Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura belongs to the great CLAMP(and I don't deserve to own any of their masterpieces ...).



Author's Note: Hi! Not many reviews from the last chapter! _ Do you really *hate* this fic or what?! 0(sob-sob!) I didn't update last week 'cause I'm tired, gat tons of tests, and had a writer's block.. You won't really read it anyway... -_-;



Japanese and Chinese Vocabulary:

*Demo, watashi ... = but, I ...

*Sou-ka = an informal way of 'really'.



Chapter 9

The Forest



"Hoe, Tomoyo-chan! Where did you get that?!" Sakura squealed to Tomoyo, who was holding a vase with a beautiful flower in it ...

"Ruby Moon-san gave it to me ..." she answered with a smile.

(FLASHBACK)

"Tomoyo-san~!" Ruby Moon called as she rushed to Tomoyo, holding a vase with a flower in it.

"Here! It's for you!" the cheerful guardian gave the flower to the puzzled Tomoyo.

"Demo, watashi ..."

"Keep a good care of it, okay?! Bye!" Ruby Moon cut her sentence and ran away.

" ... " Tomoyo sweat dropped ...

(END OF FLASHBACK)

"A ... Ahahahaha ..." Sakura forced a laugh while a huge sweat dropped ran down her head.

"But I like it, I'll surely take a great care of it!" she said, looking at the flower with a tender looks.

"But anyway, what flower is this?" Sakura asked when she noticed that the flower was different from the ones she had known.

"I don't know either, maybe it's a special flower that only grows in England?" suggested Tomoyo.

"Sou-ka?" Sakura said with a doubtful look.

'I can feel a strange energy from that flower ...' thought Sakura worriedly.

'But it can't be ...' she later thought.

"Maybe you could ask Eriol-san!" suggested Sakura.

"Un." Tomoyo answered with her innocent smile ...

************************************************************************

"Eriol, I have given the flower!" Ruby Moon said as he entered Eriol's room.

Eriol and Suppi were reading a book.

"Oh?" Eriol looked at the guardian with a wicked smile ...

"Now, WHAT exactly are you going to do with Tomoyo-san, Eriol?!" Ruby Moon asked half demanded.

"Are you going to hurt that kid too?" Suppi asked too.

Eriol smiled mysteriously kind at both puzzled guardians ...

"I won't tell you." he said lightly.

"ERIOOOOOOOL!!" Ruby Moon yelled loudly ...

************************************************************************

"Waii! It's so beautiful, Tomoyo-chan! I've never seen such beautiful flower before!" exclaimed Mei Lin.

"Where did you buy it?!"

Tomoyo told Mei Lin the entire story ...

"Hm .. Maybe it's really a special species!" Mei Lin concluded.

"Could it be poisonous?" Shao Ran wondered innocently .....(-_-;)

"Shao Ran!" Mei Lin shouted at him.

"No, it's okay, I also thought so at first ..." Tomoyo said with an angelic smile.

"Oh, but it's sooooo beautiful! I'm sure nothing's wrong with it!" Mei Lin added.

"Strange." Shao Ran said with a frown as his cousin was commenting cheerfully.

"Huh?" a nearby Sakura responded.

"What do you mean by 'strange', Shao Ran-kun?" Sakura asked curiously.

"I can feel an unnatural aura coming from the strange flower ..." he admitted.

"You too?" she said in reflex.

"Eh? So you sensed the odd aura too?" asked Shao Ran, surprised.

"Un! It almost sensed like ..."

"Clow Cards ..." Shao Ran finished the sentence for her.

************************************************************************

Next morning ...

"AAHHHHHH!" Tomoyo screamed loudly.

"What happened, Tomoyo-chan?!" Sakura, followed by Kero, rushed into Tomoyo's room and found Tomoyo standing, her back to Sakura ...

"Sakura-chan ..." Tomoyo said, her face was pale.

"What happened?! Did a Clow Card attack you?!" Sakura asked in panic.

"The pot broke." Tomoyo pointed innocently at the cracked pot in front of her.

THUD!

Sakura and Kero fell down comically.

"What happened?!"

Both Shao Ran and Mei Lin shouted in unison.

"Well, nothing really happened ... The pot just broke ..." admitted Tomoyo.

" ... " The just arrived people sweat dropped ...

"But this is strange ... How could a plant grow so fast for just a *day*?!" Kero asked half accused.

"I do wonder ..." admitted Tomoyo.

Suddenly, a powerful energy burst from the flower, radiated strongly before the group ...

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZTT!!

"It's a Clow Card!" Sakura shouted, trying to beat the noise ...

"Damn!" Shao Ran cursed and took his now-transformed staff.

"LIGHTNING!!" Shao Ran summoned.

Lightning struck the Clow Card, but it seemed to have no effect.

SWAP!

This time, the Clow Card attacked with some roots and leaves ...

"Watch out!" Shao Ran shouted.

Sakura and the others ducked.

"SHIELD!" Sakura used her card to protect her and the others ...

BWWWWWOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHH!!

The impact created a long, loud noise with some blinding lights.

'Ah! The shield!' Sakura thought as The Shield cracked.

"WHAT CARD IS THIS?!" Sakura shouted frantically in the loud situation.

"The card uses roots and leaves! IT MUST HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE WOOD!" Shao Ran yelled back.

'The Wood?' Sakura thought.

'The card that's has relationship with The Wood ... Ah! I know!'

"YOU MUST BE THE FOREST!!" Sakura shouted at the card.

The card stopped roaring and formed a teen girl with a flower on her forehead. Her left arm was covered with thrones, and the other with roots. She wore a plain brown dress with Indian-like patterns. Her feet bare ... She looked at the group with a disgusted and angry look.

"Why did you do this?" Sakura asked with concern.

The Forest kept silence and showed her a flower ... The flower was almost died, it's so dry and weak ...

"I ... I don't understand ..." Sakura said honestly.

The Forest looked down at the weak flower and stared deeply to Sakura with hatred.

"I think I know, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo suddenly said.

"It was suffering because of humans making pollutions and throw garbage everywhere ..." she continued, looking concern.

"Is that true?" Sakura's eyes were already filled with pure apprehension.

The Forest nodded sadly.

The sadness was exuded by it, letting the others to absorb her pain, her sufferings .

"I ... I can't guarantee that we could help that ... But we will do our best to help you!" Sakura promised, tears filling her eyes.

The Forest looked doubted, but eventually smiled and went near Sakura.

"Thank you ..." it said telepathically with a relieved smile, trusting smile ...

"Ah ..." Sakura smiled.

"Return to your true self, FOREST!" Sakura saw The Forest absorbed into a card that flew to her.

"It's over ..." said Mei Lin.

"Poor card ..." said Tomoyo.

'Forest ...' Sakura thought as she looked at the peace looking girl in the card.

'We'll do our best ...'

************************************************************************

Eriol sat alone in his favorite chair, smiling at particularly nothing ...

'The Forest ...' he thought.

'Seemed like it's getting closer ...' he altered his smile to a mischievous grin...

************************************************************************

Well! Gomenasai, minna, 'cause it's really bad at the end ... I'm so busy lately, and there are barely reviews to enlightened my mind right now ... Again, please rate and review ... -_-; P.S. Next week: Sakura and the others trapped in a mysterious sticky thing?! Eeuh! Yucky! Hint: Spider, spider, go away! n_~

#n_n#(JK-Chan)