The Vacation Part 2
"Whee! Wow, Sakura look at the view from up here!"
Sakura glanced over her shoulder to where Tomoyo sat on the back of her winged baton. She shook her head as she noticed that, once again, Tomoyo was watching the world through the viewfinder in her camera. "Tomo, you're recording again?"
"Of course silly! You never know when a good shot will come along." Tomoyo smiled and aimed the camera at Sakura. "Say cheese Sakura!"
Sakura only sweatdropped. "I see Meiling's house, hold on." Sakura leaned to the side and the baton started to descend. She and Tomoyo jumped off the baton as soon as they were close to the ground and the wings disappeared. Both girls walked up to the door and rang the doorbell.
A Chinese girl their age opened the door wearing a robe with her black hair in two long ponytails. She sneezed a few times then frowned. "What do you two want?"
Sakura pulled a pile of papers from her backpack. "We heard you were sick so we thought we'd drop off your homework."
"How'd you know I was sick?" Meiling demanded, rubbing her nose.
"Nagisa-san said you weren't in class today," Tomoyo offered.
"T-thanks." Meiling took the papers and started to close the door when they all heard a sound behind them. Sakura and Tomoyo turned to see a slightly older Chinese boy with a gloomy expression walking toward them. Meiling's eyes lit up and she gasped happily.
"WUFEI!!!!" With a yell, and dropping the forgotten homework on the ground, she raced across the lawn and tackled the boy in a gigantic bear hug much to his protest.
"Nani? Onna! Get off of me!" Wufei cried out as he tried to push away the girl, but she just clamped on tighter and tighter yelling his name and laughing. It took a good ten minutes but Wufei finally managed to stand up despite the fact that she attached herself to his arm like a leech. He scowled at her.
"Meiling, who's he?" Tomoyo asked as the two raced up. Wufei noted to his disgust that she'd caught the entire incident of the tackle on film.
"Big brother Wufei!" she declared happily.
"I am NOT your brother!" Wufei snapped.
Meiling giggled. "He was married to my older sister Merian before, so you are too!" She directed the last part at Wufei and it was all he could do not to groan. He'd been hoping to speak with her father about the campus, expecting Meiling to be in class. But no, Fate just had to spite him and make it so she was home. Especially at a horrible time like this! To be caught asking for directions, caught by a woman no less!
"So you're home to stay this time big brother?"
"No," Wufei gritted his teeth. Of all the times for Fate to spite him it had to be now didn't it? He was now convinced without a doubt that Fate was female, no other creature could be so conniving and devious. "I'm looking for someone," he muttered. And I refused to let this onna know I'm asking for directions! He added silently.
"Who?" Sakura asked, which earned her a glare from Meiling.
"Heero Yuy," Wufei gritted out.
Meiling's eyes grew wide again and she shut up long enough for her mouth to resemble a distinct 'O'. "Heero? You mean my cousin?!"
Wufei nodded slowly.
"He's in town?! Honto?!" Meiling's voice was so high pitched it forced the other two to wince and reach protectively for their ears. "Li's back!!"
Wufei didn't suppress the groan this time, however he did manage to wrench himself out of her grip as she started jumping up and down happily.
"Anou... Meiling, Li's been acting strange-"
Sakura broke off as Meiling jumped right in her face and pointed an accusing finger at her, glaring. "What? You saw him and you didn't tell me?! You're trying to keep him all for yourself again aren't you?"
"No-no-I-"
Wufei stepped forward and clamped his hand over Meiling's mouth. "You saw him today?"
"Yeah, by the school. He was with another boy with a long braid."
Wufei nodded and let go of Meiling. "So Duo's here too," he muttered. Then without saying a word he turned to leave. Meiling jumped forward and latched onto his arm happily.
"Onna!" He yelled. "For the stars' sakes woman, let go of my arm!"
"No!" Meiling cried with a giggle. "I want to see Li again!"
Wufei groaned loudly realizing there was no way he was going to lose her. "Fine," he muttered venomously. "At least put some clothes on!"
Meiling nodded happily and turned to Sakura and Tomoyo. "You better be here when I get back!" Then she raced into the house.
"My, she sure got over that cold fast." Remarked Tomoyo, shutting off her camera.
"No kidding," Sakura agreed.
Wufei just crossed his arms and contented himself to scowl at the closed door.
~*~
Duo sighed in relief as he exited the apartment house. Shutting the doors behind him he shoved his hands in his pocket and walked across the lawn to a patch of shade under a bright blooming sakura tree. Dropping on his back he stared up at the sky.
"I'm dreaming!" Duo shook his head and blinked as he saw a large hot air balloon in the shape of a penguin fly overhead. It didn't disappear so Duo simply shut his eyes. "Flying penguins, talking winged stuffed bears, missing gundams, red masks, magical playing cards and Heero's not Heero?" He groaned. "What is this place?" Duo smiled as an after thought. "Great, now I'm talking to myself like Relena."
"Anou..."
Duo opened one eye in question of the voice and the other soon followed as he sat up. He found a young boy smiling at him, standing just outside the shade. The boy was a little older then ten years and he wore a strange ensemble of black and green clothing, decorated with embroidered crosses and various other religious symbols. The boy smiled at Duo happily and fidgeted with his gloved hands.
"Hai? Nani?" Duo asked, silently praying the day wouldn't get any stranger.
"Is something wrong?" the little boy asked. His big blue eyes glowed with curiosity and concern.
Duo sighed and shook his head, pleased to find himself grinning as usual. "Naw, nothing to worry about. Today's just been a really strange day, that's all."
The young boy sat down next to Duo and frowned slightly. "You sure nothing's wrong? You really seem worried."
"Worried? Me?" Duo gave a forced laugh. "Never... okay, maybe a little. But it's a problem that will solve itself within time. I just need to get used to it. Nothing a little kid like you should be worried about." Duo gave him a wink and grinned, standing up and stretching.
The boy watched him, seeming to ponder the truth in his answer. After a moment the boy nodded to himself and returned Duo's smile. He stood up and offered Duo his green gloved hand. "I'm Subaru, what's your name?"
"Duo." Duo replied with a grin.
"Well, Duo, I'm glad there's nothing really important bothering you." It seemed like a form of saying goodbye. Duo raised an eyebrow as the boy turned and regarded the sakura tree with a frown and rubbed his chin.
"Something up?"
Subaru shook his head slowly. "Kaichou said that there was something strange about this tree in the park. Students have been seeing strange shadows and hearing sounds from the branches..." he trailed off as he stepped under the branches and looked up into the pink blossoms. "There doesn't seem to be... unless..."
Subaru backed up from under the tree and pulled a small slip of paper out of his pocket, a charm spell? Closing his eyes he held the paper between two fingers just in front of his face. Quietly he began to mutter a soft spell and the piece of paper glowed. A beam of light shot out from the paper and hit the tree, then immediately extinguished. Subaru opened his eyes and watched the tree cautiously.
"Nothing happened," Duo muttered from behind him.
"Puu puu!"
Duo and Subaru looked up just in time to see a white blur fall from the tree, hit the ground and move straight for Duo. Duo was knocked backward onto the grass and when he opened his eyes he found a large white round face with a strange red jewel in its forehead staring down at him.
"Pu puu!" it declared with a small puzzled look.
"What the-?" Duo blinked. Subaru gave a small laugh and the white thing turned toward him, and jumped into his outstretched arms. Duo stood up and brushed himself off. "What in the world is that thing?"
"Mokona!" Subaru cuddled the little white rabbit and it 'puu puu'ed happily. "It's a tree spirit that is said to hide in sakura trees and grants wishes for people with strong wills." Subaru giggled. "And he's completely harmless."
"Pu pu!" Mokona agreed.
Duo smiled in spite of himself. I give up, he thought, this world is just strange and I'm going to have to live with it!
"Friends of yours?" Subaru pointed over Duo's shoulder and he turned to see four figures in the distance.
"Maxwell!" called a familiar voice. Duo turned around completely and placed his hands on his hips.
"Wu-" Duo cut the greeting off with snickers as he saw who was accompanying the scowling L5 pilot. A Chinese girl about his age was wrapped around his arm like some strange kind of human moss, while the girl from the day before was walking next to her and another girl was video taping the whole scene with a great big smile. "Wow, Wufei, three at once! Always knew the girls liked you more then me." Duo pretended to be jealous.
Wufei responded by clenching his fist and glaring. "Shut up Maxwell! Where's Yuy?"
"Up in his room talking to a flying stuffed animal. Don't look so surprised, it's not like we haven't seen stranger."
Sakura glanced at Tomoyo from behind Wufei. "Kero?" Tomoyo whispered and Sakura gave a short nod.
"I need to speak with him about this mission I received! I utterly refuse-"
Duo frowned. "Wu, there is no mission, this is a vacation courtesy of Quatre. You can try yelling at Heero for it but it won't do you any good, you're better off yelling at that strange little bunny." Duo nodded back toward Mokona who still snuggled in Subaru's arms.
"Just show me where the room is," Wufei growled.
Duo gave a shrug and headed for the doors to the apartment. "Ja ne Subaru-kun!"
"Ja!" Subaru waved goodbye and walked back over to the tree. Placing Mokona back on one of the branches he took off to report back to the Kaichou, the mystery of the sakura tree spirit had been solved.
~*~
Heero's eyes opened slowly as he heard the door open and a group enter the apartment. He didn't move from his seat in the bedroom. Instead he just sat there staring at the Time Card in his hand and the other two cards he called out. He still couldn't figure out how Duo had seen the card's power. Perhaps another test was in order, but he didn't want to create a scene. And a test might attract unwanted attention.
"Syaoran?"
Heero stiffened and a second later Meiling poked her head in the room. She emitted a squeal and bolted toward him, jumping into his lap and hugging him tightly before Heero had a chance to protest or even sweatdrop. It took a second for Heero to recover his senses and as soon as he did he pushed Meiling away, only succeeding in making her let go of everything but his arm.
"Meiling?! What are you doing here?!" Heero glared toward the door as Sakura, Duo, Wufei and Tomoyo entered. Sakura and Tomoyo took a step back from the glare while Duo just stopped from entering the room. Wufei didn't seem to notice.
"Yuy, you have some explaining to do!"
Heero groaned and stood up from the chair. Duo noted that he moved around easily with Meiling attached to his arm like some kind of vine, he must have been used to it from Relena. "This wasn't my idea, Wufei. Believe me, CLAMP Campus is the LAST place I would choose for a vacation spot."
Wufei opened his mouth to yell something when the vid-phone rang. Duo walked over and hit the button, the view screen blinking to life. "Mosimosi?"
A boy their age with curly blond hair appeared on the screen, holding a fan with the school seal. "Konnichiwa, mina-san." he said with a bright smile.
"Inomoryama-senpai?" Sakura and Tomoyo said in unison.
Another blond boy stepped up beside him, this one without curly hair, he waved.
"Quatre!" Wufei fumed.
Quatre seemed to wince slightly at the tone in his voice. "Nice to see you too Wufei. How are things going?"
"What do you mean how are things going?! You tricked me into coming back to this cursed campus!"
Quatre sweatdropped. "Gomen about that Heero and Wufei, but I thought you would like returning to your 'roots'. Besides I had to visit my cousin and he keeps telling me all about the campus, it sounded like a fun place to visit."
"Fun?" Heero snorted. "Wait, your cousin? Quatre, don't tell me you're related to the Inomoryama Group."
Quatre and Nokoru nodded and smiled.
"Well you can definitely see the resemblance." Duo remarked.
"That's it, I'm leaving." Wufei started to turn and head for the door.
"Matte Wufei! Onegai!" Quatre called out.
Wufei turned halfway and just glared at him.
"You have to stay for the circus at least! Please! Trowa and the whole troop are arriving tonight to perform for the campus. It was supposed to be a surprise. Please, we took so much time planning this. Please say you'll stay just for the circus. Onegai Wufei."
Wufei groaned loudly. Growling and clenching his fist he stepped out of the room, yet didn't head for the door of the apartment.
"I think that's as close to a 'yes' as you're going to get Q-man," Duo snickered.
Quatre clapped his hands together. "You guys are coming too right?"
Heero frowned. "It's not like we can leave, our gundams went missing this morning."
Nokoru stepped back in front of the screen. "You say the gundams are missing? No problem!" Nokoru closed his fan and flicked it out again to show the logo for the CLAMP Campus Detectives. "Leave it up to the CLAMP Campus Detectives, we'll find them for you after the show."
Duo glanced to Heero who shrugged. "Why not? It's not like we have anything better to do."
"Yo kata! See you guys there!" Quatre smiled happily.
Nokoru bowed and directed his eyes to Tomoyo and Sakura. "And of course, you ladies are invited as well."
"Arigatou," Tomoyo bowed as the screen blinked out.
Duo raised an eyebrow and glanced at the girl attached to Heero. "So, He-chan, who's this?"
Meiling glared at Duo.
"This is my cousin-" Heero pulled at her arm and succeeded in pushing her away. Meiling crossed her arms and frowned. "Li Meiling."
"Hn? Li? Oh, never mind. I give up trying to figure this all out. Though now I understand why you like Relena, they do bear a striking resemblance."
"Baka!" Heero spat out.
~*~
An hour later found the varied group clustered on the floor with steaming cups of hot chocolate. Kero had joined them and was also sipping his hot chocolate out of a long silver spoon. Heero had explained everything in short simple sentences with Kero jumping in and pointing things out in more detail. Finally everything seemed to be explained and they all sat in silence.
Duo finished off his mug of hot chocolate and set it down on the carpeted floor. "So... I think this is starting to make more sense. Your name is actually Li Sayoran?"
Heero nodded.
"And you and Wufei used to go to CLAMP Campus?"
Heero nodded but Wufei shook his head. "I never went to this campus, but Merian did so I was with her family here quite often."
"Not often enough," mopped Meiling who was now sitting between Heero and Wufei, casting deadly glares at anyone who even dared to look at the two boys.
"So now what?" Duo asked, eyeing Meiling who had decided he was a good target to glare at.
"Well, we just sit tight and wait for this circus you mentioned I guess." Kero pointed out. Then he turned and pointed at Heero. "And you, Sayoran should apologize to Sakura!"
Heero and Sakura jumped in surprise. "For what?!" Heero demanded angrily.
"For leaving for one! After all you two went through-"
Heero narrowed his eyes and muttered a few words, suddenly a small slip of paper appeared over Kero's lips and cut off his words. Heero stood up and left the room without another word, succeeding in disappearing before Kero got the small slip of paper off his mouth.
"Jeez, touchy ain't he?" Kero frowned.
"Serves you right Kero-chan, you shouldn't have said anything." Sakura said.
"Well so~rry! I was only trying to help! Hmph."
Duo took a deep breath. "There was something between you two?" He asked Sakura. Heero apparently had left that part out and Kero hadn't really added it in. Sakura nodded slowly.
"Yeah," she said concentrating her eyes on her hands. "There seemed to be for a while."
Duo stood up and gave a smile. "I know Heero, let me go talk to him."
Sakura nodded.
As Duo left the room Tomoyo gave Sakura a tight hug. "Don't worry Sakura, it'll be ok."
Sakura smiled quietly at Tomoyo. "Yeah. I know he's moved on and so have I, I mean I have you Tomo-chan. But I just wish he wasn't so angry with me." She sighed quietly.
Across the room from them neither Wufei nor Meiling was paying attention, instead Meiling had decided to reattach herself to her brother-in-law much to his protest. Sakura smiled as the Chinese gundam pilot tried to pry her off his arm.
TBC...
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