New King Penguin Park looked a tad errie at night. With the lights turned down dim, and the sky only illuminated by the presence of the Central Hub above, the park seemed quite errie. It was in this setting that everyone was out searching for the Dash card. True, it was spotted earlier by Sakura, but it managed to get onto the back of a truck and vanish into traffic earlier. It took awhile, but Sakura managed to locate it again. First thing she wanted to do was call Li, which was the last thing Nina wanted. She called, but he didn’t reply. “Must be out.” she replied, closing the new cell phone she got from Tomoyo. That, however, was only half right. While Li was indeed in his apartment, he was for all intents and purposes “out”. He had taken sleeping pills, seeking solace and comfort in the arms of the Eliza in his dreams if he couldn’t be with her in reality. So he was not present for this card hunt, and Nina, Keiko and Rena couldn’t have been happier. As they spread out along the woods, trying to flush Dash out, Keiko had a weird notion, “Why don’t we just lob stun grenades into the woods and pick up the “pieces” after it gets knocked around a few times?” “No! Don’t hurt Dash!” Sakura cried out, Tomoyo nearby filming her (and also there to support her and back her up). At this Keiko sighed and went back to looking through the brush, “Yeah, yeah, whatever. I--” (stops) “--anyone else hear that noise?” “It’s Dash.” Nina whispers, kneeling down as she draws her Globtek pulse pistol out and sets it to a low setting. “Low stun. Not enough to put to sleep, but enough to slow and weaken it.” Sakura nods her head as she moves forward, staff in hand, “Nobody hurt Dash, it’s---” Suddenly the card comes flying out of the brush and right towards Keiko/Rena. Confused, the two try to tackle it only to collide with each other as it slides between them. Sakura quickly reaches her left hand out and brings her focus onto her Windy Ring.,“Windy!” she cries out, “Form a sphere of restraint around Dash, but don’t hurt it!” Windy’s power whips forward trying to reach Dash, but it manages to keep ahead of the ring’s effect jumping upwards into the tree branches flying over tree after tree taking the overland route to escape. “We’ve got ourselves a “flyer” here!” Nina yells out, tapping her commlink, “Dash is coming your way through the treetops! Can you nab it?” “I’ll try.” the voice on the opposite end replies, Nina going into a full sprint to keep up with the others as they all followed Dash. Over her commlink she could hear Eliza speaking, “Ribbon Trap” she called out as she triggered a spell. Silence, then the sound of struggling and the bending of tree limbs. “Stop! Don’t fight the spell! Stop it! St---” (something ahead snaps) “NO!!” “Dash!!” Sakura cries, her legs pumping faster and faster as she rushes right up to Eliza, her face concerned. “Dash broke loose.” Sakura looks about, raising her staff as she does, “Dash! Don’t run! We only want to help you!” Silence. Then, suddenly, a noise off to one side. Sakura and Eliza turn to see Dash, floating in midair frozen in place, and guiding him-- “Catherine?” Sakura came into the clearing looking at her rather confused, “But how? How did? I mean -- uh -- thanks.” “No problem.” Catherine Picadello smiles, watching as Sakura takes the paralyzed Dash into her arms to comfort it. At first it doesn’t want to be in her grasp, it’s eyes wild as if looking to escape. However, once it calms down it begins to settle down, Catherine removes the paralysis to allow it to move on it’s own. The first thing it does is nuzzle Sakura’s face and lick her cheek. She giggles and fidgets under Dash’s “affections” as Tomoyo tapes it on her camera for posterity. “Think Dash missed you, Sakura-chan!“ “Ok. Ok. I missed you too! Come on!! Hey!!“ she squirmed, Dash’s tongue tickling her face. Finally Catherine motions for Dash, holding an arm out for Dash to land on. “If you will do the honors?” “Oh! Right! Ahem --” (holds staff out) “-- Clow Card return to your powers confined, DASH CARD!!” she yells, slamming the staff down and unleashing a dozen strands of energy that pick Dash up and convert it back into card form. The card jumps briefly into the air, and lands in Sakura’s hand. As everyone gathers around to look at the card, Catherine glances sideways at Tomoyo and sighs. “I’m happy just being close to her. I’m happy just being close to her.” she sighed, her memory of the capture still fresh in her mind’s eye after an hour. Crystallia (the Dream Continent of Antarctica) The Winterian City of Icskellius (Ick-shell-ius) She sat in her office overlooking the cold steel buildings of the Winterian city just outside, her office being at the top of a long tower located near the center of the city of metal and steel. This tower, rising above the other buildings, gave her office a commanding view of both the city itself and the surrounding snow and ice. She had been “commuting” back and forth from Tokyo to here ever since she brought her first “candidate” for her excursion plans, but she’s also been very careful to keep her activities low key and under the radar while she was doing her present “tasks”. However it seemed she wasn’t far enough below the radar, seeing as how she was working only to have the commsystem beep. “If it’s not one thing -- yes?” “Call for you from a Captain Lazarus.” She sighed, leaning back in her chair, “Dammit.” she growled. She knew why he was calling, and she wished he wasn’t calling if it was all the same to her. “When it rains--” ----- Speaking of rain-- (back in Tokyo) As soon as they returned to the Daidouji Estates it started to rain. Low key and quietly at first, but then it began to grow, and grow. Presently it was raining rather fiercely outside, but that made staying inside in a nice warm bed that much more appealing. Tomoyo shivered beneath Sakura’s loving touch, the young woman’s fingers gently digging into her shoulders giving her a perfect massage. She was glad that they caught Dash when they did, and wasn’t caught out in the rain while looking for the card. “I barely did anything today.” Tomoyo sighed, looking up at Sakura as she did, “You did all the work.” “But you were so helpful, and I couldn’t have done it without you -- sometimes I wonder how I can get through each day if I didn’t have you --” “Thanks.” Tomoyo smiled, sinking her head back into her pillow, “You’re sweet.” As Sakura continued to work her “magic”, Tomoyo’s mind began to drift and she thought of all the times Sakura was there for her. “I want to be there for you, Sakura-chan. Whenever you need me.” she whispers, bringing a smile to Sakura’s face. “Tomo-chan.” In awhile Tomoyo would switch places with Sakura, and return the favor. But that was in awhile. For now she simply laid there, and relished the attention her Sakura-chan paid to her. ----- The GameBoy Advance seemed a little bit more useful now, Kero thought, as he continued to rearrange his deck for another duel. The rain and occasional lightning noises scared Cloud, even though their “room” had no windows (though was also well vented and the air was fresh and clean) and was nowhere near the rain outside. Cloud wanted to crawl beneath the sheets, but she didn’t want to be bored while hiding, so she was playing GameBoy Advance games with Kero to pass the time away. Still, a majority of her body was safely hidden beneath her blankets with Kero also in her bed (on top of the sheets with his own little blankets covering him as he dueled with Cloud). “Are you ready yet?” she growled, looking rather bored as she waited. “In a second, in a second!” he growled back, working to finish his deck. “There. Now I’m ready to beat you.” “Doubt it!” she cheered, loosening up as Kero got ready, “I’m going to beat you again!” “Hmph.” he huffed his breath, focused --- but then --- “What do you think of that Syaoran brat?” “Too immature for my tastes. I like my men big yet sensitive, tough yet caring, and has a taste for the finer things in life -- and when I find a man like that I’ll let you know!” (phht!) Kero played his first card, glaring over at Cloud as he did. She merely smiled and played a card, “Oh don’t pout at me! You know you’re the only one for me.” Kero’s features softened, and he played another card. She’d change her mind, of course, the minute she started losing, but he knew that she cared for him. From beneath the blankets Cloud looked about the room and sighed, “I wish this house had room service. (too cold to even think of going to the kitchen!)” “It’s not that cold.” “Then YOU go!” Cloud countered, to which Kero shook his head and muttered, “Too cold.” ------ Meanwhile--- (Icskellius) Her finger punches down on the button as she leans back, the link establishing almost immediately. “To what do I have this “pleasure” of your company?” Jack didn’t look the slightest big pleased, in fact he looked downright angry. “Tell me I don’t have this paper in front of me right now hinting at a quote “Black Ops” operation that’s about to get underway?” “I can’t tell you that.” she replied honestly, “You know that.” “I know that you’re doing something rash again. So how many---” “One. One that would have died anyway if I hadn’t intervened. In any case she’s no longer a threat---” “YOU HAVE MIMIC THERE?!?” Jack yelled, to which she quietly raised her hands and motioned him to calm down, “She’s no longer a threat because the thing that pulled her strings is gone.” “Thing? You don’t mean---” Catherine sighed, leaning backwards into her chair to stare listlessly at the ceiling, her voice fading as she spoke and her mind opened up to what was. What Happened Before--- You see, this whole particular situation began truly began years and years ago when Clow Reed forged the original Clow Cards in the “waking world” (the Earth that he hailed from). When he passed on he sealed the cards in the Clow Book and left Kerberos to guard them. Over the natural course of time they would remain this way until the one who he had pre-planned to take his place as the world’s most powerful mage opened the book. It took a lot of questionable, and quite unethical acts to make his dream come true, but one day Sakura Kinomoto, his chosen one, opened the book and set the stage what should have been the creation of the world’s next greatest mage. That was before she came into the picture, Catherine Piccadello, where this divergence in events took place which brings us to where we are now. Feeling a disturbance in a nearby dimension she investigated, and came upon the whole situation as it unfolded, with Sakura coming close to becoming the world’s greatest mage. But the situation was something Catherine would not tolerate, and for her own reasons she “intervened”. (She omits certain things at this point, things that she didn’t need to say since she knew that Jack probably already knew this information without her saying it) It was on the day of Sakura’s Final Test, under the shadow of Tokyo Tower, that Piccadello brought her allies into play and fought for the very survival of this world. Eriol’s minions fell quickly enough, and it was simple enough for Jack to find one soul whose strength of character and purity was enough to move mountains, or one stubborn moon back into it’s rightful orbit. But the power of the one who used to be Clow Reed was still potent. His patience, however, had fled him. Catherine, who had thought she had him pinned down, was quickly overcome by him. Two others, SpellThrashers, tried to take him out but were tossed aside. Keiko Yamanaka, the 7th Judgement, tried to stop him but was hurled into a tree where she was impaled on a sharp protruding branch. Sakura tried to stop him, but was struck so hard that she hit the ground and bounced like a ragdoll. “Eriol”, it seems, was angry at the interference and had lost all sense of reason. But it was in this few moments, when his reason had fled, that a distraught Tomoyo rushed to Sakura’s side crying. She saw Eriol approaching, anger in his eyes, as he screamed at her to get away from his property (Sakura), his reason gone with only a rage which seemed to consume him remaining. It could be said that it was building up ever since Piccadello first interfered, or perhaps it was by the manipulation of an outside force that made him so irrational, but one thing was certain -- he was beyond reason at this point. At this moment Tomoyo blindly grabbed for her bag, to desperately make him go away, and swung blindly. She had instead grabbed Keiko’s fallen sword, her cursed blade, whose metal was unbreakable. And with her one swing, as Eriol knelt to grab Sakura by her neck, she decapitated him. It was an accident. She didn’t mean to. But as the blade swung through Eriol’s body fell backward, parted from his head, his staff falling to one side apparently useless. The reincarnation of Clow Reed was dead. However unlike Lord of the Rings the consequences to Tomoyo (killing him) was quite dire. It took a lot of effort to “wipe” her mind of what she did, lest it would weight terribly in her mind and slowly destroy her from the inside out. As for the staff? The staff, the last remnants of this “Clow Reed”’s power, laid there waiting for someone to take it. To perhaps use it or destroy it. However in her grief, Eve, Keiko’s companion, got to it first. In a rage she ripped a portal into the dark passages between worlds, OtherSpace, and hurled it in. The staff disappeared from all mention after that, and hasn’t been seen since. At least, that’s how Jack remembers it. However--- The Here and Now. “Five days ago I felt the same dread I felt when I was on that world, Sakura’s Earth, and I knew it had to be that staff. When that sphere appeared a few days later? I felt as if my dread was being justified and my suspicions were being proved as a simple truth.” Jack neither spoke nor moved, he simply stared at her. “It’s gone. I haven’t felt any such dread in the past week besides the coming of CLAMP School, which only means the last piece of that bastard’s power is gone for good. There’s no way---” “OtherSpace is not endless, nor is it capable of hiding a tool of such power for long periods of time. It held it, hid it from prying eyes, but only for a “season“. That season has passed, Jack, you know that.” “So your preparing a “welcoming committee” for our new “neighbors” I take it? For what purpose? To find a staff that you only suspect might be there?” “I don’t see why your not doing the same.” she countered, to which he shrugged and replied “Someone has to keep the homefront safe.” (looks at her seriously) “Look, far be it for me to tell you what to do, but you better be careful while recruiting. I’m not the only one who caught wind of this. The SpellThrashers also have heard of this and they’re stepping up security around likely “chosen ones” to keep them from being recruited. If you plan on going on any other “trips” be careful, eh?” (stops) “What did you mean earlier? About Mimic?” Catherine smiled, and laid out her evidence before him. Return to Flashbacks. The staff, lying on the ground, was mostly intact when Eve heaved it into her hands, anger burning. But she missed one shard. One small metal shard that broke free from the staff. One piece. The metal shined dully in the new light of day, glistening with power, but untouched. By sheer coincidence it was dragged through the portal opened to take Piccadello and the others home. However it did not end up where they did, but was drawn to Tokyo Tower where, in it’s shadow, it waited. Time passed, and dozens upon dozens of people picked up the shiny object only to feel compelled to throw it aside. None of them were suitable, so they felt that they had no use for the apparently worthless chunk of metal and dropped it. But then, by chance, a suitable person came along. The shard was picked up by a female who was a “shard” herself, a fragment of another being. Mimic. A being that was part Clow created, hence perfect by the shard’s simplistic reasonings. The shard merged with her, and then it began to fill her head with lies. It was not particularly sentient, but it compelled her most base fears and need for love and acceptance to fill her with self deluded fears and hatreds. Why? It needed her emotions to run high so it could “grow” and be “fed” by her strengths as it exploited her weaknesses. All her hatred and malice towards Mirra? It came from this one thing that pushed all her buttons and made her hate without even truly knowing why. But that night she was stabbed by Hikaru? That’s when it ended. By sheer luck the blade sliced through near her heart, and dislodged the shard (already maturing into the raw material to form a new “sealing staff”) from her body, but not enough so it came out then and there. It was when Hikaru hurled Mimic through the windows of the Tower’s observation deck that the shard fell loose. It tumbled out of her and fell into darkness. And Back Once Again to the Here and Now. “Where is it now?” “Gone again.” she concluded, spreading her arms out as she talked. “No doubt waiting and biding it’s time until it finds another suitable “host” from which to work it’s evil through.” “No doubt.” Jack concluded, “Well, keep an eye out for things and do be careful.” “I will.” she acknowledged, watching the link cut off. As the room fell silent again she picked up the shard from a hidden spot on her desk and looked at it. The shard was as big as her fist, and made the most insistent racket in her head, but still -- “Tempt me all you want, you can never give me what I truly want.” Her memory quickly flashed back to before, back on Sakura’s world. Catherine’s Flashback. One night she visited Tomoyo as she slept. She laid in bed, her face red and stained with tears as if she cried herself to sleep. Still, despite how untidy she appeared, she still was very beautiful to Catherine. She knew that she could keep Tomoyo “asleep” by simply keeping Tomoyo from sensing her presence, but she wanted to do more while she did this. She climbed onto the bed until she was face to face with her young “host”, staring into her closed eyes. At that moment she did something quite rash, and leaned forward to kiss her on the lips. Her lips brushed softly against the sleeping Tomoyo’s lips, her heart banging against her rib cage hard as she kissed her while she slept, and wished for something she knew she could never truly have. To wake up each and every morning, Tomoyo’s smiling face and bright eyes greeting her, as she lazily laid in Catherine’s arms and rested her head upon the older woman’s bare breasts. Without meaning to her arm slipped out from under her, and she fell on top of Tomoyo. She quickly strengthened her efforts to keep Tomoyo asleep, but was shocked as Tomoyo unconsciously wrapped her arms about her and hugged her tight. At that moment she began to sweat, her heart was racing (which was a good thing that she was already “dead” once because she felt that it was going to explode if it raced faster), and she felt like crying herself. She rested her head on Tomoyo’s shoulder and succumbed to her desires if only for the moment. But she had to grit her teeth and steel her resolve as deeper feelings surfaced. Her hand brushed against Tomoyo’s thigh, and the burning insistent urge to touch her -- she pressed herself close to Tomoyo to suppress those thoughts, hands gripping the sheets to keep them from wandering. ‘I just want to be close.’ she thought to herself, her words blurring as she chanted them in her head over and over again, ’I just want to be close. I just want to be here. I just want to be loved. I just want --- I just want to love --- YOU!!’ The Here and Now. Catherine’s thoughts focused again as she dropped the shard into a tesseract sphere and then locked it away for safe keeping. “Silly dreams.” she chided herself, straightening up to her full height trying to keep her head up as she did, “I’m not cut out for a happily ever after ending.” Suddenly the commlink buzzed again. “Now what?” As she clicked it on she saw Jack’s face again, “Silly me. I forgot.” “Forgot what?” “I have three high profile young ladies for your little “insertion” team if your ready to meet them.” “Eh?” ----- Back to Tokyo It was raining when Sakura woke up. It was the weekend so she didn’t need to wake up early, but still she wished it was sunny. “I was going to go blading’ too.” she thought out loud, a sad mopey face greeting Tomoyo as she stared at her from the bedside, “Sorry.” “Tomo-chan!” she gasped, nearly leaping out of bed, realizing too late that Tomoyo had brought breakfast for her in bed. “I could have done that! I---” “Hush.” she firmly commanded, putting a hand on Sakura’s shoulder and gently pressing her back into the bed, “I want you to sit and eat breakfast. After all sometimes I want to be the one to surprise my precious in bed with breakfast.” “---Tomo-chan---” she whispered, feeling her face blush from the attention. As they ate the topic of the rain came up, “Yeah. We were going to study also. I heard everyone is still coming though so we should scrap plans to do it outside and study in here today.” “Hoeeee----” Sakura whimpered. She loved Tomoyo a lot, and wanted to be her best for her, but she just didn’t take to the idea of studying very well. In fact she was rather down on it the minute Tomoyo mentioned it. “Studying---” “It’s good for your grades. Have to bring them up before final exams.” “Hooe!” Sakura cried again, becoming more worried and stressed than she already was. She wasn’t a particularly bad student, yet she wasn’t a particularly good student either. Still, her highest trait was that she tested well. When she tested, at least, she did exceptionally well. It was the classes in between tests that troubled her the most. Still, as Tomoyo said, she could stand to bring her grades up before final exams regardless of whether she tested well or not. As they ate a slight glint went across Tomoyo’s eyes and Sakura had the suspicion that she was up to something. “Tomo-chan? What are you thinking about?” “Me? Nothing.” “-----” Sakura sat there, munching, yet staring at Tomoyo intensely as if waiting for her to admit something. Finally she did, in a soft voice, “Cloud came to ask me for advice on how to keep Kero’s heart.” “Kero’s heart?” she asked, confused, as Tomoyo elaborated. “I think they’re in love, and Umi told me they’ve been a “pair” since the beginning. But she’s feeling a little insecure about keeping his feelings towards her strong so -- maybe --” “Did you tell her that Kero loves video games and food?” “I did.” “And?” Sakura leans forward, interested all of a sudden. “She pouted and said “Well THAT’s so obvious!” and stormed off in a huff. I think she was hoping for bedroom tips from me.” “Bedroom---” (Sakura turns bright red) “---h-h-h-” “Hoe?” Tomoyo helps, to which Sakura nods her head up and down fast, practically glowing red with embarrassment. “W-w-w-why?!? S-s-s-she’s TOO young!!” “Actually she’s older than mama, so she’s the right age--- you look like your going to faint.” Sakura’s eyes spun, her face was red like a lobster, and she was sweating full ammo clips of sweat. “AUUGGHH!!” “I guess maybe you weren’t ready for that yet.” Tomoyo admitted, smiling meekly at Sakura’s reaction. It didn’t help when five minutes later Kero came into the room asking if Cloud was ready for sex in her present form. Sakura screamed, cried, and hid beneath her blankets (thankfully she already finished eating breakfast before Kero showed up). “Oh come on!” Kero yelled, prodding her beneath her blankets as Tomoyo looked on rather concerned, “Do we freak everytime you and Tomoyo do the nasty? Come on!! Help me out here!!” “WAAHHHH!!!” “I think Sakura-chan’s having a bad day.” Tomoyo whispered, nudging for Kero to leave. “Well that’s no good! What about our needs? We’re grown individuals! Sure we look underaged but it’s all perfectly legit!” Sakura just didn’t seem to want to stop crying. Tomoyo spent five minutes just to coax her out of her blankets, and another five to get her to come to her “lab” kitchen on the second floor and ask for some advice on Cloud’s predicament from the other Clow girls. Umi, Gaia, Eve (Dark), Dawn (Light) & Fuu (the Daidouji Estates’ maid) were all eating breakfast as Tomoyo led the rather shaky and spooked Sakura into the kitchen to talk. Umi looked at her from head to toe, and seemed concerned. “Have you been introducing mistress to some new sextoys? She looks rather worn out and stressed today.” “Maybe it’s her diet. She needs more greens.” Gaia mentioned, taking another bite out of her spinach omelet. “Greens are always good for growing young women.” “Mistress needs more time in the sun.” Dawn noted, while Eve simply replied, “She needs a good night’s sleep. After the sex of course, but still she needs a solid sleep after the fun.” Fuu simply asked for more eggs and didn’t add her two cents in, even at Tomoyo’s insistence. “So,” Umi finally asked, “How far do you think they went?” “PHHTT!!” (Sakura spit out her drink looking flustered) “Now or before? Because they went beyond “all the way” before if you remember. When he was a big tiger and she was a full grown woman? They‘d do it like animals and--- mistress? Are you OK? You look like you‘re about to cry---” Gaia adds, slowly looking rather concerned. “-----” “Now of course! Then doesn’t count because that was then, this is now!“ Umi remarked, ignoring Gaia’s frantic look and her “subtle” motioning towards Sakura who looked nearly ready to faint, “I bet sex between the two of them must be awkward as heck considering he‘s tiny, she‘s “lolicon“ material, and---” “Ahhhhhhhh!!!” Sakura wailed, arms waving frantically to catch Umi’s attention, “Yes?” “Do we need to talk about this?!? Can‘t we talk about something else?!?”” “Uh---“ (catches Gaia’s frantic expression) “Sure, mistress. But isn’t the topic of Kero and Cloud the reason why you asked us in here for in the first place?” “I’m sure Kero isn’t equipped now to handle Cloud’s needs.” Dawn (Light) noted, “She’s been rather upset and uptight about their “situation” for sometime now. I think she’s just frustrated that she’s not getting any and---” (Eve (Dark) nudges her to silence her) “---oh. Sorry. Almost got too graphic.” Sakura was red from face to toe, obviously not needing very much to stimulate her imagination as to what was going through Dawn’s head at the moment. “Pwhee!!” she cried, “Why do I have to listen to this?!!?” “Because your our mistress?” Umi replied, laying out her advice as everyone listened with focused attentions, except for Sakura whose attention strayed as she was frozen with shock from having to listen to all this talk in the first place. At that moment? Sakura wished she was somewhere else. Tomoyo smiled, and placed her hands around Sakura’s ear to help her drown out the words. ------- When it came to her schoolwork one thing was abundantly clear. Sakura Kinomoto had her strong points, and she had her weak points. When it came to her strong points? PE was one of them. When it came to her weak points? Math, Japanese and English was some of them. But Tomoyo remained persistent, and sat by Sakura’s side once again as “Study Buddies” started, fully determined to help Sakura with her grades. Some were there to help, like Rena (History) and Eve (general knowledge) for instances. Some were there to learn, like Lina & Syaoran Li for starters. Some were there because their significant others were present (Keiko). Some were there for the promise of free food as well as because their significant other was present (Nina). All in all one thing was clear though, they were there, and they were there to learn. Kero was of course banned from the room since everyone knew he would sway people with his Dark Side powers and lure studiers off to play video games. So he kept to his room with Cloud and played video games. Hikaru & Mirra were present, even though their tests would be easier to master than Sakura’s. Still, Sakura was struggling abit. Math being the hardest for her. It was during math study that she brought up the question of Ms. Mitsuki. Nobody seemed to have an answer to that one. Now, yes, truth be told not many of the newcomers like Keiko and Nina liked Ms. Mitsuki, each for their own reasons. Sakura? She adored her. She made her feel all floaty. But still it wasn’t like Tomoyo. Tomoyo made her feel as if she was skipping along heavenly clouds, Ms. Mitsuki made her feel “floaty”. There was a difference. Keiko shrugged her shoulders and looked baffled at the sudden mention of her, “I don’t even know why your bringing her up. It’s not like she’s family or a die hard close friend, she just comes and goes of her own free will mostly.” “Sorta like an alley cat only she doesn’t seem to go into heat every so often -- then again she could be in heat right now and we wouldn’t even know it which explains why she ---” (sighs) “---and Sakura’s falling apart again so forget I mentioned anything.” Sakura didn’t look like she could handle the topic of Ms. Mitsuki as an alley cat, let alone one in “heat”, so Keiko redirected the topic. “I’m sure she’s fine. I checked with the school when she “disappeared” and they have it on record that she’s on “leave” for awhile. I don’t know why she’s on leave, or why she didn’t leave Sakura a message, so I’m guessing it’s personal business.” “But still---” Sakura sighed, her head turning slightly as Tomoyo puts her arm around Sakura’s shoulder, “I’m sure she’s just fine. We’ll see her again.” Sakura smiles, and leans against Tomoyo briefly, basking in the warmth of her feelings, before going back to the numbers before her. For some reason the numbers seemed less daunting as long as Tomoyo was giving her help with the equations. She knew she’d see Ms. Mitsuki again, it was only a matter of time. ----- She wished she didn’t have to see Ms. Mitsuki, but she was part of the “package”. As she stood in the observation room of the Medico Bay and watched over Mimic, Catherine entered the room. “She knows we’re here.” Kaho noted. “Oh, really.” Catherine replied, noticing part of the “mirror” was fogged up and someone had written the words “HOW MUCH LONGER?” on the glass. Kaho leaned back in her chair as she motioned to the words, remarking “I think she’s getting rather antsy.” “That makes two of us.” Catherine shot back half-heartily, looking through the glass at Mimic as she sat down, “Jack sends his love and three new “associates” for the job.” (sighs again) “And why am I telling you all this anyway?” “Because we’re “partners” in crime?” Catherine didn’t like the sound of that one bit, but Kaho elaborated, “Without me you wouldn’t have known when Mimic was good and ready to be “picked up”. Also you wouldn’t have known to stay out of Tokyo and keep from recruiting while the SpellThrashers were keeping an eye out for any Clow girl recruitment drives after Mimic’s disappearance. Speaking of Mimic, did you think it was wise to deploy her so soon---” “Give it a rest already.” Catherine hissed, “You don’t need to be psychic to know that security would have been kicked up several notches after Mimic’s disappearance. That’s common sense.” “Is it “common sense” that Captain Lazarus called when he did? As I said he would? Is it also “common sense” that you need me if your ambitions are to---” “You have ambitions too. Don’t forget that.” “I won’t if you won’t.” A bit of an unbearable silence fills the air as the two regard each other, “Keiko’s right, you are creepy.” “I’ll take that as a compliment.” “Whatever---” Catherine stands up and motions towards Mimic who was sitting quietly in her bed waiting, “Tell her it’s not going to be much longer. We should be leaving soon.” “I’ll tell her that.” Kaho agreed, looking back at the Clow girl. “Anything else I should tell her?” “Over your dead body.” The doors shut behind her, leaving Kaho alone to ponder the thinly veiled “threat”. ------ As she re-entered her private office she re-calculated her “assets”. She had Mimic on her team. That’s one. Three more females who were well placed already in the world of CLAMP School. That’s four. Kaho Mitsuki. Like it or not she made five. That left two more to go. But who--- A thin wispy feeling drifted across her mind. Short, brief, but there nevertheless. She felt as if someone was crying out in their mind in anguish and pain. It was so faint she could barely hear it, but hear it she did. Somebody was hurting badly. Dammit. Dammit, dammit, dammit. With that feeling etching into her mind slowly but surely she knew she had to shelf everything for now. The mission, the work, even thoughts of her. She put them all aside and focused on her job. And as she teleported out she felt something else as well. This was the break she needed to finish her team. She could feel it. But why would she feel that now---? Why with this feeling of dread and pain? It made no sense. Yet. But it would soon. Speaking of which she still had to check in on Mimic--- once she returned. ------ Cheerleading practice went well enough. If not for the mere fact that Sakura’s mind wasn’t focusing on her tasks. Twice she nearly dropped her baton. One time she did--- on her head. All in all she couldn’t stop thinking about everything that had been happening of late. The new world in the sky above. The missing Clow Cards that she still had to capture. The appearance of Meilin sometime ago, and now Syaoran Li. And now Kaho Mitsuki’s disappearance. There was a lot of things going on, and Sakura was behind on most of them. She felt rather out of the loop for someone who was charged with protecting this world from Clow Card disasters. She wished she didn’t feel that way, but she couldn’t help it -- it overwhelmed her at times, her responsibilities. Maybe Tomoyo could cheer her up. As she walked along the school grounds after practice she heard Tomoyo’s voice. It was low, at first, but then it started to grow. She was singing. The voice just seemed to calm Sakura and ease away her fears as she listened. She let the voice lead her to where Tomoyo was practicing, if only to watch her secretly as she sang. As she reached the window she leaned against the wall and listened silently, Tomoyo’s words seemingly taking her away from all her worries and concerns and lifting her up to a place where she could feel her burdens slipping away. She smiled, her arms wrapping around herself as she listened. “She has a pretty voice.” she sighs. “It is pretty.” the voice whispers from behind her, sending Sakura spinning around in shock only to come face to face with, “Meilin?!” she whispered in shock, Meilin motioning for her not to panic, “Shh!” she hissed, motioning toward the windows where Tomoyo was practicing. Sakura quickly clamped her hand to her mouth and nodded her head to show she understood. As the two turned to listen, Meilin looked rather distant, her eyes staring at Tomoyo yet not at her at the same time. “Funny.” she muttered, though it seemed that she was only talking to herself and not to Sakura at all, “I thought Tomoyo would get over you. If she realized you and Li would be forever then -- maybe -- she would have found room in her heart for --- for--” “For you?” Sakura finished, to which Meilin nodded her head, “But in the end we both got what we wanted.” “Pwhee?” Sakura whispered, to which Meilin replied, “You got the love of your life even if you didn’t know it would be Tomoyo, and I got the love of my life -- strange how the ones we were meant to be with aren’t the ones we at first fell in love with. It’s only after a lot of trial, heartbreaks, and errors that we find our true loves.” “That’s deep.” Sakura sighed, looking a little confused from it all, “Xai’s been telling me that I’ve become rather deep lately in my words. I hope that’s not a bad thing.” “No--- maybe.” By now Tomoyo was done with practice, noticing Sakura waiting for her outside. As the two exchanged pleasantries and kisses, Meilin retreated away from the quiet scene, a bit of a smile on her lips. ------ Meanwhile --- CLAMP School (Tokyo) Mimic reached the rooftop of the building overlooking Tokyo, her prey already ten steps ahead of her making good his escape. He seemed overall to be rather quick on his feet, even if he was wearing an outfit that should have, for all intents and purposes, been slowing him down. If the situation wasn’t so dreadfully serious Mimic would be laughing right now. She was pursuing a young man in a black tuxedo, wearing a cape and mask, who called himself “20 Faces” (aka the Man of Many Faces). It was like she was chasing the even more annoying evil twin of Tuxedo Kamen (if such a thing was in fact possible). Well, according to Catherine? What better way to capture a man of many faces than with a woman of many bodies? That, in a nutshell, was Catherine’s job for her. Why she wanted him caught was not something she went into details on, but somehow Mimic felt it was overall better not to ask than to find out why. Mimic mentally threw herself into “Dash” mode, mixing in Power’s energy and Shot’s shooting ability to help her gain some long range attack ability as she ran across the rooftop to catch her quarry. Still, even with these upgrades he seemed as elusive as he was when this chase started and all for a strange little trinket that seemingly had no real value. Why did he steal it? She couldn’t say. Still, it was annoying that this normal human was outfoxing her when she gave the best of the best back home a good run for their money and still managed to get out on top most of the time (with a few failures here and there). As they raced along the rooftops, leaping from one to the other, Mimic became aware of something else. Someone was watching her. Not Catherine, no, it wasn’t her. She could feel someone else was there. As she hit the ground running on the next rooftop she found herself staring at someone off to one side. She stood there quietly, in the shadows, watching. She was tall, that Mimic could tell on her own. She seemed rather shy, but yet she was intent on watching Mimic. So focused on this she was that Mimic let her prey escape. It’s just as well. As the cops surrounded the streets below she figured it was time to rejoin her “comrades” and slip away again. It was a simple thing to shapeshift into a cop and mingle with other cops searching the buildings, slipping out and away without anyone noticing. As she walked along the streets it seemed the it was Tokyo. Everything about this Tokyo was the same at home except for a few things. The huge mega-complex called CLAMP School being one of them. Another being the giant Frigate sized vessels and giant mechas that patrolled the sky over Tokyo. They were Autozam warships and Eagle/Falcon Mechs. But what they were doing there, manned by humans no less, remained to be seen. But then again that was one of the strange riddles that made up the vast tapestry that was the strange “world” of CLAMP School. Mimic sighed as she felt her hunger rising, relinquishing herself to her need to eat. But as she turned and wandered off into the crowds that someone was still watching her. And making up her mind as she watched.
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