Sakura Kinomoto stood outside the house, her eyes all puffy from crying, and nervously reached out to knock. No leaping up to the balcony this time, no running in with magic. Heck, she HAD no magic. Instead, she just reached up and knocked on the door, trying to keep herself strong. In her hoody, Kero was sleeping.
She was alone this time, too. No Tomoyo.
There's always somebody home at the ECFH. Well, almost always. Whether it's one of the boys, one of the frequent guests, or one of the people who basically lives there even though they don't actually. In this case, it's one of the latter- the door opens to reveal Kyouko, wearing plaid PJ pants and a hoodie of her own. She blinks a couple times upon finding a very distraught-looking Sakura on the other side of the door.
"Um.. Hi." She says, brows drawing together as she takes a step back to let Sakura in, if she so chooses. "What's up? You don't look too happy."
Sakura Kinomoto sniffled a bit. "K-Kyouko-kun? I just... I... T-there was a... d-did you get my text? I was... I..." And then, ACK! she latched on and began to bawl on Kyouko, full on sobbing as she clutched the girl and wailing.
"I-I don't k-know who they were b-but they stole my friends a-and they took my cards a-and o-one of them l-looked just like me a-and the other h-had a key like mine!"
Oh. Oh dear. Smol child crying strangle hold. No escape.
Kyouko blinks a few more times, clearly trying to think back to a text she might have gotten from Sakura. (She did get it, she's just really bad at paying attention to her phone a lot of the time). "Um.. I think so? I can go look and-nngh!"
She is suddenly latched-onto, her arms lifting out of the way as Sakura clings to her and starts bawling at the top of her lungs. For a moment it looks as though Kyouko may bodily chuck the kid away and leap out the window, her expression one of extreme discomfort, her body tense at the unexpected and unwelcome (no offense, Kyouko does casual touch very poorly) contact.
After a moment though, she lowers one arm to lightly pat the younger girl on the back. "Uh.. hey.. no crying, okay? It's safe here. C'mon.. sit down." She starts backing away from the door, hoping that Sakura will come with her (being attached and all) and guiding the girl towards the couches.
Sakura Kinomoto didn't let go, jsut held on and kept crying as she trembled and sobbed. "I-it was h-horrible! F-first m-my mommy g-gets... gets gone again... t-then H-Hannah-sempai w-was in the hospital s-so I-I visited her a-and it turned o-out she just needed my magic s-so I gave it to her a-and she was b-better a-and then the sand c-card came a-and now Kero-chan i-is mad I gave up m-my magic b-but H-Hannah-sempai s-said it'd just be for a bit a-and then when I w-went to get the sand card t-there was this guy and h-he had a wand like mine a-and the erase card and then there was a d-duplicate of me a-and she stole a bunch of my friends, t-the cards, a-and I don't know where they are a-and I don't have my magic n-now so I can't even t-try to fight them a-and don't tell H-hannah-sempai because she'll get sad i-it's my fault not hers!"
Breath, smol one, breath.
Kyouko guides Sakura over to the couch, and then works on peeling her off. She will start doing this gently, but if Sakura does not get the hint and let go of her after a few moments, she might get a little more insistant- not actually violent or anything, but peel she will. Kyouko has a Thing about being touched by people she doesn't know well, sort of like a form of claustrophobia, and she will start to freak out if she isn't able to get Sakura to let go.
But hopefully she does, and the whole time she is listening to the girl's words, a frown on her face and her brow furrowed. "You gave your magic to Hannah?" She queries, eyes roving the apartment as if hoping that Mamoru or Kunzite or someone more suited to this sort of situation would magically appear, but no such luck. "Alright kid, alright, c'mon. I don't know what you're talkin' about. Do you want a drink? Milk or.." Dammit, what do kids drink. What does Momo drink? "..or an energy drink or something?"
Sakura Kinomoto is slowly extracted after a few moments(and after dampening Kyouko's poor, innocent shirt), giving soft sobs but no longer needing to be held. She then stared up at Kyouko, giving a small nod. "Y-yeah. She said she... she needed it. It was like... a chain...circle? Chain core? I-I don't know. She shot me with some gun t-thing and then I passed out. A-apparently someone attacked her o-or something a-and I really think she needs help. I-I gave her mine b-but it took my magic for a bit."
She then... "I... I'd like some milk. Do... do you have any cookies?" Ah, milk and cookies, the old stand by.
Kyouko's frown turns into a scowl as Sakura mentions Hannah shooting her with a gun and taking her magic. Even if it was voluntary. "You shouldn't give people your magic, especially not her." She says, perhaps more angrily than is entirely necessary. "That girl doesn't deserve all the help she gets."
Then she sighs, shaking her head. "Milk and cookies.. yeah, I think so. Well, there's usually somethin' of the sort around." She walks into the kitchen and, a few moments later, comes back out with a glass of milk and a container of what appear to be cookies. "You're in luck. Mako-cookies were in residence." She sets them down on the table near Sakura, then moves to seat herself on one of the other couches, seeming to consider.
Sakura Kinomoto blinked, shaking her head. "W-what? Of course she does! S-she's saved my life! A-and she's one of my best friends! A-and she's really nice and she's Haruna-sempai's girl friend a-and she's really nice! And she sometimes gives me treats and she has the best, cutest dog ever!"
And then she gets cookies and milk and... drinks the milk with a content, happy sigh, before taking a cookie and softly nibbling it. "Kero-chan has been sleeping since... he says it's nothing but I don't think he's feeling well since it happened..."
The sound of the door includes the sound of a key within the lock. The number of people who actually /use the door/ seems to be low, but it does include the Naru who steps inside. She clearly is expecting to find people here, not surprised to see Kyouko .. nor Sakura either for that matter.
"I'm just in time for cookies?" Naru catches just the edge of that conversation as she kicks off her shoes, to be able to pad in barefoot. She's got her bag, but no coat as she roams into the living room. "Is there coffee on?"
"What's nothing?" Naru asks, a little frown at the tirade of the warm fuzzies that clearly are about Hannah. To Kyouko. That'll end well.
"Well, kid, all I can say is you should seriously reconsider your taste in friends, and remind you that not everythin' that seems sweet really is, right?" Kyouko says acerbically to the litany of praise that Sakura heaps upon Hannah. She seems more mildly annoyed than actually angry, though.
Then the door is opening, and Kyouko is on her feet in a moment, her face lighting up as if the sky had opened and delivered a guardian angel to her. This might be the case in a very real way as she walks over towards Naru, as if to get the other girl between her and Sakura, who is not earning very many Kyouko Points. "I didn't start coffee but I wouldn't be surprised if there is some," She says, then adds, "Sakura-chan there says she gave her magic to Hannah because Hannah needed it, or somethin', but then she got attacked and couldn't defend herself."
A shrug. "I dunno, didn't sound like anybody I know from her description."
Sakura Kinomoto blinked, then glanced to naru. "N-naru-chan! S-someone stole my friends! I-I mean, the cards! He had a wand like mine a-and he also had the erase card working for him and there was this girl who looked jsut like me and they stole the cards a-and I managed to escape with some of them, b-but he stole almost half of them! a-and I think he managed to take sand, too! A-and ever since, Kero-chan has been acting odd!!"
"You gave Hannah your magic!?" Naru blinks, surprised by /that/ revelation far more than the stolen cards. "When?"
Naru lifts a hand to press fingers to her forehead as if someone /just/ acquired a whole new headache. "I'm not surprised Kero is acting odd if you .. do you have /any/ magic at the moment?" She asks and then takes a deep breath. "I'm going to make coffee."
Naru can still hear in the kitchen as she heads in that direction. "And I will want a cookie, don't eat them all!"
Kyouko had just picked up a cookie from the containr, and guiltily drops it back in as Naru says not to eat them all, even though the other girl was likely not even talking to her. Hey, some habits die hard. She mmphs.. then sighs, moving back to flop on the couch in a sprawled, loose-limbed fashion. "That's what I said." She comments to Naru's reaction to giving Hannah magic.
"What's a Kero?" She then asks, as Naru seems to know but she still has no idea.
Sakura Kinomoto shook her head. "N-no. I don't. She said it'd grow back, though! And Kero-chan was mad about that, but... he didn't seem odd until the cards were stolen." She gently scooped him out of her hoody, showing the small, sleeping guardian. "Normally he'd be all over the cookies. But he's still sleeping..."
She gave a soft sigh. "Hannah-chan needed it! And... I'll have some. Eventually. Probably. I didn't know this could happen! Kero-chan said no one else could use the cards! I don't know how he did it!"
There's a soft mutter from the kitchen at the reality of Sakura having no magic currently and there's the sounds of coffee making. There might be regrets in that kitchen that Naru has made a deliberate choice to eschew alcohol.
Naru comes to the entrance of the kitchen to lean on the doorframe there, her arms crossed. "Right. So. I dont blame Kero for being mad. Magic is a personal thing, it's /yours/, and I am going to hope like hell it comes back properly, but I have no actual idea. Hannah selfishly and knowingly destroyed her own magical core for her own power, and it's a mean and crappy thing to take yours to do th same thing to. /When/ did you give it to her?"
That one detail seems to be rather important to Naru, for whatever reason.
Kyouko's eyes shift to the little winged lion-thing that Sakura produces.. eyeing it with mild curiosity, but as Kero seems to be sleeping currently, she doesn't do any more than that. Instead, she just heaves a sigh.. shaking her head. "Well.. I dunno what we can do right this second to help you, Sakura-chan, except to say that it's safe here, so you should stay until you're sure it's safe for you to leave."
She stands up then, bare feet soft on the carpet as she pads over to where Naru stands in the doorway, pausing to say something in a low, angry-sounding tone to the other girl that's deliberately kept too quiet for Sakura to hear. Then she's passing momentarily out of sight into the kitchen.
Sakura Kinomoto shuffled nervously in her seat. "She... she didn't want to... I kind of... made her. S-she was in the hospital and I... she was so hurt. She needed help and... and she really needed it so... I made her take mine," she mumbled. "I-I know it's personal but... she's my friend. What... what would you do? If one of your best friends was... was hurt and... and dying and they needed your magic for a bit, would you really say no? Would you say no to... to... Kyouko-chan? Or... or Mamoru-kun? Or Ale--" And then stopped there. Oh. Right. Vampire.
"While she was in the hospital..."
Naru takes a slow breath, held a moment and then let it out in a careful sigh. "My friends /have/ been hurt and dying. They have been hurt and dying /because of Hannah/." Naru points out. "/I/ have been hurt, and dying because of Hannah's actions. She is not the paragon of virtue that you think she is, that she really wants you to think she is." Her voice is calm, almost at odds with her words.
"Crippling yourself does not actually do your friend any good. Would I offer them my magic? No.. probably not. Have I offered them assistance, support, energy even while we try and figure out a long term solution? Have and will. Even to Alexis, yes." Naru notes and then listens to the coffee maker and turns back towards the kitchen to get herself a coffee.
Kyouko comes back out a moment later, with an apple in her hand, passing by Naru in the doorway. "First of all," She says, her voice lacking much of the control that Naru demonstrates, "You didn't make her take it if she shot you with a gun to get it. She could have just said no- she should have said no. Second of all, she's not dying- or at least, not right this second, because I happen to know Mamoru went to see her yesterday and you can bet your gravy he wouldn't leave her on the brink of death, much as I wish he might."
She chomps into the apple, tearing a chunk out of it and chewing as she paces back and forth, clearly agitated. "Look kid, I ain't sayin' you did a bad thing. I'm sayin' you did a dumb thing, but it's not really your fault, other than I think you should be more discerning about your friends."
She sighs. "I don't know anything about this guy you say attacked you, though. I assume that's a separate issue with bad timing."
Sakura Kinomoto lowered her eyes, holding her cookie in both hands. Slowly, she nodded. "Your... your right. I'm... sorry. I shouldn't have... I'm sorry. It's my fault any of this happened. If I'd just... tried to find another way to..."
She wiped at her eyes. "But... I just wanted to help and... and I didn't want her t-to leave me too..." she mumbled softly. Her hands trembled and... Kyouko may wanna vacate the room again, because it lookedl ike the water works were going to start again.
"It is not your fault that Hannah has been a spectacular idiot." Naru points out as she returns with coffee and moves over towards the couch to retrieve herself a cookie before they get forgotten. "A charming, charistmatic, meglomanical arrogant idiot. /That/ isn't terribly new, her past and current actions are biting her in the butt currently. And it sucks to watch for anyone with any empathy for her at all."
Naru nods to Kyouko's words about the attack. "Ami also thinks that's a separate issue with bad timing, when I showed her the text message about the attack." She leans over, looking over the table and then setting her coffee and cookie back down before padding over to find the tissue box. Seems like it'll be relevant again shortly.
"Look, kid, don't apologize to me." Kyouko says, as Sakura starts to look on the verge of tears again. "I ain't any worse off in any of this. You're the one who deserves an apology, though I doubt you'll get it. Naru is right. None of this is your fault."
She paces a few more rounds of the living room, then moves over to flop down again next to Naru as the girl takes up position on the couch. She's clearly still agitated, and she whips out her phone a moment later to send a few texts before putting it away again. She peers sideways at Naru as Ami is mentioned. "Does she know somethin' about it?" A beat. "It's not her godamned boyfriend, is it?"
Sakura Kinomoto took some tissues, blowing out her nose. After a moment she glanced up. "W-what? but she's always so nice to me. S-she's never done anything but o-offer me help and g-guidance. A-and she and H-haruna-sempai saved me when the fight card came after me."
Then... "Who's Ami? Her boyfriend?" she asked, cocking her head to the side.
"Ugh..." Kero muttered, groaning and lifting his head. "what... happened?"
"And that's one side of Hannah, but that's not /all/ of Hannah." Naru points out with a wrinkle of her nose. "That's not the side that mugged people for their linker cores, or experimented on unwilling subjects. She's complicated to say the very least."
Naru glances to Kyouko at that pause and then query. "So the accusations flew, but she was going to go talk to him after school, and I didn't exactly linger, because I knew you were waiting on me. So I'll get as far as /possibly/, as hard as it is to give Takashi the benefit of the doubt."
Naru turns towards Sakura and mmms. "Ami is a classmate of mine, and her boyfriend is a jerk. A brilliant and gifted jerk, who has moments of not jerk now and then, but generally a jerk."
"Very small moments." Kyouko mutters, on the topic of Takashi. She glances aside at Naru again, studying her for a moment, then wordlessly places a hand on the other girl's leg, just leaving it there as she looks back at Sakura. "That's the thing, right? Hannah'll be your best friend 'til the moment you get in her way or she needs something from you. Then bam." She gestures with her other hand, which holds the remains of an apple.
She sighs, then glances down at Kero as he starts to come around. "Your little cat dude is waking up." She points out, rather less helpfully than she imagines.
Sakura Kinomoto looks confused, cocking her head to the side. "Huh? But... she's so nice. And... and I always get a warm, happy feeling when I'm near her," se mumbled. "And I'm sure he's not that bad. I mean, if Ami's a good person, then her boy friend must be too, right?"
Then her eyes lowered and she picked up Kero. ""Kero-chan? Are you feeling better?"
He blinked, then nodded. "Yeah! Right as rain? Hey, are those cookies I smell?"
"Yes!" She grabbed one and fed him and... then his eyes fell on those two. He gave them a concerned look.
"No." Naru shakes her head, plainly enough. "Ami's boyfriend is not a good person. Hannah isn't always either, no matter how warm and fuzzy she makes you feel."
There's a careful breath and Naru nods towards the small lion. "Hello Kero. How are you feeling?"
Kyouko looks like she might be about to snap something when Sakura repeats for the 10th time that Hannah is so nice. Of course, not everyone has the history with Hannah that Kyouko does (thankfully), but the fact that so many people seem to like her is ever-frustrating for the redhead. She takes a soft breath herself, seeming to try and capture a fleeting calm before she says something she'll regret. "It's.. complicated." Is the answer she finally settles on.
Her eyes narrow slightly as she looks down at the newly-awakened Kero. "Right as rain?" She questions. "You sure?" Well, that's a good sign at least.
Sakura Kinomoto nodded, lowering her eyes. "I'm sorry..."
"Hey, Sakura? Can you go get me a glass of water?"
"Huh? Oh! Um, sure! I'll be right back! Thank you!" she said, bowing her head and getting up and... The moment she's out.
"Let's make this quick. This is a lot worse than what Sakura thinks," Kero said with a frown. "I don't know what magic that person is using, but it's not Clow magic. Worse, it's affecting me. I can feel it when he uses the card, this... dark taint. And if it's affecting me, that means it might be... well, affecting someone else. And if that's happening, we're all in danger. Every last person Sakura has ever met," he said, his little paws crossing. "Sakura doesn't have the magic to do anything about it yet, but we need those cards back. Soon."
Naru watches Sakura skip off to the kitchen and pushes herself up from where she's lounged leaning lightly on Kyouko to leaned in listening to Kero. "When he uses any card?" She asks and nods. "Sakura doesn't have /any/ magic at the moment, but why would say.. the cards that I've helped her capture still have any links back to me? I dont use cards."
Kyouko's eyes track Sakura towards the kitchen as well.. then return to Kero, her scowl deepening slightly at his words. "Dark taint, huh." Seems like, in her mind at least, the evidence for Takashi being to blame is mounting rapidly- even if that's still doing a bit of leaping to conclusions. She glances at Naru as the girl leans forward away from her, quirking a brow slightly, then directing that same questioning look at Kero. "Yeah, why is it a danger to everybody? I've met her, obviously, and I don't have any links to these cards. I've no doubt it's bad news if they get corrupted, but why's that put us in danger directly?"
Kero sighed. "Because the moment Sakura met you, that bond was formed. I don't know how it will affect you. You have magic of your own, so it's possible you won't. But... you're all connected to Sakura, in one way or another. Like it or not." He fluttered up, his lil paws crossed.
"The magic that created and bound the cards is powerful, afterall Clow made them, and Sakura was chosen for a reason. Whoever this person is, what they're doing could possibly cause the end of the--"
"I got the water!" Sakura said quickly as she came back in, a big smile on her face. Kero clamped up, taking the water and drinking it slowly.
There's a soft mutter from Naru as she settles back with her coffee, her cookie already long gone. She takes a slow breath, and then a sigh. "Are you staying here for a while, Sakura? It's probably a good idea, if you're worried about being attacked again. I.." Naru pauses and looks at Kyouko with a quirk of a questioning brow. "We? If you're coming with me... need to get back downstairs for a while though." She turns back to the younger girl. "You'll be fine up here."
Kyouko is sending a few more texts on her phone as Sakura comes back into the room. Her expression is still unhappy, though it's hard to say exactly what part of Kero's little speech is bugging her- whatever she might have said is cut off by the younger girl coming back to the table.
She glances sideways at Naru as the girl speaks, meeting her questioning brow with a nod. "Yeah, I'm coming with you." She says, with mild emphasis, then glances back at Sakura. "You should stay here for a while. It's safe. I texted Mamoru to let him know what's up. If anybody'll know what you should do, its him."
Sakura Kinomoto nodded. "I... I guess. I ummm... can I borrow a phone? I need to get a new one. Mine broke in the... fight," she muttered, eyes down cast. "I hope daddy isn't mad at me. I just got that one, too. Do you think magical girl accidents are covered by phone insurance?"
Kero just sighed. "Come on, Sakura. Lets get you some sleep. You've had a rough... you've just had a rough time." He took her hand and started to lead her off. "We can call Tomoyo later and she can take care of your dad, okay?"
"Okay..."