I've been advised to try and jump a few days in one Chapter to move the story along a bit, and I've changed a few of my plans so forgive me if I contradict certain previous mentionings in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Rob and Shinigami. They are mine. Everything else belongs to someone else.
Chapter Five
Kinomoto Household, 12:01 AM
Sakura got up and went to the window after hearing a pair of wings flap nearby. She saw that her guardian was fast asleep, so she assumed that Yue was flying by. He rarely transformed and wouldn't fly around without her unless it was important, so Sakura decided to check it out. She gazed at the figure and yelled out to him, "Yue!" The figure turned around and flashed its green eyes. "Green...? But Yue has blue eyes." She called the fly card and took flight after him.
She chased him out of town and found herself above a grove of trees. She found the figure that she'd been following hovering in midair. She cautiously approached it. She was tired and she'd taken her contacts out, so her vision was less then perfect.
"Hello?" she called to him.
"Yes?" he answered. His voice sounded familiar but she was too tired to place it.
"Who are you?"
"Well, Sakura, you'll have to catch me to find out" he ducked to the right and began to speed away. Sakura hated such cryptic answers and took off after him.
"Too slow Card Mistress!"
"I'm gonna get you!"
She accelerated and made a grab for his ankle, but he folded his wings and dropped out of range just in time. He took off again in a different direction and regained his altitude.
"Come back here, whoever you are!"
He only chuckled at her and continued to fly on.
"Stop!"
He disappeared into the thick trees and hid his aura from Sakura. She just hovered and tried to find him. She wished that she had the Move card. She might be able to use it to bring him here without having to chase him anymore.
She had been hovering for about five minutes without feeling his aura anywhere. Her wings were a bit tired from just sitting in midair, so she descended to one of the trees below. She didn't notice a figure creep up behind her.
"Sakura..." a soft voice said behind her.
She gasped and whipped around to face him, "Who are you?"
"You'll know when the time is right." He put his arms around her and drew her close. For some reason she put her arms around his neck.
"What's happening?"
He chuckled and pulled her tighter, "A great evil has come here and I have come to stop it."
"Who are you? Have we met?"
"Yes, you know me as Shinigami..."
She pulled back a bit at hearing that, "Shinigami? But you look nothing like the figure I saw."
"Only yours and Eriol's guardians can change form?"
She understood and gazed into his green eyes and drew closer. She felt warm and comfortable in his arms, like she was meant to be there. He slowly bent down and kissed her softly. She accepted and deepened the kiss. She felt warm and content. She then felt his warm, green aura envelop her as her world faded to black...
Kinomoto Household
Sakura was back in her bed, coughing and gagging. She looked down at herself and wondered why she was all wet. Then her attention went to a bucket-holding big brother who had a wide smirk on his face.
"TOUYA!!!!" Sakura screamed at her brother.
"Yes, Kaijou?" Touya just smirked some more and stood there.
"WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT? A NICE SHAKING USUALLY WORKS JUST FINE!!!" Sakura was slightly peeved.
Touya just pointed at her dampened clock, which read 11:02.
Sakura turned white as she realized that she'd missed two periods already. "I'm gonna be LATE!!!" she ran to get her shower and get dressed.
Touya intercepted her and threw her back onto the bed. "We've already called in sick for you. You're aura is quite low and you need rest. (Touya and Fujitaka know about the Sakura Cards, Kero, and Yue)"
"Alright, but if you wanted to tell me to stay home and sleep, why didn't you let me sleep?"
"Would I be a good big brother if I hadn't? Besides, Lunch at your school starts soon and Tomoyo will probably try to call."
"Thanks Touya."
"Anytime, Kaijou" Touya received a glare as he left.
Sakura took her time showering and relaxed under the piping hot water. She slowly lathered up a rag and drowsily wiped and rubbed her soft curves. She took a deep breath and remembered what happened last night. Was it a dream? No. If it were, her aura wouldn't have been so drained and her back wouldn't ache so much. And where was Kero? He must be downstairs eating or something. She was almost surprised that Kero didn't ask for Watery's help in waking her. That would not have been fun. She pushed all of these thoughts aside and just felt the warm water envelop her. She slowly and carefully washed her hair. It was rare that she could pay so much attention to it. She rinsed and stepped from the shower.
She grabbed one of the soft pink towels from the rack and began to towel herself off. She was in no hurry, so she did it slowly and gently. She then lightly perfumed herself with cherry blossom extract. She had a natural cherry blossom smell to her for some reason, but she liked the slightly different smell the extract gave her.
She walked into her closet and inspected the rows of clothing. She had three school uniforms, a few sundresses, some normal street clothes, and some other articles. She smiled as her gaze moved past the vampire costume. She figured that she'll probably want to get some fresh air soon, so she picked out a pair of tight, faded jeans that were low cut and a pink tank top. She put a white blouse over it and left it unbuttoned. It was a common look, but it suited her quite well. She walked down the stairs 45 minutes after being woken up.
"Ohayo again, Kaijou" Touya said to his sister.
"Ohayo Otou-chan (at least I think that's dad in Japanese), Onii-chan" Sakura called happily. She felt really good after her shower and her stupid brother was NOT going to get in her way.
"Here you go Sakura" her dad placed a plate with a bowl of hot soup on it. It was surrounded by grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Her eyes brightened as she gazed at one of her favorite lunch foods. Her mother used to make it for her when she was very young.
"Thanks daddy!" She dove into her food. She dipped a large portion of the sandwich into the soup then ate the soggy portion. The soup and sandwich were gone in minutes. Touya just stared at her as she ate like she'd never eaten before.
Sakura glared at her brother, "WHAT?"
"Kaijou..."
Sakura growled at him and turned her attention back to her father, "May I have another helping, please?"
Fujitaka smiled at his daughter's appetite and gave her another bowl of soup, sans sandwich. She quickly devoured that bowl, then another, then another. In all she'd eaten four bowls of soup plus the initial tow sandwiches. She patted her belly and started walking to the door, announcing that she was going to take a short walk. She grabbed her cell phone, gloves, and poofy pink jacket and stepped out the door.
Outside, 12:09 PM
Sakura's phone rang as she entered King Penguin Park. She then relayed the morning's happenings to her best friend. Tomoyo was very worried and offered to leave school early to be with her, but Sakura refused claiming that she was just drained. (following is only Sakura and Tomoyo)
"Really, Tomoyo, I'm fine!"
"Are you sure?"
"Tomoyo!"
"Alright, alright! What do you want me to tell the rest of the gang?"
"Just tell them that I was outside and lost track of time, so I slept too long."
"That'll never work."
"Tomoyo, I have full confidence that you can make up a convincing story."
"Sakura, if it were anyone else..."
"I know and I love ya for it!"
"Sure you do..."
"So, how's school?"
"Tareda-san was disappointed that he couldn't act smug when you showed up late again."
"Yeah, he would be. Anything else?"
"Well, Eriol.... no, never mind!"
"Tomoyo."
"Yeah?"
"Spill, now."
"Alright. Eriol and I are going to start dating!"
Sakura squealed, "That's great!"
"Yeah, I've had a crush on him for the longest time now."
"You two would be so cute together, too!"
"Yeah. Hey, the bells about the ring so I'll have to let you go."
"OK."
"Can you come over today, say four-ish?"
"Sure thing! I'll see you then."
"Ok, I love you Sakura. Bye!"
"I love you too Tomoyo, bye!"
They both hung up. Sakura was glad to have such a good friend.
Sakura wandered around for a short while longer. She glanced at her watch and noticed that it was only around one o'clock. She still had a few hours to kill and she didn't feel like going home yet, then she spotted a lone Sakura tree in a field. She ran over and inspected it. It was strong and nice wide branches to sit on. One of which looked perfect to recline in. She jumped up into and sat on that branch and looked up at the clouds through the gaps in the branches. The flowers were gone so the tree wasn't as nice as it could have been, but she felt comfortable anyway.
She realized how tired she still was and got an idea. She set her phone to go off and wake her at three o'clock. Then she placed the phone in her collar right beside her ear. Lastly, she pulled her arms and sleeves into her jacket. She quickly dozed off into a light sleep.
Sakura's Dream
Darkness, cold, wind. She felt these things and shuddered. She grasped herself to keep warm and noticed that she was naked and kneeling on the floor. No, she wasn't naked. Her battle suit was so badly damaged and torn that it barely covered what needed covering. Her hair was a mess and she was dirty as well. She looked ahead and saw a dark figure. Her first instinct was that it was Shinigami, but this aura felt... evil. The shapeless thing laughed at her cruelly and a mass of energy gathered at his hands. She looked around to see all of her friends were dead. Syaoran, Eriol, even the guardians were all dead. Meiling was still alive, but her aura was slipping away quickly. The figured then launched this energy at her and another figure appeared in front of her. It had dark black wings, long golden hair, and a dark aura. The black energy hit him hard. She yelled something, his name, but she couldn't quite hear herself...
Sakura Tree
"BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP!" her phone rang loudly. The sudden noise almost caused her to fall out of her tree, but she regained her balance in time to stop. She turned off her phone and looked at the time. 3:01, it's time to go. Sakura hopped out of her tree and started to walk for Tomoyo's, the long way around. It would take her half an hour to get there by that route. Kero flew up to her, out of breath.
"Where've you been? Your dad said that you were going to take a walk THREE HOURS AGO!"
"I'm sorry Kero, I was going to only stay out for an hour, but I got sidetracked."
"Doing what?"
"I found this nice Sakura tree, climbed up, and uh..."
"And uh what?"
"I sorta fell asleep."
Sakura sweatdropped as Kero fell to the ground, then jumped back up to face her. He was somewhat peeved.
"I've been looking for you all this time and were SLEEPING! I was really worried Sakura!"
"Why didn't you just search for my aura?"
Kero sweatdropped, "Oh, I guess that would have made it easier..."
Sakura sighed and hugged Kero. "Gomen nasai Kero-chan. I'll remember to call next time I'm going to nap in a tree."
"Yeah, you'd better..." Kero mumbled.
"I'm headed for Tomoyo's now, wanna come?"
"Will she have pudding?"
"Uh, no. You cleaned her out two days ago, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Kero sweatdropped again, "Then I'll go do some surveillance on that new kid, Rob."
"Why?"
"I don't know. His aura just gives me the creeps and I'd like to know why."
"Kero, I'll stop by the store and get some pudding. Just leave Rob alone."
"Sakura, it's my job... to protect... you.... Did you say pudding?"
"Hai!"
"PUDDING!"
Sakura laughed and Kero followed her to the store, then on to Tomoyo's house. Though, Kero wasn't happy that Sakura made him wait until they arrived at Tomoyo's to eat his pudding.
Tomoyo's front gate, 3:50 PM
Sakura arrived at Tomoyo's gate early. She pressed the intercom on the front door and was informed that she hadn't come home yet. Sakura waited by a tree just inside the gate, knowing that she had trouble getting around her friend's house without a guide. Then Rob walked up and joined her.
"Hey Sakura-chan!"
"Hey Rob! What are you doing here?"
"Tomoyo asked me over for a preliminary fitting. What, do you not want to see me?"
"Uh, no, it's not that, uh...
"Oh, I see how it is, no one loves me! Everyone hates me!" Rob starts to sob. Sakura feels really bad and tries to comfort him.
"No, no. Uh, I love ya!" She gives him a reassuring hug.
He immediately stops crying and hugs back. I guess now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that I was just messing with you."
Sakura pushed him away and started hitting him playfully, "You suck!"
"You'd better believe it!"
"I do."
"And now I know that you love me, too!" Rob teased.
Sakura glared him for a moment, then pounced on him.
"ACK!" Rob yelled as he went down.
"You're going to wish that you'd never been born!"
"I don't see how. Once I consider that I have a beautiful girl lying on top of me." He just smiled up at her innocently.
"Grrrrr" she started to tickle him and wrestle with him. Rob was caught by surprise so he started laughing uncontrollably.
This continued for a few minutes and they didn't notice Eriol and Tomoyo sneak up on them. Tomoyo giggled at them and Eriol smirked. They still had no idea that they had an audience.
Sakura had gained the upper hand and rolled on top of him, pinning his wrists above his head.
"Whatcha gonna do now?" she asked him playfully.
"I'm not sure yet."
"Well, you're going to say that I'm the strongest person in the world!"
"Am I?"
"Hai."
"What if I do this?" he surged forward, grabbed her, and then flipped her over. They ended up with Rob on top pinning Sakura's arms above her head.
"Please Mr. Strong Man, please don't hurt me!" she giggled out.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm going to take you home and keep you as a pet!"
Sakura purred at him as he leaned in close to her face, their noses almost touching. He leaned forward to kiss her...
"You two having fun?"
Rob and Sakura's heads both snapped to the direction of the sound and found a boy with glasses and blue hair with a giggling Tomoyo in his arms.
"Uh, hi Eriol!" Rob and Sakura called, still frozen in place from surprise.
Tomoyo regained her composure and asked them, "Care to get off each other and come inside?"
"Do we have to?" Rob whined.
Sakura giggled and pushed him off. She got up and linked arms with Tomoyo as they entered the house. Eriol helped Rob up and told him, "If Li saw that, you'd be dying a slow, painful death by his hand."
"That's why he won't find out for a while." Rob and Eriol entered the house after the girls.
Tomoyo's Room
Rob tried on Tomoyo's first try at the costume. It fit fairly well and looked a lot like her sketches. However, it was a bit tight at certain joints and the sleeves were a bit too long. Tomoyo noted these and made notes about the alterations. After Rob had changed back into street clothes, Sakura began to tell everyone about her morning.
"I woke up completely drenched!"
"Did you sweat a lot that night or something?" Tomoyo asked, worried.
"No, my wonderful brother threw a bucket of water on me to wake me up."
Everyone laughed except Rob, who only smiled at her.
"Then, I start running to the bathroom to get ready, but he grabbed me and threw me onto the bed. I was worried that he was going to yell at me or something, then he tells me that I can stay home from school today!"
"Score!" Rob said.
"Exactly," Sakura continued, "I had some soup, grabbed a coat, then went out for a walk. Tomoyo called to invite me over. Then I found a nice Sakura Tree and took a nap."
"You slept in a tree?" Rob was a bit surprised.
"I do it all the time" Sakura explained.
"Well, that's the Japanese for you..." Rob muttered in English. Eriol stifled a giggle.
They talked and laughed until around six o'clock, when they all headed home for dinner.
Narrative
The next few days passed quickly. Sakura spent more time with Syaoran and Rob kept his distance to give them some room. Tomoyo and Eriol went out on a date and saw a scary movie. All were entertained by the bruising that Tomoyo had done to Eriol. He should have realized that a scary movie isn't always the best choice.
Rob continued to see Tomoyo to work on the battle suit. It was coming about quite nicely. Tomoyo put the finishing touches on it and gave it to Rob for the final fitting. It fit perfectly and it was nice and easy to move around in. The Kevlar vest that went under the suit especially impressed him. At Tomoyo's request, he had a quick practice run to test it out. It functioned perfectly.
Eriol's Garden, Friday Afternoon
Eriol invited the whole gang over to his house, even Meiling who would be arriving shortly. They were all talking and laughing and generally having a good time.
"Is your cousin arriving today?" Rob inquired of Li.
"Hai, she is. She should be here any minute now." Li told him.
"YAY! We get to see Meiling again!" Tomoyo squealed, making Rob wince once again from the sound. Li seemed to smile at his reaction to pain, but no one noticed.
"Oh, Robbie" Eriol called.
"Hmm?"
"Duck."
Rob did so just as a leg was about to kick his head off. He got up and turned to face the person who tried to hurt him. He found a beautiful girl with black hair. She was wearing a battle costume, but the only similarity it had to the old one was the color scheme. It was still red with hints of gold and a Yin Yang here and there. However, it was now a skintight leotard with a short, tight skirt at the bottom. The leotard also had special dyes so that it shimmered in the right light. She also sported a pair of long gloves made of a strong, but stretchy material. She had a pair of knee-high, red boots made of leather to top it all off. Li smiled, remembering that he told her to do something to distract Rob. This would definitely do it.
"I, Li Meiling challenge you to a duel!" she called.
"I, Robert Forest accept your challenge." he replied. He then turned to Tomoyo, "Get my new battle suit." She nodded her head and ran into the house, returning with the new outfit. Rob took a moment behind the bushes to change, and came out wearing his new suit. Eriol, Li, and Meiling were impressed by the workmanship.
"Shall we begin?" Rob said confidently.
"Hai."
"Ladies first."
"Thank you, kind sir."
With that, she lunged at Rob, but he dodged expertly. They threw a few straight kicks and punches, gauging each other's ability. Rob took a step back and glared at her. She was insane to think that such garb would distract him in the heat of battle. Although, it was irritating since there weren't any lose bits of clothing to grab onto. He saw her eye muscles tense up and he charged while she was blinking. She opened her eyes to a boot in her face. She was knocked back a good ten feet before skidding to the ground. As she got up, her aura flared in anger. She charged and kicked but he just dodged, or did he? She landed and swept her leg under him and knocked him into the air. She then brought her heel down on his stomach while he was still in midair. He grimaced as he hit the dirt, then as Meiling was about to finish him off, he flipped up onto his feet and punched her across the jaw HARD. She skittered across the ground but regained her footing and stood.
She charged him again, throwing kicks and punches that Rob simply dodged. "Stay still!" she yelled at him, but he took no heed. He then spied an opening and punched her in the chest. He then performed a back handspring and kicked her under the chin on the way. She flew up then started back down upside-down. He landed then put a lot of strength into a strike to the middle of her back. He was careful not to damage anything important, but she still ended up thirty feet away and on her hands and knees. Li was worried once he noticed Rob's slight advantage.
"Sakura..." Li whispered to her.
"Yeah?" Sakura answered.
"Use the Power and Dash cards on her."
"But then she'll cream Rob!"
"Rob's creaming her now." He glanced at Rob who kicked Meiling in stomach.
"Good point." Sakura took out the two cards and concentrated on them as they disappeared. Sakura took note of Meiling's brief pink glow as the cards took effect.
Meiling noticed immediately what had happened and waited for Rob to get too close. He went in for a punch, but Meiling just rolled with it and delivered a devastating roundhouse to Rob's jaw. He flew back a good ways but landed in a crouch to find that Meiling was already there. He looked up and she smiled down at him before kicking him again. He quickly stood back up and caught Meiling's next high kick. He smiled at her innocently, then kicked her in the jaw. She stumbled back and gasped as Rob was standing in front of her. She was still off-balance so she couldn't dodge the ensuing kick. What really surprised her is that he still seemed to have a strength advantage. She still had the power of dash, so she decided to run from him to test his speed. She turned back to notice that he was gone and chuckled to herself. She hit something hard and was sent sprawling backward. She looked up to find a smiling Rob.
The CCS gang not involved were wide eyed with their jaws all on the floor. This kid must be really fast and strong to outdo Meiling with cards attached.
Rob decided that he'd had enough and started to really beat her, but was careful not to break anything. He now had her backed up to a tree. She was about to move forward to attack, but he placed his heel on her neck and pinned her to the tree. She tried to struggle, but he simply applied more pressure to her neck until she realized that she'd been beaten. Rob finally spoke to her.
"If you concede, I may allow you to remain conscious for the rest of the day." His voice was sharp, but even. He was in complete control.
"Alright, I concede" she whispered, dropping her head.
"Say so that they can hear it" he said while indicating their audience.
She took a deep breath and yelled, "I CONCEDE! LET ME GO!"
He relaxed and she collapsed to the ground from the effort she gave. He quickly knelt down and helped her up. He then pulled her arm around his neck and put his own arm around her waist. He then helped her walk back to the group.
"Li, I think your cousin could use a change of clothes, and a few ice packs" Rob said, handing Meiling to Li. Li picked her up in his arms then rushed her inside, making sure to glare at Rob before he left. Rob took a deep breath and collapsed into a seated position next to Sakura and Eriol. Sakura called the cards back and placed them back into her book while Rob was resting with his eyes closed.
"I thought that I'd only be fighting Meiling, not Meiling magically augmented..." Rob said as he moved a few sore muscles.
Eriol, Sakura, and Tomoyo gasped. Sakura spoke up, "Magic? What magic?"
"Drop the act, I'm well aware of the cards, Cardmistress," he turned to Eriol, "And of you, Clow-sama."
Sakura and Eriol were speechless. Rob just smiled at them and lay on the soft grass of the hill, watching the clouds.
Fin Chapter Five
I bet you're all wondering what just happened. Rob knows of the Clow cards! And worse yet, he knows of the Clow Mistress! He even knows that Eriol is the reincarnation of Clow Reed! What the frell is going on!? Sufficient to say, the plot thickens!
Disclaimer: I own nothing but Rob and Shinigami. They are mine. Everything else belongs to someone else.
Chapter Five
Kinomoto Household, 12:01 AM
Sakura got up and went to the window after hearing a pair of wings flap nearby. She saw that her guardian was fast asleep, so she assumed that Yue was flying by. He rarely transformed and wouldn't fly around without her unless it was important, so Sakura decided to check it out. She gazed at the figure and yelled out to him, "Yue!" The figure turned around and flashed its green eyes. "Green...? But Yue has blue eyes." She called the fly card and took flight after him.
She chased him out of town and found herself above a grove of trees. She found the figure that she'd been following hovering in midair. She cautiously approached it. She was tired and she'd taken her contacts out, so her vision was less then perfect.
"Hello?" she called to him.
"Yes?" he answered. His voice sounded familiar but she was too tired to place it.
"Who are you?"
"Well, Sakura, you'll have to catch me to find out" he ducked to the right and began to speed away. Sakura hated such cryptic answers and took off after him.
"Too slow Card Mistress!"
"I'm gonna get you!"
She accelerated and made a grab for his ankle, but he folded his wings and dropped out of range just in time. He took off again in a different direction and regained his altitude.
"Come back here, whoever you are!"
He only chuckled at her and continued to fly on.
"Stop!"
He disappeared into the thick trees and hid his aura from Sakura. She just hovered and tried to find him. She wished that she had the Move card. She might be able to use it to bring him here without having to chase him anymore.
She had been hovering for about five minutes without feeling his aura anywhere. Her wings were a bit tired from just sitting in midair, so she descended to one of the trees below. She didn't notice a figure creep up behind her.
"Sakura..." a soft voice said behind her.
She gasped and whipped around to face him, "Who are you?"
"You'll know when the time is right." He put his arms around her and drew her close. For some reason she put her arms around his neck.
"What's happening?"
He chuckled and pulled her tighter, "A great evil has come here and I have come to stop it."
"Who are you? Have we met?"
"Yes, you know me as Shinigami..."
She pulled back a bit at hearing that, "Shinigami? But you look nothing like the figure I saw."
"Only yours and Eriol's guardians can change form?"
She understood and gazed into his green eyes and drew closer. She felt warm and comfortable in his arms, like she was meant to be there. He slowly bent down and kissed her softly. She accepted and deepened the kiss. She felt warm and content. She then felt his warm, green aura envelop her as her world faded to black...
Kinomoto Household
Sakura was back in her bed, coughing and gagging. She looked down at herself and wondered why she was all wet. Then her attention went to a bucket-holding big brother who had a wide smirk on his face.
"TOUYA!!!!" Sakura screamed at her brother.
"Yes, Kaijou?" Touya just smirked some more and stood there.
"WHY DID YOU WAKE ME UP LIKE THAT? A NICE SHAKING USUALLY WORKS JUST FINE!!!" Sakura was slightly peeved.
Touya just pointed at her dampened clock, which read 11:02.
Sakura turned white as she realized that she'd missed two periods already. "I'm gonna be LATE!!!" she ran to get her shower and get dressed.
Touya intercepted her and threw her back onto the bed. "We've already called in sick for you. You're aura is quite low and you need rest. (Touya and Fujitaka know about the Sakura Cards, Kero, and Yue)"
"Alright, but if you wanted to tell me to stay home and sleep, why didn't you let me sleep?"
"Would I be a good big brother if I hadn't? Besides, Lunch at your school starts soon and Tomoyo will probably try to call."
"Thanks Touya."
"Anytime, Kaijou" Touya received a glare as he left.
Sakura took her time showering and relaxed under the piping hot water. She slowly lathered up a rag and drowsily wiped and rubbed her soft curves. She took a deep breath and remembered what happened last night. Was it a dream? No. If it were, her aura wouldn't have been so drained and her back wouldn't ache so much. And where was Kero? He must be downstairs eating or something. She was almost surprised that Kero didn't ask for Watery's help in waking her. That would not have been fun. She pushed all of these thoughts aside and just felt the warm water envelop her. She slowly and carefully washed her hair. It was rare that she could pay so much attention to it. She rinsed and stepped from the shower.
She grabbed one of the soft pink towels from the rack and began to towel herself off. She was in no hurry, so she did it slowly and gently. She then lightly perfumed herself with cherry blossom extract. She had a natural cherry blossom smell to her for some reason, but she liked the slightly different smell the extract gave her.
She walked into her closet and inspected the rows of clothing. She had three school uniforms, a few sundresses, some normal street clothes, and some other articles. She smiled as her gaze moved past the vampire costume. She figured that she'll probably want to get some fresh air soon, so she picked out a pair of tight, faded jeans that were low cut and a pink tank top. She put a white blouse over it and left it unbuttoned. It was a common look, but it suited her quite well. She walked down the stairs 45 minutes after being woken up.
"Ohayo again, Kaijou" Touya said to his sister.
"Ohayo Otou-chan (at least I think that's dad in Japanese), Onii-chan" Sakura called happily. She felt really good after her shower and her stupid brother was NOT going to get in her way.
"Here you go Sakura" her dad placed a plate with a bowl of hot soup on it. It was surrounded by grilled ham and cheese sandwiches. Her eyes brightened as she gazed at one of her favorite lunch foods. Her mother used to make it for her when she was very young.
"Thanks daddy!" She dove into her food. She dipped a large portion of the sandwich into the soup then ate the soggy portion. The soup and sandwich were gone in minutes. Touya just stared at her as she ate like she'd never eaten before.
Sakura glared at her brother, "WHAT?"
"Kaijou..."
Sakura growled at him and turned her attention back to her father, "May I have another helping, please?"
Fujitaka smiled at his daughter's appetite and gave her another bowl of soup, sans sandwich. She quickly devoured that bowl, then another, then another. In all she'd eaten four bowls of soup plus the initial tow sandwiches. She patted her belly and started walking to the door, announcing that she was going to take a short walk. She grabbed her cell phone, gloves, and poofy pink jacket and stepped out the door.
Outside, 12:09 PM
Sakura's phone rang as she entered King Penguin Park. She then relayed the morning's happenings to her best friend. Tomoyo was very worried and offered to leave school early to be with her, but Sakura refused claiming that she was just drained. (following is only Sakura and Tomoyo)
"Really, Tomoyo, I'm fine!"
"Are you sure?"
"Tomoyo!"
"Alright, alright! What do you want me to tell the rest of the gang?"
"Just tell them that I was outside and lost track of time, so I slept too long."
"That'll never work."
"Tomoyo, I have full confidence that you can make up a convincing story."
"Sakura, if it were anyone else..."
"I know and I love ya for it!"
"Sure you do..."
"So, how's school?"
"Tareda-san was disappointed that he couldn't act smug when you showed up late again."
"Yeah, he would be. Anything else?"
"Well, Eriol.... no, never mind!"
"Tomoyo."
"Yeah?"
"Spill, now."
"Alright. Eriol and I are going to start dating!"
Sakura squealed, "That's great!"
"Yeah, I've had a crush on him for the longest time now."
"You two would be so cute together, too!"
"Yeah. Hey, the bells about the ring so I'll have to let you go."
"OK."
"Can you come over today, say four-ish?"
"Sure thing! I'll see you then."
"Ok, I love you Sakura. Bye!"
"I love you too Tomoyo, bye!"
They both hung up. Sakura was glad to have such a good friend.
Sakura wandered around for a short while longer. She glanced at her watch and noticed that it was only around one o'clock. She still had a few hours to kill and she didn't feel like going home yet, then she spotted a lone Sakura tree in a field. She ran over and inspected it. It was strong and nice wide branches to sit on. One of which looked perfect to recline in. She jumped up into and sat on that branch and looked up at the clouds through the gaps in the branches. The flowers were gone so the tree wasn't as nice as it could have been, but she felt comfortable anyway.
She realized how tired she still was and got an idea. She set her phone to go off and wake her at three o'clock. Then she placed the phone in her collar right beside her ear. Lastly, she pulled her arms and sleeves into her jacket. She quickly dozed off into a light sleep.
Sakura's Dream
Darkness, cold, wind. She felt these things and shuddered. She grasped herself to keep warm and noticed that she was naked and kneeling on the floor. No, she wasn't naked. Her battle suit was so badly damaged and torn that it barely covered what needed covering. Her hair was a mess and she was dirty as well. She looked ahead and saw a dark figure. Her first instinct was that it was Shinigami, but this aura felt... evil. The shapeless thing laughed at her cruelly and a mass of energy gathered at his hands. She looked around to see all of her friends were dead. Syaoran, Eriol, even the guardians were all dead. Meiling was still alive, but her aura was slipping away quickly. The figured then launched this energy at her and another figure appeared in front of her. It had dark black wings, long golden hair, and a dark aura. The black energy hit him hard. She yelled something, his name, but she couldn't quite hear herself...
Sakura Tree
"BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEEP!" her phone rang loudly. The sudden noise almost caused her to fall out of her tree, but she regained her balance in time to stop. She turned off her phone and looked at the time. 3:01, it's time to go. Sakura hopped out of her tree and started to walk for Tomoyo's, the long way around. It would take her half an hour to get there by that route. Kero flew up to her, out of breath.
"Where've you been? Your dad said that you were going to take a walk THREE HOURS AGO!"
"I'm sorry Kero, I was going to only stay out for an hour, but I got sidetracked."
"Doing what?"
"I found this nice Sakura tree, climbed up, and uh..."
"And uh what?"
"I sorta fell asleep."
Sakura sweatdropped as Kero fell to the ground, then jumped back up to face her. He was somewhat peeved.
"I've been looking for you all this time and were SLEEPING! I was really worried Sakura!"
"Why didn't you just search for my aura?"
Kero sweatdropped, "Oh, I guess that would have made it easier..."
Sakura sighed and hugged Kero. "Gomen nasai Kero-chan. I'll remember to call next time I'm going to nap in a tree."
"Yeah, you'd better..." Kero mumbled.
"I'm headed for Tomoyo's now, wanna come?"
"Will she have pudding?"
"Uh, no. You cleaned her out two days ago, remember?"
"Oh yeah," Kero sweatdropped again, "Then I'll go do some surveillance on that new kid, Rob."
"Why?"
"I don't know. His aura just gives me the creeps and I'd like to know why."
"Kero, I'll stop by the store and get some pudding. Just leave Rob alone."
"Sakura, it's my job... to protect... you.... Did you say pudding?"
"Hai!"
"PUDDING!"
Sakura laughed and Kero followed her to the store, then on to Tomoyo's house. Though, Kero wasn't happy that Sakura made him wait until they arrived at Tomoyo's to eat his pudding.
Tomoyo's front gate, 3:50 PM
Sakura arrived at Tomoyo's gate early. She pressed the intercom on the front door and was informed that she hadn't come home yet. Sakura waited by a tree just inside the gate, knowing that she had trouble getting around her friend's house without a guide. Then Rob walked up and joined her.
"Hey Sakura-chan!"
"Hey Rob! What are you doing here?"
"Tomoyo asked me over for a preliminary fitting. What, do you not want to see me?"
"Uh, no, it's not that, uh...
"Oh, I see how it is, no one loves me! Everyone hates me!" Rob starts to sob. Sakura feels really bad and tries to comfort him.
"No, no. Uh, I love ya!" She gives him a reassuring hug.
He immediately stops crying and hugs back. I guess now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that I was just messing with you."
Sakura pushed him away and started hitting him playfully, "You suck!"
"You'd better believe it!"
"I do."
"And now I know that you love me, too!" Rob teased.
Sakura glared him for a moment, then pounced on him.
"ACK!" Rob yelled as he went down.
"You're going to wish that you'd never been born!"
"I don't see how. Once I consider that I have a beautiful girl lying on top of me." He just smiled up at her innocently.
"Grrrrr" she started to tickle him and wrestle with him. Rob was caught by surprise so he started laughing uncontrollably.
This continued for a few minutes and they didn't notice Eriol and Tomoyo sneak up on them. Tomoyo giggled at them and Eriol smirked. They still had no idea that they had an audience.
Sakura had gained the upper hand and rolled on top of him, pinning his wrists above his head.
"Whatcha gonna do now?" she asked him playfully.
"I'm not sure yet."
"Well, you're going to say that I'm the strongest person in the world!"
"Am I?"
"Hai."
"What if I do this?" he surged forward, grabbed her, and then flipped her over. They ended up with Rob on top pinning Sakura's arms above her head.
"Please Mr. Strong Man, please don't hurt me!" she giggled out.
"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm going to take you home and keep you as a pet!"
Sakura purred at him as he leaned in close to her face, their noses almost touching. He leaned forward to kiss her...
"You two having fun?"
Rob and Sakura's heads both snapped to the direction of the sound and found a boy with glasses and blue hair with a giggling Tomoyo in his arms.
"Uh, hi Eriol!" Rob and Sakura called, still frozen in place from surprise.
Tomoyo regained her composure and asked them, "Care to get off each other and come inside?"
"Do we have to?" Rob whined.
Sakura giggled and pushed him off. She got up and linked arms with Tomoyo as they entered the house. Eriol helped Rob up and told him, "If Li saw that, you'd be dying a slow, painful death by his hand."
"That's why he won't find out for a while." Rob and Eriol entered the house after the girls.
Tomoyo's Room
Rob tried on Tomoyo's first try at the costume. It fit fairly well and looked a lot like her sketches. However, it was a bit tight at certain joints and the sleeves were a bit too long. Tomoyo noted these and made notes about the alterations. After Rob had changed back into street clothes, Sakura began to tell everyone about her morning.
"I woke up completely drenched!"
"Did you sweat a lot that night or something?" Tomoyo asked, worried.
"No, my wonderful brother threw a bucket of water on me to wake me up."
Everyone laughed except Rob, who only smiled at her.
"Then, I start running to the bathroom to get ready, but he grabbed me and threw me onto the bed. I was worried that he was going to yell at me or something, then he tells me that I can stay home from school today!"
"Score!" Rob said.
"Exactly," Sakura continued, "I had some soup, grabbed a coat, then went out for a walk. Tomoyo called to invite me over. Then I found a nice Sakura Tree and took a nap."
"You slept in a tree?" Rob was a bit surprised.
"I do it all the time" Sakura explained.
"Well, that's the Japanese for you..." Rob muttered in English. Eriol stifled a giggle.
They talked and laughed until around six o'clock, when they all headed home for dinner.
Narrative
The next few days passed quickly. Sakura spent more time with Syaoran and Rob kept his distance to give them some room. Tomoyo and Eriol went out on a date and saw a scary movie. All were entertained by the bruising that Tomoyo had done to Eriol. He should have realized that a scary movie isn't always the best choice.
Rob continued to see Tomoyo to work on the battle suit. It was coming about quite nicely. Tomoyo put the finishing touches on it and gave it to Rob for the final fitting. It fit perfectly and it was nice and easy to move around in. The Kevlar vest that went under the suit especially impressed him. At Tomoyo's request, he had a quick practice run to test it out. It functioned perfectly.
Eriol's Garden, Friday Afternoon
Eriol invited the whole gang over to his house, even Meiling who would be arriving shortly. They were all talking and laughing and generally having a good time.
"Is your cousin arriving today?" Rob inquired of Li.
"Hai, she is. She should be here any minute now." Li told him.
"YAY! We get to see Meiling again!" Tomoyo squealed, making Rob wince once again from the sound. Li seemed to smile at his reaction to pain, but no one noticed.
"Oh, Robbie" Eriol called.
"Hmm?"
"Duck."
Rob did so just as a leg was about to kick his head off. He got up and turned to face the person who tried to hurt him. He found a beautiful girl with black hair. She was wearing a battle costume, but the only similarity it had to the old one was the color scheme. It was still red with hints of gold and a Yin Yang here and there. However, it was now a skintight leotard with a short, tight skirt at the bottom. The leotard also had special dyes so that it shimmered in the right light. She also sported a pair of long gloves made of a strong, but stretchy material. She had a pair of knee-high, red boots made of leather to top it all off. Li smiled, remembering that he told her to do something to distract Rob. This would definitely do it.
"I, Li Meiling challenge you to a duel!" she called.
"I, Robert Forest accept your challenge." he replied. He then turned to Tomoyo, "Get my new battle suit." She nodded her head and ran into the house, returning with the new outfit. Rob took a moment behind the bushes to change, and came out wearing his new suit. Eriol, Li, and Meiling were impressed by the workmanship.
"Shall we begin?" Rob said confidently.
"Hai."
"Ladies first."
"Thank you, kind sir."
With that, she lunged at Rob, but he dodged expertly. They threw a few straight kicks and punches, gauging each other's ability. Rob took a step back and glared at her. She was insane to think that such garb would distract him in the heat of battle. Although, it was irritating since there weren't any lose bits of clothing to grab onto. He saw her eye muscles tense up and he charged while she was blinking. She opened her eyes to a boot in her face. She was knocked back a good ten feet before skidding to the ground. As she got up, her aura flared in anger. She charged and kicked but he just dodged, or did he? She landed and swept her leg under him and knocked him into the air. She then brought her heel down on his stomach while he was still in midair. He grimaced as he hit the dirt, then as Meiling was about to finish him off, he flipped up onto his feet and punched her across the jaw HARD. She skittered across the ground but regained her footing and stood.
She charged him again, throwing kicks and punches that Rob simply dodged. "Stay still!" she yelled at him, but he took no heed. He then spied an opening and punched her in the chest. He then performed a back handspring and kicked her under the chin on the way. She flew up then started back down upside-down. He landed then put a lot of strength into a strike to the middle of her back. He was careful not to damage anything important, but she still ended up thirty feet away and on her hands and knees. Li was worried once he noticed Rob's slight advantage.
"Sakura..." Li whispered to her.
"Yeah?" Sakura answered.
"Use the Power and Dash cards on her."
"But then she'll cream Rob!"
"Rob's creaming her now." He glanced at Rob who kicked Meiling in stomach.
"Good point." Sakura took out the two cards and concentrated on them as they disappeared. Sakura took note of Meiling's brief pink glow as the cards took effect.
Meiling noticed immediately what had happened and waited for Rob to get too close. He went in for a punch, but Meiling just rolled with it and delivered a devastating roundhouse to Rob's jaw. He flew back a good ways but landed in a crouch to find that Meiling was already there. He looked up and she smiled down at him before kicking him again. He quickly stood back up and caught Meiling's next high kick. He smiled at her innocently, then kicked her in the jaw. She stumbled back and gasped as Rob was standing in front of her. She was still off-balance so she couldn't dodge the ensuing kick. What really surprised her is that he still seemed to have a strength advantage. She still had the power of dash, so she decided to run from him to test his speed. She turned back to notice that he was gone and chuckled to herself. She hit something hard and was sent sprawling backward. She looked up to find a smiling Rob.
The CCS gang not involved were wide eyed with their jaws all on the floor. This kid must be really fast and strong to outdo Meiling with cards attached.
Rob decided that he'd had enough and started to really beat her, but was careful not to break anything. He now had her backed up to a tree. She was about to move forward to attack, but he placed his heel on her neck and pinned her to the tree. She tried to struggle, but he simply applied more pressure to her neck until she realized that she'd been beaten. Rob finally spoke to her.
"If you concede, I may allow you to remain conscious for the rest of the day." His voice was sharp, but even. He was in complete control.
"Alright, I concede" she whispered, dropping her head.
"Say so that they can hear it" he said while indicating their audience.
She took a deep breath and yelled, "I CONCEDE! LET ME GO!"
He relaxed and she collapsed to the ground from the effort she gave. He quickly knelt down and helped her up. He then pulled her arm around his neck and put his own arm around her waist. He then helped her walk back to the group.
"Li, I think your cousin could use a change of clothes, and a few ice packs" Rob said, handing Meiling to Li. Li picked her up in his arms then rushed her inside, making sure to glare at Rob before he left. Rob took a deep breath and collapsed into a seated position next to Sakura and Eriol. Sakura called the cards back and placed them back into her book while Rob was resting with his eyes closed.
"I thought that I'd only be fighting Meiling, not Meiling magically augmented..." Rob said as he moved a few sore muscles.
Eriol, Sakura, and Tomoyo gasped. Sakura spoke up, "Magic? What magic?"
"Drop the act, I'm well aware of the cards, Cardmistress," he turned to Eriol, "And of you, Clow-sama."
Sakura and Eriol were speechless. Rob just smiled at them and lay on the soft grass of the hill, watching the clouds.
Fin Chapter Five
I bet you're all wondering what just happened. Rob knows of the Clow cards! And worse yet, he knows of the Clow Mistress! He even knows that Eriol is the reincarnation of Clow Reed! What the frell is going on!? Sufficient to say, the plot thickens!