DM: Hello again! Thanks so much for your reviews! I know it seems like I'm rushing it, but now it's going to slow down. Sakura will have to capture all the cards, and who knows the crazy kinds of people she could meet on the way?
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, but Nicole is mine!
Curses!
Chapter Five
Windswept
"Et qui etes-vous?"
Syaoran spun around and came face to face with the French girl. She had large dark brown eyes shaped like almonds and long dark brown hair. She was very tan, and rather pretty.
"I'm Syaoran…" he said, bewildered. He now noticed that her clothes were very worn, as though she had been living outside for a while.
"Oh! You speak Japanese! I'm so sorry!" the girl said, smiling brightly. Abruptly she curtseyed.
"I'm Nicole," she said, gracefully standing up again, "My father is Japanese and my mother is North African…I come from France."
Syaoran only nodded dumbly. For a moment they stared at one another. Suddenly realizing that he was supposed to introduce himself, Syaoran stuttered:
"I-I'm actually Chinese, but I'm traveling with…" he paused, thinking of how best to describe his situation.
"Do you think you're the Cardcaptor?! The Chosen One?" she asked quickly, getting right in his face.
"N-no, I—"
"Of course you don't! Because everyone knows that I am the Cardcaptor!" she practically shouted, pumping a fist in the air.
Syaoran was stunned.
"Who the Hell are you?" a voice with an Osaka accent rang out from the woods behind him.
"Hoe? What's this? A talking stuffed animal?" Nicole walked up to Kero and pulled on his cheeks.
"Ow—h-hey!" She gave him one good prod in the stomach (knocking the wind out of him) before backing off.
"Li, Who is this?" Sakura asked softly. She stared at Nicole as if she'd never seen someone quite like that before.
"Oh you are so cute!" Nicole exclaimed, and she ran over and hugged a stunned Sakura, who only patted her back meekly in return.
"I'm Nicole," she announced loudly, taking another sweeping curtsey.
"I'm Kinomoto Sakura…" Sakura said, taking a step away.
"Oh Syaoran, you should have told me you were traveling with such a cute little Japanese girl! Is she you're girlfriend?" she asked the last bit rather slyly, eyes shifting between the two of them rapidly.
Hoe? She's already calling him Syaoran?
"N-no! Of course not! Ew!" Sakura yelled, sticking out her tongue and shaking her head. Nicole giggled behind her hand.
"So I guess that means you're free for the taking," she giggled, patting Syaoran on the shoulder. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.
"Hey, wait a second!" Kero shouted. He had recovered his wind and was now flying straight for Nicole's face.
With a yawn, she lazily swatted him away. Sakura's stomach decided to take the opportunity to growl as loudly as possible. Everyone, even a viciously angry Kero, stared at her as she blushed.
"Ah…sorry…"
"No worries," said Nicole cheerfully, and she promptly took off her backpack. It seemed too small to be of any use, and none of them had noticed it up until that point.
However, inside the bag was kindling and matches for a fire, a pan, several cans of food, a poker, and—this was the amazing part—a full-sized tent. Sakura and Syaoran's jaws dropped to the ground.
Kero and Nicole looked unfazed by this strange occurrence.
"B-but how?" Syaoran stuttered, pointing between the bag and the sizable pile of objects. Nicole looked confused.
"What do you mean? I just put them inside," she said simply.
Kero flew up next to the bag and gestured over the large patch consisting of an overlapping sun and moon on the back.
"This is Clow's seal. This bag has been enchanted to carry as much as possible."
"You sure are smart for a stuffed animal," Nicole said genuinely. Kero wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted.
"So why are you in Clow land?" Sakura asked, stooping to help Nicole unfold the tent. The other girl grinned broadly as the tent folded open with a loud pop. It was dome-shaped and made of deep-blue denim-like material. It was getting dark soon anyway, and who knew what was hiding in the forest.
"I'm the Chosen One, of course!" Suddenly Kero was flying up into her face, brandishing his fists.
"You? The Chosen One? The Chosen One is Sakura! She's the one with the key!"
"Hm? The key?" then realization dawned on Nicole's face, "Ah yes, to seal the cards. Well then," she turned to face Sakura, who still looked confused, and opened her hand.
"Give it to me," she said simply.
"No way, Sakura! It's yours!" Kero flew between the two girls, practically flailing in the air.
"Yea," Syaoran chimed, "My dad left it specifically for her!"
"Yes, yes, that's nice," Nicole said, but her hand did not close. She looked at Sakura expectantly.
"You can't use it, can you? In my family, we have always known that the Chosen One would arise from us, because this bag has been passed down through generations. I have been training for this all my life, waiting for the portal to open."
"Portal? What Portal?" Kero asked.
"The one in my backyard. It's always been there, the entrance to Clow land. So it is pretty clear that I am the Chosen."
"Have you caught any cards?" Kero asked slyly.
"N-well that's none of your business," Nicole blurted, blushing, "and what are you, anyway, you stupid stuffed animal?"
"I am the Guardian of the Clow, Kerberos!" Kero said proudly. Nicole looked aghast.
"You? Why would Clow make such a harmless and cute thing a guardian?"
"Hey, watch it—"
"—Kero, that's enough," Sakura said. Her voice sounded tired. It was now well into the night, and she hadn't eaten since lunch.
"Kinomoto's right, let's deal with this after we've all had something to eat," Syaoran said, failing to hide his concern.
Kero and Nicole sighed and shrugged, and everyone set up the camp in earnest.
"So you're from Japan, Sakura?" Nicole asked as they ate stew from the cans around the little fire.
"Yes, but through a weird sequence of events, I ended up in Egypt, where the portal…"
"Sucked us in," Syaoran finished for her.
"Ah, I see. Care to tell me the story?" Nicole tilted her head to one side and cocked an eyebrow.
"Well, it all started with my class field trip to the Ming Dynasty gardens in China. The junior class goes every year."
"Oh, so you're seventeen?" Syaoran asked. Sakura looked at him.
"Yea. How old are you?" The question was meant only for Syaoran, but Nicole piped up first.
"I'm eighteen!"
"I'm eighteen as well," Syaoran said with a little less enthusiasm.
"I don't know how old I am…" Kero said, looking down. He had practically stuffed himself full of stew, and now sat with his back against Sakura's leg, patting his bulging stomach.
"Anyway, we got to the gardens, and Li's school was there as well. We got to this fountain, and the announcer guy was telling everyone about how Clow Reed had laid a curse on the fountain. Then…"
"Then I made an ass of myself, and teased her for believing in magic. We had a tussle, and somehow ended up in the fountain. We then…" Syaoran swallowed.
"We switched bodies," said Sakura, looking at her empty dish, "and the man at the fountain told us we had been cursed. Now every time we get angry, we are punished and switch bodies. The only way to switch back is if we apologize to whomever we were mad at."
At this point the two kids looked at Nicole expectantly. She was tapping her hands together with the tips of her fingers.
"That's one hell of a curse," was all she said, not looking either of them in the eye.
"So then this guy at the fountain tells us to go on a quest to find Clow's descendent—"
"—but that could be anybody—"
"—don't worry, I set them straight," Kero said, rubbing circles on his spherical belly.
"Uh, anyway, he threw us down this hole after a rabbit, and we had to go through this forest—"
"—which was in another dimension—" Syaoran interjected.
"Like Alice in Wonderland. And when we made it out of the forest, we came to the place that Clow's 'descendant' had been seen last, at Li's house."
At this point Nicole laughed and Syaoran grumbled. Kero too let out a short bark of laughter.
"Betcha feel dumb now, Li." He said. Syaoran prodded his stomach in response, causing him to almost throw up.
"So then what happened?" Nicole asked interestedly. She was now propping her head on her hands, elbows on her knees, leaning forward so as to hear her over Kero's pained groans.
"We tried to cover our bases and clear things up with our families, which didn't do much good because Li's mom found out anyway. She gave me this key," Sakura pulled it out from under her shirt and showed it to Nicole, "because Li's father left it to me in his will."
Nicole's eyes darted to Syaoran, who was still snickering at the suffering guardian.
"We then found a diary, saying that Clow had gone on a trip to Egypt with one of Li's ancestors, so his mother decided to take us there."
"And it was in Egypt that by a crazy set of coincidences, we ended up in front of the Sphinx, who swallowed us up," Syaoran finished.
"Then they met me," Kero said happily, "and I gave them the low-down on Clow land."
"So you figured that if you completed the Cardcaptor quest, you could find the one who can help you?"
"Yes, one of Clow's reincarnations," Sakura said, nodding.
"Which quest is more important to you?" Nicole asked Sakura seriously.
The other girl looked down.
"The curse!" Syaoran shouted.
"The cards!" Kero shouted.
The two fell to squabbling, though thankfully Syaoran controlled his temper.
Nicole did not appear to be listening. She was staring at the key necklace that now hung on the outside of Sakura's shirt.
"Have you," she pointed at it, "sealed a card with that?"
"Yes… the Mirror," Sakura said. She pulled the card out of her pocket. The little girl holding the mirror looked like she was sleeping. Nicole snatched it away.
"It's so…beautiful…" she breathed. Syaoran quickly grabbed it from her.
Before anyone could say anything else, Kero managed to fly up, saying:
"Well I'm bushed, let's turn in for the night."
No one said much as they packed up and headed into the tent. There were several cots lined up inside its suspiciously spacious interior.
"Now I know why there were so many in here," Nicole said, to no one in particular.
Syaoran pushed his cot to a far corner of the tent, and lay down immediately, back to the rest of the group. Kero slept on a little pillow on the floor. Nicole and Sakura lay down facing each other.
Sakura and Kero fell straight to sleep. However, Syaoran remained awake, suspicious of the other girl in the room. After Sakura and Kero's breathing had slowed, Nicole got up and crouched near Sakura's cot. Syaoran heard the rustling and got up from his cot and grabbed her shoulder. Nicole gasped.
"What are you doing?" he asked sternly. She looked away. In her left hand was the key, and her right hand had been attempting to remove the necklace from Sakura's neck.
"You won't get that from her," he said, releasing her. He moved his cot between hers and Sakura's. Nicole just huffed and went to sleep.
"Not while I'm around…" Syaoran whispered into his pillow. I'll protect Kinomoto no matter what…at least until the curse is broken, he thought.
Insert Line here
Breakfast the next morning was completely silent. Nicole and Syaoran glared at each other the whole time. Sakura and Kero, utterly oblivious to the events of the night before, chatted together happily about the different kinds of cards.
"So there's really a card that does nothing but make flowers?" Sakura was asking.
Kero's response was muffled by the large amount of pancake in his mouth. Suddenly, Nicole asked,
"Would you all like to travel with me?"
The other three looked at each other. Sakura smiled at Li, who only looked away.
"If you'll have us," Kero said sagely after swallowing his pancake, "I think Clow meant for the Chosen to travel in a party such as this one."
Nicole said nothing but nodded. Syaoran watched her apprehensively.
"Now I think I feel a Clow card coming from that direction," Kero said, pointing West, away from the rising sun.
"Let's go!" Nicole said.
Sakura and Syaoran hung back, with Syaoran's gaze still on Nicole's skipping form.
"Li…" Sakura began slyly, "Nicole sure is cute, isn't she?" she elbowed him in the ribs.
"What? Yea I guess so," Syaoran said. He looked at Sakura, pondering whether to tell her of the night before. Deciding against it, he kept on walking, a bewildered Sakura in tow.
"Whoa! Hey!" Nicole shrieked. A huge gust of wind had knocked Kero into her face.
"Oh wow!" Sakura yelled, fighting to hold her ground in the intense wind. Thank god she was wearing pants.
"It's the Clow card! Say it's name!" Kero shouted at her as the wind blew him away.
"Wind Card…no that's not it…oh yea, Windy!" Sakura shouted. She pulled out her key and chanted 'Release the Seal'.
The Windy swirled together and took the form of a woman, floating in midair. She giggled and then went straight for Sakura.
"Look out!" Syaoran pushed her out of the way, and Windy bowled him over.
"Are you all right?" Sakura called as she whipped out the Mirror. Nicole was struggling to stay on her feet and Syaoran was on the ground—
"Mirror! Make multiples of me!" Sakura shouted, tapping the card with her staff like Kero had told her to do.
With each step she ran around Windy, who was wrapping herself around Syaoran's prone body, another Sakura sprouted up and ran in a line with her. Soon she had made a ring with Windy in the center.
In unison, all the Sakuras taunted, "Come and get me, Windy!"
Leaving Syaoran alone, Windy attempted to hit all the Sakuras (there must have been at least twenty) at the same time, spreading itself too thin. In that split second that it was at its weakest, the real Sakura broke rank and pounced:
"Windy! Return to the form you were meant to be in, Clow Card!" she shouted, striking it with her staff. In whipping folds and waves, the Windy returned to its card form. All was silent.
Nicole began applauding.
"Well done, well done! Perhaps you are the true Cardcaptor after all!" she cheered.
"Told ya so, girlie!" Kero said, giving Sakura a high-five.
Syaoran sat up and stared.
"You did it," he said, mildly dazed.
"No need to sound surprised," Sakura snapped.
"Hey! I just saved you!"
"Well I saved you too, you punk!"
"Don't call me a punk, you pansy!"
"Shut up or I'll bust your snot locker!" Sakura shouted. The two switched bodies.
"Fabulous…"
Nicole was laughing so hard she was on the ground, but Kero appeared confused.
"What's a snot locker?" he asked Syaoran, who was in Sakura's body once more.
"It means your nose, now give me that!" Sakura said, snatching Windy from Syaoran. Instead of apologizing, she promptly wrote her name on the card. This was the right decision.
Because at that point something pink and fluffy hit her (in Syaoran's body) in the face.
DM: Well that's all for now! Now then, I need you guys to help me decide something important. I can either:
Continue on with the story as is as my next update
OR
Go back and split chapter 1 into two chapters (and add length to each chapter) and lengthen the other chapters as my next update (to make the story flow better).
YOUR REVIEWS WILL DECIDE! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!