A/N - Gomen! I couldn't update sooner because I had… school. The teachers seem to love dumping math homework, language arts, research projects, and clarinet playing tests on you. They wear you out until you are too brain-dead to type anything. Anyway, this is a more difficult story to write for. So, Tomoyo captures her first card, and poor Syaoran threatens to add more angst fics to the fics I have posted. Oh wait. He changed the genre and the rating of my story. Why? You'll see. The fics you have posted you say? Well, I plan to write more, but… the evil menace known as homework threatens my writing time.
Chapter Three - Tomoyo's Surprise Bubble Bath
Tomoyo smiled happily as she poured bubble bath into the bath water. "Hime-chan!!! Can you watch the water for me?" Hime obediently marched in. "Okay, tell me when it's up to here." She pointed and Hime nodded. Tomoyo went to go get ready, while Hime reflected on the night before.
"Hmmm. I hope Xiao Lang doesn't do anything drastic. When he gets like this, it's best to leave him alone. If he does anything violent, it will effect his false form more than anything." She sighed and absently rolled over on the bathtub rim. Unfortunately, she rolled right into the bath water. "AUGH!! I HATE GETTING WET!!!!" She hissed in anger, just like an ordinary cat. She scowled as she reclaimed her perch, and failed to notice the rapid increase of bubbles.
Syaoran had awoken in his apartment. Good thing. Problem? He remembered everything that happened last night. He absently looked in a mirror. "What in the world?" His eyes, rather than a severe amber, were a unusually pale purple. Just then, Nakuru popped in.
"Ah, good. Your awake. I was starting to think you would sleep all day."
"What are you doing here?"
"Don't you remember what happened last night?"
"Oh. That." Nakuru smiled as his eyes changed smoothly into a mix of peach and purple. Peach was recognition and remembrance. Then she frowned. The purple still hadn't left his eyes. "So… what's up with my eyes. Aren't they only like that when I transform?"
Nakuru rubbed her temples. How in the world would she keep things under wraps this time? "Umm… Something funky happened with your false form and true form. Some of your real form got smashed up with your false form. If anyone asks what happened, say this happens to you every now and then. Now, I have to go back to the mansion before Master wakes up and finds me gone." She skipped out of his apartment with a smile.
Syaoran slammed the door and locked it. He felt the transformations coming on before he could stop it. Pretty soon, Xiao Lang stood there, unhappy and lonely. He actually didn't want Nakuru to leave. Things felt less lonely when she was around. He hated that lonely feeling. He picked up his sword from the ground where he had dropped it earlier. He knew what he was about to do, and it wasn't good. He held the blade to his wrist, and sliced.
Tomoyo sang with joy, completely unaware of her friend's plight. She was up to her neck in bath water, consisting mainly of bubbles. Hime sat there, occasionally hissing when Tomoyo splashed her. Tomoyo remained blissfully oblivious to the rapid increase of bubbles, not realizing what they could mean.
Meanwhile, Xiao Lang struggled to remain in his real form. He knew if he went back to his false form, he would die. The pool of blood around him kept increasing. He was feeling more and more dizzy. His sword lay at his feet, the blade all blood stained. He dropped to his knees, and dimly observed his robes were almost completely soaked with blood. In a shadowy part of his mind, he sensed Ruby Moon and Yue coming towards him. He couldn't put up any blocking spells, aside a weak one that would keep Yue from touching him.
Tomoyo hopped cheerily out of the bathtub and wrapped herself in a towel. Then she noticed the bubbles were overflowing the bathtub. Then, for a split second, a small face appeared. She gasped. "Hime!! There's a card in the…"
Hime popped out of the bath water. "I know. It's a pretty harmless card, but it's a real nuisance. It has a little side ability of making one's aura hard to sense, when one is coated in it's bubbles. When it's not captured, it can cloud your power to sense auras." Tomoyo frowned.
"Umm, this is probably irreverent, but is this card a boy or girl?" Hime who had no idea where Tomoyo was going with this, answered quite sensibly.
"A boy, why?" Tomoyo went red, screamed and ran away. Hime cocked her head to one side. "What? Is that bad?" Hime then shrieked herself and went running. The bubbles were starting to fall out of the tub.
Yue winced in pain when he tried to pick up the fallen guardian. Ruby shoved out of the way, and scooped the petite guardian up easily. "Baka. He put a blocking spell up so you can't touch him." She frowned at the boy she carried. "Xiao Lang, you idiot. Why did you hurt yourself? You hurt me whenever I look at you." Yue gently put a healing spell on the wounds and paused to inspect some of injuries.
"It looks like he was cutting himself. Why would he do that?"
Ruby rolled her eyes. "Yue, have you ever been in love? If you have, and the person you loved wouldn't love you back, what would you do?"
"Oh… Now I see." He frowned and observed the guardian's feeble breath. Suddenly, Xiao Lang opened his eyes. They were a sparkling silver. Dazzlingly beautiful, but they clearly held pain. He seemed to be unaware of who was holding him and he tried to turn his head to see.
"No, you mustn't move. It's Ruby-chan holding you." The boy smiled slightly when he heard that, but sighed and closed his eyes again. Ruby gently lay him down on the bed. She then waved her hand to clean the blood-stained rug. She turned back towards Yue. "We should do something to make him feel better."
"What can we do? We must keep his identity a secret. We cannot stay here to take care of him." Yue frowned darkly at the still figure on the bed. "All we can do is hope that he won't hurt himself anymore." The guardians remained staring at Xiao Lang for along time afterwards.
Tomoyo ran back, fully dressed. She held her key in one hand and an extremely soaked Hime in the other. She stared at the bubbles. They were up to her knees and obviously would take a long time to clean up. I hate mopping the floor!!! She thought mentally. "Bubble Card!!!! That's enough mischief!! I order you to clean up this mess and come quietly!!" The Bubble hopped out of the tub and marched toward Tomoyo. He laughed.
"If you want to capture me, you'll have to solve my questions and riddle!!"
"And what is this mysterious riddle?"
The card danced around with anticipation. "Question One!! What element do I reside under?"
Tomoyo rolled her eyes. "That's easy, you are under the water element."
"Question Two!! Who is named for the Cherry Blossom?"
"Kinomoto Sakura, Card Mistress."
The card nodded. "Correct!!!! NOW FOR THE RIDDLE!! Who loves you more than the eyes can see, hidden in the form of a innocent pixie?
Hime's eyes widened. "Tomoyo!! Seal it now!!"
Tomoyo didn't think about the riddle. She quickly chanted what Hime had taught her. "From the silver orbs of the moon, to the golden ones of the sun, to the stars shining bright, to the comets late at night, I, Card Captor Tomoyo, call upon your powers! Reveal your might into the wand! Power of the moon, bestow yourself into me! RELEASE!!" Her wand quickly grew, and she whipped it out in front of the card.
"Card created of the moon, with powers burning bright, become the card you were meant to be, and restore the light!! BUBBLE CARD!!!" Her wand slammed straight down and hit a card. The Bubble smiled sweetly.
"It's a pity you couldn't solve my riddle." The card floated down into Tomoyo's hand, and became a calm, normally colored card. She sighed with relief and then noticed that…
"Hey!! He cleaned the floors!!" She smiled at the card, and went to carefully put it in the book. Hime sighed. Tomoyo had handled this well, but what would happen when she faced the more wily cards? All the cards were gentle, none possessing any evil in their heart, but few were as gentle as Bubble. The cards were not known for brute power, but they did have strength. Every single card, including the gentlest one, could kill if ordered to or provoked in to doing that. Brains, strength, and speed could do more damage than most thought. She had seen evidence of that with previous people who had tried to tame the Moon cards. Too much evidence.
A/N - Okay!! Because of Syaoran, poor thing, this story has changed to angst/romance and is now PG-13. Anyway, this might seem similar to the fic The Moon Cards on ff.net. Anyway, let's make it clear that I did not copy!! If it's similar, it's just my brain's funky ideas. In case you were wondering, the Secrets of the Moon part of the title refers to the Moon guardian's many secrets, and mysterious past, all of which will be revealed later. Sayonara for now!!