Welcome to Fanfiction, where the writing schedule is nonexistent and the update schedule is no. But seriously, if you've stuck with us this far, we want you to know how much we appreciate you- and that we hope you continue to enjoy the story! As per the usual disclaimer, I don't own anything, I'm just a fan writing some fiction. Thank you for all your support!

13- Sakura and a Lost Sheep

Naoko held up an index card and read from it, speaking loud enough that the room could hear. "Which nitrogenous base pairs with guanine?"

Yamazaki's hand shot up and he called "cytosine!" at the same time that Chiharu tapped a bell on the table. Naoko sighed and set the card down.

"Yamazaki-kun, you're the one who suggested we use the bell in the first place. There's no point in making this a game if you don't use it. Chiharu-chan?"

"The answer is cytosine," Chiharu replied, and Tomoyo wrote a mark on the poster board they'd set against the side of the sofa.

"A point for Chiharu-chan, then. Nice work."

Sakura came in from the kitchen, carrying a tray of snacks. It had been a long time since all her friends had gotten together, and she felt an unexpected rush of happiness at seeing them all gathered in her living room.

"Hey, guys, my dad is working in his office down the hall, so don't get too loud."

Chiharu elbowed Yamazaki. "Hear that? You need to stop being such a know-it-all and actually follow the rules you made up."

Yamazaki sighed and shook his head. "These questions are just too easy. If we don't add more challenging material to the mix, it won't be any fun."

"We just want to learn what's going to be on the exams," Rika pointed out. "That's the point of a study session, isn't it?"

Tomoyo moved on to the next question. "What was the first mammal ever cloned?"

Syaoran's hand flew to the bell first. "A sheep," he answered, "England, 1996."

"Correct!" Tomoyo chimed, and placed the card back down on the table. She handed the cards over to Sakura to call out the next question, but before Sakura could even look at them, Yamazaki chimed in.

"But! That's not the only contribution sheep have made to the field of genetics! In fact, decades before the cloning of Dolly the sheep, a genetic anomaly was found in sheep in the western United States that caused them to be born with one giant eye in the middle of their head. They were called the 'cyclops sheep,' and a scientific investigation into the cause of the sheep's strange appearance found-"

Sakura was transfixed, so Chiharu nudged her and motioned to the notecards. "Just continue with the next question. If you ignore him, he'll shut up eventually."

"But I kinda want to hear about the cyclops sheep…"

"-eventually discovered that the flowers contained a compound that interfered with the ability of the brain to split into two hemispheres. This prevented the development of two eyes as well, and led scientists to name the compound cyclopamine-"

Chiharu swiped the notecards from Sakura and read off the next question. "Which law of heredity states that genes are sorted separately from one another?"

"-that a similar condition known as cyclopeia can occur in humans as a result of vitamin A deficiency, and is thought to be the inspiration for one-eyed creatures in mythology, such as the hitotsume-kozou and-

"Oh!" After thinking it over for a few moments, Naoko rang the bell. "Law of independent assortment!"

"Correct! A point for Naoko-chan." Tomoyo put another mark on the poster.

"-another source might have been the discovery of mammoth skulls on islands in the Aegean sea, which the ancient Greeks may have mistaken for skulls of giants with a single, massive eye socket-"

As the note cards were passed around again, the drone of Yamazaki's speech was cut off by a loud crash from the floor above. The sound of a voice yelling in a distinctly Osakan accent could be heard even from the living room, and Sakura flinched.

Oh no!

"What was that?" Rika asked, looking around. "I thought your father was down here in his office-"

"Sakura? What's going on? Is everyone alright?"

Fujitaka peeked his head into the room as Sakura jumped to her feet.

"I, uh, think something fell in my room! I'm going to go make sure everything's alright!" Sakura bolted up the stairs and poked her head into her bedroom long enough to hiss "Kero, be quiet! My friends are here!"

Despite her warning, she had to go back up three more times that afternoon to check on 'something that fell.' And she was not happy about it.

Sakura stormed up the stairs, throwing the door open and then closing it behind her. "Kero!" she hissed. "What have you been doing this afternoon?!"

"What am I doin'? I'm TRYIN' ta beat this stupid boss!" Kero was retrieving the controller from the closet where he'd thrown it. "It's just not fair, lettin' the boss freeze time like that and not lettin' the protagonists do the same."

Stephen was watching from the pile of stuffed animals on the windowsill. "You know, the pocket watch item allows you to freeze your opponents. If you were to use one of those when you see her casting, you could counteract the time freezing spell-"

"If I had any, I would'a done that a long time ago!"

"Why did you not save them? You had several of them a while ago."

"W-well, I…"

Sakura clenched her fists. "Be quiet, both of you! You almost ruined my study session with that stupid game of yours! What have I told you about being quiet when my friends are over?"

Kero flew over, hovering in front of her face so that he was at eye level. "It's been a long time since ya've had any friends over besides Tomoyo and the kid! I forgot, is all!"

"How could you forget? I told you this morning!"

"Well, maybe you should'a checked to be sure I was payin' attention!"

"How is that MY fault? That's on you!"

"It is NOT! You know full well I get totally in the zone when I'm playin' video games!"

"In the zone? What does that even mean-?!"

Stephen held up a paw. "I believe he is talking about the psychological phenomenon known as flow state, a state of intense concentration characterized by a loss of reflective self-consciousness-"

Kero and Sakura turned to him with simultaneous growls. "STAY OUT OF THIS!"

Stephen nodded and then disappeared back into the pile of stuffed animals.

Kero crossed his arms and turned away with a huff. "What about that Warp Card ya purified last week- The Memory? You could use it to change yer friends' memories so my little outbursts never happened."

"I couldn't do that!" Sakura snapped. "It wouldn't be right! And besides, you're the one who's always telling me that I can't use magic to fix all my problems. Now you want me to use magic to fix your problems?"

"I'm not the one with the problem!"

Sakura sighed, turning around and crossing her arms. "You've lived here for years. You know that you have to live by the rules of this house."

Kero turned around. "Then maybe I'll just go somewhere else. I'm sure Suppi won't mind me playin' games over at his place."

"Good. Then go. In the meantime, Stephen can take your room."

"S-Sakura-sama, you told me not to interfere. Please leave me out of this-"

Kero was already gathering his things at this point. "Well, Sakura, I hope you have a nice quiet night without me. Maybe we'll make it a THING!"

"...and then on top of that, Suppi said they had too many guests for me to stay over! Can ya believe that? All I wanted to do was sleep over and play a few video games!"

Yukito was listening and nodding along as he stirred the pasta sauce he was working on at the stove. "I suppose that makes sense. But didn't Sakura-chan kick you out for making a racket?"

"Sh-she didn't kick me out! I left on my own!"

"Right, right." Yukito chuckled and turned back to the stove again. "But I think you did the right thing. When Touya and I fight, we always take some time to ourselves to cool off before trying to make up."

"You and big brother fight? I thought the two of you were always all lovey-dovey."

That statement made Yukito laugh. "Are you kidding? Every relationship is going to have disagreements of some kind. Whether it's between friends or lovers or even a magical guardian and master- no one always sees eye to eye."

Kero sighed, lying flat against the surface of the dinner table. "I mean… I guess I was bein' a little too difficult. Sakura's got exams comin' up in school, and she and her friends were studyin' so hard… I shouldn't have yelled at her like I did."

Yukito gave the sauce a taste test and, satisfied, turned off the burner so that he could approach the table and sit down next to Kero. "See? I told you taking some time by yourself to cool off was the best approach. It helps you see what you couldn't see in the moment when you were too angry."

Kero sat up again, nodding. "Yeah, I guess… but I still don't wanna go back until tomorrow morning. Even if I've calmed down, I dunno if Sakura has too. If I go back before she's fully cooled off, we might start arguin' again, and then I'll get all heated up and say things I don't mean."

"That's probably a good idea." Yukito reached over and patted Kero on the head. "The other me says you have a tendency to say things you don't mean when you're upset."

"What?! Easy for him to say when he never shows one single ounce of emotion ever-"

"Hm, seems he was right."

Kero froze in his fighting position and then slumped back down to the table. "I'm sorry. I guess I do say things I don't mean. It's easy to get fed up when I feel like someone's invadin' my space, y'know?"

Yukito stood up and returned to the stove as he heard the pasta water beginning to boil. "It's especially hard when you live with someone. Sharing space makes even everyday things difficult to handle sometimes. Even after years of being together, you still find issues that you didn't foresee. But when you love the person, you understand how important it is to come to an understanding on those things, so that you can build a solid future together."

Kero had joined him at the counter and was tasting the pasta sauce as well. "A solid future, huh? I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right. Sakura and I are gonna be together for a long time. It's inevitable that things like this are gonna happen, isn't it? And when she grows up and gets her own place…" He paused and gasped, dropping the spoon he was holding with a clatter. "Oh no! If she and that brat get married, I'm gonna be livin' with him too! Oh, that's gonna be a load of-"

"Calm down." Yukito tapped Kero on the head. "I'm sure you and Stephen will get along with Li-kun just fine."

Kero drew back, holding his head. "Stephanos… d'ya really think he's in it for the long haul?"

Yukito turned the burner down to let the pasta simmer and went to the fridge to retrieve some spinach. "The long haul? What do you mean?"

"I mean, he really hasn't made himself at home with Sakura like I did when she first started collectin' the Clow Cards. It's been almost four months since he was released, but he still feels like a guest. Sakura offered to make him a little room like she did for me, but he refused, sayin' he's comfortable in that pile of stuffed animals. I wonder if he…"

"You don't think-" Yukito began, moving the saucepan to the back burner and getting out a frying pan. "-that he's planning to betray you do you?"

"I dunno. If ya asked me that a couple'a months ago, I'd have said that's gotta be it. But now I'm not so sure. I wonder if something's gonna happen to him that he's not tellin' us."

The spinach hissed as Yukito tossed it into the frying pan and stirred it around in the oil. "Sakura-chan said that Stephen used to serve an evil sorcerer who treated him poorly, right? Maybe he's just afraid to get too close to anyone."

"Maybe…" Kero murmured. "But I wonder…"

"Hey, I'm home."

The sound of the door opening drew both Kero and Yukito's attention. "Touya!" Yukito exclaimed. "Welcome back! Dinner's almost finished, so you can put your stuff down and help set the table. We'll have three for dinner tonight."

"Thanks for cooking," Touya said, passing through the kitchen on his way to the hall. He stopped, however, and took a step back, doing a double-take. "What the-? Isn't that Sakura's magical plush toy?"

"I'm not a plush toy! I'm her guardian beast! Guardian beast!"

Touya narrowed his eyes. "...I liked you better when you were pretending to be a stuffed animal around me."

"Well, I didn't like you better then because I've never liked you at all-!"

Yukito just laughed. It was going to be an eventful evening, no doubt.

Kero spent the night on the couch in Touya and Yukito's living room but left in the early hours of the morning so that he could be back in Sakura's room by the time she woke up. She usually slept late on Sundays, but even so, he wanted to be sure he was there to apologize as soon as she woke up. He snuck in through the window and closed it softly behind him, then found a comfortable spot at the foot of Sakura's bed and curled up. Sakura and Stephen were both sound asleep, and while Kero had planned to stay awake long enough to greet them, he found himself drifting off too.

The next thing Kero knew, he heard Sakura stirring, and she shifted in bed, pulling her legs over the side and accidentally tossing Kero onto the floor. Kero bounced against the floor and pulled himself up again with a growl. "Hey, watch it-" he hissed before realizing what he was saying. "I-I mean… I know you didn't see me there, but try to be a little more careful."

Sakura yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Stephen…?" she murmured. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Sakura-sama!" Stephen peeked his head out of the pile of stuffed animals. "Has Kerberos returned from his night of gaming with Suppi Spinel-sama?"

Kero sighed and waved his hand. "Yeah, I'm here. I was actually hangin' out with Yuki-bunny and big brother since Suppi was busy. They gave me some advice, and-"

While Kero was speaking, Sakura walked across the room to her desk and opened up the drawer. "Well, he's not here. I guess he's still sulking."

"What the-?!" Kero stiffened. "I'm here to apologize! Ya don't gotta add insult to injury by pretending I'm not even here-"

"Perhaps he stayed for breakfast," Stephen suggested, hopping up onto the desk. "Nakuruby texted me a photograph a few days ago of her newly perfected peppermint pancakes with hot fudge sauce. Kerberos could never resist such a temptation."

"Aw, I get it, I get it!" Kero flew over to the desk. "Ignore me, taunt me with delicious food, I get it all! What I did yesterday was outta line and I apologize for it-"

"No wonder he'd stay for breakfast," Sakura groaned. "I hate to think that he's being rewarded for throwing a temper tantrum, though."

"Then perhaps you will have to cook something much more delicious for us to enjoy without him."

Kero clenched his fists. "Oooooo-kay! I get it, I get it! You're mad! But I'm apologizin'! What more d'ya want from me-?!" He flew forward to grab hold of Sakura's hand, but when his paws reached her skin, he found himself phasing completely through her and plummeting down to the floor below. "Wh-OAH! What the-?!"

"Come on, Stephen. You can help me cook- I'm sure Dad would appreciate it after his all-nighter last night. Let's have something nice ready for him when he wakes up later." Sakura picked up Stephen and carried him with her downstairs, stepping on top of Kero as she did so. He flinched, but her foot phased right through him, and she seemed completely unaware that she'd even stepped on him. Kero sat up and watched her as she disappeared through the doorway and down the hall.

"...what in the world is goin' on?" Kero murmured. "It's like I'm not even here. They can't see me or hear me or even touch me…" He stiffened and looked back and forth. "Hold on a sec! This ain't a dream, is it? I've gotta wake up- OW!"

He'd started pulling at his face and pinching his sides, and finally couldn't handle it anymore. Defeated, he slumped to the floor and sighed.

"Well, it's not a dream. They can't see me or hear me or touch me. It's like I don't even exist. Somethin' isn't right here. I wonder…"

He closed his eyes, tuning himself into the magical energy of the space. It was rare that he tried to sense things when Sakura was around, since Sakura's powerful magic made it difficult to notice anything else. But his recent experience with Warp Cards had given him enough of a sense for their magical signature that he was able to search for them. He could feel something of that nature scurrying around him, but it was so faint that he couldn't tell exactly where it was.

"Okay, Warp Card, I know you're around here somewhere. Show yourself before I gotta hunt you down!"

There was no noticeable response. Kero sighed and flew over to the desk, hovering over Sakura's cell phone.

"Maybe if she can't hear me talk, I can at least leave her a message that-" His voice cut off as he fumbled to press the power button. His paws were passing right through it, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the phone to turn on. "Oh, you've GOT to be kiddin' me!"

There was a noise behind him that sounded almost like a broken laugh, and Kero twirled around to catch a faint glimpse of a white object disappearing behind the closet door. He broke into a grin, hopping back down to the floor and tiptoeing over to the closet.

"I've got you now…"

As he tugged on the closet door, there was a screech and the creature he'd seen earlier bolted out into Sakura's room. It jumped onto the bed and turned to stare down at Kero, its piercing gaze resting on him even through the thick wool that obscured its face. The creature was not much bigger than Kero himself was, but its form surprised him.

"A sheep? What the hell-?"

The sheep bleated again and took off toward the hallway, jumping off the end of Sakura's bed and through the doorway. Kero scrambled after it, yelling as he ran.

"You get back here! I'm not lettin' you get away!"

The sheep was standing at the edge of the stairs, and it tossed a glance back at Kero before hopping on down one at a time. Kero flew after it, and once it saw that he could fly, it started to jump faster and seemed to tumble down the stairs. It landed with a crash at the foot of the staircase, knocking over a stack of books that Fujitaka had placed to be taken up to his room. From the kitchen, Kero heard Sakura's voice.

"Dad? What was that?" She appeared in the hallway, approaching the books in surprise. The sheep had already scurried off to the living room, but Sakura seemed to pick up on the energy that it had left behind. "Stephen? Come here. Something weird knocked over these books…"

Kero tried to help prop up the books, hoping that they could see what he was doing- but just like before with the phone, he couldn't get enough of a grip on it to move it. His paws phased through the cover. Sakura, meanwhile, pulled away the book he was trying to move and stacked it back up.

"Do you sense the energy of a Warp Card, Sakura-sama?"

"I do, but it feels kind of weird."

"Weird, you say? How so? I do not sense anything weird about it myself, it just seems… faint."

Sakura nodded. "Exactly. It's faint, but not in the way that it is when it's a card that affects a large area. This one's concentrated, but it feels like it's masking its presence somehow-" She stopped herself abruptly and shot to her feet. "Oh, the stove!"

As Sakura ran back into the kitchen, Stephen continued to stack the books until they were all perfectly arranged again. Kero watched, thinking over the situation. He voiced his thoughts out loud, hoping that perhaps Stephen would hear him somehow, but that didn't seem to be the case.

"I can't seem to interact with anything physical, so there's no way for me to get a message across to you guys. Unless… that card definitely knocked over the books, and it seemed to be able to see me. Maybe there's some way I can use the card to get a message across…" Kero grinned and approached Stephen, leaning in and pointing a finger right at his muzzle. "Hah! I don't need your useless advice, see? I can do this all on my own-!"

"Stephen, can you taste test this batter for me?" Sakura's voice called from the kitchen, and Stephen turned to chirp a pleasant reply before scurrying back to her side. Kero clenched his fists in frustration.

"But I'm the one who always gets to taste the batter!" He spun on his heels toward the living room and flew through the doorway. "This is all your fault, Warp Card! Show yourself before the great Kerberos has to weed you out!"

There was movement from one of the plants near the window, and the sheep creature stuck its head out from between the leaves. It let out a little bleat and then dashed toward the other side of the room, narrowly avoiding Kero as it made a beeline for the doorway. Kero flew up to get a better view.

"So, ya wanna play cat and mouse, eh? Then let's make this a little more interesting-!"

As he said this, he began to glow and covered himself with his wings to change into his true form. The full-size Kerberos landed with all four paws on the floor and glared over at the sheep creature that was beginning to shake in fright.

"Aha!" Kerberos said, his lips turning up into a grin that showed off his teeth. "Not so high and mighty now, are you, Warp Card?"

The sheep bleated in terror and turned tail to run back into the hall. Kerberos followed it, trying in vain to corner it as it dodged past him and scurried under his paws to get back into the kitchen. As Kerberos followed it, he found himself instinctively being careful to keep his wings from hitting any of the pictures on the walls or items on the tables- that was, until he remembered what was going on.

"That's right- being careful is only going to slow me down. I can't actually destroy anything." He paused, the realization really sinking in. "Hah! I can't destroy anything! I can do anything I want! Noooo consequences!"

He began to rampage through the kitchen after the card, stumbling through the table and the counter as the creature hopped over the countertops. It hit dishes and utensils, knocking them aside and sending them tumbling onto the floor. The rice cooker fell, hanging by the cord for a moment before crashing down, and several plates were broken in the aftermath.

Kerberos took a step back as he watched a horrified Sakura and Stephen scrambling to figure out what was going on.

"I may not be able to break anything…" he murmured, "but that thing sure can. I can't just chase it around like this. There's got to be some other way."

Meanwhile, Sakura and Stephen were trading ideas back and forth as Sakura swept the broken pieces of plates into the dustpan Stephen was holding. "...I sensed the card, but I didn't see anything. What card could have done something like this?"

"I have a few ideas as to what it might be, but I would be interested in hearing your opinion, Sakura-sama."

"W-well, I was thinking…" Sakura took the dustpan from Stephen and carried it over to the trash. "...this seems like what I'd expect from the Shade card."

"Yes! Shade! My thoughts as well!"

Kerberos glanced at the hallway and frowned. "Shade, huh? That means, like, a ghost, right? That thing doesn't strike me as being very ghostlike, but if they can't see it…" He stopped and shook his head. "Oh, who cares what it is? That thing is going to ruin this whole place if I'm not careful about how I handle it! I wonder…"

He stepped back out into the hallway and transformed back into his small form. He could hear Sakura and Stephen discussing the properties of the Shade card and ways that they could corner it, so he stayed close by and tuned in to make sure he wasn't doing anything that could make the situation worse.

"...what I can't figure out is why it would attack here, where there are so few people. Shade's greatest power is fear. It causes these strange events in order to plants seeds of mass panic, making it impossible for populations to fight back against invaders. Knocking things off shelves like this doesn't seem so menacing."

"It might be trying to catch us off guard before escalating its violence," Sakura murmured. "We've got to do something about this before Dad wakes up. What is Shade's physical form? What's the best way to corner it?"

"Shade's physical form appears as a mist-like substance that coalesces in dark corners. It is drawn to dark places, so perhaps we can lure it in by creating a darkroom."

"We could try luring it into the basement."

"Oh! The basement! You are truly a genius, Sakura-sama-"

Kero turned around and headed for the hallway again, his mind spinning. "A dark mist…?" he murmured to himself. "They're barkin' up the wrong tree. That's not what this card is at all. And if they go into the basement, there's no way they're gonna find it either. I've got to get control of it somehow…"

His ears perked up as he heard the sound of a low bleat from upstairs. Kero flew over to the staircase and looked up to see the sheep creature staring down at him from above. It turned to run and he followed after it with a determined yell.

"Not so fast!"

The sheep scrambled away, but Kero chased it down the hall to where the doors were all closed. It made a wide circle and tried to squeeze by Kero, but he was fast enough this time to dive for it and land squarely in the thick wool on the sheep's back. The sheep creature let out a loud yelp and began to buck, but Kero kept his paws firmly in the wool, determined not to let go.

"I've played too many rodeo video games to be thrown off by a little sheep, ya hear! Now you're gonna do what I tell ya!"

The sheep creature began to run down the hall in a straight line, but Kero jerked at the wool in his right paw and it veered to the right. A jerk on the left caused it to turn in a circle and bank into a sharp left turn. It took some getting used to, but Kero finally managed to establish a system of directing the creature around. It still kicked and bucked, but he didn't let go, and instead used that energy to push both of them forward.

"Now all we gotta do is figure out some way to get a message across to Sakura. I can't use you to write on the phone or a piece of paper, but maybe there's another way."

Kero steered the sheep creature down the stairs and back into the kitchen, where Sakura had summoned her staff and was examining both The Dark and The Shadow, seemingly considering which to call upon in helping her trap the card. Not wanting her to call on a Sakura Card for no reason, Kero jumped into action.

He directed the sheep creature up onto the countertop again, making a beeline for the bowl of pancake batter that Sakura had set aside. His heart hurt at the idea of wasting any kind of delicious food, but he knew it was his best bet if he wanted to get a message across. With his paws still firmly grasping the wool, he directed the creature over to the side of the bowl and tipped it over, sending the contents splashing into a puddle on the floor.

The crash sent Sakura to her feet, and she dashed over to see what had happened. She was halfway through yelling "the pancake batter-!" by the time she noticed something leaving imprints in the spill. Kero was directing the creature, jumping in and out to write the characters of his own name for Sakura to see. It didn't look pretty, but he hoped it was at least recognizable.

"It seems to be writing something!" Stephen exclaimed, jumping onto Sakura's shoulder. "Ke… ke… co..."

"Kero!" Sakura gasped. "It's Kero-chan!"

"YES!" Kero yelled, pumping one fist into the air. He let go of the wool to do so, however, and the sheep creature took the chance to rear up and throw him off. He landed on the floor next to the pancake batter, and the creature took off back toward the hallway.

"Kero-chan, is it you who's been knocking things over?" Sakura asked, but then paused. "If he hasn't said anything to us, then maybe…"

Stephen tugged on Sakura's sleeve. "Sakura-sama, we've been wrong about this the whole time! It is not the Shade card at all- it is the Nobody!"

"The Nobody…" Sakura repeated, closing her eyes. "That's the card that… can turn people invisible and immaterial."

"Yes. Just as the hero Odysseus escaped the wrath of the cyclops by claiming his name was 'Nobody,' the card erases a person's ability to affect the world around them. That must be why we couldn't find Kerberos this morning. He's probably been trying to contact us this whole time."

"Impossible, huh?" Sakura flipped through her cards, her eyes lighting up as she found the one she was looking for. "Let's try this- Illusion! Project the image of Kero-chan so that he can communicate with us! ILLUSION!"

Kero watched as Illusion appeared in front of him, taking his shape and appearance. He tilted his head, and Illusion did the same; he raised one paw and Illusion copied his movements.

"Hey, not bad!" he exclaimed. "Sharp thinkin', Sakura!"

Stephen, watching from Sakura's shoulder, frowned. "It seems that Illusion can copy his mouth movements, but cannot actually replicate his speech. I cannot hear what he is saying."

"Me neither." Sakura shook her head. "Kero-chan, you're just going to have to nod yes or no right now until we can purify the card and get you back to normal, okay?"

It was frustrating, sure, but the fact that he could communicate at all was at least a step in the right direction. Kero nodded. "Okay."

"So, Kerberos, how did you manage to leave the message in the- ah, no, that is not a yes or no question." Stephen shook his head. "What I mean is, are you able to see and interact with the card?"

Kero nodded yes.

"Sakura-sama and I are unable to see the card, but perhaps we can use Kerberos as a link in order to trap it."

"Trap it?" Sakura asked. "How exactly? Is there something the card is weak against?"

"Not necessarily. It takes the form of a tiny sheep, fast and maneuverable but relatively unintelligent. Just like a real sheep, it can be herded."

"Or mutton busted!" Kero broke in, though he sighed, remembering that they couldn't hear him, and nodded his head for Illusion to mimic. "Yeah, I'll do it."

"We'll need somewhere to trap it," Sakura said, glancing down at her cards again. "I could get Wood to make an enclosure in the hallway, and Kero could drive the card into it. Then the card would be trapped and I could purify it."

"Yeah!" Kero nodded his head and flew up to Sakura, watching as Illusion did the same. It felt a little odd that Sakura was looking at Illusion and not him, but he knew he couldn't fault her for that. The sooner they could capture this card, the sooner things would be back to normal- and he could apologize properly.

Sakura called off Illusion for the moment as she and Wood worked on developing an enclosure near the entryway and Kero scurried off to find where the sheep creature was hiding. He kept his ears perked up for any little noise, and finally heard a soft bleat from behind the door of Fujitaka's office. The sheep peeked its head out from behind the door and gave a bleat of surprise at the sight of Kero before it ducked back into the room.

"Bingo! There you are, ya little troublemaker!" Kero flew after it with a yelled "you're not gettin' away this time!" and the sheep made a circle in the small office space before diving back out into the hallway and veering left toward the living room.

Kero froze momentarily, realizing he might not be able to keep it in the hallway at this rate, but it hit an invisible barrier at the door frame and was knocked back.

"That's…" Kero gasped as a familiar symbol appeared over the door. "...The Lock! Man, Sakura really thought of everything!"

Realizing the position it was in, the sheep creature continued down the hall and turned the corner to the entryway. It saw Wood's enclosure and paused for a moment, and Wood took that opportunity to pounce, sending branches out to tangle the creature up and prevent further escape. The sheep creature flailed against Wood's grip, but it couldn't break free of the thick vines that held it steady.

"I think you've got it, Sakura-sama!" Stephen exclaimed. "Now!"

Sakura had her staff ready. "Card by evil's hand designed, reveal your power and form confined, reject the hold of evil's blight, and draw your power from my light! SAKURA CARD!"

And with that, the sheep creature coalesced into card form and drifted over to land in Sakura's hand. The vines in the hall disappeared, and both The Wood and The Lock floated over to examine the new card Sakura was holding. Kero let out a sigh and dropped to the floor in relief.

"Ugh, thank goodness that's over. I thought I was gonna go crazy, not bein' able to do anything…"

"Kero-chan!" Sakura clutched the cards close to her chest and ran to Kero's side, dropping down onto the floor so that she could pull him into the embrace. "I was really worried this morning when I thought you hadn't come back! I shouldn't have yelled at you like I did yesterday- I'm sorry."

Kero pulled from her grip so that he could look at her properly. "You're sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry. You were right, I totally messed up your study session with your friends. And suggestin' that you use The Memory to mess with their memories… ouch, I can't even begin to tell ya how wrong that is. You already knew. Knowin' that you'd never do somethin' like that makes me proud of ya… and embarrassed for even sayin' something like that myself. Yue was right, I do say stuff I don't mean when I get angry."

Sakura smiled. "Even so, it's not right of me to keep you cooped up in that room all the time and expect you to play the perfect stuffed toy routine. You're a real creature with real emotions, and you deserve to live your own life. I promise, from now on, I'll better communicate with you about my plans so that you can make plans of your own. Maybe next time you and Stephen can go hang out with Spinel while my friends are over."

"M-me?" Stephen's voice squeaked from behind them. "I-I would love to join them, but I do not wish to impose…"

Kero jumped up and waved over Sakura's shoulder. "Aw, don't worry about that, buddy! We'd love to have ya!" He paused and leaned closer to whisper in Sakura's ear. "Speakin' of which, I've got somethin' I wanna talk to you about."

"Oh?" Sakura whispered back. "Sure. What is it?"

"I have an idea…"

The next day after school, Sakura and Tomoyo both arrived at the Kinomoto's house in one of the Daidouji family's cars. Kero and Stephen met them at the door, and Stephen was surprised to see them carrying a massive box.

"Sakura-sama… Tomoyo-sama… what is that? It looks very heavy."

The two girls set the box down on the step of the entry hall, taking a moment to catch their breath. "Y-yeah, no kidding…" Sakura murmured. "But now that we're inside and the bodyguards aren't looking- Power!"

She held out the card, and The Power appeared in front of them with an expectant smile. Immediately it noticed the box and hoisted the box over its head with one hand.

"Power, will you take that box up to my room?" Sakura asked. "And once you get there, I'd like your help in unloading it."

Power gave an eager salute with its free hand and turned to carry the box toward the staircase. Stephen, still confused, looked back and forth between Tomoyo and Sakura.

"Is this some new piece of technology you are installing? Why didn't you tell me, Sakura-sama?"

Tomoyo giggled. "It's not exactly new technology, but I think that's what's so good about it."

"And we didn't want to tell you because it's a surprise," Sakura added. "Come on upstairs and see for yourself."

"Oh… okay."

Stephen rode on Tomoyo's shoulder as the group headed up the stairs and down the hall to Sakura's room. He could see Kero looking back at him and grinning, but he had no idea what it was all about. When they finally arrived in the room, however, they found that Power had already unloaded the largest object from the box and was looking up at Sakura with a patient smile, ready for instructions on where to put it.

"That's…" Stephen gasped as he got a good look at it. "...a dollhouse?"

Sakura ran over to the bench by the windowsill and began rearranging the stuffed animals to make room for the dollhouse. "Here, let's put it by the window."

"The furniture is still in the box," Tomoyo said, pointing it out to Stephen. "You'll have to tell us how you'd like your rooms decorated."

"M-my rooms?"

Sakura and Power had gotten the dollhouse situated on the bench, and Sakura turned and gestured to it. "This is for you, Stephen- you and Kero-chan. It was his idea to start out with.

Stephen looked over at Kero. "Your idea?"

Kero flew over, grabbing one of Stephen's paws. "I was talkin' with Yuki-bunny the other night and realized that you'd never really made yourself comfortable here. It didn't feel fair that I had my own little room and you just slept on a pile'a plushies, y'know? So I had Sakura ask Tomoyo if she could use her toy company connections to get us somethin' that both of us could use."

"This is an old prototype from my mother's company," Tomoyo added as she began digging into the box and pulling out miniature furniture. "It never went into production, but Mother kept one for me. I used to play with this all the time when I was little, but I don't use it anymore. So when Sakura-chan asked about a space for you two, I thought this would be the perfect use for it."

Stephen took a step back, placing his paws over his mouth. "I… I… do not know what to say… you are all already doing so much for me by allowing me to stay here and taking care of me, I can't just accept something like this-"

"Aw, don't give us that!" Kero brought his paw down on the top of Stephen's head. "You're one of us now! Warp Neon might'a made you feel like you were imposin' on the world by just existin', but that was all part of the lies he used to keep ya under control. Now that you're with us, you're part of the family. And family takes care of each other. Got it?"

"But I… I have not taken care of you the way I should have-"

"And y'know what else? Family doesn't keep score." Kero crossed his arms and grinned. "We help each other 'cause we care about each other, not to pay each other back for anything. So don't feel guilty, got it?"

Sakura approached Stephen and reached her hands out for him to stand on. "Kero-chan is right. We're doing this because we care about you and want you to be happy. This is your home now. It should feel like home."

Stephen kept one paw over his mouth as he choked back tears. "Sakura-sama… Kerberos… I always wanted a family… but I never actually thought I'd…"

"Aw, don't get all choked up!" Kero tugged on Stephen's arm. "Let's furnish this baby! It's time to put all those interior design shows we've been watchin' to good use!"

Stephen sniffled and nodded. "We can be like… what were they called… the Real-Estate Brothers?"

Kero just laughed. "Yeah, somethin' like that."

Sakura and Tomoyo looked at one another and smiled. "I think he likes it," Tomoyo commented, and Sakura nodded.

"I think so too."