Author notes: Yes, Sakura's father was a teacher, but I will explain that more later on in the story. Sorry for the few updates, but at home it's really hard to get a bit of quiet time to type. I'll be heading back to school soon and there will definitely be more updates, as well as being able to notify people of my updates. Gomen gomen. Also look forward to a few more of my stories (Has 15 new stories to write about). ^.^;;;;;;

Disclaimer: I do not own cardcaptor sakura.

Chapter 4

"You should look up more," Syaoran stated, his amber eyes gazing over the bent head of his dancing partner. He winced slightly when she stepped on his foot. "It would keep you from stepping on my toes."

Sakura looked up, embarrassed. "Gomen nasai! I'm not an avid dancer."

He glanced down at her, surprise clearly showing on his face. "The sorceress cannot dance?"

"Hoe?!" Sakura backed up slightly, but Syaoran's strong arms pulled her back in.

"Keep dancing," he mumbled, his eyes averted from the emerald orbs.

Sakura complied, but was now looking at Syaoran with challenging eyes. How he knew she had magic was beyond her, but the fact that he practically ordered her to keep dancing, annoyed her. Who gave him the right to tell her what to do? He was not her father. In fact, as she recalled, he practically demanded to dance with her. If the baron hadn't been there, she would have refused. She sighed. No she wouldn't have.

"What was that for?" asked Syaoran.

She had almost forgot he was there, and thus she jumped slightly at the sound of his voice. "Nan demo nai. I have a question though."

"Aa?"

"How did you know that I'm a sorceress?"

Syaoran couldn't help but roll his eyes. How dumb could this girl get? She's wearing the star in the middle of her forehead for goodness sake! "The pendant on your forehead," he said shortly. He was already beginning to regret the help he offered her during dinner and the dance. She had to be completely brain dead to not know about the pendant on her forehead. It was in clear view, that you could not miss it unless you were blind.

Sakura smiled. "I forgot Tomoyo-chan put it there." Amusement lingered in her voice. She had completely forgotten about it. Then again with Tomoyo and her little tirades, it wasn't hard to see why. "How do you know what it means?"

Syaoran looked down, slightly taken aback. One minute she seems like she's going to explode in anger and the next sweet as a kitten. She was an enigma and apparently a walking contradiction. So maybe she wasn't that dense if she knew most people have no idea what the star meant. "My family has magic," he replied. He paused for a moment before adding, "As do most people in my country."

"Hoe?!" Sakura almost screeched.

"What now?!" He snapped back at her. He continued to lead her through the crowd of dancers, ignoring some of the looks he was receiving.

"I just realized who you are," she answered, her voice filled with awe.

"Don't let it get to your head," he grumbled back.

Sakura's eyes narrowed slightly. "Actually, I was thinking that I shouldn't be dancing with you, but now I wish I hadn't accepted."

Syaoran looked down to see the blazing eyes. He had wounded her with that comment, but how? He continued to study the girl, her emerald eyes swirling with emotions. He noticed then that there was a definite lining of sadness in her gaze. He let go of one of her hands and spun Sakura around before continuing to move.

Sakura was thankful for the reprieve in the spin. His gaze had been starting to unnerve her. When she returned into his grasp, she found that he was still looking at her in a calculating way. She had obviously caught him off guard with her comment, and she grinned inwardly at the small victory. Her eyes clouded slightly and breaking the tense silence, mumbled, "You should be dancing with someone of a higher rank nonetheless, Prince Li."

He definitely was caught off guard with that comment and actually tripped up on his steps. Hopefully no one noticed that the usually composed, closed- off prince was actually in a war with this dazzling young sorceress. He had no idea what to expect she would say, and that made her fascinating and annoying at the same time. "I don't care much for the ladies of higher rank. They tend to be monotonous and similar to each other."

Sakura giggled slightly, her mood changing swiftly. "Tomoyo-chan says that a lot about men of her rank. Is it a natural reaction for royals to detest others of the same rank?"

Syaoran smiled slightly as he pondered the question. "Yes," he said bluntly.

Gales of laughter came from Sakura. She couldn't believe he actually said that! He was definitely nothing like what Touya said royals were like. Sure he was arrogant, rude, haughty, and annoying, but he could also be kind, dignified, and blunt honest. Oh, and of course, he is really handsome, but she avoided that subject entirely, for the moment.

Syaoran couldn't help but smile a little more. Her laughter was contagious. He spun her out into another spin, her pink skirts unfurling like a blooming carnation. Several more flowers from the ceiling were now decorating her hair and clothing. His first thought was that she never looked more like a dryad. "I take it that you are the one 'controlling' the flowers," he stated, as she returned into his embrace.

Sakura continued to giggle slightly as she nodded her head in response. "I can't say that Flowery listens very well."

Syaoran's eyes widened slightly. Did he just hear that correctly? The word flowery was in a foreign tongue that most in his country didn't speak anymore. Could that mean? No it couldn't be true. The cards created by Clow Reed were destroyed over a hundred and fifty years ago in the Great War. Syaoran shook off the thoughts as he saw the girl redden slightly. "She looks like she just told her deepest, darkest secret," mused Syaoran. "Well, I guess falling flowers are not the easiest magic to control," he stated aloud. "After all, I've had to knock some of them out of my hair too."

Sakura sighed with relief, he hadn't seemed to pick up on her slip, and she smiled again. She thought the flowers looked charming in his chestnut hair, and he looked particularly adorable when he tried to get them off. "Hoe?!" she thought. "I can't be thinking that way!" She bit the inside of her lip and pushed away those thoughts. "Gomen nasai. I'm not very good at keeping the spells from annoying fellow mages," she remarked aloud.

He nodded imperceptibly. She just contradicted herself. She had said that she couldn't get Flowery to listen and then goes on to say that she can't control the spell well. What spell? Syaoran decided that his head hurt too much to think about that and continued to dance. "This song seems to last forever," he muttered. Only when he realized the girl was laughing again did he realize he said that out loud.

"You did realize that this is the Kousetsu Yume, which has been known to last longer than ten minutes."

Syaoran's eyes widened. "This is the music to that?! Kuso!"

"It's Tomoyo's favorite song. When your friend asked her to dance the orchestra planned to perform that number."

"Splendid. How long do you think this one will last?"

"Trying to get rid of me already?"

"Iie, I just don't know how long my feet are going to last."

"I thought princes would be able to dance for hours on end," Sakura giggled out.

"We don't like to." He pulled her close for a few sashay steps at the quickened pace of the music. He noticed that Sakura followed easily. "Not an avid dancer?"

"Yes. I have only dance a few times and they are usually with onii-chan and his best friend. Though I tend to step on onii-chan's feet a lot." She smiled weakly, leaving off the fact that she stepped on Touya's feet on purpose.

Syaoran noticed the music slowing and realized the song was coming to an end. He spun her again, slowing down the spin and movement of the dance. Sakura followed with the ease of an experienced courtesan. He knew she wasn't one, but she never ceased to amaze him at the things she could do. He bowed as the last cord struck.

Sakura spread her skirts slightly in a very elegant curtsy. She ruined the effect by grinning like a little girl who just found the most amazing thing. In a sense she had for this was the first curtsy she had made without falling over. She took Syaoran's extended hand and rose gracefully.

Eriol and Tomoyo made their way over to them, both smiling at the scene. They had spent most of the dance eyeing Sakura and Syaoran. Tomoyo, continuously kept signaling the conductor to keep going, lengthening the normal eight-minute song to fifteen. Eriol, on the other hand, made sure to keep them close to the unsuspecting couple without alerting them of their presence.

"Did you enjoy the dance, Sakura-chan?" asked Tomoyo.

"Hai, Tomoyo-chan. Though it seemed a bit longer than I remember," replied Sakura, a bit thoughtful.

Tomoyo and Eriol averted their eyes away from the oblivious sorceress, while Syaoran eyed the pair carefully. They did something, he was sure of it, but kept his thoughts to himself. The group turned to walk off the dance floor, before they paused to see what lay before them.

A group of several young women were waiting for Eriol and Syaoran to come off and change partners. They were a rambunctious group, pushing each other slightly trying to catch the eye of one of the two males. Eriol and Syaoran sweat dropped clinging a little more to the women they escorted.

Tomoyo noticed her fair share of males waiting to 'rescue' the birthday princess from the hands of the 'enemy'. She didn't really mind the attention, but she didn't want a large crowd around her. After all, she wanted to see more kawaii moments of Sakura with her 'prince charming'. She decided to ignore the fact that she didn't want to give up Eriol to horde of girls waiting for them.

Sakura, on the other hand, was contemplating running away. Several girls looked ready to kill her. She of course understood because she really shouldn't have danced with the prince in the first place. After all, a prince has to marry a princess not plain ol', rank-less Sakura. She knew they were in the right to be angry.

Baron Taitsu was also waiting for her. He looked positively livid, and was sending the prince the darkest looks she had ever seen. Each time his gaze fell on her the same look remained, but a spark of something more was held there. She shrunk back slightly trying to ignore the way the baron's eyes roamed over her body in a possessive manner.

To make matters worse, Sakura also noted that her brother was free from the women, which was not good. She noted that Yukito's hand was firmly placed on Touya's shoulder preventing him from running out to kill Syaoran. She was thankful to have Yukito keep her brother in line. After all, Sakura doubted the nobles would like a fight in the ballroom.

Syaoran, Eriol, Tomoyo, and Sakura exchanged glances with each other. Without another thought, all four teens turned around and headed back onto the dance floor as the next dance started. The crowd behind them remained where they were, but if etiquette hadn't been important, the four would have been buried alive by the crowd.

They stood in a square, their hands towards the middle and their partners across. They walked in a circle to the beat of the string attempting to ignore the attention they were gathering.

~~ ~~

Touya Kinomoto was ready to kill. He could not believe the gall of the foreign prince dancing with his little sister, not just once but twice! He moved away from the pillar, only to feel the strong hold upon his shoulder. He shot a cold glare at his best friend, whose hand was holding his shoulder.

Yukito Tsukishiro was smiling, his eyes closed so that he didn't see the glare directed at him. He knew it was there, he could feel the power of it radiating at him, but he didn't care. Touya was always over protective of his little sister, who was not so little anymore. Thankfully, he had enough strength to hold Touya in place, for tonight was not a good time to tick off the Queen. Tonight was the princess's time and thus anything that went wrong would be hell to pay come morning. Touya would do well to be more restrained considering that Prince Li saved Sakura from Baron Taitsu.

"Then again," mused Yukito, "the prince may prove useful." Another voice inside Yukito's head grunted in agreement, but did not comment. Yukito sighed. He really wished Yue would be more talkative, like himself, and maybe more enlightening. Yue only ever told him a few concise orders and then kept everything else to himself. Yukito, however, was thankful that he could at least sense some things that his true form neglected to say.

For instance, the prince had extreme powers in magic, though less than his smiling friend. This would be important because Yukito could sense the unrest of Yue. For weeks he had been brooding about Sakura's lack of power outside the cards. If anything, he seemed to become increasingly uneasy. Something was going to happen, that much was sure, but once again he was left out of the loop.

Touya grumbled. "Yuki."

Yukito pulled himself from his thoughts to look into the dark brown eyes of Touya. He actually thought that Touya looked very handsome when he was annoyed or deep in thought. At this moment though, Touya looked slightly worried almost as if he thought he had lost something very precious to him. "Yes, Tou-ya?"

"Let go. I won't kill the gaki."

Yukito raised an eyebrow, losing his smile. "Really?" His hand still remained on Touya's shoulder, refusing to budge.

Touya sighed and nodded his head. He felt the grip leave his shoulder and he sagged against the post next to his friend.

"Are you all right, Touya?"

"I guess. I just always thought I would be able to protect her from people like that gaki."

Yukito smiled. "She is growing up into a fine young lady and as her brother, I can see where you are coming from. However, do you think it is wise to isolate her from people you don't approve of? We all wish to protect her, but she's going to revolt eventually. She needs room to burn her flame and I think we smother too frequently."

Touya sighed again. "Still, I will get rid of that gaki along with Taitsu."

"I don't think so," started Yukito. "I have a feeling that Prince Li will be hard to get rid of once he has a taste of Sakura's love of life."

"We'll see," brooded Touya. "We'll see."

~~ ~~

Queen Yelan was observing the four with growing curiosity. Her son not only danced once with the girl, but was now going for an encore. To make it even more interesting, he appeared to be enjoying himself. The square parted and fast pace movements allowed the two girls to changed partners with one another. She noted with amusement that Syaoran's gaze remained transfixed on the sorceress dancing with Eriol.

"It appears that my daughter is enjoying herself," came the soft voice of Fujitaka. His eyes were watching the group move back together into a square slowing the pace with the music.

Yelan glanced at the sorcerer. "The one in the dusky rose dress is your daughter?"

Fujitaka smiled. "Aa, your highness. Kinomoto, Sakura."

Yelan rolled the name in her mind. "Ying Fa," she mumbled to herself. "She is quite pretty, Kinomoto-sensei. Very much like her mother in spirit." Her eyes trained on the smiling girl. "And very powerful for her age," she thought. She could sense the faint hint of the girl's aura and the pressure of the held down power. This meant she was suppressing her aura a great deal and there was no doubt in her mind where her ancestor's legendary cards ended up.

Fujitaka nodded. "Hai. Nadeshiko's love of life is very much a part of my daughter. How is your errant son?"

Yelan frowned slightly. "I'm afraid he is still the same, though far colder in emotion. Tonight he seems more like he was when he was younger. It is a nice change of pace."

Fujitaka nodded. He remembered all too well how the young prince had been. That was a long time ago when Sakura was only five. People tended to change over time, and the innocence of that age would only carry a person so far.

"She has definitely caught the eye of my son, though I assume he doesn't realize that yet," commented Yelan. "He is trying to mask his emotions, but seems to be failing whenever your daughter is near." At this moment, Sakura and Syaoran were dancing together. Sakura was in gales of laughter, her cheeks rosy with merriment and exertion. Syaoran was more relaxed than he usually is dancing, and there was definitely a glint of humor in his eyes. Yelan was almost certain she also saw the faint hint of a smile upon her son's face.

Fujitaka watched his daughter carefully, but as usual she appeared to be her usual cheery self. "It's a wonder that Sakura-chan prefers solitude when she seems so happy in the presence of others."

Yelan nodded her head slightly. "Xiao Lang is the same way. Sometimes you have to get an army to drag him out of his shell."

The two adults laughed slightly at the comment. Sakura and Syaoran were practically cut from the same mold and it was amusing to find how many similarities they had to each other. They would make an interesting impression on the world and together, they would possibly be unforgettable.