thefobiddenclow2.html

Hiya Minna-san! I hope you liked chapter 1. This is my first time

trying to create a series though, so please be gentle with flames and things

like that. Don't get me wrong, I love criticism ^_^ It's extremely important

to an author when the reader doesn't understand something, or wants to give

you some pointers or something. Anyway, here's chapter 2! I thought this was a cute idea, so tell me what you think! ^_^ Happy reading (I hope)!!! Reviews are definitely appreciated! Arigato!!! ~Manda-chan

The Forbidden Clow: Chapter 2 - To Play the Daddy

*RING A LING*

"Alright class, that's it for the day. Be sure to read chapter 4 for

Monday." Terada-sensei spoke as students hurried to leave the room, "Everyone

have a nice weekend!!"

"C-mon Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo waved to her friend from the door, "We're

waiting on you!"

Sakura smiled and threw her backpack over her shoulder.

"Coming!!" she called.

She ran to catch up with her friends just as they were leaving the

building. She jumped in between Tomoyo and Syaoran in the line they had

formed.

"So what's everyone up to this weekend?" Sakura asked brightly.

"The usual." Syaoran stated nonchalantly.

Eriol just smiled in that special way of his, indicating that he

wasn't planning on telling anyone what he was going to do.

"We could go shopping, Sakura-chan!" Tomoyo suggested enthusiastically,

"It's been awhile since I was able dress you up in kawaii outfits!"

Sakura sweat-dropped, but then something hit her mind.

'Tomoyo doesn't know about the black Clow cards...'

While she was debating whether or not to spill the news, she caught Syaoran's eyes for a moment. He shook his head in the negative, as if he knew what she was thinking. She raised an eyebrow at him, but he clearly gave her a look that said, "Don't". Sakura broke the eye contact and sighed.

'How long would I be able to keep a secret from Tomoyo-chan anyways?' she thought, 'She always catches on somehow.'

She snapped out of her thoughts and continued to skate slowly alongside of her friends, but something felt...strange.

'How did everyone get so tall all of a sudden?'

She looked up and caught a frantic look on Syaoran's face just before she could no longer talk or think at all.

"AGH!!! SAKURA, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?!?!" Syaoran panicked.

Tomoyo and Eriol turned around at the sound of urgency in his voice. The sight before them made them gasp out loud.

Before them sat Sakura, drowned in a pile of her clothes, staring up at them with huge green eyes. She looked to be about 1 and a half to two years old.

"What's going on here?" Syaoran asked to no one in particular.

A thought suddenly crossed his mind and he gasped.

'Could it be...a black Clow card?'

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted as Tomoyo went to pick up the baby.

"Little Sakura-chan is so KAWAII!!" she squealed.

Syaoran and Eriol face-faulted.

"So..." Eriol started, "What do we do now?"

Tomoyo stopped bouncing the baby in her arms and turned to him.

"She obviously can't go home." Tomoyo stated, "We could never explain this to Mr. Kinomoto and Toya."

Eriol turned to Syaoran.

"You seem awfully calm about this all of the sudden, dear descendant." Eriol accused with a glare, "Do you perhaps know something we don't?"

Syaoran sweat-dropped.

"N-no! Of course not!" he stammered.

Now both Eriol and Tomoyo were staring him down.

"Okay, okay." Syaoran admitted, waving his hands in front of him, "Maybe I do know a little..."

"SPILL." Tomoyo demanded, in a not-so-nice way.

Syaoran sighed in defeat and told them both the deal about the black Clow cards.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And you waited this long to tell me?!" Tomoyo asked, a little hurt.

"We've got..." Syaoran started, glancing at the little Sakura, "bigger problems..."

A few moments of silence followed, as the three seemed to be pondering what to do.

"It's simple." Tomoyo said, stepping forward with the Sakura in her arms, "Someone is going to have to take care of her."

A mischievous grin crossed Eriol's face.

"I would just LOVE to take care of little Sakura-san for the weekend! And I'm sure Nakuru and Spinel Sun wouldn't have a problem with it."

Tomoyo frowned.

"I think NOT, Eriol-kun. No offense, but I don't trust you. And I certainly don't trust Nakuru. She'll probably suffocate poor Sakura-chan with affection."

Eriol looked kind of disappointed at her decision, but nodded when he thought about Nakuru. Tomoyo sighed.

"If I can manage to hide her from my mother and keep her a secret from the maids and the others-"

"I'll do it." Syaoran broke in.

Tomoyo and Eriol looked at him like his face was painted blue.

"YOU?!?!" they asked simultaneously, in disbelief.

Syaoran crossed his arms.

"And why not?!" he asked indignantly.

"Have you ever taken care of a child?" Tomoyo asked.

Syaoran shrugged.

"No." he answered simply.

Tomoyo sweat-dropped.

"Then how would you have a clue about what to do?" she asked seriously.

"I can learn." Syaoran stated.

Eriol casually strode over to Syaoran.

"Well, dear descendant, I believe you have OTHER motives for this course of action." Eriol said slyly.

Syaoran felt his face heat up.

"W-what do you mean by that?!"

"I think you would just like to spend some QUALITY time with Sakura-san, am I right?" Eriol prodded, smiling innocently.

"T-that's...That's not it!!" Syaoran insisted, looking like a human tomato.

Tomoyo just smiled in that ever-so-sweet way of hers.

"I think it's a good idea." she decided.

"Huh?"

Tomoyo walked up to Syaoran and carefully handed him the chibi Sakura. Syaoran was fumbling like crazy, trying to figure out how he was supposed to hold her.

"Like this." she said, positioning the baby correctly in his arms, "Use your left hand to support her body, and the right one to support her head. See?"

Syaoran was still a little nervous, but as he held her there in his arms, the tension seemed to slowly drift away. He smiled down on her and she in turn smiled back at him, burying herself into the warmth of his body. Tomoyo looked on contently and leaned the side of her head on one of her hands.

"You look so kawaii together like that..." she droned, "I wish I had my camera."

Eriol and Syaoran sweat-dropped.

"Anyway," she said, snapping out of her daze, "if you need anything, just give me a call. But I think you can handle her okay on your own."

Syaoran smiled.

"I'll try." he said, walking in the direction of his apartment, "See you guys later."

As Syaoran walked away, he swore he could hear Eriol talking to Tomoyo.

"What do you suppose will happen when he gets a 3 A.M. wake up call for a diaper change?" Eriol asked.

He could hear Tomoyo giggle.

"Who knows? But I think Syaoran Li can handle it."

As the voices finally died out from distance, Syaoran saw the supermarket come into view. He looked down at Sakura, who was happily sucking her thumb.

"I guess I need to get you some food, huh?" he decided, walking through the parking lot, "I didn't carry any baby food last time I checked."

He casually strode into the store, hoping he and Sakura wouldn't get a lot of attention from other shoppers.

'It's not very often you carry a child around, blanketed in a girl's school uniform.' he thought.

Syaoran tried to fix her shirt as a long dress for her, and let the skirt act as a blanket. Then he set her down in the child's seat of the cart and wheeled her into the store.

'First stop, Aisle 2, for baby food.' he thought.

He examined the food on the shelves and tried to pick out the foods that would do best for her health. After that, he went on to Aisle 5, to get diapers, baby wipes, clothes, bibs, the works. While he was trying to choose a diaper brand, his foot hit the cart, and unknownst to him, Sakura went flailing down the aisle on her own.

'Let's see...nope, not soft enough. Ah! This one looks good!'

He picked up a package of pink huggies and turned to put them in the cart.

"Here we go, Sakura. And I got pink just for-"

He suddenly realized that the cart was missing. He looked up and screamed.

"Sakura-chan!!! NO!! COME BACK!!!" he yelled, chasing after the racing cart.

Sakura seemed to be having the time of her life. She was laughing and waving her arms around like she was on a ride. Syaoran ran after her as fast as he could.

'No time to use a card...' he thought, sweat running down his brow, 'I have to make it before...'

Sakura was coming up fast on the wall of dairy products and the cart wasn't showing any signs of slowing down.

'Gotta make it, Gotta make it!'

He picked up his pace as much as he could and with one huge burst of speed, he leapt into the air and somersaulted, gaining just enough distance to grab the handle of the runaway cart. The cart halted and swerved, missing the wall by just about an inch. Syaoran heaved a sigh of relief and looked up to see if Sakura was okay.

She sat there, clapping her tiny hands together gleefully and bouncing in her seat. Syaoran sweat-dropped.

'She ENJOYED that?'

He was suddenly brought to the attention of chattering and looked around. At least half of the store's customers and a few employees were staring at him and the oblivious Sakura. He shot them all death glares as if to say "What are you staring at?". Getting his drift, they all turned back to their own business. Syaoran then continued shopping. After all the essentials were bought, he went to the checkout line.

'I'm glad that's over with...' he thought, sighing tiredly.

"Gaki?!"

Syaoran felt a sudden chill and turned around. Standing directly behind him was Kinomoto Toya.

'Can this get ANY worse?!' Syaoran thought.

"Is there a problem?" he asked, glaring at the tall young man.

Toya glared back at him in reply and Syaoran was trying to block his vision of the little Sakura as best he could.

"Who's that?" Toya asked, looking over Syaoran's shoulder, "Hey! Isn't that the kid that went zooming down aisle 5?"

Syaoran narrowed his eyes at the dark-haired boy.

"And?"

` "Why would you have a kid?" he asked, looking slightly confused.

"None of your business." Syaoran stated.

"Isn't it a little EARLY for you to be having kids?" Toya accused.

"If you MUST know, she's my niece." Syaoran lied, "I'm taking care of her for the weekend."

"That's a laugh."

Syaoran growled at him.

"Mind your own damn business."

Toya looked at Sakura curiously, as if trying to figure something out.

"What?!" Syaoran demanded, blocking Toya's view of the child.

"Hmm. Nothing. I just think she looks kind of...familiar."

Syaoran sweat-dropped and handed the cashier the correct amount of money. He then put the bags into the cart and dashed out of the store as fast as he could.

'That gaki is hiding something.' Toya thought, watching him dash away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syaoran finally made his way to his apartment and went inside, carefully carrying everything with him. He set Sakura down on the couch and went to put the bags in the kitchen. While he was sorting everything out, Sakura started bawling.

He rushed back into the room and picked her up off the couch, gently rocking her back and forth. But she just continued to cry.

"Oh man...What do I do?" Syaoran mumbled to himself.

He nervously paced around the room, holding the girl's bawling figure.

'Maybe she's hungry.' he thought, carrying her into the kitchen.

He set her down on a chair and picked a container of carnation baby milk formula off the counter. He held it out to the baby.

"Is this what you want?"

Her crying had ceased, but she sat there sniffling.

Syaoran read the instructions and began preparing the milk. When it was finally warm enough, he poured the desired amount into one of the baby bottles he bought. He carried the bottle into the other room and set it on the table next to his favorite forest green chair. Then he went back into the kitchen and got Sakura, carefully bringing her back into the other room. He sat down in his chair and gently levitated her head in the crook of his arm, using her skirt as a pillow for her. He then took the bottle from where he had placed it and held it down to her face. She opened her mouth and he inserted the rubber top of the bottle. She wrapped her tiny hands around the bottle as best she could and began drinking the milk from the bottle. Syaoran just smiled down on her contently and brushed a strand of auburn hair from her face.

"You were just hungry, weren't you?" he asked.

She just looked at him with her large liquid emerald eyes and kept drinking.

'Don't worry, Sakura...I'll take care of you until you're able to overcome the card.' he promised.

Sakura finished about 2/3 of the milk before she pushed the bottle away.

"All done?"

Sakura let out a tiny burp in response. Syaoran chuckled. He got up from the chair and carried her and the mostly empty milk bottle back into the kitchen. He put the bottle in the sink and got some of the other things out of the shopping bags.

He took Sakura upstairs to his room and cleared off his desk.

'I never thought I'd use my desk for something like this.' he thought, spreading a sheet over the top of the wooden surface. He set Sakura down on the sheet and retrieved some clothes, baby powder, and a diaper from the bag.

'Okay...' he thought, taking a deep breath, 'I can do this. She's just a baby. I'll just try not to think of her as Sakura.'

After a few minutes, he had her successfully powdered, diapered, and changed. She now lay there in front of him, wearing a little pink bibs and a white t-shirt.

'So this is what Sakura was like when she was little.' he thought, gazing at the young girl as she played with a toy rattle.

The sudden ring of the phone jolted him out of his thoughts and he scrambled over to his bedside to answer it.

"Moshi moshi."

"Syaoran Li?" a female voice questioned from the other end.

"Daijoudi-san! Yeah, it's me." he answered.

"Oh." Tomoyo's voice sounded puzzled, "I thought your butler would have answered the phone."

"Thankfully Wei is on vacation." Syaoran explained, "So what's the problem?"

"No problems, I just wanted to check how you were doing with Sakura."

Syaoran stole a glance at Sakura from across the room and gasped.

"Hold on a sec, Daijoudi." he said quickly, dropping the phone on the bed.

He dashed over to Sakura and caught her just as she was about to fall off the desk.

"Whew. Close one." he wheezed.

He brought Sakura over with him to the bed and set her on his lap as he grabbed the phone again. But he had the strange feeling that he was being watched.

"Alright, anything else?" Syaoran asked, breaking out of his thoughts.

Tomoyo giggled, ignoring his question.

"Sounds like you have your hands full."

"I-I'm getting the hang of it." Syaoran said.

"Had any problems yet?" Tomoyo asked.

Syaoran thought back to the incident at the store and sweat-dropped.

"No, not at all!" he lied, "Everything has gone just smoothly."

"I beg to differ." Tomoyo stated knowingly, "Your first day with a baby and you're trying to tell me you had no problems what so ever?"

Syaoran sweat-dropped from his side of the line.

"Not any BIG ones, anyway."

Tomoyo laughed out loud.

"Toya told me a completely different story."

Syaoran cursed under his breath.

"I guess you made a slight mistake in the store, huh?" she asked, amused.

"..."

"Don't deny it, Li-kun. I already know."

"...damn Toya..." he mumbled.

"Shame on you, Li-kun. You shouldn't be saying words like that in front of the baby." she reprimanded.

"Why were you talking to Toya, anyway?" he asked, getting quite annoyed.

"I had to call and let him know that Sakura was staying at my house for the weekend, and he just happened to tell me that he saw you at the supermarket with a girl you claimed to be your niece." Tomoyo explained, "But he didn't need to tell me, because I already knew."

"What do you mean you 'already knew'?!" Syaoran accused.

She only laughed in response.

"Well, I just wanted to check up on you two." Tomoyo said, changing the subject, "You did change her out of her school uniform, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah."

"Everything go okay?"

"Yes."

".......Do you like Sakura?"

Syaoran almost face-faulted, but remembered that Sakura was in his lap.

"W-where did that come from?!?!" he exploded, glad that she couldn't see his red face.

Tomoyo shrugged from the other line.

"I don't know. I guess I was just curious, that's all."

Syaoran sighed.

"It's not like that. I just want to help her deal with this Clow card." he explained.

"Whatever you say, Li-kun, whatever you say."

"Well, I have to go Daijoudi."

"Call me if you need anything!" Tomoyo reminded him.

"I will. Ja ne."

"Ja!"

*Click*

Syaoran sighed heavily and flopped down on his back.

"Ready for a nap?" Syaoran asked, looking toward her.

Almost as if she knew what a nap was, she frowned. Syaoran snickered.

"Okay, you can take a nap later." he said, giving in to her.

She immediately brightened up and crawled up on his chest, looking down on him with her wide green eyes. Syaoran picked her up and held her above his head.

"You're smiling because you know I'll always give in to you." Syaoran teased, smiling back up at her, "I always gave into that cute look before and even though you're just a baby, it still works now."

She reached her arms down toward him and he brought her down a little farther.

"What is it? Something you want?"

She giggled, grabbed two locks of his hair in each hand, and pulled.

"YEOOWWCH!"

He put her down and gently tried to pry her death grip off his poor hair. But Sakura didn't seem to want to let go. Before she got the chance to pull again, Syaoran managed to wrench his hair free. Despite the slight pain in the roots of his hair, he laughed.

"You little devil you!" he chuckled, tapping her tiny nose with his index finger, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

Syaoran turned onto his stomach and faced the little girl.

"Y'know, Sakura...I always wanted to spend a day with you." he admitted, looking deeply into her eyes, "However, this isn't quite what I had in mind."

Sakura cocked her head at him, as if trying to understand.

"I know you won't remember any of this once we've sealed the card, but I have the feeling it's going to stick with me for quite some time."

Sakura smiled shyly and leaned forward to his face, giving him a small peck on the cheek. Even though she was just a little kid, she was still Sakura, which made Syaoran blush at her forwardness. The shocked look on Syaoran's face made Sakura back up, thinking she did something wrong. Syaoran finally shook out of his daze and came to his senses. Sakura looked like she was about to cry.

"Oh, I'm not upset!" Syaoran insisted, trying to comfort her with a pat on the head.

He slowly moved his hand down to the side of her face and stroked it gently.

"You don't have to cry, Sakura. I could never be upset with you."

She automatically cheered up again and threw her tiny arms around the back of his neck, hugging him. Syaoran smiled and gently hugged her back before pulling away.

"Do you want a piggyback ride downstairs?" he asked.

The genki Sakura just jumped up and down excitedly on his bed.

"I take that as a yes!" he laughed.

He stood up and lifted Sakura off the bed and into the air, bringing her down on his shoulders from behind. He took hold of both of her legs on each side of his neck and started downstairs. She eventually grabbed hold of his hair for balance, so as not to teeter to far to one side. He brought her all the way into the kitchen and got some of the baby foods out from the bags with one of his hands. He set the food down on the table and put Sakura next to it.

"I don't have a high-chair, so we'll have to make do with the table for now." he explained.

He retrieved a spoon from a drawer by the sink and pulled a chair out from the table, sitting in front of Sakura. Next he put a cute teddy bear bib on her. Then he took the baby food labeled "carrots" and proceeded to open the little jar. He dipped the spoon into the orangey mush and pulled a spoonful out.

"Say 'Ahhh'" Syaoran said, bringing the baby food to her face.

Sakura frowned and crossed her arms in front of her. She made a pouty face and shook her head.

"No?" Syaoran asked, "Why not?"

He tried to bring the food to her mouth again, but she just turned her head away.

"You shouldn't be so stubborn, Sakura-chan! It's good for you!"

He tried again, and this time, she actually opened her mouth a little. Syaoran took this to his advantage and quickly shoved the food in.

"There you go! That's all you had to do! Now wasn't that good?" he smiled, taking the spoon out.

Sakura answered him by spitting the disgusting orange food all over his face.

"I take it that you didn't like it." Syaoran stated the obvious, sputtering and wiping his face off with his sleeve.

He tried some other foods, most of which she didn't like, but actually got her to eat a few spoonfuls here and there. By the time he was done feeding her, his gray t-shirt had turned about nine different colors.

He took Sakura upstairs and changed his shirt, trading the food-covered gray one for a dark blue one. He looked at the clock on his bedside table and gasped.

"Nine o'clock!?" he realized, turning toward Sakura, "I should have had you in bed at least an hour ago!"

He changed her dirty diaper and put a new one on, then set her on his bed. He covered her up with blankets and gently tucked her in.

"Are you going to be a good girl and go to sleep?" he asked, smiling at her.

She stared up at him, seemingly wide-awake. Syaoran hopped on the bed next to her and propped one of his free pillows up against the back of the bed. He turned his small clip-on lamp and attached it to the bed. He took the book he had been reading off his shelf and leaned his back against the pillow.

"Just go to sleep, Sakura." he instructed, "I'll stay here and read so you're not alone."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Minutes passed, and soon a full hour. But Sakura still lay awake, watching Syaoran read his book. He sighed and finally gave up, shutting the book and putting it down on the shelf behind him.

"Why won't you sleep?" he asked softly, stroking the top of her head, "Will you go to sleep if I sing you a lullaby?"

Of course he didn't get a reply, but she did smile.

Syaoran cleared his throat and started singing her a sweet song. It was a song he had heard long ago, back at home in China. A song about angels, and Syaoran remembered his mother singing it to him when he was little. He thought it was the perfect song for Sakura. And he was right, the gentle melody seemed to soothe her, and her eyelids began to droop willingly. Even though she was probably asleep halfway through, Syaoran kept singing until the song was done. Once he finished, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Sakura-chan." he whispered.

Then he laid back and drifted off into dreamland himself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Syaoran had expected to be woken up by Sakura crying in the middle of the night, but it never happened. What eventually woke him up was the bright Saturday morning sunshine drowning his room in golden light. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and sat up. He peered down next to him and found the baby Sakura still sleeping and gripping onto the bottom of his shirt. He gently released his shirt from her tiny hand and carefully got up off the bed, not wanting to wake her up. But she stirred and yawned, slowly opening her eyes into the light of the room. She kicked at the covers, successfully getting them off of her, and sat up. She made some cute baby noises (almost like trying to say words) and crawled over to Syaoran. She tugged on his shirt, as if trying to overpower him. Syaoran played along and fell onto his bed with a flop.

"Wow, Sakura-chan! You must be really strong to be able to pull me over like that."

She giggled and pulled on his shirt harder to prevent him from getting up.

"I guess if I want to get up, I'll have to resort to plan B." he decided.

He reached his arms out toward her and began tickling her all over. Sakura broke out into a fit of giggles and finally let go of his shirt, letting him sit up. He picked her up and leaned her against his shoulder.

"You ready to get some breakfast?" he asked as he bounced her up and down.

She made a few more babyish replies and he took her downstairs. He followed the same routine as the day before and made her some milk from the formula. After making himself some eggs, bacon, and a piece of toast, he took her and everything to his same favorite green chair. He set his food on the table next to the chair and proceeded to feed the bottled milk to Sakura.

"So, when are you going to come back to us?" Syaoran asked the little girl, a forlorn expression on his face, "I like taking care of you like this, but I really miss you."

He smiled at her sadly.

"I hope you are fighting that card, Sakura. I don't know what I would do if I could never see you normal again."

After she polished off the milk, Syaoran quickly scarfed down his breakfast and put all the dishes into the sink.

"Do you want to go to the park?" Syaoran asked her, as he changed her and put some new clothes on for her.

She smiled appreciatively back at him, making her eyes light up. The cute little dress matched her eyes perfectly, it was almost as if they were the exact same color.

He smiled back at her and put her up on his shoulders.

"All set?" he asked, looking up above his head.

She in turn, patted the top of his head lightly. He chuckled and walked out of the apartment, locking and shutting the door behind him.

He and Sakura strolled through the park, admiring the late springtime surroundings. Some people looked at him funny, as he carried the little girl on his shoulders and had a baby bag strapped over his shoulder, but he didn't care.

After walking around for at least a couple hours, Syaoran ran into Tomoyo and Eriol, who also seemed to be taking a stroll.

"Ah!! Konnichiwa Li-kun and Sakura-chan!!" Tomoyo called, running up to them.

Eriol came up behind her, looking a little TOO cheerful.

"Well, well!! It seems you two are getting along nicely." Eriol announced.

"Sakura seems really attached to you, Li-kun!!" Tomoyo agreed, "It's so kawaii!"

"Just taking your sweetheart for a ride?" Eriol asked, gesturing toward Sakura (who was hugging the top of Syaoran's head at the time).

"Shut up, Hiragizawa." Syaoran said, giving him the infamous glare.

"Well I think it's absolutely KAWAII!!!!" Tomoyo slurred.

Syaoran and Eriol sweat-dropped simultaneously. In the meantime, Tomoyo took out her video camera and began taping.

"NO! NO!" Syaoran pleaded, trying to put a hand in front of the camera, "What if Sakura saw some of this?"

Tomoyo finally gave up and put the camcorder away.

"Then she would probably thank me." she said, matter-of-factly.

Syaoran's previous sweat-drop grew bigger, but he quickly shook it off.

"What are you guys doing out here, anyway?" Syaoran asked, a little curiosity present in his voice.

"I was just taking a nice morning walk through the park, when I met up with Eriol." Tomoyo explained, "Then we both just decided to walk together for awhile, until we met up with you and Sakura-chan."

Eriol nodded to indicate that she was correct.

"Any news about this card?" Syaoran asked hopefully.

Tomoyo's eyes lit up at a sudden remembrance.

"As a matter of fact, yes!! I meant to tell you last night, but I guess our conversation sidetracked me. I talked to Kero!"

"Y-you did?!" Syaoran stammered, "What did he say?!"

"Kero said that if Sakura wants to prove herself to this card, she has to give it a good or worthy reason of wanting to be her normal self again."

"That doesn't sound too hard." Syaoran said, "What's keeping her this way then?"

Tomoyo shrugged.

"I don't know. I'll bet she's trying though."

"I sure hope so..." Syaoran mumbled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"That's not a good enough reason??"

"I'm afraid not."

Sakura stood in a black void-like space, talking to an ethereal-looking being. The woman had long golden hair and midnight blue eyes. She stood tall in front of Sakura, in dress that seemed to be made completely of all different types of flowers.

"I want to see my family, I have responsibilities!! Why isn't that good enough?" Sakura continued to ask the young woman.

"Search your heart for the real reason that you want to go back, dig deep inside yourself, card mistress." the woman spoke in a singsong voice.

Sakura closed her eyes and tried her best to focus on her heart. Suddenly, her mind was filled with images of Syaoran. Some all the way back from when they had first met, to card captures, to the present. His rare smile, his light laughter, and the deep sound of his voice...it all rushed through her mind like flipping through the pages of a book.

'It's Syaoran...' she realized, 'I want to go back so I can be with him. That's what I truly want. I want to see his smile, I want to hear his voice, I want to be with him again...'

She opened her eyes and looked up to the card.

"I want to be with Syaoran. That's why I have to go back." she stated.

The card smiled down on her and nodded.

"I accept your wish, card mistress, for it is from the bottom of your heart. I have truly meant no trouble to you, but I was instructed to test you in this way by my master Clow Reed. I apologize for causing any damage."

"Thank you." Sakura said with a smile.

"I accept you as the true card mistress as well, and therefore deem you worthy to don my power." the being spoke as she reverted herself to card form.

The card flew to Sakura's hand and she looked at it curiously.

"The youth card?"

'What exactly did this card do to me?' she wondered.

She was suddenly engulfed in a weird blue light and vanished from sight.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What's happening to her?" Eriol asked, pointing to Sakura.

Syaoran put her down, and she started crying like crazy. Tomoyo quickly scooped her up in her arms and took off toward the park bathrooms.

"Where are you going!?" Syaoran called after her.

"Not enough time to explain!" Tomoyo yelled, disappearing into the women's bathroom.

She put the 'growing' Sakura in one of the stalls and took out some clothes that she had with her.

'Good thing I brought these with just in case.' she thought, sliding the clothes under the stall to Sakura, 'It's also a good thing Kero knew what was going to happen once she captured the card.'

"Huh!?!?!?" came a panicked voice from inside the stall, "What happened?! And where did my clothes go!?"

"There are some on the floor next to you, put those on." Tomoyo instructed.

Sakura did as she was told and came out of the stall about fifteen minutes later, fully dressed in one of Tomoyo's bizarre costumes and holding a pink diaper along with a ripped green dress.

"Care to explain?" she asked, holding out the dress and diaper.

Tomoyo sweat-dropped.

"Um...I think we should go talk about this outside." she said, pushing Sakura toward the door.

Just as they were about to open the door, someone started pounding on it.

"DAIDOUJI!!! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN THERE!?!?" Syaoran voice yelled from the opposite side of the door.

"You could stop screaming and let us out first!" Tomoyo said, impatiently tapping her foot.

He moved out of the way and the two girls came out, Tomoyo in her springtime attire and Sakura in a pink frilly dress. Sakura held the diaper and torn dress out to the two young men.

"One of you care to explain this?" she asked.

"Geez. Look at the time!!" Syaoran said nervously, looking on his arm where a watch would normally be, "I'll see you guys later."

Without another word, he took off running faster than the dash card.

"I think Tomoyo-san can kindly explain everything." Eriol agreed, walking off toward the street.

'Gee, thanks a lot guys.' Tomoyo thought bitterly.

A not so nice thought suddenly came to her mind and she smiled evilly.

"Hey Sakura-chan! Why don't you come over to my place for a while. I think I have a very INTERESTING video to show you."

Sakura crossed her arms.

"I want to know what exactly happened first."

"Oh, TRUST me, Sakura-chan, this will explain EVERYTHING." Tomoyo stated, still grinning like mad.

'Syaoran deserves this for bailing out on me.' she thought.

"Well, if that's the case, let's go!!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, Sakura-chan, prepare to be amazed." Tomoyo said, popping an unmarked tape into her VCR and hitting 'play'.

The first scene of the tape started, and showed a shot of Syaoran pushing a little girl in a cart through a store.

"Who's that?" Sakura asked, blinking at the TV, "I thought Syaoran's sisters were all older than him."

"They are. Take a closer look."

Sakura squinted at the bright TV screen.

"Hah Hah, Tomoyo-chan, nice joke. But I would really like to know how you managed to pull that one off."

"No joke, Sakura-chan, that's you." Tomoyo stated, smiling.

Then, it suddenly struck her like lightning.

'The youth card...no, IT CAN'T BE!!!!!!'

"Tomoyo-chaaaaaaaaaan!!! How?!?!?! And...WHY SYAORAN!?!?" Sakura exploded, having an extremely difficult time taking in the sight before her.

"Syaoran volunteered to take care of you while you were under the card's power." Tomoyo explained.

Sakura watched as Syaoran took baby food off shelves and stuck them in the cart with the little Sakura.

"This COULD NOT have happened!!" she insisted, "It was all just a dream, just a bad dream!! I'm going to wake up anytime now..."

Tomoyo pinched her best friend's cheek.

"OUCH!"

"See? It's not a dream." Tomoyo smirked, "OOO!! Watch this part!"

Sakura almost unwillingly looked at the screen, but couldn't seem to tear her eyes from it. Syaoran was looking at diapers, and had accidentally hit the cart with his foot. Sakura watched herself go rolling down the aisle, laughing like crazy. A moment later, she saw sheer terror erupt onto Syaoran's face (a special close-up done by Tomoyo)and he took off running and yelling after the runaway cart. He saved it just before it hit the wall and the little Sakura clapped her hands happily.

"So I was really that dense when I was little too..." she mumbled.

Sakura watched Syaoran's conversation with Toya and frowned.

'Ni-chan never lets him alone.' she thought irritably.

The next few scenes went by and Sakura continued to watch, looking like a frozen block of ice. However, as Syaoran was feeding her the bottle, she felt a tiny smile weave its way onto her face.

'I wish he would really look at me like that...' she thought dreamily.

"Sakura-chan! You have to watch this part!" Tomoyo squealed excitedly, "He's going to change your diaper!!"

Sakura's whole face went pale.

"Y-you're joking..." she squeaked, sounding a lot like a frightened mouse.

"Nope. See?"

Each second she watched, she sank deeper and deeper into the depths of the couch she was seated on.

"I'm never going to be able to face him ever again..." she spoke, barely above a whisper.

Her face and neck felt as hot as the surface of the sun.

"Tomoyo-chan! This is torture!! Please tell me that this isn't real!!" Sakura pleaded.

"I would if I could, but I can't. It all happened yesterday."

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....." Sakura moaned.

Tomoyo forced her to continue watching, even though it was clear that Sakura wanted to throw up. The tape went through the whole phone call business, and Sakura turned to Tomoyo.

"You sat there taping inside his bedroom while you were talking to him on the phone?!"

"Yup." Tomoyo answered simply.

Sakura grinned as she saw Syaoran play with her.

"He must really like kids..."

Tomoyo chuckled a little.

"You've got it all wrong, Sakura-chan." she stated, with that knowing look.

"Y'know Sakura...I've always wanted to spend a day with you." Sakura heard Syaoran speak on the screen, "However, this isn't quite what I had in mind."

Sakura felt herself blush at this.

"What did he mean by that, Tomoyo-chan?"

Tomoyo shrugged with a smile.

"I don't know, ask him."

Sakura watched in amazement as she kissed Syaoran's cheek, and noted how he turned bright red.

'I wonder why he turned red like that?' she thought.

Sakura and Tomoyo continued to watch the video and were now to the feeding part. "I don't even want to know how I'm going to embarrass myself this time." Sakura said, covering her eyes.

She watched as Syaoran tried feeding her, and she utterly refused every time. Then when he finally got some in her mouth, she spit the orange goo all over his face.

"Somebody just kill me already!! Forget ever facing him again, how can he even stand knowing that I'm alive!!??" Sakura yelled.

"Oh, I could think of a few reasons." Tomoyo said, still smiling (did she ever stop?), "As a matter of fact, here's the most kawaii part of the whole tape!!"

"What's so kawaii about that?" Sakura asked, watching Syaoran reading his book in bed, "He's been like that for the last fifteen minutes (yes, Tomoyo cut some of that scene out)."

"OOOOO!!! Here he goes, watch!!" Tomoyo droned excitedly.

Syaoran put the book down and turned to the still awake Sakura.

"Why won't you sleep?" Sakura heard him ask, "Will you go to sleep if I sing you a lullaby?"

Sakura felt her heart start beating faster.

'He's going to...sing to me?'

And sure enough he did, he sang a sweet song about angels. Sakura almost fell asleep herself, if it wasn't for a nudge or two from Tomoyo-chan. He finished the song and bent down and gave the little Sakura a kiss on the forehead. Sakura instinctively placed her hand on her own forehead, as if she could still feel the kiss.

"Sweet dreams, Sakura-chan." she heard him whisper as the camera faded out.

Sakura stared longingly at the screen.

"That's the sweetest thing I have ever seen him do." Sakura spoke, in a daze.

"And he did it for you." Tomoyo nudged her friend.

Finally, the last part of the tape went by, with just Syaoran trying to block Tomoyo's camera with his hand, while asking Tomoyo what he would do if Sakura saw it. Then fuzz overran the TV.

"That's it!!" Tomoyo said, "So, Sakura-chan, how did you like it?"

Sakura moaned and put her head in her hands.

"I could use a glass of water Tomoyo-chan, and about thirty Tylenol..."

"Sure thing, Sakura-chan." Tomoyo bowed, cheerfully skipping off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing is for sure, the next time Sakura and Syaoran meet face to face is going to be INTERESTING indeed...

That's it for Chapter 2!!! I hope you all enjoyed that chapter, 'cause I certainly enjoyed writing it! ^_^ I know that wasn't exactly something you guys would have expected, but I thought it added a nice twist into my story (not your everyday S+S, now is it?). Anyway, I would REALLY like reviews for what you all thought of this one. As long as you guys like it, I'll continue. Be gentle with flames, but helpful criticism is always welcome (that's my own motto ^_^). Arigato for reading my fic!! And if you aren't sure of a few Japanese terms, I don't think there are any new ones, so just refer to the bottom of my first fic if there are any you don't recognize (I did change 'oniisan' to 'Ni-chan' though). I hope you all have a wonderful day!! ~Manda-chan