___                           ___
 <__<  BLOSSOMS IN THE SPRING  <__<

      A crossover Improfanfic
 started by The Eternal Lost Lurker
   Street Fighter and all related
    trademarks belong to Capcom.
 Cardcaptor Sakura and all related
trademarks belong to CLAMP, Kodansha.
      Used without permission.

  ___                          
 <__<  Chapter Three:
         Sakura and the deluding ILLUSION card    ___ 
                                                 <__<



       -----======-----


"So where are you planning on going, Sakura-chan?"

Kasugano Sakura smiled up at her mother as she stuffed a couple of books
and Cerberus into her old backpack.  "Well, after Yuriko-chan gets here,
we're going off to visit Rei.  Remember Kasawara Rei, from break last
year?"

Her mother thought for a moment, then nodded.  "Tall girl, light hair, very
fast?  Yes, I remember her.  She seemed a nice girl, if a little overly
serious at times."

"That's her.  We probably won't get another chance once school starts, so I
thought I'd go visit her now."  Sakura picked up her backpack, made sure
the framed picture of Ryu was sitting in front of the hole in the window,
then added, "I'll be back for dinner, and the Kasawaras' phone number
should be in the little notebook by the phone."  A knock sounded from the
back door.  "And that's probably Yuriko-chan now."

"All right dear.  But be careful, and make sure you're back early for
dinner so you can help with the chores."


       -----======-----


Sakura looked over at her happily skipping friend Yuriko, or really Tomoyo,
and felt a surge of nervousness.  Not that she didn't have enough reasons
to feel nervous: she was one of the youngest competitors on the Street
Fighter circuit, she was chasing down some weird magical cards from some
past life, school was going to start up again soon, and she was currently
going to visit a friend that she hadn't seen in several months.

No, the real reason for her being nervous now, though, was the long, thin
suitcase that Tomoyo was carrying.  The one that looked a lot like a folded
garment bag with a handle.

"Are you sure about bringing that along, Tomoyo-chan?"

Tomoyo smiled, skipping along.  "Oh, of course!  You never know when Card
Captor business will come up, and I want to make sure my Sakura-chan looks
her best!"

There wasn't much Sakura could do in response to that but sweatdrop.

A stuffed toy nosed up from Sakura's backpack, looked around to make sure
nobody was close, then asked, "So who is it we're visiting?"

"Her name is Kasawara Rei.  She's someone I met last year while I was
training.  Her family owns a small dojo just up the road here, and I
sparred with her for a while over the break last year.  Her mother had just
died, and she really needed a friend.  I spent several days here helping to
cheer her back up, and she came to visit my place a couple of times as
well."

"Oh, how sad."

Sakura nodded.  "They were a fairly traditional family; and she's the only
child, so she's going to inherit the dojo once she's old enough and can be
registered as a sensei."

Tomoyo would have clapped her hands together, except one of them was
carrying something.  "Ooooh, sounds fun!  So does her father teach
classes?"

Sakura shook her head.  "A little, but not really.  The dojo was in her
mother's name.  Her mother was of the Kasawara clan, her father married
into the family and took their name to make sure the clan had an heir.  I'm
not sure of the details, but I think for now the dojo actually belongs to
her grandfather as the clan head until Rei comes of age."

"Oh.  Okay."

Sakura smiled as they rounded the last curve in the street, bringing their
destination into view.  "And here we are, the Kasawara..."  Her voice
drifted off as she got a good look at the completely ruined dojo.  It
looked like somebody had been using it as a test target for a bazooka:
holes had been blown through it, the roof had fallen over because a couple
of the support beams were knocked through, and pieces had been scattered as
far as the street.  The house was in better shape, but not by much.  A
small group of city workers hovered back at a safe distance, one of them
lying on the street.  And in the center of the destruction was a young
girl, glaring back at the workers.  "... dojo?"

Tomoyo stopped in shock at the scene in front of her, while Sakura started
jogging up to the men on the street.  "What happened here?"

After giving his downed companion a quick glance, one of the workers turned
to Sakura.  "There was a big fight of some sort here about three days ago,
and Kasawara-san had to get taken to the hospital.  Ever since then, that
girl has been stopping anybody from trying to enter the grounds to clean
things up.  Screaming something about 'defending the family dojo from
invaders'."

Sakura frowned, hearing Tomoyo coming up behind her.  "That's weird.  Rei
has always taken the family honour very seriously, but she's never been
this obsessive."

"Well, if you think you can talk some sense into her, go ahead.  We've got
to take Futaro here to a doctor."

"Doctor?"

The man shrugged.  "He's probably not that badly hurt, but no sense taking
chances."  And with that, he got on the small truck they had with them and
sat down beside his companion who was stretched out in the back.

As they watched the truck drive off, Tomoyo spoke up.  "Is that your
friend, Sakura-chan?"

"Un."  Sakura dropped her backpack.  "I better go talk to her."

Cerberus pulled himself half out of the dropped backpack.  "Remember I'm in
here, Sakura-chan!"  Sakura ignored him and his muttering, focussed as she
was on her friend.

Jogging up toward the dojo, Sakura waved.  "Rei-chan!  What's going...
eep!" She found herself ducking under a kick that could almost have taken
her head off.  Sakura danced back as Rei launched a series of assaults at
her.  "It's Sakura, remember?  From last year?  What are you doing?"

"Thief!  Destroyer!  None shall disturb the sanctity of this dojo!"

Sakura frowned, watching Rei's attacks.  Fairly standard combination,
punch, feint, block there and start a kick... and somehow get hit in the
side by a punch she was sure she had blocked.  "Nani?"  Sakura moved back
again.  How could she have been hit by that, it was one of Rei's common
sets of moves, she _knew_ she had blocked it properly.  So how did it get
through?

"Rei-chan, please stop this!  I don't want to hurt you."  Sakura shifted
her stance, leaning forward into a more offensive position, and threw a
couple of light punches of her own, followed by a leg sweep, which Rei
jumped over.  Sakura stopped in astonishment as Rei somehow seemed to dodge
her follow-up punch in mid-air.  This allowed a couple more hits to get in,
leaving Sakura wincing in pain.  The hits weren't _hard_, but expertly
placed.

The fight continued this way as Sakura slowly retreated back toward the
street, completely unable to get a hit in.  Finally, she made her way back
to the edge of the street.

When she finally stepped off the property, however, Rei stopped fighting
her.  Sakura watched in shock as Rei turned around and walked back to the
house, walking over to where the door was originally, despite the more
direct route through the missing wall.

Tomoyo walked up to her.  "Your friend is strange, Sakura-chan."

Sakura was still too shocked to come up with a witty retort.


       -----======-----


The three of them sat in a small cafe, eating lunch and talking about what
had happened.  Well, Tomoyo was chattering away, Sakura was just quietly
nodding, and Cerberus was sitting hidden inside Sakura's backpack on the
table while sneaking bits of cake off of Sakura's plate.

"And wasn't it odd the way she didn't seem to notice the house was gone?"
Tomoyo continued.  "She put a pot of water on the stove to boil it, but the
stove wasn't working, so she made tea with the cold water as if nothing
were wrong."

"Un."

"And then she acted like she was opening up cupboards to take things out
and make lunch with them, even with nothing there."

"Un."

"I wonder if she's been like that since the house was destroyed.  Eating
nothing but cold tea can't be very healthy.

"Un."

"Sakura-chan," said Cerberus, "You have a big blob of cake on your nose."

"Un."

Tomoyo smiled.  "Maybe I should dress you up in a tight Chinese cheongsam
like that picture of Chun Li you had?"

"Un."

Tomoyo placed her hand on Sakura's, squeezing.  "Really!?"

That at least got a reaction as Sakura nearly jumped from her chair.  "Um,
hai?  What did I just agree to?"

Tomoyo giggled, which didn't make Sakura feel any better.

Cerberus popped his head out.  "Why are you so distracted, Sakura-chan?
Worried about Rei?"

"That too."  Finishing her last piece of cake, Sakura sat back.  "The fight
was just... wrong.  I could see her throw a punch, I'd block it... but it
somehow hit anyway.  And when I started trying to hit her, I couldn't.  I'd
throw a punch but she'd just not be there when it hit, even if she couldn't
possibly have dodged.  She managed to dodge to one side while falling in
mid-air, which is really difficult.  It was like fighting a ghost!"  Sakura
shivered at the thought.

Tomoyo giggled again.

"What's so funny?"

"Oh, just seeing that you being afraid of ghosts is something that's
carried over from the old Sakura-chan."

"I'm not afraid of ghosts!"

Cerberus said, "You certainly were before."

"You stay out of this."

Tomoyo said, "Remember that one time in the forest behind the school, we
went with Naoko and Rika and Chiharu to see the ghost that Naoko said she'd
seen?  And we all saw something different?"

Cerberus nodded.  "Sakura-chan thought she saw her mother."

Sakura frowned, thinking.  "I think I remember..."  She turned to look at
Tomoyo.  "You saw a meat bun."

Tomoyo blushed.  "Well, I was hungry."

"And it turned out it was the Illusion card all along!"  Cerberus suddenly
realized both the girls were looking at him.  "What did I say?"

Sakura said, "Maybe I _was_ fighting a ghost, or at least an illusion..."

Tomoyo said, "Maybe she's living inside an illusion of the old house..."

"Well, I did feel a Clow Card near there."

Cerberus found himself pinned under Sakura's hand.  "And why didn't you
mention this before, fluff?"

"I am not fluff!  Or Kero-chan!  My name is Cer-ber-us!  Cer..."  Cerberus
looked up at the bulging vein in Sakura's forehead, and survival took over
as he spoke quickly: "Um, I didn't want to mention it while we were out on
the street and anybody could hear us?"

Sakura continued to glare at him for a moment before releasing her hand.
Cerberus breathed a quick sigh of relief before he heard Tomoyo clap her
hands.  "So this is Card Captor business after all!"

"Uh..."

Tomoyo placed her money down on the table, then grabbed Sakura's hand.
"Come on, I've got to show you the new costume I made for you!  And we've
got to save your friend!"  Sakura just had enough time to grab her backpack
as she was nearly dragged down the street, Cerberus flapping in the breeze
as he hung on to the other backpack strap tightly.


       -----======-----


"I'm not going out in this."

"But Sakura-chan..."

Cerberus tried to say something, but Sakura had very carefully zipped the
backpack shut before stepping into the washroom, so all that came out was a
muffled squeak.

"This is...  is..."

"Sakura-chan, you're a martial artist now and going to fight, right?  Well,
there are two types of clothes that work well in a fight.  Loose clothes
like a gi or a hakama that will move out of your way, or skin tight clothes
like a leotard that moves with you."

"I can't let people see me like this!"

"Sakura-chan, nobody is going to recognize you dressed like that."

"But..."

"Please?  I spent all last week on this.  Please, for me?"

Sakura's head banged against the door; she could just imagine the really
cute, wide-eyed expression on Tomoyo's face.  She never could resist her
friend once she started doing that...  in either life.  "Oh, all right."

"Wai!"  And with that, Sakura stepped out.

The outfit started with a bodysuit 'leotard' so fine as to be almost sheer,
covering Sakura all the way from her feet to her neck, leaving only her
hands uncovered.  Over that was what looked like a dark green one-piece
bathing suit, cut high over the hips on both sides and stretched tight over
her chest as it swept back to a pair of thin straps on either side of her
neck.  Finishing off the ensemble were a pair of boots, a set of bracers, a
light sleeveless vest, and a beret-style hat, all in camouflage colours.

Sakura tugged on one of the top straps of the 'bathing suit', shifting it
to get a bit more comfortable.  "How does Cammy put up with this, anyway?"

"Wowww..."

Cerberus abruptly realized, from the two pairs of eyes staring down at him,
that saying that aloud was probably a bad idea.  He quickly pulled his head
back into the backpack and tried to zip it shut from the inside, only to
get caught by Sakura's hand before he'd had a chance to get anywhere.

When she pulled the magical guardian out, she found him hanging on to a
little pink key, which he held up towards her.  "Shall we go out and catch
a Clow Card, Sakura-chan?" he said, in his best and cutest 'please don't
hurt me' voice.

After a second or two of glaring, Sakura put Cerberus back down and nodded.
She then took the key, and checked to see if anybody else was around.

        "Key which hides
        the powers of the Dark...
        reveal your true form
        before me!
        I, Sakura,
        command you
        under our contract...
        RELEASE!"

Tomoyo bounced happily as the key extended into a wand, clapping her hands
together.  "Let's go!"


       -----======-----


Fortunately for Sakura, the cafe washroom wasn't far from the dojo, and so
she didn't have time to attract too much attention from passers-by.  The
pair of girls snuck up the sidewalk to right in front of the house, and
peeked around to the yard of the Kasawara dojo.

Rei was calmly sitting in the middle of the dojo, looking out at nothing in
particular.  Tomoyo pulled out her video camera, and did a quick scan over
the ruined house and dojo, then scanned over to Sakura.  "Sakura-chan, how
do you plan on defeating her?"

Sakura was too wrapped up in watching Rei to notice the camera facing her.
"Well, I know from before that I can't trust my eyes when facing her.  So
I'll have to fight with my eyes closed."  She frowned.  "Not something I've
practiced much."

"So how will you find her?"

"I won't.  She'll have to find me."  With that, Sakura grabbed the wand and
walked straight out onto the yard, making no attempt to be stealthy.

Rei stood up.  "So, the destroyer returns.  I shall have to drive you out
again."

"Rei-chan, don't do this.  This isn't you doing this."

Rei just leapt at Sakura, "Begone!"

Sakura quickly found herself on the defensive, blows raining down on her so
fast she barely had time to block them, and several of the ones she thought
she had blocked were still getting through.  And she couldn't get a hold on
one of Rei's arms, either; it was like the girl almost melted away after
each punch.  A few times she got close, brushing a retreating hand, but
never quite enough.

Tomoyo's voice drifted over.  "Come on, Sakura-chan, you can do it!"

Remembering her plan from before, Sakura closed her eyes... just in time to
get hit by a nasty uppercut to the chin which sent her flying backwards.
One end of the wand caught in some of the rubble of the house, abruptly
causing her to twist during her fall and land on her side with a grunt of
pain.

"Sakura-chan!  Are you okay?"

Sakura pushed herself onto her back slowly, wincing; she could see Rei
standing back where she had been, looking... confused?  She seemed to be
having trouble, though, standing still and staring at nothing as if
fighting with herself.  "Do me a favour, Tomoyo-chan?"

"Of course!"

"Next time you make a costume for me, make sure there's somewhere on it to
hold the wand so I've got both hands free and won't trip over it?"

Tomoyo-chan flushed in embarrassment.  "Sorry, Sakura-chan."

Cerberus popped his head up from the backpack again.  "You can do it,
Sakura-chan.  Just have to hold her in one place long enough to use the
wand."

"You just have to find your center, right?"

Sakura groaned as she sat up.  "Right."

Sakura found Rei's attention finally focussed back on her as she stood up.
Rei still hadn't moved, though.  "Do you yield?"

Sakura closed her eyes, relaxing.  Find her center, right?  That was the
key, really.  Block out all outside distractions.  Block out the pain.
Nothing except her and her opponent.  'The fight is all,' as Ryu-sama would
say.

"I said, do you yield!?"

Sakura brought her hands to her side, focussing on the spirit in her hands,
then slowly shook her head, eyes still closed.  "HADOU..."

Sakura heard the loud cry as Rei launched herself at her friend.  She heard
the footsteps on the rubble, slipping slightly at navigating the uneven
terrain.  Felt a slight pressure on her side as the air compressed just
before the impact...

"...KEN!"  Sakura split her hands apart, one launching the blast of chi
over Rei's shoulder as a distraction while the other snatched down to grab
the other girl's wrist.  With a quick tug, Rei lost her balance and fell to
the ground, spun around so as to land flat on her back with just enough of
an impact to knock her breath out.

Sakura could only grin at the cheers coming from the sidelines as she
picked up the wand again.  Grasping it in one hand while she held onto
Rei's wrist with the other, she brought it down towards Rei's heart as she
recited the spell:

        "Return to the guise
        that you were meant
        to be in!
        CLOW CARD!!"

The beak of the rod stopped just short of Rei's chest, then flared out as
a beam of bright light shot forth from her.  Sakura's hand shook slightly
as she watched, the beam of light flaring out to cover Rei completely, then
collapsing down into a small bright packet of light.

With a final pop, the light blinked out, and a playing card fell down onto
Rei's chest.  A card with a fancy abstract pattern on the front, from the
sun at the top to the moon at the bottom, with two words in the bordering
ribbon: THE ILLUSION.

Sakura was about to pick it up when she got a good look at Rei, and gasped.
Rei was...  thin.  Emaciated, as if she hadn't eaten in several days.  And
looking rather shocked as she turned her head to take in the destruction
around her.  "Rei-chan?"

"Sa... Sakura?"

Sakura nodded.  "I'm here, Rei-chan.  The Illusion is gone, it's all right
now."

Rei curled up against her friend, and started letting out three days worth
of tears.

"Tomoyo-chan, could you call an ambulance for Rei, please?"

"Uh, H-hai."  Without dropping the video camera, Tomoyo pulled out a cell
phone and hit a speed-dial button.  Sakura just shook her head.


       -----======-----


"What happened to you, Rei-chan?"

Tomoyo looked around the hospital room while Sakura talked to Rei.  The
hospital had put Rei into the same room as her father, who had been there
since the day the dojo was destroyed.  The older man was recovering, but he
looked as if he'd been beaten rather badly.

"I was off shopping for food when it started."  Rei turned to look towards
her father.

Her father sighed loudly.  "I was practicing katas in the dojo when this...
punk kid challenged the dojo.  He seemed a pretty typical arrogant bully
type, we get a couple of them every year, trying to make a name for
themselves by taking on a small but respected dojo.  He called himself
Kageko; Shadow child.

"He was a lot better than I expected, fairly well trained in what looked to
be a form of Muay Thai kickboxing.  It was obvious he was just playing with
me at first, treating this as a game.  An impression I decided to break him
of by launching a fast series of strikes while his guard was still lax."

Kasawara-san looked at Sakura, who looked somewhat upset at the mention of
Muay Thai.  "That was my big mistake.  I hurt him, but not enough; it just
got him angry.  He started launching some sort of chi-blast punch at me,
punching holes in the walls of the dojo when I dodged.  Then he started
laughing and just started knocking holes in the walls because he felt like
it, not even pretending to be fighting me anymore.  When I tried to stop
him, he managed to get a hand on me and slammed me into the ground, then
threw me through the dojo walls back at the house."

Rei took up the story: "That was about where I came back from shopping.  I
saw my father slam into the wall of the house, cracking one of the supports
badly.  Then I saw the man in the dojo, laughing madly.  I just stood there
in shock, thinking 'This can't be happening.'

"It gets kind of blurry after that.  I felt a sort of warmth around me, and
for a moment the house seemed fully repaired, and even the dojo was only
lightly damaged.  Grasping onto that as a lifeline, I ran up to the dojo to
fight off the madman who had damaged it."  She sighed.  "I think I won; at
least, I'm still alive and he's not around anymore.  And I probably did a
lot more damage in the process.

"I think he came back several times, but I can't be sure.  Everybody looked
like him, it seems.  I even thought you were him, Sakura, until you...
woke me up again."

Sakura nodded, and held up THE ILLUSION.  "It's a... spirit of sorts, bound
into a card.  It makes illusions of what people like to see...  so you saw
what you really wanted to see.  But it's sealed away now.

Kasawara-san nodded.  "Arigato.  We owe you a great debt."

Sakura blushed.  "Well, please don't spread around stories about the spirit
part, at least.  Nobody would take me seriously ever again."  Tucking the
card back into her pocket, Sakura stood up and bowed.  "But now, I should
let you two rest."

Before she could leave the room, Kasawara-san spoke up.  "Sakura-san?"

"Hai?"

"You seemed... worried about the idea of a Muay Thai fighter that could
throw around chi punches."

Sakura nodded.  "There's a fighter I've heard stories of, by the name of
Sagat.  An arrogant, obsessive, and dangerous man.  He fights in a style
similar to what you described.  This certainly wouldn't have been him, or
the one student of his that I've heard of; neither of them would ever give
a false name.  But the idea that he might have another student... worries
me."


       -----======-----


"Something wrong, Sakura-chan?  You've been quiet since we got back from
the hospital."

Sakura sighed, looking around her room, at all the posters on the walls.
"Just thinking about Rei.  Coming home one day and finding your home
destroyed, with no idea of who did it.  No wonder she wanted to live inside
an illusion rather than face that."

"Un!"  Cerberus pounced into Sakura's lap.  "You did good, Sakura-chan.
One more card you can use in to exorcise other Clow Cards.  It makes a good
distraction, anyway."

Sakura looked down at THE ILLUSION.  "But what it did to Rei..."

Tomoyo gave Sakura a hug.  "The Illusion card gives people what they want
to see, Sakura-chan.  It's not really deliberately trying to be mean, it
just wants to make people happy, and doesn't really think about what will
happen."

"Be careful what you wish for... you might get it."

"Exactly, Sakura-chan."  Tomoyo went back to her usual smile.  "Anyhow,
I've got to get back home and transfer this video to my new computer for
editting.  I've got a Firewire card and everything, so I can just plug it
in and watch it on the computer.  Don't need to borrow the school's video
room anymore."  Tomoyo grinned, and bounced out the door.  "See you later!"

Sakura chuckled at that.  "If only that energy could be harnessed, we could
light half of Tokyo."


       -----======-----


As the night cooled off, Sakura lay in bed, looking out the window.  Three
days... that would make it possible for the Illusion card to be the one
that had previously possessed her, though it would have been close.  She
couldn't be sure, of course.  And school was coming up soon, less than a
week to go.

With a sigh as she looked out at the stars, she asked herself, "Who am I
really?  And what illusions am I hanging onto?"


       -----======-----
    LEAVE IT TO KERO-CHAN!
       -----======-----


Konya nyatchiwa!

Well, it's good to see Sakura-chan succeeding both at her old life and her
new one, even if she still has her doubts.  But I'm sure that with the
support of her friends, we can recapture all the Clow Cards and save the
future!  Good friends are always willing to help, if you're willing to help
back!

Since this was the first time Tomoyo made a costume for the new Sakura,
we'll be taking a look at that.

The basic design is similar to that worn by Cammy-sama when she fights in
tournaments, though it is green instead of Cammy-sama's preferred blue.
The vest was added to give Sakura-chan a pocket to put the card in once she
captured it.

OK!  KERO-CHAN... CHECK!!

The main suit over the torso is thicker than it looks, and actually
contains a little padded armour to help protect Sakura-chan from hits
without lowering her flexibility too much.  It also shows off her figure
quite nicely, don't you think?

[Cerberus looks up and sees he's being glared at, and quickly removes his
paw from Sakura's chest, dropping back to his chair.]

I'm sure Tomoyo will come up with more and even better designs in future
episodes!  And I'll do my part too, helping Sakura-chan with how to fight
and catch the cards!  See you later!

[Cerberus makes a quick dash off-stage, leaving his little smoking jacket
behind, before it gets hit by a hadouken and starts smoking in earnest.]


       -----======-----


NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW:
School's coming up soon, and there's just time for one more big shopping
trip to make sure I've got everything before going back.  What's this?
It's all dark and creepy here.  But a true Street Fighter shouldn't be
afraid, right?  Right?

Join us next time for, "Sakura and the haunting Shadow."  RELEASE!!


       -----======-----


Author's Notes:  Aieee...

Just a quick thought, but which I couldn't find any way to work in here
properly: if the key/wand can be extended further, could it be used as a
naginata?

And great thanks to my pre-readers, Sean Givan, Dave Larmour, Capfox, and
the Eternal Lost Lurker, the last of whom also deserves greater thanks for
starting this piece of insanity in the first place.