Somewhere Over The Rainbow

by Zenin

Chapter Eight: Word Wars Within

"Simpering, sadistic, slimy son-of-a–"

"Hey, hey, hey! No cuss words, 'member?"

"Fine. Stupid, squalling, simian, snide, sluggish scum!"

"Trifling, twanging, twitting, tragic, treacherous, twit!"

"Slobbering, sticky, sappy, sickening, stand-by!"

"Terrible, tart, tiresome, tittering, tottering, torpid, toxic, toad-like tramp!"

"Ooooohhhhhh!!!"

The girls were all gathered in Cabin Four watching Akemi and Meilin have a game of Word War. Akemi had suggested it after everyone had played a not-so-rousing game of Scrabble. This, however, was very interesting. Emiko, Xiefa, and Sakura watched breathlessly as the combatants faced each other off from the comfort of their bunk beds.

"Cheater!" Meilin cried, jumping up from her bed. "I saw you reading the dictionary during Scrabble! You planned this!"

Akemi shook her head sadly. "Tsk. Touchy."

"Argh!"

Sakura shook her head in mock exasperation. "What are we to do with you, Akemi?"

"Torch me?"

Meilin groaned and threw herself back onto her bed. "I give up!"

The girls laughed. It had been two weeks since the Medieval Fair. Sakura had gone to her karate lessons every day, doing the usual routine of kicking and blushing. Syaoran and the guys had been spending time doing weird competitions with one another ("Who can get past the Condiment Woman without getting targeted?" "Person who makes it down this hill upright in a shopping basket wins a prize…") The girls had basically been spending their free time swimming, boating, hiking, and doing other interesting activities.

Today, the schedule was pretty loose. No parties, dances, or skits were scheduled, so everyone was going to do whatever they wished. Meilin and Sakura already planned to go hiking together through the Lonely Mountain. They had water, lunch, a first aid kit, ropes, harnesses, and a large sheet (Sakura had no idea why she was bringing it).

Sakura glanced up from her packing to look at Meilin. "Um, sure you want to bring those CD's? I mean, we won't really need them…"

Meilin stuffed a portable CD player and some CD's into her backpack. "You never know when you might need a bit of music...bedsides, you are bringing a bed sheet for–?"

Akemi rolled her eyes expressively. "You both are weird."

"Strange, coming from you..." Sakura began; then stopped, grinning as Akemi made an indignant pose.

"I am not weird...I am interestingly eccentric."

"Right," Emiko muttered, barely glancing up from her book.

"Anyways," Akemi continued, sending a mock-offended look to Emiko. "Xiefa and I have an appointment with Cabin Seven."

Sakura blushed furiously. "I really...I...gosh, I really didn't mean for that to happen..."

Xiefa smirked. "Ah, but it did–"

"And now we have to administer memory lessons to good ol' Yukio." Akemi finished, grinning.

"Come to think of it, he isn't so bad...now that he had a major memory fix," Xiefa mused. "Actually, he can be really charming. Akemi and I gave him an assignment to read Miss Manners, and he's followed through quite nicely."

"And, little by little, his memory is being restored. He sends his apologies for being such a jerk–"

"–and he wants to know if you and he can go out to lunch sometime." Xiefa finished with a devilish grin. "There's a small town nearby...practically the only town anywhere near this place..."

"Enough! No more guilt, please!" Sakura cried, covering her burning cheeks. "Tell him I'll think about it, and I'll give him my answer when I return." Her blush burned brighter.

"Oh, and his concussion is doing well also; the nurse says–"

"Enough!!!"

+==+==+==+

Yukio lay on his bed, his forehead efficiently bandaged. His friend, Devon, wandered in, gave him a searching look, then abruptly left.

Yukio, as difficult as it may seem, had changed.

His eyes, once a callous ice blue, now reflected the color of the summer sky: a rich forget-me-not. His mouth, once fixed in a perpetual sneer, was now relaxed into a pensive look of concentration.

Xiefa and Akemi busied themselves with random tidbits of what the beginning memories of the camp had been for him.

"You...um...you attacked Sakura in the forest..."

A near sick look crossed his face. "I'm sorry. I don't know what...why I did that. I cannot apologize enough." He glanced at Xiefa. "Is there any possibility of...well...of her and me going out on one date?"

Akemi looked doubtful. "I don't know."

He smiled wryly. "I guess I really can't do anything. I deserve everything I get."

Xiefa cleared her throat. "Um, you insulted a group of small boys..."

"Guys, it's okay. I remember everything now."

"You're sure?"

"Yup."

"Well," Akemi said cheerfully, slamming Miss Manners shut. "That concludes the lessons for today. How 'bout a rousing game or Word War?"

Yukio grinned. "You're on, you pathetic, peeling, pig-faced piece of sh–"

"Hey! No swearing!"

"Please?"

"No."

+==+==+==+

Meilin hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders, turning to find Sakura. "Oy, Kinomoto! You're taking too long!"

A groan echoed from below. "Hoeee..."

The two girls were already a quarter of the way up Lonely Mountain. Meilin was in her element, climbing and singing songs to keep her mind off the incredible height they were hiking. Sakura, on the other hand, was not faring so well. Animals, for some strange reason, seemed to be drawn to her. At that moment, Sakura was surrounded by a troupe of five squirrels, one mountain goat, two deer, and somewhere nearby, the shadowy form of a mountain lion was slinking from tree to tree.

"Meilin...I need help...please..."

Meilin sighed with exasperation. "Do people always have to bail you out?"

"Truthfully, no. Hypothetically, yes."

Meilin half walked, half slid down the trail to where the animals had Sakura cornered. "Shoo! Get out of our way! Shoo!"

The squirrels scattered, along with the deer, but the mountain goat ignored Meilin, simply sampling her sweater.

"Ugh! Get off me!"

Sakura laughed, much to the approval of the mountain goat. The goat took another huge chomp of Meilin's sweater, glancing to Sakura for more endorsement.

"Kinomoto! Stop laughing and tell your friend to cut it out!"

Sakura stifled another giggle and patted the goat comfortingly. "Gomen nasai, but we can't have you along with us, kay?"

The goat snorted. It sent Meilin a look of disdain, and trotted huffily away. Meilin steadied herself and glanced down at the gaping hole in her sweater. "Stupid goat! That was a nice sweater!"

"I'm sorry, Meilin."

Meilin mumbled something under her breath and continued climbing. Sakura sighed and began climbing again.

It just seems like she's upset at something…but what? Maybe…maybe she knows how I feel about Syaoran. I mean, there were times when even I thought that he and I were mutually attracted to each other. Like, maybe, love. Well, it seemed like that. If he does love me, why won't he say it? Dad always says that if someone loves you, he will say it.

"He would shout it from the rooftops…because he loved you so much, he couldn't bear not letting you know."

Dad usually knows about these things. But what about Meilin? Meilin loves him…and I love him…and maybe all the stuff I'm seeing really isn't there. Maybe he does love Meilin. I mean, yesterday when they were talking, they looked great together. She made him laugh…and Clow knows how hard that is. Maybe I've been wrong all along. But…maybe…maybe I should tell him. That I love him. Maybe?

"Yo! Kinomoto! Get climbing!"

Sakura waved her hand and continued.

+==+==+==+

"Hmm. Do you think I should tamper with this one?"

"No, leave the next one for me, sweet sister of mine."

A boy with startlingly golden hair dropped to earth from his perch on a tree branch. He was clothed in robes that shone like the sun, embroidered with ancient symbols…as well as several happy faces. He smiled sunnily at his sister, amber eyes laughing. His sister, the girl in green, raised an eyebrow as she brushed her fingers against the smiley faces on his uniform.

"Happy faces? Now I know you're insane…"

He playfully smacked her hand aside with a chuckle. "Hey, hey, hey…watch what you say about my sense of décor. Yours isn't all that great either."

She couldn't help but smile. "There isn't much you can do with green, dear brother." She stretched languidly in the air. "Well, if you insist on taking the next turn, do it. I don't want to keep waiting forever for you to decide what you're going to do."

"Come now, give me time. You've had the last two plays." The boy said serenely. He unconsciously traced the designs on his robe, smiling thoughtfully to himself. "Besides, I know exactly what I want to do."

+==+==+==+

Emiko closed her book, sighing blissfully as she thought of the perfect ending she had just read. "The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf…who would have known that it be such a great book?" She flipped a few pages, reviewing her favorite parts of the story. She laughed quietly to herself as she read a part that particularly made her giggle.

"He took a menacing step forward. 'I shall not rest until thou art cleaved in twain.' 'Is that right? "Cleaved?"' 'I thought it was clove…' 'No, sounds too much like recipe...cleaven, perhaps?' 'Look what you've done, deuce it! You've gone and clefted my dinner!'"

Emiko laughed harder. "Oh my…that's the funniest thing…"

She giggled uncontrollably, rolling off her bed and gasping for breath. A strange golden glow surrounded her as she continued chortling to herself. The glow grew bright, then soaked into her skin. She continued laughing, harder and harder.

"Heavens…above…I--I can't st…op…laugh--iiinnnng! Sa--sa--Sakuraa…hee…hee…help!"

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Whereupon my muse abruptly leaves. *Sigh* Why does it do that to me? To you? To us? Ack! Well, this is an easy card to guess. ^_^ What fun! Please review. And send in suggestions! I'm open to almost any idea that helps me and my pathetic muse along! I know…Syaoran did not even appear in this chappie! How unfortunate. Well, expect him lots in the next chappie, cause I have an idea…not full-fledged, mind you…but a pretty good idea of what's going to happen to him next.

© 2002 Zenin Industries