Disclaimer: CLAMP
owns Card Captor Sakrua. Not me.
Catch You, Catch Me
Prologue
What was this? Clow Reed blinked
as he saw a small shape on his doorstep. What was it? He stepped closer
and the small shape revealed itself to be a child, curled up in a ball,
rocking back and forth on the step. He walked closer and at the sounds
fo his footsteps, the child looked up with large, luminous green eyes.
"And who might you be?" Clow crouched
down to the child's height.
The child simply looked at him with
her large eyes. She had honey-brown hair that fell to her chin softly and
bangs draped wispily across her forehead. "Sakura." she said softly.
"Well, Sakura, what's your last name?"
Clow inquired.
Sakura opened her mouth to reply,
then stopped, looking confused. Her brow furrowed, "I-I don't know." she
said slowly.
"You don't know." Clow repeated.
"Well, why are you sitting on my step?"
"Because I was told to." Sakura replied.
"Told to? By whom?" Clow asked.
"I don't know." Sakura answered,
looking confused once again.
Clow straightened up. He looked up
at the sky, as if expecting an answer, then back down at the little girl.
He smiled softly, "Now, why don't you come inside with me, Sakura and we'll
try to figure this out."
"Okay." Sakura stood up hesitantly.
Clow reached behind her to open the door and pushed her gently into the
hallway of his house.
Sakura looked around the large, spacious
front hallway in amazement. It was so big to her, just a small seven-year-old.
"Welcome home, Clow-sama." a Japanese
maid, Daidouji Tomoyo busted in, "May I take your cloack?"
"That would be wonderful." Clow absently
took off his long travel cloak then handed it to the maid. He shook out
the regular cloak he wore and dusted some lint off of it.
Tomoyo took it and hung it up in
a nearby closet, then turned to her master, bowing respectfully, "Is there
anything else I can do for you, sir?"
"Actually, yes, there is." Clow said.
He guestured to Sakura, "Could you please take her to the sun room and
stay there with her. I'll be down in a short while."
"Of course." Tomoyo bent down to
Sakura's height, "How about you come with me, little one?" she smiled and
held out her hand.
"Okay." Sakura said happily and took
the older girl's hand. Together, they walked off. Clow watched for a moment,
then turned down a different hallway. After going up and down numerous
flights of stairs and taking many turns, he ended up where he wanted to
be. In the sparring room.
"Wind descend!" a voice called out
as Clow walked onto the sparring mat. He waved a hand at the spell and
it vanished.
"What was that for?" an indignant
young voice asked. Clow turned to look at his younger cousin. He leveled
a gaze at the brunet male, who scowled.
"What do you want, Clow?" Yue asked
respectfully.
"I need to speak with you and Keroberus."
Clow said thoughtfully. Before his younger cousin could open his mouth,
Clow turned to him as well, "You, too, Shaoran."
The teenager nodded, putting down
his sword. Li Shaoran was Clow Reed's thirteen-year-old cousin on his mother's
side.
"Where is Keroberus?" Clow asked,
looking around.
"Probably lounging about, eating."
Yue scoffed.
"Never mind, then." Clow sighed.
He knew all too well the concequences of getting between Keroberus and
his food. "Come along." he said, turning on his heel, his cloak billowing
out behind him. He heard the footsteps of his cousin and Yue as they hurried
after him.
Quickly, the trio reached the sun
room where Tomoyo was kneeling next to Sakura who was giggling gleefully
and stroking none other than a slightly-miffed Keroberus.
"Well, obviously we don't have to
go searching for him now." Yue said, "He's already here."
"Thank you, Tomoyo." Clow said to
the maid who stood up and straightened her uniform.
"You're welcome." she curtsied respectfully
before waving to Sakura, "Good bye, Sakura."
"Bye-bye, Tomoyo." Sakura waved to
the maid as she left. She then turned her gaze upon the four others in
the room. She glanced interestingly at Yue and Shaoran before skipping
over the them. Keroberus stretched and yawned.
"And who are you?" Yue raised an
eyebrow at the little girl.
"Sakura." Sakura replied, bobbing
her head up and down, "What're your names?" she inquired of Yue and Shaoran.
"Sakura, this is my cousin, Li Shaoran."
Clow said, guesturing to the brunet youth, then turning his attention to
Yue, "And this is Yue."
"Hello." Sakura smiled up at the
two of them.
"Shaoran, could you please take Sakura
out to the courtyard while I discuss matters with Yue and Keroberus?" Clow
asked his cousin.
"Great," Shaoran muttered under his
breath, "I get to baby-sit. What fun." he said, glancing down at the girl.
"Come on," he said, turning around and walking out of the room, Sakura
chasing after him.
Clow turned to his two guardians
after he shut the door, "Now, to decide what to do with her." he mused,
sitting in a chair, resting his chin on his fingertips.
"When and where did she appear?"
Yue asked.
"On the front doorstep, less than
an hour ago." Clow replied.
"Why don't you go give the cards
a reading?" Keroberus suggested.
"Yes," Clow nodded vaguely, "I think
I will." with that, he got up and left the room, looking deep in thought.
********************************
"So you are..." Sakura bit her lip
as she looked up at the older boy, "Shao...rang?" she asked.
"Shaoran." the teenager corrected
her with a scoff.
Sakura's brows knitted together with
confusion, why is this boy so unfriendly and cold? As if he was detached
from the world. He was a lot like that white haired boy...Yue, was his
name?
"So..." Shaoran said glancing down
at the little girl. What on earth am I supposed to do with her?
he wondered, turning his eyes heavenward, What did I do to deserve this?,
he inwardly groaned. "What do you want to do?"
"Play tag." Sakura said promptly.
"Tag?" Shaoran inwardly groaned once
more. He forced a smile, "Of course."
"You're it." Sakrua giggled and instantly
took off running.
Shaoran stood for a moment, then
raced after the young girl. For such a small child, she sure had long legs.
He raced after her, his clothing billowing out behind him. He watched as
she ran into the forest and cursed under his breath, "Stupid kid."
He heard giggling in the trees and
called out, "Sakura? Sakrua, you're not supposed to be in the forest. There
are caves here." Shaoran said, "You could get lost."
All that met his ears was the sounds
of the birds chirping. He groaned, rolling his eyes in frustration. "Sakura!"
he called again.
All of a sudden, a small object came
whipping through the trees and hugged Shaoran around the knees. With this,
he lost his balance and fell to the ground. The object whimpered and dived
for him.
"S-sakura?" Shaoran asked, surprised.
The little girl whimpered and flung her arms around his neck. Shaoran sat
up carefully, trying not to disturb Sakura. "What's wrong?"
Sakura burst into tears at the inquiry.
Oh, God, Shaoran instantly
became nervous, I have a crying kid, whay do I do? The obvious answer
was to take her back to Clow. "C'mon," Shaoran said softly, picking the
child up, "C'mon, we're going to go see Clow." he said.
Sakura sniffled, tears running down
her face as they walked back to the house.
********************************
"Oh, great." Yue muttered.
"What?" Keroberus opened one eye.
"Shaoran and the kid are coming back.
It looks like she was crying." Yue rolled his eyes. As he finished his
sentence, the door to the sun room opened and in walked Shaoran, carrying
a crying Sakura.
"What happened?" Keroberus inquired.
"She's a kid. She's gonna cry. It's
a given fact." Yue said coldly.
At Yue's rough tone, Sakura began
to whimper again.
Shaoran looked frazzled, "Ummm...a
little help here, guys?"
"What am I supposed to do?"
Yue raised an eyebrow disdainfully. Sakura's whimpers became louder.
"I don't know, something!" Shaoran
said loudly. Sakura's whimpers turned into full-fledged wails. He winced
at the sound.
"What is going on here?" a voice
asked over the noise. Shaoran turned to see Clow there, looking rather
shocked at the situation.
"Ummm....help?" Shaoran ventured.
"Sakura, what's the matter?" Clow
asked the little girl. Sakura merely ignored him and went on crying. Clow
looked dismayed. He ran a hand through his hair nervously. He then took
Sakura from Shaoran's grasp and set her on a couch. Clow kneeled in front
of her, "Sakura, I can't help if you don't tell me what's wrong."
Tears still fell from Sakura's large
emerald eyes.
"Sakura, tell us what the problem
is." Keroberus joined in the coaxing, trying to sound as gentle as he could.
He looked at Yue expectantly.
"You expect me to help with
a crying kid?" Yue asked incredously. Keroberus rolled his eyes and turned
his attention back to Sakura.
"C'mon, please stop?" the golden
beast pleaded. Clow closed his eyes and rubbed his eyelids.
Shaoran went over to Sakura and held
her chin in one hand. He gently forced her to look him in the eye. "Sakura,
what's wrong?" Shaoran asked, depreatly, trying to calm down the little
girl, "C'mon, just tell me what's the matter. It'll be all right. Nothing's
going to get you."
To his and the other's great surprise,
Sakura's tears slowed. Shaoran looked amazed at his accomplishment.
"Well I'll be." Keroberus muttered,
"He was able to stop her crying."
Sakura flung her arms around Shaoran
and whimpered. Shaoran looked greatly uncomfortable at this and Clow tried
not to laugh at his cousin's expression.
"They're scary." Sakura whimpered.
