I've been a big jerk for not updating for so long. Sorry about that, I had finals so I had good reason. But now I don't so I'll continue. Anyways please Enjoy. Read and Review!

Disclaimer: .............................Don't own CCS. Nothing, Don't sue me. *grumble* stupid disclaimer....

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Chapter 10: Trial. Part I

A cloaked figure ran the rooftops of the night, faster then the human eye could see, rain had begun to fall and she needed to be there in time. If she were late she would have to have another lecture on a particular subject again. She hated lectures. That's why she was making it a point to manipulate time. He would give her a blistering one for that too, but at the moment she didn't care. She was weaker then him, at the moment at least, but it wasn't fair that he got to meet her first. He was one, she was the other. She was supposed to be stronger then him, but at the moment she wasn't, and that infuriated her. At the speed not achieved by human standards she blurred through the city roof tops, looking, or sensing for her. She was somewhere close by. That aura, that aura of bright power, the sheer power of it fascinated her, but most of all it intrigued her....the sheer pinkness of it. She had to witness it for herself. Could this be the future Mistress of the Miracle cards? Hopefully so, it nearly drove her crazy to see the last one kill herself. Pity. She thought. she would have made a promising Mistress if she weren't so weak hearted.

She ran fast and then she heard, and smelled signs of a battle, although she couldn't see them. She picked up her speed, her dark black hair splaying out behind her. Then she heard taunting.

'What's wrong? Can't keep up?' The pain card for sure. That energy signal was a telltale sign of who it was. Then she heard the faint laughter of the Confine. 'Come on, Come on, Try and catch me! ....what's wrong? too slow?'

Finally the figure landed on a building where the would-be mistress of the Miracle cards stood along with the three cards she had unleashed. "Well, well, well...." The figure mumbled, as she shifted to get a better look. "Where is Koryu.....?" She muttered as she glanced about, her silver-eyes met the three pairs of bright purple eyes. One pair belonged to a large panther, the other belonged to a cat slightly smaller and the last one belonged to a small feline. All of these beasts were cats. Right next to them were women....only they looked exactly alike, aside from the fact that they were all of different age.

A little girl stood by the black kitten with purple eyes, her bright pink eyes looked at the battle below with avid attention as she picked up the cat and began to stroke it, her gold Chinese outfit glittered as her dark purple hair waved around her . The one standing next to the slightly larger cat was a teenage version of the little girl, and the last one was what appeared to be the adult version of the two in her prime, her hair was longer and her eyes were bigger, her outfit was form fitting and her right hand was absently stroking the panther, all of them stood silently watching the battle below.

The young woman on the roof top watched them with wide eyes. "Past....Present and Future...? What are they doing here?"

Sakura watched them, the hooded figures fighting with her cards. Her face serious she brought out another card. "Fly!" She sent the card flying she struck it with her sword. The long angel wings had evolved yet again, they were transparent, like ice, they glittered like diamonds as the street lamps hit them, each feather was outlined delicately, as if they were carved by the best jewelers in the world. Sakura took wing, and brought out two other cards "Arrow! Freeze! Firey! Lend me your strength!" Sakura's sword vanished as Arrow's bow replaced it, Sakura drew an arrow and fired. The arrows split repeatedly, mixed with the power of freeze and firey, they either torched the attackers or froze them in their place. The ones frozen were shattered by either Pain's chain attack, or Wraith's sickle. Sakura wasn't satisfied, she had to get to Syaoran as fast as she could, she drew three other cards. "Shot, Watery, Thunder!" From then it was complete madness. The figure on the rooftop still gazed fixedly at the three beings who so avidly watched the battle going on. "This is bad.....Real bad." then, with one last look at the battle, she bounded off the rooftop and vanished in a swirl of diamond like sparkles.

The little girl with pink eyes watched the figure go, it's feline companion still in her arms purring. "What are you looking at, Past?" the voice of her teenage mirror image asked, glancing at the place that Past was staring so intently on. 'The second guardian was just here....' Past muttered, not taking her eyes off the spot. 'see?' With a flick of the little girl's wrist, everything seemed to go into reverse mode, as if someone had pushed the rewind button on a VCR remote control. The sparkles of diamonds swirled in the opposite direction as the cloaked figure appeared and jumped backwards onto the roof and backed up to where she was once sitting, her eyes once again riveted on the three ladies and their cat companions. By this time the eldest of the women standing on the rooftop glanced in their direction. Past snapped her fingers and everything froze, as if someone had pushed pause. 'Stop that Past, Can't you see I'm trying to watch a fight down here?' the woman's bright pick eyes bore into identical ones. 'Hmph, shut up Future, you have every right to be as worried about this as I am.' Past retorted as she glared at one of the hooded figures. With another flick of her wrist she watched as the hooded figure began to regress into it's infancy and then all together disappear, having regressed out of existence. Future opened her mouth to say something. but the teenager interrupted her. 'Hey look, she's still moving....' The teenage version of Past watched in avid fascination as the hooded figure on the opposite rooftop vanished yet again, while everything was still frozen in this time continuum . 'Of course she can still move, have you forgotten? The second guardian, her powers link directly to that of time, and gravity, as well as in nature....being the more powerful of the two guardians she has almost as much power as the Celestial maiden herself." Future said tonelessly, as if she were reciting from a textbook, eyes still fixed on the frozen battle field. 'So if she's all high and mighty, why doesn't she attack us...?" Past wanted to know.

'Because, idiot, her powers are greatly diluted until the next mistress is chosen,' The teenager said in a matter of fact tone.

'I didn't ask you Present.' Past snapped at her teenage double, her pink eyes flashing in annoyance. 'Does it matter? Future would have told you anyway.' Present snuck a glance at Future, 'Although, she has a tendency to sugar-coat everything.....I trait I don't possess.' Present muttered softy.

'I heard that.' Future chuckled wryly as she rolled her bright cherry eyes.

'Aino, go back to that little girl, what is her name again........Fa Ling and stay there until the trial begins, then lead the mistress to us. We want to see this go to another stage, hopefully this would- be mistress won't kill herself like the last one did.' Past ordered the cat in her arms. Aino, the purple eyed cat looked at her mistress and stared hard at her. 'Call me Chi Sao, that's what Fa Ling calls me.....I've grown fond of that name.' Aino told Past as she bounded off the rooftops to get back to Fa Ling as Past had ordered.

Past rolled her eyes. 'Your name is Aino, and not Chi Sao, although it has an cute ring to it.....but that's not the point, if you change your name, Malikel, and Divina might want to change their names too.' Past said as she gave a sideways glance at the two large cats remaining. Both cats gave her a look that said, not hardly, before turning their attention to the still frozen battle field. Present snapped her fingers and everything resumed. Past sighed, she was getting bored, maybe she'd stalk the Second guardian.......she leaped of a roof top and ran through the neighborhood.

Eriol thrust himself back in a chair and watched the moonlight seep through the windows. Something was wrong, he could feel it. he glanced over at Kero, who had stopped eating the chocolate chip Ice cream that Tomoyo had given him, his spoon frozen midway on it's journey to his mouth and he was staring out the window, at the same beam of moonlight. Even Tomoyo sensed something was wrong, Tomoyo, who was busy sketching another "Kawaii" outfit for Sakura in her sketch book, froze, when the quiet room seemed to have dimmed, the silence was almost deafening. "What is it..?" Tomoyo whispered almost inaudibly, although it echoed throughout the room, as if she has screamed. No one Answered. Kero, who had come over to Tomoyo's house because Fugitaka was having some of his friends over, (or rather, his colleagues) to discuss a dig that was about to take place, needed the house to themselves, Kero, who didn't think he could keep quiet long enough without his video games begged Sakura to go to Tomoyo's house where he could play his game, and try to beat the final level in Space Fighters and discuss the Miracle Cards with Eriol . The little yellow creature was now staring at the moon as if he'd never seen it before. "Eriol---" He said after what seemed like an eternity. "I know." the reincarnation of the former most powerful sorcerer in the world said before Kero could even finish his sentence.

"What?" Tomoyo asked, looking from the moon, to kero, then to Eriol and back.

"Look Very carefully at the Moon Tomoyo. What do you see?" Erio replied, eyes still fixed on the Moon.

Tomoyo looked, she frowned then she squinted, then she dropped her sketch book and rubbed her eyes, as if not believing what she saw. "What.....I must be seeing things..." Tomoyo muttered as she took another glance at the Moon. Eriol smiled without humor. "Oh no Love, you're not seeing things, the moon has turned completely blood red, it's not just you."

"Tomoyo." Kero said sharply. Tomoyo turned. "You know Yue's number right? Tell him to come over here."

"But.....what if Yuki answers....?" Tomoyo asked worriedly

"He won't, chances are that Yue is seeing the same thing we are, Yue always had to come out when something wrong was here. That's just him, it's in he nature." Kero replied.

"ok..." Tomoyo went to make the call, she stood at the phone, listening to it ring over and over, finally she hung up.

"No one's answering Kero." Tomoyo said.

"He's Looking for Sakura then. I know it." Kero said as he flew over to the door.

"You're not going anywhere fluff ball." A rumble came from the darkness, as it reached out and grabbed Kero by the wings. Koryu emerged from the shadows. "At least not without me."

"I'm going to" Eriol said as he stepped forward.

"Me too---" Tomoyo started.

"No" all three males said in unison.

"Why not?" Tomoyo said, a little hurt at her boyfriend's passionate will for her to stay behind.

"It's to dangerous out their Tomoyo, I can feel all sorts of energies out there, and not very many of them seem friendly. I don't want you getting hurt...." Eriol said caressing Tomoyo's cheek with his hand. Tomoyo still looked at him with eyes that were partly worried, partly hurt. "I'll make it up to you, I promise." Eriol whispered as he bent to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Kero turned away and Koryu cleared his throat loudly, "If we may leave....?"

"Lead on Guardian." Eriol said, still staring into Tomoyo's eyes. Koryu rolled his own snake-like eyes and walked to the door, "I sure don't hope you start getting gooey eyed during the fight Eriol, It's going to be a dozy." Kero said cheerfully.

"How do you know there'll even be a fight?" Eriol asked wryly.

Koryu chuckled and answered. "Because there always is."

Meiling was going to kill the stupid mirror, it was staring back at her. For a while she'd tired to convince herself that she was still asleep, and that this was all a bad dream. Unfortunately the mirror had other ideas, and an identical image of herself was staring manically at her, her red eyes having turned blood red. Meiling found herself having a conversation with her reflection. Or someone who looked remarkably like her. The only thing that convinced her that she wasn't going crazy was the fact that the image in the mirror actually answered. "Who are you" Demanded Meiling as she glared at her reflection.

'I'm you" the person in the mirror answered gleefully, as if enjoying this.

"No you're not" Meiling insisted, she tried to bore a whole through her reflection's head, with no avail.

"I know what will happen next..." The Meiling-Identical said tauntingly.

"You've said that for the past three hours, either spit it out or leave me alone."

'You really don't have much patience do you?"

"I kind of lost that when my stupid reflection started talking back to me." Meiling muttered under her breath.

'Make sure you kiss you're cousin goodbye for me." The mirror image said to Meiling, making kissy faces at her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Meiling growled, but the person in the mirror decided not to answer her.

"Who are you talking to?" Syaoran's voice startled Meiling, she jumped in the air, and turned around, trying not to look surprised that he was there.

"No one! Absolutely No one" Meiling replied, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Meiling" Syaoran warned, but he couldn't help feeling a little uneasy, "I heard voices."

"Y-you must be hearing things, I didn't hear anyone." Meiling said, a little uneasy herself. Liar, Liar Don't you know it's not nice to lie? Something in her mind taunted. "Stop it! Leave me alone!" Meiling screamed at the voice in her head clutching her scalp as if she were going through a massive headache. "Meiling...?" Syaoran asked, his dark honey eyes stared at her with concern. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Go get some rest, don't you feel tired?" Meiling asked breathing a little hard, changing the subject and praying that he would stay at that subject. No Such luck. "What's going on Meiling? Are you sure you're okay? You haven't been acting yourself lately." The brown eyed young man said staring directly into Terra cotta eyes. "Nothing's going on....what's makes you think something's going on?" Meiling asked, a little frantically. "Lets see.....you won't look a mirrors, or anything with a reflective surface, cover them up with cloth and I hear you talking to the mirror all the time, what's going on?"

The fight went out of Meiling when she saw his worried honey eyes. "I see myself in the mirror...."

Syaoran looked confused "Uhhhhh.....Meiling, that's what you're supposed to see...."

"No! I mean I see me, but it's Not me.....but it is....only...it's not." Meling stammered, confusing herself. "Wait, slow down, I'm listening." Syaoran said soothingly.

Meiling took a deep breath and opened her mouth, to tell him everything. About her nightmares, about her conversations with her evil twin in the mirror, of the flashes of what the future holds, about the fact that she'd seen Sakura nearly die in the near future.....but before she got out a sound, Syaoran doubled over in agony, and a mist of green completely covered him as he collapsed on the floor. Laughter rang inside Meiling head " told you to kiss him goodbye for me, too bad.....Drain has him now..." The mist receded, but Syaoran wasn't there. He was gone. Meiling stood there, frozen.

"Syaoran........?"

Sakura stared at Wraith, as the card hacked viciously at one of the oncoming attackers. "Thunder! Aid Wraith!" Sakura ordered as she floated in the sky, hurling arrows of ice and fire that multiplied as the neared their targets. Why were these things endless...? Damnit I need to get to Syaoran! She stared straight ahead, hoping beyond hope that someone would come.

As if on cue, Yue came flying into the scene, floating in the air, he assessed the situation. He looked around for his mistress to see her staring at the open path and knew she was debating to go, or not to go. But also knowing Sakura's nature, he knew that she would refuse to leave her cards to fend for themselves. "Sakura!" Yue yelled. Sakura's head turned, and her eyes widened from surprise to gratitude. 'Go!' Wraith yelled, in the process of beheading a cloaked attacker. Sakura looked back to Yue, uncertainly read in her lovely green eyes. "Do as she says, Master, we'll be fine here." He said, reassuring her. 'No' Wraith said. she glared over at Yue. 'You..... you go with her. We'll keep them here' she snarled at Yue. 'But I'm warning you guardian,' Wraith continued 'You let anything happen to her, and we' she said motioning to Confine and Pain, who were still vigorously attacking a group the cloaked people. 'will come after you ourselves' Turning to Sakura she bowed. 'Good luck Mistress.'

Watching from the top of one of the buildings, that last two remaining women stood. 'Interesting, very interesting.' Future muttered.

"Interesting? What is interesting? ' Present asked.

"Wraith, she seems to have developed a fondness for this would-be mistress....she never liked the last one...and she was perfectly likeable." Future chuckled.

'That is interesting....interesting indeed...'

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YAY! *claps* I'm done with this chapter!!! Hooray!. okay, it might be a little confusing, because I admit, it wasn't my very best work. I intended it to be a tad longer though.....but I went brain dead...So...yeah...anyways please review. -.-;;