This isn't a Dance; it's Hell with streamers
Chapter Six: Pucker up Baby…
YEYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! I GOT LOTS MORE REVIEWS!! OHHH I'M SOOO HAPPY!!!! ^cough^ yes righto then, getting on with point…
Zfighter2020: oh good, I was hoping that's what you were getting at. Basically, a cliché is an expression or idea worn out by long use. Nuff said I reckon. Thanx muchly for the review!
MistressKasumi: HEHEHEHE (evil cackle) all I can say is you just have to wait and see…hehehehe…I've got…plans. Glad you and your friend enjoy my fic, and thanx very muchly for the review. Happy face for you! ^ - ^.
Sere Tuscumbia: Hehehe I'm glad you find it funny, some people just don't get my humor, (my mum sometimes doesn't even get it, not that I let her read my stories, but I'll joke around at home and she thinks I'm being serious…hmm, go fig.) Thanx muchly for the review!!
Kathleen: oh go on, admit, you love the suspense…About the whole mind reading thing, I actually forgot to mention that in the last chapter. (hehehe oops…) I'm going to say something in this one, but basically I'm just going to write that the mind reading spell thing that Kalla put on Li wore off. And get ready for more s & s mush to come…^ - ^. Thanxs muchly for the review!
Facier59: Hello again! I'm so glad you like my story…it makes me happy that your happy and all that…hehehe…anywho, more chapters up for your enjoyment! ^ - ^ ! Thanxs muchly for another review!!
UnicornHime: DUDE!!! Hehehehe I just went to check out your stories…hehehe very funny and warped…but I like warped, I am warped…mmm valentine sweetheart thingies…but you should see me after a whole bag of gummy bears…now that's not a good idea. (I quite literally can't stop giggling for ages…and I fidget, it really annoys people too, hehehe, I get the remote and click the case on and off…you should try it, see how long it takes for people to crack. It's really entertaining!) Anywho, thanx muchly for the review! ^ - ^.
CherrYPinkSakurA: Hehehe, you'll just have to wait and see what I've done to poor Syao-kun…hehehe (evil laugh) You know I actually feel sorry for the poor boy…I pick on him a lot in my stories…but oh well! Hopefully I'll remember to e-mail you…but I'll defiantly send a message when I post chapters up. K! Thanx muchly for the review!
Blue Pheonix: ^ hides in a corner^ I'm sorry! I didn't mean to make it a cliffhanger…sorta…honest! ^cough cough^ Anyway…there'll be lots more cliffhangers for your enjoyment yet to come!…maybe…I haven't decide yet. It wasn't as gushy as I had originally intended…but I think it was enough for now. And I'm defiantly not going to go really mushy, like 'oh Sakura, darling, honey, pet, you are the sunshine of my life, we only just saw each other 5 minutes ago, but it feels like a life time. Woe, woe is me…' (hehehe I crack myself up ^ - ^). But don't you worry, I won't make it too mushy on fear of having my limbs and so forth relocated… (please don't kill me!! I'm innocent I tells ya!) hehehe thanx muchly for the review!
Lea: I know cliffhangers are bad, and yes you are right, I am evil…very evil. ^ insert sadistic evil grin here^ MWAA-HA-HAA-HAAAA So that's why there are going to be more!!!(maybe, I haven't decided yet) Yay! Thanx muchly for the review!
Jurei: hehe I was originally just going to call it 'The Cliché Card'…all very inventive you'll have to agree. But I actually got the idea for my title from a joke thing…I can't remember where, but it had something to do with offices…I saw it and got inspired. The new characters, Ike and Kalla, are actually from my first story, 'My Magical Misadventure' but I don't recommend you read it, coz it sucks (first story sucky-ness) But basically, they're both 'aliens' and they live on earth coz their home planet was blown to itty bitty little pieces. They met s + s in 'M.M.M.' coz they had to help stop the evil bad guy bent on world domination. Oh by the way, they look like humans but they can change forms and stuff. There's a better description (I think) in the first chapter, which explains in a bit more in detail. There are other characters there too, but I'm just using Kalla and Ike in this story. Anywho, thanxs muchly for the review!
THANX TO ALL YOU WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO REVIEWED! Go on take a bow!!
Righto then, on with the business side of things.
I don't one CC, or CCS, or any of the other groovy anime shows out there…otherwise I'd be really happy, and you'd see a whole lota really weird episodes written by yours truly. And I'd keep all the cute anime guys all to myself too, coz I can…^ - ^. Anywho, I suppose I'd better get on with things…
----------
Sakura's P.O.V.
*…ughhh, where's an aspirin when you need one…* I slowly pulled myself up from the floor, my head dully throbbing from when I hit the wall. I would have really liked just to stay there, but the meager details of what had happened burned through my mind. Li had been taken by…by something, and he didn't have his sword with him. I knew he was an excellent fighter, but the thing was at least a metre taller then him. Nothing short of a rather big bomb looked like it could beat it.
I swallowed my fears and looked round. I could still see where I was going, my light ball had remained above my head, and it was then that I noticed the dust on the floor. Our footprints covered the dusty surface, then there was a scuffle, obviously where the monster had attacked Li, then a long continuous line, almost as if someone was being dragged.
Li.
* oh god Li, please still be alive…*
The drag line lead straight to a nearby door, which, upon investigation, I found was locked. I frowned, the lock was old, but strong. I could have used Li's sword, or perhaps the 'Lock card', that would have been logical.
I wasn't exactly thinking logically. I noticed that I was still holding the 'Firey Card in my hand…
After reducing the door and a rather large section of the frame to a charred and smoking hole, I cautiously stepped through, hoping that maybe Li was in there, alive and well.
But noooo, life's just not like that is it?
Of course, the room was empty.
I growled a bit under my breath and surveyed the room. There wasn't any other door leading out, the drag marks only led in here, there wasn't any at all that suggested they had gone out the same way. The room itself looked as though it had once been used as a bedroom, my light ball revealing a dust covered bed and wardrobe, previously hidden by shadows.
* Okay, there must be a hidden door or something…but the drag marks only lead to a wall…I think…*
I stepped a bit closer to get a better look.
There was a hole, a big hole, and it revealed a huge gap behind the wall. My light wasn't strong enough to see how far down the gap actually went, but I could see that it was too thin for me to use the fly card. I could have used the float card to get me down, but because I didn't know how far it actually went down, wasn't really sure if I could make it all the way to the bottom. It was then that I noticed the dumbwaiter.
The tiny compartment I was in squeaked once again in protest, the rusty chains and cogs protesting from being used after so long. My arms where starting to tire but I was yet to see any sign of the monster or Li on any of the floors I passed. Finally, just before my arms felt as though they where going to drop off, I hit the bottom.
I briefly had a bad thought that maybe the monster had gone up instead of down, but a fresh set of marks caught my attention, leading off into the gloom.
I had arrived in a kitchen, and it, like the rest of the house was caked with dust.
Everything except for the knives.
It was a bit disturbing really, considering everything else about the 'house' suggested that it hadn't been lived in for about 100 years. The knives on the other hand, were all dangerously sharp, and not one of them even had a fleck of rust on them.
And they were all big.
I counted at least 20 butcher's knives as I followed the dust trail through the room. I had this nagging thought that I'd seen something like this before…like in a movie…
The dusty trail this time lead me to a narrow flight of stairs, probably into the basement. I stood at the top and peered into the gloom. I could see a dull light on at the bottom, and I could here something down there too. It sounded like someone groaning in pain.
I felt a lump rise in my throat. * no…Li…he's hurt…I've got to help him…*
Pulling on my last shred of courage I descended the creaking steps and quickly hid behind something big and expensive looking. I was in a laboratory, the room filled with old yet technical looking equipment, some covered with sheets, the others with dust. I 'switched off' my light ball, I didn't need it any more, the dull lights, whoever had turned them on, were just enough for me to see. I kept in the shadows trying to stay out of sight, as I crept towards the noise I had heard before.
I passed a table covered in specimen jars and gasped in shock as I caught sight of Li's battered and bruised body. He looked pretty badly beaten up, he was bleeding from a gash in his left shoulder and his body was covered in countless deep looking scratches and cuts. He was laying on the ground and looked like he was only just starting to come to.
Completely forgetting about the monster, I ran forward and kneeled in front of him.
"Li! Li, it's me Sakura, don't worry I'm going to get you out of here…" He didn't seem to hear me, so I called out again and nudged his other shoulder. His head slowly rose up.
"…Sakura?…" His eyes bugged out as he realized it was me. "SAKURA! NO IT'S A TRAP!" I barely had time to say 'huh?' as something that felt like a ton of bricks slammed into my shoulder and sent me flying across the room. I hit the wall hard, and my wand, as well as Li's sword flew out of my hands. I rolled out of the way a second before I huge claw carved through the air, missing me by inches. Getting behind the relative safety of a machine I found my wand, and finally got a good look at the monster.
For one thing, it was big, and had the claws to match. It actually kinda looked like a mutant hamster on steroids.
That drooled.
A lot.
Fangs that would make a saber toothed tiger jealous curved out of its' mouth, dripping saliva as it searched the room for its latest victim.
I.e. me.
It sniffed the air then looked right at me, as it dropped to all fours and made its way over. I gulped then fumbled for a card, my hands shaking from fear as it came closer and closer. I finally pulled out the 'Firey card'. "Firey Card! Release and dispel!"
The flaming spirit leapt out of the card and started to circle the beast. The beast looked up at it confused then started to snap at it, momentarily distracted from its pursuit of me. I should have tried to get out, but I was frozen to the spot. I watched transfixed as the fiery spirit stopped circling and slammed into the beast. It yelped and was flung back out of sight, its black fur smoking from the impact.
The spirit returned to the card and I stood up, looking over to the spot that the monster had landed.
But it was gone.
"no…it can't be…that was my strongest card…" I backed up, the shred of courage I had used slipped away. Then I froze, as I felt the warm breeze of something breathing down my neck.
{AN: And I think I'll stop it right there…^gets attacked by readers carrying 'death to cliffhangers' signs ^ kidding! Kidding! It's only three pages long at the moment, that's too short for a chapter!!}
I flinched as a drop of saliva dripped onto my head. I almost gagged, as the stench of its breath assaulted my nostrils. I turned around to face it, its' eyes fixed on me. I started to back up again but didn't go far as I hit a wall. I was trapped in a corner, no way out, and my most powerful card proved to be useless against it. * I'm going to die, I don't want to die…so many things I haven't done, it can't end like this…*
I shrieked and ducked as it swung its' claw only narrowly missing taking my head off. The thing growled in frustration then roared, raising both its' massive paws, claws out, above its' head. I screamed, cowered on the floor and squeezed my eyes shut, expecting any minute now a very painful death.
I heard a sickening thud, then a roar, but this time it sounded more in pain.
I waited another second, but nothing. I peaked open an eye and gasped. The beast was laying on the ground, a long jaggered metal pipe sticking out of its hide. I looked up, Li was standing behind it, panting.
--------------
Third Person POV: Back with Kalla, Ike and Kero:
"Kalla, what do you mean someone's going to be killed?"
"I mean that someone is going to be six feet under, you know, no longer breathing, heart stops, start to decay, become a worms breakfast and all that."
Ike grimaced. You kinda had to marvel at Kalla's ability to go from completely serious one minute and a completely immature the next. "That's disgusting, but that's not what I meant. What I was asking was why you think all of a sudden that someone is going to die?"
The group rounded a corner and continued down another hall. "Well, you know how I was telling you before about horror (CRASH!) clichés and stuff"
Ike and Kero exchanged looks then replied, "…yeah"
"Well, it's just another one, someone always gets killed or eaten or something, and it either has to be the crazy missing scientist dude, or the monster animal thing that they were writing about in the article."
"But what makes you so sure about that."
"It's logical. This whole thing is running like a bad horror (CRASH!) movie. Someone's gotta die before we get out of here, we won't get out of here until the 'movie' ends, and it won't end until daybreak. And before you go asking about why daybreak, it's just another cliché. "
"…oh…" Kero scratched his head then continued. "You know, your logic doesn't make much sense."
"It does if you watch as many movies as I do."
Ike still looked a bit confused "but why did the Clow Card do all this?"
Kero frowned and said, "I think I can explain that. From what I heard, the Cliché card was originally one of the weaker cards…"
Ike wavered at the house in general, "this is what you consider weak?"
"No, it feeds off of cliches. When it was first created, there weren't many stories around to be considered a cliché. But nowadays, you get so many movies and stories popping out, and they all generally follow the same plot. When the card was released all it really needed to do was soak them all up, so to speak, and it got really strong really quickly."
"okay…I think I get your drift, but what has this house have to do with everything?"
"What I think it's doing is creating it's own movie, putting us in a cliché, we are essentially in the card, that's why it's so hard to sense it. I think its making us act out a movie so it can feed off of it, and get even stronger."
"But why choose horror (CRASH!)?"
Kalla continued, "it's probably because it's Halloween, it makes sense to encourage scary (CRASH!) stuff to happen on a night when technically scary (CRASH!) stuff is supposed to happen."
Ike still didn't look satisfied. "okay then, but what about the other day with the cupid thing?"
"We were watching a romance movie, and they probably have the most predictable cliché's of them all. The card must have been in the tape, and when we started to watch it, it must have been drawn out because it felt Sakura nearby. It would have known she was the CardCaptor." They rounded another corner and found the stairs only going down, then started to descend. "But at the moment we've got to find Meilin and Madison, because they don't have magic, they'll probably be the first to go."
-------
{AN: now for a little fun to lighten the mood: P}
Madison's POV: Completely oblivious to the seriousness of the situation…
"This is so cool! We could make a movie in this place!"
Meilin giggled and said "yeah and it'd be a box office smash and we'd make millions of dollars!"
"Yeah!!" I giggled along with her as I continued to tape the hall that we were walking down.
"ooooooo…^hic^ ooooooOOOOOooooo…"
"…what's that…?"
I frowned and glanced around the side of my camera. "I dunno…"
"oooooooo ^hic^ oooooooo I'm a ^hic^ big sshhcary ghooooooshhht…^hic^"
For some reason, whoever was making that noise was having difficulties pronouncing the letter 's'.
Meilin grabbed my arm and pulled me around a corner. We slowly peeked our heads around the bend…and almost screaming out in terror as two people walked through a nearby door.
And I don't mean that they actually opened it either...
"oooooo ^hic^ ooo-hey? Where'd they go?"
We both sweat dropped.
They were ghosts.
But they weren't exactly like I'd imagined them. Besides the fact that they were very noticeably transparent, and that their feet didn't touch the ground, they didn't strike me as the whole 'haunting the house to scare people' type.
One of them seemed to have had one too many drinks.
"ooooOOOOooo! I'm a ghossshhhhtt! ^hic^" The drunk one started to giggle hysterically, apparently amused at himself, as the other sober looking one rolled his eyes and sighed, "oh give it a rest Rodney, you're not fooling anyone…" Then we froze, as he spotted us.
"Oh hello there ladies…"
"…"
The drunk one stopped giggling then squinted at us. "heeeyyyy issa issa issa ^hic^ he paused a bit, apparently thinking "issa issa group of of of" He squinted at us again, as the other ghost rolled his eyes, "they're girls Rodney, and there are only two of them…"
'Rodney' seemed satisfied with that answer and smiled drunkenly, "..yesh…two girrrlssshh…anna pengwin…" then passed out.
Meilin and I both blinked as the other ghost nudged Rodney out of the way with a transparent foot. "Don't mind him, he's always like that…the names Steve by the way…"
"ummm…hi…my name is Madison, and this is Meilin…"
"uh, hey…"
There was an uncomfortable silence. I had never met a ghost before…and I'd bet Meilin never had either. But they certainly didn't act like the ones you see in the movie. The only thing Rodney looked capable of scaring was a bottle of rum.
* Boy, it's a good thing Sakura isn't here right now, she'd freak...but this is so cool! I've so gotta get this on tape!*
MeiLin looked at the ghost curiously then asked "so, what did you die from?"
I nudged MeiLin quickly with my foot then hissed "MeiLin! I don't think he'd want to talk about it…"
Steve chuckled, "don't worry about it, nothing I can do about it now. I was eaten by Fluffy"
He sounded as if this was all old news. We both looked blank and blinked. "Fluffy? Who's Fluffy?"
Steve looked mildly shocked, "you haven't met Fluffy?"
We both simultaneously shook our heads, still looking blank.
"Well I suppose if you had of met him, you probably would have been its' lunch. Fluffy is what Doctor Bartley called his creation. Have you read the newspaper articles about the disappearances and all that?" At our nod he continued, "oh good, well Dr. Bartley succeeded, more or less in creating his 'super animal'. But it turned on him. Long story short, Dr. Bartley was the first ghost. My family was the first to move in after he disappeared, needless to say we didn't last long."
MeiLin blinked, "…why did he call it 'Fluffy'?"
Steve shrugged, "I dunno, I asked him that myself, but he's a 'few cards short of a full deck' if you know what I mean, so you generally can't get a straight answer out of him."
"oh okay then" I glanced over at the still comatose Rodney and said, "So he got eaten by 'Fluffy' when he was drunk right?"
"Sort off. He got drunk, fell off the stairs when he tried to slide down the rail, then got eaten by 'Fluffy'."
At some point while Steve was talking, Rodney had woken up. "I'm not drunk…I'm jussht tipshee ^hic^…" He waggled an unsteady transparent finger in Steve's face, "Unlike you sh-sht-shtee…uhh…mishter, I can handle my my my alceehol…thingy I'llhaveyouknow…^hic^.
Steve just ignored him and turned back to us. "You'll have to watch out for 'Fluffy' though. He's a whole lot tougher than his name suggests. I believe one guy actually wheeled a piano off of a balcony, hit the thing right on the head, but it didn't even scratch it. It's a persistent little bugger, though, I'll give it that."
"okay, so we just have to avoid 'Fluffy' at all costs."
Steve nodded "Right"
"Right…" Meilin looked thoughtful, "so what does it look like?"
"Kinda like a giant mutant ferret…it drools a lot too." Rodney looking bored started to drift off down the hall. Steve sighed, "I better get going, otherwise Mr. Paralytic over there will try something stupid. Nice talking to you, and be careful." With that he floated of, and both ghosts disappeared.
We both stood in silence, I was the first to speak up, "…well, that was…different…"
"…yeah…I wonder why he called it 'Fluffy'?"
"I don't think that's the point. Come on, we gotta go and find the others and warn them. Hopefully they haven't already met 'Fluffy'…I put a lot of work in those costumes…"
Meilin raised an eyebrow, "I don't think that's the point either…"
---------
Sakura's POV: Just after Li saves her:
I couldn't stop shaking. It was all I little too close for comfort. If Li had come a second later, I would have been lunch. It was just like Li, he was always there for me. I had once again found myself in his arms trying to comfort me. I had been on the verge of hysterics, but he had pulled me away from the gruesome scene in the laboratory, I had calmed down and we were currently heading back upstairs towards the faint aura's of our friends. Li's wounds had stopped bleeding, but he still looked pretty messed up. "Are you sure you're okay? I could rip some material from my costume and use them as bandages…"
He smirked slightly, but his cut lip made it difficult, "Don't worry about it, I'm fine, besides it will be scary enough when Madison finds out my costume was ruined, she'll probably do more damage than the monster if she finds out you ruined yours."
I smiled shyly then looked on ahead. I had created another light ball, and it was yet again lighting the way. We had gone up about two flights of stairs when I saw something from the corner of my eye; a shadow move. We froze.
At first nothing happened, then another shadow moved, then another, but the shadows were fading, almost as if a light from above was moving towards us.
I looked over at Li, but he was looking above us, and he looked relieved.
I followed his gaze and spotted the light coming from a higher up flight of stairs. There was a thump, the light wobbled, then a voice floated down 'Have a nice trip there Kalla?', followed by 'oh hush you'.
"Kalla! Ike! Down here!" Kalla's and Ike's heads peered over the banister, then Kalla grinned and waved. "Hey guys! We've been looking everywhere for you!"
Kalla, Ike and Kero had met up with Madison and Meilin on the way down the stairs, it was such a relief that everyone was okay. Kalla had given me a weird look when she saw me, probably wondering why I was wearing Li's coat, but she didn't ask about that, instead questioned us on what had happened to us, and why Li looked like he had had a fight with a blender. When I got to the part about the monster, Meilin suddenly spoke up, "hey, that's Fluffy!"
Li raised an eyebrow, "'Fluffy'?"
Madison nodded, confirming Meilin's outburst, "Yeah that's what the Dr. guy called his creation…"
"And you would know that how?"
Madison and Meilin looked slightly uncomfortable, and exchanged glances before Meilin continued. "Oh we found a-ahh-journal. It was Dr. Bartley's and it pretty much explained everything about the monster thing." They explained what they had discovered {AN: remember, Sakura is afraid of ghosts, so if they said they were told by ghosts, she would have freaked, so that's why they're making up the 'journal'}, then Kalla launched into her bizarre theory of why all this had happened. It was all a bit much to take in, but she explained it more or less to everyone's satisfaction.
"Okay, you're saying, in theory, that we have to wait until dawn breaks before we can get out of here?"
She looked thoughtful, then said, "No, that's to much or a risk. I personally don't think we can keep away from Fluffy that long…"
Li looked mildly frustrated, "I told you, I killed it, it's not coming back."
Kalla sighed in exasperation, "look I told you before, it's not dead"
"How would you know, you weren't there!"
"No, but something never dies until just before the end of the movie, which is usually signified by the break of dawn…well known fact."
"But it wasn't moving, it had a pole sticking right through it!"
"So, that doesn't prove anything. Haven' you seen 'Halloween H20'? The guy in that gets shot, stabbed, thrown out of a window and hit by a car, and he's still going…not that dawn breaks at the end of the movie, but that's not my point…my point is, just getting stabbed isn't going to do squat."
Li rubbed his temples and gave in, "Okay fine, so what do you suppose we do, if this thing is still supposed to be lurking around…even with a very large pipe through its chest…"
Kalla ignored the tone of his voice, then scratched her chin in thought.
* uh oh… *
"Well, the way I see it, if we create another cliché…"
* oh no…she's up to something…*
"Then theoretically, it should make the Cliché card appear…"
* she always rubs her chin like that when she's thinking of doing something to me…*
Kero replied, "So what exactly do you have in mind?"
"What other Cliché have you seen it use?"
Madison frowned, then answered, "that would be romance right? Because it used cupid?"
Kalla grinned looking pleased that Madison had caught her drift. To me the grin just looked predatory.
"Exactly, and romances are probably the most predictable, so it won't be hard to come up with something."
Meilin nodded, "Okay then, what do you want us to do?"
"I don't want you guys to do anything…"
Everyone looked confused, "Huh?"
She grinned, trying to hide a smirk, "I only need two people for this," she turned to me and Li, the smirk no longer hidden "and those two people are you and Li!"
* ohcrapohcrapohcrapohcrap…*
I did an impression of a fish before I could actually answer, "wha-but…why us?"
"Simple, we've got two options, either wait around until dawn breaks, which isn't going to happen for a hours, and try and escape a huge blood thirsty monster thing who is probably really pissed off right now considering it's got half a metre of metal jammed in it's guts; or we try for the nicer approach and bring the card to us, so you can seal it, and we can all go home in one piece."
I gulped and hesitantly answered, wondering what I was 'voluntarily' getting myself into. "okay, I think I like the nicer approach…I think."
She grinned at me again. * Why do I get the feeling that I'm digging my own grave? *
"The way I see it, the nicer approach is to create something romantic, because we know it likes them, and because they're easy."
I really should have seen it coming a mile a way, I've watched enough movies to be able to expect it, but I was getting a bit frustrating, she was jumping around the point, and I quiet stupidly encouraged her to go on. "So what do you want us to do?"
She didn't answer me, instead, turned to Li, grinning "Pucker up baby"
I never seen Li so scared before in all the times I'd seen him. "WH-WHAT!?!"
Unfased she replied "I wasn't talking about me…" then looked at me, "I was talking about Sakura."
We both yelled out that time "WHAT?!?"
She just continued, "Think about it, it makes sense, you two are the only ones who can do it. The way I see it, the card will be most attracted if people with magic do it. That means that Madison and Meilin are out. Me and Ike can't do it either because we are already going out, and romance movies generally don't concentrate on people already going out. So then, that leaves you two!"
"wh?..wait a minute, you two are going out?"
"Duh? Who else do you think would want to put up with him?"
"Hey!"
"You two are the only ones left, you are the only ones that will work"
"But-but-but-but isn't there any other way?" I wasn't as if I didn't want to kiss him…heck I'd be all to happy to, not that I'd tell any of them that. But he doesn't like me like that, this sort of thing will probably ruin our friendship, and I just didn't want to lose that.
She shook her head. I couldn't think of anything else, and nobody else looked like they did either. I couldn't look at him, all I could say was 'but-but-but…'
Kalla's voice drifted into my mind.
* You know I'm right Sakura, and I know you want this to happen. * Her sounded a bit apologetic * This probably isn't how you imagined your first kiss with him, but we really don't have much of a choice. *
* No! You don't get it! He doesn't like me more than a friend, and forcing him to do this will probably ruin our friendship, he'll hate me forever, and he'll never speak to me again! *
Kalla growled in exasperation then continued, slightly angry * oh don't give me that 'he doesn't like me 'that way' bull crap. He likes you damnit! Anyone can see it in the way he acts around you except for you. Look Sakura, forgetting the fact that you need to do it anyway to get us all out of here alive, he wants to do it too, he…likes…you *
* but-but-how do you know for sure? *
She smiled slightly * call it woman's intuition *, she paused, then continued * look, put it this way, everyone keeps telling you that nothing is a coincidence, that everything happens for a reason right? *
* …yeah… *
* Right. Well then, do you really thing it is just a coincidence that the person who comes to get the cards off of you, but then ends up helping you; although at first not exactly being Joe Sunshine, is now a good friend who you rely on *
* Is this going anywhere..?*
* Sakura, do you really think it's just a coincidence that this person is not only male, but also the same age as you? And you both possess a lot of magic. You were meant to be together. It's destiny *
* But he was engaged to Mei Ling…*
* Yes…but he's not now."
----------
Li's POV:
I had no doubt in my mind, Kalla was defiantly and most certainly evil. She should be re-named Beelzebub, or Satan…or Lucifer. Take your pick. The spell she had used to let me read Sakura's mind had worn off, but I could see it in the look on her face that she didn't want to go through with it. That hurt a lot. Sakura is one of my closest friends and I care deeply for her…I love her. That's the only explanation for the way I feel when I'm around her. {AN: corn anyone? I've got tons to spare. Enough to sink a ship really. ^giggles girlishly (which is just weird considering I'm, lo and behold, a girl…) hehehe I crack myself up…}
I could tell that she was having a telepathic conversation with Kalla. I couldn't hear what they were saying but Kalla's aura changes slightly when she uses telepathy. Sakura was blushing, I'm pretty sure I was too, but she was probably blushing for a different reason to me. Their mental conversation ended, Kalla winked at Sakura, and basically looked pleased with herself.
That was strange. She usually didn't looked pleased with herself unless she got her way. Sakura stepped in front of me, then shyly looked up. Her emerald green eyes meeting my brown.
* …oh my god…this is really going to happen…*
I couldn't believe it. I was half expecting to just wake up now, find out this really was just a weird twisted psychotic dream, and have to go through another day, only to go to sleep at night and dream it all over again. But it was really happening.
Funny though, I'd never expected to be doing this because it was a life or death situation.
I never expected to have spectators.
---------
Sakura's POV:
* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*
This was really happening.
* ohgodohgodohgodohgod…*
He was really leaning in.
* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*
I was leaning in.
* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*
It was all happening, just like a dream come true…Until Kalla piped up. "Oh by the way, you have to do it like you mean it…no short peck on the lips, it's gotta be believable", and pretty much ruined the whole dream like part and sent me crashing back down to reality.
* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*
We were getting closer. I could feel his breath on my face.
* ogodohgodohgodohogod…*
So close, barely a centimetre apart…
* ogodohgodohgodohogod…oh my god…oh…my…* My train of thought got kinda derailed right about there, because that was right about the time that I felt his lips on mine. {AN: AROOOOOOGAA! ARRROOOGAA! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! WE CANNO TAKE IT NO MORE CAPPIN', TO MUCH CORN!! ARRRRRGGGHHH! Hehehe…on the count of three again…aaaaaaawwwwwww.}
* oh…my…god…* If I had died right then, everyone would probably be wondering why I had a big 'ol stupid grin on my face.
* okay…we're just doing this to save our friends…no matter how good he is at doing it…Is it supposed to be this good? No wait, that's not the point…the point is…the point is…the point is he's a really good kisser. No wait a minute that's not it…oh right…saving friends…saving friends……Note to self: put friends in life or death situations where the only possible solution is for me to kiss Li…no no! Ohgodohgodohgodohogod…*
He pulled me closer, I hadn't even noticed it when he'd wrapped his arms around my waist, deepening the kiss. I would have been perfectly happy to stay like that for, say, the rest of my life, but all good things must come to an end.
Someone cleared their throat behind us, then Kalla sounding guilty and rather happy at the same time, said, "um it's not that I want to interrupt your…err-moment…or anything" We split apart, my face was burning red, and so was his, Kalla grinned and pointed to her left "but…umm you have a job to do…"
Li's arms slid off my waist and I stepped back to look at what she was pointing to.
It was cupid.
And he had the exact same starry eyed expression on his face that Madison had when I tried on a costume that 'looked really cute/great/awesome/kawaii' on me. I spun my wand and called out the charm. "CLOW CARD! RETURN TO YOUR POWERS CONFINED…CLICHÉ CARD!"
Cupid frowned when it realized what was happening, before its' shape was warped and pulled into it's card form. The card at the tip of my wand glowed, the last bits of the spirit were sucked into it, and the sealed card floated into my outstretched hand. I looked around. We were once again at the Halloween Fair, in the 'Tunnel of Terror' which was back to it's former two story, tacky glory. It appeared that the card had stopped time, but had allowed Madison and Meilin to be included, despite the fact that they didn't have magic. I looked at the card. It had a picture of a writer on the front, complete with quills and scrolls. The cliché cards true form. I suppose all cliché's originally come from a writer, so that's why it chose that image.
Ike's turned around and smiled, everyone was back in the seats that they had in the beginning. "good work Sakura…" Then I remembered that originally, I was sitting next to Li. He seemed to be avoiding my gaze, his face was bright red and he looked deep in thought. Ike continued, "I better fix you guys up, otherwise people are going to be wondering why your costumes are different and why Li is all cut up."
Kalla took care of Li's wounds, and Ike fixed up our costumes, the coat I had been wearing disappearing, before reappearing back on Li. As the last bit of there magic died down the ride jerked forward with a start. I had forgotten that we were actually on a mini roller coaster.
That was until we dropped down the slope and my stomach ended up somewhere in the near vicinity of my nose.
After all that had happened to me, the ride just wasn't scary. I didn't even flinch when another skeleton, this time missing its head, jerked out in front of me. I was too preoccupied, had my mind on other things. Or more accurately, on another person.
Li.
---------
Sigh…my wrist hurts…but I got another chapter out, and quickly too! And I didn't even leave it at a cliffhanger…well sorta. Don't you worry all you s + s fans out there! I ain't finished yet. I reckon I can squeeze another chapter out of this story, in fact I will! Because that was what I was planning to do anyway!
So did you like? Please review if you do! I really like reviews! Anyway, until next time, TA-TA and Toodles for now! ^ - ^.