Disclaimer: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura. It is owned by the lovely ladies of CLAMP.
Chapter 9: Friction
The brown haired man stared up curiously at the brightly lit night time sky. It had now been over two weeks since he had left the country of Li and he had finally managed to locate Kinomoto's last living heir to the throne and trick her into letting him being her protector. Another girl by the name of Daidouji Tomoyo, a civilian from Kinotomo also accompanied them. However knowing that she didn't possess any magical abilities he knew she wouldn't be much of a problem.
He had imagined the mission would be fairly easily and hoped to complete it quickly to appease the Emperor, but things weren't exactly going the way he had anticipated. Not only was the Kinomoto Princess unable to sense the Guardians whereabouts, she was also horribly inexperienced in using magic.
The situation seemed hopeless as they travelled about aimlessly. However, his opinion of her had improved slightly since he saw her great display of power trying to save that child. What he didn't understand was how she had been able to use such a power, especially when she had only learned of her powers two weeks before hand. It just didn't make any sense. The Kinomoto clan had ceased in the practice of magic over a hundred years ago, therefore their future offspring's abilities should have been severely weakened.
At one point he had asked her if she had any suspicions of her powers before the Li kingdom had attacked but as usual she was clueless. This irritated Syaoran greatly. Where had the source of her magic come from and how had it become so powerful?
He desperately wished to contact his Mentor, Eriol and get his opinion of it, but he also didn't want it to appear that he couldn't handle this. He couldn't run to him with every single little problem.
He let out a soft sigh as he lay back down, still staring upwards. It was up to him to find the answers to that question.
He turned over and his eyes moved to and focused on where she was currently laying a sleep. He couldn't help but notice the distress on her face. She must have been having a nightmare. Maybe he should wake her up…
No.
Suddenly he turned away and snorted. Stupid wench. If she couldn't even handle a bad dream, how was she supposedly going to save her Kingdom?
Sakura placed her hand over her mouth as she yawned. "So tired…" Much to her dismay Syaoran had woke her up at the very crack of dawn. The boy was so bossy that it annoyed her. His job was to protect and aid her with her quest to not tell her what to do every second. She sighed, suddenly feeling selfish. She knew that Syaoran was only trying to help and if he hadn't jumped in that time they were being attacked by Li soldiers, she and Tomoyo would no doubt have been in big trouble.
"Sakura-chan, breakfast is ready!" cried a cheery voice. Sakura looked up and couldn't help but smile when she saw her friend's face. Tomoyo was quite optimistic and always tried to cheer her up when she was down. She knew she wouldn't have gotten far without the girl and was thankful to have such a wonderful friend.
Sakura's face lit up when she caught the sight of their breakfast. Usually they only ate bread as that was all they could afford but Syaoran seemed to have a lot of money with him and had bought eggs and sausages amongst other things yesterday. When they had graciously thanked him, he shrugged them off claiming that they only reason he had bought them was because eating only bread would not help to keep up their strength.
"Ah, it looks great!" said Sakura with delight as she eagerly took the plate Tomoyo handed to her.
The other girl smiled. "I hope I cooked it alright."
Sakura quickly shook her head. "Don't worry, I don't even know how to cook." She admitted embarrassingly. Like most things, cooking wasn't required of a Princess.
Just as she was about to take a bite of her delicious meal, Tomoyo asked her to go get Syaoran for breakfast. Her face faltered slightly, but did what her friend asked of her. Quickly she rushed away to find him, not wanting her meal to get to cold.
"Nyah, nyah, where is he!"
She eventually found him crouched down on the grass and was about to yell out to him when suddenly something caught her eye. Underneath him was a withered flower, one of his hands placed at each side of it. Syaoran had his eyes closed and appeared to be deep in concentration. Not wanting to disturb him (and also curious of what he was actually doing) she remained silent.
After a few moments her eyes widened in amazement as the stem started lifting itself up. The darkness surrounding it faded and the flower petals opened and blossomed.
"Sugoi!" she yelled, breaking the silence and startling Syaoran in the process. "Tenjou-san, that was amazing! You brought it back to life!"
"It's impossible to bring something that is dead back to life. It was just sick and dying so I revived it before the brink of death."
"Still, that's incredible." she replied, a happy smile on her face.
"It's not difficult. Not with something as small as this flower any way. Even you could probably learn how to do it." he stated with a shrug.
"Really! Tenjou-san, please teach me how!" she pleaded grabbing hold of his arm.
Syaoran winced at the sudden contact, not used to being touched like this. Small pink tints appeared on his cheeks, but quickly regaining his senses he pulled away from her.
"Hey don't you think you should be worrying about developing your other magical abilities that can actually help you find the Guardians rather than concerning yourself with an idiotic notion of learning magic to save dying plants!"
Sakura frowned sadly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Um, breakfast is ready." She said before quickly running back to Tomoyo.
The boy scratched the back of his head and sighed. "Baka…"
"Here you go." said Tomoyo as she offered the plate to Syaoran.
"You made some for me?" asked the brown haired boy, confused.
The girl smiled. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
"Nothing… You um just didn't need to bother." He replied awkwardly.
"Well since you are travelling with us and have claimed to protect Sakura-chan, it's only right to make you something to eat. Also you can consider this a thank you for saving us that time."
While the girl was smiling happily, Syaoran was just plain embarrassed. He mumbled something which the two girls couldn't quite make out.
Sakura gave a small chuckle. Tomoyo was right he really wasn't used to being socially around people. Her mind wandered back to him saving the flower. She had hadn't expected him to be interested in something like flowers and saving them. Then again, maybe he was just bored and it was something to pass the time. But if that was it, why would he waste his time on something like that? Again she smiled. Maybe Syaoran was a much more caring person than she thought.
"Why are you staring idiotically into space! Hurry up and finish your food!" The boy ordered. She sighed. Okay, so he was still really bossy.
"Hai, hai, I'm coming. I'll finish this and we can leave."
"We're not going anywhere." He stated firmly.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I'm going to give you some training."
"Training?"
"If you want to save your kingdom, you'll definitely need to be a lot stronger than you currently are. I'm sick of walking around, having no idea what direction to go in. The more your magic improves, the sooner you find the guardians and the sooner you can save your kingdom. Plus I can finally be free of you."
"Fine!" She grumbled. She was actually quite happy to receive training, she just didn't like the way he had put it. Rolling her eyes, she wondered if she should take back the whole Syaoran caring thought.
Tomoyo was quite eager to witness Sakura's training but was also nervous at the same time. Syaoran appeared to be very strong and knowledgeable on the subject of magic, but she was worried that the training might be too tough for her innocent Sakura-chan. It wasn't that she thought her friend incapable; she just didn't want her to get hurt.
"Sakura-chan, please be careful!"
The auburn haired girl nodded and smiled.
She turned back around to face her trainer. She'd show him. She could do this. "Onii-chan… I promise that I will become stronger for the sake of our Kingdom and people." She told herself determinedly.
"Are you ready?" questioned the young man.
She nodded silently. Although she was determined, she couldn't shake her anxiety. She just hoped Syaoran wouldn't shout at her too badly if she messed up.
"Alright, I want you to attack me with all the strength you can spare."
"A-Attack you?" she asked in shock.
"Yes." He replied simply.
She shifted uncomfortably. "Ano…But what if hurt you?"
"Trust me, you won't."
She frowned and stood there hesitantly. "Come on, hurry up!" She winced at the sound of the boy's harsh voice. Biting her lip she raised and outstretched her right arm and hand while focusing her energy on Syaoran.
Syaoran braced himself for the attack, very curious to see much she could do, but after a half a minute nothing came.
"Hey, what are you doing! Attack already!" He commanded, unable to see what the problem was.
Her eyes were focused on the ground. "I…I can't."
"What do you mean you can't attack?"
"Because I can't attack you!"
"I told you already that it won't hurt me!"
"That's not the point!" cried the boy growing frustrated.
Realising she had snapped, she mumbled and apology and took a deep breath. "It…it's just that you saved Tomoyo-chan's and my life, and you're helping me. I couldn't possibly attack you."
Suddenly an image of Ryoji appeared in her mind.
"Don't be foolish! How do you expect to train otherwise!"
"I can't attack you Tenjou-san!"
He gritted his teeth, growing more impatient by the second. Realising that she wasn't going to attack, he said "Fine then, if you won't attack then I will!" a smug smile on his face, "Let's test your defensive abilities!"
Before Sakura even had the chance to grasp what was going on, an attack was fired straight at her. She gave a small scream as she was tossed back.
"Sakura-chan!"
"Unbelievable! How is it possible that someone who displayed such defensive abilities before cannot stand such a feeble attack!"
"You never even gave me a chance to prepare!" she spat back angrily.
"And to you think that your enemies will give you the chance to defend yourself before they attack you!"
"Stop being so unreasonable! I only discovered of my powers less than a month ago!"
"That's more than enough time to learn how to control them." He snorted.
Refusing to take anymore, she glared at him before running off.
"Sakura-chan!" Quickly Tomoyo started to run after her friend.
The boy heaved a heavy sigh. Deep down he knew he was being a bit harsh but he had promised to Eriol-sama and his family that he could handle this and that everything would be fine. Damn it, it was all her fault! How could he possibly return home if he failed his mission? As heir to the Li throne failure was unacceptable. He also didn't wish to disappointment Eriol-sama. Being trained by the most powerful sorcerers in the lands and not being able to handle such a simple task would be humiliating to both him and his mentor.
"Damnit, without her using magic I can still protect her, but for how long? I have no idea what will be waiting for her when she awakens the Guardians. I don't know if I'll be strong enough to protect her."
The Emperors words rang through his mind, reminding him that he was still not strong enough. No… That wasn't true. He would prove his strength to Emperor, to his Mother, to Eriol-sama, to everyone… Yes he would-
He stopped, shaking his head. No, there was no time for this. He had to focus on the Princess and teach her how to control her powers.
She wouldn't attack him for she was afraid of hurting him, even when he attacked her, but… His eyes widened. Yes, if someone else were threatened then perhaps…
Slowly Tomoyo approached Sakura who was sitting silently on the top of a small hill staring into space. She frowned. "Sakura-chan, are you alright?" she queried softly.
The girl shook a little, startled by her friend's sudden presence. "Hai, I'm fine." She replied after quickly wiping the tears from her eyes.
Tomoyo knew that was a lie but didn't want to press the matter so instead she would try to comfort her friend. She placed her hand on Sakura's shoulder and took residence beside her. "I'm sorry that Tenjou-san is being so unreasonable."
The auburn haired girl stared in surprise then quickly shook her head. "Please don't. It's not your fault he's acting this way." After a few moments she let out a sigh. "I don't know, maybe he is right. I can't seem to control my powers at all. I-I just don't understand…. All those times before I was able to use them. Why not now? I wish I could talk to Mimura-san about it.
"I'm sure Onii-chan would be able to use his powers just fine if he were here instead of me. I'm sure he would be able to save Kinomoto for disaster…. I-I just feel so useless."
"Please stop talking like that!" cried Tomoyo, no longer wanting to hear her friend say such things about herself. "I assure you that you're doing a great job, and I am positive that you will find the Guardians soon enough and save Kinomoto. You just have to have faith in yourself."
"Faith?"
"Hai, I believe in you with all my heart!" replied the ivory haired girl, encouragingly.
Sakura frowned, her eyes fixated on the ground. Tomoyo believed in her but… "I…I don't think I can."
"But Sakura-"
"She's right you know." rang the voice of Li Syaoran, interrupting her. "If you don't have faith in yourself then there is no way you can do this."
Her fists tightened as she clenched on to her skirt, refusing to look at the boy. "What do you want, now?"
"I need you to clarify something for me."
Letting out a sigh she looked up, only to see the boy raise his arm. Her eyes narrowed. "What, you're going to attack me again!"
"Not you." He replied with a small smirk, and twisted his arm to point at the other girl beside her.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she shot up. "What-what are you doing!"
He didn't reply, his eyes focused on the long haired girl. The silence was unnerving Sakura and she could no longer think properly. Ryoji-san…
Tomoyo glared at the young man. Was he going to betray them just as Ryoji had done? She couldn't stand the thought of being used as bait against her dear friend once again.
"Stop it!" cried Sakura. Despite how many times she yelled this, the silent boy refused to lower his arm.
"Why are you doing this! Tomoyo-chan has no magic!"
"I know that. However…" Drawing back he fired and reacting almost instantly Sakura leapt in front of and grabbed her friend.
The attack struggled to get through the strong barrier the young inexperienced sorceress had created and eventually backfired causing the attacker to leap out of the way to prevent getting hit by his own attack.
Sakura held her friend tightly in her arms, refusing to let go. Tomoyo fearfully looked up at her protector. "Sa-Sakura-chan…"
"Tomoyo-chan, are you aright?"
She gave a small nod and Sakura let out a sigh of relief. "I'm glad." Apprehensively she let go and dragged herself up, her expression transforming from relief to rage the moment she laid eyes on Tomoyo's attacker.
"Why…Why did you attack Tomoyo-chan! You could have seriously hurt her!"
"Perhaps, but I knew you would intervene. And now I realise the source of your power." he stated triumphantly.
He turned and started to walk away when Sakura cried after him. "Wait!" Apologize to Tomoyo-chan now!" It wasn't a request, it was a demand.
He smirked at seeing the Princess become so aggressive. Anger was what she needed, anger to fuel her power.
The look of accomplishment on his face infuriated her even more. Who the hell did he think he was? How dare he attack her friend!
As he began walking away again, the girl's knees collapsed from underneath her, her heart racing rapidly as if attempting to break free from her chest.
What…What had just happened?
Authors Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed this chapter. I hope this one was alright. Gomen, I hope I didn't make Syaoran come off as too nasty. Any reviews or ideas on how I could improve would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading. Ja ne!