A Place Unknown

Chapter 1

"Good morning Sakura," Kero said. "You're up early: on a Saturday."
"Don't you start too," Sakura replied, "I'll get enough of it from Touya." She had just finished changing out of her pajamas. "Tomoyo and I are going on a picnic this morning."

"Well maybe if you would get up on time once in a while no one would have a reason to say anything," Kero said.

"Oh be quiet," Sakura said while throwing her pillow at him.

"Hey, don't take it out on me," Kero said angrily, "I was just saying...What the...?"

"Kero, what is it? Hoe!" The cracks all around her bedroom door started to grow immensely bright.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was the work of a Clow Card," Kero said, confused.

"But I thought I already captured them all," Sakura said, also completely puzzled.

"That's what I'm worried about, Sakura," Kero told her. "You have."

They both stood there silently watching and waiting as the light grew brighter and brighter. All of a sudden the door flew open and the blinding light flooded into her room. Sakura was totally blinded for a few seconds. When she was able to see again, she was no longer in her room talking to Kero. As a matter of fact, Kero was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello!" she yelled. "Is anyone here? Kero, where are you? KERO!" But there was no answer.

Where can he be? she thought. He couldn't have just disappeared.

That's when she saw it. A dark figure was making its way towards her. Finally it came into focus and she could tell who it was. Actually, what it was.

"You're the Dream Card!" Sakura said. The Dream just nodded. But that's impossible, she thought, I've already got the Dream Card! And besides, mines a different colour.

She was right. This card was a deep strawberry red. "It's beautiful," Sakura said, in barely a whisper. The Dream again just nodded, as if to say thank you.

"I have been sent to Earth by my master to find help," the Dream said. "Our world is in terrible danger. But my master is not able to stop the danger. And if our world is destroyed, so will yours."

"I don't get," Sakura said. "What am I supposed to do. I didn't even know other worlds existed. How can I help?"

The Dream continued as if Sakura hadn't said anything. "A message has been sent to Li Syaoran to ask for his assistance. Please help us."

"Sakura!" Someone was shouting her name but it seemed so far away. She tried to see where it was coming from, but it seemed to come from everywhere at once. Then she saw that everything around her was starting to fade, including the Dream.

"Sakura!" The voice was getting louder. But she wasn't paying attention to that any more. The Dream was still saying something. "An escort will be sent to bring you in two days from now. Be prepared."

By then the Dream's voice had almost faded away completely and it was hard for Sakura to hear it.

"What! What's coming in two days? Come back!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"SAKURA!"

"Uhhh..." Sakura groaned. Where am I?

"Hello. Earth to Sakura."

"What?" she said. That's when she opened her eyes to see a small, flying, talking stuffed animal shoved right in her face. "Ahhhhhhhh!"

"Sakura, calm down," Kero said. "It's only me. Kero, remember?"

"Oh, jeez Kero. I told you not to do that," replied Sakura grumpily. She hated it when Kero scared her like that.

"But you're going to be late for school!" Kero said.

"What!" she said. "Oh no!" She got ready for school as fast as she could and in the process, Kero got buried in Sakura's pajamas. "Sorry, Kero!" she yelled as she left the house.

"Yeah right she's sorry," Kero grumbled. "She probably did it to get back at me for waking her up."

Meanwhile, Sakura was speeding down the sidewalk trying to make it to school on time. When she was about half a block away she heard the bell ring. "Oh man," she mumbled and started to go faster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How come you were so late this morning, Sakura?" Tomoyo asked at recess.

"I slept in," she replied. Sakura led her best friend over to a tall tree near the edge of the playground where they both sat down. "Wake me when the bell rings," she said sleepily, closing her eyes.

"Sakura!" Syaoran was waving and running in their direction. "Sakura, are you okay?" he asked. "You looked like you were about to pass out in class."

"That's when it hit her. She could remember the Dream's words; A message has been sent to Li Syaoran to ask for assistance... She decided that she really needed to talk to Syaoran.

"Syaoran, could I talk to you?" Sakura looked over at Tomoyo. "Uh...alone."

"It's okay. I was just leaving," Tomoyo said, with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Tomoyo, it's not...oh never mind," Sakura said as Tomoyo walked away.

"Well, what did you want to talk to me about?" Syaoran asked. Sakura was thinking that this might not have been a good idea after all. "Well," he said.

"Um..." she didn't know how to put it. "Did anything - weird happen to you last night?"

"Weird? Like what?" he asked.

"Oh, I don't know," she said, trying to sound as casual as possible, "maybe a weird dream or something like that."

"A dream," Syaoran said, a bit shocked. "How did you know about that? I haven't told anyone."

"That's because I had one too," Sakura said.

"But that doesn't explain why you knew I had one too," Syaoran said.

"The Dream told me you would," Sakura said.

"Your dream talked to you?" he asked.

"No, it wasn't my Dream," she said.

"What?" Syaoran said, confused. "How can you have dreamt someone else's dream?"

"No the Dream Card, silly," Sakura said. "It was the Dream Card that told me."

"Oh. Well how could you tell it wasn't your Dream?" he asked her.

"My Dream is a pale blue, but the one in my dream was a deep red," Sakura answered him. "Who was in your dream, Syaoran?"

"Now that you mention it, I think it was the Sleep, but it was also a different colour," he said.

"I guess that makes sense." Both the Dream and Sleep appeared to us in our dreams," Sakura said.

"I think you're missing the bigger question, Sakura," Syaoran said. "What does all this mean?"

"I'm not sure," Sakura said. "The Dream said something would happen in two days, but Kero woke me up before it could tell me what."

Just then the bell that signaled the end of recess rang. "We'll have to talk more about this later," Syaoran said.

"Do you want to go for a walk in the park after school to talk?" Sakura asked him.

"Wha...um," Syaoran blushed. "Yeah...ok."

"Great!" Sakura said as she ran back towards the school. What the heck did I just do! I can't be with him alone. Not yet! she thought. Ok, Sakura. Get a grip. It's not a date; you're just going to talk. How do I get myself into these things?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"So what's going on between you guys?" Tomoyo asked them after school. Sakura had asked her friend to join them because she didn't feel comfortable being around Syaoran alone right now. Considering that every time he said something nice to her she turned redder than a tomato.

"Well, something definitely strange is going on here," Syaoran answered.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Tomoyo asked becoming slightly confused.

"Syaoran and I had almost the exact same dream last night," Sakura told her. "The dreams were a bit different, but they both had a Clow Card asking us for help in another world."

Tomoyo looked dumbstruck. "You're right that is strange," she said quietly, not knowing what else to say.

"And apparently, something's supposed to happen tomorrow," Syaoran said to no one in particular. "But we're not quite sure what."

"I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes open," Sakura said.

"How about we meet here again tomorrow?" Syaoran suggested.

"Tomorrow's Saturday, so we'll have plenty of time to work together."

"Yeah. Ok," Sakura said.

"Good. It's settled then," Tomoyo beamed at the two of them. Sakura and Syaoran looked at each other and blushed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three friends were walking through the park the following day, keeping their eyes open. It was a beautiful day and Tomoyo, being ever prepared, as always, had packed them a delicious picnic lunch.

The morning had been uneventful, unless, of course, you count the time Sakura and Syaoran both turned redder than ever when their hands touched while reaching for the last sandwich.

It wasn't until late in the afternoon that something worthy of note occurred.

They were still walking quietly through the park. Each one of them was too tense to say anything.

Then out of the corner of her eye, Sakura caught a flash of pink in the trees.

"Hoe! What was that?"

"What was what?" Syaoran asked her, looking around him for whatever had startled Sakura.

"I saw something in the trees," she said, trying to find whatever it was.

"Ahh!" Tomoyo yelled. There it goes!" The pink blur was speeding away into the woods.

"Fly!" Sakura yelled and she soared up into the air, high above the trees. Because the blur was a hot pink, Sakura spotted it easily in the dense forest.
Syaoran, however, was not having as much luck as Sakura when it came to keeping up.

I have to help him, Sakura thought. But he's too heavy for me to carry. If only he were a bit smaller. I know! Sakura had just thought of a plan. "Little!" she yelled. "Release and dispel!"

Instantly Syaoran began to shrink until Sakura was unable to see him. She swooped down to where he had been and scooped up the miniature Syaoran and placed him in her pocket.

Syaoran popped his head out of Sakura's coat pocket. "What are you doing, Sakura?" his tiny voice squeaked.

"Taking you with me," she replied. "Now hold on tight!" She sped to catch up with the speeding blur.

They were no longer flying over the tree tops, but were racing along an empty street. "Thank God it's deserted," Sakura said to herself, although the tiny Syaoran in her pocket probably heard.

She caught a glimpse of Tomoyo running after them, going as fast as she could while looking through her camera.

As Sakura finally caught up to the blur, it began to take shape. "The Dash Card!" she yelled. I can't believe I didn't think of that before, she thought.

"Hey, not so loud," Syaoran yelled. "These tiny ears are very sound sensitive."

What the two of them didn't notice, though, was that the buildings around them had disappeared.

Sakura had suddenly become very drowsy. Finally, she was unable to keep her eyes open. Without knowing it, Sakura had fallen asleep. Both her and the tiny Syaoran, who had also fallen asleep, began to plummet to the hard ground below.

To Be Continued...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm finally done chapter 1!! It took me forever but now it's out of the way. Don't worry, chapter 2 won't take that long. I'm almost done.
Don't forget to e-mail me to let me know what you think.
Thanks.
– Keroberous

September 3, 2001