A/N: Another experimental S+S piece. Blah blah blah, I don't own CCS.

UPDATE: I am continuing this as both fanfiction and a original piece. Yay, I'm happy!

Thank you to those who were kind enough to leave a review :)

Fairytales

It was only a book, she reminded herself. Her teacher, Mr. Reed, had set it upon his mahogany desk for all to admire. It was a fine looking leather-bound book, the kind with the nice gold leafing that made it look extra fancy and antique. There was a beautiful golden lion on its cover with a sun beneath his head, sharp rays of light bent around.

In the last year, Mr. Reed had shared with her preschool class stories of whimsical princesses and princes with names like The Lock, The Dash, and there even was one named The Silent. The Silent was a princess from an old kingdom. The kingdom had long collapsed when another one invaded it, leaving only Princess Silent in its dusty castle. She would pass the time searching for sounds to silent. They hurt her, no matter how quiet they were. The princess would keep a finger lifted to her lips, which were often cloaked along with half of her face with a cape. One day a visitor stumbled into her home with such loud sounds, Sakura thought the visitor would be silenced forever. The visitor, a handsome young man cursed with clumsiness, tripped over himself. At the sight of her, he only laughed and rubbed his injured knee.

"Are you laughing at me?" Princess Silent spoke for the first time in many, many years. It might have even been the first words ever heard from her. Too much time had passed to know for certain.

The young man picked himself up. "No, milady. I only laugh at myself. I came to rescue a princess, but I've already made a fool of myself. How will she take me serious now?"

Ordinarily the princess would touch the audible disturbance and quiet it forever, but she had a change of heart. "What are you rescuing me from, stranger?"

"Yourself." The princess' eyebrows knit into an angry expression. She lifted her silencing finger as if her heart changed its decision again. The young man bit his nails and said, "Knock-knock?"

The finger curled back into the princess' hand. "Who's there?" she heard herself ask.

Silence was the response. They stood a few paces apart, gazing into each other faces trying to understand the strangeness. He broke the silence, to her dismay. "That is the sound of your company. Of nobody to talk to, know, learn, or love."

"Sounds like a bad joke."

"Any sound here is never a bad one."

So the princess let him stay, and she grew to love him and his every sound.

Sakura sighed. That was only one of fifty-two tales her teacher read to them. There were beautiful pictures inside, too, to go with every story. When she was good, he'd let her read it as long as she promised she wouldn't spill apple juice or let crumbs of cheddar goldfish crackers fall into the book gutter, the middle part when opened. The gutter sounded like it was exactly for keeping crumbs and such when reading, but Mr. Reed disagreed. She'd stare at each illustration of the prince and princesses, daydreaming of meeting every single one.

It was a fine day. Mr. Reed announced his fairytale collection was going to be published and would be sold in the local bookstore. Sakura could not believe that she would soon be able to own a Clow Book. She saved the dollar her father gave her that morning for pudding, putting it towards funding her own copy. A little hand searched for it in her overalls' pocket, making sure the crumpled piece of paper was still there, waiting for other green companions to join it. When she had her own copy, she wouldn't need to be extra good anymore. No more additional homework or cleanup duties in class. She could take bites of cheesy saucy slices of pizza as she read about Prince Jump and his quest for the greatest carrot cake in all the fluffy lands. If a hot pepperoni fell on a page to leave a greasy stain, no one could say anything. She'd scoop up said pepperoni and plop it back on its slice to be with its kind in the gooey bed of mozzarella. It was her book after all.

But… it was not the same to own a reproduction. The real thing was opulence. Kind of like a birthday giftbox, covered in metallic wrapping with elaborate designs, the kind of expensive wrapping one would get at a department store, and was expected to carefully unwrap it as to not to harm the exterior. No, no, it was like Pandora's box, except it was filled with good stuff. Instead of things like evil, snobbishness, wet willies, and noogies, it had fairytales, pretty pictures, colors, and dream-fodder. Like the real Pandora Box with the spirit of hope at its bottom, the Clow Book ended with Princess Hope as an unaccounted fifty-third tale in an epilogue to be continued in another book not yet written.

Sakura had heard Yue say the book was gilded in real 24-karat gold. He must have been telling the truth. First off, he never spoke to her in class, and If he did, it was to scold her childishness, even if she and he were in fact only four years of age. Secondly, he never lied. He was the embodiment of honesty and mean, too, because they often were combined in his words. Thirdly, he and his brother Kero were Mr. Reed's sons and his students. Kero was the nicer of the twins. It was easy to tell them apart because they were fraternal – Yue had long silver-like hair and pale blue eyes and Kero had blond shaggy hair and black eyes that sometimes warped to a deep honey. She probably just imagined it. Kero's complexion was darker than that of Yue, as if he spent afternoons lounging in the sun, letting it warm his skin's color. Kero also told her it was a special book, and even they had to follow Mr. Reed's rules.

There was no way a couple of dollars could buy her something as beautiful as Mr. Reed's original. Her money would only afford her a used paperback version, and to come by one like that she'd have to wait for the hardcover to come out first, followed by the paperback, and then maybe she would be lucky to find one at a thrift store or the used book sale at neighborhood library on the first Saturday of each month.

As luck would have it, her teacher had also made a second important announcement that morning: his best student would get the exact copy that sat on his desk. He had made a second one, for his keeping, but the first book, the one he had a pleasure of sharing with his young listeners and readers, was meant for them. Correction, for one of them.

Sakura's emerald-green eyes darted to the Clow Book that appeared to have a magical aura that drew her close. It was like the warm drift of bakery oven smells, which could make a child with the smallest sweet tooth throw a tantrum and spoil his appetite with a sugary treat. On her tippy-toes, she gripped the edge of the desk so hard her short digits paled at their tiny knuckles. At this enhanced height, she could see the boy on the opposite side of the table, who eyed the book with the same depth of desire. His want sparked in the ambers of his villainous look.

"Don't even think about it," the voice said from his side of the desk.

"'Think about what?" she asked befuddled.

"I know you want Mr. Reed's book, but you can't have it. It's gonna be mine."

The startling conviction in his voice made her lose her grip and balance, together at once. She tumbled back to fall on her bum, the thick corduroy of her hunter green overalls thankfully softening the landing.

From her sitting position on the ground, she could see a pair of denimed-blue legs make their way around the desk. They stopped in front of her and her eyes followed them up to a kid with brown hair tousled by at least ten cowlicks and two ambers burning into her eyes with unknown hatred.

Sakura gulped, and then mustered up enough courage in her belly to speak up for herself. "How do you know you're gonna win it? Didn't you just start like two weeks ago?"

"So what? I've read it three times already and I'm beating everyone in every subject." This new kid was the mysterious enemy Sakura never saw coming, ninja-ing in on her target. Yes, he had glared at her intensely throughout class for the past two weeks, but she thought it was because Mr. Reed always let her answer first whenever their hands shot up in class.

It was not like any favoritism amongst his students could give her an advantage when it came to the Clow Book. It was serious business, decided solely on the number of achievements represented as stars on the bulletin board on the wall nearest the desk. It would only involve the entire month of May, which began three weeks ago. Mr. Reed's nephew Eriol coveted the book as well, to add to his already abundant collection. Eriol's best friends, another set of fraternal twins by the names of Spinel and Nakuru, were cooperating lately, hoping they too could have a chance at winning. Sakura was sure those three were working together. As a triumvirate, they would share the spoils of any one of their victories.

"I'm smarter than you!" Sakura exclaimed, but she lacked the confidence her rival exhibited with every calculated movement. She attempted to pick herself up, only to trip over laces that flew out like two pairs of wild pink snakes from her sneakers.

Pathetically uncoordinated this day, she remained slumped on the carpeted floor of their classroom, her gaze glazing over with tears and momentary hopelessness. The boy bent down to pull at her shoelaces. "Sure, you are."

She couldn't see what he was doing, but he worked over the laces for a few seconds, making loops and twists. Could he really be tying her shoes? He was the one that caused her to lose whatever little coordination she contained. A good rival should mock and point out her weaknesses, not help her regain her foothold.

As she prepared herself to ask, Tomoyo ran over to them. Her long black hair took over Sakura's view as she knelt next to her, checking for injuries. She had a knack for falling all over herself and Tomoyo had a knack for caring for everyone, and Sakura loved her for it. She declared Tomoyo to be her best friend on only their second day of class.

"Sakura, are you okay? Both times looked real bad. See your arm is bleeding!" Tomoyo looked over to the new kid who had finished messing with Sakura's shoes. "Syaoran, could you ask Mr. Reed for a bandage?"

He glanced quickly at both girls. "Sure, but you will tell him that I tied her shoes? That's at least one star, or two."

"Okay. If he doesn't, I can give you one of mine," Tomoyo said.

Syaoran grinned victoriously before running to pull Mr. Reed's sleeve. Their teacher was instructing another new student, Meiling, how to use a pair of safety scissors. Meiling pushed her long pigtails behind her, before cutting out a rough heart shape from orange construction paper.

"He was only after a star," Sakura answered her own question.

Tomoyo stood up and pulled her up. "What?"

The starry bulletin board twinkled at them. Thus far there were three top contenders: Tomoyo with fifteen, Sakura with sixteen, and Syaoran with eighteen. After today, he would probably have at least twenty. Tomoyo's hand comforted her on her shoulder.

"I didn't know you wanted it too, Tomoyo."

"I don't. If I get it, it'll be for you," and with that formed her diarchy to rule together the Clow Book. "And I don't want it at all, so it's all yours either way." Then it would only be hers, in a glorious monarchy, Queen Sakura, ruler of the Clow Book and all its princesses and princes. It had a nice ring to it.

"Here." Syaoran pressed the adhesive side of the bandage over the small scrape on her forearm, smoothing out the green bandage.

"Thank you," she said, snapping out of the bittersweet daydream.

The boy nodded and put out his arm, palm up, towards her. "That'll be two stars, one per shoe. The bandage is free. Sorry there wasn't any pink ones."

"What! I didn't ask you to tie my shoes!"

"I know you can't tie your own shoes, Kinomoto." He knew her name, but it wasn't that impressive, and neither was his knowledge of her favorite color. Most girls were partial to pinks- whether of the hot or pastel variety- it was a lively color she easily identified with. She was popular amongst their peers in the small preschool class; they all knew each others' names. However, he had noticed her tucking in her pink laces into her shoes after a recess spent in the sandbox. She was too ashamed to ask her best friend or Mr. Reed to tie them for her. "You could have hurt more."

"I can give you two stars, just get them from me," Tomoyo interrupted.

"Okay, but next time, it has to be from her." He motioned to Sakura, who was dumbfounded by how quick he flip-flopped from kind to greedy. He pulled up a blue plastic stool and removed two stars from Tomoyo's row and affixed them next to his name. Tomoyo: thirteen. Syaoran: twenty. Arms on his hips, he admired the generous lead over the class, then jumped off and ran off to a pile of Legos at a corner of the room.

Boys were such a perplexing species. They must have been formed like mini Frankensteins, except with pieces of monsters from horror movies and fairytale villains and Elmer glue. No, crazy glue - that stuff that smelled acrid and could get your fingers stuck together for days. Their mad scientists for parents must have ran out of hearts and brains and threw in rocks for both. "Why does he hate me? He doesn't even know me."

"But he does watch you a lot. Eriol teases him about it and he turns so red he looks like a tomato or a strawberry… Hmm… which one is more red?"

Her eyes met his across the room unexpectedly and before she could divert her gaze to an un-suspicious part of the room, he smiled at her.

Sakura turned to her best friend. "See? He's sooo weird."

"You're both being weird!" Tomoyo covered her mouth with her hands and giggled.

"Tomoyo! You can't be mean to me. That's against the best friend rules." She pouted to make her point.

"Let's go, BFF. It's almost story time. I want to sit up front!"

...O...

The last week of May came and went that year. On its last day, Mr. Reed took role, calling out each name of his preschool class: Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, Meiling, Kero, Yue, Eriol, Spinel, Nakuru, Rika, Takashi, Chiharu, and Naoko. They were all too preoccupied with stars to even notice the names were not in any particular order, alphabetically or otherwise. All they thought of that morning was who would get to take the Clow Book home. Hardly any one of them could count past twenty-five, so it really could have been anyone's victory.

"Winner, come claim your prize," Mr. Reed said. The little students turned to their left and right to their neighbor. Nobody made any sign to stand up and take the book from his hands. Instead, Mr. Reed stood up and placed the book in front of young Sakura, who only looked down at the motley carpet beneath her folded legs. "Sakura?"

"Huh?" Her head tilted upward to face the gold and ruby book cover. "For me?"

"I called out your name first during role call. That was my ranking for the Clow Book." He smiled so big, his eyes almost closed. "Congratulations. Please don't get any pizza sauce on it."

Her small hands reached out for the Clow Book and hugged it tightly against her chest. "Thank you, Mr. Reed! I promise to take good care of it! Promise!" A tear fell and rolled down her plump cheek, and she sniffed, attempting to fight off another.

"B-But-But Mr. Reed," Syaoran interjected, his voice breaking. The self-assurance he once had shattered with every following word. "I had the most stars, I think. I prepared the most to own it. I know your book front and back. I was meant to own it."

"What was your favorite fairytale, Sakura?"

"All of them. I loved every single one the same way."

"And you, Syaoran?"

The boy scratched his head. "I don't know. Prince Thunder, maybe? Wolves are my favorite animals."

"I know," Mr. Reed replied. "The true winner must show each prince and princess the same love. It's the only way their stories will go on to be told for many years ahead."

Eriol's hand rose. "Mr. Reed, then why did you make us earn those stars?"

"To make you all good students of course!" He laughed as his students looked aghast to each other. "Your parents will be very proud of how good you all behaved. I'm sure there will be rewards at home for that!"

...O...

For the rest of the day, Sakura read her Clow Book, taking in each image and word in her mind as if she was studying the toughest lessons of her life. In her rule, she would be the kindest queen the kingdom of Clow ever knew, and they would love her until the end of time.

The bell rang to signal the start of recess. She followed her peers into the playground and sat beneath an apple tree to read about Prince Freeze and the Sea of Ice. Little Freeze thought himself a terrible friend, because he could never keep one for long. He'd always freeze them by accident. Until one day, he learned to use his powers to make ice cream and win the friendship of an arctic school of fish passing by. When he'd accidentally turned one into a fish Popsicle, he would drag him over the hot spring he discovered underwater. His friend would thaw and resume the enjoyment of frozen desserts.

A shadow fell over her and said, "Hi." It belonged to her sore-loser of a rival Syaoran. His hair had earned at least two more cowlicks as a runner-up prize.

Sakura slammed the book shut and secured it close to her with both arms. "You can't have it. I won it."

"Not fair and square," he said. "But I'm not here to take it away from you."

The book slipped into her lap as the tension of her hold let up. "What do you want, Syaoran?"

"Hey, brat!" a voice called out, and a blonde blur whooshed next to him. "It's not yours! Buy your own one!" Kero was an inch or two shorter, but the hostility in his voice made him out a lot bigger than he appeared.

"It's okay, Kero. He's not trying to steal it."

Kero composed himself, but maintained a steady dark glare on Syaoran. "Okay, but my brother and I will keep an eye out for you, Sakura. Just to make sure there is no trouble here. Right, Yue?"

Yue stepped out from behind the tree. "Whatever," he replied, before returning to read a book several years above their reading level. The brothers had been tailing her all day, without her even realizing it. It must have been Mr. Reed's bidding, because the quieter of the brothers, Yue, hardly ever acknowledged her. Yue, ever-so-observant continued, "In case you're wondering, yes, our pop made us your personal bodyguards."

"Shut up, Yue. She doesn't need to hear that." The brothers went off together, Kero looking back at Sakura and Syaoran with doubt. Sakura was sure that he would spring to her rescue if needed, even if their father had not asked this of him. Kero was a true guardian. In her Clow Kingdom, Kero would sit in the right hand seat as her highest ranking man, next to the nonexistent King. Yue could tend to the royal library, and Tomoyo would be the royal stylist since she was very good at coloring and accessorizing.

Syaoran took a step nearer, and at this, Sakura's fingers tightened around her book. "Can you- can you please read my favorite chapter?" the boy asked.

"You want me to read to you?"

A blush reddened his face to the shade of a… Rome apple, like the ones that bobbed above her on fertile branches. "Yes, please? You should know out of all people how good of a story it is."

Her lips spread in a wide smile to reveal a missing front milk tooth. "Prince Thunder is cool. He has a bad temper, but he is good inside. Is that like you?"

"I think so." He joined her, so his hip met hers side-by-side in the soft, overgrown grass. Sakura placed the Clow Book over their laps, and began to read the tale of the Angry Little Wolf in the Thunder Country.

Each day after, the little wolf met up with the cherry blossom under an apple tree and read another story. They got to know a little about each other's world, and one day the little wolf decided that he would make a fitting king in the cherry blossom's kingdom.

She agreed and they lived happily ever after.

...O...

"Queen Amber," the right-hand man-lion addressed, "and your King Emerald." Fifty-two princesses and princes in regal attire stood to welcome the face of the new king of the Clow Kingdom.

"My queen-wife, don't you think such names would confuse our readers-subjects?" Once upon a time, the queen-wife's eyes shone like emeralds and his, his were warm ambers. A fateful day chasing after Prince Change left its temporarily irreversible side effect, visible to all. He always loved her eyes, and he joked, that in this way, he'd carry her with him everywhere.

"My king-husband, this is only a story."

"True, they only need to know that King Emerald loved Queen Amber more than their kingdom, more than the world…"

"But no more than she loved him."

"More."

Twenty years had passed since a much younger queen shared with the now-king a story. Each year was a star that twinkled its proof of the longevity of their love, a love that once sprouted from infantile contempt.

The stars aligned in their names for the length of eternity.

Or was it: "Their names aligned in the stars for the length of eternity"?

It didn't matter to them, as long as they were united in the permanence of fairytales.

...O...

The Clow Book closes, remaining undisturbed for only a short period of time, before a pair of small hands discovers it and writes his or her name across the hearts' of all its charmed inhabitants.

Likewise, they imprint their essence upon the right contender.

Table of Contents

1. Princess Windy and Cherry Blossom - the moon, the wind, and a little girl.

2. Prince Fly and the Together Flock - the wrong feathers get ruffled.

3. Prince Shadow and the Stuffed Animal - foreshadowing goes amuck.

4. Princess Watery and the Selkie - the sea is a harsh maiden.

5. Princess Rain and the Itsy Bitsy Problem - when she reigns...

6. Princess Wood and the Snow Rabbit - be-treed and lost.