Emerald Sonata

Hello, everyone! Lol, I'm back with a new story, even though I haven't even completed any of my other three T-T Though, I am very, very, VERY close to completing "Born Perfect." Anyway, I've had the original idea for this story in my head for a very long time, and I only came to figure out the plot this summer, so here I am (: I hope you guys like it, as I think it's one of the more intricate storylines I've created, and I spent a lot of time trying to perfect this first chapter, haha. Well, please read and review, and enjoy!

Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura and all of its characters are not mine. I only own the plot, and maybe a few original characters later on.

Summary: Syaoran Li is a young roadside painter living in Tokyo, determined to find his family, whom he lost track of when he was fifteen years old. Sakura Kinomoto is a high school student in her last year, constantly thinking about a mysterious boy she met three years ago. When Syaoran, by a stroke of fate, paints a portrait of Sakura under an alias, the painting becomes famous. As the two eventually meet and become closer, Syaoran keeps hisidentity as the artist a secret for his own reasons.Sakura, a natural romantic,continually seeks out the painter, believing that she'll fall in love with the mysterious artist, not realizing that the man she's searching for might be right in front of her...

Chapter 1: Providence

Fifteen-year-old Sakura Kinomoto ran desperately around her humongous new school, lost and trying to find someone who could give her a ride home. Her shoes clomped loudly on the ground, and the noise echoed throughout the empty hallways. No teachers, no students who could help her were to be found- for some reason, everyone was already gone.

She stopped running, tears filling her eyes. She stood in the middle of a hallway and looked around, not knowing what to do; her father was on a business trip, and even after several calls, her brother wouldn't pick up his cell phone. She had no friends to call to pick her up, as she'd just moved to Tomoeda, and she knew that her house was miles and miles away.

Now sobbing, she walked down the hall, panic blocking off any reasonable thought. She passed an open classroom without realizing it.

"Is something the matter?" Someone asked from behind her.

Sakura turned around to see a boy about her age with brown hair, brown eyes, and paint all over his hands and uniform. He had a somewhat angry expression on his face, though Sakura had no idea why. While she took immediate comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone, his expression scared her even more.

"I- I'm new here and I'm lost, I h-have no ride home," she sputtered out, feeling like a baby for crying so hard. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, trying to stop.

The boy's expression softened, and so did the tone of his voice. "You must be new here. Everyone's gone home early today, because midyear exams are tomorrow, and both the students and the teachers need to prepare. If you want, I can drive you home. I just have to get cleaned up. Just wait out here, okay?"

Sakura, surprised, merely nodded, holding the straps of her bookbag and wiping the rest of her tears away. As the boy went off to the restroom to wash, Sakura sidled over to the open door of the classroom to see why he had so much paint all over him, and she gasped.

In the room, an artroom, propped up on an easel was the most beautiful painting she'd ever seen, even though it was still a work in progress. Judging by the messy palettes and brushes that were scattered on the table around it, Sakura figured that the boy had been working on that painting.

"You ready to go?" The boy asked, startling her.

She nodded and followed him down the hall and out the door, relief surging through her veins. She knew that the boy could have been someone with bad intentions, but for some reason, she believed that he wasn't.

The two got into his car; fortunately, when Sakura told the boy her address, he knew exactly how to get there. On the way there, she studied his features out of the corner of her eye- his unruly hair was a chestnut shade, matching his amber eyes perfectly. His eyes seemed to glow with sort of angry fire in them, which, Sakura realized, was probably why he seemed to look so grim. He was actually very good-looking, Sakura thought, and wondered why he'd been staying after school by himself, instead of out with his friends.

Suddenly, as the car stopped in the driveway of her house, something rolled out under her seat as the boy braked: a watch with a green band, its face rimmed in silver; the hands of the watch, Sakura could see, were molded into the shape of two silver wolves' heads in perfect minute detail. She picked it up and handed it to the boy. "This came out from under your seat."

The boy looked at it once, and Sakura saw his jaw tighten. He looked back out of the windshield and muttered, "I don't want it. You can have it."

"What?" Sakura said. This was unexpected. "I don't even know you, I couldn't possibly take it-"

"You'd do me a favor by taking it." The boy said. He seemed to really hate the watch, but, like everything else about him, Sakura had no idea why.

"Ah- all right, then...thank you," she said, not sure what to do with it at present. She put the watch in her pocket. "I never got your name?"

"Li Syaoran."

"It was really nice of you to drive me home...I'm Kinomoto Sakura. I hope I see you again."

Syaoran's expression relaxed a little, and he nodded.

Forgetting that she didn't even know him, she hugged him tightly before she got out of the car, surprising him. "Thank you so much, Li-kun," she mumbled, and without realizing what she'd done, she stepped out of the car and into her house.

Inside of her house, Sakura watched out the window as Syaoran sped away. She took the watch out of her pocket. It was a very expensive and lovely thing, she could tell, and wondered again why he didn't want it. She put it on, and smiled when she saw that it fit snugly around her wrist at a certain notch.

She never saw Syaoran in the school again.

Three years later- Winter, Tokyo

If Syaoran Li was anything besides an extremely skilled artist, he was easily frustrated. Just now, he'd tipped over an empty palette, on top of which had rested a cup of a dozen or so brushes in water, and caused a few passers by to stare as he groaned loudly, "Oh, great, now what!" (It hadn't been the best day so far; usually, he got a customer by nine in the morning, but it was already eleven, and nobody had come.) He stooped down behind his cart to pick it all up when he heard a voice.

"Sir, how much is this painting right here?"

First customer of the day. Hurriedly, he wiped his paint-stained hands on his overshirt and stood up to greet the customer. "Five hundred seventy yen," he replied. (A/N: I believe that's about five dollars?)

The customer, an elderly woman, pulled out double the amount requested, and winked, saying, "Don't worry about change."

Syaoran was surprised by this gesture; no one ever paid him extra- most people actually tried to get his paintings at a lower price, which was somewhat ridiculous- gratefully, he accepted the money, boxed the painting for the woman, and after she left, went back to cleaning up the mess on the ground.

That's odd...I never have luck like that.

Syaoran, a mere nineteen years old, made his living as a painter on the streets. He'd gained a reputation among the other street vendors as a sort of prodigy, creating magnificent paintings- paintings of things he saw on the streets, but only in a way he could portray them. He worked hard and usually did well, but sometimes, his grim attitude frightened away customers.

He'd graduated two years early, at age sixteen, but having lost track of his family when he was fifteen, he had put his plans of art university aside to make money for a plane ride back to Hong Kong, plus an investigative search for his family...so he'd moved from Tomoeda to Tokyo to work as an artist. As of this year, he had enough money saved for the plane ride...he just needed to save for the search, which would be a bit more expensive. (A/N: Sorry for being so vague about the whole thing T-T I will elaborate soon, though.)

Syaoran made a good enough living through his occupation; he certainly wasn't rich, but he had enough money to get by with the things he needed, and he had a few hundred yen left over every day to put into his savings jar. He seemed to be popular with other street vendors and customers for another reason alongside his talent: he was an oddly versatile young man, with many qualities and contradicting qualities, and he was anything but the stereotypical "sensitive" artist.

Syaoran looked out at the street after he picked everything up, looking for a new subject to paint. Though he went to a different street for every day of the week, he repeated the routine of streets every week, so it was difficult to always find something new. (A/N: For example, if he went to a street called "1st Street" on Monday and "2nd Street" on Tuesday, the next Monday, he'd be back on "1st Street," and on the next Tuesday, he'd be back on "2nd Street.") Secretly, he sometimes painted the same thing, just in a different fashion. His favorite subjects were people. The people of the streets were always different.

Today, as he looked around, he felt peculiarly light.

Even if I got off to a bad start...today will be a good day.

I can feel it.

Tomoeda

"Otou-san, is it all right if I go to Tokyo today with Tomoyo and Eriol?" Sakura Kinomoto ran down the stairs of her house and into the kitchen, searching for her father, only to find her brother, Touya, eating breakfast, instead.

"One day, you'll fall from those stairs and crack your head on the floor, you know that?" Touya said matter-of-factly, not looking up from his cereal.

"Very funny," Sakura retorted playfully, looking around the kitchen, then the living room. "But where's our dad? I thought he was staying home for the next two weeks, now that it's winter break..."

Touya poured himself another bowl of cereal. "He said he was going on that end-of-semester field trip today. He'd have told you, but you were sleeping, you lazy bum."

Sakura made a face. "Well, then, I'll have to ask you instead; can I go to Tokyo today with Tomoyo?"

"Depends. How late will you be out?"

"I'm going to Tomoyo's house after, and her mother knows."

Touya shrugged. "Fine by me, but stay out of trouble, and be careful, okay?"

Sakura nodded and hugged her brother. "Thank you," she grinned, and ran back up the stairs to get ready.

Twenty minutes later, as she grabbed her things and prepared to leave, she quickly checked herself over in the mirror, then frowned.

She didn't consider herself unattractive, but in comparison to her best friend, Tomoyo, she always felt hopelessly inferior. Tomoyo had always assured Sakura that she was gorgeous, but...

Tomoyo-chan is too kind for her own good, Sakura thought to herself. It was odd, though; rarely did Sakura care that much about her appearance. She wondered what had prompted her to look over her reflection so carefully now, but she decided that it was just the idea of going on a trip to a big city for the day.

While her body had obviously changed over the years as she grew, her face seemed to be the same as it was when she was in elementary school: large emerald eyes, unfortunately prone to exposing her emotions, (thankfully) clear skin, and lips that were always smiling. Her hair, a deep auburn, was a bit longer than it had been when she was a child- it ran down to her shoulder blades now.

She sighed. It's not like I can do much with myself anyway, she thought, and stepped out of her bedroom. All negative thoughts forgotten, she grinned. She was excited. She hadn't been to Tokyo in years.

Sakura walked outside, unusually early, and sat on the curb, waiting for her two best friends, Tomoyo and Eriol, to pick her up. She looked at her watch- not to check the time, but just to look. It was the same one she'd received three years ago, with the wolves' heads for its hands. She wore it every day, as she'd grown to love it. Every time she looked at it, though, she wondered what had become of the boy who so willingly gave it to her: Li Syaoran. She still remembered that day, though certain aspects of it were fuzzy, worn away by bad memory. She remembered that she'd been lost, and Syaoran had offered her a ride home...he'd given her the watch, although somewhat forcefully...and she didn't remember the rest. She recalled having seen something magnificent at the school before she'd left, something Syaoran had created...

Suddenly, a car pulled up to her driveway.

"Sakura!" Eriol called from the driver's seat, grinning. "You're early today!"

Sakura laughed. "Yeah, I don't know what's gotten into me," she said, getting into the backseat. "Ohayou (good morning), Tomoyo-chan," she said to her best friend, who was sitting in the passenger seat.

"Ohayou, Sakura-chan," Tomoyo replied. "I'm so excited! Tokyo has so many designer stores and the latest fashions...I'll have to see them all!"

Both Eriol and Sakura laughed nervously.

"All...all of the stores?" Eriol asked, having known Tomoyo long enough to understand that, once she got into something, you couldn't pull her out of it.

"We will have time, right? Since it's early? We should be able to get home by one or two in the morning if I hurry..." Tomoyo trailed off, stars in her eyes.

"Two in the morning? Tomoyo, we'll be there by two in the afternoon! What could you possibly be doing in those shops for more than twelve hours?" Eriol replied, awestruck.

Sakura intervened. "Tomoyo, how about you only look at a few stores today? We can always go back. Tokyo's just a two-hour car ride away, you know."

Tomoyo sighed, but grinned as she gave in. "Fine, fine. I can't spend all my time in those designer stores anyway, because I've got to buy more fabrics to make Sakura some more clothes!" She squealed giddily, and with that, they were off.

Sakura sighed as she looked out of the window, seeing trees and buildings pass by. Tomoyo and Eriol had been her two best friends for as long as she could remember. The two had also (somewhat obviously) liked each other since middle school, but never admitted it until they finally became a couple in their junior year.

She was happy for them, though sometimes, she found herself wishing for someone to like herself. For a little while, she'd been infatuated with Ryo, a boy who'd been a grade ahead of her, but she knew it was a simple, fruitless crush, and she'd gotten over it after he graduated high school last year.

Oddly enough, when she even began to think about boys, she thought about the most unlikely person- the boy who'd given her the watch. She knew it was weird, wondering about a boy she hardly knew. All he did was give me a ride home and some watch he didn't even want, she would think to herself. But she would see his face in her mind's eye- messy brown bangs, enigmatic amber eyes- and she would always go back to her first thoughts: what happened to him, and what would've happened if we became friends?

And, with these two thoughts, Sakura fell asleep.

---

Syaoran sat on his stool, doodling idly. He'd painted enough pictures to sell for the day, so now all he had to do was wait for people to come and buy, but no one had been coming all day; it was already four in the afternoon, and in two hours or so, it would get dark...

Suddenly, he saw a customer walking up to his booth, and he hurriedly put the doodle away. The customer, an obviously cheery boy with midnight blue hair and eyes of a slightly darker blue, smiled at the paintings through his glasses. "These are really something," he said to Syaoran.

Syaoran simply nodded. "Thanks." He didn't smile as easily as the customer in front of him.

Despite Syaoran's silence, the boy went on, mentioning something about escaping for a few minutes from his girlfriend and her best friend, who'd gone on some crazy shopping escapade. "I think I'd like to buy a painting for my girlfriend, though...she would really love one of these."

He took his time looking, then picked out a painting of shoppers walking down a street in a winter sunset, paper lanterns hovering over the scene, with the mountains just barely visible in the background- a painting Syaoran had painted a few days ago, on a different street.

As the boy paid, he said, not unkindly, "You know, your paintings are really good...they look more like they'd belong in a museum, rather than on the streets."

Syaoran was surprised, and, for the first time that day, he actually spoke more than a few words. "Er...thank you. No one's ever said that before."

The boy frowned. "Really? Well, surely, I can't be the only one who thought so." As Syaoran boxed the painting, the boy stuck his hand out, then laughed as he realized Syaoran couldn't shake it for the paint all over his hands. "Hiiragizawa Eriol. Next time I come into Tokyo, I'll be sure to look for you."

"Li Syaoran," Syaoran replied. "I appreciate it, but I don't know if you'll be able to find me. I take a different street every day."

Eriol grinned. "Well, then, if I get lucky, I'll see your booth again when I come here." He took the boxed painting and waved goodbye. "Till next time."

Syaoran sat back down, looking at the paintings he'd placed on display. Were they really good enough to be in a museum? He shook his head and decided that Eriol was only trying to be nice.

---

Sakura, Tomoyo, and Eriol sat in a warm café, drinking hot cocoa. It was about five-thirty; soon, they'd go out to eat dinner, and then they would have to head back home.

Eriol drank his cocoa and laughed. "I can't believe I just spent the last four hours following you two around while you shopped!"

"Hey, that's not very fair. You got to go off by yourself for a little bit," Sakura countered.

"Hmm...I didn't think about how difficult it would be to carry so many bags back to the car," Tomoyo interrupted absentmindedly, and she cast a brief glance at the pile of shopping bags next to their table.

Sakura and Eriol both stared at the bags, realizing for the first time how much they'd bought.

"Oh! I almost forgot. I got you a present," Eriol beamed at Tomoyo, grabbing the box he'd laid next to his chair. "I met this really amazing painter at a roadside stand...I swear, his stuff should be in magazines. Anyway, I thought you might like one," he unboxed the painting, and Tomoyo and Sakura gasped simultaneously. It was gorgeous.

"Do you like it?" Eriol said, but his question didn't need an answer, obviously.

And, without notice or warning, Tomoyo leaned over the table and kissed Eriol on the cheek, making him blush in surprise.

Sakura watched the whole thing take place before her, and while she felt great that her friends loved each other that much, it made her feel like a third wheel. "Hey, you guys, I'm going to go wander around by myself for a little bit. I'll be back in a few minutes, all right?"

Eriol frowned. "Are you sure? We could go with you..."

"No, that's all right," she reassured him. "I promise I'll be back soon."

Sakura heaved a sigh as she walked out of the café and onto the cold, snow-covered sidewalk. As happy as she was for her two friends, it got difficult being around them when they were acting like a couple.

Hazily, a face characterized by those familiar amber eyes popped into her mind. She shook her head to clear the thoughts away, and she looked around at the stores, trying to find something to do so Eriol and Tomoyo could have more time alone. She glanced to her left to see a costume shop, and, grinning to herself, she walked in.

---

Was that all my "good day" summed up to? Extra pay and an insincere compliment?

Syaoran sighed to himself as he looked around the street, which was still crammed with shoppers. Deciding (very uncharacteristically) to close up early, he began to gather his things, when all of a sudden he spotted the oddest sight he'd seen all day: a girl in the open costume shop across the street, wearing a witch's hat and a princess's dress, smiling at her silly outfit in the mirror. For some reason, she seemed vaguely familiar, but realized he didn't know anyone with her hair color- a distinct shade of golden-brown- and he looked at the paint brushes he'd been holding in his hand for his earlier attempt to pack his things. Then, he looked back at the girl, still twirling around in that ridiculous outfit, and wondered whether he should paint what he was seeing. He laughed at the sight, a girl who was clearly around his age dancing around in some princess costume.

He always tweaked the features of the passers by whom he painted to make sure their faces were somewhat anonymous, and he got the biggest burst of inspiration at that moment, seeing the girl in the princess costume. He looked at the stack of blank canvas nailed to wooden boards, leaning neatly against his booth. He picked one up and began to mix colors on his palette.

He'd paint a princess.

He looked up very occasionally, amazed at his luck: almost the entire time he was painting, the girl was still there. Usually, when he painted a person he saw, he only saw them for a short amount of time, and after they left, he'd have to use his imagination to paint the rest. Thirty minutes or so passed as he got the outline of the girl, her dress, her hair- when all of a sudden, the boy he'd met before, Eriol, and another girl with long, violet hair, went into the costume shop and began to talk and laugh with the girl in the princess outfit. She disappeared into the back of the store to go change, and a few minutes later, she came back out in normal clothing. As the three left the store, Syaoran abruptly caught two things that made him freeze: her eye color, a deep shade of green, even in the setting sunlight, and the watch on her left wrist.

The watch he'd given to a girl he didn't even know- a girl with the greenest eyes he'd ever seen- three years ago, when he was sixteen.

---

Yaaay, I've finished the first chapter! (: Hehe, I'm really excited about this story...I hope that people like it as much as they've liked my others. There are a few key things I didn't mention in the plot summary, but they'll surface eventually- most of it has to do with Syaoran's quest to find his family, which I will elaborate more on in the next chapter. I hope you liked, please review! Ja ne-

-Medieval Legend15