2 days later
TK was standing in the hallway of a school waiting outside of his new classroom. He was waiting for the teacher to announce the new students that were joining the class. It was new 'students' because there was another boy, Eli Moon, who was also new. Both boys stood on either side of the classroom door.
It was strange. This boy who was also starting school today had a powerful magical aura, just like that Sakura girl had. 'How many more people am I going to see with an aura like this?' He shifted, feeling faintly uncomfortable. The door opened, and the teacher ushered them both into the class.
"Class, today we have two new students joining us. Would you two like to introduce yourselves?" Eli stepped forward, smiling.
"Hello, I'm Eli Moon. It's nice to meet you." Smiling and stepping forward himself, TK gave a small bow.
"Hi. I'm Takeru Takashi, but you can call me TK. I'm glad to meet you too."
"Everyone, I hope you try to get along with Eli and TK. Eli, you can take a seat next to Rita, and TK, you can sit next to Li. Li, Rita, would you two raise your hands." When the two students raised their hand (Li looking somewhat wary), TK and Eli walked to their seats.
TK gritted his teeth, the boy he would be sitting next to also had a powerful magical aura; nearly as strong as Sakura's. Deciding to ignore the tingling feeling their auras gave him, he plastered a smile on his face.
"Hi Sakura. It's nice to see you again; you too Madison. I guess you were right when you said we would be in the same class. I'm glad. Like I said the other day, it makes it easier when you know someone." He leaned forward to talk quietly to the girl who was sitting in front of Li.
"Hey TK!" Sakura whispered back, turning slightly to face him, but not enough that her teacher would notice. "How's your head?"
"It's fine now; thanks for asking." Next to him, Li turned in his seat to glare at him.
"What happened to it?" Before TK could find the words to reply, Sakura turned around in her seat to answer Li. "He saved me and Madison from a falling tree branch at the park yesterday. The branch hit him on the head before he could move out of the way again." This seemed to upset the boy even more. 'I bet he likes Sakura,' TK thought.
"Nice...Uh...stuffed animal" he said, seeing the stuffed yellow bear with wings lying on her desk. A powerful magic was coming from it. 'This must be the other power I sensed in her house,' he thought. 'Strange that it would be coming from a stuffed animal though.'
Sakura looked down at the toy lying on her desk, and blushed bright red, stuffing it into her backpack.
"He was mine – when I was little. Tory must have put him in my bag to tease me again. Ha Ha." Her laughter sounded a little strained. Just then their teacher began to speak, and TK decided that it would be wise to start paying attention. He didn't want to get into trouble on his first day.
Li glared at the two new boys. He couldn't help but feel suspicious about these two. Every time he looked at them, he felt something strange. The last time he had had this sort of feeling, it had been Julian, who had turned out to be Yue.
The rest of the day passed without anything spectacular happening for TK. He had no real trouble with any of his classes thanks to 'growing up' after his fusion with Angemon. After school, Sakura offered to show him around town. "Sure," TK accepted. "It'll be nice to have someone show me the sights."
"Do you want to come too Li?" Sakura asked. The boy seemed like he was going to refuse, than thought better of it. Sending another glare in TK's direction, he answered
"Fine." The three left the classroom, with Madison following them. She had decided to tag along to, and was carrying her video camera with her.
"I want to try out this new model I got. Some shots of you guys and the town would be perfect," she explained.
Although the four of them were not aware of it, they were being watched as they left. Eli was still sitting at his desk, apparently going over some of his homework. 'I'll have to keep an eye on them,' he thought. 'Sakura and Li seemed to have picked up a new friend. One who seems to be at least as powerful as they are, if not more. This could make things more difficult.'
"Over there is Penguin Park" Sakura pointed out, as they walked down the street. The sun was going down, and they were nearing the end of their tour. "A lot of us like to hang out there. It's also one of Madison's favorite places to shoot movies." With that comment, the two girls exchanged a 'look'; as if they were both thinking about some secret know only to them. Actually, Li had gotten a strange expression on his face as well, though he didn't seem to be paying much attention to the girls talk.
"Excuse me," he cut in. "I need to talk to Sakura for a minute." Without even waiting for the girl's permission, he grabbed her by the wrist, and dragged her over to a spot a ways away from TK and Madison. Though TK couldn't here what was being said, he did notice Sakura's wide-eyed reaction as soon as Li finished speaking to her. She rushed back over to the spot where TK and Madison were waiting.
"I'm so sorry TK, but Li just reminded me that I promised my Dad I'd...Uh...Clean out the garage today. I gotta go! Talk to you later!" Her words faded out, as she raced down out of the park and down the street.
"Well that was sudden," TK remarked, a slightly amused look on his face. Madison looked like she was about to apologize for her friend. "That's okay, Madison. I don't mind. It's getting dark out anyway. And a promise is a promise."
'I'm not quite sure she was telling me the truth though. She wouldn't have been so nervous if it really was just a promise to clean the garage. Maybe I should follow her; but I can't let her see me.'
As it turned out, following Sakura wasn't really that hard. Her and Li were running so fast towards downtown Reedington that they didn't even notice him following close behind. All he had to do was duck into the occasional alleyway when they turned a corner so that they didn't see him.
By the time they reached the library, which seemed to be their destination, the sun had completely gone down, and it was dark outside. TK quickly jumped behind a nearby building so he wouldn't be caught.
"Li, you were right. I can feel Clow Reed's magic too. But how? I thought he was dead? And besides, all the Clow Cards have been captured." Sakura seemed quite obviously worried.
'They can feel someone's magic?' Allowing a small bit of his own magic to trickle forth, TK found that he could sense someone else's magic as well. This someone was definitely not Sakura or Li. For one thing, it was more powerful. For another, it 'felt' a lot older; as if it had been around for several centuries.
Crunch! TK quickly pulled back his magical senses and brought his attention back to the world around him. The crunching sound was coming from across the street, where a statue had come to life, and had just stepped down from the pedestal it was on. Sakura and Li had noticed it as well, because Li had pulled a sword from what appeared to be thin air, and Sakura had pulled a necklace with a small charm out.
"Oh key of Clow, power of magic, power of light, surrender the wand, the force ignite! Release!" When nothing happened, Sakura's eyes widened, a faint look of fear showing up on her face when she looked over at the statue, which was making its way across the street toward the two.
"Li! Nothing happened. The key won't work!" Li glance over at the girl, confusion etched on his face. "How could it not work? You're the card mistress. It has to!" The statue had nearly reached them now, and Sakura and Li began to run to escape it.