Hello, dear readers, and welcome to my newest CCS fic, GAMES OF FATE. This is going to be one of my best S+S fics ever!!! I can't wait to get this going! Anyway, this part, the prologue, takes place when Li leaves (and the fashion with which he leaves won't be exactly according to the show, obviously, or it wouldn't be a fanfic), but the rest of it, in all the further chapters (except any flashbacks, duh,) they're all 20. Also, the song in this part is by Michelle Branch, and is called "Here With Me." I changed the lyrics only slightly (meaning the parts where it is from the girl's point of view, and changing it to a guy's,) and check it out if you want. And I know the ending sounds super final, but remember, THIS IS ONLY A PROLOGUE, AND I ASSURE YOU THERE WILL BE MORE IF YOU REVIEW ENOUGH!!! So now that you know what's going on, let's go!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own CCS, I don't own the characters, I don't own the songs, and you all know this already, so I don't think I'll bother going on any further. But, I also don't own the song "Here With Me" by Michelle Branch!

Games of Fate

Prologue

Rated PG, maybe later a PG-13. I'm not sure. But for now, just plain, boring old PG.

            Li Syaoran packed the last things into his trunk, the lock clicking ominously. It reflected the horridness of the situation, represented the past that he was leaving behind, and locking away with a key. But not only was his past bound tight and put away. So were his friends. His lifestyle. But, the thing that he was paining him most was leaving her behind.

            Shaking his head lightly to clear his thoughts, he picked up his heavy bag, and strolled out of the bare apartment. Now was no time for doubts, for uneasiness. His path had been laid out before him, and it was his duty as soon-to-be head of the Li clan to follow it dutifully.

            Sighing, Syaoran called a cab, and waited for it to arrive. Fingering the collar of his shirt absentmindedly, he let his mind drift. He began to think of all the things he and she had been through. All the pain and challenges…yet all those moments when they were so close, he could feel her breath upon his body…

            SLAM! A dark, iron door in his mind swung shut immediately, locking away those thoughts so traitorous to his destiny. He couldn't think about those things now. They were in the past, and that was where they would stay. He couldn't be weak and moon over some girl, some specter of the possible future he could have had. He shouldn't have started getting close to them, to her, in the first place. He was Li Syaoran, and he was the future of the Li clan. He knew this now, clearer than ever before, and he should have realized it a long time ago. But done was done, and all that mattered was that he was doing the right thing now.

It's been a long, long time since I looked into the mirror

I guess that I was blind

Now my reflection's getting clearer

Now that you're gone things will never be the same again.

Wasn't it the right thing?

            All too soon, the cab pulled up to the airport. Pulling out some bills without really paying attention to the numbers on them, he forced a wad into the cab driver's hand. A loud whoop of joy from the shady man told Syaoran that he had paid way too much, but he didn't really care right now. Sacrifices in money weren't relevant in comparison to the much deeper sacrifices he was making now…

            SLAM! The iron door swung shut once more, again locking away memories that would only weaken him and lead him astray from the path that he was destined to follow, without choice of his own, without any questions.

            He made his way towards the gate, and paid no attention to the person in his way. He continued walking briskly forward, sure that the person would move out of his path.

            But their bodies collided, and the person hadn't moved an inch. He raised his eyes, and saw the root of his torment. Kinomoto Sakura.

            Unbidden, all the memories that had been locked behind the iron door flooded forward, causing such an ache, such a hunger to stay inside him as he spoke her name.

"Sakura. You shouldn't be here."

"Li-kun, don't go. Stay here, don't you like it?"

            He couldn't answer. Of course he liked it here. He liked it too much. He had changed, and he shouldn't have. He had to go back, for the sake of his destiny and everyone else's. 

"Sakura, I'm sorry. I can't stay. Go, now. Please." He turned, trying to move around her.

There's not a minute that goes by every hour of every day

You're such a part of me

But I just pulled away

Well, I'm not the same boy that you used to know

I wish I said the words I never showed

"Stop! Don't you care anymore? About all of us?" A solitary tear slid down Syaoran's face at these words, knowing the answer, but not being able to say it.

I know I had to go away

I died just a little, and I feel it now

You're the one I need

I believe that I would cry just a little

Just to have you back now

Here with me

Here with me

"Don't you care about me?" she whispered at Li's silence, a small tear glistening at the corner of her eye, threatening to spill over. The young man's heart screamed in agony at this sight, protesting the silence he again answered with, casting his eyes down. But he feared what would happen if he spoke his true feelings, and acted on what his soul was directing him to do, and didn't do anything at all.

You know that silence is loud when all you hear is your heart

And I wanted so badly just be a part of something strong and true

But I was scared and left it all behind I know I had to go away

I died just a little, and I feel it now

You're the one I need

I believe that I would cry just a little

Just to have you back now

Here with me Here with me

            Sakura searched Li's eyes, looking for something, anything, that would give her an answer. But his eyes and face were a cold, hard mask, betraying the thoughts of love, fear and pain that raged through his veins, through every molecule of his flesh. His heart, his every being wanted her to see what he felt so badly, but couldn't express it.

And I'm asking

And I'm wanting you to come to me

Please?

            Tears spilled down Sakura's face, and he could see all the pain in her face, in her eyes. The pain that he had caused. He couldn't take it, he wanted to wrap his arms around her, and hold her, and kiss her, and whisper nonsense into her ear, and tell her that everything was okay. But he couldn't. He was Li Syaoran. And that was that.

            Or was it?

            "If that's the way it is, then," she murmured, barely audibly, and he got one last agonizing look at her face before she turned away and ran as though possessed, without a sound except for the whimper of pure hurt and lament that escaped her lips as her body was suddenly racked with silent sobs.

I never will forget that look upon your face

How you turned away and left without a trace

But you have to understand I did what I had to do

And I thank you

I know I had to go away

I died just a little, and I feel it now

You're the one I need

I believe that I would cry just a little

Just to have you back now

Here with me

Here with me

And she was gone forever.