CardCaptor Sakura Remastered IV Episode 2 (10)

CardCaptor Sakura Remastered IV Episode 2 (10)

It was the beginning of school once again.

A few days after New Years’. Only this time now that things have changed, and CLAMP School no longer loomed overhead, things were slowly settling into it’s normal flow (normal even for the rather easy going schools format of Edenina, the Realm of Dreams).

Regardless of whether CLAMP School dominated the sky or not, one thing remained the same… life went on. And it was in this mindset that Sakura found herself scrambling to get ready, hands flying everywhere and sweat forming on her brow. “I’m late! I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!”

“You wouldn’t be late if you practiced the skill of getting up when
your alarm sounds.” Kero grumbled as he watched Sakura rampage about
the huge room trying to get ready. “Tomoyo gets up before the alarm,
why can’t you--”

“THE BED FELT TOO GOOD TO GET UP FROM!!” she screams, hustling to get
dressed as she did. Sakura Kinomoto, not exactly a morning person by
anyone standards, yet a good girl nevertheless.

“Any dreams lately?” Kero asked the blur that was Sakura.

“No. Nothing important.” Sakura muttered, dressing, “Just the same
dream of Tokyo Tower I told you about. Nothing new.”

Kero nearly faints. “That’s not important? Sakura!”

“I got to go!” she yelped, grabbing for her bag, “I’ll talk about it
with you later!”

The door slams shut leaving him behind. “Sigh. She’ll never learn.”

From the hallway she could year a yelp and a crash, “Uh-boy.”

* * * * * *

Sakura didn’t get very far. The instant she flew out the door, bag in
hand, she collided headlong into someone and knocked them down. The
two of them hit the ground as she felt her breath whipped away from
the impact. Dazed and confused, she muttered “I’m sorry! I‘m sorry! I…” as she tried to look at who she hit. That’s when she froze up. Tomoyo looked up from beneath her, half her face from her nose on up was peeking out from beneath Sakura’s breasts, a slight blush on her cheeks.
“Breakfast.” she cheerfully (yet slightly muffled) called out.

Sakura couldn’t get off fast enough it seemed, feeling a full on body
blush, though Tomoyo took it in good stride walking Sakura to the
kitchen. As she did this she made sure to comment on how Sakura was
becoming really strong these days, though it only served to make
Sakura more insecure, “…hoooeeee…” she whined, looking red as a
lobster from the embarrassment.

They ate a quick breakfast, and was off to school. However there was a
little disagreement as they headed out the door. At first Sakura tried
to stop Mirra from going, but she told Sakura simply that she had to
go, with a reluctant Hikaru in hand. They had both healed from their
injuries from the event on New Year’s Eve but Hikaru was still flustered by what happened, thus she was still endlessly apologizing for everything. She had a long way to go to recovery, but as long as Mirra was with her everything would be fine.

Sakura made their lunches last night, and Tomoyo packed them away,
leaving the two girls the task of getting to school. As Tomoyo bladed
next to Sakura, her pace slightly slower so she could watch Sakura as
she rolled next to her, she began to worry about her.

Every noise seemed to get Sakura out of bed in a heartbeat. Every
slight creak or pak or groan got Sakura up, and she want to admit why,
but Tomoyo knew. Sakura was still recovering from what happened to
Mirra and Hikaru, still trying to get over the fact that someone she loved could be hurt even from a distance (like what Mimic did to Mirra).

This thought seemed to dominate her thoughts no matter how hard Tomoyo worked to dislodge it, making Sakura very nervous and jumpy at night to the point that she seemed as if she was going to jump out of her skin at any moment. She tried to be calm, but her nerves kept getting the better of her.

Tomoyo wanted to do something, but for now all she could do was reach
out and take Sakura’s hand. Sakura briefly tensed, but relaxed when she
realized it was only Tomoyo. Hand in hand, a warming blush etched
across Sakura’s face, the two reached the school and quickly got to
class. Sakura gently squeezed Tomoyo’s hand with every turn they took,
partially to insure her partner made the turn, partially to assure
herself that she was still there. As they locked their gear away and
put their slippers on she felt Tomoyo slide up behind her, and gently
kiss the nape of her neck, relishing briefly this beautiful moment.
Then it was upstairs and straight to class.

Once they got there they could see that half of the class had yet to
arrive, but some of the more notables was already there. Rebecca was in a far more smarmy mood than she had ever been before, and no wonder,
because she was already trading shots with Keiko before the day had even started. They sat in their usual corner, taking pot shots at each other verbally as Sakura/Tomoyo came into the room.

Keiko was sprawled onto her own desk, glancing over at Rebecca as they mentally sparred back and forth, yet she still looked rather bored as she did that. Sakura and Tomoyo exchanged glances, yet Sakura seemed to
be the only one who was concerned, Tomoyo smiled and gave her an
assuring nod as if to silently tell her that everything was going to
be just fine with the two of them.

Nina, of course, was probably monitoring from the control room she kept on campus. Mr. Terada wasn’t there yet, but then again neither was Rika.
“Maybe she’s going to be off today?” Tomoyo suggested, motioning to
the class. Sure enough, it seemed at least half the class was off
today, probably still recovering from the shock of the last few days.
“I hope she’s alright.” Sakura whispered, looking concerned.

“Lots of people took today off.” Keiko noted, drawing the two’s
attention towards them. “Last time’s excuse was CLAMP School…“ (bleah) “…now that there’s no excuse though it’s mostly since they’re just blowing off the first day since nothing really happens on the first day of school.“

“Hello.” a familiar voice called out, as Meilin walked through the
door (sword slung to her back and smile on her face). “Oh, why didn’t
YOU take a day off.” Keiko grumbled. Ignoring the complaints, Meilin
quickly hangs her sword up in the back of the class and sits down, bag
hung up in a flash on the hook at the side of her desk, as she looks
about. “I thought I was late but I guess not.” (looks about confused)
“Where is everyone?”

“Sick due to first day doldrums.” Keiko muttered, pointing out the window, “Life calls even if they have all eternity to live it here.” Suddenly a noise caught her attention as the door opened, and in walked Rika & Mr. Terada, hand in hand.

This confused the heck out of Sakura as she watched him sit Rika down,
and talk to her. As he moved to the front of the class she shot her
hand in the air and quickly asked “Is Rika alright?” At this question
Mr. Terada stopped, and looked at her with confusion in his eyes. For
a few seconds he said nothing, but then he smiled and said “Rika?”
Rika smiled, and turned her gaze to Sakura in a reassuring manner,
“I’m fine. Mr. Terada was just comforting me -- my fears about --”

“Oh.” Sakura whispered, nodding her head. She must have been concerned
about the “presence” in the sky like everyone el… wait, that wasn’t it. It wasn’t there anymore. Now things didn’t make sense.

However Keiko didn’t seem so satisfied with just that, watching the
teacher intensely as he walked to the front of the class. His pace
seemed a little shaky, uncertain but as he finally reached the fron the stopped and looked out the door he came through seconds before
before speaking -- “Before we begin, I have a few announcements to go over with you. I’m sure each and everyone of you will fill in those who aren’t here once they come back to school tomorrow from their day off at home trying to figure out how to work their Wiis or whatever is keeping them away from school.“ (a few awkward laughs break the silence before Terada spoke again) “Anyway, we
have a few new stu---”

Something screeched outside and a woman screamed. Everyone quickly
turned and looked out the window, panic and fear building quickly.
Keiko tried to push her way through, teeth clenched. “Dammit! I thought it wouldn’t happen…“

“What?!” Sakura asked, her own heart pounding. Strangely enough
Mr. Terada didn’t try to stop them, he merely stood in place dazed and
stunned into silence. “Nothing.“ Keiko muttered, “Let’s just say this was expected… sorta. Thought it was due to CLAMP School though…“

“It’s Ms. Tanashi!”

Everyone tried to look over the windows, curiosity and fear and
confusion on their faces as they pressed to look, “She’s on the
ground! She---”

One of the male students, a bright young man Sakura’s age ran out of
the classroom. As everyone watched they soon saw Ms. Tanashi slowly
pull herself to a sitting position, dazed but obviously not hurt while
a familiar figure laid over her (pushed her out of the way). Meilin
jumped up and down, screaming “XAI!!“ as she did.

The Palominian woman, at first looking at the car that had missed them by inches, was now looking up at the school blushing abit from the attention. “Hi.“ she mumbled, waving as she felt her normally white fur/skin turn a ruby red color.

As for Ms. Tanashi? She was shook up from what happened, but alright. Seconds later the young man who was sitting only three rows ahead of Sakura in class ran out, and into her arms. He was quite shaken up but she only smiled, showing him that she was fine -- he then kissed her, boldly, holding her tight. As they broke free she sat there stunned, then smiled and said something that they couldn’t hear, then they kissed again.

Stunned, the entire class went back to their seats. Mr. Terada, who
managed to catch the end of it, looked at his class and blushed. “It’s
OK to show that kind of affections.” Keiko suddenly announced, all
eyes turning towards her. “Because they’re husband and wife… again.”
The class was shocked, but the second bombshell silenced even the few
gasps heard in the room.

“I know, because they were married the same day Rika and Mr. Terada got married… again.”

Rika smiled, then stepped up to him and held him tight as everyone
looked on.

* * * * * *

During the past few days there had been a change of “Guard”.

Two days after school started the old principal retired (as opposed to fleeing to the Central Hub during the panic spawned by the appearance of CLAMP School), though it was so unexpected that there was no time to go through the usual steps in picking a new principal. Sakura’s school needed a new principal, and that day a new principal came in to cover the void left by the old principal’s leaving.

She was called in to look into the confusion caused by the confession.
Now the school had already known of the two marriages, and only asked
that the teachers show restraint and not express feelings of affection
to their younger mates in school. But this new principal, who was a
Winterian female, only frowned at the teachers who spoke to her about
this and told them to mind their own business.

She then talked to the class and eased their fears before going back
to work. Her vice principal took offense to her actions, to which she
replied “You can take as much offense to my ways as you want. But as
long as I sit in that chair, and call the shots, we’ll do things my
way here.”, and left it at that.

Her next announcement stunned the school as she lifted the ban on
teachers showing affections to their younger mates (who might also be
their students) and allowing free shows of affection. Only a few
teachers (5), in the end, were in fact married to their students but
it still sent some ripples throughout the school. Still, Mr. Terada’s
class was very supportive of both him and Ms. Tanashi (Social Studies)
and their choices. For the first time the two suddenly found that they
could sit with their mates in school to eat lunch, and didn’t have to
hide the fact that they were married anymore, which was a plus.

Once that was done it was time to meet the new students. One Keiko
knew already --

“Nina Kotobuki.”

Nina didn’t look all that comfortable as she had been ordered from the “shadows” to take a more hands on duty keeping an eye over Sakura during school hours. She plopped herself into her chair and stared up at the ceiling as if she was about to fall into a coma any second (Keiko occasionally smacked her upside the head to keep her from actually falling asleep during class).

“Did you brand her your personal property yet?” Keiko whispered to Sakura, to which Nina snarled from her chair.
The first person was easy enough, and no shocker. The second one---

“We have a returning classmate, you all remember Syaoran Li, right?”

That’s when things stopped making sense.

Everyone (who was there) either looked on in amazement, or in a few
cases mute anger, as he walked into the room with Eliza at his side, taking their place beside the teacher next to Lina.
This was different, Sakura realized, he was now quite open about his relationship with Eliza (with Nina right there in the same room no less). Sakura quickly glanced over at Nina, realizing that Nina was not paying attention in the slightest, chosing to ignore the two as the teacher introduced them. He (Syaoran Li) was still the same arrogant looking SOB that Keiko, Rebecca, and even Nina (ignoring him at present) remembered. The same eyes, the same look on his face, everything.

Truly nothing had changed for him. They knew one thing, and that was that they didn’t want to see Syaoran Li longer than they had to.
A plot was hatched before the three even had a chance to compare
notes.

Sakura? She was happy to see Li again, but as a friend. As she and
Tomoyo exchanged glances they both smiled, and knew that there was a
lot of catching up to do.

As for Meilin? She pouted in her chair and didn’t speak. She knew this
day was coming, she knew he was going to do this -- flaunt his new Amazonian lover before her -- she just wished it never happened all the same if she had any say in it.

* * * * * *

As lunchtime rolled around word of the revelations began to spread
around the schoolyard like wildfire. Still, for Sakura, the revelation only confused her. “But -- I didn’t -- I didn’t see--”

“I thought they got married (even the first time around when it was still a genuine secret), I just wasn‘t sure.” Tomoyo remarked, poking at Sakura’s food as she nibbled on lunch, “It’s very good lunch today, Sakura-chan, are you sure---”

“I’m eating. I’m just -- confused.” At this Tomoyo smiled, “It’s so
like my Sakura-chan to sometimes miss the obvious when it stares her
in the face.”

“Hoe?”

Tomoyo raised one hand and pointed at her ring finger (empty)
“Remember when Rika came back with that ring? She looked so happy when
she wore that ring. And not to mention all the times she and Mr.
Terada were studying together and we wondered why they were doing
that, remember? There was signs of their feelings for each other for
sometime, and we missed a lot of it.”

“But you caught some of it.” Sakura pointed out glumly, to which
Tomoyo shook her head. “Not all of it. I didn’t catch onto the fact
that Taro & Ms. Tanashi were a couple until we learned about it today.
I have to admit that they hid their relationship quite well.”

“They’re cute though. Taro & Ms. Tanashi.” Sakura notes as she motions
towards one side, where under another tree the two in question were
happily eating, Taro’s head rested on Ms. Taneshi’s shoulder as they
sat and ate in quiet contentment. “They look so happy -- is it bad,
though? I mean -- mama married papa when she was-- and Sonomi--”

Tomoyo nods her head, “I remember. It’s not for everyone though, and
remember that mama was in love with Nadeshiko so it hurt her when she
married -- but for some finding a love that special is good even if it
is a little bit on the Spring/Summer love thing.”

“?” Sakura blanked out, leaving Tomoyo the job of explaining. “I mean
a younger person falling in love with an older love interest.”

“Oh.” (takes a bigger bite of her food as she thinks) “They look happy
when they’re together.”

“I’m sure they’re as happy as we are, Sakura-chan. I‘m happy, for
instance, that Nadeshiko married your father.”

“Why?”

“Because you wouldn’t be here with me if they didn’t get married,
silly!” she remarked, her face glowing with warmth as she reached out
a hand to touch Sakura’s smiling face. “Now there’s the happy
Sakura-chan I know and love!” Tomoyo cheerfully said, quickly pulling
her video camera out, “Hold that face for a few seconds while I get it
on film!”

“-_-” < (Sakura, still smiling though)

* * * * * *

School passed slowly. Nina was getting the hang of her school work, and she was even getting the hang of ignoring Eliza (who did her best to stay out of Nina’s way). As for Syaoran it was a snap.
Everyone else, however, was distracted by first day lulls.
Even Rebecca’s class at the end seemed to occasionally dangle for a few
seconds until she caught herself and brought her class back into focus. Clearly her mind was wandering, but for her it wasn’t first day doldrums as it was one of the new students in class. Syaoran Li.

They had already agreed at lunchtime that they were not going to have
his “presence” near Sakura for longer than they had to, so a plot was
hatched. A plot first thought up in unison, and then discussed and
worked out together. That plot, which they all agreed to, unfolded
after school.

Rebecca asked Syaoran to meet her outside, and it was there that the
three of them confronted him.

He didn’t seem at all surprised. It had happened before so now it was happening again and nothing seemed different. He simply stared at them as they ganged up on him, facing off against him three to one.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Keiko started in, eyes narrowed as
she glared at him. “The last thing we need is a loser coming into our
turf and messing up the delicate order of things, let alone bringing that slut traitor you dragged in with you.”

“I’m not here to steal Sakura.” Li announced, waiting patiently for a
reply (which wasn‘t long in coming). “NO KIDDING!!” Nina screamed, her
own eyes blazing, “So why don’t you take Eliza, the slut, and vanish like a good toy solider you are.”

“You…“ Li remarked, focusing on Nina, “At least your rage I can understand. It makes sense to me, unlike…“

“The rest of us?” Rebecca took over, holding Syaoran’s gaze tightly with her eyes, “You may or may not be here to ruin Sakura’s life, but what part of “You are not welcome here” don’t you seem to absorb!”

Li shook his head in confusion, “I’m here to help Sakura, not make her cry. I don’t want to break her and Tomoyo up.”

“I heard you already make Meilin cry when you dumped her. What about
that? And let‘s not forget you stealing Nina‘s girlfriend at the same time.” Keiko spat at him, to which he lowered his gaze and sighed,
“Meilin was my cousin. It just wasn’t right.” he responded, “And as for stealing Eliza I did no such thing, she did it of her own free will.”

“You have no concept of what “free will” is, you puppet!!” Rebecca yelled, “And while we’re at it technically Meilin is not your cousin! In the Realm of Dreams she’s her own individual and not even related to you (thank the godawful dub for that)!”, suddenly everything stopped. “And I can’t believe I mentioned that.”

“No kidding.” (Keiko)

“What were you thinking?” (Nina) “Don’t mind me, I’m so over Eliza.”

Attentions quickly focused back to him as Rebecca pulled out her Seeker
and held it out in front of her, “Easy enough way to solve this. Let’s
see your real motives.”

As she held her Seeker forth he pulled his headset from his bag and
put it on, mildly clicking it on as they looked on, “Y-y-you arrogant
ASS!” Rebecca sputtered, watching him put his headset on as if they
didn’t mean nothing to him, ignoring all three as if they weren’t
there. “I’ll show you! ALRIGHT!! Old friend! Show me what secrets lie
hidden beneath!”

As she said those words the Seeker sprang to life, energy coursing
through the small sphere as it gathered, focused that energy, and sent
it forth into Rebecca and Li. But, as the light sprang forth, he simply
etched a few signs into the air and whispered “Novashields.”

Almost immediately a sphere of light sprung into life, blocking the
Seeker’s beam from making contact with him. Dumbstruck by this the
three stared at him, until Nina screamed out “HE’S A SPELLTHRASHER?!?”

“What??” Keiko growled, drawing her sword, “Fine. I’ll break his
shield down, you keep that focused.”

“No problem.” Rebecca called out, her focus locked as she watched Keiko
move forward. “Just don’t cross your blade with my beam.“
With her blade glistening in the bright afternoon light, Keiko advanced towards Li, his hand reaching for his own blade as he etched another spell in the air ready to strike.

“STOP THAT!!” From behind them Eliza leaped over the fence into the
school yard, nearly falling over as she stumbled across the yard
towards the four. Nina looked on in disbelief, “What are you doing?!?”

“Sorry!” she gasped, straightening herself, “I was listening to
Mirra/Hikaru eating lunch. They were talking about the kind of
boyfriend Power wanted and she wanted one like me with---”

“I DON’T WANT TO HEAR THAT!!” Keiko screamed, walking back towards
Eliza and the others looking rather fussy, Rebecca simply lost her
concentration and the beam that was on Li turned off, “That’s
disturbing!” she muttered.

“Look, forget about that for now!” she demanded, pointing at him,
“I don’t care what you think of me, but what’s done is done! Can’t you just accept us and our orders to help out and let us do our job?!?”

Nina, furious, stormed towards Eliza only to come to a dead halt as
Eliza turned her gaze onto her, “Nina?”

The green haired girl swung, clipping Eliza with her open hand as she did, knocking her over into Li’s arms as he caught her.
“Your evil.” she muttered, “Your both evil.”

“Nina…” Eliza whispered as she got her feet back under her, shaking off the blow that knocked her over. “He’s a young man who had to make decisions that weren’t popular after he lost Sakura to Tomoyo. It wasn’t nice, but it was all he could do after what happened. Besides which isn’t Meilin happier now with the lover she has?” (Nina wasn’t buying it) “Why won’t you trust me when I say that Syaoran is--”

“A mate stealing bastard?”

“Syaoran…” Eliza repeated, patience still in check “Is doing the best he can under the circumstances.”

“You’re just saying that because your fucking him.” (Nina snarled)

“Ditto.” Rebecca agrees.

Without another word Eliza takes Li by the arm, walking away without another word spoken. ‘Well,’ he thought to himself ’at least I didn’t run away from them.’

* * * * * *

The notion of Syaoran Li being a SpellThrasher didn’t sit well with
the trio. Sakura had no comment on the whole situation. The thought of having to work with him to capture the Clow Cards was even less appealing to the trio. Sakura, of course, had to be opposite to their wishes as she was happy, while Tomoyo was also happy to see another old
friend again though she respected the trio‘s distrust of Syaoran.

Keiko looked at the two over dinner as if they just admitted to being
Amazonian and were showing their “wares” over the dinner table.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” she rasped. “You can’t be serious about
being happy to work with HIM. You can‘t be serious.”

“Why not?” Sakura asked, looking confused, “He’s a friend.”

“He’s YOUR friend!” Keiko corrected her, “And of that even I have doubts over because would a friend try to steal the Clow Cards from you, then try to steal you from Tomoyo!? What kind of “Friend” is that anyway?”

Rebecca picked up the conversation from there, “The guy is an opportunistic snake if you ask me, and I don’t see any reason to trust
him. Didn‘t the first time, don‘t now.”

“B-but he’s a nice guy!!” Sakura countered bravely, even if she knew
in her heart that Keiko and Rebecca together were far better debaters than she was. Still, she had help in the form of Tomoyo who came to her aid, “And he promised he wouldn’t do anything to hurt Sakura, or myself.”

Keiko wasn‘t convinced, “And you trust him? Well you certainly do are a poor judge of character every so often aren‘t you!”

The argument, though civilized, raged for ten minutes. Keiko & Rebecca both did not give an inch, and neither did Sakura. When the debate finally broke up Sakura was even more deadset on remaining a true friend to Syaoran no matter what. Still, as she sat next to Tomoyo doing her homework, the thought did occur to her “Is he capable of doing bad things?” she asked. Tomoyo looked up from her studies and smiled, “Are you worried about what Keiko and Rebecca said?”

“Kinda---” she admitted, “---but Li’s so nice and he wouldn’t do
anything bad to us, right? He’s good.”

“Keiko has a hard time believing that. Maybe she has a good reason,
maybe not, but what does your heart tell you about Syaoran?”

Sakura closes her eyes and thinks, letting her feelings speak, then --
“He’s my friend, you’re my precious, he won’t come between us because
he knows what we had once is over. I love you, Tomo-chan!”

“I know, I know.” Tomoyo smiled, “I’m not putting you on the spot here
or anything. Anyway, I have a feeling he has someone else on his
mind.”

“How so?”

“Just a hunch. I’ll tell you about it later.”

Sakura’s face scrunched up, “You’re mean!”

“I’m just waiting until I’m certain. Now come on,” (points at
homework) “finish up and I’ll give my precious a treat tonight for
being such a good study buddy this afternoon.”

At that Sakura’s mood picked up again, and all thoughts of Syaoran Li
vanished as she focused only on Tomoyo, her hand scooping her pencil
back up to do her homework.

To Be Continued in two weeks