OOC: Please read and let me know what you think – if this story has enough readers, I'll definitely write chapters a lot more quickly! The world has nothing to do with the CCS world, but you will see familiar characters and of course, the magic of the Clow Cards. The world will be introduced gradually over the next few chapters: for now, please enjoy, and review if you have any suggestions for me!

Chapter 1: Candidates of the Clow

Cherry blossoms, blowing in the wind. The full moon shining down. Three companions. A great danger, coming closer. The moon shines ever brighter...

"... And the representative of the Kinomoto fairies... Kinomoto Sakura!"

Sakura jerked awake in her seat, looking around the auditorium, disoriented.

"The four contestants will be formally introduced to the clan heads later today," the voice continued. Sakura looked at the auditorium stage in confusion, hearing the students around her murmur and whisper about what was going on.

The announcer, a human from the Hiiragazawa clan, stood behind the podium, still talking. "As for now, there are pre-printed brief profiles of each candidate available outside the ..."

When he had dismissed the students, Sakura walked outside with the others, lost in thought. She was always dozing off in classes and during assemblies, but the dream this time had been so... vivid. Even now, she could see it in her mind: cherry blossom petals, falling in the moonlight...

Then she bumped into the table. "Ow!" she said, looking up at last. The table was lined up against the wall. Crowds of people pressed near, reaching around her for the four stacks of paper sitting on the table. She looked at them curiously, picking one up from the nearest stack.

"Syaoran Li, Clan of Demons," she read aloud. "The talented master of the Jian, and a worthy candidate for the Clow Contest."

She sighed. All the hullaballo about the Clow Contest had completely passed Sakura by, but today's announcements had required the attendance of all the students at the Tomoeda Magic School. She had fallen asleep during the assembly, but apparently, it had all been for the purpose of introducing the candidates selected for the competition.

Sakura picked up the other profiles. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw the name on the last one. It read: Sakura Kinomoto, Clan of Fairies. The only female candidate: how will she fare against the others? The paper went on to list her personal information: her hometown, her parents, her hobbies... She stepped away from the table, walking quickly through the crowd to the outside before anyone recognized her. Fortunately, none of the profiles had provided pictures. She glanced down at her own profile again, and shook her head.

"Weaknesses: Likes to sleep a lot...?" she said indignantly. "Just because I fall asleep in class sometimes... What's this? 'Bumps into things a lot? I do n-"

The papers fell out of her hands as she ran straight into something very solid.

"Whoops! Sorry I can't help you pick those up," a voice said. Sakura looked up, and instantly forgot about the papers. She had bumped into a tall, silver-haired man, who held a plate of food in either hand.

"You're... Sakura Kinomoto, right? I'm Yukito Tsukishiro, one of the other candidates," he said, smiling. His brown eyes studied her closely. She looked up at him, trying to keep herself from blushing; he was the most handsome man she had ever met. He wore the uniform of the Tomoeda school, but he looked to be several years older than she was.

The students at Tomoeda were all young, but by their own clan's standards; Sakura could tell by instinct that he was not a fairy, as she was. Nor was he a human; she was friends with many humans. She looked at his collar, where there was sewn a small silver moon, the sign of the shapeshifters, and then up at his face again.

"It's nice to meet you! I'm Sakura Kinomoto."

"I know," he said, smiling broadly at her. She looked at the ground to hide her blush. "We've met before." He paused, looking down at his plates. "I was really hungry, so I got two plates, but now I don't have a hand to eat with..." They laughed together.

"We've met before?" she asked, curious. He opened his mouth to reply.

"Good evening," said a new voice. Sakura tore her eyes away from Yukito and found herself looking at a tall, dark-haired man, who looked older than either of them. His collar bore no symbol, which meant that he was a human. He smiled at her as she looked at him. It was a warm and gentle smile; Sakura could not help but smile back. She could sense that he had great magical powers.

"You're... from the Hiiragazawa clan?" she asked.

"You can call me Eriol," he answered, bowing to her. "Such a lovely young woman could only be the fairy princess Sakura." He took her hand and kissed it. She blushed a little at his gentlemanly manners. "Long time no see, Yukito," he said, nodding at the other man.

"It's good to see you again, Eriol," Yukito answered. Sakura looked between the two of them. They both had kind, gentle faces, and wore glasses. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that they were related.

"Sakura!" called a familiar voice. Sakura looked to see Tomoyo, her best friend and also a fairy, waving at her. "I found you finally!" Tomoyo, the dark-haired, rich daughter of Sakura's aunt, held up a video camera. "It took me forever to find you, since we couldn't sit together in the auditorium."

"Um, Tomoyo," Sakura said, looking embarrassedly at Yukito and Eriol. "Is it really necessary to videotape me?"

"Of course!" Tomoyo said cheerfully, offering a polite bow to the men. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Tsukishiro, Mr. Hiiragazawa. I'm Sakura's friend, clothing designer, and videographer, Tomoyo Daidouji."

"It's a pleasure," Eriol said, bowing to her as well, taking her hand to kiss it. Sakura sighed with relief; he treated all girls that way. "I've heard a lot about the famous Daidouji fairies. You are as beautiful as the rumors say you are. Please, call me Eriol."

To Sakura's surprise, the normally calm Tomoyo blushed, pulling at her long purple braid. "You flatter me," she said, regaining it quickly to smile at him. "After all, the school's number-one student is a much more illustrious figure than I am."

They smiled at each other. Sakura looked at Yukito; they shrugged together.

"If I'm not mistaken, the one standing over there alone is the demon clan's Syaoran Li," Eriol said. Yukito, Sakura, and Tomoyo turned to look where he looked. Standing beneath the giant cherry blossom tree in the school courtyard was a young man, about Sakura's age, looking away from them.

"I wonder why he's standing alone," Sakura said. "Should we go over and say hello to him?"

"He might not like a lot of company," Eriol said thoughtfully. "Or maybe he thinks that since we're his competition, he shouldn't be friendly. Sakura, why don't you go over and say hello first, and see if you can get him to join us?"

"That's a great idea, Sakura!" Tomoyo said, hefting the camera. Sakura sighed inwardly. "After all, everyone's always charmed by your super-cuteness!"

She blushed, sneaking a look at Eriol and Yukito, who were both grinning with amusement. "Fine, I'll go."

----

Syaoran looked up as the girl approached him. He knew who she was already; the Li clan kept track of all the top students at Tomoeda, and Sakura Kinomoto was one of them. Her athletic ability was almost unsurpassed. What was she doing, talking so casually with her competitors, and now coming over to talk to him? That was the problem with fairies; they were too open, too willing to make social alliances.

He watched her closely. She had bobbed shoulder-length hair and green eyes, and sported the Tomoeda first-year girl's uniform with a wing brooch – the sigil of the fairies – on the collar. He slouched against the cherry blossom tree, casting a scornful eye at her.

"Hello," she said, when she got near enough. "I'm Sakura Kinomoto. The cherry blossom tree is really pretty when it's in bloom, isn't it?"

He grunted in annoyance. "If you say so."

She caught a falling petal in her hand, and held it in her hand, ignoring his rudeness. "I really love spring, don't you?"

Syaoran grunted again in reply, looking away from her toward the school building, where students congregated in groups, gossiping and whispering. Although some groups had fairies, shapeshifters, and humans mixed together, none of the mixed groups had demons. The demons all gathered in their own groups.

"Anyhow, since you're a candidate too," she continued, "I thought I should come over and say hello, since we'll be seeing each other more often from now on..."

He looked at her hair, blowing in the slight breeze, and was startled to find himself then looking at her eyes, wide and innocent. It was just like the fairies, to keep their own candidate so uniformed about the Clow Contest. He laughed shortly with grim amusement. It would do no harm to make her acquaintance; everything he learned about her might be used against her, in the future. He held his hand out to shake hers.

"You're right," he said at last. "It's... nice to meet you, Miss Kinomoto."

"Call me Sakura!" she insisted, smiling all the wider. "Won't you come and meet the others over there?"

He nodded, though he had no desire to socialize. Let her think they were friends; it was fine to play at such things, as long as it was useful. He followed her back to the others, all of whom he recognized: Yukito Tsukishiro, the shapeshifter; Eriol Hiiragazawa, the human magician; and Tomoyo Daidouji, not a contestant, but the daughter of a company president, and Sakura Kinomoto's close friend.

They all greeted him when he came near. They all knew his name, and gave him friendly smiles. He smiled back, deliberately allowing a glimpse of his fangs to show. It wouldn't do for them to forget that he was a demon.

----

"Let me take some pictures of the four of you together!" Tomoyo said excitedly. "The three most handsome students in the school with my cute Sakura..."

Sakura sighed. Eriol took her arm and pulled her into the center of the picture. She looked around, realizing that crowds had gathered around them: people had realized who the group was and had come to look at them.

"I'm looking forward to the pictures," said Yukito's voice, from behind her. "If you do not mind, can I buy one from you later?

"I'll give you one for free!" Tomoyo said. "After all, you're in it too."

Sakura looked over at Syaoran Li, who stood nearby. He was frowning, as if he didn't want to be in the picture, but nor did he step out of it. He, too, was handsome, though he didn't look at all like Eriol and Yukito. Though he had only spoken a little, enough to introduce himself, she was glad she had invited him over. She looked at Tomoyo, smiling for the camera, hearing voices from behind her as she did so.

"So there really is a girl in the running this time," said someone.

"There hasn't been a girl competing in hundreds of years," said another voice.

"She's good at sports, but her magic is only..." The first one trailed off as the two speakers walked away.

Sakura sighed, feeling put-down, but knowing that they were right. Why had they chosen her, out of all people, to represent the fairies? Sakura Kinomoto, despite being the princess of the Kinomoto clan and a talented gymnast, had one problem at Tomoeda Magic School: she was very bad at magic.