CardCaptor Sakura Remastered III Episode 10 (10)

CardCaptor Sakura Remastered III Episode 10 (10)
Inspired by the original CCSakura fanfic “A Dance to Remember” by Clayton Overstreet.

She undid the laces in the back that held it together and carefully pulled it on, loving the feel of the soft fabric against her skin. Then she slipped on the stockings and put her feet into the shoes. As expected everything fit perfectly.
Sakura stood in front of her mirror for a while looking at herself. She felt like a princess and loved the way the dress caught the light and shimmered as she walked.

Kero, escaping the watchful gaze of Cloud for the time being, had flown into the room while she was in the shower and was sitting on Sakura's dresser. Sakura smiled at him and twirled in her dress. "What do you think Kero?" Kero looked her over and gave her a thumbs up (sorta) to which she stopped and looked at him. "I thought you said you usually wasn’t one to judge human beauty.” at this Kero blushes. “I don’t need to judge it to know you look great in it!" Sakura blushed and bows, taking abit of weight off of Kero‘s shoulders unknowingly.

"Thanks Kero. I hope Tomoyo likes it." Kero smiled and nods his head up and down furiously. "She likes anything you wear Sakura! Remember that costume she made you when you went after the Illusion card and ended up fighting Mimic?" Sakura blushed. "I liked that costume. Anyway I just wanted your opinion on this one." She turned to leave the room. "I'll see you when I get back Kero. Good night."

"Good night Sakura." Kero said, flying back to his room where Cloud was already waiting, no doubt Wii Sports or Rayman was already waiting for him as well as snack foods and sodas for a long gaming session ahead of them. This time, he silently vowed to himself, he was going to beat her. This time for certain!

* * * * * *

Meanwhile
As she walked downstairs she saw the mostly everyone was there. Besides the residence of the house (Sonomi, Fuu the maid, Light & Dark (in their maid outfits), Umi (Water), Gaia (Wood), Windy (who Sonomi seemed to be comforting for some reason) and a few bodyguards)) there were also Nina, Tina, Keiko, Eve (just arrived) and a rather nosy Misho who couldn’t climb on Keiko’s shoulders fast enough to get a good view of the dress. “It’s beautiful!“ she gasped, to which Keiko growled, “Yeah that’s nice and all, so get your frickin’ butt off my head already!!“

Nina whistled in a nasty way and gave her a thumbs-up sign. "Nice dress, Snoozer! Don‘t fall aslee --” (pak) “Uh… Tina…”
Sonomi nodded in agreement. "You really are beautiful, Sakura. You look just like your mother -- bless her heart and soul." She finished, smiling back at Windy who blushed at the sudden attention, yet kept silent. As if on cue, everyone broke into applause (including Keiko who still had Misho balanced on her shoulders, face scrunched up as she regarded the wildly clapping Nekochanian on her back). "Thanks you, everyone!” Sakura spoke loudly, bowing to everyone. “You've all been really great about all of this. I appreciate it, I really do."

“We’ve been good because we’ve been waiting for the big show!” Nina hooted, before getting another firm tap to the top of her head from Tina to silence her. Sonomi hugged her, wiping a few tears from her face as she did. "I already peeked at my daughter’s dress, but she wouldn’t let me look at yours -- I’m so proud of you --“ (blushes) “-- it’s like your already family and we haven’t even had a wedding yet!“

“Pwhee?!?“ Sakura suddenly felt all the blood rush out of her as she turned pale, thankfully Sonomi kept talking. “Like we told you Sakura, we're just happy that you and Tomoyo are so happy together and that all that matters to us." Tina nodded, one hand rising to gently cup Sakura’s cheek, her eyes firmly beholding her as she did, "Besides, mistress now has to find less reasons to tease you if she knows what’s good for her."

Sakura nodded her head, to which Nina reluctantly did likewise, “I guess.” (a large smile overcomes Nina) “Come here you!”

"Thanks Nina!" Sakura cheerfully cried out as she hugs Nina, holding her tight -- until she finally pushed Sakura away with a look on her face, “ALRIGHT ALRIGHT ALRIGHT already!! Sheesh!!“ (walks off to the kitchen) “One step at a time dammit! Hmph. I don‘t care anymore anyway. I‘m going to eat now --“ Sonomi smiles down at Sakura. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat? (At least before Nina eats it all)."

“I HEARD THAT!!” Nina yelled in reply.

“I hope I didn’t wrink --?“ (the dress, wrinkled abit, suddenly straightened itself out again and made itself presentable to Sakura’s shock) “Uh -- I did that.“ Eve admits, blushing. “Simple care spell. It’ll keep the dress pretty, stain free, 100% intact and it’ll even withstand the wash.“ (Sakura smiles at that, realizing that one wrong washing adventure with her not knowing how to care for the dress could have meant it’s demise). Sakura looks at the clock, her heart beginning to race abit. Tomoyo wanted to surprise Sakura so she left early to meet her at the convention center. "No thank you, Mrs. Dai-- I mean Sonomi-chan.” (Sonomi insisted months ago that Sakura stop being so formal around her and call her Sonomi from now on, though she was still having a hard time remembering to do it.) “There will be food at the dance and I don't want to take the chance of getting anything on my dress before Tomoyo has a chance to see me in it."

“There WILL be food, right?“ Keiko asked, looking up at the Neko on her shoulders to which Misho frowned. “Yes, dammit, there WILL be food -- one time I have a dessert party and she thinks everything I hold with food is going to be cakes.“

"Alright.“ (Now Eve was talking, handing Sakura a small watch which she puts on her wrist) “Tomoyo is waiting at the center. This --“ (pointing at the watch) “-- is a tracker watch. Similar to the Seeker that Rebecca has but compact. It can tell you where someone or something is, how far, and also can give you the quickest course somewhere. It also has a Shield Projector, a homing beacon, a water spell to repel rain or water splashes, and a way to track individuals. Just say their name and it’ll do a tracking search for them and display it on the maps mode.“

“----“ (Sakura rotates the watch about a few times) “Where’s the time.“

“uhhh -- there wasn’t enough room on it for that (how embarrassing) -- uhhh -- sorry about that…” Eve mutters, face blushing red, “Anyway Misho’s limo will pick you and Tomoyo up afterwards so no worries about a ride.“

“Here you are, Sakura-chan.“ (Tina pushes a commlink into Sakura’s hand) “Please either put that in your purse or clip it onto your dress. Nina wanted you to have it just in case of emergency.“ Sakura nods as she slips the commlink out of sight. "Tell Nina thank you for me. And thank you, Eve, for the watch." Nina calls out from the kitchen suddenly, "YOU’RE WELCOME!“ Sakura blushed as Sonomi steps in. "I think Nina cares about you more than she lets on, she‘s actually quite sweet at times."

“NO I DON’T, AND NO I‘M NOT!!” (Nina) "Alright, alright. But when you get back you have to tell us everything Sakura.”

“I don’t care!” (Nina)

“Where?”

“Living room, Sakura.” (Eve)

“Ok.” Sakura looked up at everyone and smirks. Nina really did care about Sakura, even if she didn‘t want to admit it to herself. "I'll tell you all what I think you need to know and you'll like it."

“TOLD YOU SO!!” (Nina) Everyone (including Sonomi) blushed, relinquishing that maybe they wanted more juicy details than even Nina thought they deserved. Everyone suddenly turns on Keiko, who continues to stand to one side staring nonchalantly. After a few seconds she blushes and waves them off. “Alright! Alright! I wanted to know too! Climb off my back -- speaking of which…” (Keiko flips Misho off her back and into the couch and, having rid herself of her excess “baggage“, she walks into the kitchen with Eve behind her to eat).

“It's time to go meet Tomoyo anyway.” Misho remarked, pulling herself off the couch, a definite frown on her face. “Come on, Sakura. I’m chaperone so we’re taking my limo to the dance.” The sound of everyone going to eat followed the two out the door as they headed to the car port and Misho’s waiting limo.

* * * * * *

The ride down was pretty exciting, sitting in the back of Misho’s huge limo all alone (Misho was driving tonight because she gave her driver the night off). Sakura only wished she was with Tomoyo. When they got to the Convention Center, Sakura whistled in amazement. The huge complex was far bigger than the images she saw on the news. When they pulled up to the building a valet took the limo off of Misho’s hands as someone opened Sakura’s door and another person escorted the two inside the huge complex. Once inside they simply had to follow the signs all the way to the dance, which was nearly going to start.

The huge hall that Misho rented was converted into a giant dance hall, with a long table for food and drinks, several dozen small tables for people to sit and enjoy their food, and a large area just for dancing. Two live groups (one an instrumental section for slow dances, and one a live rock band for those wanted something faster) was set up, each taking turns with a huge billboard behind them displaying what song was being played, and what song was coming up next so people could keep track of what‘s playing and when to dance to what beat.

Sakura glanced anxiously about the huge dance hall while Misho spoke with one of her assistants to insure everything was going smoothly. Minutes later she was pulled aside by a tall woman wearing a Freeworld Alliance uniform similar to Nina’s and the two talked in seclusion. Somebody tapped Sakura on the shoulder, it was Rebecca (another of the chaperones) dressed in her best formal Judgment uniform blacks. "She'll be out in a minute. One of Misho’s people says she was in one of the center’s private suite’s bathrooms all afternoon trying to make sure everything was absolutely perfect."
Sakura smiled as Rebecca pointed towards the door she would be entering through, her heart racing as she waited anxiously.

Finally she saw the door sweep open in a grandiose manner as Tomoyo stepped out into the dance hall, bringing everyone to a dead silence as they looked on. "Woooooow---” Sakura stammered, her eyes locked on her, “She’s beautiful."
Tomoyo was wearing a dress that matched her perfectly except that instead of it being Grimmland gold with silver trim, it was breathtaking Elfin silver with gold trim. Trinity, Rebecca’s companion, arranged for elfin silver silk to be delivered to Tomoyo, which she used to make the dress from, laced with Grimmland gold silk. She did the same for Sakura, but in reverse (Grimmland gold trimmed with Elfin silver). A gold hair band glittered on her head and Sakura's breath caught in her throat as Tomoyo began walking towards her, the crowd parting to give her room.

She noticed that Tomoyo had permed her hair so that instead of hanging down like it normally did it was in waves. Rebecca nodded her satisfaction with the dress and smiled, watching Trinity’s reaction from the bandstand (where she was jamming with the rock group on guitar) as she couldn’t stop staring at the beautiful gown. Tomoyo was so incredibly happy that she almost seemed to be glowing, and perhaps she was considering the material she wore was pure Elfin silver. It was then that Sakura noticed the key around her neck. A perfect replica of her sealing wand key, right down to the finest details.

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts as Tomoyo kissed her on the cheek. Once they were together, they sat down at one of the tables as Trinity lead those dancers with shorter skirts through a rousing rock opera tune she particularly loved. Once seated, Tomoyo turned to look at Sakura and blushed slightly. "Well, what do you think?" Sakura was breathtaken for quite a few moments, but she quickly recovered her wits and spoke with a soft awed voice. "You so beautiful, Tomo-chan! And I love these dresses! They‘re--- they‘re---" Tomoyo smiled and leaned in for another quick kiss. "I’m glad you approve. You look beautiful too, Sakura-chan. Even better than I could ever have dreamed."

They both turned towards the stage and watched Trinity get the crowd of students jumping with her high stylin’ loud music which had everyone excited and cheering. Tomoyo suddenly motions to the beautiful ribbon gracing her dress’s front--- only for Sakura to realize that there was a small video camera staring at her if she looked close enough. "I want to get everything on film. Misho also promised me all the footage her people are shooting so we could have something to remember our dance by." (At that Sakura sweatdropped a little, realizing that she had once again figured out how to get a camera into the action, and in such an innovative way too.) “How did you get one so small?”

“Misho gave it to me. It’s a surveillance camera used by Alliance Command for sting operations. Films in full color and can even lock onto the person it’s shooting and drown out the “background noise” to pick up their words only. I’m thinking of using it for future Card Captoring adventures.”

“You are---?” Sakura smiles, knowing that she’d no doubt bring home lots of great (and the occasional embarrassing) shot for her series of Card Captor Sakura animes her animation company released. While listening to Trinity’s rousing music, Sakura looked around for their friends. The first people she recognized was Xai Shar (the Palominian Judgment) and Meilin walking in next to each other. The two seemed rather mis-matched, with Xai towering a full head and shoulders over Meilin, yet they were very happy being together.

Xai Shar was wearing her dress black uniform (Keiko brought it out once when Sakura’s class did Sleeping Beauty for Misho’s yearly Christmas talent show, and explained that it was worn only for special occasions), while Meilin was wearing a beautiful white dress with red Chinese dragons all over it. She was also wearing light blue gloves, but it was the dragons that caught Sakura’s attention.

Sakura smiles at the images and remembers how Meilin, when she dropped in on Sakura and Tomoyo while they were home after Tomoyo returned from the hospital, told them about how she spent a few weeks with Xai at a real Chinese Dragon Retreat over in The Shining Star (the dream continent of Hong Kong). The dragons were actually quite friendly, and when they shape shifted they resembled beautiful Chinese lords and ladies who walked with dignity and spoke with elegance and yet kindness. She was quite a fan of theirs, and it seemed that they were also fans of her because they had heard of her exploits in Japan and admired her. She really enjoyed her time with Xai at that retreat, because it was the place where their love flourished, blossomed, and became as strong as it is today.

The Retreat was also one of the things Meilin missed about being away from home, and she promised herself that she and Xai would visit the dragons again when she returned to The Shining Star. When she saw Sakura and Tomoyo she waved and Xai bowed slightly, gesturing politely, before moving on back to their table (plates of food in hand). They looked around and soon spotted Chiharu walking in with Yamazaki (who Keiko had “affectionately“ nicknamed “Yama the Liar“). As it looked like the instrumentals were about to play a soft dance next, Tomoyo and Sakura looked at each other. They were both plainly nervous and some how that made them both feel better. Sakura squeezed Tomoyo's hand and she returned the gesture, her free hand double checking the mimi camera set into her ribbon, her nerves tense as the music started in low. Together they stepped up onto the dance floor and began to dance on the first soft musical score that was played. The song was gentle, light and yet sweeping in it’s tones and scoring. The two found themselves simply swept away by it as they danced and danced, the two of them being the only things that mattered at that moment.

As the music ended they found their friends, and joined them at a larger table to eat. The girls had broken off into their own group, leaving their dates to talk and eat with the other guys. Meilin and Xai was there too, Xai catching half the girl‘s eyes as they couldn‘t stop staring at the tall Palominian at the table, her horse like features crinkling abit as she was clearly nervous under the watchful gazes of the girls. So, for Xai, it was a good thing when the girls focused their attentions to compare dresses, which directed attention away from Xai since she was wearing her formal uniform.

Sakura smiled at them and said, "You all look great." Meilin looked at them, and gestured towards them. "Well we don't have anything on you two, you look like a matched set." Tomoyo blushed as Sakura told them she had made the dresses. Everyone congratulated Tomoyo on a job well done and told her that they were even more sure than ever that she'd be a great fashion designer one day. Sakura glanced around the room and saw Misho standing in the back, wearing her best evening dress (cut extremely low in the back so her tail could hang out unencumbered to swing freely) as she was talking to Miss Mitsuki who had volunteered as another one of the chaperones. Misho, her back shivering as if she could fee her gaze, turned and gave her and Tomoyo a thumbs up. Miss Mitsuki, upon seeing Misho’s movements, also saw them and immediately walked over to talk to them.

It was a good thing Nina passed on playing chaperone, or someone would have been muttering about the “walking 8 ball“ right about now. "My you all look perfectly lovely." All the girls blushed simultaneously and thanked her for the compliment. Just then, Trinity retook center of her stage area and got the crowd back on it‘s feet again. "Alright!! ARE YOU READY FOR JAM AGAIN??” The crowd roared it’s approval, answering ‘yes’ at the same time. "Then those who love to jam grab your partners and come out onto the dance floor!"
The ones who could (or wanted to) found their dates and headed out to the dance area again, Trinity already warming up for another epic rock opera piece she picked to get the crowd jumping. “That’s Trinity for you.“ Sakura heard behind her, noting that Rebecca was near her again, “The first song to start had to be a fast paced one. That was her deal for signing up as part of the musical selections for the dance.” Rebecca sits down, looking over Sakura‘s shoulder at the dance going on in high gear behind her as she went back to eating, “She’s a hit, no doubt about it. Everyone seems to enjoy her high style of loud music. The lighting effects are particularly nice too, strobe lights, and lasers that had been set up made the room look like it was spinning---” (takes a sip of her soda) “---I thought Trinny was going to drop a bundle of kittens on the spot the minute Misho told her that she wanted the special effects safety checked to make sure nobody had seizures or anything. I mean she nearly went ballistic. I never seen her so wired up about a performance like she was for this one--- it came to the point that she almost started sleeping with the equipment to make sure it wasn’t damaged! That girl can be such a perfectionist at times”

After the song there was a break as Trinity prepared another rousing full out song, during which Tomoyo and Sakura headed over to the food table for seconds. Admittedly, the two had skipped out on everything but breakfast and a small lunch so they were famished right now. Misho, true to her word, had stocked a fine assortment of food for the dance.
The table setting looked like a dining room meal from a Harry Potter movie, with a large amount of food available for any tastes with enough sodas and juices to keep the entire party well supplied in a non-alcoholic way for the entire night. Tomoyo went to get a bottle of soda for each of them while Sakura got them some plates of chicken steaks, garlic pasta (in a light butter sauce), and an assortment of crackers and cheeses for quick energy.

They took their time eating, talking with their friends as they did, and when they were done eating the instrumentals were up again as second, slower song had started. Tomoyo had already noted some of Misho’s “camera pods” overhead, and some of her people shooting footage on the ground, but to make sure she had Misho hold her spare video camera while she and Sakura danced. Each of them had one hand on the other's waist and the other on a shoulder. Sakura and Tomoyo looked into each other's eyes the whole time. It wasn't until much later that they noticed most of the others had stopped dancing.

In fact aside from themselves there was only one other couple left on the dance floor: Xai and Meilin. Sakura looked around and saw her friends smiling at them from the side along with everyone else. She whispered in Tomoyo's ear. "I think we've been set up."

"I think you're right." Suddenly from the stage Rebecca’s voice cut through the music. "It seems we have a bit of a contest on our hands. I have here a request from the majority of the people here to keep playing music until I either run out, or one of these happy couples drops." Sakura and Tomoyo glanced at Xai and Meilin. Xai looked back with a rather wide smile on her short snout and shrugged while Meilin smiled at them. "I could dance all night long--- you two are up to it, aren‘t you?" Sakura glanced at Tomoyo who smiled and nodded. She looked back at Xai and said, "You're on!"

The assembled kids cheered them on and started clapping their hands to the music. Sakura didn’t want to look away from Tomoyo. Half because she couldn’t tear herself away from Tomoyo’s beautiful eyes, half because she figured Trinity was throwing a major fit and pouting because her “time” on stage was being stolen away. Occasionally, a few of the dancers joined in just for fun. As they danced to the music Sakura and Tomoyo stared into each other's faces. Hours passed, and from time to time Trinity organized a “ring dance” about the two slow dancers with hot music just so she had something to do, but that didn’t seem to phase the two in the slightest who had campods over their heads playing soft music just for them while they danced under a “hush light” generated from the bottom of each campod (usually for interviews in loud situations) which kept Trinity’s loud music out.

Finally, Rebecca announced the last dance of the evening. Everyone crowded onto the dance floor as a soft, slow song filled the hall. Sakura and Tomoyo moved closer together, leaning on each other as they danced. "This has been the best night of my life Sakura-chan. Thank you." Tomoyo whispered in her ear. Sakura smiled and nodded. "Mine too, Tomo-chan. Mine too." Sakura looked up over Tomoyo's shoulder and saw Meilin leaning against Xai, obviously tired from all the dancing. Xai was doing the dancing now for the both of them, smiling as she led Meilin, holding her up in her strong arms. Sakura grinned at her and winked, to which Xai made a gentle “hush” motion as she put a finger to his lips.

Sakura nodded softly and she turned back to Meilin. Finally the song came to an end and everyone applauded. Sakura and Tomoyo took a seat and rested their legs for a minute. Misho came up and handed Tomoyo her camera back and smiled at them. "You two were great out there. That really set the mood." Sakura smiled at her. "Thank you Misho."
Tomoyo smiled at her as well, "I hope it wasn't too much trouble taping us like that." Misho smiled and shook her head. "No problem. And just so you know, I’m not planning on selling copies or anything. Everyone who is walking about and filming are just carrying transmitter cams, the actual footage is being stored in a locked down system that only myself and a few people can access. We’ll make the copies and wipe the hard drives clean ourselves so no unauthorized copies are made. Will that be alright with you?"

"Deal.” Tomoyo nodded, giggling abit. “So what are you doing the rest of the night?" At that Misho shrugs. "Ah. Boring night and there’s nothing good on TV, so I was thinking of visiting my baby sister in Hawaii and seeing how she’s doing. I have a tech shuttle waiting for me on the roof so I‘m going right after I leave the dance. Rebecca is going to drive you two home in my limo, by the way." Sakura smiled and checked her watch. "Well it's almost time for the limo to come pick us up. Say hi to your sister for us.“

With a slight flourish in her bow, Misho nods and turned to walk off, headed towards the private entrance she used when she first entered. As she did this, Sakura and Tomoyo looked around at the people filing out of the dance. Trinity, who was happier than Sakura would have thought she’d be after what transpired, was packing up her guitar and instructing the cleaning staff on packing the band’s things away. A huge cleaning staff was already packing out the dishes, while a group called “People For The Ethical Use of Party Foods” was packing away the food in time-lock cases (preserving the food) to be sent to Nina’s underground base she kept under Sakura‘s school. Sakura could almost guess the first day back menu for the staff commissary, “Chicken steaks and garlic pasta in a light butter sauce” being one of her guesses. Xai and Meilin passed them on the way out, Meilin being held up by one of Xai’s arms wrapped around her waist as they made their way to the exit.

As they passed, Meilin smiled at them and waved slightly. "You two were great out there. Almost as good as Xai and me." At that Xai smirked, a few of her strong teeth showing through her smile as she leaned over and nuzzled her face against the top of Meilin’s head. Sakura looked at the two and nodded, "Thanks Meilin." As they walked outside, Sakura took Tomoyo's hand and lead her out the huge doors and through the corridors until they reached the front (the signs were now in reverse helping people out instead of in). Rebecca & Trinity were waiting as they stepped outside, the staff eager to help the two in as the driver who brought the limo to the front passes the keys to Rebecca.

She smiles at them as they climb into the back seat.’ As the limo sets off back to the Daidouji Estates, Rebecca makes for some small talk through the limo‘s speaker system.
"So did you two have a lot of fun? (Keiko‘s going to faint when she finds out that there was actual food at the event! I had that food group give me some of it so I‘m going to bring it in for everyone to eat.)"

“Pwhee?” Tomoyo smiles at her. "You honestly didn’t think anyone was going to fall asleep without milking us for details about the dance, did you?“

“Yeah---” Sakura nods, blushing. Everyone was no doubt wide awake and curious as heck, and there would no doubt be a ton of questions to answer once they stepped through the front doors. Thankfully they had video of the event to show to deflect their questions for the time being. “It was great, wasn’t it?” Sakura remarked. “It was. Wait until you see the DVD I’ll make of it! It’ll be my best work yet.“

“Tomo-chan---“ Sakura sighed, knowing that Tomoyo was only kidding her--- to a point. She knew in a few days there would be a new DVD up on the shelves of their bedroom and it’d be of the dance. Still, it would be nice to keep those memories alive forever--- those happy memories. Rebecca laughed. "You tape everything!” (silence) “Even Alliance Command doesn’t tape as much things as you. I swear if you didn’t go into animation you would have ended up a TV News Reporter! I'm only sorry that I have to stay over at your place tonight and watch the watery mouths as everyone drools over the footage! (I find displays like that over something so non-hentai to be rather disturbing!) Are you sure you two are alright? Sharing this stuff with them? Not like it’s their business to know, you know that. I could always stop off at a 24 hour store, buy supplies, and “lose” you two and those supplies at Sakura's old house if you‘d rather have the night to yourselves."

Sakura shook her head, "No, that's alright." To which Rena became rather silent. She must have been staring backward for a second before focusing on the road, her thoughts mulling over the next thing to say. Then--- "Just checking. Don't worry about it. I‘ll stuff them all full of food and they‘ll fall asleep faster than you can say “Blockbusters“. Anyway, once they’re out like lights you'll have the whole remainder of the night to yourselves. I took Tomoyo to buy you a few new DVDs to watch and--- hold on.“ (silence) “OK. Nina ordered you a pizza and it’ll be sitting in the second cylinder back home exactly 15 minutes after we arrive.“ (again, silence) “Tricky devil hiding a teleporter in the second cylinder like that after Tomoyo left for the dance." The ride back let Tomoyo and Sakura rest their tired legs, and ponder the “story“ they would tell everyone about the dance.

The dance itself? It had lasted for over four hours, but to them it seemed like an eternity. When they got home they all walked inside, knowing what was coming--- What they saw, however, surprised even Tomoyo. At first the house was rather empty, or so it seems. But once Sakura found the note in the kitchen they knew exactly where everyone was. Nina had opened up the downstairs Holochamber and everyone was there broken up into groups of four in this huge simulation of a giant rec room playing Mario Party 8 on the Wii. The strangest thing was seeing Sonomi, fixated on her move, as she was competing against Windy, Umi & Gaia. As they walked in everyone paused their games and all eyes fell upon the two. With a slight smirk Tomoyo presented the video (made on the way home with some equipment in the back of Misho’s limo) for everyone to see. This, of course, was a first cut and Tomoyo would spend all day tomorrow with all the copies to make a better final cut, but for now that all they needed to see. The room was shifted into a theatrical setting and everyone took their seats as the room darkened, and the film began. Before the two finally managed to sneak off to bed, everyone had given them several rounds of applause and a few standing ovations. Clearly the video was a hit, and this was only a rushed first draft--- they already were anticipating the final cut and talking about it (while playing MP8) as the two snuck away to go to bed to eat the pizza, watch a little TV, and fall asleep.

* * * * * *

That night was the best night they had in awhile, and yet Sakura knew that it was just the beginning for them. As she laid in bed, holding Tomoyo’s sleeping form snug in her arms, she thought about the dance--- and it made her happy. And it seemed to make Tomoyo happy too. That night she only had good dreams, and from that point forward she used her happy memory of that night to push away any bad visions while holding onto the good ones. It was as if that night was made just for them. And, in a sense, it was. Or so it goes at least.

Next : CardCaptor Sakura Remastered IV (all new revisioning)