Chapter 3
She woke up after less than half an hour with the bad feeling again but wasn't as strong this time. "My shield is strong and Sakura's Shield Card is also protecting us so it is probably impossible for that card to hurt us now...but I can't assume anything."
"Tomoyo?" Sakura whispered. "Are you awake?"
"Yes, I'm awake and I feel something." As she spoke she was reaching out with her Magic and sure enough she touched the same thing that had attacked Sakura earlier. But this time it was outside the house and it vanished as soon as Tomoyo touched it. "It seems to be gone now, but we can't be sure."
"Don't worry, Tomoyo. My Shield Card is protecting us. There is no way it can hurt us."
"That may be, but there is nothing to stop it from attacking others in the house." As Tomoyo kept scanning for it with her Magic she realized the bad feeling was gone. And after nearly an hour of scanning without any sign of the thing or any bad feelings, she relaxed and fell asleep again.
Wednesday July 26 7:12am
Tomoyo woke up feeling wonderful. She had been dreaming that she was getting married to Sakura, and as the image of Sakura in a cute Tuxedo and herself in a long white gown faded, she was left with a warm wonderful glow all through her body. A moment later she realized some of the warmth was from the body she was snuggled up against. It took her sleepy mind another second to remember just who she had gone to sleep with. "SAKURA! I'm actually snuggled up to my Sakura-chan. What a heavenly feeling." But as she finished waking up she continued remembering. First she remembered just why she shouldn't be sleeping with Sakura, and then, why she was.
"I have to guard her. No matter what." Then she continued with a sigh. "But it would be best if we didn't snuggle like lovers." With that thought Tomoyo was completely awake. She checked her shield and found it up and strong. "That's a relief. It does actually stay up as I sleep. And, yes, Sakura's Shield Card is guarding us too." She then swept the whole house and found no sign of the evil card. She did find Ieran, Syaoran and a number of other people though. She remembered to not probe them with her Magic, but lightly touch them just enough to tell they were there.
Since all was clear, and Sakura was still sound asleep, there wasn't really any reason for her to get up just yet. So she just laid there, close to Sakura but not touching and dreamed of living with the girl she loved for their whole lives. It seemed she would have to be Sakura's shield against those who would hurt her. "She still needs a proper husband to love and be loved by. But I have to start being realistic about this. She isn't going to fall in love with the Magic Prince I pick. She will fall in love with a boy of her own choosing. But since I have Magic now, and a strong shield to protect her, I don't have to ensure that she falls for a boy with powerful magic. She can pick whomever she pleases. And I can take the responsibility to protect her from evil. And if the boy she picks treats her badly, I can also deal with him. I'm not the powerless normal girl behind the camera anymore. I can fly, and fight if I have to. And I will do whatever I need to...to protect my Sakura-chan!"
Tomoyo had laid next to Sakura and day dreamed for nearly an hour when Sakura woke up. "Tomoyo-chan!" She said excitedly. "It is -so- wonderful waking up with you." She continued as she rolled and hugged Tomoyo. "I wish you could stay with me always."
The old pain clawed at her for a moment but then she remembered that -everything- had changed. "I must stay near you and keep my shield around you until I know you are safe." Tomoyo replied with a small smile. "I will be your bodyguard for as long as it is necessary."
"As long as necessary?" Sakura took a moment to digest this. "Do you mean just while we are here in Hong Kong? Or till school starts?"
"There is at least one and possibly more evil cards out there. And if Kutong found out you had the Cards and where you were, there may be other evil sorcerers out there who will be after you as well. I fear you will be a target from now on." Sakura's eyes got big at this news.
"But... Are you going to transfer to my school?" She asked excitedly.
Tomoyo shook her head sadly. "She isn't worried about being a target of evil for the rest of her life, she only thinks of being with me. This is really not going well."
"Yes. I must. I have to guard you." Tomoyo said simply and without any feeling, even though her heart was racing at the thought. "I must not get so excited. I am only her bodyguard. Not her lover!"
"But then what about after school?" Sakura asked with a hopeful look.
"We will need to move in together." Tomoyo said simply as Sakura practically squealed.
"We can live together! That will be so wonderful! And I have that slimy evil Card to thank for my good fortune!"
Tomoyo ignored Sakura's excitement as well as her own, and continued. "There is a lot of room over at my Mom's house. And I'm sure she would be happy to have you stay, if you can get your dad to agree."
"I'll ask him as soon as we get home! He's hardly ever home anymore anyway and I'll make him say yes!" Sakura's excitement was just so cute Tomoyo couldn't help smiling.
"It will be hard but I am much stronger now. I feel like I've grown up a lot in the last week. Or was it two weeks? I don't know... It's hard to keep track when you time travel." She had to smile thinking of it. All the things that had happened since she had seen the Hong Kong buildings falling over and burning on television seemed so impossible. And yet they were real and had changed her life in so many ways. She felt like a completely new person. With a new life. And a new purpose in life. "I am Sakura's bodyguard now. But that won't stop me from carrying a camera." She thought with a smile. "I can get one of those new ones that are really small and keep it in my purse..."
At breakfast Tomoyo told Ieran about sensing the evil Card again during the night and apologized for not notifying her. Then Sakura added her thoughts. "I hate to leave you here with that evil Card. Shouldn't we stay here and try to destroy it?"
"If you wish to do so, we will all be even more in your debt. But of course you do not have to do anything."
"I think we should try to locate the Card before we go. If we can find it, then we will destroy it." Tomoyo put in.
Ieran nodded and then took her cell out. "I will arrange for transportation." She said before using her phone.
xxxx
Less than two hours later Sakura, Tomoyo and Ieran were in a helicopter, once again flying over Hong Kong with Tomoyo using her Magic sense to examine the area. And just in case, Sakura had her Shield Card around the whole helicopter.
They decided to head straight for the house where they had fought Kutong, and they got lucky. As soon as they were near the charred ruin, Tomoyo called out, "I found it! It's just the other side of Kutong's house over there. But it's moving now. That way." She pointed to the left and Ieran directed the pilot to follow Tomoyo's directions. As they followed the wild Card and flew lower, Tomoyo asked Sakura if she could feel it.
"No, not yet...wait...yes! I feel it. "Shadow! Trap that evil card in your blackness!" Sakura called out loud, directing Shadow with her thoughts, and just a few seconds later Tomoyo could feel the thing fighting to get out of the power of Shadow. It tried to attack Shadow, but it's attack didn't work at all, so the evil Card then tried to attack them, which Tomoyo felt quite clearly, but it could not even penetrate Sakura's Shield Card let alone her own natural shield.
"Tomoyo? I will have to put Shield away so we can land, are you sure you can protect all four of us with your shield?"
"I don't know, just a moment." Tomoyo then expanded her shield until it was outside Sakura's Shield. She could feel some weakening due to the larger size but it was still enough to stop the Card's attack. "No problem. You can put Shield away now."
Once this was done, Tomoyo brought her shield down until it just protected the four people. The next problem was where to land. They were over a residential area on the side of a mountain, and there wasn't a large enough flat spot without overhead wires anywhere. But Sakura had this figured out. "We can return to the field where we took off from. I'll just have Shadow follow us while still holding the evil Card."
Once they had gotten back to the sightseeing company, Ieran had the pilot radio back to their home base and tell everyone to stay inside while they landed. To be even safer the pilot landed as far away from the buildings as he could. This was of course, to prevent the evil Card from attacking any innocent bystanders.
Once they were down, Sakura had Shadow come up close to her. She could now clearly feel the mind of the Card what there was of it, and this gave her an idea. So she materialized her Star Staff, pointed it at the black sphere of Shadow and commanded Kutong's card to take it's solid form. Then when Sakura put Shadow back to Card form, a small black and white card flew to her hand along with Shadow. But instead of calling on Fiery to destroy the card, she seemed to be writing something on it with her finger. Then she threw the Card up in the air and as it floated above her Star Staff it started shooting out sparks.
"She is remaking the Card? Maybe that will make it easier to destroy?" Tomoyo wondered.
As the Card started to come down a mystified Tomoyo noticed it was now purple, instead of black and white. But the bigger surprise was when the Card came to her instead of to Sakura.
"Now you have an attack Card, Tomoyo." Sure enough, the card now looked like the ones that Eriol had made for her, even having her name on it.
"Sakura! I don't want that evil Card! I thought you were going to destroy it!"
"It's not really evil, it was just made to feel that way. It's just another Card. Remember my own Cards tried to attack us when they were free. It's just something an attack Card does naturally. Now that it has a nice owner like you, it will behave just fine. But don't call it unless you really want to attack someone, otherwise it may be hard for you to handle."
"I don't want an attack Card! And I really don't want this slimy Card!"
"But Tomoyo, it's attack is what made you stay with me. I am grateful to it for bringing us together. I can't destroy it!"
"What if you need to attack some evil sorcerer to save Sakura?" Ieran put in. This she couldn't argue with.
"I can't afford to throw away a weapon I may need to save Sakura, no matter how evil and slimy it feels." But as Tomoyo touched the Card with her Magic she realized it didn't feel so evil as a Tomoyo Card. And it did feel like it wanted to protect her. "Okay, Sakura. I'll keep it."
"But it -still- feels rotten and slimy." She sighed.