©2003 By Julia and Tania
E-mail: ccs_fanz@juliaandtania.com
Cardcaptor Sakura: The Attractive Power (Alternate)
Episode 6

DREAM…

        Sakura leaned in closer like the many times she had done before, but no matter how close she was, or which position she took, she couldn’t see it. That book Syaoran was writing in was in her direct line of vision, yet she saw nothing.

        “What are you writing, Syaoran-kun?” she was forced to ask.

        “It’s right in front of you… Can’t you read it?” he asked neutrally from his seat next to hers.

        Again, he didn’t give her the response she wanted. It made her bubble inside with anger. Every time it always played out this way. Every single time she asked, Syaoran always responded with such elusiveness.

        “I can’t see anything on the page—can’t you tell me what you’re writing?” Sakura asked again. He paused for a moment, regarding her curiously for a second before he returned to it.

        Sakura sighed as Syaoran continued to write in her Japanese book, not stopping once to acknowledge her distress. His pen furiously jiggled back and forth as he worked his way down the page at her desk, but still she could not see any characters appear in front of her.

        Frowning, she sat there, having no choice but to continue to be puzzled by his actions. After a moment, she leaned in even closer, deciding to give it another try.

        Concentrating a little harder this time, she scrutinised the page. Eyes squinting, Sakura finally saw something—a block of words—but as chance had it, they were blurred.

        “Please, can you tell me what you’re writing, Syaoran-kun,” she pleaded, persisting in the matter.

        All he did was continued to write. He was almost at the bottom of the page now. Sakura inclined towards the ground, eyes closed, showing impatience—maybe even defeat.

        Shortly, Syaoran looked up, a frown apparent on his visage. “Can’t you read it?” his intonation confused and with a modicum of disappointment. Slowly, Sakura shook her head regretfully.

        For a moment he looked at her then as quickly as he was to stop writing, he was to return to it once more, not hindered by Sakura’s reply at all. He carried on writing as a few seconds passed before he asked again: “Can’t you read it?”

        “No—I can’t read it. Why do you keep asking me that?” she snapped, finally losing patience.

        “Please try,” politely he requested.

        Taken aback by his rather neutral tone, Sakura jerked herself back slightly. Nevertheless, she obliged as she returned her attention to the pages, making further effort to concentrate and make out what he was writing.

        Sakura fixed her eyes on the pages of the Japanese book. Seeing the exact same thing she did the other times, she rubbed then closed her eyes; she even shook her head before looking at it again.

        Just as Sakura thought she was beginning to make it out, Syaoran’s arm crossed her vision and whatever she had seen was gone. Sakura gasped in shock, “Syaoran-kun: I was so close! Why?”

        Syaoran only smiled as he got up. He motioned for the book and slipped in a strip of paper—which had all of a sudden appeared from nowhere—before snapping it close.

        Handing her Japanese book back to her, he left the classroom they were in. Still seated, Sakura watched his retreating back then at the book Syaoran had written in.

        Sakura’s brow furrowed. How come the Japanese book shrunk? Wasn’t it bigger and thinner than this? Sakura thought as she looked at the book half its original size.

        Confused, Sakura examined the book, flipping it back and forth, up and down. Her eyes widened. It’s not my Japanese book! Sakura thought. No it wasn’t, it was a diary—her diary?

        Quickly, Sakura flipped through the pages he had marked. Her eyes skimmed it a few times—although she didn’t know why she was doing it. There wasn’t anything on the page.

END DREAM…

        Sakura’s heavy eyelids slowly fluttered at the bright light streaming through the window of her bedroom. Detesting the punch the sun’s rays had this morning, Sakura tossed and turned as she tried to fall back to sleep in hopes of returning to her dream. There was this need to return to it, to discover more of what her dream was trying to illustrate to her. She tried squeezing her eyelids tight, burying her head, and hiding under the covers, but nothing worked.

        Failing to rescue the dream, Sakura moaned, leveraging herself with elbows on pillow. “What day is it?” she mumbled as the Syaoran Bear appeared sandwiched between her chest and the blankets. Her mind answered Sunday. She turned around, one eye closed, one eye half opened, “Six forty five—too early to wake up on a Sunday,” she said croakily, reading the clock on her ledge.

        Dopily, she sunk her heavy head back under the blankets, pulling them right past her face. The room became silent as Sakura’s undisturbed body lay quietly and contently beneath the blankets, whilst the clock ticked indicatively to Sakura’s oversight of the early Monday morning.

        The clock ticked to six fifty—still, Sakura continued to sleep as the morning light brightened further. Then another five minutes passed by; no movement was seen from Sakura. Four minutes later, the second hand ticked ever closer to the number twelve at seven fifty nine.

        BEEP-BEEP-BEEP BEEP… BEEP-BEEP-BEEP BEEP… BEEP-BEEP-BEEP BEEP…

        Sakura jolted once, reacting to the noise as the blankets contoured her movements underneath. Then her head slid left then right, wondering what it was that disturbed her so abruptly.

        Figuring out that she was trying to search under darkness, Sakura pushed away her blankets with her hands, rising to sit upright. She turned around to see the clock calling for her. “Why did I set the clock on a Sunday?” she questioned, still dazed.

        Reaching for her alarm clock, she turned it off before staring blankly ahead of her at nothing in particular for a while. Sakura scanned the room, tired eyes barely opened.

        “I remember now, today’s Monday.”

        “Yesterday was Sunday,” she stated in her thoughts as the events of yesterday afternoon travelled through her mind once again, like it had the night before.

        She remembered the pursuit and her heart racing apprehensively at the thought of finding the individual behind the aura she felt. She remembered arriving at the origin of the aura, unable to see anyone then to find Yoshiro standing in that area. She stood there naïvely, was even about to greet him with a cheerful hello, not even suspecting that the aura could be his.

        “Could it be Sato-kun?” still Sakura doubted. Contemplatively, she continued. “He just… doesn’t strike me as someone who could be responsible for all those events—although, it’s not like I know him that well…”

        Deciding to make a move in getting ready for school, Sakura hopped out of bed, heading to the wardrobe to get dressed. Sliding her shirt, blazer (school jacket), and skirt off the clothe hanger, Sakura placed it on her bed before slipping on Seijyu High’s uniform piece by piece.

        Then Sakura moved over to her dresser as she knelt down to brush her hair in front of the mirror. As if hypnotised, Sakura began brushing it, her head tilted off at an angle to the right. She looked to the walls in front of her, finding the effortless task comforting in contrast to the many things that were not right in her life at the moment.

        “I don’t know what I think of Sato-kun,” she began thinking again as the walls prompted more thoughts. “I know he’s my friend—a helpful friend, so how could it be Sato-kun? He’s always tried his best to help me, like he did with my sketch at the botanical gardens, and maths too. Maybe, what I saw yesterday was something else—but Sato-kun has magic.

        Although she was far from Yoshiro, Sakura recalled an object he had in his possession. “What was that object he was holding? Is that what he uses to bring out his magic?” Sakura moved to brush the other side. She rolled her eyes upwards to the right, “I suppose… it could be Sato-kun,” struggling to admit it to herself. “But I don’t want to believe it is him,” she finished the thought aloud.

        Sakura sighed before placing down her hair brush. Reaching into a red box behind the mirror, Sakura pulled out a couple of hairpins, securing a section of her hair on the right with them. Noticing a few stray strands of hair out of place, Sakura picked up her brush once again to smoothen it out.

        “Ohayou (Good morning)…” a sleepy voice greeted from below as the bottom drawer slid open to reveal Kero.

        “Ohayou Kero-chan,” Sakura replied, looking down.

        Kero rubbed his eyes as he flew to sit beside the group of stuffed animals—fitting in nicely with them all. “Sakura…” he called.

        “What is it, Kero-chan?” Sakura asked, staring off into the distance again.

        Kero’s hand returned to his side, his casual posture leaning towards Sakura. “You seemed a little preoccupied yesterday. Is everything okay Sakura? You haven’t been so distant for a while now. As well, you were tossing and turning most of the night.”

        Sakura stopped brushing her hair to face Kero, her gaze past his. “Yeah I’m okay,” she replied casually.

        Skeptically, Kero watched her for a moment before heading off to the television area. “If you say so, but you know Sakura, I haven’t anything better to do these days with the lack of interesting games to play and all…” he added, sliding in the hint cunningly.

        Brows furrowed, lips pursed, Sakura acted clueless, “What are you trying to say, Kero-chan?”

        “I’m just saying I’ve got a lot of time and I need to burn it off somehow,” stressing the important words in his sentence—a new game maybe.

        “Oh, well I suppose it is kind of boring especially for Kero-chan these days, huh?” A glint appeared in Kero’s eyes—hopeful. “I know, Kero-chan…” she said excitedly.

        “What?” impatience and excitement apparent in Kero’s intonation.

        “I’m heading to a bookstore after school to get some stationery—it’s next to a video store, so…” Sakura paused to add suspense, knowing full well what Kero wanted to hear. “How about I go to the video store after that…” Kero’s face brightened further as he nodded, pressing her to carry on. “…and get a movie out for you to watch?”

        Was Sakura doing this on purpose, Kero thought in disappointment. Oh well, close enough. “Make sure you get something with… I don’t mind romance—no, a lot of action, okay?” Sakura grinned before going over to her desk to pack her books into her school bag.

        “Look, Kero-chan,” she began, resurrecting the topic, “If I have some money left, I’ll see if I can rent out a game for you, okay?”

        Kero flew to her side in total elation. “Thanks Sakura! Get the latest one!”

        “Only if I have money left okay?” Kero nodded, a wide smile still spread across his face.

        “…So Sakura,” Kero said, backtracking to the topic preceding the latter. “Are you sure there’s nothing on your mind?”

        Sakura stopped packing her books to lay her attention on him. “I haven’t told Kero-chan or anyone else about my discovery yesterday. Should I tell Kero-chan?”

        Kero waited patiently, still hovering by her side, worried to why she became still all of a sudden. Finally, his mistress spoke up, “I’m okay, Kero-chan. So the latest game, huh?” she said, avoiding the topic.

        “I have to know for sure before I tell anyone,” Sakura thought.

        Finding Sakura’s behaviour odd, he searched her eyes for an answer before dismissing it. “Hai!” eventually he replied.

        “Well, I’m off to school! See you later, Kero-chan!” Sakura said, leaving Kero to play his old games until Sakura came back with a new one.

        The Tsukimine shrine brought up so many memories as Sakura slowly approached it before stopping to set her gaze at the tall entrance gate. It was the place she met Mizuki-sensei. It was the place she found out about Yue and then Eriol. The Tsukimine shrine was also the place where she became the mistress of all the Clow cards. But the most treasured memory there was Syaoran’s confession.

        “Ore wa… omae ga suki da (I’m… in love with you),” Sakura remembered Syaoran saying—his voice and the setting clear in her mind.

        “I’m… in love with you,” Sakura repeated to herself quietly, reflecting on the words.

        Many times she had heard those words in her mind, but it was not until now when she said it aloud to herself that she realised the extent of what she had really lost. Out of all the people he could have given his heart to, Syaoran had chosen to give it to her. But she had taken too long to accept it. Now that she wanted it, she couldn’t have it.

        Sakura dropped her head to stare at her feet before setting her eyes back onto the shrine’s entrance gate again. “I hope to have the courage to answer you back some day; and maybe you’ll feel the same too.”

        Her mind slowly drifting off Syaoran, Sakura took it back to school as she went on her way to Seijyu High. She picked up her speed, roller-blading down the peaceful streets of Tomoeda. Further in her journey as she travelled closer to school, Sakura’s mind shifted its attention to her other problem. Sato Yoshiro.

        She sighed. “Sato-kun… I’m going to see him today. I wonder how I’m going to bring it up with him.” The thought made her swell in nerves, her speed decreasing to a slow glide along the pavement. “What am I going to say?”

        Giving herself a few moments, Sakura racked her brains for some opening lines. After a minute or two, having no luck in her mind, Sakura decided to try it aloud. “Maybe: ohayou Sato-kun, I saw you at Penguin King Park yesterday… what were you…” Sakura shook her head. “Do you…” Sakura stopped, dropping off at the end. She had changed her mind. “All of that is too forward.”

        Sakura dropped her eyes below, watching the pavement fall beneath as she skated along it. Her face grimaced, shaking her head. “This is so hard! What if I don’t confront him? Maybe Sato-kun will tell me himself,” she said, losing rationality.

        “Tell me what, Kinomoto-san?” Yoshiro asked from behind all of a sudden.

        The ends of Sakura’s hairs spiked up—shocked to a dead-stop. Where did he come from?

        “Kinomoto-san?” he asked, seeing Sakura freeze like a popsicle (ice block). “I didn’t mean to do that to you again… Are you alright?” Yoshiro scratched his head, guilt written on his face.

        Sakura composed herself, as to not let anything slip past her. Absorbing the last of her shock through a breath, she replied, “Hai Sato-kun,” then pushed off as she applied pressure on her back skate.

        “I’ve never seen you so still,” Yoshiro had observed, now striding briskly to catch up with Sakura.

        “Hai,” she said, oppressing a nervous laugh. Noticing Yoshiro struggling to maintain the current speed, Sakura slowed down.

        “Thanks Kinomoto-san,” he said, taking shallower breaths. “Hey, you’re a little earlier today.”

        “Really?” Sakura looked at her watch, pretending she hadn’t noticed. She did take a shorter breakfast this morning to be early for this very reason, to have a chance of talking to Yoshiro before school.

        He nodded, looking at his own watch. “It’s only seven thirty.”

        “You’re early too, Sato-kun,” putting aside her matters for the moment.

        Yoshiro let out a few chuckles, “Yeah… I’ve been nervous ever since yesterday… actually the whole week!”

        Cocking her head, Sakura wondered what he had meant. “Why?”

        “Remember the martial arts competition I talked about a month ago?” Sakura nodded whilst studying him with scrutiny. “Well, today I get to find out if I make the cut.”

        “Really Sato-kun?” Sakura asked lacking the usual bounce in her tone, very much distracted by her knowledge of him.

        Yoshiro nodded. “Hai, I’ve been anxiously waiting for my results for what seem like forever. Now that I’m going to find out, I don’t want to find out.” He laughed. “Doesn’t make sense does it?”

        Barely holding in what Yoshiro had said, Sakura snapped out of her thoughts in time to shake her head. “No, I understand,” she said with not even half the energy he had.

        “Well, that’s good! Well that’s why I’m early.”

        “Oh okay...” she said in a volume almost too quiet to hear.

        “Kinomoto-san,” Yoshiro called delicately. “Is something on your mind? You’re usually slightly more energetic than this.”

        “Everything’s the same as usual.” Sakura forced a smile before beginning again. “Anyway, Sato-kun… how was your weekend?” The perfect line to start off with.

        “It was okay. I spent most of it doing the science homework Okuda-sensei set—actually I spent most of the night doing it,” chuckling once more.

        “You spent most of the night doing your homework—why?” Getting closer, Sakura thought.

        Yoshiro nodded, “Hai. I was thinking about the martial arts results yesterday, so my mind couldn’t concentrate.”

        “Oh, I suppose you would. I was quite nervous waiting for the cheerleading results to come through too,” Sakura replied, almost in her usual tone. Then she realised, she had carried on too far for her to get back onto her main agenda.

        “Really?” Yoshiro asked.

        “Hai—” Sakura opened her mouth to begin again, attempting to lead back to her knowledge of Yoshiro. “Umm…” Sakura frowned, finding that her mind wasn’t able to come up with a graceful way to bring it back up. Forced to leave it, Sakura carried on with the present topic, transitioning from the frown to a more neutral display. “Are the results posted on the bulletin board today?”

        “Ito-sensei said they would be,” Yoshiro said, not suspecting anything.

        “Then we should quickly head off to school and see if you made it into the competition, huh Sato-kun?” Sakura said, putting on a cheerful face.

        “Hai!”

        “Okay Sato-kun—I’ll see you in class,” Sakura said as she watched him go ahead of her.

        Holding onto her outdoor shoes, Sakura opened her locker door before placing them and her roller-blades inside. Lifting her right leg across her other leg for support, she began to slip her indoor shoes on while she balanced on one foot.

        “I couldn’t bring it up with him,” she thought, disappointedly. “He’s no different from his usual self, but it was so hard for me to talk to Sato-kun…”

        She put her right foot down then lifted the other, suspending it in the air to slip the other shoe on. “The magic has been so similar to what I’ve experienced before. It’s not too much different to Eriol-kun’s magic, but it feels… more serious.

        “Sometimes Sato-kun does catch me off-guard, but that’s only once in a while. He has always been so nice. I can’t think of him that way; he can’t be the new presence I’ve been sensing.

        “But then… if it’s not Sato-kun then who is Sato-kun?”

        “Kinomoto-san?” a tall, female student with long brunette hair called, walking up to stand in front of her.

        Unaware that a few students were sending Sakura glances, she continued to balance on one foot, still in the midst of putting on her left shoe.

        “Good morning, Kinomoto-san,” the female called again, louder this time, leaning into her face.

        It took a few seconds for Sakura to register the voice, but when she did, she gave a loud shrieking, “HOEEEEEE!” before banging herself into the lockers having been surprised by the closeness of the face.

        The hallway deadened to a silence as many pairs of eyes gawked at the sudden commotion. They continued to stare, all of them forwarding her their ‘what the hell’ looks.

        Regaining her composure, Sakura slowly peeled herself off from the metallic doors behind her, coming face to face with the culprit who had so alarmingly woken her from her trance: Sakura’s peer support leader, Nakamura Akina.

        “Kinomoto-san, sorry about that—are you alright?”

        Sakura looked up, almost with frightened eyes, clutching her heavily pounding heart. “Nakamura-san!” her voice: squeaking, breath uneven. “I-I-I’m okay.”

        Akina chuckled accordingly, finding her reaction humourous. “You are a strange one, aren’t you Kinomoto-san.”

        “Hoe?” was all Sakura could reply with, obviously unsure what Akina was referring to—her: a strange one? The peer support leader didn’t answer, only stood upright, straightening herself.

        Taking a step back, Akina eyed Sakura who was standing perfectly normal at the moment, but not too long ago, Sakura had stood with one leg crossed over her other, but never touching anything. It just hovered in the air; her hands holding her shoe ready to be worn, only centimetres away from her foot.

        Finally making some sort of response, Akina leaned an inch closer with her hands clasped behind her back. “But you really do have great balance. By any chance are you in the school’s cheerleading team?”

        “Hai!” she replied enthusiastically.

        She nodded, knowingly, “I see—I thought as much! With such amazing balance, the school’s very lucky to have you on the team.”

        “Arigatou,” modestly she replied.

        “Anyway, I haven’t seen you kids for a while now,” Akina said, switching to another topic. “I suppose you’re getting around school okay? How about your studies?”

        “I’m doing very good, thank you for asking.”

        “Oh that’s good to hear. Well, Kinomoto-san, I better be off. You have a nice day at school, okay?” she said, beginning to walk off.

        “Hai, arigatou (thank you)!” Sakura bowed once at Nakamura’s departure before making her way towards class herself.

        “Alright everyone—to your seats!” Okuda-sensei, Sakura’s science teacher ordered as the bell’s ring ended after a while. Everyone took their seats without much fuss. “I have good news for you all,” he began. The students gasped in hope and excitement. “Two weeks from now, as a finale to our plant life module, we’ll be heading to a nursery in the countryside. Isn’t that a treat?”

        “Hai!” the students cried in approval.

        “I knew you all would be excited,” he said, supporting a grin.

        Okuda-sensei moved over to his briefcase situated on the teacher’s desk. He took out a stack of paper before moving back to the speaker’s podium. “These are the permission slips,” showing them to the class before handing them to the front row to pass around the class. “I want you all to make sure you give these to your parents and get them signed by next Thursday.”

        “Hai.” the students replied obediently.

        “On the sheet of paper you have in front of you, it also has information on the cost of the trip and what to bring. Unless you want to use the vending machine they have there, you all will have to bring your own lunches. We’ll discuss more about the details when the date nears.”

        “Hai,” the students replied once again.

        “Alright now, I want you—“

        Suddenly, a loud, drawn-out bell reverberated throughout the room and the hallways of Seijyu High. The science students looked at each other, slow to react to the rare sound of the bell.

        “You know what to do! This is a fire drill. Leave everything where they are and get yourselves out the door in an orderly fashion; head to your designated place on the field and wait for the roll-call.”

        Sakura and Tomoyo waited with the rest of the students on the fields as the teachers finished checking students off their registers. Unlike the others who were enjoying the interruption, Sakura stood perturbed, unaware of Tomoyo’s call.

        “Sakura-chan… Sakura-chan? Are you okay?”

        “Nani (What?)” Sakura replied finally.

        Tomoyo’s expression relaxed, when at last, Sakura snapped out of her preoccupied state. But quickly, it reverted back to its original expression, showing concern. “Is something the matter Sakura-chan?”

        “It’s nothing Tomoyo-chan,” Sakura answered with a grin.

        “Alright, Sakura-chan,” accepting her response for the moment, maintaining the gaze. It was until Sakura’s rather unusual hold of her smile—unwilling to change her previous statement through her expression—Tomoyo looked away.

        Wondering if anyone was making a move back to class, Tomoyo took the spare time to scan her surroundings: everyone, including the teachers, was still chatting away. As she continued to glance around, she heard two voices in the background which caught her attention.

        “Sato-kun,” Tomoyo greeted. Sakura turned to look in the direction Tomoyo had.

        “Hi everyone,” he replied as he and Akina approached.

        “Are we heading in soon?” Tomoyo asked as Yoshiro moved to stand next her and Sakura. Spotting Akina, she greeted her, “Ohayou Nakamura-san.”

        “Ohayou Daidouji-san… and ohayou for the second time Kinomoto-san.”

        Sakura bowed. “Ohayou.”

        “Not yet it looks like,” Akina answered to Tomoyo’s question. “These fire drills—you can never get used to them can you.”

        “Iie (nope),” Tomoyo replied, smiling.

        “But it’s nothing to complain about, huh everyone?” They nodded. “But, being a role model and all, I shouldn’t say those things. School is important everyone,” jested Akina.

        After a moment, she looked up, trying to make eye contact with one of the teachers on the field. Catching the eye of a teacher, Akina lifted her chin, maintaining eye contact. She pointed towards the school building with her thumb, mouthing the words, “Shall we?”

        Akina waited as the teacher looked around for the attention of other teachers. A wave of nods ran through each of them before it was directed back towards the teacher Akina had addressed.

        Given the final nod to head inside, Akina turned back to the group. “Well everyone, time to head in; lots of learning to do!”

        “Hai,” the group chorused.

        Tomoyo watched Sakura again as she and Yoshiro made their way back to class. For a reason she was unaware of, her best friend had an avoiding stare towards the ground, all the while discreetly examining the subject on her right—Yoshiro.

        Careful not to attract attention from Yoshiro—the person she assumed Sakura was troubled by—Tomoyo leaned into her left ear, whispering, “Sakura-chan…” Sakura jerked her head around almost too sharply for Tomoyo’s liking. She took a glance in Yoshiro’s direction, Sakura’s eyes following her gaze. When Tomoyo saw that he hadn’t made any sort of movement, Tomoyo continued. “You seemed preoccupied with Sato-kun—is everything alright?” she asked, concerned.

        Tomoyo saw reluctance through Sakura’s eyes and as expected, Sakura replied simply with, “Hai.”

        Seeing that she couldn’t persist further in the matter, Tomoyo left it once again. She’ll just have to talk to her later.

        Filing into the room, the students of Okuda-sensei’s class took their seats once again. Scuffles of feet against the floor echoed through the class before silence fell finally just as Okuda-sensei made his way in.

        “Right—where were we?” Okuda-sensei asked rhetorically. Recalling, he continued. “The field trip… oh yes. Before we get on with class and check our science homework…” Quiet groans from the students could be heard at the mention. “…we need to get you all into groups for the trip. Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll let you all decide who you want to go with. Get into groups of threes or fours, okay? You have a few minutes to do that. We’ve already lost a lot of time with the fire drill, so get to it.”

        “Hai,” the students replied.

        Ceasing the opportunity, no one wasted any more time in finding their groups. Chair legs scraped against the floor as the majority of the male population seemed to head in a uniform direction.

        “Hoe?” Sakura expressed as she watched a guy seated in front dash past her.

        Following her classmate, her gaze laid upon a crowd of male students who had stopped to surround the girl near the back of the room. There they stood, suffocating the girl with long saddle-brown hair as they waited for her to accept them into her group.

        “Can I be in your group?” a male student asked.

        “Do you want to be in my group?” came in another.

        “Who’s in your group? Can I go with you?” and another.

        “Me, too?” and another.

        “…And me?”

        A wave of requests and invites just kept on flooding in, not giving her friends a chance to get to the girl. “Sayuri-chan…” a friend called, trying to invite Miyamae Sayuri into their usual group.

        Sayuri didn’t hear. The friend tried again as she tried to pick out an opening to obtain eye contact through the wall of guys. “Sayuri-chan… Do you—” She moved her head to her right as the opening shifted. “Do you want to—“

        The opening shifted once again, causing her to move further to her right, “…go with us?”

        Sayuri stood up, having enough of the pestering guys. “Umm… I already have a group. I… I’m going to go with my friends—sorry.”

        Sakura turned back to face the front blankly, both arms overlapped each other on her desk. Like the many times today already, Syaoran entered her thoughts. “I keep having that strange dream. Syaoran-kun is always doing the same thing and I’m always wondering what he’s doing. But I can never get far enough to find out...”

        All of a sudden, a familiar chuckle interrupted Sakura’s thoughts. “I’m glad Sayuri-san finally made her choice!”

        It was Yoshiro. He had positioned himself between her and Tomoyo’s desk, gazing at the calmer display in the corner of the room. “Do you mind if I join you: Kinomoto-san, Daidouji-san?” he asked, turning back to face them.

        Tomoyo smiled, “No, we don’t mind… Sakura-chan, you don’t mind do you?”

        “Hoe?” she said, still out of it. Finally understanding the question, she quickly replied with a cheerful tone, “Sure Sato-kun!”

        “Great. I’ll let Okuda-sensei know then,” Yoshiro said before making his way to the teacher.

        “Thanks, Sato-kun,” both Sakura and Tomoyo said.

        Sakura watched his retreating back as he walked over to the teacher’s desk Okuda-sensei was situated at. Upon his return, she looked down, watching from the corner of her eyes, careful not to be discovered.

        Yoshiro casually sat back at his desk. He sat down, facing the front, writing away on his exercise book. Sakura darted her eyes left and right, fingers tapping nervously on her desk. Should she use this time to speak to him—at least set a time to talk about her discovery?

        “Sato-kun…” Yoshiro’s turn made her feel uncomfortable. As an introduction, Sakura decided to change tactics. “How did you go with the martial arts competition?”

        “Oh, I got in!” he said excitedly looking at Sakura then Tomoyo. “Both of you will be there to cheer me on if I make it to the finals right?”

        “Hai!” Tomoyo replied first.

        Sakura nodded enthusiastically before changing expressions again. “Umm… Sato-kun, can I talk to you?”

        He nodded, happily. “Sure.”

        “Can we talk at lunchtime?” Yoshiro arched an eyebrow while Tomoyo wondered Sakura’s cause for the question.

        Yoshiro took a while to answer as he adjusted to Sakura’s uncharacteristic serious tone. “Okay…”

        Just then, an all too familiar ring sounded for the second time. Students looked up, staring at each other, wondering why the fire bell was at it again. Even the teacher seemed surprised.

        “Why is there another one?” Okuda-sensei said to himself. From his relaxed position, he abruptly stood up, “This must be the real thing. Students: head for—“

        The bell stopped ringing.

        “That’s odd…” Okuda-sensei went to the window. No one was there. He then made his way out of the classroom for a while, leaving puzzled students waiting for his next instructions.

        “It was a false alarm, students. No need for concern. Let’s get on with class,” he said coming back into the room.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

        Ito Hideaki, the phys-ed (physical education) teacher, stood behind a line of orange cones with a serious facial cast as he looked out into the distance before him. He held a discus close to his chest, fingertips barely over the edge. Ito-sensei began to swing the discus arm rearward to position it high above his head as his weight laid heavily on the back foot. Reaching his maximum point, he hurled the discus into the air with one quick rotation, his arm pointing in the direction of the flying discus.

        “HOEEEEEE!” Sakura expressed as she watched the discus fly far into the distance.

        “It’s as simple as that, girls,” he said to her and Tomoyo.

        Ito-sensei picked up another discus, handing it to Sakura. “Here, you give it a try first, Kinomoto-san; and then you go next, Daidouji-san. Just remember, don’t grip the discus too firmly—it should fall to the ground when you flip your hand over. That’s how loose it should be.”

        Both of them nodded, “Hai.”

        Readying herself, Sakura held the discus, sandwiching it between her two palms, swaying it back and forth to get the feel of its weight. She looked out into the distance, visualising where she wanted to direct her discus. Finding the sunlight obstructing, she moved out of its way to the left before going through the steps Ito-sensei had gone through.

        “That’s it, Kinomoto-san! You did it. That was excellent stuff,” he praised as he watched the discus glide smoothly through the air. “Now, Daidouji-san, you give it a try.”

        “Hai, Ito-sensei,” Tomoyo complied.

        Stepping up to the line, Tomoyo went through the same steps both Ito-sensei and Sakura had gone through previously. She swung it, imitating the technique as closely as she could before releasing the discus into the air.

        Ito-sensei, Sakura, Tomoyo, and four other classmates behind them watched it in its path, making its way nicely through the air; almost as smoothly as Sakura’s when suddenly, its path was cut short by an oncoming discus.

        Everyone gasped at the contact. Ito-sensei tracked the direction the second discus had come from. “Who was that?”

        “Me,” a student two teams away from Sakura’s confessed.

        “Uchiyama-kun that was good, but try to keep it straight!” he shouted with hint of a laugh. He turned back to Tomoyo, “Your throw was excellent as well, Daidouji-san. Keep at it,” he said to the rest of her teammates before heading off in Uchiyama’s direction.

        “That was a great throw, Tomoyo-chan!” Sakura said, walking to the back of the line with Tomoyo.

        “Thanks, Sakura-chan; yours was great too!”

        A silence settled in between the two as they made their way to the back of the line. Once again, despondence fell upon Sakura. Not being the one to ignore such behaviour from her best friend, Tomoyo opted to do something about it.

        “There’s something different about today.”

        Sakura turned around, not understanding her sudden statement, “Tomoyo-chan?”

        She stayed staring ahead, serious, but casual. “Yes,” following it with an affirmative nod, almost as if Tomoyo were talking to herself. “It’s different today, but I’m not too certain to why that is.”

        Having understood her best friend’s meaning of the comment, Sakura met Tomoyo’s eyes, briefly not speaking before guilt came into play. Sakura set her gaze to the ground, giving in. “Sorry Tomoyo-chan for not telling you.” Tomoyo nodded once, acknowledging her apology. A pause ensued before Sakura carried on. “It’s… Sato-kun.”

        “Hai,” Tomoyo replied, knowing so. She waited patiently for her friend to allow her thoughts to take relief as the two made it a couple of metres beyond the line, stopping there.

        “He has a magical aura.” Her eyes rolled towards Tomoyo, not really wanting to see the reaction Sakura knew would be the same one she had when she first found out.

        “Sato-kun—He’s the presence you’ve been sensing?”

        “I saw him at the park yesterday using magic, but…” Sakura delayed a shake of the head then looked up, looking at Tomoyo with earnest eyes. “I’m not… too sure; I keep changing my mind. He just seems too nice and he’s our friend... ”

        “Have you tried talking to Sato-kun?”

        She slowly nodded. “This morning, but it didn’t work out.” Tomoyo kept silent, having no answer. “That’s why I’ve asked to meet with him at lunchtime.” Sakura paused for a moment before continuing, “I think I need to talk to him alone—“

        “Hai,” she replied rapidly, showing her complete understanding. “No problem, Sakura-chan.”

        “Arigatou (Thanks).”

        “It’s good luck then,” Tomoyo said. Sakura nodded.

        “Listen up everyone!” Ito-sensei’s voice came roaring through the field. “Time’s up. Gather up your group’s gear and bring it all over here,” he said, gesturing to a box by his feet. “Then head back to the changing rooms to get changed; and once that’s done, you’re dismissed. Have a nice lunchtime.”

        “Hai!” the students replied, their unified response resonating through the field.

        Lunch time had arrived. Only a few students were left changing back into their school uniforms in the changing room. Sakura tugged on her necktie, adjusting it to have it neatly centered around the collar, while Tomoyo prepared to leave.

        “Well, I’m off to the music room to get sheets of music for choir. I’ll see you in the next class, okay?”

        “Hai,” Sakura replied.

        “And good luck again, Sakura-chan,” she said in a softer tone before leaving the changing room.

        Sakura put her phys-ed gear back into her bag. As she did so, she felt knots and butterflies form in her stomach. After this, she had to meet Yoshiro and deal with what she saw yesterday. What if he was not who she thought he was? What if he was the one behind all those events; and if he was—what exactly were Yoshiro’s intentions? What was he after?

        There were so many questions and she was about to find out in the next few minutes as she prepared to leave the changing room to meet him. Feeling uneasy, a few steps were taken before she was sharply alerted by something, causing her to stop and examine her surroundings.

        “The aura!” she said, quietly.

        Full of concentration, she felt the aura beckoning her for the slightest of moments. It existed only for a short while, but she truly felt it this time and it was strong. Sakura further waited for the sensation, hoping it’d turn up again and allow her to fully grasp it. Sure enough it did, but it continued to fluctuate. Her eyes widened.

        Following the aura, came an obscure layer that hovered on the ground around her feet. Then it began to disperse, darkening and thickening as it slowly ascended. Sakura soon realised what it was: “Smoke,” she said underneath her breath.

        Not long after, the earsplitting sound of the fire bell reverberated throughout the room. Reflexively, Sakura looked to the ceiling, as if the sound was foreign to her, but very quickly caught on to its alarming ring. She looked around the changing room, remembering the few classmates still with her, but they had already left.

        COUGH. COUGH.

        Her throat was beginning to irritate; she was in danger. She needed to get out of there fast and before the harmful atmosphere overtook her consciousness.

        Using her athletic abilities, she carried herself out speedily into open air. Sakura took erratic gasps of fresh air, occasionally choking on her own breath. Once her breathing pattern stabilised, she prepared to head for the field, but was halted when she felt the aura again.

        “The aura is in the main building. It’s there!” her senses told her.

        Resolute in her mission, she ran in the direction she felt the aura, gripping tightly onto the star key.

        Out on the fields, panic and chaos ran through the minds of the teachers. Desperately they gathered the students in their year groups, trying to account for the ones who were present and the ones who weren’t. The task was made even more difficult with lunchtime in session.

        “Can anyone tell me who’s not here?” Okuda-sensei asked the students assembled in front of him with exigency; a few students who heard him, shook their heads—too shocked by all of the events happening around them.

        He breathed a heavy sigh as his eyelids dropped, shaking his head, frustration apparent on his visage. “This is hopeless!”

        “The worst thing is the senior students: since some of them may have chosen to go out for lunch, we haven’t a clue if any of them are in the building or having lunch off site,” hissed the female teacher standing next to Okuda-sensei.

        “Hai,” he replied coolly, restraining the rage he felt towards the situation.

        “Okuda-sensei,” entered a voice above the commotion. The teacher turned to see Chiharu, Rika and Naoko running towards him in distress. “Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan, and Sato-kun are not here!”

        “What was your last class?” he demanded.

        “Phys-ed,” Chiharu replied.

        “Did you see them leave that class?”

        Brows furrowed, looking squarely into Okuda-sensei’s eyes, Naoko replied, “I don’t know. Sakura-chan and Tomoyo-chan were still changing out of their gear when we left.”

        “…about five minutes ago,” Rika added, assuming that would be the teacher’s next question.

        “Okay, thank you for that.”

        “Hai,” the three said, concern displayed on their faces.

        Okuda-sensei turned to the female teacher next to him, “I’m going to look for them.”

        “Wait—“

        “It’s okay,” he said firmly before running towards the phys-ed block. “Just inform the fire department I’m in there when they arrive.”

        A lone figure walked the now very bleak conditions of the hallway. The faint outlines of a hand could be seen as it touched adjacent walls, using it as a substitute for sight, guiding the way.

        “Sakura-chan,” it called. It was Tomoyo’s barely audible, raspy voice.

        She continued relentlessly through the hallway. It seemed so futile to move through the murky environment only to feel door after door after door. Her eyes were stinging whilst a burning sensation subsided in her chest with every step she took, finding it harder and harder to breathe through the stifling air. To make it worse, her body was beginning to protest against it, feeling weak and tired.

        “Sakura-chan… Please help me…” she pleaded, but once again, in vain.

        Finding the situation testing, she sighed heavily, taking in a great deal of the acrid smoke. She coughed violently, her body rejecting the dirty air. Gradually, her body sunk to the ground, leaning against the wall.

        For a while she sat there, resting whilst listening to the continuous ring of the fire bell. “How come I didn’t hear the warning of the bell in the music room?” she said, recalling a quiet room.

        Suddenly Tomoyo felt her head droop ever so slightly. Quickly she forced it back up, carrying on thinking to prevent herself from falling unconscious. “It’s odd how there’s still no fire either—Magic?”

        At the thought, Tomoyo went into a whine, “Sakura-chan: I had so many battle costumes made for you too and you haven’t even worn one… Today would have been the perfect opportunity.”

        Determined to make it out of the hallway for that fact, Tomoyo stood up. “I’ll do it for Sakura-chan…” Tomoyo felt herself sway as she became light-headed, nevertheless she continued, shaking it off. “…and the costumes,” she said weakly, almost falling over again.

        She leaned heavily against the wall, her hand slapping it, providing support, but not for long. One of the pages of the booklet she felt underneath her palm ripped off its binding, causing her to crash to the ground. Tomoyo groaned at the impact.

        Feeling herself drift off into darkness; her senses were beginning to retire. Whatever was left for her eyes to see began to blur as all sound blended into one low hum. Then her eyelids began to close as reality and illusion became the same.

        In that state, Tomoyo began to doze off, but before she did, she felt her body being lifted off the floor onto something. Repetitively, she felt herself slip as her limbs dangled heavily in the air. After a while of moving around, she found herself become stable as her head lurched forward, sustaining her position before she finally lost consciousness.

        Meanwhile, Sakura feared not much better. “Where’s the aura?” she said, running—her steps showing signs of fatigue as she heavily stamped on the floors.

        She had been chasing the aura in this suffocating smoke for a while now and it was causing her to lose a lot of energy. The smoke was getting worse every passing second—rather she was getting worse; and although she had only been in this environment for a few minutes, she didn’t know how much longer she could stand it.

        Sakura halted in her tracks, unable to pinpoint the aura’s location. “I can’t sense it. It’s gone,” exhaling heavily, coughing repetitively as she shielded her eyes from the smoke, feeling them sting. “I have to stop all of this,” deciding that defeating the magic was more important.

        Flaccidly throwing a Sakura card into the air, Sakura raised her transformed sealing rod before weakly commanding, “Windy!” The white spirit obeyed her mistress as its long, slender figure powered through the vicinity effortlessly.

        Keeping her gaze on Windy, the spirit continued to move boldly ahead, trapping and containing the smoke within her form. Hope ran through Sakura as she witnessed a path devoid of smoke emerge. Just as it looked like it was working, Windy suddenly halted in her path, confused to why her hold had been broken. Windy spun herself around as she watched the smoke circle her figure before it settled back in the space it had occupied not too long ago.

        Sakura gasped, “What? It’s not working!” once again, letting out a few coughs—each consecutive cough harsher than the previous; the dark, thick smoke had surrounded her once more.

        “What can I do? Why isn’t Windy working on the smoke?” Sakura questioned—desperation apparent in her tone as Windy returned.

        Suddenly, Sakura felt herself give way to exhaustion. “I spent too long chasing the aura…” she said to herself, realising her mistake.

        Sakura collapsed to the ground. Her hands and knees hit hard against its surface as she was forced to let go of the grip she had around the sealing rod upon contact.

        In and out… in and out, she told herself, concentrating on her breathing for the while—although uneven. If she were to defeat this magic, she needed to stay conscious; it was all up to her. There was no one else to do this; she was the card mistress. She had to stay awake.

        Groggily, Sakura stood up, pushing herself to carry on. Every part of her body pained and ached, limbs like anchors at every movement she took. Her throat felt unbearably sore now that she swore serrated knives were slicing through the walls each time she swallowed.

        Trying to stop the awful sensation, Sakura placed a hand around her throat. With her free arm, she then placed it over her nose and mouth area in an effort to protect the smoke from entering her system any further.

        Unexpectedly, the aura appeared again, but it was confused with something else. She didn’t know what though. “What?” Immediately, Sakura shot her head up, forgetting any discomfort she felt a moment ago.

        LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT… Sakura’s feet ran, but she didn’t get very far as the coughs took control of her, forcing her to stop once again. “I can’t stand this much longer.” Her head began to sag, eyes closing to only slits, “Why… are you doing this?” voice losing strength.

        Feeling breathless, she realised her first priority was not finding the aura, but saving herself and clearing the smoke: the aura had to come second.

        Body slumped, Sakura stood still, trying to recover a little bit of her strength. As she thought, her coughs continued to surface. Coming up with an idea, she took off her blazer draping it over her left arm. “Watery,” she commanded.

        A spray of water lightly soaked the blazer as Watery swept past it. Content with the amount of saturation, Sakura sluggishly grabbed it to place the blazer over her mouth.

        “A little bit better,” she said. “Okay, what can I do to get rid of this smoke?”

        “I already tried Windy, but it didn’t work. Why not? What can I use to defeat the magic?”

        Her eyelids blinked wearily a couple of times.

        “I burnt my croquettes one time… and the kitchen filled with smoke, so I waved a cloth and the smoke cleared,” she recalled. “But how come Windy didn’t clear the smoke?”

        As she continued to find the solution, Sakura’s balance began to lose itself. She was beyond exhaustion, but held on.

        “Ar…Arrow—I need to open windows… Arrow,” she commanded, finally finding the answer. Arrow flew out of the card, waiting for a command from her mistress, but none came.

        “I’m… tired…” Sakura barely got out, swaying further as her head lost elevation.

        Not having enough magic to sustain Arrow, the blue figure dissipated away. Sakura slowly inclined off to the side as gravity pulled her closer to the hard floor below. There was nothing left in her to fight anymore.

        “I couldn’t do it…” she said to herself, disappointed as she closed her eyes.

        Sakura continued to fall to her slumber. At any moment now she was going to crash to the floor, hitting head first. No doubt the right side of her head would throb immensely, but she didn’t care; she didn’t have the energy to care.

        Inches above the ground as she expected to feel its hard surface beneath her, she felt firm arms wrap around her shoulders before they trembled slightly. She opened her eyes ever so slightly to see the arms of the figure. Then Sakura noticed another figure: the second figure was unconscious as its long hair hung over the first figure, tickling her face.

        “W-what’s… going on?”

        “I-it’s okay,” the figure said, voice losing strength also, “I’m here to help you.” Sakura nodded, laying her trust in the figure.

        In her periphery as she rested, she could see a line of floating spheres of light, tracking all the way back in the path the figure had come from.

        “We’re all going to get out of here, Kinomoto-san,” she heard him say.

        “Sato-kun?”

        “Hai,” his voice: hoarse.

        Sakura felt herself slide in his arms as Yoshiro was apparently trying to get the figure on his shoulder to the ground. Her eyes widened as something above her provided illumination, allowing her to see who the figure was: “Tomoyo-chan!”

        Then her eyes lazily rolled upwards, catching onto an arc-like object, glowing, and slowly descending. She watched it as it stopped to hover overhead. Yoshiro’s hand moved into her line of vision, out-stretched fingers pressing down on the surface in some sort of sequence.

        One, two, three, Sakura counted the times he made contact with the object. His arm moved out of her way. Shortly after, she noticed that her breathing improved a smidgen. Yoshiro had done something to make the air more bearable—a shield maybe. She then felt an arm hook around her own before she was on the move.

        Awkwardly, Sakura and Tomoyo were dragged along the floor—a jerking motion apparent as Yoshiro pulled them backwards. He, too, was having trouble competing with the smoke.

        Sakura watched the floating spheres pass her by on her right. Slowly, the lights became indistinct as they blinked in and out of her vision. She relaxed further into Yoshiro’s grasp, surrendering to the fatigue as her eyelids became heavier by the second. In doing so, she felt herself slip.

        He was getting weaker; his grip was getting weaker. Not before long, Sakura felt Yoshiro’s arms unhook from under her. “Sato-kun?” she called out in her mind—where did he go?

        COUGH… COUGH, COUGH, COUGH, COUGH

        Realising what had happened, Sakura switched her mind to her best friend. “Tomoyo-chan...” she thought as she made her way to the ground. “Sato-kun… Yokatta (I’m glad).”

        With those last thoughts, Sakura met the ground, finally losing the will to stay awake. She had been beaten by the smoke.

To be continued in episode 7: “Sakura and the Return of an Old Friend”.