"Daydreaming"

Released from the hospital, Sakura was now at home.  Being fully recovered, she wanted to get to work of fixing Kero's Hut as soon as possible.  Li was in the living room, scanning the videocassette for more clues.  He still had found none. 

Approaching the front door, Sakura announced, "Li, I'm leaving for work.  Madison's going to help me fix up the shop."  Li looked up and reached for the black remote control, pushing the pause button.

"Are you sure you feel up to it?"  Li asked, going to her.  Sakura smiled and kissed him on his cheek.

"I'll be fine."  She assured.

"Well, you've still got to tell me what happened to you."  Li told her.

"Well, remember I told you the dream I had of a boy attacking me with a blue trident?"

"Of course."

"That's what happened."  Sakura told him, eager to leave.  She had a lot of work to do.   Li walked to the table in the living room and came back with some pictures.  Flipping through them, he chose one.

"Was this the trident?"  Li asked.

"That's it!"  Sakura told him.  She recognized the designs and the aura she sensed from the picture.  "It was the same trident that was stolen?"

"Apparently."  Li said.  He brought out two more pictures, "Perhaps you've seen these two."  One was a picture of Mark.  Pale skin, blond hair and blue eyes, "He was always a calm character, always knowing what to say.  He was also a hard worker, never letting a task go uncompleted."  The other was Kim.  She had brown hair and hazel eyes.  Her skin was tan and she was very agile.  "She's very flirtatious, always willing to do what ever to have fun.  Speaks very confidently and is always trying to get attention.  Perhaps you saw these two.  I cannot seem to find them."

Sakura shook her head, "I'm sorry."  Li shrugged.  It was worth a try.  "Well, I'll see you later."  Sakura said, smiling.  Li wondered how she could always be so worry free.  But Sakura was very worried.  She had no doubt that boy would go after Natasha.  But she remembered the Dream Card told her Natasha would be safe and Natasha had Kero and the cards to protect her.

Playing with the tape, he decided to watch for footprints by the tree near the sidewalk.  Pausing the tape, he thought he saw something different about that tree, like it was a different color.  He stared at the television's paused image.  Then he knew why it didn't look right.

"That tree's not there!"  Li remembered.  "It was cut down the morning before the robbery.  He gave me the wrong tape.  That's why there's nothing on here!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The morning was a warm, clear, sunny one, over in Readington also.  A week had past without any caught Sakura Cards.  Kero meditated now and again, to attempt listening to their chatter.  He floated inattentively over a brown chair.  Natasha was shuffling through the Sakura Cards, looking at their designs.

"So, what are Clow Cards?"  Natasha asked Kero.  Kero put down the Sakura Book, which he had been concentrating on.  Natasha found it funny that the back cover fascinated him so much.

"Well, the Sakura Cards began as Clow Cards."  Kero said, landing on the chair.  "They were created by a powerful magician, Clow Reed.  He also created the Clow book to contain them and guardians to protect the book."  Kero told her. 

"I got it!"  Sarah announced to Natasha and Kero, dancing into the bedroom.  She was unaware she had interrupted Natasha and Kero.

"Now what have you bought?"  Natasha groaned.  "All week, nothing but clothing materials and measurements you've toyed with.  I think Kero is getting tired of you treating him like a stuffed animal."

Sarah smiled.  Kero pretended not to hear.  "I'm past that."  Sarah assured.  "Now I've got this camcorder….."

"No!  I told you not too."  Natasha interrupted.  "This is so embarrassing."

"It is not."  Sarah laughed.  "I think I remember how to perform most of the functions."  Sarah continued.  Natasha rolled her eyes.  Sarah played with the buttons and brought up the replay feature.  Natasha turned her attention back to Kero's history lesson.

"Guardians?"  Natasha asked.  "If you're one, where's the other?"  Sarah listened while she played with the camcorder.

"That's a good question?"  Kero told her.  "You see, my power comes from the sun and the two cards, Firey and Earthy."

"Those aren't in the book."

"That's correct."  Kero responded.  "Because those are not in our possession, my power is limited.

"Why are the cards Sakura Cards now?" Sarah questioned.

"Yeah, after Clow Reed died, we were to find another master.  Once that happened, Clow's power began to diminish and a new power was to be found.  To keep the cards from dying themselves, they were transformed."

"Kero, who was the master after Clow?"  Natasha asked.  Kero hesitated.  "Were they my mom?"

"You do know how many other Sakura's there are out there?"  Kero said.

"But was the Sakura we're talking about, my mother."  Natasha persisted.  "I mean, I found the book in our basement and even when I feel the cards, it feels like my mom is with me."

"Look at these scenes I recorded."  Natasha invited, seeing Kero didn't want to give a response.  Natasha sighed as she and Kero gathered around the screen.  A blue penguin with a yellow slide and crown, some elephants at the zoo that were spraying each other with water, and a gray walkway with pink flowered trees along side of it.

"Did you see that?!"  Kero shouted, surprising Sarah and Natasha.

"See what?"  Sarah asked.

"There's a Sakura Card!"  Kero told them, pointing at a dot in the trees of the last video.  "It's caught in the leaves."

"I was there Kero and I didn't see anything."  Sarah told him.

"Natasha, do you see it?"  Kero asked, "Right here."  Kero pointed, his paw not making the best pointer.  Natasha shook her head.  Sarah stuck her tongue out at Kero, who looked a bit angry at the action.  "Forget about seeing it, you're a cardcaptor.  You can sense it.  Concentrate."

"I can't sense it."  Natasha told Kero, looking up from the screen and rubbing her eyes.  "I can't sense anything unusual.  I don't even experience déjà vu."  Natasha informed Kero.  Sarah chuckled, finding that funny.

"Well I'm sure it's not that you're dense."  Kero stated.  Natasha dropped her jaw in shock of the comment.  Sarah giggled and bit her tongue to try to stop laughing.  "But you definitely have magic."  Kero told her.  Seeing how both her parents both have magic, Kero thought she should have at least picked up something.  "Though talents may be given, they need to be cultivated.  More practice with this and it should become second nature to you."

"I hope you're right, Kero."  Natasha spoke softly.  "Wait a minute; I never said I'd continue doing this for you."  Natasha spoke up.

"Of course you're going to continue."  Kero told her.  "It was you who brought the book out here in the first place."  Natasha thought about that, not remembering actually bringing the book, she had just assumed she did.

"Well, it's not my fault you didn't have enough power to contain the cards!"  Natasha yelled.

"Are you calling me weak?!"  Kero was angry now, his teeth grinded against each other.

"Don't take everything so personally, Kero."  Sarah spoke up, hoping to end an argument.

The bedroom door opened unexpectedly.  Kero dived under the bed, crashing on his head after he lost his footing.  Sarah and Natasha jumped onto the bed closest to the door. 

"Are you two fighting in here?" Tori asked.  "I heard yelling."  He looked around the room.

"You didn't hear any particular words, did you?"  Sarah asked, sounding guilty.

"No, was it a private thing?"  Tori answered, smiling.

"Maybe."  Sarah said slowly.  Natasha shook her head.  "Could have been."  Sarah corrected.  Natasha shook her head again.  "Unlikely?"  Sarah guessed and Natasha shook her head again, beginning to feel dizzy.  "No."  Sarah said confidently.  Natasha nodded and then fell flat on the bed.  She suddenly felt something, a feeling of knowing a presence.  Rolling off the bed onto the floor, on the opposite side of where Tori stood, Natasha whispered to Kero under the bed, while Sarah continued to talk to Tori.

"Kero, I think I'm sensing a Sakura Card."

"I believe you; I'm sensing it to."  Kero agreed.

"Alright, found what I was looking for."  Natasha exclaimed, jumping onto her feet and interrupting Sarah and Tori.  "We have a playing deck and need to get the loose card….."  Natasha tried hinting at Sarah.  Sarah nodded slowly, not understanding at first.

"You can go now Tori."  Sarah said in a cheery voice, smiling.  Natasha waved bye at Tori.  Tori eyed them suspiciously.  He turned to leave but came face to face with a white pixie with messed up hair.  It had a mischievous grin on its face.  Scattering dust in the room, Tori fell asleep, collapsing on the floor in the doorway.

"It's the Sleep Card!"  Kero alerted, bolting out into the open.

"What's it do?"  Natasha asked instinctively.

"Puts people to sleep."  Kero said with a sarcastic voice.  "A lot of these cards are self explanatory." 

Natasha nodded her head, feeling dumb about asking the question, and took out the star key.  "Key of the stars, With powers burning bright, Reveal the staff, And shine your light! Release!"

The Sleep Card came towards them, releasing sprinkles of dust as it flew. 

"Water Card!  Release and Dispel!"  The Sleep Card dived onto the floor, causing the fast flying Water Card to miss and soak the wall.

"That's going to cause mold."  Sarah stated.  Natasha rolled her eyes.  With the camcorder still in her hand, Sarah began recording the battle.  She zoomed in on where the Sleep Card was hiding, by one of the bed legs.

"This one should work."  Natasha said to herself, "Windy! Release!"  The Windy card flew under the bed and chased out the Sleep Card.  Sleep dust was scattered everywhere.  Sarah's eyelids started drooping.  Unable to focus, she collapsed on the floor, asleep.  Taking one last chance, the Sleep Card rushed at Natasha and Kero.

"Watch out!" Kero yelled.  Natasha used her arms to block.  She felt drowsy and saw Kero lying on the floor as she back fell onto her hands.

Looking up, Natasha saw the Windy Card had the Sleep Card successfully tied up.  "Return to your power confined!  Sleep!"  The blank card absorbed the Sleep spirit, the card landing beside Natasha.  Waking up, Kero yawned, inhaling in a large amount of air.  Sarah pushed herself on her feet.

"Oh drat.  I missed it?"  Sarah assumed.  Natasha nodded.  Tori walked into the room after getting up from the doorway, rubbing his eyes awake.  Natasha held the staff behind her back as she stood up.  Kero shuffled across the floor, unnoticed by Tori.

"What happened in here?!"  Tori shouted, seeing the water soaked walls.  "The management is not going to be happy with us."

"We'll do what ever we can to clean up."  Sarah assured.  Tori examined the wall.

"Well, it looks like the wall didn't absorb the moisture."  Tori told them.  "Looks like you could just get some towels and wipe up the walls and floor."  Natasha and Sarah agreed, nodding their heads.  "What did you two even do to have this happen?"

"Water balloons." Sarah quickly thought of.  Tori eyed her as he slowly left the room.

"You think he bought that?"  Natasha asked.

"Not for a second."  Sarah responded.  "You look too innocent for that."  Sarah chuckled.  Natasha smiled.

"Yeah well, looks like you two have a lot of work to do."  Kero said, walking back to the table with the Sakura Book.

"Wrong Kero."  Sarah told him.  "You're helping too."  She said, tossing him a face towel.  "Start mopping."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Natasha, do you feel that?"  Kevin asked.  Kevin had offered to help her find her focus and sense the Sakura Cards.  Out on the lake of the Tsukimine Shrine, they were practicing on the bridge.  Kevin had raised Natasha's hands into the air and released them to feel the gentle breeze shifts.  It was hard for her to keep her body so loose.  Meditation was never an interest of hers.

"Depends, what am I feeling?"

Kevin sighed.  "You're too tense."

"It's not like it is my fault."  Natasha snapped.  "I didn't want to be cardcaptor.  I didn't even believe in magic before this."

"Well you've been given a gift."  Kevin told her, "A chance to actually know the cards."

"So this is where you headed off to."  Tori's voice sounded from the pathway.  He had begun to walk up to the bridge.

"Oh, hello Tori!"  Natasha greeted.  "Kevin, this is my uncle Tori.  Tori, this is Kevin."  Natasha introduced.

"You've made a new friend here."  Tori assumed.  He thought the kid looked familiar, like some sort of brat he'd seen before.

"Yeah, um……. friend."  Natasha said under her breath.

The winds began to gain speed, swiping the leaves off the branches.  Natasha was blown backward; caught by Kevin.

"Natasha!"  Tori yelled over the gusts.  "You've got to stay with the magic!  Kevin seeks to capture the cards and you must to!"

Natasha stared at him, wondering how he knew this.  The breeze no longer affected her and neither did the flying tree twigs.  She stood upright on the bridge, everything in slow motion, she watched the increasing wind speed hammer at Kevin and Tori.  She felt as if she had become in control of the environment.

"Natasha!  Wake-up!"  Came a voice from outside the environment.  Natasha realized she was in a dream, surrounded by Sakura Cards.

Feeling the shock of being pulled out of a dream, what she saw warped out of proportion. Natasha opened her eyes, coming into reality and jumped up from off the hotel room floor.  She saw the Sleep Card trapped in the Storm Card's spell.  Kevin stood next to Sarah, who was still asleep.  Looking over to her left, Natasha noticed Kero, also still affected by the Sleep Card.  The Windy Card was next to Natasha on the floor and the staff had reverted to the star key, lying up against the edge of where the wall and the floor met, behind Natasha.  Pivoting to the wall, Natasha grabbed the key off the floor and released the staff.  Aiming at the stable tornado in the middle of the room, Natasha called out, "Return to your power confined!  Sleep Card!"  The Tornado lifted itself, pushing the Sleep spirit into the forming card, which floated to Kevin and landed by his feet.  Kero and Sarah slowly rose from their sleep.

"One more, Natasha!"  Kevin pointed at the wall.  A blue, evenly winged butterfly was perched there.  Kero popped up, ready for action.

"It's the Dream card!"  Kero informed.  Sarah raised the camcorder back into position, observing the butterfly.  The butterfly transformed into its visible form as the Dream Card.  Approaching it, Natasha held out the star staff.

"Dream Card!  Return to your power confined!"  Natasha spoke tiredly.  Warping out of shape, the Dream spirit took its shape as a Sakura card, gliding to Natasha's hand.

Tori rose to his feet, using the doorway for support.  Kero dashed under the table, hoping Tori had not noticed his movement.

"What happened in here?!"  Tori yelled, seeing the mess created by the Storm Card.  Things light as papers to as heavy as chairs were out of place.  "And who is he?"  Tori added, referring to Kevin.

"He is Kevin.  You let him in and then you fainted, remember?"  Sarah told Tori.  Tori looked as if he was searching his mind for a missing memory.  Shaking his head, Tori walked off in confusion, trying to sort out events of the day.  Tori also thought of how Kevin resembled a familiar brat from the past.

"Why are you here?"  Natasha asked Kevin.

"The Sleep Card was loose."  Kevin answered.  "By the time I chased it back here, the entire town was put to sleep.  I expected Kero to have more control of these situations."  Kero was fuming.  His face changed its pigment to a bright red.

"I'm the cardcaptor here.  I'm the one who couldn't control the card."  Natasha defended Kero.

Kevin looked down at her.  "Alright then."  He said calmly.  "Try not to let it happen again."  There was a pause between the four.  Sarah stopped the tape and put down the camcorder.  It had been recording the entire conversation. 

"Guess you have a lot of cleaning up to do."  Kero said to them, thinking that sounded familiar to the dream he had.

"Wrong Kero."  Sarah told him.  "You're helping too."  She said, tossing him a miniature doll broom.  "Start sweeping."

Author's notes:  If this chapter didn't make sense, it's because the plot (including the title) was changed many times during the revising.  I had intended on making it a continuation, but there wasn't enough storyline for that.  Then I decided to merge another chapter into this one because the other one didn't have enough storyline to make sense.

About the characters, I realized that since these new characters are only in my story (unless someone has copied me), it can be hard to picture/understand them.  So after each chapter, I'll do a little character profile on the new characters.

Natasha:

Favorite subject: creative writing

Least favorite subject: science

Average grade (on A,B,C,D,F scale): B

Best friend: Sarah

Favorite pastime: being with friends

Least favorite pastime: playing games involving logic (Clue, Chess)

Current missions: Spending vacation at Readington; Capturing the Sakura Cards.

Favorite color: violet

Eye color: emerald

Hair: Brown; reaches her elbow.  Strait but the tips curl outwards.

Most often asked of: her opinion, though it may not be listened to.

Other facts:  Natasha is described as always cheery.  Her life is fairly simple.  It isn't that she goes out of her way to avoid complications, things fall into place that way.  She is also prone to overlook what isn't made obvious.  Natasha is believed to give a fair opinion when asked because she observes things in their simplest form.  Her cheery attitude can however be easily brought down if an environment of negative reactions is created.  Natasha is innocent of any form of magic.  As she said, she doesn't even experience déjà vu.  But she does have magic.   Kero is lead to believe it was suppressed in some way.