Card Captor Sakura Fan Fiction / Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest ❯ Sakura and the Freezing Fairgrounds ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11: Sakura and the Freezing Fairgrounds

~~~~~Tokyo, Japan~~~~~

"Are you sure you felt the Clow Card around here, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura nervously as she held tightly onto Heero's arm.

"It's here somewhere," answered Heero as he cautiously turned his head from side to side, watching for any sign of movement. "Is there something wrong?"

"Sakura-chan is scared of dark places where ghosts might be hiding," answered Tomoyo. As she spoke, a creak in the wood made Sakura grasp tighter to Heero and yelp in fear to emphasize Tomoyo's point.

"You would think Sakura would have gotten over her fear of ghosts a long time ago," said Syaoran with a smile. "But she wouldn't be Sakura otherwise." Tomoyo giggled at Syaoran's joke, but Sakura was still too busy being scared to notice what the others were doing.

"Can't we come back later and capture the Card, Heero-kun?"

Heero turned his head and smiled at the trembling Sakura. "You know as well as I do that this must be done. But I promise you that nothing will harm you."

Heero, Sakura, Syaoran, and Ami had been studying together in their dorm room when they felt the presence of a Clow Card nearby. It was the first time that they had felt a Clow Card while they were at their dorm, so Tomoyo took the opportunity to make the two Card Captors change into the costumes she had made. Heero was wearing the same ceremonial fighting outfit that Tomoyo had given him back in Hong Kong, but Tomoyo had said she had something brand new for Sakura to wear. Sakura, surprisingly to herself, had been a little sad when Tomoyo had told her that this costume would be the last one she would be making for her. Sakura had always been embarrassed at wearing all of Tomoyo's eccentric designs whenever she had to go fight Clow Cards, but she had found herself feeling sad that this would be the last battle costume design she would ever wear. Sakura had been surprised at the costume Tomoyo was carrying, when she had returned with the costume in hand. Sakura had been expecting some type of eccentric work of art, but what Tomoyo had handed her was actually fairly simple in design. The outfit looked like it was a female version of the outfit Tomoyo had made for Heero. Similar to Heero's costume, it had a white, trimmed in red, top, but with a short black skirt with slits on each side instead of the black pants. Just like Heero's, Sakura's outfit had a black circle with a red dragon inside design on the front. The only pattern difference was that on the loose flaps of the arms of the outfit there were a number of pink cherry blossom decorating the edges. Tomoyo had told Sakura that she purposely made the outfit match with Heero's, which made Sakura happy in a way that she couldn't quite explain.

At present, Heero, Sakura, Syaoran, Ami, Tomoyo, and Ranma were all in the basement of one of the old dorm buildings that was scheduled for demolition. The building had apparently not been used for many years, for there was a lot of structural damage as well as a thick layer of dust and cobwebs around the entire place. The basement was even worse than the rest of the building. It was very dark, since the electrical wiring of the building had been damaged, and the entire place looked to be falling apart. Each step the group took caused a creak in the floorboards, and every couple feet, Heero had to brush a cobweb out of the way of their path.

As the gang entered the last room of the basement, the door behind them suddenly slammed shut. "Hoooooeeeee!" shrieked Sakura in fear as she grabbed very tightly onto Heero. Heero, Syaoran, and Ami all felt the Clow Card's magical presence become a little stronger, and in an instant, a glowing figure of a wrinkly old man floated up through the ground and hovered in front of the group. "It's a ghost!" screamed Sakura as she hid her head in the folds of Heero's robe.

Sakura was trembling uncontrollably with fear as Heero took her in his arms, so Heero did the only thing he could think of. Heero allowed his aura to manifest itself and he caringly wrapped it around Sakura's shivering form, giving her a sense of safety as she felt the familiar aura protecting her. "Don't be scared, Sakura-san. Nothing will harm you."

Meanwhile, Syaoran looked over and saw that Sakura was way too frightened to fight the Clow Card, and Heero seemed preoccupied with trying to calm Sakura down, so he turned to face the glowing being in front of him. "God of Lightning, Come Forth!" Syaoran's spell caused a bright bolt of lightning to emerge from out of nowhere and struck the Clow Card directly in the center of its mass. The Card let out a eerie howl of pain, but didn't retaliate, instead it merely fell to the ground and laid there motionless.

Heero had seen the interaction between Syaoran and the Clow Card, and quietly apologized to Sakura for leaving her, and then walked over to the Clow Card. "I Heero, Master of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" The comatose figure lying on the ground quickly changed into card form, and the resulting card floated over to Syaoran, who picked it out of the air and looked at it before giving it to Heero. "That sure was easy," commented Heero to his cousin as he took the Clow Card Syaoran was handing to him. "The Ghost Card."

"Well, Glow is one of the least powerful cards," said Syaoran. "And this Ghost Card seems to be made from Glow, so I guess it isn't very strong either."

"Sakura-chan," whispered Ami quietly as she bent over the cute girl who was holding her knees to her chest and hiding her head as she sat on the ground. "It's over. The Clow Card was captured. We can go now."

Sakura looked up to see Ami, Tomoyo, and Ranma standing over her with worried looks on their faces. "Come on, Kinomoto-san," said Ranma kindly as he held out his hand to help Sakura up from the floor. "I'm sure you want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Arigato," said Sakura as she smiled at everyone and took Ranma's hand and stood up.

All six left the dark basement and went back to their dorm. When they arrived at their rooms, they noticed that it had gotten late and they all said goodnight and went to get ready to go to sleep.

Sakura laid in bed hugging her arms across her chest as she stared up at the ceiling. She was having trouble falling asleep since every time she closed her eyes, the image of the Ghost Card kept filling her mind. The only thing that kept her from screaming out in fear was that she could still feel the lingering effects of when Heero protectively wrapped his aura around her. After tossing and turning in constant unsuccessful attempts to fall into a peaceful slumber, Sakura finally decided it was not going to happen. She got out from under her warm pink covers and in her yellow silk pajamas, quietly exited her room. She started towards Tomoyo's room, but once she was about halfway there a new thought crossed her mind. She knew somewhere in her mind that even if she went into Tomoyo's room to get comfort from her best friend, the haunting feeling would still be with her. So instead of going to the door a few feet away, Sakura turned around and went to the door leading into the hall. She silently walked into the hall and carefully opened the door to the guys' suite. She peaked her head inside the room and was relieved to see nobody was up. After closing the door, the tiptoed over to Heero's bedroom and as quietly as she could, she opened the door and crept inside.

"I know you're there, Sakura-san," Sakura heard inside her mind as soon as the door was shut. She was so surprised from Heero's telepathic comment that a soft yelp escaped from her mouth before she slapped her hands over it to stop from making any more noise.

"How did you know?"

"I felt your magic as soon as you entered our suite," Heero answered as he sat up in bed, showing his uncovered chest, and finally opened his eyes. The few rays of moonlight that managed to make it in through the small window in Heero's room reflected off of his deep cobalt blue eyes, giving him an even more mysterious look that he normally possessed. "Is something wrong?"

"I can't sleep," Sakura answered as she wrapped her arms around her body to try to keep warm. "Every time I close my eyes, I keep imagining the Ghost Card, and it scares me. I was wondering…" Sakura paused for a long while, leaving Heero a little confused at what to do. He hadn't been expecting Sakura to come into his room unannounced so late at night, and didn't know what she could want. "I was wondering if I could sleep with you tonight." Heero was a little taken aback at Sakura's request. It wasn't that he didn't want to have the auburn haired angel snuggling up against him, it was just unexpected. "Please, Heero-kun? I always feel safe in your arms when I can feel your energy protecting me."

Heero smiled and nodded as he pulled the covers away to allow Sakura to get in. "Of course, Sakura-san. I promised I would keep you safe, and I intend to always keep that promise." Sakura smiled back and quickly, but quietly, made her way to Heero's bed and slipped underneath the covers and into the warm embrace of her boyfriend. "Sakura-san," whispered Heero in Sakura's ear.

"Hai?" questioned Sakura as she turned around to face Heero.

"Can you please refrain from telling Duo that you are sleeping here," Heero said. Sakura gave Heero a confused look, leaving her eyes to ask why he would ask such a thing. "If he found out, I would never hear the end of it."

Sakura giggled as she leaned forward to place a gentle kiss on Heero's lips. "Hai, Heero-kun." Heero smiled back at Sakura and pulled her closer to his body, inhaling the intoxicating scent of cherry blossoms that emitted from the beautiful girl. Sakura rested her head on Heero's bare chest, and using one of her fingers, gently traced along the toned muscles of his chest and stomach. "Arigato, Heero-kun," Sakura whispered as she finally was able to close her eyes without seeing the Ghost Card in her mind.

"Sleep well, my beautiful Cherry Blossom," Heero whispered almost inaudibly as he took one last look at the lovely girl he held in his arms, before closing his eyes and falling into an unusually peaceful sleep with an uncharacteristic smile on his face.

~~~~~Tokyo, Japan Next Day~~~~~

"Have you seen Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo asked Ami as she walked out of Sakura's empty room.

"Not since last night," answered Ami looking up from her book and half-eaten bowl of cereal. "She's not in her room?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "No. I wonder where she could be."

"Maybe she is with Yuy-kun," suggested Minako as she got up to bring her empty bowl to the sink. "We are all going to that fair later, so why don't we go to the guys' place in a few minutes and ask if they know where she is."

"Where who is?" asked Ukyo as she walked out of the bathroom wearing her robe and drying her hair with a towel.

"We're looking for Sakura-chan," answered Ami while closing her book and proceeding to finish eating her breakfast.

"You're sure she isn't still sleeping?" Ukyo asked. "I've noticed she likes to sleep in late when she gets the chance."

"I've already looked in her room," replied Tomoyo. "She's not there."

"In that case, then I think Minako's plan of asking the guys is probably the best solution."

"Just give me and Ukyo a few minutes to get dressed and then we'll go," Minako called out over her shoulder as she walked into her room to change out of her yellow silk robe and into her day's outfit.

Once they were all ready, the four girls walked the short distance down the hall to the guys' rooms. "Good morning," greeted Minako as she opened the door.

"Good morning, Aino-san," answered Eriol who happened to be closest to the door when the girls came knocking.

"Not that we mind," added Ranma. "But what are you girls doing here so soon? The fair isn't for a few more hours."

"We are looking for Sakura-chan," replied Tomoyo. "She isn't in her room so we thought she might be with Yuy-kun."

"I don't think he's up yet," answered Syaoran. All four girls looked at Syaoran in disbelief since they all knew that Heero was always up unnaturally early in the morning. "It surprised me too. Usually when I get up in the morning he's already up and we would go train, but this time when I woke up he was nowhere to be found."

"Maybe the two of them both got up extra early and went somewhere together," suggested Ami. "Have you guys checked Heero's room to see if he's in there?"

The guys all looked at one another to find out if anyone had indeed checked Heero's room. When they realized that nobody had, since he was closest to the door, Duo got up to take a look. He slowly opened the door a crack and peeked inside, but what he found, was a sight he never would have expected. Quietly closing the door, Duo turned around to face the others in the room. "I found Sakura-san," Duo said quietly. From the look on Duo's face and the way he spoke, everyone could easily guess what he was talking about, although they found it a little hard to believe. With wide eyes, all eight teens again opened Heero's bedroom door and silently peeked inside. What they saw was Heero sleeping on his back on his bed, with his blankets up to his stomach, with Sakura sleeping soundly with her head on his bare chest. One of Sakura's hands was laying gently on Heero's well toned abs, and the other was resting on the pillow next to Heero's head. Heero's arms were wrapped protectively around the back of the angel sleeping with him, and both Heero and Sakura had slight genuine smiles on their unmoving faces.

"Should we wake them up?" whispered Ranma.

"Not yet!" hissed back Tomoyo as she quietly ran out the door back toward the girl's suite. All the others looked on in confusion at Tomoyo's retreating back. A moment later, she returned through the door and everyone sighed at the sight, since they should have know what Tomoyo was going to do. With video camera now in hand, Tomoyo took her place at the entrance to Heero's room, and started recording the sweet scene before her.

"Now should we wake them?" Ranma asked Tomoyo once again.

"But they look so cute together," she squealed. "How often am I going to get a chance to video tape cute Sakura-chan and Heero-kun sleeping together?"

"Heero's already awake," stated Duo as he looked at his comrade. Heero's eyes were still closed, but Duo knew him well enough to tell that he was fully conscious. At that moment, Sakura too began to stir, showing signs of waking up.

"Come on you guys," said Ami as she stood in front of everyone and turned her back to Heero and Sakura. "Let's give them their privacy." Ami then proceeded to usher everyone out the door, closing it behind her, but not before turning back to give a smile to Heero, who had now opened his eyes. Heero nodded to her in thanks for ridding them of the excess company.

"Sakura," whispered Heero in Sakura's ear as he gently ran his fingers through her silky smooth auburn locks. "Sakura, it's time to get up."

"But I am comfortable here," said Sakura telepathically since she was too comfortable in Heero's arms to make her mouth move.

"The others are all waiting for us," Heero answered with a smile as he placed a gentle kiss on the top of Sakura's head.

"What do you mean?" Sakura mumbled while allowing her hand to roam over Heero's muscular chest.

"They all just came in a minute ago."

"What?" Sakura said, no fully awake. She sat up very quickly and opened her eyes to look at the now closed door.

Heero sat up as well, and rested his back against the headboard of his bed, and gently pulled the frantic Sakura to sit beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Ami-san made everyone leave when she saw you starting to wake up," Heero said to Sakura, who had closed her eyes again, while resting on Heero's shoulder. "But I think Daidouji-san had her camera with her when she was leaving, so she must have gotten us on video."

Sakura just sighed as she lifted her head off of Heero's shoulder, but scooted closer to the warmth provided by his body. "She has been like that ever since we first met, but she is my best friend and I've accepted that it gives her enjoyment to video tape me, so I don't mind anymore. I hope it doesn't bother you, Heero-kun."

"I've gotten used to it," said Heero. "Daidouji-san is a good person, and a good friend to you. I can handle the slight inconvenience of being followed with her video camera."

"Arigato, Heero-kun," Sakura said as she turned her head and pushed herself up to give her boyfriend a kiss for being so understanding. Sakura then stood up and started walking toward the door, when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. "Umm, Heero-kun. Is everyone still out there?"

Heero thought about Sakura's question for a quick second, and then shrugged. "Probably."

"I don't want to go out there by myself," Sakura whined.

"You could use the Time Card and then walk out while everyone is frozen," suggested Heero.

"I don't think it would work on Syaoran, Eriol, Ami, or Minako. They have more magic than the card, so most likely they won't be frozen."

"Could you have the Move Card go into your room and bring you back some clothes?" asked Heero.

Sakura thought for a moment, before answering. "Kero-chan said the Move Card can only carry small objects a very short distance. I'm not so sure it will be able to carry clothes."

Sakura walked back to Heero's bed and laid back down, resting her head in his lap. Neither one moved much, except for Heero slowly stroking his hand back and forth through her soft hair, for a few minutes until Heero got an idea. "What if we use that Remove Card to get you some clothes from your room?"

"But you haven't changed that one yet," said Sakura.

"That is a problem easily rectified," answered Heero as he took his pendant from his neck and stood up. "Key that Hides the Power of Space. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Heero Command You Under Contract. Release!" As Heero's sword released from inside his pendant, he pulled out the Remove Card. "Card Created by Clow. Discard Your Old Form and be Reborn, Under the Name Heero; Your New Master." The counterpart of the Move Card glowed white for a moment before changing from its present Clow Card state, into a Heero Card. "Remove!" When Heero released the Card, it changed into a number of ribbons of white energy and then reformed to create a small pink creature. Both Heero and Sakura were a little surprised at what emerged from the released Clow Card, since when they had captured the Remove Card they had never seen the actual physical form it took on. The Card looked much like a small pink rabbit, but with a pair of white wings attached to its back. As the two teens looked on in surprise, the Remove Card tilted its small head up and looked directly at Sakura before jumping high into the air and straight into Sakura's chest, forcing the cute Card Captor to catch it in her arms. Once cradled in Sakura's arms, the Card began to lick Sakura with its small tongue and snuggle into her neck.

"Haha," laughed Sakura from the tickling sensation provided by the small tongue of the Remove Card. "It's so cute!"

"It's not exactly what I was expecting," said Heero as he looked at his new Clow Card snuggling up against his girlfriend and smiled.

"Can you go into my room and bring me back some clothes?" Sakura asked the Remove Card with a smile. The Card looked back up at the Card Mistress and made a soft chirping sound before disappearing into thin air.

"It seems as if my Clow Card has taken a liking to you, Sakura-san," said Heero. "Not that I can blame it. It definitely has good taste."

Sakura had to smile at the sweetness of her boyfriend and got out of bed, walked over to Heero and gave him a long passionate kiss as he pulled her close to him. The couple separated when they heard the Remove Card make another chirp, informing its Master that it was back from getting Sakura some clothes from her room. Once it saw its opening, the Remove Card once again jumped up and into Sakura's chest, nuzzling against her soft and creamy skin again. Sakura grasped the small creature in her hands and brought it up to head level. "Arigato," she said sweetly as she lightly kissed the head of the small creature. The Remove Card chirped again and then licked Sakura's nose, before it changed into a ball of energy and then back into its Clow Card form. "Umm, Heero-kun? Where do I change?"

Heero just smiled back at Sakura before taking a step away from her and pulling out another Clow Card. "Create a barrier to give Sakura some privacy. Wall!" The Wall Card released from its confines, and created a barrier up to the ceiling, splitting the room into two halves.

"Arigato, Heero-kun," thought Sakura from one side of the wall as she started getting dressed in the clothes the Remove Card had brought her.

"Just tell me when you are finished getting dressed," answered back Heero as he too began to dress for the day. "Then we'll go outside and see if we can find a way to avoid too much embarrassment from the rest of our friends."

"Hai," answered Sakura as she sighed. She was not looking forward to explaining herself to everyone, especially Tomoyo who was likely to make a big fuss about the whole ordeal.

A few minutes later, Heero recalled the Wall Card and returned his sword to its pendant form. Now fully dressed, Heero and Sakura stood hand in hand in front of the closed door leading out into the common room of the guys' suite. "Ready, Sakura-san?"

"…Not really," answered Sakura quietly. "But I guess we have to leave eventually." Heero smiled and gave Sakura a quick kiss for good luck, and then the two teens opened the door and walked out to face the music.

"Good morning, Heero-kun, Sakura-chan," greeted Ami from her position of resting in Syaoran's arms while reading a book.

"Morning," added Syaoran.

"Slept in late Heero?" commented Duo over his shoulder as he continued playing a video game with Minako at his side. "That's a first."

"I hope you slept well," supplemented Minako sweetly.

"Morning you two," said Ukyo, Eriol, and Ranma in unison from the floor where they were playing cards.

"You two should eat some breakfast," said Tomoyo with a smile as she watched and laughed at Ranma's ineffective card playing abilities. "We were planning on going to the park for a while before going to the fair."

"H-hai," stuttered Sakura. She turned to face Heero, giving him a very confused look. "I don't understand. They are acting as if nothing is out of the ordinary."

Heero took a quick glance around the room until his eyes met Ami's. When she was sure she had Heero's attention, Ami nodded her head slightly and gave him a slight smile. Heero understood what Ami was implying, and gave her a nod in return and silently thanked her. "Ami-san did this," Heero said to Sakura through his mind. "I think she somehow talked everyone into not making a big fuss out of it."

Sakura turned to look at her blue haired friend, but found her looking back at her book. "Are you sure, Heero-kun?"

Heero just nodded his head. He had gotten to know Ami pretty well over these last few months and thought it was something she would do. Ami was one of the most considerate people Heero had ever come across and knew she would do anything she could to keep Sakura and himself from having to deal with the inevitable embarrassing position of explaining why they were sleeping together. "Shall we get some breakfast?"

Sakura was still a little shocked and confused, and only nodded her head as Heero led her into the kitchen and began fixing some food for the both of them before they left for the fair.

"Having a good time?" Heero asked Sakura as they rested on a bench after walking through the numerous booths full of games and prizes.

"Hai!" Sakura answered with a smile.

"So what do you guys want to do now?" asked Duo.

"I hear they have an outdoor ice skating rink," mentioned Ami. "How about we go there?"

Everyone quickly agreed and stood up from the bench they were presently occupying. "Can you help me win one of those stuffed animals before we go, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura in her always cute and innocent voice.

"Do you guys want to wait a minute while I get Sakura-san a prize?" asked Heero. "Or should we meet you at the rink?"

"We'll wait," answered Tomoyo. "Knowing you, it won't take very long. Besides, I can't miss getting a happy Sakura-chan on camera."

"Shall we see what is at the booth that seems to have so many people trying to win?" asked Heero as he motioned toward the most crowded booth in the area.

"Hai," answered Sakura happily as she walked hand in hand with Heero toward the booth, with Tomoyo video taping, of course, as she walked behind the couple.

"Twelve!" Heero and Sakura heard the vendor shout as the latest contestant finished his round. "That's enough for one of the small stuffed animals." The contestant picked a small blue stuffed penguin for his girlfriend, who looked very impressed since the majority of the contestants were only getting sixes and sevens. "Who's next?" called out the game vendor. "Hit ten and win a prize! Shoot out fifteen targets for a larger prize, or do all twenty in under 30 seconds for one of the largest prizes at the entire fair!"

Heero walked up to the vendor and placed the required entrance fee down. The vendor gave Heero a small paintball gun with a clip of twenty balls. Heero did a quick inspection of the weapon to determine the amount of compensation he would have to deal with due to any calibration errors. He then held the gun straight out in front of himself and took aim at the first of the twenty, one-inch radius targets placed at the back end of the booth.

"You should start deciding which of those big toys you want," Duo quietly whispered in Sakura's ear before Heero even took a single shot.

Sakura was about to turn to face Duo when she saw Heero fire off all twenty balls in rapid succession. It took Heero less then ten seconds to empty the clip and place the spent gun on the table. "Which one did you want, Sakura-san?" Heero asked.

Sakura was surprised at Heero's expertise with the gun, but since she knew all about Heero's past, her surprise was nothing compared to everyone else. "Can I have that one please?" Sakura asked the game vendor as she pointed to a large yellow bear with white wings on its back. The game vendor was so completely shocked as he stared at the red paint splatters in the exact center of each and every target, that he didn't even hear Sakura's answer.

The vendor eventually came out of his trance and turned to face Heero and Sakura. "Congratulations. That was an impressive display. I'm sorry Miss, but which one did you say you wanted?" Sakura pointed to the yellow bear again and the vendor reached up and took the large stuffed animal off the shelf.

Heero and Sakura politely thanked the game vendor and then walked away with all their friends towards the ice rink. "It looks like Kero-chan," commented Tomoyo of the yellow bear that was half Sakura's size that she was holding tightly to her chest.

"Hai! That's why I picked it," answered Sakura with a smile.

When they reached the ice skating rink, everyone was already talking amongst themselves about how well each could skate. It wasn't until they were waiting in line to get skates that they realized Ranma had disappeared somewhere. They all scanned the area, but Tomoyo was the first to spot him. "I'll be right back," she said to the others as she ran off to the bench where Ranma was sitting, overlooking the skating rink. "What are you doing over here, Ranma-kun? Aren't you going to skate with the rest of us?"

"Ice skating isn't exactly my thing," answered Ranma.

"You don't know how to skate?" queried Tomoyo with a hint of surprise in her voice.

"I know how to skate," said Ranma. "But the last time I did was not such a pleasurable experience."

"Why not?"

"The last time I skated, it was in a fight."

"You had a fight on an ice skating rink?" questioned Tomoyo in partial disbelief as she sat down next to her boyfriend.

Ranma nodded his head. "It was against `The Golden Pair of Figure Skating.' They incorporated their figure skating skills into a fighting style, and although I did win the fight, I paid the price for it. Let's just say I discovered just how hard ice really is."

"But you aren't going to be fighting this time," reasoned Tomoyo. "You will be skating with me and everyone else."

"I guess you're right," conceded Ranma.

"Come on," said Tomoyo with a smile as she stood up and pulled Ranma up with her. "It'll be fun." The couple walked back to join their friends, Tomoyo smiling happily, and Ranma feeling a bit better after Tomoyo's reassuring words.

When they first got onto the ice, all the guys, except for Duo, stood together near the side of the rink, watching Duo and the girls skating around. All of them were smiling and laughing as they did various spins and jumps, trying ever so slightly to impress the rest of their friends. Even Tomoyo had joined in the fun, leaving her video camera in Ranma's hands after bribing him with a kiss to videotape as much of Sakura as he could.

Sakura was quick to take note of Tomoyo's lack of video camera, and scanned the rink until she spotted Ranma, as she expected, pointing Tomoyo's video camera in her direction. "Heero-kun," sent Sakura to Heero via their telepathic link. "Can you ask Ranma-kun to videotape Tomoyo-chan some, instead of me?"

Heero glanced at his comrade, and sure enough, Ranma had Tomoyo's camera directed right at his girlfriend, obviously at Tomoyo's request. "Of course." Heero skated smoothly over to where Ranma was standing. "Saotome," Heero stated. "Sakura-san asked me to ask you to videotape Daidouji-san instead of her." As soon as he finished speaking, Heero regretted the way he phrased his words. Since he had been videotaping Sakura the entire time, he should have noticed that Sakura had never come over to him to ask him anything. Luckily, however, Ranma hadn't been paying close attention to Heero's choice of words to pick up on the discrepancy.

"That's a good idea," answered Ranma as he shifted the focus of the camera onto the unsuspecting dark haired beauty with captivating amethyst eyes.

Seeing Ranma videotaping Tomoyo instead of Sakura, Heero skated back to his spot next to Eriol along the ice's edge. "So you and Sakura-san do have some type of telepathic connection, don't you?" Eriol whispered into Heero's ear.

"What are you talking about?" asked Heero, trying to pretend he had no idea what Eriol was talking about, although knowing he was busted.

"There's no point in trying to hide it," said Eriol with a smirk. "Saotome didn't notice, but I heard what you said. Sakura asked," he emphasized, "you to ask Saotome to video Tomoyo. Sakura never came over here." Heero didn't bother trying to play it off as if Eriol misheard, instead he just silently cursed to himself for making such a mistake. "It wasn't just this time either," continued Eriol. At this, Heero did look up with a confused expression on his face. "I've noticed that on a number of occasions, you and Sakura-san seemed to know exactly what the other was about to do, and that both of you seem to space out every once in a while because you seem to be concentrating on something. I've suspected it was a telepathy situation, but this latest incident simply confirmed my point."

"We just didn't think the rest of you necessarily needed to know," said Heero. Now that Heero thought about it, he was a little surprised nobody else noticed, especially Ami and Syaoran, who were both extremely observant people.

"May I ask when and how it happened?" questioned Eriol.

Heero answered Eriol by pulling out the Telepathy Clow Card. "We captured that one a while ago when the rest of you were on your Biology trip."

"But you haven't changed it," commented Eriol as he inspected the card.

"The Clow Card did it by itself, and then changed into a card on its own. We didn't even have to fight it. We assumed the effects would wear off eventually, but they never did."

"You two are certainly full of surprises," said Eriol with a laugh as he handed the Telepathy Card back and skated off to join the girls.

"You're telling me," said Heero to himself as he thought about the ways his life had chanced since meeting Sakura. Heero then followed Eriol out onto the ice to join the rest of his classmates.

"Arigato, Heero-kun," greeted Sakura with a kiss after skating over to meet Heero halfway.

"Anytime," Heero answered with a smile. "However, Hiiragizawa figured out that we can talk telepathically."

"He did?" asked Sakura with surprise as she looked over toward Clow Reed's reincarnation to find him grinning back at her. "How did he find out?"

"He's suspected for a while now apparently. Hiiragizawa said he noticed that we seem to know what each other is thinking and that we space out sometimes," explained Heero. "However, what confirmed it was when I asked Saotome to videotape Daidouji-san. I said that you asked me to ask Saotome to stop videotaping you; but you never came over to ask me anything. Saotome didn't seem to notice, but Hiiragizawa picked up on it. After that, I didn't see any point in denying it."

"It's okay, Heero-kun," consoled Sakura. "They would have found out eventually. But now that you mention it, I'm a little surprised that nobody else figured it out."

"Especially Li and Ami-san, right?" finished Heero. Sakura nodded her head. "I was thinking the exact same thing earlier."

"So what do we do now?" asked Sakura.

"I don't think we have to do anything," answered Heero. "Hiiragizawa doesn't seem like one who would tell anyone, so we should be fine."

"What should be fine?" interrupted Duo as he skated up to the couple.

"Nothing," Heero stated with the usual amount of annoyance he had in his voice whenever he was interrupted by his fellow Gundam pilot.

"Did you need us for something, Duo-kun?" asked Sakura in her normal sweet voice, which Duo much preferred over Heero's annoyed tone.

"The others all figured that since you two seemed to be off in your own little world again, that you probably didn't hear the announcement."

"Announcement?" asked Sakura.

"Hai," Duo confirmed. "They just announced that they will be holding a competition for amateur pairs figure skating. The rest of us are all entering and we were wondering if you two wanted to enter as well."

Heero turned toward Sakura. "Shall we?" he asked as he outstretched his hand to the cute girl.

"Hai!" Sakura answered enthusiastically.

"We're all heading over to enter now," said Duo. "They will pick the order of presentation of the competition at random."

"How much time until they start?" Heero asked.

"The first couple is scheduled to skate in about fifteen minutes," answered Duo.

"That isn't much time," Sakura commented.

"Just hope you don't have to go first."

"We'll handle it," stated Heero.

"Confident as always I see," sighed Duo. "Let's go catch up to everyone and register."

After quickly registering, Heero and Sakura took to the ice to begin working on a possible routine. "I had no idea you were so good at skating," praised Sakura as Heero landed a flawless combo jump.

"You aren't too bad yourself, Sakura-san," Heero responded with a smile, making Sakura blush slightly.

"It's all thanks to Tomoyo-chan," said Sakura. "She and my school teacher, Mizuki-sensei, taught me how to skate, and Tomoyo-chan is really good."

"She is quite skilled," commented Heero as he watched Tomoyo do a few jumps and spins to show Ranma how they were done. "However, your athletic ability is superior to Daidouji-san's and I believe she would agree with me in saying that you have surpassed her abilities. Besides, it looks as if Saotome isn't much of a skater, so I doubt they stand a chance against us in the competition."

"I think Tomoyo-chan would rather be videotaping anyway," Sakura remarked.

Heero had to laugh at Sakura's remark. "I bet you're right."

"May I have your attention please?" announced the young man running the skating competition. "We have determined the skating order. The first pair up will be Heero Yuy and Kinomoto Sakura. The rest of the couples will be announced as their turns come up."

"We're first?" said a worried Sakura. "But we haven't had enough time to prepare."

"Don't worry, Sakura-san," Heero consoled as he pulled the adorable auburn haired girl into a caring hug. "We'll be fine."

"Besides," added Eriol with a smirk. "I'm sure you two will find a way to make your routine great by communicating during the performance."

"Will Heero Yuy and Kinomoto Sakura please report to center ice to begin your routine," said the announcer.

"Come on, Sakura-san," said Heero as he took Sakura's hand into his own and led her to center ice. "Are you ready?"

"Hai," answered Sakura, even though she was a little nervous.

"Don't be nervous, my cute little Cherry Blossom," sent Heero to Sakura telepathically. "We'll be fine." Sakura couldn't help but blush at the mention of the pet name Heero had given her. "Just follow my lead and we'll give them a show they'll never forget."

"Hai!" answered Sakura with a happy tone of voice inside her head.

As the music began to play, Sakura and Heero spun around each other doing what almost looked like a dance on the ice. The two moved in such perfect harmony with each other that the crowd of people standing around the ice rink were in complete awe at the sight. Once the two separated they both started off by skating side by side in exact synchronization, followed by a triple jump and a double jump combo, also in exact synchronization. The crowd watched on in amazement at the ability of the couple to skate in such perfect coordination, unaware of the fact that the reason they were able to skate so perfectly was because they could coordinate their actions by communicating via their telepathic link. A couple minutes into the performance by Heero and Sakura, the crowd finally managed to overcome their shock and were now cheering wildly at each of the movements that were executed perfectly by the ice dancing couple.

When their time on the ice was almost over, Heero and Sakura suddenly stopped in the middle of the performance. The whole crowd murmured in confusion as to why this perfect pair stopped before the completion of their program, but only Eriol, Ami, Minako, and Syaoran knew what had made the couple stop skating. The reason was because a strong magical presence had presented itself. The crowd did quickly figure out that something was wrong when the entire rink was suddenly covered by a gigantic dome of ice, separating Sakura and Heero from everyone else present.

"Heero-kun," said Sakura as she skated over to Heero. "Do you feel the presence too?"

"Hai," Heero answered. "It feels like a Clow Card. Based on the situation, I would guess that this Clow Card is related to the Freeze Card you have."

Sakura never had a chance to respond to Heero's comment, as a block of ice suddenly burst through the rink surface, forcing the two Card Captors to separate. Once they were apart, the Clow Card seemed to decide that Sakura was to be its main target and continuously caused pieces of razor sharp ice to break through the surface of the rink. All Sakura could do to avoid being impaled by the ice attacks was skate as fast as she could. The relentless assault didn't even give Sakura enough time to release her Star Wand.

Heero, on the other hand, had plenty of time to release his Clow Key, which he did without any hesitation. With Clow Sword in hand, Heero called forth the Wing Card and took to the air. He then quickly swooped down and picked up Sakura in his arms, just moments before another piece of ice broke the surface. "Are you alright?" asked Heero with concern as he flew the two of them higher to get out of the reach of the Card.

"Hai," answered Sakura between gasps as she recovered from the strenuous workout. "Arigato, Heero-kun."

Heero responded to Sakura's thanks by giving her a very quick kiss on the lips. "Can you release your wand? We still need to capture the Card."

Sakura nodded and took hold of her pendant. "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" As the Star Pendant extended into the Star Wand, Sakura pulled out a Sakura Card. "Fly!" As the Fly Card released from its confines and created a pair of wings on Sakura's back, Heero gently let go of the Card Mistress to allow her to fly on her own power. "How do we capture the Card?" asked Sakura. "We can't see where it is."

"We'll just have to make it show itself," Heero answered. "Why don't you try using the Thunder Card to get its attention?"

Sakura nodded her head and pulled out the Thunder Card. "Thunder!" As the giant magical beast was released, it caused bolts of lightning to erupt from its body, striking various points across the ice rink below. The attack obviously got the Clow Card's attention, for numerous pieces of ice came flying out from the center of the rink, some of which were sent so far, so fast, that they struck the Thunder Card's beast form so hard that they caused it to revert back into card form. Amongst the many pieces of ice, also rose a figure of a woman with ice blue skin, piercing white eyes, long flowing hair and wearing a set of beautiful white robes. As the Clow Card continued to float into the air, Heero and Sakura could see it was protected by a translucent blue bubble of energy.

"Ready, Sakura-san?"

"Hai!" With weapons raised, Sakura and Heero flew straight at the Clow Card, ready to strike.

Meanwhile, outside the dome of ice where Sakura and Heero were fighting, Syaoran and the others were all trying to make sense of the situation. "This is a Clow Card's doing, right?" asked Minako to verify she was feeling the magic correctly.

"Hai," answered Syaoran.

"We have to find a way to get inside that dome of ice to help Heero-kun and Sakura-chan," commented Ami.

"There's no way we can do that with all these people here," pointed out Minako.

"Hiiragizawa, can you take care of the people around here?" Syaoran asked Eriol.

"I'll take care of it," Eriol answered as he ran off to find a hidden area where he could use his magic. "Key that Holds the Power of Darkness. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Eriol Command You Under Contract. Release!" From their vantage point, the others could all see the faint golden glow come from around the corner where Eriol had gone, right before each and every person in the area suddenly fell over asleep. A moment later, Eriol reappeared from around the corner and rejoined the group.

"Alright," stated Syaoran who had already released his sword. "Lets get through this ice barrier." Syaoran charged forward, with weapon raised, and struck down with full force on the giant ice dome. The result was not what Syaoran was expecting, for as his blade made contact with the magically created ice, some type of repelling shield showed itself and Syaoran was knocked backwards with enough force to send him flying through the air, causing him to drop his sword out of his hand in the process.

"Syaoran-kun!" screamed a worried Ami as she ran over to where Syaoran was thrown, as he struggled to shakily stand up. "Are you alright?"

Syaoran shook his head a couple times to clear it as he finally got to his feet. "I'm alright. Just wasn't expecting that to happen," he answered. Syaoran then looked down at the concerned face of his Senshi girlfriend and gave her a smile. "Arigato, Ami-san."

"You alright Li?" Ranma asked as he walked over to Syaoran and handed him his dropped sword. "Looks like you took quite a shot."

"I'm fine," Syaoran answered, not wanted to show any weakness. "The barrier has some sort of shield around it. I don't think physical attacks will work on it."

"It could be the other way around," pointed out Eriol. "Your sword is magical, don't forget. It may have been reflecting your magic."

"There's only one way to find out," said both Duo and Ukyo at the same time, as Duo walked toward the wall of ice and Ukyo pulled out one of her small throwing spatulas. Ukyo threw her spatula at the ice, only to see it bounce off the reflective barrier, right back at her so fast that she almost didn't have enough time to duck out of the way. Duo didn't have much better luck, as he was spun around three times in the air, eventually landing flat on his back, after delivering a powerful spin kick.

"Ouch," Duo said in a half-serious, half-joking voice while he laid on his back on the ground after Minako had run over to make sure he was alright. "I think Li was right."

"So do I," added Ukyo as she stared wide-eyed at the spatula embedded halfway into a nearby tree.

"Let's see how it handles this," said Ranma. "Möko Takabisha!" The beam of energy erupted from Ranma's hands and struck straight into the barrier. Luckily for them, the beam didn't bounce back like the physical attacks did, but unfortunately it didn't look like it effected the ice at all either. Wanting to get a closer look, Ranma examined the point of impact of his attack, only to find a very small dent. He then looked back toward everybody else. "This could take a while." Everyone sighed in anguish, but all got prepared to do a magical attack on the ice barrier.

Back inside, Heero and Sakura were busy dodging various ice shards, which was getting progressively more and more difficult, as the Clow Card stepped up its attacks. Both Heero and Sakura had attacked the Clow Card numerous times, but the shield surrounding it had repelled all the attacks. Just like when Syaoran had struck the dome from the outside, when Heero had attacked the shield with his Sword of Space, he had been fiercely thrown backwards, and during the moment when Heero was stunned from the repelling force, the Clow Card shot numerous sharp ice shards at Heero, ripping his green shirt and blue jeans, and cutting him in various places on his arms, legs, and face. Sakura had attacked with her Clow Cards, and even though not a single Clow Card had been able to penetrate the shield, she had at least always been able to dodge the Clow Card's counter-attacks. After dodging the latest round of attacks, Heero flew over to where Sakura was floating and trying to catch her breath.

"How do we capture this card, Heero-kun?" asked Sakura.

"I don't know," Heero answered truthfully. "But maybe if the others are able to penetrate the wall, they can give us a hand." Both Sakura and Heero had been able to feel Eriol, Syaoran, Ami, and Minako's attacks on the dome of ice.

When the pair of Card Captors felt the Clow Card's energy begin to swell again, they prepared themselves for another round of dodging icicles. However, the attack they were waiting for never came. Instead they just looked on in curiosity as the Clow Card closed its eyes and clasped its hands together.

"What is it doing?" asked Sakura as she watched the Clow Card rotate its hands as if it were modeling clay.

"I'm not exactly sure," answered Heero. He knew the Clow Card must be charging up for an attack, but he couldn't decipher what type of attack it was going to be, or when the attack would come. In an instant, the intense white eyes of the Clow Card shot open, and something that looked almost like a smirk appeared on the icy blue lips of the woman. "Look out!" yelled Heero as he quickly pushed Sakura out of the way, moments before the Clow Card shot a semi-solid, semi-liquid beam right where Sakura had been. Unfortunately, by pushing Sakura out of the way, Heero had put himself into the line of fire and was struck full force by the beam and flung straight into the ceiling of the large ice dome. Heero hit with such power that the impact actually cracked the ice dome, as well as knocking Heero unconscious. Seeing that it had disabled one of the fighters attacking it, the icy Clow Card flew over to the comatose figure of Heero, who was stuck in the groove in the ice dome that his body had created when it crashed.

Sakura wanted to attack the Clow Card to keep it from getting too close to her boyfriend, but from the angle she was at, she was afraid that her attacks might accidentally strike Heero as well. All Sakura could to was feel tears begin to well up in her eyes as she watched the Clow Card slowly cover one of the most important people to her in ice. It only took moments for the Clow Card to make Heero into a human size ice cube, by which time Sakura was on the verge of completely breaking down and crying her eyes out. "Don't cry, Sakura-san," Sakura heard inside her head. "Everything will be alright."

"Heero-kun?" asked Sakura with surprise.

"Hai," Heero answered.

"But you were unconscious and frozen."

"My body is frozen, but my mind is still awake. However, I don't know how long my body can stand this extreme cold."

"But I don't know what to do to get you out."

"I believe in you, Sakura-san. All you need is to believe in yourself." With that last thought, Heero's voice left Sakura's mind, leaving the teen alone to try and figure out a way to rescue her fellow Card Captor.

Sakura pulled out all of her Clow Cards and looked at each and every one. She stopped on the Firey Card. "I know I have used this already, but what other choice do I have?" After convincing herself that she had to try, she released the card. "Be the flames that melt the ice. Firey!" The powerful elemental Clow Card released from its confines and flew straight at the icy barrier in an attempt to melt its way through to the Clow Card underneath. The power of the Firey Card was obviously not strong enough, as it failed to get even close to the Clow Card before using up all its energy and reverting back to card form once again. "It's not strong enough," thought Sakura to herself. "What do I do now?"

Suddenly, from beneath all the ice, Heero's body began to glow a faint white, and Sakura watched with curiosity as what looked like a Clow Card flew away from Heero and passed right through the barrier and then hovered right in front of her face. "The Magma Card?" said Sakura as she took hold of the Heero Card. "But this is one of Heero's changed Clow Cards. How am I supposed to use it?"

"Just believe in yourself," Sakura very faintly heard in her head.

"Just believe in myself," Sakura repeated. "Hai, Heero-kun. I will." Sakura took a deep breath and the threw the Magma Card into the air. "Lend me your strength to melt the icy barrier. Magma!" As Sakura struck down on the Magma Card with her wand, the entire area lit up a bright white as the Magma Card released from its card form. Sakura was a little amazed that she had actually been able to release the card, since she had been unable to release the new Clow Cards before they had been changed. The moment of amazement was short lived however, as Sakura had to concentrate her energy to try to make the Magma Card a little more powerful in order to melt the new Clow Card's ice barrier. The hulking released form of the Magma Card flew slowly toward the ice barrier of the new Clow Card and impacted with a loud thud. The heat from the Magma Card was much more effective than the Firey Card, melting some of the barrier, but it didn't seem to have quite enough energy to make it all the way through. Despite this, Sakura continued to channel her energy into the Heero Card and had it continue the unrelenting assault.

Outside, all the magic users were beginning to tire, and they had only managed to get a quarter of the way through the tremendous ice dome. "This isn't going to work," said Ranma as he gasped for air after his latest attack. "It's just too thick and we aren't doing enough damage."

"But we have to get in there and help them," countered Minako, even though she too was out of breath and running low on magical energy.

"Syaoran-kun," said Ami to the future Li Clan leader. "Do you remember a while ago when Heero-kun said that our aura's merged?" Syaoran nodded, unsure of where the blue haired genius was going with this line of questioning. "Well, when Heero-kun and Sakura-chan merge their energies, they become much stronger. What if we try to do that?"

Syaoran thought for a moment before answering. "It sounds like a good idea, but will we be able to do it? We have never even tried merging after that one incident."

"We have to try," said Ami. "Sakura-chan and Heero-kun might really need our help."

Syaoran nodded in agreement, and gently pulled Ami into a caring embrace. "Here goes nothing." Both Ami and Syaoran began to focus their magical energies, unsure of where or not they really could merge their aura's, and if so, what it would feel like. They didn't have to worry for long, for as soon as Ami's light blue aura and Syaoran's green aura manifested themselves, they both began to swirl and intermingle with each other. Neither Syaoran or Ami could say a word. They could only bask in the feeling of warmth and energy that was surging through their bodies. They both knew that Syaoran's fire attack was more likely to be more effective than any of Ami's Sailor Mercury attacks, so Ami allowed Syaoran to control the new power they had discovered. "God of Fire, Come Forth!" At Syaoran's command, flames shot forth from the powerful couple and impacted with full force on the ice barrier. It was quite clear that combined, Ami and Syaoran had more than doubled their power, for it only took one shot to blast through the previously impenetrable ice wall.

While Sakura was continuing her relentless assault with the Magma Card, she had felt Ami and Syaoran's powers increase dramatically and also noticed out of the corner of her eye that a piece of the ice dome had suddenly disappeared. The destruction of a piece of the ice dome also had a secondary effect. It appeared that the dome was part of the new Clow Card's energy, for as soon as it was destroyed, the shield surrounding itself and Heero began to flicker and weaken. This was all Sakura needed as the Magma Card broke through the weakening shield and impacted directly on the Clow Card. Sakura saw this as her one chance, and didn't miss it. "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" In a flash of white light, the Clow Card disappeared and then rematerialized as a Clow Card and floated over to Sakura's hands. At the same instant, the entire ice dome disappeared. However, since Heero had been frozen inside the top of the dome, and he was still unconscious, this caused him to go falling head first toward the hard ice rink below. "Heero-kun!" screamed Sakura as she flew downward as fast as she could, praying she would be able to catch Heero before he hit the ground.

"God of Wind, Come Forth!" Beneath Heero a small tornado of wind arose and gently caught him before he hit the ground at a deadly speed.

Seconds later, Sakura landed next to Heero's still unconscious body. "Arigato, Syaoran-kun," she said to the savior of her boyfriend. "Heero-kun," Sakura whispered as she gently stroked the cheek of the unconscious warrior. Then, without warning, Sakura too slipped into unconsciousness from exhaustion and fell on top of Heero, dropping the Clow Card onto the ice.

The Card slid a few feet, and landed closest to Ami, who picked it up and studied it. "The Ice Card," she told everybody. "I think these are the symbols of the Watery and Freeze Cards, right?"

Syaoran took a look at the Clow Card. "Hai. They are."

"I think we should go back," interrupted Tomoyo. "Sakura-chan and Yuy-kun need to get some rest."

"Daidouji-san's right," agreed Duo as he and Ranma walked over to where the two Card Captors were sleeping. Ranma carefully picked up Sakura, and Duo picked up his fellow Gundam Pilot. They allowed Eriol a minute to use a spell to wake everyone back up, with a small change in their memories, and then the teens walked back to the dorms, with Ranma carrying Sakura, Duo carrying Heero, and Tomoyo bringing along the giant stuffed animal Sakura had gotten earlier.

The group was so preoccupied with Sakura and Heero's conditions, that nobody noticed the large dark figure hovering high in the air looking down on them. "Li Xiao Lang. Li Xiao Long. Very soon you will meet your end at the hands of the all powerful Charon!"