Prologue

"You should have known, Kereberos. You should have guessed this would be the result. The years have stolen your memories of the Master's power, and you thought you saw it reflected in such a weak human. I'm disappointed," Yue's words rained down like blows, like bolts of judgment from above.

"Clow didn't make you to be like this Yue," Kereberos growled, more in pain than in anger. He wanted to be angry, to yell back in defiance, but in the place where anger and hope dwelt there was nothing left. "Not like this. No one could have passed that test. No one."

"Clow could have," Yue said.

Kereberos weakly pulled himself to his four feet and padded over to stand beside Sakura, who was on her knees. Her face had the shocked white expression of a person who had just failed. It was the face of a person who understood that her failure would cost everyone she knew the thing that was most precious to any human: the memories of love. In the end even she would forget everything. How could the mind of a grade-schooler wrap around such a realization? Yue had injured her physically with his test... but the wounds from this failure ran much deeper into Sakura's core. Tears ran from her eyes and down her cheeks unchecked, probably unnoticed.

"K... Kero..." Sakura's voice was so terribly faint. Her eyes were on him, but he hardly felt that she was truly seeing him standing in front of her. Feeling like crying himself Kereberos pressed his large, furry head against Sakura's face, letting her stain his fur with her tears.

"I'm sorry Sakura. I shouldn't have gotten you involved in this. For a kid this was too much. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," Kereberos said, repeating the apology over and over to himself, to Sakura, to Syaoran, to Yue, to Clow. He had placed a child in command of some of the most powerful and mysterious magic the world currently knew and had expected her to pass a test being given by a judge who had declared that no other Master for the cards would be found.

"Perhaps, now that you're truly awake, you'll do a better job with your next selection," Yue said, interrupting Kereberos's mourning. All around them the Clow Cards drifted, and Kereberos could feel their impatient energy. They were chomping at the bit in anticipation of being free again. Their nervous activity was probably sapping what little there was left of Sakura's magic force. The test was over, and it was time to begin preparations for finding another Master.

"Where will the next selection take place? And what will you do with your human form?" Kereberos asked, turning to regard Yue with a difficult expression. He knew he'd never forget the pain of that day... but they had been tasked by Clow and could not ignore their duty. It made his bile rise to coldly turn his back on Sakura now when she was hurting, but he had to know if this was truly where they would separate forever.

"Tomoeda was the destined location of this judgment. I believe those who are capable of wielding magic will be drawn here in time. As for my form... I've grown tired of this particular human's form. I've already selected another," Yue said, folding his arms.

"..." Kereberos couldn't find anything else to say to that. Without Yue inhabiting him it was likely Yukito would just vanish or go back to wherever it was he had come from. No one would even remember he had been there. It made Kereberos's jaw clench, but there was nothing he could say.

Sakura's failure was his own failure. There was nothing left but to bow his head in defeat.

There was a flash and Yue's form vanished. Kereberos blinked, confused, and looked around. The Clow Cards were still floating around, not yet scattered. Was the next selection beginning? Why did Yue vanish without saying anything?

Then there was the sound of some rubble being pushed aside as someone stood somewhere behind Kereberos. Slowly, Kereberos turned to look.

Tomoyo Daidouji was climbing to her feet. Her long black hair had become white, and her warm, friendly eyes were now frosty with the same expression Yue had been wearing. No... rather... Yue had become Tomoyo.

Folding her wings neatly behind her back Yue dusted herself off a little and then regarded Kereberos.

"Well then, shall we begin the 2nd game?" she asked, her voice musical like angelsong. She then raised one hand, middle finger pressed to thumb.

Syaoran, Kereberos, Mizuki and Sakura all looked up at Yue's small hand like it was the bell that would toll the end of days.

*snap*

(Anjin's Notes: For those of you wondering 'hey doesn't this guy have some other CCS fic he was doing? Yes I did but the Alternate Universe idea I was using for that was so far departed from being a CCS story as to render it basically worthless. I actually scrapped it, replaced the characters with originals and am now re-writing it as a possible professional piece. As for this story I mostly wanted a reason to explore several possibilities with the CCS story, namely: Alternate relationships (mostly centered around Tomoyo... Ah yes, expect there to be a love triangle quadrangle pentagram? Also I wanted to explore other characters as Cardcaptors, but no original characters! I refuse to use originals as that just encourages self-insertion which is horrid. I'll also do away with my forcefully shoving my music tastes down everyone's throats with my 'opening theme' 'ending theme' thingy as I realize now that no one actually goes out and listens to the songs I suggest for background music for my 'fics. If you really miss this feature I'll be happy to assign a bunch of 07th Expansion songs for you to listen to to get the mood right.

This fic will operate under the same understanding as all CLAMP works: there's no such thing as an altruistic villain, love can bloom between any two (or more) characters regardless of... everything, and if I -really- run out of ideas I'll cross it over with Angelic Layer or something (don't hold your breath though). I don't intend for every chapter to be as heavy as this prologue was so don't worry about it turning all emo or anything. I do enjoy melodrama as it adds power to certain emotional parts of the story, but I will use it sparingly, promise. Anywho please enjoy future chapters of the magical drama romance New Judgment. I'm a really nice guy to talk to, by the way, so if you ever want to discuss CLAMP's works, fanfictions in general or if you just want another member for your anime-themed RP please don't hesitate to message me or contact me through some other means. I'm generally available. Always.)