One week ago, Karin oversaw the renovations personally. After all, this new 
section of her private library was soon to become very important to her.
	Karin spared no expense in gathering as many books on magic, witchcraft, 
shamanism, divination, and practically everything dealing with the occult. 
That's why she immediately noticed the strange new book that had 
inexplicably shown up, not even appearing on any inventory lists. Not that 
she was complaining. It was obviously magical, as it was sealed with some 
sort of a ward, preventing her from opening it.
	The book itself was leather-bound, tattered and faded. It had no name, but 
a surprisingly detailed, yet still faded, picture drawn on the front cover. 
The picture was of an odd looking well, presumably Chinese in origin due to 
the design. Sitting on the edge of the well, feet dangling to the inside, 
was a female figure. She was dressed in long, heavy robes, so it was the 
face that gave her gender away. A ribbon flowed out from the girl's sleeves. 
It rippled out behind her, seemingly blowing in the wind. Her head itself 
was turned to the side, leaving her looking towards the spine of the book, 
as if looking for something in that direction.
	Karin had placed the book on a raised pedestal in the middle of the 
library. For some odd reason, the mystery of this book dominated her 
thoughts. Thus when she had come back to it today to find the book slowly 
mending itself, she became extremely excited. Even more so when the book 
began to whisper to her...

**********

	The Clow Book began to glow from where Sakura had tossed it this evening...

**********

<__<  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.

Part 19: Sakura's RAINy day mystery
By Smlee

**********

	Drip...drip...drip...
	Sakura opened her eyes and looked around. It seemed impossible, but she was 
now standing inside of a large, dimly lit room. The impossible part being 
that she was supposed to be in her bedroom, fast asleep. Sakura looked down 
at herself. Sure enough, she was dressed in her pajamas.
	A sudden rumble shook the room, dropping Sakura to her knees. It was there 
Sakura made the interesting discovery that she was standing on the surface 
of what looked to be depthless water. There was her confirmation. She was 
definitely still asleep.
	The rumbling came again and drew Sakura's attention away from the water. 
She looked up to catch a glimpse of a brown-haired girl fly upwards to the 
skylight, dodging various water geysers and falling debris, on what looked 
to be the Sealing Staff. It became apparent that she was looking at her past 
self. For some reason, Sakura extended her hand, as if to grasp the other 
Sakura's staff. What she had managed to grab...was a nose?
	Sakura sat up and blinked. She came face to face with the person attached 
to the nose, Hitomi.
	Sakura blushed and let go. "Sorry."
	"Another dream?" Hitomi inquired. She brought a hand up and rubbed her 
nose.
	"Um. Yeah. It was strange. Usually, I dream of..." Sakura pulled up short, 
as she realized she was about to say something she shouldn't. "But anyways, 
this was different."
	"Perhaps you were dreaming of experiences in a past life." Stated Hitomi 
with all seriousness.
	Sakura blinked. How had she known?
	"I read in a science journal last month that they did experiments on that 
sort of stuff." Hitomi resumed in her usual light tone.
	Ok...so she read it in a magazine. Still, that didn't explain why she 
brought it up.
	"One of the test subjects acted very much like you. Except there wasn't a 
nose to grab onto." Hitomi continued.
	Well, that explains that. There was still one more thing nagging Sakura... 
"Why the heck are you in my room?"
	Hitomi tilted her head slightly and looked at Sakura. "Don't tell me you 
forgot!"
	Sakura scanned what little memory was working at this time of the morning. 
It took a few seconds, but it dawned on Sakura. She'd been invited to a 
celebratory breakfast for the track team's win yesterday.
	Sakura grumbled as she got out of bed and shoved Hitomi out the door. She 
picked up a few scattered articles of clothing to wear, and kicked the 
drawer where Kero slept. If she had to be awake, so did he. Her attention 
was drawn to the Clow Book. It lay open, the Dream card on the top of the 
pile of cards. It was odd, because Sakura hadn't used the Dream card for a 
while now. Sakura shut the book. No time for that now. Sakura marched to the 
bathroom.
	Kero's head popped out of the drawer. "I'm up! I'm up! What's going on?" He 
looked around, not seeing Sakura anywhere. Kero's bleary mind identified a 
scuffling noise from the bathroom as being made by the person who attacked 
his drawer. He fluttered in to defend Sakura's room.
	A half second later he came back out, riding on a blue shockwave that 
smashed him into a wall.

**********

	"Sorry I'm late!" Sakura yelled as she approached the track area where the 
school had set up the breakfast. She could smell the food the was being 
served, and doubled her pace.
	All eyes turned to watch Sakura approach. Sakura dashed past Tomoyo, who 
was filming everything like usual. She pulled up short of crashing into the 
first table. Sakura glanced around for familiar faces. There was Rena, 
Chiharu and Miyuki, sitting off to the side. Hitomi sat in the middle of a 
large group, apparently telling a story of some sort. And there was Yukari, 
waving Sakura over to her table.
	"Come sit over here." Yukari said, indicating an empty spot next to her.
	Sakura plunked herself down.
	"How are you feeling Sakura?" Yukari immediately asked.
	"Um. Ok. Just a bit overtired." Sakura replied.
	"Well, I thought you may be feeling something," Yukari put emphasis on the 
word 'feeling', "because Miyuki feels something upsetting."
	Sakura understood now. Yukari was trying to pass her a message. Because the 
message was from Miyuki, who still held the Loop card, the nature of the 
message probably had to do with the Clow Cards. But what did she mean by 
'upsetting'?
	"Oh? What is it? A cold? The flu?" Sakura asked. Hopefully, Yukari would 
pick up on what she was really asking.
	"Well, lets hope it's nothing serious. But if it is..." Yukari looked 
worried.
	If Yukari had gotten the signal correct, whatever was happening was bad. 
But if it was so bad, how had Sakura not felt anything?
	Sakura was about to give Yukari her response when a shadow fell upon the 
field. Something had just blocked out the sun. Sakura looked upwards, noting 
the angry looking dark gray cloud that seemed to be expanding outwards at an 
alarming speed, blotting out the sky. Sakura closed her eyes and 
concentrated. This was definitely the work of a Clow Card. Perhaps this is 
what Miyuki found unsettling?
	Sakura opened her eyes to find that everyone, aside for Tomoyo, had gone, 
probably to seek shelter from the impending rain. Sakura grasped the key 
dangling from her neck.
	Sakura paused for a moment. How was she supposed to battle rain anyways? 
She had no idea who it was that held the card, making it impossible for her 
to capture it.
	A yellow raincoat was draped over Sakura's shoulder, breaking her out of 
her thoughts.
	"It's a Clow Card, isn't it?" Inquired Miyuki, who had looped in with the 
raincoat. She handed another coat to Tomoyo.
	"Yeah. Problem is, I have no idea where it is." Sakura looked up at the 
still darkening sky. A flash of lightning lit up the area briefly. "I don't 
know how much time we'll have left before it starts to rain."
	"Well...this reminds me quite a bit of the time you captured Cloud." Tomoyo 
was referring to Sakura's past life. "Are you sure this is Rain?" Tomoyo's 
question was answered a moment later when the downpour began.
	"Rain is supposed to be one of the gentler cards. Why is it doing this? How 
is it doing this? It certainly couldn't pull off a rain of this magnitude 
when you captured it the first time." Tomoyo stated, quickly following up on 
her previous statement.
	"It's reminding me of Flower..." Sakura responded.
	"I suppose that could be true. Flower is a gentle card too." Tomoyo didn't 
sound too sure.
	"Enough talk Sakura! We have to do something!" Miyuki cut in.
	"Right. RELEASE!" Sakura's key elongated into the familiar pink colored 
staff.
	Sakura struck a card with her staff. "FLY!"
	"Tomoyo! Stay here! I can't risk you getting hurt in this rain!" Sakura 
ordered.
	"Aw...you think we can stop by my house for a few minutes? I'll at least be 
able to attach a few bows and maybe some ribbons to that awful looking 
raincoat." Tomoyo asked inocently.
	Sakura twitched. "...no."
	Sakura mounted her staff, and looked to the sky. It was still getting 
darker.
	"Sakura! Take this!" Miyuki handed her a battery powered lantern.
	"Thanks. I'm going to need this." Sakura was ready to fly.

**********

	Li was running. Not that he was afraid or anything, it's just he couldn't 
seal the card on his own.
	Chasing him was a man whose entire body seemed to be composed of sand. He 
thrust out his hand and a geyser of sand shot forth, clipping Li in the arm 
and sending him spiraling to the floor. Li's sword clattered as it hit the 
ground a few meters away. And then the sandman was on him, trying to smother 
Li under himself.
	Li was trapped. It would take a miracle to get himself out of this 
situation. The pressure was on as he attempted to struggle his way out of 
the sand. His hands grasped the grains of sand, but it wouldn't allow him to 
gain any traction. Li began to feel the burn on his lungs as his breath ran 
low.
	It was when he was on the verge of blacking out he heard a new sound. The 
pitter-patter of water hitting the concrete. Li forced his burning muscles 
to push at the sandman again, who from what Li could tell, was turning into 
mud. Li managed to free an arm, then his head.
	Li grinned as he sensed the victory in hand. The sandman seemed to be 
melting under the heavy rainfall. In another half minute, Li was able to 
free himself completely. The man reverted to being completely human. It 
saved him from being lost completely.
	"Game over Sand." Li taunted as he retrieved his sword.
	The man, too hurt to do anything, could only sit there as Li grabbed a rope 
out of his backpack and tied him up.
	"Well, at least this should hold you. I don't think you're going to want to 
change into sand again any time soon." Li stated. He slung the man over his 
shoulder and trudged off down to the track near the school, where he had 
divined Sakura's location to be.

**********

	Sakura tensed herself, ready to kick off when a new voice called out to 
her.
	"Sakura!" Came Li's call, muffled slightly by the rain.
	Sakura glared at him as he dumped a man at her feet. "What's this?"
	"A present. I caught this guy scouting out a bank a few blocks back. Seems 
he was planning on breaking in with his newfound gifts."
	"You mean a Clow Card?" Sakura asked.
	"No, I mean he has mutant powers. Yes a Clow Card!" Li responded 
sarcastically.
	Sakura grumbled as she sealed it. The card flew over and landed in Li's 
hands.
	"So which card is it?" Inquired Tomoyo.
	Li turned his full attention to Tomoyo. He posed with the card held high, 
obviously trying to impress Tomoyo. "I got Sand!"
	Tomoyo seemed oblivious to Li's posing. "That's nice. Now it's your turn to 
get a card Sakura!" She focused her video camera on Sakura once more.
	Li was none too pleased. "What are you talking about? The cards are mine! 
What card are we talking about anyways?"
	Miyuki gestured at the rain with a broad sweep of her arm. "Y'know, this 
was supposed to be a sunny day."
	Li eyed Miyuki. For some odd reason, he hadn't noticed her before. Probably 
because he was putting his full attention on getting Sand safely sealed. 
"Who are you supposed to be? How do you know about the cards?"
	"My name is Miyuki. I'm helping Sakura out. You don't have to be so rude." 
She walked over to Sakura. "Sakura? Can I come with you? I don't want to 
stay here with Mr. Attitude." She cast a glance in Li's direction.
	"What?" Li yelled out as he stalked towards Sakura. "If anyone goes with 
Sakura to capture cards, it should be me!"
	Miyuki put on a sweet smile. "Ok, you go with her then! Taa!" She activated 
Loop and warped over to Tomoyo's side.
	Li blinked at the new development. That girl had a Clow Card? He was about 
to go after her, but remembered he just told Sakura that he'd be going with 
her. Somehow, Miyuki had saved them minutes of bickering that probably would 
have taken place. Li grumbled as he climbed onto the staff behind Sakura.
	"You should probably hang on. But I swear. If you touch anything above, or 
below the waist, you'll be sorry." Sakura threatened in a low voice.
	Li gulped as he slid his hands around Sakura's waist.

**********

	Li grasped his Derivitor in one hand, and had a grip on Sakura with the 
other. A blue light shone forth from it, but it became impossible to see 
very far in this weather. The driving rain practically blinded them. If not 
for the light from the lantern, and the Derivitor, they'd be flying blind. 
As it was, they had almost crashed into the side of a few skyscrapers so 
far.
	"I don't know about you, but I'm fairly sure we've gone around in a circle 
a few times. Are you sure that piece of junk works?" Sakura yelled to be 
heard over the rain.
	Li tried to bore a hole in Sakura's back with his gaze, then went back to 
the board. Surprisingly, it pointed almost straight downwards.
	"Sakura! It's here!" Li yelled.
	Li felt Sakura tense up as she guided the staff downwards.

**********

	"Surprise surprise." Sakura said as soon as they hit the ground.
	They were standing in front of the gates to a rather large estate. Li read 
the sign on the wall indicating the owner's name. Karin Kanzuki. Where did 
he recognize the name from?
	"That bitch. She left us in Hong Kong to rot. And now this. She's going to 
get one hell of a butt whooping." Sakura was furious.
	Sakura walked up to the gates, and looked for a way inside. Then she just 
decided to make her own entrance. She began gathering her ki, focusing it 
into her hands, and outwards, collecting it in a bright blue ball of force.
	Li noticed something out of the corner of his eye as the area lit up. He 
turned to look. It was a man, with yellow hair and a red fighting gi, laying 
face down on the street outside the gates. He looked hurt.
	"Sakura! There's somebody hurt over here!" Li's yell broke Sakura's 
concentration and she let the ki fizzle. She turned to where she'd heard 
Li's voice coming from, and brought her lantern over there. As soon as the 
light began to reveal exactly who was hurt, a sick feeling rose in Sakura's 
stomach. Laying face down in the street was Ken Masters.

**********

	The rain had stopped almost immediately after they had found Ken. Turns out 
he wasn't really that badly hurt, just a few scratches, bruises, and burns. 
They had brought him to Li's house, and laid him out comfortably in his bed.
	"He should be alright. Us fighters have an uncanny knack for healing much 
faster than normal. We'll just have to wait for him to wake up." Sakura 
said. "Besides. I think we'd be best finding out what happened to him before 
we go barging in on Karin."
	Li began to think out loud. "But how could this have happened? The burn 
marks I mean. I thought Karin couldn't use ki attacks? Plus if she's the one 
with the Rain card, it wouldn't be doing this." He pointed to the burns.
	"How is it Karin beat him anyways? Should we assume it was Karin that beat 
him?" Sakura continued his thoughts.
	"...get out of my head." Li growled menacingly.
	A silence came over the room for a few minutes as Sakura and Li took up 
positions at opposite sides of the room. Still, the tension was high as they 
glared into eachother's eyes.
	The silent exchange was broken a while later when Li remembered he hadn't 
signed the Sand card in all the excitement. He went off to find a pen.
	Sakura let out a sigh of relief as soon as he was out of sight. "What's his 
problem?" Sakura mused out loud.
	"Maybe he knows you're a better fighter than he is." Came a voice from 
behind her.
	Sakura turned around and saw Ken sitting up in bed. He gave her a smile as 
he reached over to grab the pile of clothing that had been lain out beside 
the bed.
	Sakura whirled back around, allowing him some privacy to get dressed. 
"So...um...are you feeling good?"
	Ken pulled his shirt over his head. "As well as can be expected after that 
beating." He sounded grim.
	"What happened anyways? Was it Karin?" Sakura asked.
	"Yeah, it was Karin. She took me by surprise, pressed the advantage, and 
when she was done, threw me out. I'm never going there again."
	"But...how'd she do it? Um...the burns and stuff."
	Ken placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, indicating it was safe for her to 
turn around. "Believe it or not, she's found some way to shoot ki 
projectiles. I don't know how, but it caught me by surprise."
	Sakura was surprised. Ki projectiles? That had always been her one 
advantage over Karin. Now Karin had somehow managed to copy her technique? 
This could be trouble. But how had she done it? Her style of fighting didn't 
incorporate ki projectiles. It would have taken years of training and 
studies just to modify her technique like that. So how had she done it?
	"But...why were you there in the first place?" Sakura asked, hoping to 
glean some more information.
	"I received an invitation at my hotel room. Karin wanted to discuss a new 
business venture. I knew she was really looking for a fight though, so I 
came prepared. Just not prepared enough."
	Sakura absorbed the new piece of information, and fired off her next 
question. "When you were fighting her, did you notice anything strange? Like 
say, another presence in her body?"
	"You mean a Clow Card? I didn't feel anything from Karin. As soon as the 
fight started, this evil presence seemed to cover anything Karin did, 
masking her actions from me. You know how it works. You sort of sense where 
the attack will come from before it actually happens, except I couldn't due 
to that evil presence."
	"So you sensed that Karin was evil?" Sakura asked, not quite understanding. 
Although the part about Karin being evil, she already knew...
	"No this was something else. Its as if there was another presence entirely 
in the room with us. And it definitely wasn't one of those Clow Cards. At 
least those felt like they had an underlying goodness to them. This was pure 
evil."
	Sakura shuddered. What was going on with Karin? Perhaps it was time to 
phone home and get Kero. Sakura rushed from the room, past Li who was just 
coming back.
	While Ken filled in Li to what they'd been talking about, Sakura 
frantically called home.

**********

	"Sakura?" Kero spoke after picking up the phone.
	"Kero! You have to get over here quick!" Came Sakura's voice over the 
phone.
	"Look. I'm in the middle of a very intense game right now. Can you call 
back later?" Kero asked, completely oblivious to the fact that Sakura seemed 
frantic.
	"Kero! There's no time for games now! We have a major problem! I need you 
here!"
	"Whoa whoa whoa, kid. What's the problem?"
	Sakura was getting irritated. "KERO! Get your plushy butt down to Li's 
house right away! We have a situation here!"
	"Alright already! I'll just leave my game on pause. But this better not be 
a joke." Kero said.
	"It's no joke! Life or death situation over here. Hurry up!"
	Kero hung up the phone and ran to the window. After a minute of fumbling 
with the latch, he managed to open the window. He leapt out into the open 
air, noting the dark clouds that hung ominously over the area. It looked as 
if a bad storm was about to hit. Kero became worried about his game. He'd 
been lucky earlier that the power hadn't gone out when the first storm hit. 
He wished silently that the power didn't go out now.
	It occurred to him at this moment that the situation Sakura was talking 
about might have to do with the strange weather. Since it was threatening 
his game too, Kero doubled his pace.

**********

	"Kero's on his way." Sakura reported. "Hopefully."
	"Well, so is Tomoyo. I spoke to her on the phone while you were chatting 
with our guest here." Li added.
	There was a knock at the door. "Must be her now." Li said.
	He ran to the door and opened it, and there was Tomoyo, along with Miyuki, 
Rena, Chiharu, and Yukari.
	"You didn't say you were bringing guests Tomoyo." Li said, indicating the 
other four.
	"But they want to help! Won't you let them help?" Tomoyo asked.
	Li folded like an accordion. "Sure. Anything for you."
	"Thank you!"
	Li blushed slightly, and hung his head, so Tomoyo wouldn't see. He looked 
back up to say something to Tomoyo, but she was already gone. He turned 
around to see Tomoyo chatting with Sakura. Li narrowed his eyes in anger.
	"So what's the situation Sakura?" Tomoyo asked.
	"I'll brief you later. We're waiting on Kero." Sakura replied. "In the 
meantime, why don't you have a seat?" Sakura motioned towards the couch.
	"Thank you Sakura! You're always so sweet and kind! You care for others! 
You help out..." Tomoyo droned on.
	Sakura drowned out Tomoyo's praise. She was used to it by now. She scanned 
the faces of all who were gathered. She couldn't figure out the reasoning 
behind anyone except Miyuki being here, as they had all lost their cards, 
and their powers back on that day.
	Sakura moved past them, to an obviously enraged Li. If it were humanly 
possible, steam would be shooting out of his ears. As it is, he was sure 
doing his best impersonation of boiling water, clenching and unclenching his 
fists. It looked as if he was barely restraining himself. What had got him 
so angry? She hadn't done anything to him...oh right. Tomoyo.
	"...you can do it! You're the only one who can!" Tomoyo finished as Sakura 
tuned back in.
	"Um. Right. Anyways, we wait for Kero. It shouldn't take him more than 
another few minutes to get here." Sakura informed her.
	Sakura walked over and made some small talk with Yukari and the bunch to 
pass the time. Li moved over to the couch and was attempting to keep 
Tomoyo's attention long enough to ask her out on another date. Ken 
was...just standing there.
	Kero arrived just in time to interrupt Tomoyo's response to Li's questions. 
He mumbled something about 'timing' under his breath.
	"OK! Now down to business. Ken?" Sakura said, turning over the floor to 
Ken, who told in detail of his fight with Karin, and the conversation he and 
Sakura had had a while ago.
	"So. Something has come over Karin. Something evil. And you think that she 
may have a Clow Card?" Kero quizzed.
	"Bingo. We traced the Rain card, which you no doubt saw earlier, to Karin's 
estate. That's where we found Ken. It all makes sense really." Sakura 
sounded sure on that. "The only thing is, how was Rain able to give Karin 
the ability to utilize ki projectiles?"
	"Perhaps...magic?" Kero replied lamely.
	Sakura slugged him a good one. "Kero! Karin doesn't know magic! The only 
other way I can think of is if she has a Clow Card! It has to be Rain. But 
how'd she get a specialized card like that to shoot these projectiles for 
her?"
	The entire group fell silent to give it some thought. Sakura felt kind of 
useless in a situation like this, since her knowledge of the Clow Cards was 
limited to what she's captured, or what she could surmise about the power of 
a certain card. Sakura resolved to have Kero teach her more when they were 
finished with this current situation. As far as the current situation was, 
she had no idea how a card that creates rain could create the type of 
projectiles Ken had described.
	"Well, no sense in waiting around." Tomoyo had stood up and interupted 
their thoughts. "We may as well go and confront Karin herself. That way, 
well find out what's going on one and for all."
	"Great idea Tomoyo!" Li cried out suddenly. "Lets go!"

**********

	By the time they had reached Karin's estate, it was raining heavily again. 
It was as if Karin knew they were coming for her. Sakura moved towards the 
large gates with a purpose. She was going to blow them off their hinges. Odd 
thing was, they were already opened...so much for that plan. Sakura motioned 
the others forwards. They all walked through the gates together.
	The rain's intensity increased with every step they took, if that was 
possible. Again, it gave Sakura the creepy feeling that Karin was somehow 
looking in on them, when they themselves could barely see past their own 
light radius now.
	They reached the main doors without incident. They too were opened wide. It 
was beginning to creep Sakura out. Inside was no better. It was raining 
there too.
	"It's raining. Indoors." Came Yukari's observation as she too passed the 
doors.
	"Weird." Rena agreed with her.
	The group pushed forwards, trying every door they came to, only to find 
them locked. Seeing as how the doors they'd been allowed to go through were 
open, they continued along, not bothering to break down the locked doors. 
Karin would be at the end of this set path, and it was probably there that 
she held the best advantage.
	It took a few minutes to find the next open door.
	"Must be hard to find the bathroom around here." Chiharu observed.
	"Definitely." Came Rena's reply.
	They walked into a wide open room. It was raining here too. The room 
consisted of two levels, the bottom of which had been filled with water. The 
rain let up slowly, until it eventually stopped entirely. What was revealed 
was that the group was standing in the midst of a large library, most of the 
books scattered here and there, soggy and torn. There was one book though, 
that seemed undamaged which rested in the middle of the room on a raised 
pedestal. Sakura could feel Kero tense up from where he had landed upon her 
shoulder.
	"It can't be. Not that book." Kero whispered.
	Sakura was baffled. What was wrong with that particular book? Other than 
the fact that it seemed to be the only book undamaged by the rain...
	The library doors slammed shut with a bang. Sakura whirled around to see 
Yukari futilely trying to pull the doors open. They were sealed shut.
	"Behind you!" Came Ken's warning, and Sakura dove to the side. Karin flew 
over her head, nearly catching her with a kick. Karin used her momentum to 
his the ground running, and she quickly closed the gap between her and the 
rest of the group.
	Ken jumped ahead to intercept Karin with his usual uppercut combo, but he 
didn't connect as Karin just brushed past him, running full tilt at Li, who 
was standing at the ready, sword drawn and pointed towards Karin. It looked 
as if she was about to impale herself on the sword, but she jumped at the 
absolute last moment, landing on the flat of Li's wide blade, to his 
surprise. Karin's weight drove the blade downward, too quick to allow Li to 
keep his grip. The sword clattered noisily to the floor.
	Karin threw her fist at Li's face, and caught him in the nose. A snap could 
be heard as his nose broke in a spray of blood. Li crumpled to the floor.
	Ken threw a Hadoken that seemed to catch Karin by surprise as she was 
leaning over Li to deliver another blow. The move didn't seem to do much to 
Karin, but she still stumbled forwards nonetheless. Miyuki, seeing the 
perfect opportunity, looped her out of the mansion.
	All sighed as Karin disappeared. Tomoyo ran over to Li to check if he was 
all right. The track team members looked around wairily, keeping an eye open 
for another attack from above. Ken was the only one to notice what happened 
next.
	Sakura had picked herself up from where she had dived, and walked over to 
the book on the pedestal. There was something about this book that had a 
vague familiarity to it. Sakura picked it up to get a better look.
	Kero, who had been thrown from Sakura's shoulder in the fall, shook himself 
off, and floated into the air. He looked around and found Sakura, standing 
next to the empty pedestal, book in hand.
	"Sakura! Don't..." Kero started.
	But it was too late. Out of curiosity, Sakura broke the seal on the book 
and opened it.
	"Don't what Kero?" Sakura asked a moment later, as she began to thumb 
through pages.
	Kero's jaw dropped. "But. I. Um. What?"
	"It's just a book Kero." She fanned the book towards him. "Nothing else."
	Kero floated in closer. "I thought I saw..."
	"Well obviously you didn't. What was it you supposedly saw? A hentai 
magazine?" Sakura asked innocently.
	"No no no. Nothing like that. I just thought I saw..." Came Kero's quick 
response.
	"The Victoria Secret catalogue?" Sakura asked again, quite innocently.
	"Will you stop with the innuendo? I'm not that way! Most of the time." Kero 
admitted.
	"Yeah well I didn't much appreciate your appreciation earlier today in the 
bathroom." Sakura said crossly.
	"That wasn't my fault! It was a natural reaction to the situation!" Kero 
defended.
	"Lets see what's natural about this!" Sakura yelled as she uppercut the 
plushie up to the ceiling.
	They definitely had the rest of the group's attention now. Except for Li, 
who seemed to be passed out on the floor. Sakura tucked the book under her 
arm and ran towards them.
	"Is he alright?" Sakura asked.
	"Well, aside for the obvious injury, I don't see anything wrong with him. 
He should wake soon." Tomoyo reported.
	"Too bad about the nose. Can you stay here with him Tomoyo? I still have 
something I need to do. Oh." Sakura said, as she tossed Tomoyo the book. 
"Hang on to that for me also."
	Tomoyo looked at the book she'd just been handed. It looked familiar in 
some way she couldn't put her finger on...
	Sakura whispered something to Miyuki. Then she stepped forwards, 
disappearing from sight.

**********

	Sakura emerged into what could only be described as a kitchen. But what 
kind of a kitchen is this big?
	First off, it was a big room. As big if not bigger than the library had 
been. You could probably fit an Olympic sized swimming pool in here. Maybe 
two. It was packed with ovens, dishwashers, microwaves, the works. Dozens of 
chefs ran around, preparing a meal. To Sakura, it was havoc.
	'How the hell am I supposed to find Karin in this mess?' Sakura thought. 
'Well, have to start somewhere.'
	Sakura's palms began to glow blue as she focused her ki into them. With a 
cry of "Hadoken!" a giant blue energy ball flew forth into one of the stoves 
in an unoccupied corner of the room, blowing it up quite nicely.
	The room was suddenly quiet, aside for the occasional sizzle sound of 
something frying. The chefs had all turned their attention to Sakura.
	"Ok! Now that I have your attention," Sakura attempted to sound a bit 
threatening, "I'm looking for Karin. Anyone seen her?"
	Obviously, she was too threatening. The next second, chefs were running to 
the exits like madmen, scrambling over eachother to get out of the room. Ten 
second's later, the room was empty, except for one guy who had decided to 
stick around to tend to his food.
	Sakura sighed and walked up to the man. She grabbed him by the back of his 
surprisingly well-tailored suit. He was well over a head taller than she 
was, but it didn't matter. Wasn't like he could do anything about it. She 
lifted him upwards, not noticing the dark clouds that began to form above.
	She turned him around, to bring him face to face with her. She was about to 
ask about Karin, when she noticed the glassy look in his eyes. Sakura was 
about to say something along the lines of "What the?" but was interrupted 
when Karin dropkicked her from behind, sending both her, and the man she'd 
been holding sprawling to the floor. It began to rain.
	Sakura flipped up to her feet again, to catch the incoming fist of Karin 
with her ribs. Sakura flew back, striking the back of her head against an 
outcropping vent over an open stove.
	Karin dashed towards Sakura, letting loose a quick flurry of punches, of 
which Sakura managed to block. Sakura attempted a counter sweep, but Karin 
leapt over, and brought her foot down in an arc. Sakura barely managed to 
defend that one.
	Sakura rolled out of the way as Karin whipped her fists across Sakura's 
face, or at least tried to. Karin managed to get a glancing blow, and it 
hurt, to say the least.
	Sakura stood up again. This time, Karin was letting her regain her footing, 
as she didn't press the attack. What was she up to?
	Sakura looked over to Karin. She was just standing there, swaying slightly. 
Perhaps she was waiting for something?
	Sakura was clubbed from behind. She rolled with the impact, sliding 
slightly on the now slick floor from the rain. Looking back revealed her 
attacker as the man she had accosted before Karin attacked her. Now it was 
two on one. Great.
	While Sakura's attention was drawn to the other man, Karin charged up a 
Shot and fired. It caught Sakura in the back, lifting her from the ground 
slightly and blasted her right back into the other man. He grabbed Sakura in 
mid flight, and wrapped her up in a crushing bear hug.
	Sakura was panicking. Sakura was losing. Sakura was hurting. What was 
really getting to her was the fact that Karin wasn't making this a fair 
fight. What had come over her? Every single time, she had insisted on 
beating Sakura one on one. What was going on?
	Karin took deliberate steps closer. She was prolonging Sakura's defeat. 
Then she stopped five steps away. She seemed to be waiting for something, 
swaying in place slightly, almost zombie like...It was then that Sakura 
noticed the eyes. They were glazed over, just like the person who was 
holding her had. Were they being mind controlled? It was certainly possible. 
After all, they were exhibiting the same conditions of people who had been 
hypnotized in all those movies Sakura had seen.
	Karin opened her palm, and a ball of force appeared there. Sakura went wide 
eyed. So it was true. She had somehow been able to generate projectiles. 
Which would explain the burning sensation in her back at this moment...
	Sakura tensed her muscles, trying to break the crushing hug the man had her 
in. But it was no use. He was somehow too strong. Karin opened her other 
palm. A duplicate ball appeared there.
	Sakura closed her eyes, prepared to accept the pain. All she could hope for 
is that it wouldn't be too bad...Sakura heard something blow up, but it 
hadn't been her head. She opened her eyes.
	Karin was now facing the other direction. Her shots had gone wild, blowing 
up another stove. Sakura blinked in disbelief.
	"Sakura! Calvary's arrived!" Came Miyuki's voice from behind her.
	Li thwacked the man holding Sakura with the flat of his blade, causing him 
to drop Sakura and turn on him. His nose still hurt very much, but Tomoyo 
had managed to bandage him up temporarily. He had to wonder where she had 
gotten the field medic training. "I'll handle this guy! You go after Karin!" 
Li yelled. "Give her one for me!"
	Sakura's eyes livened up. "Ok!" She gave him the thumbs up. He groaned at 
the lameness of it all.
	Sakura grabbed the key from her neck, and turned it into the staff. "Dash!"
	Utilizing Dash's power, Sakura charged forwards, tackling Karin to the 
floor. They rolled around on the floor, locked in combat.
	Li looked his opponent over. He didn't look too tough. After all, it wasn't 
like he was a professional or anything. 'It doesn't take much skill to hold 
Sakura.' He thought to himself with a chuckle.
	Li was very wet all of a sudden. Looking up, he found a dark cloud hanging 
directly over his head, dropping gallons of water. Now Li was worried. If 
this didn't stop soon...
	"Miyuki! The room's going to flood if we don't get those doors open!" He 
yelled, hoping to be heard over the downpour.
	Li considered his options. Taking into consideration that Karin was very 
much distracted with Sakura at this point, it was safe to assume that this 
man was the one holding the Rain card, unlike their original speculation. 
Something had to be done to stop him.
	Then he simply dropped to the floor, saving him the trouble. Go figure.

**********

	Tomoyo paced furiously about the room. It wasn't fair that she wasn't able 
to go tape Sakura while Li and Miyuki had gotten to go have some fun without 
her. It just wasn't fair!
	Yukari was chatting quietly with Rena and Chiharu off near the doors. Ken, 
being Ken, was standing off to the side, alone, eyes closed in some kind of 
meditation or something. Kero was still nowhere to be seen. Sakura had given 
him quite a wallop.
	Tomoyo got tired of pacing around, and sat down. She pulled out the book 
Sakura had given to her. Whatever it was, it was really familiar. As if 
she'd seen it before. But where?
	She took a closer look at the cover. It was slightly faded, but it looked 
as if a girl was sitting on the edge of a well. Wait...girl at a well? This 
couldn't possibly be...
	Tomoyo got up suddenly, and walked towards the large library doors. She 
left behind her video camera.
	The three girls turned to look at Tomoyo as she walked towards them.
	"Got tired of pacing, eh?" Chiharu called out.
	Tomoyo didn't respond. She walked right past them on her way to the doors, 
which she opened and stepped through.
	"Wait! We were supposed to wait here for Sakura! It's dangerous out there!" 
Rena yelled, as she dashed after Tomoyo.
	Chiharu pointed towards Tomoyo's camera. "Something must be wrong. She 
wouldn't leave her camera for nothing."
	"I've got a bad feeling about this. Lets follow!" Yukari declared.
	"I'm going with you." Came Ken's voice, who had come up behind them without 
them noticing.
	"Don't sneak up on us like that!" Chiharu scolded. "Anyways, we should 
probably get going. Tomoyo and Rena have a head start. Anyone going to bring 
the camera?"
	The other two turned to look at her.
	"Fine, I'll get it." Chiharu said. She ran over and retrieved it, and then 
dashed back to catch up with the other two who had began to follow.

**********

	Li frantically dodged another rain cloud. It was getting really annoying. 
After the man had blacked out, Rain had manifested itself, and was currently 
attempting to kill him by asphyxiation or something. Breathing the cloud was 
probably not going to be very healthy for him.
	Out of desperation, Li formed a plan. He stopped entirely. "Miyuki! 
Backup!" He yelled, as Rain dove at him again. Miyuki Looped it out of the 
way. But it wouldn't be deterred by Loop for long, and even now was 
splitting itself into more parts, to avoid being Looped.
	But those few seconds would be all he needed as he pulled out the Sand 
card. He struck the card with his sword, and transformed into sand, much 
like the bank robber had done earlier. It was risky, but it had to be done. 
Already, his feet had turned muddy, soaking up rainwater that had already 
fallen to the ground.
	Rain dove again, this time in many pieces, coming at various angles. Li 
held up a hand to signal Miyuki not to try to loop them this time.
	All the rain clouds hit Li at the same time. His sandy body trapped the 
moisture from the clouds, and trapped the Rain card itself. It was helpless 
now, but so was Li, as he doubled over in pain and nearly blacked out. He 
could only hope Sakura finished with Karin before the pain overwhelmed him. 
Because then they'd be in real trouble...

**********

	Sakura had been able to break herself away from Karin, and they were now 
circling eachother warily. Both fighters seemed to wait for the other to 
make the first move.
	Then all at once, they decided to stop waiting. Karin charged up another 
shot, while Sakura charged her Hadoken. Both fighters let their projectiles 
fly at the same time, and they both canceled eachother out in a bright 
flash, followed by a pulse of energy that knocked them both backwards.
	When Karin's eyesight cleared, she was presented with an interesting sight. 
There was over a dozen Sakuras standing in front of her.
	Karin picked one, and blasted it with a shot. It fizzled and disappeared. 
The Sakuras advanced. Karin picked another one, and blasted it with another 
shot. It fizzled as well, and then disappeared. Then there was no chance for 
more guesses, as the Sakuras attacked.
	Sakura let the illusions disappear as she kicked Karin in the back of the 
head. The only remaining double of Sakura was made of the Mirror card. It 
kicked Karin back to the real Sakura with a kick of her own.
	With a cry of "Shun-pu-ken!" Sakura leapt into the air in her traditional 
flying kick combo, catching Karin and sending her skidding down the aisle to 
where a pile of mud lay.
	Sakura pulled up as she was charging in. "Mud?" She said out loud to nobody 
in particular.
	"Sakura! That's Li! He's trapped the Rain card in the sand somehow." Came 
Miyuki's informative voice.
	"..." Was Sakura's response.
	Sakura dispelled Mirror as she rushed to help Li. It wasn't going to be of 
much use anymore anyways.
	Sakura raised her staff up, ready to seal the Rain card. But then she 
remembered that the card had to be inside the host. Wasn't that Karin 
though? Obviously, she was missing something here...
	It was at this moment that Li fell unconscious. He reverted back to plain 
old Li, releasing Rain. It streaked back to its host...the man in the suit. 
Sakura slapped her hand to her head. It was so obvious.
	Sakura ran to him as he was getting up, raised the wand, spoke the 
incantations, and was about to bring the staff down when she was tackled 
from behind. She tumbled head over heels, and the staff slid under one of 
the dishwashers.
	Sakura detangled herself from the person who tackled her. But it wasn't 
Karin. It was Tomoyo.
	"Hoee?" Sakura expressed, sounding extremely confused.
	Tomoyo rose up, and it became clear. Her eyes had the same glassy look of 
Karin and the other. She was being controlled. Then something crashed into 
the back of her head, and all was darkness.

**********

	Drip...drip...drip...
	Sakura was back in the large water room. Except now it had a few holes in 
it. The mesh was torn above, and the walls were breached in various places. 
The ceiling was mostly caved in.
	A whisper floated in, but was too faint for Sakura to hear.
	"What?" Sakura asked.
	"Time..."
	"Huh?" Sakura asked once more.
	"Time draws near..."
	"Time for what?" Sakura was genuinely confused by the words.
	"Time for revenge..."
	Sakura watched a piece of the ceiling float up from the water, and fix 
itself back into place.
	"Revenge?" Sakura questioned the voice.
	"On those that would stop me..."
	A white ribbon floated down from the mesh skylight. Sakura looked at it 
with mild interest.
	"This is supposed to be what now?" Sakura asked as she reached for the 
ribbon.
	"...Death." The voice responded.
	The ribbon moved suddenly to encircle Sakura's neck. It lifted her off the 
ground, like a noose at the gallows.

**********

	"...ura?...Sa...ura? Sakura? Are you ok?"
	"Uh? Wha?" Came Sakura's befuddled response.
	"Are you ok?" It was Kero.
	Sakura sat up. "What's going on?"
	"You were knocked out. Rena saw the entire thing. Tomoyo distracted you 
long enough for Karin to sneak up behind and knock you for a loop." Reported 
Kero.
	"Tomoyo! Where is she!" Sakura wailed.
	From outside the room Sakura heard a muted curse.
	"Um. I take it Li's out there?" Sakura asked.
	"Yeah. I think he was worried about you. But I wouldn't say that to his 
face. He's really mad at Tomoyo right now." Kero stated. "Um...why did she 
attack you anyways?"
	"She was being controlled. Like the others."
	"Um. Yeah. See that's what I was trying to tell you. That book...is evil." 
Kero stated seriously.
	"Right. So anyways, do you have any idea what happened to them?"
	Kero glared at Sakura. "I told you! The book!"
	Sakura blinked. He was serious?
	"The book contains a powerful spirit. At least it used to." Kero continued. 
"That is until the other Sakura defeated it. Then it simply disappeared. The 
book itself was never found."
	"...Why do I always have to complicate things for myself?" Sakura wondered 
aloud.
	"So now the book has surfaced again. As to why, I haven't figured out yet. 
The spirit should be gone. But obviously the book is still doing something 
if it's controlling people again."
	"Perfect. Well, at least opening it had nothing to do with anything." 
Sakura said, feeling guilty for taking the book at all.
	"Well, that's not the only problem we have to deal with. Look outside."
	Sakura stood up painfully and streched out the kinks. She walked over to 
the window of her room, and opened the shutters. Sakura gasped at the sight.
	The streets were flooded. Water was everywhere. Rain poured down from 
above. Sakura closed the shutters.
	"Um. Ok. I can fix this. Really." Sakura said nervously.
	"That's only part of it. Turn the TV on." Kero indicated the remote next to 
her hand.
	Sakura hesitantly picked up the remote and pressed the power button. She 
was unprepared for what she saw.
	"...streets of Tokyo flooded by mysterious rainfall! No end in sight!"
	"...Massive tidal wave appeared out of nowhere! Japan's going the way of 
Atlantis!"
	"...Civilization has been brought to a halt by the unseasonable weather in 
Hong Kong. Temperatures continue to drop as snow falls."
	"..." Was Sakura's only response.

**********

*****************
LEAVE IT TO KERO!
*****************

Kero: I've finally got my old segment back! It's all mine! Mine!

Kero froths at the mouth.

Kero: But enough about me! Today, we take a look at the powerful water 
sorceress from the book!

Kero pulls out a terrible hand drawing of the woman.

Kero: Isn't this an incredible likeness?

Audience: No!

Kero: What? But it looks just like her...anyways. She was a powerful 
sorceress who lived in the time of Clow Reed. Now, according to Sakura, she 
was actually in love with Clow the entire time. She dealt with it, and 
disappeared into the afterlife or something. But now, I have the sneaking 
suspicion that she's around here somewhere.

SD-sorceress walks up behind Kero, starts making faces.

Kero: But until she shows up, there is still this book to deal with. It's 
causing enough trouble on its own.

SD-sorceress disappears.

Kero: Lets take a close up look at the book! Kero-chan check!

Close up of book.

Kero: In the beginning, it's mentioned how it's slowly repairing itself. 
Maybe this has something to do with the strangeness of it all?

Kero: Sakura dreamed of her old self in the battle with the sorceress. 
Foreshadowing?

Kero: Sakura also dreamed of a voice. Gee. As if you have to wonder who it 
belongs to.

Kero: Now it's on to bigger and better things, as Sakura has to deal with 
three 'natural' disasters all at once! Oh the horror! How will she do it?

Kero: Well that's all the time we have. See ya!

Lights go down.

Kero: It was about f'in time they gave me my segment back. You can bet that 
I'm keeping this lawsuit going. And they can't fire me, because I have an 
exclusive contract! What do you mean we're still on...

**********

Author Notes:
Have fun!
I suppose I should put something relevant here...
It's all about Karin. Karin is good.
Oh yeah, and turning Tomoyo evil, even if it is temporary will make for 
interesting things.
This whole entire thing with the sorceress from CCS movie 1? I've really 
only designed the concept to last for a few chapters at most. I don't want 
another Bison thing, and I believe I've come up with a nice solution for 
giving Sakura some card fodder in a decently interesting way.
Yes, I actually spent quite a bit of time planning this out. I've talked 
with other authors, and they've helped me develop my ideas in some parts. 
Adyen is going to be helping me big time by continuing the story arc, and 
finishing the set up. Most of it.
Kero had a larger part in this episode than in many others lately. By larger 
part, I mean more lines. But still...we haven't had a good solid story 
staring our favorite plushie! At least I gave him his ending segment back. 
If he keeps it...who knows?
One last thing...Li does NOT suck! He's captured two cards in a row! Go Li! 
At least his broken nose should heal quickly. Plus, look at all the pent up 
anger he has towards Sakura! Was the trust he put in Sakura near the end to 
beat Karin for him a sign of times changing? NOT A CHANCE! But it was a nice 
try anyways.
Sakura's going to have a lot of trouble now. That's half the fun!
Thanks go out to Adyen and Jexer for prereading!

Wednesday, April 10, 2002 (4 Impro parts and counting!)