heh. i went to the music department in my school last week during my private study periods to do my pentatonic composition (for those you don't know what that is, wikipedia magic! i'm so nerdy, i researched about pentatonic-ness before i did the work ). so recently when we were in class, i let my two best friends hear it. about 4 seconds in, Ciara said, "It sounds like, "Maru-chan goes to bed" or something." Ha, i was in stitches.

Oh!! None of you will probably know this, but Maru-chan is my conscience!!!!!!

i swear i'm not crazy! huh? oh yeah! the Disclaimer: I do not own CCS. But i do own the penatatonic composition that i wrote [feels proud

It was mid-May when Tomoyo sat at the writing desk in her room. The trees surrounding her house had taken on a luscious green colour and were gently swaying in the evening breeze.

Her hand glided graciously as the pen which she held skimmed across the milky white paper. Her curly writing covered the sheet as she wrote her thoughts, her ideas and the events of the past few weeks. Delicately placing her signature at the bottom of the page, Tomoyo picked up and envelope and carefully placed the now-folded letter inside of it. She had just sealed the envelope and had started writing the address on it when her mobile's ring tone played out in her quiet room.

"Daidouji Tomoyo," she said in to the speaker. "Sakura-chan! How are you? Really? Of course I will; but you must put on one of my costumes of course. Yes, that's fine. I'll see you soon." Placing her phone back on to the desk, Tomoyo finished off the letter and then rushed off to her closet to find something suitable to wear, leaving the letter addressed to Eriol on her table.

[……….

Syaoran stood in front of the fountain at Tomoeda centre at night. He leaned against the ceramic and impatiently checked his watch. Sighing, he picked up his sword and started to walk around the area, looking for anything suspicious. Ten minutes later he heard girl's voices coming closer.

"Tomoyo-chan, are you sure this isn't too…inappropriate for the occasion?"

"This dress is flexible and not too heavy, so it won't be a problem for moving around in! Besides, Sakura-chan fills it well!"

"That's what's inappropriate about it," she muttered. "Syaoran-kun! Have you been here long?"

"Only for an hour," he replied. "But I'm sure you two had more important things to do."

"Hoe- Tomoyo-chan insisted that I wear another of her designs," Sakura said, sweatdropping. She was wearing a light purple dress that clung to her figure and had an almost too low V-neck, and came down to the top of her knees, where it fanned out. She wore matching purple shoes and the laces came up around her legs. Kero floated behind Sakura with a purple ribbon tied around his neck.

"Oh no!" Tomoyo cried in dismay. "I forgot about Li-kun's costume!"

"Th-that's quite alright," Syaoran said, laughing nervously.

Sakura looked at their surroundings. "Have you seen anything, Syaoran?"

"No," he said as Tomoyo started to back away and start recording the scene. He could have sworn that Sakura sounded nervous while looking around "The presence hasn't shown itself yet but I can feel it nearby. It's almost as if it's watching us."

"Hmm," Sakura said, walking over to the fountain with the others following her. "I can feel it too; but why is it hiding?"

Tomoyo continued to back away, making sure to catch every moment of Sakura in action.

"I still don't understand these cards," Kero said, crossing his arms and legs in mid-air. "And that Rohan boy doesn't make much sense. How can we be sure to trust him?"

"We can't," Syaoran stated. "Until we get to know him better, I don't think we should trust him at all."

Sakura looked slightly angry as she turned to face Syaoran. "Syaoran-kun; do you honestly think that Rohan-kun is the cause of this?"

Syaoran blinked. How did she know that was what he thought? The look in her eyes told him that she wanted an answer. Sighing, he said, "No, I don't" Sakura looked like she didn't believe him. "I just can't help thinking he has something to do with this!"

"In case you haven't notice, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said, slipping in to her sarcastic tone, "the aura behind these attacks and Rohan-kun's aura are completely different!"

Syaoran huffed ever so slightly. Yes, he had noticed, but it didn't mean that he had to accept it.

"Besides," she continued, her back turned to the fountain, "you thought that Mizuki-sensei was not to be trusted, but as it turns out she helped me."

Syaoran was scowling now. "And you thought that Hiiragizawa was a good person!"

Sakura gaped at him. "Eriol-kun was good! You just disliked him because he was such a gentleman!" Sakura allowed a dreamy look to come over her eyes, just to aggravate Syaoran.

And it worked. "Oh, so that's what this is all about? Me not acting like a gentleman?"

"Well, it wouldn't kill you to…"

Kero rolled his eyes at their bickering. He caught sight of Tomoyo in the bushes and waved his little paw her. Tomoyo giggled and waved back from where she sat, camera in hand. Oh, it was just wonderful to capture a lover's quarrel on tape! Tomoyo's eye caught sight of something rising up behind Sakura, Syaoran and Kero, who had not noticed. She giggled once more.

"And to top it all off-" Sakura said before Syaoran cut across her.

"Wait!" he shouted. He frowned in confusion. "Does it seem to have gotten darker?"

Sakura looked around her. "Yes…"

Sakura, Syaoran and Kero all looked to the moving shadow before them on the ground and, together they turned around just in time to see a wall of water rising up behind them. Before any of them could react, the water came crashing down on them.

The three of them stood there in shock for a moment, dripping wet.

"What the hell just happened?" Syaoran asked.

Sakura couldn't resist rolling her eyes. "Well," she began, "we were arguing and then you noticed it was getting dark and then-"

"Okay, okay! I get the point," Syaoran said, annoyed. "But how come we didn't sense the force behind us?"

"Because you two were so busy shouting at each other!" Kero said, shaking the water from his fur.

Syaoran was about to retort when a loud crashing sound met his ears. He and Sakura stood back to back as the shop windows on each side of the street shattered. They waited in silence for the next move. Nothing seemed to be happening until Sakura exclaimed;

"Hoe! That shop dummy just moved!"

Syaoran turned his head around and to his utter amazement the manikins on Sakura's side were indeed moving. He looked back to in front of him and saw the exact same thing happening.

"What the hell…" he began before he saw them move towards them. "Quick!" he shouted, stepping up onto the edge of the fountain and pulling Sakura up with him.

"What should we do?!" Sakura cried; moving shop-window dummies were almost as bad as ghosts!

Syaoran drew out an ofuda and shouted, "Raitei shourai!"

The manikins were encased by powerful bolts of lightning and almost immediately fell to the ground.

"That was strange," Syaoran said, staring at the now-scorched shop-window dummies lying on the ground.

"This is a very unusual force," Kero added, looking around. "Maybe it's one that can manipulate objects or even-" He was cut off when he heard a splash suddenly found himself dripping wet again.

Kero blinked. "What happened that time?"

A round object came flying through the air at Syaoran, who ducked just in time. It landed with a splash on the ground behind him. Bending down to investigate it more closely, Syaoran turned around amazed, and said, "It's a water bomb."

"Hoe?!" Sakura exclaimed as she looked at the sky, and saw another water bomb coming towards them. She had just jumped out of the way when another followed it, and it landed on her head. "What's doing this?!" she cried.

Hundreds of water bombs started to fall from the sky, pelting them from all directions.

"Shield!" Sakura called out. The shield surrounded Sakura, Syaoran and Kero, all of whom were drenched again. "What is this?!" she repeated.

"I don't know!" Syaoran yelled above the sound of water hitting against the shield.

"You need to find where the source of the power is coming from," Kero said, a little too calmly for Syaoran's liking. "Concentrate, Sakura."

Sakura nodded, and, closing her eyes, she blocked out all the noises around her. She focused her powers on searching out the position of the unknown force. She could feel the presence for Syaoran and Kero distinctly beside her, and she reached out further. The slightest hint of another presence would be all she needed…there!

"Firey!" Sakura called out, focusing on the point where she had felt the presence. Firey obediently went in that direction, skillfully dodging all the water bombs. It disappeared behind the bushes for a moment, and the gang heard some one, or something, grunt in pain.

Then the presence disappeared.

Sakura called off the Shield and Firey also returned to her. The water bombs had stopped falling from the sky, and it was peaceful again, albeit wet with burnt manikins on the ground.

"Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura suddenly called out. "Are you okay?"

"Hai, Sakura-chan, I'm fine," she replied, coming out from her hiding place in the bushes. "Oh dear," she continued, looking around herself. "It is a bit of a mess, isn't it?"

Sakura and Syaoran looked at their surroundings and sweatdropped. "Hoe…we'll need to clean all this up!" Sakura exclaimed.

Syaoran looked around in disbelief. "How are we going to do that?" he asked. "The shop windows are broken and the manikins are scorched."

Sakura thought hard for a moment. "I've got it!" she said brightly, drawing out four Sakura Cards. Throwing the first one in to the air, she called out, "Bubble!" The card obediently began cleaning all the scorch marks of the manikins at top speed. By the time it was done you wouldn't have known that the dummies had been victims of Syaoran's power.

Sakura threw up a second card. "Move!" The manikins began to drift back to their rightful place in the shops and stood there like they hadn't even moved.

Syaoran watched in amazement at Sakura's quick thinking. She had definitely improved. "That's all very good," he said, "but what about they windows?"

Sakura smiled knowingly, and, throwing the last card in to the air, she called out, "Sand! Firey!"

The Sand and the Firey…Syaoran said to himself. He would never have thought of that.

The two cards worked together to create new glass windows in the surrounding shops. Kero's mouth was open in awe at his Mistress' open mind and resourcefulness. By the time all the cards had finished their work, you would never have known that something magical had taken place that night.

Sakura turned around to face Syaoran, twirling her staff in her hands and smiling placidly.

Syaoran sighed. "All right, I'll say it: that was good."

"Thank-you," Sakura said, satisfied. "I'd better be going home before onii-chan notices that I'm gone again."

"Do you want me to walk you back?" Syaoran offered awkwardly (try saying that 5 times).

"It's okay, I have Kero-chan," Sakura said.

"Yeah, that's right, she has me!" Kero said, puffing himself up.

"I'll see you all tomorrow," Sakura said before turning away.

"Wait!" Syaoran said as his eye caught something in the distance. Drawing out and ofuda he said, "Raitei shourai!" A bolt of lightning traveled through the air and hit a security camera several meters away.

The gang stood in silence for a moment.

"That was vandalism, Syaoran-kun," Sakura said.

Somewhere on the other side of Tomoeda, a policeman tapped at the blank TV screens in confusion. "Yo, Haru-san! Someone's short-circuited a camera again!"

[……….

"Kaijou! Where were you last night?"

Sakura cringed at her brother's question the next morning. "Oh, I…um…sat outside to gaze at the stars…" Possibly convincing?

"You weren't at the house," Touya stated, scowling. It was his turn to make the breakfast that morning. Only he could wear an apron and still look scary, Sakura thought.

"I was at Tomoyo-chan's house…?"

Touya's scowl softened slightly and was replaced with a look of concern. "You know I don't like it when you go out at night."

"Onii-chan," Sakura said, almost warningly, "it's been almost two years…"

"That's not an excuse!"

"I can take care of myself!"

"It doesn't change the fact that you're still scared!" Touya said.

Sakura looked at her brother with hurt before grabbing her bag and running out in to the hallway.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" he asked, following her to the front door.

"I've got classroom duties,' Sakura mumbled, keeping her head down as she slipped in to her rollerblades.

"You haven't had your breakfast yet."

"I'm not hungry," she said, opening the front door.

"Sakura!" Touya shouted, but she walked out the door anyway. He stood in the hallway for a while and then sighed. Did he have to be so insensitive?

[……….

Sakura closed the door on her brother as he called her name. She quickly skated along the footpath and away from the house. That was unfair of him, she thought, her eyes becoming blurry. That was a cheap, nasty trick to use on me. He doesn't understand.

Knowing that she was going to be way too early for school, Sakura took the scenic root. She skated in between rows of blossoming Sakura-trees, their delicate-pink petals drifting in the wind. Sakura wiped at her eyes before any tears could fall. Coming to a junction in the road, Sakura took a left which would take her further away from the school, and into a more secluded area. She continued rolling along the footway for a few minutes and the trees began to get denser, and the path more narrow. She slowed down when she eventually found herself in a circular clearing of grass with cherry blossoms surrounding it. Taking her roller blades off, she set them, along with her bag, at the bottom of a tree and proceeded to sit further out in the clearing.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura relaxed as she lay back in the glade and gazed up at the clouds. She had discovered this area of Tomoeda when she was 7 years old…

"Onii-chan is so mean!" a much younger Sakura shouted as she ran out of the house.

"Sakura! Come back here!" a 14 year old Touya yelled.

"No!" she protested opening the door and shouting back. "I hate onii-chan! I hate him!" She slammed the door on her brother's shouting and ran off down the street. She went as fast as her little legs would carry her, so that her big meanie brother wouldn't know which direction she went.

Sakura ran as far away from her house as possible. When she came to a junction in the road, she followed the path which led in to a whole forest of cherry blossoms which she had never seen before. She kept on running, ignoring how exhausted she felt and how her legs were crying out for rest. Eventually she came in to an open area where the sunlight flooded a small patch of grass and the trees were growing in a circle. There, Sakura finally collapsed on to the ground, in the middle of the clearing. She breathed heavily for a few seconds before starting to cry.

"Onii-chan is so cruel," she whined, as the tears flowed down her face. "Just because otou-san isn't home doesn't mean he can tell me what to do!" Sakura cried even harder as she lay down on the grass. She was there for so long that she cried herself to sleep in the sunlight.

Sakura awoke a few hours later when she heard footsteps outside of the clearing. Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and gazed around her. The footsteps were coming closer, and Sakura could tell that someone was standing behind her. Assuming that it was her brother, Sakura stood up defiantly and was about to turn around and continue yelling at him, when the person spoke.

"Sakura-chan?"

Sakura slowly turned around and found herself looking up into the face of a 14-year-old Yukito.

"Yukito-san," she said, as he kneeled down to her height.

"Sakura-chan, what are you doing all the way out here?" Yukito asked her, gently.

Sakura hung her head.

"Touya's very worried about you. Did you have another fight with him?"

She nodded.

"You've been gone for quite some time," Yukito continued, standing up. He held out his hand to her. "Should we go home?"

Sakura nodded again and put her small hand in to Yukito's. He led her out of the clearing and back on to the path. They walked along in silence for several minutes.

"You know," Yukito said softly, "running away doesn't solve your problems. And it doesn't help others either. Touya was very upset when he rang me. He was worried when you didn't come home after an hour. I was worried, too."

"I'm sorry for making Yukito-san worry," Sakura mumbled. "I promise I won't run away again."

Yukito smiled at her. "I know you won't. When you get older you will have problems that you'll want to run away from, and sometimes you will without literally running away. And when those times come, you need to be strong, Sakura-chan."

"I promise to Yukito-san that I'll face my problems without running away!" Sakura said, looking up at Yukito with determined eyes. "I will be strong, and if I am, everything will definitely be all right!"

"Sakura! Where have you been?!"

Sakura stood inside the front door of her house after Yukito brought her back home. She hung her head in shame and didn't bother to shout back at her brother. After all, this time, she did deserve it.

"Do you have any idea what could have happened to you?" Touya continued, more worried than angry. "You just ran off on your own!"

A single tear plopped down on the floor above Sakura's feet. "I'm sorry, Touya-nii-chan, I didn't mean-"

Sakura stopped speaking when Touya dropped down to his knees in front of her and pulled her into a hug. "I know you didn't mean it," he told her, holding her tight. "I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier."

"I'm sorry for saying bad things to onii-chan," Sakura sobbed. "I don't hate onii-chan. I love onii-chan very much. I'll never run away from onii-chan again!"

Touya held on to his little sister. He was so glad that she was safe…

"Sakura? What are you doing here?"

Sakura sat bolt upright as she broke out of her day dream. There, standing in front of her, was Syaoran.

"Syaoran-kun!" she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I just asked you," he said, still staring at her as if he wasn't sure that she was there. "I've been coming here to train in the mornings."

"Oh," Sakura responded. "I come here to…um…escape," she said, feeling embarrassed at her excuse. "If you come here to train, why are you in your school uniform?" she asked.

"Oh, I've already trained this morning," Syaoran said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "I was just walking past here when I felt your aura so…I thought I would come and see if you were here."

"I didn't know your apartment was around here."

Syaoran looked at her as if she were slightly crazy. "You can see the blossom forest from my apartment window."

"Ah," Sakura said. Blossom Forest…that has a nice ring to it, Sakura thought. "Oh no! Classroom chores! I forgot!"

Sakura ran over to where her schoolbag lay and she started to put on her roller blades.

"Hey, calm down," Syaoran told her. "School doesn't start for another hour."

"Really?!" Sakura straightened up quickly, but she only had one roller blade on so she lost balance and fell backwards on to the ground.

"Ouch…" she moaned as Syaoran sweatdropped.

[……….

"There!" Sakura said as she finished arranging the flowers in the vase. "Don't they look pretty, Syaoran-kun?"

Syaoran grunted from his chair. He had finished his chores a few minutes ago and was now dozing (or maybe he's meditating…) at his table.

It was still quite early and the other students wouldn't be arriving in school for a while. Sakura sighed and tried to find something to amuse herself with. She gazed around the classroom a few times before sighing again. She was about to tell Syaoran that she was bored, when a red aura prickled at her senses. Seconds later, the classroom door opened and Rohan walked casually in.

"Ah, Sakura-sama! Ohayo!" he greeted her warmly.

"Ohayo, Rohan-kun," Sakura replied to him. "You're in early."

"Yeah, well I could sense that you two were already here, so I thought I might as well come in early," he told her as he put his bag down on top of his desk. "Syaoran-chan! How are you this morning?"

Syaoran opened his eyes to glare at Rohan. "What did you call me?"

"Syaoran-chan," he repeated casually.

Syaoran's glare became harder. "What?" Rohan asked innocently.

"Where were you last night?" Syaoran asked suddenly.

"Last night? I was at home."

"Another one of those Myst Cards showed up," Syaoran told him.

Rohan seemed more alert at this. "Did you seal it?"

"No," Sakura said, walking towards the boys. "We couldn't even see where it was. It started doing these weird things, almost as if…"

"…it were playing pranks on us," Syaoran finished for her.

Rohan looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hmm, there could only be two cards that could do something like that," he told them. "One of them is the Mysterious Brother, who is the cause of all the disturbances, and the other is the Magician."

"I thought you could sense the cards when they made their presence known," Syaoran said.

"I can," Rohan replied, "but the Mysterious Brother and the Magician are so powerful that they can hide their auras completely."

"But…" Sakura started, "I thought that only people gave off an aura."

Rohan ran a hand through his hair. "How do I explain this…ah!" He waved his hand at the blackboard, and the names 'Mysterious Brother' and 'Magician' appeared opposite each other.

Sakura gasped. "How did you…?"

"It's part of my magical ability," Rohan said. "Okay, Sakura," Syaoran twitched slightly at how Rohan didn't use an honorific, "up there we have the two most powerful cards that Master created. Yes?"

The name 'Master' appeared at the top of the board and a 2 lines came out of it, connecting to the names below. Sakura nodded to show that she was following.

"The Mysterious Brother is the strongest of all 21 cards," he continued, and a circled appeared around the name. "Next strongest is the Magician," Rohan waved his hand and that name became underlined, "whose power is closely matched to that of the Brother's.

"Now, Master gave each of these cards so much power that they, in themselves, did not need to depend on the power of a human to sustain them. In this, they broke off their link with Master and existed on their own substantial energy." The lines connecting the two cards to 'Master' vanished. "The Brother and the Magician were the two cards that rarely stayed in their sealed form. You could say that they became close friends." Another line was drawn on the board; this time connecting the two cards together. "They worked together to overthrow Master, even though it was the Mysterious Brother who ultimately defeated him."

With another wave of his hand, all the writing on the board vanished. "Do you follow?" Rohan asked, turning back towards Sakura.

"So…" she began slowly, "even though they are cards, the Mysterious Brother and the Magician can blocked out their auras because they have enough power to do so?"

"Yup!" he replied, cheerfully. "That's why I couldn't sense the card last night. It knows I'm here, it knows my connection to Master, so it can focus its energy on blocking it's aura from me. From what I hear, it was most likely the Magician who you encountered."

"Do you know how we can stop him?" Syaoran asked. He understood Rohan completely, but there was still a missing link somewhere.

"Um…that's rather tricky," he admitted. "The Magician is crafty and sneaky, so, in a way, you need to be crafty and sneaky to catch him. Or just very resourceful."

"Hoe! I'm not sneaky at all! How will I seal it?" Sakura panicked.

"Hey, I said you can be resourceful in sealing it," Rohan told her, putting his hands on her shoulders to calm her down. "Use what you have; your cards will be able to help you."

"Yeah," Sakura said, calming herself.

"That-a girl," Rohan said, patting her affectionately on the head.

Syaoran was almost ready for pummeling him.

[……….

"So you and Touya-san had another fight?" Tomoyo asked.

"It wasn't really a fight," Sakura told her, kicking the dirt beneath her feet; "it was more of an argument."

The girls sat on the swings that afternoon after school had finished. Tomoyo had patiently listened to Sakura's story, and now regarded her friend with a sympathetic expression.

"He's just worried about you," Tomoyo said gently.

Sakura sighed. "When is he not? Ever since I was 10 he's been following my every movement! I appreciate all that he's done for me, I really do! and I really love him for wanting to protect me… but he wont' always be there."

"He leaves for England in a few months, doesn't he?" Tomoyo asked.

"Yeah," Sakura said. "He wants to study the English Law system. I'm not sure why; I don't think he intends to live in England."

"He may be just interested in the way things work over there."

"Yeah," Sakura said, swinging gently back and forth.

The girls sat in silence for a moment before Tomoyo questioned. "Are you going to tell Li-kun?"

For a split-second, Sakura wondered what Tomoyo was talking about. Then she remembered.

"No," she said strongly. "I don't need to burden him with this. What's past is past; there's no point bringing it up again."

"He's already noticed that something's changed," Tomoyo told her.

"He doesn't need to know…" Sakura said, quietly. "…I don't want to worry him…"

Tomoyo smiled gently at her friend. Some things had changed about Sakura, but she was still the little girl who didn't want to put any pressure on her friends. As much as she would love to see the innocent, partially-dense Sakura, she knew that she may never see that side again.

"It's getting late; you must be needing to go home, Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said looking at her friend.

Tomoyo looked at her watch and sighed. "Yes, mother is expecting me back soon: I shouldn't keep her waiting." She stood up and picked her bag off the ground. "Are you going to go home now too?"

Sakura shook her head. "No, I was thinking of talking a walk before I went back," she said. Sakura embraced her friend. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Goodbye, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo said as she turned around to walk down the path. Sakura watched her friend's retreating back for a while, before turning around and heading off in her own direction.

[……….

"Syaoran-kun! How are you?"

Syaoran held the phone away from his tired ears, groaning. Only Meilin would call him at midnight for a friendly chat.

"I'm fine," he said sleepily when Meilin had stopped talking. "What about you?"

"Oh, I'm good," she replied, chirpily. "School is turning out to be pretty good this year! Marissa-san and I were sitting in the classroom the other day and…"

Syaoran tightly shut his eyes and stuffed the phone in to his pillow. He might as well have put it on loud speaker; Meilin's shrill voice still rang in his ears.

"…Marissa and I were totally not in to it, but then sensei said-"

"That's great, Meilin," Syaoran told her, stifling a yawn. "But to what do I owe the pleasure of this late night call?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, as she remembered her purpose. "I phoned to tell you that I'll be visiting you over summer break!"

This woke him up. "What?!"

"Yep!" she continued, cheerfully. "Okaa-san says that it's okay for me to come over, and your mother wants me to bring some stuff over to you…"

Syaoran groaned again as Meilin continued on her little late-night-rant.

"…and your sisters are wanting to come over as well. Oh, Wei sends his greetings-"

"Whoa!!" Syaoran exclaimed, sitting upright in his bed. Had he heard Meilin right? "What did you say about my sisters?"

"That they're coming over to see you during the summer, too."

"Uh-uh, no way!" Syaoran told her down the phone. "Having you over is one thing, but my sisters?!"

"Oh, come on," Meilin said (Syaoran could almost feel her rolling her eyes); "they barely get to see you when you're at home because you always avoid them! They just want to come over and see how their little brother is doing."

Syaoran was at a total loss. "All four of them?!" he said, desperately.

"Yeah!" Meilin said, oblivious to his distress. "Oh, I have to go now, but I'll talk to you soon, okay?"

Syaoran sighed. "Yeah, okay. G'night."

"'Night!" With a click, the line went dead.

Syaoran tossed the phone on to the table beside his bed. Groaning again, he collapsed back down on to the bed.

Suddenly, the summer didn't seem far enough away.

[……….

"Ohayo, otou-san!" Sakura called the next morning when she entered the kitchen.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan," Fujitaka responded. "You're up early."

"I wanted to say goodbye to otou-san before he left for his seminar," Sakura told him, gulping down some orange juice.

"That's very kind of you," Fujitaka told her. "Arigato." He frowned for a moment. "Touya said that you two had another argument."

Sakura nodded. "I know we shouldn't have fought, but it just happened," she said quietly.

Fujitaka went over and sat opposite from her at the table. "You seem to be fighting with each other more frequently."

Again, Sakura nodded.

Fujitaka sighed. "I can understand why Touya would be worried now," he said, and Sakura stared blankly at the table, "but you do know that he is concerned about you."

"He used it against me," she said softly.

"I know," Fujitaka said in understanding, "and that was wrong of him, but he only has your best interests at heart. And so do I."

Sakura felt her eyes welling up and she nodded again.

But why can't you let me do this on my own? she silently asked.

[……….

"Thank goodness it's Saturday," Chiharu said later on that day. "I don't think I could take much more work this week."

"I totally agree," said Naoko, stretching. "I love school, but I really could use a break."

It was lunch time and Sakura, Chiharu, Naoko, Tomoyo, (Rika was at a piano recital) Syaoran and Takashi were sitting outside. The weekend had arrived and the girls were looking forward to getting out of school soon.

"Did you know that breaks were created when the Neanderthals would push a mammoth off the edge of a cliff, and if they could heard the mammoth's neck breaking, they would celebrate their success by not working the next three days, and-"

"Don't you ever shut up?" Chiharu asked, stuffing a large piece of sushi in to Takashi's open mouth.

"Owhn-hee whor whou (only for you)," he tried to say. Chiharu rolled her eyes at his un-intellectual mumbling and turned back to the girls.

"Do any of you have plans for the weekend?" she asked them.

"I'm going up to Tokyo to go to a ghost exhibition in the museum!" Naoko said excitedly.

"A- a g-ghost exhibition?" Sakura asked, wide-eyed.

Naoko nodded. "There's going to be a talk on the supernatural as well! And things about magic!"

"That sounds interesting," Tomoyo said.

"It is!" Naoko continued. "I'm really looking forward to hearing about people who possess magical powers! Apparently there's still some today," she added mysteriously. Sakura sweatdropped.

"What about you, Tomoyo-chan?" Chiharu asked.

"Sakura-chan is coming over to my house tonight," Tomoyo replied. "Oh- and, Syaoran?" she said, turning to him. "Would you mind stopping by my house later as well?"

"Eh?" Syaoran said, suddenly brought in to the conversation. "Why?"

"I want you to try on some of the outfits I've made!"

Everyone sweatdropped.

"Um, I-I, ah…" he stuttered.

"You will, won't you?" Tomoyo asked. "Please?"

Syaoran tried to think of an excuse to get him out of this. Defeated, he sighed and nodded. Tomoyo squealed in delight.

"What are you going to do, Chiharu-chan?" Naoko asked her.

"Takashi-kun and I are going out tomorrow," she told them. Then turning to Takashi, she said, "Aren't we?"

"Hm?" Takashi asked innocently. "What did you say?" Chiharu almost strangled him.

The bell sounded out across the grounds and the group gathered up their belongings and headed back in to school.

"Kinomoto-san!"

Sakura turned around to see Taisho running in her direction. "Kusatsu-kun!" she said as he fell in to step with her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine," he said. "And you?"

"I'm okay," Sakura replied cheerfully.

"That's good! Are you looking forward to the weekend?" he asked her.

"Hai! I'm going over to Tomoyo-chan's tonight," she said. "Do you have any plans?"

"I'm hoping to go down to Osaka to visit my father," Taisho said. "He's on a work trip down there."

"How exciting! Have you ever been to Osaka before?"

"No…this will be the first time…"

Syaoran stole a furtive glance at Kusatsu Taisho; a furtive glance that was of course caught by Tomoyo.

"Are you concerned?" she asked him.

Syaoran sighed. Nothing could be hidden from Tomoyo. "No."

Tomoyo gave him a knowing look. Syaoran scowled slightly.

"He isn't a threat," Tomoyo told him. "He just wishes to become friends with Sakura-chan."

"But they're getting on so well," Syaoran said, looking at the ground. "Sakura doesn't even talk to me like that…"

Tomoyo looked at Syaoran with sympathy. "Most things we talk about these days are the Myst cards," he continued. "She can't be that open with me."

"Do you think she is being open to Kusatsu-kun?" Tomoyo asked him.

Syaoran listened to Sakura and Taisho behind him;

"Really? Do you enjoy basketball?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, it's the one sport that I could play back home," Taisho told her.

Syaoran turned to Tomoyo. "No," he said.

"That's right," Tomoyo said. "You may think that Sakura isn't open enough with you, Li-kun, but she still talks to you more often."

Syaoran gave Tomoyo a thankful glance.

[……….

"Tomoyo-chan has a great sense of style!" Kero chan commented from the sofa.

Sakura had just stepped out of the dressing room in Tomoyo-chan's huge house, and she was feeling slightly nervous. She was dressed in a light pink shirt, which was tied at the bottom. She wore denim shorts and underneath those were white leggings. Her hair was loosely curled and she had small heels on her feet.

"As much as I like it Tomoyo-chan," Sakura said, twirling around to observe herself in the wall-length mirror, "I can't help but feel that your creativity has dampened down a little."

"Oh ho ho!" Tomoyo laughed while recording Sakura. "This is only a warm up! I have much more detailed outfits in the back!" Looking at the closed door on the other side of the room, she queried, "I wonder what is taking Li-kun so long. Well, Sakura-chan, go and try the next one on!"

Sakura nodded slightly and walked back in to the changing room.

"What's next, Tomoyo-chan?" Kero asked, stuffing another cupcake in to his little mouth.

"Well, since Li-kun is taking so long, their outfits are going to be matching when they step out!"

"So…these aren't battle costumes?" Kero said.

"Oh, no!" Tomoyo said, delighted. "These are outfits that I have made for the both of them in my spare time!"

"Uh…Daidouji-san?" came Syaoran's voice from the now-ajar door at the other side of the room. "What was going through your mind when you made this?"

"Oh, come out Li-kun!" Tomoyo squealed excitedly. "I want to see Li-kun wearing the outfit that I made!"

Syaoran sighed and reluctantly made his way out of the changing room. Kero immediately snorted with laughter.

"Whaddaya know," Kero managed to choke out, "Tomoyo-chan can make the brat look good!"

Syaoran glared at Kero as Tomoyo gleefully recorded him from every angle. Syaoran was wearing a plain white t-shirt with loose leather trousers. His messy hair gave him an overall attractive look.

"Li-kun suits these colors very well!" Tomoyo said. "You should wear them more often."

"I prefer to wear green…" Syaoran commented, but it fell upon deaf ears.

"Um… Tomoyo-chan? I'm not entirely sure about this one," Sakura said quietly from the other changing room.

"Sakura-chan! You must come out!" Tomoyo said, now pointed the camera at the slowly opening door.

When Sakura stepped out, all Syaoran could do was stare at her. Even Kero paused his eating session to gap at his Mistress.

Sakura was dresses in all black. She wore a black top, which only started a bit below her collar bone and had short sleeves. Part of her stomach was visible because of the low-cut, tight leather trousers she was wearing. On her feet she wore large black heeled shoes.

The room was silent except for the sound of Tomoyo's video camera buzzing away. Kero looked from Sakura to Syaoran, back to Sakura again and then finally at Syaoran, before he burst out laughing.

Syaoran glared again at Kero. "What's so funny, stuffed-animal?"

Kero was laughing too much to hear Syaoran's question/insult. "Tomoyo-chan? I think I know what movie you've been watching lately!"

Tomoyo's eyes went starry. "I just couldn't help picturing Sakura as Sandy after watching it!"

Sakura's eyes went wide and she looked at herself, and then at Syaoran. Syaoran did the same. It clicked for them both at the same time.

They were almost complete look-a-likes of Sandy and Danny from 'Grease'.

"Tomoyo-chan/Daidouji-san!" they both said simultaneously.

"Oh ho ho!" Tomoyo laughed. "I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist after watching it!"

Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other before heading back in to their separate changing rooms.

"Oh well," Tomoyo said as the doors closed. "At least I could film it!"

About 10 minutes later, Sakura and Syaoran exited the changing rooms in their normal clothes, and went and joined Tomoyo on the large sofa. The servants had brought them some tea and more cakes, which Kero immediately began munching on.

"Sakura-chan, do you have any plans for the summer break?" Tomoyo asked, sipping gracefully on her tea.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't, onii-chan and otou-san do!"

Syaoran paused from drinking his own tea and asked her, "Where are they going?"

"Onii-chan is going to a university in England, so he has to go over there during the summer to get shown around campus, and otou-san has a meeting with an architectural group over there during the same dates."

"You'll…be on your own?" Syaoran said.

"Yes," Sakura said, looking down but brightening up almost immediately. "But it's okay: I can take care of myself while they're gone!"

"And if you need anything, Sakura-chan, I would be glad to help," Tomoyo told her cousin.

Sakura's eyes softened. "Thank you, Tomoyo-chan."

A ringing sounded out around the room.

"That's strange," Tomoyo said, looking about her. "I don't think we have a phone in here."

"Ahh…it's me, sorry," Syaoran said, fumbling about in his pocket and drawing out his cell phone. Without looking at the screen he answered it. "Li Syaoran."

"SYAAAAAAORAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Sakura and Tomoyo jumped at the shrill squeal that erupted from the small cell phone. Syaoran held the phone at a safe distance from his ear. When he decided to risk bringing it back to his head, he questioned warily, "…Feimei?"

"Oh, Syaoran, you remember the sound of my voice! How awfully touching! And here I thought you had forgotten about your sisters!"

Syaoran sweatdropped at looked at his phone with unease. Sakura and Tomoyo giggled.

"We've all been awfully worried about you," Feimei continued. "No call or anything since you set foot in Japan! Do you know how much we missed you? We were all so relieved when cousin Meilin told us that she had got in contact with you. To think that she would be able to reach you when your own direct family couldn't! It hurts the heart; and the pride-"

"Onee-san…" Syaoran tried to cut across her.

"-to think that you wouldn't bother to tell us that you were safe!" Feimei didn't hear her brother's voice. "Well, of course Meilin told us all about your little midnight chat and-"

"Onee-san!!" Syaoran said much louder this time. Sakura and Tomoyo jumped slightly in surprise.

"Oh, what is it, Otouto?" Feimei asked innocently.

Syaoran realized that he didn't have anything he had actually wanted to ask. "Er…" he improvised, "…how did you get this number?"

"Oh, come on Syaoran! We're part of the Li-clan! We'd obviously be able to track down your cell phone number."

Syaoran sighed.

"Where are you?" Feimei asked.

Syaoran was about to reply when Sakura said, "Kero-chan!! Don't eat so much: you'll make yourself sick!"

Kero puffed himself up and protested, "I am the great Cerberus-sama! I do not get sick!"

Syaoran inwardly cringed himself at what he knew was about to come.

"OOOOOOOOOH MY GOD!" Feimei squealed. "Are you with Sakura-san? Is she there? Is she? Have you been spending time with her? Are you at her house? Is she at your house? Are you out together? Are you on a date! Oh my gosh, I'm so happy for you!"

Sakura blushed as she heard Feimei's high pitched voice ranting away. Syaoran was also blushing at his sister's new speech. Tomoyo giggled quietly and had her camera in hand again.

"Um, 'nee-san? I'm sorry but I really have to g-"

"Feimei! Get off that phone so I can call my friend!" came Syaoran's eldest sister's voice. He groaned out loud.

"But Fuutie, I'm talking to Syaoran!"

There was silence on the line. Then Fuutie screamed. "Syaoran?! Syaoran!! Oh, dearest little Syaoran!! Fanren! Shiefa! Come quick; Syaoran's on the phone!"

There were several more squeals of delight and footsteps could be heard, along with cheers of, "Syaoran!"

"I've got to go!" Syaoran said quickly and he hung up. He then turned his phone off and stuffed it back in to his pocket.

"Whoa," Sakura said after a few seconds silence. "It was almost like they were in the room."

"You have very excitable sisters, Li-kun," Tomoyo said.

"You don't need to tell me," Syaoran said, rubbing his hand over his face. "I had to live with that for fourteen years. You suffered for about 24 hours!"

"But they seemed so nice when we met them!' Sakura said, remembering the trip to Hong Kong several years ago. "Surely, you love them because they are your family?"

Syaoran was about to reply when he felt a presence around him. Sakura had also felt it and turned still.

Kero popped out from where he was hiding in the couch (to escape Sakura's scolding him). "Hm…it's the same force that we felt the other night."

Sakura nodded and stood up. "We should contact Rohan-kun, just incase he can't feel it." Sakura drew out her own cell phone and proceeded to flick down her address book before she stopped.

"What?" Syaoran asked her.

Sakura looked up from her phone. "Does anyone have Rohan-kun's number?"

Everyone sweatdropped.

[……….

"I can't believe he wasn't at his apartment," Syaoran said for the millionth time.

"Syaoran-kun, if you're going to keep complaining then go home," Sakura told him, fed up.

Syaoran scowled but remained silent. There was something about Sakura being commanding that was slightly scary.

"Tomoyo-chan, are you sure you're okay?" Sakura called out to a tree. "I'd feel so much happier if I knew you were safe at home."

"I'm fine," Tomoyo said, peeping out from behind the tree trunk with her camera. "I don't want to miss a chance to record Sakura-chan in another outfit!"

Sakura sighed and then glared at Syaoran, who was looking quite smug.

"I can't believe you got out of wearing an outfit," Sakura said to him.

Syaoran smiled slightly. "It's a trick of mine."

"You'll need to teach me it," Sakura told him, holding her staff in front of her.

The force had led them to the field out behind their school, which was surrounded by a line of trees on each side. The sky was dark and overcast, the large, grey clouds looming over their heads. Sakura and Syaoran stood facing the football pitch, and Cerberus drifted in the sky above them.

"Where's Yue these days?" Syaoran asked. "I expected him to turn out more often at an event like this."

"Ah, well um…" Sakura began, not looking at Syaoran. "Yukito-san and Onii-chan are out together tonight so I…"

"Out together?" Syaoran repeated looking at her.

Sakura nodded. "They haven't seen each other much lately, so I don't want to disturb their time with each other."

Syaoran stared at Sakura for a while, thinking about her selflessness.

"Unless, there's a force behind me, I think your eye-line should be concentrated elsewhere," Sakura told him, teasingly.

"Ah, right," Syaoran said embarrassedly. Blushing lightly, he kept his eyes on the field in front of him.

They stood there for almost twenty minutes in silence, waiting patiently for the force to do something. After a while, Sakura couldn't stand it anymore.

"This is so frustrating!" she exclaimed. "I can feel it around here but it refuses to move!"

"We just need to be patient with it," Syaoran muttered, although he had run out of patience himself.

But Sakura had a mind of her own. "If it's not going to appear, then I'll make it," she said, holding her staff above her head.

"Eh?" Syaoran said.

The Star Circle appeared at Sakura's feet. "Myst Force!" she called out in to the night. "Appear. I, Sakura, command you to come out. Show yourself!" A bright light erupted from the circle and enclosed Sakura with it.

Syaoran couldn't help but stare dumbfounded at Sakura. Cerberus flew down to land beside Syaoran.

"Did you teach her to do that?" Syaoran asked the winged beast, never taking his eyes of the Star Circle.

"No," said Cerberus. "But Sakura has gained the knowledge by herself to know what she can and can't do."

The light vanished and Sakura reappeared, along with a black-cloaked figure. Its hood was drawn up so you could not see its face.

"Well, well, well," the figure said in a clearly masculine voice. "Who would have known that the little Card Mistress would have to power to summon me?" He spoke with a mocking air.

Sakura didn't let her guard drop for one moment. "Who are you?" she said.

"I'm many things," the figure said.

"I didn't come here to play games," Sakura said. "Are you the Magician?"

The figure was caught off guard. "How did you know?" he asked eventually.

"I have contacts," Sakura stated coolly.

"Then you also know that you cannot simply seal me with a few silly words."

"Of course," Sakura said. "That's why I plan to defeat you first."

Syaoran couldn't help but stare in awe at Sakura. He knew that she had changed, but she had never shown so much responsibility and composure before when facing an enemy. What had happened to her?

"I'm not defeated easily," the Magician said. "How should we do this? Tricks? Traps?" He conjured up a ball of raw energy in his hands. "Thaumaturgy?" he added.

"That doesn't rhyme," Sakura said, her cards at the ready.

"Oh, but it fits so well," and with that, the Magician let loose the energy at her.

"Sakura!" Syaoran called out. Sakura dodged the ball and the next one that the Magician sent at her.

"Firey!" she shouted. The Firey swirled towards the Magician and enclosed him in the flames. But he was not in there for long before he broke out of it.

"I'm not so weak that former Clow Cards can stop me," he said, drawing out a sword from his robes and wielding it in front of him. "What do you say, Card Mistress? Can you fight me?"

Syaoran made his move to stand in between the Magician and Sakura, holding his own sword in front of him.

"Fight me instead," Syaoran said, facing the Magician with fierce eyes. "There's no way in hell that you're going to touch her."

The Magician faltered for a moment. His mouth then curved in to a wicked grin, and he opened his mouth to reply-

"Syaoran! I don't need you to fight my battles!" Sakura called out from behind him.

"Sakura, do you even know how to sword fight?" Syaoran asked her, not turning around.

Sakura was silent for a second. "That's not the point!" she retorted. "The point is that I'm not the same, weak 11-year-old girl who needs someone to look out for her!"

"I never said that you were weak: I just said that you can't sword fight!"

The Magician straightened up from his fighting stance to observe the two teens.

"Is that my fault?!"

"That's not what I meant!"

"Then what did you mean? You think I can't defeat him?"

"No! I meant…"

"Uh…hello?" the Magician said, but it fell upon deaf ears. "Is anyone going to fight me?" Seeing that they weren't listening, he sighed in exasperation.

Syaoran had now turned around, and he and Sakura were facing each other.

"You have to learn that I can take care of myself!" Sakura shouted at him.

"I never said you couldn't-" Syaoran tried, but she cut him off again.

"I was going to stall him so that I could think of a plan!" Sakura continued. "I am a girl; I can multitask."

"So, you're saying that I can't do two things at the same time?!" Syaoran shouted at her.

"Um…Sakura-chan?" Cerberus said.

"Well, you've never shown any evidence that you can!"

"What do you want me to do? Pat my head and rub my stomach?!"

"It would be a start-"

"Sakura-chan!!"

"WHAT?!" both Sakura and Syaoran shouted.

Sweatdropping, Cerberus told them, "The Magician's gone."

Sakura and Syaoran blinked at each other, and then looked to the spot where the Magician had been just minutes before. Sure enough, he was no longer there, and his presence was gone. Rain started to pelt down from the skies on top of them.

Sakura and Syaoran stared at each other for a while, before…

"You let him get away!"

"Me? How was it my fault?!"

"You turned around to start shouting at me!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

Kero, now transformed back to his smaller size, sighed. Those two were starting to give him a headache.

[……….

"I hate climbing through windows," Sakura grumbled as she jumped in to her room. "It makes life difficult."

"Well, you said you didn't want to use the door," Kero said, shaking the water out of his fur. "What do you plan to do, soaked like that?"

Sakura looked down herself and realized that she was drenched. Again. Sighing, she said, "I'll just dry off and get to bed. Onii-chan will be suspicious if I'm getting a shower this late at night."

When Sakura had gotten in to some dry clothes and towel-dried her hair, she clambered in to bed and Kero snuggled down beside her.

"I hope that the Magician will be caught soon," he said sleepily, his eyes drifting shut. "He really is a nuisance…"

"Yeah," Sakura said, but Kero had already fallen asleep. Sakura smiled at her sleeping companion and lay back. The evening's events kept flashing through her mind. Even though she was annoyed with Syaoran, she couldn't get his words out of her head. "There's no way in hell that you're going to touch her." What did he mean by that? And why did she feel almost happy when he had said it?

Sighing, Sakura closed her eyes, and let the drumming of the rain on the rooftop lull her to sleep.

---------------------------------------

Wooo! My longest chapter yet!! Do you wanna know how many words it was? Huh? 8, 686!!! An all time record, although it did take me over a week to write it at intervals

This is odd, but I really enjoyed adding Meilin and Syaoran's sisters in to the story. I'm soooooo looking forward to writing about his sisters coming over to seem him during the summer!

Ah…I'm not sure where to go with the whole 'scar-on-sakura's-arm' thing. I would really appreciate it if you could give me ideas of how she could have gotten the scar (self harm is out of the question!). I'm serious, if you have anything in mind, I would love to hear from you via my email, which is visible if you look under my account, or you could just leave me a review [hint hint

Heh, I'm enjoying writing this so much. But it really takes a lot of time. I've got homework every night (which I somehow manage to get done) and school is probably going to become more demanding soon….but I will always make time to write! Oh, but school is enjoyable! We're undergoing practices for the musical 'Les Miserables' and it is great!! During the song 'Master of the House' we have to act drunk, and, since we only have a piano to accompany us so far, we sing the little saxophone parts…

Thenandier: Welcome Miseur, sit yourself down, and meet the best innkeeper in town

Chorus[do dooooo do dooo!!

hehe. it gets out music teacher laughing. especially when we all do it.

Uh…I'm going to stop yapping now……and check the other chapters before I post them!!

If you have any questions or ideas [HINT please, please email me!!

elmo-doodle xxxxxxxx

18th September 2007