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.
On this occasion Tomoyo realized that she was within a dream. She remembered flying above the Heung Gong isles and floating through this fragrant forest before. Those two shadow felines were still keeping guard in front of that cave that seemed to be hiding something dangerous within.
However, she did not recall hearing Sakura crying in this dream before.
She focused her thoughts on Sakura and found herself lying in her bed in the Heung Gong High School dorms unable to move and struggling breath.
"Sakura, wake up," said Chiharu.
Tomoyo could hear the other girls crowding around Sakura's bunk, but she couldn't get up. Even trying to wiggle her little finger to break the sleep didn't work.
Meanwhile Sakura was tossing and turning, murmuring incoherently.
Then, there was light.
Tomoyo pushed herself out of bed and stumbled over to hold Sakura's hand. She massaged them and soon her cousin soon woke up with a dazed look in her bright emerald eyes.
"Hoe? Tomo-?"
Tomoyo pulled her into a hug. "You are safe in the dorms of Heung Gong High School. Are you all right?"
She rubbed the tears from her cheeks. "It was just that nightmare again," she hiccupped.
"Shh, it is all right. Dreams can be terrifying," soothed Tomoyo. "I will sing you a lullaby so you can sleep peacefully. Our final examinations will begin in the morning."
"Okay." She nodded. "Thank you."
Tomoyo began to sing the song of the stars and felt the tension in her shoulders release as Sakura's body visibly relaxed and drifted off to the dream land.
"What was that about?" asked Chiharu, maintaining a small light orb in her palm.
"My cousin was really affected by the Lecourt attacks last year," explained Tomoyo. "Following the incident she was not able to sleep properly however after a while the nightmares faded."
"It's not a foretelling dream is it?" asked Mao, curled up on her top bunk.
"No, it is probably just stress from the upcoming examinations. That happened last time before our midyear examinations back in Lecourt."
She privately theorized that all the strange spirit related occurrences that have been happening contributed to the cumulative stress. The incidents had been occurring frequently even for Heung Gong. Something was amiss.
"Well at least that's one good thing, right?" said Chiharu. "As you said, we have our exams tomorrow so we should get some rest."
The other girls agreed and climbed back into their beds.
"I'm going to extinguish the light everyone. Goodnight."
"Goodnight," they chorused.
Tomoyo lay in the darkness before she fell asleep pondering the significance of her dream and wondering what she could do to help Sakura.
"Stop writing," announced the teacher. The test is now over."
Pencils clattered and the class breathed a collective sigh of relief. Meiling looked at her untidy scrawl and closed the booklet. She didn't want to look at it any more or think about it. It was the last examination for the school year, only a month away until the holidays, never mind the exam results and the fact that Miss Kinomoto and Miss Daidouji were returning to Lecourt.
Miss Kinomoto and Mihara came into their room cheering at the end of the school day.
"We're done!"
"We're free!"
A dark sense of realization dawned on Meiling. She put her head on her desk with a sharp thud.
Miss Kinomoto lay her head on the desk too. "What are you doing Mei-Li? You should be celebrating."
"But I think I got the last question wrong."
"Don't worry!" she said. "There's nothing you can do about it anymore. Everything will definitely be all right."
Meiling sat up with her chin in her hands while Miss Kinomoto patted her on the head.
"Star and I were thinking that we should do something to celebrate tomorrow," said Mihara.
"What do you have in mind?" asked Meiling.
"A trip to the beach? Pok Liu?"
"I have the perfect outfit for Star to wear."
"The beach sounds like a great idea!" exclaimed Hanato.
Meiling raised an eyebrow at her. "Will you be all right?"
The girl nodded energetically. "My healer told me last week that he's pleased with my progress and has told me that I can now volunteer at the orphanage more often. Surely that means I can spend a day at the beach."
"Would it be all right if I invited Takeshi?" Mihara asked.
"Yeah, sure," said Miss Kinomoto. "The more the merrier."
Meiling had an idea. "I'll invite the boys too." She smirked at her friend's reaction. "Oh why the hesitation, Miss Kinomoto? "The more the merrier", right?"
"Does that mean I'm invited too?" said Bo, brushing past her friends to bring up a chair next to hers and wrapped an arm around Meiling's shoulders. He gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Hey Mei. Hey, girls."
She looked to her friends who nodded.
"Sure thing," said Miss Kinomoto. "We're thinking of going to the beach tomorrow."
Meiling smiled at him someone guiltily. She honestly didn't think of him. In the lead up to the finals she told him that she was going to prioritize her studies over him and she thought he respected that.
He frowned. "Tomorrow I was hoping that the two of us could go somewhere private," he said, whispering the last word in her ears.
"I already made plans," she said. She'd rather spend time with her friends who she hadn't talked to properly in a while.
"What? Why?"
"Just because…?" She couldn't see why he was so offended.
"All I wanted to do after this week of hell was to spend some time with my girlfriend who I haven't talked to in weeks," he exclaimed loudly drawing attention. "First my parents have a big argument, then my workplace thinks that I stole something and now my girlfriend doesn't want to spend time with me after not even seeing each other in a while.."
"What-?"
"No, you know what?" Bo stood up. "I've had it with you. I've been nothing but a good boyfriend to you. I thought that you were special, but it turns out that you are like everyone else. I never want to see you again."
He pushed the bystanders aside.
Miss Kinomoto and Hanato wrapped her in a hug and wiped away the tears. That didn't just happen did it?
"You're special, you know that, Mei?" said Miss Kinomoto.
"Do you want to reschedule the beach trip and do something extra girly instead?" asked Mihara.
Meiling gathered her thoughts then shook her head. "No I'll be fine. Beach. Beach will be good." Stupid Bo. She was going to go to the beach in her best swimwear and be hot and then he'd be sorry. That idiot.
Sakura loved the sea. She loved swimming underneath the waves and the muffled sounds of the water flowing around her. At this beach there was small fish swimming, their red scales glistening gold from the filtered rays of sunlight.
She pointed at the fish to Meiling who seemed to be doing well despite the very awful and public break up yesterday.
Her friend watched the fish for a while and then indicated that she was going up for air. Sakura followed. They broke to the surface and treaded water to keep them in place above the swells.
"How cute were those fishes?" asked Sakura.
"I'm not sure you could count those fishes as cute…"
"Hey! Star! Mei!" called Chiharu from the shoreline, "it's time for lunch!"
On the beach Cousin Tori and Tomoyo were laying down on their towels chatting underneath a broad umbrella, while Honey and Koe were making a sandcastle. Meanwhile the boys appeared to have finally cooked the fishes they bought from the local fishermen. Meiling's cousin, Kurogane, Doumeki and Fye all came to the beach with them.
"Coming!"
"Race you," said Meiling.
"Sure!"
"Let's have a wager."
"Okay," said Sakura, glad that her friend was feeling energetic again. She thought for a moment. "If I win, you'll buy me a shave ice."
"Agreed. And if I win, I'll tell Wan-Wan that you still like him."
"Hoe?" She couldn't do that!
"Ready? Go!"
She wasn't ready but Meiling had already started swimming to the shore. Sakura tried to overtake her but Meiling arrived first.
"I won!" she cheered.
"That's not fair!" said Sakura, trudging the powdery sand to where their stuff were. "You cheated!"
"Did not," said Meiling. She started drying herself off with her towel. "I won the wager and you know what that wins."
"But you can't," protested Sakura.
"Can't what?" asked Fye.
"Apparently I can't- mmpfhh!"
"Nothing!" Sakura covered Meiling's mouth with her hand. She changed the subject. "Oh wow! This fish looks delicious! You should try some Mei-Li!"
"Wait-!"
Meiling looked sort of grumpy being fed fresh of the grill food, but it kind of was her fault to be honest. She was glad that Meiling was feeling better, but that didn't mean she had to embarrass her. And they were planning on staying here after the sunset to light a bonfire and flower-fire. It was going to be a long day.
Syaoran leant on the railing at the edge of the water while he waited for the others to reach the front queue for the shaved ice stall. There were people playing volleyball on the sand and people playing in the warm waters. The low sun was turning the sky red and there was a young couple kissing at the edge of the wharf. They pulled apart and the boy stared into the girl's bright jade green eyes.
"Wan-Wan!"
Syaoran whipped his head towards Meiling's voice. Of course it was Meiling. Only she would call him by his childhood name.
She waved at him serenely. "If you don't tell me what you want to order now I'm getting you the purple yam flavour!"
"W-wait!" He hated purple yam. He ran towards the shopfront to better read the menu and stopped.
Sakura Kinomoto was standing next to her wearing a backless - he averted his eyes only to catch her brother's threatening glare. How in heaven's name did he have a job everywhere? Syaoran suddenly felt extremely guilty and exposed.
Meiling laughed, "Hmm. Did you both forget to put on sunscreen on your faces or…?"
"Mei!" he shouted to block out all thoughts.
"Hoe!"
"Did you know," began Yamazaki, appearing from nowhere, "that before there was sunblock people used mud to prevent sunburn using mud?"
Kinomoto recovered from first and said, "But mud hardens when it dries."
"And when it's wet it would come off," added Syaoran.
"That's correct," said Flowright also appearing from thin air, "so at beaches in addition to lifeguards, there were people with the special job breaking people free from the solid mud."
Yamazaki nodded. "Usually that was done using sea water but that then made the beaches really muddy, so a special machine was made suck up the sand and clean them."
"But the machines used soap and made beaches all bub-OW."
Yamazaki and Flowright both rubbed their heads.
"You two," said Mihara, radiating a dangerous presence. "I leave you to go the toilets for one moment and you start ridiculous lies."
"So," said the elder Kinomoto, breaking the silence, "what would you like to order?"
"I'd like a-"
"Nope," said Mihara, dragging the two away, "You're not allowed to have shave ice."
"What would you like, Chiharu?" asked Kinomoto.
"Mango!" she called back.
"Oh, I thought I thought I heard your voice, Star."
Syaoran was surprised to see Yukito behind the counter.
"Yukito!" greeted Kinomoto. "It's good to see you!"
"Don't-," began Syaoran.
"Don't what?" asked Akizuki, smirking behind him.
"Nakuru!"
Syaoran clenched his jaw. He couldn't warn them be careful. If he told anyone what those two really were they would harm her.
"Don't order me anything," he said, walking off and then awkwardly walking back because the whole reason he came with them was to help carry the takeaway containers of shaved ice (and his green tea flavoured one) for the rest of their group waiting on the beach.
"Salt crystals!" cried a merchant holding a wooden case laden with his wares. "Buy some salt crystals! I have pendants, earrings, rings, bracelets. You name it, we got it! All at bargain prices! Come and see!"
Curious, Tomoyo and her friends joined the crowd of tourists to inspect his merchandise. There were an abundance of inexpensive strings of rock salt crystals and other jewellery items. She got a really good shot of Sakura looking through the wares.
"How much?" asked Meiling, holding a pink salt crystal wrapped in in wire.
"One hundred Yuan."
"Are you crazy? For this?!"
Tomoyo agreed with her.
"Not if you want to protect yourselves from the spirits," argued the merchant.
Meiling scoffed. "Why would we need protection from spirits on Pok Liu? This is a peaceful isle."
"Not anymore. I'm telling you, the spirits around here are becoming restless."
"What's going on?" asked Li who arrived with the boys from collecting driftwood for tonight's bonfire.
Meiling crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Apparently there are evil spirits lurking about."
"Last week," said the merchant, "Gao, my neighbour, was acting strangely for about a month, only coming out at night and if he did come out he'd be wearing all these layers. And then my wife and I invited him for dinner recently and he refused to add salt to his meal. Why else would someone avoid salt in their food unless they're a spirit?"
Tomoyo thought that there could be plenty of reasons why someone would avoid having salt in their diet, but it Li accepted the explanation and wanted to know more.
"What happened to him?"
The merchant pointed off to the north end of the beach. "He was last spotted heading down that path over there, but that was over a week ago. He hasn't been seen since."
Kurogane shifted the log on his shoulder. "Why don't we check it out?"
"Yeah, sure."
They dumped the wood in a pile and began to rummage through their belongings.
"Why?" Meiling asked them. "Clearly he's lying just to sell his junk. If there was anything, then our family would've known about it."
Syaoran shrugged. "This place is so quiet, it might've been overlooked."
"Where are you going?" Mihara asked Yamazaki.
"Don't worry," said Yamazaki, grinning at her. "It probably isn't a monster that will eat our flesh."
"Or one that will snap our bones and suck out the marrow," added Fye.
"But the sun is setting and we were going to light the bonfire and flower-fire soon!" she said.
Meiling stamped her foot. "Don't be stupid!"
"We won't be long," said Kurogane. He and the boys sprinted off.
"Hey!"
"So," said the Merchant, "how many salt crystals do you want?"
Author's Note:
Hello! Thank you for waiting patiently. It's been an extremely busy August so I haven't been able to edit and rewrite as much as I wanted to, but I wanted to really push through and post at the start of September as I said I would. Fingers crossed that I can keep it up somewhat regularly.
Um, it may seem somewhat cruel and random having that Meiling and Bo storyline there, but I added it for a couple of reasons. The first is to figure out why one of my previous relationships didn't work so I don't make the same mistake again. I couldn't find anything that I could relate to regarding that so I tried to write it. The last reason is to try and balance all the spirit stuff with more commonplace events.
I hope that what I have written makes sense.
