Author's Note: Hiye people I'm back didja miss me? .... --;; I know I promise to keep on track on updating buh :( sowwiie. Neways THANK YOU SO MUCHIIIE FOR THE REVIEWS! WEEHOOO!!! I HIT 300!!! XD :: hands out little sakura/syaoran key chains x ::

Response to some reviews

Elm-tree10: hehe I'm glad that u thought it was funny, funnier parts here

Carmela-chan: whoa. I luv ur long reviews hehe makes me feel so luved, teehee

Snow Horse: hehe I'll put more Japanese words so that u can learn more. I'm learning too )

Dunkmoonx: haha, here's a longer chapter. It took a while to write so enjoy

Itsudemo: haha, :D luved ur review, so funny hope u did get through wid ur history hw ;;

SaKuRa-Mina: xD glad u think its 'so freakin cool' hehe makes me feel good that ppl are so enthusiastic about it thanks for ur comment. Gave me a boast of energy

Light-sakura11: hehe plz don't be dead, here's da update :D.. sorry it took so long tho

nuff luv: hehe here's the next chapter

Transcendant Pig: haha, I couldn't resist not adding magic

amethyst angel: phew, I'm glad the flashbacks worked. I was wondering if they were effective, thanks for telling me

dtmindy: . sorry here's da update. .

retard: haha, sure here's ur update

missk: hehe I luv cliffies ) cause they allow me to torture my readers x mwahhahaha xD j/p P

sakurasyaorankawaii: no I'm not copying from two blossoms this is so cruel, (not u) buh other ppl that are copying other pplz stories. Makes me feel sad. Sakura captured the cards before her mother died, that's how she was able to use them to get rid of Jin.

Emerald Snow: plz write your own plot and do not take mine. It really got me pissed when I read your story. I'm hate to say this, but that don't really make u a good author, try creating a story yourself, I'm sure it will be good, it'll make u feel proud of a work you're accomplished and ppl will review for u writing it.

Thanks for all the enthusiastic reviews hehe I luv you all teehee I'm glad that my humor gets to all of u XD. I was scared they weren't gunna be funny. Hope u like this chappie too then, I tried to add as much humor as possible.

Thank you to all the other reviewers too:

Angelheaven272003, lilqtazn35, lilvietdevilgrl, anime-misao, seiko123, Kelly, Elm-tree10, Mae, Hikaru Ayumi, magiabruxa, Dragonstar03, Vi3t BaBiI, Kikakai, AnimeObsessionFantasy, Midnight Crystal, Lilangelwitluv, fleur de cerise, White Fox 612, ????, annelee, kawaiitenshisakura, Carmela-chan, miko no tsuki, Snow Horse, dunkmoonX, Itsudemo, white cherry blossoms, maria, fruitz-kandi, SaKuRa-Mina, shadow, Light-sakura11, kimusume kaoru, White Blossoms, Betty, u noe who, nuff luv, Transcendant Pig, gf, Silver Wolf Gurl, Sakura-jr17, hi, amehtyst angel, aZnBaBi, dtmindy, Kimiko5, Mai-Lynh, The Crazy Fwoggie, retard, Shirley, missk, Sieg1308, Lavenda, Phantom Demon, angelic-behaviour, ruby star sorceress, Sunnflower, KuTiExAzNxAnGeL, jenn, A Midnight Rose, saber-hiwatari, xxaznbabexx, Pika 569, archangle3000, Sakura Lenne Li, Akino Matoumiken, CherryBlossomYingFa, fanfic-sweetie, sakurasyaorankawaii, blood-red-angel, NG, Madam Sorceress

Other side notes: Eh..... -- I also realized that part of my story didn't make sense. Tomoyo had said that it was her fault in chapter one, buh it actually isn't --;; gomen nasai. Juz forget that part. Gomen nasai n as I was reading the chappies I realized that I have horrible grammar. --;;



Underneath it All

Chapter Eight- Morning Adventure I

'mmm... yummy...' .Meiling thought sniffing in the direction of the wonderful aroma. 'It must be...' Meiling thought. 'DIM SUM!!!!' She declared happily. In front of her was a table of all the dim sums you could name.

'Wow! So much yummy yummy dim sum,' she exclaimed clapping her hands together. With sparkling eyes she picked up her chopsticks.

'Wo chi la (I'm going to eat)' Meiling said happily. She stared starry-eyed at the dishes in front of her.

'Hmmm... Which one should I eat first?' she asked herself happily. Spotting a dish of Ha Gow, she reached over to get one when the bowl moved away.

'Huh...?' she said dot eyed. o(..)o Meiling's expression

She reached for them and tried again, but they moved even further.

'Hey!!' she exclaimed. Meiling scrambled over trying to grab hold of the Ha Gows but they kept on moving away from her. The more she moved, the faster the moved away. Frustrated, she went on to attacking the Ngao Yuk Yuan, Chern Fun and Tien Chung Go, but they ran away too. The plates teasingly floated off the table and danced away from Meiling as if being played by a puppeteer. She stared at them shocked, and then her expression changed from one of surprise to one of anger.

'HEY!' she shrieked. 'Come Back! I want to eat you," she exclaimed as she chased after the dancing dishes (AN: hehe XD n u wonder why they're running away from her. ) 'COME BACK!' she cried, waving her chopsticks wildly in the air. As she said this, the light around her dimmed until she could see no more than ½ a foot around her.

'Hey, what's happening?' she said as she squinted her eyes looking for the runaway dim sum dishes. 'Where are they? I can't see, and who the hell turned off the lights dammit?!'

Meiling dropped to her knees pounding the floor lightly and whimpering, 'I want my dim sums... gimme back my dim sums...'

An evil voice cackled around her 'mwhahahahaha say bye bye to your dim sums... forever... kukukukukuku...'

'no...' she said. 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

'GIVE ME BACK MY DIM SUMS!' she screamed standing up punching all around her. Her world started to shake, and light started to show...She screamed and started to swing her arms violently.

"Mei... Mei...." Sakura said patting Meiling on the shoulder.

"What do you think is wrong with her?" Tomoyo asked worriedly as she came to sit on the other side of Meiling.

"A nightmare I guess, but I don't know what could be so bad for her to react like this. She looks like she's in pain." Sakura's eyebrows knit together worried. Meiling's eyes were clenched tight as were her fists. She whimpered in pain as if she was being tortured in burning flames or something.

"Mei-" Sakura started to say again, when Meiling suddenly flailed her arms.

"no...NOOOOOOOOOO!" Meiling suddenly screamed, scaring the girls. "GIVE ME BACK MY DIM SUMS!"

--;;;

Tomoyo and Sakura sweat dropped. They grabbed her shoulders and started to shake her, but Meiling was punching in every direction as Sakura was pulling her up, narrowly missing a blow as Meiling opened her eyes and swung at her. Staggering back Sakura plopped off the bed. "Itai..." she muttered rubbing her poor bum (AN: hehe XD klutz XD)

Meiling blinked and then turned to Sakura and then stared back at the wall in front of her, then she turned to them watery-eyed.

"Hey, what's the matter?" Tomoyo asked.

"He... He... He took away my DIM SUM.." she sniffled as she wiped away the stray tears.

;; Tomoyo and Sakura double sweatdropped.

"There, there," Tomoyo said patting her head.

"It's alright" Sakura added.

"No it's not!" Meiling said pounding her fist on the bed. "Do you know how horrible it is when you have plates of DIM SUM in front of you and then suddenly they are taken away by this... this... this evil force?! And he said I wasn't allowed to have DIM SUM anymore!!"

"Who's 'he'?" Sakura asked.

"He's... he's..." Meiling started. "... I...don't...know..." she finished.

TOMOYO AND SAKURA FALLS OVER

"But whoever that was must be one evil twisted person. I mean like, how can someone deny me of my DIM SUM?!" she asked with a pout, her ruby eyes flaring with irritation. "Men are Cruel, besides Rei of course," she stated. (AN: haha no offense to the guys )

The other two girls watch the display with a major sweat drops. They couldn't believe how gullible their friend was when it came to having DIM SUM, but it was understandable considering that Meiling's world currently revolved around Rei, her fiancé, and Dim Sum. (Refer to chapter 4 when she introduces herself and the story she tells about her fiancé)

"What time is it anyways?" Meiling asked.

"Um... 5:45," Sakura replied glancing over at her alarm clock.

"Well, let's get going. I have some questions about yesterday's conversation." Meiling said

"Uh Huh, me too" Tomoyo said.

"Okay. I'm going to change and then go down to make breakfast first then. Is pancakes-to-go alright?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah," they replied.

"Orange Juice?"

"Yup"

"Okay :D" she said as she bounced out of the room (AN: hehe)

"Eggs, flour, water, sugar, butter...." Sakura muttered as she checked over the ingredients. "Okay, that's about it I think."

After dumping all the ingredients into her super-mixing bowl, she slowly poured some of the mixture into the oil-covered frying pan. As she was flipping the pancakes, she couldn't help but think back to the conversation she had with the Tomoyo and Meiling yesterday.

Sakura smiled at them and nodded. The two looked at her surprised.

"Yeah.... You are. You girl are the two out of the three I've been looking for, the Faeries of Fire and Time."

"Haha, you've gotta be kidding me. Us? Faeries?" Meiling said laughing uneasily.

"No... Really Mei. You and Tomoyo really are the Faeries of Time and Fire."

"Dung yee shya,"she said holding her head. "Whoa, too much info." She said looking up again. "Okay so let me get this straight; you're the Queen of all faeries, the mystical one and I'm one of the faeries, most likely fire, and Tomoyo here is the faerie of time. Am I getting it so far?"

"Yeah, basically." Sakura said nodding.

"Okay, so I can control the element of fire while Tomoyo controls the article of time. How about you? And how do you know that it's us that you're looking for? We don't have anything special. We've just been ordinary girls for the past 16 years... or as far as I know it. Until you reveal this to us, I've never had anything strange happen to me in my entire life."

Tomoyo sat to the side nodding in agreement. "Yeah, the only strange thing that ever happened was when I had to dress up with you like that to conceal your powers, and to help you capture the cards, the only 'exciting' points my life."

"Umm... well... first of all, I can control the universal element of Light and I hold the power of the stars. Second, I know that you guys are the ones destined to hold the powers that you have because I could sense it from your auras and I've seen the marks that each of you possess."

"What mark?" the asked simultaneously.

"Both of you probably have noticed the unique 'birthmarks' that you have, right?"

"Umm... yea, I have one mark, a small one, kinda shaped like an hourglass, to the right of my left waist, but I've never paid that much attention to it though. It really didn't seem that remarkable or anything," Tomoyo said.

"Me too. I have a medium sized one on my back, near the right shoulder. It's shaped like a flame. I can see why that is now. Mine represents the fire and Tomoyo's represents time. Makes sense," Meiling said thoughtfully.

"Yup, exactly; those are the special celestial marks that are given to you by the Holy Ones, aka Seekers. These marks are the main core of your powers. Once you learn to control your powers and grow stronger, your mark will slowly change to become more detailed. It may suddenly morph one day into another shape and be colored. Soon it will turn to kinda look like a tattoo. it's cool. So in a way, the mark that you have now is just like a prototype that hasn't been completely... formatted yet."

"Sugoi (wow)...." Tomoyo muttered.

"We sound like machines though," Meiling said.

"Huh...?"

"When you said that the mark morphs and changes, it's kinda strange, but cool; and you said that they we're kinda like prototypes... that usually used when referring to robots." Meiling stated. "And making us sound like robots is freaky 'cause its like we're an experiment here or something. I don't like being an "experiment"."

--;;

"Gomen gomen, didn't mean to make it sound like that. Excuse my limited imagination," Sakura said, bowing exaggeratingly.

;;

"Er... guys... let's get back on track to what we we're originally talking about, 'kay?" Tomoyo asked sweatdropping. She didn't know why her friends even bother to bring the topic of robots up. Man, they were just plain weird. (An: Hehe, she's one to say x )

"Okay... well... that's really about it..." Sakura said.

"What do you mean 'that's really about it'?!" Meiling shrieked. Sakura looked at her confused.

"......."

"That can't possibly be 'it'! I mean aren't you suppose to tell us why the hell we are suddenly told this now? And who the hell are these Seekers? What are we suppose to be doing? What's the purpose of this? And most importantly how are we suppose to use our powers and maintain control over them without going berserk?!"

"............ --;;; right.... I forgot all about that......" Sakura said laughing slightly rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry."

TOMOYO AND MEILING FALLS OVER

A vein popped on Meiling's for head. 'I can't believe this girl. How can she... 'forget'? –sighs- but I guess that's Sakura for you. She would've told us sooner or later. Geez. This is really weird... but also really cool. I'm a faerie... Faerie of Fire... that sounds good.'

Tomoyo just sat there with a huge sweatdrop.

"I can't believe that I forgot to tell them about the details. I'm such a baka... ;;." she sighed as she looked down at her pancakes.

"HOE?!"

The girls came in to see Sakura with her head bowed looking down at the stove.

"ano... Sakura-chan...?" Tomoyo questioned. "What's the matter?"

Sakura turned to them stiffly, holding the frying pan with both hand. "I..... burned.... the pancakes..." she sweatdropping. She turned to them fully showing them the pan. In it, was... a pile of... things... Oo (an: haha. Newasys he uses both hands because it's those flat pans that are used to make crepes and pancakes. Basically kinda like for flat stuff)

--;;

"Sakura-chan, I thought you we're an excellent cook." Tomoyo mocked teasingly.

"I am!" she huffed. "Except I kinda got a bit sidetracked; I was thinking and forgot all about the pancakes."

"No pancakes-to-go today I guess," Meiling sighed. "And I was looking forward to eating them today too. :("

"Ahh... gomen nasai Meiling-chan." Sakura said taking the pan over to the garbage can to dump away the remnants of what used to be pancake. ;; "I'll make them next time, un-burnt."

"Okii, so what are we going to have for breakfast today then?"

"hmm.... we can always go to the bakery and get some meat buns. We can pack the orange juice to go :D" Tomoyo suggested.

"As expected. Meat buns, your favorite ne?" Sakura laughed.

"Hey, what's wrong with meat buns?" Tomoyo joked sticking her tongue out. :P

"They're too meat bun-ny" Meiling said good-humoredly.

;; ;;

"Okay, I'm done cleaning up. Let's get going to the meat buns or we're not going to have enough time to talk about the 'stuff', as we dubbed it." She said as she grabbed her schoolbag on the way out.

After getting their Meat Buns, they went Penguin Park to enjoy their breakfast.

"Hey did you know that there's a really cool place in the forest behind here. I found out a few days ago, its soooo nice," Sakura exclaimed.

"Really?" Tomoyo asked taking a chomp out of her Meat Bun.

"Uh Huh. There's a lake and around it are Sakura trees. Its soooo pretty and the mood there is so calm and peaceful. That's where I kinda fell asleep and woke up to see Li right In front of my face." o(TT)o

"Let's go there for breakfast then. I wanna see if it's really that pretty, 'cause I never knew that Tomoeda would have a place as nice as you described it." Meiling said.

"Hey. Don't diss Tomoeda" Sakura said good-naturedly. "It's a long walk though."

"We have enough time; it's only about 6:15 and first period doesn't start until 9:00 today." Tomoyo said. ( AN: I wish school really did start at 9 for me ;;)

"Okay, I think it's this way." Sakura said walking into the forest. The air smelled fresh, it was the same as it had been the last time she had walked through here. She loved the way it smelled as all the pure energy rushed through her, it was so comforting. After a while, she came to see the lake ahead.

"We're almost there guys," she said excitedly as they came closer to the lake.

"Wow..." they murmured as the lake came into clear view.

"It is nice here," Meiling said.

"Yeah," Tomoyo agreed. "I never knew that there existed such a nice place here in our tiny town of Tomoeda."

Meiling closed her eyes and took a deep breath taking in the fresh smell of the clean spring water and the warmth of the sun.

"I can almost feel the vibrating warmth of the flowers. The feeling seems so happy, so warm."

"Hehe told you so." Sakura teased. "The warmth that you are feeling is also part of your powers."

"Really?" Meiling said turning to her.

"Yup." Sakura said.

"But they are plants; which are really sensitive to fire. I don't get it."

"I don't either. I don't really know anything about yours or Tomoyo's power." Sakura replied.

"What?! Then how are you going to answer our questions?" Tomoyo asked finishing the last of her meat bun and orange juice.

"Well, I didn't really say that I would be the one that would be answering your questions," Sakura replied as she took a bite off her bun and a sip from the juice.

"Who else is going to if you aren't?" Meiling asked confused.

"My 'master' is," Sakura replied proudly.

"Oo who's your master?" Meiling asked.

"Aya-sama; She's one of the Sage Faerie, possessing a great deal of knowledge and magic, she's also the one that you can go to when you're hurt, kinda like a doctor you know."

"Oooo... is she really old?" Tomoyo asked curiously.

"Yup, she's well over 200 :D" Sakura replied happily.

"OO N-nani?! 200?!" Meiling exclaimed. "How can someone live to be that age?"

"Haha, you forget she's a Faerie, also possessing the power of healing and knowledge. They live to be as old as 500 years old."

"Whoa... I wish I was that kinda of Faerie..." Tomoyo said in awe.

"It's not really that nice to be living for such a long time. As years and years pass by, there will be lots of people that you will lose and each time it engraves a deep hole in your heart. She changes her appearance so that people won't recognize her over a long period of time. She's also been living by herself deep in the Furimori Forest in the past 150 years, so she's kinda lonely now. A Sage Faerie with special powers like her has to keep away from human contact as much as possible in fear of accidentally leaking out info no matter how careful they are. I visit her almost everyday just to make sure that she's alright." Sakura told them sadly.

"Oh... I didn't know being a Sage Faerie meant such a lonely, isolated life." Tomoyo said sadly.

"So, how are we going to get to your master now? And where is this Forest anyway?" Meiling asked.

"Well... I know it's in Japan... but I've never really looked up where in Japan..." Sakura relied scratching the back of her head.

--;;

"So how are we going to find her?!" Meiling exclaimed.

"And we only have about 2½ hours left until school starts," Tomoyo added looking down at her watch.

"We teleport," Sakura grinned happily.

"We tele-WHAT?!" Meiling looked at Sakura as if she had officially gone insane.

"Teleport," Sakura repeated calmly.

"I know what you said," Meiling scowled. "But how the hell are we supposed to do that?"

"Uh... Mei... there's obviously a way considering we're faeries." Tomoyo said.

"Okay..., but Sakura says it as if she's done it a million times before," Meiling added suspiciously.

"I have," Sakura replied.

"OO... well why are you always late to school when you could always teleport in and out and be on time?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yeah, you should take advantage of that considering your sleeping habits," Meiling said grinning.

A vein popped on Sakura's forehead for a second.

"Well, I can, but I don't because it's too risky. I could always teleport here and there, but I don't wanna take the chance of someone seeing me, 'cause then I'd have to go through all the trouble of lectures from the people that do the erasing memory thing. Even worse if I don't notice that someone has seen me, I'd be in deep doodoo if that happens." Sakura explained.

"O... So how do we teleport? What do we have to do?" Meiling asked.

"Nothing special, just remain in a calm composure, then say 'kuuyu'; but you have to concentrate on the specific area or you'll land in a random place, and it could be in another dimension or something, and its not easy getting back as it is to go. So it's gonna be dangerous if you don't have a specific destination. You don't have to know how the place looks like. Like now, just concentrate on going to Furimori Forest in Japan. So keep on thinking: 'Furimori Forest, Japan' since you don't know how it exactly looks like. It's easier to travel if you know how it looks like, 'cause it's a lot faster to locate and takes up less energy."

"Aiya... it sounds so complicated," Meiling whined shaking her head side to side.

"What if we accidentally land in the wrong place?" Tomoyo wondered.

".... it depends..." Sakura started slowly.

The girls gave her "the look".

"... It varies depending on which dimension you land in. There are different ways of getting out and sometimes its just impossible". Sakura continued.

"... And we're teleporting by ourselves today?" Meiling asked nervously.

"Of course not. This is your first time. If I let you do it yourself, you'll probably end up in Africa or something." Sakura exclaimed.

"Phew..." Tomoyo sighed in relief. "But wasn't it dangerous for you the first time?"

"Um... no actually. I got lots of training before my master even let me teleport half a mile away." Sakura said sweatdropping. "She came to get me and I trained for a month before she thought it was safe for me to go popping from one place to another."

"Oh...." they nodded.

"Well let's get going then. It's already 6:45."

"Okay. Hold hands guys." Sakura instructed. "We all have to be linked or one of us will get lost along the way."

As the linked hands Sakura informed them,

"This is group teleport, so we don't have to go the same way as individual teleport."

"Oh...."

"Okay, ready....?" Sakura asked.

"Ready," they replied, all taking a deep breath.

Sakura closed her eyes as she concentrated to sort out the many images of the places she has gone to until she came to the clear view of the Furimori Forest. She could almost hear the sounds of the running creek and the chirping birds; she could smell the scent of the trees and hear the whispers of the leaves, the soft breeze running through her hair...

"...Kuuyu..." she whispered softly as a familiar sensation ran through her body; a gratifying force that seemed to change her to be lighter than air itself. After a few seconds, she felt herself landing on the familiar grounds of the forest.

"We're here..." she said as the girls opened their eyes slowly. Before them were the endless stalls of trees, green and brown all around and a variety of tiny strange tinted plants scattered on them.

"Wow... this place... it's almost... magical..." Meiling said breathed.

"It is," replied Sakura cheerfully twirling around. "This is kinda like Aya-sama's 'garden'... a really big garden, she tends it almost everyday. There's a barrier so that those who aren't faeries and don't have permission cannot trespass. It's really nice here; I come here to think sometimes :)"

"Wow...." they whispered in awe again.

"Come on guys. If you don't hurry up, we won't have enough time to ask Aya-sama your questions." Sakura said as she started to walk towards the direction of the faint running water. Meiling and Tomoyo followed silently as they continued to admire their surroundings. This place felt so safe, so rich that even the leaves below them seemed to be glowing with life.

After minutes of walking Sakura chirped happily that they had arrived with a sudden stop, causing the girls to bump into each other. After a bit of mumble jumble, they looked around for a house of some sort, but they saw in front of them was a small running creek.

"We're here?" Tomoyo asked looking.

"I don't see anything Sakura, are you hallucinating or something?" Meiling asked mindlessly as she scanned around the area.

"Of course not and duh you don't see anything. Aya-sama has to be very careful about who comes to her, so she puts up the highest level of security. It's kinda like a requirement for Sage Faeries. You don't know how many bad "people" are out there," she stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"There's another barrier in front of us. This one goes by aura. It's really strange 'cause it could sense your intentions and whether it is good or not. Even though it suppose to only lets faeries in, Aya-sama told me that if there was a real emergency, then it would let that person in, only if their intentions are harmless that is."

"What happens if you don't fit the criteria?" Tomoyo asked.

"You simply get repelled and get pushed out back into the big forest with no memories of coming here whatsoever."

;;

"My brain is starting to fry up," Meiling complained rubbing her temples.

Tomoyo and Sakura laughed at Meiling's expression. "Well, get ready for more," Tomoyo said.

"Yup," Sakura grinned. Turning around she step forward. "Okay, stand back" she told them. Taking a few steps back, they watched as Sakura slowly slid the palm of her hand down the invisible wall, turning to around; Sakura motioned them to go over to her.

"Okay, do the same that I did just before," she instructed. The girls held out their hands hesitantly not knowing what to expect, slowly reaching forward until they felt the invisible barrier. It felt like a gelly-ish, but also like a liquidly substance; sweeping their hands down the smooth surface, they watched in astonishment as a glow came to surround. It seemed like it has accepted their auras.

"We can walk through now," Sakura said taking the first step into the barrier. The girls followed through until they were completely submerged into the material. It was dark inside the barrier; it looked as if they were going to be traveling into another dimension. They saw light up ahead and took bigger steps as they hurriedly raced to the end to feel the warm air hit their bodies once again.

"It was getting cold in there," Tomoyo said shivering.

"Yeah," Meiling agreed rubbing her arms. "It felt as if I was drenched in freezing cold water or something. "

"It gets better once you come back a few more times. Once the barrier recognizes your aura and it won't be as 'cold' to you anymore. You aura will also learn to subconsciously rise and adapt you to the temperature. The first time I was here, I almost got frost bitten. Aya-sama had to boil up me some strong stinky herbal tea before I was all right again, but its better now 'cause I've been here a million times already. It doesn't really affect me anymore." Sakura explained. "Aya-sama's house is just up ahead." She pointed to the house a pretty little down the path. The two felt the strong presence in the atmosphere surround them as the came closer to the house. The powerful aura emitting from it was so intense that the girls shivered slightly in response. Sakura on the other hand was skipping up the dirt path humming happily and stopped in front of the finely carved wooden door.

"Aya-sama?" Sakura knocked and called out.

(A lot of gibber jabber)

After a couple of dropping pans and a string of curses, the pretty little door opened to reveal a young woman around her mid-twenties. She had the most unique purplish color hair and her eyes weren't just regular dull gray color, but rather like a crystalline gray, like a colored diamond.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" the woman cried out as she stepped forward to give the girl a big strong bear hug. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH! You didn't come by for a week and I thought you forgot about me or something ;;"

Tomoyo and Meiling watched amusingly at the scene before then. Poor Sakura-chan was turning a bit red from the lack of oxygen and Aya was currently letting out streams of comical tears.

"...Can't... breathe... Aya....sa...ma...." Sakura wheezed, trying to get as much oxygen into her system as possible.

Aya stopped her hysterical tears and looked down at the red Sakura.

"Oh.... Sorry..." Aya said innocently as she released the poor girl. Sakura took at deep breaths trying to get the oxygen flowing in her system again.

" ;;... You squeezed the living daylights outta me Aya-sama," Sakura said, breathing properly once again.

"Aa... gomen gomen" Aya laughed slightly. She looked at the Tomoyo and Meiling as if she had just noticed them. "Oh... Hiya... you must be Tomoyo and Meiling... Nice to meet you, my name is Aya Setsuna" She said sticking her hand out for a formal handshake. They looked at her in amazement as they shook hands with her, noticing their strange looks she looked back at them curiously.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"It's nothing really, but Sakura never really mentioned how old you really looked, and considering that you are supposedly over 200, we expected you to look around 60 or 70," Meiling replied.

"Yeah," Tomoyo agreed. "You don't look anything over 24. Sakura-chan speaks so highly of you and with so much respect that I guess we just got the wrong impression."

"I'm actually suppose to be 27 actually ;;" she grinned happily. "Oh damn, where are my friggin' manners, please come in, she invited.

Tomoyo and Meiling were a bit surprised by the choice of words that Aya used, but Sakura seemed to be unfazed by it as she followed Aya inside the little house.

"Welcome into my little sanctuary," Aya introduced, sweeping her arm across the little room which appeared to be the dining room/kitchen. Aya gestured them to take a seat as she went over to the counter to prepare some treats for them.

"So would it be Milk or Tea?" Aya asked.

"MILK!" Sakura and Meiling cried out together happily.

"Tea for me please," Tomoyo replied politely.

"Okay, coming right up," she said rummaging through the cupboard for the tea bags.

Sakura and Meiling looked at Tomoyo and then to each other, and then back to her strangely. They stared at her as if she was from another planet or something.

"What?" Tomoyo asked innocently.

"... nutting... --;;" the muttered in response. Noticing their expressions, a tiny vein popped on her forehead.

"I just happen to like tea," she replied answering their thoughts.

"Milk, is better," Meiling argued, Sakura nodding in response.

"NOTHING is better than milk," she added. "... Well besides Coconut Milk... but that's still milk. MILK RULES!"

"--;; uh-huh... I still like tea better," Tomoyo told them. "You're just jealous that I'm more sophisticated than you guys. :P NYAH"

"Yeah right, sophisticated my butt," Sakura laughed. Aya was coming back with the 2 cups of milk and tea and some cookies. Settling the platter down on the table, she took a seat herself.

"Phew... I finally get to sit down. I've been standing the whole time since I woke up." She sighed.

"Oo... what were you doing?" Sakura asked.

"I was baking cookies and trying to make this recipe... but I'm failing miserably," she cried ; ;.

"... That's because you can't cook..." Sakura said sweat dropping.

"I can too!" Aya argued.

"What can you cook then," Sakura asked. Aya started to say something but when Sakura added that it must be edible she shut her mouth to think of something.

"... I can cook..." she started. "COOKIES!"

The girls sweat dropped, "That doesn't count. That's baking, any one can bake cookies." (AN: haha I tried before... its kinda easy, baking is fun, except for when I burn the food. --;;)

--;;

"Okay, so I can't cook," Aya grumbled. "Anyway, let's get back to business. You two are here with Sakura because you need answers right?" (AN: DUH! XP) Seeing nods from the girls confirming her question, she continued. "I know that you know about me, assuming that Sakura told you about me and everything. I want to learn a little about you first, so I can get to know you better."

The girls introduced themselves briefly about their hobbies, likes and dislikes. Meiling shared that she loved dim sum and her fiancé Rei and wishes to marry after college and have 3 kids. She likes to practice her martial arts from time to time and she hates ignorant people. Tomoyo said that she loved video taping her friends and designing clothing, she wants to become a famous designer/producer one day and she hates thunder.

"Interesting..." Aya murmured glancing over at Tomoyo's wristwatch. "What time does school start for you guys again?"

"9:00" they replied.

"We have to continue this later on then,"

"Why?"

"Because you girls are already late for class." She answered calmly.

...Silence...

"CRAP!" they all cried at once.

"How did time fly by so fast?" Meiling panicked, gulping down the last of her milk.

".. Hoe.. I'm going to be late again." Sakura cried scrambling on her book bag.

"This is only the second day of school for us too. " Tomoyo said.

"Come back later after school," Aya said ushering them out. "ASAP. There are important matters that we must discuss. Living arrangements and all, and your power and training." She added.

"Okay," replied waving good-bye as they disappeared though the barrier. They didn't really rake in what Aya had told them, but they didn't care because they we're already 15 minutes late.

The three girls ran frantically from the Park to their school. When it finally came into view, they saw the janitor closing the gates.

"MATTE(wait)!" They yelled sprinting with increased speed.

The old man looked up to see a huge cloud of dust following the three girls. He moved aside for safety because he would surely be knocked down if he had stayed. As the girls ran past him, they left him with their dust. "Kids these days..." He coughed and closed the gates.

The girls ran up the 4 flights of stairs and dashed through the hallway until they reached their classroom and threw open the door.

"SENSEI! Sorry we're late!" Sakura exclaimed trying to catch her breathe, as was the other two. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Notes ( these thingies)

Dim sum- these are dishes that you can get if u go to a Chinese restaurant during tea-drinking time.

Ha Gow Ngao Yuk Yuan, Chern Fun and Tien Chung Go- these are some types of dishes. Part of the Dim Sum.

Kukukukukukuku- an evil laugh in Japanese

Dung yee shya- this is mandarin, but that's definitely not how u spell it. Anyone wanna help me out here?

Furimori Forest- it's a made up forest. I came up with it while listening to Inuyasha music x

Kuuyu- it basically means transport. I dunno which type but this one looks the best so... ta-da XD

AN: YESH! DONE FOR THIS CHAPPIE! Mwahahhahaha.... -- I finally updated. I'm squeezing fanfiction into my schedule as much as possible. Finally updating. --

- What do you think is gonna happen? XD

Questions, comments, and feedback are always welcomed x

VOTE PLEASE ON WHICH PAIRING U WISH TO READ ON THE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS BY SELECTING 1 2 3 or 4

-SakuraSyaoran

-TomoyoEriol

-Meiling other character

-Don't Care

Arigato Gozaimasu

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