Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.
Title: Karma
Teaser: Li Syaoran knows that, somehow, somewhere, he must have done something very good in a past life.
Rating: K
Length: 507 words
People like Kinomoto Sakura didn't happen to people like him.
She was so kind to everyone, even her enemies. Of these there were few, for it took a specific type of individual, one whose heart had been sealed off from the world outside, to be able to feel enmity toward she who loved everyone and everything so freely.
He had once been among her enemies.
It hadn't lasted long, true. After spending so much time in her company, all those years ago, her warmth had begun to turn his winter into spring. Looking back on it now, he felt nothing but pity for the poor boy who had been so lost in the world. The Li Clan Elders had worked hard to mold the young heir into their own vision, and in doing so they had attempted – and nearly succeeded – to take his childhood away from him.
Sakura had changed all that. She had showed him out to laugh, to live...
To love.
When he first realized he'd fallen in love with the young Cardcaptor, he hadn't been able to believe it. Hadn't wanted to believe it. He denied the truth to himself for so long that, when it finally hit him, it was like being hit in the chest. With a train.
He would lie awake at nights cursing himself for his weakness. No matter how hard he tried, however, he could never bring himself to curse her, not even when she smiled that dazzling, innocent smile and the blood rushed to his face and he fled the scene like a coward.
He had also despaired. Always so close, she was, and yet always so far away. After all, people like Kinomoto Sakura – sweet, kind, beautiful – didn't fall in love with people like him – with cold, callous people like him, especially not when she had people like Tsukishiro Yukito idolized in her heart. There simply wasn't enough room in one person's heart to hold so much love.
So close, and yet so far.
The change happened so slowly that at first he didn't notice it. When he did, he was even more confounded than he had been at the realization of his feelings. Somehow, that pretty, amazing little girl had melted the ice around his heart, had stripped him of his fear so easily that she wasn't even aware that she had done it. He stopped cursing his fate and learned to bask in her presence, feeling as if his soul had grown wings every time she was near.
He had agonized about whether or not he should tell her, had stared up at the skies and begged the moon and stars to show him the answer. Perhaps they had, because, when the time finally came, his fear and panic were gone, leaving behind only calm determination.
"I love you."
People like Kinomoto Sakura didn't happen to people like him.
"You're my number one."
So, Syaoran figures, somehow, somewhere, he must have done something very good in a past life.
"That's all I wanted to say."