Summary: - Sakura has spent her life in hiding from the winter courts. At her father's insistence she was to grow up in the mortal world where she would be safe from the squabbling of the two courts. In two months' time, on her 21st birthday, she will inherit the throne in the summer court and rule the summer fey. But fate has other plans and Syaoran Li appears in her life, seeming to be nothing more than a mortal. But appearances can be deceiving and they both find themselves walking down a dangerous path.
Disclaimer : - I don't own CCS, all the characters belong to CLAMP. I just like playing with them and making their lives a little more chaotic!
AN: For anyone thinking that they have already read the beginning of this story – you may well have. It was previous published under my other pen-name, demi kaijuu, but I have had a drastic re-think to this fic so have started it again (and published under a different name – but that's a different story). The inspiration for this does come from Julie Kagawas 'The Iron Fey' series – but in no way is it a rewrite of her stories, it is just the inspiration behind it.
The title of this fic is taken from the song 'Iris' by Goo Goo Dolls and each chapter is named after a song. The song in this chapter is 'The Call' by Regina Spektor
Iris
Chapter one – The Call
Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never been this way before
Sakura
Today is the 1st of February, which means it is only 2 months till my 21st birthday. For most girls turning 21 is a reason to go out and get legally drunk for the first time and have a big celebration. But to me it means a whole lot more than waking up the next day with a hangover. Because my 21st birthday means I will finally be able to return home and take my throne in the Seelie court, the place that the summer fey call 'home'. It's been nearly 11 years since I last saw home, and it is the only thing that I've thought about for the last 11 years.
I suppose that I had better explain things properly from the beginning rather than jump in from age 20 onwards.
My name is Sakura Kinomoto, and I am the princess of the Summer Court. My father, Fujitaka is the current ruler of the summer fay, and I am the heir the court. I have an older brother, but tradition dictates that the crown will always pass to a female heir. My brother, Touya, lives between the mortal realm and the summer court – mainly so he can 'keep an eye on me'. Sometimes I think he would make a better ruler than I would. He's far more level headed than I am – sometimes my temper gets the better of me and I fly off the handle. I inherited my mothers' temper, though she died when I was 5 so I remember very little about her. The thing I remember about her the most is her smell – she always smelled like sunshine and thunder storms.
I came to the moral realm when I was 10 for two reasons. The first was to 'gain a varied education' and the second was to keep me away from the Unseelie Court, more commonly known as the Winter Court. The two courts manage to maintain a civil relationship – well at least for the moment. But in all honesty we've been arguing and fighting since the courts were formed. It was deemed necessary to keep me away from both courts when I was still young and impressionable, as my father wanted me to rule without prejudice, and feared that if I saw the constant squabbling between the two courts that I would grow up without an impartial view. It's kind of long winded, but I guess I understand why he did it.
Thankfully I didn't have to come here on my own – my cousin, and best friend, Tomoyo came with me. She is my closest friend and confidante, and will also be one of the ladies of my court when I assume my rule – so at least I'll have someone I know I can trust. The only problem is she seems to have taken on the role of being my seamstress as well, so now I have a wardrobe full to bursting of beautiful clothes. I refuse to mention my coronation to her because she gets a starry look in her eyes and starts babbling about lace and ribbons.
My life is fairly hectic; I attend a normal college to further my education and learn about the ways and customs of mortal. At the weekends I am schooled by my brothers' best friend, and advisor, Yue. He teaches me the customs and politics of the fay in preparation to my return home. For the longest time I had a huge crush on him, but that changed as I grew up and now he's more like a big brother to me; and far less annoying than my real brother.
So that's pretty much my life as it is now, with me counting down the days to my return home and trying to cram in everything before I leave. I should currently be cramming for my finals, but for some reason I felt the need to start a journal, maybe it's just the opportunity to get everything out of my head and onto paper. But life is good, and in two months I will be home where I belong.
Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light
Sakura closed her new journal and stretched, it was getting late and the evening was rapidly turning into night. She gazed out the window, trying to see the stars behind the thick clouds. Disappointed at seeing nothing she cast her mind back to when she was a child staring at the stars from her bedroom - they looked so much clearer in the summer court. A bubble of excitement burst in her stomach and she smiled at the thought of returning home. It had been too long since she danced in the summer court with her kin. Sakura wanted to be home where the summer nights seemed never ending and the dances spanned for days.
"Hey Sakura," Tomoyo said, popping her head through the door. "You fancy going out for some ice cream. If I try to cram any more information into my head I'm risking what I already know leaking out of my ears."
Sakura grinned and started to put her books away. Peering out her window she clocked the dark ominous clouds hanging over head and scowled. "I can't wait to go home – I hate the cold," she muttered to herself as she grabbed her hat, gloves and a thick jacket.
"At least you can wear hat!" Tomoyo quipped. "I look like an elf or something. Hats just don't suit me!"
Sakura shook her head in disagreement. "Tomoyo, you couldn't look like an elf if you tried," she stated as she pulled her boots on. Tomoyo stuck her tongue out and opened the door laughing as Sakura winced at the blast of cold air that rushed past her. Sakura gritted her teeth and wound her scarf tighter, scowling at the offending cold. She linked arms with Tomoyo and they walked down towards the ice cream shop, blissfully unaware of the two shadows following them at a distance.
You'll come back when it's over
No need to say goodbye
Sakura slid into the plush leather booth at the ice-cream parlour eyeing the huge mug of hot chocolate in front of her. Ok so it wasn't strictly ice-cream, but it was too cold and hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows seemed like a much better plan than tooth achingly cold ice cream. Tomoyo laughed as she dug into her hot fudge sundae. It struck Tomoyo that she had acclimatised to the cold winters much better than Sakura had, but then again that was to be expected. She was only a lady of the court; and although she wasn't particularly keen on the cold winters it had always affected her a lot less than it did Sakura. But being the summer princess she was more attuned to changes in temperature, and the cold winter senses seemed to dull her senses.
The bell above the door rang, breaking Tomoyo from her thoughts. She glanced up, hoping to see Chiharu or Rika, knowing that they would drop cramming for finals in preference of ice cream. Instead it was two guys she didn't recognise. They were both good looking she noted, but that could be said for many mortals. She looked at one of them for a moment more before returning to her sundae. It was best to keep mortals and faeries apart, one too many a night in either court was enough to addle any mortals' brain. She smiled at them as they walked past the booth, her eyes crinkling as she noticed how good looking the tall boy with dark hair was. They moved out of sight and her conversation with Sakura resumed, the boy with the dark hair pushed from her mind.
Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling that no one knows yet
And just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget
Sakura rolled over and looked at her clock. Her eyes widened as she noted the time and she shot out of bed at lightning speed. She was already running 20 minutes late and she hadn't even brushed her teeth. She dragged a brush though her hair, making a face at her waist length auburn curls. She gave up trying to tame her unruly locks and settled for scrapping it back into a messy bun. . She quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and grabbed her book bag and coat on the way out. She skidded to a halt as she opened the front door, her eyes opening wide in shock.
It was snowing.
And not just a little bit of snow, it was a full blown white out. Grumbling incoherently she swapped her trainers for boots and grabbed her hat. Grimacing at the cold she stepped into the snow and tramped through the snow, trying not to land herself on her ass.
It took longer than usual to get to college, and by the time Sakura made it she looked more like a walking snowman than a princess, but she was grateful to get inside from the cold. Shaking the snow from her the best she could she grabbed the books she needed from her locker and headed towards geography.
She rushed into the classroom and plonked her books down next to Tomoyo just as the final bell went. She collapsed into the chair, her head resting on her folded arms.
"Thanks for waking me," she hissed at Tomoyo.
"Hey I tried waking you like 5 times, but you were out of it." Tomoyo grinned. "Then I saw it was snowing and thought better of trying to wake you – figured you would just bite my head off even if you were on time."
A sudden hush spread through the class, drawing both girls attention to the front of the class were there stood two boys. Both boys looked very uncomfortable at the attention they were drawing and shuffled back and forth on the spot.
"Ok class we have two mid-term transfers. The first is Syaoran Li," the teacher said gesturing to the boy with chocolate brown hair, "and the second is Hiiragizawa Eriol," he said pointing at the boy with dark, almost blue hair. "Please would you introduce yourselves to your class mates."
"I'm Syaoran Li. I've been living in Hong Kong for the last 4 years, but have recently moved to Japan to finish my studies," Syaoran stated bluntly looking very uncomfortable at the attention he was attracting.
"Hello, I'm Eriol. I've lived in both England and China for most of my life, and I've moved here with my cousin Syaoran to finish my studies." Eriol smiled at everyone, breaking the icy tension that Syaorans icy introduction had caused.
"Ok, Li if you could sit behind Sakura in the back corner," the teacher said, pointing to Sakura. "And Hiiragizawa is you sit next to Tomoyo who is next to Sakura. Ok class if you can all open your books at page 223, today we will be studying social geography and covering why people choose to live in certain areas."
The class was full of whispers, the girls were openly drooling at the two new and very handsome boys, and the boys were looking at then with mild distain and jealousy. Sakura for the most part ignored it, and busied herself in getting her books together and getting to the right page. She glanced up as Syaoran walked past as was suddenly hit by a cold shudder as their eyes met. Dark amber tinged with gold clashed with bright emerald.
He sat down behind Sakura, his gaze burning the back of her head. She wanted to turn and run, but couldn't place why she wanted to do it. He unnerved her and he didn't know why and she knew uncertainty normally meant trouble. She shook her mental doubts away and plastered a bright smile and turned round to introduce herself.
"Hi I'm Sakura Kinomoto," she said brightly offering her hand.
"Syaoran looked at her, a small smile creeping across his face. He took her hand and shook it. Sakura managed not to visibly shiver, but his hand was so cold. "I'm Syaoran Li. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance." He said in flawless Japanese.
Sakura smiled uneasily at him and turned around as the teacher started talking about social geography. There was something about Syaoran Li but she couldn't put her figure on it.
It was his eyes, she knew that she'd seen them somewhere before.
Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Till they're before your eyes
You'll come back when they call you
No need to say goodbye.
AN: That's the end of chapter one – because it's an edited version of the original one that I wrote. So you'll all be glad to hear that chapter two is already being written
Please read and review
rk
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