Disclaimer: Anything you recognize in the following story is NOT owned byme….. Although I wish it was…….
Summery: Ever wonder how Clow Reed knew who his successor was going to be orwhy he seems so nice to Sakura when ever they meet? Well here it the firststory, long before Cardcaptor Sakura took place. This is the story about ClowReed and Sakura.…. His Daughter?
(sorry for the mix up on the first upload on this, I thought I fixed it but apppearently i didn't)
Sakura Reed
Chapter 3
When Sakura and Clow finally came home, Sakura had cried her self to sleepand was put to bed once again.In the morning he would explain the best he could to her about what had happened, and why the man she had ran into was so resentful towards them.She knew her mother had left her so she could have a good life, but now that she was getting older and more inquisitive about things she needed morelengthy explanations.
"What happened Master? Did something go wrong?" asked Yue.
"We ran into Lord Kinomoto," was all Clow said.
Yue and Cereberos looked at each other and then back at Clow.
"Well… Why did he upset Sakura so much?" asked Cereberos.
Clow shook his head as he remembered to incident."She ran into him while she was chasing a cat, from what I heard he wasdemanding a formal apology from her for running into him. Sakura didn'tunderstand why he was reacting like that, I doubt things would have gottenso out of hand if I hadn't interfered. As soon as he saw me he became veryhostile and he scared Sakura very much. So much that she even used to freezecard on him, although he probably thought it was me. Then Sakura apologizedfor running into him and then he left." finished Clow.
"Do you think he posesses a danger to Sakura?" asked Cereberos.
Clow thought for a moment and then shook his head.
"No I don't believe so. He may hate me to his very core, but Sakura isstill so much like Anna, whom I am sure he still loves very much. Sakura maybe a painful reminder for him, but I don't think he will actually hate herthe way he does me." said Clow.
"So if they were to met again alone together, he wouldn't harm her?"asked Yue.
"Harm is such a general word Yue, he may be able to hurt her feelings quitea bit or if he is really mad he may even tap her with his riding whip, but I doubt he would hit her very hard if he even did that. Kinomoto is a strict person and sometimes a little harsh, but he isn't evil" said Clow.
"But what about what he did to Sakura's mother? He banished is own daughter from ever coming near here again." said Yue.
Clow shook his head, "I doubt he had any say in the matter. There is a social structure in this town, each level it seems to have their own rules they need to follow. Believe it or not the upper class men like Lord Kinomoto and his family are the most effected by these rules. If a member of the family broke these rules severally enough they would be banished. That is what happened with Anna and I, it was against her society for her to even be talking with me, a sorcerer. But we fell in love and we were caught. I thinkit was because Anna was the lord of the families daughter that they didn't banish her right away. However once they found out she was with child they didn't have any choice in the matter. The child had to be sent far away and would likely die or Anna could leave and her child could live with whoever she wanted it to live with . I have a feeling Lord Kinomoto must have had to pull up a lot of favours to get that ruling, it is like they made the choice a obvious one for a mother." said Clow.
"Do you think someone is planning something?" asked Cereberos.
"I can't be sure yet exactly what they are doing, someone has set something into motion, and there may be no stopping it. We will just have to wait and see what happens." said Clow.
A week later…..
"It is alright Sakura, just relax, you can do it," said Clow.
"But Daddy it is hard!! "whined Sakura.
Clow smiled, "Which is why you need to practice, now try again"
Sakura sighed " Okay…."
Sakura had just started her training to control her powers. They went to the temple, for it was the only other place in town Clow was welcome. Clow's friend was the head priestess of the temple and was also assisting in Sakura's training as she also possessed a certain amount magical powers. Her name was Miharu, she had long black hair and sky blue eyes. Her voice was the most enchanting part about her, she could easily lull Sakura into a trance.
"Take a deep breath, let it spread through out your body. Now slowly let it out, as it leaves you look for dim light in your heart and make it brighter," she said quietly. Sakura closed her eyes and concentrated as she held her star key in front of her. She had been trying to release her key and turn it into a staff. With it released she could start to learn how to do other things, like making magical contracts with spirits or even one day creating her own magical guardians to draw off her own power.
She started glowing an intense fiery pink and her key started to glowbrightly but then Sakura froze, and the glowing stopped.
Sakura gave a frustrated growl, "It is no use, it won't work"Miharu sighed, "Just try one more time Sakura, then you can have a break, now tell me again exactly what you feel right before everything stops." she said. Sakura thought about it "I don't know exactly what I feel, I feel something but I don't know how the describe it in words." Sakura explained. "Hmm maybe…. Sakura do it one more time, this time I will focus on what you magical core does as you try to release your key." said Miharu.
Sakura pouted, she was tired and frustrated, she had been at it for hoursand still no improvement.
"Just one more time Sakura, if we can't figure out why it won't work after that then we are finished for today, alright?" asked Clow.
Sakura nodded her head and with a sigh she tried again.
Right when Sakura started glowing Miharu focused her inner eyes on hermagical core and watched.
They were nearing the time when everything usually stopped when Miharu saw a thread of magic energy reach out to the star key. As soon as the thread and the key connected, the magic started to fade away and the glowing rapidly decreased. Then Miharu figured out what the matter was, apparently Sakura's star key needed a incantation to unlock it, with out the incantation the key didn't know what its purpose was, it needed instructions to change.
When the glowing faded once again and Sakura was close to tears."Cheer up Sakura, I am pretty sure I know why you can't unlock your key yet. You need a incantation for it to release" said Miharu with a smile.
Sakura looked up tears were no longer in her eyes, but she looked confused.
"Incantation? What is that?" she asked.
"An incantation is a certain sequence of words that are used to invoke certain spells, I need to use them when using my cards. Seems you need one for releasing your staff." explained Clow.
"Oh, well what words do I say?" Sakura asked.
Miharu and Clow looked at each other, each of them knowing the answer wouldfrustrate Sakura more then she already was.
"Um.. Oh how do I explain this??… Your magic will tell you the words whenyou are really desperate for them. If you ever are in urgent need of your staff the words will come to you," said Miharu.
"So you mean I have to wait for it to happen?" asked Sakura looking disappointed. Clow answered this time " Maybe, finding your first incantation can be tricky, but when you want it enough it will come to you. You'll see one day the words will just pop into your head. Don't worry Sakura the words will come when you need them, Okay?" he said reassuringly.
Sakura sighed, disappointed that the ability to release her staff was for the moment out of her hands.
"Alright Daddy, you promise it will happen though, right?" she asked.
Clow smiled "Yes Sakura I promise"
"Well okay, can I go and play now? Like you promised Priestess Miharu?" asked Sakura.
Miharu nodded her head, "You may go and relax, I will see you both tomorrowmorning." she said as she bowed her head slightly to both Sakura and Clow.
Then gracefully walked out of the room.
Then all traces of frustration vanished from Sakura's face and she jumped up and ran out to the temples court yard.
"Tomoyo!! Tomoyo! I am done now!" Sakura yelled.
A few moments later a girl around the same age as Sakura can running around a corner. She had long black hair and unusual violet eyes. She was actually Miharu's niece, her twin sister was Tomoyo's mother. Tomoyo's mother died giving birth to her so she now lived with her aunt at the temple.
"Sakura, I am over here. Well how did it go, did you have any luck this time?" she asked.
Sakura smiled at her new friend as she explained everything that happened.
Clow observed the two friends, both girls got along famously and they complimented each other. Both were kind and caring but they had opposite attitudes. Sakura was loud and out going while Tomoyo was timid and quiet, where Sakura was slightly dense Tomoyo was extremely sensitive to others feelings, in fact Clow thought she could be moderately empathic. It made sense, since that ability was common on her fathers side of the family. Only he and Miharu knew that Tomoyo's father was Tanaka Amamiya, Lord of the powerful Amamiya Clan. Last he heard, Lord Amamiya had moved the Clan backto Japan 4 years ago. Clow even doubted that the Amamiya family even knew of Tomoyo's existence, since Tomoyo parents never married. Like his and Anna's relationship, it was forbidden.
"Come on lets go and find Hoshi" said Sakura as she ran off to the other end of the building.
"Sakura! Wait for me!" called Tomoyo as she ran to keep up with her energetic friend.
Also as it turned out Hoshi was the name of the little kitten that Sakura had befriended the week before. It belonged to Tomoyo and the other people who lived at the temple.
The first day they arrived at the temple Sakura's face lit up when she saw the familiar black cat sitting in Tomoyo's arms. Tomoyo had seemed to be quite taken with Sakura and found it amazing that she possessed magical powers and was always asking questions about it, which Sakura was all to happy to answer.
"Sakura? Do you think Mr. Reed will let me come and visit you one day?" asked Tomoyo as she waved a piece of string in front of Hoshi who looked like she was about to pounce.Sakura thought about it " I don't know, Daddy usually doesn't allow other people inside the house because of Kero and Yue," said Sakura.
Tomoyo blinked, "Are they dangerous?"
Sakura rapidly shook her head, "No they aren't, it is just Daddy said people from the village aren't allowed inside the Manor because they don't like Kero and Yue." she said.
Tomoyo smiled and said "Well I have no reason not to like them, so that won't be a problem."
Sakura smiled said strongly, "You're right, lets go and ask Daddy if you can."
"Alright!" said Tomoyo as she and Sakura ran over to the temple opening where Clow was.
"Daddy!! Daddy can Tomoyo be allowed to visit our house sometime?" asked Sakura. Clow looked over at Tomoyo, she looked at him with hopeful eyes.
He thought for a moment and said "Come and walk with me Tomoyo."
Sakura looked at her father questioningly if not a little worried that he would tell her no.
Clow noticed her look, smiled and winked at her.
Sakura then knew that her father just wanted to talk with Tomoyo first and make sure she wouldn't be surprised when she did step inside the manor…….
As it turned out Tomoyo and the two guardians got along reasonable well. Yue kept his distance, not obviously so, but he never quite fully relaxed when ever Tomoyo was around. Cereberos thought that Tomoyo was the sweetest girl he knew besides Sakura. Everyone laughed when he said that because, besides Sakura, Tomoyo was the only other girl he knew.
Two weeks passed, Sakura still hadn't been able to find the words to unlock her staff but with the constant practice of trying to unlock it her control over her powers was increasing and she no longer exhausted herself if she summoned her father's cards to her aid.
Clow had taken Sakura's idea for giving his guardians disguises to heart and began working the spells that would enable them to change form. For some reason Yue was easy to create a disguised form for, it may have been because he already looked human enough and only minor changes were needed. However Cereberos was a different story, any from he designed for Cereberos wouldn't work, the form was rejected for some reason and no one seemed to know why.
He kept trying however, when one form failed he went right back to the drawing bored literally, The first step was for him to literally draw the form out, luckily he was a skilled drawer or the cards and his guardians would look very silly. One day he was sure he had gotten it right, the form looked like a small golden house cat. He and Cereberos were just about to start when the Windy flew in to the room and told Clow that an unknown human was trespassing in the property. To see what was going on Clow and Cereberos left the room intending to comeback and finish later. In their hast to leave both of them forgot to lock the door after them….
Sakura sat in her room doodling, it was Sunday so Miharu didn't have time to teach her because Sunday was always a busy day at the temple. Tomoyo couldn't come over because she had just started training as a priestess. Her father, Kero and Yue were all doing their own thing so she was on her own for the day. However after a few hours she started to grow restless, so she decided to show her pictures to her father who was up in his study with Cereberos. When she reached his study, she found the door slightly a jar.
"Daddy? Are you in here?" asked Sakura as she pushed the door opened.
No one was inside the room, all she saw was a bunch of drawings of cats posted all over the wall. She walked into the room and decided to wait for him to get back, but she wasn't all that patient and grew tired of waiting for him to get back.
With a sigh Sakura placed her pictures on her fathers desk so he could lookat them later and then left the room.
The picture on top of the pile was a picture of a little bear with big ears and wings on its back….. ( hehe I know I am evil……. Sorry Kero)
Clow and Cereberos came back 10 minutes later. It turned out that the intruder had only been a boy who had been dared to enter the yard by his older brother.
Flashback..
As soon as he saw Clow, Cereberos and Yue coming towards him he ran away screaming in the other direction. Of course it was futile, Yue had managed to catch him quickly and Clow gave him a warning not to come through the yard.
"I you wish to wish to visit, I suggest using the front door Mr...?"
The boy who was now as pale as a sheet stammered out.
"D..dd…d… Dimitri Kinomoto S..sir…."
Clow raised an eye brow "Kinomoto?"
"Mm…my fath…My father is Ichiro Kinomoto, sir" said Dimitri.
"Ah, Lord Kinomoto's eldest son?" Clow asked with interest.
The boy nodded nervously.Clow smiled and said "Let him go Yue"
Yue did so and Dimitri ran as fast as his short legs could carry him back the way he came.Clow Reed chuckled and shook his head slowly, it seemed that the children ofthe Kinomoto family had developed an interest in him.
"Yue place your shield around all entrances except the front door, I don't want this to happen again if I can help it" he told Yue.
Yue bowed his head "Yes Master Clow," he said as his eyes began to glow white. Then a massive bubble surrounded the outer edges of the yard and then faded away from normal sight.
end of flashback ...
Clow and Cereberos wanted to get along with the new form they wanted to try, so they immediately headed back to the study room.
The procedure for such a complicated spell required complete darkness and meditation on both their parts.
In the complete darkness Clow picked up the paper that he had left on his desk and placed it on the floor in front of him and Cereberos.
When both of them entered deep meditation their aura's came alive and started intertwining with the each other. Cereberos's massive wings started to grow and expand around him and he began to glow even brighter as his own magic circle surrounded him.
After his entire body was covered with his wings their magic started to calm down and his magic circle faded away as his wings parted once again.
His wings continued to shrink until they fit properly on his back. Then it was over, all glowing had ceased and the room was once again pitch black.
Both emerged from their meditation and opened there eyes.
"Do you feel any different Cereberos?" Clow asked as he moved over to where the window was to let light back in the room.
Cereberos opened his mouth to answer and a high pitched squeaky voicecame out.
"I don't know….Wait hey why is my voice so small? I sound like Sakura and Tomoyo!!" shouted Cereberos (Kero) indignantly.
"Hmm your right, your voice wasn't supposed to change that drastically, but at least we finally found a form that accepted your magic," said Clow as he lifted up the blind over the window. Then he turned around and to see Cereberos, or at least who he thought was Cereberos sitting on the floor and blinked.
"Oh dear…" he simply said a he continued to look at his guardians new disguised form.At his Master's unusual look Cereberos looked down at himself. He blinked three times, then wiggled a paw, then he turned around and flapped one of his little white wings. He blinked again and then…..
"What in the name of all that is good did you to me? This wasn't the pictureyou showed me!! I..I look like a.. aa. a toy….. A toy!" he yelled.By the time he finished his rant, he was flying right in front of Clow Reed and almost had fire coming out of his big teddy bear like ears.
However despite his guardians indigence Clow had big smile on his face and appeared to be trying to stop himself from laughing.He almost managed and only let out a chuckle as he looked at his glaring guardian. Somehow he fought his amusement down to a dull rower, though a his usual smile remained.
He walked over the piece of paper he had placed on the floor and looked at it. Clow laughed softly again and shook his head.
"Oh no….I believe I found the problem," said Clow with an even bigger smile on his face.
"What is it? Let me see….." Cereberos looked at the picture in Clow's hands and fire came into his eyes, although it didn't look threatening at all, in fact it looked kind of….funny.
"You did this to me on purpose didn't you, as some idea from your insane since of humour?" said Kero who didn't look happy at all with his other form.
Clow shook his head and pointed to a name at the bottom right hand corner of the picture.
"I didn't draw it Cereberos… or should I call you Kero now? It certainly suits you better in this form." he said.
Kero however wasn't paying attention as he read the name printed on the paper.
"Sak..ur.a… Sakura… Sakura!" Kero yelled, this time fire surrounded his entire body as he flew out of the room like a rocket.
As Kero flew through the massive house he yelled so loud birds from the trees in the yard were disturbed.
"Sakura you little Brat!! You are going to pay for this!!"
End of Chapter.
(Like the idea I got for Kero's little form? I think it was cute…… and cheer for my new beta reader AngelIvey22 yay! Thank you)
please R&R to keep the chapters coming.)