Chapter 3: Cold
"I am responsible for what I say to you, not for what you understand." -Anon
"So, what did you want to talk about earlier, Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked, she was stuffing her textbooks back in her bag, ready to leave.
"Oh, that's right. I'll tell you on the way home," Tomoyo smiled.
"Sheesh, I have to go back now?" Somebody muttered from behind them. Sakura and Tomoyo turned around, it was Rei. She sat down her chair, browsing through her phone.
"Aren't you going home yet, Rei-chan?" Sakura asked.
She mumbled, "Why is everyone asking me to go home? Can't I just- Oh, isn't that Fu-chan? The Snow Princess girl?" Rei said, pointing to a girl that entered the room, carrying sheets of paper in her hands.
"Fu-chan?" Tomoyo turned to the direction Rei was pointing at, Fuyu Aisu. "I wonder what she's doing..."
"Probably helping the teachers out, like she always does." Rei commented, lazily. She placed her hand on her cheek, "Saku- eh?" Rei turned to where Sakura was, or at least where she used to be, Sakura had already walked up to Aisu to help her carry some of the papers that she was holding.
"I didn't even notice... Hmm, right. I never got to ask you Rei-chan, but you're not really cousins with Li-kun and Meilin-chan, are you?" Tomoyo said, firmly.
"Sharp as ever aren't we, To-mo-chan?" Rei smiled, "Seriously, how perfect can a person be? You must have a flaw somewhere..."
Before the conversation got weirder, Sakura interrupted, "Aisu-chan had a lot of stuff in her plate, so It's a good thing I decided to help..." She glanced back and forth at the two, "Did I miss anything?"
"Nope. Hey, the bell rang 30 minutes ago, you guys should probably head home now. I still have stuff to do, so don't worry about me," Rei quickly replied. She gazed at Aisu as she briefly left the room.
"Oh, I forgot to ask you, Rei-chan. Where were you earlier at lunchtime? We tried looking for you, but we couldn't find you anywhere..." Sakura said, while Tomoyo nodded.
"Eh? I had to deal with some papers so I spent the whole time at the faculty's office. Aaaand checked the school out a little bit." Rei said, a little stretch from the truth, but hey, at least she wasn't lying. The clan had sent her on another important mission, which she had to take care of right away. I gotta admit, going to school and waking up early in the morning everyday sure is tiring. "Sorry if I worried you, or anything."
"It's fine," Sakura smiled. "Well let's go, Tomoyo-chan," She closed the classroom door as Tomoyo waved. Sakura called out, "Bye, Rei-chan!"
"See you tommorow!" Rei waved back. As soon as they left, her smile faded into a frown.
"She's going to get taken advantage of one day because of her kindness." A girl spoke, her back leaned against the other doorway, arms crossed. Her voice was like that of a robot, monotonous and low. She had long, braided violet hair and coal black eyes.
"You have no right to judge," Rei retorted, looking outside the window. Tomoyo and Sakura hand-in-hand, walked out of the school gates, chatting away.
She continued as she took her sunglasses off, then she bowed, "Nice to meet you, you may simply call me Violet."
"What's the deal with you not calling people by their names, but basing them off as colors?" Rei asked, she was one to talk. She had developed the habit of cutting people's name in half and calling them by that. (Sakura: Saku-chan) But in serious and dire situations, she would break out of that habit and would call people by their normal names.
"Funny you should ask." Violet walked closer, "Be careful, I am not here to side with anyone. But I do hope that you help the mistress in fighting this dark magic, she needs all the help she can get. And I'm just going to point this out, the life that is ahead of her isn't going to be so bright."
"I'm already aware of that." Rei faced Violet, "You know him, don't you? I swear I've seen you before."
"You have, and that's all I'm going to say for now." She continued, "Well then, I shall take my leave."
Rei watched as Violet left the room, leaping out of the window. She bit her lip, trying to remember where she had seen that emotionless girl before.
xoxoxoxox
"Hey, Tomoyo-chan. You said that there was something you wanted to tell me?" Sakura asked as they walked down the street beside penguin park.
"Oh, well... It's not really important, but..." Tomoyo hesitated, she never normally let anyone or anything bother her much, but something about Fuyu Aisu felt... different.
"Hm?"
"It's Aisu-chan." Tomoyo said, "She gives off this really weird vibe, I just thought that maybe..." What am I saying?
Sakura tilted her head questioningly at Tomoyo, this was not like the Tomoyo she knew. The Tomoyo she knew wasn't jittery, hesitant about her words, and never lost composure, what was going on?
"Tomoyo-chan, do you feel sick? Are you okay?" Sakura felt Tomoyo's forehead, it was hot. "Maybe you have a fever..."
"Eh? No, I'm fine, really, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo said, embarassed that she had let Sakura see her like this. Maybe I am sick, I don't know... I just want to rest.
"Hold on, I'll call your bodyguards to send you home, okay?" Sakura held on to Tomoyo's hands. Something like this rarely happened to Tomoyo, so whenever it did, Sakura knew that she had to figure out what it was quickly.
xoxoxoxox
Hong Kong...
Syaoran placed the sealing ofuda that Rei had given him on the floor and pierced it with his sword. Then, a black smoke appeared and floated around his room.
"Fool. What were you thinking? You could've just left me in there, unless you wanted to seal me. And it seems that you cannot. Unless you want to negotiate with me, but first you must figure out which card I have control over," It said.
What card? Rei did tell me one time that the aura liked to move from one place to another and has been lingering around the school gates since the seal broke. Although... "It's the Move card. Is that it? Are you going to return to your seal now or what?" Syaoran asked.
"Haha, you really are a fool. Yes, It is indeed the Move card, but I am not convinced on why I should listen to your request."
"Then what do you want me to do?" Syaoran said, what was he trying to accomplish with this anyway? He just wanted to see if he could seal the force by himself, which seemed highly unlikely.
"Just leave me alone until you find the card mistress, only then will I consider going back to my seal," the voice disappeared and the black smoke entered the ofuda once again.
Picking up the ofuda from the floor, he muttered, "Card... mistress..."
Someone knocked and the door slowly opened, "Syaoran-sama, the preparations are ready and it's about time to go. Are you all ready?" Wei, his and Meilin's personal butler who had been taking care of them ever since they were born, asked.
Syaoran looked up and replied, "Thanks Wei, I'll be down in a sec."
xoxoxoxox
"Something's wrong with her, Eriol." Spinel commented as he flipped a page in the book that he was reading, "Are you just going to watch and not do anything?
"No, not this time, Tomoyo-san and Sakura-san will figure something out theirselves, I'm sure." Eriol replied as he set down his glasses and shut his midnight blue eyes.
Just then, his phone rang. Spinnel hovered over the phone and gave it to Eriol, "It's Kaho."
"Hello?"
"Eriol, so how has Sakura-san and everyone else been? I just wanted to give you a quick phone call to tell you that my flight is in two hours," Kaho's melodic voice stated.
"Yes, I do remember. And they're all doing fine," Eriol responded.
"I'll be joining you very shortly, I can't wait to see how Sakura and Tomoyo are doing after all these years." Even though Eriol couldn't see it, he was sure that Kaho was smiling from the other side of the phone by the tone of her voice. "Well then, I have to go. Send everyone my best regards."
Eriol hung up and placed his phone on the desk. Nakuru peeked her head from the kitchen and called out, "Dinner's ready!"
xoxoxoxox
Daidouji Sonomi entered the room and frantically ran up to Tomoyo, "Tomoyo! I heard about what happened, are you okay?"
Surprised, Tomoyo looked up and said, "Okaa-san. Thank you for worrying, but I'm perfectly fine."
Sonomi sat down beside her and stroked her hair gently, "Unfortunately, I have an important meeting tonight, but I'll make sure to spend time with you tommorow when I get back, okay? Are you sure you'll be fine?"
"I'm fine, okaa-san. Really, I know how busy you get, I understand," She smiled, tightly clenching her fists.
"Well then, I'll be off. I'll tell Purin-san to make sure that you eat and rest well tonight. I love you, Tomoyo," Sonomi lightly kissed her on the forehead.
Tomoyo held back tears while a dark smoke omitted from her, invisible to the naked eye. When Sonomi left, a bleaky voice whispered, "Pampered little princess..."
"Who are you?" Tomoyo asked, looking around the room. "Please, leave me alone."
"Hmmm, but doesn't that hurt you? The clueless card mistress doesn't seem to notice anything wrong with you at all," The voice continued.
"It's fine, I don't want her to worry about me... She already has enough problems to deal with," Tomoyo opened her hand and stared at the snowflake necklace, which gleamed ever so brightly in the dim room.
"Always so selfless, aren't you? Don't you ever want something for yourself?" The voice said, "Look at her, she might not be rich and she might not have a huge mansion, but everything around her is filled with pure bliss, happiness, and love. Don't you want some of that as well?"
"I already get a lot of that everyday. It may not seem like it to you, but my friends all care about me, just as much as I care for them. My mother may not spend a lot of time with me, but as time went by, I've grown to understand and realize that she does love and care for me after all. If she didn't, she would just be ignoring me everyday, instead of actually worrying about me." Tomoyo replied, tilting her chin up confidently, "Am I wrong?"
The voice sighed, "I just can't win with you, can I?" With that, the voice disappeared.
Tomoyo felt a rippling sensation as a dark aura engulfed her. You're strong, girl, but apparently not strong enough to fight me back. You don't even possess the powers to seal dark forces like me. It appears that I'll have to continue using your body for a bit longer... hime-sama.
xoxoxoxox
"Sakura-Sakura!"
Sakura looked up and realized that Kero was staring at him, brows furrowed in concern. "Oh sorry, I must've spaced out," She glanced at the clock, it was already past 7.
"Your dad's been calling you for the past few minutes. I guess he stopped and just assumed you were asleep-"
Just then, someone knocked at the door. "-Or not," Kero quickly hid behind Sakura's back. Fujitaka smiled, "Sakura-san, were you sleeping? You weren't answering when I was calling you. Dinner's ready so if you want to eat, just come down, okay?"
"Thanks, otou-san. Sorry for worrying you," Sakura responded.
As Fujitaka closed the door behind him, Sakura opened her drawer where she always kept the Clow Book- well, Sakura Book now. She opened the book and layed the cards down on her desk. Her eyes widened as she held up two cards, "They changed color... they're gray now."
Eh?" Kero turned to look at what Sakura was holding. She was right, the Move card and the Voice card was now a tainted gray, instead of the usual pink, "What happened?"
"Oh no..."
She remembered a certain conversation, "You better be careful and stay on your guard, but if there's anything in more danger than you are, it's the cards. If there is dark magic on the loose, it may very well take control over the cards and possibly corrupt them. And the cards, when used for the wrong intentions can be very powerful, and instead of being able to aid you as they're supposed to, may pose as a very dangerous threat to you," Eriol had said to her back then.
"Corrupted? You didn't say anything about that the last time!" Kero stated.
"I'm sorry, I guess I forgot..." Sakura responded, "Ehehehe..."
"Hmm..." Kero tilted his head at Sakura, "Are you sure you're okay?"
She smiled brightly, "Yeah. Thanks for always worrying about me, Kero-chan."
xoxoxoxox
The next day...
Chiharu approached Sakura as she sat down her desk, "Ne, Sakura-chan, do you know where Tomoyo-chan is? We were supposed to meet up early this morning to continue the project we were supposed to work on. Do you know what happened to her?"
"Oh right, yesterday she was kind of feverish, so maybe she decided not go to school today. Sorry about that, Chiharu-chan," replied Sakura.
"No, it's fine, if she's sick then she should rest. Well, hope she gets better, she never gets sick," Chiharu frowned.
"Yeah... I'm also worried because of that," Sakura smiled sadly and waved her hand to Chiharu as Terada-sensei came in.
Sakura looked behind her, both Rei and Tomoyo didn't go to school today. I wonder what happened... maybe I'll go visit at least Tomoyo-chan later after school.
After a few hours passed...
Sakura looked out the window, and it was raining quite heavily. She sighed.
On gloomy and dark days like this, Sakura couldn't help but recall that time, two years ago at the airport, that time when she was sure that she'd never see him again.
Two years ago...
Sakura sprinted into the airport and looked for him desperately, but no matter how much she ran and ran, it was all in vain. The plane to Hong Kong had already left just a few minutes ago. She was too late.
Sakura's knees collapsed and tears started flowing down her crestfallen face, "No... he can't just leave me like that..."
"Sakura!" A voice called. Touya ran up to his sister and helped her up. After a while, he hesistantly asked, "Were you too late?"
Sakura nodded, sobbing. Sakura hugged her brother and sobbed in his chest. And in a muffled voice she said, "I can't believe it. I don't believe it. I don't want to believe it. But... he's gone... after all..." Sakura paused.
"He left without even saying goodbye..."
"Kinomoto Sakura! How many times do I have to keep on telling you not to space out in class? Pay attention!" The math teacher called out.
"Hoe," Sakura sweat-dropped. "Sorry, sensei..."
In a while, the bell rang indicating that it was lunch time.
Rika came up to Sakura who was looking outside again, tracing the raindrops that rolled down the window.
"Sakura-chan, are you okay? I noticed that you seem a little gloomy today, what's the matter?"
Sakura looked up at Rika, she had forgotten how caring and kind Rika was, ever since back in elementary. "Ah, Rika-chan, I'm sorry for worrying you and thanks for your concern, but I'm fine, really."
"Hm... then, if you say so, whatever it is you're worrying about, we're here for you, okay? I'm sure whatever troubles you're facing right now, you'll conquer it. Because... you're a really strong person, Sakura-chan!" Rika held Sakura's hands and smiled at her encouragingly.
Sakura smiled back, "Thanks, Rika-chan."
Naoko and Chiharu peeked inside the classroom, bento in their hands, Chiharu called out, "Sakura-chan, Rika-chan! The rain finally stopped so let's go outside and eat together!"
Rika let go of Sakura's hands, the smile never leaving her face, "Let's go, Sakura-chan."
Sakura nodded, I'm so lucky to have such good friends.
xoxoxoxox
A little later... the bell rang for the last time today.
"Sakura-san, what club are you in?" A certain silver-haired girl ran up to Sakura as she was about to exit the school gates.
"Ah, Aisu-chan, we have until one week to decide, right?" Sakura placed her hand on her chin, "I'll just go with cheerleading like I always do!"
"Ah, I see. Ne, are you busy right now? Maybe we could go to that new cafe that just opened up near our school," replied Aisu.
"Oh, about that, I'm actually on the way to Tomoyo-chan's house right now, sorry Aisu-chan. But maybe you'd like to come with me?"
Aisu looked like she was about to say no but instead said, "O-oh, sure! I do want to know how she's doing, since a lot of our classmates said that she rarely gets sick and that made me worried and everything..."
"Well then, let's go together!" Sakura said, taking Aisu's hand and leading her on the way to Tomoyo's house.
"That's... Tomoyo-san's house?!" Aisu pointed at a big-looking mansion as Sakura was being greeted by one of the maids, Aisu turned to the maid and bowed, "A-ah, sorry..."
"Oh, right... I almost forgot how big Tomoyo-chan's house was," Sakura sweat-dropped.
"Tomoyo-sama, you have visitors!" The maid called out as she entered Tomoyo's room, "It's Sakura-sama, and another girl with white hair."
White hair? Tomoyo looked up, "Thank you, Purin-san. Please call them in."
"The madam requests of your presence in her room," The maid led them to Tomoyo's room.
Aisu entered the room and saw Tomoyo laying down on her bed, looking like a peaceful angel. She slowly sat up and said, "I have been expecting you, have a seat."
"To what do I owe this honorable visit? Surely, you have not only come here to taunt me while I am at most vulnerable," Tomoyo began.
Aisu looked beside her, where was Sakura? Now that she think about it, she never saw her enter the room with her, "I..."
"You will regret ever stepping foot in my territory, Fuyu Aisu," Aisu felt a shiver go down her spine as a shadow casted over Tomoyo's eyes.
With that, Aisu felt as if somebody was shaking her, "Aisu-chan, Aisu-chan!"
Aisu looked at Sakura, she had a concerned look on her face. Suddenly feeling more alert than she had ever before, she asked, "What just happened?"
"You were spacing out, the maid just told us to go in, are you okay? Do you need to rest? I'm sure Tomoyo-chan would be kind enough to-"
Aisu shaked her head, "No, no. I'm fine, don't worry about me, Sakura-san."
At first, Sakura looked kind of doubtful but then smiled and responded, "No problem, Aisu-chan."
They both entered the room and they saw Tomoyo sitting on the couch, her hair tied up in a messy bun as she drank her hot jasmine tea. She gestured to the seat beside her.
Sakura and Aisu sat down, "Tomoyo-chan, are you feeling better now? What happened to you? You rarely get sick."
"Ah, I just felt a little out of it today, I'm sorry, did I worry everyone?" Tomoyo frowned as she placed her cup down on the table.
"We did worry, and that's why I decided to come over and check up on you today, and Aisu-chan decided to come along," Sakura replied, Aisu waved.
"Don't you have a student council meeting today?" Tomoyo quietly said, rather coldly.
Aisu blinked, did she just hear right? "Eh?"
"I-I mean, I appreciate everyone worrying about me, but I'm fine!" Tomoyo smiled.
'Please don't be mean to Aisu-san,' Tomoyo pleaded in her mind.
'Why? Would you rather me go for the mistress instead?' A low voice replied.
'I...'
Sakura clapped her hands, "Oh, right! Here Tomoyo-chan," Sakura handed Tomoyo a bag. "Cupcakes, otou-san baked them last night for you when I told him about what happened yesterday."
Tomoyo took the bag and smiled, "Thank you, Sakura-chan! Please tell your otou-san that as well."
She then turned to Aisu, "Aisu-chan, I appreciate- So, I guess you're empty-handed, huh?"
Tomoyo's eyes widened and she immediately covered her mouth, Sakura tilted her head at Tomoyo, "U-um, I'm kind of not feeling so well, but thanks for coming over, Sakura-chan, Aisu-san."
"No problem, Tomoyo-chan! Do you think you'll be able to go to school tommorow?"
"I... don't know yet, sorry, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo replied.
"No worries, just focus on getting better okay? Get well soon!" Sakura and Aisu exited the room and was led by the maid outside the gates.
"Well, my house is that way, see you tomorrow, Aisu-chan!" Sakura waved as she started to walk the opposite direction from Aisu.
Aisu waved back, "See you tomorrow."
xoxoxoxox
Sakura walked through the streets on her way home as she remembered something, "Oh no! I completely forgot that I was on cooking duty tonight! I have to quickly go buy some ingredients from the store!" Sakura ran down the streets when she vaguely felt a very familiar aura.
She stopped. Could this be... No it can't be...
Sakura spotted a boy with chestnut brown hair in the distance, these streets weren't usually crowded, so why now? She desperately tried to run after the boy but as soon as the crowd melted, he was gone. His aura was still there, but it seemed distinct.
Was that... Syaoran-kun?
xoxoxoxox
A/N: Konnichiwa, everyone! How have y'all been? And if any of you are wondering, no, I am not gonna wait until chapter 8 to bring back Syaoran-kun. (Get it, because he was introduced in the anime episode 8? Huehue.) Actually, in episode 7, he did a cameo appearance. And now, in chapter 3 here in DCA, (I don't know if that really counts as a cameo) he also did one so... we can only conclude that I'm going to bring him back next chapter, chapter 4! The half of episode 8.
I honestly did not realize that until now, haha. Please hang on a little longer, the story will reach it's climax real soon! Chapter uploads will now be every end of the month. Thanks for reading and tune in for more!
Arigatougozaimasu!