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 Her New Friends ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer:

I don't own any of the main characters in this story. Any original characters or ideas I suppose are my own, but whatever. All the main characters belong to their respective owners, for example Card Captor Sakura belongs to CLAMP, Gundam Wing belongs to Sunrise, Ranma belongs to Rumiko Takahashi, and Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. If this disclaimer isn't satisfactory, basically all I'm saying is please don't sue me.

Card Captor Sakura: The Next Quest

By CCS-ZERO

Chapter 1: Sakura and Her New Friends

~~~~~Tomoeda, Japan~~~~~

"Sakura! Sakura! Sakura!" yelled Kinomoto Fujitaka from downstairs in an attempt to wake his soundly sleeping daughter. "It's time to get up! You don't want to be late for your first day at school!"

"Yeah Sakura, you're gonna be late," chided a yellow stuffed animal looking creature who was jumping on Kinomoto Sakura's pillow in an attempt to rouse the teen from her deep state of sleep.

"I'm awake. Stop jumping on my pillow Kero-chan," mumbled a barely conscious Sakura as she rolled onto her back, her eye-lids fluttering open to reveal her emerald green eyes beneath. "What time is it anyway?"

"It's almost eight o'clock. Tomoyo and the Gaki will be here any minute now."

"Oh no! Kero-chan, how could you let me sleep so late!" whined a now very awake Sakura as she ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower. "And Syaoran is not a Gaki!" yelled Sakura back from the bathroom.

"I've been trying to wake you up for the past half hour, but you sleep so deeply that I couldn't!" responded a defensive Kero. Five minutes later Sakura rushed out of the bathroom and started getting dressed. "You're lucky you set out your clothes last night or you would be in real trouble." The night before, Sakura's best friend Daidouji Tomoyo had helped her pick out what she believed was the perfect outfit for the orientation day at her new school. Now fully dressed, Sakura took a look in the mirror at was quite pleased at the results. Although she always felt that her friend Tomoyo was much more beautiful than herself, she still liked how she looked in her pink sleeveless shirt that hugged her upper body and white mini-skirt with matching white knee socks and a pink ribbon in her short auburn hair to finish the outfit. With her ever-present smile on her face, Sakura bounded down the stairs hoping to grab a quick bite to eat before her friends arrived, praying that they would account for the fact that she was always late.

"Yay! Pancakes! With maple syrup! My favorite!" screamed an ecstatic Kero as he zoomed down the stairs to the breakfast table.

"Good morning Kero. And good morning to you too honey," greeted Kinomoto Fujitaka, giving a kiss on the forehead to his one and only daughter. "Do you have time for breakfast? I made some pancakes for you to celebrate your first day of college."

"Hai! Well, I hope I have time," answered Sakura as she sat down at the table and started chewing on a pancake. Kero was already in the process of stuffing a third pancake into his little mouth, without bothering to swallow the first two making his head expand to about twice its normal size. As Sakura was finishing her first pancake, she heard the doorbell ring. Assuming it would be Tomoyo and Syaoran, she quickly said goodbye to her father and gave him a hug before racing to the front door, only to find her older brother Touya already there.

"Good morning Touya," greeted the ever cheerful Daidouji Tomoyo.

"Hello Tomoyo-san," greeted Touya with a smile. He then turned and saw who Tomoyo was with and his smile turned into a frown. "And what are you doing here Li?"

Knowing Li Syaoran and Kinomoto Touya didn't get along at all, Tomoyo responded before Syaoran had a chance to say anything. "We're here to get Sakura to go to orientation."

"You already knew that Oniichan. I told you that yesterday," said Sakura as she walked up and greeted her friends.

"I still don't like the idea of this Gaki going to the same school as you kaijuu. He's nothing but trouble," remarked Touya, as he glared at Syaoran.

"Stop it Oniichan. Syaoran is not a Gaki, and I am not a kaijuu! Come on Kero-chan, it's time to go," called out Sakura.

Kero flew out of the kitchen, with half of a pancake still hanging out of his mouth. "Before we go," started whining Kero, "Can we have some pudding, please?"

"Kero! You just ate a dozen pancakes! But if you get into my backpack now, so we can go, I promise I'll get you some pudding later."

"Yay! Arigato Sakura!" cheered Kero as he flew into Sakura's backpack.

"Ok, we'll be going now. Bye Oniichan!" called out Sakura as she grabbed her stuff and walked out the door. Once outside, she gave Tomoyo a friendly hug and said hello to Syaoran with a beautiful smile. After loading her luggage into Syaoran's sports car, Sakura got into Tomoyo's new car and with Kero safely stowed away in Sakura's backpack, the group made their way to Tokyo and their new school and the beginning of their new lives.

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

"Welcome incoming freshmen! I am the Chancellor of this University, and it is my honor to welcome you all to the first year of your career here at our school!" Cheers and clapping rang out from the crowd of eager students. "Now, I want to give you the opportunity to meet some of your fellow classmates, so please introduce yourselves to the others around you and enjoy the party!" With another round of applause, the Chancellor left the podium and the students began talking among themselves, introducing themselves to their new classmates and friends.

"Ami, this is going to be so much fun!" giggled the bubbly blonde Aino Minako. "I can't wait to meet all these new people. And there are so many cute guys too!"

"Don't you ever have anything else on your mind Minako?" The blonde just grinned in response to blue haired friend's question. "It is exciting being here with all our new classmates, but I just wish the others were here with us too."

"Don't worry about them. Usagi, Makoto and Rei are all out doing what they wanted to do. I'm sure they are having a blast where they are," consoled Minako trying to make her friend feel better. "Now, let's go meet some new people!" And with that final statement, Minako grabbed Ami by the hand and started taking her from one group of people to the next. As the girls worked their way around the room, Minako noticed two guys standing alone in the corner of the room. Both were lean and approximately the same height with serious expressions on their faces and in Minako's eyes, both were very cute. "Come on Ami. I see two gorgeous hunks over there. Let's go!" Dragging Ami with her, Minako walked up to the two guys and introduced herself with a smile. "Hi. My name is Aino Minako, and this is my friend Mizuno Ami."

One of the guys, dressed in black pants and matching black jacket with light brown hair styled in a long braided pony tail answered the cute blonde with a smile of his own. "It's nice to meet you Aino-san, Mizuno-san. My name is Duo Maxwell, and this silent statue to my left --" Before Duo could finish the other boy gave him a stare that would send most people running for their life. "Sorry, sorry," apologized Duo before his friend could do anything rash.

"Heero Yuy. Pleasure." While Heero still stood unmoving, Duo gave both Ami and Minako a friendly handshake and hello.

"Uhh, it's nice to meet you Yuy-kun," greeted Ami in a slightly shaken voice. Heero didn't move a muscle when Ami reached out her hand for a greeting, leaving the beautiful genius speechless and confused. Ami looked over the boy, from his slightly rustled brown hair to his lean, chiseled form. He was dressed in light blue jeans, a green shirt, and a blue jacket. His face showed no sign of any existing emotion, with his deep cobalt blue eyes that seemed like they could look right through a person and the lack of even a quiver in any of his facial muscles. However, despite Heero's cold exterior which came off as heartless, emotionless, even mean, Ami still sensed some type of inner strength and kindness to him, and it made him seem a little mysterious, and that mixed with his great physique was quite appealing to the new freshmen. Not knowing what else to do, since Heero wasn't talking, Ami looked to her friend who she discovered seemed to be getting along quite well and having a friendly discussion with Duo. Just as she turned back to try again to initiate a conversation with Heero, three more people walked up and introduced themselves.

"Hi. I'm Kinomoto Sakura," greeted a cute auburn haired girl a little shorter than Ami. "This is Daidouji Tomoyo," said Sakura as she gestured to a girl slightly taller than herself with dark hair down to the small of her back. Tomoyo gave everyone a bright smile as Sakura introduced her. "And this," as Sakura motioned to the other person accompanying her, "is Li Syaoran." Li gave a slight nod of recognition at the mention of his name.

"It's nice to meet you," answered Ami with a smile. "My name is Mizuno Ami." Ami gave a friendly handshake to each of her three new classmates.

"I'm Aino Minako."

"I'm Duo Maxwell."

"Heero Yuy."

Duo and Minako greeted the newcomers with handshakes and smiles, and Heero, true to character simply stood by and idly watched with no sign of emotion on his face. "So where are you three from?" inquired Minako.

"We are all from Tomoeda. We have been friends since elementary school," answered Tomoyo with a smile. "And you? Where are all of you from?"

"Well, Minako and I are from here in Tokyo. We met in junior high school and we, along with three others, have been inseparable since. The rest of our friends, however, decided to go to school other places, so it's just the two of us left in Tokyo," answered Ami, with a hint of sadness in her voice. As Ami was silently missing her friends, she also took the opportunity to look over her new ones. Tomoyo was a very beautiful girl. She almost made Ami feel a little insecure about herself, as Tomoyo possessed not only a very striking body; she also had one of the most beautiful voices Ami had ever heard. Even though she hadn't heard Tomoyo say all that much so far, she could tell Tomoyo must have had a wonderful singing voice as well. She was wearing what Ami judged to be a quite expensive designer outfit of a white blouse and blue skirt. Her dark blue hair was down to the small of her back, and at the moment was merely brushed nicely, but allowed to flow freely. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't possess the same striking beauty her friend did, but she was still stunning herself. She had more of a cute beauty to herself, as opposed to the runway model beauty. Her pink and white outfit was a great contrast to her sparkling emerald eyes. She had a gorgeous smile on her face, and her entire essence radiated cuteness and innocence. Sakura reminded Ami of a little sister she never had, and figured she would very much enjoy getting to know her better. As Ami's observations turned towards Syaoran, her first thought was that he looked a lot like Heero. Similar to Heero, Syaoran was lean and fit, and had a very serious look on his face. He had slightly rustled brown hair, and was dressed in khaki pants, a green shirt, and a brown jacket. The main difference between Syaoran and Heero was that, Heero had those piercing cobalt blue eyes, while Syaoran had deep amber ones. Syaoran's outside demeanor seemed cold and heartless, like Heero, but Syaoran's eyes gave him away. He didn't have a threatening glare in his eyes, but instead, his eyes were filled with a look of kindness and friendship. Ami figured that he was probably very gentle and kind beneath his rock-hard exterior and she mentally told herself that she was going to find out someday.

At the same time Ami was studying Sakura, Tomoyo, and Syaoran, Sakura was doing the same to the four people standing in front of her. Both of the guys had a similar physique, but they weren't alike at all. Duo was smiling and chatting away, while Heero didn't talk, didn't smile, and practically didn't move. Similar to Syaoran, the two of them had perfect bodies. They were lean and very handsome, although Sakura had always liked strong and silent guys best so she found Heero a little more attractive than Duo. She figured that is the reason why she liked Syaoran so much. The girls were also very attractive physically. Sakura started to feel a little jealous. Both Ami and Minako were extraordinarily beautiful, and Sakura felt that they were a lot more physically matured than herself. Sakura was now not only a little bit self-conscious about her best friend being more beautiful than herself, but these two new classmates of hers were just a beautiful as Tomoyo. Minako had long blonde hair, a bubbly personality, and a body most girls would kill for. She was wearing a short yellow mini-skirt and matching top. Her sparkling blue eyes were lovely and her smile was one of genuine happiness. Minako reminded Sakura a lot of Tomoyo, just with different color hair. Ami was also quite beautiful, although she was a little more modest about it. She didn't seem quite as outgoing as Minako, although she was still very friendly. Her short blue hair accentuated her perfect skin complexion and her cute smile and very pretty eyes. She was wearing a blue skirt and light blue shirt, matching her eyes and hair. Sakura could only assume that blue was Ami's favorite color.

Just as Ami and Sakura finished analyzing their new classmates, Duo gave them a little background on where he and Heero were from. "Heero and I have known each other for roughly three years now. We both travel a lot, but for the last year we have been staying at the residence of Princess Relena Peacecraft of the Sanc Kingdom." As Duo continued to talk about living with Princess Relena, Heero stood back, staying quiet as always. However, unlike usual, Heero wasn't telling himself that he wasn't emotionally involved. Instead he was concentrating on the girl standing in front of him talking with his fellow Gundam pilot. He couldn't understand why, but this enchanting girl wearing the pink tank-top and mini-skirt had his mind whirling. While her body was quite attractive, it wasn't that which had Heero so on edge, but it was her eyes which had totally captivated him. He stared at her sparkling emerald green eyes that looked so pure, so innocent, almost like she didn't have a care in the world. He couldn't help himself; he was left completely off balance from his normal senses by this girl, Kinomoto Sakura.

As the orientation continued, the group readily chatted away with each other about everything from their past to what they want to do in the future. Ami and Minako described each of their friends from high school, expressing their sadness at the fact that they were no longer together with Usagi, Rei and Makoto. They did skip the part about being the Sailor Senshi and having magical powers, but they figured they didn't want to make their new classmates think they were weird. Duo mostly talked about what it was like living with Princess Relena, and also told the group about their fellow Gundam pilots, although he left out the Gundam part. He merely described each and how Trowa was back at the circus, Quatre was living as the head of the Winner family business once again, and Wu-Fei was out training and becoming stronger as always. The girls would occasionally ask Duo and Heero about their pasts', but Duo would cleverly change the subject or dodge the question, and Heero opted to merely not respond to anything directed his way. As Sakura and Tomoyo were just starting to tell everyone about their friends from back home in Tomoeda, they heard a voice call out to them.

"Well, well. If it isn't my dear descendant! What a surprise to see you here," called out a boy with dark purple hair and glasses.

Ami was a little confused at how anyone could be a descendant of this boy who looked to be about their same age. As she turned to look at the newcomer, she noticed Syaoran grimace out of the corner of her eye, but before she got a chance to say anything, Sakura and Tomoyo greeted their classmate.

"Eriol-kun!" together exclaimed Sakura and Tomoyo. "What are you doing here? We thought you were still in London."

"Well, I decided to come to Japan and attend this University. I had no idea you two were here, or that my dear descendant over there was here as well," replied Eriol, giving a grin to a glaring Syaoran.

"Eriol, this is Aino Minako, Mizuno Ami, Duo Maxwell, and Heero Yuy," said Sakura, introducing their new friends to their old childhood companion. "They are all going to school here as well. And everyone, this is Hiiragizawa Eriol. He used to go to school with us in Tomoeda back in elementary school. He's been living in London for the last few years however."

"It is a pleasure to meet all of you," greeted Eriol with a smile. "Especially two ladies as lovely as yourselves," he continued as he gave both Ami and Minako a gentle kiss on the hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well," replied Minako with a giggle.

"Yes, it is. Although I do have one question," said Ami. Eriol looked at her and raised his eyebrows and nodded for her to continue. "Well, unless I'm mistaken, you called Li-kun your descendant. Why is that?"

"Ha, ha. Well, that is actually a long story. Almost like an inside joke you could say. I'll tell you all about it some other time," Eriol responded with a grin. Ami was still a little confused and curious, but nodded and decided not to press the issue.

With the new addition to the quickly expanding group of friends, everyone continued to talk with each other and to the random other freshmen that happened to stop by their group and introduce themselves. Some catching up was done between Eriol and the rest of the group from Tomoeda, and descriptions of their friends they left back home were given to their new classmates. The group found themselves very much enjoying the company of each other, even though Heero didn't talk and Syaoran still had on a sour face from seeing Eriol once again. Soon, morning became afternoon, and another member of the school's faculty made his way up to the podium. He made an announcement that each student was to go pick up their room assignments so they could go unpack and get settled. The group exchanged cell phone numbers so they could contact one another after they got settled in their rooms, and after friendly good-byes each went their separate ways.

Sakura and Tomoyo left together to pick up their room assignment, already knowing they would be roomed together since they requested it. Both of them had talked about being roommates since elementary school, so when they both decided to go to the same school they jumped at the opportunity to live together. They did split up with Syaoran so he could get his room assignment, but Sakura knew they would see him soon since she had secretly requested he be roomed close by. Sakura had had a crush on Syaoran all through high school. Ever since he had returned to Tomoeda from Hong Kong to help Sakura once again, and had decided to stay for high school, Sakura had been captivated by his strong and silent demeanor and she loved how he had physically matured over the years. However, she never had the guts to say anything since they were good friends and partners in Card capturing.

Much to Heero's dislike, he and Duo had decided to room together as well, since it would limit the number of people the two would encounter on a daily basis, and therefore make it simpler to keep their pasts' a secret. The two guys picked up their room assignments and went to their room. Once they arrived, they realized they had been assigned to a suite. It was a room with two bathrooms, a large common room, a kitchen, and five small bedrooms. When they stepped inside, one of their new suite-mates was already there. As he turned around, both Gundam pilots were surprised, although Heero didn't show it, for their new roommate was actually Li Syaoran.

"Huh. Small world. I guess you are one of our suite-mates," commented Duo after his initial surprise. Syaoran just nodded in response. "Oh boy. This is going to be a real fun year. Not only am I stuck with Mr. No Emotions Yuy over here, but I also have his twin. Our other suite-mates had better be more exciting than you two." With that complaint, Duo dropped his bag and began to unpack his belongings. For the next few minutes, not a single word was said, with the exception of Duo's constant complaining to himself about living with two statues. Some time later, a knock came at the door and a cute red-head girl came into the room wearing a red Chinese style shirt with black pants. Her hair was in a short braided pony tail, and the guys could see that she was slightly damp, as if she had been in the water fairly recently.

"Hi. I'm Saotome Ranma, your new suite-mate."

Duo was shocked. He thought back, and realized that there must have been some type of mistake since there weren't supposed to be any suites with both girls and boys. "I thought the rooms weren't co-ed? Shouldn't you be in a girl's room?" inquired Duo to the newcomer.

With a sigh, Ranma dropped her bag. "Do you have any hot water? I will show you why I am in this suite, and not a girl's room." Duo went to the small kitchen in the suite and got a kettle of hot water and gave it to Ranma. Much to Duo's surprise, the cute red-head turned into a guy right in front of his eyes. Duo was shocked! Even Syaoran and Heero had looks of surprise on their faces for a few seconds before reverting back to their normal expressionless states. Nobody really knew what to say, so Ranma spoke first. "You see, I am really a guy, but I had an accident when I was traveling in China and now when I get splashed with cold water, I turn into a girl."

At the mention of the name China, Syaoran perked up to pay a little more attention. "Where in China did this accident occur?" asked Syaoran with interest.

Ranma looked over at the guy who was speaking. "You know a lot about China?"

"I lived in Hong Kong before I came here to Japan."

"Ahh, it happened in a place called Jusenkyo. I fell into the Nyannichuan, and when I came out, I was a girl."

"Jusenkyo is legend all around China. What were you doing at a place like that?"

"It was all my stupid pop's fault. We were on a training trip and he decided we should go to China where he heard of the `Ancient Training Grounds of Jusenkyo.' However, unknown to me, he didn't know any Chinese and had no idea what he was doing. So when we got there and started training I fell into the Nyannichuan, and ever since have been cursed with this body which changes into a girl when splashed with water. So I have been trying to find a way to get myself back to normal ever since."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I'm sure you've heard then about how the springs dried up?" asked Syaoran, who got a sad nod in response from Ranma. "Well, if it is any consolation, my family has a lot of pull in China, so if anything comes up, I'll be sure to let you know. By the way, my name is Li Syaoran."

"The name's Duo Maxwell. Glad to meet ya."

"Heero Yuy," stated Heero in a monotone voice before walking back to his room to finish unpacking.

Ranma gave a strange look towards Heero's retreating back, a little surprised at his introduction. Duo answered the question that was floating around in Ranma's head for him. "Don't worry about him. He's always like that. He's the emotionless `perfect soldier.' Don't pay any attention. He's like that with everyone." Ranma nodded to Duo in acknowledgement. "I don't think I saw you at orientation. Were you standing in the back or something?"

"No. I missed orientation," explained Ranma. "You see, on my way here, some old lady threw a ladle of water on me and changed me into a girl. I was running all around the area trying to find some place where I could get some hot water and turn back into a guy, but everywhere on campus was closed since everyone was at orientation. I didn't want to make my first appearance with my new classmates as a girl, so I decided to for-go going to orientation."

"Well, that's certainly understandable," agreed Duo. "It would be confusing to meet you as a girl, and then meet you later as a guy and try to associate the two of you as one person. You know, I'm glad you are one of our roommates. I was afraid you were going to be as boring as Heero and Li," stated Duo as he gestured with his hand towards where Heero and Syaoran were standing a few moments ago. As Ranma turned to look, he realized that Syaoran had disappeared into his room without his even noticing. As he looked back at Duo he saw his roommate lower his head and start muttering to himself once again about living with two statues.

Ranma actually started to laugh at Duo's obvious hatred of being bored. Duo looked up, a little confused as to why his new roommate had all of a sudden started laughing. "Don't worry," explained Ranma between breaths. "My life has always been anything but boring. Trouble and excitement seem to follow me no matter how hard I try to avoid them." Ranma then went on to tell Duo about a few of his more interesting and humorous adventures he experienced while staying at the Tendo Dojo in Nerima, getting an occasional outburst of laughter from him at the more amusing parts of the stories.

As Ranma finished his story about the time his classmate Kuno Tatewaki got a mystical phoenix attached to his head, Duo and Ranma heard a polite knock on the door before a boy with purple hair and glasses walked through the door. "Hey, it's you, Hiiragizawa. What are you doing here?" asked Duo.

"Maxwell, right? I was assigned to this suite," answered Eriol. As Eriol responded to Duo's question, Syaoran decided to pick that moment to walk out of his room. "Well! It would seem that fate is definitely on my side today! I get to be roomed with my dear descendant!" exclaimed Eriol with a laugh. "This is going to be one great year."

"Oh no. Why me?" muttered Syaoran to himself as he dropped his head and slowly walked back into his room.

As Duo watched in amusement at Syaoran's obvious discomfort at having Eriol being one of his suite-mates he couldn't help but to laugh. Eriol looked over at him with a curious expression on his face, and Duo explained what was so funny. "Well, you see, when I first arrived, and saw that I was living with both Heero and Li, I was afraid that this was going to be a really boring year. However, after meeting Saotome here and discovering that you are going to be our fifth suite-mate, I realize that this year will be anything but boring."

Eriol couldn't help but laugh at Duo's conclusion, and he also took note of the other boy standing in the common room, who he failed to notice earlier having been distracted with learning that Syaoran was going to be his roommate. "By the way, my name is Hiiragizawa Eriol," introduced Eriol as he extended his hand towards his new roommate.

"Saotome Ranma," answered Ranma, shaking Eriol's hand. "What was that between you and Li back there?" asked Ranma with a hint of confusion in his voice.

Eriol chuckled lightly and answered Ranma. "Well, it's a long story. But basically, I have been blessed with the unique talent of being able to get on his nerves like nobody else can, and in truth, it is quite fun to do so."

Again, Duo couldn't help but laugh. "Yup, this is going to be a great year." Eriol and Ranma both started laughing along with Duo. As the three got to know one another better, they realized that they had a common ground between the three of them in that they all hated to be bored, and would do almost anything for a little excitement.

Two doors down the hall, Sakura and Tomoyo were beginning to get close to being finished with unpacking when they heard the door to their suite open. They looked to the door ready to greet their new suite-mates, when their mouths faltered. Standing at the door were Mizuno Ami and Aino Minako. "Mizuno-san? Aino-san?" questioned Sakura. "What are you doing here?"

"We were assigned this suite," Ami answered her new friend. "Although we had no idea that you were our suite-mates."

"This is going to be so cool!" giggled Minako. "We're all going to be living together. And since we are going to be roommates there is really no reason for formal titles and such." Minako ran over and gave a still somewhat surprised Tomoyo and Sakura a hug.

"So if you two are roommates, does that mean Li-kun is roomed somewhere around here too?" questioned Ami.

"Well, we aren't quite sure which room yet, but Sakura-chan, requested he be roomed near us," said Tomoyo with a giggle. Sakura elbowed Tomoyo in the ribs lightly for telling their new roommates about Syaoran.

Despite the fact that Ami was a certifiable genius, and definitely physically mature, she was still a little dense when it came to socializing. So, not catching the hidden point in Tomoyo's comment, she asked in a completely innocent voice, "Why'd you do that Sakura-san?"

Sakura just looked down at her feet, and didn't say anything, so Tomoyo took the opportunity to answer for her. "She's had a secret crush on Li for the past four years. She just never had the guts to do anything about it." Tomoyo gave Sakura a playful hug from behind, as Sakura continued to stare at the floor in embarrassment.

"Well," stated Minako. "We'll just have to do something about that, now won't we."

"No, no, no," pleaded Sakura. "I already told myself I wasn't going to tell him, since I don't want to chance making our friendship weird. Besides, I met another guy that kind of sparked my --," Sakura stopped mid-sentence, as she realized she started to say more than she wanted to, and again, turned to look back down at the floor.

At Sakura's mention of another guy, all three girls' attention went straight to the cute auburn hair girl who was starting to blush out of embarrassment. "Hold on. You mean you met another guy already? And you didn't even tell me! I'm your best friend!" complained Tomoyo looking a little hurt. "I'm hurt Sakura-chan! You have to tell me these things. Come on, who is it? When did you meet someone anyway? How long have you been keeping this a secret from me!?"

"I haven't been keeping it a secret from you Tomoyo-chan," replied Sakura a little defensively. "I actually just met him today."

"No way! I've been with you all day! When could you have met a guy --?" Tomoyo stopped mid-sentence when she figured it out. "You're talking about someone you met at orientation, aren't you?" Sakura gave a slight nod of conformation, while still looking downwards so as not to meet anyone's gaze. "Who is it? Come on Sakura-chan, tell me!"

"Yeah Sakura-san," chided Minako. "Maybe we can set you two up! I love setting people up! You can trust us to keep it a secret. We are going to be roommates after all." Sakura continued to stare at the floor saying nothing despite the constant badgering by Minako and Tomoyo.

During the continuous verbal onslaught of questions by Minako and Tomoyo, Ami was using her genius mind to try and deduce who she thought Sakura might like that they met at orientation. She figured that it was probably someone comparable to Syaoran, and from that thought it suddenly hit her. "Come on you guys," said Ami in Sakura's defense as she went over and took Sakura into a protective half hug. "Leave her alone. I'm sure she will tell us when she is ready to." Sakura looked up at Ami with a relieved look on her face, silently thanking her for saving her from further embarrassment. As Ami looked at Sakura, she saw that she was so innocent, so pure, that was impossible not to like her. Ami had a feeling that Sakura and she would probably become really good friends. Realizing they no longer outnumbered her, Minako and Tomoyo stopped pestering Sakura about who her mystery crush was. After Minako and Tomoyo stopped pestering Sakura and started talking with one another as they resumed unpacking, Ami whispered into Sakura's ear. "It's Yuy-kun, isn't it?" Sakura just stared wide-eyed at Ami. She attempted to ask her how she knew, but couldn't get her mouth to work. "Wondering how I know?" asked Ami in a whisper when she saw Sakura was too stunned to speak. Sakura just nodded her head since her mouth was still not working. Ami smiled and answered her question. "Well, you said you liked Li-kun, and so I figured this new guy would most likely be similar to him physically and have a similar personality. So, the person who fit that description best was Yuy-kun." Ami was actually quite proud of herself at having figured out who Sakura liked, since she was usually a little dense when it came to social situations. "Don't worry though; I'll keep your secret safe."

Sakura just stared at her new roommate with wide eyes. "How did it take so little time for her to figure out that I like Heero? Even Tomoyo-chan didn't figure it out," thought Sakura to herself. Suddenly, the answer came to her. "You figured out that I like Yuy-kun from more than just knowing the fact that I like Syaoran didn't you?" Ami just stared at Sakura in confusion. Sakura gave a slight giggle and at Ami's confusion, and then explained herself. "I know I may not be the smartest person in the world, but I think I have this one figured out. You figured out so quickly that I like Yuy-kun, because you like the same type of guy too, don't you? I bet you have a crush on either him or Syaoran too." Sakura assumed from the look on Ami's face and the fact that she didn't deny her claim, that she was correct. So Sakura giggled once again, and gave Ami a bright smile before she gave her a very friendly hug. Finally getting over her shock, Ami smiled back at Sakura and returned her hug. "Come on, I'll help you unpack your things."

Sakura went with Ami to her room to help Ami unpack, since she was already mostly finished with her own unpacking. As Ami and Sakura were setting up Ami's room, they got to know one another better and found many common traits between the two of them beside the fact that they like the same type of guys. Tomoyo was helping Minako in much the same way as Sakura was helping Ami set up her room. Tomoyo and Minako found that they were comparable with one another in terms of personality and got along with each other very well. Just as Minako and Tomoyo finished making Minako's bed, Tomoyo's cell phone began to ring. "Hello? Daidouji speaking. Oh, hi Li-kun! Are you all finished moving in? Really! Maxwell and Yuy are both your suite-mates? Eriol is your roommate too!? Wow, that's really weird, because Ami and Minako are our suite-mates! No, we haven't met our fifth suite-mate. She hasn't shown up yet. Our room is in Building G on the third floor, Room 317. Really? Ok, then we'll see you in a minute!" Tomoyo hung up the phone with Syaoran and turned to Minako who had stopped putting pictures up on her wall when Tomoyo had finished her conversation. "Guess what! Three of Li-kun's suite-mates are Maxwell, Yuy, and Eriol. And not only that, but they are in the same building, same floor, and only two doors down the hall. They're in Room 315, and the four of them along with their other suite-mate are all coming over to say hi."

"Great!" exclaimed Minako who always liked having company around. "Let's go tell Ami and Sakura." The two girls left Minako's room and went into Ami's room to inform Ami and Sakura of the situation.

"Hey guys," greeted Ami as Minako and Tomoyo walked into her room. "Did you finish setting up your room already Minako?" Ami looked around her room feeling like she was going slowly since she had only unpacked her clothes and made her bed so far since she spent so much time and concentration on her conversations with Sakura.

"No, not quite," answered Minako calming a few of Ami's worries about unpacking too slow. "But Li-kun just called Tomoyo's cell phone and said that he is roomed with Yuy, Maxwell, and Hiiragizawa. Not only that, but they are only two doors down the hall and they, along with their fifth roommate, are all coming to visit!"

"Oh!" suddenly exclaimed Tomoyo. "I almost forgot! I have to go get my video camera so I can get everyone on film." Tomoyo bolted out of the room and into her own room to get her camera before the guys arrived.

"Her video camera?" questioned Ami.

"Hai. She always has her camera plastered to her head so she can tape anything interesting she comes across," answered Sakura. "She wanted to take it to orientation, but the faculty wouldn't let her, afraid it would be broken or stolen and they didn't want to be blamed."

Just then a knock came at the door, and Sakura ran over to open it. Standing in the hall were Duo, Heero, Syaoran, Eriol, and a boy with black hair styled in a short braided pony tail wearing Chinese clothing. Duo, Eriol and the new boy were all smiling, seeming to be having a good time, Heero had the same emotionless face, and Syaoran seemed to be scowling while glaring in the direction of Eriol. "Hi Kinomoto-san, nice to see again," greeted Duo.

"Come on in everyone," answered Sakura. As the boy she didn't know walked by, Sakura introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Kinomoto Sakura."

"Li and Hiiragizawa told me about you. The name's Saotome Ranma. It's a pleasure to meet you Kinomoto-san."

"It's nice to meet you too. This is Mizuno Ami, Aino Minako, and over there with the camera on her head, is Daidouji Tomoyo." Ranma said hello to each person in turn as he looked over each girl there. Sakura seemed very nice and very cute. She reminded him of a little sister. Ami seemed a tiny bit shy, but also quite cute and seemed very nice. Minako was quite attractive as well, but unlike Sakura and Ami she didn't seem shy at all. She was very outgoing and quite friendly. The girl that caught Ranma's eye, however, was Tomoyo. In his mind, her body was stunning, and the half of her face that he could see was quite beautiful. She was very outgoing like Minako, and the way that she tried to capture every moment of the meeting on camera seemed very cute.

While everyone was getting to know Ranma, and the girls were showing the guys around their little suite, Sakura went to get some drinks for everyone. When she had poured nine glasses, she was precariously balancing all the glasses on a small tray, and didn't notice Ranma behind her, so when she turned around, she bumped into him spilling all nine glasses right on him. "Oh no! I'm so sor--." Sakura stopped mid-sentence when she noticed that where Ranma was standing only a second ago, there was now a cute red-headed girl who looked to be wearing Ranma's clothes. Speechless, Sakura just stared at the new comer, not knowing how to react or what happened.

When everyone turned around at the commotion caused by Sakura's spilling of the drinks, Eriol and the three other girls looked dumb-founded as they saw Sakura standing next to a cute girl, wearing the same clothes as Ranma. When the other guys noticed that Ranma had turned back into a girl again when Sakura spilled the water on him, Duo quickly explained what was going on. "Don't worry girls. You see, when Saotome gets cold water spilled on him, he turns into a girl. It's a curse he accidentally acquired when he was training in China at a place called Jusenkyo. Just pour some hot water on him and he'll become a guy again."

Ami, Minako, and Sakura still stood silent, not knowing what to make of the girl who used to be a guy. Tomoyo, however, was quite upset that she didn't catch Ranma changing into a girl on camera, so when she heard Duo say that hot water would make him turn back into a guy, she quickly ran to get some hot water to pour on Ranma. As she splashed him she made sure to catch the whole thing on tape this time, and was quite amazed at the fact that he really did change back into the guy he used to be. Although he was a little wet, there didn't look like there was anything different about the Ranma that stood in the room now, than there was a few minutes earlier before he turned into a girl. Tomoyo was ecstatic that she got to catch such an amazing thing on video. She decided that she liked video taping Ranma almost as much as she liked video taping Sakura, who she considered to be the cutest subject in the whole world. "Wow! That is so cool!"

"It is not cool! I'm cursed with this body because I fell into that stupid spring! There is nothing good about this!" yelled Ranma, since he was a little pissed that already eight people had seen him change into a girl and he had only been at the school a matter of hours.

"No way! I like that you turn into a girl. It makes you more interesting. Most guys are all the same. But you turn into a girl! That is just totally cool!" responded Tomoyo to Ranma's outburst. "And besides, you are almost as cute a girl as you are a guy." Ranma was dumbfounded. This girl actually liked that he wasn't normal. Akane, his ex-fiancée (Since Ranma wanted to go to school in Tokyo, Mr. Tendo approved of Ranma and Akane ending their engagement.) would always call him a pervert since he turned into a girl. The fact that this girl, who was also much cuter than Akane, even liked the part about him turning into a girl was making Ranma like Tomoyo more and more.

As Ranma stood, still thinking about Tomoyo, Sakura came up to him and handed him a towel. "I'm sorry I got you all wet. Here's a towel to dry yourself off."

"It's ok. I should have been paying more attention anyway," said Ranma. "Besides, with this curse I also seemed to have been stuck with bad luck in that now that water will make me change into a girl, I seem to get splashed a lot more often at the wrong times then I ever used to." Ranma then dried himself off as best he could and gave the towel back to Sakura. "Arigato Kinomoto-san."

As the nine sat down in the girls' common room which held two small couches, a few chairs and a table for eating at, they continued to talk amongst themselves. Tomoyo was constantly pestering Ranma about his changing into a girl, getting all his wacky stories on tape in the process. While, Ranma usually would get angry at the continuous line of questions about his curse, he felt happy talking with Tomoyo. He didn't mind being video taped, and actually enjoyed the attention Tomoyo gave him when he was telling her about his different martial arts challenges and the special situations where he had to change into a girl. Ami and Syaoran were talking with one another on the other side of the room. Ami was quite interested in learning about China from Syaoran's point of view, since he was Chinese and lived there for a good portion of his life. Syaoran also told Ami about how he had learned some magic in China. To his surprise, she didn't seem all that surprised to find out that magic existed; however, she was very interested in finding out how his magic worked, from a scientific point of view. From there they discovered that they both like math and science in school and were considered to be smart by their friends. The two had a very nice discussion about their interests in school and science, and generally enjoyed each others company. The remaining five were having a very different type of discussion than the others. Minako and Sakura had teamed up and were both trying their hardest to get Heero to open up and be social, but true to form, he simply sat still and unwavering at the constant stream of questions being thrown at him trying to get a response. Duo and Eriol were also present, Duo making sure Heero didn't scare the girls away with one of his customary death threats, and Eriol entering into the conversation whenever the opportunity presented itself. The two guys were also enjoying the company of the two enthusiastic girls, and were quite entertained at watching the girls pester Heero. Strangely, they felt a little jealous of Heero since the two gorgeous females were giving him all the attention and almost ignoring the two of them. They didn't feel left out though, as Duo was always in the middle of the attention, keeping Heero from saying anything that wasn't appropriate for the two girls to hear, and Eriol occasionally helping the girls get Heero to talk until he gave him one of his death stares. Even if Eriol was the reincarnation of Clow Reed, he still felt on edge after the glare Heero sent his way.

Shortly into the conversations throughout the girls' suite, the new students heard a knock on the door and turned to see it open. Through the open door walked a cute girl wearing dark blue pants and a matching short sleeve shirt. "Hi," greeted Sakura as she was the closest to the door. "You must be our new roommate. I'm Kinomoto Sakura. It's a delight to make your acquaintance."

As Ranma maneuvered to look around Tomoyo at the new girl at the door, he was surprised to see who it was. "Ucchan?" questioned Ranma to the newcomer.

The girl standing at the door moved her head to take a look at the boy who spoke. "Ranchan? What are you doing here?"

"I'm going to this school," answered Ranma. "You are going here too?"

"Uh huh. I just arrived, and was assigned to live in this suite."

"Saotome-kun?" queried Tomoyo. "You know her?"

"Huh? Oh yeah. Let me introduce you," replied Ranma. "Everyone, this is Kuonji Ukyo. She is one of my best friends. We have known each other since we were really young." As Ranma motioned towards the far side of the room he started introducing his new friends to his old childhood one. "Ucchan, over there is Li Syaoran and Mizuno Ami. Li is one of my roommates, and Mizuno-san is going to be one of your roommates. Over there, is Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell and Hiiragizawa Eriol. They are also my roommates. With them is Aino Minako, and you already met Kinomoto Sakura. And this," continued Ranma as he motioned to the girl he was sitting with, "is Daidouji Tomoyo."

"It's nice to meet everyone," greeted Ukyo as she gave a handshake to Sakura, Tomoyo, Minako, Ami, Duo and Syaoran. She giggled a little as Eriol took her hand and gently gave it a kiss as he introduced himself. Not being used to being treated as a woman, since she spent so many years of her life pretending to be a guy, Ukyo found that she enjoyed being treated in such a chivalrous manner. "So where is your room Ranchan?"

"We are all two doors down the hall. So most likely we'll be seeing quite a bit of each other."

With the new addition to the collection of friends, the previously separated small groups of conversations melded into one large group centered in the middle of the girls' common room. As she was the newest addition, Ukyo was the subject of the majority of the conversation and she reminisced about her life before she lived in Nerima, and then about how her life became exponentially more exciting after she moved to Nerima. She told everyone about okinomiyaki and her engagement to Ranma, which the two of them had worked their way around and mutually decided that they didn't really love one another in that way, and more like a brother sister or best friend type of relationship. As the group continued to talk, the afternoon soon became evening, and they all decided to go find somewhere to eat. Even though it was a private school, the campus was very large, and the administration liked to keep the students happy, so on campus there were over twenty different places to choose from. Each student was given a meal plan which consisted of three meals a day that could be used at any of the restaurants on campus. The group decided to go to the place closest to their building, which happened to be a Japanese Ramen House. As they sat down, the seating arrangement had them sitting as if they were five couples sitting together. Ranma was sitting with Tomoyo at one end of the table and the two of them were continuing their conversation they had started earlier in the girls' suite, even though Tomoyo was a little disappointed at allowing herself into being talked into leaving her video camera at the apartment. Next to Ranma and Tomoyo sat Duo and Minako. The two found that they really enjoyed spending time together and were busily talking about what they wanted from their stay at the college and in the future. In the middle of the long table were Eriol and Ukyo. Even though Eriol and Ukyo were practically opposites, they found that they enjoyed being with one another. Ukyo liked being treated in such a chivalrous manner by Eriol's natural charm, and Eriol found that Ukyo's personality was different from most of the other girls he knew, and found it refreshing. Next to Eriol and Ukyo were Heero and Sakura. Sakura was still trying with all her might to get Heero to open up and be social. She figured that if she could get Syaoran to be social at least some of the time, then she should be able to get Heero to as well. Heero would have normally been so annoyed at the girl trying to get him to be social and would have given her one of his customary death threats by now, but he was generally enjoying being around the girl. Her bubbly personality, which normally would have not effected Heero's stone cold resolve, mixed with her completely innocent demeanor, were slowly breaking through Heero's emotional defenses. At the other end of the table sat Syaoran and Ami. The two of them started their conversation about science and school once again, each becoming more impressed with one another in terms of both smarts and personality. After everyone was finished eating, the group decided to split up. Ami and Syaoran decided to go for a walk together on the beach near campus. Minako wanted to take Duo into town to show him all the exciting things to do in Tokyo, and Ranma, Tomoyo, Ukyo, and Eriol decided to join them since they didn't know their way around Tokyo either. They were about to invite Sakura and Heero to join them, but Sakura grabbed Heero, surprising him a bit, and dragged him to go for a walk through the woods. Duo was completely shocked when Heero didn't resist the giggling auburn haired girl's dragging him along for a walk together. But instead of making a big deal of it, he merely laughed to himself and went with Minako and the rest to tour the town.

On the beach, Syaoran and Ami were walking in silence. Since Syaoran was never a particularly social person, and Ami was very shy, the two were standing a good two feet apart. They were both enjoying the feeling of the ocean's breeze and the fresh air of the outdoors. As it started to get late, the air began to become cooler. Since Ami was wearing only a short sleeve shirt, and shorts to match, she got cold rather quickly. When Syaoran looked over and noticed Ami holding her arms across her chest indicating she was trying to warm herself up, he quickly took off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. Surprised, by the sudden move by Syaoran, Ami jumped slightly, and then looked at Syaoran and smiling, said thanks. The two continued their walk on the beach; however, they were now standing much closer together. After a while, they picked a spot to sit down and decided to watch the sunset. Sitting in the sand, the two started talking again. The subject of magic once again came up, and Ami asked if it was possible for Syaoran to teach her some magic.

"Well," answered Syaoran, "it isn't as simple as willing to learn. You have to have the ability to use magic in order for you to learn. Many people try to learn magic, but simply don't have the ability to use it."

"Is there a way to find out if someone has the ability to use magic?" asked Ami.

"Yes, there is. Usually magic can be sensed by other magic users, so if you have the ability to use magic, I should be able to sense it within you." With that said Syaoran closed his eyes and channeled his inner magic powers to see if he could detect magic within the cute blue haired girl in front of him. Not knowing what else to do, Ami merely sat still anxiously waiting to see if Syaoran would say she possessed magic ability. She was pretty sure she must have magic using ability since she was Sailor Mercury. Ami figured that when she transformed and used her powers as a Sailor Senshi, there must be some type of magical background. After a minute, Syaoran opened his eyes again and smiled at Ami. She realized that this was the first time she saw his true smile, and she thought to herself that he had a really nice smile and looked very cute. "It seems that you have quite a bit of magic potential in you," said Syaoran. "You have close to as much magical strength hidden dormant within you as Sakura, and according to legend, Sakura has the potential to become the most powerful sorceress in the world."

"Really? Sakura can be the most powerful sorceress in the world? Wow!" Ami's mind was racing. If I am not even as strong magically as Sakura, and the other Senshi are probably about the same strength as me, then Sakura might be up to the same power level as Sailor Moon. Or maybe she really is even more powerful! "What makes her have so much power?" asked Ami.

"Well, I'm not really supposed to tell people this, but can you promise that you won't mention it to anyone?" asked Syaoran. Ami nodded in response, eagerly waiting to find out about Sakura's source of power. "Well, she has the title of Mistress of the Clow Cards. That name probably means nothing to you, so let me explain. She was chosen by fate because of her enormous magic potential to be the one who was charged with the duty of collecting all the mystical Clow Cards. A long time ago, an extremely powerful sorcerer named Clow Reed created a number of Clow Cards. Each card has large amounts of magical energy; however, when released without a master, they have a tendency to cause mischief. My clan back in Hong Kong is one of the few groups who know about the Clow Cards and since I am the future leader of the clan and a direct descendent of Clow Reed, I was sent by the elders to come to Japan and capture the cards. That is how I met Sakura, since she had been chosen, not by a clan, but by fate and the Guardian of the Seal of the Book of Clow. Since you are roommates with Sakura you will probably learn about the Guardian of the Seal. His name is Cerberus, Kero for short. Sakura will tell you all about him some other time, don't worry. But legend has it that the Mistress or Master of the Clow Cards is the sole person in the world with the most potential magical energy laying dormant inside her/him until all the Clow Cards are caught and the magic is awakened. So Sakura and I teamed up as Card Captors and we managed to capture all the Clow Cards. After we finished capturing the Clow Cards, Sakura needed to change them slightly from their original form. You see, since Clow Reed was no longer alive, the cards needed to have a new master, so Sakura had to change the cards so they would feed off her own magic and not that of Clow. Since we have all the cards captured and Sakura has become the new mistress of the cards by changing them all, she has the majority of her power awakened; however, it isn't until she finishes more magical training that she will have complete control over all of her power. I'm sure this is all hard to believe, but I assure you it is the truth."

"Actually," replied Ami, "I'm not as skeptical as you think. You see, I also have a secret. When you were checking to see if I have any magic ability inside me, I already knew the answer was yes. Like you and Sakura, Minako and I live a semi-second life that is secret from most people. You see, we are both Sailor Senshi. I have the ability to transform into Sailor Mercury, and Minako is Sailor Venus. In our Senshi forms we have the ability to use super-natural powers and our physical strength and stamina increase. So I figured that I must have magic powers even in my present state, otherwise I wouldn't be able to transform. I wanted to see if I would be able to use magic even in my normal form, without having to transform."

Syaoran was stunned. He had heard rumors of the Sailor Senshi and their leader Sailor Moon, but assumed it was just a fairy tale. And now, he just found out that his new friend Ami was one of them! "So, you and Aino-san are both Sailor Senshi? Then I assume those other friends of yours you were talking about earlier are also Senshi. So which one of you is Sailor Moon?" questioned Syaoran.

"So I take it that you have heard of us then? Anyway, Sailor Moon is our friend Usagi. You would never guess she is Sailor Moon from just meeting her, but she is quite a remarkable person once you get to know her."

"Well, according to legend, Sailor Moon might be as powerful as the Mistress of the Clow Cards, at least before Sakura has trained enough to gain complete control over her powers. After Sakura has managed to perfect her power usage, I don't think even Sailor Moon will be quite as powerful. But, to answer your question from earlier, I'm sure that you can learn to use magic in your normal form if you try. And if you would like to learn, I would be happy to teach you."

Ami gave Syaoran a smile of thanks and then a thought came to her. "If Sakura is the Mistress of the Cards and it sounds like you are associated with them as well, then does that mean Tomoyo and Hiiragizawa know about the Clow Cards too?"

"Yes, they do," answered Syaoran. "You remember how Tomoyo likes to video tape everything?" Ami nodded an affirmative. "Well, she is a very observant person and she quickly figured out that Sakura had something to hide. Unfortunately, Sakura is simply too kind-hearted and pure and therefore couldn't lie to her. So, from there Tomoyo found out about the Clow Cards, and ever since she has been our unofficial camera woman. She always tags along when we went out to catch the Clow Cards and always video-taped the captures. As for Hiiragizawa, well, he is a little different. He happens to be the reincarnation of Clow Reed, and therefore has much power. He doesn't have the same amount of power that Sakura has or the same amount of power that the original Clow Reed had which is why the cards couldn't survive on Clow's magic, but he does retain a large amount of Clow Reed's knowledge and a good amount of magical power. From his inherited knowledge, Hiiragizawa probably knows more than any of us about the Clow Cards."

Ami could see that as Syaoran was talking about Eriol, his face turned from being fairly kind looking, into a scowl. She was about to ask him why, when she remembered when they first met Eriol. As Ami was thinking about it she began to giggle. This fact was not missed by Syaoran who gave her a peculiar look. "Sorry. I was just remembering at orientation when I first met you and Hiiragizawa-kun. He called you his descendent and I didn't understand why. Now I get it." Syaoran just shook his head and placed it in his hands before looking up at the smiling Senshi. He knew she didn't mean any insult and was just enjoying herself, and since being with Ami was making his feel quite happy himself, he smiled back and the two sat in the sand watching the sun go down below the horizon in peace.

In the city, Minako was pulling Duo in every which direction to show him her favorite hot spots in the city. The two had separated from the company of Ranma, Tomoyo, Eriol and Ukyo once they reached downtown, allowing each couple to do what they pleased. After showing Duo her favorite shops and hang outs, she brought him to a club she had frequently been to, and liked the atmosphere of the place. Since Duo's personality didn't include any type of self consciousness, he went along happily. Both Duo and Minako liked to have the attention of those around them, as well as always needing to be having fun. As they entered the place, Duo realized why Minako spoke so highly of it. The music was loud, although not so deafening that it was uncomfortable. The lighting was perfect, a good mix of color and movement, making the whole place feel alive, and while it was crowded, it wasn't so packed that it was impossible to walk. Minako quickly grabbed Duo by the hand and led him to the dance floor. Once she had found a good spot, she began to move her entire body to the rhythm of the music, eager to have as much fun as she could. After taking a moment to collect himself, and to watch Minako's gorgeous body move, Duo started to dance in sync with Minako. The two of them both turned out to be great dance partners and were soon tearing up the floor, getting cheers from the other people around them. About an hour into the night, a guy came up to Duo and Minako and pushed Duo out of the way. Despite Minako's resistance, the guy forced Minako to close dance with him, grinding up against her in a manner that very much displeased the blonde. They guy was fairly big, and looked to be quite strong. After shaking his head to clear it from the unexpected push to the ground, Duo got up and pulled the guy off Minako. "Just what do you think you are doing?" asked Duo.

"What do you think?" answered the guy. "I'm dancing with the girl since I am the best looking guy here. She should be honored to dance with me."

Duo started laughing at the guy. "You think you are the best looking guy here? More like the biggest jerk. She obviously doesn't want to dance with you, so why don't you beat it." Duo turned his back to the guy and looked to Minako. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Hai. I am now. Arigato."

Angry at Duo for telling him off, the guy tried to punch Duo in the back of the head. However, from all his training as a Gundam pilot, Duo was expecting something and easily dodged the blow. He turned back to the guy. "What do you think you are doing now? The girl didn't want to dance with you, so just leave before something bad happens to you."

"And what do you think you can do to me shrimp?" taunted the guy. Duo was quite a few inches shorter than the guy and there was an obvious weight difference. In fact, Duo was relatively skinny.

"Believe me; you don't want to piss me off any more than you already have, so if I were you, I would just walk away." With that said Duo again turned his back to the guy and gave his attention back to Minako. Even angrier at being talked back to twice, the guy again tried to punch Duo in the back of the head. However, instead of merely ducking out of the way this time, Duo turned in one lighting fast motion and blocked the punch. Duo surprised the bully with the quick move, and took advantage of his shock. Using his heal, he kicked out the foot of the bully, then quickly took the off balance guy and effortlessly threw him from the dance floor, displaying an amazing amount of strength for a person who was so lean. After taking care of the bully, Duo once again turned back to Minako, who gave him a hug of thanks. Enjoying the feeling of Minako's body pressed against his, Duo started to blush ever so slightly. With the problem solved, the two got back to dancing and acted as though nothing had happened. The couple stayed at the club without further confrontation for a while longer, having a great time and almost always being the center of attention while they were on the dance floor.

After Duo and Minako went their own separate way, Eriol, Tomoyo, Ranma, and Ukyo went exploring around downtown without any type of destination in mind. Shortly into their explorations of Tokyo, Eriol and Ukyo decided to split up with Ranma and Tomoyo as they were tired of looking in shops at new fashion designs and electronic stores that Tomoyo was intrigued by. Ranma decided to stay with Tomoyo both for her protection and because he enjoyed being around the cheerful dark haired beauty. After leaving Ranma with Tomoyo, Eriol and Ukyo found their way to a nice park in the city. The two found a large tree and sat against its trunk while watching the stars come out one by one. Even though the two had sat together at dinner, there was still a lot about each other they did not know. Ukyo was quite interested in learning about what it is like in other countries of the world from Eriol since he had gone on many travels. Eriol told her mostly of England where he spent most of the last few years after living in Tomoeda with Sakura and the others. For a reason Ukyo could not explain to herself, she was feeling very strange when with Eriol. She felt more girly than ever before, even when she believed Ranma was her true love and her fiancé she had never felt how she did when she was with Eriol. As for Eriol, he rather enjoyed talking about his life as a normal person. Most of the people he knew were more interested in him as Clow Reed's reincarnation than as him as a person, however, Ukyo was interested in him as a normal person. After a while, the pair decided to walk through the park along a path near the tree they were presently occupying. They walked for several minutes before they came to a small stream in the park with a wooden bridge crossing over it. The two stopped at the center of the bridge to look down at the stream as the water flowed beneath them, both feeling very relaxed in the natural surroundings. Unfortunately, the peace didn't last very long.

"You know it is very dangerous to be walking around alone at night," said a voice from the darkness. As Eriol and Ukyo turned towards where the voice came from, they saw a group of about a half dozen people walk out of the shadows. Each member of the new group was dressed in baggy clothing and each had either a mean grin or a frown on their face. They noticed that a number of the gang members seemed to have a weapon. Ukyo and Eriol turned to walk back across to the other side of the bridge, when they saw that another group of similar looking men were standing at the other end of the bridge blocking their escape. Both were slightly bothered, although not overly so since they had both been in more serious problems before.

In a voice that sounded more annoyed than scared, Eriol addressed the gang. "We would appreciate it if you would just leave us alone. What do you want from us?"

"Well to start we'll take all your valuables, and maybe we'll take that cutie you are with as well," replied the same man who spoke before with a grin. From the way he carried himself, Eriol assumed he was the leader of the gang.

Ukyo got a little more frightened at the tone of the leader's voice and moved a little closer to Eriol for protection. "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you," responded Eriol in his customary calm voice. "But I have no intention of giving you any valuables, and I'm especially not giving you Kuonji-san." As Eriol verbally defended her, he placed a protective arm around her to try and give her some form of comfort.

"That's what you think! Get them. Make them pay for their insolence!"

The men charged in from both sides with weapons drawn and fists up, ready to fight. At seeing the gang start to attack, Eriol began to chant. "Key that Holds the Power of Darkness. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Eriol Command You Under Contract. Release!" With a bright flash of light a staff with a sun on the end appeared in Eriol's hand. The attacking gang members stopped in shock from Eriol's trick. "This is the last time I am going to warn you. Leave now and no harm will come to you." Not heeding Eriol's warning, the gang resumed their attack. With a twirl of his staff around himself and Ukyo, Eriol unleashed a blast of physical and mental energy which sent every member of the gang sprawling on the ground knocking them all unconscious. The only remaining gang member still standing was the leader who spoke earlier. "Now, I highly suggest you leave us alone and never bother others again," stated Eriol to the gang leader. With a look of pure horror on his face, the leader turned and ran full speed away from Eriol and Ukyo. Once they were alone again, Eriol recalled his staff and turned to Ukyo with a look of concern on his face. "Are you alright, Kuonji-san?"

After getting over her initial shock over the events in which just took place, Ukyo responded to Eriol. "I'm fine, thanks to you. How did you do that?"

Eriol was a little upset at having to show his magic abilities to Ukyo already. He was enjoying spending time with her without her knowing about his magic power and his being the reincarnation of Clow Reed. "It's a long story," explained Eriol. "But basically I am the reincarnation of a very powerful sorcerer and so I inherited a portion of his magic power and knowledge. I'm sorry for not telling you before, but to tell you the truth, I was generally enjoying spending time with you without you knowing about my `other' side."

"I was enjoying myself as well Hiiragizawa-kun. But you didn't need to hide any part of yourself from me. If you were intentionally trying to be something that you aren't then I wasn't spending time with the real you. But either way, I was really having a good time with you, until those thugs over there showed up anyway." Ukyo smiled at Eriol to emphasize her point. "And if it is ok with you, could you please call me Ukyo? I never did like being called by my formal name."

Ukyo's obvious comfort with him made Eriol feel much better. "As you wish Ukyo-san. As long as you call me Eriol." The two smiled back at each other to finalize their newly formed friendship and possibly more. After a couple minutes of silence standing atop the bridge, the couple decided that it was getting late and they started to head back to their apartment complex.

Ranma and Tomoyo were exploring downtown with no particular destination, but enjoying themselves none the less. Before they separated from Eriol and Ukyo, Tomoyo was having the group stop at a number of fashion boutiques and electronic stores. Tomoyo was always looking at the new fashion styles for ideas on designing new clothes for her favorite model, Sakura, and for new camera models that had more advanced features than the one she presently owned. Ranma didn't have any places in particular he wanted to stop at, so for the most part he just followed Tomoyo into the different stores she wished to visit. He had no problems going to the clothing and electronic stores since he got to see Tomoyo enjoying herself to no end and seeing her like that made Ranma happy for a reason he still couldn't quite comprehend. Eventually it got late and all the stores began to close. Without any more stores for Tomoyo to peruse, the couple started walking aimlessly around town, talking with each other but not doing much else. Even at the late hour the streets were still filled with people as Ranma and Tomoyo began to realize why people said that Tokyo never sleeps. The two kept talking with each other without incident until they realized they had walked a good distance from downtown and were now in an area with little lighting and almost no people. Tomoyo wasn't used to being out late walking the streets without the presence of her bodyguards and began to get a little nervous. She had convinced her mother that she didn't need her bodyguards while in college, but was still uneasy from the lack of light and presence of people. Tomoyo grabbed onto Ranma's arm for protection to ease her feeling of concern. As they turned around to head back toward downtown, two rather large men stepped in front of them. Both looked to weigh at least 250 pounds and had mean grins across their faces.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" said one of the men with a slight chuckle. "It looks like you two have lost your way."

"Yeah," added the second man. "But don't worry; we will help you find your way back to downtown. All you have to do is give us all your money and we'll point you in the right direction."

Tomoyo was quite scared at the threat of the two brutes in front of her and she grabbed onto Ranma tighter. Ranma, on the other hand, wasn't intimidated at all. He protectively guided Tomoyo behind him as he smirked at the two men. "If you want my money, then come and take it if you can," taunted Ranma. As Tomoyo heard Ranma taunt the two men she looked up at his face and saw his smirk. He looked back down to her with a `do not worry about anything' look in his eye. Seeing his confidence, Tomoyo relaxed slightly, already knowing for some reason that Ranma had full control of the situation.

"You asked for it punk!" screamed the first man as he charged the couple. Ranma easily ducked out of the way of the punch from the charging brute, carefully escorting Tomoyo away from the danger. After his first attack failed, the man came at Ranma with a kick. Ranma easily jumped out of the way, doing a flip over the man's head in the process. As the man was turning around, Ranma delivered a series of kicks up the man's torso and face, instantly knocking the man unconscious. Seeing his friend get beat so easily by Ranma, the second guy got very angry. He pulled out a knife and charged at Ranma, arms flailing. Again, with ease, Ranma ducked out of the way and then counter-attacked with a series of lightning fast punches that had the man buckle over in pain. When the fight was over, Tomoyo walked over to Ranma and took his arm again and the two walked off leaving the muggers lying on the ground in agony.

"Wow! That was great!" exclaimed a very excited Tomoyo. "When you hit that second guy, how did you get so much power into just one punch?"

"Well, it wasn't actually one punch," explained Ranma. "It was really a series of about 100 punches striking in the exact same spot. It's a technique I learned from this old ghoul back in Nerima. It's called the Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken."

"Really? I didn't even see your arm move."

"Well, I've developed a few martial arts tricks from all the weird fights I've had to go through back home. The Kachü Tenshin Amaguriken is just one of the moves I learned to deal with a specific situation."

"Do you think you can teach me some martial arts sometime? That way, if I'm ever in trouble I won't need someone to protect me."

"Sure. I would be glad to." Ranma gave Tomoyo a grin and then added, "although I kind of like protecting you." Tomoyo lightly punched Ranma on his arm and then smiled back at him. The two went back to downtown, with Tomoyo still hanging onto Ranma's arm and continued to walk around without any more trouble for the rest of the night.

Out in the woods, Sakura was still trying as hard as she could to get Heero to open up, and to her delight, she seemed to be succeeding. Slowly but surely, Heero was talking more and Sakura could have sworn she saw the start of a smile forming on his handsome face. As the two continued their walk the air began to grow cold and Sakura began to wish she had been wearing warmer clothing. As she was about to cross her arms in an attempt to warm herself up, she felt something on her shoulders. Looking up, she saw Heero gently placing his jacket on her shoulders in a gesture of kindness she did not expect from the emotionless boy. After a moment of wonder, Sakura gave Heero a bright smile, her eyes twinkling, and her angelic face lighting up in glee. The sight was too much for Heero to bear, and the corner of his mouth went up and into a half smile. At seeing Heero's semi-smile Sakura's face brightened even more, and she grasped Heero behind the neck and hugged him. While Heero didn't return Sakura's display of affection by hugging her back as most people would, he at least didn't push her away as his normal first instinct would have been. After the two separated, Sakura looked as if she was about to say something, when she all of a sudden snapped her head around and started looking in all different directions. What Heero didn't know, was that Sakura had become alert all of a sudden because she sensed a strong magical presence. Sakura was confused about more than the direction of the magical presence. She was almost positive the feeling felt like a Clow Card, but she knew that couldn't be possible since she and Syaoran had captured and changed all of the Clow Cards a number of years ago and for the most part had been living their lives like normal teenagers. She had kept up the practice in sharpening her magical skills, but she had done that more as an excuse to spend extra time with Syaoran than because she expected to use her magic skills in any real life situation. Sakura was becoming more agitated and slightly afraid as she worked to find out what was out there and where it was. At seeing Sakura's uneasiness, Heero asked if she was alright.

"It's hard to explain," answered Sakura. "This may sound crazy but I felt a magical presence nearby." As she said the last part, Sakura looked up at Heero expecting him to look either really skeptical or surprised. To her disappointment, however, Heero still showed no sign of emotion on his face.

"What do you mean a magical presence?" asked Heero.

"Well, I can sense beings that possess certain types of magical power. I'll explain everything afterwards, but right now there is something here with strong magical energy and the power signature feels very familiar. I don't think it is possible for the power to be what I think it feels like, but I don't know what else it could be. However, if my feeling is right then I need to find and capture the source of the magical power." Sakura then took her star pendant she wore around her neck and chanted, "Key that Hides the Power of the Stars. Show Your True Self to Me. I, Sakura Command You Under Contract. Release!" In a burst of light, Sakura's pendant transformed into a wand with a base that had a yellow star inside a pink circle with small white wings on each side..

"Very impressive Kinomoto-san."

"Arigato!" giggled Sakura, almost forgetting about the possible Clow Card that was around somewhere. Just as Sakura regained her train of thought, bringing her attention back to the magical presence, some strange colored mist appeared in front of the pair. As they stared at the new phenomenon in front of them, the mist transformed into the shape of a person. The new figure was tall and muscular, with hands and feet taped in a kickboxing style. After a moment of thought, Sakura said to Heero, "I know it isn't possible, but I'm sure that it is a Clow Card!" Not getting any type of response out of Heero, as she expected, Sakura began to think of a strategy of how to defeat the card. Since she had no idea what this being was capable of, she didn't know what would be the best method of dealing with the situation. Unfortunately, before Sakura could think of anything, the card attacked. With lightning fast speed, the card launched a series of punches and kicks directly at the beautiful Card Captor. Sakura was taken completely by surprise and was frozen in place, not knowing what to do. She hadn't been in an actual situation where she needed to use her limited martial arts skills in a long time and had only been practicing her magical powers, so she didn't know how to deal with this physical onslaught. Luckily for her, Heero was very used to physical fights and he quickly pulled Sakura out of the way of the flying punches and kicks. Unfortunately his efforts weren't completely effective, since to his surprise, the fighter's arms extended right in front of his eyes and a punch landed solidly in the stomach of the vulnerable Kinomoto Sakura. As the punch hit Sakura a dim glow surrounded the hand of the attacker and spread throughout Sakura. The cute Card Captor doubled over in pain from the blow to her stomach. As the girl was falling to the ground, Heero caught her and gently laid her down before turning his attention to the one guilty of assaulting the emerald eyed wonder. Despite the fact that his face still showed no sign of emotion, Sakura could see a glimmer of hatred forming in Heero's cobalt blue eyes as he stared at the offending figure. At seeing the Card Mistress helpless on the ground, the Card turned its attention to Heero and charged him with powerful punches. In one swift movement, making sure to take into account that the arms of the attacker could extend, Heero dodged the attack by the fighter and delivered a powerful kick to the head without breaking stride. Despite the fact that Heero's physical appearance was not that of someone who was very strong, his fighting skills were very well tuned so his attacks were much more powerful than anyone would guess. After the one spinning kick to the head, the Card was out cold. Seeing his opponent down for the count, Heero went to Sakura's side, picking her up and carrying her in his arms. She asked him to take her over to the knocked out fighter and when they arrived at the comatose figure Heero put Sakura down, allowing her to stand while supporting her with his arm. Sakura brought up her wand and chanted "I Sakura, Mistress of the Cards Command You. Return to Your True Form. Clow Card!" As Sakura brought her wand down onto the comatose figure a bright light appeared and the figure transformed into a card. When Sakura saw the card, she knew it looked very familiar. Suddenly, it came to her. The card was the exact same as the Power Clow Card, with two exceptions. Most noticeable was that the back of this new Clow Card was completely black instead of the brown color of the Clow Cards or the pink color of her changed Sakura Cards. The second difference was instead of saying `Power' on the front of the card, there was the word `Drain'. The card floated over to Sakura's hand she took the card and put it in her pocket. As she transformed her wand back into her pendant, the last of Sakura's energy finally left her and she started to fall towards the ground. Heero caught the falling girl before she could hit the ground and picked her back up again. While in Heero's arms, Sakura reached up and wrapped her arms around the boy's neck and leaned her head on his shoulder, just relaxing at the feeling of warmth and comfort resulting from being in Heero's arms. In the comfort of Heero's arms, Sakura soon fell into a light sleep as Heero continued to carry her back to campus.

When Heero and the sleeping Sakura arrived back at the girls' suite, they found Ami and Syaoran already there, talking on the couch. Heero was inwardly glad at the fact that Duo wasn't back yet, for he would have bothered Heero for days upon end about the position he was in with Sakura sleeping peacefully wrapped in his jacket in his arms. Upon entering the room, Syaoran quickly rushed over asking what was wrong with Sakura.

"We ran into something Kinomoto-san called a card," explained Heero. "She said something about feeling a magic presence and then this mist turned into a humanoid shaped figure and attacked us. I was attempting to keep Kinomoto-san out of the reach of the figure, but somehow its arms extended and one punch hit her directly in the stomach. When it hit her there was also this odd glow that surrounded her and she collapsed. I managed to take out the figure and then Kinomoto-san chanted something and the figure turned into a card. It's in her pocket and I assume it is the Drain Card or something since that is what it said on the front."

"Is he talking about a Clow Card?" questioned Ami as she walked up to the group. "I thought you said you and Sakura-san captured all the cards?"

"Well," answered Syaoran, "it sounds like she caught the Drain Card, although I've never heard of such a card before. I have no knowledge about any cards other than the ones we have already caught and I was told that we have all of them. Maybe Hiiragizawa or Kero know about this new Clow Card."

While Syaoran was thinking about the new Clow Card, Heero took Sakura into her room. As he looked around the room, Heero thought it very much reflected her personality. The pink sheets and blanket on her bed, the cute posters and pictures up on the wall, and the many various stuffed animals placed all around the room was a perfect representation of her adorable and innocent nature. Suddenly, one of Sakura's stuffed animals came to life and flew up in front of Heero's face. "What do you think you are doing to Sakura!?" the stuffed animal screamed at Heero. Heero didn't answer. Instead he just looked curiously at the little yellow stuffed animal with the small white wings that was floating in front of his face. "Hey! I'm talking to you!" yelled the stuffed animal again.

Suddenly, Syaoran and Ami came bursting into the room. The two heard the screaming and came running. "Kero!" exclaimed Syaoran. "It's ok Kero. He's a friend."

"And I'm supposed to trust you're word Gaki!" screamed Kero who was very upset that his beloved Card Mistress was obviously injured and therefore he wasn't thinking straight. "What did he do to Sakura?"

"You must be Cerberus," greeting Ami cheerfully in an attempt to calm Kero down. "I'm Mizuno Ami. I'm one of Sakura's new roommates. Li told me about you."

Kero looked at the girl who introduced herself. Her smiling face reminded him a little of Sakura. She seemed to be a sweet girl who generally cared about other people. This cute girl's kindly demeanor who was apparently one of Sakura's new roommates managed to calm Kero's anger to a manageable level. "It's nice to meet you Mizuno-san. Just call me Kero." Now that Kero was calmed down he was able to take a much more sensible approach to finding out what happened to his Mistress. "So what happened to Sakura?" asked Kero in a much calmer voice than before.

"She was attacked by a Clow Card," explained Syaoran. "I actually wanted to talk to you about how that was possible anyway, so how about you just come out to the living room so we can let Sakura get her rest. By the way, that is Heero Yuy. He is one of my new roommates. He defeated the Card that attacked Sakura."

As Syaoran, Ami, and Kero left Sakura's room, Heero took Sakura over to her bed and laid her down. He carefully removed her shoes and unwrapped her from his jacket, making sure not to wake her up from her peaceful looking slumber. As Heero was pulling the covers over the sleeping beauty, Sakura woke up ever so slightly, tugging on Heero's jacket until he let go and then she hugged it to her chest and drifted back to sleep. Heero stayed behind for a few minutes, just watching the sweet angel sleeping in her bed. He watched over her as a protector from all evils that would wish to hurt the beauty in front of him.

Out in the living room, Ami, Syaoran, and Kero were talking about what happened to Sakura and Heero. "So Kero, I was under the impression that we had captured all the Clow Cards. What is this Drain Card that Yuy and Sakura-san just captured?" asked Syaoran.

"I hate to admit it," replied Kero, "but I have no idea what the Drain Card is. I've never heard of such a Clow Card and as far as I know you two have captured and changed all the cards Clow Reed created. I wish Yue was here, maybe he would know about this new Card."

"Oh wait. I almost forgot to tell you, Kero, but Hiiragizawa is also one of my roommates. If anyone would know about this new Card, he should."

"Eriol is here? Well, then I guess we should ask him when he gets back."

Ami was listening quietly as Syaoran and Kero were discussing the possible origin of this new Clow Card. Eventually her curiosity reached a peak and she spoke up. "Li-kun? How exactly did you and Sakura go about capturing the Clow Cards?"

"Well, first we had to find the different Clow Cards. It usually happened that the cards would find us as they are normally attracted to the Book of Clow and the Mistress or Master of the Cards. Then the goal is to defeat it in battle using either physical or magical attacks, depending on the card. The actual capturing act is done with Sakura's wand. Have you ever noticed the pendant she has around her neck?" asked Syaoran.

Ami thought for a second and then answered. "Yes, I did notice that earlier. But I thought you said Sakura uses her wand. That pendant is so small and it doesn't resemble a wand at all."

"Well, what Sakura does is she chants an ancient incantation and the pendant will transform into the capturing wand. The head of the wand looks similar to the shape of her pendant. I have a similar tool that corresponds with Sakura's pendant. My pendent can transform into a sword, which I use for capturing cards when she isn't there to use the wand. I'll show you my sword transformation some other time. I don't want to disturb Sakura's sleeping by releasing so much magical energy." Ami nodded in understanding of Syaoran's worries. At that moment, Heero walked out of Sakura's room, and started toward the door.

"Is Sakura ok, Yuy-kun?" asked Ami before Heero could leave.

Heero turned to his new blue haired acquaintance and answered. "She's sleeping but I think she will be alright in the morning." After answering Ami's question, Heero opened the door, ready to start back toward his own suite.

"I should get going too," stated Syaoran as he got up. "I'll see you tomorrow Mizuno-san?"

"I'll be looking forward to it," replied Ami with a small cute smirk at the corner of her mouth. "And Yuy-kun, don't worry, I'll look after Sakura to make sure she's okay." Heero nodded in thanks and then he and Syaoran took their leave and headed back to their own suite. As Heero was leaving, Kero thought to himself that there was something about Heero that he couldn't explain. When Heero and Syaoran left, Kero flew into Sakura's room to watch over and protect his Mistress. Ami casually followed Kero into Sakura's room to make sure she was alright.

Back in the guys' suite, Syaoran asked Heero if he wanted to go do some training. The two went downstairs to the workout room which provided much open space for training. The two started out with hand to hand combat practice. Syaoran attacked with his Chinese style martial arts consisting mostly of many jumping and spinning kicks and punches. His style was both fancy as well as effective, although Heero managed to block or dodge each and every one of his attacks. Heero's attack style was very different from Syaoran's. Heero attacked in a very straightforward way. He wasted no energy on excess motion in his attacks, allowing his attacks to be at peak efficiency. However, even with no wasted movement in his attacks, Heero couldn't get a single blow to land. The two continued to spar for quite a while, both trading blows, but never getting a solid hit in. After a while, the two decided to switch to weapons training. Heero, who was trained in countless numbers of weapons styles, decided on a Japanese Samurai Sword as his weapon of choice. As he was waiting for Syaoran to pick his weapon, he saw the Chinese boy take hold of his pendant he wore instead of heading towards the weapons rack. Curious as to what his sparring partner was about to do, Heero just stood by watching as Syaoran closed his eyes in deep concentration. All of a sudden Syaoran's pendant transformed into a sword with the same orb at the base of the handle as Syaoran's pendant. The transformation reminded Heero of how Sakura had called upon her wand from her own pendant.

"Impressive," commented Heero. "Is that similar magical power to that of when Kinomoto-san transforms her pendant into her wand?"

"It is a slightly different magic, although it serves basically the same purpose," answered Syaoran.

Heero nodded in understanding of the nature of Syaoran's magical weapon. Both men were men of honor, and therefore nothing needed to be mentioned about Syaoran's use of magic against a non-user. The two started their fencing, although this time there was one who was superior to the other in the use of the sword. Because of Syaoran's constant sword use in both training and fights with the Clow Cards, he had a noticeable advantage over Heero. Heero was quite skilled in all basics and many advanced techniques with the sword, but compared to Syaoran's complete mastery of the sword, Heero was definitely outclassed. The two went at it for many rounds of fencing, with Syaoran defeating Heero in almost each match. Afterwards, there were no hard feelings, as Heero and Syaoran began to understand each other a little better since they discovered they had a very similar warrior personality. After cleaning up and showering in the locker room attached to the gym, Heero and Syaoran went back to their suite. Upon arriving they saw that Ranma, Duo, and Eriol were all back from downtown and Kero had made his way over from the girls' suite.

"So Yuy," greeted Ranma. "I heard you had a little magical run-in when you were out with Kinomoto-san tonight. Tomoyo told me all about the Clow Cards and Kinomoto-san and Li's card capturing quest, and Mizuno-san and Kero here, told us all about what happened to you earlier. I take it you are alright though?" Ranma's question was answered with a nod from Heero.

"I also hear that you have been looking after Kinomoto-san personally," teased Duo. "Who would have thought that there was a girl who could get through that perfect soldier exterior of yours? By the way, Mizuno-san asked us to tell you that Kinomoto-san is doing fine. She's still sleeping, but she seems to be completely fine so there is no need to worry." Heero showed no response to Duo's teasing, as was how he normally dealt with the troublesome Gundam pilot. Inside, Heero was glad to hear that Sakura was going to be fine; however, without the innocent girl present, Heero had no reason to let his emotional shield down.

As Duo continued to tease Heero in regards to his treatment of Sakura, Syaoran got down to business. "Kero, did you and Hiiragizawa figure out what the new card was?"

"Well," answered Kero. "From what we can tell, this new Drain Card seems to be a part of a new deck of cards. According to Eriol the only deck created was the one Sakura already possesses."

"I do have one theory, however," added Eriol. Syaoran looked at Eriol, waiting for him to continue to explain himself. "Well, every time Clow Reed created one of the Clow Cards there was always a large excess of magical energy. He could never account for where the extra energy went; however, his best hypothesis was that the extra energy might have accumulated and formed itself into another set of cards. The reason this would happen was because the magical energy Clow Reed was using was directed into creating physical entities, therefore the extra energy would naturally form into a similar physical form. There are a few differences between the original set of Clow Cards and this new possible deck. Most importantly, these new cards will most likely be much more powerful than the Clow Cards you already have captured. This is because during the creation process a lot more power was lost than was actually transferred into the cards. Secondly, there is no way to determine what types of powers these new cards will possess. Most likely the powers are at least slightly similar to one of the cards in the original deck since that would be the type of power that was released. Most likely this new Drain Card was created at the same time that Clow Reed created one of the original Clow Cards, although I'm not sure why it wasn't until now that the new cards decided to show themselves."

"Maybe we should wait until the morning when Sakura is well again before we continue to discuss this," commented Kero.

"Kero's right," agreed Syaoran. "We should figure all this out tomorrow, when Sakura has regained her strength. We don't start classes for a couple more days anyway, so we have time." Heero was the first to leave the common room upon seeing that he wouldn't learn anything more since the conversation seemed to be complete and he was beginning to get very annoyed at Duo's continuous stream of jokes about himself and Sakura. Syaoran left a moment later, eager to leave the company of Eriol before he could find a way to get on his nerves once again. Kero and the remaining three students looked to one another and shrugged and then went to their own rooms with Kero deciding to stay with Eriol instead of going back to the girls' suite and risking waking up Sakura.

Two doors down the hall, Ami was explaining what she knew of the situation involving Sakura and the new Clow Card to Tomoyo, Minako, and Ukyo. "I still can't believe I missed a new card!" complained Tomoyo, who was having a hard time accepting that she missed an opportunity to video tape her best friend in action. "Even if Sakura-chan didn't actually defeat the card, I should have been there to tape Yuy-kun's first encounter with a Clow Card. This is so not fair," Tomoyo pouted.

"Oh come on now Tomoyo. I thought you had a great time with Saotome-kun?" consoled Minako.

"I did have a great time with Ranma," said Tomoyo with a smile. "But I still think it's unfair that I missed the Clow Card. Although now I have an excuse to make more battle costumes for Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo totally missed the looks of astonishment on the faces of her roommates. Seeing that Tomoyo was at least happy again, the girls decided not to ask about the battle costumes.

"I'm going to go check on Sakura," Ami told the group as she got up. Ami stopped just inside the door of Sakura's room. As she watched the cute girl peacefully sleep, she instantly felt a little more relaxed. She slowly walked over to Sakura's bed and gingerly placed a hand on Sakura's forehead, making sure she didn't have a fever. Her mother being a doctor was very helpful to Ami for because of her experience, she was easily able to determine that Sakura's breathing and temperature felt normal. After checking Sakura over, Ami sat down on a chair near Sakura's bed so she could just watch the beautiful girl. Watching Sakura sleep so peacefully was starting to make Ami a little tired herself, so she decided to go to her own room and turn in for the night. Upon leaving Sakura's bedroom, Ami saw that Ukyo, Minako, and Tomoyo had all gone to their own respective bedrooms as well. After a quick trip to the bathroom, Ami went into her own bedroom which was adjacent to Sakura's. Several hours later, Ami woke up to a muted sound which sounded almost like mumbling or whimpering. She slowly made her way out of bed and out into the common area, trying to determine the source of the sound. After taking a moment to collect herself, she determined the sounds were coming from Sakura's room. Since her room was the only one of the bedrooms sharing a wall with Sakura's room, she figured she was probably the only one who heard the noises. Ami slowly opened Sakura's door and crept in quietly. She saw Sakura lying in her bed, still clutching Heero's jacket to her chest, although she was whimpering and squirming around quite a bit. As Ami got closer she could see there was a thin layer of perspiration on Sakura's face. She placed a hand on Sakura's head to check her temperature again, but found that it felt normal. She checked her pulse to find that it was a little bit fast; although not so much that it worried Ami at all. Ami got a cloth from the table next to Sakura's bed and gently wiped away the sweat on her face. She then sat on the bed and gently stroked Sakura's hair hoping to calm her down. Ami assumed that Sakura was merely having a bad dream or something so she didn't want to wake her up, but thought it best if she could calm her down somehow. A short time later, Sakura visibly relaxed and shifter her head into Ami's lap. Ami looked down at the once again peacefully sleeping Sakura and a smile crossed her face. The girl was just so cute that Ami couldn't stop smiling even if she wanted to. Not wanting to wake Sakura up, Ami decided to just lean back against the wall and leave Sakura's head in her lap. She did feel a little embarrassed sitting on Sakura's bed with the darling girl's head in her lap wearing nothing but her light blue nightgown. It was made of a thin silk material, making it slightly transparent in sufficient light. Deciding that her slight embarrassment was not worth waking Sakura up over, Ami decided to just relax and let the feeling pass. After she was comfortable once again, her exhaustion crept back up on her and she soon drifted into a calm sleep.