Birth of the Deck Master

Prequel to Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Chapter One: Friends Departing

Disclaimer: Card Captor Sakura is owned by the four lovely ladies of CLAMP and was originally published by Kodansha comics.

Hell-of-a-long-AN: It came to my attention over the years that I never really gave too clear an explanation on what I was really changing in the manga. As I said in the first real chapter, the original story was anime-centric but I changed my mind due to the difficulties of dealing with 50-some cards and Meiling's "squib-ness".

So instead, dealing with only changing a few key points at the very end of the manga and tagging on an altered version of the second movie so I could explain away everything that the altered manga ending didn't, I created my story.

It was in the years that followed that I realized that I wouldn't just be able to get away with avoiding writing it out, that it would make things much more complicated in writing the story if I tried to do so. And so instead, without further ado, I present you with the story that lead up to my story. We open in the summer of 1995, Card Captor Sakura book 12, page 31…

School had just let out, and the bustle of everyone leaving. People were calling goodbye to friends and heading to clubs with others. As a whole the world was the same happy place it had always been around her, but for Sakura there was a distinct difference. Ever since a few days ago, when she had finally mastered the last of the cards and turned them into Sakura Cards, her world seemed both upside-down and for the first time in her life like it was finally right.

Her father was one half of the reincarnation of Clow Reed, she was currently solidifying her relationship with his other half—a boy in her class, Eriol. Her brother and Yukito were in love with each other—even if they had yet to work out the details with each other, she was positive she was right on the matter—and she was surrounded on all sides by friends who supported her despite her differences from average, non-magical people.

Yes, life right now had been going very good for her, though not normal by other people's terms she felt that she could become perfectly happy if her life continued in this way for the rest of eternity. But then there had been that announcement made to the class today that was currently shattering her perfect little world. Eriol, her friend and one she felt truly comfortable with, was leaving for England again at the end of the week. She would miss him so much, and she had just began to get to know his guardians, and to not see Mizuki-sensei anymore again…

To think that Eriol and Mizuki-sensei knew each other. It truly was a small world, connected together by the fate of nineteen cards. Slowly pulling on her roller blades, Sakura got to her feet and started home at a slow glide. She supposed she ought to tell her father and Yukito that Eriol was leaving; they both had the right to know as to one he was their old master and to the other his other half. Still, her heart was heavy with the idea of being charged with such a task, and just when everything seemed to finally be working out for the best.

She hadn't even gotten half a block when she felt a sort of tingle on her back. She was being watched, she quickly came to realize, and it was a warm and familiar sort that she had become very accustomed to in the last year or so. These eyes on her made her feel so safe, watching her back, keeping her protected, being her strength and aid and mentor when she needed it… "Syaoran-kun…?" she murmured to herself as she turned to see if she wasn't just imagining things.

Surely enough, there he stood, still by the gates and looking at her in a strange mixture of the sorrow he had presented this morning and surprise at her turning to spot him without his even calling out to her. Smiling radiantly, she hurried back to him. He's what she needed right now, a dear friend that she could talk to openly without hiding anything! Yes, he would be perfect! "Syaoran-kun!" she cheered when she finally reached him. "I knew it was you!"

His cheeks went very red again; he seemed to do that a lot when she smiled at him and part of her absently wondered why. "How… did you know?"

"I just did!" she told him honestly. She didn't know why she always just knew when he was looking at her, but it seemed so natural that she did and that it was him, so she never much bothered questioning it. "Do you want to walk home with me?"

"Sure," was his simple response.

For a long while they just chattered about nothing at all, and then fell into a lapse of silent companionship until they were just to the side of the King Penguin's playground. Finally Sakura voiced the thing that had been bothering her the most. "Eriol-kun… it will be sad when he returns to England…"

Syaoran looked downhearted as he lowered his head and said a quiet "Yeah…" in response to her.

Realizing this may be the wrong thing to talk to him about if it made him so sad, she fished around in her head for something else to change the subject to instead. "Oh! The talk…" she recalled, "you were going to tell me something once Tokyo Tower was over. What is it?"

He kept on walking a few more feet before finally coming to a stop himself and taking off his hat. They stood there like that for a few moments before he turned and looked at her with the uncertain eyes he would sometimes give her. She tried to reassure him with a smile and waited patiently for him to get his thoughts in order.

"Ore… ore wa… omae ga… (1)" he began, then stopped. His cheeks were red again, but he also looked so sad and lost that Sakura felt the strange urge to hurry forward and hug him. "Iie, never mind. It's nothing. It doesn't matter anymore anyway, not after this morning."

"This morning? You mean with Eriol-kun?"

"Iie. The phone call I got that kept me late for class…" he explained, and she patiently waited for him to continue. "Mu qin (2)—that is, Okaa-sama—she said it was time for me to go back home… back to Hong Kong, I mean…"

Sakura was horrified, this couldn't be happening! "Syaoran-kun…"

"I came to Japan because the Clow Cards were scattered…" he began in way of explanation for the reasonings.

"Demo, demo! Even after the cards were gathered, you…!"

"Because afterwards something still happened." He reminded her, smiling with a sad sort of fondness. "But now that's over too. The Clow Cards have become the Sakura Cards with your power."

"It wasn't just my power!" she insisted, close to tears. "Because Tomoyo-chan and Yue-san and Kero-chan helped me! And also… it was because you were there! You helped me so much! You were always there to tell me how to do things and to make sure I didn't get hurt! Because you were there by my side protecting me, I didn't need to be so scared. I knew if anything bad happened, you'd save me and keep me safe!"

"Sakura…" he whispered looking at her as the first tears started to fall. "It means… a lot to me that you thought that way. But… for a while now, I haven't had that kind of ability. I could do nothing but stand by and watch… even in the end I could only get in the way."

"It wasn't like that…" Sakura insisted, coming up and putting her forehead on his shoulder. They stayed like that for a long while before Sakura spoke again "Do you… have to go?"

"Yes… There are things I have to do in Hong Kong."

"When… do you go back?"

"Sunday."

"SUNDAY?" Sakura cried in absolute horror. "That's only the day after tomorrow! You'll only be staying a day longer than Eriol-kun! So suddenly... I-I…"

"This… like everything else… I have no choice in the matter. The arrangements have already been made, all that's left is for me to pack and say my goodbyes…"

"Iie! I won't listen to them! I won't let you say goodbye because if you say goodbye then it'll all be over and I won't let that happen!"

"Gomen ne…"

(1) Ore… ore wa… omae ga… Most usually thought to be the opening lines of a love confession, but can be a number of other things as well (including Touya's telling Yukito not to disappear and about him knowing Yuki wasn't human).

(2) Mu qin According to the online dictionary I found, it's a highly respectful way to refer to one's mother in Chinese, and that's why Syaoran corrected himself and translated it for Sakura. I'm not sure how he addresses his mother in Japanese so I was torn between "Haha-ue" and "Okaa-sama" as his term for her, but haha-ue tends to have a more ancient sort of connotation to it and is rarely used in modern speech so I figured as a foreigner in modern day, he'd likely go with the more commonly used okaa-sama instead.

"So…" Yukito began while he helped wash the vegetables for dinner that night. He was nervous about bringing up this topic that had so much hanging on it, but he felt that he needed to know what Touya felt on the matter. Needed to know where he stood and if he even had a chance. "Mizuki-sensei came back."

"Aa." Touya responded in a distracted tone, was he even listening? Yukito couldn't be sure one way or the other.

"So she and Hiiragizawa-kun know each other…" he mused. Though it hadn't been him that had seen either person the few days before, he had the oddest sense when he was told about it afterwards that that fact held some strange significance to it that made him fretful, though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

Touya chose that moment to prove he wasn't actually listening to his friend right then by starting in on a different subject completely. "What Clow Reed said, about the great disaster an all that, it was just a stupid false alarm…"

Something in Yukito's chest tightened painfully. "Yes…" why did he have this reaction to the thought that this Clow Reed person had lied to them? To him? What was he to Clow Reed, and more importantly, what was Clow Reed to him? Forcing his thoughts to stop following such a path, he instead focused on the now and everything he had gained due to this 'false alarm'. "But I am grateful that he made my true self." He spoke the feelings from his heart. "I got to meet Sakura-chan and the others…" and then, shyly he looked to his friend in hopes that somehow the message would be conveyed and not rejected, "and you too, To-ya…"

This confession managed to stir Touya out of his moody contemplation and he turned and smiled at Yukito gently. Getting embarrassed about being looked at with such kind eyes, Yukito turned away and searched for something else to say instead before his mind started to prod too deeply at the possibilities that just couldn't be reality. Strangely, it settled quite quickly and determinedly on the fact that Sakura was upstairs and he could swear that she was crying.

"Sakura-chan's still in her room?" he worried his bottom lip at that oddly disturbing thought, "She's been in there since she got home, did something happen?" he asked, automatically looking back to Touya, who always seemed to know everything going on in his sister's life.

"…She'll figure it out soon."

"To-ya?"

"The one that she loves. She'll be realizing it soon."

"You know who?"

"For a long time. That's why I've been trying to keep that gaki (1) away from her."

(1) gaki Touya's "term of endearment" for Syaoran and Eriol alike. Though Eriol he adds the fact that the boy's from England to differentiate between the two. Most of the time it is translated as "brat" but it's also able to mean "ghoul" and I've seen some sources use the word for a type of creature who was so bad in its last life that it's punished in this life by being eternally hungry and thirsty. This type of "gaki" are a race that eat humans—both flesh and soul—in an attempt to satisfy their hunger. I don't know if the "gaki" term Touya uses has the same characters or not, but let's just say that the English term "brat" is a little soft for what it is that Touya's calling them.

Sakura lay on her bed with her covers over her head. She wasn't crying, not any more at least, she had run out of tears a while ago. Kero had been hovering around her since she came home upset and she knew he was trying to work out what was wrong with her. She didn't mind really, she knew it was because he loved her that he was going to these extents to try and make her feel better, but at the moment that knowledge did little to comfort her and only served to make her feel worse.

Not only did she have to feel rotten because her only two friends with magic were going away in the next two days, but now she was feeling terribly guilty for making her guardian worry over her like this. That's why she had hid under the blanket, so that he didn't have to see how upset she was, and maybe if she stayed still long enough he would think she had fallen asleep and go play video games or something.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case as she felt the little winged beast land on the pillow beside her. "Sakura…" he began, voice pitched with concern as if he were walking through a mine field. "What's up? Stomach ache? A fever?" He lifted the blankets and put a paw to her forehead to feel her temperature.

"Iie… I'm fine…" she insisted, reaching out and patting Kero atop the head in thanks for his concern. He licked at her fingers affectionately as her mind raced back to earlier that day.

"She said it was time for me to go back home…"

"Eriol-kun… and Syaoran-kun… they're both leaving." She finally admitted.

"Eh?" her guardian asked in surprise.

"Eriol-kun tomorrow and Syaoran-kun the day after… I won't see them anymore." And just like that, the tears started once again.

Why does this thought cause me so much pain? Syaoran-kun's returning to Hong Kong. Going far away. And Eriol-kun too. Far away. Will I ever see them again? It hurts so much inside…

"When the same thing happens… When someone close to you goes far away, please think about how your feelings then are different from now. If you do, you'll understand your true feelings."

Eriol-kun said that back then… What was different? When I knew that Eriol-kun was going back to England, it was really too bad. "I'd like to see him again," I thought, "I could write letters and that sort of thing." But with Syaoran-kun…

"She said it was time for me to go back home…"

That was horrible. Horrible! Syaoran-kun… I don't understand this feeling. He's my friend, they're both my friends, and so why is it so much worse that it's Syaoran-kun? Sakura's eyes scanned the room, searching for a release to her tormented mind. There on the shelf, next to the bear she had made for Yukito, sat a black bear that stared unseeingly in her direction. Syaoran-kun's bear… she didn't even notice that she had started to blush.

"…You can keep it."

I ought to give that back, too. So that he gets the chance to tell that person he likes what he feels before he leaves. Funny… why does it not make me feel any better, even to know that I'm helping him out?

"Kaijuu! Nuigurumi (1)! Dinner's ready!" Touya's voice called up to them from the bottom of the stairs.

"Hai, hai!" Sakura responded, whipping her eyes and not really feeling all that hungry. "And I'm not a kaijuu!"

(1) Kaijuu! Nuigurumi More of Touya's endearing terms. Kaijuu is what he usually calls his sister, generally translated as "monster" though it also can mean "marine animal" so I'm supposing it's something along the lines of "the creature from the deep" along the terms of all the sea monsters made up throughout history around the world. Nuigurumi isn't anywhere near as insulting, it just means "stuffed animal" or "plushie" in reference to the fact that Kero looks like one of her toys and in fact attempted to pass as one for over a year. Still, Kero takes offence when people call him that.

During dinner, Kero had shyly darted around behind Sakura's chair, still not used to the idea of eating with the rest of the family after having to spend so many months in hiding. During the meal, Sakura had informed everyone of the imminent departure of her two friends, and Yukito had stepped on Touya's foot under the table for being insensitive about the matter.

It had been agreed on that she could go early before school started to say her goodbyes to Eriol, and to bring the farewells of the others because they all had other business to take care of instead. Fujitaka had to be at work early enough to assist students before class and Yukito said he had classroom duty.

Touya had merely stated that he had no intention of spending more time around Nakuru than strictly necessary, that Kaho would already know everything he wanted to say to her so why even bother saying it in the first place, and that he didn't even know the other two so why should he care to see them off. This got him a scolding from his sister and a teasing from Yukito, both of which he huffed about far more than he really meant.

After dinner, Touya had walked Yukito home, Fujitaka had got to work marking essays, and Sakura had retired to her bed once more to continue thinking. That had been several hours ago, and by now everyone was tucked away in bed and fast asleep save for one small yellow toy with wings. He floated above the book dutifully and looked hard and long at the black bear on his Mistress's shelf.

"She gets awfully red when she looks at you lately…" he addressed the teddy, flying up to it and patting it on the head as if it were a kohai that he was giving guidance to. "Don't you belong to that other kid who goes red all the time?" he questioned it, and then pulled his paw away and gave it a worried look. "Maybe it's contagious…" then he gave a snort and fluffed up his wings as he glided back to his place above the Book of Sakura. "I'm much cooler." He said confidently, determined not to feel his position as the Mistress's favourite threatened by a teddy.

"…So you're leaving today…" Sakura said. She, Tomoyo, and Kero had ended up being the sending-off party, and so they stood together before their friends. They were all standing out in Eriol's front lawn, it seemed so strange to see him and Mizuki-sensei in casual clothing when Tomoyo and herself were just stopping off on their way to school.

Eriol smiled sorrowfully at them and gave a regretful confirmation in reply.

"That's too bad." Tomoyo admitted, looking sadly from the boy who sat behind her to her ex-teacher and back again.

"I wish we could see you to the airport." Sakura moped.

Kaho smiled affectionately at the younger girls, "Today is Saturday. You have class today, so there's no helping it."

Sakura's initial reply was to nod, only looking up to meet Kaho's eyes a moment later. "Can I still write you letters?" she asked hopefully.

Kaho smiled and responded with a confident "Of course!" as her cheer.

Shyly, the Mistress of the newly themed Sakura Cards looked to their old Master. "May I write to you too, Eriol-kun?"

Initially blinking in surprise at her making a request to stay in contact with him, the look quickly faded into the same loving smile Fujitaka often bestowed upon her. "I'll look forward to them." he told the daughter of his other half honestly.

"I'll write too." Tomoyo announced.

"Thank you." Eriol replied, his smile fading into one more appropriate for his apparent age.

"Oh!" came a sudden exclamation from Kaho, causing everyone to turn and look up at the woman. "I forgot something!" she admitted, turning to hurry back to the old mansion, only to pause a few steps away and think. "Umm... umm...where did I put them? My room? The entrance? Umm..." she mumbled to herself as she tried to remember.

Eriol gave a chuckle at her antics. "Those three packages?" he asked her, amusement heavy in his voice.

Clapping, she turned happily to him and smiled brightly. "That's right!"

"They're on the living room mantle." he informed her kindly.

"Oh..." she responded, blushing deeply at her forgetfulness. "I've been forgetting so many things right in front of my eyes!" she excused herself, "just a second while I get them!" she announced and hurried off back to the house at a run.

"Mizuki-sensie's a little absent minded." Sakura admitted embarrassedly as they watched Kaho run back to the large house.

"Kaho's a little clumsy." Eriol agreed fondly.

"Hoe?"

"She gets lost a lot." he elaborated for them, "and she's horrible at remembering streets."

Tomoyo gave one of her quiet "Oh my..." reactions, bringing a hand to her cheek.

"In England, she can never give directions." he recalled with an amused smile.

"Hoeeee..."

Just then they heard the lady in question coming back. "Sorry to keep you!" she called out, running with her arms full of three nicely designed packages. However, in her hurry, the rightmost one fell from her arms. "Oops!" she cried as she hurried to pick it up again.

Sakura, being the helpful and energetic girl that she was, rushed forward to assist with the presents, while Eriol and Tomoyo stood back and watched. Glancing over at her ex-classmate, Tomoyo chose this moment to voice her latest observation. "You watch Mizuki-sensei with such kind eyes..."

Eriol started slightly in surprise at being caught doing something he obviously wasn't expecting to have noticed. "And when you watch her when you think no one's looking, you have the kindest eyes of all."

The two black haired children eyed each other gaugingly for a moment, watching to see what reactions would arise in the other, before Eriol broke into a contented smile. "...You have a truly amazing power of observation, Daidouji-san."

Tomoyo's only response was to dip her head in silent thanks for the compliment.

"Here!" Kaho announced happily as her and Sakura came up again, unaware that they had been the topic of discussion only moments before. "Presents from England!"

"Thank you." both the girls said politely upon receiving their gifts.

"And one more for Li-kun." Kaho announced, handing it over to Sakura along with her own. Sakura's face momentarily twisted into one of regret and pain.

"I spoke with Li-kun yesterday." Eriol said by way of explanation, "He said he had errands to run this morning and couldn't come."

"O...Okay..." Sakura said, accepting the present.

"Well, it's about time that you girls were heading to school. You don't want to be late..." the bispecled boy said in way of lead up to their farewells.

"Eriol-kun..." Sakura began, attempting to find the words to express everything she felt at this moment of parting. "Thank you... really."

He seemed to pause as he looked at her, searching her face as if looking for something hidden there. "...Did it feel any different?"

"Hoe?" Sakura blinked, not understanding what he was talking about.

"When he told you. How is it different from how you feel now?" the sorcerer asked again, prodding at her memory to make her focus on what he wanted her to.

A flash of surprise crossed her features, before she lowered her eyes and looked away in regret. After waiting a moment, Eriol nodded as if she had just finished giving him a half hour speech on the nuances of her heart. "I see." he said cryptically and then held out his hand to her. "I look forward to the day we can meet again." and with that they shook as equals.

As the two girls left amid Nakuru's calls of insistence that they all needed to see each other again soon, Tomoyo looked over at her best friend. "They really are nice people."

"Yep!" Sakura cheered, returning Nakuru's wave goodbye.

Once the two girls were out of sight, Nakuru turned poutily to Eriol with her hands in fists on her hips. "Aw man... When we get back to England, I won't be able to play with Touya-kun and the others." as if her whining about the fact would somehow change her master's mind.

"And if you didn't?" Spinel asked incredulously.

"I'd play with Touya-kun and Tsukishiro-kun all day!" she announced as if that was the best possible thing in the world. "They'll be lonely without me around." Nakuru announced definitively as she wandered back to the house.

"Don't you mean relieved?" Spinel teased his sister while floating after her.

"What was that?" Nakuru snapped.

As Eriol watched his two creations bicker about Nakuru's importance to Touya and the amount of free time she'd actually have with the workload ahead of her to play catch up for the year's missed schooling, Kaho watched Eriol's expression of parental pride. "Can I ask something?" she suddenly ventured. When he turned and looked at her expectantly, she continued. "Why did you create them?"

"I knew that Yue and Cerberus would attack in defence of Sakura-san at Tokyo Tower. So they needed opponents... But... That's not all. If I didn't have Ruby and Spinel... if I didn't, Cerberus and Yue would have looked for Clow Reed inside of me forever. Especially Yue." a shadow ghosted over his eyes, longing for familiar presences from a lifetime that was not his own. He blinked it away quickly and focused on the present. "Of course, that's not all. I am fond of the pair."

Kaho smiled knowingly at Eriol's cryptic admittance. "And for you, that means 'love'." she smiled at the faint powdering of a blush that crept to his cheeks. "You really are kind, Eriol."

He turned and smiled up at the brunet woman standing next to him. "Only you would say that, Kaho. Since it seems no one else understands my reasons for changing." He turned and looked out at the city at large. "I've come to care about everyone since becoming like this. But more than anyone else," he turned back to her looking her dead in the eye, "a shy person."

Kaho blinked in surprise, before letting out a sigh of defeat. "...You knew? That I loved you?"

"...Yes. I never said anything because I could not ask you to wait indefinitely for one who was locked within the body of a child. However, thanks to Sakura-san, my time has been returned to me and before long, I shall once again be a man." he explained, taking her hand gently within his own. "But... from now on, I don't know what will happen."

"I don't know either." Kaho admitted, dropping to her knees so they were eye to eye. "But... if your feelings are the same as mine, I'm sure we'll have a happy ending."

Eriol leaned forward until their foreheads touched, happy in this moment to finally be able to be close to the woman he loved like this. "It would be good if Sakura-san has a happy ending too." he admitted.

Kaho smiled at how much Eriol adored the children of his other half. "It'll be okay." she reassured him, "It's Sakura-san, after all."

Eriol smiled at this. "Yes, all her dreams shall come true."

Elsewhere, on the road towards Tomoeda Elementary School, one young sorceress did not feel so sure about the future as Eriol did, however. Tomoyo watched her friend as they walked, her downhearted spirit causing concern to the young seamstress. Tomoyo smiled affectionately at Sakura and aimed to give her something else to think on. "So you've got to go see Li-kun later."

Sakura's face twisted into one of sorrow at this, taking Tomoyo momentarily off guard. "T...Tomoyo-chan... Um... Ummm..." she fidgeted nervously, rapidly blinking back the tears. "Syaoran-kun... he... he..." she swallowed hard and forced herself to finish with the bad news. "He's going away, too..."

Tomoyo gasped at this, "He is? When?" she asked, concerned about the loss of a friend.

"Tomorrow. He only told me on the way home from school yesterday. Eriol-kun keeps telling me to think of that and how it's different from when I found out Eriol-kun was leaving, but I can't stop thinking about it." Sakura rambled off, her cheeks flushing under the overload of emotion, and struggled to find a reason for this not to be the end of the world.

Tomoyo, for her part, was quiet for a moment as she let the reality of the words sink in and understanding dawn on what Eriol was trying to achieve. Not understanding what good it would do now, but knowing enough from her limited knowledge of the forces of magic to know that Eriol must have a reason for pushing such a realization on her friend, Tomoyo chose to put her faith in the future he had set his bets on and assist in making Sakura realize the truth. "And? How is it different?" she prompted.

"It hurts." was the immediate reply, "It hurts so much more, and I don't know why..."

Tomoyo smiled sadly at the words spoken by her first crush. "Sakura-chan... you care a lot for Li-kun, don't you?" the green eyed girl blushed at this question and looked away. "Don't you know how you feel?"

Sakura paused and looked sorrowfully at her feet. "I don't know. When I think about him I feel all funny inside. And when I try to figure out how I feel, my chest hurts even more..." Sakura blushed brightly at the admittance, and her eyes took on a shading of shame. "I don't understand at all... about myself..."

"Only you don't understand your heart." the black haired girl thought aloud while watching her dearest friend. "The thing people know least is themselves. Especially their hearts." She tried to comfort. "It's okay, the answer is inside you. You have the chance to realize it." She placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "And I think, iie, I know he'll be happy with the answer you'll find."

"...The answer...?"

School had come and gone with no sign of Syaoran, and so Sakura had returned home with both presents still in her possession. She had decided to head home first to drop off her school things and get changed out of her uniform rather than going strait to his house. It was as sh pulled the two presents from her bag that Kero floated up and sat on her table.

"That's the present from the Tsukimine shrine Nee-san?" he asked.

"Yeah!" Sakura said excitedly, pulling open the top and dumping the contents out onto the table beside Kero. "Wow! It's a teddy bear broach! How cute!" she squealed as she hurried over to her mirror to see how it looked on her.

"Why isn't it something to eat...?" Kero whined, making Sakura roll her eyes at his one-tracked mind. "Too bad."

She turned to tease him when her eyes landed on another yellow plushy sitting on her dresser. The bear I was going to give to Yukito-san... She walked over and pulled the bear into a loving embrace. It's just been sitting around here... And yet, when she opened her eyes, the fist thing she saw was a stuffed toy, only this one was black and belonged to one who had been haunting her recent thoughts.

"And one for Li-kun." Kaho's voice from this morning echoed in her ears. Syaoran-kun... she thought as she looked to his present sitting on her table and then back to the bear.

"What's up, Sakura?" Kero questioned, "Your face went all red. Got a fever?"

Suddenly realizing that she was blushing deeply, the sorceress shook her head adamantly. "I-I lost my notebook! I need to go buy a new one!" she suddenly announced, swapping bears and grabbing Syaoran's present off her table. She shoved both quickly into her backpack before running out the door leaving a very confused Kero in her wake.

Pulling himself into a sitting position from where he had dived to avoid getting trampled in his mistress's mad dash out of the room, he turned to her stuffed animals and asked "Why does she need a present and a bear to buy a notebook?"

Sakura, completely unaware of the state of confusion she left her poor guardian in, walked down the street towards her friend's house. "Hoe! Why does my face get red so fast?" She asked the empty suburb.

"The one I l-like is... S...someone else."

"Syaoran-kun..." Sakura mourned, "He deserves a chance... to tell his feelings to that person."

"...You can keep it."

However, the battle against her flushing cheeks was one that Sakura was destined to fail. Why does my heart beat so fast... when I think of him?

"Syaoran-kun, you're really nice and wonderful. So I'm sure the person you like likes you too! Go for it!"

Why does the idea of giving this bear back to him... of him confessing to that person he likes... make my chest hurt so much? Somehow I...

Just then the sound of someone calling her name broke Sakura from her thoughts. Looking around she spotted Chiharu waving at her sitting on her knees on a picnic blanket with Yamazaki in the park that she was passing.

"Chiharu-chan! Yamazaki-kun!" Sakura called back in greeting, earning a wave from the boy as well.

Deciding that she could afford to put off the inevitable for a few minutes longer, Sakura hurried down the steps and walked across the grass over to the young couple who had called her attention. When she finally reached them, Chiharu began at once at the matter at hand. "What's wrong? You're walking like the world was on your shoulders."

"Hoe?" Sakura cried, bringing her hands to her face in embarrassment. "I was! Was I making a weird face?"

"Not a weird face," Yamazaki clarified, "it had more of a melancholy feeling."

"Eh?" Sakura asked, looking to him in surprise.

His reaction was to simply smile kindly at her and ask, "I'm going to go buy some juice, what would you like?"

"Eh? But-" Sakura began trying to find a way to refuse.

"Let him treat you!" Chiharu insisted, pulling at Sakura to come and sit. "Peach for me." she told her boyfriend.

Politely removing her shoes, Sakura came to sit next to her friend before saying, "Well then, I'll have lemon."

"You know, the thing about juice-!" Yamazaki began, but was broken off by Chiharu.

"Right, right." she said, giving him a shove to get him on his way. "You can lie about that later." The two girls watched as he walked away laughingly before Chiharu turned once more to the sorceress. "Is something bothering you?" However, Sakura only averted her eyes and so Chiharu reassured her. "It's okay, Yamazaki-kun won't be back for a while."

Sakura blinked at her owlishly "Eh?"

"You're not happy, so he's letting us talk." Chiharu explained, "It's easier to talk without him here, right?"

"What! When did he say that?" Sakura asked in surprise.

"He didn't, I just knew." the pigtailed girl informed.

"He did it with a look?" Sakura asked, impressed by their closeness. "Hoeeee..."

"We've been dating a long time." Chiharu said in way of explanation for their closeness. "Now, do you want to tell me?"

Again the melancholy look came to the sorceress's face. "U-ummm... I've been keeping something precious that belongs to a friend of mine, but I think I may have kept it too long. If it was Yamazaki-kun, what would you do?"

"Eh? What kind of thing? Like a pencil, or a favourite book, or their umbrella?" Chiharu asked, trying to clarify the situation in her own mind.

"Hoeee! N-no. Not like that..."

"...I apologize." Chiharu announced with confidence. "We've been dating for a long time, so I do what I like. So there are times when I take things too far. But I really love him, I want to be together forever, so I apologize." she got a far away dreamy look to her face as she continued to talk about the one she loved. "When I do stuff, sometimes I don't understand things, but I never mean harm. Afterwards, when I realize that I've hurt him badly, I apologise and say 'I'm sorry'. And since it's Yamazaki-kun, he'll just say, 'Okay, it's fine.' And if he ever apologizes to me, I want to say 'It's fine' to him, too."

"That's really great." Sakura stated with a dreamy look in her eye.

Chiharu took her friend's hand in her own and looked at her sincerely. "If you apologize, I'm sure they'll say 'it's fine'."

Finally smiling with her usual brightness, Sakura nodded confidently to her friend. "Yeah. Thanks."

The moment was shattered by Yamazaki's unexpected return. "Now, the thin about juice is-!" he cheered excitedly as he popped up once more.

"HOEEE!" Sakura cried in surprise, practically jumping into Chiharu's lap in her shock.

"So, why do you have to return with that kind of timing?" the pigtailed girl sweatdropped, before reaching over and began mock-strangling her boyfriend. "Don't surprise Sakura-chan like that!" she scolded amid his laughter.

Looking at the two young lovers, the sorceress finally made up her mind. I have to apologize to Syaoran-kun. Say I'm sorry for keeping the bear so long. "Thank you for the juice, Yamazaki-kun, but I really do need to be going."

"Alright, sorry to have kept you, Sakura-chan." Chiharu said.

"See you at school on Monday, Kinomoto-chan!" Yamazaki told her.

"Yeah, see you then." she said to them while she slipped her shoes back on and left, a new determination and purpose in her step. This is the right thing to do, I know it is, but then why does it hurt? I still don't understand how I feel very well.

I love him... really love him. And it's not loving in a friend sort of way, but then what kind of love is it...? The girl gave a sigh and hung her head in defeat. Tomoyo-chan said the answer was inside of me, but... "I have to deliver the bear and Mizuki-sensei's present." He wasn't at school today...

Finally reaching Syaoran's apartment complex, the sorceress took note of a moving truck and several workers outside busily moving out furniture and boxes. "I wonder if someone else is moving as well?" she asked herself.

Syaoran seemed to materialize himself out of the chaos of workers right before Sakura reached the gate. They looked at each other a moment unsurely before Sakura slipped her backpack off and dug out the package she had come to deliver. "Uh, um, um! Mizuki-sensei got this present for you in England!" she presented, but couldn't seem to avoid blushing for whatever reason.

The Chinese boy had a moment of surprise before his face melted into a gentle smile. "Thank you." he told her, taking the present

For a moment, Sakura tried to speak, to say something about these confusing feelings and how she didn't want him going away. But none of the words that came to her mind seemed quite right, and so rather than babble like an idiot, she blushed and looked away. In her bag, she saw one more thing that ought to be given to him, and she was reminded of her resolve to beg his forgiveness.

"And... the bear. The one I've been keeping for you, I brought it to return it. You should have your chance... to confess to that person you like..." she told him, holding it out to him though something inside her was wishing she wasn't.

"Sakura..." he breathed out in shock, but then looked away as if pained. "...Keep it. Even if I could confess to that person, I'm leaving. It's not like I could be with them. It's better I don't burden them with my feelings."

"Don't say that!" the sorceress cried. "To never tell the person you like how you feel...! It's so sad! So sad!" It hurt. Her chest hurt so much, more than it had so far. That this bear that held Syaoran's precious feelings of love for that person were just pushed aside like this—called a burden of all things—was painful to her. She held the bear close to herself, cherishing these feelings of love that he would abandon, and made firm her resolution. "If you don't have time then I'll go for you! I'll explain the situation, and I'm sure they'll understand! But don't just NOT tell them!"

She felt a gentle touch embrace her shoulder and looked up through her tears to a smiling face trying desperately to mask those pained honey eyes. "...Thank you, but... it's okay. I've come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to get a chance to tell that person how I feel." he tried his best to reassure. "So... just keep it. It's yours now, to do with whatever you like."

To take his feelings... for them to be given to me to do with what I please... Sakura rested her cheek atop the teddy bear's head. "...Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

With that being the end of that, a silence weighed down heavily on the two magic users. In an attempt to overcome the oddly stagnant atmosphere, the young sorceress cast her eyes about, them finally landing on the van and workers moving furniture not too far away. "Uh... um! I-I wonder who is moving! It's full of luggage!"

"...It's me." was Syaoran's monotone reply.

"...What?" Sakura cried, whipping around to look at Syaoran once again, "But-but you said tomorrow...!"

With a solemn face, the young heir explained himself, "Yes, it is tomorrow, but my things are being sent ahead."

To which a miserable "...Oh..." was his only reply.

She felt his hand take hold of her shoulder once more and so looked up to meet his honey eyes. "I'm glad that I came to Japan and met you... No, met you, Sakura. (1)"

They stared at each other a moment longer, each caught up in this strange spell of sorrow and longing, each with words on the tip of their tongue that they couldn't find the syllables to express aloud, when the scene was interrupted by one of the workers calling for Syaoran's attention. "'Scuse me! Before we take this away, I need some confirmations!"

Turning from the green-eyed girl sharply and dropping his hand from her shoulder as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't have, he muttered out a quick "Oh, right." and hurried to the man to sign the paperwork.

Watching him a moment, holding his bear to her chest still, the reality of his leaving sunk in at last. This wasn't some cruel joke or action that could be avoided by her asking nicely. Her friend was leaving, the only one that she had shared having magic with all this time was going away and there was nothing that she could do about it. Unable to face this reality any longer, she hung her head and slipped away unnoticed.

Once the paperwork was dealt with Syaoran looked to finish his talk with her, only to find her nowhere in sight. "Sakura..."

(1) This line is very awkward in English, it seems like it shouldn't be written as such, but it's accurate to the script of the manga. It has to do with the way Syaoran speaks in the Japanese version. In the original source material he hardly ever gave any indication as to who he was addressing when he spoke, instead just talking with the attitude that the one he wished to address would be paying attention to what he had to say. This actually says a lot about his character: he is someone of a high enough social position that his words are to be listened to and obeyed by everyone around him regardless of whether he acknowledges their existence as significant or not. However, this is also very rude in the Japanese culture and would be very awkward if Sakura was not so very attentive of her friends. So anyway, in that one line he corrected himself and addressed her specifically, acknowledging her as someone important enough that she needn't obey his every word just because he said it as well as simply being more polite to the girl he likes.

Well, there's chapter one of the prelude. Anyone who has read the manga will notice that there's VERY little difference between the script of the manga and that which I have written, which is why prior to this I had simply thought I needn't bother writing this; however, it seems that those changes that did come about would be rather substantial to just brush it aside and say a vague "I took the ending of the manga and the ending of the anime and squished them together." Next chapter we get to play "spot the cameo" as well as finish off the manga ending. Then, following that there will be another two chapters dealing with a rather more butchered version of the second movie. That's right, like most my stuff the farther into the story it is, the less it will mirror the original product. Anyway, enough pointless ramblings from me, I hope to see you all again shortly in the next chapter of either this or the main story. Shade and Sweet Water, everyone!