Author's Notes: You all review as if my story was finished. How could it be? Sakura hasn't got with Syaoran yet! If anyone knows of any good CCS stuff like wallpapers, cursors, themes... I'm really looking for them. It's just I'm so picky

when it comes to my brand new computer! Disclaimers apply, while I'm thinking about it. Listen guys, I have the best, I mean the BEST, sequel

idea for this, but I've already made up my mind about my sequel policy so please, please request it for this one. I promise it will have all the CCS

peeps in it (unlike this one), and it would be so really great! Anyways, I'd also take request for the kids S+S have together, 'cuz it's getting

really tiring. Though my two humor fics I've got planned won't have any. I think it's easier that way. I'm also up for a challenge, so somebody

suggest a challenging crossover with CCS. I will not do any show I don't watch though. It makes it harder to get the characters right. Hope

you enjoy! -Anrui

Sakura walked onto the veranda looking stately with her attendants holding up the long train attached to her headdress. In the gardens before her, Syaoran played with the four-year old T'ien. The little boy looked over, saw her, and started waving happily.

She smiled at him, and he went back to his play. Syaoran too looked up for a moment with a tender expression. They both knew that this was the only time she spent with him outside the bedroom. Sakura walked closer, still holding herself upright, and then, upon reaching her son, lifted him up. T'ien smiled happily and hugged her around the neck. His father stood up respectfully, and they started down the garden paths.

"You look lovely," he told her truthfully.

"Thank you," she answered politely after regarding him for a moment.

"Mommy, mommy, tell daddy the story!" T'ien shouted gleefully. Syaoran watched Sakura curiously.

"It's really nothing," she assured him. He didn't question her further.

T'ien pouted, his emerald eyes sparkling with discontent, "Why don't we ever play together?"

Sakura stroked his soft brown hair, but didn't answer. Despite his coloring, the boy looked a lot like his father, a fact it was hard for her to forget. T'ien, not having his question answered, looked at his father. Syaoran didn't know what to say.

"We need to talk," Sakura whispered to him sadly. For four years they had both ignored the fact that someday their child would be old enough to understand the situation. Not quite yet, but they both knew it couldn't be too much longer.

Syaoran nodded, lost in thought. Their relationship had changed, at least, from what it had been. She no longer cast cold glances at him. He'd walk alongside her sometimes, and she wouldn't say anything. They had a companionable silence sometimes. Syaoran heard Sakura sigh.

T'ien, having a child's attention span, had fixed his attention on a nearby butterfly. He pointed at it, "Look, it's pretty!"

Sakura sat him down gently on the ground, "Why don't you go play in the flowers for awhile?" The little boy looked at her, knowing his mother enough to know what she wanted. He nodded and ran off after the butterfly.

"You know how I feel about you," Syaoran whispered desperately.

Sakura turned on him, "You always act like I'm so guilty! I never asked for this position, it was you who chose me. You've offered my freedom to me, but there's no way I could leave my son!"

His eyes were sad, "Can't you ever forgive me? I didn't understand what I would do to you when I made that decision five years ago. I'd give it all back to you if I could, but I can't. I feel just as trapped as you do. I love you, and you've used against me. What of that, Sakura?"

"You don't have to look at your son, knowing that someday you'll have to tell him his mother was no more than his father's harlot! I can't forgive you! I just can't forgive you..." her voice trailed off.

They stopped as a guard ran towards them, "Sire, they took the child... we tried to cut them off..."

Syaoran stopped him, "Who took the child?"

The guard looked at him apologetically, "We don't know. It was hard to see."

"I want all of the palace guards after them, and no one is to leave or go until I give word. Understood?"

The guard nodded and bowed. As soon as he was gone, Sakura fell to her knees crying. Syaoran went down and held her. "This is... this is all my fault. I should have... I should have told him to stay close."

In all the time he had known her, her eyes had never once shed a tear, but now it seemed as if they were filled with a thousand. "Sakura," Syaoran promised her, "I will not rest until we find him again."

She looked up at him, wiping her eyes like a little girl, "I can't lose him, Syaoran. He's all that I have."

"I told myself," Syaoran whispered to himself, "That I would never let anything happen to either of you." Sakura clung to him, sobbing heavily onto his shirt.

He got up, pulling her after him, and hugged her tightly. "Syaoran, if we get our son back... I want him to be happy. I don't think he can be when we're like this. I... I want to give you a chance, but it's hard... it's so hard..."

Syaoran kissed her, partly because he couldn't stand to think and partly because he felt guilty for all that he had inflicted upon her.

-----

T'ien looked up at his captors through teary eyes, "I want my mommy!"

"Why do you want her?" the man asked roughly, "From what I've heard she's not much more than a cold..." T'ien cut him off with another yell. The man covered his mouth, "Keep quiet, kid, and I'll shut up about your mother." T'ien quieted down significantly. The trees around them were covered with snow being close to the mountains near the north.

"Why can't I see mommy or daddy?" T'ien demanded, struggling to get out of the guy's grip.

"Because we need to use you for a bit..." a nasty thought came to him, "You better be good though or I'll throw you to the great snow monster." T'ien looked at him frightened and ceased to move. The man chuckled, glad for the respite.

A woman came out of the trees to join him, "Are you scaring the little kid again?" Her voice was whiny and scratchy, though she was slightly attracted. She leaned down to T'ien, "And how are you, sweety?" He stuck out his tongue at her, and she snorted. "I knew their was a reason I never had a brat."

They plowed on through the snow, "You know I wouldn't be too thrilled, either." She was, of course, referring to Sakura. "I mean, what woman would want to be forced to pay for her crimes like that?" The man rolled his eyes, knowing what was coming next. "That's what's wrong with China today. We females are treated so unfairly. Don't we have rights? What makes men so great besides their..."

The man covered her mouth, glad for any reason to stop her, "You don't want the kid to hear such things from that filthy mouth of yours."

She stuck her nose in the air, "You're the one with morning breath." The woman looked at him seriously, "What does Akuma really want with the Emperor's brat?"

"Everyone's heard the stories of how much the Emperor loves his kid. Akuma just chose to believe him... you know, an empire for a kid."

The lady looked at T'ien dubiously, "These things are worth that much?"

The man held T'ien, who was scowling, up, "This one is."

T'ien screamed, uncomfortable in the intense cold, "I want to go home!"

"The quicker we get where we're going," the man said harshly, "The quicker you can get home."

-----

Syaoran stood in a room with his advisors and the head of his guards. The magistrates were also seated around a along table. "We have combed the area," the captain of the guards began, "But we have found no sign of the boy."

"This is the heir of China we're talking about, not some animal we're hunting!" one of the advisors shouted, "Surely there are other avenues that you can follow."

"I'm sorry," the captain began, "But there are no tracks, and no one has seen them. For all reasonable purposes, there is nothing more the guards can do."

Syaoran held up his hand to speak, "We'll continue to question people around the area. Meanwhile, I am going to go out myself to see if I can find this person."

A messenger opened the door, running in, "A letter has arrived for the Emperor!"

Syaoran grabbed it and read over the words quickly, his expression hardening, "Prepare my things. I'm going after my son."

"I'm going also," a voice echoed from the door resolutely. Sakura stood there, her composure tightly locked into place. Syaoran hesitated for a moment. "He's my son, too," she told him, and he knew there was no changing her mind.

Syaoran nodded to a servant, "Prepare her things... we shall head out tomorrow." The rest of the assembly was dismissed, and the emperor stood alone with his concubine. "I don't want you going."

"You can't stop me," her voice sent a shiver down his spine. The Sakura who had shown herself in the garden was gone again.

He walked over to her, touching her hair for an instant, "Sakura..."

She closed her eyes, "I told you that this wouldn't be easy for me. I've spent many years keeping to myself."

"I know, and I love you for it." Sakura gazed at him confused. "You have a dignity to you when you're like that. It befits an emperor."

She took his hand and held it to her cheek, "Why did you choose me? You had your choice of all of China."

Syaoran kissed her softly, "I've known that it could only be you from the moment I saw you... and it's not often that an emperor meets his other half."

"Do you mean that?" she whispered.

"Have you never felt it?"

"I have. It's part of why I could hate you for so long... I hated myself for it. Is that what this is then? Fate and soul mates and all that?"

He took her into his arms as she sobbed, "No... fate had nothing to do with it. I would have found you wherever fate had placed us. Though, I can't help but think that you're part of me. How else could you bewitch me like you do?"

Sakura shivered, "You speak as if you know me enough to love me."

"I don't need to know anything... I love you."

"I can't do this... not now," she leaned on him, "I just want to see my son again."

-----

Akuma sat in the dark, pondering his plot to take over China. He just needed the boy now. Of course, he had sent those two idiots. Mara and her husband Kentaro occasionally got something accomplished, but this was a high risk mission. They had been the only people for hire not associated with his faction. They were harder to trace back to him for that reason.

A black cat jumped up and curled on Akuma's lap. He stroked the soft black fur letting the pats get rougher until the cat let out a screech and clawed him before running off. Akuma laughed, amused. He lifted the pipe to his lips and let out a curl of smoke. It traced a curved path to the ceiling and then winked out of existence. Soon, he thought with a hint of evil laughter, I shall be emperor of China!

The door to his dark, charred looking fortress opened suddenly, bringing with it a flurry of snow. Two figures, three counting the smaller one in the man's arms, emerged looking pale with cold. "Mara... Kentaro... how nice to see you," his voice was slippery and ran together with a perceived elegance.

Mara held out her hand, "Pay us, take the kid, and then we'll go."

Two men came out and grabbed the couple holding their hands behind their back. Akuma laughed hysterically, "Did you think I'd actually pay you? What a pity... you're both such fools!"

Kentaro growled fiercely, "You shall not get away with this!"

"I'm afraid I already have," he said taking T'ien by the hand as the guard brought him over, "but thanks for the help."

The last thing they saw was darkness as they were hit over the head.