DM: Alright, so I'm back with another chapter for you guys. Now we begin Arc Two of Sakura and Syaoran's journey! Are you guys pumped? I'm sure you are.
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.
Curses!
Arc Two: Hong Kong
Chapter Sixteen
How Dreamy
Tomoyo sighed as she stood waiting for someone to answer the door. She was on the front step of the Li mansion, where she had been told Sakura was staying.
With that boy, she thought rather angrily. She had been waiting for over five minutes. The house was so huge, nobody had heard the doorbell ring most likely.
She sighed again and looked around. Jasmine climbed around Doric columns along a Mediterranean style veranda. It looked rather out of place in the midst of Hong Kong.
Tomoyo watched a butterfly drift slowly from flower to flower and then turned back to stare at the door. The butterfly alighted on her shoulder, but she did not notice at all.
Because suddenly, everything seemed to glow a soft pink, and she heard a soft voice call her name from behind and giggle. She turned around rapidly.
"Sakura!" she called happily. And there she was. Sakura, wearing a cute sundress and waving at her from the bottom of the steps.
"Come on, Tomoyo!" Sakura shouted, extending her arms. Tomoyo, in her excitement, leapt from the top of the steps into Sakura's arms.
However, it wasn't Sakura who caught her. Whoever it was (Tomoyo couldn't see, since her face was buried in their chest), set her on her feet firmly. She looked up and found the face she least wanted to see.
"Hello, Daidouji!" Eriol said happily, "I hate to be a drag, but could you tone down the crazy just a little please?" he snickered at his own joke.
She turned away, embarrassed and outraged. She had just imagined it, then? That was weird. Maybe she actually was crazy.
"Did you ring the doorbell yet? Or were you too busy hallucinating?" Eriol asked snidely, stepping up and ringing it. A voice came over an intercom hidden in the wall.
"Hiiragizawa, that girl is unauthorized to enter," the voice said curtly. Eriol chuckled and looked at Tomoyo, who was fuming. So that was why she'd been made to wait.
"You can't really blame them, since people want to assassinate Aunty Yelan and stuff," he whispered to her, and then said loudly, "It's ok, she's with me. She is a friend of Kinomoto."
Tomoyo didn't bother to ask how he knew that and walked in as soon as the door opened. Eriol smirked at her as he watched the butterfly follow her in.
This will be interesting, he thought, I wonder which other people's desires will be revealed.
Feeling Eriol's eyes on her, Tomoyo felt a sick sensation in her stomach. She wondered what he thought of her strange daydream. She scratched her head. It had seemed so real, she was now unnerved…
Sakura, Syaoran and Kero were sitting on Syaoran's extremely large bed, contemplating the Clow Cards and discussing what to do about the curse.
"Well, so we know that the lead to Egypt was to get Sakura to enter Clow land, which means that…" Kero was saying.
"It means that we're back where we started with the curse, and have a whole new headache on our hands," Syaoran finished. The three sighed.
So Sakura and Syaoran were stuck in this body-switching state until they could find Clow's last descendant. In the meantime, they had to finish catching the Clow Cards, which were probably going to mess around just as much in the real world as they did in Clow land.
"Kero," Sakura said sadly, "I'm sorry we couldn't save Clow land…" she looked down. Syaoran put an arm around her and Kero patted her hand.
"Look on the bright side, Sakura," Kero said, "Clow's descendant will come to you when you have finished capturing the cards, most likely."
The thought gave both her and Syaoran some hope that maybe they would be free of this curse. They hadn't switched at all since they got back, though, which was good.
The door burst open, and Eriol strode into the room, followed by a still fuming Tomoyo. Syaoran unconsciously tightened his grip around Sakura's shoulder and Kero pretended to be a stuffed animal.
"Oh, are we interrupting some private time, Syaosyao?" Eriol asked, sneering. Syaoran quickly withdrew his arm from around Sakura and blushed. Sakura didn't notice and ran to Tomoyo.
"Sakura!" Tomoyo said happily, hugging her friend, "where have you been the past couple of days?"
"In Cl—Egypt." Sakura said, laughing nervously.
"Are they taking good care of you here? Are you cured of the curse? Come on, let me see your room!" Tomoyo said, and in a whirlwind the two girls had left the room, leaving the boys alone with Kero (whose face was getting sore from pretending to be a toy).
Eriol watched the butterfly pause on the edge of the bed and turned to Syaoran.
"So, have you done it yet?" he asked. Syaoran turned bright red and threw a pillow at him.
"Don't say perverted stuff like that!" he yelled. Eriol chuckled.
"What's the dealio with you and that girl, dear?" Eriol asked, picking up one of the Clow Cards and examining it.
"We're just friends," Syaoran grumbled.
"That's not what I meant. Why is she living in your house, dumbass?" Eriol asked, setting the Card down, "Cute tarot cards, bro. Real manly."
"Shut up! Those are hers! And this wouldn't be an issue if we weren't cursed!" Syaoran barked back, snatching the cards out of Eriol's reach.
"Cursed?" Eriol asked, raising an eyebrow. Syaoran turned pale. He hadn't meant to tell Eriol that.
"Yea, we're cursed to switch bodies whenever we get really angry. We stay like that until we apologize. It's terrible. So, until we find the descendant of this dumbass Clow magician guy thing, she's going to live here." Syaoran said, sighing and arranging the Cards in a neat stack.
Eriol did not particularly like being called "the descendant of this dumbass Clow magician guy thing," but for the sake of his own entertainment kept quiet about it.
"But you were mad at me just then," he pointed out. Syaoran shook his head.
"I told you, it's not just plain irritation that does it, we have to be mad. Anyway, there were a bunch of clues that led us to Egypt, but they were a dead end, so now we're back here."
"Why here?" Eriol asked. Syaoran sighed.
"Because the dumbass at the fountain said the last place he saw the descendant of Clow was through a god-damned magical forest that led us back to this stupid house. Blargh," he replied, flopping back on the bed.
"Interesting story. Maybe I should ask Kaho, she might know what to do—" Eriol began.
"Number one," Syaoran cut him off, "don't call Ms. Mizuki 'Kaho.' It's gross. Number two, you can't tell anyone, or I'll kill you."
"One out of two is all you'll get. Kaho's asked me to move in with her," Eriol replied smugly. Syaoran covered his face with his hands.
"Sick, you pervert."
The butterfly alighted on Syaoran's toe, but his hands remained over his face.
"Syaoran…" Sakura's voice came from the end of the bed. Syaoran sat up quickly.
"Sakura?" he asked. She was sitting on the edge of his bed, in her underwear. He gulped. He could have sworn Eriol was sitting there a minute ago.
"Syaoran," she said again in a very seductive tone, and moved towards him, "I want you to embrace me, Syaoran." She brought her mouth to his.
Suddenly, she grabbed his shoulders and started shaking him furiously.
"Syaoran, what the Hell's the matter with you? You know I don't swing that way!" Eriol was saying, barely suppressing a grin.
"Wh—what?" Syaoran asked, confused. In the chaos, the butterfly flew out of the room.
It went just a few doors down the hall and into Sakura's room, where she sat talking to Tomoyo. They were sitting on her large pink and white bed. The bed posts, chairs and writing desk were all cherry wood, and the walls were a pale and tasteful pink. She had just finished explaining the nature of the curse (of course, she wasn't going to tell Tomoyo about Clow land, at least, not now).
"So what are you doing here, Tomoyo? The class trip ended yesterday!" Sakura exclaimed, taking Tomoyo by the hand.
"Touya called and said he wanted me to transfer with you," she replied. That was true, but he needn't have asked, really.
"This is great! With you and Syaoran, I won't be lonely at all!" Sakura said happily. Tomoyo smiled.
"Oh, Touya said he'd come to visit soon, so prepare yourself, Sakura," Tomoyo added. Sakura blushed.
"Will Yukito come too?" she asked.
She still liked him a little; after all, she had only spent a few months in Clow land.
"I think so," Tomoyo said knowingly, ignoring the twitch of pain she felt thinking about it.
"So, who is that other guy in the room with Syaoran?" Sakura asked. The butterfly was circling the chair, unnoticed by the two girls.
"Oh, he's bad news. You don't want to get involved with him," Tomoyo said curtly, looking away.
"Daidouji," Eriol called from the hallway, "it's not nice to talk about other people behind their backs."
He and Syaoran entered the room, Syaoran carrying a limp Kero in one hand. He handed him over to Sakura.
While Syaoran and Tomoyo introduced themselves, Kero whispered, "Sakura, there's a Clow Card in this room."
Sakura looked around rapidly and saw the butterfly. But she couldn't capture it with Tomoyo and Eriol in the room!
"Kinomoto," Eriol said, taking her hand, "I'm Hiiragizawa Eriol. It's a pleasure to meet you." He kissed the back of her hand.
Both Syaoran and Tomoyo looked extremely miffed at that development.
"I think I'll be taking my leave now," Tomoyo said abruptly, standing up.
"I'll see you out then, Daidouji," Eriol said, smirking and standing up with her. The two left the room. In the meantime, the butterfly had landed on Kero, unseen by both Sakura and Syaoran.
Alone at last, Syaoran turned to Sakura to say something, but she had released her staff and was now hunting for the butterfly.
"Sakura?" Syaoran asked, puzzled.
"Shh," she said, "I'm looking for the Clow Card."
Kero flew onto Syaoran's face.
"Okonomiyaki!" he shouted. Syaoran grabbed him and shook him fiercely
At that moment, the Card shot out from its hiding place to make a mad dash for the door, but Sakura caught it in her hand.
The room faded and she now stood in an old park back in Tomoeda. Syaoran was there, and so was the strange man with the long white hair she had seen in a dream once. Syaoran was walking towards her with a determined look in his eyes that made her blush.
"Sakura, I love you," he said softly. Sakura gasped, her eyes widening. He then began shaking her shoulders furiously.
"Wh-what?" she asked. They were back in the room.
"Sakura, capture the card!" he shouted as if he was repeating himself.
Sakura looked at her hand and saw the butterfly flapping its wings in vain trying to escape.
"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!" and with that, the card transformed into a mysterious-looking woman and was caught.
"The Dream," she read aloud when the Card returned to her.
"Ah, the Dream. The Dream can show you your most powerful dreams. For example, the things you desire most," Kero said, his stomach rumbling with hunger, "In some cases, the dreams from Dream are prophetic, too."
Syaoran, after hearing that, turned bright red and fled from the room without saying anything.
Kero stared after him, dumbfounded.
"That was weird," he said, turning to Sakura.
She stood blushing as well, staring at the floor.
I like Yukito, don't I? she wondered.
DM: So how did you guys like that start of Arc Two? I hope that it summarized the story so far adequately. I should tell you that from here on out there are some cards that in the anime we never see Sakura actually capture (ie the Libra, the Wave etc) that I will show her capturing. In fact, the Libra is going to be really important throughout Arc Two. Please review!