Summary: It's Sunday and Madison is stuck doing chores. So Sakura decides to go help her. Hmm…sounds familiar.


Author's Note: Remember I said I wouldn't be 100% accurate? It should somewhat show this time, because I think this gives me a big chance to add in a few original touches of my own. Hope you enjoy them!


Key:

"~* Thoughts *~" = Thoughts

"[NAME:]" = Character voiceover


Episode 7- Recalling an exhausting Sunday


Sunday was here and Sakura wanted to go visit Madison again. But when she called, Madison told Sakura that her maids had the day off and she had to do the household chores. Sakura had been bitten by the memory bug recently and she felt like sharing recently. So to let the time pass quicker, Sakura decided to help Madison with her chores. But Sakura couldn't help but think about that as she walked up to Madison's porch, holding her secret scrapbook. This situation felt so…familiar.

Sakura knocked and noticed the door ajar. Then she pushed the door open. She saw Madison dusting off her couch, wearing a purple apron and a puffed skirt. She almost looked like a maid. And she was surprised to see Sakura there.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting you," Madison smiled. "What's up?"

"I came to help out," Sakura grinned. "You know…I figure you could use some help with your chores. So Kero and I decided to give you some support."

Madison's eyes twinkled. "Oh, I get it. We've been sharing so much in the last few days, so of course you remembered what happened seven years ago."

Sakura didn't understand. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Madison frowned. "Oh…you don't remember? Let me see your scrapbook, Sakura."

Sakura handed Madison her scrapbook. Madison opened up to the third page. When Sakura saw it, she fell over anime-style. It suddenly hit her.

"Yeah, I knew you remembered," Madison giggled.

Sakura got up and looked at the picture again. It was a picture of Sakura in her house, only there were also a lot of branches. It was the Wood Card and Sakura had been tangled in her branches and was hanging upside-down. When Madison found Sakura that day, she had taken this picture.

"Oh yeah," Sakura sighed. "You don't forget a day like that. I haven't forgotten my exhausting Sunday."

"I'll tell you what, Sakura," Madison said cheerfully. "Why don't we look back at that day, while we have our own exhausting Sunday?"

"Deal!" Sakura smiled. "So where do we start?"

"We can start at the beginning," Madison answered, "while we go fold the dry clothes."

"Ok," Sakura nodded as she followed Madison up the stairs. "It was back on that day we were supposed to go on a picnic…"


Flashback: Sakura's house on a Sunday morning

P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon

Sakura yawned as she got up early on that Sunday morning. It was a rare occasion. For one thing, Sakura was actually getting up early. But it was also the day Sakura and Madison were set to have a picnic together. And Sakura couldn't wait. So she got ready and ran downstairs, where she greeted her father and brother.

"Good morning!" Sakura said happily. "Great day, isn't it?"

"What're you so cheerful about, squirt?" Tori asked.

"Today's the day Madison and I go on a picnic," Sakura smiled.

"That's what you think," Tori muttered.

"What do you mean?" Sakura demanded.

"You have chores to do," Tori replied. "Or did you forget about last Sunday? You know, Rita's piano recital? You got out of your chores last week and you promised you'd do them this week."

Sakura groaned. "Tori…isn't there any way I can do the chores next week?"

"You promised, Sakura."

"Oh, fine. At least let me call Madison and tell her it's off."

"Whatever. Just get the chores done. I have to go to work."

Saying nothing more, Tori headed out the door.

~* Off to work. Probably at yet another new job. Oh…now I have to call Madison and cancel. I hope she'll understand. *~

Sakura walked up to her room, ready to call Madison and tell her about this latest turn of events.

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

[Kero: Wait…is this where I got dragged into this?]

[Sakura: Oh yeah. You knew I wasn't going to do all those chores alone. I still remember the little argument we got into after I called Madison…]


Flashback: Sakura's room a few minutes later

P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon

"I'm really sorry, Madison. I hope you're not disappointed."

"Relax, Sakura. It's ok. I understand."

"Thanks, Madison. You really are a friend."

Sakura hung up the phone and thought about how smoothly that telephone call went.

~* You don't fool me for a second, Madison Taylor. I know how disappointed you really are. *~

"So what is it you're doing again?" Kero asked.

"Chores," Sakura answered. "I have to do chores around the house. And my dad and Tori aren't around, so I'll have to do it…on…my…own…" Sakura looked slyly to her left.

~* Hmm…maybe I won't have to do it alone. *~

"Say Kero, how would you like to help me out?"

Without hesitation, Kero gave his answer. "No."

"Please, Kero," Sakura pleaded. "Won't you help me?"

"No."

"PLEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAASE?!"

Kero sighed and turned around. "I'm going to regret. I just know it."

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

[Kero: I knew it from the beginning. I just knew I was going to hate doing chores!]

[Sakura: Well, I don't think it turned out that bad.]

[Kero: Yeah? Then let me tell you MY little experience with your chores.]


Flashback: Sakura's house

P.O.V.: Kero

It was obvious that a little guardian beast didn't have too much experience working with modern household chores. So Sakura struggled with the idea of what to stick Kero with. Finally she decided on dishwashing. Kero looked on at these strange plates. Then he decided to get started. He let the faucet run and he started washing the plate with his small hands. Then he held it up proudly, until…

**CRASH**

…Kero dropped it. He tried again, and this time Kero had it right. Then he tried with three more plates and he stacked them atop the other. But Kero didn't stack them up too well. Because…

**CRASH**

They all fell over. Kero looked down at the remains of the shattered dishes and hoped that Sakura wouldn't notice.

"KERO!!!"

Kero sweatdropped. Maybe he wasn't cut out for doing dishes.

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

[Sakura: Ok, maybe having you do the dishes wasn't such a smart idea.]

[Kero: Like your other idea was so smart? Let me remind you what else happened…]


Flashback: Sakura's house (A few minutes later)

P.O.V.: Kero

After Sakura got done sweeping up the remains of the dishes, she put Kero on something a little easier. Of course, this job wasn't one of the more desirable ones. Sakura asked Kero to scrub the toilet. There was one other thing that made this hard, though. Kero didn't know what a toilet was.

Then he saw the device. It could only be described as a small container of water with an unusual design. Kero was afraid of falling into this contraption. So he used his head. He wrapped some dental floss around his waist to use as a bungee cord and he tied the other end onto a part of the toilet that was sticking out. Then he started scrubbing.

At first, Kero struggled to scrub the big toilet. Not only because the brush was heavy, but also because this thing had a funny odor. Then Kero started to feel fatigued. The weight of the brush was overtaking him and Kero fell into the toilet.

~* EW! This is definitely not regular water! YUCK! *~

Kero had more than his fill of toilet water. So he decided to pull himself out. He tugged hard on his dental floss, but then the thing that was sticking out of the toilet suddenly gave way. Kero heard a loud flushing sound and the water began to drain out of the toilet in a whirlpool.

"WHOA-OA-OA-OA-OA-OA-SA-KU-RA!!!! HE-EL-EL-LP-ME-EE-EE-EE!!"

Kero nearly went down the toilet's drain, but the dental floss was really strong. It didn't give way. Finally, the infernal contraption stopped flushing. Kero stuck his head out of the toilet as Sakura came in to his rescue. She lifted him out and dried the little guardian beast off, but Sakura was absolutely in hysterics. She almost fell over laughing.

"What's so funny?" Kero demanded. "That thing almost killed me! That's worse than any Clow Card I've ever seen! What IS that?!"

Sakura giggled sheepishly. "I probably should have told you a little about the toilet."

Kero growled as he looked at the evil toilet. "I've got to say Sakura, I am not liking your chores! Isn't there anything else I can do?"

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

[Kero: That wasn't one of my brighter questions.]

[Sakura: Kero, it wasn't that bad. I actually think we stumbled onto your niche.]

[Kero: Oh, sure. Why don't we take a look at my so-called niche…]


Flashback: Sakura's house (Post-toilet trauma)

P.O.V.: Kero

Ok…Kero had one job to do. It was called 'doing the laundry', whatever that meant. He learned quickly, though. Doing the laundry apparently meant taking a pile of clothes and stuffing in a device called the washing machine. First, though, he had to separate the whites from the colors for some reason. So after he did that, he carried small piles towards the washing machine.

Kero didn't realize how heavy clothes could be. He was starting to get tired around the third load. So when he carried his next pile of clothes towards the washing machine…

"W-W-WHOA!!!"

…Kero fell in. Much to his chagrin, the washing machine door closed and Kero found himself stuck. He pounded on the washing machine door, hoping that Sakura would hear him.

~* I knew something like this would happen. I hate this 'laundry' thing! *~

Kero kept on pounding the washing machine door with his little hands. It was no use, though. Sakura couldn't hear him. And what made things even worse was that Sakura seemed to be calling him.

"Kero! Kero, where are you?! I found a Clow Card! Where'd you go, Kero?"

~* She found a Clow Card? How did that happen? That had to be totally effortless. She must be getting a lot better. *~

"Kero, where'd you go?!" Sakura cried out again.

No matter how hard Kero pounded away, Sakura couldn't hear him. So she wandered off into the basement. A few minutes after that, the phone rang. As Sakura ran up to answer, Kero banged at the door for dear life again. The result was the same. Sakura couldn't hear him.

~* Well this is just great. She found a Clow Card without me and why? Because I'm stuck doing laundry…literally. Maybe next time she should do MY laundry! No wait…I don't wear clothes. *~

After that brief thought, Kero saw Sakura running outside. She was leaving.

~* Hey! Where does she think she's going?! She can't just leave me in here! *~

In another futile effort, Kero banged on the washing machine door again. But Sakura was gone. It looked like Kero would have to find his way out himself. So he crashed into the washing machine door and it flew open. Kero was finally free.

But he wasn't done yet. He still had to finish doing the laundry. So he grabbed the dried clothes and started folding them.

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

[Sakura: You know, Kero. The more you tell me that story, the funnier it gets.]

[Kero: Oh, you find it funny that I got myself stuck in the washing machine. It took everything I had to bust myself out.]

[Madison: So basically, that day started out like our day so far, right Sakura?]

[Sakura: Pretty much. It wasn't until I got back from lunch with Julian that things started to get chaotic.]


Flashback: Sakura's house a few hours later

P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon

Sakura walked through the front door all smiles. She just loved having lunch with Julian. She liked this guy and having lunch with him was so enjoyable. And…it was also fun to get the drop on Tori, who as Sakura had guessed earlier, was starting yet another new job.

"Kero?" Sakura called out. "Where are you?"

Sakura walked up the stairs, but quickly stopped at the closet. All the clothes Kero was supposed to hang were all hung up. Sakura kept walking towards her room and when she peeked inside, she saw Kero sleeping on her bed.

~* Aww…he must be tuckered out. He looks so cute. I shouldn't wake him up. Oh…but he should know what I found. *~

Sakura gently nudged Kero and he yawned. She couldn't get over how cute this was. If Madison were here, she'd take a picture. Kero sat up and looked up at Sakura.

"Kero, I wanted to tell you that I found two Clow Cards earlier."

"Two Clow Cards?" Kero repeated. "Which ones?"

Sakura tried to think back. "Well…one of them was the Wood Card. And I couldn't tell what the other one was. It was covered in ink."

"Uh huh," Kero nodded. "And you DID seal them with the wand, right?"

~* Seal them? I was supposed to seal them? But they were already in their card form? Was I really…? *~

"Sakura? You DID seal them, didn't you?"

Silence. Sakura sweatdropped.

Kero was getting impatient. "Did you even put your name on them?"

Silence. Sweatdrop.

Kero slapped his forehead. "Oh, no. You didn't seal the cards. You didn't put your name on them. That could be really dangerous, Sakura!"

"Oh, Kero," Sakura sighed. "They were already in their card form. How dangerous could they be?"

Of course, those kinds of words always turn out to be bad. Sakura heard something coming from her basement.

"Any other questions?!" Kero growled.

"Never mind that!" Sakura snapped. "Let's just get down there!"

Sakura ran down the stairs as fast as she could, with Kero flying right behind her. To her shock, she saw branches sticking out of the basement door.


"Ok, break time!"

Sakura sighed with relief. Cleaning up Madison's house was a tough task. It was so enormous. But at least half of the house was sparkling. It made Sakura feel good to know that it was time for lunch.

"So should we continue sharing this fond memory later?" Madison asked.

"We should," Sakura smiled. "But just out of curiosity, Madison, what's next?"

"We still have to clean the guesthouses."

Sakura thought about that. "Really? Including Li and Meilin's?"

"That's right."

"Do they even know I'm here?"

Madison grinned. "They will soon."


Any comments? I figured Kero could use some extra chores. Tell me what you think by reviewing below or mailing me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com, because I want to know what you think!