Sakura's Last Chance in Time

4th Edition

Chapter 7: Silent strike, Shadow light

Location: 2 Kilometers North West of the Tomoyo's Winter Retreat house, Japan

Date: April 4th, 2007

Time: 02:40 hrs

Combat Mission Time+00:00:10:34 since mission start

Despite their rough landing, everyone wasn't any worse for wear, it had taken over five minutes to even get Sakura out of the hole that she had made with her body. Theresa had already determined that when Sakura had finished using her magic, she was unexpectedly five meters above the ground, without any form of restraint; Sakura fell feet first into the soft snow. Tomoyo and Sakura, joined with Syaoran were all looking beyond the hill towards the homestead were as they stared, their past self's were all quietly sleeping peacefully.

"Have we got everything we took with us?" Theresa looked back at the team on the ground

"Yes Madam" Melin replied "All gear has arrived with us"

"Very well, firstly; we need to get ourselves into an area halfway between this house and the CIA van which will be parking on the side of the road in three hours time"

Yamazaki was taking off his backpack to get out the small bag that Theresa head for her gear, inside was some standard issue code books from MITHRIL and some maps.

"We need to get here, now" Yamazaki pointed to a valley that was roughly the same distance from the van's future location and the house "We will set up base from there, URUZ team and Tiger fourteen will do sorties to damage their commutation route, and it possible, take out both the field agent and the van's equipment"

"That will be suitable" Theresa nodding her head before Sakura interrupted,

"Theresa, that valley your pointing at…is where Syaoran-kun and I landed when we took a early morning flight on the 9th, in five days time"

Yamazaki and Theresa nodded, taking Sakura's honesty seriously, Sakura knew how to read a map, and from the looks of where they wanted the camp, it would basically expose them to their past selves, and to the CIA who took pictures in that area.

"Ok, what about this area?" Theresa pointed to a hill on the other side of the house.

"That's almost perfect; the only time we went there was two days before, when we cycling back from the local township, other here" Sakura replied "The only area I can think of that is helpful is if we were on this side of the road and around here" Sakura pointed to a Smaller valley that was opposite the roadway, it made the distance between the CIA van harder, but it put them in a position to literally sniper attack the agent three times if needed.

"Ok, we need to get their by dawn, Tiger fourteen, URUZ six" prepare your sniper rifles and go to that location" Theresa called the two people over to read the map

"That sounds ok" Kurz responded.

Melin simply nodded and walked to her backpack to pull out the steel case that she had check before; she opened it up again and started to assemble her rifle from the detached parts, when she was done, she reached into a pocket on her bag and attached the sight control to the top. Kurz had also completed his sniper rifle, but left the normal Sight on.

"We'll see you in three hours" Yamazaki spoke to the two as they started walking down the hill towards the said location

Melin and Kurz jogged off with their rifles and backpacks. Leaving only Melissa and Sousuke to defend them, that's if of course in the extreme unlikeness that the CIA agent saw them in that time. Sakura looked at Melin as she was assembling her weapon; she looked like a true expert on the battlefield with her movements. Although it was true that Melin was always very dedicated or had a one minded track to whatever need getting done; this was a completely different Melin to the one Sakura remembered over half a decade ago.

"Well, we aren't going to get anywhere staying here" Theresa started to speak "pick up the bags and let's go, need to get cover before you get up"

Sakura was partially confused by what Theresa said last. To Sakura's mind; it was a cryptic saying that made no sense. But Tomoyo however made perfect sense of what she meant and laughed. As the group walked down the track that had been cleared by Kurz and Melin's footwork, Sakura wondered for a second about Melin; this was a totally different side to her that she'd never seen. But it felt similar which made herself and Tomoyo not worry.

"…it's like she only has a one track mind, all the time" Sakura thinking aloud by accident,

"Who has a one track mind?" Tomoyo asked; Theresa and Yamazaki were busy reading a map and Sousuke and Melissa seemed to point their assault rifles at everything that wasn't moving; in the unlikely chance that the CIA agent they were after would suddenly pop out of nowhere with thirty marines. This was Sousuke's impression on things at least; he had a pretty fine tuned over tuned sense of battlefield instinct that drove mad those few that knew him as a civilian.

"Theresa…I mean Angel" Melissa Stumbled on her words for a minute, "What will we do once we establish the bunker?"

Sakura turned her head over to Theresa who seemed to be a little concerned about Melissa calling her by name. Sakura and Tomoyo both pondered this for a while.

"We will hold base there until tomorrow, then we will distract the CIA van and make them look in the other direction"

Syaoran was a little confused with what Theresa and Melissa were saying, but he managed to understand; Sakura however was unable to understand the weird names they were calling each other. Syaoran himself didn't know why they were calling each other by those names, but he didn't want to question them. Theresa turned to look at Sakura who had a confused look on her face.

"I'm sorry Sakura" Theresa spoke, making Sousuke and Melissa look back at her "We forgot to tell you about the call signs we now use"

Everyone stopped walking for a moment and centered their attention on Theresa and Sakura.

"For now on Sakura; you are known as CLOW 1, Syaoran is CLOW 2, Tomoyo is CLOW 3, Naoko is CLOW 4, and Rika is CLOW 5" Sakura starred at Theresa dumbstruck to what she even meant in those names "its so the CIA don't learn our real names; that's why I am 'angel', Yamazaki is 'Werewolf', Sousuke is URUZ 6 and Melissa is URUZ 2"

"I think I understand now" Sakura lying, things didn't make sense the first time around with her, the attitude of having a slow mind. Tomoyo however, made up for Sakura in seeing things quickly. Tomoyo nodded and calmed Sakura, promising to explain it later on. At the moment Sakura and everyone had to meet the two snipers at the position in three hours, otherwise, the people in the lodge would most likely spot some people that looked very familiar.

Despite the short distance they had to walk; Sakura and Tomoyo were both having difficulty walking with the backpacks, the heavy loads didn't help their balance on the soft snow and rocky terrain. Eventually however, Sakura started to get use to the weight and managed to move with little to no problem. Tomoyo however constantly felt weak in the knees and fell over. Eventually, Syaoran gave up and continued and supported Tomoyo as they walked along the difficult by the all too familiar track towards the winter homestead.

As promised; everyone finally reached Kurz and Melin at the point that Sakura had suggested, but at least an hour late. Sousuke arrived first and relieved Kurz, who started to assemble a trench like hole near the side of a hill. Theresa and Yamazaki simply stood with their binoculars drawn looking at the homestead and started to speak in Russian,

"So this is the where it all started" Yamazaki spoke first,

"It would appear" Theresa replied, "Little does 'this' Sakura-san know, is that her reckless display will result in 3.5 Billion Deaths, half the world blown to bits…"

Sousuke could partially understand Russian, and picked up a few words from the conversation, however it didn't appear that Theresa wasn't being kind to Sakura. He knew that Sakura was responsible for what happened here. But whatever the matter, his job was protecting both Sakura's with his life. Rika, Naoko, Syaoran, Tomoyo and Sakura assisted Melissa in what ever way they could, but they simply were unless people here. They simple were guests to these people from MITHRIL, everyone expect Melin and Yamazaki were members of this organization that kept Sakura wondering; what they were doing at the time of the attack? If they knew about it before, would they have been able to prevent this?

In the military efficiently that both Melissa and Sousuke were known for, the 'base' camp was established. All of it was a sub-level igloo padded with tarps and a tent for a roof. Inside, it was comfortable enough to keep your clothes on, with enough space for all of them and room to spare space for bags and a radio setup. Sousuke was already setting up radar set while Theresa was starting the radio system in near lighting speed. Sakura and Syaoran simply stood there both amazed and left like they weren't doing enough. However, Theresa said that she should rest for now and let them take care of the details.

"Ok, everyone in, and wipe your feet!" Melissa spoke cheerfully. Sakura and everyone except for Kurz and Melin went in this base. Inside, it was about the size of a bedroom, however the headroom was not available for everyone. A dim orange light was all that lit the tiny space. Sakura crept along to the side wall, dragging her heavy bag with her. Tomoyo and Syaoran followed suit, With Naoko and Rika waiting for Yamazaki to go in.

"Werewolf, Angel, shall we start commutations with MITHRIL?" Sousuke spoke to Theresa quietly,

"Yes, use digital UHF frequency 56.7, encoder level 5. Code 51" Theresa explained,

"Code 51?" Sousuke asked, "Angel, I only remember MITHRIL has only 50 codes"

"Yes, but this one ill understand" Theresa replied with a smile,

Sousuke and Melissa stopped and looked at the captain. In all the years they had know the captain, rare was such the occasion that Theresa would act with such a devious smile. Sousuke didn't mind, as long as he knew Theresa was doing her job, he would follow her in any battle. Sousuke started to enter the code without the hesitation of asking more questions. Unexpectedly, the computer didn't reject the code number signal.

"Ok, now that MITHRIL Headquarters know, they will decide on the appropriate first measure" Theresa explained, "in the meantime, our mission now is to distract or in any way disturb the agent's eyes from the Sakura that will…"

"SnapLock!" Kurz screeched over the radio. "Heavy Contact, Black Van, I repeat, a Black Van at the house!"

"Confirm, URUZ six's assessment and snaplock declare; I also have a Van and another Vehicle in sights" Spoke a voice belonging to Melin, Sousuke grabbed a rifle and readied himself. Theresa and Melssia claimed to the radio and listened in

"Tiger fourteen, can you confirm identification" Melissa calmly asked,

"Four female, but they appear to be armed"

"URUZ two, seven; get moving!"

Melissa and Sousuke rushed out with their assault rifles drawn and moved off. Yamazaki and Theresa remained at the station, now with everyone in the tent suddenly worried.

"Can you confirm if they are American?" Theresa asked. Sakura kept to herself quietly and wondered for a moment, Tomoyo also starting to think as well, something was more fishy with the things that were being said.

"I'm unable to confirm, they appear to be scanning the area for threats" Kurz spoke "Permission to surround and attack?"

"To all units; do not attack, I repeat do not attack" Yamazaki spoke In a firm manner "Gain positions, but do not fire, unless fired at"

"Roger" everyone spoke,

It finally hit Tomoyo, she hesitated and forgot about the head room in the bunker. With a sudden hit to her head, Tomoyo fell face down onto the hard ground. Theresa quickly turned to see Tomoyo as Sakura and Syaoran quickly reacted. Tomoyo still on the ground was clenching the pain,

"Tomoyo-Chan!" Sakura spoke, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine" Tomoyo lifted her head, reliveing her forhead bleeding slightly "Yamazaki-kun, ask Melin-Chan if she can read the number plate"

"What will that accomplish?" Yamazaki spoke and turned to Tomoyo; if as she said something wrong. Behind Yamazaki's back, Theresa grabbed the radio speaker,

"Tiger Fourteen, can you get and ID on the Van or the car?"

Yamazaki turned to Theresa who was looking back at Yamazaki in a serious tone. Sakura helped Tomoyo back up into a sitting position while Naoko and Syaoran were quickly looking around for a medical kit.

"Angel, Werewolf. The Van ID plate is 557-ERT"

"That's the mini-van from mom's company!" Tomoyo rose again by mistake; and once again hit her head on the ceiling. This time, Tomoyo fell backwards onto Sakura who herself fell back.

"How can you be certain?" Yamazaki asked, everyone looked at him suddenly as if he had done something wrong.

"URUZ two here; I have identified something, coming out of the van, more people"

"Tiger Fourteen, confirming…its Sakura"

"Understood" Yamazaki sighing under his breath;

"Angel to URUZ two and seven, remain where you are until further notice. Tiger Fourteen and URUZ six remain where you are and update me with you"

Everyone took a cold minute to get everything sorted in their minds. Without Tomoyo even knowing; she had damaged Yamazaki Takashi's reputation as an Intelligence agency specialist. However, this wasn't the time to compare skills; Yamazaki was about to belay Theresa's order and demand that whoever was there was taken out. Only the confirm singal from Melin made him stop short of giving the order.

"Werewolf!" Theresa spoke "What were you thinking?"

"I figured the people were CIA agents"

"There's only one CIA van in this area of Japan!" what makes you think these were the people we were meant to target?"

"Battlefield instinct, Captain" Yamazaki replied "Naval Tactics wont help you here"

Tomoyo sat still and quiet, Syaoran reaching out to her and taking her back to the corner where Sakura was quietly shocked at Yamazaki's performance. In the past; when he mentioned something out of the ordinary, It was quite easy to believe he was lying. However; by the look in his eyes, Yamazaki wasn't lying, in fact he was seriously committed to tell what he thought was right.

"Instinct? That's the worst possible tactic to use here, what would you have done if the Sakura in the cabin was killed?"

"Send 'this' Sakura in her place" Yamazaki ignored his wanting to point at Sakura and everyone, "I'm going to setup the Night time infer-red gear"

Yamazaki grabbed a bag and walked outside. The room was quiet for a few seconds more before Theresa slammed her fist onto the ground.

"Dammit, why does he have to be so dam stupid! This isn't the war anymore, and he's pretending it still is!"

Theresa crept back to the radio and clicked the on button.

"We heard it all, Captain" Melissa spoke over the radio

"Understood, URUZ two, maintain all combat units, have URUZ two hone in on Werewolf's signature, give him some cover, he'll be a few hours if he going to activate the sensor unit"

"Roger Angel, we'll do what we can" the radio cracked off and stopped. Theresa turned to Sakura who was placing the second bandage on Tomoyo's bruised head. Syoaran looked up to Theresa with a some what untrusting eye. Theresa blamed herself; both Yamazaki and Theresa were meant to be the leaders of the unit. However, it was clear that one of the two was being an irrational thinker in terms of this operation.

"What was Yamazaki-kun thinking?" Sakura asked finally,

"I apologies for him, the Colonel Takashi isn't the same person you remembered. The war has been eating away at his normal feelings and he is known never to be open about his emotional. He is what the Russian Army would call 'the prefect Spy'. Cold hearted, cruel, professional; all the traits required for the job he did" Theresa sitting up against the wall, her eyes looked like she was very stressed from the mission already into its sixth hour.

Sakura thought in the back of his mind of the Yamazaki who was a cheerful and friendly character four years ago; and then to the scar-faced Colonel from the front lines.

"Takashi-san hasn't had an easy time of things, even with my experience; I have a hard time understanding what he so furious about"

"You mean he's never talked about it?" Rika asked,

"Colonel Takashi worked in the Russian military for four years, never once has he told anyone about his personal history. His entire life from what we understand is devoted purely to the tactical control of the 3rd Army of the Russian Federation Forces. His life before that is a complete mystery or classified" Theresa felt somewhat hopeful that Rika and Naoko; whom apparent knew Yamazaki better then Sakura; would be able to explain the details better.

Sakura remained silent and kept close to Tomoyo. Syaoran started to understand the complexity of what was going on now. He remained posed in wanting to ask more questions. But his will to ask overpowered his sense of restraint.

"Is there anything you tell us?" Syaoran spoke, "His history in the army for example?"

"Where do you want me to start? Colonel Takashi has a rather impressive record of victories in India, Iraq, Iran, Ukraine, North West Russia, and most recently at Norway, he is the best out there. He has only lost at Norway, because was recalled to Headquarters for you"

Colonel Yamazaki Takashi, despite his young age was the best of the tacticians in the field. He's imaginative mind won the approval of superiors and earned him a quick rise in ranks. With in the three years he started, he had already been promoted from corporal to Colonel, mainly field promotions, but nobody would deny the man was a hard worker. He fought on the front lines in 2008 when south Asia became another frontline. He was trapped on the sub-continent for three months when his unit was left for dead behind enemy lines. Determined to return for a reason unknown to his own people; His careful intelligence gathering and intense jungle warfare tactics he quickly learned the leadership position of his unit and several others trapped behind the lines.

The fruits of his labor produced at the end of the three month survival, not only did he survive the jungles of India and Thailand, but managed to damage or destroy American Arm slaves, Helicopters. However, the images caught in his mind from the close combat, the over rush of adrenaline in his body countless times, the screams and bangs of gunfire in the jungles, it pushed him to the limit. Half of the soldiers; most of which were only three years older and conscripts were with killed in action or were mentally ill by the time they reached safety. Young boys that had see too much killing themselves months after they were rescued.

Yamazaki was considered the hero of the group and given a straight promotion to Lieutenant. His actions in the southern front quickly earn respect from his commanders. Some disliked the age characteristic of the young solider. But didn't question the scar on his face; he gained it sometime in his three month trek towards the south East Asian front line; when Hong Kong was still in Chinese control.

"The Colonel probably has a reason for this, I know that he hinted something of anticipation when they said the attack on Tomoda took place; but he's been in angry mood ever since you arrived at the base"

"Was he expecting something from us?" Tomoyo asked

"I think it was something more like someone, Theresa sighed. "But they said she was killed days before"

Sakura and Tomoyo also complied in fainting their heads down in dread.

Location: 20 Kilometers South East of the Tomoda, Japan

Date: April 23rd, 2007

Time: 03:30 hrs

The motorbike was stolen, and driving excitedly down the mountain road. The driver didn't appear to care about anything else but getting away from the city right now, on the bike was a younger Yamazaki. In his heart, there was nothing but fury; behind him the township of Tomoda and capital of Tokyo were both burning, his country was defenseless and unready for the slaughter that was now confronting Japan. Yamazaki was in Tomoda no less then 30 minutes ago, rushing on the motorbike towards Chihura's house; when the threat that America was about to invade the city and put it into submission, he only thought of getting his most beloved person out alive.

He heard from friend that Americans were doing some kind of house-to-house search of the south side of town. Chihura and all her friends were standing between nothing but the walls of the house and the armed American marines. His original plan was to go get her, but by the time he got there it was too late, the house was burning down after it had been hit with 88mm shells from a nearby tank. He turned face and rode out of town as fast as he could.

"Dammit, Dammit I was too late!" he thought in his mind as he increased the throttle more. He sped up the hill and around another corner. When the ground was finally level again, Yamzaki hit a blind spot and almost hit a burning wreckage of a car. He skidded to a stop for a moment. All around him were smoldering wreckages of what were cars. There were also craters in the ground and trees fallen onto the roadway; all of a sudden, Yamazaki was in fear of the worst. He mounted the bike again and drove around the wreckages. The roadway was littered with craters and fallen trees. As Yamazaki feared; he heard the sound of the rotor in the distance, it was coming closer to him.

He accelerated the bike and drove into a tunnel, where he was safe for a moment. However he continued alone to the other side was, waiting for him was an attack helicopter just waiting for prey. Yamzaki skidded to a stop short of the tunnel end when he heard the high pitched engine noise of the gunship hovering above the exit of the tunnel. He didn't stop, instead he drove as fast as he could and tried to avoid the expected gunfire. He exited the tunnel and into the bright search light of the helicopter waiting for him. it immediately started to shoot the 50mm rounds it the ground, but narrowly missing him. Yamazaki thanked himself for the quick thinking and continued to speed along the road. But the Helicopter however wasn't letting him get away easy.

He wasn't an excellent biker, but Yamazaki had already brushed with dead twice in two hours. Now he was up against it for a third time; he however didn't stand a chance between a gunship. It was already too fast for Yamazaki to handle; dogging the fire of the cannons and narrowly missing the burning wreckages. So far his luck was holding, but he was about to run out of it; up ahead was a narrow bridge on the waterway. It was close enough to the water to fall in from the side. Yamazaki then foolishly sped towards the bridge and into the open. The helicopter predicted his movement and fired a missile straight at the bridge.

It flew over Yamazaki and exploded in front of him by a few meters; thinking of nothing but avoiding the fire, he tilted and seared past the fire and toppled over the side of the bridge. His back in flames; Yamazaki and the bike fell ten meters into a cold river. The cold and painful splash cooling his hurting body, the weight of the bike suddenly took over and dragged him below the water. Above him, the bridge started to collapse and various bits were falling down around him. Yamazaki detected himself from his sinking bike and swam underwater, away from the collapsing bridge. The helicopter didn't bother to check if he had hit the target, the fact the bike wasn't on the other side was enough for the pilot to believe that his prey was dead.

The noises of the helicopter subsided and the flaming and cracks of the bridge remained. Yamazaki pulled himself to the river bank and looked around. Right now his best gamble was to go down the river until he found something that he could use to make his escape from Japan. Yes, it was oblivious now that Japan was unsafe; simply going to the next town would be pointless as well as hopeless. His best chance was hike to the west coast and look for a fishing boat that was stupid enough to wait around.

Almost three days after his trek began; Yamazaki was tired, hungry and regretting his decision to stay off the road. Having absolutely no experience whatsoever in survival in the outdoors, however, he had somehow managed to get himself past the next town north of Tomoda and towards what appeared to another roadway. Yamazaki chose to remain vigilant of his original order and remained close to the road, but never got onto to the roadway. The hot day was beating down on him when he heard the sound of trucks coming from behind. Yamazaki quickly jumped down into a bush on the side of the road, looking carefully at the jeep approaching. Oddly the vehicles didn't appear to be American, no white stars or desert camouflaged white and grey.

Yamazaki used his sight to carefully look for any insignia, and then he realized it wasn't American, which to him was perfect enough. He waited until the trucks were only fifty meters away before he raised his hand out and walked into the open. If he was wrong now, he would have no chance of escaping death a fourth time. The lead jeep beeped twice and the convoy of three vehicles came to a stop. From the back of the first truck, eight solders came out of the back; all of which were thankfully Japanese. Yamazaki still hesitated to putting his hands on head, as if he was being arrested.

"Who are you!" yelled the commander on the lead vehicle, whom got off and approached the strange person in front of the convoy,

"Yamazaki Takashi" He yelled back

"Where did you live?"

"Tomoda"

"Bull…everybody that was in Tomoda was killed or taken away"

"I'm not joking sir, I lived in south Tomoda, I went to Tomoda High school, and I even knew Sakura-san"

The general stopped and hesitated to pull his gun out, "You're lying! Nobody who knows Sakura is left alive"

"I can prove it!" Yamazaki reached for his back pocket; amazingly he had held onto a pinkish and blue wallet that he had been given, inside was a school ID card, 900 yen and a photograph folded three ways in. Yamazaki noticed the corner piece was smoldered, from his motorbike crash three days before. He quietly walked over to the commander and gave him the picture, well aware that two other men had guns pointed at him.

"I don't believe it! You're technically the only person from Tomoda that hasn't been shot or arrested!" The commander waved off the guns and told them to get into the truck "Get on, were heading up to Hokkaido; were the Russians have bought some land for us to reorganize the army"

For the next day, the small convoy raced up the coast as fast as it could, mainly because the captain of unit Yamazaki came across, had informed his superiors of his find. Immediately; the remaining Generals and the sole Admiral left demanded that Mr. Takashi be brought up to Hokkaido. Yamazaki felt that by every passing hour, they were going to expect more and more out of him, when he didn't know anything about Sakura having magically powers. But in the meantime, the leader of the unit, a Captain by the name of Yang informed him about what was going on.

The pandemonium around the world right now was through the roof, nobody was ready for a war. China was still having trouble scrambling its air force. The entire south east Asia rejoin had gone into chaos, the Americans had the advantage right then, but the mistake was that they brought too few ships and planes; China and Russia were already teaming up with both Korea's and whatever remained of Japan to start the counter attack. Right now, there was no military command in Japan to control the troops who were all rushing to the north with whatever and whoever they could take. There were reports of heavy fighting in Tokyo, and still as far south as Okinawa where it was reported as intense; some local people had setup their own militias's and were making flawed attempts to retake their capital. The Government heads had been killed and the Japanese royal family was missing.

Yamazaki suddenly felt the weight of the events around the world. All of a sudden, in four days, he went from high school student with loving girlfriend to refugee on the run from the enemy. Then he thought about his most Beloved Chihura; for the first time since he ran off from Tomoda, he could seriously think about what had happened to her. He was furious, he didn't understand the purpose of arresting Sakura, but he was outright mad that they had to bring all his friends into it. Sakura; was a sweet loving girl that cheered up the coldest face truly the most destructive force since the invention of the Nuclear bomb? Yamazaki had heard the initial broadcasts on the radio; claims that at 'demon girl' had been captured, just after that was said; half of Tomoda was occupied by American marines.

"You said your name was Takashi right?" the army Captain interrupted his mind set. Yamazaki didn't mind, he would have plenty of time for that when he was safely out of the war zone.

"Yeah?"

"My Radio officer just told me that command responded, they have arrange a Russian Frigate to take you to Vladivostok Naval Station, Russia" The Japanese cleared his throat for a minute "Somebody, I don't seriously know who, and personally I don't know why; they seem to see you as some kind of informant, you sure you don't wok for Russians or something?"

"No sir, I don't. All I know is a few things about Sakura; things like house address, blood type, height, weight, favorite color, who she likes, the half dozen rumors about her and Syaoran…"

"You seem to know her like she's a star of some show" the captain chuckled, "You sure your not some weird pervert trying to get a lift?"

"If I was a pervert, sir" Yamazaki continued "How would I know the name of a random friend in high school, a name at the very least seems to be making your superiors jump for joy?"

The Captain looked at him blankly; it kind of annoyed that this 'kid' didn't see the funny side. Yamazaki didn't like to joke about bad things; it always made him feel guilty for no reason. Also considering her 'painful' influence; Yamazaki never did anything even slightly perverted. Again; Chihura was in his mind, why did she keep popping up in his head? Perhaps it was because Yamazaki was disturbed by his burnt back that the pain distracted him from thinking, but now a medic had inspected the and cleaned the wound. His mind was now set on nothing else.

"I'm sorry Takashi-san, the last few days have been crazy like all hell, all of us are from Osaka, and we've been driving up north ever since the war began"

As Yamazaki knew all to well, or at least from society; Osaka was normally the place for people who liked to joke about anything, which mad him slightly annoyed that they could even see the funny side in this war.

"Captain, have they said what happened to Sakura?"

"The Americans have her somewhere, probably in a basement in Washington" the captain adjusted his cap "Why would they take quarter of the population of Tomoda as well is beyond me"

Yamazaki sunk down in his seat, three quarters of the population of Tomoda was killed in bombings, yet the captain said that something like a quarter had been taken prisoner. But considering the population of Tomoda was roughly five million people, it was highly unlikely that the captain's information was right. Despite being a 'professional' liar in his youth, Yamazaki hated getting the wrong information about something. It was one of a few ironic things that Sakura found out in the previous two years; that and his sense for detail, which in some aspects gave Tomoyo a run for her money.

Yamazaki thought for a moment of those times, how when Sakura started to fall asleep on a daily basis in class, when Syaoran and Melin came and left, and his brief friendship with Eriol, who to his own surprise actually proved that half of his lies were in fact true. Then froze in his mind for a moment; in those two years; there was a lot of unexplained events that took place, and strange enough, It all involved either Sakura, Tomoyo and eventually Syaoran. He remembered how the windows were smash from a strong wind one night, and from after that single event, a sting of more strange events took place. Suddenly something clicked in Yamazaki's mind; could it have been Sakura causing trouble? But if she was doing all that, why would she bother hiding it?

Inside the mind of Yamazaki Takashi; his mind entered what Chihura once dubbed a year ago as 'Hyper thinking' mode; all at once his mind went into full bloom. It was like someone had deliberately dropped a finished jigsaw puzzle on the floor, now he had to put it together again. He thought seriously for a moment, comparing his strong memory of rumors to Sakura and possible events in relation with Sakura. In the end, he himself felt that every rumor was true when he thought about it, despite how many times something weird happened, the day after the problem was fixed, Sakura was fast asleep at her desk. But Yamazaki knew that this alone would be the tip of the iceberg.

Location: Vladivostok Naval Station, Federation of Russia

Date: April 29th, 2007

Time: 17:30 hrs

"State your name in full" spoke the Russian General, by the name of Joseph Safford.

"Yamazaki Takashi"

The general was a welcoming man at first appearance, but the last few days had worn away the welcoming appeal. But despite the events of the last week; this person that just walked into his room had been the first good news he had since four days ago. From outside the small office window, the general was looking down at the outside; busting with activity, soldiers from china and conscripts from the remote towns in Russia were arriving in constantly now, the American attack force now was outnumbered four to one in manpower. Moscow felt it could take back Japan quickly if it got its troops together, however, the rush on the capital in mere hours after the attack pushed emergency calls with china and both Korea's to request their assistance.

In twenty four hours of around the clock pandemonium; Russia, China and Both Korea's were jumping up and sending everything that had to Vladivostok and the Korean peninsula. This serious jump of cooperation took two days to get to the front, by which America had taken all of Japan and the small bit Russia had taken in Hokkaido. However, by the third day, with Japan under control of America, the Russians were now sending everything they had to destroy the American north pacific fleet which was stranded waiting for backup. China was still trying to get control over its people as was Western Europe. Already America was threatening its nuclear weapons at its nearest neighbors and the world market was crushed into obliteration.

Yamazaki stood on his own with two guards behind him; both glaring down his back, waiting for the general's order them to snap his spine/

"What is your affiliation with Sakura; you claimed to know this girl, am I correct?"

"Sakura is a friend from high school, I was aware of rumors about her, and in the last few days, I I've managed to conclude those rumors were related to her magic"

"You mean you don't know about her magic?"

"I only knew it through rumor, but I have managed to piece together those rumors and I have managed to make the mall connect":

"I see" the general didn't fly off the rail when somebody didn't give him the answer he wanted to hear, but he also despised liars more and realized that Yamazaki was wise not to lie in his face.

"I can tell you what I've heard about Sakura, but I'm guessing the CNN have already told you what you need to know"

"We don't get CNN out here" The general chuckled unsavory "Now tell us, what do you know and we'll consider not sending you back to Japan with the conscripts"

Yamazaki started to explain what purely was a rumor around the schoolyard was; the rest he heard on his radio on the way out of Tomoda. Yamazaki didn't really want to go back to Japan or anywhere towards the war; he had already lost his girlfriend and family for sure. After a three hour lecture as to the 'possible' facts he knew about Sakura, the general was satisfied with what he had said.

"Considering the magnitude of the attack, the very fact you got out of Tomoda alive and free probably tells you why we were so anxious to get you here"

"Sir?" Yamazaki forgetting the general's name automatically referred him to a rank manner.

"The Americans announced that they had killed Sakura's father and Tomoyo's mother and Sakura's brother has been unheard of, we assume they were killed in the attack. They have detained Sakura, Tomoyo, Syaoran, Naoko, Rika and Chihura…"

"Chihura's alive!" Yamazaki examined,

"Why is she so important?" The general suddenly got the feeling that whoever this guy was, he had some closer links to the less mentioned girl then Sakura. The general was quiet for a moment as he quietly knew why,

"She was your Girlfriend, or sister?" The General didn't mince his words; he felt that being blunt about something was the only way of getting the message across,

"….She is my girlfriend" Yamazaki quietly responded; inside, his anger was burning away at his nerves. On the one hand he was relieved that Chihura was alive and well, but she was somewhere on the planet, she was locked away being beaten to death for things she didn't know about; and why her? She'd never have guessed Sakura had magical powers, so why was she being interrogated?

"I think that a lot of people have been split up in the last few days, don't expect to be the only guy that has lost his girlfriend or family" the general turned back to the window and looked outside "In two days, the United states have made a unprovoked attack on Japan, three days afterwards, they continued their attack on Canada and Mexico. The next day; they had wiped out Cuba, and they now have mobilized every ship in the Atlantic fleet, which right now is steaming towards Europe to blockade all of the major shipping routes"

"Do we know why America has done this?" Yamazaki spoke "they wouldn't do this, just because Sakura has magic powers"

As Yamazaki asked, a door was closed. he didn't hear the door open or any footsteps before or after.

"That's because America itself has had its government overthrown…hard to believe it but it seems that the president and several key members of the government had expelled the congress and started to declare some changes, three divisions of the National guard and four divisions of the United States army also seemed to be on this deal and have marched on their own capital, the vice president was killed off, as well as the supreme court judges, and it seemed have the CIA and pentagon were in on this cause there has been only little resistance from their own"

Yamazaki was stunned on hearing this, it was an outright disgrace already that for on reason, the United States broke ranks and attacked, but now he kind of understood the reasons. For years; the political instability of the economy and several drawbacks in military campaign forced America to already have an unstable government, this was almost inevitable for the western world; the fall of the United States of America; and it seams as just like they expected, the results would be catastrophic.

"Yamazaki, we don't know we the location of Sakura or Chihura, but the moment we know and the moment we can, ill assure you that every single effort will be pushed towards rescuing them" the second person continued to explain "However; until then, you need to help us, as far as we know you the sole survivor of the Tomoda siege, and by far the only remaining person with knowledge about Sakura. Everyone else in Tomoda is either dead or captured"

"What are you implying?" Yamazaki was starting to get suspicious of what the General and the second unnamed person,

"Commander Ivan Konovlos here works with the Russian Intelligence and Special Operations Department in Moscow; from what you've told us about your escape from Tomoda and your account about Sakura's magical powers, without knowing what they are, you have the best trademarks for an agent in any agency"

"You want me to work for you?"

"Basically, Russia is shorthanded on intelligence gatherers and now that you've been confirmed a possible source to Sakura's magic, we have to hide you from the Americans" the commander spoke "now, considering the outset of this war so far, I wouldn't gamble on leading you at an installation for long, the risk of you being exposed as a source is too high"

"Therefore; we are asking you to join our services and say nothing more about your past; our superiors will be informed, but we cannot risk our command structure breaking up if they know who you are. That also means that you will not be allowed to discuss your past with anyone, understood?"

"Why should I do this, I will keep it a secret, but what's in it for me?" Yamazaki half thought of the idea of being a spy cool, but didn't like the idea of the dangerous work that went with it.

"Because if you do it for us, you'll be helping us secure Sakura and your girlfriend, if you help us, you will see Chihura again, but we need your help in doing that"

"I see…" Yamazaki thought for only a few seconds. Inside his mind, he imagined a reunion with

Chihura in his arms again. Her precious love embracing onto him, who in is image was now a fully uniformed officer in the Russian Army, the pride of the uniform for a moment made him agreed somewhat, but the look on Chihura's face in his mind made him decide,

"…I'll do it"

Location: 2 Kilometers North West of the Tomoyo's Winter Retreat house, Japan

Date: April 4th, 2007

Time: 20:42 hrs

Combat Mission Time+00:22:12:05 since mission start

Theresa concluded her story and finally took a sigh of relief. Sakura and Tomoyo themselves both felt their nerves and hearts shaken up by the impact of the story towards what they saw of Yamazaki. Naoko and Rika felt a great deal of guilt; Rika especially was saddened, considering the she was the last of them to see Chihura alive, also knowing that Tomoyo; whom yelled at Yamazaki could've shared the same fate as Chihura had the rescue team come later. Tomoyo now felt almost like she had insulted him during the first visual of their targets. However, Syaoran believed Sakura was merely cold for only the reason that despite how warm the tent was trying to be, it was below zero outside.

"I suppose you should go to bed, URUZ two and six and seven will be returning in the morning, and Tiger Fourteen will be back in an hour or so. Tomorrow we'll need your eyes and ears to help us get this CIA agent off your backs"

"Understood Theresa…Angel" Sakura corrected herself,

Sakura Tomoyo Naoko and Rika started to unload their backpacks and fixed up their sleeping bags, Syaoran ha already done this while Sakura and Tomoyo were fixated by Theresa's story. Much like him, Sakura and Tomoyo copied their techniques to what Syaoran had, but in the process had a hard time setting out their beds, for another ten minutes Sakura and Tomoyo muddled in their sleeping bags changing their clothes. Unlike when they were at the base however, Syaoran was more comfortable with them, he still looked away, but he knew he couldn't see them.

"Were done Syaoran-kun" Sakura spoke. Syaoran turned over; both Tomoyo and Sakura had finally finished and were in their sleeping bags. However, Both Rika and Naoko were still mudding around in their bags on the end. Quickly Syaoran blinded his sight by staring at the tent roof. It felt like Tomoyo was doing this on purpose now; using Syaoran's gullible intent to some degree of entertainment. But to whatever except that Tomoyo forced Syaoran, he always seemed to find the reason to be gentlemen about things and avoid getting caught. For a long time; Tomoyo liked to play several jokes on Syaoran to test his will, as well as his patience. These jokes ranged from simple gags to things like this, it seemed like Tomoyo liked to see Syaoran blush in his shade of red.

"Don't worry; Naoko and Rika are in their sleeping bags" Sakura held his arm begging for him to turn over. Syaoran gave up and turned to face a very sleepy face staring back at him; before Syaoran could respond to that scene, Sakura kissed him on the forehead,

"Goodnight Syaoran-kun" Sakura said half embarrassed already by what she just did. Tomoyo muffled her giggling under her mouth for a moment while the sight made her laugh slightly.

"Goodnight…Sakura" Syaoran spoke softly as she closed her eyes. Everyone else was quietly falling asleep, except for Syaoran who for some reason was unable to sleep. The entire tent was darkened out with lights off and nothing but the sound of the radio ticking noise that showed that it was still on. Another two hours past before Syaoran heard the footsteps of someone approaching the tent.

In the back of his head, he had forgotten that Melin was due back some time ago; was this her? It was hard to tell considering that Syaoran had never been a solider in his life before the same time yesterday, or that in itself was confusing. Was it in his past; yesterday it was 2011, today its 2007. Four years had past since the battle which wont happen for another two weeks to come, and what will they do once they actually finish the fight? Syaoran thought to himself about these questions for a good two hours before the sounds of tent flap opened. Syaoran who was crouching on the floor looking for a weapon looked up at the person.

Instead of a face, he was met by the barrel of someone's rifle. Syaoran slowly tilted his head towards the person that was holding the gun. Syaoran noticed at the waistline that the person was dressed in Chinese Army field clothes, and then the gun obliviously would belong to Melin. He then lifted his head up faster. But stopped when the sound of Melin pulling back the hammer on the side. Syaoran all of a sudden turned white as the barrel slowly twirled in a micro circle. Syaoran continued to slowly move his head like before he was starring directly down the barrel of Melin's sniper rifle held in one hand, the other hand in her pocket. Melin looked back down towards him through the scope. The crosshatch directly centered on his forehead.

"Bang, your dead" Melin spoke quietly before lifting her gun up and over her back; Syaoran let out a breath of relief and sat down properly. Melin crouched down and proceeded towards her backpack. Syaoran watched on in awe as Melin ignored the person behind her and started to make her sleeping bag with no noise whatsoever. Melin then took her rifle turned on its safety lock and removed the cartridge and left it under her small pillow. Without changing, Melin slipped into her sleeping bag and lay down. Syaoran hadn't moved an inch, only observing Melin who now appeared silently sleeping, until,

"Hey! Are you going to stare at me all night?" Melin whispered in a harsh tone. Syaoran crept back into his sleeping bag between Sakura and Melin. Syaoran looked at her for a glance and noticed the rifle was in her sleeping bag with her. While Syaoran wondered if it was even loaded or if there was a slight chance of it going off in her sleep.

"My gun is with me, a good solider never abandons their tool or leaves to far from you" Melin answered the unasked question. Syaoran in his mind was paused as to how she knew that question without any words. Melin only looked to the sky and fell asleep. Syaoran refusing to even look at her now; being it is quite oblivious that she didn't like him.

Location: 2 Kilometers North West of the Tomoyo's Winter Retreat house, Japan

Date: April 5th, 2007

Time: 12:22 hrs

Combat Mission Time+01:14:22:05 since mission start

With the exception to the fact that Sakura had absolutely no idea what Theresa and Yamazaki were talking about, the plan was flawless. While it wasn't the best plan, it was the best for the situation. The CIA agent had to be distracted, in order for him to not see Sakura perform magic. The problem was the amount of space they had and the fact that they could simply kill the agent, he had to make it out alive, but without any evidence of Sakura's magic.

Theresa split the teams up in two three teams: Sousuke and Melin would be the people confronting and distracting the agent; as they were the fastest and most able bodied persons in the unit. Meanwhile Kurz and Syaoran would monitor the van at it first possible location; their job would to disable the commutations van. Meanwhile Melissa and Tomoyo would monitor the homestead from the opposite angle to where the CIA pictures were taken. In the meantime, Sakura and Yamazaki would do the same job as Sousuke and Melin; the reason for this was that the van's actual location was never known, as far as anyone knew there was an eighty degree angle from the homestead where the agent could have approached. Yamazaki figured that once they could get the actual pathway of the agent and his van, it could remove forty degrees of approach angle, and according to Melin would be enough to 'Kill the bait'.

Back at the base, Naoko and Rika were both give a dummies guide to operating the short wave radio by Theresa who together would help keep all the 'fire teams' together. Everyone was working this time; but everyone was also suited to the job, except of course for Tomoyo who had swapped with Sakura because her injured legs were still a concern. Yamazaki was pretty consistent with Sakura being with him now, her energy was in good condition now and she had fully recovered from the trip two days ago.

In the tent base, Theresa watched on as her two apprentice radio operators were using the console after a quick five minute crash course. Theresa was behind the two taking command of the operations of the group. For the first time in three and a half years; Theresa was back in command of team URUZ.

"CLOW four to all units; report in please" Naoko spoke, after asking Theresa on what her own call sign was. Naoko was usually a quick learner but it had been w while since she had to use those kills, it's only natural that her start up would take a little longer then before.

"URUZ seven and Tiger fourteen, roger" Sousuke spoke back on his radio

"URUZ six and CLOW two, in waiting position and standing by" Kurz replied on his headset radio. Kurz and Syaoran were teamed up for the job of distracting the van and if possible; do damage to the CIA's encoder program. If they could work out what frequency they worked on and what code they used, MITHRIL would have no problem intercepting the transmission.

"URUZ two and CLOW three, in secondary position and standing by for picnic mode" Melissa replied on her radio. Because of the light that hit the face of the hillside until 2pm, Melissa and Tomoyo were sitting in a second position. Tomoyo thought about it and picked location almost too good to be true, it was covered, but it was a clear view of the hot spring and the grounds, the mountain in which the agent was going to be was at visible, but not perfect to see. Melissa and Tomoyo have to go to the other location for now, but at least they would have no problems with the view.

With everyone now in place, it was now a matter of tracking the agent down and preventing his eyes meeting the Sakura who at this time was inside the homestead ready to go out for the afternoon. Theresa at this very moment became tense; her tactics here were more important then anything else she had accomplished. There were no MITHRIL services that could help her now, while they were aware of her presence at the moment, Theresa had to rely on five new recruits. Sakura, Tomoyo and Syaoran were not as good as the URUZ team or tiger fourteen; but Theresa was feeling better knowing Sakura and everyone in CLOW team promised their full commitment, a promise that on a battlefield can mean more then anything.

"CLOW one, Werewolf; start your scan of the north east approach" with those words, Theresa knew that the battle had began.

"CLOW one and Werewolf, roger, starting to scan section one" Sakura had quickly learnt some military term on the way to their location. Seeing that they in the position for at least three hours; Yamazaki decided to teach Sakura some terms that he used himself on the field. Since the start of the day, Sakura had looked at Yamazaki in a kinder light; after hearing the story from Theresa, she decided to let him off, despite his mistake, Sakura admired that he had already forgiven Tomoyo for her outburst.

Because of Sakura's oblivious fear of firearms, Yamazaki was elected to carry a PN P-90 SMG, while an effective close combat weapon in tight areas; the weapon wasn't exactly something that he wished to use in the forest. But in Sakura's eyes, he may as well be carrying a nuclear weapon; the fact that someone could be injured was enough to make Sakura extra cautious of her surroundings.

"I know the feeling; It's your first time in combat" Yamazaki spoke all of a sudden "it's pretty hard to keep those feelings down, I wouldn't be surprised if your feeling sick from them by now"

Sakura thought for a moment, according to Theresa; Yamazaki was the sole surviving sane person in his original unit. On his maiden campaign; he was left behind and almost killed. Sakura couldn't even being to match the amount of torture that she faced to what kind of torture he faced.

"Theresa-san told me….about what happened on your first campaign…I feel a little bad that all this has happened, because of me"

Instantly, Sakura wished she hadn't said anything; but it was too late, Yamazaki turned to Sakura and looked at her. The worst thing that he could do was offload the loaded gun at her; Sakura fell silent for a ten second period, with her hearing and sight suddenly going out, her mind was in full pause waiting for the muffled bang. Nothing happened however, for ten seconds, Yamazaki started at her before he poked her arm. The moment he did that Sakura's mind started its earring and sight to normal.

"…by the looks of your skin, the interrogator had given you a lot of nerve tonic, usually when that happens, the skin turns white and the nerves can be seen clearly as pinkish" Yamazaki explained; Sakura recovered and looked back at Yamazaki, whom to her surprise wasn't looking angry,

"Sakura-san, in the four years of this conflict, I didn't entirety blame you…something yesterday reminded me that if the me from now looked at the me of the Soviet Federation security forces and found out that I blamed you for killing Chihura-Chan, he'd probably never believe it. You were a victim like everyone in the war. While you don't realize it; I've forgiving you now, now that I know that you fear it as much as I did"

Sakura nodded concurrently, as she did, Yamazaki suddenly turned around. Nothing, but Yamazaki was already dashing towards something. Sakura quickly dropped the topic and ran as fast as she can behind Yamazaki who was holding the SMG in a ready mode.

"Werewolf! What is it?" Sakura reverted to his call sign, remembering one of the rules that he taught her.

"I just heard a van, heading north west, radio command, inform them to send URUZ six and CLOW two due south until further notice, a van is heading in the direction of them"

"CLOW one to angel" Sakura waited for a moment for the radio to crackle before she heard the voice of Rika,

"Sakura….um CLOW one" Rika made her first blooper "What happened?"

"Inform angel that we need URUZ six and CLOW two, to head south, Werewolf suspects the CIA agent has arrived in the area and is heading towards them"

Back at the base, Theresa almost hit her head on the low roof when she heard the news, she scrambled places with Naoko and switched the radio to Kurz Webber's radio set,

"Angel to URUZ six, Scramble south! you have a suspected vehicle heading your way, get off the road!"

"URUZ six roger, heading north, not able to head south now"

"URUZ six, please hide somewhere!" Theresa a little angry they were going the opposite way,

On the far north end of the road, Kurz and Syaoran had begun their walk up the road from were Sakura and Yamazaki were. Their main job was to rush to wherever the van would park and disrupt them in any way; however, Kurz would have a hard time explaining why he had a sniper rifle and a handgun on him, simply looking a like a passerby wasn't going to work here.

"Come on, we haven't got time" Kurz spoke back to Syaoran who was carrying a backpack with him.

"Didn't they say head south?" Syaoran asked,

"Do you want to climb that?" Kurz pointing out the oblivious rock cliff that was lining the south side and corner of the road; the best thing for them to do was go down hill, or to the north and hide in the forest scrub. Kurz snug his rifle back and ran with Syaoran who was able to stay behind him.

"This will do!" Kurz could hear the definite sound of a panel van heading towards them. He jumped over the road bars and headed down the hill. Syaoran took a little longer, unable to jump with the backpack. With no less then a few seconds to go, Kurz turned around and grabbed Syaoran and literally pulled him over the edge. Without knowledge, Kurz didn't realize the steepness of this side of the road, once he pulled Syaoran over; he lost his footing and tumbled backwards down the side of the hill. Syaoran, having no gripping on the road; was also pulled over and fell down in the hill. They for another fifteen meters down the slope, crashing through bushes and all kinds of flora and fungi before clashing into a small stream that passed through bottom of this valley.

The radio had switched itself on somehow and the handling sounds of water and two bodies thumping around on the ground buzzed the sounds of crackling radio reception into Naoko and Rika's ears. Both ejected the headsets from their head as they instantly heard the high pitched static pierce the sound waves. For a good minute, both radio operators and Theresa were rubbing their ears to better health and perhaps regain hearing. On the other end of the line; the soft gushing sound of a half frozen river was only audible.

"Hey kid; you alive?" spoke a half winded Kurz

"Haven't fallen into a creek for a while" Syaoran picked himself up "all out radio stuff has got to be damaged now"

Syaoran and looked around for Kurz whom was behind a tree also getting up from the rubble of their decent into the valley.

"I wouldn't say that, just everything except maybe the laptop screen" Kurz half laughed. Kurz was strangely finding some entertainment from this incident. In any regard; Syaoran was now waiting for the impending lecture about how stupid his move has cost the mission. But for as long as he waited, Kurz was waiting for him to speak, until he gave up and started walking up the slope.

"Where you going?" Syaoran asked stupidly

"I'm going to get my gun, you coming?" Kurz answered "wait; where is the radio?"

Syaoran looked around until her found a black box device lying on the floor; he picked it up and wiped the dirt off the screen and dial. The screen status board appeared to be in working order as was the radio gear, Syaoran clicked the speaker button once, but all there was static. He clicked the button several times before turning to Kurz

"I think the radio is dead, I'm getting nothing but static" Syaoran spoke

"Check the frequency and the reception bars" Kurz was steadily starting his climb on what appeared to be a difficult snow slope between the thin trees. Syaoran read the top numbers; it was the right frequency, but two points over. Syaoran adjusted it to the right number and then looked at the bars; two out of eight. He clicked it again to hear Naoko's voice;

"URUZ six or CLOW two. This is Angel base; anyone there? Please reply"

"This is CLOW two" Syaoran replied

"Thank god, what happened?" Naoko's voice cheerfully sighed relief for a moment,

"We, um…..fell down" Syaoran half lied,

"This is Angel" Theresa's voice interrupted "is URUZ six alright? What happened exactly?"

"URUZ is currently retrieving his gun; he said that we had to escape the view of a van approaching us, so he fell over the side!"

"Understood…." sighed the voice on the other end "Tiger fourteen and URUZ seven reported in just before that the van has stopped not far from their location, I suggest you start running towards them, it appears our target has arrived"

Kurz did it in his mind the location of the van from here; he and Syaoran went with Sousuke as far as where the start of the cliff line on the other side of the road, the van couldn't have been too far from him.

"There you are!" Kurz exclaimed, finding his rifle in a bush covered in mud. "I'm going to have to check my rifle now, tell angel that it will be a while for we're operational"

"Understood" Syaoran reached for his radio "CLOW two to Angel base, URUZ six is requesting more time for equipment checks, can you wait for us?"

Back at the base, Naoko back to Theresa who was looking on a map. Theresa had placed several items on the map to represent the various teams and targets.

"CLOW five, ask where werewolf is at the moment"

"Angel Base to Werewolf…please respond"

Inside the thick forest; Sakura and Yamazaki were running as fast as possible towards the kill zone that was between the CIA van and the homestead. Sakura wasn't able to run as fast seeing her leg was still hurting slightly. Plus, unlike Yamazaki who was by now experienced with this kind of movement; Sakura was no really combat trained or ready, her pure athletic skills were what was keeping her up to speed now. Sakura held the distinct sound of her radio beeping in one of her chest pockets. Sakura stopped for a second and started looking for the radio. Yamazaki ran for another few metres before stopping and turning to Sakura.

"Sakura-san, what are you doing, hurry!" Yamazaki yelled

"The radio is beeping" Sakura finally found the radio and switched on "CLOW one to angel base?"

"Come on, I don't have time for peppy talk" Yamazaki grabbed Sakura and started dragging her along. Sakura tried to resist but Yamazaki's grip was firmly on her arm. Sakura gave up and started running. Eventually he let go and let Sakura continue and talk to angel

"CLOW one, where are you?"

"I don't know!" Sakura yelled into the speaker "Were running, but I don't know where we are running"

"Angel! We are headed North North-West, we are proceeding to sector two where URUZ seven and Tiger Fourteen are at the moment" Yamazaki yelled over the top of Sakura's voice, still running, and waving his rifle up and down as he ran.

"Understood, URUZ six and CLOW two will be late but a few minutes, they have suffered equipment failure"

The order wasn't answered as Sakura and Yamazaki jumped over a ditch and started running up a hill. Yamazaki then suddenly stopped running, jumping down to the ground. Sakura did the same thing and stayed close by. Sakura rustled a few leaves and as she started to crawl forward; only to be stopped by Yamazaki kicking her arm.

"Shut up, we don't have the time for you to make loud annoying noises" Yamazaki sharply hissed,

"Sorry…"Sakura whispered, rubbing her hurt arm. The boot made a pretty nasty scare despite having overalls projecting her. Sakura sniffed a tear in her emerald eye; the pain of the boot wasn't what made her feel don, merely the rough treatment that Yamazaki was dishing out, however Sakura remained loyal to his bidding and remained quiet, slowly and quietly this time moved herself towards the edge of what appeared to be a cliff face. It wasn't much as a massive or open face cliff, trees still grew and covered the sight of what's was in front of them, nor the height of where they were was impressive, only fifteen meters from the plain.

Sakura blinked her eyes repeatedly for ten seconds straight. Although her current view wasn't exactly perfect, it was right in front of her; Parked less then fifty meters from where Sakura and Yamazaki lay was the Van. It looked like it had only just stopped, by the sound of the motor still running. Sakura dared not to breathe a single breath; her eyes fixed on the target ahead of her, a single grey and black van stopped short the corner end.

"CLOW one, give me you radio"

Sakura took a full three seconds before understanding that Yamazaki had told her something; she reached for her radio and slid it out from beneath her. Yamazaki snatched the radio once he could grab it; he carefully ducked down even further. Both Sakura and Yamazaki were flat on their stomachs already, but Yamazaki compressed himself even more to the ground.

"Werewolf to Angel" he whispered quietly into the radio.

"Go ahead, this is CLOW four" Naoko replied

"We have spotted target visually I'd say our range is fifty to forty meters range and twenty meters up"

"That's too close!" Theresa took the microphone from Naoko's hand

"Angel, we are well covered, it doesn't appear that the targets would have a easy time if they picked this as a path"

Back at the base; Theresa sighed somewhat loudly in front of the other two, she gave up on the notion of arguing with him, if he believed he had the best position, there was no need to hold an argument over radio.

Location: 2 Kilometers North West of the Tomoyo's Winter Retreat house, Japan

Date: April 5th, 2007

Time: 15:32 hrs

Combat Mission Time+01:16:32:45 since mission start

Only a few hours had pasted since when Yamazaki and Sakura had spotted the CIA van. Because the agent hadn't moved, Yamazaki was increasingly tense about what was going on. For a few moments every ten minutes, Yamazaki peered through his gun scope and looked towards the windshield of the van; still no one was there in the front seats the van. Yamazaki sighed and stopped looking at van for a second; instead he looked over to Sakura. For someone on their first sortie, Yamazaki believed that Sakura was handling it well considering that she had never been given any training or had any experience on the battlefield. In a way it disturbed Yamazaki deeply that Sakura was able to deal with the intensity so soon. Perhaps it was the few years of Card capturing that gave her the right mental training, or that she somehow was being quiet on purpose.

Sakura remanded both aware and unaware of the situation; having no idea what to do, Sakura remained where she was and mimicked Yamazaki on everything he did. Occasionally she would do something that made Yamazaki heavy tap her to inform her to remain quiet. Sakura only been in the army for some two and a half days; and already, she was slowly getting use to the rules. What Sakura didn't realize was Yamazaki hated the idea of herself and Syaoran been given 'special treatment' ranks and roles in the mission. Yamazaki had settled on them becoming part of the army, but he was furiously objective towards giving Sakura and her friend any officer treatment. Yamazaki made himself to Theresa clear before the mission that he would treat Sakura as if she was a new recruit.

Suddenly Yamazaki snapped his head forward and gazed at the van. The sound of a door opening shattered the peace that Yamazaki was annoyed over and Sakura was enjoying; Yamazaki quietly raised his gun scope and pointed the assault rifle on the man clearly visible. Sakura looked down at her watch to see the time; twenty to the four. Right now in the homestead, Sakura and Tomoyo are getting ready to go outside with Eriol and Syaoran, unaware that their lives would change dramatically either way. Sakura for the first time realized how much would be at stake in the few hours. If the agent didn't spot the anomaly, would they still get away with keeping their magic a secret? Sakura at the moment didn't wonder anymore into the subject, the possibilities and outcomes in relation to one event were overwhelming.

"Sakura, when this man is inside the bushes, radio command tell them that 'the bait has arrived', prepare to fight" Yamazaki spoke in very low voice. Sakura nodded quietly and switched the radio on quietly. Four minutes past, then five; the man refused to move until he reached into his pocket and pulled out a white box. Yamazaki observed through the scope what he was doing; Sakura stopped holding the radio and looked over the Yamazaki; whom she swore licked his lips in excitement. Yamazaki indeed was grinning; already he knew how to play this person. Obliviously afraid of going out alone, smoking to calm his nerves. Yamazaki waited started to count, and on time, the agent started to move towards the forest. Sakura picked up this and spoke to the radio.

"CLOW one to Angel Base" Sakura said in a soft tone "the bait has arrived" Sakura waited for a confirm response; when a minute past he looked over to Yamazaki, who was staring back at her. Sakura nodded and started to get ready to move. Yamazaki was annoyed, sixty seconds into the battle and Sakura was already stuffing up.

Location: 2 Kilometers North West of the Tomoyo's Winter Retreat house, Japan

Date: April 5th, 2007

Time: 15:42 hrs

Combat Mission Time+01:16:42:15 since mission start

Deep inside the forest area between the homestead and the van, Sousuke and Melin were hiding in the bushes looking for the agent. To Melin, this was fun; the objective was not to kill the agent but disorient and if possible; insure that he doesn't see the card being unsealed. Other then that, there were no rules that disallowed scaring the agent into submission. In the 2nd rung of branches; Melin readied her sniper rifle and dropped her backpack down on the branch below her, perfectly hooking it. Melin wanted to able to move freely and a small backpack with a radio and extra ammunition wasn't going to really help. Some three hundred meters closer to the homestead, Sousuke was low entrenched in thick scrub. An expert in hiding from the enemy, it felt like child's play fighting the agent whom probably wouldn't realize what kind of surprise was waiting for him.

Melin spied through her scope of towards the distance when she was shocked by the appearance of the agent. Obliviously stumbling on the scrub that surrounded the area, he wasn't exactly staying on the track. Melin gazed slowly over the person. One arm in his pocket, lit cigarette in his hand, looking down at the ground, In Melin's three years in the Chinese army, she defined this kind of target as the dream shot. An unaware solider was easy prey to even an inexperienced infantry. All of a sudden the possibilities of attack were numerous; but Melin decided to remain on her original plan. Her attack would only stall the agent five minutes if it worked.

Unaware of the sniper rifle being pointed at him, the agent was trudging along the path, the purpose for him to out here was a definite mystery, but the CIA believe somewhat in 'lucky accidents'. However the agent here didn't believe so; the only thing that he wanted was to be at home and trying to resolve his disputes with his wife, whom was now threatening divorce, the fun life of being a field agent carried too much of the James bond reputation. Despite that imaginary outlook, the reality was misleading into many mixed problems.

"This is the ditch of life, I don't care for lucky accidents or not" the agent snuffed a cigarette onto the ground and moved forward "what the hell am I going to find in Japan that's so dam interesting anyway?"

Melin gripped the trigger and started to track his movement slowly, he moved unaware that his wish was going to be soon granted. When he was close enough, Melin hit the tree hard and jumped up. The force of the hit forced that backpack to come of the branch and fall to the ground. The agent suddenly stopped and dropped his box of cigarettes on the ground; he looked at the bag carefully and started to approach it. Suddenly the branch above him shook again. Nothing fell but it made the agent nervous. He agents dropped his own backpack and withdrew his gun.

"My oh, aren't we tough" Melin whispered quietly from another tree behind the agent. She jumped up again, the tree again shook. The agent turned suddenly, but then another tree shook its branches. The agent ducked down low and grabbed his gun and aiming at a tree. Melin was almost 20 meters above the agent and was always at his right side, her well known gymnastic movements, Melin was an expert in martial arts and was extremely flexible cause of her training; added her combat experience, it made her unbelievably scary to the enemy. Melin sat silent for moment, then she jumped up to the original tree on the first branch, she then dropped and with the aid of her sniper rifle, yanked her backpack from the ground, she swung up with only a second to spare before the agent saw her.

Melin retrained her original position, realizing that she would be trapped for a few seconds, Melin couldn't jump incase the guy actually fired. The agent moved closer to the tree, pointing the gun directly at the place where the backpack was. He kicked the tree a few times before turning for his backpack. The agent was a lazy worker in terms of investigating, he didn't even bother looking up the tree stump where Melin and the barrel end of her sniper rifle would've been clearly visible, Melin held her breath in tightly, for four minutes the agent waited looking at all the trees looking for whoever it was that caused this racket. The agent constantly turned his back to Melin, who smiled at how inexperienced the person was to fighting.

Skillfully, Melin silently moved herself to a position where she could use her rifle. The agent had since now given up and now was resuming her course towards the homestead. Melin knew that she had ten minutes to void the agent render him without recording gear or preventing him noticing the magic. Melin aim the rifle squarely towards the agent's right hand which was holding yet another cigarette in his and Melin timing the movement carefully and when she felt happy, she quickly pulled the trigger.

The silent round literally blew it out his hand; he ducked down and looked backwards, he couldn't see anything but he guessed that it was from the bunch of trees that he was drooped by a child size backpack. The agent suddenly started running in an off angle direction towards where the pictures were taken. Melin thanked herself before gasping in horror. His direction now put him on a direct intercept with the homestead, even closer then the original angle. Melin jumped from the tree and started to run, the impact of the ground didn't even stop Melin's strength and speed pushing her body over the terrain. A few seconds later the distinct noise of a silence bullet. Why normally impossible to hear, Melin had a strange gift for hearing just about anything. She then heard someone approaching, she jumped up and reached an over hung tree branch. She barely had time to take a breath before the person was visible. To her surprise; it was the agent running away from the homestead and towards the mountain. Melin then remembered that her partner was guarding the homestead direction. Sousuke then appeared, rifle in arms looking up towards the tree.

"Tiger fourteen, stop hanging around, he's headed towards URUZ six" Sousuke noticing the signs of a hidden sniper. Melin then jumped down and looked around. For a second; a trait of destruction in the bush made it easy for Melin to track the scared agent. Meanwhile the agent was running full force towards the mountain side, the gap between the visible range had suddenly went from eight minutes to four, given that we would be here he was now hadn't Melin foiled him. Ahead, Tomoyo and Melissa were on the other side of the opening on the mountain side wondering what was going on, while Melissa suddenly focused herself on the suddenly noise of gunfire and people running around, Tomoyo silently was looking towards the homestead, as expected she had to find all kinds of strength to avoid focusing on the small group outside.

"There's me and Eriol-kun" Tomoyo looked on for a second with a tear was in her eye. She re-gained focus on the situation at hand, Melissa sitting next to her felt more angry towards Sousuke and Melin; they failed to stop him and now there was only herself and a girl protecting Sakura's secret. Suddenly Melissa came up with a idea. She looked over to Tomoyo who was dressed in white camouflage, it looked more like white only then white and grey cladding. Suddenly the plan looked feasible.

"Tomoyo-san, I need you to take off your radio and other gear, insignia included" Melissa turned to Tomoyo whom was worried over her expression. Without asking any questions, Tomoyo quickly took off any army gear expect for her clothing. Melissa whipped out the radio

"Angel base, I need contact with all units, right now!"

On the other end, Naoko and Rika without hesitation pushed buttons and started a relay to all the radios. At the same time; Sakura, Syaoran and Melin picked up their radios and replied.

"Tiger fourteen and CLOW one, listen up, cause I only have a few minutes for this" Melissa spoke, "CLOW three says that mistress could be unleashing her magic anytime now, the agent is going to be there in time….listen carefully, we only have four minutes to pull it off…"

Melissa started explaining her plan to everyone including Tomoyo who suddenly got the idea of what she had to do, it was risky, but if it worked, it would give the other units time to surround and force the agent out of the area. According to Tomoyo, the past Sakura wasn't going to unseal the staff yet, but there was less then ten minutes of so, by Tomoyo's guess.

The agent finally slowed down when he thought that he had managed to loose the enemy or whoever was behind her. He was exhausted running around in the forest. The scrub constantly throwing him off balance and onto the ground; finally it was clearing up. The slope was unsteady but the undergrowth was clearing out finally. He looked ahead towards the area he had come across, to his left and down was a homestead, and straight ahead was nothing but opening for thirty metres.

And Sitting down in the middle of the opening was Tomoyo, who looked surprised looking a man who appeared out of nowhere.

"Who…Who…who are you?" Agent pulled his gun out at Tomoyo; she didn't flinch at the slight of the gun, but inside her body was pressured to bursting point.

"My name is Tomoyo Daidouji, I live here" Tomoyo answering the question and at the same time pointing at the homestead

"What the hell? Don't play tricks with me missy, what's going on here!"

"Nothing at all, this is my home" Tomoyo smiled slightly

Upwards and to the other side of the opening, Melissa had her gun pointed squarely towards the agent's gun. Melissa wondered if this would work, but somehow it was, so far. Tomoyo however looked to the corner of her eye when she say something bad. The agent looked over towards what Tomoyo seemed to be looking at, down in the valley, it only looked like a few kids huddling around one of them. Tomoyo cursed herself, the past Sakura was about to unseal the staff, in full blank view of the agent.

"Who are they!" the agent was calming down, he somehow forgot about the bullets that shaved so close to him. More wondering how a girl dressed in white and wasn't afraid of a gun being pointed at her end up here.

"Those people…" Tomoyo adlibbed something in her mind, more worried about getting his face averted from the past version of themselves "…are…my relatives, this is the Daidouji residence, in fact, how come you are here?"

"You! Then what was…" the agent couldn't finish his sentence before a bright light flashed from below them, the agent jerked his head and saw one of the people glowing with light and a bright yellowish circle appearing below her. Tomoyo cursed herself even more for the incredible bad luck in her prediction; she needed to do one hell of an acting job to get out of this one. The agent was either confused or angry but with a gun in his hand, she need to hope that this next plan worked.

"Who are you really and stop joking around!" the agent relocked his gun and pointed straight at Tomoyo; inside she was scared stiff, but what she was going to do was going to peck her limit in sanity.

"Nothing at all" Tomoyo started straight at the agent. Unaware below of what was happening in the hills, the past Sakura opened the first card below. In the hills however the golden stream of light reflected off the ground and off Tomoyo's eyes in the eeriest manner possible. Suddenly it looked weird with all gold eyes staring at the agent. Somehow Tomoyo knew this would happen and started to act,

"Who are you? What are you!" the agent screamed as Tomoyo started to walk forwards slowly trudging the snow and dirt,

"I am normal…just like you" Tomoyo put on a weird voice, like a little girl almost it felt like something out of a horror picture,

"Please put down you gun" Tomoyo spoke and raised her hand. Just as she did that, from out of nowhere, something quickly hit the agent's handgun, the weapon exploding in his hand. The Agent leaped backwards to the floor, more distracted over this supernatural being instead of the real one in the valley. Tomoyo grinned; with him disarmed, Tomoyo felt better and started to enjoy this slightly. She continued to walk forward; the agent concerned for his own safety cradled to his feet and saw the girl called Tomoyo raising her hand towards him again. Suddenly three then trees behind him exploded in their branches as more 'magic' hit them. The agent was more then convinced that it was time to leave and sped down the track and towards his van.

Once she was convinced that the agent was gone, Tomoyo collapsed onto the ground, from behind the bushes, Melissa jumped out still holding the rifle she had pointed from behind Tomoyo.

"URUZ two, to other attack units, target has turned tail, find and scare him!"

Unaware of noticing it, the van was picking up the strange radio broadcasts. For some ten minutes the radio operator of the van was inception messages from some people called URUZ and CLOW and Angel. For a moment he believed I was a bunch of die heart military fans playing around, until he heard some muffled bangs not far from where he was. Down the road; Kurz and Syaoran heard the plan and were now starting their attack. Their mission was very simple; drop an EMB next to their van and run as fast as you can away. The EMB stood for the Electronic Magnet Bomb, a symbol of 21st century warfare; it wasn't exactly an A-Bomb, but the damage impacts were the same in scale. The main purpose of this weapon was to fry the computers and engine on the van and make it impossible to communicate with the headquarters.

Kurz had somehow quietly approached van and watched it carefully for anyone around it. He placed the device underneath the van itself and then quietly left the area with Syaoran waiting for him at the same location that Sakura and Yamazaki used.

"Ready?" Syaoran asked Kurz who was lying down and waiting with sniper scope at the ready.

"Not until the lady tells me too"

Syaoran reached for his radio and clicked it on; now waiting for an order from URUZ two. Meanwhile inside the forest, the agent had given up on trying to find out what has the bright light was and ran full bore towards down a path he had discovered,

"Whatever the hell that was, bet any money that it wasn't CG or make believe" the agent the ran down a few meters before tripping down. Ahead of him was yet another surprise, in the middle of a very small patch, was Sakura sitting down; after experiencing the wrath of Tomoyo's power, he didn't want to take his chances, but at the same time he turned on a recorder, he may run, but he would have some evidence that this happened. Sakura didn't say anything instead, a blaze of wood behind him exploded as bullets impacted. The mad ducked to the ground and fell face first into the snow. When he looked up again, the girl was missing, he got up and started to trudge towards the space she was sitting, suddenly another round of bullets came rushing out of nowhere, but this time the agent knew the sound

"An assault rifle!" these aren't just some teenagers, they freaking terrorists!"

From the top of a small mound, Yamazaki silently chucked at the confused agent, he reloaded his PN P-90 and started to moved forward. the agent had long since run from the area, leaving towards the van,

"How are you doing CLOW one?" Yamazaki talked to a tree, a few seconds later, Melin who was hanging upside down lowered Sakura to the ground; once she was done Melin did a back flip and hit the ground.

"That was amazing Meli….Tiger Fourteen!" Sakura amazed at the brute strength of Melin in lifting.

"We need to make sure that data is destroyed, if he made any" Yamazaki cut the break short; from behind him, Sousuke appeared and threw Melin her rifle. Sakura nodded and everyone started their way towards the van.

"This is URUZ six, were in position, target has reached its base, I repeat, the fun is over"

"Understood URUZ six, this is URUZ two; all units cut radio and all electric gear now. Do not reactivate for five minutes"

"Understood, CLOW one out" Sakura turned off the radio. At the same time, Naoko and Rika turned off the radio and the power supply to all the gear in their base.

Back out on the mound lookout near the van, Kurz and Syaoran remained unseen to the agent who suddenly burst of the bush and ran towards the van. The agent ran to the back door and started hitting the back door. For five hits he kept yelping for the radio operator to open,

"What's wrong man? You left twenty minutes ago and you look like you came back from the front lines"

"Terrorists! Tons of them!" the agent tried to recall what he saw

"Got any proof?" the radio operator wasn't surprised, the odd radio transmission had given him reason to believe the story,

"Only this recording" the agent clambered into the van and closed the door.

"Alright, he's inside" Kurz spoke, "hit it!"

Syaoran pressed a trigger on a device that he was aiming at the van. Suddenly a muffled bad from below the road level could be heard, followed by the sound of a tire being blown out.

"Nice shooting kid" Kurz commented and laughed

Inside the van; there were two confused men, all of a sudden the computers sparked for a second and died on them

"What the hell!" the radio operator started switching things on at random trying to see if anything was still working; but Every circuit board on the van was fried; if anything survived It would be only impossible to see it now.

"Start the van, let's get back to the operation headquarters. Whatever is here; they have completely immobilized our ability to inform our superiors"

Kurz watched on as the CIA agent's van attempted to restart, only to fail repeatedly. For another two minutes, he remained entertained at the prospect of the an early defeat for them, but the fact that the agent saw the magic from past Sakura and the fake magic from Tomoyo meant that they still wouldn't go down without a fight. For another ten minutes, Syaoran and Kurz waited, finally, and after the agent replaced the battery in the engine, the van sped off. Officially now the battle was over.

"CLOW two, turn on the radio, its been over five minutes now"

Syaoran turned the radio on and waited before hearing Naoko' voice repeating,

"Angel Base to CLOW two or URUZ six please respond"

"This is CLOW two, enemy has left area, radio equipment on van badly damaged" Syaoran spoke proudly.

Theresa sigh some relief when she heard the noise of Syaoran speaking; they were only people they didn't report in five minutes after the EM pulse knocked out the electronic gear. She looked at both Rika and Naoko who officially finished their first task.

"This is Angel" Theresa picked up a headset and continued "CLOW two, I'm officially calling this operation over; URUZ two, seven, CLOW one, three, Tiger Fourteen and Werewolf is heading back to base. CLOW two and URUZ six, prepare course for home. We've won the battle for now"

With everyone now in the clear everyone could relax. Sakura smiled with Tomoyo; while they didn't stop the agent outright, they did prevent him from being able to record Sakura's real magical powers. Now all the agent had was a story that sounded like a fairy tale or a horror story. Now the battle had begun and it was time to fight with some heavy weapons.