A WORLD OF CONFUSION Card
By:Corinne Price

“Noooooooooooooo!!! She’s got the Card!!!” Sorina shrieked.
“Don’t worry, Sorina. I have another way to get the Card. Then we shall rule this land.”

Auburn hair with shimmering blonde streaks hung to her knees. Piercing
sapphire blue eyes looked through you and could see the truth, the secret,
hidden within you. Pastel blue wings (trimmed in gold over the top) glittered and sparkled, even in the dim light and darkness. The mark on her
forehead (as she figured) was no longer a small crescent moon but a big,
blue diamond-cut 8-pointed star. Over a light blue leotard hung a royal
blue robe brushing the floor, hemmed with gold. Her Crystal Staff was now
longer than she was tall, and more delicate and mature-looking, not some
wide 5-year-old girlie wand. She even LOOKED more mature (if y’all know
what I mean). You could still tell it was Sakura, but something about her
now actually commanded respect. She now had unlimited magic, and the look
in her eyes proved it. “Mirror…Return.” She said, pointing out her Staff.
“The image disappeared into her Staff. She now turned once again to the
mouth of the cavern. She smiled again. Not a ‘goofy girl’ smile. A knowing smile. “I know just what to do with you, you cup of lava.” She
raised the Staff. “Fiery…Grant me your form. Release!” She watched as the
Fiery surrounded her and transformed her into itself. Suddenly a face
flashed through her mind. Beautiful hazel eyes. Short cut bleached hair.
Heart-leaping smile. Aaron. She shook her head hard to get the picture out
of her mind. Time to go home…and to Li.

“Cameron! What do we do? What do we do?!”
“Don’t worry. I have another idea to capture the card. Let’s go back home
now.”
“Are you sure it’ll work?”
“I’m positive, Sorina. Trust me.”


Sakura emerged out of the boiling lava, unharmed. “Well, that was easy
enough.” She said, returning to her new form. “Dash…Lend me your power…Release!” She felt Dash’s speed seep through her. She turned and
looked up into the turquoise clouds (for if you forgot, she lives in a
palace in the sky). Her feet lifted slowly off the ground. Her robe billowed around her. Before she took off, she saw Cameron and that girl
riding their horses to Raijvalon Star. She floated there watching for a
moment, then took off into the sky at an amazing speed. Once again, a
sweet, blushing face flashed through her mind. She slowed down just enough
to look back, back at a home on a beautiful plateau meadow of wildflowers.

~~~At the palace~~~
Li was pacing. He was wondering whether he should go looking for Sakura.
She’d been gone since yesterday evening. It was now late in the afternoon
the next day. Suddenly, he sensed an aura. It didn’t seem like Sakura’s at
all. It was WAY stronger than Sakura’s. Come to think of it, it was even
stronger than Eli’s! He rushed outside, small plumes of blue-green cloud
flying up behind him under his feet. He saw…SAKURA?!?!?!?!? That can’t
be!!! But he could tell by the look in her eyes and her Staff. She saw Li
and waved. “SAKURA?!?!?” he said, wide-eyed. “Hey, Li!”
“What happened? Why do you look different?” “Do you not like it?”
“No. Er, uh, well,” he felt his face grow hot. Sakura chuckled, but Li
thought it sounded strange. Like a forced laugh. “Is something wrong,
Sakura?” he said, sounding concerned.
Sweet hazel-brown eyes flashed in front of her eyes again. “No, I’m just
tired from the flight.”
“Well, come inside and tell us the major details of your long journey through the mountain.”
“Y…You know?”
“Eli knew you were doing something big that you wouldn’t tell us about. So
this morning, he started tracking what you were doing.”
Sakura heaved a great sigh of relief. This morning. That means he didn’t
know who Aaron was. She looked behind her, to the home surrounded by flowers and unicorns running along the meadow. She saw the wind blowing
through his hair. She felt his hazel eyes looking down onto the meadow,
wondering what she was thinking of right now. She became aware of Li talking. She turned back. “Nani?”
“What?”
“What did you say?”
”I didn’t say anything.”
She heard him say didn’t>
It suddenly clicked. She smiled. She could have fun with this. “I heard that,” she said defiantly.
“What?”
“I’m not THAT tired. I don’t just hear what people SAY anymore. I can hear
THOUGHTS, too.”
Suddenly his face flashed through her mind yet again. Maybe he speaks
telepathically, too. Well, worth a try. She looked back at Li. ‘Can you
hear me, Li?’ She said in her mind.
“What?!?!” Li totally freaked out.

“Oh great…Next thing, she’s going to be able to talk horse lingo,” he said,
rolling his eyes.

Anyway, Sakura went inside and detailed the entire thing for Li, Eli, and
Madison. She didn’t say anything about Aaron. As far as they know, the
family was just a husband and his wife who just happened to see her walking
along the meadow. As she said this, once again smiling hazel brown eyes
looked into hers. She suddenly became aware of Eli looking at her very
carefully. She blinked and looked away.

(Now, the Lion guy was forgotten a long time ago in the story. Well, his
case was that he had a bunch of talking animals. Their home planet had been
destroyed, and the Lion was seeking to find a new planet for them to reside.
So if you were wondering what had happened to that guy, now you know.)

She was tired but she didn’t get any sleep at all that night. She didn’t
know what to think. In between thoughts of wondering about what to do and
whether to tell Li and Eli the truth and thinking about the way Eli had been
looking at her, were flashes of him. She looked out the window. She opened
the sliding glass door and out onto the balcony. She looked up to the full
moon. She wondered, ‘Would it work if I tried?’ Then she closed her eyes.
she thought. She focused her entire mind on those
last four words. She heard a faint voice in her head. She could hear it more clearly this time. <…Is this Sakura?> She was overjoyed.



She paused, wide-eyed. distance,> She said, trying to sound like your typical mistress (‘scuse me,
SORCERESS).

It was still pretty early in the evening. be over there soon, to, uhhhhh………to stop at the village……Are you…Are you
busy?>


<………uhhhhhhhhhh,> Now it was Aaron’s turn to hem and haw.

She looked behind her and locked her eyes on the door. The Staff appeared
in front of her and gripped it. “Lock…Release!” She whispered, pointing to
the door. She saw the small lock appear on the latch. She slowly shut the
glass door. She then turned to the sky and flexed her wings. She never noticed Eli and Madison sitting on the roof, watching her fly into
the clouds toward the village…She never sensed Eli as he silently watched
her through his Sun Staff. She closed her eyes as she reached the silent meadow. Although the sun had
just barely set, all was already quiet. She heard beautiful music coming
from the house. She slowly walked up to an open window and peered in curiously. She held her breath as she saw a glossy black grand piano, and,
sitting on the edge of the bench… … … She leaned on the pane with her eyes closed, listening dreamily to Aaron
playing that song. It seemed somehow…familiar. As he started playing it
again, memories began flashing through her mind, memories of laying on her
mother’s lap as she gently played the exact same song that she made just for
her… … …
Sakura’s eyes opened slowly as Aaron stopped. She realized he was staring
at her. She straightened up. “Very beautiful,” she said, smiling. “…Sakura…?” He said slowly.
“Yes.”
Aaron looked away, blushing. Sakura was silent. She was still watching
him. Aaron got up and walked to the door. Sakura didn’t budge. She looked
to the door as he walked over. She folded her wings back. “Hi…Again,”
Aaron said, breaking the silence.
“I…I just wanted to say thank you, for helping me that one day…” She finally
managed to look away from his hazel eyes, blushing.
Aaron took a step closer. Sakura’s heart began to race. They were only 2
feet apart. She looked back to Aaron. Sakura couldn’t speak. She felt as
if her heart was in her throat. Aaron opened his mouth to say something,
but closed it again. Although her heart was racing, she didn’t dare get any
closer to Aaron. She strictly came here JUST to thank him. She was still
with Li. Aaron noticed that she was thinking. “What’re you thinking about?”
“Oh, uh, my friend. She’s waiting for me to get to the store and back, so I
guess I better go,” she managed to squeeze through her throat. Although she
kept insisting herself that she was with Li, she didn’t want to leave Aaron.
“Well, maybe I’ll see you again sometime, okay?”
“Okay then…Bye,”
“Bye…” And with that she turned and flew full speed.
“…Sakura…” Aaron whispered.
Sakura had tears in her eyes. Why was she feeling like this? She loved Li.
Not Aaron. So why did she always think of him now?
Right then, as Eli and Madison were watching her, Li walked up and asked,
“What are you two doing? Have you seen Sakura or is she asleep?” Eli and
Madison looked at each other sadly. They didn’t want to break Sakura and Li
up, but they couldn’t keep the truth from him. Sadly, they stopped watching
Sakura fly and turned to Li. “You want to see what she’s doing?” Eli said,
raising the Staff to Li.

Sakura flew silently to her balcony door. Everybody was asleep. She stayed
up in the air till late, thinking of the things she liked between Li and
Aaron, finding about 50 things about Li, and about 100 for Aaron. She
decided she should get some sleep and think about it when she’s had a full
night’s rest.

The next morning, Sakura woke to bright, sunny morning. The troubles of the
night were passed, but the first thing that flashed through her vision were
those hazel eyes, those slender fingers flying over piano keys, playing the
most beautiful song perfectly. She sat down at the dining table and closed
her eyes for a moment, trying to wake up completely. A few minutes later,
Li, Eli, and Madison walked through the kitchen, each carrying their own
plate of breakfast. Madison and Eli looked at her grimly, then sat down and
began eating. Li looked at Sakura tersely, reminding her of the way he
always glared at her before they began helping each other capture the cards.
‘He must have had a bad morning,’ she thought curiously, then walked into
the kitchen and popped some waffles in the toaster (she’s only 12). She
wasn’t very hungry, so, rather than frying some eggs, she just dug into the
pantry and got the syrup and peanut butter. Once the waffles popped up, she
grabbed them and swiftly spread peanut butter on them and poured the syrup
over. As she walked back into the dining room, Li was still eating but had
only eaten a few bites. So were the others. “Are you all ill or something?” She asked curiously while taking a bite of waffle. Eli looked
at her, then shook his head and went back to his plate. With a second
forkful halfway to her mouth, Sakura froze in terror. She looked at Eli.
She knew that he could tell when people were gone and track them via his
Staff. Suddenly she wasn’t hungry. Li had been watching her through his
bangs. He watched as she stood and walked quickly out the door. Li stood
up and ran out to the front door. He ran as quick as he could to the ladder
under Sakura’s balcony.

The lock magically appeared as she ran to the balcony. In one swift movement she opened the balcony, flexed her wings, and was about to fly
until someone grabbed her hand. She gave a small cry. She turned and saw
Li holding her back. “Let me go!” she cried, tears reappearing in her eyes.
Li pulled her back in her room and slammed the bedroom door shut. She sat
desperately on the bed. They stood there for a moment. Sakura looked up.
“He showed you, didn’t he?” she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Li nodded.
“I don’t know why. I just…I just…”
“You just wanted to see him!”
She looked down, blushing. Hazel eyes, his fingers over the keys… “Why, Sakura? Why would you want to see him that bad?”
“I wanted to thank him, and then…I felt like I owed him and his family
something for letting me stay at their house for a night-“
“You said that there was only a man and his wife!”
”………”
Li looked at her for a few moments, then pointed to the bag sitting next to
her. “If you want to go, go now.”
Right then she could hear her mother’s voice.
She said to believe in your instincts, and your heart. Go to where your
true friendship and childhood lies. If you feel uncomfortable with a person, leave. Go to live with your friends. They will help you through
life. Without friends, when you had a problem, who would you go to when you
needed advice? Go to your friendship and childhood.
Right then, she realized what to do. Wiping her tears away, she grabbed the
bag and threw it over her shoulder. She looked one last time around the
room, to make sure she had everything. She saw a picture of Li and Sakura,
the one that Madison caught for her when she first transformed the cards.
She picked it up gingerly, then rose it over her head. Li face went from
anger to shock, then to an even angrier scowl. She looked at him, daring
him to stop her. A shattering crash echoed through the room as the picture
made contact with the floor. Sakura flexed her wings and walked out to the
balcony. She turned, gave one last look to Li, then finally rode to where
her true friends lie.
Raijvalon Star.

“Do you sense it, Cameron?” Sorina cried.
“Yes, I sense it. It won’t be too long now.”

(Pretty much forgot about Cody, huh?)
Cody sat in the main room writing in a journal when the doorbell rang. He
placed the journal down and walked quickly to the door. He opened it and
gasped. “S…Sakura?!”
“Yea, that’s me, Cody” she said, smiling. But something was wrong about her
smile. Her eyes were red and puffy.
“Is something wrong, Sakura?”
The smile disappeared from her lips. “…Yes.” She said, her eyes glistening
again. Cody moved to the side and let her in. They both walked over to the
couch and sat down. Sakura told him the whole story, from beginning to end.
When she finally finished, her head was on Cody’s shoulder and she was
crying softly. After a few moments she stopped crying. She looked at Cody
and saw him laughing. “You like Aaron?! Aaron’s my best friend at the
village!!!” Cody busted up laughing.
Sakura’s eyes widened in shock. “Aaron?! Your best friend?!”
“Yea! He’ll be coming this afternoon!”
She could see his hazel eyes crinkled in a smile. Her heart began to race.
“Th…This afternoon?”
“Yea, in about half an hour. So you might want to go and get showered and
stuff. You know why? He’s liked you since that night you slept there…” he
whispered in her ear. Her already wide eyes went even wider. Cody started
laughing hysterically. Sakura blushed furiously. “Well,” she said, getting
up, “I must prepare for our guest.” Cody just started laughing.

25 min. later
Sakura was wearing the leotard and royal blue robe. Cody was sitting on the
couch wearing a fresh shirt. Suddenly the bell rang. Sakura’s heart began
to race. Cody smiled and nodded. Sakura gulped and turned to the door.
She turned the handle. “SAKURA?!?!?!?!” Aaron gasped. Sakura tried to act
surprised, but heart was hammering in her throat. “A…Aaron?” “Uh…” he looked down at his feet, blushing. “Is Cody home?” “Right over there on the couch.” He walked slowly past. Their hands brushed. They both flinched, blushing.
Cody busted up laughing again. “You two would make a perfect couple!” he
blurted out.
Aaron gasped and looked to Cody. Sakura saw him mouth the words ‘Shut Up!’
to Cody. Then he looked to Sakura, blushing. “Nah…Besides, you’re probably
with someone right now, huh?”
Sakura blinked and shook her head. Aaron blushed again. Cody laughed
again. He was a good friend, but sometimes he wasn’t any help. “Well, I’ll
go get some tea for us to drink, okay?” She said, walking out the door.
Cody watched her leave, then said softly, “Aaron, come here.”
“What?”
”You should go for her, Aaron.”
“Shut up, Cody.”
“Dude, I’m serious. When I told her that you like her…”
“You WHAT?”
“I told her that you like her, but BEFORE that, she told me that while she
was searching for the Sorcerer’s Card, she stayed the night at a nice family’s house. Can you guess what she told me after that? She told me
that after that all she ever thought of was the kid who invited her in.
Then, she told me that she went back to his house and thanked him. She told
me that then she came here because Li was jealous, so to speak simply, and
he threw her out because she liked the kid that HELPED HER. You know what
she said his name was? She said his name was –“
He was cut short by Sakura walking in the living room. She placed a tray on
the coffee table. As she placed the cups out and poured the tea, she asked
to Aaron, “How much sugar do want in yours?”
Aaron stuttered, “I…That’s okay. I can…get it myself,” As he reached for the
sugar, he accidentally tipped the cup over. Both he and Sakura reached for
the cup. They touched hands as they attempted to clean it up. They froze.
Cody nudged Aaron, then said, “Oh no. That’s okay, I’ll get some rags to
clean it up with,” And ran out the door. There was an embarrassed silence
as they waited for Cody. Finally, Sakura said, “Cody was talking about me,
wasn’t he?”
He looked up, blushing. “He said that you like…that you like…”
“You?”
“…Yea.”
“Well, I’m not going to hide the truth from you. I do.”
He looked at her, more surprised than embarrassed. “I…It’s true?”
“Yes, it is.”
“…”
Just then Cody walked in with 3 rags. “By the way, Sakura, did I mention
that Aaron digs you like a garden?”
“SHUT UP, CODY!!” exclaimed Aaron.
Sakura giggled. Aaron looked at her.
Cody shouted. “IT WORKED!!!!!”
“SHUT UP, CODY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Aaron screamed again.
Sakura and Cody laughed.
Later that evening, they sat around a big-screen television, watching
the
videos of Sakura capturing the cards. All three of them laughed a lot.
Cody, still playing matchmaker, convinced who is now his girlfriend (Meilin)
to come over and each pair sat on a separate couch. Since both couches were
two-seated, Cody and Meilin sat on one couch and Aaron and Sakura on the
other. Aaron and Cody made a big fuss over where who would sit. “Why can’t it just be the girls on one couch and us on the other?” “Because I want to sit with Melin, and we all know you want to sit with
Sakura, so that way everybody’s happy.” Aaron looked at Sakura, then back to Cody. “But…” Then he grabbed Cody’s
shirt and pulled him around the corner. “Are you purposefully trying to
humiliate me or what?!”
“No, I’m just trying to show you that she DOES like you and you two SHOULD
be together.”
“… … …Fine. Have it your way. But you owe me for this!” Then Cody said aloud, “Alright, if you want to sit with Sakura that bad, go
ahead.” Sakura and Meilin laughed around the corner. They seemed awfully
close. Aaron looked around the corner and jumped back as he saw both Meilin
and Sakura peering right around the corner, listening in on their conversation.
Cody snuck up behind Aaron and pushed him. Aaron flew forward, stopping
inches from Sakura. Their eyes widened. Cody and Meilin laughed hysterically. Sakura and Aaron finally managed to move back, but being so
close…well, it was very convincing, and they had a hard time pulling back.
So they finally started watching a movie called AntiTrust (trust me, you
would not understand it if I even tried to explain). Like promised, Aaron
and Sakura were sitting together on one chair. About halfway through the
movie, Sakura began seriously yawning. Aaron tensed up as she began falling
asleep…on his shoulder. Finally he moved over and let her lay her head in
his lap. Cody pointed over and started giggling. Aaron whispered, “Shut
up!” then gently lifted Sakura up and began walking up into the dormitories.

“How’s our little Aaron doing?” Sorina cooed, watching Aaron walk up the
stairs.
“He’s doing the job we gave him, of course.”
“Shouldn’t we be rid of him now? He’s done his job. He’s pulled Sakura
away from Li and Eli. His part of the plan is done.” “Yes, but if he were to disappear now, she may go back. He’s also going to
be the one to get me the card. See, she’s sleeping, all he has to do is…”
“Oh, okay. I understand now.”
“Yes…Only a matter of time now…”

Aaron gently laid her in her bed. As he was turning to walk out, a searing
pain shot through his head. He heard the words, tried to block them out but
couldn’t.

Aaron’s eyes went blank. He had been possessed. He turned back around and
grabbed her bag. He found the key hidden under all her clothes. He grabbed
it. Cameron and Sakura magically appeared at the door. Cameron held out
his hand. Aaron gave the key to him, expressionless. “That’s my boy,” he
said. The key transformed into a sword. “You are finished with your work
now.” With a quick movement, Aaron was returned to the Black Magic he was
created from.