Disclaimer:

Shes Bad Writer: Of course, I own Cardcaptor Sakura and Clamp looks up to me…

Arandom Guy: sarcasm… Not a very good disclaimer, considering you own squat.

Shes Bad Writer: I so own something. Look! My own grain of rice!

Arandom Guy: …good job.

Star – Gazers

Go back to sleep, something in this head told him. After all, it was still very early. He didn't have training today. There were schools and lessons for him to attend to anyway, and Li Yelan had made it obvious that her son should concentrate a bit more on his schoolwork before jumping into rigorous training.

As if.

None of that was really important anyway. Sakura was a stronger person in both intellectual and magical power. Not that it mattered. He loved her, didn't he? It was true. Those were words he had spoken to her, and felt the most infinite relief saying, and it was even much more so when he didn't lose that feeling and lived long enough for her to say those words back. That was enough. That would strengthen him enough.

"I won't be able to go back to sleep," Syaoran finally said aloud. He turned from facing sideways in his bed to facing up at the ceiling. He wanted to stand up on his bed and blow out the candles on the brass candlesticks in his lamp. But no, Syaoran enjoyed the light. It reminded him of Sakura with its radiance and warmth. He blushed, remembering Sakura. He could picture her very vividly, no matter what his sisters said about forgetting about Sakura in the three months of cut communication.

"When should I get up?" Syaoran asked himself silently. He turned his head and craned his neck to the analog clock on the wall. Still too early. Syaoran didn't feel like waking up at 5:45 am. If he woke up this morning, he would have to make food for himself and his sisters. But each one had a different taste and were each very picky, so dropping out of that idea and the premonition of annoyance from his sisters were enough to keep him bed.

Something was pounding in his head. The sound bothered him, until he realized where the noise was coming from. Syaoran hadn't noticed. "Come in, Mother," he said finally.

"How did she know I was awake?" He whispered to himself.

"Hello, Xiaolang," Li Yelan said in brusque Cantonese. "I implore a favor from you."

"What is it?"

"Please take off from school and training for the rest of the year."

"What?" Syaoran demanded. Wasn't it his mother, after all, that complained to Wei about Syaoran's schoolwork dropping? "What do you mean?" Syaoran regained his politeness, though tensely.

"There is a disturbance. In Tomoeda, Japan."

"Kero-chan!" Sakura shrieked. "You ate all of my pastries!" Sakura faced her false-form guardian angrily, pouting.

"Arigatou Sakura-channn!" Kero smiled through his full lips.

"Some of those were for onii-chan and otou-san! And you ate them all!" Sakura looked as though she were ready to kill her guardian.

Kero smiled nervously, floating away from Sakura's outstretched hand. For safety measures, the Sakura Book on the table shuffled back with him. Kero used his own magic to let the book lean in toward him every time he moved back. Unfortunately, Kero had gotten the proportions for the book wrong and it clattered to the floor.

"What did you do that for?" Sakura muttered.

"It was… It was an accident," Kero brought up both of his paws, pleading innocence. "I'm sorry, Mistress Sakura." Kero added the emphasis for better effect, and it seemed as though Sakura bought it. "By the way, Sakura, are you ever thinking of removing that hairpiece?"

Instinctively, Sakura brought a hand up to the pretty ornament that was still in her hair, and then removed it slowly. After all, Syaoran had held it with his own hands, and Syaoran was the one that gave it to her. It was real jade, so ruining it or breaking it was simply out of the question, although Sakura kept it for its mental value than its clear value. She kept it in her hand, tracing the intricate designs, and noticed for the first time, a carving of a cherry blossom. "Syaoran-kun," Sakura found herself saying.

Kero, obviously confused, looked around. "I don't see the brat anywhere…" Kero muttered under his breath. Then he sighed of relief; at least the brat and his other Chinese Christmas ornament for hair cousin weren't here in Tomoeda. Kero wasn't completely heartless; he knew for a positive fact that Sakura reacted strongly to the pair of them, especially the Li kid.

"Sakura!" A voice was made loud enough from downstairs. It was Kinomoto Fujitaka, Sakura's father. "You can shower now!"

"Hai!" Sakura yelled back.

Sakura stood up quickly, but the sudden rush made her dizzy so she swayed for a second or two before regaining full control. She turned to the direction of her desk, eager to put the hair ornament away, but promptly dropped it. "Kuso…" She muttered, then a quick and brief, "Hoe!" when she heard it crash to the floor.

"Sakura, watch your language…" Kero said.

"I didn't mean to say it!" Sakura replied indignantly. She picked up the ornament, made sure it was still flawless, and put it back into her precious jewelry box.

Sakura walked over to her closet and took her towel off from a hanger and made her way downstairs. "Are you coming too, Kero-chan?"

"I think I'll stay up here and finish off the second pudding snack you convinced your brother to give me. He hasn't been the homeliest out of your family in keeping me here…" Kero's voice trailed off and looked fondly at the pudding snack on Sakura's nightstand.

"But he's fully aware of you and everything else that's happened, so it's going to be fine," Sakura said. "I'm going to shower. Ja, Kero-chan." Sakura brought up a friendly wave and bounded downstairs.

When Kero was fully certain that Sakura was gone, he fluttered over to his pudding snack and took a large bite. Something electrified and sparked in his brain. "What was that? Sakura?" No, that wasn't right. How could it be the Card Mistress? Having been with her for longer than two years, Kero was frankly, very able to feel her aura. Her aura was pink, was it not? Yes, Sakura's aura was pink and strong. There was something else though. This aura was different. Was it even an aura?

"Forget about it, Kero-chan! Eriol's in London and so is Suppi, so there's nothing to worry about. It's just you haven't been so alert lately!" Kero smiled to himself as he came to this conclusion and promptly shoved several more bites of pudding down his throat.

"Yeah, that's it," Kero said happily. "No worries. Everything's just fine."

Li Syaoran was motion sick. Motion sick! Nonsense; he'd been coming and going through Japan and China for too many times to feel any hint of motion sickness.

What other factor was there?

Syaoran felt the dizzy light-headedness that followed, and immediately sank into his economy class plane seat. It had to be the prospect of seeing Sakura again that made him like this. It was like Sakura was a virus. But wasn't she? She spread from person to person making them happy, making them smile. Her smile really was contagious.

Or maybe Sakura was like a drug. She was something Syaoran couldn't have enough of. There were limits, yes, but to what limit would Syaoran go to have Sakura? He would go very far. But he needn't, he had her already. Maybe Sakura's smile could be described as 'addicting,' Yes, that was it. How many times had Syaoran agonized over her smile? Wanting her to smile at him in love, not only in kindness.

Maybe going to Japan wasn't a good thing at all. Syaoran had taken a drug, though it was perfectly legal, and very good for a person. He needed more of her, and the necessity of telling her how he felt was great, though what was Syaoran compared to Tsukishiro Yukito? Tomoyo pushed him on, and Syaoran was grateful. At last Syaoran said it, at the worst moment, but possibly the only opportunity. And then there came to the "Watch over Meiling while she's in Tomoeda," scandal that his friends and family played up.

Still, Syaoran felt grateful. He sat straighter in his uncomfortable seat and undid the seatbelt several notches. He looked over at his all-night bag, and saw a very old and distinct ornament dangle from behind his shirt to the front of him. It was Syaoran's sword, and he was very fond of it. He rummaged through the bag quietly. No one else was in his aisle; he felt very free to use the space given in the single extra seat. Anything to clear the headache was alright with him. He found a battered Japanese-Cantonese dictionary and threw it aside in his bag. His eyes rested on the scarf Sakura had given him and he smiled and pressed it against his face.

"You now have four hours left on your trip to West Shinjuku, Japan. Thank you for traveling with Eva Airlines," said a scratchy male voice.

Syaoran sighed. He had forgotten that the urgency of the "return to Tomoeda" deal had cost him a seat on a plane to Tokyo. He would bullet train the rest of the way to Tokyo, and then he would take a bus or cab with him to the Li Clan's Tomoeda apartment.

Syaoran's ears grew red. In the three months separating them, Syaoran realized that there had been no contact. Maybe Sakura had been expecting Syaoran to send the first letter, or maybe… No. Syaoran shook his head, and then quickly relented to that when he felt the banging pain thud in his head. Again, Syaoran found the scarf some consolation. It instantly calmed his nerves about going back and Syaoran relaxed into it.

Syaoran was woken up by one of the stewards after two hours. "Are you the Hong Kong boy that was traveling alone?" he said in Japanese.

It took a moment for Syaoran to comprehend what the aging steward had said. His response in his mind came out in a garbled Japanese and Cantonese, so Syaoran just nodded.

"You are a bit young to be traveling on your own, ne?"

Syaoran shook his head replying quite brusquely, "No. I'm quite capable of taking care of myself."

The steward eyed the scarf that Syaoran had spread around himself unconsciously during his nap. "What is that?"

Syaoran was quite startled at the reply. "It's… it's something a friend gave me," Syaoran's face turned bright red and then shook his head, which did not resound in waves of pain like it had before.

"I don't think it's something you would like to lose, so I suggest you put it away," the steward's kind eyes lit up his features, and then handed Syaoran a small package. "I hope you enjoy the scarf more than you enjoy this food."

Syaoran couldn't deny that the steward was right. The airplane food looked disgusting. "Sir," Syaoran began, "May I have Ramen noodles instead?" Syaoran passed the sweltering package back and in his hand was a replaced cup of Ramen Noodles.

Syaoran chewed silently and ran a checklist through his head. He had already contacted the Tomoeda district that he'd start school again after abruptly leaving after fifth grade. Three or four months into sixth grade would probably not be much of a difference, although Syaoran knew he would have to face his classmates and Sakura eventually. That much was fine; couldn't he just say that Mother wished for him to continue studying in Japan as Syaoran "clearly missed it"?

Syaoran mused to himself and drank several cupfuls of juice. Now that he thought of it… Wasn't it morning already? Syaoran lifted the screen and immediately shut it again. He rubbed his eyes momentarily, forgetting that the dim lights of the plane were nothing compared to the brightness outside. He then opened the screen again, though slower and more concise. There was only white, so Syaoran guessed they were flying through a cloud.

Then, the intercoms went off. First in English: "We're experiencing some turbulence and we ask everyone to go back to their cabins and fasten their seatbelts." Then in Mandarin: "Wuo men qing da jia hua qi ta de wei zhi, dai sang an chuan dai." The procession came through to four languages: English, Mandarin-Chinese, Cantonese-Chinese, and finally, Japanese. The speakers of all four looked confused after returning to their seats.

"Nani?" Syaoran yelled. The plane was rocking back and forth in quick motions! Syaoran was shifted from his seat to the empty seat beside him. Syaoran fell on the seat besides his' armrest on his shoulder, hard. He groaned and sat up again. His ears, which had already adjusted to the altitude popped. Syaoran then felt a sense of dread creep up in him: there was no oxygen he was breathing.

Gasping, Syaoran felt the dangers of asphyxiation dawn at him at last. Beads of sweat poured down his face. Masks popped from the roof of the plane to sitting level. Relieved, Syaoran put the cone on his face and breathed in rich, sweet oxygen. The plane was calming down, so Syaoran relaxed also. He folded Sakura's scarf neatly and then looked out the window. It wasn't possible! Syaoran blinked twice, so the image of a very large girl disappeared from his memory.

The pilot's shaky voice came on in the intercom, first in English. "Sorry folks; we didn't expect that to be that bad. The good news is that we were not thrown off course. We should be arriving to Shinjuku in half an hour. Keep your seatbelts on; we're beginning to land."