Chapter 1 – Dream of Red Snow


Disclaimer: Don't own CCS, don't ask.


"…ol. Eriol!"

Soft gray eyes blinked open sleepily at the persistent calling and shaking…

To find two more pairs of eyes staring right into his.

"……Nakuru. Spinel."

Nakuru stared at him a moment longer before straightened up in her seat with an exasperated huff. "What's wrong with you! This is the third time already that you just dozed off like that! Why can't you just tell us?"

He didn't answer. He looked a little dazed still as he took off his glasses and cleaned them with a soft cloth.

Spinel Sun fluttered down to perch on his shoulder, wide blue eyes staring at his master's pale profile intently. "Are you all right?"

"The flowers…they blossom early this year."

Turning to the window, he looked to the outside.

Darkness.

No snow.

Just a dream.

"Master?"

He blinked, catching himself just in time before he lost himself in his thought. Again.

Turning around, he smiled reassuringly at his worried guardian. "I'm fine, Spinel. How long till we get there?"

"A couple more hours, I think," replied Spinel Sun, looking not too convinced.

"I see." He put his glasses back on and leant back. "I wonder if Sakura and her friends have arrived yet."

Next to him, Nakuru snorted. There's nothing more to say on the topic. As much as they were worried about his strange behavior, the master, they couldn't do anything since he would tell them nothing. Ever since they left England, Eriol kept dozing off and, sometimes, he would just stop doing what he was doing and stare into space, eyes glazed over, as if in some kind of a trance. Still, he acted as though nothing's wrong. Actually, was he even aware of his action?

Of course he is, thought Naruku irritably as she made herself comfortable in her seat. Geez, why am I so annoyed? There're many things he won't tell us and they never bothered me before. Why this one…? Urgh…!

Spinel Sun felt the same but he had better control of his irritation than Nakuru, so he waited patiently, observing silently each time the odd symptom occurred in his master. Eriol was not ill, that much he could tell. And nothing was wrong with his magic, that was certain. But… was it last week? A couple of weeks ago maybe, when they were on their way back home and saw…something.

It was snowing that day when they were out shopping for Christmas presents. Nakuru was (here he couldn't help but shuddered at the painful memory) again chasing him, trying to stuff him with super-sweet red-and-green decorative sticks.

Behind them, a smile of mild indulgence on his face and a bag of presents in one hand, was their master, Eriol Hiragizawa. He followed them unhurriedly, watching lazily as Nakuru managed to catch him at last and pushing him face first into the cold, cold snow.

"Red snow?" said Nakuru in surprised as a red tiny flake drifted past by.

The feeling was fleeting but, for a fraction of a second, they felt the air – something in the air and inside them – shifted.

Magic?

"Master!" Nakuru called, a note of fear in her voice. "Master Eriol!"

The grip on his neck loosened, Spinel yanked away from the other guardian. He turned to Eriol and saw…

Red.

Red snow raining down, dancing around the still figure of Eriol who had stopped in his track, gazing up, transfixed, at the blossoming tree.

Flowers?

They blinked and wondered if it was just their imagination. What they had seen in that fleeting fraction of a second.

White snow drifting down slowly, lazily all around; the tree was bare of blossoms and leaves but covered here and there with the icy white substance.

Yet, underneath that tree, Eriol stood there as still as before. He gazed up at the tree as though he saw something still. Something that they couldn't see.

Slowly, Eriol lifted his hand, reaching out, and…

"Spinel. Spinel Sun, wake up."

The cat guardian's head snapped up. Eriol looked down at him, amusement in his gray eyes.

"You and Nakuru fell asleep," he said by way of explaining. "But we're here. You better get back in the bag now."

Eriol helped the sleepy Spinel get inside the bag, while, sitting next to him, Nakuru, who had just woken up, was rubbing her eyes, grumbling about something.

Eriol felt a little guilty for putting them to sleep after they had caught him dozing off again but, if he didn't, they would just bug him even more. He himself wasn't quite sure what was wrong with him. Ever since he received an invitation to attend the ceremony that would initiate Li Syaoran as the Li clan's next leader, and the time when he saw this…vision, he kept losing consciousness now and again. Yes, it was only a minute or two but still, it annoyed him to no end that something – or to be more precise, someone – had such power to upset him and his guardians so easily. Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon, although weren't affected as much as he was, were already on edge. He could see it clearly in Ruby Moon while he knew Spinel Sun had been trying to hide and control his.

Damn it, Eriol cursed silently, keeping his expression neutral as he and Nakuru got out of the plane. When I get my hands on you, old man, you are going to regret that you have lived so long!

White snow was falling softly, gently…

Red petals fluttered at the wind's whisper…

The flowers…they blossomed early…

He chuckled.

"Is watching the snow and the flowers amusing to you?" a voice asked from behind. Delicate white hands draped a thick shawl over his frail shoulders tenderly.

"Not the snow, my dear," he smiled at her as she sat down at his feet.

"And the flowers?" she asked, her eyes warm with affection. "The flowers amuse you, then?"

"No, not the flowers either. Although," he patted her hand on his knee fondly, "they do bring peace and happiness to my heart just as you do."

She smiled and turned her gaze to the snow and the flowers in the garden below.

"Winter comes early this year, doesn't she, grandfather?" she remarked, almost sadly.

"She does. And this time she brings more than just sorrow and hope."

She tilted her head to look up at him. Her eyes, as red as the blossoming flowers outside, were full of curiosity as she gazed into his cool blue ones.

"They have come."


Author's Note: Sorry for no update at all. I lost my interest for the story and I was busy with school and stuff. But anyway, hope you had fun reading the fist chapter. Please review but please don't flame me.