Sakura and the MAZE card.

…Darkness... Sakura is surrounded by darkness... “What's going on” Sakura thinks to herself, looking around in wonder. Slowly, the darkness starts to fade, revealing a large, green, featureless room. The only noise that can be heard are the heels to Sakura's heels as she walks towards one of the walls. As soon as her hand touches the wall directly in front of her, a glowing circle ripples outwards from the spot she touched. The whole room starts to shake, knocking Sakura off her feet. The walls start closing in, but Sakura finds herself unable to move. “No, why is the room closing in on me?” She is now full of panic, the room boxing her in, the walls closing in, the box gets smaller, it's nearly about to crush Sakura, it reaches full tempo and then-

“AHH!” Sakura shouts as she throws herself upright in bed. She looks around her room, no walls closing in. “What was that dream about” Sakura ponders.




“A dream where you were being boxed into a room” Kero-chan, obviously in deep thought, meditates on this. “Mmmn” Sakura replies, confirming that Kero-chan understands. “Sakura, this is obviously a prophetic dream. The dark fog you saw however suggests that this dream is not completely accurate. It could be because you're still under effect of the Baby card.” Kero takes a long breath and visibly sighs. “I will need to consult with Yue about this.”

“Oh, by the way, Sakura.”

“Yes?”

“You overslept again.” Kero-chan, in deadpan tone.

“Waaah! I'm in charge of cleaning the classroom today too!” Sakura whines, before leaping out of bed and heading for the dresser. Sakura is in her normal pajamas, but because of the Baby card, she is also obviously in diapers. By now, Sakura has gotten used to having to wear diapers... well, at least as much as a girl her age can, given the circumstances. She changes out of her overnight diaper, with a little sigh about how this has become so routine. She quickly throws on her school uniform, which now is augmented with a small day-time diaper. This diaper was designed by Tomoyo's family company, and is easy to hide under her school skirt, but does require her to change a few times during the school day, something she easily hides in the bathroom.

Sakura rushes down the stairs and past the kitchen. Touya-kun is finishing making breakfast. “So the Kaiju is finally awake” torments Touya. “Touya-kun!” Sakura grumbles with an obvious anger undertone. “Ah, I don't have time to argue this morning” in realization, she quickly eats half her breakfast before heading to the foyer.

Sakura kneels on one knee and buckles the roller blade on her other foot. “Oh Sakura” Touya
pops his head around the corner. Sakura has been keeping her Baby problem hidden from her family, as the existence of her magic powers would probably be easier to explain: plus the teasing from Touya would be relentless. “Y-yes Touya?”

“Dad was able to make you lunch before he left this morning, be sure to take it, otherwise I'll wind up giving it to Yukito”

“Ok, thanks Touya.” She get off her kneeling leg, and, for a brief moment, her discrete diaper manages to peek out of the bottom. “Sakura, you should try better to not expose yourself in your skirt” “Yes YES!” Sakura, laughing nervously, snatches the lunch from her older brother's hand, and makes her hasty retreat out the door. She races down the block, before giving herself a chance to breathe “That was really close, I can't let Touya find out about my 'Baby problem'”.

***Author's note: Oh yes, Touya is completely aware of Sakura's 'Baby Problem'! Poor Sakura, she really dense is when it comes to all her secrets that Touya knows. In return, Touya makes sure she doesn't know he knows (something he's mastered by now).***



Sakura skates her way through Penguin park. Suddenly, she senses a magical presence, and stops abruptly. Before she has time to pull out her wand, she is engulfed in darkness. “Oh no, this is just how my dream started!” Sakura realizes in her thoughts. Just like her dream, the darkness slips away like fog. “W-wait... This isn't how my dream goes!” Sakura has found herself trapped inside of Maze. Sakura doesn't have time to react to what's going on, as she turns around towards the direction of an all to familiar sound: Baby's laughter. “Baby must be behind Maze summoning itself. But, this might also be my best chance to catch Baby” The action intensifies. Sakura is confident in herself: unlike her previous experience with Maze, she has her skates this time. She quickly releases her wand. Catching baby will be simple!

Or so she thought.

After about a half hour, Sakura is out of breath, having chased Baby around Maze without getting any closer to her. Without warning, Baby takes advantage of this, poking her head out and using her power. Sakura finds her clothes start to change in shape. Her inline skates disappear, along with the rest of her skating outfit. Her school uniform also transforms. After the transformation, Sakura finds out how far it's changed. Her jacket and top are replaced by a lightly frilled pink blouse, her socks are also lightly frilled now, but most of all, her skirt has not only disappeared, but her diaper has been replaced by one of her overnight diapers! Baby is laughing at Sakura. Sakura pauses and thinks to herself: “Now's my opportunity to catch Baby. She may have changed my outfit, but now I'll be able to capture her while she's laughing at me”. Sakura begins to stride forward in a run.

And then she gets yanked.

Sakura had not fully assessed at what Baby did to her after all. Not only has her top changed, but her backpack as well. It is now a harness around Sakura's chest, and attached to the back is a long tether bolting her to one of Maze's walls. Sakura gets yanked off of her feet, with her wand flying out of her hand. Sakura would have landed right on her padded butt, but because of the short length of the tether, she instead hits the back of the wall, unable to reach the floor. Sakura moans slightly as she manages to get back to a standing position.

Baby shakes her rattle and flies off into the maze. Sakura, having regained her composure, tries to remove the harness before continuing. “There's no release catch anywhere on this. Of course, since it's magic after all.” Sakura, with a small sigh. “Ah! I could use Sword to cut the tether, and then I could continue my chase. It'll be hard without my skates, but once I catch Baby, everything should return to normal.

Only then did the big problem of the wand's current location dawn on her. “No!” Sakura shouts, and jumps forward to get the wand. The tether yanks her back, and she hits the wall once again. Another moment to regain composure, and this time she tries to get the wand. She leans into the harness that holds her to the wall, but the wand is definitely out of reach. Sakura tears up “This can't happen like this, I couldn't get out of maze before, and now, I don't even have my magic to help.” Sakura continues to struggle.



Hours must have passed. Sakura is kneeling on the floor, with her head curled up in her arms wrapped around her knees. Her diaper is thoroughly used after the hours have passed. “Is this really the end? I'm never going to see any of my friends or family again...” The images of her friends and family flash in front of her. “Tomoyo.. Syaron. Meilin. Touya.. Dad...” Sakura is now full on sobbing. And then, she feels a hand on her head. “Don't cry Sakura.”

“Huh?”

Before her is Sakura's Mom, appearing for only a brief moment before she fades away. “D..Did I just see that?” Sakura stops crying for a moment, and gets onto her feet. A brief pause...

“Sakura!!”

“Yue!?”

“Sakura!” Yue shouts, cutting his way through the maze. He lands in front of Sakura and cuts her tether. “Sakura, are you alright!?”

“Yue...” Sakura is now exhausted from being on her feet all day, and with the relief of being found, passes out.  Yue kneels down, picks up Sakura's wand, and picks up Sakura in a cradling position, before flying out of the maze. As they fly out of the maze, Maze disappears. It's now past sunset, and they land right in penguin park, where the Maze began.

“Sakura!” Kero-chan and Tomoyo shout, as they run up to Yue. Yue lays Sakura on the ground, and she regains consciousness. “Tomoyo, Kero-chan!”

Tomoyo runs up and gives Sakura a big hug.“We were worried about you. You never made it to school, and when I called Kero-chan he said you weren't home. After school, I went along your normal route and met up with Yue and Kero here, in front of a small green box.”

Kero is in his true form. “Yue and I realized that your dream had in fact came true. The box was a manifestation of Maze. Yue was able to go in and search for you, because even though it's a Sakura Card, the Moon still has domain over Maze, and could cut through it easily. However, we couldn't sense your presence, so we were still unable to find out exactly where you were inside of Maze.”

“But how did you find me?” Sakura asks, still weak.

“Probably just luck” Yue replied, in his usual flat matter.

“I was so worried I would never see any of you again... Thank you all for coming to save me.” Sakura closes her eyes still, exhausted from her whole ordeal.

“Oh Sakura...” Kero-chan says softly

“Mn?”

“What's with the outfit?”

Sakura gains a burst of energy, jumps to her feet and tries to cover herself up behind one of Yue's wings. Her diaper is very full, and probably would have leaked if it wasn't a night diaper. “B-Baby did this to me!”

“That's an adorable outfit, Sakura-chan.” Tomoyo now has stars in her eyes. “I need to make a Battle costume based off of it. I'll get right to work on it. Then we can have a Sakura Costume party, and a Sakura Photo Shoot of course. What fabric should I use to make it...” Tomoyo drones on. Sakura just lets out a small “ehhhh”, knowing nothing is going to stop Tomoyo now.


つづく





*Epilogue*

Sakura is asleep in her bed, having been able to sneak back in the house. Yue and Kero-chan are on the roof porch talking.

“So, Yue. How did really find Sakura? Maze is an immense labyrinth, bending reality and space. Luck couldn't have been how you found her.”

“Truthfully?”

“Yes?”

“I sensed Sakura's mother's presence.”

“What do you mean?”

“It must be because I absorbed Touya's powers. He had a really close bond to his mother. Even after she died, he could still see her spirit. His ability to sense her spirit must have gotten passed onto me.. But still, why was her presence even in Maze?”

“That's something even I don't know. I wonder if she's also a descendant of Clow Reed...”