Disclaimer: I don't own CCS.

A middle aged man of 35 walked in to the bar grumbling. He just couldn't figure out why his mother had insisted he come to this damn town, there was nothing for him here. This bar was not the man's typical type of hang out, but he felt as though something was practically pushing him through the doors and into a seat next to some old geezer. He ordered a beer trying to figure out why exactly he felt drawn to this place.

"Rough day?" the old man asked.

"Rough week," the middle aged man replied, glaring at his glass.

The old man chuckled and offered his hand, "Xiao Lang Li."

"Taeko Kinomoto," the middle-aged man responded, not missing the look of surprise on the old man's face.

"So what brings you to Hong Kong, Kinomoto?"

"My mother," Taeko grumbled out. Again the man's reaction surprised Taeko as shock and hope flitted across his face.

"She's here?" the old man said barely above a whisper, but the younger man shook his head.

"She died last year."

"I'm sorry." The younger man was so caught up in his own thoughts he missed the pained expression that flashed only for a second on the old man's face.

"Me too... Her dieing wish was that I come spend some time here. 'I hope you find what you're looking for.' she told me."

"What are you looking for?"

Taeko snorted, "Damned if I know... But this was the only thing she's ever asked of me. How could I tell her no?"

Xiao Lang chuckled, "You never know, you might find something you didn't even realize you were looking for. When I was 10 my mother sent me to another country. Hated her for it at first, but it ended up bringing me the happiest days of my life. And the woman I love."

"I'm happy for you," Taeko said noticing the gold band on the old man's finger.

"Don't be." The man held his hand up and examined the ring like he'd never seen it before. "I didn't marry her. I still love her to this day though." Xiao Lang told him sadly.

"You loved her but married someone else?"

"Aa."

"Why?"

"Its... complicated," the old man told him.

"You sound like my mother when she talked about my father," Taeko scoffed.

"I take it you and your father don't get along very well?"

"Wouldn't know, never met the bastard. Not sure I want to after all the pain he caused my mother."

"What do you mean?" Xiao Lang asked, he voice strained.

"Mom was always careful, she thought I didn't hear her crying herself to sleep every night. But I've seen video of her when she was younger, its like looking at two different people. She never blamed me but I always knew I was the reason he left." Taeko told him bitterly.

"Is that what your mother told you?!" the old man demanded. Taeko laughed at the man's strong reaction, thinking maybe the man had been in the same boat he was.

"No, in fact she got pretty mad at me when she heard me say it once." Taeko chuckled bitterly, "Didn't eat dessert for a month after that. No video games, no computer except for homework, no hanging out with friends. I hated the man when I was younger."

"It sounds like she thought he had good reasons for leaving you," Xiao Lang told him, but this just caused the young man to snort again.

"Of course she would think that. She loved him, the man could do no wrong." Taeko scoffed.

He would never admit it to anyone out loud but he was jealous of the man that had so completely destroyed his mother. He had encouraged her to date, find another man that would fill the void left in her heart. He had wanted a father, not caring if it was his real father or not, in fact he had preferred it not be his real father, but she had refused. As a result, his Uncles Touya, Yukito, and Eriol had all done their best to play that part for him.

"Your mother must have really believed him to love him so much for so long. No good will ever come from hate and bitterness, son. You might just miss out on something very important, something that you'll regret for the rest of your life." The look on his face told Taeko that the old man had learned that the hard way.

"What did you do that you regret so much, old man?"

"I walked out of the life of the woman I love. I could have spent my life with her and maybe, just maybe, my clan wouldn't have come after us. Or we could have gone into hiding, changed our names, cut off all contact with the people they would be able to track us through, and maybe they wouldn't have found us.

"But I couldn't do that to her. Her family and friends meant the world to her, I couldn't take her away from them for the small chance they wouldn't find us. Don't get me wrong, she was willing to leave them and they understood and were willing to cover our tracks, but we were too afraid of what would happen if they found us. Not to us, we could take anything they threw at us… but our children, their lives would have been miserable and with the very high possibility that my family would find us… It wasn't worth the risk. So I left her with the only piece of me I could give her and walked out of her life forever." Xiao Lang took a large swig of his drink.

"Ended up marrying the woman the clan wanted me to," he continued. "She had two children, though I know they aren't mine. I was out of town for nearly three months when they would have been conceived and they look nothing like me or their mother. They look like their father, who ever he is.

"I'm not really complaining though. It got my clan the heir they absolutely had to have. I didn't have to have anything to do with the woman after that, which made us both happy. Well it made her happy, she got the title and money she wanted. I wasn't especially happy, but at least I wasn't as miserable before." Suddenly he gave an evil smirk to Taeko, "She's in for a bit of a surprise in the near future though."

"What's that?" Taeko questioned but Xiao Lang just laughed.

"I'm sure you'll hear about it, probably on the news. What about you, son? Got yourself a wife?" Taeko smiled softly, a smile usually reserved for his family.

"Yes. Yes, I do." He pulled out his wallet, "A wife and three beautiful children." He pointed to the one that was clearly his wife, "My wife, Sakura. She's actually named after my mother. Her mother and mine have been best friends since grade school, Kura and I grew up together." He let off a small laugh, "I was so afraid to ask her out. I thought maybe she only saw me as a brother, but she didn't. Turns out she'd been too afraid to ask me, thinking I'd see her as a sister." Xiao Lang smiled, recognizing the blue hair and purple eyes of the younger man's wife.

Taeko pointed to the oldest child in the picture, it was a young woman. She had her mother's amethyst eyes and her father's chestnut hair. "Yumeko, she's 23, just got married last spring. They moved the wedding up so my mother could be there."

He pointed to the next, a teenage boy. He had his mother's navy hair and his grandmother's vibrant green eyes. "Junichi, he's 18. Just graduated high school with a 4.0. He's so money conscious though," Taeko laughed. "Wants to go to the local college cause its cheapest. I told him he can get into any college he wants there's no way I'm letting him pick based on price. 'Junichi,' I told him, 'You worry about getting in, I'll worry about finding a way to pay for it.'" Both men shared a laugh.

Taeko pointed to the youngest child in the picture. Chestnut hair, amber eyes, and a very familiar scowl was on his face. "And Syaoran," the old man nearly jumped at the name. "He's 12. Kura's mother begged us to name him that. I think it might be my father's name. Syaoran looks exactly like I did when I was a kid, and my wife's mother told me I'm the spitting image of my father." He laughed quietly, "He's an impatient little bugger. No idea who he gets it from. He's scowling because we'd already taken 4 or 5 pictures before this."

"May I?" Xiao Lang asked, motioning to the picture. Taeko handed him the wallet and the man looked at the picture with longing. "They're beautiful." He told him, giving him back the wallet after a few moments.

Taeko was about to respond when his watch beeped, he glanced at it and looked smiled apologetically, "I'm afraid I need to leave. I'm meeting my wife and her parents for dinner." The old man nodded.

"Please don't let me keep you. It was good to meet you, son." Xiao Lang offered his hand.

Taeko took it, "It was good to meet you too, old man." He let go and began to walk away but turned back to look back. He turned and looked as though he were hesitating to say something. Xiao Lang waited, knowing if the young man wanted to say it he would. "If I could be so bold... You... You're just the way I always imaged my father would be like... If I had known him..." The old man looked at him, overwhelming joy registering on his face. Taeko could have sworn he saw tears gathering in the man's eyes.

"You have no idea what that means to me." He turned from his stool, "You are just as I always wished my son had turned out. If I may be so bold," He stood from his stool and walked toward the young man. "Perhaps you would allow me to know what the embrace of the son I always wanted feels like?"

Taeko smiled at the old man, "Only if you'll allow me to know what the embrace of the father I always wanted feels like." They embraced, then parted ways.

Xiao Lang returned to his stool and was sitting for only a moment when he felt a presence wrap itself around him. Xiao Lang had felt this presence many times over the last year, usually late at night, but only now did he finally realize what it was. He smiled, it was the happiest smile seen on his face in nearly 36 years.

"He's grown to such a wonderful man, Sakura. He's a bit bitter but I suppose that's to be expected. You did a wonderful job raising your son. Raising our son. I just wish I could have been there to see it." The old man laughed slightly, "Sakura Hiirigazawa had such a terrible ring to it when we were kids. It doesn't sound so bad anymore though. I regret not having you in my life, but seeing what he has done with the chance we gave him I think I would still have done it the same. I'm not long for this world. Just wait for me a little longer, I'll be joining you soon, love." He closed his eyes and just sat, basking in her presence.

Taeko froze as he was about to leave the bar, for the first time since his mother's death he felt truly alone. He turned to look at the old man, wondering if he had something to do with it and could only stare. There, hovering behind the old man, was a younger version of his mother. She had wings sprouting from her back and her arms wrapped around the old man's neck. She was smiling softly, lovingly, it was the look she got when he knew she was thinking about his father. He blinked and shook his head and the image of her was gone, all that was left was the old man sitting with a blissful expression on his face whispering something too quietly to hear.

Just wishful thinking, he thought, You wanted him to be your father so your mind is making images to make it true. He turned and walked out.

Xiao Lang sat in the stool until he felt Sakura's presence leave, presumably to go after their son. Then he opened his wallet and called the bar tender over to pay his tab. He handed the man, who he knew to be the owner, several thousand dollars. "This bar just brought me the happiest moments of my life," He told him. Then left, he had some arrangements to make before the week was over.

.oOo,...oOo.

There will be a second part to this coming out soon, but please let me know what you think of this first part :D