Author's Note: Glad you all liked this so far. Now I'm ready to look back starting from the very beginning. Hope you like it.


Summary: After recalling the story of the Fiery Card, Sakura begins to think about how it all started.


Key:

"~* Thoughts *~" = Thoughts

"[Name:]" = Character voiceover


Episode 2- Recalling Windy and the very beginning


As soon as Sakura got home, she went up to her room and quietly lied down on her bed. She could see Kero serenely sleeping on her desk. She didn't want to wake the little guardian beast, so she just lay back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. She started to ponder the day before. Just when she thought she knew everything about her relationship with Li, Sakura hears something new. She never realized that Li's feelings for her dated that far back, even if he did deny it at the time.

Those memories got Sakura thinking. She reached over under her bed and pulled out a locked container. She opened the combination lock and pulled out her secret scrapbook. Why was it secret? Because it contained memories from days long past…days when Sakura began capturing Clow Cards.

"Sakura?"

Someone was tapping on the window. It was Li. The kid knew how to make an entrance, almost never coming through the door anymore. He said something about being afraid of Tori. He was never scared of Sakura's brother before…until his relationship with Sakura took the next step.

Sakura walked over and opened the window. Li slid in, but was immediately met with a bite in the finger.

"OWWWWWW!!! What was that for?!"

Kero snarled. "What's the idea, kid? I was having a nice nap! Can't you be a little quieter? Why can't you be more like Sakura?!"

Li rubbed his finger painfully. "I'm sorry. How was I supposed to know?"

"You could always come through the door," Kero shot back, "like normal people!"

Li sat down on the bed next to Sakura. "So what's up?"

"Nothing…I was just about to look over my scrapbook," Sakura answered.

"I guess I opened up a can of worms with that story yesterday," Li smiled. "Have our lives really changed since those days?"

"Yes…and no," Sakura nodded. "The life I have now is…pretty normal…more or less. But I remember the day my life turned completely upside-down."

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Kero piped up. "Both of lives changed from that, Sakura."

"That's right," Sakura continued. "Life took a completely different turn when I first discovered the Clow Book."

"What made you go down there in the first place?" Li asked.

"I remember exactly why I went down there. I heard a sound coming from the basement…"


Flashback: Sakura's house

P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon

It was just another normal day. Ten-year-old Sakura Avalon just got home from school and was set to walk up to her room. Her father and brother weren't home yet and wouldn't be until later. It was all so routine. Of course, the night before was anything but routine. Sakura had a dream the night before. A dream she didn't understand at all.

Sakura was standing in front of Tokyo Tower with a strange pink outfit. She looked around her to see many cards floating down to the ground. She also had a strange wand in her hands. That still wasn't the strangest thing. Sakura looked up to see a small yellow creature flying around her. Then she stepped forward and…wings formed on her shoes. Then…she jumped.

Sakura didn't understand that dream at all. She thought about it all day, losing focus of everything around her, including school. She even tried to draw the yellow creature on her notepad. The dream seemed to follow her to cheerleading practice. When she tossed her baton in the air, she could've sworn it turned into that wand she saw. Of course, it wasn't real and the baton ended up whacking Sakura on the head.

Sakura sighed and continued to think about the dream as she slowly made her way towards the stairs. Then she heard something. It was coming from the basement.

~* Is someone robbing us? Someone broke into our house! Oh…what can I do? What if the robber's armed? *~

Sakura did the only thing she could do. She held her baton up and walked towards the basement. "If anyone's down there, I'm calling the police! I-I'm warning you! I-I'm armed!"

Sakura fearfully walked into the basement and to her relief, found that the basement was empty. But the noise was starting to get louder. Then Sakura saw it. The noise was coming from one of her father's books. It was glowing and emitting light. Sakura didn't know what to do. But curiosity overtook her. She walked up to the book and held it up. Instantly, the book stopped glowing. The book had a red lion on the cover and it read:

The Clow

~* The Clow? *~

Sakura's curiosity continued to motivate her. She opened the book up and saw a stack of cards. They weren't like any other cards she had seen. She drew the top card and looked at the design. As Sakura gripped the book, she felt some mist begin to surround her. Then she read the card:

"Windy?"

That one word changed everything. A circle of lighted symbols appeared at Sakura's feet and the card began to glow. Then a furious wind began to blow. Sakura covered her face and wondered what was happening. She looked to see that the books and papers in her dad's basement were flying around everywhere. Then she saw the rest of the cards in the book fly out through the walls. The book had been emptied…and the winds finally stopped.

~* W-W-What just happened? What WAS that? Is this another dream? *~

Sakura flopped down on the floor and continued to think about what just occurred. This had to be a dream. It just had to be. Didn't it?

~----------~

[Kero: 'Wait. Hold on, Sakura.']

[Sakura: What is it, Kero? You're interrupting my story!]

[Kero: Yeah, but this is the best part of the story! It's the part where I come in! Come on, Sakura! Can't I tell this part? Please!]

[Sakura: All right, Kero. You can tell this part of the story.]

[Kero: Yeah! All right! Ok…where were we? Um…oh yeah. Well, anyway, Sakura had just opened the Clow Book and…]


Flashback: Sakura's basement

P.O.V.: Kero

~* A light. Could it be? Am I actually coming out? Does this mean…? *~

Those were the thoughts running through the mind of Keroberos. It was actually happening, though. He was coming out of the Clow Book. The first sight he saw was of a little girl, nearly trembling in fear. She looked pretty edgy. So Keroberos decided to make his awesome presence felt.

"Hello!" he shouted cheerfully.

~* D'oh! I'm supposed to be making my AWESOME presence felt! I probably made an entrance about as intimidating as a Pikachu. *~

The girl turned her head and focused her emerald eyes on him. She didn't know what she was seeing.

~* What? Hasn't she ever seen a guardian beast before? *~

The girl picked him up. "A toy? I wonder where the batteries are? Or if there's a switch?"

Keroberos took offense to that. "Hey! I'm no toy!" He jumped out of the girl's hands and landed near the Clow Book. "I am the mighty Keroberos! I am the guardian of the seal! I guard the Clow Cards to make sure they don't get into any mischief!"

The girl blinked. "Clow Cards?"

Keroberos ignored her and looked at the Clow Book. He gasped when he saw the book was empty.

"T-T-The Clow Cards! What happened to them?!"

"Clow Cards?" the girl asked again. "You mean cards like this?"

Keroberos looked at the card the girl was holding. It was Windy. "You have Windy? Where are the rest of them?"

"The rest of them?" she repeated. "They're…gone. I read the card's name out loud and the rest of the cards flew away with the wind."

Keroberos couldn't believe this. He had one simple job to do and it looked like he blew it. The Clow Cards were gone. Now what would he do?

Then he looked up at the girl again.

~* 'Who is this girl, anyway?' *~

~----------~

[Kero: Yeah, I'll admit I might have messed up pretty bad. Still, though, I wouldn't have changed that moment for anything. It was the best thing to ever happen to me.]

[Li: I always wondered about the whole story. I always wondered about how you two first met.]

[Kero: Well, we met. But we still didn't know each other. That wasn't until later…]


Flashback: Sakura's room

P.O.V.: Kero

Keroberos looked around to examine the little girl's room. But he also tried to sense where the rest of the Clow Cards had gone. It did him no good, though. Were all his powers gone? Then he looked in the mirror.

~* A stuffed animal? How could this happen? Why? *~

Then the door flew open. The girl came back in with a bowl of some kind of food. She put it down in front of him and Keroberos examined it. He tasted it…and immediately fell in love with the taste. He started to wolf it down.

"Hey…this is good!" Keroberos muttered, with his mouth full. "What is it?"

"It's pudding," the girl answered.

"Oh, I love this pudding!" Keroberos beamed. He continued eating away at the pudding.

"Um…can I ask you something…um…what was your name again?"

The guardian beast raised his head. "Keroberos."

The girl giggled. "You don't look like a Keroberos. You look more like a Kero."

"A Kero?" Keroberos muttered. "No, no, no. I'm Keroberos, guardian of the seal!"

"But what are you guarding, Kero?"

Keroberos…er…Kero sighed. "I was assigned by Clow Reed to guard the Clow Cards."

"Clow Cards? Clow Reed? I don't understand any of this."

Kero braced himself for the big explanation. "Well…it's like this. Clow Reed was an ancient sorcerer who had a lot of magical powers. He created a form of magic called the Clow Cards. Each card is alive and possesses incredible powers. Clow Reed put me on the book's cover to guard the Clow Cards and make sure they didn't escape. Of course, somewhere along the way, I might've taken a short nap."

"For how long?"

"Um…about 30 years. So I slept on the job and couldn't guard the Clow Cards and…"

"I'm the one who let them out," the girl finished sadly.

"That's right," Kero nodded. "You're the one who released the Clow Cards. So now it's up to you to get them back."

The girl gasped and sweatdropped. "M-M-Me? Y-You can't mean me? I-I'm just a normal girl. I'm not qualified to do this sort of thing."

"Oh, you don't think you're qualified," Kero continued. "But you are. No average person can even open the Clow Book, much less unleash the power of Windy. By opening the book, you've shown that you possess very powerful magic. You're the one destined to seal the Clow Cards…uh…what's your name again?"

"Sakura."

"Yeah. You're the one who has to seal the cards, Sakura, since you're the one who let them out." Kero turned to the Clow Book and released the Clow Key from the book's keyhole. "Use the Key of Clow to seal the cards. Good luck!"

The girl, Sakura, suddenly turned to Kero indignantly. "Good luck? Why should I have to seal the cards? You're the one who slept on the job! If anything, YOU should seal the Clow Cards!"

"What?! ME?! What are you talking about?! YOU let them out!!"

"But YOU slept on the job!!"

"You're the one who has to seal the Clow Cards!"

"No, Kero! YOU are!"

"YOU!"

"No, YOU!"

"YOU!"

"No, YOU!"

The argument went like that for a long time. Somewhere inside, Kero was hoping for this to all be another dream. He hoped he was still in the middle of his 30-year nap.

~* I'm not liking this girl. She'll never be a Cardcaptor! So why does the world's fate lie in HER hands? *~


"How long did we argue that day, Sakura?"

Sakura sighed. "We kept arguing until we saw something flying outside the window."

"And what was that?" Li asked.

Sakura grinned. "Sorry. That's a story for another day. Isn't it getting late?"

Li looked outside Sakura's window to see the sun setting. "I didn't the story was that long. So I guess I'd better go home. As far as I know, Madison's bouncing off the walls from being stuck in solitary. So I'll see you tomorrow."

Sakura gave Li a quick kiss. "Tell you what. After school tomorrow, I'll come over and tell you and Madison what happened after Kero and I stopped arguing."

"It's a date," Li smiled. Then he walked over to the window and slid out. "See you later, Sakura."

Sakura waved her love goodbye and looked back at Kero. "Did you really think I couldn't handle being a Cardcaptor, Kero?"

"Well, you have to understand what I saw at the time," Kero responded. "What I saw was a confused little girl who couldn't tell a Clow Card from a playing card. At first, I thought it was pretty hopeless. Then again…I was pretty grumpy. A 30-year nap can do that to you."

"Sakura! Dinner!"

Sakura's face brightened. "Coming!" Then she looked back at Kero. "Should I bring you your usual?"

"Big bowl of pudding? You bet!"

Sakura walked out and headed downstairs, thinking back to those fond memories of days long past.


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