Thank you for being patient with me, I had a bad case of writer's block these past days/weeks. But I finally got out of it after some major brain wracking. Anyways here is the third chapter of my oh-so-wonderful story. HERE WE GO!

oh...and...Disclaimer: I do NOT own CCS, please don't sue me, thanx!

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

Last time: 'I want her dead' Wraith said. as she shifted her frosty gaze back at the card mistress. All at once they lunged at her, their power being too much for Sakura to handle. Sakura fell to her knees, battered, bruised, bleeding, and nearly unconscious in a matter of seconds. She closed her eyes ready to end it all. "SAKURA!" A male voice yelled. Sakura's eyes snapped open, she knew that voice! She forced herself to look at where the call had come from, the man in the gem. Recognition dawned. "Syaoran.....?"

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

Chapter 3: The First Battle

Syaoran stared in dismay as the Sakura took in the repeated blows to her back without seeming to notice the intense pain she was going through. "Syaoran....? Is that really you?" Sakura choked out through happy tears. He had come back! Even if he hadn't come back for her, he did come back, and Sakura was happy to see that he looked healthy. "Syaoran...you're here...I hope you're not a mirage...please don't be a mirage" Sakura begged, ignoring the painful blows that were continuing to assault her. "Sakura! I'm not a mirage! I'm here! Capture those cards or they'll kill you! Please!" Syaoran said, a sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. Sakura's attention snapped back to the task at hand. Sword ready, she summoned her first attack card. "Arrow! Attack Confine!" Sakura commanded as she forced herself to stand up. The Arrow card burst out of it's card with enthusiasm, at the thought of having a fight with a strong opponent. Confine's eyes widened as Arrow drew it's bow and fired toward her. 'Hey!' Confine protested, as she jumped out of the way, centimeters before she was hit 'What did I ever do to you?!' With that Confine threw what looked like crystals at Arrow, as they got closer to it, the sparkling gem-like substance grew to accommodate it's new prisoner. Sakura stared, in obvious shock that Arrow would get captured so quickly, She tried again, this time with four of her strongest cards "Firey, Windy, Earthy, Watery! Release and dispel!" The four cards exploded from their false forms looking very different from the time that they were captured. They looked stronger and even more powerful then they were before. Right now though these cards were the strongest she had. Sakura prayed that their power would be enough to seal even one Miracle Card. Wraith looked on with amusement, 'Well, now this gets interesting!' she cried enthusiastically as she charged at Windy. " Windy! Create a binding chain!" Sakura commanded, pointing to Confine. Windy looked at it's oncoming attacker, blinked twice, then completely ignored her. Wraith glared at Windy in pure rage that anyone would take her lightly. Windy circled Confine and bound her tightly. 'This isn't fair!" the childlike card complained, as she struggled vigorously against Windy. "Let my friends go," Sakura said "Please...I'm the one you want, leave my friends out of this" Sakura begged. Confine watched her intently, no longer trying to fight Windy. 'You would give your life...? But Why?' The little girl asked, thoroughly confused. "They're my friends. They'd do the same for me" Sakura said, tears flowing down her face. The Wraith card stood behind Sakura, glaive raised, and ready to strike. Firey stopped attacking the unknown card just in time to save her mistress from getting cut in two. Swooping down, Firey tackled Wraith out of the way and began to focus her attacks on the fallen card.

Confine's eyes widened, Firey had saved her mistress...without even being ordered to do so. Why? She looked Sakura again. The Card Mistress was no longer paying attention to her, but had her gaze fixed at the Firey, her eyes had gone very wide, very slowly she reached for another card. "Thunder! Aid Firey!" a flash of lightning hit the card in her hand. The Card had vanished, and in it's place was the Thunder beast, Raju. Looking at the his upset mistress, Raju felt pure rage at whomever caused her this pain. Shooting out with a speed only lightning possessed, the thunder beast lodged it's sharp fangs into Wraith's hand. Confine looked at Windy, who was no longer paying attention to her, but was watching her mistress, looking distressed at not being able to comfort her. Confine suddenly understood. 'Ummm....Card Mistress..? I-I'm sorry, I never meant to cause you any pain, I just wanted to fit in with the others' Confine looked down, she had been so lonely, and when Wraith and the others had told her that they would take care of her, only if she helped them kill the Card Mistress, she had jumped at the chance of having friends. Sakura smiled faintly and pointed her sword at the Card. "You won't be alone anymore, Confine, I promise" Sakura said, before she chanted. "Return to the forms that you were once condemned, Miracle Card" Sakura said. Confine, smiled one final fleeting smile at her new mistress and returned to her Card from.

The gem-like prison encasing her friends and the arrow Card vanished. Sakura smiled in relief that her friends were safe and sound. "SAKURA, WATCH OUT!" Syaoran's voice rang out. Sakura turned around to see the Wraith Card coming in fast, Scythe raised and ready to attack. "Raiden Shorai!" Syaoran snarled and a bolt of the purest lightning shot from the sky hitting Wraith and causing it to give a shriek of pain.

Syaoran lunged at Wraith, the Card dodged, only millimeters away from getting it's head hacked off by the raged Wolf. Wraith focused it's attention on the now attacking Syaoran, he was strong, too strong for any normal human,. He had to be taken out first.

Syaoran had never in his life felt this angry. Never in his life had he wanted to kill anything as much as he wanted to kill that Card. "Raiden Shorai!" Syaoran growled, causing another bolt of lightning to come crashing down from the heavens and causing another shriek of pure anguish to emit itself from Wraith's lips. "Syaoran! Stop!" Sakura's voice echoed through his brain. Taking his eyes off the Card he saw his precious Sakura look at him in shock. "Seal it!" Syaoran yelled her as he dodged Wraith's attack. Sakura nodded numbly at him, and raised her sword. "Return to the forms that you were once condemned, Miracle Card!"

'Seems we've underestimated you, Card mistress.' The Warrior smiled. 'Good, then I will have more fun with this.....I'll see you again Card Mistress' she said as she bounded off, leaving the unknown card to fend for herself. 'Traitor...' the unnamed card mumbled quietly. "Don't tell me that you're going to run too." Syaoran mocked, still steaming about the fact that those....those, cards, rough handled Sakura so badly and she still didn't want them to get hurt. Those cards don't deserve to have sweet, innocent, loving, kind-hearted Sakura as their master. 'I trusted Wraith,' the card growled. 'But I didn't know she would be such a weakling'

Sakura growled softly. No one called her cards weak, not even the cards that wanted to kill her. "Well, let's see how 'weak' she really is then, shall we?" Sakura smiled grimly, feeling her supply of magic running at an all time low, she was beginning to feel light-headed, but she shook it off and grabbed her newly captured card. "With the blessings of the Celestial maiden, I, Sakura, you master summon thee from thy chains, Wraith, Come forth!" Sakura collapsed on her knees from the lack of energy. Silently, the Sakura cards moved to her side and returned to their card forms with the unspoken request from their Mistress. Wraith burst out from her card form, her Scythe held and ready, grinning. 'Weak, am I?' Wraith asked, her blue eyes cold. She lunged at the unknown card with her Scythe raised, the unknown card dodged, letting the scythe slam into the ground. 'Without me, you would be nothing, Pain' Wraith snarled, revealing the identity of the card. "Pain?" Sakura echoed, glancing, at the bloodied Eriol and Kero, she realized it could be no other card.

Tomoyo, who had been trying to comfort Fa Ling, traced her friend's gaze. When her eyes settled onto her blood covered boyfriend she began to scream. "ERIOL?!" Tomoyo's eyes were wide and horrified. Her hand clamped over her mouth as her amethyst eyes overflowed with anguished tears. "Sakura, do something!" Tomoyo begged, not taking her eyes away from her boyfriend.

Sakura stared helplessly at her friend. What could she do? She looked around frantically. Thinking hard, she drew out two Sakura cards. "Water!" Water drenched the pain card. 'What was that?' The Pain asked 'I'm not going to melt, if that's what you were going for' Pain smirked. "No" Sakura smiled grimly. " I wanted to see if you cooked to medium rare, or extra crispy." With that she took her second card and called "Thunder!" Bolt after bolt of blue-white light crashed to onto Pain. "Return to the forms you once condemned, Miracle Cards!" as soon as the Pain return to it's card from, Sakura collapsed, completely exhausted. Tomoyo looked nervously from her boyfriend to Her best friend in the entire world, unsure who was more hurt. "Go to him," Syaoran said, gingerly picking up the fallen Card Mistress. Wraith waited anxiously, nervously wringing her hands. 'She's alright?' the Card asked, worry etched into her face. "So you're worried about her, now ?" Syaoran growled softly, still haven't yet forgiven the card's attack on Sakura. 'She came to my defense, she lent me power, even though she didn't have any reason to. She protected my honor, you have no idea how guilty I feel for trying to hurt her' Wraith snapped, looking coldly at Syaoran. 'I don't exactly like you all that much either, the reason I'm here is for her' Wraith added when she saw the look of clear dislike in Syaoran's gaze.

"Are you alright, Fa Ling?" Syaoran asked, worry was evident in his voice. "What happened?" Fa Ling said looking at Eriol, then Tomoyo, her eyes widened when she saw the lion-like animal with wings, "What's that?" she asked pointing to Kero. Syaoran smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. If her curiosity wasn't harmed then she was going to be alright. "I'll explain later" Syaoran said, ruffling her hair. "You better." Fa Ling sighed. Shaking his head he looked at Meiling, who was helping Tomoyo. "Are you alright Meiling?" Syaoran asked. As annoying as she was, Meiling had a good heart, she just tended to get possessive and jealous. Meiling gave him a trembling smile. "I couldn't see anything inside that thing," she said, talking about the gem that had kept her in place "All I saw was the wall of the thing. But I heard you yelling, maybe only people with magic can see through that gem thing....." Meiling offered him another smile that threatened to turn into a sob, before she turned and helped Tomoyo get Eriol on his feet. "G-Good work descendent" Eriol stammered, swaying unsteadily. "What happened to you?" Syaoran asked looking him in the eyes. "It's not like you to get beat up by a card..." Syaoran said. Eriol sighed "That Card, Her name was Pain? She snuck up on Kerberos and me. They wanted to 'dispose of the Card Mistress'" Eriol explained.

"All three of them attacked you?" Syaoran asked.

"No"

"Then, just that one Card?"

Eriol nodded, affirmative. "Be careful descendent, these Cards want to get rid of the Card Mistress, they like being free, they don't want to return to their card forms.....Their greatest desire is to see Sakura's corpse"

"Over my dead body" Syaoran snarled quietly

Eriol sighed. "If we're not careful, that's all that will be left of us."

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

That's it for Chapter three! tee hee, close call right? Hopefully our heroine Sakura will come out on top! Anyway I hope you liked this Chapter. I'm working on two stories, if you liked this story, then please read my other CCS fic 'A Song Twice Over' Please review!