Chapter 4: The Waterfall and the Beach

*Sakura* looked through the clouds up where Clow Reed lived, and where
Yue sometimes went, and saw the future Sakura being taken away from
Madison's house through a window. Matt and another girl had thrown in
magic sleep powder just before Sakura had been able to wake Madison, and
everyone had fallen asleep, which made it easy for Matt and the girl in
pink to capture and kidnap Sakura. *Sakura* turned around and shouted for
Yue. "YUE!" *Sakura* yelled. He appeared. "What is it, Sakura?" "Let me
help the future Sakura escape her kidnappers!"*Sakura* pleaded. Yue
thought for a moment, then said. "Alright, but after they leave." "No! It
has to be at the right time. Let me choose." "No, after they leave. It is
safer for you to use your powers when the Evil Magician and Cherry, his
accomplice, leave." "Oh alright. But I'll go down there right now." Yue
grabbed *Sakura*'s arm. "Not yet, little one. WAIT." *Sakura* grumbled,
but she obeyed Yue.

The real Sakura was about to release the White Dove's powers, but Matt
stopped her by placing two fingers on her lips, quieting her. "No magic
this time, Sakura." And then Matt touched his lips to hers, draining
Sakura of all her energy, even though Sakura tried her hardest to resist
him. Soon she lost all of her energy and she fainted, but the White
Dove's powers stayed inside her. "Darn It!" Cherry yelled, frustrated.
"Little Sister, we'll come back later to drain her of more energy. In
fact, we can use her as our energy source. That magic sleep powder
worked, didn't it? Our Evil Sleep Card makes wonderful potions. Too bad
it can't just fly in there like the regular sleep card." Matt said,
smiling evilly. The two left, and *Sakura* appeared. She gently shook
Sakura. "Sakura!" she whispered frantically. No answer. *Sakura* felt
Sakura's forehead. 'She's out cold.' *Sakura* thought worriedly. *Sakura*
put her left hand on her White Dove symbol and her other hand on the
future Sakura's symbol. *Sakura* stopped and cut the ropes that bound
Sakura, and took her to a secluded spot behind the waterfall, using the
Water card to make a shield so that Sakura wouldn't get wet. *Sakura*
looked lovingly at the little girl. "I miss being me sometimes." she said
quietly aloud. Soon Sakura woke up. She looked at the older girl.
"Forever Card? What are you doing here?" *Sakura* smiled joyously, glad
that the younger girl was okay and awake. "I cut your ropes and brought
you behind this waterfall. But you have to get to school, and if we get
moving, you can still get there before class starts."
Sakura had a downcast look. "But I don't even know where I am! How am I
supposed to get there?" *Sakura* laughed. "Eat this food, quick quick. I
know how." *Sakura* touched her necklace three times, and the Fly, Dash,
and Vanish cards appeared in her hand. Then she took out her wand. "Fly!
Dash! Vanish cards! Release and dispel!" The three cards disappeared and
Fly appeared as wings on *Sakura*'s back, dash went into *Sakura*, and
Vanish went into the future Sakura. Sakura suddenly appeared ghostlike as
she finished off the last of her donut. "That was good! Hey, I look like
a ghost now!" *Sakura* smiled. "No one will be able to see you." "What
about you?" "I'm already invisible. They couldn't see me if they wanted
to. Now come on. Call Fly out. " Sakura called Fly out too. "Fly Card!
Release and dispel! Fly!" At *Sakura*'s command, fly appeared as wings on
Sakura's back. "Whoa! Aren't the wings supposed to be on my wand?" "Well,
I told it to go on your back, but we still have to move! Hold onto my
hand and don't let go!" *Sakura* held onto Sakura's hand and she shot
into the air in the direction of the school. Sakura held onto the older
girl's hand tightly. "Look at the ground! People look like ants from up
here!" Sakura cried. "Yeah. I know the feeling." Soon they were in the
school yard, but *Sakura* called back the Dash card and flew them in a
tree. "Why in a tree?" Sakura asked. "If you suddenly appeared from
nowhere, someone who saw you would be really surprised." "Oh yeah."
The future Sakura called back fly, and the past Sakura called back the
two of her cards. Then she called on jump. "Why did you call jump?"
Sakura whispered. "As I recall, I was not that great at climbing trees,
which means you aren't either. I'm still not great at climbing trees, so
if I jump down, I'll still break my leg. I'll help you down from behind."
Sakura snapped her fingers twice, and suddenly Sakura had on her school
uniform and the past Sakura was holding Sakura's other clothes, neat and
folded. "I'll take these and put it on your bed." So Sakura climbed down,
with *Sakura*'s help. "If you ever need my help, Sakura, just tap your
necklace twice and say 'Forever'" Then the Forever Card flew away. 'Thank
you.' the future sakura thought. Then she retrieved her bookbag from the
bush where *Sakura* said it would be and ran into the school and then
slowed down and walked into the classroom.

Syaoran was standing by the window when he felt something. Meilin was
next to him and noticed his expression. "A Clow Card?" she asked him
quietly. "Feels like it..." he said, in deep thought. Minutes later, he
was still thinking, until Madison cried, "Sakura!" Syaoran turned around
quickly. Madison and Meilin were talking with Sakura as she came to the
back of the classroom, and then all of their friends and Syaoran and his
friends crowded around her and they whispered in excitement. "Where were
you?" "We couldn't find you." "I thought you were kidnapped." and so
on... so on..., until Sakura said "I'll tell you guys later, but right
now, everyone will get suspicious. Anyway..." Sakura had a mischevious
look in her eyes. "According to several resources last night, I noticed
that some of you wanted to go to the beach party. But the guy has to ask
the girl first. Corey & Madison, Chang & Rita, Rei & Chelsea, and Fil &
Nikki. Now please ask!" Then Sakura, Meilin, Syaoran, Lily, Bryan, Fula,
Terry, Rosa, and Josh walked slowly away from the other group of people
where the girls were blushing and the guys asked the girls to the beach
party. Sakura let out a small cry of happiness. "Now we can have pairs of
people. Except for you guys, I mean." Bryan smiled. "I would gladly take
Meilin to the party as a friend." "Ooh, does big brother have a crush?"
Terry said in a playful voice. Josh spoke up. "I'll take Terry along and
watch her." "And I'll take Rosa and Lily so they won't be lonely." Josh
said. "Perfect!" Sakura said, and they all sat down when Mr. Terada came
in.

during gym class...

Mr. Terada held his head for the tenth time. "Do any of you know how to
fly a LITTLE of the horse??" he asked all the kids. About twenty kids
were on the 'finish' side, including all of Syaoran's friends, Syaoran,
and Meilin. The only ones left were Lily and Sakura. Syaoran had
accidentally (for once) been distracted by Shawna, who had said "You
rule, Li-kun!" really loudly right before he got onto the horse and
Syaoran tripped over it and fell flat on his face. Meilin, who was
usually very good at gymnastics, was disturbed when Shawna, who didn't
like Meilin that much, had said (quite loudly) "I bet Meilin's never
going to make it off the horse. She's sooo bad at gymnastics." It usually
wouldn't get to Meilin, but after the incident when Sakura disappeared,
she was really tired. Shawna, however, had gone first and she had made
it. Maybe Shawna had flown only a little and then landed on her bottom,
but that was good enough for Mr. Terada. "I hope you two make it off the
horse. I'm really at the end of my rope." he said, rubbing his forehead.
"Lily, you go first." he said, sighing. Lily ran towards the horse, and
leapt onto it, but when she landed, she had too much weight towards the
back, and she fell down. Everyone groaned. "Nice try, Lily. At least you
flew off nicely." Lily pouted and stood next to Syaoran.
"Sakura, I know you can do this one. If you like, you can do just the
flying one, and then do a second one after that, adding a flip." Sakura
groaned a little, but inside, she wanted to prove to Syaoran that she
tried hard at everything. 'Okay, remember, Sakura. One step, two step,
jump, push, fly!' Sakura thought to herself. She ran nimbly to the horse,
jumped jumped the perfect distance away, sailed throught the air, and
landed. "Nice job, Sakura! Now class, did you see how she bent her knees
yada-yada-yada, etc..." Mr. Terada said, going on and on about the form
of body. Most of the girls cheered. "Okay, ready for your second one,
Sakura?" "Yeah." Sakura did the same thing, except this time she added a
flip. Sakura sailed throught the air and landed just a bit too forward,
but she went up on her tiptoes and then she landed perfect. "Great job,
Sakura. Okay, class, you can go now." 'Show-off Sakura.' Lily thought.
'I'll teach her a lesson.'
Everyone picked up their backpacks and trickled out, one by one.
"Sakura?" the chearleading coach said. "We're having practice today. You
have your beach party clothes, right?" "Uhhh...." "I'll get them for you,
Sakura." Madison said. "Thanks, Madison. I'll meet you at the beach,
alright?" "Okay. See you!" Sakura practiced with the team in their
uniform, and then she waited for Madison at the beach. Some people were
already there, but there was pretty much no one there. Sakura sat on a
bench and did some of her homework while waiting for Madison. "Hey
Sakura!"
Sakura looked up, startled. "Oh, hey Lily!" she called out to the short
girl. "Don't 'hey' me!" Lily said hotly. Lily was in a very tight tank
top that stopped three inches above her waist, and it was obvious that
she had her bikini on, because Sakura could see the extra pink strings on
Lily's shoulders. Her shorts were low slung and Sakura could see the band
of the bikini bottom. Lily's hair was done up in a bun and her long bangs
hung down next to her face. There was a lily flower to the right side of
the bun in her hair. The only thing that didn't fit with the outfit were
the soccer cleats. "Nice outfit." "Shut up!" Lily shouted back at Sakura.
Sakura pulled slightly back, her eyes wide in surprise at Lily's
outburst. "I know what you're trying to do, Sakura. Well, stop flirting
with Syaoran! Syaoran likes me! You act all innocent all the time, trying
to get him to notic you. Well, I know you're not! Stop chasing Syaoran
around! Syaoran is mine!" Then Lily kicked Sakura on the shin. It
wouldn't have hurt so much, except that Lily had on cleats. The cleats
made three deep, painful gashes across sakura's right shin. Sakura only
winced at pain, still in surprise from Lily's outburst. "That should
teach you a lesson! Now stop showing off and stay away from Syaoran!"
Lily said angrily. Then she stalked off.
Sakura saw that the gashes had some dirt in them. 'Darn it! Lily must
have played soccer just now or something.' Sakura took out a bottle of
water from her backpack and set it down on her book. Then she took off
her shoes and socks, placing the socks carefully in the shoes. Sakura
cleaned out her wounds. 'It hurts. Ow. If I don't want this to happen
again-' Sakura thought, '-then I'll have to stay away from Syaoran. Not
tonight. Tonight is our night together.' A tear trickled down her cheek.
Then she saw Madison and put her books away, placing her shoes carefully
in a bag. Sakura wiped away her tear, then stood up and waved to Madison,
smiling.

Madison looked out at the ocean. 'I wonder what made those scratches on
Sakura's leg.' Sakura didn't say anything about the scratches, and when
Madison saw them Sakura had refused to talk about it. Madison sighed.
"You can't fool me, Sakura. I know you were crying about something. I
hope she's okay." Madison said quietly outloud to herself.

Sakura cringed. Her leg had just hit something, and it hurt really bad.
She put on her tank top and Meilin's miniskirt, and folded the swimsuit
and put it inside Madison's beach bag. 'If these scratches hurt this
much, then I can't go swimming.' Sakura put on her sandals and left the
changing rooms. The sandals were kind of like platform shoes, except they
were sandals with no strap and covered her whole foot, except for a star
in the middle and the toes. Sakura saw everyone: Meilin, Madison,
Chelsea, Rita, Nikki, Lily, Fil, Rosa, Terry, Josh, Rei, Bryan, Chang,
Fula, and Corey. She waved and ran all the way across the beach, trying
not to limp as she went.

When Madison told the others about Sakura's scratches, everyone wanted
to help her.

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"Sakura can't just sit here all night!" Rosa cried unhappily. "She
wouldn't tell you how the scratches got on her leg?" Meilin asked
Madison, suspicious. "Nope." "We still have to help her!" Corey said.
"Hey, let's do shifts!" Terry said, jumping all over everybody, first on
Syaoran's head, then on Meilin's shoulders, and then on Rei's back. "What
do you mean?" Fil asked her. "I mean, when there's the first song, then
for example, Rita and Chelsea can help Sakura, then for the next song,
Bryan and Corey, and for the next song, so on and on and on!" Terry cried
in excitement. "Great idea!" Chelsea said. "Bryan and I will go first."
Corey volunteered. Everyone made their shifts, and then they saw Sakura
coming. "Hey Sakura!" everyone said. 'Gosh, why does everyone like
Sakura?' Lily wondered, very mad.

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~*~*~*

Sakura was dancing with Bryan and Corey. Sakura held onto Bryan's right
shoulder and Corey's left shoulder, so Sakura stayed off of her right
leg. All night it went that way, Sakura and whoever helping her laughing
and giggling until the last song (around eight, i guess) that was a
supposed to be a slow and romantic one. Lots of kids had gone to the
beach party that night, and there were many many refreshments and food.
The barbecue smell drifted across the beach, and when anyone was hungry
they went for some chicken. It had been kind of loud, but when the slow
song almost came, everyone quieted down and picked partners. Madison and
Meilin were supposed to help Sakura, but Sakura refused. "It's your night
too, you guys! Don't let me keep you. Madison, go dance with Corey! And
Meilin, you can dance with whoever you want." Meilin danced with Lily,
much to Lily's disappointment, Rosa danced with Terry, and Bryan and Josh
sat it out. Sakura sat down on the blanket that she, Madison, and Meilin
were sharing after everyone had mingled into the crowd. The song still
hadn't started yet because there was something wrong with the CD player.
Sakura sighed. 'Tonight was supposed to be fun! I didn't even get to
dance with Syaoran because of these stupid scratches. And I can't believe
it still hurts!' Sakura thought ruefully. Although her leg didn't hurt as
much, whenever she walked on it, Sakura's right leg hurt. It was a dull,
constant pain now. A silent tear trickled down her cheek. "Do you want to
dance?" someone asked Sakura. She looked up, hastily wiping away her
single tear, and stared into a pair of amber eyes. "Sure, Syaoran."
Sakura got up, and Syaoran led her near the water.
"I'm sorry I can't dance too good because of my leg." Sakura mumbled
unhappily. "I really wanted to dance with you the whole night, even
thought it was fun trying to dance with all my friends." Sakura blushed
when she realized what she said. "That's alright. Dancing with you only
once is fine." Syaoran said gently. Suddenly, the song started. Sakura
sighed and breathed in the ocean smell. "I like this song." Sakura said
to herself, closing her eyes, realizing that she was really tired and her
leg had a constant pain. "I like this song, too. Here. Lean closer to me
so your leg doesn't hurt that much." Syaoran said, pulling Sakura closer
to him. Sakura resisted a little at first, but she finally put her arms
around Syaoran's neck and hugged him closer to her. She put her head to
his chest and felt his heart beating. Sakura's own heart was beating
miles per minute. 'After all, this will probably be the last night I'll
get to see him. After what I say to him, he'll probably hate me forever.'
The two swayed back and forth, until the song stopped. "Here, Sakura,
come with me."

Syaoran slow-danced with Sakura. He could feel all the curves in her
body, but he couldn't stop thinking about how she had gotten hurt. 'I
know the scratches are from soccer cleats. I wonder who made them? Of
course I'm not going to ask her. I don't want to ruin this moment.' When
the song ended, Syaoran led Sakura to a secluded spot on the beach, where
you could see the stars perfectly. Syaoran already told Meilin about his
plan and she promised that she would watch Lily to make sure she didn't
mess things up between Syaoran and Sakura. Syaoran sat her down next to
the water, careful to stay clear of the waves, and then he sat down next
to her. "Tomorrow, let's go to the secret beach, and I'll help you change
the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards." Sakura nodded, then shivered. "It's
cold out here." she said. Syaoran put his arm around her waist, and
Sakura curled her legs up next to her. Then Sakura looked up. "Oh, look,
I see Venus! And that's probably Saturn." Sakura's emerald eyes sparkled.
"That one! The star is so bright! What is it called?" "That's the North
Star. It is always the brightest star in the sky, and it never moves."
Sakura and Syaoran didn't move for awhile, until he knew it was time to
go. "Here Sakura, go back to the others. I'll be there soon." "Are you
sure, Syaoran?" "Yeah, go ahead!" Sakura left, her mind on other things.
Sakura's leg didn't hurt as much now that she didn't think about it.
Syaoran waited until she was out of sight, and then took out a small
charm. It was in the shape of a star in a circle. There was a small
groove where Syaoran could speak into it and no one except for the
forever card could hear it. "Thank you." he whispered into it, and
beautiful music played out from it. "Thank you, Sakura-chan, for making
this a night to remember for me." The forever card heard the words
spoken, and she smiled. She whispered into her charm. "Anything, Li-kun."
Syaoran heard this, smiled, and walked back to the others.