~blinks~ Well look at that. I got this out on New Year's Eve for New Year's. Gee, am I in the holiday spirit or what? This was a last minute decision so I really had to scramble to get it done in time. Enjoy!
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"...3...2...1...Happy New Year!"
The cardcaptor group clinked glasses in a toast and chugged apple cider. They had decided to have their own celebration for the New Year and once again congregated in Sakura's room.
"Happy New Year, Sakura," said Syaoran softly, giving her a kiss.
"You too," replied Sakura breathlessly.
"Get away from Sakura, gaki!" roared Keroberos as he pounced.
"Kero! Get off Syaoran!" yelled Sakura appalled as she saw him knocked flat.
"Get up stuffed animal," gasped Syaoran.
Kero's response was to sit on his gut.
Syaoran grunted and struggled to toss the golden lion off of him.
"Keroberos." Yue's cold voice cut through the noise. "I would like a word with you." The moon guardian stepped out of the window expecting the sun guardian to follow.
Kero sighed. "I'll finish you later, gaki," he muttered before flying out the window. He stopped in before Yue who had been waiting at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "What is it, Yue?"
"Why do you attack Mistress' chosen? You want her happiness as much as I do."
"Yue, Yue, Yue," said Keroberos shaking his head. "We've been like this since we met. I have to keep up the appearance, ne?"
Yue sweatdropped and rolled his eyes. "You always were the immature one," he murmured.
"You always were too stiff for your own good," returned Kero before he headed back to the party.
Yue followed after a moment. He raised his eyebrows at the scene before him.
Eriol was weaving back and forth as he walked toward a lamp.
"For the love of God, Eriol" snapped Sakura, "how do you get drunk from apple cider?!"
"Nonshenshe, Tomoyo," Eriol told the lamp. "I'm as sh...shober a-as, as," he gave a squeaky hiccup, "thish camel rightch here." He patted the desk.
Syaoran grabbed Eriol's drink and sniffed it. "That isn't apple cider," he said, wrinkling his nose.
Nakuru and Spinel sighed.
"Oh dear," said Tomoyo. "Not again. You may be several centuries old, Eriol, but you still have a 16-year-old body."
"And a 6-year-old mind," chimed in Syaoran.
"What are you talking about?" asked Meiling in confusion.
"Alcohol doesn't mix with magic," answered Sakura giving her boyfriend a warning glance.
"Eriol's?"
"Anyone's. It's just Eriol's in particular," Nakuru answered for her since Sakura was a bit busy with Syaoran at the moment.
"So that's what happened!" exclaimed Meiling. "I had just tried some wine for a party we were having at Aunt Yelan's mansion when I set it on fire. To think, all I had to do was sneak a sip of wine or something and my magic would have surfaced just like that." She snapped her fingers.
"Ne Tomoyo," interrupted Syaoran as he and Sakura came up for air. "I almost forgot. We saw the moonlight flash off the lens of your camera that one time on the roof and I took the liberty of destroying the tape."
"NANIIIIIII?!" shrieked Tomoyo, sounding much like Kero had when Sakura had first told him that all of the Clow Cards had blown away.
"Don't lie Syaoran," admonished Sakura.
Tomoyo sighed in relief.
"We completely obliterated it into thousands of tiny, tiny pieces," concluded Sakura cheerfully.
Tomoyo paled. "You didn't," she gasped.
"How did she know?" asked Syaoran looking at Sakura.
Sakura shrugged. "She's very perceptive."
"Nicely done, by the way."
"Really? I thought I was a little slow coming in."
"No, no. You got her to feel the full impact of what we'd done."
"What we said we'd done."
"Quite right."
"That was a good start you had, by the way."
"Why, thank you."
Tomoyo quickly went from white to red. "You two are as bad as Yamazaki and Eriol."
"Speaking of which," cut in Yue quickly, "he's disappeared.
Meiling blinked. "Yamazaki?"
"No, Eriol," said Yue with a scowl.
"Damn," muttered Sakura. "Okay, the alcohol must have reached his center of magic. We can't trace him when he's in that state, so we'll have to use the mundane way."
"Hide-and-seek?" inquired Meiling.
"No scrying."
"That's the mundane way?" asked Meiling doubtfully.
"You'll get used to it," said Tomoyo with a smile. "Things have been a bit different since you went home."
"You think?" she said sarcastically.
"Okay," said Sakura staring at the fire. "Show me what I wish to see: Eriol Hiiragizawa."
Slowly a picture took shape in the flames. "Stone walls, large room. Kuso, why does he have to be floating? I can't see anything else. A table?" Sakura negligently waved a hand and the picture disappeared.
"It has to be either the Great Hall or the dungeon. Those are the two rooms large enough to be the space I felt in the image."
Tomoyo quickly sent the guardians down to search the dungeons while everyone else raced to the Great Hall.
Sakura smirked as she drew her staff. "There he is. Ne, Eriol!"
"Sakura! Behind you!" screamed Meiling.
Sakura spun around and barely managed to flip over the flying fork. She landed with her wand ready as the utensils on the tables began to glow.
"Imagine," she said a bit hysterically, "the looks on otousan's and oniichan's faces when Eriol is forced to tell them that he killed me with a fork. Or even worse, a spoon."
"Daijoubu desu ka?" asked Tomoyo doubtfully.
"Ask me later."
She reached down to her belt and grabbed a Sakura Card.
"Sword!"
Sakura parried the horde of spoons, knives, and forks that shot her way.
"Why doesn't she stop them with magic?" wondered Meiling.
"I think she doesn't want to destroy them. They can repair themselves if it's just scratches or dents, but once their blobs of metal..." Syaoran trailed off and shrugged.
"But why doesn't she freeze them or something?" persisted Meiling.
"To tell you the truth, I think she's having fun."
They watched as Sakura swung the blade like lightening, yelling wildly at intervals.
"Oh," said Meiling quietly.
"Ne, could you get rid of the growing teddy bears up there?" asked Sakura waving vaguely as she vaulted over a particularly nasty serving spoon.
The three looked up and noticed a bunch of bears bouncing on their heads on the ceiling getting larger and larger.
"What is his obsession with bears?" demanded Tomoyo as she began shielding Eriol's magic from Eriol.
"Didn't he do this before at Yukito's house?" questioned Syaoran as he shot fire at the bears.
"Yeah," confirmed Tomoyo. "Done. Oops," she added as Eriol crashed onto the Hufflepuff table.
"The ducksh are pecking my noshe off, Mommy. I like my noshe," Eriol moaned before passing out.
They sweadropped.
"Everything's an adventure with you, isn't it?" commented a cold voice, struggling to hide his amusement.
"Oh hello Severus," Sakura said greeting the figure in the doorway cheerfully. "Come to join the fun?"
Giving the butterknife he had frozen a cursory look he said, "What I can't understand is why you didn't shield yourself."
"Simple. Although nothing can get in to harm me, I can't do anything outside of the shield either. I'd have to take it down at some point since Eriol can be very persistant, drunk or not. By then I'd have knives forks, and spoons clustered around the perimeter of the shield just waiting to get at me."
"Ah. What did you do to him?"
Syaoran grinned. "Tomoyo blocked his magic so that he couldn't use it. Since he was using it to float, he fell once she set up the shield."
Meiling frowned. "We sent the guardians to the dungeon to search for Eriol. Have you seen them?"
"They were there for a moment. From what I gathered they left to find you. I think they were interrupted along the way, though. I heard Akizuki yell something along the lines of, 'Sugar,' and then I think they all began chasing after the black one, Spinel," replied Severus.
"Great," moaned Tomoyo. "Now Suppi's drunk too."
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So how was it? It's not exactly how I wanted it to be, but it's okay as a last minute job. A bit on the short side, too. I just wanted to thank all of my reviewers. I really appreciate all of the comments. Happy New Year everybody and welcome the the year 2003!
~Mystical Magician