Chapter 5: Chores and a Prophecy

Sakura's POV

VROOOMM! I rolled the vacuum cleaner back and forth in the basement. Ah…I'm almost done vacuuming. This morning has been quiet, since Dad's gone on a trip and Touya's at soccer practice.

I stood on a chair to open the window near the top of the room. A light breeze came in, airing out the basement.

Whoosh! The wind blew into the room from the open window. Four cards floated into the room. I picked them up. Hmm. There was something black smeared on all of them. I'll leave them here and come back for them later when I finish cleaning.

X-X-X

"Finally done!" I sighed. I hauled the gigantic grocery bags into my house, setting them on the floor by the door.

Something grabbed my ankle. Before I had time to scream, I was being dragged toward the basement! I hung onto the side of the wall and looked behind me.

Plants were sprouting out of the basement! The vine that grabbed my ankle tightened.

My grip on the wall was slipping. I'd never get out of the basement if I was dragged down there! As my hand slipped, I used my free leg to kick the basement door shut. The plants strained against the door.

"Huuuuuuue! That was a nice nap! …Sakura, why are there big branches growing all over the house?" Kero screamed.

"Um…a card?" I grimaced. My cell phone slipped out of my pocket. "Kero! Call Rosa! I think it's a card…"

X-X-X

Somebody else's POV

The room was dark and smoke swirled out of the lanterns.

My brother and I exchanged glances. He looked tense.

Sang Bak sighed. "The cards, you ask me about? Clow Cards?"

"Yes," Mother said.

Sang Bak rung a small bell and grabbed six paper slips from a basket by his side. He threw them in the air.

The paper slips landed on the table in a scattered way. Sang Bak put his face close to the slips and studied them closely.

"There are people other than the Li Clan catching the released Clow Cards," said Sang Bak.

My forehead creased. Who else would know about the Clow Cards?

Mother blinked slowly. "Where are the Clow Cards now?"

Sang Bak touched one slip of paper. "In Japan."

Shaoran stuttered. "W-who has captured some of the Clow Cards now? Are they highly trained sorcerers?"

Sang Bak touched another slip of paper. "High school. High school girls."

"W-what? Shouldn't highly skilled sorcerers be the only ones able to catch them?" I asked.

Sang Bak nodded slowly. "They are not very skilled now."

Mother showed no sign of surprise. Her face was emotionless. She was probably already thinking about how to get catch all the cards before those high school girls do.

Sang Bak nodded again. "They are not very skilled now. Potential. They have lots of potential though."

X-X-X

Mother said we had to retrieve the Clow cards. I'm not sure why Shaoran and I are being chosen to do this…I know, we're the twin sons of the leader of the Li Clan, my mother…but there were lots of kids in the Clan who have more magical talent than us.

Shaoran's the responsible one. Me? I'm the lazy guy around here. I'm smart and things just kinda work themselves out, so I don't try very hard at anything.

Everyone in the Clan takes things seriously. I could see Shaoran practicing his sword-fighting behind the trees, while I stretched out on the sofa. We're going to Japan tonight.

My sisters were screaming over some pop star upstairs in my room. That's when I came out into the courtyard, not wanting them to kill my ears. I want a more epic cause for losing my hearing than my sisters screaming.

I glanced at the window and Mother stood there, nodding at me. She threw the curtains back together.

X-X-X

Rosa's POV

Sakura told me and Cairo that there was a small Clow Card problem in her house. Being dangled upside down by a vine was not my idea of a "small Clow Card problem." Heh.

"It's definitely a Clow Card! Did you see anything today?" Cairo asked Sakura.

"Uh…I saw four cards fly in today after I finished vacuuming the basement," Sakura said.

"If you saw them, why didn't you write your name on them!" Kero screamed. "Maybe you could've told me before you went out! If you write your name on a card, you instantly have power over it. You don't have to capture it that way."

The door creaked open as we argued. Oh my God, was someone coming in?

"Quick! Hide!" I screamed.

Sakura and I put our hands in front of our faces. Great disguise.

"OHOHOHO! Well, we have a new adventure, for my favorite cardcaptors! Good thing I decided to drop by your house today, Sakura!" Tomoyo squealed, pulling her camera and her outfits, from her small bag.

"Really, Tomoyo…?" I laughed. "Can you cut the vines on me and Sakura?"

Tomoyo smiled. "And then you guys will change into my costumes?"

X-X-X

"I feel double the power of Clow Cards here," Kero commented, looking down in the basement.

Everyone looked at me.

"What?" I put my hands on my hips.

Kero pushed me down and I slid on the extremely bumpy way to the basement floor.

Sakura screamed as everyone else slid down after me.

"OW!" Tomoyo fell ON me. SMART.

"Cards, come out!" Sakura and I cried. Two little elf-thingys peeped out of the gigantic cloud.

They giggled. Really evilly. Like little kids. On sugar.

"It's the Rain Card!" the guardians screamed at the same time.

The elves started to pour a light rain from their cloud.

"You know it's not too bad," Sakura smiled. She twirled around in the rain.

WHOOSH! A huge jet of water fell onto Sakura.

"You said that too soon," I laughed. "Watery!" Capture and surround Rain!"

Watery growled and swirled around the elves. The two elf-thingys pounded on the walls of water. Sakura and I glanced at each other.

"Clow Card, return to your power confined!"

Suddenly, a light exploded in the corner. Two beautiful woodland fairies appeared, and then became cards before we could do anything. "Wood," I murmured, as the cards floated into Sakura's and my hands.

"This card is friendly and peaceful," Cairo smiled. "Well done!"

X-X-X

The next day

"Okay, this is officially my favourite shop for getting stuffed toys," Chiharu told us.

Naoko, Rika, Sakura, Tomoyo and I followed Chiharu inside in the store.

The owner, Maggie, greeted us at the counter. We helped Maggie set up a week ago, since she was new to the area and was having a lot of trouble lifting all her boxes by herself.

"This is such a cute bear!" Chiraru squealed, holding a panda doll. The panda then started bouncing around on the floor.

We all looked at each other, freaked out.

Maggie looked kinda worried, but waved it off when Naoko asked why the doll was bouncing.

Chiraru paid for it and we left for her house.

X-X-X

Chiharu decided to invite us all over for afternoon tea.

"And this is my room!" Chiraru showed us.

I stepped in, and "Holy shit!" came out of my mouth. Everyone else fainted.

"There's more in the next room!" she exclaimed. Okay, I officially join the people who fainted.

She put the panda in her shelf as we got up and left for the next room. Chiraru turned around and left to close the door but…

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Chiraru screamed. She slumped onto the floor. "The panda's gone!"

We found the window was open, and the curtain ruffled in the wind.

"It's gone!" Chiharu sobbed.

Everyone looked at each other, confused.

Chiharu lay on her side. "It was stolen…"

"But who would steal stuffed toys?" Tomoyo asked.

X-X-X

"But who would steal stuffed toys?" I asked Cairo. Cairo munched on some rice.

"You should probably talk to the store owner," she replied. "It's weird…yes. Let's call Sakura and Tomoyo to go to the store with us too."

X-X-X

We came to the store and saw Maggie inside the door. She was about to flip the sign on the door to 'closed.'

"Hello, girls. What are you doing here so late? I'm about to close up the shop," Maggie said.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Well, we have something to ask…"

"Oh, alright. Come inside then," Maggie kindly said.

Tomoyo, Sakura and I glanced at each other. Kero and Cairo were hiding in Tomoyo's handbag.

Maggie picked up a cup from the counter and took a sip. She put the cup down. "So, what would you like to ask?"

"Uh, Maggie, you remember that panda doll that Chiharu bought today? She brought it home and when she turned around, it wasn't there any more. She thinks someone stole it, because the window was open when it previously wasn't. Do you know anyone that steals stuffed animals?" Sakura asked.

I nodded. "Do you know if this has anything to do with how the doll was bouncing earlier?"

Maggie fidgeted and gulped. Her lip started to quiver and her forehead creased.

"I…"

Maggie's eyes started to water.

We gasped.

Tomoyo patted Maggie's arm. "Oh, Maggie, we're sorry if we said something that made you cry…"

Sakura clasped her hands and started to cry too. "I'm not sure why you're crying, but I feel bad for making you cry. Sorry!"

Maggie reached for the tissue box.

I stepped forward. "Maggie, we're sorry if we said anything that offended you." I started to bow many times, saying 'sorry.'

There's something wrong here. Very wrong. Maggie crying sets off a switch in my head for me to become increasingly worried. Just hearing that Chiharu's doll was missing was enough to make her cry…?

Maggie sniffled. "Every time somebody bought that doll, it always came back my store. Sometimes it went outside the store by itself. But it was always near me. Everybody thought I was a thief and I had to keep moving to different towns. I'm sorry that I cried. You girls didn't do anything wrong. I was just really upset because so many people have told me the doll disappeared and then blamed me. I thought I finally moved far away from the towns I used to live in for this to happen."

"We wouldn't blame you," Tomoyo said kindly. Tomoyo and I hugged Sakura and Maggie.

"Yeah. Maggie, I don't think you're the kind of person to steal purchases from your customers. Especially if it's only this one panda doll that's disappearing all the time," I said.

Sakura smiled weakly, wiping her tears with her sleeve. Tomoyo raised her eyebrows at me and Sakura.

"Tomoyo, you have something else to ask Maggie, right?" Sakura said to Tomoyo.

"Uhuh! Maggie…"

X-X-X

Sakura and I parted ways and went to look for the doll. Maggie's store was close to a park, and since Maggie said the doll was always in her vicinity, it was likely to be around here.

The area was silent and dark. It was pretty scary to be walking around alone so late, but Sakura and I wanted to cover more ground, so we split up.

I walked as quietly as possible, scanning the ground area for a panda doll. It's actually pretty funny if you think about it. I'm looking for a moving doll. Heh.

The crackle of a branch startled me. I quickly looked to my left. The stuffed animal.

I ran for it and grabbed its leg. The panda doll stopped jumping. A pink bunny popped out of it and disappeared somewhere.

"Hoeee!" Sakura, who came from somewhere, nabbed its leg and it dragged her up into the sky.

"Fly!" I zoomed up and caught up to them. Suddenly, the bunny stopped and dropped. So it wasn't flying?

"Ahh!" Sakura screamed. Her hand slipped from its grip on the bunny. "Fly!"

Fortunately, Sakura managed to stay aloft with Fly.

The bunny fell down on me and continued to drop. It pulled my hair and dragged me down. I shook it loose and flew after it. Suddenly, it disappeared. Where did it go?

BOOM. BOOM. Those were the sounds of giant footsteps…?

Sakura and I looked behind us with horror. The yellow eyes of the bunny blinked at us. It smirked at us. The bunny had somehow grown to a monstrous size.

"Rosa, get away!" Sakura yelled, as she flew away. For some reason, I was frozen in place. I gulped. Never imagined my death would be due to being eaten by a giant ass rabbit.

It roared at me and I jerked out of my frozen state. I was prepared to zoom down close to the ground and use the park's trees as cover. I'm kinda wondering if Maggie noticed any of this.

It started to stomp towards me. I flew quickly away from it until I noticed a large thud on the ground. It didn't sound like the bunny's stomping. I whipped my head around (no, au contraire, Willow Smith, I do not whip my hair back and forth. Ha.) The rabbit had clumsily toppled to the ground! Without a second thought, I took advantage of the situation and stepped off Fly to strike down my staff.

"Clow card return to your power confined!" I commanded, and the card flew right into my hands. Jump…figures as to why it kept jumping.

"Hmm," I mumbled.

The silence was disturbed by Sakura's panicked voice. "Help!"

I turned around to go help her, but I was stopped by Cairo and Kero.

I gasped. "I thought you guys were hiding in Tomoyo's bag?"

"We were, but we wanted to see how things were," Kero said.

"I think I'm going to help Sakura now." I started to run towards Sakura's direction but the guardians stopped me.

"I think she has this under control. Let her handle this. It's only the Jump card, and the Jump card is probably one of the most stupid cards ever. The only thing troubling about it is trying to find a way to capture it," Cairo explained.

Kero nodded. "We wanted you two to learn through experience, which is why we didn't come with you two initially. The more situations that you end up facing alone, the more quick-acting you are. If it really so happens that we can't help you, you would have already had a few experiences of facing the cards yourself. Besides, any card that is extremely dangerous, we wouldn't let you face it alone."

I nodded. Our guardians were just trying to train us.

Sakura was being chased by a herd of stuffed animals. I'm really wondering now if Maggie noticed a bunch of her merchandise got out of her shop. If she didn't notice, oh I don't know. She's probably ridiculously unobservant in that case.

"Wood!" Sakura demanded. Jump was trapped in Wood's cage!

"Sakura, no…it's too gentle…" Kero sighed.

It flew out! The supersize form move was done again, and I yawned. Hmm…I have cookies in my bag. I got them out and started eating them. I didn't have dinner yet, okay?

I just watched Sakura run away from the bunny, and I kept eating until I could pour the crumbs into my mouth.

"Hooeee!" Then, Sakura's bunny toppled over.

"Return to your power confined!" Sakura said.

X-X-X

"Why did you guys take so long? I had trouble thinking of enough stuff to say!" Tomoyo exclaimed as we picked her up from the shop.

Sakura and I laughed. "So you guys didn't see the giant pink fluffy bunnies stomping around outside? Did you guys even see that half of Maggie's store's merchandise was gone?"

Tomoyo stopped walking. "WHAT. I MISSED ALL OF THAT? I WASN'T THERE TO FILM IT?"

X-X-X

AN: Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Please review! It's really important for me to see your feedback. Seriously. REVIEW!

Is the story really that bad not to warrant reviews? Let me know. This chapter is an edited version and the next chapter will go up soon too.