Hope this chapter is okay! Sorry this is shorter than the others, I've been sort of busy, with the usual school and stuff. Please read and review. Thank you heaps. ^_^
Chapter 3: The Distant Cousin

Sakura suddenly awoke from a restless sleep. Warm, detrimental sweat streaked her face as her entire body shivered and her hands trembled as she used them to pull back her covers. Her breath was short and she found it very difficult to take in air, as if she were suffocating. It was like being in out of space, without oxygen to able the lungs to pump, the blood to circulate and the mind to think. She clasped her throat tightly, desperately.

What's going on? her mind screamed. But there wasn't an answer to be met.

She started to massage her neck, trying to relax and sooth her tensing, tightened vocals. Shortly, the asphyxiating experience ended, and she lied forward on her elbows, her forehead sinking into the space between her legs under the covers, droplets of sweat falling from her brow.

She cringed, an experience of ice stinging the tips of her teeth as she breathed in crisp, cold air. Something was wrong.

*

Eriol strolled back and forth across his room. The boy now lay on his king- sized bed, clothed in Eriol's own royal blue pajamas that he hadn't worn since he was twelve. He finished pacing and stopped by the foot of his bed. The boy's hair was matted and damp, tussled over his forehead, and flattened against his cheeks. It had been a task to carry him into the mansion, without causing a stir among the house staff, maids and butlers.

A mischievous grin placed itself on Eriol's lips, as if an invisible light bulb had popped above his head. He whipped out a large leather text and flipped through it. The page he randomly stopped on was titled: MIND & MEMORY; Time be told, Psyche be bold. Eriol skimmed down the paragraphs then held his head up in thought. He pushed his glasses back up the ridge of his nose and took a note to himself to visit the optometrist some time that week for his lenses had loosened a fair bit.

'Personality,' he murmured, closing his eyes. 'Well, he will certainly need to be a gentleman, one of high class. Ah, my distant relative - a distant cousin. Yes, ah, family.' He nodded certainly and continued to mutter to himself. 'He shall possess impeccable manors, well-weaned dignity, poise and a taste for the arts, and we mustn't forget that he will wield an eye for our dear Sakura. An eye for her alone.'

He could just imagine the look on Sakura's face when this boy came walking into the room, staring at her only. How grateful would she be if she knew that he had been the one to bring her prince to her? All girls would fancy him of course, so there wasn't a need to alter his appearance or his voice. He would act as if she were the only girl in the world. Eriol sighed blissfully. How he revered romance. It wasn't something anyone knew he enjoyed, of course. It would leave a permanent scar on his perfect, squarest records at the school and his reputation.

'He will remember being my distant cousin for all his life. No recollections of the ocean whatsoever,' Eriol said.

But there was something missing for the remodeling of this marine man. He didn't have a known name. He regarded the boy's keen, aggressive features such as his thick eyebrows and thought about it in reference to a land dwelling creature.

'The wolf.Xiaolang, small wolf; Syaoran.'

With all the matter he needed, he placed the book open on the foot of his bed and read the incantation with precision. An eerie green light encircled the boy and slowly changed to a deep maroon red. Eriol's eyes widened.

'No! Wait! That's wrong! The color isn't meant to change!' he cried.

There was a fizzle and an echoing pop and Eriol fell with surprise.

When the light faded, and Eriol's eyes adjusted to the artificial light of his chambers, he looked forward.

Standing on his bed was the boy, his named Syaoran. He raised a tetchy eyebrow at Eriol. 'Whatcha doing on the floor, cuz?' he asked. Then a cheesy grin slapped across his face and he started jumping up and down on the bed, his head nearly brushing the ceiling. Eriol inwardly cringed when he heard a dull crunch. The bed had collapsed from under Syaoran, its middle snapped right across and touching the floor. Syaoran bounded off the bed and landed clumsily on his hands and knees like a dog on all fours.

'Heh, your bed's pretty crap,' he stated and stood up without brushing himself off.

Eriol stared at the bed, and then at Syaoran, incredulous. He was acting exactly the opposite way as Eriol had wanted! He grabbed for the book on the floor, flipped through it again and stopped at the back.

'If, under any circumstances, these spells shall backfire or incorporate themselves, there is unfortunately no way to change these happenings.' He read more and gasped. 'The expiry date is 1956?! No wonder! Magic has advanced since then!'

His glasses slipped off the end of his nose and dangled from one of his ears. He peered blurrily over at Syaoran who was rubbing the carpet and shocking himself purposely with the static electricity he created when rubbing the fibers with his fingers.

'Uh oh.'

*

Sakura arrived to class, early as usual. The whole class came in twenty minutes after her as usual. But even if the day seemed scheduled, she felt something would be different about it. And so it was different when the teacher, Mr. Lloyd, bald, round and middle-aged, addressed the class with a rare smile. This rarity struck most of the student's interests.

'We've got a new student joining us,' he said huskily, waddling toward the side of the room and opened the door. 'Come in, young man.'

A boy dressed in their male's private college uniform walked in and stood before the class and all the girls stared at him. He was about average height, an inch taller than Mr. Lloyd, and of lean build with darn brown hair falling over his eyes.

Sakura's heart stopped. That hair, those eyes, it was him!

'This is Syaoran Li, Eriol's distant cousin from England.'

Sakura looked quickly over at Eriol who was looking anxious. She didn't take a thought to why he looked so odd and turned back to the front.

'He will be staying with us for sometime. Please make him feel welcome.'

All the girls sighed as if responding with a 'of course we'll make him feel welcome'.

Syaoran's eyes swept over the class. Sakura prayed that he would stop and smile at her. But he didn't. He leaned forward and looked as if he was going to bow, but he stopped halfway and sprang stealthily off his feet, did a high forward flip and landed on the desk of one of the girls. He turned and gave her a wink and the girl blushed.

Sakura felt hurt.

Recess came shortly, and the children swamped outside into the crisp, cool air. Sakura trudged in her shiny black buckle shoes, hoping to find Syaoran and perhaps talk to him. But when she did happen to see him, a large cluster of girls from their class surrounded him and he didn't look bothered by it at all, in fact, he looked absolutely proud as if this were some kind of accomplishment. He did a simple cartwheel to demonstrate his excellent athletic ability and the girls swooned.

She lowered her head mournfully and walked away.

After school, Sakura walked down to the main gardens where her limo awaited her. She saw Syaoran and Eriol walking in the same direction. She quickened her pace and halted in front of them, smiled at Eriol and then turned to Syaoran. Her heart skipped a beat. He wasn't even looking at her. He looked right through her, towards Eriol's limo.

A group of five girls skipped by them, all waving and giggling at Syaoran who returned the gesture with a smirk.

Sakura felt crushed and turned to Eriol for confirmation. But Syaoran grabbed his arm before Eriol could answer her and hauled him into the limo and they were gone.

She stared down the road, watching the back of the long receding vehicle.

*

Syaoran was charming, suave and literally a playboy. He would flirt constantly, even with big groups of girls at a time, each girl was envious of each other. He would turn down requests for dates, and always pull away just before a girl nearly managed to sneak him a kiss. He brought on jealousy from the other boys in his class, even his relative Eriol. Syaoran had met once with Tomoyo, and she too was taken by his looks and his mannerisms. Eriol had never really liked Tomoyo more than a wealthy friend, but this was starting to trigger other emotions, ones he wasn't always familiar with.

*

It continued like this for weeks onward, until Sakura was almost certain in her heart that Syaoran Li was not the boy that had saved her. But that hair and those eyes always seemed to change her mind for her, as she stared at them for each day of those weeks during class. It was like torture; she couldn't speak to Eriol anymore and Syaoran wasn't even aware of her existence. She was at a loss with him and herself. So lost and so confused, that she found herself drowning in pitiful, bitter tears.

No longer a dream of her savior, but an ever-endured nightmare.

*

Not knowing why, or sure if there was a reason, Sakura had driven by Eriol's mansion one day on a weekend. She got out of the side door and walked up the path that led to the main doors. She was about to press the intercom button, but stopped. She sighed and turned toward the sun. Something glimmered from the corner of her eye. She spun around and recognized the faint trickling of water. It was the fountain. The clear water bubbled and sparkled under the bright blue sky. She walked down the tile path and sat on its edge, running her right hand through it and creating patterns.

She saw a faint blue blur at the bottom. She squinted her eyes and leaned over to get a closer look at it. It looked sort of round, flat and shiny like mother of pearl. She rolled back her blouse sleeve and scooped her hand down into the chilly waters and withdrew the shiny object. She held it with both hands. It was the shape of a sphere, tinted with different shades of blue and shimmered like watery glitter. Its beauty almost made her smile, but she refused the ushering of the tugs at the edges of her mouth. She slipped it into her front pocket, and hurried out of the garden toward the car and drove home.

Eriol had seen everything from his living room window.