"Sakura's Peace"

A Card Captor Fanfiction

By: Bekah-chan

Rated: PG-13



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



Author's Notes: Okay, yes I know that 'Tamayo' is like (or, at least, similar to) Madison's name in CCS. I did it on purpose, I like to use stuff from both CC and CCS; It's fun :)



Thanks for the Reviews!! ^_~



Chapter 11, Tamayo:



"Wait! What's a 'Soul-Box'?!?!" Sakura demanded, "What's happened to Madison!?"

So, Kero pulled himself together and tried to explain it to her.

"First, I should tell you about the Tamayos," he began, "They are a line of women that go back as far as anyone can remember. The title is passed from Mother to Daughter."

"But what does it mean?"

"Well, the Tamayos are conduits for Earth energy, they're kinda like release valves for the planet. Any excess energy can safely pass through them (in a metaphysical sense) and dissipate before it causes any unnecessary earthquakes......"

"Earthquakes are 'necessary'?"

"Some of them, yes. When you think about it; we are all just living on a bunch of plates floating on a huge sea of molten lava. If the plates didn't move it'd all blow-up, no matter how many Tamayos there were. And, moving plates cause earthquakes.

"But, earthquakes (bigger, more deadly ones) can be caused by a build-up of too much Earth-magic in one place. The Tamayos prevent this by releasing the energy before it causes harm."

"Is that why Alise wanted Madison? She called her an 'Earth-link'"

"'Earth-link' Huh? Well, I guess that fits too. Although it may kill them, Tamayos can also channel energy from the Earth to others that can use it, even if they can't use it themselves."

"She can give people power?" Kent asked.

"Yes, she could. But she won't. No Tamayo would."

"Why?"

"Because they aren't just conduits for Earth energy, they are guardians of it as well. Earth power packs quite a punch. Access to it can cause a lot of damage, very few people would even know how to use it; And any good magic-users wouldn't try it without a very good reason. Even experienced users could destroy the planet if they sneezed or something, at the wrong moment."

"Whoa," Touya commented.

"Exactly," Kero continued, "but people (beings) like Alise, don't really care if they destroy the planet or not, they just want the power. So, the Tamayos guard it."

"How?" Sakura asked, "I thought you said they couldn't use the magic they channeled?"

"I did, and they can't. But they are slightly empathic, so they can, sometimes, sense an evil intent. Plus, they have mental shields and defenses that they can put up if they have enough warning."

"Like the 'Soul-Box'?" Sakura's question was spoken softly.

"Yes, as a last ditch defense. Their souls store a minute portion of the Earth power that passes through them everyday. The older they are, the more power their souls have. And Madison has lived over 17 years, that's a lot of power."

"And Alise would want it." Syaoran concluded.

"Yes. Madison must have realized what was going on. Too late to save herself maybe, but it would have kept Alise from getting very much power. Their souls are the essence of the conduit; All Alise would get now would be Madison's slightly elevated life-energy. And though that's a sizable chunk of power by itself, it's nowhere near how much she could have gleaned before Mad built the Soul-Box."

"Which is what, exactly?"

"Pretty much what it sounds like: A box for the soul. The Tamayos all learn how to build one, just in case."

"So, her soul's in this 'box' and that's why you guys can't sense it?"

"Right." Syaoran and Yue nodded.

"Can't we just open it, and let her out?" Sakura, remembering Kero crying, didn't feel confident about the answer.

"No. How effective a defense would it be if things like Alise could just open it again?"

"But we are not Alise..."

"Doesn't matter. The box is tuned to her own brain pattern, not even another Tamayo could get her back now."

There was silence, broken only by soft sniffles when Kero started crying again.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Sakura was crying herself now.

"Not that I know of," Kero, who had produced a lace handkerchief from somewhere, blew his nose. "I mean, if one of us had her brain pattern maybe we could........."

"'Could' what Kero? Kero?!?"

"I have an idea." Kero stated

"What?"

So, Kero explained it to them. And, when he was done, they all stared at him in shocked silence.

"You can do that?" Yue asked, disbelieving.

"Yes." the other magical beast returned simply.

"Really?"

A nod.

"Well, I can't do that," Yue's silver moonlight eyebrows drew together, "Why can't I do that?"

"I don't know! I didn't even remember I could until just now!!"

"Clow again?"

"Yeah. He did such a number on my head, layers and layers of spells that hide things he taught me. Half the stuff I know, I don't know I know, until the last minute when I need to know it!! Or, until Clow decided I'd need to know it!"

"That's very strange."

"Ever happen to you?"

"Nope. If it wasn't so obnoxious, I'd be jealous of you. Clow spent a lot more time and magical energy teaching you than he did me."

Kero snorted, "Consider yourself lucky."

"I do," Yue smirked at him.

Kero dropped the conversation and floated in front of Madison again, trying to decide (remember) exactly how this was done.

"Do you think it will work?" Syaoran asked him.

"It better work," Kero answered him, chewing nervously on the tip of one paw, "Just how long do you think the body can survive without the soul?"

"A couple days?" Touya guessed.

"More like 24 hours," Yue corrected him.

"Oh!" Sakura, who was still sitting in Syaoran's lap, threw hers arms around him and buried her face in his neck. "What if it doesn't work, Syaoran? She's my Best Friend; She's Madison! What will happen if this doesn't work?"

She felt Syaoran put his arms around her, and held him tighter. It was too much! She'd spent most of the evening feeling useless in the face of her friend's predicament. She just could not stand the feeling of powerlessness that was sweeping over her.

"Shhh, it's okay Sakura. It will work, right Kero?" he looked pleadingly over Sakura's shoulder at the Sun Guardian.

"Yeah, sure it will." Kero returned, trying to put more confidence in his voice than he felt, "Of course it will work! Clow must have taught me how to do this for just this occasion. He wouldn't have done that if it wouldn't work."

"Did you hear that Sakura? It's going to work. Clow knew this would happen, and prepared Kero for it." He, gently, lifted her head from his shoulder and wiped the tears from her face with his thumbs.

"I just feel so helpless! Kero," she turned a little to face him, "isn't there something I can do? I need something to do!"

It was then that Kero and Syaoran, in nearly the same moment, realized what Sakura must be going through. In the past six years, or so, Sakura had been active in solving every major problem, magical or otherwise, in their lives. And, since she'd become a Warrior for Peace, the feeling that she had to take care of them all, protect them, had only increased. In her mind, she'd failed to protect her best friend.

"It's okay, Sakura. There was nothing you, or any of us, could have done. We got her out of there as fast as we could, and Kero can help her. He got the Spirit-hooks out didn't he?"

She nodded.

"So, he can fix this too. He'll have Mad back to normal in no time!"

~Great~ Kero thought, ~Thanks, Kid! No pressure~



Boxed:

Madison had not really known what to expect once the lid of the Soul-box closed. Any Tamayo who went in a Soul-Box never came out again; So they were only taught how to make one, not what would happen after.

Despite this, Madison kinda thought being shut in the Soul-Box would be like going to sleep. A deep, dreamless, and peaceful sleep.

She was wrong.



To Be Continued ^_^