DISCLAIMER: Card Captor Sakura does not belong to me and belongs to CLAMP, yeah yeah.

BTW, this happened sometime after Sakura captured The Create. I'm trying my best not to touch the actual plot of the series, but hey.

Anyway, hope you like it.

SAKURA, SYAORAN AND THE ART OF MESS

Prologue

It was already late at night. The clouds that were previously not present started to envelope the dark blue sky and block the light of the shining moon. On top of a tall building near the Penguin Park stood a figure, watching.

"I see she has captured another Clow card," he said to himself. "Not bad."

"Are you still spying on that Kinomoto girl?" Out from the shadows the clouds cast stepped a young woman into view.

"Oneesan, what are you doing here? It's late already," he said, his eyes never off the direction where the Clow card had been sealed.

"I should be the one asking you that. How can you tell the girl had captured a card? We are too far from them."

"Her name is Kinomoto Sakura, don't forget that," he reminded her. "She used one of her cards to grow big and seal another one. I could see her from here."

The young woman sighed. "If Izume were here, she won't like what you're doing."

He turned to her. "Leave her out of this. She's got nothing to do with what I'm doing."

"She has everything to do with what's happening to you. Look at you! I don't mean to sound so uncaring but ever since she... left us, you've been spending too much time on magic and put the rest of your life behind."

The curves of his mouth lifted. "Can you blame me if I was born with ability?"

She let out a jaded sigh. "That's not my point."

He laughed. "I know. I was just teasing." Then his face grew a bit serious. "You should return to the apartment. You still have school, and I don't think we still have enough money... You shouldn't get sick either." His last sentence left him feeling so sad mixed with a bitter memory.

She came up to him and placed one hand on his head. "I'll be fine. I won't get sick for you, I promise."

He did not answer.

She tried to smile. "I know who's the person in your mind now. She was one of the strongest people I've ever met."

"I know. I just miss her."

"But I have some good news." She pulled out a file of papers and handed it to him.

His eyes scanned the words printed in black ink before meeting the expectant look on her face. "Well?" she prodded. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. Are you really sure about this?"

"Why not? People do stuff like that in their free time."

"You don't have any free time."

"So?" She could be really stubborn about this. "I'll make my own."

"I..." He tried not to frown. If only he could repay everything she had done for him. "Oneesan... thank you."

"You're not thanking me at all."

His face shifted from being sad to completely surprised. "What do you mean?"

The young woman looked dead serious. After a moment her expression crumbled and she laughed.

"Oneesan!"

"Sorry," she apologized, her laughter subsiding. "I've never seen you look so surprised."

"There's always a first time."

She shot him a look of mock seriousness. "Seriously, you forgot what Izume had told you about being thankful, didn't you?"

At first his mind did not meet anything. Then he remembered. "Saying thanks without a smile shows no gratitude nor appreciation at all."

"That's right. So I want you to lose that sad frown and lighten up a little."

At last, he gave a genuine smile. "Thanks. Again."

"Anytime." Then she grew a bit stern. "But as your oneesan, I'm telling you to stop stalking that magical girl."

That smile disappeared. "I can't do that."

She stared at him eye to eye. "If you really want to get those Clow cards, why not just search for them and then capture them yourself? Why are you involving that girl anyway?"

He sighed. "I told you already before, she has the rod of sealing. I can't do that."

"So you're just wasting your time after all. If she seals them, then they go to her."

"Not necessarily. She has always someone with her. The cards go to him if he's the one who defeats them."

"Him?"

"Him. I mean that guy with her who uses Chinese magic."

"So the girl does all the hard work for nothing?"

"No. Kinomoto makes them return to their card form but they will go to the person who beats them."

"Sounds unfair to me. The girl uses a lot of energy to seal them, doesn't she? Then it will be a waste if they don't end up in her hands?"

He smiled. "Sounds just right to me."

She frowned at his expression. "That look on your face—you're planning something again, aren't you?"

He just shrugged his shoulders. "The Clow cards have a lot of power, don't they? You know the relationship between strong magic of other people and me." He laughed lightly when she sighed in resignation. "Don't worry, Oneesan. This will be the last time. Or at least, for a while."

"Can't you stop thinking about those cards for at least a day? It's beginning to drive me crazy!"

"I'll be fine. Just give me a few weeks or so and I promise, I won't let the whole thing bug you anymore. I'll deal with those cards."

The young woman raised her eyebrows. "And just how do you plan to do that?"

He dug his left hand on his pocket and pulled out something, the bracelet on his wrist jingling.

She brought her hand to her face. "Oh no. Not that again."

He smiled while waving it for indication. "If I have done it before, why can't I do it again?" Between his fingers he was holding a piece of hard paper with a character of a single word: mess.