A/N: Chapter 3!

Disclaimer: CCS is owned by CLAMP

Third Time a Charm

Chapter 2: Dreams and Reality

"Not so fast," The woman had said and then he felt himself freeze, and suddenly, to his surprise, his hands moved on their own and came together in front of him, like someone has tied his wrists with invisible ropes.

He felt his legs drop to the ground, and in the next moment he was on his knees, unable to move, looking up to the cold eyes of the woman…

She put her hand up, against his head, and started chanting something very fast, and he couldn't understand her, but he did understand her last word, "Sealed!" and then something began to form on his wrists until it finally materialized: gold bracers.

The woman opened the bottle and smiled, "Have fun."

And he started to be surrounded by green smoke…

-

Syaoran awoke with a start. He looked frantically around the room until he realized that he was in Sakura's room, and apparently, if the light that filtered through the cracks in the shutter was any indication, it was dawn.

He put his hand on his forehead, heaving a relieved sigh. He noticed that his forehead was covered in sweat.

I haven't dreamt about it in a long time, I wonder why…? He thought as he calmed down.

He felt the familiar pressure of the locket against his neck and clasped at it through his shirt, he knew what was inside the gold tube of it, a rolled piece of parchment with a few lines written on it.

Three times the wolf shall be owned

The third is the last, where between two he must choose

And an end to all will come

He always took comfort in that last line, 'And an end to all will come', will it really come? He thought, and his hand gripped the locket more tightly.

Suddenly, a loud ringing interrupted Sayaoran reverie and he looked up to see Sakura's hand rise up from the blanket and tap the thing, thus ending the ringing.

After a few minutes and two more things Sakura has turned off, she sat in bed, rubbing her eyes and smiled sleepily when she Syaoran.

"Good morning," She greeted.

"Good morning," He said and looked at the things on Sakura's shelf, "What are those?"

"These?" She touched one, "They're called alarm clocks, I need them to wake me up, and otherwise I'll be late for school every morning."

"Do you need three of them?" He asked curiously.

"Well, I need three of them," She said, "I set them half an hour early because I wanted to ask you a few things."

"What is it you want to ask?" He inquired and thought that maybe talking with her will calm him down.

"First off, what are those symbols on your back and on your ribbon?" She asked.

He smiled, "The symbol on my back is the Li Clan Symbol: the phoenix rising from the ashes."

"And the one on the ribbon?"

"The symbol on my ribbon is my Name Emblem. It depicts the meaning of one's name. I'm Xio Lang which means 'Little Wolf'."

Sakura was now very curious, "Does everybody in your dimension wear those symbols?"

"Name Emblem and Clan Symbol are both worn by nobility,

Those who aren't can choose if to wear a Name Emblem, but all must wear the Clan Symbol. Do you understand now?"

"Yes, thank you for explaining," She smiled, but then she saw something, "Hey, Syaoran?"

"Yes?" He said.

"What do you hide under you sleeves? I saw something twinkle." She said.

Syaoran eyes widened and he looked at his hands, true enough, his sleeves didn't completely cover the bracers. He looked at them for a minute and then shrugged, better now than never.

"This is what my sleeves cover," He said and rolled his sleeves so that his wrists were in plain sight.

Sakura was surprised, "What are those things?" She bent a little closer to look at them.

"They are called Imprisonment Bracers," He answered with disgust.

"Imprisonment?" She repeated and looked at her desk where the bottle was and back at syaoran, "You're a prisoner?"

He looked at her with pained eyes, "You think I would be in that bottle of my own free will?" He said.

Than, Sakura remembered that when she woke up Syaoran was clutching his shirt front.

"What do you have inside your shirt?" She was curious to know.

Again, Syaoran just shrugged and took out his locket from the inside of his shirt and held it for her to see. "This is what I have inside my shirt," he said.

"What's in that locket?" She asked.

Syaoran clutched the locket tightly in his fist, and all he said was, "My fate."

Before Sakura could ask more questions there was a knock on the door and then Touya's voice, "Oi, Sakura, if you don't hurry, you'll be late!"

"I'll be there in a minute!" She called back and listened to her brother's footsteps until she could no longer hear it, and then she turned to Syaoran.

"Well, I guess I'll continue with my questions later." She said and got out of bed, grabbed her uniform and before closing the door she looked back, "Can you open the window, please?"

"Sure." He said and she closed the door and he listened to her footsteps until another door opened and closed.

He got out of the futon and put on his green robes and tied his ribbon to his arm. After checking that everything was in place, he rolled the futon, blanket and pillow and put them back in the closet.

He opened the window just when Sakura got back to her room after she was in the bathroom and had eaten breakfast.

"Thank you," She said, referring to the window and slung her bag on her shoulders, "Do you want to come with me to school or you want to say here?" She asked.

"I think I'll stay here." He said, crossing his arms.

"OK, your choice," She shrugged, "and if you want breakfast, it's on the table, if my brother hadn't put it in the refrigerator."

"All right." He said and nodded, Sakura nodded back and got out of room and closed the door behind her.

-

Syaoran waited patiently until Sakura's brother had left, to come down to the kitchen and eat breakfast.

After he had eaten and cleaned the plate, so no one other than Sakura would know there was another person in the house, he went back to Sakura's room and looked around.

He saw a bookcase with all kinds of books on it; he leafed through a few, and vowed to ask Sakura later what those books are talking about.

He also made a mental note to ask her about that black box that was sitting on a low table in the corner and a long, flat silver box that was beneath it.

After checking the entire room, he soon grew bored, and stood still in the middle of the room.

She said she was in that 'high-school' of hers, He thought and smiled, maybe it's time to have a look at that thing.

He closed his eyes and sensed for Sakura's presence, he detected it and than he disappeared from Sakura's room…

…To reappear in Tomoeda High.

He opened his eyes and discovered that he was in a classroom of some sort. The teacher talked and the students dutifully wrote in their notebooks. Syaoran looked and discovered Sakura, sitting by the window, also writing.

When Sakura looked up from her notebook to look at the teacher, her eyes drifted to the door where Syaoran stood, and her eyes widened in surprise. But she didn't do anything, and so she acted normal until class was over.

The minute the teacher was out, Sakura stood up at once, told the girl behind her, "I'll be back in a minute." And walked quickly to the door.

When she reached the door, she muttered from the corner of her mouth, "Come with me." And walked through the door, with Syaoran following.

The walked until Sakura stopped in front of an empty classroom and motioned to Syaoran to come inside.

After they were both inside, Sakura closed the door and whirled around to face him. "What are you doing here!" She said.

"I have decided to see what that high-school is all about," He said as he crossed his arms.

"I thought you said you were going to stay at home," Sakura said, a little annoyed.

"I have changed my mind," He said, and looked at Sakura, he added, "Am I disturbing you by coming here?"

She looked taken aback, "No, no, it's just that you surprised me, that's all."

Suddenly her eyes widened as an idea struck, "Hey, in the next break, can I intro duce you to two friends of mine?" She asked.

"Sure, if that's what you want," Syaoran said.

"Great, meet me in an hour, in the school yard." She said.

"Yes, Kinomoto-sama." He nodded.

Sakura frowned, "Don't call me 'sama'; I'm not nobility or anything like that."

"How about Kinomoto-san?" He asked.

She smiled, "That'll do for now." She said and opening the door, she looked back at him, "Remember, one hour." She reminded and left.

Syaoran remained in the classroom a couple more minutes and then he left too. He wandered the halls of the school, until he reached a room where there was a sign that read, 'Office'. The door to the room was opened, so he peered in.

A man, probably in his fifties, sat behind a desk and listened to a woman, who was about ten years younger was saying. The woman held a sheet of paper and was saying, "Here is the lists of the new students who are suppose to arrive, sir."

"Very good, now can you read them to me, Kumiko?" The man said and turned to look at a gray box.

"Certainly, sir." Kumiko replied and started reading the names from the paper.

Syaoran realized that once you're on that list, you are considered a student. He also realized that he has a lot to learn about the world,since it changed much when he was at that bottle,and his best chance to learn would be here.

Without even thinking about, he started to act.

He closed his eyes, Link, he thought and immediately started sending the next message, Li Syaoran, over and over, in the space of two seconds each.

When the woman called Kumiko said, "Li Syaoran," Syaoran smiled and thought, abort, and opened his eyes, the man and the woman wasn't the least bit suspicious that something haschanged, and so, he left.

-

While walking to the school yard, he reflected on what just happened. He succeed in doing what was known as Link Telepathy, he never was able top succeed in it, back when he was in Li'ko. His mother would be proud, he smiled, then he frowned, that is if I ever get the chance to tell her, he thought grimly.

When he reached the school yard, he saw Sakura talking to two people, he got closer.

"Well, we've been here for ten minutes, where is he?" The girl Syaoran saw earlier in Sakura's class said.

"I guess he's not coming," The boy next to her said.

"I guess so," Sakura agreed grimly, "sorry to trouble you, Tomoyo-chan, Eriol-kun." She said in apology.

"Don't worry about it, we'll just meet some other day," The girl Sakura called Tomoyo said.

"Yeah, don't be down," The boy called Eriol said.

And then the two said goodbye to Sakura and walked away.

"These were the people you want me to meet?" Syaoran asked and Sakura jumped in surprise and turned to look at him.

"Where have you been?" She hissed.

"There was something I had to attend to," He said.

"What things?" She asked, suspicious.

"I will tell you about it, when you come back to your house." He said.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, but all she said was, "Okay."

-

When Sakura returned from school, Syaoran was already waiting for her in the bedroom.

"Okay, Syaoran-san, what was that something you had to attend to?" She asked and sat down on her bed.

"I will tell you, but firstly, can you change the suffix, 'san' makes me feel old." He said.

"Fine then, howdoesSyaoran-kun sounds?" She asked.

"Much better," he smiled then he turned serious once again, "The something I had to attend to was my 'application' to your school."

"Application?" She repeated, understanding slowly dawning, "meaning…"

"Yes, from tomorrow I will be attending your school." He said nonchalantly.

"What!" She cried, and apparently a little too loud, because the next moment, Sakura's door flew open to revealed middle-aged man with brown hair and glasses.

"Sakura, is everything okay with you?" He asked in concern.

Sakura looked at him, "I'm fine, Dad, really." She smiled.

"What were you shouting about?" Kinomoto Fujitaka still looked concerned.

"Nothing, I just remembered that I forgot to tell Tomoyo-chan something, that's all." She said sheepishly.

"Oh, okay." Her father relaxed.

Sakura looked at him a remembered, "Dad, why are you home already? I thought you will be back late."

Fujitaka grinned, "The flight left early, that's why I'm home earlier than expected,", He turned to leave, "Dinner will be ready in two hours." And he closed the door behind him as he left.

-

A few hours later when Sakura was in bed and Syaoran was in the futon, Sakura said, "You know, maybe having you as a classmate won't be so bad, after all."

"Probably," Syaoran agreed, "Good night."

"Good night." And Sakura turned off the light.

As Syaoran settled in his futon, he thought that maybe being three months with Sakura won't be so bad. Just as he was about to fall asleep with the idea of becoming friends with her, something stopped him at once.

The images of things he swore to never forget flowed through his memory. He didn't want another incident like the two before happening; he didn't want Sakura to end up like that too.

And with a resolution to keep his distance, he fell asleep.

-

A/N: And that's the end of chapter two.

Please, R&R!