BLOSSOMS IN THE SPRING
         Created by The Eternal Lost Lurker
      Chapter Eight:  Sakura Hears the THUNDER
                By Scott K. Jamison


     "He passed out again!"
     "The ambulance is on its way!"
     Tomoyo tore her eyes away from the Chinese boy and
concentrated on Dan.
     "What do you mean, 'Jimmy wouldn't do this'?  Who's Jimmy?"
     "He's my friend," Dan said, as if that was an explanation.
     "His fighting name is Blanka," put in one of the
calmer-looking students.  He saw that Tomoyo was still at a
loss.  "Big green-skinned monster with orange hair."
     Dan snapped, "Jimmy is not a monster!  He's just
misunderstood!"
     Tomoyo put a hand on his arm, and spoke in a calming voice.
 "Yes, Sensei, but who *is* he?"
     The pink-clad martial artist pulled out a microphone and
struck a pose.  "An innocent child, lost in the Amazon.  No man
knows what changed him there, but he learned from the animals! 
The agility of the monkey, the courage of the jaguar--"
     "The smell of the llama," chipped in a second student, who
ducked an off-hand blow from his teacher.
     The first student put on a pair of eyeglasses.  "Actually,
the llama isn't native to the Amazon basin."
     "Dan is telling this story, and Dan shall finish it, for he
is mighty!  And also, from the electric eel, Jimmy learned the
shocking ability to--er, shock."
     "That would explain the electrical burns.  But you say he
wouldn't do this?"  Tomoyo gestured at Li.
     Dan shook his head.  "Jimmy may have the form of a beast,
but he is manly!  He only uses his electric power to stun, never
to injure this badly!"
     The first student had been looking more closely at the
victim, who was still unconscious.  "You may be right,
Hibiki-sensei.  Look, there are only burns, no bite marks or
scratches...or even bruises.  It's as though he wasn't in a
fight at all, just struck by lightning."
     Tomoyo had a feeling she knew more of what had happened to
Li than the others; and that meant--
     She bowed quickly.  "Please excuse me, but I must go now."
     "But don't you want to stay and--"
     "Li-kun is strong.  He'll recover, and I have to do
something right now."
     Dan nodded.  "If you see Sakura before the tournament, wish
her luck from Dan!"

     Sakura woke up upon hearing her name called, and blearily
looked at the clock.  "It's still an hour before I have to get
up!  Kero-chan, wh--"
     A gentle snoring was the guardian beast's only response.
     "Sakura-chan, your friend is here!" came a voice, which she
now placed as her mother's.
     "Coming, Mom!"  Sakura quickly put on a robe and hurried
downstairs.
     Tomoyo was standing there with a bundle of cloth under her
arm.  Another costume, no doubt.
     "G'morning.  Couldn't this have waited until sunrise?"
     "Good morning, Sakura-chan.  *yawn*  No, I don't think so."
 Sakura noticed that Tomoyo's normally pristine hair actually
looked a bit messy, and her eyelids were half-closed.
     "Awright.  C'mon up to my room.  Oh, and good morning,
Mom."
     "Breakfast will be ready soon, dear," said Mrs. Kasugano,
waving a spatula.
     Up in Sakura's room, Kero was sitting up and rubbing his
eyes.  "Whazzup?"
     "New costume," said Tomoyo, not quite as brightly as usual.
 "Worked on it all night, I think you're going to need it."  She
sat on the bed.
     Sakura opened the bundle.  Inside was a pink and black body
suit, which was spandex where it wasn't--rubber?
     "Hooe...are you *sure* this is for fighting, Tomoyo-chan? 
It looks a bit risque."
     "It'll be fine," assured her friend.  "The rubber is to
protect you from electrical shocks.  It's not quite as
shockproof as I'd like, because I had to make sure you could
still move okay."  She leaned back.  "Umm, soft bed."
     Sakura still wasn't convinced.  "I think this might not get
past the armor restrictions at the tournament today."
     "Doesn't matter.  Besides, you'll look so cute in izzz...."
 Tomoyo's head hit the pillow.
     Kero flew over to take a closer look at the costume. 
"Looks kinda familiar, Sakura."

     Tomoyo strode confidently through the busy corridors of the
hospital.  She'd been here several times before when Sakura had
hurt herself training too hard.  Ah, there was the nurses'
station.
     "Excuse me, ma'am, but which room is Li Shaoran in?"
     The weary-looking woman replied, "Number 308, just down the
hall.  You his girlfriend?"
     Tomoyo was momentarily off-guard.  "Err, not really.  Just
a friend."
     The nurse nodded, and turned back to her work.
     Room 308 was easy to find, thanks to Li's raised voice. 
"I'm fine, I tell you!  Release me this instant!"
     Inside, Li, dressed in one of those embarrassing hospital
gowns, and swathed in bandages, was trying to get out of bed.  A
rather large male nurse was keeping him from succeeding.
     The Chinese boy noticed the visitor, and held a hand out to
her.  "Tomoyo!  Tell this fool to unhand me!"
     She smiled brightly.  "I'm Yuriko, Li-kun.  Yu-ri-ko,
*remember*?"
     "See, kid?" asked the nurse.  "You're so zonked on pain
killers, you can't even keep your girlfriends straight.  Now
stay in bed, or we're tying you down."
     Li laid back, muttering, "She's not my girlfriend."
     After some fussing about with the bedclothes and an IV
drip, the nurse left the two teenagers alone together.
     "Good afternoon, Li-kun."
     "'Yuriko'?  What's up with that?"
     Tomoyo dropped close to Li's ear and whispered.  "It's
complicated.  I'll tell you more when you get out, okay?"
     "Well, that will be quickly then.  I'm leaving now."  Li
tried to sit up again, but Tomoyo gently held him back by one of
the unbandaged parts of his arm.
     She went to fetch his medical chart.  "It says you're in
here for at least a week.  So, knowing how fast you heal, a
couple of days.  What happened, anyway?"
     A dark look passed over Li's face.  "That's private."
     Tomoyo loomed over him.  "It was a Clow Card, wasn't it? 
Which one?"
     "HOW--how did you know--oh, of course, you were there,
weren't you?  Why didn't I remember that you knew?"  Li looked
puzzled, an expression Tomoyo found rather endearing.
     "Everyone's memory was a bit clouded, then," offered
Tomoyo.
     "Very well.  It was the Thunder Card.  But it was different
than before.  It was inside this big green monster, and I was
taken by surprise.  That won't happen again."
     Tomoyo nodded.  "Of course not.  Well, here's some flowers,
it's been nice seeing you again."  She laid a bouquet on the
bedside table.
     Li watched her go, but when she neared the door, asked,
"Was that all you came for?"
     "Perhaps.  What do you remember, Li-kun?  About before?"
     "I...I remember you sang.  You had a very nice voice."  His
words were a bit slurred, obviously the pain killers kicking in.
     "Thank you, Shaoran-kun.  I still sing sometimes."
     "Tomo--Yuriko...could you sing for me now?"
     Tomoyo blinked.  "Well, I suppose so..."  She cleared her
throat and warmed up a little.  "mi, mi, mi....'If time passes,
everything turns into beauty; If the rains stop, tears clean the
scars of memory away...."  She noticed that Li's eyes were
closed, and stopped.  "See you later."

     Li floated in the state between wakefulness and full sleep.
 Tomoyo...it had been good to see her again.  Even if it had
ended badly, six years ago.  As quickly as they had come
together, he and Tomoyo had drifted apart.  She'd seemed
distracted by affairs of her own, and he'd decided to go back to
Hong Kong.  The Clow Cards, after all, were nowhere to be found.
     And that had been the only reason he was in Tokyo in the
first place, wasn't it?  The Clow Cards, his family's rightful
inheritance from the great magus, Clow Reed.  The key to
restoring the Li clan to their rightful prominence after the
ignominious death of his father.
     Shaoran had been raised from infancy to be the chosen one,
the Card Captor.  Magic, swordsmanship, the intricate forms of
combat, all his to master.  It was simply impossible for him to
fail.
     And yet, though he remembered coming to Tokyo to hunt the
cards (why there?), and searching for them (surely his memories
of actually possessing some were not false?), most of that time
was a blur or a blank to him.  Something was missing, the truth
of what had happened.
     He'd returned home, to find his mother and cousin as
confused as he about what had happened.  But the Li matriarch
had sensed that the Clow was not entirely gone, and that the
cards would return.  So Shaoran had returned to his studies and
training, preparing for that day.
     And now it had come.  He had felt the Clow Cards moving,
and knew he must return to Tokyo.  But the cards seemed to have
changed beyond his understanding.  And there was Tomoyo,
whatever she was calling herself now.  
     Why did he feel so strangely torn when he saw her?  After
all, he had a perfectly good betrothed, however annoying Meilin
was at times.  And yet, Shaoran knew a bond had formed between
him and the Japanese girl.
     "At the moment of the end, we fell into each other's arms. 
Linked by?  Our loss.  But what did we lose?"  Then it came to
him.  The Thunder had said he wasn't the Captor.  There had been
another, one who had fallen and been erased from living memory. 
Shaoran struggled to recollect bits and pieces of that year. 
Yes, someone Tomoyo had always been with, someone she was
videotaping, someone she...loved, once?
     "I'll show him...show him who really deserves to be the
Captor.  I won't fail...not this time."

     The abandoned bus garage hadn't been built for good
acoustics.  Every sound echoed back from the concrete walls
again and again, making it impossible to understand
conversations even a few feet away.  This was just fine with
Sakura as she rendezvoused with Tomoyo.
     "This costume is too hot," she pointed out.  "If the fights
go on for too long, I'll be fainting."
     "Oh, you'll be fine, Sakura-chan.  Did you find anything at
the warehouse?" 
     "Only a nest of cardboard boxes and packing material.  Kero
wasn't even sure there'd been a card there."
     Tomoyo nodded.  "Well, you should get your chance to see
for yourself tonight."
     "Provided, of course, I can beat this Li kid.  Where is he,
anyway?"  Sakura scanned the crowd.  
     Tomoyo fidgeted a bit.  "Well...actually, he won't be
making it."
     "What are you talking about, Yuriko?  I thought he was
supposed to be really hot to compete?"
     "He found the Thunder Card last night.  But he didn't know
they'd changed."
     Sakura frowned.  "You mean he was the man  who was
attacked?  Why didn't you tell me?"
     "I didn't want you to worry.  Besides , I wanted to see if
he'd changed."
     "And has he?"
     "He's a lot taller now."
     "And?"  Sakura was getting impatient.
     "Li-kun was pretty badly injured.  He'll be in the hospital
for a few days."
     Sakura's gym bag wiggled a bit, and there was a muffled
"Good," from inside.
     "Hush, Kero, we're in public."
     The noise level abruptly dropped as the officials (or as
official as underground tournaments ever got) stepped onto the
raised area that would serve as the fight ring.
     "Let the tournament begin!" shouted the owner of the
building, a courtesy to him for the use of the space.

     Li Shaoran was not one to take things lying down.  He
winced as he thrust a bandaged arm into the sleeve of his robe. 
"Fools, thinking a few small burns can stop me."  He looked at
the television, set to a news program that displayed the time. 
He'd have to hurry if he didn't want to forfeit his fight.
     He briefly considered going out the window, but Li didn't
quite feel up to a ten-story leap.  So sneaking through the
corridors it was.  The hospital was quieter with nightfall, and
the one visible nurse had her back turned to him.
     Moving slowly, so as not to aggravate his burns too much,
Li ghosted down the hall.  He smiled.  His sifu had always been
critical of his light-foot skills, yet he was doing just fine.
     The stairs were around the left corner, and--there was
someone there, waving their arms.  "Yo, young'un, where do you
think you're going?"
     Li broke into a run, dodging a bit clumsily around the
overalls-clad figure, and a yellow stand on the ground. 
Belatedly, it occurred to him that the figure was a janitor, and
the floor was covered in fresh wax.  
     Worse, a nurse wheeling a cart filled with clattering glass
containers was between him and the stairwell.  Li attempted to
shift direction, but his feet went out from under him, and even
his best roll didn't keep him from landing painfully on burns.
     His momentum carried Li into the cart, and the containers
shattered around him.
     "Ooh, that's got to hurt," said the nurse.  "It's a good
thing those urine sample jars were empty.  You just hold on, and
the stretcher will be right here."

     Sakura bounced impatiently on the balls of her feet.  She'd
had to wait five agonizing minutes before this Li person's
failure to show up had won her the match by default, then
another half hour while other fights went by.
     At last, the one she was waiting for came up.  Blanka
against someone named Frey Arbeit.  She jostled her way to a
front-row vantage point.  
     Blanka was as impressive (I am not frightened, Sakura
assured herself) as she remembered from glimpses at other
tournaments.  He was hugely muscled, and the orange mane of hair
added even more size.
     By comparison, Herr Arbeit was nearly completely
overshadowed.  He was short and scrawny, with sunken eyes and
thinning blond hair.  He wore a white gi a size or two too large
for him, with the word "Rache" painted in red on the back.
     Not very imposing, but Sakura knew that looks could be
deceiving.  After all, she herself looked like a harmless
schoolgirl.
     The fight began, and the two warriors circled, sizing each
other up.  Soon, Blanka charged, his mighty paws slapping Arbeit
halfway across the ring.  The German fighter wiped some blood
from his lips and jumped over Blanka's follow-up legsweep.  He
then counterattacked, stiff fingers darting about Blanka's body.
     "Pressure point specialist," muttered Sakura.  That kind of
attack was devastating, if it managed to hit accurately.  But if
it missed, a pressure point attack did far less damage than a
regular punch.
     Arbeit had landed at least one of his blows, as Blanka
roared in pain.  The beastial fighter attacked aggressively,
rolling forward.
     It was quickly obvious that Blanka had the advantage in
this battle.  His superior reach and unusual physiology made it
difficult for Arbeit to attack his vulnerable points, while his
own attacks were at full effect.
     Soon, Blanka had Arbeit in a headlock, dangling him off the
ground.  His fist was drawn back for a final blow.  But it
seemed this was the opportunity the German had been waiting for.
 His foot lashed out in a bizarre sequence of kicks, each
striking home.
     Blanka staggered as Arbeit called out "Chakra Revers--"
     Sakura felt the Card presence even as a faint purple
outline covered Blanka and a smell of ozone filled the air.
     Arbeit's short hair stood on end, and he fell over from the
power of Blanka's electrical attack.  He did not rise.
     As soon as the referee declared Blanka the winner, A
pink-clad form tumbled out of the audience and bent over Arbeit.
 "He's just fine!"
     Dan stood up and extended a hand to Blanka.  "I knew you
couldn't have been the one who burned that man last night,
Jimmy!"
     For some reason, Blanka seemed unable to look his friend in
the eyes, and shambled away.
     Tomoyo's voice came from behind Sakura.  "Is it true,
Sakura-chan?  Did he hurt Li-kun?"  Tomoyo sounded more
concerned than she had before, and Sakura wondered again what
kind of person this Li was.
     "Thunder's inside him.  Now all I have to do is figure out
how to remove it."

     Since Sakura had gotten a bye on her first fight, and her
opponent hadn't, it was an easy victory.  The next two fights
were less simple, but not very memorable.  Likewise, Blanka tore
through his opponents.  So it was not surprising when the two
ended up in the ring together in a semi-final.
     "Go, Sakura-chan!" cheered Tomoyo, who had perched Kero on
her shoulder.  Her video camera was at the ready.
     Sakura waved, and turned her attention to her opponent.  He
was even more imposing up close, and yes, he did smell pretty
bad.  Not that she was any prize herself right now, after
several fights in a rubber suit.
     The referee shouted, "At the ready!  Set!  Fight!"
     As Blanka charged, Sakura jumped and bicycle-kicked his
head.  It didn't seem to faze him much.
     The two circled again, looking for the advantage.  Sakura
moved her hands in a diagonal position, slightly cupped as if
she were carrying a staff.  Blanka's eyes had a strange light in
them.
     "Is that Jimmy in there," she asked in a low voice, "or
Thunder?"
     Abruptly, Blanka bounded to the far side of the ring and
straightened, holding his arms towards the ceiling.
     A wolf-like aura surrounded him, and electricity arced from
him into the metal fittings above.  The lightning then rained
down on the audience, striking each member of it, and knocking
them out.
     "What?!  You monster!"
     The wolf's head turned to Sakura.  "Do not misjudge me,
maiden.  I merely stunned them, that we might speak in private."
     "Y-you can do that?"
     "I am capable of subtlety as well as power."  Sakura could
have sworn the wolf was grinning.   "But thou shouldst know
this, if thou art truly the Captor."
     "I suppose you want me to prove it?"  Sakura shifted to a
better defensive stance.
     "Thou art correct.  The false Captor, last night, insulted
me with his arrogant presumption, and was punished."  Thunder
bared its fangs.  "If thou art the Captor reborn, show me the
Key." 
     Sakura drew the small version of the Key from its hiding
place and said, "Release."  It grew to its full size, and she
grasped it at the ready.
     "Yes.  That is truly the key.  I acknowledge that thou art
the true Captor of the Clow."
     "So, are you going to come quietly?"
     "I think not.  This host pleaseth me.  He hath both a
strong heart, and an innocent one.  I had to defeat both Flower
and Sweet to possess him."
     Sakura tapped her foot impatiently.  "You are *not* going
to keep that body.  If nothing else, you're driving a wedge
between Jimmy and his friend.  Does Dan deserve to be treated
like that?"
     Thunder was quiet for a moment.  "Thine argument hath
merit.  Very well, then, if thou canst show thy strength against
me and mine host, then shall I allow thee to master me."  The
aura faded into Blanka, and the green-skinned warrior moved
naturally again.
     Sakura slotted the staff into the loops on her costume. 
"Let's fight, then."
     Blanka grunted agreement, and they came at each other.  
     Sakura was faster and more agile than her opponent, but not
as much as their relative sizes would normally have indicated. 
And he was obviously much, much stronger.  A solid hit from one
of those mighty thews, and she'd be down for the count.  So she
spent the first few moments dodging.
     She backpedaled to get some room, and considered her
options.  Thunder wasn't like the other cards she'd fought; it
seemed reasonable, in a broad sense of the word.  It wasn't
likely she could provoke it into making a mistake.  And its host
was the most skilled fighter she'd faced since Ken.
     No help for it, then.  Sakura would have to resort to
magic.  As she dodged another series of blows, she reached into
a pocket and pulled forth the Mirror Card.  "Multiple copies! 
Release!"
     Instantly, several duplicates of Sakura appeared in a
circle around Blanka.  They dodged and tumbled in unison with
her.  As Blanka tried to figure out which of the figures was
real, Sakura concentrated on her ki.
     "Hadoken!"  Her 'fireball' impacted Blanka's rear end,
breaking his confusion.  
     The beastial fighter roared with rage, and made a rolling
charge.  Sakura jumped, allowing him to slam into the concrete
pillar she was standing in front of.  Blanka made a considerable
dent in it, and plaster drifted down from the ceiling.
     Sakura moved in before he could recover, and hit Blanka
with a series of spinning kicks.
     Unfortunately, it didn't do as much damage as she had
hoped, and Blanka grabbed her ankle.  He glowed and released his
electrical aura.  
     "Th-th-thank you, Tomoyo," Sakura said through gritted
teeth, realizing that her costume was indeed protecting her from
the worst of the damage.  She reached for another card, in the
process losing all but the one she was holding to the floor.
     "Push Card!  To the wall--release!"
     Blanka was sent crashing into a wall, and seemed slower
rolling back towards Sakura.
     She looked down, seeking the right card for her purpose. 
Yes, there it was.
     "Illusion Card!  Become what Blanka most desires! 
Release!"
     To Sakura's surprise, the card's illusion took on a vague
female shape, standing in front of Blanka.  It held its arms
open wide.
     Blanka's jaw dropped open.  "Ma...ma?"
     Sakura abruptly felt ashamed of her trickery, but this was
no time to hold back.  She moved into position, and delivered a
classic rising uppercut.
     As Blanka crashed to the ground, Thunder appeared again,
and said, "Thou hast won the battle.  Thou art worthy to be mine
master, Captor."
     Sakura nodded and pulled out her Key.  "Return to the Form
you were meant to be!  Clow Card!"  She tapped it lightly on
Blanka's forehead, and the Thunder Card appeared, the piece of
pasteboard spinning in mid-air.
     Sakura did a little victory dance.  "I did it!  I did it! 
Who's the Card Captor?"
     The audience began waking up.  Sakura waved at her friend. 
"Yuriko!  I di--"  Her world exploded into stars and darkness.

     "'Innocent heart', my foot," complained Sakura.  "Blanka
blindsided me!"  She was awake again, and sitting up on one of
the mats that held injured fighters.
     Tomoyo smiled.  "But none of the judges saw that, now did
they?  You were out, Blanka was standing, so he won the fight. 
And you won the important battle, right?"
     Sakura nodded, and immediately regretted it.  Blanka had
clipped her good.  But he'd lost the final, probably because her
fight had worn him out.
     "Let's go home."

     A blond man on a mat several feet away hadn't heard the
conversation, lost as he was in his own musings.  "Ach, that
verdammt beast got me good.  Twice in one evening.  But he's
never displayed the ability to knock out an entire crowd before.
 My masters will be most interested to learn this...."


     Kero-Chan Check!
 
     Konyannichiwa!  I didn't have much of a role this time, but
I'll do better next chapter!
     Tomoyo-chan may have some wacky ideas about costume design,
but sometimes they're practical, like today's outfit!  And
Sakura-chan sure looks hot in rubber!
     "Kerrroooo...."
     "Time to go!  Catch you on the flip side!"


                       TO BE CONTINUED


Author's Notes:  Late is better than never, right?  Lurker sure
threw everyone a loop last time, and I'm afraid I had to pass
most of the consequences to the next fellow.  Best of luck!
     The song fragment is from the group X-Japan.
     Thanks to my prereaders, especially Sharyna.

Comments, questions?
SKJAM!