Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura
Chapter 4
First steps in a new world
Sakuras house
Everyone left the living room and stood out in the hallway, preparing to leave for Tomoyos house.
"Alright, so it'll be Meilin, Hiirigizawa, Daidouji, Nakuru, Tsukishiro, Spinel, Kero, Kinomoto and Wolfie who'll be coming with us on the journey" Stranger looked around as he called the names.
"Why did you call me 'Wolfie'?" Syaoran asked, looking slightly annoyed
"What, don't you like it? I think it suits you" Stranger chuckled
"Aww, isn't Touya coming as well?" Nakuru whined and latched onto his arm
"No, now get off me!" Touya shook his arm, trying to get the girl to let go
"But could you at least come to see us off?"
"Only if you let go of me" Touya growled at her, and she let go of his arm.
"Alright! Where are we all going to meet up then?" Nakuru cried
"We could all meet up at the Tsukimine shrine tomorrow morning at 9.00" Eriol suggested
"That sounds okay" Sakura smiled
"It would be okay if you could at least wake up that early" Kero commented, as he flew upstairs
"Alright, we should get going now" Tomoyo opened the front door, and everyone began to walk out of the house.
Meilin stepped over towards Tomoyo with a question
"Hey, Miss Daidouji. How are you going to explain all of this" Meilin began to point towards the large group of people who she has just invited to her house "to your mother?"
"I'll think of something, don't worry" Tomoyo gave an odd grin
"You coming, Syaoran?" Meilin asked, standing halfway out the door
Syaoran thought for a second, then walked back over to Sakura
"I am going to stay here for just a while longer"
"Oh, okay then. See you tomorrow Miss Kinomoto" Meilin waved and closed the door behind her.
"And just WHO said that you could stay here for a while longer?" Touya looked over with to Syaoran with a glare that could kill.
"I did, oniichan. So leave Syaoran alone" Sakura threatened her brother as she and Syaoran headed back to the living room. When they got there, they sat down together on the sofa.
"We're going to be travelling to different worlds… it sounds so exciting!" Sakura beamed a smile to Syaoran
"Yeah…but it could also be dangerous" He warned, but Sakura just smiled again
"We already faced many dangers when it came to capturing the cards. And besides…"
She moved closer and took both his hands in her own
"As long as you are by my side, I will always be safe"
Syaoran couldn't help but smile. He released his hands and brought Sakura into an embrace.
"Syaoran…can I ask you something?" she whispered, lifting her head slightly
"Of course, Sakura" He looked down into her eyes
"Earlier, Eriol-kun said that you were…killed…"
Syaorans eyes widened. He knew where this was going
"What did he mean by that Syaoran?"
He looked away from her, not wanting to have to answer the question.
"Syaoran, please tell me" she gripped onto his shirt, and by doing so she noticed something. She saw part of the bandages that covered Syaoran.
"What's this?" she really began to worry now
"That's just… it's nothing"
"It's not nothing! Syaoran, I have to know what happened to you"
He gave a deep sigh. He couldn't avoid telling her after what Eriol had said and the fact that she had now seen his bandages.
"Sakura, if I told you what happened would you please calm down?"
She nodded furiously, and he then sank back into his seat as he began to tell her about the previous day. After he had finished the story, Sakura looked at him with sad eyes
"That person, Ginryu. He killed all of those people…then tried to kill you?"
He nodded slowly
"So for the past couple of days…you were in a coma?"
"That's right"
"Syaoran…" She hugged him really hard, horrified at the thought of him being killed by some madman in dark armour.
Syaoran looked at the clock on the wall of the living room. It was getting pretty late and they needed to be up early tomorrow morning.
"Sakura, I should get going now…"
"Stay with me…just for a while longer" she mumbled into his shirt.
"Okay…" He wrapped his arms around her, and they both sat in silence together in a world of their own for the next hour
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Tsukimine shrine, the next morning
After a night at Tomoyos house Syaoran, Meilin, Tomoyo, Eriol, Nakuru, Spinel (Who was in Eriols bag), Stranger and Raine all stood underneath the cherry tree at the shrine. Each carried with them a small bag containing their personal effects (Syaoran carried his sword on his back and Tomoyo had her camcorder complete with spare tapes and batteries). They were waiting for the final members of the group to turn up.
"What's the time?" Nakuru asked
Tomoyo looked at her watch
"It's 9.23"
"And Miss Kinomoto's still not here" Meilin said with a 'why am I not surprised' tone in her voice.
"Tsukishiro isn't here either" Eriol noticed
Tomoyo looked over to the shrine entrance
"There they are now" she pointed out.
Everyone saw Sakura, Yukito and Touya walking up the pathway towards them.
"Sorry I'm late!" Sakura cried, running to Syaoran
"That's okay, Sakura" Syaoran smiled, whilst giving her a hug.
The backpack that Sakura carried began to shake, then it opened up and Kero stuck his head out
"Hey, are we going or what? It's getting pretty hot in this bag" he grumbled
"Okay Kero, calm down" Sakura let go of Syaoran and walked over to where Tomoyo and Meilin where standing.
"Good morning!" Sakura greeted the two and they greeted her back.
"By the way Tomoyo-chan, what did you say to mother about this? I mean we are going on a long journey and we don't know when we're going to get back"
"There's nothing to worry about, Sakura-chan. I told mother that these were relatives of Meilin-chan and Li-kun, and that they had invited us to stay with them over in Hong Kong for the summer" Tomoyo giggled
Syaoran began to walk over to Sakura until he felt someone grab onto his shirt with real force. He turned to see Touya glaring at him.
"If anything happens to Sakura, I'm holding you responsible gaki"
Syaoran returned the glare
"I'll never let anything happen to her. I will guard Sakura with my life" Syaoran stated, twisting his way out of Touyas vice-like grip.
Touya then watched as Syaoran walked over to Sakura and took hold of her hand. He already knew that Syaoran would keep his little sister safe no matter what, but he also couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen at the end of their journey.
"You better take care of yourself too, kid" Touya whispered. He turned to see Yukito smiling at him.
"Well I'll see you later then, Touya"
"Be careful out there, Yuki. And…" Touya then leaned over to him
"Keep an eye on those two for me, will you?" he motioned his head towards Sakura and Syaoran, and then Yukito smiled again.
"YOOHOO, TOUYA!" Nakurus voice filled the air as she then ran up to him and jumped onto his back
"You're not going to let me go without a goodbye kiss, are you?" She cooed into his ear
"I've got to get to work now. See you all later" Touya shook Nakuru off his back and walked off towards the shrine entrance
"Hey, that's not fair!" She moaned after him
Raine waved her hands to get everyone's attention as she stepped in front of the cherry tree.
"Okay then now that we're all here, let's get going"
Holding out her hands, a small ball of light rose from her palms and hovered over her head. The ball flashed a couple of times, then a small twister spun out and surrounded the group as they all stood huddled up together.
"I suggest you guy's hold onto something, this usually isn't a pleasant ride" Stranger called over to everyone as the wind became stronger.
Hearing that, Syaoran tightened his grip on Sakuras hand and she did the same. The twister then began to change colours, and everyone suddenly lifted off the ground.
"Here we go" Raine smiled
The colourful twister suddenly flashed a bright green, and then everything around them went dark. The strong winds became weaker, but there was the feeling that they were flying at a high speed.
"Syaoran, what's happening? Are we flying?" Sakura asked him as she gripped onto his arm
"I think so…huh?" A bright light ahead of them suddenly caught Syaoran's attention.
The light was flashing and twirling as they headed straight for it. Before they knew it the entire had group crash-landed in a big pile in a dusty old alleyway.
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Ancient city of Shenhua
"Is everyone okay? Anybody hurt or anything?" Raine asked around with concern
Syaoran picked himself up off the ground, but not before helping Sakura up.
"Are you alright?"
"I'm okay, thank you Syaoran" Sakura suddenly remembered about Kero, who was in her bag.
She opened it to check on him, and he suddenly flew out in front of her
"Are you okay Kero?"
"That was some ride" Kero laughed, who then flew over to Eriol
"Hey, how's Suppi?"
Spinel found his way out of Eriols bag
"I'm okay, thank you" Spinel replied
"I think we're all fine" Eriol Smiled whilst he helped up Tomoyo and Meilin
"Speak for yourself" Stranger groaned whilst rubbing the back of his head.
Syaoran glanced around the alley and noticed they were in-between two large sandstone buildings. He could hear the sound of horses galloping by and crowds of people in the distance.
"Where are we?"
"The ancient city of Shenhua, situated out in the middle of a desert. We can find all the information we need about the temple and the seals from the mayor of this city, Regent Chen" Raine said
"You know the mayor? Have you been here before then?" Syaoran looked slightly puzzled
"Yes, once before. Now if I can remember, his estate should be at the far side of the city. We should be somewhere near the Green Market Quarter, meaning we should head north to find it" She began to slowly rub the side of her head as she talked.
Everyone noticed something about the way Raine spoke, that there was a hint of tiredness in her voice. It wasn't just that though, her eyes were drooping.
"Are you alright?" Tomoyo asked, placing her hand on Raines shoulder
"I'm fine…" she forced a smile
And with that, she collapsed onto the floor. Everyone jumped back in shock.
"Ah, hell" Stranger cursed, quickly rushing to her side.
"W-what's happened to her?" Sakura asked, sharing the same worried expression that everyone else held.
Eriol walked over and placed his hand on Raines forehead. He concentrated for a moment, then turned to the others
"She seems to have passed out due to an extreme power drain"
"Extreme power drain?" Kero hovered over the unconscious woman
"It takes a lot of magic power to travel between dimensions. Raine has the ability to transport four people with no amount of trouble, but taking more than that will cause her to pass out" Stranger began to lift Raine onto his back "That is what I was worried about"
"If she knew all of this, why did she…" Syaoran began to question him, but was cut off
"Because that's the way Raine is. Trust me when I say this, don't argue with her about anything because she can be scary when she gets mad. REALLY scary"
Everyone stood in silence for a moment.
"Will she be alright?" Sakura asked with deep concern
"A couple of hours sleep and she'll be fine" Eriol assured her
"Hey, can we get going now? This place smells kinda funny" Nakuru complained as she wiped the dirt off her bag
Stepping forward, Syaoran moved towards the exit of the alley. He took a quick glance out then turned to Stranger
"Have you been here before as well? Do you know how to get to the mayors house?" he asked
"Of course. By the way, the people of this city know about magic so they won't give a second thought about those things" Stranger motioned his head to Kero and Spinel
"Who are you calling a thing!" Kero protested
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Green Market Quarter
"Wow…" Everyone gasped in amazement as they wandered through the busy streets of the old city.
Being in the middle of the desert it was very hot and sunny with sand everywhere. Sandstone buildings and towering structures surrounded them, people wearing Chinese-style robes mobbed market stalls which sell exotic foods and handcrafted souvenirs, all while horse drawn carriages cruised down the roads.
"This place is certainly busy" Tomoyo exclaimed, recording the sights with her camcorder
"It usually is. It'll be even busier tomorrow though, that's market day" Stranger informed her.
"Hey, people are giving us odd looks" Syaoran looked around cautiously
As they walked along, it did seem that the locals were staring at them strangely.
"It could be because you're carrying an unconscious girl on your back" Spinel hovered over to Stranger
"I don't think that's the case" He began to follow Syaoran's cautious glances
"Nah, they're probably just amazed to see such a cool looking beast like me here" Kero grinned as he flew alongside Yukito
"Gimme a break…" Syaoran sighed
"Maybe it's our clothes" Sakura said
"If that's so, I could make you some so we do blend in!" Tomoyo cheered
"I think we would stand out even more with the clothes you make Tomoyo-chan" Sakura whined
Before they reached the end of the road, a loud demanding voice boomed from behind them
"YOU PEOPLE IN THE STRANGE CLOTHES, STOP WHERE YOU ARE"
Everyone in the group froze
A/n I would've updated this earlier, but my grandmother has been hospitalised due to an accident so I'm helping to look after my grandfather while she's away. I posted some character sketches for my story on a website that my brother and I are currently developing. The link is in my profile