The Other Version of CCS
AN: I don't own CCS or CLAMP.
April 23, 2012-It's been…2 years since I put this story on hiatus.
I had the biggest writer's block and I started to doubt if I should even be writing a story that followed CCS's episode guide for a general guideline. Then, I went into university and I forgot about the story.
WaterPanda. Your review kinda gave me the hope that this story isn't over. I'm not done telling it. The reason why I wrote a lot then deleted it (never finished it), then put it up again is because I was looking at my previous chapters and I kinda puked inside at the quality of writing.
One thing I realized about this story is that there are some crack-fic qualities to it—it can be emotional when it needs to be, though. Should I put some sort of warning that this story is kinda a crackfic in the title or something? Let me know, whoever's reading.
LET'S FINISH THIS THING ONCE AND FOR ALL! (for the old reviewers, you might not read this again, but whatever.) I hate authors who stop writing a good story. I'll stop being such an ass to those who actually liked the story.
X-X-X
Chapter 4: First Date and Stalkers
Time: 3: 20 PM
Location: Math class
Rosa's POV
Sue flipped her blonde hair. I mean, seriously, who even does that in the first place? It's so ditzy.
"Miss Sasaki, can you help me bring this to the office?" Terada asked. "Oh yes, can you help me with carrying these books to the library too? I'll come along. Class, settle down, while I'm gone."
Terada gave the attendance sheet to Rika and they walked out of the classroom.
"Hey Darling, wanna have some fun?" Sue asked Mike flirtatiously, fluttering her eyelashes.
Tomoyo started to laugh. "She sounds like a hooker."
I nodded mutely.
Mike, don't say yes, don't say yes, don't say yes, don't say yes…
"What kind of fun do you have in mind?" Mike raised his eyebrows. "No funny business, though. Oh yeah, and don't call me 'darling.' I don't people thinking we're dating or anything."
I breathed a sigh of relief. Good…Mike doesn't like her…
"What are you sighing for, Chan?" Sue snapped.
I smirked. "Oh nothing, darling."
Eriol tapped me from behind and stuffed a ball of crumpled note paper between my back and my chair. I unraveled it and smoothed it out on my desk with my arm.
Hey, talk to you at lunch. I got some bad news.
-Eriol
X-X-X
Time: 12:30 PM
My feet thudded silently against the other sounds of the footsteps of the students and their chatter.
"Excuse me," I said, as I squeezed past a particularly long lineup at the cafeteria. Taking the shortcut by the large doors at the back of the cafeteria, I arrived at the H-section of the lockers.
Spotting a flash of blue hair and glasses, I slid against the wall around the hoards of students. "Eriol!"
"Hey, okay, let's go outside. If anyone hears what I say, I'm in big trouble," he whispered, with a quick flash of his glasses.
X-X-X
Eriol jumped up and grabbed onto a tree branch, lifting himself up. He let go for a fraction of a second, and captured the branch between his elbows. Lifting one leg over the branch, he sat up straight.
"Sorry, I made the branch shake," he chuckled.
You know, Eriol can be serious if he wants to be. And he'd only be this serious if what he wanted to say was really important.
I shook my head.
Eriol spoke. "Oh! That's right. I heard in the locker room something about Mike. He was bragging—
"Hey guys, what are you up to?"
I gasped as Mike joined us on the branch. Eriol crossed his arms, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. We shuffled over for more room for Mike. I blushed as Mike got closer with a huge grin on his face.
"Could I borrow one of your guys' notes for English?" he asked.
"Sure, yeah, I'll give them to you right now," I smiled and leapt off the branch. "See you, Eriol! Talk to you later, okay? …hey…are you alright?"
Mike ran off with a head start towards the school, to wait for me in the classroom.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Nevermind, I'll tell you later," Eriol stood up and climbed higher on the tree.
X-X-X
Location: Tsutsuji (Azalea) Aquarium
Time: 9:06 AM
Location:
Tomoyo's POV
"Yay! We're at the aquarium for a field trip! Fishies!" Sakura squealed while excitedly jumping up and down.
"How are we going to draw the fish? They move around constantly!" Chiraru exclaimed.
Sakura was too excited to care about the biology assignment.
"I can't be sure. Oh! Maybe I can take a picture. Here," I grinned as I took out my new, shiny camera. Its focus and flash options are simply divine. "I can distribute the photos to everyone in the class, so everyone doesn't need to deal with the hassle of the fish swimming and changing position."
"Thanks!" Naoko, Chiraru, Rika, Rosa, and Yamazaki chorused.
Eriol tapped Rosa on the shoulder. "Anyways, Rosa, as I was saying yesterda—
"Oof!" Sakura bumped into the wall after being hyper for fifty hours. (Yes, seriously. We've kept count since Sakura's dad signed the parental consent form for the fieldtrip)
Rosa went to help Sakura up from the ground.
Eriol folded his arms. "Nobody listens to me when I ACTUALLY need to say something!"
I laughed. "That's because nobody cares enough to listen to your crap. You're such a drama queen."
"OH MY GOSH, SHUT UP TOMOYO!" Eriol screamed as he tried to tackle me.
Mike and some other guys laughed at something in the corner.
Rosa waved to him and smiled. She turned around and gave a jump as Sue stormed up and grabbed her arm.
Eriol and I stopped fighting to watch.
"I'm going to put it to you straight. Watch your back because acting like you're all innocent will make everyone hate you. It's unrealistic. I'm trying to teach you. That's why I get Mike, and I get to keep him. Boys will wait at your feet if you offer yourself first. I'm a sexy bitch and everyone likes me. It's normal. Stop that cutesy-oh-I've-fallen-in-love act you put up. It's annoying to everyone." Sue fingered a piece of Rosa's hair.
Rosa's eyes narrowed into angry slits. She slapped Sue's hand away. "Sue, what era are you in? What is this? Mean Girls 3?"
Yamazaki broke the silence. "Well, Mean Girls 2 was really bad, but the guy was really hot—
Rosa continued. "The boys stay by you for the wrong reasons. If YOU'RE not careful, you'll get hurt. Besides, Mike is intelligent enough to reject someone like you!"
"Stay that way and you'll be single for life. You won't have friends either. Watch your back, Chan," Sue snapped.
I turned from listening to Yamazaki's new lie of the hour.
"Sue, stop wasting your effort—
"Let's get going, kids!" Terada hollered. "Split into groups of ten and remember, take notes!"
I put my arm around Rosa. "She's not worth your time. Don't listen to her."
Rosa laughed bitterly. "She's shit-astic. Absolute crap blown out of proportion."
I don't really get all this drama at all.
X-X-X
"Penguins!" Sakura gasped with delight.
The penguin trainer slipped out of the water onto the platform with her wetsuit. She shook her hair and lifted up her arms, calling for attention. The crowd clapped. She held out a hoop and the penguin in the pool leaped through it. Awesome!
I zoomed in with my camcorder. The penguin trainer tossed a fish into the open mouth of the penguin. It climbed onto the side stairs and waddled next to the trainer and they bowed deeply.
Then, the trainer and the penguin cannon-balled into the water. Their teamwork is amazing!
I giggled. That penguin just looked so huggable. The penguin pedaled backwards with its fins and most of the crowd melted from its cuteness.
Suddenly, the trainer and the penguin stretched out helplessly as they were dragged underwater by some invisible force!
A gasp escaped from my lips.
Sakura started to cry. "Someone help them!"
"Do you see that dragon wrapped around their ankles?" Rosa exclaimed.
I blinked. Indeed, a serpent coiled continuously and it snaked up the trainer's leg and the penguin's body. The image of the serpent flickered and I blinked a few times. I couldn't see it anymore.
"Save the penguin! Please! Someone!" Sakura wailed, pounding her fists against the glass.
Bubbles flittered out of the trainer's nose, but less, every second.
They're going to drown! Suddenly, two men in uniforms and black boots hurried to the edge of the platform. One jumped off the platform, hooking two loops of rope around the penguin and the trainer, while trying to stay afloat. The other pulled the extension of the rope as the man in the water started slowly swimming towards the platform. Three other employees helped wrap the rope around the one on the platform, and they pulled. The man in the water flopped onto the platform, panting.
Sakura started to cry.
Luke? The one that came with him must be Touya!
Luke lifted the little penguin out first, and the others carried the penguin trainer out.
Sakura gasped. "I had no idea they worked here. But…thank goodness, the lady and the penguin are safe."
Rosa and I nodded.
It's good that they're safe, but I and all the girls in the crowd had something new to look at…
I only half-nodded to the rest of Sakura's comments since I was too busy watching Luke. He smoothed out his sandy-colored hair and cracked his knuckles before taking the little penguin to the bunch of veterinarians at the bottom of the platform. He…was just so…HOT! I couldn't help but sigh at how handsome Luke was.
Wow…Tomoyo, nice. Shallow to be thinking this when a penguin and lady almost just drowned. I started to slap myself until I realized all the other girls were swooning too.
Touya and the veterinarians brought the penguin to a safer location, while one of the employees pulled out a first aid kit. Luke performed CPR on the trainer, and she gradually woke.
Rosa gasped. "Oh no…I have to put up the electric fence again…Anytime Luke kisses a girl, she immediately starts stalking him."
I laughed. Well, it's no wonder, Rosa…He is REALLY hot.
"Oh…that's awkward…we feel bad for you…" I said, pretending not to find him attractive at all.
"Sorry about the spectacle that just happened. Proceed to the Cage Cafe if you'd like, for some refreshments. Free sundaes for everyone here. That is all," Touya announced over some speakers.
X-X-X
Time: 7:20 PM
Kero frowned, "Hmm…don't you think that's a little weird?"
"You're not the only one who's scratching his or her head," I said.
"You mean a penguin almost drowning? Definitely," Cairo replied.
Cairo and Kero looked at each other oh-so- suspensefully.
"A CARD!"
Kero gulped some soda before speaking. "I did feel something sensationally magical around here since this morning."
Sakura was squealing and blushing madly, obviously not listening to our conversation.
"Sakura, what are you doing?" Cairo asked.
"I'm going on a date with Yukito! My Yukito!"
"Sakura, I will make you the PERFECT outfit for the occasion!" I screamed with stars in my eyes.
"Ummm…Where's he taking you to? When did he ask you for a date?" Rosa raised her eyebrows.
"The aquarium…he asked me when I ran into him at the bakery," Sakura whispered, barely able to contain her excitement.
The guardians and Rosa swiveled their heads and made brief eye contact.
"Sakura, this is a great opportunity!" Cairo jumped up.
"I know, isn't it? A date with Yukito…my first alone time with him…" she radiated happiness.
"No! A perfect opportunity to catch the card, you moron!" Cairo and Rosa sighed in exasperation.
X-X-X
The Next Day
Location: Tsutsuji (Azalea) Aquarium
Time: 11:30 AM
"Hi, Yukito!" Sakura squealed, beet red. She clasped her hands together and smoothed out her white dress.
We hid behind some bushes.
"Dear God, I hope we don't get noticed by the people here," Kero said, before hiding in my braid. He's right. It'd look awfully suspicious if people knew us and saw what we were doing. Disguises can help distract them for a bit.
Rosa adjusted her fake mustache and shifted her footing around in her brother's Grade 9 graduation suit, which was too small for him now.
"Let's follow behind in about a minute," Cairo peaked out of Rosa's top hat.
Rosa adjusted her tie and picked up her suitcase. "OK, let's go over this again. I am Sir, not Mister, Kuppy. You are Seiko Ozawa, the stereotypical 'teenage emo girl', just loitering around."
I blinked, trying to get used to all the eyeliner on my eyes, and adjusted my hair band and skirt.
"Let's go," I said. "Go first, Sir Kuppy. We'll follow soon."
Sir Kuppy/ Rosa straightened up and paid for his/ her ticket.
I spotted 'him' go inside, and Kero and I followed quickly.
Sir Kuppy hurried up to the second floor by escalator and took out a pair of binoculars from his suitcase. I followed roughly 30 seconds later and arrived on the third floor, facing Sir Kuppy, but above 'him.'
As unnoticeably as possible, I dug out a bag from within one of the flower pots of large shrubs circling the balcony of the third floor. Rosa had broken in last night and stored the bag in there.
From the grimy bag, I took out a walkie talkie and put it on my belt. Then, I took out my camera from my jacket.
Kero turned on the walkie talkie and said, "Moustache, Golden wings here. We can see Cherry Blossom and Brother's Best Friend on the first floor. Have you seen anything weird on your end?"
"Mommy! Look! There's a talking cat!" a little kid gasped.
"Kid, you better be quiet. We're on business. Scram," I sneered.
The child ran away, crying.
"I feel so bad," I giggled.
Kero chortled. "Well, you have to be all grumpy to not seem like yourself."
Sakura and Yukito settled in a restaurant on the top floor.
Sakura ate her bowl of ice cream slowly, looking at the beautiful fish tank that stemmed from the bottom floor.
Yukito heartily spooned his gigantic sundae into his mouth.
"Enough spying on their date…we're looking for a card!" Kero hissed.
The sound of breaking glass and a boom preceded the whoosh of water gushing out of the tank. The fish tank had exploded and wide varieties of fish flopped around on the top floors. Most of the levels were submerged underwater. Sakura let out a squeak and as she tried to escape from the rapidly rising waters, she toppled clumsily into the large pool of water.
Yukito's hand fell out of hers when he turned back on the stairs to look. Most people were crowded on the stairs, trying to avoid the water.
"Moustache, get here now! Sakura's in trouble!" I screamed into the walkie talkie.
A disgruntled sigh came from the other end. "I can see that. We're on the same floor and I'm on my way."
Touya and Luke were now dressed as waiters of the café and they held a middle-aged woman tightly as she tried to get back her purse, which had been dropped into the water.
"It's mine! That purse is mine! All my money and my ID!" she yelled.
Touya frowned. "It's not worth your life. You could be putting yourself in danger, Ma'am. Please wait until the administration has cleared this situation."
Rosa came into view as Sir Kuppy, and she was making her way here slowly because of everyone cramped into the stairs. She looked around frantically, trying to find something to help. "Screw."
She leaped into the massive flood.
"Sir, no!" Luke hollered. "Stop! Come back!"
Yukito jumped in, as well.
Touya threw up his hands in exasperation. "Oh, not you too!"
The lady he was restraining took the opportunity to wrestle free from his grip, but I managed to hold her tight before she got too far.
I cringed as Rosa dived deeper and deeper. A few moments later, a large whirlpool started! Rosa resurfaced with an unconscious Sakura by her side. Rosa slumped onto the edge of a staircase.
The crowd dragged them out and Touya rushed over to smack Sakura's face.
"Sakura, wake up!"
Rosa brushed some hair out of her eyes and tucked it into her hat. "Somebody smashed a door downstairs, so the water was allowed to drain out. The water level went down."
Yukito climbed onto the staircase, dripping with water. He set down the axe he was carrying and the crowd made some room for him. "That was me. Touya, it drained into the recreation room."
A nurse told the people to step aside before she administered CPR on Sakura. "It was good you all reacted quickly. She was only in the water for a short time."
Sakura coughed and spit out some water. "Oh, I'm sorry…I was having too much fun to pay attention to the card…But I felt the dragon drag me under water. Very strong…"
"Don't say sorry! It wasn't your fault the fish tank exploded! As for the dragon—
Rosa and I suddenly realized Sakura wasn't supposed to know Sir Kuppy or Seiko Ozawa.
"That sounded too familiar…we sound like we're friends…" I whispered.
Rosa nodded and twirled her moustache, which had miraculously not fallen off after she had gone under water. "Don't worry, little girl! It will be all alright!"
Rosa started laughing maniacally in a deeper, somewhat manly voice.
Luke looked at us curiously. "Who are you?"
"I am Sir Kuppy. Uh, I have an important meeting to get to…" Rosa excused herself and ran down the stairs, which had cleared, since the floors were not flooded anymore.
Luke cocked his head to one side. "Mr. Kuppy?"
Rosa screamed back. "Not, Mr. Kuppy, but SIR KUPPY!"
I plastered a grumpy expression on my face. "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing…" Luke replied and he gave me a weirded-out expression.
Yukito gasped. "It's so sad! My ice cream sundae disappeared in this mess! My shaved ice is gone too! And so is my milkshake!"
"What a shame," I grumbled.
Sakura gasped and then she winked at me. "Yukito, you're a genius!"
X-X-X
Sakura's POV
Location: Tsutsuji (Azalea) Aquarium
Time: 11:04 PM
Rosa and I were ready in our costumes as Tomoyo prank called the security officer in one of the booths by the parking lot.
"Free tacos! Awesome!" the portly man giggled.
We ran by the booth he was sitting in and sneaked into the empty building when he turned around in his chair.
"Are you sure this is the one?" Kero asked suspiciously.
"Yeah. This is it. Touya said this pipe was the main one in the aquarium, after I asked. He was a little suspicious though…" I nodded.
"Okay, we've gone over this plan about twelve times. I'll meet you guys in the eastward corridor." Tomoyo ran off into the depths of the dark building.
Rosa nonchalantly looked around and clapped my shoulder. "I wonder why there was a whirlpool in the penguin section and why the main water tank exploded."
"What could this EVER be? Oooh, I'm so scared! Where could the cause of the whirlpool be?" I said loudly.
Rosa looked up at the ceiling dramatically and made Damsel-in-Distress sounds…whatever Damsel-in-Distress's sounded like. I really hope our stupid acting will lure the Clow card out…we must see it to defeat it.
There was a disturbance in the exposed pope, bubbling, bubbling…suddenly, a gigantic dragon made of water erupted from the pool and water and flung itself at us.
"Fly!"
We whipped past the open door and soared down the stairs.
The staircase was too narrow for two Fly's. The wings on my staff slipped past the stair rail and Rosa and I bumped into each other.
"Hoe!"
BOOM! We crashed into the wall and collided with the ceiling.
"Gah!" Rosa pulled away from my Fly and flew above me.
The Clow Card was furious that we escaped, and came down upon us with an even greater force.
The dragon spit out jets of water and as we tried to dodge, we slammed into each other again. I tumbled off my Fly and Rosa lunged down to lift me onto her Fly.
We made a sharp turn into a light corridor and barely managed to avoid the jets of water as we zipped down the escalator.
The dragon split into two, trying to trap us on both sides.
Rosa cursed as she accidentally hit the rail on the escalator. "Sorry, Sakura."
I wasn't sure what she was apologizing for…swearing or bumping into the handrail? I had no time to ask her because she twirled around on her Fly. My stomach tightened with a sickening lurch.
"Over here!" Tomoyo waved to us and skipped into a room.
We quickly joined Tomoyo as the dragons turned into this hallway. The door we were hiding behind was slightly open, so we could see through it. The dragons looked around confusedly, trying to find us.
Eventually, they decided to search in the room across from us, which happened to be the ice room where some of the fish food was stored. The door was slightly ajar.
Rosa and I bolted out suddenly. My hand was gripped tightly around Rosa's and my Windy cards which I had prepared to whip out for this opportunity.
"Windy and Windy!" I shouted.
We could see just a small glimpse of the two Windy's cornering the dragons as Rosa kicked the door shut.
I sighed. "Good thing we made use of your Windy card too, Rosa. You know, just in case one couldn't catch both of them."
The door hammered against its hinges. A little frost formed around the edges of the door frame. I put my ear to the door. The Windy cards slipped through the door into our hands.
"Is it…?" Rosa asked.
I nodded and opened the door. Two blue-skinned spirits were frozen into the ground. Their faces were leering, as if they were in a fight just before they were frozen. Their claws glinted in the light of the one lamp on the ceiling. Little fangs poked from their gums. Rosa touched one of the spirits' faces.
Rosa smiled. "It's ice."
Tomoyo cheered from behind us. "Seal it, then!"
I glanced at Rosa. In sync, we raised our staffs and chanted: "Clow Card, return to your power confined!"
Whipping down our wands, spots of sparkle-filled space appeared and the frozen spirits were collected with the clink and crack sound of ice breaking.
"The card…is called Watery."
Rosa called Cairo's phone to tell her the news. Tomoyo and I put our ears close to Rosa's phone to hear what Cairo was saying. Cairo sighed on the other end.
"It's the next elemental card."
X-X-X
AN: We're getting closer and closer to meeting the Li twins! Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please review! Thank you so much!