Hello all!

Originally I was going to post this later in the year, but the next story to go up after this one will be my 100th officially (counting oneshots which are rolled up here as separate stories excepting Spirited which is one coherent project) and my beta and I both thought that would be better suited to a crossover between 2 of my primary series. Therefore, we get Snow White Sakura first!

Yes, this is a loose retelling of the story of Snow White through the lens of CardCaptor Sakura. LOOSE, you guys. It also has some elements of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle in it, particularly in this first chapter. But soon enough this story will become a thing of its own.

Also? I just want to say that this story really helped me out when I was in a bad place. I was frustrated by the lack of ability to finish my first proper original novel and was having all these deep doubts about myself. So I took 2 months off and wrote this in about 6.5 weeks and found my own courage out of Sakura's heart and Syaoran's courage. In one week I finished the novel as though I had never stopped.

By the way – Syaoran is AWESOME. Let's just put it out there. Sakura is also awesome, but I seem to find more and more to admire in our Li Syaoran.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy this, and if by some chance you need the same miracle I did, I hope this leads you to your own.

Enjoy!

Once upon a time in a world far away, there was a peaceful and prosperous land known as the Kingdom of Clow. This kingdom had been ruled for many, many years by a wise and long-lived, powerful magician known as Clow Reed. As ruler, Clow Reed had turned his considerable and vast powers to the defense and care of all the people within the lands of Clow, serving and protecting them in every way available to him. As such, the Kingdom of Clow was among the most peaceful and joy-filled anywhere.

But peace and even joy cannot last forever – at times, they must be balanced by sorrow and strife.

After living and ruling far longer than an average person's lifespan, Clow Reed's time to pass on arrived and he did not resist it. Clow Reed had embraced balance throughout his life, and for him to have lived well he had always known he must also someday die. However, being so powerful and with so much magic sustaining his people, magic required to maintain the happy ways of the kingdom, Clow Reed knew that when it happened he must pass on his legacy with great care.

Thus, in his last hours, he summoned to him the two Guardians he had created to watch over his many powers, and the Six Keepers at the heart of them.

"My time has come," he said to them in the same easy voice they knew so well. "But you must not join me where I now journey."

"What will happen to us?" Keroberos, his Sun Guardian, asked with his usual directness.

"You will remain as you are for as long as you can, and you will continue to protect and serve this kingdom," Clow told him.

He looked to his Six Keepers and allowed them to reach out with their magic to touch him, connecting to their creator one last time. "It will be most difficult for you and those under you, I think. But you must take care of all those beneath your purview, and you must prevent them from causing trouble or wasting their powers. I trust you will protect them even as you protect my people."

But it was Yue, the Moon Guardian, who frowned sharply. "Clow. If you die, all of us will eventually fade. Even your magic will not last forever."

Clow Reed smiled faintly. "You are correct, Yue. But you will not have to wait forever. Someday, another magician will appear. Someone with a pure, kind heart and power equal to my own. That is the person who will become your new master, and they will hold the power that will sustain you thereafter."

Clow Reed held out a hand and closed his eyes. "Come forth," he whispered.

There in his palm glowed a faint light which swirled and brightened for an instant before it winked out, leaving behind a small item – a tiny key with the head of a swan.

"I have placed a Seal on this Key. Only one deserving of being your master will be able to break it. When this Key's magic is released, you will be able to draw power from a new master, and that person will inherit my legacy and my kingdom. It is my wish that you serve and love that person as you have all served and loved me."

"But, Clow," Keroberos said. "It may be years before this person appears. Who is to rule the kingdom until then?"

"I will pass rulership jointly to the house of Kinomoto, whose family have been my faithful and loyal Stewards for many years, and to the house of Amamiya, whose family will serve as High Priests for the kingdom. Together, these two houses will protect our kingdom and will watch for my one true heir, the one who will break the Seal on this Key and arise as your new master."

"And what if we don't want a new master?" Yue asked with slight control over his emotions.

Clow Reed smiled at him and at Keroberos and at the Six Keepers of his powers. "Believe in me, my dearest ones. For I have seen that you will all be well cared-for and loved by the one who can break my Seal, and that one will surpass even I in time. Do not fear to love those who come in the years ahead, for love is what will sustain you long after even my power has faded."

These were the final words of Clow Reed.

-==OOO==-

Many, many years passed.

As Clow had predicted, with time came greater and greater weakness to many of his magics and creations. Though Clow Reed had left behind more power than any number of magicians would ever be able to summon together through the whole of their lives, Clow's own creations were too many and too varied for them all to live untroubled. In time, many of the weakest ones fell into a dormant slumber, entrusting themselves to their Six Keepers and waiting until a new master would summon them. The Six Keepers fared better, their powers greater, and they were held up by those under them as well.

But Keroberos and Yue consumed enormous power just by existing in their true forms. And though both drew power from the sun and moon respectively, that, too, eventually proved not quite enough to sustain them. To continue to serve the Kingdom of Clow and to survive in wait, after two centuries without Clow they were forced to retreat to their own usually dormant forms, forms that locked most of their power away and allowed them to endure far longer without a master. These forms also left them far more vulnerable, however.

Keroberos's false form was that of a small, yellow bear with wings, not unlike a toy that might be given unto a child. In this form, Keroberos could still fly and breathe fire, and his strength was still great, but his other magics were gone from him. He could sense magic, but not at so great a range or with such certainty. Yue's false form was even more limited, though, being the body of a young, white-grey haired man named Yukito. Yukito was a fully independent personality and mind, which allowed Yue to rest far more profoundly than Keroberos could – which was necessary, as Yue's powers were fading far more quickly than his sun counterpart's. Yukito could communicate with Yue, and Yue was fully aware of everything Yukito could perceive, but that was the extent of his abilities in his false form.

But no matter how much time passed or how weak they became, Keroberos and Yue continued to endure and to protect the Kingdom of Clow, trusting the final words of their master that someday they would find one who could break the Seal on the Key and restore their powers and their hearts – for without Clow, they were very lonely.

It was another hundred years before the Guardians had reason to hope. The current heir to the Kinomoto family, a gentle man called Fujitaka, had fallen in love with the High Priestess of the Amamiya family, Nadeshiko. The Guardians and the Six Keepers had given their blessing for the families to unite after so long, their very souls resonating with a sense of inevitability around the young couple. Their suspicions were proven correct when, within a year of their marriage, the couple produced a son named Touya who bore a potent magical gift.

However, in spite of her son's power and her own significant talent for foresight and fortune-telling, High Priestess Nadeshiko said nothing when the Guardians questioned her, smiling quietly and assuring them that everything would be well in time.

Seven years after Touya's birth, Fujitaka and Nadeshiko welcomed another child to the family, a girl they named Sakura. Keroberos and Yue examined her as they had her older brother, and while they found that she did bear a magical signature of her own, it did not have the force and depth of Touya's. However, it was still a comfort to the Guardians, for it proved that a magical legacy was clearly beginning to arise between the Kinomoto and Amamiya houses, and they felt certain this must someday lead to the person Clow Reed had foretold – the person who would surpass him and become their new master and the ruler of the Kingdom of Clow.

Touya, aware of his magical powers and fully cognizant of the expectations and hopes all around him that he might someday break the Seal on the Key, grew up rather stiff and cool to others, hiding a shyness only his family and Yukito truly understood. Indeed, as much as Keroberos and Yue were drawn to Touya because of his magic, Yukito found he was fond of the boy as well, and for entirely different reasons. Touya was a bit like himself – held apart in the world by a legacy he did not choose. Both Touya and Yukito lived for the Kingdom of Clow, and yet neither were in a position to do much for its benefit.

But unlike Touya, Sakura was a bright, cheerful, energetic child. While she did not have the powerful magic of her mother and brother singing out of her every instant, she had her mother's warm kindness and hopeful outlook, and her father's loyalty and interest in the world. Sakura took no interest in learning the trade of Steward as Touya had, and did not excel at studying fortune-telling with her mother, so she instead spent most of her energy and effort being helpful in other ways.

If Fujitaka was up late with a matter of state, she brought him a snack and a smile. If Nadeshiko was struggling with a vision or a spell, Sakura would try to lift her spirits with cheer. Sakura might have been in danger of viewing her brother with awe and discomfort except that Touya constantly teased her, cultivating a sibling relationship based on laughter and frustration rather than unwarranted distance.

Sakura also had the easiest smile and the least burdened mind of her family, not only because of her youth, but because she was the least aware of the slowly fading magic all around her. Keroberos and Yue kept themselves hidden from both Touya and Sakura – though Touya was aware of them in spite of Yue's retreat into Yukito and Keroberos's tendency to hide elsewhere in the castle – and the Six Keepers were even more removed. Fujitaka could see the magical defenses and spells that kept the land healthy and the crops plentiful and disease at bay slowly cracking when blight or drought appeared; Nadeshiko's visions of the future grew darker and muddier and more tragic; Touya could acutely sense the magic dying everywhere – only Sakura was ignorant of the severity of the true plight of the Kingdom of Clow, and her family kept her that way.

If her smile was the only light left to them, not one of them would see it extinguished.

On the day Sakura turned seven years old, a strange boy appeared at the castle gate, requesting an interview with Kinomoto Fujitaka and Kinomoto Nadeshiko in a polite manner many years older than his appearance. Because it was Sakura's birthday, she begged to be allowed to join her parents for the interview in the small receiving chamber they used. Not to be left out, Touya followed, Yukito surreptitiously in his wake.

Sakura stood to one side of the dais beside her brother and Yukito while the mysterious boy dropped to one knee before her father and mother.

"My name is Li Syaoran," the boy said, his big eyes focused and intent as he did not flinch from the two powerful Stewards of the land. "I have come here to be tested to see if I am the inheritor of the powers of Clow Reed."

Fujitaka did not seem surprised and he simply smiled gently. "May I ask what it is that gives you the courage to think that you might be his heir?"

The boy never faltered. "I am a blood relative of Clow Reed as a part of the Li Clan. I am the first son in two hundred years to bear enough magic for any test you might require."

"And is it your will to rule the Kingdom of Clow?" Nadeshiko asked.

Here the boy blinked, and when he answered, his voice was softer. "Not really. But it is my duty as the first magician of the Li Clan to try."

"You are very young," Fujitaka said. "It is possible even if we test you now that you may prove worthy of the legacy only once you have grown into your powers."

Syaoran nodded. "That is true. I am prepared to be tested now and to remain here to be tested again as often as is needed."

Nadeshiko nodded. "Very well. Come with me into the sacred chamber in the tower."

The boy rose from his kneeling position to follow Nadeshiko, but his eyes trailed to the small group to one side. His gaze narrowed at both Yukito and Touya – and the latter glared fiercely at him as well – but when he found his searching met by Sakura's frank, friendly expression, he felt something within him shift. Though raised in a vast and powerful Clan, Syaoran's childhood had been rather cold and friendless.

And there was enough warmth in Sakura's eyes to melt his whole life of ice.

As Syaoran disappeared into the hallway with Nadeshiko, Sakura turned to her brother and Yukito.

"What is the test like?" She knew Touya had experienced it as well himself; she did not have enough magic to be worthy to try.

Touya shrugged. "Not much."

It was Yukito who dropped closer to Sakura's level and explained. "The High Priestess will read his spirit to see what sort of magic he holds inside, and what sort of heart. To have any hope of releasing the Seal of the Key, he must have a very pure heart and a great deal of power."

"Oh." Then Sakura looked up at Touya. "But couldn't you do it, Big Brother?"

Touya shrugged again. "Mother and I...don't think I have the right sort of power."

"What sort do you have?"

At this, Touya reached down and vigorously rubbed Sakura's head. "The sort that doesn't want to answer any more questions, you little monster!"

"Stop that!" Sakura protested, squeaking indignantly and trying to protect her hair. "I'm not a monster!"

Yukito rolled his eyes at Touya, but did not interfere, merely trading knowing looks with Fujitaka who had remained nearby. The pair of siblings squabbled for several more minutes until the door opened and Nadeshiko emerged with the boy beside her.

Nadeshiko was smiling and stopped a pace behind Syaoran's shoulder. "Li Syaoran does not yet pass the test for consideration of Clow Reed's legacy. However, I have seen that he deserves the right to stay here with us to continue to study and let his magic grow such that he may try again someday. I have invited him to live at the palace with us in the meantime."

Touya crossed his arms and looked aggressively bored while Fujitaka and Yukito both smiled at the young man in polite welcome.

But Sakura darted forward and held out her hands. "My name is Kinomoto Sakura. Today is my seventh birthday. Would you like to come to my party?"

"Oi, Sakura, I don't think-" Touya began, cutting off abruptly at a sharp, meaning-filled look from his mother.

Syaoran hesitated. He glanced to the High Priestess, his mind racing with the vow she had requested of him and he had sworn on his very honor and magic to keep. Then he stretched out his own hands and allowed Sakura to clasp them.

"As you like, I guess," he said a little awkwardly.

"Yay!" Sakura cheered. "And when it is your birthday, you must let me give you a party, too!"

"Very well."

And so Li Syaoran became another magical member of the castle's household.

-==OOO==-

A few weeks later, Syaoran was in the gardens practicing his magic and his sword-work together. In spite of being less than a year older than Kinomoto Sakura, Syaoran had been trained from the day he could crawl to every form of martial art of which the Li Clan boasted mastery. He was balancing carefully in a defensive stance with his jian outstretched, directing a gust of wind, when he sensed a familiar presence nearby.

Syaoran looked up and almost blew his wind magic back upon himself in surprise – Sakura was watching him.

Startled, he lost his balance and he toppled over with a groan as the wind soared out of control and thoroughly ruffled the branches of a nearby tree. Syaoran dismissed his jian and rubbed his hip where he had bounced off a rock.

"I'm so sorry!"

Syaoran was startled for a second time to realize Sakura was right beside him and he flailed sideways before regaining some semblance of balance. "Aagh!" Then, collecting himself, he glanced at her worried face and big eyes and quickly looked away. "It's nothing. What do you want?"

"I didn't mean to surprise you," Sakura said. "I'm really sorry! But what you were doing...it's amazing!"

Syaoran shrugged. "It is what is expected of me."

"Well, I think it's amazing. Hey, will you show me where your sword went?"

Syaoran looked up at her with curiosity. "You don't even know that much?"

Sakura's hopeful expression fell. "No. I...I don't know how to use magic. I'm not very good at it."

Syaoran was heir to the proud Li Clan, true, but he had also come from a family with four older sisters, a half-dozen girl cousins, and a stately, serene mother. If there was one thing in all the world Li Syaoran could not stand, it was to see sorrow on the face of a girl who should be smiling.

So he could not stop himself from saying, "Here. I'll show you."

"Really? Thank you!" Sakura's face brightened instantly.

Syaoran held out the round pendant on the red tassel. "This was my Father's. He inherited it from his father all the way back to the last Li sorcerer. When I'm older and stronger, I will be able to put my sword into a pocket of magic inside my body. But until then, it's anchored here."

Syaoran let a trickle of power flow through him. The tassel began to glow with a bright golden light. "The sword is tied to my magic. It's always perfectly sharp and never rusts. And it grows with me, too, so it's always the right length. If it broke in a battle, as long as my magic grew strong again, the sword would reform, too."

Sakura's green eyes were warm and wide with wonder. "Is it hard to summon and banish?"

Syaoran shook his head. "No. I've practiced it so much, it's easier than breathing. It's like remembering to put your hands out to catch you when you fall. See?"

And he called his jian back into existence before him.

Sakura stared at the sword another moment before she smiled brightly at him. "I still think it's amazing. You must be very powerful to do this."

Even as she said it, there was such kindness in her words – no expectation or censure – that Syaoran's heart felt a new sort of ease. "Not yet," he told her. "When I am strong enough to bring honor to the Li Clan, then I will believe you."

"But you must bring honor to them already," Sakura said, a frown growing on her face. "You're smart and brave and you came all this way and you're already so magical. I don't have any power to help or protect anybody."

Syaoran was horrified at the sadness creeping into Sakura once more. He searched frantically for words. "But...you let me come to your birthday. And I didn't know anyone here. You were kind to me every day. That...I couldn't have done that."

It won him a small smile. "I think you are kinder than you realize, Syaoran."

The sound of her sweet voice saying his name made something in Syaoran's chest feel tight. So he looked away and said nothing, aware that his cheeks were burning.

"Oh!" Sakura clapped her hands. "The thing I wanted to tell you! I came out here to see if you wanted to come have tea with me and Yukito and my Big Brother and my friends. We have some new cakes that Tomoyo brought with her from her mother's estate."

At this Syaoran blinked at her. "You want me...to come with you?"

"Sure!" Sakura grinned. "You're my friend, right?"

Syaoran had never had a true friend before, and he thought all at once that he might not ever have another friend quite like Sakura, so he nodded solemnly and said, "Yes."

-==OOO==-

Of course, by the time Syaoran's birthday did come around in the high heat of summer he had forgotten all about his first meeting with Sakura. So when she invited him to another tea party one sunny afternoon, he was caught completely off-guard.

"Surprise!" Sakura shouted with clear delight. Beside her, Fujitaka, Yukito, and Nadeshiko were also smiling welcomingly. Touya merely pretended not to see him standing flabbergasted in the doorway.

"What...what is all this?" Syaoran looked around the small sitting room – usually where Sakura took her afternoon snack to share with her friends – and at the many streamers and decorations that adorned it.

Sakura darted to Syaoran's side and grinned. "It's your birthday! I promised, didn't I?"

Syaoran found himself unable to speak. Thankfully, he was saved by Fujitaka.

"My research into the customs of your people suggests that the Li Clan does not celebrate a person's birthday lavishly. That it is a mark of stoic strength to not regard it any differently from any other day. Is this so?"

Syaoran could only nod.

Sakura's face clouded over. "Then...was it wrong to make a party for you?"

Spurned by her crestfallen expression, Syaoran shook himself from his paralysis and managed a smile. Not the one he made when it was necessary to do so for the sake of politeness, but the real one. The one that came from his heart.

"No, it wasn't. I was just surprised. Thank you."

Sakura's own smile went radiantly bright. "I'm so glad! Well, then come and sit. We have your favorite sweets and some presents for you, too!"

And while Fujitaka was polite and solicitous, and Nadeshiko was gentle and friendly, and Yukito was open and kind (and Touya attempted to ignore the whole affair), it was Sakura's cheery laughter and honest friendship that made the day memorable. Not the sweets or the gifts or how Yukito accidentally upended an entire pitcher of cream into Touya's lap after Touya said something rather rude.

Though nothing could outshine the little handmade present Sakura had made just for him, a banner in his own language with his name in his favorite shade of green, which he hung above his bed in his palace room and stared at that night and many after.

He did not stare at the imperfect embroidery, for which Sakura had very little patience though she did try her hardest. He did not stare at the language, which Fujitaka had looked up at his daughter's request, searching his library to find it. He did not stare at the green threads that perfectly matched the ceremonial robes he had worn to his interview on his first day and had put away since. He did not count the hours or days it must have taken Sakura to complete – but he knew with the speed Sakura normally embroidered that she must have begun it very shortly after her own birthday to have finished it on time for him.

He stared instead at the little stitches in a cheery red color in the bottom corner of the hanging that read, "To my friend on his birthday, Kinomoto Sakura."

He read her name a thousand times every night before falling asleep and never dreamed but of a heartfelt, sincere, joy-filled smile.

-==OOO==-

Months later, Syaoran had gotten used to many things that were rather new and different for him. Besides being Sakura's friend, he found himself adopted into a group of all of her friends – mostly the children of others who lived or worked at the palace. Sakura's closest friend was also her cousin named Daidoji Tomoyo whose mother was a grand lady of means who was very close to Sakura's own mother. Syaoran found that even after months he had gained nothing but antagonism from Sakura's older brother, but everyone else in Sakura's little orbit treated him kindly and with a similar warmth. They were becoming a new Clan to him, the members of this Kingdom of Clow, and he was growing very fond of them all.

And yet.

There was no smile quite like Sakura's.

There was no one who said his name quite like she did, even if Syaoran had never called her by name in return.

There was no one Syaoran both longed and feared to see every hour of the day.

There was no one whose presence both made him feel very, very peaceful and yet also made him want to rise up with enough power to gather the whole world in his arms so he could give it to her.

There was no one else who filled Syaoran's heart – once so focused on duty and honor to his Clan – with feelings as warm and bright as the spring itself.

"You love her."

Syaoran was startled out of his thoughts by Tomoyo standing beside him. Syaoran had been looking out one of the castle's broad windows into the gardens where Sakura was practicing acrobatics with a few of the other children under Touya's supervision.

"I...no...I…" Syaoran felt his face heat as though it were on fire.

Tomoyo smiled gently and turned her too-wise eyes to the window. "You haven't told her yet, have you?"

"I…"

"Sakura is very cute and very kind, but she is dense about the things around her," Tomoyo continued to look out the window. "She will not notice your feelings if you do not admit them."

"Admit that I…"

"There are feelings that are best kept in the heart," Tomoyo said softly. "but is your heart all right with that?" Then, clearly aware that she had unsettled the boy, she stepped away from the window and left him alone for a time.

Two weeks later, Syaoran found Tomoyo looking out the same window, watching Sakura in the garden once again.

"I can't tell her," he said without any introduction.

But Tomoyo didn't need one. "Oh? Why is that?"

Syaoran turned his own gaze to the little girl racing on the grass below. "She...loves everyone. And her smile keeps everyone happy, no matter how worried they are about the kingdom or anything else. If I tell her what is in my heart, it will trouble her and that smile will vanish."

Tomoyo sighed.

"But I decided that it's all right with me," Syaoran said. "And maybe someday if I inherit the legacy of Clow Reed or that brother of hers does, then everyone will not need her happiness so much. I could tell her then. But…" Syaoran's own heart ached a little. "I do not want to ever make her sad."

Tomoyo nodded. "Then I will pray for a day when the kingdom is happy again so you can tell her what is in your heart."

"Me, too."

But terrible things would happen long before that day ever arrived. For a year later, evil descended upon the land and destroyed any hope that had remained for them all.