Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original Card Captor Sakura characters. They all belong to Clamp. Everything else comes from MY imagination. 'Nuff said.

Author's Note: CHAPTER 3! *whew* Lotsa work neh? YAP! School is a major set- back.. But JENNYFUR SHALL PREVAIL!!!!

Chapter 3

Sakura opened her eyes. The clothes on her back were tattered and ripped, all there was left were only shreds. Sakura shivered on the wet grass, trying to keep herself warm. She'd have to find some decent clothing soon, lest she freeze to death. But the question was, where would she find clothing, or anyone at that matter?

She looked around her. She was in the middle of a cold forest, which definitely did not look like anywhere she'd ever known in Japan. She laid her hand on the ground, when she saw the book beside her. The book. There was something strange about that book. Something that sent a chill down her spine. Sakura opened the book to the same page as the poem she was looking at before the clerk had bumped into her. She read the poem silently to herself:

Sinister and dark

Always thought to be right

He was named Cazeo Cosaka

Wizard of the night.

Here secrets ye shall know

About the Master himself

The power he was bestow'd

And the hand he was dealt.

Listen closely mere mortal

And find out ye will

About the Hell-magicked portal

And about the souls you shall sell.

Another chill ran down her spine. Maybe she should just put it to the side for now. This was too freaky to investigate now.. Especially when the sun was about to set. Sakura would need to find a place to take a break from all this confusion, a city perhaps. So she got up, taking the book with her.

For hours it seemed, as she wandered mindlessly with no idea of where she was going. No idea whatsoever. She could only hope that she could find somewhere to rest before night fell, or who knew what could happen in the shadowy darkness.



---

Tomoyo watched her window was the rain beat against the ground. It had never rained like this before, as if endless. She grew worried about Sakura.. Who knows what could happen in weather like this? Tomoyo quickly ran to her phone and dialed the number of Sakura's dorm room.

Ring. Ring. Ring. No one answered. Someone has to be home, Tomoyo thought. The phone kept ringing. What about Chai? Tomoyo wondered. She waited a while more, thinking about Sakura and her roommate. She suddenly remembered that Chai had talked about boarding a flight for the United States that afternoon. Tomoyo looked at the clock. It was near six. She sighed and was about to hang up as the phone picked up.

"Hello?" The voice of a man answered, with Tomoyo very confused. Men were not allowed in the girl's dormitories.

"Uhm.. Is Sakura there?" There was a brief, awkward silence. Till finally, the voice replied, stiffly.

"You have the wrong number." Then he hang up. Tomoyo blinked. She couldn't have dialed the wrong number. Sakura was on her speed dial. She was about to try again till she just suddenly realized she had left a pizza in the oven to cook.. For over an hour. She ran out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. Heavy smoke was coming out of the oven, spreading around the kitchen. For a minute, Tomoyo felt odd, as if she was going to faint. She resisted the thought and waved her hands, trying to make a pathway through the smoke with her arms. She grabbed a mitten and turned off the stove and put her hand on the handle.

"Itai! (Ouch!)" The handle of the oven seemed so hot it sizzled through the mitten. Nevertheless, Tomoyo quickly yanked open the oven, letting the oven door fall to the ground. More smoke poured out from the oven. Tomoyo gasped for air as the grey fumes swirled around her. Feeling as if losing breathe, she fell to her side, leaning weakly on the counter as she tried to get out of the kitchen. The thick haze blurred her eyes; making tears run down Tomoyo's cheeks. She fell to her knees, then to the ground. With her last amount of strength, she tried her best to crawl out of her fiery surroundings. Then, a hand wrapped itself around Tomoyo's ankle. She screamed out in terror.

She turned around, looking to see what it was. All she could see was smoke, and she had an eerie feeling that the smoke itself was trying to prevent her from living. Tomoyo felt the hand grab on tightly and it jerked her closer towards the oven.

"No!" Tomoyo cried. "Help!!!!!!" She screamed as the heat grew, and as she was pulled into what seemed like her own oven. But the hand did not take her to the insides of a regular oven, instead, it took her to the place with the hottest flames. To the place with the darkest looks, the evilest deeds, the place with the most hideous creatures. It took her to Hell.

---

He walked along the edges of his garden, a solemn look on his face. A light rain hit his shoulders, wetting his chestnut-colored hair. The young man did not seem to notice, as he cupped a cherry blossom in his hand. A young woman watched from a window.

"Even after all these years.. He still hasn't stopped thinking about her." She flipped back her long, jet-black locks. She watched him as he sat down on the steps of his house, the pink cherry blossom in his hand. The woman sighed.

"Li-kun," She whispered out of habit, fully knowing that he was not a boy any more. "What has she got that I haven't?" She quickly ducked as he turned his head towards her window.

Syaoran eyed the window. Mei-ling still hasn't learned, he thought to himself. Even after all these years, she's still the same. A tiny smile of amusement grew on his lips. He looked at the delicate flower in the middle of his palm, and laid it on the steps beside him. The rain was warm today, as it usually was in Hong-Kong. He crossed his arms and laid his head on top of them, staring at the beautiful varieties of plants that had been faithfully growing in this garden for so many years. Their roots embedded in the soil forever.

I don't have anywhere to put my roots in, he thought. I don't have anywhere to live forever, anywhere to truly call home. I don't belong in this place, not here. I didn't even belong in- He stopped his thoughts abruptly and shook his head, reminding himself that it was a long time ago, and part of the past.

There was nothing really important for Syaoran to do on this Saturday evening, except for the dinner appointment with an ambassador of some sort, but he honestly did not care for a man of that type. He would miss it on purpose; after all, there were many other people to entertain the bastard who called himself 'Mikoto No Fuyuu.'

Syaoran lay on his back outside his rooms, the roof covering his head, but the walls still behind him, and not around. He put his hands under his head, and watched the water sprinkle over the land. His eyelids grew heavy with the faintest feel of dreams. The rain grew just a bit heavier, thought not by much. Syaoran took his last look at the cherry blossom, and drifted away.

---

"Is all well?"

"Yes. All is going as planned. The card captor's friend has fallen.. As soon will the boy."

"Perfection."

---

The cold wind blew against her face. Sakura shivered, hugging the book as she pressed on. The sun had just set, sending shades of pink, yellow, and lavender shooting through the sky. The golden rays started faintly dissapearing. Sakura wondered at the beauty.

"Maybe I could be able to watch a sunset someone some other day.." Sakura said to herself. She shrugged the thought off and kept on walking, determined to find a city. She finally came to a small black walking road, leading to what seemed a gathering of lights. A city! Finally! Sakura ran forward, panting heavily.

The trees around her towered above. They seemed.. Hollow. Dark and soulless. Sakura ran faster, tripping over a sharp rock. She got up to see a tree whose features resemble the face of an ogre screaming in pain, looking down at her, as if trying to spread his horror and terror. She shivered and went on.

As she came closer, she indeed saw people. But it wasn't a city. It was a village. A village that looked like it just popped out of history book. There were taverns, old Japanese style houses and pagodas. There were no cars, no radios, no skyscrapers, nothing that resembled modern Japan in the least.

Sakura wobbled weakly into the village, receiving a large amount of stares at her clothes. She thought it was only because of the shreds, but it was also because of the style. No one in the village had ever seen such a strangely dressed person as Sakura.

She leaned against a wall in a stone alley, barely standing. She breathed heavily, almost dying of exhaustion. She began finding it hard to breathe as her breaths got shorter and shorter. A knot twisted and writhed in her stomach. She doubled over, clutching her stomach in pain. Beads of sweat dropped from her eyebrow as she struggled to keep herself standing. Sakura almost screamed as a warm hand touched her shoulder. She turned to find a young woman, a bit older than Sakura herself, looking at her in a concerned matter.

"Are you alright?" Sakura blinked and took a better look at the woman. The woman was wearing a dark blue kimono with white patterns, her ebony colored hair falling down her back, also circling her pale face. Her small, black eyes seemed full of mystery, secrets. Her long, dark eyelashes framed her eyes the way long, streaks of grass framed a pool.

"I-I am, am.. Am.." Sakura gasped for the air to supply her words. She suddenly tumbled to the ground, losing all her strength at once. She looked up at the woman as she ran to her side.

"Are you alright?!" But Sakura did not hear the woman. She blacked out.

---

Syaoran woke to the sound of howling anger and the full moon shining in the dark blue sky. He looked up, his face and him shrouded in shadows. He crawled farther back, so he was totally hidden. He looked between the cracks in the hand bars on the steps, and studied two men who were arguing loudly in the middle of the garden.

"You liar! You had him killed haven't you? I told you not to do it! I commanded you to wait!" Syaoran narrowed his eyes at the fat, rounded stomach man. His hair was long and tied, but no braided. His face was red with anger, his fists shaking. It was the 'Lord of Riches' himself. The bastard Takinu.

"I never ordered him killed! Just because he was not at the dinner party is not a reason to assume that he is dead! I don't know about what about happened! I swear it!" Syaoran blinked. Were they talking about him? Takinu glared darkly.

"Do not lie to me Sikono. I can feel your dishonesty.." He opened his hands that has been hanging at his sides and closed them, tightly, slowly, as if he were grabbing something. Suddenly, fingerprints appeared on Sikono's neck as his face turned blue. His knees fell. It seemed like something was clutching his neck, trying to rob him of his life. But there was nothing around his neck. Only air.

"G-go-gomen.. M-Ma-Makoto.." He fell, unconscious to the ground, a green emerald fell out from his hand. Glowing. Takinu took it from him, grinning. He examined it as he put it in one of his many pockets on his blood crimson robe. He sniffed the air, and growled.

"Seems another is watching.. My future warrior perhaps? We'll have to see neh? We shall see. Sweet dreams.. Syaoran." And he smirked as he vanished in a swirl of green smoke, leaving Sikono's body behind. Syaoran shuddered as he said his name. Future warrior? What was that idiot talking about? And the smoke? Maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him. It could've just been that glass of Sake he had drank with his neighbor this morning. Maybe. Sake could do a billion horrible things to a strong man. Then again..

Syaoran stepped out from the shadows, staring at the body. What should I do? He asked himself. Leave him there? He walked silently down the steps and to the garden, where Sikono layed. Syaoran stared. The marks around his neck were still there, leaving indigo and azure imprints of a hand. A large hand. Syaoran blinked. The Makoto no Fuyuu's hand.

Syaoran tore a piece of cloth from his shirt and tied it around Sikono's eyes, then tore another piece and tied it around his mouth, gagging the man when he woke up. He slung the body over his shoulder and walked up the steps to his room, to not only ask why they had mentioned him, but what Takinu was planning, and what kind of magic he had.

---

"Lord I."

"I know.. I know. You apologize for your miserable work, for almost putting our entire plan in jeopardy,. You apologize for being a waste of air."

"Yes lord. Yes. I do. I do apologize. That imbecile had no idea what he was doing. Lord of Riches. Pah."

"I warn you, watch out. For one of these days, my hunger will grow unacceptable, and perhaps.."

"Say no more Lord. Say no more."

---