Disclaimer: I don't own any IPs that might appear in the story

The Council of Thirteen

Book Three: The First Lord

Restitching the Web of Love

Chapter 2: Trouble in paradise

Beta:

"It was good to see you in person again, Tomoyo-chan, Yukito-san." Sakura said as Syaoran watched her exchange hugs with both Tokyo residents as she saw them off in Heathrow Airport as she saw her best friend and Yue-san's human form, and Sakura's brother's lover, off before heading towards their own flight home to Hong Kong.

"It was a pleasure, Sakura-chan." Yukito-san said with a grin.

"Yes. Yes, it was." Tomoyo-san said with tears swimming in her eyes. "I'll miss you."

"Me too." Sakura replied, with tears in her eyes as well. "Video calls are just not the same."

Tomoyo-san just nodded, her breath just hitching causing his wife's breathing to also become labored.

Syaoran frowned at the sight. Sakura never seemed as upset when they had to go their separate ways

And why is that? A voice that was almost, but not quite, like his own whispered through his mind. In the heat of the moment of the somewhat unnerving and upsetting reminder of the depths of his relationship between his wife and the one between her and her best friend, he did not notice the difference.

Now's not the time for this. Syaoran said as he shook his head. He could think about the true relationship between Sakura and Tomoyo-san later. Right now, he had to step in before the two girls burst into tears.

"Thank you for organizing the ceremony," Syaoran cut in, thankfully before the girls fully lost their composure. "It was a fitting tribute to commemorate Sakura's ascension to being First Lord of the Thirteen."

"Sakura-chan deserved no less." Tomoyo-san said with conviction, rubbing at her eyes as she recovered her calm.

"Indeed, she did." Yukito-san agreed.

He might've said more but the call for the flight to Tokyo was announced, startling all four of them.

"We better go." He said instead. "Come on Tomoyo-san."

The Daidouji conglomerate heiress nodded at the white haired man before turning to pull Sakura into one last hug. One that was eagerly returned.

"See you soon, Sakura-chan."

"See you, Tomoyo-chan."

The two girls held each other tight for almost a whole minute before they finally pulled apart. With watery smiles, they waved goodbye at each other and Tomoyo-san turned away, with Yukito-san's hands on her shoulders guiding her, she walked towards the gate for her flight.

"You okay, Sakura?" Syaoran asked, as his wife waved frantically at her friend as she disappeared out of sight.

"I will be," Sakura assured him as Tomoyo-san finally vanished from view and she brought her hand down at last. "I just need some time. Seeing Tomoyo-chan go always makes me sad."

Syaoran shook his head in fond exasperation at how sentimental his wife was. Even Kero, in his disguise as a stuffed toy and keeping still to maintain the charade, where he sat in Sakura's purse with his head peeking out of a corner rolled his eyes at his Mistress' behavior.

"I know," Syaoran agreed. "Let's go. Our flight is in an hour. Want to grab lunch?"

Sakura rubbed her face and nodded. "Sure."

"...It was beautiful Tomoyo-chan." Sakura told her best friend over video chat a week later whilst back in Hong Kong and sitting in her marital bedroom. "I so wanted to buy that dress. But it was so expensive. I just couldn't justify it. Not when I can make one of my own that'll look just as good."

"Or I could make one for you and mail it to you." Tomoyo-chan agreed with a nod. "It's not worth it."

"Exact-" Sakura was saying when suddenly Syaoran draped his arms over her shoulders from behind.

"Syaoran~!" Sakura said with a squeal as she pushed her husband off her and broke into a laugh. "You're all sweaty!"

"Of course I am," Syaoran replied with a coy smile. "I just got back from training."

"Go take a shower," she said with an amused roll of her eyes.

"Why don't you join me?" Her husband said with an exaggerated wiggle of his eyebrows.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Then by the time we'd be done, we'd both be dirty."

"That's the point," Sayoran said with a lascivious smirk.

"No means no, Syaoran." Sakura said with a shake of her head, sporting an amused smile at her husband's teasing. "Go get cleaned up and then maybe we'll do something special tonight, okay?"

"Oh, alright." Syaoran said with a sigh.

Still grinning, Sakura watched him walk off towards their ensuite bathroom admiring his very masculine, very sensual figure. It was only as the bathroom door closed, and Sakura turned back to her computer that she saw Tomoyo-chan smirking at her.

"Something special tonight, huh? Want to share what you have in mind?"

"Well~" Sakura said with a giggle as she leaned in to the screen. "I was thinking-"

As Sakura shared her plans for her lovemaking with her husband that night, she did not notice said spouse spying on her through the bathroom door which he had left open a tiny sliver much less the unhappy look in his eyes.

Syaoran sat in the living room of one of his family's elders and frowning unhappily at his great granduncle as he and Sakura visited the old man.

"You two have been married for four years and are still childless!?" The stick thin old man with wrinkled skin said with disdain.

"We are still young," Sakura countered, maintaining a pleasant smile that spoke volumes of her self-control. "I, for one, feel that I am still too young for a child."

"Too young?" Syaoran's granduncles scoffed. "You are already in your mid twenties, woman, how long do you intend to wait?"

In response to the latest barb, Sakura frowned. A sign of deep displeasure for her.

Before she could say something that might worsen the situation however, Syaoran cut in. "We are trying, Granduncle."

"Then you are not trying hard enough," the old man insisted.

He's not wrong. The by now familiar voice that was not his own whispered into his mind and Syaoran found he could not disagree.

He and Sakura had sex less often than she had video chats with her best friend!

And perhaps there is more to that than meets the eyes. The voice said suggestively.

The idea struck Syaoran hard. It just made so much sense! Sakura was always so much more excited interacting with Tomoyo than she was with him… Even in comparison to when they were intimate!

Does she love Tomoyo more than me!?

Perhaps. The voice said with a hint of satisfied malice that Syaoran completely missed.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Sakura shook his arm to find that she and the elder were looking at him with displeasure.

"Is our conversation boring you, Syaoran?" The Li elder said, glaring at him.

"No," Syaoran said, waving his hands in denial. "Apologies for getting distracted. What are we talking about?"

"We were discussing our winter travel plans," Sakura supplied.

Syaoran nodded and properly rejoined the conversation with his two cents, all whilst the poisonous idea of Sakura's true feelings percolated in his mind.

Sakura hummed happily along to the tune of the closing song of the wonderful concert performance by an orchestra that Tomoyo-chan had recommended to them that she and Syaoran had just attended as they both walked through their home.

They were just stepping into their bedroom when out of nowhere Syaoran pulled her towards him and into a passionate kiss. She melted into the kiss but as her husband's hands started exploring her body, she pushed him away slightly.

"Slow down, honey." Sakura said with a grin. "At least let me undress first."

"I can help you with that," Syaoran said, looking at her with an unusual amount of lust.

Sakura suppressed a frown. This was very uncharacteristic of Syaoran. He was not usually so pushy. Then again maybe he was just feeling a little more horny than usual.

"Oh, just be patient." She said placatingly.

"I am not in a patient mood!" Syaoran declared with a downright predatory gleam in his eyes as he lunged at her.

Caught entirely by surprise, she was unable to do anything as he picked her up.

This crosses a line! She thought to herself. Sure, he'd been more aggressive when pushing for sex lately and she'd rolled with it. Heck, even enjoyed it at times as it added something to their sex life that it had previously lacked but it had also made her uncomfortable. It made her feel he respected her consent less and less, not that she didn't give it per se, but the pressure he put on her was just ever increasing. And now he was getting physical about it? She was not going to stand for it.

"Syaoran, stop! I mean it." As she pushed against her husband's shoulder as he carried her towards their bed.

"I don't want to." He replied in what he probably thought was a teasing voice but came across to her more like a defiant dismissal than anything else.

"That wasn't a request," Sakura shot back sternly as with a small application of her magic she teleported out of his arms and to the other side of the room from him.

Cerberus, better known to his friends as Kero, Guardian Beast of the First Lord of the Thirteen, was away from his Mistress visiting his fellow guardian Yue in Tokyo where the latter's human side, Yukito, lived with his partner and their Mistress' elder brother, Touya-san.

"It's getting worse," Kero said with a frown even as he chewed on some cake from his seat on the coffee table in Yue's apartment's living room. "Their marriage is getting more and more strained. Syaoran is getting more and more...unhappy? That's not quite right, but it's the best way I can describe it."

"And the Mistress doesn't notice?" Yue asked, leaning down to glare down at his fellow Guardian.

"Sakura is many things but she is dense as lead when it comes to people's feelings. You know that."

Yue nodded.

"Besides, it's subtle. Very subtle." Kero added. "It does flare up when Tomoyo-chan comes up though. Which is a lot of the time."

"That is not surprising. Sakura-sama and Tomoyo-san are very close."

From his place in the kitchen washing the dishes from their dinner, Touya-san snorted and muttered under his breath about oblivious brats.

"If you disagreed, you should have said something sooner." Yue chided his human side's partner. "Sakura has made her choice."

"An uninformed one," Touya-san countered. "You know the stuffed toy is right. She's an idiot when it comes to feelings."

"Hey!" Kero cried out, offended at the description of Sakura as an idiot and was about to say so when a feeling of deep unease filtered through his connection with his Mistress stopped him cold.

"Did you feel that?" Kero asked, looking at Yue worriedly.

"We must see what is going on. Mistress might be in danger." The angelic Guardian said as he stood and summoned his wings, priming his magic.

Kero rolled his eyes. Yue was probably overreacting but then again there was no harm in being cautious, so he too primed his magic and transformed into his true form.

"What's going on?" Touya-san asked, looking at them with cautious worry.

"We do not know. Something has happened to Mistress." Yue explained.

"We're going to check." Kero added as they both began the spells that would teleport them to their Mistress' side. "We'll let you know when we know."

Touya-san frowned but nodded.

That was the last sight of him Kero caught as his teleportation spell took hold and he was transported in a burst of light to his Mistress' side.

They found her all dressed up and glaring at her husband across the length of their bedroom.

"Sakura, what's wrong?" Kero said as he interposed his large feline body between the two spouses and as Yue leveled his energy bow, arrow already nocked, at Syaoran. "We sensed your distress."

To his surprise Sakura did not explain.

"I'm going to spend the night at a hotel." She declared instead. "Kero-chan, grab my bug out bag please."

Kero frowned, uneasy at his tense Mistress and her uncharacteristic behavior, but nevertheless obeyed and retrieved the small duffle bag that his Mistress kept in her closet for emergencies for her.

"Sakura, I'm sorry! Please you don't have to do this!" Syaoran cried, part of an unending stream of apologies that he was offering Kero's Mistress.

"I know you are," Sakura said with a sigh as she shouldered the bag that Kero offered her. "And I accept your apology."

Syaoran seemed buoyed by this, with hope entering his eyes.

But that hope was quickly quashed as Sakura continued speaking.

"But I need to get away tonight. To cool off. I know I'm overreacting but just- Just give me some time, okay!?"

Taking a deep breath, she changed her tone.

"Look, I promise to see you tomorrow and talk through what happened. Just give me time to cool off tonight."

Syaoran looked mutinous but he reluctantly nodded.

"Thank you," Sakura said with a smile as she summoned her magic and promptly teleported all three of them to the entryway of the Li mansion, startling one of the servants.

"Sakura-xiǎojiě?" The servant asked, eyeing Kero and Yue curiously but quickly dismissing them to focus on their Mistress instead. "What's going on?"

"It's nothing," Sakura replied distractedly as she hurriedly put on her shoes. "I'm just going out for a bit that's all."

This did not appease the maid and she pressed for answers.

"Out? Now? Sakura-xiǎojiě, it's almost already late night, why would you be going out now?"

In uncharacteristic fashion, Sakura ignored her and walked out of the house with Kero and Yue trailing after her as she headed towards her little Volkswagen Beetle parked in the driveway.

Much to Kero's confusion, contrary to what his Mistress had said, they didn't drive straight to a hotel. Instead, they had driven aimlessly through Hong Kong's late night streets in silence for hours before Sakura finally stopped in a parking lot somewhere on the outskirts of town.

"Mistress, are you finally willing to tell us what happened?" Yue asked cautiously.

Kero nodded, even as he floated over, now once more in his much smaller stuffed toy-esque disguised form, and landed on Sakura's shoulder, patting the woman's shoulder encouragingly.

"Yes, I suppose I owe you two an explanation." Sakura said with a shuddering breath.

"You don't owe us anything." Kero told her. "But we're worried. So…"

Sakura offered her two Guardians a weak but grateful smile before she finally began to explain.

Done!

So Sakura's marriage is on the rocks. Note though that Syaoran hasn't actually done anything wrong beyond being too pushy. He stopped, mainly because Sakura teleported away, before he did. As for Sakura's reaction. Well, it's an overreaction. Like she admits. She just needs time to cool off, that's all. So far at least.

Now, one complaint I've got as I planned this story was that breaking up Syaoran and Sakura, which is the end goal of this book, seems very contrary to canon and a little disconcerting especially since in Clamp!canon they are seemingly always together over multiple universes. However, to that let me just say that this is clearly an obviously alternate universe and is a work of fanfiction. Canon divergence to one degree or the other is par for course. Plus the collapse of their relationship in this universe/story is in part due to [Spoiler]. *wink* Basically, there is an explanation for this. One that I hope readers will accept.

That's all I have to say so till next chapter zàijiàn!