“The Deepest Friendship” - A Cardcaptor Sakura Fanfic
Story Written by Freedom Fighter

Rating: PG

Here’s Chapter One.  I don’t know if Chapter Two will be ready for next week.
I’ve got too many fanfics to write and too many tests to study for.  Anyway, I
hope you guys enjoy this installment!

I apologize in advance for the whole -chan/-kun suffixes.  I’m still not
completely familiar with them all, so feel free to correct me if I make a
mistake somewhere.

Don’t forget to leave a review when you’re done reading!

Disclaimer:  I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura or any of the characters from the
TV series.


*****


Chapter One

The silence of the morning is broken by a familiar sound...

At least to one young fifth grader in particular...

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!” yelled Sakura, quickly sitting up in bed and knocking Kero,
who had been sleeping on the bed, off of it.  She picked up her nearby alarm
clock and glances at it.  She screams again, this time loud enough to awake
the souls of the dead.  “I’m going to be late again!”

Ten minutes later, Sakura, now dressed in her school uniform, kisses her
father goodbye at the front door.

“Now Sakura,” her dad began.  “I’ll be out a little late tonight working on
putting together a new archeology project for my classes, so be nice to your
brother!”

“Don’t worry dad!  I will,” she replied.  Snapping the final few buckles on her
very detailed red roller skates, she waves goodbye and takes off, attempting to
catch up with her brother, Toya.

A little bit later, Sakura, panting heavily, catches up to Toya and Yukito, who
are both riding their bicycles very slowly as they converse on their way to
school.

“Well well, looks like the squirt managed to finally get out of bed,” Toya
stated coldly.

“You know,” Sakura replied in the same tone, “it would help if you would wake
me in the morning.”

“Why should I?  You have an alarm clock.  Why don’t you use it?”

“Come on!  You know I’m a deep sleeper!”

Yukito decides to break up the argument between the two siblings.  “Toya, don’t
pick on Sakura.  I’m sure she’ll eventually get used to waking up early.”

Toya turns his attention back to Yukito.  “Sure... when pigs fly!”

Sakura began to burn up inside.  “Oooooooooooohhhh... if it weren’t for the fact
that I’m a cardcaptor, I’d use the big card right now to squash him with my own
two feet!”  She then remembers that Yukito is there, so she stops being angry
with her brother and looks at Yukito to admire him.

“Sigh... Yuki’s the cutest boy I’ve ever met,” Sakura thought dreamily.  “If only
I was a few years older...”

Sakura eventually arrives at Tomoeda Elementary School with a few minutes to
spare.  At the steps of the school, she takes off her roller skates.  Just then,
she spots Tomoyo heading towards her, looking a little bit under the weather.

“Tomoyo-chan!”

“Good morning Sakura-chan,” replied Tomoyo, in a monotone.  She simply just
walks past her best friend and heads towards the classroom.  Sakura, a little
puzzled over Tomoyo’s behavior, follows her in.

“You look a little down in the dumps today.  What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.  Nothing at all.”

The two walk silently to room number 5-2, where they have class.  Opening the
sliding door, they see that their teacher, Miss Mizuki, isn’t there yet, but
most of the class is.  Tomoyo walks quietly over to her seat.  Right behind
her, Meiling is busy staring googly-eyed at Syaoran, who is trying to ignore
her by looking out the window.  Naoko and Chiharu walk up to Sakura, joining
her as the three glance at their friend with worried looks on their faces.

“Ohayo, Sakura-chan!” the two girls shouted in unison.

“Ohayo, Naoko-chan!  Chiharu-chan!”

“What’s wrong with Tomoyo-chan?” Naoko asked, pointing at her depressed figure.

“She looks like she’s worried about something,” Chiharu added.

“I don’t know,” Sakura replied.  “I met her this morning and that’s how she
was.  I don’t know what to make of it.”

“You’re her best friend, Sakura.” Naoko stated matter-of-factly.  “You should
be able to find out what’s wrong with her.”

“You think so?”

“If anyone can do it,” began Chiharu, “you can!”

Yamazaki steps through the sliding door, which Sakura absent-mindedly left
open, and walks past the three conversing girls.  He waves at Chiharu.

“Good morning all!”

“G-g-g-g-good morning,” Chiharu responds, her face now a bright red.

“Oooooooohhhhhh!  Look at Chiharu’s face!” Naoko stated, pointing at her
friend’s crimson colored face.

“Looks like someone’s got a crush on Yamazaki!” Sakura added.

“What are you two talking about?” questioned Chiharu, denying the accusations.
“I don’t have a crush on him!”

“Yeah right,” came the response from Naoko.  “We can see the sparks between
you two flying from a mile away.”  She then turns to Sakura.  “Right, Sakura?
Sakura?”

Naoko turns around and sees Sakura beginning to walk towards Tomoyo.  She had
to anyway... they sit next to each other!  As she approaches Tomoyo, she sees
Meiling’s attempts to flirt with Syaoran go awfully awry.  As they did, she
headed over to the duo.

“For the last time Meiling, stop bugging me!” yelled an angry Syaoran.

She grabs Syaoran’s right arm and begins to beg.  “Syaoran, come on!  Why don’t
you want to eat lunch with me today?”

He jerks his arm away from her.  “Because I have better things to do.”

“Such as?”

“Hi guys!” Sakura stepped in.  “How are you two today?”

Both of them quickly glare at her and respond, “It’s none of your business,
Sakura!”  With that, the two of them take their seats... and so does everyone
else, as Miss Mizuki steps into the room.  Rika follows her in.  Sakura, the
last one to sit down, sighs as she tries to figure out why Tomoyo is ignoring
her.

Later that day, Sakura is sitting outside on the steps leading to the courtyard.
She watches as the nearby football field is filled with students who are in the
middle of a game.  She is still thinking about Tomoyo.

“What could be bothering her so much?  Could it be something at home?  Maybe
she failed one of her tests?  Or maybe, just maybe...”

Sakura’s thoughts are interrupted as she hears Meiling screaming out near the
fence that separates her school from Northwest High School next door, where
Toya and Yukito attend classes.  She quickly grabs her backpack and takes off
running.  Halfway there, she spots Syaoran coming out of the school building.

“Obviously, he must have heard Meiling screaming too,” Sakura thought.

The two begin running in sync as they finally spot Meiling sitting on the
ground.  They gasp as they see a red handprint on her face... and her left
hand near it, softly examining it.  A tear is seen streaming down her face.
She hasn’t noticed them yet, as she is looking over at Tomoyo, who is only a
few feet away.  Meiling seemed to be a little frightened, but of what only she
knew.  Tomoyo was just standing there with an expressionless face.  Syaoran
kneels down to check on Meiling while Sakura just stares at Tomoyo.

Before anyone could say anything though, Tomoyo suddenly turns around and takes
off running.  Sakura begins to chase after her, but she stops when Syaoran
starts yelling at her.

“Sakura-chan!  Forget about Daidouji right now.  Let’s figure out what’s going
on first.”

“Oh.  Okay.”

Sakura walks back to where Syaoran and Meiling are.  He is comforting her.

“What happened, Meiling?”

Meiling sniffles a few times and then she pulls out a handkerchief.  She wipes
the tears from her eyes before proceeding to blow her nose several times...
including one that’s so loud that Syaoran jumps back in surprise.  By this time,
Sakura had reached the duo and was kneeling down in front of Meiling.  It was
then that Meiling got a hold of herself.  She jumps up towards Sakura, pushing
her back towards the ground.  Sakura wasn’t expecting Meiling to do that as she
comes down on her backside hard.  She grimaces as she reaches over to her butt
to check for any injuries.  Syaoran was once again surprised at this turn of
events, but he quickly recovers and begins to interrogate Meiling for her
actions.

“Meiling!”

“What?”

“What did you do that for?”

“Kinomoto deserved it.  Her friend slapped me across the face for no reason at
all.”  Meiling then once again began to pout as her hand examined the mark
across her face.

Sakura slowly gets to her feet, still grimacing in pain.  “Why would Tomoyo do
something like that?”

“I don’t know, but I think she has to get her head checked!”

Syaoran remained speechless throughout the conversation, yet Sakura could tell
that he was thinking.  Thinking of his own way to explain Tomoyo’s strange
behavior.  But how could he?  Sakura was already aware that the only other time
he saw Tomoyo was in class.  At that time, Tomoyo seemed to be acting
normally... well, if you consider her sitting quietly without talking to anyone
normal for her.

“Hmmmm... maybe Kero-chan might know something about this...” Sakura thought.

Roughly ten minutes later, the front door to the Kinomoto household opens and
Sakura rushes in, immediately charging towards the stairs.  Well, at least she
remembers to close the door behind her this time.  As she started climbing up
the stairs, she hears her brother calling from the kitchen.

“Hey squirt!  Don’t tell me you going to forget to eat dinner!”

“Just leave some for me for later.  Um... I’ve got a lot of homework to do.”

“I’m not serving it to you cold!  Besides, I’m not guaranteeing there’ll be
any left when you come down.”

Sakura missed the end of her brother’s last statement, as she reaches the top
of the stairs and starts running to the door of her bedroom.  She opens it,
goes in the room, and then slams the door behind her.  This wakes up Kero, who
had been sleeping on the bed.

“What’s going on?” Kero shouted before noticing that Sakura is in the room.

“Kero-chan,” she exclaimed as she threw her backpack to the side, “something
terrible happened today!”

“Can’t it wait?” Kero responded while yawning.  “I was having such a good
nap...”

“Kero-chan, Tomoyo slapped Meiling after school today!”

“Really?  What did she do to deserve it?  Wait... did you say Tomoyo slapped
her?”

“Yeah!”

“But that’s uncharacteristic of her, isn’t it?”

“That’s what I’m trying to say!  Tomoyo’s not like that!”

“Then what possessed her to slap the brat, huh?”

“I don’t know.  I was hoping you would know.”

“Why?  Do you think it’s a Clow Card?”

Sakura scratches her head.  “Maybe it is.  I was feeling kinda strange just
before Tomoyo ran away.  But which one is it?”

“I’m not sure,” Kero replied, beginning to think.  “I’m not aware of any card
that makes someone violent.  Or the ability to possess someone’s soul, for
that matter.”

Sakura gasps.  “You mean Tomoyo might be under the control of a rogue Clow
Card?”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“You’re right.  If a Clow Card had taken control of Tomoyo, it would probably
have her wreaking havoc throughout the city.”

“That’s true.”

“Besides, she had been pretty quiet before the incident.  Like she didn’t want
to talk to me for some reason.”

“But you haven’t done anything to make her mad recently, have you?”

“Of course not!  Tomoyo’s my best friend!  I’d never do that!”

“Well, something happened to her.  Clow Card or not, I say we’d better keep a
close eye on her.”

“Right.  Wait... did you say we?”

“Yep.  Tomorrow, I’m going to school with you!”

“Just remember to stay in my backpack this time, okay?”

“I know, I know.  Now, how about some dinner?  I’m starving for pudding!”

Sakura’s stomach begins to grumble loudly.  She sweatdrops.  “I guess I’d
better eat too.”


That night, at the Daidouji residence, we see Tomoyo tossing and turning in
bed once again.  She’s in the middle of another one of her nightmares...

“Sakura,” Tomoyo began, handing her friend a bouquet of cherry blossoms, “I
love you more than anything else in the world!  Will you be mine?”

Sakura takes the bouquet and stares at it for a minute.  She looks at Tomoyo,
who is smiling at her.  Sakura smiles back.

“Sure,” she began, before throwing the bouquet onto the ground and stomping on
it several times.  “When pigs fly!”

Sakura laughs hysterically as Tomoyo drops to her knees and begins to cry.
All of a sudden, Syaoran appears and gives Sakura a kiss on her left cheek.

“Besides,” Sakura continued, “Li and I are getting married next week!”

The couple begins to laugh in unison.  Tomoyo covers her ears with her hands
as their laughs get louder and louder.  Eventually, Tomoyo snaps.  She
reaches for a conveniently placed lead pipe and charges for Sakura.  Syaoran
tries to jump in between the two, but Tomoyo just knocks him out of the way.
She makes her way over to Sakura and with one fell swoop, she begins bashing
the pipe into Sakura’s skull again and again and again.  Sakura has nowhere to
go, as she falls to the ground and is unable to defend herself.  Syaoran pulls
Tomoyo away just as she connects with Sakura’s head once more.  Sakura begins
to cough up a few big blobs of blood before promptly falling unconscious.
Tomoyo snaps out of her trance as Syaoran releases his grip on her and goes
over to check on Sakura.

“Sakura!” Tomoyo yelled.  “Oh my god, what happened?”

“What happened?” Syaoran angrily replies after he had finished checking
Sakura’s pulse.  “You just killed Sakura, that’s what happened!”

“What?” Tomoyo replied with a ghastly look on her face.  “That can’t be!  She
can’t be dead!”

She tries to get over to Sakura’s limp body, but Syaoran gets in the way.
This time, Syaoran takes control and grabs Tomoyo’s arms before she can swing
them at him.  She struggles to break free, but it’s no use.

“I must see Sakura!” Tomoyo yelled, as tears began to stream from her face.

“Just so you can mutilate her even more?” Syaoran yelled back.  “Don’t even
think about it!”

“Sakura!  Sakura!  Please don’t leave me, Sakura!  I didn’t mean it!  Sakura!
Sakura!”

Tomoyo continues to recite Sakura’s name until she is finally vaulted out of
her nightmare.  As was the case the night before, Tomoyo rises to a sitting
position on her bed.  Her heart is beating rapidly, her breathing is rather
heavy, and sweat is pouring down her head.

“No,” she quietly said.  “Not again.  Not again.”

All of a sudden, one of the maids bursts into the room.  She had overheard
Tomoyo screaming and she was going to check on her.

“Excuse me Miss Tomoyo, but are you feeling okay?”

Tomoyo wiped some of the sweat from her forehead with her right hand.  Trying
not to hint that something was wrong, she quickly lies to her.

“I’m fine.  I just need a glass of water, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

The maid bows.  “I’ll be back shortly with your water, Miss Tomoyo.”

As she departs the room, Tomoyo pulls the covers off and jumps out of her bed.
She walks over to the window, just like she had done the previous night.  She
begins staring up at the stars once again, pondering just what is going on.

“What am I going to do?  If I don’t get rid of these nightmares soon, they’re
going to be the death of me!  Or even worse, the death of Sakura.  It must be
an omen of some sort, telling me to stay away from her.  But I can’t do that!
I’m her best friend!  But I don’t want her to get hurt.  What am I going to
do?  What am I...”

She falls to her knees, for real this time, and begins to weep openly.

“Mother... where are you?” she manages to blurt out as she continues to cry.


To be continued...


Coming in Chapter 2:
- A true blue Sakura/Syaoran/Meiling moment!
- Tomoyo strikes again!  Who’s her next victim?
- Yamazaki has his own theory!  Where’s Chiharu when you need her?
- And yet another nightmare... could this be the one that changes Tomoyo for
the worst?

Copyright Date:  2/2/02