RECAP: Last chapter Syaoran went to Sakura’s place since she was alone and helped her fight the ghost. The ghost came (of course) and Syaoran and Sakura both got beat up by the Watery. Syaoran is tired in general and has cut up hands, and Sakura has got bruised ribs of something of the sort.

AUTHOR NOTE: I was rereading one of my chapters the other night and I feel really stupid cause I put something like Hong Kong was the capital of China or something- I really didn’t mean to put that, I meant to put ‘province’ of China. So now you have been thinking I am an idiot for the past few chapters, well I partly am- I am too lazy to proofread and fix my chapters, so the mistak remains, but just so you and I both know, Beijing is the capital of China, and Hong Kong is a province!

Chapter 11- Stuff is Setting Up

Sakura glanced over at Syaoran. He looked like he could fall asleep any moment. Math class was going along slowly, they were reveiwing tests that Sakura and Syaoran hadn’t taken yet due to school absense. Sakura’s back hurt from sitting just for two hours, she couldn’t imagine how bad she would feel after school. She still wasn’t sure if Syaoran was going home after school with her today or not. Her brother might get home tonight, and that could cause some chaos.

Sakura finished her unicorn doodle on the side of her page and looked up at the clock. Five more minutes, then she would be able to stand and stretch out her tense muscles. Her back was still tight, and her ribs ached with the slightest movement. Mark threw a peice of paper that skidded onto Sakura’s desk. The sensei hadn’t noticed, but Sakura was nervous to get in trouble. Mark winked at Sakura, a sure sign that the note was trouble. Still, she had to open it now.

Would you like to come over tonight and work on ‘math homework’? Sakura frowned, not quiet sure what the quotations meant, and a bit nervous about the offer. She didn’t want to go, in fact it was the last thing she wanted to do, but she was horrible at turning people down. Mark scared Sakura now that he almost hit Meilin, she couldn’t be alone with him!

Sakura thought hard for an excuse. I think I am gonna be busy. Sakura carefully threw it over to him. She didn’t notice Syaoran snap to attention and watch them. Mark’s determination wasn’t changed. He gave a smile trying to let his charm shine through. He scribbled down some words and flicked it over blithely. Sakura opened it. But you have to get it done. I promise I won’t bite. Sakura sighed, he wasn’t going to stop until she said yes. Alright, but I only have a little bit of time. Right after school is okay? She flicked it over. The bell rang, and everyone got up. Mark walked over and nodded. "That sounds good."

Sakura was a bit scared of his happy look, so she smiled and politely walked away, walking after Syaoran who was already in the hallway. He didn’t hardly acknowledge her. "Are you coming back after school?" Sakura asked him.

"I don’t think it’s necessary if you have company." Syaoran said dully.

Sakura frowned. Did he know I am going to Mark’s? "No, I am just going to his house after school, not for very long I hope."

Syaoran stopped at his locker and faced her. "I just meant your brother was going to be home. I’m not sure what you are talking about." He turned and shoved his books in his locker.

Sakura flushed a bit in frustration with herself, also with Syaoran’s change of attitude. Why does he change so much? He was so nice to me at home, now he goes so distant. Was it just Mark or what? She turned and left, flustered. Syaoran looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see Sakura had left so abruptly and quickly. He shrugged to himself and turned to head off to geography. Sakura was going to music, so he wouldn’t see her in class.

His plans were quickly changed, as a worried looking woman stopped him in the hallway. He recognized her to be the nurse, the mean one that Sakura saved him from having to stay with after the cave trip. She stopped him in the center of the hallway. "Come with me."

Syaoran frowned, but saw no excuse to get away, so he followed her. Sakura was approaching them, aloof to their presence, when much to her unfortune, she started sneezing, and continued into a full blown sneezing fit. The nurse grabbed her arm and pulled her along. Sakura looked sideways at Syaoran as they were dragged along, and he shook his head, trying to say he didn’t know either.

The nurse set them down in her office, in two seats that lay in front of her large desk. She walked behind it and paced. "Syaoran, why do you have your hands bandadged? Why are you so tired? Why do you look so sick?"

Syaoran slowly began to understand what was going on. "I fell and scraped up my hands, and I think I am catching a cold." He said confidently.

The nurse shook her head and walked over to him, picking up one of his hands and started pulling at the ace bandage that had been freshly laid on. Syaoran pulled back his hand, and the nurse frowned at him. "What’s the matter? Can’t I just take a look?"

Syaoran couldn’t find any solution besides either obeying or punching her lights out, and thought number two would require strength and endurance through alot of questions and trouble. He reluctantly stuck his hand back out. She unraveled it and shook her head. The bandaids still remained. She pulled those off quickly, which Syaoran gritted his teeth through the process, then she gasped.

"Now tell me, just tell me exactly how you got these kind of cuts?"

Syaoran felt like a deer in headlights. Had Sakura not been sitting next to him, maybe he would have had clearer thoughts, and would have been more his normal self, but her presence changed his general reaction. "I, I, uh, fell on a knife." Syaoran couldn’t beleive the excuse that came out of his mouth, it was worse then Sakura’s worse stories.

The nurse gave him a incredulous glare. "Fell on a knife?" She paced back to her desk. She just seemed to notice Sakura. She nodded to Syaoran. "You sit tight here for a moment, (she nodded at Sakura) and I’ll go get you some cold medicine for that sneeze." She hurried out of the room. When the door clicked, the tension disappeared from the air.

Sakura grinned and was the first to speak. "I could’ve even come up with a better one than that!"

Syaoran slumped in his chair. "Gimme a break, I didn’t have time to think."

Sakura turned more serious. "What do you think she is going to do? If she notices my arm gash, we’ll both be in trouble."

Syaoran couldn’t help but smile. "She’ll be calling the child care services for both of us."

Sakura frowned. "What? What do you mean?"
Syaoran sat back up straight. "Children Services-she probably thinks my parents beat me or something. Last year she called me down because she noticed a big bruise on my arm shaped suspiciously like a fist. Of course it wasn’t anything major, but ever since I didn’t give her a confession, she’s been on me about every little scratch. She’s just dying to be known as a saint of children."

Sakura smiled. She hadn’t ever thought of what had gone on in Syaoran’s life in the gap between her card’s transformation, and now she realized there could be a whole new list of stories. "Well you’d better do something! I mean, she will definatly have a cow if she realizes you live alone with Wei!"

Syaoran nodded. "Here, come on, we’ll leave."

Sakura’s eyes widened. "You mean, like right now? But she just went to get medicine and-"

"Come on." Syaoran said, his eyes sparkling with the first hint of life since he had fought against the Watery two nights ago.

Sakura couldn’t help but give in to his childish and mischeivious side. She knew he wouldn’t abandon her if they were in trouble, so she didn’t think anything could go that horribly wrong. Syaoran walked over to the door and quietly tipped it open. He looked out through the crack, then waved Sakura over. He pointed to the nurse, who was in front of some tables with her back to them. Syaoran put his fingers to his lips then slipped out of the door. He got down on his knees and crawled quickly along the tables. He reached the first semi-safe spot and turned for Sakura. She was kneeling at the doorway, an obvious conflict of ethics going on in her mind. Syaoran waved at her again, more rushed because time was limited, and Sakura quickly crawled over. They sat against the wall, then Sakura peered around the edge.

"She’s moving this way!" Sakura squeaked in a whisper.

Syaoran grinned, amazed at how innocent Sakura really was. He crawled around the opposite side of the wall, then nodded Sakura over. She hurried this time, but she made a deadly mistake. Her hand hit down on a spot of dust, which quickly reached to her nose. Syaoran reached the next wall, then watched her, mortified. She got to the wall and and put a hand over her mouth, trying to block the noise as best she could. Syaoran’s eyes widened, he forsaw the horrible future in store. He put his hand over Sakura’s and held her still, and just in time. His hand clamped onto Sakura’s well, though Sakura wasn’t quiet sure why he held her so close-he didn’t really have to do that to block sound now did he?

Sakura sneezed, put all you could see was her body shake from the sneeze. Syaoran and Sakura’s hands provided a good enough sound block that they had escaped death. He sighed in releif and dropped his hand, leaning against the wall. Sakura felt stupid for sneezing, but was happy at the opportunity it provided to sit next to Syaoran. Or wait-she didn’t really enjoy sitting next to him, did she? ;)

Syaoran opened the door that led out of the main nurse office. He stood up, and Sakura quickly followed. Her tense muscles ached from crawling, and now from the tension and nervousness, they hurt all the more.

Syaoran grinned at her. "Wasn’t so bad, was it?"

Sakura smiled and hung her head in mock shame. "I could have led us to death!" She laughed, the whole mission had given her a bit of acheivment high.

Syaoran smiled. "Well you have to sneeze when you have to sneeze. Just a good thing we could keep you quiet."

Sakura laughed again, a bit of her pleasantly startled to see Syaoran was talking so easily with her. She couldn’t remember the last time he had made a sincere joke. She looked down the empty hall. "Now we are late to our class without a pass."

Syaoran nodded. "Not the end of the world. Just whatever you do, avoid the nurse the rest of the day. Tommorrow she will probably give you pitying looks, then the day after that she will watch you with her ‘maternal’ and ‘sympathetic’ eye. Basically, you have become another on her hit list."

Sakura smiled. "I think I can make it through today. Just as long as she doesn’t find me in class." Sakura pulled a card from her pocket. All this mischeif was affecting her. She grinned and held it up. "Just in case..." She checked the hallways one more time, then called out the Silent. "Silent! Make the nurse unable to speak to me the rest of the day.Oh, and unable to speak to Syaoran too." She added quickly. The Silent left and did it’s order, then returned into the card. Syaoran beamed with approval.

"That’s great! I never thought of that before. Let’s just hope we don’t actually get sick the rest of the day." Syaoran said.

Sakura nodded and looked toward music class, where she could hear several different instruments playing chaotically at the same time, figuring out the last of their duets. Tomoyo still wasn’t present today, Sakura felt a bit worried, so she planned to call her in lunch again.

Syaoran got the hint and turned toward his class. "Good luck not getting in trouble." Have fun with Mark. "See you later." He turned and stalked off to class.

Sakura watched him go, then turned and walked over to the music room. The room was so inextricable that she wasn’t even noticed. She quietly sneaked over to the piano, not looking forward to another day alone. I wish Tomoyo would get here. Sakura was sick of composing, and her attention wandered freely. Chiharu and Rika had a duet on the flute, and Tamakazi and Meilin were working on something on the clarinet. Each of their peices sounded relatively decent, from what Sakura could hear. The music class teacher was sitting with a group of students in the far corner of the room, showing them something on a trumpet. Sakura forced her mind to collect and go back to her work. She stared at the already filled in notes on the page, then started writing some down that she had figured out the other day.

Lunch was next, Sakura was anxious to get out of here. The class dragged on, but since it was so out of order, it was not hard on Sakura’s weary body. The only class she truly dreaded was gym. Gym, gym, gym, at the end of the day. Sakura hoped she could get herself in high spirits again.

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Syaoran flipped his pencil around. They were taking notes on Basketball’s history. His gym teacher said he found it fascinating, but Syaoran didn’t see the big deal about some guy in America shooting a soccer ball into a peach basket. Soccer balls were for soccer, and in his eyes that was the only sport worth playing.

Syaoran was on the edge with Mark, how Sakura trusted him he would never understand. Syaoran thought the end of Mark had been his fight with Meilin, but somehow Sakura was blind enough to forget. Sometimes she frustrated him; just what did it take to get through her dense brain? Syaoran unintentionally flicked the pencil into the gym floor, causing the lead to break. He quickly hid the dent in the wood floor with his paper and tried to keep writing with what lead he had left.

Finally the teacher had finished with the lesson, and was telling them to run five laps before playing. Syaoran didn’t know if he could complete it, but he knew he would have to. Sakura, he noticed, didn’t look too keen on warm-ups either. The whole class lagged into a jog around the gym. Mark was up in front tearing after some other jock, while cutting off some of the more preppy girls in their class. Sakura was running beside one of the girls, they were talking, but Syaoran could tell Sakura wasn’t really interested in the conversation. She looked more like she was concentrating on keeping herself moving. After the other girl stopped talking, Sakura slowed down and ran next to Syaoran.

"I am going to die." She said between breaths. Syaoran smiled but kept silent. Meilin had slowed and was now running with them. She eyed them very suspiciously. Her glance at Syaoran had so many intense Meilin emotions, Sakura almost cringed for him.

They finished their first lap, then Meilin started talking. Her breathing was coming easily, as she was in shape and she hadn’t just recovered from a battle. "Kinomoto, would you excuse us a second?"

Sakura shied away. "Sure." She had been hoping to talk to Syaoran some more, she was finding him very good company when he was in high spirits, but she knew better then to interfere with Meilin.

"Oh, Kinomoto, good luck getting away alive tonight." Though her words were a bit harsh, her smile was sincere.

Sakura smiled cautiously. How does everyone know about this? Is she talking about Mark? I am not even going to be there for an hour, where do people get these ideas? "Thanks, I guess."

Meilin was talking to Syaoran in a hushed tone, and he was hardly answering her, from what Sakura could see from behind. Sakura tried to block everything out and keep herself going, the banging down in her run starting to affect her aching ribs. She was close to closing her eyes a few times, but made herself go. She finished the five laps, and it really didn’t take that long since it was such a short distance around the gym, but it had seemed much longer to Sakura.

Syaoran wasn’t breathing that hard, but his face was already hot from work. Meilin’s words had started to blur off after the first few sentences. She had been scolding and interigating him about where he had been the past few nights. Syaoran refused to comply, he just kept telling Meilin he was attending to business. She also wanted to know what the cuts on his hands were about, but he just said he’d tell her later.

Meilin wasn’t about to stop, when a kid near the window started shouting. "Hey, it’s snowing outside!" Syaoran looked over, but wasn’t very interested. He had seen enough snow on their little trip to the states to last him a few years. Everyone here was quiet interested at the lightly falling flakes of white.

Meilin was watching the snow fall with a glow in her eyes. "It’s a month away from Christmas, did you know that Syaoran?"

Syaoran shook his head, waiting for Meilin to load her gift list onto him. Instead she looked out with a kind of dreamy look on her face. "I hope we can still have Christmas together."

Syaoran frowned, Meilin’s lecture suddenly turning interesting. "What do you mean, Meilin?"

"Your sister called, I am not sure which one. The first day you were gone." She gave him a sharp look. "It sounded important, Syaoran, you might have to back home." She looked back outside. "And I guess that would mean I go back to China, also." She said softly.

Syaoran’s head was jumbled from Meilin’s news. When his family called, it normally meant trouble. They can’t make me come back, I am finally getting along with Sakura and...and they don’t care about that. They couldn’t care less about what freindships I make. All they care is that I was here to make sure these disturbances weren’t anything major, then they want me back. They can’t do anything if I don’t call them back. Syaoran didn’t know if he could do this- ignore his family, because his family was such a strong part of him, but then, he was finding an even stronger part of himself that he didn’t even know he had, and why should they take that away?

"You are going to call them back, aren’t you?" Meilin asked, reading him carefully.

Syaoran nodded slowly. His thoughts were quickly swayed. He would think about this later, right now he had bigger fish to fry. Sakura, whose face was also flushed, was talking to Mark at the far corner of the room. From what Syaoran could see, Mark was flirting, and Sakura was trying to tolerate him. Syaoran didn’t want to interfere, but he had an idea. Stray basketballs were everywhere on the floor, so Syaoran depended heavily on his soccer skills and kicked one into the wall. A direct kick would have been much too suspicious, so the rikashay off the wall did the trick. The ball bounced into Mark’s leg, who looked around the room before lightly ending the conversation.

Sakura, somehow, had seen Syaoran, and was giving him a grateful smile, all the way across the room. He turned around, his face burning, not beleiving that he had been caught in a dead jealous act. Syaoran picked a basketball up and started shooting at a nearby goal, waiting mourningly for the end of the day to come. He wasn’t sure how, but he was going to make sure Mark stayed in line.

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"Well can you stick your fist in your mouth?" Mark asked Sakura. They were having an arguement while sitting in Mark’s kitchen. The kitchen had a small island on it, and they were sitting on stools next to the counter eating some food Mark’s mom had been nice enough to make. Sakura couldn’t beleive how rude he was to his mom, especially after she made all this food for them, and found other bad qualities starting to make their way to the surface.

Sakura looked at her fist. "I never tried." She shoved her fist in, and with some effort, managed to get her knuckles in. She tried to smiled around her hand triumphantly. "I did it!" She said, though her words were hardly intelligible around her fist.

Mark smiled at her. "Wow, you must have a really big mouth."

Sakura pulled her hand out (and moved her jaw around to get it out of locked position) and smiled shyly. "I guess so, I never knew until now. It’s not bad, is it?" Poor Sakura, didn’t see where this was going.

"Oh no, it’s a good thing. It’s just, most girls have small mouths and they can’t...well mine is so big." Mark said his intimation going right over Sakura’s head.

"Oh, you can do that too?" Sakura asked, a bit confused. She had no idea that he was being perverted, she usually tried to give people the benefit of the doubt, and trusted that they were talking honestly and directly.

Mark smiled and looked away. Sakura didn’t know how vulnerable she was to someone like him, and he knew he had an advantage. "Have you ever ridden on a dirt bike, Sakura?" He asked, dropping that previous subject.

Sakura shook her head, hoping this was leading somewhere. She had a feeling she had missed something, so she was ready to leave this situation and go do something else before she left. She had given him an hour and a half, she would be getting home just as it got dark, so she couldn’t break her time limit at all.

"Do you want to? You’ll, of course, have to ride with me, it’s pretty hard to learn how to clutch the things right away."

Sakura nodded, a bit nervous about his proposal. At least it’s something with a motor and not a brain, I won’t be able to ride a horse again, now that we have seen what kind of a rider I am. "Where will we go?"

Mark shrugged. "We can drive somewhere and get something to eat." He ignored the food sitting next to them on the counter.

"Alright, sounds good to me." So much for the math homework. Oh well, maybe he can drop me off near my house. Then I won’t have to walk as much.

Sakura followed Mark into his garage, immediatly noticing the walls littered with posters of cars and girls next to them. The garage was huge, it held a few cars in it, with room to spare. Sakura looked around, dazzled.

"My dad likes to fix cars when he gets home from work. So here’s his place, his sanctuary."

Sakura smiled, but the offset of being with Mark dimmed her spirits. She was nervous around him, and she couldn’t stand long time alone with him like this.

Mark grabbed a baseball hat off a box that was next to the wall, and put it on. He picked up another one. "Want one? My dad gets them free, he’s big in the baseball industry. He helped some of our players get onto the New York Yankees team."

Sakura smiled, she couldn’t help but find his trying to impress her amusing. "Sure, thanks." She took the hat from him and put it on. Now that she had grown her hair out, hats looked better on her then they used to.

Once they were around a large truck, Mark pointed out the two dirtbikes that rested against the wall. One was orange with blue fire painting on it, the other was just black, but it looked sleeker and quicker than the other. Sakura figured since she didn’t want to get into trouble, and they would be less likely to be spotted on the dark one, that she would prefer to ride the black one.

Mark stepped back and admired them for a moment, then looked back at Sakura. "Which one do you wanna ride?"

Sakura pretended to think, though she had a decision already made, and pointed at the black one. "That one looks cool."

Mark nodded. "It’s quick, anyway."

He pulled it out and rolled it to the garage door. Mark opened the largest garage door and strode confidently out onto his driveway, waiting for Sakura to come over. She was now quite nervous about the whole ordeal, though she did her best to hide it. Mark seemed to read her. "Don’t worry, I am a good driver." He hopped on and kick started it. Sakura swung onto it, then was sad to see the fimiliarity of riding a horse.

She didn’t like how high it actually was off the ground, plus there was nothing to hold onto. Sakura tried to find the best seating, then secured herself finding the feet pegs. Mark revved the engine up, the turned over his shoulder. "Hold on tight, we have to get off the roads really fast, it’s not road legal."

Sakura’s insides were a mess. What was he getting them into? She had no trust for him whatsoever, and entrusting him to drive eighty miles an hour on an open bike thing wasn’t something she enjoyed doing.

Sakura hesitantly held on around his stomach, seeing no alternative. He put the thing into motion, and it took off with a start. Sakura was amazed and happy to find that it was so exstremly smooth on the pavement. There was hardly any difference from riding in a car, except you have the wind rushing around you and numbing your ears off.

Everything went by in a blur, Sakura figured they were going well over the speed limit. They went down a long straight away in the road a few speeds off light speed. An abrupt turn about scared the wits out of Sakura. She realized that Mark hadn’t had her put any helmet on, nor was he wearing one either. Sakura nervously felt the road start to get a little bumpier, and then realized they were now in a wide field.

Sakura tried to calm herself down, reasoning that this was actually kind of fun, and it was going to be over awfully soon, at the speed they were going. The bike started to slow, and they emerged out of the field through some brush into an open sidewalk. Sakura recognized it as the road her old house was on, the one Tomoyo lived on, and Syaoran lived nearby.

"Where are we going?" Sakura yelled over the motor.

"Do you like pizza?" He yelled back.

"Yeah!" Sakura yelled. He didn’t say anything more, but continued down the street. Sakura watched as they passed the apartment complex Syaoran and Meilin lived in and she hoped that they would not be outside. Sakura thanked the heavens Mark had given her a hat, because she could push it down over her face and become anonomous. They turned a corner and slowed to turn into a commercial pizza place, which was a bit crowded, but not over packed with people. Sakura turned her head nervously and saw that Syaoran’s apartment building was still in sight above the trees. Oh well, what are the chances he’ll be here at the same time I am?

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Sakura hated irony. No longer than five minutes had she been sitting in a booth with Mark when Meilin came into the place, followed by Syaoran. He still hadn’t noticed them, luckily, and Sakura had managed to sit with her back against them. Still, Murphey’s law had it that he and Meilin would sit right behind them. Sakura had the worst feeling that if she turned around, she would see the back of Syaoran’s head. Instead she sat slouching in her chair with her hat pulled way down.

Mark had frowned at her suspicious antics, but said nothing. The waiter came over and set their drinks down. "And what would you like to eat this evening?"

Mark was staring at her with a kind of odd spark in his eye, looking the eighteen year old waitress over. Sakura didn’t notice, she was trying to figure out how she would get around talking. If Syaoran or Meilin heard her voice, her cover would be blown.

Mark looked at the menu, taking his sweet time. "Well....What do you want Sakura?"

Sakura froze. What if they heard that!? How many other Sakuras are there in Tomoeda? Thanks alot Mark! "Cheese pizza." Sakura said softly. The waitress looked at her oddly, not hearing what she said, but luckily Mark was ready to take the opportunity.

"There you have it, Denise (he called her by the name on the tag on her shirt) A large cheese pizza." Mark declared rather loudly. Sakura slouched even more, which got her a skeptical look from the waitress. She gave the same type glare at Mark.

"Would you middle schooleres quit hitting on me? What do I have to do, paint on a beard before I go to work so I can walk safely through the world?" She shook her head and walked away from their booth. Mark was kind of in a shocked daze looking after the waitress, so Sakura didn’t have to keep a conversation going.

The waitress came back their direction, but stopped at the booth behind them. "What would you like to drink?" She asked in a nonchalant way. She noticed Mark was staring at her, so she managed to get a glare in their direction before scribbling down her orders.

Sakura tried to listen and make sure it was Syaoran behind her. Sure enough, though she couldn’t make out the words, it was Syaoran’s voice, alright. Meilin was talking energetically as usual, and had just ordered a drink with extra caffine. Sakura felt a wave of pity for Syaoran, but quickly collected her thoughts to keeping her identity concealed. All around them were other people laughing and talking as they ate, and quiet music played in the backround. Sakura was sure she could last until Syaoran left.

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Syaoran stirred his straw around in his drink impatiently. He hadn’t really wanted to be here, but he had to keep an eye on Mark. He had been a few steps behind them since they walked to Mark’s house from school. Syaoran shifted positions in his booth, trying to figure out how to sit so he could best hear them. The microphone in his pocket jabbed him in the leg, so he quickly went back to the way he was sitting. He had brought a little sound magnifier with him, just so he could get the jist of what was going on. He had heard most of their conversation at Mark’s house from a nearby tree. He was actually quite wideopen sitting in this tree, but they had never thought to look out the window. Sakura wasn’t parinoid enough to be looking for onlookers, and Mark was wrapped up in his own perversion. Syaoran wasn’t sure if Sakura had understood him or not, but either way, he was releived that it didn’t lead anywhere, because Sakura’s referal to his mouth and not some other parts had kind of shot down the whole joke.

On his attempt to keep the dirtbike in sight (which is hard seeing the dirtbike was about 60 miles faster than he) he had accidentally run into Meilin. When he heard them go into the pizza parking lot, he invited Meilin to come along. At least he wouldn’t look totally suspicious and stalker-like with a complicity.

He figured Sakura had to leave soon anyway, so he wouldn’t have to sit around too long with Meilin. She was talking about some nonsense. Syaoran ignored her and picked up his straw wrapper and crumpled it up. He expertly threw it behind him, hoping to nail Mark in the face. He didn’t hear anything, so he went back to being bored and pretended to listen to Meilin.

"...So we planned to buy your mom the shawl for Christmas. Your sisters and I all agreed it was the most practical gift, and I think she’d enjoy it as well."

Syaoran nodded, half listening to her. Meilin sighed, sick of holding the conversation up on her own. "Have you called your mother yet? It sounded important."

Syaoran fidgeted with his straw again. I know I should, but what if she does tell me to come back? I don’t want to go home only to be sent on another mission from the elders. I am a person, not their agent, I should be alowwed to live like I want. Still, his reasoning didn’t take away the guilt he felt for not answering.

Meilin looked at him in her scolding way. "Why are you so hesitant?" She tried to read him, but couldn’t figure out his thoughts, for he was a master at concealing them.

Syaoran shook his head. "I’m not, I just forgot, that’s all. How about we get our pizza to go, this is boring."

Meilin nodded. "That sound good. I am going to school at seven to go see our first basketball game this year. Want to come?"

Syaoran shook his head again. "Too much homework. Go without me." Syaoran had no intention of going to do his homework, he was actually planning to see Moondust, for he hadn’t seen her in a very long while.

Meilin sighed. Since when does he stay home for homework? He’s probably sneaking off with Sakura somewhere... "Will you ever tell me where you were?"

Syaoran felt a bit sorry for her, looking at her truly wanting eyes. She really wants to know, but I don’t know how I’d get around saying that I was with Sakura for two days, and if she hears that, she’ll tease me even more. He stayed silent, though offered a consoling look.

Meilin made a ‘hmph’ noise and looked out into space, doing her best to ignore him. Syaoran figured it wasn’t that bad of a price to pay. Their waitress came over, giving a look of mixed feelings at Syaoran. He couldn’t figure out whether she was annoyed with him or in love with him for no reason. He decided to ignore it, and grabbed their pizza, then handed her the money for it. He got some to-go boxes, then got up (trying to be as elusive as he could for Sakura was right behind him), and walked out with Meilin. He looked at his watch. Meilin was probably going home, because it was a half hour before she had to leave and she probably wanted to get ready, so Syaoran told her he was going to get some groceries they needed. The sun was already setting, but he figured he could at least brush the poor horse, and riding in the dark wasn’t as dangerous as people made it up to be.

________________________________________________________________________

Sakura had watched a peice of paper float down into Mark’s drink. She wasn’t quite sure where it came from, but Mark didn’t seem to notice. Sakura smothered a smile, and decided not to tell him. She was annoyed with him as it was, and besides, a little bit of paper wouldn’t kill him.

About ten minutes after she heard the people behind them get up, Sakura decided she had been with Mark long enough. "I have to go home, Mark. It’s kind of late and I still have homework to do."

Mark looked skeptically at his watch. "It’s only Six thirty." He shrugged. "If you say so. See you later, then."

Sakura frowned, a bit unsure of what he meant. Once she realized he was staying here, not being polite and giving her a ride home, she got up and left the table a bit angry with his manners. She walked quickly down the street towards the first bus stop. A figure was already sitting on the bench, who looked to be about asleep. Sakura quickly recognized him.

"Syaoran! Are you okay?" Sakura asked. He had his eyes closed, and she wasn’t sure if he was awake or not.

Syaoran opened his eyes immediatly hearing the voice. He half expected to see Mark standing with her, but was realived to see that she was alone. "Oh, I am just waiting for the damn bus to get here." Syaoran quickly resented his choice of wording, he always tried to keep his mouth in check when Sakura was around, or any time for that matter, but being half asleep, annoyed with Mark, and having sat on the same cold bench for the past ten minutes, the word just kind of slipped out. "Sorry." He muttered.

Sakura smiled, not really bothered by Syaoran’s language. "How long have you been sitting here?"

Syaoran shrugged. "Ten minutes." He tried to surpress a shiver, the cold of the outside was starting to eat away at his warm barrier. He hadn’t seen any snow since school, and the sky had seemed to clear up for the sunset.

Sakura ached to sit, the dirt bike ride with Mark had took its toll on Sakura’s fragile back. She walked around to the other side of it and sat down, pulled her coat around her when the cold bench surface made her cold. "Where are you going?"

Syaoran thought about his answer before he said it. "To see a friend."

Sakura nodded. She hated his general answers, and knew she couldn’t badger any more information out of him. "Oh. Are they far? If they are, we’ll probably be on the same bus."

Syaoran nodded. "I think we will." Isn’t that my luck? Hopefully she’ll get off the bus before she sees me go to the barn again, I’ll be screwed if she does.

Sakura smiled, glad to see they were still on speaking terms. She knew they hadn’t foughtten or anything, and she hadn’t done anything to deserve his ignorance, but sometimes he would be short with her for no reason. "Do you think the ghost will appear again?" Sakura was happy to see she got the whole word ‘ghost’ out without any stuttering or stammering.

Syaoran had been thinking about this for a while already. "I don’t think so, its powers are low, it will probably wait for them to charge up before it strikes again."

Sakura smiled sympathetically. If the ghost’s power was low, that meant Syaoran’s power was low also. A bus came roaring to a stop at the bench. Sakura checked its number to see it was the right one, then followed Syaoran onto it. It was fairly empty, to the exception of a few adults coming home from work.

Syaoran stared out the window. He was really tired, and he knew it was foolish to go see Moon when he should be resting, but he was sick of sleeping, though he needed it. He figured he would go to sleep right when he got home to compensate.

The bus stopped at few stops before Sakura’s, but the trip went very quick, for it wasn’t really that long of a distance, and Sakura had to leave. She got up and said ‘bye’ to Syaoran, then stepped onto the road. Syaoran watched her deftly as the bus drove away, finding himself in a day dreaming state that he rarely allowed himself to be in.

Once the scenery changed, he brought himself back awake and watched for his stop. The bus screeched, and Syaoran found himself the only passenger. He walked down onto the rocky road and looked into the field. The ground had a bit of snow covering it, but it could hardly be seen unless you looked for it. The sky indicated that there would be no snow tonight.

Syaoran tromped into the field and headed for the barn that loomed in the distance. The sunlight was starting to fail, and objects were beginning their nightly transformation into shadows and sillhouettes. Syaoran couldn’t see Moondust anywhere near, so he headed to the barn to get a halter or something to catch her with. By the time he had found one, Moondust was already standing next to the fence, her silver back glimmering with the last hints of light, standing still as a statue as she watched Syaoran move about. He walked over and opened the gate, then led her into the barn, which was slightly warmer than the breezy outside. He shut the large sliding barn door, then lit a kerosene lamp that lay aside.

Moondust was scoping out the broken tractor parts that lay on the side of the floor. Syaoran grabbed some brushes and walked over to her, then started to brush her coat, making it gleam with health as he took off the dirt she had been playing in.

Moondust stood patiently, enjoying the treatment as much as Syaoran enjoyed giving it. He let his mind sleep, the relaxment of the horse allowing it to wander freely.

A noise from the door startled him so much he almost dropped his brush. The door shook and pulled open. A bulky man stepped inside the barn, his flannel shirt and oversized boots slowly coming to recognition in Syaoran’s head.

"I thought it was you out here." The man said. Syaoran was watching him nervously, knowing he had just been caught. "Now I’m not here to get mad at you, I was just going to tell you some news." He walked over and kicked at the tractor parts to reveal some more junk, of which he decided he had no interest in. He put his attention back on his previous conversation. "You’d better enjoy this time with the horse, we’re moving, all of us, so unless I can get her sold before we go, she’s coming too."

Syaoran frowned, the sad information slowly processing in his mind. Sell her? I can’t part with her now, I’ve known her too long! Well it wouldn’t be that strange for me, anything I get attatched to is taken away. Syaoran was unsure of what to say, or how to take the information, so he nodded solemnly. "Where are you moving?"

The man shrugged. "Our company’s going to branch in to Beijing, we figured we’d find ourselves a nice place on the outskirts."

Syaoran nodded again. The man shuffled uneasily, something he had never done when Syaoran was around. Generally he would yell at Syaoran to get off his property and away from his horse, but not tonight. "Listen, if you want to buy her, I mean if you’ve got the money, the offer stands..."

Syaoran nodded hesitantly. He doubted he could pay what the man wanted. "How much are you selling her for?"

"100,000 yen (I’m no expert at currency- I am not sure if that levels out right, but if it does, it’s somewhere around 1,000 dollars)." The man said firmly.

Syaoran sighed inwardly. That’s surprisingly cheap. Maybe if I worked for some money...? "How long before you move?"

The man scratched his head in thought. "Well we’ll be out of here in a week, but the horse has another good month before we move her."

Syaoran nodded and stared a Moondust. The man, having said what he needed to, left the barn. Syaoran hardly saw him go, he was figuring out a plan. On minimum wage, if I worked eight hours every day, I would have 120,000 yen to use. This won’t be a problem, I’ll be able to finally own her for good.

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Sakura dropped the nunchuku for the thousandth time. She sighed and picked it up off the floor. She had made slow process, but process all the same. She could now get it in a circle, though she had no idea how to make it go in a figure eight like Syaoran did so easily. Sakura flicked her wrist and watched the block of wood lurch out. She did it! Her breif feeling of accomplishment quickly faded away as the block of wood bounced off the wall and came back into her leg. Sakura had wanted to go to sleep the second she got home, but she tried to think like Syaoran, and knew she would be a wuss if she quit so early in the evening.

Sakura heard a door downstairs, and sone distant talking. She dropped the nunchuku on the floor and ran out of the room and down the long hall. As she hopped down the stairs, she saw Touya hugging her uncle in the entry way. "Onni-chan!" She ran down and gave her brother a hug, then stepped back. "So Touya, did you find any colleges you liked?"

Touya was giving her a suspicious eye, he could sense something had happened while he was away. "Nothing spectacular. How about you squirt? What excitement came and hit you in the arm?"

Sakura was baffled at his expression until she realized her short sleeves revealed the tightly wound ace bandage that wrapped her forearm. "Oh, nothing! I just hit myself with the nunchuku, that’s all." She gave a convincing smile.

Her brother shook his head, unbeleiving. "Since when could you use a nunchuku, or even knew how to say the word?"

Sakura would have squirmed away if she could, but now she had both Touya and Uncle Guan’s eyes on her. "Oh, I, I just taught myself. That’s why I am so horrible at it."

Touya wasn’t convinced, but he dropped the subject for now. Chindra walked into the entry way, bowing resepctively to Uncle Guan. "Your dinner is ready." She bowed away and went into the kitchen. Uncle Guan and Touya were talking about something and didn’t look very bent on moving soon.

Sakura decided she would steal away to the kitchen. Chindra hardly noticed her presence, but continued cutting some food. Sakura walked over and looked at the food they were going to eat.

"What is this?" Sakura asked, looking at the mess of food scrambled in the plate.

Chindra looked sadly at a bowl of mush. "I’m not sure what it’s called. Uncle said it’s great to eat, he had some in Russia once."

Sakura frowned and leaned closer to the plate, trying to figure out what was what. Chindra leaned over it also. "I think it’s fish." They both leaned back and looked at it. "I’ll be happy when Uncle quits these natio-uh..."

"Nationality?" Sakura put in, trying to help Chindra think of the right word. Chindra nodded gratefully.

"Yes. Nationality days." She said.

Sakura smiled, surprised Chindra was talking to her on the same level. She had never heard Chindra joke before, she always seemed so serious and sad when Sakura saw her.

Chindra sighed and scooped it out of the large bowl and put it into their plates, then poured the drinks. Touya and Uncle Guan came in.

Uncle Guan was bright with anticipation for his meal. "AH! I forgot today iz Russia day! Now ve can eat vhat I like to call ze best fish plate on ze world." Uncle Guan’s Russian accent was worse than all the other combined. Sakura had to hold back a laugh as he started to whistle the national anthem. To Sakura it sounded like a warped version of God Save the Queen, but then most of his national anthem did. Sakura had the oddest feeling that he had never been anywhere but Japan and possible England.

______________________________________________________________

Sakura was out with Tomoyo on Sunday evening. They decided to go out and see a movie on the weekend, to celebrate Tomoyo’s restored health. Sakura wish Kero could be with them, but he was still in his statue spot in the corner of the dojo. Sakura had tried to tell a revised version of all the ghost things that had happened, and had blushed frequently when trying to explain Syaoran’s down to business reason for coming to her house. They finally dropped the subject, and now were wandering their way through the mall to the movie theatre. Sakura wasn’t too excited about the movie itself, because it was some sappy movie Tomoyo was dying to see, but she missed Tomoyo and wanted to make the lost time up.

They walked to the ticket counter and bought two tickets, along with several boxes of large popcorn. Sakura ordered extra food, she was going to need something to keep her busy during the movie.

There was no line to get in, nothing compared to the hyped up lines to see the Matrix, so Sakura prepared herself for a long boring romantic movie. The ticket guy ripped the stubs off the tickets and they were free to walk through. Sakura thought she might be able to catch up on some sleep while she sat in there.

________________________________________________________________

Syaoran froze. He had just seen two very fimiliar heads walk by. He searched the small crowed and spotted them at the ticket counter. Syaoran wanted to duck behind the counter he was behind, but knew that would only attract more attention. A customer walked over, and Syaoran hardly payed them any attention but putting the order into the computer.

Syaoran had been recently hired at the mall’s pizza shop. They were the only ones willing to hire someone his age, so, being desperate, he had bought the job, concealing the fact he would only be there for a month. Eight hours every day, plus twelve on the weekends, would earn him well over what he needed for Moondust. Still, this was horribly humiliating and degrading, both to his standards, and to anyone’s standards in general. Their outfits were ridiculously striped with yellow and orange, but at least he didn’t have to wear the hat. After begging for a different format, he was allowed to wear a baseball cap instead, which had the place’s name and logo smack center.

Syaoran was happy to see Sakura and Tomoyo go into the theatre, never looking back at him. Syaoran handed the customer’s their drinks, and they glared at him. "Some service..." They muttered as they walked away. Syaoran sighed. He would have to keep from getting fired for the next month, which would mean polite talking to the customers. Syaoran put his elbow on the counter and leaned on his hand. This was going to be another long nine hours.

His co-worker, some high school girl from their school, was watching him. "You’d better pay more attention. Boss almost had me hung last month for ‘rude ignorance to my customer’s needs’. I don’t blame him, though, we’re losing a lot of people to O’mally’s over there."

Syaoran looked out the counter to his right, where another festively decorated italian foods place was flourishing with business. Syaoran had heard much on his first day about the feirce competition between the two stores. The several co-workers he had had so far seemed to be brainwashed. Syaoran couldn’t beleive their spirit with the whole thing. She seemed to hang on each customer and on which store they would decide to go. Syaoran couldn’t care less which store they went to, as long as he got payed at the end of the week. Syaoran hoped they had boughtten alot of food for the movie, and wouldn’t be hungry for pizza after.

_____________________________________________________________

Sakura and Tomoyo walked out of the movie, but returned to the mall. Sakura didn’t notice Syaoran standing in a wideopen space in front of her, with only a counter to seperate them. Sakura and Tomoyo both walked towards a book store. Sakura had insisted on buying some really nice stationery for the letter she was going to send Georgie, Amy, and Jenny. She was planning to reimburst them for the money Syaoran and her had taken so long ago, plus some interest. Sakura felt bad for leaving them in the dark for a whole month.

They went into the friendly store, which was hardly more than a small room with a door open to the mall’s main hallway, and began looking through the different papers they had. Sakura found one with a sillhouette of a horse, which seemed to suit them well. Sakura picked up the pad of paper and showed it to Tomoyo, who also approved.

"I think they’d like it. It’s really pretty." Tomoyo commented.

Satisfied, Sakura walked over and bought it from the man behind the counter. She bought a pen, also, to write them a letter right at the mall, while Tomoyo was still here to supervise.

They sat down in the food court’s tables, not realizing they were being watched closely and warily by Syaoran.

Sakura started writing, making sure to thank them redundantly, then added her phone number and address, so they could stay in touch. She mentioned that maybe they could visit them in Japan sometime, if they could get enough money for plane tickets.

She decided that was good enough, so she sealed the letter and put it in the envelope. She would get the money at home.Tomoyo and Sakura got up and headed for the exit doors to the mall, when Tomoyo stopped and turned around. Sakura frowned. "What is it?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "I thought I saw Syaoran over there, I guess not."

Sakura looked around, her mind going a bit more attentive when she heard Syaoran’s name. "Where?"

Tomoyo pointed at the pizza shop to their left. "Over there, behind the counter."

"Why would he be behind the counter?" Sakura asked.

Tomoyo shrugged. "My thoughts precisely."

Tomoyo and Sakura continued on their way out into the cold wind of the mall parking lot, leaving Syaoran dying with anxiety. He had ducked down behind the counter and hid behind it, and just in time.

_________________________________________________________________

December was going by in a blur. Since the month had started, everything had seemed to speed up into hyperdrive. Sakura couldn’t wait for Christmas break, which was only three weeks away.

Nothing concerning the ghost had happened for about a week and a half now, and Sakura was getting a bit aprhensive. She knew the attacks were getting stronger and stronger, and no longer was the ghost just scaring them, it was inflicting physical damage. Some nights Sakura’s thoughts would linger on this, and sleep would take a long while to find her. Other nights it passed her mind, as it was preoccupied with the rush of Christmas.

Chindra was talking more with Sakura now. Sakura had heard her speak in her original tongue several times, and found it fascinating. Sakura made plans to learn Arabic sometime in the future, and was already asking Chindra to teach her some basic vocabulary. Chindra had a foggy past, Sakura hadn’t really asked about it, not wanting to ruin the starting friendship.

She found that Chindra was very serious at times, but did posess the quality to be looser when the time was appropriate. She and Sakura found similarities in their gymnastics, and spent the vast majority of the week after school playing in the dojo. Tomoyo came over several days that week, and was enjoying videotaping the two girl’s skills. Both the girls found Chindra was actually younger than was first assumed, and was only about two years older than them.Along with the busy week came Sakura’s father, who seemed exhausted from the trip. Sakura hadn’t had any problems with Mark the past week, but hadn’t talked to Syaoran much either. She wasn’t sure if the good and bad levelled out, so she just looked forward to the next time she would get to talk with Syaoran.

They were now in homeroom, discussing the class’s Christmas plans. The teacher planned a party for the last day they had, where there would be a gift exchangep for those wanting to participate.

Syaoran yawned in his seat. All the work he had been doing was tiring. The only thing that kept him going was the prospect of finally owning Moondust. He would have a fair amount of extra money, which he planned to use to try and buy a peice of the field to keep Moon on.

Syaoran, like Sakura, was getting nervous about the sudden calmness. Last night he was able to move a book with the wind card he had, which meant his energy was finally filling back up. He saw a downside to this, because the ghost would also have access to his abounding magic power.

Sakura had hardly spoken with him, for it seemed they had nothing to speak about, and Syaoran always looked so tired and uninviting when she did want to spar up a conversation. The homeroom was now talking loudly amongst themselves, the teacher had given permission. Syaoran was about to put his head on his books and rest when Sakura came over and sat in the seat next to him, a look of acheivment glowing on her face.

"I learned how to use the nunchucku last night. I think I finally got the hang of it." She said cheerfully.

Syaoran grinned. " ‘s Too bad we can’t use that on the ghost, we’d have her gone in an instant."

Sakura nodded. "But just how do we kill the ghost?" We have had this conversation a thousand times before, it is still unanswered.

"I know some spells that can trap them, but they seem too weak. First we have to learn about this ghost and what it wants, remember?"

Sakura nodded. "Let’s hope we don’t have to see it for a long while."

Syaoran slowly agreed. "But you understand, it’s likely to strike again soon. It gets stronger and stronger with each card it gains as it’s allie. Do you have a count of which cards have escaped?"

Sakura thought about her most recent count. "I think it’s about half and half right now. The only element that has escaped is Watery. The rest are things like move, fly, float, things like that. I lost the shield card last night, or sometime yesterday."

Syaoran sighed. "We’ve got to try and keep them from taking anymore. The more cards she gets, the bigger advantadge she has. The thing has the cards forming alliances and working together, which could turn impossible to defeat..." Syaoran stopped himself from bearing anymore bad news to Sakura. He knew she recognized the importance of the situation, and he wasn’t helping by reminding her.

Sakura slumped in her chair and thought the rest of the time, getting more and more anxious about the next attack. Kero was definitely out of commission, and Sakura knew she didn’t do too hot alone. Sakura tried to think positively, that she still had other card’s help, and she could run to Touya or her father. Still, she knew that when the time called for it, she would be at loss of words or movement, for her fear was still untamed. Sakura knew what she had to do, it was just getting herself to do it.

_______________________________________________________________

That night Sakura set up a camp around her bed. She set the nunchucku on her pillow, set extra pillows around her bed to soften a fall if it did occur, then waited. She sat in her bed with light off for an hour, then two, then three. The hours began to waiste away, Sakura half asleep, her body aching for rest, the clock ticking away her precious hours of sleep.

Distant and muffled noise startled her. It wasn’t like the scratching, but it was definitely movement, wherever it was. Sakura sadly recognized the sound’s direction coming through the scarlet covered door, of which she had set a padlock on. It wasn’t near the door, rather far away, and echoing through the basement and up the stone steps.

Sakura listened carefully, shaking and looking about the room every few instances. A muffled scream caught Sakura’s attention, along with much clattering, and some boards being thrown about. The wild scream, horribly like that of a wild animal being ripped into death, continued, ringing, submerging everything in it’s path. Sakura was frozen with the sound, it was so horrible, it sounded as if death was standing in her basement, calling it’s forceful wail at anyone who dared to be in its path.

Something else was moving now, and the scream died down into moaning, which faded eventually. Sakura shivered with fear for a long while in her bed, trying to make sense of what she had heard. It was not the ghost, there was no magic here, I am sure of it! But what was it? It was trying to get through the boards that open to my basement! But something stopped it, what? I have never heard anything so horrible in my life, only something trying to escape death could make that noise.

Sakura fell asleep on these startling thoughts, the only comfort she felt was that at least it had been human, or earthly, she was sure of that, so maybe she hadn’t been the only one to hear it. Touya and her father were very likely to hear it. Chindra might not of, Sakura had visited her apartment several times in the past week, and it’s forage underground and so far away from Sakura’s room made it impenetrable to sound.

Her thoughts died down until she woke up again. For a breif moment she thought she was being attacked, until she realized the (apparently) safer environment she was waking in.

Sakura forced her feet onto the freezing floor, realizing that she only had about a half hour to get ready, and headed down the into the hall and down the stairs, her stomach already hungry for breakfeast.

She entered the kitchen, which was somewhat a subdued seen. Uncle Guan and her father were talking in low tones about something, and Touya was staring into space with an empty look. Sakura sat next to her brother.

"Onni-chan, did you hear a scream last night?" Sakura whispered, hoping her brother would be the most appropriate one to ask.

Her brother’s lips tightened, but he kept his empty gaze. "Probably just a dream, li’l squirt." He smiled, though it looked forced, and ruffled her hair.

Sakura smiled and shied away, not satisfied with her brother’s reply. There was something about this that wasn’t right, and it was not just in a magic sense. Sakura had hoped she had at least built a remotely stable relationship with Chindra, so Sakura walked over and aided her in drying the dishes.

"Only two more weeks of school!" Sakura said, trying to bring an easy conversation. She knew Chindra did not attend school, for she spended her day aiding Uncle Guan, but the subject was very general and harmless.

"Yes." Chindra replied, though her mind was somewhere else.

Sakura looked down at the dish she was drying, and noticed Chindra’s many bracelets that wrapped around her wrist. Sakura glanced at them as they clanged together, then continued trying to keep the conversation. "Do you go anywhere for the holidays?"

Chindra shook her head without looking. "No. I stay here."

Sakura looked back at the next dish she was drying, and inadvertently noticed Chindra’s arm. Three scratches ran across it, looking questionably like the marks of human fingernails. Sakura quickly pulled her eyes away, she knew Chindra’s long sleeves were meant to cover the scratches, which meant she was intent on keeping them hidden.

Sakura frowned and did not notice how hard she was scrubbing at the dish with her towel. She was feeling very left out and uninformed about this whole situation. There was something that the grownups felt too dangerous to let Sakura in on, but they didn’t realize what a major role she would play in it. Sakura set down the towel and the dried dish. "Well, I got to go get dressed for school." She said, trying to keep her usual airy voice, though it did not come as easily at it would ordinarily.

What is going on here? Something big is going to happen with the ghost soon, and now there’s something important going on here. Kero is under a spell and hidden away in the closet of the dojo, Chindra has scratch marks from another person, which to my knowledge she never leaves the house, Syaoran is still very tired though his magic should be back- what is going on?

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TADA! VOILA! this chapter is so boring! But it was necessary, sadly enough. But no worries, next few chapters should be good, don’t quote me on that. This is one of those set up chapters, though I am sure you could figure that out on your own without me telling you. Well I want to start on this next chapter, so I am gonna go.

Oh if you haven’t seen Lord of the Rings and you are into that fantasy elve stuff, it’s really good (so I thought anyway) and I think it was very close to the book. Long movie though, but I am anxiously awaiting the sequel!

write your poor author some more encouraging emails, she needs them. [email protected] I know it’s a long address, but just remember: Keanus (like awesome hot actor + the ‘s’ at the end) Biggest (like the biggest form of the adjective ‘big’) Fan (one being obsessed with Keanu and his activities-having seen him once live in concert)

-Syaoran fan 4 life