"Sakura's Peace"

A Card Captor Fanfiction

By: Bekah-chan

Rated: PG



Disclaimer: I don't own Card Captors or the characters therein.



Author's Notes: Hi. I was going to finish the whole story before I posted again, but I think I write better if I have feedback for every chapter. So, here is chapter 4, and 5 is in production. Sorry this took so long. Please review and tell me what you think ^_~





Chapter 4, The Soul-Box:



The women of Madison's family had always been special, had always had a special gift. This gift really didn't have an exact definition or explanation, but Mad's mother had told her that 'empathy' was the closest they could come to describing it. It was, naturally much more than this, but their two basic talents were sensing other people's emotions and a connection to the earth. It was the latter that made their gift the most dangerous, for (given the right 'talents' of their own) others could use them to draw power from the earth. This was dangerous because the human body could only be used as such a conduit for so long without burning out, and dying.

This had not happened to one of Madison's ancestors in over a century. When they had finally developed a defense system to prevent it. The problem was- You had to *know* what was going on in order to counter it. And Madison had not known, now it was too late. She was dying.

Mad felt like crying, but she couldn't, she was not allowed. 'Alise' had brought her 'cousin' to her own room, telling her to "sit down and be quiet". Then the monster had left, going off to do whatever it was that monsters did. Leaving Madison alone, sitting in the dark of her bedroom. And 'crying' did not fit within her order of 'quiet' so Mad was denied even this comfort, at least on the outside. She was minutely consoled that her mind and thoughts seemed to still be, mostly, within her control. Although she did not know how long this condition would last, and time was short.

Sitting there, she had been able to examine the extent of the damage caused by 'Alise'. Most of her mind contained pockets of darkness left by the mental 'touch' of the monster. With only a small space, around her soul, remaining clean of the taint. This would not last long, even without Alise's presence the darkness was creeping toward the center of her being, she doubted she would last until morning. Already the flow of energy from the earth was faltering as Madison's body gave out from the strain of it. Soon her body would die and then the monster could crush her soul and receive all the earth-power it had stored up since her birth. After that Madison was not sure that even Sakura could defeat it.

But there *was* something she could do, something that would prevent the monster from getting that last burst of power, and hopefully saving her friends. Or at least giving them a fighting chance. She had one last recourse left-

The Soul-Box.

It was the final option available to her family; locking their soul in a mental box of their own creation. Then their soul was safe from evil, and everything else. Their mental magic was strong, and once the box was closed, her soul could never come out again- Her body would die, leaving her soul trapped in the box forever. Oh, it was hypothesized that, under certain conditions (and provided the body was still alive) the soul could be released from it's self-imposed prison. But Madison really didn't think it was possible, the box would be locked by her own mental pattern. Only someone using the exact same frequency would be able to open it. Not Sakura, not her mother, and (thankfully) not Alise. Once she did this, there was no going back. And she could not afford to wait any longer.

Her course of action clear, Mad set to work in the small corner of her mind that was still hers. First she created indestructible panels, then fashioned them into a box just big enough for her soul to fit in. After she was done she climbed in the box and waited before closing it. She wanted to give Sakura as long as she could to get there, she knew how guilty Sakura would feel if she could not save her best friend. So she waited as long as she could, she waited until she could sense Alise's evil energy coming back toward her. And then she couldn't wait anymore.

~I'm sorry Sakura. And Mom, I should have listened to you, I should have been more vigilant in our family's centuries old guardianship of the Earth's magic. I'm sorry. Good-Bye~ As she lowered the lid of her soul-box a single sob managed to get past the constraints of Alise's spell. The last thing Madison felt was a lonely tear of sorrow as it made it's way down her cheek. Then the soul-box sealed shut, and she felt nothing at all.



Alise:

Alise was happy. Well she would be if monsters, or demons to be more accurate, could feel such an emotion. Since they can't, perhaps the emotion would be better explained by the term 'malicious glee'. After thousands of years she would finally have revenge on the sorcerer who had bound her powers and trapped in this child's body. Finding that little empath with the earth connection had really been a stroke of luck. Soon that pathetic mortal would be dead and Alise would have enough power to carry out her plan to destroy the world.

Oh, she supposed that destroying the entire world was a little excessive. But the sorcerer who had been her enemy was dead many years past. Despite his power, he too had been a mortal, and had died like one. The gees he placed on her had prevented her from harming or killing him, or his descendants, thus preventing her revenge of any kind. But, by destroying the entire world, Alise could circumvent this complication easily: All the sorcerer's descendants would be dead, along with the rest of the wretched human race that had been the curse of her existence for far too long.

And, sure, she would be destroyed as well (AN: *whispers* psssst, Alise is a little crazy, pass it on.) But one had to make certain sacrifices sometimes, in pursuit of personal goals.



Kero (a few hours earlier):

After telling Syaoran about the situation, Kero next went to Yue/Yukito's house. He figured that he could save time that way, both of the Guardians could continue to Sakura's house together. But Oh! How wrong can the plans of men, and little magical beasts who look a kinda like mice, go?

Yukito lived in a small house he had inherited from his 'grand-parents'. He lived alone and didn't have any close neighbors. Which, incidentally, made it easy for Yue to sneak about. Kero hadn't been there very often, and only inside twice, but he knew where it was. And he had extended his aura so that Yue would know he was coming. No time to waste and all that. So he was surprised to arrive at Yukito's house and find it dark and, seemingly, empty. He tried the doorbell and yelled at the top of his little lungs, to no effect. Yet he could feel the Moon Guardian's aura within the house, so what was wrong? Had the new enemy already harmed Yue in a preemptive strike?

Frantically the Sun Guardian tried to open the doorknob with his little paws, only to find it locked. Next he flew about the house looking for an alternate route into the residence. After a few panicky moments (all the windows he tried were also locked and the house didn't have a back door) he discovered that the kitchen window was open a little. In fact it was open just wide enough for the small flying magical beast to pass through. Oh, how lucky!

Quickly, Kero dove toward the opening, while part of his brain shouted a warning, ~Wait! Isn't Yukito's kitchen on the *other* side of the house?!?~ But, alas, it was too late, for Kero didn't have time to break his forward momentum. All he could do was watch helplessly as the glamor of a bright kitchen window, with a pretty little flower box and a patten of dancing gumdrops on the curtains, faded to reveal a very solid looking brick wall.

"Yaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!" **SPLAT!!**



Ouch!! 20 Minutes Later:

Through the stars and bright colored lights that Kero's stunned senses were producing, he heard a sound that was becoming distressingly familiar to him: Yue's laughter.

The poor little guardian sat up gingerly, and rubbed at his aching head. He knew that the damage wasn't permanent, or even very severe, but it *hurt*.

"Oh...Ha, ha," Yue chortled from somewhere to Kero's left, "Oh.. Th..-ha-..The *Look* on your FACE!! Ha, ha!"

"Ya, very funny," Kero said sarcastically, slowly turning his head to see his fellow guardian, catching Yue's mirth filled eyes and sending him a scathing glance. This only made the Moon Guardian laugh harder, falling over and holding his sides. His wings vanished right before he hit the ground, but Yue still looked extremely silly, and Kero wondered again at the changes that had come over the other guardian recently.

"Ya, very funny," Kero repeated, "Ha, ha. And very responsible of you in your duties. I was coming to tell you that Sakura's in trouble."

"Ha, ha.... Huh?!?" Yue sat bolt upright, all traces of laughter immediately gone from his visage, "What! How? When?"

"Don't forget 'why' and 'where'," Kero added as he tried to float off the ground. He wobbled a bit, but was able to rise high enough to look Yue straight in the eye, "Some really evil monster, or demon, or something, has a pretty heavy mind-lock on Madison. I mean total control, Mad doesn't even seem to know it's *there*. I left Sakura having tea with them."

The blood (or whatever is the equivalent for magical beasts) drained from Yue's face as he realized what he'd done. Or almost done. If Kero had been out any longer........ And Sakura was there *alone* without her guardians....... Hey, wait!

"You *left* her there!!" Yue yelled.

"I had to!" Kero yelled back, a little defensively, "There was no way I could hide my presence from something that powerful."

"Oh."

"And I don't think *you* could hide yourself either, so we're going to meet Sakura back at her place to plan."

"Oh," Yue had regained some of his color, "Well, let's go then. We're wasting time." He switched back to Yukito as he stood and started walking in the direction of Sakura's house. Kero floated along behind him, mumbling about just *who's* fault their tardiness would be.





Sakura:

Using Jump Card-Magic Sakura very carefully cleared the hedge that lined the back of Madison's vast family grounds, landing lightly on the other side. Beside her she felt Syaoran land from his own, nearly noiseless, trip over the tall bush. And Sakura knew that his landing could have been, should have been, softer.

"How's your leg?" She whispered to him, trying to keep the guilt out of her tone.

"It's fine, Sakura," he clasped her right hand in his left, "It's not bleeding anymore" ~well, not much, anyway~ "We can take care of it when we get back to the house." he paused, "And stop blaming yourself. It wasn't your fault...."

"Yes it was!!" she cut him off in a fierce whisper, "if I had been paying more attention instead of worrying about Madison...."

"Hey," he cut her off this time, turning toward her and pulling her gently around to face him. She could barely make out his cherished features in the darkness, but she didn't need to see him to feel his love and support for her.

"Your best friend is under the control of an unknown Mega-Evil," he consoled her, "You have the right to be a little distracted. And besides, I didn't see it coming either."

This was true, the evil-possessed duck (with many sharp teeth) had come out of nowhere, catching them both off guard. Luckily they had both reacted quickly when it got there, disintegrating it in a blast of Sakura's Fire, Syaoran's Lightning, and demented quacks of distress. The duck had only managed to get in one bite, on Syaoran's right leg, before it's imminent demise. The injury had bled pretty freely and looked nasty. But Syaoran had insisted that they continue on the reconnaissance mission. They needed as much info as they could get, as soon as they could get it, if they wanted to save their friend.

When the pair returned to Sakura's house late that afternoon, they had found Kero, Yue, and Sakura's family already in a hasty discussion about the situation. After debate, it was decided that they needed more information. So, Sakura and Syaoran had gone out, like they did almost every night, to battle evil-- Or at least to examine it very closely. Kero had warned them of the dangers of going into such a situation unprepared. Not that Sakura needed the warning, she remembered, all too well, the times when she and her friends had almost been killed do to lack of preparation on her part. She would not let this happen again, not if she could prevent it.

"Now, come on," Syaoran gave the hand he still held a tug to get her to follow him, "Let's go find out what we're up against." Together they walked through the darkness toward Madison's house.



To Be Continued ^_^