Yo!

A/N: Thank you! Thank you! This is the part where I bow and you guys throw flowers and/or money (Preferably money.) at me while yelling "Bravo! Bravo!"

Or so it would be if this wasn't the internet and I had just won the Mr. Universe award. (Is there even such a thing?)

But I digress, as usual. Just be aware that I'm thankful again and I'll start doing my thing.

Disclaimer: na nrAgmaa: d wIC'o Sto nCn.

The Plot Thickens: Syaoran knew it was too good to be true that his mother took his decision to saty in Japan very well. His fortune proved to have something else reserve to torment him. After some meditating about his spell, Kero deducted a couple of things that Syaoran had kept a secret. The guardian made him confess that he knew the nature of the spell and he had found a way to get rid of it. Meanwhile, Sakura had been facing a personal conflict. After being saved by Syaoran once again she couldn't help but wonder if she would have been able to fight the Shot by herself. Much to her disappointment, when she finally met a new card to test herself the card ran away, or rather, tried to play hide and seek with her. Sakura figured she had lost the card and went back home to ask Kero for a way to find it again, but the card took it personally that she didn't finish the "game" they had started. Sakura couldn't find Kero either, as he was questioning Syaoran at the moment. She'd have to look for the card herself, and she didn't even know how she had angered it.

"Character Talking"

Character Thinking

(Me Talking)

All the life on the planet is based on a magical energy called 'Mana'. The Sun and the Moon provide this mana to every corner of the planet. Those who learn to manipulate the mana are called magicians. A long time ago, Clow Reed mastered the use of both Sun and Moon mana and created his masterpiece in the use of these types of magic, the Clow Cards. Half of them used the mana from the sun and half from the Moon. Now, after accidentally setting those cards on the loose, Kinomoto Sakura must help Li Syaoran, a descendant of Clow, and Kerberos, the guardian of the cards, to capture the cards which, not having Clow to provide them with mana anymore, are going on a rampage after the magical energy they need to live.

Card Captor Sakura

Chapter 7: Sakura and Syaoran - Act II

Part 4: Third Try is a Charm.

Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably in her bunny suit. For something that had been made exclusively for her, it didn't feel too comfortable. Not because it itched, or because it wasn't well crafted. It was uncomfortable simply because it was a bunny suit in a public park.

"Tomoyo-chan, I don't think it will show up." She said, blushing tremendously.

Tomoyo was circling Sakura with her camera as they walked between the trees of the park. Luckily, there wasn't a living soul around. "Of course it will, Sakura-chan. You should know by now that Clow Cards are always after you. If it's still here it will show up."

"But I'm not even sure it's here." She cried in her defense.

"But when you called me you said you'd felt it's aura around here." Tomoyo replied.

Sakura sighed. "I know, but it was just for a few seconds, and the reason I called you was because I was looking for Kero-chan, not the card. I just happened to feel its aura while we were talking."

Tomoyo put her camera down. She looked at her friend in the eye. Sakura knew she was doing her mind reading thing. Indeed her answer got Sakura exactly where she didn't expect. "Do you really want to go looking for Kero-chan?"

Sakura blushed. She really didn't want Kero to show up. It had a lot of meaning to her getting that card unassisted "I... well, I wanted to capture this card on my own actually. You know, just to know how I'm doing by myself." She said, laughing nervously as if it wasn't a big deal. "But it's still important to know where Kero-chan's gone."

Tomoyo nodded. "But the card's more urgent. Isn't Kero-chan always telling you to focus on the cards?" She asked, not really needing an answer. "I mean, when you told me about your chase this afternoon you sounded so excited for doing it by yourself, I thought you wanted to finish this on your own too."

Sakura rubbed the back of her head, ashamed. "I'm sorry Tomoyo-chan. It's silly, but I really wanted to know if I can fight without Kero-chan's or Li-kun's help."

Tomoyo smiled gently. "It's not silly Sakura-chan. I think it's very important to have confidence in yourself too."

Sakura smiled back, embarrassed "Thanks."

They both shared meaningful smiles to each other for a second but were interrupted by a noise coming from a nearby tree.

"What was that?" Tomoyo asked, waving her camera around in search of the source of the sound.

Sakura took a battle stance. "It's that card!" She announced. "I'm sure of it!"

Indeed, out of the tree jumped out the small bunny-like creature. This time however its eyes were different. They were full of anger and resentment and were staring straight at Sakura, burying deep in to her soul.

Sakura felt a shiver run down her spine. "It looks angry." Tomoyo said, taking a few steps back. "Good luck Sakura-chan."

Sakura gulped loudly. "Thanks." She said.

And so the battle began. This time Sakura knew it would be different. The card wasn't giving chase like before. It was trying to chase her, but she wouldn't run.

"Windy!" She shouted just as the card made its first move. A strong gust of magic wind flew out of her wand, taking the shape of a woman linked to a cyclone through her legs. The cyclone involved the little creature in midair and successfully changed its course, sending it flying to the ground roughly. "Got it!" Sakura yelled confidently.

She gasped when the card jumped back to its feet, still in one piece. This time even angrier. She didn't even have time to use another card. The creature made its next attack.

Between its antenna-like ears, sparkles started forming and then, before she could understand what kind of sparkles those were, they were flying towards her. She instinctively jumped to the side and was glad she did so. In the spot where she'd been standing there was nothing but burnt grass and a tiny depression on the earth.

Thinking quickly, she took out another card from her pocket. "Thunder!" She cried.

A Lightning bolt flew directly towards the wild card, but it was too quick and jumped out of its way. Immediately it jumped towards Sakura in an attempt to ram her down, but she was quick too and managed to summon protection.

"Shield!" She shouted. When the wild card hit the magical shield around her, it was paralyzed in mid air for a second, having weird seizures, and then was sent flying away through several feet in the air.

Sakura observed the phenomena amazed. If the Lightning and the Windy didn't work well, and the Shield was so effective, it must be a Moon Card. She concluded. "Alright! That means..." She took out another card. "I just have to wait for the right moment."

The card pulled itself up again and stared intently at Sakura, who had the guts to stare back this time. After a moment of tension the card made its next move. It jumped at Sakura again.

That's it! She thought. "Wood!"

Out of the ground, strong roots came out and involved the creature, completely immobilizing it. It tried to break free but its efforts were useless against the thick plants. Still, its trashing got wilder every second that passed.

Sakura smiled. "I did it!" She cried in joy, making a victory sign to Tomoyo's camera.

Tomoyo came out of her hiding place and ran to Sakura's side. "Well done Sakura-chan. Now all that's left to do is lock it."

"Right!"

Syaoran ran down the street in a hurry, Kero flying right beside him.

"Their auras are getting stronger." Kero stated "The fight must be getting tense." He said.

"Damn it!" Syaoran cursed. "We got to get there quick. If the Moon comes out, that card will be too strong for Kinomoto-san to handle on her own."

And so they ran as fast as their feet allowed them towards the Penguin Park. It didn't take too long to cover the whole way, but as time passed the card's aura only got more intense. When they got there they were quite surprised.

"Sakura! Tomoyo!" Kero shouted as he flew to the girl's side. The first thing he noticed was obviously Sakura's strange outfit, which was easily explained by Tomoyo and her camera a few feet away. The second thing was that The Jump card was trapped in a cage made out of roots right beside them. "You got it trapped!" He proclaimed with excitement

Sakura giggled, she felt very energetic and anxious. "I did, didn't I?" She looked behind Kero and saw Syaoran walking slowly towards them, looking at the trapped card with curiosity. "Li-kun!" She called, waving her hand in the air. "I got it! I beat the card." She announced.

Syaoran smiled, but inside he felt guilty for wanting to have captured the card himself and wanting to scold Sakura for doing something dangerous on her own. He accurately accounted all that protectiveness to the spell, and once again reminded himself that his primary goal was to free himself of those bonds. "Well done." He said, looking at the creature that was desperately trying to break free.

Kero nodded slowly. "It was a good idea to use The Wood. You did very well." He congratulated the girl, who was blushing from so much flattering, carefully positioning himself in front of the camera and making a wise master-like face. "Now finish what you've begun." He said dramatically.

Sakura nodded. "Right." She faced the card and raised her rod up above her head. "Return to the shape you are meant to... Hoe?!" She took two steps back. "What's going on?"

The Jump had suddenly doubled its size somehow. The little wood trap was scarcely enough to contain his large body and it soon gave out. The roots broke, leaving the card free.

"It's the Moon!" Kero shouted. "At night the Moon Cards get stronger, especially at full Moon."

Much to their misfortune, it was a night of full Moon, and the Sun was already disappearing. The card was starting to go berserk, jumping around aimlessly and continuously growing in size.

"What do we do?" Tomoyo asked, taking steps back to put herself out of the danger zone.

Sakura felt her heart jump for a second and nearly gave way to panic, but Syaoran's presence was still reassuring. Knowing he was there to fight too was comforting.

But I gotta do this on my own. She reminded herself. The whole objective of that fight was not to depend on Syaoran. Alright! Let's do this Sakura! She allowed herself two seconds to sort her thoughts and then, sure about her choice, she turned to Syaoran.

"Li-kun, please take care of Tomoyo-chan, I'll handle the card!" She said, and without giving time for Syaoran to protest she took out her deck from her pocket. "Fly!"

Syaoran tried to answer Sakura's request but was left staring at the air, and feeling amazingly pathetic. Did she just tell me to stay back? He could almost feel his pride overcoming the spell, but that didn't change the fact that he couldn't help himself but to get worried sick over Sakura as she flew towards the now fifteen feet tall creature. "Damn it!" He muttered, summoning his sword. "I can't just watch her fight."

Kero was equally surprised by Sakura's determination, but in a positive way. He had seen that coming judging from Sakura's recent behavior, but he expected her to be a bit more hesitant when actually facing danger. "Get it Sakura!" He cheered, flying high to observe the battle. He decided to let Sakura figure out a way to beat the card by herself, unless things got too serious. She had done quite well fighting it so far after all.

Sakura circled the big creature like an annoying little bug, but succeeded in getting it confused. It couldn't really follow Sakura with its eyes. Obviously its size growth had affected its agility. Sakura thought that might work to her advantage.

When it finally got tired of spinning around, the card let out a weird, sharp roar that hurt Sakura's ears and proceeded to attack her with his antenna sparkles again, only this time he didn't bother to aim, instead he started shooting aimlessly in every direction, hitting mostly the grass and a few trees.

Sakura instantly though of her friend. "Tomoyo-chan!" She turned around quickly but was relieved to see that Syaoran was raising some kind of magic barrier with his sword to protect the girl and himself from the sparks.

"It's alright!" Syaoran shouted. "Worry about yourself!"

"Thanks!" Sakura yelled in response. She turned her attention back to the giant card. "You were easier to deal with when you were small." She said.

The card was still shooting aimlessly but none of the beams were getting much close to Sakura. She only had to dodge one every ten seconds or so, which gave her more than enough time to think her strategy.

"I hope this works." She said to herself, taking out a card from her pocket and flying back to the ground. "Storm." She shouted.

"Storm?" Kero asked himself. Is she using a Moon Card because it will be more powerful at night? But she knows that Moon Cards aren't effective against other Moon Cards. And the Storm isn't even a card made for battle. Down at the ground, Syaoran was thinking pretty much the same thing.

Big dark clouds started forming in the sky above them and soon, a heavy rain dropped above their heads, followed by strong thunder. The card was confused by Sakura's useless choice of action, but as the first few drops of water hit its fur, it felt the effects of the attack. It suddenly started loosing its size again, getting smaller and smaller, till it was back to its original size. Sakura thought it was even smaller than before actually.

"It worked!" She cried in excitement. Kero and Syaoran were watching with their mouths hanging open. Neither of them had any idea of what had just happened.

Sakura didn't have time to give out explanations. The card was still free and still berserk. This time however, she knew exactly how to stop it. "Wood!" She shouted just as the card jumped in her direction and an exact reprisal of the recent event occurred. The card was once again trapped and helpless.

The other three were completely drawn into the battle, amazed with Sakura's competence. She seemed like another person when compared to the clumsy, innocent girl they knew.

"Return to the shape you are meant to be in, Clow Card!" The card promptly obeyed the command, flying straight to Sakura's hand once locked back. Sakura looked at the picture on the card. Though it represented the same creature she had been fighting, it looked much more peaceful on the card, and had some beauty to it when compared to the bizarre beast it had been so far. She smiled, putting the card down. "The Jump... My first deserved card." She said to herself.

It wouldn't surprise Syaoran if he was told right then that they were being watched by the puppet masters. He had grown accustomed to that idea.

"She did very well." The tall one said.

"Indeed, I guess it really was about time I let him free of the spell."

"Don't you think you're showing yourself too much? Your original intention was to go through all this unperceived."

"I guess I was a fool to think that such a thing was possible. But it's ok so long as they don't know the true purpose of all this."

"How much longer will it take for him to be ready? To get rid of the spell I mean."

"Not much, maybe with a little push we can wrap this case in a matter of days."

"And then?"

"Then I'll stop helping them so much."

"That's better."

"Achoo!" Sakura and Syaoran sneezed in unison.

"I think someone's talking about us." Sakura said jokingly, rubbing her nose.

Syaoran raised a brow. "Or maybe it's this rain of yours that gave us a cold." He said bluntly while turning off his magic barrier.

Tomoyo put her camera down and pressed the off button. "That must have been the greatest video so far." She ran to Sakura's side. "You were amazing Sakura-chan. Breathtaking." She said, holding the girls hands.

Kero also flew to their side. "Yeah, you really were impressive Sakura." He said. "But tell me, how did you shrink the card back? The Storm isn't even a Sun card. It shouldn't be so effective against another Moon card."

Sakura giggled. "Didn't you figure it out?" Kero's face was blank. "I blocked the Moon's energy with the magic cloud." She said proudly.

Kero smirked. "Wow, amazing!" He exclaimed, honestly impressed.

Sakura was overflowing with confidence. From now on it didn't matter how things turned out. She had proved she could fight on her own. And even if she didn't fight a single battle by herself for the rest of her life, she would still be satisfied to know she could.

Syaoran walked towards them too, completing the group. He didn't say anything, but he exchanged a meaningful smile with Sakura that made his ego melt away. He had to tell her, she had the right to know.

ººººFLASHBACKºººº

"And so I said I wanted to stay here." Syaoran told Kero. Now the secret was out.

Kero had given up his provocative tone and was now in his serious self, which made Syaoran wonder how the same being could look so respectful now and so stupid in other times.

"And this person, hasn't he given any hints about his identity?" Kero asked, even though Syaoran had already said before that the answer was no.

"No." The boy repeated. "But that's not important. The important thing is that he wants to use us and the Clow cards for something. More specifically, he wants to use Kinomoto-san, and I'm not sure if his intentions are good."

Kero sighed. "Right, we'll have to tell Sakura about this."

Syaoran blushed. "I... I'm not sure if I should." He said, trying to sound angry at the suggestion rather than embarrassed

Kero chuckled at the boy's immaturity. He could be quite dense sometimes. "Listen, this isn't just about you. For all we know, Sakura might be in danger and she has to know what she's going against."

"But she might be scared, or she might..." He couldn't find another bad side to Kero's suggestion. The truth was, Kero was right. The only reason he hadn't told Sakura so far was because of his pride and shyness.

They stared at each other for two seconds, talking without words. Finally Syaoran gave in. "Fine." He said, with a sigh. "I'll tell her."

Kero smiled. "Good, I'll..." He stopped midway into the sentence. "Huh? Do you feel this?"

"A Clow card!"

And so they both rushed after the card.

ººººEND OF FLASHBACKºººº

Syaoran took a deep breath.

"Kinomoto-san, there's something I've gotta tell you." He said out of the blue, drawing curiosity from Sakura and Tomoyo.

"Hoe? What is it?" Sakura asked with an innocent curiosity. Tomoyo discreetly turned her camera back on.

Syaoran was clearly dying of embarrassment and cursing himself for going to this point of no return, but Sakura still couldn't tell. Tomoyo wondered which one was denser.

"There's something I've been... I'm..." Syaoran stopped dead in his tracks. "A Clow card!"

Sakura was confused. "You're a Clow card?"

Syaoran didn't have time to explain himself. Before any of them could understand what was happening, a weird shaped creature that was unrecognizable due to its amazing speed jumped out of somewhere and bounced of Sakura's chest. Syaoran didn't see Sakura faint immediately after being hit because the creature attacked him too, and after feeling a strong pressure on his chest, the air was pushed out of his lungs and all turned black.

All was white. Was he back at the puppet master's white fog?

No, he was feeling heavy.

As a matter of fact he was feeling lighter than usual, but in the fog he was much lighter than that. In the fog he didn't have any weight at all.

"Sakura-chan, are you OK?" He heard someone call. It was a familiar voice.

As he opened his eyes he understood that all the white came from a lamp directly above his head mixed with his fuzzy view. It was a lamppost, from the Penguin Park. He was still there. It was rather chilly and he trembled when he felt the wind against his bare, wet arms.

I should have put long sleeves on.

"Are you awake?" The voice asked. It was talking to Sakura, so that probably meant she was still around too. He slowly sat up and looked around himself.

Tomoyo was kneeling beside the bench he was lying on. Upon seeing him she smiled. "You're alright." She said, sighing in relief.

Syaoran looked around him for any trace of Sakura, but she was nowhere to be found. Kero was flying right beside him however.

"You sure slept a lot. You've been out for about fifteen minutes. I was starting to think there was something seriously wrong."

But I did have long sleeves on.

Syaoran ignored him, he was focused on finding Sakura, and so he did the most logic thing to do. He asked them.

He also regretted ever opening his mouth. "Wher..." He didn't even finish his first word. What's wrong with my voice? He asked himself, desperately bringing his hand to cover his mouth. For some reason his voice was extremely high pitched, much like Sakura's.

Suddenly, he realized why he had been feeling so strange. And the shock was too big for him.

He looked down at himself, ignoring Tomoyo's and Kero's confused looks. There it was. A bunny suit. Complete; with leotard, long stockings and all. He slowly took his hands to his head and felt around. His hair was longer and smoother, and it had two long bunny ears attached to it. Of course, the biggest shock was when he looked down at his reflection in the puddle on the floor. There, where his face had been for the past twelve years, was Sakura's scared and innocent expression.

And so he fainted again.

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A/N: Oh my God I didn't! I did! I bet you're just dying to read the next chapter now huh?! Well, do your part and I'll do mine. (By your part I obviously mean review.)

Sorry about Mei Ling again. It's getting close, I swear.

Bye!