Hello again, dear reader.

A/N: Liking the story so far? Well, that's good... Or bad, if you're not... Well, on with the story!

Forget what I said. Let's go to the disclaimer, then the story: Since I have to write this I'll just do it as simply as possible. I don't own CCS. So don't sue me. If you do you will be wrong. And I'll sue you for suing me!

Oh... and just in case you're wondering, and you should be cause I forgot to mention it, even though Sakura and her friends are two years older in my fic, Touya and Yukito are just as old as they were in the original CCS (That's 17), putting them on the second year of high school according to Japanese standards. So yeah, the age gap between Touya and Sakura is two years smaller here. As a matter of fact, all characters that don't have the same approximate age as Sakura has the same age here as in the original story, unless I say otherwise.

One more thing. In Japan, every young boy and girl has classes on Saturday. You might think that's obvious or not. Here in Brazil we don't, so I assume there might be people reading this who also think it is a strange thing to have classes on Saturday.

On with the story...

"Character talking"

ºCharacter thinkingº

(Me talking)

Card Captor Sakura

Chapter 3: Sakura and the Thunder

Part 1: Syaoran's Crush?

Friday, June 1st, Sakura's room.

"So cute!" Tomoyo squealed in delight. "Sakura-chan, you look so beautiful in this dress. You look great too Kero-chan."

Sakura looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was feeling extremely embarrassed and couldn't stop fidgeting inside the dress she wore. "Tomoyo-chan, why do I have to wear this?"

Tomoyo opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted by Kero, who had a blue cape tied around his neck and was making several poses in front of the mirror. "Because people like us have to wear clothes like these. Clow-san wore a magic cloak that made him look mysterious and powerful. You have to use something special too. Your image is a part of you Sakura."

Sakura didn't have time to protest cause Tomoyo had already interrupted her. The girl was staring at Sakura with a scary, determined look. "He's right, Sakura-chan. Yesterday, I told Li-kun I wanted to make him a cool looking suit, but he said he wouldn't wear it. You know why?" Sakura shook her head helplessly. "Because he already had one! You're the only heroine left for me to dress, don't disappoint me Sakura-chan." She said fiercely.

Sakura sweat dropped and sighed in defeat. "Ok, Tomoyo-chan, but I'm only doing this for you." Tomoyo immediately jumped to hug her best friend.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan. You won't regret it. I'll make the most beautiful clothes for you." She said, but as soon as she let go of Sakura, the 'heroine' was already trying to reach for the ribbons at her back.

"Why are these things so hard to put on and off?" She complained, contorting herself to reach the ribbons.

Tomoyo giggled. "Here, let me help you." And so, after untying lots and lots of ribbons, the girl was finally free of the dress.

Sakura was still putting back her normal set of clothes when her mother's voice came from downstairs. "Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan, dinner's ready."

"Coming!" Sakura shouted before opening the door to her bedroom and making room for Tomoyo to pass.

She followed after Tomoyo and closed the door, but not before hearing Kero's cry. "Bring me something from the dessert!" Sakura sighed. She had found out that, being a magical creature, Kero didn't really have to eat, but still, he seemed to have a craving for food that Sakura sometimes thought was bigger than Yukito's.

As they walked downstairs, Tomoyo jumped to another subject. "So, how did it go yesterday at Li-kun's house? This time there was no Storm or any card like that to stop you, right?" She asked.

Sakura hesitated a bit. "Well... He said he had something else to do and just went running down the street. I think it was something really important cause he seemed to be in a rush."

Tomoyo frowned. ºI knew it. Li-kun is definitely avoiding Sakura-chan.º

Ever since the Storm incident, Syaoran hadn't really talked much with any of them. Tomoyo was sure she even saw him climb up a tree to avoid them when she and Sakura went under it to have lunch at school. "But you're going to go there on next Tuesday, right?"

Sakura nodded. "I think so."

Syaoran waved his sword around the roof of his building. He had chosen that place as his training spot seeing as it was roomy and there were no taller buildings around so no one could see him doing magic. He suspected his mother had that in mind when she rented the apartment on the top floor that came with exclusive use of the roof.

Wei came out of the door that led to the apartment. "Syaoran-sama, dinner is ready."

Syaoran completed a sequence of sword waves and retrieved the sword to its talisman form.

"Thank you, Wei. I'll be down in a minute." He sat on a plastic chair and looked up at the sky. ºIt has been 3 days since we captured The Storm and I still can't act normally around her.º In the days that followed the Storm incident, Syaoran had in fact been avoiding Sakura. He felt extremely bad every time he talked to her now. He felt as if someone else was telling him to say the things he said and feel the way he felt. He actually had to run from Sakura to help himself from inviting her to study with him the last day. The less time he spoke with her or even looked at her the better for his own sanity. That's what he had concluded.

After a couple of minutes had gone by, Syaoran followed Wei inside the apartment.

"Syaoran-sama, your mother will be disappointed upon hearing that you have been putting so little effort in looking for the cards, don't you think?" Wei asked cautiously, sitting on the dinner table.

Syaoran sighed, sitting on the opposite side of the table. "I know, but what can I do? I don't have the gift of sensing magic. I can only feel magical auras that are close by, unless they're actually manifesting themselves intensively. So far, the Clow Cards don't seem to be acting much."

Wei started eating his ramen noodles. "What about the guardian, Kerberos? Can't he sense a dormant aura?" He asked.

Syaoran sighed again. "I think if he could do so, he and the Kinomoto girl would already have found more cards."

Wei looked through the window in deep thought. "And what about her?" He asked, more serious than usual.

Syaoran stopped eating and remained silent for a while. "Her magic skills are really something. The first time I sensed her aura was when she broke the seal. I was surprised with the amount of power she had. Then I saw her using the cards and her staff. Her magic is probably much stronger than mine. If she actually trained she would become a very powerful magician." He made a dramatic pause to consider his next words. "I think that, if trained, there's a big chance that she will be able to sense any kind of aura, anywhere."

Wei nodded. "See? There's still a chance."

And so they remained silent until the end of the meal, upon which Wei spoke again.

"You have to write a letter to your mother every week, don't you? I recommend you to begin working on it." He said. "At least, you'll have optimistic plans to tell her."

Syaoran got up and picked his now empty bowl. "You're right. I'm going to write it right now." After washing the bowl he left for his room.

He was feeling extremely satisfied after that conversation and, though he constantly denied it in his mind, he knew it was due to the fact that he would now have an obligation to see Sakura and train her, and mainly due to the fact that if he trained her safety would be his responsibility. He wouldn't have to trust anyone but himself to make sure that she would be able to defend herself.

He made sure to hide those thoughts from himself in the back on his mind, though.

The next day, Sakura and Tomoyo were walking by the Penguin Park on their way back from school.

Sakura was walking slowly and had her eyes half-closed. She was letting out a yawn every couple of minutes and that had been starting to bother Tomoyo. Worry rather.

As they passed by the park, Sakura remembered the capturing of The Storm and consequently of Syaoran. "Tomoyo-chan, do you have any idea why Li-kun skipped school today?" She asked sleepily.

Tomoyo shook her head. "I don't know, but for him to skip school on his first week it must've been something very important."

Sakura nodded in agreement and was about to say something but a sudden urge to yawn stopped her. "Yawn! I feel so tired. I could barely keep my eyes open on today's classes."

"Have you been getting enough sleep lately?" Tomoyo asked. Sakura seemed to have completely ignored the question. Her eyes were barely open now. Suddenly, her feet gave in. She would have fallen down if Tomoyo hadn't grabbed her.

"Sakura-chan! Are you ok?" She dragged Sakura to a bench.

Sakura shook her head hard trying to get her brain to work properly. "I... I don't know... I'm hungry."

Tomoyo took a rice ball out of her lunchbox, which she took out of her school bag. "Here. It's all I've got left from lunch."

Sakura took the rice ball and ate it very fast. Kero popped out of her backpack, but neither of the girls was surprised by his sudden appearance. He had gone to school with Sakura intending to talk with Syaoran, but in the end it had been a waste of time. "It's normal you feel tired because..."

"Her body is still getting used to using its magic." They all turned around only to see Syaoran standing there completing Kero's sentence much like the guardian had done with a few times in the past.

"Li-kun! How long have you been here?" Sakura asked, surprised.

"Just arrived." He answered, not looking at Sakura directly in the eye.

"Hey, brat! Don't you know it's rude to interrupt magical guardians while they're talking?" Kero glared at Syaoran and Syaoran glared back.

"And don't you know it's rude to call people 'brat'? Fur ball!" He said. Sakura and Tomoyo sweat dropped at their childish discussion.

"So, Li-kun..." Tomoyo said, trying to stop the glaring contest. "Where were you this morning?"

Syaoran turned his attention to Tomoyo and after taking a couple of seconds to think about his answer he said. "I had something important to do. Nothing that concerns you." He said.

Tomoyo didn't feel like he was going to tell them anything more than that, so she decided to change the subject. "Then what are you doing here now?" She asked.

This time Syaoran didn't hesitate to speak. "Actually, I was looking for the post office, but... well I had to talk to Kinomoto-san anyway, so I can just kill two birds with one stone."

"We'll show you where the post office is, we'll talk in the way." Sakura said, not as cheerfully as she normally would have. A lazy smile on her face. "Go back to the backpack Kero-chan. You follow me." She got up, picked her backpack with Kero in it and walked past Syaoran and Tomoyo.

"Thank you." Syaoran said quickly, but firmly. He'd been measuring every word he said before opening his mouth to talk to Sakura.

"So, Li-Kun, what did you want to talk about?" Tomoyo asked as they started walking behind Sakura.

Sakura slowed her pace so she would walk beside Syaoran and hear what he had to say. Syaoran acted as if Sakura wasn't present and just kept talking to Tomoyo. "Now that Kinomoto-san is going to start capturing cards I think she needs to know more about them and about magic in general." He said, still not looking at Sakura. "What I'm trying to say is that I want to train her so she can use her full power."

Sakura looked at him surprised. "You really want to train me?"

Syaoran sighed. He nearly turned his head to face the girl, but stopped at half the way, so it looked as if he was looking at something on the wall of the house they were passing by, which looked stupid since it was just a plain white wall. "Yeah. You have a lot of raw magic power, but right now, you don't really know how to use it." He said, not finding any way to make it look like he hadn't just purposely avoided looking at Sakura. He finally decided to look straight ahead again and hope she hadn't noticed.

Sakura smiled, she had noticed, but she didn't realize the meaning of Syaoran's strange head gesture. Her mind was too focused on his words to pay any attention to his actions, and his words really pleased her. She felt like squealing and jumping up and down because of the good news, but her body wasn't responding right. "I'd really like that." Was her only response.

Tomoyo stared at Syaoran, surprised and confused. She wasn't expecting for Syaoran to say anything like that, though it did look like he was being forced to say it. He wasn't even looking at Sakura and was being too straightforward about it. Her thoughts were interrupted when Kero popped out of Sakura's backpack.

Kero looked at Syaoran with a smirk on his face. "You read my mind there brat. I was going to talk to you exactly about that." He said.

Syaoran ignored him. He kept his eyes on the streets ahead of them and continued to talk. "Since we need a place where we can do magic without worrying about anyone seeing us we can go to my apartment. It's the on the top floor of the Shiratori building."

Sakura's eyes widened, which was a lot considering how heavy her eyelids felt. "Shiratori! That's the most expensive building in all Tomoeda! I didn't know your family had so much money." She said bluntly, but didn't get a response from Syaoran. The boy just kept walking as if she wasn't there, but Tomoyo could tell he was feeling nervous from the stiff way he was walking.

For the next couple of minutes not a single word was spoken.

After a while of walking quietly, Syaoran took an envelope from his pocket. He examined it, thinking if the letter to his family was well written. There were many things to tell and to ask his mother and he didn't want to miss anything. Tomoyo finally broke the silence when she saw the envelope in Syaoran's hands. "Are you sending a letter to your family?" She asked sweetly.

Syaoran snorted. Luckily, unlike with Sakura, he didn't have any difficulties in being cold with Tomoyo. "That's none of your business." He said, putting the letter back in his pocket to hide it from Tomoyo's curious eyes. The girl just frowned and looked the other way.

Another couple of minutes in an uncomfortable silence went by and they finally reached the post office.

"This way, Li-kun." Sakura said, walking to the small concrete ramp that led to the building's glass doors.

Syaoran followed her. "Thanks." He walked past her and entered the building leaving the two girls waiting outside.

Sakura peeked through the glass door while Syaoran waited in a short line. He was now looking at the letter again and frowning like someone that's trying to remember the answer to a history test. "Tomoyo-chan, do you think Li-kun misses his family?" She said, out of the blue.

Tomoyo was caught by surprise. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I was just wondering..." She looked at Syaoran with concerned eyes. "His family sent him alone to get the cards back. It must be hard to live so far away from your family. I'm sure I wouldn't like that."

Tomoyo smiled softly. "You are such a sweet person, Sakura-chan." She shifted her gaze to Syaoran too. "Actually... I think Li-kun misses his family a lot. Even though he tries not to show it." She examined Syaoran for a second. "I guess he's the kind of guy that cares a lot for the people around him but his own pride gets in his way and he ends up being rude to them." She said.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Hoe? You are so observant Tomoyo-chan." Tomoyo giggled.

After some more minutes Syaoran came out of the post office. His face was bright red and he was looking at the floor. "Li-kun, what's wrong?" Tomoyo asked.

She didn't need an answer. Behind the post office counter stood Yukito, waving at them. Beside him a very angered Touya stared at Syaoran. "Good morning, Sakura-chan, Tomoyo-chan. What a coincidence that we meet here isn't it?" Yukito said. Syaoran looked at him nervously. Sakura smiled, now blushing as much as Syaoran.

"Yukito-san, Oniichan! What are you doing here?" Sakura asked, surprised. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Just got out of there. We're working here now. Part-time Job." Touya said, not taking his eyes off Syaoran. "And what is 'he' doing with 'you'?" He asked, pointing at Syaoran. ºJust because he has to protect her it doesn't mean he has to drag her around everywhere he goes!º

Syaoran didn't even notice Touya. He couldn't take his eyes off Yukito. His legs were shaking and he could feel his face heat up. "We were just showing Li-kun the way to the post office, niichan!" Sakura said in Syaoran's defense.

Syaoran tried to say something in his defense too, but his mind was too focused on Yukito to make up an answer. "I... I, uh..." His voice was trembling.

Tomoyo was looking from Syaoran to Yukito repeatedly. At first with confused eyes and then, letting out a loud gasp, her face changed to an expression of pure shock, but that went by unnoticed by anyone there.

Syaoran suddenly broke his eye contact with Yukito and turned the other way. "I gotta go!" Was all he said before running away.

"Hoe?" Sakura looked at him, puzzled, as he ran down the street. "Li-kun! Where are you going?" She yelled in vain. Syaoran was either too far away to listen or was just ignoring her.

Tomoyo was still surprised. ºLi-kun likes Yukito-san? I never knew he'd be like that.º She thought as she watched the boy run. Half amused and half disappointed. ºBut that means he and Sakura-chan will be rivals in love now.º Sakura looked at Tomoyo confused and Tomoyo giggled seeing her friend's oblivious face. "Poor Li-kun. The world of love is something too confusing for him, I guess."

Sakura kept her puzzled look. "What do you mean, Tomoyo-chan?"

Suddenly, Tomoyo took Sakura's wrist in her hand and started pulling her away from the post office. "Sorry Yukito-san, Touya-san. Sakura-chan and I need to have a very important conversation right now." She said, smiling sweetly to the two young men.

Sakura let herself be dragged by Tomoyo, but not without protesting. "What do you mean, Tomoyo-chan?" Tomoyo ignored her and kept running. "Wait!" She was still being ignored. Realizing her efforts were useless, she waved to the boys as they got more distant. "Bye, Yukito-san! Bye, Oniichan!" She yelled and blushed when Yukito waved back. ºI must look so stupid!º

Touya and Yukito watched as Sakura was dragged out of their sight. "Why were you so angry at him?" Yukito asked. It was the first time they had seen Syaoran since they had talked about that and Yukito didn't expect Touya to be so mad just from seeing him.

Veins began popping out of Touya's head. "Nothing!" He said. Yukito chuckled, making Touya even angrier. "Stop that!"

"But Touya, this Li-kun never did anything to you." Touya closed his hand real tight to hold his anger. "I think you're just jealous."

Touya ignored what Yukito had said about jealousy. "He hasn't done anything yet. But he will." Yukito looked puzzled.

After seeing that Touya really meant what he said, he sighed in defeat. "Well, if that's what you think..."

They spent 5 uncomfortable minutes in silence until another customer entered the post office making them forget the subject.

Sakura and Tomoyo were already back at the Penguin Park when Tomoyo finally let go of Sakura's hand.

Sakura rubbed her wrist that now had a red hand mark forming around it. "What was that all about, Tomoyo-chan?" She asked, annoyed. The whole episode with Yukito had apparently driven all the drowsiness out of her.

"Sakura-chan, didn't you notice?" Tomoyo asked anxiously. She knew Sakura could be quite oblivious when it came to noticing people's feelings sometimes.

"Notice what?" Sakura asked, blinking confused.

Tomoyo waited a few seconds, flavoring the information she was about to let out before it left her mouth. "I think you're not the only person who likes Yukito-san!" The confusion on Sakura's face remained unchanged.

"Hoe?" She looked at Tomoyo incredulously. "But... who..."

"I'm pretty sure Li-kun likes Yukito-san in the same way that you do." Sakura jumped back as if the information had literally hit her.

"What?! You're joking right?" She said, laughing nervously. Tomoyo's firm face told her it was no joke. "That's... I didn't know he..." She looked at Tomoyo again to see if she was still not laughing. "He really... Not that there's anything wrong with it but... I just didn't imagine that... Are you sure about that?"

Tomoyo shook her head. "Not absolutely sure but... When we were at the post office Li-kun couldn't keep his eyes off of him. He was so nervous. He was blushing and walking in a very weird way. And he got all mixed up with the words. Not to mention that he didn't even react to Touya-kun insulting him." Sakura watched astonished as Tomoyo counted Syaoran's weird behaviors on her fingers. "Excluding the part about not getting mad at Touya that's pretty much the way you act around Yukito-san." She said to close her argumentation. Sakura thought for a while about her words and, realizing they were true, she fell on her knees.

"You're right." She said, gloomy. "That's so awkward."

Tomoyo smiled, helping Sakura get back on her feet. "Don't worry, Sakura-chan. I'm sure you won't loose to him. You're years ahead of him when it comes to knowing Yukito-san." Sakura sweat dropped.

"Yukito-san's not a prize Tomoyo-chan." She said frowning.

Tomoyo nodded in agreement. ºBut still... I wouldn't want to see you with a broken heart Sakura-chan.º "You should talk to Li-kun about it. I think it would be good for both of you."

Sakura nodded. "You're right! I can't let that become a problem." She said with determination.

"That's the spirit! Maybe you can even visit him later today. He did say he wanted to train you at his place right?" Sakura hesitated a bit at that.

"I... Don't you think that's kind of rude, Tomoyo-chan?" She asked.

Tomoyo shook her head. "He said he wanted to train you. I can't think of a better time to go there but today." She said.

Sakura nodded slowly. "If you say so... I guess we can go today."

Tomoyo shook her head. "Not we. I thought he invited just you." Sakura facefaulted.

She looked at Tomoyo pleadingly. "But Tomoyo-chan, I can't face him on my own after hearing this."

Tomoyo thought for a while. "Ok, I'll go with you just this time." Sakura jumped with glee and hugged her friend.

"Thank you, Tomoyo-chan." Tomoyo hugged her back.

They let go of each other. "You're welcome, but it's just this time ok? I don't think Li-kun would want too many guests in his house." She said.

Sakura nodded. "Ok." She took her backpack from her back and opened it. "Kero-chan, will you come with me too?"

Kero flew out of the bag. "Of course! I'm helping with your training too. It's my responsibility that you are fit to get all the cards back after all!" He said stuffing his chest and pointing at himself.

Sakura hugged Kero tightly, making all the air escape from his bloated lungs. "Thank you!"

Kero's face began turning purple. "Sa... Sakura. Can't breathe."

Sakura released him in an instant. "I'm sorry, Kero-chan. Are you Ok?" Kero coughed, trying to breathe again while Sakura tried to help him by giving soft pats on his back. Tomoyo giggled amused with the scene before her.

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A/N: It's over! Now, just wait one more week and I might just post another chapter. In the meantime you can entertain yourself with one of the following hip and/or cool suggestions:

-Review my story.

-Play a game of chess and review my story.

-Dance, sing and/or write a song after playing chess and reviewing my story.