Disclaimer: Cardcaptor Sakura belongs to Clamp. Characters used in the plot are

entirely fictional. Plot belongs to silverg3r.

Leave Me Alone

Chapter 2 – Reluctance

Characters:

Sakura Kinomoto – 16

Tomoyo Daidouji– 16

Touya Kinomoto – 23

Li Syaoran – 18

Li Yelan – 37

Eriol Hiiragizawa – 18

Kou Sune– 18

Toshinobu Sune – 39

Fujitaka Kinomoto – 48

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The sun rose over the lush green forest, the bright rays of the sun giving life to the forest. Nature woke up and stretched itself. Birds stirred from their slumber in their warm nests and let out their morning song, a beautiful cheerful melody which lightened spirits. Golden rays peered through the dense foliage of leaves to reach the forest floor. In a small crook between two branches of a tall tree, a mother bird shifted on its clutch of speckled eggs. The nest was delicately made with dry twigs and leaves, and a bird with a beautiful red beak, green feathers and red-tipped wings landed on the branch next to the nest, obviously the father.

Sakura opened her eyes. She lay on her great fluffy bed and stretched out her hands. She put them straight out in front of her and examined her fingers, deep in thought. They were long and slender, with elegantly almond-shaped nails, which were well buffered and expertly painted a sweet shimmering pink by Sakura's personal beautician. Her Nana insisted that she have her own, and Sakura appreciated Nana's efforts to maintain her appearance, especially when Sakura could be extremely clumsy at times. But you couldn't tell that Sakura was the best female martial arts fighter in the Kinomoto Kingdom, and she had even surpassed her own teacher, who was a famous martial arts fighter, and the best among them! This meant that Sakura was better then everybody, and she had won a few tournaments against well-known opponents. Well, that still is to be proven. I've not fought with everybody in the whole world, Sakura thought. Or rather, mused.

Today was the day the castle would start preparing for the tournament. There were tents to set up, tables to be set and seats to be placed, food to be prepared and guestrooms to be cleaned. What a big hassle in the palace. The guests would be arriving a week later, and time was passing very fast to Sakura. Sakura whipped her hand away from the position it had been at a minute ago and sat up straight. She stretched, and put her hands in front of her again. This time, she flexed her fingers. Time to train as usual. Every morning. But, maybe harder than usual today. It was half past six in the morning.

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"Syaoran-sama!"

Syaoran opened his eyes, revealing amber eyes. He was sitting on the mat in his personal training quarters. He had finished his morning routine, and was ending it off in meditation. It was half past seven. Someone was at the door.

"Queen Yelan wants to see you before breakfast today." A butler with graying hair and caring eyes and a gentle smile handed Syaoran his neatly folded change of clothes. Syaoran nodded silently.

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"Yes, mother, what is the matter?"

An envelope sliced through the air at a startling speed and the people who didn't practice martial arts or magic could not see the quick movement. Syaoran could. It was flying straight at his head, but he did not move an inch. Just before a corner of the envelope would touch Syaoran's nose, he caught it between the index and middle finger of his right hand. Silence. Nothing moved, or rather dared to.

"Open it." Queen Yelan said, followed by a laugh that told of her amusement.

Syaoran brought it down to his chest level and scrutinized the envelope. The envelope was a light pink and it smelt faintly of the sweet cherry blossoms. The seal, a heart within a teardrop with wings and a crown, imprinted in blood red wax, was broken. His mother had read it. With one finger, he flicked it open and slid out the letter. It revealed contents written in a beautiful and elegant handwriting.

It was an invitation. Martial arts tournament. That was interesting. Engagement? Syaoran's eyebrow shot up and he lifted his head up abruptly and looked straight into his mother's eyes.

"You should get a girl."

"No. I said before, I want to find – "

"I heard her skills are the good. The best. She managed to defeat Soon-Luan. You know who he is. Go and see, dear." Syaoran slotted the letter back into the envelope.

The envelope whistled through the air, faster than the first time. Must faster, you couldn't see anything except a blur. Queen Yelan caught it in the same way as her son, except on the right side of her head, and it was deliberate. It meant yes. "Good."

"Fine."

"Let's go eat breakfast. Don't forget, will you?"

"Never, do I forget. I'm hungry." Syaoran turned and exited his mother's room. Yelan laughed to herself. It was wonderful, he was usually so stubborn and cold. And still is.

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The gates of the palace were majestic, but it was only one of the few contributing factors to the Kinomoto Palace's magnificence. They were tall and grand, and its colour scheme was similar to that of the walls surrounding the palace and the palace design itself. Gold, silver with marble. The gates were silver, with intricate gold encrusted stars, moons, suns and dragons that wound up the vertical bars. Golden bells that made silvery tinkles hung across a few horizontal bars, added to the beauty and elegance. It was a strong structure, and had to be manually opened by the palace guards.

Today, it had been wide open the whole morning. Carriages of many intricate and colourful designs pulled up in front of the gates and deposited the eager men from all over the world coming to participate in the tournament to win the hand of Princess Sakura Kinomoto in marriage. Sakura, however, was totally disgusted. She forced herself to smile at the guests as the royal family welcomed them, even the ugliest, stupidest looking of them. There were some men who looked sincere, acted pleasantly like a gentleman, but Sakura really didn't bother to remember any of their names. Luckily, the palace was on alert all the while, for any unusual occurrences or infiltration from enemies. Not that they had a lot, the Kinomotos were peaceful and friendly people, and had many allies.

Sakura was getting exasperated at the way some of the guests were looking at her. As if she was some object of desire. Some were really old, and they didn't look like real fit martial arts fighters. She really had many guests to greet personally at the moment, and another carriage, a dark green carriage decorated with majestic golden dragons arrived. She wanted so badly to get out of here, and hide in some peaceful corner.

-

Syaoran stepped down from the carriage to face the magnificent Kinomoto palace gates. Once he stepped through, security personnel immediately requested for proof of invitation and identity. He was then politely told to wait for a moment, and the royal family would officially welcome them. He looked around, scanned the area with his eyes, and his eyes fell on a girl in a pink dress. Her expression was intriguing.

Sakura plastered one fake smile after another when greeting the arrivals. She tried to move on as quickly as possible, but her father always took some time to greet them nicely. He was rather patient, but Sakura was restless.

Some of the guests didn't seem to want to let go of the girl's hand after it was shaken, Syaoran noticed. The line of guests seemed to be reaching the end. She put on another smile and looked up at the young man. Syaoran. She was a little taken aback to see his cold amber eyes, very different from the rest of the guests, and her emotions flickered in her emerald eyes. Syaoran noticed this too. He was amused at her reaction, and the way she had flicked her head slightly when she had been taken by surprise and how her brown hair framed her face before she tucked it neatly away behind her ears.

Beside the girl in the pink dress, stood a man with one of the kindest eyes Syaoran saw. He was wearing a golden crown on his head, and was dressed in royal purple robes. Syaoran knelt down.

"I'm honoured to meet His Majesty and the Princess of Kinomoto. Thank you for your warm welcome." Syaoran lowered his head, dark brown hair covering the sight of his face. Sakura was tired, and the enthusiasm in her had died out, if there were any to begin with. Her face was devoid of expression for a second.

"Such a polite boy. Please rise. Where are you from? I am King Fujitaka, and this is my daughter Sakura." Fujitaka extended a hand.

Syaoran kissed the back of His Majesty and Princess Sakura's hand before he stood up. Sakura was again, taken by surprise. Sakura had looked straight into his amber eyes; she was met with coldness and shocked registered in her own eyes. A split second later, a smile was back on her face and a forced happiness shone in her eyes. Syaoran remained emotionless. Sakura remembered to greet him.

"Konnichiwa. I am Sakura, nice to meet you." She did a small, sweet innocent curtsey.

"Thank you. I am Li Syaoran, from the Li Kingdom." His words seem to blow right through her.

Syaoran noticed she didn't seem to be there, her soul was wandering. Sakura was currently thinking of an excuse to get away, there was nobody behind the young man she had just greeted. Syaoran had barely taken a step away from her, when she turned to her father.

"Father, I want to return to my room. I don't feel that well."

"But – alright."

Sakura turned away from her father and Syaoran and briskly left the area. She wanted to go to her secret spot and relax; she couldn't stand greeting anymore guests today.

Syaoran watched her retreat into the palace hastily, trying to avoid the looks of the guests at the reception, and kept her gaze on the ground. Interesting.

A dark blue carriage arrived at the gates, and left after dropping off Eriol Hiiragizawa.

A red carriage arrived. A man with flaming red hair stepped out on to the road. There was a glint in his eyes as he looked at the palace. Then it was gone. He entered the palace gates.

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A/n: Hello people. The time is 00.37 (Singapore) and 1st of October when I finished this. I guess I write faster with pressure. From examinations, I just simply don't feel like writing, and I am going to have my social studies paper this FRIDAY! Oh no. Miya wada: let's try to study man. But this year they say just don't fail also can get promoted. I don't know! Hahaz. I only know a little bit of Japanese phrases here and there I picked up from watching the Jap version of CCS and AXN… not good. Deuterium Xtreme: the school computer cannot trust one…thanks for putting another review!

Mistique: thanks for reviewing the second time. =) thanks Kim!

P/s: I can send update alerts…wahahz. =) Leave me your mail lorh.

ARIGATO GOZAIMASU!
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Review ONEGAI! Aishiteru ne!

---silverg3r fan fiction 1---

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