Black Magic

1: Returns

'Syaoran!'

'You're so beautiful, Sakura.'

Sakura was silent, a little stunned for a moment. She brought herself to speak. 'How come you never told me you were coming back? We sent so many letters back and forth, and you never said anything!'

Syaoran turned away, blushing rather profusely. 'Yeah, well... I wanted to keep it a surprise. You know, I just wanted... I don't know, but it makes things better, or at least, I thought so.'

'It doesn't matter, you're here now... everything's going to be so great! Wait 'till I tell Tomoyo! She'll be really excited too!' Sakura gasped with possibilities that came into her mind. 'We could have a welcome pack party! Tomoyo would go crazy, what with all of the decorating opportunities. We could invite everyone!' Sakura continued talking and the two started off to her house, Syaoran simply listening and smiling warmly.

'Tomoyo could do all of the decorations, and everyone would come! Toya and Yuki, even Kero could take part, because it would be a party just for us... just for everyone who knows about what's happened, that way we could talk about anything we wanted to... umm... what are you staring at me like that for?'

Syaoran looked ahead and kept smiling. 'You haven't changed a bit.'

They walked all the way to Sakura's house, sharing stories, and just enjoying each other's company. They got to her house, just as it started to rain, and Sakura settled Syaoran in the living room. 'I'll just get some tea, or something. I'll be right back.'

Sakura raced to the kitchen and hurried about, taking everything and anything that they'd need to just sit in the living room for hours. As she did so, she picked up the phone and dialed Tomoyo's number, probably faster than she ever had.

'Hello?'

'Tomoyo! You'll never guess what!?'

'Sakura! What happened?' Tomoyo asked excitedly. By the tone in Sakura's voice, something absolutely marvelous happened.

'Syaoran is sitting in my living room! He's going to stay here!'

'Oh, Sakura, I'm so happy for you!'

'I'm so happy he's back. Oh, by the way, I'm wondering if you'd be able to come to a party that I was thinking of having.'

'Of course! I get to decorate, though.'

'Absolutely. I want everyone to be there, and we can even have some of the Cards help out with things.'

'Wait a minute, Sakura. Not everyone will be there.'

'Phwee?'

'If the Cards will be there, then that means just the people who were involved with them will be there.'

'That's right... What's you're point?'

'Well... I know he was kind of the antagonist when you were changing the cards, but...'

'Eriol? You mean Eriol? I haven't heard from him since The Nothing got out!'

(Note( I'm kind of taking this from the second movie!!! Don't tell anyone!!!)

'Really? I would have thought he would have at least sent you something... I wonder what's the matter with him. But then again, Syaoran is different. He'd never leave you high and dry!'

Sakura felt vaguely insulted. 'Eriol didn't leave me "high and dry". In fact he helped me out a lot, and to the best of his abilities. I mean, he did give half of his magic to my dad. I know what it's like to have a big power drain, but probably none of it comes close to what he had to do.' Sakura paused for a moment, suddenly aware that Syaoran was just in the next room.

She spoke quietly, so there was no chance that Syaoran would overhear. 'In fact, I think I'll invite Eriol.'

The doorbell rang.

'I'll get it for you,' Syaoran said from the living room.

'That's the door, Tomoyo, I got to go. But I'll call you with more details on the party. You just start cooking up decorating ideas, and show me what you come up with at school, okay? Talk to you later.'

'Bye Sakura!'

Sakura hung up the phone and went to the door. Syaoran, who had already answered it, stared in shock at the person who stood there. He was rather tall and had midnight-black hair that came almost to his shoulders, not quite long enough to tie back. He had large, round spectacles in front of reserved blue eyes the colour of rain clouds, and there was even a background of them to compare to. He wore a long dark coat over a deep blue silk shirt with white trim and faint but delicate embroidery and black satin pants. He held a suitcase in one hand and a small package in the other, and he was soaked with the rain.

'Eriol?!'

'I heard you were having a party?' He said softly before his eyes glazed over and he began to fall forward.

'Ah!' Syaoran lunged to catch him before he realized what he was doing, but when he did, he just about dropped Eriol to the floor in disgust.

'Sorry...' Eriol muttered as he righted himself. 'I guess I over-did it...'

Sakura took his coat and bag, setting the bag by the stairs, and hanging his coat to dry. Syaoran helped Eriol to the couch, trying his darndest to do it while at the same time touching him as little as possible.

'Over-did what?' Sakura asked once they were all sitting.

'Getting here. It took quite a lot of effort. I didn't take a plane.'

'Oh. Then did you-?' Sakura started.

'No, no, no. I used magic. I guess I shouldn't have. I wanted to get here as quickly as I could. I was... kind of... sleeping when Syaoran decided he would pay you a visit before he settled in Tomoeda again. I wanted to see you... well, to be honest, I wanted to see you're reaction when he showed up, but I was a little late for that.'

'Pervert...' Syaoran muttered to himself.

'These are my pajamas. Syaoran chose to see you right away on a whim, so I didn't foresee it in time to react quickly enough.' Eriol raised a weary hand and pointed to his luggage. 'That bag is mostly empty. I had almost no time to prepare, and I still didn't arrive in time.'

Sakura noticed that Eriol was rambling. He had been in Tomoeda for a few months before he revealed himself, and after he did, Sakura saw that he was still the same. She knew that when Eriol spoke, it was always well thought out, and it had a point, even if it could not be easily determined.

But there in her living room, as she listened to him speak, Eriol obviously did not have anything to say.

'Are you alright, Eriol?'

Eriol stopped mid-sentence. 'Wh-why do you ask?' He said, looking like he was trying too hard to stay composed.

'Maybe we should put you in the guest room. It has to be about three AM in England, right? And you did use up lots of your magic.

'I think that's a good idea. I'll get my bag.' He said strangely as he rose to fetch his things.

He didn't stay standing for very long.

'Oh! Syaoran, could you help me get him to the guest room?' Sakura asked as she checked Eriol for any outward injury. Syaoran reluctantly agreed, and they carefully got Eriol to the guest room and onto the bed within. Eriol was sound asleep, but he seemed to be muttering something... Sakura couldn't quite make out any words.

She sighed and turned to Syaoran, putting a hand on her hips and giving an over-exaggerated smile, though part of it was just her. 'Welcome back, Syaoran. I think the tea's ready about now.'

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Ah, the first chapter of the redux. I'm just going to insert the chapters for Black Magic into the beginning of Twilight. Twilight will end up being revised as well, as I am completely re-doing the story that comes before it, and even some of Twilight is wrong!

But hey, the rewriting of Black Magic is going really quickly!