Disclaimer: Anything you recognize in the following story is NOT owned by me….. Although I wish it was……. J

Summery: Ever wonder how Clow Reed knew who his successor was going to be or why he seems so nice to Sakura when ever they meet? Well here it the first story, long before Cardcaptor Sakura took place. This is the story about Clow Reed and Sakura,……………. His Daughter??

Sakura Reed

Chapter 7

"There is no coincidence in this world, there is only the inevitable" (The famous line from Card Captor Sakura)

A few months passed since the night Sakura sealed the Hate and Revenge under contract and things had slowly returned to normal.

Yue and Cereberos had gradually regained there energy and were back to their usual selves, arguing and bantering with each other, just as they always had.

Once Sakura had regained all her strength back, her lessons with her father and Miharu resumed. Which of course she was ecstatic about, since she now knew the incantation to her new staff, practicing magic and learning about the power of contract was a lot easier.

Her father had even told her she would be able to cast contact over some minor spirits once she was done her first year of training.

Of course she questioned why she had to wait so long before she could start creating cards, when she had already sealed the hate, revenge and the love.

Clow sighed, this would be difficult to explain.

"Sakura, what happened between those three cards and you is something that no other magic yielder has ever been able to accomplish before. You managed to seal two resisting, powerful spirits under contract and sustain another powerful spirit that voluntarily sealed its self. That was your very first time using the power of contract, Sakura anything could have gone wrong that night. Your magic could have broken completely, or you could have lost control over the power that was running through you. Well all things considering, it is a miracle that you survived. So just to be on the safe side we are going to train you fully on how to control the power of contract, before you start using it regularly. Do you understand?" finished Clow.

Sakura sighed and nodded.

"I guess it makes since to wait until I really know what I am doing." she said.

Clow smiled and said "Good."

As lessons ended that day Sakura happily ran to the courtyard to find Tomoyo who also just finished her own lessons for the day.

Clow and Miharu watched from the temple window, while they talked amongst them selves.

"Has Sakura told you anything else about the dream she had before she woke up that night?" asked Miharu.

"No, not really," said Clow simply, with his trademark smile that always seemed to say "I know something you don't know."

Miharu narrowed her eyes at him.

"What do you mean, Not really?….. You know something! What is it?" Miharu questioned.

Clow just continued to smile even more, as if he enjoyed antagonizing her.

Miharu continued to glare at him for another minute before giving up.

"Ooo… fine keep your secrets. I'll fine out myself sooner or later." she grumbled.

Clow chucked and said "That I have no doubt."

Miharu just shook her head and smiled.

The two of them continued to gaze out the window in a comfortable silence once again until Clow spoke.

"So how is Tomoyo holding up?"

Miharu sighed at his question.

"She is coping……(sigh) You were right, as usual. She has incredibly strong empathic powers, they are growing stronger by the day. I fear one day others emotions may overwhelm her. In fact I believe it has already begun, just last night she woke up in tears, but she didn't know why she felt so sad. I finally managed to calm her down and get her back to sleep, when I heard one of our priestesses, lost a child, a stillborn. Tomoyo had felt the anguish and sadness of the grieving mother, she just didn't know it." said Miharu.

Clow glanced over at Tomoyo as she and Sakura talked about their day. Tomoyo had a smile on her face as nodded at something Sakura had said, but he could see that her eyes were red from crying the night before, and the smile on her face didn't reach her eyes. Not because she was unhappy, but because she was emotionally exhausted.

"She needs someone to teach her how to block out others emotions." said Clow.

"I know, but I don't know anyone whose also empathic, wait your not thinking of contacting her family, are you? You know as well as I that lord Amamiya won't come back here, not even for her," said Miharu.

Another smile appeared on Clow's lips.

"I know, don't worry I won't meddle with them. I'll behave."

Miharu narrowed her eyes at him again.

"Really? You promise you won't meddle with them?" she asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice.

Clow nodded and said "Yes, I promise, don't you trust me?" he asked innocently.

"Not when it comes to you and meddling, you are very good at it." she said.

"Well, I take that as a compliment." said Clow.

Miharu smiled and shook her head.

"Only you would,"

A minute of silence followed, as Miharu waited for Clow to tell her who he had in mind, after a minute it became apparent that he wasn't going to say anything so she asked,

"So who do you have in mind then?"

"You'll see." was Clow's only answer.

Miharu placed her hands on her hips as she glared at Clow once again.

"Your not going to tell me are you?"

Clow answered with one of his infernal smiles again, just to annoy her.

Miharu felt like strangling him then and there, but settled for a harmless swat on the arm.

'You enjoy tormenting me, I just know it…..sadistic…….evil……..maniac," she mumbled.

Clow just stood by the window as Miharu mumbled curses and insults at him.

When she got it all out of her system, Miharu sighed.

"Fine… as I said you can keep your secrets, for now, but will you at least answer me this? Do you trust whoever it is you are planning on contacting?"

Clow nodded,

"Yes, I trust him with my life."

Miharu was taken back with his statement, Clow never said something like that about just anyone.

"Well that is good enough for me then." she said contently.

Clow smiled again.

"That's good…"

That evening as they walked home Sakura walked a head with Yue, who was in his disguised form.

Sakura glances up at Yue and blushed, she would never admit it to anyone but she thought that Yue's disguised form was very cute. Not the type of cute like Kero, but the type of cute that made her face feel hot and heart beat faster.

"It something wrong Ms. Sakura?" asked Yue.

Sakura quickly turned her head away, as she continued to blush even more out of embarrassment as she had been caught staring.

'N..n..no No..nothing is wrong…." she stammered.

Yue raised his eye brow questioningly.

"Are you sure? Your face is all red…"

"Eeep! It is?" Sakura squeaked as she quickly slapped her hands over her burning cheeks.

"Yes, You are sure nothing is wrong? Your not sick are you?" asked Yue went to move his hand to her forehead.

"I… aw…Oh! Look there is the house…. Race ya!!"

With that Sakura ran off to the mansion, leaving a confused Yue behind.

"What was that all about Yue?" asked Clow as he walked up behind him.

"I have no idea sir….She just started acting very strange." said Yue.

"Hmmm… I guess I will have a talk to her later then," said Clow with his mysterious smile once again.

As Clow followed his daughter the two guardians stayed behind for a moment.

"You know what that smile means." said Kero as propped himself on Yue's shoulder.

"Yes he knows something but he won't tell what." answered Yue.

Just before the two walked into their home Kero whispered.

"You notice that he has that smile on his face a lot these days?"

That night Clow wrote the letter to the person he believed could be of considerable help to Tomoyo.

"Who are you writing to Daddy?" asked Sakura from his opened door.

"To a friend of mine, Now isn't time for you to go to bed?" said Clow as he placed his wax seal on the envelope.

"Yes, I just came to say goodnight," said Sakura as she walked over to give a hug.

"Sakura one thing before you go to bed,"

"Yes?"

"Well… you left Yue feeling quite confused and concerned this evening, when we were walking back home, care to explain why?" asked Clow.

Even in the dim light he could see Sakura's cheeks go red as she rapidly shook her head no.

Clow just smiled and said,

"I thought not, don't worry about it Sakura, it's alright go off to bed now."

"Okay daddy goodnight." Sakura said shyly as she quickly zipped out of his room.

When Sakura left, Clow sighed and said "Ah…. Puppy love, it is so innocent…………"

A moment later he let out a laugh and said "Poor Yue…"

Lord Kinomoto stood behind his desk with a furious expression on his face.

"What do you mean you can't find her? I paid you idiots a great sum of money because you said you would be able to find her. Now you are telling me you can't?!" he yelled at the four young men who stood in front of him.

"We tried everything sir, but we can't find a signal clue as to where she may have gone, it is like she doesn't even exist, there is nothing." said one of the men.

"You are all idiots, get out of my sight and keep looking, she has got to be out there somewhere" Kinomoto snapped.

"Yes sir." said the four men as they quickly ran out of his office.

Once the idiots had left Lord Kinomoto sighed and slumped back into is chair.

It had taken him almost a month of influencing the bored of elders to get them to allow Anna back in the town, granted she still wouldn't be apart of the family, but she would be able to be close to her daughter again. He would also be able to see her again as well.

After seeing Sakura recover from the deadly fever she had gotten because of him, he could only think of one way to repay her, and that was to bring her mother back.

But the problem was nobody could find Anna anywhere, they had been searching for almost a month now and they hadn't managed to find anything, not even a clue as to where she was.

"They are all a bunch of idiots.' He grumbled as he looked at all the unfinished paper work they have brought back for him.

"I am getting to old for this."

Eager to relax for a minute Kinomoto went to the Art room, he hadn't been there since that night because he had been so busy looking for Anna.

He looked out the giant window the viewed the garden in the courtyard.

He let the colours of the paintings in the room flood him as he took a deep breath. Just as he was about to leave and get back to work he caught a glimpse of a portrait hanging in the far corner.

It was the painting that Anna made before she left, and it now had a gapping hole in the middle of it.

Lord Kinomoto's eyes darkened as he looked at it, he had tried to forget what had happened that night, sometimes he could almost do it to. He could almost convince himself that what happened had all been nothing but a dream.

However deep down he couldn't hide the truth from himself, he had almost killed, he had almost taken a life. He may dislike Clow Reed very, very much, but…. He could never kill him, in his right mind anyway. He shuddered at what he had almost done, not even Clow Reed deserved to die that way.

He looked up at the hole in the canvass once again and then with look of resolve he turned around walked back to his office again.

"She has got to be somewhere…"

Two weeks later Clow received a reply from his letter.

It said, he would be happy to help, and that he would be bringing two other people with him.

They would be here within a week……

"Perfect… this should be interesting." said Clow with a smile as he folded the letter back up.

(A week later…..)

"Sakura!! Come on lets go, we have to go to the harbor!" called Clow.

"I'm coming!!" said Sakura as she fumbled, trying to get her jacket, and bonnet on at the same time.

Clow watched, amused as to why is daughter was rushing.

"You can slow down Sakura we aren't that late," he said as Sakura took a deep breath once she finally got her hat and coat on.

"Are Yue and Cereberos coming to?" she asked with a innocent look on her face.

Clow shook his head in amusement, she no idea how cute she looked when she did that. He glanced over at her again, and a smile suddenly appeared on her face.

Then again, perhaps she did know

"No they are staying here, now lets go, don't want to be late."

Sakura pouted slightly in disappointment that a certain guardian wasn't coming.

Sakura sighed, "Okay…." she said.

As they walked Sakura began to become very curious, although she knew more then anyone else that once her father got in his head he wanted to surprise everyone there was no way to get a straight answer out of him.

However she had discovered there was no harm in asking, maybe she could get something of worth out of her fathers lips.

"So who are we going to meet?" she asked.

Clow glanced down at her, and she in turn smirked back up at him.

He chuckled and sighed in amusement.

"We are going to meet a relative of mine and two of his guests," he answered.

Sakura blinked, her father never spoke of his relatives. So for him the say they were actually going to meet them, sparked a fierce curiosity in her.

"Who are they?" she with much more intent then before.

"You will fine out when you meet them." said Clow simply.

"But why can't you tell me now?" Sakura whined with a pout.

Clow appeared to think for a moment, and then said.

"It is more fun this way."

Sakura sighed dramatically, he had only given her an answer to her first question to just torment her more.

So she tried one last time, pulling out all the stops, including batting her big green eyes and look as desperate as possible.

"Please one more hint…….Please….."

Clow tried to stop from looking into her eyes, those emerald orbs were always a weakness of his. It was hard to resist denying her when she did that and she knew it.

He sighed in defeat.

"A hint? Hmmm……." Then he smirked.

He started speaking in a different language.

Once he stopped, Sakura had a thoroughly confused look on her face.

"And what does that mean?' she asked.

Clow smiled and began walking further ahead.

"You can figure it out, that is why it is called a hint."

Sakura followed him at a slower pace, thinking, but however after a few minutes she hung her head.

"I don't get it, I know you spoke Chinese, but I don't what you said." she said.

Clow just laughed as continued to walk down the path that lead to the harbour.

"You'll get it soon."

When the got to harbour Sakura looked around in awe. She had never been to the harbour before, they never had the need to.

The sailors were throwing fish to each other, and the fisher men were bringing them in by the crate full.

Birds were flying everywhere, trying to grab a bit to eat from the fish crates, and the air was thick with salt off the water.

" Aw there it is." said Clow as a massive ship came into view as it rounded a corner and into the mouth of the harbour.

As the ship got closer and closer Sakura began to notice how big the ship really was, she could see huge white sails the were full of air and there was a huge carved wooden dragon on the front of the ship.

"It's from China…." Sakura breathed as the ship started to close in on the dock.

"Are the people we are here to meet from China daddy?" she asked.

Clow nodded, "Yes, Shanghai to be exact."

"Wow…"

Shanghai was a very powerful city, all the rich and politically powerful families lived there.

Once the ship docked the passengers started to walk a shore, it was the last three passengers that Clow moved over to.

One was a man around her fathers age maybe a little older, he wore expensive Chinese style clothing, on his left shoulder there was a family crest, with two golden dragons surrounding a elegant jade dragon. With what limited knowledge Sakura knew of Chinese power systems, he was a part of a very powerful family.

Beside him was a boy, around the age if 13 or 14, he wore the same expensive clothes as the man beside him but he had no crest.

Then standing beside him was a boy around her own age, he was wearing the same clothes and also had the family crest. Maybe he and the man were related.

After Clow and the man shook hands, Clow looked over at Sakura and introduced her to the people he had been so secretive about the last few weeks.

"Sakura I would like you to meet my cousin." he said as he pointed at them man.

"Li Shenji. "

"Nice to meet you young lady." said Shenji smoothly.

"It is nice to meet you to sir" said Sakura as she bowed her head slightly.

Shenji motioned his hand to the teenager beside him.

"This is my apprentice, Touya"

Touya nodded his head to her, but nothing more.

Then Shenji moved over to the younger boy and said.

"And this is my son Li Syaoran………"

End of Chapter

I was going to wait a little later in the story for Syaoran, but I changed my mind. Hope you guys liked it.

Thank you to AngelIvey22 my beta reader. Thanks