Chapter 4- Grief Falling to the Waves
Syaoran woke up sweating. He sat up in his bed gasping for breath. Sakura! He thought as he quickly slipped on his clothes and running outside.
*~*~*~*
Sakura sat straight up in bed. Making sure everyone was asleep she tiptoed outside. She then ran through the woods onto the nearby cliff overhang. She sat at the very edge, unafraid of falling. She stared down. The crashing waves proved too much for her, and she stood up. She stared deeply into the starry sky. It was a clear night without any clouds, and she could see all of the stars perfectly.
* * * * *
"You know that we're just friends, right Sakura." Syaoran told her in a taunting voice.
"Hoe? Oh. Of course." She replied trying to sound casual. "Just friends." But her heart sank in dismay.
Wake Up Sakura! Syaoran screamed out in his mind. What the hell am I saying? Why am I doing this? Am I protecting her? From what? Syaoran asked himself. From me. I need to do this to make sure that she survives. Everyone near me is dying. Father, now Chensen, Meilin is getting married. I need to protect Sakura. I have to. She's too precious. I can't have her fall away. She can be content with Kent-kun or Kale-kun. Both of them turned away.
* * * * *
"Wait, that never happened." Syaoran said to himself. "How did we just communicate in a dream? Where did it come from? No wonder Sakura-chan's so sad. I have to talk to her." But as he started to rise up, he stopped himself. "But do I want to? Should I leave it the way it is? It is true, isn't it?" he crouched in the shadows of the trees behind Sakura.
Sakura's eyes silently shed tears as Syaoran watched.
"Why? Why can't he just love me? Why does he always push me away? I do love him, and all he ever gives me is suffering. Onii-chan was right, he is just a spoiled brat. But why can't he love me? And why do I love him? What is it about him that makes me hopelessly in love with him?"
The despair and pain he heard in Sakura's voice tore out Syaoran's heart. He fought the urge to run out and hug her. He wanted to run out and hold her tight in her arms. He wanted to say that it was alright. He wanted for her to know that he loved her too. He wanted for all this to have never happened. Why did he have to have this happen? He wanted to.
He stepped back in agony. CRACK! He snapped a branch. He held his breath silently as Sakura whirled around. If she saw him, it would all be over.
"Hoe! Hello? Anyone there?" Sakura peered closely at where Syaoran was hiding. He got a closer glance at her. She was so beautiful. Her clear emerald eyes and almond hair matched perfectly with her perfect figure.
Sakura sighed and turned away. Suddenly Syaoran felt something twinge near him. A dark force! He thought. Does Sakura feel it? Obviously she hadn't because she gazed peacefully over the water.
Without warning, a sudden quiver in the air made both Sakura and Syaoran jump. Sakura lost her footing and as Syaoran jumped out, her eyes met his. She screamed once as she fell.
"NO!" Syaoran yelled as she disappeared from his view over the cliff. As he looked over the edge, he heard a loud splash in the water. Why didn't she save herself? He wondered.
He quickly ran down to the beach. How could he have lost her without ever telling her his true feelings for her? Now she would never know. "Sakura!!!!" He screamed desperately.
What am I going to tell everyone? And what had that thing been? He scanned the water frantically for Sakura. Quickly he stripped off his shirt and dove into the water without a second's hesitation.
He resurfaced after a few minutes. Taking a deep breath, he dove in again. As he resurfaced, he spotted a head bobbing above the water. Immediately, he swam towards it with his powerful front crawl strokes. As he go closer, he could tell that it wasn't Sakura. She would never have been able to survive the fall. The girl had wavy vermilion hair and soft sky blue eyes. She shrank away from Syaoran as he got closer.
"Stay back Human! I know how to defend myself from the likes of you!" She threatened, but in a soft and frightened voice.
"I need help! Who are you?" Syaoran asked puzzled.
"Help? I'm a mermaid." She suddenly flipped around and disappeared under the water. Syaoran treaded water, looking around for her again.
"Hey, I do really need some help, Please? Can you help me?" Syaoran begged. The mermaid reappeared laughing. She splashed Syaoran playfully with her tail.
"I'm Rashila. You seem like a nice enough Human. What do you need?"
"My umm. My friend just fell into the water from the cliff, have you seen her? I can't find her." Syaoran swallowed the lump that was welling up in his throat. "Can you find her?"
"Oh. That's who fell in. My sisters have her. I'll be right back." Rashila disappeared in a splash of water. Syaoran sighed. Would it work? He waited nervously and impatiently while treading water. Nothing happened for a long time. Syaoran began to think that he had been hallucinating.
As he started back to shore, he heard a loud splash. He flipped around. Seeing nothing, he was veering towards shore again when he heard Rashila's soft voice.
"Hey, wait!" Rashila had returned with two other mermaids. They both had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Their long lashes fluttered as they flashed them at Syaoran. "These are my sisters." Rashila announced.
"Sakura?" Syaoran asked worriedly.
"Oh yeah." One of Rashila's sisters said. She blew into a small necklace that was hanging at her neck.
The next moment, two dolphins appeared. They were carrying Sakura's limp body on top of theirs.
"It was not her time to die." The other sister said.
"And her ancestors have helped us out before." Rashila said.
"She's such an angel." Syaoran personally agreed with this statement.
"I'm Nadali. And this is Vivine and Rashila, who you already met before." Nadali said. She was apparently the eldest one.
Syaoran dragged Sakura's body with his back to shore. The mermaids floated along too until they got to a cove. Syaoran lifted Sakura's body onto the shore.
"What do you mean that her ancestors have helped you before?" Syaoran asked inquisitively. He wanted to find out all he could about the mermaids.
"Oh, well." A rustle in the bushes and a call for "Sakura!" made everyone jump. Rashila quickly handed Syaoran a necklace with a tiny conch seashell on it.
"Use it when you want to reach us again." Vivine instructed. Without so much as a wave, the three water sprites disappeared into the water like that! So how did people start looking for Sakura?
*~*~*~*
When Sakura had first left the cabin, she had been mistaken when she thought everyone was asleep. At least two people were awake. Tomoyo had only been pretending to be asleep. She sneaked out quietly after Sakura and she had videotaped everything. She had also noticed Syaoran. When Sakura had suddenly fallen, Tomoyo had raced as fast as she could back to the cabins to wake up Kero. Frantically, she explained in a rush of words to him the dilemma. "Sakura. trouble.fallen off cliff.dark force.need help!"
Kero was gone immediately. Tomoyo woke up Meilin, and together they raced off after Sakura, Syaoran, and Kero. How could Tomoyo miss out on a chance to videotape Sakura in such a dire situation as this? Plus she was totally scared for Sakura.
Unknown to anyone, a pair of gray eyes observed everything. An evil smile curled across her lips as she heard about Sakura. "I didn't think anything big like that would happen, but this makes it all easier." She said softly. "The Sorrow card worked perfectly."
*~*~*~*
"Sakura! Sakura!" Syaoran tried to wake her up anxiously,
"Hoe!" Sakura shook her head trying to clear it. "Am I in heaven already? Why are you here Syaoran-kun? Don't tell me you jumped in after me because I'll kill you here if you did. Why is it so dark? Am I in hell? What happened?"
Syaoran quietly hugged Sakura tightly for a second. Then he turned away to compose himself. "I'm glad you're OK." He said stiffly.
"Yeah, so what happened?" Sakura was confused. Why did he pull away? I knew he didn't like me. I hate myself. He only protects me because I'm the Card Captor Mistress. It's his job.
"Sakura." Syaoran stared into Sakura's eyes. Something wasn't right. Her usually clear emerald eyes were clouded over. "Sakura-chan, are you OK?" Syaoran asked her gently.
"Of course." She replied quickly. Now he thinks that I'm a baby. He doesn't like me. He's only concerned because he doesn't want to be held responsible if anything happens to me.
"Sakura, snap out of it!" Syaoran shouted. Sakura completely ignored him. Why can't he like me? I bet he likes Leisa-chan. Or Meilin-chan. Why am I worried about this anyway? I do like Michael-kun.
Out of ideas, Syaoran did the only thing he knew to do. He slapped Sakura hard across the face. The haze cleared a little.
"Hey!" Sakura said as she registered the slap.
"Sakura, quick! You're being controlled with a card. I can't capture it! You're going to have to. C'mon. I know you can do it. What card is it? Hurry and seal it!"
A mist was slowly seeping back into Sakura's body. As Syaoran tried to stop the mist from going back into Sakura's body, she thought hard. She grabbed her key from her neck. "Umm." What had happened before? Oh yeah. She had been feeling real sorry for herself because of.a dream?
"Hmm.I know!" Swinging out her staff, Sakura yelled out, "Woody, come out and trap this thing."
Woody whirled out of its card and jumped into contact with the mist. It became so thick around the misty figure, that it was trapped inside a whole wooden ball.
The mist stopped trickling into Sakura's body. She was exhausted, but she had to keep her strength up so that Woody wouldn't collapse.
"Where's Hiyoshi?" She screamed out.
"Right here Sakura!" He yelled as he came running in. Eriol was right behind him with Meilin and Tomoyo.
"Spirit of the dark forces, I command you by contract, return to your form, confine!" he yelled. "Sorrow!"
Slowly, Woody let the mist out and it seeped into the card that Hiyoshi had created.
Then she collapsed on the ground, exhausted. Syaoran caught her and lifted her up.
"C'mon, let's go back."
"Thanks Syaoran." Sakura mumbled.
"For what?" he asked confused.
"For believing in me." She said softly. "It helped me a lot."
"Sakura." Syaoran gazed into her peaceful face. She was almost asleep from her fatigue.
"Syaoran-kun, that dream that I had, was it."
"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo yelled. She ran over
Meilin started yelling at Syaoran.
"What were you thinking? If I had lost you, who would I have had? You stupid!" She screamed trying to hug Syaoran.
Then she realized Sakura was there. "Hey, oh. Oh. Ooh, you two are just so kawaii, aren't they Tomoyo-chan?"
"Oh yeah!" She affirmed.
Sakura stared deeply into Syaoran's amber eyes. Of course, they were cold without emotion again.
"Hiyoshi let me see the card." Kero said. He had switched back into his regular form. "Hmm. Sorrow, it's impossible." He whispered softly. It was lost 300, 000 years ago. How could this be here?"
"Kero-chan? Explain?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Well." Kero hesitated not quite sure of himself.
"I deserve to know as the Card Captor Mistress." Sakura demanded.
Eriol nodded to him.
"OK. Back when Clow Reed created the cards, he did originally make two decks of cards. Both were named after him, the Clow and Reed decks. You have the Clow deck. The Reed deck was lost from records about 300, 000 years ago. It is rumored that when the two decks combine together, they'll form a deck that'll be invincible. Clow Reed told me before that he didn't want them together so he split them apart. He never told anyone where he put the other deck though. I thought that he had burnt it or something like that. Even Eriol doesn't remember, which means that it was really secret."
Voices came suddenly. "Sakura-chan, Meilin-chan, Tomoyo-chan, Syaoran-kun! Where are you guys?"
"Talk about it later." Kero said as he disappeared into the woods. The sun was already halfway in the sky when Sakura and her friends returned to the cabins.
After their Senseis gave them a lecture, they went to breakfast. The rest of the day was uneventful; the whole class just went exploring the woods.
* * * * * * * * * *
Sakura had barely fallen asleep again that night when she was woken up by Meilin and Tomoyo.
"C'mon Sakura-chan. It's morning-time.
In the guys' cabin, Michael and Yamazaki were waking up Syaoran.
"What do you want?" Syaoran mumbled as he turned his body face down. Michael glanced at Yamazaki, who nodded. In one swift movement, they dumped a bucket of ice, cold water over Syaoran's head.
Sputtering, Syaoran jumped up. Yamazaki and Michael burst out laughing, Syaoran chased them out of his room.
"Hey we woke you up, didn't we?" Michael yelled defensively.
Camp was fun that day. Everyone spent the day hiking and playing games.
Sakura even found a new type of salamander in the woods. Syaoran, the lonely one watched everybody from a distance away.
Michael was congratulating Sakura. He gave her a warm hug, and she returned it. Syaoran looked away, hurt. Tomoyo noticed Syaoran all lonely. She went up to him.
Sitting down next to him, she stared with him at the happy group.
"You know, she's lonely." Tomoyo finally said.
"Huh?" Syaoran asked feigning confusion.
"You know who I'm talking about. Sakura. She needs someone to take care of her."
"Yeah, well she already has Michael."
"Michael-kun doesn't like her, Li-kun. Don't you know anything? He's totally in love with Naoko-chan. And she likes him too. He only flirts with Sakura-chan because it's his nature to do that. Do you think that she likes him?"
"Well, what about Kent-kun? He flirts with her a lot too." Syaoran said stubbornly. He didn't like admitting to anyone that he liked Sakura. The only one who knew right now was Meilin, and she had practically tortured it out of him.
"Li-kun, don't try to hide your feelings inside. Trust your heart."
Syaoran was silent. Tomoyo walked off satisfied that she had done something good. She told Meilin what she had done, and they spent the rest of the time giggling about how they could get Sakura and Syaoran together.
Sakura drifted further and further away from the group as Syaoran watched, distracted by a pretty butterfly that would lie still, and then as Sakura was about to catch it, it flew off.
Suddenly, Sakura screamed. Syaoran was immediately by her side. Sakura pointed at a snake that was enlarging without every moment.
"Fly!" Sakura shouted. Her wings sprouted out. "C'mon, Syaoran?"
He was already floating above her.
"I didn't know that you could fly." Sakura said surprised.
"One of the little things that I've got hidden up my sleeve." Syaoran said smiling grimly.
"Syaoran-kun, what is it?" Sakura asked him scared.
"I don't know."
Kero flew up. "Sakura, watch out!" Sakura immediately swerved up. The snake narrowly missed biting her. Noticing all her classmates screaming and running, she knew that she had to do something before one of them spotted her flying through the skies with Syaoran and Kero.
"Sleep, release!" Sakura yelled. A sprinkling was all it needed for the entire camp to fall asleep. Meilin and Tomoyo didn't fall asleep though. Tomoyo was busy videotaping her and Syaoran, and Meilin looked ready to fight! No one noticed that Kent and Leisa ad disappeared.
The snake's green, scaly skin was very ugly and its red eyes were almost hypnotizing. Sakura quickly looked away. and crashed straight into a branch. She fell hard. Syaoran couldn't move quickly enough to catch her, and she fell right in front of the snake.
"NO!" Syaoran yelled. Not again.
"Sakura-chan!" Kero yelled. He threw a fireball at the snake. Suddenly, the snake shimmered. It turned into a hospital room.
"Chensen?" Meilin asked confused. She was puzzled.
"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura yelled.
Kero swept in front of Sakura and grabbed her up. She gripped her staff tightly.
"He's only got a few days left." A doctor said. Meilin could see her brother and tears streamed down her face.
"No!" Meilin shouted. She ran straight up to the snake.
"Meilin!" Syaoran shouted.
As he turned towards the snake, its red eyes arched towards him. Syaoran couldn't stop himself from gazing into them. He saw Sakura reflected in them. She was walking away from him with Kent.
"How could you have thought that I would ever love you?" She asked laughing evilly.
He stopped in midair. "NO." he whispered quietly. "Sakura, I do love you. How could you betray me?"
Sakura saw Syaoran in midair with the snake about to strike.
"Time to get over my fear, I guess." She whispered to herself. Gripping her staff tightly, she flew up towards the snake. "Kero, help me. What card is this?"
"Wait! I've got it!" Hiyoshi yelled.
"Spirit of the dark forces, return to the form by contract, I Hiyoshi, command you! Fear!"
The snake disappeared into the card. As it floated down, Sakura shivered. Was what Syaoran saying true? She hoped that it was. And she also hoped that none of this stuff would ever happen.
Especially having to face another snake as big as this one. She hated snakes so much!
Syaoran and Meilin woke up from their trances. "Hey what happened?" They asked simultaneously.
Sakura grinned. "It's a long story." Hiyoshi grinned with her.
"C'mon!"
The happy group headed for the cabins.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Damn!" A pain of angry gray eyes watched the ecstatic group.
"Always next time cous." Leisa jumped. She glared angrily at her cousin.
"Don't you ever do that to me again. We'll just have to do better next time. They've proved themselves more capable than I thought."
"I told you so." Her cousin mocked.
"Leisa glared angrily and strangled her cousin.
So Hiyoshi is handling most of the card capturing, and Syaoran is still unsure about Sakura. I have too many new characters. I need to get rid of some. And then add another girl to like Syaoran, so there's more conflict. OK, side notes to myself. Leisa and Kent's story will get unfolded more as we go along, and maybe some more facts about Syaoran's past will appear. Comments at rowzezqueen@yahoo.com please. R+R ~Ruby
PS- Mermaids will appear again sometime.maybe far off, but they'll appear again. :)
Syaoran woke up sweating. He sat up in his bed gasping for breath. Sakura! He thought as he quickly slipped on his clothes and running outside.
*~*~*~*
Sakura sat straight up in bed. Making sure everyone was asleep she tiptoed outside. She then ran through the woods onto the nearby cliff overhang. She sat at the very edge, unafraid of falling. She stared down. The crashing waves proved too much for her, and she stood up. She stared deeply into the starry sky. It was a clear night without any clouds, and she could see all of the stars perfectly.
* * * * *
"You know that we're just friends, right Sakura." Syaoran told her in a taunting voice.
"Hoe? Oh. Of course." She replied trying to sound casual. "Just friends." But her heart sank in dismay.
Wake Up Sakura! Syaoran screamed out in his mind. What the hell am I saying? Why am I doing this? Am I protecting her? From what? Syaoran asked himself. From me. I need to do this to make sure that she survives. Everyone near me is dying. Father, now Chensen, Meilin is getting married. I need to protect Sakura. I have to. She's too precious. I can't have her fall away. She can be content with Kent-kun or Kale-kun. Both of them turned away.
* * * * *
"Wait, that never happened." Syaoran said to himself. "How did we just communicate in a dream? Where did it come from? No wonder Sakura-chan's so sad. I have to talk to her." But as he started to rise up, he stopped himself. "But do I want to? Should I leave it the way it is? It is true, isn't it?" he crouched in the shadows of the trees behind Sakura.
Sakura's eyes silently shed tears as Syaoran watched.
"Why? Why can't he just love me? Why does he always push me away? I do love him, and all he ever gives me is suffering. Onii-chan was right, he is just a spoiled brat. But why can't he love me? And why do I love him? What is it about him that makes me hopelessly in love with him?"
The despair and pain he heard in Sakura's voice tore out Syaoran's heart. He fought the urge to run out and hug her. He wanted to run out and hold her tight in her arms. He wanted to say that it was alright. He wanted for her to know that he loved her too. He wanted for all this to have never happened. Why did he have to have this happen? He wanted to.
He stepped back in agony. CRACK! He snapped a branch. He held his breath silently as Sakura whirled around. If she saw him, it would all be over.
"Hoe! Hello? Anyone there?" Sakura peered closely at where Syaoran was hiding. He got a closer glance at her. She was so beautiful. Her clear emerald eyes and almond hair matched perfectly with her perfect figure.
Sakura sighed and turned away. Suddenly Syaoran felt something twinge near him. A dark force! He thought. Does Sakura feel it? Obviously she hadn't because she gazed peacefully over the water.
Without warning, a sudden quiver in the air made both Sakura and Syaoran jump. Sakura lost her footing and as Syaoran jumped out, her eyes met his. She screamed once as she fell.
"NO!" Syaoran yelled as she disappeared from his view over the cliff. As he looked over the edge, he heard a loud splash in the water. Why didn't she save herself? He wondered.
He quickly ran down to the beach. How could he have lost her without ever telling her his true feelings for her? Now she would never know. "Sakura!!!!" He screamed desperately.
What am I going to tell everyone? And what had that thing been? He scanned the water frantically for Sakura. Quickly he stripped off his shirt and dove into the water without a second's hesitation.
He resurfaced after a few minutes. Taking a deep breath, he dove in again. As he resurfaced, he spotted a head bobbing above the water. Immediately, he swam towards it with his powerful front crawl strokes. As he go closer, he could tell that it wasn't Sakura. She would never have been able to survive the fall. The girl had wavy vermilion hair and soft sky blue eyes. She shrank away from Syaoran as he got closer.
"Stay back Human! I know how to defend myself from the likes of you!" She threatened, but in a soft and frightened voice.
"I need help! Who are you?" Syaoran asked puzzled.
"Help? I'm a mermaid." She suddenly flipped around and disappeared under the water. Syaoran treaded water, looking around for her again.
"Hey, I do really need some help, Please? Can you help me?" Syaoran begged. The mermaid reappeared laughing. She splashed Syaoran playfully with her tail.
"I'm Rashila. You seem like a nice enough Human. What do you need?"
"My umm. My friend just fell into the water from the cliff, have you seen her? I can't find her." Syaoran swallowed the lump that was welling up in his throat. "Can you find her?"
"Oh. That's who fell in. My sisters have her. I'll be right back." Rashila disappeared in a splash of water. Syaoran sighed. Would it work? He waited nervously and impatiently while treading water. Nothing happened for a long time. Syaoran began to think that he had been hallucinating.
As he started back to shore, he heard a loud splash. He flipped around. Seeing nothing, he was veering towards shore again when he heard Rashila's soft voice.
"Hey, wait!" Rashila had returned with two other mermaids. They both had long blonde hair and blue eyes. Their long lashes fluttered as they flashed them at Syaoran. "These are my sisters." Rashila announced.
"Sakura?" Syaoran asked worriedly.
"Oh yeah." One of Rashila's sisters said. She blew into a small necklace that was hanging at her neck.
The next moment, two dolphins appeared. They were carrying Sakura's limp body on top of theirs.
"It was not her time to die." The other sister said.
"And her ancestors have helped us out before." Rashila said.
"She's such an angel." Syaoran personally agreed with this statement.
"I'm Nadali. And this is Vivine and Rashila, who you already met before." Nadali said. She was apparently the eldest one.
Syaoran dragged Sakura's body with his back to shore. The mermaids floated along too until they got to a cove. Syaoran lifted Sakura's body onto the shore.
"What do you mean that her ancestors have helped you before?" Syaoran asked inquisitively. He wanted to find out all he could about the mermaids.
"Oh, well." A rustle in the bushes and a call for "Sakura!" made everyone jump. Rashila quickly handed Syaoran a necklace with a tiny conch seashell on it.
"Use it when you want to reach us again." Vivine instructed. Without so much as a wave, the three water sprites disappeared into the water like that! So how did people start looking for Sakura?
*~*~*~*
When Sakura had first left the cabin, she had been mistaken when she thought everyone was asleep. At least two people were awake. Tomoyo had only been pretending to be asleep. She sneaked out quietly after Sakura and she had videotaped everything. She had also noticed Syaoran. When Sakura had suddenly fallen, Tomoyo had raced as fast as she could back to the cabins to wake up Kero. Frantically, she explained in a rush of words to him the dilemma. "Sakura. trouble.fallen off cliff.dark force.need help!"
Kero was gone immediately. Tomoyo woke up Meilin, and together they raced off after Sakura, Syaoran, and Kero. How could Tomoyo miss out on a chance to videotape Sakura in such a dire situation as this? Plus she was totally scared for Sakura.
Unknown to anyone, a pair of gray eyes observed everything. An evil smile curled across her lips as she heard about Sakura. "I didn't think anything big like that would happen, but this makes it all easier." She said softly. "The Sorrow card worked perfectly."
*~*~*~*
"Sakura! Sakura!" Syaoran tried to wake her up anxiously,
"Hoe!" Sakura shook her head trying to clear it. "Am I in heaven already? Why are you here Syaoran-kun? Don't tell me you jumped in after me because I'll kill you here if you did. Why is it so dark? Am I in hell? What happened?"
Syaoran quietly hugged Sakura tightly for a second. Then he turned away to compose himself. "I'm glad you're OK." He said stiffly.
"Yeah, so what happened?" Sakura was confused. Why did he pull away? I knew he didn't like me. I hate myself. He only protects me because I'm the Card Captor Mistress. It's his job.
"Sakura." Syaoran stared into Sakura's eyes. Something wasn't right. Her usually clear emerald eyes were clouded over. "Sakura-chan, are you OK?" Syaoran asked her gently.
"Of course." She replied quickly. Now he thinks that I'm a baby. He doesn't like me. He's only concerned because he doesn't want to be held responsible if anything happens to me.
"Sakura, snap out of it!" Syaoran shouted. Sakura completely ignored him. Why can't he like me? I bet he likes Leisa-chan. Or Meilin-chan. Why am I worried about this anyway? I do like Michael-kun.
Out of ideas, Syaoran did the only thing he knew to do. He slapped Sakura hard across the face. The haze cleared a little.
"Hey!" Sakura said as she registered the slap.
"Sakura, quick! You're being controlled with a card. I can't capture it! You're going to have to. C'mon. I know you can do it. What card is it? Hurry and seal it!"
A mist was slowly seeping back into Sakura's body. As Syaoran tried to stop the mist from going back into Sakura's body, she thought hard. She grabbed her key from her neck. "Umm." What had happened before? Oh yeah. She had been feeling real sorry for herself because of.a dream?
"Hmm.I know!" Swinging out her staff, Sakura yelled out, "Woody, come out and trap this thing."
Woody whirled out of its card and jumped into contact with the mist. It became so thick around the misty figure, that it was trapped inside a whole wooden ball.
The mist stopped trickling into Sakura's body. She was exhausted, but she had to keep her strength up so that Woody wouldn't collapse.
"Where's Hiyoshi?" She screamed out.
"Right here Sakura!" He yelled as he came running in. Eriol was right behind him with Meilin and Tomoyo.
"Spirit of the dark forces, I command you by contract, return to your form, confine!" he yelled. "Sorrow!"
Slowly, Woody let the mist out and it seeped into the card that Hiyoshi had created.
Then she collapsed on the ground, exhausted. Syaoran caught her and lifted her up.
"C'mon, let's go back."
"Thanks Syaoran." Sakura mumbled.
"For what?" he asked confused.
"For believing in me." She said softly. "It helped me a lot."
"Sakura." Syaoran gazed into her peaceful face. She was almost asleep from her fatigue.
"Syaoran-kun, that dream that I had, was it."
"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo yelled. She ran over
Meilin started yelling at Syaoran.
"What were you thinking? If I had lost you, who would I have had? You stupid!" She screamed trying to hug Syaoran.
Then she realized Sakura was there. "Hey, oh. Oh. Ooh, you two are just so kawaii, aren't they Tomoyo-chan?"
"Oh yeah!" She affirmed.
Sakura stared deeply into Syaoran's amber eyes. Of course, they were cold without emotion again.
"Hiyoshi let me see the card." Kero said. He had switched back into his regular form. "Hmm. Sorrow, it's impossible." He whispered softly. It was lost 300, 000 years ago. How could this be here?"
"Kero-chan? Explain?" Sakura asked curiously.
"Well." Kero hesitated not quite sure of himself.
"I deserve to know as the Card Captor Mistress." Sakura demanded.
Eriol nodded to him.
"OK. Back when Clow Reed created the cards, he did originally make two decks of cards. Both were named after him, the Clow and Reed decks. You have the Clow deck. The Reed deck was lost from records about 300, 000 years ago. It is rumored that when the two decks combine together, they'll form a deck that'll be invincible. Clow Reed told me before that he didn't want them together so he split them apart. He never told anyone where he put the other deck though. I thought that he had burnt it or something like that. Even Eriol doesn't remember, which means that it was really secret."
Voices came suddenly. "Sakura-chan, Meilin-chan, Tomoyo-chan, Syaoran-kun! Where are you guys?"
"Talk about it later." Kero said as he disappeared into the woods. The sun was already halfway in the sky when Sakura and her friends returned to the cabins.
After their Senseis gave them a lecture, they went to breakfast. The rest of the day was uneventful; the whole class just went exploring the woods.
* * * * * * * * * *
Sakura had barely fallen asleep again that night when she was woken up by Meilin and Tomoyo.
"C'mon Sakura-chan. It's morning-time.
In the guys' cabin, Michael and Yamazaki were waking up Syaoran.
"What do you want?" Syaoran mumbled as he turned his body face down. Michael glanced at Yamazaki, who nodded. In one swift movement, they dumped a bucket of ice, cold water over Syaoran's head.
Sputtering, Syaoran jumped up. Yamazaki and Michael burst out laughing, Syaoran chased them out of his room.
"Hey we woke you up, didn't we?" Michael yelled defensively.
Camp was fun that day. Everyone spent the day hiking and playing games.
Sakura even found a new type of salamander in the woods. Syaoran, the lonely one watched everybody from a distance away.
Michael was congratulating Sakura. He gave her a warm hug, and she returned it. Syaoran looked away, hurt. Tomoyo noticed Syaoran all lonely. She went up to him.
Sitting down next to him, she stared with him at the happy group.
"You know, she's lonely." Tomoyo finally said.
"Huh?" Syaoran asked feigning confusion.
"You know who I'm talking about. Sakura. She needs someone to take care of her."
"Yeah, well she already has Michael."
"Michael-kun doesn't like her, Li-kun. Don't you know anything? He's totally in love with Naoko-chan. And she likes him too. He only flirts with Sakura-chan because it's his nature to do that. Do you think that she likes him?"
"Well, what about Kent-kun? He flirts with her a lot too." Syaoran said stubbornly. He didn't like admitting to anyone that he liked Sakura. The only one who knew right now was Meilin, and she had practically tortured it out of him.
"Li-kun, don't try to hide your feelings inside. Trust your heart."
Syaoran was silent. Tomoyo walked off satisfied that she had done something good. She told Meilin what she had done, and they spent the rest of the time giggling about how they could get Sakura and Syaoran together.
Sakura drifted further and further away from the group as Syaoran watched, distracted by a pretty butterfly that would lie still, and then as Sakura was about to catch it, it flew off.
Suddenly, Sakura screamed. Syaoran was immediately by her side. Sakura pointed at a snake that was enlarging without every moment.
"Fly!" Sakura shouted. Her wings sprouted out. "C'mon, Syaoran?"
He was already floating above her.
"I didn't know that you could fly." Sakura said surprised.
"One of the little things that I've got hidden up my sleeve." Syaoran said smiling grimly.
"Syaoran-kun, what is it?" Sakura asked him scared.
"I don't know."
Kero flew up. "Sakura, watch out!" Sakura immediately swerved up. The snake narrowly missed biting her. Noticing all her classmates screaming and running, she knew that she had to do something before one of them spotted her flying through the skies with Syaoran and Kero.
"Sleep, release!" Sakura yelled. A sprinkling was all it needed for the entire camp to fall asleep. Meilin and Tomoyo didn't fall asleep though. Tomoyo was busy videotaping her and Syaoran, and Meilin looked ready to fight! No one noticed that Kent and Leisa ad disappeared.
The snake's green, scaly skin was very ugly and its red eyes were almost hypnotizing. Sakura quickly looked away. and crashed straight into a branch. She fell hard. Syaoran couldn't move quickly enough to catch her, and she fell right in front of the snake.
"NO!" Syaoran yelled. Not again.
"Sakura-chan!" Kero yelled. He threw a fireball at the snake. Suddenly, the snake shimmered. It turned into a hospital room.
"Chensen?" Meilin asked confused. She was puzzled.
"Syaoran-kun!" Sakura yelled.
Kero swept in front of Sakura and grabbed her up. She gripped her staff tightly.
"He's only got a few days left." A doctor said. Meilin could see her brother and tears streamed down her face.
"No!" Meilin shouted. She ran straight up to the snake.
"Meilin!" Syaoran shouted.
As he turned towards the snake, its red eyes arched towards him. Syaoran couldn't stop himself from gazing into them. He saw Sakura reflected in them. She was walking away from him with Kent.
"How could you have thought that I would ever love you?" She asked laughing evilly.
He stopped in midair. "NO." he whispered quietly. "Sakura, I do love you. How could you betray me?"
Sakura saw Syaoran in midair with the snake about to strike.
"Time to get over my fear, I guess." She whispered to herself. Gripping her staff tightly, she flew up towards the snake. "Kero, help me. What card is this?"
"Wait! I've got it!" Hiyoshi yelled.
"Spirit of the dark forces, return to the form by contract, I Hiyoshi, command you! Fear!"
The snake disappeared into the card. As it floated down, Sakura shivered. Was what Syaoran saying true? She hoped that it was. And she also hoped that none of this stuff would ever happen.
Especially having to face another snake as big as this one. She hated snakes so much!
Syaoran and Meilin woke up from their trances. "Hey what happened?" They asked simultaneously.
Sakura grinned. "It's a long story." Hiyoshi grinned with her.
"C'mon!"
The happy group headed for the cabins.
* * * * * * * * * *
"Damn!" A pain of angry gray eyes watched the ecstatic group.
"Always next time cous." Leisa jumped. She glared angrily at her cousin.
"Don't you ever do that to me again. We'll just have to do better next time. They've proved themselves more capable than I thought."
"I told you so." Her cousin mocked.
"Leisa glared angrily and strangled her cousin.
So Hiyoshi is handling most of the card capturing, and Syaoran is still unsure about Sakura. I have too many new characters. I need to get rid of some. And then add another girl to like Syaoran, so there's more conflict. OK, side notes to myself. Leisa and Kent's story will get unfolded more as we go along, and maybe some more facts about Syaoran's past will appear. Comments at rowzezqueen@yahoo.com please. R+R ~Ruby
PS- Mermaids will appear again sometime.maybe far off, but they'll appear again. :)