DM: Hey all! Sorry it took so long to update, but I had exams…But guess what, I'm now a second semester senior! Yay! I'm so happy that this fic finally has 100 reviews! Thank you so much!
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.
Curses!
Arc One: Clow Land
Chapter Thirteen
If I Don't Sing, I'll Die!
"Kero, what's happening to you?" Sakura asked in alarm. Kero's wings grew extremely big, and then closed around him like a cocoon.
"What's happening?" Syaoran asked. Nakatsu stared. Ruu giggled excitedly.
"Chillax, guys, it's alright," Kero said, his voice coming out much deeper than usual.
The wings spread apart, and standing before them was a large winged yellow…dog? Lion? Bear?
Ruu and Nakatsu applauded.
"Kero, you're so cool!" Nakatsu cheered. Syaoran and Sakura stared at each other.
"Ah, it's good to be my true self again," Kero said, stretching in a very cat-like manner and yawning. Opening one eye, he caught sight of Syaoran's awestruck face and sniggered.
"So, kid, who's the little stuffed animal now?" he said in a low growl, approaching Syaoran menacingly. Syaoran turned to Sakura, and asked, raising an eyebrow and pointing at the Guardian Beast:
"Sakura, what the Hell is that thing?"
Sakura shrugged. Kero fell on his face.
"Sakura," he whined, "You don't recognize me? I'm your beloved Kero! Cerberos, the Guardian Beast of Clow Land!"
Sakura looked taken aback.
"But Kero's slightly more compact," she said. Kero looked extremely miffed.
"Fine, be that way, Sakura. But I guess since I'm a total stranger, I can go ahead and tell Syaoran that you said his name in your sleep last night, and—" Sakura dashed over and clamped both hands over his mouth. He smiled.
"Ok, ok I believe you! It's just—what happened to you?"
"Now that my two best cards, Firey and Earthy, have been captured, I can take my more powerful form again. Before they ran away and misbehaved, I was like this all the time…"
Nakatsu brought Ruu over to pet him. Syaoran edged over to Sakura and nudged her.
"So last night in your sleep you said my name?" he asked slyly. Sakura's ears turned red.
"Yes, Syaoran, I did," she said, turning away cutely.
"Aw, Sakura, I didn't know you felt that w—"
"Because in my dream you stole my okonomiyaki, you jerk!" she yelled, turning and punching him in the arm.
"Hey! I didn't actually do it, so why am I being punished?" he asked, throwing his arms up in defense.
"Because I feel like it," she said firmly, and then walked away.
She didn't get very far, because at that point she fell asleep. Catching so many cards at once is very tiring, you know.
Syaoran watched her sleep and tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. She was really cute when she wasn't yelling at him…
Nakatsu watched Syaoran's actions with a smirk on his face. Kids, he thought. The fact that they were the same age had seemed to slip his mind.
Insert Line here
"The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout," Nakatsu sang, doing the little hand motions that go along with it. Ruu laughed happily in his papoose.
"Oi, Mother goose!" Syaoran grumbled, "Isn't it your turn to carry the umbrella?"
Nakatsu stuck his tongue out at the irritated Chinese boy, who growled in response.
"Syaoran, you know very well that he can't do that while he's holding Ruu like that," Sakura said. Kero nodded in agreement.
The five of them were currently walking under a large umbrella that Nicole had conveniently left in her bottomless bag. The papoose was in it too, strangely enough. ("I tell ya, Clow thought of everything!" Kero had said when they found it)
"Then why don't you carry Ruu for a change?" Syaoran snapped. Sakura turned away from him.
"He likes Nakatsu the best, so he should be carried by Nakatsu. It's cruel to make a child separate from the one they like the most," she said resolutely, smiling at Ruu and reaching out to stroke his head. He shied away from her.
"You're just making excuses because he doesn't like you at all," Syaoran said in a sing-song voice. Sakura's eyebrow twitched.
"You shut the Hell up, Syaoran! Ruu does like me! After all, I am the only female here," she said proudly, drawing herself up to full height.
"Like he can tell that…" Syaoran said softly.
"What did you just say, you jerk?" Sakura said, finally turning around and facing him angrily.
"Nothing, Miss Flat-Chested!" he said, sticking his tongue out.
"You little punk!" she shouted, making a grab for him.
And then finding that she was him. They had switched bodies.
"Ahaha my little plan worked," Syaoran said gleefully, stretching, "Now I don't have to carry the umbrella anymore."
"Oh, I'm sorry, Syaoran," Sakura said.
They switched back.
"God damn it," Syaoran said, back in his own body.
"You know, you moron, that would have worked if you had gotten angry instead of me. Then you would be the one to have to apologize," Sakura said, laughing and tweaking his nose.
"Hey! That's a great idea! Make me mad, Sakura!" Syaoran said happily.
"Hahaha good luck with that," Sakura said. Then she walked into Nakatsu's back.
"Hey, Nakatsu, what's the holdup?" Sakura asked, peering around him. Nakatsu was staring down an extremely deep and scary looking gorge.
"Wow, what a huge canyon!" Kero said, flying out a little ways and getting completely soaked with rain.
"Yea, but tell me, do you guys see that guy over there?" Nakatsu asked, pointing to the other side of the gorge. The rest looked, and sure enough, there was a guy standing on the ledge, staring down to the bottom.
"He's not thinking of—" Syaoran started to say, but then the man jumped.
"Fly!" Sakura shouted, and jumped down after him.
"What the Hell is this guy thinking?" Syaoran grumbled. Kero silenced him by raising a paw.
"I feel the presence of a card lingering on him," he said softly.
Sakura flew back up the cliff, the man lying unconscious on the staff. When she brought him up they laid him flat and examined him.
He was older than they were, but still quite young. He had his black hair tied in a ponytail and wore a tattered vest and fingerless gloves. His pants and shirt were dirty but had probably once been black. His eyelids fluttered.
"Hey, I think he's coming too," said Nakatsu, leaning a little closer.
The guy opened his eyes, and then sat up quickly, looking around them suspiciously.
"Are you ok?" Sakura asked. He scooted away from her.
"Hey, she's talking to you. What the Hell were you doing?" Syaoran asked, grabbing his collar and giving him a little shake. The man looked away.
"Syaoran, don't be mean. Can you talk?" Sakura asked gently. The man shook his head.
"It's just as I feared," Kero said, and the group backed away a little to let him into the circle.
The man didn't seem to like this new arrangement very much, and tried to move away from the giant winged beast in front of him.
"Take it easy, I'm not gonna eatcha," Kero said, waving a paw at him, "We can help you."
The man arched an eyebrow skeptically.
"We can help you get your voice back," Kero said firmly.
"We can?" Nakatsu asked. Kero fell over.
"Of course we can, it was taken by a Clow Card!" Kero yelled.
"A Clow Card? Which one?" Sakura asked.
"The Voice card. It steals the voice it likes to hear the most," Kero said wisely.
"Why the hell'd that guy make a card like that anyway?" Syaoran grumbled, "So troublesome…"
Kero let the bag slide off his back, and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. He handed them to the man, who took them happily.
'Thank you' he wrote.
"Now then, let's start with the basics. Tell us your name, and where you think you lost your voice," Kero said, sitting down and motioning that everyone else do the same.
"I'll start making lunch…" Sakura said softly, watching the man as he wrote. This wifey attitude towards the guy did not please Syaoran at all.
"Also tell us why you jumped off that cliff," Syaoran said spitefully.
The guy faltered, but only for a moment.
"Syaoran, how rude," Nakatsu said, glaring at him. Syaoran stuck out his tongue at him.
'Takuto Kira. I lost my voice while singing in the meadow. And for the smartass holding the umbrella, if I can't sing, then I'll die.'
"Oh, so I'm a smartass, am I?" Syaoran said, waving the umbrella menacingly. Nakatsu stepped in front of him, blocking his way.
"I apologize on Syaoran's behalf. You see, he's very sexually frustrated and doesn't know what he's doing sometimes…"
"Who's sexually frustrated?" Sakura asked, looking up from the little stove. Syaoran stuck the giant umbrella in the ground and rolled up his sleeves.
"Why, Syaoran, of course," Nakatsu called back. Takuto smiled and Syaoran took several threatening steps towards Nakatsu.
"Too true," Sakura called back. Syaoran fell over.
"You jerk, why do you always have to gang up on me!" Syaoran yelled.
"Now, now, try to remain calm," Sakura said knowingly. Syaoran fell silent.
Kero placed a paw on Takuto's forehead and concentrated.
"You lost your voice only a couple hours ago."
"That means the card could still be there!" Sakura said happily.
"Let's go!" Syaoran and Nakatsu said.
Sakura used Create to make a bride across the gorge and they ran out to the meadow.
"I can feel the card's presence all around me!" Sakura said, spinning around trying to find it.
"Relax, Sakura, it's here. We just need to lure it out," Kero said.
"With what?" Syaoran asked, miffed that he again had to carry the umbrella.
"My beautiful singing, of course," Kero replied happily.
Everyone fell over. Kero looked around, confused, but then shrugged and began singing:
"Yo-ho yo-ho a pirate's life for me!" Everyone covered their ears, and Voice's aura got a little fainter.
"Yo, stop, it's getting scared away!" Syaoran yelled. Kero stopped, albeit reluctantly.
"Let me try, 'Ghost ride, ghost ride, get out the way let Casper drive!'" Syaoran began rapping. Mildly pathetic.
"Syaoran, you won't lure it out with rap, let me, 'Wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long'" Sakura started singing.
However, there was a problem.
Sakura is tone-deaf.
Meaning that she cannot distinguish between notes.
Meaning that her singing is horrible.
During this melee of song, Ruu had been tugging on Nakatsu, trying to get his attention. When he finally looked, Ruu was doing a little hand-motion like a spider…
"That's it! 'The itsy bitsy spider went up the water spout, down came the rain and washed the spider out,'" Nakatsu sang.
Everyone turned to look. A small glowing orb was materializing in front of him.
"That's the card!" Kero yelled. Sakura dashed over quickly.
"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!" she yelled, striking the orb with her staff and sending Nakatsu scurrying away in fear.
"Hey, my voice is back!" Takuto said, "Now maybe Chii will come back to me…"
"Chii? Who's Chii?" Kero asked, confused.
"I don't know, but she comes when I sing. She looks like the girl in Chobits, which is why I named her 'Chii'" Takuto said proudly.
"That must be the Song card," Kero said. Sakura nodded.
"How can we catch it?" Syaoran asked.
"Simple. Takuto, sing."
He began singing, and it was the most beautiful thing Sakura had ever heard. She stared at him intently. Syaoran was not pleased.
Slowly, just like the Voice card, the Song card materialized, singing in harmony with Takuto. She really did look a lot like Chii from Chobits. Sakura raised her staff and, whispering, so as not to interrupt the song, sealed the card. Takuto was once more singing alone. When he finished, he turned and smiled at Sakura. She blushed a little.
"I'm sorry, please have dinner with us to make up for this—"
A hole opened up behind Takuto, and swallowed him up.
"Hey, that looked like Tokyo," Nakatsu said.
"Crap, we're almost out of time. As we speak, Clow Land is ejecting all the human beings who have no business here," Kero growled.
"What the Hell for?" Syaoran asked, irritated.
"It's preparing for its dissolution. We have to hurry and capture all the cards before they leak out into the real world—"
"—Let's worry about that later. Right now I'm starved," Sakura said. She was a little disappointed that Takuto had disappeared so quickly.
Kero and Nakatsu snapped to it. Only Syaoran lingered behind.
"Hey, umbrella carrier, get a move on!" Nakatsu called back. Ruu attempted to say umbrella, but instead said "arugula" which is also a word, so it sort of counts.
"Coming…" Syaoran said, taking a step forward.
He would have continued, but something was clinging to his foot. He looked down and saw the most unbelievable thing:
A little girl was clinging on to his foot for dear life. When I say little, I mean, shorter than a blade of grass. And he only assumed it was a girl due to her long strawberry blonde hair, which was all he could see from his vantage point.
"What the Hell?"
A papoose is kind of like a backpack except you put babies in it. Nakatsu is wearing one that attaches to the front.
DM: Well, that's all for now, guys! I know, I have all these visitors from other animes entering all the time, but you know you like it! We're approaching the end of Arc One very soon, aren't you excited? Now then, Next Chapter: Too Little Too Big