1.
“Did you get it?”
“Yes!” Sakura smiled brightly, holding the card high..
“As usual, Sakura-chan was wonderful!” Tomoyo spoke from behind the video camera.
“So, Kero-chan, what does this card *do?*” Sakura asked, glancing up at her little familiar. To her surprise, instead of floating above her as usual, he was waving his tawny limbs in alarm as a silent black helicopter slowly lifted him away from his friends.
“What on earth?” Sakura reached out to rescue Kero-chan, even as he dwindled into the distance.
“Sakura, save yourself!” Kero-chan shouted, his Osakan accent extremely pronounced in his haste.
“Kero-chan!” Sakura held her wand out. “Fly!” She leapt up into the sky, wings springing from her back as the words left her lips. She sped through the air, her attention focused on the magical creature. He struggled gamely with the men that were wrestling him into the helicopter. Kero-chan shouted something, but Sakura could not hear his words over the roar of the wind.
As she approached the craft, Sakura fought against the downdraft of the helicopter. She could just make out Kero-chan, his wings gripped by the strange men.
Dark spots covered his body…bruises, Sakura realized. They had hurt him.
Sakura saw red.
She struggled to come up with a plan, something that would free her friend. She flipped through the cards in her mind, passing over the benign, the tame…then smiled. It was not a nice smile. As she pulled the card from her pocket, Sakura thought with an inner shrug that, knowing Tomoyo, she’d probably have found this smile charming, too. Then the card was in her hand and she was shouting, even as she came within earshot of the helicopter.
“Shot!” she screamed with an anger that was alien to her. She swerved to avoid the guns of the men in the ‘copter. They released Kero-chan to focus on their attacker, but they were too late. The little magical beast, freed, used the moment to alter his form. In an instant, they no longer shared space with a toy-sized being.
Bullets whizzed by Sakura, but she knew that they would not hurt her. “Shield” she cried, laughing horribly, then “Shoot!” once again.
It was too much for the men in black. Firepower came from nowhere to cut their craft into pieces, while inside they were forced to deal with a lion-sized and ferocious creature. They shouted in fear and defeat – Sakura could hear Kerberos’ roar above the noise of battle.
In a matter of seconds, they were gone. The sky was clear, the battle over. Kerberos and Sakura returned to earth silently, with only a shared look between them to acknowledge the experience.
Tomoyo came running up, camera still rolling. “Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, are you alright?”
“I’m fine, but Kero-chan is wounded.” Sakura’s voice sounded tired and old – the voice of a war veteran.
The camera lowered at that. Tomoyo’s eyes were huge with concern. “Wounded? Oh no.” She reached into her purse and made a quick phone call. “My bodyguards will be here in a few minutes with some first aid supplies. I told them they were for you.” She took a deep breath. “What happened?” her voice was edged with more than a little incipient hysteria, so Sakura moved forward quickly to comfort her.
“I don’t know,” she admitted, “but I think it was…”
“It’s the Conspiracy Card,” Kero-chan said, now once again in his miniature form. He looked at the two women with a grimace, then slowly, almost comically, passed out on the ground.
***
2.
The phone rang once, then twice. Li gritted his teeth. He could *feel* the card – where on earth was Sakura? Three times, then four. At last, he heard the sound of the phone being answered.
“Sakura!” he shouted, “Where are you?”
The answer sounded somewhat distracted. “Li? Oh…eh…I’m at Tomoyo’s.”
“I can feel a presence, can’t you?” Li was frantic now – he was sure there was a Clow Card to be caught. Why on earth wasn’t Sakura reacting?
“Uh…yeah, yeah, I can feel it,” Li was sure he heard a little giggle from the Card Captor. “But really, I’ve got it under control.”
“Under control?” Li yelped. “Sakura – are you okay?”
“Yes, really, Li, I’ve…” there was a pause as Sakura gasped slightly, a sound that sent shivers down Li’s spine. “I’m okay – really.” There was another giggle and the sound of movement in the background.
“Is Tomoyo there with you?”
“Yeee…ah…” her voice was distant again, she sounded almost drugged. “Stop that!”
Li stared at the phone. “Stop what?”
Another giggle. “Not you, Syaoran. Really, I’ve got it under…” another gasp, almost a moan, “control.”
“Sakura…” Li began, but he was immediately cut off.
“I’ve got to go, but I’ll call you later…” There was another noise, the origin of which Li refused to contemplate, and Sakura came back on the line once again. “Tomorrow morning. Late. I’ll call you in the afternoon. Goodnight!”
Li stared at the phone as a burst of new giggles spurted from the earpiece, followed by “Oh, Tomoyo!” and a click. He shook his head and tried hard not to think about anything.
“Mmmm,” Tomoyo moaned happily, as she rolled off Sakura’s body. “I think I like this card best so far.” She smiled into her friend’s eyes.
Sakura looked up with a grin. “It’s not ‘The Twin’, that’s for sure.”
They both laughed, and Sakura rolled over to pick the card up from the bedside table. The image was that of a stylized lily. She could feel Tomoyo’s hand on her back as the dark-haired girl whispered its name into her ear, causing goosebumps to break out across her naked shoulders.
“The Yuri Card,” Tomoyo said.
***
3.
“Touya?” Fujitaka’s voice was quiet as always. “It was your turn to do the laundry today, right?”
The dark head nodded. “Yes, Everything’s folded and put away.”
“Mmm.” Fujitaka looked mildly put out. “That’s odd, I was sure I had an extra pair of socks in my drawer, and I have to pack for the weekend conference. I can’t seem to find them….”
“You can borrow one of mine.” Touya stood up from the kitchen table, but stopped as Sakura ran down the stairs into the room.
“Has anyone seen my new socks?” Sakura shot an annoyed look at Touya, as if she suspected him of stealing. “I mean, I have one of them, but I can’t find the other – and it was your turn to do the laundry.”
Touya shrugged. “I didn’t take your socks.” Turning back to his father, Touya gestured. “I’ll be right back.”
Sakura and Fujitaka shared a confused glance, then watched Touya turn the corner on the stairs. They could hear his footsteps go down the hall, enter his room. There was a pause as, assumably, he opened his dresser drawer. A second or two passed, and all of a sudden, Touya’s agitated tread was audible once again.
Uncharacteristically, he came tearing down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. Touya charged into the kitchen, each hand clutching a single object.
Holding the items up, he looked at his father and sister and said, “Okay – who took my socks?”
Sakura started to laugh at her brother’s indignation.
Then she sensed it.
No…it couldn’t be…she looked up and saw Kero-chan waving one paw frantically behind her brother’s head.
“Um…maybe the washer’s broken, I’ll go check!” And she was out of the room.
Once in her bedroom, she stared at Kero-chan in disbelief. “You’re not telling me that Clow created a….”
“Yes,” the Seal Beast confirmed with a grimace. “It’s responsible for all missing socks.”
Sakura rubbed her face with both hands. “One day, Kero-chan, you’re going to have to tell me again just how brilliant Clow was. But first, let’s go get the Sock Card.”
***
4.
Three humans and one magical creature were running. Running as fast as they could. Well, the three humans ran and the one magical creature flew. But they moved quickly, with a definite urgency – there was a Clow Card loose and it had to be caught.
Three pairs of feet ran into the house, through the front room and up the stairs.
“This way!” Li’s Lasin board threw out a strong beam of light. It led down the hall.
“Your big brother’s room!” Tomoyo gasped. “I hope he’s alright!”
The three humans and one magical creature paused for a mere moment outside the closed door then, with more courage than tact, they threw the door open and ran in. No more than five seconds had elapsed when they reappeared in the hallway, each looking startled. Perhaps Li looked a little paler than the others, and certainly Sakura’s cheeks were flaming, but they all looked as if they had had a shock.
Slowly, the three humans and one magical creature crossed the hall and threw themselves into the safety of Sakura’s bedroom.
They sat in silence for a while, not wanting to meet each other’s eyes.
It was, in the end, Tomoyo who broke the silence. “So,” she began hesitantly. “I guess we just wait here until…until they’re done?”
“The morning,” Sakura said firmly. “I think this card can wait until the morning.”
“Um, yeah…or maybe after Yukito-san has gone home or something,” Li suggested, his face scarlet.
The others agreed that might be the best thing, then silence fell once again over the room. Kero-chan was curled up into a tight ball and saying something over and over that the others couldn’t hear.
“Um,” Li began hesitantly, his face a bright scarlet. “Did anyone else notice that that was Yue in there?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t…” Sakura began, but Tomoyo cut in quickly.
“Yes. It was,” she confirmed.
Silence fell for a third time.
Again, it was Tomoyo who broke the tension. “Well, who’d have thought that Clow would create a,” she snickered a little, “Yaoi card.” She hefted her video camera, as a gleam came into her eye.
Sakura looked up sharply and pointed at the floor. “Tomoyo-chan, you will stay *right* there.”
Li groaned as Tomoyo laughed.
***
Bonus Card
“It’s beautiful,” Sakura whispered.
Tomoyo smiled gently at her friend. “I thought you might want to see it.”
“But what is it?”
The dark-haired girl shrugged. “I thought you might be able to answer that.”
Sakura cocked her head inquisitively. “You think it’s a Card?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I asked you to come over.”
The two girls stood looking at the pond in Tomoyo’s back yard. The koi swam calmly through the water; the light breeze creating relaxed ripples across the surface. But it wasn’t the pool that drew their attention – it was the phenomenon above it.
Sonomi stepped out into the yard. “What are you girls…?” she stopped, her mouth dropping open in surprise. “What on earth is that?”
Tomoyo turned with a smile for her mother. “I don’t know – it was there when I came home from school. It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
Sonomi smiled. “It is! I think this deserves cake to celebrate! Stay here and I’ll be right back!”
“We can’t leave it there, can we?” Sakura asked, her voice tinged with just a hint of sadness.
Tomoyo said nothing. With a quick look at Sakura, she reached over and took the other girl’s hand.
“Sakura-chan,” Tomoyo began, her voice serious. “Can you capture this card before my mother gets back?”
Sakura looked at the hand that held hers and Tomoyo’s serious face. “I think so, but why?”
The dark-haired girl blushed slightly. “Because this is such a beautiful moment – and I want to share it with you. Just you and me.” She looked into Sakura’s green eyes and smiled, as she saw them soften.
“Tomoyo-chan!” Sakura said quietly. “I’ll do it for you.”
Sakura reached around her neck and pulled out the little key that hung on a chain. Holding it in the palm of her free hand, she spoke quietly to it. In a shower of color that mingled with the lights shimmering above the pond, the key expanded to its full form.
Sakura took the staff in one hand, then wrapped Tomoyo’s hand around the wand, covering it with her own. For a full minute, the two girls watched the spectacle glimmer and flash, a private fireworks display for their eyes only.
“Return to your original form, Clow Card!” Sakura spoke reluctantly and the wand came down to touch the ethereal card that formed mid-air.
To their surprise, the lights did not dissipate, but moved closer to them, settling over their heads. Tomoyo and Sakura, hands still clasped around the staff, laughed as they settled in their hair, on their ears and fluttered by their cheeks, like fireflies of fabulous colors.
Caressing their faces softly, the lights passed around the girls, becoming the magic card at the end of the wand.
When the card had fully formed, it swirled through the air over the pond and landed just above their clasped hands.
Tomoyo glanced at Sakura who nodded. Tentatively, she reached out and took the card in her hand, passing it over to the Card Captor with a bright smile.
With a final squeeze of Sakura’s hand, Tomoyo moved away, just as Sonomi joined them. The older woman shot a brief, puzzled look at the pond, then the girls. “What happened to the lights?”
Tomoyo shrugged eloquently and took the tray of drinks from her mother’s hands. “They seem to have disappeared.”
Sakura reached out and took Sonomi’s hand in hers, leading the older woman after Tomoyo to the table that overlooked the garden. “It must have been a trick of the light,” she agreed pleasantly.
Later, when she and Tomoyo were again alone, the two friends looked at the card once more. They smiled as they thanked the festive lights and smiled again as they read the card name.
“The Sparkle,” they said, and laughed.
Cardcaptor Sakura © CLAMP, NHK and Kodansha
Original characters and situations, E. Friedman