Disclaimer: I do not own anyone from "CardCaptor Sakura". They are all owned by the ladies of CLAMP who are much more talented than I. (smile) I also do not own anyone from "Sailor Moon". They are all owned by Takeuchi Naoko whose vision will live eternally. (bigger smile) (Much to Elflina's dismay...) All other characters are my own. Feel free to steal them.

I do not hold chapters ransom for reviews, but I sure appreciate compliments, constructive criticism, and grammatical corrections. So if you feel like it, please press that little review button, and let me know what you think.

Speaking of which, hurray! Another reviewer. And a first for me, too. Welcome Kali Minnamo! (grin) Hmm... Interesting thought on Black (Wicked) Lady. But no, she will not raise her head in any of my worlds. At least, not in the foreseeable future (which is all of a day). She certainly won't come up in this story. As you said, Lady has too many other things to worry about, and in this chapter it's just going to get worse. And in the next chapter...! Ah, really Small Lady, I do like you...

Nagareboshi means Shooting Star or Meteor. 2.5 cm is about 1 inch. Therefore, 5 cm is about 2 inches, and 15 cm is about 6 inches (since they are Japanese, naturally they think in metric but that's not so easy for US citizens. (smile)).

- Raya

Moonlit Sakura

Chapter 8 – Smothered Dreams

Nagareboshi snorted and shook her head as her rider drew back on the reins. After the blood red mare came to a halt, she turned her head to look at her red-headed rider with an accusing dark purple eye. "Ma, ma…" Bessa said softly as she smiled at the mare's impatience. She leaned forward and rubbed a hand down the white blaze on the Arabian's face. "I know. You want to run, and I'm being mean." She sighed and sat back in the saddle as Nagareboshi turned to face ahead again.

"Maybe that's what I need, too," she said, still speaking softly. "Just to run and forget it all for a few moments."

It had been almost a week since the queen had disappeared, a week of disappointment, fear, and frustration. No further attacks had come to help them identify the enemy or his weakness. There were still no clues as to where the queen had gone either. And, in spite of the support of her friends and family, Lady was sinking further and further into guilt and depression.

"It's not her fault," Bessa said more loudly as she clenched her fists on the reins. "We got there as soon as we could. And Neo-Queen Serenity-sama was already disappearing. Of COURSE she froze. We ALL did."

'But she thinks she should have attacked sooner,' Bessa thought to herself as she forced her hands to relax. 'Who knows, maybe it would have made a difference. Her attack got through, after all…'

With a shake of her head, she turned her horse towards the riding paths. As Nagareboshi stepped forward eagerly, she loosened the reins and leaned forward. Nagareboshi gave a whicker as she lengthened her stride and began to race the wind.

Rei walked through the garden until she reached the old sakura tree in the middle. With a sigh, she laid her head against the trunk and closed her eyes. The sacred fire was not being very helpful in this search. All she could get from it was an impression of darkness, then light, and finally a full moon.

'Usagi…' she thought longingly as she tried to let the frustration, fear, and guilt wash out of her. Slowly, she stilled her mind and waited for whatever vision might come. Anything.

And slowly, a scene formed in her mind. A girl about Lady's age was standing in the middle of a crystal hallway wearing a dress the color of sakura blossoms. In her hand, she held a card of some sort. It was about 15 cm tall with a pink design on the side facing Rei. Rei felt a distant surprise as she sensed the aura around the card. The feeling of earth and strength and magic was very strong. Suddenly, the girl cried out in fright and denial as the card in her hand flashed.

Rei gasped as she jerked her head away from the tree. With wide eyes, she spun around and raced through the garden towards the palace. Without thinking, she transformed into Super Sailor Mars and teleported herself to Crystal Tokyo's City Hall.

'That aura… It couldn't have been… Endymion-sama…'

Sakura gave a weary sigh, and rubbed her tired eyes. She looked blearily at her English homework and fought the overwhelming urge to put her head down on her desk and sleep. Even though nothing further had happened to the Cards, the dreams continued to haunt her several times a night. This, added to all the magic she was working to try and get the Light/Dark Card to wake up, was beginning give her dark circles under her eyes.

She took a deep breath. "All right," she said with determination. She bent over her workbook and looked at the first question. After staring at it blankly for several minutes, she groaned, put her pencil down, and scrubbed her face.

"This is never going to work," she whined. As she brought her hands down, she saw the glass bowl she was using for the aromatherapy candles. "Didn't I have some that were supposed to energize me?" she asked thoughtfully as she stared at the bowl.

She reached down into her desk drawer and drew out the bag of candles. "Ah, here they are." With a smile, she quickly got up to fill the bowl with water. She put it carefully on the floor beside her, and took out several red candles that were about 2 cm in diameter. "Birds and glittery roses. How pretty." With a shaky hand, she lit four birds and a single rose.

A wonderful vanilla-like scent blended with cinnamon spice began to fill the air. It was accented lightly by the scent of rose. Sakura took a deep breath and smiled again. Turning back to her desk, she sat down and tried once again to focus on her homework.

King Necro smiled with anticipation as he felt Super Sailor Mars approach. 'Come on, little girl. Think you can catch me this time?' He snickered softly as he turned into a long hallway.

The two guards by the far door looked at his suit and then his spiked orange hair and shifted uneasily. He just smiled at them as innocently as he could. The guard on the left was reaching for his gun when King Necro stopped in front of them.

"I have a message for Mayor Katsuhito," King Necro said to the guard on the right as he ignored the other one. He held out a small white envelope.

The two guards studied him a moment longer and then relaxed just a little. The guard on the left took his hand off of his gun and reached for the message. His mistake proved to be fatal.

As he gently tugged at the envelope to take it out of King Necro's hand, the fragile paper tore and released a cloud of fine grey dust into the air. Immediately, the two guards began to choke silently. Their hands clutched at their throats as they fell to the floor.

King Necro smiled evilly. "That's what you get for opening a personal message," he quipped as he reached for the door handle to the conference room.

Sakura found her concentration returning as she plowed her way through the vocabulary exercises. In the bowl beside her desk, the candles floated and burned: one rose surrounded by four birds.
Super Sailor Mars appeared with a flash of red light in the conference room where King Endymion was meeting with the city and prefecture politicians. As King Necro opened the door, she darted over to stand in front of her queen's husband. "Run!" she cried to the men and women who were staring at her in surprise.

King Necro blinked in surprise when he heard her voice. His icy black eyes narrowed as he saw her standing between him and his prey.

"So. You managed to make it after all," he said in a calm voice. All around him, the politicians began to edge back towards the walls. He walked further into the room, leaving an open path to the door behind him. No one was brave enough to take him up on the invitation to flee.

Super Sailor Mars glared at him then spoke over her shoulder to the king. "Get out of here. Now!"

"Ah-ah," King Necro said narrowing his eyes. "That's not allowed." He whipped up his wand to cast his freeze spell.

"Mars Purifying BACKDRAFT!" A flaming bowl appeared behind her opponent. It quickly roared up to become a 10 foot wall of fire that charged at him, then clashed into his shield.

King Necro felt the heat of the attack, but didn't flinch. Super Sailor Mars' eyes went wide with shock as she saw her second most powerful attack fail. "Run!" she yelled again to the king and the politicians.

"No," King Endymion replied calmly. He summoned a deep red rose and flung it at King Necro's shield. As the rose was still flying through the air, he called out his next attack. "Elysian Molten ERUPTION!"

The sizzling red and gold lava hit King Necro's shield at the same point as the rose, but it had no apparent effect. King Necro's mouth twisted in a humorless smile. "My turn," he said bringing the wand around to point it at the King of Crystal Tokyo.

Super Sailor Mars tried to jump in front of him to take the blow, but she was only partially successful. With a shock, the two defenders realized that they couldn't move.

King Necro's smile grew wider. "Two for one. It must be my lucky day."

Bessa sighed as she turned Nagareboshi free in the pasture. The ride had been just what she needed to relax her. She had just decided to settle under a tree for some much needed meditation practice, when her communicator went off.

"Enemy energy signature detected in the city. Everyone get to these co-ordinates stat!" Super Sailor Mercury's voice cried urgently.

Bessa felt her heart race with excitement and hope as she turned to run towards the point indicated on her tracker. "Vesta Power... Make-UP!" As she had been taught, she used the power from her transformation to teleport to the target location.

Super Sailor Mars struggled to move as she heard the man begin to chant. Around her, the politicians finally felt safe enough to run. She watched helplessly as they began to abandon her and the king. Then, she blinked in surprise as she saw Commissioner Azama of Public Safety and Commissioner Kitagawa of Education each pick up a chair and hurl it at the apparently defenseless enemy. Not waiting to see if they had broken through his shield, the two men dove under the large, solid table in the middle of the room.

The two upholstered chairs splintered as they hit the shield. King Necro threw an irritated glance at the table, but continued to chant and wave his wand.

Super Sailor Mars felt a sudden searing pain in her right leg. Screaming, she fought harder against the paralysis wanting to clutch it.

More chairs flew towards the enemy, and then a gunshot was heard. Through her tears, Super Sailor Mars saw Mayor Katsuhito standing in the doorway, smoking gun in hand. She was resettling herself for another shot when a rainbow of flashing lights lit the conference room. The Senshi had arrived.

Another tearing pain, this time in her left side, made her scream again. King Endymion also screamed as the spell finally reached him.

"Mars! Endymion-sama!" Super Sailor Jupiter hollered.

Sobbing, Super Sailor Mars tried to gather her concentration so she could generate a shield to protect the king. More pain tore at her body and distracted her. She felt as if she were literally being ripped apart.

"Jupiter Storm STRIKE!" As Super Sailor Jupiter brought her hand down, dozens of green lightening bolts poured down from the ceiling to strike continuously at the shield.

"Venus Golden MELTDOWN!" A golden cloud of hearts surrounded Super Sailor Venus. With a spin and a toss of her golden hair, she swirled the cloud and flung it towards King Necro.

"Mercury Melodic SPRAY!" A spray of chiming ice crystals flew from Super Sailor Mercury's hands towards her target.

King Necro's shield began to glow and crackle as it absorbed the energy of the attacks. The man, however, refused to be distracted from his spell. He shouted the last few words in triumph just as Super Sailor Moon and her senshi yelled their attack.

"XGIFRA XTEC HO MRIL!"

"SAILOR PLANET BOMBARDMENT!" Blazing globes of colored light flew across the room.

King Necro smiled evilly and bowed towards the senshi. He faded out just as the final attack broke his shield.

"Come back here!" Sailor Juno yelled in frustration.

"Mars! Endymion-sama!" Super Sailor Venus cried, running towards her friends. Freed from the paralyzation spell, the two victims writhed in pain, tears running down their faces.

"Venus," Super Sailor Mars sobbed. "A girl... with cards... pink... pink cards." The last words were as soft as a whisper as she faded from sight.

"Nooo!" Super Sailor Moon wailed. "Rei-chan! Papa!"

"Be strong... Sailor Moon," her father gasped as he too disappeared.

"NOOOOOO..."

Sakura jerked upright as she heard a scream of denial echo through her head. She felt a surge of power slam into the Sakura Book, and then the world went dark.

Kero flew into the room just in to see his mistress collapse from the power overload. "Sakura!" he cried as he dove towards her. He transformed into his larger form mid-dive and caught her before she hit the floor.

"Sakura. Sakura. Sakura!"