig her fingers into the ground.

The Fight smirked and applied more pressure.

Sakura's thoughts were racing. She didn't know what to do now. She couldn't get up and her staff was still about 50 yards away from her.

There was nothing she could do. 'Im gonna die!' She thought as she dug her fingers deeper into the ground.

Then, as she thought that this was the end of the line for her, an idea popped into her head.

She dug her hands deeper and deeper into the ground till two chunks of ground was loose. She pulled them out, using alot of energy and with difficulty, threw them at the Fights face.

The Fight, caught off guard, stumbled back a bit as she was hit in the face by two chunks of dirt.

Sakura quickly got to her feet and stumbled towards her staff.

When she reached it, she picked it up, and reached into her pocket for a card. But before she could pull one out, the Fight ran towards her and sent a flying side kick towards her stomach.

The next thing she knew, the wind was knocked out of her and she was flying through the air and into a tree this time.

She slumped down to the ground as her body went numb.

Her head slowly rose as she heard the Fight running straight towards her with it's fist pulled over it's head, ready to attack.

As soon as the Fight was in front of her, it brought it's fist down but only to hit the tree. Sakura had rolled off to the side to evade the attack.

Her head was spinning and the Fight card looked like it had a double. She sat up and quickly pulled the Windy out of her pocket.

Even though she couldn't tell which one was the real fight, she knew the Windy would.

"Wind, aid me in sealing the Fight! Windy!" She brought her wand down upon the card, causing the cards confinement to vanish.

Windy flew straight for the Fight card with a dissatisfied look on it's face.

The Fight, caught off guard again, was being bound tightly as the Windy flew around it.

Sakura shakily stood up and held her staff over her head.

"Card which crafted by Clow, convert under your masters name, Sakura!"

After realizing that it couldn't escape, the Fight simply gave in and was sucked into a glowing pink object along with the Windy.

The cards flew towards her and into her hand.

She gasped for air as she transformed her staff back into a key and placed the cards into her pocket.

She then fell onto her knees and hands while a few drips of sweat and blood dripped into the grass. She was exhausted.

Using almost all of her strength, she stood up and wiped the blood and sweat off of her face. She winced at the action as sharp pains ran through her back.

She continued to breath hard as she took a few steps and collapsed.

-----

"Eriol! Slow down!!" "We're almost there! Hurry up!"

Both boys ran with all of their might as they tried to get to the scene. While running, both felt a third power, and within a mere minute, two of the unidentified aura's disappeared.

Soon, both were on school grounds.

"I don't feel any aura's anymore. Not even Sakura's." Syaoran said as he glanced around the deserted grounds.

Eriol strained his senses as he tried to find even a flicker of an aura. For once, he didn't know what was going on.

"Eriol, what are you doing?" "Shh... try to feel the faintest of an aura."
Syaoran stood there as he watched Eriol close his eyes and pull his hand out in front of him and slowly started to turn it from the gates, to the trees, to the school, and all the way around till he stopped at a brick wall.

His eyes snapped open. "I feel Sakura's aura, it's almost gone, but it's still there." "Well, where is she?!" Syaoran half yelled, half screamed after getting frustrated with the hold up.

"Over there." Eriol said as he pointed to the Brick wall.

Without waiting for Eriol, Syaoran broke into one of his world breaking record runs. For some strange reason, he felt like a small, VERY small tinge of guilt that this was his fault.

Eriol, who was right behind him knew how he felt, because he felt the same. He should of never of let her go off alone.

Eriol saw Syaoran stop just around the corner and gasp, then yell.

"Kinomoto-san!" He yelled as he ran straight for her. Eriol was just a few feet behind.

Syaoran stopped running as he reached her and Eriol stopped next to him 2 seconds after that.

"What happened?" Syaoran said as he kneeled down and rolled her over.

He twitched after seeing some blood on her face and a few bruises on her arms and legs. Sure, the blood and bruises didn't really bother him... that much. It's just that he's never seen someone other than himself like this.

Eriol was quiet for a moment.

"Well?!" Syaoran said as he was getting impatient.

Eriol looked down to the ground with guilt on his face.

"Syaoran, I have to tell you something that I thought wouldn't come up." "What?! What are you keeping from me?!" "I'll explain later. We have more important things to worry about right now, such as tending to Sakura's wounds."

Syaoran looked down again at Sakura before nodding.

"But as soon as we're done, you're gonna tell me what's going on. I don't have time for guessing games." Eriol nodded in understandment.

Syaoran bent down and carefully lifted the unconscious Sakura into his arms.

-----

So, what you're telling me, is that Sakura is the Card Mistress?" Eriol nodded. "And that's why her aura's so powerful?" Eriol nodded again.

"Hmm... I always wondered what happened to the Clow card when I had refused to go and retrieve them. And to think that all of this time, I thought the chosen cardcaptor was some guy."

Eriol just smirked.

Just then, the front door slammed shut. Both boys looked up.

"Syaoran!!! Where were you?! I waited for at the school for 30 minutes!!!" She shrieked in rage.

Syaoran just sweatdropped. Could Meiling be any louder?

"Shh." Eriol said as he put a finger to his lips.

After Meiling slipped her shoes off, she walked over.

"What's going on? What are you two doing staring at the couch like that?!" She said as she got annoyed from lack of attention.

She peered over the couch and gasped. "SYAORAN!!!! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?! SNEAKING A GIRL INTO THE HOUSE?!" She yelled in his face.

Syaoran and Eriol started to sweat.

Her eyes started to water. *Sniff* "I thought you loved me..." She said in a whiny tone of voice.

Syaoran frowned. "Stop with the act. Kinomoto-san here is hurt."

"K-Kinomoto?!" She shrieked again. "You mean the Kinomoto that's been the talk of the school?! The one that every guy is drooling over?! I WONT STAND FOR THIS!!! GET THAT, THAT, THAT THING OUT OF HERE BEFORE I DO IT MYSELF!!!"

Syaoran had a blood vain popping out of his head. "OhhhHHH! MEILING WILL YOU SHUT-UP?!" He yelled right back at her.

She stumbled back in disbelief. This was the first that that he's actually yelled at her THAT loud. Sure, he yelled at her before, but not like THAT!

Just then, they heard moaning sounds.

Everyone's attention was turned towards Sakura, even Meiling's.

Her eyes fluttered open, but she quickly shut them as light filtered through them. Slowly, she opened them.

"What happened?" She said in a raspy voice. "Where am I?"

Syaoran looked at Eriol. Eriol looked at him. Meiling looked at all 3 of them. Confusion was written all over their faces. What DID happen to her?

Meiling spoke up. "Well, your at my FIANCEE's house. And now that you're awake. I advise you to leave." She said sternly as she pointed a finger at the door.

Eriol shook his head in disbelief at what he just heard, while Syaoran just glared at her.

"Don't pay any attention to my cousin. She's always grumpy after school." Syaoran said as he continued to glare.

Meiling gulped. Did he really have a thing for this Kinomoto girl?

Syaoran turned his attention back to the girl in front of him.

"How do you feel?" "Like I was just hit by a semi truck." Sakura answered. There was silence after that for a minute before Sakura tried to sit up, but fell back onto the couch, moaning.

"Ah, i'll go get some water." Syaoran said as he quickly walked out of the room with Meiling trailing right behind him.

"I feel so bad for letting you run off like that. I should of went with you." Eriol said as sat on the arm of the couch that Sakura was laying on.

Sakura felt guilty for making him worry.

"It's okay. It's not your fault that Im like this." She said as her eyes continued to droop before being pulled back open again.

Eriol didn't notice. He smiled at her. "But im glad that you're still alive! It wouldn't be very good for the school's reputation if you died on your second day of school!" He said as he started to laugh, causing Sakura to slightly grin.

-----

"Syaoran, what is SHE doing here?!" Meiling said in a harsh whisper.

Syaoran continued to pour water into the cup before turning towards her with a frown.

"She was attacked by something." Was all he said before turned to the water and cup again.

"Attacked? Well, it looked like an act if you ask me." She said as she crossed her arms.

Syaoran turned the faucet off and turned towards her. "Then how would you explain the blood and bruises?" He said as he glared at her. "Easy. Fake blood with some blotched make-up to look like bruises." She said.

He bent over and leaned towards her face with a glare. "Then tell me, dear cousin, how come her aura's decreased so much?"

Meiling blinked. Aura? Kinomoto had an aura? Like in, MAGICAL aura? How was she suppose to know!? She didn't have magic running through her vains to help her determine who contained a magical aura or not!

She shrugged, taking a wild guess. "Um, some spell?"

He straightened, but continued to look at her.

"There is no spell to decrease an aura. Only to hide it completely, which she did not do. Now, if you excuse me, I have some business to attend too." He said and walked off.

Meiling stood there, dumbfounded. Did he just tell her off?

-----

Syaoran walked into the living room with the water.

"Sorry it took so--" "Shh!" Eriol said as he silenced him and pointed towards Sakura.

"What happened?" Syaoran asked quietly.

"She fell asleep from exhaustion. Her magic is very low. Even lower than earlier today. If it decreases anymore, she could die."

Syaoran nodded in understanding. He had studied about this when he was younger.

Meiling walked in and sighed.

"Well, if she IS going to stay, I think it would be a good idea that she slept in one of the guest rooms and get her wounds cleaned up." She said as she placed her hands on her hips as she stared at the sleeping Sakura also.

Syaoran and Eriol looked at her in disbelief. What made Meiling say THAT??? Was she being possessed?!

Syaoran walked up to her and felt her forehead.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She asked.

He looked at her for a second then shrugged. "What you just said surprised me that's all."

She smirked at him. "Just because im over protective AND competitive doesn't mean that im a snooty person. Plus, I've seen her in the halls a few times. I didn't really know who she was. But, I guess I can trust her. AS LONG AS SHE KEEPS HER NOSE INTO HER OWN BUSINESS!" She added lastly.

Both guys sweatdropped again. Yup. That was typical Meiling for ya.

-----

After deciding that Sakura would stay in the guestroom next to Meiling's room, (A/N: Meiling didn't trust her to be anywhere NEAR Syaoran's room. ^~^') Meiling went to fetch some medicines and bandages, if needed of course. And Eriol went to help her get the CORRECT medicines, while Syaoran took Sakura upstairs.

'Gosh, I never realized till now how light weight she is, compared to Meiling.' He though as he sweatdropped. Sometimes, he even thought that his head was going to snap off at his shoulders with Meiling clinging to him. It actually freaked him out.

He quietly opened the door when he got there and quietly walked in.

He went up to the bed and with difficulty, got the sheets folded over and set the sleeping Sakura onto the bed. And just as he did, Meiling and Eriol walked in.

"Is she still asleep?" Meiling asked.

Syaoran nodded as he continued to stare at Sakura.

A blood vain popped out of Meiling's head. If he didn't stop staring, she was going to scream.

"Okay guys, out of the room. I know what to do now." She said as she grabbed them both by the back of their collars and pulled them out of the room. She stopped at the door and let go.

"HEY! What was that for?!" Syaoran asked as he rubbed his throat.

"I wont stand for you to sit in here and gawk at her while I treat her wounds and get her clothes changed. Plus, your eyes are only for me!" She paused and looked at Eriol who just grinned at her like some maniac. "And YOU, don't even think about coming in unless you want a black eye." She said threateningly before she slammed the door in their faces and locked it. 'Stupid boys.'

Syaoran looked dumbfounded. "What... just happened." He said as he slowly lifted his hand to point to the door.

"We were just told off by Meiling and kicked out the guestroom." Eriol said as he adjusted his glasses.

Both drooped their heads down and sighed. But quickly, Eriol had them talkin in no time.

"Why are YOU sighing, dear descendant?" Syaoran just looked at him, before catching his drift. "I'll tell you IF you tell me what YOUR sighing at." Syaoran countered. Eriol placed a hand behind his head as he grinned. Just as Syaoran thought.

"You pervert." He said. Eriol continued to grin. "Then what about YOU?" Eriol asked.

"That's none of YOUR concern." Syaoran said bluntly.

"Oh, I get it. You had the SAME idea as I did." Syaoran looked at him as if he was mental.

"That's NOT what I was thinking!!!" "Then what?" "I-I was just worried! That's all!" "Suure.... The Li Syaoran I know is ruff and tuff and doesn't take crap off of no one." Eriol said as he started to laugh.

Syaoran glared at him.

"Just because I glare at everyone and threaten to kill them if they even bothered me doesn't mean that im some mean unemotional jerk."

"Oh, so now your saying that you LIKE her."

"I NEVER SAID THAT!!!"

"Well, that's what you were implying on, weren't you?" Eriol said as he continued to grin.

Syaoran grit his teeth. "What I think of her is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS. And for your information, I was just worried because her aura was barely flickering."

Eriol sighed. Syaoran was hopeless. At least for now he was.

-----

Meiling listened to the bickering boys outside of the door. Sometimes she worried if they, or at least Syaoran, would rip the other's throat out.

Meiling wiped a cool wet towel against Sakura's face, getting off all of the dried blood and sweat.

For once, she felt sorry for some other girl. It was usually Syaoran that she worried about.

She sighed. She knew that Syaoran never REALLY loved her. Not like a lover at least. But he loved her more such as sister or, like she already was, a close cousin.

Meiling had all of the cuts and wounds on her face and neck cleaned. There were a few cuts on her forehead tho. She proceeded with getting the wounds under her shirt. NOT under her bra.

After a few minutes, she rolled Sakura over and nearly fell over from the sight on her back.

Her skin was ripped near her shoulders, and the blood was still fresh. Well, best get to work now and get it over with quickly.

-----

Syaoran and Eriol stood, or rather paced as Syaoran walked back and forth, outside of the door.

"I wonder what's taking Meiling so long." Syaoran thought, or rather said outloud.

Eriol chuckled. "You know what you remind me of? Of a worried husband over his late wife."

Syaoran stopped and blushed a heavy deep red. "Shut-up. Im just worried that's all. It shouldn't take this long for Meiling to her cleaned up unless there was a really--" He stopped as the door opened.

Meiling looked at them both curiously.

"Your both still here?" They didn't reply.

"Well, since you're here, I might as well tell you her condition. You should be lucky I studied medicines and their uses." She took a breath.

"Well, nothing but small cuts on her neck and head, except for on near her temple, and one on her back and a few bruises on her legs and arms, stomach, and back. But other than that, she's fine. So stop worrying so much. Oh, hold on a sec." She walked back into the room to collect a few things before returning to the door.

"Here Eriol, you take these back, and YOU Syaoran, do something with these." She said as she shoved Sakura's badly torn uniform.

"I don't think she'll want it back." Syaoran nodded. "Now, if you two WANT, i'll let you both go in to see her. But only for 5 minutes. She needs her rest and it would help if two drooling boys weren't there to gawk at her in her sleep."

Both blushed. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get cleaned up myself." She walked away while both boys watched her leave till she was out of sight.

Both boys tried to go through the door at the same time, only to find it rather frustrating till both had the idea to get out of the door way. Eriol offered Syaoran to go first.

"After you." He said as he lightly bowed with a grin on his face.

"No, ladies first." Syaoran said as he grabbed Eriol by the shoulder and shoved him through the doorway.

Both stared at her for a while till Eriol decided to speak.

"You know, since Keroberos and Yue can't help with the final test, we could."

"What are you trying to say? You couldn't even help with how much magic you have."

"Well, sure I can only sense aura's easily and determine what kind of spells to use to solve a problem, but just because I was reincarnated into two people and lost most of my magic doesn't mean that im worthless."

"I never said you were."

"Yeah, well, as I was saying before. ONE of us could help her with the final test. Because when my formal self, Clow, made the cards and the final test, I didn't place down a rule saying that nobody could help her. Only Keroberos and Yue couldn't, since after all, they are her guardians."

"So..."

"What im trying to say, since I can't help, Im appointing YOU to be her protector. Unless you don't think you can handle it. Then im willing to take your place."

Syaoran just stared at him like he had a leach trying to crawl up his nose.

"Well?"
"Oh, uh... I don't know."

"Okay, i'll do it!"

"NO! I mean, no. I'll do it, just as long as you don't tell Meiling. I don't want her tagging along and getting in the way. Plus, she might get hurt."

Eriol nodded. "Sure. Just remember, if she fails this test, she could die."

To be continued....

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Okay, how was that? Hopefully it was a good enough chapter. Now, if you notice Syaoran using Sakura's name behind her back, then you caught the idea hopefully that he doesn't want her to know that he has small, VERY small feeling towards her. Next chapter out soon, ONEGAI R+R!!! I didn't have very many reviews for the last chapter... *cries*