The first story in My Shadowy Secrets Trilogy

This fan-fiction is set as though the second movie never happened. Li and Meilin are still in Hong Kong, but all is not well – and with Yelan out of town it's up to them to find out what the magical power Li's sensing is.

Back home in Readington, Sakura dreams an upsetting dream, then receives a disturbing phone call from Meilin. Did her dream come true?

Darkness is never as far away as you think…

Chapter Nine; Light Of Love

Madison and Meilin waited in the living room, until Sakura, Yelan and Kero came back. Sakura was shaking slightly, but she managed a weak smile.

"He's awake now. Fully." The two girls looked up, but remained silent as they saw how tense Sakura was.

"He's prowling around that room like a wild animal, searching for a way out. We left Yue on guard."

Moving over to let Sakura and Yelan sit down, Madison turned to Kero.

"Well, now we've got him, how do we get the Evil Card out of him?" Kero smiled.

"See, this is where my years of experience pay off…..and I don't know." Everyone else sweatdropped, while Sakura yelled in Kero's ear;

"What do you mean, you don't know? You're the guardian beast of the seal! You're meant to know!"

Kero looked away, fiddling with his paws, and looking embarrassed. Meilin noticed with a small smile that the guardian was actually blushing slightly.

"Yeah, well, it's been sealed in another dimension for a couple of centuries, so I haven't had a chance to find out!"

"Ohhhhh…" Sakura sighed.

"One thing's for sure, though." Everyone froze, and focused on Kero. He had a serious note to his voice that they rarely heard there.

"I sensed it upstairs. The card's permanently effected Li. Even when we get it out of him, there will be…lasting effects." No… With difficulty, Sakura forced herself not to give in to despair, and focused on Kero.

"I'm not saying it's too late. I'm just warning you all that there will be changes in his personality – he won't be exactly the same. His dark side will be closer to the surface. He will probably get angry more easily."

"So, what you're saying is, we've got to be prepared for whatever Li is like after we get the card out." said Sakura slowly.

"Yes. So now it's just a matter of how much he's changed. And that all depends on how soon the card is taken out."

"So what are we meant to do?" asked Meilin. But before anyone could have a guess, Yelan suddenly stiffened.

"I feel great power building…directly above us…" Just then, they heard an explosion upstairs, and turned to face each other, before exclaiming…

"Li!"


Sakura ran up the stairs, choking on the clouds of dust that billowed around her. Coughing, she pulled out a Star Card, and flipped it into the air.

"Windy! Blow the dust away so we can breathe! Release and dispel!" She struck the card with her staff, and stood back as the spirit flew forward. As soon as the dust had disappeared, she ran on, praying to herself. >All this damage…what's happened up here?>

"Yue!" Sakura ran forward to the still form of the moon guardian, panic bubbling up inside her. >Is he dead? He can't be!> She dropped to her knees beside him, and was relieved to hear him groan. >Thank God, he's alive!>

Yue was flickering between himself and Julian, which made Sakura suspect that he didn't have the energy left to stay in his true form. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and saw Sakura kneeling beside him, and managed a small smile.

"I'm sorry, Mistress. But he was so strong…I didn't realise…" His eyes closed, and he changed back into Julian. The boy lay unconscious, bruises and streaks of blood marking his pale skin. His glasses were cracked.

Kero, in his true form again, bounded up to her. He looked down at Julian, and smiled reassuringly at Sakura.

"He'll be alright, Sakura. It's just that Yue lost a lot of energy over the last few days – he spent so much time in his true form, he didn't have enough power to repel the Kid's attack."

"What about Julian?"

"Most of these are superficial wounds…see? Not serious. Don't worry. I'll stay with him. Just go and see what happened, or the Kid could escape!"

"Right!"


Sakura was appalled at the destruction in Li's former prison. Both the Lock and Shield had failed, and Yelan's magical barrier lay in pieces on the floor. But all that was nothing compared to the gaping hole in the wall. Heart in her mouth, she ran through the hole onto the balcony, and looked down at the garden below. >I didn't realise that he was this strong.>

As she desperately searched the garden below, her senses suddenly focused in on one area of the garden, and she saw a shadowy figure running away. >But it's so dark, I can hardly see him…Dark! That's it!>

"Light! Remove the darkness from Li's heart! Release and dispel!" She watched as the card flowed towards the escaping boy. But instead of shining through him, the spirit only shone on him. Li spun round, a slight smirk on his face.

"Idiot. Light can only remove darkness outside. My darkness is in here."

Smiling, he tapped his chest where his heart would be, and turned to go.

"No!" Sakura started forward, and the words which she knew were true, had somehow always known were true, exploded from her mouth.

"I love you Li! Don't leave me!"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the bag that she carried her Star Cards in began to pulse with light. Taking the cards out, Sakura looked at the one that was glowing – the Nameless Card.

"It's you! Do you want to help?" In answer, a beam of light shot out of the card, and struck Li.

"What the…aaaaah!" Li cried out in pain, before throwing his head back in agony. A dark form exploded out of his mouth, and sped into the air, twisting to face Sakura. At first it looked strangely sweet, what with it's purple hair and ruby eyes. But then it changed into its real form.

Sakura shuddered at the sight of the Evil Card. With its mottled skin and fanged teeth, it looked like something out of a nightmare. With an unearthly shriek, it launched itself at her with its taloned fingers reaching for her, startling her out her fear. An almost angry expression on her face, Sakura spun her staff, and struck the spirit.

"I command you to return to your power confined! Evil!" Smiling slightly, she picked up the new card, and whispered to it;

"You'll never hurt Li again."

Half afraid of what she'd see, Sakura looked out at the garden. Li stood there, breathing heavily, eyes wide.

"L..Li?" He turned and saw her.

"Sakura?" He took a staggering step forward, then fainted, crashing painfully to the ground.