Chapter 4:
"The Invisible Card"

After Chimera had fled, Yue and Keroberus had to leave; they said that they the CardCaptors had to go on without them. Sakura and Syaoran resumed their journey to find the other Cards, on the way to fight the Shadow CardCaptors. On the way, the air got colder and the sky grew darker, until they couldn't see the mountain, which they had seen from afar.
"Light! Lead the way for us! Release and Dispel! Light!"
When they appeared, it got a little better so that they could see within a certain radius. After a short while later they descended to set up camp for the night. They found a cave in the mountainside that was dry and cozy and settled down.
The next day they headed out, walking for they decided to let their magic powers rest for a while in case of an emergency. While they were walking, uneasiness crept up Li's back, which caused his hair to stand up and made him shiver. He looked around and saw nothing, but now on guard, he asked Sakura to use the Twin Card and make duplicates of them, which he ordered to keep walking while they hid. A few moments later, they saw a huge monster jump out from behind a densely cover part of the forest. This creature ran on four legs, had a huge spiky mane (kind of like a lion) and long canine teeth, which were as sharp as daggers and dripped venom. Is pounced on the Twin Card, which disappeared and zipped back to Sakura. The beast seeing this turned in their direction and growled.
" Sword Card! Release and Dispel!"
The battle began. Soon they were tiring out while the beast was still as fresh as if the battle had just started. Sakura was knocked flying and Li ran over to help her up, but just he turned his back, the thing jumped at them again. It was too late; they couldn't get away fast enough! Then an incredible thing happened, a silver blur zipped out of nowhere from the sky and whizzed around the beast's head, distracting it. This gave Sakura time to use some magic.
"Teleport Card! Release and Dispel! Teleport all of us to a safe place nearby!"
They emerged in a clearing in the woods later with a blinding flash off light. When their eyes cleared, Sakura looked around for their savior, and gasped. There standing was a creature that had sapphire eyes and was colored in pure white and silver that it appeared to cast off a soft light. It was exactly like Keroberus, but only a cub and way cuter. Plus it had no armor on, except an earring, which was made out of sliver and had a peridot gemstone embedded in it. The beast opened its mouth and spoke.
" Hello, my name is Sammy, short for Samuelor. I'm the other guardian beast of the Clow Cards, though you've never heard about me because I'm located inside of the back cover, where you usually don't look. I just arrived today because I thought you guys might need some help," He said with a proud voice.
" Hello Sammy, welcome to the CardCaptor group." Said Syaoran amusingly.
" Sammy, are you by any chance related to Kero, since you're exactly like him?" Sakura asked curiously.
" Um, according to Clow Reed, Keroberus is actually my father." He said with a squeak.
" Come on! Let's not waste more precious time after the introductions are done. We've still got to find the other cards." Said Syaoran impatiently.
Sakura used the Fly Card and the CardCaptors were flying with big, soft, white wings sprouted from their backs in no time. Sammy had turned into a stuffed toy (half the size of Kero), and flew nearby. On they flew until they rested for dinner and the night at a village. After a good dinner, they went to the hot springs for a bath, Sakura in one side and Li in the other, having a good time. Sakura closed her eyes and relaxed in the water, floating, and didn't realize that someone, or rather something was walking towards her in the water. Li on the other hand sensed that something was wrong (as usual) and peeked over the wall separating them; he saw swirls and ripples that disturbed the calm waters, which were heading towards Sakura. Suddenly something that Syaoran couldn't see dragged Sakura under water, Li jumped over the wall but she already went under. He dove and found that the spring bottom was deeper than it should be, he saw Sakura fighting something, which held her fast around her waist and arms. He couldn't see the thing that attacked Sakura, so he took hold of Sakura's arms and tried to desperately drag her back to the surface. Then the thing appeared. It was a Card! The Card had the form of a girl with the color of shimmering opaque, she grinned evilly at Syaoran and tried to drag Sakura even further down. Syaoran used the only weapon that he could use to get the Card to let go of Sakura, biting. He bit the Card's arm and an unearthly shriek fill the water surrounding them. Sakura sank even further to the bottom. < Oh No! SAKURA!!!! > Li thought as he caught hold of the Card Mistress and pulled her to the surface. She was very pale and had a bluish tinge to her skin. < NO!!!!! Don't leave me now! Not when I finally realize how much you mean to me¡K. > He sobbed, as he applied CPR to her, a minute later she gagged and choked up a lungful of water, and trying to draw in air into her former waterlogged lungs. Li sat her up and rubbed her back, reassuring her that everything's going to be all right, and to take deep slow breaths. Sakura turned up her face, and Li's breath caught. Even in her bedraggled state, she was beautiful enough to make him forget everything else, including what state they were in. It was Sakura who first realized that they were both in a very, very, embarrassed situation. She shrieked and batted Li's hands away, but he wasn't s fast enough and earned a slap in the face, and fled. < Gosh! I saved her life and what do I get for a reward, a slap in the face? If it were the other way around, then I would have done the same thing. But she would have some brains to cover up a drowning naked lady. Sigh. >
After things at the spring calmed down, Syaoran visited Sakura's room, looking to see if she was Ok, after almost drowning.
"Sakura? Are you in there?"
"Go away!"
"Please, I just want to talk to you."
There was no answer so he assumed that the answer was yes. He entered and found Sakura curled up into a ball in the middle of the bed.
"You have 1 minute to talk so start spitting!"
"Sakura, about today I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to do that, I¡KI¡K was too worried about you to notice anything else."
For a while, there was a long silent moment, then Sakura turned around to look at him, her eyes were damp from tears, which had occurred before Li came. Her eyes were huge and wide with disbelief and uncertainty.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I¡KI was worried that you were going to leave me before¡K"
His sentence stopped there before he fled. < Before what? > Sakura wondered before she drifted off to sleep. In his own room, sleep was another totally different matter for Syaoran, < Yeah, I¡KI was worried that you had left me before¡KI told you that you mean a lot to me, that I¡KI love you > His eyes widened with shock in the dark after the words had popped in his mind, that in his heart, he really loved her. He fell asleep later with a heart brimming to its capacity of love for the girl of his heart.
The next day they scored the whole village to find the Invisible Card, as Sammy had called it. They finally found it huddling in an alley, shivering with cold, it looked up at them with sad and defeated eyes. Sakura walked over and helped the young Card up and led it back to their hotel. Sakura took care of the Card, and captured it when the Card had second thoughts about the Card Mistress and Master.
"NO! NO! NO!" Chimera shrieked (like a banshee) as the CardCaptors had captured yet another one of the missing Cards. While they, the "famous" Shadow CardCaptors haven't even succeed in stealing one of their Cards.
"What's gotten you to scream and run around like a no-head chicken?" drawled a voice nearby. She looked up and saw Hades, giving him a glare.
"Well if it isn't Mister Cool. I was screaming about the CardCaptors."
"Now what have the children got into trouble this time?" He said with a fatherly voice, but with a sneer and face so full of hatred that it appeared black if you saw it in another P.O.V. Chimera herself shivered at the look on Hades' face, and was thankful that she wasn't on of the CardCaptors.
"Well, they've gotten another Card while you SIT in a tree!"
"Hey! I'm not the one fuming about that matter, if you're so worried about it why don't you go net us some Cards?" he said with a smirk
"Fine! I'll prove to you that I'm not as lazy as someone."
"Go ahead, let's see how good you really are." He murmured.