I forgot that little Kero has black dots for eyes, not the yellow baleful eyes in his true form. So um… let's just scratch out that part about yellow diamonds and replace it with "black onyx" for his eyes. Kurogane - Tomoyo was borrowed from Tsubasa Chronicles. Lastly, I thought it was interesting that a reviewer compared it to Cinderella. I had actually considered the name of this fic to be "Cinderella Reborn" at one point. I wasn't sure why, because I didn't think this fic was similar to Cinderella other than a girl suddenly orphaned and living with two step-siblings and an evil stepmother. I really don't want Meilin to be a bad guy here though, as I love Meilin's character and am tired of seeing her portrayed as such.

Kurogane was on one knee in front of an empty throne; Tomoyo was standing next to the high-arched windows of the castle, staring out at the world as the rain spattered across the gold and red glass. She had been like that since he delivered the news of the preliminary mission's failure to find Sakura within the Clow Kingdom's walls an hour ago. He too, had remained motionless for that hour, and although his knees were getting numb, he made no outward sign of it. He knew she was grieving for Sakura, and it was a knight's code to swear eternal loyalty to his lady, even to the extent that her pain would become his. Finally, after feeling the hour crawl by, Tomoyo sighed deeply.

"Sakura… where are you?"


In the privacy of a small cottage just outside the Li castle walls, Touya grabbed a worn-looking stuffed cat from the bookcase and sat down heavily. Yukito smiled benignly as he set a steaming mug of tea in front of him before sitting across from him, tucking his chin over both palms, a mischievous twinkle in his gray eyes hidden behind his silver glasses.

After a few moments of politely ignoring his staring, Touya surrendered and tilted his head at him. "What?" he muttered gruffly.

"It's so rare to see To-ya looking so cute," he grinned.

Touya's face flushed considerably and he shifted so that Yukito wasn't directly looking at him. His finger traced along the tattered scarlet ribbon at its throat, a silver bell and a matching nametag bearing "Suppi-chan" jingled softly.

"Do you think she's still in there, Yuki?" he asked tonelessly.

Yukito reached out and took Touya's other hand that was resting on the table. "The royal bloodline of the Clows has been known to have an unrivaled stubborn streak. I see it in you, and I know Sakura would never leave the place where you would claim her, no matter how horribly they're treating her."

Touya glanced up at him. "You think they're being that bad to her? I didn't realize that my parents would die… because of me…" he trailed off sadly. He paused, and cleared his throat before beginning again, a fresh note of confidence in his voice. "I'm not going to let Sakura rot in there."

Yukito smiled. "That's the To-ya I know."

Touya grunted in reply as he reached for the stack of papers on the desk and a pencil…


"…So in actuality, we are all descendants of the great mole king Thumahatep, who accidentally discovered he could see when he drank the blood of a unicorn mixed with the dung of a white dog," Yamazaki, the court minister, stated as he held up a finger, looking as important as he could rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

Syaoran was sitting in a chair in the library, his chin propped up by his fist, enthralled with the bit of history his mentors had never told him about. Eriol, mumbling curses while he polished his staff and occasionally shooting dark looks at Syaoran, was still sour about the ordeal yesterday, and decided not to let Syaoran know Yamazaki was lying for a little longer in a fit of revenge. Suddenly, the doors flew open and Hou strode in, marching briskly toward them. Syaoran glanced at him and slowly straightened, too interested in the grand entrance to admonish him about the formalities of entering. Hou slammed a stack of long parchment in front of him, smoothing out a few rolls. He looked rather proud as he pointed to the various scrawled diagrams.

"This is the layout of the castle, and these are a list of new strategies we can employ for the war," he said as he unrolled another scroll.

Syaoran glanced over the pages of the furious strokes of kanji letters and boldly written exclamation marks on the margins of each drawing. "How did you manage to get such a detailed blueprint? You've even marked down secret passageways the royalty use to exit the castle in times of war."

Hou waved his hand dismissively. "I used to work in the castle before I came here." Syaoran's brow furrowed further as he read a few of the innovating tactics. "And why do all your plans end with the slaughtering of the entire Mei clan?"

The general shifted slightly, adjusting the scarlet cloak's fastenings by his neck. "There are some notes in there that call for their torture before eventual executions," he defended.

Yamazaki and Eriol stepped closer to the desk and peered over them with some interest. "That's a really detailed method to have their intestines gutted publicly," Yamazaki grimaced. Eriol nodded in agreement. "Indeed, and the way you describe the precision needed to slice them from their throats down to their …" Eriol coughed slightly. "In any case, we can't use a full frontal attack on them like that without the confirmation that Princess Sakura is in there."

Syaoran leaned forward, gripping his fist with the other hand. "Does that mean we need to schedule another visit to the Clow Kingdom? To scout around some more, I mean," he added.

Eriol shook his head. "Xiao-Mei is not a foolish woman. She will know that on and off rounds around the castle, especially unsupervised, are not normal. We need constant surveillance on the area, but without being detected."

"What do you suggest?" Eriol had Hou's full attention.

Eriol was quiet for a moment. "Their weakness lies in their lack of defenses. As I had suspected, Xiao-Mei was eager for a betrothal between her daughter and a powerful warring kingdom."

Hou mused over it, and slowly grinned, his arms crossed in satisfaction. "An engagement will require a huge banquet, perhaps one that will last several days. Plenty of guests over…"

"Too many guests to keep a sharp eye on," Syaoran continued. "Not only could we slip in spies in the form of guests, but we ourselves could check around the castle with little trouble."

"The castle guards there will also be drunk during the feast," Hou nodded. "Several days will be more than enough to locate Princess Sakura. I am confident."

Yamazaki frowned. "So then, what are you going to do after you find her? I doubt you can just sneak off with her, especially after a broken engagement."

Hou laughed heartily. "That is where the 1001 torture methods I've devised especially for the Mei family come into play!"

The other three exchanged concerned glances in silence before Syaoran pulled enough courage together to speak. "The Meis will have to be contended with eventually in order to return the throne to the princess. Until then, I'd like this matter to be dealt with as little bloodshed as possible. It's foolish to waste lives in a war that will take place solely in the castle walls."

Hou nodded slowly at him. "I see why you have such a strong army, your majesty. You have won many wars not only through brilliant and decisive tactics, but your compassion for the people has earned their absolute loyalty to you."

Eriol cleared his throat. "It was me who came up with the idea, you know."


There was a knock on the door.

"Come in," Meizuo called before raising the crystal glass of red wine to his lips again. The door opened and Sakura entered with little grace, bowing only slightly to his back.

"You called for me, young prince?" she asked, her hands neatly folded against her apron.

Meizuo smirked as he turned from the fireplace and walked slowly towards her. The orange flames dancing in the hearth gave his silhouette a fearsome flickering corona, and Sakura stepped back slightly. He leaned only closer, a toothy smile pressing closer to her face as she determinedly kept her gaze on the floor. After a moment passed, he pulled away and picked up a bottle of wine in the ice bucket next to her.

"You've grown up, YingFa," he smiled as he refilled his glass.

"Maybe you can learn how to after a few centuries," she retorted automatically. He chuckled and shook a finger at her before picking up another clean glass and filling it.

"Ah, that fiery Sakura never went away, did it?" he mused as he handed her the glass. She made no movement to accept it; he gave a short laugh and retracted his hand before setting it down on the table next to the bottle. "You know, one of the first things you do when you train a slave is to change her name. Do you know why?"

Sakura remained in stony silence.

"It's a method of breaking them," he continued smoothly. "To make them forget who they are. A name is given by your parents, right? People who love you to some extent, in any case. It's an amazing thing, really. It's just a word, yet it becomes more than that as people age. It becomes their identity."

She glanced up at him. "So why did you call for 'Sakura'?"

Meizuo grinned, but it did not extend to the cruelty of his eyes. "Ah, but that was a test, YingFa. And do you know how you did on this test? You failed. Why? What you should have said to the messenger was 'I do not know a Sakura; I am Ying Fa.' And do you know what it means to fail a test, YingFa?"

He was advancing on her with each question, to which she replied by taking another step back until finally he had her against the wall. He didn't give her a chance to reply. "It means, dear Sakura," he chuckled with relish, "that you aren't broken yet." He suddenly seized her wrists easily with one hand and she gave a sharp cry as he pinned them above her head. "Shall I introduce the second method to breaking slaves in, Sakura?" he whispered against her ear as his other hand slithered along the thigh high stockings of her uniform under her skirt. Her eyes widened as she struggled against his grip with renewed energy. "Get… off… of me!" she gritted with difficulty as she simultaneously kicked and writhed in his grasp. There was a sudden flare of light as her latent magic kicked in and burned Meizuo's hands, forcing him to let go of her. She instantly shot off, dashing out of the room. She slammed the door of her room behind her hurriedly, but she fumbled with the locks with trembling fingers. When the last lock slid into place, she breathed hard, and leaned her back against the door, sinking down slowly to hug her knees. Only then did she allow herself to break down completely, her body wracked with quiet sobs.

Meanwhile, just in front of the castle gates, Eriol glanced up around the air, a concerned look in his eyes as he rotated slowly on the spot. Syaoran glanced at him after adjusting his magician's hat for the fifth time.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

He shook his head. "Nothing… it's just strange. I thought I sensed a touch of magic, like a small barrier, similar to the one Clow used to protect the city."

Hou's eyes narrowed and clenched his fist tighter with aggravation. "The Clow bloodline is famous for that magic. It's a defense that will kick in automatically when anyone with the Clow blood in them is in danger."

Eriol nodded slowly. "That makes sense. Clow's magic is what kept a barrier impervious to outside attacks. Does that confirm Princess Sakura is in there?"

Syaoran shook his head. "We can't be too hasty and jump to conclusions. It could be either Meilin or Meizuo as well who were in a momentary span of danger. Although…" he admitted, "it is more likely it was Sakura in danger."

"We have to move fast and get her out of there. Her barrier magic will keep her safe to a point, but…" Hou trailed off. "I'm going to kill whoever tried to hurt her, and I bet it was that bitch Xiao-Mei" he growled.

"You were already going to kill her," reminded Eriol. "Yeah well, she's going to be killed even more," Hou added savagely.

A sudden thought occurred to Syaoran. "Hou, you worked in the castle before? Did you leave on good terms?"

After a pause, he grimaced, remembering what Yukito had told him last night. "I was banished. I am to be killed if I stepped foot in the kingdom again."

"That settles it," Syaoran nodded. "You can't go in and risk exposure as a spy in the walls. We'll use your blueprints to navigate our way around the castle, but we'll call you in for the final battle."

Hou had no choice but to obey.


Naoko nodded mutely before the Empress. "Yes, your highness," she replied. "Prince Syaoran expresses a wish to marry the Princess Meilin."

A steaming teacup was placed gently on the saucer. "After one meeting? He moves fast… I had faith in Meilin's charms," she said after a moment, although her voice was still doubtful. "I suppose a banquet is in order. Invite the usual kingdoms."

"Being that the dignitaries will be here for a week, shall we continue to lock up Sa—" Naoko caught herself. "YingFa?"

Xiao-Mei nodded slowly. "I suppose it's not possible to keep her locked in the room for the entire week, as much as I'd like that to happen. Let her continue work during the day, but keep her door locked at night."

"Yes, Empress," Naoko smiled in spite of herself. It was a small victory of freedom for Sakura if she could arrange for a meeting with Tomoyo.


Glancing back at the castle gardens, Meilin tilted her head as she critically compared her latest painting to the view, a slender brush artfully twirled in her right hand. Xiao-Mei was still animatedly chatting with her future husband at the side on the white patio seats. God only knew how much more planning she could stomach; if this was only the work for the engagement plans, she didn't want to bother with the wedding at all. She sighed and concentrated once more on her painting; she leaned over and flicked the end of the brush against the canvas, adding a touch more brown to the path that wended through the garden. Why was it getting so hard to focus?

The handsome answer appeared in the corner of her vision, bringing an immediate blush to her cheeks. Her grip on the brush tightened, and she accidentally spread a dark green smear along the rosebushes she had just painted.

"Oh!" she breathed with surprise. The amber-eyed mage turned his gaze with some interest to her, and walked by her side, glancing over her painting. She bit her lip nervously, silently cursing herself in her mind. Of course he would come by just as she made a terrible mistake.

"It's not so bad," he finally said. She slowly turned her head to the left, watching him pick up a slim flat brush and load it with the same green paint, a touch of pink mixing in with it along the sides. Meilin nervously smoothed her silken black locks and stepped to the side, giving him room, but he shook his head and took her hand, slipping the brush between her fingers.

"It's your artwork. Another's hands shouldn't mess with it, but I can help you. Just do this," he said as he guided her brush strokes along the paper, dabbing at the smear and working at it gently. Her heart was beating faster as he held her hand, his breath tickling her ear as she instinctively inhaled his musk of sandalwood and spices; she couldn't tear her gaze away from him as he continued to paint with her, but he didn't seem to notice.

"There," he grinned broadly as he finally let go. She glanced back at the painting, and where there was an ugly smear, a new flower sat, pink and green leaves exploding from a central source in the midst of the lush garden. "It's beautiful," she gasped.

"Eh, you really think so?" he smiled as he rubbed his head with embarrassment, making his unruly locks even wilder. "I took a few art classes, but all I could ever do was draw that plant. It doesn't exist anywhere, but I saw it so often in my dreams."

He gave a half-hearted wave as he continued to tour around the gardens, leaving Meilin to finish her painting, the thoughts racing through her mind dreamier and more beautiful than the gardens of Clow itself.


After a hectic first day at the Clow castle, Eriol wearily sank onto a plush armchair in the parlor of his room, slightly invigorated enough to speak with a cup of tea in his hands.

"And so, she nagged and nagged, until even I wanted to say that the bloody princess could get married in black and I could care less," Eriol ranted, still frustrated over the pre-engagement plans that Xiao-Mei had foisted upon him.

Syaoran nodded absent-mindedly, occasionally grunting with agreement as his fingers toyed with something glittering in the folds of his robes. After a moment of heated insults toward the Meis, Eriol sighed deeply, polishing off the last drop of his tea.

"Yup," Syaoran said suddenly, although Eriol had not said anything. Eriol's eyes narrowed and reached over, plucking a small golden object out of Syaoran's hands. Syaoran blinked and belatedly stretched his hands out for it. "Give it back."

Eriol poked the small golden harp that was playing a lovely melody by the power of its own magic to the light, inspecting it as the flames reflected along the gilded curves. "Isn't this the present I gave you for your 5th birthday? I'm a little touched. I didn't think you liked it that much," he grinned.

"I don't. I'm giving it to the maid," Syaoran grunted. Eriol's smile suddenly twisted into a deep frown, and he glared hard at the prince. After sensing the searing rage behind Eriol, Syaoran finally rolled his eyes. "Come off it, you stodgy bum," he said exasperatedly. "I need to bribe her with something and you've given me loads of presents."

"You must not have been aware of the newest trend in bribery," Eriol said seriously. "They started giving away packets of gold currency, not fancy bits of magic that took a 5-year-old magician two months to make under a meteor shower, sweating it out over a bubbling pot of liquid gold and turtle heads."

"Trends suck," Syaoran said simply. Eriol ripped off his glasses and raised his hand as if to shout at him, but sighed with frustration and rubbed his temples.
"Tell me, Lord prince, why a veritable warlord who successfully pillaged mountains of gold from corrupt kingdoms must re-gift a present from his right-hand man? My God, at least tell me she's a deliriously sexy maid who begged for it."
"Well," Syaoran began. "She is rather attractive."

Eriol's eyes opened and he leaned forward with interest. "Really? You've turned down so many beautiful princesses from other countries, I was beginning to think you were seeking a prince. If she's attractive by your standards, she must be at the very least deliriously sexy." Eriol looked slightly aroused just by imagining her.

Syaoran shook his head. "She's… pretty, but that's not the first thing that made me interested."
"How did she capture your heart?"
Syaoran contemplated it before replying, "She threw her shoe at me." Eriol blinked at the unexpected answer. "A shoe?"
He nodded fondly, "Yeah, and then she tried to blind me with a button."
"Your highness?" Eriol began wearily.
"Hm?" Syaoran murmured distractedly as he snatched back the miniature harp.
"Sometimes, I wonder if you really would be better off with a Prince Charming."
"Yeah, me too."
"Really? Would you marry me?" Eriol sounded almost hopeful.
"Nah, I'd be too in love with Hou," Syaoran teased. "He has brains and brawn, whereas you're all geek."
"I heard geeks make better lovers anyway," Eriol sniffed.
"Not something I want to find out for myself," Syaoran muttered as he left for his own room.

As Syaoran walked down the hallway, listening to his footsteps echo, he vaguely wondered about YingFa. For the sake of his reputation in front of Eriol, he had omitted the fact that she was probably the most interesting girl he had ever met. He paused, his hand in his pocket, and a slow grin spread across his face as the moon came out of the clouds and bathed the corridor with silver light, lighting up his way to the servants' quarters. He had subconsciously walked this way after memorizing the blueprints Hou had provided. He gazed around at the uniform oak doors, wondering which plain cell YingFa would be in. Cross-referencing the diagram with his knowledge of the gardens where he encountered her, he walked down to the end of the hallway, but was surprised to see that a castle guard was by it, keeping watch.

"What's in there?" Syaoran smiled disarmingly with a jaunty air at him. The guard didn't fall for it, and didn't reply. "I'm the Prince Syaoran's court vizier, and was entrusted with the security of the castle. I won't ask again. What's in there?" he asked more coldly.

The guard shifted uneasily. "It's… a small treasury room, Sir. It's always locked because of the valuables in there," he said hastily.

Syaoran grinned sardonically. "A treasury in the servants' quarters? Do they trust the help around here that much that they'd leave the most important valuables right next to them? Open the door."

"I-I can't, Sir. It's against my orders and there's powerful magic sealing that door from all sorts of spells— Oh, my God!" the guard shrieked as Syaoran pushed him out of the way and kicked the door just under the knob. Hard. The door swung open with a crash, and YingFa, who was sitting at her vanity in a small pink slip she wore to sleep in, jumped.

"Christ, do you ever just knock?" she exclaimed in surprise as she recognized him immediately. Syaoran coughed, a hot blush searing across his cheeks as he politely averted his gaze from the way the thin straps settled along her slim ivory shoulders. He stepped forward, and set the golden harp on the top of her vanity. Too late did she realize what he was blushing about, and grabbed her bathrobe next to her, cinching the belt tightly around her slender waist. He turned to leave without saying anything else, but stopped at her doorway as he glanced over his left shoulder.

"I'd like to hear you sing again sometime. I thought… I thought that the harp would give you happier things to sing about," he mumbled before he stalked off to his own room.

She smiled, and he heard her chuckle before the door swung shut again.