Chapter Nine: Return.
"Any idea of how to get the Clow Book back here to Hong Kong?" Tomoyo asked, sitting at the Kinomoto's kitchen table staring at the Clow Cards in the middle of the table.
"No idea. I e-mailed Sayaka and Filla a little while ago… but they haven't seen the book either." Sakura replied, dropping her head onto the table.
Syaoran glared at her from across the table. "You told your friends about the Clow Book! Why'd you do such a stupid thing like that Sakura? No one was supposed to know about it. No one."
Sakura lifted her head off the table, glaring back at Syaoran. "I didn't tell them it was a Clow Book. I told them it was an heirloom of the families, and my dad – in the confusion of moving didn't recognize it and sent it back to the University. But… they obviously can't get into the University. All they said was that the University had some water damage with the last typhoon that went through there that most of the library there got destroyed and most of the books were junked. So… actually the Clow Book could be anywhere.
"Well, that's just great! Your father got the book we need junked. You're a unit, Kinomoto." Meiling muttered, shooting the girl a glance.
"How was I too know that would happen? I don't control the weather!"
"You have the storm card don't you? You could have stopped it!"
"Girls! Stop it!" Eriol said, holding up his hands, looking at them both. "Sakura couldn't use the card, that would be interfering with the nature of things, all that would have done would be to put the typhoon somewhere else."
Meiling sighed, falling back in her chair arms crossed. "But she still should have kept up with the book – she shouldn't have let her father take it and sent it back to her old home!"
"There's only one thing we can do," Tomoyo said, the others glancing over at her. "We have to get to Readington somehow. Now, all we need is some way to get there…"
"That's a great idea Tomoyo! Why didn't I think of that?" Sakura said, smiling over at the purple haired girl.
Meiling just smirked, biting back a response from the look that Syaoran had shot over at her.
"What about all your magical powers? Can you guys just summon the book here?" Tomoyo asked, looking over at the three Card Captors.
Eriol just shook his head. "Readington is far away from here, I mean it's in Japan and we're in China. It would take too much energy to bring the book here, and it would most likely drain us of our power. With finals looming, we can't really become sick and tired for a little while?" Eriol paused for a second, looking at both Sakura and Syaoran who nodded at his answer. "The only way we could do that is to wait for exams to be over… but that will be another two weeks." Eriol sighed as he reached out to the table grabbing the Clow Cards that sat in the center of the table. "The cards… are growing colder and my magic doesn't seem to be doing anything for them now. We need the book back, and fast."
Tomoyo blinked at his explanation, things were definitely starting to get worse. "What about the Return Card… couldn't we send Sakura back to Readington to get the book back? We could send her back in time to when the book would have been just received there."
Eriol smiled at her, placing the cards back down on the table. "That's a great idea, Tomoyo! Now, how long ago did your dad send the book, Sakura?"
"Hmm," Sakura muttered, tapping her head. "Well, I've been here for about a year and a bit, so I think around this time last November?"
Eriol nodded. "Would you be willing to go back and get the book since you're the only one who knows the way around Readington?"
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I guess. But, how could I get there and come back?"
"And what would serve for the barrier to get here back and forth through time?" Syaoran asked, jumping into the conversation as well.
"Once the card sends you there, you'll be there until you have completed the mission – which would be to get the book back from the library. After that you should return back here, as for the place with the barrier… where did you find the book, Sakura? That would be the best place to set it up."
"The basement." She replied.
Eriol nodded, standing up, taking the cards with him. "Alright then, let's see this basement and set up the barrier." He said and started fishing out the Return Card from the pile.
The others all looked at each other before shrugging and following after Eriol who had wandered down the hall in search of the basement door.
"Sakura, hold on for a second," Tomoyo said, coming up behind Sakura. "I have something for you to do before you head back to the past to retrieve the book.
"Oh?" Sakura said, turning around and looking at the other girl. "What is it?"
"Well I made this for your next card capturing adventure, and since this is it… here you go!" Tomoyo said, hauling fabric out of her bag and shoving it into Sakura's hands. "Now go and put it on! Ohh, I wish that I could go too and video tape it." Tomoyo said, going starry eyed.
"Alright, well this is the basement. Me and Tomoyo found the book about here." Sakura said, pointing at the spot on the bookshelf where she had found the book the year before.
Eriol nodded, walking around the area, muttering something under his breath. "Alright this should work," He nodded, muttering a chant under his breath as his staff appeared in his hands, and he muttered a few more things while waving the staff about. "Alright, the barriers up so only you can step through it Sakura. That way, no one else will become trapped in the past." He said, stepping out of the barrier and waving Sakura to step inside it.
Sakura just stared at the barrier that Eriol had created, before looking him in the eyes. "What about my family? If this takes me more then one day, they'll wonder where I went too."
Tomoyo fished around in her pocket bag before handing Sakura a pen and paper. "Write your dad a note saying that you're sleeping over at my house for the night. I'll leave it on the kitchen table for them to see."
Sakura nodded, scribbling down a note and handing it back to Tomoyo. "I'll be back soon." She smiled, holding her staff closely before stepping into the barrier that Eriol had created.
"Return Card!" Sakura yelled, tossing the card up in the air and brought her staff down on the cards' form. "Return me to the past one year ago in my old home!"
White wisps came out of the card, revealing a figure for a moment before circling around Sakura, slowly glowing brighter. Then, in a flash, Sakura was gone.
"Now, only if she can do it!" Meiling said, crossing her arms over her chest again.
"She'll do it… otherwise we'll have some problems." Syaoran said.
"Problems? What kind of problems?" Tomoyo asked, still holding the letter that Sakura had hastily written.
"The cards that she left behind…" Eriol said, eyeing the cards that Sakura had put down when she went to write the letter for her dad.
"She did what?" Syaoran said, glaring at the table behind Tomoyo and saw the cards. "Augh! That girl, how could she be so clueless! She went to the past defenseless… and left her cards here? What an idiot!"
"That's bad, I guess?" Tomoyo said, looking from Syaoran to the forgotten cards.
"For her; it might not be any trouble. For us, it might be," Eriol said, looking warningly at the cards. "If she's gone for more then two days the cards will start to lose their power as their mistress has returned to the past and not all them we're captured a year ago – except maybe Fly and Wind. Other that, the others will rebel when their cards turn cold – it's even out of my hands – and Sakura will be trapped in the past, as Return might rebel."
"But didn't Sakura take Return to the past?" Tomoyo asked.
Eriol nodded. "She did, but if the other cards rebel, who knows what Return might do…"
Tomoyo sighed; looking back at the barrier that Sakura vanished into. "Hurry back Sakura."
Horns blared, lights were gleaming and mindless chit chat as people walked around the streets of Readington, ignoring the girl who seemed out of place, gawking around like it was a dream. Sakura grinned, taking in the surroundings of her old town. She was home, back to her old town before the capturing cards and the endless nights… she was home free of all of the stress of catching cards and keeping it a secret.
"I'm back. I'm finally home." Sakura laughed, taking in her surroundings, the idea of finding the Clow Book completely forgotten for the moment. "I wonder where Filla and Sayaka are?" She looked down at her watch – 11:50. "School will be out for lunch in ten minutes. I could go see them… it would be just like old times!" Grinning, Sakura took off down the street on foot, as she had forgotten her roller blades at her house in the future.
"School's out! Wa-hoo! So where do you want to go for lunch, Filla?" Sayaka asked, pushing the school doors open as the two ventured out into the school grounds.
"Um… how about that new place that started up down on Fyurish Lane?" Filla said, pushing her hat down on her blue locks. "I heard they have some good Teriyaki!"
"Teriyaki… to bad Sakura wasn't here, she loved that." Sayaka sighed, looking at Filla then to the blank space beside her.
Filla sighed, putting on a smile. "She's been gone for a month now Sayaka, she said she'd be back, but I don't think that she meant that fast." She laughed, smacking Sayaka on the back, who just shot her a withering look.
"I know, but still we can't be the three musketeers without her!"
"Yeah, I know but what can we do, Sakura's gone for the time being."
Sakura's ears perked up when she heard her name being called. Her green eyes scanned the crowd as she looked for whomever it was that had called her name. Then she saw it, a blue figure with a blonde figure were making their way down the street in the opposite direction she was headed in.
"Hey Sayaka! Filla! Over here!" Sakura called, waving at the two as she made her way over there, dodging those that stepped in her way.
"Did you hear something?" Filla asked, looking around them, as if to see someone running at them.
"No, I didn't hear anything," Sayaka replied, looking around. "And I don't see anyone either. You feeling alright, no one's there."
Filla shook her head. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just seeing – or hearing – visions of the past."
"Wait for me!" Sakura said, slowly gaining on them.
'Almost there.' She thought, reaching a hand out for Filla's shoulder… but her hand went right through her. Sakura stopped, staring at her hand, wondering what was going on… she went right through her friends' shoulder.
"What's going on?" Sakura asked, looking from her hand to her friends.
Shaking her head, she ran to catch up to them, hoping they'd see her this time. She quickly caught up to the two, and passé them, stopping in front of them, arms spread.
"Hey guys," She grinned at her friends. "Long time no see, eh? Glad to have me back?"
Only her friends didn't stop. They kept walking and they past right through her again.
"Did you feel that? It just went cold for a second there." Filla remarked, looking back over her shoulders, as she rubbed her hands over her jacketed arms.
"Yeah, I felt it too, but the sun's out… how's that possible?" Sayaka asked, looking up at the sky, as she too rubbed her jacketed arms.
"It's weird, and I thought that I heard Sakura for a second there," Filla muttered. "Oh, here we are." She said, looking up at the building as she and Sayaka disappeared inside the restaurant.
Sakura just stood there as she watched her friends disappear into the restaurant. "They walked right through me…" She trailed off, adding up what all of this meant, and her eyes went wide. "I'm trapped in the past and no one can see me!" She yelled, and yet, no one even heard her.
A/N: Hey all, after that long long hiatus for this story (yikes! I can't believe I last updated this on July 2nd 2003!) Buy, I'm back and I have a whole new idea for the rest of this series! And, I'd like to thank the following two people:
Sakura Potato and KawaiiQuerida-chan for the ideas that they left in their reviews. All the ideas that you guys gave me were awesome and I plan to use them in some sense in the story, although it might be changed around a little. So, therefore without these two this would most likely be on hiatus forever as I had no idea what to do for this story or where to take it – so it's all thanks to them that I have this chapter. So, a big THANK YA to both of you!