We meet again.

A/N: Thanks for all your lovely reviewing. And for you who read the past chapters and hasn't reviewed yet, you should be ashamed of yourself. Yeah, I'm talking to you! Don't act as if you don't know what I'm talking about. So be a good boy and review, or else Santa might forget your address on the next Christmas.

Oh, and Michi-Miki, thanks for understanding my request. Can't say the same about some others though. ¬ ¬

Stupid Disclaimer: What is Card Captor Sakura? Do I own Card Captor Sakura? And what about you?

The plot thickens: (I'll be writing one of these in every chapter from now on cause the plot is in fact thickening and as the story grows a reminder of what has happened so far becomes important.) All the life on the planet is based on a magical energy called 'Mana'. The Sun and the Moon provide this mana to every corner of the planet. Those who learned to maipulate the mana are the said magicians. A long time ago, Clow Reed mastered the use of both Sun and Moon mana and created his masterpiece in the use of these types of magic, the Clow Cards. Half of them used the mana from the sun and half from the Moon. Now, after accidentaly setting those cards on the loose, Kinomoto Sakura must help Li Syaoran, a descendant of Clow, and Kerberos, the guardian of the cards, to capture the cards which, not having Clow to provide them mana anymore, are going on a rampage after the magical energy they need to live.

It's never too much:

"Character talking"

ºCharacter thinkingº

(Me talking)

Now, let's begin!

Card Captor Sakura

Chapter 4: Sakura, the Sword and the Shield

Part 1: "It's not a Crush!" Or "It's not his Aura!" Or "They're not your Cards!"

June 4th, Monday morning.

Sakura ran down the stairs.

"Morning!" She said cheerfully to her family.

"Good morning." They greeted back. Nadeshiko and Fujitaka were preparing breakfast and Touya sitting on a chair beside the table, reading the newspaper.

Touya gave a mischievous look to Sakura when she put her backpack down on a corner. "What happened? I've never seen the monster get up this early." He said smirking.

Sakura tried to stomp his foot but he was prepared already and all she managed to hit was the floor. "I'm not a monster oniichan!" She said glaring at him.

Touya laughed. "Is that so? Then how come you've slept for fifteen hours straight yesterday?" He said. "You must be a bear then, to be hibernating like that."

Sakura blushed. ºThat's because I'm still getting used to magic!º She screamed in her head, and even though she wanted to rub that on her brothers face, she knew it wouldn't be very smart. "That's..." She paused trying to think of a good excuse. Her efforts were useless though, cause before she could say anything Fujitaka was already speaking.

"That's not important right now." He said while peacefully chopping some vegetables. "Come here Sakura-chan. I've got it all prepared for you." He said. Sakura cheerfully skipped her way to her father's side.

Touya raised an eyebrow. "Prepared for what?"

"Sakura-chan is making lunch for her friend." Nadeshiko said as Sakura started the fire on the stove and, instructed by Fujitaka, prepared a dish.

"Friend? You mean Tomoyo?" Touya asked.

"No, not her." Nadeshiko answered in a tone that said 'don't be ridiculous'.

Touya went back to reading his paper and only when an unpleasant thought came in his head he decided to question them further on the subject. He raised his eyes from the news again. "Who exactly is this friend?" He asked cautiously.

Sakura sighed. She knew exactly what Touya's reaction to her next words would be. "Li-kun." She said not daring to face her brother.

Touya felt a little vein popping out of his head.

In Japan, it is a known tradition for a girl to share her homemade lunch with a boy in school. With her boyfriend to be more precise.

Needless to say that Sakura had to start her dish all over again after Touya's outburst. This, of course, caused her to be late for school again.

A bell ringed announcing lunch time on Tomoeda Elementary. The cafeteria doors were open and soon, dozens of hungry students would be filling the long tables. Still, there were many students who opted for a homemade lunch that they could eat on open air. In Sakura's class, particularly, most of the children did that. The school campus was a much nicer place to have lunch than the cafeteria, especially on spring and summer.

Along with many other students, Syaoran walked out of his classroom. He was ready to go to his usual spot on top of a cherry tree where he could eat alone, even though he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to eat there that day. He was actually pretty sure his only choice would be the cafeteria.

As he expected, he couldn't make it all the way to the cherry tree without being disturbed. In fact, he couldn't even make it out of the classroom.

"What is it?" He said facing Sakura with an impatient frown. Sakura had a warm smile on. Little did he know that he was the direct cause of the smile. After capturing The Thunder card, he and Sakura hadn't had the chance to talk again, and Sakura was still unsure if he was going to keep ignoring her like he'd been doing for a while. By lunchtime she thought he really was still doing that, he hadn't even greeted her when she walked in the classroom fifteen minutes late. But when she told him to wait for her, he turned around and looked at her directly in the eye again.

Sakura showed him the lunch box on her hand with a certain pride. "I said I'd make you lunch today remember? Didn't you read the note?" She asked.

Syaoran nodded, still holding a stern face. "I did. I appreciate it." He said, not really showing any signs of appreciation. He felt stupid. He had felt stupid that morning when he decided not to bring his own lunch, like Sakura had asked him. He had felt more stupid when he realized the girl had probably forgotten about it by now and he wasn't going to have any lunch at all. When Sakura finally confirmed that she had kept her word and he had spent his morning worrying over something stupid he felt even more stupid than before.

He imagined he was looking very stupid at the moment.

Sakura failed to see that Syaoran was mentally kicking himself. She put her free hand around his wrist and, before he could understand why she had done that, she pulled him out of the classroom and through the hallway. "Come on, you should have lunch with everybody for a change." She said, not paying attention to Syaoran's protests as she pulled him out of the classroom. "You always eat alone."

They were halfway through the hallway when Syaoran decided he could walk on his own and pulled his arm free from Sakura's grasp.

When Sakura felt his wrist slip away from her hand she thought that the boy had tripped on something and fallen on the floor. When she turned around to see if he had hurt himself she met the same impatient frown Syaoran had given her when she first approached him. Suddenly, it didn't feel so good being able to look at him in the eye again.

"Listen..." He said. "I said I appreciate what you did, but..." He made a short pause to consider very well his next words. They were words that he had been considering all through Sunday night and that morning.

ººººFLASHBACKºººº

Syaoran sat in the middle of a magic circle he had drawn on his roof with chalk. He had spent the whole Sunday afternoon there, looking for a particular magical aura.

He let out a loud sigh and lied down on the concrete floor, exhausted. "It's no use. I can't feel a single magical aura around here. The man who phoned me last night... If he was doing anything magical I'm sure his aura would show." He said to himself between heavy panting.

Last night a mysterious phone call had told him exactly where to find the Thunder card. Not only that, but when he asked who was he speaking to, the only response he got was a short glimpse of a powerful aura coming from the direction of the Penguin Park. What had intrigued him the most was that the powerful aura was remarkably similar to Sakura's aura.

Syaoran finally gave up his searching for that day and erased the chalk marks on the floor with his feet. Inevitably, his mind wandered back to the same subject that haunted him all the time.

ºThere's something going on with that girl.º He had gone over the possibility that the reason he felt weird around Sakura was because she was actually experienced with her magical powers and had put a spell on him. That theory didn't last much though. Still, he was almost sure by now that there was something about that whole situation that went beyond her aura messing up his thoughts or, like Mei Ling used to say, him being completely hopeless when dealing with other people. Therefore his final conclusion was that he should avoid Sakura for the meantime. This time, however, instead of just ignoring her, he would make his intentions clear.

ººººEND OF FLASHBACKºººº

"I said I appreciate what you did, but I..." He hesitated. He didn't even notice as that weird feeling he usually felt around her, which made him say the stupidest things, started taking over again. All he knew was that saying what he was about to say meant he would have to keep his distance from Sakura and that thought for some reason displeased him a lot.

Even though he had told himself this would happen, just like the time Terada approached them about Sakura tutoring him, he felt completely helpless against it now.

Sakura looked at him confused. "But you what?" She asked. Syaoran was staring at her. His lips were trembling and he was frowning hard. He looked like someone who was being tickled by a thousand feathers but was not allowed to laugh. Laughing, however, was the last thing going through his mind right now.

By now, Syaoran was almost completely taken over by the feeling and there was only a small part in his mind that told him to ignore it. Still, he felt as if that was the only sane part he had left and, between shut teeth, he forced the words out of his mouth. "I really appreciate what you did, but you have to understand that I have no intentions of making any friends here." He said.

"What?" Sakura was confused by the sudden change of subject Syaoran had chosen.

"I know you think this is all very fun but it's not like that!" He said taking care not to raise his voice. The last thing he wanted was everybody looking at them. Sakura looked very surprised already. "I came here just because it's my obligation as the future leader of the Li family. The only reason I am even letting you assist me is because you might help me get the cards back faster." He said. In his mind he could hear that insane part telling him there were other reasons, but he was ignoring that part of his mind right now. "But, up to now, all you've accomplished was to nearly get yourself killed, so it's safe for me to assume that you're only slowing me down." He said somewhat regretting every word.

Sakura wasn't sure what had caused Syaoran's sudden change of mind, so she didn't know what she was supposed to say. She opened her mouth to see if something would come out but it was to no avail.

Syaoran finally broke the silence. "I won't stop you from getting the cards on your own if you still feel like it's your responsibility." He said turning away. "But when I finish getting them I'll take them all back to China."

Sakura nodded slowly. She didn't see any choice but to agree with him. When Syaoran started walking away without taking any food with him she felt a hint of guilt run through her.

For some reason, while Syaoran spoke to her just then, she felt childish, just like a kid feels when she finds out that Santa isn't real.

She imagined she was looking very stupid at the moment.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong.

Yelan was playing a relaxing tune on a piano with her four daughters by her side, listening closely to each note that she played. The melody seemed to bring the four girls to the verge of tears.

"Mother, you're the best piano player ever." Feimei said when Yelan hit the last note.

Yelan smiled. "Don't be silly." She said. "I still have much to learn." She stood up from the little stool she was seating on and walked to a glass sliding door that led to a balcony. She looked at the horizon with a distant face. "I wonder how Xiao Lang is doing."

An old man who held a great resemblance to Wei entered the room. "I'm sorry to disturb you Li-sama, but a letter has just arrived from the young master." He had an envelope in his hands.

The four sisters immediately ran to the man's side and stared at the envelope, not daring to touch it before their mother. "A letter from Xiao Lang?" Fanren asked with glee.

Shiefa hugged Fanren in excitement. "I can't believe he sent a letter to us like he promised. I'm so curious!"

Yelan walked to them slowly. "Even though you're much older than your brother, you act as if you were years younger." She said giggling at her daughters's behavior.

"Let's read it mother!" Fuutie said, holding her hands back in a desperate desire to take the piece of paper from the man's hands.

Yelan finally took the envelope in her own hands and opened it. "Thank you, Fei." She said to the man. Fei bowed before leaving the room.

Yelan took the letter out of the envelope. "Let's see what he has to say." She unfolded the piece of paper and read it out loud. The four girls paying as much attention as one can pay.

'Dear mother and sisters.

I have successfully located the book. It was the book in the Kinomoto residence as we expected. Unfortunately, before I could even enter the house to take it, the girl, Kinomoto Sakura, accidentally broke the seal. Not only that, but, after opening the book, she used the Windy card (accidentally again) and the cards went flying through her roof. Now they are scattered around here and I have to look for them. When the seal was broken, Kerberos appeared too. (He is much less impressive than I had expected though.) Currently, he, I and the girl, who is still learning to use her magic, are looking for the cards. We haven't gotten many, but I expect them to be easier to catch as time goes by. The lack of a source of mana will not only make them more aggressive but it will also make them weaker. Right now all we can do is wait for them to show themselves and hope that they haven't gone too far. Still, I ask of you not to send any help, this is my trial and I want to deserve the approval.

Love, Xiao Lang'

The Li sisters all sighed when Yelan read the last words. "Wow! They must be having a lot of trouble down there." Fuutie said.

The sisters nodded in agreement. "Do you think we should really let him do this by himself? This is serious business." She wondered. "Not that I don't trust Syaoran, but, is his trial more important than getting the Clow cards back safely?"

Yelan meditated on the answer to that question.

She finally came to a conclusion. "We won't interfere." She stated firmly. The sisters looked at her surprised. "Even at such a young age Syaoran is much more powerful than any of you, and I believe that it won't take long for him to be even more powerful than myself." She continued. "As a matter of fact, I think that going after the cards will prove to be a spectacular training for him."

The sisters all brightened up at that thought. "You're right!" Feimei said. "Imagine that, when he finally gets all the cards back, he'll be the best magician ever. It's a training that you can't get anywhere else."

Yelan nodded. "It's like having Clow himself train you personally."

Back in Tomoeda.

Syaoran walked out of the school gates alone. He wasn't even looking exactly where he was going, he just wanted to walk a bit. He would be back before lunchtime was over.

From the moment he had talked to Sakura, he had been trying to figure out why he felt so divided. He actually felt like one half of his mind was scolding him for his actions and the other half was congratulating him for them. And deep inside, he didn't feel satisfied with any of those halves.

His thoughts were interrupted, before he could even get two steps away from the gates, when he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Syaoran-kun." Syaoran jumped in surprise, it almost felt like his thoughts were being invaded and he had to hide them quickly. He turned around to see Takashi with his friendly face. "Where are you going?"

"What do you want, Yamazaki-san?" He asked frowning.

Takashi had been the one to approach Syaoran about the soccer team, and so far, was pretty much the only one who didn't hesitate when talking to him. Syaoran wasn't sure why the boy had been so friendly with him, but he didn't care much. He had actually had a couple of pleasant conversations with the boy.

"Stop calling me Yamazaki-san. I feel like some sort of old geezer. You can call me by my name, you know?" He said annoyed. "Anyway, I wanted to ask you if you heard about what's been happening lately here in Tomoeda."

"What do you mean?" Syaoran asked puzzled.

"It's just that lately, people have been talking about a lot of weird things. Some people say that they saw a giant bird flying around the city." Syaoran's eyes widened. "A few days ago, a mysterious cloud appeared on the Penguin Park and vanished as quickly as it had appeared." His eyes widened even more. "And just this Saturday, some mysterious flashes of light could be seen on Penguin Park too." Syaoran felt his palms start to sweat. "Don't you think it's too much of a coincidence that all of these rumors took place in the same week? I mean, there are a lot of eye witnesses."

Syaoran was paralyzed. "S-sure, it's very weird. Maybe there's a... a prankster around. Spreading rumors... yeah..."

Takashi eyed him suspiciously. "But what intrigued me the most..." He said raising an eyebrow for effect. "Was the fact that it all began on the same day you arrived here in Tomoeda." Syaoran cursed himself under his breath. He'd been caught.

"That's another big coincidence, isn't it?" He said rubbing the back of his head, feeling Takashi's gaze searching him for any hint on the mystery.

Takashi suddenly started laughed loudly. "I know. Maybe you're cursed or something." He said between laughs, patting Syaoran on the back.

Syaoran laughed a meek laugh. "Yeah... Maybe I am." He said before sighing in relief.

The conversation was interrupted when Chiharu popped out of nowhere taking Takashi's ear and pulling him away from Syaoran. "Are you done telling lies?!" She scolded the boy. She turned to face Syaoran. "Don't mind him, Li-kun. He's always making up crazy stories. With all these crazy rumors around he is overwhelmed." She said. "I'm swear I'm gonna find out who's the clown who's been spreading these absurd stories around."

Syaoran nodded slowly. "It's okay."

Takashi seemed to be ignoring Chiharu as she pulled him back inside the school gates. He just kept on talking, with a smile on his face. "There has also been a rumor of a mysterious girl who attacked her own sister. They say she was using a sword and a shield, but the weapons were never found. The girl said she couldn't remember a thing after the incident but I think..." He couldn't be heard anymore because Chiharu had taken him inside the school building.

Syaoran sighed in relief. ºHe almost found out.º He thought. ºHow can I keep this a secret like that?º

Suddenly, what Takashi had just said arose some interest in his head. "Wait a second... A mysterious girl with a sword and a shield? Could it be?" He returned to the school building with the subject on his mind.

Later, during Sakura's cheerleading practice.

Sakura casually spun her baton around, but that was only on the background of her mind. She was thinking about the words Syaoran had told her a few hours ago.

ºWas it because of what happened with The Thunder?º She thought. Her mind wandered back to the moment the boy saved her. At that day, she had felt Syaoran's aura just the way it was on her dream, twice. First when they flew on her staff, and then when he saved her. But not on the moment he saved her, only when the card was finally caught and everyone was out of danger did she get a glimpse of it, before he fell unconscious. All the other time his aura felt different. Somehow she knew it was a gentle aura, but there was something wrong with it.

ººººFLASHBACKºººº

"Li-kun!" Sakura shook the boy's body desperately.

"Don't worry, Sakura, he's only fainted. He used up too much energy to fight the card." Kero said with a half smile on his face. "Like we said before: Magical energy, also known as mana, is the very essence of life. If you use it carelessly you might have serious problems." He continued. "What happened here is just a small example of that. He attacked the card directly with his own mana so his body forced him to rest so he could reestablish the lost energy."

Sakura felt relieved to hear that. "So, it's like when you do a lot of sports and then you take a nap to rest?" She said to make sure she knew it was something harmless.

Kero nodded. "It's exactly the same thing. There isn't much difference between the energy you spend on sports and the mana you spend on a spell." He said. "Basically, mana is the fuel for the soul and physical energy is the fuel for the body."

Sakura nodded. She sat down on the grass and relaxed her muscles. The whole conversation was helping her body return to its normal pace. "So, when I feel a big aura, it means that the person has a lot of mana?"

"Right. Just like when you see a big guy and you know that he's strong." He said. "But like we said before, it's not that easy to see someone's aura. Usually you can only feel it when the person's actually using her mana for something."

Sakura looked at the stars. "Kero-chan, when I told Tomoyo that I thought there was something weird with Li-kun's aura you were going to say something..."

"Oh yeah." Kero smacked himself in the head for forgetting that. "You said that you felt his aura differently in your dream. How different was it?" He asked.

Sakura didn't need to think half a second to answer that question. "Completely different."

Kero folded his arms and put himself to think. "About that..." He said seriously. "Though the mana is constantly flowing in and out of our spiritual bodies, our aura doesn't suffer much change. The aura itself is the manifestation of our soul in this world, so it can't change much more than the body can change." He proceeded. "Even if a person's aura had gotten stronger through the years, it should still be recognizable, unless the person had intentionally modified his aura somehow, but that takes some serious magic. It's much more complicated than these plastic surgeries you people do nowadays.

"Well..." Sakura looked at Syaoran's prone body. "There were times when I felt his aura just like I did in my dream."

Kero looked at Syaoran too. "Listen Sakura, you shouldn't worry about that know." He said, studying the boy's features. "Right now our priorities should be getting the cards back and..." He slapped his mouth with his paw to stop himself from continuing. ºI nearly told her.º

Sakura eyed him with curiosity. "And what?"

"Sakura-chan!"

Kero sighed in relief when Tomoyo showed up running towards them and distracted Sakura, but the girl was left with that slip he gave on her mind. ºI can't tell her that. At least not for now.º

ººººEND OF FLASHBACKºººº

"Ouch!"

Sakura woke up from her daydream with her own baton hitting her, right in the middle of the forehead.

"Sakura-chan!" Chiharu ran to the girl's side. "Are you OK?"

Sakura nodded, rubbing the lump on her head. "I think so. I just got a little distracted."

Chiharu giggled. "Typical." She said. "You would be the best cheerleader among us if only you could wave your baton around for five minutes without 'getting a little distracted.'" She said.

The cheerleading team joyfully laughed, much to Sakura's embarrassment. "I'm sorry." She said as her face reddened.

Chiharu patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry about that." She said. "Just go put some ice on that lump, it's getting really big."

Syaoran's house, approximately 6:00 pm.

Syaoran entered his room exhausted. He had just gone through a particularly rough training session. Though there had been nothing special about his training routine, he had deliberately dedicated himself more that day, in a hope to get all the thoughts out of his mind. Unfortunately, he had found out it was useless to even try that.

He couldn't help but wanting to take back all the words he'd said to Sakura, but he also couldn't help but feeling like an idiot for wanting to take them back.

He had gone over the possibility of talking to someone about it, but he knew no one would believe him. They would all say the same thing. They'd say he has a crush on her. That he likes her and that he can't admit it to himself because he never liked a girl in that way before.

He himself had thought that such a crazy theory might be possible when it all started. He recognized that she was somewhat cute and her naiveness was amusing sometimes, but even though he didn't know what it feels like to have a crush, he was absolutely sure it wasn't like that. Plus, he had known her for only a week. He could barely say he knew her actually. There was something more to all that. Something he couldn't get a grasp on.

"Hey!" Syaoran's heart nearly popped out of his mouth when he looked at his balcony. There was Kero, waving his paw, with a serious face that Syaoran had never seen him use. If it weren't for his small, furry body, he would even look respectful with that face. "Open this door, we have to talk." The guardian said knocking on the glass door impatiently.

"What do you want?" Syaoran said sliding the door just enough so that Kero could come in.

Kero flew into the room and landed on the boy's cupboard. "Listen well to what I am about to say." Kero started, skipping any greetings that might have been appropriate. "I'm sorry if you've come here to Japan with the intentions of taking the Clow cards back to the Li family, but that won't happen." He said.

Syaoran frowned at the statement. Sakura had probably told Kero about their conversation at school. "What do you mean? I have to take them back. The Li's are the only descendants of Clow today and the rightful owners of the cards!" He said, repeating what he'd heard many times during his training back in Hong Kong.

Kero shook his head. "You see, the cards are not an heirloom. Once they're all caught, their only owner is going to be Sakura."

TO BE CONTINUED...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: What?! Sakura? Yeah, right, like you didn't see that coming.

Anyway... you know what I'm going to say so I won't even bother. Go ahead and do your part.

Falou! (More Brazilian greetings for beginners, today's lesson: "Goodbyes")