DM: I'm back! Thanks so much for your reviews, they really help! In this chapter, Sakura will capture a bunch of Clow Cards, and we'll see what happened with Eriol and Tomoyo.
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.
Curses!
Arc Two: Hong Kong
Chapter Twenty
The Long and Winding Road
Sakura woke up the next morning feeling very comfortable, except for a slight tickling sensation on her left hand. She opened her eyes and saw a bushy head of brown hair next to her on the pillow. Her heart skipped a beat as she remembered why he was there.
It was his breath that was tickling her hand, she realized, and she tried to extricate herself without waking him up but failed. He rolled over so that he was lying on his back and opened her eyes.
"S-sakura!" he said, sitting up and knocking heads with her in his surprise. The two scooted apart, each rubbing the point of contact and blushing.
"I'm sorry, we must have fallen asleep after Big Brother and Yukito left," Sakura said, grinning sheepishly.
"Ah, that's right. Good thing it's Sunday and we don't have school," Syaoran said as he got off the bed. He was in only boxers and a tee shirt, his typical pajamas. Sakura blushed and wondered why she hadn't noticed before.
"Yea, good thing," she replied.
There was an awkward pause before the doorbell rang.
"Master Syaoran," a maid called, "Miss Meiling is here to see you!"
Sakura and Syaoran gave each other a look that said something to the effect of "oh shit!" and he darted out of the room and down the hall to his own. There, Kero was stuffing himself greedily with doughnuts he had swiped from the kitchen.
"Kero, get out of here, Meiling is coming!" Syaoran whispered, pulling on jeans frantically. Kero swallowed and nodded. He flew down to the floor and crouched by the door, waiting.
"Syaoran! Good morning!" Meiling chirped, opening the door. Kero quickly flew around her ankles and out into the hall before she closed it behind her. Syaoran sighed with relief.
Kero flew over to Sakura's door, but stopped when he encountered a strong magical presence from her door. He paced in front of it, thinking about what it could possibly be.
"Which Card are you?" he asked. Just then, he heard Sakura's footsteps approach the door. He had no time to move and braced himself for the impact of the door.
Strangely, he passed through the door as it swung around. Kero's relief was short-lived; Sakura's foot came down from the heavens and stepped on him immediately after.
"Kero? What are you doing down there?" Sakura asked. She picked him up and took him back into her room.
When his lungs had re-inflated, Kero pointed at Sakura's door and whispered, "Sakura, there's a Clow Card over there."
Sakura closed her eyes. Why hadn't she noticed it before? There was strong magical power coming from her door.
"Which Card is it, Kero?" she whispered. Kero flew up to her ear.
"The Through. It can make it so the user can pass through solid objects, or it can possess objects to make anyone able to pass through them," he said.
Sakura quietly released the seal and approached the door, realizing rather suddenly that that was how Syaoran had entered her room the night before. She tapped it lightly with the wand and whispered, "Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!"
The through obediently returned to its card form.
Meanwhile, over in Syaoran's room, things were a little tense.
"How come you look so ruffled? It's already ten, Syaoran! You never sleep this late," Meiling said, alphabetizing his bookshelf, as was her habit whenever she happened to be in his room. Syaoran sighed.
"I had a really nice dream that I didn't want to end," he replied. Meiling shrugged.
"But you made your own bed? I'm impressed," she said, eyeing his bed. Syaoran felt a chill run down his spine. His bed was perfectly made yet he looked like he had just woken up! This was a problem.
Meiling sighed and sat down on the bed.
"Do you remember when we were kids?" he asked, trying to keep her mind off it, "That one time, where we were jumping on Mom's bed—"
"—Syaoran," Meiling interrupted, "How do you feel about Kinomoto?"
Syaoran tripped over his own feet in surprise. Meiling bent down to help him up.
"I'm sorry, that was a little random of me to ask," she said, smiling.
"N-no worries," he replied, "We're friends is all."
Meiling sat down on the bed again and sighed with relief.
"That's good, but I may have to openly compete with her for you," she said. He laughed nervously.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, let me walk home with you guys. She is my competition and I would like us to compete honorably and in the open!" Meiling stood up as she said this, getting really excited.
Syaoran sighed and gave in. At least Meiling was honest, if a bit rambunctious. He wondered how Sakura would react to this idea.
"She probably won't get as fired up as you are, you know," he said. She grinned and they walked out of the room together.
Still in her room, Sakura decided what to give Syaoran as a thank-you present for the night before. She smiled happily. He would love it for sure.
Of course, the next day, nothing was going to go right. But Sakura didn't know that.
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The next morning, Sakura woke up very early and asked to use the kitchen. The staff looked a little confused, but when she asked for a lunchbox they understood. She rolled up her sleeves and set about making her gift for Syaoran—a Japanese-style bento.
Syaoran, on the other hand, got up at the normal time, feeling extremely nervous. As soon as he was dressed, he walked over to Sakura's room and knocked on the door, even though it was open just a crack. What was he going to say again? That he didn't mean to invade her privacy the night before. That's right.
No answer. He knocked again, a little more loudly than before. A muffled groan came from inside, followed by a gasp.
"Sakura? It's ok, you won't be late if you hu—"
WHUMP.
The door burst open and a large blue chameleon-like creature flew out and landed on him.
"Syaoran! Hold it down!" Kero shouted, flying out. Syaoran instinctively wrapped his arms around it.
"Now I'll go get Sakura so she can capture it," Kero said.
"What do you mean, you'll go get her?" Syaoran yelled angrily.
That was a mistake.
Because, at that point, the curse activated and Sakura switched bodies with Syaoran.
On an ordinary day, this wouldn't be a problem, but today was not an ordinary day.
Now then, Sakura, confused as to what this large blue chameleon thingy was doing on her, yelped, and stood up, smashing Kero with it. This was very bad. At least she had finished making the lunch for Syaoran, so all he had to do was pick it up and take it upstairs to the mess in the hall.
"Syaoran! That's for you!" Sakura said proudly. Syaoran looked confused.
"Is that alright, Sakura?" he asked, looking over her head and behind her.
"Hey! I'm right here!" she shouted. Syaoran gasped.
This was the result of their mess:
Sakura was in Kero's body.
Syaoran was in Sakura's body.
Kero was in Syaoran's body.
A problem? I think so.
As it turns out, the Change card escaped. And without it, there was no way of getting back to normal. Why? Because, as Sakura and Syaoran discovered, the curse didn't cover Kero, meaning they were stuck in the above configuration.
The three had no time to further ponder, as they were late to school. Syaoran fingered the lunch Sakura made for him happily. At least one thing went right. Sakura, on the other hand, watched Kero apprehensively as he pretended to be Syaoran. Tomoyo and Eriol hadn't waited for them, and even Syaoran's fangirls had given up and gone to class.
However, Kero didn't have much time to mess up, because the classroom was in complete chaos.
Objects were flying around everywhere, and kids were running and screaming as some invisible force pelted them with books, pencils, chairs, Meiling, etc.
"Sakura," Kero whispered, "This is the Move Card." He handed her the key and she flew out the window. No one thought it was strange, since she looked like a stuffed animal caught in the tornado.
Outside, she released the seal, but the wand was too large for Kero's little body.
"Little! Please make the wand a manageable size so I can use it," she cried, pressing the card to the wand's tip. Mercifully, the Little helped her out.
"Sleep! Put everyone to sleep!" the screaming kids (as well as the flying Meiling) fell asleep. Syaoran and Kero gave her the thumbs-up. The Move threw a desk at them, but Sakura struck it with the wand just in time. It was quite handy to be able to fly, now that she thought about it.
"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!" The Move struggled, but then returned to its card form. They were safe for the time being. Using the Move, now, Sakura placed everyone (and Ms. Mizuki) back at their seats. One student, Hiiragizawa Eriol, was pretending to be asleep.
Unfortunately, the kids didn't wake up until lunchtime, so the trio simply sat and talked.
"That was weird how Tomoyo and Eriol didn't wait for us," Sakura said, flying over to the sleeping Tomoyo's desk. Kero kicked his legs happily, oblivious to the conversation.
"I know what you mean," Syaoran replied. He had seen movers outside of Eriol's house on Sunday, but they were moving stuff in. Something must have happened.
Afraid to say more, the two of them awkwardly sat for a little bit, and then Syaoran breached the silence again.
"So you made this for me?" he asked, pulling the lunch out (lunch was in five minutes anyway) "What for?" If Sakura had been human, she would have blushed.
"I wanted to thank you for helping me the other night, that's all," she said casually. He blushed. He opened his mouth to say something else, but they heard a groan. Tomoyo was the first to wake up. He didn't even know what he would have said, anyway.
"What happened?" Tomoyo asked. Other kids were waking up around her, as was Ms. Mizuki.
"Oh I don't know, Syaoran said, "I guess the lecture was really boring."
The kids and teacher, although they were confused, didn't wonder about it too long, thankfully.
This was thanks to Eriol, but our heroes didn't know that, of course.
"Yay! Lunchtime!" Kero said happily. People stared, since saying things happily was rather unusual for Li Syaoran. Syaoran (in Sakura's body) laughed uneasily and ushered him out to eat on the grass. Tomoyo followed confusedly. Sakura slapped her forehead as Syaoran came back and picked up her hiding place—the backpack.
Eriol didn't sit with them. In fact, he disappeared as soon as they were dismissed. Syaoran didn't think too much of it, as he was already used to Eriol's wandering ways, but Sakura looked for him constantly.
The four (though to Tomoyo they seemed to be only three) sat to lunch under their now usual spot: under the tree. Syaoran excitedly unwrapped the lunch Sakura had made. It was all Japanese food. Tomoyo began talking, but only Kero really paid her any attention: Sakura waited with bated breath as Syaoran tried a piece of tagoyaki (sweet omelet roll).
Syaoran popped it in his mouth and then grimaced. Sakura frowned.
"What's wrong?" she whispered. After struggling and swallowing the first bite, Syaoran reached for his water.
"So sweet!" he whispered. He then took a long drink of water.
And he promptly spat that out.
"Sakura, what's wrong?" Tomoyo asked. Luckily, Syaoran had missed her with the spray.
"N-nothing, just my water tastes really sweet today, that's all…" he answered. Kero and Sakura looked at each other.
"Oh? Let me taste," before Syaoran could protest (it was an indirect kiss, after all) Tomoyo took a small sip. She grimaced too.
"You're right," she said finally, "It's terribly sweet."
Kero excused himself, taking Sakura with him, while Syaoran and Tomoyo speculated on the causes.
"Sakura," he whispered, "This is the work of the Sweet Card." Sakura nodded, a fierce expression on her face.
No one gets away with ruining Sakura's lunch!
Hidden between Kero and a corner of the yard, Sakura went through the same procedure as in the morning: she released her wand and used Little to make it the right size.
"Where do you think it is?" Sakura asked. Kero looked around. A kid in their classroom spat out something. The two felt a pulse of magic.
"The classroom!" they said together. They ran quickly.
The boy had spat out a dumpling that was way too sweet, freaking everyone in the class out. Soon they realized there was the same problem with their lunches. Sakura looked around.
"There!" she whispered, pointing at Ms. Mizuki's abandoned lunch. A small blue fairy, similar in appearance to the Sleep, was waving her little wand over some noodles. Kero threw Sakura at it and she managed to hit it with her staff.
"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!" Luckily, no one noticed the magical burst, as they had all gone outside.
Why did they go outside? Because someone whom they thought was Li Syaoran was doing back handsprings by the window. He then commenced with the chicken dance.
Syaoran, in Sakura's body, gaped at Kero, rage welling up from inside him. He ran up to him.
"What the hell are you doing?" he hissed, pushing through the crowd of laughing kids.
"Sakura had to capture a card," Kero whispered in reply as Sakura snuck back outside. Syaoran sighed sadly.
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"So that was pretty much the worst day ever," Syaoran said as the foursome walked home. Eriol had failed to turn up after lunch, and whenever he was mentioned Tomoyo grew pale and turned away.
"Oh come on, it wasn't that bad," Kero said, not embarrassed at all by his earlier performance.
Tomoyo sighed and took off for her house, leaving our heroes to walk by themselves. Free at last to move and speak, Sakura sighed as well.
"What's the matter?" Syaoran asked, though he knew the answer. Kero hummed obliviously.
"I worked really hard on that lunch," she said, "but that card ruined it…" Syaoran plucked her from the backpack and held her aloft.
"Hey, it's ok, you'll just have to try again," he said, winking. Sakura smiled.
"I hate to break up this warm and comfortable atmosphere," Kero said, "But we gotta look for the Change Card. Like, now." The other two nodded.
They had arrived back in the mansion to find it empty. Wei came to greet them.
"I'm terribly sorry, but some of the staff members are having strange 'out of body experiences' or something right now," he said apologetically. He was unable to elaborate further due to a shriek from the above floor.
"I'm a man!" someone shouted, sounding terrified. Kero and Sakura shared a meaningful glance and immediately dashed upstairs.
"Master Syaoran!" Wei called.
"It's ok," Syaoran said, "He'll be fine." He slowly followed them, trying to seem Sakura-like.
Sakura found the room in question easily, as strong magic was erupting from it.
"Kero! Open the door!" she said. The man and woman inside had passed out from shock. The Change sat on the bed, smiling. The smile faded as Sakura swung her staff.
"Return to the form you were destined to be in, Clow Card!" and with that, the Change Card was caught.
So, after that, Sakura turned everything back to normal.
Unfortunately, none of the staff was really up to anything that night, and so Sakura and Syaoran ended up making dinner for themselves while Kero tried to get in the way as much as possible.
Overall, it had not been a very good day.
DM: So that's it for now, guys! I bet you're all dying to know what's going on in the Eriol-Kaho-Tomoyo triangle! Never fear, it will show up next chapter, I promise! Please review! Next chapter: Summertime Blues.