Disclaimer: I don't own CCS, Clamp does. But I do own this story.

Chapter Seventeen

"Cutting it Close"

"Chyou, are you awake?" called out Hua Lien as she knocked on her daughter's room door. There was no answer. "Chyou?" she called out again, slowly entering.

"I'm in here mother!"

Hua Lien smiled as she entered the large room given to her by the Li's in the Royal Mansion. She smiled seeing her daughter seated in front of a mirror, brushing her wet hair.

"I see you were up early"

Chyou grinned at this and sighed.

"I can't help it, I'm so excited. In a few hours, I'm officially a Li…a royal princess and soon to be queen…" her voice trailed a bit and ended up giggling.

Hua Lien smiled. "Well, Mrs. Li…we better start getting our hair and make up done. We have an hour and 30 minutes left to prepare for the ceremony. Everyone's already a frenzy preparing downstairs."

"Yukito, again I'm really thankful for all this. It was such a short notice and yet you-"

Yukito laughed heartily.

"No, no Sakura. It's the least I can do. Besides, I owed Touya a favor anyways…and I can't resist helping out one of my dearest old friends now can I?" he grinned. "I'm just sorry you had to sit here in the control room with me"

"Oh no, we don't mind at all Yukito" replied Tomoyo, in an amazed tone as she looked around all the controls around the young pilot. "We're just fascinated that you have to fly this thing all by yourself"

"That's modern technology for yah. These new types of planes only require one pilot…but you have to be a skilled one to do it alone though" he added with a wink.

Tomoyo laughed at his last comment and turned to Sakura, but she was just sitting on her seat quietly, staring at the clouds outside the window beside her.

'I just hope we get there in time' Tomoyo thought anxiously.

"Xiao Lang? You ready?" Yelan called out as she knocked on the door and entered gracefully with her long dazzling blue gown.

Syaoran removed his gaze from the window to his mother and smiled.

"Good morning Mother" he said with a fake smile.

"So…what do you think?" she asked as she did a little turn.

"Beautiful as usual. Nothing less expected from the Queen of China"

"Oh Xiao Lang" Yelan said with a laugh, waving off his comment. "I see you have finished up as well" she said, looking him over with a proud face. "You look very handsome indeed"

"Thanks"

"Now, now…don't answer in such a flat tone. Come, we have to head down and see to your guests before the wedding begins"

"I thought the bride and groom aren't allowed to see the guests until the ceremony begins?"

"Oh, you're so old fashioned" Yelan commented, making Syaoran raise a brow at her. "Well, didn't you notice? This isn't your traditional matrimonial ceremony anymore. Tradition is good but change is better!"

"So we're doing this wedding the ordinary way?"

"No, no! Of course not! We're doing it the normal way, but with a bigger bang!"

"Bang?"

"Yes, bang…or whatever it is you young people call it"

"I'm not a teenager"

"You aren't a full adult either. Now, come let's go" she said, pushing Syaoran towards the door and down the hall.

Syaoran can't help but smile at his mother's attempts to make him happy…on his wedding day.

Now thinking about it again made him miserable.

'Better get it over with' he thought bitterly.

"C'mon, c'mon" Tomoyo repeated over and over under her breath as she tapped her foot impatiently on the asphalt road. "I tell you, there aren't enough taxis in this place. I'm certainly going to take this complaint to Syaoran" she muttered in frustration.

"Yeah, yeah…sure…yup…" Sakura replied anxiously as she paced behind Tomoyo on the side-walk.

"Oh c'mon, you have got to be kidding me" Tomoyo complained, flinging her arms in the air as another occupied taxi drove pass.

"Have you seen Tomoyo anywhere?" Eriol asked one of the guards on standby outside the huge entrance doors.

"No sir" the man in the white suit replied in a monotone.

"Well, tell me if she does"

"Understood"

A few moments of standing impatiently by the doors, Eriol immediately left back inside.

"Eriol?" Jay called out, getting his attention.

"Yes? What is it?" he replied in a rushed voice.

"What's going on with you?" he asked, raising a brow.

"Nothing…nothing at all" said Eriol impatiently.

Jay merely gave him a look.

"Okay fine then, come with me…and we also need Rika and the others. Where are they?"

"Come with me then…" Jay said, leading the way towards where the others were.

"Chyou! It's almost time! Please get ready in 10 minutes!" Hua Lien called out excitedly from outside her room.

"Okay!" she called back before standing from the bed and walking over in front of a full-length mirror. She smiled looking at her reflection.

Her long silky-white gown dragged along the carpeted floor as the tiny diamonds sewed onto it glittered at every move she made. Her jewelry looked brilliant around wrapped around her neck and wrists and the diamond tiara on her head where the long veil was attached was shining magnificently. Though she knew everything she wore at that moment was actually made for Sakura, she still looked radiant especially with the amount of make-up applied on her face.

She wouldn't let that simple thought get her down. Sure this wasn't meant to be worn by her, but she didn't mind, just as long as she was wearing it in the end and also since her and Sakura's size were almost identical.

"Chyou?" called another female voice from outside.

"I'm coming!" she replied happily as she slowly made her way towards the door.

"Xiao Lang, are you ready?" Yelan asked excitedly.

She and Syaoran were standing outside the ballroom where the ceremony was to be held. They could hear all the guests inside talking silently but excitedly, waiting for the long-awaited ceremony to begin.

Syaoran nodded mutely.

"Good. Now, your father and the advisors are in there keeping the news crew company until the ceremony begins. It will be starting in half an hour but we just need you to go in there and give then your brief comments, answer their questions and such"

Again, another mute nod.

"Are you okay? Any second thoughts? Afraid? Nervous? Anything?" she asked, trying to calm herself down.

"I think you're the one being all nervous for me" he said in an amused tone.

Yelan merely smiled and laughed a bit before hugging her son tightly.

"This will be the last time I can hug you as a single man" she said in a sigh.

"Me getting married won't change anything" he commented.

"I wouldn't say that" she said before letting go and walking over to the guard outside the ballroom. "Ready?"

"Now how many times must I answer that question?" he asked, raising a brow.

Yelan shook her head with a smile aimed at him before turning to the guard and giving him a slight nod.

"Can't you go any faster?" Tomoyo asked irately at the taxi driver as she constantly banged her knees behind the driver's seat.

"Keep that up and I'll stop driving" the driver bit out with a glare aimed for Tomoyo through the rear-view mirror.

"Who do y- mmfff-mf-ffffmm!"

"Sorry about my friend" Sakura replied with an awkward smile as she cut off Tomoyo with a hand over her mouth. "You see, we're in sort of in an emergency and we would really appreciate it if you could go faster"

The driver looked at Sakura and glanced suspiciously at Tomoyo before turning back in front of the road.

"Well, okay then…"

Syaoran smiled and nodded at the news crew as they were guided to the part of the ballroom they were assigned to stay during the ceremony. He made his way to the altar and sighed as he glanced at his watch.

'Here we go Syaoran' he thought to himself with a sigh. 'You only get to marry once, so might as well make something of it'

He was about to go into depression again but his thoughts were cut off as the orchestra which was set up beside the altar started to play their instruments. A soft tune rang out inside the huge room as the huge entrance doors slowly opened and the priests started coming in.

Although this was a modern-based marriage ceremony as his mother had said, he still knew that parts, or even most of their family's traditional wedding ceremony will still be carried out.

"Damn it! Not now! What the heck is going on ahead?" Tomoyo asked as she opened the car door and tip-toed to see what the commotion was about in front of them.

"What is it Tomoyo?" asked Sakura from inside.

The driver went back inside the car, and closed the door beside him.

"I saw boxes on the road by the intersection. It must have fallen off a truck or something" he explained.

Tomoyo sighed in annoyance as she sat back inside.

"This can't be happening" she muttered. She turned to Sakura and saw the down look on her face. "That's it"

Sakura looked at her. "Tomoyo?"

"C'mon Sakura, we're leaving…the palace is only a bit further, we can walk there"

"B-But we'll never make it" she said as she tried to stop Tomoyo.

"I'll feel better about not making it if we tried even getting there, but sitting here and waiting is killing me, so let's go" she said as she took out more than enough of bills out of her purse and handed it to the driver. "Thanks but we'll be getting off here!" she informed before jetting out of the car and pulling Sakura along with her.

'Finally' Syaoran thought as the last of the priests who were also acting as witnesses to the ceremony had entered the room. He scanned the room and was surprised the guests weren't half-asleep in their chairs. If he were sitting down, he would have fallen asleep from all the waiting.

The orchestra's current tune had toned down before another one came up, a more familiar and soothing one.

As Pachelbel's 'Canon in D' started to fill the room with it's melodic tune, the entrance doors re-opened yet again but this time, in came children with matching dresses. The bearers came in wearing specially made Chinese robes and closely followed by girls wearing modern-day dresses with headdresses made of flowers and petals in the baskets they were carrying.

Syaoran smiled at the lovely sight. His nieces and nephews looked so adorable and he felt proud. They're Li's, just like him and already the looks on their faces proved that. The boys looked so smug as they walked down the aisle carrying their bearings with pride and the girls walked elegantly and cutely as they threw slight amounts of petals on the floor behind them, leaving a trail of…

'Cherry blossoms' Syaoran thought as his gaze lingered on the flower petals as they landed on the floor leaving a trail for the honored guests who were following it, towards the head of the aisle.

"Hey, Syaoran…you okay?" Jay, who was standing behind the groom with Takashi with him, whispered.

Syaoran looked back at him and nodded with a small smile.

"Tomoyo! Slow down" Sakura shouted, gasping for air as she ran up the side of the road behind her best friend.

"We can make it Sakura! We're not giving up! Not now!" she shouted back as they ran even faster.

"Everything ready?" Mei Lin asked the maids lined up in the room holding different paraphernalia.

"Yes ma'am" the ladies replied in chorus with a curtsey.

"Good. Now, I'm leaving for the ceremony. It's about time for us to go down that aisle. Be sure to do the best and fastest you can all right? I'm counting on you"

"Of course" they said all-together.

Mei Lin gave a gracious smile before exiting the room with Rika, Chiharu and Naoko following her down the hall and towards the entrance way to the ballroom where everyone who was to walk down the aisle were gathered…all except for the bride.

"So, how will the bride go down the aisle?" Rika asked as she and the rest of the bride's maids gathered at the back of the line by height. "I hear Chinese bride-to-be's usually get carried in huge and comfy cottage-like carriers by buff guys" she said, wiggling her eyebrows playfully.

Mei Lin laughed at this. She knew she should be worried about Sakura right now but having this casual conversation was a big help in calming herself down.

"You're thinking way too far. That applies to hundreds of years ago" she pointed out. "But it is tradition that the bride's face must be concealed until the matrimonial kiss"

"I never knew that" Chiharu said in apparent surprise. "So how do you conceal the bride's face now? The veil then?"

Mei Lin nodded. "That's why the veil to be used today is particularly thick compared to the usual see-through ones"

"I'm getting anxious" Naoko said, taking in deep breaths as she watched the line outside the entrance to the ballroom getting shorter as more people went in and walked down the aisle.

"Pray for the best"

Syaoran smiled as his sisters took their seats from the walk and watched as his friends took their turn to walk down the aisle. Rika walked down looking excited as ever, followed by a shy Naoko with tints of pink on her cheeks, then Chiharu looking as cheery as always with Mei Lin behind her looking as confident as she already is.

As Mei Lin took her seat beside the other bride's maids at the first row of chairs, the music echoing in the room changed yet again. This time it was the traditional Chinese tune used to be played when the bride will be walking down the aisle towards the altar.

Syaoran took a deep breath as he waited for the entrance doors to re-open.

'This is it' he thought to himself as the huge double-doors started to open.

"W-We're finally here Sakura" Tomoyo said in between gasps as they made their way towards the main palace gates.

As they were about to enter, a loud clang surprised them.

"What the-?"

The two girls stepped back and looked at the guards as they withdrew their rifles.

"Excuse me but we have to get inside" Tomoyo pointed out.

"Invitation letter please" one of them said in a serious tone.

"We don't have one…we don't need one. We're Prince Xiao Lang's friends, we're supposed to be in their, we're originally part of the ceremony"

The guard said nothing.

"You don't believe me do you?" Tomoyo said in a quiet voice.

Syaoran was shocked as he watched the lady in white walk down the aisle slowly and elegantly towards him. He never knew that any other girl besides Sakura could capture his attention and send his heart racing this fast.

He couldn't help it, just watching her walk towards him made him smile genuinely.

Until she finally reached the altar did Syaoran get the chance to look her over. Though he couldn't see her face, he was still mesmerized. He was so dazzled by the beauty of her in her gown, what more when he'll be able to see the smile on her face.

She walked over to one side of the small rectangular table as Syaoran did to the opposite side.

He smiled at her as the introductory priest stood up towards the altar and started to open the ceremony with a traditional Chinese prayer.

"Tomoyo! Sakura!"

Tomoyo and Sakura both turned to the gates and were met by a very friendly sight.

"Eriol!" the two girls shouted back in unison.

The introductory part of the ceremony had finished quickly and so the official start of the ritual commenced.

Syaoran stared hard at his bride-to-be, hoping to see the face behind the veil. Somehow, he felt uneasy about not seeing her face. It felt like her true identity was hidden entirely.

"Welcome!"

Sakura and Tomoyo stopped dead in their tracks as they looked at all the women lined up in front of them.

One of them took Sakura by the hand and led her to the chair in the middle of the room surrounded with mirrors.

"What are you doing!" Tomoyo demanded.

"Orders from Ms. Mei Lin Li, Ms. Daidouji" one of the maids informed.

"Now, may I ask the bride and groom to stand together before me" announced the priest who was currently leading.

They both did as they were told and stood in front of the altar and in front of the whole room, facing each other.

"Do you, Prince Li Xiao Lang, take-" the priest cut short as a sharp scream cut through the silence that filled the large room.