Konnichiwa!! Hello fellow CCS lovers!! Welcome to Chapter 4 of my pretty popular fic "No Strings Attached"; thank you all SOOOO much for reviewing! It's b/c of wonderful people like you that I continue my writing...(which in my opinion is getting a little better, but I'll let you decide that) Anyway, here are some people I wanna thank: Sakura Tsuki, the Kawii Fire Fairy : she was my 1st reviewer ^^; DAVID WALDROP, Cherry Blossom Koneko, Cutie Blossom, Cherry , darkwizard , maru-li , The Fic Critic , Magic Key, Lady Pluto , Empress Sasami , Mei-Hua , realla nights, Kawaii-Libra-Waziha-chan , Ryuko Dragonhalf, and Silvermoon maru . I think that's all the people that reviewed, all the way from the prologue to chapter 3!! Thanks guys!! I'm glad you liked my story ^^'!!!

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"..." Spoken Words

*...* Thoughts

~~~~~~~~~ Scene Changes/Flashbacks/change in P.O.V

[...] Authors Notes

Disclaimer: The CCS characters DO NOT belong to me, ok! They belong to © Clamp...so please don't sue me!! ^^'

~No Strings Attached ~

Chapter 4: Syaoran's Mission

Kero continued his restless task of flying around looking for Syaoran and was getting pretty exhausted; the humidity wasn't helping either.

"Aw man! I think I'm gonna evaporate before I find this kid! It is really hot out here today," he said, as his little, yellow paw glided across his sweaty forehead.

"I really hope he's not inside somewhere; then I'll never find that baka!"

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

Back to the card captors...

Syaoran was still waiting outside the convenient store for Sakura; Tomoyo had left ages ago.

*Man what the heck are they doing in there?* He thought as he peered inside to see what was going on.

He saw that Sakura had revealed her arm to Ryu and was on the brink of tears; Ryu just looked confused.

*Sakura must be frustrated, and I can't blame her either.* he thought with a sigh as he returned his gaze to a store across the street.

Just as Syaoran was about to leave, a frustrated Sakura and a confused boyfriend walked out of the convenient store.

"So, what happened?" Syaoran whispered to Sakura.

Sakura looked over at him, but didn't answer his question; she had one of those 'not-right-now' looks.

Syaoran understood and slightly nodded his head 'ok' before turning his gaze to Ryu, who looked as if he was deep in thought [AN: imagine that? a muscle head, thinking...hmm...j/k ^^']

Syaoran was currently searching his brain for something to say that would break the silence; then he found something that seemed like a good idea.

"Um...so do you guys wanna...go...have lunch?" he asked uncertainly, not knowing whether or not Sakura was up to it.

The two teens looked at Syaoran.

Sakura smiled slightly and nodded 'yes'.

"Sure," she said, "That sounds great; thanks for inviting us, Syaoran; do you wanna go with us Ryu?"

Ryu looked down at Sakura with loving, but confused, blue eyes and blinked.

"Uh....no thanks...I'm not really that hungry..." he said, looking up at Syaoran, "it was nice meeting you...again..."

Ryu turned to walk away.

"Oh, see you later Sakura."

Sakura watched in pain as her boyfriend walked away, depressed and in anguish.

She looked over at Syaoran with her piercing, emerald eyes; just a glance from her made him blush.

"Do you think he'll be alright Syaoran? He looks like someone just killed him." she remarked sadly.

Syaoran reluctantly looked away from Sakura and over at the retreating back of Ryu.

"I don't know Sakura...I just don't know; what happened in there anyway?" he finished, pointing to the store that they had just left.

*But she's right about one thing,* he thought to himself *someone basically did just kill him*

Sakura thought for a moment about Syaoran's question and was about to respond when a yellow blur passed in between them yelling something; the only things they made out though, were 'Syaoran', 'Sakura' and 'house'.

"That must have been Kero, Syaoran, c'mon, let's go to my house; I think that's where he said to go. Is that what you got?" Sakura said, looking over at the Chinese 'prince' [AN: I've always considered Syaoran a prince; he's so KAWAII!! and is the prince of Sakura's heart ^^ lol, ok, moving on]

Syaoran nodded at her and began to jog in the direction the blur had gone, with Sakura not too far behind.

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

Card Captor meeting!...

Kero huffed and puffed as he quickly flew back into Sakura's room through her open window. Landing on the desk, he fluttered his tired, little wings and sighed before wiping his brow a twelfth time.

Sakura and Syaoran had just entered through the front door and were making their way up the stairs before they were stopped by a suspicious Touya.

Touya raised an eyebrow.

"What's the Chinese brat doing here, Saku--" that was as far as he got before Sakura stomped on his foot and dragged Syaoran past him and into her room.

"OW...." was all Touya said before falling face first onto the stairs where he fell....allllllllll the way DOWN.....

"OW..." he repeated again; but this time, he didn't move, deciding that he'd get less hurt if he stayed put. [AN: hehehehehehehe!!! Dun worry! Touya's fine...I just wanted to make this story a lil' more...humorous...but no need to worry Drama fans...that won't be happening too often -_-']

(back to Sakura and Syaoran)

Sakura ran past Touya holding Syaoran's hand and ran into her room.

She slammed the door, leaned up against it and sighed in relief, only to come face-to-face with a flying, yellow 'stuffed animal' (as Syaoran would call him).

"AH! Kero! Don't do that!!" she cried, grasping at her heart and breathing in and out heavily.

Kero retreated some.

"Oops, sorry Sakura, I didn't mean to scare you."

Sakura smiled slightly and pushed the hair around her face away.

"It's ok Kero."

Kero nodded and looked over at Syaoran.

"Hey kid, I, uh, need to talk to you; come over here, would ya?" Kero said, motioning to the opposite side of Sakura's bed.

"Oh, Sakura?" Kero said, with out turning around.

"Mmhmm?"

"Would you mind waiting outside? This is kinda just between me and the kid, ok?"

Sakura sweat-dropped (-_-'), and reluctantly agreed.

Once Sakura was out of site, Kero began to explain his instructions.

"Ok kid, listen to me and listen good; I got this message from Clow Reed and he tells me that I'm supposed to tell you that you have to protect Sakura."

Syaoran raised an eyebrow.

"Clow Reed? Kero, he's dead; there's no way he talked to you."

Kero sighed.

"Look kid, whether you believe me or not, it happened alright? He spoke through the Clow Book and told me that you have to protect Sakura AND the cards."
Syaoran's eyebrow remained raised.

"Protect them from what, Kero?"

"One word, one name: Ryu"

Syaoran looked at Kero quizzically.

"Ryu? But what would he want with the cards? They'd be worthless to him, he has no magic; why would he want them, Kero?"

Kero's soft face turned hard and stern.

"He does have magic Syaoran...I dunno how you missed it, but he's got it; in fact, I believe he's most likely more powerful than you and Sakura put together."

Syaoran's amber eyes widened.

"Well, then how am I supposed to protect her and the cards if he's that much stronger than I am?"

Kero, seeming deep in thought, rubbed his chin.

"Hmm...I don't know kid, but you're gonna have to find a way; Sakura's future and the future of the world are in your hands...but I don't think you have too much to worry about, if you need help, you'll definitely find a way to obtain more power. "

Kero turned away from Syaoran and glanced out the window at the sky.

"If you can't protect Sakura, kid...then the future is hopeless...Ryu can't end up with the cards, or Sakura's sympathy. I would tell her this as well, but my orders were to only tell you; whether or not you choose to tell Sakura is up to you though, it makes no difference to me as long as she's safe."

Syaoran sat in shock and absorbed all that was being thrown at him; he was supposed to protect Sakura from someone like Ryu? Someone more powerful and a whole hell of a lot strong than him was supposed to shake with fear when he entered the room? Was Kero insane?! He would do anything for Sakura, even die for her, as long as she was kept alive by him doing so; but if he died and she was killed, than it would all have been in vain...

Finally, Syaoran broke the awkward silence between he and the stuffed animal.

"Kero, I'm most definitely willing to do everything I can in this, but you've gotta promise me something before I agree to anything."

Kero pondered for a moment and blinked at Syaoran, signaling him to move on.

"You've gotta promise me that if I die...that Sakura will be safe, along with the cards; I couldn't bear to think that me dying for her safety would have been in vain if she was killed right after I was...please promise me that Kero; that you'll take my place as her savior if I die?"

Kero sighed and looked up at Syaoran. Then he smiled.

"You know, kid, you're all right; you're not half the gaki I thought you were...I promise kid, and I'll do everything in my power to keep that promise. Deal?" said Kero, holding out his tiny paw.

Syaoran smiled, took Kero's paw and shook it.

"Deal."

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YIPPIE!! This chapter's done!! Woohoo!!! Go me!!! So what did you think guys?? I really appreciate all the people reading and reviewing; so far all I've seen are positive reviews, so thank you!! That means a lot to me!! So again, please tell me what you thought! That's the only way I'm getting the next chapter out soon!! BTW, sorry to the ppl who hate cliffhangers, believe me I hate them too, but sometimes, you just don't know where to stop!!!! AHHH!!!!

SOOOOOOO:

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Email me: silverserenity20000@yahoo.com OR silvr255@bellsouth.net

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Storyline © Angel: da Newsies fan

Title © JC Chazes of *NSync