Disclaimer:

I have no affiliation with Cardcaptor Sakura or any other of CLAMP's works. Also any similarities to real life events or people are unintentional unless explicitly stated.


After they said goodnight to her cousins who left before the school was locked, Tomoyo and the other committee members still present, Sakura, Meiling, Chiharu, Yamazaki and Flowright, double checked the rosters and logistics plan for the fundraising market day in three days' time. Meiling had decided to stay in the girls' dormitory room to help finish the preparations. Li and his friends were also organizers but they had to wake up early as part of the Fung Seoi committee.

Finally, the fundraising committee decided it was late and that they all should get some sleep for school in the morning.

"Before that," said Fye, "I wanted to ask you what are the Seven Mysteries of Heung Gong High?"

"What's that?" said Sakura.

"I know!" said Yamazaki. "Rumour has it that sometimes shoes left in the shoe lockers mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night end up in students' beds."

"This sounds like a horror story," she said nervously.

Mr Flowright and Yamazaki turned to her and said simultaneously, "Because that is what the seven mysteries are."

"HOE!" Sakura huddled into Tomoyo's arm.

"Maybe the shoes were placed in the bed as part of a prank," reasoned Tomoyo.

"Or maybe not," Yamazaki lowered his voice to barely above a whisper, "The second mystery is of the crackling sound that can be heard in the middle of the night. It is said that if you listen carefully, you can hear the words-"

"Stop it!" Chiharu cut in.

"That's not what the words are, they are-"

She covered his mouth. "I mean stop with the horror stories. Can't you tell that she's scared?"

"I wasn't scared at all," declared Meiling.

"Then please explain the previous story and doors sliding open without anyone there," said Yamazaki seriously.

"Easy," his girlfriend replied, "When the moon is full the seals protecting the school are weaker. The sound and doors moving are caused by the energy leakage from the chi lines that run underneath the school."

"And Xing Huo? She disappeared one night never to be seen again."

"She possibly just escaped using the secret passageway and ran away."

"There's a secret passageway?" said Fye, eyes lit up.

"Yeah," the couple said, "it's over here."

They pointed down the hallway to a door on the right side at the far end. It had the word "PULL" written in large characters in multiple languages. Yamazaki pulled it open to reveal a storage room, then twisted a mechanism on the inside and reclosed it. He pushed it wide to what appeared to be an unlit classroom.

Sakura clutched Tomoyo's hand.

"Let's check it out!" declared Fye.

"That's a great idea!" agreed Yamazaki.

The four girls were pushed through by the boys and the door closed behind them with a thud.


Meiling slid opened the door which revealed the hallway. She felt anger and fear bubble inside her.

Mihara shut it and opened it again.

"You idiots!" Mihara yelled. "Why did you do that?!"

The boys flinched, but Meiling added, "We're not supposed to be at the school at night, especially not tonight!"

"Why?" Miss Kinomoto asked.

Without taking her eyes of off the boys she said, "Tonight is a full moon and when the moon is full the seals weaken and when the seals weaken spirits and ghost can enter the school grounds! That's why the school grounds were locked after sundown tonight!"

"Yeah four months ago-," began Yamazaki.

"No more from you." Mihara pulled him by the ear away.

Meiling knew exactly which story he was going to take. Miss Kinomoto didn't need to hear of the singing ghost that Syaoran, Doumeki and Kurogane had to exorcise it started becoming restless and possessing people.

Miss Kinomoto tried to open the window closest to her. They were locked.

"Stand back," said Meiling. She hurled fire balls at the window to no effect.

When the smoke cleared Miss Daidouji asked, "What shall we do?"

Meiling looked through the glass recognized the lakes and the temple beyond the treetops. "The school is locked. I'll call my cousin and see if he can bring the special Key the Fung Seoi Committee has. Meanwhile, I think we should go to the main entrance. We're somewhere on the south wing, on the third floor."

Meiling had attempted to call her cousin on her chronophone, but all she got was static. Hopefully he would receive the message she left him soon so that they would be able to leave.


Sakura clutched Tomoyo's elbow and her staff as they travelled down the corridors until they came across a snow white feline frantically scratching a door.

"Hoe?" Sakura approached cautiously. "Why is feline here?"

"Don't do that!" cried Chiharu. "It's a ghost feline!"

"What?"

"But it has a shadow," said Tomoyo.

"And she can see it," pointed out Fye.

"White felines are called ghost felines and are considered bad luck," explained Yamazaki. Chiharu and Meiling nodded.

The feline brushed its head against Sakura's outstretched palm. The poor thing was all skin and bones. How could a feline be considered to be bad luck just because of the colour fur it was born with?

"That can't be true," she said. Sakura lifted it up and cradled it. She petted many white felines before, but none had eyes as beautiful as this one. The multi-coloured eyes seemed to shift like a kaleidoscope. "Come see. It's harmless."

Chiharu and Meiling gingerly touched its fur but soon relaxed and smiled after the feline began to purr contently.

"Hey, where did Yuui go?" said Yamazaki.

Sakura looked around and noticed that Fye was no longer there.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Chiharu pointed at Yamazaki.

"No, I swear." He put his hands up defensively.

"Whatever." She brushed him off, opened the door continued walking down the hallway. "I bet he's hiding behind the corner or something."

The long shadows reminded Sakura of walking the corridor alone. She was glad that she had the white feline to hold. They walked down numerous corridors and called out for Fye but he still did not appear. The rhythmic heartbeat under its fur and bones was soothing.

"Ouch." She dropped the feline.

"Hey, what's wrong?" said Chiharu.

"The feline scratched me," Sakura explained.

Meiling reached out towards her. "Let me take a look."

"Thank you, Mei-Li."

"Who did this to you?" said Chiharu.

"Hoe? The feline…" Sakura trailed off. Chiharu was kneeling down with her arm outstretched. The feline stood in front of her hissing with its arched back.

Hesitantly, Yamazaki asked. "Who are you talking to, Chiharu?"

She glared at him. "This isn't funny, Yamazaki. I'm talking to this child. He needs help."

Tomoyo held Sakura's hand. "No he is correct. I cannot sense anything either."

"Nor me."

"But he's right here!" Chiharu's voice wavered and eyes brimmed with tears.

Yamazaki tugged her elbow. "There isn't anything there."

The feline screeched and pounced. Some unseen force pushed it away. They all stared at each other for a heartbeat then bolted down the corridor. Sakura pulled Tomoyo by the hand and followed the feline go through into an empty art room. She saw a white shape dart past the ajar doorway to the art supply closet.

"Sorry," said Sakura. Tomoyo was clutching chest and gasping for breath. "Are you all right?"

"I am fine however…"

They were the only ones in the classroom. Meiling, Chiharu and Yamazaki were not there.

"What should we do? They might've been taken by the ghost."

"Let us help our feline friend first."

Sakura nodded. She held her staff with two hands and peeked through the door. She pushed it wider. The white feline was racing across the gymnasium floor.

"Wait up! It's all right!" Sakura stepped through and chased after it.

The feline stopped and stared.

The door shut behind her.

She turned and desperately reopened it.

Tomoyo was not there.


Syaoran suddenly heard the sounds of a feline's screech, footsteps and doors shutting everywhere. The light of his Rashinban flickered and pointed in a different direction. Moments later it indicated somewhere else.

He tucked the useless board away and told Doumeki and Kurogane that the space was warping. So far they had not crossed the Ariadne Cord they used to mark their path.

Meiling managed to contact him through Kinomoto's Chronophone saying that she and some others were stuck in the school's main building. She knew that the grounds were off limits during a full moon even to the Fung Seoi Committee members unless they had explicit permission from the prinicipal. If they were found out by a teacher they would get into deep trouble; if they got out. He thought could vaguely sense something despite the distortion, but it could be just his imagination. In any case, lighting Doumeki's purifying incense would possibly drive the spirits to the others somewhere in the school.

He tried asking for their location but the connection cut off. Hopefully they would be able to find them all together.

There was too much energy interference. Even though they changed the seals this morning, he could tell that many were close to their breaking point. They carefully placed a paper seal onto the damaged ones so that it wouldn't look as if they were here.

They turned a corner and then drew back. There was a girl walking in the middle of the hallway, facing the opposite direction.

Doumeki pulled the string on his bow and gathered energy at his fingertips.

"Wait," said Syaoran. "That's a student."

Syaoran caught up to her and put his hand on her shoulder and said, "Hey."

"HOE!" her scream was nearly as shrill as Meiling's and his arm stung where he blocked her staff.

"Sya-Li," said Kinomoto. "What are you doing here?"

"I got a message on my chronophone. Why are you alone? It's dangerous."

"I'm not alone. The feline and I are looking for the others." At her foot was a white feline.

"Ghost felines are-"

"It's not bad luck!" Her bright jade eyes were defiant. "It saved us from a ghost!"

He gulped and said, "Who else is here?"

"Lady, Mei-Li, Yuui, Chiharu and Yamazaki." She counted the names off her fingers.

"And you said that there's a ghost?"

She nodded. "I think that only Chiharu was able to see or sense it though."

So they were dealing with something strong enough to mask its presence.

"Let's go," said Kurogane. "Tie her up."

She took a step backwards and tightened her grip on her staff. "Hoe? What?"

"Wait." Syaoran pointed to his wrist to show her the golden cord around his wrist. It connected him to Doumeki and Kurogane who was connected to another cord that was tied at the entrance. "We're just going to tie Ariadne cord around your wrist so we can't get separated. It doesn't break."

She relaxed her guard and tentatively offered her wrist.

"Hurry up, Li," said Kurogane.

Startled, he realized that Kurogane and Doumeki were waiting for him to connect her to their cord.

Lazy people.

He unwound the tail of the rope from his forearm and knotted it to make a loop which she slipped her hand through.

"I'm sorry for hitting you."

"It's okay." He tugged on the rope to secure it, careful not to touch her, and stepped back. She began wrapping the end around her forearm.

"Can you find them using your Rashinban now?" asked Kurogane.

Syaoran shook his head. "There's too much interference now for it to work. And the layout keeps changing."

The feline meowed.

"I think it knows how to find the others," she said.

"Can you understand it?" asked Kurogane.

"No but I'm sure it can understand us. I was following it before you came. "

It flicked its tail and continued down the corridor.

Sakura and the others stopped and turned their heads, trying to pinpoint the source of the haunting singing echoing off the walls.

"That sounds like Lady," she said.

"Let's keep going," said Kurogane.


There was no point trying to follow the sound Tomoyo's singing. The space had warped. They had exited the staff common room only to enter the library. At least Tomoyo was all right.

She was surprised to find that drew close to Li unconsciously. She blushed, thankful for the darkness, and fell back into step behind him and Kurogane. Doumeki followed at the rear.

Every time the feline wanted to go through a door it would stand waiting, but this time it sat down by the entrance to the boys' toilets.

They all looked at one another and a moment later it opened and Meiling walked through.

"Mei-Li, I'm so glad that you're all right," said Sakura hugging her friend. "What were you doing in the boys toilets?"

"What? I was just in a science lab- What? Don't tell anyone about this!"

Sakura couldn't help giggling.

Meiling noticed the others. "Oh. About time you guys arrived."

"You shouldn't be here in the first place," her cousin said.

"It's not my fault- blame Mr Flowright and Yamazaki!"

The feline meowed.

"That's correct," said Sakura, patting its head. "We still need to find the others. Thank you for finding Mei-Li."

At Kurogane's prompting, Sakura disentangled the end of the Ariadne Cord from her arm and handed it to Meiling who tied it around her wrist.

As they followed the feline down the corridor Meiling's hair flickered between its normal colour and a glowing green. They walked through empty classrooms, corridors and the cafeteria. At one point they walked down the set of stairs, through a door, only to arrive at the top of another staircase. The singing grew louder the further they went.

Suddenly the feline began running down the empty corridor and began scratching the door.

They heard a loud crash and scream.

Li threw it open. Chiharu and Yamazaki were huddled in front of the blackboard. Fye in front of them was writing strange symbols in the air.

There was a smashed organ embedded into the wall, twitching.

Why was it doing that?

Sakura and the others ran to them.

"What's wrong?" said Li.

"The ghost child possessed that organ," yelled Chiharu.

The organ lifted up hurtled towards them. With a scream, Sakura leapt pushed the closest person to the ground.

It moved again.

"Look out!" Li threw a paper talisman on the organ and jumped backwards.

"Is it all right now?" said Sakura, hesitantly.

"Yamazaki, what's wrong?" asked Chiharu. He was clutching his shoulder and wincing. Meiling was already there taking a look.

"I just bumped into something."

There was a scream; Tomoyo's scream.

Sakura sprinted after the feline.


"Follow them," said Kurogane. He tied Ariadne Cord around Flowright's wrist.

Syaoran ran after Kinomoto and Meiling, the cord linking them together followed the cord that linked him to them. He ran through a storage door and through a classroom to another classroom where he found them.

"Tom-"

"Don't say her name!" yelled Meiling. She was holding onto Kinomoto's arm to stop her from rushing forward to help the other girl.

Daidouji was being strangled by a floating ghost with her own hair.

The looked like a malnourished child covered in open sores, but it had no shadow.

It was too risky for Meiling to throw that fire ball in her hand.

"What's happening?" said Kinomoto. She couldn't see it.

The feline pounced at ghost with an ear splitting screech. Daidouji fell to her knees gasping. Kinomoto and Meiling ran to her. The feline with teeth and claws bared threateningly, kept the it away from the girls. It attempted to flee the room but Syaoran threw talismans on the windows, walls and door frames and pumped it with his chi blocking its escape.

A light arrow protruded from its heart. Surprised, the spirit saw it and began to fade away.

Doumeki was by entrance lowering his bow. The hostile presence had lifted. He began to light some incense but was stopped by Meiling.

"Can you not? Miss Daidouji's throat is injured."

Even in the dim light, Syaoran could tell that Daidouji's neck was red and raw. Daidouji kept coughing and struggled to speak.

"It's time to go," said Kurogane. He, Yamazaki and Mihara had arrived. After Meiling had finished wrapping bandages around Daidouji's throat and Yamazaki's shoulder, they retraced their route using the Ariadne cord to the entrance and headed towards Doumeki's family temple where they were met with his grandfather and the very angry school healer.


The sleeping tea that the school healer gave them quickly took effect. Meiling caught Miss Kinomoto and laid her between Miss Daidouji and Mihara, already asleep in one of the rooms of the school temple. The ghost feline she had named Spinel after the multi-coloured gemstone lay curled at their feet.

After escaping the main school building, they went to the school temple where they were met by Doumeki's grandfather and the school healer.

Beyond giving them the tea, the nurse did little more than peer under the make shift cool bandages Meiling wrapped around Daidouji's neck and Yamazaki's shoulder, and order them to go to the hospital in the morning after a bath in the temple's holy hot springs and some sleep. But first Meiling needed to use the toilets.

The temple buildings were connected together with covered walkways and toilets were on the other side of the rock garden from their room. She slid the door shut behind her and breathed in the night air. The pebbles glowed in the moonlight. Returning to the room she counted seven large stones. There were actually eight but arranged in such a way that only seven could be seen at a time.

"Go to sleep, it's late."

Meiling nearly screamed. Syaoran was sitting cross-legged on the walkway facing rock garden looking as if he had been waiting there for a while even though she could've sworn that he wasn't there before.

"I could say the same to you." She sat down beside him. She mentally traced the spiral patterns combed into the pebbles to try and slow her racing heart and breathing. "Why are you still up?"

"Couldn't sleep."

Meiling sometimes wondered if he ever did sleep or get tired. "I still have some sleeping tea if you'd like some."

"I'm fine." He shook his head and briefly glanced at the girls' room before looking at her. "That was really dangerous, Mei."

"Oh really? I didn't know that," she said sarcastically. When they arrived, the healer also gave them all a lengthy lecture along the lines of how they should've known better than to enter the school at night. The high school principle would apparently have some words to say to them in the morning. She sighed and added, "But it's not our fault. Something should be done about that door."

He nodded and rested his chin on a fist. "Sealing the passageway completely will disrupt the flow of energy through the school, but we might be able to put stoppers to prevent it from being pushed open."

He sat like that, staring off into the distance.

Meiling broke the silence. "Is something bad going to happen?" she asked. At home her aunts and uncles have been talking about how the flow of energy has been shifting in the city and her parents were talking about how there were more spirit related incidents lately too. Syaoran would know a bit more by being in the Fung Seoi Committee.

He said nothing, but for Syaoran that pretty much meant a yes.

"I'm going to sleep. I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes," she said, standing up. He wouldn't leak information, even for family. "Make sure you get some rest."

"Okay. Goodnight."

Before she slid close the paper door she said, "Thanks for saving us."

He smiled back. "What else is family for?"


Author's notes:

- Hello! Sorry for the delay. I want to get the chapters out as quickly as possible, but it's a little difficult because just started full time work. The next chapter will be pretty chill, but from then onwards things start to become more intense. =)

- The chapter was supposed to be called "Sakura and the Mysteries of Heung Gong High" but apparently that title is too long.

- In addition to some CCS episodes a couple of real life events inspired this chapter. The first one was from a couple years ago when a battery operated radio I never used started making white noise sounds in the middle of the night. I ended up removing the batteries, but I can't figure out why it did that in the first place. I've had that radio sitting in my room for years. The second story happened to my cousin. She and her friends were walking in town late at night when one of them stopped and started talking to some child that wasn't there...

- Let me know what you think please =)