Chapter 8: Falling Apart and Getting Together

Sakura sat in silence in the backseat beside Tomoyo. Tomoyo's mom (A/n: whts her name again? Grrr... this is what I get from reading the manga, but not writing down nething... wait.. Is her name Sonomi?), Sonomi, was looking at the small, bloody, yellow creature that Sakura held so tenderly in her hands. She was too afraid to say anything to either of the girls, and had a feeling that what was happening was way over her head (A/n: understatement, ne?). Finally, she got up the courage to ask what was going on.

'Um, Sakura, Tomoyo... what happened?'

Tomoyo looked up at her mother, and replied weekly, 'I'm not really sure. But Sakura- she's in a state of shock. I hope that she'll be okay...'

Sonomi nodded. 'Alright. But you can always tell me, Tomoyo- you know that. And if you want me to keep it a secret... I will.'

Tomoyo looked up at her mother, suddenly realizing that she could have probably told her the entire time about the magic, but was too afraid to. She looked over to sakura again, and asked quietly, 'Sakura? Can... can I...'

'Yes.' Was the quiet reply. 'I don't want anyone else to get hurt because of me.'

Tomoyo nodded, and turned to her mother. 'Well...'

It took over an hour when they got home for Tomoyo to finish. Mainly because she didn't know quiet everything about what was happening. So she would wait until sakura looked like she was in a good mood, and then ask her.

And so Sonomi, as well as all of the maids and butlers, learnt about the existence of magic. And one fo the maids (A/n: remember the one from the shield episode who thought she was loosing her mind when Tomoyo asked for 3 cups of tea?) Was so relieved, that she made pastries, donuts, cakes, deserts, and dinners that looked and smelt delicious.

Just the scent was enough to revive Kero, and soon he was chatting with everyone, happy not to have to act like a stuffed animal.

They began to throw a mini celebration (A/n: why? I dunno), and everyone was having a good time, except for-

'Sakura... why don't you have some cake? It is really delicious! You should have introduced me to these people sooner... the food is soooo good!' Spotting the look on Sakura's face, he asked quickly, 'Sakura... what's wrong?'

She turned to him, and replied quietly, 'the school secretary... she knew about the magic... and the guy... and-'

'Wow, okay, your school's secretary knew about is? How?'

'I don't know. But when I was called own, she asked me if it had something to do with magic, and I... I don't know anymore, Kero. I just don't know.'

He comforted her, saying, 'that's the best thing about life Sakura. You're not supposed to know. You're just supposed to guess. And you've done some really good guessing in the past, Sakura... you're still alive, right? And all the cards are captured! It doesn't matter anymore, Sakura... You see, the reason I didn't want anyone finding out about magic, was because in Clow Reed's time, if you were a magician, you were either worshiped, put into slavery, or killed. Clow reed was lucky enough to be worshiped, but I saw other magicians killed, and tortured. Sakura, I was worried for you, and scared of change. But now it seems that everyone is more open. After all, so far everyone has treated you just as they had before, right? Come on... it was time the world found out all about you, the new most powerful magician of the age!'

Sakura smiled. She was about to reply, when a voice behind her said, 'That's right Kero... and it will start now... with a jumbo cake!'

Sakura and Kero turned around to see Tomoyo, Sonomi, and (guess?) Her father and brother standing there, along with the maids. 'Sakura...' her brother started, 'even if you are really powerful, you're still a squirt.'

'And even if I am really powerful, I still won't use magic to do what I already do so well.' Sakura retorted, smiling once again.

'And what is that, kaijuu?'

STOMP

'That.' Sakura replied, walking away from him with Tomoyo close on her heels, and Kero on her shoulder, leaving him to hop around, clutching his foot.

Grinning, they began to eat and party, have a karaokee contest, and just hang out and have fun. Half way through the party, the doorbell rang, and Kero, happily shouting to the world about magic, yelled, 'I'LL GET IT!!!!!' and flew off to the door.

When he opened it, Chiharu, Rika and were standing there, looking throughly surprised that a small, yellow stuffed animal who they saw get smashed through a window only 3 hours before floating happily in front of them.

'Um... is Sakura here? We brought her homework for her.' Chiharu asked uneasily.

'Yep!' Kero replied happily, 'you can come in, too, if you want to.' Getting out of the way, and leading the girls inside, Kero yelled out, 'hey! Tomoyo! We got more guests!'

Tomoyo came around the corner, smiling. Seeing who it was, her grin got even bigger. "Hello, Chiharu, Rika! Won't you come in?"

The two girls were staring at Tomoyo for a second, before looking back at Kero. "Um... we just- Saukra... homework..."

"Okay, but I think that we're going to be starting a show soon, with theatrics... of a very special kind, so won't you please stay for a while?"

"Um... well..." Rika stuttered again.

"Come on!" Kero exclaimed, landing on Chiharu's shoulder, and tickling her face with his wings. "They have awesome cake, and pastries, and other REALLY good food... it'll be fun! And besides- you're Sakura's friends! You should at least know about the Cards!"

While both girls giggled at his voice, and his mention of food, Rika stated, "I guess we can come in for a bit... but we have to call our parents..."

A maid walked over to them, took their coats, and showed them the hall phone, while Kero took Sakura's homework from them, and put it by the stairs.

"Kero! Tomoyo! I need some help!" Came a voice from the other room, where mostly everyone was.

"And what would the kaijuu need help with, being soooo powerful?"

STOMP

"Nothing that you could help me with."

Sakura then proceeded out of the room, and was startled by Chiharu and Rika standing there. "Chiharu! Rika! What are you doing here?"

"We came by to drop of your homework, Sakura-" Rika motioned to the large bag by the stairs, at which Sakura groaned "-and we were invited to stay by Tomoyo, and...?"

"Kero!" The guardian called out.

"Oh, well... oh, that's right! Tomoyo, since we're getting this all out in the open, is there anyway to move the videos and you're projection equipment down into the main room? Or are we all going to go upstairs to watch it?"

Tomoyo grinned. "Let's go upstairs. Just let me get all the tapes ready!" Tomoyo sprinted up the stairs, as Sonomi called from the door way,

"Tapes? Um... Sakura..."

Sakura whirled around, and couldn't help but grin. "Well... Tomoyo taped everything, so..."

A grin slowly spread onto Sonomi's face. Then the older women noticed Chiharu and Rika standing by the door, wondering what was going on. "Chiharu! Rika! Please... come and join the party!"

Slowly, everyone got to meet the two new arivals, and they slowly got to hear, piece by piece, all about Sakura's adventures. They were quite surprised by what their friend had been doing all those years ago.

"Okay, everyone!" Tomoyo called down from the balcony, and they all went to see what she wanted. "Would everyone please proceed up to my room, so that we can all see, first, well, second-hand, Sakura's grand adventures?"

Everyone began filing up the stairs, while Sakura sweat-dropped.

Did she HAVE to announce it like that?

Chiharu, Rika, Sakura, Tomoyo, and Kero (who sat on Sakura's lap) sat in the front row of seats in Tomoyo's private viewing booth in her room, while Sonomi, Fujitaka, Touya, and a couple of the maids and butlers sat in the back row, all eating pop corn, candy, cakes, or cookies.

Tomoyo hit the "play" button, and so started everyone's "second-hand, taped experience" of all of Sakura's crazy adventures.

Everyone was pretty much enjoying themselves, until...

"Oi! What's the brat doing there?" Touya asked aloud, as an image of Syaoran came onto the screen. Sakura, blushing, galred back at her brother who was glaring at the screen.

"He's NOT a brat! Syaoran's a magician, and a direct decendant of Clow Reed!"

"And the soon-to-be leader of the Li Clan in Hong Kong." Came a voice from the door way.

Tomoyo paused the tapes, as everyone looked over to see Meilin in the door way, as well as Syaoran's mother, and his sisters.

"We're sorry Miss, but they insisted, and-"

The butler stopped as Sakura stood up, walked over, and bowed respectfully to Syaoran's family.

"Konnichiwa, okaa-san, minna-san."

Syaoran's mother looked down kindly at Sakura. "I see you remember what I asked you to call me. Konnichiwa, Sakura."

With that out of the way, Meilin leaped up and hugged Sakura. "Why didn't you tell us that you were having a party, Sakura, Tomoyo? We had to ask Yue to sense you out. He's down stairs, being looked at by the butlers and maids." Meilin explained when everyone look at her weirdly.

Sakura sweatdropped, and ran out the door. "Yue! We're up here!"

As a man with silver hair, blue eyes, and dressed in a blue and white robe entered the room, and Syaoran's family entered at Tomoyo and Sonomi's invitation, everyone quickly got over their shock, and settled down calmly to watch the rest of the tapes.