Chapter 13

Sakura looked out from behind the curtain nervously. The music concert was about to begin, and all the music performers were stuck standing backstage. Tomoyo had forced Sakura into some weird white shirt that came a bit low in the front. Sakura didn’t like that part of it, but the long silk bell sleeves that tied under her hand were pretty cool, so it all evened out.

There wasn’t many people in the audience, basically just the parents of the performers, along with some friends that came to watch, and a couple brothers and sisters. Sakura wouldn’t admit it to herself, but she was nervously looking around for one of Meilin’s relatives.

Meilin was standing calmly next to Tomoyo. Her duet was first up, and Sakura wasn’t sure where she got her coolness from. Sometimes I hate the Li family! Why can’t they be like normal people and show normal emotions? It’s not like I am jealous of her or anything, I just think....Ok so I am a little bit jealous. I shouldn’t be, I should try and deal with my nerves too. Sakura stepped back from the curtain and stood next to Tomoyo. "You think Touya and Yukito will both get here?"

Tomoyo smiled. "I am sure they will try. She leaned to the side to peak out of the crack in the curtain. "Look, they are here now."

Sakura looked out into the crowd and sighed. Figures. More people to disappoint. "I saw your mom out there, she doesn’t normally come to these things does she?"

Tomoyo’s face tried to stay composed, but Sakura could see hints of nervousness sneaking in. "Oh, uh, no she doesn’t normally." Tomoyo smiled and leaned against the wall behind her. She didn’t want to talk anymore, she was afraid the nerves would be affecting her voice.

Sakura nodded and looked down the narrow backstage passage. Mark and Tamakazi were joking with Meilin, who looked irritated, and Chihura and Rika both clutched their flutes with fear. Sakura looked back down at the music in her hand. We don’t need to freak out, this is just something for our parents to hear. No one will make fun of us if we are bad, if we play the simplest song the parents would still be ecstatic. Other thoughts creeped into her mind. But what if other people are here, they could make fun of you without thinking twice. Sakura shook her head as if to clear her thoughts, then watched Meilin and her partner walk out onto the stage. Sakura absently listened to the violin’s beautiful harmony, but was too busy mentally preparing herself to care. The final song Tomoyo and Sakura had come up with was quite long, and from the short length of Meilin’s song, Sakura started to worry if it was too long.

Sakura watched her classmates step onto the stage, some nervous, others quite calm, and listened to them play. She cringed at every mistake, knowing this would be how hers sounded. Tomoyo jabbed her in the rib, of which were still a slight bit sore from when the watery had thrown her into a tree. Tomoyo smiled apologetically and nodded toward stage. "We’re next." She whispered.

Sakura swallowed hard and nodded. She wanted to run and hide when the crowd started aplauding. She was hardly aware of herself as she started following Tomoyo out onto the open stage. Their music teacher winked at them from the audience. Sakura smiled, though she was sure it was completly fake. Sakura ignored the mean smiles her brother was giving her, and tried to hold back the blush from Yukito’s large smile. She slightly tripped over a loose wire on stage, but quickly composed herself. She was blushing horribly when she sat down on the bench next to Tomoyo. "Everyone’s staring at us!" Sakura whispered hastily.

The audience laughed, and Sakura looked with horror to see the microphone resting on the open part of the grand piano. She blushed past red into purple. Tomoyo smiled at her, her calming smile. Focus focus focus focus. Sakura looked up at the page of notes before her. For one second all she could see was a blur of black and white, but with some more concentration everything came back. I don’t even need to look at this page, I have it memorized. What am I so nervous about, anyway? If they like it they like it, and if they don’t they don’t. Sakura nodded at Tomoyo to begin the base introduction.

Tomoyo’s fingers played fluently, but there was something flat about the way they sounded. Sakura wasn’t quite sure what she thought of it. She never seems to play with any feeling. Sakura joined the solitary notes with some full chords, and they now played together. The feeling and touches Sakura put into it (accompinied by some few small mistakes) added to Tomoyo’s perfect playing sounded wonderful. It was just like practicing, only they had only one chance to run through the whole song.

The song went by in a breeze, but it also felt like an eternity being up in the hot school stage lights. Sakura was thankful when it ended, and felt very decent of the performance. Tomoyo was beaming, and Sakura could see a glow coming from her own father in the audience. Sakura looked towards Tomoyo’s mother, and was surprised with her solemn smile. She didn’t seem too impressed. Tomoyo looked at her mother as well, and her beaming smile seemed to dim for a second. She quickly diverted her eyes and they marched backstage again. They got a high five from some of the classmates, and some that were yet to go just looked with terror out into the crowd for the moment the curtain was pushed aside.

Sakura sat next to Tomoyo on one of the chairs off the the side of the backstage passage. They both sighed with releif. "That was really cool, we did great Tomoyo!"

Tomoyo smiled and nodded. "Yeah we hardly messed up."

Sakura yawned and found herself a bit tired. Probably cause I got myself so worked up about some retarded little school concert. I need to work on my in front of crowd skills. Sakura’s stomach growled a bit loudly. Mark laughed from where he stood next to the wall. Sakura grinned sheepishly. I’m pretty hungry. Maybe we’ll get to go somewhere and celebrate for music class?

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"Well ma’am I’m sure we can get you another pizza." Syaoran said, his voice slightly raising with annoyance.

The old lady frowned at him. "I want a full refund. No. I want a refund plus a little extra money for this rude service."

Syaoran grit his teeth. He turned his head to the kitchen. "Do you guys have that pizza done yet?"

The old woman still wasn’t convinced. She pulled the thin hair out of the cheese of a stray peice of pizza sitting on the counter, disgust written on her face. "This is repulsive. I refuse to eat anything from here again, don’t you have any regulations on sanitation?" She held the hair up to the light. She glared at it. "This is the color of your hair, son."

Syaoran tried not to roll his eyes and glared up at the tiny hair that was giving them so much trouble. It was a yellowish color, probably from the girl that put the pizzas in the oven. "Does it look like I have yellow hair?" He asked flatly.

The old woman tightened her lips. Just before she could make another remark, the other girl on staff came running in. Her short blonde hair matched the one the old woman was holding. She was mortified as she looked at the gold peice of hair glinting in the light.

"Oh, I am so so sorry ma’m! Here’s another pizza, and we’ll give you full refund-" She looked at Syaoran who was standing in front of the cash register "-and some coupons. I am really sorry about this." She frantically set the pizza on the counter and waited for Syaoran to hand the woman the change.

The woman smiled warmly at the girl, then looked back to Syaoran with the same thin face. "You, boy, should cut your hair if you can’t keep it out of innocent customer’s food." She took the change from him and quickly put it into her purse. She laid the hair out on the counter. "I suggest you get rid of this, unless you reuse them in other people’s pizza." She took the pizza from the girl (adding another nice smile), then stalked off to her table, which had three other mean looking ladies sitting at it. Syaoran sighed and glared at the hair. His coworker looked at it sheepishly.

Syaoran rolled his eyes and leaned on the counter. Two more weeks. Two more weeks of damn hell. He looked over at the clock. It was only seven thirty, and so he still had half his shift left.

"I am so sorry! I left my hairnet at home." She looked at the hair. Then she glared over at the table of old woman. "God I can’t beleive the customers we get here. All the normal people go over to O’Mally’s."

Syaoran nodded. I am glad I am not the only one that thinks that. "At least the manager never sticks around to watch us work. He’d fire us."

The girl nodded. They both notice a large group of kids walking into the food court. Hope they don’t come here. Syaoran was about to panick when he realized who this group of kids was. Shi- "I hope they go to O’Mally’s." The girl said.

Syaoran nodded fullheartedly. "They probably will, our little store looks too small for a group of people that large."

He watched the group if kids warily, and almost started jumping up and down with joy as they turned to go to O’Mally’s instead. Now I have to stay out of sight for an hour. No problem. Oh God there’s Sakura and Tomoyo and Meilin. Mark and Tamakazi too. If they all notice me, well words can’t explain what would happen if they did notice me. So they can’t. Syaoran moved next to the wall and hid from their sight. His coworker watched them a little bit longer and then walked back into the kitchen.

How do Sakura and Tomoyo manage to come to this mall twice in the same week?

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Sakura shuffled impatiently. She was stuck in the back of the line, because the ‘gentlemen’, refering to Mark and Tamakazi and their group, had politely cut in front of the girls. So now Sakura and Tomoyo, starving, were stuck waiting for their food. Sakura looked around the food court. "Maybe we can go somewhere else?"

Tomoyo nodded. "I know, but I want pizza."

Sakura nodded with her. "So do I. I am sure some other place sells pizza here." She looked around and spotted a small store behind them. "There’s a little place."

Tomoyo looked in the direction. "Yeah, let’s see what they have."

Sakura and Tomoyo broke away from the line and headed towards the store. Syaoran, heart pounding, pinned himself to the wall. Anywhere else, ANYWHERE, but they come here. I can’t hide, I am the only person at the register. Maybe I could go hide in the kitchen while they are here, and they’ll leave when no one comes out to take their orders. Syaoran nervously peered around the corner of the wall. They were very near now, he had to think fast. His coworker came out of the kitchen at that exact moment, and grabbed something off the counter. "Hey, customers at twelve oclock." She said just as Sakura and Tomoyo turned to face the counter.

Syaoran had lost his chance. He reluctantly faced them from behind the cash register. Unfortunately, the torture continued, for Tomoyo and Sakura were still looking at the menu, and hadn’t payed attention to the worker in front of them. What should I say? Should I say hi? Hello, today we have a pizza-breadstick combo special for all quikpizza members. Do you have a card? God I can’t say that! His coworker was still lingering out of the kitchen. Maybe she’ll cover for me?

Sakura and Tomoyo both looked back down from the menu at a horrible instant. Syaoran dropped his eyes and concentrated on the number buttons on the register, which he noticed, were covered with pizza grease. That’s gross I have to clean it off. "Hi Sakura." He muttered.

Sakura seemed to open a second pair of eyes with surprise. "Syaoran! What are you doing here?" She quickly checked her words, because Syaoran’s work uniform standing behind the counter was a pretty good silent implication of what he was doing. "I mean, I didn’t know you worked here."

His coworker was watching him. "Don’t forget the combo special." She whispered.

Sakura and Tomoyo both looked curiously at the coworker. Syaoran was about to collapse with his own efforts of self saving. Tomoyo was turning towards the group of school kids at the other restaraunt and took a breath, as if about to shout something. Syaoran practically jumped across the counter and grabbed her arm. "Don’t say anything! They don’t know I am here! Keep it like that!" Syaoran kicked himself for acting so protective immediatly after the words came out of his mouth.

Tomoyo blinked at him wide eyed with surprise for a moment, then turned her startled expression into one of amusment. "Oh, I see..."

Sakura was horribly curious to find out why he was working here. I can’t ask him, though, because if he is working for money and I ask him why he’s working, he’d be embaressed to say "i need the money" because then he would feel like he just called himself poor. But I thought he got alot of money from his mother. Who knows, maybe he is using it for extra money towards Christmas gifts. No, that can’t be it, Meilin was complaining to me about how he never buys any presents. "How long have you worked here?"

Syaoran looked up at Sakura and was surprised to see her rather low cut shirt (probably Tomoyo’s doing) and found himself staring, so he rested his eyes on her arm. Unfortunatly, his wandering eyes mad their way across, which he found himself staring again, so in frustration he held his eyes back on the greasy number pad. "Not very long. Hopefully I will only be here for a month."

Tomoyo wanted to die laughing. Syaoran’s obvious confusion about how to look at Sakura combined with his mortifying embaressment of being discovered was just too much. Good thing I got Sakura to wear that shirt. Syaoran just gave himself away. Tomoyo made a quick glance at Sakura. She was unsure if Sakura was naive or just being polite, but she seemed rather unaware of Syaoran. "Oh. Well, can we get a large cheese pizza then?"

Sakura felt awkward ordering a pizza from Syaoran, but he was the only person at the register, so there wasn’t many options. Syaoran nodded and typed some numbers in. Sakura handed him the money they had, then leaned against the counter to wait for their pizza.

About the same time, an old woman came storming up to the counter. She slammed the peice of pizza down with all the strength an elderly woman can muster, then glowered furiously at Syaoran. Syaoran was looking at the woman with disbeleif. How one person can find so many things wrong with our pizza I will never know.

"Another hair! Another one! Just like the last." She held it up in the light again, and again it glowed yellow and short. "You cannot and will not deny that this hair belongs on you head!"

Syaoran glared at the tiny peice of hair, and Sakura and Tomoyo looked with confusion at the golden strand of hair that couldn’t have possibly come from Syaoran. Syaoran pulled a glob of hair off his head so he could see it with his own eyes in the light. He had to bend his head a little to get them in the light. All he saw was the same brown hair, not yellow in the least. He let go of his hair and faced the woman. "Ma’m my hair is not yellow."

The woman was convinced with her fury, and would not be swayed. "That was it. The last straw. I am contacting your manager."

Syaoran wasn’t sure whether to be worried or angry. He shrugged it off, which made the woman even angrier. She stalked away from the counter, leaving her peice of pizza behind. Syaoran shook his head, then remembered Sakura and Tomoyo were still there. His coworker emerged from the kitchen with a boxed pizza. She looked at the peice of pizza on the counter, noticed the seperate hair lying next to it, and gasped. "Not again!"

Syaoran shrugged. Sakura took the pizza from the girl, then looked sympathetically at Syaoran. "I am surprised you can stand all these people, it would drive me crazy!"

Syaoran half grinned, considering it a compliment. Sakura and Tomoyo walked away with their pizza, heading back towards the rest of the school kids. Syaoran watched them go, a bit reluctantly. It hadn’t been half as bad as he thought it would have been, they didn’t make him feel stupid or anything like that. Now he had been grateful for the company, because these long nights fighting with mean customers was not a way to keep your social life going. Syaoran glared as he saw Mark directing them to his seat. Sakura and Tomoyo followed him, much to Syaoran’s dismay. Meilin was sitting off by herself for a change, something she seemed to rarely do. Syaoran temporarily felt proud of his cousin for staying away from the bad crowd. His pride was stopped when he found the reason for her isolation. The music teacher sat down next to her, which meant Meilin had gotten into some kind of trouble.

Syaoran returned his eyes back to Sakura’s table. Mark was sitting awfully close to Sakura, despite Sakura’s hesitance. Tomoyo was watching both of them with the greatest of amusement, but Chihura looked a bit disrupted by Mark’s behavior. Chihura doesn’t like him does she? What is wrong with those girls? Can’t they see how stupid he is, I mean he almost punched Meilin! Mark was looking at Sakura with a spark in his eye Syaoran didn’t like. Why did Tomoyo make her wear that shirt!?

Two customers about eleven years old of which Syaoran didn’t recognize came to the counter. Syaoran absently took their money and handed them change. He quickly returned his attention back to the table. The two boys at the counter laughed silently as they counted the change they were given. Syaoran had given them about double of what he was supposed to, though Syaoran didn’t really care.

Syaoran grew weary watching them, because no matter what happened he would be stuck behind this counter, helpless. I hope they leave soon. Good thing Meilin didn’t catch me here.

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Meilin yawned in the chair she was sitting in. The lights were off, and the room was completly dark, but she could still see the door wide and clear. She would be ready when Syaoran came in. Meilin’s legs had fallen asleep long ago, she had been sitting in this chair since she got home from the pizza. Syaoran wasn’t home when she got there, so she was fully prepared to wait in this chair until he snuck in.

She looked across the room to the kitchen’s digital clock. She wanted to be asleep right about now, but she had to stay awake. Meilin heard footsteps coming down the hall. She sat more alert in her chair. The footsteps stopped at the door, and she heard a key being moved around. I am gonna get him! ha ha!

The door opened, and sure enough, Syaoran walked into the house from the lit hallway. He had something draped over his arm, but Meilin couldn’t see what it was from the darkness in the room. Syaoran turned and locked the door behind him, then walked more into the room. "What are you doing up Meilin?" He asked nonchalantly.

Meilin frowned. How does he do that? I was supposed to catch him, not the other way around. "Where have you been Syaoran? For two weeks or so now, you have been out somewhere until eleven or so. Syaoran it’s not healthy! Where have you been?"

Syaoran sighed and dropped the key on the kitchen counter, then walked into the living room. How am I going to get out of this one? "Meilin, let’s talk about this tommorrow."

Meilin tried to hop out of her chair, but her numb legs gave out on her, so she was standing a bit awkwardly. "No! You will be gone before I wake up! Please tell me Syaoran!"

Syaoran hated being so deceptive with her. Bribes always work with Meilin. "If I promise to take you riding tommorrow, will you drop the subject?"

Meilin squeaked. "Yes!" She tried to run over and hug Syaoran, but she was dragging one asleep foot behind her. Syaoran saw her coming and ran out of the room.

He ran down the hall and sped into his room. "Night Meilin!" He yelled just before he shut the door behind him. Once he was safe, Syaoran began to kick himself for the bribe. Maybe it would have been better if I had just told her. No, cause then if I told her we are buying Moondust, I’d have to take her riding a whole lot more. Noo, I think this is better, no matter how much I don’t want to go tommorrow.

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Maybe I should have just told her. Syaoran shivered in the cold wind of the open field. He hadn’t quite recovered from walking around at night in a Tshirt, and being outside in the cold again wasn’t the way to get better.

Meilin was bouncing around behind him, joyous to be on a horse again. Syaoran would have done just about anything for a heater and a hot chocolate right now, but it didn’t look like Meilin was going to stop any time soon. "Do you want to ride around alone for a while Meilin?" He called over his shoulder.

Meilin, amazed that she was managing to hug Syaoran and ride a horse at the same time, declined. "You’d be cold on the ground!" The ground out in the field had more snow then in town, because the wind had drifted it around into large piles.

"No I’d be fine." Syaoran called back. He saw some trees up ahead, some evergreens, and headed Moondust towards them. I’ll get off over there, there isn’t that much snow, and it should be sheltered from the wind. When Moondust reached them, he stopped her. It was kind of hard to get off without kicking Meilin, because he was in the front, and he had to throw his legs over Moon’s high neck instead of swiging them behind him. Meilin looked at him sadly when he was down on the ground. "Still remember how to ride?" Syaoran called up. Meilin hadn’t ridden for a long while, and she was riding without a saddle.

Meilin grinned at the challenge and collected Moondust up. She turned her and encouraged her into a gallop. Syaoran dodged the flinging snow and dirt and walked further into the warmth of the evergreen trees. She gallopped out of sight, and Syaoran watched the last trace go with sadness. This is going to be a long day.

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Sakura’s week went along slowly, or so it seemed. The highlight was the end of the week, which was the school’s Christmas party, and then there was Mark’s New Year party, but Sakura wasn’t sure if she was going to go to that. Sakura was also expecting Bob’s explosion into life as a butterfly.

Presently Sakura was walking to school Friday morning. She was so excited about the Christmas break, because she was getting really sick of school-especially Mark and his little minions. I wish the ghost was leave me alone. Can’t I have a normal break? I want to sled and skate and ski like normal kids! It was freezing out, and there was a good amount of snow Sakura had to tromp through, but Touya had left early without telling her, so she was stuck walking.

I wonder if Chindra has her liscense? She’s just barely old enough to get it. But then again, I have never seen her out of the house. She seems to be a hermit. Sakura was grateful for the salted sidewalks she was now walking on. She had finished most of her country side walking, and now was in the town. It was snowing a little, but the snow was more like a hazardous dust waving around in the air, never settling on the ground. Sakura had tried to make her hair a little nicer, since it was a party day and they wouldn’t see each other for another three weeks.

Sakura glanced down the road at Penguin park seeing if anyone was there, then headed down the other direction. She quickly reached the school gates, where only a couple kids walked across the parking lot, because most kids had convinced their parents to give them rides. Sakura headed into the school and was thankful for the welcoming heat. The schools Christmas decorations added to her good mood, and her steps were springy towards her locker. She saw Tomoyo standing at her own, her hair twisted with ribbons of red and green. Her outfit matched, and looked alright on Tomoyo, but Sakura would never in her life have worn that outfit. She stopped at her locker and threw her bookbag in, but didn’t get her book, because she knew they wouldn’t need any books in class.

Tomoyo walked over to Sakura. "Hey Sakura! Your hair looks nice!"

Sakura smiled. "Thanks! I am so looking forward to those cookies, they better have them, else I’ll die!" Sakura stepped into her class and looked around at the kids that sat there. Meilin was looking bright and cheery, a way she hadn’t been for a while. Syaoran was actually here, early, looking dead tired and grumpy. A kid standing in the doorway handed Sakura and Tomoyo two envelopes. Sakura was confused, but she smiled politely and thanked the boy for the paper.

Sakura and Tomoyo walked over to their circle of friends. Meilin and Chihura were joking around with Trent and Tamakazi. Syaoran just kind of sat there on the side, his eyes half closed. Tomoyo and Sakura sat behind him. "Hello!" Tomoyo said brightly.

Rika walked over and sat down. "What’s with the greeter standing at the door passing out the envelopes?" She eyed the envelope in her hand.

Sakura picked her’s out of her lap and looked at it before opening it.

"Nothing important. Just the jerk Mark’s party invitations. I like parties, but I don’t think I’ll go to his!" Meilin said firmly. Syaoran’s eyes seemed to get a little bit brighter.

Sakura nodded and pulled the invitation out of the envelope. "Yeah, me neither. It would probably be too wild for me anyway." She set the invitation down on the desk. Tomoyo did the same.

"Well you know, we could all go and sabotage it." Tamakazi said. "I have been to his house a couple times, I know most of the exits."

Rika laughed evilly. "Sounds fun Tamakazi! What will we do?"

Tamakazi posed a thinking position. "Well, in the early eighteen hundreds they used to make a powder that would cause all the party members to itch. Now days they have this stuff in a package."

Syaoran had an odd mischeivious look on his face. Meilin noticed. "What’s so funny?"

Syaoran looked up, startled to see anyone was watching. "Nothing, I, uh, I just thought, ...nevermind." Unfortunately, he had now caught everyone’s attention.

"Syaoran what is it!?" Tomoyo asked.

Syaoran grinned again. "Well I remember one of my older sisters filled a pressurized can with manure one time. I am not quite sure how she did it, though."

Chihura’s eyes were lighting up in an evil way. "You mean, like a whip cream can? That’s great! We gotta do it!"

Rika nodded. "Yeah, but where do we get the manure? Or the cans?"

Tomoyo looked at Syaoran. "Your horse has to have some, right?"

Syaoran’s face took a slightly sour look. All because of Mark everyone thinks I have a horse. He deserves this! "Yeah. But we still need cans."

Trent spoke for the first time. "Well my brother works at a plactics factory. He’s done stuff like this before, I am sure he can get us some. I just need the stuff to get him tp put in."

Chihura grinned. "Great! It’s settled then!"

Rika looked at Chihura with a curiosity. "You seemed to like Mark enough last night."

Chihura flushed red. "He’s stupid."

Rika shook her head. I wonder what Mark did to make her so angry? Rika looked at Sakura, who had been pretty quiet in the whole scheming. "Sakura, are you going to help?"

Sakura seemed to remember where she was. "Hmm? Oh, yes, definitely. I have some ideas starting in my head..." Sakura had Mark’s dirtbike in mind for a victim.

The conversation took a turn to the cookies and food they would soon be eating. Syaoran let his mind wander freely, he wasn’t too interested in the cookie conversation. This is great, we can start a whole alliance with him. Then again, it’s really childish. Oh well, I should give myself a break. I am only thirteen, I should be permitted to have a little fun. We’ll have to use my headset walkie talkies. It would be great if Bob the Bug becomes a butterfly before then. He might be of some use.

The party went all day. All they did was eat cookies and roam the halls, talking to their friends. Syaoran spent most of the time asleep on his desk. Sakura felt bad for him, she now knew he was probably working late, though she had no idea why.

They watched some Christmas movies to pass the rest of the day away, and the kids soon found themselves restless for the day to end, there would be alot of planning for the upcoming parties, and they wouldn’t have any homework for another three weeks. On top of all that, snow was now coming down heavily, adding to the inch of snow they already had received. Sakura hoped that Tomoyo could come over tonight, because they could have lots of fun in the snow.

Syaoran woke up in the middle of the second movie, Christmas in July. He looked up then brought his head back on his desk. He wasn’t tired anymore; he figured he had gotten at least four hours of sleep. He brought his head up high enough to let some light shine on his watch. Yes, he had slept right through lunch. He didn’t feel that hungry, but he did feel happy. Why? Why was he in a better mood? Syaoran wasn’t quite sure, he thought about it for a moment, then realized why. Day off hell! Halleluiah! No work tonight! I will go ride Moondust *alone* in the deep snow, then maybe go see a movie, buy some ... chocolate, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to stomach pizza again. I have the whole night before me! I never appreciated all my free time until it was taken away. But not tonight- tonight is a night on the town! Syaoran promised himself this, no Meilin to bother him tonight. He thought he had heard her say something about going to Rika’s, so he might be safe tonight anyway.

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Sakura lept out of the school doors into the snow. She shivered and was shocked to see the snow was now halfway to her knees. Sakura turned and looked for Tomoyo, who was following her home. Tomoyo trudged out into the snow and laughed. "Wow! It really piled up!"

The snow was still coming down heavily. Sakura looked up suspiciously, but saw no evidence of the Snow Card. It was not like the snow they had seen in the States. Sakura kicked some snow around, she was very hyper and happy to be going home. "Let’s play in the snow when we get to my house!"

Tomoyo smiled and nodded excitedly. "Sure! I will have to borrow some snow clothes though. Maybe Chindra will want to come too!"

Sakura shrugged and trudged towards the bus stop. "Maybe!" Sakura didn’t know, but she was growing a sixth sense for sensing Syaoran’s presence. She whipped around and saw Syaoran running through the snow towards them. He smiled when he reached them. Sakura was surprised to see him in such a good mood, he had seemed so tired and down when he was in class. "You using this bus too?"

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah, it’s fun riding in the snow." He said happily.

Sakura was again surprised. It’s like there is a real kid in there. I haven’t seen him in such a good mood in...well...well he was very happy when we were having that hay fight, maybe its something about this horse that makes him happy? That sounds dangerous, riding in snow this deep. I think that’s what he meant, anyway.

Tomoyo was also surprised with Syaoran’s good mood. "Oh you are riding your horse in this!? Could we come?"

Syaoran’s smile kind of froze, and they could see the wheels turning in his head. "Uh..." Sakura is afraid of horses isn’t she? But then again, I wouldn’t mind having their company, they are much more tolerable then Meilin, but having them around while I ride....But they have seen me ride before, so it’s not that strange. What’s the harm in it? Syaoran didn’t allow himself to think the thoughts in the back of his head about how he could impress them with his horsemanship, or that he would get to help Sakura ride. Oh no, if he let them come, he was doing it as a favor, not just for himself. "I, I guess. It’s kind of cold."

Sakura figured there would probably be better snow to play in over there. "Do you mind if we stop at my house to get some extra clothes?"

Syaoran shook his head. "That’s fine I guess."

The bus drove up, and Sakura and Syaoran recognized the bus driver as their previous one. He gave them a kind of annoyed glare then looked back out his windshield. They climbed in and sat down in the front seats. Sakura sat next to Tomoyo, leaving Syaoran to sit by himself. The bus drive went by in a breeze, and Sakura was the first to hop off the bus. She skipped over to her mailbox. It had several letters in it, which Sakura quickly recognized were written in English. She could make out some of the words on the front. She sounded out one and jumped up. "Amy! They sent us letters back!" Sakura wripped this one open and began reading it out loud. "Dear Sakura and Syaoran: We got your letters, -" Sakura frowned, not recognizing the word. She handed it to Syaoran.

"ummm." Syaoran said, then handed it back to Sakura. "Okay, umm we cannot read Japanese." Sakura looked up in alarm from her letter. "That’s right! I wrote it in Japanese! I so forgot they probably don’t know Japanese, but I am not very good at english writing." She looked back to the letter. "We got the money back, thank you very much. We ....uh...."Sakura handed it back to Syaoran.

"Zipped." Syaoran said, then handed it back.

"Zipped it back into our parent’s ....parent’s...drawer. We are all doing fine here, we plan to call you by phone on the Sunday before Christmas." Sakura looked up. "Hey that’s this Sunday! That will be much better, I can speak so much better then read and write." She looked down at the letter and saw that it closed. It was a short one. She looked at the other letters and saw that one was addressed to her, and one was addressed to Syaoran with her address. Sakura handed it to him. "I think they meant to send it to you, but I only put my address on the letter."

Syaoran nodded and shoved the letter into his pocket. Sakura started walking the rest of the drive way. Syaoran and Tomoyo followed beside her. Sakura looked down at the snow beneath her feet as she walked. The snow didn’t crunch under her, but only suffocated the noise of her steps. The snow was dry, no good for making things like snowballs or snowmen, but was not as slick to walk on, and probably safer for things like horses to tromp around on.

Sakura reached the thick heavy double doors to the house and pull out the spare key from her pocket. She fiddled with the key and finally compromised it to open the doors. She pushed them open then let Syaoran and Tomoyo through before she shut them again. The entry room was very warm, not like usual, and seemed more small and cozy with the company inside it.

"Touya and my father are not home yet." Sakura stated. She led the way up to her room and walked in the open door. It had been cleaned recently, and looked nice again.

Syaoran looked suspiciously at Tomoyo. He had felt her heavy eyes on him for a while, but she was looking at him through the corner of her eye, and every time he would try to catch her she would dash her eyes away. Tomoyo was now oblivious to his existence, and was looking at Sakura and her room. Syaoran shrugged it away and looked over at Bob the Bug’s jar. Still a cocoon. Syaoran looked up to see what Sakura was doing. She was gathering a pile of winter gear out of her closet, handing some extras to Tomoyo. Sakura searched frustratedly for a glove’s match, then finally pulled it out in triumph. "Finally!" She exclaimed to herself.

Sakura walked over to the door. "We’ve got to change out of our uniforms, we’ll be right back. You can stay here if you want."

Syaoran noded, trying to keep the rising red from succeeding its way to the surface. Tomoyo and Sakura turned and headed out the hallway. Sakura headed to the dojo (she figured she would check on Kero before she left), and Tomoyo headed to the main bathroom.

Syaoran wandered over to Bob’s jar to get a closer look. Something was beginning to look odd about Bob, he seemed too eager to hatch. Syaoran knelt down to be eye level with the jar, and then inspected the cocoon.

Everything remained still for a moment, then, in a flash that Syaoran considered might have been his lying eyes, the cocoon shook the slightest bit. Syaoran strained his eyes to focus even more on the little bug. The cocoon remained solid still, as if it hadn’t been disturbed for years. Syaoran glared at it for a little longer, then, giving up, reluctantly took his eyes off it. As his eye passed the edge of the jar, the corner of his right eye caught another movement. This time he was sure, because the cocoon wiggled once more.

Great! The butterfly hatches and Sakura leaves me to see it. Syaoran watched the cocoon wiggle in intervals, but nothing major happened just yet. Syaoran waited, expecting. He heard footsteps coming down the hall, and he hoped with all his might it was Sakura. He didn’t dare take his eyes off the little cocoon, he never knew when it might make its move.

Sakura walked hurriedly into the room, holding one sock in her hand while a mismatch sock was on her foot, the other foot went bare. "I could have sworn these matched when I went down there-" She stopped her sentence abruptly, noticing Syaoran on his knees staring at Bob’s jar. Sakura dropped her sock and quickly jogged over there, kneeling beside him.

Syaoran moved over a little so Sakura could have a good veiw, but kept his eyes glued on the wiggling white. "How long is it going to take?" Sakura asked, her mind preoccupied with watching.

"I don’t know." Syaoran said absently. He realized he had said that automatically, and tried to offer a better answer. "Depends on the bug I guess."

They both stared silently, mesmorized by the bug’s anticipation. A crack formed in the cocoon, and soon they saw what looked to be a leg of some sort wriggling it’s way through. "A leg!" Sakura said excitedly. Syaoran nodded absently, his absolute focus still on the bug.

Soon more things began to follow the leg, and they saw part of a wing emerge, followed by the body and more wing. In what seemed to be a second, the bug completly pushed its way out. It fell down out of the cocoon and lay on the soft picked grass in the jar, moving carefully, taking its first steps of life in it’s most beautiful and completed form. The butterfly slowly stood up, then fluttered just barely off the ground for a second before going back down to recover. Sakura reached over and took the cover off the jar, allowing the bug to fly freely around the room. Syaoran stood up off his knees and watched the bug fly again, this time to fly out of the jar and into the free space around the room. It made a lap then landed softly on the edge of its jar. The bug looked up at Sakura with it’s many cute little eyes. Sakura looked back, alarmed of its direct look, but admiring its cuteness.

The bug stared at her for a while, then fluttered up into the air. It began spreading a sort of glowing blue dust around, and flew into a certain pattern Sakura wasn’t sure of. The dust was breathtaking, and she gasp as she slowly realized what the dust was become. The little bug had spelled ‘hello’ across the air, and Sakura watched the word’s dust fall down to the floor slowly. Sakura stared at it alarmed and a bit afraid, but yet mystified. "It, it, it j-just spelled hello." Sakura stuttered.

Syaoran nodded, trying to look surprised, but his look showed more admiration than anything. He was admiring the quality of the spells he had managed to put on the little bug. He knew the bug was supposed to spell things with dust, but not glowing blue dust. That’s a plus.

The bug landed on the edge of the jar, a little tired. It still gazed at Sakura with a look of cherishment. A gargling noise seemed to be coming from it. Sakura looked at it a bit frightened, anticipating something would come out of this garglish noise. "a-aa-...ann...ge..ge...gel."

Sakura jumped about ten feet back at the first little noises the bug made. I have not read near enough books on bugs. I don’t remember anything about them being able to talk! She looked at Syaoran with worry. "Did you hear that? Am I halucinating?"

Syaoran hated pretending, mostly because he was horrible at it, he hardly ever lied like this, so it took his best acting skills to keep a straight and somewhat concerned face. "Maybe it’s got some magic on it?"

Angel! It just called me angel! Oh my God! Sakura stared at the bug with wide eyes, giving it a cautious and nervous smile. "W-what if the ghost sent it? What if, what if it’s going to try to kill us or something!?" Sakura looked around frantically for a weapon, then grabbed a book off her bed. She gripped it with her hands and walked slowly towards the bug. Syaoran quickly jumped to attention.

"Don’t squish it! I think a bug that can talk is a bit more valuable than that!" Damn this isn’t going at all like I expected! She’s supposed to be thrilled, not terrified. "It seems friendly so far." Syaoran added softly. I have taught her to be so parinoid, she doesn’t know a gift from a murderer.

Sakura slowly pulled back. "Maybe you’re right." She reluctantly stepped back, but still gripped the book tightly with both hands.

Tomoyo walked into the room, completly decked out in Sakura’s extra snow gear. She smiled and quickly evaluated the scene. "Sakura-chan you aren’t going to squash that bug are you!?"

Sakura looked back at it nervously. "Tomoyo this bug just talked to me! What if it’s under the ghost’s spell!?"

"N-n-noo g-g-gho-st sp-ell. S-s-sailor spe--spe-ll" Came a garglish noise in front of them. Sakura hopped back again, dropping her book by accident. The bug had caught Tomoyo’s attention. "P-p-lease angel l-let me l-l-live."

Sakura looked at the bug with wider eyes, if it was possible for her eyes to largen themselves anymore. "N-no, we wouldn’t do that!" Sakura tried to carefully and evasively get a book off her bed behind her without anyone noticing; just for extra precaution. Sailor spell? What does it mean ‘Sailor spell’?

Syaoran tried to keep his most innocent face on. What does it mean Sailor spell? Is it trying to say Syaoran!? It can’t say that! How does it would it know my name? If it says that I put a spell on it then I am screwed. Please please please please please....

"S-s-sleep n-now." The bug stuttered. It slugishly plopped down onto the grass of the jar and put lids over it’s large black eyes. Sakura walked over and put the cover on, feeling better immediatly after the precaution was taken. She turned around and faced Tomoyo and Syaoran.

"What is going on?" She asked, a fair enough question to say.

Tomoyo and Syaoran both shook their heads, neither having any further knowledge- well Syaoran might have had an idea, but he would rather keep that classified. "Kind of cool, Sakura. I wish I could have a talking animal at home." Tomoyo said. Sakura always gets the cool stuff! Kerochan is the coolest little friend, but she hardly plays with him it seems. Oh well.

Sakura shook her head and stared at the butterfly for a long while. She forgot about their plans to go outside, she was too preoccupied with the bug. Finally she looked away and the snow falling outside her window caught her attention. "Let’s get going, shall we?" Sakura said.

Syaoran and Tomoyo were both ready to go, they had watched the boring bug long enough. They turned and headed out the door and down the hallway to the broad carpeted steps. Syaoran shifted his bookbag onto his other shoulder, his right shoulder had begun to weigh from the merciless weight of the bookbag.

He stopped at the door and set the bag down on the floor. "I’ll be there in a sec." He said, refering to the outdoors. Tomoyo and Sakura nodded and headed outside.

Syaoran ravaged through his bag for his gloves and headband thing to keep his ears warm. He pulled the black adidas sweatband he had had since forever ago in soccer and pulled it on, keeping it under his hair. It seemed to be the perfect ear warmer, because Syaoran hated winter hats, and this seemed very elusive, and you could only see it from the parts in the hair in his bangs. He pulled his thick wool lined gloves on (that matched his coat) and then threw his bag back over his shoulder. He then preceded out the door, making sure to shut it behind him, and stepped back out into the cold outdoors.

The snow was blinding, and the range of sight was only about one fifth a mile. Syaoran saw Tomoyo and Sakura had already trudged their way down the drive, so he vainly tried to run through the snow after them. The quickly joined up and headed for the bus stop right near Sakura’s house. It seemed no time at all and they were on the bus, which was moving slowly, heading towards the barn.

__________________________________________________________________

Syaoran finally spotted a glimmer of silver moving around in the white snow. It had seemed practically impossible to find a white horse in the midst of this, but nonetheless he had done it. Syaoran jogged/waded his way to the horse and pulled the halter on over Moondust’s ears. The horse nickered happily for the company. Syaoran quickly patted her nose, then led her towards the direction of the barn, of which he could see though he was so close to it.

Syaoran saw Sakura and Tomoyo running around in the snow in the distance. Behind them he could make out the redish silhouette of the barn. Syaoran pulled the horse along quicker, looking forward to getting out of the snow. Sakura and Tomoyo noticed him coming, and quickly settled down. Once he was in ear range, Sakura called, "Isn’t that the mean horse?"

Syaoran frowned as he unlocked the gate. "Mean? Why do you say that?"

Tomoyo jumped in. "It’s the horse we saw here last time, and you said it was mean and it bit."

Syaoran sweatdropped and led the horse out of the pasture. "Oh, did I?"

Sakura looked at the horse and quickly recognized it from another time. That’s the horse that Syaoran had me up on after I fell in the ice. It seemed nice enough then, as far as horses go.

Syaoran pulled the sliding door open into the barn and walked into it, and both he and the horse were glad for the break from the blinding falling white. Syaoran tied Moondust to a free beam in the barn and then picked up the kerosene lamp and lit it. The barn glowed with that light, along with the light from the overcast and snowy day outside.

Sakura and Tomoyo came in, keeping a weary eye on the horse’s back legs in the case that it might kick or start backing up really fast. Tomoyo pulled the door shut and was surprised with the already accumulating warmth that was taking the barn.

Syaoran wasn’t sure what to do. He normally had a routine; get here, take some rope out to the field and find Moondust, then ride around without the saddle for however long he pleased. Now, he had to be a teacher to two timid students, and would have to saddle Moondust and brush her and do everything the ‘proper’ way. He looked towards the beat up box of brushes on the side of the barn. "There’s the brushes. You can brush her if you want, she’s really not mean."

Sakura hesitantly grabbed a brush and approached the horse, while Tomoyo took to the task with some enthusiasm. Syaoran felt bad for Sakura and her developing timidity. He threw his thoughts aside and headed over to a small inlet in the barn where they kept some old equipment. He was sure he had seen an old western saddle sitting around somewhere, though it’s condition was probably horrible. Syaoran spotted the beat up leather laying in the corner and walked over to it with low hopes. He was happy to see that it had all the peices; girth, stirrups, cinch, etc; but was sad to see the five inch layer of dust that buried it. He picked up the heavy saddle, which caused a mild dust storm to plague the room. He tried to keep from breathing the stale dust in, and headed out the inlet back into the main barn.

Sakura was now attacking to the brushing task with a great determination, the kind of determination she had in math class when she was given a hard problem to solve. Tomoyo seemed completly peaceful, though Syaoran couldn’t recal a time when she had ever looked disturbed.

Sakura stopped currying, in which a small whirlwind of white hair was now floating around and combining with the saddle’s dust, and looked doubtedly at the saddle. "It that thing...useable?" She asked.

Syaoran looked down at it and brushed it off a little bit more. "Sure." He said blithely. Sakura sighed and went back to brushing. Syaoran walked over and threw the saddle pad on, the went back for the saddle. He swung it up into place, and all three of them ducked under the storm of dust that arose. Syaoran was the first to stand back up, and he started cinching the saddle up. Moondust grunted disagreeably as she hadn’t had a saddle on for a long time, and tightening the saddle was not a particularly pleasant experience. Syaoran patted her on the shoulder and pulled at the saddle horn to make sure it was tight enough. Satisfied enough, he walked over to a nail pegged in the wall and took her bridle off. She didn’t mind this as much, since Syaoran usually used it on her anyway, and she accepted the bit like a champ.

Syaoran stepped back. "She’s ready to go. Who is riding first?"

Sakura looked nervously at Tomoyo. She hadn’t thought about the minor details of coming along; as in she hadn’t thought she would actually have to ride. Sakura smiled at Tomoyo. "You can go ahead."

Tomoyo smiled and nodded. "Thanks!" She stepped beside Syaoran. "Okay, what do I do?"

Syaoran untied the horse and led her over towards the door. "Come on this side-" (he waits for her to run around to the left side) "Now stick your left foot there, grab the saddle with your left hand- no your other left- yeah, now just jump up and swing your leg over."

Tomoyo somehow managed to keep her graceful idium as she plopped down in the saddle. Moondust had her own silent objection as Sakura watched her pin her ears back at the impolite thud. Syaoran pulled the sliding door open, a bit shocked from the windy snow that met him, and led Moondust outside. Tomoyo was smiling broadly, just being led around was enough for her.

Syaoran walked her around in a big circle, then stopped when they reached the door. "Do you feel alright?"

Tomoyo nodded, taking notice of how far down it was when she looked at Syaoran. "She’s so tall!"

Syaoran nodded. "Yeah. Are you alright by yourself?"

Tomoyo hesitated. "She won’t try going faster will she?"

Syaoran shook his head. "Just keep the reins tight so if she speeds up, you just pull back."

Tomoyo nodded. "And how do I turn?"

Syaoran gave Tomoyo a breif lesson on turning. Sakura leaned against the door, still in the shelter of the barn, and watched. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to ride this horse, if Tomoyo even said it was tall. Sakura remembered having a difficult time getting down after Syaoran’s horseback rescue, but she couldn’t remember much else from that. Syaoran set Tomoyo loose then walked over to the barn’s small releif. He stood next to Sakura, his hands jammed into his pockets.

"Tomoyo is always so brave, she’s never scared of anything." Sakura said, not jealous, but just amazed at Tomoyo’s courage.

Syaoran only nodded silently. After a few seconds he added, "Everyone’s afraid of something."

Sakura sighed. "But I am scared of everything. I hate myself for it sometimes."

Syaoran pretended to be looking out on Tomoyo, when in actuality he was trying to figure out how to respond to Sakura’s openess. Should I say it or shouldn’t I? I am too nice to Sakura I think, sometimes. But then, she deserves a response, she was willing to tell me this. "You are braver than you think, Kinomoto." He said, though it was forced and in a very low tone.

Sakura smiled awkwardly. After she didn’t reply for a few minutes, Syaoran wanted to pound his face into a wall for saying a compliment that went unappreciated. Instead of replying, Sakura switched subjects. "Are you sure this horse will not freak out with me? I am not the best horseman, as we all know."

Syaoran smirked. "I’ll lead her around if you want."

Sakura declined. "Not after Tomoyo has walked around by herself, she will think me a chicken!"

Syaoran didn’t want to promise Sakura anything, because Moondust was a bit of a high spirited horse, really not suited for lessons or pony rides. He came up with an idea. "You and Tomoyo can ride together."

This idea sounded good to Sakura. "Alright!"

Tomoyo came walking out of the snow, Moondust looked very warmed up and ready to go. Tomoyo was holding the reins a bit feebly, but she seemed to have a basic amount of control on the horse. Sakura walked over to her. "Syaoran said I can ride with you."

Tomoyo beamed. "Sounds cool, the horse won’t mind?"

Sakura shrugged. "Guess not. I dunno though, I won’t have a saddle or anything..." She looked hesitantly at the space behind the saddle where she’d have to sit.

Tomoyo smiled. "It’s not that hard to stay on at a walk."

Sakura slowly nodded. "Okay." She turned to Syaoran. "How exactly do I get on?"

Syaoran seemed to remember that, and looked around himself for something to use as a stool. Seeing nothing, he shrugged and walked over. He laced his fingers together and held them out as a step. Sakura looked at him skeptically but shrugged it away. She stepped onto his hand lightly, then sprung up, having a tight grasp with her hand around the back of the saddle. Sakura landed on the horse with a surprising lightness, and she was very pleased with herself.

Tomoyo clucked at the horse and Moondust started walking. Sakura grappled Tomoyo for balance. "Woah!" Sakura said, finding it very bouncy. "It’s really bouncy here."

Tomoyo kept walking. "Not here, maybe it’s different back there?"

Sakura could feel Moondust’s hindquarters rise and fall with each back leg’s step. Sakura was tense for a little while, but quickly adjusted to the tempo, and sat more relaxed. After a while she was able to look around at the white scenery. She looked down at Moondust’s feet, which became momentarily lost in the snow before pushing their way back up and leaving small holes in the carpet of snow.

They very quickly reached the door where Syaoran stood, obviously off in lala land, thinking to himself. Sakura and Tomoyo both looked at him with the same amused look. Syaoran snapped to attention and walked over from the door. "Something wrong?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "I just don’t want to get lost, so I am doing the same circle." She paused, admiring the falling snow. "Do you want to ride for a bit?"

Syaoran politely declined, not really wanting to make them get off for himself. Tomoyo just shrugged and set the reins down on Moondust’s neck. "Well I am done, that is fun, but I think I’d want to take lessons, so I could actually learn to do stuff." She swung her legs around in front of her, then lowered herself to the ground.

Sakura followed suit, though she had to swing her legs behind her because the saddle was an obvious obstacle in front. She plopped on the ground and looked at Syaoran curiously. "Didn’t you come here to ride?"

Syaoran scratched his back of his head (that is my version of a sweatdrop) sheepishly. "I-I guess. You guys can play around then, I’ll be back in a little bit." Syaoran hopped up into the saddle in one fluid motion. Moondust started prancing the instant she felt his weight on her back. She arched her neck and pranced with her feet delicately. Syaoran collected the reins indifferently. Syaoran pulled his hands out, which had been expertly hiding two well worked on snowballs. They were very powdery, because the snow was so dry, but they were compact enough to stay together. Syaoran chucked them at both Sakura and Tomoyo at the same time, who were unexpectently looking up. Snow showered down on them. Sakura and Tomoyo both glared at Syaoran. He just grinned. "Catch me if you can!" Moondust was just ecstatic to be let loose, and she swiftly hopped around on her hind legs and surged off, sending even more little bits of snow at Sakura and Tomoyo.

He was quickly out of sight in the snow’s white curtain. Sakura grinned with mischeif and looked towards the last hoffprints they could see. "I am sure we’ll be able to cut him off somewhere." Sakura leaned down and scooped up some snow. "He’ll pay dearly for that!"

Tomoyo nodded and grabbed some snow. "No one gets away with throwing snowballs around us!"

They jogged off to the right of Syaoran’s path, staying low and to the fenceline. They stopped and huddled after they lost their breath. "Alright, we’ll wait here."

Sakura and Tomoyo both opened their ears for hoofbeats, but the snow silenced all noises besides the sounds of their own voices. Sakura slowly stood up again, trying to look around. As she straightened up, something cold splattered itself all over the left side of her face. She quickly whipped around that direction, expecting to see Syaoran. No one was in sight. Sakura ducked down and gave Tomoyo a confused frown. "Did you see him?"

Tomoyo shook her head. Another lofted snow ball showered Tomoyo’s right shoulder. Tomoyo looked wildly in the direction, snowball in hand, but again did not see anyone. Just as she halfway relaxed, another snowball hit Sakura sharply on her hat covered head. Sakura picked the snowball off and looked at it with surprise.

"He put rocks in it?" Tomoyo asked, obviously surprised also.

"Syaoran isn’t that mean, is he?" Sakura asked. Tomoyo shook her head and looked suspiciously around.

"Maybe someone else is out here." Tomoyo whispered.

Sakura nodded. "Well we can’t look vulnerable. We have to look like we are devising a plan."

A loud motor noise caught both their attention. Two bikes appeared off the fence line. Sakura regrettably recognized them. "That’s Mark!" She whispered loudly. She squinted and tried to figure out who the other person was, but they wore helmets, so it was impossible to tell. Tomoyo and Sakura stood up, facing them from a distance. The motors stopped, and the riders hopped off and started walking towards them.

Sakura looked worriedly at Tomoyo. "We can outrun them!"

Tomoyo nodded. "Let’s go." Neither of them moved. Sakura knew she would have to be the first to turn and go. Sakura spun around and started sprinting, hard, not knowing if their chasers were running as well. It might be a fun game for them, but Sakura really didn’t feel like facing up to the jerk.

Sakura lost track of Tomoyo, but figured she would be able to take care of herself, so Sakura headed off to the pine trees she could see in the distace. Her legs started to ache, but she refused to heed to the measly pain, and forced them to keep picking themselves up. Sakura finally reached the pinetrees. Here she slowed to a jog, and looked around to make sure she could see no one before she allowed herself to slow further.

She finally stopped completly, amazed at the amount of windloss there was from the tree’s barrier. It was much warmer in these trees, though she had developed alot of heat from the hard run.

Out of nowhere, Mark was sprinting towards her, no helmet on anymore. Sakura spun around to run, but her legs were near spent, and Mark was already at full speed. He tackled her full length into the snow, then staggered back up to his knees, laughing hartily. "Oh..hehehe, Sakura-chan, fast, but not fast enough!"

Sakura got up and glared at him, doing her best not to shiver for she had gotten snow down her shirt and it was driving her insane. "What are you doing here?" She asked spitefully.

Mark smiled and looked around. "Nothing else to do, we figured we’d give Syaoran’s pony a race. Too bad I haven’t seen him around." He changed approaches. "I never imagined I’d run into you here! Makes sense, you follow him around like a lost puppy."

Sakura flushed and glared all the more at him. What should I say!? It has to be mean, meaner than what he said! I am so horrible at comebacks! "At least I don’t spend my time throwing rocks at girls!" That was alright, but it wasn’t a killer.

Mark just grinned. "Sorry, it must of come up with the snow."

Sakura rolled her eyes and looked around her. Her legs felt much more energized again, more stretched out and limber now that she had woken them up. I can outrun him! I know I can. Do I really? Yes. No. Think positive. I’ll just run and run and run until my lungs are going to explode, then I’ll run some more. Sakura didn’t say anything else, but kicked up as much snow as possible as she tried to get a quick start. She could hear Mark’s footsteps behind her for some time, so she kept running, and running, and running, until she didn’t hear anything but her own labored breathing.

Syaoran pulled at Moondust’s reins from a little ways away. Sakura was running at blitzing speeds, and Syaoran had been sure he had caught a glimpse of Mark in the pasture, so he had a general idea of what had happened. He was proud of Sakura for outrunning him. Syaoran watched her run for a while, tranced by her for a moment, then figured he could run in to the rescue. Syaoran let Moondust go into sort of a hopping walk, because she wouldn’t settle down to anything so degrading as a normal walk.

Sakura stopped and looked up at him with surprise. "Hullo." She said. "Mark is around here somewhere, probably terrorizing Tomoyo now."

Syaoran grinned, trying to keep Moondust at Sakura’s walking pace, which was near to impossible. He looked behind him, and saw some movement in the far far distance. They were in the open part of the field, and Syaoran felt vulnerable. He looked back down at Sakura. "There’s a fenceline ahead. You can hitch a ride if you want."

Sakura liked this idea, she was glad to have Syaoran’s company protected from Mark’s. Then again, she didn’t really want to go riding, did she? anything is better than Mark! Sakura jogged ahead, and sure enough there was a fenceline of old barbed wire. Sakura looked at it doubtedly, and attempted to get a little boost from the low lined fence. Some logs had fallen over the fence, giving it more stability. Sakura stood on these and waited for Moondust to come around. I am going to ride with Syaoran? Well sure, I have done it before; once in the states, but he was supposed to be my brother then, and last week when I was about unconscious from hypothermia. Great, this should present itself in the least a bit uncomfortable. Sakura didn’t dare think that there were any positive sides to this experience.

Syaoran walked Moondust over and yanked at the reins firmly, getting a sort of jittery stop. Sakura looked up unsurely. This will be a bad mount! There’s nothing to hold on to! Syaoran held out his hand and looked impatiently down the field. Sakura got the jist and grabbed his hand, then climbed up behind him. She let go, and settled down on the seat, but it was hard, because the saddle was still presenting itself a pain in the butt to sit behind. Syaoran notice.

"Unbuckle that!" Syaoran commanded, pointing to one side of the girth. He pulled out the knotted cinch and let it fall to the snow. This next part would be tricky; taking the saddle off while he was on it. Syaoran climbed up infront of the saddle, which pushed the saddle half back which made Sakura sit even further back. "Can we just throw it on the ground?" Sakura asked.

Syaoran yanked at the saddle. "Yeah." Sakura pushed at the saddle and it slid down into the snow. Sakura cringed, knowing the snow would be horrible on that leather. Syaoran moved back and sat normally, and Sakura found it much easier to sit double like this, although she was putting alot of effort into not falling forward into Syaoran.

"Are you okay?" Syaoran called over his shoulder.

"Yeah!" Sakura said back.

"Are you scared?"

Sakura decided this was one of those times lies were excusable. "No!"

"Hold on tight then!" Syaoran called back. Sakura hesitantly obeyed, seeing what he meant by ‘hold on tight’. It was the same way she had had to hold herself on Mark’s dirtbike, although this didn’t seem as annoying, it only seemed uncomfortable (I wonder why that is?). The second she had a loose grip around Syaoran’s stomach, he had given some reins to Moondust, which was enough to let the horse go.

The horse broke into a fast gait, and Sakura was very terrified for a good breif minute. She held on tightly to Syaoran, though he didn’t notice because he was preoccupied with steering Moondust around and keeping her from breaking into a gallop. Moondust hopped sideways, and Sakura heard a faint motor in the distance. She was finally relaxing a bit, and the more relaxed she was, the smoother the horse felt. She let herself move along with the beat instead of sitting stiffly on top of it.

"That’s Mark’s dirtbikes!" Sakura yelled over the whizzing wind.

"Yeah he brought them into the pasture!" Syaoran called back.

Sakura was now almost enjoying the tall horse. The bouncy gait suddenly became smoother, and she was now not depending completly on Syaoran to balance for her. He stopped sharply, which sent her forward, despite all her efforts to endure the motion. They were standing completly still now. Moondust’s ears were pitched forward. Syaoran was looking the same direction. "He’s looking for a chase I guess." Syaoran said.

Sakura smiled. "He said he wanted to race you."

Syaoran grinned and turned Moondust. "Then it’s a race he’ll get."

Sakura went tense again. "Woah woah woah! You can’t race around with me! I’ll fall off."

"Okay, we’ll out manuever him." Syaoran said. He was developing an idea. "Do you still have the Sand card?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah, I think. Why?"

"Well the snow is slick, but if we use it for our turns and not his, we may just lose him." Syaoran was thinking more along the lines of ‘we may just lose him a horrible wreck into a tree because of hydroplaning on the snow’, but he decided to keep it light.

"I guess. I’ll try, anyway." Sakura said.

The motor sound was getting closer. Sakura ravaged quickly through her cards and found the Sand card. She gripped it tightly with one hand and held on to Syaoran with the other. Syaoran barely tapped the horse with his legs and they were off again. Sakura’s upper inside of her leg was beginning to ache. She blocked it out and tried not to hang on to Syaoran too much.

Mark’s black dirtbike came over the small rise of the field. Moondust shied a little, but Syaoran knew how to control her, and kept her going straight. Syaoran stopped her in front of Mark’s revving dirtbike.

Mark looked up and took his helmet off. "So the lost puppy found her owner."

Sakura glared at him, and unconsciously let off her grip on Syaoran. "Get a girlfriend." She said with as much spite as she could.

Mark seemed offended for one quick moment, but quickly recovered back to his usual smug smirk. Syaoran glared at him for bothering Sakura like that. "Can’t find any fellow underclassman to play with?" Syaoran asked.

Mark rolled his eyes. "oo. I’m hurt."

Syaoran shook his head. He kept his glare at Mark when he whispered to Sakura. "Get ready." He whispered. Syaoran spurred Moondust around and she lept into the fastest gait Sakura had ridden. Sakura held on to Syaoran with wide eyes, then remembered their plan. She quickly looked back at Mark, who hadn’t bothered to put his helmet back on, but was now quickly catching up with them.

"He’s gaining!" Sakura shouted at Syaoran.

Syaoran quickly looked over his shoulder at the zooming bike. "Hah!" He yelled into Moondust’s flicking ears. She surged ahead, and Sakura saw the line of pine trees returning to them from the distance. Sakura tightened her grip around Syaoran’s stomach, anticipating some sharp fast turns ahead.

Syaoran grinned widely, thought no one saw him. Sakura seemed to have a knack for riding, she had stopped bouncing around only a few strides after they started going. Now she was just hanging on to him, which didn’t bother him in the least. Syaoran forced himself to look ahead at the task of loosing Mark into a tragic tree. Syaoran could see the line of pine trees coming closer and closer. He would have to slow down a little bit, it would be impossible to run her this quickly through the trees. This is going to be fun. They broke through the first pine branches, and Moon slowed automatically. Mark was now very closer to their tale. Syaoran took some slight concentration off the trees to yell to Sakura. "Use it!"

Sakura was terrified about going so fast through all these big trees. She pulled the Sand card out. "Sand Card! Make us traction on the snow!" The Sand card emerged from the paper and flew out ahead of them. Moondust about had a heart attack and moved swiftly to the side. Syaoran quickly freed one hand from the reins and pat Moondust on the neck, spoke some unintelligible words to her, and they were following the Sand’s path. Syaoran bent Moondust around one tree, and Mark went straight, losing some time. Syaoran pulled her around another tree in the other direction. Now Mark would have to do a one-eighty u-turn to catch up again. Mark did. Syaoran quickly glanced back to see the standings.

When Syaoran looked back, a low branch was quickly coming up to them. "Duck!" Syaoran yelled. Sakura obeyed, and just in time. The branch wizzed past her head. They sat back up, and Sakura looked back at Mark. He had caught up, and was now making his way up beside them.

"He’s caught up!" Sakura yelled over the roaring motor and the rushing wind.

Syaoran didn’t repond. He saw how they were going to get rid of him. A huge drifted mound of snow lie at the break of the trees ahead. Mark’s bike was sure to get stuck in it. Syaoran encouraged Moondust to go faster, they would need some momentum to jump over this huge pile. Mark inched his way up beside them. Sakura had no idea they were about to jump something, or else she would have made an effort to stop them.

Moondust surged through the snow and reached the drift. She half jumped, half plowed through it. About the same time, Mark turned right, just barely missing the drift. Moondust slowed to a bouncy trot, then to a walk, out in the open field. The heavy falling snow made everything have a white haze. Syaoran could hear motors in the far off distance, but it seemed Mark had left them for now.

Sakura was jittery with adreniline and excitement. They had jumped, or at least she thought they had, and it had felt so amazing! She thought she was going to fall off for one breif terrifying second, but she held on to Syaoran to steady her. Now she felt very alive, ready to do it again. She had seen Mark sharply turn at the last minute, and was glad to see he didn’t follow. "That was awesome!"

Sakura called to Syaoran. Syaoran had Moondust walk towards the barn. The horse was breathing hard, but she was alright, because she had been in pretty good shape. Syaoran was happy to see Sakura enjoyed this as much as he did. "Horses aren’t so bad, are they?"

Sakura sulked. "I guess." She said wispily. "They are scary if you can’t control them. You are very good."

Syaoran grinned again, but no one saw. "I have ridden alot." He said quickly. "You pick up on things very quickly. You could be very good if you practiced."

Sakura smiled. "There are no horses around except your horse, Syaoran."

Syaoran wasn’t sure if he wanted to say ‘sure you can come and ride any time you want’ or if he would rather stay silent. "So maybe you can ride by yourself sometime."

"I dunno, this horse is very fast..." They were almost to the open gate that led to the barn. They didn’t even bother to close the gate behind them. Mark is so stupid.

Tomoyo come running out of the barn. Her eyes went wide with surprise seeing Sakura sitting behind Syaoran. She smiled, that same Tomoyo-smirking smile that lets you know she is gathering an idea of what just went on. "You guys fought them off?"

Sakura smile. "They couldn’t follow this horse’s great moves." She said, giving the horse’s rump a good pat.

Tomoyo nodded. "I see. Well if you guys are done (Sakura and Syaoran’s faces go red) then you’d better get down. It’s going to get dark soon."

Sakura nodded and hopped down onto her feet. Her knees hurt from the long drop, and she straightened them out stiffly. She looked up at Syaoran, who didn’t look like her was about to move. "I have to go get the saddle." He said gruffly. Sakura smiled and nodded. He turned and galloped away, looking as comfortable in this quick pace as he did in the walk.

Sakura turned and faced Tomoyo. "We really have to sabotage Mark’s party now."

Tomoyo nodded. "I hid in the hayloft forever. I didn’t know if you were ever going to come back. But I guess you two were out having fun."

Sakura’s face flushed. "Tomoyo!"

"I just meant riding, Sakura, geez. It’s almost like you are getting defensive." Tomoyo said, trying not to laugh.

Sakura’s face only reddened a bit more with frustration. She tightened her lips and kept from saying anything more for now. "Anyway--- we can probably go back to my house and have some hot chocolate or tea or something."

"And see the freako bug." Tomoyo added.

Sakura’s face fell. "Oh no! I forgot. It was talking to me, Tomoyo!"

Tomoyo nodded. "Let’s forget about him for now. I was thinking about our little sabotage escapade. You think we could get Meilin, Trent, Tamakazi, Rika, and Chihura to come over to your house? I don’t think we’ll be able to get Syaoran to come to a meeting any other night, since he is such a hard worker."

Sakura nodded. "Well I am not sure, if my dad is home he probably won’t want anyone to come over tonight and...but I am sure we can figure out something. That is a good idea. We can call everyone when we get back to my house."

Tomoyo nodded. "Here comes Syaoran. Let’s go."

_____________________________________________________________________

Sakura wandered into the den. The only household telephone was in here. The answering machine was blinking. Sakura pressed play. "...Hi Sakura. I am really sorry, I know we were going to play checkers tonight (Sakura says ‘oh yeah’.) but I am gonna be stuck at the university until as late as two in the morning. I hope you can forgive me, I promise to make up for it. See you tommorrow." Her father’s voice clicked out. Sakura bit her lip and turned around. Uncle Guan was sitting in a large chair in front of the fire with his eyes closed. Sakura hesitantly approached him.

"Um, excuse me, Uncle Guan?" Sakura asked softly.

Uncle Guan’s eyes fluttered open. "Hmm?"

"Sorry. But I, uh..."

"Spit it out. You want something, right?"

Sakura smiled weakly. "Yes. Do you think, would it be alright, if I had a few friends over?" Sakura tried to keep herself from looking suspicious.

Uncle Guan smiled and closed his eyes again. "Of course, dear. I am sure Chindra could fix you up some food."

Sakura smiled and bowed out of the room. "Thank you very much Uncle-san!"

Sakura ran up the stairs to her room. Tomoyo was looking at the bug, who was now wiggling around in his jar, aching to get out and fly. Syaoran stood at the window, looking outside with blank eyes. "He said it’s alright." Sakura said.

Tomoyo smiled happily. "Cool! I’ll call Meilin and Chihura, you call Rika." She looked at Syaoran. "You call Trent and Tamakazi."

Syaoran nodded unwillingly. He didn’t really want to be spending his day off like this, or did he? Syaoran just figured as long as he was having fun, he was alright. Plus he was with Sakura.

Syaoran grabbed his phone out of his bag. "What is their numbers?"

Tomoyo looked up from the phone she was dialing. "You don’t know your own friends numbers?"

Syaoran frowned and looked at his phone. Who says they are my friends? Syaoran was considering saying this, but Tomoyo quickly stopped his thoughts. "Here, I have them somewhere." Tomoyo ravaged through her bag and pulled out a long list of numbers. "In there somewhere." She said, handing it to them.

Syaoran quickly called them. They all seemed happy to come, and all seemed pretty bored at home even though it was the first night of vacation. Syaoran handed the phone to Sakura to give them directions, then waited for Tomoyo and Sakura to finish their calls. They were talking to the people on the phones about everything but the meeting. Syaoran fiddled with the buttons on his phone impatiently. Sakura looked up from her phone and noticed, and cut her phone call short. Tomoyo was still talking lengthely with Meilin. Sakura walked over to the jar with the butterfly. Syaoran walked over and looked at Bob also.

"Angel!" The bug exclaimed, plastering itself to the glass. Sakura looked at it with reconsideration of her last judgement. "Out. Fly." It said. Sakura frowned. Do I really want to set that thing free? Sakura reluctantly took the lid off the jar. Bob came flying wildly out.

It landed on Syaoran’s hand, and Syaoran cringed. He pulled his hand back, but the bug stayed on. "Sailor. You know Angel?"

Syaoran frowned at the bug. "Who is Sailor?"

"You. You Sailor. Angel friends with Sailor?" Bob said.

Syaoran glared at the little butterfly. "Sure. Why am I a sailor?"

The bug didn’t answer, but flew a large circle around the room and hovered in front of Tomoyo. He started spreading more blue dust around the room. Tomoyo looked up from her telephone conversation surprised. The bug smiled after he finished writing, or at least his fuzzy line of black curved up. The dust read; ‘Bob Triumphs’, and he had a picture of himself coming out of a cocoon. Next to it he had a picture of Sakura with moving wings. Sakura looked at it in surprise. The picture was pretty good.

The bug started faltering in it’s flight. "Bob tired. Rest. Sleep well angel." The bug said, then flew swiftly into his jar. Sakura stared at the bug a little longer, then set the lid on the jar.

"We should probably go downstairs anyway, they should be getting here soon." Sakura said. Tomoyo had stopped her phone call to watch the curious bug also.

They walked downstairs and looked out the door. Distant figures were hopping along in the dusk on the long driveway. Sakura didn’t feel like tromping around in the snow anymore, so she waited for them to reach her.

Meilin and Rika were the first to arrive. Meilin had been at Rika’s house, so they had traveled together. She looked suspiciously at Syaoran. "Since when have you been here?"

Syaoran seemed to realize himself. "Oh, uh, just a second ago."

Meilin shook her head. She looked at Tomoyo curiously, as Rika and Sakura were starting their own conversation. "He’s been with her since afterschool?" Meilin whispered to Tomoyo.

Tomoyo grinned but didn’t look at Meilin’s eye, only stared out the window. Chihura came in, closely followed by Trent and Tamakazi. They stood and talked in a big circle for a few minutes, then headed up the main stairs to regroup.

Tamakazi looked around wide eyed. "This is one bad house you have, Sakura! Talk about House on Haunted Hill! Let’s play tag!"

Chihura smacked him on the shoulder. "I knew you didn’t have your heart in this. You are still one of Mark’s ‘followers’. You are going to ruin our sabotaging meeting!"

Rika glared at him also. "We’ve gotta figure stuff out first."

Meilin looked at Sakura. "But after we’re done, could we maybe play one game? Just one?"

Sakura smiled unsurely. She wasn’t sure how keen her uncle would be to have a group of middleschoolers running round the house hysterically. "Uh...Maybe."

Tomoyo smiled firmly. "That settles it. First portion of meeting is about the sabotaging party."

Sakura led them into a large room that had a wide open floor, with couches and furniture along the walls. Sakura hadn’t figured out the real use for this room, but she found it great for social events like this. Tamakazi let himself onto a large couch and sat back. "Screw Mark’s party! Let’s have one here!"

Everyone glared at him. Chihura took charge. "Let’s not stray from the real reason we are all here."

Rika nodded. "To give Mark payback. If you are friends with Mark, you don’t deserve to be in this room."

Tamakazi shut up and sat quietly. Trent was sitting to the side quietly as well. Meilin sat herself next to Syaoran. Tomoyo and Sakura sat down on a very soft sinking in couch. Sakura looked around the room. "So what are we going to do, exactly?"

Rika sat back in her chair. "There’s always stuff to put in the punch bowl."

"We could mess with the music." Chihura suggested.

"Jinx the pipes to the bathroom so they drain into a room." Meilin said, her voice particularly standing out in the room.

Everyone paused and thought about that idea. Sakura was reluctant. "Isn’t that kind of...exstreme? I mean, if his family found out who did it, they’d sue us."

Meilin shook her head. "They wouldn’t find out."

Sakura shrugged. typical Li response. "Well still, maybe more mellow things? I like the whipped cream cans idea."

Trent nodded. "Yeah, I asked my brother about it, he thought it was genius. Let’s hope they use sometype of whipped cream stuff there, then we’ll switch the cans and the people will be topping their food with crap."

Tomoyo grinned. So much to video tape! "That’s great!"

"Let’s spike the punch!" (Rika mutters, "didn’t I just say that?") Tamakazi said excitedly. "Make Mark drunk as a dog and he’ll get stuck in juvey (juvenile center)!"

Chihura grinned, but Tomoyo declined. "We’d get arrested for possession if we were caught, and how would we get ahold of alchohol anyway?" Tomoyo said.

Sakura hated the turn this was taking. She couldn’t imagine having anything to do with alchohol at this age, but here they were talking about it freely. She felt so oblivious to the world sometimes. Sakura couldn’t think of any good ideas, so she sat silent.

Syaoran sighed. He didn’t like these unintelligent ideas. Something more creative. "You can put whistles in exhaust pipes and things. He’ll think their car is about to blow up."

Meilin nodded. "Yeah, I’ve seen those. Didn’t you put one in Mrs. Tomko-"

"They work well." Syaoran interrupted her. One of his darker hours, in seventh grade at the end of the year, for payback of his mandatory music class, Syaoran had made some bad choices.

They sat silent for a little while. Tamakazi fidgeted with frustration. "Well this isn’t getting us anywhere. Maybe a nice game of hide and go seek would warm up our brains." They glared at him, even though most of them agreed. Finally Sakura spoke. "We can’t make alot of noise, my uncle might be sleeping."

Tamakazi jumped to his feet, followed by Rika and Chihura. "What are we waiting for!?" He ran out into the hallway and started for the stairs, then stopped abruptly, his mouth agape, staring at a pretty face amidst lots of high held black spirals.

Chindra looked at the group, surprised. "Sorry to bother, umm Sakura? Master Guan sent me to ask if you are in need of food."

Sakura was just emerging in the doorway, hearing Chindra. "Oh, No thank you, we are all alright. Do you think he would mind if we ran around for a little bit?"

Chindra gave a forlorn smile. "He likes nothing better then happy children."

Tamakazi was barely keeping the drool from reaching the collar of his shirt. He stared at this girl with the greatest of interest. Surely she isn’t Japanese. Weird accent. That doesn’t matter. I want her! Tamakazi gave a short bow. "Lovely to meet you miss. And your name is...?"

Chindra looked at him with an odd surprise. "I am Chindra."

Tamakazi nodded. "Chindra. Nice to meet you, I am Tamakazi."

She gave a short nod and headed back down the stairs. Her loose thin pants clung to her skin, making Tamakazi stare all the more. Chihura grunted at Tamakazi’s formal introduction and glared at him.

"Nice to meet you miss. I am ever at your disposal darling. You light my life oh beautiful-" Chihura immitated. Tamakazi was unphased.

Trent was looking after her with a bit of interest as well. Meilin flung her hair back and glared. "She’s just a girl." Meilin grumbled, sideglancing at Syaoran. His eyes were not fixed on Chindra, but were darting in that direction often. She pushed his shoulder. "Don’t tell me you are infactuated as well?"

Syaoran glared at her. Meilin shrugged and walked a distance from him. Tamakazi looked excitedly at Sakura. "Who is that chick!? She lives here?"

Sakura nodded. "She helps Uncle Guan out."

Tamakazi stared at the stairs. "We definitely have got to have the party here."

Sakura shook her head amusedly. "Are we going to play or not?"

Tamakazi nodded quickly. He spoke aside to Trent in a tone that the rest of them could still hear. "Maybe we’ll accidentally run into her in a dark hallway."

Chihura changed subjects. "Teams. We are playing in teams right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay. What’s teams then? Boys against girls- no that won’t work. Uh...how about me, Meilin, Tamakazi, and Syaoran, against Sakura, Tomoyo, Rika, and Trent?"

Sakura wasn’t about to whine about team pickings, so she nodded with the rest of them. Chihura smiled. "Cool. We’ll be it first I guess. Tag hide and Go seek, right? So this door is base. You must hide at least fifty feet from the base, or something close to that."

Everyone nodded again.

"Okay. You guys have....(she sets her watch) Five minutes to hide." Chihura said.

Sakura and her group spun around and ran down the stairs. Sakura led them into a recluded hallway and stopped. "Okay, are we hiding near each other or what? I know some good places."

"We’ll follow you, then." Rika said.

Sakura nodded. "’Kay." She started jogging again, going down an odd set of steps than came from the entry room, like many of the halls. They reached a wider hallway, and ran down it. Next the opened a normal looking door and headed inside. Within the room was a bunch of storage boxes and packed things Sakura still had from their switching houses. Rika and Trent looked arond.

"They’ll never find us here." Trent said.

Sakura nodded. They hid around the room, for it was larger than it looked at first appearance. They crouched down for an eternity. Soon Sakura grew tired of waiting and sat down fully on the floor. She hadn’t communicated with any of her other team members for a while, and they were being awfully quiet, but she knew they were still there.

They waited forever, and after a while Rika grew impatient. "They will never look down here." She whispered across the room.

"You can go look if you want." Sakura whispered back.

Rika shuffled in her spot. "Okay." She got up and walked as stealthily across the room as possible. She quietly shut the door behind her, leaving one less stuck in the musty old room.

The door opened again, but Sakura didn’t recognize the figure as Rika. It’s hair was different in the silhouette. Sakura ducked low behind her box and tried to stay silent. The figure moved into the room, not quite convinced there was no people in here yet. She walked past Sakura’s spot without noticing her. Sakura sat tensely, ready to bolt out the door. The figure (Which Sakura now recognized as Chihura) stepped back just in front of Sakura’s box, sensing something.

Sakura’s muscles quivered with anxiousness. She didn’t know what she should do. Sakura decided to follow instincts. She sprung swiftly onto her feet and flew out of the door, running hard down the hallway. She heard Chihura’s footsteps behind her, and some others. Sakura continued to run, and found herself flying across the ground, her feet moving fast without command. Sakura quickly lost the sound of footsteps behind her. She stopped slowly and found herself in a large curved hallway with stone windows and a red carpet that ran along the ground. She was in the hallway that led to the stream room. Sakura shuddered to think about it, but turned around abruptly and walked away from the stream room towards the rest of the normal house.

Sakura looked up at the dark shadowed walls around her. No moonlight was shining through the windows, but the snow outside was reflecting in the last traces of dusk. Sakura fantasised herself in another time for a breif moment, for this truly had the air of a royal castle in midevil times, but Sakura would only let herself think such foolish things for a limited amount of time.

A skittering noise made Sakura jump back into the reality. She ducked down into the shadow of the wall and silenced herself. "Sakura!" A voice whispered unsurely.

Sakura quickly recognized the voice. "Yes! Trent?"

A figure scurried out of the adjoining hall and knelt down next to her. "Li-kun was right behind me. He just stopped all the sudden." Trent whispered.

Sakura looked worriedly around. "Come on, let’s find a better hiding place."

Trent nodded. They slowly crept up the carpeted hall towards the dim light coming from the narrow hall that would bring them back to the main part of the house. Sakura’s alert ears heard quick footsteps behind her. She spun around, and heard Trent take off beside her. Sakura saw Syaoran had almost reached her. She darted to the side and ran into the lit narrow hall. Not too worried about where she was going, Sakura threw the first door on her left open and ran into the room, hoping to find a large cluttered room to hide in. She ran between some objects in the dark and stumbled down to hide. She looked about her and saw nothing but large boxes and things. She didn’t hear anyone moving, but she was sure Syaoran was closeby somewhere.

An arm grabbed Sakura and made her jump out of her skin. Tomoyo quickly quieted her. She put a finger to her lips.

Sakura smiled warily at Tomoyo. She looked around the room a little more, then leaned in to Tomoyo so she could talk as quietly as possible. "We should spilt up just a little bit, so he can’t get each of us in one shot." Tomoyo nodded at the almost inaudible words and started crawling along the room towards her destination.

Another noise the opposite direction made Sakura look away. Someone else was in here for sure. Sakura looked for any sign of Syaoran, but could see hardly anything in the dark. Sakura decided the box she hid behind wasn’t the best hiding place, so she got up on her hands and knees and began crawling towards a group of boxes that formed a square.

Two arms pulled Sakura to her feet in one swift motion. Sakura went to yell, but a firm hand covered her mouth. A foul smell filled her nostrils, and she began to struggle and try to get away. Her brain went into panic mode. This couldn’t be Syaoran! She knew it wasn’t him. She was also aware of the need to get away. She began to be dragged across the ground. Sakura looked for Tomoyo through the boxes, but could not see her anywhere. She looked for Syaoran, but saw no trace of his presence.

Sakura jabbed back with her elbows, but it seemed to have no effect on the attacker. They carried her like a robot would carry through it’s object, nothing but complete destruction would stop it from completing it’s task. Sakura couldn’t stand being so helpless. She was in the hallway now, being dragged relentlessly.

Sakura looked down the narrow hall for anyone to help her. A figure slid to a stop up ahead in the doorway. His amber hair washed over his surprised eyes as he came to the abrupt stop. He stood dumbfounded for a moment, then started running down the hall towards them.

Sakura watched sadly as they turned a corner, increasing speed. She lost sight of her savior prospect, and now was back to elbowing and kicking wildly at the person holding her so insensitively. They turned another corner and then another, in an effort to lose any followers. Sakura watched with dismay, not able to give any hint of where she was. Sakura thought up an idea. She pulled a ribbon out of her hair and threw it on the ground. After a long set of straight paces she threw down another.

After this, she was out of ribbons. Sakura tried to reach around the horrible thing’s arm into her own pockets, and pulled out some dried out cookies from their school Christmas party. Sakura threw those down as well.

How can I not even play a simple game of Hide and Seek without being thrown into some life or death situation, where I am not strong enough to keep myself by myself alive? I always get stuck needing other people. It’s not fair, I don’t want to be an interdependent person. I would have died under the ice had Syaoran not been there. Who knows what will happen to me this time. Sakura banged harder with her arms and legs, but she continued through the cold dismal set of halls.

Her attacker was now making noises, thinking the danger of being heard were far lost. She gurgled and laughed in a cackling voice, and she started mummering unintelligible words, which were starting to come together all too horribly for Sakura. "Aruka. No good. We get rid her. For all. Locked, all life. All life...Locked. Aruka did it. Now she pays."

Sakura looked down the halls behind them that they had passed for any sign of meager hope. Nothing was behind them, Sakura was alone with some crazed psycho. What a way to start off Christmas break! I am going to die this time, no one is here to stop her. Sakura tried to shut out the self lament and change to her positive thinking. I can defeat this all by myself. I am the ClowMistress (...though I have use of only 1/3 my cards) and most of all, I am a strong person.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

So voila or voici. Here it is. Another length record, longest yet. The sad part is, this chapter was supposed to be like action fighting ghost stuff. Now it’s just a play chapter. Thus the cheasy chapter name and stupid stuff that happens. Still, it was pretty funny. Hopefully I will get on with the story, these kids have way to much fun. Well okay not really, poor Sakura, huh? Can’t even spend a lousy twenty minute game of Hide n Go Seek and she’s being carried away by some weirdo. Then again, a small price to pay for being able to ride a horse with Syaoran. I envy my characters!

Enough boring end chapter author crap. Next chapter- I plan a trip somewhere, because Japan is getting boring no matter how cool Sakura’s house is. Cool places they will go to too, I have been planning it out through Math class.

In fact about Math, geometry got so boring, I started a little collection of Syaoran pictures in my math notebook (which kind of sucks because the teacher grades our notes, and I drew in pen), but I am thinking about scanning them, they’re pretty good. You’d have to excuse all the number scribbles, of course.

Visit animerica-mag.com if you are into all the anime, it’s a great magazine I’d recommend to subscribe.

SAKURA and LI SYAORAN got #4 best anime couple!

SAKURA won BEST MAGIC GIRL!

CARDCAPTOR SAKURA won #6 ALL TIME ANIME!

Great job! I was ecstatic to read this in a magazine.

Anyway, I apologize for the long author’s note this time. I am sooo tired, I am gonna go to bed despite my plan to get a start on chap 14.

Your author is getting deflated from the lack of comments. Maybe no one likes my story anymore? Sigh I guess I should give up on writing it...

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~*Syaoran Fan 4 Life*~