Chapter 12

"Li? What are you talking about?" Sakura asked.

"Princess, is there not a person in here that wasn't here before? Is there another person who is frozen?" He pointed out. They looked around the room. Kero was frozen as usual but Meilin was also frozen. They all gasped.

"No. Meilin would never do a thing like this to Sakura!" Li yelled to defend her.

"Do you really think she wouldn't, Li?" The older Li said.

"No! I believe that there is another answer to this. She can't do this. She wouldn't!" He exclaimed.

Sakura covered her ears and closed her eyes trying to block out the conversation and to just focus on her thoughts. She looked around, it seemed that Tomoyo was getting into the argument as well. She tried to focus on Meilin's mind. If she really were after her, the motive would be there sitting in her mind. She traveled through bunches and piles of thoughts until she found what she was looking for. Meilin had been plotting against her. For sometime now. The reason she was targeting her was because....

"You've got to understand that she is in danger! What if it is her huh?! She's the princess! We can't let anything happen to her!!"

"We know that, but that doesn't mean that Meilin is the culprit!" Li said.

"Yeah! She's our friend! She wouldn't do such a thing, no matter what you say!"

"No..." Sakura whispered sadly. Everyone looked at her. "He's right."

"Sakura what are you saying?!" Li asked.

"Yes Sakura. Please explain." Tomoyo said.

"I... I read her mind..." Sakura said while tears were welling up in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" The younger Li asked. The older Li busted into light particles again and entered Sakura's body. Meilin and Kero were unfrozen in time to see Sakura crying and then jumping out the window and flying away.

"Hey! Kid!! Sakura!!!" Kero went after her. Kero turned into his real form to catch up with her faster. He caught up to her and circled around to stop her from running. "Sakura, what's wrong?" Sakura wasn't looking at him. Her head was looking down and she was sniffing like she was crying. A single tear landed on her leg. "Sakura? Why are you crying?" He said getting closer to her. He was trying to comfort her but she wouldn't answer. Finally after she stopped sniffing for a while and it looked like she stopped crying, she spoke.

"Kero. I appreciate what you're trying to do but I'm fine now. Don't worry about me. I just need to go see Eriol."

"Why? Do you think I'm going to leave you alone right now? I'm not leaving your side." Kero said.

"Well then, I'm sorry Cerberus." Kero looked confused. Sakura lifted her hand out to Kero and knocked him out. She caught him before he fell and set him down on a nearby roof. "I'm sorry I had to do that." She said before she flew off, dashing into setting sun.

"Eriol? Eriol?" Sakura whispered. She was looking around the warehouse they agreed to meet at. (A/N she called him on her cell phone to tell him she was coming.) It was pretty dark in the warehouse so she used the light card to brighten it up. "Eriol?"

"Sakura. It is late, why did you need to see me?" Eriol asked her from behind. She turned around and he saw her face. "Sakura? What is wrong? Have you been crying?" He asked feeling her cheek.

"That doesn't matter. I'm fine. But I do have a couple of questions."

"Okay."

"Eriol. You love Ms. Mizuki don't you?" Eriol didn't see where Sakura was going with the question but he answered.

"Yes. I love her very much."

"If you loved her and someone had threatened you to break up or else one of you would get hurt, and the other couldn't know, what would you do?" She asked.

Eriol thought about it. "I would follow my heart. If I left her alone with no explanation, then we would both be hurt."

"But either way, someone is going to get hurt!" She yelled.

"...Yes... That may very well be true but at least I would still be happy that I was still with her." Sakura's eyes widened as if he made her realize something. "I can't tell you what to do, you have to figure it out yourself. Just listen to your heart. You'll know what to do." Eriol said.

"Yes.... I suppose you're right." Sakura said. She hugged Eriol, ran out the warehouse and took off into the air to go back home.

Sakura arrived back at Tomoyo's house and quietly crawled through the window. On the floor of Tomoyo's room was Li, Kero, Meilin, and Tomoyo herself. She wondered why they would all be there, lying on the ground. It had to be around 3:00 a.m. and they looked so peacefully asleep. She didn't want to wake them up so she used the float card to float onto the bed and soon she fell asleep.

"Sakura? Sakura?" Li was shaking Sakura to wake her up. He succeeded. "Sakura get up! We'll be late for school!" He said. She screamed and threw on her school clothes that she had brought with her and ran out the door. Li and Meilin were following her. She ran faster and faster. Unfortunately she forgot her skates. She would have been there faster if she had brought them.

"Li!!! Why didn't you wake me up sooner?! What happened to Kero?!" She asked panically.

"Well, he was sleeping in the drawer after he saw that you were back."

"Really? I didn't see him in the drawer. In fact all the drawers were closed! He wouldn't be able to breathe!" Sakura stopped and ran the other way. "Go to school and tell the teacher that I wasn't feeling too well!" She yelled as she past them.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Li yelled in response.

"Who cares! Lets get to class before we're late Li!" Meilin said tugging on Li's right arm.

"I care. Tell the teacher I stayed to watch her." He said and ran off after Sakura.

"Humph. Well, if I'm not going and they're not going, what's the point of having school?" Meilin waved her hand through the air and then ran after the two. "Li! Wait up!" Meilin yelled. He didn't stop running even though he heard her pleas, he had to catch up with Sakura at any cost.

"Kero? Kero?!" Sakura yelled. She was looking around Tomoyo's room for Kero. She stopped looking. "He's not in here."

"What do you mean he's not in here?" Li said between breaths. He was panting.

"He's not in here." Sakura said. Meilin popped into the doorway as well and suddenly gusts of wind surrounded them. Sakura screamed and Li ran into the room to help her. Meilin followed and the door slammed shut. Meilin tried to open it.

"It's locked!" She screamed over the sound.

"It was a trap!" Li looked from the door to Sakura. "What are we going to do?!" Li yelled.

Sakura didn't answer she just moved her hands up to her heart and out into a circle that was expanding into a line. A red light burst out of her and the wind stopped. Sakura let her hands fall to her sides.

"Sakura? What was that?"

Sakura looked at him. "You already know the answer." The older Li appeared in front of her. Li's eyes widened.

"Don't be so shocked, Li. I am her guardian after all." He said. Li looked behind him to see that Meilin wasn't frozen this time. She looked as if she was struck with fear.

"Y-y-y-you!" She exclaimed. The older Li looked at her. "You're... It can't be! No!!!!" She yelled holding her head and falling to the ground.

"Yes, Meilin. Even in the future, I am protecting her. I'll never let you win!" he said.

"No, it's not true! Its not!!!" Meilin cried to the floor. A black light formed around her. It pulled her up from the ground and she was floating in mid air. She unfolded from her current position and stood on the air. The light swirled around her and brought forth her real appearance. It was her older self. She had on a red and gold Chinese dress that touched the ground and had long slits up the sides. She also had red high heels on. Her hair was longer. Her hair was up in a bun and chopsticks. Her hair still had some coming out of the bun and that part reached down to her thighs. When her hair was unraveled it had to be at least touching the ground if not sweeping it. For the first time in Sakura's life, she saw that Meilin had make-up on. It looked really good on her too. Her lip-gloss was a very shiny, metallic pink. She looked great. The younger Li barely recognized her.

"Meilin?" He asked. He was squinting to see if it was her.

"They call me Meiaku now. I am the evil witch out to destroy that bitch over there!" Meilin pointed to Sakura.

"What did she ever do to you?!" the younger Li asked.

"Well, she read my mind. Why don't you ask her what my motive is?"

Sakura froze behind the future Li's back. She was hanging onto him and more than a flicker of fear was in her eyes. She wanted to speak but no word would come out.

"Sakura?" The younger one asked her.

"She.... She loves you and hates me for going out with you. For you loving me." She said. After she said that, it all just started pouring out of her and she couldn't stop it. "She wanted me to break up with you but I couldn't do it. I love you too much, so she is coming after me to get rid of me for good. That way she could steal you and never have to worry about a thing. She knew that it wouldn't work though. She would have to become me if she wanted to have you and so she was going to kill me and take my place!" She yelled. After saying all that in a hurry, she took a deep breath.

Li looked back at Meilin. "What?!"

"Yes Li, it is all true. And even now! I still plan to go with this brilliant idea. I will just have to erase your mind as well, and I do not have a problem with that."

TO BE CONTINUED