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.

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 reviews, hello to Taeniaea and Miss Takin! Haha, you get to see my Card choice for Venus... Now! (smile) If anyone has a better combination (that isn't already used), let me know and I'll take it into consideration. The bad guys appearance was abrupt, hmm? Happens that way sometimes? (grin) And if you can't figure out why Artemis disappeared with Venus but Luna is still around, you will have to wait until chapter... 24 it looks like... to find out. (smile)

UraNep fans rejoice! Let me know what you think of this chapter. Enjoy, everyone! - Raya

Moonlit Sakura

Chapter 19 – A Glassy Sea

Sakura closed her eyes and took a deep, appreciative breath of the sakura scented air. With a smile, she re-opened her eyes, and popped the lid off of her boxed lunch.

"What a perfect day!" Chiharu exclaimed happily. "Warm, sunny, with a light breeze… Perfect for a Flower Viewing lunch!"

Her friends all smiled and nodded in agreement as they opened their various lunches. "I still can't believe that Hama-sensei was able to get the principle to agree to this," Rika said as she lifted a rice ball up to her mouth.

"Yeah," Naoko agreed. "It was sneaky of her to disguise it as a trip to a botanical garden." She smiled. "We should be grateful she talked him into it, though. Maybe we should get her something?"

"Mmm.. How about a stuffed animal?" Chiharu asked with a bright smile. "I saw the cu-u-utest giraffe at Twin Bells the other day." Her friends laughed at this typical suggestion. "What?" she said pretending to be hurt. "I think it's a great idea."

"How about some roses?" Tomoyo asked softly. "Hama-sensei really likes them, and it's something that everyone can give towards."

"Yeah! That's a great idea," Sakura said happily. "We can get her the flowers and the giraffe." She looked around at her friends as they burst into laughter. "What? Chiharu-chan was right. It's a really cute giraffe…"

"Speaking of giraffes," Yamazaki said as he suddenly appeared behind Chiharu. "Did you know that the reason they have brown patches on their golden skin is because…" He choked off suddenly as Chiharu stuffed a rice ball into his mouth.

"Yeah, yeah…" she said, dusting off her hands. "You told me in the store…" She smiled around at her friends. "And, trust me, you don't want to hear it. It's not one of his better attempts," she said as they looked at her curiously.

A short while later, the group finished lunch and separated to find a subject to draw. Sakura wandered through the unfamiliar garden lost in thought. The Cards had been quiet since Shield had merged with Wood a week ago. The new Cards were more active and seemed to hover around each other, but they still would not respond to her or Kero or Yue.

Her worries were forgotten for a moment as she broke through a stand of trees. A beautiful pond surrounded by sakura and apple trees met her astonished eyes. In the middle of the pond on a small island surrounded by water lilies was a frail looking gazebo. "How beautiful…" she whispered staring around in awe. She drifted over to a nearby tree, sat down, and pulled out her art supplies. With a smile, she took a deep breath of the floral scented air.

"Mmm... Apple, sakura, rose, spearmint... I must be near the herb garden. Hu-e? What's that scent?" she asked looking around curiously. She spotted a small clump of dark maroon, blue, and purple flowers nearby. She got up and walked over to the clump, then bent down and inhaled its spicy-sweet scent. "Mmmm…"

She looked at the clump for a few more moments fighting the temptation to pick one. Then her face lit up. "Ah! That's it!" She rushed over to her bag and pulled out the Sakura Book. "Flower!" A moment later, she tucked a small spray of dark maroon, blue, and purple sweet peas into her hair above her ear, put the Sakura Book back in her book bag, and then sat back down to begin her assignment.

As she was getting ready to start drawing, she felt the familiar sinking/rushing feeling that signaled the change of another Card. A bright light shone out of her book bag for a moment, then all returned to normal. With sad, worried eyes, she reached into her bag, drew out the Sakura Book, and opened it.

Slowly she flipped through the Cards until she found the new one. Fight covered Glow. Sakura's face grew puzzled as she noticed the small white cat hiding behind Fight. "Hu-e... That's odd," she said. "They've never added pictures before..." She studied it a few more moments, and then slowly tucked it back into the Book near the Moon Card. As she did so, she wondered why it seemed like Fight was protecting the little cat.

Super Sailor Neptune caught her partner's hard silver eyes, and then pointed towards the jungle on their left with her Aqua Mirror. Super Sailor Uranus nodded her white head and led the way quietly into the hot, humid undergrowth. A short while later, she held up one gloved hand. Super Sailor Neptune immediately stopped, peering around intently.

Instinctively, the two senshi jumped to the side. As Super Sailor Uranus landed in a nearby gum tree and Super Sailor Neptune came to rest by a giant coffee bush, the ground where they had been standing collapsed. The two partners looked around, trying to find their enemy.

"That's pretty good," they heard King Necro say with a sneer in his voice. "You not only managed to find my vacation home, you avoided one of my little welcoming presents. But can you avoid the rest?"

The tree Super Sailor Uranus was in began to shake wildly. Flailing her arms, she lost her balance and fell. Quickly, she curled herself into a ball, rolled out of the fall, and rose gracefully to her feet, ready to defend herself. King Necro just laughed.

Super Sailor Neptune jerked as she felt something slide across her ankle. With wide eyes, she jumped back away from the snake that had crawled out of the bush. As she landed, she felt her ankle twist under her. Quickly, she looked down, and jumped just in time to avoid the bite of another snake. Looking around, she saw that snakes of all sorts surrounded her.

"Neptune," Super Sailor Uranus called out uncertainly.

Her partner shook her dark aqua head, and raised her mirror. Her tight grip on the mirror's handle was the only outward indication of her stomach churning fear. "Do you think you can scare me off with a few illusionary snakes?" she asked tauntingly.

She turned the Aqua Mirror away from her and slowly turned in a circle. In front of her, the snakes began to disappear. "No illusion can stand up to my Mirror," she continued haughtily. She paused as she heard Queen Fey's amused laugh.

"Ah, but that's the beauty of illusionary attacks," the woman said in her fake sweet voice. Super Sailor Neptune screamed as she felt the fangs of a real snake sink into the flesh of her left calf. "No-one ever thinks that you've hidden a real one in with all the illusions," she continued, then laughed again.

"Neptune!" Super Sailor Uranus cried, drawing her Space Sword out of its hiding place. With a quick leap and a swift blow, she decapitated the snake then slung her blade around through the remaining snakes. Twice more, she cut through live ones, and then the illusion disappeared.

Super Sailor Neptune had collapsed to the ground clutching her leg with one gloved hand. With the other, she still held the Aqua Mirror up looking for the next attack. Her tear filled eyes widened yet again as she saw the log hurtling through the air. With no time to shout a warning, she rolled herself into Super Sailor Uranus to knock her down. The log brushed her partner's short white hair as it swept past.

Super Sailor Uranus lay on her back a moment, and then quickly rose to her feet again. Her hard eyes scanned the trees as her hand gripped her sword. Suddenly, she leapt up into the canopy again, disappearing from view.

Super Sailor Neptune looked into her mirror once more, ignoring the burning pain that was creeping up her leg. She gasped as she felt the familiar sensation of loosing control of herself. It forced her to stand up. Raising her left hand up to the handle of the mirror, she gripped it tightly in both hands, and made her body to turn towards the source of the feeling. Immediately, it waned.

She closed her eyes and concentrated intently on her mirror. "Neptune Aqua CHARYBDIS!" she yelled. Out of the Aqua Mirror, an aqua colored stream of energy emerged. With a swirling motion, it sped forward, dodging the trees and bushes. Suddenly, it stopped then began to pull back towards the mirror. Caught in its glittering swirl, Queen Fey struggled to free herself. Slowly it drug her out of her hiding place to a point three meters in front of Super Sailor Neptune, who looked at her with cold teal blue eyes.

The swirling energy stopped pulling on the silver-haired enemy. It began to swirl around her instead, spiraling towards the ground. Suddenly, it fountained up, catching Queen Fey in a thick wall of swirling water. She choked and screamed in fear as she spun around the towering whirlpool.

Super Sailor Neptune heard King Necro yell angrily and felt herself freeze. His spell had no effect on her attack, however, and Queen Fey continued to choke and drown in the swirling whirlpool. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him emerge from the trees, pointing his wand at her. He began to chant furiously.

Slowly, the energy drain of the attack began to catch up with her. She closed her eyes as she cut the link between the Aqua Mirror and the standing whirlpool. Immediately, the water disappeared. Queen Fey crashed to the ground, and lay there unmoving.

Super Sailor Neptune felt herself collapse. Surprised, she opened her eyes and saw Super Sailor Uranus standing between her and the remaining enemy. She had her sword turned so that the edge faced him. 'Ah...,' the Senshi of the Oceans thought groggily. 'She's using the blade to cut the spell...'

King Necro's expression turned from one of concentration to one of confusion as he realized his spell was not reaching either of his targets. As Super Sailor Uranus saw this, she smiled tightly. She shifted with him as he tried to edge around for a better angle.

Finally, he stopped and studied her with narrowed eyes. "Interesting. A blade that can cut anything? Why don't we test that?" With a smile, he gestured with his wand. A boulder appeared out of nowhere and flung itself at her. Remembering her wounded partner behind her, she stood her ground and let the sword split the rock. King Necro just smiled wider and gestured again.

Pebbles, rocks, glass, limbs, and vines flew at her from various directions. Moving with incredible speed, the Senshi of the Wind blocked them all. She spun in surprise, however, as Super Sailor Neptune cried out in pain. Behind her, unseen, a creature of rock roughly shaped like a man had picked up her exhausted friend.

King Necro quickly began to chant and wave again. Super Sailor Uranus hesitated, uncertain whether to attack the monster or block the spell.

Suddenly, Super Sailor Neptune called out "Deep Submerge!" She threw the attack directly into the monster's face. With a garbled cry it released her and fell back, then broke into tiny pieces. She landed on her good leg, and then slowly sank back down to the ground alert for more attacks. With an appreciative smile, Super Sailor Uranus turned back to face King Necro.

Before she could complete her turn, however, he froze her with his paralyzation spell. She growled in frustration as she realized she was just a few degrees off and couldn't move. Hearing her, he smiled evilly and continued to chant.

"Uranus?" she heard Super Sailor Neptune call softly. Grinding her teeth, she focused all her will on moving to no avail. With a final shout, King Necro finished his spell, and grinned at them. "It was a nice fight, but I win," he called across the clearing. "Thank you for getting rid of Fey for me. She was beginning to be a nuisance," he added.

Super Sailor Uranus looked over at the body of the silver haired woman, eyes narrowing as she remembered the towering whirlpool Super Sailor Neptune had summoned. Then, a sudden, tearing pain in her side distracted her. She cried out in pain and clutched it, staggering.

A moment later, she realized she could move. As Super Sailor Neptune cried out behind her, she gripped her Space Sword in both hands and turned to face her enemy. Holding it low, she crouched down, and, ignoring the sudden pain in her foot, leapt up high into the sky. "Uranus Space VACUUM!" she yelled, drawing the sword up away from the ground and higher into the air.

King Necro clutched his throat suddenly as the air around him swirled up into the sky creating a vacuum where he stood.

Super Sailor Uranus landed again, and then collapsed as her foot and the bottom half of her right leg disappeared. She held her sword up in the air as long as she could, but the pain finally made her lower it. When the sword touched the earth again, the vacuum broke, and King Necro collapsed unconscious to the ground.

Super Sailor Uranus smiled with satisfaction as she saw this through her tears of pain. Slowly, she turned to face Super Sailor Neptune who had half disappeared. Super Sailor Neptune gave her a small smile, and nodded. She nodded back.

Suddenly, Super Sailor Neptune reached out. "Uranus!"

Super Sailor Uranus caught her hand. "I'm here," she called back as Super Sailor Neptune's arm disappeared, leaving only the hand that Super Sailor Uranus gripped. "I'll be right beside you. I'll always be..." her voice faded out as she disappeared from her world.

"Right beside you." Super Sailor Neptune finished for her as she, too, disappeared.

Slowly, the normal early evening sounds returned to the jungle. A cluster of shadowed figures appeared under the gum tree. They looked cautiously about.

"It appears to be clear," one of them said in a soft tenor voice.

"Just to be sure..." another one replied in a soft alto as she turned and gestured to a third figure. The figure bowed then gestured widely with its arms. A soft, blanketing fog filled the clearing.

Slowly, the five figures left their hiding place and walked towards the still bodies of Queen Fey and King Necro.

"They're still alive," the fourth figure whispered in a grateful soprano voice.

"Mmm..." the last one replied in his lower tenor voice crouching near King Necro. "Necro's been hit pretty hard, but I think he'll recover."

"Fey's not doing too good," the soprano said, worry entering her voice. The other figures quickly gathered around her.

"We'll have to take her with us," one of the men said looking at the woman with the alto voice.

"It'll be dangerous..." she replied with quiet consideration. "But we can't just leave her. King Necro?"

"He should be able to recover on his own. It looks like he didn't get hit quite as hard. Besides," the man replied sounding a little uncertain, "I don't know if we can transport both of them and still hide our movements."

The woman nodded slowly. "Then, let's go before we are caught."

"Are you sure he'll be all right?" the soprano asked anxiously looking in the direction of the downed man.

"I'm pretty sure. He's a bit bruised and exhausted, but otherwise he seems to be all right," the man replied in a reassuring voice.

"We can't take him, too, without using up too much power," the alto said gently. "If we can manage it, you can come back and check on him later. For now, we must go."

Slowly, the soprano nodded. The taller man gently picked up Queen Fey. The other figures surrounded him, and then the group vanished from the clearing.

Sakura closed her sketchbook with a sigh. 'Well, I tried,' she thought to herself. 'I'm not very good at sketching. Hmm... I wonder if I can make a Card for that.' She smiled at that though as she packed her art supplies back into her bag.

Standing, she stretched for a long moment, and looked at the gazebo out in the middle of the pond. 'I wonder...'

"Hi, Sakura-chan!"

She smiled as she turned to face Tomoyo. "Hi, Tomoyo-chan! Did you finish your project?"

Tomoyo nodded as she looked around at the lake and the gazebo. "Yes. I found a nice section in the formal garden with a lot of color. I think it came out okay. This is a very pretty spot. Is this what you drew?"

Sakura nodded with a small grimace. "Yeah, but I don't think I did it justice. Hey, I was thinking of finding the path out to that gazebo," she added as she picked up her book bag. "Want to come with me?"

"Sure," Tomoyo said with a smile.

A few minutes later, the two friends were standing in the gazebo admiring the view and the scent of the water lilies around them. Sakura laughed as a breeze blew some sakura petals into the gazebo. Suddenly, she stiffened and looked down towards her bag.

Tomoyo gasped and leapt to catch her as she fell unconscious to the ground. The sweet pea bouquet fell out of her hair to lay beside her as Tomoyo flashed a glance towards her book bag then began to call her name.

"Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan. Sakura-chan!"