Sakura Kinomoto was having a... not so good day. It had started out fine, to be honest. Really, it hadn't been bad at all. She woke up a bit late, got some breakfast, saw Yukito. Then Kero had sensed a clow card when she got home! After her recent failure with Dash, she had actually been jazzed up and excited.
Of course, for this one Tomoyo had gotten her a new, yellow outfit that was just the cutest and made Sakura feel like an idiot. But for tomoyo, anything went. then they'd had to track the card.
Things had gone well. It was on a radio tower! Great! She'd had to take the elevator and got a few, but the embarrassment didn't bother her anymore. you see, this card was the float card. Once she'd gotten where no one could see her, she'd tried to catch it. And, unfortunately, failed. At first. She'd actually been lifted OFF the tower and dragged around the city, hundreds of feet in the air. Trying to get to the card as tomoyo and Kero followed on the ground. Not only was it embarrassing, it was terrifying. But then, finally, she'd caught the card! She'd managed to get it in a seal and everything was great.
Except for one thing. Its power left. and unfortunately she fell faster than the card. She screamed as she waved her arms frantically in the air, falling through the sky as the float card gently fell towards her, far too slow. Right towards a poor young man with enough problems without magical girls dropping into his arms.
Kukai was personally having a fairly decent day. Nagihiko had called last night and that was always nice enough to carry a warm glow into the next day. Even though he'd planned a long day of patrolling (no shopping, no business, no sports practice) Kukai didn't think anything major or important was going to happen today.
Sensing magic was still something Kukai was getting better at with both Daichi and on his own, so the whole Clow Card thing was maybe over his head. Literally, too far up for him to pick it up.
Screaming, however? Screaming was still easy to pick up. Kukai looked straight up from his vantage point on top of a building where he'd been lazing about, presumably watching for trouble, and could barely pick out a tiny little dot where none was supposed to be. "Daichi! Chara Transform!" Daichi nods, already diving into Kukai's chest. There is a bright, shining yellow light, and a moment later Sky Jack is onboard his flying skateboard, shooting up towards Sakura!
He stops just a few dozen feet from her as she flails, flipping the point of the board towards the ground and beginning to descend, trying to partially match her speed, reaching out as she drops into his arms, clutching the young girl close as the two of them barely level out, zipping along the tops of the buildings!
It takes a second for Jack to brake with his arms full, but eventually he deposits Sakura onto the roof of another tall building, panting and looking at her. "....What was that? Are you all right?
Sakura Kinomoto screamed and flailed. She was going to die she was going to die she was... going... to... not die? She was being held? It took her a few seconds of being held to realize that, yes, someone caught her. And by the time he actually landed she was just staring, her eyes wide.
The card, Float, landed on her stomach a few moments later. A few moments TOO LATE, by the way. Finally she spoke up. "H-hi. I ummm... I... I didn't... die? Did I? You... you saved me?" Yeah, she was still in shock. Very, very obvious shock. Heck, he might even be able to feel her heart pounding.
"Sakura!" Kero yelled, popping up over the side of the roof and freezing. He stared at sky jack and gulped. "I... am... a stuffed animal?" he tried.
Sakura just stared up at him. Still in a bit of a shock and then... then... She hugged him! And started CRYING on him! "Thank you so much I thought I was going to d-die I-I thought the drowning was bad but the falling was so much worse and it was all the float card's fault and I-I don't want to fall to my death it's so scary thank you so much!"
Well, it was a different reaction from girls than he was likely used to receiving at least.
Jack was happy enough to hang onto her until she started talking, although not without a side thought that this would have been a much more enjoyable scene if she'd been maybe 5, 6 years older. But her legs were twitching to the point where he's pretty sure if he set her down she'd wobble off the side of the building. "No, you didn't die. I actually saved you." He notices the card float down, but hey, no reason to say anything.
He blinks, looking over at Kero, then grins. "Nice try. C'mon, she's fine." And then the girl - Sakura? - collapses against him, crying her eyes out, and the same protective, big brother instinct that had driven him to try and take care of the Prism Keepers until they got their powers under them makes him hug her close, kneeling a little so that she doesn't just fall over, one hand patting the back of her head. "It's ok, it's ok, you're all right, calm down..."
Sakura Kinomoto sobbed into his chest for a little bit, shaking for a bit but then, slowly, the patting and calming words calmed her down and she stopped crying. She rubbed her eyes. "S-sorry... I-I didn't mean to... c-cry on you."
Kero sighed and flew over, grabbing the card and floating it up to her. "Look, Sakura, you caught the float card! Tomoyo will be up here with the pen, too! You did a good job!"
"I almost fell to my death," she said softly.
"Why didn't you just use the windy card to slow your fall?"
She went completely still. In the terror of the moment she hadn't even THOUGHT about that. "O-oh." Then looked up at her saver. Her cheeks turned red and she eeped, bowing her head. "I-I'm so s-sorry if I hadn't been so, if I hadn't forgotten I wouldn't have had to make you, I'm so sorry!" She bowed her head quickly, before reaching up and wiping her eyes, all puffy from the good long cry. Then she looked at him and her eyes went wide. "You're... you're magic too," she said gently.
"Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo yelled as she ran onto the roof, camera out. She gasped. "Have you met another magical girl?" Pause then... "Wait... this ones a magical boy!"
Jack shakes his head, grinning. "It's ok. You're not the first person I've had cry on me. I'm glad you're feeling better!" He watches Kero bring the card over and huhs, looking down at it, one arm still around her. "Hey, you're still alive now - you'll be fine, really! You just sound like you need more practice."
Jack rolls his eyes and grins, patting her on the shoulders. "It's ok. It's what I'm here for, I back up all my friends and I make all my enemies mad." He can't help but snicker a bit when she mentions him being magical. "Yeeee...eees. I am. Your brain is still caught up with falling, I see. My name's Sky Jack."
Jack looks back over at Tomoyo as she reaches the roof, then once again damns the luck. If but for 5 more years there'd stand Nagihiko's worst nightmare. "Hello! And yeah, they make magical guys too, it's not a strictly woman's job."
Sakura Kinomoto nodded, staring up at him. tomoyo brought over the pen and she wrote her name. She then smiled. "So that's... five down! We have to be almost done, right?"
"Five out of fifty two," Kero said.
She blinked and sighed. "O-of course. fifty... cards."
"Just think about it, Sakura, that means fifty two different outfits I can make for you," Tomoyo said.
Sakura groaned, but smiled none the less. she looked up at Jack and smiled. "T-thank you for saving me, sir. My name is Kinomoto Sakura. This is Daidouji Tomoyo. A pleasure to meet you." She folded her hands neatly in her lap and bowed politely. "And... and I think my brains all caught up now." Giving away her full name? When all magical? Oh dear. she WAS new at this. She smiled up at him, completely innocent and soooo untrained.
Yup she was sooo going to get herself killed.
"Oh wow, Sakura-chan, your first magical guy. And he's cute, too."
Sakura blinked and looked at him, then looked away, blushing redder. "I-I don't... think... t-that's really... relevant here... eh heh."
"But not as cute as you, Sakura-chan~"
"Tomoyo-chan!" she shrieked, now practically flaming in the cheeks.
Jack watched her write her name down onto the card, arching one eyebrow. "Well.. you're welcome, both of you." He looks at Sakura for a long moment. "It's a pleasure to meet you, too. You've only been doing this a little while, haven't you? I can tell."
He blinks and looks over at Tomoyo, then grins again, the Jack's Grin, that wide, morale-boosting, infectiously happy grin. "Hey, she's not the first person to call me cute - I won't take any offense at it. Besides, she seems distracted."
Sakura Kinomoto nodded and sighed. Well,to be fair, even with Jack there, Tomoyo only seemed to have eyes for Sakura. Though the captor just sighed and nodded. "Oh, yeah! About a week ago I started! I've already met so many awesome other magical girls! Like Cure Flora and Cure Spark and... w-well, a few others but I don't know their magical names and they told me not to tell others about--" Then blinked and yelped. "O-oh, oh no, I wasn't supposed to tell you, was I?" Then paused. "Oh. No, wait, you saved me. So it's okay. Right?" She smiled her own smile up at him. It... was totally a 'little sister' smile.
Kero nodded. "I guess it's true, there really is a lot of magic flying around these days. But you did good, Sakura. And you are new, but you're getting the hang of it no problem, you'll be a really good card captor before you know it!" Well, at least she seemed to have a nice support crew. Emotional, at least.
Jack nodded for a moment, then grins at her. "So... you could probably use a few pointers and things, learning about some things, yeah? Like keeping your name private and the henshin effect and some of the other little things?" He chuckles. "That's sort of what I do. In a way."
Sakura Kinomoto nodded. "Oh, sure! I need all the pointers I can get! Like, ummmm... what's the henshin effect?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.
"I think that's when you transform, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo says.
Sakura blinked a few times and looked down. Her cheeks turned even redder. "I, errr... I kinda... don't... transform. These are uhhh... clothes that...tomoyo-chan made for me." Aaaaand now she was even more embarrassed.
Jack lets out a little breath. "Aaah. Wow. Yeah. This is actually you? OK." He rubs his head, rolling through what he'd been told at one point, trying to remember it all. "OK, so, usually magical people have a henshin, a transformation, that allows them to have two identities. And part of the magic is that people don't recognize you when you're in one identity, and not in the other, unless you tell them, even if they know both of them very well. It helps keep things private."
He sits back, then looks at Tomoyo appraisingly. "Hmm. Well it's a very nice outfit! I'm surprised somebody so young can sew so well." He grins. "You just like dolling up your friend, don't you?" He rubs the back of his head. "Well. You met a couple magical people... ah, I should... Do you have a cell phone? And where do you go to school?"
Sakura Kinomoto blinked and looked to Kuro. "W-wait, can I do that?"
"Afraid not, Sakura. Clow Reed never had any need for magic like that. Now, there is a card that can erase memories, but, well... I'd advise against using it. Best to just be careful for now. Erasing memories can be tricky."
Tomoyo giggled. "Oh, thank you. And yes, I do. Sakura-chan is just the cutest model, don't you agree? She just gives me so much inspiration!"
Sakura blushed and looked up. "Huh? Oh! I'm a fourth grader in Seishou public! Ummm..." She pulled out her cell phone and gave him her number. Wow, trusting, too. Not even trying to hide anything.
Jack hmms. "Well, you'll want to be careful who you introduce yourself to, then. At least, using your full name. It's not hard for some of the bad guys to track people if they know who they're looking for." He looks over at Tomoyo, then at Sakura, and grins. Poor kid has no idea what's in store for her, apparently.
Jack smiles, taking the cell phone, and adds in an entry for Jack. Just Jack. "Here we go. If you need me, you can contact me here. I'll come either in henshin or normal form, and if you want we can talk about more stuff. I can maybe introduce you to some other people. The more people you know, the better."
Sakura Kinomoto nods with a big grin. "Oh, yeah! I've already met so many amazing people! Though, some of them are a bit weird. Like Haruka-sempai and Hannah-sempai. Oh! And I actually... did mean one bad person. When I was... with Spark..." She glanced back to Tomoyo and gulped, then chuckled nervously and scratched her chin. "I uhhh... don't... suppose you know a Blue? I... I kinda need to thank him after I... well... accidentally... trashed... a bridge. Eh heh... heh..." Then blinked. "O-oh wait! If you know, umm... do you know if... Sailor V... is real?"
There's a grin! She's feeling better, and that makes Jack grin too. Aaand theeen... "Weeell..." He rubs his head. "Hannah and Haruka are nice enough, but if they ask you to do something you may want to ask them 'why'. They don't work for the nicest people. And.. yeah? You ran into somebody? Well, then you get the idea."
Jack frowns a bit. "I do know -of- a Blue, but I've never met him before. I know somebody who has, though. We may have to put you into contact a little later. What do you mean, 'trashed a bridge'?" He cocks his head at that last question, though. "Yeah, Sailor V is real. I mean, she's a real magical girl. Part of another group. It's a looooong story. But she's an actual person. Why?"
Sakura Kinomoto chuckled nervously. "W-well, err, I, ummm... I didn't... really... know my own strength it seems? Eh... heh heh... i didn't know windy could do that and when I got.. err..."
"When Sakura uses her full power it's actually a lot more than I thought it would be," Kero said with a sigh. "Not very accurate, thoguh. You'll need to work on that."
" I don't want to have to... I don't want my friends being in danger..." She glanced back to Tomoyo. Then paused. "Wait. Sailor V IS real?" And she was up close, stars in her eyes, super excited! "C-can you introduce me? Please please pleeeease? Please Jack-sempai? She's so cool! I've seen her videos and played so many of her games i didn't think she was an actual person!"
Jack rolls his eyes and grins. "Oh boy. You gotta be careful with your powers. The more you sweat in training, the less you and others bleed in battle. You understand? You gotta get better, otherwise you're as much a danger to your friends as the bad guys are."
And then she's swamping him with Sailor V fangirlism. "Whoa, whoa, hey, calm down, I don't know her, personally. I only know a couple of her friends, and only sort of, at that! I wouldn't know where to start!" He reaches down, hands on her shoulders. "If you like her that much I'm sure you'll run into her at some point and then you can turn those high beams on her, huh?" He looks at Tomoyo. "Does she do this a lot?"
Sakura Kinomoto nodded, sighing. "I-I know. I'm trying my best. I... I didn't even know I could do anything like that. I think it was a mistake. Something to do with Spark being there and... helping somehow." Then... he said no. She hung her head. "O-oh. But you're the only one who... seems to know if she... exists or not..."
"Only sometimes. She reacts in a way similar to Yukito-kun, though for different reasons."
Sakura's cheeks turned scarlet. "Tomoyo-chan!"
"I can't help it, you're so cute when you blush!"
Sakura shook her head and then looked up to Jack. "So... you can introduce me to others, right? Do you think they can help me get better, too?"
Sky Jack nods. "We're all finding out new things about ourselves. That's normal." He hmms. "Well. Maybe it wasn't totally your fault, then. So.." He pats her head as she slumps. "Hey, that's mostly because I've fought alongside her once or twice. It's an even longer story. But yeah, she exists. You'll find her, don't worry."
He looks over at Tomoyo and then chuckles. "Man you two. You should save a little for when you're older, geez." He nods to Sakura again. "Yes. More people, more training, more practice, it'll all help you get better."
Sakura Kinomoto nodded. "So... wow... maybe one day I can fight alongside her! D-do you think I could? D-do you think one day they'll make a game about me?" she sounded excited, then paled. "Oh gosh what if they make a game about me!" she shrieked.
"Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm sure one day they will~"
"Tomoyo-chaaaaaan!" she whined, before glancing up. "Save up what?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. "A-and yes, more training is good! as... as long as it doesn't involve math. I'm good with anything but math."
Jack laughs and then shrugs. "Maybe you will. Maybe they will. I dunno. And I'm sure you'll meet her one day. Maybe even fight alongside her. It's all up in the air at this point."
That long, drawn out cry just makes Jack laugh more and the response is even better. He finally grins and then nods. "Yeah, not many of us are good with math. That's fine. But... Yeah." He looks around the rooftop, then nods to her. "Are you ok now? Got your card and everything?"
Sakura Kinomoto nods, pulling out the others and adding it to them. "Yep! Five down! Just... oh gosh so many more to go." She frowned and looked down at them. "Kero, are you sure I'll be able to do this?"
"Of course you can, Sakura. You wouldn't have been chosen otherwise. Besides, if you fail, don't have to worry! No one will mind!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, cause the world will be destroyed." He said, obviously joking.
Sakura just blinked and then hung her head. "That's not very encouraging..."
"Oh Sakura. Clow knew all this would happen, I'm sure the key chose you because it knew you could do this."
"Or maybe Clow just didn't expect his guardian beast to be napping on the job..."
"Eh... heh heh... heh," the mascot said, nervously scratching his cheek.
Jack reaches down, patting Sakura on the shoulder. "You can't give up hope, ever. You'll get all the cards if you just keep trying. And everyone will help you. Everybody who's chosen has the power to succeed. OK? OK!" He stands up again and then nods. "OK. There's still a lot of Tokyo to patrol today and I'm getting kinda hungry. Will you be ok with your friends now? And if you need me, you can always call me."
Sakura Kinomoto blinked and perked up with this encouragements. "R-right! I-I won't give up! I'm going to get all the cards and they'll be back with their friends! Then everything will be good!" she said firmly before nodding. "Thank you, Jack-sempai! I'm good now! And... and thank you for saving me!" She then gave him another hug, leaning in with the hug, one leg up when she did it, a big smile on her face. Yup, lil sister hug time! He was soooo cool! Like a big brother who DIDN'T suck!
Jack nods and then gives her a thumbs-up. "That's the spirit. You'll do it, I have faith in you." Then she lunges in and hugs him, and he laughs, patting her back. "OK! OK. Tomoyo's gonna get jealous if you hang on too long. OK." He grins, then steps back, tapping his skateboard and hopping up onto it. "Alright! I'll see you around! No more falling out of the sky, ok?" With a final wave, he was up and off and away...