A/N: This one introduces a new character. If you don't read, the rest of the story will NOT MAKE ANY SENSE. So read it, even though there's lots of talking. And I tried harder to add some detail and stuff. And don't worry, you'll get to see Kero in his true form!

PS: There is no Wei. I don't like Wei. I like Syaoran living alone. Heehee.

Disclaimer: Things relating to CardCaptor Sakura like characters, cards, location, etc. belong to the five wonderful ladies at CLAMP. Plot belongs to me, obviously, and…yea. Hope you enjoy!

Two Years After

"SAKURA!"

Sakura felt her body being shoved to the side. She flopped onto the grass like a rag doll and rolled a few feet away from where she had fallen. She saw Syaoran standing above her, glowering. He was about to yell something at her, when the shadowy spirit rammed into the earth where they had bee standing not two seconds ago. The ground beneath them shook, and Sakura scrambled up, giving Syaoran a scared look. He glared at her, as if to say 'get back!'

Sakura wretched her key off of the necklace, and in seconds she had her staff in hand, while Syaoran has his sword beside her. The spirit was now hovering over the body of the girl, as if it were watching them.

Sakura took these few seconds to glance around them. No one else was near them. The park was completely empty, which was odd for such a beautiful day. But she realized it was no longer sunny. Instead it was gray and overcast, and she had a feeling this weather was brought by the arrival of the thing that possessed the girl.

"What, are you chicken or something?" It taunted, its red eyes narrowing into slits. Syaoran gave a noise of agitation, but Sakura grabbed his arm.

"We can't hurt the spirit!" she hissed.

"How in the world do you know it's a spirit? Just because it came out of her body doesn't mean it's her soul!"

"She's dead, Syaoran! She died when THAT thing came out of it!"

Before he could yell something back, the shadow sprinted at them. Sakura had just enough time to call out Shield.

"SHIELD!" she screamed, and the two were temporarily saved from the shadow. It rammed into the wall, giving off a high-pitched shriek that caused both of them to cringe.

"THE CARDS! YOU ARE USING THE CARDS!" it cried in its unusually deep voice. Its eyes were now wild and crazy. Sakura felt her skin crawl at the look it sent her.

"Sakura!" Syaoran's voice brought her back into battle mode. "How can we get rid of this thing?"

"We CAN'T!" she cried back, feeling tears for the unknown girl to well up. "I couldn't do that! It's like murder!"

"Enough with the chit chat!" the voice yelled, raising a hand to the sky. "I am getting bored of you!"

At those words Shield vanished, fluttering helplessly back to Sakura. She gasped, and the hand of the shadow began to twitch. The fingers were grabbing at something that didn't exist. And then…and then, a small ball of light began to form…

"It's lightning!" Sakura screamed, unable to move. This shadow was mesmerizing. She knew she had to do something, but what? What could beat a living, breathing shadow of a soul?

"SAKURA!" For the second time on that trip, Syaoran pushed Sakura out of the way, grabbing a slip of yellow paper from his pocket at the same time. "SUMMON LIGHTNING!" he cried at the exact same time the shadow sent a blast of lightning his way.

The two powers of lightning battled each other; Syaoran's weakening at the sheer strength hidden in that of the shadows. Sakura snapped out of her trance, realizing she had to help, or Syaoran would get hurt!

"THUNDER!" she summoned, her eyes wide in fear. With the added power of her lightning, the shadow's fizzled away into nothing. Sakura began to feel woozy. Something about her magic being sucked away found itself in her thoughts.

Syaoran smiled at her for thanks, and Sakura smiled back. Right there, it felt like old times—when the two of them had battled cards or other obstacles.

But her good thoughts were whisked away by the shadow as it advanced towards them, taking light, suspicious steps.

"Now, now, can two little children really defeat me? If you do…" It made a sweeping motion back to the body of the young girl, crumpled and pale. "She will be gone, you know."

The thought of anyone dying made Sakura's eyes grow wet. She rubbed at them with her sleeve, annoyed at how weak she seemed. And how weak the shadow was making her seem.

"You're trying to manipulate us!" Syaoran yelled. The shadow smirked.

"Surprise."

"Stop it!" Sakura cried, feeling anger well up in her chest. "You can't just do that! You can't just take someone's life and use it as your own! That's pathetic!"

"Sakura—" Syaoran began warningly, but Sakura cut him off.

"No! You know what? I'm sick of you already! You're evil!" She was breathing heavily now, mind whirling. If she kept talking, she would have time to think. What could she use? What could she possibly use to defeat such a powerful opponent? It had almost destroyed Syaoran's magic, which was definitely saying something. And it had weakened Shield! She needed a distraction. Any kind of distraction…

"EARTHY!" she cried spontaneously, feeling flustered as she summoned the card. "Start an earthquake!"

Sakura really had no idea what was happening. She felt the ground begin to tremble beneath her. In those few moments, the shadow really did seem distracted at the ground around it turning and tumbling.

Sakura fumbled for an answer as she forced herself to stay calm. Was this shadow the same as the actual Shadow Card? How had she captured that? With…with light?

"Here goes!" she cried, throwing a card into the air. "LIGHT!"

A blinding flash caused Sakura to shield her eyes. Everything was lit up in a bright, overwhelming white light. Something shrieked in the distance. She didn't know what it was though. She prayed it was the shadow. She felt her power draining slowly out from underneath her. What was going on?

Seconds later, the light seemed to fade into nothing. Sakura blinked, little dots dancing around her eyes. The park was normal again, except for the lack of people and the sudden stormy weather.

"Sakura, are you okay?" Syaoran was beside her in a second, resting a steadying hand on her shoulder. "Sakura?"

"I'm fine," she answered with a trembling voice. "What about that thing?" She clutched her staff tighter and spun around, searching for it.

"It's gone," he answered. "It's gone, and I know that…"

Sakura didn't let him answer. She raced over to her, clutching at the stranger's arm and spinning her around so she could see her face.

"Hello? Hello? Are you all right?" she asked nervously, feeling her forehead.

"Now why would you feel her forehead?" Syaoran asked, appearing on the other side of the girl and lifting her limp arm. "That's to see if someone's sick, not alive."

"How can you be so calm?" Sakura asked shrilly. "She might be dead!"

Syaoran had his thumb overtop her wrist for a few moments before replying. "She has a pulse," he said simply. "She's not dead."

Sakura let out a laugh. "Oh, good. I was scared…" She stopped, lifting a hand to rub at her forehead. She closed her eyes for a few seconds, and then coughed.

"Sakura, you used tons of cards today!" Syaoran said in a horrified whisper. "Not to mention the Light Card, which is very hard for someone to use! And your magic is being drained! You can't just use four cards in one time period and expect to be okay!"

"I usually am," Sakura snapped back grouchily.

"Yea, but that's when you're normal. Right now, something is going on with your magic. And I bet it has to do with…"

"Syaoran," Sakura said suddenly, looking down at the girl. She saw her eyelids flutter, but they remained shut. "Call Tomoyo, okay?"

"What?" he asked, a bewildered look on his face. "What are you talking about?"

Sakura only flapped a hand at him, feeling immensely woozy. "You were…right. I am—tired." And with that, she fell down beside the redheaded girl, lost in a deep, unconscious, sleep.

"What are you doing here, anyway?"

"She told me to come, Syaoran."

"Why? To check up on me?"

"I don't know…"

"I saw you in the park, and I was wondering what you were doing here. Meiling was enough, but not you too—"

"Hey, I'm not as bad as her! I could care less about…"

"So you go by the name of Midori now, hm?"

"Er—yes."

"Sakura will want to know it when she wakes up."

"So her name is Sakura?"

"Yes."

"Oh. Well I'm very happy she rescued me." There was a pause. "Oh, and you too of course!"

"Y-Yea, well…whatever," someone mumbled.

"Hello?" Sakura asked sleepily.

"Hey!" cried an energetic voice. Sakura opened her eyes to see a blurry, red, figure before her.

"Who are you?" she asked stupidly, blinking to try and get her view focused.

"Oh, sorry! I'm Midori Kawashi, grateful to you and always at your service!"

"She doesn't care about stuff like that," Syaoran mumbled. Sakura smiled.

"Syaoran! What happened?"

"Well, you obviously drained yourself out, didn't you? We kept telling you, but…"

"What?" Sakura sat bolt upright, realizing for the first time she was in the living room at her home. A blanket covered her and she was still in the same clothes as their picnic. It seemed to be late afternoon. Sakura guessed that it was around dinner, because her stomach was begging for food. She glanced over at what the red blob had been to see the red-haired girl earlier.

"Hey!" she cried, momentarily distracted, "you're the girl!"

"Yes!" Midori cried brightly, grinning as if a young child had just learned something new. "I'm eternally grateful to you for saving me."

Sakura cast a long side glance at Syaoran. Did she—

"Er, Syaoran?"

He looked over at her, and nodded slightly at her mental question. She gasped.

"Y-You mean, she—she…"

"The cards?" Midori asked suddenly, flapping a hand at her. "Yes, of course I know about the cards!" she let out a tinkled laugh, and Syaoran cringed. "In fact, I know Syaoran too!"

Sakura gaped at her. This was taking a while to soak in. "Okay, w-wait a minute…" she took a deep breath. "You know Syaoran. You know about the cards. Do you know what that thing was, or what it's doing?" she switched over to Syaoran. "And did you know she was here? How come you didn't act like you knew her in the park?"

Midori laughed again, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. "Okay, okay, this is how it works. I know Syaoran. Not as much as I know his mom, but I know him. His mom always came over to visit my family, so I got pretty close with her. She was like—like a real mom." She stopped for a moment, and then continued. "And I know about the cards, because Syaoran's family isn't the only family in China that's magical! Mine is too, and even though I wasn't blessed with magic as strong as theirs, my family knew of the cards. They're a legend to all magical families in China, didn't you know? My family was so honored to meet a descendent of Clow Reed. And the only thing I know about the shadow is that it's true form…well, it doesn't have one. I guess to answer that though, you need to know why I'm here."

"You're here, because Mother sent you," Syaoran snapped. Midori grew slightly pink in the face.

"Well, maybe…"

"She sent you because she knew something strange was going on, and she couldn't come herself. So she sent her little servant to do it for her."

"SYAORAN!" Sakura cried, shocked. She had never heard him be so rude to someone before! "You shouldn't be so rude!"

Midori continued to smile. "It's all right. Didn't I tell you? Syaoran's mom is the only one in their whole family that cares about us. We're descendents to one of Clow Reed's biggest magical rivals!" she clapped her hands together. "Isn't that cool?"

"So…so the rivalry between Clow and your ancestor is kind of carried on in your families?"

"Yes!" Midori cried in the same, excited voice. "Except Syaoran's mom was the only one smart enough to realize such a thing like little rivalries are petty in such times of danger. So she came to see us. I think Syaoran hated that, didn't you?" she cooed. Syaoran only glowered at her. "His mom was worried," continued Midori, "about the cards. She's really powerful, did you know? She doesn't want any danger to come to the cards, so she sent me here to kind of check up on things!"

"B-B-But…" Sakura paused, trying to wrap her lethargic mind around Midori's words. "Syaoran is here to protect the cards. And so am I! These are my cards, so I'm pretty sure I can take care of them. And how did that thing get into you anyway?"

"Okay, okay," Midori said, nearly bouncing in her seat at the foot of the couch, "this is how it goes. I came here to make sure the cards were okay. And the very thing Syaoran's mom was worried about is here! Or, was here. It sensed me and I think it somehow knew what I was doing. It doesn't really have a physical shape, I suppose." Midori paused, a somewhat glazes look coming over her eyes as she spoke. "It was more of a mind thing. I struggled desperately with it; using what magic I have to fend it off. But I'm too weak. It overtook my body, forcing me to head to the cards. I didn't know I'd find Syaoran and Sakura on a little outing," Midori smirked, and Sakura saw from the chair beside her Syaoran looked fit to burst.

"Before it attacked you, I had a chance to sneak out of its mental cage. I told you she would harm you."

"It's a she?" Sakura asked, surprised.

"Oh yes. The voice is obviously female." Midori nodded seriously. "But anyway, that's pretty much how it happened!"

Sakura lay back down, covering her eyes with her hands in a weary way. "If you don't have much magic," she began thoughtfully, "how come Syaoran's mother would send you to check on the cards? Wouldn't she just ask Syaoran to do it?"

Midori smirked. "Maybe she doesn't trust Syaoran, since he failed to collect all of the cards."

"Hey!" Syaoran cried, standing up abruptly. "That's none of your business, all right? I don't know what's going on with you, but—"

"Syaoran!" Sakura cried. "Calm down! She's a guest in my house, we have to be nice."

Syaoran glared at Midori one more time before he sat down on the chair again. Midori smiled in an irritating way.

"Syaoran's mother sent me, because I'm reliable. I won't hold anything back when I tell her what's going on with the cards—or their master."

Sakura felt a chill travel up her spine.

"So you're a spy this time, huh?" Syaoran spat.

"I suppose so," Midori said thoughtfully, resting a finger to her chin. "But only because you're too incompetent to be one yourself."

"My mother would never ask me, or anyone else, to be a spy!" Syaoran cried.

"Or maybe she wouldn't tell you she would ask someone else because she knows how you feel about Sakura, hm? She would think you would hide things from her. Which you probably would."

Syaoran's face grew very red. Sakura reached a hand to him tentatively, but he shook his head.

"Sakuuuraaaa! Sakuuuuraaaaa!"

"Kero?" Sakura bounded off of the couch and across the living room in three steps, grabbing the little animal before he could fly into the room. She rounded the corner with him in her grasp. She clung onto him tightly as she took a rattling gasp for air.

"Hey!" Kero cried, wiggling in her fingers. "Lemme out! What're you doing?"

Sakura let him go, still breathing heavily. "Cards…used the cards…very, very tired…"

"Kiddo! Your magic!" Kero scolded. "Why would you use cards when something strange is going on with your magic?"

Before Sakura could explain, another voice cut in.

"Allow me to explain, Keroberos," Midori said with a smile.

Kero's jaw dropped. "Wha—wha—WHAT?" He flew into the air in angry circles, babbling and howling about how the situation was crazy. "HOW DID SHE RECOGNIZE MEEE? WHO ARE YOOOU? WHAT ARE YOU DOING HEEEERE? WHAAAAAT?"

Midori glanced up at him. "Hm. I thought he'd be more—awe-inspiring."

That stopped Kero. He flew down to her in a flash of light, glowering inches away from her face. "Watch what you say, Carrot-top! When you see me in my true form, I'll knock your socks off! Just you wait! There'll be a time when I have to—"

"You will," Syaoran said suddenly, who was now helping Sakura up off of the floor, where she was leaning against the wall weakly. "Something else is in Tomoeda. And it's after Sakura."

"Well, this is news to me," Kero muttered darkly, hovering in midair. Sakura was lying on the couch again, sound asleep. Syaoran was sitting beside her on the same chair, watching over her and listening to Midori and Kero's conversation at the same time. Midori had just finished explaining the whole situation to Kero. "Why would it be after the cards? There are no more now, I know that. Hope has evened things out, so…"

A heavy silence fell over the room. Midori was now in the corner, inspecting a china pot.

"Look, could you just leave their stuff alone?" Syaoran suddenly snapped. "Just because you're here doesn't mean you're welcome to roam everywhere!"

Midori made a tutting noise, but she set the pot back down anyhow. "You are kind of negative, aren't you Syaoran?"

"Look, I know you're not here because Mother sent you. It's obvious she wouldn't."

"But you did know she'd been visiting us, did you not?"

"Well…well, she would tell us some mornings, but that's beside the point! Why would she trust your family more than her own?"

Midori shrugged. "As I said before, we're more reliable. You can even call her up if you want. Ask her anything. She'll say the same things I did. And she might also add that everytime she visited she told us the update on the cards. That's why I seem to know everything about you and Little Sakura's escapades."

"You're a year younger than us!" Syaoran nearly yelled. "So don't call her little!"

Midori gave him a dark grin. "Oh yes. My mistake."

Syaoran turned away from her to look back at the sleeping Sakura. He smiled a little at the serene smile she had on her face.

"So," Kero suddenly broke in, "how does this explain Sakura's waning magic?"

"Obviously that thing is taking it," Midori stated. Kero glared at her.

"But how could it? It has to be very powerful to be able to take away someone's magic!"

"But it couldn't get past Shield," Syaoran interrupted.

"Or maybe it just didn't want to," Midori stated, jumping over the back of the other couch and sitting down with a thump. "You can never tell what evil things are going to do."

"But where did it come from? Why is it after the cards? How can it travel? Just how powerful is it?" Kero asked all of these questions, and the three fell into thoughtful silence.

"I guess," Syaoran began, "that's what we have to find out."

A/N: Lots of talking, I know! Blah. I had to introduce Midori though. And with that comes lots of talking! Hope it wasn't too boring slash badly written. Gah. More will make sense soon. Oh, and I tried to add a bit more detail into the scenes, but there's only so much I can talk about a living room. Heh. Read and review please, thanks sooo much!