Ever since that day at school, Tomoyo's depression had rapidly worsened. Although everyone else was left none the wiser, every day she came to school with that heart warming smile plastered on her face. She still laughed and chatted with her friends. No one could ever really see how Tomoyo suffered inside. The snow began to lazily fall from the sky. It's gotten a lot colder Tomoyo shivered and continued making her way through the forest path, I'll probably get some stupid cold and Oka-chan' gonna give me a whole lot of shit afterwards. She shrugged it off and nearly fell when she stepped unto a fairly large patch of ice. Tomoyo shifted her weight in order to regain her balance. She looked around…this wasn't a patch of ice…in fact it was a frozen pond of some sort. Tomoyo glided gaily along the pond's edge, her hair fluttering behind her. At least there's one sport I'm better in than Sakura-chan. Tomoyo leapt into the air, a pang of dismay washed over her as Li's house was made apparent. She landed and skidded to a halt…I remember now…this is the pond that Sakura, Shaolan and I used to skate on…all those years ago. The raven haired school girl grinned for the first time in a long while. She could almost most see Shaolan slipping across the pond, his arms flailing madly and his eyes buldging. "I don't know how you two convinced me to do this…but I swear that I'm gonna kill you if I make it out of this." He tripped over a small dent in the ice and was sent flying in Tomoyo's direction.
She softened the impact with her body and harshly met the ice. Li smiled at Tomoyo and brought her to her feet. "Arigatou Tomoyo-chan." He said softly…
Tomoyo felt herself blush and violently shook her head, 'No. I can't do that anymore! He's Sakura's dammit!'.
She squeezed her eyes shut and let a few tears leak, it didn't matter how much the wind bit at her cheeks. Sakura had always beat her at something (accept for school), she insured that any pain Tomoyo had due to her unsatisfactory traits were made even worse. She never meant to hurt Tomoyo but she did. Be it how she would flounce about in the corridors, her voluptuous figure complementing her uniform. Or the way she would unconsciously flirt with boys and how they where left with the sinful marks of lust. It was bad enough that she could use magic, an ability that Tomoyo longed for ever since the Clow Cards justified its existence. "It's not fair…" she blurted out.
§
Li Shaolan sat by his fire place a patchwork quilt draped around his shoulders. With shivering hands he brought his cup to his face blowing on the cooling tea hoping that any of the vanishing steam would warm his face. "I left nice and warm China for this!" he hissed pulling the quilt tighter around himself.
He drained his cup and set it neatly down on table beside his chair. A loud ringing radiated off his cell phone, Shaolan groaned upset that he had to move in such frigid weather and picked up the phone. "Moshi moshi?"
A familiar voice responded on the other end, "Hi Shaolan! It's me Sakura." Li jumped from his seat blushing madly.
"Uhh…Hi Sakura-chan."
"Li…are you blushing again?"
Shaolan paused and grunted a quick "uh-huh" why was he still so nervous…he had been going out with Sakura for about half a year now.
A bright laughter made him redden even more, if that were possible. "Li…it's really cold out and the snow is really beginning to fall…it's almost like this whole thing is powered by Clow magic."
"That's impossible…I mean you control the cards now. Nothing like that would happen-unless…you're pulling some cruel prank on me!"
Shaolan could practically see Sakura sitting across from him smiling. She would never pull anything like that…she was too nice. It was one of the many reasons he loved her so much, she would never hurt anyone no matter what. "It used to be so fun back then…despite the fact that it was quite strenuous…I miss those days."
Shoalan sighed, "I know…but we are still responsible to make sure everything is all right. There's more than just Clow magic you know." There was a pause on the other end, followed by a deep sigh.
"It's just that…" Shaolan waited anxiously for her response,"I feel…"
He shut his eyes and breathed deeply, tapping into an almost forgotten power he sent his counsiousness into Sakura's mind. Li stiffened when seeing how she dwelled on one of her troubling dreams. It disturbed him, but was he allowed to show it?
"That something isn't right and you were having weird dreams," he muttered as he sat down, seemingly exsuasted from the process.
Sakura gasped, and quickly recovered with a brisk "Un."
Shaolan poured another cup of tea for himself, "Sakura…you know that because of your magic, that your dreams can sometimes be premonitions. You don't have to worry about each and every dream that you have…I mean some of them are just regular dreams." He stated calmly.
"I know, but I can't help it…that's kind of why I called you in the first place…to see if you could help me." There was a hint of dissapiontment in her voice, Li's heart sank.
"Well…um I've got to go. G'night."
Before Shaolan could return with his own well-wishes she had hung up on him. He stared blankly at the phone for a few moments before returing it to its proper place. Shaolan completely ignored his fast cooling tea all together and paced the room. She needed me. Called for me…and yet all I could do was tell her to ignore it. He was her boyfriend, he was suposed to protect her from anything…no matter what the cost. "I know, but I can't help it…that's kind of why I called you in the first place…to see if you could help me." He was suposed to make sure that she was happy. "But I failed," Shaolan muttered, "…I failed." He said once more.
Truth be told he was afraid of failiure…but even more of losing Sakura. Shaolan had always tried his hardest to avoid failiure, he remembered how badly he had felt when Sakura had become the mistress of the cards. He remembered his mother's pained face when he returned to China, it wasn't that she disliked Sakura…in fact Sakura was almost like a daughter to her…it was just that she had hoped to keep the cards within the family. The summer after, Shaolan had even tried to commit suicide…this was something he couldn't dare tell Sakura.