Summary: While Sakura was helping Madison with her chores, she began to recall her own exhausting Sunday from seven years ago. Today, she remembers the Clow Cards that inhabited her house that day.


Key:

"~* Thoughts *~" = Thoughts

"[NAME:]" = Character voiceover


Episode 8- Recalling the Rest of That Exhausting Sunday


Sakura and Madison walked over to the door of one of the guesthouses. Sakura blushed because she knew who was behind that door. So she took it upon herself to knock.

"Who is it?" Li called out from behind the door.

"Cleaning crew!" Madison grinned.

The door flew open and there was Li. Meilin was sitting back on the bed, looking at the doorway. Li's hair was tousled and practically draping over his face. For some reason…Sakura liked that. It made him look…cute.

"When did you get here?" Li asked Sakura.

"I got here a few hours ago," Sakura answered. "I came with the scrapbook. But I wanted to help Madison out with her chores first."

"And in the meantime, we've been recalling a few memories of our own," Madison said as she walked in. "We were talking about a day Sakura had seven years ago that was just like this."

"Really?" Meilin asked. "You guys…didn't finish that story yet, did you?"

"Not yet," Sakura answered. "In fact, we've been waiting to tell you guys the rest of how that story went."

"Ok…so tell us," Meilin said with the utmost curiosity.

Madison smiled and looked at Sakura. "So where were we?"

Sakura's face brightened as she recalled that day again. "Kero and I were just running down the stairs when we heard noise coming from the basement. I was hoping it wouldn't be a Clow Card. But…"


Flashback: Sakura's house on that exhausting Sunday

P.O.V.: Sakura Avalon

Sakura secretly wished that it was just a bug tapping on the door. She didn't want to admit that she had messed up. But when she saw branches sticking out of the basement door, Sakura knew the worst had been confirmed.

"You see what happens when you don't seal the cards?" Kero demanded.

"Forget that, Kero!" Sakura snapped. "Just help me!"

Sakura threw herself against the door and with all her strength, tried to keep the branches in the basement. Kero tried his hardest to contain the branches, too.

"Ok, this may be a stupid question," Kero grunted. "But which card is this?"

Sakura took a guess. "It looks like the…Wood Card!"

Kero gasped. "Ok, ok, calm down. This may not be as bad as we think it is. Everything will be just fine as long as you have your name on it. You DID put your name on it, didn't you?"

"N-No."

"Ok, then it's bad," Kero moaned. "The Wood Card won't listen to you if you don't have your name on it."

Sakura groaned. It was another little detail she didn't know. She knew she couldn't contain Wood forever. The branches had found their way through the door and wrapped themselves around Sakura's leg. Sakura was suddenly pulled upside-down by the growing branches. She saw Kero was tied up as well. Then the branches extended towards the front door, taking Sakura and Kero with them.

~* Well…at least there's no one to see this. *~

Then, to Sakura's horror, the doorbell rang. Sakura almost screamed, but could only let out a weak yelp. This was way too awkward. If someone came in and saw this, she'd be exposed for sure.

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

[Li: So what happened?]

[Madison: I'll answer that. After all, I should know better than anybody who was behind that door…]


Flashback: Sakura's doorstep

P.O.V.: Madison Taylor

Madison rang the doorbell again. Once again, there was no answer.

~* Come on, Sakura. I know you're in there. Why won't you open the door? *~

Madison kept on ringing the doorbell, until she discovered that the door wasn't closed all the way. Smiling, Madison gently pushed the door open. But the sight she saw in front of her was unbelievable. It was Sakura and Kero and they were both hanging upside-down. There were many branches inside of Sakura's house.

~* Hmm…looks like I missed something. *~

"M-Madison?" Sakura uttered. "What are you doing here?"

"I felt bad about you being stuck with chores," Madison replied. "So I wanted to come help you."

Sakura smiled. "That is so sweet. Um…could you help me down?"

Madison grinned mischievously. "Ok...but first..." Madison reached for her camera and took a snapshot.

Sakura moaned. "MADISON!! DON'T take a picture of that!!"

Madison giggled sheepishly and walked up to Sakura. She loosened her friend from the wooden branches and also loosened little Kero. They both fell down and quickly picked themselves up.

Kero flew up. "Ok, Sakura. You'd better seal this card before it gets out of hand."

"As if this wasn't already out of hand," Sakura muttered. She reached for her Clow Key.

Madison cut her off. "Wait!" She took out her camera. "Ok, go ahead."

Sakura shrugged. "Key of Clow. Power of magic. Power of light. Surrender the wand. The force, ignite. Release!"

Madison squealed in delight as Sakura took her wand in her hand. That was such a beautiful shot. Sakura was ready to take action, but the branches started to shrink. They were heading for the place they had sprouted from: Sakura's basement. The trio stopped by the door and hesitated. Sakura seemed reluctant.

"Go on, Sakura," Madison coaxed. "How bad could it be?"

Sakura conceded and cautiously walked inside. There were the branches, but…they started to grow again. And this time, they were growing very fast.

Sakura knew exactly what to do. "RUN!!!"

The three ran away from the branches as fast as they could. They ran up the stairs and up to Sakura's balcony. The branches followed them and went out the balcony, up to sunlight. Leaves began to sprout out of the branches.

"I don't get it," Madison said. "It wants sunlight?"

"That's right," Kero answered. "The whole tree wants sunlight and it'll do anything to get it, even it means destroying the entire house. But…what could be making the tree act like this? Wood isn't usually so forward."

"Maybe it's the other card I found," Sakura guessed. "The one covered in ink."

"Maybe, but what card could make that happen?" Kero asked. "I think it's time we find out."

"All right," Sakura nodded. "Let's go."

~* Not so fast, Sakura. *~

"Wait, Sakura," Madison piped up. "Before you do anything, I have something for you."

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

[Meilin: Did Madison dress you up again, Avalon?]

[Madison: It was another one of my original creations.]

[Sakura: That's one way of putting it.]

[Madison: Hey, who's telling the story here? Anyway, I got Sakura into her latest costume and we all headed for the basement…]


Flashback: Sakura's basement

P.O.V.: Madison Taylor

Sakura was wearing a pink costume that Madison was personally proud of. She made sure to get a great picture of it and, of course, get it on film. Sakura sweatdropped, but she didn't comment on the costume as they headed down to the basement.

~* She's not saying anything. She must like this one. *~

Then they walked into the basement and found it flooded. Madison caught a distressed expression on Sakura's face on film.

"Hmm…I don't remember Wood being able to water itself," Kero muttered. "It's probably the other card. Hey…what's that?"

Madison and Sakura looked up above the branches. There was a little cloud watering the branches. Madison made sure to get that on film.

"It's…the Rain Card!" Kero said. "Quick, Sakura, seal it!"

Sakura held out her wand. "Rain Card! Return…"

Suddenly, a little creature popped out of the cloud. The creature on its cloud began to hover over Sakura and started raining lightly on her head.

"Oh…this isn't so bad," Sakura mumbled.

The Rain Card apparently took offense to that. It started showering on Sakura's head. Sakura tried to run from the Rain Card's showers. But as fast as Sakura ran, the Rain Card was right on top of her every move. Finally, Sakura gave up and stopped running. The Rain Card caught up to her and showered on her head. Madison couldn't help but giggle. Then she took out her camera and took a picture.

"MADISON!! DON'T take a picture of that!!" Sakura whined. "That's embarrassing!!"

Kero held back some laughter and examined Rain. "So this must be why the branches are growing. Wood is usually a gentle card, so this explains everything."

"I DON'T need a shower!" Sakura shouted. She pulled out one of her cards. "Water Card! Release and dispel!"

The Water Card came out and wrapped itself around Rain. While it wanted to play around, Sakura wasn't in much of a jovial mood. She held out her wand.

"Rain Card! Return to your power confined! Rain!"

Madison taped the capture of the Rain Card. After it was sealed, the branches began to shrink. The branches continued shrinking until there was only a green, beautiful girl floating in the basement. Sakura walked up to her with the wand.

"Wood Card! Return to your power confined! Wood!"

The Wood Card was sealed, too. Sakura then looked around and grabbed a marker. She started to put her name on the two cards. Madison decided not to ask, but instead hold the camera out impatiently. Sakura turned to the camera and giggled. Then she did her two-finger pose and winked.

After that was all done, the three headed outside the basement. When they got out, Sakura and Kero screamed in horror. Madison could see why. The house was practically in shambles. The whole place was a mess.

"All that hard work!" Sakura cried. "I'll have to do it all again!"

"NO!" Kero added. "I don't want to do laundry again!"

~* This is going to be a lot harder than I thought it'd be. Oh, well. She's my friend and she needs me. *~

Madison put a friendly hand on Sakura's shoulder. "Don't worry, Sakura. I'll help you."

Sakura wiped off a tear. "You will?"

Madison smiled. "That's what I came here for, didn't I?"

Sakura hugged her friend. "Thank you, Madison. I don't know what I'd do without you."

Madison only nodded and returned the hug.

~* Well…I guess it's time to get to work. *~


"I guess that's part of the reason why I came," Sakura said after the story was over. "You really didn't have to help me that day, but you did. So…I guess I just wanted to return the favor."

"Well, I really appreciate it," the cheerful Madison replied. "I couldn't have done it without you, Sakura."

"So do we have the rest of the day to ourselves?" Meilin asked.

"I guess we do," Madison said. "My mom's not due home for another few hours. So…maybe we can look over the scrapbook?"

"Sounds like a good idea," Sakura smiled.

"But…before we do that," Madison began, "Sakura, could I see the scrapbook?"

"Um…sure, Madison."

Sakura handed Madison the scrapbook. Sakura's best friend suddenly started to get an evil smirk on her face.

"Li…would like to see this?"

"Uh…sure."

Li walked over to Madison as she pulled out one of the scrapbook's pictures. When he saw it, Li started snickering. Sakura went over to see what picture it was. When she saw it, she fell over anime-style.

It was a picture of Sakura in her pink costume…with the Rain Card showering on her head.


Any comments? I personally liked that ending. Anyway, tell me what you think by reviewing below or mailing me at AmericanCaptor@hotmail.com. Tell me what you think! I really want to know!