DM: So I'm back again. Thank you all so much for your lovely reviews! Arc One is drawing to a close. This will be the last visit from another anime (boohoo).
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS or any of the other animes/mangas referenced in my fic.
Curses!
Arc One: Clow Land
Chapter Fourteen
Too Little Too Big
"What the Hell is that?" Syaoran asked softly, pointing at the little girl who was holding on to his shoe for dear life.
When I say little, I mean about 17.2 cm.
Sakura turned around rolling her eyes, but then saw what he was pointing at.
"It looks like a person," Sakura said calmly.
"It sure does," Syaoran replied.
Then they both started laughing.
"A person! What a joke!" Sakura choked out. Syaoran nodded in agreement, laughing out loud.
"Guys, what's the hold-up?" Kero asked, flying over.
"Hey, Kero, I must be hallucinating," Sakura said, wiping her eyes.
"It looks like a little person!" Syaoran said, bursting into a fresh peal of laughter.
Kero did not seem to find this as funny as the other two, and so flew down to where the small girl was.
"Need help?" Kero asked, extending a paw. The girl at first was shocked by the fact that a stuffed animal was talking to her, but then decided it would be better to take the help offered.
Kero, being about 5 cm taller, was able to lift her and fly up to the palm of Sakura's outstretched hand.
"Still think it's so funny, kid?" Kero growled at Syaoran, who looked appalled.
"What's your name? You are very cute!" Sakura said to the little person. The girl smiled and was about to say something when a deep voice boomed across the meadow:
"KOIZUMI, WHERE ARE YOU?"
The girl crouched down and got in the fetal position, a look of abject terror on her face.
"Who was that?" Nakatsu asked, walking back to join the group.
Ruu noticed the little girl immediately and made a grab for her, only to be intercepted by Kero.
"Oh no you don't," he said. Ruu looked miffed.
"So your name is Koizumi I take it?" Nakatsu said, extending a finger, which she shook politely.
"I'm Sakura, and that's Nakatsu and Ruu, and that's Syaoran and Kero," Sakura said, pointing everyone out in turn. The friendly atmosphere was then ruined by the sound of an impossibly large footfall.
"Run. Now."
Everyone obeyed Syaoran and began running, terrified, as a huge wind blew the rain clouds out of the sky. Ruu was very happy with this development, but Koizumi had once again assumed the fetal position.
Once satisfied that they had run far enough, the group stopped to catch their breath, and Kero glared at Koizumi.
"What's going on, girlie?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. Koizumi fidgeted awkwardly.
"That's Otani," she said softly. Everyone looked non-plussed.
"I'm sorry, but why is Otani a giant?" Sakura asked.
"Well, you see, we were just walking along, bickering like we always do, when we saw this lady and her daughter. They were dressed like clowns," Koizumi said, clearly very shaken. Kero's eyebrow quirked.
"Clowns, you say?" he asked, mildly annoyed.
"Yea, with big pointed hats that went off in two directions, and shoes where the toes curl up, and—"
"That's enough," Kero said, holding up a paw, "I know who you're talking about. It's the Big and the Little cards." This last sentence was directed mainly at Sakura.
"Oh, so where are they?" Sakura asked. Koizumi shook her head.
"I don't know. We were in the city when it happened. Syaoran and Nakatsu stared at each other.
"Then the Clow Cards are beginning to leave Clow Land," Kero mumbled, "Oh, I wish Yue was here…"
"We need to go back to where we found you, Koizumi, so I can capture the cards and get you back to normal," Sakura said, smiling reassuringly. The tiny girl looked scared at the thought, but nodded.
The group retraced their steps and were soon rewarded by a booming, yet nervous laugh.
"Very funny, Koizumi, but where are you?" Otani's voice rang in their ears.
Finally his feet and legs came into view. He was very clearly as tall as three houses. They couldn't see his face from the ground.
"Syaoran," Sakura said, reaching out and taking his hand, "I need you to do something for me."
Syaoran gulped and blushed in anticipation.
"I need you and the others to go up there and talk to him. Make sure he doesn't walk around."
That most certainly was not what he was expecting. Stunned, he only took in what she said after she had summoned the Float and he was on his way up.
"What the Hell is this?" Otani said, picking up Syaoran by the back of his shirt.
"Put me down, you red-haired idiot!" Syaoran shouted. Otani looked slightly taken aback.
"Eat him!" Nakatsu shouted. Syaoran gaped at him, only to have him yell "Don't mess with red-heads!"
Their conversation continued much in the same fashion for a while.
Back on the ground, Sakura, Kero and Koizumi were running around frantically (well, Koizumi rode on Kero's back) to find the Big and the Little.
"They like games, Sakura. If you propose a game, maybe they will come out," Kero said, after five minutes of fruitless searching.
"Ok, uhm, Hide and Go Seek!" Kero and Koizumi slapped their foreheads.
"Sakura, you idiot—"
"—I'll hide, and you seek!" Sakura shouted. Turning to Kero, she whispered, "See? I'm no dummy."
"We'll see about that. Quickly, hide. They won't start until you do," Kero said.
Though Sakura wasn't even sure that they had heard her, she used Jump to hide up in a tree. Otani was laughing high above her.
"Nothing to do but wait…" she said to herself, and sat still.
Being a descendant of Amamiya Nadeshiko, Sakura began to fall asleep almost immediately, despite the fact that she was in a tree. In her state of half-dream, half-reality, she thought she saw a little girl, about Koizumi's size, on the branch with her. She was dressed…
"Like a clown!" Sakura said loudly, waking up. The little card glared at her, and then jumped and touched her magic staff. It immediately began to shrink to about one-tenth of its size.
"Oh no!" Sakura said, trying frantically not to drop it. The little card laughed and then whistled. That's when a lady, similarly dressed, showed up. She was tall enough to reach Sakura in the tree without even standing on tiptoe. She tapped her lightly.
Sakura began to grow to about twenty-times her size.
"Crap!" she shouted, and her voice came out booming like Otani's. In fact, she was soon face to face with him. He and Nakatsu were having a nice chat.
"Sakura, dear, what have you done to yourself now?" Nakatsu called.
"Shut up, now's not the time for jokes!" Syaoran snapped at him, "Sakura, where's your wand?"
Sakura "threw" the really, really, really, tiny wand that she had been cupping in her hand at Syaoran, and it hit him squarely in the face with a rather large velocity in the Syaoran's-face direction. When you take physics, you'll get the joke better.
"You moron!" Syaoran shouted, and then found himself in Sakura' body.
Sakura, happily in Syaoran's body, tapped the little wand to the Woody, and the tree immediately grabbed the dancing Big and Little. Sakura smiled happily. Nakatsu looked thoroughly confused.
Sakura, still borrowing Syaoran's body (much to his dismay) leapt from the safety of Float's bubble while asking Woody to catch her. She struck the air, and the two cards were captured at the same time.
Woody let her gently go to the ground, while both Otani and Syaoran (in Sakura's body) shrank back down to normal size, and Koizumi grew again.
Poor Kero had received almost no warning, and was consequently crushed under her.
"I'm sorry," she and Syaoran both said. Sakura and Syaoran switched back to normal.
"Sorry, Syaoran, but it was the only thing I could think of," Sakura said, patting him on the shoulder. He shrugged, and was about to reply, when Nakatsu, Ruu and Otani came running over.
"Koizumi!" Otani shouted.
"Otani!" Koizumi replied, as both ran to each other, open armed.
Upon watching their embrace, the gang realized that Otani was in face shorter than Koizumi. By a lot.
Nakatsu began laughing. He couldn't help it. The couple broke apart, embarrassed, and then POOF they were gone.
"That was quick," Syaoran said. Nakatsu laughed some more, and pretty soon Sakura and Syaoran joined in. That was their weirdest adventure yet.
"Now, Sakura," Kero said, "We are running out of time."
Sakura nodded.
"Hey guys, how long has it been since we began traveling together?" Nakatsu asked, removing Ruu from the papoose.
"Oh…I don't know, actually," Sakura replied.
"Hmm…I wonder how much time has passed in the real world…" Syaoran said.
It was pondering these things that the group settled in for the night.
DM: Hey guys, sorry that that was short, but next chapter is the end of Arc One, in which Sakura will capture two cards (I won't say which), everyone will return to the real world, and we'll see what's going on with Tomoyo, Eriol, Meiling and Sakura's family! Next Chapter: What a Story