2 Four years had passed before Sakura felt she could forget about Syaoran ever coming back. He had sent a number of letters and they had talked over the phone a number of times, but there was little to no indication whatsoever that Syaoran would even come visiting for a long time to come.

She had not even heard so much as a peep from Eriol in over a year. Life had been relatively normal considering her father had magic himself now, and Yue, Kero and the Cards could wander the house without worry. The Cards, though, had no real use since everything in the magical spectrum of things was relatively calm.

A question had been plaguing Sakura for some time, but she wanted to wait for the perfect moment to ask so she wouldn't be offending anyone, especially Yue because her question might affect him directly.

Today was that day, she decided. The day was bright, her father was in a lecture, and Yue was as happy as he would probably get. Well, maybe happy wasn't the right word for it..... content suited him better.

Sakura wandered into the kitchen, knowing that was where she would find Kero. Sure enough, she caught him delving into the fridge again. 'Kero?'

'Mmff.' He replied, his mouth currently full.

'First of all, what ARE you eating?'

Kero swallowed something that was obviously too big for him to have swallowed just yet and took a breath. 'Plums.'

'Uh-huh.' Sakura said, smiling a little. 'Okay, secondly..... I've been wanting to know because I don't know very much on the subject and you weren't exactly really talkative about it..... What was Clow Reed like? Really?'

Kero's reaction was unlike what she had expected. His mellow expression shattered to the floor and the colour seemed to drain from his face. He struggled with several long vowel sounds for a while before responding. 'R- really? What he was really like?'

Sakura nodded a little meekly.

Kero sighed and closed the fridge door, hovering to the table and settling down to it's surface, an uneasy look on his face. 'Well. I..... I guess you should know now.' Kero sighed deeply and didn't meet Sakura's eyes. 'He was a good person, certainly, and he was humble about his talents, he was clever beyond all reasoning.....'

'But.....' Sakura suggested.

Kero frowned and sighed again. 'Yeah..... but. Well, his heart was in the right place, but his ideas seemed..... well, twisted. He was obscure in his ways, whimsical, sometimes strangely sadistic, he was random, mysterious, casual, fickle..... and just generally odd. I heard his father say once that he was too erratic to be a sorcerer. At least, to be a proper one, but somehow.....'

'His father? You knew the rest of his family, too?'

'Well, mostly. His mother died before I was created, and the immediate family was pretty isolated.'

'I never really thought about his family.' Sakura mused. 'I suppose I should have, after all, Syaoran is a descendant and all. Clow must have been a great dad if mine's any indication.'

'When his kids were younger, he was perfect for them, but when they got older..... well, they moved out pretty quick. They didn't get along with one another and Clow couldn't understand why, after all he got on great with his own siblings. He confided in me and Yue about this subject a number of times. I told him it was because they were half-brothers but he said that shouldn't make a difference.'

'Whoa, hang on. Let's see if I got this..... Clow has siblings, and his own children, both sons, were half brothers, right?'

'Yeah, you got it.'

'And his mother died.....' Just like mine, Sakura thought. 'Did he talk about her much? When did she die?'

'I dunno. When the subject came around, he just casually brushed it off. His father absolutely refused to talk about it, too.' Kero replied, arms crossed and eyes closed.

'I don't really blame them. She must have been a wonderful person..... if no one wanted to talk about her that much it must have hurt to think about. I don't really mind talking about my mom since I didn't really know her. Dad's okay, though he doesn't talk about her much. Everyone else just gets defensive when someone talks about her. Oh, right I was going to ask, why were they only half brothers?'

'You remember the Madoushi, don't you?' Kero asked. (Author's note: Pardon me, I'm adding stuff from the first movie simply because it works.)

'Oh! Yeah! I remember her. She was..... she was..... oh.....'

'Yeah. Clow did love her. She abused her power, though not until after..... He didn't want to banish her when she was bearing a child, so he waited until she gave birth to his son before banishing her.'

Sakura was shocked into silence for a while. It didn't sound like the Clow she had heard of at all. She knew he had locked her away in the alternate universe, but the way Kero put it made Clow sound like he didn't care for her at all. 'That's terrible.....'

'Yeah. Most people couldn't believe it, but he said it had to be done, and it was left at that. He may have been..... a little bit lacking in the total sanity department,' Kero said tapping his head indicatively. 'but people believed him. He eventually fell in love with another, and she died giving birth to twins and even then one was stillborn. He was just crushed. I remember him telling Yue that he just couldn't win, and he vowed not to fall in love again, it would only end in sadness.'

'That's terrible, too.....' Sakura said softly. She couldn't help but think of Syaoran for a moment.

'He did his best to raise the kids together, but they never did and they left home almost as soon as they were able. Clow was just too strange for them once they got older.' Kero sighed and continued. 'I guess his state was due to the fact that he saw into the future.'

'What was it like for him, to see into the future? How did he?'

'Different ways depending on what he was seeing. Mostly he just saw things or simply knew things before they happened and usually without realizing. Other things..... usually traumatic things he saw differently. He'd see them in vividly intense images and from the perspective of everyone involved. He described what it was like to me once..... only once, and then he never spoke of it again. He said that he saw and heard everything, felt everything..... he experienced all of the feelings and thoughts of the people involved, and all of it flooded into his mind over a span of fifteen seconds and he saw all of this over, and over- that's probably what did it.'

'Oh.....' Sakura breathed. 'How long did this happen?'

'It lasted a few minutes, usually. He's been getting them since he was four, I think.'

Sakura blinked and sat down. 'Since..... he was..... four?'

Kero nodded gravely.

Sakura was silent just imagining all of what Kero told him. 'I'm glad I didn't ask Yue.....' She muttered. Then, 'I think I'll go for a walk.'

'Where?' Kero asked quietly. 'So I can tell Fujitaka when he comes home.'

'Tsukimine.' She said, and went out the back door. Her thoughts turned to Eriol as she rounded the first corner on her path. 'No wonder he just wanted to be normal.....'

As Sakura slowly walked down the street, deep in thought. That discussion was nothing like she thought it would be. Sakura had thought that, being the most powerful sorcerer around, Clow would have been happier. Kind of like being a genius in a public school and hardly having to work at all. Maybe some of it was like that, she thought reassuringly.

The sky darkened, dark and pale gray clouds sweeping majestically across the sky, and it began to rain gently. Tsukimine Shrine was just ahead now. She hadn't been there in some time, but she remembered how calm she felt there. The cherry tree was the same as she remembered it, she saw as she wandered under the arch. She glanced over the tree and saw the radio tower. 'That's where I was tested..... by Yue and Eriol.....' She whispered to herself.

She looked away and continued on her way, walking down the path that went through the forest behind Tsukimine. It was like she remembered it, calming, tranquil..... and her thoughts quieted. She was only sprinkled with water because of the foliage shielding her from the brunt of the rain.

Something caught her eye just off the path and a little ways into the forest. It was a dark shape, unnatural, and it stood out against the shades and tones of the bright green grass on the forest floor. Curious, she moved closer, and she came to realize that it was a person, fallen in the forest, damp from the rain. She dashed quickly towards them to see if they were alright, as they were just lying on the ground which didn't seem right to Sakura.

He had white pants and was wearing a black robe of sorts, embroidered with fine golden thread in a Chinese style. He had small wire frame glasses with round lenses, slightly crooked on his nose. His hair was tangled and untidy and, were it brushed, would have come down a little past his shoulders. It was as black as midnight, but with a silvery-blue shimmer. His pale features were very familiar indeed.....

'Eriol?! Eriol, are you alright?' Sakura gently shook him. He looked older, which was easily understandable, but it was unmistakably him. How had he gotten there? What was wrong with him? 'Eriol..... Eriol!'

'Mmmhhhh.....' The prone figure groaned. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her, questioning in his eyes. 'You.....' He said faintly. 'Who are you?'