Li was reading his 'Guide to the beings of the unknown.', when his phone
rang.
"Hello?"
"Li? Is that you?"
"S-sakura. Is something wrong?"
"No silly! I just wondered if you'd like to come over and taste some
of the cake me and Tomoyo made before Kero eats it all!."
Li smiled with relief. He didn't like the fact that she always made
him worry about her but then its not her fault. Its his.
"Sure I'll be right there."
He was glad she had asked him over as he wanted to discuss with her what his strange feeling had been this morning. He decided to walk through the penguin park as it was a shorter way and it didn't seem to be full of toddlers today. Its not that he didn't like kids but ever since he helped this little girl with her sand castle she's been following him everywhere! And now she's got all her little friends following him too. Sakura thinks its really cute but he secretly finds it annoying. Suddenly, he tripped. He looked down to see a transparent water like substance floating just above the path. Li put his foot just above the surface and let the soul of his shoe touch the surface. It rippled like water and then suddenly rose up so that its surface rested around his ankle. He didn't feel anything, so he decided it was safe to pull his foot out. But as he started to pull the substance reacted against him and started pulling his foot towards the ground, then, as it got to the ground, the gravel turned to mud and his foot sank deeper and deeper until the floor was up to his knee. Then, the substance started to drift away like a kelly fish does in the water and as soon as it left, the gravel went hard again. With Li's foot in it.
"Damn it!" Li muttered.
He checked if anyone was looking around before drawing his sword and taking the time out of his pocket.. He rewound back to wear he stood at the entrance to the park and walked around it.
*
"Li, at last, we were starting tog et worried about you!" said Sakura as she let him in and took his coat.
"I had a bit of a problem on the way." Li replied
"What happened?"
"My foot got caught."
"Hoe? How and where did that happen?"
"Well, there was this really strange substance, like the watery and it dragged my foot in to the pathway like it was made of mud. Then it floated away and the gravel hardened, with my foot in it!"
"What do you think it was?"
"No idea, all I know is it's very troublesome."
"Aaaaawwww, poor Li, such a shame there's no cake left."
"Huh?!"
"Wel........my brother came home and took the last piece....." she said guiltily
"Couldn't you get it off him?"
"I told him it was yours but it seemed to make him take it more.... and I couldn't get it off him. You know i'm 16 now, and I'm still shorter than him!"
Li sighed. Then realized that was the second sigh today. He hoped he wasn't getting old...
"Eriol's giving me another test."
"Another one? Why I always thought you were perfect at this sort of thing now."
He kissed her gently on the forehead.
"Will I be able to help?" he asked
"To prepare yes, but not during the test."
"Oh Sakura, will you try to keep safe?"
"I'll be fine, don't worry!"
"By the way, where is Tomoyo?"
"She went home."
"Did Eriol visit her at all today? Apart from when you were at his mansion?"
"No, why, does he need her?"
"You could say that."
"Well Ill give her a ring and tell her to go over."
"No! No umm, that's ok. H-he must of dealt with it."
"Well, ok, if you're sure?"
"Yeah, it's fine."
Li decided to have hid dinner at Sakura's and then head home, remembering to walk around the park. When he arrived, there was a message on his answer machine.
"You have one message. First message. Sent today at 5:02 pm Beeeppp. Hello Li, its your mother speaking. I just rang to say that Sakura may have a guest before her. I expect that you guessed anyway, but I just wanted to confirm it for you. I love you dear, keep well, and I'll see you soon. Bye."
Li assumed the quest she meant was Eriol's test. Once he heard about
it, he knew his mother would be calling sooner or later. It was nice
to hear from, but Li knew she was never lonely without him. Who could be
lonely with his sisters around?