Chapter 1: The Legend Unfolds

This is so cool! Another stori
Okay, this is the sequel to The Past & The Future
so it's like, a story's sequel's sequel

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Everyone has probably read this a million times from other fics. sigh
I DO NOT OWN CARDCAPTORS
I DO NOT OWN THE PEOPLE IN CARDCAPTORS
I DO NOT OWN THE ANYTHING IN CARDCAPTORS
YADAYADAYADAYADAYADAYADA
there, all done

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"talking"
'thinking'
*~*~flashback~*~*
(my opinions, hehe)

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"MOM!!" the girl yelled excitedly. "What is it, Sami?" Sakura asked her
9-year-old daughter, Samantha. "Lookie! I can move things that I float
now! All that practice you gave me is getting useful!" Sami said, her
smile growing wider with every second. She floated her practice sword
into the air and moved it towards her mother. Sakura smiled and plucked
the sword from the air and expertly grasped it in her hand. "All that
practice your dad gave me with swords when I was a kid is finally coming
in handy." Sakura said, twirling the sword like a baton. She tossed it
back to Samantha and winked. "Keep practicing!"
Sakura opened the glass sliding door into the bright dining room. The
house was quiet. "Syaoran!" she called into the hall. "What is it? I'm in
the basement!" Syaoran called back. Sakura opened the door and quickly
walked down the hall. She turned a right and opened the door right below
the stairs to the 2nd floor. Sakura stepped down the stairs. "Practicing
again?" she said. Syaoran quickly turned and placed the sword back in its
sheath. The humongous basement was carpeted, and was very big because
Sakura had used her Earthy card to make it bigger so Syaoran, Sami, or
she could practice their magic or swords stuff. "Yeah. After all, I like
to keep myself sharp." he said, kissing Sakura.

next morning, early, very early, Sunday...

"SAMI! I WANN PANCAKES!" Kero screamed into Sami's ear. "Later..." Sami
moaned, hitting her ringing green alarm clock, making it stop. "I WANT
PAANCAKES NOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kero yelled at her, trying to
pull of her blanket and having no luck whatsoever, being a tiny, very
tiny, um, guardian beast. "Stupid stuffed animal! Go get mom!" she said,
pulling the pillow over her head. "SHE'S BUSY MAKING OUT WITH YOUR DAD!
THEY'RE TOO BUSY KISSING EACH OTHER TO MAKE ME ANYTHING!!!" Kero yelled
again. Sami groaned and flung the pillow at Kero, making him fall to the
ground. "Why do you have to have such good aim?" Kero asked, rubbing his
head. "Why do you have to tell me every morning that Mom is making out
with Dad and must you always ask me for pancakes?" she said, sitting up.
She straightened her silky blue pajamas that had doves flying all over it
in all different colors. "All right, I'll make your pancakes." she said,
pulling the pillow off the ground.
She knocked and poked her head into her parents's room. "Mom, how come
Kero has to tell me you two are making out every MORNING?" she said
good-naturedly, throwing Kero into the room. "Kero!" Sakura said, getting
up indignantly. Syaoran groaned and got up. "Want to practice, Sami?" he
asked her. "Sure, why not?" she said. "Sorry, Kero! No pancakes!" Syaoran
called to the winged guardian beast. "HEY! COME BACK HERE!" Kero shouted.
"Kero! How many times have I told you not to do that?!" Sakura scolded.
Sami laughed, and followed her dad into the basement. 'This always
happens, every morning,' Sami thought.
Syaoran took his sword out of its sheath, tossed it in the air, took out
Sami's, tossed it to her, and then caught his own. Sami stood in her
fighting stance: her whole body faced the "enemy", her feet in a T-shape,
the bottom part of the T (which lookes like I) pointing at her dad and
the foot making the top part of the T (the top line) extended and
pointing slightly backwards on her toe. Sami's left elbow stuck out,
ready, and her right hand held the sword, also ready.
"Go!" Syaoran said, and they started swordfighting. Sami ducked from a
high swipe and then the expected side swipe. She quickly swung her sword,
flat side, into her dad's legs. "Whoa!" he said, and fell down on the
ground. She quickly ran to him, sword ready. Syaoran quickly jumped up
and hit her side flat side first. "Hey!" she shouted, and, using the
gymnastics trick Sakura showed her, fell down into push-up position, her
sword on the ground, then, grabbing her sword again, pushed herself back
up with her hands. She managed to knock Syaoran over and then she put her
sword on his neck and her foot on his back. Syaoran held up his hands in
defeat. "I surrender!" he said, laughing. Syaoran kissed her on the
forehead. "Go on and have breakfast." he said.
Sami grabbed her sword, which wasn't real, and put it back in her
sheath. She fingered the fine metal handle of her mother's sword. She
wouldn't get a real sword until her dad thought she was ready. She sighed
quietly. 'I know i opted for home-schooling... and besides, mom and dad
teach me lots of extracurriculars and stuff...' she thought. "Dad?"
Syaoran looked up. "What is it, Sami?" Syaoran asked. "Why do you and Mom
always make out?" she asked curiously. Syaoran raised his eyebrows but he
answered anyway.
"It's because we love each other, Sami." Sami thought about that. "Where
did you guys meet?" she asked quietly, busying herself with the white and
pink strings on Sakura's sheath. "Well, I originally came to Japan to
help capture the Clow Cards with your mother. At first we were rivals
because I am Clow's ancestor, and I thought I should be the Cardcaptor.
But, as time went on, your mother became much more powerful. She turned
all her cards into Sakura Cards, and all this time, I had been falling
deeper and deeper in love with her." he said, smiling and thinking about
old times. He gave a sudden laugh. "What?" Sami asked. "I was just
thinking about our classmate, Zachary. He'd tell these tall tales and
outlandish stories about where things were invented and how they became
so." Syaoran chuckled and put his sword in the proper place. He started
upstairs. "Sami? You coming?" Sami snapped out of her trance. "Oh! Yeah,
coming!" She quickly ran up the stairs and intot he dining room.

Sami stepped into her room and closed the door. She wrung out her wet
golden-brown hair. It curled slightly at the bottom, right on top of her
shoulders. Sami had let her bangs grow out, and they were the same length
as the rest of her hair. She walked to the window in her form-fitting
tank top. It fit perfectly with the spring sunshine. The tank top was sky
blue with tiny white doves flying all around it. There were also cherry
blossoms on it, kind of flying in the breeze. Her skort was a
khaki-colored, sent from Sakura's friend Rosa. There were bold red lines
on the side, where the seams were. Looking it from the front, it looked
like a skirt, and from the back, it was a pair of shorts. The "skirt"
part of it covered the front part of the shorts. It was one of Sami's
favorite outfits.
Sami stared out the window, but she left it closed. 'Everything is so
quiet in here. Not noisy. Why, I can hear kids playing from in here with
the window closed!' Sami thought, trying to comfort herself. But she knew
she would rather be outside, playing baseball or soccer or just
rollerblading around. Her parents had taught her to play lots of sports,
and she was good at everything, it seemed like. Suddenly a baseball flew
right into Sami's room. "Whoa!" she shouted, backing away from the broken
glass. The baseball landed on the floor. Sami looked at her window. There
was a jagged hole in the middle. She could hear the coversation going on
right outside her window:
"Go get the ball, dude!" said one guy.
"No way. That place is, like, weird." said the other, holding the bat,
Sami could see.
"Well, you hit it, so you have to get it." said the first guy.
Sami grabbed the baseball and opened the window. Sami had told her
parents not to put the window mesh in, and they didn't. Sami stuck her
head outside the window and looked down, bored, at the two guys down
there. Her wet hair spilled down her shoulders, but it was almost dry.
Sami threw the ball expertly to the one with the bat and rolled her eyes.
He caught it and looked up at Sami. "Thanks!" and they left. Sami could
still hear them. "See, Matt? It wasn't that bad!" the first guy said.
"Well, you sure didn't have the guts to go get it, John!" the one who
caught the ball retorted back at the first guy, John. Sami looked out
after them. Then she sighed and knocked down all the remaining pieces of
the window. She cleaned up the glass and made a new pane from some water
with her magic.

Matt looked back at the girl's house. He was sitting out so he could
rest. 'She was the prettiest girl I've ever seen. But I haven't seen her
around here...' he thought, thinking back to that afternoon.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Oh great, I just broke someone's window again!" Matt panted as he and
John ran towards the house they thought he had hit the ball into. "Yup,
this is the house. That freaky place." John said. He pointed to the
broken window. John turned to Matt. "Go get the ball, dude!" he said. "No
way. That place is, like, weird." Matt said, rolling his eyes and tossing
his bat into the air. "Well, you hit it, so you have to get it," John
retorted. Suddenly the window opened, and a pretty girl with bouncy
golden-brown hair stuck her head out. Her hair tumbled over her
shoulders, like a waterfall. 'I've never seen her around before...' Matt
wondered. 'And I would sure remember a face like hers.' he thought. The
girl threw him the ball, and he caught it with his free hand. "Thanks!"
he called to the girl.
He and John started back towards their playing 'field'. It was just the
humongous grassy park. It was really close to the neighborhood, which was
why it hit a lot of windows. That was why none of the team members ever
had any money; they had to pay for the broken glass most of the time.
"See, Matt? It wasn't that bad!" John said. Matt rolled his eyes. "Well,
you sure didn't have the guts to go get it, John!" he retorted at his
best friend.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Matt sighed, and was shook out of daydreaming when his rest time was up.
"Come on Matt! Let's PLAY BALL!" his friend James shouted. Matt got up,
and ran to 1st base.

After dinner, Sakura hummed a sweet Japanese song as she danced outside
in the backyard. She just had that happy feeling that night. Her short
pink skirt billowed while she was twirling lightly around. Her spaghetti
strap tank top, a white one with a green sillhouette of a wolf in the
middle of the front, moved lightly in the breeze. She spread her arms out
beautifully... and was wrapped around the stomach by Syaoran. "Hi
Syaoran." she said happily, wrapping her arms backward around Syaoran's
neck. Syaoran didn't reply; just moved his lips onto hers and kissed her
passionately. Sakura tilted her head, enjoying the feeling. She could
feel herself lean onto Syaoran more, because her knees became weak.
Sakura's breath became short, and she reached one arm down to wrap around
Syaoran's. After breaking the kiss, Sakura turned around and put her head
on Syaoran's chest.
"I hate how you can still make me feel like that," she whispered. "No
you don't. You love it." he said lightly, kissing Sakura on her bare
shoulders. "Oh stop it." she said, breaking away. She sighed and smiled.
"I think we should enroll Sami in school." Sakura said, looking seriously
at Syaoran. "Why?" he asked. "She seems lonely. Today, after you left to
go see Meilin, she asked me how you and I fell in love. I told her, all
the time thinking that she might need friends and some social life. I
know she asked us to home-school her, but part of being a kid is going to
school and being with kids your own age. The only person she knows her
own age is Melanie, Meilin's daughter. And even they don't live that
close." she said worriedly. Syaoran pulled his arm around Sakura's waist
and drew her close. "That's okay. Remember? Meilin is the principal of
Readington Elementary. Let's call her right now."

"Yeah, that's right. She's in fourth grade, or should be at her age.
Yes, she is nine. I know, she does really go with my side, huh? I think
she has my hair and some of my athletic ability... Of course I remember
when I first came! We were in fourth grade too. Yeah, which class? Oh, so
it's the second floor, the class we used to be in in fourth grade. They
renamed them? Oh, okay, which class then? Oh, I see. Yup. Uh huh. Okay,
lemme say this again... Hey, let me speak! Hey! Alright, so it's the
second floor, room 4-2? Who's the teacher? Oh, a Miss Kalina from
America? Okay, let me get this straight. So Sami will be on the second
floor, room 4-2, with Ms. Kalina...oh well. Okay, see you tomorrow."
Syaoran finally hung up the phone. "Okay, Sami's gonna be on the second
floor in our old classroom, but they renamed them. Class 4-2, with a
respected American teacher named Ms. Kalina who knows Japanese." Sakura
smiled. "Well, at least we know what Sami's getting into. Let's call her
down to the basement. I'd like to practice. SAMI!! Come down to the
basement so we can all practice!" she called up the stairs.
Sami came bouncing down the stairs, all smiles. "Cool! Sword?" she
shouted. "No, it's different this time. Magic, Sami. Come on!" Sakura
said, like a little kid again. Right there in the hall, she called out
her wand. "Oh Key of Clow, Power of Magic, Power of Light, Surrender the
wand, the Force Ignite! RELEASE! Small card, Fly card, Dash card, release
and dispel!" Sakura started becoming smaller, and on her back appeared
two wings. She flew into the stairway so fast, it seemed like a blur.
Syaoran and Sami quickly followed after her. "Dad, I've never seen Mom
use her Clow Magic." she said, amazed. Syaoran smiled and ruffled Sami's
hair. "We can't risk someone seeing us during daylight. Besides, we don't
have much of a chance to." 'But, Sami, you don't even know all about
Sakura's magic. We've only told you about Clow. But nothing about her
powers of the white dove.' he thought darkly. But he pushed his thoughts
away. At the bottom, Sakura was her regular self again. "Ready, you guys?
I'll put my magic against you, you guys have to block or fight back."
Sakura winked. "Remember, Syaoran, I'm not 'pathetic' anymore!" she said,
grinning. Syaoran snorted. "You got that right." he muttered.

"That was so fun!!" Sami exclaimed, coming up the stairs. It was around
nine o'clock that night. Sakura and Syaoran walked up together after her.
"Do you want to do this more?" Sakura asked. She glanced at Syaoran, who
was looking at her. Both smiled, knowing what Sami was probably going to
say. "Definitely!" she said. Sami turned around and looked at her
parents. "It was so great! Awesome." she said, awed. "It was fun, wasn't
it? I haven't been able let loose like that for a while." Sakura said.
"By the way, we have something to tell you." Syaoran added. Sami's
expression became serious instantly. "What is it?" she asked. "We have
enrolled you in public school. We feel like you're missing out on
something because you're being home-schooled." he said simply. Sami
started to protest. "Too bad, you're starting tomorrow." Sakura said.
Sami looked at both of them, a neutral expression on her face. Then she
broke into a wide grin. "Thank you sooo much!!" she said, jumping onto
Sakura, then Syaoran. "Thank you so much, Mom! You too, Dad!" Sami ran
upstairs to get a good night's sleep.

"SAMI! WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!" Kero shouted. Sami groaned and pulled the
pillow over her face. Later, she woke up because Sakura was calling her
down the stairs. "SAMI! WAKE UP!" Sakura shouted. Sami rolled over and
looked at her alarm clock. "Oh no! I'm going to be late! Kero! Why didn't
you wake me up?" she cried, and put on her uniform, which Sakura had
gotten from Meilin just yesterday night, in record speed. "I did, you
just ignored me and fell asleep again!" Kero retorted. She rushed down
the stairs. Kero shook his head. 'She's more like her mother than people
think.' he thought. Then he settled down to play video games.
Sami rushed into the dining room, where a piece of toast with a little
circle of butter was sitting on top. "Thanks Dad!" she said, and
hurriedly drank the milk he poured for her. She wiped her mouth with a
napkin, threw it down on the table, and ran to the front door. "Bye Dad!
See you later!" she said, and put the toast in her mouth. Sami grabbed
her old blue with tiny pink striped rollerblades and hurriedly snapped
them on and put on her blue kneepads and elbow pads. Sami got up just as
Sakura left on the motorcycle. Syaoran watched from the window as Sami
zoomed away. He shook his head. 'Meilin may think she's like me... but
Sami's more like her mother than people think.' he thought.
Sami zoomed down the road on the fast blue motorcycle to Readington
Elementary. She saw a lot of people walking towards the school, but she
sped past them. Sami finally arrived at Readington and slowed down at the
entrance, staring at the clock. She still had ten minutes to spare.
'Phew,' Sami thought. She rollerbladed slowly into the office.
At the office, Sami found Meilin and her mother talking. "Hello, Sami!
Welcome to Readington Elementary. And no rollerblades on school campus."
Meilin said, pointing to Sami's rollerblades. Sami blushed and took off
her rollerblades, placing them in her light blue rollerblade protective
bag. Sami's hair was pulled back into a high ponytail. Her hair was
bouncy enough to spread out a bit, and just long enough to cover part of
her neck. Under the ponytail, she had two blue clips holding up her loose
hairs. Sami's ponytail hung next to her face while she zipped up the
triangular shaped bag and picked up the handle.
"Okay, Sami, your classroom is in that building over there, with the
3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Here's your schedule. Your first classroom is
on the second floor in room 4-2, and your last class is gym." Meilin
said, handing Sami her gym clothes. They were a short white shirt, and
long dark blue pants, and a dark blue skirt with shorts underneath and a
white t-shirt. "You know your way around, right? Don't worry about being
late. I'll send a notice to Ms. Kalina." The bell rang for 5-minute
warning. "Classes are almost starting anyway." Meilin said. She gave
Sami's schedule to her, patted her shoulder, shook hands with Sakura, and
then went back into her office. Sakura smiled patted Sami's hair,
straightening out some short bangs that framed Sami's head nicely. "Have
fun, Sami!" Sakura said cheerfully and left. Sami started to the class.
Meilin watched as Sami walked cheerfully to her class from her window and
almost burst out laughing. 'She's more like her mother than I thought,'
Meilin thought, smiling.

Matt sat in class, bored. Everyone had to be inside by warning bell.
'Well, at least Ms. K lets us talk.' he thought, as his friends
approached. They talked about the upcoming cheerleading and gymnastics
tryouts the next day. "Let's go watch all the cute girls." John said,
sliding into his seat across from Matt. There was one empty seat behind
Matt. "Sure. Besides, maybe we could catch a date with one of them
afterwards." James said, taking off his sunglasses. Matt shook his head.
His brown hair (which I'll make exactly like Syaoran's) got into his eye
and he shook it back. "I wouldn't have the nerve. Oh well, at least we
have a free 6th class tomorrow." he said, and the bell rang. Ms. Kalina
called for the class's attention.
"Okay class, today we have a new student. Her name is Samantha Li. Would
you like to tell the class about yourself, Samantha?" Ms. Kalina asked.
"Sure." Sami chirped. All the boys were looking at her adoringly, and all
the girls were glaring at Sami. "Oh my lord, that's the girl whose window
I broke!" Matt whispered to John and James, almost choking, who couldn't
hear him becase they were staring at Sami. She was obviously not one of
the shy types.
"My name is Samantha Li, but you can call me Sami. I was born here in
Japan, and I think it's a cool place. I've visited my parents' friends in
Europe, China, Canada, Africa, and the USA. I think all those places were
pretty awesome, but Japan is definitely the best." she said confidently.
"Thank you, Sami. You can sit back there in the last row, behind Matt.
Matt, please raise your hand." she said. Sami walked to the seat,
recognized Matt as the guy who had hit the ball through her window, and
winked to him. She sat down, and noticed a big, flowering cherry tree
right outside the window. Sami smiled as she saw her mother leaving.
'That's probably the cherry tree Dad and Mom told me so much about.' she
thought. "Okay class, open your science books to page..." Ms. Kalina
started.
Sami thought about how her Mom and Dad probably fell in love and all the
adventures they went on and went through. They'd told her about it many
times. She was getting to a good part, when her Mom captured the Big
Card, when the teacher called on her. "Sami? Sami!" she said sharply.
Sami looked up, surprised. Her book lay unopened on her desk. All the
girls snickered. "Please read chapter 4, section 5, Samantha. No
daydreaming." she said. When no one was looking, Sami put her hand over
the heavy book, and it flipped to the right page. Sami started reading.
Finally it was recess. Everyone went outside, but Sami walked to the
cherry tree. A lot of her classmates followed her, and all of the boys
introduced themselves to Sami, hoping she would notice them. "Hi, yeah
nice to meet you too, i know, good day, thank you, have a nice day, nice
to meet you, see ya, bye now!" Sami kept repeating to everyone. Finally
everyone left. A girl came up to Sami. She had her pretty blonde hair in
a sophisticated French braid. "Hi Sami. I'm guessing your pretty annoyed
with everyone introducing themselves to you. Especially the boys." Sami
nodded. "Well, my name is Julie, and I'm the captain of the cheerleading
and gymnastics team. Since it's winter now, we're having tryouts to see
who gets on the team next year. We have it during the winter so the old
team members can show any new members the moves and get them used to the
workouts and practices and stuff. And by fall, they'll be all ready to
cheer!" Julie said enthusiasticly.
Sami's eyes lightened up. "Really? I love gymnastics! And I'd like to
try out for cheerleading too. When are the tryouts?" Sami asked. "It's
kinda soon, but tomorrow. Gymnastics is during 6th period, which is gym
for 4th graders anyway, and then cheerleading is right after school. You
should wear clothes comfortable for gymnastics and cheerleading, but
everyone prefers the cheerleading skirts and practice outfit." Julie dug
in her backpack for a moment and came out with a plain two-piece red
cheerleading outfit. "You should wear something like All the girls wear
these to the tryouts, you'll get the real thing after you make the team.
I'm sure you have a great chance of making it." Julie said. She winked at
Sami. "And the outfits will look great on you; I design them!"
Recess ended and then came the rest of her classes. During lunch, Sami
took out her lunch and took a look in her bag. There was a small
container with some rice and sushi. "Yumm..." Sami thought. She walked
outside to the cherry tree and leaped easily into it and started eating.
After she finished, she used her magic to make the container fit in her
inside coat pocket. 'Eh?' she thought, feeling something inside. Sami
took out the piece of paper and zipped up the pocket. She unfolded the
paper. It was a picture of her mom and dad when they were in fourth grade
and a whole bunch of their friends.
'Oh yeah, I snooped into their room that day, didn't I? I'll have to
return this.' she said, and put the picture back in her pocket. Sami
leaped out of the tree, and Julie and some other girls approached her.
"Hey Sami!" Julie called. "Hi Julie." Sami said, smiling. "These are my
friends, Ava and Erica. They're also on the cheerleading team, but only
Ava is on the gymnastics team, cause Erica already takes private
gymnastics lessons everyday. Guys, this is the new girl here, Sami."
Julie said. "Hi nice to meet you!" Sami said, almost automatically. Ava
was very short, with lots of curly dark brown hair tied into a ponytail.
Erica was slightly taller than Julie, with straight light brown hair a
bit past her shoulders. They talked until the bell rang. "What class do
you have next?" Ava asked. Sami looked at her schedule. "I have math for
5th class." she said. Ava smiled. "I have that next. Come on, I'll show
you which room."
After math, which was in room 4-8, everyone went to the locker rooms.
Ava told Sami about it along the way. "All the fourth graders have gym
last class of the day with five teachers. We do a lot of different stuff,
mostly track stuff during the fall, then gymnastics during the winter,
soccer in the spring, and for the rest of the time more track for next
year." Ava explained. "But it's usually mixed up sometimes, give us a
good workout." They went inside, and Sami got her locker assignment from
the gym teacher. She went to her locker and found Julie opening hers.
"Hey Sami! Cool, you have a locker next to mine." she said, sitting down
on the bench in her shorts and t-shirt. Sami opened her locker and put
her clothes inside and put on her shorts/skirt (I'll just call them
shorts) and t-shirt. "Ready? Okay, let's go!" Julie said cheerfully, her
braid flopping on her back. Sami ran after her, her hair bobbing up and
down.
That day, everyone did gymnastics. The whole fourth grade was split into
five groups, about 20 kids a class. Luckily, Ava, Erica, and Julie were
in her group. There were five different sections of the humongous gym,
each class staying in their section. "Okay, everyone, we're doing
gymnastics today. Mostly tumbles and cartwheels, that kind of stuff.
Ready? Now who'd like to go first?" Ms. Kalina said. Her gym outfit was
loose black stretchy pants with a broad white stripe on the sides. She
had a loose white t-shirt on and a whistle around her neck. A girl raised
her hand. "I will!" she said confidently. The girl went, and then Ms. K.
called up person after person.
The last one was a girl named Katy. "Okay, Katy, you're up." Katy walked
over and started doing carthwheels across the long mat. At the end, she
stopped and put her hands over her head and smiled. "Good job, Katy.
We're finished then, right?" Ms. Kalina asked the class, writing
something on her clipboard. Julie spoke up. "Ms. K, you forgot Sami!" she
said. Ms. Kalina looked up. "Oh, sorry Sami! Why don't you go now?" she
said. Sami nodded shakily and walked over to the mat. Something made her
think of her mother. ' 'Remember, doing gymnastics is easy as long as
you're confident. If there's any doubt in you, you'll be too careful to
do a great job,' her mother told her. 'Also,' her mother continued, 'make
sure to have fun.' '
Sami smiled confidently. Then she started doing carthwheels across the
mat. They were fast, and neat. Each one followed the other rhythmically
so well it was hard to tell where one cartwheel ended and another began.
At the end, Sami twisted while she was doing her last cartwheel so that
she was looking at the rest of the class. She raised her hands above her
head and smiled brightly. Julie, Ava, and Erica cheered their
congratulations. Katy, Sami noticed, glared at her. Everyone else clapped
politely. "That was awesome, Sami! Who taught you cartwheels so well?"
Ms. Kalina asked. "My mom. She went here too and she was on the
cheerleading team." Sami said modestly. "She taught me everything I
know." Ms. Kalina smiled. "Well, she taught you well. Alright, class is
dismissed. But remember, girls, tomorrow is the cheerleading and
gymnastics tryouts!" Ms. Kalina shouted after the class.

"Mom, can you make me a two-piece gymnastics outfit?" Sami said as soon
as she was home. She ran into the kitchen. "Alright, but I want you to
see something first." Sakura said, leading Sami into the basement. She
opened the sliding closet door, where their swords hung, along with some
outfits. Sakura took out a two-piece plain practice outfit. It was a soft
light blue. The top stopped at the bottom of Sami's rib cage, and the
dress had shorts underneath, and a beautiful, almost unnoticeable pattern
went down the plain skirt. Sami's eyes shined. "How did you know?" she
asked, fingering the soft material. "Meilin told me. As soon as I got
home, I made this for you." Sakura said, smiling. "Thanks mom." Sami
said, hugging her mother. "Oh yeah, your father wants to show you
something. He's in living room." Sakura said, giving the outfit to Sami.
Sami ran upstairs.
"Dad? Did you need something?" Sami asked. "No, but here's a real sword
for you." he said, handing Sami the light amethyst sheath with the sword
inside. The hilt was a deep but light blue, with a crystal dove carved
into the bottom. The sword was magical, Sami could tell, by the way it
hummed when she held it. At the tip of the sharp metal sword, which was
slightly smaller than Sakura and Syaoran's swords, was a piece of clear,
sharp crystal. "What's this?" Sami said curiously, and touched the
crystal. She gasped as she felt her energy drain away. She removed her
hand. "It's saves energy when you touch it. During battle, it also takes
your enemy's energy, and when you touch that dove at the bottom and then
touch the crystal, it gives you back all the saved energy." Sami hugged
her dad. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she squeled.

The next day, all Sami could think of were the tryouts. The day passed
quickly, and finally gym arrived. All girls trying out wore their
outfits, and everyone else wore the regular gym attire. Everybody
gathered in the gym. "Everyone who is not trying out is dismissed and may
play sports or anything else on the SPORTS GROUNDS. You got me? Okay,
dismissed." Ms. Kalina said. A whole bunch of people got up, half going
into the stands, others going towards the grass and blacktop. "All those
trying out, here's what we'll do. There will be different stations
throughout the gym. Each teacher stationed there will ask for your name
and then ask you to do some things. Go through each station in order, and
then from 8 to 1 if you started after 1. Alright, girls, here are your
stations..." Ms. Kalina said quickly and rattled off a list of girls for
each station.

Sakura sat on the couch, a neutral expression on her face she flipped
the page of her scrap book that Rosa, Terry, Corey, Brian, Fula, Rei,
Fil, Chang, Josh, Meilin, and Tomoyo had given to her as a 10th wedding
anniversary present. It was the first chance she had to look at it.
Sakura gasped in surprise and put her hand to her mouth, tears coming to
her eyes. There was a picture of her and Syaoran, standing outside in the
moonlight, on their prom night. Her prom night. Sakura fingered the
photo. 'I forgot what it was like, being young and so deeply in love.'
Sakura smiled sadly. 'Just the kind of thing Tomoyo would put in.' she
thought. She turned the page, where there was a picture of her and Corey.
They were in white and blue, their dove colors. Suddenly Sakura
remembered something.
She put away the scrapbook on her bookshelf, then stepped down the
basement with Kero, who was silent and serios at the same time for once,
and opened the closet, where all their fighting costumes and swords hung.
Sakura swung everything aside and opened a small hidden door. She took
out the dusty album, not bothering to brush it off. She opened it to the
last page, and sighed in relief, taking out a particular picture. It was
the picture all the doves and Fula and Fil took with the little magician.
She turned to the back. There, set into the picture, were the four tiny
crystals. "This jewel dove might not ever appear, you know, Sakura." Kero
said. Sakura shook her head. "It's prophesized. It will happen whether we
want it to or not." she said. They both looked at the back of the photo.
The magician had also written something:

'I have sealed the eight dove powers in four crystals each on these
pictures. Only the destined crystal dove shall release them all again. A
new dove, the crystal dove, will come and release each of the four
crystals of the doves. Each crystal, of fire, water, earth, or wind, will
wreak havoc in the town. Since the spirits inside are weather-related,
they only come out appropiately. However, the crystal's powers will be
sensed. They'll appear from dark to light...!'

the writing was so small, it was almost unreadable, but Sakura and Kero
knew exactly what it said. She looked at the photo and smiled. 'It's
great having all these friends all over the world... Tomoyo a fashion
designer in California and establishing a chain of stores wherever she
followed Corey... Corey, married to Tomoyo, surfing the waves in sunny
California... Meilin the principal at Readington... artist Rosa in
Paris... Terry, a model in China... Fil and Fula wildlife rangers in
Canada... Rei and Josh archaeologists in Africa... Bryan an astronomer in
China... Chang a plane engineer in Germany... a lot of culture!'
"You know, you are very lucky to have so many good friends throughout
the world, Sakura." Kero said, smiling proudly at the Card Mistress.
Suddenly they both heard Sami open the door. Sakura quickly put the album
on a high shelf in the closet since the tiny door wouldn't budge. Then
she ran upstairs, dragging Kero along by the tail. "Hey! That HURTS,
Sakura!" he shouted.

Sami stepped quietly down the basement stairs. Her parents were out
somewhere, and the house was quiet. "I guess I should put this photo
back... but I want to practice with my new sword first." she said softly
to herself. She reached into the closet for her sheath, and tried to pull
it, but then something fell on her head. "OW!" she cried, rubbing her
head. A dusty white photo album lay on the ground. Sami picked it up and
blew off the dust, rubbing off the extra.
There was a circle of doves, each a different color of the rainbow, but
including white and black and two rainbow doves in the upper corners.
There was a light picture colored into the background of each dove, and
three on the bottom and two sides. She didn't recognize most of the
people drawn, but Sami knew that underneath the white dove was her
mother. Also, the person on the left was Meilin, and the one on the right
was Tomoyo. The guy on the bottom was definitely her father. Sami turned
the page. Inside, a person had signed her name. "By Rosa Kamito," Sami
murmured. 'Hey, that's one of mom's friends!' she thought.
She flipped quickly through album. Almost all the pictures had Sakura in
them, but only some of them had her father. Sakura appeared with several
of the guys on the front. Finally she arrived at the last page, where
there was a picture of Sakura with everyone on the front cover. It was
almost identical to the picture in her pocket. Sami took it out, and also
took out the similar picture. She put them next to each other, and the
edges glowed. Sami gasped and let go of both of them. Both fluttered to
the ground. The one from the album was turned over, and there were four
jewels, one in each corner. Sami read the writing on it, slowly repeating
it.

'I have sealed the eight dove powers in four crystals each. Only the
destined crystal dove shall release them all again. A new dove, the
crystal dove, will come and release each of the four crystals of the
doves. Each crystal, of fire, water, earth, or wind, will wreak havoc in
the town. Since the spirits inside are weather-related, they only come
out appropiately. However, the crystal's powers will be sensed. They'll
appear from dark to light...!'

Suddenly a bright light blasted from the photo and up towards the sky,
without tearing apart the floor. Sami shrieked let go of the photo, and
jumped back from it. Something started coming out...