Disclaimer: I don't own CCS
ChiChi's Note: Wow, I just realize that I didn't put the summary in here. Anyways, I finished editing, meaning that I changed all the "Li"s in "Syaoran"s and got rid of any English version names, added lovely extra scenes and um… and removed all my ChiChi notes. Okay Enjoy!
Summary: This takes place during the period where Sakura was transforming all of the cards. They are all 15 at the beginning of the story. Yes, I am aware that Sonomi is a bit ooc in Part III, but does it seem like I care? This is a three-part tale about love mainly. About how this almost perfect pair were with, lost, and loved each other. ET and SS CCN: Omg I laughed through writing that whole thing.
Chapter 1
Sleeping Beauty
Sakura sighed as she stared out her bedroom window. She was bored out of her mind staying in the house. "Why don't you call Tomoyo?" Kero popped his head out of Sakura's top desk drawer.
"She's still in England," Sakura walked over to her calendar and smiled, "All right! Tomoyo's coming back tomorrow!"
"But that still doesn't solve your boredom."
Sakura groaned and flopped back on her bed. "Then, why don't you call..." Kero pondered for another minute, "Meilin!"
"She went back to Hong Kong three weeks ago."
"Any of your classmates?"
"Nope, at the beach."
"Well, if you're that desperate, call the kid."
"The kid" was Syaoran Li. He was once Sakura's enemy, trying to capture the cards before her, but after the final judgement, everything changed. He had been so much nicer after the cards were captured. Kero flew in front of Sakura's face with her phone's strap around his neck. She took the phone in her hands and dialled Syaoran's number. "Hello, you have reached the Li residence. Please leave a message after the beep," the answering machine then let out a high-pitched beep.
Sakura paused and almost hung up the phone, but she decided not to. "Hey Syaoran, it's Sakura. I calling because… um, I'm really bored actually and I wanted to ask if you want to go to a movie this afternoon. I'll be home all-"
"Sakura?" Syaoran finally answered the phone.
"Oh, hi Syaoran!" Sakura greeted, "Do you want to go to the movies today?"
There was some talking in the background. She heard Syaoran groan, "I guess. I'll meet you at the movie theatre."
He hung up before Sakura could say goodbye. "I hope he's not going to be like that at the movie theatre," she told Kero.
She pulled her red sweater and some black shorts out of her closet and changed into them. "You want to come?"
"Can you buy me pudding instead?" Kero bargained.
"Pudding it is," Sakura agreed as she ran out her bedroom door.
Sakura hit something hard on her way out. "Who you talking to?" Touya asked opening the door and glaring at Kero.
"Uh... No one!" Sakura shouted as she jerked her brother out of her room.
"Well, where are you going?" Touya demanded.
"To the movies," Sakura left out whom she was going with so Touya would let her go.
"With who?"
"Um, Tomoyo."
"I thought she was on vacation."
"No, she came back yesterday," she lied again.
Touya carefully observed her, trying to see if she lied then nodded. "Fine. Just come back early enough to cook diner," he then moved out of Sakura's way and let her pass.
...At the theatre...
Sakura leaned against the movie theatre's wall screening the crowd for Syaoran. She looked at her watch, "2:08," Sakura rolled her eyes at the fact that he was 18 minutes late. She waited another ten minutes and left. "I can't believe that I came here for nothing," she sighed.
Sakura decided to go to Penguin Park. The park just looked so beautiful during autumn. She then froze in front of a magazine stand, "What?"
On the front page of every glossy magazine was Meilin's face. "Can I buy this magazine please?" Sakura paid the stand's owner and continued on to the park.
When she got there she sat on one of the swings and read her magazine. The main article read:
Meilin Li: Newest Modeling Sensation
An owner of The Scandalous Modeling Network discovered Meilin Li on the way back home to Hong Kong. Meilin will be appearing in millions of fashion magazines worldwide in the future. Miss Li was attending a school in Tomoeda, living with her cousin, who she wouldn't name. This reporter was not able to get an interview with Meilin, but I will have one in the not-so-distant future.
"Wow! Meilin's a model!" Sakura squealed.
She then noticed two little kids staring at her. Sakura blushed, 'Hehehe they must think I'm crazy.' She began to make her way out of the park and she headed in the direction of Syaoran's apartment.
…Syaoran's apartment…
Syaoran had an apartment on the road where she caught the Twin card. She walked up the apartment stairs. As she got closer to the third floor, she could smell the tea brewing in Syaoran's place. She got to Li's apartment and knocked on the door. A very old man answered the door, "Miss," he paused trying to remember her name, "Kinomoto!"
"Good evening Wei, is Syaoran here?" she asked politely.
"Yes, he's on the phone," Wei pointed down the hallway.
Sakura entered the apartment and peered down the hallway. Syaoran was desperately pleading for the person to hang up. "Wei!" Syaoran shouted, covering the phone so the person couldn't hear, "Please let me hang up. She's made me so late, and Sakura's probably telling Touya to kill me!"
"Meilin is your fiancé, you cannot hang-up the phone until she's finished talking," Wei refused.
"But her mouth never stops," he growled and went back to the phone call.
"Make yourself at home, miss Kinomoto," Wei brought her to the living room, "Would you like some tea while you wait?"
"No thanks!" Sakura loved Wei's tea. It was always so sweet, because of the special honey he put in it, but she just came to see Syaoran for a bit.
Sakura sat down on the couch across from the window. 'So Meilin's the one who kept him on the phone,' Sakura laughed as she thought to herself, 'Silly me, of course he wouldn't keep me waiting at the movie theatre unless it was something important.' She stood up and placed herself in front of the window. All the leaves on the trees had turned a beautiful shade of orange, while the sun still warmly shone. They had such a beautiful view from their apartment that Sakura had always enjoyed. "YOU'RE WHAT!" Syaoran roared.
Sakura was startled by his yelling and ran into the hallway to see what happened. "Absolutely not!" he argued, "There'll be thousands of reporters crawling around Tomoeda. I don't want to wake up in the middle of the night to find a man with a camera roaming through the house."
Syaoran turned around and saw Sakura in shock. He smiled and raised his hand to say hi. He once again brought his attention back to Meilin. "I don't... Meilin, just... Can you just... STOP TALKING!" He yelled and dropped the phone on the table, but also not hanging it up.
"Master Li!" Wei said disappointedly.
"You told me not to hang up the phone, you didn't say that I had to talk to her," Syaoran laughed at his own cleverness.
Sakura decided to stop their fighting. "Wei? May I please speak to Meilin?" she politely asked.
"Well I'm glad someone wants to," Wei said while giving Syaoran an unimpressed stare.
Sakura picked up the phone, "Meilin?"
"Who is this?"
"It's me, Sakura."
"Oh, hi Sakura, can you try to convince Syaoran to let me come?"
Sakura covered the receptor, "Why can't she come? Let her come!"
Syaoran continued to frown, but he let out a sigh, "Fine. Just make sure that she doesn't tell anyone about coming here," he replied and collapsed into a chair.
Sakura smiled in excitement and returned to the phone call. "He said you could, if you don't tell anyone about your trip."
"Well duh! I'm leaving so I can get away from all the reporters."
There was a slight silence. Sakura looked down at the magazine, "You know what? You're on every magazine in Tomoeda! Your so famous!"
"Yeah well, it beats my old life," they both laughed.
"I have to go now, but it was nice talking to you, see you next week!" Sakura could tell that Meilin was tired. Her voice was very slow and quiet.
Sakura hung-up the phone, and walked over to Syaoran. "She's a bloody model?" he mumbled angrily.
"Well, I came here to see why you didn't come," Sakura looked down and saw the magazine she bought, "Here take this. I don't need it anyways."
"Thanks," he took the magazine and stared dully at the cover.
"I have to go now, bye," she said running out the door.
...At Sakura's house...
Sakura placed the vegetables on the cutting board and began to slice them into tiny pieces. She lightly placed some uncooked noodles in the boiling pot and stirred. She returned to slicing the vegetables. "So did you buy my pudding?"
Sakura gasped she gave a nervous laugh, "Well you see," Sakura held her breath, "I forgot."
"Sakuraaaaa how could you?" Kero wailed.
"Sakura?" Touya called.
Kero froze and dropped onto the counter. Touya walked into the kitchen followed by Yukito. "Hey Sakura," Yukito greeted, "Do you need any help?"
"No thank you, I'm fine," Sakura continued cooking.
"I thought movies take more than 50 minutes," Touya said suspiciously.
"Syaoran didn't show up because-" Sakura clapped her hand over her mouth.
"You went to the movies with that brat?" Touya frowned.
"He's not so bad!" Sakura objected.
"He sets my shirts on fire, and he not so bad?" Touya continued.
"That was a long time ago," Sakura defended.
Touya looked at the time a growled, "I give up, you win."
"I usually do," she said in triumph.
"You tell him Sakura," Yukito laughed, "Watch out Touya, she's getting better at debating. Soon she'll probably end up kicking you out of the house."
Sakura shoved all the vegetables into the pot. After a while she served the soup. She ate quietly as Yukito and Touya discussed the carnival their school was arranging. Yukito and Touya were going to make a haunted house with some of their classmates. Sakura shuddered at the thought of ghosts and monsters. She had always been afraid of them, every since she was very little. She took her plate and placed it in the sink. She then snatched Kero from the counter and went to her room. She flopped down on her bed and slowly closed her eyes.
...The next day...
Sakura woke up to the warm sun beaming on her. She looked in her mirror and noticed that she didn't change into her pyjamas. She had to meet Tomoyo at the school Sakura changed into the yellow dress that Tomoyo gave her, and she pulled a white blouse over it. She ran downstairs and quickly swallowed down her breakfast. "Slow down, you don't want to choke," Fujitaka warned.
"I might be late if I don't," Sakura ran to the door and put on her roller blades.
"Your skating there after eating?" Fujitaka asked in disbelief.
"I need the exercise," Sakura waved goodbye and skated out the door.
Sakura skated down that road with the cherry blossom trees (I'm sorry, I'm really trying to remember everything) staring up at the trees. No more cherry blossoms; no more green leaves; just the naked, dry branches that the leaves abandoned. She skated past stores with Meilin's face pasted across the windows, then finally onto the school grounds. There was a girl with long black hair, a beige and violet dress, and a top of the line video camera. "Tomoyo!" Sakura shouted.
"Hey Sakura!" Tomoyo yelled back.
Sakura reached her, "So where are we going for lunch?"
"I was thinking a sushi restaurant," Tomoyo suggested.
"Sounds good!"
The two girls went down the sidewalk passing by the many stores with Meilin on them. "It kinda' gets annoying after a while," Sakura sighed.
"And she's coming back soon?"
"In a week. Syaoran doesn't like the idea, but he'll let her come."
"That's the place," Tomoyo said, pointing at a sushi restaurant called Mama Sushi.
They walked in and found a familiar face at the reception booth. "Hey Sakura, hey Tomoyo," Yukito said smiling.
"Hi!" the two girls greeted him.
Yukito brought them over to a table with two chairs. "Welcome to Mama Sushi, where the service is really good and the sushi's even better," a familiar voice stated the logo.
Sakura looked up from her menu, "Touya? You're working here too?"
Touya messed up Sakura's hair, "Hey squirt, listen me and Yukito need some help at our carnival display, our classmates came down with the flu and we need your help. Can you get some of your classmates to come?"
"Um, sure," Sakura agreed with uncertainty that she could find her classmates.
Sakura ordered noodles and Tomoyo ordered sushi. They enjoyed the rest of their meal.
...At Sakura's house...
"Hey this is Naoko, I'm on vacation right now, I'll be back next month, please leave a message after the beep!" BEEEEEEP.
"Hello?" Rika said.
"Hi, Rika can you-" Tomoyo started.
"Just kiddin'! Leave a message, thanks!" BEEEEEEEEEEEP.
Sakura and Tomoyo sighed at the beeps of the answering machines. "Try Chiharu and Yamazaki," Sakura proposed.
"Good idea, why don't you call Syaoran?"
"Okay, but Touya won't like the idea."
"Since when did that ever stop you?" Tomoyo laughed and dialled Chiharu's number, as Sakura dialled Syaoran's.
"Hello?" Yamazaki greeted.
"Hi Yamazaki, can you and Chiharu help us at the carnival today?" Tomoyo asked.
"Sure! I love carnivals. Did you know-"
"I gotta' go now, sorry!" Tomoyo quickly hung up the phone and looked up at Sakura.
"Well?" she mouthed.
Sakura shrugged but froze when Syaoran answered the phone. "Hi Sakura," Sakura was shocked by the fact that he knew it was her.
"How did you know that it was me?" Sakura demanded.
"Caller I.D."
"Okay, um, well, we need some help at the carnival, can you come?"
"Yeah, sure."
"See you there!" Sakura said as she hung up the phone.
"Let's go!" Tomoyo opened the door excitedly.
...At the carnival...
The friends met in the middle of a bunch of construction sites. Touya and Yukito showed them over to their construction site. Touya got a grip on Sakura's arm and pulled her to the side. "What's he doing here?" Touya whispered furiously.
"He's my classmate and my friend," Sakura shook her arm out of his grasp.
"Whatever!" Touya fumed.
Sakura walked over to Tomoyo, who was filming everything in sight. "Smile Sakura!"
Sakura gave the camera a cheerful smile, and then Tomoyo focused the camera on Yukito. "Okay you guys. Our display is a haunted house," 'Oh no!' Sakura thought, "We need you guys to hang things from on top of the display. Don't worry, you won't fall, the beams are very strong," Yukito flashed his never-ending smile.
They all entered the shack they were going to build in. Yamazaki, Sakura, Chiharu, and Syaoran climbed up the ladder onto the roof beams, but Tomoyo stayed down and filmed everything they did. Sakura carefully walked across one of the beams; where the first ghost was going to drop and reached down to take the rope from Yukito's hand. She pulled the rope around the bar and tied three knots. "Sakura! I need help with the front sign," Touya shouted from outside.
Yamazaki was already pulling up the right side with ease, Sakura took the other rope attached to the left side and pulled. "Did you know that the largest haunted house in the world is a labyrinth? It took forty years to build. The workers built it from the outside to the inside. Once it was finished the workers couldn't find their way out. They're souls live in it now trying to find a way out!" Yamazaki explained while pulling his side all the way up.
Sakura nodded feeling a nervousness jolt through her stomach. "Shut up, Yamazaki!" Chiharu screamed.
Sakura chuckled at their bickering, but suddenly she felt a strong presence, and whipped around to see if Syaoran felt anything. Syaoran was looking out the window in fear. Sakura didn't know it, but he was looking at a boy who simply sat on the tree branch. The boy's expression turned into an evil smile, as he looked at Sakura. He slowly backed away from the window, looked at Sakura, and then looked back at the window. The boy was gone. Sakura had a curious look on her face; Li just frowned at her and went back to pulling a rope onto the beam that he stood on. "Sakura!" Yamazaki yelled.
But it was too late. She let go of her rope and her side of the sign went crashing down. Yamazaki's rope snapped in half, letting it fall to the ground. Yamazaki and Sakura rushed downstairs to see what they did. Touya was close to exploding, he wasn't complaining but the large sign was planted right on his foot. "SAKURA!" he roared, "Get this thing off my foot right now!"
'So much for not complaining,' Sakura contemplated. Yukito ran outside, finally not smiling, but then he burst into laughter. He lifted the sign off Touya's foot. Touya glared at Sakura, "Go get a new rope in the storage closet, in the school. You'll need some help getting the new sign," Touya pointed at a large crack along the middle of the sign.
...In the school...
They all wandered around the school searching for the storage closet. Tomoyo found a janitors closet so they went inside. "I have a feeling this is the wrong room, come on let's go ask Touya for help," Sakura suggested, but the door closed.
Chiharu pulled on the door, "It's locked."
Sakura and Syaoran felt a presence in the room, gradually getting stronger. Sakura pointed at Chiharu and Yamazaki, who were looking for rope, trying to tell him that she couldn't use her magic. "Use the sleep card," Syaoran whispered quietly.
"Staff of the star, with powers burning bright, reveal the staff and shine your light, release," Sakura pulled out the Sleep card, "I call upon the power of my star, ancient forces near and far, clow card transform all your might, and draw your power from my light, Sleep card." CCN: That's the English incantation… I'm not sur if it's the same one in Japanese.
A small pixie sprinkled dust over Chiharu and Yamazaki. "Something's wrong!" Syaoran shouted.
"What?" Sakura questioned.
"The presence is gone and the Sleep card's not returning," Syaoran searched the room for the small pixie.
"Pretty observant aren't you kid?" Kero popped out of Sakura's backpack.
Sakura screamed in terror. Kero sniggered at her actions. "This is great footage!" Tomoyo gleefully filmed every second.
"It's coming back!" Syaoran pushed Tomoyo out of the Sleep card's way.
Kero launched himself out of Sakura's bag and hid behind Syaoran. "Great guardian beast," Syaoran mockingly laughed.
"Hey, shut up kid!" Kero shouted.
The Sleep card zoomed around the room, circled around Sakura, and returned to its hiding spot. Sakura dropped to the ground. "What happened?" Tomoyo asked very concerned, but still filming.
"She got hit by Sleep," Kero enlightened as he closely examined her.
"Here it comes again!" Tomoyo tried to move but she was to slow, she fell across from Sakura.
Once again Sleep flew into its hiding spot. "I get it now," Kero stroked his chin, "There's a reason why everyone was hit and not you. Well, if I get hit by Sleep's power, then Sleep will only return to its card form once you finish an event that happened to you and Sakura, before."
"Like what?"
"Something unfinished always leads to something else unfinished."
"Stop speaking in riddles and tell me what you're talking about."
"Remember your elementary play?"
"Yeah," Syaoran nodded his head trying to figure it out.
"You and Sakura never kissed, did you?" there was a twinkle in Kero's eye, "Don't you understand? The play was Sleeping Beauty, but this time, you're the Prince and she's the princess."
"Can't you do it?" Syaoran requested nervously.
"Hey! If you haven't noticed, I'm no Prince Charming, though I am quite handsome," Kero impatiently shouted.
"Fine, I'll do it."
The little pixie poked its head out from behind a bottle of glue and smiled mischievously. It flew out from the hiding spot and put Kero to sleep. "Only... you... can wake...her up," he managed to say before he drifted off to sleep.
Syaoran kneeled down beside Sakura, nervous, and scared half to death. "I can do this, I can do this," he tried saying confidently, "Please God, don't let this ruin our friendship," he pleaded.
He took a deep breath, holding Sakura in his arms, and kissed her. All feelings rushed through him, at the speed of light, most being negative feelings. All of a sudden, he felt her kissing him back. He felt her hand gently touching his cheek. He felt the strangest feeling in his stomach. A feeling like millions of needles going through his stomach at a rapid pace. 'I can't do this, she's my friend...or is she?' Syaoran thought. Syaoran pulled away to see Sakura's surprised, and confused face. She pleaded for something to happen, anything. The Sleep card then came floating out from the shelf, into Sakura's hand. Syaoran stood up to try the door. It opened! "Sorry," Syaoran walked out the door without looking at her.
He ran. That's all he could do. He ran past the haunted house, where Touya and Yukito were waiting. "Hey, where are you going?" Touya yelled after him.
But Syaoran ignored it all, his head was filled with the moment in the janitor's closet. 'Why did I do it? I shouldn't have! Why, why, WHY!' he screamed in his thoughts.
He stopped and amazingly found the last cherry blossom on the ground. "Why?" he whispered, kicking the flower to the side.
...On a, um, building nearby?...
"First you torment the boy, now you help him with his love life?" Nakuru watched from a building nearby, "I'm disappointed in you Eriol."
"Why are you doing it anyways?" Spinel asked curiously.
"This will make them both strong and besides, he's being tortured mentally," Eriol sneered.
"Ah yes, we shall enjoy the extras, with mustard," Spinel sniggered.
The two of them laughed maniacally. "You are too complicated," Nakuru rolled her eyes.
...In the closet...
"Sakura?" Tomoyo rubbed her eyes as she woke up.
Sakura didn't answer; Sakura wasn't there. The door was open, 'Sakura must have woken up and left,' Tomoyo guessed, 'But she must have a lot on her mind, she forgot Kero and the Sleep card.' Tomoyo picked up Kero and the card, and placed them in her bag. She noticed that her camera was still on. She rewound all of her footage and watched as she headed back to the haunted house. Her camera was focused on Sakura's sleeping body, but there were voices in the background.
"I get it now," Kero's voice sounded, "There's a reason why everyone was hit and not you. Well, if I get hit by Sleep's power, then Sleep will only return to its card form once you finish an event that happened to you and Sakura, before."
"Like what?" Syaoran's voice asked.
"Something unfinished always leads to something else unfinished."
"Stop speaking in riddles and tell me what you're talking about."
"Remember your elementary play?"
"Yeah."
"You and Sakura never kissed, did you?" Kero asked mysteriously, "Don't you understand? The play was Sleeping Beauty, but this time, you're the Prince and she's the princess."
"Can't you do it?" Syaoran requested nervously.
"Hey! If you haven't noticed, me and Sakura are different species, and I'm no Prince Charming, though I am quite handsome," Kero impatiently shouted.
"Fine, I'll do it."
"Only... you... can wake...her up," he managed to say before he drifted off to sleep.
Syaoran came into the shot, kneeling down beside Sakura, "I can do this, I can do this," he tried saying confidently, "Please God, don't let this ruin our friendship," he pleaded.
He took a deep breath, holding Sakura in his arms, and kissed her. Tomoyo gasped, 'I didn't think he had it in him!' she watched in amazement. She then noticed Sakura kissing him back and she willingly placed her hand on his cheek. Syaoran pulled away to see Sakura's surprised, and confused face. The Sleep card then came floating out from the shelf, into Sakura's hand. Syaoran stood up to try the door. It opened! "Sorry," Syaoran walked out the door without looking at her. "Wow!" Tomoyo was in awe.
"Yeah, no kidding," Chiharu agreed.
"How much did you see?" Tomoyo shut off her camera immediately.
"All of it," Chiharu responded, "What's that thing that Sakura had in her hand, and why did we fall asleep?"
Tomoyo didn't know what to say, but luckily, her improvisation, and excuse making skills were brilliant. "Um... It must be because of the fumes from all the chemicals in here," Tomoyo prayed that Chiharu bought it.
"Okay, but what was in Sakura's hand?" Chiharu asked again.
"There wasn't anything in Sakura's hand," Tomoyo lied, "Must be an after-effect from the fumes."
"You're right."
"Promise me you won't tell anyone about the film," Tomoyo extended her pinkie.
"I promise," Chiharu hooked hers onto Tomoyo's.
Yamazaki finally woke up. "What happened?"
"The fumes in here knocked us out," Tomoyo lied again.
"Did you know that the French used skunks in war to make the enemy faint? They loaded skunks into canons and... BOOM! The shock would scare them and would make them release their terrible aroma. It had no effect on the French, for they were rich with the strong, odorous smells in their perfume shops," Yamazaki told.
Chiharu smacked him on the head, "Can it, Yamazaki."