DM: Hey everybody! Thanks so much for your lovely reviews! You'll see some influence from my Hawaiian vacation in this chapter, heehee. Oh and the fic from now on is going to be ADVENTURE and FANTASY! I'm not sure which genre I should put.

I understand that the plot has been moving fast but from here on out it will slow down.

Disclaimer: I don't own CCS. Or Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle.

Curses!

Chapter Four

Fifty-two Pickup

"Hello, Chosen One!" a voice with a strong Osaka accent boomed.

Sakura dared open one eye. Syaoran had stepped in front of her and spread his arms out. In front of him was…a flying stuffed animal?

"What are you?" Syaoran asked the creature, poking it with his finger. The small animal huffed, sticking its yellow furry chest out and beating its cute little wings.

"I am the guardian of Clow, Kerberos!" he? (neither of them could be sure) exclaimed proudly, clearly expecting them to be impressed.

They just stared.

"Hey, wait a minute…" the 'guardian' eyed them both suspiciously, "There is only supposed to be one of you!"

Sakura and Syaoran jumped back, surprised. The flying creature held up its paws in an attempt to calm them down.

"Please allow me to explain," he began, (Syaoran quietly muttered a 'Please do') "This is Clow Land, and I am the Keeper of the Gate, Kerberos. Clow created this land long, long ago, as a place to house the magical cards of his creation."

"Cards?" Sakura asked.

"Clow was the greatest sorcerer of all time, aided by magical spirits of his own creation. He gave these spirits physical bodies in the form of his cards. They have all lived happily here. However…" Kerberos' face darkened.

Sakura and Syaoran took a step closer, as Kerberos drew a long, rattling breath.

"However, since his death, he has been re-incarnated…but into two. The Cards have gone out of control, and…" he gestured around them.

Sakura and Syaoran looked around. While some of the landscape was beautiful, with rolling fields and forests, some of it was clearly ravaged, as though by war.

"They fight amongst one another," Kerberos whispered.

"But what is this Chosen One?" Syaoran asked, clearly intrigued.

"When I was very young, Clow told me that one day a new magician would come and claim his cards. The Chosen One would reign as the new magician of the world. I always thought it would be one of his reincarnations, but," he looked pointedly at Sakura, who still clutched the magic key, "Clearly I was wrong."

Sakura gulped, terrified. A magician? A Chosen One? What was going on?

"Hold it," Syaoran said, "We're not on a journey for the cards; we're on a journey to rid ourselves of the curse—"

"What curse?" Kerberos asked, clearly puzzled, "Is that why there are two of you?"

"You see—" Syaoran started.

"Wait," Sakura said, "I want to hear more. Then we can tell him our story."

Syaoran turned away and folded his arms against his chest. He was wearing a sweatshirt and jeans and didn't exactly like the lack of civilization around them. Sakura looked entreatingly at Kerberos, pulling the key out from under her large tee shirt (she had yet to change from Xiefa's clothes) and dangling it in front of him.

"Look, girly, I don't know how you came into possession of that key, but to put things plainly, if you used it to get in here, then you are without a doubt the Chosen One. You must come with me and tame all the cards of Clow Land, before…"

"Before what?" Sakura's mouth was very dry.

"Before they escape into the outside world," Kerberos finished darkly. Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"We must leave on this journey right away," Kerberos pleaded, "This guy," he gestured towards Syaoran, "is just an extra. Useless." Syaoran's eyebrow twitched.

"Wait, but he is a part of my curse, I can't leave him, unfortunately," Sakura said sadly. Syaoran's eyebrow twitched some more.

"What curse are you guys talking about?" Kerberos asked, clearly annoyed that the journey to save the world was being put on hold.

"Well," Sakura drew a breath, "Li and I fell into a fountain cursed by Clow. We switch bodies when we are angry, and were told to go on a journey to find Clow's last descendant, in order to cure ourselves. We thought we were following a lead on our quest, but we ended up here…" she trailed off and stared at the key as it twisted almost happily.

"Why would Clow pick a Chosen One who was so careless?" Kerberos asked himself, much too loudly.

"Hey, you stupid stuffed animal, don't you get it? She's not the Chosen One! So let us go and continue on our quest!" Syaoran was breathing hard, clearly trying not to get angry. So far it was working.

"Hm. Well you're wrong. Girly, I want you to say: 'Release the Seal!' and hold the key aloft," Kero said, unperturbed by Syaoran's barely contained rage.

"Release the Seal!" Sakura said, much louder than was necessary, and suddenly the area around them went dark. The ground at her feet lit up, but she couldn't see it; she was too transfixed by the key—it was growing into a staff. It fell lightly in her hand and she tested its weight. She looked around her and realized that they were in a forest that was clearly not Egypt. Big leafy trees blocked out a bright midday sun. It had been evening when they had arrived, hadn't it?

"There ya go, kid," Kerberos said, smirking at Syaoran (whose jaw now grazed the floor), "she's clearly the Chosen One."

Sakura promptly fainted.

"Kinomoto, you idiot!" Syaoran knelt by Sakura's still form and wiped her forehead with his sleeve. The staff lay on the ground, a slender pink thing with a red top that had wings.

"Why would Clow pic a Chosen One who was so faint of heart?" Kerberos asked aloud. Syaoran sighed.

"You've told her too much. Where we come from, people don't think magic is real…" Syaoran said. He thought of his father and felt a mixture of righteousness and pity.

"Well like it or not, she has to do something. It's her duty. I guess you'll have to come too. Clow never told me about this cursed fountain, but I'm sure that once that girl has enough magic, she can find one of his reincarnations, who can help her."

"Why them? Why not a descendant?"

Kerberos gave a short laugh.

"Clow has many descendants all over the world. Many people are related to him by blood. But the only ones who know any of his magic are his reincarnations, for they have inherited his memories," he said, as though it were totally obvious.

They both fell silent, and stared at Sakura, who was now napping happily with her head in his lap. He brushed her bangs out of her eyes.

"So you're Li, huh?"

"Li Syaoran."

"And what's her name?"

"Kinomoto…Sakura."

"…Sakura."

Sakura's eyes twitched open at the sound of her name. Syaoran and Kerberos peered down at her.

"Oh…So it wasn't a dream."

Her head hurt from when she hit the ground. She rubbed it and sighed.

"Kinomoto," Syaoran said, looking at the ground, "Kerberos says we must go on this card-collecting journey if we are to be free from the curse."

"Oh…" Sakura said, staring at them. Suddenly, she brightened.

"When can we start, Kero?"

The little guardian hesitated. "Kero?" he asked confusedly.

"I think it suits you better than Kerberos," Sakura said sagely. Kero shook his head.

"Wait till you see my true form!"

Sakura giggled, picturing a giant stuffed bear. Kero glared.

"Alright, Kinomoto, let's get going," Syaoran said.

"Useless," Kero muttered.

"Stuffed animal." Syaoran shot back.

Sakura just sighed and walked on ahead of the two, but suddenly Syaoran was in front of her.

"Li?" she asked. She turned around and saw Syaoran and Kero still arguing, but Syaoran appeared to be calm. She turned back. The other Syaoran was nose to nose with her. In spite of herself, she blushed a deep crimson.

"W-what are you doing?" she asked, scared out of her mind.

"Huh?" Kero and Syaoran looked up to see the 'other' put its arm around her waist.

"What the hell?" Syaoran yelled. Suddenly he was dizzy, and then he was in Sakura's body. The 'other' seemed to have noticed and now walked towards its mirror image. It realized that they had switched bodies.

"Oh crap! The curse!" The 'other' threw a punch, and Sakura dodged it, running away. The staff flew from Syaoran to her and she attempted to hit her attacker with it.

"Sakura, don't be dumb! It's the Mirror Card!" Kero shouted.

"Mirror?" Sakura said, she turned around.

"Seal it! Tell it, 'Return to the form you were meant to be in, Clow Card!'" Kero shouted desperately as the Mirror rounded on him. Sakura raised the staff, but it was strangely heavy.

"It won't obey me in this body…" Syaoran watched from Sakura's body, amazed to see two of himself.

"Mirror Card!" he said, as strongly as he could, distracting it. To Kero, he said quickly, "I apologize!" in order to return things to normal.

The card was so stunned it tripped while in pursuit of Kero and fell. Back in his own body Syaoran handed the staff to Sakura. She raised it and brought it down on the card, which now took the form of a little girl.

"Return to the form you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" Sakrua shouted.

In rapid twisting of smoke, the little girl became a harmless card, and flew into Sakura's outstretched hand. The Mirror looked oddly serene on the front of the card.

"Bravo, Chosen One!" Kero cheered. Syaoran huffed.

"I helped, you know," he said softly.

Sakura smiled at him, taking him by surprise.

"But you can't do magic, so you're practically useless," Kero said.

"Just shut up, you stupid stuffed animal."

It was getting dark. The trio walked on, Sakura still staring at the card. Finally, when they reached the shelter of a small wood, Syaoran motioned for them all to stop. Sakura stuffed the card into her undershirt, not having a better place to put it.

"We need to rest for the night. Good thing the weather is so warm, as we have no supplies."

Sakura nodded vaguely. Suddenly her stomach growled. She blushed and Kero laughed.

"I'm hungry…"

"Well you've had a big day," Kero said, "You! Li! Go find us some food!"

"I'm not your servant," Syaoran said coolly, but he walked off anyway. Sakura sat down. Kero hovered in front of her.

"You've already caught one card, Sakura. You must sign your name on it, and then you can use it to catch other cards!"

"Great..." Sakura said, fishing out a pen that was miraculously still in her pocket and writing her name on the Mirror.

"Now then, we shall continue on our quest, and hopefully you can find one of Clow's reincarnations so we can be rid of that brat."

Sakura said nothing. She was tracing letters in the dirt with her finger. D-A-D. T-O-U-Y-A. T-O-M-O-Y-O. What was she going to do?

Meanwhile, as Syaoran walked through the forest foraging for food he heard a voice:

"Ah? La carte a echappe! Ou peut-etre quelqu'un l'a attrape!"

Syaoran froze as the voice, the voice of a girl, giggled.

"Non, ca c'est ridicule, je suis seule…"

Syaoran backed away. The girl was coming towards him. What was he going to do? He didn't understand her language! He stepped on a branch, and it gave a loud dry snap.

"Huh? Qui est la?" the girl called out suspiciously. Suddenly Syaoran was bumped into from behind.

"Oh la-la!"

DM: Woo! Cliffhanger! And new character! I hope I didn't confuse you guys, but if I did, please tell me in a review and I will go back and try writing this chapter again to make it less confusing. Basically, Sakura is the Chosen One of Clow Land, where she has ended up after being led astray from the Curse quest. Anyway, please review and I will do my best to update soon!