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Chapter seven: A tearful Goodbye I do not own Card captors, the people @ CLAMP do. I wish I did, but I don't have enough money to buy it. Please don't sue me. All I have is this computer, and you can't take it. It's really crappy, but you can't take it!!!!! "Talking" (Authors note) 'Thinking' ~~~~Change of Scene~~~~~~~ *******Dreaming********* ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sakura dropped the phone. "Sakura? Sakura? Are you there?" Li asked, concerned. Sakura bent over, picking up her cordless phone. "Y-yeah, I'm still here...." Sakura whispered. "I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. The Elders want me to return home immediately. I leave tomorrow at 10:00. Will you come?" Li asked. Tears streamed down Sakura's face. "No. I can't. I can't see you leave!" Sakura broke down, bawling. She hung up the phone. "Hey, Sakura? What's wrong?" Kero asked, suddenly appearing out of nowhere. "Nothing. I'm going to bed." Sakura turned off her lamp, silently crying herself to sleep. Kero looked at the young woman. "Sleeping could wait until you die." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sakura? Kura, wake up! You're gonna go see Li, so get...up!" someone shouted into the still sleeping girls ear. Sakura bolted up, nearing hitting Artemis on the head. "Mmmm...what time is it?" she mumbled, grasping for her clock. "9:31. Get dressed. We're going to see Li off, whether you like it or not." Artemis said, tossing a short skirt and a t-shirt on Sakura's bed. Sakura stared at them, shaking her head, her messy brown hair whipping her face. "No. I can't. I won't." Sakura said quietly. Artemis sighed, pointing to the young girl. Sakura was instantly dressed, her long hair pulled into a ponytail. "There. You're dressed. Now get downstairs, and go. To. The. Airport." Artemis said slowly. Sakura made an evil face at her as she slowly pulled herself out of bed, opening her bedroom door, trudging down the stairs, Artemis on her heels. Sakura went into the kitchen, finding Tori already gone for his new job at the bakery (he can't keep a job very long, can he?). Sakura grabbed an apple as she strapped her blades on. Artemis pointed to herself. Her silver toga was replaced with a skirt and a tank top. A pair of silver blades appeared on her feet. "Ready now? We'll miss him if we don't hurry." Artemis stepped outside, the warm wind blowing her black hair. Sakura slowly nodded, locking the door as she stepped out. The two girls took off down the street, Sakura struggling to meet Artemis' amazing speed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Li took one last glance around. All his friends except Sakura were there. "Flight 35, last call. Flight 35." a raspy voice said over the intercom. Li turned around slowly walking towards the gate. "Li! Li, wait!" a voice yelled out. People moved to the side as two girls on rollerblades whipped towards the gate, a security guard chasing them. Li looked up, finding Sakura racing toward him. She slid to her knees, wrapping her arms around Li's waist. "Don't leave! Please! Don't leave me!" Li smiled down at the small girl. "I have to. I promise you, I'll come back." Li whispered as he knelt down, wiping tears from Sakura's eyes. Sakura looked up at him, tears streaming non-stop down her face. "Li, please don't leave...." Li stared at Sakura, who was now weeping. "Kura. I must. It's the Elders orders. I promise, I'll be back soon." Li stood up, picking up his bag. Sakura just nodded, not moving from the floor. Artemis and the security guard were arguing in the background, and it sounded like the Immortal Goddess was winning. "I don't care who you are! You cannot rollerblade in a public building!" The guard yelled. Artemis raised an eyebrow. "You dare speak to me, the Great Princess Alihabenoof like that?! I am permitted to enter whatever building I wish with these blade on, whether you like it, or not!" Artemis said in a phony-sounding British accent. She stomped on the young guards foot with her back brake. Li gaped at Artemis as he stepped onto the plane, waving good-bye to Sakura. Sakura smiled slightly as she stood up. She skated over to Artemis, who was being held by two security guards. "Let's go shopping. I need to do something. Anything to get my mind off him." Sakura watched as a beefy man swiped a metal detector over Artemis. The metal detector beeped loudly as it hit Art's back. He reached towards it, removing a long, black broadsword from her tanktop. "How'd that get there?" Artemis asked innocently, her skirt and tanktop being replaced with a short silver dress, her black wings reappearing. The guards let go as Sakura rolled her eyes. "'Kay, but let's get Set. She'll wanna come. And don't be sad. The farther Li runs, the closer he stays." Artemis said knowingly, pointed to a wall, where a swirling purple portal appeared. Sakura stepped through, Artemis on her heels. Artemis stopped, and spun around, back to the security guards. She grabbed her sword from his hands as a lion with eagle wings, a goat and lion head and a snake tail suddenly appeared, growling furiously. "Meet Chimera. I've had him locked up for the last 2000 years, so I'm sure he's hungry." Artemis laughed wickedly, vanishing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ They appeared in the Time Gates, Artemis armed with her staff, incase any unwanted visitors decided to show up. "Was that really the Chimera?" Sakura asked, heading towards the tall black gates leading into Setsuna's house. Artemis shook her head. "Nah. It was an illusion. It won't be able to touch them, and they can touch it." Artemis replied. Setsuna stepped out of the shadows. "Only those worthy of admittance are allowed here. You are not worthy!" Setsuna said in her cryptic voice, causing Sakura to shiver. "Sure we are! At least, I am." Artemis blocked Setsuna's staff as she brought it down upon her visitors. "Thanks," Sakura muttered. "Artemis?" Set asked, waving her hands. The thick fog that once surrounded them disappeared, leaving Sakura shivering, and Artemis grinning wickedly. Setsuna sighed. "Why do you always do this? Can't you use the front door?" she asked, walking back to her house. "Nope." was Artemis' only reply as she and Sakura followed. They passed two men, one trying to kill the other because he had killed his brother. Sakura sighed. "Why is it that men feel they can justify death with death?" she asked to herself. "Because they're idiots." Artemis replied "Humans do not understand death. Nobody does. That is, nobody but me. But I am not human, am I? Nobody knows what it is like having an eternal life. Watching you friends and loved ones die? Human emotions are weak, but mine...." Artemis paused, thinking. "My life is a curse. Why I suffer it, I am not sure. But if I allowed a mortal to live my life, and fell the pain I endure, I wonder how they'd feel then." Artemis entered Setsuna's house, plopping into an over stuffed chair. An image of Li popped into Sakura's head, tears coming to her eyes. "Hey. One day, two men named Bill and Steve were taking a ride on their motorcycles. All of a sudden, Bill lost control and hit a telephone pole, tearing off the left half of his body. He was immediately rushed to the hospital while Steve waited anxiously to hear if he would make it through. After a long wait, the doctor came out and said to Steve, "He's all right now."" Artemis said, trying to cheer her friend up. Sakura and Setsuna gave Artemis a strange look. "Alright, so that wasn't very funny. How 'bout this one: Two tourists were driving through Louisiana. As they were approaching Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town. They argued back and forth until they stopped for lunch. As they stood at the counter, one tourist asked the blonde employee, "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are...very slowly?" The blonde girl leaned over the counter and said, "Burrrrrrrr, gerrrrrrr, Kiiiiing."" Sakura shook her head, a grin appearing on her face. "That was soooo stupid." she giggled. "Most of her jokes are. So what's up?" Setsuna asked, leaning against the door frame. "Oh, right! Wanna go shopping? Kura needs to do something to try to forget about Li, and I wanna go buy the new Dr. Dre CD." Artemis said, her outfit changing, AGAIN(she has to change as fashion does -.-'). She now wore a bright blue shirt and a short black skirt. Black knee high boots shone in the bright light of Setsuna's living room. Her hair was now red, and was piled on top her head(hey, that rhymed!). "Defiantly! I need to get away from this place! But who'll watch the Gates? It's been pretty bad lately." Setsuna said, de-transforming out of her Sailor outfit. Artemis grinned, pointing to the doorway. Queen Serenity appeared (Sailor Moon in the future). "What the-" she began, but was cut off by Artemis. "Hey. You're watching the Time Gates while we're gone. If you leave, I'll kill you, Queen, or no Queen. Got it?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "I can't believe she said 'yes'. Man, she's really afraid of you." Sakura said to Artemis as they entered West Edmonton Mall. "There are only 3 things in the world that scare her. Me, death, and spiders," Artemis said, striding into Mariposa. "Which, I intentionally keep putting in her room." Artemis grinned evilly. "She has great magical powers. Can't she see into the future?" Sakura asked, pulling a bright red shirt with DEVIL sprawled across the front off a rack. "One cannot predict one's own destiny, for that would give them the power to change it." Setsuna said in her cryptic voice. Sakura shivered. "Stop doing that! It freaks me out!" Sakura said sternly. Set grinned. "I know. That's why I do it." Setsuna dogged to her left, avoiding a dangerous blow from her shorter friend. "Children, children. Come down! Or else Setsuna will be seeing Cockroaches," Artemis said, trotting into a change room with a pink dress in her hand, "Lots of them, and Sakura, you'll be seeing ghosts for the rest of eternity." Set and Sakura looked at each other wide eyes, there chins dropping to the floor. "Not fair! She started it!" they both exclaimed. Artemis chuckled and stepped out of the change room, stepping in front of a mirror. "What do you think?" she asked, spinning around. "Hey! Pink's my colour!" Sakura pouted. Artemis walked to the till. "You know, for a sixteen year old, you act like you're two!" Artemis and Setsuna laughed. "I'll wear it out," Artemis said to the cashier, who nodded, scanning the tag. Set pulled a pair of metallic pink, five inch high sandals off a rack. "Better get these, too. Ya don't want your shoes to clash with the dress." Artemis nodded, handing the shoes to the blonde behind the counter. "True." She said. "I don't know what a shrink would call you. I don't want to know." Sakura sighed as she walked out of the store, Artemis trying to put on the high shoes and walk at the same time. "Oh, shut up!" she exclaimed, finally getting the shoes on. Setsuna didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Her facial expression said it all. Artemis glared at her. "Not you too! I thought you were my best friend! Now your siding with the enemy!" she whined. "Oh, and you say I'm acting like a two year old!" Sakura exclaimed. A nerve popped in Artemis' pretty head. She lunged for Sakura, who jumped over a railing, falling twenty feet to the next floor. She did a backflip, and landed perfectly on her feet. "Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah! You're gonna have to catch me!" Sakura yelled up to her two friends. Artemis scowled at her. "Remember, I'm the one with wings. And magical powers. So run. Let's see how far you get!" Artemis yelled back, the people standing next to her stepped back, staring at her like she was insane. Artemis' wings sprouting from her back, scaring a little boy who had been watching the strange woman glowing black. But that was visible to his, and Setsuna, eyes only. Sakura pulled the key off her neck. "Oh Great key of Clow, Power of Magic, Power of Light; Surrender the Wand, The Force Ignite. Release!" The staff appeared. "Fly!" Wings emerged on Sakura's back. Artemis stuck her tongue out, her wings fading. Sakura called back the FLY card. "Well...we've scared, like, everyone in this mall. So we'd better go to another. News can't travel that fast." Setsuna said, sighing deeply. Sakura nodded, flying up to the level above her. "Yeah. Where to next? Las Vegas? Paris? London? Or back to Tomeoda?" Sakura asked. Set and Artemis exchanged glances. "New Zealand!!" They exclaimed together, each grabbing one of Sakura's arms, dragging her to a wall, where a portal magically opened. "No! Please! No! Not back to New Zealand! Anywhere but there!!" Sakura screamed as the portal closed behind her. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DARK knelt before her leader. "Mistress. The CardCaptor still lives. Everytime we attack her, she captures us. We cannot defeat her. She is too strong!" DARK said to a pair of blue-purple eyes in front of her. "Yes, I know. There are only, what, 20 of you left?" the unknown leader said. "27. What are we going to do?" Arrow said, striding into the dark room. The 'Mistress' looked at the two cards before her. "Take away what she cares most about." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Who is this strange mistress, and upon whom does she speak? The person Sakura cares most about? If you have a guess, e-mail me at samiam@compusmart.ab.ca, and if you get it right, I'll send you an award! And what's wrong with New Zealand? Find out in the next chapter of RIVALS...OR ALLIES?. Ja Ne Setsuna |