___ ___ <__< BLOSSOMS IN THE SPRING <__< A crossover Improfanfic started by The Eternal Lost Lurker This chapter by Eric Trendell Street Fighter and all related trademarks belong to Capcom. Cardcaptor Sakura and all related trademarks belong to CLAMP, Kodansha. Used without permission. ___ <__< Chapter Nine: Sakura saves a FLOWER!! ___ <__< -----=====----- In the corner of the furthest back alley in Tokyo, there lay a small garden, lovingly tended. Although it seemed almost astonishing that such loveliness could exist in the midst of the city, it was still there; an island of pale pink beauty in the ocean of smog and dirt. Yet, like all things beautiful, this flower garden was also doomed to pass away ... "Ha! Betcha I can smash more flowers than you!" The voice rang from the main street, alarming the girl in the dingy alley. Before she could move, the boys rushed into the alley. Alarmed, the girl rose to her feet, her pink dress swirling as she did so. "Stop! No! Those are my flowers!" They ignored her, trampling her garden into the dirt. When they stopped, all that was left of her once-beautiful garden were a few broken stems, tenaciously holding on to their once-bright petals. "Why?" she sobbed. "Why did you have to do that?" The taller of the two boys turned to her, the scar on his cheek visible in the moonlight. "Well, it's like this. We're the Greater Tokyo Protection Society, and we're offering you a service. You pay us 10,000 yen each month, or...," the boy grinned for a moment, then continued, "The equivalent in barter, we'll make sure incidents like this don't happen again. If you don't ..., well, the streets around here are dangerous, and we can't be responsible for what happens to your precious garden. Or for what happens to you, for that matter." The boy looked at her with hungry eyes, and ambled over, confident in his mastery of the situation. "So, what do you say we go inside and ... negotiate, about how you're going to pay for our protection?" As his arm touched her shoulder, she looked up from where she had been staring at the ground, and slapped him. Hard. "Hentai!" She backed off, her hands in front of her. "You've destroyed my flowers... my precious flowers." Her eyes glinted - with insanity, anger, or power- the boy was never able to discern quite which one it was - and her hands came up, as a blizzard of flowers appeared and fell, drifting towards him. He couldn't move out of the way, and couldn't run fast enough. The flowers approached and overtook him as he ran. There was a pink glow as the rain of soft petals continued- then darkness. He awoke a few hours later, almost two blocks away. Blinking his eyes, he squinted against the unaccustomed light of day. He was unharmed. And all around him, were the soft shapes of pink petals - pink petals from the flowers that should have never been in Tokyo, but somehow were. -----=====----- "Sakura-chan?" The miniature magical beast hovered in the air in front of her face, his eyes worried. "I wanted you to practice your spells ... but don't you think this is going a little far?" Sakura shook her head. "If I'm going to do this, Kero-chan, I'm going to do it right. I've already trained with all the others -" Cerberus interrupted her, saying, "You haven't practiced with the FIGHT yet." Sakura simply looked at the little plush toy. Sensing imminent death if it's decision didn't involve staying silent, Kero decided to follow the better part of valor and shut up. "As I was saying, I've trained with all the others that I'd use. This is the only one left- and as you said, it's better to know how to use these if I need to." "But ... you don't even know what it'll show you! It might remind you about too much of your past, or tell you about too much of your future!" The schoolgirl shrugged. "It's better to know about something now than to be surprised by it later. We might as well get started." "Sakura! Wait- it might disrupt reality! If you too much about your past, and you're not ready to reconcile the two lives-" Cerberus cut off his admonition. She had begun, and he couldn't stop her now, not in this form. Tossing the card into the air, she brought the Key Staff around, striking the card. "Let me see... that which will happen! DREAM!" As the card began to glow, it fragmented into hundreds of smaller images, each resembling the original card in minute detail. Swirling into a cloud of sparkling points of light, they converged upon Sakura - and faded into her. Sakura blinked once, then again - and promptly fell asleep. Cerberus winced as she fell; thankfully, she merely fell onto her bed. "Sakura-chan..." Settling himself onto her nightstand, he prepared to wait. There was nothing he could do now; all he could do is hope she woke up soon, and sane. -----=====----- Darkness. Complete, and utter darkness. No light breached it; no sound penetrated it; no feeling could break the wall of the darkness that surrounded Sakura. She looked down; to her surprise, saw a slight glow from beneath her. The glow expanded and enveloped her; the darkness faded ... She saw a little girl, standing upon the top of a tower. Facing her, a creature -a person- out of humanity's worst nightmares and fondest dreams. The creature's wings, a benison of light- but merely reflected light. They have no light of their own, only that which others have given them. It wears a gi that seems different; the gi is not what she expects, yet somehow, she knew it would be different than normal ones. The creature's face ... seems familiar, somehow. Sakura know the face, has seen it before; however, the name of the person it belongs to eludes her. Something with the face is wrong, she thinks. Considering what it could be, she slowly nods her head; the eyes are wrong. They are not as they should be. The eyes are too cold, too distant; they look the same as the wings, she realizes. They only shine with reflected light. Those eyes are a piece of the sky, torn out and placed where there should be warmth. She shakes her head, to break the fascination that those eyes hold over her. Her view changes, and she is now able to see the girl who the creature is facing. The girl is young, and wears a pink-and-white outfit. Sakura muses on that, momentarily- it almost looks like one of Tomoyo's design. She blinks, noticing something in the girl's hand. The Key Staff! This girl, whoever she is, is holding the Key Staff! But that could only mean... Almost unwillingly, Sakura's attention is drawn to the girl's eyes. They are interesting eyes; fearful yet determined. She looks deeply into the eyes, and recognizes what she sees inside. Herself. With that recognition, she sees another image superimposed upon the one already there. It is an image of her standing in front of the figure. Her real self this time, not the child Sakura she had seen before. Taking up an attack stance, she prepares to strike, even as the child Sakura listens to the creature. Both images fade, and Sakura is left once more in darkness. The image of The DREAM appears before her, as it was on the card. Once again, the image fragments into numerous pieces. Sakura watches as the fragments envelop her, and everything becomes light... She sees herself entering an alley, followed by Tomoyo, holding Cebrerus. She begins to talk with a girl in the alley, who wears a pink dress. Sakura's image becomes agitated, and reaches out to touch the girl's arm. At this, Sakura feels a pounding, an insistent warning. She shouts to her image, pleading with her not to touch the girl. Her image cannot hear her, however, and therefore doesn't listen. The girl backs off, extending her hands. Flower petals begin to fall- slowly at first, then faster. Soon, the image of Sakura cannot move- it is trapped in the petals, which continue falling... The world fades, and all returns to darkness. A third image appears; once again, it is the alley. Sakura sees the girl, sleeping. A figure appears above her- blond, in a pink dress. The figure's face, which seems made for festivity and laughter, is pulled into an unnatural pout; its cheeks are wet with the remnants of tears. It looks similar to the images cast by The THUNDER and The PUSH. The image of the girl looks straight at Sakura, and seems to recognize her. "The ... the Captor. Help me! Help me!" Just then, the sleeping girl awakens with a start; the figure seems to be struggling, but is eventually pulled back into the body of the girl. The girl looks at Sakura and smiles. "Come and get me, whoever you are- you won't take my flowers away. You can't have my pretty, pretty flowers..." The scene dissolves into nothingness. All around Sakura, there is darkness. Darkness, unending and absolute. -----=====----- "Sakura-chan?" There is a voice coming from above her. A familiar voice, a concerned voice. Recognizing it, she winces slightly. It figures. "Tomoyo?" she mumbled. "What ... what is it?" "How are you feeling?" Somewhat dismayed by this interruption of her peaceful sleep, Sakura opened her eyes - and remembered. She remembered using The Dream. Sakura remembered her dreams- her prophetic, insane dreams. She quickly looks around- everything is just as she's left it. "How did you get in here?" Sakura felt it best to answer a question with another question, especially since she wasn't sure if this was real, or simply another image provided her by The Dream. Tomoyo pouted cutely. "Your mother let me in, Sakura-chan. Are you feeling ok? Something seems wrong..." Sakura groaned inwardly, and put on a false expression of cheer. "Nope! Nothing at all- simply tired today. Hai, that's it." She sat up, hitting the nightstand as she did. Kero-chan fell to the floor, hitting with a thud. "Ooo... why is the world spinning?" Snapping back to reality, the little plush toy looked at Sakura, worry in his eyes. "Sakura-chan! Are you all right? What happened during the dream?" Tomoyo blinked, confused; Sakura merely looked at him. "Kero-chan," Tomoyo began, "What do you mean, during the dream? What happened?" The little plush toy instantly quieted, silenced by a glare from Sakura. Now, unfortunately, Tomoyo was looking at her. "Sakura-chan? What dream?" Sakura tried to laugh it off, but couldn't- Tomoyo was still looking at her, that pleading look in her eyes. Shooting another glare at Cerberus, Sakura began to explain what had happened with The Dream last night... ----=====----- The girl looked up at the approaching boy. Standing, she looked at him warily. "What do you want?" He didn't seem to be much of a threat, on closer inspection. He did carry a sword, but that bit of strangeness seemed almost minimal, compared to some of the creeps she'd seen. Why, that last man, with the scar... she shuddered, even thinking about him. The boy looked at her, then back at the divining board in his hand. "Strange," he muttered to himself. "She doesn't look like a card..." Her easy, light laugh rang throughout the alley. "I assure you, I'm not whatever you seem to think I am. My name's Asuko." He bowed, stiffly. "And I am Li Shaoran." He paused, then decided to continue. "By any chance have you seen something... strange, around here? Something that seems unnatural?" Asuko laughed again. It had a peculiar, infectious quality to it. "I live in the slums, Shaoran-kun. I'd wager I've seen more unnatural things than you ever will." She waved her hands, looking around her. "To most, this garden would seem unnatural. We don't have much time for flowers, around here. However, this garden is my home." Shaoran looked at her, his gaze filled with contempt that the girl didn't notice. His board couldn't be right... but it had never been wrong. All he could do, then, was look for the card. "Mind if I look around?" She looked back at Shaoran, and their eyes met. "Certainly. Just don't step on the flowers." He turned away, and began to search, chilled by what he saw in Asuko's eyes. Even if he had to kill the insane girl, Asuko, to do so, he would capture the Clow Cards. He would be the captor. He wouldn't let some other person take his Tomo... take his place. That was it- take his place. Not whatever else he might have thought. He knew he could; he knew he had to. ----=====----- "Alright... so, which card is it?" Sakura asked. Immediately after she had finished, Cerberus had informed her that it seemed to be a Clow Card inhabiting the girl from the dream alley. Somehow, Sakura she had expected that. Cerberus posed dramatically in the air, his wings positioned so that he could pontificate to his heart's content. "Well, it's the FLOWER Card. There's no doubt about that." Tomoyo nodded. "Un. FLOWER looked just like the image you described back ... when you first captured it, and it buried the entire school in flower petals then, too. It's just..." Cerberus interrupted, "It's just a few things that trouble me. First, The FLOWER didn't know how to attack when you captured it before. It seems strange that it would now. However, the strange thing is the card's reaction in the dream... I'm not sure why it would need help. Perhaps ..." Sakura never found out what Cerberus was going to say; at that moment, she had an idea. "I think I recognized the alley- let's go there, and find out." Tomoyo frowned. "Find out what, Sakura-chan?" "Whether there's a card there or not. Come on!" And maybe, she thought, just maybe, if we hurry Tomoyo won't be able to get one of her outfits for me. ----=====----- Shaoran was beginning to become exasperated; rather, he had finished becoming exasperated quite some time ago and was now well on his way to extremely upset. Pacing back and forth, looking for the card had worn off quite some time ago. Now, he was convinced that the girl was the card, and was simply playing him for a fool. "I won't let her do that," he muttered to himself. "I'm the descendant of Clow Reed himself. No Card will make a fool out of Li Shaoran." The boy turned to Asuko, drawing his sword. He held it menacingly in front of him, as he advanced upon the now-sleeping girl. He walked carefully, trying not to make any noise; unfortunately for him, he wasn't careful of the right thing. He stepped on her flowers. Asuko woke up at that. Perhaps, she somehow knew that her flowers were in danger; perhaps it was merely chance. Either way, it was bad luck for him. Her eyes looked up, and found his. She flushed with anger, and Shaoran's eyes widened. "What in the world?" he asked out loud. "How did you ... how did you make your eyes blue?" She didn't answer, merely raising her hands. He could hear her mutter, over and over again, "My flowers... my pretty flowers... I must protect them." The sword flashed out, pointed straight at Asuko. "God of Thunder ... Answer my call!" Lightning responded, flaring into his sword; it did the boy no good. He was already unconscious, buried under millions of pale pink flower petals. Humming, Asuko turned to lift the boy. "Oof... you're heavy, Li Shaoran." A tear ran down her cheek, as she carried him towards the entrance to the alley. "I thought you were different; somehow, I hoped that you didn't want to destroy my beautiful place... I'm sorry I was wrong, Shaoran-kun." Still humming, she made her way to the end of the alley, carrying the boy with her. ----=====----- Sakura's hope was in vain; Tomoyo had, indeed, prepared a backup outfit in case of an emergency sealing. It was, as she had feared, another of the idiotic-looking variety; one look at Tomoyo's pleading eyes, however, and she couldn't refuse to wear it. Nothing stopped her from complaining, however. "Tomoyo-chan ... I look like a ornament in this bow. How am I supposed to dodge, with these boots on?" "You won't need to dodge, Sakura-chan! The FLOWER card doesn't know how to attack!" Tomoyo smiled beatifically. "Right, right... I keep forgetting. " Sakura continued to grouse, more The alley was in the deepest, darkest hole that existed in Tokyo. Sakura-chan had been through here often enough- her fights were often held in this area. She recognized the alley right off; so did Tomoyo, though for a different reason. "Shaoran-kun!" The three dashed to intercept the girl carrying Li Shaoran. "What ... what have you done to Shaoran-kun?" Asuko smiled vaguely. "I'm sorry; do I know you?" "No, but we know the boy you're carrying. What happened?" "He... he tried to step on my flowers. My precious flowers..." Asuko shook her head, then continued. "Would you like to see them? They're very pretty, and there aren't many pretty things here in the city. Just be careful not to touch them- they're fragile. They're very, very fragile..." Sakura nodded. The girl was clearly insane, but it would be best to humor her... Besides, if the FLOWER was possessing her, it would be best to be as close as possible before trying to capture it. The three entered the alley, Tomoyo carrying Cerberus. "Please, enjoy the flowers... just stay and talk... and don't hurt them..." Sakura nodded, clearly becoming annoyed with the girl. She was about to grab the girl's arm when she remembered. Snatching her hand back, she excused herself, walking over to examine the garden. As she did so, Tomoyo surreptitiously passed Cerberus to Sakura, before moving over and talking to the other girl about her flowers. "Kero-chan?" Sakura inquired softly. The little figure sat in her hand, silently. "Kero-chan!" she repeated, with more force this time. The little figure jolted awake at Sakura's tone, shaking in her hand, then suddenly becoming very still. "Yes, it's the FLOWER." Cerberus confirmed, speaking quietly so that the girl wouldn't hear. The two of them continued to look around, quietly discussing plans to subdue her. "Sakura-chan?" Tomoyo's voice called out to her. Sakura turned around, Kero-chan complaining quietly about being whirled so fast. "Sakura-chan ... she's asleep." No sooner had Tomoyo finished speaking than the image appeared. It was the same as the image in Sakura's dream- a blond girl with the mark of a flower opening upon her forehead, in a pink dress. Just as in the dream, she seemed sad. "It's the Captor... Help me... Help me..." The image looked directly at Sakura. "Help me..." Its voice faded, as tears dripped down it's cheeks. Sakura nodded to it. "Are you... the FLOWER?" It nodded, sadly. "Why do you need help, then? Shouldn't you simply be able to abandon your host, or take your powers away from it?" The FLOWER shook her head violently. "I ... I can't. I've tried to leave, and I simply can't do it- she can control me..." The voice faded again, and the expression on the FLOWER's face became one of horror. "No! Help me..." The image faded, drawn back slowly into the girl's body. The young Street Fighter reached into the pocket of her coat, and withdrew the key pendant. "Key which hides the powers of the Dark... reveal your true form before me! I, Sakura, command you under our contract! RELEASE!" The key, released, grew into the Key Staff. She gripped the base in her right hand as she advanced, beaked end at the ready... ----=====----- Asuko stirred, almost unwillingly. She looked up - what was it, that disturbed her sleep? She saw the girl from earlier, the one with the funny outfit, advancing upon her with a strange looking staff... "She must want to destroy my flowers!" Asuko said to herself. Still talking to herself, she prepared to release her flowers. After all, she must protect her garden... she must! Must! The girl with the staff was ready, though. As Asuko began, the girl pulled something- a square of paper, she thought- from her pocket. Throwing it into the air, she swung the staff around, hitting the square with the beaked end of the staff, and chanted, "Duplicate, appear to aid me! MIRROR!" The card flared, light spilling out from it. Asuko covered her eyes quickly, instinctively. When she lowered her arm, there were two of the strangely dressed girls. One standing in front of her, where she had used to be ... and one standing behind her. No matter, Asuko thought. They both want to damage my flowers... my flowers." Turning, Asuko let her flowers bury the image that had appeared. She never saw the Key Staff approach her back, and make contact. She never heard the girl chant, "Return to the guise that you were meant to be in! CLOW CARD!" Asuko didn't feel a thing, as her flowers were taken away forever. ----=====----- The Card landed in front of Sakura in a flare of light. Picking it up, she saw inscribed upon it the legend "The FLOWER". She quickly tucked it into a pocket in her outfit. Tomoyo looked over at the girl who was lying there. "So we just leave her here? Bereft of all that which she once held dear?" Tomoyo's normally sunny expression had grown dark, in contemplation. Sakura hesitated, then shook her head. She walked over to the girl, who now lay on the ground crying. "Listen to me." she said. The girl looked up, grief in her eyes. "Why... why did you take my flowers away? Why?" Sakura rubbed the back of her head, then continued. "It wanted to be free. It didn't want to hurt people, only to be happy and to join in where people were having fun. You know that, right?" The girl nodded, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You don't have to stop growing your flowers, simply because you don't have the power to make them from thin air anymore." Sakura gestured over to the girl's garden. "You grew this on your own- without help from any Card. This came from you. You can still make it on your own." The girl nodded, determinedly. She scrubbed the tears away with the back of one sleeve, and looked at Sakura. "Yes. I can." She ran over to her garden, and began clearing away the weeds. As the three began to leave the alley, she turned to them and said, "My name is Asuko. What's yours?" "Sakura." Asuko looked after them for a long moment, watching them go. She looked back at her garden- truly her garden now, not some spirit's garden. Not formed from the tears of others, as so many other things were. She could continue to grow the garden, the area of beauty- on her own. Asuko looked back down at her garden. There was much to do. ----=====----- In the corner of the furthest back alley in Tokyo, there lies a small garden, lovingly tended. It seems astonishing that such a garden could exist; a place of beauty, in the midst of the dirt and the smog. This island of pale pink beauty, however, possesses a quality it never had before- it will endure. As long as people remember; as long as human will to bring life from death remains, the island will remain in the sea of human indifference. We may ask, why? Sakura knows. And now, so does Asuko. -----======----- LEAVE IT TO KERO-CHAN! -----======----- Konya nyatchiwa! And here we are again, at the conclusion of another exciting episode! Sakura-chan certainly was moving today, ne? Looks like she's learned a great deal from being a Street Fighter! (Well, what did you expect?) More than that, however, we saw some interesting flowers today! Specifically, Asuko-chan! And that means it's time for... KERO-CHAN CHECK! As you can see, Asuko's pink dress looks very similar to that of the FLOWER card! Which means, it's low-cut! And here, we can take a closer look... [Hearing the growl as he goes in for a close-up, Cerberus realizes that he's looking at Sakura, not Asuko.] Anyway, we'll look at Asuko's dress another time! See-you-next-time! [Cerberus flies off at top speed, followed closely by a Hadouken. A explosion from offstage says it connected.] Oh, my head... Look, look at the pretty birdies! ----- Author's Notes: I'm sorry, I haven't quite managed to learn the knack of getting things in on time... I'll do better soon, I promise! And next time, I'll have pre-readers! Hopefully, I got Sakura's character close-to-right, and captured some of her determination to do things on her own. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm grateful to everyone for the opportunity to write for this story. G'night! -Anthon, a.k.a. Eric Trendell. anthonius2@excite.com