RECAP: Last chapter Syaoran went back to Hong Kong, saw his mom in the hospital....Sakura is very sad that he left, hmm...nothing else really happened.

Chapter 27

"Argh!" Syaoran brought his sword down forcefully, pushing down the surging magic and sending raw streaks of power zooming at the target that stood far away. He stepped back and wiped the sweat off his forehead and watched with dismay as the powerful attack came short yet again to the fifty foot away target.

"Again." The sensei ordered.

Syaoran took a second to wipe sweat off his slick hands so he’d have a better grip on his sword, then prepared the attack again. Training. I remember why I hated being in Hong Kong. This is awful. It’s so hot, I don’t know if I can do this. Syaoran glared at the target, focusing himself on that. He pictured it as Touya’s head, then shouted the Chinese spell. He swung his heavy sword overhead, then brought it slamming back to the ground, pushing the surging magic forward. It jumped forward at the target, this time extra speed helping it get more distance.

The magic hit the target and the wall around it, making a crackling noise on contact. Syaoran sighed, hoping this would be good enough, that had taken most of his power, he couldn’t do that again. He turned to the sensei, holding a solemn face and waiting for orders.

"Very well. We will work more tommorrow. Get cleaned up for school." He said, his voice very dull and disapproving.

Syaoran remembered the childhood feeling, and it started to flood back again. I use to try so desperately to get their approval. But no matter what I do, it isn’t good enough. Syaoran nodded and walked stiffly out of the training room and out into the hot sun. Once outside, he took a deep breath and tried to fan himself with the bottom of his shirt.

Syaoran looked toward the school he was going to have to go to in another half hour. I know most of the kids in there, they are related to me somehow. School isn’t that bad, it’s better than training like this...Syaoran walked glumly into his house, looking around and finding everyone else gone to school. He walked up the stairs to his room and went straight to his bed, collapsing. Even here in his room he was hot, so Syaoran forced his tired legs back underneath himself and walked down the hall to the bathroom, where he took a nice cold shower.

That made him feel a little better, and he more energetically changed into the school uniform. Syaoran walked back down the stairs, grabbing a bottled water for the short walk, and headed back outside. I wonder what Sakura is doing right now? Syaoran glanced at his watch. She is probably still sleeping, and in ten minutes, she will wake up, see she’s late, and rush frantically to school. Syaoran grinned to himself, knowing this was probably a very accurate guess. I will write her a letter tonight, I have time.

Syaoran looked down the sidewalk at his school. He was starting ninth grade, though it was only summer, he had already been placed into the next grade. He was exepmted from one class in the morning for training purposes, so he was going to walk in after everyone else was there, though that didn’t bother him. These kids were use to the elder’s reasoning, they were all fimiliar with the clan’s way of things.

I hope I didn’t get behind in Japan. Syaoran kicked a rock across the street as he reached the sidewalk leading up to the school doors. I probably did, these stupid schools are so hard. Syaoran thought about his earlier education. He had only gone to this school when he was ten and younger, he couldn’t really compare it truly to the schools he had just come from in Japan.

Syaoran walked into the school and walked quietly down the large hall, looking for the class number he would be in next. He spotted it and walked to the door calmly. He pulled the door open and walked in, ignoring the eyes watching him, and walked straight to the teacher, adjusting his bookbag on his shoulder as he went.

The older woman looked over at him from where she had been talking in front of the class. "Ah, almost late, aren’t we?"

Syaoran tried not to talk back, though he had every reason to. He waited patiently for her to give him his locker number so he could get rid of the bookbag and half empty bottle of water in his hand.

"Li Syaoran...." She said, walking over to her desk. Syaoran followed her over. She picked up a peice of paper and handed it to him. "You may go put your things away. Please do hurry about it."

Syaoran nodded and glumly walked back out of the class, cringing as he heard the woman say his name and that he was transferring back and blah blah. He walked down the hall to his locker, quickly finding it. He opened it and stuffed his bookbag in, noticing breifly that it was so empty- then thinking for a short second about how full his locker had been in Japan. It was just because I was a slob there. Having a clean locker is a good thing. Don’t get all sentimental.

Syaoran walked back to his class and was directed to a seat, luckily a good ways away from Meilin’s seat, who was watching him dreamily. Syaoran sat down and looked down at his books for a while, then brought his eyes up to watch the sensei and her lecture about old English literature.

Syaoran concentrated on keeping his eyes from looking around, he didn’t want to recognize anyone, or have them recognize him, then he’d have to deal with these ‘friends’ again. The kids in this school were much different than those in Japan; they all seemed snobby and brattish, they knew their family was powerful and important, and they made sure everyone else did too. No one was really true friends here, only true acquaintances, providing you held ties with your family. I wonder how many of these kids had to get up in the awful hours of the morning to train? Probably none. But I chose this way, I can’t complain. Syaoran supressed a yawn, completly spaced out from what the sensei was saying.

He finally found it safe to look around; all the first watching eyes that had stared as he first sat down were looking back to the front now. He glanced to his right and left, recognizing a few boys from elementary’s soccer teams, and a few of the girls looked fimiliar, but everyone had seemed to change dramatically. As he looked harder, he slowly recognized some of the other ones. Too bad Amy’s family had to leave. At least her family was nice. But I guess then, nice people aren’t allowed into our clan.

A girl on Syaoran’s right, who was a complete stranger, was throwing paperwads at another girl’s head. When the girl would glance back with annoyance, the one throwing did a wonderful job at disguising her guilty face with an expression of blankness. Syaoran sighed and looked back to the sensei, waiting for the never-ending class to end. The sensei blabbered on forever; and these classes were longer than the ones in Japan, so it seemed like hours before they were dismissed to their next class.

This is going to be a long day. It figures we have to have stupid schools here along with everything else. As long as I am helping mother. I can’t whine about myself. Syaoran walked down the hall to his next class, his thoughts shifting to worrying again.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Syaoran glanced up from the brown pony he was brushing to look at the boy sweeping dilligently at the aisle. The pile of dust he had collected was already starting to be blown back down the aisle, as the large open barn door was letting a breeze in, which was undoing all of his sweeping efforts. Syaoran shook his head and continued to brush the little pony off, who had apparently decided to have some fun rolling in the mud outside.

The younger boy, maybe ten, sighed with frustration as he came back with the dust pan to see that his pile of dust had been redistributed down the aisle. He set the pan down and began sweeping furiously again. He gathered a pile that was quickly disessembled by the wind coming in. He stepped back, annoyed and frustrated. Syaoran looked out of the stall he was in with a feeling of almost sympathy.

"You know it’d be a whole lot easier if you would close that door." Syaoran finally said.

The younger boy looked up, surprised, not knowing there had been anyone else in the barn. His face flushed with embaressment. "Yeah, I know." He mumbled, heading over to the large open door.

Syaoran went back to brushing, wondering breifly about the boy’s odd accent. Japanese isn’t his first language. Maybe he’s one of those new kids, who knows. He could just be a stable hand hired temporarily by the elders. Syaoran finished brushing the caked mud off the pony and started collecting brushes.

"Telly, come on, we’re gonna be late." Called a girl’s voice, not in Japanese, but in English. Syaoran glanced up, deciding to wait out in the stall until they left in effort to avoid conversation.

The boy looked up from the pile he had just swept up and dumped into the trashcan. "Right!" He called back in English. He jogged quickly down the aisle after the girl.

"Kite (come on)!" The girl said with a mocking and over dramatic oriental accent, jogging off with her brother away from the barn.

Syaoran shrugged it away and headed over to the tack room to put the brushes up. I’ll go write that letter. I better while I’m still in a good mood. Syaoran put the brushes away and headed back to his house, thinking over what he could write.

_______________________________________________________________________

"KERO-CHAN!" Sakura shouted, horrified, as she looked at the scorched shoe Kero was showing her guiltily. "Can’t you and Bob just get along!?" Sakura shouted.

Bob’s jar was half melted glass now- Kero had been trying to completly melt it, but some stray fire had hit the shoe, and that had been the end of that. Bob was now enclosed in one corner. Sakura walked over to the bug’s jar and let him out. He flutted on top of Sakura’s shoulder and perched there, frowning at Kero. "Mean yellow bear, trying to kill me."

Kero was about to strike, but the look Sakura gave him was enough to make him stop. "You two have to learn have to get along. I’m not going to just get rid of one of you."

"You should have sent him along with the brat, they act the same." Kero grumbled.

Yes, Sakura had thought that in her mind, lately, it seemed Syaoran’s personality was shining through the bug, though Sakura knew that was a ridiculous thought. "I should have sent you in his place." Sakura spat back, annoyed with Kero’s uselessness. "You don’t do anything but burn my stuff." Sakura said.

Kero looked guiltily down. "I didn’t mean to..."

Sakura sighed and tossed the burnt shoe into her closet, along with it’s unharmed partner, then walked back over to her bed, where she was studying spells. It was amazing to her- how much could be done without the cards- and she was anxious to put some of them into action. "Kero, this summoning spell- is it just dead things? Or can you bring living things in?"

Kero fluttered over to the book, happy to be of some use. "It is a spell that depends on the power of the magician. It’s all in your mind- if you are strong enough, you can summon living people, though that’s the most complex version of the spell you can practice."

Sakura nodded. "That’s cool." She said, reading through the chinese words a few times, trying to memorize them.

She looked up at a pencil sitting on her desk. Forcing concentration around her, she focused on the pencil, then spoke the words of the spell, her eyes never breaking from the pencil sitting on her desk. She stared hard at it, watching the end of it waver a bit to the spell’s power. Come on...

The pencil wavered, shook, but it only inched towards her. Sakura glued her eyes to it and said the words again, forcefully. The pencil shook once more, then like a speeding bullet, came flying at Sakura’s head. She ducked and narrowly missed it as it pinned into the wall like a dart. Sakura looked at it with wide eyes for a moment, then sighed, dismayed. She pulled it out of the wall, a bit distressed with the large hole it left, then looked at Kero, who was watching warily.

"Well....it’s a start." He said.

"Angel make pencil move without touch!" Bob said excitedly, making words out of dust, ‘I love you angel’ being the formed characters.

Sakura smiled grimly. Bob had a way to make anything sound better than it was. She sighed and looked down. But he can’t make me feel better about Syaoran leaving... Sakura looked towards her math book, which she should be doing homework in. Tommorrow I will see Moondust.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Sakura walked energetically down the dusty road, kicking a cloud around her and Tomoyo. She had used an ‘optimism spell’ that morning, and it seemed a little dramatic- Sakura decided to work on her magic skills before attempting to alter her emotions again. "I hope she likes these carrots!" She chattered happily.

"I’m sure she will." Tomoyo said, smiling. "I’m glad to see you in a good mood, Sakura! Your strength returns with your happiness."

Sakura shrugged, still smiling. "I suppose so."

"I can’t wait to tape you riding! I was so surprised how good you got, you must have really ridden in Hyrule."

Sakura smiled and nodded. "Yeah."

They reached the spot to cross the ditch, and they hopped over, then ducked under the fence, looking around for the horse. Sakura attempted to whistle as Syaoran had, but only the weak wind noise came out again. Tomoyo smiled at her. "That’s some whistle."

"Syaoran tried to teach me, but..." Sakura’s mood dampened a bit. She was determined to stay happy. She looked around at the pasture, gathered her voice up, and shouted, "Moondust!"

Nothing answered, and Sakura and Tomoyo continued to scout the pasture. Kero flew out of Sakura’s pocket, his straw hat on, and Bob followed suit, his own little straw hat perching precariously on his butterfly head. "What’s all this loud shouting?" Kero complained, looking around at the sunlit pasture.

"We’re looking for Moondust." Tomoyo explained, tossing her long silky hair over her shoulders.

"I see." Kero said, resting on Sakura’s head. He fluttered down off it and transformed into Keroberus, then looked at Sakura and Tomoyo. "Hop on." He said simply. Sakura smiled at the favor, surprised to see Kero finally being nice, and hopped on. Tomoyo got on behind, and Keroberus flew up into the air. Bob struggled vainly to keep up, but his efforts were futile.

Keroberus flew quickly up the feild’s large hill, whipping through the long grass, and they spotted a horse immediatly. The horse shot it’s head up; either sensing their coming presence, or seeing them, and went into a crazy rear. She jumped back to her feet and took off galloping, running as far away from them as she coud. Keroberus chased her for a while, Tomoyo sitting and taping from this aerial veiw happily, before Sakura pulled on his ear. "She’s scared, let me down, I can catch her from here."

Keroberus reluctantly flew down to the ground and let Sakura down. "You and I Tomoyo, we will get a good video from high in the sky." He said.

Tomoyo smiled happily, adjusting herself to a more comfortable position on the huge lion beast’s back. "Sounds good."

Sakura smiled and began jogging off to Moondust. She finally reached the point where she could see the horse, and she slowed, not wanting to scare the horse anymore than she probably was. Moondust watched her come closer with a wary eye, and without warning, she took off at a gallop, tearing away. Sakura watched her run away sadly. How was she ever going to catch her? She had never considered this situation.

She walked after Moondust, who had stopped a ways away, and was now grazing as she watched Sakura with one eye. Sakura approached her cautiously, trying to come with the more careful approach this time. Sakura jumped sideways as her concentration was broken by a small bug landing on her shoulder.

"Angel having trouble?" The little butterfly asked, looking towards the horse.

"She is scared of me." Sakura said with dismay. "And you’re not helping-" Sakura stopped talking, as the horse was starting to walk towards them. She frowned with confusion as the horse broke into a trot, hurrying over to Sakura and Bob. Sakura looked suspiciously at the bug on her shoulder. "What..."

The horse stopped at them and sniffed the bug for a few seconds, then more cautiously looked to Sakura. Sakura pet the horse as nicely as she could, stroking the horse’s silvery neck. "Hello Moondust. I’m not going to hurt you, don’t run away, I want to be friends with you." She pet the horse slowly, saying those repititious words.

Looking at this horse made Sakura think of Syaoran. She gazed at the horse with curious eyes, wondering what things Syaoran did with the horse when he was little. What was he like when he wasn’t helping me with the cards? I don’t really know. He will never tell me, he tries so hard to keep himself hidden. Sakura pet the horse carefully, her thoughts entrancing her.

"Angel catch horse. Good job." Bob fluttered off her shoulder and disappeared into the sky.

Moondust whinnied hartily, her whole body shaking with the noise. Sakura pet the horse, trying to keep her from going crazy. "You like my pet butterfly?" Sakura asked, stroking the horse’s mane.

Moondust stomped her foot impatiently, enduring a few more seconds of Sakura’s attention, before running away, chasing after Bob’s lost trail. Sakura watched her go with a frown. It’s like she thinks he’s Syaoran. What’s wrong with that horse? Sakura was satisfied with the few moments of talking she got with Moondust, so she started walking the field in search of Tomoyo and Keroberus. Sakura spotted them and waved, and Kero made a fast descent, landing beside her. Tomoyo hopped off, still clutching her camera on standby.

"Are you guys ready to go?" Sakura asked.

"I could eat a whole...." Kero paused, transforming back to little Kero. "Horse." He finished, setting his straw hat back on his little head.

Sakura glared at him. "Say that to Moondust and she will step on you."

"Looks more to me like she’d run away." Kero muttered, a sly grin on his face.

"Whatever." Sakura said, annoyed. "Let’s get going." She said.

"Have you practiced that fire spin attack yet?" Kero asked as they tromped by the small forest of pine trees.

"I’ve been trying to avoid damaging anything else." Sakura said dryly.

"Try on that tree over there." Kero said, pointing.

Tomoyo quickly whipped her camera out, watching expectantly.

Sakura looked unsurely at them. "I dunno...."

"Come on! How will you get stronger if you don’t practice?"

Sakura sighed. Kero was right. She called out her staff, then looked determinedly at the lone tree in front of her. She shouted the chinese- she had no idea what she was saying- but she had an idea that it was something like ‘come mighty flame’ or something to that effect. She spun her staff around as she had learned, channeled magic appropriately, then watched the Chinese character for ‘flame’ appear blazing in front of her. Sakura sent it wheeling at the tree, but her directing still needed some perfecting, and some of the grass in front of the tree felt the fury of the fire before the last bits of flame managed to reach the edge of the tree.

Kero shrugged. "It’s a powerful attack, you just need some practice on directing it." He said simply.

Tomoyo clasped her hands, putting her camera over her shoulder. "Wonderful!" She said excitedly.

Sakura sighed. Times like this she was reminded how much her friends had changed since Syaoran had left. They started walking towards the road again. "I think I might enroll in some judo classes- at the place Touya is taking them- I think it’d be good for me to have some basic martial arts skill- I mean I’ve never been able to defend myself except with the cards, so..."

"Excellent idea!" Kero agreed.

Sakura smiled and nodded, and they reached the road. Sakura could see the bus in the distance, so they decided to wait for it this time. "I’ll talk to my father tonight." Sakura said.

The bus roared to a stop in front of them, and Kero and Bob hid in Sakura’s pocket. She and Tomoyo sat down in the front booth and began talking over the newest song Tomoyo had gotten her hands on. "I got the Himiko Den song for piano- you know? Um...Pure Snow- you have to come and sing to it, we can record it in my new studio!" She said excitedly.

"Um...I don’t know, Tomoyo, you are the better singer, I am not the greatest musician..."

"Nonsense! Besides, I already recorded myself!" Tomoyo said, smiling. "I have got a multitrack system set up- that means we can layer your voice over and over again, and get all the parts filled in, I could help out with the harmony...."

Sakura sighed and looked hopefully out the window for her stop. They quickly reached it, and Sakura said her goodbyes with Tomoyo, then headed down the short portion of the sidewalk to her house. She walked in through the side door and looked around. Her father was cooking supper, and Touya was watching television.

"Otto-san, I have a question." She said, walking over to him.

"Yes, Sakura?" He asked, smiling warmly as he turned around.

"I was wondering...it looks really fun, could I take judo lessons? I could go at the same place Touya took them..." Sakura said, smiling convincingly.

Touya looked up from the couch. "Why would you want to take judo lessons?" He asked suspiciously with a mouthful of food he was snacking on.

"To beat up my onni-chan." Sakura said grouchily. She still was holding a strong grudge against her brother. She looked back to her father. "So...could I?"

"If you want to take judo, I think that’s wonderful, all girls should have some basic knowledge of self defense." Her father said, a kind smile still on his face.

Sakura grinned broadly. "Great! I will go tommorrow after school to enroll, if that’s alright."

Her father nodded. Sakura jumped up and down excitedly. I will be able to show Syaoran I’m not completely defenseless! Sakura bounded out of the room. "Kick kick kick...able to beat up onni-chan chan chan....judo kick kick kick...." Sakura sang as she jumped up the stairs, ignoring the pinch Kero was giving her from her pocket to plead with her to stop singing.

She opened her door to her room and stepped in, letting Kero and Bob free. Kero chased Bob about the room for a few seconds, but stopped abruptly at the look Sakura gave him. She shut the door then walked downstairs for supper. Her father was still finishing up the cooking, so Sakura decided to help out with setting the table.

Touya turned off the television and walked over, helping set the food down. "You will never be able to beat me up." Touya teased Sakura confidently.

Sakura didn’t respond, only glared. Her father walked over to the table. "Now now, you two...I have some important stuff to discuss with you today." He said, sitting down.

Sakura looked happily at the warm food. They had finally boughtten a new stove in replacement of the one that had been erased. "Is it bad news?" She asked, taking her own portion of food.

"No, nothing of that sort." Her father said, finishing setting the food on his plate. He looked up to see if they were ready to eat.

"Ikidasimasu." (We start eating - the way to start a meal in Japan)

Sakura swallowed down some spaghetti and looked up. "Are we going on vacation this summer?" She asked optimistically.

"In a matter of speaking, I suppose so." Her father said, a sly smile on his face.

Sakura jumped in her seat, looking happily at him. "Where!? When!?"

"Do you two remember your Aunt Yusakau? We visited her only once when you were little, I’m not sure if you were old enough to remember it, Sakura."

Sakura chewed on a meatball, thinking. "I don’t know..."

"I remember her. She had really frizzy hair?" Touya asked.

Their father shook his head with a smile. "That’s the one." He said.

"What about her?" Sakura asked, not quite sure who it was, but anxious to hear the ‘vacation’ part of this.

"It seems she’s finally marrying." Her father said.

"Oh, wonderful!" Sakura said.

"How exciting." Touya said dryly.

"I thought you might feel that way, Touya-san, but I know you guys would be interested in the wedding and reception we are invited to." Her father said.

"Is it in Hawaii?" Sakura asked. Recently they had been covering the Philipines and neighboring islands in school, and Sakura had a sudden interest in volcanos.

"No, but I’m sure you guys wouldn’t mind going for a cruise?" Her father asked.

Sakura squeaked and half choked as she swallowed down her drink. "C-cruise!? She is having her wedding on a cruise boat? Did she rent it, or what?"

"It’s impossible to rent a boat that large, little monster, you should know that. Even to hold a wedding on one- her husband must have alot of money." Touya said.

"Yes, I am assuming he’s quite a professional. Even the envelope the invitation came in was nice." Her father said, chuckling. "No, Sakura-chan, it’s not being rented, but our rooms are paid for, along with the other hundred guests invited. The wedding ceremony and reception is going to be open for any of the other boat guests; I guess it’s not an unusual thing to do- have an opening wedding."

Sakura didn’t need an optimism spell to keep her happy. "When, when!?" Sakura asked.

"I beleive...A month and a half for us. Touya, you will have to check your schedule, so I can know if I should respond or not." Her father said.

Sakura glared at Touya. If you say you can’t, I will kill you. Touya thought for a second, then shrugged. "Third term should be over by then. I’m sure I can go." He said. He looked at Sakura. "Unless, of course, we have to stay behind because Sakura has scheduled judo lessons." He said teasingly.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I’m sure those can be cancelled for that time- we couldn’t be paid for any more than a week, right?"

"It’s a week cruise- travelling from Tokyo bay down to Kyukyu. I’ve already requested vacation time at work."

Sakura grinned happily. "Going on a cruise...cruise...cruise..." She sang, stopping for moments to chew and swallow.

"Don’t sing while you eat." Touya scolded.

Sakura glowered at him and swallowed down the food she had, then looked to her father. "I don’t suppose....is there anyway Tomoyo could come along?" Sakura asked.

"Unless her mother wants to buy tickets..." Her father said unsurely.

Sakura shrugged. She finished her plate and looked up brightly. "May I be excused?" She asked.

Her father nodded. Sakura bounded up from the table, putting her dishes in the sink, and grabbed the phone as she ran to her room. Sakura paused for a second as she looked at Chindra’s empty room, then shook the sadness away and walked back into her own room, trying to block out the heavy guilt she felt. Sakura sat down and began dialing Tomoyo’s number, then paused, suspicious.

Kero was quietly sitting on her desk, reading. Kero? Reading? "Where is he?" Sakura demanded, hanging up the phone for now.

Kero looked up, surprise and question on his face. "Where is who?"

Sakura rolled her eyes and walked over to him. "Bob. You knew exactly who I meant. Where’d you put him this time?"

"I don’t know what you’re talking about-" Kero started, looking innocent.

Sakura remembered that one of her only working cards was still in her pocket. She pulled it out. "Libra!" She put it on Kero and smiled triumphantly at him. "Where is Bob the bug?" Sakura asked again.

A pained look came across Kero’s face as the truth was squeezed out of him. "The...the closet. The shoe..." He said.

Sakura took the Libra back and walked over to her closet, opening the door, then picked up the burnt shoe. She shook it, and Bob came zooming out, fury on his face. "Glutton!" Bob screamed.

Sakura watched Bob with surprise. Glutton. That was what Syaoran called Kero, on more than one occasion. Was there something she didn’t see here? "You guys, cut it out." She said, sighing.

Sakura watched them warily as she dialed Tomoyo’s number again. I hope she can come. She’s being a whole lot funner now, I wouldn’t want to be all by myself on an awesome boat like that...

_______________________________________________________________________

"I wish for you to continue support on my mother’s healthcare." Syaoran said for the fiftieth time to the elders in front of him. He was scared, his knees weren’t doing a very good job of supporting him, but he knew this had to be done. He dug the toe of his shoe into the floor nervously as the elder responded.

"Your mother’s care is determined by your loyalty, Li Syaoran."

"I understand that. So why are you threatening to cut off her support like this- I haven’t exactly been disloyal..."

"Your missions for us have been dormant, the previous one being completely unsuccessful. Your loyalty hasn’t proven itself very useful to us."

Syaoran sighed, this made no sense. "But you just said- my loyalty determines-"

"Yes. But we need to be able to expect more from you. Are you able to handle that? Sensei Wanti informs us your training is not going very well."

Syaoran held his arrogant look. He thought he was doing alright- at least it was passing- but it did bug him that he was trying his hardest and it wasn’t excellent. "I can only do what I am capable of." Syaoran said quietly.

"So we are giving you a challenge." The high elder said.

Syaoran waited expectantly. I have to outswim a band of ten sharks. You are going to make me hunt down white elephants... Ideas raced through his head.

"Excel in your training and we will consider assigning you to something else. Slack off, and you may find yourself handling your mother’s hospital bill."

Syaoran wanted to scream, to punch the window beside him- better yet- the elder’s snooty little face, but he couldn’t do any of that. "An assignment will ensure your support?" He asked, wanting to confirm this so he could hold them to their word.

"Correct."

I have to better than my best in training. No big deal. I can do that. "Arigato gozaimasu (thank you)." He said, bowing courteously, then turning and exiting the house. He walked down the sidewalk angrily, his mood darkening as he replayed their words in his head. Not doing so well. What do they expect me to do? I can’t learn centuries of magic within weeks. Syaoran stomped up the road to his house’s driveway, and slowed to a stop at the mailbox.

He opened it hopefully. He had sent a letter to Sakura a week ago, and was waiting anxiously for anything back. It hadn’t been very deep- only factual information about his arrival in Hong Kong, but he was still hoping she would read between the lines and be able to repond to his true concern. I hope nothing has happened there. I still have full magic- it seems nothing has been stealing from me since I’ve been back. He had also kept from sending the picture he had drawn, though he still held on to it- it was a very accurate picture of Moondust, after all.

He pulled out the mail and about jumped up and down at the fimiliar handwriting on the top envelope. He ignored the fact that it was an exstremly fast response, only concentrated that she had indeed sent something back. Syaoran jogged down the driveway into his house, hiding the letter in his pocket.

He walked in and was met by his sister’s eyes- watching him from all different parts of the main room. When he didn’t speak right away, his oldest sister spoke. "What did they say?"

Syaoran’s optimistic face slowly turned to a glower. "They- uh- they said as long as I’ll accept their missions, they’ll keep paying."

"Did they assign you to something?" Meilin asked (Syaoran’s face falls as he sees his cousin is already in his house again).

"I-ie. Not yet, anyway. In a little while." He lied. As long as I can do better than my best. He reminded himself harshly.

Syaoran set the rest of the mail on the kitchen counter and ran up the stairs, fleeing from Meilin, who had just gotten up. He reached his room and shut the door. He waited a while to be sure Meilin wasn’t going to attempt to charge in, then he sat on his bed, tearing the paper open.

Dear Syaoran, (Syaoran smiles- seeing ‘dear’ next to his name- then seeing his name written in her handwriting- well it was a very spirit lifting thing)

I hope your family is doing well. I also hope I have your address right- I got it from Meilin a while ago. Well, if you are reading this, I guess I must have gotten it right, huh?

-Sakura (Syaoran doesn’t know- but it took Sakura a thousand times to go over this closing; yours truly-love-sincerely-; so she finally came to a settlement by just writing her name.)

Syaoran sat back and thought frantically about Bob. She’s going to figure it out. He cursed in his mind for not ridding Sakura of the bug while he could of. The trouble and worry Bob caused was not near worth keeping the measly little bug alive. Then- Bob did help out fighting the Swords off when the Erase made it’s appearance.

She must have not gotten my letter yet. Well that makes sense, I just sent it a week ago, and she probably only sent this a few days back. She’ll probably send another one soon- I hope. Syaoran folded the paper back up and jammed it away in his desk, then walked back out of his room. He had karate classes starting up again tonight- Meilin was probably hanging around waiting for him to come to those with her.

"Are you ready to go, Syaoran?" She asked, getting up from the couch from where she had been talking to his sister.

"I guess." He said dully.

"Don’t sound so excited, little black belt." His youngest sister teased.

Syaoran glared breifly at her before walking with Meilin to the door. "Don’t touch the cake in the fridge, it’s mine." He called to his sisters as he walked outside. He wasn’t greedy about food, but in the house full of teenage girls, chocolate was far and between and held to be held with the greatest of authority.

Meilin skipped happily along next to him. "Don’t do that, it’s embaressing." Syaoran complained.

Meilin frowned and stopped skipping, taking his arm instead. "You’re no fun." She whined. "I hope we get to spar. That new girl is a snob, I wanna kick her butt."

Syaoran pulled his arm out of her hands and walked on with annoyance. "More people at our level?" He asked, curiously.

"Not nearly your skill, but yes, more on our level. More opponents to trample." Meilin said. "Now the Fight card...that was a worthy opponent..." She said, thinking back.

"She knocked you to the ground." Syaoran stated bluntly.

Meilin crossed her arms and held her head haughtily. "Oh look, we’re here." She said happily.

Syaoran shook his head and stepped into the large building. Within was a number of people practicing on the several floors of the dojo, some sparring with each other, some just practicing in front of mirrors or on test dummies. Syaoran followed Meilin to get their robes. "I got yours last time I was here- I knew you were coming, I think I got the right size..."

Syaoran followed reluctantly to the open lockers where Meilin opened hers. She pulled out two wadded up outfits, then handed him his own. "Go try that on." She said.

Syaoran took it and headed to the bathroom/dressing room. He walked in and set his stuff down, then quickly switched outfits. Meilin had his size in clothing memorized better than he did, and this fit him perfectly. He shifted the cloth tying around his waist to a more comfortable position then walked out of the bathroom, heading back into the main building.

Meilin had just finished fixing her hair, and she was waiting happily for class to start. She grabbed Syaoran’s arm and walked with him to the side of one of the fighting floors. "I can’t wait! I haven’t practiced with you forever!" She said excitedly.

Syaoran sighed and waited with fake patience for the sensei to come in.

"Alright. In a line!" Commanded an older fellow, walking into the room.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and quickly assembled the straightest line they could manage.

"We have an addition to our class today. Syaoran Li-san, step forward."

Syaoran hated it when a sensei would do stuff like this. He reluctantly stepped forward, holding a constant glare on his face.

"Thank you. Step back."

Syaoran followed instructions quickly.

"Today we spar. Points awarded to opponents every time a hit is made. First, stretching. Li Meilin, lead them." He said. The sensei walked over to a younger group of kids that were just starting, leaving Meilin in charge.

"Alright. Left arm around-" She said from in front of the line, leading them in several Tae Kwan Doe stretches. Syaoran looked at the rather large group of black belts ensembled on this line. There was a good eight of them- rather large group for the level they would be fighting at. I find it hard to beleive we are all on the same level. I hope the sensei will match us up with good opponents. Meilin is the only one I know that is truly at the same place as me- though she still is a little bit behind.

They finished, and the sensei came over and began matching them up. He put Meilin with a boy Syaoran recognized- a rather young boy with unruly brown hair. That’s the kid that was sweeping at the stable, I wonder if he is actually a black belt? This is stupid. I don’t want to waste my time in a karate class if I am not learning anything.

"Syaoran- Hinko." He said, pointing at a rough looking boy who also held a glare. Syaoran walked over to him, annoyed that they were both glaring and similar. Syaoran didn’t like having people similar to him.

Syaoran looked over to see Meilin already fighting with the boy. He was quick, but Meilin was very skilled. The boy’s moves had something foreign to them, and the sensei seemed to watch that with annoyance. Meilin faked him with a high kick, then stopped her fist just as it reached his face. She smiled triumphantly at the point she had just gotten.

Syaoran’s attention was taken away, and followed the sensei and the other boy over to an open floor. They started with a bow and went into first stanse, then waited for the other to make the first move. When Syaoran could see this wasn’t going anywhere, he took the offense and swung a footswipe at the boys feet, quickly following with a backwards kick, which was blocked.

The other boy charged with several punched and a few low kicks, which Syaoran blocked effortlessly. Syaoran took an open shot and stopped his fist just short of the boy’s stomach, almost forgetting to stop the hit- he had been spending so much time really fighting, he had forgotten what it was like to spar and not actually hurt the other.

The rest of the night went like that- Syaoran beating two more opponents without even blinking. Meilin had won two out of three matches, and that put her in a good mood. He withstood her chatter on the way home- letting his thoughts drift into other training.

Tommorrow morning I have to get this attack down. I cannot let my family down, not again. I’ve got to do this. He parted from Meilin to his house, and his thoughts shifted to the cake in the fridge. At least he hoped it was still there. They better not of touched it.

_____________________________________________________________________

"Fondu! I mean! Dang it. Fondai!" Sakura commanded, slamming her staff down. A weak sheild covered her body, and Sakura was thrilled. She jumped up and down and smiled happily at Tomoyo, who was taping. "I did it!!" She shouted excitedly.

"Now the firespin!" Kero yelled from the little version lawnchair Sakura had made him using the Little card a few years back.

"Why don’t you do it?" Sakura asked with exasperation, taking a long drink from the water bottle on the ground next to her. She glanced over her shoulder, where a distant horse was grazing, watching with a cautious eye.

"No practice = no better." Kero reminded her.

Sakura sighed and turned to face the hardly touched tree she had been practicing on. The grass in front of it was completly scorched away and the soil was burnt black, but only the very bottle edge of the tree showed any evidence of training. Syaoran would have already chopped this tree down with his sword, and it would have been by accident. I can’t even hit the tree by accident.

She closed her eyes and cleared away her mind. It’s no different than commanding the cards. It’s just a different way of doing things. She opened her eyes, feeling her aura burning strongly around her. I am a Kinomoto. This is for Chindra, for Uncle Guan, for anyone else I am protecting. I must get this right! She shouted the spell’s words, though she never remembered saying them; she only remembered trying to concentrate. Her staff slammed down into the flaming letter, and she channeled her magic around through her arms and into the attack.

Sakura held her eyes shut for a while, hoping that when she opened them she would see triumph. Sakura opened her eyes and looked around. She blinked once, seeing the smoldering frame of a tree singed with black, smoke rising off it. "I did it! I really did it!" She shouted excitedly, hopping up and down.

"We’ll have to work on control." Kero said sarcastically.

Sakura looked around to see what he meant. The surrounding trees and plant life had felt the affects of her attack- perhaps even more so than the target of her attack. "Woops..." She said, her cheeks burning with embaressment, looking guiltily at the scorched plants.

"Oh my." Tomoyo said, filming the destructive footage.

Sakura scratched the back of her head. "Well...now’s a good time to try that rain thing." She said. Sakura pulled out a peice of paper out of her pocket, on which she had scribbled down some key words from the spells.

"That’s not exactly the most effective way to practice a spell, Sakura." Kero said from his chair, adjusting his straw hat over his eyes so he could shade them from the sun.

"It’s hard to remember words that aren’t even your own language." She complained, looking over the letters.

"Spells are through concentration and knowledge- not just reading off a paper." Kero said.

Sakura sighed and turned to glare at him. "Then I’ll do one I do know!" Sakura said, pointing her staff at Kero and shouting the Binding spell Syaoran had done a while ago. Kero froze, an annoyed look on his face as he was forced quiet.

"That’s useful." Tomoyo said, zooming in on Kero’s frozen face.

"I’m going to try and catch Moondust again." Sakura said. She had tried earlier, obviously being unsucessful.

Sakura picked up the halter from beside her and started walking over the rough terrained pasture towards the horse, who was watching her warily. "Moondust, please, no running away." Sakura begged, inching up to her slowly.

The horse picked her head up from the grass and watched her. Sakura could see in the horse’s dark brown eyes that she was proned to take off any random moment now. "Stay still Moondust. I just want to put this on you..." Sakura said, moving slowly closer.

Sakura didn’t dare to breath, she was within touching the horse, she had only twice before been this close. "Easy, girl, I just wanna get this on you..." Sakura slowly lifted the halter up to the horse.

Moondust snorted suddenly, whipped around, kicked out with her back legs and took off with at a run. Sakura had narrowly missed the dangerous hooves as they breezed by the side of her face, and she watched the horse tear away, stunned. Sakura sighed with frustration. How does Syaoran expect me to take care of her if I can’t even get close enough to pet her?

Sakura began storming to the barn, Tomoyo jogging after her. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura nodded. "Fine. I’m gonna try bribing her." Sakura said, formulating a plan.

"I see." Tomoyo said.

Sakura hopped over the gate and walked into the barn, where she had already pulled open the door and set the saddle out in preperation to ride Moondust. She walked over to a tall trashcan that had been deemed feed bin. She grabbed a spare bucket and shoveled some feed into it, then walked back outside, where Tomoyo was sitting on the fence, waiting and filming the landscaping.

"She’s watching over there." Tomoyo whispered, pointing over at the horse.

Sakura nodded and climbed over the fence. She landed on her feet and began walking casually to the horse, shaking the bucket, hiding the halter behind her back. "Come on, Moondust, I’ve got grain, I know how you just love grain!"

Moondust walked over, immediatly nosediving into the bucket. Sakura hurriedly set it on the ground and gathered the halter. She studied it carefully to figure out how it went on, then waited for Moondust to lift her head for a good breif moment. Moondust brought her head up, chewing noisily on the grain, and reluctantly permitted Sakura to put the halter on.

Once the halter was on, Sakura held tightly to the rope and kicked the bucket away from Moondust, not wanting to give her anymore reward for bad behavior. Moondust shot her head up startled, and Sakura quickly held tighter to the leadrope. "Come on, loser." Sakura grouched, pulling on the leadrope and dragging the horse toward the gate. "You were much more polite when I was with you last and Syaoran was here also."

Moondust drifted into Sakura, her hooves dangerously clipping Sakura’s feet as she walked. Sakura pushed the horse over with irritation. "Were you this annoying to Syaoran when he was first meeting you?" No. Remember, in that dream, he was petting her when he was so little.

The horse snorted as Sakura waved her head away, and swung her hind end at Sakura, who quickly pushed it away, watching with gaining fear at the horse’s pinned back ears. "Quit it!" She commanded firmly, though her voice wavered with worry.

The horse stomped it’s front foot down then swung around, pulling her head away and swinging her hind end around again, this time kicking out, planting her sharp powerful hoof right into Sakura’s thigh. Sakura cringed with pain and attempted breifly to hold on to the rope, but Moondust was stronger, especially now that she had handicapped Sakura, and she tore the rope out of Sakura’s hands and ran away, her tail flagging behind her in triumph.

Sakura bit her lip and leaned over her knees, trying to surpress automatic tears of pain as her thigh began to smart, a welt forming. Tomoyo hurried over. "Sakura-chan! Are you alright!?"

Sakura frowned furiously, trying to hold in the pain. After the worst pain had began to numb away, and she was more able to block out the pain, Sakura stood up stiffly. "I’m fine." She said, though her voice was gritty. She looked after the horse. "I’m going to go get that rope off before she trips on it." Sakura said, starting to walk, finding the pain quickly returning in the use of mobility.

Tomoyo walked alongside, looking sympathetic. "My goodness, she’s dangerous. Syaoran was horrible to expect you to take care of an animal as dangerous as that."

Sakura could only look warily at Tomoyo for her automatic accusation of Syaoran, who was most likely the innocent in this situation. "I’m sure she’s just shy of me." Sakura reasoned.

Sakura grabbed the bucket of left over feed she had kicked away and shook it as they approached the horse again. Moondust began walking over like nothing had happened. Sakura glared at her, and felt tears spring to her eyes as she was looking at the horse again. She set the bucket down and quickly pulled the halter off the horse’s head. She grabbed the bucket and rushed away before the horse would have a chance to kick again. She walked with Tomoyo, shaking a little bit from nervousness. "We just have to get to know each other, that’s all." Sakura said to Tomoyo.

"Seems to me, she’s very much like her old owner. You’re just gonna keep getting hurt, Sakura-chan. Maybe you could ride one of the horses at Chihura’s stable!" Tomoyo said excitedly.

Sakura didn’t feel like arguing, she just smiled quietly. "Mhmm."

Kero came flying over, a furious look on his face. "No more binding spells! That’s no fair! I don’t go using my magic against you-"

Sakura raised her finger. "Don’t you even...Need I remind you of the burnt school uniform? The shoe? My stuffed panda bear’s arm for pete’s sake!"

Kero closed his mouth abruptly.

"Oh my! Run for lives!" Bob shreiked, flying at lightening speed by them from an unknown source.

Sakura blinked and looked after him, bewildered, then turned to see what he was flying away from so quickly. A black cloud was drifting swiftly towards them. Sakura jumped back, her eyes widening. "What’s that!?" Sakura asked, horrified.

Kero looked. "That bug! He’s got a whole flock of locusts coming at us!"

"LOCUSTS!?" Sakura schreeched. She called out her staff desperately. She shouted out the shield spell and quickly ducked as the black mass of bugs flew over them. The wind from the bug’s many wings sent breezes through her hair as she kept herself low to the grass. Once all of the bugs were gone, Sakura slowly stood up, the shield dissinigrating away, it’s weak strength totally used up.

Tomoyo followed the last of the bugs with her camera then looked back to them. "Amazing! I’ve never seen so many!"

"That’s so disgusting. One insect is enough, let alone a whole flock of his friends." Kero complained.

Sakura shook her head. Her thigh was throbbing from everything she had just put it through- squatting down in the grass like that- and it still held the sting of Moondust’s sharp hoof. I am going to have a round bruise on my leg. Everyone in gym is going to be wondering what it is. Maybe I can get by with sweat pants tommorrow. "I’m ready to go home." Sakura said, hoping they could get to the bus stop without the black cloud of bugs coming at them again.

"I agree. I need to be working at that new game." Kero said.

"What game?" Sakura asked.

"Tomoyo bought me a new car racing game for our nintendo!" He said excitedly.

Tomoyo shrugged innocently.

Sakura sighed, she would be hearing nonstop motors for the next few nights. "Great." She said dryly. I can enroll in Judo class today. I better not say anything about that to Tomoyo, she’ll probably say ‘Syaoran did that, you shouldn’t try to be like him’... Why does she have to be so weird about him?

________________________

Sakura yawned and stretched out on her bed. She had gotten by gym two days in her sweat pants, and her horrible purple green bruise was slowly healing. It was still swollen, much to her dismay, but it was much better feeling than it had been. The lunges the sensei had made them do before running surely hadn’t helped the healing process, and Sakura was convinced it could have been completly healed had they not had to run so much. She glanced to her left where Kero was flying left and right over the controller as he directed the car around the impossible track on the television.

"How can you play that? It’s not very realistic."

"The graphics sure are convincing." Kero mumbled as he dodged a police car and began tearing through a secret tunnel.

Sakura shook her head. She looked over at Bob, who had a look of fatigue as he perched on the edge of his jar. He had been looking this way since Sunday night a flock of ‘stranger’ locusts had ‘mysteriously’ appeared at Sakura’s window, tapping and crawling everywhere in attempt to get inside. "If you would just tell me what happened, maybe I wouldn’t be so mad about all these bugs following you around."

Bob rocked back and forth with shame. "Mean to offend them, I did not...I did not know customs of their kind..."

Sakura shook her head. This was the most information she could get out of him. Bob fluttered up suddenly with alarm. "Coming! Hide, must!" He shouted, terrified, and flew into his jar, trying to pull the plastic cover over it.

Sakura jumped off the bed and ran to the window, quickly pulling it shut. Sure enough, one grossly large locust landed on her window, followed by two others, and soon a whole family of bugs were covering away the light to her room. Sakura shuddered. "They’re so gross." She glared at Bob, who was cowering behind a stick in his jar.

"You. Make them go away." She commanded.

"Please! Sakura-angel, miss, cannot!" Bob said, peering around a leaf.

Sakura just firmed her glare at him. "You will owe me." She said, pulling her key out and calling out her star. She directed her staff towards the window, then yelled out the words to the Erase spell. The mass of bugs slowly disappeared, black cloud dissolving back into sunlight.

Sakura stepped back with a smug grin, holding a steady glare at Bob all the same. She sweatdropped as she realized her window was gone as well. "That’s the third time this year I’m going to replace my window!" Sakura whined.

A single locust buzzed in with the speed of light, flying crazily about the room. Bob made a screaming noise and held the lid tightly down on his jar. Sakura yelped and ducked as it narrowly missed her head. Kero paused his game and transformed into Keroberus, then quickly sent a flame of blazing heat at the locust, completly anhilating the overly large grasshopper. Sakura sighed with releif, and Bob popped the lid off the jar with a shout of triumph.

Sakura looked with horror at the singed panda bear laying lifeless on the floor. She pulled it up carefully and bit down on her quivering lip, looking at Kero with watery eyes. The panda now missed two limbs; it’s right arm and leg. "You’re dismembering it." She said, holding back a sad sob. No, she wasn’t really that attatched the the stuffed animal, but she had owned it for a while, and it had been her favorite stuffed animal until a certain person gave her a certain bear, which was stored away safe from Kero’s unpredictable outbreaks.

Keroberus quickly transformed back into his little yellow bear self and was about to sympathize, when he looked back to his game, where he noticed his foot was resting on a button. The pause had turned off, and now, on the screen, Kero’s sleek mitsubishi had been pulled over by the policemen he had been trying to hard to get away from. He made a sort of sad squeaking noise, slowly taking his foot off the controller to face the television completly.

Sakura rolled her eyes and threw the panda bear into her closet along with her growing pile of singed stuff. This simple action was quickly halted by a sudden jolting feeling through Sakura’s spinal chord. She froze, concentrating. "I sense something!" She said quickly. "Definitely, my card- one of them-..."

"Here?" Kero asked.

"No, come on, hurry." Sakura said, running to her open window and throwing herself over to the branch on the nearby tree. It had become easier than it had been at the beginning of the school year- she remembered when she had attempted to follow Syaoran out the window onto the tree, only to knock him down with her poor jumping ability.

Sakura climbed to the ground and began jogging, pulling her cards out of her pocket. Some felt dull and lifeless, but a few of them seemed to burn with something. Not life, no, but they were definitely up to something. She looked down breathlessly as Kero flew over her shoulder, Bob flying rapidly after them. "Fiery...Dash...." Sakura said between breaths. "Doing something..." Sakura said.

"Where?" Kero asked again.

Bob landed on Sakura’s shoulder and held on tightly. "Angel fighting?"

"The park? I don’t know, I’m not sure." She said, slowing to a easier jog as she felt the feeling become stronger.

Sakura ran blindly by her senses, thinking quickly. I’m going to have to fight Fiery with fire, I do not know any powerful water attacks, and... Sakura ran through a dense forest without slowing, not relying on normal eyesight and relfexes, that would not have been effecient to get around the dense vegetation in the area. She slowed as she heard crackling, and the landscaping started to turn blacker and smokier.

"Release!" Sakura called her staff, then began searching for the card’s forms. "I know you are here!"

Sakura shouted the words for the sheild, sensing nearing danger. She turned around just in time to see Bob’s raw energy hit into one of Fiery’s flames. The two powers hit each other with an amazing clash of energies. Sakura smiled appreciatively at Bob. "Good save!" She said, quickly turning to see if anything was coming at her.

Fiery appeared in front of her, her mouth curling into a smirk. She whipped her flaming arms out, and the dash’s power entwined around her flames. Fiery’s fire became cords of heat, intertwining around the surges of wind and speed sent by other card’s help. Sakura dodged one of the flame’s whip-like attacks with magic induced speed, and quickly jumped backwards as another whip came down relentlessly.

A ball of magic came flying over her shoulder, and the fimiliar looking power clashed into Fiery, causing a screech from her. Sakura only looked breifly at Bob before rolling sideways as another flame came down. She wasn’t quite quick enough, and a horrible crackle came when the weak shield around her met the power of the Fiery’s attack. Sakura screamed the binding spell desperately as her shield diminished, watching the fire come down at her again, despite the bullets of energy Bob was hurling at the card.

Fiery’s arm of fire slowed to a stop just in front of Sakura’s face, and she felt sweat run off her forehead as she shut her eyes at the smoldering smoke blowing on her face. Sakura pushed herself backwards and stumbled up to her feet, looking at the Fiery worriedly. It would only be seconds before her spell would wear off, being as weak as it was, and the Fiery being as strong as she was.

Note to self: Learn more water attacks. Sakura thought frantically what to do next. I can’t win...what could I possibly do to stop this? But if I don’t, the whole town will be burnt down. I can’t let that happen. I need help! Where is Kero? I can’t count on him. I could always count on Syaroan, but he’s not here anymore either. Sakura shouted the water spell she dimly remembered. If she said it wrong, there was a definite possibility she could be ordering something else- who knows what else- there were spells for some pretty weird things- but that was a chance she had to take.

A weak stream of water enshrouded Sakura for a moment, then dispersed itself at the Fiery, making a sizzling sound as the small amount of water hit the Fiery’s strong flames. Sakura sheilded her eyes as drops of boiling water dripped off the frozen in time Fiery. The Binding spell wore off, and the Fiery made a screaming noise, throwing her arms free of the bing they had been in over her chest. She sent two arms around with all of Dash’s speed at Sakura before disappearing into the air.

Sakura jumped back as the flames slashed across her shins, stinging and smoldering as they hit her flesh. Sakura winced and collapsed on the ground, holding her blistering legs. She blinked as a wind stirred around her, and she looked up to face a darkening landscape, her eyes meeting those eyes of a ghost.

"Betrayer! Of my own family!" The ghost said with her multi-octave voice, sending dead leaves spinning about, all of time seeming to waver under her frightening power, her ability to make anything slow and painful.

"Please!" Sakura pleaded, throwing away her fear for the sense of desperation that was taking it’s place. "Your mother, I am nothing like her! None of your family is! We never would have left you locked up!"

The ghost’s eyes turned more angry as Sakura brought this up. She lifted the heavy sword up, her arms dripping with age old blood. "Treacherous hypocrite, thou shant be with his lineage again. To end the two families of evil, this is how to avenge myself. To destroy anything in his plans."

"No!" Sakura screamed. "You don’t! Don’t you see, it’s not fair, our familes, Aruka’s, mine, we aren’t enemies! We are allies, you see, we need to fight together against-"

The ghost wasn’t the type to sit and listen to reason. She swung the heavy sword around with unhuman speed, swinging it across Sakura’s arm. Sakura jumped back, clutching her arm immediatly, but her eyes remained fixed on the ghost, wanting to end this unnecessary conflict. "Please-" She cried.

The ghost was gone already, spinning away, her slow motion darkness leaving with her, the leaves fluttering around returning to normal speed, landing back on the ground softly. Sakura bit back a sob and looked down at her bleeding arm, a horribly long gash across it, running quite deep, running straight through the scar she had from the ghost’s stab with the sword so long ago. She looked down at her blistering shins, which were still stinging unbearably from the Fiery’s attacks.

A fine blue dust sprinkled around Sakura, and she blinked wearily up at Bob, who flew overhead. A strange comfort came from this blue dust. It wasn’t a comfort from pain; her wounds still screamed and stung with the same power as before, but her spirit was soothed, a fimilar feeling of understanding, of warm love, it seemed to wash over her from the blue dust the bug was sprinkling on her. She watched him with amazement. This feeling.... what... what is so fimiliar about it...? I cannot sit here and feel it all day. I must get up and face my pain. I must get home.

Blood was trickling off the side of her arm, dropping onto the leaves below. Sakura wiped the edge off with her hand and found that her palm now held a red smear across it. Sakura closed her eyes with concentration and stood up, wincing as pain flooded her shins as blood flowed back through her legs, her thigh was aching from the still healing welt. Her arm remained unchanged, only continuing to lose blood, to throb.

"Quick, Sakura, you gotta get home!" Kero said, eyeing her arm.

Sakura wasn’t going to protest to Kero about how she hadn’t seen him around in battle- at least he was here now. Sakura walked with a sort of daze through the long forest trail, every step becoming a little harsher, every stumble being harder to recover from. Bob continued to randomly throw the blue dust around, silent, only tossing the blue stuff around, letting Sakura’s mind leave her body for the moment.

Sakura walked the grueling sidewalks back to her house and found her father’s car in the garage. She, with much dismay, dragged her feet through her backyard, looking up the long tree to her window with disbeleif. I am not going to be able to make that jump. Kero came to the recue here, transforming, quickly allowing her up on his back. Sakura held on with her weak but working arm, letting her other arm continue to bleed. He flew up to her window, and hovered so Sakura could step into the window. She hopped in and walked straight to her bathroom, accomponied by Bob, who wordlessly followed her, fluttering around for gauze and bandaging tape.

Keroberus changed back to Kero and flew through the open window, landing on the counter in front of Sakura. "You did all you could." He said softly.

Sakura washed her arm through the sink, feeling like she was going to throw up as the water hitting her open wound felt so horrible. She couldn’t reply to Kero- in fact his words had hardly registered- she could only concentrate on keeping her stomach under control as she forced her arm through the sink’s water.

Bob fluttered over and set the gauze on her arm after she was done with much effort- it being very heavy for the little bug. Kero quickly helped out by putting the bandaging tape over it tightly, pulling it so tight Sakura couldn’t even feel the pain, it went so numb. Sakura looked sadly at her legs. She pulled her pantleg up and was glad to see that it wasn’t as bad as she had suspected.

No, the burns felt worse than they looked, though they were still blistered. "Looks like you lucked out there." Kero said, eyeing her shins.

Sakura only wordlessly glared at him before searching for some off hand aloe she might have to soothe the relentless burning. She grabbed the bottle of green goo and squirted it into her hands, smearing it all over her legs. It felt wonderfully cool and watery, so Sakura didn’t do the greatest job rubbing it in- afraid that if she did, she might touch the cuts with her dry hands and make the burning come back again.

"Sakura-chan!" Came a voice from far downstairs. "Dinner’s ready!"

Sakura sighed, looking hopelessly at the globby goo on her legs. She looked to the bulging bandage on her arm. Sakura shook her head and limped over to her closet. She pulled through for some extra large pajama bottoms, quickly and carefully switched them with her pants, then grabbed a sweatshirt to put over her short sleeve shirt already on. She knew that the bottoms of her pants were sticking to the goo, but it wasn’t suspicious, so she figured this was good enough, and she wordlessly dragged herself out of her room and down the stairs, walking into the kitchen and forcing fake energy into herself.

"Konbanwa (good evening), glad you could finally join us little monster." Touya said teasingly, from where he already sat at the dinner table.

Sakura held her fake smile and walked over to her seat, sitting down gingerly. "Sorry. I was working on something." She mumbled.

"Planning to sleep early, are we?" Touya asked, looking across the table at her odd outfit skeptically.

"Quit teasing Sakura, Touya-san, with these Judo lessons, she is sure to pass you up and hold to her word." Sakura’s father said, walking in from the kitchen and sitting down.

"And what word is that?" Touya asked, mocking fear.

"That I’m going to beat you up." Sakura said, smiling determinedly.

Touya only grinned and looked at his food. "The day little monster beats me up will be the day she isn’t late for school."

Sakura crossed her arms, then winced, pushing on her bandaid. She quickly tried to return a normal face. "I wasn’t late this morning."

"Perhaps you should try setting your alarm clock a little earlier." Her father suggested.

Sakura sighed, outnumbered. "Whatever."

"I sent back our invitation to the wedding a few days ago. I got a call from Aunt Yasakau’s fiance. He’s quite a nice man, from what small conversation we had. It sounds like the reception is going to be quite the party."

Remembering the cruise made Sakura’s mood lighten a little bit. "Oh neat! Are they going to have dancing?"

"What marraige doesn’t?" Touya asked, glaring at her incredously. "How about food? Are they hiring private caters or what?"

"Yes, Sakura-san, they will probably have a large hall for all the guests dancing. I am not sure about the food, Touya, but I’m sure it will be just as good as everything else. Your aunt was a chocolate nut."

Sakura smiled. "Cool!" I don’t want to dance, really, but then again...it might be fun with a whole bunch of distant family that I don’t really know, I could make a complete fool of myself and it wouldn’t matter. I hope Tomoyo will call me back about coming along. I wish Chindra was still around, I’d invitie her too... Sakura winced as she accidently pushed on her arm. It throbbed unbearably for a few moments, and Sakura had to close her eyes and concentrate to keep her food down as the pain drove straight to her insides. When the pain passed, she found herself looking back at her family, who stared at her with curiosity. Sakura laughed nervously. "I, uh, I hit my funny bone."

"You are very strange, little monster." Touya said, chewing on a peice of food.

I really need stitches. This cut was deep. But how would I ever explain this? I am going to have to live with an awful scar. I am going to end up all bruised and scarred after I am done fighting this, I wish everything could just leave me alone.

_______________________________________________________________________

"If you think that will get you anywhere..." The sensei said, shaking his head.

Syaoran shook the sweat of his face and tried again. He concentrated as deeply as he could, though his frustration was blocking his mind from being able to fully focus. Swinging his sword around, he tried desperately to get the full power attack in this spin attack. Syaoran pushed his arm as hard as it would go, but it still didn’t seem any better than last time. His arms were tired, he was drenched with sweat, and his mind was in shambles. He turned to the sensei, praying that he would approve that attack.

"You’re letting yourself get frustrated. That is no characteristic of a true Li clan..."

Syaoran blocked out the sensei’s repeated insults and tried again. He swung his sword up and then around in a full circle, trying to force his magic into a circumference around him. The same weak wind noise came around him, and Syaoran knew without looking at the sensei’s dissapproving face that he had failed yet again.

"Go to school. You aren’t able to withstand any more today." The sensei said, obvious disgust in his voice.

Syaoran nodded and bowed quickly before rushing away. He set his sword in his sheath and walked into the hot outdoors, met with the bright morning sun. He brushed his hand across his hot forehead and looked down the different paths he could take to his house. Syaoran walked to his left, heading towards the stables. I can only do so much. But it’s not enough. I have to try harder. Maybe I can request permission to train by myself in the evenings. But I have to train with the war horses later on, too. There’s not enough time. If I didn’t have to go to school...

Syaoran walked into the stables, letting the smell of sweet hay take over his rampaging thoughts. He walked through the aisle to the path through the different pastures. Syaoran walked quickly past one pasture with a solitary horse grazing, not even deferring his eyes, only hurrying to the ponie’s pasture. He reached the fence and leaned on it, looking out for a small bay pony. One rogue animal was running from the distance, letting out a shrill whinny to announce his entrance. He ran up to Syaoran, stopping abruptly at the fence and sending small bits of mud into the air.

Syaoran grinned despite his conflicts and ruffled the pony’s forelock. "I hope they’re treating you better than me, Iata."

"Syaoran! You’ve gotta get washed up before school, you’ll be late!" Meilin’s high voice came as she ran up to him, her bookbag bouncing on her back.

"I have all of first class to make it over there." Syaoran said absently, most of his brainpower going to teasing the pony.

Meilin was looking into the large horse’s pasture, her eyes slightly watered. "You know you two would probably get along nicely-"

"No." Syaoran cut in, seeing where she was going.

Meilin sighed. "Don’t keep running away, you’ll-"

"Will everyone stop giving me advice!?" Syaoran said with a raised voice, turning from the little pony and storming back through the barn, leaving Meilin to go to school by herself. He ignored the girl staring at him as he passed the new Palimino’s stall, but only continued on, trying to let his anger subside. I didn’t mean to snap at her like that- but Meilin understands. If nothing else, despite all her down characteristics, she does have some qualities- if anyone would understand my short temper, she would.

Syaoran went into his house and immediatly got a glass of water, quickly drinking it down, and following it with two more full glasses. After he felt hydrated, he hurried to get a quick shower. He changed into school uniform quickly, found himself short on time, so he only ran his fingers through his wet hair as he jogged down the sidewalk to school.

- - - - - - - - - --

"It was not me that has taken your innocence, for you haven take it yourself." Syaoran read dully and monotonously, reading some stupid American play in literature class, the students reading it aloud.

"If you would have only..." The girl with the corresponding part rattled off with emotion, blabbing her lengthy paragraph slowly. Syaoran spaced out for a while, gazing longingly out the window.

But if I go outside, I am still not free. No, I have to keep training harder and harder. But I can’t complain. If this will help my mother, then at least I am accomplishing something. I am not just going on a mission to run away from my problems. Syaoran shifted positions in the hard school desk, his eyes slowly following along. It is not all that bad. Wait until Sakura sees these new spells I am learning. They will help her for sure. Though I still haven’t gotten any leads on this whole ‘clow reed is against my family and Chindra’s’ thing.

The girl next to him coughed loudly, and Syaoran blinked blankly, realizing the classroom was quite. He quickly found his spot and began reading with no enthusiasm. He knew he had the teacher’s eyes watching him disapprovingly, and he prayed that this wouldn’t make it to the elders. ‘Li Syaoran, sensei whoever this is told us that you haven’t been paying attention to your studies...’ Syaoran glared at the book after his part was over again, only blinking up shortly to see the look Meilin was giving him.

I hope Sakura’s alright. She hasn’t sent anything since that last letter, though I’ve sent her two already. God she’ll think I’m desperately lonely. I shouldn’t be so eager to speak with her. But thinking of her made Syaoran remember why he felt the way he did. Why did my mother have to get sick? Why couldn’t this have happened some time else? She’s probably forgotten about me, because she knows she has to be an independent now, she will probably hate me for leaving... I wish she would have come here with me. If she wasn’t so stuck on her family... Syaoran didn’t realize his own criticism also applied to himself.

The story finally came to the end of an act, and they were allowed to sit and wait for the bell to ring. Syaoran looked around at his classmates, who talked rapidly to each other, some girls occasionally glancing at him from the corner where they enthusiastically switched gossip. Meilin walked over and sat by one of the girls, one Syaoran didn’t entirely recognize. At second glance he realized she couldn’t be a pure relative- in fact there was not a trace of resemblance at all- she was about as opposite of a general asian profile as possible. He blinked and looked away, shrugging it off. She’s probably the new person. Yeah, that’s right, I saw her at the barn- looking at that palimino Meilin likes. And I have seen her before that- when that boy was sweeping the aisle and she called him. And then... didn’t she go to the karate classes? Yeah, cause Meilin said she wanted to spar against her.

"How long is Li-san staying?" Asked a black haired girl, looking to Meilin.

"Forever, I hope." Meilin said, smiling. "Who knows. Syaoran will probably end up on another dangerous mission for the elders."

The girl lowered her voice, looking with curiosity at Syaoran. "Did he get hurt fighting anything? Or is he always like this?" She asked, referring to his dark glower to nowhere in particular.

"Syaoran is worried about his mother, I suppose. She isn’t doing very well."

"Yes, I heard my parents talking about that the other night. Is she going to be alright?" Asked another girl, looking with sympathy at Syaoran.

"I’m sure, now that Syaoran’s back home." Meilin said, smiling.

"So that is your famous Sharan something cousin?" Asked the other girl skeptically- the new girl who had been previously sitting out of the conversation, disinterested. Hearing her speak told Syaoran that she definitely didn’t use Japanese as her first language.

"Yes, that’s Syaoran." Meilin said, beaming, making sure to put emphasis on the correct pronunciation.

"He doesn’t exactly look like a dragon hunter to me." She said skeptically, casually filing her nails. "Seems more like a problem child."

Meilin glared. "Syaoran could beat your little white belt self up like-"

"Who are you calling a White belt, ___" She shouted some insults in english, ones Syaoran and the rest of the class weren’t entirely fimiliar with.

The sensei might have not understood what she had said, but she did know that the tone of voice the girl had used wasn’t desirable. "Girls!" She shouted sharply.

Meilin sunk back in her seat, shooting a glare at the other girl before looking back ahead innocently at the teacher. The other girl just continued to hold her dark look at the teacher.

Meilin turned to the other girls. "Maybe we can all go to the stables sometime together, go on a big trailride, I’m sure Syaoran would love to go, being the expert in horsemanship he is." She said, adding a glower at the other girl.

Syaoran had sunk down into his seat so far that he found it getting uncomfortable, but he hated it when Meilin would brag about him like this, and he didn’t like dealing with attention. Meilin was continuing on. "Syaoran, could you come tommorrow?"

"I’ll be busy." Syaoran mumbled, remembering his plan of going to train in the evenings as well.

"Syaoran! You can’t spend every living moment training!" Meilin scolded.

"That’s so attractive in a guy, such dedication." One of the other girls cooed.

"Yeah, a true male should know swordplay inside and out, you know?" She looked over at the foreign girl, a sly grin coming across her own face. "But I’m sure you wouldn’t know anything about that, it seems most people in Britain are, how shall I put this..."

"Sissies?" Meilin offered, smirking at the girl.

The girl glared at her finger nails, pretending not to listen.

The bell rang, and the conversation was disrupted. Syaoran walked quickly to his math class, knowing he had several girl’s eyes after him. Another boy Syaoran recognized as an old school mate caught up to him and walked beside him. "You’re in geometry, right?" He asked.

"Right." Syaoran mumbled, trying to act preoccupied, not wanting to deal with a conversation.

"You’re lucky, you’ve only been back two days and you’ve got all the girls after you. I wish the elders favored me enough to let me go into training as hard as you. It seems that is a winning characteristic with the ladies."

"If you knew what hell it was, you would rather be dead than wish to be me." Syaoran said, turning off to his locker and ending the conversation. And that’s no understatement. I think I’ll visit mother tonight, I have skipped two nights of visiting. I hope she’s doing better. This hospital stuff will work, I’m sure, I have just got to make sure we can keep buying her medicine, that’s all.

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

Well there it is. Boring as it may be. I dunno, it’s hard to write chapters where Sakura and Syaoran aren’t together! But relax, it’s all in the big picture! Remember! So I am downloading a ccs movie, I better go check up on it. Sorry about the short author’s note, but I doubt any of you read it anyway. Email comments at [email protected]

and visit the site at geocities.com/KeanusHorseChic

JA MATA NE!

-syaoran fan 4 life