Kiregire

A/N: Here's another one for you. I'm starting to wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew … 50 drabbles … but I'm determined to see this through. The idea's been scurrying round my head for too long not to make a decent go of it. It will be done … though slowly!

When it comes to the ages of the characters … for the most part, I deliberately won't be specifying them, unless I particularly want or need to, OR if the scene takes place in a canon setting (like this one). That way the reader can picture them as and how they want. Generally I see them as being late teens/early twenties for the majority of the fics. This one takes place in the Sakura Card arc, after the conversion of Fly but before the confrontation with Eriol.

And lastly, huge, huge thanks to Therese Delacoeur for the idea for this chapter! As always, feel free to suggest any ideas for any of the chapters!

Two – Fly

Li Syaoran looked up in pure horror as Sakura's body sped towards the ground, her white wings stretched out behind her.

"Be careful!" he roared at the top of his lungs, before his instincts got the better of him. He raised his sword (which had been ready in his hands all night in case it was needed), slammed it into an ofuda and called, "Fuuka Shourai!" Wind spilled out of the sword and raced upwards, encasing the body of Kinomoto Sakura and lowering her gently to the ground.

"Are you all right?" Syaoran yelled as he ran over to her.

Sakura turned her head towards him and giggled. "Li-kun, I was fine! I had it under control."

Syaoran blushed, realising he may have very slightly overreacted. With her it was a common problem.

"It didn't look like it."

"I promise!" she said, her eyes wide and earnest. "I would've stopped before I hit the ground – Kero-chan says I need to learn how to stop at short notice."

"The stuffed animal –" He raised his voice so he could be sure that Kero would hear him. "– Doesn't have a clue what he's talking about!"

"Aw, what's up kid?" the guardian taunted. "Did we scare you?"

Syaoran rounded on him. "Will you PACK IT IN?!"

"What are you whining about, brat?" Kero demanded. "She has to learn!"

"She doesn't need to learn how to do some weird type of airborne cannonballing!"

"It's a useful skill!"

"What, like playing video games and eating until you're sick?"

Kero puffed up indignantly. "I do plenty of useful things, gaki!"

"Name one!"

"Teaching my mistress how to fly!"

"CANNONBALL!"

"IT'S THE SAME THING!"

"Guys, stop!" Sakura cried, looking from one to the other with wide eyes. "It's not worth fighting over something so silly – Li-kun, I promise I was okay. But thank you. For worrying about me."

He flushed bright red, and was fully aware of the stupid plushie gloating over how easily he had been flustered.

"Kero-chan!" Sakura snapped, and the smug smile fell off his face. Once she had his attention, Sakura smiled at him. "Why don't you do another lap of the park – show me how it's done while I take a break?"

It was a lame excuse, but the guardian's vanity took over. "Absolutely!" he cried, before taking off and starting to loop through the air in a series of complex manoeuvres.

Sakura giggled quietly. "He's such a show off …"

She looked over at Syaoran, who still had the remnants of a blush lingering about his cheeks. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"Y-Y-You didn't!" he insisted hotly. "I just – I mean I …"

Sakura beamed. "I guess it's just your instincts, huh? You see a person falling and so you try to save them." She sighed wistfully. "You're such a good person."

He knew he wouldn't be able to open his mouth without saying something ridiculous, so he kept his lips pressed firmly together.

"It makes you nervous, doesn't it? When I fly?"

"What makes you say that?" he mumbled.

Sakura shrugged. "I don't know. I just remember you never really liked getting on the staff that much – and all night we've been out here you've been on edge."

"That's … I mean …" Syaoran fumbled desperately for an excuse. "We're in a park at two in the morning using magic. Of course I'm on edge – what if someone sees us?"

She laughed again. "You know they won't – I've put Shield up around the whole area."

He had nothing to say to that.

"It's okay, I promise," Sakura said softly, taking his hand and twining her fingers between his. "Fly would never let me fall."

Syaoran knew that was true, but it didn't stop him worrying. "I've never flown before," he confessed. "It's not one of my skills. I don't know, it just doesn't look … stable." He sounded like an idiot – the feel of her hand in his was distracting him.

"It's not stable," she agreed, "But that doesn't mean I'm not safe."

"I know."

"You don't have to stay," she continued shyly. "I'd hate to think I was making you nervous or uncomfortable. And it's late … and I'd be okay here with Kero-chan."

"I'm fine," Syaoran said abruptly, refusing to even consider leaving her alone late at night with nothing but that stuffed animal for protection.

They sat together in silence for a while before Sakura shifted, twisting to look at his face. "Why don't you give it a try? I know Fly would lend you wings if I asked her – the cards all like you very much!"

For some reason this announcement embarrassed him further, and his shifted awkwardly. "Um, I don't think – I mean, I'd rather not."

"Okay," she replied simply. She'd never push him. "One day, though?"

"One day," he promised, his desire to make her happy winning over his embarrassment.

He was rewarded with one of her best smiles, before the sun guardian came careening up to them.

"Did ya see me, Sakura? Huh, huh, didya?"

Syaoran was reminded forcefully of the five-year-olds that yelled at their mothers from the tops of slides and diving boards.

"I saw you, Kero-chan," she soothed him.

"Awesome!" he cried. "So, let's go again, huh?"

And so Syaoran resigned himself to standing on the sidelines, his sword held at the ready as he watched her climb higher and higher in the sky.

Fly would never let her fall. And neither would he.

A/N: I think I poisoned myself with my own sap …

Next chapter: Shadow