Hi everybody! (People deathly silent) I know! I know! I'm soooo sorry it took me so long to update. I had wirter's block, then when it went away (Thanks to ayamiko95's help. thank you!) i lost my flash drive, then i got in trouble at school and my mom took my PC away, and i still can't find my flash drive, so I can't work on my Princess Tutu or my FMA! WAAH!!!
Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, and I didn't take anyone's ideas.
Chapter 1
"Hey, Sakura! Can I have some or what?" a small floating creature asked the young girl, startling her out of her little flashback. Looking over to Kero, Sakura smiled and gave him a part of one of the sandwiches she had made. A few days had passed since she had gone to see Shaoran, and the two, along with Kero and Tomoyo, were currently in one of the parks in Hong Kong having a picnic. Helping herself to some of the food she had prepared, Sakura sat between her friends and, joined in the conversation Tomoyo was currently having with Sakura's boyfriend. (Giggle)
"I would really like to go to this museum next." Tomoyo said, pointing to a spot on the map she was looking at. "They have all kinds of art displayed, and right now there's a special display on ancient clothing I have to go see!" she finished, the familiar sparkle in her eyes. (the one from the 2nd movie when she talks about filming Sakura's confession)
"I – I guess…." Shaoran replied, a sweat drop appearing on his head. "What do you think, Sakura?" He said, showing her the map and picture of the museum.
"It's fine with me." She said happily. "I haven't been to that many museums, so it would make a nice change."
Some distance away a figure could vaguely be made out sitting in a tree, listening to the teenagers' conversation. It shifted a little, and the sunlight flashed off a pair of glasses before the shadowy apparition vanished completely.
"Wow! It's really neat in here!" Sakura exclaimed as they entered the museum. Looking around, she noticed that there were signs posted that pointed the way to various departments, sorted by type of art. There were sculptures, photographs, mobiles, costume clothing, which Tomoyo had already run off to, and paintings. This area was so big, it too was divided into categories: portraits, freestyle, modern, and landscapes. There were paintings of anything you could think of: animals, people, objects, and weather. After seeing everything else in the museum, though, the one that caught Sakura's eye the most was a painting of a specific scenery.
It looked like it was supposed to be a painting of a clearing with a huge tree in it and a lake some distance away that spread off into the horizon, but it seemed wrong somehow. The tree was dead-looking, it's bark black and withered, and its' branches bare and leafless. The ground was also empty, with not a single blade of any sort of plant being alive. The oddest thing to Sakura, though, was the lake. Instead of blue or even a greenish teal, it was a deep, blood red. The whole scene looked rather haunted and foreboding.
"It's kinda weird-looking, isn't it Sa…." Shaoran said, then suddenly stopped. Turning to look at him, Sakura found that he seemed frozen in place. Immediately on guard, she looked around, and found that they were the only two in the hallway. Recognizing Shaoran's lack of motion being due to a time freezing spell, Sakura summoned her staff, not having to recite the contract in a very long time.
Suddenly, she felt the presence around her concentrate in an area in front of her, but before she could turn her head, Sakura heard a familiar voice yell, "Look out!" before she was knocked to the side. Landing on her feet, Sakura looked where she had been standing, and was shocked at two prospects in front of her. One was that Eriol Hiragizawa was where she once stood. The other was that a shriveled-looking hand had extended from out of the painting and had grasped Eriol's arm, and appeared to be draining his magic away!
Thinking quickly, Sakura called on her Sword card, rushed at the corpse-like arm. Before she could reach it, however, another one came shooting out of the painting and lunged at her. Dodging, she swung her blade at her attacker, but it was deflected by the hand's claw-like fingernails. Jumping back, Sakura gathered her strength and charged again, this time striking with a downward swing, but this failed too, as the blade was caught by the hand's claws. Gripping her sword, the arm tried to force Sakura back, preventing her from breaking free of its grip.
As she fought the surprising strength of the grisly limb, Sakura noticed that Eriol was having trouble with the other one. It had already drained quite a lot of his energy, and he was losing the battle and his consciousness. Finding a new burst of strength, Sakura jerked her weapon free and, with a yell, lunged, slicing the hand down the middle almost to the point where it vanished into the painting. As the defeated limb shrank back into the canvas, Sakura turned and sliced the other one clean in two.
Not bothering to watch the hand scuttle back into the painting, Sakura quickly caught Eriol's unconscious form, preventing him from falling. Shaoran, now returning to normal, stared at Sakura spluttering, "Sakura, what…? What is he—?"
"Not the time or the place, Shaoran." Sakura cut him off. "Go find Tomoyo, and you guys head to where she and I are staying. I gotta get Eriol out of here before anyone shows up." With that, Sakura activated the Fly card, and quickly soared through one of the open skylights and out of sight as Shaoran hurried to fill her instructions.
Well? You like. The tension gets right off from the start in this story. Sakura's not so airheaded now, is she? Jaane!
