Shukuen was quite fortunate. He managed to emerge from the dizzying rush of speed...in bed.
The room he'd found himself in was not particularly ornate. Simple yellow walls, a bookcase, a TV and VCR and video game system were on the floors...as well as a desk, and the bed he was sprawled out on. The floors were hardwood, and there was a rug laid out next to the bed as well. He was under the covers of the bed, wearing a loose pink pair of pajamas with a white collar. Nearby, an orange teddy bear with wings and a long, lionesque tail lay on the pillow...
Shukuen sighed, again staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. Turning over carefully, and sparing a moment to enjoy the soft down mattress, he glanced at the walls and furniture decorating the room.
Simple and tasteful. At least it's better then staring at the infinite cosmos...
A familiar, lionlike plush passed Shukuen's vision, forcing all his thoughts thoughts to pause in shock.
"...kero-chan...?" Shukuen twitched, also noticing the light brown hair hanging before her eyes. Whimpering, she managed to maintain enough sense to pull her blankets over her head before anyone came in and notice Sakura's uncharacteristic glare.
Chaos will pay for this indignity... she thought darkly, hoping with all her might that this was only a dream.
Sakura could feel movement, ever so slight, on the pillow behind her. Suddenly, the movement stopped, and she felt the blanket being tugged off of her head.
The little lion-like plushie floated down to her eye level, smiling cheerfully. "Mornin', Sakura! You're up early."
Shukuen gulped internally, though tried to smile back at her miniature guardian. "Morning, Kero-chan."
She made sat up slowly, stretching before she adorned a confused expression. "Hoe, what day was it again?" she asked, searching for a calendar as well as surveying the room in greater detail.
Kero blinked. "Saturday." he supplied, eyeing Sakura. "You okay? Something seems...off..."
Sakura didn't note anything significant on closre scrutiny, save for a picture of a bird hung on one of the walls, above the desk, otherwise, the room was clean...
"Eh hehehe... what gives you that idea?" Shukuen laughed nervously, sweatdropping.
"Dunno." Keroberos replied, watching Sakura closely. "There's something different about your magic power today...Doesn't seem to be bad, though...just different..."
Finally, from the corner of her eye, Sakura spied a calendar over on the desk...
"Well... you could say I had a unique dream," Shukuen smiled as she slipped out of bed and checked the calendar on her desk.
Keroberos flew over and alighted on her head. "What kind of a dream?"
The calendar hat a small note on it about meeting Tomoyo in the park today, at noon.
"Something... bad is going to happen," Shukuen said enigmatically, heading to the closet to grab a change of clothing. She paused for a moment as a thought suddenly struck her.
Where is the closet? she hesitated, checking to see how many doors were in the room. Heck... where's the furo for that matter?
Fortunately, the closet was obvious, being the sliding door on the far wall, right near the desk. The other door was a normal, 'swing open' kind, and it was on the perpendicular wall.
"Bad? Like what? What was your dream about?" the little winged lion insisted.
"I'm not sure if you would believe me if I told you, Kero-chan."
Shukuen went to the closet to grab some new clothes before starting her search for the elusive bathroom
The little plushie folded his limbs stubbornly, floating alongside Sakura. "Try me."
Sakura opened the closet and found a fairly wide variety of clothing, from the usual expected of a little girl, to durable sports clothing, Almost all of it brightly colored in cheerful tones.
"What do you think of this?" Shukuen asked as she grabbed a pink, three layer skirt (the top layer was a glossy fabric that ended in frills, while the bottom two were fluffy silk). The top was simple, resembling a tee-shirt with a two-stripped collar. She held it up to Keroberus, waiting for his opinion.
"And I'll tell you later," she glanced around, as if on the look out for eavesdroppers. "In private."
Keroberos scratched his head with his paw. "Ain't that a little...I dunno...nice for goin' down to the park, Sakura?" he asked, puzzled. "Why you askin' me, anyhow? Hey, waitasec...we ARE in private!"
"I guess you're right." Shukuen pouted cutely, grabbing a familiar sweater and bloomer, which happened to be the outfit she wore during Mirror's first appearance.
"How about this?" she asked, purposely ignoring Keroberus's outburst. Mainly because it distracted her from realizing how she was slipping into character.
"How should I know?" Keroberos points out reasonably. "I don't wear clothes. And you didn't answer my question...Since when do you ask my opinion about your clothes, anyhow?"
Shukuen sighed, looking at Keroberus and trying to keep a neutral face. "Well, if you keep insisting on finding out."
She sat down on the bed, gazing up at the disguised guardian. "But I want you to promise not to overreact to what I'm going to say."
Keroberos sat down on the corner of the desk, tilting his head curiously. "Why would I overreact?"
"Well, it's sort of like this..." Shukuen sighed, the began reciting the events that lead up to her awakening in this world, and pausing when Keroberus had any questions.
The little plushie waved his limbs, boggling. "Wait, wait...you're NOT Sakura?" he demanded, flying up close, and subjecting Sakura to intense scrutiny.
"Nope, sorry." Shukuen blinked at the plushie floating before her face.
Keroberos floated around her, frowning. "I dunno...you look like her...you even sorta feel like her...only different. I can tell you're even a card captor. So if you're not her, who are ya?"
"Well, from where I'm from, I guess you could say I'm a fan of your series." Shukuen frowned slightly, crossing her arms in a huff as she glanced away.
"Honestly, I don't see what's wrong with liking a cute series," she grumbled to herself, though was loud enough for Keroberus to hear.
Keroberos scowled, though his plushie-like face diminished the impact. " 'Cute'? Weird..." He eyed Sakura closely. "Never woulda guessed if you hadn't told me. But where's Sakura?" he asked, frowning.
Shukuen twitched upon hearing Keroberus's respond to his ravings, and decided it be better to stop thinking about those things.
"I'm not really all that sure." Shukuen blinked, "I don't think Order-sama got around to explaining that part, but if I had to guess, she's resting somewhere offplane under Order-sama's protection."
Kero nodded, folding his limbs. "Mm. Alright! So what's this thing she wants you to fight?" he asked, scrunching up his face, attempting to look thoughtful. However, the result was vaguely reminicient of constipation...
"I told you, she never got a chance to tell us," Shukuen smiled, biting back a laugh. "Chaos interuptted us, and I woke up here."
"A~nyway, I better get ready before 'oniichan' and 'otousan' get worried." She held up her outfits again. "So which outfit should I take?"
Keroberos shrugged. "That one's fine..." he shrugged. "You sure you aren't Sakura?" he questioned, scratching his head curiously.
"Yep." Shukuen beamed, placing the indicated outfit neatly on the bed and replacing the other back into the closet. Pausing again, she looked sheepishly at Keroberus.
"Where does Sakura keep her toothbrush...?"
Kero sweatdropped, and pointed to the door of the bedroom. "In the bathroom, with her father and brothers..." he flew over and alighted on her head.
"Well, you don't seem too bad...I guess I can help you out to get Sakura back faster..."
"Thanks... I think." Shukuen walked out of the room and glanced around for a sign of the bathroom.
There was a short hallway past the door. One end was open, and led to steps, and the other was a dead end. There was a door on the same wall as Sakura's door, and there were two on the opposite wall. One was open, and lead to an 'adult' looking bedroom. The other door was shut tight...
Biting her lip, she glanced up at Keroberus for confirmation on which direction.
Keroberos blinked, looking down. "What-oh." he laughed a little, scratching behind his ear. "The closed door." he instructed, alighting on Sakura's head and going limp, mimicking a stuffed animal.
Shukuen wented to the directed door, checking to see if there was any indication of it being occupied.
Sakura found the door to the bathroom locked, and as she tried the knob, a gruff voice from inside called. "Occupied!"
"Tell me when you're done then," Shukuen called back, then went back to her room. She closed the door, the plopped down on the bed.
"Can you fill me in on what's been happening lately?" She asked Keroberus, intent on finding out what she was getting into.
"Huh?" Kero asked, grabbing at her hair and sliding into view, upside down. "Whaddya mean?"
"I mean what happened so far?" Shukuen repeated, trying to clarify. "I want to know what happened before I got here."
Kero frowned. "Be more specific. Sakura's been a Carcaptor for awhile...I don't know what you mean...uh, Sakura." the little plushie replied, a puzzled look on his face.
"Well... has Yue awaken yet?" Shukuen asked.
"Yeah....Hey! How do you know about Yue?" Kero demanded.
From the hall, the gruff voice called into Sakura's room. "I'm done, Sakura." Heavy footfalls away from the room sounded before she could respond...
Shukuen sighed, then headed to the bathroom. "Come on, we'll talk while I'm getting cleaned up."
Kero nodded, then used Sakura's hair to clamber back on top of her head, and waited for her to make her way to the bathroom...
Shukuen made her way back to the bathroom and entered. She closed the door behind her, locking it, then glanced around the bathroom, studying the layout of the room.
The Room was laid out, western-style, in a 'C' Shape, the door opening to face a wall, which turned out to be the closed off bath area, filling in the body of the 'c'.
Along body of the C, opposite the bath/shower doors, a pair of sinks and a counter were flush with the far wall, while the toilet sat against the wall at the top of the c-shape.
Shukuen began her morning rituals with the traditional act of brushing her teeth.
"So what did you want to know again?" she asked, pausing long enough to speak.
Kero fluttered directly into Sakura's field of vision. "If you're not Sakura, how'd you know about Yue?" he demanded.
"Well, let's just say that people in my world have a way to see the events of your world." Shukuen shrugged and resume brushing until Keroberus asked the next question.
Kero blinked. "Everything? Even Sakura picking her nose when she thinks no one's watching?" the little plushie managed to do a very convincing 'disturbed; expression...
"Err... I never said we saw everything..." Shukuen sweatdropped, "We believe in privacy after all..."
"...though some of us more then others," she shuddered, beating back idle thoughts on whether certain doujin or omake had some reality in this universe. She gargled some mouthwash and spat the resulting foam out.
She glanced around, searching for a wash cloth. "Where do you keep the towels and stuff?"
Kero shrugged. "Over there." He pointed to a largish closet, set into the wall beside the door.
Shukuen went over and opened the closet, peering inside.
Sakura found the items she needed, then proceeded with the urgent business of cleaning herself up to face the day. After a short, highly embarrassing crash course in pre-pubesent female body maintenance, she finished her time in the bathroom. Keroberos was in the corner, his head buried in a towel, chanting, "I didn't need to KNOWWWW that..."
"You think I'm happy about this...?" Shukuen twitched, wrapping a towel around herself after she finished drying.
"Anyway, where were we?" She paused in thought before remembering. "Oh, right, so has Sakura mentioned any weird dreams? Or have any weird things happened lately? Are you and Yue still running of Clow's magic?"
"No..." Keroberos gave Sakura a puzzled look. "Who's magic SHOULD we be using?"
"So Sakura already converted the Clow Cards to match her innate magic..." Shukuen pondered out loud, not hearing Keroberus's question.
"I guess the question now is how many she already converted..." Lost in thought, she made her way back to Sakura's room to get dressed.
Keroberos stared after the retreating girl, then bolted after her, his tiny wings buzzing like a hyperactive hummingbird's.
"Wait, what?" He demanded. "Innate magic? Who? Sakura?"
Shukuen blinked at Keroberus's questions. "Hoe? You don't... know... oh dear..."
"Uhm... sorry, I have a habit of thinking ahead..." She laughed nervously, hurrying to Sakura's room.
Keroberos growled in frustration, and dove after Sakura. "Hey, wait! What're you talking about??"
"Can it wait for me to get dressed?" Shukuen asked, hitting Keroberos with a 'Cuteness Aura Attack' as she entered Sakura's room and closed the door behind Keroberos.
"Why can't you talk while you get dressed?" The little plushie insisted as he flew in through the door, hovering, the thoughtful/constipated look on his face again.
"Because." Shukuen responded simply, getting dress as quickly as she could.
Smooth... how am I going to get out of this mess?
Kero waited impatiently, watching Sakura dress. When she'd finally finished assembling her outfit, he flew in front of her face, hovering. "Well?"
"Hai~?" Shukeun blinked innocently, "Oh! I almost forgot!"
She dashed to the desk and opened the top drawer where she remembered Sakura use to hide the Clow Deck in. "Can't leave without them now, can I?"
Sakura found the cards, as expected, but her view was interrupted by Keroberos floating down to her, nose to nose with the young girl.
"Answer me!" he exclaimed in frustration. "What did you mean?"
"...fine," Shukuen sighed tiredly as she backed towards the bed and took a seat. "Remember when I said that in my world, we know a lot of things about your world..."
"Well, the thing is, that sort of includes a limited glance into a possible future..."
"You know the future?" Keroberos blinked, slightly stunned. "Like...we're going to be transformed, somehow?"
"Eh?" Shukuen blinked, confused. "How did you get that idea?"
"Uhm, nevermind, it probably isn't important. And no, you don't transform."
Technically... she added silently.
"You're not telling me something important." Keroberos accused, frowning.
"You're probably right," Shukuen shrugged, going to grab the Cards and Key.
Keroberos sighed and shrugged, and flitted over to Sakura's backpack and sat on it, waiting for her to get ready...
Shukuen searched Sakura's desk, looking for items that might be of use or might provide more information. Specifically, a diary, planner, address book, phone, or other things that might clue her in to what's been happening lately.
Unfortuately, Sakura's desk seemed to be void of anything truly useful, save for the calendar she found earlier. The rest of the contest of the drawers contained schoolwork, and the occaisional doodle, or bundle of writing supplies.
Shukuen blinked, confused at the lack of a phone. "Could have sworn Tomoyo gave Sakura and Syaoran a phone..." she said, sighing as she opened the drawer where she saw the cards earlier, hoping that the key was also there.
"It's in here." Keroberos answered the unspoken question, pointing at the backpack he was sitting on. "Sakura doesn't need it at home, so she leaves it her bag so she'll have it with her whan she goes out." the tiny lion explained.
"Oh, thank you," Shukuen said, somewhat embarrassed. "What else is in there?" he asked curiously.
"Dunno. I never go into the big part." Kero replied with a shrug.
Shukuen decided to check the pack to see what supplies Sakura had packed.
The large part of the backpack was entirely filled by Sakura's rollerblades, along with a simple t-shirt and shorts, for a change of clothes.
She also kept a notebook there, but all the pages appeared to be blank...
Shukuen rummaged through the pack, confusion evident on her features.
"Where does Sakura keep the Clow Key?" she asked Keroberus, wondering if she might have missed it in the desk.
Kero sweatdropped, pointing at the little string around Sakura's neck that dipped under her clothes. "You're wearing it..."
"..."
Shukuen face cracked like a stone, before slowly tipped over in shock. "...okay, uhm, I'll just get the cards then..." she said, sweatdropping and going to the desk to grab the Clow Cards.
The Clow cards were right where she'd left them, in the top, right drawer of the desk, near the back.
Shukuen took the cards out of the book, gave them a quick shuffle and placed them in her pocket.
"Shall we get going now?" She asked Kero, grabbing her pack.
"Un!" the tiny plushie exclaimed, clambering into a pocket in the backpack. "Let's go!"
Shukuen headed down the stairs to greet the rest of the family.
Sakura's arrival at the base of the stairs was greeted by a warm greeting from her father, and more subdued, grumpy one from her brother. The two men were already at the table, beginning a large breakfast of pancakes, while a small share had been set aside for Sakura, rapidly cooling on a plate in front of an empty chair...
"Ohayo," Shukuen greeted back with slightly forced cheer as she took her seat.
She took a quick glance around the room, cataloguing the location of furniture and doorways.
The furniture was identical to the layout in the anime, the small U-shaped counters of the kitchen immediately adjacent to the open area of the dining room.
The dining area consisted of a table and four chairs, with a window behind the far seat, and a bulliten board behind the near one as Sakura entered the room...
Shukuen memorized the location of the room's layout before taking her seat, glancing at Sakura's family to take her cue whether to begin eating.
Touya was busy wolfing down his breakfast, pausing to glance at Sakura as he ate. "Oi, what're you looking at? Your breakfast is gonna get cold."
Sakura's father didn't seem to be prepared to join them, simply standing in the kitchen, nursing a mug of coffee, while wearing an apron with 'Kiss the Cook' emblazoned across the front, hinting that he had been the one to prepare breakfast.
"Uhm, nothing." Shukuen said, and with a quick cry of 'itadekimasu', began eating.
In short order, both Children had finished breakfast. Sakura's father began collecting the dishes, and Touya stood up, leaving the room. "Going to my part time job now." He announced as he slipped out.
"Thank you, tou-san," Shukuen nodded to Sakura's father, before standing up. "I got to go meet Tomoyo-chan now."
She paused, then asked. "Do you need help cleaning up?"
Sakura's father smiled, and waved her off. "No, it's my turn." He said warmly. "Go have fun, Sakura-chan."
"Thank you," Shukuen smiled, taking her bag and heading towards the door. She paused long enough to put on Sakura's skates and took off.
...of course, it was at this time, she realized she never did perfect her skating skills in the last life.
"...eep..." she squeaked, trying to maintain her balance and hoping nothing got in her way.
Fortuantely, while her skills were wanting, her reflexes kept her upright as she skated, with moderate ability...
Shukuen sighed in relief at avoiding any accidents so far.
"So where are we meeting Tomoyo?" she asked Keroberus.
Kero's tiny head popped up from the pocket he'd secreted himself in. "Over at the park near the school." he told Sakura. "...Oh, you wouldn't know where...okay, turn he-ack, you went past it!" he yelped, pointing at a side street as Sakura slid past...
Shukuen cursed and tried to slow down before turning back onto the street she missed.
After shakily gliding to a stop, Sakura managed to make her way back to the street Keroberos had indicated. at the end of it, she could see the green, open areas of a city park...
Shukuen catalogued the nearby landmarks as well as kept an eye out for Tomoyo.
Tomoyo was nowhere in sight, and the only landmarks nearby were the suburb's houses and streetlamps, and, of course, the park up ahead.
Shukuen headed towards the park, stopping at the entrance.
"Which way from here?"
There was a slight wriggling in the pocket, and Kero's tiny head finally popped out, gnawing on a small candy.
"I dunno." He replied casually. "You usually meet her on a bench a ways in, kinda private..."
"Oh." Shukuen shrugged and decided to follow a path deeper into the park until she spotted Tomoyo.
Unbeknowest to the new Sakura, Tomoyo had had slightly different plans for that morning.
Shadowing her friend's path through the park, hidden behind an extended row of hedges, the young girl recorded Sakura, a soft monologue running as they moved deeper into the park.
"And here is the cardcaptor, her usual wails of bad punctuality seemingly forgotten as she rolls onwards. Let us hope she does not detect us, so we may continue this investigation into her activities when unencumbered with the presence of her peers..."
Shukuen continued along the path, searching for any sign of Sakura's cousin/friend.
"I wonder where Tomoyo is," he murmured worriedly, glancing around.
"Shh!"
A tiny yellow head popped out of Sakura's backpack, looking around quickly. "We're being FOLLOWED, Sakura!" Keroberos stage whispered into her ear.
Shukuen slowed to a stop, checking for witnesses as she prepared to activate her keywand.
"Can you tell if they're hostile...?"
"I can't sense any magic..." Kero offers uncertainly, staring at the bushes. "They're REALLY quiet..."
Shukuen glanced at the area Keroberus seemed to indicate, trying to catch a glimpse of their stalker. Whether it be lock of hair, parted branches, or misplaced glints of light.
"Mou...the cardcaptor seems to have spotted us," Tomoyo complained, standing up, a slight pout hovering on her lips. "Couldn't you two be good subjects and not notice me? I'm trying to capture the cardcaptor without any outside influences!"
Shukuen sweatdropped at Tomoyo's tearful outburst.
"Ah... gomen?" She said lamely, "Kero-chan didn't tell me you were planning a documentary."
Tomoyo sighed, shaking her head. "He didn't know, but I guess my secret video taping is ruined, for now."
Smiling, Tomoyo refocused the camera on Sakura. "But I can always add to the rest of my collection! So what's on your mind today, Sakura-chan?"
"Well..." Shukuen hesistated, pondering her words carefully.
"Have you noticed anything suspicious lately?"
"Not really!" Tomoyo said cheerily, keeping a constant short distance between her and Sakura, focusing the camera on the cardcaptor's face.
"I've been here for the last twenty minutes, and I didn't pay attention to mom when she was going on about the newspaper, so..." Tomoyo shrugged, smiling.
Newspaper... damn, why didn't I think of that... Shukuen sweatdropped.
Putting on a smile, she tried to ignore the camera. "So, Tomoyo-chan, did you have any other plans today?"
Tomoyo's smile remained in place as she recorded Sakura, focusing primarily on her face, but moving around a bit on occasion.
"Don't you remember? We were going to go shopping."
"Ah... err..." Shukuen blinked, shifting her pack so she could face Keroberus.
"Did I remember to pack any money...?" she whispered quietly.
"Your wallet's in here." The tiny plushie stage whispered back. "She's probably going shopping for stuff for your costumes, though."
Shukuen sighed, relieved that she hadn't forgotten to pack the currently needed money, but also nervous at the thought of shopping for clothes. Or worse...
...a teddy bear kit...
Outwardly, she feined a smile, ignoring the camera. "Shopping where again?"
Tomoyo smiled happily. "The mall, of course!" she giggled, taking Sakura's hand. "I could really use a few things, and you DID say you were looking for something for Touya's birthday..."
"I did?" Shukuen blinked, paused, then laughed nervously. "Uhm, right, I guess I did."
"But what can I get him that he doesn't already have...?" she wondered out loud.
Shrugging, she took Tomoyo's arm. "Come on then, Tomoyo-chan. We better hurry," she said, heading north out of the park.
Sakura was the first to notice something was...off. This was largely due to the faint buzz she felt from the cards, a tense, foreboding feeling, like something important would happen soon...and then...it did.
Not ten feet in front of the two girls, a large, swirling fireburst sprang into being and flared very brightly...but only for a split second before vanishing completely. Where the fire had vanished, two forms were revealed.
The first was a tall, broad man dressed in a trenchcoat with many pockets and circular sunglasses,with a long mane of white hair, covered entirely inadequately by a green cap.
The second was a young girl, about Sakura's age, with brown hair cut in a short, jaw-length style, one side held back by a pink triangular barrette, and dressed in a flimsy summer dress, covered by woolen shawl. They both looked slightly disoriented, and the girl looked around anxiously, a slightly relieved expression on her face as she took in her surroundings.
***
There was a sudden, jarring sense of dislocation once more, and...Bolt found himself in a park. A carefully groomed path, and a small sidewalk for rollerbladers, as well as the well kept grounds hinted at civilization, though most of the surroundings beyond the immediate area were obscured by trees.
However, two young girls, Kotone's age...or possibly a bit younger, were watching them with a startled look. The one in front was dressed impeccably, her long black hair held in place by a hairband, and wearing a casual but expensive looking dress, and was...filming them?
Yes, she had a camcorder, and was eagerly taking in their every move, a slight smile on her face.
The other girl had short, light brown hair...almost blonde, in fact, with two small pigtails on either side of her head. She was dressed in what could have almost been simply an elaborate sports outfit, save for the strange rabbit ears on her head, and she was also, he noticed, outfitted for skating, elbow and knee pads, and a pair of inline skates on her feet. In fact, she looked recognizable...
While Sai wasn't a fan of the show, he has caught a couple eps of the dubbed version. Cardcaptors, or properly known as Card Captor Sakura.
"Hello, Sakura. How are you? Can I speak to Kero for a moment?"
He relaxed. There shouldn't be much trouble in this area for a bit.
Shukuen blinked, trying to remember what series the two people before her were from. Though she didn't know the older man, she did recognize the girl as the psuedo-jailbait of ExCoKo.
Upon hearing the man's question though, she realized that maybe this person might be an agent as well. "Order or Chaos?" she asked, glancing at the stranger suspiciously. She knew it was giving herself away, but she'd rather not take any chances or make accidental enemies.
OOC: Gonna label these seperately for the moment. Ra-chan arc. >.>
IC:
Over in another area...in fact, at Sakura's house, a small Mitsubishi Lancer Evo pulled up in front of the modest dwelling. Nenene turned to Yomiko, and raised an eyebrow. "This is it..." she informed her passenger gently. "How do you want to go about this?"
Sai looked closer at Sakura. "Perhaps I won't have need to talk to Kero. Order. And you?"
"Order." Shukuen responded, relaxing slightly but still wary of any betrayals.
"Who are you supposed to be anyway?" she asked. "I don't recognize the character."
"Polite, aren't you? The name's Bolt Crank, but you can call me Sai. This is Kotone." He put his hand on Kotone's shoulder lightly.
Kotone smiled innocently and bowed to the other girl, looking a bit puzzled as to what was going on. She glanced at Tomoyo, and the black haired girl smiled and shrugged, continuing to observe. Kotone followed her lead and did the same.
"Yeah, sorry for being a bit blunt..." Shukuen bowed slightly, then sweatdropped as she remembered that they were in the middle of park... in the open... possibly being watched...
"Uhm, how about we continue this elsewhere?" she suggested.
Sai shrugged. "Sure. Know of any quiet place near by? Hmm... You probably don't." He turned to Tomoyo. "How about you? Oh, and hello."
Tomoyo smiled cheerfully. "Hello." she replied, bowing. "And if you don't want to be overheard, the best place to talk is in the woods near our school." she told Sai, giving Sakura a curious look.
Bolt made a small bow complete with an arm wave. "Canst thou lead us to it, m'lady?" The only things missing was a cape and a broad feathered hat to complete the musketeer look.
Tomoyo giggled and nodded. "Sure!" she agreed easily, taking Sakura's hand. "Better keep your hands away from your pockets while we leave the park, though." she suggested.
Sai smirked. "No problem. I got nothing of importance in them anyways." He followed the other girls with Kotone.
Tomoyo nodded and smiled as she began to lead them from the park. "I didn't think so, but my bodyguards are overprotective. So, what's going on?"
Bolt didn't look around. "Ah, yes. Forgot about that possibility." He gave Tomoyo an innocent smile. "Oh, not much going on. Just the usual possible destruction of the universe and a contest between higher beings embodying ideas."
"You forgot to mention the fate of existence rests in the hands of a bunch of inept otaku..." Shukuen grumbled irritably, following along.
Sai smirked at Sakura. "Then there is me and a couple others."
Tomoyo blinked and smiled, suitably impressed. "So how exactly is the possible destruction going to come about?" she asked, absently swinging the hand that held onto Sakura's, a nearly undetectable blush on her cheeks.
From Sakura's backpack, a tiny yellow head popped out. "Yeah! I wanna know, too! She didn't tell me all the details!" Kero added, looking to Bolt.
Kotone, having been silent until now, stared at Keroberos, wide-eyed. "Plushie...kawaii!"
Yomiko glanced out the window of the car, looking at the happy, suburban house and pondering her options. How WERE they going to handle this? She had no idea, honestly.
"I'm not entirely sure, Nenene. But if we're going to approach the house, we'll need a cover story, just in case Sakura isn't actually there. But I've never watched the show that's based on all this....I don't know what would be feasible to Sakura's family. She's a little girl. I'm a grown woman."
Drumming her fingers on the dash, Yomiko frowned and wracked her brains for some sort of solution. "I don't know, Nenene. Do you have a suggestion?"
OOC: Ra-chan arc!
Nenene smiled lopsidedly at Yomiko, taping her fingers against the steering wheel. "That's fairly easy, actually. You're a teacher, remember?" she responded. "Well, a substitute, but the point applies."
She adjusted her glasses. "Though, that's where my inspiration ends. Why would a teacher make a home visit?" she half asked, half promted the other woman.
"Why WOULD a teacher make a house call? Is that common in Japan? I never asked...."
With a shrug, Yomiko opens the door and steps out, deciding some action is better than doing nothing. She pushes her glasses up on her nose a bit further and walks up to the house.
"I guess I'll have to make something up."
Approaching the door, the dark-haired woman rings the doorbell and waits for someone to answer.
There was silence for a few moments, then the gentle thump of footsteps could be heard before the door clicked open to reveal a tall, bespectacled man in his late thirties, with a rumpled head of dusty brown hair, and a serene expression, dressed in casual pants and a button up shirt, rolled up at the sleeves.
"Hello-? Readman-sensei!" he smiled in surprise, but greeted her warmly, and stepped aside, opening the way into the house. "A pleasant surprise! Come in!"
For a moment, Yomiko's face read complete shock....but it was only for a second and she carefully schooled her features to register a polite vacant expression.
"Not to be rude, Kinomoto-san, but I'm in something of a hurry and I don't want to leave my associate outside too long. I was hoping to speak with Sakura-chan, if she's around."
Sakura's father nodded amiably, allowing polite disappointment to show. "Of course." he agreed, inclining his head slightly. "Unfortunately, Sakura-chan's gone out to the local park with her friend today. I'm not sure when she'll be back." he offered.
"Ahhh, that is unfortunate. Perhaps I will stop by later. Though I was planning on getting some reading done at the park today. Maybe I will run into her."
Bowing respectfully, Yomiko gave Sakura's father a friendly smile then turned to go. "Thank you very much, Kinomoto-san! Tell the family I said hello."
It took all her willpower to keep Yomiko from running to the car. She liked to think she managed quite nicely and slipped into the vehicle, buckling up in a hurry.
"Sakura is at the park, Nenene. We need to get there and try to catch her before she moves elsewhere. Maybe I can provide a....distraction or something to catch her attention."
Yomiko made it to the car without incident, and Nenene grinned, and started up the car again. "Gotcha. How exactly will you catch her attention?" the younger woman asked curiously, as she pulled out the car, and began heading to in the general direction of trees visible over the houses.
"I was thinking maybe a giant paper airplane or something. But I don't know. I've only just gotten use to Yomiko's powers. They're not hard to control, really, but I'm afraid I'll mess up. That and I'm not sure how well that idea will work."
With a sigh, Yomiko rested her chin in her hand, her elbow on the windowsill. If only Sakura had been home. This whole ordeal would have been much easier. Suddenly she was glad they weren't going after the Love Hina girl. That would have been unnessisarily hard as well. Maybe she would find THEM before they had to find her. That would be nice.
"I hope we can find her."
"Shouldn't be hard...all you need to do is come up with something simple, and recognizable. If she sees it, she'll come running...I mean, unless being a child is comfortable for her..." Nenene smiled faintly.
"That is, if I understand what's happened to you. Whoop. This looks like the place." she said, pulling the car up beside a neatly kept arrangement of grass and trees.
"Something simple and recognizable, huh?"
Yomiko opened the car door and slid out easily, looking over the park as she did so. There were some people in sight, and a larger amount of younger children than she expected, but it wasn't too busy.
The elementary school must be out or something. I think it's a weekday anyway. I'm not actually sure.
"Simple and recognizable....damnit, what's simple and recognizable?" Ra-chan ran through her memories of R.O.D., trying to sort through everything she had seen Yomiko do. Paper shields were good, but wouldn't cover enough ground. The giant paper airplain wouldn't do any good unless they could get it off the ground, and there really wasn't anywhere to do that around here. At the end, she had made little paper butterflies for Nancy and had made it fly around but that....
Wait, THAT could work!
Pulling a pen out of her pocket, Yomiko grabbed the suitcase out of the trunk and opened it in a hurry, scribbling as fast as she could. She wrote on maybe a dozen notecards, then concentrated on them, making them light, boyant.....thinking FLY as hard as she could. With some practiced, confident movements, she tossed each of the dozen into the air and mentally told them to drift around the park. On each card was the name "Soulriders" and underneath it, "Ra-chan"
But that might not be good enough. Opening the suitcase as wide as it would go, the dark-haired paper-user guestured with her hands (just like she remembered from the show) and told the cards to lift up into the sky, forming the letters S O U L R I D E R S, like a giant kite made entirely out of white paper.
Hopefully, hopefully, something would suceed.
"Oh, utter chaos, death, destruction, pigs flying, cats and dogs living together..." Shukuen blinked, then added. "Probably nothing you aren't used to dealing with actually..."
The cards rose into the air in a bundle, floating higher, and higher until the bundle seemed to explode, sending the dozen cards floating on air currents, seeming to blow to every corner of the park.
The first project completed, Yomiko turned to the second, which ALMOST didn't work, as the papers didn't want to form the kite as independant letters, and Yomiko found it an immense strain to do. However, the papers shifted to her thoughts, forming the word 'Soulriders' in english cursive as a coherent unit, and slowly began to float upwards, The giant lettering becoming visible to the park as a whole as it rose into the air.
More than a few people paused to look at Yomiko as she worked, puzzled and stightly stunned at what she was doing...
Sai smirked and gently pulled Kero out before handing him to Kotone. "Here, kiddo."
"As for the destruction of the universe. There seems to be a contest between two higher beings. Order and Chaos. They both have chosen people to fight for them in a contest. What the contest is, we don't know exactly. Chaos is setting that part up. He's also the one who got us stuck in mostly random bodies. If Chaos wins, he gets to do anything he wants with this universe. Eventualy it'll die from his attention." Bolt finished and waited for any questions.
Kotone beamed and Kero gave a startled squawk, and protested as Bolt dropped him into Kotone's eager hands, but the little yellow guardian calmed down considerably when it became clear that Kotone wasn't the type to stangle toys, and he reluctantly settled down, trying to look like her wasn't enjoying the brown haired girl petting him.
Tomoyo paused on the path out of the park, and looked up at Bolt, her eyes widening marginally. "Er...that's a little bit beyond our experience. And what's this about bodies?" she asked, puzzled. "It sounds like only half a story..."
Kotone frowned, in the middle of stroking Kero, and began to look puzzled. "Ano...Bolt-san...what's a 'soulriders'?"
"Bodies? I guess 'Sakura' didn't tell you? You see, Order chose several people from another universe. Smart, resorceful and decent. Mostly. Even higher beings make mistakes. She wanted us to chose whom our souls would replace for the contest, but Chaos interfered and sent us into random bodies." Sai patted Sakura on the head. "So. Are you going to tell us who is in that body or will I have to wait until we find the rest to figure it out?"
Smiling at Kotone, he explained. "It's an online forum that all the chosen people frequent. Though you could use it to describe the people as well..." Two blinks later. "How did you that name? I never mentioned it nor did she."
Kotone points to the sky. "Up there." She replied simply and suddenly, all four of them could see what looked to be white writing in the sky, creeping over the trees. After a few moment's observation, it seemed to be some sort of kite, made, strangely, of cursive writing, in english.
Kotone's eyes were apparently, quite sharp as it took the others a few minutes to discern what the message was. While the others were confirming this, a small white index card blew past Sakura's nose...
Shukuen reflexively snatched the card in front of her, blinking as her mind caught up with instincts. She checked the card for anything notable.
"And in answer to your question, 'Sai', I supposed you can call me... Karma," Shukuen shrugged, resisting the urge to strike a declarative pose.
The card was small and white, 3 inches by 5 inches, with neat handwriting in a feminine looking script. The word 'Soulriders' stood out on top, with the name 'Ra-chan' written beneath them. Other than that, the card was featureless...
"She's here. YES!" Sai was excited to say the least. Looking back upwards, he noted where the 'line' for the kite plunged downw and headed for that spot. "You coming or not?" He didn't wait for an answer.
Shukuen blinked, and followed quickly.
"So you know an egyption goddess of the sun?" she asked jokingly.
Tomoyo followed, giving Sakura an odd look, then smiled and followed, Kotone bringing up the rear with Keroberos. "This is getting more and more interesting by the minute..."
Holding the 'kite', as it were, was a little more difficult than Yomiko first thought. It just took a bit of mental concentration, something she wasn't practiced at, not like the real Yomiko anyway.
Behind her, she could hear Nenene's phone ring and habbitually started listening to the girl's end of the conversation. It was a bad habbit, true, but Ra-chan had always been curious about what other people were talking about. Unfortunatly, the small distraction marred her concentration even more and the giant word in the air slowly dissintegrated into hundreds of little notecards once again, all of them fluttering to the ground. With a little gasp, Yomiko gathered as many as she could once again, hoping that her signal, as such, had at least been good enough to attract the right people. It had certainly attracted all the rest of the park. It was like winter, with the notecards falling to the ground around her.
"Wow, I really DO feel like I'm in an anime. All I need is a convient, dramatic wind...."
Seeing the sign disintegrate into many small pieces, Sai ran faster. Both the kite and the 'butterfly' card, suggested Yomiko Readman as the originator of the messages. Even if it wasn't Ra-chan herself, it was a good ally to have and it wouldn't do to have her leave before they got there.
As he closed in, he was ready to draw his gun in case of trouble.
As Bolt and the three children following him drew closer to where they'd seen the kite dissolve, they emerge from the trees in time to see a short, bespectacled woman with long black hair standing in the middle of a minor snowstorm of notecards, looking slightly bewildered, and behind her on the street across from the part was a sporty looking Mitsubishi vehicle, a brown haired woman at the wheel.
As for Yomiko herself, she could hear Nenene's greeting over the phone as a group emerged from the trees. "Oh, You'd be the Aino girl, right?"
"Ra-chan?" It was the only thing that he said as he stopped at the tree line. She was here, he knew it and there would be Hell to pay if they were seperated again.
'Yomiko' was still scrooping up notecards fluttering past her nose when a voice calling her nickname caught her attention. She glanced up at the tall, trench-coat-wearing man and something in the way he was looking in her and the way he had said the name struck a chord. He wasn't the person she had come to the park for in the first place, but he just might be the one person above all she wanted to see.
"Cy? Sweetie? Is that you?"