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 8

Eriol: "It feels like, this isn't the first time we met. Sakura: Weird, isn't it? Eriol: We might have met before, in a past life……

From Cardcaptor Sakura Episode 47

This is the quote that actually inspired me to write this story..^_^

Sakura pushed her pillow over her ears, hoping it would block the ruckus coming from outside.

I had been a week and a half since Shenji Li, Touya, and Syaoran Li had moved in to the Reed mansion At first she thought it was great, she had someone her own age to talk to about magic and play games with, but she soon discovered Syaoran Li wasn't that kind of kid.

He told her she was childish and should be studying and practicing her magic instead of playing games.

Sakura rolled her eyes as she re-called what the Li kid thought of her.

"Childish indeed, I am only 5, almost 6 years old I am supposed to be childish!" she grumbled as she attempted to go back to sleep. However the sound of swords clashing outside her bedroom window prevented even the thought of sleeping.

Finally giving up on getting any more sleep, Sakura decided to look out her window and watch the spar.

Syaoran and Touya were both talented swordsmen, well for their ages anyway. It was obvious that Touya was better, because of his experience and the fact that he was much bigger the Syaoran. However Syaoran used his smaller size to his advantage, he offered a small target, and he was fast to dodge. His reflexes with the sword almost looked like it came to him naturally, as he moved it was like water flowing swiftly down a stream.

However if Touya and Syaoran were ever to lock swords with each other, Touya would always win. Sakura concluded that was probably how Touya usually won, being bigger and stronger of the two.

Sakura became so entranced with the two of them fighting she didn't notice her father walk into the room.

"They are hypnotizing aren't they?" said Clow.

"Hmm…Yeah it's like they are in some type of dance" said Sakura as she continued to watch them.

The Father and Daughter watched the sword fighting pair until Clow placed his hand on Sakura's shoulder.

"Come, we need to break them up for now, Shenji is waiting for us down stairs, for us to go to the temple"

Sakura look at the sparring pair for a second longer and then turned and followed her father out of her room.

As it had turned Shenji Li was a distant cousin of her father's, he had explained it to her one night but it still confused her.

Apparently Shenji is the son of her father's, mother's nephews second cousin…. Or something like that, and thinking about it still gave her a headache. So her and Syaoran were only related by marriage not by blood. Apparently the Li family was quite large.

"Touya.. Mr. Li We are going over to the temple now" Clow called out as soon as the reached the back yard.

The fighting pair stopped and turned their attention to Clow.

Sakura giggled as Syaoran went as stiff as a bored and acted like soldier every time her father came near.

They both bowed their heads and said, "Yes sir" then took off inside the house.

Clow shook his head as the two ran off.

"I told them they don't have to call me sir"

Sakura giggled again.

"I don't think they can help it Daddy"

Clow smiled knowingly.

"No, I guess not"

_____________________________________

"Aright, because of the fact Syaoran Li is joining us, I think it is a good day to go other elemental magic" said Miharu as she slipped into her teaching mode.

"Elemental?" Sakura questioned.

Beside her Syaoran rolled his eyes.

"Yes, the magical art of controlling the four elements of wind, fire, lightning, and water" said Miharu.

"What about the earth element?" asked Sakura.

At this point it was Clow that stepped in.

"Controlling the Earth element with this method is quite difficult and requires a lot of power, for even the simple tasks it can be draining. So it has been left out of this brand of magic. That was a good question Sakura"

The rest of the lesson continued with Miharu lecturing the importance of intent and concentration in elemental magic. It turned out they had to learn the theory first, which Sakura always found boring, she found it easier to learn by actually doing it and practicing, rather then just hearing about it.

When the lesson ended Sakura couldn't wait to get out side.

"Finally I never thought the lesson would end" said Sakura in relief.

However Syaoran shook his head.

"And you call your self the daughter of Clow Reed" he disapprovingly.

"Hey, give me a break will you. Not everyone thinks being cooped up in class is fun like you do Mr. Li"

"I don't think it's fun, Ms. Reed, but it is necessary to learn, so why bother complaining?"

"Because complaining about something I don't like makes me feel better, and besides I know the things they teach us are important, but that doesn't mean I have to like it" said Sakura.

Syaoran just huffed and turned away in to opposite direction.

"Hey where are you going?" asked Sakura.

"Away from you.." Syaoran yelled over his shoulder.

Sakura folded her arms in front of her and said "And he says I am childish"

………………….,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Meanwhile Shenji was with Tomoyo deep inside the temple.

"Ms. Tomoyo, can you hear my voice?" asked Shenji quietly.

"Yes.." replied Tomoyo softly.

"Okay, I am going take down the shields I placed around your mind now, after I do that tell me what emotions you feel, and tell me how strong they feel as well, alright?"

Tomoyo took a deep breath, bracing her self for the flood of emotion.

"Alright"

The first time she had a session with Shenji Li he had placed a shield up around her mind so her own emotions could have a chance to stabilize them selves. The day he came for a session she was so emotionally weak there was no way she would have been able to block out the other emotions by herself.

Slowly Shenji took the mind shields down and Tomoyo started to feel the people of the temples emotions.

"What do you feel Ms. Tomoyo?" Shenji asked.

"It is hard to tell…it's all a jumble of emotions, none of them are really strong, it is like a hum from to many voices talking at once, I can't focus on just one" said Tomoyo.

"That's alright, let's try and them block out. Take a deep slow breath, and close your eyes" said Shenji in a smooth hypnotizing voice.

Tomoyo did so.

"Now this is a tricky part, you need to use your own emotions as your shield, Place your emotion in front of the others" said Shenji.

"I don't know how" said Tomoyo.

"Maybe this will help you understand better" said Shenji as he placed the tip of his index finger on Tomoyo's forehead.

Then Tomoyo saw herself in her minds eyes, then she heard Shenji's voice saying..

"Use your essence as your shield, instead of you feeling the others emotions, you only feel your emotions"

Tomoyo concentrated on the image of her self and it slowly turned into a soft violet light that seemed to surround her. Then every so slowly the hum of emotions ceased and she was left with her own emotions once again.

"I did it.. I did it" Tomoyo exclaimed happily.

Shenji smiled at the young girls enthusiasm.

'Very well done Ms. Tomoyo, you are a very quick learner" said Shenji.

"Thank you so much Mr. Li" said Tomoyo gratefully.

Shenji laughed, "No need to go thanking me yet Ms. Tomoyo. This shield will only protect you against the hum of many weak emotions, strong emotions can still break through as easily as before, so we still have a lot of work to do. However we have a really good start"

"Then you still have my thanks" said Tomoyo with a huge smile on her face.

______________________________________

Syaoran walked over to one of the more quite parts of the temple, and sat down by a still pond.

"What is with you? Ever since we arrived you have been acting like a total snob" said the annoyed voice of Touya.

"No I haven't" said Syaoran.

"Yes you have, You don't think I don't notice how you have been acting? Well I have, you do know that Clow Reeds daughter is only trying to be friends with you don't you?" asked Touya thoroughly annoyed with the younger boy.

"Well yes, but she is so annoying"

Touya huffed.

"If you ask me you're the one who is being annoying" he said.

"Well, I didn't ask you did I?" snapped Syaoran.

Touya sighed.

"Really, what is the matter? I have never seen you like this" asked Touya with mild concern in his voice.

"Err… I would rather not talk about it, thanks" said Syaoran.

"Hmmm, so you are going to make me guess then…. Hmmm"

Syaoran rolled his eyes, even though Touya was is fathers apprentice he acted more like older brother to him, but there were times like this when he wished Touya would just mind his own business.

"You like her…..no..no your to young for that, umm I know… you are jealous of her aren't you? She is the daughter of the famous Clow Reed, and she is also twice as powerful as you are. Admit it you are jealous of her" said Touya triumphantly.

Syaoran blushed with emmarassment.

"N..no I'm not" he stammered.

Touya smirked.

"Yes you are and don't deny it, cause I know you are lying"

Syaoran just glared at Touya in reasponse as he continued to sit by the pond and mope.

"I thought so" said Touya as he stood up. As he walked away he sensed a spirit walking over to Syaoran. On a closer look the spirit was a harmless prankster.

It smirked and pointed at Syaoran, then it turned to Touya and made a pushing motion with its arms, then it pointed back at Syaoran again.

Touya bit his tongue to prevent a laugh and nodded his head.

A second later Syaoran found himself going face first into the small pond he had been sitting in front of.

"Hey!!…..What…d..Did you…do.. That for?" asked Syaoran as he sputtered up water.

By now Touya couldn't hold back his laughter, and suddenly burst out laughing.

The little spirit responsible for Syaoran's currant situation was laughing as well, and also pointing out the fact the Syaoran's ears were turning red, which only made Touya laugh harder.

"Why you!!." yelled Syaoran as got up and tackled Touya to the ground, making him wet and muddy as well.

_____________________________________

Shenji looked at his apprentice and son who stood in front of him in amusement. Both of them were rather wet, more so Syoaran, muddy and shivering since the sun was setting and a cool evening breeze had begun to blow.

"Do I want to know how this came about?" he asked.

Syaoran looked down at his shoes, while Touya let out another laugh.

"Hmm.. No I don't think I need to know, it seems you two have worked it out, head back to the Reed mansion and get into some dry cloths" said Shenji.

"Yes sir.." they both said and then took off into a run.

Shenji chuckled as whatched the two run off, those two were more like brothers then anything.

"Well they seem to get a long well" said Clow from behind him.

Shenji nodded.

"Yes Touya has been my apprentice every since Syaoran was just a baby, he has become a big brother to Syaoran ever since then. Since Syaoran's mother died 2 years ago they have become even closer" he said.

"Hmm I am sorry to hear your wife died" said Clow out of respect, even though he had never met the woman.

Shenji said nothing for a while, he kept his face hidden and his fists went tight.

Clow looked at his cousin in concern, maybe he had opened an already sore wound, then it seemed in a blink of an eye Shenji was back to normal again. However Clow knew better, he just pulled his mask over his emotions again, they were still there.

After a minute of senseless chatting, the two heard a screem.

Clows face went hard and he said "That is Sakura" then he quickly took off.

Shenji was quick on his heals, wondering what was wrong.

When they got to the court yard they saw a shocked Tomoyo looking at Sakura who had a flower pot stuck on her head.

Sakura was trying really hard to get the pot off her head, but because of her lack of sight, she became disoriented and kept on falling over.

Clow blinked, "Sakura? What happened?"

Sakura seemed to had heard him but the pot was right over her face which made and words she wanted to say muffled.

So Tomoyo answered for her.

"The flower pot started moving in its own we moved over to get a closer look at it when it fell right on top of Sakura's head"

Clow nodded his head, "I see…"

"Sakura? Did you feel any thing? A magical presence? another being?

Sakura nodded her head and said something like, " an you et is oof me?"

Once they finally got the pot off Sakura's head Sakura explained what she had felt.

"I just heard a laugh in my head, but I couldn't tell where it was coming form, when I felt it was behind me it pushed the pot in my head" said Sakura indignetly.

"Sounds like a nymph to me" said Shenji after listening to what Sakura said.

Clow nodded and sighed.

"What is a nymph?" asked Tomoyo.

"It is a mysterious spirit, likes to play tricks on people and have fun with them. They are mostly harmless and only do things to get a good laugh, but they can be extremely annoying sometimes" said Shenji as his eyes narrowed.

"Speaking from experience? Shenji?" asked Clow.

"Yes, for the longest time I couldn't figure out who kept dumping a bucket of water on my head every morning. Until Touya told me it was a little girl wear weird clothing and a funny hat who kept om doing it. Touya has the unique abiliy actually see spirits as easily as we see actual people."

Sakura blinked, "he can see the dead?" she asked.

Shenji chuckled, "Sometimes, and only when they want to be seen. However he can see magical spirits all the time, as easily as you see me right now

"Oh.." was all Sakura said, wishing she had the power to see magic spirits that easily.

………………………………..

It was later that night Sakura was in her room practicing her reading,her father had started teaching her how to read a year ago. At the moment she could only read small words but she was getting there.

Then she heard shuffles and whispering outside her room. After a moment it stopped and timmid knock sounded on her door.

Sakura curiously walked over to the door and asked "who is it?"

There was a moment of silent before a voice said, " It's me….. Syaoran"

Sakura open the door.

"What is it? Are you lost?" Sakura asked, quite confused as to why Syaoran Li was standing at her door.

"Well I… I came to apoligize for how I have been acting around you… so I'm sorry" he said awkwardly, not looking her in the eye and then he began to walk away.

Sakura blinked at she watched Syaoran quickly leave..

"Ooo kayy…." Sakura said unsure.

Touya watched from the other end of the hall, "He is hopless…."

Shenji lay in bed have a restless sleep, when he suddenly woke up.

"Get out of my head" he said breathlessly, "I need a walk"

Shenji walked up to the mountain behind the Clow mansion, thought about the person he felt enter his dreams earlier.

"A dream walker…. It had to be, but why would a dream walker even attempt to enter my head? Any experienced walker would know not to risk entering a defended mind. They could get them selves killed that way" he mumbled to himself or at least he thought he did.

"Excuse me"

Shenji twirled around and saw a women lying stiff as a bored on the leafy ground.

"What the….. Wait you are the dream walker who entered me head not long ago, aren't you?" he asked slightly annoyed.

The woman looked up at him, "how did you know?" she asked.

"It is the defensive spell, it makes the intuder freeze up just like you are. Who are and what were you doing in my head?" asked Shenhi as he waved his hand releasing the woman from his spell.

The women looked up at him, "I only wanted to give you a message I ment no harm, and as for who I am, I am afraid I can't tell you yet"

Shenji narrowed his eyes, " and why not?"

The woman seemed to tense up as she said, "If I do it will put you and everyone in that mansion in grave danger, that is what I wanted to tell you, a new power has broken free, strong spirits, much like the Clow cards. However they have no regard for human life, humans are play things to them. They will have fun at first not causing any harm, but when they become bored they will suck every bit of life energy out of anyone they can find. I wanted to warn you, not this way however. I must go now, tell Clow what I told you" she said a spun around and walked away.

"Wait, how does you not telling me who you are keep us from even more danger?"

The women stopped and a small smile appeared on her face. "I play crucial role in the up coming fight, to play that role my identify must be kept secret, have a good night"

With that said the woman seemed to fade into the night.

"I need to tell Clow about this"

………………………………........................

"\I don't know weather this woman should be trusted or not Clow, unlike most people I couldn't tell if she was lying or not since she is a dream walker her mind is extremely focused and guarded. However if what she says is true we should be on high alert." said Shenji.

Clow nodded and closed his eyes allowing his senses spread.

"Hmm that is unexpected.."

Miharu who was listening at the door rolled her eyes "Yeah right" said Miharu as she entered the room, "I know you better then that Clow and you know it. You know perfectly well who this mysterious dream walker women is, I see it in your eyes, you know everything"

'Not every thing Miharu….. No one knows everything, not even me" said Clow the ever present smile still on his face.

"But you know who that woman was don't you?" asked Shenji.

Miharu expecting Clow to just smile again got the shock of her life when Clow answered…

"Yes.. I know who she is"

"Who?" she and Shenji asked.

For a split second it seemed as if Clow was going to answer again. But…

"Hmm.. I better not say"

Both Shenji and Miharu rolled their eyes,

"I knew it was to good to be true" Miharu mumbled.

One week later,

Clow watched Sakura take sword fighting lessons with Shenji, Touya and Syaoran, of course Sakura wouldn't be doing any sparing with them yet, not until she learned all the basic moves, so she wouldn't get seriously hurt. However according to Shenji she was learning fast.

Clows mind drifted to the mountains, he could feel that presence again, This time he would confront her.

He walked through the woods the feeling getting stronger and stronger, until there she was standing on a small peer that over looked the entire Reed mansion.

"So you found me" said the woman.

"Yes, though I have a feeling I only found you because you let me" said Clow.

The Woman laughed and turned to him, "Right as always Clow, you haven't changed a bit"

Clow let of a small laugh " I can't say the same thing about you, at first I didn't think it could be you that I felt near by, but the night Sakura had that fever you were the one who helped her out of it, I felt your aura enter her elevating her own magical levels"

" Yes it was me, and I have been around a few times to help when ever I could"

Clow smiled again, he walked over to the woman and pulled the hood back that covered her face.

"Fortunately that part of you hasn't changed at all… Anna"

Alright done….. I am so sorry this took so long, I started University in October and I didn't any time to write anything, with homework and work as well. I am hoping to get another chapter up before Christmas or the new year.

Cheers and Merry Christmas

Kiaralight