Disclaimer: I do not own Card Captor Sakura or any of the charaters assosciated with it. I am simply playing and making havoc in their otherwise – whatever lives they lead – lives.

Synopsis: Set after the second movie, when Sakura is twelve years old. Sakura and Syaoran are almost together after before a certain magical tragedy occurs – again. Unfortunately for the little couple, this is all Sakura's doing, and she doesn't know what she did. Worse yet, she thinks Syaoran is the problem here. This leads to an enstranged relationship, where the couple are apart for three years. It'll be a rocky road to understanding each other again, and setting all the wrongs right.

Ignorance, Salvation, Redemption, Love

by lianneharmony

Chapter 3

But I'm in so deep,
you know I'm such a fool for you,
you got me wrapped around your finger
do you have to let it linger?
do you have to –
do you have to –
do you have to let it linger?

Oh, I thought the world of you
I thought nothing could go wrong
but I was wrong
I was wrong.
------- Linger (The Cranberries)

It is acknowledged that what you view can change your view of life. Simultaneously, what you have witnessed can change and shape your future. In other words, your past and present shapes your future.

Simple, is it not? Still, that's not what Syaoran Li was thinking at the moment.

He had left Tomoeda after the little – okay, maybe not so little – argument he had with Sakura. Now, back in Hong Kong, he still wished he was in Tomoeda.

And the reason was simple.

Because she's there.

He hadn't seen her for over three years. And tomorrow was going to be her birthday. April 1st, how could he ever forget it?

He looked at a picture of her back then. She was so carefree, so happy, so beautiful.

How did she turn out?

He wished she'd allow him to talk to her again. He sent her so many letters about the whole thing. But after that blowup –

It was so freaking stupid. All because of stupid – well, not so stupid – gift. How annoying. And for that, she had shut him out of his life. He was just reminiscing over those sweet days when they were together.

He knew it was too corny, but still, nothing affects you most like your first true love, does it?

He sighed. He was confused, why didn't he care for other girls? He meant that, well, he was soon-to-be-sixteen with all the male hormones, all the androgens, especially testosterone supposedly kicking in, and there wasn't a girl in Hong Kong who he could actually build a relationship with. Well, none that he was actually interested in, at least.

Because they weren't her.

Another sigh. And then –

"Ahhhhhhh! Xiao-Lang, what's up?"

"Why so depressed, younger brother?"

"I think we know why –"

"And it's all because –"

"Of her!" All four sisters of Syaoran's sisters – Shiefa, Fan-Ren, Fei-Mei, Fuu-Tie – chorused.

Siblings. The old adage says Women. You can't live with them, and you can't live without them. The same goes for siblings.

"Awww, our little brother is lovestruck!"

"No way!"

"I don't think I would have known!"

"We must do something to help him!"

"What was the name of his old friend?"

"Which old friend?"

"You mean that girl who came to Hong Kong with her friend and those two irresistable hotties?"

"I know her! She was so cute in that samfoo! Wasn't her name something like Saki, Saku –"

"It was Sakura," Syaoran muttered.

"Sakura!" his sisters chorused.

"Well, you know what? We know you love this Sakura girl, so we asked mom –"

"To invite Sakura to Hong Kong –"

"With the brother and the other guy of course." Snickers and giggles from the four elder girls. Syaoran sighed. Firstly, because of the brother, secondly, because –

"It's never going to work."

They stared at their little brother.

"Hey, Xiao-Lang, when did you start getting so pessimistic."

"It's bad for health."

"You should stop being so sad too."

"Xiao-Lang –"

"Can't you see? I used to write all the letters to her. She never replied a single letter! What does that say? After all that, do you think that'd actually work?" Syaoran growled at his sisters.

They blinked at him. Which was pretty eerie, since they did it at the same time, all the time whilst staring at Syaoran.

"Okay, you can stop staring now."

"You sent her letters?"

"All these years?"

"So that was what he was doing all those times when I barged into his room – so romantic!"

"But why wouldn't she reply?"

This question was directed to Syaoran. He shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe she's still angry with me."

"I can't believe he fell for that trick," Shiefa told Fei-Mei aside.

"Why don't you try again?"

"It doesn't hurt you?"

"Hey, you know it might –"

"Be realistic, Fan-Ren. Come on, Syaoran, if at first you fail, try, try again!"

Syaoran clenched his teeth. "Don't say the F-word!"

"Hey, this can work to our advantage, Fan-Ren," Shiefa whispered, and then said aloud. "Well, our little brother is a failure then."

Syaoran was furious. "I – am – not –"

"He can't even talk to his girlfriend!" Fan-Ren replied, taking up the cue, winking at Fei-Mei and Fuu-Tie. They seemed to get it instantly.

"We should seriously decide to change his name to 'Failure' Li," Fei-Mei rolled her eyes.

"I know, right. Just because he gave up –"

"Fine!" Syaoran yelled. "I'll write the damn letter!"

He scrimmaged through his stuff, and found a paper and pen. His sisters peered through at the writing. Japanese. They couldn't read it very well, but they could see that he was writing in his best writing.

They all smiled at each other and tiptoed out of the room.

"Hey, thanks for coming," Sakura said, as Tomoyo entered, with a video camera at 10 AM. Immediately Sakura felt beads of sweat form.

"How could I miss it?" Tomoyo smiled, although Sakura swore she could see a gleam in Tomoyo's eyes. "My darling best friend – at sweet sixteen! I couldn't resist coming! I wish Syaoran and Meiling and Eriol and –" She trailed off and looked at her best friend, who was evidently in deep turmoil. She knew what her mistake was.

Mentioning him.

"Oh, Sakura I'm so sorry! I wasn't –"

"Why're you apologizing?" Sakura asked amused.

So she's resorted to pretending, Tomoyo thought. But why? She loves him a lot still, and I know Syaoran loves her too. Meiling told me just yesterday on the phone.

Is it because of that incident. That was way stupid.

"Er, Tomoyo, can you stop getting a gleam in your eye?" Sakura asked her nervously.

"Wha – what gleam?" But Tomoyo knew what she was talking about.

I have a plan.

Sakura would have admitted that it stung a little to hear Syaoran's name – to herself alone at least; not to anyone else. Maybe to that poitrait of her mother on the dining table, but no one else. She would also never admit it aloud, because of –

"Ah! Cake, ice-cream, jelly, I've died and gone to heaven!" Kero cried.

"Technically, you can't die, both of us are immortal," Yue said.

"I'm glad I made Yukito change into you, Yue. If Yukito was here, he'd eat up a lot more. Mre for me! Thanks, Sakura!" Kero floated over to where Sakura was standing next to Tomoyo.

"Thank the cards. They're the ones who helped me with all these, the Sweet Card, the –"

"You give them way too much credit," Kero mumbled before –

"Mail's in!" Touya cried.

"Let's see, this one's from Eriol Hiiragizawa, addressed to Sakura Kinomoto (he waved it in front of her head, and made sure she couldn't reach it, easy, since she was still not that tall, even after puberty, which lead her to yell at him and made Fujitaka look sternly at his son until he gave the letter to a satisfied Sakura), this one's the bill, another bill, another bill, ooh! An advertisement for Playboy (whack from his father) – which I won't read and will discard immediately, a letter for (Touya's expression changed) –"

"What's it about?" Sakura asked.

"Personal letter," Touya said, and stashed it in his pocket. "Anyway, why don't you read what Hiiragizawa has to say?"

"Good idea," Sakura nodded and tore open the letter. "Shall I dictate it to everyone?" Everyone nodded.

"Dear Sakura,
Happy birthday to you, since this will be arriving on your birthday. Don't worry there's no gift here yet, but I'll bring a gift when I see you later tonight, okay? Hope you've been having hardly any trouble with the Cards; do you still use the Create card to make imaginary enemies? (laughs) Hope you're okay,

Your friend,
Eriol Hiiragizawa"

"He's coming tonight?" Fujitaka asked his darling daughter. She nodded. "It seems that way. Touya, why don't you read that letter you received?" Sakura suddenly asked, turning to her brother.

"It's personal," Touya repeated firmly.

"But why do they send it here when you're already studying at Tokyo University?" Tomoyo wondered.

But Touya had disappeared.

"Syaoran, who's the letter from?" Yelan asked her son.

"It's from Eriol, the half-reincarnation of Clow Reed, remember mother?"

"What does he say?"

"Something about going to Sak – the Kinomoto residence today and how he wants me to go to Tomoeda and visit him there."

"You are going, aren't you?" Yelan asked her son soothingly.

Syaoran didn't know what to say.

"Go ahead."

He nearly blurted out, "You can't be serious," to Yelan, but when he looked at her eyes, he could tell she had never been this serious about anything else ever. Well, maybe not so, but still –

"Go ahead," she repeated firmly. "You want this to end, don't you?"

Syaoran nodded.

"Then go. Wei will accompany you, and Meiling might too."

As if by magic, Meiling barged in and cried, "Are you kidding? I wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Yelan smiled at her strong-willed and determined niece.

"Pack up your stuff then." Meiling ran off. Syaoran stood up, uncertain, but after looking at his mother, left almost as quickly.

She knew, he thought as he went to his room.

I know she knows, and I know she knows that I have to go back and explain everything to Sakura.

I only hope she'll listen to me. I mean, I'll always be on her side. I love her.

I love her. She helped make me who I was.

I love her.

When one says the past helps change your future it's true. If you look at it, every little action creates a bigger action, that helps change the lives of a person, which in turn affects another person, and so on, hence changing the world. It may not be so significant, but it helps change destiny. In this way, life seems like a board of dominos.

For which Syaoran was determined to control.

And for which Sakura was determined it would not affect her, but she forgot one thing:

You can't run away, nor can you hide from your past, for you won't – you can't – escape fate and cheat your destiny.

Author's Note:

Well, I'm quite happy with this chapter. It may not be my best one, but still, I'm proud of it. Thanks for your review SnowCharms. You know I love reviews, so keep 'em coming.

Love,

Lianneharmony.

P.S.: From now on, if I don't get at least 3 reviews for a chapter, I'll stop writing, okay? I'll continue but I won't upload until I get the reviews, okay? I think it's fair, especially as I see other writers saying they won't update until they get at least 10 reviews per chapter. Okay? I think reviews are important, because I want to know what you guys think. It's no fun thinking no one is responding or commenting because your story is lame, okay?