The Cold and The Cardcaptor

Chapter Five: Dun-Dunn-Dunnnnn…

Ooh, this is going to be a short chapter…oh, well, I've still got lots of stuff to do, so this story ain't going to be finishing for several more chapters!! Yay!! Anyway, I won't bore you with the details, I've got a couple of questions to answer, so I better get on with it!

Windy*Wings: Very good! I was hoping someone would catch on! Gold stars for you! Yay!

Sourmuggie: hmm, well you'll just have to wait and see (that's about whether my story is going to end up a s + s…) ::grins mysteriously::

Cherry-Blossum: Thanks for pointing out that past-time bit in the last chapter…that was actually due to my bad spelling…it was supposed to be pastime. (Which also means hobby), and not some snag in the language barrier…(I'm actually from Australia by the way…which probably explains a lot…or it doesn't…hmm, I think I'll just shut up now…). It probably just goes to show that I should proof read my stories a bit more before I upload them…and that I should actually learn to touch type…(I have to look at my fingers to type…) oh well, I'll get it eventually! (ohh, and I don't speak spanish…I can speak a bit of German, and a bit of Indonesian , {and bits and pieces of a few other languages) but unless a conversation involves counting to nine and saying good morning then I'm basically screwed…)

UnicornHime: ::Smiles:: hehehe, but Sakura + Jealousy + anger = LOT'S OF FUN FOR US!! YAY!! Ooh, that's kinda a scary thought…poor poor Syaoran has to put up with both of us torturing him in our stories…I'm surprised he hasn't developed a nervous twitch yet…ooh, I'm going to go check out your stories soon as I'm finished uploading this story…^ - ^

Anywho, THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOO (ETC. ETC.) FOR ALL THE REVIEWS!! OOHH I'M SOO HAPPY!! YAY!!

Anywho, I really should write something vaguely resembling a disclaimer here, but I really can't be bothered, (actually I just can't think of anything amusing to write, go fig.)

You all know that I don't own anything so I'll just let you get onto the chapter…

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Sakura's POV: In the middle of a-err-::cough:: heated discussion…

"Syaoran! Will you just listen to me?"

"Why should I? All you've been screeching at me for the last hour is ::changes voice to a higher, very insulting imitation of my voice:: 'I don't trust her Syaoran, don't you see it Syaoran, I can sense something bad from her Syaoran', ::normal (angry) voice:: I've had it Sakura, I trust her and nothing you say is going to make me change my mind."

I was at a point where I wasn't sure whether to scream something particularly insulting, or burst into tears.

"But Syaoran…"

"But nothing, if you really want to help me, get out of my face." Casting one final glare to the people in the room, he scooped up his jacket and stomped out. I just stood there, my face ashen. There was a thump, a clatter, then the final sound of the front door opening then slamming shut.

Tomoyo tentatively reached her hand forward, "Sakura…? Are you okay?"

I slowly shook my head, then slumped to the ground. I felt sick, angry, and most of all, hurt. I hiccuped, trying to force back the tears that threatened to fall. Tomoyo slid off the couch and sat beside me, "It's okay Sakura…" She dug through her pockets trying to find a tissue, but Eriol nudged her shoulder and handed her his handkerchief. She smiled gratefully and handed it to me. Not able to hold it in anymore, I let it all go. "H-H-How could he say that to me?" I could hardly talk between the sobs that racked my body, "I was just trying to help, and-and all he does is insult me to my face" Tomoyo pulled me into a hug, trying to calm me down a bit, "Shhh Sakura, you know he hasn't been himself…"

"That shouldn't matter, it's still him talking, and…" I sobbed again and shuddered, recalling some of the more insulting things he had said earlier on in the argument. My voice came out a whisper, "After all we've been through, how could he do this to me…" Tomoyo sighed, "I don't know…it just doesn't make any sense…"

Kero struggled out from underneath the cushion Eriol had his hand on, where he had been stuffed after one of the more imaginative insults Syaoran had come up with. Although Kero would have been just trying to help me, he would have just made things worse. "I knew that punk couldn't be trusted, where is he? When I get my paws on him I'll…" his voice faded out as he saw me on the floor, sobbing, while Tomoyo tried to comfort me. "Sakura?…" he fluttered down and landed on my lap. He had this anguished expression on his face, he knew how I felt about Syaoran, but at the same time he wanted to get back at Syaoran for what he had said to me. "Look Sakura, if it's any consolation, the kid…" he sighed then continued, "Syaoran…well, the normal Syaoran, would never do something like this. Something has happened to him…and you already have a fairly good indication of who's behind it too…" I growled, and almost spat out the name. "Maiomi…"

Kero nodded, "exactly, look, although I haven't exactly gotten on with the k- I mean Syaoran, I know he cares for you Sakura…" I smiled sadly and gave Kero a kiss on the head. "Thanks Kero…"

I sighed, wiping away the tears on my face and gladly accepted the glass of water Eriol had offered. "Thanks guys…You have no idea how much I appreciate this…" Tomoyo smiled. "That's okay, we just want you to be happy."

I nodded and smiled gratefully again, "I know…so…what are we going to do about Syaoran?"

Tomoyo glanced at Eriol, "Are you sure you're okay to do something right now Sakura…?"

"Not really, but I can't sit around all day moping, I want to find out what's going on."

Eriol nodded, "Okay then, if you're sure…then let's get started…"

He waved me over to the fireplace and I kneeled next to him. "What are we going to do?"

He frowned in concentration then waved his hand over the logs of wood, which immediately caught fire, and crackled merrily in the hearth. "We…are going to see what exactly is influencing Syaoran's behaviour…"

"We can do that?"

He nodded, "it's not a difficult spell, but and it doesn't always give you a clear answer. It does indicate, however, what sort of magic or substance is being used where it shouldn't…let's just hope it's something one of us will recognize…"

Tomoyo rested her head on her hands, watching us with interest. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Yes actually, we need something that will contains Syaoran's essence…his aura…like a piece of hair…or a nail clipping or something…I would prefer a drop of his blood, the spell works better with it, but we have to make do with what we've got…"

Tomoyo stood up, "So where do we get a piece of his hair or whatever…I'm not exactly sure he'll be too co-operative if we just go up to him and say. 'Oh hey Syaoran you don't mind if we take a lock of your hair so we can find out why you've been acting like an ass lately, do you?'"

Eriol chuckled quietly then continued, "You should find his hairbrush in the bathroom, I'm sure you'll find more then enough there."

Kero's eyebrow shot up, "He has a hairbrush?"

Eriol smirked and nodded as Tomoyo left the room.

"And he uses it?!"

Eriol nodded again, as Kero shook his head mumbling, "will wonders never cease…"

Tomoyo returned a second later with the brush, then sat back on the couch to watch after Eriol had removed a few strands of hair. "Okay, now what I need you to do is gather some of your magic into your left hand, then when I say hold it into the flames…." At my expression he quickly added, "you won't get burnt if you concentrate, the magic temporarily blocks the heat…but when you have your hand in the flames, you have to focus on an image of Syaoran when he was normal." I wanted to ask why, but figured it might just be part of the spell, compare how Syaoran acted before, to how he acts now. I gathered some of my magic into my hand, causing it to glow faintly in a transparent pink light. He nodded, signaling me to start, so I close my eyes and thrust my hand into the flames.

Nothing happened. Wondering briefly if I had actually missed the fire completely, I peaked open an eye.

My hand was indeed, right in the middle of the merrily burning flames.

…Cool…

I shook my head, remembering the task at hand.

Right…Syaoran when he was normal…

Unbidden, the memory of him when he first smiled at me, the first time he truly smiled, flittered into my mind. It was also the first time I had heard him laugh. Granted, it was due to the fact that I had been trying to learn how to control my magic without the cards or the wand, and had accidentally dowsed Eriol in several litres of water, but he had turned to me laughing…then just…smiled…. From that day on, he had become more open, and had really become one of my closest friends.

What I wouldn't give to have things back, to have Syaoran back to how he was before…how he was then.

I sighed and held onto the memory, vaguely aware that Eriol was starting to mutter a spell, but not really listening to the words he was chanting.

I felt magic swell up around us and start to swirl around my hand in the flames. Eriol continued to chant something then dropped the strands of hair into the fire. Instead of burning up, the hair glowed bright green and danced on the tops of the flames, before dropping down and hovering an inch above my outstretched hand. In my minds eye I could see Syaoran's aura, but something didn't feel right. It was just like in my dreams, but clearer…I frowned and tried to concentrate, urging myself to look deeper, try harder, there was something there…just out of reach…

"AAARGHH!"

Tomoyo jumped as I fell back, "What? What's wrong?"

l sat up and rubbed my forehead, "oooowww…brain freeze…"

I peaked open an eye and found Eriol in a similar situation, he was grimacing and rubbing his head.

"Brain freeze? What…was that supposed to happen?"

Eriol ran a hand through his hair, "in this case, yes…" he scowled and sat back on the couch, then muttered, "I knew I could feel something familiar about her…"

"Familiar…what do you mean familiar…you've met Maiomi before? Why didn't you tell us?!"

"I haven't met Maiomi as such, but her aura is familiar…Kero may know what I'm talking about, but I better start from the beginning…" He paused as I seated myself on the other couch. "Not all of the spirits were happy about being trapped in their card forms, but most wouldn't dream of disobeying their creator. There was however, one exception."

Kero broke the silence and hissed, "The Ice! Of course, I forgot about her…"

Eriol nodded and continued, "Originally, there was no Freeze card, instead, there was The Ice. She was a malevolent spirit, and when Clow created the book to keep the cards in, she tried again and again to escape his grasp and be free. Now, I'm not exactly sure when it happened, but at some point, The Ice created The Freeze from her own power, a spirit that, magically speaking, was identical to her. She left The Freeze in her place and escaped. Clow didn't notice until it was too late, as 52 cards had gone into to the book. But by the time he did notice, he found The Freeze instead of The Ice. The Ice had hidden herself, and her aura, making it almost impossible to find her. So The Freeze remained in the book, and The Ice remained hidden."

"…wow…so if you're saying that Maiomi is just this Ice card in disguise, then how is she actually able to mess with Syaoran so much?"

"Well, she would have needed to draw her power from someone, and it couldn't have been Clow Reed anymore, because he would have been able to find her. She simply would have just had to find some unsuspecting magician and stolen theirs. Who knows what sort of power she has now…and what she has learned to do with them…"

I sat back and looked at my feet, trying to digest all the information.

Maybe that's what she wants with Syaoran…She wants his power…but how is she doing it…surely he would have noticed if someone was draining him of his power…

I frowned and stared at the fire, then at the floor, noticing the hairbrush lying forgotten at our feet.

Tomoyo was asking Eriol something, but paused mid sentence as she saw me lean forward and pick up the brush. "What is it Sakura?"

"You know that time where Syaoran crashed through that grove of trees and fell and hit his head right…? …you taped it…"

She looked at me slightly guilty, "err yeah…"

"Syaoran cut himself…and…"

Eriol's eyebrows rose, "Of course, that's how she's doing it, she's affecting his behaviour through his aura"

"But how? There wasn't that much blood on the tissue, how could she affect him so much form something so small"

"You don't need much if you know what you're doing…"

"So do you think she's hypnotizing him so that he doesn't notice when she's taking his magic?"

"Yes, it's possible…"

Tomoyo still looked worried, "but why?"

"Maybe she just wants to get powerful enough to get back at Eriol, I mean after all, he is the reincarnation of Clow Reed…"

Eriol nodded, then dryly replied, "I do seem to attract a lot of enemies who hold long grudges don't I?…"

Kero, who was sitting back in front of the fire, asked "So, what do you want to do?"

"We have to get to Maiomi, that's the only way to get Syaoran back to normal." He turned to me and added, "It looks like you have another card to capture Sakura."

I sighed and slid back, but jumped when Tomoyo squealed. "OOOOO, that means I can make another battle costume!…" I was about to stop her, but thought better of it. After all it had been a long time since the last battle costume she made. She'd probably never speak to me again if I took this opportunity away from her. "Just-just don't go overboard okay Tomoyo?"

She just nodded enthusiastically then bounded off towards the bedroom.

~~~~~

Apparently Tomoyo's and my definition of the word 'overboard' are completely different things. I had left her to her own devices for about ten minutes, but had gotten tired of waiting, and had gone into our room to investigate.

It was lucky I got through the door in one piece.

Dodging several pieces of fabric and what looked like a pair of scissors, I carefully made my way to what I hoped was Tomoyo amidst the mess. A hand appeared and grabbed my wrist as the storm of material and other assorted bits settled. "Well what do you think?!"

I plucked a piece of fabric off my head and looked at the enthusiastically smiling Tomoyo. She was indicating something on my bed.

I was almost afraid to look.

I had been expecting it to be made solely of puffy sleeves and bows, but was pleasantly surprised.

There was a warm long sleeved white under shirt, and a pair of simple white pair of pants. Over that, was a hooded coat that buttoned up to about my bellybutton and flared out open to my feet. The boots were about knee length and were, as was everything else, lined with white synthetic fur.

At least I wasn't going to freeze.

The coats' sleeves were long, kinda like on Syaoran's robes, but where he had the bells, I had little wings.

To finish the whole outfit off, the coat had my star design on the back.

"Wow…Tomoyo, this is really nice…I can't believe you made it so quickly"

She looked smug and smiled, "Thank you Sakura.", before whipping out her camera, and pointing it at me. "Well go on, get changed…"

I sighed and scooped up the outfit.

~~~~~~

"::wolf whistle:: looking good Sakura!"

"…shut up Kero…"

"No really, you look great! Good job Tomoyo"

"Why thank you Kero."

I sighed and glanced out the window. The snow was falling pretty heavily outside, and it was rapidly growing darker. I shivered despite my warm clothing as a chilly gust of wind whipped the snow onto the cabin window. The ski lifts would be closed down by now, so we would have to walk.

"Are we all ready to go?"

I turned around and nodded, then headed to the door. Tomoyo stood next to me, clutching her camera. She had made it very clear that I would have a better chance convincing Kero that spinach was the new cake, than trying to stop her from missing out on a video opportunity like this.

Kero flew into my pocket as Eriol gripped the doorknob and swung open the door. The icy wind whipped the snow into the room as we stepped outside. I pulled my hood around my head some more, and silently followed Eriol as he made his way down to the main road. It took us a little longer than normal, but we finally made it to the sign that indicated a bus stop.

However, no bus came. I started to get impatient. I squinted into the wind, trying to see the signs of a bus.

"Where is it…one should have come by now…"

Tomoyo just shrugged then looked in the other direction. "oh wait…is that one? Maybe we can ask when the next bus to the slopes comes by?"

I nodded as I squinted in the direction she was looking. But the thing coming towards us only had one light. "I don't think that's it, it only has one headlight…"

A faint sound of a motor could be heard above the wind, and a second later a snow mobile appeared out of the snow. It stopped in front of us and the driver turned and spoke, his voice muffled by his thick scarf, "Sorry guys, but the buses have been stopped because a big storms coming, Do you want a lift back to your cabin?"

Eriol shook his head then answered, "No thank you, our cabin is not far from here"

"Okay, if you're sure, I better get going and make sure there aren't any more stragglers. G'night."

"Night"

I watched as he revved up the engine, then sped off down the snowy road. "Well, at least we know there won't be many people out…". I quickly called out my wand and summoned the fly card, making the wings go on the wand instead of on my back. Tomoyo hopped onto the wand behind me as Eriol muttered something and rose from the ground. I would have asked him exactly how he was doing that but didn't really want to waste anymore time discussing it. I tilted the wand up and soared into the night, my long sleeves flapping in the breeze. Kero flew out of my pocket and changed into his true form as we made our way towards where we guessed Syaoran, and Maiomi would be. It had been difficult trying to locate his aura, as every time we got close, we would get a bad case of brain freeze. But we had a fair idea.

We were heading towards the grove of trees, or more accurately, to the cave, where Syaoran had crashed and cut himself.

Finally seeing the ski lift and the recognizable café where Touya had been temporarily working, I flew in close to the slope and made my way up, towards the cave. It was almost completely dark, but Eriol had created a sphere of light, and I spotted the fluro ribbon barrier that bordered the trees. Flying up over the trees, followed closely by Eriol and Kero, we finally spotted the clearing and the cave, and landed just in the opening. I pulled off my hood and brushed off the snow that had accumulated. I returned the fly card and had a look around. Eriol and Kero had gone ahead, so Tomoyo and I silently followed the light. My breath came out in little puffs as we quietly crept through the cave, then into a small tunnel at the back. We had been walking for what felt like hours when the light ahead jerked, then winked out. I glanced at Tomoyo in the semi-darkness, then we peaked around the bend, and spotted Kero and Eriol crouched behind a boulder at the entrance of another cave. Eriol spotted us, put a finger to his lips to indicate silence, then waved us over. I crouched next to him and almost gasped out loud as I got my first look inside the cave.

It was immense. The roof and floor was covered in huge jagged spires of ice, they sparkled and seemed to glow in their own unnatural light. And it was freezing. I had thought it was cold enough with the wind and the snow outside, but this was worse. It was making my teeth hurt.

Eriol tapped me on the shoulder and waved his hand towards a pillar. I saw Kero in the corner of my eye slip behind another pillar, and nodded. He wanted us to spread out, catch Maiomi hopefully by surprise.

I nodded, then frowned as Tomoyo slipped behind another pillar. I would have preferred it if she had stuck with one of us. She didn't have magic, so she would be the most vulnerable, but I couldn't do anything about it know.

I hope she stays out of trouble…

It's a pity I couldn't say the same for myself.

I had slipped behind another pillar over to the left, and had silently been making my way towards the middle of the room, when I heard something behind me.

It was soft…like a footstep.

I froze, tightened my grip on my wand and listened.

But all I could here was an occasional drip in the distance, but nothing that sounded like footsteps.

I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

Stop freaking yourself out Sakura, you've got to concentrate…

I quietly let out a breath and glanced quickly around the spire before moving on.

…crunch…

This time I was sure I heard it. Someone was following me, and they weren't doing a very good job of it, they had stepped on some loose ice. I silently summoned the Sword Card, and waited until my wand had transformed into the sword, before spinning around to face my opponent.

No one was there.

I let out a sigh, but stopped and froze…as the cold edge of a sword came to rest on my neck.

I froze, as a strong hand tightly gripped my free arm, and the sword on my neck bit in a bit more. A cold distorted voice, sounding almost as if it were two people trying to speak with one set of vocal chords, hissed in my ear. "You will turn around, but if you try and get away, I will not hesitate to kill you…" I gulped painfully, my eyes stinging with tears I did not want to shed, as I slowly turned and looked up…into the cold, merciless eyes…of Syaoran.

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Come on, bet you didn't see that one coming a mile away…::if you haven't guessed, I'm being sarcastic….::

Damn, that was a short chapter, but I felt like leaving it at a cliffhanger…coz I can…and coz…

I'M JUST SO EVIL MWAA-HA-HA-HA-A-HA-HA-HA-HA!!!

And don't think I'll be finishing everything in the next chapter…ooh noo…I have a lot more in store ::grins evilly in my 'I-am-so-evil-and-I-have-plans' look:: You should know me well enough now to realize that I can't have a good story without a little pain…no pain no gain…there sums it up nicely don't you think? ::Cracks knuckles:: sooo, you probably want to know what happens next right?…well…to bad…you'll have to wait for the next chapter…it will actually probably be pretty short too…but that just means it will be out quicker…Anywho, see you all later, and ciao, TA-TA, and toodles till next time!!!