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. (smile) (Much to Elflina's dismay...) All other characters are my own. Feel free to steal them.

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Hi aserene! It's okay. You don't have to review every chapter. Just every other one. Hahaha, no, really, as long as I know you're enjoying it, I'm happy. (smile) - Raya

Moonlit Sakura

Chapter 10 – A Terrifying Silence

Sakura sat at her dining room table and rubbed her face tiredly. The sukiyaki dinner in front of her smelled delicious, but she was too tired to eat. Even coming from the couch living room to the dining room table had taken a strong exercise of will. 'This can't go on…' she thought to herself.

"Sakura-san," her father said softly. "Please… You have to eat something."

She looked up at him with a weak attempt at her usual bright smile, and then reached for her chopsticks. She had just opened her mouth to thank her father for the food when the doorbell rang. The two diners looked at each other in surprise.

Quickly, her father folded his napkin and stood. "I'll get that," he said over his shoulder. "You go ahead and start eating."

A few moments later, he led Shaoran and Tomoyo into the dining room. Sakura's face lit up with pleasure as she saw her two best friends. "Tomoyo-chan! Shaoran-kun! What are you doing here?"

Their eyes widened in shock and worry as they saw the dark circles under her eyes. The fact that her eyes looked huge in her thin, wan face made the effect even more dramatic.

Tomoyo was the first to re-gather her composure. "You weren't in school today, so we thought we'd come by and check on you. How are you feeling today?"

Fujitaka puttered around the kitchen gathering two more place settings as Sakura tried to smile reassuringly at her friends. "I'm okay. Just… Very tired. Dad turned off my alarm this morning, so I missed morning classes. By the time I was ready to go, the day was mostly over."

Shaoran walked over to stand behind her, and put his hands on her shoulders. Concentrating, he began to transfer energy to her. As she felt the inrush of warm strength, Sakura jumped and looked over her shoulder at him. Then, she turned back to face the table and gratefully accepted his gift. After a minute of this, they sighed simultaneously and opened their eyes.

"Thank you, Shaoran-kun," Sakura said with some of her normal brightness. "Won't you guys sit down and join us? Dad made more than enough, as usual." She paused and took a deep breath. "Mmm… Shaoran-kun, what's that smell?"

"Huh?" Her boyfriend blinked at her in surprise, halfway into his chair. "What smell?"

"Hu-e… It smells like… like…" Sakura closed her eyes to help herself focus on the smell. "Flowers and incense. That's what it smells like."

"Incense? Oh, that must be from the myrrh. Wei was burning it earlier while he was meditating," Shaoran replied looking away with a little bit of a blush. Tomoyo smiled in amusement at his embarrassment.

"Oh. And the flowers?" Sakura asked, looking back down at her plate and selecting a thin slice of beef. Tomoyo and Fujitaka watched as his blush deepened.

"Um, flowers?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably as he watched the smiles grow bigger.

"Mmm… This is very good, Dad. Yes, flowers. Sweet flowers."

Shaoran looked around the table a moment, then sighed and dropped his head. "Oh. Those." He got up from the table and walked out of the room. Sakura blinked and stared after him in surprise. "Hu-e?"

He returned a few moments later with what appeared to be a bundle of tree branches wrapped in white florist paper. "I guess you mean these flowers," he said with a small smile. Sakura's eyes widened as she accepted his gift. "They are mimosas. I… uh… I thought their sweet smell and cheerful color might make you feel better," he said blushing again uncomfortably as he cast a quick glance at their audience.

Sakura smiled with delight and buried her face in the bouquet, inhaling deeply. "They're wonderful!" she exclaimed happily. Shaoran looked back at her and smiled with satisfaction at her pleasure.

As she was taking another deep breath, Sakura suddenly stiffened then jerked up her head. Her eyes were filled with dread and denial. She was just shaking her head when the space in front of her lit up and the Sakura Book appeared. She stared at it a second, and then fainted. Shaoran caught her just before she fell into the table. The bouquet fell forgotten to the floor.

"Sakura! Sakura!" Kero's voice echoed through the house as he flew down the stairwell and into the dining room. "Sakura! The Book…" He stopped as he saw the pink book floating in front of his unconscious mistress. "Not again," he whispered almost pleadingly.

"Kero-chan! What's going on?" Tomoyo cried, rushing around the table to Sakura. She stopped as Fujitaka got there first.

"I don' know," Kero said solemnly, turning to face the dark haired girl. "But I think another of the Card's changed. After the last incident, she's had Shield continuously guardin' the Book. And…"

"She's WHAT!" Shaoran exclaimed turning to glare at the little golden beast. "As exhausted as she's been because of these dreams and what happened to Light and Dark and the others… You LET HER KEEP SHIELD UP FULL TIME! No WONDER she looks like death warmed over!"

Kero interrupted the boy's venting of fear and frustration by yelling back. "As if I could stop her! I TOLD her it wasn't a good idea, but she insisted that she had to protect the rest of the Cards."

The two adversaries glared at each other for several moments, neither willing to back down. Tomoyo finally interrupted them. "Let's get her to the couch," she said worriedly. "Is she all right?"

Sakura blinked and looked around curiously. Once again, she was in the crystal hallway, but something was different. After a moment, she realized that there were new paintings on the wall. Curiously, she walked over to look at the one closest to her.

A beautiful woman with long white dress sat on a crescent moon as if it were a swing. Long flowing white pigtails escaped the small buns on either side of her head. Her cerulean blue eyes sparkled brightly as she smiled at Sakura. Below her, the Earth floated. The blue paint that represented the water also sparkled. The pearl white frame around the picture was carved with moons.

Sakura smiled back at the woman, and walked to the next picture. It showed a tall, dark-headed knight with a long sword belted to his side. He was standing in a golden bower covered with red and white roses. His dark blue eyes were solemn, but he smiled a slight smile as he held out a beautiful red rose in full bloom. Like the blue water in the other picture, the rose sparkled in the light. The frame for his picture was a dark brown and was carved with images of the sun.

Sakura looked down the hallway and saw that there were several other picture frames, but only one more was filled in. Eagerly, she stepped over to it. She gasped in shock. A woman with long black hair and a long, bright red dress danced in a sparkling inferno. The dreamy expression on her face showed no signs of pain or fear. Overhead, a full moon also appeared to be dancing in the flames. The flames seemed to run off of the picture and onto the dark red-gold frame that surrounded it.

"Chi… ChibiUsa-chan."

Sakura started and spun around as she heard the girl's soft, pain-filled sob.

"I'm so glad…" the voice continued. "Re-remember what I said… Be strong… I'm trusting you… Trusting you to find me…"

Looking up the hallway, Sakura saw a doorway appear next to the next picture frame.

"Hang in there, Hotaru-chan!" another girl's voice cried.

"Saturn!" another chorus of voices yelled.

"No… Don't give up!"

"Blast it all!"

"Hotaru-chan!" Sakura's eyes widened as she recognized that last heartbroken voice. A flash of light filled the hallway forcing Sakura to cover her eyes with her arm. When it died down, she saw a Card floating in front of her.

As she saw the image of Erase staring solemnly at her from the front of the Card, she felt a wave of cold fear and dread flow over her. Trembling, she wrapped her arms around herself and stepped back away from the Card. It floated in front of her for a moment, and then slowly drifted over to the next frame.

Sakura felt herself walking forward unwillingly to see the portrait that appeared. A young woman with shoulder-length black hair and luminous white skin floated in an oval of light in the middle of the picture. She was sitting with her arms around her legs, her head on her knees, and her face towards the painter. Her eyes were closed, and her lips were parted slightly in a faint smile of pleasure. Beside her lay a long pole with two sharp, sparkling, curved blades at one end. Her long, sparkling, violet gown was the only color in the portrait. Over her head, a crescent moon shone a spotlight on her. The rest of the picture was black as midnight. The carvings on the black frame were unreadable, almost invisible.

Sakura felt herself turning away from the picture and towards the door. Its honey brown wood was carved with strange symbols. 'Planetary symbols…?" she said in an uncertain tone. One symbol, a strangely shaped hiragana n with a bar through the standing leg began to glow with a bright purple light. Then, the door opened.

Sakura found herself walking through the door. As it closed behind her, she realized that she was in Tsukimine shrine, next to the old sakura tree. She blinked and looked around in surprise.

'You will not win,' she heard the familiar voice say. Spinning to her right, she saw a girl about her own age standing in front of a man with spiked orange hair. Although she couldn't see their faces, she noticed that the girl wore a long white gown like the woman in the first portrait. The dress was a little different, and she had long pink hair instead of white, but Sakura felt certain that she was related somehow to the other woman.

The man laughed coldly as the girl raised a scepter in her right hand. Sakura flinched as she recognized the evil man from her first dream. 'They're dead, Princess,' he said sneering the last word with obvious hatred. 'All of them. Who will protect you now?'

'They're not dead,' the princess replied firmly. 'I will find them and bring them back. And then…'

With a wave of a dark wooden wand, the man cut her off. A dark, ugly black light flew out of the wand towards the girl. Sakura wanted to run to her but found that she suddenly could not move. The girl blocked the light with her scepter.

Wincing in pain, she tried to keep the scepter between the man and herself. 'Moon… Power…' she said softly, eyes narrowed in concentration. A bright light surrounded her, causing her adversary and Sakura to wince.

Shaoran gently laid Sakura on the couch in the living room. He kept a hold of her hand as he moved out of Fujitaka's way. The older man placed a cold compress on his daughter's forehead, and stared down at her helplessly.

Tomoyo stood to one side, clutching the Sakura Book to her chest, and looked at her friend with frightened, worried eyes. "Will… Will she be all right?" she asked Shaoran and Kero.

"Hmm…" Kero replied unhelpfully. Shaoran drug his brown eyes away from his girlfriend's face and turned to face her. "Of course she'll be all right," he replied trying to sound confident.

As he caught sight of the Book, a thought seemed to occur to him. Gently, he laid Sakura's hand on her stomach and then stood up. "Tomoyo-san, may I see the Book please?"

"What? Oh, of course," Tomoyo replied. She handed the book to Shaoran, and then took his place beside Sakura.

Shaoran lay the Book on the coffee table and tried to open it. Kero watched him a moment, then snorted smugly. "Only Sakura, Yue, and I c'n open the Book," he said with a superior tone.

Shaoran glared at him, and then turned back to the Book. "Book of Sakura, please open for me. I have a favor to ask of the Cards which will help your mistress."

For a long moment, they all stared at the Book waiting to see if it would listen to its mistress' love. When it became obvious that the Book was not going to cooperate, Kero began to snicker. "Told ya. That Book only responds t' the three of us. It would never open for…"

He broke off abruptly, his mouth dropping open in shock, as Tomoyo calmly reached over, released the latch, and lifted the cover. She smiled sweetly at his flabbergasted expression. "Sakura gave me access a long time ago so I could choose Cards to film while she changed costumes," she explained.

As Kero continued to blink at Tomoyo in open-mouthed shock, Shaoran cautiously removed the Cards. Gently, he flipped through them looking for the one he wanted. He looked uneasy as he set aside the Light/Dark, Power/Earthy, and Dream/Firey Cards. Finally, he found the Sleep Card and put it on the table beside the Book. He was just putting the deck back into the Book when he noticed the next Card in line.

His face paled in shock and fear as he released the deck and stared at the top Card. Fujitaka frowned at his expression and walked to stand next to him to see what had caused the boy such distress. He, too, paled at what he saw. Although he was not familiar with the Cards, his awakened magical senses felt the danger, coldness, and power of the Card lying there.

The movement finally broke Kero out of his shock. When he saw the expression on their faces, his face become concerned and he flew over to see what had happened. He felt as if he'd been sucker-punched. Erase had covered Silent. And to his magical senses, the resulting Card felt like Death.

Reluctantly, Shaoran picked the Card up and laid it beside Sleep. He put the other Cards back into the Book then laid the newly changed Card on top. Breathing a sigh of relief, he closed the Book, and picked up Sleep.

He turned to Sakura and put the Card in her hand. "Sleep," he said in a firm, yet polite tone. "Please help your mistress to sleep deeply and dreamlessly so that she can wake refreshed."

For a moment, it seemed as if the Card would ignore him the way the Book had. Then, it began to glow softly. The glow spread to encompass Sakura, who gave a small sigh and relaxed out of her dream and into deep slumber.